Day 6
At last! We have come across a safe room, marked with several important-looking packages. Closer inspection reveals that they are test samples, en route to a laboratory for testing. We have not yet opened these two boxes, as they are still very securely held.
Day 7
We have opened the boxes. One contains an amber crystal, approximately two kilograms in weight with curious refractive properties. The crystal also vibrates at a very low frequency, such that it is playing havoc with our equipment for communicating with Kraken Base. The second box contained four small objects unlike anything I have ever seen before. Each one is the size and shape of a playing card, and behaves almost like a butterfly, floating around the corridors whenever it is not contained. Each one is extremely thin, and strangely weightless. As of now, we have no clue of either of these package's departure or planned arrival points.
Day 8
Another safe room has been breached, this time containing only a single package. Inside was a small, mushroom-shaped object, made of a lightweight and porous stone. There are three small hinged levers made of an impossibly shiny material, like the first artefacts. As a precaution, and due to some of the labelling on the containers, we have decided to repack the artefacts and keep them separate.
There only remains the hold area to search.
High above, the final dropship swooped in across the icefields towards the smoky haze that veiled the Borealis. On deck, the half dozen Combine personnel that had not yet been evacuated formed a loose semicircle at the bow, weapons ready. The Nexus had known that resisting Freeman would only lead to greater asset loss, so they decided to withdraw, taking with them as much material as they could.
"Confirm, last transport inbound to target. Airwatch is inbound. SkyShield is at periapsis, out of range for time zone. Standing by."
The transport slowed, the container hatch bumping against the hull. The Overwatch personnel began to remove their equipment, passing it into the craft. D-9 made to go with them, but his radio began to emit a priority warning. He turned it on.
"Overwatch Unit D-9. Nexus confirms that priority subjects are onboard target. Bodypack charge is onboard transport. Transport outbound of target zone in ten minutes. Deploy charge and extract."
An Overwatch soldier leaned out of the hatch, and passed D-9 a large, silvery grey backpack. A timer appeared in the upper corner of his heads-up display, and D-9 ran for the nearest hatch.
Gordon and Alyx emerged into the ship's hold. The cavernous room was illuminated by several spotlights abandoned by the Combine during their hasty retreat.
High above, a set of long, spindly metal arms were mounted from the ceiling, attached to several small drum-like objects. On the floor, a set of metal triangles formed a large receptacle of sorts. In one corner of the room was a cage, covering a buckled and broken floor hatch. A small track ran from the cage and into the receptacle. Overlooking the scene was a small control booth, it's windows smashed and broken. Alyx looked around with confusion, but Gordon felt a horrible chill. Why was this so... eerily familiar? The cage, the booth, the track – why here? He steeped closer, and then he saw it, glinting in the darkness inside the receptacle. A beautiful, glittering, almost fluorescent orange crystal, marred only by a large scorch mark on its tip. Reaching over, Gordon picked it up, and held it towards the light. It seemed to thrum in his hand, the air around it shimmering with untapped power. Yes, just like the first one had. Gordon turned, a broad grin on his face... and threw the crystal as hard as he could against the wall of the hold.
The dropship patiently circled overhead. Peering through the observation scope, the Overwatch soldier mounting the pod's gun discerned a faint outline in the water near to the foot of the iceberg.
"Check visual, vessel stern – shit!"
With a sonorous boom, the foaming water parted, and a long, grey object breached the surface. A submarine of human design, with a low, narrow conning tower and a tall radio mast. As the spray washed off the deck, two figures came running onto the deck, clad in orange jumpsuits. They were heading to a large deck gun that was mounted on a pedestal at the rear of the deck.
The transport swerved to give the rear mounted Nexus scanner a better view of the target, and for a moment the Overwatch gunner was blind. When at last he could bring his gun to bear, it was already too late. The deck gun stabbed skywards, and the transport was sliced in two.
Alyx yelped, whirling around as the crystal shattered.
"Jesus Gordon! What the hell are you doing?"
Gordon ground the bigger fragments down into powder with his boot, then walked over, his face tense.
"Come on. We need to leave."
"What...but we haven't looked on the bridge or the rear quarters."
"That's the first place the Combine would have looked. The sub won't wait forever."
Gordon keyed his radio. The speakers coughed static, then a voice echoed out through the hold.
"Gordon? Come in Gordon."
Lifting his microphone, built into the back of his gauntlet, Gordon spoke.
"Right here Barney."
"Jeez Gordon, you had us all worried there for a moment. Listen, get to the sub as fast as you can. We can't hang around much longer."
"Did the Combine see you?"
"See us? We just shot down one of their transports! I thought they'd all cleared out a while ago, but they must have left some behind."
They took off up the staircase, the sound of their passage reverberating through the silent hull. Reaching the middle decks, Gordon and Alyx hustled through the empty rooms.
Alyx cursed."Dammit. What was that thing you broke back there? It might have been important."
"Something that I think everyone could live without. Besides, if the Combine thought it might be important, they would have taken it with them."
They turned a corner into a dimly lit passageway, lined with drifts of snow. "We'll have to put this place under some kind of surveillance. If the Combine found something really important, then they would have already left."
"Good to see that someone else is having some bad luck today."
Gordon opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off when a figure came charging out of the darkness, cannoning into him and sending him sprawling. The figure banged hard against the wall, temporarily off balance. Alyx saw the outline of a pistol in the gloom, and tried to draw her own weapon, but bullets were already biting into her flesh, and she was falling...
After a while, the radio spluttered into life.
"Gordon? You there? What was that noise?"
"Oh shit Barney... Alyx is... something... I need a stretcher up here. Now."