https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drYk99I0xFE

Pip yawned as he awoke from his sleep. His hiding place, which was a cargo pod. Had still not been discovered. The cargo pod itself was used to get on board the ship. Now the reason why Pip was on this rat infested ship. Was because he had been hires to kill the captain. His employer strangely enough was the captains own son. Who seemed to want his father out of the way so that he could become captain. Pip had been waiting to strike. And a few days ago he had heard some rats talking about an enemy ship. This ship would prove to be his escape.
So he stood up. Drew his blade, and cut an opening into the metal. He then jumped out of the pod into the cargo bay and screamed." HONEY I'M HOME."

His voice echoed through the bay." What? Not even fireworks? I would have expected more."This time he could hear footsteps approaching fast. Instead of waiting for them Pip ran at the sound. He then jumped onto a shipping container that was 3 meters high. He then looked down on the most cutest creature he had ever seen. Small red eyes, naked skim and a hideous face."Well aren't you the cutest thing i have ever seen." The rat looked up at him surprised at the comment Pip had made. It then climbed up the side of the container and bit Pip in his right arm."Hey now! Bad rat bad!He then grabbed one of his knifes and rammed it through its skull, grey ooze going everywhere. Pip pulled the knife out of the rats head and looked at his arm. Luckily it had only gained a few dents. He then looked at the dead body of the rat and said."Now you stay here and think about what you have done."

Pip then left the cargo bay. The halls if the ship smelled horrible. Bones and rotting chunks of meat littered the hallway. Screams could be heard from somewhere inside the ship. Slave cages where stacked like boxes. Inside where either dead slaves which where being used as food or slaves who where at the end of there life.
Pip ignored them as they pleaded for help. They would die soon anyway. It was a shame but sacrifices had to be made for his epic exit. Pip then started to run. His metal feet creating dents in the floor. He was speeding up nicely to the core. He made a few turns and saw 6 well equipped rats looking his way. Pip drew his blade as he came running at them. The rat at the back who seemed to be the leader started peeping orders. The rats started firing there guns and a hail of bullets flew towards Pip. He dodged most and even cut some in half. Yet some bullets managed to hit home. most had just buried in his chest armor and a flew had just plonked of. One of them though had gone straight through left arm. It wasn't much but it was still damage. Pip was now almost in front of them. He stuck his blade forwards and then jumped a few meters away from the nearest rat. He made a front flip mid air right above the rat. His head was then cut in two and blood flew out of it like a fountain. He then landed right in front of the leader and stabbed him right through the heart. He then let go of the blade grabbed his guns turned around and aimed At the other rats who where still desperately trying to reload, and said.

"Daddy needs to express some rage." He then opened fire on the rats who at this point had decided to run for it and shot them all in the back. He then turned back to the leader who was still alive and trying to grab his gun.
Pip grabbed his sword and started to lift it through the rats body slowly cutting him in half. The rat screamed in agony as his guts fell out of him. He then fell back dead. Pip was covered in blood yet he did not seem to care in the slightest.
"Just another day at the office."He said to himself as he sheathed his blade. He then started to run and made his way to the core. Encountering no rats on the way there. He then made his way into the core room.

The core itself was a giant ball of energy that was being contained by a force field. The room was empty besides the many consoles." Hmmm i wonder what happens when i do this!"
He slashed one of the consoles. Sadly nothing happened. After cutting about 10 consoles later. Something happened. The ball of energy started to grow . Then a weird Ai voice was heard." Warning ten minuets left until core overload." Pip finding this to be way to long started cutting even more

" 5 minuets" *slash* " one minuet until core overload."
Pip nodded agreeing with this and then ran to the brige as fast as he could. He ran through a few rats who where trying to escape. He knew they would never make it so he just ignored it. He then enterd the brige and saw the captain who was desperatley trying to save his ship. Pip looked at the giant window which showed his ticket out of here. She seemed to have taken some damage but nothing to major. He grabbed his guns and started shooting a cirkel in the glass. The rat captain looked up and instead of fighting simply said in a very weird english accent." What the hell are you doing!?""Making my exit." Pip then ran up to the window jumped in a karate kick fashion and broke the windowd sucking him and the captain inti space. And the second he left a giant explosion followed. The fire almost getting to Pip." Now that is what we call making an exit!" He said as he flew towards the ship. He then grabbed his blade and readied himself. He activated his mag boots and landed on the back end of the ship. However the magnets where not enough so he stuck his vlade into the hull to try to slow down. Which worked creating a small cut in the ship." I hope i wont have to pay for that." He said as he looked at the damage he had created."now to finding an entrance."

There wasn't really nothing for her to do but instead shoot the ships that were coming from the front. These aliens, or whomever it was, really knew how to crash a day for a girl like herself. Meghan continued to shoot out the ships, before turning her head to the side noticing one of her team members. "Oh, heh. Yeah, you know. I always do this.. you know? I'm just a good shooter, I guess." she shrugged her shoulders before paying attention back at her mission. It was all nice and all that the team was working together but then she heard what the others were saying about

"WHAT?!?!

The captain, Rae and Terry were going out for a space walk..? Did they want some kind of death wish or something? They were crazy but knowing the captain he was going to do it and no one would change his mind. Meghan reached for her headset and quickly started to speak towards those that left the spaceship and heading for the space walk.

"Listen here, you all should get your asses back here or else something bad is going to happen to you! Alright? Do you guys want to die or something? That's such a very intelligent idea you have there captain, wanting to take your team out into a space walk. I swear, if you don't come back alive... I will somehow revive your ass and KILL YOU MYSELF AGAIN!!" Meghan yelled through out the headset, she said this in a very insane and angry voice of tone. Now, turning it off as she turned around to continue her mission with shooting off the ships at the front. This day was just getting worse! Meghan was obviously getting pretty mad. Though, she took it all out on the enemies!

So many things were going on. One of the aliens jettisoned himself out the airlock and. . . Boarded the rats' ship? Impressive, if not a little brash or bold. "Nothing for me to do now, lest the rats board our ship." No one really told her to do anything nor did she really have much to offer other than the occasional "Go team!" or "KILL THEM IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE!" Still, now she just had to do whatever it was that she needed. Some were going off ship after that one alien, Captain included. "Guess I'll just-- Ugh. . ." Her head felt. . . Well, discomforted. It could be one thing. . . "Damnit, I do not like it when people go into my head." It was a small info dump and she was curious about how their species did it, but nonetheless. . . "Ugh, damn. I guess I'll go do it. For the future of science."

With the information, she went off and went to take all of the tracers from hull. She wasn't too sure how a stupid group of rats could do that, but it was what it was. With that done there woul be little else for her to do. Maybe she could repurpose the tracers for her own purpose? That seemed easily possible. "Alright, now for the rest to get back."

The amount of people screaming about how stupid they were were continuing, and Raymond simply listened to it, and gave a grin to Terry and Rae. Right now Addy and Tango was getting the ship positioned for the safest and shortest way into the enemy ship. The three of them inside the airlock right now were some of the oldest survivors of the Monroe from the beginning. Although they would give Ray an earful on how stupid this might be, they would follow him to hell if he asked them to. Not that any other crew members wouldn't, but it was obvious that some had more confidence in Raymond Chase's stupid ideas.

"'You of little faith, why are you so afraid?'" Raymond recited back to everyone on the ship. "I know the dangers of this space walk, believe me. But the suits will do more than hold, and we won't let the bastards get close enough to bite us. Tango, how much time do we have?" He looked down on his touch screen on his wrist. "A little over six minutes, Captain." The robotic voice replied. Raymond looked up, gave Rae and Terry a nod. "Open up the hatch."

"Roger."

The three of them held on to the railing, their magnetic boots kicking on, and then the giant WHOOSH! happened. There was officially no sound except the sound of their own breathing. "Comm check." Raymond said, making sure their helmets' communication system worked. Looking back at the touch screen he activated the small rocket thrusters on the back on his own suit. "I'll take lead." Raymond said, the sound of just only his voice always left him feeling a bit weird. In the void of space everything was pitch black except for the specs of light, the large lights coming off the Monroe, and the enemy ships. The three started to float quickly towards the enemy ships, them being too small to notice.

"Last known location was in the farthest back, farthest left vessel. We go in, find him, and get the hell back to the Monroe befo--"

Of course they didn't hear anything, but the giant flash of orange and white stopped Raymond from talking. The main ship went up in a giant fire ball, debris crashing into their own ships, even going towards the Monroe. Luckily the Monroe was bigger, so it wouldn't leave too much damage... But they had some troubles of their own. Raymond grabbed on to both Terry and Rae's suits, his jets boosting himself backwards as they just missed a large piece of metal from hitting them.

"What in the hell...?" Raymond muttered, his eyes scanning the area until he saw something that surprised him. A humanoid body was drifting into space. That definitely wasn't a mole rat creature... and, it also wasn't dead! He watched as the figure landed towards the back of his ship, staying on by the sword he just pulled out. Shit.

"Monroe be advised: An unidentified object has latched itself onto the back of the ship. Looks humanoid. Someone needs to check it out before we warp out of here." Raymond broadcasted into the ship once more. The three of them avoided the debris as they made it closer and closer to the ship where Shasoon was... Raymond scanned the debris, the HUD on his helmet showing any form of living object near them. Raymond's helmet gave him an alert, and then he pointed. "There."

The Marauder crew mate was floating next to a large piece of metal, no signs of movement. The poison has been in his body for far too long. They had to help him, and fast. "Doctor, get to work. Terry, you and I are gonna have to move any debris that comes at them, and keep our eyes open for scouting parties. Rae, tell us when he's good to move."

Rae was now in charge at the moment. Anything she needed them to do was for the better of the mission, and Raymond knew very little about medicine. Raymond gently kicked aside a part of the ship that had just recently blown up, then back at the Monroe, praying to get back there on time.

Panting heavily, Tahillie knew better than to jump into Cyberspace with little to no sleep. His body convulsed with nerve spasms, trying to calm his nerval system by leaning into his seat. A slight growl left him as he shot a look at Addy, trying to calm his body and mind at the same time. He shook his head to the offer to get to the med-bay, Rae was needed else where than to tend to him.

"The after affects of going into Cyberspace with no sleep and being attacked by an Anti-virus Program while looking for information," his body jerked a little as he finally calmed his mind. "Not the first time, and probably not the last time it'll happen..." He muttered the last part more to himself than to the human woman.

"However," he paused for a moment as his hand twitched violently, causing pain to shoot up to his spinal cord. "Going into Cyberspace is not easy as one thinks. It takes from thirty to one-hundred-eighty seconds to gather information without getting undetected. About forty five seconds if caught and causes pain to the neural pathways at the base of the skull from Antiviral programs and firewalls..."

He hoped that she understood what he was saying, even though that he did catch himself trying to fall asleep; sleep deprivation is no fun. He leaned back into his chair to hear a soft clanking noise shortly before Raymond said anything, he was in no condition to fight off anyone or anything for at lease a thirty minute rest. A snarl left again while the soft clanking noise we're getting to him; clawing under the arms of the chair before getting up.

"Monroe be advised: An unidentified object has latched itself onto the back of the ship. Looks humanoid. Someone needs to check it out before we warp out of here." He heard Raymond say before stopped clawing his ship.

A simple, but toothy smile appeared as he stood up. His left hand still twitching with each step, but he needed to vent his frustration on something from his trip into Cyberspace. He sighed again as he slowly placed the coordinates for the Canborus Galaxy. He sat back down while pulling out his hologram for a direct comlink to Tymea.

"Ms. L'Cint, can you see if anything from the explosion or anything else may have hit the ship? There's still time left." Tahillie said over the comlink to Tymea.

Still hooked up to his holograph, he closed his eyes again as his subconscious sunk back into Cyberspace once more. He pulled out the information on the Space rats, placed it into a folder for later, but he was interested in the Anti-virus program. He took a deeper look into the coding of the program, too far advance for the space rats to program and set up.

"Given a few days of fiddling with the program, and possibly finding out who gave this to them, I can probably set this up so that we won't have Hackers or bounty hunters getting information of the crew." He said to himself.

Still playing with the program, what he did not expect was a virus malware embedded itself into the program. How stupid can he get? He did not have time to think as his physical body began to convulse, his subconscious going back into the as he pulled the cord from his hologram and himself while panting heavily. A millisecond later, he would have infected the ships AI, Tango, and they would've been stranded in the middle of nowhere. He would've been in trouble if he had played with the program more. He took off his silver visor that still had the cord attached as he carefully detached the neural link from his visor to the base of his skull.

"I don't intend to launch myself out of the airlock unless I need to, Miss de la Roche" Reena stated to Adalaide, tactfully ignoring her barbed comments on the location of her quarters. The navigator was far from the first to complain about her living on the opposite end of the ship, of course. Sure it wasn't her fault that the imbecile who designed this ship only put the environmentally sealed rooms in the rear, but that didn't stop people from whining about it. Why was it so hard to comprehend the idea that she couldn't live in this thing? Most Skinners couldn't stand to wear the same clothing for longer then a day, so why in ghass would people assume that she could spend a week sealed in this environmental suit?

"Monroe be advised:" Neera's comm system echoed. "An unidentified object has latched itself onto the back of the ship. Looks humanoid. Someone needs to check it out before we warp out of here."

"Probably just an old droid," Neera pondered, mostly to herself. "Or maybe a dead prisoner. I'll let Tymea worry about that for now." Instead, Neera walked up behind Adalaide's console, where the ship's computer was trying to get a clear view of the three space adventurers now crowding around a fourth, suspiciously still figure, all in the midst of a debris field that was presumably an enemy vessel.

"Any idea what the big damn heroes are up to?" Neera asked sarcasticly, trying to discern what the Captain was trying to do out in the vacuum of space.

Elyse glanced over at Meghan, picking up features of her face through the differences in heat. She turned her attention back to the explosions and debris outside of the ship. A cringe spread across her face, trying to discern what was happening with all of the heat signatures she was picking up.

"WHAT?!?!

Elyse jumped, the sudden outburst startling her as an explosion flashed in front of her at the same time. She stepped back from the angered crewmember, needing to get a little space before she could potentially get her head ripped off from being near her. She slowly let out a breath, calming down. This was a mess. She wasn’t sure how she would get used to this new lifestyle, but she needed to adapt soon. Otherwise, she would probably die.

In an attempt to calm Meghan down, she decided to try a joke. “Well, you better hope that the rats don’t get to them before you do.” She smiled softly, shrugging lightly. “I think you’re more of a threat to them than the rats at the moment,” she teased.

"Monroe be advised: An unidentified object has latched itself onto the back of the ship. Looks humanoid. Someone needs to check it out before we warp out of here." The voice of the captain rang in her ears. Elyse frowned lightly and pressed the button on her headset, speaking towards the captain. “Would you like me to check it out, Captain? I could identify it before it gets into our ship.” She wasn't sure about what she would do if it got into the ship before she found it, but she could offer more help with that task than distracting any of the more important members away from the deck.

"May I remind those that have doubt, that we have done far worse than this over the years and before most of you have arrived to this ship or are you questioning my abilities to do my main position on this ship. If you believe there is someone better qualified than I implore you to speak up now since it seems my skills have been brought into debate. It is insulting that even one of you thinks that I would risk the rest of the crews lives if I or the others should parish. You have computer technologies experts and a navigator to lead you to the Galatic Command Centers for a replacement Captain and Negotiators as well as someone who could get contact with the Galatic Committee instantly so replacements would be ready.I am not the only one certified in the field of medicine on this ship for a reason so a back up is here in emergency cases. How could you dare ask us to leave a crew member to freeze to death when we could save Shasōōn's life? We are going. Your fear of the unknown is unsettling to say the least." Rae made her statement calmly but her words showed her upset, insult and confusion at the yelling that had been thrown at all in the airlock. She had never been more grateful to leave the ship at the moment since she was sure that she would never understand humans. How could they let their fear lead them to say such things? She just couldn't grasp it and maybe she never would. She stood oddly silent, now letting the Captain speak and give commands but a small smile appeared when he said the others had little faith.

The airlock opened and she backed up, running and jumping out into the void of space. Luirae slammed her heels together, getting the jets going before flipping to face the ship and wait for the other two. The sooner they got to their unlucky crew member the better his chances were. They meet up, Raymond taking the lead as they moved toward the enemies ships but as they started to talk strategy something a little unexpected happened to stop that conversation. A gaint explosion of the main enemy ship lighting up the area before debris scattered out from the wreck. A large piece of metal barely missing them thanks to Raymond's quick thinking and reaction but this would make it a little more troublesome with their goal. They now had to be careful with all floating around objects.

Monroe would have to deal with their humanoid looking guest themselves since she had only one focus right now. Until he was safe and out of death's grip, Shasōōn had to be her whole world and have all her effort. "There."...that one simple would was a flood of relief as they rushed to their crew mates aid, he was already unconscious and cold sinking in fast which was worse for the bite mark. She couldn't even hear Raymond anymore, her hands already examining the wound. It would need to be tied off to avoid the poison from spreading more but that would need to wait till they were on the ship. She moved an ear to lay on his chest, the low thump of his heart giving her hope but they would stop soon if they didn't get him to warmth. This was too much stress to put upon his body and a more thorough examination would wait till they were on the ship. She quickly and carefully took the glands as well as the teeth he had managed to require before placing it in the pouch of her suit.Rae's arms looped around him gently before she spoke up through the com device."Captain, he needs to be moved to the ship and fast before his hearts give out if one hasn't already. Not much I can do out here."

She switched over to the com for broadcasting to the Monroe speaking up,"Every scientist that can be spared, be in the infirmary by the time we return. You have a poison antidote to focus on since I will be too busy stabilizing Shasōōn's condition to be able to do so."

"Do this, Tymea do that. Such demanding people." Tymea muttered to herself as she went to her lab to retrieve the controls of the Hull Exploration and Recovery Drones, small little robots that are hidden inside the hull that went to retrieve small parts from space or do minor repairs on the hull as well as a nice little buff to make that sleek glossy look stay. "Where did I put the control pad to the stupid HERD. . . ." She pulled out a dusty little tablet from the bottom of one of the drawers. "How long has it been since I used these? A few months. . . Or so?" The level of dust suggests it was longer but. . . "No need to worry about that! ACTIVATE HERD!!!"

The little machines activated from a small compartment on the outside of the hull and scurried to where the disturbance in the hull was located. Little ticks sounded on the control device as the screen came to show outer space. The lead HERDbot's camera showed what was there as it moved. . . And a. . . Suit? Appeared? "What the hell is this?" It had a sword stabbed into the ship, "That would take a bit of strength to do. I sure as hell couldn't do that." She muttered to herself while looking at her mechanical arm. Still, it annoyed her that this. . . Whatever the hell it was! "Alright, bots two and three. Apply light shocks to this thing. Four and up. . . Start repairs. . . Whatever you can do at least." They would likely not be able to do much in time for the jump from this location. The two bots went to opposite sides and applied their shocks as ordered. The small, little spider-like bots don't have enough power to harm much of anything, but it was heavy enough to be annoying. The leaderbot stayed back to keep an eye on the. . . Whatever...

"Every scientist that can be spared, be in the infirmary by the time we return. You have a poison antidote to focus on since I will be too busy stabilizing Shasōōn's condition to be able to do so." A voice called through the ship. Tymea knew the voice all too well. . . Also who she mostly meant by that.

"Gǎo shénme guǐ!?" The woman complained, "Who the hell decided to get poisoned out in the middle of nowhere?! Well, nevermind she said exactly who that would be." With the HERD controls in her hands, Tymea made her way over to the infirmary where she would be needed shortly. "I hope they bring something to work with at least. Not exactly easy to make an antidote with no source." She sighed, finding the time to complain in such a dire situation.

Raymond and Terry's job was much easier than Rae's in his opinion. He never could understand anything in the medical field, especially when you have dozens of species' body structures to memorize and treat for. Raymond had trouble identifying most of his own body parts, and was sure that he's broken and bruised nearly anything and everything. Elyse's voice crackled into his ear as she asked if she could help with the humanoid issue. He gently brushed aside a piece of debris coming towards the three of them, and then looked at where the object once was. "Your help could very much be appreciated, elyse. I know Tymea has her HERD bots, but some extra infrared vision won't hurt." He replied, glancing over at Rae's progress.

Her next words were calm and very serious when talking about Shasoon. She always had a calm way about her, even when she was floating in the middle of space and dealing with the galaxy's deadliest poison. "Copy, Doctor." Raymond responded. He looked back at his wrist to calculate where exactly the fastest path would be when all of the sudden he was hit.

One of the debris from the ship came towards him fast, and hit him in the back of the helmet, his skull making contact with the glass. His vision turned blurry, his HUD displayed warnings but he couldn't make out the text. For a moment he couldn't even hear his breathing, only the ringing in his head that sounded like crickets... Then everything went black.

---

Crickets chirped loudly through the Colorado air. The warm wind moved the large fields of grass that surrounded the modest farm house. The lights shined inside the house, the front porch was filled with an assortment of toys and crayons, but children were nowhere in sight. Inside the house was a very drunk man who had a "rough" day at work and wanted to let his anger out on his family members. Luckily, though, they weren't in the house. A trap door on top of the roof opened, and up came Jamie Chase with a small child in her arms. Her cinnamon colored hair was pulled back in a pony tail, she wore a white t-shirt, and some comfortable jeans. Her lip was freshly cut, and her hazel eyes were just starting to look better from a black eye. With the small girl still in her hand, she used her other one to help another child up. "Come here, sweetheart." she said gently, even with the muffled screams from the drunk down below.

"He won't be able to catch us, baby." The woman assured the young girl in her arms. "He's too round to fit in this small square." She said with a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Come here, RayRay."

8 year old Raymond Chase stared down at the trap door, his fists clenched. His dark brown hair was messy, like any child his age. He had a couple of missing teeth, his t-shirt was freshly rung out, as if someone just grabbed it, and a fresh bruise was on his cheekbone. His intense green eyes glared down the stairs, as if deciding on what to do exactly. "hey." The sweet voice of his mother said. Raymond turned to her, and she had a desperate smile, as if begging him not to do anything stupid. Raymond slammed the trap door closed, and walked over the sloped roof, taking a seat.

The two of them sat in silence, listening to the sounds of the rural night. The stars were shining brightly, to the right of them a large glow was near the horizon, indicating where Denver was. Space ships flew across the sky, and the lights from the civilized moon were glowing brightly. Ray's mother was comforting his younger sister, Anna. Raymond kept staring at the sky though, thinking about his father. Not the man downstairs. His ACTUAL father.

He then felt his mother's hand reach for his face, to examine the numb part of his cheek. Raymond didn't meet her gaze, and turned the other way. "It's okay to be afraid... Your father loved the story of Deimos and Phobos, the greek gods o--"

"I'm not afraid." Ray said flatly, his eyes still fixed on the stars, but his body was shaking. "Especially when it comes to him." he added. His mother simply sighed. "It amazes me how much you look like your daddy. He always scrunched his eyebrows up, and he would push out his jaw when he was upset." Jamie Chase said quietly. Raymond ignored her. Every time they were up there he would hear about his father, and how amazing he was.

Silence.

"If he's so great, why isn't he here?" Raymond demanded. "Why isn't he here protecting you from getting punched, or keeping Anna from crying." His small voice broke as he turned to look at his mom. "Why is his best friend here treating you like shit--"

"Raymond David Chase you watch your language--"

"Where did he go, Momma? Why did he leave?" At those words Raymond's mother grabbed her child and pulled him close, her lips kissing the top of his head, her fingers running through his hair. Raymond fought back tears, as he buried his head in his mother's shirt. Raymond was only eight, but he knew more than most kids his age. He knew that for a while, his mother went to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain, but when Raymond was old enough to take beatings, she stopped cold turkey. He knew that his step father, Brad, was a cheater, a dead beat, and supposedly his father's childhood friend. He didn't care what kids said about him, but whenever someone talked badly against his sister or mother, he would always beat the living crap out of them.

"Your father is the bravest, most amazing man I've ever met." Jamie said against his head. "He never told me where he had to go... But he's out there, sweetheart." She pointed out towards the cosmos, and Raymond looked up, as if trying to see the man himself. "He wouldn't leave us unless he absolutely had to... You are so much like him."

There was a sound of breaking glass from below and a long line of curses that made Anna start to whimper. Raymond clenched his fist again, but the feeling of his mother's arm around him calmed his nerves. "I'm afraid of him." Raymond confessed, looking away from his family again. "And I hate him. I hate him so much, Mommma."

"It's alright to be afraid, baby. The bravest, and best people always have a bit of fear in them."

"He doesn't do anything but hurt you and I can't do anything to stop him--"

"Listen to me. Don't you worry about me. Brad is a man who thinks he's brave, and better than everyone else. But someone who is really brave doesn't do that kind of stuff. They don't go picking fights to start them, or because they think they can and have a right to. They have to be afraid to fight, because when they have to, you know it means a lot to them... And I want you to promise me that when you grow up to become brave and strong like your daddy, you won't come back here and try to fight Brad. I will do anything to protect you and your sister from him, do you understand me?" Jamie's voice was calming like river, but had a serious tone that made Raymond look at her and nod.

"Why don't we just leave? So we don't have to protect anyone, and be happy?" Raymond asked quietly. "It's complicated Ray... Sometimes you have to do things for others that you know is scary... But everything will be okay, and we will be happy."

"Pinky Promise?"

"Yes. I Pinky Promise." Jamie laughed, taking young Raymond's finger and wrapping it around hers. There was another moment of silence before Raymond spoke up again. "I'm going to be better than dad. I'm not going to leave you and Anna ever. I won't let anything bad happen to you guys." Raymond declared, his eyes fixed on the stars again. His mother had tears in her eyes and she simply hugged him again. "I know you won't, sweetheart."

Raymond stayed close to his mother, watching the view, but the moment was quickly ruined with more drunk shouting, and the sound of banging on the roof's trap door. "RAYMOND! RAYMOND! ANSWER ME! CAPTAIN!" The trap door opened, and the light was blinding.

---

Raymond woke with a start, his HUD still beeping, and Tango's voice echoed in his helmet. "Captain! Your vitals spiked for a minute. I was afraid Doctor Driani would have to bring back two bodies."

The robotic voice didn't really make Raymond happy, but it was a robot after all, and sometimes had trouble sympathizing for biotic life. Raymond checked the status of the suit, only a small crack in the helmet. Nothing significant, and he felt fine. He was also relieved that his black out was only for thirty seconds. They still had time to make it back safely.

"I'm alright." Raymond broadcasted, looking at the terry, Rae, and Shasoon. "Shasoon is still the priority. Addy, what's our time? I want to see if we can break our record for amount of time we can waste while still getting through this alive." His sarcastic comment was confirmation that he wasn't hurt badly, maybe just a bump on his head.

The four Marauders floated as quickly as they could back to the airlock, and as he did, the thought of what he recently saw while he blacked out filled his mind. He broke his promise to his family, and it haunted him every day. He dreamed of seeing his little sister again, that some day that she would forgive him for leaving. He could blame Brad for leaving, along with a billion other things, but that won't make her forgive him. She trusted that he would be there for her, unlike their real father... He wasn't going to leave his crew members without a captain. He WAS going to make it back to the Monroe on time with his crew. He wasn't going to disappoint.

The crew finally made it back to the airlock. Rae and Shasoon were the first to float in, then terry, and then Raymond. "Tango we are inside. Close the doors, and initiate the pressurization process."

"Copy, Captain." His voice said, and soon the doors closed, and the emptiness of space was filled with high pitched hissing of their artificial atmosphere entering the room. As soon as the green light was given Raymond pulled off his helmet, but Rae didn't wait. She immediately ran towards her medical quarters to help save Shasoon's life.

"All members with medical expertise meet Doctor Draini in the medical wing. Tech team I need a status report on the humanoid on our ship, and everyone else head back to the deck and get into battle stations. Meg, you're doing great. Addy, thanks for keeping this ship intact. As soon as we can hit warp drive let me know. Don't launch warp sequence until I give the green light. I need to know we aren't being tracked." Raymond said all of this as he ripped off his space suit, now back in his shirtless pants and boots appearal, his forehead had a cut and bruise on it from the debris hitting him, and the crack in his helmet got larger the more the stayed in it, but they all survived. For now. And Raymond was thankful for that.

"Every scientist that can be spared, be in the infirmary by the time we return. You have a poison antidote to focus on since I will be too busy stabilizing Shasōōn's condition to be able to do so."

"Of course one of them got bitten," Reena muttered darkly, turning around on her heel and leaving the bridge just as abruptly as she returned. It baffled her as to why her crew mates were willing to go toe to toe with those giant mole rats, as Raymond called them on one occasion, rather then just hold their distance and blast them from afar. Their ships weren't exactly impressive works of engineering as far as she knew, and they were at their most dangerous when you got close enough for them to bite you. Throwing yourself into a melee with those venomous rodents was like playing Sorlas Rov with your arms bound. You could just win, or you could risk death to appease your sense of reckless bravado, and Reena much preferred to win. Fortune willing, no one would die today, she fretted. That antidote would be tricky to isolate, but if anyone on this ship had more experience with chemical substances, venom or otherwise, Reena would lick her room clean.

Making her way to the infirmary in record time, she removed a vial from her belt pouch and set it onto the nearby counter. Inside the sealed container was a long, yellowed tooth, mottled with streaks of red and black. The late owner of the fang thought that the xenobiologist would have been an easy target and clamped its jaws around her arm, and by the time the rat realized its fangs had scraped against armor plating Reena had performed surgery on the rodent's chest with her automatic.

"The venom itself dries out too quickly to get a reliable sample," Reena explained to Tymea as the latter strode into the infirmary. "We could extract enough of the ingredients from this to make an antidote if we had about a week, but obviously time is a luxury we do not have. With a venom sample bonded to the victim's blood, we can get a probable cure."

"Your help could very much be appreciated, Elyse. I know Tymea has her HERD bots, but some extra infrared vision won't hurt,” Raymond’s voice responded in Elyse’s headset. HERD bots? Elyse thought as she turned to head towards the back of the ship. They no longer needed her up on the deck and she wasn’t the type of scientist that Rae needed, so Elyse decided to help identify whatever was latch onto the ship.

Navigating the ship with her infrared vision was difficult. Plus, it’s not like she was completely comfortable with the amount of climbing and turns that it took to get to the back of the ship. Eventually, though, she did make it to the spot near where the humanoid object had landed on the ship. She heard Raymond ask for another report on the humanoid and looked at it closely. It was dressed in an interesting space suit, with a blade lodged into the ship. She watched the little bots, which she assumed were the HERD tech, scurry around the ship.

Elyse lifted her finger to her headset and pressed the button. “Captain, the humanoid person is stuck onto our ship with a blade, most likely a sword. Its heat signature suggests that it is a warm-blooded creature. I think it’s a human. Perhaps a captive of the space rats that wasn’t killed in time to miss the attack?” She frowned as she watched it move. “Should we let it in, or leave it out there? The jump might not be too friendly towards it.”

"I wasn't questioning your abilities Rae, and you know it. I've been here since the beginning just like you and I know that we've dodged fate more than our fair share. I just don't want to abuse your ability to use miracles like you do, in case you only have a limited number of miracles in your pocket." Addy said before she calmed down, or at least as much as should in a situation like this. The shields took the brunt of the impact from the exploding debris, and it looked like Cap did too. He was apparently fine though, so she tried not to let that worry her too much. Instead she gathered all the facts she knew right now and decided to give an over view of what was going on.

"Coming to you live from the flight deck, it's Adalaide de la Roche with your 2 minute update. Currently 2 minutes and 45 seconds away from an ability to jump we have Tymea and Elyse going to figure out who are mystery persons is as well as find out where all the trackers are in order for us to get away with these bleeep bleeep bleeep...Tango are you censoring me?" Addy couldn't actually glare at anything so she just settled on glaring at nothing waiting for Tango's answer.

"This follows the guidelines of an official report. Officers are not allowed to swear in an official report." Tango replied and Addy could have hit something.

"Override that. Anyways, we're removing the trackers and retrieving our mystery persons and yes we should retrieve them. Just make sure to lock them up in quarantine because I'd rather not get into another fight today. In other news, our fearless captain got his karma, while all medical personal should be reporting to medical. Oh, also, we have a breach in sector five because it finally said enough, I'm not having things being thrown at me, I'm out of here. See you suckers. I'm pretty sure that was just filled with sleeping supplies anyways. Oh look, it was. This report was brought to you by Addy's adrenaline pills. It's the only reason I'm still awake right now and not crashed out, probably in sector five." Adalaide was still entering in data and basically just rambling at this point but she was nervous and she either got annoying or weird and she decided on weird.

Ray copied to state that he had heard her which let Luirae's attention turn back to her patient while the other two defended and found the fastest route back to Monroe. It had only been a split second. Just a split second it seemed that her eyes had left his person when a piece of debris flew by, almost hitting her but instead finding another target before a warning could leave her lips. Raymond was hit and not only was he hit but he went limp instantly causing her eyes to widen as her brain which should have been coming up with strategies to get two patients back was now blank.
Not the head...please...don't fade away...

"Terry watch Shasōōn." Rae ordered, grabbing the other and placing his hands in the general area of the other man's hearts."Make sure you continue to feel a heartbeat at all times."

That being said, she quickly moved over to where their captain was and moved her hands to frame his cheeks. Rae looked to his forehead, a frown appearing on her features as a bruise was already starting to form. The view of her eyesight shifted, moving through the layers till she was checking over his brain for internal damage and making sure there was no fear of concussion on top of all that. She didn't see anything to worry about there so why was he still unconscious. Rae didn't know why she felt this way but her heart was racing and her rational mind was out the window. She just wanted him to wake up. He needed to open his eyes now.

She hadn't even realized when she started to shake him. "Can you hear me? Open your eyes. Please answer me...Ray...please Ray. PLEASE RAY!RAYMOND!RAYMOND!ANSWER ME! CAPTAIN!" Luirae ended up yelling, not understanding what was going on with her. Anyone else would she was in a panic and worried about the one person that she thought the closest as what humans called a friend. When he wake with a start, she quickly back up and turned away from him, her hands still shaking a bit. Rae didn't understand what was happening to her or what had even happened before and as such wasn't asking the questions most would have. Most would have asked the person if they were alright instead of having to be informed. Others would have double checked or insisted that he take it easy after something like that. Rae couldn't understand that and especially with that weirdness in emotion. She quietly made her way back to Shasōōn, just following the others as quick as possible till they all made it to the Monroe.

The second the cabin was pressurized, Rae jetting off with Shasōōn on her back as she moved to the infirmary. She placed him quickly down on the bed, only taking a second to unlock her helmet as it would be a hindrance while work which just caused her long multicolored hair to spill everywhere. Rae frowned, wishing she had a hair tie at the moment but it was too late for that now. She pulled out the glands of poison and the fresh teeth as carefully as possible before handing them over to Tymea. "This should be an adequate source for an antidote. Don't disappoint me." She said flatly, to in the zone to be anything but blunt as she pushed her earlier thoughts and happenings out of her mind because that is what her teammate needed. Luirae pulled out the bandages, tying them tight but not tight enough to cut off circulation right above the infected area of the leg. This would hopefully slow the poison enough not to reach the heart. The next thing that needed to be done was start warming him back up slowly and to do that blankets were placed over his body. She took a suction tool placing it over the bite,letting it work on getting the poison out or as much as it could until the antidote was ready to go.

Now all that was underway, Rae could work to make sure his organs weren't effected negatively.

Everything had gone how he had wanted. The killing the escaping hell even the landing. Yet there was one thing Pip was having problems with. His blade was stuck in the hull and it wasn't getting out. No matter what he tried the damn thing wouldn't get out. Which was weird considering that it was supposed to cut through steel. Then Pip noticed the little droids approaching him." Pff this welcoming party is even worse." He said to himself as he tried to pull his blade out of the hull. The biggest one came a little to close for comfort. He then noticed the camera." Great paparazzi." He tried to kick the damn thing away but it dodged with ease. Then he felt the blade was starting to get loose. He then started pulling again. This went on for a few minuets.And then the sword came out.The sword almost flew out of his hands. He then sheathed his sword and then Started searching for an airlock. He was about to just cut a hole into it when he finnaly saw it. Now he just needed a way to get in without pissing of the people of the ship.

”Anyways, we're removing the trackers and retrieving our mystery persons and yes we should retrieve them. Just make sure to lock them up in quarantine because I'd rather not get into another fight today.” The voice of Adelaide said over her headset. Elyse took a deep breath and nodded. “Gotcha,” she replied. Alright, Elyse. All you need to do is let this person in and force them into the quarantine room. Should be easy, right? She bit her lip, putting her hands on her hips as she watched the figure detach itself from the hull of the ship and look around, probably for a way in. Its head stopped, pointed towards the airlock to the room beside the one she was in.

“Oh, boy. Okay.” Elyse made her way towards the room, looking through the little window into the airlock room. She looked over at the panel, then up at the ceiling, finding the figure again. She lifted her hand and slammed it onto a button, releasing the airlock into space and hoping the person would take a hint and climb in. If anything, she could just trap him inside. That was practically quarantine, right? Once this person started showing signs of hostility and tried to enter the actual ship, she could either threaten to eject him into space, or grab someone who could better handle it before it got into the ship. Elyse watched the figure, chewing on her bottom lip to release some of the nerves she felt about confronting this stowaway.

Pip was about to cut into the airlock when it opened." was about time". He mumbled to himself as he entered the airlock.
He then noticed the airlock closing behind him and patiently waited for the other door to open. As the room de presuriezd He looked ast the women at the other side. And whoever she was she looked pretty hot. He put his face on the glas and started talking." The name is Pip and before you ask yes i blew up that ship and no i'm not going to kill you all. I would just like to go on board and not die because of loss of oxygen. Do you think you can let me in sweety? Cause i would really fucking appreciated it if you did." And so Pip waited for her response hoping if he would let her in. otherwise things would get violent. Really fucking violent.

Tymea set down her control pad for the HERD and took the vial Rae handed her, "Oh ho ho! Easy as, uhh, yea. It's just easy. Got it?" She questioned while heading off to one of the stations to get to work, forgeting about the random suit on the outside. Someone else could handle that right? "This is a nice sample, good to work with." It took about as long as could be reasonably suspected for a genius of her caliber AKA not too long really. She was quick with her hands and she didn't have to worry too much about her mechanical hand having problems with the poison. "Alright. I've done! A genius always delivers! I'm not so comfortable with the application of the antidote though. . . . And I'm not all too sure about his species. . . So, it is ALL yours Rae. I'm sure you can do it!" She exxagerated with a jump of pitch in her voice, sticking her thumb up to show her approval of such action. "I'll watch though."

Elyse watched the figure climb into the airlock and close the hatch behind him. The room began to form an environment suitable for a human as Elyse blinked, her vision returning to picking up visible light. She took a small step backwards as the figure, who she could now tell had the figure of a man, walked over to the glass and pressed his face against it. She frowned lightly as he spoke, looking over his face. He seemed agitated, and it made her question her decision to do this alone. Especially since he called her “sweety”. Ew.

With a simple push of the button on her headset, she was talking to the crew. “The stowaway is a man named Pip. He is in the airlocked room at the end of the ship. What would you like me to do, Captain? I think I need backup. There’s no way I could take him myself.” Elyse watched Pip the entire time, her face showing no fear towards him. She removed her finger from the button, deciding to try and calm him down as she waited for backup.

“I’m sure you will find the room suitable for a human to survive in. Oxygen is being pumped in through the vents. You have nothing to fear.” She took a step towards the door. “I cannot let you in, because you may have been affected by diseases aboard the Space Rat ship.” She looked over the man’s mask, wondering what his face looked like. “I have a few questions for you, and if you comply, I’m sure we can consider letting you officially board our ship.”

Pip sighed clearly not wanting to do this whole procces." Sure whatever you want cupcake. Although i can assure you that i'm not infected. I'm also completley made out of metal." To prove this he started to remove one of his arms showing it to her before putting it back on again. Today was starting to be an anoying day. Everything had gone just great. And now she was screwing it all up. Where it not for the manners his father had thought him he would have cut open the airlock and threw her out of the ship." Oh and if we are going to have this conversation i would atleast like to know your name? It would make this conversation alot easyer sweetcheeks."