It's All in the Mind... *Story Thread*

[Hyper Kinetic]

So i finally got off my rear-end, so to speak, and ended up working on finishing some of the thoughts i had. I mentioned a little while back in several threads that i was considering starting a Choose-Your-Own adventure sort of thing. Basically, all i had to do was start up a story line, or three, and define a few chains off each of the possible decisions. Admittedly, i am probably starting this a bit early because i have not fleshed out some of the elements of some of the early decisions but... we shall see what happens. I have a vague idea of where each story thread could end up, but some of them are more solid in my mind than others.
I could do a story where i just post up a new section every time i thought of something to add or when i get a new piece of writing to add to it, but then where is the interactivity in that? I want some input from you guys to direct my thoughts and the storyline.
Here's hoping that i can kick start some of my creativity from its long slumber via this project...

I will be doing this in two parts.
As you see, this is the Story Thread. Contained in here will be the story as defined by both your decisions and my writing. All i ask of you is to leave this thread relatively untouched so that the story is able to flow through and it can be easily read by all.
Thanks to generosity of Barbedsparky (and any other mods that feel free to PM me, you don't have to let him have all the fun ), i will be making a separate Poll each time there is a decision for you to make and, once the poll is complete to my satisfaction, Barbedsparky (or whoever) will delete that thread a day or so later. That thread is both for you to make a decision and also to comment on what has happened/might happen or as to why you chose the decision you did (keep in mind that, in the event of a tie or a close contest, i get to choose what happens and what you write may affect my decision as to what happens...).
Decisions could be anything:
- directly affecting the main character and his actions
- the local surroundings
- I may also give you a set of choices where you don't directly know what you are choosing but i have a table listed on paper so i know what the options correspond to
- other things that may happen along the way.
I also generally will try to keep decision making down enough so that you get a reasonable chunk of storyline in between each section. Sometimes this may not happen, but it will be a general rule that i am trying to stick to.

So... yeah.
I hope to update this roughly once a week, but it will probably be updated more or less depending on what is happening with my life. I hope to keep it going as long as i can, but if uni/life interferes then it will be put on hiatus for a while/indefinitely (in fact, in about a month's time i will be heading away on clinical placement for 4 or 5 weeks and it may not get updated at all during this time), so we shall see what happens. I have a few sheets of paper/whiteboard that i use to keep a set of potential decision trees on them, so hopefully this will keep me out of writing myself into a hole/writer's block too quickly.

So... yeah. Here it goes...
(also... please forgive the start here if it isn't terribly good. I am not good at introductions and i am still trying to remember how to write well... )

Please: No spamming of this thread.

[Hyper Kinetic]

The normally blue sky was covered in thick clouds on this particular section of the planet known as Nougat. This planet had only recently been colonised by Imperial Forces. It was a planet of relatively vast abundance and was decreed to become an Agri-World to support the Imperial expansion of this region of space. The first settlers had arrived six years earlier. Jason had only been 17 standard years old when his parents, both civil planners, were “requested” to make the move and join the planet's construction efforts. Now 23, Jason was part way through completing the research project he had sort of decided embarking on. Sort of, because it was one of the few options he had on this planet. The other real options included joining the Imperial Guard and becoming a full-time agri-worker. He only got the research opportunity because of his parents and he decided to continue on with it. At least research allowed him access to the open country whilst keeping him close to the slowly growing city. The project was to be his first in order to make him into one of the Agricultural Engineers, those who see over Agri-Worlds and design ways to improve the food production.

He sat commandeering the harvester. This was amongst some of the least interesting work of the job. The fields of wheat were long and generally unexciting. Outside of his companion workers, the most excitement of the day had come in the early morning when they were ploughing the field nearest the highway leading out of the city. A convoy of Guard soldiers went past. Some waved and smiled, others looked stoic as the trucks moved into the forests. Slightly odd as there never usually was a whole convoy of troops coming to, or going from, the forest... but Jason did not really pay too much attention to them at that point in time.

“I wish it hadn't rained so much this week,” Anthony sighed over the radio. “We'd have been at home for a day or two at least.” Anthony was driving the vehicle collecting the harvested crop. He was a junior when he came to the planet, much like Jason. However he had chosen the Farming jobs because he thought it would be easy pay and a safe job, unlike joining the forces of the Guard. He sounded a little too much, to Jason, like he regretted it these days.
“Yeah, sunny days are more to my liking. The sky's good, the drinks are better at the end of it.” That, from James driving the secondary collector. Jimmy, as he was better known, was once a soldier who was dishonourably discharged shortly after boot camp because he punched out the officer in charge of his platoon for making them dive into an area known to be a mine field. He was given the option to join the penal legions as an officer, because he had the physical imposition that may just intimidate the conscripts of the penal armies, or become a farmer on Nougat. He chose farming as the lesser of two evils and was given over to the Nougat authorities to become almost a slave farmer.
Another few dreary minutes dragged on before Jason went on the radio.
“Tony, how full are you?”
“I'd say another pass should do me and then Jimmy should be able to collect the rest before the last field.”
Jason looked haphazardly around the area. Nothing more boring than the last run he thought to himself.
“Well... ok. I think that we should -” He stopped mid-sentence.
“...Huh? What's going on?”
“The sky.... look! Over on the right!”
There were several dull glowing streaks in the sky over the forest.
“What the hell's that?” Jimmy asked.
“Not a clue... want to stop and check it out?”
“Yeah, alright. I've got binoculars in here.” Jimmy said as he switched off his vehicle. Tony and Jason did the same and got out to meet with Jimmy. They all clambered to the top of the harvester and awaited Jimmy to focus in with the binoculars.
“Ok... let's see here... a bit that way and... OK. Hmm....” Jimmy pondered for a moment. “I'm not sure what they are.” He handed the binoculars to Jason.
“There are more of them now.” Tony observed, a slight edge of panic to his voice.
“I can't tell what they are... Landing Ships?” Jason asked. He turned his head slightly with the binoculars to his eyes and nearly dropped them. “There's one coming this way!”
One of the streaks grew larger. Their pulses and breath quickened as the streak disappeared below the tree line of the forest. A low rumbling was heard and felt, and a small plume of dirt and dust was observed. The men were stunned for a few seconds before Tony suggested,
“I think we should head back to town.”
“Why?” Jason asked.
“This can't be good. Nothing that does that can be good!”
“I don't know... maybe we should check it out,” Jimmy said.
“Nuh-uh. That's suicide!”
“We have Laspistols, Lasguns and Shotguns. We would be armed if worst comes to worst. We could call if there is something bad. Those soldiers would hear. Hell... they're probably there and we'd be kicked out of whatever it is anyway.”
“What if they aren't and we can't handle it? It's not good! We are better safe than sorry! We should head back to town!”
“We'd still be able to hear the sirens of the city here. If there was something wrong, we'd hear them.”
“Town is closer. Look, Jason, you're leader -”
“Me?”
“You're in the Harvester,” Tony folded his arms, failing to keep the fear out of his voice. “Your call.”

Streaks were now raining overhead. Some were trailing towards the city, more still went over the forest. Both men looked at Jason while he stood there trying to decide...

[Hyper Kinetic]

“I say we have a look at what that was,” Jason decided.
“You're kidding, right? No way should we go there!” Tony's voice held back no amount of disbelief.
“Well, you don't have to come if you don't want... but if there is more of us there it will be easier to fight back... if we need to.”
Tony opened his mouth to say something, but instead shook his head as he followed the other two back to their vehicles.
“No... i think i will come with you. But I don't like it.”
“That's the spirit!” Jimmy's face lit up with a wide grin. They each carried weapons in their vehicles, this was a new planet after all and not all of the native species were entirely peaceful. They all had basic training and firing as part of the introduction to farm work on a new planet, though with the standard lasweapons this was not as necessary as with the less advanced projectile weapons. They lay the collection in the back of the empty collector.
“Dibs on the shotgun and a laspistol,” Jimmy said.
“I guess that means we have a lasgun and laspistol each then,” Jason said, looking at Tony.
“So what's the plan then?” Tony asked.
Jimmy took charge. “We drive up to the forest's edge and check it out. I know how these things work, so you guys follow my lead. You both ride in the front and I will hang on the back as a lookout.”
“Sounds fair to me,” Jason replied, as he got into the drivers side.

The drive was fairly uneventful. Jason concentrated on driving whilst Tony kept looking nervously out the windows, unwilling to talk. They made it to the forest's edge ten minutes later. Jason opened the door first, but looked back and realised that Tony wasn't moving.
“You coming Tony?”
“I... think I am going to stay here. Just in case we need a quick start up.” The look on Tony's face was almost of terror.
Jason headed around the back of the vehicle.
“Not coming?”
“Yeah, he says he's going to stay here.”
Jimmy shrugged. “Fine by me. Makes things simpler for us, and it's always good to have a getaway plan.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
The wide grin came back to Jimmy's face. “Not a clue. Don't you want to find out?”
It was Jason's turn to shrug. “It could be interesting and,” he gestured in the direction of the city, “it's not like we would be safer there, by the looks of things.”
“Yeah. OK, follow my hand signals and we'll be fine.” Jimmy showed him a few of the signals that he had learnt from boot camp.

After saying goodbye to Tony, they began the trek through the forest. The clouds overhead becoming more ominous as a cool breeze started to roll through the clearings. Dense covering overhead slowly obscured more of the light as they made their way through. They ran from tree to tree, each giving the other a few seconds of leeway and searching through the undergrowth before signalling to move on. At the top of a small rise, they hunkered down.
“You know, you would have made a good soldier if you had've joined.” Jimmy whispered.
“Just trying to follow orders.” Jason gave a small shrug. “Y'know, this is kinda fun... but it would be a whole lot more fun if we were more sure if we weren't going to die.”
“It was a living. You get used to it.” Jimmy replied. “You up for the next run?”
“Yeah, give me a second.” Jason took a final glance around, looking for a place to run to. He marked the tree in his mind, took a deep breath and got up to run.
He darted forward and hid behind the tree. A quick check of the surroundings but, as he was about to raise his hand to signal for Jimmy to move through, Jason hesitated...

[Hyper Kinetic]

Jason looked around the corner, keeping his hand hovering in mid air. His eyes searched hard through the forestland. Trees and bushes littered the landscape, but he could not escape the feeling that he saw something. Something was out there, but he couldn't see it.
He rolled back in behind the tree and glanced around quickly before running back to the hill where Jimmy lay.
“There's something out there. I don't know what, or where, but there is something out there.” Jason's voice was a quiet whisper.
“I can't see anything. Are you sure you aren't being paranoid?”
“I... no. There is something definitely out there.” Jason tried to explain it.
Jimmy gave a short exhalation. Perhaps Jason wasn't as good as he first thought.
“I have the training from the past, and nothing I have seen or heard makes me think that there is something out there.”
Jason's voice rose an octave, an edge of panic now present.
“There is definitely something out there, Jimmy. I don't care what you were trained to believe or think, but I know there is something out there. I can...” He tried to explain it, “feel it.”
Jimmy turned to Jason and saw the look on his face. It was that of fear. Something clearly had shaken him.
“OK, let's work on the assumption that there is something out there. We will double back over ourselves and go back. They will never know that we are here and we can go back home.”
Jimmy got up and moved to the tree he was previously behind. He took a long hard glance around.
“Jimmy, what's up?” Jason whispered over the distance.
Jimmy looked confused and shouldered the shotgun, pointing it in seemingly random directions.
“I believe you. I swear I saw something... move?”
Jason shouldered his Lasgun, eyes flicking around the scenery and his tension level increased again.
“I can't see anything...”
The forest was quiet, only the sound of the smooth rustle of leaves as the breeze blew though the trees could be heard.

Then a voice, non-human, broke the quiet.
“Gue'la, you are surrounded. For the Greater Good, surrender.”

[Hyper Kinetic]

The two humans stood in silence for a moment. Where had these assailants come from? And where were they? It was Jason who spoke first.
“What happens if we surrender?”
“If you lay down your weapons, you will be escorted back to our leaders where they may decide what becomes of you.” The invisible voice spoke.
“And if we don't?” Jimmy resumed searching for the faceless voice.
“Captain, I think we should shoot them now and save time,” a second voice was heard.
“Speak not in human when humans can hear,” the original voice snapped back. The voices changed language and started arguing, but nothing Jason or Jimmy could understand.
Jason lowered his weapon slightly and looked at Jimmy. “What do you think? We can't see them, how are we supposed to fight them?”
Jimmy turned back around and started looking behind Jason. “I don't know, but Emperor knows that nothing good could come of staying here.” His voice lowered. “I think I have figured out where one of the voices is coming from.”
Then something happened that made Jason's eyes widen.

“There you are!” Tony's voice could be heard in over the top of the new voices, making them stop. He bounded into a clearing, puffing for breathe. “I've decided to come with you!”
“Tony, No! We're surrounded!” Jason called back.
“Wha-” Tony slammed into something invisible and fell to the ground.
Jimmy took his chance and aimed in that direction. The shotgun echoed through the forest as a dark figure with rounded inhuman lines appeared where the blast was aimed. Jimmy reloaded and fired again, making the figure stumble and scream. As Jimmy started to dive behind a fallen tree, short whirs could be heard. Iridescent blasts came from four directions. Several trees that were hit began to crumple towards the earth. Jason finally started to react. He jumped behind a tree and pulled the lasgun to his chest. The trees crashed to the crashed to the ground and the sound of metal crumpling and a loud grunt filled the air, followed by a slow choking sound.

All was silent for a few seconds.

Jason dared to peek around the tree. Another of the figures had appeared and was being crushed by a tree. A slight glow caught his eye as he pulled back behind the tree. He took a deep breath and rolled his body around the tree, shouldered his gun and fired an nearly invisible beam in the direction of the glowing. Simultaneously, he heard the shotgun blast of Jimmy's weapon and sparks grated off the same target that Jason was aiming for. A figure appeared, as before, and it jumped behind the tree it was next to.
“Gwwaa! Jason, Jimmy, help!” Tony's voice began at ground level but sounded like it was being forcefully raised before a grunt stopped the struggling voice.
“Gue'la, we have your partner hostage. We did not wish to cause violence. Please, for the life of your partner, surrender!”
Jason took another quick peek around the tree. Tony was hanging in a most unnatural position. He was stuck in mid air, his head pulled back as something dark went around his throat.
Jason hid again and started to call out.
“Jimmy. I think that we should -”

[Hyper Kinetic]

Jason was interrupted by the sound of bodies hitting the ground. This was followed by a small “chink” and another body hitting the forest's floor. One last chink and the sound of collapsing, then all was silent again.
Jason peeked around again and saw that Tony was now on the ground, looking around and, somewhat confused. There was a series of small sparking where, Jason assumed, the body of the thing that held Tony up was. The body of the being that had appeared when Jimmy and Jason shot at it was lying at the foot of the tree where it was hiding. He couldn't find the where the last sound came from.
“What happened?” Tony asked
“Snipers,” was the reply from Jimmy, who had moved out from where he was hiding. He started searching the forest for the sniper crew that he knew would be out there, even though he knew the search was likely to be in vain.
“I think that we should move away from here,” Jason said. “Let's go.”

On the way back, Jason asked Tony "Why did you come after us?"
“Well... I kinda figured that the three of us would last longer together...” Tony trailed off slightly. “There's more of those streaks in the air. These ones look different than the ones we saw earlier.”
“Different?” Jimmy asked. “Different how?”
Tony was silent for a few moments, thinking, before he said “I'm not sure... but they're different. I can't really tell. It might have been the way the streaks moved or looked, but there is something different to these ones.” He shrugged. “Told you it was gonna be bad.”
They moved on in silence. They stopped only when they saw figures in a clearing near the edge of the forest.

[Hyper Kinetic]

The figures were facing towards the road, fortunately in the opposite direction from where the three were. Though they looked slightly human at a distance, the men knew that these beings weren't. They looked much more like the things that had ambushed them in the forest. They carried weapons that definitely weren't Imperial made.
Jimmy was the first to react, moving in behind a tree. Tony and Jason quickly followed suit and watched silently as these troops passed them by. After they did so without incident, Jason looked to the sky above and was both horrified and captivated by what he saw. Instead of the streaks, he could now make out shapes and colours. These had smooth contours, lines that made them look like they should glide gracefully through the sky. The only hint that these giant earthen coloured creations weren't gliding were the glowing blue trails emanating from the back.
“Did you hear me, Jason?” Jimmy had been talking to him while he had marvelled at these otherworldly creations.
“Sorry... I was looking at the sky.”
“I said that we should follow them. They might be trying to attack the guys who saved us.”
Jason thought about this for a second. He looked over at Tony. The man who previously was reluctant to follow them towards the initial danger now had the look of steely determination, regardless of the streaks in the sky or that he had just survived an attack by invisible warriors. He looked back at Jimmy. Jimmy's face was hard, stoic. He looked like he had seen things like this before.
“Yeah. Let's go.”
They started in the direction that the warriors had left, but only at a walk.
“You look like you have seen some of these guys before... what can you tell us of them?” Jason asked.
“I just assumed that you guys knew about them, what with this planet near their territories and all...” He looked up at the other two men, who shook their heads. “Bad assumption then? I've not faced them before, but I learnt about them as part of basic training. These guys are known as the Tau. They believe in the Greater Good or some bollocks like that. Their weapons are powerful and they are fairly good shots... And... If you see some faint dots nearby or on one of us, pray to the Emperor.”
“Pray to the Emperor?” Tony asked.
“For we are almost surely dead.” And with that, Jimmy started to increase the pace to keep up with their quarry.

A kilometre of ducking and weaving through the trees later and they were near the road. The Tau they were following had stopped. They were moving into a multiple line formation and were beginning to raise their weapons...