Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5338803" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 30 (November 24, 2008)Chapter 136Jane turned and ran back toward the entry, as Vasily and Hadrian fell back before her, cannons ready to cover her retreat.  Looking between them, Jane saw Catalina lift the snub-nosed blaster launcher, the dark opening of its barrel seemingly pointed right at her.  She dove forward even as the British agent triggered the device, and the football-shaped missile flashed across the room, narrowly missing a charging chryssalid before impacting the far wall, where it exploded.  Shrieks erupted but were cut off as the fireball filled the room, blasting aliens to pieces.  Vasily and Hadrian were flung from their feet, landing hard on their backs, while Jane was caught up and hurled against the far wall of the passage, clipping James’s legs out from under him as she flew.Hadrian was the first to recover, coming up into a crouch, his cannon at the ready.  But there was no need for it; none of the aliens emerged from the maelstrom of smoke and fire that filled the room.  “Next time try to aim it at the aliens, not us,” James groused, as he slowly got to his feet.  Mary was already helping Jane, who was battered but otherwise intact.  “Aliens not complaining,” Vasily said, as he got up.  “It work!”They retreated back to the last fork, and resumed their forward progress through the alien base.  They entered a room at the same time as a quartet of silent ethereals.  The aliens attacked with a wave of psionic energy, but even as the Alphas staggered under the impact of the sudden assault upon their minds, they could each feel an invisible barrier spring up, and the surge of disorientation and pain retreated.  The aliens didn’t get a chance to adjust their tactics, as a quick barrage of plasma bolts and a pair of explosive grenades left their smoking carcasses lying on the floor.  Vasily looked back at Mary.  “That you?”She nodded.  “The psi amp.  I got it to work, finally.”“Good job.”  He led them to the doorway that the ethereals had warded, and looked through into the room beyond.  “Hmm.  Some sort of control room?”  He led them into the room, which looked like an enlarged version of the bridge of one of the larger alien ships.  Curving panels arced around the edges of the room and around the tall banks of machinery in its center, alien technology that included both familiar devices and things they had never seen before.  There were two other exits besides the one they’d come in through, warded by more of the thick alien iris-doors.  Vasily glanced toward the nearest control station.  “Catalina, can you…”Her was interrupted by a twinge in his mind, an odd twisting sensation that had him blinking and raising a hand reflexively to his helmet.  Looking around, he saw that the others were feeling it too.  “I feel something… powerful,” James said, while Mary let out a small shriek and clutched at her helmet with both hands.  “Never!” she shouted. “What’s that?” Catalina said, looking around fearfully, her pistol in her hand.  HUMANS.They all looked around anxiously for the speaker, before realizing that the word had echoed within their minds.  The thought did not offer much consolation. YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU DO.YOU SEEK TO DESTROY THAT WHICH YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND.“I only guy hearing this?” Vasily asked. “We all are, I think,” James said.YOU ARE US.  WE ARE YOU.“What’s it talking about?” Vasily asked.  YIELD.  JOIN THE UNITY.  IT WILL HAPPEN SOON ENOUGH.  END THIS SUFFERING.“It’s been in my mind,” Mary said, shaking her head, as if that would keep the alien presence at bay. “Tell it to go and stuff itself then,” Catalina growled.WE ARE GOING TO END THE SUFFERING.  WHEN WE SEEDED YOUR WORLD.  SO MANY LIFE GENERATIONS AGO.  WE KNEW WE WOULD RETURN.The Alphas waited nervously.  “What the hell…” Jane began.She didn’t get a chance to finish, as the large door in the fall wall of the chamber began to spiral open.  It revealed a massive, tube-like corridor beyond, through which a coruscating green light radiated.  As the opening widened, they could see four creatures on its far side.  They looked somewhat like ethereals, only each stood a good three meters tall, and their skulls were distended, oblong orbs easily half again the size of a human’s.  The aliens’ eyes were pure black orbs that shone as they fixed onto the Alphas. YOU CANNOT RESIST, the alien voice in their heads said, and then they were hit by a devastating wave of mental force, a surge of psionic energy that slammed into them with the force of a jackhammer.  The Alphas screamed and staggered, stumbling as their brains overloaded with the sudden assault of stimuli. They couldn’t even see the elder ethereals as the aliens shambled forward to claim them.</blockquote>

Verification