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Hunter in Space
Chapter 3: We require additional Bench!
"Ok..." Benson began, rubbing his face as he sat on one of the spare chairs "let me get this straight. You're basically some sort of an enhanced super human with literal magical powers that came from using bunch of mineral crystals that came out of the earth, same shit that caused bunch of really fucking dangerous anomalies that nobody has any clue what they are or how they work because bunch of jackasses 400 years ago thought it was a really good idea to nuke those pillars when they sent out a shockwave that shook the earth, causing collateral damage everywhere and caused the entire Collapse to happen once after those damn thing got hit with nukes that it allowed an honest to god a fucking eldritch god the level of Cthulhu to scratch the very homeplanet of our species and fucked shit up even worse...Am I getting this right?"
"In a completely nutshell, yes." Rachell answered bluntly.
The man just stared at the thicc busty cat girl in front of him, who also sat down on one of the chairs and removed her mask showing that she is actually really pretty...Dangerous but pretty.
"...Jesus Christ, if you haven't shown me both the lightning power coming out of your arm and the whole fucking mess with these goddamn monsters infesting the whole ship I would have called you crazy."
"Indeed."
"And to top it all off, you're also some sort of a special kind of mercenary or soldier that does more commissionary work for this... Frontier Militia, was it?" Getting a nod he continue "whose main job is to ensure the damn nightmare like what is happening now is dealt with as soon as possible."
"That sums it up in a way, but yeah." Rachell nodded "Although it still doesn't explain on HOW exactly I got here on this ship or how I even ended up in an alternate universe where Humanity manage to leave the cradle of our home."
"Well can't help you with that, considering me, Smith or anyone else that are no longer with us had no fucking idea what the hell is going on or where these freaks even came from." Benson groaned, rubbing his tired eyes.
Rachell sighed, while at least she got some answers of where she was, but it still doesn't explain where these undead creatures came from seeing as Ben admitted that he didn't pay much attention what was going on between the captain and the colony down below. All the man knows is that the colonists found something, they dug it out and the Ishimura came to pick it up and then everything went to hell.
...At least it is a clue of where the origin of the outbreak started, not a lot of info but it is a clue.
"Well i'm not going to get anything done just sitting my ass in here," Rachell began "Benson, I need to know what the problems are and how we can fix it, there is possibility that there might be survivors in other parts of the ship that desperately need help and the sooner we can find out WHERE exactly these abominations came from the better."
"..You really think you can beat whatever the hell unleashed these monsters?" The man tiredly asked, yet there was a bit hope in his voice.
Granted Rachell might look like a walking Deviantart made reality, but fucking hell he takes anything to find a way to survive this mess and save others.
Hell, he even take a busty cat girl in skimpy clothings saving his and everyones asses from those monsters!
"Right... Where do i even begin." Benson glanced to the control panel as he spun the chair to face them, he pressed some buttons and brought the menu up as he checked the status of Ishimura as the screen change to show the 2d image of the ship itself for Rachell to see.
"Well for one, everything is fucked beyond belief." he bluntly said with a deep frown as he looks at the flashing red light on near everything on the ship "But our main priority should be fixing the tram. Me, Smith and... The others tried to have it fixed."
"I know, found your audiolog back in the repair station." Rachell said, looking at the image and frowned at the damages.
"Then you know one of the problems. We need a damn stasis module so that the claw arm can hold onto the broken tram when slowing it down, but we never saw anyone come with it past few days... They might as well be dead." Benson sighed "Then we have the second problem" He then points his thumb over to the other smaller room where what looks like a data storage room.
"The Data board is fried, without it the whole tram system is basically brain dead. Cannot operate without it, no new shiny Data board, no chance of making the tram system work at all and making travel across the ship even more unsafe as it is."
"Well, where can we find a Data board then?"
"In the Maintenance Bay, not too far from here actually. Problem is, last time me Smith and Erik tried to find it. The whole place was swarming with those fucks, not only those Slashers but new variants we never saw before."
"Variants?" Rachell asked as she looks at the man.
"Yeah, Erik the poor man got his head torn off by this leaping freak with no legs but has a thick bladed tail of sort. Bastard is fast, crawling on walls and leaping around long distances... Decided to call them Leapers for that." He explained.
"I see... I assume the Slashers are the mantis wanna be zombies then?"
"Eyupp, easiest way to identify those fuckers with those bone blades coming outta their arms" Benson shrugged.
"...hmm" Rachell ponders for a bit before speaking "I can deal the Maintenance Bay easily so long you tell me what to expect or where to look for the Data Board. But we need to find a way to fix the Tram, where can we find this... Stasis module?"
"The data board is easy to find its in maintenance room with all other stuff, along with a Bench. you just need to find the circuit breaker to transfer power over to the doors to that room as power around the ship got worse ever since the outbreak started." benson explained as he input commands in the computer "...As for the Stasis module, no fucking clue. I called Temple for one days ago but the team he sent with the module never showed up... They might have tried making their way through the depot from Engineering deck. though unsure if its intact or not."
"Great..." Rachell mumbled in annoyance.
"And well... Not to mention, since you're not registered as part of the crew. The damn system all over Ishimura is going to notice and lock down any rooms you enter, I can fix getting you at least registered as a guest but any personnel area like the Maintenance Bay or even the depots are off limit."
"Anyway of getting past that?" Rachell asked, glancing to benson who just sighs irritatingly.
"Unfortunately no, i'm not high in the chain of command to be able to fix you a registered ID. We need someone with the clearance level 3 or 4, and I only have clearance 1...Unless we find the corpse of my manager." Benson mutters as he typed down something before looking something in the computer.
"C'mon...Where are you, you son of a bitch..." He mumbles, eyes narrowing.
"RIG Locator has been activated, finding RIG owner Maintenance manager Karl bengtson in -Hydroponics Deck-. ERROR, Unknown bio signature detected within the user! Immediately call the Security or Medical team to investigate." The system responded and immediately the two could tell something was off with what happened to Benson manager.
"Fuuuuck don't tell me that son of a bitch been turned into one of those things, a-and its on the farms?" Benson exclaimed, fist flamming onto the panel in frustration.
"What's on Hydroponics deck?" Rachell asked.
"It's where we grow our food and getting our oxygen from, but if those fuckers has reached that area of the deck as well... we're screwed." He slumped in his chair, his expression forlorn. "We're already starving as it is, and if those monsters are crawling and destroying the machines where we plant our next meal..."
"We figure something out." Rachell stated, trying to get the man back on track "Right now we need something that the system won't see me as an intruder. How do we do that without giving me Guest ID?"
"...We just have to make a new RIG ID from an existing one." Benson muttered, getting his focus back as he input something on the computer as the screen changed. "We may not able to find anyone else with higher Clearance in this section of the deck to transfer over to me to give you a registered ID. But if we find an intact RIG from someone, rig the damn thing on a nearby Bench to change the coding into thinking you're the person whom the RIG belonged to and then you would have no problems walking around."
Benson typed and input commands for the computer to look for the nearest intact RIG, the two waits for a moment as the computer calculated and searched before it responded.
"RIG tracking activated, nearest RIG user is Security officer Dobbs Harvey in -Flight Deck-. ERROR, Unknown bio signature detected within the user! Immediately call the Security or Medical team to investigate."
"Fuck they got Dobbs too?" Benson whispered, sadness evident in his eyes as he shakes his head.
"Knew him?" Rachell softly asked.
"Sorta, he was a nice kid who joined the security force. He used to patrol around Maintenance area and depots, we sometimes made small talk and the kid liked to joke around. Last I heard of him, he was with his team and the Chief Security Vincent...Don't take a genius to figure out they all are probably dead." He sighed, bowing his head and muttered a prayer for the loss of lives.
"...Still, His reanimated body is moving about in Flight deck. Can you pin point where exactly?"
"...Sure, just... When you find his zombiefied corpse, make it quick." Rachell nods as benson went to work on tracking where the body was located. Soon enough he got his answers, which he can't help but raise an eyebrow.
"Huh... For some reason the bastard is standing around in the tram tunnels, just to our right from here. The hell is it doing there not doing anything?" The man pondered.
True enough, Rachell can see the map and the dot pointing where the body of Dobbs was located a bit further in the tram tunnel, still in the area of Flight deck but close to Medical deck. Both she and Benson stared at the dot, waiting for it to move but it just stands there. Not even moving at all.
However Benson noticed something else.
"Wait a second, I can see there is a repair room near where Dobbs is standing. It should contain a Bench for you to jury rig the RIG into thinking you're Dobbs. It shouldn't be a problem getting inside since I don't think there is a scanner inside that will detect you as an intruder."
"In that case, I'll go and 'Pay' a visit with Dobbs." Rachell stood up, putting on her mask.
"Before you go Rachell, I need to register you as a guest just so that we can keep contact... Even if comms are spotty as hell for the past several days. Got anything to connect with the computer?" benson asked.
"I have, just search for a signal and i'll allow the connection to my Neural link to hook onto the established link." Rachell answered, waited for Ben to do the work as he search for new signal and spotted Rachell's, began working on fixing a guest id for the time being.
Once he got hold onto her signal, before Rachell's eyes she can see her hud light up a bit as it tells her it detected someone trying to establish a link and she allowed it, waited for a bit before a small screen at the corner telling her she is now linked to USG ISHIMURA -GUEST ID-.
"Got it, should at least keep me safe from being mistaken as an intruder." Rachell said.
"Good, just find that RIG and go to that room that holds a Bench. You know how to fiddle with them?"
"Been fidling with machinery and interfaces for many years, I adapt." She answered.
"Good, just be careful...And if you don't mind but i think I need some damn good sleep." Benson rubbed his eyes "I haven't slept for days and seeing Smith sleeping like a baby is making it harder to stay awake...This room IS safe, right?"
"It is, so long you don't leave it. Those creatures won't be able to get to you, not to mention you shouldn't have any nightmares or the likes." Rachell answered, walking over to the door where she first came inside the tram control room.
"Good, just be careful Rachell. No idea what might be out in the tunnels." Ben yawned and leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Immediately falling asleep as his tired body embraces the sleep as his body can finally properly heal thanks to the Safety Beacon.
Rachell stopped in her tracks, listening in Ben light snoring and thought it over about what he said about Hydroponics and food.
Walking quietly back to him, she brought out each rations that she store in her inventory to both Ben and the sleeping form of Smith, put each rations next to them and hopefuly they will know its sustenance to help them relieve the hunger and giving them nutrients their body desperately needs.
If nothing else, she can just make more if things get really desperate.
With that she left the Safe room while pulling out her pistols from her inventory, walk down the ramp and back down to the floor below where the damn slamming door still kept going, along with the torn up body parts next to it.
She ignored that and walked past them, then stops at the edge of the darkness of the tunnel as she narrows her eyes. trying to see anything in the dark if there are any Slashers or "leapers" that Ben mentioned. But she can't see anything moving, so she brought out her Hunter tool flare gun and fired three flares into the darkness as the red glaring light illuminated the tunnel before her.
Immediately she spotted three slashers hunkering down staring at her, likely waited to ambush her but since their element of surprise is ruined, they stood up and roared while charging.
Rachell immediately began firing at their legs, rendering crippled to make it easier to finish them off. Suddenly more Slashers emerged from the darkness further up where the flares light don't reach. One of them looked different from the rest as its body looks far rotten and putrid, not to mention its mouth was shaped like some sort of a gaping tube like maw with sharp teeth.
Not to mention its human arms was also gripping the sides of the open torso, as if the thing tore its entire chest open to give a breathing space for that yellow sac visible in its chest cavity.
Then it did something she was half prepared for as she was busy firing at the legs of the other slashers as the thing spat out a glob of acid at her. She immediately dodged to the left, fired a lightning bolt at the "Spitter" and leapt backward with a flip as the range based slasher began to convulse and expand like that one slasher from before.
It exploded, not only sending bone shrapnels at its own allies but also acid as well. Rachell watched in a crouching position as the acid ate away at the Slashers, destroying their bodies even further as their limbs have been torn off by the explosion.
Rachell's ear flicked as she picked up a noise above her, rolled quickly to the side to avoid from a new enemy pouncing onto her previous location from the ceiling with a pierce screeching roar.
Rachell saw the new variant Benson warned her about, its some sort of a legless scorpion of the unfortunate victim having its arms lengthened with vicious claws, its mouth torn and formed into mandibles and its lower half having turned into some sort of a thick meaty tail with a sharp barbed blade at the end.
The Leaper swung its head toward her as its milky white eyes glared hatefuly into her own as it growls, tail vibrating as in ready to attack.
"You're one ugly bastard." She commented while aiming her guns at its arms, ready to pull the trigger... If it wasn't for something else to emerge from the darkness.
Something small slither toward Rachell's direction on the floor, it moved with surprising agility as it moved erratically toward her. Before Rachell could fire her pistols at the Leaper to dispatch it and deal with the new one it moved quickly to try attack her, forcing her to side step its swipe from its clawed hand but unfortunately gave the new threat a chance to attack her by leaping from the floor.
Its three tentacles wrapped around her neck and tighten its grip tightly as she eyed widen in surprise, using her neck muscles to try fight off the damn thing trying to strangle her as it reveals to be a severed head with three long tentacles coming out from where the neck is supposed to be. It was missing a jaw and had no eyes, its shrill screeching hurts her ears due to how close the fucking thing was as it held its grasp around her neck.
Fortunately for Rachell, using the muscle around her neck to tighten in reflex as it did stop somewhat from that thing strangeling her and cutting off oxygen.
Unfortunately she is desperately trying to get this fucking thing off her as moved around and pulling her around with surprising strength, giving the Leaper a chance to attack her as it readies to pounce once more.
Rachell immediately called forth another power as frost began to gather in her left hand, icicle erupting here and there from her arm and hand as a soft icy mist dance around her arm as she aimed her palm toward the leaper, firing a blast of frost magic at the abomination as the wave of frost immediately froze the leaper, rendering immobile for the time being.
Rachell grit her teeth as she gripped both the head and the tentacle as she tore the thing off her neck, of course the thing didn't give up the fight as it tried to grasp her shoulders but it slid and instead grabbed her sport bra, causing a tug of war between it and Rachell as she growls in irritation by the stubborness of this head thing. During the struggle it manage to pull her top down, exposing her huge tits to the world but unfortunately for it it lost its grip and now at Rachell's mercy.
Using the tentacle in her grasp she slam the head itself to the floor like a meat flail, smashing it to bits as it stopped moving.
She quickly picked up her pistols that she dropped and fired at the frozen leaper, shattering it into pieces. Quickly aiming her gun in every direction, even to the ceiling, she saw nothing else trying to attack her.
Now safe and with a grumble, fixed her top and put her tits back into the sport bra while promising endless pain upon these freak of abominations.
"This damn RIG better be worth it." She mutters as she pulled out her flare gun once more to fire more flares into the darkness up ahead. Fortunately, no new space zombies were waiting for her but she did notice corpses of fallen victims.
She walked deeper into the tunnels while also taking a quick moment to loot anything these unfortunate victims has for her to take. So far, more of those chips along with what looks like strange ammo the shape of batteries or a german stick grenade but metal and blue. She did find some small medkits that she pocketed away for either herself or anyone else needing medical attention before she continue on her journey to find the reanimated body of Dobbs.
Coming to a stop once more to fire more flares, this time she saw three Slashers waiting in ambush along with another Leaper.
Quickly taking care of them before continue onward, once you have the knowledge of how they operate and their weaknesses, their freaky nature is no longer scary or uncanny to understand as Rachell easily dispatch any of those freaks that gets in her way.
Looking at her map in her HUD, she can see the dot where Dobbs is supposed to be isn't far from her position.
But she stops as she notice the dot on the map finally began to move, toward her location. Normally she wouldn't worry about that as it makes her job easier to get the RIG and find the bench.
...Only, why is she hearing heavy footsteps coming closer to her?
She aimed her pistols toward the darkness ahead of her, waited for whatever is coming to reveal itself as she can see from the flare lights a dark shape is coming closer, it was too large to be another Slasher or even a Leaper.
meaning she is facing another variant that Benson hasn't seen before to warn her.
Soon, faint glowing yellow orbs that seems to be covered in veins or roots was visible in the dark. But from what she can see it was thrice taller than her and it looks like it has two spindly long arms.
The creature growls, definitely sounds big but not similar to that elephant sounding roar a while ago that she heard. The dark shape bent down and she realize what its going to do.
"Shit!" She immediately leaped backward as the thing leaped toward her and landed with a loud sounding slam, revealing itself before her by the light of the flares. It was some kind of a tripod looking abomination made of several corpses fused together, two long arms that seems to be attached to pair of yellow sacks with the third limb being a single leg that doesn't sport a sack.
The head if you can call it that are two human heads fused together to form into a huge maw of teeth along with a long tongue with a sharp blade at the end.
However what caught her eyes was one of the fused bodies has their back turn toward her, wearing what looks like a security officer uniform... Along with an intact RIG still attached to it.
"That must be Dobbs or what remains of him, fucking hell!" Rachell thought, aiming her pistols at the large tripod thing as it roars at her.
It immediatel went on offensive as it charged toward her, wanting to pummel her to the ground and add her to its grotesque appearance.
Said neko girl already began firing at the creature but noted her pistols ain't doing much damage to its body, it seems to be far more armored than it appears. Eyeing the sacks on its arm she aimed at it and with some satisfaction the creature seems to flinch a litte, meaning it must be its weak spots.
"Weird way to have an obvious weak spot for all to see" She thought, dodging a swipe from its malformed arm, ran behind it and brought out one of her weapons stored away.
She held a strange pipe like grenade that she activated and tossed it toward the Tripod, it exploded into a faint of light that soon created what looks like a bubble as everything around the creature slowed to a crawl as even its voice was slowed down.
Rachell used one of her time temporal grenades, useful against mob of enemies or giant monsters.
Realizing that she need to mobilize it in some way for her to take off its arms and even its head, she put aside her pistols in her inventory and brought out one of her stronger weapons, one that she needs to be careful of using due to how expensive and rare the ammo is considering she is stuck in a space ship in another universe.
She brought out her Anti-Material Rifle, a heavy and powerful sniper rifle that relies on expensive cartridges that happens to be 50MG Vulture rounds. These rounds was specifically made to break and destroy heavy tank armor on either kethral tanks or aberrations with thick carapaces and right now Rachell isn't taking any chances with this creature.
She quickly sprinted to the side and planted firmly to the floor, ready for the recoil and aimed the heavy sniper rifle at one of the sack, specificly at the angle where she can take out both the sacks AND its disfigured head where its long appendage with the bladed scythe was located and fired.
There was a loud resonating BOOM as Rachell slid back few inches from the sheer firepower of the Anti-material Rifle as the sound echoes through the tunnel. The round fired hits its mark as not only did it completely destroy the sack but a third of the arm AND the shoulders as well. The round didn't stop there as it kept going and completely obliterated the head and the other sack, along with some of the other arm and shoulders.
However, Rachell forgot to calculate that the 50 MG Vulture round and the sheer firepower of the Anti-material Rifle is powerful enough to penetrate the walls of the tunnel, continue go through several walls and through a window and out into space itself.
Fortunately it didn't hit anyone still alive nor dangerous for potential breach as the automatic shutters closed the breach immediately.
Hopefully that round didn't hit anything on the way out of the ship.
Back with Rachell, she watch as the Tripod spasm and flaid around with what's left of the body and slumped to the side, having no arms or a head to be an actual threat now.
Rachell sighed as she put away her Anti-material Rifle and took out her pistols again. Hopefuly that she doesn't need to use that gun more often since she need to be careful to conserve ammo since she doubt the ship has any facility that produce the kinds of rounds her guns are using.
She approached the large body and thankfully sees that the back of Dobbs remains is still intact, along with the RIG.
She unlatched the device and pull it out from the bloodied uniform and give the thing a look.
It looks like a spine for all intended purposes, but from what she can guess, it monitors the users health and establish a comm link with the main computer of the ship.
For a space faring cousins, they are rather primitive with how they made their version of Neural Link as it is more beneficial and has far more freedom on how to utilize it than this easily breakable piece of crap. Shaking her head, she pulled out her Map to look where the repair room that Benson pointed out and sees its not too far, dismissing the holo map and proceed to go toward it.
After some time wandering she found the door and thankfully it was unlocked, stepping inside it was thankfully lit brightly; giving it a sense of comfort and safety.
The only thing she is annoyed with the room is the giant vent right in front of the entrance.
"What the hell is up with these people and giant human sized vents!?" She thought in annoyance, before looking around for this "bench" that ben mentioned and sees it around the corner.
It was a rather large one, with white silvery metal and seems to be movable as she can see it is connected to a cable... Which means if she thinks about it, she can take this with her back to the tram control room, making the room having a repair bench ready for use in case she need to repair something or do some maintenance with her weapons and tools.
As much as she like to think her gear is better than what these people have, they still can be broken and has a durability for how long she can use them.
So she note down once that she is done messing with Dobbs' RIG, she is going to see if she can take it with her.
But then realize she has to backtrack all the way back in the dark tunnels and there are limited amount of flares that she has... Yeah, might take the one from maintenance bay instead, Benson did say it was closer.
"alright, lets see what we can do here..." She says as she walks up to the bench and activated it, it folds open and and lights up a hologram panel for her to choose any options.
Before she could start messing with the RIG, she felt a faint vibration all around her.
She stops as she felt the faint tremor of something shaking, after couple of seconds its stops. Confused and slightly worried in case there are other larger variants that she hasn't seen yet, but so far nothing. No sound or any alerts from anything, she let out a sigh of relief and went back to jury rig the RIG...hey that rhymes!
Once she get the hang of how the system works, along with using her own tech to connect with the RIG through her Neural Link wifi, she was able to get it to work and soon enough manage to crack the code and established a new temporary ID for herself as the computer on Ishimura changes her status from Guest to that of Dobbs ID.
"Welcome Dobbs Harvey, you are -131 hours- late for your shift. Make your way to the security office for briefing."
"like that's ever gonna happen." Rachell sarcastically thought before dismissing the message and walked away from the Bench as it folded down.
happy that she now has access and allowance to walk around the ship without the AI thinking she is an intruder, she began walk back toward the door to leave-
"WARNING. Hazardeous anomaly detected in Flight Deck Lobby. Quarantine activated to surrounding area for your safety." Suddenly the room went from bright lit to a near darkness with red light illuminating the room, as a shutter closed down in front of the door.
Effectively trapping Rachell inside the repair station.
"What the fuck!?" Rachell exclaimed, whipping out her guns as she aimed at the vent, but so far nothing seems to be coming for her after she waited for a while...Until she realized the computer mentioned it detected something in Flight deck.
The hell did it detect in the Lobby? if its those monsters then why the fuck hasn't it locked down the entire ship in the first place!?
Either the AI is glitching or malfunctioning, then something else new appeared over there. And now she is trapped with no way out!
"Unless..." Glancing over to the death trap that is the vent.
Rachell narrows her eyes, not liking the idea of using the vents to crawl through considering those fuckers are using these things to get to places. But considering her option is either wait till the quarantine is over or finding a way out by herself instead.
So instead, she decided to wait and see.
If the quarantine hasn't shut down soon, she either call up Benson to see if he can do something from his end or crawl through the vents like a fucking lunatic.
She can only hope this passes soon... Because she isn't liking her options at the moment.
Elsewhere, somewhere in the medical deck a figure stirs awake as they groan. Their voice evident by the feminine tone and opens their blue vibrant eyes and sees she is in an unfamiliar place.
At first she was confused as she looks around and noted the pieces and bits of a familiar device that she was messing around with lying all around her, before it finally clicks as memories comes back to her.
"aw crap, the dang teleporter must have gone whack again!" Aily Berg childishly exclaimed.
Looks like Rachell ain't the only one brought to this place.
End of Chapter