UER Rickenbacker

For a moment, Kirito just stood there and watched, waiting for the rebel to come out so she wouldn't have to look for him. Nothing. Not any sign of life. Of course, she readed a heatprint farther away in the hallway, comming from the hidden rebel.
"I know you're in here..." She suddenly said and slowly began to walk forth. Her gaze swept over the path in front of her, yet she still kept focus on the rebel that hid behind a large pipe.
"I can see you..."

Meanwhile, The Beast had picked up an interesting smell and had now sniffed his way back to where he and the cyborg had entered the first time. But then he suddenly turned right, into a new, undiscovered room, which's walls was covered with freezers. He noticed that one was slightly open, and he pushed it even more open, just to look at the frozen specimens that laid in there. Worms.

"Then come and get me, freak" Ramirez whispered under his breath, thinking. He hoped the survivors could get to safety. He didn't know where the vent lead, but it had to be better than here.

Meanwhile, the stowaway worm creature had reached the other end of Hydroponics, and was looking for a suitable victim. The worms were weak by themselves, so they had to grow stronger. It looked through the gaps in the flooring, and saw two rebels talking to each other. It seized the chance, and waited for them to leave.

Kirito grined and stopped in her walk. The weak throbbing, glowing figure was now just one step away from her. Increasing or decreasing in light as it hearth obstinately pumped on.
She took one more step, a low metallic tap sounded as her foot met the steel flor, and noticed how the man's pulse went mad.
Her eyed narrowed as she once again grined.
One more step.

Without a warning, the cyborg's hand suddenly appeared from behind the pipe - that seperated her from the human - and grasped the man by his shirt collar, just to drag him out of his hiding and press him too the ground. When he looked up, he was met by the long, metallic claws of the cyborg, pointing straight at him. Behind he could see the cold eyes of Kirito staring mad at him.
"Where are your others...?" She breathed as she tried to controll herself from killing the human instantly.

"Go to hell..." Ramirez said, not wanting to endanger the survivors.

Meanwhile on Medical, the was a sudden urgency to get someone to a doctor. A doctor forced someone onto a medical bed and tranquillised him to stop him breaking free.
"What happened?" the female doctor said, Malick behind her.
"He rushed into the recreational deck screaming about something. We had a hell of a time getting him down here" another doctor said
"What's wrong with him?" the woman asked.
"I don't know...but he's acting all weird...like he wants us to kill him..." the doctor said, staring at the patient.

Kirito made a short grin and chuckled cold before her face went hard again.
"No..."She hissed. Then her claws slunk back to her hand as she reached for the man's neck and lifted him up.
She walked up to the hard, cold wall and pressed up the rebel against it. She lowered her head so it was right next to the man's, so her covered mouth laid right next to his ear.
"Now... listen... Either you'll tell me where they are or I'll find them myself..." She then pulled back her head and kept her stare at the rebel. Her face was blank - callous."And I'll make them suffer more than you ever will..."

"I...I...I..." Ramirez stuttered. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell her where they were. He promised them he wouldn't.

On Medical, Malick watched chief science officer Edwards inspect the new arrival to the isolation room.
"Why is he bein' kept in the isolation room?" Malick asked the female doctor.
"They think one of the worms got to him..." she answered, both eyes on the room. Malick couldn't believe all this. First two assailants enter the ship and kill everyone in Bay Two, then this happens.
"What do those worms...you know...do?" Malick asked. The doctor sighed and replied "We don't know. But it's definitely not good..."

Her face slowly transformed from some callous robot into a twisted grin.
"Come on... Tell..." She tensed her hands harder around the mans neck, forcing him to fall quiet and listen. She once again leaned down with her head to the human.
"I hear them already..." She hissed, and nodded slightlt down at the floor. "I see them already..." She continued and swept with her gaze down at the floor, immediately noticing the weak, throbbing light through the meter-thick steel floor. Then she looked back at the rebel.
"It wont take long before I'll actually find them..." Her squeeze around his neck easied a little, now making him able to talk.
"Now..." She continued, glaring at him. "Tell me where they are, and I'll ease their suffering..."

"How do I know you're telling the truth? How do I know you're not just doing this for kicks?" Ramirez answered.

At the bridge, crew members were tending to the communications array. No one knew why it had gone offline, as the two intruders had never touched it.
"2 months into the journey and already the equipment starts screwing up..." one of them said. The other one didn't reply, and kept on working. Meanwhile, Diego was on the bridge, trying to raise the Von Braun, to no avail at the present time. Just then, an operator came up to him and said "Have ya heard?"
"Heard what?" asked, confused.
"They found Josip in recreational. They said one of the worms got him in Hydroponics" the operator replied.
"Aw hell...you're kidding..." Diego replied, anxious.
"I wish I was..." the man replied.

Kirito gave him a weak, innocent smile. Then she once again went hard.
"You don't..." She breathed after a while of just staring. In the palm of her other hand - the one that was not holding the rebel up - her small but powerfull gun unfolded itself.
"But what chance do you have...?", She raised her hand. "Since I'll find them anyway..."
She grined.
"And I'm going to break their bones, making them unable to move. Then I'll rip them apart - limb by limb - of in front of each other..." She kept a constant clare with her cold eyes. "I'll enjoy their screams..." She said, and nearly shivered as she sensed the adrenaline kick at the though.

Ramirez gasped for air, and noticed the gun that the cyborg had in her hand. He noticed a small worm creature squirming into the room through the door behind Kirito. He then stared back at Kirito.
"You can't kill everyone...not everyone..." Ramirez said. Then suddenly, Xerxes' voice said "Communications Array online"

In the Command Deck, the two array technicians whooped with joy. They had fixed it.
"So what was the problem?" someone asked them.
"Faulty data cable. Happens" one of the technicians replied.

On Medical, the patient was getting worse. His face was all swollen, and was finding it hard to breath. Edwards was worrying.
"How did the worms get out?" Malick said, knowing the worms should still be in their tubes in Medical.
"We kept some of the live ones in Hydroponics" the female doctor told him. Malick sighed.
"That's where those two are now..." he said as the realization hit him. "Where's Chief Anders?" he asked.
"Ops. Trying to get a crowd of scared people under control" the doctor replied.

Kirito dropped the human at the sound of the AL. ****... This was not wanted... Not yet... Now they would probably summon the Von Braun at any moment. Although it would take several hours for the battle ship to reach here, even with light speed. Still... Now she had to hurry.

She glared down at the human who laid down and rubbed his hand against his sore neck. She then made a strained grin.
"Oh... we'll see..." Then she grabbed his head by the mouth, her armed palm of the hand facing in the mouth. She slowly lifted him up, dragging him up against the wall. She was long enough to make him dangle with the feet when she wasn't even stretched out yet. He stared terrefied at her. His muffled mumbling was out of panic. Kirito gave him a deadly glare. Then his head was ripped away by a lighting beam.
"Or - at least I will..." She ended and let the limp - now headless - body fall to the floor.
Then she snorted and looked around. The Beast had still not come.
"Kronos!!!" She suddenly called out.

The Beast was just about to grab and eat one of the frozen worms as the cyborg got him alert. He grunted angry and slammed the freezer door shut behind him as he left.
When he rounded the corner, he found the cyborg standing at a locked door.

"It seems like the elevator is the only way up from now. And the communications are up..." The Beast just grunted and walked up to Kirito. She glared at him. "We got to hurry."

The captain breathed a sigh of relief, and turned once again to sergeant Diego.
"How are things down in Engineering?" he asked.
"Oh, couldn't be better sir..." Diego replied sarcastically.
"Is the array functional enough for us to send an SOS to the Von Braun?" the captain asked. Diego pondered for a moment, then answered "Yes, but it'd take two hours for the SOS to reach the ship sir..." the captain sighed and said "Do it"

In Medical, two hours had passed since the patient's sedation, and things were looking grim. Edwards, his assistant, Malick and two other doctors were in the room, surveying the sick rebel. Malick was the only in the room not trained in medical studies and found all this very confusing.
"He tried to bash his own face in?" the assistant asked.
"Yeah. Messed up huh?" the female doctor replied. Edwards was about to call the bridge to see if any more worms had escaped, when the patient twitched slightly, surprising everyone, especially Malick. The patient raised his arm slightly and he weakly said "Kill me..." before passing out again. The people in the room caught their breaths and walked back up to him. Malick, in his confusion, had picked up a wrench when the patient had moved, and still had it in his hand.
"Woah!" he exclaimed.

Kirito turned back from The Beast and towards the door. Her gaze swept over it and she inspected it for a moment. Then she noticed what was needed to enter. A handprint sensor. She doubted that it would work, but she anyway put her hand at the sensor. After it having scanning her metallic hand for a second, it suddenly beeped and alerted: "Access denied!"
Kirito rolled her eyes. Of course. What else could've she expected.
She lifted her hand up again, but this time microscopic bumps appeared all over the palm. This was her own sensors.
This would give them access for sure...

She gave a quick order to The Beast to transform, and just after a second Kronos stood behind her. Kirito then returned to the sensor.
She put her hand against it once again, and this time the scanner was met by several, small, electrical shocks. It gave out an sudden buzz at it was interrupted, but by that time Kirito was already granted access to the system. Her computer part of her system swiftly hacked in and browsed through the whole ship system. Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to moderate the most parts from this scanner. But she wasn't focusing on that now, but instead on the gate which the sensor controlled.
A quick attack by her mind, and the sensor was overpowered.
The elevator door glid up, and the elevator turned out to be fully functional.
Kirito grined
"Come on now..." She said and gestured Kronos into the elevator and then stepped in herself. She pressed one of the buttons and the gate closed.

Diego froze. He checked the ship schematics that were on screen, and noticed that the elevator was going up.
"Don't worry sergeant. The highest that elevator will go is Recreational. Then there's another elevator in the lobby that goes up to Command. Then there's like a tram that takes people to any of the three sectors of Command. Since Command is totally locked down, the tram won't work, and the elevator to Command will be locked down too" the captain explained. Diego sighed in relief, then looked at the hologram of the ship projected in front of him. The Rickenbacker was huge. Very huge. He also knew the bridge was sealed off completely. The elevator at Command Sector 3 was shut off, and that was the only way up to the Bridge.

Meanwhile in the Medical Lab, things had taken a turn for the worse. The patient was trying desperately to free himself from his restraints, Edwards and the doctors holding him down. He eyes Malick's wrench, and suddenly grabbed it from him and pulled the female doctor to him, impaling her on the wrench. The patient's eyes went green and then he threw her away. He then stood up and proceeded to beat the other doctors to death with the wrench. Edwards was knocked out cold and tossed aside. When the insane man looked around, Malick dashed out of the room and through the corridor as fast as he could.

After a while, the elevator's speakers suddenly uttered a loud ding! and then stopped. The gate in front of them slid open, revealing the new deck. Kirito looked out for a moment before she stepped out of the car with Kronos. He immediately morphed to The Beast, who stuck out his tongue in the air and tasted it. Humans. Here too.
"We don't have time to take them all..." He heard the cyborg speak.
He looked down at her. Then he grunted in dismay.

"We have to lock in all the rebels before we'll continue... So the first I have to do is to reach the Bridge.", She looked up at The Beast. "Then we are welcome to continue..."
And I would love to have a map over this ship... She thought for herself.
She heard The Beast grunt back to her.
"Now... let's continue..." And so they did.
Her vision focused and scanned every possible thing that they went by, and shifted from heatvision back to normal, just to return, the whole time.
Suddenly she noticed something too.
A number of glowing, throbbing dots could be seen farther down the path. Why hadn't these left this level yet?
Perhaps the gate up to the last deck was locked.
Not good...

Down in Medical, Edwards propped himself up against the wall, bleeding badly. He looked around the room. The doctors that had been with him were all dead, brutally slaughtered, Malick nowhere to be found. He coughed and then staggered out the door.
Later, he reached his office and quickly walked over to the nearest surgical table. He tried activating it, but got "Surgical Table powered down, please replace Surgical Power Board" Distraught, he dropped the pipe he was holding and shouted "Fuck!", before crawling onto the surgical table, and passing out there.

Meanwhile, the ship's AI, Xerxes was linking himself through the various security cameras throughout the ship to pin down the two intruders.
"This is Xerxes. As of 1900 hours, the two assailants have been spotted on the Recreational Deck. Security teams please report in" the AI said shipwide.

At the Bridge, Diego requested permission to get back down to Medical, but the captain doubted he'd be safe.
"Sir, I need to make sure Malick's alright. Standing here all day isn't gonna save lives captain!" Diego said.
"Sergeant, the Command elevator is out of bounds for now. We can't risk those bastards getting to the bridge. If they do, they control the ship. We just sit tight and wait for the Von Braun to get here" the captain answered in a concerned voice. Just then a communications message from Medical came through. An operator patched it through.
"Bridge come in! Medical's compromised, repeat, compromised! We've already lost some of the Medical staff!" the guard on the monitor said anxiously.
"How can that be possible? Those two freaks are on Recreational..." Diego asked.
"It's the worms. They got to one of us and...oh god, he's killing us. They're killing us!"
"The worms are?"
"No...the patients are...the ones they got to..." the guard replied. The captain, Diego and the rest of the Bridge were shocked at the news.
"When is the fucking Von Braun gonna get here?! the captain asked himself angrily.

Suddenly she saw something that blinked in the corner of the eye, and as she looked there she saw a security camera shift position, so it now stared right at them.
Kirito snorted irritated and raised her hand, just for the camera to be blown away the next second. She noticed the alarming sound that the AL let out after being attacked itself.
Bah... They already knew they were here. But she did not want them to know where they exactly were. She looked back at the group of throbbing light, hiding in the room just some steps away from them now. She then looked over at The Beast. His body was shining in comparison to the humans' and her's.
"You can take some of them, if you'd want." She said, and The Beast grunted satisfied. He then stepped up to the room and entered it.

It was pitch black. Apparently had the rebels turned the light off in the room so the two assailants would have a harder time finding them.
Pah, good luck with that.
The Beast's glowing eye immediately lighted up the room, throwing long shadows at whatever had them covered. He lifted his ear up and turned them at different directions, his gaze swept over the room. And of course - he heard them. He heard their breaths.

Kirito snorted and entered too.
"We don't have time to waste. Just get on it already..." And without even waiting or hesitating, she teared a document-shelf out of the way and grabbed one of the humans who hid behind there in an instant.
She then backed away so The Beast could close up and eat another of them, heard the shocked yelps of the others as he did, and then focused on her own human that was in her grasp. She kept him in an stranglehold around his neck, just to press it down farther and hence decapitated him.
She glared at the now headless body she had in her grasp for a moment, before she dropped the limp body on the ground, just to turn around and blow the torso away from a second human.
The Beast was about to crush the last human with his giant paw, when suddenly Kirito stopped him by rasing her hand.
"No... Wait...", She said and felt the look she got from The Beast in her neck, but she just kept her glare at the last man that laid and pressed himself against the wall, trying to avoid the two assailants as much as he could. "The elevator is locked, I want to see if he can get it open for us..." Then she bent down and grasped the human by his shirt collar and dragged him up.

While she was walking to the elevator with the human in her grasp, she slowly transformed into one of the other humans he had hid with. To be more precise, the one human she had teared the head off.
Then she continued walking up to the locked elevator and pressed the human up against the speaker. She then looked back to The Beast and hissed quickly; "Stay out of sight..." Then she turned back to the human.
"Now... talk." She hissed and grined, as she noticed that a security camera recorded them both. That's why she had taken the human's appearence in the first time. And by the way she held the human against the wall, it would look like she just held the man up.
"Talk."

The person stared at the elevator they wanted him to get open. Then he looked back at them.
"It's an executive lockdown. I can't open it..." he said, irritated.

Down in Medical, Edwards woke up after a while. He noticed the patient wandering around the corridor. Except he had transformed. The worm had changed him. He still walked like a human though. The creature slid open the door to his officer and slowly walked towards him. Edwards shivered, thinking it had seen him. But it just turned around and left the room. Edwards sighed, and kept still.

In Operations, the people in the sector had calmed down mostly, and were returning to their posts. Anders and her men were scouting the deck for anyone not in order.
"Where are the intruders now?" Anders asked one of her men.
"Recreational, possible trying to get to Command" he answered.
"Much of that. The Command elevator is locked down" another man said, chuckling.

Kirito sighed irritated and morphed herself back into her real form again. Tricking wouldn't get them to open it.
They would have to force it open.

She suddenly moved to a communicatior which was located on the side of the door, just over the handprint sensor. She clicked it on and lowered herself so she could talk into it.
"Take a look at the 'Recreational/Command elevator' monitor..." She whispered, knowing that someone on the bridge would hear it. She then glanced over at the security camera that sat at the roof just next to them. A low buzzing sound was sound as it turned around and now stared right onto the cyborg and her hostage. Recording them and showing them live on a monitor up on the bridge. She stared at it for some moments, keeping a firm hold around the human's neck. Then she suddenly smiled shortly, just so she would in the next pick up her hand, shoot out her claws and pierce them into the man's side. She dropped the wriggling body on the ground, ignoring the screams, and bent over to the speaker again.
"You've got a wounded..." She hissed anxious. "You better come here and get him before I crush his head..."
Then she clicked the speaker off, waiting for any response from the bridge.

"Captain...don't...I'm not worth it!" the injured person shouted.

On the Bridge, the captain scratched his head and thought hard. Then he called Anders.
"Chief, where the hell are you?" he asked.
"Having a lovely time captain, wish you were here...I'm in Ops with my men" Anders replied.
"We got an injured man at the bottom of the elevator, and they say if we don't come down to get him, they'll kill him" the captain told her. Anders stared at each of her men, then looked back into her comm.

Minutes later, the Command elevator opened, several guards pointing EMP rifles at the two. They noticed the injured man, and one of the guards began to move towards him.
"Don't get any ideas" one man said.

Kirito grined.
"Ideas...?" She hissed, watching the humans as they moved.
"I have lots of them..." She stared at the guns. They wouldn't be able to fire them before she would've killed at least the half of them, but if they did.
Kirito held back a shiver.
She would loose vulnerable time if they succeeded to fire one of them off.

She then looked back down at the human who was wriggling in his own blood. To be honest... She didn't feel to let them take him. She rather have him staying here.
Then she looked back at the humans. The one closest to her, the one that was going for the wounded, lifted his foot and took a new step.
That sudden movement suddenly activated a reflex, or just it could've been her bloodlust who took the upper hand, as she suddenly lifted her foot and stomped it down on the wounded man's head. A loud, discusting crack was sounded as it split open.
"But that was just an impulse..." Then The Beast's tongue suddenly slithered up and wrapped itself around the dead body, just to pull it back into his mouth. After a moment of swallowing, he suddenly puffed up himself and then uttered a shrill, defeaning screech, and Kirito noticed how some of the human's collapsed as the sound got to much for their brains to handle and instead shutted down.
Some were still standing though, but busy to cover their ears from the paralyzing sound. The cyborg took the opportunity and swept up to them, slicing their throats out.

Swish. Just like that, the soldiers were nearly decapitated. One soldier that had been hiding behind the others fell backwards into the elevator, fired a shot and pressed a button which closed the elevator and sent it back up. His ears were still ringing horribly from the sound.
"Oh ****...oh ****...oh ****..." he muttered under his breath.

One other soldier that hadn't managed to get back in the elevator saw no other option and ran for it, firing pot shots at the two.

Back on Medical, the transformed patient once again staggered into the room, Edwards trying hard to keep himself awake, but at the time, not move. Suddenly, a bullet pierced the hybrid's head and it fell to the floor, uttering a pained growl as it did. The person who fired it was Murdoch, one of Anders' men. He walked into the room and noticed Edwards' critical state. Edwards stared at Murdoch and told him "They want you, you understand, they want you! As a host…" Edwards almost collapsed here, but continued. "Get away!" Edwards then fell, dead. Murdoch covered his mouth and slowly backed out of the room, and headed back to the elevator. The Medical Deck seemed deserted to Murdoch, but there was surely something lurking in there, waiting for him.

On the Bridge, Diego was trying to raise Medical, with no response.
"Dammit...Malick is down there...two of Ander's men are down there..." he said anxiously. The captain stared at him, then looked back at the hologram of the ship. It had been half an hour since they'd sent that message to the Von Braun, and still no sign or response.

Kirito hissed frustrated as she missed the rebel who fled with the elevator. Instead she was met by an electrical pulse from the gun, travelling in top speed against her.
But right before it would impact, it suddenly exploded. Her shield has once again saved her, but this time it was hurt too. For a moment, her shoulder were vulnerable, but just as quick as she lost the shield, it was re-generated and now once again covered her body.

She then turned around, quick, towards the fleeing survivor. Kirito took aim at the large-grown man farther away, that was about to exit to a second room. But before he reached the door, the cyborg had charged forward and now knocked him down on the ground. She heard him grunt furious as he pulled out a gun from a hidden holster and fired several bullets at her. They just clattered into her armor and bounced off into random directions by the impact.
Kirito ignored the shoots but bent forward with stretched arm. The man succeeded to fire a last shoot. This time it scraped against her cheek. But nothing happened. No blood. Nothing. The only thing that was revealed was steel behind the skin, a second cover that protected her vital bodyparts.
She snorted irritated and got up again, being shot in the face wasn't a particulary nice feeling. He must be punished.
She stepped off his body as she shoot out her claws, then once again slammed the man into the ground as he tried to get up and now kept him down there with a foot.
Then she speared down her claws, he uttered a half-gurgling scream as she then slowly, painfully, begin to rip his abdomen open.
She then pulled out her claws and stepped off the twisting body, inspecting her work a little, then left this one with his guts slowly growing out of the opening.

Down in Medical, Malick had hid himself in Cryo Recovery Area A, where he hoped they wouldn't find him. Their numbers had increased, and it wouldn't be long before they found the elevator and spread to other decks. Malick breathed heavily as he heard growling nearby, but it went away soon. He sighed in relief and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Down in Engineering, three workers were trying to fix a leak in a radiation pipe in the tunnels. They were obviously working hard, as it would mean big trouble if the whole tunnels were flooded with radiation.
"Man, how many times has this thing blown in five months?" one asked.
"Two...counting this one..." another said.
At the hatch from Medical to Engineering, a slight growling sound following by the clanging of a wrench was heard, though the three men were too far away to hear it. The things were entering the Engineering Deck.

On the Bridge, two guards had found the guard that had escaped in the elevator. The guards quickly locked the elevator and pulled the guard into the sickbay. The poor guy's head was ringing and he was blabbering about nonsense.
"Jesus...get him to the table guys..." Diego said when he saw what was going on. The captain had both eyes on the hologram of the ship, incase anything came up.

As she walked past The Beast, she said: "Dig in..."
He grunted and stared at the man in pains farther away. Then he chuffed and walked towards him.
Will do.
He reached up to the rebel and sniffed some on the guts that was visible in the wound. His one eye then swept up and stared at the now twitching human. He was dying already, so he guessed that he could take some time on this one.
His giant maw opened as they then grabbed the bowels and ripped them up. The human just twitched one more time and gargled weak.
He swallowed them down and then continue to chew down the rest of the body.
"Keep the head." He suddenly heard behind him, and he snapped around. Kirito was just staring on The Beast while he ate, but now wore a weak smile on her face.
"I want to show them that we're serious." She then began to walk up to The Beast. "What could be better than one of their mate's head." The Beast grunted and let the upper half of the torso, and the head, drop down on the ground. Kirito got up to it and easily ripped the head off, and then returned to the elevator gate.

Closed, and still locked. She turned on the speaker and once again speaked to the Bridge.
"Hello again." She simply said. "Watch the monitor." She noticed how the security began to blink again, showing that it was online and sending. Once again it moved over at her in the stiff, buzzing movement. She waved at it quick and then lifted the severed head right up against the camera, and to the Bridge. Then she returned to the speaker.
"Now - let us in or we'll break ourself in." She dropped the head. "Let this be a taster of what will come if you don't let us in."