Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

this some ability affecting his crew, or some engineered creatures attacking them? No, those were all his own men and women in the barracks. Something had changed them. They entered the lift, unsure of what to expect next.

Methiochos stormed out as soon as the doors opened, determined to salvage this mission. He had worked too damned hard to lose it all now. At least on the bridge, he could manage the whole ship’s systems, and figure out who this kid belonged to in the process. Mission guidelines were strict, and he had not selected anyone who had extended family ties, knowing that they would not be able to leave the island once they were situated and the shield was in place. Who had broken protocol, bringing a child on board?

The bridge crew was managing the final approach, with the first mate standing near a small girl, clutching a small doll close to her face. She looked timid and scared, the way she folded in on herself, holding the doll for dear life.

As he approached, the timid girl turned to face him and recognition flashed in her eyes. She suddenly seemed less timid as she straightened and faced the imposing general.

“Who are you, little girl, and what are you doing on my ship?” Methiochos demanded.

“You’ve been bad,” she said defiantly, “so my friend Basil said you needed to be punished.”

“Basil? What does he have to do with anything?”

“He knows what you were doing so he made a surprise for you. Do you want to know the secret? I told the lady at the hospital and she told everyone there.”

Methiochos grabbed the little girl by the arms, lifting her roughly off the ground, giving her a little shake. “Tell me what you have done!” In response, she moved her doll as if it was giving him a kiss on one of the arms securing her. Methiochos felt a pinprick and dropped the girl in surprise. She dropped the doll and he could see a tiny needle poking out of its mouth, dripping a purple-black liquid from the tip. The girl grabbed the doll and scrambled under one of the consoles.

“Basil made them and put them in Margaret! He said that they would teach you all a lesson for lying to his daddy!” One of the soldiers attempted to pry the little girl out from under the console and received a poke to the leg from the doll; he cursed savagely at her.

Methiochos started to feel lightheaded. He didn’t know what the needle contained, but it felt like some kind of heavy tranquilizer. The captain, still focusing on maneuvering the large transport asked, “Final approach, should I land?” Methiochos nodded numbly.

For a couple seconds, the stupor waned, and he could see the bridge erupting in chaos. The girl was running around the room with unnatural speed, swinging the doll and hitting anyone she could, crawling in and out of spaces that should not be able to fit a human body. One of the soldiers managed to hit her with a swift punch to the side of the head and the girl crumpled to the floor. His soldiers all had augmented strength, so no doubt the girl had suffered massive brain trauma or had her spine snapped.

Some of the men began shaking uncontrollably. Someone must have had poor trigger discipline because his gun went off, shooting the pilot as the ship was descending.

Pulling the man out of the chair, Methiochos grabbed the controls and attempted to stabilize the large craft. It was much more unwieldy than the small combat transports he had flown in the military, but the controls were the same. He could see the manor, but steered clear. Who knew how many other stowaways were on board? Site B then. He could hit the containment field and sort things out. After they were clear, he activated the bio-stasis field remotely. That should keep Manticorps out. Nice try, Archon. The blue green bubble arced past the ship enveloping it and the island.

The grogginess began to kick in again, and Methiochos saw his self-healing skill draining his psi-energy almost completely. It had staved off whatever was trying to infect him, but he knew this landing was not going to be pretty. Site B was built under a large lava-flow. He hoped it would be strong enough to hold the transport. He could barely focus, and the ship crashed into the rock that formed the roof of Site B, slightly on its side. The ship slid on the incline and flipped over, the dome of the ship’s bridge puncturing into the structure below, securing it from sliding. The crushed supports securing the dome of the ship were shorn away and fell into the large room below, spilling glass and debris everywhere. Methiochos felt stabs of pain everywhere, and had to grab onto the seat as the cavern gaped below. The cutting sensation, trying to pull him away from the memory grew more intense. He was almost done, he just needed to…

Something grabbed him in a bear hug and pulled him away from the chair, twisting backward as if trying to perform a wrestling move. The attacker slipped as it lost its foothold and they both fell out of the ship onto the unforgiving ground. Unfortunately for the attacker, he was the first to hit and braced Methiochos’ fall. Still, he had hit awkwardly and his left ankle bent at an unnatural angle. Coughing as he rolled away from the now-inert attacker, he saw one of his soldiers, muscles swollen and continuing to writhe like there were angry worms crawling under his skin.

More bodies began to fall and jump to the chamber below. Methiochos crawled to the control panel on the far side of the cavern. Pressing his bloody hand on the panel, he brought up the site defenses on the console and turned on the perimeter containment fields. Now, whatever or whoever was on the ship was trapped in here with him, for better or