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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5316300" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 28 (November 10, 2008)Chapter 127They found the Elerium storage crystals in a small room just off the hangar.  The place looked almost like a segment of an alien base that had been grafted onto the human facility, but the main interest of the Alphas was the four brightly glowing crystals that rested in recessed niches along the walls.  Vasily and Hadrian went right to work hooking up Grace’s containment units. Out in the hangar, Jane was trying to figure out the intricacies of the alien scout ship.  They’d all had extensive experience with the alien control systems, and Jane was a trained pilot, but they’d never actually flown one of the alien vessels, if you didn’t count the brief and less-than-successful Wisconsin flight that had ended with the spectacular farmhouse crash. Their supplies of medikits exhausted, they’d had to rely on more traditional first aid for Jane and Catalina.  Jane’s armor had absorbed most of the alien laser beam, although she had second-degree burns across a big swath of her torso, and she would be in a world of hurt once the painkillers Mary had given her wore off.  Catalina was still mobile, but her right arm was bound against her body, and she was having a tough time trying to override the console controlling the outer doors with just one hand.  She was so concentrated on the task, that she didn’t notice the familiar chirrup at first.  But when she finally registered the sound, she looked down with horror at the motion sensor clipped to her hip.  The device’s screen was full of bright white indicators, which started to spread out as they drew closer. “Incoming!” she yelled.  She turned and ran to the inner doors, the one that connected the hangar to the rest of the complex.  She tried to activate the controls, but the doors, heavily damaged in the fight with the alien mech, failed to close.  Glancing down at the motion sensor, she saw that the device’s computer had updated the screen with an estimate of the approaching force. Seventeen aliens, class muton.  Twenty-two humans, class armored soldier.“Oh crap…”Vasily and Hadrian appeared, carrying the heavy cylinders, their charge indicator LEDs glowing brightly.  “A small army,” she said.  “Let’s use the ship,” James said.  They had to take care to fit through the small hatch, and were even more crowded inside, but ultimately all were inside the alien scout.  The ship shuddered as Jane powered the main engines. “What about the hangar doors?” James asked. “I couldn’t get them open!” Catalina said.  She moved forward until she was almost perched atop Jane’s shoulder, scanning the alien controls.  “There must be an override in here somewhere…”  Her eyes lingered on a familiar symbol above a small button on the panel.  “I get it,” Vasily said, reaching for the compartment in his armor that held his demolitions supplies.  The entire ship wobbled as Catalina stabbed the button.  Through the viewscreen they saw a bright flash and felt a concussive blast that jolted the ship roughly back; Jane was barely able to keep it from slamming into the rear wall of the hangar.  A cloud of smoke swirled ahead of them, and when it cleared, they could see a broad gap where the doors had stood.“Blast cannon,” Catalina said.  They were greeted by another familiar sound, as plasma explosions started pinging off the hull of the ship.  “Go go go!” James yelled, echoed by Hadrian’s, “Get us out of here!”  Jane pushed down on the controls, and the ship glided forward.  It ascended at a steep arc, and then they saw empty sky above, as they erupted into the open air.  “Hey hey hey, we’re flying!” Jane exclaimed, but they didn’t get much of a chance to celebrate their escape, as the entire ship suddenly jerked wildly to the side, and their sharp ascent suddenly became a just-as-sharp descent, as the view of the sky was replaced by an image of the rapidly-approaching ground below.</blockquote>

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