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dakes101
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Heart of Darkness Play Report. 7. Night of the Hunters

Mon 05 Jun 2023, 10:20

++Spoilers++

"Captain." Gray's voice cut across the silence as the crew worked their way up the central chute toward deck B. "I have some bad news. It appears that the alien plant life has infiltrated the ship and has now disabled the Cetorhina's oxygen supply. I have also noted that it has impregnated the main FTL drive."

"Well, shit." Lugar said quietly over the radio.

"Impregnated?" Asked Sajaad. "That seems oddly specific."

Arriving at the operations center, cat, cat carrier and a selection of makeshift weapons at their disposal Hedenstrom was in the middle of asking how they were to approach the capture of the alien life form when Adrien jumped from his arms with a short cry and raced across the metal grilled floor.

"It seems that our furry friend has something in mind." Navarre said wryly as they all watched the black and white cat disappear behind a the panel of a wall mounted desk.

They all heard the plaintive cry of the cat and the noise of a struggle coming from behind the desk of the operations center. Each one took an involuntary step forward, creating a tight circle of bodies, not quite sure what to expect. Suddenly the cat was seen backing out of one of the inspection hatches at the foot of the console. Struggling, it took one laborious step after another and everyone could see two thick tentacles, one wrapped around the cats shoulders, the other around one of its forelegs.

As one, they all dived to grab the cat and squid like creature, fighting to separate the two and force the alien into the open cat carrier. The squid-baby was ridiculously strong and it took three people to pry the two creatures apart, unwrapping the pliable limbs from around the cats torso. With a grunt Lugar managed to unravel the final binding tentacle and slam the door of the carrier shut. Hedenstrom, inspired by Dr. Webb quickly took his trousers off and tied them around the carrier as a makeshift strap.

"That ought to do it." He noted.

"Hedenstrom, you've been looking for a reason to do that since we got here." Ejiri smiled, turning to note that the personal transponders for Webb, Lark and Drabikowski weren't to be seen in the medlab. He frowned and scrolled through the station schematics. "Why are they on Deck G?" He muttered to himself. Unable to raise them on the radio, he tucked that thought away and joined the others.

Sajaad and Hedenstrom started toward the chute, but Ejiri, Navarre and Lugar quickly ran around the deck, poking their noses into rooms and lockers to find that the entire deck was deserted. Not only was there a complete absence of activity, but rooms appeared to have been stripped of furniture and artefacts. The rooms were bare. Puzzled and unsettled they agreed to join Hedenstrom and get back to the medlab.

Pinned to the monitor in the middle of the lab was a note saying 'We've gone to Deck G.' Navarre swore under his breath and Lugar kicked out at a nearby waste paper bin. "Fuck's sake." She muttered.

Static crackled in everyone's ear. Full of hissing and popping everyone heard the same message. Garbled through interference

"Drab……..ski to crew……….. Deac……. Lark………. Rogue…….. De ……. H …….. repeat …… con …… ck …….. copy ………………….."

"We've got to go!" Urged Lugar turning to the others.

"I'm staying here." Intoned Hedenstrom, still visibly suffering from his injuries. "Someone needs to extract the samples and wait for the results." He looked across at the monitor attached to the vast array of analysis equipment in the room. "I reckon it's going to take a couple of hours."

The others looked across at each other and agreed that they would take the central chute to Deck G to catch up with the others. As they left, Hedenstrom busied himself with preparing to extract the necessary samples from the now quiet squid baby.

Navigating cold, dark transit tubes, some cluttered with wreckage, some with flickering lights. The rest of the party got to the hatch for Deck G in relatively short order. Landing softly onto the decking of Deck G, they consulted the schematic and quickly agreed that they should travel directly to the Hangar Deck, feeling that this was where the two absent members of their team were headed.

Dealing with the hard radiation that emanated from the main hall on the deck, the team had to suppress their horror at the wild overgrowth of black tendrils of the living proto-hive that overran the hall in front of them. Picking their way carefully through, and paying attention to not disturb any of the plethora of polyps that were evident on each of the slick creepers.

As they rounded the corridor toward bulk storage a correctional droid accosted them.

"Identify yourself." The synthetic barked.

Ejiri stepped forward and brandished his WeYu ID card. "WeYu science team." He offered simply.

"We are under instruction to accompany you to Warden Stykes." The droid answered, as another joined him from the corridor behind.

"We will meet with Warden Stykes in due course." Said Ejiri. "But first we are looking for two of our colleagues. Have you seen them recently?"

"Yes." The synthetic nodded. "Two of your party passed through here 15 minutes ago." The droid indicated the way by raising his arm. "Along that corridor toward the hangar deck."

"What are your orders here, in this corridor?" Asked Ejiri.

"We are patrolling the area, in order to accost any convicts that are roaming free."

"Well, carry on." Said Ejiri. "We'll catch up with you soon." They walked around the corridor toward the four huge bulk storage areas marked out on their map. Navarre and Sajaad walked to one of the door mechanisms. With curiosity, Navarre keyed one of the locks. The door opened with a pneumatic hiss, revealing a vast room, racking on three sides and a good 10 meters tall. Their torches cut a soft dim arc throughout the room, picking out immediately that the room was completely empty. Nothing was left on the racks.

"What the hell is happening on this station?" Navarre asked. "Where has everything gone?"

Lugar turned and was about to voice her opinion when all at once their earpieces crackled with static.

"I can see you." Came Drabikowski's voice in their ear. "Be careful. There's a rogue Deacon on the loose. It attacked us on our way to the hangar."

"Where are you?" Asked Sajaad. "We can't see you." Sajaad pulled her flashlight to illuminate the corridor ahead of them.

"Hiding in the chute at the end of the corridor." Replied Drabikowski. "I've lost Lark. There's a rogue Deacon somewhere near!"

"Hold on tight," said Ejiri, "we're coming to you."

They cautiously navigated the dimly lit corridor until they came to a junction. "The Hangar should be at the end of that corridor to the left." Whispered Navarre. "Where's Drabikowski?"

"Here." Came a short whisper. "And I have Dr. Webb with me." Sajaad turned to shine a light toward the approaching figures. As she did so, the sodium luminescence swept across the grossly mutilated remains of what was once a man, dressed in convicts overalls. His shoes and socks missing. Quickly drying blood and viscera were painted all of the walls and floor in from of them. What had once been his chest was opened up from a violent eruption, seemingly from within. Sajaad was no stranger to violent deaths, but this caused her to take a sharp breath a cry out.

"It came from within there!" Drabikowski said quietly as she pointed to the corpse. "The creature came from inside him."

"It's all true." Sajaad muttered quietly. "Jannes Ruedi was right!"

Ejiri shot Sajaad a dark look, but turned to Drabikowski. "Where is Lark?"

"She tried to draw the creature away from us, but it damaged her leg as she ran past it. Then the door closed and we were cut off." Drabikowski looked distraught. "I think she's in the hangar."

Lugar had gone to get the correctional droids who were inspecting the corpse. Silently they picked up the remains of what was once a convict and carried it away. "We'll take this to the infirmary'" One of them said.

"Let's find Lark." Ejiri said. "Through here?" He motioned toward the door. Drabikowski nodded.

As the door slid up the science crew of the Cetorhina walked slowly into a vast room. Huge double doors made up most of the ceiling and the floor was a crazy collection of platforms, pipework, monitors and heavy machinery. Chains and grapples hung from the ceiling and everything was slick with a thin covering of moisture. Lark sat on a wall nearby, cradling her badly damaged leg, a beatific look on her face. Following her gaze everyone looked to the center of the room where, pulsing slightly, looking for all the world like a huge, blackened heart, beating slowly with the rhythm of the universe was a monstrous, biomechanical behemoth. Lines of black creepers tethered the encrusted metal and proto-hive surface, pinpoints of lights danced along pulsing arterial vessels that swept and moved with the whole construct.

"It's beautiful. Isn't it?" Lark said, her synthetic eyes transfixed on the Heart of Darkness.
When the cursor starts blinking, it is already too late
 
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Re: Heart of Darkness Play Report. 7. Night of the Hunters

Tue 13 Jun 2023, 16:32

thanks dakes.
always fun to read.

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