Starbound: A Space Odyssey - 18 The Erchius Mining Facility Incident 6
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18 The Erchius Mining Facility Incident 6

After temporary blindness, John opened his eyes. He was in a room that was completely colored black and there was a blinking red light at the top of the room. He was able to hear the warning siren echoing through the entire facility.

John looked at his side and saw Lenny sprawled in the ground.

"Are you okay?" John's eyebrows lifted when he saw Lenny laid with his face on the ground barely moving.

"I'm fine, it's just... I really hate teleporters..." He tried to get up, but he fell on the ground again.

John sighed and helped him up.

Lenny thanked him and they soon moved out of the teleporter room.

When they reached the hallway they saw that there was barely any type of light source beside the blinking red light, and the sounds they were able to hear were only of the siren and some strange roaring coming from the distance.

John looked at his PIPS, "S.A.I.L can you communicate with anyone in this base?"

"No." S.A.I.L's emotionless voice ringed from the PIPS, "There is no radio signal coming and going through this entire facility. But I'm receiving reports of highly concentrated energy coming from the center of the moon."

"There are life signals?" John worriedly asked.

"Searching... Yes, there is... But it isn't human or from any of the other 6 major races..."

"What do you think," John asked Lenny since he had better senses than him.

Lenny closed his eyes and concentrated in his other senses, smell, hearing, and tact, "There is something wrong here... I can feel... Death... All around the facility..."

"What does feeling 'death' means"

"A lot of lives were lost here." Lenny looked at the dark corridor in both of their rights and left, "The feeling is stronger in the right... I think we should go to the left first to see what's going on."

"Let's go then." John took the Hyperion pistol and a flashlight from his Inventory.

Lenny retrieved the Hyperion sniper and followed John as he walked toward the left corridor.

John stopped and looked at Lenny, "Can't you turn your shining, bright yellow light a bit lower." Lenny's entire body was glowing with a light even stronger than John's flashlight. He was just like a walking beacon screaming "I'M HERE, SHOOT ME" or "I'M HERE, DEVOUR ME". Either way, it was bad for them, since they don't know what is happening and they need to keep stealthy.

"Impossible, that's how my body and the body of any other Novakid is." Lenny said in annoyance.

"Well... Then-" John suddenly stopped speaking and started to look around, "Have you felt it?" John whispered.

"Yes..." Lenny readied his gun aiming all around them, "Someone or something is watching us."

John spotted a security camera just above them. He took the small debris that was on the ground and threw it on the device.

*Bam*

The camera broke instantly, and the feeling of being watched, as well.

"Someone was on the security office." John commented.

"Let's find out where it is..." Lenny said.

...

At the same time, in Ark Outpost...

"He is where!?" Tepei asked the guard again.

The guard trembled in fear, but still said again, "From the coordinates we got in the 2-Stop Teleshop, he went to the Lunar Base 12..."

Tepei sat in chair, frowning and tapping his finger in the desk repeatedly, "We have to deal with him now..." Tepei muttered in low voice, "Send a message to the Agent that is there, Agent... Agent..."

"Agent 067..."

"Yes, Agent 067. Send a message that he must make sure that John and that... Lenny doesn't leave that place alive."

"Tepei." Itsuki entered the room, "I don't think it's appropriate for you to send orders while the higher-ups still haven't given their position in this case."

"Hmph" Tepei snorted, "They are being overly cautious. Even when the Terrene Protectorate was still active the Letheia Corporation was able to do unethical actions and decisions of dubious moral. We were always the biggest investor of the Terrene Protectorate, bringing peace to the whole universe isn't cheap, so they needed to tolerate some of our actions. Now that they are gone there's no one who can get in the way of the Letheia. I'm doing this to give them a push and let them see the reality that there no more binds in us, we can do whatever we want now."

"But still... We shouldn't drop all the pretenses and started to do this kind of actions. In just a few days the people would think that we are becoming more and more like the Syndicate" Itsuki worriedly said.

"Itsuki... You are still too kind. I don't know how they have let someone like you to enter the Extremist factions." Tepei shook his head in disappointment, "Send the message..." He said to the guard.

The guard saluted and left the office. Itsuki fallowed along and left the building with her head lowered.

Once she was outside, her innocent face disappeared and was replaced with a more serious one. He reached for her PIPS and called a number, "h.e.l.lo it's me."

"..."

"The Extremist's are starting to take more aggressive actions even in an important place such as the Ark Outpost. I suggest we root Tepei out and place a member of our faction here." Itsuki seriously said.

"..."

"Okay, I understand... I will watch how the Protector deal with this situation. I will be sending you some proofs of corruption from Tepei's part. When the time comes we must not let a single hole in the plan."

"..."

"Understood. Have a nice day, sir." She disconnected from the call. She took another glance at the office and left while sweetly smiling.