The cavern was lit with activity, some of the criminal operatives inside of it discharged their weapons at the malevolent artifact. Others still reeled from the vivid flashbacks each of them had gone through moments before. A flash of red erupted from the sharp dressed man's handgun, then a follow up shot was launched by the female assassin. Both attacks were ineffective as at the very last moment before they would have hit their mark on the artifact, a forcefield caught both shots. It shimmered the same red as the ancient object, then disappeared from the naked eye's view.
Callum grasped his assault rifle tightly, almost as if he was pressing it into his body. He was still recovering from the all too intense vision. As the tattooed man blinked himself back to reality, he watched as two point blank shots taken at the artifact did nothing.
What the hell is this thing?"So prone to violence, that is one of your greatest faults. A failure in your evolution, a vicious reminder of the past. You answer with violence? I shall retaliate with my own. Filth needs to be cleansed." The artifact spoke into each of their minds, it's tone deathly serious.
Then suddenly the ground at the back of the cave began to rumble and move. A mechanical four finger hand emerged from the dirt, then another. The ground in the area was shaking and shifting as more hands emerged, then finally a robotic
head. The buried machine pulled itself from its grave and stood on two long, metal legs. It was a lean creation, wires hanging out in spots, rusted metal splattered along its form. It had two arms on each side of its body. Its right lower most arm was no hand, instead a large cannon was crafted onto it. The three 'eyes' on its head then lit the same red as the artifact.
It shambled forward towards the group of organics as the ground continued to shift behind it, quickly six more of them emerged. All identical to the first, once all had removed themselves from the soil they marched forward, then leveled their arm cannons at Callum and others. He lifted up his own weapon, and aimed towards the old machine horde coming towards them.
"Get back, there's no cover her. Get behind the transport!" He exclaimed as he squeezed the trigger, a rapid burst of bullets slamming out and into one of the machines' leg. The limb tore off, dropping the menacing robot to the floor. Then in a surprise move, old gears shifted inside of the robot as it stood back up, using one of its fingered hands as a makeshift leg in tow with the remaining leg. The head was now towards the left side, the arm cannon raised above its form.
"Bullshit." Callum muttered to himself, mostly in anger, and partly in surprise. The machine he had nailed just adjusted itself like nothing. He was going to kill every single last Fed if he got out of here alive, they had to have known something. This was unnatural, absurd, utterly alien.
"We need to get out of here!" Callum roared as he fired his rifle once more, bullets knocking one of the robots over. They had begun to return fire now, the arm cannons making an almost screaming noise as they fired out blue bolts, comparable to lasers. One of them nailed the ex-pirate in the leg, doing a number on his shields.
As he bite his lip in frustration, his helmeted eyes noticed small cracks in the ceiling above the artifact. He had no time to mention this as more shots barreled towards him, two missing nailing him right in the chest.
The console Tesra was hacking into continued to light up, as the moans of the approaching undead grew louder they were overshadowed by a computerized voice speaking from the hacked console.
"Defense systems on line. Unknown hostile lifeforms detected. Any non-evacuated personal are recommended to head for either of the two safe rooms. Emergency security drones are being deployed to clear the area." Around the facility ceiling tiles folded open as five
drones emerged from them. Each of them shone flashlights as they glide in the air, constantly scanning in front of them. The first one to find one of the twisted undead could be heard speaking to in a dry robotic tone.
"Alert, alert. Identify yourself or stand down." The undead monstrosity glared at the floating drone, then lunged towards it, missing by a foot as the machine glided above it.
"Hostile lifeforms must be eliminated, the area must be secured." Then a laser emerged from the bottom of the drone as it opened fire at the undead creature. Rapid bolts of red crashed into it, sending it to the ground then swiveling down the hallway as the drone continued firing.
"Alert, head for the safe rooms, alert." The console's voice stated to Tesra, the screen showing a map of the facility with both areas lit up by markers. One was not far from her current location. On the floor near the Lanun was a keycard connected to a chain. An employee ID.
Noise could be heard outside of the ship's hangar, more of those
things were coming. Something was different. They seemed to know what was inside the ship. A group of six huddled together, then their skin shifted and molded together. Six came, now they were merging to form one massive monstrosity. The process was sickening to watch, for a moment there was just a blob of limbs, clothing and bones. Then it took a somewhat humanoid form.
Then two thick legs emerged, closer to tree trunks than limbs, each four feet in length. An arm shot out from each side of the monster's frame, long, heavy instruments which formed crude hands at the end of them. They gave off the appearance of muscles. Finally a head emerged, it was like two skulls were glued together, both faces scrambled together as the mouth gaped open. The twisted, disgusting monster's 'skin' jutted with bent bones. It was a good ten feet in height, bulky like a bodybuilder.
The same shriek that the undead were making before came from this new creation, it seemed to only be amplified in loudness. The monstrosity shambled towards the ship, then up the hangar. It paused at the bottom of the door as it glared at Jackal, then let loose an unnatural roar, flexing its barrel-like arms.
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