What seemed like a reasonable timetable for an in-and-out operation quickly became narrower.
Cyne reactively and quickly reoriented himself into an alerted stance the moment the frame of the
Crimson Fang rocked under the explosion of a nearby destroyed asteroid, courtesy of Macklyn's shooting. Once that fact was made clear by Sven over the comm channel, Cyne took the moment to ease off some the sudden tension that had naturally came over him. But now that live firing had been conducted, they now were running the risk of some unwanted individual nearby, maybe hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, taking notice of the unnatural and artificial activity. Planning upon the now greater chance of undesired attention of passerbys, Silas established an order for Cyne, Gaz, and Gerad to split off the moment the
’Fang landed and make their way towards the
Balrog's bridge while he himself and Macklyn vector to the heavy cruiser's generator to restore power.
Divide and conquer. Given the most recent developments, the original idea of paving forward as a single group was no longer a feasible or timely sound method.
It wasn't long until Sven located the
Balrog’s starboard hanger and moved their craft in to approach with Macklyn’s Lancer coming up from the rear. Typically, most larger ships possessing this kind of hanger bay configuration utilized specialized environmental force-fields, ensuring oxygen and other gases would remain in the ship while space craft could freely pass through without triggering a decompression event. Of course, if such a catastrophic event did occur, resulting in the force field suddenly deactivating, thick sliding bulkheads built into the walls around the hanger’s entrance would immediately seal off the large portal into space, preventing personnel and other important assets from being claimed by the void.
What Cyne found odd however was that the bulkhead seals were disengaged, still folded behind the
Balrog’s armored hull. It was evident now that large vessel had suffered a completely total power failure; an extraordinary rare scenario thought to be impossible due to required safety measures and an abundance of preventive and redundant mechanical and electronic systems. He tried to restrain the sudden thought of what those unfortunate crewmembers still within the supposedly protected hanger were thinking the moment the force field dropped without the bulkheads engaging to save them.
Miraculously, several of the
Balrog’s auxiliary craft still resided within the hanger, managing to remain in place during the likely decompression event. It would’ve been reasonable to assume that the transports were either tethered down or magnetically clamped to the hanger floor under their own power. Cyne couldn’t tell as the ‘Fang and the Lancer strolled on in though it wouldn’t matter to him for long. Sven eventually reported in and verified that oxygen levels were obliviously non-existent but also artificial gravity was offline too, ultimately confirming Cyne’s earlier predictions. On Silas’ order, Cyne lifted and closed the lower assembly of his helmet over his mouth, finally removing any exposed fleshiness of himself from the outside and now behind two inches of personnel armor. His HUD came to life with a plethora of diagnostic charts pinpointing the current environmental suitability readings within his lightly armored, yet secured outfit. A green-lighted ping popped into the HUD, concluding that life support was active and providing him with sustaining oxygen. He was ready to go.
Once everyone else was prepared, the
Crimson Fang’s rear cabin hatch unlocked and opened wide, prompting the sealing ramp to unfold and deploy. Silas was the first to exit and made his way to the Lancer to group up with Macklyn. Cyne then moved forward and gestured to Gerad and Gaz to rally with him,
“On me! Let’s go get our payday.”Like Silas, Cyne pushed himself out of the
‘Fang and into zero gravity, using his momentum to push himself forward while moderately using his suit’s boosters to correct his vector to a preferred course. Using their intel on the
Balrog’s deck layout Cyne lead both of his teammates toward the bridge via one of the more straightforward paths that didn’t lead them deeper into the ship; they didn’t have the time as a luxury for going through a maze of crew quarters and other casual facilities. As Cyne forged ahead, he made limited but precise use of his gravity boots. Had they a fairer timetable, the boots probably would have been ideal for walking through complex inner confines of the
Balrog where flying through the Zero G in such narrow turning corridors would've been a painstaking chore. Instead, he used the boots to help him briefly stick to either the floor or one of the adjacent walls just long enough to propel himself forward.
Eventually, the path they took brought them to a section of the heavy cruiser designed as a long expressway destined for the bow or stern of the vessel, depending on which direction someone were coming from. The large and lengthy corridor hosted multiple moving walkways which were ideal for many of the crew in operations or logistics to quickly reach those sections they were needed in. But without proper power, the passageway platforms were still and the corridor itself was claimed by darkness. However only partially. As it turned out,
some power persisted to cycle through the deck but only enough to just barely keep the red emergency lights active. Unfortunately, the slow pulsating red glow emitting from the corridor trenches occasionally shut off and then flickered back on erratically.
But when a full glow cycle was achieved, the lights revealed grim outcomes of what had happened to the crew of the
Balrog. Once discovered, Cyne’s HUD was quick to point them out and mark their exact position in the darkness but by now, Cyne and company were already using the lamps built into their suits to light up the space ahead of them. Streaks of blood were smeared all over the floor and the walls, following instances of deep tears into the inner hull as if something thickly blunt, yet sharp, cleaved into the sturdy surfaces. Cyne continued to scan his surroundings. He eventually spotted small blackened holes in the walls and ceiling; evidence of more than one energy-based weapon discharging. Clearly, a savage struggle had took place, but it was too bloody for a firefight. There was also one key element that was missing. The bodies.
They were all gone.
It didn’t take long for Cyne to take notice of a series of large red trails leading out into smaller hallways, going deeper into the ship,
“What the hell happened here?” he finally voiced up. He would hear the others’ opinions, but it was unlikely they would get an answer soon until they reached the bridge.
“Let’s get going,” he eventually said before increasing the thrust output of his suit’s directional boosters to propel him faster. The fate of the
Balrog and her crew had just become far more mysterious but for all the wrong reasons; nothing was right about what they saw.
As it so happened, there were more surprises awaiting them. Only a minute later after they left the expressway, they arrived at another corridor where the exterior hull was evidently compromised, leaving much of the deck they were travelling through exposed to space. The large gash in the hull however was particularly unusual. The wound in the ship seemed to lack any notable features of an explosion or that of a torpedo impact. No blacked surfaces or sheers of hull plating pushing inward or outward, just stripped; torn away. Cyne knew they didn’t have time gander at the large hole showcasing the stars out the other side but based on the signs on display, this particular hull breach as well as many others were not created by any weapon he knew of.
Two minutes later, they had arrived at the bridge. The large space hosted a number of elevated levels where command and communications crews would be stationed at and ensured the
Balrog maintained operational efficiency. Those crewmembers however were also gone as Cyne, along with Gaz and Gerad, came to the same grisly and shady scene as witnessed in the expressway; tons of blood stains and yet no corpses. This didn’t sit well with him at all.
Of course, it was about to become worse. Sven then reported in on the comms that a group of three cruisers were on their way.
Fantastic, he sarcastically thought. Silas’ voice then filled the comms, querying Cyne’s status.
“We’ve reached the bridge, boss. Though we came across quite a bit of carnage on the way here. I’m sure you may have seen it to,” he replied just as he was tapping away at an interface underneath his left arm,
“I’d rather we not linger here any longer than we have to. I’m prepping Pathfinder to get life-support online and to pull the ship’s database once power is online. On your mark, sir”After getting Silas’ confirmation, he deployed his partner-in-crime, Pathfinder. The drone was no longer than two feet in diameter and about a foot and a half in height. It propelled itself through the zero gravity via two rear multi-directional thrusters in addition to the top and under belly jets were a duo of machine guns were fixed to. Pathfinder hopped off from the docking mechanism located on the back of Cyne’s suit and issued a quizzical chirp.
“Yes, the place is awfully bloody looking but you’re not the one having to walk through it are you?” Cyne replied. Apparently the drone’s question held some sarcastic tone to it,
“now, lets find the main command console. Likely it’s on the top platform.”Pathfinder complied with a series of honks and flew the top open floor. Cyne in turn, directed his attention to Gerad and Gaz.
“Did you hear that? We’re gonna be getting some unwelcomed company soon. Assuming that this takes longer than I'd like, be ready to repeal boarders.”Minutes later, after Pathfinder had located the console they were looking for, Silas and Macklyn had managed to restore the
Balrog’s main generator, prompting power to flow through the crippled vessel once more. A slight rumbling could be felt as the generator charged up from the bowels of the ship. Eventually the ship’s lights flashed back on, followed shortly by life-support and then artificial gravity. Cyne’s HUD quickly alerted him the improving climate around them as oxygen levels began to rise while any miniscule debris or toxic particles that had managed to remain were sorted out and by the filtration system. Once the weightless dissipated, confirming the full restoration, Cyne unlocked his mouth guard and lifted his visor up and took a deep breath. Despite the
Balrog’s terrible condition, some of its main systems at least were working fine.
Cyne then quickly turned his head to the loud beeping coming from Pathfinder, alerting the group to a change in their operation. Cyne climbed up to the top platform where the ship’s captain would've been stationed at and glanced over the console. The screen it displayed showed a map of the entire vessel, a much more detailed one than the one they relied on when getting to the bridge. Pathfinder pinpointed a number of changes occurring in the decks closest to the outer hull.
“Heads up fellas,” Cyne said through the comms,
“now that life-support is up and running, the ship’s bulkheads are engaging and sealing off those decks that are exposed to hull breaches. We’ll likely need to find an alternative path back to... Wait.”Cyne’s sentence ran off as he noticed a change on the console’s map. There was movement occurring in one of the central decks; no where close to bridge and not even in the remote vicinity where Silas and Macklyn were located. In fact, the deck was marked as sealed off a minute ago until power was restored. Sven reported no activity from the hanger they deployed from and the sensors from the portside hanger reported the same thing. Obviously, the cruisers had not yet come but now it was clear that someone, or something, was still on the ship.
Their misfortune soon peaked again as one of the most ghoulish, inhuman of screams Cyne had ever heard echoed throughout the still active corridors of the entire ship. Pathfinder drawled a worried tone while Cyne slowly turned his head toward the main hallway leading to the bridge; the only hallway available that they took getting here,
“Please tell me I’m the only one that heard that.” Cyne spoke with apparent worry and concern in his voice. He honestly was hoping that he was just hearing things as the result of inhaling something in the air, but given their luck, he anticipated getting a confirmation instead.
Pathfinder again brought attention back to the console screen, this time having made a few modifications which now allowed the console to display real-time movement picked up from the thousands of hallway sensors installed on the heavy cruiser. What Cyne was now seeing instilled dread within him. The sensors were picking up hundreds of individual contacts spreading throughout the Balrog's inner decks. The drone eventually uplinked the daunting and terrifying data to everyone who had a HUD of sorts, now keeping everyone on in the loop.
It was then that Silas' distressed voice suddenly filled the comms,
"Be on guard, everyone! Looks like we have a Hi- Get Down!" Cyne couldn’t catch the last part of Silas’ transmission before the communication link roared with gunfire and more inhuman screaming. Cyne tried to re-establish contact but the line couldn’t connect. Either it was being refused or Silas was...
Cyne’s drone then yelped a high-pitched honk, alerting him and Gaz and Gerad that whatever was attacking Silas and Macklyn was on their way and were only several yards out via their mini-maps. Cyne could already feel the floor trembling as if a stampede was approaching them. The feeling wasn’t far off until he eventually saw what was making its way towards them.
The Hive. That’s what Silas was trying to warn them about. The damnable Hive; a massive swarm of beast-like creatures known to eradicate entire planets by killing everything on the surface before stripping the planet of its resources. What they were doing on the
Balrog however Cyne didn’t know but at the very moment, he couldn’t care. All that mattered now was fighting off a large wave of Swarmers recklessly charging right for them.
“Weapons free!” Cyne called out as he brought his rifle to bear,
“light ‘em up!”Cyne took quick aim and zeroed-in on the lead Swarmer being its pack to bear on their three meaty-looking victims. Without hesitation, he squeezed the trigger and the rifle resonated a loud bang as a magnetically-accelerated slug shot forth from the barrel and sped towards it's intended target like lightning. The round caught the ugly creature right in it's head, entering from under the jaw and straight through the brain and finally out the top of its skull. The Swarmer died instantaneously and the creature stumbled and crumpled into the ground catching at least three other of the creatures and bringing them down with it. Cyne's round however wasn't done however. After exiting the skull of the first Swarmer, the needle-shaped slug continued down it's path and struck the upper spine of another Swarmer in mid-pounce. The creature's back exploded in green-blooded gore and fragmented bone. It howled in agony as it when down, taking an additional two other Swarmers down in clumsy fashion. Amazingly, the creature still lived and angrily hissed to bring itself back up but it's now paralyzed-body failed its killer desires.
Cyne then noted that the pack was now breaking off into two groups.
@AtholA group of about five of the Swarmers settled their sights on Gerad, thinking the Garundin to be easy prey due to his height. One of the lead Swarmers, far ahead of its packlings, was the first to reach Gerad, although only just a few meters away, and leaped for him. It's gave bore murderous intent and opened his maw of razor-sharp teeth in an attempt to bite down on its prey.
@CaptainSullyThe other group appeared more organized and concluded the Fungai to be the more threatening, or maybe the more juiciest when compared to their other two meals. The pack assembled eight Swarmers and maneuvered around Gaz in attempt to overwhelm him. Two of the Swarmers then lunged right toward the Fungai, seeking to pin down their large prey before disemboweling it.
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