A few hours had passed. In that time Shaw had learned much about the Engineers and taken some time to reminisce about her sister, looking at a picture of them together from years past.

Eastman laid back on the exam bed, reading a book, and had his upper torso wrapped in a bandage.

Zima was close by in the same room organizing some equipment. "You're lucky," she said. "Should heal up in a few weeks."

Eastman set the book down and sat up. "Lucky," he said curiously. "It hurts like crazy just breathing."

"Scans show only a few cracked ribs," Zima replied. "Better than being broken. That thing was huge. It could have easily mauled us."

Memories of the Deacon began to fill Eastman's head. "I saw what it did to Kai," he said. "Never had a chance."

Zima sighed and said. "Good lord, that thing was fast. Our bullets hardly had any effect on it. I think of what those things would do if they ever made it to Earth. We might just be a rescue crew, but we have to try and stop it."

Layton sat down at a monitor across from Mic and began pressing several buttons. "Aliens," he said. "Large and in charge. Who'd have thought we'd make the biggest discovery of mankind?"

"Technically," Mic said, "It was the Prometheus who made the discovery. Then, Walter and the crew of the Covenant rediscovered them."

Zima then walked in and sat at one of the stations. "Eastman will be ok," she said. "He's just resting and reading right now. What are you guys up to?"

"Nothing, " Layton replied. "Mic and I were just talking about the aliens."

Zima looked at Mic. "You did an uplink thingy," she said. "What can you tell us about those monsters we're facing?"

Rembrandt and Walter spoke to each other in a language Shaw couldn't hope to understand.

"We are still an hour and forty minutes from reaching Origae-6," Walter said to Shaw. "However, we have detected a ship in orbit of another system nearby. According to Rembrandt's description, it is the Covenant."

Shaw stood up. "How far?" she asked.

Walter then spoke to Rembrandt, with a short back-and-forth conversation with the Engineer afterward.

"Just under ten minutes," Walter answered Shaw. "We have changed course to intercept the Covenant. The planet it is now orbiting does have a breathable atmosphere but sparse vegetation, rough terrain, and little water."

"Why would they go off course to a different planet?" Shaw asked.

"Unknown," Walter replied. "They are still over five years out from being able to reach Origae-6. I can only conclude that David now has full control of the ship and continues his experiments."

"Can you see who's on board?" Shaw asked.

"We can read how many life forms are aboard," Walter said. "The Covenant was carrying approximately two thousand colonists and over a thousand embryos."

The unknown worried Shaw. "So much for being advanced," she said. "We can't even tell how many of those monsters we're dealing with."

Walter and Rembrandt spoke to each other a little more.

"Due to the Covenant's hull," Walter said. "As well as other forms of interference, their technology can only do so much. A scan of the planet, however, has revealed over five thousand of the creatures."

Shaw gasped at the thought. "How is that possible," she said. "We'll need an army."

"According to Rembrandt," Walter began. "The planet had no complex life forms before, so, David could only have designed the creatures to give birth to live babies rather than laying eggs."

Shaw chuckled. "Babies." She said. "That makes everything fine."

Walter spoke to Rembrandt again and received a rather long reply.

Looking to Shaw, Walter then explained. "It may be fine. We currently carry two thousand of the creatures. Likely made similarly. The trade-off from gestation is physical strength, though it will remain quite strong. The advantage we have is that the ones we carry were made with genetic material from the Engineers. Although similar, David likely only had human DNA to work with, so his creatures would be proportionately weaker. Another trade-off…"

"Bad news I take it," Shaw said.

"Sort of, but not necessarily," Walter continued. "The creatures made in this way from a weaker strand of DNA, typically have a slightly longer life span provided they find a source of nutrition. Take the one you ran into, for instance, it gestated inside an Engineer and having its DNA gave it a much longer lifespan, otherwise, it would have died long ago, within days. It can vary with gene manipulation."

Shaw walked over to Walter and Rembrandt, asking. "How long will these live?"

"Perhaps only a few weeks," Walter said. "However, we can not afford to sit around and wait for them to die off. They have a very high birth rate that makes up for their lack of longevity."

"When you say nutrition," Shaw asked. "What do you mean, what they eat?"

"They can eat anything you eat," Walter answered, "The bad news which you referred to is that they can also eat any source of inorganic material they are likely to find, as long as it is compatible with their biology. Unfortunately, Rembrandt has detected such a source in an abundance on the planet. That may explain David's decision to go there instead."

Rembrandt read a holographic image that popped up and then spoke to Walter.

"He says the Covenant still shows over twenty-five hundred life forms," Walter said.

"So people could still be alive over there," Shaw replied.

Walter nodded and said. "Yes, if David has not experimented on them."

Back on the Avellan, Mic was finishing explaining. "…then, it dies." He said

Zima cradled herself and rubbed her chest, asking. "So, it pops out of your chest and you become one of those things?"

"I am afraid not," Mic corrected. "You are just a host for the creature's gestation. When it emerges, you die."

"So, that's it," Zima asked. "Can't anything be done?"

"The Avellan and Covenant lack the facilities for a proper procedure," Mic answered. "Your only hope would be to go into a stasis pod for a trip home."

Zima shuddered at the thought. "It's a horrible way to go," she said. "I couldn't die like that."

"Sound's painful," Layton said.

"Mic," Walter called.

Mic turned and pressed a button to return the call. "Mic here, go ahead."

Walter was speaking into Shaw's wrist-mounted radio. "We are approaching the Covenant," he said. "One of its life pods has ejected. It is full, five life forms. We are bringing it into the bay now. Please be ready to accept them."

Overhearing the radio, Layton and Zima stood.

"Survivors probably," Layton said. "I'll go greet our guests."

"I'll prep medical," Zima added. "You never know."

"I guess I will be here," Mic said. "At my station, as usual."

"The Covenant should have hundreds of those for colonizing," Shaw said. "It's not an actual lifeboat, but it gets you going when you need it."

"Why come here," Walter asked. "Something must have happened on the Covenant for them to launch a life pod when we arrived. We have not even been able to establish radio contact."

Shaw shrugged and said. "I guess we'll find out soon. Maybe they're in bad shape over there."

Layton walked out of the Avellan and into the bay, waiting for the life pod to come to a stop.

Zima laid out bedsheets for the remaining two beds.

"Expecting company?" Eastman asked.

"Yes," Zima answered. "There's a life pod coming in."

Eastman closed his book and hopped off the bed. "Guess I better make myself scarce."

"Hey," Zima said in surprise.

Eastman held out a reassuring hand. "Trust me," he said. "It looks worse than it actually feels."

The life pod landed and Layton waited patiently for its door to open.

Layton chuckled. "Ok," he said. "No need to be nervous." He approached its door and opened it.

Immediately, an alarm went off in front of Rembrandt, his screen displaying a stylized icon of a geneomorph's skull. He yelled out to Walter, who then turned to Shaw.

"The life pod is a trap!" Walter said.

Shaw activated her wrist-mounted radio and spoke. "Get away from that life pod."

The message came just as Layton was about to stick his head in. He took one step back before a terramorph, David's latest design of the creature, suddenly came charging out and pounced, driving its secondary jaw into him.

It and four other terramorphs bolted from the life pod to run in different directions. The Engineer ship had several corridors and large air vents for them to disappear into.

Mic and Rembrandt immediately then put their ships into lockdown.

Rembrandt spoke to Walter briefly.

"I am sorry," Walter said to Shaw. "It appears that one of your crew was just outside the life pod when the creatures emerged. Their life signs have disappeared. The ship is in lockdown but I'm afraid it may not be enough to stop the creatures. The ship is full of air vents they can use to get around."

Shaw called. "Mic, who was it?"

Mic replied to everyone. "I must report the passing of Cpl. Kamaru Layton."

"What!" Eastman said in disbelief.

"No way," Zima said. "How?"

Both then ran to meet Mic at his station.

"Listen, Mic," Shaw began. "You must take the Avellan and seize control of the Covenant. Coming over to you now would be dangerous and I won't abandon these Engineers."

"It may not be wise to split up," Mic replied. "We will go to you."

"No," Shaw said. "You have your orders. Get to the Covenant and take it now. Stop David. We are unlocking the bay doors."

Mic responded after a look from Eastman and Zima. "Yes, Lt. We shall follow your orders."

The Avellan slowly pulled away from the Engineer ship and then rocketed towards the Covenant. The docking was uneventful and relatively easy.

Eastman grabbed a pulse rife. "I still can't believe it," he said. "Layton,"

Zima was ready to go and stood by. "We have our orders, but…"

Mic entered and equipped himself with the smart gun.

"Who's in command here?" Zima asked.

Mic looked between Eastman and Zima. "You both hold the rank of Private," He said. "However, I believe you, Zima has seniority by one month."

Zima swallowed hard and said. "Ok, then let's go."

The airlock door opened and they immediately found themselves in a large room full of stasis pods.

"Check these out," Zima said. "Look for any survivors."

They searched one by one until they found two with occupants.

"The rest are empty," Mic said.

"Looks like we got one female and one male," Eastman said.

Zima stood by one and activated its awakening procedure.

It took a moment for the occupant to come around.

Mic walked over to help. "Here," he said. "Let me lend a hand."

Upon seeing Mic the occupant lashed out and tackled him, pinning him to the wall.

"You're dead." She said.

"Whoa, easy there," Eastman yelled.

"You're just confused," Zima said. "He's with us. Can you tell us where David is?"

The woman released Mic and fell to her knees by her stasis pod and began to sob.

"Can you tell us what happened here?" Zima asked. "What's your name?"

The woman looked up at her three rescuers and answered. "Daniels."