Chapter 3: Captain's Log

All was quiet in the docking bay, which had been evacuated as per Quarantine procedure. The only occupant was a single stormtrooper, clad in full environmental armor, whose job was to make sure nothing left the freighter sitting in the berth closest to the trooper. Nothing had happened for the past three hours, but he remained vigilant, a byproduct of his childhood training on the rain-soaked planet of Kamino.

Suddenly, a flash of movement caught the trooper's eye. Raising his rifle, he cautiously walked over to where he had seen the movement, but upon closer examination, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

He jerked around as he heard something moving behind him, but again saw nothing. he was just about to return to his post when one of the creatures that Commander LaRone had called "facegrippers" slammed into him, wrapping it's tail around his neck. It spat acid at his helmet, but he was protected by the acid-resistant properties in his armor.

The trooper ripped the facegripper off his helmet, threw it to the ground and fired point-blank, killing the creature instantly.

As the trooper returned to his post, he failed to notice another facegripper skitter across the deck towards a ventilation grille near the bottom of the wall.

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LaRone sat in his quarters, going over the freighter captain's logs, trying to find out what had happened. He popped the first disc into his computer.

"We've just picked up a new cargo on Coruscant. Some official wants these 'biological specimens' delivered to the Dostra system in the Corporate Sector. Unfortunatly, Jon opened one of the containers, and now has a parasite of some kind attached to his face. We put the rest of the containers in the hidden hold to prevent more of the buggers getting out. "

Larone leaned forward in interest as he played the next log.

"We've tried everything to get the blasted thing off Jon's face, but it won't budge. We even tried cutting it off, but it leaked acid onto the deck, damn near burned through the outer hull. Now every time we go near it, it tightens it's hold on him. Very strange.

LaRone popped the next disc in.

"Good news, Jon woke up. Unfortunatly, he's been eating everything he can get his hands on, at this rate we're going to have to stop over somewhere and restock. I don't kn-"
The sound of breaking bones is heard faintly. The captain walks away.
"What the kark! Shoot it!"
A volley of blasterfire is heard. Several swears are heard, indicating that the crew has failed to kill their target. The captain never shuts the recorder off, and it records the crew dying one by one. Eventually, a strange hissing sound is heard, right before a stray shot hits the recorder, ending the recording

LaRone sat back in his chiar, running a hand through his hair. He let out a long breath, and got up. He needed to inform the doctor about this. Normally he would have just commed the doctor, but he wanted to visit the infected stormtrooper, as he felt slightly responsible for the situation.

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As the infirmary doors slid open, Doctor Cole Jaxter looked up from the test results from the stormtrooper lying on the surgical table.

"Ah, Commander, come in."

"How's he doing?" LaRone asked as he entered the room.

"He's stable," Jaxter replied. "It's strange. The parasite seems to be suppling him with oxygen and keeping him alive, though I'm not sure why."

I think that I found some answers in the freighter's logs. It appears that one of t-"

Larone was inturrupted by a groan coming from the surgical rushed in to see that the stormtrooper was waking up.