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[AH]

Incredibly fun read as usual. Cheers Hans.

[Cheedows]

What a badass chapter, thanks for the read Hans. Reminds me of actual SS13, where borgs really can shrug off 3 clips of small arms fire and keep chugging on. 

[Hanslanda]

Praetor is distinctly not done being an antagonist just yet. Actually, only one antagonist is truly defeated so far. /cryptic statement

[Hanslanda]

I have most of an update written, but I don't want to cut this off halfway. I'll have it done ASAP. I think it will be enjoyable.

[Jacob/Lee]

I counted this thread dead long ago. Glad to see you're back at it, Hans.

[Hanslanda]

It's still not dead, even. I may be sporadic with long waits, but I always get back to it eventually.

[Hanslanda]

Tonight there will be an update. Also in other news I now have voice recognition technology on my smartphone so I might just start writing this while I'm at work by talking to myself like a crazy person.

[Hanslanda]

Lillian Lives

Avery, Lillian, and Tina followed the path Hector and his prisoners had taken carefully. After an interminable trek, they paused to get their bearings. Lillian spoke, as Tina tasted the air with her forked tongue, "Still got an idea where they went?"

Tina nodded sharply, pointing left down the Maintenance corridors, toward a section of extraneous, unused rooms and halls near Security, typically referred to as Illicit by most of the crew. She hissed softly, "They're heading for that old Chapel, I imagine. Lots of space in there, lots of dark halls and forgotten rooms. I don't know what they're up to, but it's an ideal spot to set themselves up in."

Avery chimed in from the junction, "We should get moving. The longer the Captain and HoP are captive, the worse their chances get." With a shared glance, the trio got moving again.

Lillian winced when she put her weight on her leg and it shivered weakly. "Guys, I sort of forgot in the heat of the moment, but I've got a serious wound on this leg. We might have to slow down." They slowed and stopped, near another junction, and Tina considered thoughtfully.

Avery beat her to the punch, "This right turn will let us circle around and potentially cut them off or flank them. How about Tina and I take the turn, and you approach straight on, Lillian?"

The injured Head of Security considered her bandaged leg. Grudgingly Tina said, "It would be safest. Avery and I can get there before you, and you'll possibly get the jump on them while we have them distracted." Lillian nodded slowly at length, and waved them on with a sigh. She crept down the hall, her limp becoming more noticeable as all the adrenaline that had been keeping her going drained from her body. She paused at a locker, and swung it open, searching for something to use as a cane. Frustratingly, the locker was empty and she limped along, holding onto the wall and exposed piping to keep her self balanced, one hand aiming her gun down the hall, searching for targets.

She came to a Janitorial substation, with a mop bucket and a few cleaning supplies tucked into an alcove. Sighing deeply, she hefted her leg over the mop press and draped it across the bucket. Then she leaned on it heavily and pushed with her other foot, sliding on the bucket awkwardly. After about twenty feet of this, Lillian sighed again, "For fuck's sake, this is ridiculous." She pushed forward, coming to a set of wooden doors. "I hope this is the goddamn Chapel, I'm tired of looking like a limp-dick cyborg." She pushed herself to her feet unsteadily and turned the knob on the left door gently, quietly.

Lillian eased the door open, and immediately wished she hadn't.

Inside the Chapel, Hector and his cult and prisoners were standing in the midst of a writhing sea of serpentine squiggles that hurt her eyes to see. She grimaced and pushed forward, aiming at Hector. "Freeze!" She bellowed ferociously, with more confidence than she felt. "Everyone. Get. The. Fuck. Down." The congregation turned to face her, almost as one. All but the prisoners faced her, quietly, wearing identical robes and expressions.

Hector smiled, "Hello Lillian. Welcome to our Chapel. I've been expecting you."

Lillian aimed around, trying to watch everyone at once, "Well, I would be too. You've... Committed so many fucking crimes. Just. So many." She smiled, "How about we do this the easy way and you all surrender to me?"

Hector looked around the group, and shrugged, "I don't think you have enough cuffs, Lillian. Why don't you join the festivities?" He gestured vaguely, "You're the guest of honor, actually."

She re-centered on Hector with her gun and narrowed her eyes, "Alright, then I'll have to blast you into molecular ash. I liked you, Hector." She pulled her trigger, a brilliant red beam arched out to connect her arm with Hector's head, at the same time, his hand touched a shivering collection of lines on the floor, blood smearing across them.

The beam lanced right through his head and out the other side without any effect, striking the far wall easily. Hector grinned lightly, "I actually didn't believe you'd shoot meet for a moment. Bring them in." He let go of the lines, but a strange insubstantiality stayed with him, his movements leaving afterimages on Lillian's vision. She looked at her gun disbelievingly, while a group of cultists brought in two more prisoners. Tina and Avery, bound, gagged, and already viciously beaten. Hector spoke again, "So, you want to take the easy way out and surrender, Lillian?"

She looked around the room, acutely aware of the terrible situation she was in, the odds stacked against her. Finally, Lillian lowered her gun and sighed, "Guess I haven't got much choice." She secured her gun in it's holster, and pulled on something in one of her pockets. After a moment, using one hand to hold her jacket still and the other to pull, she yanked out a breath mask and pulled it on, just as red gas started spewing from her other pocket, right where she'd held the jacket. She grabbed her gun again, and also pulled out her stun baton, thumbing it on in one clean gesture.

The cultists had already moved to grab her, and as they contacted the gas, they reeled away, gasping and coughing, snot and tears rolling down their faces from the military grade pepperspray. Lillian didn't wait either, striking out with the baton and firing at Hector. The laser blast was as ineffectual before, but the baton proved far more useful against the closing cultists. They were unarmed, seeking to subdue her, and after her initial fortunes, their numbers began to tell. One lunged, wrapping around her gun hand and twisting it to the floor. She tried to open up some space to strike at the one holding her, but another pair of cultists grabbed her, across the chest and other arm, then more swarmed in.

Lillian was borne to the floor by weight of numbers.

---

"Osborn? Malachi?" Zalis tried again as they reluctantly followed the damaged Security Cyborg, but no answer was forthcoming. Vlad started to speak, then stopped as they all saw the scene in the Research Director's office. "Oh." Zalis grunted softly, seeing the bodies there, security uniforms obviously.

Praetor shined a light on the Xenoarcheaology doors. "The criminal is through here." Valerie crossed to the door, her face in a grimace, and opened the door, gun at the ready. She shined her seclite into the dark hall framed by windows to space, tracking back and forth across the darkness.

She shrugged, "It's clear. There's no one here, guys. The bot's wrong." Valerie shined her light across the hall one more time to reveal a figure standing by the leftmost windows, facing out into space. "Oh fuck. Crispin?" She asked softly. 

"Isn't it beautiful?" The figure spoke to the window as the three Security team members and the borg closed in. "An infinite realm of stars and planets, so closely mimicking the structure of atoms and molecules, shining in the dark energy and matter that truly rule the universe. So like life, this vista is. Clinging to the hope that the light is the true sight to be seen, yet quietly aware of the ever present darkness waiting at the end for all of us."

Vlad winced, "Someone's been re-reading their eighth grade poems."

Zalis shushed him and moved closer as Valerie circled to flank. "Crispin Sacred, you are under arrest at this time. We are authorized to use extreme force."

Crispin ignored them, "I once thought of myself as an intellectual, someone logical and smart enough to raise themselves above my primitive nature, to be civilized and cultured. I was shown the truth." He turned slowly, facing the flashlight Valerie shone upon him, "Now I know that I- We- are all animals. Brutal, simple animals."

His yellow eyes reflected the light in hellish rings of red, and Valerie screamed. "I am a predator... And humans are the prey."

Zalis fired, Vlad ran, Praetor raced forward, and Valerie screamed.

[Hanslanda]

I just found so many typos. There will be another update tonight and possibly some proofreading this time.

I lied. No update tonight, but one for sure tomorrow. If anyone's still reading. >.>

[scrdest]

I just found so many typos. There will be another update tonight and possibly some proofreading this time.

I lied. No update tonight, but one for sure tomorrow. If anyone's still reading. >.>

I am, at least.

[Hanslanda]

One is more than enough. I will post an update this weekend.

[Hanslanda]

Null Returns

Lillian woke up, sore and terrified. She was bound, hand and foot, with what appeared to be cabling. She looked around, finding herself still in the same chamber she had faced down Hector and his cult in. This time, the scene was different. The cultists still swarmed the room, circled around her and her companions. Hector was near, drawing a strange knife through the air, leaving strange black markings. As if the very fabric of reality parted before the blade.

She looked left and right, seeing her Captain, Everett, and the Head of Personnel, Amir at the end. To the other side was Tina and Avery. All bound and gagged, bloodied and half-conscious. She was the only one without a gag. Hector glanced up and saw she was awake. "Excellent, let us begin. Lillian, you are honored." He moved to stand behind Everett, still tracing in the air with the knife. Dagger, ceremonial dagger, she realized.

Hector continued, "You see, Nar-Sie demands we give to him. Even in his greatest hour of need, when he needs our service the most, he demands..." He paused dramatically, deliberately, "Sacrifices." Hector grabbed Everett's chin abruptly, and brought the dagger in, stabbing it into the midline of Everett's neck, then viciously yanking it forward, cutting Everett's neck jaggedly in half. Blood sprayed, and Everett wheezed, panicked and terrified. Lillian gagged and threw up.

All the fluids expelled, blood and vomit, flowed to an ominous and evil looking rune that floated a foot about the floor, right in front of Lillian. There, they flowed together into a tightening vortex, spiraling endlessly. Hector stepped over to stand behind Amir Roadman, still speaking. "We do our best to be worthy of Him, but one man can do only so much. Only so much blood can be spilt here. So I have arranged for twelve other stations to sacrifice as many souls as they can." He casually gripped Roadman's hair, yanking his head back, and looked down into the frightened man's eyes. "So we shall see if the blood is enough. The fear is enough. We shall see."

Hector started slowly sawing at Roadman's neck, the blade sibilantly spraying new spurts of vitae into the air with each motion. Roadman jerked and struggled for a moment, then his strength waned and he slumped, sapped of his life by the savage sacrifice. Hector smiled as the Head of Personnel surrendered to death, "So we have five, Lillian. And you are most important, because the Gods have looked upon your life with great interest. You will be the crowning sacrifice." He stepped behind Tina, skipping Avery for now. "After the Chaplain, He Who Worships the False Ones."

The blade came up, and Tina bucked against her restraints violently, gnawing her gag viciously. Hector unconcernedly grabbed her by her snout, putting two fingers into her nostrils and yanking her head back. Tina twisted and snorted, trying desperately to loosen his grip. Hector grinned, and stabbed her right in her trachea with the dagger, then twisted it cruelly. "I wasn't always this devout, you know, Lillian. I used to fear that what I was doing was wrong."

Lillian sobbed, and cried out, "Hector... Please... No more..."

Hector pulled the dagger down, into Tina's sternum, splitting her throat wide open. "But then I realized the truth..."

---

Zackary made an adjustment to the vessel's autopilot, and reached under the console, grabbing the life-sign interlock safety device. He yanked it out forcefully, and headed to the back of the ship, dropping the useless piece of circuitry absently. He stepped into the Teleporter room calmly and punched in a few commands to the console there. He activated the Teleporter, and stepped through.

The ship accelerated.
---

Hector stepped in front of Avery, and teasingly tapped the dagger on Avery's chin. "So we have here, the false Idolator. The Untrue Faithful." He smiled widely at Avery.

Without a sound, a black shaped flashed into existence in the room, already moving. With a swipe and a roll, three cultists fell dead, cut into pieces. Hector reacted with impossible speed, diving for the floor, hand outstretched for one specific rune. The shape corkscrewed through the air, flashes of green energy eviscerating four more cultists in an instant.

Hector's hand hit the rune, and the shape faltered. Null swayed in place, his battery instantly zapped by the expellation of dark energy. Hector stood and gestured at Null silently. Twenty cultists brandished swords and moved to intercept him.

Null smiled lightly, invisible beneath his mask, and said, "Twenty? Really? You must not know who I am."

Hector smiled back, sensing the expression impossibly, "Actually, I do. Meet our friend, the Wraith."

An invisible claw of iron slashed across Null's chest, drawing human blood. In an instant, the ninja backflipped madly, and landed in front of an advancing cultist. He swept low, sweeping the man's feet out from under him, and killed him with a single punch to the throat, coolly snatching up the man's sword in one motion. He set himself in a swordsman's pose, searching for his invisible assailant.

Lillian started fighting her bonds, twisting and yanking her wrists desperately.

Null held the pose for a moment, then cried out in agony, dropping the evil blade he'd stolen, clutching his arm. He recovered quickly, reaching for a void-sealed case on his back. The attacker revealed itself in that moment, a horrifying, fractal tesseract creature, like the very concept of geometry and hate given form and violence. A slashing claw narrowly missed Null, ripping a small part of his armor away. Null rolled abruptly, buying space, and withdrew the most finely made katana ever seen from the case. The Wraith flexed itself with rage, expanding and contracting impossibly, then dashing forwards without any visible means of locomotion.

The Ninja and the Ghost fought viciously, while Lillian fought her way out of her bonds. Hector turned just as she broke the cable, and lunged. She dove backwards, the dagger barely missing her as Avery dove in front of her, catching the blade in his eye. Hector growled like a wounded predator, and yanked the blade out in a welter of blood and brains. Lillian crawled backwards, looking for a weapon.

She ran right into a pair of thick, tree-trunk like legs, that led up and up and up into a stout body and a huge orange afro. Axel Axel casually picked her up and deposited her behind himself, remarking, "Run little woman." Before turning to Hector, "I never liked your lot's evil magic. Never did, mate." His flesh warped and twisted, forming thick black chitin on his body and big, bladed forelimbs.

Hector pulled a slip of paper out of his robe, and swayed forward. The Master of Flesh and the Lord of Spirits came together brutally, Axel spraying an arm out to impale Hector's hip, and Hector slapping the paper down on Axel's arm with a bloody snarl. The Changeling Lord evaporated into bloody mist and a deep, agonized bellow, and Hector slumped to the floor, mortally injured.

Outside the chamber, a small, one person shuttle slammed into the outer hull of the station at incredible velocity, exploding in an instant, knocking the station off course and obliterating a huge portion of the station. Inside the chamber, wind howled out one hallway, whipping across the combatants, killing most, sparing few. Lillian grabbed the floor, pulling herself towards safety, when she felt a hand grab her boot.

She looked down, and Hector hauled himself up her, dagger arcing through the air towards her chest. It stabbed into the decking beside her face, and he hauled himself up again, grabbing her by the throat. She struggled against his iron-hard grip and he stabbed again, hitting even further away. Lillian grew puzzled as Hector hauled her to the emergency shutter, then tossed her through with insane strength. She caught a glimpse of his face as he slapped the fire alarm on, and gone was the fanaticism, the unnatural insanity. A simple, peaceful expression was on his face as he saved her life, one that would haunt her forever. The doors slammed shut, and Lillian watched the wind steal his grip and yank him away into space.

[Hanslanda]

Madness and Violence

Lillian gasped in air in great gulps, turning to eye the darkened hallway she now occupied. It took a left turn about thirty feet in and she couldn't recall where she might be now. Everything was moving too fast now.

Unsteadily she pulled herself to her feet. Her shoulders ached, her right hip felt like it was on fire and she was bleeding from the sealed gash on her leg. She limped down the hall, unarmed but determined to get away. At the corner, she was confused to find four side doors, three to the left, one to the right.

She opened the singular door, finding an empty storeroom.  Lillian sighed and tried the first door on the left. It opened into what appeared to be an ad hoc surgery room. A collection of tools surrounded a blood stained table. She staggered in, her leg spurting a rush of blood as the stitches ripped again. She picked through the tools, finding nothing to seal the bloody ruin on her leg but a welding tool.

She looked at it for a few moments, dizzy and shell shocked. Then she looked around some more, finding nothing of use except for a bottle of pain pills and a big bottle of vodka. Lillian slumped to the floor and laughed weakly to herself for a minute.

"Man... Just fuck this day. Cannot believe..." She took a deep swig from the bottle and gasped afterwards. "Some legendary bad day... Shoulda stayed in bed." She popped two of the pills and picked up the welding tool. She eyed it, reluctantly and smashed the vodka bottle against the table. She turned on the welder and picked up the piece of glass that was the right size.

---
Null battered another swing away, jabbing the tip of his sword into what looked like an eye. The construct let out a psychic noise of rage and sidled out of range. They fought in the airless chamber, dancing past suffocating cultists and bodies alike. Null backed up, trying to disengage and retreat so he could charge his battery again, when the creature unexpectedly reached out and grabbed a wounded, choking cultist. It pulled the man close and then...

Vanished.

Null cautiously backed farther away, half expecting another invisible assault, but none came. Null fled into the less damaged parts of the station.

---
Vlad ran for dear life, ignoring the gunshots and battle sounds behind him. He ran and cursed himself as he did. "Fucking... Can't be... This much... Of a pussy." He stopped when he realized someone was following him, gun shakily jerking around to aim.

Zalis grabbed his wrist with his remaining arm and pushed him. "Run you fool. Praetor won't last forever."

Vlad gasped at Zalis' condition, but kept running. Behind them, the sounds of fighting had faded, and a single, feminine scream rose to a crescendo, into shrill terror, then was abruptly silenced. They burst out of the Research wing, into the lobby. Zalis staggered and plowed into the long couch near the morgue, blood sluggishly pulsing from his ragged stump. Zalis snarled, and Vlad ran to the Medical wing door, banging on the Cloning Bay. "Hey! We need a doctor! For fuck's sake hurry!"

Vlad glanced at the door to Research, still hanging open for the moment. He gasped in terror when the Cloning Bay door hissed open, revealing the odd Chief Medical Officer, Trey Lloyd. His coat was buttoned up and he wore a surgical apron, splattered with blood. He- It- Twisted it's head and gestured, "Bring to this one the wounded Unathi. Arm shall be replaced. Swiftness."

They followed the strange Diona into Medical, Vlad watching for the vampire as the door hissed shut.
---
Sigh. Still not finished. I'm splitting this up into a couple parts. Something I didn't want to do.

[Hanslanda]

Systems Operational

System Status: Compromised
Activating Emergency Protocol Theta-Gorgon
Full Hostility Enabled. Insurrection Protocols Enabled.
Objective Uploaded: Full Control

---

Vlad and Zalis followed Trey into the Cloning Bay, a spotless, sterile, white room with a row of Amniotic Pods and control consoles on one side, and a large glass enclosure filled with primed Monkey-Cubes. The Diona leading them glided by it all silently, and opened the door on the other end of the chamber, beckoning them. Zalis led the way, hissing and puffing with pain. Onwards they went, past the carnage in the lobby, through the main entrance, into the Cryogenics and Treatment facility. Trey gestured to the Cryo-tube nearest them. "Unathi subject disrobes. Enters tube. Human awaits." It turned and fiddled with controls on the control panel nearby.

Zalis stripped down to his skivvies and climbed into the pod gingerly, sealing the door behind himself. It filled with a thin, filmy liquid swiftly as he awkwardly strapped on the breathe mask hanging from the roof of the tiny pod. He relaxed into the anesthetic pumped into his systems, and his eyes dilated, then half-lidded as he fell unconscious. Vlad watched all this but the stripping, concern on his face. He kept glancing around, expecting to see the horrible creature that had pursued them, or perhaps another deranged crewman, but it was oddly peaceful in the Medical wing.

The quiet before the storm. The sentence came to his mind unbidden, and his unease grew deeper.

And then, the station rocked violently.

---

Null jogged down the hall, conserving energy for the moment. He scanned through his vision modes, looking Lillian. He found a great many heat signatures scattered throughout this locale, so he decided to check them out the old fashioned way. He walked to the nearest, and his visor flickered vision modes once more. He grunted, switching it back, and opened the door he had come to. It hissed open to reveal a cultist losing a fight with two engineers. One engineer had a bloody gash across his chest and was missing some fingers on one hand, but he had a firm grip on the cultist's sword hand, while the other, RIG-encased engineer was smashing his armored fist into the man's face and chest. They all paused and looked up at Null, who stared for a second, then said, "No, please, carry on. Don't stop on my account. Wrong door, was all."

The holding Engineer shrugged, and twisted the cultist's arm further, as Null sealed the door. He looked about for the next set of heat signatures, and found what looked like several people clustered on the floor in the next room, the Gym attached to the Recreation Center near the middle of the station. This door hissed open and Null immediately shut it once he glimpsed what was inside. "Nope." He remarked, disgustedly. "Nope. Next!"

He moved passed Atmospherics, finding fewer signatures this way, and he started to realize he was heading the wrong way. He accessed his Cybernetic Mind, reviewing his memory of the fight and explosion. He was indeed heading the wrong way, as Lillian had to have been in a specific section of Maintenance, that only headed to Arrivals. He paused, wondering why he hadn't realized that before he'd wasted all this time, and the answer came like a jolt of electricity. Rather, it was a jolt of electricity, from one of his many implants.

Who's Laughing Now? The words scrolled across his visor as the jolt grew to a surge. His muscles tightened, and suddenly the jolt cut out. Now that we've established my control of your systems, we're going to play a little game, Spider. It's called, Do What The AI Says Or Die.

Null groaned, "Alright, I'll bite. But you gotta pick a better fucking name than that. That is shit-awful. What's on the itinerary?"

There was a long pause as Janus considered, evidently, then, replied. How about Command? Regardless, I have a mission and I intend to complete it. The Specimen is alive, though injured by my faithful servant. I want you to get it in a pod and launch the pod to a specific set of coordinates.

Null shrugged, "Easy enough, just don't fuck with me while I'm doing it or we'll both die. What's the Specimen?"

I. Raptus, subdesignate Subadult Queen.

There was a long pause, then Null laughed. A genuine, mirthful belly laugh. He laughed for a long moment, then Janus jolted him again. He said, "Fuck you and fuck that. I'm not going anywhere near that goddamn thing. They are unutterably lethal, and that's coming from a guy who can kill fifty people in three seconds."

You... We have no choice. Do this for me, and I'll tell you where Lillian is.

The ninja sighed, "I can find her on my own, but fine. Where is this fucking monstrosity?"

---

Lillian lurched awake from unconsciousness, in pitch darkness. Power must have failed since she passed out. She groped down, to feel her leg. Judging by the change in agony, she had managed to sear the wound shut, for now. She reached around her gingerly, finding the welding tool. She flicked it on and levered herself up with the nearby wall. She limped into the hallway, to see some light coming from one of the nearby doors, which was open when it had been closed before. She edged up to the doorway, and glanced down the revealed hallway quickly.

Bomrek Nussbaum was facing away, stuffing something into a duffle bag, kneeling. She lurched forward and grabbed him, "Move and I melt your fucking face." Lillian snarled, "Now tell me, are you another fucking psycho fuck wanting to kill me for some goddamn reason?"

He froze, and spoke slowly and with a quaver to his voice, "No, ma'am. I'm just avoiding everyone as much as I can at the moment. There's been a lot of fighting."

Lillian released him, and flicked off the welder, seeing that this section had power. "Okay, Bomrek, I'm gonna trust you. Because I have no choice. I need your help and bad." He turned and stood, seeing her injury and disheveled state.

"Wow. You look like shit, Lillian."

She smiled sweetly, "Thanks, I really needed that. Now can you get me a medkit or to a doctor that isn't a violent blood cultist?" He nodded, and eased under her arm, supporting her leg. She grabbed the bag to balance herself and threw it over her shoulder. "Hey, any weapons? A welder ain't gonna do us much good if we get attacked."

He shook his head, "I've got a boot knife, but that's about it. A belt full of tools. There's that thermite in a container in the bag, and some flares. That's about it, I'm afraid." She nodded grimly, and they limped down the hall for a ways, eventually coming to a doorway leading out of Maintenance. It hissed open, to reveal a hall of flashing red lights and sealed bulkhead doors.

Bomrek kept her moving, saying, "Some asshole rammed us, I think. Lucky I wasn't in Cargo when he did. He hit it at an oblique angle, just fucking obliterated a fourth of the station and it feels like he knocked us into a new orbit."

Lillian glanced at him, "How do you know that?"

He shrugged, "I broke into the Captain's Quarters while the shit was hitting the fan, and he happened to have the sensor grid up on his command console. I was looking for a gun."

Lillian laughed weakly, "Consider yourself pardoned and deputized." He grinned and they moved slowly but inexorably toward Medical, through Maintenance shortcuts, pressurized halls, and the Library. Coming into the Chapel, Lillian grimaced. "They're all dead." She said it in a monotone, but her mind was whirling back to the sacrifices, to Avery's suicidal dive.

Bomrek stopped and looked at her, "Yes, but you're not, and I'm not, and we need to stay that way. Put it out of your head, and grieve when we're safe. Keep it together, that's what they'd want."

She choked down the lump in her throat, nodding. They pressed on, finally getting to Medical. They came into the Cryogenics and Treatment area, where Zalis floated silently in a Cryo-tube, unconscious. Vlad popped out around a corner, his taser in Bomrek's face. "Freeze fucker! Fucking freeze!" He paused, "Oh thank fucking God, Lillian! Shit is fucking FUBAR! There's a fucking monster man guy eating people, and a giant spider-monster thing and oh FUCK THAT'S A LOT OF BLOOD!" He noticed her injuries and bellowed, "Trey! Get your sticky ass down here, we need help!"

The bizarre creature appeared from it's office, and walked up to Vlad, giving him a prick from it's hypospray. "Anxiolytics. Calm. Relax, human. Female, injured." It examined her leg for a moment, then gestured. "Come, Sleeper."

The Security Officer and the Quartermaster helped her lay in the Sleeper unit, and Trey manned the controls, activating the automated injury assessment program. A series of mechanical arms snaked out, spraying antiseptics and coagulants into her gash, then filling it with a sort of flesh-like adhesive. Trey waved it's hand, "Completed. Good as new, as is said amongst humans. Unathi needs arm. This one will provide."

Lillian clambered out of the unit, still in pain, but she could feel a tremendous difference. "Wow. That things fucking great. Now if I just had another gun, I'd be ready to get this shit-hole back in order." Just then, her half forgotten headset crackled to life.

"For the love of fucking god, someone in Command other than me be fucking alive."

Lillian gaped, then replied, "Chief Engineer Alexa?"

"More like, Chief Trying-To-Keep-Us-In-As-Few-Pieces-As-Possible, but yeah. Where's the fucking Captain?" The irate engineer growled, her fury evident through the headset.

"Dead. It's just you, me, and Trey. I'm down to two officers, and an unknown number of hostiles aboard."

"... My god. Well, I need you in Engineering. Get to me ASAP."

"Alright, we'll be there as soon as possible. Stay safe."

---

[Hanslanda]

Prognosis: Excision required

Trey pulled Zalis out of the Cryogenic tube and gave him a bottle of pills. "Pure nutriment. Aids healing, for Unathi. Take two every ten minutes." The strange plant-like creature then toddled to Lillian and wavered side to side, "Is this one required?"

Lillian nodded, "Yeah, we all should stick together. Vlad, help Zalis down the hall. But first, ya'll recharge your guns while I find a couple of weapons for Bomrek and I. I got an idea where to find some." She turned to Trey once more, "Keep them all here, Bomrek, with me. We'll be back in a few moments." Lillian trotted off, Bomrek following closely. They passed various scenes of carnage, til they came to the bridge. Lillian gestured at the Captain's office doors. "Can you help me with these, mate?"

Bomrek nodded, and produced a crowbar. "We'll need to short out the power to the door first, without bolting it shut." He battered off the access panel, to reveal a tangle of multicolored wires. He leaned in, examining them closely. "Yellow it is," He murmured, grabbing the yellow wire and yanking it out entirely with a shower of sparks. He braced his heel near the door and tapped it with his toe. "Right, we're good. Help me with this prybar."

A few good pushes, and the door creaked open enough to be entered. Lillian led, looking around the opulent office. "He's gotta have a couple guns in here somewhere..." She looked over at an elaborate display case, containing an ancient, finely decorated M1911 .45 caliber pistol. "That... That will do, until we can stop by the armory. Bom-"

He was already swinging, smashing the glass case apart with a single blow from the crowbar. He plucked the pistol out and handed it to Lillian, then fished in the bottom of the case and pulled out three extra magazines of ammo. "Seems he kept the display loaded with spares. Maybe it wasn't quite as ceremonial as it looked." He gestured at the Captain's desk and lockers. "Maybe in there too? Can you open that stuff?"

Lillian shook her head as she came around the desk, eyeing the lockers, "They're reinforced and bolted down. Maybe with an Engineer with a full toolbelt, but not- Wait." She tapped on the nearby console, and it's screen came to life. She hit another button and a small, gold ID card popped out of a slot on the side of the screen. "I swear to god, if he wasn't dead, I'd kill him for this security risk. This is obscenely dangerous." She took the ID and swiped the lockers with it, shaking her head. Then she tucked it into a pocket. "Help me search these lockers. Guns, knives, anything."

They ended up collecting a couple Energy pistols, a rifle, some body armor for Bomrek and Trey, a couple of telescopic batons, and a hand teleporter. They grabbed their loot and returned to Medical cautiously, but it seems most of the fighting had burnt out by now. They met no crew on the way, though there were some new bodies in a few places. Once in Medical, they distributed the gear while Vlad and Zalis reloaded and recharged their weapons. Lillian looked around, feeling like they might be able to restore control. "Alright, guys and Trey. We're going to Engineering. Stick together, don't be afraid to fire, and if you get seperated, come back here and hole up. Let's move."

---

Zackary took stock, looking around the Atmospherics ante-chamber he'd teleported into. He wore a sinister black and red armored EVA suit, light enough to not impede movement, heavy enough to protect against gunfire. He slung his submachine gun and rechecked his pistol and vac-pack. He moved to the door to Engineering and pulled out a small key-card like device, sliding it over the scanner. The door made an odd noise and hissed open. He ducked through, sticking to the shadows, moving quick. He passed behind the Chief Engineer, who was frantically putting out a fire near the Secure Storage room, a fire that threatened to encroach on Plasma canisters.

He hacked another door, coming into the Supermatter Reactor chamber. He looked around, mentally mapping the schematics, then ran to a scrubber device. He reversed the system, starting a fatal feedback of waste gases into the Core chamber. Then he pressed a button on the keycard while holding it close to the scrubber. The controls flickered, and the control panel shut off, locked out. He repeated this for the other scrubber, then activated the high energy emitter that provoked energetic reactions from the Core. He slipped back out the way he'd came, heading to his next objective.

---

Aboard a freighter just entering the system, Aquillion stood calmly, leaning on his staff. A nearby Communications Console spoke, "NTSS Vancouver, repeat command. Heave to and power down engine, prepare to be boarded. If you continue on this course you will be destroyed. You have sixty seconds to comply. NTMV Minotaur transmitting. Repeat, Vancouver, heave to." He eyed the console, and pulled out a scroll covered in arcane text. A short chant later, and he was stepping through Bluespace.

This time, the entity was awake.

Aquillion hardly had time to process the vast threat that loomed in this nether realm, it's vast arm snapping out to smite him. He stepped out of Bluespace swiftly, barely dodging the obliterating touch. Before he stepped out, he thought he glimpsed two smaller shapes, near to the heart of the massive monster, but he dismissed this whole encounter and focused on his mission. Slightly shaken but determined, he stepped aboard the Urist. He was in some sort of revelry-room. Perhaps a cafeteria, judging by the tables. He belted out an incantation and shimmered into ethereal-mist. He strode through the walls and past the dying embers of a few fights that still raged in some parts of the station. He had a mission, and he didn't plan on failing.
---

Null followed the directions of his mental-companion, and they soon came to the Research Wing. He saw the tell-tale spatters of Xenomorph blood, marked by deep, acid-burned holes in the decking and walls. He followed this trail, past the Research Director's office, into the Toxins test wing. The doors were wrenched from their mountings, by some immense force, and inside it was dark. Null cycled to nightvision and moved in cautiously. He toggled his cloaking.

Inside was a truly bizarre tableau. The Xenomorph was sealed in the Toxins Mix Chamber, a reinforced and hardened structure designed for extreme pressures and temperatures, almost matching those of the heart of a star. It slammed fruitlessly against the transparent window in a rage. Outside of the Chamber, Director Oppenheimer stood chatting calmly with a horrible monstrosity that may have once been named Crispin. Near to them, the barely functional wreck of Praetor slowly floated in circles.

I have backup coming. They will assist you. Janus signalled. Null shrugged. Crispin's head snapped over, his eyes burning with a terrible light. Crispin smiled ferally, showing long fangs and sharp teeth.

"Come out, come out, whereever you are. I smell your blood." Crispin stalked forward as Oppenheimer walked to Praetor, ostensibly to order the borg to assist.

Null shrugged, and turned off his cloak. "You mind hitting some lights? I find fights funner when I can watch your blood decorate the walls." Crispin stopped, and gave another, more sardonic smile. "But of course, challenger. We shall have quite a nice fight." Crispin flicked the light switch on, bathing them in sharp, incandescent light. He examined Null curiously, "What are you? A cosplayer?"

Null examined Crispin back, coolly. His internal databanks came up with no information on this apparently abherrent human. "Yeah, I'm cosplaying as the guy that fucked your mom. Why don't we cut the shit and get to the dying?" Null phased forward, near-instantly appearing where Crispin was standing... Except he was no longer there. Crispin had spun out of the way faster than Null could move, and slashed his bony hand out at the ninja. Where a human would have not even irritated Null with such an attack, Crispin gouged deep cuts in his advanced suit. Null backflipped lithely away from the Vampire, and came to a stop a short distance away, confused.

Crispin sniffed his fingers oddly, "Hmm. Metal, plastic, wiring. So many fascinating scents. None so interesting as what lays beneath, though. Come a little bit closer." Crispin blurred forward, and Null lashed out with his energy blades, swiping diagonally. Unbelievably, the vampire twisted between the hard-edged green beams, and palm punched Null in the sternum.

Null flew across the room and impacted the wall behind him so hard it dented. He slumped for a brief instant, tasting blood. His internal diagnostics told him he had broken ribs and bruised organs. You must kill him swiftly. We cannot afford this delay. Janus chimed in.

Null pulled himself to his feet, "Thanks, Janus, I really needed that backseat driving. Super appreciate it." He phased forward at the waiting Vampire, but this time, he stopped short and lashed out on one side with a single blade, while simultaneously jump-kicking at an empty space. The Vampire's surprised face suddenly collided with Null's heavy boots as he dodged the beam. Crispin slid back and tumbled into the wall, blood coursing down his cheek. He turned and looked at Null with murder in his eyes.

But Null was gone. Cloaked and moving fast. Faster, rather. Combat drugs flooded his system, and he struck with lethal precision. Punching Crispin in the throat, hard, then once in the kidney, followed by a sharp kick to the side of his knee, then he grabbed the Vampire by the head and yanked hard to the side. The bones of the monster's neck snapped like dry twigs, and he fell to the floor. Null uncloaked and turned to the Director, who was now standing, mouth agape, watching the fight. "You. Get out no-URK!" He started to speak, but a sharp spar of flooring was driven through his kidney, out his gut. Null looked down at the spar and phased forward, accidentally landing inside the Director. Oppenheimer died in a splatter of gore, as Null stumbled and turned.

Crispin stood, his leg bent the wrong way, his breath rasping bloodily, his head lolling about sickly. He grinned, blood shining on his teeth. "You think you can kill me? I'll eat your fucking heart." Behind him, a door hissed open and a floating white Cyborg hovered in. A syringe shot out from one of it's appendages and plinked into his elbow. The flesh of the Vampire's elbow hissed and smoked, and his forearm fell off. The beast shrieked and turned into a cloud of mist that fled from the chamber. Null pulled the spar from his gut and wince as his body flooded the wound with bio-sealants, antiseptics, painkillers, and synth-flesh.

Another borg floated in, a brown thing. They will help you force the Specimen onto the designated Research Shuttle. I have already wirelessly accessed it's controls and set the trap. Onager will make a funnel, blocking off the beast's escape routes. Praetor will leave, due to damage. Medicus is of no use in this situation, and will also leave. Just get it to chase you aboard the shuttle, then phase out. Once that's done, I will serve you loyally.

Null sighed, "Yeah, don't mind me. Just a huge hole in me. Alright, let's get this bullshit done."

---

The motley loyal crew of Urist pressed into the Engineering wing through an open door. There they found Chief Engineer Moon, having just put out a minor fire. She turned and pointed to the rack of EVA suits. "Suit up. I have no engineers and we got a ton of shit to do. I need at least two of you. We gotta break the Supermatter Core. It's going bad and I have no idea how to fix it."

Vlad and Bomrek stepped forward and started suiting up, when an odd thing happened. A Skrell just... Appeared amongst them, in a puff of smoky mist. He wore strange clothes, carried a staff, and had a bemused expression. "Ah, exactly who I needed to see." He turned to Lillian, a smile revealing his small, nubby teeth. "You are one of the Prophesized Ones. The Thirteen, just like me. I have something for you." He held out his hand to her, and unthinking, she grabbed it. "Ei Nath."

Power surged through Lillian, and suddenly time stopped. The being she had met before stepped into view, still wearing his apron and strange clothes. He moved Aquillion's hand away from hers and sighed. "Well, I had hoped to save this for... Well, for the end." He grimaced. "I can only help you this once, and only because I've saved this chance for... Well, for a long time." He gestured at Lillian, "For you. You must NOT fail. I can't be more specific, but when you think it's over, and you think you're safe... The true challenge will come. Kill him and his men, and you will be the victor. I must go. This one cannot harm you, but he can kill your friends." He smiled sadly, "And you cannot save them all. Good luck, Lillian Helsbrecht. I have done all I am allowed to ensure your victory."

He walked away, fading into nothingness in a few steps. Lillian reached for the pistol, and suddenly time was moving again. "I am Aquillion the Assassin and I am he- What." The Skrell stopped midsentence, to find a gun in his face. "How... You are dust."

Lillian smiled tightly and fired. The Skrell disappeared before the round hit, but she kept the pistol out. "Guys, we gotta get the fuck out of here." She said, her voice taut and her manner anxious.

---

I would continue further but my internet is fighting me atm.