Chapter 4

Atlantis base was not entirely quiet, even at night. Though she could move about in the unrestricted areas easily enough and even some of the restricted ones, Selene needed to avoid drawing any attention to herself.

Covert it would be. She tucked her issued M9 into her holster and walked over to the window. There were the usual alarm systems, all of them military grade, all of them easily disabled. She made short work of the alarms and threw open her window. She attached an anchor for her rappelling rope and secured it. The climbing gear had been easy enough to swipe from the base's equipment stores and were a low enough priority item that no one was likely to notice any of it missing.

She attached the rope and tossed the entire bundle out the window. She'd judged the distance well when taking the rope; it reached all the way to the bottom exterior level. The rope wasn't for climbing down, however, it was for climbing back up. Ignoring the rope, she dropped easily out the window and descended lazily the entire distance to the surface exterior level.

Landing on her feet like a cat, she took a quick look around. No one close by. A short distance away she saw an access hatch. This one didn't have any alarms on it, at least not of human make. It lead into the unexplored parts of the city.

She opened the hatch and dropped into a hallway. It was dark, but her natural night vision showed her the hallway as plain as if it were day time.

She stopped and listened intently. Something wasn't right.

She heard nothing.

She continued down the corridor. Most of the Ancient-built electronics that pervaded the base weren't running in this area, giving the place the feeling of a tomb. She shivered, trying to shake away the unsettling feeling. Despite all of Hollywood's portrayals of her kind sleeping in coffins, the truth was that Selene, and any other vampire for that matter, was as uncomfortable with their own mortality as anyone else.

Shaking off the macabre thoughts, she rounded a turn in the hallway. There was another door, inactive, to her right.

It was cracked open slightly.

She stopped mid stride, not making a single sound, and listened.

A soft footstep fell.

She retreated back around the corner, and drew on her vampiric strength, taut and ready to strike or run as needed. She drew the M9 and took the safety off, knowing that if the lycan agent was in that formerly sealed room, the weapon would be nearly useless.

"Who is that?" a voice called out.

Selene tensed. I've been very quiet, only a lycan would be able to sense my proximity. But why is he giving away his advantage of surprise?

"Where are you?" the voice called again, somewhat slurred. "What's happening to me?"

She heard soft footsteps. Judging just right, she reached around the corner and seized a man by his neck, hauling him roughly around the corner and slamming him into the wall.

"Argh!" the man called out. He struggled, but his strength was no match for hers.

Selene recognized the man's face. She'd looked up information on him after Shepard had mentioned he was missing. "Are you Lieutenant Abramson?" she asked.

"I...I...yes," Abramson stammered. "Why is it so hot in here? Where am I? What's wrong with me?"

And then she saw it. Her vampire senses told the story clear as day.

He was turning.

"Damn," Selene muttered, releasing him. He was barely able to keep his feet, but just managed it.

She looked more closely at him and became confused. There was something not right about him. She'd seen hundreds of lycan transformations, and this had the hallmarks of it. But there was something else in there too.

She needed to study him, but she couldn't very well walk him back to Weir's office without revealing that she'd been snooping around the restricted areas. She had to maintain her cover.

"Damn," she said again. It was a tough choice. She could either arrange for one of Shepard's search parties to find him or she could lock him up somewhere in the restricted areas and study him herself. Making sure Shepard found him would get him into better lab facilities, but he'd be under close scrutiny; performing any tests would be difficult. Keeping him in the restricted areas would allow easier access but her equipment would be limited.

And once she was done with him, she couldn't have him blowing her cover. She'd have to kill him.

I might have to anyway, she thought. He's pretty delirious, but I don't for certain if he'd remember me or not.

"Come on, this way," she said, leading him deeper into the restricted areas.

Before she made it 50 yards down the corridor, her instincts screamed a warning at her. She dove to the floor without thinking.

A flash of brown and green screamed through the space she'd just been standing in. Whatever it was grabbed Abramson in passing. He screamed for his life as the beast snatched him. She heard a loud, sickening crack from the next hallway, and Abramson's screams stopped.

Then the alarms sounded.

"Damnation!" she spat.

Enhanced by her vampire strength, she ran back to the access hatch at many times the speed a normal human could've. Scrambling outside, she looked towards the control tower and saw lights coming on in some of the rooms. People were waking up, and the night shift security teams were undoubtedly already moving.

She grabbed the climbing rope and made an ascent that would've been flat impossible for any regular human. She scrambled through her window, pulled the rope in, and stashed it under her bunk. Hands shaking, she re-enabled her room's alarms. She stripped out of her clothes and put her night gown on, then threw herself into the bunk, covering herself up. She took another moment to muss her hair for effect.

She hadn't been in her bunk five seconds before her room's intercom unit chirped. "Dr. Shackleford, this is Major Lorne. Check in."

She climbed back out of the bunk and activated the intercom unit. "This is Dr. Shackleford. I'm fine, what's going on?"

"We don't know yet. For now, remain in your bunk, keep your door secured, and keep your sidearm handy."

"Understood, Major."

The intercom unit cut off. She sat on her bunk and pondered.

Something wasn't right down there. Abramson looked like he was turning, but there was something very wrong, she thought. I have a feeling this assignment is about to get very complicated.