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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5105470" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks for the bump!* * * * * Session 16 (August 4, 2008)Chapter 59“That was a new type,” Catalina said, looking down at the corpse.  “Might have been a good idea to capture it.”Vasily looked at the floater, and the mess that had fallen from the blackened cuts in its body.  His VDU still identified it as “floater medic.”  “I not shedding any tears,” he said.   The Alphas made their way warily across the charnel ground that had been a quiet cow pasture just a few hours before.  Floater bodies, and pieces of them—Vasily’s explosive rounds had been very effective—were scattered about.  The HWP rolled along behind them, its turret scanning back and forth for targets.  The fight had been quick and decisive.  Once the firefight had started, the different groups of floaters had been quick to converge on them.  But the gas grenades had disrupted the first group, who’d barely gotten off a handful of wild shots before they were cut down.  The other groups had started shooting from further away, but again Alpha had the advantage, able to use the landscape for cover in a way that the bulky floaters could not.  Doctor Sandesh’s promises about the improved targeting systems in the HWP had also proven true; the little tank had cut down several aliens with precise pulses from its laser. Now the alien ship loomed over them.  This one was even bigger than the cruiser they had encountered at the All-Mart, with large bulges jutting out from its ovoid form. “Maybe there’s more inside,” Cecilia said. “Usually is,” Catalina said.  They found the entry, sitting at a slight angle; the entire ship had settled slightly off-kilter.  Up close, they could see the damage that had crippled it; an entire engine nacelle had fractured, the alien hull trailing tubes and wires where the damage had occurred.  There wasn’t enough of an opening to force entry, and in any case, they were wary of the harsh fumes that rose from the nasty wound.  “We go in, we go in hard,” Vasily said.  “Tear gas, the works.  We set?”Catalina was still working the door controls.  “Seems jammed… ah, there,” she said, as the door split and retracted into the hull of the ship.  The familiar ramp led up into the alien ship, but she only had time to catch a glimpse of the floater hovering near the top before it blasted her with a plasma bolt in the chest.  The impact knocked her off her feet, and she landed hard on her back.  “Damn!” she yelled, as Cecilia and Jane quickly dragged her clear.  She grimaced, but looked intact; her armor had absorbed most of the force of the shot.  “They’re prepared,” she managed, as the two pulled her to her feet, out of the line of fire from the hatchway.“You think?” James asked, breaking out a medikit as he rushed over to her.  Vasily tossed a gas grenade up the ramp, and followed it with a stream of explosive shells that flashed in the mist like firecrackers.  Another plasma bolt came down from above but went wide, striking the threshold of the doorway as Vasily ducked back into cover.  Cecilia came up to the other side, and at Vasily’s nod leaned around the edge of the open doorway, her M4 in firing position at her shoulder.  The gas was clearing, and she could see the limp form of the floater lying at the top of the ramp.  “Looks clear,” she said.  “Going in?”Vasily looked over at Catalina.  “I’m fine,” she said.  “Thanks, doc,” she said, letting out a deep breath as the contents of the medikit worked their way through her body.  “All right,” Vasily said.  “Let tank go up first.”  Cecilia stepped aside for the HWP, which rolled up the ramp, its treads trampling the remnants of the floater as it made its way into the antechamber at the top.  Behind it, Cecilia and then Vasily moved warily into the room, followed by the others.  The ship seemed to be laid out like a long cylinder laid upon its side.  From the chamber, they could see a long passage that led deeper into the ship ahead.  It was marked by regular niches that were occupied by bulging sacks of organic matter that pulsed and twitched with movement inside. “The hell?” Vasily asked.“What’s this stuff?” Catalina said, warily approaching the nearest niche.  “Cows?”“Watch corners,” Vasily warned.  As they moved further into the passage, they could see that some of the niches were larger than the others, and a faint glow shone from one of those.  “That is lift,” he said, pointing ahead.  From further down the corridor, beyond the lift, he caught a hint of movement.  He raised his weapon and started to shout a warning, but a small orb shot out of the darkness, striking him in the gut.  There was a slight concussive pulse followed by a puff of vapors that closed in around him like a fist, and he stiffened, his muscles freezing.  The HWP fired, but it wasn’t clear if it had scored a hit. “Vas?” Catalina asked.  They all turned to see the Russian topple over.  James rushed over to him.  “Bah,” he said, recognizing the effects of the alien stun weapon.  “Cat, any incoming?  How much time do I have?”  He took out a stimulant and stabbed the ampule into Vasily’s neck, but they hadn’t yet developed an effective antidote to the alien small launcher; it just took a few minutes for the effects to wear off.  “Just hold on a sec, big guy,” he said, as Vasily’s body clenched with his efforts to fight off the alien weapon.The agent moved forward, the HWP rolling along behind, Jane and Cecilia not far behind.  They passed the lift and another large annex that held some bizarre-looking alien equipment, a cross between a construction yard and an operating room.  Thankfully, there were no bodies there.  Neither held the alien that had attacked Vasily, so they kept forward to the end of the passage, where it opened onto another larger area.  Catalina sidled up to the edge of the wall, and after glancing back at the other two women to confirm they were ready, leaned around the corner, scanning the room with her laser at the ready.  The chamber was occupied by pillars that rose organically from the floor to the ceiling, each supporting banks of alien machinery that seemed to be built into their structure.  The area was dark, and Jane turned on her LED, the bright beam stabbing into the shadowy corners of the room.  “Movement!  Behind that panel!” Cecilia yelled.  Fire erupted from her rifle as she poured rounds in that direction, the bullets flickering as they crashed into alien machinery.  Jane’s light swung around, and caught a dark form as it ducked behind one of the pillars.  There was a soft cough, followed by an explosion of vapors as one of the shock bombs hit the wall between Jane and Catalina.  “Fall back!” the British agent warned, darting back into the passageway.  Jane followed behind her, moving a bit stiffly from the effects of the near-miss. “Help!” James yelled.  Catalina looked back to see the first of a half-dozen floaters emerge from the lift.  They were already shooting at James, who dove into the nearest niche, and before she could react one of them turned toward her, lifting its plasma rifle, the faintly glowing barrel pointed, it seemed to her, right between her eyes.</blockquote>

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