The Cygnus Cluster.
USG Kellion.
Crew Quarters.
"Fuck, another goddamn nightmare."
Isaac Clarke, newly appointed chief Engineer onboard the USG Kellion and all-around hater of the religion known as Unitology, softly cursed as he took a seated position upon his assigned bunkbed. The USG Kellion's internal sensors, designed to constantly monitor the ship's condition and her crew's Rig systems, must've noticed that Issac was now awake since the crew quarter's lighting decided to turn on mere seconds after the Engineer's nightmare forced him to return to the land of the living.
Sweat heavily cascaded down Issac's naked torso as he attempted to regain control over his ability to properly breath. The Systems Repair Expert's brown orbs frantically searched the room in order to reassure their owner what dwelled within his nightmares hadn't suddenly materialised into reality.
After ensuring he was safe and gotten his breathing under control, Isaac slumped against the Crew Quarter's cold metallic wall. "Dammit, that's my fifth nightmare this week." Frustration filed his tone while the metallic wall cooled Isaac's sweat-covered flesh. The Engineer tiredly grunted as he absentmindedly recalled how the same dream had plagued him since The Kellion was assigned to investigate a distress beacon from one of EarthGov's oldest and most beloved starships, the USG Ishimura.
The vessel in question belonged to the Planet Cracker class. A type of ship that specialised in harvesting and even processing entire asteroids or planets into useable resources, hence the name Planet Cracker. From what little he was told during the standard mission debrief, The Ishimura had illegally travelled to a world-designated Aegis VII. A planet that was apparently a miners' paradise come true, and if given enough care and careful harvesting, could fuel humanity's need for resources for several centuries.
Yet, Clarke hardly cared about Aegis VII, USG Ishimura, nor the crazy Unitologists likely waiting onboard the massive vessel. He'd agreed to join USG Kellion's crew on this repair mission to find his girlfriend, Nicole Brennan, who'd taken a medical officer's position onboard the Ishimura mere weeks prior to its illegal journey to Aegis VII. Isaac hoped to locate Nicole during whatever repairs the Planet Cracker needed and make amends for what he'd said to her during their last holo-chat.
"Maybe that's the reason behind this nightmare constantly appearing in my head," Issac frowned thoughtfully whilst banishing the memory of the video log Nicole had sent him before The Ishimura went silent. "I've felt guilty since I blamed Nicole for what those Unitology freaks did to my parents." Rage momentarily surged through Isaac as memories of an unidentified group of Unitology priests remorselessly refusing to return his mother and father's bodies to him for proper burial played out within his mind's eye.
"The bastards," Issac snarled with barely contained contempt as he slowly stood up from the bunk bed. "Dad wasn't even a part of their little cult, yet they still stole his corpse for whatever sick reason those fucks use to justify their actions." Oh sure, he understood why the cultists desired Octavia Clarke's corpse since she was a devoted believer in their religion. Issac should know since his mother had thoughtlessly spent what should've been her son's entrance fee to one of the most outstanding engineering schools in human-controlled space for a petty title in the cult's church.
The Kellion's Engineer grimly walked into the crew quarter's shower room so he could get ready for the day. As water cleansed his body of sweat and other uncleanliness, Issac recalled the day after his mother gave away their money to her new cult friends. Poul Clarke had burst into the apartment with an expression of utter rage and loathing. Issac had secretly watched from his bedroom when Poul pulled Octavia into the living room and demanded to know why she'd purposefully sabotaged their son's future.
Needless to say, his mother hadn't even pretended to care or feel guilty for what she'd done and instead tried to pin the blame on Issac's father, who, thanks to his successful ship architect career, had to spend months away from home. Poul had frostily retorted that his job was no excuse for hurting Issac's chances at obtaining an education, nor did it mean his wife could use the excuse of religion to ignore their child's needs. Octavia bites back by saying priests of Unitology would support them after she obtained a title in the church.
Poul had openly laughed at the idea before saying how foolish she was to even consider that those madmen would even care about their family. The patriarch of the Clarke clan then bluntly told his wife that on his way home, he'd appointed her to a special mental hospital so the damage the Cult of Unitology had done to her mind could be healed. His mother immediately turned violent upon hearing the news and attempted to harm Poul for his so-called 'heresy' against the church.
Thankfully Issac's father had thought ahead as two nurses from the mentioned mental hospital stormed into the apartment and restrained Octavia Clarke. She'd screamed bloody murder as the medical professionals dragged her away to their transport vehicle. Shortly after the transport vanished from view, Poul had comforted his son, reassuring the youth that this was for his mother's own good since the hospital wouldn't allow anyone from the church to be near her. Hopefully, with time they might be able to reverse the damage to Octavia's mind.
Issac snorted while turning off the shower. "A fat lot of good, those so-called experts were in the end." His mother had spent years in a psychiatric ward. Yet, none of the doctors noticed how suspicious her drastic behaviour change was a few weeks prior to his dad's return from another architect job. Isaac also partly blamed himself since he should've recognised the signs of his mother faking a mental recovery. However, false hope had blinded the Engineer long enough for Octavia to enact revenge on her husband.
"Fuck, I should really stop thinking about the past." Issac gently whispered as he exited the showers and then proceeded to get dressed in EarthGov's standard Engineers EXO suit. "I can honestly sort this shit out after I've saved Nicole from whatever disaster is happening onboard the Ishimura." Issac grabbed ahold of his Rig suit's helmet while performing a quick diagnostic to ensure the Rig's systems were operating at acceptable levels. When the results showed everything was working satisfactorily, Kellion's Engineer started heading for the bridge.
Any thoughts regarding the nightmare and his parents' tragic deaths were pushed to the back of Issac Clarke's mind. Where they'd hopefully stay until after he'd patched things up with Nicole and fixed whatever caused such a renowned Planet Cracker-class vessel to go radio silent.
The Cygnus System.
Aegis VII.
USG Kellion's Bridge.
"Ah, Isaac, I'm glad you're finally awake." The Engineer smiled upon receiving a warm greeting from the USG Kellion's resident chief security officer and acting captain Zach Hammond. The man was of African descent and was born in the outer colonies. He also possessed a muscular physique which spoke of military training. Issac might've only known Hammond for a few short days, but he'd honestly grown to respect the guy's conviction to complete his objectives while ensuring that his goals don't endanger the lives of the Kellion's crew.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come help on the bridge," Issac explained while giving a friendly wave towards Johnson and Chen, who're operating the USG Kellion's flight controls. The Engineer proceeded to take a seat near a terminal to run a diagnostic on the ship's systems. As Issac got to work on the vessel's systems, the black/white vortex of colour regularly seen during Shock-point travel hypnotically swirled passed the reinforced front window that allowed crew members to physically see outside the Kellion whenever necessary.
Hammond paused in his work to give the Engineer a concerned look. "The nightmare acting up again?" He asked whilst Chen and Johnson subtly glanced towards their newest crew mate with expressions which mirrored their captain's. The duo sometimes woke up in the middle of the night to find Issac screaming in his sleep whenever the nightmare that plagued him turned especially bad. They'd even tried to get Issac to talk about it, only to receive a polite yet firm refusal every time it was suggested.
Isaac never once stopped typing into the terminal's holographic interface. "I don't want to talk about it, Hammond." He truly appreciated their concern, but Issac needed to stay focused on the mission. Issac didn't see a reason to talk about the nightmare as it wouldn't affect his performance onboard the USG Ishimura.
"Well, I, for one, am interested in this reoccurring nightmare of yours, Issac." From the shadows appeared Kendra Daniels, who stared at the working Engineer with naked curiosity. The attractive woman was a computer specialist assigned to the Kellion crew two days before they'd left for The Ishimura. Issac wasn't a significant fan of Kendra; she was far too nosy regarding his nightmare and seemed hellbent on staying isolated in crew quarters when not needed to check on the Kellion's computers.
Thankfully Hammond intervened before he'd the chance to say something he wouldn't have regretted. "Leave Issac alone, Kendra," the Kellion's captain's eyes narrowed as he studied the new arrival. "If he doesn't want to talk about it, that's his decision." The security officer's tone held a slight warning edge as they didn't need problems popping up between crew mates while investigating the reason behind what caused The USG Ishimura to launch a distress beacon.
Kendra glanced between her superior and comrade for a split second. "Fine, I'll leave it alone for now," the computer expert walked to the front of the bridge in order to gain access to The Kellion's central computer. All the while muttering under her breath about how Issac should tell them about the nightmare, which would help the man get over it.
Issac negatively nodded his head at Kendra's attitude. "Sorry, Kendra, but that dream's gonna stay a mystery." While not intentional, Kendra's insistence on knowing the finer details of the nightmare that's kept him awake since the start of this mission had caused it to resurface at the forefront of the Engineer's mind.
It always started the same way. A vision of countless worlds overflowing with all manner of animals and plants, of vast landscapes which held such beauty that sometimes Issac couldn't believe his subconscious had come up with them. When the hundreds of planets had their time to shine, The Vision would then take Issac to a place which heavily resembled earth before humanity picked her clean of its natural resources, specifically a meadow which seemed to stretch onwards until there was nothing left to witness but grass that raced off towards the setting sun.
Now if anyone heard these details, they'd say Issac was overreacting to the dream that plagued him. Yet, those same people would only possess half the story. After what usually felt like an eternity standing on the soft grass, the true nightmare began to manifest. Without warning, the skies above Issac Clarke's head would slowly be swallowed in darkness, and the meadow he stood in would start decaying before his very eyes until nothing remained except for skeletons of dead animals and withered grassland.
He would turn his gaze towards the heavens and saw a storm of claws, fangs, carapace, tendrils, and other horrors from the depths of humankind's psyche come thundering towards him with the force of a hurricane. Issac never got the chance to scream at that moment in the nightmare as the monstrous storm was upon him within seconds and didn't hesitate to swallow him whole.
The worst part after being devoured was that Issac would find himself on Titan Station, a megastructure built within what little remained of Saturn's moon, which held the same name. Yet, what was commonly referred to as The Sprawl was utterly different from when he'd last seen the space station. The entire place was in chaos. Fires burned everywhere. Isaac turned his brown orbs, people screaming in terror as monsters hidden amongst the shadows slaughtered those too slow to outrun their hunters.
It was nauseating to watch as innocent souls were slaughtered by unknown monstrosities. However, at this point, the dream took another strange turn as new beasts came leaping out of the darkness. Isaac could never fully identify these newcomers and could only tell they were some odd combination between insect and reptile and proceeded to tear apart the shadow monsters. Issac always awakened after those events, leaving him unaware of which side of that war came out the victor.
Yet, the events in the nightmare weren't the reason behind his fear. No, what scared Issac beyond imagination was the excitement which bubbled within his soul whenever he saw the insect beasts swarm the shadow creatures, ripping and tearing their flesh apart in ways that would've caused experienced soldiers to puke their guts onto the floor.
The Kellion crew couldn't be allowed to know this detail; otherwise, Hammond might order Issac to stay on the ship for his own health and safety. He couldn't let that happen. Nicole was in trouble, and being forced to remain on their repair vessel would prevent him from searching the USG Ishimura for his girlfriend. No, better to keep his nightmare a closely guarded secret until he located Nicole and got her off the Planet Cracker-class vessel.
Besides, no harm ever came from withholding info on a nightmare.
Time Skip.
"Okay, we're returning to real space in 3, 2, 1!"
The Kellion trembled as Chen and Johnson piloted their vessel into the Cygnus System, where the planet Aegis VII was located. A massive asteroid field materialised into view after the Kellion's Shock-point drive was deactivated. Beyond the hulking space rocks was an orange dustball of a world that had been given the name Aegis VII by the first explorers who'd discovered the mineral-rich planet.
The Kellion's pilots manoeuvred the ship so those on the bridge could better look at one of the wealthiest finds in EarthGov's history.
"Alright, boys and girls, welcome to Aegis VII." Johnson grinned as she assisted Chen in driving the Kellion around a massive chunk of an asteroid which coincidently delivered them directly to their target. The Ishimura truly earned its place as the biggest Planet Cracker, as its size dwarfed Kellion's many times over. The Kellion crew stared with awe as Cygnus's sun gently reflected off The Ishimura's black metallic hull, making it a shining beacon amongst a never-ending sea of darkness.
Hammond whistled at the sight. "What a beauty. Biggest Planet Cracker of her class, you know," however, he frowned when he spotted something attached to the colossal vessel's underside. "And it seems they've already popped the cork." An understatement as the Ishimura had pulled out a small continent's worth of materials from the planet's crust. The planetary piece was kept in place via gravity tethers powered by the USG Ishimura's drive core, designed to handle such stresses as lifting a chunk of a world into space.
"Why's it so dark?" Issac asked nobody in particular as he studied the Ishimura for signs of external hull damage. "We should be able to see her running lights at this distance." The Engineer felt a sense of unease as he saw none of the lights meant to assist new ships with docking onto the Planet Cracker. That should be impossible as The Ishimura's engineering crew should've ensured the lights remained active at all times. Surely the crew weren't in such a bad state that they'd deliberately ignore such a hazard to their vessel.
"Yeah. It's creepy," Chen typed a few commands into his flight terminal whilst Johnson kept the Kellion out of the asteroids' flightpath. "I'll try getting us into hailing range. Somebodies has to be waiting for us." The Kellion changed its path towards the Ishimura, which stood within the void much like the ribcage of a decayed titan that hadn't yet realised it was dead. Hammond stood near the front, giving orders to his pilots to be careful on approach as he didn't want to cause further damage to the CEC's pride and joy.
"No chances, huh." Daniels chuckled while analysing the primary results from the sensor sweep of the Ishimura. "Is that why you were digging into my personal files before we left the Sprawl?" Issac's eyes snapped towards Hammond, who seemed surprised that Daniels knew about the background check he'd performed on the computer specialist. However, Hammond wasn't ashamed of his actions as captain; he needed to know what his crew could do to best deploy them on the Ishimura.
The duo had a little back and forth until Chen chose to interrupt them. "Ah, sir? We're in hailing range." The co-pilot dutifully inform his superior officer before opening a communication frequency with the Planet Cracker. Chen tried a standard hail only to receive total silence as his reward. A second attempt was met with similar results, although they'd at least received static, so that at least meant the communications array wasn't completely offline.
Issac did a quick mental calculation on how many hours it'd take to repair the array and figured it should take at most forty-eight hours, maybe less should the Ishimura's crew not be too busy with other problems that they might still need to learn about.
Either way, it'd give Issac plenty of time to locate Nicole and devise a way to properly apologise for what he'd said to her all those months ago, back when he first got the news regarding his parents' death by the cult of Unitology. An added bonus was that he'd get away from Daniels for a while as she was suddenly acting far too buddy-buddy for his tastes.
"Alright, Chen, Johnson, take us in," Hammond ordered his pilots, who didn't hesitate to follow their captain's commands. The Kellion was soon enveloped in the Ishimura's automatic gravity tethers, which should've slowly. Yet, effectively guided the repair vessel to the docking port. However, something must've gone wrong as the tethers suddenly pulled the Kellion closer with an unyielding force. Sparks burst randomly throughout the bridge as the malfunctioning tethers dragged the Kellion towards the hull at breakneck speeds.
Fortunately, Issac had an idea to save them from crashing into The Ishimura's outer hull. "Quick, aim for that emergency stabiliser!" The Kellion's Engineer pointed at something flashing in the distance. "There, the blue light. It might slow us down!" It was risky as even the slightest miscalculation on their pilots' part could end in all their deaths.
Hammond glanced towards the light shining in the distance and immediately told Chen to make an attempt for the emergency stabiliser. The pilot grunted in acknowledgement while his captain dropped the Kellion's blast shields, a wise decision as the protection would protect the bridge from any drifting asteroids or broken pieces of the USG Ishimura. The next few minutes were hectic as Johnson and Chen fought against the gravity tethers every step towards the docking port. Yet, in the end, they managed to successfully crash-land the Kellion.
Collective groans filled the repair vessel's bridge while Hammond carefully stood back up. "Is everyone okay?" He questioned his crew with a concerned tone. Meanwhile, Chen removed himself from the flight chair to check his co-pilot's condition. Johnson answered that she might've had a broken ankle which caused Hammond to curse as the Kellion wasn't equipped to handle such an injury. They'd have to request The Ishimura's staff to send a medic to examine Johnson. Hopefully, whatever the hell was going on here hadn't taken the full attention of the nurses and doctors.
"Well, it's better than a broken neck or worse." Hammond walked over to Issac, who'd been thrown out of his seat during the crash landing. "Excellent, call on that stabiliser, Issac. You basically just saved our hides." The acting captain helped pull Issac to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm glad I always read the manual before leaving for a mission." The Engineer joked with Hammond while Kendra, who'd suffered a similar fate as Issac during the crash, stood up with righteous fury burning within her eyes.
"What the fuck is wrong with flight control?!" She demanded to know while Chen moved to retrieve something from the Kellion's lockers. "That bloody guidance system is a deathtrap!" For once, Issac absolutely agreed with Kendra, the crew on flight control should've at least warned them about the gravity tethers or sent out an alert to approaching ships of the danger. Yet, they've been mysteriously silent, which didn't point towards anything good about the systems' conditions within the flight control room.
"I don't have a clue, but you'd better add it to your list of repairs," Hammond told his computer expert before barking out new orders. Issac, Hammond, Chen and Daniels would leave to make contact with the Ishimura crew. Johnson, meanwhile, will stay onboard the Kellion until Hammond can send a medic to help with her ankle. Nobody argued with the security chef's decisions. Pretty soon, Issac followed his crew mates onto the landing platform while putting on his helmet, as he'd rather not risk getting injured by any falling pieces of the Kellion.
The Engineer gave their vessel a once over before softly cursing. "Ah crap, we came down harder than I first thought." The Kellion was in worse condition than Chen had initially believed. Heck, Issac wasn't even sure the repair vessel could even be considered space worthy with the amount of damage the crash caused to it. Truthfully, the Kellion was going to need months of repair work, an entirely new port booster as the old had just gotten torn off, and the singularity core was in such a mess that he might have to replace it with a new one.
Hammond, who was checking the condition of a pulse rifle, grunted in agreement. "It's not the greatest start to our repair mission," the Kellion's captain says while inserting a fresh pulse clip into his rifle. "But, as I said, it could've been a lot worse." Standing next to Hammond in a bodyguard-like fashion, Chen nodded as he held up a pulse rifle of his own. Kendra paused her survey of the cavernous docking port to stare at the two security officers with a confused expression as she didn't quite understand why they'd need weapons.
Hammond must've noticed her staring. "It's standard protocol to have weapons at the ready during an unknown situation, Ms Daniels," he calmly explained while moving towards the welcome desk at the end of the walkway. "Don't worry, we'll register them in the Flight Lounge." Kendra nodded in acceptance while dutifully following after the security duo leaving behind Issac, who was constantly shifting his gaze around the Ishimura's docking port. There was just something about this whole situation that didn't sit right with the Engineer.
It was almost like the ship was a tomb, as somebody should've come rushing to the walkway by now to greet the Kellion's crew. Yet, only silence dominated the docking port's atmosphere. The luggage and scattered papers on the ground were also another tip-off that things weren't right onboard the USG Ishimura, and that wrongness stirred something within Issac that he couldn't quite identify. Like an instinct long unused was roaring back to life to warn its host that danger was stalking the halls of this ship.
"Silence is a lie, used by predators to lure unsuspecting prey to their untimely demise."
Issac froze as words that echoed with his voice, yet darker and far more primal thundered within his skull. The Engineering expert hadn't the slightest clue where such thoughts originated from. Yet, he couldn't disagree with them either, as there was an oppressive feeling in the air, like some hidden threat in the shadows was watching the Kellion crew's every move as they slowly advanced towards the Flight Lounge.
"Dammit, something isn't right." Issac's fists tightened as the occasional sparks from the damaged repair ship would flicker to life before dying mere seconds later. Before he could even contemplate his unease regarding this unusual situation, Hammond called out to his chief Engineer.
"Issac, hurry the hell up!" Hammond shouted across the walkway whilst Kendra busied herself with interfacing with The Ishimura's onboard computer systems. Issac glanced around one final time before joining Hammond and the rest of The Kellion's away team. The Engineer just prayed to whatever deity was listening, except for Unitology, which could go fuck itself, that Johnson would be fine on the ship until help arrived and that he was just paranoid about unforeseen threats lurking in the shadows.
Flight Lounge.
"Okay, everyone's Rig is now synced to the Ishimura's systems."
Kendra said with satisfaction whilst the reinforced metallic doors leading into the Flight Lounge opened to allow the new arrivals access. The Kellion crew walked through the entrance and saw nobody inside the Lounge, sure there were beer bottles on every available surface, suitcases piled randomly on benches bolted to the floor, and the lights still functioning as intended. Yet, there was still a disturbing lack of people to welcome or investigate the USG Kellion's sudden crash-landing on the docking port.
Hammond frowned at the deserted Flight Lounge, placing a hand near his ear. "That's odd. I can't seem to reach security on the communications link." This should be impossible as Planet Cracker's were specifically designed to have redundant systems so internal ship communication couldn't be lost.
Upon hearing the news, Issac immediately tried to get ahold of The Ishimura's Chief Engineer. "Yeah, I'm getting the same luck with the Chief Engineer," Issac reported after spending a few seconds receiving nothing but static through the communication channels. "Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with their comms?" The Kellion Engineer whispered as he walked deeper into the Flight Lounge. The unidentified instinct from earlier flared up as Issac investigated the state of the area and realised whoever was here earlier had packed everything to leave the ship.
"Prey, understanding their doom was at hand. Yet, powerless to save themselves from its poisonous maw."
"Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious, weird, not my voice." Issacmentally replied with dry sarcasm as his gaze passed over a holographic welcome advert with pictures of former Ishimura crew members waving with pleasant smiles etched upon their faces.
"Okay, I've had enough of this shit!" Issac's brown orbs snapped away from the holo-vid, and he saw Hammond staring around the abandoned Lounge with open frustration. "Issac, there's an active security console in the next room," the Kellion's Captain gestured to the console with his pulse rifle. "Go get a damage report. I'm done playing around with whoever's running this damn ship." Issac obeyed and, without fanfare, walked over to the door leading into the room containing the console, which automatically opened after Issac got close enough.
"Well, at least the doors around here still work," Issac grumbled while advancing into the console room. However, he paused midway through the entrance when something smelling faintly of copper wafted into his nose. Issac's head automatically went downwards, where a crimson stain was splattered underneath an office desk.
"Is that?" Issac muttered whilst preparing to bend down to better investigate the stain.
"Issac, I need that damage report!" Hammond yelled from the Flight Lounge, causing the Engineer to flinch backwards as the security chief didn't sound too pleased that Issac hadn't already gotten the damage report from the console's logs.
"Don't worry, I'm on it!" Issac called back while stepping over the crimson stain. The Kellion Engineer proceeded to the console and uploaded the recent ship-wide diagnostic, thus causing a holo-image of the USG Ishimura to materialise before him. A curse soon escaped Issac's lips as he quickly realised the full extent of the damage to the ship was far worse than he'd ever imagined.
"Shit, it's not just the comms or the guidance systems," he said grimly while analysing the utter cluster fuck that was the USG Ishimura. "Half of the Ishimura's systems have been damaged to an extreme degree. Engines, hull, the trams system."
Chen moved closer to the window to get a better look at the damage report. "What the hell could do that kind of damage to a Planet Cracker?" He worriedly questioned before letting out a startled yelp when a thunderous noise blasted throughout the Flight Lounge.
"Okay, I've managed to get us some power," Daniels says happily, revealing to everyone present that she was the cause of the sudden explosion of noise. "Ventilation is up; power to the elevator should be next…." She types another set of commands onto the nearby terminal. None got to ask what she was doing since the Flight Lounge's lights suddenly transformed into a sickly orange hue, and the ship's quarantine alarms screamed murderously through the internal comms network.
Hammond glanced around the now dimly lit room. "Issac, is this another malfunction?" He inquired whilst carefully raising his pulse rifle as he felt something off about this whole situation.
Issac was quick to give an answer. "No. The quarantine systems are all fine." Hell, it appeared to be the sole system onboard that wasn't damaged. This raised some worrying questions as the quarantine protocols wouldn't activate unless there was something harmful in the air or ventilation systems.
Before Issac could voice his thoughts on the quarantine, something monstrous exploded outwards from an upper ventilation shaft. The Engineer's eyes widened in disbelief as what appeared to be a mutated humanoid screamed bloody murder while attempting to slash Chen with massive organic blades.
"Holy shit!" Chen's tone was filled with fear as he fired wildly at the abomination that'd just crawled out of the ventilation. The pulse round slammed into the thing's torso. Yet, it didn't seem to slow the monster down as it advanced towards the security officer with ill intentions shining within its blood-red orbs. Soon other similar monsters appeared from the vents, screeching their blood thirst whilst charging at the closest human.
"The predator has revealed itself. Now we know our enemy!"
"You sound way too happy about that!" Issac mentally screamed at the voice whilst grimacing when Chen got impaled through the back by one of the monsters, which managed to sneak up behind the security officer. Hammond roared with rage as he fired relentlessly at Chen's killer, who'd now turned its attention to the Kellion's captain and the computer specialist. The monsters converged towards the remaining humans within the Flight Lounge, trying to open the second exit point so they could escape deeper into the Ishimura.
"Issac!" Hammond roared over the pulse fire as Kendra frantically tried getting their escape route open. "Get the hell out of there now!" Issac didn't need to be told twice since he was already racing through the backdoor, which was fortunate as more monsters with bone blades for arms smashed through the nearby ventilation system.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck oh, fuck!" Issac kept cursing while running down the hallways of the Ishimura; murderous roars and multiple pounding feet dogged the fleeing Engineer's steps. It wasn't long before Issac saw the service elevator at the end of the corridor with its doors wide open.
The Engineer ran passed the elevator doors within seconds and, without delay, smashed the blue holographic down button, thus causing the doors to slam shut. However, a monster wedged its bone blades between the gaps in the metallic entrance and created an opening. Issac's gasped at the sight as the thing attempted to rip him apart with its weapons. Yet, its plan came to a violent end when the elevator smashed its metallic doors into the creature, thus transforming its body into bloody chunks of meat.
"Fuck, that was far too close for comfort," Issac whispered whilst the elevator took him to the lower levels. Seconds passed in silence before the service elevator arrived at a room that appeared to be one of The Ishimura's equipment storage areas. Issac surveyed the room for any signs of the monsters; fortune seemed to be smiling at him when he spotted an engineering station that held parts for a plasma cutter. Of course, he could've gone without the sign saying 'cut off their limbs' written in human blood.
"Jackpot." Issac ran to the Engineering Station to assemble the Plasma Cutter.
"A weapon of cold steel," Issac cringed at the voice's sudden reappearance. Yet he still carried on building the Plasma Cutter. "Tools meant for the weak and those unsuited for survival. Soon you shall not need them."
"Gosh, mysterious voice that doesn't sound ominous at all." Issac sarcastically commented while slapping a fresh battery into his newly built weapon. He carefully aimed the Plasma Cutter at the nearby wall and, without warning, fired a signal shot which cut straight through some pipes like a hot knife through butter. Satisfied that everything was within working order, Issac went to the only other exit in the room. The Engineer could also faintly hear someone asking for help on the other side of the door which meant he might find some answers to how this nightmare got started in the first place.
Blasting a nearby power cable caused the door to swiftly open, thus revealing one of the monsters currently ripping an Ishimura crew member into several pieces. Issac glared at the abomination while shooting at its limbs just as the sign had advised. A startled cry escaped rotting lips as the monster's legs were blasted into bloody chunks of meat and bone fragments. Yet, the injuries didn't pause the creature as it used the bone blades to drag itself towards Issac, who wasted no time shooting off both arms.
"Damn, these things don't give up without a fight." Issac kicked the now-dead monster's head while uncomfortably noticing it was wearing an Ishimura crewman's uniform, hinting that it might've been human once upon a time.
"They're mere puppets of flesh, without wills of their own," the voice says with contempt. "Yet, even these husks can be used in our designs."
"What the hell are you…." Isaac didn't get far in questioning The Voice when he felt something strange pushing its way up his throat. Without thinking, Issac removed his helmet and then puked a purple substance upon the dismembered monster. The Engineer reeled backwards mere moments later as the purple substance began rapidly taking root within the dead creature's flesh, like plants rooted within the earth to obtain certain nutrients.
"What the fuck?" Issac said in complete shock while absentmindedly wiping away some of the purple stuff still clung to his lips. "Did I seriously just puke some weird pimple shit." Honestly, this crazy ship just loved throwing one insane thing after another at him.
"Creep," The Voice informs with noticeable pride. "The most basic organism of your Brood and the beginning of your unimaginable power." Issac didn't respond to The Voice, instead watching as the Creep devoured the monster, leaving behind a purplish sack pulsating like a human heartbeat. The knowledge that this thing came from him should've repulsed Issac. Yet, strangely the Kellion Engineer felt an unusual attachment to pulsating Creep, almost like how a father gazed upon their child for the first time.
"Ya know what, fuck it." Issac finally said after a moment of silence. "I'm not even going to question how this is possible." He dragged the pulsating sack through the exit since leaving it here wasn't an option. Issac even took the time to retrieve the corpse of the guy killed by the monster as some instinct within his brain was whispering how valuable the man's biomass would be for the growing Brood.
Issac found himself in the tram station's central control room a few minutes later. It was a spacious area with plenty of room to allow Creep growth. However, such details escaped Issac's notice since he was far more focused on the Tram Station's shutters which automatically opened, thus revealing that Hammond and Kendra had survived the monsters' surprise attack. The Engineer felt relief flood his system upon witnessing his crew mates still alive, especially Hammond, who hopefully had a plan to deal with those things.
"Issac?" Kendra blinked in surprise when she recognised who was in the Tram's control room. "Oh my god, Issac. You made it!" She happily smiled as Hammond activated a live video feed so they could talk face-to-face. Pretty soon, a holo-screen appeared before Issac allowing him to better see the current condition of his crew mates. Daniels looked relatively unharmed, while Hammond sported a few random cuts that can be easily treated with a first-aid kit.
"It wasn't easy; those things are goddamn everywhere," Issac replies, subtly dropping the Creep sack and corpse onto the metallic flooring. Unaware of how several Creep tendrils stretched outwards and drilled their way into the human body's soft flesh to consume more biomass.
"I'm glad you're alive, Issac," Hammond says while sighing in sorrow. "I wish I could say the same for Chen, the poor guy was ripped apart by those fucking things." It was clear Hammond was blaming himself for not saving Chen. They'd been comrades for years now, and to suddenly lose him in such a grim manner was heartbreaking for the man.
Kendra placed a hand upon Hammond's shoulder in silent support while asking the question plaguing all their minds. "What the fuck are these things?" she glanced between her companions for answers they, unfortunately, lacked.
"The ones I saw while escaping the Flight Lounge. Some of them were wearing Ishimura uniforms." Issac grimly informed since he recalled spying several ripped uniforms hanging onto the monsters' bodies. Kendra gasped at the shocking revelation while Hammond's face turned as cold and unfeeling as stone.
"They're the crew?" She said with disbelief while staring at Issac through the holo-vid. "How the hell can they be the crew? I mean, look at them!" She pointed near the entrance to their side of the Tram where the mutilated body of a monster lay dead.
"Oh yeah, I'm acquainted with our new murder-happy friends." Issac sarcastically retorted while checking on the Creep, barely withholding the urge to curse when he saw it was now absorbing the human corpse into itself.
Hammond gave the monster corpse a signal glance before addressing his crew. "We need to get to the bridge." Determination filled Hammond as he'll not allow any more of his team to die to these things. "There's a thousand people onboard; somebody's got to be there."
Kendra turned towards Hammond with an expression that clearly said she thought he'd lost his damn mind. "We can't. The Tram system's totally wrecked." Issac reluctantly admitted that Daniels had a point, as there was zero chance of them making it to the bridge without the Tram. "Besides, everything's locked down because of the quarantine." They weren't going anywhere on the Ishimura until it was lifted, as specific entrances leading to other levels would remain locked until the quarantine ended.
"And you're both repair techs," Hammond pointed out while sweeping the Tram with his weapon encase those things decided to show up for round two. "So, how do we do this?" Kendra huffed in resignation at her captain's stubbornness while moving over to the nearby terminal.
Once she found the source of the problem, Daniels told them what needed to be done to get the Tram back up and running again. "There's a broken tram car blocking the tunnel; it's gridlocked the whole system." She searched a little more and found a second problem that needed to be taken care of. "And a data board's burned out. I can't lift the lockdown nor call the Tram until we get a spare from the Maintenance Bay." Those monsters were probably crawling around that particular section of the ship.
"I'll handle the tram and the data board," Issac reassured his crew mates after Kendra dropped the unfortunate news that everything needed to repair the transport was on his side of the quarantine. "Just make sure there's power to the repair system." It would've sucked if he'd gone through the trouble of fighting through a horde of monsters only to discover the auto repair for the tram cars wasn't even powered.
Issac conversed with Hammond, who was kind enough to reassure him Nicole was probably safe somewhere on the Ishimura for a few more minutes before ending the holo-vid. The Engineer glanced downwards at the pulsating sack growing bigger by the second. He felt guilty about not having told them about what had happened in the Equipment Storage Area. But Issac thought it was best to keep this a secret until he fully understood what was going on inside of him.
"I'd better get those repairs done," Issac muttered while heading for the door leading towards the Maintenance Bay. The Creep sack should be safe in the Tram control room since there weren't any vents big enough for the monsters to fit, though, and both entrances had inbuilt scanners that'd not grant those things access. If all else failed, he'd resort to dismembering any monsters that dared to harm the innocent little ball of flesh-devouring Creep and then feed them to it as a late-night snack.
It was the only worthy response towards those who'd dare harm his Brood.