Incident at Area 1

[Underwater Asylum]

---32:41, Local Time
----Sub Level 62B
-----Cryogenic Storage Chamber 62A

The crack in one of the cryo tubes expanded, the glass shattering for no apparent reason. The loss of the seal was detected by the beeping onboard computer, a rapid thaw being instituted, powerful stimulants being injected into the near dead form within. A tall, powerful beast pushed itself out of the tube with it's muscular, black arms, six chitinous eyes glistening on it's head and a long, barbed tail jutting from it's back, razor sharp claws glinting on it's bestial hands and feet. It let out a low growl, and turned to the other tubes...

---32:53, Local Time
----Sub Level 62B
-----Main Access Shaft
Inhuman shapes scuttled up the walls, digging gouges in the tritanium shaft... They reached 62A, the second lowest floor, and tore open the vents and access doorways, slipping silently into them and clambering through, hunting the staff of the research facility...

Dr. Darien Morr sat at his desk, writing out his report on the progress of the pathogen for Division 1, when he heard a noise in the vent above him, glancing up, before returning to his access terminal, tapping out the message on the keys, sixteen hundred of them for the Elven language alone. He glanced up again as the vent grated a little, but assumed it was just a broken fan. It happened a lot in the lower levels...

He didn't even feel the barbed spike plunge through his skull.

Within hours, the very bottom of the shaft, which plunged down to just above the mantle, had been turned into a makeshift nest, countless metres below the ground. Breeders of the cold, alien species lay their eggs in the corpses of scientists and technicians that had been hurled down from above, caught in the framework of chitinous spines that had sprouted from the builder organisms. Alarm klaxons began to ring throughout the massive complex, the access shaft being sealed from Level 53, blastdoors closing over the vents and doors, locking every room off. But it was not enough, potent acids eating through, the creatures sneaking up...

The elite warriors guarding the facility were taken by surprise, vicious tails lashing out of vents and gutting soldiers, slicing off limbs and piercing skulls and helmets. Some of the creatures had managed to access the computer network on that level, hacking it with incredible speed, severing most of the security functions from the main computer, opening the access shaft again, turning the turrets on the people they had been designed to defend.

Heavy machine gun fire echoed throughout the complex, along with the sound of plasma weaponry, explosions shaking chunks of metal loose. In the command centre, at the very top of the thousands of stories high building, security and command personnelle hurried, organizing troop movements an dusing what commands they had left

"We've lost contact with Sub Levels 53 to 29..." "Second Brigade reporting in, we have enemy contacts. Can't hold them off much longer, request complete lockdown of Sector A4 and deployment of Manhacks..." "Reports of hostile contact on Sub Level 17, acid injection in the vents has failed, the command has been blocked..." "We've lost contact with Second Brigade, sending Fifth Brigade in to search for survivors..." "Tertiary operations centre on Sub Level 27, Sector H3 is under heavy attack, activating self destruct..."

Sub Level 27 exploded in a brilliant ball of plasma, incinerating hundreds of the sickening alien beasts, scorching the blastdoors on the next level. Third, Fourth and Fifth brigade continued firing until the rolling wall of fire reached them, charring them to nothing but carbonized bones that crumbled in the sudden intake of air...

Six hours later the Aliens were at the Command Post's door, and they'd lost all controls and power, a portable communication device being their only hope...

"This is Area 1. Come in Sector Fleet 1, we need... Oh god! Oh god! Aaaaaaugggh!*static*"