Chapter 11
The silent alarms were what woke him up, he sat up in the dark room the red flashing light from the clock was the only illumination. In its dim light, he saw the Comm unit flashing on the table where he left it. He pressed the button, "Yeah, what's the problem?"
"Sir, we've detected a small escape pod in our border-space. We hailed it, but we got no response. Sensors can't detect a life form at this range.. But we will be able to run scans of the pod in a few minutes. But, it is advisable that you are present for when we bring the pod on board."
The Captain stood up and got himself ready for duty.
There had always been something these past few months. It started with the news that Nova Prime had hired a bunch of ex-cons.. Well, more accurately, A thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac. After they had somehow stopped a terrorist by the name of Ronan. But most of that was likely rumor, Nova Prime wouldn't hire criminals.. Then the X.O.P. UltIra had lost contact with Xandar a few weeks ago. The station's technicians were trying to fix it but, it was difficult. The Head Engineer had caught a virus while on shore leave that, while harmless to his species, was deadly to a few of the others so he was in quarantine for a few weeks while the Bio-hazard teams made sure that no one else was infected. Then the fact that they were on the border meant they had to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.
The Captain sighed, there was always something..
Captain James, Darius of the X.O.P UltIra walked to the Operating Deck of the station. He sighed and stopped at one of the Replicators, placing his mug in the dispensary. He pressed the button for the SynthCaff and waited as the thick black liquid filled the cup. He sighed, wishing that they had the newer model, it was faster and more energy efficient and it could replicate food as well as drinks. With the sound of a chime the Replicator signaled it was finished. James took the mug and sipped the liquid, "This stuff still don't taste right." he muttered, SynthCaff was supposed to taste, look, and smell like the drink Caffee, one that was very popular on Xandar and was common fare on most Multi-Species worlds. However, most of the time the Replicator produced a black liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Caffee.
James walked down the hall, passing the other officers and civilians who lived and worked on the station. He pressed the button and called the lift, sipping the liquid he thought about his family back on Xandar, The last news stream from Xandar told that the city was being rebuilt and that the construction was going well. Most of the city had been destroyed after a courageous pilot forced the enemy ship down by flying his ship into the Dark Aster's bridge, He hoped they were alright..
James got to the Operating Deck of the station and walked over to the operations console.
"You said we've detected an escape pod? Je'lek?"
Je'lek nodded, "Yes, Captain, we scanned the pod and there is one life form on board.. Though it's strange."
"Strange how?"
Je'lek turned to the console and pressed a button bring up the results of the scan:
Bio-Scan:
Serial Number Detected: #89P13
Species: Unknown/Unknown.
Body Modifications: Skeletal, Muscular, Neural.
Biological State: Unconscious.
James frowned, He had never heard of something that had been so heavily modified and survived, "Bring it aboard when it's in tractor beam range. Put it in landing bay three.", He sipped the SynthCaff, "Anything else?"
Je'lek nodded, "Yes, sir.. We found this.. It's been on a loop." He closed the Bio-Scan window and opened up the communications window. He selected a file and played it.
It was a series of animalistic growls followed by a series of short clicks, James thought it sounded familiar.. But it was hard to tell. The recording continued for a few seconds. The growls and clicks were separated by periods of silence that were spaced out almost randomly in the recording.
There was a faint barking yelp followed by a thump, then the recording cut out.
James frowned, the growls were strange but, that wasn't the strangest thing. The growls and clicks were in a sort of order..
"Send the recording to my room, there's something about it.." He frowned, thinking about the sounds he had just heard, "Oh, contact me when the pod is brought on board, and have some food and more SynthCaff brought to me.." he added as he walked back to his room to review the morning reports and go over that recording again.
~Later~
James sighed and rubbed his eyes, he had been listening to the recording for the past hour and a half and suffice it to say the growling and chirping had given him a headache. He was annoyed, the recording was so damn familiar.. Why couldn't he figure it out? At first, he thought it might be the standard galactic distress code but when he translated it all he got were a few letters but, nothing legible. He groaned and stood up, stretching. He was about to forget the recording and just chalk it up to faulty equipment on the pod when, his Comm unit beeped. He pressed the button on his belt which activated the small microphone on the collar of his uniform.
"This is Captain James, Go ahead."
"Captain we have the pod on board, You need to see this."
"On my way."
He grabbed the recording unit, the tech nerds could probably figure it out, and walked out of his room he headed down the hall and took the lift to landing bay three. When he stepped out he saw that the Search-Team who dealt with this sort of stuff was on one side of the room a Medical Personal was working on treating the scratches, And were those bites?, on their arms. One of the men saw James and walked up to him, "The thing on board.. We can't grab it.. It's a feisty little critter. We would just stun it.. But we can't get near enough to buzz it. We tried.. It actually dodged out of the way of the stun stick. I had you called because I don't know what to do."
James sighed, there was always something, "Where is the animal?"
"It's in the living section of the pod.. You can go in, just don't try to grab it."
James nodded, "Thank you." He walked into the pod, ducking through the small door. He looked around the pod feeling a little amazed at the mess there was.
The floor and walls of the pod were covered in small scratches. The drawers that usually held clothing and other supplies had been ripped from the wall. Food wrappers were scattered around the pod. The controls for the pod were what caught James' eye though. They had been ripped to pieces, there were circuit boards, wires, pieces of metal and parts of the pod all wired together on the center of the floor. It looked as if it had been frantically put together only to be abandoned.
James looked in the living section of the pod, the bed had ripped to shreds, the bed's stuffing and clothes from the drawers along with the bed sheets were piled up in the corner of the bed and sitting in the middle of the pile was an animal.
The fur on its body was a dark brownish grey. On its face around its dark brown eyes there was a band of black fur, this was highlighted by stripes of white fur on its muzzle and above its eyes. The animal's tail was covered in thick long fur that was colored in alternating black and brown rings. Overall the animal had a canine-ish look to it.
The animal sat there staring at James growling faintly, James stared back and had the uncanny feeling that the animal assessing his weaknesses. He thought he saw a flickering intelligence behind the animal's eyes, but, it was probably just his imagination.
James had an idea, he walked out of the living area, moving slowly so as not to startle the animal, and stepped out of the pod. He closed the door to the pod then walked over to one of the men who was waiting for him.
"Get me some crackers from the mess hall and a low dosage tranquilizer from the Med Bay. I think I can get the animal out of the pod.."
The man nodded and walked off to relay the order.
James walked over to one of the crew members. "We need a pet carrier. I want you to put blankets, pillows, and whatever else you can find inside it."
The man nodded and walked off to do as he was ordered.
James sighed, "Today had been a weird one.", He thought, "And it was only.", He checked his time monitor it read 09:36 he sighed, "It was going to be a long day.."
The men came back with things he needed to capture the animal. He placed the crackers inside the carrier and set the carrier inside the pod he turned to the Search crew, "Alright.. Now all we do is wait. It's an animal.. It'll get hungry eventually and it's obviously smart, so it'll figure out that if it wants the food it'll have to come and get it. Then when it does, it'll be out in a few minutes, then we can go in there, pick it up and bring it to the Med Bay." James sighed, "Then we can figure out what to do with it." He walked to the lift, "Call me when you have the animal in the Med Bay."
James pressed the button and took the lift to the Computer Lab. He handed the recording to the head technician, "This is something we picked up from an escape pod. I want you to listen to it, it's a message of some type. But I can't figure it out, the pattern is familiar, but I can't place it. If you figure it out, call me."
He went to the Mess Hall to get something to eat. He had a sandwich earlier, but, he never finished it. Besides, it would be a while before the animal was in the carrier. He thought about the animal, It was very similar to his daughter's pet at least in body type. As far as it's coloring went, it was a very pretty animal. He figured that if the animal wasn't protected or anything he would give to his daughter.
Alira loved animals, she always wanted more pets. Every time James was home, she would want to go to the pet store, "I just want to look at them.", she would say but, they usually picked one out anyway. Alira raised the animals and gave them to the shelters. Her reasoning was, "I love them, but other people might want to love them too." James never argued, he loved his daughter and she was a good girl always looking out for others.
James was pulled from his thoughts by his Comm unit buzzing it was one of the Operations crew, "Sir?, Sorry to interrupt.. But, long range sensors have detected a small craft heading toward the station from the border."
James grabbed one of the plates he placed a few vegetables and a sandwich on the plate. He tapped the Comm button on his belt, "I'll be there in a minute. What is their current speed?"
"2.5 parsecs an hour. They will be here in about forty minutes."
James took a bite from the sandwich, "Alright I'm making my way there now.", he walked out of the Mess Hall. Then his Comm buzzed again, "Sir, we caught the animal, We're taking it to the MED Bay now."
"Understood." He tapped the activation button, "Call. Operations." He waited for a few seconds, "Operations?, I'll be stopping by the Med Bay first."
"Understood Captain."
He walked to the lift and took it down three floors to deck 5. He walked down the hall and into the MED Bay to find it mostly empty the only one was the doctor. Dr Rose Kathryn was in the side room working on a way to inoculate the species who were vulnerable to the virus. She was looking in a microscope at the moment and taking down notes
James knocked on the side of the door frame, "Dr, Rose the search team is bringing in an animal and I want you to look it over."
She nodded without looking up from, "Yeah Captain, I'll do that.. Just give me a minute" He smiled, Rose was one of those types who could only work on one project at a time. And since she usually had multiple projects going on at a time her office was a little chaotic but, it was an orderly chaos.
She stopped writing and turned, "So, what were you saying?"
"An escape pod was brought on board and we found a modified animal inside. I want you to take a look at it. Just check it out, I want to know where it came from."
She nodded, "I'll do that." She turned back to the microscope and began taking notes again. James nodded, he knew she would get around to it. He turned when the door opened and the search crew brought in the carrier.
Dr. Rose walked into the room, she was putting on a pair of sterile gloves, "Put the carrier on the examination table and leave the room, please." She watched as the men put the carrier on the white paper covered table, one of them moved to open the carrier door, "No.. Don't touch the animal.. You're not wearing gloves. And if you or the animal are carrying anything you might infect each other and the last thing I need is another outbreak at this point."
The man, sighed, "Yeah sure.. Doc."
"There you've done your job, Now you can go back to doing whatever is that you Search Crew do."
The men quickly left the room and Rose turned to James, "I suppose you have to be here.. Just don't make any noise."
She opened the carrier and looked inside, then she pulled the animal out of the cage holding it under its arms and lay it on its back. She looked it over, "Well, It's humanoid and male." She looked at its chest parting the fur with her fingers, "Strange... There's metal imbedded in his chest. You said he was an enhanced being?" She gently grabbed its arm and moved it up watching as the metal contracted slightly, "Skeletal enhancements... Hmm." She turned on the bed's gravity regulators and switched them low enough to allow the animal to float gently above the surface of the bed. Dr. Rose pushed the animal so it spun gently in the air revealing its back.
The skin on the animal's upper back between his shoulders was mostly made up of scar tissue. There were seven metal ports stood out from his skin, Dr. Rose gently touched one of the ports feeling the skin around them. The animal's paw twitched, clenching tightly, then slowly relaxing Dr. Rose frowned thoughtfully and grabbed an Imager-Ray it was a simple device that used sound waves and hardlight holograms to project images of internal organs. She turned it on and held the end over the animal's back an image of the animal's spine and surrounding musculature was slowly generated in the air. She stopped and turned off the Imager-Ray allowing the Med Bay's hologenerators to display the image. She turned and looked at the image moving it with her hands and peeling away layers one at a time.
At first she was curious, then slowly with each layer her curiosity turned to horror then disgust , then pity. As she realized just what this creature must have been through. She turned back on the Imager-Ray and set to do a full body scan. The readout said it would take about an hour. She sighed, "Well, I've got a full body scan set up. So, we'll be able to see what he is in about an hour."
James, who had remained silent throughout the examination nodded, "There's another craft approaching, they could be friends of the animal, they'll be here in about..", he checked his timepiece, "Thirty minutes.." he sighed.. "I guess we need to get a welcoming party together"
He turned and left the Med Bay leaving Dr. Rose with the strange animal. He walked to the lift and rode it to the Operating Deck. Je'lek interrupted him, "Sir the ship is hailing us."
James sighed, "Drop that order and continue as is, Captain, out.", He turned to Je'lek, "Answer it." Je'lek pressed a button and the Operating Deck's main screen turned on.
"This is Captain James, Darius of the Xandar Space Outpost UltIra state your name, rank and ship identification number."
The man in the video feed was tall and shirtless he had several red tattoos on his greyish-blue skin, he looked closely at the camera, "Friend Quill... I think, I found the station's number."
A mumble was heard from off camera and the tall man replied, "Because their Captain is talking with me."
"Drax! You weren't supposed to call them yet.."
"I'm sorry Quill, I thought you wanted me to call them."
There was a sound of movement and another man sat down in front of the camera he took a moment to adjust the camera. James could tell that this man was the type who had very little to do with formalities or any sense of order. This was going to be an interesting conversation..
"Hey there, sorry about Drax here.. He was supposed to find you not call. I wanted to make sure we were close enough.. Rocket said that our transmitter needed some work but, I guess he was wrong. Anyway, I'm Peter Quill but, you can call me Star-Lord. Uh, you met Drax and Gamora is tending to Groot. I think you've met Rocket.."
James felt a surge of fear at these names, he knew who they were.. Well, except for the one who called himself Star-Lord which was a really dumb name he thought. He nodded, "What is your ship identification number."
Star-Lord frowned, "I have it here somewhere." He stood up and moved out of the view of the camera. There was a sound of stuff being moved and a faint, "Dammit Rocket.. Why do you have to leave your weapons everywhere.."
Star-Lord sat back down in front of the camera. He held a small card, "It's R112DH33. So, uh, we think you have one of our crew members on your station."
James motioned for one of the crew to check the database for a ship with that number he nodded, "I see.. And why do you think that?"
"Because we tracked his escape pod here."
James frowned, "Your crew member is an animal?"
Starlord frowned, "Well, yes, but no he's not really an animal.. It's hard to explain.."
James sighed, "You have the clearance, You may board at dock 12."
James cut the link and sat back in his seat, "Is the ship in the database?"
The crew member nodded, "Yes.. Name: Milano. Affiliation: Nova Corp, Previously, The Ravagers."
James frowned, "The Ravagers.. hmm. We'll need to watch them carefully you know how Ex-cons can be." He stood up and motioned for three of the crew members to follow him. The group walked to the lift and took it down to the docks. The opened dock 12 and waited for the ship to dock. They saw the orange and blue ship moving in and land, The docking clamps locked onto the outer hull of the ship, the entrance ramp lowered and the three people walked over to them. James held out his hand to the one called Star-Lord, "Your animal friend is in the Med Bay. We have him sedated and he is being examined by our doctor." Star-Lord nodded, "We would like to see him.."
"Of course follow me."
Author's Note: Hello all, I know it's been a while. But, I'm back to writing now. I want to do a series of short stories involving these characters. Any suggestions would be helpful and appreciated. Also, Please read and review, comments are really helpful.
~RocketRaccoon18
