Baby Beast

JP with Omni and A.Patient.Man#6020

8.3.5 SW
19:23/21 SW-CP-Local Time
Crowning Point > Reactor Fuel Storage

Using his portable terminal, Saygin pulled a schematic of the power grid around the warehouse. He located the power box where the electric cables fed into the building which was directly opposite their current position. There was an external generator situated nearby in its own storage shed. It was a wonder that the Marshal hadn’t spotted it on his perimeter check.

tzzt Should be a generator on the east side. tzzt said Saygin.

“Copy. Either of you know how to use one?”

tzzt Negative, Marshall. I'm a flyboy, not an electrician. Good at taking directions if you can walk me through it through. tzzt

There was silence for a moment as the Marshal looked to the other members of his security team. He was met with the frowns, grimaces and head shaking of uncertainty. Nobody knew how to work a damned generator? He had done it before, but it had been a while.

tzzt Damn. I’m not keen on moving into this unit blind if I can help it, but at this rate, we risk losing the thing before we can turn the damn lights on. tzzt He looked around inside the structure again and shook his head. tzzt Besides… Too risky with all of these high pressure tanks… Shame we can't just blow the whole damned thing. tzzt

As the Marshal pulled the door back down. Past the rattling of its corrugated metal Al Saygin and Officer Carson heard a sound from inside the hole that was indiscernible.

“- -the hell? You hear that?” asked Carson.

"Marshall, we got something here. Sound from inside. Could just be local wildlife or an engineer hiding out, but I don't wanna take chances. See if I can flush it out."

Saygin looked around for a rock to hurl into the gap. "Carson, ready your weapon for whatever comes running out."

tzzt Copy, on the way to join you.tzzt came the Marshal's reply.

“Let’s move.” ordered the Marshal as he headed to meet the others.

Carson kept his rifle steady as Saygin gathered up a rock and the two of them heard more clearly this time, something like a squealing, a wet squelching sound, and then a pop. More silence followed.

Saygin hurled the rock as directly as he could at what seemed to be the source of the sound, and pulled his pistol up to aim at the opening as soon as the rock left his hand.

From the opening came a shriek as the pale, spindly form of an unknown quadruped appeared scrambling from beneath the VTOL. This was not the same alien creature that Saygin saw coming from the drainage ditch, but was smaller and juvenile. Although the alien thing looked emaciated, it’s bone structure was wider than the other one and it’s bulbous, eyeless head sported two small tusks protruding on either side of its strange jaw whose teeth looked metallic but eerily human.

The creature stood no chance. Saygin let loose a quick burst of pistol shots at it causing its blood to splash all over the driver’s side of the vtol. The car immediately started to burn and corrode as the yellowish green acid ate into the metal frame and the door.

As adrenaline sank in, Saygin breathed heavily and his hands felt shaky at the strangeness and danger of whatever this creature was.

"Well Shit..." said Saygin as he slowly lowered his pistol. "Hey Marshall. Uh... looks like we might be walking home. Marshall? Come in?"

The Marshal heard the shots before he rounded the corner with his team where Saygin could see them now some 30 meters away.

“What in the blue hell are these - - ?!” Carson’s question was cutoff as the suspected dead alien sputtered another small splash of acidic blood as it shrieked to life again and made for its attacker.

The tusked alien creature jumped towards Saygin, flashing its razor-sharp teeth and hissed malevolently.

"SHIT!" yelled Saygin as he reflexively readied for a retreat, dropping his pistol in the startled process.

“Jesus!” Carson was about to open fire on the beast when he realized that the thing would splash acid onto his partner so he quickly ran up to kick the thing away from them.

He punted the little thing with all his might a few meters in the opposite direction from Saygin. Now severely wounded, it cried out in alien fury and in a desperate action, the beast disappeared into the darkness of the surrounding woods.

"Holy... shit..." Saygin sputtered out, surprisingly out of breath for a guy who just dropped his gun and did little else. He went to retrieve his pistol from the dirt, hoping he didn't find any acid splashed on it.

To the shock of those in the vicinity, Carson popped off a round of gunfire into the ferns and undergrowth, then nervously darted his rifle and tactical flashlight back and forth off into the woods, scanning for the alien. Saygin was able to recover the pistol untarnished, adrenaline still active in his veins.

The Marshal and four sec officers approached. “Steady, Carson! Keep your wits! You two, keep eyes on the forest. You two, eyes on that hole,” he ordered the team then turned to Al Saygin. “Saygin… you good?” He gave the man a slight pat on the back of the shoulder.

"N-nah boss. I'm pretty fuckin' far from good. Mostly because I just watched some little monster piss caustic acid on my bird!" Saygin was shaking so hard he could still barely hold on to his pistol. It was hard to tell if it was due to fear or rage. "Hey Carson. I owe you every drink this planet's got." he added.

The Marshal smiled with what little levity he could muster, “Save the party for later, fellas. First we need to figure out just what the hell we’re dealing with here. Be glad to buy you all a round once everyone is back safe but this isn’t looking good,” he said, trying to suss it all out.