MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU WONDERFUL BASTARDS
this is the next chapter, of which I have been finishing throughout Christmas day. Its nearly 1AM now on on boxing day here in Australia but I got it ready for your reading pleasure. i have been thinking about how slow I've been (and how impatient some viewer are), i am going to try and get a new chapter done every 2-3 months or so. try and get this story arc finished so I can concentrate on the next arc.
In this chapter, the enemy is busy assessing the situation after the colony barely survived the xenomorph ambush and were now being led by Alaric and Aegis to an undisclosed location. Will they find a way to get off this planet and back home?
Lets find out.
And don't forget to leave a review or constructive comment in the box below.
Chapter 28 – The Ark.
Watching from a holo-screen from the command throne on the cruiser's bridge, Mal'kah observed the humans as the dramatically reduced convoy followed their saviour in the snow. He held his head with his left hand, his fingers idly rubbing his eye plate as the phantom itch nagged him. Subordinates were manning various stations, keeping their focus on their duties and not on what their leader was doing.
Since hauling the literally disarmed Qul'dan back to their cruiser, Mal'kah had been keeping a close eye on the progress of Alaric and his initiate charges via the surveillance drone that had yet to be discovered. He observed as Alaric supposedly fell to his death with the Hish hunter, hoping that may have been the end of him. While he had reservations of Alaric surviving, he was keeping an eye on the initiates in the meantime. Much to his Lord's orders, he watched as the xenomorphs ambushed and decimated the colony.
He lamented on the oncoming demise of the young yautja, owing that two of them were now blooded hunters, but he had his orders. And his Lord always gets what he wants, no matter what.
It wasn't wise to deny him anything.
However, Mal'kah was most surprised when a mysterious figure, clad in ancient armour and wielding powerful weaponry, swooped in and wiped out the xenomorphs. But when he saw that it was in fact Alaric, his surprise quickly turned to exasperation.
"This is worse then I readily thought to imagine." Mal'kah sighed to himself. "I honestly thought that Hish would've done the job."
Considering that a Hish was deadly, even by Yautja terms, a human going toe to toe with one would have been pulverised like a cockroach under a boot. Alaric had to have had the luck of the gods to survive against a Hish.
Pained yells coupled with colourful language, accompanied by muffled banging, filled the air. Mal'kah rubbed his plate again as Qul'dan reacted to his treatments, a few of the bridge crew turning their heads towards the yells before resuming their duties. Since returning to the ship, Qul'dan was handed to the medical staff for reattaching his arms. And the sounds of his yells and curses were filling the corridors for the last hour or so.
Resuming his thoughts to the current problem, Mal'kah tried to figure out what to do. There was only one place that Alaric could have been to gain armour and weaponry of that... unattainable craft.
"Alaric has obtained his ancestor's armour." Mal'kah told himself. "I wouldn't be surprised if he has already learned the truth of his blood. If the armour is supposedly holding the consciousness of his ancestor, that is."
Mal'kah had to wonder on how and why Alaric was able to escape the temple-turned-hive unscathed. More so before he even had found the amour, he would have been vulnerable and ripe for the kill.
"I wonder if the Primarch knew he was in the hive but let him escape nonetheless?" he questioned. "That would seem likely. It'll likely use the humans to escape the planet."
He paused as he thought of the consequences, as the old legends described. Of whole worlds and races long gone, consumed by the Primarchs.
"Then there'll be nowhere to hide." he finished.
He was then abruptly interrupted from his thoughts.
A loud crash erupted in the corridors, one that sounded like a mixture of bodies impacting tables and various instruments clattering to the ground. The crewmen manning their stations cringed at the loud commotion and Mal'kah lowered his hand with an annoyed growl as he pushed himself up from his seat. He muttered something indistinct and briskly walked out of the bridge, calmly telling his subordinates to continue their work.
More yells and curses, some that would make even the most foul-mouthed blush, were heard as Mal'kah walked down the main corridor, accompanied by frantic shouts of restraint and his own growls. As he reached the bend to the medical wing, there was a procession of yautja guards, equipped in what looked like full riot gear, marching towards the surgery bay.
"Out of the way!" Mal'kah yelled, causing the guards to halt abruptly "I'll deal with this myself!"
The guards quickly stepped out of his way as the veteran hunter continued his march of barely contained anger. Even behind heavy armour so to speak, the guards are hesitant to be on the receiving end of Mal'kah.
Against a hunter with centuries of experience, armour would have little effect against a precise aim.
As Mal'kah approached the surgery bay, he was in time to see the door open and then an intern was seen flying out before hitting the wall face-first with a cloud crack. The intern slid to the deck, leaving a bright green trail from where his face connected to the wall before piling into a shaking heap. Mal'kah walked up as the intern was struggling to his feet, holding his bleeding head and fighting off concussion.
"Need I ask?" Mal'kah questioned before turning to the surgery room.
The intern then lost his fight for consciousness and collapsed to the ground as Mal'kah walked in. Mal'kah rubbed his eye plate as he saw the sight before him.
Qul'dan, stripped of his armour and in a surgical gown, was strapped to an operating table as the surgical staff were undergoing the delicate procedure of reattaching his arms. However, Qul'dan was proving less then cooperative as his yells were indicating. His legs had broken free of their restraints and he was using them to fend off the orderlies trying to restrain him. In fact, one orderly was face down on the floor with blood pooling around his head with an overturned bloodied instrument pedestal next to him. Another bloodied orderly was slumped against the doorway, having been kicked there when Qul'dan's leg came free and connected to his face.
Qul'dan's arms, which had discolouration from prolonged lack of blood, were precariously attached to his stumps by means of temporary cybernetics that snaked from stump to arm like arteries and nerves that allowed blood to circulate to the detached limbs. The bones had a network of mesh material grafted to the surface that would allow the bones to reconnect to tendons and ligaments.
Another orderly was sent crashing into a wall before Mal'kah intervened, walking right up to Qul'dan.
"Oh, take it like a man!" Mal'kah shouted at him, his patience wearing thin.
Qul'dan gave shot him a venomous look.
"You be in this position then!" Qul'dan shouted back.
Mal'kah grabbed Qul'dan by the throat and slammed him down onto the table with a loud resonating thud that scattered equipment laying on the table. Before Qul'dan could so much as even think, Mal'kah was leering right in his face.
"You wouldn't be in this position if you had just followed our Lord's orders." Mal'kah reminded. "But as usual, you treated a serious matter as a game. And look at what it has wrought." He then grabbed one of Qul'dan's arms and yanked it up forcefully to make the larger yautja squirm. "Pull yourself together!" he yelled, before dumping the arm back on the table and making Qul'dan yell as pain shot up his spine.
Mal'kah regained his composure from his outburst of frustration as Qul'dan winced from the surge of nerve damage.
"How is he?" Mal'kah half asked, half demanded to the lead surgeon.
The doctor in question, as distinguished by his surgeons garb, was holding an icepack to one eye as he walked up.
"He's lucky that the ooman tore his arms clean off." the surgeon answered, wincing from the cold. "Reattaching took some work nonetheless but rejection was fortunately not an issue. We keep trying to fully reconnect his limbs but he's acting like a pup about it."
Mal'kah rubbed his eye plate.
"Have you tried using anaesthetic?" Mal'kah exasperatingly asked as if pointing out the obvious.
The doctor lowered the icepack, revealing a fine example of a black eye.
"That 'pain' serum can take days to be purged from the body." the surgeon reminded, rubbing his swollen eye before reapplying the icepack. "And painkillers and such can only blot out so much. Especially from the digestive system."
Qul'dan gave off a loud strained groan as he felt his bowels move, rather audibly given the circumstances.
"Suffice to say, he's going to be shitting fire for the next few days." the doctor finished.
"Ah yes, the 'ooman' shoved a whole vial of it down his throat." Mal'kah remembered.
Mal'kah resumed his attention towards Qul'dan who was huffing from both the pain and the mention of his defeat at the hands of Alaric.
"You're still reeling from your defeat?" he asked. "Is that it?"
Qul'dan growled as his anger resurfaced.
"The next time I see him, his head is mine!" Qul'dan declared.
Mal'kah patronisingly patted him on the head like a mother to her child. Qul'dan gave a venomous glare from the veteran's gesture.
"Don't worry, you'll get your chance again." Mal'kah assured before he ominously changed his tone. "If our Lord is in a forgiving mood, that is."
"And if not?" Qul'dan growled.
Mal'kah's eye looked to Qul'dans arms and then to his neck as if hinting something similar would happen.
"Then you better hope that the Primarch eliminated Cetanu's Heir." Mal'kah bluntly revealed.
And with that foreboding warning, Mal'kah, suddenly and faster then Qul'dan could react, punched him dead centre in the face with a notable crack. Qul'dan fell backwards with a loud thunderous thud and, much to Mal'kah's overdue relief, was out completely cold. Qul'dan even had his tongue sprawled out in a rather comedic manner.
Mal'kah shook his hand as if he had punched a stone wall. But, in a way, he did just that.
"Trust me to get stuck with the dense one." he muttered, crackling his knuckles.
Mal'kah turned to the surgeon who lowered his ice pack. His face evidently betrayed a look of 'Why didn't I think of that before?'.
Sometimes the answer to a problem is so simple that it it just cannot be thought of in that moment of time.
"There you go." the veteran told the doctor cheerfully. "You should be good for an hour or two. Work fast."
Mal'kah then left the medical bay as the medical staff, those who were still standing, apprehensively moved over to continue their work. Hopefully, without interference if Qul'dan stayed asleep in a manner of speaking. Mal'kah did however instruct the guards assembled outside to be ready just in case and that they should use any means to 'pacify' Qul'dan. And by that, he meant the stun rods they had holstered on their belts.
Mal'kah arrived back on the bridge and promptly sat back in his command chair. The crew didn't turn their heads to his arrival as they kept to their screens. Mal'kah quickly brought up the drone's signal on his holo-screen. That distraction had cost him valuable surveillance data and he had to regain contact. At first, he could not see the convoy in the snowy haze but after some adjustments to the visual feed, he caught sight of them again. He could make out a bright light hovering in front of the convoy, followed by an armoured figure and then by the large bulk of the tracked transport. He could see figures on top of the transport and remembered that some of the humans were riding on top of the vehicle.
He zoomed in and he could make out the light was in the shape of a bird, a hawk. And the hawk was acting as a beacon. Mal'kah leaned on the armrest, cupping his chin in thought.
"Where is the hawk leading them?" he questioned himself.
The transport rumbled through the snow, following Alaric as he jogged after the shining hawk. Aegis kept up a brisk pace but always kept within sight.
The weather had not changed, still a continuous snowfall, but as anyone knew the weather was unpredictable at best. There was always a calm before the storm.
Inside the transports, the remnants of the colony and the small group of yautja initiates resided. To say that it was cramped inside would be an understatement. There was not anyone who was not in someone's personnel space in some way. The majority were standing to make use of the limited space with the wounded laid against the walls. The initiates were using their trophies as makeshift seating, as did some of the more inclined humans. Fel'tak was indignant of his trophy, charred as it was, being used in such a manner but Mal'fax, reminding Fel'tak of his bruised back, convinced him otherwise.
And Fel'tak is the sort of person who hates being proved wrong.
But there was a plus side and that was they did not have to worry about heating as the combined body heat of everyone was keeping everyone sufficiently warm. Even to the point where a few straps or buttons had to be unlatched for comfort.
On top of the transport and braving the snowy downfall, the Archangels were keeping a constant vigil for any xenomoprhs that might be waiting up ahead for another ambush. So far there was nothing, but they were not going to get caught by surprise twice. Sergei kept the gauss rifle tight to his shoulder, eyes down the iron sights as Sarah adjusted his bandages. Mac kept the pilot light on the flamer shielded from the elements. In the cab, Karl was handling the wheel with a tight grip and his beard was freezing again which he would reach up and rustle to shake off the ice every so often. Hicks was next to him in the passenger seat, reading the map.
As they continued on with their route, far from the direction where the cruiser hangers were, questions were starting to be asked.
"Alaric, how far is your bird taking us?" Andrzej voxxed.
"Taking us where we need to go." Alaric answered as he kept up with Aegis. "I don't know where or how far he's leading us."
Hicks looked down at the map that he had on his lap. He traced the route they were taking, looking around to get his bearings with what he saw, and the route that would have led them to the cruisers in their hanger.
"This is way off from the route to the hangers." he pointed out.
Karl, changing gears with a loud grinding buzz, muttered in agreement.
Looking at the map, Hicks saw that they were being led into what looked like a ravine of some sort. He couldn't determine the significance of it, seeing no notable landmarks or even any evidence of activity. And the ravine ended at the base of a long mountain chain like a capital T. And the biggest mountain of the range had a very peculiar feature. Instead of a towering peak, it had a large spherical crater in its surface, forming a structure not unlike a pointed hook.
One could only wonder how such a formation could have formed without the whole mountain imploding on itself.
Looking up from the map, Hicks hoped that the hawk wasn't leading them to a dead end.
He held a hand to his helmet.
"Captain, we are coming up to a mountain chain." Hicks voxxed. "Do you have a visual on your side?"
Andrzej wiped his visor and looked around, peering through the snow and haze. He could just make out the dark bastions of the the valley walls around them. But as the transport rumbled onwards, he could start to make out the mountains in question.
"We have visual." Andrzej confirmed.
There was at that point a momentary lull in snowfall and the Archangels got their first clear view of the landmark.
The Archangels looked up at the looming shadow of the mountain ahead of them. The shadow of the mountain evoked an image of a some great avian. The vast hollow near the mountain's top gave the impression of some avian creatures' open beak. And the smaller mountains to the side might as well be it's wings. One could almost assume that some ancient prehistoric bird of prey had roosted on this spot and had petrified into stone to become the mountain.
But as quickly as it stopped, the snow resumed its fall and obscured the mountain once more.
"Thats the first time I've seen a mountain like that before." Sergei said.
"With a peak like that, its a miracle it didn't collapse on itself." Sarah surmised.
Alaric briskly held a hand up as Aegis suddenly surged forwards through the snowfall and Karl slowed right down to a halt. Steam hissed from the rumbling engine as they idled in place.
"Alaric?" Andrzej called out on the cab roof. "What is it?"
Alaric looked on as he made out Aegis' glowing plumage in the distance, about twenty meters away, circling around before finally setting down on the ground. Alaric then heard Aegis call out.
"Hang on, Aegis has stopped over there." Alaric pointed out with his spear.
"Looks like we finally arrived." Mac guessed, shaking layers of snow from his flamer's nozzle.
When Alaric led the transport to where the shield-hawk had landed they were in for a surprise. Of the more unpleasant sort.
Aegis was sitting on a large rocky outcropping next to an open cave face. And this cave was going deep beneath the surface.
"You cannot be serious!" Karl exclaimed when he saw the cave.
The Archangels on top of the transport joined their captain on the cab. Their reactions were a mixture of disbelief and outright reluctance. One could hardly blame them, considering that close quarters was a xenomorph's home-field advantage
"Alaric, the last thing we want to do is to go underground again." Andzrej reminded.
Alaric turned to the captain.
"If this where Aegis want us to go, this is where we have to go." Alaric explained. "Besides, if there are any bugs down there, they'll have to get past me first."
Karl muttered in Norwegian as he turned to Hicks for his view on this situation. Hicks, contrary to everyone else, appeared to be in thought, looking at the cave with puzzled interest.
"Hicks?" Karl asked. "What is it?"
Hicks cupped his chin as his eyes scanned the cave mouth. There was something about it that seemed... unnatural.
Artificial.
"Is it me or does the cave look... perfect?" he mused.
Karl looked at the cave, to see if anything was amiss before turning back to Hicks.
"How do you mean perfect?" Karl asked as if Hicks was losing his marbles. "Its a cave."
"Look how its formed." Hicks clarified, pointing out the edges of the cave mouth with his finger.
Karl followed his finger and sure enough, he did see what Hicks was talking about. While the cave mouth was caked in ice and snow, in parts where it was bare or the ice layers were thinnest, he could make out a clean curve to its structure.
"You see that?" Hicks pointed out. "When you remove all the ice and snow, its perfectly circular. Not an odd curve anywhere."
The cave mouth being perfectly circular was the least of anyones concern at that moment. What was more concerning was that the hawk lead them here and was even now urging them to follow. While Alaric may have already placed his trust in the strange bird to goe into a possible dead end, the same could not be said for the Archangels.
"Big decision: Do we go in or go back?" Andrzej laid out to the squad.
Mac looked back down the valley and he held the flamer close when he saw a foreboding sight.
"From the look of it, going back is going to be suicidal." He pointed out with a finger.
Looking back up the valley, the squad saw that Mac's observation was true. There were dark clouds gathering in the distance, flashes of thunder rumbling within. It would appear that the calm was coming to an end and the storm was ready to envelope the planet once more.
"This planet has a habit of ruining the moment, don't you think?" Sergei mused.
Aegis jumped up from his perch before flying into the mouth of the cave, gesturing for them to follow.
"Doesn't look like we have much choice: Either we freeze or risk the cave." Alaric illustrated before he walked towards the cave.
The Archangels were on the same level as the lesser of two evils was chosen.
"Oh well." Andrzej sighed, banging his boot on the cab roof "Back into the mouth of hell, Archangels."
Karl revved the engines and the transport rumbled into the cave after Alaric, the headlights lighting the path ahead. No sooner did the transport enter the cave, the winds began to howl and the snow started to pummel down. Looking back, everything beyond the mouth of the cave was now bleached in a whit haze.
The tunnel fortunately proved to be just big enough for the transport to drive through. But, with about three feet of space between the transport and the walls, there was no room to turn any significant distance. But the tunnel continued going straight, deeper and deeper under the surface
This cave soon turned into a lengthy tunnel the further Aegis led them down. And as they were being led further down, the archangels noticed that the structure of the tunnel was changing. Where it was once more fluid and circular at the mouth, by a hundred feet or so it was steadily becoming more angular and imposing.
Andzrej looked around as the tunnel became more and more angular. Suddenly, the tunnel was starting to look less natural.
"The tunnel is changing, Captain." Karl indicated, watching as the walls were getting closer. "Pray to God it doesn't get any tighter."
"I've noticed." Andrzej pointed out as he felt the transport trundle on level ground. "But, its levelling out somewhat."
Sergei looked up and he added something else to the equation.
"Come to think of it, has anyone noticed that the ceiling is flat?" he asked. "No stalactites whatsoever."
It was true as some of the Archangels gave a glance upwards. Apart from the occasional icicle, there was no stalactites seeping from the ceiling.
Hicks leaned out of the cab window and reached out with his hand to feel the walls and he was surprised, under all the snow and ice plastering them, how smooth they were. And the fact that they were also perfectly straight. He pulled himself back in the cab after he had a felt the walls for a few moments.
"The walls are perfectly straight." he said to himself before reaching his comms "Captain, it looks like this tunnel had been dug out." he voxxed
Andrzej looked at the walls. He could see why Hicks made that assumption.
"Colonists?" he postulated.
That would have been a likely explanation. The colonists could have been probing for ore veins and the like before settling at the current location.
"No, even with our technology today they would leave drilling marks and such." Hicks corrected. "Feel for yourself."
Andrzej looked up to the tunnel ceiling, reached up and felt it. And he was surprised by the fact that the ceiling too was perfectly smooth and straight. There was no grooves or cut marks that was associated with excavation.
"Hunters, maybe?" he pondered.
That would be another plausible explanation if the colonists were not responsible for a tunnel of this size. Perhaps the hunters that ambushed Alaric and the initiates at the refinery had been preparing ambush points in the event they came across this area.
"No, they'd use a ship-based focused plasma beam to dig a tunnel this size." Hicks pointed out. " Besides, the tunnel itself would be spherical and lined with ripples."
Andrzej then remembered a previous mission the Archangels had undertaken. It involved a yautja cruiser bombarding a colony from orbit, plasma beams cutting into the planet before they landed. The damage, though devastating regarding yautja technology, was done with surgical precision, vast deep chasm-like fissures that ran through terrain and buildings. Anything caught in those beams would be atomised into dust. One could say that newly formed rivers was a calling card of a yautja invasion.
Hicks drew his falchion and held the blade edge against the tunnel wall. He listened as the blade scratched the surface and he was focusing on what the scratching was. He could hear a sharp screech of metal on stone, a dull slice as it went through snow and crunching cracks of ice. And the sounds came at random intervals and varying lengths of time.
Hicks drew his sword back and saw that it had picked up fragments of the wall on its blade and collected on its inscription.
"Ice, rock, snow, rock." Hicks said to himself as he wiped his sword with his finger. "Interesting."
He examined the mush of snow, ice and stone chips in his fingers, sifting with this thumb.
"You found something?" Karl asked.
Hicks showed him the slush in his hand.
"The wall structure is not uniform, its just a jumble of various rocks and ice." Hicks postulated. "I think in the past the mountain above was more whole then it is now."
That would likely explain the unique peak on the mountain above them, in that the mountain suffered a landslide that left it with its hooked peak. But as it why the gap was spherical and not ragged as any other collapsed mountain was anyone's guess.
But that train of thought was soon halted when Alaric held up his shield, signalling the transport to stop. And the reason was as clear as crystal.
Literally.
Aegis was sitting on the snowy ground in front of a shimmering wall of ice that filled the entirety of the tunnel. Light from the transports headlights flickered on the ice and lit up the end of the tunnel as a symphony of cascading light.
While the light show was pretty by all means, it was not what was wanted.
"Dead end!" Karl exclaimed, raising his hands up in annoyance. "Fucking great!"
The Archangels gave their own voices to this predicament with a mixture of frustration and fatalistic humour.
Alaric was more calm. He walked up to Aegis and knelt before him.
"Aegis, is this right?" he asked.
Aegis nodded and gestured to the ice wall. Alaric looked at the ice wall as he stood, trying to determine Aegis' reason for bringing them here.
"The bird is joking right?" Sergei asked. "It's lead us to an ice wall."
"Perfect. If the bugs catch up with us, we're deader then a stuck pig." Karl pointed out, his hands slamming on the wheel for emphasis.
Hicks however had another thought as he noticed something out of place.
"Wait a second." he said, opening the door.
Hicks got out of the truck by its window, squeezed his way between vehicle and tunnel wall and jogged up to the ice wall. He ran a hand over it, feeling the natural fluid crystalline contours of its surface. He then walked up to the rock wall on the right and ran his hand down it. He then repeated it again, alternating between the ice and rock.
"Oh great, Hicks is going all geologist now." Sergei sardonically pointed out.
Andrzej looked towards the archangel, who was now muttering to himself. That usually meant that Hicks is working things out.
"Found something, Hicks?" Andrzej called out.
Hicks turned to the captain.
"Captain, this ice was formed naturally." Hicks pointed out.
Andrzej looked at the ice wall.
"An ice vein. No doubt a former waterway before it froze." Andrzej surmised.
"How does that explain being led to a dead end?" Karl incredulously asked.
Hicks indicated to the tunnel walls, gesturing how they were perfectly vertical and smooth unlike the ice wall.
"These walls, this whole tunnel system, isn't natural. It was dug out." Hicks explained. "Someone or something, and I'm betting on someone with the technology to make such a clean tunnel, was digging through to this spot."
If this tunnel was dug to this spot, what was the purpose for digging out a tunnel of this substantial size just to reach a perfectly mundane ice vein?
"Why would anyone spend the time and resources to dig a tunnel this size to an ice vein of all things?" Sergei questioned. "You can't make a ship out of ice."
Alaric turned to them. He had just worked out why Aegis had led them here.
"Maybe not this ice." Alaric postulated. "But what's behind it."
Alaric sheathed his spear, slung his shield on his back and drew his great axe. Approaching the ice wall and giving it a quick once-over, he gave it a few taps with the axe blade to ascertain how thick the ice was. He then hefted his axe and went about chopping his way through the ice. He kept it up until he felt that axe hit something solid with a loud metallic ring. He hefted his axe back, brushed off loose ice flakes and examined the hole he had made.
The ice is pretty thick, he thought. Over a metre or so.
He magnified the view in his helmets HUD to make out what was underneath. Focusing the view, he found a hard surface underneath the ice that had metallic streaks.
Is that stone or metal? He thought.
He turned to the others.
"I think I found our destination." Alaric called out. "Its behind this ice layer."
Hicks had a look for himself and confirmed that there was some kind of structure encased in this ice. That led to some murmuring from the squad, along with speculation of what it could be.
Was it another temple?
Or what it something completely different?
"Think we can clear the ice?" Andrzej asked around.
Everyone in turn turned to Alaric. He was the only one who had the means to achieve this feat.
Alaric stepped back to ascertain how much ice he would have to remove from whatever was underneath. He then decided to go the whole way and remove the entire wall with as little effort as possible.
"Okay, I'm going to melt the ice." he called out. "Stand back."
Alaric's plasmacasters retracted from his back and aimed at the ice, glowing as they charged up and drawing particles of light into their barrels. The barrels enlarged and the vents lining them opened and drew in more particles of light. Hicks briskly walked back to the transport to stay out of the firing line.
"Try not to obliterate us in the process, okay?" Karl jokingly warned.
Alaric fired a massive continuous wave of energy from his plasmacasters, spreading the beams so that it covered the entire wall like the rays of a sun at it's highest peak through the clouds. Alaric was using just enough power to melt the ice to avoid damaging what was encased within. Seconds passed before the first faint wisps of vapour started to seep from the ice.
The ice creaked and cracked as it melted from the heat of the beams. Hissing steam wafting into the air soon turned into gushing geysers. Larges chunks of rapidly melting ice broke off from the wall in steaming tides. Then in one single motion, like an opera singers shattering a wine glass, the ice wall collapsed into a half melted pile of ice with a wave of steam gushing out.
"Still alive, back there?" Alaric asked as the steam engulfed him.
Calls of acknowledgement answered him, mixed with some sarcastic humour of warming the air as the cloud of heated water vapour engulfed the transport.
Alaric retracted his plasmacasters as he waited for the steam to clear. And when it did everyone was in for a surprise.
Under the ice, buried for thousands of years, was a massive metal wall of an unknown design, steaming from the melting of the ice. For one thing, the plating was not modular like human ships, nor was it curved and tribal as yautja craft. This was of a more imposing geometrical sight with an immaculate amount of minute details on it.
Runic details.
It was almost as if this wall was forged or sculpted out of a single block of metal.
Andzrej murmured in Polish at the sight of this imposing edifice as his squad murmured in their own tongues.
"Now that's the last thing I expected to see on an ice-ball." Sergei said.
Alaric however smiled behind his helmet as he recognised the ascetic quality of the wall.
Just like the temple-prison, he thought.
A series of thuds was heard from the transport. Evidently, the sound of collapsing ice had caused a stir of concern inside the transport.
"What's going on out there?" Foreman Hernandez asked, muffled by the walls. "We heard caving in. Are we safe?"
"We just found a way through." Andrzej reported. "That noise was just Alaric clearing the way for us."
"Well, hurry up." Hernandez urged. "Its getting unbearable in here!"
Mumblings of agreement followed him, including the always compulsory accusations of flatulence in confined spaces.
Alaric walked up to the wall and held his hand to it, his amoured fingers rapping. He looked around on the metal, untarnished by the environment.
If this is anything like the temple, Alaric thought as he searched for a way in. Then there should be a print somewhere.
Despite searching, even from multiple angles for hidden clues like what he found on Gri'nyr's sarcophagus, he could not find a hand print anywhere. But what he did find was a disjointed symbol at waist level. Upon closer examination, it looked like it was a variant of a combination lock, a myriad conjunction of geometric rings like a fine mosaic.
"Alaric, what have you found?" Andrzej asked as Alaric knelt down
Alaric didn't answer as held his hand to the lock and grasped it before giving it an experimental clockwise turn. The lock pieces reconfigured themselves, each tiny piece shifting with the soft sound of metal into a myriad of shapes. When Alaric turned it counter clockwise, the pieces shifted into more shapes. And by pushing and pulling, he could alternate which rings shifted.
A puzzle lock? Alaric thought. Good thing I managed to solve a Rubik Cube in the past.
"Alaric?" Andrzej called out.
Alaric turned his head.
"I think I found the key." Alaric revealed, twisting the mechanism.
The lock gave a loud click as the outer ring fixed in position, revealing a triangular point and a the lines, to horizontal and one vertical that pulsed with blue tinged light.
"You mean a lock?" Andrzej clarified.
"Yeah, just give me a moment." Alaric answered, turning his attention back on the lock.
Alaric began the lengthy process of working out the correct combination, alternating the rings as he twisted and pulled. Myriad symbols and patterns formed and unformed as the rings shifted and formed. Some symbols the lock projected represented various attributes while others were symbols that held many meanings, depicting elemental forces and such.
It wasn't long before Alaric worked put a pattern and from that came the correct alignment with one final twist.
The lock had now formed the symbol of the Bloodline.
"And..." Alaric started as he pushed.
The completed lock receded into the wall with a firm click. The ornamentation of the hatch glowed, as did the symbol as Alaric drew his hand away. Streams of light wrapped around his hand as the hatch glowed brightly in the cave. The Archangels looked on is surprised awe at the light show.
"Here we go." Alaric finished.
Alaric watched as the light streams circled around him, his armour's ornamentation glowing in response as the streams arced over the surface of the armour. Holding his hand up, he watched as the streams collected around his hand before forming into a geometric symbol of a DNA chain. The symbol twisted and shimmered over his palm before reconfiguring into the symbol of the Bloodline. The symbol surged brightly before it then left his hand and surged into the lock.
The wall slowly ground open with a surprisingly soft metallic ring, splitting seamlessly into two halves horizontally. The lower half extended out into a ramp while the upper half formed an armoured canopy. Both slid to a halt with a solid thunk, making an entry that was the same size as the tunnel, and behind that was a set of bulkhead doors of the same metal, glowing with the same ascetic patterns as the outer doors. Those opened up, sinking back a few feet before sliding apart, revealing a dark expanse beyond.
Alaric nodded as the doors ceased glowing.
Definitely like the temple, Alaric thought.
Alaric turned to the Archangels, who were dumbfounded to say the least by what they saw.
"I think that's opened it." Alaric said, gesturing to the darkness past the hatch.
After a few blinks, the squad regained some composure.
"How did you..." Hicks managed to start.
"The armour acts much like a key." Alaric told them, waggling his fingers. "Its how I escaped the hive."
He wasn't going to reveal that he was in fact the human descendant of an extinct yautja clan. And he was satisfied when Andrzej and the squad bought it.
"Well, its a good thing you found it, other then massacring bugs naturally." Andrzej concluded.
Not that the way was opened, there was now one direction to go now.
"So what's the next step?" Hicks asked, hopping onto the transport step.
"We go in." Alaric said, walking up the newly formed ramp.
Aegis hopped onto his shoulder as he entered the darkness, illuminating Alaric's immediate area. He stopped as he reached another lock. This one was more evidently a door pull lever with a grip lock. No doubt it was a main means for opening the hatch from the inside. Alaric grabbed it, getting a feel for it.
"Like we have any other choice."Andrzej said, "Forwards."
The transport rumbled up the ramp and into the darkness beyond the hatch. As it cleared the ramp, Alaric twisted the grip and push the handle into the reciprocal and the hatch doors slowly retracted and sealed behind them, engulfing everything into darkness.
Aside from Aegis glowing on Alaric's shoulder and the headlights of the transport illuminating the front, the Archangels could not even see their hands in front of their faces. And what was revealed wasn't much. The floor looked like it was made out of the same materiel as the doors. Up ahead was what looked like the bottom of a ramp, made out of some metallic material.
The darkness of this place was just overwhelming.
"Can't see a damn thing." Karl said, turning on the cab light
"Night-vision won't do much good in this place." Hicks said. "Not enough ambient light."
the initiates' masks would be a great help in this regards. But, Kra'vyx lost his, Fel'tak's and Mal'fax's were destroyed and Ly'enta's optic sensors on hers were completely fried from the ambush.
Alaric came walking up to the cab, Aegis glowing on his shoulder. In the light given off by the shield-hawk, Alaric's armour was looking somewhat... evil.
"Anyone fancy playing 'Murder in the dark'?" Alaric joked.
A yelp was heard from Mac followed by the falling of a body hitting the ground. A clattering was heard as well as the flamer he was holding it the ground which, much to Mac's displeasure, turned out to be stone.
Maybe Alaric spoke too soon?
"Mac?" Andrzej called out in concern.
Curses and groans in Japanese was heard as Mac heaved himself off the stone floor. Feeling around, he picked up the flamer by its handle before he hobbled up to the cab.
"He's alright." Sergei added, suppressing a laugh. "He just miss-stepped and fell off the roof."
Mac grumbled in dissatisfaction as he reached the cab and placed the flamer, it's shrouding dented from the fall, on the bonnet. He had a strained look, evident of acute pain.
"You okay, Mac?" Karl asked.
Mac turned to him, pointing to his right pauldron which had crumpled from the fall.
"I just fell off the top of an ore hauler, how do you think I feel?" Mac answered, rotating his arm and feeling a pop. "I'm lucky I didn't break any bones."
Andrzej shook his head.
"Okay, before we take one step further, lets get some more light in here." Andrzej decided, switching his shoulder lamp on.
The Archangels switched on their lamp packs and took in their new strange surroundings as the beams of light pierced the darkness, moving in synch with their helmets. Where before all they were seeing was snow, ice and rock, they were now surround by stone and metal. From what they could make out, as far as their lamps' beams could illuminate, they were in what looked liked a vast hall, far as the eye could see, lined with gargantuan geometrical stone pillars that were easily ten feet squared and hundreds of feet high.
And everything was covered in a light layer of frost.
"Now this is familiar." Alaric said, reminded of his time in the temple.
He looked to the shield hawk.
"Aegis, a little light please." he asked.
Aegis' plumage shone brighter as he jumped off Alaric's shoulder and soared up into the air, becoming in essence a miniature sun. and from his flaring of light, more the surroundings were revealed. Nestled between the network of pillars where a multitude of various metal boxes, solid and geometrically imposing of all shapes and sizes. And the pillars and boxes stretched as far as the eye could see.
Aegis began a patrolling arc around the transport, casting rippling shadows around as his light
"God, if a little guy like him can make a light like that, imaging what a condor-sized one would give off." Hicks wondered, watching the hawk circle above them.
"Okay." Andrzej started, reassessing the situation. "Now that we can see what we're doing, where the hell are we?"
Hicks looked around, seeing the immense size of the pillars.
"Whatever this place is, its huge." Hicks determined, looking to the sides.. "Certainly goes beyond our sight lengthways."
Sergei aimed his lamp up towards the ceiling and he saw something that added identity to this vast hall.
"Looks like a... like a cargo hold to me." Sergei said, pointing up.
Sure enough, high up as far as their the lamps could shine, there was the sight of machinery folded up on the ceiling. A myriad of chains and loading claws of geometric make on motorised rails.
"Well that's a clear sign as any." Andrzej concluded.
Looking back at the door they passed through, they saw that it was actually a part of a much larger set of doors.
"Is this a... Space Jockey facility of some kind?" Mac questioned. "Big enough to be one."
Hicks looked around at all the monolithic pillars
"No, not one of those ruins." Hicks corrected. "For one, everything is metal and stone, not that fossilised organic structure we normally see." he then pointed a thumb towards the sealed hatch. "And second, the symbols on the hatch and these containers and such do not match either."
"Well, its not a hunter temple either." Sergei added. "The ascetics is all wrong too. What is this place?"
Regardless who or what built this structure, there was the important matter of securing the area for the colonists and wounded. But, given the vast size of this cavernous location, a more suitable location had to be located. One that did not have so many routes of attack against them. Aegis was quick to lead them at Alaric's command, shining the way ahead.
After some cautious navigation, they finally found a secluded area further in the vast hold, covered on three sides by what looked like large rectangular storage containers. An area that looked like it was situated by a set of cargo elevators on a raised platform preceded by a ramp and steps. Or at least what was thought to be elevators judging by the design of the doors. There was ample view of the surrounding area, allowing for any early warning if danger cropped up.
Releasing the locks of the loading ramp, the hatch dropped opened with a loud clang that echoed throughout the area and reverberated from the metal containers as it hit the metal and stone decking. The colonists and few marines left quickly came out in relief, carefully carrying the wounded and infirm.
"Oh thank god!" a marine breathed in relief, removing his helmet. "I couldn't stay in that fucking truck any more!"
"I swear to god, one of those hunters must've had the fucking beans." another marine added.
The wounded were layed out by the transport to be tended to as the initiates came out, hauling thier trophies. Fel'tak was busy brushing the charred crainium of his, flecks of burnt carapace flaking off. Mal'fax simply dumped his trophy on the ground and used as a chair, stretching out his cramped limbs. Ly'enta and Kra'vyx had theirs propped against a container wall before sitting down next to them.
The Archangels were busy scouring the immediate area for threats and for anything that was of use. Sarah was busy tending to the wounded, checking their dressing while paying extra attention to Kenneth. The miner was slowly recovering from his ordeal of having the xenomorph taint purged from his body but he was still a long way from a full recovery. His flamed scarring was still fiery red and raw and he had been muttering about a throbbing head for the last hour.
Karl was looking at one of the stacked containers, the Norwegian giving them an exploratory tap with his boot. His foot resonated the metal with low strumming.
"These look like shipping containers of some sort." he mused, before his eye caught something else further away. "And octagonal drums, too."
He walked up to the drums in question, indeed octagonal and surprisingly ornate when one considers it was just for cargo storage. Obviously, whoever built this place took just as greater care in the quality of simple containers as much as anything else.
Karl grabbed one of the drums by the rim and gave it a vigorous shake to determine the contents. Sloshing inside the drum indicated that the contents was a viscous liquid.
"Karl, you don't know what could be in that drum." Sarah warned.
Karl brushed the top of the drum of frost and he found a geometrical symbol of fire etched in what appeared to be a twist lock like that on a safes hatch. Evidently, it was a variation of an oil or fuel drum.
"Well, judging by the flame symbol, I'd say its something flammable." Karl pointed out "Maybe, we could use whatever it is for the flamer."
Karl twisted the latch, the locks retracted from the drum body and he pried the lid off by an inch but was immediately met by a nose-burning stench from within. He coughed hard as the fumes washed over his face and reached his olfactory senses.
"Oh god!" he coughed, quickly sealing the drum. "The stench!"
He started spitting on the floor, trying to get the taste out of his mouth as Hicks walked up.
"Petrol doesn't smell that bad." Hicks jokingly pointed out.
Karl looked up at him, his eyes red and watering
"You think I'm acting?" Karl coughed credulously, rubbing his eyes. "Have a sniff, I dare you."
Hicks walked up to the barrel, shaking his head in good humour and lifted the lid. His reaction when the fumes hit him was more nauseating as he shut the lid, evidently trying to hold in his rations from the morning.
"Smells like Quinitricetyline." Hicks retched as he backed away sharply away. "No smoking!"
The two Archangels briskly backed away from the drums and for a good enough reason.
Quinitricetyline is a highly volatile and toxic substance that is often described as 'Nitroglycerine on steroids'. It is a form of hydrocarbon that had nitrogen molecules in its structure and as such was used for industrial demolitions and other related usages. The major downside, apart from the fumes guaranteed to send anyone high if their brain doesn't melt first, is that it was highly sensitive to shock, be it kinetic or thermal. It's explosive force is so great that in one incident, one single drum of the stuff fell into a beachhead bunker and the detonation it caused was so catastrophic that a tugboat occupying the bunker was in dry dock for seventeen weeks.
Great Stuff!
Hicks was now bent over, coughing hard and spitting. Karl was wiping his beard and eyes.
"How did that not blow up when I shook it?!" Karl said, looking to Hicks. "You okay, Hicks?" he asked.
Hicks stood back up, regaining his composure as he wiped his mouth.
"Other then my morning rations trying to vacate the premises, I'm good." he remarked as if nothing happened.
Karl raucously laughed at that.
"If you're done trying to blow us all up, get over here." Andrzej called out, killing the mood.
After Hicks and Karl had regained some composure, and their stomachs, the Archangels convened inside the transport to debate their next course of action. Alaric called over the initiates, who each came over in their own time. Kra'vyx and Mal'fax were the first ones to arrive, followed by Ly'enta and Fel'ak coming up last. The rest of the survivors were busy tending to the wounded or just moping around, waiting for the next stage in their supposed escape from this planet.
"Okay, what's the plan?" Sergei asked, holding the gauss rifle on his shoulder.
" The first thing we do is to establish a perimeter for the colonists." Andrzej decreed. "Then we need to investigate this place, see whether or not anything is of any use. Maybe a better location to hold up."
Hicks looked out though the open hatchway, seeing the vast pillar-lined expanse they navigated through.
"Judging by the size of this area alone, I think the whole installation could be massive." he postulated.
Andrzej turned to Alaric.
"Anything to say about this place, Alaric." Andrzej asked.
Alaric looked at the pillars, remembering what he saw in the temple as a referance.
"This place bears ascetic similarities to the temple, but it is a different layout." Alaric explained. "Still, if we could find some central location, it should provide a good idea of this places' purpose at least."
"In a place like this, it's easy to get lost if anyone takes a wrong turn." Segei pointed out.
"We could split up into two teams. Cover more ground that way." Mac suggested. "Mark our progress somehow to avoid getting lost."
"I got markers here." Hicks added, patting a pouch on his belt.
"Kelso's marines can stay here and keep guard of the colonists." Andrzej added. "About the only thing they can do at this time."
"But that doesn't help the fact that we only have one weapon capable of nailing those bugs." Karl pointed out , gesturing to the gauss rifle that Sergei had on his shoulder. "And I certainly hope that there are none in this place."
That wasn't exactly true, considering Alaric's gear, but the same couldn't be said for the Archangels. They only had their swords and side arms. The initiates on the other hand still had their weapons, though Ly'enta's whips were ruined beyond use, but they were of limited use in getting past the xenomorphs hardened carapace.
Alaric however remembered one weapon he had yet to use.
"Captain, here." Alaric called out, reaching for his chest.
Alaric pulled the gauss revolver from his chest, flicking the magazine cylinder out and checking the ammo count before flicking it back in. He flipped it in his hand, catching it by the barrel before holding it out to the captain.
"Same principle as the rifle." Alaric said. "Guaranteed to punch through anything."
Andrzej took the pistol and saw what appeared to be the safety catch. He flicked it and the pistol hummed into life, little details engraved in the barrel lighting up. Alaric handed over the spare magazines for the gauss rifle to Sergei.
"Suddenly, Dirty Harry pops into mind." Andrzej mused as he aimed down the revolver's sights. "Lets get ready."
It didn't take long for a perimeter to be formed for the colonists. The smaller, more handleable cargo crates formed a respectable system of barricades around the transport and elevators, plus as a set of ad-hoc steps to scale the larger container stacks for a look out detail. Some of the marines still had their motion trackers so they would at least get a heads up if anything should try to get the jump on them. Seeing as the Archangels now had the gauss weaponry, the remaining bolt-guns and flamer was handed to the marines. The initiates didn't take much time to prepare, other then stashing their trophies into a corner
With all the preparations completed, the Archangels and initiates assembled at the elevators.
Andrzej addressed them as he reached the elevator first.
"Right." Andrzej said, turning to the squad. "Dubois, take Zaitsev, Kyonaki and the three hunters with you. Contact me on the comms if you find anything that could be of use. Alaric, Hicks, Karlsson, myself and Kra'vyx will go and find a command facility of sorts."
Sarah nodded before she assembled her team. Alaric told Mal'fax to take Fel'tak and Ly'enta and accompany Sarah while he would take Kra'vyx and head with Andrzej. The initiate nodded and informed the others.
Alaric looked at the elevator doors, admiring the intricate details inlaid into it's surfaces before looking for the button. He soon found the control panel, just as intricate the doors with its myriad of geometrical interconnecting patterns. He saw that there was only one large button, not unlike those on a human ship. No doubt that this elevator leads to a processing deck where the cargo would be distributed to where it is needed.
Alaric pressed the rune plate and it glowed in response before the doors slid open. Everyone cautiously stepped inside, surprised as they were to find that the interior, despite being used for moving heavy cargo, was just as built with consummate skill. Aegis lit up the Alaric looked at the control pad and found several large plates, each lined with runic symbols.
Aegis pointed a wing at one plate, in the middle of the row, and Alaric pressed it. The button glowed and the smooth whirring of gears and servos of an unknown make could be heard all around them. Then they felt the elevator lurch up suddenly, with the audible sound of cracking ice, nearly making the Archangels lose their balance. The rest of the wait was a smooth ride however.
Evidently this place had not been used in a long while.
When the elevator doors opened, the group cautiously moved out and found themselves in a large hall. Clearly, as evidenced by many corridors leading away from this location on multiple levels, this was a hub that connected to various other locations. On the ground floor was what could be some kind of processing centre. Evidently, this is where the cargo would be broken down and then sent to where ever it was needed.
"This is more like it." Alaric said, looking at the vague similarity to the temple. "Well, this is where we split up." Alaric said, looking around at all the possible routes to take. "Question is: where?".
Andrzej was hesitant as to which direction they should take.
"Decisions, decisions." he said to himself.
"That is a lot ways to get lost." Hicks said, shining his lamp around.
They decided that it would be too risky if they split up any further. They needed to be sure that they weren't wasting valuable time navigating their way into a dead end.
"Alaric, could Aegis help narrow down our search?." Andrzej requested.
Alaric looked to Aegis on his shoulder.
"Aegis, this may be a dumb question, but can you lead us to a... control centre of some sort?" he asked.
Aegis looked around for a moment, jumped off Alaric's shoulder and flew around the hub. He paused at each corridor, giving each one a close look before heading to the next. From the light he gave off, everyone could see that Aegis was coming up against sealed doors. And when he came back down to ground level, he gestured to two central corridors that just happened to be the only ones opened.
"Well, that saved us a lot of trouble." Alaric said. "We have our answer."
Andrzej looked at the two corridors and nodded. Both went in opposite directions and hopefully they might be able to determine the over size of this complex if they stayed relatively straight. Maybe they might find something of use in this place.
Both teams assembled further in the hub. Hicks quickly marked the elevators with a fluorescent marker as reference, drawing a HQ over the elevator control pad before rejoining the squad. He then tossed another towards Mac who caught it one handed.
"Remember, if you find anything, call it in." Andrzej reminded.
Sarah acknowledged the captain's command and briskly led her team down the nearest right hand corridor. Mac quickly marked on the wall with an arrow pointing towards the elevator as he passed through. As Andrzej watched, the beams of their lamps bobbing as they moved, he saw Mac diligently tracing their route.
"Aegis, lead the way." Alaric ordered.
Aegis led the group down many a stone lined corridor and up and down stairwells, each bearing the same geometrical and flawless build as seen the moment they entered the installation. Were it not for the faintest of lines that separated the stone blocks and metal plating from one another, one would assume that the entire installation was carved out of one monolithic mass.
Some of the rooms they passed as they moved through various corridors and halls gave hints as to their purpose. One room had an array of stone tables and benches arranged around a large open pit, giving the impression that it was a feasting hall of some ancient warrior culture. Another room looked as if it was some sort of tavern, with a bar and a surprisingly high wall of massive kegs each the size of a fully grown yautja.
If there was one thing they learned during the trek, it was that this place was vast. They reckoned that Aegis must have led them for at least three kilometres, barring the times they had to ascend or descend past sealed off areas. Sections of the installation were sealed in a way that not even Alaric's armour could find a way of open them.
Maybe there are areas that were not meant to be open once sealed.
Aegis kept them moving, like he knew exactly where to go. He would pause for a minute or so in a manner that seemed to be gaining his bearings or even looking for a familiar landmark. Often he would be looking at the runic details, interpretation them before moving on.
After what seemed like the better part of an hour of climbing up and down stairs, Aegis finally could a halt to the marching at the end of the last stairwell. Alaric stepped up and over as he waited for the others to catch up. Having the armour augmenting his strength meant that he was not having to exert as much energy in climbing the stairs as the rest and was able to keep going while the others started to tire.
Kra'vyx was the first to arrive, breathing heavily as he felt his legs burning from the constant steps. He kept up a strong front, even if he was battered and exhausted from the whole ordeal since the crash.
One had to admit, Kra'vyx had great determination.
"You holding up, Kra'vyx?" Alaric asked in concern.
Kra'vyx nodded.
"Yeah, I'm good." he answered before gesturing further down the stairs. "Can't say the same with them though."
As Kra'vyx walked off the stairs to catch his breath, Alaric saw the Archangels struggling reach the top.
Andrzej was the first to come around the bend, helmet off and half slumped against the bannisters. His face was flushed and his scar was a livid red, as if someone had drawn on his face with a red marker as a prank.
Alaric reached down and gave Andrzej a much need pull up, hauling him up the last few steps.
"You holding, captain?" Alaric asked.
Andrzej gave him an annoyed look.
"This place is looking less like a building with every level." Andrzej said, out of breath as he moved off.
Karl followed up behind him, his face equally flushed with exertion as the same colour as his beard while wiping his mouth with his beard while muttering in Norwegian. Alaric hauled him up as Karl came in reach.
"How many fucking stairwells have we traversed so far?" he questioned before turning back. "Fourteen, you said?" he called down.
Hicks came walking up into view, rubbing the sweat out from his eyes.
"No, I said I lost count at fourteen." he clarified, getting a pick up from Alaric. " I gave up counting stairs ages ago."
The Archangels paused to catch their breath, sitting down against the frost covered walls. Helmets were removed and sweaty brows wiped on cloaks or sleeves. Giving that the whole complex was like a freezer, cooling down wasn't a problem.
"That had better be the last stairwell." Karl hoped in a huff. "If I wanted to climbs stairs, I would've done the Rocky Run again."
Andrzej and Hicks gave their agreement with Karl's remark. The Rocky Run was the nickname giving to formidable assault course used by Spec Ops troopers and is named for the obscene amount of steps, of various sizes and lengths, through out the course. It acquired the nickname after an old movie about boxing with a training montage it featured that involved steps. It wasn't uncommon for recruits to collapse on the stairs, the unfortunate ones literally rolling right back down to the bottom.
After a short rest, the Archangels got their composure back. Hicks marked the stairwell, shaking his pen as he did and they assembled.
"Where did that bird lead us to?" Andzej asked before noticing that Aegis wasn't here. "Come to think of it, did we lose him."
Alaric pointed further down the corridor with his shield and, standing out like a star in space, Aegis was waiting for them.
"He's over there." Alaric revealed. "He was just waiting for you to catch your breath."
"Then lets get this over with." Andrzej declared. "The trek had better be worth it after all this."
They walked down the long corridor, seeing more sealed rooms along the way. Including those that suspiciously looked like elevators. When they got to where the shield-hawk was waiting, they found their destination.
Aegis had stopped in front of a doorway, a massive slab of stone and metal taller then Kra'vyx and carved with the same intricate details as everything else. The main feature that stood out was the image of wings reaching down and cradling a sphere in the center of the door. The decoration, intricately sculpted to the tiniest detail, evoked the landscape of what could be describe as an idyllic world if not for one detail.
in the centre of the world cradled in the wings, was another lock. And this lock, like the one on the wall in the cave, was a jumble of various shapes and symbols.
"Another lock." Andrzej said in concern.
This was a concern on account that every sealed door they came across came across had not been able to be opened. Maybe they were permanently locked or their mechanisms may have been damaged a long time ago. However, none of those doors had this particular lock.
"Considering everything else is locked, apart from that bay door we came though, this door should be able to opened." Hicks theorised. "Its basically the same kind of lock."
That was a logical assumption. If this installation suffered a power outage then a secondary means of opening doors may have been implement in order to access important areas. But considering that Aegis was directly leading them to this spot suggests that this had to be some kind of command centre as Alaric asked.
"Think this is the end of the line?" Karl asked before eyeing Alaric. "If there's another flight of stairs behind this door, your carrying us Alaric." he joked in a mock serious tone.
"Only one way to find out." Andrzej said, turning to Alaric. "Alaric, open it up."
Alaric reached out to the lock and gave it a twist. The rapid shifting of metal was heard as the lock shifted, each ring spinning in different directions. When the first ring was in alignment, it locked in place and glowed. Alaric worked out the correct combination and in quick time the lock was completed, this time merging seamlessly with the world and completing the effigy. he hatch slid upwards with flecks of frost sifted from it's surface as it retreated into its alcove. A very tight fit to get that layer of frost off.
When the door fully opened, revealing darkness beyond, Alaric cautiously stepped inside. Spear and shield up he moed forward as Aegis jumped off his shoulder and flew up, illuminating the area. This place definitely looked like a headquarters of some sort. There was seating, geometrical in shape and in arrangement along the walls in front of large ornate pedestals. And there were three seats up front on the balcony ahead. One of these seats, the middle one, was situated on the balcony while the other were extended out by a meter or so.
There was one seat, more accurately a throne, on a plinth that had an imposing view over the entire room.
Alaric lowered his spear Aegis nestled on the throne's headrest. There was evidently no danger here.
"Clear." he called out.
Andrzej and the rest came in, the captain keeping the gauss revolver up and ready just in case. Karl and Hicks looked around with their lamps and Kravyx was looking at the throne. Andrzej lowered the gauss revolver as he took in what he saw.
"now this is more like it." he said. "Looks like a commander centre with consoles lining the walls."
But that is where the similarities with human technology ended. And Alaric asked Kra'vyx for his input on this. Kra'vyx explained that this did not look like yautja technology, opiting out that this is not how yautja technology would be arranged.
"This is weird." Karl said, looking around.. "I've never seen tech like this before."
Hicks agreed with him as he examined one of the supposed consoles
"Not like any console I've ever seen." Hicks said. "Not conventional or holographic. If anything to guess, this looks like caveman TVs you see in those Flintstones cartoons."
Kra'vyx came up to the throne, looking at all the detail engrave on it. He saw that the throne was quite large. Large enough that he could sit comfortably in it. Kravyx was about to experiment but he felt Alaric's spear tap him on the shoulder.
"Kra'vyx, I wouldn't sit in this chair just yet." Alaric advised in yautjan. 'there might be a booby trap we havn't discovered yet.
Kra'vyx muttered as he walked off.
Karl, who was looking at a large crystal disk that was fixed into the middle of the floor that was in line with the throne, shone his lamp towards the front and his eyes widened.
"Kaptein, look at that." he said, pointing to what he saw.
Andrzej looked at what Karl was pointing at and his eyes widened. He could make out that this whole wall was clear and behind it was compacted snow and rock.
Another ice wall.
But what was most perplexing was the odd angle of the ice. The wall leaned inwards.
"Did the snow freeze like that or what?" Karl asked.
Andrzej walked over to the ice for a better look. He approached the three chairs and their pedestals. each of the chair had headrests that curved inwards not unlike those on a commercial starship. And the pedestal had a pair multi-jointed, articulated levers built into them
Andrzej carefully reached out, holding onto the pedestal for balance as he leaned further out. Looking down, he saw that there was a significant drop below him, around ten feet and the clear wall extended down in a trapezoid angle. This made him get a firmer grip before he reached out with his sword for an exploratory but hesitant tap.
"This is just getting strange, now." Andrzej said to himself. "The ice is now at an angle in that manner?"
Would the ice wall suddenly give out when he tapped it, causing a landslide to engulf them all?
Andrzej's eyes widened as he reached the supposed ice as close as he could. The lamp shone on it but it did not give off the distinctive gleam as the ice they had all seen before. That light beam just went through it, illuminating the jumble of rock and snow on the other side.
Like a window.
"That's not ice." Andrzej realised, tapping the flat of the blade against the clear surface with a distinctive rapping. "Its glass."
that word stopped everyone in their tracks.
"Are you serious?!" Hicks called out.
"Have a listen." Andrezj called out.
He rapped on the clear wall again and the sound of ceramic rapping as head echoing throughout the area.
"I shit you not, that is glass of some sort." Andrzej confirmed, hauling himself back and walking towards the others
Hicks, who had been working out the specfici perpose of this room, realised what this place was. The arrangement and desing of the seating, the systems and the fact that the front wall was actually glass, spelt one thing.
A command bridge.
"This isn't a building." Hicks realised. "It's a ship!"
The realisation hit everyone like a ton of bricks. But the pieces quickly fell into place.
"You really know how to surprise us Aegis." Alaric said, holstering his spear.
He reached up and gave Aegis a scratch behind the neck, the hawk shutting his eyes in delight.
"A ship!" Karl said in relief. "Then... that means we have a viable way off this rock!"
"This must be the helm." Andrzej said, pointing to the three seats he was next to.
Hicks pointed to the lines of seat at the walls.
"These could be the navigation and communication berths." He added.
Alaric stopped scratching Aegis' neck.
"And by process of elimination, this is the captain's chair." Alaric said before his tone got dark. "But, do we even have power of any kind to get this place operational?"
Karl walked up with a tight lip at the sound of Alaric's implied mood crashing.
"Alaric, we just had a shred of good news since that ambush. Don't ruin the mood now." he requested curtly.
He looked down at the armrest and his lips opened in surprise. The captain noticed his sudden change in mood.
"Karl, what is it?" Andrzej asked.
Karl ran his hand over the armrest. Both armrest had control pads built into them and the buttons had runes engraved onto them in dark enamel that contrsted with the metal.
"These are the same runes as on the hatch back in the tunnel." Karl realised. "Come to think of it, we've been seeing these runes everywhere."
He looked at the runes more closely, tracing their lines.
"These are... Nordic runes of some kind." he realised.
"Nordic?" Andrzej questioned. "As in Scandinavian, to put it broadly?"
Karl drew his sword, held it by the blade and examined the runes again be fore looking at the runes he had decorated the sword quillion and pommel with.
"Older style but definitely Nordic." Karl confirmed, sheathing his sword and cracking his knuckles. "And that means, if it is what the system uses, I should be able to understand the interface."
Karl sat himself in the command chair, examined the controls on the arm rests and experimentally started to type. He was disappointed to say the least when nothing happened and was surprised when he felt a sudden sharp jolt to his system as a sharp buzz echoed in the room. He jumped out of the seat sharply, holding his chest and swearing in Norwegian.
Everyone but Alaric jumped back at Karl's sudden burst of exclamation. Looking in the chair they saw a dancing arc of blue sparks that seeped into the chair and vanished. There was no sign of any emitters to give of sparks in the chair's padding. Hicks immediately theorised that there had to be conductive filaments woven into the materiel to generating sparks like that.
Kra'vyx was suddenly thankful that Alaric prevented him from sitting in the chair, otherwise we would have been zapped for amusment.
"Looks like the systems don't like being fiddled with." Alaric mused with a laugh. "But at least we know that there is still power running in this location.
Karl looked at Alaric with his dignity hurt..
"Oh, that's nice." Karl said, holding his chest. "I'm not wearing a suit of power armour unlike some."
Alaric turned to Andrzej.
"Thinking my armour might be able to interface with these systems?" he asked, already knowing what the answer was going to be.
Before Andrzej could answer, his comms cracked into life. Looks like hacking would have to wait a moment.
"Captain Kapowski." Lieutenant Dubois' voice could be heard, cracking up due to the structure."
Andrzej held a hand to his helmet.
"Dubois?" He confirmed. "What is it?"
There was an ominous pause before he got an explanation.
"Sir, there's something you should see." Sarah said.
Her tone of voice indicated that she was holding in her suspense, even dread, about something.
"What have you found?" Andrzej questioned. "Is it serious."
"We were investigating what we presume to be some kind of medical bay and we found over a dozen large tubular containers mounted in the walls and pillars." the medic explained. "Sir, they look like cryo-tubes of some kind."
The words struck a nerve to those who listened. They were expecting maybe xenomorphs, caved in areas, hazards of any sort. But this was something that never ever came into consideration.
"Freezers?" Hicks said. "There are freezers here?"
Andrzej focused on his comms.
"Cryo-tubes?" Andrzej said in disbelief. "Alert me if I misheard, but did you say 'Cryo-tubes'?"
"Loosely sir." Sarah repeated. "They don't look like any design I've seen before."
Andrzej looked the squad who gave him looks of uncertainty and outright puzzlement. No one could blame them. The last thing they ever thought of finding was cryo-pods. On an ice world of all places. But, irony has a way.
But if these are cryo-tubes, were they already in use?
"Are they occupied?" Andrzej asked.
"Yes sir." Sarah answered.
Andrzej paused for a moment before asking a very... morbid question.
"Alive?" he questioned
There was a notable pause on the other end, voices overheard coming from Sergei and Mac even a grunt of confirmation from one of the initiates, before he got an answer.
"As far as we could tell, yes." Sarah answered. "But until we find a way of opening them, we can't be sure if we have a cryo-bay or a morgue on our hands."
Andrzej thought for a moment before going over with the squad. Their raections were mixed.
"If that is the crew of this vessel inside those pods, we'll need their help we to get to get this ship up and going." Alaric pointed out.
"The last thing I want to be doing is fiddling with the dead, if they are dead." Karl declared, desecration of bodies not his cup of tea. "Especially the thaw-before-looting sort."
"However, this could be invaluable." Hicks added. "If there are people, and I'm using that word loosely just to be clear, then we could get an understanding of those who built this ship."
Hicks argument was clear and Alaric was stating a blunt truth. If this ship was not made by Humanity or Yautja, the possibilities are almost endless. It could usher in a new era of technology since the first hyper-drive flights pioneered by the Heliades-class vessels of the late 21st century.
This was an opportunity too good to pass off.
"Can we get to your position?" Andrzej questioned.
"Yes captain, we have marked the passages for navigation." Sarah confirmed. "mac will be waiting for you outside the bay."
"Roger that. Hold positions and wait for us before you do anything else. We'll need Alaric if the shit hits the fan. Over and out."
Andrzej lowered his hand and nodded. Karl and Hicks nodded while Alaric explained to Kra'vyx that something has just rocked up and the others might need assistance. The initiate nodded in compliance and even drew his kataras as emphasis.
Without further delay, weapons drawn, the group ran out of the bridge. Aegis led the way, soaring off the throne and arcing to the front, lighting the way. They reached the sttairs and began to briskly speed thier way down them.
"Got a long run ahead of us." Andrzej said, keeping the gauss revolver up. "Fortunately, mostly all down hill."