Omnistorm

Omnistorm

Over 200 years ago, climate change on the earth had grown so out of control that it had a direct impact on daily life. The summers grew hotter and the winters grew colder, eventually, it grew so erratic that the days would be miserably hot and the nights would freeze everything over. The shoreline crept inward every day, sinking parts of cities due to the global temperature fluctuation. And the storms would rage for weeks leaving major drought spells in between them. The world was becoming inhabitable, until one day a company called "Majestech" built a station around the planet called "Freyr". The station existed as a ring around the Earth, similar to the asteroid rings around other planets, but this station could control the weather. Freyr calmed the symptoms of climate change and progressively made the world more hospitable. Flaunting the power of the machine, they could near-instantaneously change the weather from a harsh storm to a bright and clear day and broadcast the changes on all news channels, even to the colonies on Mars and Luna. The world seemed almost normal again. Until one day, the great machine malfunctioned and unleashed a devastating storm upon the planet. The surface quaked and civilization was crushed under the oppressive power of a storm that was a concoction of every storm ever witnessed, We called it, the Omnistorm.

The year is now 2306, and massive storms still rage over the surface of the Earth. Travel to and from the planet is strictly prohibited under the "Planetary Alliance of Sol".

Descent

A small cargo ship approaches Freyr's docking ports. "This is Hauler-99216 Enroute from Mars-Terra Requisitions requesting permission to dock aboard Freyr" a man spoke over the comms. "Permission granted" the dock attendant responded. The two men aboard the cargo ship left their cockpit seats to begin the automated docking and begin preparing their cargo for offload. "Hey Brand," One man said to the other "What do you think is in these crates that's so important. I mean, triple the normal haul pay, small ship, and going directly to Freyr? You think it's something that'll fix it?" Brand smirked while strapping up the crates "All I know Paul is I'm taking that money to first buy a Goliath suit to get bigger gigs and then straight to the bar" they shared a chuckle and then came a loud thud and hissing noises. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Paul exclaimed. They rushed to the cockpit to see that Freyr's docking arm was crushing one of the main engines and stuck in place. Brand picked up his headset and yelled "WHAT IS GOING ON?" "T-the docking arm. I-I don't have control over it!" The dock attendant responded panicking "I'm trying to override the controls and-" The engine exploded, knocking the hauler out of the docking arms and freely moving. Brand quickly hopped on the controls and fought to keep the ship under control. Alarms were blaring on the ship with the interface showing multiple mechanisms were malfunctioning. "The coolant is blowing out" Paul yelled. Another smaller explosion went off sending the ship completely out of control, throwing the men around the ship. Brand rushed back up to the controls only to quickly realize there was nothing they could do. "We need to prepare for an emergency landing," Brand said. "Oh No, you can't be serious. We CANNOT land there!" Paul said pointing out of the Cockpit. Earth, or what remained of it, filled the view of their cockpit, with nothing but dark clouds to be seen from orbit. "We don't have a choice," Brand said with a pause. "We're already in its gravity field". There was a silence as both men knew landing on Earth was a death sentence, No one survives on Earth anymore. "Strap in its about to get rough," Paul said both fearfully and angrily. The small hauler hurled through the atmosphere, bumping violently from all sides. The sun shined through the Cockpit brightly for a few seconds and quickly turned to dark grey inside the clouds. The bumps became louder and more violent as they passed through the clouds until they saw the scorched surface of the planet, thousands of miles from the sky. tens to twenties of very tall tornadoes could be seen in the distance. The rain was burning the paint off of the hull and the hail brutalized the metal exterior. The whipping winds caught the hauler giving small ability to glide the ship forward. "We are coming in way too fast," Paul said shakingly. "Strap in and brace for impact!" Brand yelled over the noise of the storm. "Impact in 3....2..."

The Hauler smashed its bottom end into the ground and flipped several times until it finally came to a stop sliding upside down. Glass and metal shards were all over the place. Brand opened his eyes painfully astonished he was still alive. "Paul!" Brand reached over to his co-pilot's chair only to find him dead from the shrapnel of the wreckage. "Dammit". Brand unbuckled himself and fell to the roof of the flipped hauler. He brushed himself off and started opening the crates in search of supplies. Inside the crates, he found datapads and equipment from a Majestech R&D lab. One crate contained the personal belongings, a Dr. Leah Grace. "Interesting, this is the lady who practically built Freyr," He thought to himself. Inside a labcoat pocket was a necklace with a heart-shaped locket on it. He opened the locket to find a picture of her with her family. When closing it back up a small memory card came out. Brand decided to slip the card into the hauler's computer, which was still barely operating. A video came up on the upside-down monitor of the doctor and streams of data and notes of hers. "This is doctor Leah Grace, head of mechanical engineering aboard the Mejestech Freyr. After months of research I have come to the conclusion that Freyr is not simply just a machine to manipulate weather and combat climate change, but a weapon for Majestech and their affiliates to use for warfare and civil disobedience. In this file, I have all of the notes and proof that Freyr can and will be weaponized, and the potential Freyr has as a weapon is catastrophic. This must reach the United Nations and the Planetary Alliance of Sol headquartered on Mars and the citizens of Earth". The video went to static followed by more streams of data. He looked at the screen in shock, reading the data and evidence that came up on the screen. "They really did this. Why would they do this?!". Then Brand changed the screen to a map of the nearby area, twisting his head to read it. "There's an old tower not too far in the north, If I can get there and upload it to all frequencies, that should send the message. If these storms don't kill me." He grabbed some harsh environment armor and the emergency rifle kept in the storage and set off.

"Everything bad that has happened for the last 200 years, is their fault." His head filled with rage as he walked the scarred world. The land was barren and brown. The skies were a constant ominous gray. Brand walked for hours toward the satellite tower, seeing dust fly about the landscape and spiraling storms in the distance. The winds began to howl and the horizon had vanished to the east. He knew this meant a bad storm was headed his way, and quickly. Brand doubled his pace toward the satellite with the storm on his tail. As he approached the abandoned facility and his destination, loud sounds of yelling and gunfire could be heard just over the sounds of howling winds. Lightning cracked and the dust he was trying to outrun had started to cover his view. He pushed through knowing the tower was straight ahead. The battle cries and monstrous screams were all around him. Flying dirt had all but obstructed his view. Then balls of green energy from high-tech weapons flew through the dust. Bullets bounced off of nearby structures and explosions matched the sounds of the terrible lighting cutting through the dust. The sound of heavy footsteps whipped right by him. Then through the dust, he saw someone in Goliath armor, standing 10 feet tall and covered in scrap metal to provide extra protection. "Look out!" the armored giant yelled, and rained automatic energy fire from a heavy weapon just passed Brand. Another monstrous scream called out in agony from a very large grey-colored humanoid with glowing blue eyes, it dropped its weapon and slumped to the ground dead. Brand could just barely make out the tower and ran as fast as he could to it. He scaled the old ladder and reached the platform at the top. He ran over to the satellite's computer, looking for a slot for the chip. He then noticed a compartment to open up and finally found its upload point inside. He quickly took the locket necklace off and opened the slot containing the chip. And then a red blade poked through his chest from his back. He screamed in agony as a shimmering assailant pulled the laser-edged sword back through his chest and pulled him close. The shimmer turned into a person covered from head to toe in dark armor. A distorted voice came from the armor, "Target neutralized". Brand wailed in agony from his wound as his assailant kicked him off the platform down to the ground where dust had been piling up. The assailant analyzed the locket, with the chip still inside. The wind gusted throwing debris everywhere, and the bodies of the fallen soldiers. A furiously red strike of lightning bolted the assailant, attracted by the high-tech armor causing them to release the locket into the storm. The Locket disappeared in the dust and wind, lost forever. Temperatures began to fluctuate sending flashes of snow and hail then gusts of heat. Sirens blared in the distance and soldiers below shouted "Retreat, Retreat, Omnistorm!"

The End