One of the data salvaged from the main computer was complete base schematics. Looking over these, it was apparent that there were maintenance crawlways around the power plant; and that these gave access to the level above, coming out in the section of the lower laboratories that had been sealed off by collapsing the roof.
Jacques and Reagan located the two hatches on either side of the plant control room, and, opening them, guided a sensor ball along the narrow passageway in a complete loop, proving the passage clear. That done, Jacques, Uriah, Verral and Reagan squeezed in - at a metre square, this was a challenge in combat armour! - and worked their way down to the little circulation space under the labs.
Having scouted the upshaft with the sensor ball, Jacques climbed the 20' ladder, and arrived at the top hatch. Tuning his audio pickup high, he listened; above, sounds of movement indicated something alive in the room beyond.
As he had before, he ignited his lightsabre and drilled a hole in the hatch above. This time, however, there was a definite reaction. The sounds of movement increased dramatically, rising to a skittering of many clawed feet moving towards the new hole. Sending the sensor ball upwards through the hatch and to the ceiling of the room beyond, he was treated to a remarkable sight.
The room above was a second laboratory, similar to the other one but slightly smaller. Equipment and furniture was scattered widely around the edges, most of it badly smashed and torn. Squarely in the centre of the room, moving purposefully towards the pierced hatch, was a remarkable creature.
Around ten feet long, a tapering, segmented body was supported on six multi-jointed legs. Several black eyes glinted evilly at the front; antennae waved, and two huge pincers were poised to either side of the massive head.
Moving around the fringes of the room were several much smaller creatures; similar in some respects to very small Leapers, they had much less powerful rear legs and appeared less intelligent in their movements.
Just visible in the wreckage were three human bodies, dressed in the shredded remnants of lab coats, badly ripped around the midsection, the trunks almost completely gone.
As the large creature reached the hatch, Jacques thrust upwards with his sabre. A deafening squealing and thrashing from above indicated that he'd injured the nightmare beast, though it didn't seem weakened at all as it began to hammer at the hatch with its' claws; dents began to appear in the tough metal. Making another hole wide enough to fire a rifle through, the sapper retreated down the shaft to make way for Uriah and Verral, who peered through the gaps and launched a flechette RAM grenade each into the upper room.
There were two very nasty explosions. Deadly razor-sharp chunks of flying shrapnel filled the laboratory, effectively completing the destruction of any of the contents that might still have been intact. The large monster shrieked again, though its' armour deflected some of the hailstorm. The smaller creatures were not so lucky; four of the six were ripped to shreds by the metal fragments.
Through the sensor ball, Jacques could see the monster rear up and issue cloud of vapour from a previously-unseen gland under its' chin. Dark orange and strangely heavy in its' movement, the cloud roiled across the hatch and began to seep through the fire-ports being used by the two marines.
Uriah contented himself with a blast of gauss fire before dropping back down the shaft to the bottom; Verral had elected to reload his single-shot RAM launcher with HEAP instead, and though he got his shot off, the noxious gas had reached him before he could drop away from the hatch. Clinging to his head and shoulders, it covered the surface of his armour in a peculiar way, half-way between a liquid and a gas.
As the Corporal dropped down to the landing below, Jacques noted that his parting shot had been most effective. The rocket grenade struck the monster neatly under the chin and drove into its' body; the subsequent explosion wasn't very impressive from the outside, but the creature dropped dead on the spot, its' insides pulped within the segmented armour by the blast.
Below, Uriah had grabbed a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall near the access crawlway, and sprayed Verral liberally to clear off the smoke. It was a good idea; the stuff clung to the extinguisher powder and dropped off onto the floor. Where it had been, Verral's armour was pitted and roughened, as if something had been trying to erode its' way in...
Bug Burning (click for larger image!) |
Jacques unlatched the remains of the hatch and climbed into the room. Almost immediately, he was confronted by the two smaller monsters leaping headlong at them; but his flamethrower was ready and a bloom of fire roasted both in mid-air. There wasn't much left in the room, but he and Maid Marian were able to establish that the three dead scientists had died as their body cavites were exploded from within by...something. |
Sarge called his platoon to order, and patched in the Lieutenant waiting above. "Men, we're in waaay over our heads here. This is obviously some sort of Government operation, controlled up at Sector level, not some bunch of Frankensteins dabbling with a chemistry set. Sir, I suggest we get the hell out of here as soon as possible."
"That's a plan, Sergeant," responded the officer crisply, "get yourselves to the Starport as quickly as possible." Uriah chipped in with a suggestion of destroying the base. There was a pause, then: "Yes; do it," decided the Lieutenant.
"Do you want to take the Egg?" asked Reagan, referring to the contents of the Stasis Tube. "No!" rapped Sarge and Stalker, almost simultaneously.
Once the comms link was cut, Jacques went to talk to Sarge. "Sarge? You know those Jump Torps?" "Yes..." "Well, I...uh...sort of...fired one."
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"You fired one?!" "Um, yes. With a message. But it won't matter. You can get a lot of grenades into one of those things..." There was a pause. "Alll righhhht, ladies. Pack up! We're moving out. Phartwell, de Molay, set your bombs up on the power plant; if you can't blow the reactor, at least collapse the upper levels. Everyone else, withdraw to the reception area, meet up with Art and Gramps. Move!!" |
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Uriah and Jacques returned to the power plant, and Jacques set his charges while Uriah experimented to see if he could sort out how to set the plant to overload. The controls, however, were so badly damaged that he couldn't see any way to improve on Jacques' bombs, and so he left it.
As they retreated through the dark, echoing, deserted base, Jacques called out, "Hello? We're going now. We're going to blow the place up."
Somewhat to the marines' surprise, they found Art and Gramps unmolested in the lobby where they'd left them. Even more surprisingly, they emerged from the Grassy Knoll and returned to their lorry unhallenged. Jacques clicked off the safety and thumbed the button on his remote control; with a dull "whump" a cloud of dust announced the permanent closure of Elbane Base.
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The lorry trundled along the road at a reasonable clip; Sarge, consulting his map box, was confident they would reach the starport in around five more hours. Around them, a leafy forest scattered the sunshine in pleasing patterns, and everyone began to feel more confident. The radio clicked into life, and Cassandra's voice echoed in their helmets. "Lads, I'm getting some strange readings from the forest you're in." She sounds uncertain, maybe slightly worried. "It looks like part of the forest's... moving..." |
Immediately everyone was on the alert again. Sure enough, half a mile later, they came upon a peculiar sight.
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About 150 yards ahead, the road was covered with a strange substance. About two to four feet thick, it was stranegly fibrous in texture and a peculiar yellow-purple in colour; it appeared to pulsate slightly. The lumpen mass extended right across the road and disappeared into the forest on both sides, covering the gound under the trees. It covered the road as far as they could see (to the next bend). About 150 yards further on, under the trees, it seemed to form a slightly raised lump or mound. |
Something under the trees... (click for larger image!) |
The lorry came to a sudden halt. Everyone except Art and Gramps piled out, peering across at the strange substance. Jacques sent a sensor ball up to hover over the mound; it had feathery tendrils on top, which appeared aware of the orbiting probe, and massive curved roots arcing out of the main bulk and disapearing into the ground on all sides.
Some sort of test was called for. Marines being Marines, this took the form of Uriah loosing a RAM grenade at the mound. The munition streaked under the trees to the target, and a violent thrashing of the mound and the surrounding surface of the substance announced a successful hit. Encouraged, Maid Marian, Reagan, LZ, Dead Ted, Verral and Sarge all lined up and began to loose off RAM rounds at the target.
Watching the sensor ball, Jacques noted a sudden movement at the base of the Thing. The two roots nearest the marines suddenly constricted, then bulged massively and went still. Not understanding, he blinked at the display.
With no other warning, a 3' diameter cylindrical object speared up out of the ground directly under the lorry. With shocking sudden violence, it smashed straight up through the floor, out through the roof, lifted the whole vehicle ten feet into the air, and dumped it over on its's side next to the road. Another one erupted from the ground directly under Sarge, tearing through his body as if it were paper, killing him instantly and scattering bloody gobbets in all directions.
Battle in the Forest (click for larger image!) |
The next moment, both spears had retreated below the ground. Yelling, the marines scattered, looking for some form of cover from this terrible attack. Jacques checked inside the lorry; Art and Gramps were spread all over the inside and the sapper could see at a glance that there was no chance for them. He grabbed their dogtags and dived back outside. |
The survivors continued to pound the Thing with RAM grenades, dodging and ducking as the two terrible spears exploded out of the ground again. Looking at them, they were a reddish-black colour, but clearly of similar ilk to the monsters they'd been fighting so far. One came up so close to Jacques that he was knocked over; as he fell, he drew his lightsabre and slashed wildly, severing the end 15' of the spear. From then on, only one attacked the marines.
They realized that the Thing in the woods was launching these attacks, and that there was a gap of about three seconds between it pushing them down and the spears emerging; that if the target moved during that time, the spear would miss.
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The RAM grenades were damaging the Thing, but not enough; sooner or later, it was going to get lucky again. Verral punched in a call to the Brazos above, desperately calling out co-ordinates for an orbital bombardment. Cassandra complied. The first salvo was miles off; the second was right on the button, and the Thing ceased to exist. |
Cassandra Cuts Loose! (click for larger image!) |
Gasping for breath, the marines noticed that the horrible carpet covering the forest floor was not only repairing itself where the explosions had torn rents in it, but was expanding, creeping slowly, especially towards the splattered body of Sarge. Jacques experimentally played his flamethrower over it. It crisped and charred, but once the heat was shut off, it quickly regrew.
Ignoring his comrades' rather disgusted glances, Reagan picked up a small piece of what had been their NCO and dropped it on the substance. Fascinated and horrified, they watched as tiny tendrils grew through the meaty chunk, breaking it down and carrying it inside, until it was completely gone. Based on this, Jacques added a satchel charge to each of the dead marines, leaving them in the path of the substance.
Lieutenant Stalker's voice broke the quiet. "You're in command now, Mr Favager...."
LZ gathered his toolkit and set to repairing the smashed drive-shaft of the overturned lorry.
