Andromeda: To Boldly Go... (SciFi Char RP|IC, Open)

[Dyelli Beybi]

OOC: I've left the description of shuttle bay antics bare for now as I haven't agreed for a plan for it while Terrans is otherwise busy)

The shooting stopped. The AoL troopers were apparently happy to sit back and wait for things to proceed, though the ones in the vicinity of the shuttle bay where something violent seemed to be happening checked their gear to make sure they were ready for a zero atmosphere situation. They readied weapons, sharing concerned glances. Presumably the Enemy had taken a host and was causing a problem in there...

Lanel Orquoz

Thankfully for Julian, the dhasath in the science labs seemed not to have noticed he was broadcasting the communication, either that or their leader had decided it worked for him. Lanel, however, had not noticed. She leaned across, whispering, "Don't hold too hard, I'll just brush that out of your hand -" she brushed her hand lightly across his, her fingers curling around the datalink, slipping it out of his hand, dropping it into his pocket with admirable dexterity, "'There! I think you'll live," she declared brightly, "Though I think you should try not to go to sleep or anything like that for a few hours. I think those are the rules for head injuries aren't they? Isn't it funny that in English 'Doctor' means the same as 'Doctor'!" the translators picked up what she'd said, though she used different terminology. Lanel spoke Arabic along with one of the many Berdikon languages, "That could be quite confusing!"

---

Aula Cartia

Aula, meanwhile was meeting with the leader some feet away. He extended a hand and the pair clasped forarms, then embraced in the dhasath equivalent of a handshake. It wasn't seen that much amongst the sol dhasath outside of religious ceremonies. It was formal, alien and they did (sort-of) try to assimilate into earth culture, "You are Lieutenant Cartia?" he asked, "I am Captain Larce of the Army of Light."

"I would say it was a blessing to meet you, but you were shooting at my people not so long ago," Aula grumbled, though without as much anger as she had felt a few minutes before. The Army were, potentially, useful if there were parasites on the ship. She was also less worried about Julian since she'd heard his message broadcast across the ship, though the leader had to have realised something was going on. She wanted to say something about the satran aboard but worried that might reveal what Julian had done. She didn't want him getting hurt because of an indiscretion on her part.

"Satran?" Larce prompted, "I know your human broadcast our conversation to the ship. I was alerted over comms already. It was... sneaky, but fortuitous that he did."

"Oh," Aula's eyebrows shot up for a moment. She hadn't thought about it in such a calculating light, "So you aren't pissed off at him."

Larce shrugged, "Would you be? He had, hopefully, prevented unnecessary bloodshed. So, here are my terms. You allow us to scan your crew and get the clean ones into a safe zones. We then deoxygenate the rest of the ship to kill any Satran that might be hiding in the vents or similar. I'd suggest we start by scanning the senior crew members. The Captain, Second in Command, and other officers. They are most likely to be infected."

"How about you give me your head probe thingee and let me do it on the bridge. They would be more likely to trust me."

"Do you know how to use it?"

"Well, no, but you could teach me."

Larce shook his head, "That would take too long. Take my scanning team and your security detail."

Aula paused for a moment then nodded, "Fine. We should probably scan the detail first. You happy for me to put in a call to the bridge?" Larce nodded and Aula reached for her comms, "Hey, can we get half a dozen security personnel down here? Major, Captain, if you are okay with it I'd like to bring a team to the bridge to scan for infections."

"Are there any objections from the bridge crew?" Novak's voice cut through on the internal comms, "I am happy to be scanned first." Which made it seem unlikely that Novak was infected.

[Tesserach]

Julian "The Concussion" Warwick

---

Lanel Orquoz

Thankfully for Julian, the dhasath in the science labs seemed not to have noticed he was broadcasting the communication, either that or their leader had decided it worked for him. Lanel, however, had not noticed. She leaned across, whispering, "Don't hold too hard, I'll just brush that out of your hand -" she brushed her hand lightly across his, her fingers curling around the datalink, slipping it out of his hand, dropping it into his pocket with admirable dexterity, "'There! I think you'll live," she declared brightly, "Though I think you should try not to go to sleep or anything like that for a few hours. I think those are the rules for head injuries aren't they? Isn't it funny that in English 'Doctor' means the same as 'Doctor'!" the translators picked up what she'd said, though she used different terminology. Lanel spoke Arabic along with one of the many Berdikon languages, "That could be quite confusing!"

"Ugh..." Julian groaned, holding his head with his other arm as Lanel put the datalink away. It was hard to say, watching him, whether it was even a well played distraction from what Lanel was doing or he just really had a bad headache. "One of those..." He paused to take a breath. "...classic English idiosyncrasies I'm afraid. So this is what a concussion feels like?"

Aula Cartia
Aula, meanwhile was meeting with the leader some feet away. He extended a hand and the pair clasped forarms, then embraced in the dhasath equivalent of a handshake. It wasn't seen that much amongst the sol dhasath outside of religious ceremonies. It was formal, alien and they did (sort-of) try to assimilate into earth culture, "You are Lieutenant Cartia?" he asked, "I am Captain Larce of the Army of Light."

"I would say it was a blessing to meet you, but you were shooting at my people not so long ago," Aula grumbled, though without as much anger as she had felt a few minutes before. The Army were, potentially, useful if there were parasites on the ship. She was also less worried about Julian since she'd heard his message broadcast across the ship, though the leader had to have realised something was going on. She wanted to say something about the satran aboard but worried that might reveal what Julian had done. She didn't want him getting hurt because of an indiscretion on her part.

"Satran?" Larce prompted, "I know your human broadcast our conversation to the ship. I was alerted over comms already. It was... sneaky, but fortuitous that he did."

"Oh," Aula's eyebrows shot up for a moment. She hadn't thought about it in such a calculating light, "So you aren't pissed off at him."

Larce shrugged, "Would you be? He had, hopefully, prevented unnecessary bloodshed. So, here are my terms. You allow us to scan your crew and get the clean ones into a safe zones. We then deoxygenate the rest of the ship to kill any Satran that might be hiding in the vents or similar. I'd suggest we start by scanning the senior crew members. The Captain, Second in Command, and other officers. They are most likely to be infected."

"How about you give me your head probe thingee and let me do it on the bridge. They would be more likely to trust me."

"Do you know how to use it?"

"Well, no, but you could teach me."

Larce shook his head, "That would take too long. Take my scanning team and your security detail."

Aula paused for a moment then nodded, "Fine. We should probably scan the detail first. You happy for me to put in a call to the bridge?" Larce nodded and Aula reached for her comms, "Hey, can we get half a dozen security personnel down here? Major, Captain, if you are okay with it I'd like to bring a team to the bridge to scan for infections."

"Are there any objections from the bridge crew?" Novak's voice cut through on the internal comms, "I am happy to be scanned first." Which made it seem unlikely that Novak was infected.

Overhearing some of the conversation Julian continued focusing on his breathing. "I guess the dhasath knew." Julian said taking out his data-link from his pocket. He stared at it a moment, wincing as her rubbed his aching temples. He then looked at Lanel again with a look similar to before - only with slightly more dilated pupils: the look of someone aware they were about to do something that might get himself in trouble.

Then he raised the datalink to his lips, so that this time there was no room for anyone to mistake that someone was directly addressing everyone onboard the ship or linked into it's 'PA Address All' function.

It took him a moment to speak. Lanel certainly could see him working through both his thoughts and a concussion until he was sure he would be able to say exactly what it was he wanted to say.

"Hey Satrans! You hearing any of this? Understand what it means? If you do, I think it is a tiny bit possible that the jig: it is up." He took a deep breath. "You want to skulk about? Sorry lads. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but... we're a science ship! Finding little guys like you? Quite literally what we do. Not going to work for you I'm afraid. You could try getting off the ship: but with no skrim drive where? I'm sure the Dhasath currently swarming outside would love for you to try though. There's no way out.

"Unless... everyone is prepared to admit we've all kind of been, you know... a touch aggressive... and maybe if you're willing to talk and surrender... we agree to... treat you fairly?" The wide-eyed look Julian was giving Lanel made clear he was entirely aware how far beyond the pay grade of "intern" what he'd just said actually was.

[Arengin Union]

Co-Write between Europa Undividied and Arengin Union (Featuring Characters By The United Federation of Terrans)

The Hangars

The blaring sounds of alarms invaded the fighter bay as the deck doors sealed up and so did the doors out into the main halls of the ship, by all accounts it would seemed the bay was under lockdown but not because of an emergency at the fighter bay itself. Cole and Polaski looked around each other with confused looks as did most other pilots, maintenance crew and security team members all perplexed at the sudden shift in mode from what had they thought was now a defused situation.

"And here I thought we were having some respite..." Polaski said with a scowl, Cole for his part felt nervous as the alarms kept blaring and he now had his hand ready on his holster. It was then that the sounds of a distorted voice rang through the comms of those who had them activated, in this case Cole and Polaski had theirs own still.

"INTRUDER IN THE SHUTTLE BAY!!!! THEY GOT A HAWK!!!!!" A female voice broke through the distortion and the message was loud and clear, something was happening in the shuttle bay directly opposite of the fighters, they were under attack by the loud sound of gunfire and screams. In an instant, all pilots and other crew looked at Salazar at that moment, he was the commanding officer on duty per lockdown protocol.

Salazar blinked for a moment, contemplating the course of action. It didn't take him long, but it was still a noticeable delay in judgement, even if it was just for a few seconds.

"I hate having to confront our mysterious guests without being in the cockpit of a starfighter," Salazar said, shrugging, "But there's no way we're doing nothing about that. I suppose most of you know this already, but there's an emergency maintenance that leads straight to the shuttle bay. So..."

Salazar begin taking his pick, choosing the people that will accompany him through the claustrophobic maintenance tunnel. It included a few other pilots, like Cole and Polaski, and a pair of maintenance crew.

"Let's go."

---

The hastily assembled team hurried towards the maintenance tunnel, Cole and Polaski both were handed standard blaster carbines by a pair of Sec Crew as they followed behind their commander and few others. Salazar was quick to instruct the staff sergeant at the bay to keep order and with that he used his override code to open up the tunnel's round door which opened up in a circular motion akin to that of vortex, the team looking inside the darkened corridor as it seemed to only be light up occasionally by the red emergency light, it was a bleak image but not one that Salazar was afraid to confront as he was the first to go in followed by some sec officers, Cole, Polaski, the other pilots and the maintenance pair. All of them were armed and all activated their flashlights as they moved along the corridor as a brisk pace.

"You would think these parasites would want to keep a low profile, I mean hijacking a SaR, that's not exactly smart even for worms..." Cole said in an attempt to break the silence.

"Yah, how do you figure those things get into you though?" Polaski wondered outloud, "You think through the nose, ear, mouth?"

"Can you shut the hell up!" A female pilot said with a squirm, "We just barely got out of a combat mission alive and you're wondering about what these things do?"

"Perhaps it is part of a larger scheme, one so convoluted that our little ape brains can't possibly comprehend it," Salazar commented, noting the foreboding atmosphere of the maintenance tunnel. "They could say that everything is going just as planned."

The flight lieutenant then shrugged. "Or they're just dumb. Whatever the case, some of us are... immune, so if it's any comfort, in the worst case scenario, you won't have to suffer from it for long. Not that we'd ever let that happen. What's are a few measly slithering worms gonna do when you yeet bullets into them..."

The slight bickering was indicative of comradery within the crew, especially among the pilots, but there was also a layer to it being a way to kill the otherwise eerie aura of the tunnel as the team continued onwards with caution and guns aimed in all directions. They knew not what they were confronting exactly, the Satran were not something they knew much about and as such they expected an attack at any moment. Such was not to be however, soon enough the team arrived to the main gate leading to the other side of the ship and leading right to the shuttle bay, muflfledsounds of chaos unfolding could be heard from the other side.

"Everyone get your weapons ready," Polaski said as he checked his carbine's charge and Cole did the same. The group filed up at the door and would follow Salazar's lead as he had the override code for the door. Polaski, Cole and the others had their weapons drawn and ready.

Salazar sauntered towards the door, one hand on his carbine while the other was held out to enter the override code. "Hopefully they didn't have control over a high officer or so to change the codes," Salazar mused as he began to type on the keypad. "Otherwise we'll have to get some explosives from... what's her name again? Eh, nevermind."

With a resounding ping, the door unlocked, ushering the team into the chaos of the shuttle bay. There, the SAR shuttle hovered about, wildly firing its miniscule weapon compliment while crew members hid behind cover. Including Malik, apparently.

Malik was lying down, in cover behind a couple of utility crates as she covered her head trying to deafen the constant sound of gunfire, bodies were scattered around the hanger as it the shuttle kept firing madly in all directions. Fires had began to sporadically break out and it was only a matter of time before the attack permanently damaged the ship beyond any reasonable repair.

"That thing keeps at it we may lose enclosed pressure and get sucked out!" Polaski said hurriedly as him and the group were still taking cover at the doorways. Malik looked up sligjtly to see the door of the service tunnel opened and she slowly began to crawl towards it, still feeling an irking fear at her back expecting a bullet to whizz through her at any second, she closed in to the door as bullets kept ringing everywhere and suddenly a spray of them landed only a few feet from her face which caused her to scream and cover her head. Cole and Polaski wasted no time as they got out of cover and quickly took a hold of the shuttle chief and dragged her to cover. She seemed out of it as her breath was fast and her eyes in a daze, Malik couldn't quite believe she had not taken a bullet as she frantically patted around her jumpsuit trying to find any wounds.

"Hey, hey!" Cole called to her, "You're the one who called out through the comms, how many are there, did you see how the intruders looked?"

Malik continued to look around her with a mad face as she recoiled and resisted at any attempt to touch her. Bullets kept ringing and flying out all over as the shuttle kept flying around the hanger, the group had to act fast.

"We need to take that thing out, chugging a couple of penetrator rounds at the engines should bring it down," Polaski said as he checked his carbine and set it to heavy round mode, the projectiles would be hard hitting and when fired in mass could go through the toughest of metals, but they would need to be quick otherwise they'd join the dozens of dead crew.

"Excellent idea," Salazar answered, pressing a button on his carbine to set it on heavy round mode, too. He knew that they needed to act quickly, and had to do so with united purpose. "Come! We should focus our fire all at once. At my mark, take aim and fire at the engines."

Rommel peered out of the doorway, looking for a moment when the shuttle had its back turned away. Clearly, the pilot, if it they could even be called one, had absolutely no idea how to drive the thing. The casualties sustained so far was more because the crew weren't prepared, not because the usurper actually knew how to do a strafing run.

And... now. The shuttle faced the opposite direction, its rear pointed towards the service door that he and the team were in.

"Now! Fire at will!"

Hopefully it's still salvageable at the end of the day, Rommel thought. These things were expensive...

Within the spam of a millisecond the HAWK shuttle began to take damage at its rear, with the group of pilots, security and even service crew all firing at it in unison non-stop. The shuttle attempted to turn in direction of the attackers but soon enough the engine began to take smoke, a cranking sound followed by an explosion at its top and the shuttle began to lose control, still firing in all directions as it swirled uncontrollably. Smoke began to fill the hanger as the entire backside of the shuttle was engulfed in flames, it seemed the hijacker had not activated the shielding, either that or it was still in cooldown due to its previous use in the vacuum. Regardless of how the shuttle was now in quick descend mode as the gun stopped firing and the shuttle made a straight nosedive towards a railing section in direct collision course for the control room.

"TAKE COVER," A crewmember yelled out.

"WATCH OUT!" Another screamed while narrowly avoiding the crashing shuttle which stampeded through he rails and various crates of ammunition, coolant and other material leaving a trail of destruction in its path until finally stopping only a few meters from the main control room.

"Everyone, ready up!" Cole said as he reloaded his carbine, Polaski and the others did the same as they began to approach the shuttle, arms aimed and ready. Salazar took point and as the group approached the wrecked vessel so did other hanger crewmen and women who had their sidearms at the ready and began to surround the shuttle.

Salazar looked over the smoldering wreck, wincing at the expense that would surely be spared to repair the hangar bay as well as replace the damn thing itself. Not to mention that some of the crew were dead now. He didn't think that they're going to a space funeral this soon in an exploration mission.

As for the wounded, the medbay was apparently trashed, so they'd have to go elsewhere to get treated. Maybe the NDR troops could help them in that regard? After all, it's only a courtesy for them to do so. The Conventions said something about this. Probably.

Salazar watched as an arm came out of the cockpit. Readying his carbine, he aimed it forward as the arm's owner crawled out and fell to the ground, barely alive as is.

Olker Satel. Archelian immigrant, enlisted to the UNS Navy, Salazar recalled. He knew the alien personally, but he also knows what Satran infection does. Once it takes hold, you're gone. This was not Olker. This was that... thing.

"If you're in there, friend," Salazar said, taking out the high powered pistol from his holster and placing his boot on the former crewman's chest, who was hissing incoherently. "You're now free."

A single shot rang out. Salazar looked away as he fired, turning away as soon as he felt the alien's breathing subside under his boot. The weapon would have vaporized the Satran inside, too.

"Let's go, comrades," Salazar said in a tone that was nowhere near his usual cheerful demeanor. "We have wounded to take care of."

[Bingellia]

Aula paused for a moment then nodded, "Fine. We should probably scan the detail first. You happy for me to put in a call to the bridge?" Larce nodded and Aula reached for her comms, "Hey, can we get half a dozen security personnel down here? Major, Captain, if you are okay with it I'd like to bring a team to the bridge to scan for infections."

"Are there any objections from the bridge crew?" Novak's voice cut through on the internal comms, "I am happy to be scanned first." Which made it seem unlikely that Novak was infected.

Violann reached for her comlink as she stepped out from the armory. Her knife, now returned, hung along awkwardly held flash-bangs on the side her belt. Finally, it seemed, things were calming down and Vio could let out a breath that it seemed most of her crew were safe.

"Sergeant Perez, send a squad to Lieutenant Cartia in the labs if you can spare them. "

There was a moment of delay as the sergeant likely gathered up a headcount of volunteers before her comm unit crackled back to life.

"Yes, Ma'am. Corporal Vexle and a team are en-route."

Violann made a quick turn, and gestured for her two guards to follow.

"I will be there in a few minutes Lieutenant, en-route from the armory." she radioed Cartia directly.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Novak allowed himself to be scanned with little protest... little protest, before the scan. Once it was done and Larce had been satisfied that neither the Captain, nor any of the rest of the bridge crew was infected, Novak's attitude shifted, "You attacked my people without provocation. We suffered casualties, and for what?"

Larce didn't look particularly apologetic. He gave Violann and Aula a cursory glance before replying "If we had hailed you and said 'some of your bridge crew might be hosts for parasites, and it had turned out to be true, the puppet officers would have ensured that we were destroyed. We left those Satran there as bait, assuming that whomever came to pick them up was an enemy."

"Instead you ambushed us for a humanitarian mission," Novak growled.

"I lost people as well," Larce snapped, "I will mourn them as you mourn your own. Do not make the mistake of assuming they were lesser beings because they did not belong to your tribe."

"You started this fight!" Novak glared at Larce. The pair stared at each other like angry cats. They understood that they were not enemies, but that didn't mean they had to like each other...

After a few uncomfortable moments, Larce changed the subject, returning to business as if the terse exchange had never happened, "It seems unlike the enemy not to have infected your bridge crew. As such I would assume there are only three of the Parasites onboard. You'll probably still want to fumigate the ship, but it would be worth checking in to see if any have been accounted for by your crew."

Novake pursed his lips then nodded, reaching for the comms, "All Stations, Status Report. Has anyone encountered the Satran?"

---

Eulli
Cowritten by Khasinkonia and Dyelli Beybi

---

Where Eulli catches the bug.

---

Ever in tune with the feelings and sounds of the ship, Eulli perked up at the strange clunk. She looked swiftly in the direction of the sound, but, seeing nothing obvious, returned to looking at the console for a mere moment before running a localized diagnostic on the room’s ventilation. Blockage was normally not great, as it interfered with air circulation and could have unintended consequences on a space vessel, but in combat it could be any number of things. Being that the hull breaches were either contained or inaccessible, a moment of checking could do no harm, as far as Eulli was concerned.

There was nothing to be seen in the crowded corner where the sound had come from though there was a vent opening overhead. Perhaps something had fallen from above? If so there was nothing there except, perhaps, a slimy residue that seemed to trail of into a jumble of pipes and valves.

The computer confirmed it. There was something in that valve. Eulli turned on the overhead lights and stood almost immediately from her seat and cracked her knuckles. Whatever this was, it was going to be an adventure. There was one thing, though. Eulli was honestly a bit apprehensive, if only because this was a very much new situation. Slime was almost never a good thing in this context, and being that she had no idea what it could possibly be and that there was a boarding party, it was any guess as to what it was. Which meant real, extensive caution was actually necessary. Eulli shushed the room, and walked quietly towards the offending vent. Extending four her auxiliary backpack limbs to bring her closer, she then used the sixth to clasp the vent cover firmly, to keep it in place as she began to unscrew the hinges from as far away as she could. Once she got the screws out and pocketed them, she very slowly lowered the cover.


There was a moment of silence to study the perfectly normal array of machinery before something exploded from the darkness, aiming straight at Eulli's face. It was long, dark, with vicious looking teeth, it's slick body gleaming in the dim light of the engineering bay. It looked a little like an earth eel, though there wasn't time to consider exactly what it was, barely time to react, as the creature lunged forward with vicious fangs.

Eulli's mechanical auxiliaries retracted out of shock, dropping the vent with a loud crash as Eulli and the creature fell from the ceiling to the floor. Eulli reached out with her gloved hands to try and catch it, but couldn't get a good grip, even with the good pads on the palms of her gloves. She crashed to the floor with a grunt.

The creature twisted, lunging at Eulli's forearm, trying to latch onto her arm. It was small, but it was flexible and vicious.

Eulli was strong, but the creature was slippery, even with her gloves. Her long sleeves were her only remaining protection.

The creature flipped around, sinking razor-sharp fangs into Eulli's forearm. Within moments the gorial felt a leaden numbness spread through her limbs, though as she fell back, her grip on the creature slackening, it didn't press it's advantage, instead slithering off back into the machinery. The paralysis only lasted a minute or two, long enough for the parasite to, normally, claim a host. Though, in this case, it had immediately lost interest. Julian's ship-wide broadcast would confirm any fears that Eulli had had about what the creature had been 'satran'... something from the dusty pages of the history books, the parasitic race who's revelation of existence had plunged the Ragon empire into chaos after it's defeat in the War for Andromeda over a century ago.

As her strength began to wane and the creature began to slither away, Eulli reached around, jamming her glove in the creatives mouth, hooking it's fangs into the fabric. The thing didn't seem happy. It kicked and thrashed like a creature possessed... or a creature that had some concept of what Eulli was up to.

"A little help!" she called.

Thankfully one of the Engineers was there in moments, "What the hell is that thing?" he called, staring at the eel like creature in evident repulsion.

"Don't stand there, put something over it!" she called, feeling her tongue going numb as she did.

The creature broke free, leaving one glistening talon embedded in her glove, though a moment later the engineer slammed a dustbin over the top of it, keeping it trapped.

"Someone radio the bridge and let them know we've got one of them," she slurred, finding herself quite unable to rise, "Also, someone call a medic."

[Europa Undivided]

Rommel Salazar
The Hangar

Rommel could only sigh as the service crew and marines started to pick over the wreckage of the HAWK shuttle. Everyone had been quick to grab fire extinguishers to put out the fires of shuttle's wreck, as the fuel compartment may have exploded otherwise. A pair of service crew were dragging Olker Satel's half-burned, nearly headless corpse towards a clearer space, where they draped a sheet of black plastic over the body. While he had been infected by the most malevolent lifeform in the entire universe, he was still a member of the crew before the Satran tunneled its way into his brain and destroyed whatever made Olker... Olker. The least they could do, then, was to give the poor crewman a proper space burial while ensuring that no trace of the parasite remained.

"Ergh," Rommel grumbled, sitting on one of the crates inside the hangar. He took out his canteen and downed a whole gulp of suspicious drink, wiping the leftovers from his mouth with his sleeves as the smell of smoke and burning flesh had barely subsided in his nostrils.

"To boldly go where no one has gone before," Rommel repeated the mantra of every explorer, letting out another sigh as soon as the captain spoke in a shipwide channel.

Novake pursed his lips then nodded, reaching for the comms, "All Stations, Status Report. Has anyone encountered the Satran?"

Rommel immediately picked up his comms unit, his voice ragged and tired. "Captain, Salazar here, we have just neutralized a Satran host and obliterated the brain and the parasite inside with a high-powered pistol shot," Rommel stated, looking towards the cadaver bag containing Olker's corpse. "An enlisted, Olker Satel, was the host. The body's in the hangar, lying under sheets of plastic. How... how shall we proceed, sir?"

[Dyelli Beybi]

Rommel Salazar
The Hangar

Rommel immediately picked up his comms unit, his voice ragged and tired. "Captain, Salazar here, we have just neutralized a Satran host and obliterated the brain and the parasite inside with a high-powered pistol shot," Rommel stated, looking towards the cadaver bag containing Olker's corpse. "An enlisted, Olker Satel, was the host. The body's in the hangar, lying under sheets of plastic. How... how shall we proceed, sir?"

There was a brief pause then Novak replied over the comms, "Larce says you should have someone make sure the parasite is actually dead. They are usually found latched onto the brainstem, which is the part of the brain most similar across species. A shot to the head might destroy the host but the parasite can remain alive to slither out to locate a new host. I'm sorry to ask this of you, but you will need to check the Rating's body and attempt to recover the, hopefully dead, parasite. That way we can at least give them a respectful funeral... just do it with another person. I'm not a scientist and couldn't say if your body produces enough of the chemical that is poisonous to the Satran. Assume anyone can be infected who isn't a full dhasath."

---

Elsewhere on the ship...

"Full dhasath," Aula muttered irritably to herself, "Such a human way of thinking, you either are dhasath or you are not." Though she had to concede that when it came to producing nitrous chemicals for the pleasure of non-dhasath lovers and the death of Satran parasites, dhasath like her did produce more that dhasath like Rommel...

In the current climate, Aula had become somewhat superfluous. She didn't have one of the NDR head scan devices so she couldn't help check the crew, but at the same time she didn't need to be careful of Satran trying to plug into her head. Not unless they had a death wish. So she took the opportunity to make her way back to the labs. She wanted to talk to the scientists. Mostly because of the interesting tidbit of information about moracra fruit. The fact that Julian was there also didn't hurt.

She placed her hand on the panel and the doors slid open, half-expecting the NDR to have moved them, but Julian and Lanel were both still there, "Hey folks, did you miss me! Julian, what happened to your head?"

[Europa Undivided]

Rommel Salazar

"Larce says you should have someone make sure the parasite is actually dead. They are usually found latched onto the brainstem, which is the part of the brain most similar across species. A shot to the head might destroy the host but the parasite can remain alive to slither out to locate a new host. I'm sorry to ask this of you, but you will need to check the Rating's body and attempt to recover the, hopefully dead, parasite. That way we can at least give them a respectful funeral... just do it with another person. I'm not a scientist and couldn't say if your body produces enough of the chemical that is poisonous to the Satran. Assume anyone can be infected who isn't a full dhasath."

"...Good point, sir captain," Rommel replied. He didn't think about it before, but maybe the fact that his heritage was half-human and half-dhasath meant that he wasn't completely immune to the depredations of the Satran. He always thought that because he had dhasath genetics and had the nitrous compounds flowing within his body, he wouldn't be susceptible to the brain munching parasites. But now, the scientist had called all of that into question. Not that it was a big deal for his life, but now he was slighyl afraid that a Satran would jump at his face and go inside like one of those creepy crawlies in those ancient movies. The one called... err... Alien? Now that he thought of it, that name wasn't very creative at all.

Rommel gingerly put his helmet back on, motioning for either Cole, Polaski, or quite literally anyone near enough to see his hand to come beside him. "Captain wants me to extract the Satran parasite from poor Olker's body," Rommel stated to whoever came to his assistance. "Now, I have my helmet on, just in case, but in the impossible case that the Satran is alive and manages to fly at my face, I want you to try to remove it from my, well, face. Or, if that doesn't work, just shoot me and put me out of my misery- hey. Don't give me that look. Keep your eyes here, don't ever take them away. The thing might slither away and eat someone else's brain."

With that settled, Rommel quietly pulled back the sheets covering Satel's corpse. Rommel looked away when he opened fire, so he didn't really know the extent of the damage until now. Much of the man's face had been simply charred away, which would, funnily enough, making reaching for the brainstem easier.

"Remind me to remind the captain that this is the worst day of my life, and that's saying something," Rommel grumbled as his gloved hand tunneled within the Archelian's flesh. "Eugh. I think I have it in my hand now..."

[The United Federation of Terrans]

UNS Destiny
PO Polaski

The pilot sucked in a gulp of acrid, foul smelling air. The familiar scent of av-gas (that Polaski loved) was mixed with the singed aftereffect of blasterfire and the accompanying throat clogging stench of corpses struck by blasterfire.

He gagged a bit at the smell. The pilot regretted trading his sealed flight helmet for the shipboard security ballistic helmet when he had been arming up in the fighter bay. Especially now that he hovered over his CO's shoulder while the man dug a gloved hand into the cratered entry wound of the former rating turned host. Polaski's carbine was leveled loosely in the direction of Rommel as he stood what was outside parasite jumping distance (if they did jump).

A particularly wet sound caused the Pole to grimace and wonder how he went from dogfighting to playing marine in under an hour. He was sure by now that he had seen more fighting today then most marines got in their whole career. Another sound, the crunching of shifting cartilage and bone, caused Polaski to grimace; a cough allowed him to bring a hand to his face to cover up his expression. As well as hopefully hold back the small bit of bile that was fermenting in his throat.

"That is just gross." Polaski cast a glance over his shoulder; Malik had walked over on unsteady legs. Shaking hands hidden in her flightsuit pockets while she chewed her lip; her nose was also screwed up in disgust. Her gaze on Rommel's impromptu brain surgery.

"Could just space the body I suppose." Polaski offered while shrugging his shoulders. Preferring to look at Malik's bruised face over the nausea inducing parasite hunt.

"Can't they breathe in space?" Malik questioned while she gazed at the crashed shuttle. Polaski simply shrugged again- "Hey Cole!!!!"

Polaski started at Malik's sudden shift in volume. His crew chief was pointing at the heavily scored and dented nose of the downed SAR Hawk.

"Looks like you shot down your own bird!!!"

While the pilots did swap birds. Every pilot had an assigned bird they swapped into. In this case, the impromptu air defense team had shot down the shuttle; Stingray 2. Which meant that Cole got to add a UN flag to his kill tallies. A tradition usually reserved for crashing a ship from user error; but this was one of those exceptions that had been built into the rules. Apparently it had happened a few tomes; enough for it to become commonplace knowledge.

Of course the time to bring up a joke kill tally was probably not while in a shuttle bay filled with dead and wounded sailors while a fighter pilot poked around the remains of a crew's brainstem. Didn't stop Polaski from giving a brief chuckle under his breath.

It had at least taken his mind off of Rommel's grim task..... for a few seconds at least. Speaking of-

"Find anything yet Snoopy?" Polaski spoke up while he shifted his carbine in his grip. Attention shifting back to Rommel.

[Tesserach]

Julian Warwick

Elsewhere on the ship..."Full dhasath," Aula muttered irritably to herself, "Such a human way of thinking, you either are dhasath or you are not." Though she had to concede that when it came to producing nitrous chemicals for the pleasure of non-dhasath lovers and the death of Satran parasites, dhasath like her did produce more that dhasath like Rommel...

In the current climate, Aula had become somewhat superfluous. She didn't have one of the NDR head scan devices so she couldn't help check the crew, but at the same time she didn't need to be careful of Satran trying to plug into her head. Not unless they had a death wish. So she took the opportunity to make her way back to the labs. She wanted to talk to the scientists. Mostly because of the interesting tidbit of information about moracra fruit. The fact that Julian was there also didn't hurt.

She placed her hand on the panel and the doors slid open, half-expecting the NDR to have moved them, but Julian and Lanel were both still there, "Hey folks, did you miss me! Julian, what happened to your head?"

Looking up, Julian's expression brightened a bit as he held his hands up as though someone had just scored a goal on the soccer pitch. "Aula! Welcome back to the party." He, even seemed to shake off a little of the concussion at her arrival, or at least seemed a bit more alert. He did run a hand along the swollen bump on his head, wincing a little, at which point some of his earlier exhaustion started to creep back in. "Oh... yeah. I uh... kinda got in a fight with a storage locker. I know it looks bad, but..." He said, trying to sit up a little straighter. "... you should see the storage locker."

There was an awkward pause as Julian's eyes narrowed upon finding the storage locker in question. As it happened the locker was entirely unharmed by the ordeal.

Despite feeling still a bit nauseous and some tingling in his digits, Julian opted to try and refocus the topic of conversation. "But enough about my traumatic brain injury... look at you all armoured up!" He said, breaking into a tired smile. "Bust any skulls out there?"

[Dyelli Beybi]

Aula Cartia

"I think I winged someone," Aula looked a little furtive about that. Clearly now that everyone was ostensibly friends she didn't want to think too much about whose buddy she might have shot. She glanced at the floor, then in the direction of the NDR troopers, then back to Julian. Then, she grinned brightly, "You like the look?" she asked, turning the topic away from 'cracking skulls', "Navy-chic suits me it seems! Though there is a lot of weight on your shoulders wearing this rig and I definitely wouldn't say know to a shoulder massage," she added with a coy smirk. She figured Julian would be too shy to offer, even if she dropped the very obvious hint. Shoulder massages were never actually about the massage in her experience...

She took a step closer to him, adding in a low whisper, "You know you saved countless lives with that broadcast you did. I am pretty sure Larce knew what you were doing by the way. But if you hadn't, I'm pretty sure we'd have shot each other to pieces. These NDR types take shoot-first-ask-questions-later to its ridiculous extreme! At least we're past that now. I'm glad Novak was sensible enough to see the threat. Imagine satran on this ship! Even thinking about those bugs makes me want to throw up in my mouth."

---

Darko Novak

UNS Destiny
PO Polaski

...

Of course the time to bring up a joke kill tally was probably not while in a shuttle bay filled with dead and wounded sailors while a fighter pilot poked around the remains of a crew's brainstem. Didn't stop Polaski from giving a brief chuckle under his breath.

It had at least taken his mind off of Rommel's grim task..... for a few seconds at least. Speaking of-

"Find anything yet Snoopy?" Polaski spoke up while he shifted his carbine in his grip. Attention shifting back to Rommel.

Perhaps thankfully Rommel did find a parasite, or half of one at least. The back, tail end, while the head had been vapourised. It looked a lot like a sickly-grey eel once you clawed the gore and gunk off it.

On the bridge, Novak's dog had made an appearance and, after being brain scanned, just in case, had taken up residence at his master's feet, where he sat, pondering the situation, "So we have one bug captured in engineering..."

"Kill it," Larce jumped in, "It won't give you useful information and if it gets out -"

"I know your opinion," Novak cut him off with a raised hand, "I disagree with it. We might be able to communicate with it, find out its plan. At the very least I don't make a point of summarily executing other sentient beings."

"Captain," Larce added, taking a more conciliatory tone. It looked like he was finding that distinctly difficult, "That creature is a servant of the Enemy. They are a twisted monstrosity hard wired to try to dominate, kill and enslave other species for its master. To what twisted aim, we do not know, but they cannot be reasoned with. Whatever their plan is, I fear it is nearing completion. We detected the Enemy on our Comms. It was... a hideous sound that seemed to echo from inside you. That creature is pure evil."

"'Evil' is a subjective matter," Novak countered.

Larce pursed his lips, "When you are talking about a money lender extorting the poor but supporting the widows of his former workers, that you might call subjective. This is not the same."

"We shall see, for now it is contained," Larce looked like he was about to jump in again, but Novak held up a hand, anger flashing in his eyes and the dhasath subsided, "Another is, presumably, eliminated. I am going to work on the assumption that none of my crew was infected before we picked up the bait you had left for us since all decision makers involved with plotting out route have been found to be clean. That means we probably have one more on the ship, hiding somewhere."

He motioned for the communications officer, "All crew, we are going to vent the ship in exactly five minutes. Ensure the section you are in is sealed, send a message to engineering confirming there are people sheltering in place in that location, then conduct a full sweep for any parasitic entities once the venting has commenced. Please stay in the area you were in when you received your scan. The fewer areas we need to keep oxygenated the higher than chance of eliminating any remaining parasites. If there is any person, or other lifeform, still unaccounted for, notify the bridge immediately."

Almost immediately there was a response from the Labs, "Doctor Orquoz reporting in: there are people sheltering in place in the main laboratory."

[Bingellia]

Violann of Mihal

Major Violann remained silent as the two officers engaged with one another. Her icy blue eyes darted between the pair and the bridge's handful of air vents, though she proved content to listen. Her body language and her guard remained attentive even as the situation remained under Darko's control.

She thought the stories of the war between the Concord and the Ragon Empire within the Kiellar Diaspora, and Larce's words about the worm echoed the stories of Ragon prisoners. Mindless and murderous enemies were framed as the ultimate evil in a war of extermination. She had heard it all before, but her father knew two Ragon from his time aboard the Defiance. They seemed different, and the Ragon units that fought alongside the Command and Dhasath Provisional Government also gave credence to the infected leadership theory.

"Captain Darko," Violann broke her self-imposed silence, "Our NDR... counterparts may have a point. One of these parasites nearly penetrated through one of our hangers before the crew downed the shuttle it hijacked, one of them attacked Engineer Yitakyeop with the intention of obtaining a host. Had it succeeded, we would have been forced to detain her or worse if it resisted, which we can assume is likely given the incident in the hangar."

They may also have caused the massacre in the med-bay," Violann continued. "Whatever happened there, the staff on duty and the captured xenos all ended up butchered. Hypothetically, execution may be justifiable under legal conventions."

[Europa Undivided]

Rommel Salazar

Perhaps thankfully Rommel did find a parasite, or half of one at least. The back, tail end, while the head had been vapourised. It looked a lot like a sickly-grey eel once you clawed the gore and gunk off it.

"Eugh," Rommel winced in an unparalleled display of disgust as he almost felt the squishy, slimy exterior of the Satran parasite even as it lay half-destroyed on his thick leather glove. A service crew member promptly handed him one of those clear plastic bags that would most often be associated with detectives taking evidence from a crime scene, though this was really just a plain Ziplock.

With the evidence now kept in storage and the fate of the parasite that infected poor Olker ascertained, the Flight Lieutenant leaned back as he sat on the floor, sighing. He took off the now soiled glove, revealing his hand. "Remind me to never do this again," Rommel grumbled. "I mean, back at the house, they always called me when they needed someone to chase the cockroach or the rat or whatever. I think I've lost all appetite for today and tomorrow. Maybe a week.*

With all that done, Rommel called back to the bridge, sighing. "Captain. The parasite is dead. The head has been vaporized and we've kept the thing's remains in a ziplock until someone with a better container comes along. That makes two down."

With that done, he began to enact the preparations that the captain commanded for the venting of the ship. Hopefully that'll flush out the last one...

[Tesserach]

Aula Cartia

"I think I winged someone," Aula looked a little furtive about that. Clearly now that everyone was ostensibly friends she didn't want to think too much about whose buddy she might have shot. She glanced at the floor, then in the direction of the NDR troopers, then back to Julian. Then, she grinned brightly, "You like the look?" she asked, turning the topic away from 'cracking skulls', "Navy-chic suits me it seems! Though there is a lot of weight on your shoulders wearing this rig and I definitely wouldn't say know to a shoulder massage," she added with a coy smirk. She figured Julian would be too shy to offer, even if she dropped the very obvious hint. Shoulder massages were never actually about the massage in her experience...

"I wouldn't worry too much. Me and these NDR marines, we've been - you know - hanging out. They're cool. We're cool." Julian said with a little mirth to his voice turning to the nearest NDR trooper. His headache was momentarily forgotten with Aula's arrival. "We're 'cool' right?"

There was an awkward pause as the NDR trooper standing a few feet away noted Julian staring at them expectantly and realized he actually wanted a reply. "Sure." They said eventually in a tone of voice that suggested they were, in fact, anything but 'cool'.

Then, she grinned brightly, "You like the look?" she asked, turning the topic away from 'cracking skulls', "Navy-chic suits me it seems! Though there is a lot of weight on your shoulders wearing this rig and I definitely wouldn't say know to a shoulder massage," she added with a coy smirk. She figured Julian would be too shy to offer, even if she dropped the very obvious hint. Shoulder massages were never actually about the massage in her experience...

"Oh yes, quite!" Julian turned his attention away from the NDR troopers back to Aula. "I mean I am a little concussed..." He started, but it was possible to pinpoint the moment Julian seemed to catch on to what Aula was suggesting, by the way his expression suddenly changed to one of surprise. "...oh... I mean, yeah, of course I'm I sure I could..."

She took a step closer to him, adding in a low whisper, "You know you saved countless lives with that broadcast you did. I am pretty sure Larce knew what you were doing by the way. But if you hadn't, I'm pretty sure we'd have shot each other to pieces. These NDR types take shoot-first-ask-questions-later to its ridiculous extreme! At least we're past that now. I'm glad Novak was sensible enough to see the threat. Imagine satran on this ship! Even thinking about those bugs makes me want to throw up in my mouth."

Julian shuffled awkwardly. He'd never been one who knew much about how to accept praise, but it didn't mean he didn't enjoy it. Plus it was Aula. He managed a small smile. "You know... I had this whole plan for how when they ruthlessly beat me, I'd just... you know... fall on my data-link, clasp my hands together, and... like... keep broadcasting. If you re-listen, pretty sure you can tell when I had to stop, because I'd run out of material and was confused why I beaten yet." He chuckled a little at the thought before being interrupted by the ship-wide broadcast.

"All crew, we are going to vent the ship in exactly five minutes. Ensure the section you are in is sealed, send a message to engineering confirming there are people sheltering in place in that location, then conduct a full sweep for any parasitic entities once the venting has commenced. Please stay in the area you were in when you received your scan. The fewer areas we need to keep oxygenated the higher than chance of eliminating any remaining parasites. If there is any person, or other life form, still unaccounted for, notify the bridge immediately."

Leaning over Aula's shoulder as the broadcast wrapped up. "Once this is done... my place or yours?"

[The Yazhou Federation]

Zach had been promised a life of adventure and glory onboard the Destiny.
However, as he lay in the comms room, which had been scheduled for air venting due to the parasite threat, this was not the case. He had killed the satran in this room with his blaster, thank god. One good thing in this mound of s**t.
He was gonna die. For real. His only oxygen mask had almost ran out of air, and the comms tech in the room had almost ran out of battery and only had enough of it to stay on for 7 seconds, and sending a message would use all the remaining energy. The doors were locked. He thought he would die in battle for the Martian Federation, but he was to die here, alone in this damn room on this ship in Andromeda millions of light years from Mars.
Then a thought flashed in his head.
Seven seconds might be enough...
No, it's hopeless...
Might as well try...
He ran to the comms tech and turned it on.
6 seconds...
Zachariah swore.
5 seconds....
A window popped up: THE BATTERY IS RUNNING OUT!
4 seconds....
Zach swore and swiped it aside.
3 seconds...
Zach went to the app "Ship systems".
2 seconds...
It opened and Zach saw the words "This room is being vented. Override? [Y]es [N]o"\
1 second...
Zach pressed Y.
0 seconds, shutting down...
Zach looked down and saw his mask had ran out of air. If he died, his family name would be glorified at least, and his younger brother would continue the family name. (My character is Asian, like me IRL)
He pulled off the mask and tried to breathe, but he couldn't.
Then, he could. Oxygen rushed into his empty lungs as he thanked his ancestors for the air.
But where could he get food and water? He was gonna die in a few days of starvation and thirst, whichever came first. The only bit of mango jelly (his favourite food) he had was wolfed down as he wondered what would happen next.

[The Yazhou Federation]

Zach had been promised a life of adventure and glory onboard the Destiny.
However, as he lay in the comms room, which had been scheduled for air venting due to the parasite threat, this was not the case. He had killed the satran in this room with his blaster, thank god. One good thing in this mound of s**t.
He was gonna die. For real. His only oxygen mask had almost ran out of air, and the comms tech in the room had almost ran out of battery and only had enough of it to stay on for 7 seconds, and sending a message would use all the remaining energy. The doors were locked. He thought he would die in battle for the Martian Federation, but he was to die here, alone in this damn room on this ship in Andromeda millions of light years from Mars.
Then a thought flashed in his head.
Seven seconds might be enough...
No, it's hopeless...
Might as well try...
He ran to the comms tech and turned it on.
6 seconds...
Zachariah swore.
5 seconds....
A window popped up: THE BATTERY IS RUNNING OUT!
4 seconds....
Zach swore and swiped it aside.
3 seconds...
Zach went to the app "Ship systems".
2 seconds...
It opened and Zach saw the words "This room is being vented. Override? [Y]es [N]o"\
1 second...
Zach pressed Y.
0 seconds, shutting down...
Zach looked down and saw his mask had ran out of air. If he died, his family name would be glorified at least, and his younger brother would continue the family name. (My character is Asian, like me IRL)
He pulled off the mask and tried to breathe, but he couldn't.
Then, he could. Oxygen rushed into his empty lungs as he thanked his ancestors for the air.
But where could he get food and water? He was gonna die in a few days of starvation and thirst, whichever came first. The only bit of mango jelly (his favourite food) he had was wolfed down as he wondered what would happen next.

Someone, pls do a rp reply to this post.

[The United Federation of Terrans]

PO Polaski and Crew Chief Malik
Shuttle Bay

Polaski craned is head slightly as Novak’s announcement rang through the bay. There was a bit of silence from the bay; at least those not wounded or tending to them.

“Huh…..that’s drastic” Polaski offered up; shifting in place while he readjusted his grip on his carbine. He waited for Malik’s response but found an uncharacteristic silence instead.

Not again

Flashes of a rainy night played in his mind as he turned. It was ridiculous given that they were in the middle of a mob of naval and marine personnel; paranoid and combat ready ones at that.

But it didn’t dissipate as he found the spot Malik had been was vacated.

Not aga-

Something collided with his head, knocking it back slightly as the object made a muted clang with his borrowed ballistic helmet. His carbine dangled from a sling while he fumbled to catch the object; a clear visored breather mask.

“That’s another you owe me.” Malik practically sang as she strutted past; spare breathers dangling from her fingers. She had obviously raided one of the bay’s damage control lockers. She lobbed them underhanded at Rommel and Carter; and passed the rest off to a nearby gaggle of marines and sailors.

Polaski bit down the sigh of relief and instead made an annoyed huff; disdaining a reply in favor of pulling his helmet off to pull on the breather.

He had just secured it and tightened the itchy straps against his scalp when Malik sidled up beside him again. Peering around at their surrounding comrades. Her breather was secured as well; her mouth and nose were covered. Short dark hair mussed and disheveled by the straps.

“Don’t worry though.” She started while giving a confirming that Rommel was still talking to the bridge and Carter was too busy staring at his shot up shuttle. She took another step closer and Polaski realized that he had seen that look in her eyes before only once.

Polaski made to take a step back when she rose slightly on her toes and touched her masked forehead to his.

“You can make this one up to me after.” Her voice was distorted by the breather and slightly muffled. But he recognized the tone as well. He also recognized the grazing touch she laid on his chest before she withdrew it. Malik’s eyes scrunched in a way that told Polaski she was smiling under her mask.

“I….” Polaski stiffened. Carter had looked their way; eyes watching a definitely non-appropriate Officer-enlisted interaction.

Malik must have seen him stiffen because her smile dropped and she turned to face Carter as well. Her chin raised and a slight squaring of the shoulder telling Polaski that Malik was flowering at Carter now.

Daring him to say something. Polaski simply returned the stare. Wondering how he had ended up getting caught fraternizing on the same day of a massive dogfight and parasite invasion.

Was his luck really that bad?

[Arengin Union]

Pilot Officer Cole J. Carter
The Hanger Bay

---

Things had calmed down a bit, thought tensions remained high due to the possibility of there being more of these horrid mind snatchers around. Cole could sense the suspicions abound as several crew members, security officers and even some of his fellow pilots shared expressions of uncertainty and outright accusation. It was not helped by the fact they were all heavily armed and jumpy as it was. Salazar brought back some kind of discipline by his cool demeanor, he seemed to take things a bit more level headed than most, maybe that's why he was chief pilot.

But Salazar wasn't about to try and punch logic into any of them, that had to wait as he signaled them all to get closer by, no one would question the orders of the man who had just taken out the parasite host in order to secure their survival in unknown space.

Rommel Salazar
Rommel gingerly put his helmet back on, motioning for either Cole, Polaski, or quite literally anyone near enough to see his hand to come beside him. "Captain wants me to extract the Satran parasite from poor Olker's body," Rommel stated to whoever came to his assistance. "Now, I have my helmet on, just in case, but in the impossible case that the Satran is alive and manages to fly at my face, I want you to try to remove it from my, well, face. Or, if that doesn't work, just shoot me and put me out of my misery- hey. Don't give me that look. Keep your eyes here, don't ever take them away. The thing might slither away and eat someone else's brain."

With that settled, Rommel quietly pulled back the sheets covering Satel's corpse. Rommel looked away when he opened fire, so he didn't really know the extent of the damage until now. Much of the man's face had been simply charred away, which would, funnily enough, making reaching for the brainstem easier.

"Remind me to remind the captain that this is the worst day of my life, and that's saying something," Rommel grumbled as his gloved hand tunneled within the Archelian's flesh. "Eugh. I think I have it in my hand now..."

"Duly noted sir..." Cole said as he kept his gun low but finger itching to get onto the trigger as he looked at the Satran worm with disgusted curiosity as Rommel managed to pull it out of the Archellian's body.

UNS Destiny
PO Polaski

"That is just gross." Polaski cast a glance over his shoulder; Malik had walked over on unsteady legs. Shaking hands hidden in her flightsuit pockets while she chewed her lip; her nose was also screwed up in disgust. Her gaze on Rommel's impromptu brain surgery.

"Could just space the body I suppose." Polaski offered while shrugging his shoulders. Preferring to look at Malik's bruised face over the nausea inducing parasite hunt.

"Can't they breathe in space?" Malik questioned while she gazed at the crashed shuttle. Polaski simply shrugged again- "Hey Cole!!!!"

Polaski started at Malik's sudden shift in volume. His crew chief was pointing at the heavily scored and dented nose of the downed SAR Hawk.

"Looks like you shot down your own bird!!!"

Cole was brought out of the uncomfortableness of the situation as Polaski pointed out that indeed it had been his shuttle that'd been shoot down, the fact which made him realize that he had not secured the gun systems before departing for his fighter. He couldn't express much as the thought came to him, had he been the one indirectly responsible for the deaths of countless now? that thought further made him realize the sheer amount of dead crewmates lying around the bay. It was then that he finally felt it coming, a rising feeling from his stomach and coming up right through the esophagus at a rapid pace. Cole immediately removed his sealed helmet and suddenly vomited right at the side, the throw up narrowly missed a few other crewmates who backed away with shock and disgust followed by some mocking chuckles.

"Looks like little Carter Jr. can't handle a bit of action huh?" One security officer stated.

Cole couldn't retort back as he could feel his insides burning and the sensation of dread and guilt began to take a hold of him, his eyes felt as if they were about to burst and he could feel immense pressure on his back neck. His body shivered as tears of pain began to come out of his eyes, he wasn't quite sure how to take everything and all he knew was that he was quite possibly responsible for all this.

The voice of the Captain suddenly rang out in the bay, "All crew, we are going to vent the ship in exactly five minutes. Ensure the section you are in is sealed, send a message to engineering confirming there are people sheltering in place in that location, then conduct a full sweep for any parasitic entities once the venting has commenced. Please stay in the area you were in when you received your scan. The fewer areas we need to keep oxygenated the higher than chance of eliminating any remaining parasites. If there is any person, or other lifeform, still unaccounted for, notify the bridge immediately."

Rommel Salazar

With all that done, Rommel called back to the bridge, sighing. "Captain. The parasite is dead. The head has been vaporized and we've kept the thing's remains in a ziplock until someone with a better container comes along. That makes two down."

With that done, he began to enact the preparations that the captain commanded for the venting of the ship. Hopefully that'll flush out the last one...

Cole didn't have time to drool on guilt or self pity, as much as he wanted to disintegrate at that moment he knew there was still a job to be done. He composed himself as fast as he had fallen ill and readjusted himself back to action. He stood firm awaiting the orders of Salazar as he knew that they needed to take proper steps to secure both bays in order to smoke out the last parasite. Though part of him couldn't hold but keep looking at the shot up shuttle which had once been his own, not just a wreck with all kinds of alien viscera splattered all over the cockpit. Was it due to his own disappointment in his shuttle being destroyed partly by his own bullets or that he still couldn't contend with the idea of being also partly responsible for the death of dozens? Maybe both, regardless he continued to stare at it for quite a bit of time with empty tired eyes.

PO Polaski and Crew Chief Malik
Shuttle Bay
“Don’t worry though.” She started while giving a confirming that Rommel was still talking to the bridge and Carter was too busy staring at his shot up shuttle. She took another step closer and Polaski realized that he had seen that look in her eyes before only once.

Polaski made to take a step back when she rose slightly on her toes and touched her masked forehead to his.

“You can make this one up to me after.” Her voice was distorted by the breather and slightly muffled. But he recognized the tone as well. He also recognized the grazing touch she laid on his chest before she withdrew it. Malik’s eyes scrunched in a way that told Polaski she was smiling under her mask.

“I….” Polaski stiffened. Carter had looked their way; eyes watching a definitely non-appropriate Officer-enlisted interaction.

Malik must have seen him stiffen because her smile dropped and she turned to face Carter as well. Her chin raised and a slight squaring of the shoulder telling Polaski that Malik was flowering at Carter now.

Daring him to say something. Polaski simply returned the stare. Wondering how he had ended up getting caught fraternizing on the same day of a massive dogfight and parasite invasion.

Was his luck really that bad?

Cole had just barely gotten his eyes away from his destroyed shuttle and suddenly had witnessed a rather odd interaction between his wingman and Malik, unexpected but not surprising given Polaski's bravado which more than surely made him quite more attractive to the awe stricken. Still it was out of regulation to fraternize like so in uniform, especially with a fellow person in uniform, but Cole could care less as he simply gave a quick nod to Polaski who seemed to have a more awkward expression as he retorted the nod back. It was then that Cole put on his pressured helmet back on and assembled once more with Salazar to see what was going to occur.

"So, what's next?" He asked while inspecting his carbine.

[Novovaritsya]

Science Lab

Co-written by Dyelli Beybi, Tesserach, Novovaritsya, & The Yazhou Federation

---

Leaning over Aula's shoulder as the broadcast wrapped up. "Once this is done... my place or yours?"

"Yours, you can ply me with cheap alcohol," Aula suggested playfully, "Then -" she cut off at the appearance of Lorenzo. Apparently she didn't want him to hear the second part of whatever it was she had been about to say.

Lorenzo entered the lab with his right hand, grabbing the gun inside the holster, as if he were about to pull the gun. He put his hand off the gun as soon as he saw people inside the lab. From his expression, he looked a bit worried, and from his action, it seems like he had faced something before he reached the lab. Heads turned to Lorenzo, certainly the movement by his weapon was noticed by the NDR troopers for sure. Weapons were up almost immediately.

"Whoa! Hey!" Julian looked over, walking directly infront of the NDR guns. "We're all..." He was about to say friends but corrected himself. "... heavily armed casual aquaintances here. No one's brain parasitized...probably..." He said, holding up his hands and turning to Lorenzo. "...r-right?" He sounded a little uncertain at that last part as he looked at Lorenzo with a worried expression as if to say, 'you're not going to shoot me now, right?'

Lorenzo stared at the NDR troopers. He didn't pull his gun. "Peace," he said to the NDR troopers. He just stared at them for a moment before he turned to Julian. "And don't worry, I don't use guns to hurt people. I heard something back in the corridor, followed it, and I couldn't find the source of the sound. It seems like there was an intruder." He stared at the NDR troopers again, as if to say, 'like you guys are'.

Zach stood looking at all of this. Then, he pulled out his blaster. "Ok, who here has evidence he's not a satran host?" Beads of perspiration dripped down his face.

"What's a satran?" Lorenzo turned to Zach.

"Those damn parasites." Zach looked at the people around him. His colleague, Julian, was definitely still human in the mind. He was acting as he usually was. The person named Lorenzo seemed fine, but he could not be sure of the rest.

"Easy. Everyone." Julian cautioned. "Everyone is a... might bit on edge I know. What with the, ah... all the hostile boarding actions and parasites and pointed blasters. Maybe ah... less of the pointing blasters at each other, yes?"

Zach nodded as he holstered his blaster back in its holster. Then, he leaned to Julian. "You think he's suspicious right now?" he whispered in Julian's ear.

"Well, if I were parasitized, some of us might have been killed here," Lorenzo said, turning to the NDR troopers again. He then turned to Zach and said, "And beside, I'm here reporting about the presence of an intruder. Or maybe the satran. I have no idea; I couldn't find the source of the sound after all. By the way how did the satran get inside our ship unnoticed?" Lorenzo turned to Julian.

"Okay guys," Aula waved at the NDR troopers, "They're dhasath, they can't be hosts. Physically impossible. It's what makes us superior," she winked playfully at Julian, "Amongst other reasons.... but as for how they got on the ship. While we were enjoying a few drinks, Captain Novak picked up a number of people on a destroyed vessel. Turns out they were infected. The NDR had left them as bait thinking whomever came to pick them up would have infected senior officers, at the very least. But turns out we don't. And you know Julian and Lanel -" the green skinned scientist in the corner stuck her head up at that "-aren't infected because the NDR have scanned their brains. Have you two been scanned?"

"I haven't, ma'am," Lorenzo turned to Aula and straightened his posture when he answered the question. "That's why I was previously heading for the bridge."

"Hey!" Aula called to the NDR troopers, "You guys got a scanner with you?"

There was a glance that passed between them then one replied, "Yes, we do."

Aula pointed at Lorenzo, "Check this man out so we can mark him as clean before we seal the lab in," she paused, turning to Julian, "Hey Julian, is there anything in your quarters that wouldn't do well in an oxygen free environment?"
Julian relaxed a little as the three-way blasterstand-off he'd been standing directly in the center of eased off. "I don't believe..." He paused, his face going a little pale. "Oh no! Hold on, I'll be right back!"

As soon as the scan was complete, Lorenzo walked off from the NDR troopers almost immediately. It seems like he got what he wanted from the beginning of the scan. He leaned on a wall, staring at the NDR troopers, Zach, and Julian, but it seems like he's not daring enough to stare at the scientists and Aula for some reason. Lorenzo folded his hands, took a look at his watch, and then looked down, trying to distract himself from everyone in the room.

Zach turns towards Julian. "Hey, I forgot my mango pudding in my room. Do you think it'll do without oxygen?" he asked frantically.

"Your pudding will be fine, unless it's a living pudding... in which case I have sooo many questions." Aula snapped her fingers at the nearby NDR troopers with the halo-like brain scanner, "Have you checked him yet?"

"Oh, get it over with, scan my brain," Zach said, knowing real well he wasn't a host.

"It's okay. You won't feel a thing," Lanel assured him, sniffing the clear contents of one of the lab breakers before taking a big swig from it. Apparently she'd been using unknown alien plant samples to distill liquor, most of which wasn't poisonous, although some was definitely hallucinogenic. Even so, it never hurt to steady your nerves when something as dangerous as venting was about to occur, "I'll stay here, I don't have anything to retrieve."

She was right about the brain scan. The NDR device gave no physical sensation. A trooper placed it over Zach's head, then a few moments later a second called, "He's clean," And the device came off again. The third in the team, who had been standing, his blaster pointed at Zach throughout, visibly relaxed at the confirmation.

"Julian," she added, not waiting for a reply, "How far to your quarters? I'll put a call in to say we need more time."

Julian meanwhile, hesitating a moment. "Not far... I'll ah, grab a vac suit. I'll be right back."

"Who here hasn't been scanned yet? I can help scan them," Zach said helpfully.

And with that the man who'd just suffered a traumatic brain injury bolts off into the ship's corridor, alone, at a run.

"Wait a minute...." Zach pondered.... "He's a host!" Zach shouted at the people around him, "He doesn't wanna get scanned because he is a host! Get him!" Zach grabs his blaster, wears an oxygen mask, and shouts, "Follow me, let's capture him!"

"Sit down, civilian!" Aula growled. She has drawn her gun, which has led to several of the NDR troopers to draw blasters as well. All in all not a great situation, though diffused down by the fact she had chosen to point it at Zach, "Security is a military concern. Julian has been scanned. But he shouldn't be out there on his own, where he might get infected so I am going to go as well to watch his back. Put your gun away and sit down."

Zach sits down, though not very happily. He grumbles under his breath, thinking of stabbing Aula to death.

Meanwhile, the sound of Julian's footsteps grows faint down the corridor.

Zach stands up and shouts down the corridor, "Bring my mango pudding while you're at it!"

"Cierra la puta boca," Lorenzo said, turning to Zach.

"You think I don't know Spanish?" Zach says. Anger flares within him. He instantly punches Lorenzo in the face, knocking Lorenzo's teeth out.

Lorenzo was knocked back. He realized that his mouth is bleeding. He immediately stood up straight and walked back, leaving 5 meters of space between him and Zach. He then pulled his gun, aiming it at Zach. "Calm down; they're just words and not bullets," he said to Zach in a calm tone but deep voice. "Now please sit down, because this gun is not meant to be used to hurt people."

"Look, I don't take shit from anyone." Zach said, " Here's some medicine and I'll book a spot for you at the medbay after all this is over, ok? Sorry, I'm in a bad mood right now."

"Very well then," Lorenzo put his gun down, but he didn't put it back in the holster. "Don't be beaten by a bunch of words next time." Lorenzo wiped the blood on his mouth with his left sleeve until his mouth stopped bleeding. He then put his hand down and leaned on the wall. There was complete silence for a moment.

"Wanna be friends?" Zach asked Lorenzo, breaking the silence in the room, "You seem nice, and it's not like either of us have other friends on Destiny II anyway."

"I don't need friends on this ship," Lorenzo said to Zach. "And I don't think I should explain to you why. Maybe you will understand it one day." He didn't say a word for a moment. The room is once again quiet. "You know what?" Lorenzo finally said, breaking the silence in the room, "I'll make it easier for you to think about it. People don't want to lose their friends, especially when they have become close enough. Now, I'm a marine here. Take the current situation as an example. You'll have to kill your friends who got parasitized. It will be hard for you to make that decision considering that the parasite took your friend's body as its host, and now the parasite looks like your friend. If you don't want to shoot your parasitized friend, you're done. This ship is over. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say."

"Yes, I understand," Zach said, "Very well."

There was a moment of silence in the room. Lorenzo pulled his dagger, and he just spun the dagger on his right hand. After a moment, he put his dagger back in it's place, folded his hands, and looked down for a short time. "So," he finally said, turning to the NDR troopers. He sounded calmer than before. "How did you guys come to this place?"

[Dyelli Beybi]

Aula Cartia

After the fracas in the lab, Aula had taken off after Julian, "This is Lieutenant Cartia, we need five to ten more minutes! There has been an incident in the lab and I am missing a scientist!" she called over the comms, sounding slightly breathless. At least she had a helmet and could bring the visor down if they did vent the place. So did Julian, but when he was outside of the safe space that would make him a potential target if there was a Satran parasite in the area.

"Understood Cartia," Novak replied. He didn't confirm if he'd continue with the planned venting of the ship or not, but if she knew Novak, he wouldn't. It wouldn't fit with his code of ethics. She hoped at any rate.

"Julian!" she yelled, "Wait up!" Damn that scientist could move when he wanted to...

---

Science Lab - Lanel Orquoz

...
There was a moment of silence in the room. Lorenzo pulled his dagger, and he just spun the dagger on his right hand. After a moment, he put his dagger back in it's place, folded his hands, and looked down for a short time. "So," he finally said, turning to the NDR troopers. He sounded calmer than before. "How did you guys come to this place?"

Two of the troopers looked at Lorenzo before exchanging a glance, but opted not to answer. They were on peaceful terms, for now, but it had only been a few minutes since the two sides had been shooting at each other and they were clearly suspicious of giving any military information away to a Sol vessel.

"Anyone want a drink?" Lanel offered, hiking herself up to sit on one of the lab benches.

One of the troopers directed a suspicious frown at her, though the other chuckled, "No, thanks, we're on duty."

"Come on," she wheedled, "I've heard a rumour that the Satran can't infect you if you have a blood alcohol content of over 250 mcg."

The trooper laughed again, "I'm a dhasath, they can't infect me anyway... but then again, you have cobalt blood or something weird like that don't you? Could be they can't live off that either."

"Could be," the green scientist took another swig from her beaker, "But you'll forgive me if I decline any experiments to find out." Apparently she was getting on with the NDR boarding party, just fine...

[Europa Undivided]

Rommel Salazar

[quote]"So, what's next?" He asked while inspecting his carbine.[/i]

"We hold on and wait," Rommel answered as he made one last inspection on his own helmet, checking if it was securely pressurized on the flight suit; no one wanted to commit the mistake of an improperly sealed vacsuit in a hangar that's about to have its air vented out. If you were unlucky, you'd faint. If you're really unlucky, you'll just die due to a lack of breathable air.

"So it was your shuttle, eh," Rommel continued, noting what Polaski had said earlier about Cole's craft being the one that was used to terrorize the hangar. The fact that not-Olker, a random enlisted, was able to use the guns without pilot codes meant that the gun systems weren't secured beforehand.

It's not like anyone expected any of this to happen, though Cole stared at the wreckage of the shuttle with silence. In another, less urgent time, Rommel might say some words of encouragement, but he couldn't find any. Not now.

Of course, he too had seen Polaski and Malik doing their… thing. He already knew well that there was something going on between them; those marks on his subordinate's neck had more than proven that beyond the shadow of doubt. Perhaps that really was just the way of sailors, whether it be through the watery ocean or the sea of stars; getting cooped up inside a steel box could get lonely, and any individual would want to alleviate that. Some have good friends; for them, that might be enough. Others may seek more intimacy, and examples of that were as clear as day. And then there are those that simply engrossed themselves either in work or private hobbies, like himself.

"Just another day in the fleet," Rommel muttered, though others nearby could clearly hear him. "Augmented humans, parasitic aliens, a strange new species, a hectic space battle… all in one mission! That insurance package better be good."

[Stollberg-Stolberg]

Georg Daniel Sehm

Storage Department Office

This whole debacle with the parasites was not too pleasant, it surely would lead to more work. It did not seem that the Parasitic Eels had done anything in the Section Georg worked in, at least that was the hope. Luckily enough the venting would not be that much of a problem as all coworkers in his department were either in their Offices or the Break Room close to storage, both near the actual Storage Halls. So he would check on the possibly needed Items for cleaning, it would not dawn on him that there was that much damage done to the ship. While the routine check-in was done over the computer Georg noticed that the size 3/8 Screws in Storage were surprisingly low. Other than that he was stuck in his office with his coworker, it would have been a normal experience if he would not be forced to be confined. With this newfound boredom, he turned to his family egg and inspected it once more before opening it for the little portrait book. He hoped that everyone was alright and healthy.

Georg let out a sigh before closing it once more and turning to a conversation with his Office Coworker, he on the other hand, used this situation as a break and started to play some small games on his computer. The conversation led nowhere and sounded more like a drunk mumbling to a distracted teenager. It was quite irritating that he had no idea what to do, no one would come to retrieve something or return anything at this time, and staring at his monitor would not return the situation to normal. Now Georg finally decided that enough was enough, so for him, it was now also break time. Taking out his electronic book reader some enjoyment could be now seen on his face, it was quite the old book being written in the 20th Century, for anyone not interested in the Mining History of Georg's Home Region it would be pretty uninviting, one might even say bland. Though for him it was the pinnacle of entertainment on this ship, it was quite strange how he had avoided most of the entertainment facilities so far.

Thinking that he might as well use them after this he looked around the room. The only interesting thing happening was his coworker getting mad at cards not stacking, though soon a strange noise filled the room, something more mechanical and less biological. Looking around nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first, maybe it would just be the Venting Process? This however would not feel right, for it was way too loud and rumbly. After hearing the location of interest he was sure that it must be the speakers of his computers, sadly he did not have any knowledge to fix this properly, for his prior education left it almost completely out of the question. Georg still did not want to bother his coworker so he at least tried to fix it, pulling some cables and reattaching them to the same port or trying to move around some other cables to fix what he presumed was a loose contact. Sadly nothing seemed to work and he finally asked his younger coworker for help, he found the problem within moments of looking at it and fixing said Problem. It certainly made Georg feel uneducated and antiquated.

[Tesserach]

After the fracas in the lab, Aula had taken off after Julian, "This is Lieutenant Cartia, we need five to ten more minutes! There has been an incident in the lab and I am missing a scientist!" she called over the comms, sounding slightly breathless. At least she had a helmet and could bring the visor down if they did vent the place. So did Julian, but when he was outside of the safe space that would make him a potential target if there was a Satran parasite in the area.

"Understood Cartia," Novak replied. He didn't confirm if he'd continue with the planned venting of the ship or not, but if she knew Novak, he wouldn't. It wouldn't fit with his code of ethics. She hoped at any rate.

"Julian!" she yelled, "Wait up!" Damn that scientist could move when he wanted to...

"Aula?" Julian's head peaked out of doorway. "Over here." He headed back in.

The room inside was mostly dark, faintly illuminated by the flickering of a set of three monitors that seemed to be shifting through displaying banks of rolling numbers and code, their electronic static broken by the occasional squeaking of a rusty sounding hinge creaking back and forth somewhere inside the tiny room. Next to the computer, several cases filled with electronics and drone components stacked each atop the other. Around the room various other sundries of Julian's life briefly flickered into existence against the deck by the flickering overhead light.

Here an assortment of VR equipment. There a set of half-painted pewter models, shattered against the deck plating. A framed photograph, fallen face-down amidst tech magazines and broken glass next to the bed.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Flicking on the light switch. Nothing. Julian flicked it on and off several times, succeeded only in the florescent light above faintly flickering every now and then. Julian's head tilted up. "Hm... must've been damaged in the boarding." He says. "Hold on, I have a torch in my field sack."

He tripped over a pile of books that were lying in the floor as he felt his way over to the bed. "I rather apologize for the clutter, I was not expecting company... and I don't think that boarding operation did this former broom-closet any favours." Getting on his knees he glanced up briefly, noticing the source of the creaking - the vent hatch over his impromptu placed bed had become unsecured and the hatch cover was now flapping uselessly in the breeze. "Bothersome. Maintenance told me they'd finally fixed that damn hatch..." He grumbled before pressing himself against the floor, reaching under the makeshift bed and feeling around the pitch darkness beneath the bed for his field kit. "... should be around here somewhere..."

[Novovaritsya]

Lorenzo Alejandro Carreon

...

Science Lab - Lanel Orquoz

...
There was a moment of silence in the room. Lorenzo pulled his dagger, and he just spun the dagger on his right hand. After a moment, he put his dagger back in it's place, folded his hands, and looked down for a short time. "So," he finally said, turning to the NDR troopers. He sounded calmer than before. "How did you guys come to this place?"

Two of the troopers looked at Lorenzo before exchanging a glance, but opted not to answer. They were on peaceful terms, for now, but it had only been a few minutes since the two sides had been shooting at each other and they were clearly suspicious of giving any military information away to a Sol vessel...

Lorenzo's smile faded away, and his eyes were widely opened. He was shocked. Lorenzo looked down. 'Of course,' he thought to himself, 'what a stupid question, Lorenzo!' He looked down, trying to pretend that he never asked that question. Well, thanks to Lanel, the NDR troopers are distracted. Lorenzo closed his eyes, trying to forget that he ever asked that question.

He had forgotten that he ever asked the question, but he suddenly remembered something. Not exactly something, but someone. He was trying to ignore the people inside the room, but now he remembered someone. He tried to remember it hardly. "Julian!" he whispered to himself. He looked up and checked the room. He's nowhere to be seen in the lab. Aula was gone too. Well, a hamster's life is important, and the life of a scientist is also important, but the life of a marine lieutenant is also important. And now all of them are out there: a hamster, a scientist, and a marine. Well, hopefully, they could handle the satran when they saw it. There are only two people outside the safe place, though. Oh god.

Lorenzo stared at the gate. His gun is still on his left hand—he moved it when he pulled the dagger—and he's ready to put it up. Or is he? Lorenzo took a brief look at his gun for a moment. What if he encountered the satran on his way to Julian's room and failed to protect himself? He's going to be alone out there. He looked down again. His hands are still folded. What is he going to do now? Go after Julian and Aula, or stay in the lab? What if the Satran beat them? Lorenzo sighed. He stared at the NDR troopers and Lanel while thinking.

He thinks really hard about either risking his life or risking his fellow crews'. "But if you went out there, you'd die," Lorenzo whispered to himself. "But if I died, we're just losing one life, isn't it? There are two of them, though, and they can protect themselves. But what if Aula was attacked first? Wait a minute. Aula is a dhasath. She couldn't be affected by the satran." Lorenzo looked up. 'Right?' he thought to himself. Lorenzo looked down again. It seems like he's right. Aula is a dhasath, and she told the people inside the lab that dhasath are resistant to the satran. Well, he's still worried about his fellow crews. Lorenzo decided to take a seat. He just sat there and looked down, waiting for the door to open. He thinks about other things now. Satran is not a problem for a dhasath, but what if they're late? What if they were still out there when the venting process was executed? Dhasath still need oxygen to live, right? Lorenzo sighed once again. He grabbed his gun with his left hand in case things went badly. It's time to be patient for now.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Aula Cartia

,,,
"Welcome to my humble abode." Flicking on the light switch. Nothing. Julian flicked it on and off several times, succeeded only in the florescent light above faintly flickering every now and then. Julian's head tilted up. "Hm... must've been damaged in the boarding." He says. "Hold on, I have a torch in my field sack."

He tripped over a pile of books that were lying in the floor as he felt his way over to the bed. "I rather apologize for the clutter, I was not expecting company... and I don't think that boarding operation did this former broom-closet any favours." Getting on his knees he glanced up briefly, noticing the source of the creaking - the vent hatch over his impromptu placed bed had become unsecured and the hatch cover was now flapping uselessly in the breeze. "Bothersome. Maintenance told me they'd finally fixed that damn hatch..." He grumbled before pressing himself against the floor, reaching under the makeshift bed and feeling around the pitch darkness beneath the bed for his field kit. "... should be around here somewhere..."

"I swear if this was all part of some plan to lure me into your bedroom -" Aula had her head on a swivel, checking for any movement from parasitic creatures. She assumed it wouldn't attack when there were two of them, but it was only an assumption, "- I'd be pretty impressed, but I would have to slap you across the back of the head for making Novak delay with his venting plan."

She paused, watching Julian before asking, "So what is it that you are looking for exactly? Can I help?"

---

Lanel Orquoz

Lorenzo Alejandro Carreon

...

He thinks really hard about either risking his life or risking his fellow crews'. "But if you went out there, you'd die," Lorenzo whispered to himself. "But if I died, we're just losing one life, isn't it? There are two of them, though, and they can protect themselves. But what if Aula was attacked first? Wait a minute. Aula is a dhasath. She couldn't be affected by the satran." Lorenzo looked up. 'Right?' he thought to himself. Lorenzo looked down again. It seems like he's right. Aula is a dhasath, and she told the people inside the lab that dhasath are resistant to the satran. Well, he's still worried about his fellow crews. Lorenzo decided to take a seat. He just sat there and looked down, waiting for the door to open. He thinks about other things now. Satran is not a problem for a dhasath, but what if they're late? What if they were still out there when the venting process was executed? Dhasath still need oxygen to live, right? Lorenzo sighed once again. He grabbed his gun with his left hand in case things went badly. It's time to be patient for now.

"Hey, Lorenzo, want a drink?" Lanel next offered him a beaker of something purple. She had a bit of a short attention span and had seemingly grown bored of talking to the NDR troopers, though that was fairly typical for a Berdikon freemartin. She took another big swig of her drink, then lay back on the lab bench, stretching out along it, staring up at the ceiling, "You know, I hope those two hurry up collecting whatever it is that Julian wants to collect. I'm starting to feel a little sleepy and would like to get back to my bed, but first we have to go through the decompression thing and then they'll probably want to debrief me about what went on in here. What I'm getting at is there is quite a long evening ahead of us."