Chapter Five

Cerberus Station

Quietus Star System

Colt leisurely sat in a comfy guest chair. He smiled at Sandra who sat behind the former station commander's desk. Colt notice the man was called Gay Johnson. He felt sorry for the poor sonvabitch, hopefully his in a better place now. "Well you look like you're at home." Colt remarked to Sandra.

Colt watched has she rubbed her hands on the maple desk's surface. She smiled at him and moved a lock of hair out of her eyes. She pressed a button on the desk and the office's window blinds closed as well as the door that lead into the room. She leaned back in her chair and pulled down the zipper to her flight suit. All that was under the suit was her black lace bra. Sandra lazily took off her headset. "We did it, Sam." She smiled.

Colt cocked his head to the side. Was she playing with his dick again? He couldn't help but smile. He still didn't know where they stood on a relationship. He always found Sandra confusing. Maybe that's why he liked her? He remembered the fond times they spent in the showers in the corps or in her office during late hours. God those were the days alright. He could remember her cries of ecstasy. Of course that was before she became his salvage captain and turned into a maddening crazy woman that wouldn't give him a straight answer. Colt pulled off his headset and sat it on the desk. "Hey Sandra, do you just use me for my body?" Colt asked with a smile.

"Would it hurt you if I did?" She smirked back at him.

Colt shook his head and laughed. It did hurt him, at least little. He always wanted more with her, and he figured she could give it. After all he knew Sandra suffered from horrible nightmares and when they were together he'd hold her until she stopped sobbing. Yeah Sandra was a tough girl but she had a soft squishy inside. Colt looked at her, admired her green eyes for a moment. "I'm serious, c'mon. Give it to me straight. Is there any hope for us to rekindle our dyeing relationship?" Colt had to know, these past few hours have been making him want a restart.

Sandra looked at him. Colt could see from her eyes that she was thinking. He watched her pupils dilate and return to normal. She looked over his face for any form of deception, he figured. He didn't know exactly how Sandra thought, just that she was thinking. She smiled at him. "Depends, if we do get back together am I going to have an insubordinate navigations officer?"

Colt groaned. Here comes the whole Katarina subject. "We're just sex pals, even she knows that." Colt shrugged.

Sandra leaned into the desk on her elbows. She stared Colt dead in his eyes. "Yeah, but you know women, they grow attached, Heart Breaker."

Colt's ears perked up at the sound of his callsign from the corps. That's right, he smiled. He was called the Heart Breaker. He got that name before Sandra even joined up to command his unit. All the other grunts would joke that he had a woman in every port. Colt was only good at two things in his life, being a marine and breaking hearts. Maybe he judged Sandra a little unfairly in their relationship, he didn't know. He chuckled and realized Sandra was the only girl he didn't cheat on when he was going steady. "I will admit you were the only girl that kept me honest, well more honest." Colt said as he looked at Sandra's black lace bra.

Sandra smiled and caressed her sternum. Colt knew she was teasing him. They clearly still had that spark. God if Sandra kept teasing him, he's going to have a major case of blue balls. He groaned and tried to focus on her face. "You seem a little tense, Sam." Sandra smiled.

Colt cursed and shook his head and stood up. Yeah he was tense alright. His damn dick was tenting his fucking pants. He had a marine private standing right at attention to his fucking commanding officer. "I think I'm going to get some air, to cool down."

Colt was shocked to see Sandra climb across the desk. She sat right in front of him and pulled at his waist. She looked up and smiled. "I don't mind restarting, as long as you stop seeing Katarina." She smiled rubbing his crotch.

Colt cursed and Sandra giggled. He swore he could cut the sexual tension in the room with a knife. He felt Sandra pull down on the zipper to his suit. The next thing he felt was her cold slender hands reaching under his shirt to caress his abs. Sandra bit her lower lip and looked up at him. Colt lost his breath at the sight of those big green eyes looking up at him. God she drove him nuts but he could never get enough of her. Colt leaned down and kissed her. He groaned. Sandra's lips were so soft.

Colt felt dizzy when Sandra started to kiss back, softly. There kisses grew more desperate. Colt's heart was hammering in his chest. He pulled back and took a deep breath. Damn he couldn't breathe around her. He looked down at Sandra, she was panting as well. She took his hands and used them to push up her bra. He felt a shiver go up his spine as he felt the soft mounds on her chest. He could feel her nipples press against his palm. "I want you to know, that you were the only man to touch me after the corps." She whispered.

Colt felt his mind throb. God, don't tell him that. He looked down at Sandra. Damn the girl really knew how to play with him. Colt leaned down. "I fucking love you." He whispered before he kissed her.

Colt stood straight up as he heard a knock at the door. "Fuck." He whispered.

Colt turned back and saw Sandra pout with her lips. God that looked sexy. She pushed him back and stood up. She gave him a wink and pulled her bra back down. She pulled up her zipper and walked back to her chair. Colt shook his head and pulled up his zipper. He was so going to have blue balls. Colt sat down. Colt put his headset back on. "Come in!" Sandra said as she pushed the button on the desk.

James came through the door. He looked at Colt and then to Sandra. He swallowed. "I managed to hack the database. This station is loaded with information."

Colt looked at Sandra and saw a smile that would make a pirate blush. He chuckled. He could see the dollar signs in her eyes. "How loaded?" Sandra asked.

"This station was into some pretty questionable stuff. Biological research, the bio labs are stocked full of drugs and machines designed to alter genetic code and that's only the tip of the ice berg." James chuckled.

Sandra nodded her head. "Jackpot."

"You have no idea, Captain." James smiled. "That gene therapy equipment, even five years old is worth millions on the black market."

Colt chewed on the side of his cheek. "How much can we take with us? Surely some of that equipment is completely secured to the station's deck?"

"All of it but the examination beds, we can take." James smiled. "Also I got the research data itself, there's a lot of it."

Sandra perked up. "Let's go see it Sam, shall we?"

Colt nodded and stood up. He motioned for James to lead the way. Colt followed James with Sandra directly behind into the control center of the station. The command center was cramped and full of various consoles that controlled various aspects of the station. In the center of the room was a large flat top console that projected a holographic map of the station. Colt whistled. The company sure went high tech on this scrap heap. "Colt!" Sara's voice came over his headset.

Colt held up his hand for the others to stop. "What is it Sara?"

"Colt, I can't find Eric!" Sara practically screamed it through the comm.

Colt cursed and shook his head. Damn she was loud. "Ok, calm down and listen to me. What do you mean you can't find him?"

Colt could hear Sara practically sob over the radio. God the girl seemed really distraught over this. "I…I sent him to secondary electrical on the engineering level. He said he put out a fire and that he was on his way back. He didn't return." Sara sobbed. "I went to look for him and I found…I found…blood, not much but its blood Colt."

Colt swore. "Ok, Sara listen to me. Lock yourself down in the transformer room or whatever. Don't open the hatch unless it's me or Cole got it?"

"I…but…" Sara's voice cracked.

"Damnit Sara stop questioning me and just do what I say ok? Chances are Eric hurt himself and got lost, alright?!" Cole barked.

"Ok, I'll lock myself in. Over." Sara's voice whispered.

Colt sighed and turned to Sandra. "You got that, Captain?"

Sandra nodded. "Take Jesus with you and Cole, you got the ball." Colt was happy Sandra gave him command over the search and rescue.

Colt nodded and spoke into his headset. "Cole come in."

"I'm in the mess sir, what do you need?" Cole replied instantly.

Colt always like how Cole appeared to be on the ball at all times. "I need you to get your rifle and meet me by the airlock. Jesus wouldn't happen to be there with you?"

Cole's icy calm voice spoke volumes of control. "Yes sir, he's right here with me. I figure we're going super nova hunting?"

Colt smiled, god he adored that man. Now only if the rest of the crew was as attentive as Cole. "Yeah, we are, make sure Jesus has his bloody doctor bag." Colt said. "I'll meet you guys at the airlock. Over."

Colt walked back into Sandra's new office and picked up his pulse rifle leaning on the wall. He clicked the safety off and slung the rifle onto his shoulder. He then unzipped his suit again pulled out his M1911 from his shoulder holster. He pulled back on the slide and rammed it back into the holster. He walked out of the office and unslung his rifle. He held Rose in his arms and walked toward the exit. He hoped Eric was just hurt and lost.

#

Colt waited by the airlock. He smiled when he saw Cole making his way down the corridor. The man rubbed the top of his bald head as he was talking to Jesus. Cole looked up and waved over at Colt. Colt nodded. Finally they were here. He wanted to track down Eric as fast possible. While Colt was waiting he checked where secondary electrical was with Sara, it was that black room by his missing bone pipe.

Colt waited for the others to walk up to him. He noticed Jesus seem nervous. Jesus' brown eyes seemed to look at everything around them. Colt waved his hand in front of his Jesus face. "Hey are you ok?" Colt asked.

Jesus seemed startled by the question. "Yeah, just nervous that's all. Sara found blood but no Eric?"

"Yeah, relax the guy most likely wondered off and got lost." Cole said with a cock of his head.

Colt nodded and smiled at Jesus. "Cole is right, I mean c'mon the station is dead." At least Colt hoped it was dead, the place has been giving him the creeps ever since he step aboard.

Jesus chuckled nervously. "Yeah, you're most likely right. Still this place is creepy."

Colt agreed with the doctor on that, but he wouldn't say it. He needed to appear in control. "Let's get going." Colt said and started walking down the corridor toward the ladder access.

They walked through the corridors in silence. Colt looked both ways through every intersection with the vague suspicion something would jump out at him. His mind was racing over the coincidence of the dark room that Eric disappeared in. He remembered thinking that there was something moving in the darkness. He quickly killed that train of thought. No way could anything have been in there. Still Colt felt anxious, something happened to Eric and they needed to find him. "Why don't we try to reach him on the comm?" Jesus squeaked.

Colt rolled his eyes, the man just squeaked and nothing had happened. "I'm sure if Eric was hurt and able he'd be calling out to us on the comm." Colt remarked.

Colt reached the ladder and led his team down to the engineering level. Best place to start would be in the secondary electrical room. Colt made the short walk to the room and walked inside. It was dark. Colt pulled out a flash light from his suit pocket and twisted the top of it. The thin black flash light was no bigger than his hand. Colt rubbed his thumb over the Velcro strip on the light's shaft. He set the light on the Velcro strip on his shoulder. The Velcro strip on the light's shaft stuck to his suit. It wasn't much light but it was something at least.

Colt could see the burnt out breaker in the back of the room. There was a fire alright. Colt didn't like this, not at all. He walked forward and searched the deck. Colt froze and looked down at a dark spot on the deck. He swallowed, and kneeled. Colt had a suspicion of what the dark spot was made of. He reached down and pressed his fingers to it. He pulled his hand back and looked. His index and middle finger were coated with blood. Colt stiffened his jaw and turned back to the others. "I got blood here. It has to be Eric's. You guys see any blood trail?"

Colt watched as his group wandered about the room. Cole looked at him and shook his head. "I got nothing either." Jesus said from near the exit.

Colt felt like cussing to high heavens. He opened his mouth to speak but came up short when he saw his light reflect off another liquid. The puddle was about a foot from the blood spot. He reached his hand over and touched it. He froze. It's that damn slime from before. He started to believe running into this slime was more than a coincidence. "Jesus come over here, you wouldn't happen to know what this shit is?"

Colt waited for Jesus to kneel beside him. He was amazed to hear the man make a startled sound of surprise as he grabbed Colt's hand. Colt grew disturbed when Jesus sniffed his gunk covered fingers. Jesus ran his hands through Colt's and nodded. "I think it's organic. Like some sort of secretion or drool. I won't know until I run tests on it of course." Jesus chuckled nervously. "It could be some sort of machine lubricant after all."

Colt stared at the creepy doctor. He looked down and saw that Jesus was still holding onto his hand. Colt glared at the man. Jesus took the hint and let go, looking more embarrassed than scared. Colt motioned to the puddled by his feet. "Collect your sample, Jesus." Colt stressed the man's name and stood up.

Colt walked to the exit and looked out into the corridor. The corridor was dim but clear. His mind was racing over Eric's disappearance. Could they have tripped some company security system? Is someone or something still alive on the station? Colt shook his head. The questions were nagging at his very sanity. He just didn't have enough evidence that they aren't truly alone. He groaned. He just wished his feelings would agree with him. He felt like something was watching them from the shadows in the station. Colt cursed and grabbed his ear. "Shit what the flying fuck was that?!" Chris shouted over the comm.

Colt's head was reeling. He groaned. "Chris, this is Colt, report." Colt muttered softly.

"We're at the primary cooling towers and something just brushed past my fucking leg!" Chris barked back.

Colt sighed, they weren't getting anywhere with secondary electrical. They might as well search the whole level. "Stand by Chris. I'm heading down there with Jesus and Cole."

"What why?" Chris' voice was filled with shock.

Colt shook his head and frowned. "We're searching the whole damn level, you know Eric went missing."

"Right, ok Colt, We'll hold position." Chris' voice seemed more relaxed now. "Oh shit Shanti what the fuck is that thing?!" Chris' voice screeched over the comm.

Colt's eyes grew wide as he heard Shanti scream over the comm. He turned back to Jesus and Cole. "Double time people! Let's move it!" Colt barked out the order and ran down the corridor.