The going was slow. It probably wouldn't have taken them long if they had headed straight down. Adam had a hunch that the root of the problem was likely to be found at or near the generator itself. Yebb could have led them there following the derelict signs and arrows saying "generator room", but Adam was unwilling to leave any area of the facility unexplored.

Basically, he wanted all the little stuff dead before they went after the big thing.

It was a good idea, but it certainly wasn't good for her nerves.

So far their journey had uncovered a dramatic story of terror, life and death.. A lot of the Tricar that worked here had lived on sight as well. Yebb knew this, but remembered it when they stumbled upon one of the dorm like rooms, basically just a long narrow hall with beds lined up two to three feet apart from each other bolted to the walls at least three beds high.

The ground was a mess, covered in a light layer of slime and scattered here and there with absent personal items. The Tricar were said to be less sociable than other species, and that was sort of true. They didn't live in traditional family groups based on blood relation, but they did tend to form large packs for the reason of safety and warmth. While that had not been the case here, the large communal room was pattered after that.

Yebb scanned her eyes over the walls reading the years and years of graffiti through the gentle layer of slime. There were names and phrases and stupid little poems. Most of them were swear words, funny how that is something common among multiple alien groups. The percent for writing rude words on things.

And then there were the bodies, at least two of them that she could see. They met the first one as they were coming down the central isle of the room. The Tricar wore no work equipment , which made it clear that he had been off duty. He had fallen facing away from the end of the room, and his arms were stretched out as if he was reaching for the door. Due to the cold chill of the climate his body wasn't decomposing, but large pieces of him were missing, and strange growths were protruding from his back.

Down at the end of the room, they found the second body. She was lying back flat on her bunk arms held out to the side. The metal bedframe where she lay was scored with gouges from where her nails had bit into the metal. On the wall just next to her head there was a large hole in the metal with ragged torn edges, like soemthing had burst through.

Sunny looked over the scene rather critically examining the body, "These bodies are older than the one we found in the storage room. These were likely killed as the problem was beginning to escalate but before it was known about by whoever owned that HASMAT guy. They likely thought they were safe here." She ran her fingers over the wall , "They were caught by surprise, one of them came out of the wall and attached itself to her face." She pointed down at the body which was mostly in tact aside from its missing face. it was an odd if ot disturbing image, a perfectly preserved Tricar, except for the grinning skull.

Sunny traced a line from point to point on the body, "There were multiple of whatever attacked them, likely a swarm erupted through that hole." She motioned to the destruction of the room, "They tried to run and most of them made it." They glanced back at the tricar lying on the floor." Sunny stood and took a step ack, "Hard to saw how it all happened. Likely it started kind of gradually down at the generator, they tried to study it, to get rid of it, and they were containing it ok for a while. Work was still beoing done, but what the didn't know was that the little bastards were secretly burrowing through the walls the entire time. This is probably the moment they all decided to pull out."

"Your Sezy when you do detective work." Adam said leaning in a way, that was likely supposed to be casual against one of the bedframes.

"No flirting when we are working." She said reaching out to prod the body.

Adam sounded rather put out when he said, "Ramirez does it all the time and I'm not even married to him."

"We could change that." Ramirez offered with a grin."

"you're as bad as co-" And then the tricar reared up to grab his leg. The entire room erupted into movement as Adam yelled in shock and the tricar hauled itself up his body. Leaning against the bedframe,, he had been off balance and so toppled over backwards as the tricar batted at his helmet, trying desperately to smash through his faceplate. Yess screamed and was almost hurled of Jackie's back.

Sunny cures.

The Tricar on the bed was sitting up, grinning skull pointing maliciously at them as it lurched upright, arms held out . And then more of the small Incubus creatures began pouring from the hole. Someone set off their gass, and soon the room was filled with sizzling screaming and acrid smoke. The close quarters gunfire would have been deafening if not for the sound dampening effects of her helmet.

Sunny speared the skull-face tricar through the face , and then gassed the little monsters that were swarming out of the hole. They ran up her arms and onto her helmet clawing at her with their tiny bone feet even while they screamed in agony as the gas touched them. Down on his back Adam had pulled a knife and judiciously separated the creature's head from its body, but now he was being swarmed from all sides. Ramirez ran forward to help stomping and kicking at the creatures. Adam rolled crushing most of the ones that had managed to attach to him, and sprung to his feet.

The group moved to help each other finish off their last few bugs, when there was a massive crash from the end of the room. They turned just in time to see something come bursting through the doorway, or more accurately ripping the doorway to pieces and chunking it into pulp. Rubble exploded into the room showering them in rocks The creature was huge, even taller than sunny and just large enough to fit comfortably in the tunnels. The first two metal bedframes were ripped from the wall as the full-grown Incubus tore into the room.

Everyone opened fire.

A metal bed was hurled into the wall and the creature screamed as it soaked up bullets despite having no visible mouth. Its massive bone spikes.

It raced forward one of its bony legs shooting outward and knocking Slayer 2 into the wall. He hit so hard he dented the metal slamming into the wall and into the floor. Sunny shot the creature I the face, barely dodging to the side as one of the bone spikes slammed down where he had been a moment before. With a roar, Etium raced forward, sliding through the slime under the creature's belly and stitching a line of bullets up through its guts.

The creature screamed.

Suny leaped upward, jumping onto one of the lower beds and then vaulting up onto the creature's back, using her spear as an anchor point. She jammed it into the creature's head and twisted. It screamed and bucked. Its spiked feet came down with enough power to crack metal as it shook itself back and forth violently.

Sunny was flung off to hit one of the bedframes and spin to the side her spear still sticking out of its head.

Adam shot the creature again and again, but as it regained itself, it set its sites on him, slamming its two front feet spikes down at him repeatedly as he dodged this way and that. It grew frustrated, and tried again, but this time Adam grabbed it by the leg and lend on tight. It screamed again and shook its leg flinging him around like a rag doll, but Adam pulled his knife again slamming it into the side of the creatures body as he let go of the leg.. It lunged sideways at the wall pinning Adam between it and the metal.

But then Maverick was there. She cut around to the right and kicked off the wall just as Sunny was coming to her feet flying through the air to land on the creature's back. She held tight to the spear, ripping it from the creature's body leaving a fist sized hole that gushed blood. She was nearly thrown backward off the creature but managed to stay upright, as she reached into her belt, pulled soemthing from her belt and slammed it into the spear opening.

She allowed her self to be tossed away, "Everyone duck!"

Adam managed to slide away under one of the bunks. Jackie dived to the right.

The creature screamed and then paused looking almost confused. That moment of silence was followed by a muffled explosion and a sudden burst of icor around the room as half of the creature's upper body exploded sending chunks and gobs of red icor to spatter the walls. Yebb could feel the pressure wave even through her suit. The Incubus staggered, wobbled and then its legs collapsed and it fell to the ground.

"Damn, is everyone alright."

A moan went up throughout the room."

Adam crawled out from under the bunk where he was hiding, and Suny made a show of cracking her back. That first marine wasn't looking so good, and Adam called up to connect to the line and order a team down to get him."

He looked at maverick, "You know if you sent me a video of you doing that instead of a resume, I'd probably hire you on principle."

Sunny rolled her neck, "With a video of that, I'd probably marry you."

Adam frowned at her, "excuse me."

Sunny shrugged, "What, she just blew up a giant flesh monster, that's pretty sexy."

The eye roll was apparent through his helmet "Stop trying to make me jealous."

Maverick made a big show of wiping gore from her gun, "That's ok, can hardly blame her. I am quite desirable."

Adam snorted again, but their joking didn't last long. Whatever the thing was, it knew they were coming, and as soon as their injured marine had been pulled out, the creatures they encountered only got bigger. The bigger the creatures got, the warmer it became, until the floor was awash with a slurry of melted slush and blood. The air around them was thick with red mist. The large creatures came at them from down dark tunnels roaring and skittering over the metal. Gassing them and laying down heavy fire to keep them in place while throwing explosives was the best way to handle it. While others held of the hoards of smaller incubus creatures that appeared from their boils in the wall.

The last of the creatures fell causing a wave of slush and blood to come roaring down the hall at them, but behind, the entire tunnel was filled with skittering feet and bodies Every shot fired hit soemthing, but who more always rose to take its place. They backed down the hallway gas and guns blazing.

"There's too many!" Sunny shouted

"Fall back!" Adam ordered.

And they did, one by one they passed through the last door, fighting off wave of the creatures who tried to force their way inside. Together Sunny and Maverick hauled the door close and spun the massive Iron wheel. Both of them were rocked back as the wave slammed into the door. Soemthing on the other side skittered and screamed.

"We don't have much time." Adam said turning to the room.

The room they were in was clearly some kind of control room. Shaped like a large trapezoid, there was a large console taking up three sides opposite them, just below the three large windows. Two bodies slumped in their respective chairs, bone spikes protruding from their eyes. Ramirez wasn't taking any chances and shot both of them in the head judiciously. Three more bodies lay scattered o the floor around them and were quickly dispatched.

"Yebb, is the console still working."

Yebb didn't like it as she was forced to clamber down from Jacki's back and turf one of her dead countrymen out of their seat and onto the floor. Her hands shook as she took a seat. Outside the windows, there was nothing but black. "I doubt this place is still going to have power."

She glanced over the dials in the dim light of their lanterns reading over the keys.

She wasn't an engineer, so she had no idea how they expected her to deal with this.

One of the labels on the console read

Initialize.

That was a good enough place to start. She reached out and flipped the switch. Lights flickered on over her head, and the metal seat below her began to rumble. All around her the other marines and soldiers braced themselves. She could still hear the screaming of the creatures out in the hall bashing themselves repeatedly up against the doors. Outside in the generator chamber, large floodlights blinked o.

And Yebb gasped.

Adam sputtered.

Ramirez just sighed.

"What in the architects saggy dangling-"

"Is that a heart?"

It sure did seem so.

The generator room itself was about forty feet wide and forty feet across. Looking down through the window of the control room Yebb stared at the fleshy red mass now taking up at least half of the generator's surface. It sat in the middle, its body pulsing and twitching spasmodically. Large flesh tentacles stretched out from tis body interwoven with the metal and cables. As the lights turned on the thing groaned, and the entire room shook around them. yebb was almost vibrated from her chair and onto the floor.

The creature continued to pulse filling the air with a distinct whawhump. At the door the creatures were working themselves into a frenzy.

"What the hell do we do!"

"Uh." Adam looked down int other room and just shook his head.

It was Jackie that offered a solution, "Looks like the generator spins to make power. If we can turn it on maybe we can rip the creature apart."

The group shrugged as there were no better options and Yebb turned her head frantically around the control panel looking for an on switch. The creature groaned again rattling her teeth inside her head."

There

Spin.

he reached out and flipped the switch. Below them came a low grinding and then a sharp whirr.

And then all hell broke loose.

The generator began to rotate immediately severing small capillaries and veins spreading out from the thing. As the power grew the straining became more intense until large to medium flesh ropes were beginning to snap.

The creature screamed. The entire facility rocked, and yebbs vision went blurry . Then there was a crack and an eruption of glass as one of the flesh tentacles smashed through the glass. Something hit Yebb hard in the chest and she was thrown back, slamming hard into the column behind her. The room was filled with screams and gunfire . She saw shadows as the others were picked up and thrown bodily through the room.

Etium was picked up by his foot and pulled back out through the broken glass, vanishing int o a whirl of writhing tentacles which now erupted upward from the generator. One of the tentacles slammed into the button, and red lights overhead blinked in protest blaring out a warning noise.

A door onto the catwalk was thrown open and five SE soldiers including Adam ran out into the generator room firing down at the creature.

Sunny ripped the gass tank from her back and lobbed it out the window shouting something to maverick. She must have understood what sunny wanted, and a moment later the pressurized tank ruptured as a bullet tore through it. The pressurized gas shot out in a burst sending the tank all the way across the room to slam into the far wall. The creature roared slamming tis tentacle down on the catwalk.

Adam shouted as the metal gave way and he fell grabbing onto the metal at the veery last moment. the creature was steaming and bubbling as it roared. The beating o tis horrible body began to pulse faster and all tis flesh tentacles waved back and forth.

"Suck on this you squishy bastard!"

And then Etiu mwas there, flying through the room on the back of his....

Gun?

Sometime during his fall he had managed to adjust the setting on his gun's gravity field, and using controlled bursts of gunfire he had managed to propel himself out of danger He hovered above now blasting the creature with full auto death which sent him backwards and up at tremendous speed. Luckily he had the forethought to adjust his gravity settings.

And there he was suspended in the air ridding on the back of his gun like a pony, screaming insults as the creature twitched and roared beneath him.

He wasn't so lucky though, and a stray tentacle separated him from his gun. He went one way and his gun went the other.

Yebb was still dizzily getting to her feet as he crashed through the window hit the floor and rolled.

He did not get up.

"No!"

Sunny reached for Adam's hand but a stray tentacle caught him before she could and he was ripped away, cartwheeling through the air before slamming into the generator, and slipping down through one of the cracks to vanish.

Sunny shouted, and her shout attracted a tentacle that grabbed her.

She stabbed it with her spear and ripped herself free, caught by maverick who stood behind her, but the two of them weren't so lucky. The catwalk broke and they both fell. Maverick landed on the back of the creature and Sunny went tumbling to the side landing against the far wall just inches away from the generator.

The room was filling up with noxious yellow gass.

Behind her the door creaked and began to buckle.

She had to act now.

Still wobbly and disoriented, yebb raced forward. A tentacle came for her again, but she dodged out of the way and slammed her hand into the control with a mighty effort. The tentacle grabbed her foot but she clung desperately onward. There was a groan and another roar and then screaming. She as tugged away from the console and out the window finding herself flailing around in the air feet kicking Below her the generator was starting up again.

But this time the creature wasn't' fast enough. The spin started quickly severing one of tis larger limbs. Exposed to open air its internal flesh sizzled faster than what was outside. She thrashed and kicked. The creature screamed, and she was dropped. Yebb flailed and shouted as she fell straight down towards the generator's wiring parts. And then her hand hit soemthing. With a desperate move she grabbed on and found herself swinging wildly in on direction feet dangling, holding onto the handle of Etium's discarded gun.

The generator was at full rotation now, and the creature was shredded apart.

Against the far wall Sunny pinned herself back away from the spinning parts as the creature was shredded to bits. The door inside burst open and an army of creatures came clawing into the room only to be hit by a wall of gas.

Yebb clambered up onto the gun and began shooting through the window, but she didn't have the foresight to adjust the gravity, and the blast of bullets threw her backwards into the wall. She hit hard and let go of the gun, falling to what remained of the catwalk and blacking out.

***

When she woke, it was still loud, and she expected to find herself being eaten alive. Standing over her she found the support team triaging her team.

Etium lay next to her, and for a horrible moment she thought he was dead, but, overhead she heard someone say, "Guy's a tough little bastard."

Sunny was sitting against the far wall spattered in gore and looking worried. Down below them the generator had been stopped . The heart was no longer there, but ropes of flesh hung from moving parts.

"We got him!"

And then there he was, Adam clambering unsteadily from below the generator covered from head to toe in unmentionable mush, but very much alive. Sunny hugged him relieved that he was ok. Later they would come to learn that he had managed to latch himself to the bottom of one of the spinning blades, and had just enough room not to get squished. It was lucky that the generator had only been on for a minute or so.

From the moment of turning it on to her blacking out it had been mere seconds, and the door bursting open was partially the result of the backup team coming in for reinforcements. The generator had been shut off just in time so that Adam didn't pass out from the G forces. If he had been anyone else he might just be dead.

With he creature dead, they were able to open all doors and all ducts, and using some industrial equipment they were able to pump the whole place full of gas killing off the red mist and whatever other horrible things remained.

Down in the tunnels someone found evidence that the creatures had been trying to burrow their way through the ice, and that led them to the discovery of an underground refugee camp where a group of frightened Tricar were cowering in fear, starving, and afraid, but alive to Yebb's delight.

With support from Arcadia, her home planet limped back to its feet. This wasn't the only infestation, but using massive pumps and a whole lot of synthesized gas antidote, they were able to kill of what remained of the infection . The Tricar council was nowhere to be found.

But yebb could rest easy now

Her planet

Was safe.

For the time being