Part Two: Descent

[Travis "Wizard" Oxford]

1622 hours
Mark's Office
Lost City of Akrotiri

It was going to be one of those weeks where Mark questioned as to why he decided to take up this offer that seemed grand on paper but hardly in reality. Since the former members of Expedition had taken charge, he had little to no idea what was going. He wanted to walk towards the labs where the group hurdled up, doing whatever. He had two flag Officers and among senior staff that knew each other from long back. This Hades trouble was going to be challenging to say and might become the highlight of his time here. He ran a peaceful expedition, not the one that still in a middle of a war. Picking up his coffee all the could do was wait; nothing up wait and hope his base was still in once piece.

1622 hours
Biology Lab
Lost City of Akrotiri

"CLEAR!" Travis shouted as he sweeped the room fluidly, as he had done it may times before. By now he was expecting the rust to build up on his movement. He was overseeing the space carrier named USS Shiva and had been for little over a year now. His eyes landed on the object as he saw it ......did it hum, pulse and he could have sworn it glowed. Leaning a little closer, he noted it hummed again.

"Something very, very ....bad." His reply and tone was more suited for his cousin than Troy. He could not been missing Captain Snark this badly, "On a serious note, this reminds me of the rock creatures we saved. Surely they couldn't have evolved. We can try communicating with it? Maybe?" He looked at the faces, seeing the reactions, "Worth a shot," he protested.

If that failed he was out of ideas. Where was Collins when they needed her?

<<Tag: Troy Loveridge , Alec Styles , Ayden "Ghost" Sheppard , Cara Coyle , Robert "Jackal" Walker , Will O'Malley / whoever else I have missed>>

[Troy Loveridge]

1624 hours
Biology Lab
Lost City of Akrotiri

Troy and the members of Task Group Orange stood around the strange volcano-like organic growth than dominated the centre of the biology lab. The object appeared to have grown here, starting on one of the tables in the middle of the room which had all but disappeared under the expanding mass. On closer inspection, thin tendrils were found leading from the object and stretching out to the nearby walls where had tapped into power conduits. As someone pointed out the object was pulsing ever so slightly, suggesting that it was generating the power that kept the lab’s lights on.

Scientists literally and figuratively were crawling over the conical object, trying to learn its origin and purpose. Travis suggested a link with a crystal slug that had tunnelled its way toward the base back when Troy was the base commander, which had consumed everything in its path and threatening to devour the city.

“It’s definitely organic,” Troy replied, though so far the scientists hadn’t found any form of intelligence or awareness within the growth. It was looking to be more of an object than a creature.

An eagle-eyed examiner spotted a skin-like flap on one side of the object, and carefully peeling it back, revealed an Olympian computer port used for connecting their devices to transfer information.

“At least we can confirm its from Hades,” the General noted. For a moment it had looked as though they may have been facing a second hostile threat.

A laptop loaded with Olympian interfacing software was connected to the port and a link established. The scientist explained that there was not much information contained within the object, and that translation would only take a few moments. Archaeologists and linguists, who had previously stood by with little to do, moved forward and began examining the lines of Olympian text as they appeared on the laptop screen.

Troy half listened as they explained what they were seeing - references to power generator, protocols for connecting to Akoritiri, and a formula to determine the growth of the object. While most of this was benign or nothing they hadn’t already guessed, something still seemed strange to Troy. Why would Hades go to all the effort of hiding the object in the far reaches of the base when it would be eventually found? And why install a device that generated power?

“What’s nearby?” Troy asked, trying to mentally recall the schematics of the base. “Why would they put this here of all places?” Some ideas were thrown around, including proximity to one of the main power conduits for this wing of the city-ship and a nearby storage facility for F-302 missiles.

Troy was still trying to figure out why the device was here when everything went to hell.

“RUN! GET OUT!” yelled one of the archaeologists working on the translation, dropping the laptop on the floor where it shattered. Troy had been in this game long enough to not ask twice, and sprinted out of the lab with the rest of the task group. Based on the fear in the eyes of the archaeologist, something very bad was about to happen.

“What did you fi….” Troy began to ask as he ran down the hallway, his question cut off by a huge explosion that threw him to the ground and turned the world dark.

< To be continued... >