Play Testers Wanted Pt. 13

"I watched your live feed," Augury, the blue-haired woman, informed me. "I thought that guy in armor was going to wreck you but good."

"That makes two of us. I believed I was done for when that hammer slammed into me." I admitted with a laugh. "How long have you been here?"

"About an hour, I came here in the Kree scout ship." She stated as she went to one of the windows facing the docking ring. Augury bent over at the waist and pointed.

"Oh, damn Aug, that is one fine ass!" Disperse, the billionaire inventor and Toni Stark clone, cried out spoiling the moment.

"Sorry." I apologized and she shook her head. Suddenly I felt like I had just contracted the flu or worse. A tall athletic blonde woman dressed in black coveralls walked up and asked if Augury was okay.

"I'm fine." Augury replied while I stumbled away from the woman. Once I was ten feet away, I felt better.

"What the fuck?!" I cursed and it was Ynariel that explained as she handed me a bottle of tequila.

"The fair-haired human is a Sister of Silence." She began as I cracked the seal on the liquor and poured shots for all of those that placed a glass within easy reach. "Sisters of Silence are psychic nulls. They create an aura of anti-magic and nullify psychic abilities. Your adverse reaction is normal, and I urge you to stay well clear of her as will I."

"We have an accord on that one," I said. "Did anyone see the large Shi'Ar cruiser arrive?" I asked the gathered players. The consensus was that it had been here when they got here. I cursed before taking a generous swig of the tequila.

"What is up with that ship?" Gimmick, the gadgeteer, asked as I poured a second round of shots.

"It could be a problem if left alone," I replied as a fresh bottle was handed to me by Isolenti. I opened it and took a drink. "I tracked it from Jerull, the planet where I had my live streaming event. I wonder if it did well?" I asked and Void, the pale skinned girl, showed me the numbers from her wrist device. "Two million views and counting. Dang."

"Why are you really here Ghost?" Augury asked with the Sister of Silence behind her a bit so as not to affect anyone.

"What do you get when you blend a Skrull with a Xenomorph?" I replied with a question of my own. The expressions around me soured. "Drink?"

I tipped back the bottle and chugged a good portion of it. I explained what I believed happened to those not familiar with either the Skrulls or Xenomorphs. The heroes and their companions split up and settled into different corners of the main chamber. Being the paranoid fellow that I was I conjured six shadow imps and had them search the entirety of this level. I directed them specifically to inspect the air ducts or any other crawlspaces. They silently went about my instructions as Ynariel sat in my lap as we waited.

"Your cock is poking my ass," Ynariel declared loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Are you two going to breed in front of all of these beings?" Isolenti asked with the same volume.

"I guess sneaky sex is no longer an option," I added seeing everyone staring at us.

"Aw come on Ghost, let me suck you off." Ynariel purred. "I don't mind if they watch."

"I've never witnessed humanoid breeding practices," Isolenti added with an uncharacteristic chuckle. "Is oral sex that important to you?"

"Let me show her how he'll react." The she elf begged as the shadow imps returned from their scavenging mission. They whispered from the shadow beneath the chair I was sitting in.

"We found strange things. We've stowed them on the Dancer." The lead imp informed us. "We didn't want to show them to the others." I thanked them and dismissed them for now. I would reward the imps when I got the chance.

"I wonder what they found," I whispered in Ynariel's ear just as the entire level went dark. The whole station shook as red emergency lights came on illuminating the area.

"The ships!" Augury hollered. "The docking ring is moving!" She screamed which explained the vibration shaking the space station. The players rushed to the windows and watched as the ships were lifted out of our line of sight. I tried to hack the station's security to get a real time security feed of the interior and exterior of the station. I was unsuccessful.

"I can't get access!" Gimmick declared genuinely surprised.

"Neither can I," Disperse, the Toni Stark clone, snarled.

Sentinel, a female member of the golden skinned Sovereign race, went on the offensive and popped dark metallic claws. Like Disperse she was a clone of a more famous character and in the case Wolverine. Unlike Logan her claws were not adamantium they must be vibranium. I found that interesting. How had an alien gotten the Weapon X treatment? I would ask her when the opportunity revealed itself. She caught me looking and smiled nervously. She sheathed her claws before anyone else spied her secret. I touched a finger to my lips, and she nodded.

I walked around and found an access port. I opened the panel and tied directly into it via Left. The system was staggeringly complex. I projected a hologram for the others to see and interact with. The overall shape of the hologram was hexagonal. The six sides were in three different languages Kree, Skrull, and Shi'Ar. Each of the six sides of the larger hexagon were made up of hexagonal icons interlinked in a honeycomb pattern. Gimmick found a way of exploding the view of the hexagon and the hologram went from a small two foot across display to one that filled the entire central chamber.

"Way to go slick!" Void snarled. "You broke it."

"I didn't break it. I showed the interior of it." Gimmick explained. "Aw shit, this is bad." He cursed as someone stated our chief concern.

"Is it me," Augury commented. "Or is it getting stuffy in here?"

"The life support is off," Gimmick explained. I did not have issues with that. I put on my mask and it supplied me with fresh clean air. Like myself certain PCs and NPCs did not have problems with either lack of air, but with that came the deep cold of interstellar space, and potential radiation poisoning depending on if we were close to a source of said radiation.

"Search for radiation sources," I requested.

"I never thought... shielding is still up, I guess they want to preserve any electronics from getting fried." Gimmick mumbled as he ran the gambit of how fucked we were. "It is going to get really fucking cold, and no air for now. I am working on those two for now."

Everyone that could suit up did so which was most of those here though not all. The two that did not possess armor or environmental suits were Augury and the not so talkative Void. Augury however was a gifted enough mage to be able to create a big enough environmental sphere for now. I guesstimated her mana would run out in two hours if we did not run into combat. She and Void were fucked unless one or more of the upper floors had heat and oxygen.

"Someone or something is fighting me," Gimmick cried out as more and more of the icons went dark.

"We need to find our ships and call this a done deal," I said.

"What about those Xenomorphs you mentioned?" Augury snapped in a mix of anger and fear.

"I didn't want you to panic," I replied even as she panicked.

"Track the drain Gimmick, I know you can do it." I urged as the windows began to frost over. The dominant metallic construction did not hold in the heat very well. As the gadgeteer worked hard the frost spread until by the time he was able to produce a real time image of the space station the entire level was engulfed in deep cold. I was fine as were Isolenti and Ynariel.

"I guess a blowjob is out of the question for now?" Ynariel joked behind her mask. The others giggled but the tension was building.

"Xenos and the void of space what could be better." Particle tried and failed to joke.

"I got it," Gimmicked whooped. "The station's main power is supplied here, by a power core that runs from the top here," he said pointing to where the docking ring now resided. "It runs halfway down to the level here. Someone is tied directly to the core and manipulating things from there. If we can get to the ass end of the core I can physically tie in and turn shit back on."

"We have a goal." I said. "Let us go. We don't have all day."

"What?" Augury cried out her lips moving and that is when I realized that without oxygen normal communication is a bust. I touched all their thoughts except the Sister of Silence, she was on her own. I created a psychic hub and we coordinated that way for now. Gimmick produced commlinks for those that did not have them. Soon we were all up and running. With his map we were able to head for the freight elevator. It was the fastest and likely the most guarded route. If it were just me, I would seek out an airshaft to access the upper levels. There was no way we could do that with so many.

Gimmick brought the elevator down and not without some difficulty. I had my needler aimed at the double doors as they opened. Nothing sprung out and that worried the shit out of me. If we bunched up all of us could fit but that would mean suffering through exposure of the Sister's anti-magic field. I was not going through that. I strongly suggested those who did not use magic or psychic abilities traveling with her in the first trip up to the sixth floor. They agreed and took the elevator up.

"I feel deaf," Augury stammered her fear palatable. "Anything could sneak up and we'd never hear it coming." She stated and she was right. I switched on my mask's motion sensor. We were surrounded! Stupid! I mentally chastised myself for being sloppy. I warned the others and took aim. Isolenti had my back and Ynariel covered the girls trapped in the mage's bubble. I pushed down my fear as the ceiling ruptured in three spots. The Xenomorphs broke through the thin metal construction of the overhead air duct. I opened fire. My first round struck the head of the bright green alien and it exploded in a shower of molecular acid. The floor melted where the blood struck and thanks to a lack of atmosphere we need not worry about explosive decompression.

I saw Ynariel's formidable forearm mounted weapon in action for the first time. It fired off a cloud of glittering mesh that enveloped one of the Xenomorphs and sliced it to ribbons. She dodged the cloud of acid with ease forcing the Psyker that had been standing next to her to fashion a telekinetic shield to keep from being melted into nothing. Unfortunately, the floor around her vanished and took her with it into open space. I used my web shooter without thinking and thanks to Shuri's foresight it worked in the vacuum. The line struck her on the interior of her lower leg. I tugged her back in and she braced herself against an intact wall.

Particle was firing off blasts of scintillating energy from the palms of his hands and eyes. Sentinel was slashing aliens and healing the burn damage with the aid of her incredible healing factor. While she was fine her poor costume was soon in tatters except the intricate belt around her waist. It appeared resistant to acid and provided her with heat and oxygen. Was it a kind of life support device? I admired her body for a moment before returning to combat. Isolent's plasma caster was busy as the rush of aliens threatened to overwhelm us. Void gripped Augury's shoulders and when one of the Xenomorphs leapt at them it passed through both, the floor and out into space.

"Void... ha, I get it now!" I managed a laugh as I fired both plasma and crystalline shards at our enemies. The structural soundness of the hallway was quickly collapsing. I used FarSight and looked up to the next floor. It was swarming with Xenos. But the floor above that was empty for now. "Hold on and don't move!" I demanded as I teleported us up to the third level. "Don't move... don't even think about it for now. Catch your breath and let them puzzle it out."

We stood silent and still as our meters recharged.

"How the fuck did you pull off a blind teleport?" Void asked.

"Who said it was blind?" I said and saw a strange hungry expression on Augury's lovely features. "I just saved your ass remember that." I said the words directed at the blue haired mage. I felt the white-hot rage radiate from Ynariel directed at Augury. I touched her on the shoulder and sent her a sensual image to sooth her.

"The directing mind is above us," the Psyker informed us. "I cannot interfere, but the source is clear. I believe Gimmick was correct. They are located at the top of the station." She paused and turned to face me. "Friend Ghost, if we get to the sixth floor and he isn't there can you access the machine spirit of this place?"

"Machine spirit, I've never heard it called that before, but yeah I should be able to." I replied.

"Excellent!" She exclaimed gleefully. "If we remain close, I can cloud the Xenos ability to detect our presence. That doesn't stop them from using the station's security devices."

"Great, let's keep our head's focused and get this done." I urged. "Sorry, do any of you have any suggestions? I didn't mean to step over anyone."

"Not at the moment," Particle replied. "If I think of something you will all know."

I took the lead and we kept the Psyker in the middle. I tried to recall the map of this level to remember where the stairwell was. I did my best to navigate us. The Psyker called a halt. She informed us that a growing sense of frustration was building within the hive. Our sudden departure and their inability to find us was pissing off the queen mother. We heard the skittering as scouts were sent out to find us. I switched back to the spectrum for tracking the Xenomorphs and we prepared for a fight. On the bright side we knew where the stairs were, and we were closer than I liked to be honest.

"Ghost," Augury chimed in as I spied an alien crouching near a junction in two hallways. "Why don't we just teleport to the sixth level?" She asked and when I did not reply right away, she mistook my silence for bad news. "Never mind."

"Follow me, I'll get us up there." I promised.

It took time and patience to evade the Xeno patrols. Patrols? When the hell did Xenos start acting like this? Was it the introduction of the Skrull? Had it raised their overall intelligence? That was a terrifying thought. I jumped in my skin when the emergency lights came to life flashing a warning, and the station shook. The vibration was followed up with a sudden lurching motion that nearly threw me off my feet. The tremor of grinding metal drowned out my curse. I received a burst transmission from Traci aboard the Ghostdancer.

'Docking ring has been ejected from the station. The Dancer is still held by the grapples. Awaiting orders.'

'Shift the wing configuration to free the Dancer. Report success or failure.' I sent back.

'The Dancer is free. Reading a power build up inside the station.' She replied.

'Free the other ships if you can. Destroy the colony ship if possible. We need to rescue the other players.' I transmitted and then informed the others watching their reactions carefully.

"What the hell was that noise?" Void asked.

"I believe that Gimmick detached the docking ring." I explained as the station shook again but this time it was far less intense. "That would be the engines of the colonist vessel exploding."

"Why?" Augury asked clearly shocked.

"That was the ship the Xenomorphs arrived in." I conjectured. "We have two options as I see it and you can disagree all you want but here it is in a nutshell. One, we continue like this and amass as many Xeno kills as we can. Two, I open a portal to level six and we jump into whatever slugfest is going on up there. I am okay either way." I paused to let them think about it. "Oh, Augury you can drop your shield. Air and temperature have been restored. Take what little comfort there is from that."

We discussed several things one of them being the disconcerting way the aliens were behaving. A part of me was curious to why they were acting like security instead of ambush predators. Isolenti remarked at this oddity and felt like I did that something bad was in front of us. She welcomed it though as a greater challenge and chance to prove her skills as a hunter.

"If anyone wants to bail, now is the time." I added and none of them wanted to end the quest prematurely. Gamers to the end. "Get ready for one hell of a fight." We dodged the last Xeno patrol and moved to the middle of the fourth level. We were directly beneath the power core when the strangest thing happened. My motion detector triggered for just a moment. The thud of a body hitting the floor caused me to turn and see Void prone with a lime green facehugger attached to her head. I scanned the hallway and sure enough there was an Ovamorph attached to the wall about seven feet up. My motion tracker must have picked up on the top of it opening. I felt a rush of anger as a transparent wraith rose from her body. The figure reached into the body and removed something. The facehugger shuddered and dropped off. The ghostly figure dropped the embryonic Xenomorph egg and returned to her body. She coughed twice before sitting up and cursing a blue streak.

"Motherfucker!" Void snarled. "I feel like I've been face fucked by a linebacker and not in a good way." I chuckled despite how serious the situation was.

"Their eggs can camouflage themselves! Is that typical?" Augury asked and Isolenti shook her head. "Wonderful, just wonder... did you hear that?" She commented as a soft wet sound caught her attention. The cloaked facehugger slammed against the protective shield she had just erected. Isolenti beat me to the punch and impaled the squirming beastie with the point of her combi-stick. That did the trick. The Xenomorphs rushed in from both ends of the hall. More entered as the Xeno body count quickly rose. I relied mainly on missile fire for now and sent out lethal projectiles from my shoulder cannon and forearm mounted needler. Left started my combat music and I sunk into the aspect of destroyer.

The occasional fiery dart whizzed by my head as Augury took her allotted number of kills. I laughed as I brought out the Darksaber and waded into melee range. The black blade cut and cauterized as the flooring had become decidedly unstable from all the acid melting away not just the flooring but portions of the supporting structure as well. I was forced to use my wall clinging power when there was no longer enough floor to duel upon. The Xenos were equally equipped to fight on floor, wall, or ceiling with ease. I lost track of the others since the press of aliens was steady as if the queen had sent the entire nest against us. She might have seeing the steady decline in structural capacity.

"Time to go up," I sent and opened a portal to the sixth level. The players and companions stormed the gate and I held off the Xeno onslaught with fire and lightning. I was the last through and closed it as the aliens made one last mad dash for the opening. I stood, looked around, and cursed. "Well fuck me sideways!" The power core was revealed in all its former glory. The other half of our group had put up one hell of a fight. The Xenos had made the mistake of climbing and attacking from the core itself. Their acidic blood had eaten through the outer protective casing and nothing was going to stop it from going critical. I had figured that all of them would be cocooned and have facehuggers on them but that was not true. The marine in his resplendent navy-blue armor and the Sister of Silence clad in equally impressive black stood over their fallen comrades.

'Traci, how far along are they?' I asked as she scanned the prone figures.

'Only ten percent through the process. What are you thinking boss?' She inquired.

'It is dangerous, but after seeing Void pluck out her own parasite I got a crazy idea.' I replied as I touched Gimmick's mind. 'Hey bud, are you in there?'