Ashley arrived at the spot where she had left Giles, but he was gone. Looking around she spotted a spent thermal clip. The walls were riddled with bullet holes. Shining the light on her rifle down each corridor, she shouted, "Giles!"
"What happened?" asked Alenia catching up to Ashley.
Ignoring her, Ashley opened the team's comm channel, "Somebody talk to me."
Nothing but static answered her question. Searching for clues Ashley noticed a few dark splotches on the floor. Upon closer examination she realized they were holes. An acrid smell eminated from them.
"Looks like something burned through the deck. Just like in the mess hall," said Alenia bending down touching the edges of one of the holes.
"I don't think those were there when we first got here," said Ashley turning toward the emergency ladder hatch, "We should try to warn Wilcox."
Reaching into the hatch to grab the ladder Ashley screamed as something latched onto her arm. Pulling back she could see a large boney hand with sharp claws digging into her suit. It tried to pull her into the shaft but Alenia grabbed Ashley around the waist keeping her from falling in.
The hand abruptly let go sending Ashley and Alenia falling backward to the floor. Dumbfounded, they looked up at the hatch as a hideous creature emerged. It's sleek elongated head stared at them with drooling jagged teeth. Opening it's mouth the creature hissed at them extending an inner mouth. Standing up like a human it whipped a twisted looking tail around ready to strike.
"What the fuck is that?" breathed Ashley keeping her rifle trained on the creature as she slowly stood up.
"I don't know," whispered Alenia not wanting to startle it by making any sudden moves.
The alien took a step towards them causing Ashley to fire a couple bursts into it's chest. Screeching the alien whipped it's tail hitting Ashley across the chest. Alenia jumped to her feet as Ashley fell to the floor again. Using her biotic powers she forced the alien against the wall. The blood oozing from it's wounds hit the ground causing it to sizzle.
"It's their blood!" said Alenia shining a light on the floor, "It's like acid."
"That's just great." Ashley got back up firing another burst into the creature's head finally killing it. Acidic blood splashed against the wall filling the corridor with smoke and a strong pungent smell.
"What now?" asked Alenia sticking close to Ashley.
"Aren't you supposed to detain it?" Ashley asked as she put her helmet back on.
"I've never heard of anything like this," said Alenia holding onto Ashley's arm.
"Get a hold of yourself," Ashley pulled away from the asari keeping both hands on her rifle, "I'm going to try to call the Isandlwana."
"Wait! Look!" Alenia pointed at a dark shadow moving over them.
Pointing the rifle's flashlight upwards revealed another alien crawling on the ceiling. It dropped down between them screeching and snapping it's jaws. Alenia screamed running down another corridor. Ashley backpedaled while firing into the persuing creature. A few quick bursts of fire sent the alien crashing to the ground.
Breathing hard, Ashley stopped for a moment to collect herself. Using the comms device she tried to raise her scattered team, "Giles, Wilcox, Alenia, is anyone alive? Answer me damn it!"
A ceiling panel popped open hitting the floor. Ashley spotted two aliens crawling out of the space above. Dropping to the ground the creatures hissed and growled at Ashley flashing their teeth.
Adrenaline filled Ashley's veins as she turned to run. The aliens' claws clicked on the floor as they chased her. The noise gave Ashley a sense of how close they were. The act of running caused the flashlight to rock wildly making her disoriented. Taking a wrong step, Ashley fell through a floor panel weakened by acid from a previous battle.
Slamming into the floor of the third deck Ashley struggled to get up. Luckily her helmet absorbed most of the impact her chin otherwise would have taken. Sitting up on her knees she tried to find the assault rifle. The fall evidently knocked out the bulb on the flashlight. Cast in total darkness Ashley felt around frantically for the weapon. She could hear the aliens crawling down into the room making threatening growls.
Realizing there was no time, Ashley pulled a grenade from her belt. Leaving it on the floor; she took off running in the darkness with one finger on the detonation button. When outside the blast radious she activated the grenade blowing apart the two creatures. Heat from the blast washed over her backside illuminating the room for a brief second.
Taking out a pistol Ashley waited silently for any more movement. After a few minutes of silence passed she turned on the omni-tool's flashlight. She would have done this earlier if not for the need to sift through a few menus to activate it. Searching the room she found her assault rifle; melted by a piece of alien flesh.
/
Alenia stopped running when she realized the aliens weren't chasing her anymore. Exogeni should have told her something this deadly had been picked up. She should have known better as the company had a reputation for sacrificing it's own. How they expected her to 'capture' them is beyond her. The equipment she brought along needless to say is less than efficent for a creature such as this. Alenia tossed aside her stun gun and tranquilizer.
The ordeal had shaken her a little. In the past decade Alenia had spent most of her time behind a desk. The occasional mission added up to nothing but tracking down a small harmless animal. This time around she hoped it had been some sort of space rat that had eaten through the wires.
"Ashley, are you there?" asked Alenia using her omni-tool.
"Where did you go?" radioed back Ashley.
"I, I ran," said Alenia feeling embarrassed by her own cowardice, "I'm back by the gym. Where are you?"
"I fell down into deck three. I'm not exactly sure where I am or how to get back up."
"Stay where you are, I'll try to find a way down," said Alenia taking a turn down a narrow hallway. She had no idea where she was going; only following her intuition.
Eventually she did find a stairwell to deck three. Carefully she descended into an open space. This part of the ship housed random boxes of cargo. Most of it appeared to be mining equipment. The flashlight cast many twisted shadows from boxes and machines. Walking through the room she found a corridor following it towards the back of the ship.
The further Alenia walked the more she felt she was being watched. Occasionally she turned around to see if any of those things were following her. Passing a few rooms Alenia began to worry if she would get lost.
A screeching noise caused Alenia to run back towards the stairs. Upon getting there she was greeted by one of the creatures crawling along the wall of the stairwell. Turning around she spotted another on the ceiling of the corridor. To her horror, a third appeared from behind a mining machine.
Pressed into action, Alenia hit the alien in the stairwell with a biotic push slamming it's head against the wall. Turning, she fired her pistol at the one behind the machine. The rounds hit the creature in the chest but did nothing to slow it down. Closing the distance between them with one leap it swiped the gun from her hand. Using singularity she caught the alien in a ball of dark matter contorting it.
The last alien jumped over it's trapped sibling pinning Alenia to the floor. It's hot sulfurous breath choked her. Opening it's mouth wide the alien prepared to smash her face in with it's inner jaws. Pressing her hand to the alien's bone like chest, she hit it with stasis. For a time the creature would be frozen in place allowing her to slip out from under it.
Taking a deep breath Alenia picked up her pistol. Putting the barrel to the forehead of the alien in stasis, she blew its brains out. A cold shiver ran over her as she registered everything that just happened. When the stasis field dissipated the alien collasped totally lifeless.
"Alenia, is that you?" asked Ashley stepping out from a corner.
"Thank the Goddess you're here," said Alenia running up to the chief hugging her tight.
"Hey, it's okay. What happened? I heard gunshots," said Ashley returning the hug. The affection made her feel awkward but under the circumstances it was understandable.
"Three of them attacked me but I killed them. How many do you think there are?"
"How should I know? I killed a few myself. There could be dozens of them," Ashley said.
"What do we do now?" asked Alenia. At that moment the lights came on.
"Wilcox must still be alive," said Ashley taking out her pistol, "We need to get back up to the bridge."