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Gordon grunted slightly as his engineering monitor lost power with a barely perceptible static hum. His jaw tightened as he shifted to the adjacent panel and pulled up the system status screen. He sighed as he saw a familiar error staring back at him.

"We've lost sensors again Captain"

"Fuck! Sun, Full stop" barked Ash, her irritation more than palpable. Gordon could understand her annoyance. This was the third time the system had failed in the last two hours and each time, the Midnight Shadow, had been forced to stop in the midst of deep space.

Sun shook her head slightly "Reset, can you stop fucking about and get it fixed? Maybe try something other than turning it off and back on again? Sometimes I wonder if you actually graduated, you actually seen the certificate Captain?"

"Hey" complained Gordon "The particle debris we struck just after Mars damaged the imaging sensors. They keep building up a charge and overloading. The only thing I can do is restart them to clear the charge. It's going to keep happening until we can get to port and have them replaced. We shouldn't have set out"

Ash gave him a dangerous look "We have already had this discussion Reset. The contract was far too lucrative to turn back. We just need to deal with it. It's why I employ a fucking engineer"

Gordon looked at the pair. It was unlikely he was going to win against these two. Ashley Walker was Captain of the Midnight Shadow, one of two ships employed by Precision Contracted; a mercenary company that operated out of the Euston Spaceport in London. She was tall. A little too severe and imposing to be truly pretty and yet there were plenty of people who disagreed with his assessment. Gordon sometimes wondered with her aggressive and arrogant attitude how she had not ended up turning to piracy but she did take the job seriously, managing her team with a ruthless efficiency that had guided them through many dangerous missions. Gordon had no doubt a lesser captain would have shed people along the way but Ash had always come back with a full team.

Sun Woon-Kye on the other hand was a brilliant pilot, honestly, Gordon easily owed his life to her many times over and yet, most of the situations that had required her skill to escape had been caused by her own reckless attitude. The woman was a thrill seeker, of that there was no doubt and to make things worse she had absolutely no problem bringing everyone else along for the ride. Her accent suggested she had not grown up in Korea and yet her strange lilting tone didn't really seem to fit anywhere else. She tended not to talk about her background and Gordon didn't push.

Gordon sighed and pushed up from his chair. He stumbled slightly as he found his footing. Anti-Gravity was a complicated thing and the equipment required to generate earth-like gravity simply could not be scaled down to a ship of this size. The best they could manage was point seven and despite having spent years on the ship it still felt strange. "I'll...see what I can do"

"Don't See, Fix it!" came the captains annoyed tone as he hit the button to open the cockpit door "This is already a difficult mission. We can't afford to waste the time or fuel"

Gordon didn't reply, he just stepped out of the cockpit and let the door shut behind him. He couldn't help but be irritated by their attitude. This wasn't his fault. The Shadow did not have shields No ship did. That was science fiction nonsense. A few demonstrations of energy fields that might be called shields had been produced in labs but it required such an absurd amount of power research in that direction had been abandoned some time ago. No, shields were out, instead, the Midnight employed a three stage protective system. Most meteors contained small iron deposits and so a combination of a polarising field and a magnetised hull repelled most micrometeorites without problems. The second stage consisted of small, powerful surface lasers which dealt with larger debris until finally, any piece too large to be dealt with by the surface lasers were avoided by the autopilot.

The corridor that connected the cockpit to the rest of the room was short. The Shadow was a very compact ship and honestly, too small for its roster of six. Gordon's destination was a small alcove at the side of the corridor which housed a floor-hatch secured by a wheel lock. The lock was well maintained, oiled and tested weekly, due to an unfortunate incident a few months ago where one of the soldiers, Ben, had to break it open.

He climbed down the short ladder into the engineering bay that resided below the main deck. The room was small and cramped, too low to stand up fully in and yet, he liked it. It was peaceful. No one else came down here and it very much felt like his space.

He carefully sat down, cross legged on the floor before the single engineering station. He brought up the system control panel watching as detailed diagnostics scrolled across the display. He selected the sensor screen and initiated a power cycle. That would at least get them working while he considered a longer term solution.

He sighed slightly as he moved the screens around. He already had a solution. It was just a bad one. If he set a power hungry system to draw power via the sensors it meant there would be no opportunity to build up a charge, any excess energy would be drawn into the secondary system and the sensors would never overload.

This would solve the initial problem but it would cause the sensor relays to have to handle significantly more power than they were designed for. While it would stop the sensors going down periodically due to excess power, the relays themselves would be put under far more stress than they should and would eventually burn out completely. It would fix them for a while but eventually they would lose the whole system. Gordon had tried to model how long they would last but his blueprints simply did not provide enough detail to say with confidence.

\ **Beep**

---

He blinked and quickly swept the control panel away, sliding the main sensor array onto the monitor. He had spent much of the last two weeks staring at this thing without it detecting so much as a small asteroid, but now, at the edge of its range, there was a blinking dot. It cycled through various colours as the sensors tried to categorise it and after a moment it solidified white. It was a ship. He tapped the marker and a window popped up "Requesting Identification. . ."

It normally only took a few seconds to connect to a ships beacon and request their details but being so far away it was taking far longer than normal. The wait was agonising but eventually the transmission came through.

Identification : Cosmic Odyssey

Registration : STL-CODSY-O545

Registered by : StarLiners Galactic

He couldn't help but smile. This was it. What they had been looking for. The Cosmic Odyssey was a cruise ship; a huge luxury vessel that gently drifted from star to star, ferrying its wealthy clients in a carefully structured nirvana.

Gordon quickly scrambled up the ladder not even taking time to close the hatch. He stumbled into the cockpit almost colliding with Ash's chair. "The sensors have detected a ship Captain, the Odyssey, we found it!"

Ash looked towards him "Seriously?" Her voice was rising with excitement. It wasn't really a question. Gordon wasn't the kind of person to joke about this and she did not wait for his answer "Fuck the sensors" she said "We will fix them later, Sun, get a heading from Gordon and reinitialise the engines"

She pushed a button located below her console and spoke, her voice echoing throughout the ship "This is your Captain speaking. The Odyssey has been sighted. Exact ETA for arrival is still unknown but I expect you to be ready to move on a moments notice. Ben, Mary, we do not know what to expect, be prepared, but violence is as always, a last resort. Borys, we may have injured, get your kit together"

She released the button as the ship started to thrum and the engines leaked plasma silently into the great unknown. "How long?"

"2 Hours, give or take" replied Gordon "But we will need a little time to negotiate docking with the ship. Depending on the ships status, that might take some time. It responded to the Identification request but that's a standalone system, part of the black box. We can't be sure the computers are online."

Sun snorted slightly and glanced over her shoulder "If we need to dock manually, don't sweat it. It's a cruise liner not a mining skiv. Docking won't be a problem"

Gordon nodded slightly before looking up from his monitor "I should know more when we get closer. The ship is at the edge of our sensors so we...Wait" he frowned slightly "Something is definitely wrong" he tapped a few buttons on his screen as more information was starting to come through. Ash frowned slightly and gestured for him to continue.

"I am picking up quite a few power signatures from the ship so it doesn't look the reactors are offline" he moved his fingers deftly across the screen, requesting more details "Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's the primary reactors or backup power we are sensing. The power draw does seems quite low though, so main power might be down"

Ash spun her chair to face him "They were coming back from a maintenance run. They had a reduced number of crew and passengers aboard. Would that explain it?"

Gordon nodded slightly "It might but there are other indications there are problems. The ship is moving but at barely one C. According to the data we were given, it should be moving at least ten times that speed. At that rate, it's going to take almost two years to complete its return journey to our solar system"

"Anything else?" she asked

"No, not yet but we should get more information as we get--" he frowned slightly "I've picked up another ship. It's a lot smaller, so we didn't see it earlier"

Ashley groaned slightly "Can you get an identification? Last thing we fucking need is some other group interfering"

Gordon made the identification request and waited

Identification : No Data

Registration : No Data

Registered by : No Data

Gordon drew breath sharply across his teeth "Registration data has been wiped, probably a pirate vessel"

"Fuck!" said Ashley "Any chance they are here, uhh, 'legitimately?' "

The word legitimately had heavy air quotes hung around it. Cruise liners spent weeks and months in deep space away from civilization and were frankly perfect venues for illicit and illegal activity. A little digging had provided ample evidence that the Cosmic Odyssey was in fact, partially designed with this in mind. Ashley had discovered that Starliners offered rather exclusive services if approached through the right channels, using the right words and a boatload of credits. According to their research, entire decks of the ship were reserved for all sorts of illicit activity from illegal weapons sales to slave trading to clubs and brothels filled with genetically modified staff. These decks were officially listed as being a mixture of staff living quarters and engineering systems but really, they were reserved for a special class of clientele.

Gordon nodded, understanding what was being asked "I don't know. If what we know is true and Starliners didn't exactly deny it. A pirate vessel being docked might not mean anything but it's a pretty big coincidence"

She nodded and hit her intercom again "Captain here. The Odyssey is limping through space at one tenth speed, situation unknown. Likely pirate ship spotted, unknown if they are passengers or raiders. Prepare for the worst"

Gordon bit his lip slightly. He had dealt with pirates before but he was not exactly eager to do it again. Space piracy was dangerous and not just in the obvious ways. Anytime you fired a weapon on a spaceship you were taking a risk. Hull punctures were no laughing matter and even a small fracture could lead to depressurisation and a dead crew. Space pirates tended to live on the edge, death or glory and who wanted to face down guys like that?

He tapped his screen again to send out another comms hail to the Odyssey. He had been idly doing this for a while but the cruise liner had either been unable or unwilling to respond. No replies from the unmarked, presumed pirate vessel either. It was all eerily quiet. "I'm getting nothing from either of them, though, the smaller ship is responding to a systems check" He frowned slightly "The Odyssey isn't. Their comms may be down"

Ash rubbed her chin as if she had just been handed a fiendish puzzle "When will we have the suspected pirates on visual?"

"Ah, sorry" said Gordon "If I set the focus correctly we could probably see the ship already" he sent another comms request and then immediately switched his console to the viewport controls. The Liner was sitting in the middle of the window; a large, gleaming white oblong, gently trailing a blue plasma wake behind it. He tapped a few buttons and zoomed in on a forward section of the large white ship. The image wasn't great but they could make out a dark splotch docked to one of its airlocks. "Based on the known size of the Odyssey, the computer estimates the unknown vessel is approximately twenty meters wide"

Ash Grunted "Great, more than half again ours. I recon it looks like an old near earth mining skiv. If they converted the cargo holds to crew quarters we might be looking at as many as twenty five occupants, if not, well, more like ten"

Gordon had learned to trust Ash's judgements on these things. She started work in the Martian shipyards before joining Precision and she was rarely wrong when it came to ships, weapons or technology. Twenty five pirates and they had 2 soldiers. This could go very wrong very quickly.

"Don't dock at the same bay as the skiv Sun but start syncing our alignment with the Odyssey. Run a test cycle of the airlock computers and make sure they are responding." She looked over at Gordon "Right, good work Gordon. If they haven't responded by now they aren't going to. This one might get rough, don't forget your pistol again"

Gordon just nodded. He felt like he shouldn't need to carry a weapon. That was what Ben and Mary were for but there was no way he was boarding this ship without a sidearm. He rubbed his hands nervously and stood, walking to the door. He paused and glanced back. He should try and talk her out of this, shouldn't he? Fuck. Twenty five potential combatants, what were they thinking? And yet...Gordon knew just how much money was on the table here. He sighed slightly and stepped through the door. He had better get ready.

Gordon fidgeted slightly, his hand nervously playing across the top of his pistol. He glanced down for what must have been the millionth time to check the ammunition counter on the top. Sixty shots announced the barely glowing panel in stark red writing. Sixty. More than enough to deal with twenty five pirates.

Someone jostled his shoulder and he looked up with slight annoyance at Ben. The deployment room that led to the airlock was uncomfortably small and as soon as you stuffed the team into it the scent of machismo and sweat quickly became offensive. Ben was crouched slightly, his much larger rifle in his hands, scanning it across the room making obnoxious laser sounds with his mouth. He glanced across at Mary with a grin "Twenty Five" he twanged in some kind of southern American accent. "That's just about enough for me, not gonna be many left for you"

The woman sniffed, adjusting her own weapon which sat slung across her back. Mary was a monster of a person; well over six foot five with rippling muscles that could be seen beneath her combat armour. "That fucking attitude is how you get killed small bean" she replied coldly "How about you follow my instructions and I keep you alive?"

Ben began to perform some kind of fancy manoeuvre with his weapon, realised there was not enough space and threw it roughly across his back "Aww, it's okay Queen. I promise I won't take them all. Besides, one look from your icy stare and they will surrender no problem!"

"All right, enough you two" came Ash's voice and they both fell into line. Ash was carrying a heavy rifle like the soldiers instead of the smaller pistol sitting at Gordons side "We have no idea what the situation is so no fucking about. We get in, find out what's happened, Gordon makes any repairs needed to get the ship back up to speed and then we cash out. Understand?"

"Yes Mam" came a chorus of replies.

She looked around "Where's Borys?"

Ben gave a small, cheeky grin "You checked the bottom of a bottle? Guy drinks enough whiskey to be a marine"

Ash gave him a hard look and spoke after a seconds pause "I will go and find him. Analysis of the ships atmosphere is still being completed. We will be leaving in exactly 15 minutes. If you have forgotten anything this is the time to go get it" she glanced at Gordon's pistol and then scanned her eyes across the two soldiers.

She took a half step away and looked back "Sun will not be coming with us. Someone needs to watch the ship, and should we need to get the fuck out. I want the pilot already in her seat." She paused again "Remember, this is a black mission. If you don't make it back, Precision will deny any knowledge of you. Every single one of you is registered as being on leave just now. Don't. Fuck. Up."

A few minutes later Borys appeared, only smelling lightly of alcohol. He was wearing a long white lab coat covered in dubious stains hanging over dark blue jeans and carrying a white case under one arm. He adjusted his thick glasses which sat below a bald head. "Quite an adventure, yes!" he said with an enthusiasm only found with the help of Johnny Walker "I got all the good stuff, don't worry" he grinned a little tapping his medical case "It would be shame almost to not get hurt!"

Ben snorted "We all know what kinda good stuff you like Doc. I am forever amazed Ash trusts you with our safety"

The good natured doctor slipped a metal hip flask from his side and took a deep glug, the spicy scent of whiskey floating through the tiny room. He grinned "Perform better with a buzz" he slumped down into one of the waiting chairs and took another slug "Ash always angry but understands this is, uhm, performance enhancing, yes?"

Mary growled slightly "Not yes Doc. Just keep the fuck away from me. I don't need some drunk arsehole trying to patch me up. I'll do it myself if I need to."

Borys frowned slightly before giving a small smile, his eyes twinkling "Ah, this why they call you Queen, Yes? Not worry, Borys look after you"

Mary took a step towards him "You fucking little weasel, I'll-"

Ben spoke up quickly "Hey, hey, Queen its fine. We all know how good you are, no one is going to need to patch you up. Just ignore him"

Mary growled at him but moved back to stand by the door. Gordon shifted uncomfortably. It was always like this. Sometimes Gordon wondered why Ash did not look for a new doctor but in truth, any kind of medic willing to take on this kind of danger had problems. Medicine paid well and most doctors had little reason to take the risk

Ash appeared once again at the door and looked over at Borys "Borys, I swear. Go and get your fucking gun, we aren't messing about here"

He held up his hands with an oblivious smile "Ah, but Borys is lover not fighter yes? Not sit right. Doctor should not carry gun"

The look that Ash gave him would have had Gordon whimpering in a heap but the good doctor just shrugged "Okay, okay. I get gun but not shoot anyone. Good, yes? Against Doctors Oath"

Ash just roared at him "You've never made an Oath in your life Borys. Go and get your damn pistol"

Borys calmly pushed to his feet and took a swig from his flask before pushing past Gordon and into the corridor. It was always tense before a mission but this was worse. Gordon could tell something had Ash worried, Mary too. Ben and Borys? Well, they were just being themselves. They weren't the types to worry.

The Captain moved up and started activating the airlock while she waited for Borys "Analysis of the ship is finished. Air is good. Backup power is on in most areas but there seems to be a number of sections without power at all. Main Computer and backup computers are both offline. Only the emergency computer is online handling essential systems which means no quantum processing"

Gordon gulped slightly. Main and backup computers almost never failed at the same time. The Backup computer was capable of handling most of what the main computer could, just slower. The emergency computer on the other hand kept the ship on life support. It handled the airlocks, it handled basic coms relays, air circulation and gravity. None of the consoles would be online and not much apart from the doors would be responding to input, worse, without a quantum computer none of the security doors would be able to authenticate the pass codes. They would have to emulate it with their tablets which would take forever.

Gordon could almost feel a cold sweat begin to form on his brow "Captain, the chances of the backup and main computers going down at the same time are almost zero. It may be sabotage"

"You think I don't know that?" snapped back Ash "why did you think I had the argument with the damn drunk"

"Damn drunk's here and ready to shoot the bad guys, yes? That's what you want right?" floated Borys voice from the doorway. His gun was holstered at his side and he was taking another swig from his hipflask.

Ben looked back with a grin "Bad guys?" he pointed his gun at his chin and switched on the torch "We are the damn bad guys. A little cash is all it takes and we will do near anything! Chicks dig a bag guy"

Mary gave him a flat look "Yeah, the chicks dig dumbass mercenaries that point their own guns at their own idiot faces"

Ben switched off his torch and slid his gun back down "You always gotta be so serious Queen? Why not maybe try and relax a little? You could shoot better without that stick up your ass"

There was a sudden hiss of gas and whoosh of air as the circular door sealing the air lock rolled sideways. This was the final stage of the cycle as the Odysseys door had already been opened in order to test the air quality. "How about you two shut the fuck up and get on point"

The two soldiers gave a sharp nod and their expressions became more serious. In Gordons experience this would last perhaps fifteen minutes in Ben's case, though, Mary generally kept him under control. The two pushed through the airlock into the large lobby area beyond moving quickly out of sight. The primary lighting was out and instead red emergency lights bathed the room in an eerie, intimidating glow. Somehow, all the images painted on the walls, all of the fun sights and sounds guests could expect to see on their expensive trip felt strange and wrong bathed in the ruby glow.

Ash followed in behind them. She reached down and toggled the torch on her laser rifle though it made little impact to the red dusk. Gordon found himself nervously running his fingers over his own firearm as he moved in behind, stumbling as the much stronger artificial gravity of the Cosmic Odyssey took over. He watched Ashley, Ben and Mary start to quickly spread out across the room, checking the exit out into the main plaza and the connecting doors to other lobbies. The lobby was an entry way for four separate air locks and was one of four identical lobbies on the ship.

Borys sidled up besides Gordon as he stood waiting for instructions from the captain. He held his pistol out first on one side and then turning it over to the other "This thing" he said "Waste of time. I've treated many people with injury from pistol, yes?" he gave a small smile "You know how many ended up in body bag? None." He took a swig from his flask and Gordon honestly wondered whether he meant to finish it before even leaving the lobby "We use laser to not risk damage to hull" he said "But in gun this size? Has tiny battery. You know that yes? You are engineer"

He put his pistol away with a small smile "Those" he said gesturing to the others "Those are more dangerous. Those can kill a man if hit right place but these?" his smile widened to a large grin and he slapped Gordon on the shoulder "If you need to fire this, you run instead"

Gordon gave him a flat sideways look "Of course I know that. Dumb things even cauterise the wounds they cause but it hurts and you know that. Usually it's enough to take someone down"

The Doctor shrugged "Okay, you shoot, I run. Good deal, yes?" his grin split his face as he walked with just the slightest hint of a sway into the room

"Gordon" called Ash "Can you do anything about the lights?"

Gordon gripped his work bag and quickly moved up the stairs "Not easily. The emergency lights are on because main power has failed. You can run main lights off backup power but you have to send the command through the computer. Both computers are down so I'd have to try and connect my tablet in order to change the configuration and id have to do it light by light"

She nodded sharply "Sounds like we need to get one of the computers back up. Fuck spending any amount of time in this."

There was a slight...shake to her voice. It was subtle but it was so unexpected it somehow rang out like a clear note to Gordon's ears. Ashley was phased. He couldn't entirely blame her, the lights were unusually creepy. He thought it was probably because of how large and empty the space was. Most space ships were small, cramped places and the emergency lights cast a hundred tiny shadows, but this place. It was huge. He felt like everywhere he looked he saw a place to hide and that baleful ruby light shone down like it had weight.

"Getting one of the computers back up is probably a good idea but if we are going to be in any one place for a while, I could try and get the lights in that room on. Of course, activating the computers will probably announce our presence to whomever is here"

She paused and nodded shouting up at Ben and Mary "Put a temporary seal on all the doors apart from the primary walkway" she looked back down to Gordon "Set up some proximity alarms. If anyone comes near the Midnight Shadow, I want to know about it"

The two soldiers worked quickly lifting a number of long box shaped objects from their work bags. They placed them carefully across the seam on the doors before turning a small dial in their centre ninety degrees. Most of the doors on the Odyssey were large double doors that slid sideways into the wall when activated, one of the few things a lot of vintage Sci-Fi got right. In those programs though, people always welded doors closed if you didn't want them opened, in reality, the best solution was strong electromagnets placed across the centre. It was much faster to set up, could be easily removed or moved and a cutting torch had to penetrate the door and the thick magnetic bar to break it open.

Gordon got on with his own task as the soldiers worked, placing a number of small transmitters throughout the room. They were tiny, the size of a small coin and attached to the wall neatly thanks to an embedded magnet. In each case he quickly connected the transmitters to the wireless field generated by the Shadow. He gave each transmitter a name and set the activation range. The bad guys might have as many as twenty five men but they had gadgets, discipline and preparation. He glanced over at Borys who seemed to be trimming his nails with a scalpel. Okay, some of them had discipline.

Soon enough 'Arrival bay B' had been prepared to Ashley's satisfaction and a quick hand signal sent the two soldiers scouting ahead into the ships initial welcome and shopping deck, the Carnival Plaza. Gordon secured the strap of his bag, following the Captain and good doctor out of the room.

Gordon had known what to expect from the plaza and yet, somehow, he was in no way prepared for this. The enormous multi-tiered space was a mixture of garish shops, open bars and gambling opportunities. The Plaza was designed to squeeze as many credits as possible out of the passengers and it was no accident that the airlock lobbies all led directly here. Passengers would be exposed to all of its expensive temptations on both arrival and departure.

Gordon could almost imagine the excited patrons spilling like a horde of locusts across the room, consuming and partaking like good little consumers and yet, for him, this place brought no excitement. He was not sure where Ben and Mary had gone but he could hear their footsteps echo throughout the area. Red light caused sinister shadows to spill across the room like some kind of overly stylised painting thrown to canvas by some eccentric madman. He took a nervous step forward and gulped. He could not help but fantasise about an army of pirates hiding behind every shadows, lurking in the stalls and shops, behind every notice board and sculpture. While he saw and heard no evidence of anyone other than themselves, they could be there. The plaza had enough hiding places for a legion.

"Gordon, keep it together" came an urgent whisper with an edge of anger. Gordon glanced at Ash feeling a shiver go through him. He often wondered why he did this. He wasn't very good at it and while it was true that a lot of the time he got dumped in front of a computer terminal miles away from any danger, it had gone the other way enough times that every trip still left him racked with nerves.

Ashley was nervous too. Her angry tone was a dead give-away. Ashley was sharp, aggressive and took no bullshit but she wasn't angry. It was a subtle difference of course but Gordon had learned to recognise it and it just made his knees shake worse.

Suddenly, he felt something cold against his arm and he released a breathless squeal; an almost silent, rasping wheeze as he tried to order his fingers to his holder. "Twenty Five Centilitres" came Borys voice "Doctors Orders, Yes?"

Gordon looked down and let his fingers close around the hip flask...it was full. What the fuck? How many of those did Borys have? He glanced towards the captain who said nothing. She just started forward, climbing a cold metal staircase up towards a suspended platform covering about half the plaza.

Gordon shakily removed the lid from the bottle and gulped the spiced liquid down. It burned and yet he didn't stop. He continued to suckle even as the bottle emptied and let his arm fall to his side a few seconds later gasping for air. A slightly warm, relaxed sensation was beginning to spread through him even as the pain in his scorched throat brought everything into focus. The Doc was right, that was what he needed and Ashley hadn't said anything. Fuck, she must be terrified.

Borys glanced at Gordon with a smile, a slight lilt to his head that suggested that Borys did indeed have more hipflasks and had finished more than one "And they say I have problem!" he laughed uproariously and slapped Gordon on the back resulting in an urgent angry whisper from Ashley.

"Shut your mouth Borys. You forget where we are already?"

Borys stopped though showed no other effect from Ashleys rebuke. He tapped Gordons arm another couple of times "Give back later, Yes? You keep for now" He began to climb the stairs himself.

Gordon took a few more moments, letting the sense of relaxation spread just a little further. He knew it was psychosomatic, the Alcohol had not had time to penetrate into his cardiovascular system and yet the nocebo effect was very real. He quickly resealed the bottle and popped it into his bag before making his way up the stairs.

You would think that the dull red light would enhance or highlight blood, bringing its crimson nature into focus but it didn't. Several figures lay face down near one of the corridors that Gordon knew led towards one of the many cabin sections. Dried blood was always much darker than you expected but under the dull red light it was black. Gordon was rather used to wounds caused by laser weaponry which often self-cauterised. Combat with modern weaponry was often rather bloodless but not here. The figures had been taken to pieces and by something larger than a knife. Some were worse than others but they all had been ripped open, their contents spilled on the ground like some grizzly piñata.

He felt nauseous and could feel the acid-taste of the whiskey rising in his throat. Mary and Ben were crouched next to it, a tightened grip on their guns the only evidence of heightened nerves. The Captain was shaken. She had to be worrying about the team. She took pride in getting in and out efficiently with everyone intact. No one had ever been lost in the years Gordon worked with her, injured yes but no one had died. As for the good doctor? He was already running a cotton swab through the dried blood, whistling silently.

"Pirates" Ashley said eventually "It's obvious from what's left of their armour, they could still have been guests but, uhh, I think we can say that's unlikely. Whatever did this was..." she stumbled, lost for words and nobody offered to finish her sentence. Only the doctor filled the silence with the noise of his calm investigations. Ash started again "What could do this?"

"Claws, yes?" said the doctor "If you look at the way this man's ribs have been snapped, would have to be very large and strange shaped blade!" he nodded to himself "Yes, Claws"

"Claws?" Mary said sceptically "We have seen the plans. There is no Zoo on board unless it's in the restricted zone. No way a fucking animal did this. What are you claiming? A Tiger? A Bear?"

Borys shook his head "No, Too small."

"What the fuck has bigger claws than a bear?" she said, the tiniest hint of irritation suggesting that even the normally unflappable Queen was starting to feel the pressure.

"Don't know" said Borys "Let's hope we not find out" he stood up and brushed himself down and looked towards Gordon with a smile and wordlessly mouthed "remember, run"

"Where to now then Captain?" asked Ben trying to disguise his nerves with a cheeky smile "Engineering? The -Forbidden Zone--" he said with his arms spread wide like he was announcing a mystery "Personally, I like the look of the Nebula Bar, gotta have something better than the swill the Doc drinks"

Normally the Captain would have shot him down, told him to keep his focus but she hesitated. For a moment Gordon caught her glancing back towards the departure lobby. She had to be considering leaving. After a few moment a look of determination came over her face and she shook her head "None of the above, especially your last suggestion small bean. We are heading towards security. The Cameras should be able to access footage that has not been archived yet without the computer. There is too much money involved to back out now but we need to know what we are facing. Gordon, mark each of entrances with a motion sensor while we get the security door into the forward staff section opened. Computers are down, so even with the security codes it's going to take a while"

Gordon was about to speak up but she continued "Ben, stay with him. Mary, Take Doc back to the ship. See what you can find with a quick genetic sequencing. Don't be more than fifteen minutes"

Gordon spoke up "Captain, you can't mean to go alone. If you just wait a little we-"

Her tone was harsh, unfairly so "I can look after my fucking self Reset, besides, I am just going to be at the far end of the plaza. The faster you fuckers can get your work done, the less time I'll be alone, right?"

"Right!" replied Borys "Captain can look after herself, Borys go back to ship. Sound good to me"

She gave him a flat look "If you stay in the ship Borys. For example, let's say you fall into a drunken stupor, I promise you, when I am finished, you will envy these poor bastards ripped to pieces on the floor"

"As you say Captain" he said calmly "Sequence and come back, Yes"

Borys moved off towards the Shadow before Ash could respond. Mary gave her a slightly flat look "I will keep him out of trouble"

Ash didn't respond to that either, just gave a slight nod and turned her head to Gordon and Ben "Right. Get a fucking move on you two and if you see a...a...bear. Shoot the fuck out of it"

Ben gave her a cheeky grin and a half-hearted salute. She moved towards the security door barely hiding the irritation from her face "So" said Ben as Gordon pulled a half dozen transmitters from his bag "What do you reckon did this? Wasn't an animal, I'll tell you that much"

Gordon gave him a slightly flat look not particularly wanting to engage in whatever fantasies Ben was likely constructing. He tried not to look down and instead focused on configuring the first sensor so he could get away from this awful scene. The sensor activated and he quickly started to shuffle towards the next entrance. Once every opening was tagged they should get a notification if anyone passed in or out of the plaza. Ben gave him a small grin and opened his mouth, no doubt to ask his question again but Gordon pre-empted him. "I don't know Ben, I don't want to know. I mean fuck. I have never seen anything like that before in my life"

Ben shrugged slightly and played his fingers across his gun "I've never seen anything like it either, makes you think doesn't it? Might be something new? Maybe the ship made first contact?"

Gordon gave him a scornful look "Yeah, Humanity discovered aliens for the first time on the Cosmic Odyssey. The Wiki's will wax Lyrical about our little team"

"Well, maybe not aliens but it could be an illegal experiment, some poor creature stuffed with growth hormones and radiation." He scanned his gun across the plaza "It's kind of exciting don't you think? Like some old time hunter traipsing through the jungle, no idea what he is going to face" he grinned, his feature taking on a cold, sinister look granted by the cold, red light "I could be the first to bag whatever it is, that would earn me my Wiki"

Gordon sniggered nervously as he placed the second sensor. There were 5 other doors to cover before he could re-join the Captain. This would take some time "This is a black operation Ben, nobody is earning their place in history here"

Ben continued to talk, mostly nonsense as Gordon continued to place his sensors. It became more and more apparent as they moved that Ben's machismo was to cover his own nerves. This place was getting to everyone, well, everyone perhaps with the exception of the doctor.

When Ben reached the final door he found Ashly, thankfully unharmed. She had a small digital tablet hooked up to the door, a loading bar slowly moving across the screen. Starliners had provided them with all the security codes they needed, including the secret security codes that would give access to the decks of sin and debauchery which lay somewhere below. Unfortunately, the codes were designed to be processed by a quantum computer and both of those were offline. What should have been near instantaneous was instead taking their tablets sometime to process. There was no hacking going on here, they were simply authenticating a genuine code on hardware that was having to emulate a far more complex architecture.

"How long?" asked Gordon, glancing back towards the departure lobby entrance. No sign of the Doctor yet.

"Hard to say" replied the Captain tensely "but probably around five or six minutes. The estimated time keeps jumping about but usually it settles down to that"

Gordon nodded. Sounded about right. Ten to twenty minutes for their tablet to compare the encryption using simulated qubits. It was a big ask for a conventional processor and especially one housed within a mobile device "Have you heard from Borys?"

"Yes. He sent a message to say he is rerunning the tests. They were inconclusive apparently. He should not be much longer. Told him to only send transmissions in emergencies, we want to avoid sending out any signals that might give away our location."

Ben and Gordon both nodded and the group sat in nervous silence as the tablets progress bar slowly filled. Echoed footsteps announced Borys imminent arrival just as the process neared completion. Gordon shivered. The ships smooth metal-ceramic bulkheads made stealth almost impossible.

Ben looked unusually thoughtful as they waited for the doctor "So, don't you think the Security room will be occupied? It would seem like an important place to control. I would have it manned at all times if I was trying to capture the ship"

Gordon shook his head "It depends on the computer systems. With the computers down none of the Cameras will be functioning"

"...Then what the fuck are we going there for?" he replied

"Because numbnuts" said the Captain "The security room will have all of the recent footage stored locally. We should be able to access it by hooking up one of the tablets, additionally, as the footage will have stopped when the computer went down it will give us a pretty good idea when they lost the computer core"

Ben considered that for a second and just nodded. The laptop beeped softly. The doors slid open and Borys appeared at the top of the stair "Ah good timing, yes?"

Ash gave him a slightly flat look "Did the second analysis clear anything up"

He paused, raised a finger in the universal sign of 'one moment' and downed a deep swig of whiskey "It did yes, and no, it did not"

"What the fuck does that mean?" barked Ben

"Ah, well, first analysis showed significant traces of Canis Lupus or European Grey Wolf" he paused "But, Injuries sustained were, well, probably not wolf, Yes?" he paused as if expecting a response but just shrugged and continued "So thought, hmm, must be more here. Ran again and this time, still wolf but sequencer say not exact match, perhaps related species, perhaps a generic modification. Shadow not have best lab."

"For real?" said Ben "Godammned genetically modified super wolves?" He stood up straight from where he had been leaning against the wall "Bet you ten minutes with that roided up ass of yours Queen that I net one before you do"

"What the fuck is wrong with you Ben" snapped Ashley "Can you try and stay professional"

Mary smiled slightly and moved up towards Ben, towering above him by at least half a foot "Its fine Captain. He is scared and the only thing a sad little man knows how to do when he is scared is make jokes and spill testosterone."

Ben took a half step back despite himself. Mary was intimidating when she wanted to be there was no doubt about that. The corner of his mouth twitched as if trying to force his face into a cheeky smile. He clearly wanted to give a clever come back to regain momentum but in the end he stood down "...Just a joke Queen, don't need to take everything so damn seriously"

Ash shook her head and pushed past him into the corridor "Come on, enough of this. I know it's hard but try and minimise your noise. Let's get to the security room without trouble and look for some evidence of Borys 'super wolves'"

"Not my words, Yes? Super-wolf is most unscientific term"

No one replied to him.

The staff corridors were a stark contrast to the open areas designed for guests. The narrow spaces, barely wide enough for 2 to walk abreast seemed squashed, almost like the guest areas had themselves forced them aside. They were different in other ways too. The walls were unpainted, an industrial sheen of ceramic aluminium reflecting the stingy handful of emergency lights that had been miserly spaced across the mesh ceiling.

The request for stealth was quickly abandoned as their movements echoed even worse in the confined space. Despite the fact that the walkways consisted of straight corridors, clean junctions and regular doorways, the area almost felt more imposing. Perhaps it was the limited space to run or perhaps it was the bare crimson twilight only made worse by the figures marching solemnly ahead, blocking much of the scant light casting him into darkness. If someone crouched down small in the corridor, Gordon wasn't sure he would actually be able to see them.

The group walked in silence. Even Borys said nothing and yet their footsteps seemed to echo and distort forming into alien sounds that might as well have been holding their own conversations. Gordon tried to ignore the cold sweat slowly forming on his brow and hoped for additional effect from the Doc's 'Medicine'. It should be making its way to his blood-brain barrier about now. He bit his lip slightly. Who was he kidding? Twenty five cl wasn't going to do anything. He wasn't a hard drinker by any means but neither was he a stranger to the stuff and had eaten heartily this morning.

A few times during the journey the group made a short pause while Mary and the Doc examined a few isolated splatters of blood or the occasional laser burn. Evidence of battle was etched on the walls like some ancient tapestry but in the darkness Gordon had no doubt they were missing more than they found.

The corridor opened into a slightly wider space, though, it kept the same stark aesthetic. Ashley moved up and hooked her tablet to the door "Same story I'm afraid. Gonna be a while to authenticate our code" she tilted her head left "Ben, Scout left, Mary Right. I want no surprises"

The pair nodded and moved past as Borys leant against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the ground. He raised his hipflask high and gulped down several mouthfuls. "We are going home yes?"

Gordon blinked and glanced towards him. It had taken a while but there was a barely noticeable slur to his voice. Borys had a frankly superhuman ability to hold his booze but he wasn't immortal, it was starting to catch up.

"What are you talking about Borys?" Asked Ashley, a slightly tired tone to her voice.

Borys looked around "We are six. Ship is eighteen hundred square meters. Four hundred staff." He tilted his head "We came to repair and rescue but look at situation. Whatever is happening here...you would have to be crazy drunk to involve self" he grinned slightly and raised his bottle taking down another draft.

Gordon felt uncomfortable. Part of him agreed with Borys assessment. Okay, more than part but he knew that the contract with Starliners was lucrative. They hadn't actually faced any threats directly yet. They did not really know what they were facing and until they did, it was impossible to say that their mission was truly impossible and yet, everything they had encountered so far suggested the situation was dire. Ashley usually didn't take chances with her life or others but there was a lot of money on the table. The fuel needed for the four light year round trip had meant they already had significant sunk costs, there was no way that could not be affecting her judgement.

"We don't fucking know that Borys. Maybe the staff are taking shelter somewhere. Maybe whatever was responsible was defeated." Her heart wasn't entirely behind her words, it did not quite have the same force it normally did. Twenty percent. This time it was going faster, the tablet was probably able to reuse some of the data from the previous door.

Boris shrugged and pulled a pill bottle from his bag, tipped a handful of salted peanuts from it and dropped them into his mouth. He crunched as he spoke "I think we know. Why offer so many credits for such small team? Odyssey has...reputation" he grined slightly, peanut spittle flying from mouth "No one wants drunk Doctor, no one wants to help slaveship. We only fools that would take job, yes?"

"Ah fuck, Borys. You know I don't approve of that but sometimes Mercs have to get their hands dirty. You know things have been difficult, we couldn't refuse this contract"

Borys nodded sliding his pill bottle back into his bag "Doctor with dirty hands is like angel of death. Kills even as he heals"

Noone had a response to that, instead, Gordon just sat, studying his tablet. He almost felt like the second he looked away all the proximity sensors would go off at once. They sat in silence as the tablet continued its task, except, it wasn't really silence. He wasn't sure how far away Mary and Ben had gone but he could still hear twisted, maddening sounds echoing down the tiny corridors from the fathoms of the ship. He was sure it was them, in this place sound travelled far and distorted until you could barely guess at its original source. It was just awful and when the security door slid open, the surge of relief almost brought tears to his eyes.

The security room was pitch black with only a hint of dull red glow making its way in from the corridor outside. Ashley frowned and raised her torch, efficiently training it across the room to search for any unexpected guests. She needn't have bothered. The air that drifted out was stale with a metallic edge that suggested the environmental controls were not properly supplying the space. She moved with purpose and gestured the others to follow as she placed her rucksack onto one of the heavy leather chairs.

The security room looked really as you might have expected with a trio of heavy leather chairs standing sentinel before several dozen panels. The Doc quickly made himself at home, almost throwing himself into one of the big seats. "Hmm, you are right captain. Coming here good idea, yes? Even a miserly company like this spend money on security chairs. Not want to make someone carrying a gun sit in a bad chair for ten hours" he gave a small laugh and spun the chair slightly "Perhaps stay here. Perhaps close door and wait for Starliners next rescue crew?"

The Captain gave him a flat look but didn't respond, instead, she peered out the door looking up and down the corridor. She had to be wondering what was taking Mary and Ben so long. "Can you do something about the lights Gordon?"

Gordon nodded lightly and sat his pack down on the ground. He slid an electric lamp from the side and twisted the top, placing it on the ground. The room was flooded with a searing yellow-white light as he began to dig into his pack for a plasma battery "I'll try and get the lights and the local storage online. Shouldn't be too hard"

The Captain glanced out the door again "How often does the ship change its public key. Can you remember?"

Gordon thought for a moment "It's on a two hourly cycle, though, I couldn't say when it is going to happen"

The Captain paused and nodded "If we have to close the door we will but I don't want to confuse the others. Try and work fast"

Once the tablets had opened a door once the device could just store the results of the calculation and use it next time they hooked it up to the same entrance. Problem was, the result would be invalidated when the ship cycled its keys. It was only a matter of time until the authentication would need to be repeated.

There was an almost imperceptible buzz and some of the security room's lights came to life. Gordon smiled slightly and disabled his lamp. How long had he been on the ship? An hour? Maybe less and yet he was already glad to get a break from the oppressive red glow of the emergency lights. The captain seemed to frown and Gordon knew what she was thinking. The bright lights were a security risk and the glow from the room penetrating into the grim red corridor would attract the attention of anyone so much as even glancing this way and yet, he thought she might be glad of it as well. She said nothing, instead gesturing at the monitors as she stood sentinel at the door.

Gordon started work on connecting up power to the security system. Most of these devices had been designed to accept power from an external source but these systems had a lot of interdependent components. You had to make sure to hook up everything required and if you caused anything to boot while subsystems were unpowered then that would require restarting those systems. That wouldn't be so bad, but there was almost no feedback about whether something wasn't working because it required another system to be powered, or if it was because it had been booted in the wrong order.

"Drone one and two taking awful long time, yes?" said the doctor swigging from a bottle. Gordon frowned slightly, he had not heard the sound of liquid...was that empty?

"If it was bad" Ash started "They would have contacted us and if they were dead then their emergency systems would have sent us an automated message. Whatever the fuck they are up to I am confident they are doing their jobs"

Gordon frowned slightly as he make the last connection and nothing happened "That should be it, I..." he blinked a few times as he saw a warning symbol light up on the battery causing him to quickly scramble to unhook it "Fuck, the circuits being overloaded. It's not that it doesn't have power, someone has sabotaged it by flooding power through it from somewhere" He quickly pulled out a multimeter and began to measure the charge running through various incoming camera lines.

"It's coming from somewhere outside this room. Its being sent down one of the external camera lines. If I disconnect the camera bringing in the charge it should be okay. Wait, give me a...there"

The red emergency lights came to life causing little impact to the white panel lights powered from his battery. A series of green lights appeared across various monitors and control panels, though, nothing was displayed. He sighed and started to unhook his plasma battery from the security system. It had never been a power issue. He paused for a second and left the connection to the lights.

It took him a few minutes to get the system booted up but soon the control panels came to life and he was able to start browsing through the options. He whistled and spoke, mostly to himself "Nine thousand, four hundred, of nine thousand, four hundred cameras offline. That's more cameras than in Piccadilly Circus"

The Captain glanced back "When was the most recent recordings?"

Gordon hit a few buttons and frowned "Just over three weeks ago. They have been dark for a while and it looks like we have, hmm...three days' worth of recordings. Almost ten thousand cameras, that's almost seventy five thousand hours of footage. Normally we could ask the search AI to find things of interest but...well, no computer"

The captain growled slightly and then shifted "Hang on, someone's coming. I think its Mary"

The doc put away his flask and straightened up "Is okay?"

The captain nodded "Yeah, It's definitely Mary and she looks fine I think"

Gordon released a breath he didn't realise he was holding as Mary rounded the door "Small bean still away?" she asked. Ash nodded "I scouted pretty far, I didn't see anyone, though, I did come across a couple of damaged security doors. Something hit them hard. Warped them pretty bad. Never seen anything like it. One had been buckled open but I think it must have been open already when damaged" she paused slightly and slung her rifle over her back as she cracked her knuckles, a nervous motion. "There is a restaurant down there. More blood, more bodies but this time not pirates. Looked like guests or staff. Place was a mess. The tables were bolted to the floor but many had been ripped up. Not everyone died in that room. Too much mess. Too much blood. Not enough bodies"

Ashley made an irritated noise "What does that mean, what the fuck is out there"

Mary shrugged "I don't know but we need to move carefully. Have any of the proximity sensors been triggered?"

Gordon shook his head starting to bring up the last few hours of security footage, flicking and fast forwarding through camera after camera "No. nothing, it's like we are alone in here"

Mary frowned slightly "Perhaps, but I'd stop thinking like that right now. Fear will keep you alive, keep you sharp. Act as if one of the docs fucking super-wolves is just around the corner and you might just make it out"

"Ah" offered the Doctor "Perhaps not. Many study have shown that when animal brain take over humans make bad decisions. Best numb foolish animal brain with correctly distilled rye"

Gordon almost jumped out his chair as a dark shadow unexpectedly moved past the camera. He shook his head and took a deep breath rewinding the tape slightly "I...I think I've found something" he said. The group moved to stand around the monitor. It was showing an image of one of the staff corridors. Unfortunately at the time of recording the main lights had already failed and the image was mostly a dark, murky red mess. Had the Odyssey invested in more expensive cameras they would have been able to compensate but it seemed even here, Starliners had chosen the cheap option.

The dark shadow again flitted past the camera. Gordon thought it was a figure but the angle wasn't great, most of the figure was not in the cameras focus. It stopped and seemed to be doing...something. From this angle it was impossible to tell what but you could tell it was frenzied and frightened. Whatever it was trying to do, it wasn't working.

"You said there were a lot of cameras" said Ash "Is there not one with a better angle?"

Gordon blinked "Ah damn. Yeah...hang on. Let me copy the timestamp aaand there"

The camera view shifted. This time it was pointing right at the mysterious figure. It was definitely human and despite the poor lighting, seemed to be one of the pirates, at least going by his clothing. It was clear he was scared and was desperately hammering at the security panel of one of the staff doors but with the computers down it was never going to work. It didn't seem to stop him though, he continued hammering at the door.

"Well" said the Doc "That is disconcerting, yes? Maybe we should go while security code still work? Not want to be this guy"

Ashley looked over at him and frowned but the monitor quickly caught her attention again. The pirate had stopped and had begun to back up away from the door. Even in the darkness you could see he was shaking because it took him three attempts to draw his laser pistol.

"Pistol" said Borys contemptuously "Would not want face whatever that is with just pistol" Gordons eyes quickly drifted to the weapon hanging loosely from his side.

The pirate got three shots off from his weapon before a huge dark shape completely blocked the view from the camera colliding heavily with the unfortunate victim. Whatever it was, it had to be at least half again as tall as the pirate. Wide too. In the dull red light its outline seemed...fuzzy. It seemed to shift and phase in a most peculiar way. It stood, muscles clearly visible as it turned.

The room had been quiet but as the figure turned they could all clearly see the creatures' heavy lupine face, its vicious, intelligent eyes and its enormous scythe-like claws. It almost seemed like it was staring at them through the camera. After a few moments it moved off, leaving only the still, unmoving image of the pirate lying in the corridor.

A few moments later Ashley broke the silence "Was...was that a fucking werewolf?"

_ _

The Doc took a swig from a fresh bottle and gave a small laugh "What? Don't be ridiculous, No such thing. Is clearly Wolfman"

Ashley looked at him "That's the same fucking thing"

Borys shook his head "No full moon, no transforming. Clearly biogenetic specimen. Was made or altered. It always look like that, yes?"

Gordon groaned "That's no better. We can't fight that. Captain, I think we should go"

"Go?" Came a tone with mocking surprise "But the party has just started!"

Everyone looked around to see Ben standing at the doorway, his face split with a self-satisfied grin and his arm wrapped around the form of a naked woman.

Everyone stared in surprise, mouths slightly agape in shock. The naked figure accompanying Ben seemed to be some kind of human-dog hybrid. The lovely anthropomorphic creature was covered in soft, golden fur that covered every part of her form with the exception of her thick, swollen nipples. Her long strawberry-blonde hair tumbled down her back flowing around a pair of large floppy ears that shifted and twitched with every movement. The girl was a knockout with wide, child bearing hips and an impressive pair of breasts that could not have been much smaller than her head.

Her tongue lolled from a short muzzle that sat below a pair of needy eyes as one paw like hand kneaded at her sex while the other seemed to grip at Ben's shirt.

"I think she must be a sex robot or something" grinned Ben "Found her wandering in one of the admin offices. Whatever she is. She seriously fucking needs it. You ever seen someone so horny? Robot or not?"

"You fucking pig" came Mary's stern voice "How about you put your dick away and we try and help her? She is clearly fucked up or high on something"

At the word dick the unknown dog moaned and shifted against the solider, pushing her fingers deeper into her slit "Hmm" she mewled "P...please fuck me, I've been a bad bitch" she looked across the group, saliva dripping from her mouth "p...please do anything you want to this worthless bitch... please"

Ben grinned slightly "She keeps coming out with stuff like that too. I mean, whoever programmed her. Serious perv right? Though, I approve of his style"

"Fuck you Ben" said Mary, moving and pulling the creature away from him. He didn't try and stop her and the dog immediately pushed up against Mary and began to nuzzle at her chest, licking her armour "Ugh...Its okay honey, whoever did this to you isn't here now. What's your name?"

She shivered slightly, tongue playing across her lips as a mixture of fear and arousal flitted across her eyes "B...Bitch." She said "my name"

Mary growled "I am not going to call you that, how about I call you Goldie huh? I used to have a dog that looked a bit like you, that was her name"

The girl shivered and shook her head "N...No. please, I don't deserve kindness" she mewled slightly and pushed in even closer "Please punish Bitch. She is a bad dog"

Mary threw up her arms "What the fuck is even happening here, is this for real? Doc, can you do something?"

Borys, unflappable as ever seemed unaffected by Bitch's dubious charms and moved up, medical bag in tow. He took out a medical scanner and held it towards her "Dog, please put hand on sensor"

"Don't call her dog!" barked Mary rubbing her head with a frown

Bitch juddered, panting and drooling as she obeyed and placed her hand on the small metal plate at the end of the scanner. Borys looked at the screen "Elevated heart Rate, increased concentrations of oxygen, endorphins and testosterone. One twenty percent electrical activity and temperature of thirty eight point four degrees." He tilted his head "Not a robot"

Ben's eyes widened "What? Look at her. How the fuck can she not be a robot?"

"Well" replied Borys "I'd need to do sequencing in ship to be sure but I suspect she is laboratory creation, though, I have never seen technology capable of this yes?" he frowned slightly, an unusual sight on Borys.

Bitch had started to grasp the scanner tightly and seemed to be trying to pull it gently towards her mouth. She was openly masturbating and a number of the team were clearly having trouble concentrating. The dog was an exaggerated sexual being, some monsters cruel play toy and from the scent of her sex to the wet, needy moans emanating from her mouth it was an assault on every sense.

Ashley broke the silence with a question "Were you born this way ...Bitch?"

She mewled and squeezed tightly into Mary "...Deserve to be this way"

Ashley frowned, her brow furrowing slightly with anger "What do you mean"

She didn't answer, instead she just released an aroused moan as her hips started to buck and she began to slide down onto her knees.

Mary's expression got angrier as Bens leer got more intense "Help her Borys, there must be something in your bag of tricks"

The doctor nodded and pulled a small, thin tube from his bag like a hypodermic without a needle. He quickly placed it against her shoulder and there was a barely perceptible burst of air. It took a few seconds but Bitch's movements began to slow and her tongue lolled more "B...Bitch" she moaned "Feels...Ahh" she tried to focus on Mary "Tired"

Her hand fell from her slit and she leant back against Mary's legs, her eyes unfocusing further. Borys smiled at Mary "Just muscle reluctant and analgesic. Will be fine, yes?" he moved a finger slowly around her eyes and watched as her pupils slowly followed "There...Now Ask Questions"

Mary paused, gave him a hard look and then reached down. She took a careful hold of the dog morph and lifted her gently into one of the chairs. She didn't resist and curled up slightly, snuggling into the thick black leather "Who did this to you"

Bitch seemed to have a little trouble focusing before groaning slightly. Her voice was slightly sprained as she replied "O...one of the others. Don't know which one...Doesn't matter. Bitch deserved it"

Mary crouched down and took hold of her hand, squeezing it slightly "Deserved what, what did you do and what do you mean by others?"

Bitch shifted slightly, almost like she was struggling in Mary's grip but she made no attempt to get loose. If anything. her movements were erratic like someone recalling a nightmare, someone in the midst of disturbed sleep "B...Bitch tried to stop them. Was bad thing to do. B...Bad dog. Others gave me what...deserved" she moaned slightly "Such a bad dog"

"Stop them from what" urged Mary "What did you try and stop them from"

"Such a bad dog" she replied sleepily "and they don't know it all...If they knew...they would punish Bitch even worse"

Mary urged harder "What did you do" The dog didn't reply she seemed to be slowly losing consciousness as the drugs took hold "Bitch what did you do!"

She seemed to be shaken momentarily by her name "Ah...They would be so angry...mustn't tell them about the data disks but...but if they knew they would...ah" she moaned slightly shifting "The punishment would be...hmm...Bitch wants to be punished...maybe she...should...tell"

"What Data disks?" Mary said in a low, almost angry tone "What data disks Bitch"

Bitch hardly moved, she had already started to snore lightly, a noise that was disgustingly cute coming from this heaving pile of sexual energy. For a moment it seemed like she wasn't going to say anything but then, almost under her breath "G...Galaxy Kitchen...K...K" she yawned long and loud, almost causing Mary to scream but eventually she finished "Kettle"

Ashley broke the moment of silence that followed "Which ones Galaxy. There are a fucking dozen restaurants on this ship"

"You can't be serious" burst in Gordon "Did you see that thing? We need to get out of here"

"What thing?" asked Ben "was it on the tape? I wanna see"

"Look at what those fuckers did to her" Mary said pointing at Bitch "No way we are just leaving. Someone has got to pay for this"

Gordon raised his hands "I'm not saying someone doesn't deserve to pay but there are only five of us. There were dozens of the damn pirates. I don't wanna get ripped apart by some wolf"

"Genetic Monstrosity?" offered Borys

"We watch our back" said Ashley "Work our way to the Restaurant. Get the tape and go. Starliners will pay something for it I am sure, cause if they don't. I am going to fucking blackmail the shit out of them. Someone is going to pay for this but...the best we can do for now is hurt them financially" she frowned slightly "They knew there was shady shit going on here. They actively advertised it"

"But Captain" started Mary

"...I'm sorry Mary. I agree there is something seriously fucked up going on here but Gordon is right. We can't fight those things. Hopefully there aren't many of them, maybe there is only one. We haven't heard or seen anything so far. It's a risk but so is everything we do. We get the disks and then we get the fuck out, understand?"

Mary hesitated and nodded biting her lip so hard a thin rivulet of blood began to run down her face.

"Now...that said. Does anyone know the way? I think its four decks up from here but that might be the Nebula Café"

Gordon paused, part of him wanting to lie but he respected the captain too much not to be honest "No...you're right, that's the Galaxy Grill, though, I'm not sure how we get to it from here.

Ashley nodded "We will work that out. We've got maps" she looked over towards Bitch and made an irritated noise "I don't know what to do with her, if the situation wasn't so dire id have someone take her back to the ship but no one goes alone"

"I'll carry her" offered Ben

"I'm sure you fucking would Small Bean" growled Mary, anger flickering in her eyes.

"Don't be so fucking stupid" replied Ashley "I need you to be able to aim your damn rifle or your no use to me. We will need to leave her here, I hate it but we have no choice"

The group took one last look at Bitch as Gordon unhooked his battery and the lights gave way to the dreaded glow of the now functional security lights. They moved off quietly, or they would have if it wasn't for Ben asking "So, come on, tell me about the wolves, what size of mounting board do I need for their heads?"

Gordons mind span as they moved along the narrow staff corridor. Movement was slow as Ashley was taking no chances and even a fast walk dramatically increased the awful echoed noise. At all times at least one of the two soldiers was roaming deep ahead scouting for potential problems. They would get perhaps a hundred meters or so and have to stop while they waited on a report back. His mind kept going back to Bitch. He had heard of such morphs before. They were popular in the darker corners of the galaxy but the technology was both unreliable and illegal. He was also not convinced she was a creation of simple genetic modification. Although he had never seen one in person, he had seen pictures, and it was never that perfect. In addition, while such treatments could cause brain damage and almost inevitably caused hormonal imbalances they could not cause anything like the personality modification that seemed to be on display.

He shivered slightly as Ben returned to report that the elevator up ahead was offline. There should be stairs in the passenger walkways ahead but that meant decoding another door. Additionally, he could not work out whether he found the idea of the passenger walkways worse than the staff ones. It was true that the public areas had better lighting, were roomier with high quality air circulation but they also had more shadows, more places to hide and more exits to watch at any given point.

Ashley frowned and held her tablet out to Ben "Do you know how to use the tablet to authenticate the security codes"

The solider accepted it and nodded "Yeah I do, I just need to know what the actual codes are"

"They are saved in a document called Starliner codes. It's on the desktop, our standard documentation layout"

Ben nodded and moved away, merging into the red stained darkness

"Right. I have a task for you" she said looking at Gordon "This elevator leads up towards the Galaxy Grill. I want the elevator powered and ready to go"

Gordon frowned slightly "The elevators have an extensive self-check they run before they can be used. Without the computers it could take some time to become operational"

Ashley nodded "I know that. We are taking the public walkways." She gave a small smile at Gordon's confusion "It's simple. First thing we are going to do when we get to Galaxy Grill is start generating the code for the Staff door there. With luck, it will be finished by the time we are ready to leave and we can take the elevator back." She paused slightly and frowned "I know how wrong this could all go. The less time we spend on the Odyssey the better and the less time out in the open even more so."

Gordon nodded. It made sense. It was a good plan though there was one issue "With the computers down one of us will need to leave our tablet behind to process the self-checks."

The captain nodded with a slight grimace "I know. Use Borys. He only uses it to look at Porn anyway"

Borys frowned slightly. He had been quiet for a while "That is most untrue Captain, I use to look at art, yes?"

She held her arm out and Borys shrugged and passed it over "I suggest folder titled 'Tanya', Breasts like ripe melon and skin colour of melted chocolate. I think even you would enjoy, yes?"

The captain gave him a disgusted look and pushed the tablet into Gordon's grasp, forcing him to react quickly as it almost fell to the ground "We are on borrowed time Reset, I want that self-check started before the door opens"

By the time Gordon arrived Ben already had the tablet hooked up and was looking bored "Is this what it means to be an engineer Gordon? Just sitting watching bars fill up slowly?"

Gordon paused "Yes...well, Computer engineers at least and, well, with modern automation, interacting with panels even for faults is most of the job"

Ben sniffed and poked at the tablet as if it would speed it up "11 minutes left...estimated"

Gordon nodded and got to work. 11 minutes should be more than enough. Most of this task would be once again waiting for a bar to fill up and they would be leaving the tablet to do that without them. He got out a plasma battery and hooked it up to the elevator to provide an alternate power supply. The elevator in many ways was much simpler than the security system and the hook-ups were much easier, though, he quickly found one battery wasn't enough and had to connect a second.

Slowly the indicator at the top of the elevator flickered to life. Instead of a deck number it simply said "INIT" highlighted by a gentle orange glow.

Gordon knew it would sit initialising forever without the Doc's tablet. He quickly connected it and opened his Virtualcore server. This would allow the connected system to execute remote code on the tablet allowing it to take the place temporarily of the ships computer. A notification appeared on his screen "The connected system is requesting permission to execute remote code" he went to click yes when he noticed the folder titled Tanya...he spent a moment wondering if it was an elaborate prank by Borys. Would the folder be empty? Maybe full of dickpics? Perhaps it really was picture after picture of the chocolate skinned beauty.

"Gordon, how long?" came Ashley's voice as the security door slid open.

"Just finished" Captain he said as he tapped yes and placed the tablet atop one of the plasma batteries. Some secrets it would seem were not meant to be known.

The group moved through the staff door into the alabaster room ahead. The area was just a lobby for the elevators, though, Gordon could see what seemed to be a Casino behind them. The public elevators were just as offline as the staff ones but unlike the narrow staff corridor a door led from the lobby to a set of stairs.

There were a lot more emergency lights in the public areas yet they were still the same soul-sapping ruby hue. Ashley barked out a few quick orders and Ben disappeared into the stairwell while Mary investigated the Casino. The Doc and Gordon waited with the Captain for them to return.

Mary returned first "Place is empty but it's a mess. No bodies, blood in a few places but less than I would expect given the claw marks on some of the tables" Mary had put her mask back on; the very image of a professional, though, like murky water, the ripples were there showing something lurked beneath.

Ben returned a short while later "Checked six floors up, nothing. We should move now while it's safe"

Ashley just nodded and pushed past him opening the door. The stairs were narrow compared to most public areas. It was expected that basically no one would use them but there were always a few people who refused to use an elevator and so they were required.

Four floors did not sound so bad but the stairwell was not well lit and Gordon could not ignore how each step sent noises echoing deep into the ship. The stairs, much like the elevators, traversed most decks and as a result making noise here felt extremely dangerous. Gordon tried to ignore the little voice in his head ranting about how bad an idea this was and instead tried to focus on the fact they would be getting the elevator back, thank god for Ash's Foresight.

Climbing the stairs was surprisingly tiring and even the two soldiers were breathing a little deeply when they reached the landing door. Gordon wiped sweat from his forehead and quickly checked his tablet. Sure enough the oxygen levels were at eighty five percent of normal. He looked up taking a deep breath to try and remove the sound of exertion from his voice "Oxygen is a little thinner here. I think maybe it always was. I didn't see the original atmosphere analysis"

The Captain shrugged "You're right. Oxygen was a little low in the analysis but still quite breathable. Didn't think you needed to know, would just make you worry." She pointed lightly at the door "Anyway, The Grill is just ahead, let's get a move on and then get the fuck out"

Ben and Mary moved first, pushing through the stairwell and into the lobby. The rest followed not far behind and soon found themselves in an open plaza somewhat reminiscent of the entrance levels. This place didn't span multiple decks however and seemed to be a collection of restaurants, bars and coffee shops. Each one seemed to be expressing some gimmick, each designed in some weird shape, scattered in carefull chaos throughout the deck.

Ashley pointed at Cosmic Coffee. A relatively small shop that was really just a fancy stall with stools around the kiosk at the side of the plaza walkway. "The staff door is in the coffee shop kitchen. Can you go set up your own tablet authorising the security code and then come meet us in the Grill" she glanced at Ben "You stay with him Ben."

Gordon and Ben nodded and moved off into the Café. Gordon didn't like the group splitting up but it would take only a few minutes to connect the tablet to the door and start the authentication process, though, this did mean leaving another tablet behind. He felt a moment of anxiety at the idea of being unable to check the proximity sensors. Still, he was sure the Captain would keep an eye on them using her own.

The café still smelled of ground coffee beans although there was a somewhat stale, slightly unpleasant edge to it. The kitchen behind the counter was tiny and the security door was tucked right at the back next to a tall fridge.

Gordon quickly hooked his tablet up and entered the code. "Right...This will probably be finished by the time we get back. Let's go meet the captain"

The Galaxy Grill was a lot fancier than Gordon had expected. The Décor was over the top, almost like some kind of gaudy arcade with starscapes and giant plastic planets everywhere. It seemed like it should be tacky and yet it sort of worked in a retro kind of way. The Grill itself consisted of a large square hotplate with tables and chairs around it. You would be able to watch your chef cook your food as you waited. It was a gourmet touch that absolutely did not match the decorations. Ah well, he was not here to Eat.

The Captain was inside the grill area holding what looked like a small data pen extracted presumably from the kettle. A deep sense of unease settled down on Gordon as he watched her press it into her tablet. She looked up with an expression of absolute steel "Choose a table, I suspect this will take some time"

Ben and Borys immediately grabbed a seat as Mary and the Captain started to move "Shouldn't...shouldn't we watch this back on the ship?" asked Gordon hopefully

Ash shook her head "I need to know what we are up against. It's still going to take some time to get back. If the worst happens there might be something on here that gives us an edge."

Gordon sighed. He was not sure he agreed but it did not matter. He moved over and sat down at the table as Ash placed the tablet where they all could see it. She brought up the contents of the data tablet revealing a selection of video files.

A sound of escaping gas caused Gordon to flinch slightly "Beer, Yes?" asked Borys grinning, holding a bottle up he had opened against the side of the table. Where had he found those?

"Fuck yes, how many have you got?" asked Ben accepting a bottle.

"Hmm, Six? Enough for one each with a spare for me!"

There was a moment's hesitation before everyone accepted one. Gordon was a bit surprised at the Captain but then it had been several hours since they had left the ship and they were all tired from being on edge. Gordon caught Ashley's eyes for a second as she snapped her bottle open "Not a word" she said firmly

On the Captains tablet a man looked behind him and adjusted his heavy glasses. He was wearing a lab coat that had seen better days, stained in a variety of concerning colours.

The Captain looked up "Ill transmit to ear pieces. I don't want any more noise than strictly necessary"

"Thursday , 12th of April" the man began, speaking unevenly , hesitating here and there as if unconvinced of his actions "Just a contingency you understand?" he spoke like this was a diary, like he was arranging his thoughts on video "I...I am concerned, so are the others. Damn...I wish I'd started this last week during the pirate attack. I guess a summary of where we are would be the best place to start"

He adjusted the glasses again and everyone looked at each other, this was so strange but there was an edge to the man's voice, an underlying element of fear that seems to resonate with something primal.

"Right, uhm. The date is Thursday, 12thof April. My name is Willum Scott. I work in the Forbidden zone on the Cosmic Odyssey" he paused and frowned slightly "I...probably shouldn't say this but in case it becomes relevant the Forbidden zone consists of 3 partial deck areas reserved for illegal activities. Brothels, Slavers, Illegal weapon sales and forms of rather extreme gambling" he paused slightly "We also perform research here, mostly of a genetic nature. I work within the research labs. My work relates to genetic manipulation via stimulation using nano robotics"

Gordon's eyes widened "No way that was done by nanites, that's not possible"

The man pulled out a tissue and began to rub his forehead. He was sweating badly "I suppose that's not entirely impotent but our technology is decades, perhaps further beyond what is being used elsewhere. We mostly retain the technology on the ship as we refine it. If we let any of our subjects leave we claim they are simply the result of extremely high quality conventional techniques. People pay a lot of money to spend time with our exotic specimens, even more to buy one and" he frowned slightly "That's not important. I am getting distracted. I said the start"

"Pirates" he said getting everyone's attention "We were attacked by pirates. I don't know where they got the security codes but they penetrated deep into the ship before we even realised what was happening. They were angry too, I don't know what their goal was but they aren't stealing anything or taking hostages. They are killing people. Staff. Guests. Pretty much anyone who had the misfortune to stumble into them" He paused and adjusted his glasses again "We managed to lock down the Forbidden Zone. Gary managed to isolate the main doors and it looks like they don't have the codes for the staff doors...they didn't go home though. It's been three days now. They overloaded the security system somehow so we don't even know what they are doing but we can tell their ship is still docked. The others are convinced it's just a matter of time before they get in and we need to do something before that happens."

He looked behind him again and then looked back to the camera. His tone dropped significantly and he spoke quietly "We have been researching military applications of our nano technology but research is early and results so far have been...less than satisfactory. Instead of making a sexy cat girl or some slutty vulpine stripper we tried using more aggressive stock. Our primary research had been based around a wolf model" he adjusted the camera again so that he was closer to it, his voice dropping again "Our nano technology is managed by an AI. The process is impossibly complex to manually set up. We train a neural net on a desired outcome by feeding it images and general specifications. It will then produce a serum based on those inputs using a complex genetic algorithm. This seems to work fine when we are making play things; Variations on the input specification, damage to memories and personality rarely matter as long as the resultant subject can still perform their required tasks but soldiers?" he glanced for a moment behind him again "Variations on aggression, personality and memory damage are suddenly much more dangerous. We aren't talking about some needy slut but a walking, killing machine. The danger of it going out of control is too great." He wiped some sweat from his forehead "To make things worse we have trained it too long on making toys. The serum always causes a greatly heightened libido. To fix that we would need to reset the algorithm and start from the first generation again but that could take years"

He removed his glasses and started to clean them. His hair was greasy and the sweat was beginning to stain his shirt "We have only tested it a couple of times and in each case the subject exhibited extreme aggression, always tinged with a dangerous sexual need. The system was designed to make exotic fuck toys not Soldiers. In each case we were forced to retire the subjects using a discharge of lethal chemicals from a small implant we had installed prior to administration of the serum."

He looked to the camera "The whole reason I am recording this is that Jackson wants us to use the wolf serum against the pirates. He is convinced that the issues with the serum have been resolved and even if not we are men of breeding and intelligence. He is convinced part of the problem was the quality of the subjects we used for our testing. I think using the serum would be a terrible mistake, the problems cannot be fully resolved without starting from a fresh data set. If I have tom I will stop him and if I can't...I will record my thoughts so if the worst should happen, there will be a record of events" he paused, reached up and turned off the camera

"What the fuck" said Mary quietly "What kind of cruise ship is hiding a crazy advanced genetics lab, it doesn't make any sense"

Ashley shook her head grimly "It makes perfect sense. This kind of research is illegal because people fear how it could be misused. These ships are the perfect backdrops for illegal activity" she frowned sliding her finger across the tablet "I knew they abused animal-girls on this ship but I assumed it was very advanced body manipulation, injected dyes, grafted body parts and so on. I had no idea they could use nano technology to modify people"

Gordon frowned slightly "I can only guess as to how it might work but I suspect it is mostly being done at a chemical level. The nano technology is probably being used to control and target the serum, deliver custom proteins and enzymes at a cellular level. There are a few other ways you might do it but however you spin it, it sounds like science fiction"

Borys nodded taking a deep swig from his beer "Hmm" he wiped his dirty lab coat sleeve across his mouth "I agree, most likely way" he shook his head displaying a rare frown "Cell level genetic manipulation...the good such technology could do and they use to make brain-washed dog whores. Fuckers"

Ash couldn't disagree so said nothing. She sighed slightly and played the next video.

"There...wasn't the opportunity to stop him" said Willam pacing back and forth before the camera "He did it when most of us were sleeping. Some of the others have been impressed by his self-control but I can see the truth, he is holding off madness by the tiniest of margins. He is eager to get out and deal with the pirates. He claims that if we could feel what he felt we would be excited to try out our new strength but I can see his bloodlust"

He paused and turned to look at the Camera "I've been trying to convince the others of my wisdom but they are scared of him. Some are envious. I recognise that look too. It's not just aggression either, Jackson has been rather enjoying himself as the debate about opening the doors rages on. His libido seems to have increased dramatically since his change, something that was entirely predictable. He jokes that he has claimed several of the slaves and a number of dancers as his 'haram' and yet he grows bored quickly and discards those that lose his interest." He paused and his voice lowered as it had earlier "Yesterday he called for someone to bring him a 'new bitch' and when they were too slow he induced one of the cooks with nanites...This is madness. They were not even properly prepared and I've had to manage her hormone imbalances with supplements. I would consider running but we are in deep space, using an escape pod would be suicide here...Fuck! What am I going to do?"

The video winked out

"I guess that's the big bad wolf then" grinned Ben "Jackson huh? Good to know what to put on the placard"

Ash shot him a look "There is one more video..." she hesitated and looked back towards the walkway "How long left on the door Gordon"

Gordon gulped slightly. They had seen enough. He suspected that if the door was open, the Captain would go without watching the last video. He checked the time at the top of the Captains Tablet "I can't say for sure. The time I had when leaving was just an estimate but probably about five minutes"

She nodded with a hint of irritation "Fine, let's watch the last one quickly and go. The more information we have the better"

The scientist returned but he looked significantly more haggard than he had in the previous videos. His lab coat sported several new stains and hung unevenly over his shoulders. He looked tired, breathing unevenly. Dark circles framed his eyes "Dead" he said "The Pirates, all dead. Jackson ripped them apart" he adjusted his glasses and peered as if he couldn't quite get things in focus "...No, not dead...not all of them anyway. Some he captured and induced with nanites. His libido is even worse than I thought and he seems to have gained a cruel enjoyment for creating new morphs." He gave a slightly sad smile "We all...enjoyed the outcome of our work. None of us were ever under the impression that what we were doing was exactly good but our victims were often volunteers. Even when we transformed someone under contract or purchased slaves for base material we were working under contract. I understand the grey morality there but the contracts were worth a lot of money"

"Grey morality?" asked Mary in shock "If this fuck is such a monster what does that say about Jackson?"

Ashley shooshed her but there was a significant spark of anger in her eyes. Gordon felt it too. The story that Willum told was horrifying. The people who worked here had become absolutely warped by their work, or perhaps they were hired because they were warped in the first place.

"That...that doesn't matter. Point is a mixture of envy and intimidation has led most of the others to accept Jacksons...gift." He shivered visibly and his eyes started to water. Willum was absolutely terrified "L...Last night" he stuttered "They went on a...on a 'great hunt' most of the staff and guests were killed or transformed. The Zone's brothels and clubs swell with recruits, all to service a handful of wolves. This place has become a twisted fantasy."

He shifted his glasses seeming to become increasingly distressed "It wasn't enough though. They need more. They are already talking about a new hunt to find anyone they missed on the first pass. I have heard talk of what they will do to the space dock when we reach Mars. They speak of themselves as a new alpha race, superior and ready to replace humanity. They are all, each and every one of them mad"

Willum's voice was trembling at this point. It sounded like he was crying "W...What do I do? I can't let them loose on the Mars hub. They will roll over security and fuck their way through the station before turning their eyes on the next place" he looked up to the camera "I didn't think they would be so...so durable. They shrugged off the pirates laser fire like it was nothing...like, oh god, what is going to happen if they get to the hub..."

He glanced sideways and waited as if listening "I...I have to stop them" it was clear that this decision had been made some time ago but that he had perhaps been trying to talk himself out of it "If I take out the power, The computers, The engines, they will be stuck in deep space. They are scientists, not engineers. I don't think any of them have the knowledge to undo what I can do and they have already fucked up anyone capable of helping them. The wolves lack forward planning and have mangled the minds of almost everyone useful on the ship."

He paused a second and looked up towards the camera "But if they catch me, they will punish me...kill me or induce me" he shivered violently "but I have a plan. I'm going to hijack the pirate ship and leave them stranded here. If the worst should happen...I will hide this report as a recording of their sins"

He reached up to the camera as if to turn it off but paused. He looked deep into the lens, his own madness painted deeply on his face "If you are listening" he was not speaking to the viewer now "Whatever you call yourself...God, Mohammed, Krishna, whatever...give me the strength to do this and have mercy on my soul. Is this the first selfless choice I have made? Is one selfless act enough? Perhaps whatever comes after, I shall deserve it"

He stared for a few more seconds and turned the camera off

"Fuck" bit Mary in bitter tones "What a fucking mess. I wonder how much Starliners knew when they hired us. Did they know what they were sending us into? Bastards. Whatever they are paying, it isn't enough"

Ashley nodded with a frown and stood up, placing her empty beer bottle down just as Borys snatched up and opened his second "No" the Captain said "They aren't paying enough" she gripped the data chip tightly "But with this they will. With god as my fucking witness they will"

There was an underlying air of frustration as they left the Grill. They moved into out into the walkway, still bathed in the dull red glow of the emergency lights "How long Gordon?" asked Ashley

"Oh" came a gruff, reverberating voice "I would say you don't have long at all"

Everyone looked up in shock as the hallway almost seemed to reverberate with the stranger's voice. It was deep, unnaturally so and Gordon could swear it caused his bones to vibrate. It was hard to tell what direction it had come from as the sound echoed and bounced around the open plaza but as they looked around wildly, its source soon became apparent.

The figures that emerged from behind the circular crepe stand were clearly similar to the wolf observed on the security footage but if anything, they seemed worse in person. In total there were five of the monsters ranging from eight to nine feet tall. They were bulky, bodies bulging with muscle while thick, plush fur tried and failed to disguise their powerful physiques. Their legs were mildly digitigrade while their maws were long, filled with vicious looking fangs.

Gordon couldn't help but take a step back. The most intimidating thing about the wolves should have been their inhuman physiques but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps it was the crimson light or perhaps it was just their monstrous appearance but they seemed to have an aura of madness that terrified Gordon more than claws or teeth. Their eyes were slightly too small and seemed to focus with a darting hunger towards them. There legs seemed bunched, tight, and ready to spring. He felt like their tails should be moving but they weren't. They sat rigidly behind them as if any movement would cause their entire bodies to launch forward.

One seemed a little more relaxed than the others, projecting a cloying air of arrogance. Gordon could catch subtle signs that seems to suggest the others deferred to this one. Slight movements of their heads and gaze. The way they were standing slightly behind. The way their heads were slightly lowered, focused on the group like guard dogs while he was looking around, taking in the surroundings.

"It has been sometime since we embarked new passengers" the Leader said with a cruel, toothy grin. At least Gordon thought it was a grin, maybe when you had that many teeth you couldn't help but look like you were grinning "Though this visit is rather unscheduled, I must extend my apologies that we could not greet you on arrival. You should have followed the proper channels"

Ben and Mary had their rifles trained on the group, well on the leader. They both seemed to have identified him as the greatest threat, though, constant glances around suggested they had little confidence in standing and fighting. Ashley on the other hand seemed to be trying to subtly make selections on the tablet. She paused and looked up "We are here on behalf of Starliners. They contracted us to locate the Odyssey when the ship missed its scheduled check-ins. We are here to help"

Gordon was amazed at how calm the Captain was but then any time he had seen her in a desperate situation she had been like this. It was why she was Captain. When things got really bad she seemed to push everything down deep, focus on the problem and deal with the emotions later.

The wolf bowed his head slightly and spread his arms "Well" he said "Help would be appreciated" Gordon shivered. He was drooling. His inhumanly deep voice was smooth and yet his demeanour did not even remotely match his words. He was drooling and his tongue occasionally escaped his mouth to lick his lips. Gordon understood the Captain's strategy but he really hoped there was more to it than this. The wolf looked up again, eyes darting towards Gordon, pupils dilated. "We have had an...incident with our engineers. It does look like you have brought us just what we need"

Ashley nodded and gave a flat smile "Of course. If you leave it to us we will start work on repairing the ship. You understand it may take some time for a vessel of this size?"

The wolf paused. His toothy snarl stretched wider and he threw his head back and laughed. The other wolves joined in, though, several were closer to howls. It was a terrible sound and if Gordon got out of this he knew it would be with him every night for the rest of his life. He could swear that the ship shook with the deep vibrations of the cruel noise. The wolf looked back "Ah. You ruined it" he stared at the Captain "I was rather enjoying the game. It could only end one way of course but you went too far. I guess we will skip the starters and move directly on to the main course"

Mary and Ben's grips tightened and even Gordon found his hand on his gun but Ashley was not done trying to talk her way out of it. She glanced at the tablet and a slight look of irritation ran through her. "Fine" she said "Games over" she looked up "Let's talk. Woman to fucking wolf monster"

The wolf grinned again and some of the spring in his step relaxed.

"You want this ship fixed but if you try and take us by force we could get hurt or killed" she secured her tablet at her side and raised her own rifle "So could you." The wolf didn't seem particularly phased but let her continue "You want the ship fixed but you can't afford to risk the engineer, so this is quite simple. You are going to let us withdraw and look for opportunities to split us up later. A hunt, right? You like those don't you? You win in two ways. You reduce the chance of injury to yourself and your needed engineer, which is almost certainly going to happen in a straight up fight and you get a chance to indulge those fucked up instincts you inflicted yourselves with."

The wolf laughed again, though, this time only a ripple of murmurs ran through the others "You seem to know a lot" he said and tilted his head "I like you" he smiled and his eyes darted. He said nothing for a few moments as if thinking "Alright, I've decided. As much as I want some new bitches, if any of you surrender, you can join the pack. There will be more than enough sluts for everyone once the ship is repaired and we get back to Earth." He grinned wider "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a member of the new master race...rather than get fucked by them"

"You can't be serious" said the Captain.

He bowed his head slightly "I too am shocked by my generosity but there you are, the offer is on the table"

"Fuck it" growled Ben. He looked to the captain "You saw what they did to the pirates. We don't have a fucking chance" he looked over the wolves with a mixture of distaste and envy "And look at them, fucking more built than Queen and...well, I don't know if you'd get a dick like that captain" he said with a lewd grin "but I am sure your new tits would be pretty legendary"

Ash looked in his direction "Get a fucking grip Ben, we are not surrendering to them"

Ben bowed his head in mock performance "He said if any. Doesn't need to be an all or nothing." He looked up at the leader who seemed to be grinning manically "We are mercenary's captain. We work for this highest bidder and you just got out bid. You're not better than me" he lowered his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. "You've got a deal" he said and started to walk towards the wolves.

"You're going fucking nowhere" came Mary's voice in genuine fury. She had her rifle levelled directly at him. "One more step and I will kill you"

Ben paused and turned around. He had that infuriating grin on his face. "No" he said "You won't" he started walking again and Gordon could see Mary's finger flex on the trigger. His heart was racing, thumping like it was trying to burst out of his chest. Mary released a pained wail of anguish and lowered her rifle, looking down. There was blood running down her chin where she had bitten through her lip.

Laser rifles don't really make a sound. There is a sort of an electric static noise if you are close enough to the capacitor as it discharges and there is the noise of impact with whatever it hits but the laser itself is silent, no zap, no pew, none of that stuff you see in movies. That's why the primary sound of the cobalt blue laser beam hitting Ben in the back was his scream. Gordon knew the rifles fired on a quarter second pulse. Blink and you miss it but for a just a moment, a searing blue lance pierced the crimson glow. surrounding itself in a purple nimbus like something out of a video game.

Ben went down. Gordon looked to Mary in shock but her rifle was still lowered. It was the Captain "Fucking traitor" she said as the wolves began to move. Ben lay unmoving, smoke wafting almost in slow motion from his back. It had been a perfect hit, a man walking slowly, back turned like the beginners stage in a shooting gallery. He had not stood a chance.

The wolves were fast and Gordon had barely turned to start running when they had closed almost half the distance. The Captain and Mary started unloading, blue cobalt shot after blue cobalt shot merging into the red dusk as purple streaks. They were moving as they fired, running towards a nearby bar for cover. Gordon glanced over his shoulder in terror as he too ran. The wolves mostly seemed to be focused on those shooting at them chasing after Mary and Ash as they dived into the "The Milky way Mixer" The Wolves had pretty much closed the distance but while they were fast their actual swipes and lunges seemed clumsy. They weren't scared of the rifles precisely but they were moving in an erratic pattern to try and avoid being struck. There was a small thwump noise and suddenly the air around the bar was infused with a pulsing dull red smoke. It shifted and rolled, pouring into the bar, soon obscuring the entire interior. The red light made it worse, illuminating the smoke into some kind of nightmare hell-scape. Visibility in there had to be zero.

"Don't look, run, Yes?" came Borys voice from besides him. Borys glanced over his shoulder ignoring his own advice "No way out of that" he said flatly "Try get to the Shadow"

One of the wolves staring at the smoke make a rumbled noise of annoyance and glanced over at Borys and Gordon. Grinning slightly he seemed to decide they would make easier prey and with a lurch, bounded towards them. Gordon looked around wildly. There was nowhere to go. The deck was one big, long, wide corridor with restaurants and shops lining either side. There were places to hide but apart from the restaurants containing sealed doors to the staff areas there was nowhere to actually escape to.

Borys smiled. There was a slight breathlessness to his voice as if he was having trouble running and the slight slur reminded Gordon he had drank quite a lot of alcohol "Remember our agreement, was good deal, Yes?" he said in a strangely happy tone "You run, I shoot"

His stop was so sudden that Gordon did not realise what had happened until he was several steps ahead. Borys had his pistol raised, pointed at the wolf. He was barely looking at it, instead, he raised his head back and started gulping from the bottle of beer he had taken from the Grill. He was firing off shots as quickly as the capacitor would recharge. He wasn't really aiming. He didn't really need to. The creature bearing down on him was huge and despite the fact many of the shots were at wildly different angles, most hit. Each impact brought a smell of burning hair and charred flesh. The wolf grunted from each shot, even faltering slightly as it got close.

Gordon couldn't look. He turned away and doubled his pace. He had never felt like such a coward before, neither had he felt so helpless. Borys had given him a chance to escape and he couldn't even watch. He could hear it through; Glug, Glug, Glug, Sizzle, Thump.

Gordon thundered into Cosmic Coffee, racing to the door in the back kitchen. He looked at the tablet quickly. Estimated time remaining: 20 seconds. Fuck! He was breathing deeply, his heart was thumping. Should he have gone for the stairs? They would surely have caught him if he had. With the computers down they wouldn't be able to open the doors either. If he could just get through he might be safe. He tried to listen, to hear if the wolf was following but with the blood rushing through his ears it was hard to pick out any kind of subtle sounds from the cacophony that was echoing down the plaza. His eyes were watering, his noise was running. He ran his sleeve across his face trying to clear it a little.

The tablet beeped, announcing that it had completed its task just as the sound of heavy bounding footsteps breached the sound of rushing blood. He hammered the door release, grabbed his tablet and almost threw himself through the door. He hit the button on the other side and the heavy security door slammed shut.

He slumped against the wall and began to slide down it. Sobs wracked his body and adrenalin flooded through him refusing to give him respite from the fight or flight response that was trying to wrest control from his human mind and give it to his lizard brain. He had been in some bad situations before but nothing like this, nothing even fucking close to this.

Bang. He wasn't ashamed to say that he screamed. The security door dented slightly where something massively powerful had struck it from the other side. Bang. The dent was joined by a second and then a third. Bang. After the third strike he heard a grunt of pain from the other side and a low irritated growl. A forth strike came but this one was weaker, not enough to dent the door. Gordon sat silently trying to hold his breath but he kept releasing ragged breaths and then trying to hold his breath once more. He could hear the wolf breathing, air running through its throat producing a groaning growl with each breath.

For almost 30 seconds they both sat on either side of the door, both trying and failing to be silent. Eventually the wolf spoke, his deep voice reverberating through the hull, barely muffled by the door at all. "We will find you" the voice rumbled. It wasn't the leader. It was one of the others "Why don't you come out. We get a little enthusiastic when we hunt...wouldn't want you to get...hurt" it ended with a cruel chuckle.

Gordon didn't respond and the wolf remained for a little while longer. After a minute or two it thumped the door again, causing Gordon to flinch violently. It spoke slowly, almost lazily "Have it your way"

Finally it moved away but still Gordon remained slumped pulling in ragged breaths. He couldn't stay here. They probably did have a way to get in. They almost certainly had their own data slates, though, that would take time. He knew they had damaged at least one security door leaving it permanently open. It was also possible they had travelled via these corridors in order to ambush them which meant they could have codes already stored. He could not risk it. He had to move as soon as possible.

Not rushing was a tactical decision though. He needed to try and get his emotions under control and perhaps more importantly he did not want them to hear the elevator. He had brought that online himself. They almost certainly knew that they were offline and if he could ride the elevator and then disconnect his power supply, well, perhaps he could perform a disappearing act.

After roughly three minutes he could wait no longer and called the elevator. His heart beat had slowed slightly and his breathing had begun to return to normal. As the elevator ascended, the sounds of servos and straining cables echoed down the hallway. He could not help but think of the others as he waited. Was there any chance that the Captain and Mary could make it out of the bar somehow? It seemed unlikely but then that smoke combined with the red lights had been completely opaque. Escape would be a miracle but if anyone could do it, it was those two. His mind then wandered to Borys. There was no escape there. He had heard him go down. He shook his head and looked at his feet as the elevator doors opened before stumbling into the cramped space and using his palm to send it down four floors. Borys had saved his life. He had no doubt about that. For how long he thought bitterly but if it wasn't for him, he was sure that the wolf would have taken them both. He felt ashamed and not just for leaving him there. He had never thought that highly of Borys. He had recognised his skill as a surgeon but had always felt that his talent was wasted because of his addictions. Perhaps that wasn't entirely untrue but he had certainly never thought of him as someone that might make the kind of sacrifice he just had.

The elevator hummed softly as it descended. Normally, Gordon would enjoy the fact that the light in the ceiling here was bathing him in warm, white light but it was difficult to focus on anything positive just now. The doors opened. Gordon stepped out and quickly powered down the plasma battery. The white lights instantly gave way once again to red and he slumped to his knees and slowly started to disconnect the cables.

As he picked up Borys tablet he noticed a blinking icon; the proximity alerts. Oh fuck, Sun Woon-Kye. He quickly switched the tablet to the sensor software and almost let the tablet fall from his hand. The sensors had been triggered about 10 minutes ago. They must have timed a strike on both the ship and the Grill at the same time. He groaned slightly. No point going back to the ship now. He only hoped than Sun had somehow made it out in time, not that there was anywhere for her to go. He brought the tablet up again and checked the sensor logs. No sign of her. They each carried an identification token, if they triggered the sensors it didn't set off an alert but it did record it in the logs. His only hope was that she had undocked the ship and somehow gotten away. That didn't help for now but perhaps she would be able to come back and get him later.

He nodded. That was it. He had to hope that Sun was still out there, that she had undocked the ship and was waiting for news, perhaps preparing to make a quick connection to one of the other airlocks. He had to get a hold of himself. He had to stop being a coward. He had to find a way to escape. He focused on that idea, that loose plan and forced his psyche into some semblance of a whole. He started by taking a deep breath and considered his situation.

He had two tablets. His own and Borys. He stumbled mentally as he thought of the Doc and almost lost his false bravado but he steeled his resolve. What else did he have? He had two plasma batteries and his pocket toolkit. The full engineer bag was unfortunately left back upstairs. There was no way he could have run with it, not fast enough anyway. Then he considered his situation. With luck, they would not realise he was on this deck. The only way to move between decks in the staff corridors were the elevators and they were unpowered so he potentially had surprise on his side. Finally he had a plan. When you're desperate you need a plan, even if it's a bad one. He had something to focus on and to move forward with.

He started to move through the dull red corridors, wincing with the sound of each footstep. He brought up the map on his tablet and considered an alternative route. He could take a right at the next junction instead of going straight ahead. This would be a little shorter and yet, despite the fact the tunnels were completely unfamiliar. Despite the fact that in the crimson darkness they were almost completely featureless shadow filled voids. He found something comforting in taking a 'known' path. He briefly considered checking in on Bitch as he passed the security room but he could not help but think she would be a liability at best. No, as sad as it was, she would need to stay locked in that room. He would open the door on the way past so she would not be trapped perhaps. She should still be sleeping.

He had a lot of time to think as he moved, though, his mind struggled to focus on any one problem. The corridors were silent, bathed in their dull red glow but that did not stop Gordons mind from playing tricks on him. He flinched at each imagined sound and slid, flattening himself against the wall at each phantom shadow. By the time he reached the security room he was breathing heavily once again and had to take a few minutes to gather himself before opening the door.

He hooked up his tablet and made a small happy sound. The security codes had not cycled and the door slid open immediately. He glanced in and sure enough, Bitch was still snoozing on the chair. He quickly blocked the door with a broom and marched on. He tried to focus on the fact that at least she wouldn't starve trapped behind the security door. If he didn't make it out, at least some small good had come from his flight, from Borys sacrifice.

It took another twenty minutes or so to reach the door that would lead back into Carnival Plaza. At this point he estimated about an hour had passed since the Wolves twin assaults. He knew there was a chance they might still be there, searching the Shadow but he decided he had to risk it. He should be able to dip back through the security door if he saw someone. Okay, it would give away his location but what else was he going to do? If it had been a military ship he could have tried to get the computer back on, get control of the internal weapons systems but this was a Cruiseliner. There was nothing, at least as far as he knew.

He hooked up his computer and activated the security code. The door didn't slide open, instead, a familiar loading bar appeared on the screen. Fuck! The security code had expired and the new code had to be decrypted. He sat the tablet down and used one of the plasma batteries as a seat. He supposed a little more time for the wolves to clear out of the area wasn't so bad. He picked up the Doc's tablet while his own analysed the security code. He spent the time studying the map, might as well be productive.

The tablet processed the key fairly quickly, signalling completion after around twelve minutes. Gordon had started to relax a little, after all, you could only stay on edge for so long but when the tablet beeped and he tapped the button to open the door. Well, the anxiety came flooding back.

Part of him completely expected to get jumped as soon as the door was opened. That a huge, meaty wolf claw would instantly grab him through the door to be devoured or worse but instead, he saw only the austere silence of the Carnival Plaza. He crept, slowly and quietly, closing the door behind him. He left the plasma batteries behind as they were a little bulky to carry without his bag. He could always pick them up again later easily enough.

Once again the Plaza was better lit than the staff corridors but it was still bathed in an eerie red glow. The many kiosks, stands and signs provided plenty of hiding places for potential ambushers but now he had met the wolves in person, he did not think that was really their style. He could still not help but be nervous but tried to focus on the fact that when the wolves came they would probably charge him down and not hide behind a churro stand. He used this 'fact' as fuel to push him out into the plaza properly. The security door led out onto the upper plaza which looked over the much larger Carnival area. Security barriers ran along the edge and Gordon moved in a hunched run so that he could peer over the barrier and look across the far end of the deck where the departure lounge entrance was.

There was no one there. No one that he could see anyway, although plenty of the Plaza was not in his direct line of sight. To make things worse, if they were anywhere they were probably in the departure lounge or in the Midnight Shadow herself. He was so close, and yet, the more he scanned the area and found nothing, the more uncomfortable he got. If he walked into the departure lounge and there was a wolf there it was game over. If he stayed here and saw a wolf? Well, he might be able to retreat to the staff corridor. The security doors had held at least one at bay...what to do, what to do.

It must have been the blood thundering through his ears or perhaps she possessed super-human levels of stealth but when something warm pushed into his back, gentle hands wrapping around his neck and a pleasant, seductive voice asked "Whacha doing?" he screamed.

It wasn't a manly scream and Gordon gulped in air as he spun to face his attacker. He should have guessed from the sensation, from her voice but crouched as he was he turned straight into her abundant, furred cleavage.

The fox-morph giggled slightly as she pulled away from him and stood up straight. She was an impressive woman, like nothing Gordon had ever seen. She was curvy, absurdly so, with enormous swollen breasts that defied alphabetic definition and a swollen rear to match. Her fur was a brilliant orange, or at least he thought it was. It was hard to tell under the red light but there was certainly a vibrancy to it that implied it was a more artificial colour than normal vulpine fur. Contrasting the orange was a creamy white fluff, tinted red by the emergency lights covering much of her face, chest and stomach.

Gordon looked around wildly, terrified that his scream might have drawn ravenous hordes of toothed beasts from their hiding places but so far, he saw nothing. He looked back at the smiling fox and bit his lip. Her face was strangely attractive with a short vulpine muzzle, large expressive eyes and a pair of oversized fox ears perched atop her head. It seemed like she should be too animalistic to be humanly attractive but despite lacking hair she still had a remarkable human-like quality. It might have been that thick, swollen black lip or perhaps it was her smirking expression but Gordon felt himself react and quickly tightened his knees to hide his shame. Great, he didn't expect to die discovering he had a new fetish.

In fairness to Gordon the fox was completely naked. she wore nothing but a pair of D shaped piercings through her nipples and a thick black collar around her neck. She tilted her head slightly as she seemed to be examining Gordon just as much as he was, she. Edventually he spoke "A...are you with them?" he asked, a tone of fear in his voice. He looked around again for any creeping lupines. If they were around, surely they had heard that.

"They aren't here" she said scratching a ruff of fur idly on her cheek "They left a while ago and no. I am not with them, not really anyway"

Gordon sighed and relaxed a little as he allowed himself to fully slide into a seated position "My friends...they got them all" he shivered slightly "Except maybe Sun"

The fox smiled and sat down herself, her enormous ass flattening slightly beneath her "Well, that is a shame but they didn't get you"

"Yet" said Gordon a little bitterly "And only because I am a coward...Borys"

She shrugged slightly "Cowards live" she tilted her head "Squash" she said "My name"

"Gordon" his eyes furrowed slightly "wait, Squash? As in Orange? Is that cause of the fur? What's your real name?"

She shrugged slightly "Not sure, began with an R I think. Rachel? Rebecca? I can't really remember. The morph process usually affects memory. I volunteered so I got it mild. I can still remember some stuff. A lot of the others, they can't really remember anything" she gave a slight shrug and smiled "I work in The Zoo, a strip club in the forbidden zone. Squash seemed like a good name"

Gordon shivered slightly "You volunteered? Why would you do that?"

She scratched again at her cheek "I don't know how much you are aware of what goes on here but a lot of the morphs down there are slaves or poor abducted shmucks. In order to stop them trying to escape or causing problems they hit them hard, erase an awful lot of what they were, although, the AI often seems to bring personality traits to the front." She made a slight cluck with her tongue "The result is that most of them are not suitable for doing anything much beyond what the serum set them up to do and they need volunteers to fill management roles or to be able to offer more specialised services to guests. There is a...demand for morphs that retain more of themselves and so the guests pay a lot of money for it" she paused and after a moment added "After ten years you can leave if you want. Do you know how much money morphs of this quality can make elsewhere? A lot. They don't exist outside this ship apart from a tiny handful that completed their service"

Gordon frowned. Somehow that didn't seem enough. "So...you are okay with them transforming slaves? You said it erases much of what they were? That's effectively killing them and on a pretty huge scale"

She shrugged slightly "It's a big universe, a lot of people die and many in far worse ways than that. I'd rather get transformed into some fuck toy unable to remember my own life than die slowly on some mining base as the oxygen slowly runs out" She hummed slightly "And it doesn't completely erase them, there is usually still something left. They can be happy, feel joy, pleasure...usually a lot of pleasure." She gave a slightly sympathetic smile "If you wanted to debate me on the philosophical merits I'd agree. Sure it's wrong but if you want to debate me on the practical elements then there aren't many ways for someone like me to become rich like this. We all have limits for where we draw the line, everyone has a price they would give up their ideals" her grin grew lustful "I guess I found mine"

Gordon shook his head slightly and gripped his knees even tighter. He tried to ignore the red suffusing his cheeks "Ok, fine. So you aren't one of those drooling wolves but you work for them? you said you weren't with them"

"I'm not" she snapped back, a slight hint of anger floating through her voice, though it instantly vanished "I signed on two years ago, long before the fuckers wolfed up. The serum messes with your mind pretty bad. I know I am not the exact same person I was, I certainly never had anything like the libido I now have to deal with but they." Her face screwed up in irritation and Gordon marvelled at how it didn't affect her beauty at all "The lab fucks were always monsters, always demanded more from me and the other girls than even the most arrogant of pirate captains but they were still human, they still had limits. Since they changed themselves they have become incredibly aggressive. There are no limits and seem to take joy in humiliating us, treating us like pets. They are violent, fickle and seem to lose interest quickly, discarding one girl for another until they decide that they need to create a new one. The whole reason we are stuck in deep space is because they fucked up the engineering crew. They hit them with the serum hard and fucked up their minds, leaving them far too scrambled to do their jobs. I hate them"

Gordon paused and nodded "I think I understand..."

"Take me with you" she said, suddenly moving in close, causing Gordons face to burst into flame "I want nothing more than to get away from the lupine bastards."

He nodded and stared blankly into her deep brown eyes trying not to lower his gaze. She smirked slightly, recognising exactly what that locked stare meant "Excellent. Take me with you and I promise, it will be a fun ride back to Earth" she stood stretching and looked over the causeway "I've not been into the departure lounge yet. I don't know what happened with your ship but I saw them leave. I was bored, so I followed them down when I heard them mention they had detected a docked ship. They don't really care about us, ignore us unless they want to get their dicks wet. I didn't really want to rush back to the Zone so I thought I'd stay for a while. It's kind of peaceful"

Gordon stood up slowly and quickly hobbled past her trying to hide his erection. A slight, musical laugh suggested he had failed "...T...Two seconds" he said "just grabbing my plasma batteries"

She raised an eyebrow and smiled "Oh? I've never heard it called that before, is that engineering slang?" His face burned so bright it almost overpowered the security lights.