Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 406: Cerberus Training 4
"Okay," Linds took a breath while nodding and looking around at them. "I have a plan. We are going to wait and watch. Are there any coming from the back or just from the front?" She asked, looking around at them. When there was no answer after a moment she looked over at Jace.
Jace nodded and moved from his window to the back window. "There are none coming from the back area. They are just coming from the front of the building. There are no windows on the side of the building, so we only have those two views." Jace informed her calmly after taking a look.
"Then we do nothing unless they start trying to knock down the building." Linds declared as she moved to a position with a clear view of the front door.
After a few agonizingly boring minutes they could hear thumbs and the rest of them could see the plant creatures that Jace mentioned. Some of them scoffed while Henry gagged at the sight of the tongues drooling against the window.
But after a few minutes they began moving around the building and stopped pushing up against it. Then they were on the other side of the building going away from them. After a few minutes there was a ding followed by a message appearing in the middle of the brick house that all of them could see.
[Wave 1 Completed!]
[Time to Next Wave: 120 Seconds.]
Jace nodded as he expected at least one or two people to figure out the plant monsters. They were blind and were not actively chasing the asset they were protecting. But if they touch a person with a tongue they will swarm them and consume them. They will also swarm a location if one of them dies because they operate with a hive mind.
They are an actual species being used in the Echo System as training. Jace had encountered them during his time training in that system. It was one of the more extreme training situations that he encountered.
"Seems like we passed the first wave. But that took awhile." Jack joked as he relaxed a bit. "So what is next, Linds? Seems like it would be a good idea to keep you in charge."
"Okay..." Linds nodded and thought for a bit. "In that case. Let’s get Jace and Harry on the front windows. Harry and Parker, you two will be on the back windows. Do not fire until I give the order. If you need assistance, do not be shy about it."
"Understood." Jace was the only one to answer as he moved into position and got a lay of the forest so he could more easily spot approaching enemies.
"You really are not going to give us any hints or information?" Linds asked as she stood next to the door.
"Nope." Jace answered. "In fact, I am limiting myself to only using this weapon and nothing else as well. So when they get close I will not be of any help either." Jace explained with a chuckle. "Otherwise this would just be me showing off."
There were a few chuckles and then they began conversing for the next two minutes. Their nerves died down when the silent alarm pulled them out of their illusion of calm. Just as the signal for the next threat appeared.
Jace from his position and with his eyesight spotted the first enemies and sighed when he spotted them. It appears this group just had bad luck. "We have a swarm of Kitinol on route to us." Jace declared, glancing at the armored box. It was a one-in-a-thousand chance to get kitinol as an enemy, but it seemed it happened to them. Like he said, bad luck.
"What?" Linds asked in bewilderment while the others looked at him. She then seemed to disbelieve him as she looked out the window and saw the trees begin falling as a multi-legged kitinol made a line right for them. "Open fire, even if they do not know we are here then they will just go right through us." Linds ordered.
Jace immediately started firing, shattering the glass window in front of him. A laser hit one of the kitinol right through the eye and burnt through them. The creature moved another foot before falling over dead.
Gunshots and laser bolts rang out as even Linds joined in. Firing the shot gun and scattering some of the kitinol. But the kitinol were relentless as they trampled over their dead and some even pushed them, using them as shields. After only a few minutes they were backing up as they began banging against the walls and the door.
One was trying to fit its head through the window but Jace just killed it. He then heard a scream and saw Jack get pulled out through the window and then heard the distinctive crunch and tear as he was consumed by the kitinol and torn apart. His screams abruptly ended as he died. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
"Saint Mary... did you add in a feature to allow us to be eaten alive before dying?" Linds asked in annoyance as she took over Jack’s position and blew the head off a kitinol before kicking it back out the window.
"Oh yeah, you should be able to feel it as well." Jace answered as he turned to the door just as it was knocked down by a kitnol that rammed into it. He continued firing and backing up until he ran into the armored box and stayed by it.
Harry was the next to scream as his arm was torn off. But then a part of the roof collapsed on him and he died. Parker was after him and had the good fortune to die by being crushed rather than being eaten alive.
"Lucky bastards." Linds cursed as she joined him standing near the armored box. "Are all full body virtual reality simulations this realistic?"
"No, most do not have the pain sensors active for death. But that was to avoid people being traumatized. So I removed it." Jace informed her with a chuckle as he spotted something and chucked as a unique kitinol jumped forward and swiped with a bladed arm and cut Linds in half.
Jace kicked the armored box to a wall and began firing at the kitinol, switching between sides until he was tackled and being torn apart. But just to make a point he did not stop shooting until something tore out his throat.
It was painful, but he had done worse while torturing someone. At least he thought he did.
When he blinked his eyes again he was appearing back in the lobby. Or rather the large sandy area that he had set as their lobby. When he arrived he saw there were already a dozen people standing around.
He was not even standing for a moment before he was punched in the arm and looked over to see Linds frowning at him. "You could have warned me!"
"Would you have preferred to be eaten alive?" Jace asked as he nodded at a massive screen that showed some of the current ongoing simulations where people were moving onto the third or fourth wave. There were also some screens showing deaths of the already over simulation.
They looked and saw a current highlight as Jace kicked a box away and then went down while being actively eaten alive. Linds flinched and nodded her head. "You have a point."
But then Jace heard something interesting and stepped over to see Captain Tyler pull up the last scene and replay it. He did it a few times until Jace realized that he saw what Jace did and what the kitinol did. It was very discreet but when he kicked the armored box most of them redirected toward the box. Leaving only the drones that tore apart Jace to go after him.
Captain Tyler seemed to think before he looked around and saw Jace. "How long before the next run?"
"It depends, I have the system picking groups ahead of time. So if you do not jump right into another one then you are probably still missing one or two members." Jace answered as he walked over with amusement. "Good catch." Jace told him.
"Yeah well... since meeting Gorund I realized I had to keep my head on a swivel and pay attention to the details. After the Republic’s fall and looked over it everywhere to understand what I missed but everyone else seemed to know." Tyler explained with a sigh as he looked at the screens.
"Just be careful that it does not lead to paranoia." Jace pointed out.
Tyler scoffed. "Why do you think it would lead to paranoia?"
"Because I personally experienced it." Jace declared and then thought for a moment before continuing. "Paranoia I mean. Now then-" Jace stopped as a notification popped up in front of him and then he and several other people disappeared.
Next thing he knew he was in another simulation with his next group.
