Lair of the Mantis, Pt. 1
10 Oct 2024Dwayne "Nova" Smith
June 15th, 2330Holy shit... The Spacers were right! This really is the home of the Mantis. THE Mantis. God, I thought they were a myth. Just something truckers and cowboys tossed around to try to frighten would be Spacers and Pirates.
When I headed back into the facility I noticed a small blinking light on an intercom indicating a recorded message. I checked down the hallway and didn't see anyone else, so I chanced it and listened to the recorded message. And... well... turns out this facility really did belong to the Mantis. I'm not sure who the woman on the message was, but she was encouraging someone named Leon to keep going. "To keep giving the Spacers and Pirates something to fear". Sounded like the Mantis to me. And then when she said "I know the mantle of the Mantis is a heavy burden to bear"? Oh, I got chills. After hearing that message I was hooked. I had to keep going. So I did. I barely knew the half of it.
The only path forward went down a flight of stairs into something of a mechanical room. A big red container, probably one of the facilities fuel tanks, surrounded by several air ducts and what looked like pumps. It was also surrounded by more Spacers. Of course. Two of them went down with double taps a piece, but I missed both shots on the second. I was trying so hard not to hit that damn fuel tank. Gotta put some time in at Laredo's range next time I make it back to Akila. Gotta hone my aim apparently.
Of course this put me in... A bit of a pickle. Remember that binary trigger I mentioned earlier? Yeah, my four shots were up and there was still an angry Spacer charging towards me with what looked like a Barrow Knife. I always preferred a good quantum edged UC combat knife, but anything sharp and pointy will work in a pinch. Well, this was a pinch all right. Anyways, Spacer comes barreling towards me with a knife and I did the only thing I could think of. I pistol whipped him. Right in the helmet, which dazed him for a moment. Denebola I-b only has about half the gravity as a full planet, so the blow pushed him back a step. Gave me just enough time to drop my Regulator, pull out my spare Urban Eagle, and unload a couple shots into him, point blank. I'm so glad I put suppressors on all of my weapons, because the tussle didn't alert any of the other Spacers further in. I know because they were pretty surprised to see me when I did make myself known later.
But I'm almost forgetting the best part! The best part was a slate that was in knife man's pocket! Holy shit this slate! It was a log, same as this, from someone named Leon Voclain. It was... well I felt a little bad listening to it, at first. It was Leon complaining about the will reading for his mother. He outright says that the two weren't on speaking terms, which I can understand. Dear old dad wasn't too thrilled when I joined the Marines. I suppose after all this time I've come to understand his anger... anyways... Leon said his mother's will said "no inheritance until he got to his mom's "secret base". Which, of course, is here, the facility I am currently inside of, on Denebola I-b. Hearing this helped me start connecting dots. The woman on the recording earlier had referred to a Leon, saying he was "almost there". She had also said that she knew about the burden that was being the Mantis. Which means the woman on the recording was probably the Mantis? This slate was from a Leon, who said his mother's base was on Denebola I-b, and considering I found it, you know, here, that must mean Leon's mother was the Mantis? Which means the Mantis is dead, cause, obviously, Leon's mother is dead, and if Leon's mother is the Mantis, that would make the Mantis dead too... Alright, so I'm not exactly Sherlock Holmes. I'm sure Sarah would laugh at me for taking more than a second to put 2 and 2 together, but I was proud of myself for understanding.
Of course this begs the question... Where's Leon? Clearly this slate got here, which means the man must have made it here. Was he the one who set the traps that killed those Spacers at the entrance? If so... what happened to him? Did he take whatever his inheritance was, trap the place and leave? That doesn't feel right. Or did his mom set the traps and he just found his way through them? That... feels a little too hardcore, to be honest.
Right when I was thinking that, I found another slate, this time on a table in a little alcove. The table had some chems and a safe on it that the Spacers had clearly tried to get into, so I'm guessing they also found the slate too. Either way, this one was also mind blowing. This time Leon had made his way into the facility. He sounded so over it to be honest. He said he was shocked to hear his mom's voice once he was in, but didn't say exactly what she said. Just that she called the facility her "Lair" and that it was only "for the worthy" and that he had to take some tests to reach the heart of the building. Must have been another recorded message that only went off that once.
Honestly, I just wish Barrett was here. He would have absolutely loved this. Oh well, it'll be a good story when I get back.
I swiped the chems, you can never have enough Paramour, popped open the safe (You don't spend 20 years wandering the settled systems without picking up at least a couple interesting skills) and headed down another flight of stairs. In the room at the bottom, I was of course greeted by more Spacers. Two of them. Both very much dead, one of them very much pasta sauce. More victims of the traps. Again, still not sure if Leon set the traps or if his mother set them. It was around this point I double checked the slates to see if they had a date on them, and what do you know! They did not. So no idea if Leon was here two months ago or if he was here 20 years ago. The Mantis has certainly been a legend long enough that it could have been either.
This room had a closed door, which presented me with a choice. I'd looted a few weapons for later resale, which means I was weighed down a bit more than I really like to be. I could have gone back to the Frontier. Unloaded, resupplied, before I headed further in. But God this mystery was just so... engrossing. I couldn't stop now!I had to keep going, even if I had an extra Lawgiver sticking out of my pack!
As I'm sure you've come to expect by now, opening the door put me face to face with, wait for it... More Spacers! Two of them, which wouldn't have been so bad except for the two enormous fuel tanks behind them. Which, unless I wanted to blow them up, alert the entire facility to me being here, and probably get myself burned in the process, that meant no guns.
I grabbed my knife out of it's boot holster just in time to block a slash from the first Spacer. The other had a Solstice, which would have to be dealt with, but at that moment I had a knife in my face. Blocked a stab before kicking the Spacer in the shins to drop him to his knees. Gave me access to his neck and after a quick stab the universe was down one more Spacer. This left the one with the laser pistol. Which was... a bigger problem. I've used laser weapons plenty of times before, I know exactly how deadly they are, so I certainly wasn't foolish enough to charge him. I ducked back into the room I'd started in for cover, stowed my knife and waited out the burst of laz fire. Thinking quickly I pulled out the Novablast Disruptor I started carrying at the behest of Agent No. 1. Something to allow me to take bounties in alive, instead of just killing them like Yama does. "We only need one god of death in the Tracker's Alliance". Anyways, I'm glad I had it now. It's strong enough to knock out and drop even the meanest Ecliptic merc like a sack of potatoes, but not physical enough to make fuel tanks explode. Which meant it was just right for the occasion.
Peaking my head out while the Spacer reloaded his pistol I took aim and fired, temporarily frying their mental circuits. At that point it was as simple as strolling over, pulling my Urban Eagle out and giving the sack of shit a coup de grace. Brutal, I know, but I stopped giving a shit about the lives of Spacers and Pirates after the 3rd or 4th attack. And considering I've been wandering for 20 years... well... there have been a lot of attacks.
A knife and a Solstice aren't exactly heavy, so I stowed them in my bag and kept moving forward. I passed another hallway, no traps, before coming across another stairwell. This place sure was heading deep into the bedrock, but I suppose it made sense considering it was the lair of the Mantis. Gotta keep it safe from passive scans.
Dropping down another level I ran into my hardest challenge yet. Was it more Spacers? No, no, this time it was... alright, it was more Spacers. Except this time it was a lot of Spacers. 5 of them, all just sort of chilling in a room with a big pipe in the middle. Which meant I didn't have good line of sight on all of them. Did I mention it was down another flight of stairs? With another set of stairs visible in the background? This place was going deep.
Anyways, I shuffled back into cover and considered my options. I hadn't seen any fuel tanks, so my guns would be fine, which was good. Since there was five of them I didn't want to use my Regulator. The whole four shot thing. And since five is more than four, it meant I'd have to stop and reload with one guy left firing at me. Not ideal. Which meant I was really only left with one option. Pull out my Beowulf and hope I can pick them off quick.
So that's what I did. My chameleon field kept me hidden as I shuffled forward slowly, desperate not to break concealment before I was set up and ready. A little into the open gave me a clear view of four of the Spacer bastards, with the fifth only partially covered by the pipe. I took aim... and fired.
Dropped two before they got their remaining heads on straight and started returning fire. One of them had some sort of laser rifle (I would find out later it was a simple Equinox) and the other two had ballistic weapons. I took one more shot that missed as the fifth Spacer got into full cover behind the pipe, before leaping back the way I came, desperate for cover.
Waiting a tick for them to spend their ammo and have to reload, I paused, took a deep breath, and poked my head out. Seeing two of them I rapped out a couple of shots, taking one of them down for good and hitting the other in the leg, knocking them to the floor for now. The last Spacer was still MIA behind that damn pipe.
Pulling back into cover I waited, watching what I could see of the stairwell. Eventually I peered back down into the room and the last Spacer was now standing over the one I'd hit in the leg earlier and he had a med pack in his hand. Not sure why he thought right then would be the perfect time for some first aid, but his negligence was my gain. Two quick shots was all it took.
This fight was a little tougher, and carrying all this loot was getting quite a bit tougher, so I've decided to head back up and out to the Frontier to drop everything off and grab another bite to eat. A couple of Chunks only keeps you fed for so long, and I've been in the lair for awhile now. Just taking a second to dictate this log while it's all still fresh in my mind.
Dwayne out.