She had retreated as far as she possibly could, the shadows, dim and dank as they were filled with shadows, playing against the limited lighting available. The heavy footfalls got louder signalling her impending doom. She threw her head up, as if looking for a report from those few still loyal to her. She was immature, her molt had not completed, she was just over half the size over what was coming for her and she new it, she could sense it. The phermones in the air distinctly different from her own and the few that still followed her.<br/><br/>The need for sacrifice was urgent, and one of the few drones still loyal to her offered itself. Her claws dug in, drawing blood that hissed and crackled as it dropped onto the exposed grating that ran throughout the Hive. Much of it was covered in resin, but she had dug, tore up the ground to enact her one desperate attempt to live. The drone's body was ripped apart by two others, still loyal, but their time was so little now, the hissing and shrieking of short and violent bursts of combat echoed in the catacombs now. The grating creaked and her path was cleared. She quickly slinked into the hole created by the acid, burrowing until she reached a metal accessway. It was foreign to her, but she was free and could sense she was deeper into the planet's surface than before. The footfalls above were now directly over head and the shrieks of her final loyal warriors echoed in the metallic corridor she had somehow found deep in this new area, outside of the Hive she had known so briefly.<br/><br/>Her Majesty purged the Hive of those still loyal to the molted Queen, the usurper who had begun to molt in her absence. The Molted Queen had escaped, but the Hive was now hers alone, Majesty wouldn't waste her resources on pursuit. She had other plans for the 'Man in the White Coat'.<br/>-------------------------------------------<br/><br/>"Sir, I'm getting a weird reading...Some kind of breach in Access Tunnel Zulu 19-37. We haven't sent a team down there in weeks." Spriggan looked to the soldier making the report and breathed in heavily through flaring nostrils. "Send a containment team down into the Access Tunnel. 3 Combat Anroids should do the trick." Lizker immediately shot forward as if he was offended by the notion, "General, you are to do no such thing! The specimens in the Tunnel are not to be harmed!" Spriggan glared at Lizker for a moment and pointed to the screen, "See that mark there Lizker?" he posited the question rhetorically, putting a hand up to stop the man from speaking. "That's a breach of this facility, that means it's my call. Combat Androids, destroy whatever they find in the Tunnels, bring any specimen remains back to the lab for study. No live specimens inside this structure, even if it is just the sealed off Access Tunnels."<br/><br/>The comms opened up for a moment. "Sir, this is Kodiak Zeta, we've got something on the readout, looks like the USCM is sending out a patrol to cover the treeline, anything we need to do about it?" Spriggan shook his head and laughed under his breath "Negative Kodiak Zeta, let em sweat it out there, let em play soldier for a bit in the jungle for all I care, we've got real work to do. Report to me if you get any other readings out there." The affirmative answer came back quickly and Spriggan returned his attention to Lizker. "This facility has to remain sealed, I don't like the idea of destroying a specimen either, but we must in order to ensure that we can continue our mission here. Even with the minor containment issue in the Access Tunnel we're still on schedule for Operation Lightening."<br/>----------------------------------------<br/>Kraeber looked to the treeline, his duty was overwatch, but holy hell it was hot, and sticky out here. A bead of sweat dripped into his eyes and he wiped it away quickly with his gloved right hand. As he looked back down the sight he saw something, or thought he saw something. Like a halo-ing effect around a bright light, somehow the treeline was distorted. He blinked and whatever it was disappeared. "Hendricks, just a heads up, but its hot enough out here in midday that your optics might get a little washed out. Saw some kinda heat shimmer or something from up here."<br/><br/>Squawks and shrieks echoed from the jungle as birds suddenly poured out of the canopy as if fleeing something, or at least getting out of its way. It sure as hell caught Dieter's attention, but he could see nothing in his scope. "Head on a swivel down there. I'm not seeing anything, but something spooked the whole damn jungle down there."<br/>-------------------------------------------------------<br/>Rico, as part of the patrol you're at ground level when all of the wild life seems to get spooked. You can't see anything but you and the patrol you're with should be on high alert. Kraeber is overwatch in the tower and mentions the heat creating weird rippling through the optics. What's your reaction to the sudden uproar in the jungle. Your patrol is still only supposed to patrol the treeline, not go into the jungle proper.<br/><br/>Moore is still busy attempting to hack into the Kodiak communications network to dig up any information she can on the operations they're running.<br/><br/>(Feel free to post in any order. Eferhilda, just left yours a little more open ended as we're waiting for your post from the last cycle.)