Fandom Waves of Dementia, A Marker's Calling... (Dead Space)

[Style Kella]

Liz nodded, her rivet gun ready for whatever abomination walked through the door. A few more loud bangs and the door was ready to come off its hinges. Through the cracks a larger musclar beast could be seen backing up and giving one last charge, a brute standing in the mess or ripped metal.

"Split up!" She said as it charged at them, she ducked to one side to avoid being ran over by the truck of flesh and bone. As she rolled and steadied herself she saw large puss sacks on the shoulder blades of the beast but they were hidden behind two shields of bone. "I think those yellow spots are joints, I doubt our weapons would do much god on any other part." It was a long shot, but if anything it was uncovered the most.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

Nick dodged opposite her and focused on the beast that just rammed into the back wall of the armory. It was dazed but quickly steadying itself. He noted what Liz was saying, seeing the yellow weak spots and trying to get a bead on one but this thing was already back in the fight, quickly turning around and getting ready for another charge.

"Read you loud and clear, but this damn thing is fast as it is large," he shouted as it started toward him and he had to dodge again. He tucked and rolled and whipped around and the thing was already getting ready to go again. They were in trouble. They needed to slow this thing down now if they wanted a fighting chance. As he dodged again the thought came to him and he felt dumb for not realizing it sooner. He readied his aim at the creature and realized it had its sights set on Liz.

"No," he shouted at the behemoth, unleashing a volley of fire to distract it, which worked. This was good and bad. Good for Liz, bad for Nick. He couldn't get his stasis aim ready in time and tried his best to dodge it, shouting out to Liz as he did so. "Blast it with sta--"
He was cut off by a sickening gag and cough as the beast clipped him while dodging, flinging him aside like rubbish and dropping his RIG to a yellowish orange color. He crashed to the ground and sputtered, the wind knocked out of him as he tried to scramble to his feet. But he was spent in that moment, his body unable to regulate his breathing, steady his heart and get him upright all at once. He was just a man, a puny one at that compared to the goliath that was stomping menacingly toward him now.

 

[Style Kella]

Liz readied to aim as the beast came back from its daze, her shots bounced off as the beast went for Nick first. But similar to the monster, Nick was quick to dodge and get away, allowing Liz another shot. The spread only made one rivet hit the yellow flesh as she shifted aim, but now the beast was on her. She was ready to move when Nickn screamed and drew its attention. "Dammit..." She mumbled, he was playing hero, for what? She was getting ready to scold him when in a flash he went flying, knocked across the room and down for a moment. His advice cut short from the pillar of muscle that smacked him.

Liz circled behind the beast and aimed her stasis unit as its hulking arms raised up in front of Nick. "Leave him alone!" She shouted as the blue ball hit the enemy, slowing it down enough and leaving it open that she took, unloading her clip into the weak points. Even in slow motion it roared but backed up, laying down and covering itself with its armor. She didn't know how long it would be like but she hoped Nick slipped away in the chaos.

"Nick, I'll kill you if you die!" The statement was stupid and ironic, but she meant it in a caring way. Seeing him hurt angered and worried her, she wanted to comfort him and make sure he was ok. But this thing was getting back in gear as her stasis wore off seconds later.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

Was it foolish of him to play the hero? Yeah, it was. He wasn't the heroic type. Even in games he played in the simulator he was the strategist who stuck to the shadows and played fifth dimensional chess level mind games while everyone else played hero. But when it came to her, this perfect stranger who he barely knew outside of emails and administrative bullshit, he felt like he could be the hero, like he needed to be. She could handle her own, he knew that without doubt. But things were tense. They were fighting literal monsters and were trapped leagues below the sea in a technical marvel of a tuna can. Anyone could break from that, they had seen it first hand. They were both also suffering from these effects in their own way and keeping each other tethered to the ground. He didn't know why he felt that compulsion to play the hero now, but it was there like an itch for a fix to an addict.

Liz had bought him some time, the beast staggering back and allowing him to finally catch his breath again. He stood tall again and focused on the hunkered down heap of flesh. That armor plating was thick and protected the puss sacks greatly in that position, but he had an idea. He fired his own round of stasis and swapped weapons, firing a ripper blade and approaching the brute. The tethered blade was unforgiving as it tore into the flesh of the beast, ripping at everything in its path including the armor. As the armor thinned to almost nothing, the beast started to get back into an attack stance as the stasis was wearing off and Nick went on the tactical retreat. He caught sight of Liz and gave her a nod as if to thank her.

 

[Style Kella]

Liz felt a weight lift from her chest as Nick stumbled up and out of danger. She Couldnt place the feeling, the tugging in her chest when he was around and worked his magic. An engineer she only saw on reports and told what to do, that's how they started. Now? Maybe friendship, companionship, or maybe they didn't want to die alone and seem like it was for nothing. Maybe even more, those thoughts were better than the fear and guilt these hallucinations were giving her.

She watched as Nick countered the beast, the blade screeching as it chewed through bone and plating. She was glad her helmet muffled the sound, the little bit that came through was ear gouging. But as the stasis faded and Nick moved out of danger, a small nod from him. She gave a two finger salute in return and focused back on the beast as it roared. He hurt it bad and made a larger opening, but the thing kept its back to them.

"You took the last hit, let me draw the thing away and you take it down." Another risky play but she trusted Nick to make the shot count, plus, she was still in the light green, one hit would equal them out versus Nick going red. She unloaded several shots into the things face, if the small shape could be called that. It turned to her slightly, picking up a crate and throwing it. She ducked the first but the second crate hit her head, making her stagger and her health between a teal and orange. She fired again and moved to the far corner from Nick, the brute moving slowly towards her.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

He agreed with her plan and let her be the diversion. He really didn't want to but couldn't risk another hit like that. At best he would be running on fumes. At worst... game over.

He cursed silently as she was unable to dodge the second crate flying at her but she took it in stride and gave him all the opening he needed. He charged at the beast, hitting it with stasis once again and slowing it greatly. He launched another blade and kept it tethered, shredding away at the armor completely and exposing both of the fleshy pustules. He focused on the left one first and it burst after a couple of seconds. Sure enough the whole arm of the brute burst from its body and it staggered, now off balance and greatly weakened. Blood and gore spurt from the severed appendage as well as the beast itself and it roared slowly in pain.

The stasis wouldn't hold much longer. It had to be finished. At best he had two more blasts of stasis and couldn't risk another shot right now. He fired another blade and ripped at the second pustule until the process repeated and the herculean creature finally fell.

Nick approached it and cursed under his breath before stomping at the corpse. A little gold disk rolled out of its mouth and, curious as a cat, he picked it up.

"Power node?.. Neat," he chirped and pocketed the resource as Liz met him in the middle near the slain beast.
"That was fun," he said, sarcasm thick in the words.

 

[Style Kella]

Liz caught her breath as Nick tore the arms off the brute, using every second he had of the stasis, she should have shot it as well, but he looked like he had it beat. Once the beast fell, a loud thud as the mass of meat and bone collided with the metal floor. If this thing was capable of being made, then she could hardly imagine other horrors. Hopefully not as large and fortified.

She closed the distance between her and Nick, his snide sarcasm a lift in the stress. She chuckled and gently punched his arm. "That's what you call fun? Man, and I thought I was a party animal. Your choice in music and drinks just as beefed out?" She poked fun, playing along. Hearing these stupid remarks reminded her they were still human and that there was some hope. She rested a hand on Nick's shoulder as the other pulled a medium bacta tank out.

"You're really good at this. Here, It isn't much, I have a few more left if you need them. Medical should be a good restock like you mentioned."

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

He chuckled at her response at quipped back, "Yeah. Remind me to send you almost later." The stress of the situation all but faded as they had their little moment and he had to admit that it was nice.

He smiled behind his helmet and gladly accepted the tank, popping the cap and having it into the receptacle on his left pec. His RIG climbed back up to green and he immediately felt better. He had never been that low before and found that he didn't really like it. But, honestly, who would?

"Thanks for that. You should heal up too. And you're not bad yourself. Pretty good for a pencil pusher," he teased.

 

[Style Kella]

Liz laughed softy at his remark, she couldn't argue the name, she was by definition a pencil pusher. "Thank you, the best pencil pusher you'll ever know." She said coyly, smirking behind her helmet as she gently patted his shoulder. She pulled a small bacta out and used her on the opening on her waist, her RIG going full green once more.

The beat down and their little moments here and there had her in a good mood now. She double checked the smashed crates for extra supplies, finding nothing of value. Their next stop was medical for a minute and then the artillery cannons to clear the waters. Still so much to do.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

~An Hour Later~

Stopping in medical was a mistake. If he knew just how bad things would be, Nick would have never mentioned it in the first place. The first sign that things would be bad was the carnage of the medical bay. The scene was something out of a nightmare. There were bodies everywhere, mist of which were ripped to shreds. And the blood... it was like someone emptied an olympic pool's worth into the entire bay and had it spill out into the halls. The air was so thick with iron that they could taste it despite their filtered helmets.

Pushing the visceral imagery to the back of their minds, they pressed on and explored, scavenging what they could and trying to get out of dodge as fast as possible. Nick managed to concoct a potent energy shot out of scavenged adrenaline, bacta and medical grade caffeine solution, jabbing the shot into his suit and topping him off. He felt like a superhero with the sudden burst of energy and passed one to Liz before logging the other three in his inventory.

As they both were surging with a fresh wave of energy it happened. The lights were cut in the bay and the red lights of emergency power kicked on. Then came that voice, that menacingly haunting voice.

"Hello, children," croaked out an older man's voice over the PA. "It seems you have decided to deny your true calling. I'm only going to make this offer once. Come to the church, submit to the Marker and myself and prepare yourselves for convergence. We will be whole. It is the will of Altman, the will of the Marker, and the will of I, Father Isa. If you choose to defy us, you will force our hands. One way or another, we will ALL be whole."

The speaker cut and the lights came back on. Things were calm for all of five seconds before the lights went red again and the automated system called out for a quarantine sanitization of the entire bay. They were locked in for the next two or three minutes at the least and there was no telling what would happen between then and now.
"Back to back," Nick shouted over the blaring alarms, readying his cutter/ripper for a wave of enemies.

 

[Style Kella]

Liz was relieved to be at Med Bay and get a new surge of energy, even if it was a little unorthodox, but it helped. She was looking through a few files on desks when the lights went off and the voice came through. He sounded so callous and careless, yet he had a perk to his tone as he preached, this did not sound like a loving pastor anymore. "You sick bastard..." She mumbled to herself, toying with people's lives to get new members for some rock fan club. How low could people gwt?

There was little time to think of that as the blaring quarantine sound came and the flashing orange lights that barely lit the room. Every shadow seemed to jump with the eerie glow, every chair was a new enemy in her head. But Nick's words cut through that paranoia and pt her in action. She pressed her bck to his, each of them covering a side as the vents began to burst. Not all of them had a slasher or lurker come through, but the chorus of scrap metal shattering was ear aching.

Then it started, from different vents came a variety of monsters on either side. Slashers, pregnants, and lurkers were among the first. Shots rang out from Liz's rivet gun as she pinned two enemies to the far wall, they flailed about but she paid no mind as she changed targets. Blasting the legs from underneathe a pregnant, the fat mass crawling now. She planted another round, relievced until it burst open. A small swarm of green glops came bounding out. Her gun was too slow so she used her stasis to slow them and blast throughh them quickly.

The next oart was harder, two infectors had came in and were working on mutating a pair of corpses. But these turned out different, they were yellow and black, like large arachnids or something. They seemed tougher, taking shots like they were marshmallows. This surprised Liz, she could only kill one before the other was too close. She pushed Nick aside as the thing slashed, missing them both. But now they were separated and the room was filling again with what she hoped was the last 4 enemies, plus the tougher one.

"I'll handle the small fries, you take care of the one right there!" She knew he had better weapons for the job, plus hers was better at immobilizing. She started with the infectors, pinning each of them to ground before she stomped on them, ripping a wing off in the process.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

Everything was happening so fast and the shadows cast from the spinning quarantine lights didn't help. The room was large and they could easily be overrun quickly if they didn't handle things accordingly.

As the enemies came he took them down with extreme prejudice, feeling like a piece of his humanity was slipping away as he ripped limb after limb away from each *thing* that came his way. But he couldn't think like that anymore. They weren't people anymore. They weren't his friends. And even if they were he wouldn't be able to tell otherwise.

The shove really threw him off but he was greatful for it as he whipped around and realized why Liz did it. This new variant was tall, dark and ugly. It's skin was black as midnight mixed in with puss yellow underneath the breaks in the rough scaley hide. It's eyes were bright red and made it seem all the more sinister. Truly it was a horrifying sight.

Following her instructions he blasted it a few times with his cutter only to realize just how tough it was. He dodged it a few times, even bitch lapping it with his weapon to stagger it. That gave him just enough time to switch out, aim his Masterkey Pulse Rifle at him and unload a very unhealthy amount of buckshot into it. The creature's legs were blown off completely and it was left with only it's bone clawed appendages. He dismantled the beast with precision, one shot to one sword and then it's head. He stomped off the last sword for good measure, rendering it to just a disgusting hunk of flesh on the floor.

He realized shortly just how much time that thing took to kill and set about assisting with the rest. But it was like he was frenzied now, a second wind kicking in with the adrenaline. He felt invincible and acted reckless in turn. He shoulder tackled a slasher to the ground a punted a lurker before blasting them away with a few pumps of the shotgun.
He started taunting them as they came out of the woodwork, his aggressiveness drawing them away from Liz. He cursed at them, blasting with the shotgun and bursting a few rounds with the pulse rifle in between. His bloodlust was turning him into something be didn't know he was capable of becoming. Was be just as bad as them? Could be be *just* like them? The thought was sickening but so far away in his mind at that moment. All he could focus on was the kill.

 

[Style Kella]

Liz paid no mind to Nick and the beefed slasher, trusting he could handle it. As he did so, she made sure he wasn't interrupted, circling the room, taking down enemy after enemy or restraining them to finish later. She had made several laps before she noticed that most of the beasts were heading towards Nick, who, for whatever reason, was on a frenzy. Liz watched for a moment as he dispatched creature after creature without hesitation or remorse. There was no patter and caution was tossed to the wind like one of those things dinner. Somehow, this new behavior, terrified her more than any of those things ever could.

Nick, someone so kind and gentle, under so much stress and fear tossing his focus aside for the simple goal of killing. Killing without reason, survival maybe, but this rage was bloodlust. She had to act fast, she clammered through cabinets to find a sedative or pain killer, something to calm him. At least she didn't have much to worry about with him demolishing their attackers. Within minutes she had a few options; a low sedative, a medium one, and a mixture of muscle relaxers and sleep meds. As well as the pile of corpses surrounding Nick.

She would try the small sedative first, she knew his medical records stated he had few on site injuries and most of those did not require sedation, so he should have a low immunity. There was still a slasher left in the room near, she cut Nick's path to it, her hands on his shoulders as she tried to hold him back. "Nick, calm down! You need to snap out of it, you're going too far." She spoke as softly as she could through her helmet, the slasher was walking around a set of tables, still a dozen meters away at this point. She was hoping not to use the drugs but if he wouldn't listen, then she would be forced to.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

His rampage was cut short with an enemy still in sight. He struggled against what held him back, about to attack it when Liz spoke and her soft voice crept through just enough for him to realize it was her. That little bit just saved her from him, but he still had to kill that thing, he needed to kill it.
"Don't hold me back," he grumbled, still struggling. "That thing will obliterate us if I don't kill it first," he grunted. "He struggled to aim his pulse rifle, his aiming reticle going all over the place as the thing stumbled around and tried to close in on them. Nick certainly wasn't helping any, his mind fully feral as he was hyped up on caffeine and adrenaline when he really needed rest. He wasn't really leaving Liz with much of an option and was close to breaking free as the monster drew closer.

 

[Style Kella]

Liz grit her teeth, she knew she should have let him sleep more. He barely recognized her until, that scared her more. He was so far gone for a second and she rushed in, he could have attacked her... She felt the recoil from his shots, heard the thwoom thwoom thwoom as shots missed. "I'm sorry, Nick, you need to rest." And with that she pulled the minor sedative out and injected it into his RIG. Quickly she shoved him back and took aim at the slasher, three rivets sending it in the wall behind it. 'Obliterate us'? She thought to herself, his angered words replaying. He was blinded by a mix of emotions and chemical imbalances.
She went to him, her hands on his arms this time. She kept them firmly there as she lowered her helmet to properly look at him. She hoped it would work but she had the next shot ready in her hand if he needed more.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

As he struggled he heard her voice and felt the shot, the sedative making quicker work of him than he expected and cutting straight through the chemical cocktail.

She shoved him back and he lost his balance, tripping over a dead necromorph and hunching back against the wall. His breathing steadied and he started to feel really sleepy. He could hear her dispatching the final slasher but he wasn't focusing on seeing her, just hearing her.

It wasn't until she was on him, holding his arms back and showing him her face that he fully realized what was happening and why she did what she did. He didn't like that he lost control or that he could be pushed that far. He wanted to apologize and burst into tears like a frightened child from all of the stress, but he was just so tired. Despite that exhaustion, he could still see something lurking above them. His eyes focused through the visor so he could get a better look. What was that ?
Liz couldn't see what he was seeing so he drew all of his strength to his aiming arm, shouted, "Get down," and quickly aimed at the thing as it lept toward them. It was what appeared to be a severed head with tentacles sticking out of the neck and it latched onto the barrel of his rife. He pulled the trigger and reduced it to minced meat, collapsing from exhaustion and laughing a bit as the siren halted and the lights went back to normal.

~Quarantine Lifted~

 

[Style Kella]

Liz was checking him over, he was stable it seemed, drowsy, so the first shot worked. She was relieved to see him finally calm down, she was caught up in the euphoria of having him back that she lost focus of the situation. The sirens were still blaring and the lights had yet to return, until Nick took action once more. She knelt down and heard a small struggle, then a single blast. It was over...

Nick was on the floor now, barely awake and...laughing? That was a little creepy but he seemed well, she smiled and crawled to him, gently resting her hand on his helmet. "Just sleep, ok? I'll keep you safe, I promise." Her voice was soft, motherly almost, she wanted to sooth him, but first she had to secure the room. She left him there as she moved tables and desks around to built a small fort around him. Placing the last desk over the top after she crawled in. She had placed a few blankets and pillows on the floor as she repositioned them both.

She laid back, a pillow in her lap and his head on top. Her rivet gun was beside her, one hand over the handle in case anything came in. The other opened his helmet and gently combed his hair, this was the position she felt safest for him and found comfort from when she was upset. Whether friend or family, whenever she was upset, this was how she laid with them. She didn't blame him for the outburst or rage, she had lost control herself. Nick was trying his best to protect her and himself while trying to escape, who wouldn't snap at a bunch of nightmarish hell beasts? She sighed as she focused on him now, they would be safe here for some time, she wanted to give him comfort and know he was ok . That it will all be ok, or, at the very least, let him know she would do her best for him.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

Nick was out of commission the moment he hit the floor, his body spent from exhaustion and the sedative. They could both only hope that his psyche wasn't completely fractured. With any luck it was just an episode induced from the high doses of caffeine and adrenaline with the lack of food. But for now, they could only wait and rest while the nightmares slowed for the moment.

~~~

Somewhere in a neighboring star system there was a ship about to jump into shockpoint to answer a distress call from Sanctum.

"Alright, maggots," shouted the Sergeant over the sirens of the drop ship that was about to make the jump. "You know the drill! Damn eggheads shit the bed and we need to clean it up!"

JD didn't much care for how the sarge talked about the civies, but he knew he meant well. He was a good guy under the grizzled act, or so it would seem, and he trusted him. Sergeant Greenwood had led him in several scenarios since he graduated basic and he didn't see himself serving for anyone else or anywhere else.

Based on the statement the Sergeant made, however, it seemed that they didn't have full intel. Likely the message was intercepted by EarthGov first and dispatched ODST with limited information. Either that or Greenwood had orders to keep things low-key, betraying the trust of his men and leading them straight into the belly of the beast. Only time would tell.

 

[Style Kella]

Lea kept quiet as the sergeant talked, he kept his focus up. The last several of the missions the team tackled were standard and boring, this seemed to be a bit out there. The system wasn't even too far off and this was a fully equipped base, how could a signal not get through and who would attack? Regardless, there was a job to do; secure, contain, and get the hell out.

The rumble of the ship grew as it warped, crossing the massive distance between the systems. From above the planet the ship tried contacting the station once again. "Sanctum, this is the Poacher 121, here to answer a cal." The copilot spoke as he opened a channel, or tried to. There was nothing but static from Sanctum, even more odd, how could a colony not pick up?

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

Sergeant Greenwood seemed just as puzzled as the rest of them by the static but pressed on. They had a job to do and a little lack of communication wasn't going to stop them.
"Prepare for entry," he barked and the ship altered course, following procedure and entering the atmosphere. They were a few clicks away from the target beacon, but even still, the monolith that was the Marker was visible as they closed in from the upper atmosphere.
"That's a big fuckin' rock," he muttered over their comms, prompting the squad to peek ahead and take a look for themselves.
"Christ alive," JD muttered softly.
"Ya ever see anything like that, Lance," he asked his squadmate. The two mostly saw eye to eye but had their opinions on certain matters. Still, he felt closest to Lea. They served together in basic and wound up in the same battalion. It was hard to lose that brotherhood after serving with each other from the start basically.

 

[Style Kella]

Lea's focus was broken as everyone shifted their attention to the Marker below, it was massive. The sight of it was imposing and definitely made a statement. "Why is one up here?" He muttered to himself before he looked over at JD. They had been through a lot, Lea trusted him more than anyone on the squad. When you get yelled at by the same drill sergeant and hide in the same bunkers from enemy attacks, people grow on you. Sure, they had their differing opinions, but they worked well together.

"I think the only thing bigger than that would be the shit storm back in boot camp." He chuckled a little bit, not sure he properly answered the question. Nonetheless, the ship landed and everyone hopped out all geared up. They all wore the standard black and navy suits, their RIGS varying in color, but had the same slim shape. Despite that, they had layers of sturdy plating and absorbing gel. They were meant to beat beaten and keep the wearer alive.

Weapon wise, Lea had a large caliber semi-auto rifle with a 2-6x scope and a shotgun underbarrel. He had it made up to adapt to distance and tough enemies. The shells for the shotgun were galvanized and had a fire attachment. It was hardly standard but Sergeant Greenwood usually let them slide on how they decked their guns as long as they got the job done.

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

JD was the only one among them with a differing combat suit. It was the same black and navy with a medic's red cross and crest on both arms and his left pectoral. He was also the only one among them wearing a standard issue helmet. In this day and age it was impractical to wear as most weapons would blast clean through it, but he persisted out of habit from basic. They were all marines so he earned the nickname Jar-Dead, a play on the old Earth marines, Jarhead, as well as his initials.

While he was a medic he was also a marksman, preferring distance weapons. Seeing as this was close quarters, however, he opted for a bullpup chambered in .50 Beowulf with an extended barrel and canted hybrid optic clocked at 2-6x magnification. Being the medic he had a health buff to automatically heal himself and nearby squadmates upon dipping into the orange. He had only ever been that low once and didn't want to get close to that again. He opted out of an underbarrel for an extra attachment, stasis rounds. Not only were they heavy hitting rounds, but they would also slow whatever came at him. He did have a secondary weapon, a beefed up service revolver. It held twelve .44 calibre rounds and was an auto double tap weapon with a hydraulic knife attachment for a heavy pistol whip up close.

They all exited the drop ship, save for the co-pilot who hunkered down and locked her up tight, and did a brief landing sweep of the observation deck. The Marker in the middle of it all was even more intimidating now that they were close enough to almost touch it. And as the squad formed back up on the sarge, they realized they were alone. There wasn't a single soul up here, just that blasted hunk a rock from the sky. Not only that, but they had no floor plan, no comms with anyone on base, and no clue of the situation.

"What in fucks name is going on here," the sarge grumbled before giving the command to find an elevator, form up and descend to the next floor down.

 

[Style Kella]

As soon as his boot hit the ground Lea switched to what he referred to as "Active Duty", a mindset he had developed over the last few missions. He had gotten careless before and it costed more than he was willing to admit, so he mentally adapted. Put simply, when there was a job to be done, he would do it and to the best degree possible. He hated the overall idea of mmaking sacrifices, but he understood that situations called for them. And seeing an empty LZ with a Marker, no soul in sight, and the weirdness of this mission, the cold crawling feeling up his spine made him feel like sacrifices were going to be made.

It took the squad less than three minutes to sweep the initial landing area. Meeting back up with sarge for the next set of orders, find a way down, seemed low brow. But, with rifle half raised, he set out. The monolith was cut out from the rocks around and other, shinier, rocks placed in a checkered pattern around the Marker. It also shored off a dozen meters out, several other islands were visible and had various antennas and satellites poking out from them, a field of metal kelp almost. It clashed with the rocks and water, the aquamarine, falling more to the green, liquid gently crashing about metal and land. Kea didn't know much about the station or how it kept submerged, but there had to be a way to call a ride up.

Further from the monolith, maybe a klick or two, a small orange blinking light was coming from the water. He was hard to tell, but Lea could swear it looked like there was a window or maybe a hatch several meters below the water's surface. He opened the comm channel for the squad to inform the others of this, a possible entry. "I'm certain our suits would gets us there without much risk. A two man squad could go check it out. Also, does anyone know anything about this place? How can a whole station be underwater and have no way up?"

 

[Icarus-Ulrich]

"I don't know shit about this place," Echo muttered over the comms. "What about you, Delta?"

Delta and Echo operated about like Lea and JD. They were basically brothers and had each other's backs always. Echo was the more ruthless of the two while Delta was the one to keep him grounded, but they normally saw eye to eye.

"Same here... but something feels wrong about this place. Can you run that Intel message again Sarge," Delta asked begrudgingly. He knew the sergeant hated repeating himself, but he was surprised when the Sarge played the scrambled message again from who appeared to be some administrator chick and who was clearly an engineer. The video was fucked beyond belief and had to be decided for an hour and a half by their own resident egghead back on base to get it this clear.

"It's all just nonsense," JD said. "I can barely make out a word. Outbreak. Dead. Dying. Killing. Just a bunch of gibberish." JD wasn't normally a pessimist, but everything about this place, that message and that goddamn rock was putting him in a weird place mentally and he didn't like it one bit.

JD spotted a console not too far off, but a bit out of the way. "Hey, Sarge, I think I found a command module over here," he said over comms as he approached. "Could find us a way down to the labs."

 

[Style Kella]

Lea listened to the message again as it played, the pair on the screen looked ragged, like they were running or in some form of struggle. "What could have happened here? This place isn't remote but there is no way something or someone could have come down and attacked." Lea was usually trying to hope for the best, he didn't want to believe some evils existed in this world, was it childish? Maybe, but it helped him sleep. He turn to JD at the mention of some module, it stood in the far corner and barely lit up.

The group gathered near JD and the console, forming a half circle around him. The ship some distance behind had a quiet hum to the engine as it cooled down. A small light on the console blinked, indicating some form of reserve power was in affect and had locked most the controls. A large cable extended behind to a small generator hidden behind a set of rocks. "No wonder we couldnt find shit, they have the oddest locations." Lea spoke softly as he made his way over to check the power source. The battery was half way in and blinking red, so it had juice. He tried pushing it in but it took a lot more force to get it to fit.

Once in a loud whirling noise came from the generator as it kicked to life. The cable flashed blue as the energy traveled to the module, turning the light near an "ON" label hreen. The screen popped up in front of JD and flashed the typical start up signs for the CEC and Earth Gov. Before him sat a simple set up commands.

"OPEN", "LIGHTS ON", "ACTIVATE", and "SHUT DOWN".