Article: 18963 of alt.games.mk Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!panix!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!jobone!lynx.unm.edu!dns1.NMSU.Edu!wibeakle From: wibeakle@nmsu.edu (W. G. Beakley) Newsgroups: alt.games.mk Subject: FANFIC: A Soldier's Tale (01/??) Date: 8 Dec 1994 23:06:05 GMT Organization: New Mexico State University Lines: 158 Message-ID: <3c83gt$jho@dns1.NMSU.Edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cream.nmsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] ******************************************************************* DISCLAIMER: This is in no way endorsed by, nor authorized by Bally-Midway, Ed Boon, John Tobias, or anyone else that has anything to do with MK I or ][. This is the product of my own warped imagination. CREDITS: Thanks go out to Dream Theater - for providing the background tunes when I composed this - and to Samuel Adams beer - for the six-pack of Cream Stouts that I put away as I wrote this (no wonder I have so much trouble reading the stuff I was writing!!! :). Also thanks go out to jevans@mit.edu for sending me all those stories that I'm still reading - they gave me the incentive to finally put pen to paper. EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm going to ignore this over the weekend while I cram for finals, but I'll pick it up when I'm done - which is the middle of next week. ******************************************************************* A Soldier's Tale The near deafening roar of the engines didn't faze him. The sound actually relaxed him. The vibrations of the plane soothed his muscles. War had a habit of making a person stressed. War? That's a pretty accurate description of what he had been through. Nothing like Desert Storm. Nothing like Bosnia. Nothing like The Second Korean Conflict. At least in those wars he'd been fighting HUMAN opponents. He'd become almost accustom to the sight of bodies riddled by bullets and torn apart by landmines. But he had just survived a war of gods, sorcerers, mutants, and demons. It had threatened to tear away his sanity. He had even had a hand in saving the entire Earth. The Pentagon Boys were going to think he was Section 8 Psycho! "Major?", a disembodied voice asked over the intercom. He reached up and thumbed the ON switch. "Yes?", he replied. "Sir, the pilot has informed me that we'll be landing at 1424. Just thought you'd like to know." "Thanks Captain. Just let me know when I can get my feet back on Terra Firma." "Roger that Maj. Briggs. Out." Leaning himself back in the seat, he thought of the irony, the pain, and the triumph he had been through in the past four days. FOUR DAYS?? Felt more like four _lifetimes_. Boy time sure does fly when you're having fun. Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs laughed at that thought. Since when is being teleported by some thunder god to another dimension and battling the best fighters ever assembled FUN?! Add a couple of mutants, a mad dictator, and a 4000-year old sorcerer to that and you get chaos, mayhem, and anarchy - but no fun. Still Jax was no stranger to the machinations of egomaniacs. As a kid growing up in the South Bronx, he lost track of how many times he had come within a hair's breadth of being killed in the drive-by shootings of rival gangs. Then in the Army, generals always had their little cadres of 'favorites' who were the first on the promotion lists and got the choicest commands. Yet Jax knew if it wasn't for his past he'd probably be dead right now - and the whole planet would be doomed as well. His youth gave him the strength, the courage, and the fury. The Army took those, refined them, and produced 6'6", 270lbs of death. He was familiar with most of NATO's arsenal and living on the streets had taught him the art of street warfare. It started simply enough. It always does he reflected. The emergency beacon Lt. Sonya Blade carried went off on a remote island in the Pacific. Scrambling two squads of Alpha Company, they'd been airlifted there in a pair of Air Force C-141s. After a HALO jump, they started to recon the 'island'. Something that had everyone confused was that the island didn't show up on any satellite imagery. Three Keyhole satellites had done passes over the location of the beacon, but came up with nothing. It was only through sheer luck that an Australian ELINT trawler was nearby and confirmed the coordinates to be on the island. During the recon of the island, one group had come across a huge temple that was reduced to smoking ruins. Radiation levels were normal so they had proceeded cautiously. They passed by eight fallen statues - one of which resembled Lt. Blade! Jax shuddered again at the sight of the four-armed beast that was easily half-again as large as the others. There was also the broken remains of a statue of Kano - the Black Dragon's deadliest assassin. Jax had permitted himself a grim smile at that thought. Sonya Blade's hatred of Kano burned with a passion that bordered on being holy. No one knew the cause of her hatred, but everyone knew that all hell would break loose when those two finally clashed. Then Jax noticed that none of the others were moving. He barked a quick order, but still they didn't act. He inspected a few of his men and found that they were all frozen in stasis. They were breathing and their hearts were beating, but they didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow. The sudden crash of thunder almost made Jax come out of his skin. As it was he was going to have to change his BDUs, but he pitied the soul who had snuck up on him. Jax wanted answer and he wanted them NOW! MAJOR JACKSON BRIGGS, I WILL SPEAK TO YOU. The words were not spoken aloud, but rather threatened to shake his brain into jelly. Brought to his knees by the pain, Jax could barely raise his head to gaze at the figure before him. Clad in a loose-fitting white gi with a blue surcoat over it, hi head wearing a cone-shaped straw hat, the stranger was sheathed in a column of pure white light. Crackling blue electricity arced from one part of his body to another at random. His eyes glowed the same electric blue and they seemed to drill into Jax's soul. MAJOR JACKSON BRIGGS - YOU COME SEEKING YOUR COMRADE SONYA BLADE. I OFFER YOU THE CHANCE TO SAVE BOTH HER AND THE EARTH REALM. "W-w-who are you, where'd you come from, and first PLEASE lower the volume. You're going to rattle my teeth loose.", Jax stammered through the pain. MY NAME IS RAYDEN. At least he had turned it down to a dull roar. YOU NEED NOT KNOW FROM WHENCE I CAME MORTAL, YOU ONLY NEED KNOW TO WHERE I AM TRAVELING. "Well Rayden - whoever the hell you are - why should I give a damn as to who you are and where you're going?!", Jax asked as he slowly got to his feet. I AM HE WHO CAN AID YOU IN YOUR QUEST. AND WHERE YOUR COMRADE IS HELD, SO I AM BOUND - EVEN AS YOU ARE BOUND. "Wait a sec here tall, glowing, and ugly .... what's that about Sonya being 'held'? And what makes you so hellfire sure that I'm going anywhere with you?" I GO TO THE OUTWORLD - ANOTHER DIMENSION ACROSS TIME AND SPACE - TO FIGHT IN THE TOURNAMENT OF SHAO KHAN. THERE YOU WILL FIND SONYA BLADE. "Sonuvabitch! Well let's get you to this tournament, I'll get to rescuing Blade and her squad, and we'll all be happy happy joy joy at Christmas time!" IF IT WERE ONLY SO EASY MAJOR JACKSON BRIGGS. TO RESCUE SONYA BLADE YOU WILL HAVE TO ENTER THE TOURNAMENT AS WELL. YOU WILL HAVE TO FACE "I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!!! You said I've got to enter this tournament of Shallow Whoever-the-hell. Well then quit talking and get us there. The quicker we do this, the quicker this insanity will end. And Rayden - everyone calls me Jax.", he said as he double-checked his gear. When Jax nodded his readiness they were gone. -------- and here's a preview of part 2 Coney Island. Space Mountain. HAH! None of them had a chance against dimensional travel. When they were finally finished, Jax dropped to his knees and promptly threw up. "You should charge admission for that ride. You'd make a fortune.", he said as he wiped off his mouth and rose unsteadily to his feet. But Jax spoke to himself, for Rayden was nowhere to be seen. A note was resting atop Jax's pack: Follow the direction of the arrow It shall lead you to that which you seek. a friend This is getting old in a hurry he thought. Then spotting the arrow, he hefted his pack and set off towards a looming grove of trees. ......