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Main Sim - Deck E Cargo Bay 1 - Strange Growls

Posted Aug. 15, 2022, 11:43 a.m. by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) (Gene Gibbs)

Posted by Vice Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - Deck E Cargo Bay 1 - Strange Growls
[snip]

”..Oh God I should have listened to Aunt Maria! She said all sorts of dangerous things lurked in the dark of space. That no one can hear you scream and....and…” he blabbered on, then let out a squeak of fright as the box let out another growl and clawing sound. “..Oh God come on where is that armory team?!? Its been nearly 2 minutes since I called!!” He said glancing to the door.

Two men stood outside the doors to the Cargo Bay on E Deck. Both were dark haired, though one, the taller and lankier, had his cut short to his skull with a pronounced widow’s peak while the other, shorter and stocker with his hair wavy, argued outside of the doors. The taller held a small tablet while the stocker held a scanner.

“Sir, I’m sure I heard something coming from inside. If you would stop talking about hockey and glorious Russia and how said it was that us Canadians kept kicking their hockey butts you’d hear it.” That was Petty Officer Rick Walters.

“It’s nothing,” came the thickly accented alto voice of Ensign Sasha Gagarin. “Nothing like the crowds of supporters cheering for us in the .. does that sound like arguing? A fight?” Both now tipped their ears to the steel doors. What came through was muted certainly but something was up. “Should we call security? Maybe it is an invasion.” The sound of that to Rick made it come out as ‘inwazion’ and it took him a moment to filter it.

“I,” Rick began. How does one talk to an excitable rookie Russian who needs a lesson in hockey lore that invaders wouldn’t be fighting in a cargo bay at night. Or would they? “Look, it’s probably just a couple of people trying to figure whether to alphabetize the cargo or arrange it by color. Or, something.” He sighed. “Let’s just go in. We have to check the air flow ratings and grav plating readings here anyway on this deck.”

“Just go in?” The voice was up an octave but it sounded like he was welcoming an adventure. “I was top boxer in my weight at the Russian Academy,” he announced. Rick looked at him and wondered, if, despite his height, that was featherweight. He just nodded and keyed the door to open. It made a soft pneumatic hiss then a grumbling slide.

As they both peered in, two faces, one pale and the other less so, they saw peering back at them another man with a pipe in his hand. “Hoy!” Rick said, thinking that he had been hefting that as a weapon against them, and jerked back a step, but then saw the terror in the man’s eyes. Rick didn’t know him. There were a lot of people on board yet that he did not know. A moment later there was a growl from beyond.

Wait, a growl? “Some kind of creature? From space?” Sasha exclaimed. Rick thought, ‘Where did they get these guys? Was I ‘that’ young?’ “No,” Rick said, recovering from his initial shock. “If it was then this poor fellow would already be possessed or dismembered. Didn’t you learn that at the Academy in Aliens 101?” Then he added, “Sir.” Then, to Booster, Rick said, “Uh, hi. Pest problem?” He tried peering beyond but all he saw were crates. They needed to do something with night rated lighting too. This was just too spooky monster hiding in the dark kind of setting.

NE Gagarin and PO Walters

Just as Booster finished his rambling about space monsters coming to ingest his innards there was another muted growl from within the dimly lit cargo bay. Then a screeching of metal on hyper-rubber, likely from a cargo container and a skittering of what sounded like something sniffing and then moving in their direction.....then soft ‘tick tick tick tick’ of what sounded like something four legged moved carefully in their direction from among the bustle of containers and the darker reaches of the bay....

GM CockRoach

“By the sweet Czar’s mother, what was that?!” Exclaimed Sasha, his eyes becoming like pies. “Probably a rabid Russian Wolfhound.” He backed up to be behind a crate.

Petty Officer Walters tried covering his mouth to stifle a mixed exclamation of ‘huh’ with a laugh. Was he the only ‘veteran’ in space here between the three of them? Well, veteran maybe, but maybe not with tick tick ticking of nails on the decking. His eyes fluttered about to try to identify where it was coming from but the echoes and darkness made it harder to pin down, or even how big it was. He frowned and should have ‘NOT’ watched an old movie of ‘The Mummy’ with his brother Warnie before being called back onto the ship.

What ‘would’ a dog be doing on board? He said dog. They had had a dog growing up, a husky named Silver, and it had made those sounds on the kitchen floor. Cats didn’t do that or most other animals. Those sounds made it sound ‘big’ with it escaping. A normal dog wouldn’t do that, or even wolf. Well, okay, he was speculating about the wolf part. Probably it was … wait, if nobody knew it was here then it’s not been fed and would be a hungry dog after a day or more. Who knows how much food was left in its crate? That would explain a lot. Still there were three of them. Dogs or even wolves were naturally cautious and unlikely to attack a group, even if hungry. His Canadian winter hikes in the North of Saskatchewan, and ‘wild’ orientations told him that. If there was only one person here, like Booster, then it might encourage an attack. But three? Not if they stay together.

“Anyone have sandwich on them? Any food?” All Rick had was some beef jerky that he had brought from back home and was loathe to give that up.

About that point Sasha found some nerves. “If that is a hungry beast, perhaps we should back out, close the door, find some food and inform our superiors that someone stowed away a fell beast aboard.” Rick nodded to himself. Not a bad thought. Fell beast might be a bit of an exaggeration. Still, a few minutes more would not hurt anything.

“Let’s do that,” Rick confirmed, tugging on Booster’s sleeve so they would all move back together. Unless of course Booster had a buffet in his pocket to toss out.

NE Gagarin and PO Walters


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