ON: SS Nanashi, approx. 117 light years south of Yamatai.
The SS Nanashi rocked gently as the SMX scout latched onto the hull. Most of the crew was preparing for the worst, some already in the Styrling Everyday Armor from the armory; nearly all clutching the SEP's that had been issued top them. Strange thuds and the sounds of metal against metal resounded, echoing through the interior of the tiny scout. Two points were the most obvious for a boarding: the airlock on the bottom and the shuttle bay on top. A small team had been dispatched to each to prepare to fight back any boarders and hopefully give the Nanashi enough time to escape. Hopefully.
Captain Stravani and the bridge officer, Kaufmann, remained in the bridge, pistols drawn. Kaufmann had gotten himself a set of armor, but the captain remained stoic and refused to don the armor. The shorter man could be seen to be sweating and shaking, very nervous and scared, having obviously not expected something like this, but Kassel Stravani seemed calm. She got on the ship's internal communications and asked, "Nunziac, what's going on out there?"
Lt. Commander Nunziac gripped her SEP tightly as she made her way from the armor storage units towards the shuttle bay where the alien ship had attached itself. "Reed! Baum!" she yelled out at the two junior crewmembers who were finishing up buckling their armor as they followed her down the corridor. "Let's hold here," she said before sweeping her arm towards a nearby door. "Baum! Grab anything from in there that we can use to barricade this hall and use for cover. Hurry up! We don't have much time." The short woman gritted her teeth and peeked around the corner. Her communicator beeped and the message from the Captain came through. "We're near the breach point," she reported in. "They haven't busted through yet; we'll try to lock 'em down here while the NGs get this boat moving again."
Scraps cursed as she tried desperately to try to get at the very least engines going again. Her armor set was cast off to the side. It was too stuffy and she was far too stressed. At the very least she had her pistol though. Practically every system was fried, and the Freespacer wanted to smack the captain for having all these beautiful works of art damaged so. But, it wasn't the time or place for that. "Engineering here. Most everything is busted. I'm working on getting the STL engines going again, but it's in rough shape," Scraps said over the communicator.
"Thank you, Nunziac," Kassel responded to her head of security before switching channels to the engineer, Scraps. "Just make sure that the reactor doesn't become unstable. If we can fend these guys off we should have enough time to fix all the important systems." Captain Stravani's voice was calm and collected. She alone seemed to be unperturbed by what was going on, and she tried her best to keep the situation under control.
"Hey Fairfax, Memphis! We're running rear guard for our little gun-lady!" Sergeant Bernt Vinters barked out, holstering his Styrling Auto 12 and Lorath Handcannon and pulling out his SEP. He had to at least please corporate by using their tools half the time, although he wouldn't screw around if the deceptively tiny pistol ran out. Still, it was an alright weapon for a tough job. "These are Mishhu, so we can expect flankers and swarmers coming in through access point drilled into the hull. Don't shy from those fucking NAM grenades I smuggled in if you can't crowd control normally. This is Bernt, ready for combat, sweeping corridors one and two." He said into the communications channel. "I wanna hear about hull breaches or our people falling down the defense line, and everything the Commander is doing."
Shortly, Nunziac, Baum, and Reed would hear the sounds of metal rending as the shuttle bay doors were wrenched off the hull, then a sound of air escaping which was quickly cut off as the hole was sealed for boarders to get through unharmed. Soon after, the door out of the shuttle bay began to shake and thud, something banging on it, trying to break through. Two decks below, Vinters would notice the hallway getting hotter, and the iris of the airlock changing color from grey to red to white as something burned through. It was only a matter of moments before that corridor was breached.
"Help me here!" Baum shouted as he shoved against a heavy container from the port engine room to act as a protective measure against possible enemy fire. Tara nodded to Reed and the he rushed to help him move it into position. Meanwhile, the Lt. Commander contacted the woman in charge. "Captain!" she yelled into the comm unit, "They've broken into the shuttle bay!" She ducked behind the heavy longbox as it was pushed in front of her and peeked over the edge with her SEP. Baum and Reed joined her, positioning themselves with their own firearms ready for whatever might come next. "Watch and listen for explosives," she whispered harshly. "Get ready to dive if anything is out of place."
All was quiet in the shuttle bay during the moments after the boarders created their entrance. The only noticeable change was the augmentation of the constant, idle hum of the Nanashi, now conducting sound in unison with whatever wicked ship had attached itself to the Origin Industries vessel. From that ever-present whisper came a vile, disgusting choking sound, at first barely audible. It grew as a figure stumbled from the darkness that was the enemy’s boarding point, slowly making its way across the deck.
As it came closer to the waiting crewmembers, they could make out that it was a Nekovalkyrja wearing a Star Army uniform and holding its face with one hand as it steadied itself against whatever was nearby with the other. Thick white fluid laced with strings of blood spilled out of her mouth with each gagging heave that shook and contorted her entire form. When it neared where the Lieutenant Commander and her team were positioned, it collapsed under whatever sickness afflicted it, unable to restrain itself any longer as the substance gushed out onto the floor.
“Hu hu hu hu…” growled a deep bass from the wrecked shuttle bay blast door as the Neko fell. And then there was sound again; a frightful, slithering sound resounded throughout the compartment as the slick, chitinous form of Mishhuvurthyar emerged onto the Nanashi. First one, then another, and then more swarmed through the hole, their myriad tentacles flailing about as they stormed the small, helpless vessel.
"Okay boys, doorways for cover, one row behind me. I'll stay point," Bernt ordered, moving to the doorway niche closest to the potential hull breach as the two subordinates followed, taking up position behind him. He thumbed the string of grenades on his belt and laughed, thinking how much goddamn fun this would be! "The moment that cut opens up, I'll open up on the fast ones and you frag'em."
Not a second later, a similar scene occurred before Vinters as the white-hot airlock melted away, several writing abominations emerging from the smoldering passage. An insidious, raspy slithering sound came with them as a blanket of small, multi-legged creatures surged in every direction from the ruined airlock. They were as living wave, their ruby red eyes contrasting with their brown forms and glimmering like the surface of a tumultuous sea.
"Open fire!" the tiny blonde Lt. Commander commanded as the large bulbous bodies emerged from the passage, pulling the trigger on her own SEP. One... Two... she counted off in her head as she let the automatic fire spray the area in front of her. Twenty seconds was all it took for the SEP to totally drain it's battery firing like this, and she still had two more to spare.
"Imma help her!" Reed shouted, firing off a couple of shots and scooting over towards the end of the storage container.
"Do it and I'll shoot you my goddamn self!" Tara shouted back at him. "Look at her! She's dead!" Three... Four...
"Well y'lazy bastards. Frag'em and bag'em! Then pull back!" the stout, ugly, metal-covered blonde man in the lower deck’s corridor yelled, spray firing his SEP onto the coming parasites as his subordinates tossed a pair of frag Grenades, promptly retreating as he heard the faint 'squish' of a hardened sphere hitting members of the swarm. Fucking die Imperialist weapon rejects! "Hahahaha," He laughed smugly to himself, as the first pair of blasts went off, and the three assumed positions further down the hall. He wasn't going to let himself get swarmed by some pack of mindless insects.
"Sarge? What the hell?" Fairfax asked, incredibly nervous about her superior's behavior. The Geshrin woman had joined for an easy assignment on some crazy executive's pet project, not to face space monsters, and Bernt was getting a bit too into things.
"Stay frosty. Bernt's a tough guy, just let him do his thing," Memphis replied, scratching his beard with his freed hand as he let off another volley of shots onto the horde, a sly grin on his face.
Kassel Checked her SEP as several smaller explosions and a lot of small arms fire resounded within the ship. Whatever was happening, her crew seemed to be putting up a good fight. Kaufmann, on the other hand, was looking even more distressed. He was a little pale, and had begun slinking down behind his station. "Don't worry, I trust them to do their job. You should too," Captain Stravani consoled the man, her face deceptively calm and passive.
Scraps kept working, largely tuning out the commotion of the fighting. She scrambled between physical replacements and changes on the various components of the engines and reactor, and the consoles that controlled them. It was like one giant puzzle, with multiple pieces. Find the right pieces, and you might live! And, it was all the more fun with time constraints!
Bernt and his personnel’s struggle paid off as the Mishhuvurthyar that assailed them were taken down and large swaths of the swarming parasites were eradicated by their grenades. Even so, the sheer numbers of the smaller creatures left them on the defensive and they would need to pull back and seal the area off if they hoped to seek salvation from being overrun.
In the shuttle bay, the Mishhuvurthyar drones advanced, not confined to the small corridor and blast weapons that the other Origin employees were equipped with. Several went down to Tara’s plunging gunfire, squealing with an ear-shattering shriek as they fell to the ground jerking. As the aliens grew closer, they lashed out with their tentacles, wrapping around arms and up along legs, injecting whomever became their victim with the barb-tipped tentacles they possessed. Those unlucky enough to be stuck would find themselves paralyzed, but not killed, fatigued and unable to control their limbs.
Wakazani found himself inside the Gravimetric engines, wearing an EVA suit in case the hull had been breached. The Yamataian male had sandwiched himself between two rather warm components and was working diligently to realign the projectors, but it wasn't much use, they were toast, and the only possible way they were going to move was to use the backup Ion engines, or get the FTL running. The FTL, he had checked, would be fine if they could find the power cable that had been severed and splice it. "Scraps!" he called through his communicator, "the Gravimetric drives are gone, but the CDD is in good shape, we just need to find the power cable and reconnect it."
"Power cable?" Scraps smacked herself in the face, hard. "...Ow! Right, on it." How could she miss something so simple? Foregoing all safety precautions, the Freespacer just jumped in, heading straight into the maintenance tunnels. "Let's see here, where is that cable?" she asked aloud to no one in particular as she moved along, looking for the source of their problems.
Five... Six... Seven... Eight... As the Mishhu managed to slowly gain ground, Tara yelled into her communicator as she continued spraying the area in front of her with focused laser fire. "Captain! We're falling back!" Nine... Ten... Eleven... The blonde woman tired to ignore as Reed was snatched up. He kicked and screamed for a moment, before being jammed with a paralytic needle and slowly falling silent, his pistol falling from his hand. Twelve... "Shit!" Tara swore as a tentacle wrapped around her ankle. She dropped her communicator and aimed her gun down at the appendage that had latched on to her. "Fall back," she screamed at Baum, who only nodded grimly before heading down towards the bridge.
Baum stepped into the elevator, only to find it full of what appeared to be meter long centipedes. "FUCK!" he shouted, opening up once more with his pistol "We're trapped, Nunziac!" the man yelled, an edge of terror to his voice as he continued to fire on the parasites that steadily moved up through the shaft towards their position.
The Neko whom had lain fallen in the shuttle bay since the Mishhuvurthyar began their horrific assault began to twitch, the back of its form-fitting uniform rippling as fleshy appendages burst from beneath its skin. The one quickly became many, hefting the dead husk up like some kind of wretched spider. As Reed was dropped by the Mishhuvurthyar who had assailed him, the new abomination leapt upon his motionless body, forcing several tentacles into his body, finding natural openings and creating new ones. Although he could not move, nor express his dread, his eyes screamed as his innards were sucked out to feed the hungry monster. The metamorphosis had cost it some energy, after all.
"Dirty bug." Bernt reached out with his cybernetic arm, crushing one of the parasites as it attempted to penetrate a metallic plate over his neck, and tossing it into the crowd, as Fairfax and Memphis tossed double volleys of frag grenades deeper into the swarm. Frags aren't cutting it. I guess it's WP or Engineering is going to get overrun. He couldn't take it anymore, and even if he lost his job, he'd burn the swarm and cut off their entrance! "This thing better work!" he yelled, triggering and tossing a white phosphorus grenade into the makeshift doorway created by the borders, angrily stomping and shooting at the approaching swarm.
While they had made it this far, his two subordinates had unfortunately been swarmed and stung by the parasites, only to be picked up and carried off by their burly commander, who slung them both over his shoulder. In his haste, he brushed off Fairfax's tiny assailant, but Memphis' was suspiciously gone when he had picked the man up.
The incendiary grenade pushed the parasitic wave back, burning an uncountable mass of the creatures in one fell swoop. As Bernt retreated with his wounded comrades, they would stop their advance in his direction, frightened by the fiery display. Still, the flow of their kind continued down towards the lower and upper levels that had not been covered by the valiant crewmembers.
Back in the Gravimetric Engines, Wakazani disentangled himself from the mess that was the Gravimetric Engines and moved towards one of the maintenance tunnels, but found it had been blocked by wreckage. Suddenly getting nervous, the technician grabbed his SEP from the ground near the door into the lower corridor, and grasped the door handle, taking a deep breath, and contemplated opening the door.
After some searching, Scraps finally found what she believed to be the cable. And it was severed, as Wakazani had thought. "Let's see...." The Freespacer searched through her supplies for something to fix it with. Once she gathered the necessary tools, she got to work.
Wakazani pulled his hand back from the door. No, he thought "I'm a fixer, not a fighter. Gotta do what I can and not kill myself," he muttered, heading back to the maintenance conduit and shooting some of the scrap to get it out of the way. He squeezed into the tunnel, and wormed his way through, until he came upon scraps. "Scraps!" he called, meeting up with her. "I see you've found it. Here, I've got some pieces," the Yamataian said, pulling some superconducting wires from a bag hooked on his belt. It would only be a matter of moments before the cable was fixed.
"Ah, there you are. Thanks!" Scraps carefully started splicing the cable, being careful not to shock herself. That'd be bad, and the worst way to go considering what was happening on board. "So... how are you?" she asked randomly. She wanted some small talk and talking about impending doom wasn't the best topic.
"I've been better" Wakazani replied simply while rooting around in the tunnel. He found a control line that had also severed under the strain and began patching that up himself, hoping it would do some good.
On the main deck, thirteen never came for Tara. At seeing the young man ripped to shreds, and hearing the report from Baum, the head of security on the Nanashi ducked down, swooped up Reed's dropped handgun and held down the trigger on both pistols as she dashed into the top deck's starboard engine room where one of the two large ion engines were housed.
Tara’s burst tore through the large Mishhuvurthyar who remained and wounded the transformed Neko as it fed. Parasites closed around Baum and surged forth, seeming to appear from under every loose panel and space on the elevator he’d opened. Behind the man, more Mishhuvurthyar drones came through the breach, and this time they brought with them several slender, multi-eyed beings with a wicked set of fangs and as many tentacles as one would expect from the SMX. The same happened on the main deck as more came in the airlock, advancing behind Vinters. The Nanashi was being gorged with the alien fiends, pushing and slamming at every blocked threshold they could find as the small parasites worked their way though the insides of bulkheads and maintenance passageways.
In the bridge, Kaufmann was surprised as a display suddenly lit up, reading power was returning to the CDD "Um… Ma'am?" the man asked tentatively "I think the engineers got something working again"
"What?" the captain asked.
"The CDD, Ma'am."
"Try powering up, and see if you can't punch us out of here."
"Yes Ma'am"
Once inside the engine room, Tara quickly slammed the knuckleguard of Reed's SEP into the emergency control panel to seal the room off. Feeling safer for the moment, she exchanged out the batteries in her guns for fresh ones and exchanged the used batteries for fresh ones from the wall charger. Using the console in the computer room, she tried to get in contact with the bridge. "Captain! Can you read me? Are you there?" she frantically yelled at the machine.
Kassel's calm voice would respond to the hysterical woman. "We're still here. The Engies seem to have gotten the CDD back online. We're going to try and punch out. Are you somewhere secure?" she asked, waiting for a response. The hallway seemed slightly quieter, less scraping noises and no more gunfire. Hopefully it was a good thing.
"UGH!" Bernt exclaimed, pulling out his Auto 12 and discharging a blast of rapid-fire buckshot at the offensive looking creatures and retreated into a room. What. The. Fuck. Setting his two subordinates to the side, he lit a cigar and placed it in his mouth, grunting wryly at the situation. "Don't do anything stupid, you fucks. I might die saving you, and I'll beat you up in Hell if you show up right afterwards," he barked at the motionless bodies, exiting the room and locking it with his rank-specific security code.
The stout man glared at the misshapen, alien figures. Dirty freaks.
Handcannon shots and buckshot followed the last of the man's two white phosphorus grenades, leaving him with a plasma charge and two frags, and the ridiculous bandoleer he insisted on wearing over his suit. "Come you fucks! Forfeit your lives!"
Bernt’s weapons fire broke the momentary silence, his shots hitting their marks amongst the now sparsely-packed corridor that had been packed moments before when he’d dragged his men into the safety of another compartment. Then, a loud thud shook the area, if not the entire ship. Its source seemed to be the small, melted-open airlock that so many had emerged from minutes earlier. Again, the vessel shook around Bernt Vinters as he stood his ground, hard-hearted. As the impacts became more and more rapid, the area immediately around the airlock moved and the bulkhead was rent asunder.
The huge claws that bored they way into the Nanashi were followed by a massive hulk that spilled its behemoth form into the hallway. Not even the parasites continued to come as it turned towards Bernt, snorting as it sensed his presence. It jerked its large head about, roaring in excitement as it charged the burly Nepleslian, ruining the ship’s walls as it bucked and slashed towards him.
Wakazani finished patching the control cable then turned to Scraps. "Hey, I got this, you should go check if anything else needs fixing," he said, waiting for the 'Spacer girl to give a tentative "o-okay" and leave, backing down the tunnel towards the engineering section. Wakazani quickly got to work, splicing the thick cable in many different spots, hoping the repairs would be enough. On the bridge, Kaufmann sat back up in his command chair as the gunfire resumed, this time louder, and accompanied by yelling. The crewer initiated the startup sequence for the CDD and it began humming, seemingly brought back to life. The sudden wrenching of the ship's ventral surface, however, made the still-working Wakazani slip into the cable. The entire ship could hear a blood-curdling scream accompanied by a horrendous zapping and crackling sound, and the lights suddenly shut off. Emergency lights quickly flickered on in their place, a dim red color.
Hearing the Captain's calm voice was not very soothing to the small woman. She had served under Kassel long enough to know that nothing seemed to faze her. For all Tara knew, the Captain could be facing a worse hell than she was. "Reed's gone," she reported angrily, spittle flying from her lips to hit the console, "Baum's missing! And I'm locked in the starboard ion engine room." As she finished speaking, the room went completely dark for a couple of seconds. "Fuck!" she yelled in frustration just before the emergency lights dimly lit the room. "You still read me, Captain?" Tara asked cautiously.
Tara would get no response, internal communications having been cut. She was alone.
“FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-” Some survival instinct deep in his heavily concussed brain told the battered veteran that he should run, as he swallowed what might have been a hailstorm of exploitive and tossed a burst-on-impact plasma grenade at the rampaging creature before bolted for the bridge. There was never a moment in his violent and drunken life where he thought he could ever run faster, and that this stretch of metal and composite someone in a cozy office called a 'standard hallway' would be the site of his feeling magnum opus. “Fucks! Open this damn door. El toro Mishhu's around the goddamn corner!”
The door to the bridge opened a crack, Kassel's SEP pointed out of it before identifying Bernt. "What is it?" the captain asked, quickly ushering the man inside. "How are things out there? Power’s completely gone."
"Like I know? Let me in before fuck knows shows up, and I'll tell you what the fuck I do know," Bernt barked, toning his voice down as he realized who he was talking to. "Ma’am. I've managed to burn out their entrance points, but they sent one that white phosphorous doesn't hurt."
"Alright, alright," Kassel said, attempting a grim smile and letting the man in, closing the door behind herself. Things didn't seem to be going well, after all. Tara was cut off, Bernt had lost his squad, power was gone, and they certainly weren't going anywhere. Might as well make a last stand.
"So, what do we do? Kaufmann asked shakily from behind his console. "I don't think we can win" he pointed out with worry across his face. "We should escape," the hysterical man finally suggested. Captain Stravani turned to Bernt "Well? You think we can make it? Someone's gotta tell what happened here."
With the large blast doors in place, Tara couldn't hear what was going on outside. At the very least, it seemed like they were leaving her alone, but without communication to the outside, the engine room suddenly seemed a lot smaller to the Security Officer. She felt a shiver travel up her spine. Being alone wasn't so bad, but being truly disconnected and—was the room getting smaller? Tara shook her head and tried to concentrate.
In Engineering, Scraps would emerge to see the crispy, electrocuted remains of her friend, Wakazani. She approached him, tears flowing from her eyes and a quivering hand outstretched in front of her. But she could not bring herself to lay hands upon him, for his state was too gruesome to bear. Just at that moment she could hear the blast door slide open and closed and the click of boots against the ship’s floor behind her. The young, scared, alone ‘Spacer stood catatonic for a split second as the footsteps stopped and then swung around, pulling a spanner from her belt in an attempt to strike at whatever was behind her.
Where her attack should have made contact, she only felt a firm grasp on her tattooed forearm. Scraps’ heavy breathing and wide-eyes were her only signs of terror as she confronted what held her—a small Nekovalkyrja with long, straight black hair who wore the Yamataian rank of Chujo. She was beautiful, with sharp features and smooth, supple skin, but stared blankly at her captive, cocking her head to the side in examination.
“L-l-let me go!” Scraps demanded, tears still rolling down her face. She struggled to free herself, and just as she thrashed violently enough to stand a chance a breaking free, the Neko tightened her hold, cracking the girl’s forearm and causing it to fall limp beside her, the spanner it had been grasping clattering to the ground. As the spacer shrieked, the Neko clutched the girl by the throat with her left hand, bringing their two faces close enough for Scraps to feel a breath that should have been there.
The Neko continued to examine the Deodrah, parasites gathering at her feet. One amongst their number slid up her leg, disappearing beneath her type 30 skirt and reemerging as it slithered around her right arm and into her free hand. And just as Scraps’ whimpering faded into catatonia, the Chujo thrust the parasite up from below, forcing it into the helpless crewmember…
"I can kill as many as you like, but holding down a position is going to be goddamn impossible," Vinters said, hastily reloading his Auto 12 as he stepped into the bridge and slammed the door behind him. He grunted and thumbed the safety off, with a grim grin. "We move, or we die. We kill, or we die. Lucky for you guys, I'm good at two of them, and I ain't dead yet."
In other parts of the vessel, the Mishhuvurthyar continued to flood in. Fairfax would be turned with the help Memphis, and both would proceed to join their new brethren. The sheer numbers aboard began to attempt to force open any closed doors they came upon, tentacles, claws, and acids all doing what they could in the effort. Parasites wormed they way through the tiniest spaces. Both those on the bridge and Tara in the engine compartment could hear what assailed them, and would know that they were surrounded. They could hear the same gagging that had been heard in the shuttle bay from their now-turned crewmates, and see viscous liquids seep beneath doors and through seams on walls where armor plate met armor plate.
"Then we go," the captain said simply, pulling Kaufmann to his feet and dragging the now protesting man to the door. "Straight to the elevator, straight down. Bernt and I will cover you. Get to the pod as quickly as you can. And take this," Stravani said, shoving a small memory card into Kaufmann's hand. "This is all the recordings we managed before power went out"
"B- But, Ma'am…"
"No ‘buts.’ I am your captain, and I'm ordering you to do this, alright?"
"Ye-Yes Ma'am."
With that, Kassel opened the door and followed her own directions, straight to the elevator, straight down, Kaufmann in tow. As soon as she saw the beast, her eyes widened in shock, but she showed no other apparent emotions, simply firing on it, and waiting for Bernt.
"Fuck no! Just run," he barked at the captain, pushing her on and running. As much as he really wanted to kill more of those things, there was no way they'd make it out alive with basic firearms.
Reflexively Tara shot at the goo starting to seep around the door seal. It didn't do anything, but it made her feel a little bit better. The walls were still contracting around her and she was now huddled in the corner so that she could see as much of the room as possible. It helped, but not by much. Biting her bottom lip, she wondered what else she could do, but from the noises that were managing to get through now, perhaps she was in the safest place she could be.
Tara’s protective barrier opened, dim scarlet light spilling in around a humanoid silhouette as parasites encroached into the room. Its hand fell from the door’s activation panel when it stepped in with the Lieutenant Commander; Baum lurched forward, his head dangling forward as if his neck broken. A tentacle slithered up his cheek and more revealed themselves from behind him, all pointing at the frightened blonde security chief. A vicious array writhed menacingly, some dripping disgusting, sweet smelling fluids while others pulsed with round shapes moving through them as the changed man continued his advance.
Kassel continued firing on the huge beast, spurring Kaufmann on, who seemed to be mostly cowering and shooting anything that got near his feet. "Well come on then!" she yelled to Bernt, closing in on an escape pod. She slammed a fist into the release, opening the pod and shoving Kaufmann in "You next, Bernt!" she yelled at her apparently sole remaining security officer, still firing at the abomination in the center of the room. Running out of ammunition, she popped a battery out and replaced it as quickly as she could, but the lapse in fire was long enough for one of the Mishhu to lash out with a sharpened tentacle and slash her across the chest, cutting her open with a wicked looking gash. After crying out in pain, Captain Stravani grunted angrily and raised her weapon weakly, continuing her covering fire.
"Hah, fuck no. I'd never live with myself if I let a woman die protecting me," Bernt grunted, tossing all of his remaining two frags and emptying all of his remaining shells into the creature and grabbed the Captain by the waist. As he run out, he ejected the forearm that encased his left arm, exposing a terrifying chainsaw that burst into blue-white plasmatic fire. Supporting the injured woman, he slashed angrily at any and all incoming tentacles, setting them ablaze and searing them shut. He lit a second cigar on the plasmatic flame, and with a grin, tended it to Kassel. "Besides, I've always wanted to fuck you... and that tiny chick."
"That's... very... comforting," Kassel managed to get out, sarcastically. She let go of the hatch's control, the door of the pod closing, followed by a swishing sound as it blasted out of the ship. Captain Stravani continued her firing along with Bernt, but as much as the continued fire stopped the smaller enemies, it only angered the behemoth in the center of the room, which finally had enough and began lumbering towards the duo, its considerable bulk shaking the ship as it closed in on the captain and the security officer.
"Stay alive, Cap. If you die, I'll be copping a feel in Hell," Bernt grunted with a coy grin, patting the woman on the butt as he let go of her waist. "I know I'm not handsome, but you'll at least find me handy. Got a spare pack for your SEP?" His right hand was stretched out, while his arm still hacked away at swarms of angry tentacles, scattering ash and charred meat in every direction. His words seemed to be getting less brave and increasingly ironic as he spoke them.
"Of... course," the captain responded, her legs and arms shaky as blood drained from the gash on her chest. She could barely think beyond shooting, but still managed to pull out an extra battery for her SEP, handing it to him as the creature came closer to them.
In the ion reactor compartment, Baum continued to take a few more slow, shambling steps forward before the hot laser blasts from the Lieutenant Commander's pistol caught him a number of times in the chest, sending him backwards into the rest of the approaching crowd. But his job was complete, the damage done. One of the bulbous creatures that had followed him in lashed a tentacle at her, snatching the pistol from her grip, and when she went to shoot with the second one, it took that one from her too. "Goddamn you!" she shouted, before it lashed out again, injecting her in the arm with a paralytic poison. As she struggled to get on her feet, determined to not give up yet, it struck her again in the leg and in the right side of her chest—one to relax her and one to make everything feel better.
With all the drugs flowing through her veins, Tara toppled forward onto the ground. Everything was getting fuzzy, and it was hard to stay angry. She could feel better than she could see and as the creature moved its slimy appendages around her body it made her feel warm, almost safe. She could hear something on the edge of her mind as it wormed its way around and into her body, something that almost sounded like laughing. A crooked smile crossed her face as she was enveloped by the mass of writhing tentacles, feeling naughty at how good it made her feel. Not even realizing what it was doing to her, what it was preparing her for…
"Well... I woulda got you flowers, but brutal honesty is all I got. You're everything a simple guy like me wants in a woman," Bernt said, plugging the charge pack into his arm. It would hold; it had to hold! "Discipline..." He stepped forward, the plasmatic field increasing in size, causing the skin of his upper arm to brown and blacken. "...skill, personality..." He pointed it forwards, diagonally towards the crab-like monstrosity, chuckling. "...And tits." His chainsaw stopped gyrating, instead drastically increasing in size, and finally projecting a massive cutting beam forwards at the creature. "So I'll be fucked sideways if that goes to waste because of some fucking perverted super-soldier reject!" he said gruffly, his voice overshadowed by the sound of a plasmatic detonation on his arm, sending him flying into the wall behind him.
Covered in ash and foul juices, he cracked a gold-toothed smile, as his left arm had become a stump covered in reddened skin, metal hunks and soot. "Fuck yes. Always wanted to try... that," Bernt said, lighting his last cigar on the embers clinging to his arm, and drawing his last breath.
Kassel was blown to the side by the blast, and just as Bernt breathed his last, the giant crab-type Mishhu slammed into the wall, pummeling the body into unrecognizable bits. Captain Stravani shook her head, it seemed to have cleared a little "Dammit…" she muttered, looking around wild eyed at all the aliens. She was alone, hurt, surrounded, and, by any definition, fucked. For once in her adult life, Kassel Stravani was scared, and it was obvious. Any remains of the calm and cool person were gone. And so, the woman flipped out, firing wildly with what was left of her SEP's battery as she raced across the deck, running to the other escape pod. She never made it, halfway to the pod, her luck ran out, dozens upon dozens of tentacles lifting her off her feet and pulling her towards the hole in the floor. Nothing left for her, the captain screamed a scream of pure terror and agony—a scream that was cut short by a tentacle forcing its way down her throat as the mass pulled her down.
From the escape pod's window, Kaufmann could see the Nanashi, two ships had docked with it, both obviously Mishhuvurthyar scouts. A third such ship sat in ruins not far away, the result of the battle that had ended so badly just 30 minutes before. Kaufmann searched the nav computer for the nearest system he might call safe... somewhere in the United Outer Colonies. He punched a button, and the tiny craft launched into FTL, setting up for a long ride to what was hopefully safety.
~Epilogue~
With the Nanashi’s final log sent away in an undetected escape pod, the plethora of creatures still aboard the small ship continued to scour the ship and make it their own. With the help of those who now shared a symbiosis with one of the parasites, the entire vessel was at their disposal. On the bridge, the swarm of Mishhuvurthyar parted as the Nekovalkyrja mind-slave in a Chujo’s battledress, and a new Freespacer charm added to the many and seemingly random award ribbons and rank pins she wore, stepped up to the captain’s seat and accessed communications.
“We have completed the task,” it said, staring as blankly as it ever had towards the freakish anathema that now graced the ship’s main viewing screen. “What would you have us do? We personally ensured that they were all turned in spite of our unbalanced losses compared to those who are yours.” Its voice was as beautiful as its form, but lacked any sort of emotion; it spoke so softly that you could mistake its words as a faraway echo, but what it said commanded attention. “It is Our demand that we shall keep this craft.”
On the screen a hulking form wearing a massive black cloak waved a huge claw in the air. "YOU WILL TURN THE SHIP AROUND AND RETURN IT WHERE IT CAME FROM," a booming, demanding voice replied from the form. "CONTINUE TO SPREAD AND MY VICTORY WILL BE EVER SWEETER. HU HU HU~."
The Chujo remained motionless for a few moments before speaking. “We have conferred with Our kin. This is an acceptable course of action,” it responded plainly. “Yours are not required here any longer. We demand that you leave us after this craft is sufficient for infiltration.” It angled its head ever-so-slightly, no doubt its way of attempting to imitate a questioning expression. “You have no objections to these wishes? We would find it unfortunate to force Our explicit request upon yours.”
The figure on the screen rumbled, the bright colors painted on it's hard outer shell briefly showing through it's thick garment. "YOU HAVE CHOSEN THAT SHIP, SO MINE WILL NOW RETURN TO MY FLEET AS WE CONTINUE TOWARDS MY GOAL," it announced. "DO NOT CONTACT ME AGAIN UNTIL YOU CAN REPORT ON MORE SUBJUGATION."
“Concurrence is mutual. We wish you and yours eternal victory,” the Chujo told her counterpart. “Goodbye.”
And with that, the communications feed was closed.
END
Dramatis personae
Kai as Captain Kassel Stravani, Kaufmann, and Wakazani
Revolver as Lieutenant Commander Tara Nunziac, Baum, Reed, and The Great General Carbleaudex
Kyoki as Gearhead Scraps Two Three
Exhack as Sergeant Bernt Vinters, Fairfax, and Memphis
and
raz as Chujo Kiseichuu and the Mishhuvurthyar Abominations
The SS Nanashi rocked gently as the SMX scout latched onto the hull. Most of the crew was preparing for the worst, some already in the Styrling Everyday Armor from the armory; nearly all clutching the SEP's that had been issued top them. Strange thuds and the sounds of metal against metal resounded, echoing through the interior of the tiny scout. Two points were the most obvious for a boarding: the airlock on the bottom and the shuttle bay on top. A small team had been dispatched to each to prepare to fight back any boarders and hopefully give the Nanashi enough time to escape. Hopefully.
Captain Stravani and the bridge officer, Kaufmann, remained in the bridge, pistols drawn. Kaufmann had gotten himself a set of armor, but the captain remained stoic and refused to don the armor. The shorter man could be seen to be sweating and shaking, very nervous and scared, having obviously not expected something like this, but Kassel Stravani seemed calm. She got on the ship's internal communications and asked, "Nunziac, what's going on out there?"
Lt. Commander Nunziac gripped her SEP tightly as she made her way from the armor storage units towards the shuttle bay where the alien ship had attached itself. "Reed! Baum!" she yelled out at the two junior crewmembers who were finishing up buckling their armor as they followed her down the corridor. "Let's hold here," she said before sweeping her arm towards a nearby door. "Baum! Grab anything from in there that we can use to barricade this hall and use for cover. Hurry up! We don't have much time." The short woman gritted her teeth and peeked around the corner. Her communicator beeped and the message from the Captain came through. "We're near the breach point," she reported in. "They haven't busted through yet; we'll try to lock 'em down here while the NGs get this boat moving again."
Scraps cursed as she tried desperately to try to get at the very least engines going again. Her armor set was cast off to the side. It was too stuffy and she was far too stressed. At the very least she had her pistol though. Practically every system was fried, and the Freespacer wanted to smack the captain for having all these beautiful works of art damaged so. But, it wasn't the time or place for that. "Engineering here. Most everything is busted. I'm working on getting the STL engines going again, but it's in rough shape," Scraps said over the communicator.
"Thank you, Nunziac," Kassel responded to her head of security before switching channels to the engineer, Scraps. "Just make sure that the reactor doesn't become unstable. If we can fend these guys off we should have enough time to fix all the important systems." Captain Stravani's voice was calm and collected. She alone seemed to be unperturbed by what was going on, and she tried her best to keep the situation under control.
"Hey Fairfax, Memphis! We're running rear guard for our little gun-lady!" Sergeant Bernt Vinters barked out, holstering his Styrling Auto 12 and Lorath Handcannon and pulling out his SEP. He had to at least please corporate by using their tools half the time, although he wouldn't screw around if the deceptively tiny pistol ran out. Still, it was an alright weapon for a tough job. "These are Mishhu, so we can expect flankers and swarmers coming in through access point drilled into the hull. Don't shy from those fucking NAM grenades I smuggled in if you can't crowd control normally. This is Bernt, ready for combat, sweeping corridors one and two." He said into the communications channel. "I wanna hear about hull breaches or our people falling down the defense line, and everything the Commander is doing."
Shortly, Nunziac, Baum, and Reed would hear the sounds of metal rending as the shuttle bay doors were wrenched off the hull, then a sound of air escaping which was quickly cut off as the hole was sealed for boarders to get through unharmed. Soon after, the door out of the shuttle bay began to shake and thud, something banging on it, trying to break through. Two decks below, Vinters would notice the hallway getting hotter, and the iris of the airlock changing color from grey to red to white as something burned through. It was only a matter of moments before that corridor was breached.
"Help me here!" Baum shouted as he shoved against a heavy container from the port engine room to act as a protective measure against possible enemy fire. Tara nodded to Reed and the he rushed to help him move it into position. Meanwhile, the Lt. Commander contacted the woman in charge. "Captain!" she yelled into the comm unit, "They've broken into the shuttle bay!" She ducked behind the heavy longbox as it was pushed in front of her and peeked over the edge with her SEP. Baum and Reed joined her, positioning themselves with their own firearms ready for whatever might come next. "Watch and listen for explosives," she whispered harshly. "Get ready to dive if anything is out of place."
All was quiet in the shuttle bay during the moments after the boarders created their entrance. The only noticeable change was the augmentation of the constant, idle hum of the Nanashi, now conducting sound in unison with whatever wicked ship had attached itself to the Origin Industries vessel. From that ever-present whisper came a vile, disgusting choking sound, at first barely audible. It grew as a figure stumbled from the darkness that was the enemy’s boarding point, slowly making its way across the deck.
As it came closer to the waiting crewmembers, they could make out that it was a Nekovalkyrja wearing a Star Army uniform and holding its face with one hand as it steadied itself against whatever was nearby with the other. Thick white fluid laced with strings of blood spilled out of her mouth with each gagging heave that shook and contorted her entire form. When it neared where the Lieutenant Commander and her team were positioned, it collapsed under whatever sickness afflicted it, unable to restrain itself any longer as the substance gushed out onto the floor.
“Hu hu hu hu…” growled a deep bass from the wrecked shuttle bay blast door as the Neko fell. And then there was sound again; a frightful, slithering sound resounded throughout the compartment as the slick, chitinous form of Mishhuvurthyar emerged onto the Nanashi. First one, then another, and then more swarmed through the hole, their myriad tentacles flailing about as they stormed the small, helpless vessel.
"Okay boys, doorways for cover, one row behind me. I'll stay point," Bernt ordered, moving to the doorway niche closest to the potential hull breach as the two subordinates followed, taking up position behind him. He thumbed the string of grenades on his belt and laughed, thinking how much goddamn fun this would be! "The moment that cut opens up, I'll open up on the fast ones and you frag'em."
Not a second later, a similar scene occurred before Vinters as the white-hot airlock melted away, several writing abominations emerging from the smoldering passage. An insidious, raspy slithering sound came with them as a blanket of small, multi-legged creatures surged in every direction from the ruined airlock. They were as living wave, their ruby red eyes contrasting with their brown forms and glimmering like the surface of a tumultuous sea.
"Open fire!" the tiny blonde Lt. Commander commanded as the large bulbous bodies emerged from the passage, pulling the trigger on her own SEP. One... Two... she counted off in her head as she let the automatic fire spray the area in front of her. Twenty seconds was all it took for the SEP to totally drain it's battery firing like this, and she still had two more to spare.
"Imma help her!" Reed shouted, firing off a couple of shots and scooting over towards the end of the storage container.
"Do it and I'll shoot you my goddamn self!" Tara shouted back at him. "Look at her! She's dead!" Three... Four...
"Well y'lazy bastards. Frag'em and bag'em! Then pull back!" the stout, ugly, metal-covered blonde man in the lower deck’s corridor yelled, spray firing his SEP onto the coming parasites as his subordinates tossed a pair of frag Grenades, promptly retreating as he heard the faint 'squish' of a hardened sphere hitting members of the swarm. Fucking die Imperialist weapon rejects! "Hahahaha," He laughed smugly to himself, as the first pair of blasts went off, and the three assumed positions further down the hall. He wasn't going to let himself get swarmed by some pack of mindless insects.
"Sarge? What the hell?" Fairfax asked, incredibly nervous about her superior's behavior. The Geshrin woman had joined for an easy assignment on some crazy executive's pet project, not to face space monsters, and Bernt was getting a bit too into things.
"Stay frosty. Bernt's a tough guy, just let him do his thing," Memphis replied, scratching his beard with his freed hand as he let off another volley of shots onto the horde, a sly grin on his face.
Kassel Checked her SEP as several smaller explosions and a lot of small arms fire resounded within the ship. Whatever was happening, her crew seemed to be putting up a good fight. Kaufmann, on the other hand, was looking even more distressed. He was a little pale, and had begun slinking down behind his station. "Don't worry, I trust them to do their job. You should too," Captain Stravani consoled the man, her face deceptively calm and passive.
Scraps kept working, largely tuning out the commotion of the fighting. She scrambled between physical replacements and changes on the various components of the engines and reactor, and the consoles that controlled them. It was like one giant puzzle, with multiple pieces. Find the right pieces, and you might live! And, it was all the more fun with time constraints!
Bernt and his personnel’s struggle paid off as the Mishhuvurthyar that assailed them were taken down and large swaths of the swarming parasites were eradicated by their grenades. Even so, the sheer numbers of the smaller creatures left them on the defensive and they would need to pull back and seal the area off if they hoped to seek salvation from being overrun.
In the shuttle bay, the Mishhuvurthyar drones advanced, not confined to the small corridor and blast weapons that the other Origin employees were equipped with. Several went down to Tara’s plunging gunfire, squealing with an ear-shattering shriek as they fell to the ground jerking. As the aliens grew closer, they lashed out with their tentacles, wrapping around arms and up along legs, injecting whomever became their victim with the barb-tipped tentacles they possessed. Those unlucky enough to be stuck would find themselves paralyzed, but not killed, fatigued and unable to control their limbs.
Wakazani found himself inside the Gravimetric engines, wearing an EVA suit in case the hull had been breached. The Yamataian male had sandwiched himself between two rather warm components and was working diligently to realign the projectors, but it wasn't much use, they were toast, and the only possible way they were going to move was to use the backup Ion engines, or get the FTL running. The FTL, he had checked, would be fine if they could find the power cable that had been severed and splice it. "Scraps!" he called through his communicator, "the Gravimetric drives are gone, but the CDD is in good shape, we just need to find the power cable and reconnect it."
"Power cable?" Scraps smacked herself in the face, hard. "...Ow! Right, on it." How could she miss something so simple? Foregoing all safety precautions, the Freespacer just jumped in, heading straight into the maintenance tunnels. "Let's see here, where is that cable?" she asked aloud to no one in particular as she moved along, looking for the source of their problems.
Five... Six... Seven... Eight... As the Mishhu managed to slowly gain ground, Tara yelled into her communicator as she continued spraying the area in front of her with focused laser fire. "Captain! We're falling back!" Nine... Ten... Eleven... The blonde woman tired to ignore as Reed was snatched up. He kicked and screamed for a moment, before being jammed with a paralytic needle and slowly falling silent, his pistol falling from his hand. Twelve... "Shit!" Tara swore as a tentacle wrapped around her ankle. She dropped her communicator and aimed her gun down at the appendage that had latched on to her. "Fall back," she screamed at Baum, who only nodded grimly before heading down towards the bridge.
Baum stepped into the elevator, only to find it full of what appeared to be meter long centipedes. "FUCK!" he shouted, opening up once more with his pistol "We're trapped, Nunziac!" the man yelled, an edge of terror to his voice as he continued to fire on the parasites that steadily moved up through the shaft towards their position.
The Neko whom had lain fallen in the shuttle bay since the Mishhuvurthyar began their horrific assault began to twitch, the back of its form-fitting uniform rippling as fleshy appendages burst from beneath its skin. The one quickly became many, hefting the dead husk up like some kind of wretched spider. As Reed was dropped by the Mishhuvurthyar who had assailed him, the new abomination leapt upon his motionless body, forcing several tentacles into his body, finding natural openings and creating new ones. Although he could not move, nor express his dread, his eyes screamed as his innards were sucked out to feed the hungry monster. The metamorphosis had cost it some energy, after all.
"Dirty bug." Bernt reached out with his cybernetic arm, crushing one of the parasites as it attempted to penetrate a metallic plate over his neck, and tossing it into the crowd, as Fairfax and Memphis tossed double volleys of frag grenades deeper into the swarm. Frags aren't cutting it. I guess it's WP or Engineering is going to get overrun. He couldn't take it anymore, and even if he lost his job, he'd burn the swarm and cut off their entrance! "This thing better work!" he yelled, triggering and tossing a white phosphorus grenade into the makeshift doorway created by the borders, angrily stomping and shooting at the approaching swarm.
While they had made it this far, his two subordinates had unfortunately been swarmed and stung by the parasites, only to be picked up and carried off by their burly commander, who slung them both over his shoulder. In his haste, he brushed off Fairfax's tiny assailant, but Memphis' was suspiciously gone when he had picked the man up.
The incendiary grenade pushed the parasitic wave back, burning an uncountable mass of the creatures in one fell swoop. As Bernt retreated with his wounded comrades, they would stop their advance in his direction, frightened by the fiery display. Still, the flow of their kind continued down towards the lower and upper levels that had not been covered by the valiant crewmembers.
Back in the Gravimetric Engines, Wakazani disentangled himself from the mess that was the Gravimetric Engines and moved towards one of the maintenance tunnels, but found it had been blocked by wreckage. Suddenly getting nervous, the technician grabbed his SEP from the ground near the door into the lower corridor, and grasped the door handle, taking a deep breath, and contemplated opening the door.
After some searching, Scraps finally found what she believed to be the cable. And it was severed, as Wakazani had thought. "Let's see...." The Freespacer searched through her supplies for something to fix it with. Once she gathered the necessary tools, she got to work.
Wakazani pulled his hand back from the door. No, he thought "I'm a fixer, not a fighter. Gotta do what I can and not kill myself," he muttered, heading back to the maintenance conduit and shooting some of the scrap to get it out of the way. He squeezed into the tunnel, and wormed his way through, until he came upon scraps. "Scraps!" he called, meeting up with her. "I see you've found it. Here, I've got some pieces," the Yamataian said, pulling some superconducting wires from a bag hooked on his belt. It would only be a matter of moments before the cable was fixed.
"Ah, there you are. Thanks!" Scraps carefully started splicing the cable, being careful not to shock herself. That'd be bad, and the worst way to go considering what was happening on board. "So... how are you?" she asked randomly. She wanted some small talk and talking about impending doom wasn't the best topic.
"I've been better" Wakazani replied simply while rooting around in the tunnel. He found a control line that had also severed under the strain and began patching that up himself, hoping it would do some good.
On the main deck, thirteen never came for Tara. At seeing the young man ripped to shreds, and hearing the report from Baum, the head of security on the Nanashi ducked down, swooped up Reed's dropped handgun and held down the trigger on both pistols as she dashed into the top deck's starboard engine room where one of the two large ion engines were housed.
Tara’s burst tore through the large Mishhuvurthyar who remained and wounded the transformed Neko as it fed. Parasites closed around Baum and surged forth, seeming to appear from under every loose panel and space on the elevator he’d opened. Behind the man, more Mishhuvurthyar drones came through the breach, and this time they brought with them several slender, multi-eyed beings with a wicked set of fangs and as many tentacles as one would expect from the SMX. The same happened on the main deck as more came in the airlock, advancing behind Vinters. The Nanashi was being gorged with the alien fiends, pushing and slamming at every blocked threshold they could find as the small parasites worked their way though the insides of bulkheads and maintenance passageways.
In the bridge, Kaufmann was surprised as a display suddenly lit up, reading power was returning to the CDD "Um… Ma'am?" the man asked tentatively "I think the engineers got something working again"
"What?" the captain asked.
"The CDD, Ma'am."
"Try powering up, and see if you can't punch us out of here."
"Yes Ma'am"
Once inside the engine room, Tara quickly slammed the knuckleguard of Reed's SEP into the emergency control panel to seal the room off. Feeling safer for the moment, she exchanged out the batteries in her guns for fresh ones and exchanged the used batteries for fresh ones from the wall charger. Using the console in the computer room, she tried to get in contact with the bridge. "Captain! Can you read me? Are you there?" she frantically yelled at the machine.
Kassel's calm voice would respond to the hysterical woman. "We're still here. The Engies seem to have gotten the CDD back online. We're going to try and punch out. Are you somewhere secure?" she asked, waiting for a response. The hallway seemed slightly quieter, less scraping noises and no more gunfire. Hopefully it was a good thing.
"UGH!" Bernt exclaimed, pulling out his Auto 12 and discharging a blast of rapid-fire buckshot at the offensive looking creatures and retreated into a room. What. The. Fuck. Setting his two subordinates to the side, he lit a cigar and placed it in his mouth, grunting wryly at the situation. "Don't do anything stupid, you fucks. I might die saving you, and I'll beat you up in Hell if you show up right afterwards," he barked at the motionless bodies, exiting the room and locking it with his rank-specific security code.
The stout man glared at the misshapen, alien figures. Dirty freaks.
Handcannon shots and buckshot followed the last of the man's two white phosphorus grenades, leaving him with a plasma charge and two frags, and the ridiculous bandoleer he insisted on wearing over his suit. "Come you fucks! Forfeit your lives!"
Bernt’s weapons fire broke the momentary silence, his shots hitting their marks amongst the now sparsely-packed corridor that had been packed moments before when he’d dragged his men into the safety of another compartment. Then, a loud thud shook the area, if not the entire ship. Its source seemed to be the small, melted-open airlock that so many had emerged from minutes earlier. Again, the vessel shook around Bernt Vinters as he stood his ground, hard-hearted. As the impacts became more and more rapid, the area immediately around the airlock moved and the bulkhead was rent asunder.
The huge claws that bored they way into the Nanashi were followed by a massive hulk that spilled its behemoth form into the hallway. Not even the parasites continued to come as it turned towards Bernt, snorting as it sensed his presence. It jerked its large head about, roaring in excitement as it charged the burly Nepleslian, ruining the ship’s walls as it bucked and slashed towards him.
Wakazani finished patching the control cable then turned to Scraps. "Hey, I got this, you should go check if anything else needs fixing," he said, waiting for the 'Spacer girl to give a tentative "o-okay" and leave, backing down the tunnel towards the engineering section. Wakazani quickly got to work, splicing the thick cable in many different spots, hoping the repairs would be enough. On the bridge, Kaufmann sat back up in his command chair as the gunfire resumed, this time louder, and accompanied by yelling. The crewer initiated the startup sequence for the CDD and it began humming, seemingly brought back to life. The sudden wrenching of the ship's ventral surface, however, made the still-working Wakazani slip into the cable. The entire ship could hear a blood-curdling scream accompanied by a horrendous zapping and crackling sound, and the lights suddenly shut off. Emergency lights quickly flickered on in their place, a dim red color.
Hearing the Captain's calm voice was not very soothing to the small woman. She had served under Kassel long enough to know that nothing seemed to faze her. For all Tara knew, the Captain could be facing a worse hell than she was. "Reed's gone," she reported angrily, spittle flying from her lips to hit the console, "Baum's missing! And I'm locked in the starboard ion engine room." As she finished speaking, the room went completely dark for a couple of seconds. "Fuck!" she yelled in frustration just before the emergency lights dimly lit the room. "You still read me, Captain?" Tara asked cautiously.
Tara would get no response, internal communications having been cut. She was alone.
“FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-” Some survival instinct deep in his heavily concussed brain told the battered veteran that he should run, as he swallowed what might have been a hailstorm of exploitive and tossed a burst-on-impact plasma grenade at the rampaging creature before bolted for the bridge. There was never a moment in his violent and drunken life where he thought he could ever run faster, and that this stretch of metal and composite someone in a cozy office called a 'standard hallway' would be the site of his feeling magnum opus. “Fucks! Open this damn door. El toro Mishhu's around the goddamn corner!”
The door to the bridge opened a crack, Kassel's SEP pointed out of it before identifying Bernt. "What is it?" the captain asked, quickly ushering the man inside. "How are things out there? Power’s completely gone."
"Like I know? Let me in before fuck knows shows up, and I'll tell you what the fuck I do know," Bernt barked, toning his voice down as he realized who he was talking to. "Ma’am. I've managed to burn out their entrance points, but they sent one that white phosphorous doesn't hurt."
"Alright, alright," Kassel said, attempting a grim smile and letting the man in, closing the door behind herself. Things didn't seem to be going well, after all. Tara was cut off, Bernt had lost his squad, power was gone, and they certainly weren't going anywhere. Might as well make a last stand.
"So, what do we do? Kaufmann asked shakily from behind his console. "I don't think we can win" he pointed out with worry across his face. "We should escape," the hysterical man finally suggested. Captain Stravani turned to Bernt "Well? You think we can make it? Someone's gotta tell what happened here."
With the large blast doors in place, Tara couldn't hear what was going on outside. At the very least, it seemed like they were leaving her alone, but without communication to the outside, the engine room suddenly seemed a lot smaller to the Security Officer. She felt a shiver travel up her spine. Being alone wasn't so bad, but being truly disconnected and—was the room getting smaller? Tara shook her head and tried to concentrate.
In Engineering, Scraps would emerge to see the crispy, electrocuted remains of her friend, Wakazani. She approached him, tears flowing from her eyes and a quivering hand outstretched in front of her. But she could not bring herself to lay hands upon him, for his state was too gruesome to bear. Just at that moment she could hear the blast door slide open and closed and the click of boots against the ship’s floor behind her. The young, scared, alone ‘Spacer stood catatonic for a split second as the footsteps stopped and then swung around, pulling a spanner from her belt in an attempt to strike at whatever was behind her.
Where her attack should have made contact, she only felt a firm grasp on her tattooed forearm. Scraps’ heavy breathing and wide-eyes were her only signs of terror as she confronted what held her—a small Nekovalkyrja with long, straight black hair who wore the Yamataian rank of Chujo. She was beautiful, with sharp features and smooth, supple skin, but stared blankly at her captive, cocking her head to the side in examination.
“L-l-let me go!” Scraps demanded, tears still rolling down her face. She struggled to free herself, and just as she thrashed violently enough to stand a chance a breaking free, the Neko tightened her hold, cracking the girl’s forearm and causing it to fall limp beside her, the spanner it had been grasping clattering to the ground. As the spacer shrieked, the Neko clutched the girl by the throat with her left hand, bringing their two faces close enough for Scraps to feel a breath that should have been there.
The Neko continued to examine the Deodrah, parasites gathering at her feet. One amongst their number slid up her leg, disappearing beneath her type 30 skirt and reemerging as it slithered around her right arm and into her free hand. And just as Scraps’ whimpering faded into catatonia, the Chujo thrust the parasite up from below, forcing it into the helpless crewmember…
"I can kill as many as you like, but holding down a position is going to be goddamn impossible," Vinters said, hastily reloading his Auto 12 as he stepped into the bridge and slammed the door behind him. He grunted and thumbed the safety off, with a grim grin. "We move, or we die. We kill, or we die. Lucky for you guys, I'm good at two of them, and I ain't dead yet."
In other parts of the vessel, the Mishhuvurthyar continued to flood in. Fairfax would be turned with the help Memphis, and both would proceed to join their new brethren. The sheer numbers aboard began to attempt to force open any closed doors they came upon, tentacles, claws, and acids all doing what they could in the effort. Parasites wormed they way through the tiniest spaces. Both those on the bridge and Tara in the engine compartment could hear what assailed them, and would know that they were surrounded. They could hear the same gagging that had been heard in the shuttle bay from their now-turned crewmates, and see viscous liquids seep beneath doors and through seams on walls where armor plate met armor plate.
"Then we go," the captain said simply, pulling Kaufmann to his feet and dragging the now protesting man to the door. "Straight to the elevator, straight down. Bernt and I will cover you. Get to the pod as quickly as you can. And take this," Stravani said, shoving a small memory card into Kaufmann's hand. "This is all the recordings we managed before power went out"
"B- But, Ma'am…"
"No ‘buts.’ I am your captain, and I'm ordering you to do this, alright?"
"Ye-Yes Ma'am."
With that, Kassel opened the door and followed her own directions, straight to the elevator, straight down, Kaufmann in tow. As soon as she saw the beast, her eyes widened in shock, but she showed no other apparent emotions, simply firing on it, and waiting for Bernt.
"Fuck no! Just run," he barked at the captain, pushing her on and running. As much as he really wanted to kill more of those things, there was no way they'd make it out alive with basic firearms.
Reflexively Tara shot at the goo starting to seep around the door seal. It didn't do anything, but it made her feel a little bit better. The walls were still contracting around her and she was now huddled in the corner so that she could see as much of the room as possible. It helped, but not by much. Biting her bottom lip, she wondered what else she could do, but from the noises that were managing to get through now, perhaps she was in the safest place she could be.
Tara’s protective barrier opened, dim scarlet light spilling in around a humanoid silhouette as parasites encroached into the room. Its hand fell from the door’s activation panel when it stepped in with the Lieutenant Commander; Baum lurched forward, his head dangling forward as if his neck broken. A tentacle slithered up his cheek and more revealed themselves from behind him, all pointing at the frightened blonde security chief. A vicious array writhed menacingly, some dripping disgusting, sweet smelling fluids while others pulsed with round shapes moving through them as the changed man continued his advance.
Kassel continued firing on the huge beast, spurring Kaufmann on, who seemed to be mostly cowering and shooting anything that got near his feet. "Well come on then!" she yelled to Bernt, closing in on an escape pod. She slammed a fist into the release, opening the pod and shoving Kaufmann in "You next, Bernt!" she yelled at her apparently sole remaining security officer, still firing at the abomination in the center of the room. Running out of ammunition, she popped a battery out and replaced it as quickly as she could, but the lapse in fire was long enough for one of the Mishhu to lash out with a sharpened tentacle and slash her across the chest, cutting her open with a wicked looking gash. After crying out in pain, Captain Stravani grunted angrily and raised her weapon weakly, continuing her covering fire.
"Hah, fuck no. I'd never live with myself if I let a woman die protecting me," Bernt grunted, tossing all of his remaining two frags and emptying all of his remaining shells into the creature and grabbed the Captain by the waist. As he run out, he ejected the forearm that encased his left arm, exposing a terrifying chainsaw that burst into blue-white plasmatic fire. Supporting the injured woman, he slashed angrily at any and all incoming tentacles, setting them ablaze and searing them shut. He lit a second cigar on the plasmatic flame, and with a grin, tended it to Kassel. "Besides, I've always wanted to fuck you... and that tiny chick."
"That's... very... comforting," Kassel managed to get out, sarcastically. She let go of the hatch's control, the door of the pod closing, followed by a swishing sound as it blasted out of the ship. Captain Stravani continued her firing along with Bernt, but as much as the continued fire stopped the smaller enemies, it only angered the behemoth in the center of the room, which finally had enough and began lumbering towards the duo, its considerable bulk shaking the ship as it closed in on the captain and the security officer.
"Stay alive, Cap. If you die, I'll be copping a feel in Hell," Bernt grunted with a coy grin, patting the woman on the butt as he let go of her waist. "I know I'm not handsome, but you'll at least find me handy. Got a spare pack for your SEP?" His right hand was stretched out, while his arm still hacked away at swarms of angry tentacles, scattering ash and charred meat in every direction. His words seemed to be getting less brave and increasingly ironic as he spoke them.
"Of... course," the captain responded, her legs and arms shaky as blood drained from the gash on her chest. She could barely think beyond shooting, but still managed to pull out an extra battery for her SEP, handing it to him as the creature came closer to them.
In the ion reactor compartment, Baum continued to take a few more slow, shambling steps forward before the hot laser blasts from the Lieutenant Commander's pistol caught him a number of times in the chest, sending him backwards into the rest of the approaching crowd. But his job was complete, the damage done. One of the bulbous creatures that had followed him in lashed a tentacle at her, snatching the pistol from her grip, and when she went to shoot with the second one, it took that one from her too. "Goddamn you!" she shouted, before it lashed out again, injecting her in the arm with a paralytic poison. As she struggled to get on her feet, determined to not give up yet, it struck her again in the leg and in the right side of her chest—one to relax her and one to make everything feel better.
With all the drugs flowing through her veins, Tara toppled forward onto the ground. Everything was getting fuzzy, and it was hard to stay angry. She could feel better than she could see and as the creature moved its slimy appendages around her body it made her feel warm, almost safe. She could hear something on the edge of her mind as it wormed its way around and into her body, something that almost sounded like laughing. A crooked smile crossed her face as she was enveloped by the mass of writhing tentacles, feeling naughty at how good it made her feel. Not even realizing what it was doing to her, what it was preparing her for…
"Well... I woulda got you flowers, but brutal honesty is all I got. You're everything a simple guy like me wants in a woman," Bernt said, plugging the charge pack into his arm. It would hold; it had to hold! "Discipline..." He stepped forward, the plasmatic field increasing in size, causing the skin of his upper arm to brown and blacken. "...skill, personality..." He pointed it forwards, diagonally towards the crab-like monstrosity, chuckling. "...And tits." His chainsaw stopped gyrating, instead drastically increasing in size, and finally projecting a massive cutting beam forwards at the creature. "So I'll be fucked sideways if that goes to waste because of some fucking perverted super-soldier reject!" he said gruffly, his voice overshadowed by the sound of a plasmatic detonation on his arm, sending him flying into the wall behind him.
Covered in ash and foul juices, he cracked a gold-toothed smile, as his left arm had become a stump covered in reddened skin, metal hunks and soot. "Fuck yes. Always wanted to try... that," Bernt said, lighting his last cigar on the embers clinging to his arm, and drawing his last breath.
Kassel was blown to the side by the blast, and just as Bernt breathed his last, the giant crab-type Mishhu slammed into the wall, pummeling the body into unrecognizable bits. Captain Stravani shook her head, it seemed to have cleared a little "Dammit…" she muttered, looking around wild eyed at all the aliens. She was alone, hurt, surrounded, and, by any definition, fucked. For once in her adult life, Kassel Stravani was scared, and it was obvious. Any remains of the calm and cool person were gone. And so, the woman flipped out, firing wildly with what was left of her SEP's battery as she raced across the deck, running to the other escape pod. She never made it, halfway to the pod, her luck ran out, dozens upon dozens of tentacles lifting her off her feet and pulling her towards the hole in the floor. Nothing left for her, the captain screamed a scream of pure terror and agony—a scream that was cut short by a tentacle forcing its way down her throat as the mass pulled her down.
From the escape pod's window, Kaufmann could see the Nanashi, two ships had docked with it, both obviously Mishhuvurthyar scouts. A third such ship sat in ruins not far away, the result of the battle that had ended so badly just 30 minutes before. Kaufmann searched the nav computer for the nearest system he might call safe... somewhere in the United Outer Colonies. He punched a button, and the tiny craft launched into FTL, setting up for a long ride to what was hopefully safety.
~Epilogue~
With the Nanashi’s final log sent away in an undetected escape pod, the plethora of creatures still aboard the small ship continued to scour the ship and make it their own. With the help of those who now shared a symbiosis with one of the parasites, the entire vessel was at their disposal. On the bridge, the swarm of Mishhuvurthyar parted as the Nekovalkyrja mind-slave in a Chujo’s battledress, and a new Freespacer charm added to the many and seemingly random award ribbons and rank pins she wore, stepped up to the captain’s seat and accessed communications.
“We have completed the task,” it said, staring as blankly as it ever had towards the freakish anathema that now graced the ship’s main viewing screen. “What would you have us do? We personally ensured that they were all turned in spite of our unbalanced losses compared to those who are yours.” Its voice was as beautiful as its form, but lacked any sort of emotion; it spoke so softly that you could mistake its words as a faraway echo, but what it said commanded attention. “It is Our demand that we shall keep this craft.”
On the screen a hulking form wearing a massive black cloak waved a huge claw in the air. "YOU WILL TURN THE SHIP AROUND AND RETURN IT WHERE IT CAME FROM," a booming, demanding voice replied from the form. "CONTINUE TO SPREAD AND MY VICTORY WILL BE EVER SWEETER. HU HU HU~."
The Chujo remained motionless for a few moments before speaking. “We have conferred with Our kin. This is an acceptable course of action,” it responded plainly. “Yours are not required here any longer. We demand that you leave us after this craft is sufficient for infiltration.” It angled its head ever-so-slightly, no doubt its way of attempting to imitate a questioning expression. “You have no objections to these wishes? We would find it unfortunate to force Our explicit request upon yours.”
The figure on the screen rumbled, the bright colors painted on it's hard outer shell briefly showing through it's thick garment. "YOU HAVE CHOSEN THAT SHIP, SO MINE WILL NOW RETURN TO MY FLEET AS WE CONTINUE TOWARDS MY GOAL," it announced. "DO NOT CONTACT ME AGAIN UNTIL YOU CAN REPORT ON MORE SUBJUGATION."
“Concurrence is mutual. We wish you and yours eternal victory,” the Chujo told her counterpart. “Goodbye.”
And with that, the communications feed was closed.
END
Dramatis personae
Kai as Captain Kassel Stravani, Kaufmann, and Wakazani
Revolver as Lieutenant Commander Tara Nunziac, Baum, Reed, and The Great General Carbleaudex
Kyoki as Gearhead Scraps Two Three
Exhack as Sergeant Bernt Vinters, Fairfax, and Memphis
and
raz as Chujo Kiseichuu and the Mishhuvurthyar Abominations
