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Space Hulk, crashes on Earth’s moon

Accelerator

Well-known member
Author
So it was a perfectly normal day.

Preachers were ranting about the end of days and of straying from the path. Men were smoking, talking about business and women and whatnot. Old housewives talked about the newest scandals, affairs, and children. Children were playing. Politicians, secret agents, intelligence agencies, doing their old dance of guile and violence. Border skirmishes between Ukraine and Russia.

And then, the sky was torn apart, as a gigantic mass of ships exploded from it, scattering electromagnetic radiation from all over the spectrum, momentarily overwhelming every single telescope in the solar system. It drifts in space for a while.... and then crashes onto the moon.


It is massive. Huge. It can literally be seen from the ground up, with the naked eye. A giant black mass, blocking nearly half the moon's face. And inside... so many secrets. Think about it as a combination of Space Hulk, Dungeon, Abandoned Secret Lab, Old Mage Laboratory, Haunted House, and Mordor. Inside, are all manner of horrors and wonders.

Inspirations include:
Warhammer 40k
Space Hulk
Dark Heresy
Eclipse phase
House of Leaves
Dead Space

Inside the hulk, there are rogue war machines, their masters long dead, following orders that have Long since gone obsolete. Their self-repair and self-maintaining systems means that they are deadly to any form of intruder or trespasser. Within the deep halls of long dead ships, the cries of Waaagggghh!!! ring out, barbarains wielding chunks of iron and rickety guns come crashing out to fight anyone whom is unlucky enough to get their attention. Clouds of self-replicating nanites, aka grey goo, float about, or lie scattered, waiting for the life signs of some unlucky sap to walk past them, before they spring for them, peeling away layers of space suit and armour before getting at the tender flesh beneath. Ghosts, Daemons, demons, and other more otherworldly monsters, lurk within. Some are trapped within items, artifacts, crystals, tomes, summoning circles, waiting for some hapless explorer to meet them and have his soul devoured and his body puppeted. Others, over the millennia have gotten free, and now stalk the halls of the Space Hulk, using their incorporeal bodies to leap through walls, taking their victims by surprise. Rogue war machines, descended from the A.I. Rebellion and produced by manufactures aboard the trapped ships, stalk them, their circuits burning with hatred of all organic life. Degeenrate monsters wander the interior of the hulks, their monstrous bodies composed of human corpses. What is more terrifying that the fact that they exist, is the fact that you will soon be made into one of them....

And the people there! Yes, there are people, of all sorts. And not just humans. Aliens, as well. Surviving within atmosphere, kept by still intact hulls and airlocks, or by fields that keep air in that are either powered by magic or science. There are degenerate cultists hiding within, their inbreeding and isolation leaving them with ghastly congenital defects and mutations, which make them horrifying to see. And the strange gods and beings they worship.... well, there is always a use for live humans. Strange clans, a mixture of alien and human, live aboard the space hulk. Whether or not they are friendly, or are simply a Trojan's horse to the human race is another matter.

Some have adapted to the environment. Some have adapted too well. Altering one's genes and DNA sequences to survive within a rotting hulk with poor food and water, to survive the perpetual darkness and aggression, and to live through decompression.... what came next out of the vats may be called human. But some third parties would disagree.

There are humans there, enhanced. Their superhuman biologies enabling them to survive in the hellish conditions of the space hulk, allowing them to ingest food and water that would leave a grown man twitching, and fighting prowess capable of wiping out nine-tenths of things they fight. The problem is two fold. Their compassion has long since been burnt out from endless battle. And their sanity has been destroyed by the soul-searing conditions of the Space Hulk. The presence of ordinary, sane humans who do not eat their fellows flesh or sacrifice them to dread gods would be a welcome surprise... if they were sane enough to recognise it.

Articial intelligences exist. Some, are simply quiet, only turning alive by the energy given off by gunfire, or when some archaeologist reconnects a broken wire. Others, are silent. Biding their time, before springing on some unlucky soul for his space suit to get spare components. Others, are still alive, crippled and weak, and are desperately trying to exterminate all organic life on the hulk with cold hatred. Cults have sprung up amongst these thinking machines. Strange rites and rituals, part ceremony, part maintenance. Most are broken, mad, insane, or evil. Some, are good. Though, the definition of good may be very different from the mainstream. For example, if the medical A.I. Of the medical suite in the starship "Hapzadon" truly wishes to improve and cure humanity, why does it have an excess of lobotomized cyborgs? And the medical suite having splashe of blood and scattered body parts?

Several ships of the hulk are not dead. In fact, they are alive. In the ordinary sense. Ships from the Zerg Swarm and the Tyranid Race have crashed here, their bodies wrapped up in the hulk's embrace. Their lesser Attack swarms now skitter within the space hulk. Hydralisks, Zerglings, Lictors, Gaunts, and all manner of beasts from the nightmares of man, the last thing many civilisations saw before they were gulped down the endless maw of a star-faring locust swarm. They would have to be burnt out, evaded, or survived. Take care that nothing tags along with you as you leave....

All manner of artifacts lie within the hulk. Some are treasures, transported by ships before they were waylaid. Others, are the products of Long since dead civilisations. Others, are from the dead inhabitants, taken off their corpses or otherwise left there as their masters rotted away. There is great treasure there. Some are relatively simple and useless, like that shirt that lit up with an icon of the sun, sized for a small child, with no identifiable power source. Others are greater. Like cornucopia machines capable of building anything, to crystals and data disks that hold the equivalent of an entire civilisation's worth of technical knowledge. There is money to be made here. Money, and the power to make or break empires and planets.

And of course, people want this. After the first explorers found a gun that had a power cell that could recharge off body heat and light, and could hold a charge better than any battery on earth by light years, thousands of explorers have descended upon the Space Hulk. Men and women, given the best training possible, clad in white coloured space suits, clumsily holding guns, descending upon Earth's companion. Traveling through the cramped, claustrophobic, and cluttered interior of the hulk, trying to make a fortune or find something of worth. Most would not survive. Most would not come back. Some would come back, to the sorrow of all....

A dungeon that landed on the moon. Space Hulk. A conglomeration of Long dead ships from over the Millenia, from ships from the elder races to starships from a humanity of a parallel universe. Filled with alien monsters, mad cults, demons, magicians, killer robots, and other things. Meanwhile, everyone on the planet is eyeing each other, holding their guns, fingering the triggers. Whether or not nuclear war would erupt, wiping out the human race, leaving the only remnants of humanity to be the ones on the Space Hulk, remains to be seen.

Tl; dr. Space Hulk lands on the moon, with nightmares, monsters, and all sorts of nasties from nearly every sort of fiction and genre inside of it. Also inside of it, is lots and lots of goodies. From zero-point energy sources to medical nanites that can cure aging. It's also a nightmarish labyrinth. People come up, from Earth, onto the moon, and try and grab the good stuff, all the while surviving the monsters, the deadly environment (vacuum, urban ruins, and the chance for dead falls and traps and malfunctioning life support), and take their loot back to base to reverse engineer, sell, or just exchange for their freedom. Of course, whether or not that works, remains to be seen. That case of nanites to cure Aging may in fact, be grey goo.

I'll try and explain more。
 
Communicatons:

The great metallic mass of the hulk, along with several other mysterious energy fields (these alone keep many scientists occupied). Radio and any form of ranged communication is shot to hell, constantly failing, distorting, or more worryingly, interfered with.

Many have heard of whispering or soft invitations coming from either the radio comms, or the air about them. They whisper many things. Comfort. Sweet things. Assurances. Then opaque warnings, punctuated by laughter and giggling. Then, invitations.

All standing orders are to ignore the interference. But in the grim darkness of the hulk, where men march through complete darkness for hours, beset by horrors, any company seems acceptable. Even unknown ones.

What is more worrying is men hearing cries and pleas for help in the voices of their long dead comrades. Or hear commands issued by their officer that they swore they did not give. Someone or something out there is watching, waiting, and speaking....
 
He breathed a sigh of relief, slowly picking his way through the debris.

When the hulk had landed on the moon, everyone was in a titter. No, scratch that, an uproar. Alien life existed... and it had crash-landed right next to earth. Not in the asteroid belt. Not on Mars. Not in a space ship. But a derelict mass of ships, clumped together by whatever the hell, had crash landed there.

Everyone had their own theories, of course. In these days, any yahoo can set up an internet platform and talk about it. The theories ranged from the boring, to the lurid, to the downright insane. Some said that this was a test by god. Another, said that it was a trap by the lizard people, to sow the seeds of our own destruction. Others said that this was a gift from the aliens which built the pyramids, a way for us to get technological advancement through our own efforts. Others said that it was the equivalent of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. A conglomeration of ships that got stuck together via natural phenomenon, and then flung out to land on the moon. A giant cosmic accident. Others say that the hulk didn't exist and was simply a conspiracy by the big government to distract the sheeple.

Standing right at the entrance, X could only look upon the hulk in awe. The Hulk was immense, a conjoined chimera of at least several dozen ships, and possibly hundreds more. The eggheads inspecting the telescopic scans say that they've detected at least a twenty different architectural and design styles. The smallest ship, was at least 100 meters long, and many of them were an order of magnitude larger than any ocean liner. In short, the hulk was immense. And standing before it, X felt very, very small.

He was the lone man there. The new space race was hectic, for all involved. And in the end, with unexpected delays and accidents, of failed prototypes exploding in their launch bays and valued personnel turning up dead or missing, they had managed to send up one astronaut. One man. A few pieces of scientific equipment. Sample holders. And five hours of oxygen, to explore the wreckage.

His earpiece crackled. The shuttle he came here in acted as a booster, compensating for his suit's weak radio signal. Command's own systems were wired with his own, enabling them to monitor his life signs, his heartbeat, location, and what he was seeing and hearing. They would be his guardian angels, watching over his shoulder, looking over him and helping him however they can. Though if the cranks were right and this hulk did turn out to hold space monsters, they would be helpless to do anything but record his final moments. Some guardian angel they were.

He walked forward, lunar dust puffing out from the impact of his boots. Earth hungover the moon, in the cold blackness of space. Here, without atmosphereic interference, he could see the stars more clearly than he ever could on earth. The reflective surface of the moon, cast strange shadows from the debris scattered about the entrance of the hulk. Before him, the hull breach that served as an entrance yawned before him. No light inside. Motion sensors and infrared both told him there was nothing inside. But this was a wreckage from space. Who knows what was inside?

He turned on his suit lights, the lances alleviating the darkness, slightly. Dust floated within the confines, hung there by low gravity. He began to walk. Slowly, carefully, avoiding sharp pieces of metals sticking out like jagged swords. Looking down onto the ground, avoiding any debris which might send him falling.

X began to enter the hulk.
 
Frack it. Guys?

I'm going to write something else. An audio log.

Context: 5 man team from a single capsule launched by Europian Union. No brexit occurred. Team landed on the moon, right next to a hole spied in the hulk from orbiting satellites.

Date: 4/5/2018

Subject: Conduct initial exploration of space hulk

Team leader: E1

Members: E2,3,4,5

[Begin Log]


E1: Headcount! Check

E2: Check
E3: Check
E4: Check
E5: Check

E1: All's right command. We're going into the hulk.

Command: Roger that, team. We'll be watching over your shoulders and monitoring your status.

(team begins to move into tear in the space hulk. Location of exit is within Mare Humorum.)

E1: Watch out for the metal. Its sharp. Don't let them puncture your suits!

E2: Aye
E3: Aye
E4: Aye
E5: Aye

(team enters ship. At this point, the cameras show to total darkness)

E2: Turning on lights. Way too dark in here.

E1: Good call. Switching on lights

(team switches on lights. At this point, there is the first sight of the interior of the hulk. The interior is a mixture of dark grey and black metal, twisted and warped with rust and age. Debris and garbage are strewn about the floor).

E1: Follow on, team. Let's explore this place

E3: Hey, this place gives me the creeps. If this were a horror movie, we would be the hapless explorers shown in the prologue that gets killed by the alien monster or the crazy robot.

E1: Hahaha, very funny, E3. Move along, now. We've got work to do. Start taking samples, and take them straight home.

Command: Team, we've like to ask you a question. Is there something wrong with your suits? The readings we get from all of you indicates ordinary air pressure. But you're in the space hulk, aren't you?

E4: That's impossible. We can't all be wrong. Some manufacturing error?

E5: Watch me. Wait for awhile.

(E5 picks up a piece of debris from the floor. It is either a piece of paper or leather. He holds it up 3 feet into the air, and drops it. It flickers in the air, spinning and turning about.)

E5: Its spinning. That means that-

E2: There's instability caused by the shape, interacting with the atmosphere. There's atmosphere within this ship. But how? We just entered in through a hull breach. And.. has anyone felt weird, recently?

E4: Yeah, I feel it. (Jumps up and down. This feels... familiar. I'm not clearing half a meter when I stamp my feet. This isn't normal lunar gravity. Something here is interfering with it.

(E4 looks at the breach at this point, where the light reflecting off the lunar surface is visible)

E3: Damn.. remember how the crazies talked about how there was enough technology and special stuff inside the space hulk to make whomever claimed it to become a millionaire or ruler of the world? Doesn't seem so crazy now.

E1: Keep your eyes peeled, men. E4, takes some air samples and some scrapings from the walls. We'll have to check for pathogens. If there aren't, we'll be able to walk in without these damned suits getting in our way.

Command: Team, we've logged your report on the artificial air and gravity. We'll set up a committee on future missions and the use of space suits.

E4: Aye

(At this point, E4 begins to collect samples from the walls and sealing them within test tubes, leaving one tube open in the air to collect air samples. The team continues onwards into the corridoor they had entered. They leave a marker behind so they can find their way back*)

E1: Move on, team.

(Walk ends up getting to a turn in the corridoor. Due to the debris and the poor lighting, no one notices the corpses until they fall on them).

E2: What the-!

(At this point, E2 trips, and falls right next to one of them)

E2: Whoa!

E1: What's wrong, E2?

E2: Nothing. Just a skull. Damn.... that looks like... a man?

(The bodies were arrayed around them, strewn behind a barricade. The skeletons are disorganized and scattered indicating either a violent death or scavenger activity. The area around them is streaked by marks and scorched. Clutched in their hands are rifle analogues, and what is later identified as a missile launcher.)

E1: Command, do you copy? We have seen the inhabitants of the hulk. They're... human!

(There is a sound of gasping and a heavy thump. Post action enquiries indicate that this was a member of the FBI, Mr Anderson, sitting down on the chair in shock.)

Command: Repeat that, E1? Please re-confirm what you have just said.

E1: We've found bodies, sir. From all appearances, they're human.

Command: Statement logged. Congragulations, Team. You've made history. The first discoverers of life beyond earth, and they're human. The scientists here are getting excited. Continue onwards.

E4: Hey, wait a minute. Look at that.

(He points to a certain corpse. This one with a hat atop of it, and several insignia still visible. Most are faded or destroyed. But one still exists, as a metal badge. An icon resembling two eagles.)

E3: This is crazy. These corpses are human. And that symbol... that could have come from earth. What are the chances? This is surreal

E1: I've served in the army, before. Several tours in afghanistan. I've seen those marks before. That was a shrapnel grenade. These men were fighting something, and something killed them. Lock and load, boys. And keep watch. Control, how's the extra stuff you put into our suits?

Command: We hear you, E1. Motion detectors are working fine, and detect all 5 of you perfectly well. Be warned, though. We're getting some interference. Probably the hulk's metal. We may not be able to follow you inside.

E1: Thank you, Command. Don't worry.

(The men push through the barricade, through the cooridoor. Then they find a corpse. The colour of the flesh, skin, and blood do not match those of human. Samples taken and analyzed later indicate that this organism has no biochemical similarity with terrestrial life. Organism is encased in suit, which was ruptured and destroyed by what had killed it. Beside the suit, is a crashed gadget, with a domed cover.)

E3: Damn, do you see that?

(E3 is pointing at another barricade, at the other end of the corridoor. The men rush over. There, more unknown alien lifeforms are there, encased in an unknown form of power armour. Scorch marks and suit breaches indicate that these were killed by the soldiers, who wield weapons now identified as las-rifles)

E4: Damn, that's quite a sight. A shootout?

E5: I think I know what happened. They were fighting. Barricades providing cover, with the area in between being no-man's land. Aliens get shot down one by one, seeing as most of them got holes in them. Then the last survivor throws a grenade, killing most of the guys on the other side. He gets over the barricade, moving in for the kill.... and the last survivor lights up with that weird missile launcher thing, hitting him. The guy with the launcher dies of his wounds... but the alien that killed him got blown to smithereens mid-run, so we found his corpse in between the barricades.

E2: Damn, fighting the hell out of aliens in the middle of a dead spaceship? I wish I could invite these guys in for a drink. Their stories must be amazing. Where did they come from? What were they? Who were they fighting for?

E1: Problem. There isn't much payload. Not more than a dozen kilograms. E4, you're our salvage specialist. You've got the skills. You need any help?

E4: No problem, boss. Just let me get the MULE**, and I'll pick some stuff up. It'll send it right back to the shuttle in a jiffy.

E1:.... you know what? This place seems more and more dangerous by the minute. E5. I want you to go with him and help him pick up things. He's the guy in charge of what we need to bring. Anything you think would be useful. Meet us back by the ship. Leave at the first sign of trouble, alright?

E5: (with a hint of sullenness) All right, boss

E1: I know you'll love to explore the hulk. But someone needs to get this stuff back for our friends in labcoats to study. Its important, buddy.

(E1 pats E5 on the shoulder, then turns to E2, E3)

E1: Let's move out.

(At this point, E1, E2, E3, Group 1, begin moving deeper within the ship. E4 and E5 begin to gather samples and technology for study, and return to the shuttle for retrieval)

(Group 1 proceeds to a staircase. Shoulder mounted lights show that it turns back over itself)

E2: Damn, we can't see all the way up there.

E3: Doesn't really matter. Motion detectors show no movement, and no detection of electronic activity. Nothing there that can hurt us, except for maybe sharp metal and falling.

E1: Cut the chatter. I'll take point.

(Men proceed to walk up the stairs, reaching the second level. It must be noted, that their shoulder lights and cameras were still on, but due to the dust and the interference, video quality is poor)

E2: What-

(He points to an open door, leading to another room deeper within. A figure slumps in the doorway. It is not human. Its face is tusked, its muscles far too large and developed. Its body is hunched over like an ape. ***In its hands, are weapons similar in shape to a gun and a cleaver.)

E3: What the hell is that?

E1: Command, do you read me? There's another alien lifeform sighted. No movement and no infrared. It appears to be dead.

Command: We hear you, E1. You are free to do as you see fit. You have one more hour on your oxygen.

E1: We've already gotten enough weapons. Those huge things in its hands would probably make us exceed the payload. Take a sample, E2, and we'll get going.

E2: Yes sir.

(E2 sits down beside the body, and prepares to take a tissue sample from its left arm. He takes a knife and inserts it within the skin. The skin appears to be extremely tough and leathery, and he has difficulty cutting through. He repositions himself for better leverage and uses both hands on the handle of the knife)

E2: Damn, tough bastard-

(The body's eyes fly open, and glow red. He growls, and swings its arm, sending E2 flying through the air and into a wall. A cracking sound is heard through the mics. E2's suit indicates that there were several broken bones and internal bleeding in his body, including several broken ribs and a snapped spine.)

E3: Goddamn it, Brad! You monster-

(At this point, the alien stands straight up. Its size is such that the suit cameras cannot see its head. It swings the cleaver. E2 is standing in front of it, and is cut in half, seen by E1's cameras. E2's stats flatline, and the signal shuts off)

Command: Team? Two of your units have gone dark. Please confirm your status, over

(E1 begins to fire upon the alien lifeform using his pistol. The bullets appear to do no damage, bouncing off the skin or doing superficial damage)

E1: Hostile contact! I repeat, hostile contact! Code red! Its killed Brad and Cody! Abort mission, and get out of here!

(Hostile contact raises gun and fires upon E1. E1's vitals flatline, and suit is damaged. Last few transmissions indicate a 28cm hole blown into his torso. Suit is damaged, and continues transmitting data for several more minutes)

Hostile contact: Waaaaaaaggggghhhhh!!!!

Hostile leaps over E1's body. Microphone indicates that it is running down the stairs

Command: E4, E5! Mission Abort! Leave, now!

E4: What?

E5: But what about E1 and the rest?

Command: Hostile contact! You need to leave, immediately! Code red!

(radio beacon at this point begins to transmit motion detection and movement in its cameras. The hostile contact is running through the corridoor containing the barricade and the corpses. The radio beacon's microphone picks up the sound of heavy footsteps and metal being scattered onto the floor)

Command: Hostiles zeroing in! Abort mission!

E4: Yes sir

E5: Yes sir

(At this moment, both begin preparation for takeoff)

(Radio beacon detects hostile rushing past it at high speed, estimated time of arrival is to be 30 seconds.)

E4: Fuel line working. Navigation program, clear. Thruster systems, activated

E5: Ready for launch.

(Shuttles outer cameras at this point see the hostile exiting the hulk and onto the Lunar surface. It is unknown how the hostile can survive within the vacuum of space. Hostile sees aircraft, and begins to open fire with its projectile weapon)

E4: And lift off

(Hostile begins to become agitated and begins to shoot at higher frequency. Appears to run out of bullets and throws the weapon in seeming frustration. At this point, the shuttle is 100 meters above the lunar surface and begins to move into earth orbit. Last sight of hostile is of it returning back to the space hulk).

(E4 and E5 return to earth after another 16 hours in earth orbit, crash landing onto the Pacific Ocean. Both men are given paid leave, medals of honour, and psychological counselling)

[End Log]

Notes:

Salvage obtained would be instrumental in the development of the Tri-tech Solar cell and electrical battery, the Mark 1 Blaster series, Omnadium metal alloy, discovery of the principles of antigravity generation, and the development of metallic-crystal lattice armour.


*A radio beacon with a glowing light. Allows easy navigation. Has a motion detector and camera slaved to it.
** Walker the size of a dog used to help troopers carry heavy loads. Has legs to help navigate rough terrain like the countryside or a crashed spaceship
*** From later measurements using shadows and dust for scale, it is 3 meters in height.
 
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