Posted by Gamemaster GM Kate (GMT) in Main Sim Tour of the Military Instillation

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Thomas McGregor (COS) in Main Sim Tour of the Military Instillation

Posted by Gamemaster GM Kate (GMT) in Main Sim Tour of the Military Instillation
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
“Oh goody, just how I like my diplomatic excursions: with a side of being stranded and attacked by alien cicadas,” Thomas muttered.

Magnus’s grim smile turned lopsided at McGregor’s comment “Glad to see you sharing my excitement” He seemed genuinely excited.

“Any chance we could borrow a rifle or at least a sidearm?” he asked the General at full voice. “We didn’t think it was polite to bring phasers to dinner, you see.”

COS

The Genny’s first officer looked askanse at the Security chief but made no comment, he understood the desire to have a weapon but it was not likely that small arms would do much against creatures that threatened city-level shielding.

XO

General Lago spared the men a half glance before signalling one of his troops over. They handed the crew of the Genesis each a weapon and a uniform like the troops were wearing when they arrived. “The shielding will be of far more use to those weapons but I know what it feels like to be without a weapon in war.”

‘That and I’d much rather not get eaten by the first one that gets past the shielding,’ Thomas thought, not putting even a quarter of the faith their hosts had in their shields.

“It is your choice to wear our uniform instead of your own but,” Lago touched a button on the cuff of his sleeve, “stealth can be more powerful than a weapon.” Once he depressed the button on his cuff, everything except Lago’s hands and head were visible. It was visually disturbing, reminding one of the old-fashioned seances where a head was floating with nobody present. Lago pressed the button on his cuff deactivating the suit and returning back so that his body was visible. “Our shielding is incorporated into the suits. Now if you need further babysitting I can assign you to one of our other officers or you can stand quietly and watch while I do my job.” Lago turned back to the monitors and began to assess what was needed to defend the three cities.

General Lago

“I mean, it’s probably also a damn sight more comfortable than these,” Thomas said, giving serious consideration to swapping the dress uniform for the offered stealth suit.

COS

“Comfort was taken into account,” Lago stated over his shoulder, “however sizing might be off. This is a children’s model so it should suffice.” The comment might have sounded offensive but with the side difference between the two races it might have been just a comment.

Thomas let out a wry chuckle, showing he was choosing to take the comment in good stride, but was more than a little off-put by the thought that they had military uniforms with cloaking technology in children’s sizes.

The screen in front of Lago began to change. “Open up quadrants twenty-two and fifteen in all cities,” Lago ordered. The once vast empty spaces between the cities suddenly filled with at least fifty points of light.

GM Kate

All thoughts of changing were abandoned as Thomas watched the order implemented. “Wait, you’re letting them in?”

COS

“Of course. What would you have us do? Let them decimate us and take the best of us.” Activating the screen before him. The screen showed numerous points of lights in different colors surrounded by green and red circles. “We let the Volians focus their attacks on the prisons and hospitals where the terminally ill are housed. Unfortunately, we were in the process of transferring the sick there so we probably will have to open some public sections of the cities up to satiate the Volians. It is sad but necessary.”

Thomas frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that at all.

=/\=Gen..sis and …way teams, please return …palace .... let …drill proceed unencumber… our presence.=/\= Came through their comm badges. It was the Captain’s voice but highly static-filled. Luckily there was enough information to indicate what the Captain wanted.

Honestly, he liked the sound of that even less.

“We are in a communication cone of silence. Your Captain is safe as are you. You are free to observe. May we get you a beverage? This is typically a few hours and then it is over.”

GM Kate

“And then what?” Thomas asked. “You’re clearly preparing for something, even though the timetable seems to have moved up.”

COS

Lago turned around approaching the irritation level a professor had with a first-year cadet that seemed to be questioning everything and challenging their authority. “Did we not already go over Ang pag-aani”, he stated in a rhetorical manner. “Ang pag-aani is a Beltran word which translated means the harvesting. In the past, our planet was attacked by enemy forces when the moon was in this celestial position. It’s one of our more revered times for celebrating our survival and mourning those lost. That celebration typically occurs next month however due to the scientists deploying the shielding systems early in an attempt to prevent it, it seems the Volian’s have woken early. Tactically, they were predictable. The Volians always awake once a year with the predictability of any lunar cycle. Since this has never happened and since the deployment of the experimental shielding cut off the predictable paths we are just being cautious with the military. As you can see we placed,” Lago indicated the dots on the screen with a new overlay of what appeared to be underground tunnels connected directly underneath the hospitals and prisons icons, “our sacrifices to the Volian’s strategically placed. The Volians came to the surface, collected the offerings, and took them back to their dens to group for the birthing of their young. Now do to the carelessness of the scientists we are not sure where they might pop up. Our shielding hides, it does not protect like armor. If the Volians find you under it, it is no better than a cloth sheet.”

Thomas’ bad feeling was getting worse.

“Sir,” a technician yelled out, “we are tracking a potential problem.” Touching the screen he pointed out at new tunnels seemed to be forming without any predictability.” Tracing his finger along the screen, it could reasonably be assumed that something was causing the Volians to spread out in all directions by the appearance of newly created tunnels everywhere. Several of these tunnel branches seemed to be approaching the military, science, and capital city. It could also be inferred that the seismic tremors were increasing in strength as the tunnels neared the military instillation.

“Son of a-” Thomas bit off, widening his stance to brace against the shaking. “Well, ready or not, here they come,” he said. “Aside from big and carnivorous, what can you tell me about the Volians?” As he asked, he was backing towards the wall, and casting an eye around the room for a way to get off the floor entirely.

COS

Lago typically would not spend this much time conversing with someone when an attack was imminent however the Volian’s would be here within minutes and overrun their defenses. The Beltran’s had not faced an attack like this in centuries. Some would survive it but Lago did not want it to be such an unmitigated disaster on his watch If these Federation officers had an idea he would act upon it to stop the slaughter of his people. Bringing up the schematics and old footage, Lago gestured them closer.

On the screen was an image of a carnivore but instead of the typical apex predator, this creature looked like rat that was the size of a large house cat. The animal had short sleek fur that was so shiny it appeared almost leathery like one saw on a dolphin. The eyes were larger for its body but also tracked with a subterranean, nocturnal creature. The creature’s distinguishing weapons appeared to be extremely long teeth and claws. The schematic stated 46 cm (18 in) in head-to-body length and 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) in height, with about 30 cm (12 in) long tails and about 4-5 kg (8-10) pounds.

‘Ugly, but at least they’re not giant naked mole-rats,’ Thomas thought.

The next image Lago showed them was a video clip of the last attack. It would become very apparent why the Beltrans were suddenly very concerned about an animal this tiny. At first glance, it looked like a bubble of mud percolating up from the ground. When one looked closer they would see it was not mud spreading out in a vibrating pool but hundreds of Volians. The sheer quantity coming through the opening was staggering. As the video panned out, the dozen of holes in the ground poured forth the same amount until the entire ground was covered and looked to me moving in a thick mat of squirming wiggling bodies. The camera panned back farther to see how the Volian’s attacked. Like some B flick horror movie from Earth’s past, the Volian’s washed over a person like a wave at the ocean. If one had ever seen the Earth horror flick the Mummy the scene would remind them of the carnivorous beetles decimating the hapless workers with their bodies creating a silhouette of the shape and then reducing it down to nothing before moving on. The speed and vast numbers of the creatures was the real threat. The Volian’s were a horde when they attacked making even the best marksman ineffective in staving off an offense.

‘Swarm predators. And, I’m really glad I didn’t have much to eat at the reception, that’s nightmare fuel.’

Lago pointed to a small area with his finger indicating he wanted the group to focus on there. It was just a box however as the mass horde of Volian’s moved forward, a small distortion on the screen followed by a glimpse of blue skin was visible.

“The Volian’s can’t attack what they can’t see.” As the area cleared slightly, several more distortions were noticeable. It was easily inferred that the camera angles in the video clip were taken by soldiers filming the event from a cloaked position.

“Those behind the shielding are essentially invisible and if one remains still enough and quiet enough, the horde of Volian’s move on to another food and resource source.” Lago had the neutral tone of a general explaining the course of a battle to others.

Lago

“Can they climb?” Thomas asked. “No, that’s a stupid question, of course they can. Will they climb, or will they stay at ground level?”

He also looked down at his borrowed rifle, to see if it was a proper phaser-type weapon or something more primitive that might be more useful.

COS

“Yes but they can not fly,” Lago announced. “I suggest we get you all back to the shuttle so you can take to the air and return to your ship. From what we can tell the palace will be under assault. I am sorry for those that remained there.”

GM Kate

“Yes to the shuttle, but we’re making at least one stop first,” Thomas said. “I’ll be damned if I’m leaving a single Starfleet officer in the path of these things.”

COS

Magnus was still as he considered the events of the day. He’d remained quiet allowing the security chief and the General to converse. There were no orders to give, he and Thomas were likeminded and in sync regarding what actions to take.

Opening the door to the small bunker type space that had been in the Starfleet officers would find the shuttle to be a no go. The deep rumbling was met with hundreds of Volian’s pouring up through multiple spaces on the ground. The coated the area making the once solid dirt look like a moving brown mudslide engulfing everything in its path.

“Quick. Down here,” Lagos called out from the far side of the room they were trying to leave. He was standing by what looked like a floor hatch motioning for the men to come. If they didn’t so be it. There were a million ways to die and with communications out on the ship orbiting above them, a catastrophic shuttle accident could neatly wrap up an inquiry about their deaths if need be.

GM Kate

“Down seems like the last direction we should be going right now,” Thomas quipped, moving that direction anyway, but tightening his grip on his borrowed rifle.

COS

Magnus laughed at McGregors comment, a short bark. He held the rifle he’d been granted in the ready position.

The next few moments happened like a blur. The tremors of the earth were replaced with a low white noise type sound. It was the sound of the Volian’s moving across the ground and the gurgled then stifled sounds of their victims. Weapons fire erupted like the staccato pulses of a bizarre music symphony from behind the metal doors the Genesis officers were enclosed in.

If any officer was debating about following the General below ground, the cracking of windows and the thumping of the door gave mere seconds for one to make a decision before the Volians spilled into the small room.

OOC: I am going to do what I have done in the past. Move the story along but leave this section open for character reactions and dialogue. ~ Kate

GM Kate

Magnus grinned at McGregor “Well Commander, let’s follow the white rabbit” He said jumping in after the General.

XO