Wild Thargoid Chase: Research Base KG-3362
05 Jul 2018Lilly Terranova
The Scarab wobbled as it dropped from the Durandal's cargo hatch to the scorched dirt of the planet's surface. Rocks, dust, and what looked suspiciously like shredded bits of metal crunched under the heavy wheels, spraying out behind the SRV and hanging suspended in the low gravity vacuum. Lilly didn't care for SRVs, but she wanted to see the damage up close. Since the Thargoids' return had become public knowledge, half the attacks on stations, settlements, and convoys had been blamed on Thargoids by nervous commanders or pirates with everything from acid to green paint to sling around after their attacks. When reports had come in about a rash of Thargoid attacks on surface installations, behavior that had yet to be verifiably documented, she had collected the locations and detailed a number of contacts to survey them. Of all the sites that had come under attack, Research Base KG-3362 stood out to Commander Lilly Terranova. She'd read the reports about INRA and the abandoned facilities rediscovered over the last few years. It had not been difficult to trace the discovery of the mycoid "virus" to the INRA agricultural study. What the Thargoids did and did not know about that was an open question, but the report of an experimental agricultural facility coming under Thargoid attack was one that bore investigation.
"Commander, there are a number of dispersing wake signatures in the area. We're not the first ones here," came the voice of Avalyn Gardner, a pilot in her employ, from the grounded Anaconda.
"That is not surprising. Scavengers, Aegis, Canonn, and any number of other organizations and independent pilots will have wished to investigate," Lilly responded in her mechanical voice. "Keep watch. Preston Williams should be arriving with a report on Penal Colony BV-2259."
"Right," Gardner sighed, closing the frequency. Lilly had no great affection for the pilot. She was jumpy, insolent, and not so competent as Lilly would like. Good help, it seemed, was hard to find.
Lilly eased the SRV between a pair of communication relays. One of them was half-melted, gleaming with the familiar yellow-green residue of Thargoid weapons. The green haze blanketing the area matched the clouds she'd found at countless debris fields of Thargoid attacks in the void.
"Are there any signs of life?" she asked, sure she knew the answer.
"Some plant life in the intact biodome, but that's it. This fog is obscuring readings the same way as the spaceborne stuff, so it's hard to be sure. Probably nothing left after a couple days of people coming and going to pick through the wreckage," Gardner replied after brief silence.
"That is to be expected. I am going to examine the intact biodome. I would like to take some samples of whatever was being developed."
If the work here had been related in any way to INRA's mycoid development more than a hundred years ago, there was little chance of there being a trace of such a thing left behind, whether the Thargoids destroyed it, or a cleanup crew eradicated anything remaining. Still, it would be negligent not to check.
The intact dome wasn't difficult to spot. Most of the others were surrounded by debris, torn open with their contents scattered across the surface when the units depressurized. Lilly parked the SRV directly in front of the access hatch and donned her helmet. Warnings beeped in the SRV's cabin as she vented its atmosphere, then opened the door and stepped awkwardly out into the planet's low gravity.
"The dome is still sealed," she commented as she approached the hatch. The fine coating of dust and other particulates coating the handle did not appear to have been disturbed. "It does not appear to have been opened--"
"Approaching vessel!" Gardner interrupted. "It's heading straight for us!"
Lily frowned at the panic in her voice. "Vessel type?"
A brief pause. "Asp Explorer...scanning for ID..."
"It is Preston," Lilly said, turning to spy the approaching Asp Explorer, its bright red hull with streaks of blue too garish to belong to anyone else.
"Lilith, baby, you already down there?" came the good-natured voice.
Lilly gritted her teeth. She did not care for being called by her full name.
"Yes, Preston. I am here. Please join me on the surface." The courtesy was forced, but if it was not given, Preston would spend more time complaining about her rudeness than giving her the information she had requested.
"Yes, ma'am, Commander Terranova, ma'am," Preston said, rolling his Asp Explorer so that she could see him saluting her from his seat.
She ignored him, opening the hatch and stepping into the biodome. The interior was unusually cold, ice crystals clinging to many of the surfaces. Lilly ran a finger across the hatch, hoarfrost clinging to her fingertips when she drew them away. There was atmosphere in the biodome, so the life support was still functioning. It should not be this cold, that being the case.
The plants were all dead, most of them rotten. She would have to speak to Gardner about how to differentiate between organic matter and living matter readings. Before she could speak, she felt a vibration in the floor, knowing it must be Preston's approaching SRV, and turned. A moment later, the door opened, and the man himself stepped through.
Taller than her by several inches, Preston was a barrel-chested man who wore a bright red jumpsuit to match his vessel, a blue stripe running from his right shoulder to his ankle. "Lilith, this isn't exactly a great place for a-huh..." he said, trailing off as he noted the ice crystals around them.
Lilly tilted her head to one side. "What is it?" she asked, knowing not many things could shut Preston up.
"The ice, Lilith. Same thing at the penal colony. Whole place was in a deep freeze. Life support was still running, no interruptions, but the whole place was on ice. Life support running here?"
She nodded.
"Damn peculiar."
Again, she nodded.
It was strange. If life support was working, then the heaters were working, and yet the whole place was frozen.
"What else did you find?"
"Oh, it was Thargoids, sure 'nuff," he grunted, tapping the side of his helmet. "Got some nice pictures for you, and a NAV beacon in case you wanna check it for yourself. Not a soul there. Acid everywhere, some breached hatches. Logs suggest people were bein' abducted or--"
"I have heard the recordings, yes," Lilly said, cutting him off. "It seems--"
The biodome shook as a familiar, groaning shriek filled the air, and Lilly fell silent. Both pilots jerker their heads upward, the clear canopy atop the biodome affording them a view of the silhouette of a Thargoid Interceptor gliding down toward the surface.
"Commander, Thargoid incoming! It came out of nowhere! Powering systems! Get back here, we've gotta get out--"
"Calm down, Gardner. Do not activate systems. Do nothing it may consider hostile action."
"No way, we need to get out of--"
"Enough, Gardner. Take no action," Lilly snapped, her mechanical voice carrying only a fraction of the irritation she felt.
Preston grabbed her upper arm. "We need to get back to our ships."
She shook her head. "No," she said flatly. "They have an obvious interest in human prisoners, and we have seen that they possess technology able to draw objects from the surface. If we leave the shelter of the dome, we are vulnerable."
"This ain't exactly a fortified bunker," Preston pointed out.
"It is four hundred meters to my ship, plus the time it would take to enter and power up the SRV, along with time to dock and secure it. How far is your ship?"
Preston hesitated. "Farther."
"We stay," she said.
Another rumbling sound, followed by the high-pitched warble of the Thargoid scanning beam. Lilly watched the ship sweep its beam across one of the breached domes. Lilly frowned. Why would they return to investigate a site they had already destroyed? This was not a trap, of that she was sure. Had it been, the Thargoids would have appeared and immediately started firing, and in greater numbers.
"This doesn't make sense," Preston muttered.
"No," Lilly agreed. "Why would they return after destroying the place? This is clearly not a trap. I--"
Lilly was cut off by the sound of another scanning beam, this one sweeping closer to them. That could be a problem. If the Thargoids detected them, would they simply ignore them, or would they attack and either kill or capture them? Lilly's experience had taught her that one was almost as likely as the other.
Before she could remind Gardner to remain calm, the ground began to shake again. A moment later, Lilly watched the black hull of her Anaconda rising into the air. Fury in Gardner's lack of discipline flared in her, but she pushed it aside. There was nothing for it now but to board the ship and either fight or leave.
"Is your vessel outfitted with Guardian or Anti-Xeno weapons?" she asked Preston, who stood stock still, attempting to piece together what was happening.
"Hell no, I don't wanna tangle with them," he said.
"Gardner, bring the ship over to the intact dome, hover over my SRV and open the cargo hatch. We will come on board."
Rather than turning toward the dome, though, the ship veered up and away from the compound.
"Gardner, return my ship to the biodome for a pickup," Lilly instructed.
Again, there was no response.
"Looks like your pilot's rabbiting."
The Thargoid, however, had grown interested in the sudden activity, and moved between the Durandal and its escape vector. Lilly watched the scanning beam sweep across her ship. If Gardner was smart, she would stop the ship and let the Interceptor scan and move on.
But Gardner was not smart. Lilly could see the hardpoints deploying from where she stood.
"She gonna fight them?" Preston asked, sounding almost hopeful.
"She will lose," Lilly said flatly.
"Not a lotta confidence in your pilot there."
"She has no experience combating the Thargoids alone, nor a sufficient understanding of the ship's systems and subsystems to make an effective attack."
Even as Lilly spoke, four Gauss cannons discharged in a blinding flash of blue light. The Interceptor screamed, then rumbled as the yellow-green light along its hull, or carapace, turned red, and it began to glide sideways, slipping out of her ship's line of fire. As it moved, Lilly frowned, watching the petal-like hull shift and reconfigure as it moved.
"It is not deploying its Thargon swarm," she remarked.
"What?"
"When Thargoid Interceptors are engaged in combat, they deploy a drone swarm to support their Interceptors. I have not seen them fail to do so in combat."
The pair of them watched as the Thargoid began firing on Lilly's ship. Shields flared, and the vessel turned skyward to gain room to maneuver. Gardner clumsily spun it about, firing on the Thargoid again, then again. She watched a pair of remote release flak shells streak outward with the Gauss fire, realizing that she was simply firing all weapons as the turreted beam lasers began tracking and firing. She shook her head. More fire from the Gauss cannons, and Lilly could see orange light glimmering along the guns, smoke rising from the vessel.
"What's she doin'? She's gonna melt your damn guns."
Lilly could not disagree. When the fire died, she knew it was simply because Gardner had drained the capacitors completely. But one of the Thargoid's hearts was glowing bright red, the light splashing like blood across the bow of her ship. For a moment, there was silence, and then two of the Gauss cannons discharged. The vessel screamed, the booming, ululating cry shaking the walls around them as the heart exploded in a shower of green acid, tearing one of the vessel's petals away. The ground shook beneath them, and Preston whooped excitedly.
"She got 'em!"
Lilly shook her head. "No," she said flatly.
The lights along its hull flashed red, then began to strobe blue. Lilly clenched her teeth, bracing as the mechanical fingers on her left hand twitched.
"Hey, what's that?" Preston asked, staring up at the Thargoid in confusion. The blue lights began to pulse and strobe along its hull, and the exploded in a sphere of blue-white light. Lilly's vision flickered, fading entirely as her body twitched violently. Her bionic eyes and arm, along with the vertebrae in her neck fluttered in a cascade of brief failures. After her first experience with the Thargoid's shutdown field, she'd had numerous backup power supplies installed and insulated. Still, the sensation was far from pleasant, and when her vision returned to her, Preston was staring at her in concern.
"You alright, Lilith?"
"I am fi-fi-fizzzzt-ne. The shut-ut-ut-utzzztdown fieeeeeeld interfe-er-errrr-res with cybernetics as wel-l-l-ll," she said, her artificial voice distorted and stuttering. She ground her teeth, returning her somewhat fuzzy, distorted gaze to the battle above. She would have to recalibrate her cybernetics when this was over.
She watched as the leading edge of the shutdown field swept past her vessel. Lights flickered and died along its hull, and it lurched dangerously. The shields winked out, and the Thargoid began firing in earnest. A caustic missile slammed into the front of the ship, green acid covering the dorsal side all the way up to the canopy.
More worryingly, the vessel was without power or shields, barely a kilometer above the planet. Caught in the planet's gravity with no thrust, the Anaconda began plummeting toward the surface, just in time for Lilly to see a shot strike the canopy, shattering the armored glass. Gardner's body was blown from the canopy once it breached, and a few seconds later, the ground shook as the Anaconda slammed into it amid a hail of caustic missiles and projectiles from the Interceptor.
Preston stood silent beside her, struck dumb by the sight of such swift destruction of a warship he knew to be modified specifically to combat Thargoids. The ship smoldered a few hundred yards from the edge of the compound, and the Thargoid loomed over it, continuing to fire into the twisted hulk of metal. When a round penetrated its thick armor and ignited a fuel line, the entire vessel bloomed outward in an explosion, shards of metal flung into the Thargoid, which backed off with another shriek, and fired a few more times before it swept a scanning beam over the debris field.
"What...how...?" Preston stammered.
"I-I-I-I-tzzzt is d-d-di-zzzt-stracted, we ne-e-e-e-ed to go-go-go-go-gozzzzzt," Lilly said, her voice still distorted and halting.
Even through the artifacts and distortions affecting her vision, Lilly could see the concern on Preston's face behind the glass of his helmet. Her left arm hung limply from her shoulder, occasionally twitching or jerking.
"Can you drive?" he asked, eying her arm.
Lilly considered, then shook her head. His ship would not have room for two SRVs anyway.
"Alright, ride with me. Let's get the hell outta here," he said, hurrying to the hatch.
Lilly paused only long enough to scoop up a handful of the rotten vegetation and deposit it in a specimen container she had clipped to her belt before following. Outside, she jumped onto the back of Preston's SRV, clinging to its comms antenna with her flesh and blood hand, and crouching as Preston drove the thing off, bouncing down the scorched and pitted ground toward his vessel, so far ignored by the Interceptor, which was focusing exclusively on the wreckage of Lilly's ship.
Preston maneuvered the SRV into loading position and Lilly's stomach twisted at the sensation of it being lifted into the vehicle hangar. Once it was secure, she dropped to the deck of his ship and glanced toward the hatch.
"Get up there and help me start her up," Preston barked.
It was his ship, and the orders were his to give, however much Lilly would rather have stayed to see what the Interceptor was doing. She had her sample, and the recordings from Preston's ship, her own cybernetic eyes, and the possibility of returning to claim her ship's flight recorder, if it survived intact. Still, this trip had raised more questions than it answered, and cost her far more than she would have liked.