Futuristic Unlit IC

[Dragongal]

Adira noticed Lydia's nervous glance, and offered only a slight shrug. The metal of Adira's helmet wrapped around to cover the bottom third of her face, and dark glass covered the front. In the corner of her screen, she could keep track of the drone footage Kestrel was filming. The descent was easy enough, thanks to the thrusters on her boots. They weren't typically good for much except the true emptiness of space, but they slowed her descent as she slid down with less caution than Kestrel but enough to be safe. She stayed behing Lydia and kept a hand on one of her pistols, especially when they saw the small ship.

While the others investigated it, Adira stayed close to Lydia, but then started moving to the hole through which Kestrel's drones had gone. According to the footage, it was safe, so Adira drew one of her pistols and stepped inside to look around better. The pale blue interior lights didn't provide much illumination, but she could clearly make out where she was stepping and the debris on the ground. This place was almost disturbingly immaculate. For the moment, she stayed right near the entrance until Kestrel or Stratton could back her up. "So, while all of you are looking at that empty ship, I'm gonna suggest we should try to find the owner before they find us."

 

[Viper Actual]

Staying close to both Kestrel and Kepler, Stratton followed suit as the team descended down the decline and advanced towards the structure and the ship beside it.

With Kepler investigating the ship Stratton kept his rifle trained at the breach leading into the structure.

Noticing that Adira was approaching it Stratton joined her. "I got you covered," he said over the squad comms.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia Camden​

Adria’s shrug didn’t exactly comfort her, but all the same Lydia started down the incline. Her suit had no thrusters or anything of the like, but she didn’t suffer much for it, only had to work a little harder on the controlled slide down the incline. The low gravity made it slightly less difficult.

As they approached the building, Lydia tapped into Kestrel’s drone feed.

‘Oooh, this is spooky spooky spooky. Unpleasant.’

She had her phaser pistol in hand the whole way.

As she and Adira crept through the ruin, Lydia glanced through the dark corners of the rubble.

There were all sorts of small things. Shrapnel, of course, and small pieces of foreign tech. There were also some interfaces, presumably for whatever factory-like things in here, in a language indecipherable to her.

‘Hey, Cap, you’ve got that translator thing, right? Does it only work with listening-speaking, or does it do anything for reading too? Also, Kepler, is any of this techy-looking scrap familiar to you at all?’

Lydia gestured to the dark corners, forgetting that her teammate couldn’t see over comm what she was looking at.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira hadn't intended for the teams to split up, but there they were, with Team Doctor apparently all going into the mouth of the beast. She wouldn't complain, it was nice to have some backup, but she really didn't trust Stratton to not shoot her "accidentally". He still needed to prove himself to her and so far that hadn't happened.

Adira sighed at Lydia's question, "It's only for audio-oral translation, unfortunately." The translator implanted in her neck was incredibly useful, but had its limits. Undiscovered languages were tricky, she could only get the general emotion or gist of what the person was saying, but fully known and studied languages she could understand perfectly. She saw that Lydia was gesturing toward something in the darkness, and instead of asking questions, she pulled a flashlight off of her belt and shined it into the dark corners. It lit up the interfaces, and more metal. Not much of interest to her. "Can't even tell what those interfaces are for, without a translator. I wouldn't suggest poking them too much, either."

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler listens to Silas' instructions and begins combing the underside of the ship for the described cable. When he found it, he produced a multi-tool and sliced the cable with its small laser cutter. The ship responded appropriately, and Kepler stowed his tool away before turning back to face the others. "Vessel has been disabled. Returning to original objective to evaluate new findings." He called out, lumbering after the rest of the crew to investigate what they'd found. Entering the room, he sweeps it visually once and notes the curious lack of gravity.

"The room's layout suggests there ought to be artificial gravity, though the breach seems to have disabled it." He remarks, taking a few more strides into the room, apparently feeling completely safe despite the circumstances. "No handrails for zero-g maneuvering, and no logical use of available vertical space if this was meant to be zero-g." He explains, in case anyone hadn't followed the logic. "Suggests highly developed intelligence. Artificial gravity that doesn't depend on rotation is considered a highly advanced discovery, usually hundreds if not thousands of years after rocket propulsion. Computer interfaces are.. intriguing. Data presentation suggests binocular vision, though keyboard layout suggests four or five fingers. Doorways and high ceilings suggest mammalian life, given rare incidences of reptilian bipeds and the fondness for simulated sky through high ceilings." He continued theorizing, coming to a stop in front of the nearest interface.

"That said, this unit is not a xeno-archaeologist or a biologist. It just enjoys reading."

 

[Epiphany]

Kestrel patted Kepler on the back after he finished up on the spaceship, then sighed slightly as she saw the rest of the crew had already headed in. That left it to her to hold up the rear, which she did with half an 'eye' on the drone feeds. It took an act of will not to dwell on the asteroid surface itself, though. This wasn't a large rock, it only had negligible gravity. But there was a cold, austere beauty to it. It'd been forged from the fires of the stars uncountable ages ago and here it spun out in the blackness of space, dimly lit by little more than starlight. The lack of atmosphere just made everything sharper, clearer, more distinct than one might imagine. Kestrel had discovered most humans saw the clarity of space to be unnervingly sharp, too acute, too vivid. She'd often had the opposite experience; this was natural out here, it was planets that were thick and muffled and full of so much mass and environment that they washed out the native starlight of the galaxy.

It was beautiful out here. The alien structure was a contrast, its pure, clean, angular environs were, well, alien. Beyond belief. Of course, most of what she'd seen since leaving the Mutter's Spiral hadn't been any more familiar. Still, hearing Kepler's dissecting of the environment for clues was an education.

She lingered outside the breech just long enough to flick out another drone. This one, she left hovering over the entrance, its thumbnail-size and low frequency emissions making it ideal for keeping an eye on things. She ordered its cameras to sweep both the parked ship and the entrance, in case someone else got the crazy idea of following them in.

Nodding in satisfaction, the tall blonde let the rest of her crew ogle the unknown architecture while she resumed her place in the lead. For all that Kestrel liked being on point, she wasn't stupid about it. She kept one drone with her for now, but sent the other ahead to scout out the terrain while she slowly advanced behind it. Her rifle remained down, aimed about five feet in front of her at the floor, but she'd taken it off its sling now. With cautious tread, she strained her senses for a sign of a recent disturbance...or hell, just a door she could recognize as a door within the structure itself.

Needless to say, she went in first. Hesitantly. Maybe that vibration in the asteroid had been a coincidence, going off when her drone flew in. And maybe not.

Spoiler: What I was listening to while writing this post and imagining the asteroid surface

 

[Solar Daddy]

Once the team passed through two sets of doors, clearly designed similarly to airlocks on human ships, the inside of the hallway connecting the large center dome to the industrial one the team had entered was wide and filled with dust covered crates. Half of the tube was in the ground with the other half above grade level, which created the semicircle look from the outside. The hallway was barely lit, with the only sources being a few sparsely laid out emergency floor lights. Other than that, most of the objects in the packed hall were simply outlines against these dull red lights. Other than these, the sun on the horizon passed barely through the cracks of the inner workings through dust covered windows. It was clear that there were two distinct paths - one for smaller, human sized creatures, and another for some being at least 4 meters tall. The tone of the reflective and sleek metal walls and clear interface surfaces was entirely absent in this horror-like hallway, where signs of care for the interior were lost.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira looked around cautiously while Kepler spoke. His analysis was pretty good, even if it wasn't exactly her main focus. Hopefully they could just find that research team and get out, but Adira wasn't seeing much in the way of signs of life, so they had to go deeper. Their progress was slow, and Adira was checking every dark corner for movement. Her main focus was protecting Lydia. If Lydia died, they would all probably die. She held one of her pistols in both hands, ready to fire at any threat. The gun felt weightless in her hands, and not just because of the near zero-G.

They had barely entered the hallway when a loud bang could be heard ahead. Instantly, Adira had her gun trained on the location the sound had come from. She made sure to stand in front of Lydia, but she was still in pretty good standing to shoot at what seemed to be a humanoid.

"Hands up, step into the light!" Adira shouted, and could be clearly heard through her helmet. This could be one of the researchers hiding - it would be stupid to shoot one of them on accident. "We've got a lot of guns trailed on you, don't be stupid!"

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler was reluctant to leave the first room. There was still so much to do, so much to observe, though the others seemed more wary of it than curious. He’d have to speak to them about it later. Kepler remained behind, pistol in hand, and explored the room using his magnetized soles to remain steady on the floor. His optics swept over it in IR and UV, looking for anything of interest until he realized the red-orange silhouettes of his comrades had vanished.

Tracking them into the hall, he found them bracing weapons down a hallway and he holstered his pistol before slinging his shotgun around and snapping it to his shoulder. Thumbing the EM-trigger, the gun hummed as it prepared a slug. Usually he’d jerk the (entirely aesthetic and for warning purposes only) pump action for a loud ka-thunk, but he wasn’t sure what they were aiming at and whether or not it would know to be intimidated. He really would prefer not to fire until he had better gravity, but he’d rather float a bit than be killed if it came to it.

“This unit is providing rear overwatch.” He chimed in on comms, dropping to a crouch and sweeping his barrel over the room they’d left, keeping an eye on other entryways in case they’d been surrounded.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia Camden
​

Lydia very much agreed with Adira that touching the unfamiliar interfaces should be avoided, especially if nobody could understand them. Lydia was about to ask Kepler again if he knew anything about the miscellaneous tech scattered over the floor, but was interrupted by a loud metallic clang. Her gun was raised to the general direction of the noise, and her free hand darted to the first aid kit on her back, ready to set up at another moment’s notice.

This could be a survivor, they might need help—

Oh, yeah, there was also the vehicle outside. This could be that person too.

Either way, they might know something about what the hell happened here.

‘If they come at us I’ll take the first shot, see if a stun puts them into submission before we try bullets. Please,’ Lydia whispered to her team. She had a faster reflex than most anyone else here with a gun anyway. If it was a stun gun and she didn’t have to worry about hesitation to inflict lethal injuries. Besides, unless anyone else could see through the dark, Lydia would know before any of her other teammates that whoever was there was taking hostile action, even if it was only moments before. Moments can mean death in battle.

Looking through the dark at the offending corner, Lydia saw someone shrunken against the wall.

‘She does not look like a researcher,’ Lydia stated quietly enough that she’d be heard only through the comms.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira and Lydia​

Adira wasn't happy about this situation. She could hear Kepler advising them to kill the girl, but she didn't want to kill a potential ally - this girl might know where the researchers are. "Gonna take a guess that you ain't a researcher, and that that ship outside is yours. Are you a scavenger?" Adira kept her pistol trained on the girl's head, now that she could see her a bit better as her eyes adjusted to the light.


Lydia gave no external reaction to Kepler’s suggestion of lethal force, but she already was planning how to try and explain that killing is bad and that it should absolutely not be their go-to.

When the person fell against the ground before coming out of the dark, Lydia immediately became suspicious. Not only did it seem forced, considering how she’d been acting before she thought she was visible, but Lydia’s diagnostics showed nothing more abnormal than an elevated heart rate. Which was easily attributed to having several guns pointed at her.

‘She’s faking it,’ Lydia responded immediately, this time off the comms, and only loud enough for Adira to hear. ‘I’m very very sure she’s faking it.’ All the same, her other hand didn’t move, still ready to prepare the first-aid setup.


Adira glanced at Lydia and nodded almost imperceptibly, then turned her eyes back to the woman on the floor. For once, Adira cocked the hammer back on her pistol. This was mostly for intimidation purposes, but also meant that one shot would have the strength of three, just forcing the gun to have a long cooldown. "I don’t believe you. Tell us the truth and we won't kill you," Adira growled. That was a lie. If this woman told the truth and it was acceptable, Adira would give her a chance - with a gun still at her back, but a chance nonetheless. If this woman told the truth and the truth was unacceptable, and there was no further information to be gained, Adira would shoot. Scavenging wasn't a crime in Adira's book, nor was being curious, but something like murder was typically a crime.


‘What did I just say?’ Lydia almost whined. ‘Let the one with the stun-gun take the first shot, I thought.’

Adira ignored Lydia and kept the gun leveled at Jane's head.

 

[Viper Actual]

"Covering," said James over the squad comms. Soon enough both Adira and Lydia would be able to spot Stratton as he emerged on the side. By the look of things he had been tugging the wall for cover and remained relatively unseen as various machines and devices had masked his approach. From a tactical standpoint it wasn't optimal as it limited his field of view but in this situation it felt good to have the upper hand. A bright blue laser sight was turned on and trained at the unidentified woman.

Hoping that Adira would continue to take the lead James also hoped that the lady in front of him was sensible enough to not try something stupid.

 

[Solar Daddy]

As the group bickered with the newfound stranger, a few things abruptly happened that caused even more chaos to the situation. On the other side of the grating under James' feet, something small and quick sped by in an attempt to get away, though it was unclear what it was. At the same time, much like the way the ground shook before when they first entered, the facility seemed to reverberate from a large object impacting somewhere in the area. Lastly, the door at the end of the hallway opened with a loud hiss, and once it opened, a tall, dark figure, not even able to be distinguished with Lydia's night vision, loomed in the doorway. No features were visible, and it seemed to almost radiate a darkness to the surrounding areas of where it was. With a few sets of clicks and strange noises, the figure shifted, and after one last repeat of the foreign language, the being fired some kind of projectile at Adira, which was bright and almost illuminated the entire room for the split moment it was flying through the air. The first hit missed, hitting the ground behind Adira and causing a blinding burst of light that only lasted a second. Despite missing, however, the being shifted a bit, staying where it was, and seemed to rack another round into its unidentifiable weapon.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira turned her attention toward this giant... thing. If she were prone to fanciful imagination, which, she rather was ever since Silas had convinced her to try reading for leisure, she would almost say that this thing was made from the darkness of space itself. Of all the strange enemies she had faced, this had to be the weirdest. Really, in her time off the grid, she had seen a lot of things that were rather unexplainable and borderline supernatural - but this was up there in the rankings. She felt bad for anyone who feared the isolation of space, because it sure seemed like that was what they were facing. The unknown, empty, all-encompassing darkness that could drive crews mad. That beautiful silence that could provide serenity or insanity.

Whatever.

Adira turned her gun on it and fired her extra-charged shot at what she guessed was its head. To Jane, she said, "Temporary alliance! Doc, get behind cover and fix her, now!" Adira pulled out her right pistol and fired a few rapid shots while her other recharged, again with a more powerful shot loading on her left pistol.

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler heard the shot before turning to see what had spooked the rest of the crew, his eyes searching blindly for the thing in the darkness. He flicked first to UV and found nothing unusual, but then without a cue his optics flared to the blue cold of the room illuminated by the burning red silhouettes of his comrades. The thing at the end of the hallway, despite its void-like appearance on the visual spectrum, radiated the heat signature of a tall, lanky biped. He wasn't sure what disturbed him more - the figure, or the way his optics suite had changed of its own accord. A bug, maybe.



P̷̡̧̣̗̭͈̺̪̰̺͖̝̀̓̈́̀̍̓̔̔̒̎̂̃͌Ṛ̵̞̭̖̘̂̈́̑͊̈́̽͂Ę̶͓̙͕̰͖̙̈̈́̊̂̾͆̀̌̂̄͊̆̀̌̾̕͝͝Ş̷̢͈̺̦̰̮͇̤͎̬̫͓͕̜̮̈́̈́̊͋̿̚ͅE̷̫̝͈̼͍͚͔̿͂̉̍͊̑̽̈́̍̅̐͆̌̉̎͌͠R̶̝̙̤͈͈͛̓̅́͗̾̑̈́̉̒̾̕͝V̷̧̢̜̣͇̗̤͙̱̺͍̖̹̫͈̯̠̩͊̑̈́̐͌͛̓̓͋̃͊͌̉́̌̚͘E̶̘̳̯͋̀̔̆̏́̀̚͝ ̷̧̦̭͉͑̊̏̇͌͆́̀̔̚͜͝Ű̵̝̙͓͎̻̾̏̑̽̅́̃̌̔͐͜͜͝͝Ş̷̢͎̖̬͇͓̻͍͔͉̲̘̱̪̥̟͓͍͕̀̈̓̀̒͐̽̃̿͘͜͜͜ͅͅ




The text crawled across his vision from top to bottom, effectively blinding his left eye for the few moments it took to pass through the edge of his vision.

"Oh dear." Kepler murmured to himself, then activated his adrenal implants. As he'd hoped, they kicked in as commanded and a white-hot rush of energy flooded his system. He didn't have a shot from behind the group, but ---




Ġ̸̯̬̹͙̮̺̣͎͓͔̮̩̥̣͜ͅǪ̵̛̘̫͖͎̟̰̝̙̭̲͑͛͌͑̆̏̂͌̑̀͘͝ͅƠ̸̡̫̤̙̬͙͇͙̮̗͍͓̟̠̣̬̩̫͎̥̳͑̌̃̑̉͊̂̒̏̆̓̾̿̎̚͘ͅD̶̛̝͆͆͒̒͂͂͂̂̏́̈̂͌̃̉̓̽̓̾͝




Steadying himself, Kepler maneuvered without leaving his crouch to get behind better cover, keeping himself out of the enemy's line of fire while allowing him to continue covering the room behind them.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia Camden
​

‘What the fuck?’ Lydia asked softly. ‘What in the actual fuck? Did—Cap, did your translator thingy catch any of that?’ Lydia had already holstered her gun and extended a hand to the person who had melodramatically feigned injury. Diagnostics, however, noted hyperventilation. Suddenly this person wasn’t actually faking it. At least intentionally.

‘Alright, what’s your problem? The real one. Talk fast. Also, start moving.’ Whether or not the person took Lydia’s hand, she took theirs and dragged them to their feet, then as far behind her teammates as she could get, which was about to their point of entry, the massive hole in the facility wall. She rushed both of them around the outside corner, as far beyond the line of sight of whatever the hell that thing was. On the way out she tapped back into the comms.
‘Silas! There’s a thing and it’s big and Adira shot at it so it’s probably also angry! And we don’t know what it actually is. Thought you should know. We also found the person whose ship that is. Alright, see ya!’ She muted her end again

Speaking of, they’d have to interrogate this person later anyway, so might as well ask a few things now. She could multitask.

‘How and how long ago did you get here, anyway? And do you know what the hell that thing is? Also, I assume that’s yours,’ Lydia gestured the disabled vehicle while she took the first-aid kit off her back and opened it up. ‘So you used that, but how’d you get it on this rock in the first place? Here, take an oxygen tank. Air is always a good thing to have, isn’t it? Anyway. Why did you come here? You obviously aren’t a researcher. Far as I know researchers don’t tend to carry guns, yeah? Oh, yeah, who are you, by the way? I should’ve asked that first.’

 

[Viper Actual]

Instinctively James pressed his rifle against his shoulder, spun around and opened fire at whatever it was that had sped past him and vanished into the maze of machinery behind him. Before he could call out what, why and when all hell broke lose. When the figure first appeared James made sure that his helmet was recording several backups but when it opened fire and seemingly cleaved the room with a beam of light his priorities changed.

Like the seconds before James' military training kicked right back in as the veteran soldier-turned-envoy sidestepped into cover slowly while unleashing burst after burst of specialized anti-armor kinetic rounds at the unidentified hostile.

"Contact! Contact! Unidentified X-ray engaging us!" Yelled James over the squad comms once he was in cover. While inserting a fresh magazine into his rifle he couldn't help but hope that the others had some plan to take this thing down.

 

[Solar Daddy]

The being, now able to be seen in the brief moments of light with each gunshot through the thick mist, looked decrepit and downright horrifying. This time, instead of a series of clicks and unknown noises, it lowered its head and opened its mouth wide in a scream that shook the entire station. Flaring its arms out, it seemed unfazed by their weaponry. The bullets clanked off its chitin exoskeleton, and any energy rounds seemed to be absorbed into the armor. pulling back into its previous stance, standing straight, it was easy to see the size of this monstrous being; around 4 meters tall, the being was clearly the thing needing the extra head space around the station. With a few more loud screeches, it fired another bolt of light at James, and quickly chambered another round, firing this time at the fleeing Lydia and Jane. It screeched whenever a round hit it, but no visible damage seemed to be done. When the team wasn't firing, the thick fog surrounding it persisted and blocked any view of it, making it notoriously difficult to aim for the head, especially since ever time the light from the gunfire ceased, its head was in a different location as it constantly shifted in place, either as a method of intimidation or to attempt to make hitting it more difficult.

Silas quickly responded, "What's going on down there? Do you need backup?" Silas asked, frantically searching through the camera feeds to see what was happening to his team. When he switched to James view, he gasped and began preparing to go out there and assist his team. "Is the person hostile? Can you kill that thing?" He asked to the group chat to no one in particular, but the way James had called out contact had made him worry even more.

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler barely registered Lydia fleeing with a captive, too caught up in his own head. He'd always wondered when his time would come, when the first tics would start to appear. Had he been deluding himself, mistakenly believing he would notice the early signs? For the first time in his life, Kepler was forced to confront a bitter, bitter truth. Knowing the nature of the problem did not always prepare one for it. It was like falling from a plane with a broken parachute, he supposed. Knowing the laws of gravity did not mean he was safe from them.

Thinking about how to proceed would have to come later. In the moment, he had to react to the threat. In the low gravity of the first room they'd entered, he flowed from cover to cover, his robe billowing like a cloud as he bounded to get a shot at the enemy. His Bullroarer already had a slug prepared, and he lined up the shot carefully at the base of the thing's thick neck, relying on his IR optics to provide some accurate information when it became clear visuals weren't up to the task.

"Do not fear for us, Master Burns. The situation is not yet out of control." Kepler replied, then braced his body for the recoil and squeezed the trigger once he had a clean shot. The barrel of his gun spat a foot long spray of flame and sparks, then roared as it flung an 8-gauge slug down the hallway.

 

[Epiphany]

The antics of the scavenger would otherwise be concerning to Kestrel, but she had a competent team and they were more than up to the task of dealing with the distracting woman. Meanwhile, she kept her eyes on the surrounding environment, well aware that she couldn't take anything for granted or assume the place was harmless just because nothing moved.

Until something did. The impact to the complex suggested an asteroid had impacted on this one, or possibly there was mining or some kind of industrial process producing that much motion. It was a lot more activity than the overflights had detected. It was also hard to imagine the researchers doing that (on purpose) which suggested the presence of something else here.

And sure enough, something announced itself when that tall dark figure stepped out from the end of the hallway. Kestrel's rifle went up but she held her position while it tried communicate. "I don't understand you," she answered back. Until it answered back with a gun.

The blonde soldier's response was to drop behind one of the crates for cover and open fire. Each flash of muzzle flare illuminated a hideous visage and Kestrel grimaced as bullet after bullet failed to penetrate its armor. She sent two drones to flank it on other side, one to try getting a better picture of any weakness, one to make sure nothing else arrived to surprise them. The first at least failed. This wasn't ideal first contact at all but Kestrel hadn't been bred to be a diplomat (that's what Cumberlands were for). Instead, her mind raced as she considered her options. The whole output of the team's collective arsenal hadn't made much of a dent. It was time to try something else.

Thanks to a drone hovering behind her, Kestrel spotted Kepler level his 'big' gun without having to turn her head. The cyborg gave her just the distraction she needed. She slung her rifle back on the suit's anchor points, then gripped the old crate she'd hidden behind. Big, bulky and pretty damn massive, it was just what she needed. Kestrel's muscles contracted...and then the Implant that had taken over her body amplified that force, the iron-carbon composite of her bones and part of her musculature adding vastly more lifting power than a human should be capable of. Her feet braced against the floor as augmented leg muscle launched her forward.

As the recoil of Kepler's gun cleared and the flame and sparks faded, Kestrel arrived right after, aiming to pin that alien against the wall with a crate hopefully too heavy and durable to break through.

 

[Solar Daddy]

The nightmarish creature had reacted to Kepler's shot to its neck, and despite seeming to do damage, it did seem ticked off from the blast. It instantly focused its attention on Kepler, preparing another charge of its light based weapon, but didn't focus at all on Kestrel and what she was doing. Before it could fire off a round, the crate had abruptly collapsed over onto to it, and pinned the creature to the door it had sealed on it's way in. The black mist surrounding it dissipated after a short time, leaving them to see its disfigured and unique exoskeleton. The screeches of its wails of torment from being trapped were reverberating through the metal floor. Despite there being no sound for them to hear it with, the wailing from the being clearly trying to pry it's way out from behind the container was obvious and would no doubt be ear shattering if there were a medium for the sound to travel through. Despite being pinned, the being began attempting to escape from behind the crate, and although it couldn't exactly lift it, the creature did shift the weight of the crate enough to be unsettling and seem to be only a temporary solution.

 

[Viper Actual]

Peeking out of cover momentarily James could see that the rest of the crew were in fact charging the unknown attacker. He wasn't sure if they were incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. James shook his head. I guess I'm about to find out.
Stepping out of cover just as Kepler got his shot off James witnessed Kestrel pin the being against a wall using a container. With his rifle pressed to his shoulder and trained at the being he advanced quickly while moving sideways to keep Kestrel out of his line of fire as much as possible. Once he was at a safe angle and distance he began to fire short bursts while maintaining a steady approach.

With only a few meters remaining James ceased firing, secured his weapon and pulled out a small boxy device from one of his pouches. "Thermal charge coming up! Stay clear of the blast!" The latter was more or less directed at Kestrel seeing as the area of effect of the anti-bulkhead explosive was concentrated to just a mere half-meter. Still, he didn't want to risk turning the tall blonde into a pool of melting metal and burned flesh.

That said James armed the charge with a click and did a low throw, sending the charge gliding on the floor until it reached the feet of the being.

 

[Epiphany]

Kestrel's arms jerked back and forth as she stabilized the crate pinning the alien. She kept her total concentration on managing the heavy weight, hoping her fellows would follow up as soldiers and Cavanaughs might. They weren't soldiers unfortunately, most of them. But this alien's psychology and physiology were utterly unknown to her and she couldn't afford to have it do something unexpected while she was distracted.

Thankfully, the Waning Stars liason acted exactly as she'd hoped, moving in to hit it while it was pinned. She heard 'thermal charge' and immediately glanced over to see him sliding the incinderary device right at the creature's feet. Thankful for the low gravity, Kestrel pushed off the crate with her arms, launching herself backwards into a skidding slide as she flew clear of the burst radius.

As Jane approached from the side, Kestrel nodded at the other woman. "We make sure it's down and stays down. Then we find the researchers. Any intel you have on this base's layout or their likely location would be appreciated."

Her tone was quick, clipped and professional but polite enough. On one hand, this visitor was an unknown element herself and could easily betray them. On the other, Kestrel knew civilians...or at least, she knew soldiers and plainly this woman wasn't one. Any danger from her would likely be indirect. But that shield, though, she'd never seen anything like it.
Silently, Kestrel's neural link sent directions to her deployed drones to swivel out and start checking out the entrances, monitoring for any reinforcements that might arrive. She sent one down the corridor ahead to reconniter, well aware that the lack of sound in this vaccum meant a greater liklihood of being surprised.

 

[Solar Daddy]

As the being writhed in discomfort from being stuck behind the crate, pinned to it by Kestrel, it continued to regularly screech at levels that would probably shatter glass if they weren't in a vacuum. The second Kestrel had pushed away from the crate, it began starting to push it away slowly from its body, starting to get free. It paid no mind to the explosive residing at its feet, and soon had made enough space to get out from behind the crate. The second it began creeping out from under it, its jaws wide in a deep hiss, and the black mist beginning to surround itself once again. However, in a blinding instance, the ordinance from James went off and illuminated the hallway with a blast of corrosive light that enveloped the being. The thermal device shook the station much like the being's screams did, causing a few objects to fall from shelves. When the dust settled, they could see a clear impact crater where the device was. Half of the crate was completely gone, with the other half blown away into bits of shrapnel, including its contents. The being remained, laying in the crater, with only up to its knees completely incinerated. The rest of its body was blackened like soot, charred seemingly to a crisp. It didn't move, and it didn't react to any of the crew's movements. The chitinous exoskeleton, after a moment, crumbled away and soon the visor from what appeared to be its helmet fell off, leaving only its unburned head and lanky, thin body remaining. On its body they could see rather large pores that secreted a small amount of black liquid, that began floating around the being like an aura.

Silas instantly chimed in. "Is everyone okay? Is it dead?"

 

[Dragongal]

The entire time that her crew was attacking, Adira was staying in front of Lydia and doing what she did best - shooting at things. Her hope was to keep its attention off of her teammates to some extent, seeing as how she couldn't actually hurt it. It was frustrating that this thing had the sheer audacity to just not die. Such hubris.

Kestrel's strength was impressive to say the least, and her ingenuity was greatly appreciated. James tossing in a bomb was actually rather appreciated - Adira was very glad to see that he hadn't turn and ran like she expected he would. The charge went off, shaking the entire complex, then silence fell. Once the light dimmed, they could see that the bomb had done its job, and slowly the helmet crumbled away to reveal its disgusting face. Nasty.

Adira leveled one of her pistols at its head again and pulled the trigger, shooting into its skull. "Pretty sure," she casually answered Silas's question. "I don't know if it was the heat that took out its armor like that, or the explosion itself. I don't care to find out. We need to get out of here before more show up. If there were researchers here, there's no way they're still alive."