Kartie ran down the hallway as fast as he could. The pounding of the metal beneath him was the only sound being made. He turned the corner sharply causing him to run into a cargo crate. He brushed it off and ran down the hallway in front of him. The button was right there in the middle of the Cafeteria. But before he could reach the cafeteria, the security door shut down in front of him. "No, come on!" He said, trying to pry open the huge metal door but to no avail. Shadows of tentacles reached the hallway and--in desperation--Kartie ran into administration. He rolled under the console in the middle of the room and held his breath. He sees two feet enter the room as they walk around the console. Kartie's breath fogged the visor of his helmet as he lay there hoping, hoping it didn't find him. It walked behind him and stopped. He held as still as physically possible trying not to get noticed. After a few minutes, nothing happened.
Suddenly, he feels a tentacle wrap around his foot and drag him from under the console. He tried to hold onto the floor but it was too strong. It lifted him by his foot until they were face to face; visor to visor. "Why? I trusted you! You son of a bitch!" Kartie yelled in a heavy Russian accent. He threw a punch that hit it in the visor. He threw another punch but it caught his fist. It then proceeded to break his wrist. Kartie yelled out in pain, holding his broken wrist. Its visor forms a crack in the middle and opens, revealing a vicious set of jaws and a tentacle-like tongue. "Dear God," Kartie whispers. The tongue then pierced straight through his visor as Kartie went limp. It began to devour Kartie's upper half leaving only his waist and his legs. It dropped what remained of Kartie on the floor as its visor seemed to repair itself from being cracked. It walked to a vent and looked at Kartie's body before opening the vent and crawling away.
Several hours earlier.
Tasha's elevator began to ascend as she became excited. It was her first mission on The Skeld and she was ready for it. When her application for the mission went through, she felt like she was going to explode. They even let her pick out her favorite color for her suit, yellow. The elevator dinged as the doors opened. Tasha walked down the hallway to the gate of the ship. It opened to a person in a green suit standing there; he was an older fellow with short fading grey hair with stubble on his face. "Welcome aboard," he said, extending his hand. Tasha shook his hand as he introduced himself. "My name is Garrison Ivy. I'm the Captain of this ship. And I assume you're the new cadet?" He says.
"Yes, sir. My name is Tasha Canary, this is my first mission so I'm kind of excited," she says.
"Good. Nice to know there are still people out there that are wishing to be up in the stars. Follow me, I'll show you around." Garrison says, motioning her to follow. They walk into the ship through the airlock. Inside is what seemed to be a lounge of some sort along with a person in a red suit sitting down at one of the tables on their phone. He has short brown hair with brown eyes. "This is the Cafeteria, a place where--hold on for a moment. Carson!" Garrison shouts.
The man sitting down gets startled and puts his phone away while standing up straight. "Yes, sir!" Carson shouts.
"What are you doing sitting around here? Go and get the ship ready to launch." Garrison said, sternly.
"Yes, sir," Carson says, running off.
Garrison sighs before turning to Tasha. "Sorry about that. He's Carson Maroon, our Asteroid Defense Marshall. I swear, he would do anything to get on his phone," he says. They walk down through the cafeteria to a hallway. "Here is Administration," Garrison says, holding out his left hand. Inside, there were phones on the wall and a big monitor console in the middle. Along with a man in an orange suit, trying to swipe a card on the console. He had black hair that went down to his neck with dark green eyes.
He looked frustrated. "Come on, you stupid piece of...Grrr!" He grunted. He looked up at them in surprise. "Oh hey, Captain Gary. I swear you need to get a new card reader. Cause this has gone Kaput." He says in a Russian accent.
"Hey. This is Kartie Mandarin, our Administration officer. He keeps tags on everyone on the ship." Garrison explains.
Kartie approaches them and greets Tasha. "Hello, it is so good to have a new face around here." He says.
"Thank you," Tasha says.
"Here is electrical, here the power can be diverted anywhere in the ship," Garrison says. From the room, a man in a purple suit emerges from the darkness. He has dark brown hair and deep blue eyes.
"Yeah, I know. What do you want, Gar-" He stops as he sees Tasha. "Well well well. Who is the lovely lady?" He asks, in a flirty voice.
"Tasha, this is Emil Lavinder. Our Electrical Engineer." Garrison says.
"Well, nice to meet your acquaintance, Miss Tasha," Emil says, kissing her hand.
"Hehe, nice try." She says, pulling her hand away.
"Can't blame a guy for trying," Emil says, walking back in. They move onto the lower engine room where a man in a brown suit is toiling with a cog in the massive engine. He had his back to them as they walked in.
"This is the lower engine room. There is another engine on the upper part of the ship, and they are both run by Russell Cafè, our Maintenance Chief." Garrison states. Russell simply grunts at them as he returns to his work. They walk upwards toward a cross-section in the hallway and take a right into a room with a bunch of monitors and a man in a blue suit checking the ammo count of a pistol in an armory cabinet. He has black hair and blue eyes. "This is the Security Office and this is our Security officer," Garrison says, walking in.
"Babe!" Tasha exclaims, running toward the man. He turns around and smiles.
"Tasha! I didn't know you were going to get here so early." He says. They hug each other tightly as Garrison leans against the wall.
"Well, it seems you already know Mark Cyian," Garrison says.
"Yeah. Gary, this is my girlfriend," Mark says.
"Oh. Alright come on, break it up lovebirds. I'm still not done with showing her around," Garrison says.
"Alright, I'll see you later Tasha," Mark says, kissing her goodbye.
