Breach

Dustin moved cautiously down the corridor, pulse carbine at the ready. Just because Defia’s scanning wasn’t being as obstructed by the glass didn’t mean that it was guaranteed to pick everything up. And in any case, even if she did detect Fractal presences, there was no certainty that they were the only things down here. Assuming their hunch about the Durathisian threat was correct, there was a chance that the aliens could also be lurking in the shadows. So, it was with care that they picked their way through the ash and dust towards where the rogue Fractal had detected a group of zombies.

The sound of weapons fire echoed quietly along the passage behind them; Dustin’s communicator crackled as the fireteams on each floor checked in, the mixture of Moa’thif and human security personnel starting the long process of scouring the passageways. A quick glance at the Fractal by his side reassured Dustin - Defia hadn’t detected any change in the actions of those they were moving towards.

Rounding another corner, she held up a hand for them to stop. “Statement. Just beyond the next room is a corridor. They are approximately halfway down, and I am detecting increased atmospheric disturbance. Hypothesis. A crack in the wall leading outside the spire.”

Dustin glanced at the rest of the squad, then nodded. “Lead the way. Once we’ve confirmed it’s a breach, we take and hold while we radio our position for Moa’thif backup. Unless it’s a really big hole, in which case we run and return with a larger group.”

Yril’k flexed her blade arms and grinned. “This should’k be fun. Assuming they don’t try’k and barbecue us again’k.”

The zombies Defia had detected turned out to be four in number. They were also much larger than the ones that Dustin and his group had fought before - easily the size of two or three Moa’thif put together, with heavy plates of Fractal mass covering their shoulders. A pair stood on either side of a crack in the glass wall, a narrow void barely large enough for one person at a time to squeeze through, on the other side of which the distant flashes of lightning from the ever-present storm-clouds could be seen.

Thankfully, the behemoths didn’t seem to have noticed Dustin and the others approaching. Backing up down the corridor, he gestured in the vague direction of the monsters. “Alright. That crack we can hold easily enough. Hell, if they weren’t mostly comprised of Fractal mass, we take out two or three of them and their own bodies would block any more from getting in. The bigger issue is those brutes. Any ideas?”

Sammie raised her pulse carbine thoughtfully. “Aim for the knees, those didn’t look armoured, try and drop them and then finish them off on the ground?”

Yril’l drummed her fingers on the hip of her space suit before nodding in agreement. “That does’k seem like the best’k idea. I don’t know if I can’k drop one before it injures’k me in close combat. Your kin are remarkably’k tough, Defia.”

The rogue Fractal tilted her head to one side at the Vex’ess warriors words, then flashed one of her too-toothy smiles. “Statement. If Dustin and Sammie drop them, they will try and reform. Recommend you act as distraction or bait, unit Yril’k. You have mobility the humans lack. I will terminate the hostile units once they are partially incapacitated. Is this plan acceptable?”

A quick glance around the others showed that it was. With that decided, the only thing left was to put it into action. Dustin and Sammie stepped forward together, pulse carbines whining. “Single shot, Aim for the left leg of the ones closer, right of the ones further away, then burst from the third round to try and take out their other limb. Only go full auto if it looks like they might clip Yril’k,” Dustin ordered, toggling his own weapon back to single-fire with a satisfying click.

Their earlier experience in fighting the Fractal zombies came into play as the humans rounded the curve of the passageway. Without pausing, they each raised their weapons, sighted on one of the synthetic behemoths and squeezed the trigger; from there things rapidly blurred for Dustin.

The impact of the pulse rounds blew out the kneecaps of the two nearest Fractal creatures, their bodies clearly not expecting the sudden trauma. As the beasts staggered to one side and began to fall, Yril’k burst past the two humans, her multi-limbed form easily finding purchase on the rough walls of the corridor, even in her space suit. The sudden arrival of the Vex’ess warrior drew the attention of the more distant of the behemoths, their lumbering bodies slamming into the wall close to where she had been as she dove past them.

“Keep firing!” Dustin yelled, aiming for the monsters now fixated on his security chief, despite the fact that the two creatures closest to him were starting to reflow their bodies and rise once more. Again, the pulse carbines spat fire, again the spray of Fractal mass; Yril’k darted back, her blade arms scoring lines across all four of the beasts as she moved to regain her position behind Dustin and the others.

With their initial attack going according to plan, Dustin flicked his weapon to burst fire and started peppering the four monsters with shots. Debris scattered out of their forms as the rapid-fire impact of pulse charges gradually cut through their remaining limbs; beside him, he could hear Sammie yelling as she too emptied her clip into the things before them.

A sudden shadow moved, Defia seemingly emerging from nowhere as she darted forward. The two behemoths that Dustin and Sammie hadn’t been focusing fire on twisted as this new threat emerged; a gout of flame erupted from the closer of the two, causing the biological members of Dustin’s team to dive to one side to avoid being incinerated as the heat made the wall next to where they had been standing glow and start to slough towards the floor.

The rogue Fractal stood in the midst of that terrible inferno, her outer layer glowing but otherwise seemingly unaffected by the heat. Striding forward, she brought her foot up high above her head before dropping it down hard on the chest of one of the two beasts that had borne the brunt of the humans’ firepower. Splayed on the floor and already lacking chunks of it’s lower limbs, the sudden impact of Defia’s suit-covered heel punched through it’s outer later. Lighting crackled down her body, and a moment later their foe sagged lifelessly, it’s Fractal mass slowly crumbling away from the glass, stone and Moa’thif bone that made up it’s skeleton and the core of it’s armour.

Trusting that his ally could handle the remaining incapacitated behemoth on her own, Dustin turned his weapon onto the two that had managed the fire attack. Sammie clearly had the same idea; their shots collided on the same target, severing it’s remaining leg at the hip and taking a chunk out of it’s flank before she switched to the other monster still standing.

The residual heat in the glass, the flickers of flame where the remaining zombies attempted one more attack - it all glowed as Defia stalked through the hellscape. A kick here, a punch there - it didn’t matter, as long as she could get part of her body close to the core of the abominations. They were not true Fractals - their component matter had no central process, only crude approximations of intelligence and predefined instruction responses. She was the superior entity; against a true Fractal unit a mere electrical discharge wouldn’t be enough to severe their structural integrity, but these things?

Defia frowned as she punched clean through the final behemoth. She’d misjudged how much it had been weakened by the human pulse carbines. Pulling her arm back through, she released the charge she’d built up and watched as the monster fell apart around her clenched fist. “Statement. Hostiles terminated. Addendum. I detect significant movement beyond the breach. Recommend immediate establishment of a defensive line and call for backup.”

Dustin watched as Defia tore apart - well, shocked apart - the last of their foes, then her words cut through his awe at her capabilities. “Defensive… right. Yril’k, right side with me. Defia, take the left with Sammie. We alternate who’s firing so that we can reload, I’ll go first. Ladies, keep us covered if anything gets close enough to be a threat.” He called out his orders, slotting a new magazine into his weapon and aiming it into the gap in the glass just in time to open fire on a shambling zombie that was approaching over the top of a small bump in the ground just beyond the base of the spire.

Toggling his communicator, he added “found the entrance, request repair and backup teams to my location” for the benefit of the locals, then grimaced as two more zombies cleared the rise. Squeezing his trigger once more, he glanced across at Sammie as the Fractals fell back down. “This might take a while.”