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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5216549" data-attributes="member: 143">Well, virtual shelf, anyway; I'm only publishing them as eBooks for now. * * * Session 23 (September 29, 2008)Chapter 98“You sure you okay, there, chief?” James asked.  “Fine,” Vasily said.  “Cause that spitter thing made hell of your armor.”  Vasily didn’t need to look down to see the gaping holes in his breastplate and helmet; he’d already seen them, openings large enough to stick a finger through, or in one case, an entire fist.  Thankfully the damage hadn’t crippled the armor, because without the mechanisms that drove power to the arms and legs, he’d have no choice but to ditch the whole suit.  But if an alien got lucky with a plasma weapon it could really ruin his day.  “Fine,” he repeated.  He heard a sound that had him spinning around, back toward the communications console that Catalina had been trying to crack.  “Gunshot!” he yelled, charging forward into the small room they’d discovered in the depths of the alien base. The first thing he saw was that much of the room was on fire; Catalina was staggering back, coughing as smoke wreathed her head and shoulders.  Vasily tried to grab her, but the British agent suddenly stopped and reversed herself.  “Dammit, my phone!” she exclaimed, darting back into the flames, grabbing something from the console.  Even then Vasily had to physically grab her and drag her clear, leaving the flames flaring and sputtering in the wreckage of the control room. “How’d that happen, Cat?” James asked her, as she shook her head at the blackened remains of her xPhone. “I jacked in, and found a signal coming in, looked like it was coming from space.  I was trying to hack the security, see if I could pinpoint the source, when the console went up.”“Clever aliens,” Vasily said.  He activated his communicator.  “Jane, Hadrian, you clear rest of base?”He got his answer when Hadrian appeared in the doorway.  “Found a few more aliens in some of the back rooms,” he said.  “They were pretty messed up, didn’t put up much of a fight.  What happened here?”“Alien security.  We need to—” He was interrupted as the floor started to shake.  The rumblings grew more intense, the walls joining in, until the entire base was trembling around them.  It lasted for a good thirty seconds, until the shaking abruptly stopped. Mary appeared in the doorway.  “Oh!  What’s going on?”The Alphas shared a knowing look.  “Time to say hi to the battleship, eh?” James said. They made their way back to the surface, checking their gear and weapons one final time.  “Anyone have any plasma ammo to share?” James asked.  “I’m almost out.”“Not me, I’m down to nothing,” Catalina said.  She’d already taken out her laser, and was charging it up, double checking the power lead to make sure that it hadn’t gotten loose in all the knocking around she’d undergone.  “Eighteen shots left,” Jane said. “Thirty-three,” Hadrian said. They passed the remains of the HWP, surrounded by the mangled remains of the sectoids.  “Sandesh is going to be pissed,” Catalina remarked.  The air grew noticeable warmer as they approached the tunnel entrance; water was flowing freely down the ice walls, forming puddles that they splashed through on their way up.  “I think it outside,” Vasily said.  “So here goes nothing?” Catalina said.  “Yah,” Vasily returned.  “We all ready?”  He glanced back at the others, who were still talking about their ammunition supply.  Shaking his head, the Russian led them out of the tunnel and back out into the rough Antarctic weather. His first thought was that they had been underground longer than he’d thought, and night had fallen.  But then, as he stared up into the shadowy half-light, he realized that what he was seeing was the bulk of the alien warship. The ship was… huge did not begin to describe it.  It loomed over them like a crouching giant, supported by massive pylons that spread out from its center like splayed legs.  He could see one of those landing struts about fifty meters ahead; it was as thick around as two railcars laid side-by-side, the ice around it forming a crushed berm from the weight of the ship.  A dense mist had risen, which he realized had to have come from the energy released by the ship on its landing, which had vaporized a layer of the ice under it.  The ground was treacherous, the footing growing more unsteady as the moisture recondensed and formed a new layer of ice, but his heavy footfalls crunched it under his boots, and he was able to make his way forward. “Wow,” someone said behind him.As he drew closer, he could make out the outline of the ramp that led up into the ship.  A dim glow was visible from within, but no aliens had presented themselves as of yet.  “Here go,” he said.  He activated his communicator, trying to raise the Lightning, but all of the channels save for the local link to the other Alphas were dead.  He hoped that it was just normal interference from the ship, and that the aliens weren’t waiting for them, setting a trap. Well, it wouldn’t be the first trap that Alpha had sprung.“On your tail, Vas,” Catalina said behind him.  The others were having a bit of difficulty managing on the ice, but they followed, strung out in a line that lengthened behind Vasily. “Losing initiative,” Catalina said, looking back as they approached the ramp. “Come on, we need go,” Vasily urged, his boots clanking on the alien material as he transitioned from the ice to the ramp.  He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the others were catching up, then started up the ramp, into the ship. The ramp deposited them into a broad chamber that was very much reminiscent of the architecture of the other alien vessels they had explored, only much bigger.  The entry consisted of a large central space bordered by tall arching pillars that melded into the floor, walls, and ceiling.  Between those pillars were nodes that contained the familiar recessed alcoves that the aliens used for biological storage; these appeared to be empty at the moment, although they could not see the full extent of them from the entrance.There were several exits evident, open passages and several of the narrow iris-doors around the perimeter of the place.  One of those doors flared open as they entered, and a hulking alien stepped into the chamber. It was a new alien, one that they knew from the accounts of Beta Team.  It stood taller than even Vasily by a full foot, with a bulky frame that seemed almost to bulge with muscle.  It was clad in a bright green bodysuit that covered it from head to toe, with only the purple oblong of its face visible.  That face was vaguely human in form, but the solid red orbs of its eyes were anything but.  It carried a heavy plasma cannon that it lifted and fired, the incandescent bolt narrowly missing Vasily as he moved forward. “Cover!” Jane yelled, darting toward the nearest pillar.  “Run for cover!”  The remaining Alphas were coming up the ramp, firing as they ran.  Plasma bolts splashed into the doorway around the muton, and one clipped its armored shoulder, flashing brightly as it exploded.  But as it cleared, they could see that while the bolt had left an ugly black smear, it didn’t look like it had done much more.  Mary appeared at the top of the ramp, looking a bit disoriented.  The alien shot again, and once again it narrowly missed Vasily, who was running full-out across the room toward once of the niches, giving the muton a difficult target.  The bolt streaked past the Russian and hit Mary a glancing blow to the shoulder that flung her around, knocking her roughly to her knees.  “Cover, Mary!” Jane yelled, firing and hitting the alien squarely in the center of its chest.  She got its attention; the alien shifted and shot at her, the plasma bolt exploding into the pillar a split second after Jane ducked her head back behind its cover.  The impact blasted a hole in the structure of the pillar, showering Jane with shards and fire, nearly knocking her off her feet as well.  Catalina ran after Vasily, keeping her head low, although the muton was not looking her way.  She had nearly reached one of the alcoves when a doorway recessed in its depths split apart, and another muton stepped through, ducking to fit through the low opening.  “Gah!” Catalina exclaimed.  She tried to dodge and fire all at once.  It was almost impossible to miss at that range, but all her laser did was draw a slightly discolored streak across its torso.  The muton merely stepped forward, sweeping one of its huge arms across her path.  Its fist smacked into her chest and launched her like a catapult stone into the nearest wall.  She hit with a sickening crunch, and crumpled in a limp heap, unmoving. Vasily heard Catalina’s cry, and turned to see the alien standing not ten feet away, and the British agent falling to the ground.  “Oh hell,” he said, as the alien turned toward him, and pointed the business end of a plasma rifle directly at him.</blockquote>

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