Chapter 5

IT LIVES

SORREY FOR THE LONG DELAY BUT I FINALLY MANAGED TO CHIP AWAY THE WRITERS BLOCK AND AM NOW BACK

Please review

Chapter 5

Shadows In The Dark

A black figure raced through the air ducts toward the engine room where his comrades were waiting. As the figure emerged into the small crawl space under the engines one of his companions greeted him with a salute. “What is our mission status commander?” asked the man. Because of his facemask his voice came out with a harsh metallic sound.

“The situation has become quite grave” replied the commander “I believe the crew is getting suspicious of the package. It is only a matter of time before they figure out our plan.”

A third shadow stepped forward out of the darkness. “I understand our mission, but something unexpected has come up.” He said holding up a holopad. “it would appear that someone else already knows about our package. They have sent an agent to try and steal it.”

“Have you gotten a ID on the intruder” the commander asked.

“that is the unsettling part” the figure replied “they captured the agent in the act.”

“very well” replied the commander “this changes things a bit. We must now eliminate the intruder before the crew can interrogate him, if it is too late than everyone who was involved must be silenced as well.”

“that wont be necessary, the crew isn’t going to get anything out of the intruder Sir” answered the man “the intruder isn’t a human or even a sentient for that matter”

“Not Human”..? The commanders Glare froze the man in place. “This is not the time for jokes number 3.”

The man regained his composure and turned to face the commander. “Sir this is no joke, the Prisoner is a unknown variety of I. Raptus Praetoria…. a bug sir.” The man watched the commander carefully, knowing full well that he was authorized to kill each and every one of them if they couldn’t handle this mission. “I assume who ever sent it will have the creature self destruct before the crew has a chance to begin a full analysis of it.”

The commander stared at the man, eyes growing wide with panic behind his mask. “Do you have a visual of this creature in the holo pad.”

The man designated number 3 pressed a button bringing up the image. “This is the creature they captured.” He said pointing to miniature image of Cassandra that was now hovering in the middle of the room. “As you can see, it looks much different from all known subspecies of xenomorph that have been documented so far.”

The commander pulled out his own holopad and brought up an identical image file. As he compared the two images he became more and more panicked. Finally he looked up from the recordings clearly sweating inside the helmet. “It seems as though things are worse than I thought.” he said pulling up another data file. “This creature is a known threat to the corporation. Not only is it more intelligent than the average human, but there are distinct instances of it acting independently of a hive mind, and showing signs of self awareness. The creature in question has been codenamed Shadow, Primarily because of the hunter cloaking device it somehow managed to incorporate into its equipment. Though more it is more often referred to as such because so few people have had encounters with this being, that records of it’s existence remain to be officially accepted. This xeno has taken a specific interest in the package we are assigned to protect. In fact, this xeno is the reason it is being transported to the Gamma Prime high security research facility. Section 4 laboratories was too lax on security.”

Number 2 stepped forward and pointed to the holopad. “I think this should have come out before we got on this scrap heap of a ship in the first place. I mean everyone has heard rumors of the shadow’s existence, but frankly I never would have signed on for this if I knew that something like that would show up here. I want out.” The man said. The commander gave a gesture to number 5 who until now had remained silent in the corner of the room. Number 2 continued to speak “I was hoping to actually survive this missio… HURK ……” The man struggled for a bit before collapsing to the deck.

Number 5 checked to make sure number 2 was dead before releasing the electrical wire now wrapped tightly around the mans neck. “I knew this guy wouldn’t cut it even before we even left the base. I believe I told you about not choosing the new recruits for this one.” He said standing up and saluting the commander “where do you want the body sir.”

The commander smiled slightly inside his helmet. “You’ve been waiting to garrote someone since we got on this ship haven’t you.”

Number 5 grinned and turned to the other men in the room stretching his wire taut “now it seems as though the commander is willing to allow anyone who wants out to leave the ship.” The man kicked the body of number two into one of the engine reactors. “Anyone else care to join him.” The room went silent as all the men turned to the commander and saluted sharply.

The commander relaxed slightly. Number 5 was his best officer and a close friend who had a unique talent for keeping moral high through sheer terror. “Well men you heard him who else wants to join number two there. No one?? Well than lets continue with the mission. I want number 4 to silence the creature while number 1 and 3 plant the charges on the engines like planned. I will not see this mission fail this is bigger than all of us and remember Gencor wont hesitate to silence us is we fail.” With that the men filed out of the engine compartment and took up their positions around the ship. Save for number 2 who was now nothing more than a cloud of superheated plasma gently spiraling away into space. The commander smiled to himself slightly his tactical brain suppressing his initial uncertainty. “And so the game begins” he muttered to himself.