Rise of Red Comet Chapter 9, New Brother

Story by dragonmoon on SoFurry

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#27 of Wayward Scale

While watching the ship, Tacit and Astar are met with an unpleasant new arrival.

Thanks to Serga Queen Arts 58 for her role as Emilia Scale and Astar Scale

Wickerbeasts are by Simone White

Yinglets are the brainchild of ValSalia


While James and Emily were investigating a Dasite crime syndicate, on the Red Comet, Tacit awoke with thumping in his ears. He rubbed his head before jumping out of bed and picking up a shirt and some shorts from the floor. He slowly stuck both legs in the shorts, grabbed a belt and tightened it around his waist before throwing the shirt on. Then, he lumbered out into the hall down to the cafeteria.

Once he saw Astar, he climbed up on the seat next to him. "I swear, we must be zhe only ones wizh our heads on straight on zhis ship."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you seen what zhose two have been up to?"

"No, no I haven't. Why?"

"You have no idea. Say, was he ever crazy when you were a kid?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes. I want to know."

"He got us trapped in a falling down building."

"What?"

"You heard me," croaked Astar.

"What was zhe context?"

"He was s-supposedly looking for ghosts."

"Ghosts?"

"Yes, then that building fell."

"You got out alright, right?"

"Yeah, it was s-scary though."

"How so?"

"Think!"

"Okay?"

"I was a little kid!"

"How young?"

"I-I think s-six."

"Six?"

Astar nodded, and Tacit asked, "Did he know zhe place was unstable? Or, do you know?"

"No I didn't know."

"Remind me to ask him when he gets back."

Then, a holocom lit up revealing a figure. "Is this the Red Comet?"

"Captain's out," said Tacit before reaching to turn it off. "Yeah, p-probably playing with himself."

Before the figure could respond, Tacit turned the device off. Astar laughed at that, but that laughter was short lived. The same figure came back on the homocom. "If you're not going to hang up on me again, we are sending something there."

"Uh, wh-who are you?"

"I'm with MORPH. We're sending a package over soon."

The problem with that was, as far as they knew, James didn't order anything recently. Before they could respond, the device shut off. Tacit looked up at Astar and asked, "What do you zhink zhey're talking about when zhey say package?"

"Who knows?"

"Only one way to find out."

* * * * *

Tacit awoke to the AI stating that someone was at the airlock. He jumped out of bed, pulled on a pair of shorts and dashed through the hall. He skipped stairs on the way down and rolled across the floor once he reached storage. He saw someone at the airlock leaving a crate and dashed closer. When they stopped and turned around, he looekd up and asked, "Is zhis zhe package from MORPH?"

"Yes."

"Do we need a signature, or anyzhing?"

"Yes."

When they handed over a tablet, Tacit said, "Well, zhe captain is out on a mission."

"Well, you can sign for it. Nobody's watching."

"Okay."

He took the stylus in both hands and slowly signed James' name with shaking paws. Once he reached the other side of the screen, he slid the stylus back in its holder and handed it back up to the person. Then, he dug his nails behind the lid of the crate and yanked. Suddenly, whatever was inside managed to kick the crate open so that Tacit was crushed under the lid.

With some effort, he managed to sit the lid up. That was when he realized that his shelltooth was stuck. While he was trying to comprehend, the lid tipped away from him. He scratched at it as it fell to the floor. In a moment, he dislodged his shelltooth and fell backwards into the crate. When his eyes stopped rolling, he saw what was inside.

He saw a short snouted creature with stumpy horns. It trampled him on the way out of the crate. Astar kicked it, only for it to bite his leg. Tacit sat up and squeaked, "What is zhat?"

"You think I know?"

Tacit went back in the crate and took a quick look before he found a handwritten note. He picked it up and handed it up to Astar. He kicked the thing off before reading, 'James,

It looks like our one night stand made something. I'm sending the egg to your ship.'

"Well, I think that damn thing hatched!"

"Red Comet, are you able to tell what zhis zhing is?"

"It is a wickerbeast."

"A wickerbeast? Okay, so what do we do wizh zhis?"

Astar shrgged, and Tacit asked, "Red Comet?"

Instead of answering, the AI buzzed. Tacit looked up at Astar and asked, "Astar, do you remember when dad's supposed to be back?"

"I uh, forgot."

Tacit squinted, gritted his teeth and yanked his hair in frustration. Then, he sighed and said, "Well, do you zhink you can handle zhis long term?"

"Not at all!"

"Well, it's eizher zhat or put dad at risk of getting caught, or hiring someone wizhout zhe captain's knowledge."

"Crap! Where is Em when we n-need her?"

"I zhink she's undercover wizh him."

"Oh, great!"

"Maybe, we could handle it."

"But, I don't understand kids!"

"Well, it could easily choke me to deazh in seconds!"

"And bite my hand off!"

"We should let zhem know it arrived."

"But how can we?"

"Call? Video? Got a tablet?"

"Yes, I do!"

"Zhen, let's use it."

Astar revealed his tablet and handed it down to Tacit. He fiddled with one of the features before setting it down and saying, "Hello?"

"Tacit," asked the voice of Emily.

"Yes, MORPH just sent a little demon in a box."

While Tacit spoke, the wickerbeast bit Astar's tail. Astar's scream could be heard over the speaker. "Oh, that must be our sibling!"

"Yeah. Zhe little demon just bit him."

Then, there came sounds of fumbling before the voice of James said, "Yes?"

"Zhere's a wickerbeast demon kid zhat MORPH sent."

He sighed and said, "I'll be up as soon as possible. Just as soon as I'm done with this."

The next time Astar looked, he could see the wickerbeast chasing Tacit. "Help me!"

"How do you want me too?"

"Just do somezhing!"

Astar tossed a chair at it. Then, it fell on its tail, shut its eyes and wailed. Astar covered it with a tarp, but it whipped its head out from underneath and wailed even louder. "Shut up already!"

"Dad, how do you get a baby wickerbeast to stop crying?"

"I don't know!"

"Yeah, because I threw a chair at it."

"Emmy?"

"Think I know? Also why a chair?"

"Yeah, why a chair?"

"It tried eating Tacit!"

"You could have done different."

"How?"

Then, out of nowhere, James said, "I gotta go!"

James swiftly hung up leaving the two at the mercy of the Wickerbeast.

* * * * *

The wickerbeast laid in a bin wrapped up in a blanket. With all his strength, Tacit rocked it back and forth. "Where's dad when you need him?"

Tacit looked over at Astar's hiding spot, viewing it upside down with his feet pushing the bin, and called, "Ey, can you gimme a hand over here?"

"Nope!"

"Why not?"

"I-I'm not c-coming out until that thing's asleep!"

With that, Tacit threw himself forward and sighed, "Zhat's it, I'm getting a drink."