Dangerous Research [TBM and Writersblockade]

[thebobmaster]

Something about this didn't feel right to Helen Strauss. She should have felt more comfortable on the research ship. With her armor suit on, she was almost seven feet tall, and that armor could both take and give quite a beating, especially with her in control of it. Hell, even outside of the suit she was still almost six feet tall, with a rather nice lean but muscular build, and a bust many a woman had felt belied how strong she truly was. She could handle herself, and the Marauder was sure that her partner, despite not looking nearly as physically strong or intimidating as her, was equally able to do so in his own way. Marauders were not known for needing help. Partnership to shore up weaknesses, but the truly weak? No, those just didn't make the cut.

That didn't change her nerves as she stepped onto the quiet research ship, her armor clanking as she did so. They didn't send her out on stealth missions for a reason. Even with the antigravity inserts in the heels of her armor, those simply allowed her to move the heavy armor, not reduce its footfall appreciably. As she stepped off from the shuttle, the dim emergency lighting on the research ship glanced off of her white armor, making it gleam slightly as she waited for her partner to emerge from the shuttle as well. "The nearest lab on this ship is just outside the docking bay," she reminded him, her already contralto voice deepened by a voice modulator. She was never comfortable with a new partner. Too many people still judged her based on looks if they had an option. She went out of her way to make sure they didn't. If they were surprised when the armor came off, she had already established that she wasn't to be crossed lightly without needing to hurt anyone. Well, anyone who didn't have it coming for reasons beyond being obnoxious.

The docking bay itself did nothing to calm her uneasy feeling. It looked just like a docking bay should. A few shuttles, quite a few crates with nothing unusual in them. Lab supplies, medical supplies. Just one thing not in place. People. This docking bay felt...not just empty, but sterile.

 

[Writersblockade]

Nolan Pritchard took a moment to curse his need for credits. The Marauders were a good outfit, don’t get him wrong, but the fact that he needed to take on this kind of contract at all was telling of the kind of desperate people the organization collects. You’re either in financial ruin, or an adrenaline junkie, or both. His name came up with the list of skills needed to do what they’d needed done, and the acceptance bonus alone told him that something was definitely wrong wherever they were going. The other very clear indicator that things were likely to go wrong was the choice for armor, rather than a small team. Teams were cheaper, but…as they would say out here, more squishy. Armor could do some good, and it didn’t hurt that he was rated for Combat Armor repair.

What could he say? Those algorithms sure knew what they were doing.

He would manage to latch onto the armor while it made its way to the loading dock. He figured his services would be needed sooner, rather than later, but the docking airlock opened, so good news, the research vessel was still in operation. Bad news, it did not appear as though anyone was on it. He’d know more then he could patch into the ship’s system. The distorted and deep voice came through his radio and he nodded, “The bay should have a terminal to access. I need to see what we can collect about the ship, namely who no one seems around.” That was really messing with him. A salvage job? Sure, maybe you get a dead body, but it’s really just the quiet and harvest. This? This was different. There were supposed to be people, so where the hell were they?

Once he’d gotten close enough to the Docking Bay, he detached from the armor to drift to his own flight plan of sorts. The antigrav shoes chirped and he felt himself fastened to the floor, and he quickly took out his short range rifle and leveled it in the open bay, looking for potential targets. “Alright big guy, what’s your status? If you’re not all green, speak now or forever hold your piece. Provided the armor confirmed he was green for go, Nolan would move immediately to the first terminal he saw while on approach and ask the Armor to cover him if he wasn’t otherwise occupied. He removed the reinforced cover on his forearm and pulled a thin node from it for a manual connection.

As the computer on his forearm connected, he tapped his temple twice and seemed to type in the air. His glasses were able to still give him limited interaction with the terminal, but its insides have seen better days. “Jesus, if it isn’t on the goddamn bridge no one gives a shit about computer maintenance, do they? Let’s see…life support operational, but not active. Ships logs and any pathing to research is nonexistent. We’d have to get physically to those areas to get anything going, but I can bully the system into giving us lights, gravity, annnnnd air. The real question is…should we do that?”

 

[thebobmaster]

Making her way over to the technician, she spoke up clearly. "I'm good to go. At least, as much as I can be until and unless things get hairy." When her partner began to access the terminal, she made sure to guard him well. Not that she expected anything in this particular docking bay. She could sense that it was completely lifeless other than the two of them, and there wasn't much of any place someone could hide to ambush them. "Life support is operational, but not activated? That means that whatever happened was either quick, or they were more concerned with getting out than keeping things liveable on the ship."

"As for giving us light, gravity, and air...I don't see why not." She seemed to think for a few seconds. "After all, whatever happened has already passed, and at the same time, whatever did it either moved on or is still here. If it is still here, it doesn't matter whether we have gravity, light, and air. It didn't seem to need them, and we might end up wishing we had one of all of them if something goes wrong."

Helen headed to the door leading out of the docking bay. "At any rate, we aren't going to get much information here. We'll have to rely on what we were told about the layout to get to the nearest research lab. Once we get there, hopefully we'll at least get some idea of what happened." She opened the door out of the docking bay, looking down the dimly lit hall. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. At least, nothing in the hall. My scanners can't go through the walls, so if there's something in one of the rooms..."

 

[Writersblockade]

He couldn't argue with the guy. They'd need life support online if they were going to stay long. Thankfully, this was as easy as flipping switches. Fingers danced in the air as he spoke to her "Just keep an eye on your filter in there. I'm going to keep the mask on until I get verification that air in nominal, which might take a while let me just…" his eyes would reflect the blue of the text he's reviewing and changing. Deeper code in engineer speak that established life support hierarchy. "I'm…going to make sure that where…we…arrrree, is set up…first!" The final keystroke confirmed the command and a slight rumble could be heard as various fans come online around them at once. After the initial start, the noise and vibration would level out into what would likely be just white noise in an otherwise busy ship.


"When I'm good, I'm good" He said with satisfaction. "Annnnd for my next trick!" He hummed a little tune, and it sounded like something ancient, with added flourish as the lights around them flickered to life and their bodies settled to the gravity the ship reestablished. This also resulted in some somewhat audible crashes in an area close by, but they'd get to that when they'd get there! His news about getting zero life readings was…strange. What the hell happened here? Just double checking a few things, he'd tried to find a way to route to the ship's logs, but nothing doing. "Damn…I'm getting nothing helpful about what happened here, we'll have to get to the bridge to find out. I am not a fan of this. At all." He disengaged from the terminal and got his hands on his slung weapon again just to feel some level of security, "you know…I'd love one of those armors about now…"


Panning his weapon from side to side as he got to the guy, he peeked out to see what he meant. "What the fuck is going on here? Like…come on." That no one was there was eerie, but also nonsensical. How was no one there? "I snuck a peak at the ship structure while I was in…" he sent the ship schematic that was more detailed than the one they had. "The life boats are still attached. This just keeps getting better by the minute, so I hope I speak for the both of us when I say we get this shit wrapped up as soon as possible."

 

[thebobmaster]

As the various life support systems came online, Helen began to relax slightly. She was still alert, of course, but having gravity, air, and steady lighting did a fair bit to make the ship feel...not exactly normal, given how empty it was, but better. When she was sent the updated schematics, she overlaid the map onto her visor, allowing her to see on the map where she was headed with each step.

"All of the life boats are still attached?" she asked, somewhat rhetorically. She could tell from the schematics that they were. "That's not good. Many of the good options for what happened here are going out the window. I don't think we should linger any more than we need to." She considered what he said about going to the bridge to get to the ship's logs. "The bridge may give us some answers, assuming whatever happened wasn't so quick as to leave them no time to leave ship logs. And believe me, this armor has its downsides. Harder to control than you might think at times."

Carefully, Helen led the way down the hall, continuing to use her map overlay to guide her, constantly scanning to confirm the lack of lifeforms. It wasn't completely necessary, however. The white noise of the life support systems was the only sound she was hearing, even with her armor's sensors. At least, until they were three quarters of the way to the bridge.

She suddenly stopped in front of a door, turning to face it. The schematics indicated it was some sort of storage room, one that was fairly large. She couldn't tell from that what was stored in the room, however, and without ship logs, there was no other way to know. However, she was more concerned about other aspects of the room. Her scanner couldn't pick up anything through the doors of the ship. Her sensors, on the other hand...

"I've got movement on the other side of this door," she finally confirmed. "Non-human." Reaching down, she pulled a long knife from the sheathe on her hip. "Stand back..." she warned him as she opened the door, timing it carefully on her end as she lunged her way inside, stabbing what her sensors had indicated was a beling. They weren't exactly safe creatures, but when ambushed, they usually weren't a problem. Usually.

Helen's large armor frame blocked the door, but something had clearly not gone smoothly with what should have been a basic takedown. Her knife stabbed the alien pteranodon several times, more than it should have taken to subdue the creature, and as Helen stumbled forward into the storage room, taking care not to knock over the steel barrels inside, her grunts seemed to be from more than just exertion. As the creature fell to the floor, bleeding out, Helen panted softly, shaking off her knife and sheathing it once again. "The fuck was that?" she finally commented, even the electronic distortion not fully hiding the confusion in her voice. "That alien is...was mutated," she informed Nolan. Turning, she attempted to make a casual exit from the room, but stumbled as she did so. A scan of her armor would indicate the likely reason: a small hole in the abdomen of her armor the size of the stinger tail on the alien that she had taken out indicated that while she was fighting the alien, it had managed to stab through her armor at least once.

 

[Writersblockade]

Nolan could only chuckle, a sound that felt too loud even with the life support systems operating. His partner wasn’t slow on the uptick for a bullet magnet, so he had that going for him. Lingering is sure as shit the wrong thing to do in their current situation. He was doing his job on autopilot, just panning and scanning. His partner had the heavy scanning equipment. If they got to the bridge, it might be possible for him to slave the information that the ship had onto his computer. It wasn’t his very own scanner, but normally what the ship told a person was correct. Normally. His footfalls were silent, for the most part, not that it mattered with the damn clunker in front of him, but habits were what they were.

“They might be answers we don’t want, but at least it’ll be something.” He turned around periodically, as they moved forward. The armor was nice, but he was fortunate enough to know its blind spots and position himself for them. They moved methodically enough together, which was more a benefit of their mutual training than anything else, but it was something to also be thankful for. Her comment about the downsides of her armor made him chuckle. “I got stationed with a bunch of grunts and that’s all I did was repair their armor. I could tell them the stupid shit they did just by the damage I had to repair. Got to where they made a game of it…” He leveled his weapon in a direction that his eye had detected movement…but didn’t see anything.

“Anyway, your left leg is gonna need some grease when you get back. Get us out of here alive and I’ll make sure they do it right. In fact-” He shut up when she mentioned movement behind the door, and got into position. Normally, he’d clear with his partner, but the armor left little room for that, which was…vexing. He got down on one knee and aimed just below the armor’s frame and switched it to single shot as a precaution. The armor opened the door with his knife out and immediately made contact, but Nolan had no clear shot! ’movemovemove, come on, move a little!’ When the armor went deeper into the room, he rose and took a few steps to the door and cleared the frame in case they needed to exit, but he still didn’t have a shot!

Screeching and wriggling was combined with the crunch/squish sound of the knife strikes, and holy shit was this thing tanking the strikes!? He knew the specs on that knife, and there wasn’t much he’d come across that could still move, let alone remain strong when that thing made contact! When the fighting was finally over and he was no longer in danger or being crushed, the tech went in and panned for anything that felt like waiting. Thankfully it was just them. The voice modulator warbled some to hint at a lighter voice, but Nolan was too engrossed in what he saw to really pay attention. “Mutated…is a word for it, sure. It’s not exactly my field, but this looks like at least two…maybe three species traits here?” He scanned the creature while he was there. It was quick and dirty, but at least it would do for now.

The scuffle of the stumbling armor made him turn quickly. He wasn’t where he could see the hole, or even know there was one to look for, “You okay buddy? Was it the damn grease? I know I should have looked you over, I swear those fucks are more interested in their naked playing cards than making sure the shit we need is okay…hold on…” He was fumbling around with the wrist pad to get the right connection for the armor. “Zig zag…zig zag..zig zag! Okay, I’ll see if I can make any adjustments that won’t completely throw you off. Five minutes…maybe ten.”

 

[thebobmaster]

"Take your time," Helen commented through gritted teeth. "I don't think I'll bleed out or anything, it's just a bit painful. And no, it's not the grease. That damned creature...or mutation, or whatever it was. Let's just say that stinger tail was quite sharp. Went right through this armor. Might complain about it later. Until we can get back, though, I'm more concerned with what might have been on the stinger, or in it. I don't feel anything other than some pain, but that's not to say it's completely safe."

Helen paused for thought as he continued with his adjustments. "Again, though, and I actually mean this: take your time. I don't want you to feel rushed and make a mistake that will cost us if anything else is wrong on this ship." She chuckled slightly, but without any humor. "Ah, who am I kidding? There's definitely going to be something else wrong on this ship. No signs of crew yet, and one heavily mutated alien? Who knows what else we'll find?"

She scanned the map of the ship while she waited for the armor to be fully compensated. Once that was done, however, she began moving towards the bridge for only a brief time, scanning inside a room and opening the door cautiously, scanning inside. "No lifesigns," she commented quietly before stepping into the medbay. "But at least some of the crew has now been accounted for." Indeed, the bodies of three scientists were inside the medbay. "Seems someone shot the men. Ballistic, low powered, probably a pistol. The lady..." Helen stepped out of her armor for the first time, making her way to the infirmary's supplies, which was about as far as the female scientist had made it as well. Without the armor, Helen could still clearly handle herself, but there was no mistaking her figure for a man's, far from it. Ignoring or unaware of any consternation that might cause her partner, she used one hand to open the infirmary supplies, the other clutching the wound on her stomach.

"As I was saying," she continued, her voice fairly husky, but still feminine without the voice changer, "she seemed to be going for the supplies. Maybe trying to get something to heal the men, but either way, whoever shot them got her first and strangled her. I don't know if it was personal, but something definitely seems less professional with that one." As she spoke, Helen took some medical gel, applying it to her stomach injury before scanning the blood on her hand into a computer system. "Good. Don't see anything in my blood that isn't supposed to be there. Just a simple flesh wound that is now healing." She looked around the infirmary. "See if there's a console around. We have cameras here, maybe they caught the attack."

 

[Writersblockade]

”Went right through the armor”

That statement reverberated in his mind, and almost anything they’d said after that was lost in some kind of isolated fog as he looked harder at the creature and saw its tail. How shit that this was nasty! He’d seen mech designs where they have loose plates that would lock together during a strike to make the limb more rigid and the blow back more punch, but he’d never seen it on an alien lifeform. His head then slowly panned to the armor, now that he knew the damage was done, he had to see where. The abdomen oh no…that meant the integrity was shit now unless he could patch it. He wasn’t prepared for this! It wasn’t supposed to be a combat zone, so he’d only brought a standard repair kit. It had patch solution, but nothing for that kind of damage!

And the pilot was hurt inside. Stinger, she said she got hit with the stinger. He wasn’t a medical professional! ’Calm down, Nolan…you still know how to use a goddamn first aid kit’ He was forcing himself to breath, still on his own supply and not realizing the area around him was good because…well…he wasn’t thinking about it! “I can’t patch that hole. If we can’t patch then we have to ditch…well…we might be able to just drift it over, but we’ll need to get you a suit. There were a ton of supplies in the loading bay, we got a good chance there to find something. Enough of anything I can jury rig, but it’ll be dicey. Space is one unforgiving bitch.” The back of his mind was thinking about the chances of needing to be isolated from them. Who knew what was going on with the stinger. Usually it’s a paralytic agent…

They weren’t feeling affected now, but what about later? What if the difference in biology only made it slower? He couldn’t do anything for it. He had to at least give them a chance to fight. He’d patched in the run diagnostics Some damage in places, but light. Breech, of course. He turned off the bright red annoying indicator for that one, because we get it, thank you. Projected gait would be a stagger, he could compensate for the balance to use more of a shuffle walk. “Okay, you’re going to have less of a normal walk and more a…remember those BR-14 with the awkward legs? You’ll walk a lot like that.”

Thankfully he was ready faster than he thought. The armor they wore was actually a more recent model. He was impressed. “You know, I normally see people with armor…they fit like cheap suits, but they can get by. You did alright with this one…they made a model change right after, but I still respect the piece. Craftsmanship, you know?” He found that he was babbling. Never a good sign. Babbling means he was nervous. When they finally got to moving again, he took one last look at the dead creature and followed behind. Again he panned and covered as they made their way to the bridge, with a slight and very understandable detour to the medbay.

And saw another sign that highlighted just how much they needed to go. Bodies. He was going to make a comment went the armor sectioned open and revealed…a woman?! He thought she was a he the whole time. There was the voice…and well…the voice! ’Does that really register as important right now, Nolan?’ He had to admit, when he had a point, he had a point. He observed the bodies as she explained her take on what happened “If you say so…” he added, having zero knowledge of how a murder scene would play out. His eyes slid over to her. It couldn’t be helped. She was quite attractive, but also hurt, and his mind was still trying to get over the whole ‘thought she was a man’ thing.

Her suggestion made him chuckle, “These places are always networked in, so the monitor showing you nothing is wrong is alllllsooooo…” he’d patched in and smiled “good enough to be a console. “Some of these vid files are locked. Like, it will fuck itself or you if you do it wrong, encryption. I’m gonna leave those alone. This might be what we need…” He pulled up a video that showed the doctor with her head down and reviewing a pad, before she looked up and saw two men stagger in with their arms out, as if imploring. She helped them both to a seat and turned to head to the case lined with vials. She suddenly jumps and turns.

The video shows the impacts of the rounds into the two men’s bodies. She looks to them, then to the person who entered. She’s talking, but also stepping back slowly, but the person was fast enough to knock her down. She seemed to be striking him with something, but he’d still on her. His back is in the way of the scene, but the Doctor’s arm slows as it strikes, and then simply drops to the side. The man holds for a while longer and then stands and looks down at her another full minute before exiting the room. “What the fuck is going on…?” Nolan asked in honest wonder.

 

[thebobmaster]

Watching the video, Helen felt troubled somehow. Not that doctors were necessarily fighters, but this one had been one, not that it did her much good. "At least one attacker," she commented finally. "And to be clear, you said it yourself. The escape shuttles are all still here. That means that there is a chance that whoever killed these three people are still on the ship. I don't even know if we can assume this man worked alone. He was in here to take down these three, but there was an entire crew. None of which, outside these three, have been accounted for."

Helen paused for a few seconds, then went over to the monitor herself, searching through the video files. "This camera was networked into a couple of the other rooms," she commented. "Barracks, it seems, probably to keep an eye on anyone quarantined without needing to leave the infirmary." She ran a hand over her eyes briefly, then went through any unlocked videos, stopping on one.

On that video was a rather disturbing sight, at least for Helen. Another member of the crew had been asleep in the barracks, before someone permanently disrupted the guard's rest. It was hard to notice through the video, but a shimmering figure calmly seemed to move up to the bunk before what almost looked like disembodied hands grabbed the pillow from the empty bunk, smothering the unfortunate guard. As they were bent over the pillow to apply the pressure, Helen spoke. "Likarsi. Has to be." She'd crossed paths with the species before. They were scaled humanoids, and they had an uncanny ability to change their color, blend in with the environment. A chill ran down her spine as she quickly pressed a few buttons, sealing the door. "Which means we are never safe. I've no idea when this video was taken, but if the killers are on the ship, and one of them is a likarsi, they could be anywhere. I don't even know if we are safe in here, because they could be in here as well and we wouldn't know."

She focused her breath, clearly trying to keep calm, but nerves were far from just creeping in. "We have a human and a likarsi, at the very least, to worry about. Of course, there is one potential sign of something. Life support was turned off when we boarded. There's no way that likarsi could have survived without a life support system, and they didn't have one when eliminating the guard. Which means they either found someplace safe when the life support system went down...or they didn't."

 

[Writersblockade]

“Likarsi? Stop joking around…” But then he thought back to that feeling he had about being watched…followed. The armor in front and him watching the rear could have been a deterrent from a sneak attack…but now? The pillow being used to suffocate the person in the barracks somehow seemed more sobering than the deaths here. They seemed to be on the same wavelength as he brought up his rifle again to try and look for not specific thing, just something that was wrong. Panel that seemed off, flooring that was just out of pattern, Likarsi were tough bastards to sniff out, but once you got a hang of their tactics, it got easier…at least that’s that the manual always said…good thing life worked like a manual.

When she made the statement about not knowing if Likarsi were around, he shrugged and made sure he looked up as a part of his panning, “I’m not some foremost expert, but I think you have infra-red in your armor. Me, I have to go around trying to look at everything like it’s some child’s ocular puzzle. The one’s where the jumble of shit starts to look like a shape when you let your eyes just…slide into it?” He chuckled and lowered his rifle and brought up his holo keyboard. If they were going to die, the least he could do was die while trying to figure shit out. “Okay…you’re hit, but alive. I’m unscathed for now. We have a potential kill squad where and I am feelings very underdressed. Call me what you want, but I vote we get the hell out of here.”


She seemed to ignore him altogether, which told him all he needed to know at this time. Retreat was either an impossibility, or the situation did not merit the entertaining notion of leaving good credits behind because the tech guy decided that it was a good idea to bail. He’d never work for any company like this again. The stink of that kind of decision would follow him wherever he went. Whatever he did. “Fiiiiiine, okay, look…Life support shut down. That’s still a lot of air under the worst of scenarios. Nothing extravagant…thermal wraps and layers for warmth retention…It’s possible. I hate to admit it, but it’s possible. And if it’s possible, then that reason enough to keep his head on a swivel

“Okay…baring the big hole in your armor, it still works, and we’re going to need it if we want to keep our advantage here. How’s your stomach? And…” He pointed to the dead men…then the dead lady…and then finally where the dead lady was going. “What was she going for?” He went over to the cabinet the doctor was facing before she got jumped. All the bottles were accounted for, it seemed, not misplaced in a way that would be discerned, and as much as he considered himself an intelligent guy, he knew absolutely nothing about the labeled drugs he beheld. Only that the doc was going for it to help whoever those guys were with whatever made them sick.

 

[thebobmaster]

Helen headed over to the cabinet, taking a look for herself at the drugs, but shaking her head slightly as she did so. "There's no way to know. If these people were poisoned before they were shot, we'd have to do a scan or autopsy to find out for sure...and that's not exactly something that we have time for. We came here to find out what happened, possibly salvage whatever we can, and then get off the ship. That is legitimately all that I intend to stick around for."

Heading back for her armor, Helen climbed back inside, sealing it up and checking the systems to be sure. "My stomach is fine." She scanned the room before opening the door and stepping outside slowly, scanning the hallway once again. "Corridor's clear," she commented, walking down towards the bridge more slowly than before as she constantly scanned.

Just outside the bridge, she stopped suddenly, holding a hand back as a caution to her partner as her dominant hand drew a pistol, firing several shots into the ceiling. After a brief pause, she scanned where she shot, nodding slightly. "Another one of those mutated creatures. I wasn't about to let it get the jump on us this time."

That, however, was more warning than either of them got for what happened next, as the bridge door suddenly opened. Even with the lights on, there seemed to be no one there, but two sets of guns fired simultaneously, Helen's pistol and what sounded like an assault rifle. Helen staggered back slightly, something in her armor crackling as the sound of a body hitting the ground could be heard from the bridge. As she tried to speak, there was a warbling at first before her modulator cut out fully. "Likarsi dealt with," she informed Nolan in her normal voice. "Thank you for reminding me about the infra-red. If he had been faster, that would have been a lot messier than just a broken modulator." Stepping into the bridge, she activated the terminal. "Let's see what you can find through these logs. I'll keep guard for anyone else who might try to get to us."

 

[Writersblockade]

The man breathed a deep sigh before putting on his game face and going back out there on her all-clear. He knew he shouldn’t be making a big deal over her being female and all, but it just wasn’t some stuff you saw every day! Grunts? He’d seen his fair share of female grunts, and they came in all shapes and sizes but armor jockeys was usually an all boys club, which explained the voice modulation. Something to further distract people from knowing she had tits in there. For the same exact reasons he was spending so much time thinking about it, so didn’t he feel all goddamn evolved? That he almost ran into her while being distracted by the whole thing gave him absolutely zero points on the matter.

There was a stillness, and then shots out of seemingly nowhere scared the shit out of him to the point where he fumbled and almost randomly shot his rifle! He was appreciative of her explanation, but that didn’t give him the years back of his life! They were both even more careful now when approaching the bridge. Since he was primarily covering the rear, he didn’t see much ahead of them. He only heard the door open and then firearms. He made himself a small target behind the armor, then popped out the moment she fired back in case she needed another weapon firing in the same direction. He was pushed back some as she staggered, but the stabilizer adjustments must have held because the weeble wobbled but didn’t fall down!

He understood when she told him about the Likarsi. It was just wonderful that they had one less thing to kill them on the shit. “Glad I could help…” he said in response to her thanks, “but you’re making it really hard to make fixing your armor a low cost job.” The dead Likarsi was the only thing on the bridge, which was par for their particular course at the moment, but he did as she asked and immediately patched into the bridge terminal. After a minute or two he smiled. “I’m in! And…ummm…why does it look like everyone’s in the engine bay? Everyone alive, at least…” He was able to feed he an update to her ship’s mapping to show last known locations of various people who were alive to a point and then…not.

Nolan would try to explain , “See…everyone who's alive is here…” and pinged the engine bay, “But there are groups of last knowns here…here…here…annnnnd here. We know about this one, that was medbay, and by far the smallest group. These others…you notice anything about where they are?” She would have, with her pedigree. Blocks of dead placing themselves in rooms that had only one way in and one way out? Seemed like a series of last stands. “Looking into logs…” He started with the most recent one first and watched as a woman spoke quickly into the recorder.

“This is Dr. Melonie Grant, using Captain Alvarez’s com for logs because…well…he’s gone. We were developing something…something new, but we didn’t account for the creature’s venom having a unique effect on the human body. The venom could kill anything in minutes, except humans. The Humans exposed instead displayed heightened states of sexual aggression. The aggression would drive them to rape, eventually. Anyone raped would also exhibit the very same sexually aggressive traits within 24 to 48 hours. They rape to spread…after that, they seem…dormant, as if waiting, but please…if anyone sees this…blow the ship. It and it’s crew…I. I am amongst the lost. Do not let this ship get to more people!”

Small arms fire sounded in the back of her as suddenly screams can be heard as the doctor was yanked from view of the recorder. He took a look at Helen’s armor and grimaced “It sounds like we have to get back to that medbay…”

 

[thebobmaster]

As she made her way into the bridge terminal, she absorbed both the video and his explanation of where everyone had gone, as well as his question. "Last stands. Let's see what they were standing against." As she watched the video playback, Helen felt a strange mix inside of her. It was disturbing, seeing what exactly happened to the crew. The crew had seemingly sacrificed itself either from the virus or simple last stand and suicides. Mercy kills, maybe.

"Why would anyone research something like this?" she wondered aloud. "Was this the only thing they were developing, or just the latest?" Leaving the question unanswered, at least for the time being, she stepped back, and then hesitated.

"I wouldn't want you to run up too many costs," she commented, stepping out of the armor again. "We know the bridge is secure now, so we can just come back when we are completely finished with this. As you suggested, we should get back to the medbay." With that, Helen once again led the way back to the medbay, but she was moving...differently. Some of it was being out of the armor allowing her to move more quickly down the hall, but that didn't explain a certain...slinkiness to her movements, her hips seeming to sway more than necessary as she made her way to the infirmary.

It was almost subconscious for Helen, to show off her body a bit to her partner. It wasn't something that would normally cross her mind, but for some reason, she wanted him to take notice of her as more than just a soldier, a meat shield. The ship wasn't going anywhere, and neither was any more information or data. And the crew had been, in one way or another, accounted for. Surely, there was time for a little break. Have some fun on one of those medbay beds...

 

[Writersblockade]

Her questions were sensible, and even though she may have been asking herself, Nolan couldn’t help but want to chime in. “Sometimes you have happy accidents. Something meant to be one thing, but instead became another. Those mutations…fortunes could be made with those. Would make sense as to why the Likarsi was sent in. Corporate espionage is still a very big way to get a leg up on another company.” He was busy trying to figure out the encrypted files. He probed lightly, but that was it. Couldn’t risk the file’s automated defenses kicking in and completely shutting shit down. He couldn’t think of a more horrible way to spend an evening…or whatever the fuck it was.

When she stepped out of the armor, he was going to make sure she knew that what he said was not meant to be perceived as an invitation to go without her armor. Quite the contrary…the worse the news was, the more likely they were going to need it. But they also needed to make sure she was healthy, so proceeding to the medbay without it could be seen as energy conservation. He was following her lead out of the bridge, panning and scanning as he was known to do, except it was getting harder to concentrate with her hips swaying like that. See? Armor. She gets herself out of it and he’s like some dog in heat.

The tight suit that makes it possible to go with long-term usages in one of those walking tin cans, was a weapon of mass distraction for him now. Seeing as how his life was in actual danger, he tried desperately to keep to the standard operating procedures. It was a shame that Nolan hadn’t had the chance to review the earlier logs. The ones that talked about just how…amourous some of the crew members were getting. About how it was likely just the result of them being close to goal and ready to ship out. A chance to unwind with someone who held your eye until you wanted them to hold something else.

Nolan expected that whatever had hit, had hit very fast. He was both right and wrong. What hit had spread fast, but the actual hard-hitting shit didn’t occur until later. The contagion had spread like normal from consensual sex, and people acted more or less as normal as well, but met with resistance or refusal? The contagion spiked sexual aggression. Rapes became commonplace, as it was the only way for the contagion to spread to the remaining survivors who’d caught on. He knew none of this before walking into the medbay with his partner, and would likely still know none of it if he survived.

 

[thebobmaster]

Helen was unaware of what, exactly, was causing her to feel the way she did. She had no idea of the infection that was running through her bloodstream from the creature that had attacked her. It didn't matter, in any sense. What mattered was the effect that it had on her. She knew they had a mission, but that didn't matter to her anymore. All that mattered was the lust. The need to have sex. She needed it, craved it. She was going to have it.

When they were inside the infirmary once again, Helen quietly sealed the door behind them, the action presumably seeming to be in aid of keeping them secure from anyone or anything that might be a danger to them. The infirmary was a safe zone now, right? Well, it would be if Nolan cooperated with Helen. Nolan...

Helen turned to face Nolan after the door was sealed and secured. "Well, we're back in the medbay. Nice and secure. No one here but the two of us..." Her already low voice had a certain husky quality to it as she spoke, reaching behind her to unfasten the seals on her suit. Before long, the suit that had left little to the imagination was around her ankles, and she was leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination at all. Her large breasts swayed as she approached Nolan, full of both confidence and sheer lust. "Now, why don't you take that armor off, and let us take a little break?" she questioned, placing a hand directly over his crotch and squeezing gently.

 

[Writersblockade]

Nolan went in with her, sweeping the room as he did to make sure that they’d re-secured the area. There was no telling whether or not something came in while they were gone, and he wasn’t in the mood to take chances. This was all a little too much! He’d heard of contagions on ships, and he’d known people to make the hard choice to scuttle the ship they were on to prevent things from spreading. Selfless choices that made heroes…but he was no hero. He didn’t want to die, and he wanted off of this accursed thing before anything got worse! He’d gone to the furthermost back to check on the medicines again. It was here…it had to be!

The secured click and chirp of the door was expected, but the sound of her voice afterwards was now. He turned, suddenly unsure of what he was facing, yet very very aware that he was in potential danger, but unable to turn away from the sight of her. He was never really popular with women…credits made him more popular, and maybe he was a decent enough lay when bodies were scarce, but to have someone like Helen advancing on him? No chance. Not even a little! The armor queen had slipped from her suit like a snake shedding its skin, leaving her in her present form. Alluring…desirable…seductive.

He didn’t know when he did it, but he’d dropped the gun. She backed him into a wall, and with nowhere to go, the pheromones she emitted from her now naked body were the stuff of procreation perfection. The need to spread the infection creates ways of making mating easier. Natural. Her body’s movements, her voice change, even her pupils now that he had nowhere else to go. Her nipples were fully erect and looked positively aching, and as much as his mind attempted to fight, his hands were moving to the clasps and straps to undress, and his cock engorged to her touch. “H-Helen…we…we don’t have to do this.” It was literally an act of sheer will to even say as much, because his body wasn’t stopping.

Clunky sounds as his helmet and armor fell to the ground. They were unusually loud in the silence room, but he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference with his heart hammering in his chest, and his need for her becoming increasingly overpowering. It wasn’t long before he was naked as well, and the last ditch effort for his mind to stop her was to make him push her back. He thought he’d done it, too, except he came to realize that his hands had only made it to her breasts to cup them greedily as he fully formed in her hand, stiff and demanding.

 

[thebobmaster]

Helen moaned softly as he gripped her breasts in his effort to push her off. "Oh, I beg to differ," she responded to her words, her voice even huskier if that was at all possible. "We do have to do this. And you badly want to as well." As he stripped down, she continued massaging his crotch, bringing him fully erect as she pressed him less than gently against the wall, guiding his cock into her without any further delay. At this point, there was no getting out of it, or around it. Helen was going to have the closest male available, and that happened to be Nolan.

Panting softly, she rocked her hips, driving him deeper into her with each movement as she moaned. She didn't try to take his hands off of her breasts, instead seeming to encourage his fondling as she pressed her right hand against his briefly. Of course, the pheromones coursing through her body were responsible for her sexual interest in Nolan, but he would be unaware of that little detail, and what part of Helen was aware of it was locked away. All she knew was that she needed this, and more. So much more...

Kicking the gun away almost casually, she began to go from merely assertive to aggressive as the pheromones began to spike. Driving him deeper, her left hand gripped him by the throat, holding him against the wall and squeezing at the same time her lower regions began to clamp down as well. Growling sensually, she narrowed her eyes. "This is so good for both of us. I hope you have the sense to not try to reject how good this is..."

 

[Writersblockade]

He’d never been so split in his life, and he’d never…ever been one to just wantonly give in to his lusts, but he was being affected…infected. He could feel it, and for a few horrifying moments, he’d witnessed himself doing things he would not normally do while in a hostile environment with a person he knows was exposed to a potentially dangerous contaminant. Nolan squeezed more, feeling the hardened nubs against his palm and the pressure of her hand on his throat, tilted his head more, even as his bespeckled eyes stared down at her. The man had tasted bliss in the coldness of space, his cock treated to a different kind of vacuum as she pushed herself more against him and therefore him more into her.

One arm instinctually slipped under a leg to hold it up, but that same arm wrapped around to hold her to him. “It is good…” His hips bumped against her, forcing him the rest of the way in her. Everything felt heightened, and the full insertion of his cock within the welcoming folds was like glimpsing the sweetest of afterlifes, if only for a moment. That moment, of course, only built on itself. Sensation pushed the need to feel and the need to feel urged for more sensation. The testing thrust from his point against the wall would become merely a pulsecheck of Helen’s preparedness. Sunken into her gripping warmth, a ripple of sensation pushed across his entire being and made his mouth part in almost soundless ecstasy before that said hand on her leg squeezed, and he began to thrust as she needed.

They were not lost for good, but they were lost to their moment as spiked levels of testosterone and estrogen practically guaranteed copulation. The very scent of their sex could turn the most pious of humanity into aching vessels, yearning for the touch of the physical to journey into the very depths of spiritual awareness. His eyes would not stray from hers as he pulled her and pushed off the wall, his throat thickened from the exertion and grip she maintained, and he burned for her. Burned in a way he could not comprehend and would never be able to replicate. It was the most double-edged gift of the infection. The push…the link…the desire. Were he ever to be cured, and his odds were quite low, but if it ever happened, he would be forever broken in that he would never feel for anyone the way he felt for her under the thrall of the creature’s chemical influence.

 

[thebobmaster]

Helen herself had not been one to give into lust often. She was a forceful personality at the best of times, and that could put people off, but usually she could respect that. This was not usual circumstances, however. The infection was starting to roar through her, begging for release. She loosened her grip on his throat as she pressed harder against him, moaning softly as his arm wrapped around her and pulled her against him even further.

Quickly, as he started to push off the wall, Helen reversed their positions, putting her own back against the wall as she thrust her hips in rhythm with his pushes, tightening her lower muscles as she did so with soft moans. As he kept thrusting into her, she reached around her partner, squeezing his rear as she kept thrusting up against him. Any chance Helen had of gathering control of herself, pushing away the infection for even a second, had gone long ago. Right now, this was all she wanted. All she wanted was to be thrust into again and again, even if it burned her out.

"This is very good..." she confirmed, even as he thrust into her, making her push off the wall slightly with each thrust, panting softly between words, pressing her breasts into his chest as she moved, eager to make him feel every part of her body she could, set off any sensations she could. She'd always had a bit of a darker streak, one that could push lust into odd directions, and she was very close to losing any inhibitions she had to experience those desires that she had kept to herself for so long. Towards that end, she reached down to his hand, the one not currently wrapped around her back, and sliding up to her breasts...and then further, placing it on her own throat. She was strong enough that, if he got carried away, she'd be able to fight him off. At least, that's what the little part of her mind that was still rational rationalized. The rest of her mind just wanted more, and harder in every way. Rougher. Meaner. She wouldn't do it to him, though. He needed to focus, she was just his for the time being. That was the way it went, right? That's what her hormones were telling her.

 

[Writersblockade]

Things were happening. Well, that much was evident, but more like things were happening within Nolan that would otherwise have made what he was doing nigh impossible. He wasn’t this person! He wasn’t…right? Or was he this person and never displayed it. Or maybe never had the occasion to go so far with a woman. The switch was sudden, hard, and only served to drive home the feelings he still had the ability to differentiate from his norm, and even that was fading as the infection spread and he found himself unable to think beyond the basic yet augmented message in his mind. Spread. Seek pleasure. Consume. Over and over again, hammering home like a war drum. Before he knew it the hand she’s placed at her neck was squeezing.

He didn’t even understand it. He was there and not there. A passenger to what his body was doing, and yet he could feel himself grip, and he knew…gods forgive him but he knew exactly him much to squeeze and lift just a little so that she knew it was his control over her. He felt the smile slide across his face and it was as if an invader turned his joy past the point of good sense, and he began to slam into her with his hips, pushing her up the wall as his cock pistons inside her on an insane race to the finish line. His neck muscles bulge to the point of making him appear monstrous as the infection pushes his body closer and closer to the edge. To the things that people became on the video.

Helen’s words encouraged him, and she freely gave him access to her. He was witness to every subtle shake, every jiggle. He felt her milking his cock with each strong thrust and in that moment, the infection made them one. Used their connection to mix sensations and drove the access to pleasure into unknown territories. His mouth opened to the input he received, unprepared for such a rush of unfiltered signals, he body released to save itself, the way a pilot would dump weight to keep the plane flying a little longer. Thrust after thrust sent his seed firing inside her, and it was like unburdening his soul for one last hit of the best drug he’d ever had.

His cock pushed inside her to his limit, empty yet still throbbing. Seizing to push out what was no longer there to empty and experiencing what was likely his last true moment of clarity before the infection begins to spread in earnest. “Helen...we need to cure ourselves…or maybe cryo sleep until someone figures this out…” Nolan slowly removed his hand from her neck and slid his softening cock out of her. It was awkward, seeing what the results were. Feeling that horror of the loss of self, “It’s only going to get worse if we don’t..I can feel it…I can feel it in my head…” He looked at her on the verge of tears. He didn’t want to die, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted the cure either

 

[thebobmaster]

Helen gasped softly as his hand squeezed down on her throat. Like Nolan, she could feel herself losing what little control she had managed to maintain up to this point. She wasn't feeling nearly as aggressive as he was, however. Maybe it was the infection wanting to spread more, knowing that if she pushed back as violently as he could, it would cut off its ability to spread somewhat more effectively than the other way around, but as his hand gripped tighter, she didn't resist, letting him do as he wished to her.

She hit the wall firmly with each thrust, shuddering with soft moans as he slammed into her over and over, tightening as he kept thrusting, her chest swaying hard as she slammed him into her deeper with each thrust, driving her own hips forward in rhythm as she quickly began to approach her own climax. Before long, it was there, rushing out of her and through her all at once, even as his seed pumped in. Feeling the juices run down her thighs, Helen's mind began to truly give into the infection, her body wanting nothing more than more. At any cost, anything would be worth getting that pleasure again.

Hearing him speak and pull out of her gave Helen just a few seconds, if that, of slight clarity. She'd been hit by the infection first, and that made it harder for her to focus. She knew that Nolan was right. They were in grave danger if they didn't do something to cure this infection, or at least find a way to slow its effects. Cryo sleep wasn't a bad idea. And yet...

"Is that really such a bad thing, if we let it into our heads?" she heard herself ask. It wasn't even her own mind thinking these thoughts. She knew that they desperately needed the cure if they wanted to get out of here without trouble, and yet... "You can't deny you enjoyed that. Big strong woman like me, body like mine, letting you take control. Is that really something you think will be that easy to move on from? Even if we continue past this, it won't be the same..."

Helen shook her head softly, holding a shaky hand against it as she looked down. "We...We should cure ourselves. We really should..." she whispered, regaining her senses for at least the time being. But even in her right mind, she could remember how good it had felt, giving into her basest instincts like that, and if they didn't hurry to find a cure, she wasn't sure she'd be willing to let Nolan take that away from her.

 

[Writersblockade]

Nolan knew they needed the cure. He remembered the vials that the doctor was going for, and a look in that direction made him frown. Something wasn’t right. “What…wait…” he walked slowly to the refrigeration unit and shook his head. There was a whole gap in the vials. He checked the records and found that the contents labeled LV-426 were nowhere to be found. That couldn’t be right…right? And they’d already taken down their other occupant, and he had nothing on him.

“But they…weren’t they…?” He reviewed the footage from the attack and the doctor was killed, but the section of vials were still present. There was no gap. “We might have more than one person here against us…we have to find him, and fast. Things are starting to feel weird.” He didn’t want to elaborate, opting to instead collect the rest of his items and his gun. He tried to make sure he kept his distance from her. When she began to speak, the words penetrated deeper than they should have. Deeper than he would have let them on their own. He wanted to say no to her question. Nolan had never taken anyone like that before. Never felt the need so…primal before. He was confused and scared and incredibly horny.

They seemed to arrive at the same response at the same time. The cure. They needed the cure. He saw the worry in her eyes, but he swore he saw something else. Indecision? A brief hesitation? Nolan wasn’t sure, but it quickly took a backseat to the primary concern he had, which was when he was going to fuck her again. ’NO!’ he thought furiously, placing some distance between them. “We need answers…which means we have to find who or whatever took those vials.” He tried to pull up the footage, but there was nothing. It was offline even before they got there, so it was done...well, he had no idea. He thought he’d seen it when they left, but there’s so many vials, he could be wrong. Checking his weapon, and sucked his teeth and nudged to the door. “Come on…we gotta get moving.”

 

[thebobmaster]

When Helen heard Nolan's reaction when he headed over to the cabinet, she could quite quickly put together what had happened. At this point, he'd be heading over to look for a cure. The fact that he was talking about someone else being on the ship, and needing to find them fast, told her that the cure wasn't there, and had been taken by someone. "Understood," was all she said out loud, but her mind was whirling at the thought, and other feelings coursing through her body.

As he backed away from her, she fought the urge to close the distance between the two, to pin him down and have her way with him as best as she could. It was a close battle, and she felt her muscles tense as she resisted, turning her back to him. She glanced at her underarmor, but when she approached it, she hesitated, one hand brushing over it. It made sense to put it on, lessen the temptation, but she felt so free without it...so unrestricted. The armor weighed her down, the underarmor restricted her movements. It made some sense to just...leave it behind. If she needed it again, after all, she would know exactly where it was. Besides, she could handle herself in a fight in any condition or state of dress.

While far from logical, her thoughts were enough to convince her addled mind beyond what control she had managed to maintain. Instead, she simply grabbed her combat knife and sheath before standing, heading out into the corridor, leaving her bare backside facing Nolan without daring to look back at the man. "I agree. We need to find that cure. Before we don't want to."

With that, Helen led the way through the ship again, moving much more cautiously now that she knew that someone else was on the ship, and probably someone much more infected than them. She had experienced Nolan when the infection was in control. It hadn't felt bad to her, but with how aggressive he got, she suspected that a fully infected person wouldn't have been able to pull back. And why did that make her shiver on the inside in not fear, but anticipation?