Chapter 6: What Next?
On their approach back to the research station, Marcus ordered the buggy to stop as he draped a tarpaulin sheet over the body of the dead alien in the back. They had to handle this situation carefully to avoid a panic.
Mary radioed ahead and organized for them to have clear access to the garage. They arrived quickly and smoothly, pulling to a stop inside with the roller shutters smashing closed behind them. No one had seen them, everyone was inside besides some marine guards.
Lammet, Inkerman and the marine sergeant were waiting for them. They all stared at the tarpaulin on the back of the second buggy nervously, none of them missed the tail hanging out from underneath as it scraped along the concrete floor.
"So, it's confirmed then. Let me see it." Lammet ordered, eager and reluctant at the same time to see the truth, the confirmation that they had a very real and dangerous problem.
Marcus pulled back the tarpaulin, uncovering the dead and very intact xenomorph underneath to the gasps and wide eyes of those standing above them on the loading dock.
Inkerman was looking particularly nervous, "You sure it's dead?"
"I put two solid rounds in it. It's dead." Mary reassured him. Marcus took a hold of the alien's frozen open hand and shook it like a handshake for dramatic effect, letting the arm drop down onto the steel tray of the buggy, the arm clanging down and laying still.
Marcus was done watching Lammet and Inkerman stand around scared. "Sir, we need to stow this body in a safe place, where no one can get to it or even find it."
Xiao and his team looked on nervously, uneasy.
The marine sergeant cocked his head and stepped forward, "There's a spare and secure storage area just in the next room through the hallway. I'll lead the way."
Lammet nodded his agreement and Marcus hoisted the dead alien over his shoulder again, the marines and Inkerman flinching out of reflex and skulking away as he followed the sergeant.
"Hey, what's your name anyway?" Marcus quizzed.
"Sergeant Ali-Saad. My nickname is Slick. I been in the service for 'bout 6 years. I gotta tell you, man. First time I've ever seen one of those suckers for real."
Marcus chose not to mention it was the first time for him too. All previous contact he ever had with xenomorphs were via hologram training exercises and presentations.
Slick led Marcus down a steel walled corridor, stopping only a short distance down the way as Mary, Lammet, Inkerman and the other marines followed behind. The geologists were still unpacking their equipment on the buggies back in the garage. Slick stopped at a steel doorway, black and yellow striped stickers lined the outline of the door with a plaque in the centre displaying a prominent biohazard symbol. He swiped an access card through a card reader as he led Marcus inside through a pair of doors, much like an airlock.
"Don't mind the biohazard sticker on the door. The room's air sealed and can contain toxic material safely. No one is authorized to get into this room besides myself, Director Lammet, Director Inkerman and Research Chief Morton."
"Good." Marcus mumbled as he laid the xenomorph down on the concrete floor.
Marcus turned to leave, but Slick couldn't help but stare down at it. He couldn't stop marveling at how one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe was laying dead before him in a storage room, looking like it was sleeping. A bead of sweat gathered and rolled down the side of his forehead as he absently imagined it suddenly waking up…
He jolted awake as Marcus roughly laid his hand on his shoulder. "Let's go Slick. Time to debrief."
"Y-Yes,sir." He stammered and turned for the door, eager to get out. He felt hot and claustrophobic all of a sudden, but the cool air of the decontamination air conditioners blowing down made him feel better, relieved.
As they stepped back out into the hallway, Lammet and Inkerman stood to the side, waiting for him, Mary at ease on the other side.
Lammet looked to Slick first, "Saad, round up the marines and the team in the garage and escort them to Meeting Room 1. Marcus, Mary, follow us please. We need to debrief."
"Yes, sir." Slick, Marcus and Mary replied altogether, standing to attention.
Lammet and Inkerman headed for the main door out into the central hallway, the ghost agents following in behind as Slick went off to get everyone together.
It was an unnerving walk down the relatively crowded hallway as the civilian personnel eyed them suspiciously, sensing something important had happened. They simply stood and stared, stopping whatever they were doing or talking to and watching them. Two of the most important people at the station followed by mysterious and unnerving super soldiers.
Finally, Inkerman turned to a door and opened it, leading everyone inside. It was the meeting room in which Marcus and Mary had originally met Lammet and Inkerman when they arrived yesterday. As before, Lammet frosted up the window out into the hallway, cutting away the view inside from the suspicious civilians outside. They all sat down, the ghost agents again leaning their rifles against the wall and waited patiently and in silence as Slick, the marines and Xiao and his team filed in, finding room where they could in the room. It was a little cramped, but Lammet didn't care.
The last marine stepped in and closed the door behind him.
After waiting a moment for everyone to find a spot to sit or stand, Lammet started off, "Right, well it's been confirmed. A xenomorph presence is on this planet. This changes matters greatly." He turned to Marcus, "Can you please outline exactly what happened?"
Marcus turned and looked to Mary, who explained. "We pulled up at the first site. We formed a circular perimeter around the convoy and manned watch until the scan was complete. Xiao indicated to us when it was and we then packed up and proceeded to the second site where we again formed a perimeter and stood guard. I saw movement in the distance and went to investigate. I then spotted the xenomorph as it blipped on our motion tracker and I took it out with two sniper shots to the upper chest. That was it. Just one drone out on its own, probably a scout. Marcus then loaded it onto the back of the buggy and we headed right back after Xiao finished his second scan."
Lammet nodded appreciatively, "Fine work. Many thanks." He smiled, comparing the solid and efficient work of the ghost agents to his, in his mind, inexperienced and useless marine crew. "Well then. There are two issues we must consider. The first, as I see it, is to gather further intel about the xenomorph presence. We only have one confirmed sighting being the dead one now lying in the storage room." He looked to the ghost agents, "Would you agree we need to confirm if more are around?"
They both nodded together, Marcus spoke up to elaborate. "As Mary alluded to before, it is likely the xenomorph we took down this morning was a scout. It's typical of xenomorph behaviour to have scouts roam the landscape and report back food sources or potential hosts, or for them to act individually and bring it back to the hive. On that basis, I would recommend that we further explore the planet to ascertain whether a hive exists, or for that matter whether multiple hives exist somewhere, and then make a call as to how best handle the situation from there."
Lammet nodded and was about to speak, but was cut short by a man in a white set of overalls, a driller from Xiao's team. "Hang on. You said there's the possibility there might be hives. With an 's'. These things… I've heard they're extremely dangerous! We should get off this planet and call in the army!"
Lammet raised his hand to stop anyone butting in and yelling and he calmly spoke. "Ahab, Dead Eye, how would you reply to that?"
Marcus continued on, the entire room listening intently, so he knew he had to choose his words carefully. "I don't think that would be necessary at this point. Given the contact we have had so far, there is not the risk of a full scale swarm of aliens bearing down on this facility. We've taken out a scout. They don't know what's happened and they don't know where we are. I think the most prudent form of action to take would be to suspend geological surveys or any other outside activity once the severity of the situation has been confirmed. After all, for all we know, whatever hive may exist could be a very small one, especially given there's no life here.
We need to know more before we can fully consider a further course of action without jeopardizing this facility. My colleague and I will be able to handle any reconnaissance. The marine detachment can stay here to guard the base and provide reassurance."
Lammet relaxed in his chair slightly as he saw everyone accept the answer. It sounded very reasonable even if everyone didn't like the situation. "Well, Ahab, you've dabbled into what I think is the second point of discussion. How do we best handle this situation in the context of our operations here and avoiding a panic?"
Inkerman leaned forward and spoke up. "I think Ahab's answered much of that question. According to his advice, we should suspend operations here until more is known. As for handling the wider population, we can't keep this to ourselves. Everyone is suspicious. I think the situation would be best handled by calling a meeting and running through the plan to ensure fearful gossip doesn't start a panic or rash actions."
Xiao unfolded his arms and spoke up, "I agree. As a civilian, I feel it would counter-productive and inappropriate to try and hide this issue. Gossip can spread quickly here and I agree it would be better to fully inform them of the situation and emphasise that the threat is currently assessed as relatively low and, should the situation worsen, other options, such as evacuation, are available."
Lammet was surprised by the meeting. He expected it to go worse. "Alright then. Sounds like we're in agreement. We will call an all personnel station meeting this afternoon. I would request that everyone in this room avoid talking about the incident until then. Now, unless anyone has any concerns or any questions, this debrief is over."
No one moved, they just either stared at the floor or at Lammet.
"Right, then. Dismissed."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The mood had lifted slightly after the debrief as Marcus and Mary went back to their ship to retrieve some equipment. Besides their standard equipment, they had some toys that would help.
Mary sat in the kitchen as Marcus retrieved a cup of coffee for each of them the coffee boiler. She stretched her arms up over her head as she eyed him, watching him sit down across the table from her.
"Well, that's my first xeno. I got one." She smiled playfully.
Marcus smiled back as he set her cup of coffee on the table and slid it across to her, the steam wafting up gracefully in the still air. "I'm chivalrous, remember? Ladies first."
Mary grunted in amusement, "I'm no lady. You should know that by now."
"Yeah, I forgot about that." He mumbled as he cupped his lips and sipped his hot coffee carefully.
She also sipped her coffee and cupped her hands around the mug as she straightened her posture in her chair. 'So, what are you thinking? We grab one of those buggies and look around?"
Marcus swallowed, the drink slightly burning his throat, strangely comforting, as he nodded. "Yeah, all of the incidents so far have been out in that same direction we went this morning. There's definitely a hive out there. We can sweep sections of ground and use flyers to look around."
Flyers were hovering remote controlled robot drones about the size and shape of a plate. They hovered using a rotor that spun within a triangular frame and were mounted with a video camera. They were a good way of having a look around without endangering anybody.
Mary nodded, "Yeah, sounds good to me."
Marcus started giggling.
"What?" Mary asked, smirking.
"I just realized. On my way to the meeting for this mission back home, I passed Alexis in the hallway."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, you know what I said to him?"
"What?"
"Looks like I'm going to get my cherry popped this mission."
Mary started chuckling and had to set her coffee mug back down on the table to stop it from spilling. "Huh, more like I got my cherry popped, babe."
"Pop goes the weasel."
"Hey!" she half yelled at him playfully. "You're a prick you know that?"
Marcus flashed her an overly cheesy smile, "I know you love me."
"I have my limits." She remarked.
"Oooooooh."
She cocked her head and regarded him, still smirking. "Oh little man, you don't want to make me angry."
"Hey! Little?" he complained.
"Yeah! Mini Marcus! Nyah nyah!"
Marcus turned away from her playfully, pretending to ignore her. "Oh you hurt my feelings. No sex for you now."
Surprised at the joke, she flicked her hair and ran her finger around and along the outline of her body, hugging the curves through her ghost suit. "Oh babe. We both know you can't resist me…."
Marcus couldn't help but watch from the corner of his eye, "Nope, you're gonna have to do better than that." His chin in the air, smirking.
Mary was really turning it one as she teasingly ran her hands over the outline of her breasts and started play moaning, pretending to approach an orgasm, pouting her lips like a pornstar.
Marcus couldn't help but turn to look.
She abruptly stopped, a beaming smile on her face as a strand of her black hair snaked across her nose and cheeks. "See?"
"You're bad, you know that?"
She winked at him, "Babe, after we finish up today, I'll show you bad……"
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Lammet and Inkerman had hooked up a burst transmission conference call with Earth home office who agreed with the plan, but outlined that only a week would be allowed to ascertain the threat or else matters would be taken out of their hands.
Although the condition sounded like a threat and seemed hostile, Lammet was reassured by Mary that a week would be enough time.
Later, the meeting called in the lecture theatre also proceeded relatively smoothly. There were hardly any outbursts when Lammet ran through the entire plan with them. Everyone seemed to agree and there were only some slight murmurs of disagreement when they outlined that evacuation would not need to occur yet.
Mary arranged the marines to stand guard around the complex, guarding key points and keeping watch from certain vantage points. A radar was manned in the Comms room to detect any unauthorized activity long before it would be seen by the marines outside.
Meanwhile, Marcus packed their equipment, including the flyers, into a buggy with appropriate rations and water and ammunition.
First thing the next morning, they both hopped into the buggy, Marcus driving and Mary scanning the horizon from the open back seat, standing up through the open roof, her sniper rifle resting on a cross bar in front of her.
It took an hour of solid driving, but they finally arrived at the original site from the previous day where Mary had shot down the xenomorph. They both got out and walked over to where the xenomorph had originally collapsed in the dirt, dead.
They both tightened their grip on their rifles when they saw multiple tracks scattered around the scuffled dirt.
Other xenomorphs, more than one, had been here.
They both scanned the markings in the dirt, following them, the tracks circling around the site and leading off into the distance.
Marcus and Mary got back into the buggy, not needing to say anything just exchanging a knowing nod between them, as they followed the tracks.