Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Bloodshed

It didn't take long before everyone left in the research outpost realized this was no longer just a battle between the rebels and the loyalists. Many Venya Revolutionary Guards soldiers who just gunned down their loyalist comrades and seized control suddenly found themselves facing xenomorphs they had never seen or fought against before. 

These small hound-like creatures quickly proved their deadliness in the tight confines of the corridors and departments of the facility. For one thing, they were fast. A handful of them could be gunned down before they reached the rebel soldiers, but dozens of them at the same time? The moment the distance was gone, it was all over for the soldiers. The steel of their power armors didn't stand a chance in stopping the claws and teeth of the zerglings.

The security center was the first to be overwhelmed. As the most important location in the facility, it changed its owner twice in just minutes. The rebels first secured it with ease. However, their dominance didn't last long. 

30 zerglings poured into the center before the rebels there knew what was going on and started tearing open rebel soldiers. 4 zerglings were gunned down in the process and 13 more were killed when a desperate soldier used a high explosive grenade inside the room, but the remaining zerglings managed to clear out all the rebel soldiers there.  

At the same time, attacks were launched on the garage, the armory, and the shuttle bay. Zerglings made their way down the corridors, killing everyone they saw in the process with only a few exceptions. Most of these exceptions were loyalist soldiers that somehow survived the betrayal. Athena needed to make sure she wasn’t the only loyalist that met up with Corporal Kendrick. If that happened, she would have trouble explaining how once again she was the only survivor while everyone else failed to make it. If at least a handful of rebels and loyalists survived the xenomorphs, then Athena Dane would just be another lucky trooper. There would be nothing special about her. 

As the attacks were carried out throughout the base, Athena finally reached her first destination. The security center that has traded hands several times already. Walking past the bodies of loyalists, rebels, and zerglings alike, she entered the room and looked around before letting out a sigh as she examined the carnage. 

“What a mess.” 

The grenade that exploded in the room did a lot of damage to many of the computers and PEIs but some were still operational. She spent a few moments looking around. Theoretically, a lot of things could be done from here, but she didn't have the access or the knowledge to take advantage of this and issue commands to the various vital systems in this base. 

It didn't matter to her. She didn't need to do anything here to kill her enemies in the base. She was just here to take care of the surveillance information. Once again, as a mere private, Athena didn't have the access to make these changes in the computer system. Plus, any deletions might be recoverable in the future. However, what she did have was an army of xenomorphs and a basic understanding of how computer systems in this era worked. 

Technology has improved significantly over the last 700 years. In most developed worlds, commanders and officials had the option to upload information to the cloud or backup servers, rendering them difficult to destroy. However, in a remote facility like this one, information was still stored in physical servers and drives that were more or less improved versions of the ones back on Earth. 

Athena wasn’t too sure exactly what the hardware looked like, but she knew it had to be in the security center for safety and Imperial protocol reasons. Security centers were supposed to be the safest location in the entire facility. 

Under Athena’s command, the zerg destroyed everything in the security center that resembled parts of the computer system of the base. Zerglings dug their claws into everything electronic they could find. 2 queens were summoned and started ravaging the area with their acidic spines and claw strikes. 

After they were done, Athena took a few more HE grenades from the dead rebels, pulled off the pins, and tossed them into the remains of the security center. By the time she was done, there wasn't anything left intact in the proximity of the room. Athena was confident even the best computer engineers in the Imperium couldn’t salvage any useful information from a pile of scrap metal. 

Now that that issue was settled, Athena turned her attention to the human technologies within this facility. As impressive as the zerg units have been, she also looked forward to deploying the biological and mechanical forces of the terrans. There were many things a terran army could do that a zerg army couldn’t.

For example, if she used the zerg forces, then she needed to terminate all the witnesses or convince them she had nothing to do with the xenomorphs. If she deployed terran forces, there would still be questions and confusion and she might still have to terminate some loose ends, but having an army of human infantry and tanks would draw much less attention than being able to control an army of alien monsters. Human armies could be somewhat explained. They could be hired mercenaries or some corporation's private army or even privates and extremely well-armed bandits. Zerg? Not so much. 

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After killing the four rebels in the hallway, Corporal Kendrick tried to get back to Doctor Payton’s lab. There was a squad of 12 ISC soldiers stationed in this research outpost. Half of them, including Corporal Kendrick, were on break when the uprising occurred. Corporal Kendrick could only contact one other ISC soldier who was on break at the time. The rest were likely all lost. They were good soldiers, but that didn't mean they could survive being surprised by armed assailants. ISC soldiers were also the primary targets of the rebels. 

The lone survivor of these off-duty ISC soldiers managed to find three other loyalist survivors. Last the corporal heard, they were trying to make their way to the lab and reinforce the loyalists there. 

Thankfully, before the corporal was ambushed, he had the time to warn the six soldiers on duty in the lab. When the rebels attempted to seize the lab, the six Wolves wiped out the initial group of rebels before barricading the steel gate leading to the lab. 

The access of Corporal Kendrick was higher than that of Captain Hanson, and he gave his men his personal access code that allowed them to seal the door. By the time rebel reinforcements arrived, they were locked out of the lab. Despite their superior numbers and firepower, they couldn’t breach the reinforced gate. Coincidentally, the lab, like the homes and offices of many important people within the Venya Imperium, was designed to act as a safe house in the case of betrayals just like this one. 

After he was informed the lab was safe for the moment and a large group of rebels was gathered outside, Corporal Kendrick changed his plans of heading back to the lab. Alone and without most of his equipment, he couldn’t do much against at least a platoon of rebels. He wasn’t afraid of dying. He was afraid of dying meaninglessly. He had already failed the Imperium and the Leviathan so many times today. Even if he was to die, he had to correct his mistakes first.

Instead of the lab, the corporal started heading for the shuttle bay. The idea was that given all the locations the rebels had to hold, the shuttle bay likely had a limited number of enemies. If he could get a shuttle into the air and destroy the rest, well…that would give the loyalists a significant advantage over the rebels. 

There was just a problem…at one point, the corporal started encountering these strange xenomorphs in the hallway. They were tiny wolf-like beasts no more than one meter tall, but they had the speed and ferocity of a truly dangerous predator. 

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As his Executioner-class assault pistol blasted a hole through the skull of a zergling, Corporal Kendrick really didn't know what to say. It was as if he hadn't failed his duty enough! Not only was half the local garrison composed of traitors, but this facility was also infiltrated by some type of xenomorphs? And not just one or two! Dozens at least!

He had so many questions. Where did they come from? How did they get in here? There were measures they took when constructing the facility to prepare for external breaches like this. Automated turrets. Barbed wires. Land mines. Sensors. Even given the internal firefight, how did these xenomorphs get into the base undetected?

Given how many traitors were mauled to death by these xenomorphs, the two obviously weren’t on the same team, at least not anymore. On the other hand, if these were two completely independent incidents, wasn’t the timing a little peculiar? Why did the xenomorphs attack now, at the worst moment possible for the Imperials?

He managed to kill every single one of the xenomorphs he came across, but the presence of this new enemy truly concerned him. They were another uncontrollable factor in the already chaotic situation.

Kicking the body of another zergling to the side, Corporal Kendrick finally reached the gate leading to the shuttle bay. He swiped his keycard on the scanner. As the blast door slid open, the corporal cautiously advanced into the shuttle bay with his assault pistol raised, ready to take cover from enemy fire.

There were enemies in the shuttle bay, just not rebel soldiers. Not living ones, anyway.

There were at least 20 xenomorphs inside the shuttle bay, all of whom were feasting on the remains of Imperial soldiers. Some of the bodies on the ground were loyalists assassinated by their traitor comrades. Others were rebel troops in power armor who were tasked with controlling the shuttle bay and securing the rebels’ escape from this world. Now, regardless of their missions and allegiances, these men and women were no different from each other. Just food for the xenomorphs. 

The ISC corporal could feel sweat slide down his forehead. He had seen the claws, teeth, and carapace of the xenomorphs he killed on the way here. These xenomorphs, despite their small size, were perhaps one of the most deadly alien species he had encountered in his decades of military service. One or two he could handle. Twenty all at the same time? All it would take was one of them to get into melee range for everything to be over. 

At the same time as he saw the zerglings, the zerglings noticed the corporal as well. In fact, zerglings had much more evolved senses than any human being. However, instead of swarming Corporal Kendrick as they would with most other enemies, the zerglings quickly turned their attention back to the remains on the ground. Athena couldn’t let the corporal die here. 

These xenomorphs seemed to be more interested in finishing their kills before going after new prey. Corporal Kendrick couldn’t help but take a breath of relief as he slowly backed into the hallway and shut the door to the shuttle bay. 

Trying to take the shuttle bay by force all alone would lead to a meaningful death. The weapons he had at his disposal were limited. The trusted Executioner assault pistol. A few high explosive grenades he got from the rebels he killed. A combat knife. Nothing more. It would be tactically unwise for him to trade his life with these xenomorphs here. 

As he retreated, the corporal tapped his earpiece.

“Sato. Report! What is the situation at the lab?”

“Yes sir.” Private Sato was leader of the half of the ISC troops guarding Doctor Payton and her lab when the betrayal occurred. He and his men have barricaded themselves in the lab. They were aware of the betrayal but clueless about the presence of the mysterious xenomorphs. “Our access to the cameras across the base has been revoked. The rebels must have gotten to the security center. For safety purposes, we have destroyed the cameras inside the lab.”

“And the rebels outside the lab?”

“They have been trying to breach the door and the walls with demolishing charges. The walls are holding for now, but they can’t last long. Once they breach the lab gate, we may not be able to repel them.”

Corporal Kendrick quickly went through the numbers in his head. There were approximately 250 troops left in the company before the rebellion. Assuming half of these troops were rebels and they assassinated the loyalists with little to no casualties, then there should be no more than 100 to 120 rebels left. The rebels dispatched to the shuttle bay were butchered by the xenomorphs. A similar fate likely befell the rebels scattered through the base and stationed in the garage and the security center.

Even if the remaining rebels breached the lab, the six Wolves there should be able to hold them back briefly and do plenty of damage. After that, the survivors, even if they captured Doctor Payton, still had to make their way to the shuttle bay to escape, meaning they had to fight their way through god knows how many xenomorphs.

If he could stay close to the shuttle bay and intercept the few rebels who survived the trip, he would be able to either rescue Doctor Payton or terminate her so she wouldn’t fall into the hands of the Imperium’s enemies.

In the meantime, perhaps he could try to find any loyalist survivors that could still be in the base. He remembered there was one Wolf and three loyalists who he briefly contacted and directed to the lab. If they were still alive, then they could join forces with him and increase his chances of intercepting Doctor Payton. 

“Hold your ground, Sato. Defend the lab at all costs. The doctor must not be lost.” The corporal ordered before switching to the channel of the ISC private. “Private Kim? Are you there? Report your location immediately.”

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