Pathogenesis: Tactics of War
_This is part of a rather lengthy series. It has heavy dark horror elements later on. If you aren't a fan of the sci-fi horror genre, move along. If you are under 18 or you shouldn't be looking at this sort of thing, move along. If you have objections to graphic violence and adult themes, move along.
If, however, you love the idea of tentacles, alien parasites, vore, mind control, transformation, and hard-core weirdness...Let me introduce to you -- Pathogenesis!_
(This chapter includes gore and nudity.)
Pathogenesis: Chapter 2
Tactics of War
© Searska GreyRaven
Chira woke around midnight and yawned. Space travel threw off her internal clock, so while her body said it was sunset, the bedroom clock said otherwise. With a grunt, Chira let go of the shower rod she had been hanging from and stretched. Belatedly, she realized something besides jet-lag had woken her.
Ears perked for any hint of danger, Chira peeled back the corner of the curtain and looked outside. Flashes of light danced on the edge of the horizon, and her sensitive ears could pick up the faint sounds of explosions. With a grimace, Chira closed the curtain. Why had she left her blaster in the cockpit? Cursing her lack of intuition, Chira yanked on her vest and boots and peeked outside her door.
Silent as a tomb. There weren't too many other patrons in the compound hotel tonight, and the emptiness made the place feel more abandoned. Chira held the door with her foot and fumbled in her pocket for her ship's key. On a whim, she glanced back at the room and snagged a pair of food packets and a bottle of shampoo. She shut the door quietly behind her and shoved the food packets in her pocket as she walked. Logan, the raccoon engineer who had oversaw the repair of her ship, had told her it was flyable yesterday. Chira was about to put that to the test.
She slunk along the hallways until she located the ship bay. She crossed the stalls, tensing at every stall door, until she found her ship. It squatted, looking like a blasted rat and a little worse for wear, but the engines appeared to be in good order. The wings were open, which meant the sensors could still pick up the atmosphere and had acted accordingly. Clever ship. Chira breathed a sigh of relief and strode to her ship. She silently thanked her brother for insisting that she have a key instead of a voice-recognition lock. The ship's main computer was still voice-activated, but at least she could get inside without anyone hearing her.
The hatch opened with a hiss, making Chira flinch, but still no one came. The door slid shut behind her, and she stepped up to the captain's chair.
"Engine on." Chira commanded.
"Voice print confirmed." She ship murmured metallically. The warp engine pulsed, and the dormant ship suddenly flared to life. There was something both futuristic and primal about the throbbing of the warp engine. It always sounded like a beating heart to Chira. Well, Chiropteran technology was partially organic, and their ships needed an organic being to control them. Perhaps it was intentional.
Chira sat down in the chair. The armrest opened to reveal a coiled cord. Chira brushed back the fur on her arm and located a tiny port that had been implanted in her skin. She took a deep breath and plugged the cord into her body.
Almost instantly, she felt her awareness shift. For a few seconds, she was in two places at once, and then...
It felt so good to be awake again! Chira flexed her mechanical wings, making sure they moved as smoothly as her own flesh and blood. Her infrared told her that the compound was, for all intents and purposes, empty. Chira creased her brow, concerned. If there was an attack, why was the compound empty?
Chira blasted the thrusters and rose straight up and into the night. She closed her eyes, allowing the ship's sensors to guide her completely toward the flashing lights. It was as she suspected. A battle. She scanned the closest ships and her lips pulled back into a silent snarl. Squids, three of them. She coaxed more thrust from her engines and flew right into the thick of it. She opened up her communications and listened with growing horror.
"Please, no! Noooo!"
"What are they? It can't be! Ahhh!"
"My leg, I can't feel my-"
"My shields are down, they've breached the hull! There in the-"
Suddenly, Chira felt a ringing in her ear. She was being hailed.
"Bat vessel. Drop your shields and surrender. Resistance is futile."
Inside the cockpit, Chira smiled. In her mind's eye, she could see her fangs glittering malevolently. Her scanners picked up five raccoon vessels, pinned in midair by squid tractor beams. Impressive, for three squids. But Chiropteran pilots were better. Chira made a series of short chirps, which the ship amplified into pulses of energy. The sonic bursts knocked two of the ships out of the air and freed the captured raccoon ships. She flicked her mechanical wings back and gunned the engine. The last squid ship fired its lasers, but Chira was too quick. The blast passed harmlessly by. Chira responded with another sonic pulse. The squid's defense grid flared along the hull in a brilliant green as it absorbed the blast, but now it was listing badly to the right. With a feral grin, Chira fired again, and the ship finally crashed to the ground.
Chira flew over the crashed vessels, ensuring that they were truly incapacitated before checking on the raccoons. The raccoons circled her for a moment before she heard her ear ring again.
"Bat vessel, thanks for the save there. Where'd you learn how to fly like that?" The voice was familiar, but Chira couldn't place it.
"My father. Meet back at the base?" Chira asked.
"Roger that, Chira."
Chira laughed. So, it was Logan! "Over and out." Chira said, and she zipped off back to her shuttle stall.
Once she landed, Chira closed her eyes and unplugged herself from the ship. After the feeling of vertigo faded, she stepped through the hatch and was surprised to see Logan waiting for her. A wide grin on his face, he helped her out.
"The last time I saw attacks like that, it was with an orca at my back." He commented. Chira smiled shyly.
"The orcas developed it. They've been at war with the squids longer than we have. The bats already had something similar. They simply showed us how to modify our weapons to make them stronger. It's my father's favorite form of battle, and he personally teaches all the tactics to his children." She said.
"Well, I'd like to hear more about these tactics, if you're still game." Logan said with a wink. Chira laughed.
"Certainly. Lead the way." She said, gesturing to the door.
Breakfast was served in a giant mess hall, but it was mostly empty except for the cooks hunched over their pots and grills.
"Where is everybody?" Chira asked, grasping a plate.
"Our sources warned us that the squid army was headed this way. Most of the non-essential personal left in response. We're guessing that those three ships were the scouts. " Logan said, piling scrambled eggs on his plate and reaching for the toast.
"Guessing?"
"They committed suicide shortly after your attack. But even without having them alive, we've learned some pretty nasty things about them." Logan said.
"Like what?" Chira asked. She plucked a few biscuits out of a bin, tore them in half, and poured a sausage and white sauce mix over the top.
Logan glanced around nervously. "They were wearing some kind of suit. Not like the usual ones the water types have to wear. Something...else." Logan whispered. "It looked almost organic."
"Organic?" Chira said, incredulously. Squids didn't have organic technology. Only a few species had accomplished that, and they weren't sharing.
"I'll show you later. Much later. After your food's had a chance to digest. It isn't pretty. If I wasn't the Head of Engineering around here, I wouldn't have gotten a look myself. But the raccoons are as baffled as I've ever seen them, and usually we can figure out anything the squids have thrown at us. It...ain't natural." Logan said, shaking his head. "Frankly, I'm worried."
Chira scoffed. "More than likely, it was an isolated incident. Squids aren't that clever. They probably stole the technology. Doesn't mean they can replicate it." She set her tray on a vacant table and trotted off to the juice dispensers. She filled a plasglass cup with orange juice (with some difficulty, the counter was still a little on the tall side for her) and sat back down.
"It's possible that they stole it, but unlikely. You'll see what I mean. Until now, the Order of Mammals has been able to keep this whole war in check by being technologically superior. If that changes, we're in for a rough ride." Logan said, digging into his eggs.
Chira cut a biscuit with her fork and chewed thoughtfully. "The Order could always ask the Avians for help."
Logan laughed. "Not likely. That council of arrogant morons would rather go it alone than ask for help. You know that a few of them still believe in the superiority of the mammalian people? It's speciesism, and yet they act as if that sort of thing was acceptable." Logan snorted and spread butter on his toast.
"I know. My father hates it." Chira said. "He says that's part of the reason we're at war with the damn squids to begin with. Nobody takes the time to open lines of communication and listen."
"And it's the fighters like us that take the brunt of it." Logan shook his head. "I really hope that the raccoons don't get any more involved than we are, but I'm not counting on it. After what I saw today, it wouldn't surprise me if the Elder declares war without a second thought."
Chira finished her breakfast and stared off into space, thinking. What if Logan was right, and the squids had organic technology? What else did they have? If they became enough of a threat, would it be enough to get the dragons and their smaller kin, the dinosaurs, involved? Until now, they had declared complete neutrality and refused to even help those involved in this war, going as far as turning away ships in dire need of fuel and repair. No one had died yet as a result of their actions, but...
Logan finished his meal and pushed his plate back. "Well, I might as well take another look at your ship before we head to the med center. I just want to give it a once-over, make sure all the repairs held up." Chira nodded, and they walked back to the shuttle stall.
They didn't talk much. Once Logan stuck his head into the ship, he seemed to forget that Chira was even there. She occupied herself by watching the raccoon work and handing Logan tools as he asked for them.
"Not bad, not bad at all. Just a little tweaking and it's all good." Logan murmured. He slid out from the narrow tube between the cockpit and the engine room and smiled. "You're good to go, princess."
"Great." Chira said with a grin.
"Alright, now that your breakfast is settled, I'll show you those squids. But I'm warning you, it isn't for the faint of heart." Logan said.
"I saved your ass from them before. I'm sure I can handle a few dead squids." Chira said with a huff.
"Spineless creatures everywhere shiver at your might." Logan snickered. Chira gave him a light cuff with her wing.
"Three against five was apparently not good enough odds for you." She laughed.
Logan laughed and held up his paws in defeat. "You got me. Come on, this way." He said, and he led her out of the compound.
The medical center was little more than a large office. Logan waved to the female raccoon at the desk, and she blushed under her fur as she buzzed them inside. Their steps echoed down the sterile hallway as if they were the only things alive inside. Maybe we are. Chira thought. After what Logan had said about the squid entering this part of space, it wouldn't surprise her.
Logan took a card out of his vest and tapped it against an airlock door. The little red light next to the handle flicked off and changed to green. He motioned for Chira to go in, and he closed the door securely behind him. The room was parallel to another, but the other room was concealed by a thin curtain.
"The doctor won't let us actually enter the room. We have to look out from here. He's being overly-cautious if you ask me, but then again, we have no idea what to do with these things." Logan said.
Chira hissed in shock. The bio-suits the squids wore were unlike anything she had ever seen. Instead of the usual bubble-headed diver suits, they were inside something that looked like a bloated corpse. A web of...something bulged out from under the furred skin, as if an animal's veins had tripled in size. None of the squids had exactly the same suit, either. The closest one looked like a rabbit, but the ears were cropped. As if they had been sliced off. Chira thought with a shudder. The other two looked vaguely canine. Their eyes were wide and staring, fogged over by death. The rabbit suit's mouth was open, revealing several slack tentacles that seemed to come from the throat. It was noticeably missing its large incisors, and she stared at the open jaw for a moment, uncomprehending. There were four gaping holes where the teeth should have been. Should have been...
"Logan, these aren't really suits, are they?" Chira asked, her voice shaking. Logan shook his head.
"The doc doesn't think so. He'll finish his report by tomorrow." Logan said.
"When he does, I need to send a copy to my father." Chira said, her voice devoid of emotion.
"Chira, that report may very well be broadcast all the way to saurian space if this is what we think it is. And if it is, the raccoons will finally have to choose sides. This is...horrible. No one should have to endure this." Logan said, shaking his head. Chira rubbed her hands over her arms, suddenly cold. But it was a chill no amount of external heat could fix.
"Look, Chira, this goes deeper than you realize. The raccoons have known for months that something odd was going on. That's why we had declared neutrality. About six months ago, a cargo ship from squid space asked for assistance. A few of my best engineers went missing while fixing that thing up, and we never got a good answer from the squid captain. This is evidence that they've been up to something for a long time." Logan said.
"Now what?" Chira asked.
"I don't know. But I have to get the truth out." Logan said.
"No one is going to believe this." Chira said.
"I have to try." Logan murmured. He ran his paw over his face, smoothing the black fur around his eyes.
"We." Chira whispered. "We have to try." Logan looked up at her, surprised, and finally nodded.
"We have to try." He said.