Too Smart, Too Strong

JP with Omni and Jaxx

~Meanwhile... On the Montero~

Paddy continued trying to shake whatever was at the B Deck P1 airlock. “Should we get back to the Cronus, Captain? The others might need help.”

Kenny replied, "Paddy if we can't shake those parasites off, they will either kill us before we make it back or kill the others before we can connect to the Cronus."

“How can we know what they're capable of? What are you not telling me, Captain. What kind of parasites are these?!”Paddy wondered aloud.

Kenny was annoyed that Paddy was not quick on the uptake, despite his amazing flying skills. He then replied, "We are dealing with a parasite that plants its young in a living host only to pop out of them when hatched. Not only are they deadly since they killed half the crew on the Cronus, but they can survive decades without food, air or life support. As we saw on the vid screen it took several shots just to kill a hatchling and the other one was still alive after getting roasted in the face. We also saw claw marks on the steel walls meaning they are very strong and violent. Now Roberts may be trained to fight these things, but the rest of us are mere cannon fodder and can only depend on luck and what few skills we have. So if you can't shake them off we will either be dead or hosts for new parasites. So fly this ship like our lives depend on it because they do."

“Ok, hang on!” Paddy pressed his lips into a line and pulled as many Gs as he could, over and over.

Kenny set MUTHUR on auto detection. This was an emergency.

While the ship was rolling and moving, MUTHUR didn’t detect anything, but as soon as the ship corrected itself, it pinged for a second. Still at the P1 Airlock. This went on for at least 5 minutes.

Paddy maneuvered under the Cronus and narrowly avoided a collision with another ship that was docked on the ventral side.

Kenny ordered, "MUTHUR. Send the following message on all frequencies until we get the coms working: "We lost coms. Parasites on Montero. There is a ship docked under the Cronus. Repeat. We lost coms. Parasites on Montero. There is a ship docked under the Cronus."

"Affirmative... commencing repeating transmission across all frequencies..."

A moment later...

“...WARNING: Explosive decompression in P1 Airlock…”

As the Captain watched the ping on his display, he assumed that one of the parasites had clawed a hole into the outer hatch of Airlock P1. He intended to space the damn thing and so he waited until the movement entered the airlock and opened both hatches, venting some of the pressure from the antechamber.

Kenny checked with MUTHUR to see if the Intruder was gone and the movement appeared to be gone from the airlock, for a moment. Then it looked like it was right back to where it had started, just outside the outer hatch.

"What?!" the Captain shouted.

“Cap, what the hell is going on down there? I can’t shake the damn thing? It seems to be just hovering there, blipping on the map.”, Paddy yelled.

Kenny told MUTHUR to prepare to do the same thing again.

The movement slowly entered the airlock again, there still wasn’t any pressure in the airlock and just as he was about to order the hatches open...

“...WARNING: Explosive decompression on B Deck P1 Antechamber...”

"MUTHUR, open a nearby hatch next door to vent the air through the airlock and force it out!" Kenny ordered.

MUTHUR opened another hatch. “WARNING: Losing pressure on B Deck.”
The movement again disappeared from the airlock, then blipped just outside again.

"Well the damn thing is too smart and strong to get spaced.", Kenny sighed.

“Warning: Damage to P1 Airlock inner and outer hatches. B Deck Antechamber is losing pressure. Repairs needed to patch the breach. EVA suit required.”

The airlock hatches appeared to be both sealed but the area lost all pressure. After another moment, the movement reentered the airlock for a third time.

"Well, I guess we are suiting up and getting armed with whatever weapons we have.", Kenny said.

“Well, shit. Where should I park the ship, Bossman?”, asked Paddy.

"Near the Cronus but far enough to not crash.”

“Any particular spot? In case the others try to space walk to us?”

“Make it easy for them to get onboard.”

“Roger.”

Paddy pulled a turn and went up and over the top of the Cronus again, aiming the docking umbilical at the dorsal airlock. In the lights of the Montero, they could both see a figure moving around inside the Cronus airlock, light reflecting off of a helmet.
Paddy put the Montero in reverse thrust and slowly pulled away from the Cronus. “Is that Vera’s space man?”

Kenny replied, "It might very well be. At this point anything is possible."

“Well the crew isn’t getting out this way unless they bring that guy with ‘em....”

"Well we can't save the crew if that parasite kills us. Get ready to kill it since the other option means we die."

“Fair enough.”

Paddy jumped up from the piloting console and headed toward the port side companionway.

There they both suited up, grabbed a pair of 30ft tethers, and armed themselves in no time like a couple of old pros.

Once again looking at his data tablet, Kenny saw that the movement had entered the P1 Antechamber on B Deck and was heading toward the aft of the ship. Kenny and Paddy climbed down the companionway toward the movement. A moment later, Kenny noticed that the ping was inside MUTHUR’s Server Core. Then the data pad no longer detected any movement.

He sighed as he spoke up to Paddy, "Well Paddy it's been one hell of a run and if we don't make it, I want you to know it's been fun serving with you. Now it appears the parasite intruder boarded our ship and somehow quickly made its way to the Server Core. Personally, I would prepare to set up a trap and kill it safely, but sadly it seems to be very intelligent since it avoided getting spaced several times in a row before getting into the ship. I am hoping it's not smart enough to fly the ship but I bet it can do some serious damage on this rust bucket before realizing it. So it's down to you and me killing it with our limited weapons. Make your shots count and try to avoid getting sprayed by its blood since it may be toxic or contagious. Now if you don't have any last words or advice, I suggest we do our best to survive this suicide run."

Paddy smiled and looked genuinely excited by the prospect of combat. “Fuckin’ A, Cap."

Kenny then ordered MUTHUR to seal all the doors to keep the parasite in place. As Paddy and Kenny advanced toward the starboard side and aft, they opened each door in their path and got ready to shoot.

Minutes later, as they approached the S1 Airlock Antechamber, MUTHUR wasn't responding to the Captain's voice commands anymore.

Then the lights went out.