Version 2006 - Ch 22

Tabernacle 12



12th Planet in the Tabernacle System. 135 Ly to Earth

We reached Tabernacle 12 with virtually empty tanks. We were expected and landing control took over. Tabernacle 12 looked very much like a dirty snow ball. Its own sun was nothing more than a bright star and its next planetary neighbor was almost eight light minutes removed. The landing beam guided us towards a crater and at its center was a set of large iris doors that opened for us. As soon as we had landed, Ultra Marines in heavy Destroyer Suits surrounded our ship. At least twenty Cerberus Battle Robots joined their ranks and a cold voice came over intercom:" Open your cargo hold at once!" "Hold it there, Mister!" Zezz said." I am wired to the Autodestruct sequencer dialed down to one microsecond delay. I will open the hatch for no one but Dr. Sam Neuberger and only after he identified himself according to Blue-Blue-Red protocol. Not even the Ultras can prevent me from doing that!" There was a moment of silence and I put my hand on the weapon control panel. "This is Dr. Sam Neuberger and I am transmitting Blue-Blue-Red protocol ID procedure." After another moment the Computronic chirped." Identity verified. Blue-Blue-Red protocol Phase One completed." Zezz kept his claw on the self destruct activator." Dr. Neuberger and no one else has permission to come aboard. Bring your Code key and day code!" A bony looking human emerged and approached our shuttle. "Anyone else approaching and my associate will fire and I will destruct!" Neuberger came in completed the complicated and ritualized security protocol and only then did Zezz raise his hand of the panel." Our package is all yours professor!" "Thank you Captain Zezzazzzzz. Why don't you both take a few hours rest in our base. You are both Blue-Blue-Red cleared and I give you permission." "Thank you Professor. We couldn't go anywhere anyway. We're out of fuel." The Professor walked with us across the hangar to a set of Ultronit airlock doors, while robots and Marines unloaded the container from the Scorpion. To our and most to Captain Zezz's surprise there was another Shiss waiting at the Airlock, wearing the dark green of the Science Corps. The Science Shiss raised all four arms." Zezzzzazhh! Brother!" The lizaroid Shiss hugged each other and Professor Neumann said." This was the real reason I wanted you to stay for a while!" We sat on a table in the base officer's lounge. Zezz's brother and the Professor across from us. Captain Zezz and the other Shiss had spoken in their native tongue until now, Captain Zezz pointed at me and said:" That is Ensign Olafson he is a promising young officer." Then he pointed at the other Shiss." And that is Zhuzzzz my older brother and Nest sharer. He is the base commander and managed to get a Rear Admiral star on his collar too!" I stood and saluted." Admiral Sir, it is an honor!" Zezz hissed laughing." He does that all the time but then he is still in the Academy." "Sit down. Cadet!" Said Zhuzzzz." No need for those kind o formalities here." Professor Neumann said." Well we can't tell you what it is you brought us since it is classified on Need to know basis, but since you have security clearance this high I can show you around the base, while those catch up!" "Thank you Sir that would be great!" Neumann led me to an IST and said. "This is a secret lab facility and we don't exist officially and only a handful folks know that Tabernacle 12 isn't a religious University. Well there is one above us, but that's just for show." Inside the IST capsule, Neumann put his hand on a panel and said. Containment Vault Level K" After a short trip we entered a corridor that had been carved out of the rocky core of the planet and reinforced with Ultronit beams." Here on Tabernacle 12 we contain, detain and research the most dangerous sentient life forms in the known Universe. Down here on Level K for example we have stasis chambers holding the last life specimen of the Xunx race, kept here in stasis for the almost 3000 years." I remembered the story of the Xunx from class. They were the cause why Earth ascended and became a Galactic Civilization long before humans would have reached that level naturally. Behind a meter thick trans-plastic wall hung a 5 meter tall insect that looked much like a Terran Hornet crossed with a praying mantis. I said." What are those metallic strips all over its body, professor?" He smiled."You have a keen eye, Son. This is a titanium support skeleton, Xunx are true Insectoids and come from a low gravity world. No insect could reach such size in a standard grav world. It's the chitin shell, their exoskeleton; it would have to be 10 times as thick to support this size and would be too heavy to be mobile. Under Gravitation that is normal to us they could hardly move, that is why they have these Support Skeletons implanted" "What is the purpose of keeping it, Sir? Would it not be sufficient to keep a Gene map and a DNA sample on file for research?" "Partially you are correct for strict biological research that would be enough, but there are other factors such as sociological and individual developments that can't be researched on a clone. Who knows we might run into another species one day that is similar to the Xunx." That made sense and we went on with this fascinating little tour. Behind another window was a Nul-Nul in suspended animation and yet another chamber held Kermacs. "The further down we go the more dangerous the Life forms are." "I don't even want to know what you keep in Level Z then!" He laughed. That I can tell you. Nothing yet. We have yet to meet a life form that would meet the specifications to be classified beyond R." He led me into a laboratory and I wondered what he would show me there. Zezz also came in followed by his brother and he asked." Professor, you summoned us and said it was urgent!" The laboratory was perhaps fifty meters in diameter with a high ceiling. On one side where two large Cryostasis containers on a steel table and there where instruments and equipment of which I could identify only the Optical Micro scanner. The massive door slammed shut and the professor pulled a small blaster gun out of his coat pocket." I need your code keys. That is why I summoned you here!" Two Kermac stepped from behind a row of large tanks. Both holding Kermac blasters leveled at us! One of them said." We control the professor just fine, he will do whatever we say, but we can't psi-control a Fleet Captain and why this human is immune I do not know, but it does not matter. You will use your code keys or we will shoot you and do it ourselves!" Zezz and his brother were as stunned and surprised as I was. Zuzzh shook his scaled head." I don't know how you managed to get here or to pass the psi barriers, but the keys alone won't do you any good. You need the day code and I am not giving you that! There are 200 Ultra Marines on this base and they will storm this lab if they detect weapon fire!" "Shiss we planned this for Twenty years! Don't you think we know that? We disabled the sensors for this lab and besides these are 5 meter force field reinforced Ultronit doors and walls. The very best in Terran Engineering. It would take them days to blast through and by then we have what we need and you will be dead. Cooperate and you walk away alive!" No one seemed to pay any attention to me. Even as I slowly moved towards one of the multi task consoles behind me. I reached it without being noticed. Multi task consoles could be configured to almost any situation. This one was probably set for some science configuration. I found the reset control without looking. Then I whispered without moving my lips too much." Computronic audio command input, no audio command verification!" I hoped I was speaking loud enough for the machine to pick it up Then I said." Tie into Base security and transmit all audio in here and raise security alert!" Something in my mind warned me. It was as if someone said. Jump! I dove to the side at the same time a sun bright blaster beam slammed into the Console, but at the same time red lights rotated and a siren began blaring!" One of the Kermac laughed." Very good Human! You managed to raise the alarm. However it will do little good; the doors cannot be opened from the outside. You are expendable and you will die!" Zezz and Zuzzh took their chances and simultaneously catapulted themselves forward into the Kermac! A Kermac looks almost humanoid. They had two arms two legs a head with two eyes and a mouth. They lacked visible noses, ears and have dark gray almost bluish skin. A Kermac had no hair, except for a ceremonial fake beard glued to their chins which I had learned in Xeno class contained sophisticated Psi tech amplifiers that magnified and augmented their natural Psionic abilities. Kermacs where second only to the Saresii in that regard and managed to enslave entire planet populations with their Hypno suggestive psi powers, but physically they were only 100-110 cm tall and no match for a Shiss who could go toe to toe with a Nul-Nul. I had rolled behind that row of metal tanks which had served the Kermac as cover, and expected the struggle to be over in a moment. I was wrong. Only Zezz reached his target, Zuzzh was stopped in mid air, hung suspended and then violently pushed back by invisible telekinesis forces. Zezz only managed to reach his because the Kermac was still distracted by me and wiped his razor sharp claws across the face of his opponent and took half of his face off in a shower of skin, blood and bone fragments. There was no doubt this Kermac was mortally wounded, but Zezz could not press his advantage as he two rose into the air and like his brother slammed hard into a wall. The Kermac screamed in anger as he saw his comrade twitching on the floor. He pulled a device of some sort out of a belt pouch and he yelled. "You will pay! If we can't have them we set them free and let them kill you all!" The two cryogenic capsules on the steel table exploded and out of the metal fragments and wisps of super cool air two forms arose! Four meter, two armed giants with dark brown scaled skin. Massive legs. Their heads where set right between their shoulders without a neck. Each of them had four yellow glowing eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth that would make a Rock shark look tame. I recognized the beings that came to life from old docus. Those where Y'All warriors! The single most dangerous and vicious life from ever encountered by anyone in the known universe! Breed or engineered by an unknown advanced culture for a single purpose. To destroy!" The Kermac held the alien device up before the advancing Y'All and both giants stopped! The Kermac screamed: "Kill and destroy everything in sight!" One of the Y'All grabbed Zezz who just tried to get on his feet, by a leg and lifted him up as if he was weightless. Zezz would die! I had to do something!" I took one of the metal tanks, it was so heavy I could barley lift it and ran with it as fast as I could aiming for the Y'All who held Zezz. Like a battering ram I collided with the giant and the kinetic energy of my attack did make him stagger and stumble! Zuzzh had recovered as well and screamed at the top of his voice, using his wings not to fly but to glide half across the lab lashing out with all his claws against the face of the second Y'All. The Y'All I had attacked swung and his claw tipped hand ripped through the steel tank if it was made of paper. The air was immediately filled with ice cold steam and for a moment obscured everything before me as liquid Helium splashed all over the Monster. I had to open those doors somehow! Only the Ultra Marines on the other side would have the fire power to stop these! I saw was the Professor, he stood holding the little blaster, like a statue staring at the floor. He didn't even react as I pushed him out of the way and took the blaster from his hand. It was a tiny Walther Pulse laser, but better than nothing. Again sheer luck saved my life or perhaps the Kermac was a lousy shot! He had fired at me again and missed me only by a fraction. The superheated air still burned my shoulder, but I was so high on adrenalin or fear, I didn't really notice. In all that chaos and screaming I knelt down, took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. The fine laser beam nailed the Kermac square between the eyes. He dropped dead to the floor. I heard a terrible sound and saw how one of the Y'All ripped one of Zuzzh Arms right out of the socket! I fired the laser that killed the Kermac but had no effect on the Y'All. The other one simply threw Zezz away and attacked me and I had no better idea than to use Aikido I used the mass and momentum of the Y'All added all my weight to it and threw him right over me. Even Y'All warriors were bound by the laws of physic. That gave me enough time to take three jumps and reach the much better and more powerful Ker-Blaster the Kermac had dropped. The other Y'All was about to rip Zuzzh head off and I doubted the Shiss was still alive he hung limp in the fists of the Y'All. The one I threw came to his feet, ripped a steel table out of the floor and threw it into my direction. I rolled away and fired at the head of the second Y'All, the beam of this Kermac weapon was some sort of disintegrator designed to collapse the molecular cohesion in matter. The beam only dissolved a little of the rock hard crystalline armor and all it did was make the Y'All even more furious. The second one came towards me and he came fast. I aimed the weapon above him and severed a pipe. It dropped, hit the Y'All and would have broken the skull of any lesser being, but it just staggered a second, and then grabbed the pipe like a giant club. I disintegrated it, at the last moment as he swiped it at me, instead of the pipe I was hit by a shower of molecular dust, in a desperate move I rolled forward fired the little laser I still held in my left into his open maw, annoying it more but it gave me enough time to get out of its reach and dissolve a few floor plates beneath its feet. That made it loose its footing and he did fall. But the other was almost over me now and I had no chance of evading it. I didn't see Zezz, the Y'all must have killed him and tossed aside and again Aikido proved surprisingly effective by grabbing the outstretched lower arm and falling back with all my weight, adding to his approaching momentum... He crashed into his companion and for a short moment it looked as if they would go against each other. I saw Zezz badly wounded but alive struggling to his feet the Y'All turned their attention now both at me and I knew this was it. I had no chance defeating them in any way. I had to think fast, no martial arts would save me this time. Y'All weren't slow lumbering monsters and they to get faster, smarter and more agile by the minute. I had no idea how long they had been in suspended animation but I was certain once they had complete recovered there would be nothing short of a fully equipped, battle-suited Marine able to stop these monsters. Even now in the heat of battle I could not imagine what horror they presented attacking in waves of thousands as I knew they had done in the past! I darted around a console, while the first Y'All grunted at the second. The reason was clear he ordered the other to go the other way so they could catch me easier. It then ripped an instrument console out of the floor and tossed it into my direction, missing me by a fraction of a centimeter, showering me with scrap pieces of metal and transpa-plast. I felt a sharp pain from my back, unable to see what hit me there I tried to ignore it There was no time to check, both monsters where almost within reach. With my best effort I jumped over the console wreckage, rolled over my shoulder evading the lumbering giants once more, but barley. It was only a matter of time and I would be caught, at the moment I was still faster, but everything to them was a weapon and their incredible strength made everything they tossed into deadly missiles. A red box at the wall caught my eye: "Fire Emergency" and behind a sheet of transparent material a red painted axe! It took only a heartbeat to break the transparent pane, grab the axe. As soon as I yanked it out of the holding braces, red lights rotated and a green beam swept the entire room from a central emerging dome in the ceiling, Fire suppressor rays, designed to scan for heat and siphon energy from any fire or heat source. The Axe started humming It was equipped with a Force field cutting blade and it activated the moment I took it. The first Y'All reached me extended his upper arms and I swung the axe with all my strength! Neither Laser nor Kermac Dissolver had any effect on them, but the fire axe blade sliced through the monsters hand, cutting it in half. Showering me with a spray of black blood. It stank horrible and stung like acid! This Y'All was utterly surprised by his injury and stepped back, knowing the other one was close behind me I did not waste a perfect opportunity but dove straight between the legs of the wounded Alien hacking into what would be the Achilles heel at a human opponent. The humming of the axe went into high pitch as it ground deep into the crystalline rock hard substance that covered the Aliens body as a skin or armor. It screamed and staggered. I hacked into the other hamstring area; the giant fell forward into the other one. To my horror I saw the wounds I just inflicted already closing! The second caught off guard catching his falling comrade more by instinct. That was my chance! I actually ran up the back of the fallen and with both hands at the axe handle and all my strength I buried the axe deep in the skull of the first. I thought he would be done for but he was still alive! The axe was buried deep and trapped, ripped out of my hands and he caught me. His free arm pair clasped around my leg. That was it I was done for! In that proverbial last moment I saw the most beautiful sight, two Ultra Marines in Destroyer suits jumped into my field of view. The right one slammed his oversized armor fist augmented by Mylar syntho muscles and artificial mass square into the face of the Y'All and sending it tumbling back, losing his grip on my leg and I went across the room and crushing shoulder first into a console. The left marine used his augmented leg to kick the other Alien. More Marines and Cerberus robots flooded the room. I tried to get on my feet, saluted yelled "Semper Fi!" my left leg broken and crushed didn't carry my weight sharp pain flaming up and then I passed out.