Dead Space: Distress signal.

by Holyknight

Rating: mature
Tags: Horror, Adventure, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 18962

A mare called Molten Copper is a computer specialist on board the USG Metis, on a mission to investigate the USG Ganymedes communication blackout. While trying to rescue her marefried at the Ganymedes, she will face a real hell.

My name is Molten Copper, and I'm a computer specialist. We embarked on the USG Metis as part of a rescue team for the USG Ganymedes, one of the biggest planet crackers out there orbiting Aegis VII… My reasons for being here are quite personal. My girlfriend, psychologist Mint Breeze is aboard that ship as part of medical personnel and for a mare like me, my girlfriend is the most important in the galaxy.
However … as soon as we got to that ship we realized we would face a real hell. I have only two goals: to find my girlfriend, and together escape this slaughter saving as much ponies as we can. Everything else is irrelevant.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-11-23 01:21:01 UTC

01. Search and doom.

"We thought that the pest could be contained ... we were wrong. Maybe Celestia and Luna are dead after all...Unitology has collapsed..."

The small recon vessel traveled through a strange dark and bright tunnel in outer space, one that was actually a gravitational singularity folding the space for vehicles to pass through it as a hole through one fold of the universe. All around the observation windows unfolded a chaos of blue and pink lights passing through them so fast that they only seemed long lines, a real show for anypony who was watching intently the misteries that nature had to offer. On the side of the vessel's hull a name could be read: "USG Metis", it looked like a quick and maneuverable ship on its way to fulfill its mission.

Finally the ship emerged from the tunnel into the darkness of outer space, and the view of an area full of asteroids and other debris gave it a cold welcome. On board the ship were five ponies, two of them looked like the typical soldiers of the military wing of the CLEC or Celestia and Luna Extraction Corporation with the standard gray armor and pulse rifles, while the other three ponies were... much more interesting.  Standing near the two seats for the pilot and co-pilot, there was a unicorn stallion of a deep purple color, mane and tail and his eyes were black. His cutie mark looked like a military helmet and on an identification in the front of his armor one could read the name "Blackberry."

The second important pony was standing right next to him, a unicorn stallion whose coat was white, mane and tail and his eyes of a dark green; he wore an old engineer RIG, with only one or two guards of copper on an insulating fabric. On his identificacion one could read the name: "Clarity". Both stallions were in a discussion that was ignored by the third important pony on the ship, a mare sitting in the front left seat behind the stallions; an earth pony mare with a bright orange coat her tail, mane and eyes being a bright greenish blue, with darker streaks of the same color. Her age ranged between thirty and thirty-one years old.

Click to see her.

Those bright colors betrayed her personality, because this mare was the kind of pony one would classify as 'cheerful'. She wore an insulating fabric jumpsuit similar to the one of the white stallion, with a spinal LED bar-RIG, and a few grey plates of armor. Her cutie mark under the suit and carved on the plates of her flanks was a greenish blue transistor electronics symbol because she was the team's computer and networks specialist. The reason why this mare was not listening to her companions was because she was asleep.

Dreaming as the ship slowed its march, preparing to begin its mission.

I could see the face of my beloved so close to me... She looked so happy on this summer day, while the two suns bathed us with their light, I could see her mint green foreleg around me... We kissed, sitting on a park bench as the dusk reached us... I could see her light mint-green coat shining faintly in the dim light, her black mane and tail with horizontal stripes resembling a candy cane matching her mint-green eyes. Oh, what a wonderful time we had...Her delicate features frozen on a happy smile... I rubbed down her side with my hoof, gently rubbing her cutie mark. It was a "psi" letter, and the symbol sometimes used for psychology... a black letter with horizontal mint-green stripes... And just when her magic had reached to brush a lock of mane out of my eyes, I felt that someone was shaking me from the shoulders...No! Please... I wanted to stay with her a little longer!

I grunted in response to the hooves shaking me from the shoulders, and opened my eyes only to see Clarity's eyes staring at me. I gave a slight eep and jump before softly shoving him away, sitting down and rubbing my eyelids with a yawn. "Finally, you're awake! We thought that  you'd maybe like to see this." He said stepping to the side and looking at the observation windows. I grunted and stood up on my hooves, after giving myself a good shake and looking at what they wanted me to... Woah... There she was! The USG Ganymedes. The planet cracker looked exactly like on those promotional posters and propaganda! If only a bit bigger. It was traveling slowly through the rubble in a diagonal path to ours.

My contemplation of the ship was interrupted by our security chief and commander, Blackberry, when he stepped past Clarity with a confident smile. "Hey, Molten Copper! Isn't it awesome? The USG Ganymedes, the first and oldest vessel in its class... I wonder how such a wonderful ship could simply stop broadcasting so suddenly?" He said with a thoughtful frown, before his face lit up again. "But you and our engineer Clarity here will solve those problems right? And we are here to ensure your safety... so, everything should go smoothly." I smiled and gave a soft sigh, sharing the optimism of my companions.

"Sure! With Clarity's and the ship's crew help we should be able to overcome any obstacle and reach the communications center, the aerial and dish sections where I will get to work to restore the comms system." I summarized the plan, giggling a small bit. A nice and simple plan that would probably require a few days of hard work, if all went well... Clarity and Blackberry shared a look of concern before the mission commander cleared his throat and smiled gently.

"Well said! and... Copper?" He said as if he demanded my attention. "We know that you're looking for Mint in there, Mint Breeze. That's your marefriend's name right?" I nodded and his smile became more sincere. "Don't worry, we are sure that she is OK and helping the crew as much as she can." I gave a soft sigh and then looked through the observation window, rearing up and resting my hoof on the side of the pilot's seat, a brown unicorn mare with a bored look in her eye. I gave the massive planet cracker a longing look before turning around and sitting to face the two stallions.

"Thanks guys." I said with my own sincere smile. "I started to call her name in my dreams, right?" They nodded and I just looked back at the window. "It's just that... I love her so much. And the thought that she might be in danger is too much for me. I encouraged her to take this position on board of the Ganymedes... and if something happened to her..." The rest of my sentence was interrupted by a strong jolt of the ship and the pilot looking over her shoulder.

"We're close to the destination! Three minutes until reaching our target!" And with that Blackberry returned to guide our pilot and co-pilot in the somewhat delicate process of anchoring and landing. We couldn't take it easy, our ship was shaking a lot as it approached to the USG Ganymedes and the remains of some asteroids. And there,oh right there was when something went wrong... I tried to ignore the turbulence and walked to a nearby holographic panel and pressed the keys with the tip of my hooves and opened a secure channel with enough intensity so we could hail the Titan. "USG Ganymedes, come in. This is USG Metis preparing to board!" The pilot said loud and clear.

The only answer we received was an increase in static ... followed by what appeared to be deep and incomprehensible grunts.

I stared at the holographic radio panel in shock before my formation as a computer and networks specialist kicked in. "The Ganymedes' decoder must be malfunctioning... Don't worry, I'll fix it when we're finally there." I said to everypony and no pony in particular before the co-pilot, an earth pony mare with a red coat and pink mane and tail told us that there was a malfunction with the auto docking procedure. Before she could elaborate futher, the gravitational beam that would normally hold us safely on our path to the ship's hangar inexplicably began to damage our ship! Clarity was shouting something about the beam's calibration before it started to pull us to the ship... against our will.

"What the fuck is this!? Corporal! Abort the docking sequence... we are going to crash against the ship's hangars if we descend so fast!" But after some struggling with the controls, the pilot and co-pilot told us that it was useless; something was interfering with their control over our descent. Blackberry worked in the controls with his magic, while Clarity spoke to the co-pilot. Everypony was panicking, and with good reason. The noise coming from the hull of our ship being crushed by the gravitational beam didn't let me hear Blackerry's next words... Something about 'blast shields'? And before we could all react, the ship was suddenly pulled down into the Ganymedes' hangar...

My world became a blinding white followed by the roar of metal crushing against metal...

When I woke up our ship was really damaged. The previously polished metal surface was now dented and deformed beyond repair, the fire was beginning to cause havoc on the machinery around us when I rose up to my hooves and crawled towards the nearest pony. Clarity seemed to be OK but his coat had ash on it with some minor contusions, I shook his body until he woke up coughing and then I moved to Blackberry who already was standing up. "Damn it... Quick! We need to get out of this deathly trap before it explodes!" He said and together we shook the pilot and co-pilot until they could stand up.

We didn't have time for anything else... Holding our wounded ponies, we left the ship just when the explotions and fire began to destroy everything. With a final blast of fire we were expelled outside and into the hangar of the Ganymedes, I heard my companions' screams and grunts mixed with my own when we all landed on the Ganymedes' large main docking platform, a long platform where the hangar's roof and walls were so high that you could almost think they didn't exist! It was like if the long steel platform was floating in mid of a giant steel room, we could see some bigger ships tied to the platform, but all of them looked as if they had been here for a long time.

I coughed, then rose to my hooves for the third time this day, looking at the rests of our ship before sighing and laughing, everybody looked at me like if I had lost my mind. "Well... at least we didn't have to request permission from them to land, right?" They all groaned and I sat down, an holographic screen displaying from the chest of my armor-RIG, I typed some commands on it while they recovered. I only had some superficial bruises, despite how much pain I had felt while waking up in the lost vessel. "I'll sync up our RIGs and activate our health indicators now." I said before closing the screen and then everybody's health meters went on. I frowned a small bit... all of us had light green colored bars and our spinal LEDs were approximately at 75% of health. It should not be a problem, but we might need a first aid kit later.

"Alright..." Blackberry said, sitting down. He and the other two soldiers had somehow managed to take their pulse rifles before the ship exploded! I didn't have any gun, and Clarity was under the same conditions... But, we wouldn't need a weapon, right? This was just a repair mission. Once the ship's crew--- Wait... Even with the crash of our ship and the noise we had made, nobody had come! I was about to tell my concerns to the rest of the team when Blackberry went on. "Clarity, Copper, stay close to us. We're going to look for help in that flight room at the end of the corridor. Once we find the ship's crew, we will continue with our mission. I'd like to send a report to our superior officers." And with that, he turned around and the words died on my lips.

We walked to the end of the long platform, a bright banner screen above the doors to the flight room. A recording said with the voice of the ship's AI, complementing it with images. But then my attention was directed to Blackberry's words again. "Ah, damn it! These doors are locked!." The purple stallion trotted in circles before looking at the heavy steel doors with an hologram in the center again. It was red, displaying the word ... "But... why? Why would anybody do this?" My suspicions returned as a constant whisper in the back of my head.

Blackberry stepped aside before sitting down, keeping his pulse rifle hovering in his telekinetic grip. "Clarity! Hack this door, there's no time to lose." Clarity nodded and walked over, levitating some tools from his 'suit'  before he removed a steel plate next to the door. He put his hoof into the hole and twisted it around until the door's hologram turned blue, the word now being displayed on it. I stood closer to the two soldiers before Blackberry nodded and stepped close to the door, which opened with a beep and a hiss. "Don't worry ponies, we will have this resolved in less than...a... heartbeat..." His tone became one of shock when we looked into the flight room... and I could understand why. I was shaking from mane to hoof, terrified.

Before us, a slaughter spread. Blood was smeared on every wall and the floor was partially covered on it, some pieces of meat laying here and there... I couldn't help it, I threw up before the three soldiers (Blackberry and the other two ponies) rushed to the center of the room, holding their pulse rifles up and looking around for threats. "Clarity, Copper! Come here!" We sidesteped from the luggage laying on the ground and met our companions. The pilot was aiming to the left while the co-pilot aimed to the right, giving Blackberry a worried glance. The aforementioned stallion looked to the elevator at the front of the room and frowned. "What the fuck is this? ... Why are the elevators offline!?" A trickle of blood fell from the vents on the ceiling and the pilot backed away a small bit with a gasp.

Blackberry sighed and then pointed to a locked door to the left on the room. "We need to know what happened to this people... Clarity and Copper, hack the door and then access the computer to run a diagnosis of the ship. We'll stay here, watching your back." I nodded and then walked with Clarity to the door, he popped the plate next to it from the wall and then did the same as before while I nervously glanced back to our protectors. Finally, the door opened and I walked inside a much smaller room with an holographic pad next to an armored window, looking at our other three companions. Clarity had stopped at the door still outside the room, looking at the recently closed door before it started to open and close erratically with a spark coming from the hole next to it.

"Ah horsapples!" Clarity swore. "Run the diagnose, I have to repair this door before anypony gets cut in half by it!" I nodded and then used my hooves to type in the holographic screen while he tried to repair the malfunctioning door sliding his hooves into the hole next to it. I finally ran a diagnose of the ship's integrity and gestured to the other three to get close, looking to the hologram of the ship with It's damaged sections highlighted in red.

"That doesn't look good..." Blackberry said. "Tram system is offline... the engine is not working and the fuel is low... Shit. Okay Copper, get those elevators online and---" But then his sentence was cut by the ship's AI voice and the sound of security steel covers going down on every window and door. The co-pilot mare had been close to the door Clarity had just repaired, and when it closed down she screamed and jumped into the room I was standing in. "What the!?" Blackberry said before there was the sound of... something... moving above their heads in the vents system. We tried to warn them, Clarity had returned with them to the center of the room, and I tried to tell them to look up, to watch the vents! But no matter how much we screamed, the AI's booming voice obscured ours!

The vent above the pilot mare exploded, and then something fell from it landing on her body. There was the disgusting crunch of her armor being crushed against her flesh before she let out a scream that made the other three ponies and us look at her attacker... It looked like something that was once a pony, but the coat was gone with the flayed skin exposed... it stood on its hindlegs, like always rearing up... The head... its lower jaw was missing, the eyes were two wells of infinite evil and the forelegs looked atrophied and small compared to the long new legs or limbs growing directly from it's back, with long bone blades at the end of each limb.

The...monster sank his blades into the pilot's torso, and then tore her appart... Blood splattered the window as he roared and the RIG from the brown mare gave a loud flat-line EKG like sound, announcing her death. Our companions were shooting at the abomination and the pulse rounds ricochetted from the window's armor, the blood blocking most of our view before we heard Clarity's voice apparently transmitting to us via RIG link. "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"  I could hear their screams...but fear paralyzed me.

The shooting didn't slow down, but we heard Blackberry's voice next. "Copper! ... Cherry Blossom! there's a door in there that you can use! Run away! Use... Use the elevators! NOW!" The co-pilot girl (Cherry Blossom, that was her name) was the first to react, and she pushed me towards the door. I gasped and then followed her closely, as the door slid open and we both rushed into a long corridor surrounded by pipes with steam erupting from them... We could hear the screams of our companions, and then on the still open RIG-link we heard Clarity's scream followed by him shrieking before there was a fleshy crunching sound, followed by another flat line sound signaling his death.

Blackberry shouted in fear and kept spraying the monsters with pulse rounds, his RIG-link still open on my RIG. "No no no! They've beheaded Clarity! They're feasting on his corpse! What the fuck are these things!? Die you motherfuckers!" More shooting, and his screams... I could imagine one of those things pulling Clarity's head off with the rests of its jaw, and then proceeding to feast on his corpse... We were still running, turning a corner and so close to the elevator when one of those things came out from a vent in the ceiling and fell on me! Maybe it was that it fell from a much lower height, but it just knocked me down instead of breaking my body.

I screamed. I didn't have as much armor as that other soldier had, so it reduced my health LED despite the softer hit. Cherry turned around and shot the beast in the head... But it only backed up when its head was blown from its shoulders! It started to flail around wildly with those bone blades and it almost severed Cherry's hoof  before she shot it on the legs. The creature fell down to its front and yet it kept chasing us when I stood up and ran! I had almost make it to the elevator... just a bit further... There was a loud growl coming from the long hall...

I hit the bottom wall of the small cargo lift and turned around just in time to see Cherry's hopeful smile, she was going to make it! And then I saw the long bloody bone blade erupting from her chest with an explotion of blood and the confused look on her face... as if in slow motion. The blood splattered my face before she fell into the small cargo lift, pushing me to the back wall as I screamed. The monster that had hurt her was halfway in here as well, wildly slashing at her body as she screamed in agony, her foreleg was ripped off and sent flying to my face, I screamed in horror and backed up, flailing and falling into the floor while hitting the elevator's holographic button in the process. The heavy armored doors closed, crushing the beast's torso as more blood sprayed us, and then as the elevator went up to the next floor the beast was tored into pieces with a crunch, a bone blade fell inside with us.

The elevator continued its ascension, and I looked in front of me to the mutilated body of Cherry... She was still breathing, mouthing some words that I could barely hear... I couldn't move, paralyzed by the fear and the shock of feeling her blood on me... I finally leaned a bit closer and heard her last words. "Don't... Don't let them... catch you..." My tears fell down on her face before she gave a last sigh and her RIG announced her death. While the elevator kept going up I screamed... I screamed in fear... I screamed in shock and pain... I screamed several times, crying like a foal... I had even wet my suit as we fled...

The elevator doors finally opened, and I slowly crawled outside... shaking, but there were no monsters in sight. I walked into a small room... the lights were constantly flickering, there was an absolute silence present punctuated by the rythmic hum of machinery and the occasional sound of... hoofsteps. I looked back to the lift... Cherry... I closed her eyes with my hoof, I couldn't do anything else for her... Even if I had only known her for some days I thought she was a good pony.  I returned to the room I had seen before, and then spotted some crates lying on the ground. Well, they looked more like ammo boxes and they were closed anyway. Then I jumped and almost had a heart attack right there when my RIG received a video message.

It was Blackberry! He was alive! And... His ear was missing... and his left hindleg too...He was also laying on the ground and bleeding... I gasped and then leaned close to the blue holographic screen. "Blackberry! ... Sir... what..." But he rose a hoof to silence me and then coughed up some blood, the pulse rifle laying next to him, with the ammunition counter on '00' and the canon horribly bent. I took cover behind a wall and then spoke softly. "Blackberry... Cherry... Clarity... That soldier... they are all dead!" I sobbed. "Sir, I am just a network and computer specialist... I'm not prepared for this kind of situation! I've never fired a gun in my life! I just saw a pony being cut into pieces in front of me! What is going on here!? What are those things!?" I sobbed, but then I remembered that he was the hurt pony and I the still healthy one, so I leaned closer to the screen wishing I could be there to help him!

"Ssshh... It's okay to be afraid... Copper..." He coughed. "I'm... I'm screwed. One of those things pierced my lung... Listen... I don't have much time before they reach me... and I don't want you to risk your life and try to save me. You should remember a few things... Our mission was to repair the communications system of the ship... And any other damage it could have taken... But now, these... creatures, they change everything! I think the whole crew was killed and-or transformed by them... I saw our pilot's body being dragged away by one of them to... The Princesses know where! You need... you need to repair the tram system... and then... check the engine! A malfunction on it could send the entire ship to Nightmare Moon's hell... And then... when you repair the comms system... you should send a distress signal..."

There was the sound of so many claws against the door, and the sound of something crawling through the vents. "Your RIG should assist you, guide you even! Just follow the instructions the RIG gives you! I'm... I'm sorry... I wish I could have helped you to find your marefriend..." I closed my eyes shut... Mint Breeze... I couldn't accept the idea that she was dead. She had to be alive somewhere...somewhere! There was another stronger hit on the door. "Copper... Find... a weapon... you will need... a weapon... and... a better suit... to survive...be-beware...va...cuum." And then the vent above him exploded just when he let out his last sigh, the transmission ended and at the end I could hear the sound of his RIG signaling his death.

I cried a bit more, mourning his death...he was a good pony even if I had only known him for some days, like Cherry... Wait, va-cuum? Vacuum! Oh no... so there was depressurized areas of the ship, or exposed to outer space? I didn't even have a insulated helmet nor an insulated suit with an oxygen reserve! They did not seem necessary when we embarked for a routine mission. Maybe I could find a storage node later where to improve my current 'suit'. But Blackberry was right... I needed a gun, or at least something to use for self-defense. Without that any other concern was pointless. I paused and opened my RIG screen, looking at the blue holographic screen in front of me before navigating through the tabs using my mind; there it was! The mission objective screen. Huh? That was my current objective? The map screen showed a blue line across the tridimentional representation of the ship, showing me the way to a certain location.

I put the RIG screen away, and then there was a female artificial sounding voice coming out from my RIG. I immediately felt a tingle throughout my spine, I knew that my RIG had (finally!) activated the survival features which were supposed to help several specialist to survive to adverse work environments. Improvements in strenght, some speed, the oxygen reserves became operational along with a unique but essential function: we called it 'artificial telekinesis', completely different from the kinesis modules issued to everypony's RIG.

In summary, artificial telekinesis was an extra module issued to the RIGs of anypony that wasn't a unicorn. A particular magic which allowed pegasi, and earth ponies like me to use a 'weaker' version of the telekinesis spell of a unicorn that (unlike kinesis) allowed us to use precise manipulation magic at the sacrifice of the spell's range and power. For example: you could hold a gun only less than one meter in front of your face, meaning you couldn't make it hover away from you to shoot a distant target like unicorns did. You couldn't carry heavy things around, and finally the 'magic' glow around it would be a static light blue glow around the object. In situations like this, we decided to leave behind our differences to bet on greater chance of survival.

After the short delay, I used another of the new functions of my RIG: the 'compass', a bright blue line projected on the environment that would lead you to your current target, it was activated by holding out your hoof, pointing to the floor. Looking around nervously, I walked to the end of the room and the door when the same female artificial voice spoke once more, and a holographic screen appeared in front of me; I sat down and then looked back at the closed boxes I had spotted before and then trotted towards them, I didn't know if this would work but I lifted one forehoof before stomping one crate strongly with a grunt. The box broke! and inside it I found some small orange cartridges that my RIG identified as 'Plasma Energy.' I put them on my inventory (a few pockets for supplies, two handles for medkits and two handles for weapons running throughout my RIG on my back)... I really needed to upgrade my inventory slots!

A few boxes later, I had found more Plasma Energy and some pulse rounds when I stomped the last crate levitating a small medkit up to my face. The small blue canister held a powerful healing gel inside, and the top was designed to be plugged into a special port on my RIG to automatically pour and distribute its contents over my damaged body parts. Again, my RIG was vital for this to happen because it managed the distribution of the medicines to my damaged parts. I used the small medkit, giving a sigh of relief as my spinal LED (which indicated my overall health) recovered about 25% of its full capacity, returning to the 'white' zone. Around 25% of the LED was still darkened, but the pain died allowing me to walk and move normally once more.

I kept moving, following the path of my compass until I walked into a dark, narrow hallway with steam floating all over. I lowered my head, creeping slowly as I heard hoofsteps in the distance followed by those growls and incoherent botching... It didn't sound like words, more like a bunch of growls and babblings from the throat of a monster. For a few seconds, I swore I could hear the faint and weak whispering of a mare and a stallion in the middle of a conversation but as fast as it came, the sound was gone... The air tasted stale and putrid, but it was breathable even if it looked brownish and impure against the darkness of the corridor.

I finally made it to my destination, and what I saw made me want to retrace my steps: the mummified cadaver of a unicorn was leaning against the furthest wall of the room next to a closed door with a damaged looking sparkling switch, on the wall and written with blood were the words 'Cut their limbs off!'. Next to the corpse was the partially dismembered body of one of those creatures and a folded, inactive workbench. Something peculiar lying on the ground far away from the corpses: A tool used by engineers to cut the ore extracted from the asteroid and tectonic plates disassembling process. This one looked different tho, instead of the usual orange it was of a bright red color! There was also an audio file couple of meters next to the tool, I touched the resistant casing and the data was instantly transfered to my RIG. I hit the play button.

<This is Scorpion Tail, acting chief engineering... These things... they have massacred my employees... each one of them! Shooting them in the body doesn't work, It's a waste of ammo! After much suffering, I've found out that the best way to kill these things is to dismember them... shooting their limbs off! That kills them way faster and slows them down too! I also discovered that the best parts to cut vary depending on the type of monster you're fighting. Sometimes cutting their head off will be a bad choice, and shooting at the legs the best one, for example. I've... worked and upgraded the only weapon I think is the best to deal with these monsters: a plasma cutter. It has proven to be highly effective against every one of these freaks I've come across. I painted it another color so I could distinguish it from others. (I tend to lose my stuff often.) Now I'm heading to the elevators and then to the flight room, once there, I should be able to... Wait... I can hear something... Oh Celestia and Luna, no! I think---

The recording ended with the sound of a vent on the ceiling exploding, the plasma cutter's shots and the screams of the unicorn mixed with the growls and roars of the fallen monster. I let the plasma cutter hover close to my face before mentally gripping the handle and firing pin on my artificial magic. "Scorpion's Cutter huh?" I mumbled softly before checking the corpse for any plasma energy cells. I stood next to the rests of the creature Scorpion Tail had killed, both its legs and one long blade tipped limb intact and as soon as I leaned to look for the ammo, the thing came back to life! I screamed and jumped when it rose suddenly, roaring and trying to cut me with its blade. I backed up, aiming at it with my plasma cutter...

I've heard that there were more than one firing mode for almost each weapon hooffactured by the CLEC (Celestia and Luna Extraction Corporation). I frowned, focusing before I pressed a small button on the side of the 'gun' with my ATK (artificial telekinesis) and the laser dots showing where my shot was aiming to twisted sideways. Now I targeted the legs of the thing, firing twice before cutting them off and ending it with a shot to the head, which flew clear on an arc over my shoulder... Yeah, it seemed to be dead for real now. I looked at the plasma cutter and smiled a bit, feeling less helpless for the first time since we came to this ship... Even if I was still afraid.

After checking the corpse I found some more plasma energy and then I paused to check my objectives screen once more. There was a new objective! Well, easier said than done... But it was apparently close. Leaving this room through a large cargo bay and down an elevator... It should be easy, right? I knew little about how the storage worked, but apparently schematics were needed so you could download certain product's data into the computer's memory. Once a product was downloaded at the store, you could get as much of it as you could carry or needed. The schematics for better suits, or the upgrade of a single one were granted to certain ponies according to the needs of each.

The 'suit' I currently possessed could be cataloged like a level one suit. It had virtually zero armored platings, and it lacked a helmet and both stasis and kinesis modules. Stasis was another spell that allowed you to nearly freeze the time around an object or even a enemy for multiple purpposes which had an automatic recharge function... The recharge process was somewhat slow though. BUT! Fortunately I possessed a schematic for the level two suit! I had never had to use it before nor the stasis or kinesis modules. The suit included them both, along with a helmet and the necessary insulation and oxygen reserve to survive outter space's vacuum and even poisoned or adverse atmospheres. The oxygen reserves were upgraded along with the suit's level.

Now, according to my RIG's data, the room with the storage node was marked as a 'safe room'. The armored doors (assuming they worked correctly) usually found around storage nodes should stop any creature wishing to break in, the room lacked a vent system for air distribution having a much safer and armored network of small ducts. There wasn't time to waste.

I stepped out from the room after the door opened to the corner of the large cargo bay, it was a long and wide steel platform with such a high ceiling that I couldn't see it. Behind me some sort of ramp had been lifted from the other side, and now there was an endless abyss between the platform and the floor at the other side. I sighed and walked slowly towards the end of the room, barely visible in the distance while the air again had that stale and putrid scent, with a dirty color... Perhaps a better way to describe it would be gas? But if it was gas, why wasn't I choking? Oh well, I couldn't complain... I was very happy to be alive, really! Despite the fear in my chest, I still smiled a little and kept up my spirits. Sometimes ponies told me that I was too cheerful hahaha. I'd like to see them in this situation, see if they kept that smug smile on their faces.

Shortly after I found a couple of small medkits and more ammo inside some boxes, there was another horrible growl behind me. I turned around, hoping to find another of those slasher thingies (the name seemed appropiate for some reason) but the room seemed clear... The ceiling vents were so high that if they tried to drop down from them they would became a meaty splat against the ground! And if they somehow were able to stick to the walls, I'd quit! I would retire to some vacational paradise like the moons of Tauro-V! Hahaha!

Yeah, as if that were to happen soon! Besides, I was too young for retirement... I was still in the prime of my life and--- The grating of the floor in front of me bursted open, and from the depths of a pit, another of those monsters broke through. This one seemed different though, only the upper torso remained with the skin flayed, the inner flesh was visible on a disgusting pink-flesh like color and the bottom part of the torso was gone. The forelegs had been modified, became longer and stronger with long sharp claws instead of hooves. Unlike the Slasher this thing had an intact mouth, and very powerful and vicious looking as well! With four sharp fangs in dislocated, yet deathly jaws. Its eyes were blank, the spine was visible jutting out from its back like big and heavy bones... All that remained from the bottom was a fleshy part narrowing towards a long tail like limb, with a long bone stinger at the tip.

The creature let out an horrifying growl, and two of those slashers climbed out from the hole, letting out a shriek and charging towards me while the first monstrosity sprinted to the left using its arms... It was fast! Really fast! I rose my cutter and then wished I had a stasis module shooting at the nearest slasher's legs making it crawl towards me, I screamed when the second one got closer than I had expected and almost sank his blade into my shoulder. Reacting quickly, I dropped the plasma cutter into my hoof and used it to block the attack... Hurray for the RIG's strenght improvement. I proceeded to punch the monster twice by swinging my weapon in an arc towards its body while grunting, and at the second hit its head came off with a meaty crunch and a pop. The creature flailed around almost comically (at least for me) before I shot its legs off, and it let out a loud gurgling shriek before it stopped moving.

...How had that monster still screamed if it lacked its head? Maybe the head had screamed, somehow still alive even if I had severed it from its body!

The slasher I had left crawling towards me surprised me when it almost sank its blade deep into my neck! Only the hovering plasma cutter saved me from having a similar fate than Clarity, because the weapon deflected the blade to the side and fell somewhere behind me. The beast lets out a horrible scream before I rolled backwards, grabbing the tool from the ground on my ATK and then aimed for its arm, firing and then the limb was sent in an arc behind it before the monster went limp with a gurgling--- I should have watched my back... The scorpion thingy leapt the distance to me, and pinned me down under his heavy body... I screamed when it grabbed my shoulder with those claws, drawing some blood and then it lowered its jaw to bite my face (or maybe my head) off! I held it back with my forelegs, and then picked up the plasma cutter from the ground with my ATK. I slapped the thing across the face with my hoof making it flinch a small bit before I shot its head off, putrid blood splattering my chest, missing my face for inches!

I heaved the thing up and away from me with a buck of my hindlegs before I rolled to the side and stood up, panting. It landed on its arms before it sprinted towards me with that incredible speed. I aimed... and with all my focus and the vertical shot of my weapon severed an arm off. The monster fell, but it then crawled towards me with the remaining arm! I frowned... These things just refused to die! I put two shots into its remaining limb before the monster went limp with a horrible growl. I looked at the holographic ammo counter on my weapon, I had spent ten of twenty shots since I shot the first monster... Cutting their limbs off truly saved ammo. The wounds on my shoulder were deep because I didn't have armor to shield my body! and my health bar had returned to yellow again... Sigh. I limped a small bit while hovering one of the small medkits to the port on my RIG, letting it work its healing effects on me with a sigh of relief.

I moved fast, I could see the elevator now! The brown air dissipated close to the elevator's section and I skidded to a stop. "Oh no..." The elevator was badly damaged, the outside was burnt and the same could be said of its interior. The lights flickered and the holographic controls too... I brought up my RIG screen again and looked at the map and objectives tab... This was the only way to reach the safe room... Behind me, I heard more growls, and when I turned around I saw more of those monsters chasing me, approaching fast... I grunted and closed my eyes shut before running to the elevator. I was a mare with a mission, and I had a marefriend to rescue... She was alive... she had to be!

My Mint Breeze was too smart and tough to be defeated by these creatures... I had always been the soft, blushy one.

I hit the elevator's back and then punched the holographic panel. The doors closed before one of those monsters hit it with a heavy thud that make me jump back when the steel budged a little... The elevator went down... But... something was wrong. It kept shaking, rattling and the lights were flickering, same than the control panel in front of me! The panel flickered once... twice... and then I heard the ship's AI voice. Warning! Elevator #37 power source heavily da--- and then with a last flicker the holographic screen and the lights went out. I froze... afraid that the elevator would leave me trapped in here forever... until I died of starvation and dehydration.

Instead, it did something even worse: The elevator rushed down freely, plunging into the abyss below. I screamed... and then my world became a blinding white light for a second time today...

When I came to myself, I was lying on the floor of the now crushed and deformed elevator... everything around me was on fire, and the smoke was slowly choking me... I looked up... I could hear the growls of the creatures far away, but I also saw a weak dot of light way above the elevator's shaft... It wouldn't be long until they managed to break into the shaft and then down here... I tried to stand up... But my hind legs didn't move. I screamed and then grunted, looking back over my shoulder. My health indicator was on the red zone... around 25% of my health left. Not good.

I was in so much pain... every part of my body was hurt... Every breath felt shallow... The smoke and the stale air were choking me to death as I wheezed and  crawled on the floor towards a heavy armored door at the end of this small room... The doors to the storage room! I crawled a bit faster, leaving a trail of blood behind... Copper you stupid mule! I would have facehoofed if I could... I levitated my last small medkit to the port on my RIG, and I gave a small sigh of relief as the medicine rushed through my system... The health indicator went back to the yellow zone... I was creeping to the armored door at this point.

Behind me, I could hear the armored elevator's doors way above me being opened with a metallic shriek. I tried to move faster... Almost there... Almost there... The grey 'suit' I wore had so much zones of torn material... the 'armored' zones had been damaged... My vision blurred... my legs didn't want to walk anymore... too exhausted by the recent events of this day... The armored door is opening in front of me now... I heard something land behind me with a fleshy thud, and I hear a loud blood chilling growl. I look over my shoulder... monsters... they are going to get me.

I slip inside the safe room... And then I collapsed on the floor... The door was closing now. I looked to my left, where the familiar yellow glow of a storage node greeted me. Looking to my right, I froze... This place was a tomb. On the walls, and written in blood was a complete chaos of symbols and words... I tried to close my eyes shut, but fear forced me to open them again as I stared at the now brownish-black paint. Celestia! Celestia! Celestia! / Limbs... gotta cut the limbs off... / We are fucked! / HAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA!/ It tastes so good!/ Check for pregnant mares! They can change into monsters!/Please...I'm a good pony! /Celestia and Luna have forsaken us/ Unitology is dead!/ My foal... I saw my foal... it was one of them! one of them!/ Save us... ...On the floor and on the right side of the room there were so many corpses stacked, they looked almost mummified by now...

  I screamed in horror and then there was a resounding crunch and then one of the slasher monsters started to slowly but decidedly crawl its way towards me. I was hyperventilating... I couldn't stand the stench of this room... I couldn't... keep going... But... a picture of my beloved marefriend came to my mind... She was somewhere on this ship... scared and alone... trying to survive and thinking about me... Wondering if I had abandoned her to her faith.

No.

I would rescue her.

I stood on my hooves as best as I could, and then aimed to the monster with my plasma cutter. The artificial light in the room makes the end of the weapon shine, as if it was freshly polished. I frown and then a soft cheerful grin blossoms on my face... "Enough of your cheap tricks." I smiled and then shot the thing in the head, and then in the arm. Both went flying behind the monster in an arc before it went limp with a gurgling shriek...

I look around... all the doors were functioning and locked... the store was right next to me... there wasn't a vent to be seen... And there were psychopathic messages written all over the walls next to a pile of corpses. "Well... So much for taking it easy on the safe room..." I was still smiling when the plasma cutter clattered to the ground next to me, my eyes rolled back into my skull and I collapsed into my face, again. Before everything went dark, I could still hear all the monster's and hoofsteps background noises... And the whispers of stallions and mares... I don't know why, but I could swear that I heard a mare's voice softly whispering. ... The last thing I thought was about my lover, Mint Breeze running towards me in a beautiful plain of grass with a smile on her face... Hold on honey! ...

I'm going to rescue you... The question is... Who will rescue me?

I passed out.

Dead Space: Distress Signal

02. Knight of shining armor.

"The best defence is a good defence! Although maybe a contact beam could help as well...

The ship's A.I. voice woke me up from my dream and just after my eyes slowly opened, I noticed something was wrong. Every puff of air felt like a struggle to breathe and the smell and taste in this air was just awful. I got up off the floor and panted, not that I was drowning, but the oxygen became more and more scarce. I looked around and at the pile of mummified bodies near the blood and the symbols but surprisingly being at moderate risk preserved my mind from another panic attack ... for now. I walked to the storage node, finally being able to look at the blue holographic screen for which I had been searching so much and had almost died.

The interface worked, waiting for a user to enter their CLEC codes so they could access their personal store. Without further delay I let the device scan my RIG, and then a synthetic male voice said kindly: Good, so all my things should be there... First things first. I browsed on the list before I found what I needed so badly. I pressed the 'Accept' button before the small holographic panel of the store retracted upwards, and the bottom of the store opened revealing a hollow chamber with four steel ring holders for hooves.

Giving a deep sigh I stepped into the machine of horrors.

The four holders closed on my limbs with a snap, and I huffed before the steel door of the bottom of the store closed again. I could feel it working on me, quickly replacing the damaged parts of my current suit to use it as a base to add the plates and finally the rest of the suit corresponding with the design of the suit I had requested, adding both kinesis and stasis modules to my RIG. The weight made me feel a certain confidence that was manifested in my countenance. Finally, the doors opened and I stepped outside, looking so much bulkier and resistant. I cracked my neck and then checked the plates on my shoulders, then the suit's helmet rose and wrapped-adjusted itself around my head, closing with a distintive hum and the flicker of my new RIG interface on its visor. My mane fit perfectly inside the helmet while my tail sticked out from the suit.

Sigh... Advanced Unitologist RIG... passed from my mother to me despite my constant negatives. I finally had to accept it when she died, and even then I kept it at the bottom of my belongings. Ironically now circumstances forced me to use it as the strongest defense I could ever find. It had grey armor plating while the undersuit was black, with Unitology symbols etched onto it. I didn't hate Unitology... I had always maintained a neutral stance on my beliefs about the existence of the Princesses in the afterlife, but I felt a certain resentment towards the unitologists because my mother, being one, had squandered all the credits intented to finance my education at one of the most prestigious computing schools.

Thanks only to my talent was that I was able to enter another school for free and finish my studies.

I turned around and then looked at the rest of my storage...Mmmm, let's see... small medkits, plasma energy -That had to be what the computer added to my storage when it scanned my RIG- and nothing more. Good to know that the ammunition was given without a schematic! Then I would just have to find the schematic of the weapons first! Hurrrmph... I took as many medkits and plasma energy I could, leaving some room in my inventory for any new schematic -or gun- that I could find. Because, as stupid as this might sound, I was 99% sure that any useful weapon would have disappeared, or would have broken in the middle of the chaos generated by these ... monsters.

I looked at the objective screen in my RIG and found a new objective there. <...scanning user's data to generate next objective...> That was all!? Uugh... Could these things be more specific, please!? I consulted the map next and found a blue line marking the way through a lot of rooms and corridors, some lifts with possible deviations along the way. After a medkit, a meal consisting of the preserved food I found at a nearby locker (even if eating on a room full of corpses made my stomach lurch) and without further ado, I used my compass and found the direction I was supposed to go.

I stood in front of one of the heavy armored doors... I was still afraid. I could feel the fear in me at the task I was about to undertake... But then, the image of my beloved marefriend appeared in my mind... Alone... fighting. And then I was able to harden myself and, with a smile, continue on my way, the helmet going up again and adjusted itself around my head. The heavy armored door opened to a long hallway full of that yellow haze and the steam that hindered visibility... But now thanks to the helmet and the built-in filter at least I could breath fresh air. The weight of my gear did pushed me down a little tho, so my gait felt heavier and firmer. The terrifying sounds of hell returned as soon as I walked out of the storage room, like a constant hammer on my mind. I could distinguish the voices of mares and stallions in quiet whispers, but again and again I had to convince myself that it was only my imagination.

A couple of times I swore I heard movement in the vents above my head, but when I aimed with the light of my plasma cutter, the sounds stopped... Even worse, the sounds seemed to follow me. Was I being hunted? Only ten seconds after my second pause, I heard something to my left. One of the pipes running along the wall was shaking, a noise came from the interior, I gasped and had started to run away before I noticed the rest of the pipes on the hallway started to shake and do the same noise. I aimed to the wall, as stupid as it seemed, and then I screamed and almost shot the pipe when it belched a stream of hot steam in my face.

... I swore something creative before I kept walking.

After some more steps and a deep breath I was trying to block the ambient whispers and growls with my best high spirits before I heard a loud squelching sound right above me. I jumped--- fell back trotting -dude, this suit was heavy!- before small but vicious creatures fell on the floor just where I had been a second ago. They looked like some kind of spider or star shaped creature, made from the same fleshy matter of their 'slasher' and leaper brothers. I screamed as a dozen of them fell through the vent and swiftly started chasing me, jumping from wall to wall and crawling with their strange 'limbs'. I opened fire with my cutter, but each shot only killed one of the creatures before their comrades leapt the distance to me.

Somehow, they were gnawing on my body... and it hurt like hell. I screamed and grunted trying to shake them off, a few exploding or being tored appart by the violence of my movements before they jumped off and to the wall again. I was about to waste more ammo when I kicked myself -mentally, of course-. A movement of my hoof later, the indigo burst of stasis hit the group of... swarmers... before I aimed and proceeded to fire until I killed the last of them. I looked at the ammo counter of my plasma cutter and groaned. Shit... I wasted so much ammo before I could remember I had stasis and kinesis now. I reloaded my weapon -pulling the slide made a spent energy cell fall to the ground with a clatter before I put a fresh cell in- and then kept going, my health indicator had dropped down around 25% of my overall health.

I looked at the vents with a renewed feeling of horror while I kept trotting. Did everything on this ship try to kill me? Apparently, yes. Before I could reach the door at the end of the narrow corridor, I heard some movement...below me.  A grating zone under my hooves exploded, sending me back a few feet as I screamed and my body hit the floor with a heavy thud, and from the hole on the floor slashers climbed out swiftly charging at me, roaring.

Not this time guys. I frowned before the burst of stasis hit them and on this narrow hallway, froze them all in a blue glow. I then proceeded to shoot their limbs of, dispatching them quickly. The gurgling roar of the last one hadn't died when something hit me on the side, crushing me against the wall while a bone blade scratched against my armor plates managing to hurt my body a little. The stinger tail had lashed out and hit me, and then the leaper attacked again, hitting my shoulder with the stinger as I grunted shooting its arm off as it pinned me down when I tried to use my now empty stasis module. I held the monster back, and before it could bite my head off or use its tail again, I roared and finally heaved it off, grabbing the tail on my hoof and pressing my forehoof into its back. Earth pony strenght, stubbornness and RIG activated! I pulled its tail -and some of its spine- out from its body before hitting it in the head with its own stinger, lashing at it with its own tail.

At my second hit, its head came off and then I grabbed its remaining arm before throwing the monster to the wall, its body crunched and broke before it gave a gurgling shriek and went still. I threw the tail back at it with contempt and then stretched back my shoulders and back muscles giving a loud snort. I swore I heard a mare whisper: "Fa-ta-lity!" then.

...Remember when I said I was the soft blushy one? Well, I meant it. But I also happened to be a tad bigger (and bulkier) than the rest of my -now dead- companions, and of course, my marefriend. That, combined with my RIG's help and this suit resulted in a much higher strenght and endurance. Ironic that a computer specialist had a body like mine... Not so much if one took into account the genetics of earth ponies, and my constant refusal to simply stop exercising and become a sedentary mare like the rest of my classmates. In spite of the above, my personality could be described as happy, optimistic and cheerful. But even I had my limits, and I was still terrified by what I saw.

And on the other hoof, I was so far from being perfect. So far away that I wouldn't see perfect with a scope. My multiple defects and my own ponity countered my virtues perfectly. I walked to the door and then pressed my hoof to the holographic panel, before I entered to a bigger room. My usual high spirits and a faint smile were back, now that I had calmed down, and I sighed when I saw the blood splattered on the floor. In this level's infirmary there was blood and gore, body parts scattered everywhere while dry blood covered the walls, floor and ceiling. The lights were partially out, creating dark zones that I had to light by aiming my weapon at them. I could feel my heart beating in my chest...

I gasped and then looked up at the vents when a faint noise came from them. There was what I can only describe like chirping and high pitched sounds, with an occasional wail followed by slight and quick steps... I panted, time seemed to froze as I took some steps back, aiming at the vent where I first heard the sounds and then to the nearby vents... I glanced to the side, the door wasn't close enough for me to make it if I ran, and there were two fallen shelves that I'd have to remove with kinesis first. I was moving back to the first door before the noises at the vents followed me swiftly and then something fell from the vent above me, into my back.

I screamed and then shook violently, trying to take it off, but the thing had grabbed me! I could feel its arms around my neck before I could shake it off and it went flying away and landed with a sickening crunch some feet away from me...

...I had been fighting a corpse. The slightly more fresh looking unicorn was almost a copy of myself... But she was smaller -or normal sized?-, and her mane was blonde instead of bluish green. I looked up... But whatever had been moving up there was gone. I hovered the mare's corpse to a chair before I walked to the shelves blocking my way, and as fast as I could, lifted them with kinesis and threw them against the furthest wall. No time to waste. I looked around but every locker or container was empty or locked, and the few boxes I could stomp open only gave me a couple of small medkits. Since I already had all the medkits I could carry, I used one and picked up a new one before moving to the next door.

I opened the door and then entered to a much smaller room, apparently the nurses lockers. I found a couple of them unlocked and they gave me some more plasma energy, nearly making up for what I had used so far. This room was oddly cleaner and there weren't any corpses at view... Only one lying on the ground close to the next door. I frowned but then my RIG's artificial voice sounded and an holographic screen popped up making  me jump, scared. The window closed and then I cocked my brow. Kinesis impalement huh? I looked around before spotting a long pipe with a sharpened end lying on the ground, and then levitated it with my kinesis, aiming for the corpse in the ground and then throwing the pipe at its leg, the pipe pierced through the flesh and penetrated on the floor while the thing gave a loud growl and started flailing around a bit stupidly -at least that's how it seemed for me-.

It managed to crawl towards me once it broke and torn its own leg tho, so I picked up another sharp pointy spur of rebar before throwing it at its torso with my kinesis, the thing screamed and then was thrown to the nearest wall, impaled... and dead. I looked at my kinesis module and then smiled, kissing it. "Kinesis impalement, best thing ever!" I also noticed that, without any other pony around, I had not spoken much in all this time except for screaming and grunting... As the cheerful and chatty pony that I am, I hoped that the loneliness didn't affect me too much...

Moving on, I punched the slasher's impaled torso just in case and was rewarded with blood and flesh sprouting from the body and a few more plasma energy cells falling from its corpse. I picked them up and cocked my brow... How? But then I looked at its torso a bit closer. It was wearing clothing! A torn and bloody nurse jumpsuit with a few pockets on it. I guess that solved the mistery. Note to self: punching and stomping corpses with clothing could be a good idea. When I looked at the door I was about to open I noticed it was locked, I was about to try and knock it down before I saw the plate-panel next to it... The memory of Clarity hacking a door came to my mind, and I sighed. I couldn't open it hacking a computer, and I couldn't knock it down... Plan C.

I popped the plate off with my hooves and set it down before I look inside the hole, trying to don't put my face too close to the cables. Okay... I was no engineer, but I suspected that this thing worked with a layout similar to what I had studied throughout the university career. If that was true... I only had to twist my hoof here... and then there... and then the door give a satisfying beep before it unlocked. I whooped and then quickly entered to the next area.

Another corridor, but this one was wider... and also darker. I used my plasma cutter to light my path, nervously looking around for any monster that could come and attack me. I started 'running' or trotting as fast as I could and after a while I had started to pant because of the weight of all my gear. I used my compass again, just to make sure this was the correct way... The things I could see at the light of my weapon were simply horrible. More text, written in blood all over the walls... There were bathrooms some steps further into the corridor, one for stallions and one for mares... I was barely able to avoid tripping with a corpse, or a limb... On the floor I found a pulse rifle, and then picked it up only to find the gun was broken. If I used this, it would most probably kill me than any monster I had to shoot at. I grunted and left it on the floor before I walked over to the bathrooms.

Good thing I had used the toilet when I found bathrooms back at the safe room.

I found myself wondering, how was I going to use a toilet now if I was wearing all this armor!? I could only hope that the store could do something to solve that. Then I remembered hearing that the store could actually remove the whole suit from you... It made sense, and I had to facehoof right there... Sometimes I wasn't a mature pony at all, despite my age.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something metallic falling to the floor. I decided to focus on the task at hoof, and kept walking.

The darkness was so deep that I couldn't see anything a hoof in front of me without using my light. When I had walked for a while, there was the sound of several vents and floor gratings exploding around me, and then I tried to use my gun to light the darkness around me erratically. That was when I heard a series of grunts, moans and even strange cackling before there was a fleshy thud behind me and I turned around only to see something more glowing in the darkness. Something that looked like a bright yellow pustule attatched to something, which I later discovered was another monster when I aimed at it. It was gross... The body was twisted, thin and fused in so many parts... The skull had splitten open and there were teeth on both parts like some sort of maw. A single thin leg made it walk while using its smaller arm and the bigger one with the pustule in it to hurl itself forward.

I gasped and screamed a bit when two more dropped through the same vent, but then my attention was directed towards something else when a slasher hit my side with its blade. I screamed again at the pain before shooting its head and then its arms off but, in the meantime, the yellow pustule monsters had gotten too close already. One of them rose its yellow pustule arm as if it was going to hit me with the yellow bag, before I shot a burst of stasis to them -the spell slowly recharged over time- and then backed up... I didn't know what that pustule was, but if that monster tried to hit me with it, I should try to get away of it as much as I could.

A leaper came out from the hole in the floor before I aimed for a yellow pustule... When I shot it, the thing exploded like if it had some kind of highly explosive chemical inside -which was probably the case- creating a chain reaction when the pustules of the monsters around it exploded too... The leaper that had been in the middle of the group simply ceased to be... Evaporated or tored into bloody chunks that were sent flying away, I'll never know. I panted and started walking again before I heard another cackle behind me... Oh shit no! I turned around and shot the thing with stasis, but all I could do before its arm-pustule slammed down into the floor was run a bit... The explotion launched me off my hooves and sent me to the floor in a heap, I also heard something break inside me and felt my body being damaged by the detonation.

Oh...not again... I saw my health indicator on the red zone, and when I tried to use one of my medkits, I heard more cackling and grunts before one of those things dropped down from a vent and slowly but decidedly tried to reach me. My vision was blurry, and I felt blood dripping down my nose when I realized I didn't have any stasis left... I shot the thing's pustule-arm off instead of shooting directly at the pustle, and when it had a momment of shock -Could this monsters actually feel pain?- I picked up a nearby crate with my kinesis, throwing it at the monster. It fell down several feet away before I picked the pustule up with my kinesis and then--- another one came down and then rose its pustule arm to hit me.

I screamed in horror and then dropped the first one's pustule, shooting at the thing's arm nearly at point blank and then quickly grabbing the pustule with my kinesis. Had I done it less than a second before the pustule came off, my kinesis couldn't have grabbed the pustule and I'd be dead. Now hovering the second one's explosive sack I shot its other arm and head before it died, and then threw the second one's pustule at the first one's, the blast radius turned the monster into gore bits... A few inches more and I could have probably died.

I panted and wheezed... even my suit's thick armor couldn't block the damage made by those...exploders. I'll have to be careful around them from now on... or I could end up as a pile of gore that once was a pony. I finally used my three medkits and regained around 75% of my overall health before I could stand up again... I even felt the broken parts inside of me regenerate by the magical healing gel... I wonder if all this medkit usage is going to earn me consequences in the future? Tumors? Malformations? Mutation? I shook my head and then ran for the door at the end of the hallway. I found myself in front of a large, circular armored door.

I used my light to read the signs next to it. When I tried to open the door, the ship's A.I. voice nearly made me jump. Life support systems malfunction? I opened the door and the air around me was immediately sucked inside the large room. My RIG's voice promptly announced. I found myself suddenly breathing from my oxygen reserves, the holographic indicator at my back showing how much air I had left lit on. Every sound was muffled or muted completely.

...Maybe I should have known how to move in zero gravity before trying to open this door.

As soon as I stepped into the room, my magnetic boots kicked in and held me in place... I could run, but this room was so large that I would suffocate before I could reach the end of it. Several corpses and debris were floating around, the blood looking like small red globs... Another holographic screen popped up and I heard my RIG's voice. What!? Who programmed this thing!?

It hadn't been me, for sure.

But as stupid as the hint was, I tried to do as it said. I moved my arms and legs back a small bit, and then a burst of air -or was it gas?- coming from my shoulders and hindhooves pushed me forward. I did felt like a superhero, much to my regret... I also discovered that I could adopt so many other positions to move freely in the zero gravity zone... And that the air or gas streams didn't waste my air reserves... Odd. I focused on going forward for now since my time was limited, but shortly after I had been moving, something darted past my shoulder and then exploded against the floor with a much smaller explotion than the one caused by those exploders. I turned to the left and saw a big throbbing mass of flesh in the floor... Its top opened and grew three tentacles before spewing much smaller octopus like creatures... Or at least they had a big 'head' connected to a lot of tentacles. The things were of a bright red color and immediately flew towards me.

I failed to use stasis before one of them hit me square in the torso. I screamed and then I was sent floating away by the impact, before I could stabilize my flight... Surprisingly enough, the explotion only hurt me instead of blowing me to pieces. Shortly after I recovered, I used stasis on the ones that were left before shooting at them and a considerable ammount of ammo and a reload later, they were all dead. I focused on the... uh nest... -seriously I needed to name this things to identify them!- and when its tentacles came out again, I calmly shot them off one by one... Then the thing shook and finally went limp.

The hit of that one octopus thing had lowered my health back to 50% , so it would be better to shoot them all before they could touch me. The fight had taken more of my vital time, so I keept moving as far as the thrusters could go. I didn't have time to explore at the momment but maybe when I wasn't running out of air or I had an oxygen recharge station close, I would actually stop and investigate this low gravity conditions better.  I finally made it to the door at the end of the room and managed to land just when I had around 30 seconds of air left... I was breathing heavily and panting by the time, because the air was starting to lack inside the helmet. And then just when I got the door opened and the air was sucked inside the room, something tackled me to the side.

Of course something had to attack me then!

I was panting when I turned to look at the leaper, 24 seconds left... I shot its arm off before it leapt the distance much faster than I could float away, and then it struck me with its stinger making me scream. 19 seconds left, I was panting and wheezing for air at this point while wildly shooting at the monster... I floated close to the door again while shooting back to keep it at bay... 14 seconds left. I was wheezing desperately for air before it leapt and pinned me down or at least pushed me with its body, I shot the remaining arm off and then floated out through the door. I heard my RIG's voice say before the door slowly closed... six...five...four...three...two...one... I was laying on the ground and clutching my throat desperately before the door closed and with a hiss the artificial atmosphere around me returned, filling my suit with air and oxygen. I breathed so fast and deep and then coughed, feeling all my body numb and my mind lethargic.

When I could finally stand up, I opened the map screen of my RIG. Well... The zero G room had been a big shortcut... one that almost got me killed- and now instead of going up the elevator shafts and different levels I could just take a hallway or two to the maintenance hangar. Because, apparently there was where my RIG wanted me to go. I walked to the next door, still feeling a bit weak because I had nearly choked to death, and when I entered the hallway I felt a bit better. The place was well lit, and free of blood and gore... I slowly walked inside and then followed the path marked by my compass... Hmmm... I guess few monsters had made it across the zero gravity room and managed to get the door open? Or all this was just a simple stroke of luck.

After walking some more, always listening for any noises, I found another recording on the floor... Who would leave this here? I touched it with my hoof and again the data was transmitted to my RIG before I hit the play button. This time tho, it was a video message! An olive pegasus mare with light blue mane and tail spoke to a camera, she had dark circles under her eyes and her mane was a mess. The feathers on her wings looked unattended.

<We had to incinerate the remains of Jokerblue yesterday... She... She was pregnant... but after a few days of fever and illness, she started changing... the changes and transformation are too grotesque to describe them here... Suffice to say that we had to incinerate her on a bigger crematory furnace... with the remains of her foal. This thing... this infection attacks everypony... Old, young, mare, stallion, sick or healthy... All eventually mutate once they have been exposed to it... In view of the aggressive and resuscitating behavior of the strain, we have decided to call these monsters: Necromorphs... We must continue to investigate if we want to stop this madness ...

The rest of the recording was damaged, or it had been a short one... Either way, when I looked away from the screen an image of bold red letters written in blood on a wall came to my head, almost painfully. "Beware of the pregnant mares! They can change too!" I clutched my temple with my hoof after lowering the helmet once more, moaning in pain. "What...the...fuck!?" I managed to say before sitting down on my haunches... The pain slowly subsided and then I stood up again. What had that been!? Visions? Hallucination?

The sound of distant growls got me out of my 'trance' and into action, the helmet went up once more before I quickly trotted down the hallway. I came to a junction with a second hallway, but my compass once more pointed me in the right way before I took to the left and then found a door with a glowing holographic banner above it. Welp, I was on a emergency situation, right? And I think they would've been glad if I repaired the tram system anyway... Even if I didn't know how was I exactly supposed to do that. I opened the door to the maintenance hangar then, and stepped into the biggest room I had ever seen since I came to this ship.

It looked like a giant room with rests and parts of ships hanging from the ceiling, with so many catwalks and grating floors... Right... So, where did my almighty RIG want me to go? I checked my map screen and then noticed I was supposed to go down to the fourth level, since I was currently standing at the first and there were a total of five levels in this place. At least the lights weren't flickering... but the room was full with steam and haze, and permanently dark small rooms and corners... I sighed... Come on monsters--- errr necromorphs... Bring it on. I stepped into the room and of course the Goddesses of whom I was not yet certain of their existence had to fuck me right then.

My small sure smile (because I was always smiling unless the situation was totally bad, like right now) melted when I saw two slashers climbing (how the fuck did they climb the grating and catwalk support columns?) until first their bone blades, and then the rest of their bodies showed up here, several feet ahead. I grunted and then aimed with my plasma cutter before the monsters gave a blood chilling roar and then charged me... Just before I blew the first one's legs off, and then the second one's head... Seriously, this "improved" Scorpion's cutter was awesome... with four shots, and then the flailing headless necromorph hurt its amputee companion lying on the floor. I smiled just a small bit when the slasher was tored appart, and then finished Mr. (or was it Ms.?) Headless Horseman off.

Was it just my imagination, or was I getting good at this? It was both a sad, and hopeful thought.

I kept moving, walking faster because running would've probably gave away my position... I heard an odd noise just before I felt pain blossoming on my side. With a scream I backed away before I saw... well... something horrible. A new necromorph was 'stuck' to the wall, walking on it like a bug... Its body looked either made from a foal, or several parts of them... It retained the foal-ish look tho, with its head and four legs still there... It was horrible... Decaying, rotten and corrupted... Three long red tentacles ending in spiny projectiles sprouting out from its back... Seriously... that was fucked up... And it also deeply disturbed me to the point I was shaking once again... Before it shot three more projectiles at me and I had to quickly fall back, but despite my evasive maneuvers one hit my torso while I screamed once again.

If you wonder why was I screaming so much, it was because being hurt by these freaks was FUCKING PAINFUL! It hurt like hell... and yeah... it was deadly. Only four hits later my health bar had dropped back to the red zone. I didn't feel like I was dying... but the pain was certainly crippling. Breathing was difficult and I was sure my chest was hurt when I aimed at the monstrosity... and then making a guess I shot two of its tentacles off before I dodged its next attack (the plasma cutter was good, but I could really use a gun with a higher firing ratio) and then shot the remaining tentacle off. The thing gave a barely foal like shriek (even if it still sounded like a foal's wail... a bit) before falling from the wall many stores down to the floor.

This was getting worse by the minute. I tried to use another medkit... but then my RIG's bottom showed a flashing red light and a sharp beep sounded twice... it was telling me there were no more medkits I could hover out of the special handles... Like I said, worse by the minute. Breathing was still difficult as I walked-limped to the bottom of the catwalk looking around in fear, specially to any vent that I happened to find... I had pressed the small cargo lift's holographic button before there was an explosion to my left, and then I found myself face to face with another of those slashers. I screamed when it burst through the vent and then tried to sink its claw into my neck before I blocked it with my foreleg... Not this time! Another hit and I'd be toast!

I growled and then pushed it away with my own punch, only to shoot its blade off and then catch it with my kinesis. With a frustration scream I threw it back at him, and the necromorph went flying to the wall behind it. It flailed around, roaring and trying to break free before I shoot its head and then one arm off. It finally went limp with a gurgling shriek before I punched it for good measure... Since it had no clothes, no loot fell from its body. I limped quickly to the lift and then pressed the button, making it go down another store... Before it stopped and the doors opened. What the...? I stepped out, ears perked up for any sound before I looked down the fragile shaft of the lift... It didn't go further down, and when I looked around once again I spotted another cargo lift right at the other side of the square shaped catwalk level. (There was a hole in the middle of the 'square'.)

I was about to scream once again, in frustration, before I spotted two crates lying on the floor on the corner of the catwalk. I limped towards them... and I stopped halfway then when I heard those chirpings and acute growls again... I looked around trying to find the source of the noises... But the source moved fast, because no matter how hard I tried, it changed constantly... That or, there were a whole lot of them. I slowly backed away towards the crates while aiming to the vents... I could hear my heart beating faster and harder on my chest, both because my injuries and because I was scared... I glanced over my shoulder at the crates, but a strong bang on the walls made me jerk my head back to the front...

There were whispers in here too... Punctuated by the occasional sound of tools or debris falling to the floor from what I could imagine to be shelves or cabinets... Before I could rise my hoof to stomp one crate open... I heard something that made my mane stand on end. A mare's whisper came to my ear... soft like a breeze. "Mol...ten...Co...pper..." And then I heard laughter... Similar to the chirping I had heard before... Like that of a carnivor ...stalking its prey...

I really hated this place.

But the whispers and every noise had the desired effect: I was so scared that I was about to piss inside my armor, and my hooves wouldn't stop shaking... Then, as suddenly as they had started, the noises -but not the whispers- stopped... "Huh? I guess I can---" Again, those had been the first words I had said in a while -quite hoarsely- before the grate beneath me exploded. I was thrown to the left with a hoarse scream and I would've surely died if I hadn't grabbed the catwalk's railing with my hoof. The thing bended and creaked under my weight before a stinger lashed out at my head. I screamed and then either willing or unwillingly let go from the railing, falling another store before I barely managed to grab a railing again. It gave a loud ping and creaked, bending as well before I tried to climb back to the grate floor... The leaper landed on the floor in front of me, but before it could strike again a burst of stasis hit it.

I grunted loudly, heaving myself up and landing on the grate with a loud thud. I stood up, and then while the thing was still on stasis I shot its arms off...Much to my surprise, it gave a gurgling -slowed- shriek before it finally went limp then. Huh? Well, note to self: shoot the arms of a leaper first. Even if it didn't kill them everytime, it should slow them down enough for me to place another shot. I sighed and reloaded my weapon before realizing I only had to go down another level to reach my objective. Dangerous as the attack had been, that leaper had helped me to throw myself out from the grating and on a rather deadly parkour display reach my target sooner... I'd make sure to thank the next one of its kind I saw.

...Fuck that! My brain must have been hurt or something. Sorry, brain damaged filly coming through.

I coughed and then limped to the left where I found the next lift. I paused and listened before pressing the button... and then as soon as the doors opened I rushed inside -as much as my wounded body allowed me to- before smashing the holographic controls (was it even possible to smash an holographic panel? My education told me the contrary) and then the doors closed, the elevator went down. It was a rather shaky and slow travel, and my body tensed upon remembering about that other lift that had malfunctioned and almost killed me... Relax Copper... Just breathe and think about... the other ten thousand horrors and threats around you.

I was trying to pick up the whispers around me before there was a loud cackle and I found myself looking at the yellow pustule of an exploder just when the lifts doors slid open. I gasped and then with a burst of stasis I stopped the doors just when they left a gap of the size of my hoof. "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK" I shouted over and over again, franctically looking around for any scape option before I came up with a stupid idea. If this failed... Then all what would be left of me would be chunks of pony that you could have put inside a bowl. I sighed before using the rest of my stasis -one shot- on the doors, only to press the small button at the side of my plasma cutter with my artificial telekinesis, making the cutting direction twist ninety degrees again... and then after shrinking my body to the side, through the narrow really narrow opening of the lift's doors I shot the creature's pustule.

The explotion shook the sturdy, armored cargo lift and sent the unhinged doors flying against my body. The heat and force had barely penetrated in here... But the doors hit me with such strenght that I heard and felt something break inside me. I screamed in agony as my health indicator dropped to 'critical condition': there was only a slight red line at the bottom of my spinal LED, blinking and flashing. The doors slowly fell to the floor of the lift and then I fell with them... I was crawling again. My hindlegs simply refused to move, and worse, when I tried to move them pain shot throughout my spine and my now crippled body. I crawled out from the lift, a trail of blood left behind me... And then to my right and ahead on this grating I spotted a room, there was a holographic banner above the door.

I panted and screamed before bitting down on my bottom lip... But, with the explosion before, I had no doubt that those necromorphs were already on their way here. Slowly, crawling, I made my way to the front of the heavy armored door... And then the vent above my head exploded, and a slasher dropped down on my hindlegs... at least I didn't feel the pain of it landing. I screamed...this time in rage, before I shot its claw just when it was going to hit me and the bone blade was sent in an arc trajectory before I catched it with my kinesis. The necromorph stepped back a moment by the stopping power of my shot before I threw its own blade back at it, hitting it right in the chest. The slasher was sent flying over the railing of the catwalk, dissapearing into the abyss with a pathetic gurgling shriek.

I finally made it inside the room... feeling so light headed... I barely reached up to close the door, wheezing... I looked around... please... there had to be something on this room to heal myself! Then I saw a small medkit resting on a shelving... I crawled over and then struck the piece of furniture with my hoof, the medkit fell to my right, and I eagerly hovered it to the port of my RIG feeling the healing effects then, I gave a deep groan...Then a sigh.

She looked as beautiful as I remembered... Maybe a couple of years younger... But as I sat on the bed, the dim light of the lamp made her light mint green coat sparkle... Or at least that seemed to me. I leaned down and nuzzled her neck... she had always loved that... and then she gave a slight yawn before her eyes slowly opened. "Is it time to get up...?" She said still half asleep. "No, but I figured you'd like to have another snack before we went to sleep?" I said with a small smirk before holding up a bowl full with mint and chocolate ice cream in my hooves. She sat down and gave a slight murr before using her magic to float a spoonfull of ice cream to my mouth. I returned the favor with a caress to her flank, and a kiss full of ice cream. "Copper..." She reached up and whispered to my ear, and I gave a happy 'hmmm?' before she continued. "Will we be together forever?" That was my marefriend, loving and emotional. I paused with a smile and then kissed her temple. " 'Course we will... I promise." My last words echoed in the distance as the lamp's light turned off, and my world became the touch of our blankets, and her hooves rubbing my body with passion.

With a groan, I opened my eyes again (did I had really passed out for a moment?) only to find two slashers already trying to break the armored windows. I stuck my tongue out af them -even if  they couldn't see it anyway with the helmet covering my head- and then... I stood up. Apparently my RIG had used the medkit's healing power on my hindlegs first so instead of crawling I was back to limping now, my health indicator went back up to around 50% of my overall health... Yay...

Now that I wasn't bleeding out and suffering incredible pain, I could actually look around for any useful stuff I could find. I found three crates lying down close to the bottom left corner of the room and I proceeded to stomp them open, another medkit and some ammo. Another medkit used, and I was back to 75% of overall health, now actually being able to walk instead of limping my way to victory. I walked to a small desk at the other side of the room before my RIG gave a soft chord like noise and then a small screen popped out in front of my vision, telling me that the current goal was "completed". What!? But what did I have to... I saw something on the small desk, and picked it up with my kinesis just when my RIG identified it as "Tram system's access key." What...the...fuck? I knew what this was! (yay!) It was a nanocircuit board. Inserting it into the Tram's system console should reactivate the service.

Huzzah! Now I could finally--- Then after opening my objectives screen I saw: I opened my map screen and saw the blue line guiding me to the last level, and then a looong hallway then all the way up some stairs (Stairs!) only to find another large room connected to a smaller one where my target was... Really... I thought I hated this place. But now it came to my mind that maybe my RIG and this ship hated me back.

Like I always liked to say: first things first. I walked to a locker on the corner of the room as the slashers still tried to break the window (there were vents in here, and it'd only be a matter of time before they noticed it) and then, lowering my helmet I stuffed my face with the preserved food inside.

Once I finished, the helmet went up again before I had the audacity to open the door and then face the necromorphs. They charged at me as soon as they saw me out, but then I shot their legs off. Somehow, slashers didn't seem as frightening to me as those foal things... I finished them off and then kept going. As I trotted over to the last cargo lift, I passed by a locked door... I stopped and then walked over... Mmmm... What were the odds that I found something good inside? I looked up to the holographic banner. Mmmm... I moved to the side of the door and then tapped on the steel plates before I popped one open. Now, this was the only way I could hack a door without using the ship's maneframe which was in the captain's nest at the bridge, but it would be difficult to do so when being chased by necromorphs. I should be careful choosing which doors to hack.

Twist...twist...twist, and the door beeped before I could enter the room... Which was empty.

"CELESTIA FUCK ME WITH MY OWN---" I swore aloud before I saw something on the floor. It looked like a small chip (circuit?) but when I drew closer my RIG identified it as: I paused and then squealed like a filly before picking the circuit up, kissing it and placing it on my inventory. I hadn't seen a pulse rifle before, but it was a gun! Another gun that would really come in handy... Mmmm... I kinda remembered picking up some pulse rounds before... I opened up my inventory screen. Yep, there they were. Now I could have a new gun and ammo the next time I visited a storage node... I hoped it would be soon.

Feeling better with my recent discovery, and again with a soft smile on my face (the anger caused by the restricted room and my new objective forgotten) I finally made it to the final lift, and then to the door connecting with the... long... hallway without incidents. The door slid open and when I stepped into the hallway I was reminded that my life was in danger. The lights were all flickering, and there were sections of the hallway shrouded in total darkness too... The signs and messages written on the walls were visible between light flashes and there were body parts evenly scattered on the floor... Gulp.

I checked the ammo counter on my gun before walking inside. If I listened closely, I could hear the whispers of a mare... But then after one or two locked doors they stopped. (I wasn't going to hack those doors while walking down this hallway, hay no!) Taking special care not to trip with the legs, torsos and heads I saw blood slowly dripping from an already destroyed vent... It was directly on my way... I slowly walked over, aiming up... and behind me... and every step seemed to take an eternity. Drip... one step... drip... another step...

Drip...drip...drip...drip...drip...drip...

...

CRASH!

I screamed as I accidentally kicked a steel crate lying on the ground.... Fuck. I stomped the crate open and then picked up another medkit and decided to save it for later. Then the door to my left opened and I tensed, reading my shot...

Before a broom -soaked in blood- fell outside... I gulped and I swore I could hear a deep and distant gurgling chuckle...somewhere. I kept walking... I had made it to the mid of the hallway when I heard those chirping sounds and strange growls again. Oh fuck... I turned around and then again, aiming and trying to locate the sound of something crawling above me... But everything was silent... I looked to the door I had used to enter here... And saw it opened.

...That door had closed after I stepped into this hallway. I breathed louder much to my disgrace... Fear didn't mix well with stealth, but I kept walking to the end of the hallway. This was a narrow, long corridor... and the perfect place for an ambush. A phew minutes later, and when I could see the end of the hallway, there was a slight noise behind me and then I turned around...

I saw the empty eyes of a flayed head.

The necromorph charged and headbutted me, and I screamed before landing a few feet away and then it was on me, sinking its long and thin talons into my armor. I screamed once again as I felt it trying to reach my flesh and then I shot it in the head. The skull was so hard and large that it acted like some sort of shield keeping the monster from being beheaded... I cursed when it leaned down and I could see its ribs pointing out from its ribcage, ready to pierce and hurt me. I shot the thing with stasis but before I could hit it, the necromorph ran away... Really, it simply ran so fast back the hallway that I didn't have time to shoot it. I stood up... and then ran for the door at the end of the hallway. Fuck stealth. My health had returned to 40% or so, and I was feeling like crap...again.

I rushed into a small room with a spiral staircase, and then ran upstairs... I was sure that that necromorph was still chasing me. I could hear the chirping noises and the growls... I finally reached the end of the stairs and found myself in front of another large and heavy circular door... oh... this couldn't be good. On the door, someone had used their own blood to write: "Beware. Stalkers." Something told me that that creature I had met earlier was a stalker...Lovely... So this area was actually their hunting field... On the holographic banner above the door I could make out the words: Huh? Oh no... Please no...

When I opened the door, the air was instantly sucked inside the room and then I stepped inside. My RIG told me, and it took all the courage I could muster to don't turn around and run... Vacuum and gravity... That meant you had to walk and run through a room while the vacuum muted any sound and made it barely audible, if not completely muted. All of it while you were slowly going through your air reserves and eventually gasping for the last bits of oxygen you could get from the rarefied air on your RIG... All of it while you were being chased by these stalker things who probably were the most sneaky and fast necromorph ever...

-Derp- Fuck.

Without further ado, I ran as fast as I could with a crippled...everything. Fuck these monsters, I couldn't be sneaky or slow here... The memory of nearly choking to death today was very fresh in my head... if only I had another gun. I franctically looked around, my world was a perpetual silence...like if my ears had suddenly stopped working...no... more like if someone had their hooves on my ears! Everything was muffled to the point of almost being mute. I could hear my hearbeat and the periodic beep of my air indicator as I ran through the room... I couldn't think of a reason for the life support system to fail here... It wasn't an external room, so a broken window wouldn't cause it... and if that was the case, there wouldn't be gravity in here. I wasn't paying attention to the room... I just had to run...

Then as I turned around I saw it, a stalker charing towards me. I gasped and then shot it with stasis, before I aimed for its legs and finally after four shots it fell down... And then I shot its arms off for good meassure. The last thing I needed was a stalker crawling towards--- And then I remembered they were supposed to come in packs, and turned to the left just in time to stasis another one before it hit me! I quickly moved to the side and then shot its legs and then its arms off. It wouldn't be long before I had to reload. A few steps later another one jumped on top of a shelving, making me aim to it for a second too long before I gasped. "It's a trap---" And then I was knocked down with a scream.

I reacted quickly and then with my kinesis I cut and picked up one of their fallen brethren's claws, before shooting the one about to slash at me with its claw, sending an arm flying away before my kinesis could bring the claw over to me and then I threw it at the stalker, cutting one leg off and giving me the chance to stand up and stasis the one charging at me from behind.

Chill. I got this.

The one I had mutilated was crawling towards me when another one came from the left, apparently forgetting about making a stealthy approach in order to finish me off. I shoot the crawling one's remaining arm off and then, with kinesis, threw it at the one to my left stopping it on its tracks and even making it roll back on the floor. I turned around and quickly shot the one in stasis, cutting its legs off and then shooting the leg of the one that had just stood up off before I could finally kill the one in stasis. The one that had been crawling was dead already too when I faced the only one left... I spotted a debris piece on the floor, like a pointy sharp ended pipe before I picked up with my kinesis and then impaled the stalker on a wall. A single shot to the arm and then it was dead.

Unfortunately... all this fight had costed me a lot of time... and oxygen. My counter had already reached 40 seconds and then I 'sprinted' for the exit... If only this was a zero gravity area. I kept running before I could finally touch the door, only 20 seconds of air left as I watched it slowly open for me. I turned around... and of course I saw a small group of them -probably three or four- running towards me from the other end of the room. Just some seconds more... open... open please!

I was already breathing louder and heavier and I didn't want to repeat my previous experience with vacuum.

The door had finally opened, and then I rushed to the other side, shooting the approaching group with stasis and then bitting my bottom lip in worry... Come on door... come on... And then I spotted the cables running along the ceiling. Thick, heavy cables that looked really important. I sighed and then sent a prayer to whoever could listen before taking aim, and then shooting the cables. They began to sparkle and fizz with electricity as soon as they were cut, and then they shook around before a couple of them fell down on the frozen group of stalkers. The creatures were electrocuted and some of their limbs exploded before the door closed, blocking my view. The artificial atmosphere returned and air filled my RIG once again with a loud hiss...

If that didn't kill them... I'd... Nothing... Just run away Copper you fucking idiot.

According to my RIG, I only had to enter to this next room before I spotted--- there it was! On a much smaller room there was the Tram system's console. Steel armor on the windows went up as I walked over, allowing me to peek outside. There was a tram system station outside this room. I could've kissed my RIG, if I didn't have to turn around on an impossible angle first. I rushed to the console, and then evaluated its integrity. It wasn't shot, cut or broken... So it should work. These units were made to be tough and sturdy.

I held the nanocircuit key and then inserted it on a small vertical slot next to the controls. The machine clicked and then the key started to glow before the console gave a loud beep. I whooped, pumping my hoof up in the air and then used the tip of my hooves to interact with the control panel. I was on my element, so it wasn't hard for me to call a tram cart over here, and then I stopped... Now that this was done... What should I do next? I opened my objectives screen and then found a new one already waiting for me. The fuck was that!? Okay... follow the almight RIG... Based on the data of my map, I selected a route for the tram to follow in order to take me as close to my target as possible. There was a storage node close to the station that I'd go.

And then I pressed the accept button. I sighed and then left the room, waiting for my transport to arrive... I kept my gun up, but sat down and lowered my helmet. It detatched from my head and went back to the neck section of my armor. It looked cool, and it was better than always having to take the thing off from your head. I found myself thinking about her as I sat there... Mint Breeze... My marefriend had to be alive! She had to... She could be anywhere on this ship... but... I couldn't drop my current mission and wander off, looking for her... If the ship wasn't repaired... then it would most likely explode, or something vital would fail... I didn't know if there was anyone else left in this ship... I couldn't just condemn them to death. I couldn't get my marefriend killed. I couldn't get myself killed.

And... if I did everything as I was supposed to be, I could eventually send a distress signal to our CLEC superiors. They would come here and rescue us... Right? In the meantime, I could look for my marefriend and find her before our rescuers arrival.  I smiled... Because it would take more than this to beat me. Sure... I could be scared, even shit myself. But I wouldn't give up. I couldn't give up. The only thing that could ever stop me was...

No. That wasn't going to happen. I'd find her... I'd rescue her! And then my thoughts were interrupted when I heard an increasing roar around me, the ground shook and I gasped, reading my weapon... before I saw the silver, white and red tram arriving. When it finally stopped, I looked around... Nope... Nothing left to do here. I smiled and then entered to the gondola, turning around.

The A.I. voice said. Behind me, there was a monitor showing the route the tram was supposed to follow. I sat down on the row of seats... this was going to be a long trip... I layed down... and then the doors closed in front of my face. With a soft hum, the tram continued its way towards the darkness.