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A few hours later a ship entered into orbit over the planet of Dathmoth, the Polaris setting itself so that it could continue to remain over the station that was reportedly in distress. After initial contact was made they had continued to try and get in communications with the mining facility, only to have subsequent connections failed. While the heavy cruiser was capable of entering into the atmosphere to storm the place they still didn't know what was going on, all they had was a security guard telling them they were under alien attack. While they didn't suspect it to be a hoax the Polaris wasn't just going to risk landing on a planet with a corrosive environment just because a bunch of miners might be over reacting about something.

After a bit of deliberation, they decided to send down a small shuttle with a group of four soldiers as a scouting party. They were going in with their standard issue gear, since there was no way to know if they were going to need anything special, and all of them had their blast rifles on their laps. "What do you think the possibility that this is a real Xeno threat is?" Capt. Grayson said to the soldier next to him who had the nametag Fonz welded onto his power armor.

"The Polaris is still trying to regain radio contact with the base," Fonz replied as he scratched his helmet. "From what they could gather it appears that their entire communications system is down, they can't even get a ping off of it. That means that we're probably going to be flying in blind."

"As usual," the biggest of the four said, the nametag on his armor scratched off with the word Tank written above it in crude scratches. "Why can't they get any decent equipment in these backwater mining operations?"

"Take it up with the mining budget committee," Grayson replied before looking at the last member of their team that was looking down at a tablet. "How close are we until we reach the hot drop Scathe?"

"We've had to take it slow due to the amount of interference from all the acidity in the clouds," Scathe replied as he continued to type commands into the tablet. "It appears we're close enough for me to access the primary systems of the station and get the emergency system to allow us access. Doesn't look like there's any word though from the four security guards that were supposed to meet us there, so I can't be sure if there's going to be anyone waiting for us on the other side."

The four soldiers continued to sit there and wait as they were jostled around in the shuttle that was on a direct path to the mining facility. There was no pilot, everything was preprogrammed into the autopilot including the command to leave in twelve hours whether they were back on or not. It gave them extra incentive to make sure they were back in time... or just to retrieve the shuttle if they happened to meet a grim fate. That wasn't going to happen though, at least if Grayson has anything to do with it.

The second that the ship hit the landing pad the soldiers got their weapons ready while they were waiting for the umbilical to attach to their door. If there really was some sort of xeno threat on this planet it probably wasn't going to wait politely for them to come in, all of them watching through the sights of the weapons as the hiss of the hydraulics could be heard. Once the light on the side turned from red to green Grayson nodded to the others before pushing the button, quickly ducking back to fire at anything that came at them. However the seconds passed and nothing came charging at them, which prompted the team to leave the shuttle and begin to make their way inside.

None of the soldiers spoke, each of them walking silently down the tube with grim determination set on their faces as they made their way into the loading zone of the mining station. If the security protocols had kicked it the entire area should be locked down and safe for their arrival, but that wasn't always the case. As they got into the facility proper and looked around at the steel crates however it appeared the area had gone unscathed from whatever had happened that caused the distress signal. Finally Scathe did a scan of the area and declared there were no hostiles, causing them all to relax a little bit and lower their weapons.

Grayson immediately ordered the others to start scanning the area to see if they could find any clues to what they were dealing with while he began the process of overriding the door's security so they could get into the station proper. Almost immediately the reports that he got back were not good; it appeared that the mainframe that was linked to the computer was completely down and there was no way to access any of the information on it from here, if they wanted to download anything they would have to get to the server room and hardline into the black box that the emergency protocols dumped all the data into. Thankfully the security was all on a different grid and with his passcodes Grayson was able to get them all inside. Just like in the ship they all formed a semi-circle around the door as their Captain activated it.

Once again, they were met with silence, though what they saw was a completely different story. Even with their training the raised an eyebrow at each other when they saw the deep furrows in the walls that led all the way up to the door, along with puddles of purple goo that were splattered everywhere. The possibility of this being some sort of xeno incursion was starting to look more likely as they made their way down the hall towards the lobby. The four soldiers continued to keep in formation as they made their way to where the security guard was supposed to meet them should all else fail, continuing to see signs of fighting as they went.

"They probably tried to get to the emergency docking bay before it locked down," Fonz stated as his hand hovered over one of the deep grooves scratched into the metal. "Gods... what could have possibly been here that caused this?"

"Something I don't hope to meet," Grayson replied gruffly from his position at point. "Now keep quiet and get moving forward, the faster we figure out what we're up against the sooner we can get back to the ship."

The others nodded and continued to check their corners until eventually they got to the main lobby of the mining center. Since it was so far away from other planets and not a place that got usual guests it was quite small, which made seeing the security guard hiding underneath one of the tables that much easier. Grayson instructed the others to form a perimeter while he went over to debrief the guard and get more information. As the other three soldiers guarded the doors the Captain went over and helped the security guard up since he was shaking so badly.

"I'm Captain Grayson from the Polaris," Grayson introduced. "Are you the security guard that called us?"

"O-one of them..." the other man replied as he tried to stop his shivering. "Security O-Officer L-Lawrence. I think... I think I'm the only one left."

Grayson could see the other soldiers glance back at him from the statement in a mixture of shock and confusion as he pulled off his helmet to speak better. "What do you mean you're the only one left?" he asked. "What happened here?"

Lawrence told them as much of the story as he could about the creatures that had attacked them and taken over the station, as well as what happened to the other guards after one of them had gotten infected. He also stated that considering the amount of time he has spent in the facility whatever this alien virus was didn't seem to be airborne, instead passed on by the bodily fluids of the creatures or by implanting eggs into them. Though the story was surreal it wouldn't even be the first time that the group had heard of such a thing as he continued to look around wearily. There was something bothering him besides the information he had just heard... if these creatures systematically hunted down and converted everyone inside of this base, then how did they miss a security guard hiding underneath a table?

His question was quickly answered as Scathe announced that multiple alien lifeforms just pinged on his scanner, heading at them from all directions. Grayson grimaced as he realized these were very clever xenos, using the guard as bait to lure them in and keep them here while they mustered their forces around them. "Polaris, this is Captain Grayson," he announced into his radio as he got his gun ready. "Xeno threat and infectious agent confirmed, please send a level five containment team for emergency evac, popping trackers now."

The Captain shouted to the others to activate their radiological tracking beacons, all of them braking a small panel on their power armor that caused several isotopes to mix together. The result was a powerful tracking signal that could even be seen through lead... something so that their bodies could be found and recovered should the worst happen. With level five containment they were waiting at least an hour before another ship could be prepped and brought down here and as such they knew their own shuttle had likely already taken off to minimize exposure. That just meant they had to hold off these creatures for a little while as they hopped behind makeshift barricades and prepared to fire.

Less then a minute later the air was filled with flashes as the first wave of creature pushed their way through the door, letting out screeches and hisses as aliens unlike anything they had ever seen before charged at them. They were like giant bugs of all varieties covered in shiny purple chitin, buzzing around them as they let loose with everything they had. Though they managed to repel some of them others quickly took their place and as their position was being overrun both Grayson and Lawrence were hit with some sort of sticky purple goo launched from the tauric body of a spider-like creature with a humanoid upper form save for four arms and eight eyes. With two of them glued to the ground Scathe attempted to go over and free them while Tank and Fonz continued to shoot but only succeeded in getting stuck himself as the plasteel armor they wore began to sizzle and pop.

Just as Tank was about to prep and toss a grenade he let out a cry of pain as a huge creature that looked like a humanoid purple rubber bee glided down with his gossamer wings and plowed into him, the stinger on the abdomen that grew out from its backside plunging into the human's shoulder. The huge man toppled to the ground and his gun went sliding away from him, though he wasn't out of the fight yet as he managed to spin himself around once he was no longer impaled and punched the creature in the face. It was enough to cause the mutated male to stumble slightly but as Tank tried to capitalize on it he suddenly started to sway and fall onto his back once again. The venom that had been injected into his body was incredibly fast acting as the bee man shook off the punch and began to use his clawed hands to remove the armor around the man's groin.

A similar predicament happened to Fonz as his gun was knocked away from him as well, skittering to the ground near the restrained Grayson and Lawrence before being pushed onto all fours. Two of the shiny purple creatures had gotten on either side of him and had his body practically pinned to the floor, sparks flying as his helmet was ripped off of his head while the other one removed the plates protecting his backside. Before the trapped soldier could even look up the two began to expel more of that purple goo which oozed over his head and into his compromised armor while their strange cocks seemed to flex from the action. The bee man did the same thing to Tank and in less then a minute their struggles against their captors had ceased as they no doubt became infected with the alien virus.

Grayson struggled to try and reach the gun that had been kicked over towards him but with no one shooting and the lobby becoming overrun it was only a matter of time before he and the other two were beset upon as well. Unlike Tank and Fonz, the former with his legs in the air exposing his erect cock while the latter one already had one of the creatures with his cock deep into his backside while the second creature quickly pushed into his mouth as well with a more flexible tube-like appendage. It appeared the spider man and several others had other ideas for them as they suddenly found themselves being pulled away. Lawrence was practically screaming at this point, which didn't help the Captain as he attempted to try and figure out what to do next. As they were hoisted up into the air the armor that had been rapidly decaying fell away from their bodies, luckily the isotope trackers they had activated would have already seeped into their skin by now.

As Grayson and the others were carted off there was a pause as they faced the two infected soldiers, as though the creatures wanted to see what happened to them as both their bodies began to swell underneath the purple goo they had been covered in. Even with the substance also eating away at the power armor loud cracks could be heard from the strain of the metal as the sides of Fonz's chest plate burst out from the two sets of arms growing in his rapidly expanding body. As the rest of the destroyed armor began to fall off him as well they could see his head growing to match his new form as the upper and lower jaw of his widening purple face split apart into sections in order to completely engulf the ovipositor feeding him more eggs to spread to others. Though Grayson attempted to turn away the rubbery bindings on his body continued to have him watch as the transforming soldier began to buck back and forth between the creatures that had impaled him.

A similar transformation was happening to Tank as his already bulky body was rippling with growth, the purple spreading over his body faster than Fonz as his fully-erect cock seemed to be dribbling some of the substance itself. It appeared that the venom had an unexpected side-effect as Tank was practically demanding the creature fuck him, purple goo dripping out of his mouth and nose as the muscular insect man was more than ready to oblige. While he didn't grow any more appendages as Grayson was once more escorted out of the room he saw that the new warrior drone was growing even bigger as a second pair of legs were sprouting from the destroyed power armor that was his chest...

****************************

About an hour later another craft came rocketing down towards the planet surface, but this wasn't an ordinary shuttle. It was known as a SPIKE, or Shuttle Projectile for Instant Kinetic Entry, and very closely resembled its namesake as several more of the crafts came after it. With a level five containment protocol and missing soldiers on the field the facility or anything contained within it no longer mattered, as made evident as the spike craft shattered the roof and burrowed nearly halfway down into the floor of steel and solid rock. Twelve of them landed in the lobby, and docking area next to it, completely obliterating the roof and allowing the acidic atmosphere from outside to pour in. As the creatures quickly regrouped to try and swarm around the new arrivals seven of them popped open and immediately started firing white-hot plasma rounds into the growing swarm.

Unlike the bullets and energy weapons that the guards and soldiers preceding them had these projectiles proved to be ludicrously effective, punching holes in the creatures that attempted to attack the units in head to toe heavy armor. They were also environmentally sealed, which was good as now not only was the roof destroyed but the bullets they used to fend off the swarm were punching holes in the walls like they were made of tissue paper. None of that concerned the rescue team, they were there for one thing and one thing only as they pushed their way through to find those that needed extraction. Even though they have five open SPIKE capsules they were only looking for three since they lost two of the tracker signals while they were gearing up.

It appeared that after the first wave of creatures getting blown away that the rest were keeping their distance, which was just fine with the squad as they moved methodically down each hallway while one of them continued to keep them going in the right direction. While they weren't sure if they had actually killed any of the creatures the fact that they had been driven away made their point that they were not to be meddled with. The group encountered no additional resistance as they got to the medical bay where the source of the isotope signal was growing stronger, though worryingly it was starting to become distorted. One of the seven went up to the door, which had been completely covered in a hardened version of the purple goo, and put a plasma charge on it before signaling everyone to back away.

The explosive had a small but intense explosion and the second it was done the group moved through the molten slag that was the metal wall into the infirmary, for the first time letting their guard down when they saw what was waiting for them inside. The Captain, their science officer, and someone that guessed was the security guard based on the reports they had gotten, were all suspended in biomedical chambers that had been completely overgrown with the purple substance. They were all also completely naked, the three of them floating there with no idea what was going on to them or in the outside world. The squad radioed back the situation and while one of them took a specimen container and secured one of the slightly glowing purple spheres they waited to hear back if they were going to save these three or leave them to their fate.

In less than half a minute they got their answer and they put up their guns, using the bullets to shatter the glass of the medical chambers and freeing those that were held captive inside. The second that they had them the squad grabbed them and told the others to start coming back the way they came while their leader popped several thermite grenades and tossed them behind them on the way out. It was clear that the strange humanoid creatures did not want them to leave with their price but with the combination of the grenades melting the passages behind them and the front squad pouring hot plasma into anything in front of them they weren't being successful. There was a bit more fighting but the containment squad managed to get back to the lobby and opened the shuttles once more, loading the three into the pods, which they immediately marked with a biohazard warning, and then hopped into their own.

"This is containment unit captain three zero four," the last of the soldiers to close their door said as he looked out at the destroyed facility, seeing the mutated people starting to regroup now that they were getting ready to retreat. "Packages have been secured and authorizing use of triple threat for complete sterilization. I repeat, use of triple threat has been authorized."

The voice on the other end of the communication link asked for the command code and as the door closed on the last spike the captain gave it to them, hearing it get authorized just as the shuttle closed and sealed up. Everyone that was still conscious braced themselves as the tethers that were attached to the ends of the SPIKEs suddenly went taught before pulling them out of the craters they had made like carrots. Though none of the crew could see outside of them they could hear as they went back up through the atmosphere the sounds of something screaming past them. Had they been able to look out they would have seen three different colored missiles heading down towards the facility they had just gotten out of, each of them containing a different compound that when detonated caused them to mix together and create a nuclear explosion so massive it visibly cracked the surface of the planet and pushed away the caustic clouds to reveal the destruction that it had caused.

One of the people surveying the destruction had a Commander's uniform on him, sipping from a cup of coffee as preliminary scans reported a successful detonation. "I say we can call that threat effectively neutralized," he said as he stood up from the chair. "We're going to have to give it a few weeks before the neutron radiation is dispersed enough to get a life-sign reading so I hope you all stocked up on entertainment, because we are going to be here for a while. Lieutenant, you have the bridge, I'll make the phone call to the mining consortium in my quarters so you don't have to hear all the yelling."

"Yes sir Commander," the woman next to him said, standing up and taking the chair that the Commander had been sitting in. "Alright bridge, prepare to settle into synchronous orbit with Dathmoth."

The Commander could hear all sorts of shouts of acknowledgements and call-outs for the bridge before the doors closed behind him. Once they were definitely out of earshot the man took of his hat and ran his hand through his hair as he sighed. "I know what I'm going to be doing for the next few weeks at least," he said before walking towards his cabin. "Filling out paperwork on this FUBAR."

As he walked into the Commander's Quarters he could already see that his phone had several messages on it, all from the mining consortium that he had contacted after they received the distress call from their facility. Before he called them back he poured himself a new drink and wished beyond all recognition that the higher-ups would allow them to have alcohol as he went back to his desk and hit the reply button. "It's about time Daniel," the older gentlemen on the other end of the line said, looking at him scornfully. "What's the situation in the facility?"

"First of all, Lead Councilor Abborus, I told you to either call me Commander Voltaire or Sir," the other man said. "Just because you're twenty years my senior does not mean you get to disrespect my rank. Second of all there is no more situation at the facility because the facility has been completely sterilized."

Daniel took a drink from his cup as he watched the man's face grow completely red, like someone had taken a bulb of a similar hue and had shined on his face as his first few words were nothing but angry sputters. "Sterilized?!" the man practically shouted. "That was a Falchorite mining facility you idiot! Do you know how desperately we need that material, the same material that is currently keeping your crew safe from all manner of radiation?!"

"I am well versed in our Falchor engines," Daniel replied as calmly as he could muster. "I am also touched that you asked about your precious facility instead of the crew who manned it. From the reports that I've gotten so far they had come in contact with some sort of biological contaminant that started... changing them."

"Changing them?" the man replied, his red-hot anger momentarily tempered by curiosity. "How?"

"Don't know," the Commander replied after taking another drink. "We literally just concluded our operation a few minutes ago, an operation that took two of our men I might add, and still have to debrief the squad on what they saw. We also have three people rescued from the facility and a sample of the specimen that we'll analyze at a proper lab once we get done confirming the kill in a few weeks."

"A few weeks..." Abborus repeated before his veins once more began to bulge. "You used the Triple Threat ordinance, didn't you? You probably turned that entire site into one giant compressed plate of minerals, it'll take years to mine back down to that Falchorite!"

"I think you might want to just cut your losses at this point," Daniel replied as he sat back in his chair and interrupted the man before he could speak again. "Listen, I'm sure you have a lot of cost analysis to do or something like that and as soon as I get the full report on the incident, I'll make sure to send it your way. Until then stop filing our personnel server with your messages, I'll call you."

After that the Commander immediately disconnected the call, the passive face he had held through the entire time immediately falling to a frown as he contacted communications and told them to stop receiving any calls that weren't fleet related. As he sipped the liquid in his cup he knew that this mission wasn't going to end well the second he knew who was involved in it, and now because of it he was going to have to make two more calls that were even harder then the one he had just made. Two deaths just to try and save a mining facility... he didn't know whether to be angrier at the one who told him to do it or himself for actually listening.