Problems with Pirates and Parasites

JP with Omni and Jaxx

~On the Montero~

If the Captain had a coffee right now he would sip it and probably say something smug, like, "Having a little problem over on the Cronus?"

Hel smacked her communicator, "Why isn't this working?"

Kenny asked, "Just out of curiosity...were you the ones who knocked out our comms? Cause if not... we are not alone."

"Even if we did, it doesn't explain why mine isn't working."
Hel stopped for a moment, "What does that mean, you don't think there is another pirate group here."

Kenny replied, "It means maybe the same blood thirsty parasites that are trying to kill my crew and yours on the Cronos, most likely made their way aboard at some time. Our scanners barely picked them up when they were moving when they were on and now we are literally in the dark. What boggles my mind is that your android easily disabled our comms, then broke into our ship and bypassed all the security and turned off the AI in a few moments. However, it completely missed the fact that we are fighting the parasites."

"Please tell me you are joking about parasitic monsters that are nearly invisible to AI. If you're not, well....we probably should find a way out of here.” Hel said anxiously as she pulled her weapon up defensively.

Kenny replied, "Not only are they very real, but I’m counting on you all to kill them before they kill us."

"I'm a pirate. Do I look like your hero?... What do you think? How many are there?" Hel looked around the area, now on high alert.

Kenny pondered for a moment as he did the math in his head then he replied, "Well since it seems that only one parasite can use a human host and the number of crewmen missing... Since they killed one young one fresh out of a host's head, we only have 3 to 20 left at the most. Oh and the adult took a flame torch to the face and ran away with little damage. So pirate....hero.....it's all meaningless now."

“Yo, what’s up, Hel? Had to use the john.”, said Cham over comms.

"Damnit, Cham! You idiot, report now!" Hel nervously looked around the area, "We have hostile lifeforms, I repeat, hostile lifeforms, some kind of parasite."

“What!? I ain’t got no damn parasites. Had this ship checked before we took off.”, Cham argued defensively.

“Cham! Where are Davis and Rye?”, Bolaji asked with a worried tone.

“They brought some cargo onto the Sotillo a few minutes ago and went back to the other ship for more. Why what’s up?”, asked Cham.

“We have a situation here, Cham. Davis and Rye aren’t responding and we heard gunfire. The crew we boarded says there are some kind of parasites on that ship. You see Davis or Rye, get their asses back onboard ASAP.”, said Bolaji.

"The guy over here says they are highly dangerous." Hel looked at Kenny, "Have any idea what these things look like?"

Kenny replied, "Well it would be easier to show you the video footage if the ship's computer was working. Outwardly, they seem to have a tough rubber like exoskeleton. The outer skin is incredibly resilient and also capable of withstanding some forms of small arms fire. They possess distinctive, elongated, conical skulls, and tails but have no visible facial features other than their mouth. The one I saw was white and the small one that burst from the chest was pale and covered in blood."

"So eyeless, creepy lizard monsters. That is unsettling." Hel looked over to Bolaji.
Bolaji shook her head. “Let’s see this video. Jojo, you know what to do.”

Kenny cleared his throat before he spoke up, "Oh and we still don't know how they plant their seeds in people. Could be the air or they might infect you with blood or some kind of seed when they attack you. However, after seeing that thing burst from that guy's head, I don't know when I will be able to sleep again."

Joe the Android went over to a corridor terminal and inserted a plastic card. The lights flickered to life as he punched at the keys. Then he gave power to Captain Kenny.

"At least Joe works just fine.", Hel smirked.

“You always know a Working Joe”, Jojo said in a pleasant buzz.

She patted his head, "That's true, let me know if you sense anything odd, okay Joe?" Hel looked behind her. "Now I'm on edge."

Captain Kenny noticed the keycard Joe was using was actually a Weyland Yutani access card and it must have pretty high clearance.

“Let’s see this parasite. No funny business.”, Bolaji raised an eyebrow at Kenny.

“I scanned the Montero again, Ms Bein. It is clear of any life forms other than us.”, Jojo assured her.

Hel looked at Kenny, "See, we're clear, I doubt they can sneak up on baby Joe here. I probably shouldn't be so on edge now." She looked at the video feed.

Kenny scrubbed through the timeline. Hel and Bolaji saw headlamps moving through dark corridors. The light shone on the headless corpse of a man whose arms were too long. Then he scrubbed further along to the Cryo antechamber where the Neomorph attacked. The team shot it with a flamethrower.

"What is that thing!" Hel slowly recoiled from the screen. "Looks like the love child of a human and bug!"

“Fucking hell...”, said Bolaji quietly in disgust.

“Oh, it gets better.”, said Paddy sarcastically. “That one is still on board. They killed a baby one that burst from the Dr’s skull... by our count, there could be 3 potential babies inside the surviving Cronus crew and who knows how many more.”, Paddy informed them.

"So, how do we know you aren't infected with these things? We can just blow your heads off and get out of here. Adisa… step away from them." Hel pointed her weapon at the Montero crewmembers.

“Hold it, lady! We haven’t even left this ship.”, Paddy pointed at Hel.

"Look, I don't like our chances. How do we know these parasites aren't controlling you like one of those zombie ants? I've heard of that kind of weird shit with bugs." Hel asked, now a bit paranoid.

“These things are on the Cronus, along with your guys. Davies and Frye or whatever. And now, thanks to you, we can’t contact our team.” Paddy went on. “Now get the gun... OUT... of my face.

"Oh sorry, didn't know your crew was impregnated with weird fucking albino bug babies!" Hel retorted.

“So what are we standing around here for? Let’s get our people off of that fucking death ship!” shouted Paddy. “Jesus, I need a drink.”

Kenny replied, "None of us were prepared for this. Our ship found the derelict and demanded we recover it. Sadly, as we figured things out and planned to escape you guys showed up and ruined that plan. Now our crews are in danger and we have few options."

Hel looked over to her friend, "Adisa, it's your say, what the hell do we do?"

Bolaji sighed, “Weyland Fuckin’ Yutani. ...Alright, here’s what’s gonna happen. Jojo’s gonna stay here and take care of the ship with this one.”, she pointed to Paddy. “The rest of us are gonna take the shuttle over to the Sotillo and have a little powwow. We will let both of our crews into the cargo bay and figure out how we can decon from there.”

"Fine." Hel lowered her gun, "So do we have anything to detect these things?"

“The Montero does a good job detecting movement and bio life forms. Not sure what your ship is equipped with.”, Paddy said.

Hel sighed, "Probably not that, we usually don't have to worry about creepy crawlies."
“Cham. Be ready to accept the crew from the Cronus into the cargo bay. We’re heading back on a shuttle.”, Bolaji ordered.

“Aye, Cap!”, Cham answered.