This story is a crossover between Swat Kats and Sierra Studios' Half-Life. Some things, including story basis and quotes are taken from Half-Life and Half-Life: Opposing Force. This is a fanfic using the NPC's in the game; it does not feature Gordon Freeman or Cpl. Adrian Shephard. All related indicia are property of Sierra Studios, Gearbox, and Valve. Swat Kats is ©1993-1994 by Hanna Barbera. All other ideas are ©2000 by Mikazo. (And yes, I know this is the title of a chapter in Opposing Force. I would've named it that way anyway.) ******************************************************************** Since I like the Swat Kats, and since I also love Half-Life, I have decided to combine the two and write a fanfic based on both universes. I felt like a change from my usual emotional stories I used to write and decided to write something that went somewhere, with several, often humorous interjections. I hope you enjoy. "When Worlds Collide..." "We are through the portal!" said Marvin Jackson into the radio. Jackson, a former mechanic in the Air Force, was part of a mercenary squad that was dispatched for an assault on an alien world known as Xen. Creatures from Xen had nearly taken over and infested the Black Mesa Research Facility, a top secret government lab in New Mexico that had been studying them for quite some time. The alien world was accessible by portals that BMRF scientists had been able to figure out how to create upon discovering the world. The mercenaries were sent under orders by the BMRF to enter one of the man-made portals through a prototype space ship (engineered by BMRF personnel) and find out where the alien attackers were coming from. If they did live to see them, they had to destroy them. "Well, I hope this is it," grumbled Ron Campbell. The 27-year-old mercenary spent three years in the Army Rangers before being honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant. He had been involved with operations in Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and far-eastern Russia. He wore a tigerstripe-camouflaged bandana and carried an M16A2 assault rifle. He was also known for having one of the biggest mouths for a soldier. "Government coverups were not in my job description." "Roger that, Campbell," said Stephen Torres, the only mercenary who wasn't issued an M4 carbine. An ex-Green Beret and Gulf War veteran, he was smart and tough. One of the best soldiers a squad could have, he was strong, fast, and deadly accurate, and he could also survive on his own in the wilderness for long periods of time. His incredible survival abilities and assault tactics made him nearly unstoppable as well as independent. Ever since he was in the Gulf War, he wouldn't go anywhere without his gas mask, and especially not without his M-249 SAW during wartime. Another member of the squad was Scott Tauer, the medic. He had spent a few years in the U.S. Army as a field medic. Despite the fact that he carried a rifle, Tauer liked healing more than hurting, although he was more than capable of both. In addition to healing, he was also quite proficient with computers. All the squad members wore kevlar helmets, urban camouflage, and carried M40A1 gas masks. Scott's helmet had a white band around it with a red cross in the front, indicating that he was a medic. The soldiers also wore PCV's, or Powered Combat Vests, that formed a protective, invisible shield around the body from battery power, and all had a Government 1911 sidearm and a nine-inch black Ka-Bar knife. They also carried fragmentation grenades as well. Inside the ship, they had tents, BDU's of various camouflage patterns, camouflage netting, first aid, ammunition, and alice packs stuffed with MRE's and other survival gear. A large planet loomed in the distance, and Jackson gunned the throttle towards the planet. Anxious to get to the alien world and kill things, the soldiers sweated with anticipation. Then, they realized they were sweating from something else: heat. Upon entering the planet, the ship had to fly through the atmosphere that unexpectedly, quickly, and rapidly tore apart the small transport ship. The squad members all blacked out, knowing something was wrong and that they were in the wrong place... Jackson's head poked out of the shattered cockpit. He grunted as he pulled himself out of the smoldering wreckage. When he got out on top, another hand reached up. It was Tauer. Jackson reached down and pulled the medic out of the wreckage by the hand. He was glad to see Tauer was unharmed, as other crew members may require his help. "Helllp..." a voice cried from within the wreckage. Jackson jumped down and pulled out his butane torch. He lit it on one of the fires outside the cockpit of the wreckage and walked up to the big steel door on the side of the ship. "Don't worry, soldier, I'll have you out of here in no time." The sound of helicopters rang in the distance. He stuck the torch down to the bottom corner of the wrecked door, and sparks flew as he cut all the way around it. The door loosened, and he was able to wrench it off. Campbell came tumbling out. Jackson and Scott helped him to his feet. He was a bit shaken, but surprisingly not seriously injured. Torres managed to pull himself out of the door. He dragged himself and his machine gun out of the wreckage. The PCV's prevented any serious damage to the soldiers. The four soldiers stood as alien helicopters surrounded the wreckage. They were tired and shaken, but still managed to stay alert. Not knowing what world they ended up in, and not knowing what the helicopters were up to, Campbell lifted his rifle up. "Hey, where the hell are we anyway?" said Campbell. "This place doesn't look anything like Xen!" "Hey, maybe these guys can help us out," said Tauer. When he got a better look at the pilots in the helicopters however, he was stunned. "C-Cats?" Tauer said. "What the hell?" Large, anthropomorphic cats seemed to be the inhabitants of this world. As the mercenaries looked in interest and anticipation, things took a turn for the worse when a voice blared out of a megaphone. "You're under arrest! Lay down your weapons and surrender immediately!" The squad members' eyes grew wide, surprised. Torres walked up to soldiers hopping out of the helicopters. "Hey, where are we?" Torres barked at the cats through his gas mask. "Can you tell us what's going on here?" "Put down your weapons," the voice demanded again. The six feline soldiers pointed their guns at the soldiers as they prepared to make arrests. "We're not putting down our goddamn weapons!" yelled Campbell. "We're soldiers! We're gonna fix this ship and get out of here!" "Actually, you're gonna pay for the damage you did to this fish processing plant!" said a large, trenchcoat-clad brown cat. He walked up to the squad. The smell suggested to the squad that they had indeed crashed into a fish processing plant, and seeing as how the planet looked as if it was populated with cats, it was probably not a good thing to do. "You're all under arrest," he repeated. "Put your weapons down and surrender!" "What do you think we're gonna do?" said Campbell to the cat. "Shoot you? Listen, you big brown bastard, whoever you are..." News vans were pulling up, and a female, feline reporter was outside discussing the situation at hand. "That's Commander Feral to you," interrupted the large cat. "Commander Ferrie, huh? Ferrie, is it?" Campbell sneered. "FERAL!" he barked. "Oh... right," said Campbell. "Ferrie, look, we're wrecked here. You think we crashed our ship into your goddamn... fish plant or whatever just to make war on you? Who are you guys anyway?" Campbell didn't even seem to care that he was staring in the faces of creatures nobody had ever seen before. The cats didn't seem to care either. They seemed to be used to alien invasions. "Forget your ship!" he ordered. "We're going to find something you can do to pay off these damages." "You think so, huh?" Campbell aimed his rifle at Feral. "Enforcers, move in!" Feral ordered. As Feral gave the order, Torres snuck a flashbang grenade out of his vest and pulled the pin. He opened the lever and hurled it at the group of enforcers. "Like hell you will," he uttered. The enforcers were unfamiliar with grenades, and seemed to lose all sense after it went off. All six enforcers were floored, stunned and unable to move. "Come on!" yelled Jackson. "That car's open! Run for it! Move it! Go! Go! GO!!" The soldiers ran for the mayor's chauffeured car. Torres kept his automatic weapon aimed at Feral as he approached the car. "Back off," he yelled through his gas mask. "We'll kill you if we have to." "I'll have your hide for this," Feral growled. Campbell grabbed the chauffeur and pulled him out of the car. "Get lost," he said. Campbell and Jackson got in the front, while Tauer and Torres got in the back. The news reporter walked up to the mayor, holding him the microphone. "Mayor Manx, it looks like the newly-arrived aliens just crashed into MegaKat Fishing Co. AND stole your car. What do you have to say?" The mayor was simply stunned. "This wasn't exactly in our mission briefing," said Tauer as Jackson floored the pedal. "I know," said Jackson. "This whole planet isn't in our briefing. But we gotta do what we gotta do." "Yeah, but where the hell are we gonna go?" said Tauer. Jackson pulled onto a large bridge and continued down the street. "Who knows? Let's just go down here a ways. This looks like it leads into a rural area." "Rural areas," said Campbell. "Shit. They have everything we have." "Well, wait a minute," said Jackson. "They have helicopters, right? That means they have mechanics! Right?" "We don't know anything about those helicopters," said Campbell. "I know, but still, maybe we can find a mechanic here." "Yeah, right," said Tauer. "What're we gonna say? 'Excuse us, we're aliens who crashed into your fish plant. You wouldn't happen to know anything about ion thruster jets or anything, would you?'" "Do you have a better idea?" asked Jackson. "Uhh... no. It's just a thought." "This is a shitty mission," grumbled Jackson. "You know, we are within legal bounds to kill these bastards. They told us to kill alien forces." "Well, they're not gonna help us if we kill 'em!" said Tauer. "They're not helping us anyway, damn it!" said Jackson. "They're not chasing us or anything, are they?" asked Campbell. Tauer looked behind himself out the back window. "I don't see anyone." Campbell and Jackson were in disbelief. "No choppers or anything?" "Nothing," said Tauer. "Not a damn thing." "Wow... you gotta be kidding," said Jackson. "Geez. This is nothing like what they'd do on Earth. I'd expect they'd be chasing us all over the damn planet." The soldiers were in a deserty, rural area. There were very few houses or buildings along the sides. There was one building, however, that looked like a scrapyard. "You think they got any techs here?" said Jackson. "I don't really care if they do," said Campbell. "I just don't want to find any grunts here." The four soldiers got out of the car. They stood at the entrance to a small building, where old metal and broken-down cars were littered around in piles behind it. A large sign above the door that had chipping paint on it read, "MegaKat Auto Club." The four soldiers walked up to the front door. Jackson knocked on the door. Footsteps were heard behind the door. Then, it opened. A yellow kat opened the door. "Welcome to Megakaaa..., whoa." He stared at the human soldiers. The human soldiers stared back. Their eyes seemed to penetrate the kat through the green-tinted outskirts of the gas masks. Jackson paused before opening his mouth. "Hey, uhh... are you guys like, uhh... well, like, uhh... do you know how to..." "Are you guys mechanics?" asked Campbell, blatantly interrupting Jackson. He didn't see any reason to be afraid of them, since Torres had effectively floored six armed ones. "Can you fix stuff?" The kat didn't know what to say. "Uhh, Jake?" he yelled. "Can you come here?" He then turned his attention back to the soldiers. "You... crashed into the fish plant, didn't you?" "We sure did," said Campbell. "We'll get our employers to pay for it. In the meantime, I'm sure the other fish companies will be pretty happy for a while..." Another kat came up. He was smaller and thinner, and had brown fur. He looked at the soldiers before asking, "C-can I help you?" "Yeah," said Campbell. "Do you have a spaceship or something you're not using? 'Cause we need one." "You guys were on the news," said the brown kat. "Where'd you come from?" "We're mercenaries," said Campbell. "We came from Earth. Ever heard of it?" "No," they both said. "And who's your employer, by the way?" asked the brown kat, crossing his arms. The soldiers looked at each other. "Who is it again?" asked Jackson. "It's that one guy from the BMRF," said Tauer. "You mean that old guy in the purple suit?" asked Jackson. "Is it that guy? It IS that guy." "What was his name?" asked Campbell. "All I know is that he's with the BMRF," said Tauer. "I know he's with the BMRF, too," hissed Jackson. "But what was his name?" The mercenaries shook their heads at each other and shrugged. They looked back at the kats. "Well, we know who he is and who he works for, but... we don't know his name." The two kats rolled their eyes. "Well, where were you going before you crashed?" "Well, we were supposed to go somewhere called Xen," said Jackson. "A border world, I guess. We were supposed to go there to kill aliens and stuff. But we're here for some reason now, I guess. I think they generated the goddamn portal wrong or something." "Yeah, and our ship's busted," said Campbell. "Well, I don't know what to tell you," said the brown kat. "We don't have anything else. If they bring yours here, we can look at it," said the brown kat. "Eh... forget it," said Jackson. "You don't owe us anything. We may just have to find another way out of here, and get our employer to pay for that place for you. We won't forget about it. I promise." He turned to the other mercenaries. "Come on. Let's get out of here." Campbell opened his mouth to protest, but decided that maybe Jackson's plan was a better way to go. The two kats must've understood their plight, however, and started to whisper to each other. Then they started to talk. "Hey, wait," said the larger, yellow kat. "You can stay here if you want." The weary mercenaries turned their heads. "Where?" asked Jackson. "You actually have room for six in that little shack?" "We can make do," said the kat. "Hey, we know what it's like to be in debt."