(how is the station not losing atmosphere?)

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<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Michele's hand rested on the pistol beneath her coat while she crouched down beside her desk, in hope of being close to her secret stash of amo, and to hide. She was a scientist, not a warrior. She gripped the small gun harder as she heard whatever was ontop of them board the station. There was screaming, shouting, shooting, running, everything. And, there was a huge, crude, sharp-tooth and clawed creature standing at the lab's door.

This couldn't be good.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

Aaaargh! so sorry, my dad picked me up earlier than i expected and i didnt have time to say i was away for a bit! really sorry!

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~Thank you to Estë Undómë for the Beeeautiful Banners & Avvie <3 ~

Holly sprinted from her office, the most powerful handgun she'd been able to get her hands on pulsing in her grip. Rounding a corner, she let out a quickly stifled yell at the sight of a monstrous creature, pointed appendages seemingly protruding from every available surface, crawling insect-like from some sort of tube that had pierced that station's wall. Holly let out a blast from her handgun in the creature's general direction and did not wait to assess the damage it did.

"Carson, Michele, Alanna - what's your situation?" she queried into her radio, bursting into the cavernous docking chamber to look on the jellyfish-like tubes penetrating the walls with horror.

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Winter bristled a bit at the Sergeant's tone, but it soon vaporated in his customary, naive happiness.

"I've never seen any picture of a Grey ship before, Sarge, and I haven't ever heard of any aliens besides Greys, so when I see an alien ship docking on our station, what am I supposed to think?" he asked, a goofy smile plastering his face.

Then the Alien ship's docking arms seemed to explode with little tubes. Winter gaped. A missile streaked toward them. The sergeant dodged--the missile followed. Winter gulped, feeling his heartbeat skyrocket as he watched the missile catching up to them. Knowing his eyes were wild and frightened-looking, he did what he could to look calm, since he did remember that a panicked officer got his men panicky, too. Then the missile hit. It grabbed on, really, leaking some sort of fluid onto the structure of the Puma. Winter gulped again, practically slamming his oxygen mask across his mouth. It was pretty obvious they were going to need to get out, at the rate at which the fluid was burning through the vehicle. He powered up his weapon.

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Michele desparetly tried to cover up her radio as Holly's voice came through. But, unfortunately the creature heard it. Pointing her pistol from around her desk, Michele fired for the monster's head. With a loud cry, it fell to the ground. No doubt theres more where that came from. she supposed. Grabbing two packs of amo and stuffing them into her coat, Michele ran while talking into her intercom.

"Well, I was hiding. Now I'm just running for my dear life. Besides that, I'm great." Her voice was heavy with sarcasm, however paniced she was.
As she turned the corner, something on one of the monsters caught her attention. A small headpiece made of nateral looking material. That must be how they know where everything is... They hacked into our computers! Snatching up her radio, she contacted Holly and Carson.

"Holly, Carson, I just had an idea. Holly, I know you can hack, right? Do you think you can make a humble gumble of the digital layouts?" She asked, not stopping to explain her plan.

((I hope thats ok.. If its not, or it seems really stupid just ignore this post.))

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

Thanfield appeared collected as he slammed his oxygen mask on and loaded his plasma handgun. In truth, though, he was brimming with anticipation and no modicum of fear. He respected Corporal Winter but didn't think much of his congenial smile - life was not a game. Instinctively he glanced at Cortez for instructions.

And then the Puma jolted again as the jellylike missile repositioned itself, and he was thrown against the frame as the entire vehicle flipped sideways. Recovering, he saw with horror that the live missile's tentacles had latched onto the Puma's doors, prohibiting all means of egress.

He checked the oxygen gauge on his mask. They had exactly twenty-one minutes to exit the vehicle, make a beeline towards the station, and cut through the Bhokri now swarming outside the formerly secure haven like ants on a sweet.

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Carson had been heading down a hallway when a spike had punched through the wall, narrowly missing the man's head. Before Carson had time to react, several aliens were climbing into the hallway, directly in front of him.
Carson grabbed his pistol and started firing. These aliens definitly weren't friendly. He hit one of the beasts in it's midsection. It halted for a moment, then kept coming. Carson cursed under his breath and took off down the hall, back the way he had come. Several aliens followed.
"Carson, Michele, Alanna-what's your situation?" Holly's voice came over the intercom in Carson's ear.
"I'm running for dear life." he heard Michele's answer.
"Same story here." Carson said quickly.
As he rounded a corner, an alien wrapped it's claws around Carson's leg. He fell, twisting over. As the alien bent over him, raising it's hand, Carson fired point-blank into it's head. The alien let out a loud screeching noise, and it's hold on Carson's leg loosened.
"Holly, Carson, I just had an idea." Carson listened to Michele's voice as he scrambled up.
"It's all we've got now-might as well try." he said, running again.
The aliens were gaining on him-they were a lot faster than he was. Desperately, he ducked through a doorway, slammed and locked the door behind him. That wouldn't keep the aliens out long, he knew, but it was better than nothing. He looked around the room, trying to ignore the pounding and scratching noises from outside the room. He cursed again. The only door in the room led to a small closet. He was trapped.

"Your wish is my command," muttered Holly, whipping around a corner to crouch unseen by the aliens, and flipped open her wristwatch. It was slightly oversized and when opened revealed a miniature computer, complete with hologram keyboard and digital pointer. "Layouts destroyed beyond hope of recovery," she reported with an air of smug satisfaction.

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"Great." Carson said over the intercom, sounding more abrupt than he meant to. An alien claw punched through the metal of the door and started tearing a wider hole. Out of options, Carson dodged into the closet and shut the door behind him.

(btw can we define the relationship between the scientists and alanna? I wasn't thinking they'd know each other too well ... different departments, etc. maybe just socially, due to limited number of people on base)

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<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

((I was thinking they're technically on the same team, so even though Holly/Michele/Carson work together more, they interact frequently with Alanna))

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Winter shook his head. This wasn't going well. They needed to get out of the vehicle, and with it on its side and a strange creature latched onto the hood, it would be difficult. No going out the front or side, that was for sure.

"Sarge," he began, "we'll need to ge--" the rest of his statement was cut off as a heavy weight dropped down on him. Sergeant Cortez had unbuckled his seatbelt, the only thing keeping him suspended above Winter.

For the fourth time in as many minutes, Winter smacked his head on the frame of the Puma. Hard. Again. Why was it always him? He could help thinking that this just wasn't his day. As he struggled out from under Sarge, he stood up in the vehicle, which was now on its side. "Thanfield--the rear windshield, please," he said, his smile starting to fade. If events like this kept on happening every time he smiled, it probably was best to not smile.

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(I think with the way it's been going, it'd be easier if they weren't anything more than acquainted. More opportunities for drama, too. Teams on projects like this would be rather large and have specialized groups, anyway.)

Okay. Something was definitely wrong here. Odd noises outside, odd messages, odd responses from Ops ... The base CO's voice crackled over the station's intercom. "Initiating station lockdown. Emergency section bulkheads will be sealed, I repeat, will be sealed. Lockdown in ten."

Lockdown? That meant that the station's various parts would be sealed off from each other, a measure only taken when a section was losing atmosphere or quarantined. Usually the CSEA lab wasn't affected - it was one of the most central, secure locations on the station.

At least, Alanna had thought so. She slapped at her intercom panel again. "Ops, this is CSEA. What is going on?"

Silence and an open channel. Then plasma shots and an ominous rasping noise that sounded almost like chittering. More shots, screams.

Bad.

Bad, bad, bad. "Hey, techs, leave the portal. Let's seal this lab."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Morris quipped, but there was uncertainty in his eyes.

Alanna jerked open the stylus tray of her desk and wrapped her fingers around the handgun inside. Strapping the accompanying gear belt around her waist, she crossed - almost ran - to the main door of the lab, ready to put a priority lock on it. The techies went to take care of the other two exits.

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<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Another tell-tale crack was heard in rapid succession, followed by rather fluent cursing. Rubbing his sore skull, Thanfield glanced at Corporal Winter and immediately detected a kindred spirit.

Another jolt brought him back to earth - or moon, technically speaking. A faint whiff of something toxic drifted to his nostrils. But then again, engine-corroding acid was not exactly your ordinary perfume. Crouched for better balance, he eyed the rear windshield, leveled his plasma handgun, and fired off a burst. Not made to withstand high temperatures, the window glass melted, forming a hole about three feet in diameter. It'd be a tight fit.

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((I think that'd work for them to not know eachother very well. The scientist would be working on the technichal aspects of the Portal, and then maybe they could've been sending the info via computer to Alanna, so they wouldn't actually communicate face-to-face very often. ))

Carson leaned against the back wall of the closet, grateful for a moment to catch his breath. A sudden thought struck him. Piecing together what he had seen of the aliens and heard over the intercom, they probably were getting information directly from the base computers.
"Initiating station lockdown." A voice over the intercom interrupted his thoughts. If they were starting a lockdown, the situation wasn't getting any better in the rest of the base. Carson shook his head, then got on his own intercom.
"Holly-can you hack in and erase the database files? Everything you can." The files were also stored in computers on earth. It would take awhile, but the base could get them back. If the aliens got hold of the information, though...
Carson cut the thought off. "Especially about the Portal," he said, "get rid of all of that."