"So there was some kind of power surge," Asami murmured. She was sitting cross-legged on top of an engine, a thin wire leading from a data pad and into an access panel. "But what caused it? Something doesn't add up." She turned the pad towards the dog lying next to her. "What do you think, Naga? What does this look like to you?"
Naga lifted her head and sniffed at the pad before giving it a good lick. Asami scrunched up her face. "Thank you for your input."
The dog suddenly stood abruptly, the fur all along her back rising. She lowered her head and growled. Asami had the indisputable sense that something was watching them. Naga whined, barking loudly and alternating between growling and more barking. Something suddenly grabbed onto Asami's shoulders and yanked her up towards a ventilation shaft. She hit the metal hard, crying out in pain and fear as she spread her body as wide as she could to keep herself from being pulled into the shaft.
Her jumpsuit tore, and she was falling. She landed hard on the engine and rolled off, sprawling on the deck. She could see something shadowy and inhuman moving above her in the vent. Pulling herself to her feet, she shouted, "Naga! Come on! Run!"
The something landed on the deck behind her, claws clacking on the metal. Asami ran faster than she ever had in her life. She slapped her hand on an alarm before zig-zagging towards the lift, Naga racing ahead of her. Asami glanced behind her, and didn't see her attacker. She reached the lift, and Naga's warning bark was the only thing that saved her life as a sharp, jagged tail jabbed into the ground in front of her. The creature, the alien was on the wall above the lift. It was as black as space, shiny and slick. It was too dark to make out any features but the teeth in it's jaw as it opened it's mouth to hiss at her. It was like staring death in the face.
"What the hell is that thing?"
They were huddled around the screen as Varrick reversed the video and replayed it. Something bursting out of Wei's pod, and scrambling off camera. Korra brought her fist to her mouth.
The lights in the infirmary dimmed slightly as alarms went off throughout the ship. Korra's head snapped up. "..Asami!"
Her feet had her moving before her brain have even told them what to do. Someone called her name and she heard people running behind her. Every step made the soles of her feet scream, but she ignored it. She'd almost reached the lift when a maintenance hatch broke open, and Asami, Naga in her arms, fell out of it.
Asami sat up, panting heavily. "r..run..!"
Something big and dark clattered in the maintenance shaft. Korra pulled Asami to her feet, but they were too slow. The creature climbed into the corridor, raising itself to it's full height. The light overhead shone around it, casting it's shadow over Korra and the others and obscuring its features.
On Korra's right, Wing bolted forward, swinging a pipe at the creature. He ducked low under its claws and gracefully rolled across the deck and behind it. While it was distracted, Asami fumbled for the hatch door, grasping into it and jabbing it into the thing's back. Blood splurted. The skin on the right side of Asami's face started to bubble and burn and she fell against the bulkhead before sliding to the ground. Doubled over, Asami's agonized screams rang off of the steel plating.
Wing let out a surprised gasp, as though all the air were rushing out of his body. He hung suspended on the end of the alien's tail. It darted back into the shaft, taking a still twitching Wing with it.
Only the sound of Asami's whimpering filled the air of the corridor. Korra knelt down, gathering her into her arms and backed away from the hatch. "We should…"
"Infirmary," Kuvira agreed.
They jogged back, wary of every hatch along the way.
"Where's Wing?" Opal asked, before she saw Asami. "Oh my god."
"Zhu Li?" Varrick said, staring wide-eyed. "Thing? Do it?"
"Its blood is some kind of acid." Kuvira secured the door. "It got Wing. I'm sorry." She ran a hand through her hair. It was the first time since Korra had known her that she'd seen Kuvira look frazzled. The captain took a step towards Asami, then stopped.
Korra squeezed Asami's hand as Zhu Li treated her. With Wing and Wei gone, that made her the second in command. "Lock down the ship. We should all stick together or in twos and threes. We're going to go level by level and room by room until we've flushed this thing out."
"If we can capture it," Varrick said, speaking faster the more excited he became. "Can you imagine. Acid for BLOOD! Prehensile tail!" He flailed his hands as he spoke, as though playing charades. "Lives as a parasite in the host and then just BURSTS out fully formed! You know, Asami... A direct hit from that blood and you'd be dead. Your whole head, just eaten away! Now that woulda been a sight."
"That thing killed my brothers." Opal's voice shook with barely contained rage. "That thing hurt our friend. Its hunting us. Why the fuck do we want to capture it!"
Kuvira intercepted her as she lunged toward Varrick. "We're not capturing it."
"Lure it to the airlock. Blow it out." Asami pushed herself up on her elbows. The right side of her face was heavily bandaged, but she pushed Zhu Li's hand away when she tried to inject her with something.
Varrick scratched his chin. "Someone will have to be bait. Not it!"
"Sir, your bravery knows no bounds," Zhu Li said.
"I'll be the bait. This is my ship." Kuvira let go of Opal. "Asami, can you walk?"
Asami swung her legs off the bed. "Yeah." She gave Opal a comforting look, taking her hand and squeezing it, trying to assure her that everything would be fine. Hoping she'd calm down. It was as much for herself as for the other woman. Asami was shaking a little, and the pain in her face couldn't be categorized in words.
"Korra, take Asami, prep the airlock. There's guns in my locker, I'll give you access. If you see that thing, don't engage."
"Don't worry, I don't want to fight that thing unless I have to."
Korra was kind of hoping she got to fight that thing. For Wing and Wei and for Asami's face. She looked over from where she stood guarding the corridor. "I'm sorry about your face. You're still beautiful, you know."
A smile ghosted across Asami's lips. "It's okay. Just kind of regretting not taking that painkiller."
"I mean it, you're still gorgeous! How close are you to being done?" Korra glanced down at Naga, who was starting to pace nervously. It only made her more anxious.
"Almost there. We should be able to trigger the airlock remotely. I've also overridden the safety protocols, so it will explosively decompress."
"And send that bastard on a one-way trip to oblivion."
Kuvira's voice broke over the radio. Her words cut in and out, but Korra made out 'coming' 'airlock' 'alien'. She flicked the safety off of the gun. "Asami we need to get out of here right now!"
"Fifteen seconds!"
"We don't have fifteen seconds!"
Naga started to bark just as Kuvira came into view, the alien skittering along the ceiling behind her. Korra leaned out, shooting twice and hoping to startle it enough to give Kuvira a few more feet between her and the alien. "Asami, hurry!"
She didn't wait for a response, grabbing the engineer and pulling her out of the airlock. They ran across the corridor. Korra turned to watch as Kuvira skidded into the airlock. The captain turned, firing three times at the alien. Its blood splattered on the deck and it hissed, lashing out with its tail. The appendage cut through Kuvira's wrist and she dropped her gun as the alien leapt in after her.
"Close the door! Close the door!" Kuvira's voice rang across the metal. Asami hesitated, and Korra grabbed the remote and pressed the switch. The airlock door slam shut.
"But Kuvira-"
"She knew this was a risk." Korra rushed to the window and looked in. Kuvira had her arms around the alien. The skin on her neck was bubbling from exposure to its blood but that only seemed to make her hold on tighter as its tail slashed and stabbed at her.
She made eye contact with Korra, and nodded once. Korra pressed the second button on the remote. The outer hatch swung open and both Kuvira and the alien were gone.
Asami leaned heavily on Korra's back, wrapping her arms around her waist and squeezing tightly. Korra turned, meeting Asami's eyes. She lifted her fingers to wipe at Asami's tears. "There's still a lot to do. Lets get back. You're going to rest now. That's an order."
They walked slowly along the path that Kuvira had come. Now that the immediate crisis was over, Korra felt exhaustion threatening to take hold. But she had to keep everyone together. Find Wing's body, get the ship back on course.
It was too dark, red light lining the corridor to the infirmary. The rest of the lights were out, and Korra slowed even more, drawing her gun again. The door was sealed, and a readout indicated that the atmosphere inside had been vented. Korra placed her hand on the glass and looked in. Varrick lay on his back, his ribcage ripped open by a great force from within. Someone lay facedown on the floor near the door, and there was a lot of blood and a viscous white liquid all over the upended equipment.
Silently, Asami routed air back into the room. Once the pressure was equalized, the door rotated open.
Opal looked almost peaceful where she lay. Korra knelt, gently turning her over. Hot tears streaked down her face as she pulled the young woman into her arms and held her tightly.
Asami exhaled a shuddering breath, and stepped past them. She followed the trail of white liquid until it led her to Zhu Li's severed torso. The woman twitched, one eye rolling up to look at her. Half of her face had been smashed in and her voice was garbled, "I-I-I-I hello."
"You're an android." Asami leaned down, adjusting Zhu Li's head so she could look at her better. "Korra, you better come over here."
"Ar-ar-artificicicicial persperspersonon." Zhu Li corrected.
Red-eyed, Korra came over. "What happened?" She'd worry about why no one had told them that Zhu Li was a synthetic later.
"Varrick wa-waswas infefefefested. Xenenenomorph burstststst out. Attacked m-m-m-m-m-me." Zhu Li's voice made a kind of grinding, bubbling sound. "Oooopal vent-ventvent air."
"It's not here…" Korra looked around cautiously.
"The compacompc-ny. Planan. Access code ni-nine six six b-bet-ta-ta." She lifted her still working hand, pointing at Asami's chest. "Scan. Scan. Scan."
Asami looked down at her chest, then at Korra. Zhu Li continued to repeat the word, each time growing weaker and weaker. Asami felt her stomach suddenly clench. "Korra get on the bed."
"What?"
"Get on the bed now."
The fear in Asami's voice was palpable, so Korra did as she was asked. "Okay."
Starting the machine, Asami kept an eye on the readout as it began to move up Korra's body. She prayed to whatever god was listening that she wouldn't find anything. she didn't know what she'd do if she found something.
The scanner went up and down twice, and Asami about broke down from relief. "You're clear. You're clear." She leaned over, kissing Korra and clinging to her for a few precious seconds.
"Thank god, okay, your turn." Korra sat up, her grip on Asami tight enough to cause the other woman discomfort. But they were all the other had right now. Korra hopped off the bed, and walked to where Opal still lay. While Asami got into the scanner, she carried Opal to another bed, and pulled a sheet up over her head.
Asami slid onto the bed. She wasn't that afraid. Korra was okay. She'd be okay and no matter what they found on this scan, Korra was clean. And as far as Asami was concerned that was all that mattered. Closing her eyes, she said, "I'm sorry."
"None of this is your fault." Korra stroked the top of Opal's head, then turned back to her girlfriend. "If we can believe Zhu Li, it's the Company's fault."
"Yeah." Asami sighed.
Naga started to bark, and she snapped her eyes open. Crouching on top of the scanner and staring right at her was the new alien. It was smaller than the first one, but already grown several feet long.
Korra threw an incubator at it, and Asami rolled off of the bed as the scanner shorted out. The alien hissed and fled out the door.
"It was here the whole time!"
"It can survive without air?"
"Or just hold its breath for awhile." Korra pulled Asami to her feet. "New plan. I think that eventually it's going to come for us. So we need it to come for us on our terms, not it's terms."
"I could force a low-level radiation leak below decks. That will push it up to this level. And if we can seal off all the extra cabins that will lead it right to the command center. We can set up a rabbit hole right to the escape pods if we have to. It even force it into one and jettison the pod." They could figure out how to blow up the escape pod once it was free. "We can do most of that from command." Asami started for the door. "And maybe we can find out what the Company knew about these things."
Korra lingered a few more moments. Zhu Li's eye had faded, her arm lifted and her finger still pointing. Opel and Wei's bodies lay still on their beds, and she didn't have the stomach to move Varrick. Korra thought it would be a miracle if she lived to see another day, let alone get home to see how her daughter grew up.