The Derelict

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SHIP (Big Beaver) DATA:_

OCCUPATONAL FUNCTION: Scavenging derelict ships and space stations.

CURRENT MISSION: Ongoing

LAST KNOWN LOCATION: Edge of the Obadiah System

CREW:

Klark Good/ Age: 43 / Height: 6'1"/ Weight: 203lbs/ Occupation: Mercenary

Olivia Baldwin/ Age: 18/ Height: 4'11"/ Weight: 89lbs/ Occupation: Marketer

Pygmy Gatts/Age: 20/ Height: 5'2"/ Weight: 102lbs/ Occupation: Engineer

STATUS: Missing crew. Emitting distress signal.

::BROADCAST SIGNAL TYPE:: AA5-M::

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Pygmy grimaced at Klark, who was staring at Olivia while she was reading. The crew had been on together for three months, and the entire time, Klark had been lusting for Olivia. Pygmy knew, but said nothing about it, trying to avoid further conflict. But she would cut off his hand if he so much as touched her.

Pygmy was at the counter of the ship's kitchen, while Klark and Olivia were in the sitting room. It was a small ship, but had enough cargo room to haul a lot of goods. Why Klark named it the "Big Beaver" was beyond Pygmy, and decided to not ask why.

"Remind me again why we're at the ass end of the solar system, Klark," Pygmy said, trying to get him away from Olivia.

"I told you," Klark said, getting up and sitting at the counter in front of Pygmy. "I got a tip from a guy who said that there was an abandoned station past Mo-4 that probably has goodies to grab. Said there was a good chance of there being Narc-Salts."

Pygmy hated shipping contraband items, but she couldn't deny that finding Narc-Salts would be a good thing. They were a dangerous and powerful drug. It was often referred to as "Super Cocaine," as it was five times as powerful. And it had a high price tag. Thanks to Olivia's marketing skills, the crew could get by for two years on a single shipment alone.

"How does he know that?" Pygmy inquired.

Klark smiled as he adjusted the settings on his V-Arm. It was a computer that was attached to someone's arm like a brace. It allowed the user to connect to the ship's mainframe without piloting it. You could issue diagnostics, receive system reports, and even give commands to the ship practically anywhere.

He answered her question. "He doesn't, but if a station is all the way out here, the people running it must have been hiding something from Galactic Protection."

"I guess so," Pygmy responded. "But there is a chance that nothing's out here, and I don't think that we can afford to refuel to get all the way back to Rust. This trip better be worth it."

Suddenly Klark's V-Arm started flashing blue. "We got something!" Klark yelled.

Olivia put down her book and rushed to the counter to investigate. "What is it? Something good?"

The V-Arm projected a holographic image of a large space station, roughly the size of a city relay. According the V-Arm, the station was called "Lotus." Pygmy recognized the architecture of the structure. It was typically used for pharmaceutical laboratories, but never on a scale such as this. "Looks like a science station of some sort," she explained.

"Jackpot," Klark said with enthusiasm. "It was probably owned by the Jackal Cartel! We may have Narc-Salts yet."

"I don't think it's the Cartel," Olivia interjected. "They prefer planetary operations, and they don't operate in this system as much. If I had to guess, I'd say that it belonged to Universal Genetics."

"Who cares?" Klark said. "That just means nobody will come after us if there is loot inside. Get ready. We're heading there now."

***

The ship approached the Lotus, floating derelict in the void of space. The crew looked at it through the observation window. It was clearly abandoned, as the exterior was worn by solar radiation and there was poor to no maintenance on minor damages. It turned out to be even bigger than expected. Pygmy guessed that it could potentially house a population of fifty thousand.

"If there are Narc-Salts in there," Olivia said. "We are going to be rich!"

Although everyone accepted that the station was empty, they still went through protocol. As the girls dressed in their scavenging gear, Klark tried to hail the station.

"Come in Lotus, this is the Big Beaver. Requesting permission to dock. Over." The only response he received was static.

"I repeat. Come in Lotus, this is the Big Beaver. Requesting permission to dock. Over." No response. "Alright girls! We're code blue. Let's make some money."

The ship entered the empty hangar, which had no anti-craft field active, so it flew in unhindered. After finding a suitable landing spot, the ship landed and activated the magnetic landing pads.

The ship's door opened and extended a ladder to the ground. The crew stepped into the hangar in their void suits, beginning their mission.

"A.G. and A.A. systems seem to be online," Pygmy said. "We don't need to magnetize our boots."

"Good," Klark replied. "I hate walking slow. Now let's find a way inside."

"Found one!" Olivia said, walking to a large door.

Pygmy looked around and noticed that there were other doors around the hangar as well. They had a lot to explore.

Pygmy and Klark met up with Olivia at the door. It was shut, and was reinforced excessively. Olivia went to the control panel and pushed the opening button, but nothing happened.

"No power," Pygmy said.

"Let's try another one," Klark said.

"There's no power in the doors, idiot." Pygmy went and opened the control panel, revealing a bunch of wires. "We just got to trigger the mechanism that opens it." She pulled a portable battery from her pack and began hot-wiring the door.

As Pygmy worked on the door, Olivia got nervous. She never scavenged a station before, and didn't know if there were any dangers in the situation.

"Hey, Pygmy," she called. "If we open that door, won't everything inside get sucking into space?"

"Nah," Pygmy responded. "Like I said earlier: The Artificial Atmosphere system is online. There is no vacuum."

With that the blast door opened, revealing a grey tiled hallway. Pygmy turned to Olivia and Klark. "Let's head inside."

As they stepped in, they all realized that the place was surprisingly creepy. It was dirty and muggy. The walls and ceiling were as gray as the floor, and although the lighting was bright it had a strange color that didn't match the place. The only sound you could hear was the hum of the station's systems.

Before the crew could continue on, a voice came from the intercom. "Quarantine breach detected. Sealing all doors now." The door behind them shut abruptly before its power was turned off again.

Klark ran to the door and slammed on it. "No no no!" he yelled. "Pygmy! Open this."

Pygmy, now in a panic, ran for the control panel and opened it. All the wires were torn to shreds, and the fuses were either burnt or missing.

"I can't," Pygmy said. "This panel is trashed. We need to find another way in."

Klark took deep breaths to calm down. He turned and looked at Olivia, who was using an E.T. to test and see if the air was safe to breathe. He looked at the small curves on her petite body. He looked away, hoping that Pygmy didn't notice. She did.

"Got it," Olivia said. "There's oxygen in the air. And no toxins. We can take our suits off."

"Fucking good," Klark remarked. "It's hot in this thing."

The crew took of their void suits and bagged them up. Then they all attached pieces of light combat armor to their jumpsuits for added protection. They didn't know if someone might be on board or not, and wanted to be ready for anything.

They explored the station, but found that every door they came across had no power, and were motion detecting doors, so Pygmy couldn't try and hot-wire it.

They eventually came across a cafeteria. Tables and chairs were scattered all over the place, tipped or damaged. Foods left on the standing tables were rotten beyond recognition, as if left for years.

"What happened here?" Olivia asked herself.

"I don't know," Klark responded, clearly as bewildered as she was. "Didn't the intercom say something about a quarantine?"

Olivia pullout out the E.T. again and tested the air. She observed the results. "Well, it's not an airborne disease or anything, so it must be something else."

Klark pulled out his laser pistol. "Let's stay frosty, just in case."

"Yeah," Pygmy said. "Let's try and find a control room. We got to get these damn doors open."

The scavengers continued on and tried to follow the room directions, but often ran into more sealed doors. However, they found one that wasn't.

The room was labeled "C-3378." The door was only partially closed, but a jam prevented it from shutting further.

Pygmy shined a light inside. It had some containers inside. "Looks like this wasn't a waste of time after all!" she said with excitement. At least they could bring something back to the ship.

Olivia stepped inside, followed by Klark, and finally Pygmy. They looked around to count the containers. There were fifteen on each side, perfectly symmetrical. The containers were large steel cylinders, each with a terminal to their right.

Klark approached one and placed his hand on it, then jolted back with a screech. "Gah!" he exclaimed. "Fucking cold!"

"I've seen these before," Olivia said. "My father once sold some to a merchant a few years back. They're cryogenic pods!"

Pygmy studied the structure of the pods. It was well built compared to the rest of the station. It was designed to last a long time.

"What could they need these for?" Klark asked.

"Probably for plants," Pygmy answered. "When I worked for my old company, we had a greenhouse for food. If something happened to it, we'd take the frozen ones out and plant those."

"What kind of plants, though?" Olivia asked.

Pygmy looked at the terminal of one of the pods. The screen read "Specimen TR-004." One of the keys on the dashboard read "open." When she pressed it, the screen displayed four underscores. "Shit," she said. "Needs a password."

Klark was disappointed. "We probably should have brought a hacker."

Pygmy still didn't quite understand the label of the room. She got that "C" meant "Cryogenic," but the number was odd. A station much bigger than this one only needs about forty rooms with thirty plants to be stable. But at least three-thousand three-hundred-seventy-eight rooms just for plants was overkill.

"Alright," Klark said, heading for the door. "Let's keep moving. We got to find the controls."

They traveled on, descending down a level of the station via stairs. They started noticing strange rooms on this floor. All the doors were labeled "T-012" or "T-053" and so on. Although they couldn't see in the rooms themselves, they each had two doors: A normal human sized one, and another that was much, much larger. Pygmy estimated that the Hummer Hovercraft could fit through it.

After following more directions and even more blocked paths, they finally reached the control room. And it had a control panel on the door. Pygmy got to work immediately.

"Finally," Olivia said. "Some good news for a change."

The door opened, putting a smile on everyone's face. Pygmy quickly ran in and checked the other panel. Everything looked intact. She gave a sigh of relief. "Olivia, Klark!" she called. "You two keep watch. I'm gonna try and see if I can get power back in these doors."

***

Pygmy got a good look at the room. The mainframe looked old as far as technology goes. A single dashboard with three large monitors. "What is this, the eighties?" she joked to herself.

She approached the dashboard and blew the dust off of it. It was a touch interface version, but only the third generation brand. The same could be said for the monitors too. Pygmy wondered why they were using trash technology for this station.

She pushed the power button on the dashboard. The monitors came to life, and displayed a message. "Note: 67% of specimens have expired due to cryogenic malfunction. Notify Director Burt when possible."

Pygmy ignored the message and went to the power controls. Most of the station's power was focused on the cryogenic pods, cutting off power to the doors, elevators, and snack machines. She began adjusting the settings to the power distribution. If the crew wanted all the doors in the station to be accessible, all power had to be diverted from the cryogenic pods.

When she hit apply a warning appeared on the screen: "New settings interfere with quarantine protocol. Are you sure you wish to continue?"

Pygmy entered yes and received instant results. The doors outside the room had a green light next to them, indicating that they were now unlocked.

"Whatever you did worked!" she heard Klark say.

She smiled with pride and turned to walk out, but the door's control panel sparked, and the door shut closed. Pygmy ran to the panel and found the fuses burnt.

"Pygmy, what happened?" she heard Olivia shout through the door.

"The fuses are fucked! I can't get the door open," Pygmy shouted back.

"Are you stuck?" Klark asked. "Can you get out?"

Pygmy looked around and spotted a vent near the floor. "Yeah, but I'm going to have to go through the ventilation shaft. We'll have to split up for now."

"Fuck! Alright, you find a way out. Olivia and I will move on. We'll meet you—"

Suddenly Olivia screamed, which got quieter as her voice moved to the left of the hallway.

Then Pygmy heard Klark's voice. "Olivia! Don't run off! Where are you—! Oh god. What is that? Oh shit!"

His voice faded in the same direction as Olivia's, leaving Pygmy alone. She was utterly silent. Klark and Olivia saw something, and Pygmy didn't want to attract whatever it was. She went over to the vent and took off the lid. Before climbing in, she swore that she heard heavy footsteps outside the door, but she didn't want to stick around to find out if she was hearing things. She crawled inside and looked for a way out.

***

Olivia was running frantically. She ran through doors so fast that they closed as fast as they opened. She chose random directions to run, not choosing based off of reason, only the need to get away. Away from that thing.

She finally came to a stop, panting from the excessive sprinting. "What was that thing?" she wondered. No recollection of what the creature looked like came to her. All she knew that it certainly was not human. And it looked right at her.

When she finally calmed down, she turned around. "Fuck," she whispered. "I can't remember where I came from." Knowing that neither Pygmy nor Klark could help her right now was a tough pill for her to swallow. Normally they'd be doing all the dangerous work, while she only had to focus on selling cargo. She had no experience on her own.

Her combat armor was heavy to her from all the running, so she walked slowly, wandering like a lost puppy throughout the hallways.

***

Klarke was hiding behind a corner, his pistol ready to fire. He peeked around the wall a bit and saw it. It was a Burbas, an apex predator on the planet Cog, sniffing around the hallway. It walked on all fours, like a turtle. It had green skin with black chitin on its back. Its head was small, and it had two red eyes.

He retreated back. Klark had to make his shot count. He only brought twenty charges, and if the Burbas didn't go the other way, then he would have no choice but to fire. He took five deep breaths and held up his gun.

He rushed around the corner and aimed. The creature was gone. He gave a sigh of relief. "Where did that thing come from?" he thought to himself. "This ship was empty until..."

He gulped down his fear and cautiously walked down the hallway, looking over his shoulder along the way. "I have to find Olivia. I don't care about Pygmy, I just need to grab Olivia and get out of this hell hole!"

***

Pygmy finally got an exit to the ventilation shaft. She took the lid off and crawled out. From her travel directions, she had descended at least one floor, so this was new territory.

She looked around and observed her surroundings. The area looked like a complex of offices and bedrooms. She figured that she was in one of the residential quarters, which might be a good place to look for an intercom.

She took two steps before hearing something to her right. When she turned to look, she was pounced on by a large feline beast. It pinned her down and stared into her eyes as she screamed. She tried to crawl from under it, but the creature had her hands secure. She was going nowhere.

The beast took its razor sharp tail and sliced open the bottom of her jumpsuit, revealing Pygmy's pussy. When she felt this, she looked down the beast's belly and was horrified to see a ten inch red penis pointed right at her womanhood. "Please, no," she begged.

The creature ignored her plea and thrusted forward, slipping its cock inside her. Pygmy kicked and screamed as the beast began raping her, until it rammed all of its huge cock into her. The creature was relentless, ravaging her like a breeding tool, giving the poor girl tremendous pain.

Yet something more surprising occurred to Pygmy. She was actually moaning. She somehow felt pleasure in this, despite the pain and the fact she was being used by an alien monster. Worse still, with every thrust that hit her cervix, she felt a climax building.

She began squirming, hitting the creature as hard as she could and try to get away, yet to no avail. There was no escape. She moaned louder until finally her body couldn't handle it anymore, and she orgasmed. Her body betrayed her and sent waves of euphoria across her body. She didn't even realize that she had wrapped her legs around her rapist.

The beast reached an orgasm as well. With a mighty roar it shot its load deep into Pygmy, flooding her womb. The warmth from it woke her from her orgasm and stared in shock as spurts of semen leaked out of her pussy and around his cock.

The beast pulled its cock out of her, and it retracted back in its body. It then turned and left, leaving Pygmy alone and ashamed. She began to softly sob to herself, trying to cope with the events that just happened.

After hearing another noise in the distance, she quickly got up and ran, letting the air dry her tears. She ran and ran, sperm still dripping out of her as she went.

In time, she came to a stop, panting from her short sprint. Now that she wasn't panicking, she could actually think now. "Why did it rape me?" she thought. "I'm not even one of its species, so why did it try to breed with me? And where did it come from?" It was then that she realized. "The cryogenic pods..."

In order to restore power to the doors, she turned off all the pods, releasing whatever was inside. She knew that other creatures must be roaming the station now. She looked up and saw directions to the Director's Office. She took a deep breath and followed the path, being wary of everything around her.