Colonies of U'u'kata

Cali carefully replaced the plant in the tank, her eyes drawn to the flashing emergency lights – red, white, red, white. Each pulse tightened her stomach with dread. Doctor Gupta said it was probably just a test, but tests were always announced weeks in advance. Everything felt wrong.

"Thanks again for helping, Cali," Doctor Gupta said, striding purposefully toward the lab doors. Cali forced a smile without looking up. She had no choice, and the oddity of it all made her fingers tremble.

"What do you think is going on?" Ezra asked, easing up beside her. He was a short, scrawny man with blue hair and gauged earlobes, probably more tattoos than skin.

"I don't know," she admitted, glancing up as the door slid closed behind Doctor Gupta. "Not gonna lie, I'm kinda freaked out."

"Yeah, me too." He attempted to engage his hand terminal. Nothing happened. "The network... Cali, it's down," he said.

Cali gulped and tried her own. Nothing. "No," she said, a slight vibration in her fingers. "The network isn't down. If it was down we'd still be able to access our terminals, just not communications. This is a total blackout."

Nervously, she licked her lips, her stomach doing uneasy little flips. She'd minored in communications; she knew very few entities could black out terminals like that. All of them were military. Or government.

"Oh, my god," Robert, Doctor Gupta's apprentice, gasped, staring toward the lab doors. Cali followed his gaze, seeing Doctor Gupta through the thick window, just as a blast door slid into place, locking them out. Behind her loomed a massive creature with cold, metallic eyes. Cali flinched hard and gasped.