Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Twenty-Six - Masks On

“In ANY combat scenario all units are OBLIGATED to wear their TYPE 70 MASKS.

A unit who fails to wear their full protective gear will have their PAY REDUCED.”

--Page 127, Red Warriors PMC Combat Manual, fourth edition

***

“We ready to go?” I asked the stooges.

The two of them had their new guns in hand and were standing near the barricade. It seemed as if they’d recruited some of the office drones to clear out some of the desks, leaving a slit-like passage that someone might be able to squeeze through with some effort.

“Yeah, nearly. Give the accountants three minutes,” Storm said. “That girl okay?”

“She’ll be fine. Might need some help moving about, but I think the others will be there for her. If we’re slow we should make it, no problem.”

Storm nodded. “Great, cool. Um, awesome.” He shifted and gestured out the door. “Do you want to go first?”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Okay?”

Did he want me to be the one that triggered any waiting xeno traps, or was he just nervous about being the first one out.

It didn’t matter either way. I moved over to the opening, pulled out my Trench Maker and leaned against the wall to see outside of the offices.

Other than the corpses of a few Antithesis there wasn’t anything worth fussing over. “It’s clear,” I said over my shoulder. “Start moving people out, but tell them to be quiet about it. They’re all adults, they should be able to keep their mouths shut, yeah?”

“Yes ma’am,” Storm said.

I slipped out and into the corridor. If I was going to wait I’d at least try to be productive with it. “Myalis, what kind is that?” I asked as I nudged the tentacle alien with the tip of a foot.

That is a Model Four. One of the more versatile Models of Antithesis. Even after an incursion has grown quite large, these will still be produced. They are generally ambush predators and occasionally front-line fighters when their foe is lightly armed and armoured. Their tentacles are quite strong, and some are sharpened at the end. Their more dangerous feature for humans is behind their neck though.

I stepped around the monster and looked behind its head. Not that it had much of a head to speak of, the upper part of its body swept up, kind of like a small, ugly giraffe, but without the head and super-long neck. I guessed that its eyes and mouth were under the pile of tentacles.

I wasn’t going to go poking my hand in there to check.

There were gills along the back of its torso and where its head sort of was. Little pinkish flaps that stood out against the black-green of its skin. “What’s with those?” I asked. “Does it breathe from there?”

Not quite. Those are connected to sacks in its chest. The Model Four produces a gas that has been described as smelling faintly like flowers. To humans this gas produced psychotic episodes, hysteria, and paranoia. Though the amount a human needs to ingest is quite large.

I backed the fuck away from the Model Four. “Are you serious?” I asked.

I wouldn’t lie about the adversary. Your vitals suggest that you only ingested a very small quantity, not enough to have a noticeable effect. It will wear off. The agent is far from perfect against humans.

I frowned as I put two and two together and came up with a number that wasn’t four. “What does it work well on, then?”

The ---

Wincing, I looked around and then shook my head. Myalis had made a noise, one that wasn’t in my ears, just like her voice, but it was high-pitched and painful, like glass rubbing across chalk. “The fuck?”

Forgive me, the original name of the species doesn’t translate well to any human speech. Unfortunately, the name they have for their own species is not descriptive, just as ‘human’ doesn’t truly describe a human. Other Vanguard have nicknamed them Screechers, or Twasks on account of the sound they make while swimming.

“Wait, some Samurai have seen other aliens?”

No, just recordings. The Twasks’ homeworld had a predatory animal similar to the Model Four. It is the basis for the Model. The Antithesis consumed the predatory species and re-engineered it for their own use. The Twask homeworld was cored by a Protector taskforce some three hundred years ago after evacuating the remainder of the species.

I swallowed. “So these models, are they all?”

Every model is based on a life form that the Antithesis have found interesting. But I can go over the history of the antagonist some other time.

I looked over to see that there were a few people gathering out of the offices already. “Yeah. Alright. Hey, that tiger-looking Model earlier, the one we gooped. What was that?”

An Earth-based modification of the Model Three. Currently called the Model Three B. It began to appear after the North-China Incursion of 2035.

“Shit,” was all I had to say on that subject. “Anything I can do to not get fucked up by alien gases?”

It was a good thing none of the kittens were around, they would have been giggling at my word choice right there.

You can purchase a disposable mask with your Class I Medical Utilities catalogue. One point for a box of five units. They are not exactly strong, but they will suffice to stop most biological agents.

I did a quick headcount of the people moving out of the offices. “Give me five boxes,” I said.

New Purchase: Disposable Mask, Box of Five, Five Units
Points reduced to... 190

Five shitty plastic boxes appeared by my feet. Now I just had to convince everyone to wear one.

“We should go over how to spend the rest of my points,” I said. “They’re not helpful just sitting there.”

Wonderful! I have so many ideas on how you could improve yourself with a few well-spent points.

I snorted. “When we get back to the parking lot. Who knows, we might accumulate a few more between here and there.”