Stellaris

Crew Log Nine: Alien

  Shotgun blast, the alien's head explodes all over the wall. Deciding to venture out and find food did not fare well, but luckily, a saving grace showed up. Her nametag says N. Lander. Dark skin, crew outfit, black dreads pulled back. She's managed to stay beautiful even through all this carnage.

"Names Natalie." She says, lowering her weapon. "Didn't think anyone else was alive."

"We didn't either." Fynn smiles, the sight of another human gives him hope.

"Glad to see familiar faces." She looks at Abigail and Parker. "So you've dealt with these before." She's directing it towards me.

"Yeah. Had to blow up my ship because of those things."

"Where are you guys staying? Nowhere on this ship is safe?"

"Command deck, along with the stack of dead bodies." Parker's smile fades.

"Fynn. I know this is a long shot but, Hannah is a professional at blowing up ships. Let's set it to meltdown and hitch a ride on the drop ship."

"Natalie does have a good plan." Plus she's kinda right, professional here.

"So we just blow up the ship? That's it?"

"Fynn. There's too many of them. We gotta stop it before it reaches the station." Natalie reaches into her bag and loads shells into her gun.

"Okay." He's hesitant. "Let's do it."

"We just need to shut down the cooling systems and the ship will go boom." I say.

We're all bunched together as we walk down the halls. Abigail and Parker branch off to get the drop ship ready for departure, and the rest of us head for the cooling tanks in the basement. There's nothing but the sound of our footsteps. Each step sounds like an earthquake and makes my throat tighten. I don't want to be ripped apart by those fuckers, but the thought getting my guts torn to shreds makes me even more frightened. We stop in our tracks as a tail lurks outside of the vent above us. When we turn around, there's another alien taking refuge above us. Slowly, I press a few buttons on the flamethrower and it roars to life with what little fuel it has left. Natalie loads shells into her shotgun and Fynn points his pistol up at the alien in front of us. The thing that attacks us is not an alien, it's something with four blade like arms and razor sharp teeth. It pins Natalie to the floor and screeches, alerting the aliens above us and they jump down. Firing short bursts of fire sends one alien back into the vents, I turn towards Natalie, shove the monster off of her and blast a beautiful flame at it. The thing's skin melts off, exposing only a skeleton, it falls to the floor...dead. She lies on the floor, grabs the shotgun and blows off the head of the other alien.

"What the fuck was that thing?!" Fynn asks, his breaths hard.

"It looked like a baby version of the aliens." Natalie grabs my hand as I pull her up.

"So now the offspring are killing before they're even fully grown? Jesus, it was more vicious than the ones we're used to."

"We have to stop this ship?"

"That's what we're doing, Natalie." I click off the flamethrower and toss the strap around my shoulder.

"The more time we waste standing around here." She says. "The closer we get to Alpha Station. Which means the aliens get closer as well."

Running is all we seem to get done doing. The alien that ran away is now trailing us through the vents. It stomps loudly right above our heads. Natalie stops and fires a few rounds into the vent, hoping to hit the alien but the bullets just piss it off. It falls down and slams against the floor, swinging it's tail around. Screaming, it picks up Natalie and throws her to the other side of the hall. Fynn shoots at it, but the bullets seem to do nothing. It grabs him with both hands and rips him in half, his blood spraying all over the walls and floor. I'm frozen in place, I can't move, I can't think. The alien's head explodes and then I'm being shook and drug down the hall and into the elevator.

"Hannah!" Natalie screams. "Hannah, snap out of it. He's gone. Hannah, he's gone! Come back to reality!"

Everything becomes clear again, she's right, he's dead, we need to move on. "I'm okay, I'm okay."

The elevator doors close and we descend into the basement. We both aim our weapons, ready for whatever is waiting for us down here. It takes a minute but we're finally here. The cooling tanks are across from us and a minefield of eggs. There's hundreds of them, maybe even more than that. We ease out into the room and tip-toe around the death traps. Natalie makes it to the first tank and pulls out a large circular thing, twists it, then pushes it back in. It flashes red.

"Cover me, I'll do the rest." She tosses me her shotgun.

Natalie does the next two and accidentally knocks over one of the eggs. The alien slides out of it in a sack full of fluid. It bursts open and out comes the baby. It's four arms and sharp teeth aim at Natalie. I quickly move around the eggs and shoot at it, blowing two of it's arms off. It leaps towards me, and I fall to the floor, dodging it. Three more aliens come out as Natalie finishes the last cooling tank. Now it's time to run. Back on the elevator, I frantically press the up button and wait for the doors to slide shut. It's agonizing and it seems like they're never going to close.

"Parker, Abigail, come in!" I scream into the headset.

"Hannah, thank god you're alive." Parker chuckles a bit.

"I need you to detach the drop ship now so we can get out quicker. Things have gone to shit down here."

"Okay. Just make it back in one piece."

"Space walk?" Natalie asks.

"No. More like space jump."

The elevator doors open and we take off running. Claws poke through the vents, they reach out, trying to grab us. We enter a small room and lock the door behind us. Grabbing space suits, we quickly put them on head back out. Running again, but this time a tiny bit slower, the suits are heavy and weighing us down. A pack of screams echo behind us, it's the aliens. We're so close to the drop ship, just a few more steps. I press a red button beside me and the door slides shut, depressurizing the room. The door across from us opens and I inch myself to the edge. The ship is right there.

"Ready, Natalie?" I look over at her, her face soaked with sweat.

She gulps. "Fuck yeah."

I take the first leap, it's slow but I still smack into the door. Reaching for the lever, I pull it down. The door opens and I'm able to float inside. Natalie follows close behind and so does the aliens. I reach out and grab her hand. Once she's inside, I push another red button and the area becomes safe. We both fall to the floor. Natalie laughs, which makes me laugh too. We made it off the ship with a few minutes to spare. We take off our suits and enter the cabin.

"Parker. I need you to activate the super thrusters. We have to get out of the blast radius quick." I strap myself into a seat behind him and rest my head.

"Got it. Alright, everyone's head back. If not, your neck will snap." He raises a lever and presses some buttons, then we're off.

The ship shakes violently as it rips through the empty universe. Behind us, Normandy 1 blows into a billion chunks of metal. We finally slow down and drift quietly through space, the hibernation beds are prepared.

"We'll be at Alpha station in a few months." Abigail says. "Your bed is ready whenever you are."

"Thank you."

"Normandy 1 drop ship log. The ship has been compromised by the alien that was aboard Stellaris. Myself, Hannah P. Watson, and three others managed to make it onto the drop ship which is now auto-piloted towards Alpha Station. Once we arrive, we will take the Endurance Space Cruiser back to Earth. Do not go looking for Stellaris or Normandy 1, there is only death waiting here. This is Hannah P. Watson, signing off."