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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4976137" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 7 (May 26, 2008)Chapter 19“Everyone get a gas mask from the lockers,” Stan White said.  “Word is that this is a potential biohazard site.”The five members of Alpha Team were strapped into their jump seats in the Skyranger, wrapped in heavy coats over their armored X-COM uniforms.  They wore oxygen masks; the Skyranger was taking a high-altitude approach over the globe to Australia, the craft brushing the edge of space as the planet rotated underneath it.  Stan was seated at the computer station nestled into the front of the Skyranger’s passenger compartment.  He turned in his seat to face the members of the insertion team.  “The message we received wasn’t one hundred percent clear, but this is a secure site, Class 5.  Your uniforms are resistant to contagions and airborne agents; try not to get cut through, if you can help it.”  He hit a button on his console.  “Ken, what’s our ETA?”The pilot’s voice came over the communications system.  “We’re just crossing over New Zealand now.  ETA 35 minutes.”“I have a few of the new medkits,” James said.  “If anyone gets a serious wound, this may be able to keep you going.”“I will stay on board and measure your bio signs and the base outputs from here,” Stan added, turning back to his console.  “Try not to get into trouble.  The containment team is six hours behind us.”“Is worrying,” Vasily said.  “Aliens not seem any kind of poisonous so far.”“I don’t know what you could find, we’re just being careful here, Vasily,” Stan said. “If you see anyone in trouble, Stan, let me know over the com so I can use the medikit,” James said. “Will do, Doctor Allen.”  He nodded to the stun rods, which now had their own rack near the door.  “Remember, we still want to try to get another one alive, if we can.”“Would be interesting to try, yes,” Catalina said, loading her pistol.“Try not to gun down last survivor in firefight,” Vasily said.  Ken’s voice sounded again.  “Okay, I’m starting my approach.  Buckle up, everyone.”Stan ran through a test of his instruments.  “Sensors… check.  External detectors… check.  X-COM team readouts… check.”The ship’s engines roared, and it rattled as it shifted to VTOL mode.  They were used to the fast descents by now, but it still felt more than a little uneasy to be plummeting almost straight down like a rock toward the ground below.  “Gah, I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that shaking,” Cat said. “Cripes, it’s really in the middle of nowhere,” Ken said.  After a pause of a few seconds, he added, “The Base is silent and non-responsive to hails.  ’m going to put down a few hundred yards outside the security perimeter.  Hang on…”The Skyranger tilted to the side, and after a few more seconds of fast descent, its pace slowed, and the whine of the engines intensified.  “And we’re down!” Ken said, as the ship jolted slightly and the engines eased off. They left the aircraft and entered a landscape that made the area around X-COM headquarters look verdant by comparison.  There was a dirt road, but it was so faded that they had to look carefully to distinguish it from the surrounding landscape.  They could see the squat form of the base in the distance, maybe a few hundred meters away, so they started in that direction. They came to a security fence, but its function was somewhat superfluous as the rolling gate stood slightly open.  They moved through it carefully in any case, unsure if the perimeter was electrified. The structure itself was not unlike the one in Nevada; low, massive, recessed into the ground.  The hatch in the front looked very thick, and it was slightly open.  “Someone get out?” Vasily asked, his voice someone muted under his gas mask. “Or in?” Buzz asked.  Catalina bent to examine the ground near the hatch.  “Nothing,” she said.  “Want me to check inside?”“Let’s go together, Catalina,” Jane said.  “Good idea, best not all of us charge in,” Buzz muttered.The hatch opened onto a steep set of stairs, almost a ladder, that deposited them in a long chamber with walls of steel plate.  It appeared to take up the entirety of the structure, with what looked like an elevator set into the far wall. The others followed Catalina and Jane down.  “Lift.  It work?” Vasily asked. Catalina was already checking the control panel next to the heavy sliding doors.  There was nothing as simple as a “down” button, just a numeric keypad.  “Looks like it’s coded,” she said.  “Do you hear that?” Jane said.  “Sounds like machinery, through the floor.  Faint, though.”Buzz said, “I can hack it, maybe.”  At Vasily’s nod, he knelt beside it, looking for a point of access.  There were a few screws on one side of the casing.  A screwdriver appeared almost magically in his hand, and he started humming to himself as he went to work.  After a minute, he grunted.  “I think I got it,” he said, as the steel doors slid open.  A small elevator compartment, big enough to fit all five of them comfortably, was behind them.  The panel on the inside indicated only one other floor, presumably somewhere below.  Vasily waited until they were all clear, then pressed it.  The doors slid shut, and after a long moment, the elevator started down.  It descended for quite a ways, maybe a hundred feet, before the doors slid open to reveal another dimly lit steel corridor.  Catalina lifted the motion sensor, and did a sweep.  Frowning, she looked down at the display.  “Nothing.  The walls might be too thick.”Vasily headed forward, the others close behind.  The corridor ended at another door, set with a large wheel in the center.  Catalina leaned against the door, pressing her ear to the metal.  “Just machinery.  Open it?”Vasily nodded.  James shifted his rifle.  “Sure,” he said.  “Well, it’s that or turn back,” Buzz said, but Catalina was already turning the wheel. Gears in the door drew back, and the door opened.  As she pulled on it, they could see that it was easily four inches thick.  The space beyond looked like a office at first glance, until the floors of steel plate and bare pipes in the ceiling gave it away.  Faux wooden paneling had been affixed to the walls, and they could see a number of translucent doors, of glass or plastic, to either side.  Another heavy steel door was recessed into the far wall.  Three of the five light fixtures were dark, with one flickering, casting an unreal tinge to the scene.  Wary, they moved inside.  Papers were scattered around the floor, as if hastily dropped by someone to preoccupied to pick them up.  “Uh… that blood?” Buzz asked, pointing to a corner.  James headed over to the splotch on the floor.  “Human blood, fresh,” he said.  Vasily pointed at a faint trail of droplets that ran across the room to one of the side doors.  Lifting his rifle, he headed in that direction.  The glass doors were clouded, so they couldn’t see the room beyond, other than a vague shadow that could have been a desk, or just about anything.  After glancing back to make sure the others were ready, he grabbed the catch where the door met the threshold.  There was a faint hiss as the door slid open, revealing another office.  The dark shadow resolved into a desk, covered with papers, with more spilled onto the floor next to it.  But their attention was drawn to the limp form in the corner.  The dead man was dressed like a guard, wearing a uniform generic enough to have been either military or private security. James bent over the dead man.  “He’s been dead a while, maybe a day.”“Did he crawl here, or was he dragged?” Buzz asked. James was examining his wounds more closely.  “Gunshot wounds—doesn’t look like a laser or plasma weapon.”Catalina sat on the edge of the desk, examining some of the papers.  She paged through about a dozen, taking a few and folding them, putting them into the pouch at her belt.  They continued their search.  The next room looked like some sort of medical lab, with various equipment and machinery scattered around its perimeter.  In its center were a pair of metal tables, on which two corpses had been laid.  These two had the look of administrative personnel; after a quick examination, James reported that one had had his neck broken, while the other had been stabbed six times by a sharp, unevenly shaped object. “What was this place?” Jane asked no one in particular.  “What were they doing here?” “Is no good theorize,” Vasily said.  “We move.  Do job.”They went to the last glass door, leaving the steel hatch for now.  This one resisted Vasily’s touch at the handle.  “Locked,” he said. Catalina knelt beside it, and pulled out a few small tools.  After a few seconds of poking at the mechanism, there was an electronic pop, and the mechanism clicked.  The door slid open, revealing a wavering, bloody mess of a man holding a knife, which he used to lunge at the surprised Catalina.</blockquote>

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