• Published 25th Jan 2018
  • 6,846 Views, 563 Comments

Dead Space: Deep Space Terror - Blackdrag-rose



Chrysalis has made the greatest mistake of her life and must survive the horrors that await her in the darkness of the USG Ishimura.

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Sprawl: The Church

Isaac and Chrysalis carefully walked up the stairs that were in front of them and looked around the area that they had discovered, where there was an alter of some kind in the middle of the room and a number of stained glass that contained the likenesses of Altman and a few other famous members of the Church of Unitology. Chrysalis actually wondered if there were any other founders or important members of this religion, as none of what she had listened to revealed the existence of any other people like that, but it didn't stop her from thinking about that. Before they had any time to actually study the various glass windows, however, one of the windows above them shattered and the air was sucked out of the room they were in, to which the duo braced themselves as they made their way towards the door that was in front of them. Fortunately they knew that, unless more of the Church was damaged in a similar manner as the room they were currently in, they would be able to seal themselves in an area where they could breathe just fine.

"It's Tiedemann! He's found you!" Daina told them, though this time she actually sounded like she was worried about them, as she should be since they were the key to stopping the Marker and the Convergence Event that it was likely trying to create, even if Chrysalis didn't trust her at all, "Into the Church, hurry!"

Neither of them said anything as they hurried towards the door and opened it, allowing them to slip into the true entrance area of the Church, where they were right that they could breathe just fine as the door locked behind them, preventing them from leaving this area... provided they found the other entrance that Daina wanted them to go through so they could escape with their lives.

"Daina? The Church of Unitology?" Isaac asked, echoing the thought that was going through Chrysalis' mind, meaning that they were both interested in why their 'friend' would tell them to come this way, especially since the Unitologists might have left something nasty behind for them to contend with, "Why here?"

"It's one of the few places on Titan Station that Tiedemann can't monitor." Daina told them, knowing that Chrysalis was thinking the same thing and was addressing the two of them, even if she didn't say either of their names while they were talking, "Separation of Church and State."

"No Daina, we shouldn't be in here." Isaac replied, already remembering the terrors that he and Chrysalis had encountered on the Ishimura, created by a good number of Unitologists 'sacrificing' themselves to create the various Necromorphs that they had encoutered, "This is the last place we want to be in right now."

"Isaac, my brother died trying to rescue you and Chrysalis." Daina stated, though at the same time Chrysalis was reminded of what Kendra said about her brother and wondered if their 'friend' was lying, cause it sure felt like Daina was trying to feed them the wrong information, "This is important... it will work. I'm in a safe room at the top of the Chruch. Meet me there, okay?"

Isaac waited for a few seconds before he determined that Daina was finished talking to him and Chrysalis, though as he lowered his hand he noticed a circular barrier that was now resting around the two of them, where the magic was rolling off of Chrysalis' horn as she looked at him.

"Isaac, I don't like this one bit." Chrysalis said, as all that Daina had done so far reminded her of Kendra and what she did while they were on the Ishimura, where she noticed that Isaac was nodding his head in agreement, "When she said that Franco was her brother I didn't sense a single shred of emotion behind that statement, meaning that she's trying to guilt trip us into following her orders. Another thing I don't trust is that she brought us to the Church of Unitology, where the Unitologists likely killed themselves so that they could 'ascend' to the next stage of evolution, though there's no telling what monster is waiting for us this time around."

"You think she's a Unitologist or something?" Isaac asked, because based on what he had seen during their first adventure together, where she called out Kendra and actually was right about everything, he was willing to bet that she was right about whatever she was feeling right now.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure whose side she's really on, but I'm willing to point the finger at her being a member of the Church of Unitology," Chrysalis replied, though at the same time she frowned, because if she was right they would be walking into a trap that Daina had set up for them, though at the same time it was one that she was more than willing to spring in her own manner, "Come on, let's carefully make our way through here and see what horrors await us."

"Right." Isaac said, though before the magic faded from Chrysalis' horn he held up a hand, as he was curious about something and the barrier around them made him want to ask the question before they moved on, "Why did you summon this barrier around us? There aren't any Necromorphs around us at the moment."

"It's another skill I learned during my time with Shining Armor," Chrysalis admitted, as most of her defensive skills she had stolen from Shining Armor, or at least the techniques she could use to empower the few spells she already had before taking Princess Cadence's form, "This barrier is designed to prevent sounds, or a conversation, from being heard by anyone that's on the outside of the sphere, though if I channel it through my RIG I can cut off the link between us and Daina for a few moments... which I only just figured out now, so I'm thankful that it worked so well."

"So she has no idea that we don't trust her," Isaac said, to which Chrysalis nodded her head, though Isaac let out a sigh of relief, as the last time they had openly accused an 'ally' of being the enemy Kendra had claimed that Chrysalis was in pain from losing a friend, until she revealed her hand, "Very well then, it's time we get moving again."

Chrysalis dropped the barrier and they quickly explored the area around them, as they entered the room on their left and found that there wasn't too much for them to look at, though the door beside the one they used to walk into the room had a text log inside the small room, one that was simply detailing a tour. From there they walked up to the Unitology Gift Shop and entered the store, where they discovered an actual store they could buy and sell things at and a Bench they could use to upgrade their weapons. Chrysalis was happy to sell a few of the worthless bits of ammunition she was carrying and bought a Power Node or two with the profits, allowing her to empower her Pulse Rifle in the process, making it much more deadly than it had been moments ago. Isaac followed her actions as well, empowering the Plasma Cutter, before the two of them walked out of the gift shop and continued searching for anything that might be able to help them in this area... or enemies that they needed to kill, as that was likely what they were going to find.

From there they walked up the stairs and entered the Reading Room, which was a library of sorts, where they found a text log that detailed the ceremonial gesture that Unitologists used in greetings and in their ceremonies, though it was simply entwining one's arms with their fingers touching at the top, which sounded like the Marker. After the text log the duo found a Power Node resting on the floor, though as they picked it up a slasher burst into the room behind them, to which Isaac turned around and dismembered it before it even had the chance to come at them. As they walked out of the reading room they got another transmission from Nolan, who asked Isaac if he could see the symbols, something that Isaac confirmed, leading Nolan to say that they needed to work together and that they were a threat to someone. Before Nolan could spill all the beans, however, he seemed to become focused on his bloody nose and walked off screen, to which the communication was severed.

Isaac and Chrysalis looked at each other as they returned to the main entrance of the Church and approached the other door that they could walk through, where the duo discovered a fair number of corpses, a few bits of ammunition, and an audio log that detailed something that happened in the cathedral. Since the audio log contained nothing of interest the duo returned to the room and walked up the stairs that were in front of them, though this time around they kept their weapons at the ready in case more enemies showed themselves, which was what they were expecting. When the duo reached the top of the stairs they discovered that the only way forward was through the Library, which was actually just a circular walkway with shelves on their left, though as they followed the path they encountered an infector that was trying to awaken a corpse that was in front of them. Because the infector foolishly picked the wrong corpse to go after Chrysalis impaled it with her bone blades and dismembered it, as she didn't see the need to use the Pulse Rifle on it, before claiming her weapons and returned to following the path once more.

At the end of the walkway rested some stairs that took them down to the level that was below them, where they discovered another infector that Isaac dismembered with his Plasma Cutter, which was when a slasher tried to get the jump on them, only to meet it's end when Chrysalis loosed a small burst of bullets that blasted it's limbs off. That was before they spotted another pair of Necromorphs, an infector and a slasher, heading for some bodies on the other side of the room, to which the duo simply sighed and changed targets, effectively making it impossible for the two Necromorphs to do anything. The instant all those enemies were taken care of another slasher, attacking alone, burst out of the vent on the other side of the room and charged at them, where it met it's end at the combined might of Isaac and Chrysalis' weapons, allowing them a few moments to salvage the ammunition, credits, and health packs that were laying around before they moved on.

Once they were sure that they got everything, and were leaving nothing behind, the duo walked to the circular column in the middle of the room and opened the door that they discovered... to which they climbed onto cargo lift inside it and rode it up to the floor it connected to.

It didn't take them long to reach the walkway that the cargo lift connected to, nor did it take very long for them to cross the walkway and open the door in front of them, where they entered a hallway that appeared to have only one path for them to take at the moment. At the same time, however, Chrysalis spotted one of those circular tube power generators that usually kept a door closed until the tube was destroyed, to which she used a short burst of bullets to smash the tube to a thousand pieces, though what that did she had absolutely no idea. With that taken care of they walked through the main door and entered the Indoctrination Testing Center, where they heard a seminar of some kind playing, one that proclaimed Altman as the savior, that the Marker was a divine relic, and that they would all be united through the Convergence Event they kept hearing about.

Instead of paying attention to the seminar the duo entered the room on their right, though as they walked into the area a panel on their left burst and the cover fell to the floor, to which Isaac sighed and pulled the other part of the cover off with his Kinesis Module, as he knew that they were going to fix something around here. Chrysalis found a text log that detailed the results of the indoctrination on someone called Casey Milham, where it appeared that the Unitologists were able to determine that he wouldn't remain afflicted with the Church after a period of time, while also holding out some hope that he'd fully join them eventually. As she stored the text log away she felt the urge to smash the Unitologists, but unfortunately the seemed to have pretty much killed themselves off for the glory of the Convergence Event that could be happening at this very station, which was something she and Isaac needed to stop soon, especially since they had no idea what the Convergence Event created. Isaac, on the other hand, removed the fuse from the nearby terminal that Chrysalis was standing near and inserted it into the device he had been staring at, restoring some power to the other door in the room they had been in moments ago.

With that taken care of the duo returned to the main room they had been in, where the other door was opening and closing in rapid succession and revealed that they would need to use the Stasis Module on it, but before they could do anything the vents burst open and some slashers entered the area... though that was when Isaac had the bright idea to blast open the glass wall and suck the two Necromorphs out into space before sealing the breach.

"Well, at least we won't be seeing those two again," Chrysalis commented, to which she picked herself off the floor and stared at the steel door that was where the glass had been, as she was surprised that Isaac had done that without even telling her anything.

Isaac nodded his head before heading over to where the malfunctioning door was located, which he loosed a Stasis blast at and waited for the door to be open enough for him and Chrysalis to access the room in front of them, where he suffered another flash of the dead Nicole appearing on the screens and telling him that he couldn't run from the pain and that he would soon beg for a way to end it all. The moment the vision had stopped, and he assured Chrysalis that he was fine, he continued moving and searched the area that they were in, completely ignoring the computer screens that were in front of them. As they moved to the left the duo discovered something of interest, the schematic for the Security Suit, which was likely stronger and had more resistance than what they were currently wearing, but instead of heading back and seeing how must it cost Isaac insisted they continued moving... to which he opened the engineer's vent in front of them and climbed into it, leaving Chrysalis to sigh as she followed after him, so they didn't get separated.

When they reached the end of the vent, however, Isaac climbed out and seemed to be attacked by yet another bout of Nicole's signals, only this time Chrysalis could only watch as 'Nicole' attacked Isaac with what appeared to be the same needle she used to put herself down, while at the same time Isaac's helmet disengaged and revealed his face. The two of them struggled for a few seconds, where 'Nicole' told Isaac to 'make us while', which was followed by Isaac gaining the strength he needed to push her away and the vision seemed to end, where he dropped the needle that had been in his hands and backed away for a moment. Chrysalis, however, pulled herself out of the vent and rushed to his side, because now she was concerned for his health and safety, since it appeared that 'Nicole' was trying to either tell them something or outright kill Isaac for what happened on the Ishimura... though it took him a few moments to calm down, with her beside him, before he reengaged his helmet and started moving again, with her keeping a close eye on him.

Once the incident was over they found out that they were in some sort of office room and discovered a Power Node resting on a nearby desk, which was collected instantly, before they walked out of the room and entered the hallway, one that lead to the Indoctrination Unity Library. Originally the door had been locked, but Isaac used the cover that had been hiding the power tube to smash the tube in question, allowing the door to be opened whenever they desired, though Chrysalis opened it anyway and found out that it would allow them to head back to the first hallway they had been in earlier, meaning they could put the new suit on if they wanted to. Instead of doing that Isaac insisted on moving forward again and walked through the other door that was at the end of the hallway, where they entered a different room that was unlike the other rooms they had been in so far, though as they walked into the room the both of them heard the sound of something moving in the level below them.

Chrysalis determined that the sounds of these new creatures meant that they were feral, at least she assumed they were feral by the sounds, but at the same time she and Isaac made their way over to a cargo lift and rode it down to the level below them, where they entered the center of the room and walked over to the main door... which was disabled as something large slammed into it from the other side, trapping them in the area that they were in for the moment.

"Daina, we're locked out." Isaac said, though at the same time he and Chrysalis faced the way they had come from, as they both knew that the new enemies that they had discovered would be coming at them soon enough, to which they prepared their weapons, "There's something in the Church with us... it broke the door!"

"Hang on." Daina told them, though this time around Chrysalis ignored the tone that the lady was using, as she was more focused on making sure that she and Isaac survived whatever was coming their way this time around, "I'll try to override all the gates in the area."

"Hurry." Chrysalis commanded, because she wasn't about to play around with their lives and wanted Daina to know that time was of the essence this time around, especially since she and Isaac might get hurt in this area, as they had no idea what sort of enemies were waiting for them, "There's something else out there too..."

That was followed by the metal gates, to their left and right, opening, though the instant they saw that Isaac turned to the left and Chrysalis turned to the right, indicating that they were going to make sure they kept their eyes open for enemies and took out whatever was coming their way. That was when Chrysalis laid eyes on a creature that looked like it was hunched over, which made sense considering that they were made from human corpses, but when it peeked out from behind it's hiding place she noticed that it's type must have been modified in some manner. That fact was proven to be true when the first one raced out from where it was hiding and charged at them only for Chrysalis to impale it with a bone blade that she threw like a lance, which caused some noises to erupt from the area surrounding them, indicating that these creatures were smarter than the other Necromorphs and were biding their time until a weakness was revealed. A few seconds later Isaac, following Chrysalis' example, used one of the sharpened poles that were laying near them and did the same thing on a stalker that was coming his way.

What surprised them was that there only were three stalkers in the area, as if they were getting a taste for this type of Necromorph, though the moment the third one fell Daina decided to contact them again, to which the duo hoped that she had some good news for them.

"Isaac, I can't unlock the elevator." Daina told them, which immediately told Chrysalis that there was something they needed to do before they could leave this area, though that was confirmed moments later, "Is there anything you can do on your end?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Isaac replied, though at the same time he wasn't about to let this setback cast him and Chrysalis their lives, not when he was positive that there was another path for them to take, somewhere anyway, "but give us a few minutes and we'll see what we can do."

"Okay, once your through you'll go through the Funeral wing of the Church and down into the Crypt." Daina said, to which Chrysalis sighed, as it appeared that this was going to take longer than she originally thought, where Isaac nodded his head in agreement, "It's very important that you're not... No! No. Earth Gov can't jam us in here! Not in here!"

Before either Isaac or Chrysalis could say anything the communication was terminated, though by the sounds of it Daina had been wrong about Tiedemann not being able to do anything to the Church, as it appeared that he might have snapped that boundary in half and was likely coming for them. As such Isaac headed over to the cargo lift that was on the right side of the room and tore off the cover for the control panel, allowing him to hack into the machine before it was operational again. The instant he was done working they walked onto the cargo lift and headed to the level above them, where they found a Power Node to their left and claimed it, though as they walked away from the middle of the room, however, Chrysalis felt a chill crawl down her spine. Isaac stopped, as if he felt the chill in the air as well, before turning back to face her, though she glanced down at the center of the bottom area they had walked through and noticed another sight that caused her to stall.

Standing in the middle of the area was another pony like creature, though this time around the creature stood as tall as Chrysalis did when she had been in her changeling form, before she accessed the mirror, but her eyes were drawn by the fact that this was another changeling that she was staring at. It took her a few moments to recognize the color of the carapace that the changeling had, as it was the same as what her's had looked like, and spotted the same eye coloration that she possessed. The changeling's mane and tail, despite possessing the same color of Chrysalis' own hair and tail, had a similar style that looked like Princess Cadence's mane and tail, filled with a few holes that all of the other changelings possessed on their manes and tails. The horn that the changeling possessed was pointed straight, like Princess Celestia's horn, with some curves lining one edge of the horn, though what really caught Chrysalis' attention were two things; the cold gaze that the mare was giving them and the moderate green colored royal shoes and chest piece that she happened to be wearing... including the familiar crown that Chrysalis had worn for a long time, until she discarded it when Thorax took everything from her.

She knew that Isaac would think she was happy to recognize the changeling that was down there, but the reality was different than what he knew, as the moment she snapped back to reality she turned to the path they were following and headed towards the entrance to the Basilica section of the Church, though she didn't stop until she, and Isaac, were on the other side of the door.

"Chrysalis, who was what?" Isaac asked, though at the same time he noticed Chrysalis disengage her helmet so she could wipe some sweat from her forehead, indicating whoever that pony creature was had to be someone from his friend's past, possibly someone she didn't get along with.

"Qu... Queen Crudelis," Chrysalis replied, though as she said the same she recalled all of the painful and horrible memories that were associated with it, and what she had done in retaliation to what the mare had done to her over the many years they knew each other, "...my mother..."

"Wait, THAT was your mother?!" Isaac stated, as he was shocked by the fact, as he never heard Chrysalis mention that her mother was dead, but at the same time he remembered the chill that went down his spine, "The mare that made you seek out someone she didn't approve of, since she's traditional in whatever way the changelings consider traditional, which brought you to the love of your life? The mare that tried to teach you that ponies were only a source of food and weren't good for anything else, which you determined had to be wrong until Wildfire was taken from you, and poisoned your mind against the rest of the ponies in Equestria?"

"...yes..." Chrysalis said, though at the same time she leaned against the wall and stared at the one that was opposite of her, while picturing the last time she had seen her mother while she was alive, "The last time I saw her was right after I finished the last lesson I needed in order to become queen, when she decided to retire anyway, and she told me that she was proud that I had seen things her way. I scoffed at that and said that I was going to punish the ponies for taking Wildfire from me, and that was what I did for a thousand years as the new queen of the hive, up until I was defeated time and time again. And now the Marker has pulled my long dead mother back from the depths of my memories... which has made the situation worse, if she's able to do things like Wildfire is."

Isaac noticed something about the way Chrysalis talked about her mother, as she mentioned how the former queen hated ponies and saw them as nothing more than food, was more than willing to shatter her daughter's heart and poison her against all of Equestria, and install a level of fear that he had never seen in Chrysalis. It brought him to several conclusions that were terrible to think about, especially since he could hear some pain in his friend's voice when she spoke about Crudelis. Isaac stepped in front of her and disengaged his helmet, as he knew that she needed to get over this and not collapse, as he could already tell that she was fighting whatever emotions she was feeling at the moment.

"Chrysalis... when you were younger, did your mother beat you or punish you in some manner?" Isaac asked, though he instantly knew he had hit a serious pressure point, as the moment he mentioned it Chrysalis flinched the instant she heard his question, "Wh... what did she do to you?"

"She... beat me for my weaknesses when I was younger," Chrysalis admitted, as it was something she never told anyone, because she had seriously hated her mother and had done her best to bury all the painful memories that her mother had given her, "and, whenever her generals failed her in some manner when she was declaring war, she punished them by taking it out on me, the princess they were supposed to protect, and claimed she was also teaching me a lesson at the same time. Every time the generals failed her my mother would say to them 'do you think I enjoy beating my daughter because of your failures', as it was supposed to motivate them to do better, least something happen to the heir of the hive. To a degree it worked, because the failures decreased over time, but despite that fact I suffered at my mother's hooves whenever they failed her or when I failed her, much to the anger of many of the changelings that lived in the hive at the time.

My time with Wildfire was the only good moments of that point in my life, as it allowed me to get away from who was essentially an abusive mother and let me enjoy some parts of life that she wanted me to stay away from, all because I wanted to rebel against her. The only respite I got from the abuse was when the generals finally rebelled, after I had completed my training to be exact, and declared a civil war between them and my mother, who met her end at the blade of the general that would become my trusted commander for many years."

Isaac sort of understood what was going on, as he had next to no information on changelings and how their society worked, but at the same time he was happy to hear that Chrysalis' mother had got what was coming to her, as even her generals couldn't let her abuse her daughter forever. He understood why Chrysalis had told him, and both Hammond and Kendra at the time, that she had been disliked by many ponies and had disliked them in return, but now he knew why she had been like that, because her mother was a massive bitch and tried to pass that nature to Chrysalis. Sure, his friend told him that she had been somewhat like that when she was in command of the hive, but from the sounds of it Chrysalis tried to provide for her subjects and be a better ruler than her mother, meaning that the attack on Canterlot, whatever that was, had been for resources and supplies for her subjects... something that her mother would have had different targets for if she had been around during the attack.

A few moments later he disengaged his helmet and wrapped his arms around Chrysalis, surprising her for a moment, but she didn't fight it and simply closed her eyes for a moment... to which he let her recover from what he had asked her and didn't say another word, while wondering how to help her overcome the demons that haunted her past.

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