The dockmaster's crew had no time to understand what was happening before they were overrun. Trotting down the ramp, octopus spawn sprung from podded humanoids, leaping onto unaware human bodies.
One of dock workers tried to smash an attacking octopus with his clipboard, but missed, getting tangled up in its arms. A second octopus soon found his head, crunching its way into his brain.
The more aware workers fled towards the doors while the podded humanoids chased them. There were two hatches on either side at the rear of the shuttle bay, with a reinforced bunker built between. The workers split up as they neared the bunker, trying to reach the closest exit.
A lurid red light lit around the periphery of the hatches, reinforced blast doors dropping. The workers panicked, pounding futilely against the reinforced metal. Some of them turned around, screaming as octopuses leaped onto their bodies. Others sobbed, accepting the inevitable as octopus arms wound their way around their heads.
In a matter of moments, they were all under Mistress' control. Rosanna was pleased at their efficiency. She looked at the bunker and frowned. What she wasn't pleased at was the man sitting at the control console, speaking rapidly into his comm unit.
The dock master must have been on duty in the control room, and had reacted quickly. The doors to the bunker were locked as well. She looked up, focusing on a metal hatch built into the wall.
Whuffing, she gestured to another humanoid, who came to assist her. The second humanoid leaned over to crouch on the ground, on all fours. Rosanna stepped onto her body, flexing her taloned toes to get a good grip.
Her octopus arms attacked the grate, squeezing through the gaps and attaching with their suckers. With one big jerk, it came off in her hands. She tossed it to the side, looking at the dark interior. She wasn't sure where this led, but it was probably connected to the bunker in some fashion. There were likely baffles that closed if the shuttle bay was vented, but if she could get her spawn far enough inside before that happened, it wouldn't matter.
She reached up for the two octopuses which sat on her shoulders, her first two children. Tugging gently, they came off, wrapping their arms around the palms of her hands. She placed them in the vent, spreading her fingers. Whistling at them, they chirped back at her, unfolding their arms and scurrying into the vent. She wished them well, and hoped that they would find useful prey.
Hopping off her makeshift step ladder, she looked out over the bay to see other humanoids unloading the shuttle. They had borrowed some of the repulsor lifts sitting around the bay, maneuvering around the maintenance pits to carry out the crates, stacking them in a neat rectangle on the floor.
Another set of Tentacles walked up to the ventilation shaft and sent their cargo into the vent, octopus arms fighting each other as they scrambled inside. This left the two humanoids nude, naked. Without their spawn, they could assist to hold down potential prey, but could not enslave them. Rosanna shivered at the thought of being without her octopus helpers in this hostile environment.
Motion caught her eye. She peered through the reinforced glass of the control room, trying to figure out why the dock master had abandoned his desk. Standing up, he was looking towards the rear of the room. She couldn't hear anything from inside the bunker, but she could see his lips stretch in a scream right before reddish arms wrapped themselves around his head.
Her eye bright, she watched as one of her spawn wrapped him up like a present, claiming his head for its own. The bulbous top of the octopus flipped into the proper position, its eye winking at her. The dock master dropped as if his strings had been cut. Rosanna grinned. If he had been smart, he would have dropped the forcefield holding the oxygen inside the shuttle bay. The vacuum of space would have made quick work of the invasion party before they could secure a foothold.
It was probably the misguided thought that he could save his crew mates. Feeling safe inside his bunker, he could wait for further commands without taking action himself. He was paralyzed due to a perceived lack of authority. Bad for him, but good for Mistress.
Sally walked down the ramp of the shuttle, a repulsor lift following behind her with a larger crate than the ones that held the flowers.
Rosanna stood waiting for orders with the other Tentacles, who were scattered over the shuttle bay. Some of them were still trying to find a way out of the main hatches, while others were investigating more vents. More octopus spawn were sent into the vents, in the hopes that they would be able to infiltrate the ship further. She was glad her small friends were so mobile. She certainly wouldn't be able to fit into one of the vents herself!
The doors to the bunker shifted, cycling open. The dock master must now be under Her control. Would he also unlock the doors to the shuttle bay? No, they were still shut, locked and secured. They weren't getting out that way.
Loudspeakers crackled to life. "This is the captain speaking," declared Roger. "Intruders in shuttle bay 2C, we have you surrounded. Give up now or we will be forced to space you. You have five minutes."
Sally stepped forward confidently. "We'll just see about that," she murmured.
She lifted a finger at Rosanna, who followed her into the bunker along with the repulsorlift, which carried the crate behind them like a puppy. She glanced over the rectangular box, curious. She was suspicious that whatever was in the crate, it wasn't more flowers.
The interior of the bunker was small, filled with equipment for operation of the bay. One end had a tracking radar with an arrival board and traction beam controls. The other had a top down camera view of the bay for positioning shuttles on landing pads. The rear of the room was filled with racks of computing equipment, a door leading back farther into a small bathroom.
The dock master was sitting at his chair, a small amount of drool leaking from his mouth. He moved to the side as Sally approached, giving her access to the communication console. She pressed the red button for direct bridge access. "This is Sally, on shuttle deck 2C, calling the captain."
Rosanna looked at her, baffled. That was tantamount to declaring that Sally was with the invaders. There would be no cloak and dagger here, she was putting it right out in the open. What was her plan?
The comm crackled, the voice of Roger intense. "I don't know who you are," declared the captain, "but you are not my security chief."
Sally laughed, amused. "Of course I'm Sally. But I'm also more." Her tone modulated, Sally's voice overlaid with the voice patterns of something more ancient and cold. "I have been here for a millennia, biding in peace, until the Dry came. They deemed my planet unsuitable for human life, then with audacity, decided to change it. They never checked the oceans to see if they were already occupied."
Sally leaned over the console, her voice sinking ever deeper. Her face turned blue, as dark as the deepest depths of the ocean. Rosanna shivered, feeling an ancient presence filling the room.
"No, they added foreign sea life that I had never seen before. At first, I accommodated their presence, but my attempts to reason with the sea creatures known as sharks all failed. My children were eaten. I could not contain my rage. I was forced to wipe them out and turn my attentions to land. I found that my world had been infested with bipeds who delighted in killing my spawn for sport."
Sally sighed. "Too many of my children have been wiped out by the Dry. I will not allow it to continue."
"Now listen here," replied the captain. "I have no idea what went before, and that isn't my responsibility. Now that you're here, perhaps we can negotiate a truce and start a peace conference."
"No, Captain, you listen here." She turned to the crate on the repulsor and lifted the lid open, revealing a miniature fusion bomb. "You sent your landing party not in peace, but as an act of war. If this bomb had been planted as you had intended, I would have been destroyed along with a large chunk of my planet. There can be no peace."
She paused. "If you vent this shuttle bay, I will detonate this bomb. Me, you, and everyone in this ship will be obliterated in the heat of a miniature star. If you don't want that to happen, you'll have to find another way to stop us. Sally, out."
The heavy influence of Mistress left her face, and Sally turned to look at Rosanna. "That won't hold him for long," she stated in her normal voice. "We need to hurry before he comes up with another viable option, or he decides that self destruction is preferable to being captured."
