The thick,inky darkness was viscous. Light faded into it, leaving this world and into the unknown. Flood lights only lit up the immediate area, leaving the rest hidden and shrouded. Cranking gears and whining motors broke the silence, a rhythm of impending destruction. Rolling and rolling, the platform continued. Its wheels,probably worn from carrying heavy vehicles , seem to slip at times. Jostling to keep their balance left their nerves frayed, leaving themselves open for the dark tendrils of fear to bore deep into their minds. Their only link to salvation was a cable that could have been easily cut.
Inside their flight suits there were signs of doubt. Sweaty palms, sticky backs and drips of sweat down their foreheads. It wasn't hot at all, there was cool air recycled from the outside to flush the heat out. No, it was psychosomatic. It was the waiting, that stretch of time where nothing happened aside from what was playing through their thoughts. Alone with their thoughts, traveling down to what may be Hell itself, it was a situation that most would have not had. Ryuki wondered if this is what psychological torture felt like, being trapped inside sensory deprivation chambers, slowly being subsumed into the void.
He needed to speak, say anything. Listening to the chirps of his control panel was slowly driving him insane. "Weapons check, everyone. Make sure everything is loaded. Might as well switch the Master Arm on, who knows what we'll find down there" he said, not realizing the slight low crackle in his voice, a sign of nervousness. Ross and Barry chirped over the local area radio. Everythings ready. The wonders of wireless interfaces allowed them to hook up more weapons than they had hardpoints for. Leg mounted disposable rocket launchers were beaming their control feedback signals through thick metal plating, with little more than metal prongs to form the comm bridge.
"Sir" Ross began, "We got enough weapons to send islands back to the deep sea, I think we'll be alright". He noticed too, Ryuki's apprehension. Barry though seemed completely enamored with his load out. "Sir, we got particle rifles, autocannons, grenades , missiles, mortars, sticks, sharp knives , we are rocking this mission" he said with a laugh. Through their positive talk though, there was just as every bit of apprehension as Ryuki felt. Bluster could only hide superficial sentiments.
"Alright, lets keep the comms free and open , call in if you spot anything, anything at all" Ryuki replied. Over his voice was the sound of metal clamps locking , others disengaging and the whirring motors grinding away. A sudden jerk shot up through their armored legs and the platform lurched into a different direction.
They were level now, the platform moving forward instead of downward. Ahead of them were yellow caution lights , strobing in the thick darkness. Their light barely illuminated the walls they hung next to. Barry looked over the side to see nothing but emptiness. His fear of heights got the best of him , his eyes shooting upward at the flashing buttons to keep his mind off the void underneath them.
"Looks like a blast door up ahead" Ryuki said. The massive door sat at the end of the tunnel, with a small control panel extending from the wall. The platform finally stopped . Ross walked his mech over to the panel. Its arm flinched and out of it a smaller arm extended. While the hands were able to manipulate object deftly, they were too big to interact with human sized controls. The extending arm was built into the fore-armor , with three flat finger attached to a thin rod of a palm. A few taps later, the gate rasped as it slid upward.
The gate opened to a small dome with equipment haphazardly strewn. Rows of computers, still powered , sat waiting in sleep. Tools and benches sat around a raised platform, with low hanging lights arrayed over trussed beams. Work had been going on quite recently. Oscilloscopes were readied for some sort of test, while the bench on the other side of the platform had some kind of debris on it.
Signs pointed to life, yet not a single trace of the research team was found. No labcoats on coat racks, no food, nothing. "Well isn't this a welcoming sight. Looks like this entire operation is borked sir, nobody here", Barry said.
"Look, people were working here. Theres computers on, electronics buzzin away. They were here. So we have to go find them" Ryuki replied. "I don't..." Barry said before he was cut off. "Alright set up the co-ax with the communication booster. We'll need to be able to communicate especially if the circuits down here are fried". With that ,Ross worked swiftly to set up the equipment.
Surveying the room showed no other signs of activity. Everything seemed to have frozen in time with only the people missing, like some kind of art project or photograph. The hollow walls rang as they moved about in their machines.
They continued onward into the complex, looking for any evidence of what transpired. The dome had three hatches and one freight tunnel. The freight tunnel led towards the residential space. It was a tight fit for their mechs. One twitch of a finger would have rammed them into the walls. Again, only caution lights. "It looks like they just recovered from an outage in some parts of the complex. The labs were lit up, probably from an independent generator, but everywhere else its just these yellow strobes. Nobody got to the power room to switch things back on" Ryuki said over the comm.
The tunnel ended with another blast gate. Controls were still functioning, just like everything else in the labs. A gust of air blew out from under the gate. Who would have sealed this part of the base shut like that, Ryuki wondered.
Flickering shadows followed behind their mechs as they walked towards the storage area , opposite of the residences. They would need to dismount to go any further. Flashlights were clipped to chest harnesses along with a long knife, for emergencies. "Lock down your mechs, don't want any hysterical civvies getting in. Safeties on till I say so", Ryuki said into his radio,outside his machine.
Their soft footsteps broke the eerie quiet of the seemingly abandoned residence halls. Some doors were ajar , as if hastily closed or opened. The rooms were lived in, with beds still unmade and chairs pulled out. Closets full of clothing just waiting for someone to peruse through them. "Not a single frakkin person" Barry whispered. "Something frakked up happened here" he said with the crackle of fear in his voice. "I think we're going to want to call in some back up sir", Ross said while surveying the lifeless living quarters.
"We need to contact HQ immediately. Ross send a message out , have them tell HQ that the research team is missing , no signs of violence. Tell em we're requesting a team to come down here to cordon off the area. I want the response sent back immediately" Ryuki ordered.
Ross's mech came back to life , its thunderous steps leaving them shaken. "Alright Barry, hope you don't need a change of underwear", Ryuki said. Ryuki immediately called into Ross's mech to tell him of his plan.
"Wait, why?"
"We're heading down to the service tunnels, towards the reactor. If that thing is still running then we're going to have to shut it down. To be safe, yeah?" Ryuki replied. Barry took a gulp of water from his canteen a bit too fast and could only respond with a harsh cough.
At the end of the hallway was a map and the hatch. Ryuki took time to photograph the map,since it seemed the infonet was offline. The hatch conveniently lead down into the service tunnels which would lead them to the reactor vessel. "Ryu, I didn't bring any potassium iodide pills with me" Barry said. "Come on, the reactor is stable, nothing's going to happen to you".
The tube was dark, with only minimal light from light pipes to illuminate their climb down. Dripping water echoed through the many junctions they passed on their way to the main level. Furtive glances lead to nagging suspicions of what else was down there with them.
At the bottom they found absolute darkness. None of the light switches worked and the emergency strobes were non-functioning. Suit lights only illuminated a short distance ahead of them, further heightening what dread they had built up from their active imaginations.
"Ok, lets use our NV glasses" Barry whispered. Both of them pulled out hard black cases with flip tops, inside of which were sets of un-powered night vision glasses. Their ergodynamic designs made a tight fit , creating a nearly 170 degree viewing angle. Harsh glare from the flashlights subsided when they switched to black-light sticks.
At every corner they felt an oppressive feeling. A heavy weight seemed to be placed on their heads at the bottom of their lungs. It could have been the air conditioning malfunctioning but it was still harrowing to feel some kind of presence pressing down on them. No amount of training could wipe away life-times of horror stories and superstitions.
"Man, lets get on with this, I feel like Im gonna suffocate down here" Barry said during a short break for water and snacks. "Suck it up , you've been underground before. You got your mech blown to bits by a freakin' NEXT suit , thats gotta be scarier than anything we've seen so far", Ryuki replied. "Yeah but a NEXT you can kill, but ghosts or xenos or whatever could be down here" Barry said back. "Alright, so you want to let this reactor go on without any supervision, so that something much worse could happen? You need a stim or something to get your testicles to drop?" Ryuki said.
He regretted the comment the moment he said it. There was nothing wrong with being scared. Ryuki was just as scared as Barry was. False bravado was his only recourse. Now Barry felt resentment, something to avoid when your life depends on another. For once , Ryuki felt the need to apologize. "Hey , ah I didnt mean that. Im scared like you man. This entire thing seems frakked to hell. We just need to keep our wits or we'll get ourselves killed , you understand?" Barry's fluorescent outline nodded quietly.
All was quiet from that point on. No creaking floors or wheezing support beams. No dripping water or slow air leaks. Apart from the lack of light, the entire place was well maintained. Still, the well kept exterior had hidden secrets. Was it paranoia, though, that made Ryuki believe that? He wondered too, if this was all just a misunderstanding. Maybe there was some kind of emergency meeting off base. They were so busy the forgot to tell the outpost about it. Incredulous. No, this definitely looked messed up , Ryuki thought.
A panel with light bursting from its corners. This must be it, Ryuki thought. "Ok, check for markings. Lets make sure this is the entrance to the reactor and not something like the compactor or whatever" he whispered. A short search later revealed the panel was an emergency hatch into the control room. Some tugs at the tight locking wheel forced a click from the door. It swung open to reveal a fully light, fully functioning control room.
"Well this is much better than I expected" Barry chirped. The reactor was marvel of engineering, outlasting its caretakers. Everything was in the green as far as Ryuki could tell. The fuel pellet was nearly used up though, which meant the reactor would have shut down eventually without their help. "Go flip those switches, we need to turn over to geothermal and battery power. Maybe that'll fix the lights, yeah?" Ryuki said.
His limited knowledge of nuclear physics was enough to figure out where the system stop button was. Thanks to the aggressive safety protocols, everything was built to be used by the least likely people. If scientists or engineers were unavailable (or dead) , it would have fallen on the soldier to take over. Simplicity was the most important requirement especially with power plants.
There, under a heavy glass cover ,was the red button with STOP printed in large bold white letters under it. Barry gave the OK sign , so Ryuki pressed down the big shiny button. The lights flickered a bit then came back on as the reactor slowly wound down.
"Hey Ryu, something doesnt seem right. We're getting excess power draw from something. It defintely aint the complex though, none of the modules show it". Another problem. Once trouble starts ,there's always more to follow.
"Anything you can tell me about this phantom power usage?" Ryuki asked Barry at the plant diagnostics console. A large map began to project onto the wall, with green orbs marking power usage. A yellow warning light appeared at the edge of the map with the words "Unknown Current Drop" underneath it.
"I can tell you its steady. No spikes or drops. Something is deliberately siphoning power, Ryu. The batteries won't last for more than a day. If we let it run off the geothermal plant, we'll have to shut whatever it is down, or the rest of the complex goes unpowered. If I was a betting man, which my multiple tours of duty suggests, I would say this is what caused the complex to experience intermittent power and outages. Its just drawing too much juice, Ryu".
"Alright, we're heading back up. We need to report this in" he said.
Dust and small debris dislodged from the ceiling as Ross traversed back to the main chamber. The complex seemed older than it should have been, he thought. How could something this deep underground have been built only recently, he wondered. A few small details caught his eye like steel beams with tell tale signs of rust and corrosion. Some walls ,immaculately painted, with chips coming off. He began to question the HQ's age too. It was huge, big enough to house an entire expeditionary force. But it was empty. The gear seemed relatively new, except for the octo-walkers. The Thunderhammer was an older , pre-war design. Built prior to the clan war , before the production of the NEXT suits. It was a lumbering behemoth, slow and about as responsive as a rock. The Zhuk was only newer by a few years, still decades old by now. The Zephyrs were already used, it looked like. There were some audio logs stored, nothing particularly interesting. All of it lead to a question, how long have they been here?
None of them knew that there was a research base here , with only a few of them knowing that there was a recon post on this iceball. Secret research, conducted on a frozen planet at the fringe of known space. It was like a bad movie, Ross thought.
The communication hub was still there, to his relief. He hopped out and began to call up the outpost. "This is Recon Team , do you copy Outpost Team?" he said into the big microphone. He pressed one headphone to his ear, while splitting his attention between the radio and his surroundings. "This is Outpost, any news?" he heard Karin reply.
"We need a support team ASAP. You need to contact HQ and tell em that the research team is missing and the power is out", he replied. A few curses later , she replied "Alright, stay on the line, Im gonna use the big radio antenna, gimme a few minutes".
Time passed by awfully slow. Too long, Ross thought. Maybe the weather was bad , thought it had been mostly clear when they left. Only a few hours since last they were outside. It couldn't have changed that dramatically to affect a giant radio antenna.
"We got problems, Ross" was what he heard back . "We can't raise anyone at HQ. We can't even get any automated responses from the board. Nothing. Everything's dead , its like the base isn't there anymore", she said with a tinge of fear.
"Ok, get Dizzy and uh Wasp into your Zephyr, get em to the base. The weather?" he asked. "Clear enough to see the binary stars. Thats what made me worried. No interference at all so why can't I get anyone online?" she said, now with more
"Give Dizzy the boost pack and get her flying back there. I'll tell Ryu what's up. If anyone comes knocking, make sure to have a gun ready" Ross said before ending his call.
Ryuki and Barry reached the top of the stairs. The lights were still intermittent but the switchover seemed seamless. They climbed back into their machines and headed back to the main chamber , where Ross was waiting.
The moment he saw them, Ross began yelling. "Big problem sir, no one's answering at HQ. Dizzy was sent out with Wasp in the Zephyr. Don't know what else to do sir" Ross finished. Like a faucet opening, the steady drip of misfortune turned to a trickle, Ryuki thought. There would be more problems, more dangerous ones. All his training was against humans, but he wondered if that was any use against fighting things he doesn't even know exist. He walked over to the comm hub and picked up the microphone."This is Recon Leader to Outpost Team", he said. Karin acknowledged. "Everyone get armed, start setting up the Zhuk with weapons. Uncrate the flamethrowers. Get em on everything. Prepare for combat , people".
