BT soon arrived carrying his rifle and carrying a sword strapped to his back. BT is an experimental AI that me and George are working on. Right now he has the intelligence of the entire internet and our advanced combat programs, but he acts like a child always observing everything like a child trying to see how things worked and trying to interpret our jokes and come up with new ones, but for the most part all he has been able to come up with are some bad puns.

“BT reporting as ordered sir.”

“At ease BT we are going to be clearing this ship as some hostile life form seems to have taken over some of the crew. Orders are to clear all hostile enemy targets and rescue any survivors for debrief while we make our way to the bridge to secure their Black Box.”

“Roger sir I'll take point.” He made his way to the blast door stood ready for my signal with his rifle trained on the door. Bolder followed  him and stood ready as well.

“Alright George me and BT are beginning breach again.”

“Alright be safe kid I'll have Holly come over in case you find any survivors.”

I then made my way to the console again shoving a new clip into my rifle and opened the door with my rifle trained at the door. It opened and we stood still waiting if anything would appear. BT then made his way forward and shined a searchlight down the ship's corridor spotting a console he directly interfaced with it to see what he could learn. While me and Boulder watched for movement. The security bots then closed the door to keep whatever was in out and now it had nowhere to go and we were ready to hunt it down.

“Teage, systems show the ship's reactors are offline and that the ship is running on backup power which is enough to only power thrusters and life support. If we want to learn more we need to get the reactors back online. Follow me I was able to get a map of the ship off the console and have found a direct route.”

I follow BT down the corridors to the reactor, but the ship remained deathly silent as we made our way to the reactor. The view was less pleasant with blood splatter on most of the walls and floor, but there were no bodies which made the whole scene even more frightening.

“Teage your heart rate is increasing rather rapidly are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay BT just … This doesn't feel right at all and to be truthful this is a little scary.”

“There do appear to be numerous scenes reminiscent of horrors films which I'm guessing is a little unnerving for you, but as soon as we get the reactors online the lights will turn back on and we’ll be able to get to the bottom of this mystery.”

We then reached the reactor room doors and BT opened the door after fiddling  with the lock revealing the reactor room which was as dark and silent as the rest of the ship, but there was no blood which felt a little more comfortable I guess. BT then approached the console interfaced with it to start the boot up sequence. Boulder then made a grunt off to the side and as I got closer I heard a grunting and as I looked up from Boulder I saw another creature that looked like the one I saw at the blast door but this one was missing most of its limbs and its tendrils lazily moved about towards my light.

“Boulder finish it off.” Boulder then launched a stray piece of metal straight into its heart killing it instantly with a sick thunk as it tore through its flesh into its heart where it exploded again. I then heard a small growling above me and knew what this meant. I quickly made my way to BT and said “BT don't turn on the reactor.”

He stopped for a second and turned to me “Why not Teage it was just a stray wasn't it.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Switch to night vision and look above us BT that is an order.”

He complied and then answered it appears your assumption was correct Teage there are multiple targets similar to the ones we’ve encountered on the ceiling I will initiate a countdown effect on the reactor so that when we reach the control room the reactors will be on and we will be gone for when they wake up.”

“Okay BT set the countdown and let's get out of here this place is already giving me the creeps.” I pull out a explosive device and after fiddling with it set the charge in the center of the room to go off when it detects nearby non authorized personnel.

“I see you have left them a surprise Teage we must hurry though to reach the control room before it's needed though.” He then led the way down more blood soaked corridors and as we got closer to the control room we saw more and more blood, but still no bodies.

When we reached the control room we could hear muffled yelling and we got into position with Boulder deploying cover in front of the door. I got in position and BT got started to open the door, but they must have heavily reinforced the door cause it took at least a minute for him to get it open.

“Aim for their hearts boys they aren't getting us.” Then a barrage of gunfire shot towards me and I ducked under cover yelling “We are the defense force for Demeter Station hold your fire!” The gunfire halted and asked “Demeter? What do you mean I thought we were in the frontier. Well get in before they come back already come on get in.” Me, BT, and Boulder made our way inside as the men stared at us with hope. They had expressions of wariness from what looked to be lack of sleep and water.

“My name is Johnson I’m the acting captain of this ship sorry about shooting at you, but you can't be too careful with these things.”

“Name is Teage and this is BT and Boulder we need access to your ships Black Box and I need you to gather your men and follow me the the airlock so we can figure out what happened and how to deal with it.”

BT then proceeded to interface with the console as the men scrambled for their gear. A second later the lights flickered back to life and a second later an explosion rocked the ship causing the lights to flicker.

Johnson then grabs me and yells at me in an angry voice. “What did you do? We kept the reactors offline to keep those things from dormant and now you show up and stir up the entire ship. Are you trying to get us killed?”

BT then interjected saying “It was impossible to recover all data on the Black Box without power being restored and the ship's systems were to damaged to keep the entire ship dormant. I now have the ship’s Black Box and have sealed all door except for the ones leading to the airlock. To make sure whatever on this ship doesn't spread I have initiated the ship's self destruct sequence as I detect no other life signs. We should hurry and make our way back the station if we want to live.”

“Wait you mean to blow up the ship? But this is the flagship of the Emorian Science Corporation. I’ll sue you all for this.”

“The ship was deemed too dangerous a security threat to the station so with the station’s chief security officer’s permission  I have initiated the self destruct sequence. Now we need to leave while we still have a chance.” BT then left the room and ran down the open corridors to the airlock.

Everyone quickly gives chase and follow him towards the station. Quickly I get in gear and follow them telling the stranglers “Hurry it up guys you heard the man get to the station if you don’t want to go with the ship.”

I then proceed with the rest down the hallway towards the station and switch to station comms. “George this is Teage we've found the surviving crew and are making our way to the airlock. BT has initiated the ship’s self destruct sequence and we are leading the survivors to the airlock. When everyone is off the ship disengage docking clamps and jettison the ship as far away from the station as possible.”

The doors all around us have what sounds like hordes of the creature beating against the doors. We all run at full speed to hopefully get away before they breach the secured doors. Then from behind us a door bursts in and a group of ‘them’ start charging towards us grabbing one of the stranglers and tearing him to pieces ripping, tearing and biting his appendages.

I turn around releasing a burst of bullets into the group to buy the others some time as more keep piling out of the broken doorway. BT notices the approaching hostiles and joins me in creating a lead wall against the oncoming group. Boulder launches stray pieces of metal and creates small traps for them to trip over as we proceed to the airlock behind us. Other doors soon break open releasing more and more of infected into the hallway. I run out about a fourth of the way left and proceed to run towards the airlock while Boulder stays behind and seals the corridor behind us with some damaged wall panels.

Then right as we reach the airlock the door to my right burst open and a tendril reaches for my chest but it bounces off my shield as it protects me from the approaching monster. But it still knocks me off balance. I fall over and it proceeds to jump on top of me, but BT quickly dispatches it with a clean cut of his sword severing its head and kicking it off me and pulling me up and towards the airlock.

As we enter the airlock I rip the spirit paper to dispel Boulder before he gets destroyed by the onslaught of monsters. The airlock quickly closes behind us and suddenly a burst is heard as the airlock jettisons the ship to empty space to let the ship explode and deal with whatever horror was on that ship. I look to see how many made it with us to discover only four survivors including Johnson who looked pissed at me.

“How dare some half breed and his robot blow up my ship. You realize how much you have cost me in damages.”

Oh yeah I forgot to mention I’m not human. I am a half elf/dwarf hybrid.