Delphi Caen slid her way through the busted security door. The control room of DynaCorp's Livestock Health and Wellbeing Facility had seen better days. Spilled tranq cartridges and an abandoned stunrod told the story of just how effective the staff's response to a total power outage had been. Emergency generators had kicked in, but only after the majority of the staff had fled or had been eaten.
"Alright Doctor Baddon, what's the problem?" she asked, resting her carbine on her shoulder. The weapon still bled residual warmth from recent, frequent use.
The older woman had her eyes pressed so close into the terminal it was almost a VR headset. Data and technical jargon filled the monitor like digital cuneiform. Delphi couldn't make sense of it, but she didn't have three Ph.Ds.
She hadn't allowed hundreds of predators loose from their bonds in a secured research facility either, so Point One for Delphi there.
"The Thrak has broken free of its containment vessel," the doctor replied.
"Fine, then. Just point me at it and I'll put it down."
The scientist looked up from her screen for the first time in nearly an hour. Her pupils blossomed in the dim office lighting, and it took a few blinks for her vision to come back. "You don't understand. This isn't some Flederratte or a Bandersnatch. This is a Thrak. A bull, in fact, in prime mating age and pumped full of adrenostims."
Delphi held up her hands. "Why the hell would you do that?"
"That was Gertrude's project, not mine. Let me see..." The doc went back to her computer for a moment to pull up the requisite information. "It looks like the plan was to dose him, fridge him, and ship him off to a megafauna farm on Rynox. Then they could airdrop him in full breeding frenzy into their cow pens. You can make some incredibly thick armour for very cheap with a herd of Thraks. Herd? I wonder what the collective noun for Thraks is?"
"Focus, doc. There's just the one in there, right?" Delphi jerked a thumb to the heavy blast door behind her. Three dents in the ten inch thick metal plating showed where something very big and very heavy had tried to break through.
"Correct. Just a single two ton freighter made of meat and bone that broke loose from restraints meant to hold down a Leviathan."
Delphi checked her weapon. Full mag of armour piercing rounds. "Then what are we waiting for?"
***
The general consensus was that opening the dented blast door into the room with the deadly monster alien was a bad idea. Doctor Baddon directed Delphi to the second floor, where a catwalk lead to the observation room overlooking the large containment bay.
Delphi crept as quietly as she could along the suspended gantry, wincing with every metallic creak under her feet. It was an enclosed corridor, but portholes along the path revealed the destruction that the behemoth had caused. Scientific equipment littered the ground in dozens of glittering pieces. Articulated lifting cranes torn from their bases lay sprawled out like the remains of a dismembered colossus. Delphi's characteristic bravado drained the more she saw.
Yet the beast was nowhere to be seen. The portholes only offered limited visibility. Though the only thing scarier than being able to see a violent monster is being unable to see it. But it was here. If the destruction beneath her wasn't enough evidence, she could hear a low rumbling through the metal. Every five seconds, another quake that shook the catwalk.
Its breath.
Delphi entered the observation room and locked the door behind her. The small corner room had enough armour to keep a Thrak out...for a little while, at least. Open to the bay through a grating in the ceiling, she was able to smell the thing for the first time. She gagged. It was the worst gym bag stench she'd ever encountered!
She tapped the com node behind her ear. "Doc, you there?"
The voice came in clear. "Go ahead, Ms. Caen. You make it into observation?"
The hired gun coughed. "Doc, what's that smell?"
"Smell? Checking the passive air sensors, just a moment...Oh, oh dear, yes. The Thrak is emitting a powerful pheromone, designed to lure in females of its kind. With the vents closed to keep the Bandersnatches from using the air ducts, I suppose that room is lousy with it by now."
"Thanks for warning me. Is it dangerous?" Delphi asked.
"Not as far as I know, but I didn't study them like Gert did. I've been going over her notes. Goodness, there's so much to learn about these creatures. And they're so useful! Their bones are nearly as strong as plasteel. I imagine they'd have to be to carry that weight around-"