The Corporate Suite

JP with Omni and redsword_7

~On the Cronus~

Monitoring the tracker, Roku saw one ping diminish and she knew it was either Vera or Roberts. Then the movement started heading away down the corridor. “Roberts, do you copy?!”

Through heavy breathing and groans of pain, "Roberts here, a little busy now trying to stay alive. Try shortly to make my way back. Vera is dead I think.", he barely got out.

"Shit... copy that." Roku said quietly. Just then a quiet knock was heard by everyone in the C1 junction.
Second Officer Reyes turned her attention to the airlock elevator and saw a man in a space suit knocking on the glass. He waved them forward.

Up on B Deck... Clayton and Jensen pulled Roberts into the Corporate Suite and closed the door.

"Doc, we are on B deck in the Corporate Suite. It could be longer to get back to you. Go on with the plan. Get out of here. Lead with my shotgun. It has slugs in it. Buckshot is no good against these things. I gave you a reload. Use it for the other shotgun. Good luck. Hope to see you soon… Roberts out." he said. Roberts looked at the others in the room rubbing his ribs. He did not think they were broken, but it felt like he was beaten by a baseball bat.

"Honestly I don't know if we will make it back," he looked at the Ammo count on the Pulse Rifle display. He pulled out a green shotgun round with a yellow tip and loaded it into the shotgun chamber. "One more spare," he sighed, then smiled looking back up. "Thanks for saving my ass guys, good work. Now… a plan to get out of here…”

“This IS the way out,” Clayton said as she opened the closet. She shoved some clothes aside and removed a panel to reveal a hidden hatch, then she scrambled around the suite collecting things.

Looking around, Roberts saw the luxury of this room. It had a lounge area with a window looking out into space, a personal desk with a computer terminal, personal bathroom with shower, toilet, sink and mirror, a queen sized bed built into the wall, and a tiny food stash.

Roberts said, "Wait, let me look around for a moment."
He searched through the desk and then the closet looking for anything of use and found a reload for Clayton’s magnum in the desk. There was also an emergency kit on a shelf in the closet containing an air supply canister and a personal medkit. There were some packages of hydrated food stores, an ice maker, a water dispenser, and near the lounge there was even a wet bar with several bottles of alcohol and glasses.

“Jesus, Clayton. This is what they had you housed up in?” Johns asked in awe.

Clayton opened the built-in drawer in the bedside housing, pulling out a chrome briefcase and a small nylon pack. Then she quickly opened a wall safe and pulled out several stacks of old cash bills, enough to fill the briefcase. She then grabbed some sort of cube device that fit in her hand and headed for the hatch.

“Hey what is all that?”John asked.

Roberts checked the terminal and found it in low-power mode. He knew that in its state it could only be used to redirect emergency power to various parts of the ship's functionality until the reactor was fixed.

"Ok, guys, let's go.", he said as he entered the hatch too. He ensured everyone was in, before closing the hatch and locking it behind him. He stopped, pulling out the air supply canister and switched it with his depleted one. ‘Swish’ went the new air into Roberts’ compression suit.

The 4 of them entered the hidden L shaped Corporate EEV. Inside, there were two compression suits, a food storage cabinet, three Cryopods, and a piloting console.

"Nice, does it work?" asked Roberts.

“Damnit, Clayton! When the hell we’re gonna tell us you had a personal escape pod?” Johns said, agitated.

“It’s high-level clearance information and extremely bloody ‘need to know’... and we didn’t really need it until now. Besides, we couldn’t fit more than two more in here if we wanted to.” Clayton retorted. “We’ll see if she still works. Which one of you boys can Pilot this thing? I don’t want to be the one to risk trying to dock with another ship. It’s been far too long since I’ve done a simulation,” she admitted.

"Clayton, you're it, I am not a pilot. I will help you the best I can. I have seen people do it only in the Marines. Maybe when we get out there we can talk to our pilot to guide you in," suggested Roberts.

Jensen interjected, “I could try it. I’m... not licensed or anything but I’ve had a few sims. Not too long ago.”

"Then you two work together,." said Roberts.

The Corporate EEV undocked from the Cronus and drifted away from the slow rolling ship.

"Roku...", Roberts said over the radio. "We are safe at the moment. What's your status?"

“There’s... someone else here... a man... outside the airlock. He’s waving us to join him. It’s not the Captain or Paddy Lohan... maybe we’re being rescued.” responded Roku.

"Make sure it's human, keep the shotgun at the ready and I hope you're right. Have Reyes check it out." Roberts instructed.

“He is definitely human… Should we go with him, Roberts? Or should w... Oh god…” There was some commotion and an awful yowl from what could only be a cat in pain. “Mimi!... ...No!” Roku screamed before abruptly getting cut off.

"It's always got to be something." Roberts mumbled to himself. "Roku status!?"

“...It’s Mimi... he’s convulsing. I think he’s dying... the air is too thin...” Roku said somberly.

~~~

Things were getting tense in the C1 Junction. Last time something convulsed, a bloody alien popped out of them. This didn’t happen however, instead, as the cat, Mimi, convulsed on the floor, its legs started to grow longer and more flexible. Its head became slightly elongated while its eyes sunk in and drifted further apart, closer to the side of its head.

Dr. Flynn yelled, “It’s starting to mutate! Kill it!”

"Shoot it, Now!" Roberts said over the Radio.

There was more commotion over the comms from the others and the sound of gunfire.

“Shit! I pierced the bulkhead! Hold onto something!” yelled Reyes.

There came the grunts and groans of the crew, a high pitched shriek, and the rush of air over the comms. Then Roberts and the crew inside the EEV lost all audio traffic.