The Expanse

Marasmus

"Alex, hold on. I've got something here. A hot spot on the surface." Naomi zooms in on the scopes as Holden and I unbluckle abd look over her shoulder.

"Copy that. Holding position." Alex says.

"It's a ship." Naomi says looking closer.

"Looks like we've got some tourists." Holden says.

"It's probably pirates. Lookin' to rip and run." Amos guessed.

"I'm gonna fire up a drone. Get some eyes down there and see what's what." Alex says as the drones camera pops up on their screens.

"Guy Molinari, we've discovered an unknown ship tethered to the station and are investigating. Tell your demolition teams to be on the lookout for possible hostiles." Holden tells the pilot on guy molinari.

"Copy that, Rocinante. Will do." The respond back.

"Marasmus." Holden reads. The drone was already circling the ship.

"Checking the registry." Amos says as we take a closer look.

"It's a rental. It's hired out of Pallas Station." He tells us.

"Can you open the airlock?" Holden asked Naomi.

"Shouldn't be a problem. Got it. Open sesame." Naomi says as the drone enters the ship.  The 1st thing we see when we enter the ship is high expensive attack medical supplies. This wasn't a pirate ship. There was no way they could get their hands on their hands on this type of supplies.

"Wow. That is the nicest scav ship I have ever seen."

"That's just odd. Y'all ever seen pirates with state-of-the-art life support systems?" Alex asked as the drone looks further down the hall of the ship.

"And a med bay?" Naomi asked. 

"Med bays on pirate ships are usually just 'open airlocks.'" Amos looks over at Holden and Naomi.

"That's not a pirate ship." I shook my head.

Then why the disguise?" Holden asked as he was trying to think. 

"Whoa!" We all says as a guy comes out of nowhere in a suit in attacks are drone.

"What the, Drone's not responding." Alex panics.

"Target-lock the ship." Holden orders.

"Done." Alex says.

"We can't let it go anywhere." Holden says.

"We can't just shoot it." Noami exclaims.

"Nobody's shooting anybody. Amos, Rogue, suit up." Holden tells us as he was already on the stairs.

"Alright." I stand up and crack my knuckles and head for the stairs with Amos. An alarm goes off.

"We're being hailed!" Naomi yells as we all turn around.

"Please! Don't fire on us! We're here on a peaceful mission." A man comes through our comms.

"Then why'd you take down our drone?" Holden asked.

"I overreacted. We don't want any trouble with Mars. Your markings not withstanding, we know a Martian frigate when we see one." The man makes excuses to us.

"This area is under a strict quarantine. Who are you and what are you doing here?" Holden orders the man to answer.

"I'm a doctor, on a humanitarian mission to give aid to the survivors of Eros. We have no affiliation with any government," Holden cuts the doctor off.

"That may be the case, but you've broken numerous Martian laws by coming here." Holden says directly.

"Our only interest is in helping the victims. We thought we might be able to find an airlock since the port is offline, but the whole station is locked down. We couldn't get inside." The doctor says. He seems like he actually wants to help. But I can see what is really going on, its an act.

"The station is locked down for everyone's safety." Holden informs him.

"And so a hundred thousand people down there have been condemned?" The doctor asked. There arent people on Eros but the demolition team.

"It's a terrible situation, but we all have our orders. Do not attempt to move your ship and prepare to be boarded." Holden says as he turns off the comm.

"What the hell are you doin'? We takin' prisoners now?" Alex exclaims.

"We've got a hundred million tons of steel bearing down on us. We don't have time to board their ship for a chin-wag." Naomi looks up at Holden.

I know. But they think we're Martian Navy. Hopefully, they'll leave without trying to turn this into some political crusade." Holden says.

"So you want to act like the martian navy to scare them shitless?" I asked as he nodded his head.

"So, we're lettin' them go?" Amos scoffed.

"What else can we do? We're not telling them the truth. And if they stay, they die. These people don't deserve that. They didn't get inside. Lucky for everyone. And the sooner they're out of here the better." Holden says as he walks away from us.

"Well, I think they've had plenty of time to properly shit themselves." Amos smirked.

"Alex, kill the target lock." Holden asked.

"Copy that." Alex says as the target locked was lifted.

"What if they won't leave?" Naomi asked.

"They'll leave." Holden hushes us as he presses on the comms button.

"Marasmus, you're to leave the area immediately. Do not change course until you are out of the quarantine zone. If you do not comply you will be fired upon." Holden orders them to leave.

"Understood, Rocinante. Thank you. We'll get under way as soon as possible." Comms go dark.

"Its all an act. You know that right? They probably lied saying they didn't get in but really hes stalling the others to come back quickly to kick off. He's just buying time for his team." I tell Holden.

"You don't have much faith in people do you?" He asked me with a smirk.

"Do you realise who you're talking to?" I asked and smirk back.

"You're right, but I wanna give them the benefit of the doubt." He says looking back at his screen.