Welcome Back, Marshal

8.3.5 SW
20:50/21 SW-CP-Local Time
Crowning Point > Sci-Med Hex

Eventually, Colonial Marshal Glenn Roberts began to stir, his chest aching from the procedure, even through the Endurall and pain meds pumped into his blood stream, but his life was preserved. Roku's field expertise and comtech training had ensured his survival, and as he regained consciousness, he was met with her familiar smiling face.

Glenn groaned, in pain, it felt like a truck had hit him. He could breathe, but it hurt. He tried to move; that hurt more. He realized he was wearing an oxygen mask and he felt numb. How did he get here? He had the vague sense that he was almost killed. Leaning up some, he looked around the room and saw Roku. He smiled, then winced. Even THAT hurt.

"Roku!" he tried to call out, but could not say it very loud.

Hikari Roku's heart swelled with relief as Glenn groaned and slowly began to stir. She'd seen many patients in her career, but this was different; though she hadn't known him long, she already considered him a friend.

She approached his bedside, a warm smile on her face despite the situation. "Hey," she said softly. "There you are."

The oxygen mask muffled his voice, but it didn't matter. She could see the confusion and discomfort in his eyes. She leaned in closer, her tone kind and reassuring. "Don't push yourself too hard, ok?"

Glenn winced, and she could see his pain. She touched his shoulder gently and sat quiet for a moment, letting him get his strength. She was determined to see him through it, just as he had been there for her after the Cronus.

"I'm sure you have questions. So do I, but take your time."

He smiled again and said in a weak voice, "Yeah, did you get the number of that truck that ran me over?" He chuckled. "Ouch."

Roku couldn’t help but return the smile, chuckling quietly before moving on to the actual topic of how he ended up here.

"What do remember?” she asked.

"More like a dream... and fuzzy. Looking at an eggplant that spits at me then something tried to strangle me." explained Roberts weakly, still managing to keep his positive mood. "God this sucks. How bad is it now? The infection how many of those fucking things are running around?" asked Roberts.

“There haven’t been any cases of the Cronus infection, but I’ve heard from the others that a couple of the Officers were killed by some sort of alien creatures and we lost contact with the rest of your security team. From what I’ve seen and heard described… these aren’t the same as those pale creatures we saw on the Cronus…

"I need some coffee," said Roberts with a wink to Roku. He let out a sigh. "Thank you for saving my ass again, Roku," he said in a grateful tone.

“Just returning the favor,” she said with similar levity. “Besides… I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t gotten us out of that death ship.”

Sighing she continued, “We removed an alien organism that was latched onto your face. Its tail was tightly wound around your neck. One of the officers mentioned these things have a potent acid for blood so we had to starve you take some extreme measures. The alien was keeping you alive and implanting some kind of embryo in your chest and I think its spawn would have… burst from you. Kinda like what happened to Dr Cooper on the Cronus.”

Roku’s eyes flitted around as she pondered the thought, “These things must be some evolved or mutated form of what we encountered. As far as the infection goes, I think we are in the clear and there are no signs of it in your blood. But these aliens seem to spread quickly. The doctors here took the embryo to a lab and the other one, as far as I know, is contained… for now. If the security team doesn’t kill whatever is out there fast, we might want to think about getting the hell off of this planet. Our only sure ticket out of here is the Montero… but they took it into orbit to study the specimens we recovered.”

There was a sigh from Roberts. The news was not good. Everything was going downhill fast.

"How safe is this lab?" Roberts asked in a very serious tone. He had to get her and her sister to safety. He didn't give a damn about anyone else at this point. Maybe the armory would be safe if could he convince the Montero to come back. Roberts was not sure of anything right now.

Then thinking there was not enough room to get everyone out, what now? Two weeks before anyone would show up if he called out.

“The embryo we removed from your chest will likely die, if it hasn’t already. But I don’t have access to the lab, here. They will likely analyze it, study it, but… otherwise I don’t know their intentions with it.

As for the one that we took off of your face… one of the security officers, Baird I think he said. He seems to think that it will die on its own, based on the others in the nest you found it in. He took it out of here in a containment unit.”

Roku eyed the Marshal’s radio unit.

"Nest?" gasped Roberts. "God I hope they burned it," said Roberts then winced in pain. Roberts looked over to where his radio was. "When can I get out of bed and start to move?" asked Roberts his voice still raspy. Roberts wanted to get up but his mind was still fuzzy. His vision was not so good yet. He let out a groan. "Who is in charge of security right now?"

Roku couldn’t hide her worried expression. There was a lot she didn’t know so she focused on what she did know.

“I’m sorry, Glenn. With the surgery, I can’t recommend getting up without assistance, for the next couple of days, at least,” she swallowed the lump in her throat.

“What we need to do is get all the information we can so we can decide whether or not to get out of this colony to somewhere else that’s safe. I haven’t heard a word from the rest of the security team in the last hour. I know they are scattered due to all the chaos. The power went out. Obviously it’s back now, but there has been trouble with comms.

If you need something, I can get it to you… but if we need to get out of here, I will push you on one of these damned beds all the way to the airfield if I have to.” she said.

Roberts looked around the room. "Bring my gun belt over here and shotgun I will hang it on the side of the bed," said Roberts with a smile. "Now you need to get your sister here and have her also stay with me and you," instructed Roberts with concentration on his face as he thought. Roberts would wince now and then as he moved in the bed. Keep a pain med injector handy. If things get too bad. I might have to just juice up and hope you can save me later." He explained.

"I need to get in contact with the security and operations there are a few things we can still do I think," said Roberts.

Minutes later, the Marshal was reunited with his weapons and hand set while Dr. Hikari Roku left the room to get updated on the rest of the Montero crew.