The cybernetically enhanced demon now stood outside the gore nest, its roars were ear-splitting. The demon stood eight-feet tall, a pair of long curving horns grew from the sides of its skull, its muscular body still held scars from its many past battles. The cybernetic implants showed signs of having been recently integrated, swelling and streams of blood trimmed the modules. A row of reinforced tube and wire replaced a layer of flesh beneath its rib-cage.
The Cyberdemon raises its weaponized arm, the weapon's assembly cycled its configuration and a row of rockets slides into place as it was squared onto the awestruck Marine. He could recognize the prototype weapon, he had test-fired one on the surface of Phobos. He could no longer remember its designation, but clearly remembered how dangerous it is.
The Marine dashes from before the gore nest as a row of rockets explodes along the base of the growth, the blasts blow holes into the nest that oozed with gobs of slime. He bounds along a branch of growth, unloading plasma from a comfortable distance, another fast volley of rockets impacts the growth, the explosions crater the artery and throws chunks of flesh into the crimson sky. Firing back, the Marine partly chars its unmodified arm, enraging the Cyberdemon even more.
The titan advances swiftly, swiping away streams of plasma with its weapon, it approaches and claws the marine who evades by jumping down between the branches of growth, the foul breath of the large demon briefly fogs his visor. The demon shifts its stance to point his weapon's barrel down on the marine and fires, the Marine's stream of plasma intercepts a rocket from below, setting off a chain reaction of exploding mid-air projectiles. The Cyberdemon roars in fury as explosions tear its flesh and rip away shards of armor. The Marine quickly bounds onto a branch of growth and levels his plasma rifle on the demon. It bears its fangs as its furious eyes burned into the marine's mind.
Plasma smacks the Cyberdemon as it defiantly screamed, it again swiped away at the stream to little effect this time and then stomped closer, bringing down its fist on the Marine, narrowly missing and sending out a ripple of momentum through the branch of growth. After another splash of plasma chars its flesh and modules, the demon roars a last chord before slapping a cybernetic module in its chest, opening a portal back to Deimos that closes again in an instant, causing a loud pang that echos as it disappeared with the Cyberdemon. The Marine leaves the gore nest behind and the orb of light guided him through the rocky terrain to the Castle of Krata.
"Satan is amongst us, brothers and sisters. For it is by the hand of corporate corruption and greed that has come to reveal him. The UAC has come to bear the mark of wickedness. Repent my brothers and sisters, for the days of Hell's reckoning approaches" proclaims a street preacher holding a demonic UAC advertisement poster in his hand.
Other people stood nearby, some wearing alien costumes or playing with toy UFO drones, they were holding signs that read "tell us more about the aliens" and "I want to believe"
Close by a bustling crowd attends a news conference taking place outside in the courtyard of a UAC facility in Leipzig, Germany. Behind the crowd, a stage stood above their heads holding recording and transmitting equipment. A group of Paranormal Division devotees stood on the stage, one spoke to the woman taking questions from the press over an earpiece receiver. Another devotee scans the crowd with a pair of high-tech binoculars.
"Carla, don't take any questions from Press Eleven and Media Fox, just keep talking to Sky Voice News and Aerospace Today" the devotee instructs.
Among the crowd was a group of demonically possessed UAC employees from the corrupted Oslo building. They easily recognize the paranormal division devotees. They watched them carefully, trying not to attract their notice. The devotees to the paranormal division have been deemed most desired as hosts for demonic spirits. Elsewhere, Diane Stone stands among the reporters, she had recently arrived after having her escape pod rescued by a space marine corps vessel.
The woman at the podium was Carla Anders, she was had a rigid posture and a serious expression with short black hair, wearing a slim-fitting business suit.
"Yesterday morning, we finished receiving data from Phobos and have uncovered audio-visual confirmation of the existence of extra-terrestrial creatures, obtained through surveillance records, Carla announces, but until a better understanding of these specimens can be reached, the images will remain classified from the public. As for the disappearance of Deimos colony, we are still investigating the cause of the disappearance and the fate of the moon."
Carla points to a reporter and takes their question.
"Can you confirm reports that your company is developing another teleporter, in spite of the clearly present danger they've demonstrated to have in the last weeks?" the reporter asks.
"I am not aware of any other active teleportation projects other than the one here in Germany, but if there is, it would have to have a classified disclosure status" Carla replies, then pointing to another journalist.
"Many concerned parties want answers about these strange advertisements, they're undermining UAC's image and legacy. This symbology is baffling and it's attracting a lot of unwanted attention to all areas of aerospace interests. What exactly is Union Aerospace promoting and what do these symbols mean?" they ask.
Carla's facade gave no reaction to the weight of the query, she answered calmly,
"The ad campaign has been launched without unanimous union approval by unknown UAC personnel. Tracking the culpable parties is proving to be difficult. The UAC stands as committed as ever to our clients, investors, scientific partners and our commitment to delivering excellence in aerospace technologies" she replies, then swiftly takes another question.
"From where did these aliens originate?" Carla is asked.
"We have yet to determine their origins on any definitive grounds, but there are indications that their origins are from an instance of extra-dimensional existence parallel to our own." she explains, then taking the next question.
"Some recently laid-off UAC employees have reported that there were a few successful tests of the portal and that the resulting data collected opened at least one new avenue of scientific inquiry, specifically genetics. Are these reports true and is Union Aerospace continuing with this study?" a particularly nosy reporter asks.
The paranormal division devotee shakes his head to Carla.
"I'm afraid that is classified" she replies.
The gathering of former humans were quietly speaking to each other as they planned their moves. The Paranormal division devotee scanning the crowd notices a person of interest.
"Hey, I think that might be Dr. Stone, that researcher from Phobos" he observes.
The other devotee abandons his signaling to Carla and approaches his colleague.
"Let me see" he says, taking the binoculars and watching for a moment.
"You're right, that's her. I need to arrest her, immediately" he says, giving back the device and walking down the stairs at the back of the stage.
"Follow me, we need to make an arrest" he says to one of the devotees guarding stage access.
They wade through the crowd and close in on Diane.
"You're with the paranormal division aren't you?" a random voice says to the devotee as an icy cold hand fell on their shoulder, he turns around to see a pair of men with sunken greying skin wearing sunglasses and dark trench coats, they place a handcuff on each of their wrists, the other link already locked to the former humans, sealing their fate.
"Wha- What are you doing?" the devotee exclaims.
"Just relax, a former human says in a slithering tone and smirking, this will all be over soon"
Diane Stone turns over her shoulder to see the devotee staring at her with an angry expression before they were discretely taken away from the crowd to a place where they will soon become host to a demonic spirit.
"That concludes this press conference. I hope it has been informative" Carla finishes, then leaving the podium.
Diane follows Carla, flashing her corporate ID to the security and walks up the steps.
"Carla" Diane shouts over the noise of the crowd, Carla looks over and turns to walk back upon recognizing her friend.
"Hello, Diane. Are you okay?" Carla asks sensing her distress.
"I just got back from Phobos" she reveals, Carla took the news clinically.
"Oh. Oh, you did, didn't you?" her brilliant mind quickly processed the implications.
"Some really shady research was happening there before the invasion, I need to get this project data into the right hands" Diane quickly explains, Carla hesitates in thought for a moment.
"Yes, come this way and I'll see to it" Carla says.
Diane joins Carla and they enter the office tower.
The UAAF Vapor's main engines were cooling as the ship moved toward Mars and settled into orbit. The red planet's surface dominates the port-side view. The crew waits for Phobos to complete its orbit before beginning an approach to the tiny moon.
Dr. Carmichael and Dr. Mason were in the recreation room, playing a holographic match of target practice. The mock weapons spray streams of light, a large monitor tracks their scores. Susan was winning by a couple of hundred points.
The game had slimy green aliens as targets that burst into blobs of holographic slime upon being zorched. Allen's accuracy improved mid-match but it wasn't enough to catch up with Susan's lead. They zorch the last of the aliens and the match ends with a cheesy cartoonish cut scene that they tried their best to ignore. They placed the mock rifles into a cabinet and walked out onto the ship's deck.
"Good game, Susan." Mason says.
"Thanks. I hope we can do as well against the aliens waiting for us on Phobos" she replies.
"Speaking of which..." Mason notes, gesturing to the view of Mars outside the wide reinforced viewport.
"Looks like we will be arriving soon" Mason observes with a grim tone.
Susan sighs.
"I can't believe were actually back here, already" she comments.
Mason remains silent, unable to come up with anything helpful to say. Captain Revok came walking toward them as they were watching the red planet's slow orbital spin.
"Hello, Doctors. Did you enjoy our targeting simulator?" The Captain asks.
"Yes. It was nice to sharpen some skills. Thank you for suggesting it to us" Mason replies.
"That's good to hear. I regret having to follow these orders, but my hands are tied" Revok said.
"We understand, Captain" Susan returns.
"Allen, I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but I need to have a private moment with Dr. Carmichael. Would you mind giving us a moment?" Revok asks.
"Very well, Captain. See you later, Susan" he says, then turning to leave. Revok watched him until he was out of sight.
"Some UAC officials have been doing some talking on your behalf and it has been agreed that because of your expertise and technical contributions to the portal project, you've been deemed too important to risk your life by sending you to Phobos" Revok explains.
Susan maintained a reserved expression.
"As it stands, me and you are the only ones on board that know about this and for the sake of morale, I'd like to keep it that way" Revok pauses as a crewmate passes by.
"Here's how I want this to happen: you are to be suited up in your armour with your weapon, alongside everyone else in the air-lock chamber. After the door opens, the choice is yours to make. If you decide not to go, you will quietly stay behind in the chamber and you will be brought back on board" he explains.
"I must admit, I was pretty confident that this would happen" Susan confesses.
"Well, I'm not surprised. You science-types have a way with predictions, Revok replies, on the other hand, from what I've heard over subspace, upper management really seems to want their specimens"
"I guess they need portal specialists even more" she suggests.
"I've got one more thing to pass on and remember to keep this quiet, there are rumors going around that UAC is developing another portal. Now I've got a ship to run. See you around"