Contamination

[Wesker]

Location: Planet Tangier Laboratory

---

After fighting their way through several infected soldiers, they knew the contamination was likely not just limited to deck 11, the entire facility could be at risk. Director Draay had been nagging Viking repeatedly for a status update and to restrain Engel. Viking hadn't updated him, he was too focused on fixing the shock absorbents. Along the way they had acquired another pilot by the name of Lena Reimann, a young ambitious woman, but soft. She and some of the Agents showed hesitation in killing several of the infected men and women they had once fought side by side with. It didn't matter to Viking however, he knew the consequences of failure would be far more dire than the reality of success.

Luckily for them the shock absorbents weren't heavily damage, as the group worked their way into the room where the controls were they could see that the absorbents were manually turned off. The date recorded that they were shut off before the outbreak happened which told Viking someone had intentions of sabotage. That someone likely being Dr. Engel, given his access codes were used to enter the room just a few minutes before the absorbents were shut off. Viking immediately contacted the two men escorting Engel out of the facility again.

RESTRAIN ENGEL DO NOT LET HIM LEAVE THE SURFACE UNTIL I ARRIVE PERSONALLY.

We have him restrained sir, we're up at the primary entrace desk.

Hold there until we arrive.

Viking switched channels and contacted Director Draay the other soldiers and Lena stood by as he spoke.

Director, we have Engel restrained, it's likely he's the one that caused this, he disabled the shock absorbents and likely crippled other parts of the facility before the outbreak. I'm heading up to interrogate him now, I'm ordering the rest of the forces back up to the higher levels. The lower decks are completely overrun. I'll contact you as soon as-

A strange growling noise could be heard in the distance, the lights went out. As they switched on night vision googles, they could see a horde of infected personnel moving towards them. Viking didn't hesitate, he shouted and gunfire rang out immediately.

HOLD, DON'T LET THEM GET ANY CLOSER, GO FOR THE HEAD, CONSERVE AMMUNITION!

The barrel of Viking's assault rifle began to overheat, he switched to his sidearm. After nearly 15 minutes of shooting they couldn't see anything else, it went quiet.

We need to get to deck 3, we have a traitor waiting for us, you'll either be staying here to fight this or be re-deployed elsewhere.

It was as if they were walking over a graveyard as they made their way to the elevator. The faces of what were good people and friends had quickly been stolen by the nomads, Engel had a lot to answer for. Viking opened a facility wide comm to the security forces.

All security forces move back to deck 3, this wasn't a coincidence it was sabotage, we have the traitor restrained. Re-group at deck-3.

---

---

[Shelco]

"Viking, this is as far as I can go, my oxygen is running low, I'll return to my ship and leave, I'll use the same way back, should be cleared from all possible infectees by now, Viel Glueck." Lena nodded in his direction and left to the other side where they had been coming from. Although she was pretty sure that the path had to be cleared by now, she kept her sights up, being ready to shoot any moment. Her walk was rather slow and quiet to spare any oxygen. She was unsure about if it was a good idea to leave the others alone, but she could not allow dying out there. The decks were cleared, there was still blood dripping on the walls where they had their shootouts. She passed the place where one of the soldiers got infected and pointed her flashlight at him, he didn't move, which was not surprising at all, given the many holes in his body made by Viking.

When Lena reached the very low of Tangier where her Odin was stationed, she let out a quiet "Finally..." and climbed into the cockpit to take off her mask and put her gun away. She launched the engines and started the ship up through the burning skies of Tangier and flew back to Dresden.

---

[Zayne Carrick]

Siegfried watched Markwards's message without blinking. When it finally ended, a low roar shook the command bridge of Yggdrasil, then, in a flash, Siegfried's fist crushed communication screen. Just a few drops of blood fell from the place of impact.

"What are you waiting for? I need a technician" - Siegfried's voice was colder than vacuum outside of carrier. He looked on his hand - "And a medic."

Is the situation really that bad? Vultures, rats, who usually wouldn't dare to look into my eye are now demanding the results. Perhaps a reminder is in order. But does it really matter? No, the Tangier is what really matters. And recent Viking's report wasn't that reassuring. Especially those five words: lower decks are completely overrun. Yeah, the situation is really bad.

Fortunately, reading all of Engel's works in 10 hours paid off. While Nomad possession grants its host some unnatural abilities, they're still vulnerable as humans. Only tougher.
What's even better - Yggdrasil was designed to act self-sufficiently in unknown space, so it's arsenal bolstered a greater array of weapons than any Jormungand-class battleship, including outdated chemical weaponry.

"I want Supernova warheads replaced with chemical gas ones on our best wing of bombers and fast"
"This could be done in an hour"
"Good. And get me Viking."

"Viking, you have 70 minutes to get a gas mask for every living human under your command. Destroy any excesses"


"Director, this is Leutnant Ludewig, our mission was a complete success, Corsair forces have destroyed the target!"
Finally some good news. And medic finally arrived... quite pretty one, maybe after the Tangier Crisis would be finally solved, he'll get a headache right in his personal quarters.

[Gagadug.]

The elevator suddenly came to a full stop.
The doors opened the sight to another bloodbath. The least they were not the only survivors, apparently this group of infectees was purged entirely. The ground stopped shaking as well, somehow Viking seemed to have brought the stabilizers back into life.
Just as Waidmann ordered the two unwounded men to look for surviving soldiers Vikings voice sounded through the speakers.

All security forces move back to deck 3, this wasn't a coincidence it was sabotage, we have the traitor restrained. Re-group at deck-3.

The men turned back to the elevator where Waidmann tried to patch the shot soldier up. The elevator doors shut and it began to move towards Deck 3.
When they reached the deck the wounded man tried to stand up, but his legs would not hold him. They could not carry him around, that would mean certain death if they were attacked.
They had to leave him where he was. He got a gun to defend himself and, if he was unable to, not make himself one of them.

The three remaining men moved into the corridor, extremely cautious and listening for other voices or a sign where Viking was to meet up with them.

[Wesker]

Location: Planet Tangier Laboratory

---

Gas masks weren't an issue for security, every SOA agent and security operative in the Tangier labs wore one 24/7. However, the surviving scientists and non-security personnel were an issue. There were only 20-30 survivors, and the Armory was on deck 5. There was no way, with the amount of infected soldiers below deck 4, they couldn't chance the lives of more security personnel. We're evacuating, we can't lock down the facility with the amount of hostiles, Director Draay is going to gas the facility. Get the non-security members, and head to the mining facility over the western ridge. The soldiers nodded and started to round up the scientists and engineers. A gas leak might kill a large portion of the infected population, but the infected security guards wearing masks themselves would be another issue.

About 20 minutes since he gave the order, all of the non-security personnel where in vehicles on their way to a nearby mining facility. Viking rounded up what arms and ammunition he could, and made his way over to Dr. Engel with two other agents. Engel was lying on the ground, his nose was bent sideways and there was blood running down from his nose over his mouth and chin. He had one black eye, and was sweating so much the light reflected off of his forehead. Get up, NOW. Viking grabbed his shoulder and yanked him off the ground. He pressed the barrel of his gun against Dr.Engel's back.Luckily for you, the Director want's you alive, that being said, I won't stop you from leaving. Move, or you'll be left for the infected. Dr.Engel remained silent, but started walking forward along with the two guards in front of him. As they approached the elevator Viking heard a violent roar behind him. His head snapped to the side. DOUBLE TIME NOW! As they entered the elevator Viking turned back to see a horde of infested soldiers and strange looking alien objects moving towards them. He slammed his fist against the "up" button and the doors slowly started closing, his ears rang as he and the other soldiers let off a barrage of rounds down at the infected. As the elevator doors closed the group felt themselves being pulled up to the surface. The doors opened and the heat from the erupting volcanoes invaded the room. Get on one of the vehicles, let's go. As the group got inside one of the vehicles Viking opened up a comms link to Draay. Director, we can't provide masks to all the personnel, we've evacuated the facility. You're clear to make the bombing run. Viking looked up and saw the massive war machine over the clouds with each strike of lightning giving away its position.

---

---

[Gagadug.]

Waidmanns group did not reach the second corridor before the sound of gunfire slit through the silence. Exactly 5 shots, the last one a bit delayed.
They moved on faster, looking for a sign of Viking more and more desperate when finally the comm channel awoke again.
The message was to evacuate the area or get a gasmask. The latter was standart equipment for them, but this wouldn't save them for long if the entire facility was vacated and they had no way out or replacements for the filters.
The way back to the elevators was too risky, who knew if the man they left there was able to kill the infectees or just ended his misery when he saw he couldn't overcome them.
The only other regular way out was the elevator platform on the other end of the facility but it was a long way to there and they were neither many nor did they have time.

There were tunnels providing fresh air from the surface to the lower levels though.

Once the group found one of the big fans covering the entrances they levered it out and went into the dark tunnel, their helmet lamps beeing the only source of light.
The emergency stairs in the tunnel were narrow, and steep, but it was only three decks to the surface.
Once they reached the end of the tunnel they were in for a bad surprise though. The end was sealed with a massive construction to pump air in the facility when the temperature outside was high enough to not require energy intensive warming up.
They had no choice but to get back into the facility. The least they were on the deck directly below the surface now. Just three corridors to get to the elevator, hopefully on this deck it would be safe.

They reached the surface without any more problems but what awaited them there was far from what they hoped to find. No vehicle was left, no guns in the armoury to restock their arsenal.
All they saw were some corpses scattered over the plane.
But if the area was evacuated hastly certainly no one took care of the guard post halfway up the mountain. There they would be safe for the time of the bombardment and a locker with some rifles was part of the inventory as well.
They hasted over the open field between the first bigger rocks and the facility, hoping to make it up there unseen. When they reached the rocks they felt more secure, it was unlikely that any infectee would approach them unnoticed here, only a few ways were leading through field, any other way would take even an infected human a long time to climb.
When they reached the station, basically a cave carved into the rock with a steel front to make it basically a fortress they saw that the door was not closed.

In their euphoria to have gotten there they did not spend a second thought and guessed the hastly call to the facility made a guard forget the security protocols.
They entered the first room and got to the locker wich was still closed and took all the mags they could put in their pockets. After they locked down the doors to the outside they laid down their gas masks. One of them went to look for rations in the storage room, ideally they would be able to survive in this bunker up to two weeks with this little people.
A few moments after the man went into the storage room a loud cracking sounded through the room. Instantly Waidmann and the other man took up their arms and went to the room, assuming the worst.
When they kicked the door open, their guns ready, they expected everything but not what they saw.
They saw nothing but Erick, the one who searched for rations and pieces of a small ladder that broke under the combined weight of the man and his armor.
The man next to Waidmann, Olaf, began to laugh and helped Erick stand up, after wich they took the remains of the ladder out along a beacon for a distress signal.
They would place it near the bunker once the bombardment was over to let their comrades know where they were.

[Zayne Carrick]

While it would've been better if Viking stayed inside, his consern for people is admirable.

Secure the civilian personnel, then return back to base as soon as possible for final sweep. I'll send you two hundreds marines to finish the job.

This is Gold Leader, ETA to facility is 5 minutes.

Perfect! Perfect! Now, this is a moment of my triumph. While the victory won't be complete because some infectees would have masks on them(I should've guessed that by looking on Viking), that victory is mine and mine alone. Noone would dare to say that Siegfried failed. Noone would dare to demand results from me again. And noone would underestimate my position as second man in the whole Red Hessian Army!

Retranslate video feed from bomber guncams to primary screen on Yggdrasil's bridge

Siegfried rose from his chair with triumphant smile.

Today, brothers and sisters marks a new beginning of Spezialoperationsabteilung! Today we will purge mistakes of previous incompetent leadership and will confirm our place as the best among all Red Hessian Army divisions! We are the scalpel which will remove cancer of incompetence from Red Hessian Army!

ETA 3 minutes

We are the acid, which will corrode the already weak foundation of Bundesrepublic! We are the chains, which will bind our allies to Army forever! We are the shield, which will protect people from aliens!

ETA 1 minute

WE ARE SPEZIALOPERATIONSABTEILUNG!!!

Torpedoes hit their target almost simultaneously


And then whole bridge rose and chanted DRAAY! DRAAY! DRAAY!

Excellent, thought still-smiling Siegfried, their loyalties began to shift towards me...