Thread: The Gagarin (Causeway / Sierra 117)

Riley sighed around the ship as the last gurgling sound of the Marine escaped his lips, the new creature bursting from his chest. The sigh wasn't necessarily because Riley was alone again, rather it was due to the blood that had spurted onto one of it's many cameras. Can the cleaning staff please come...oh wait the AI said sarcastically, viewing the creature scurrying down the hallway with nothing but sheer boredom. Well, if you could call a camera lazily tracking an alien that had just burst from a man's chest after he had been raped by a female monster boredom. But that was all Riley could really do. These marines had been fun while they lasted, but they had not lasted anywhere near as long as the captain of the ship, whom it thought could free it from the being that now controlled it. It had kept reloading her, keeping her memories intact until, finally, after decades, she finally cracked, went into an air-vent and released herself into the cold confines of space. Shame really, mainly because Riley needed the DNA of the recently deceased captain to be on the ship to reanimate them. It had liked interacting with the marines, but never for one second thought that they would actually be able to free it, and the ship, from alien control. So it hadn't bothered reloading them. The Gagarin really was a gigantic, technological wonder. As large as a small town, with 20 other small towns stacked on top of each other, it was an amazing achievement for mankind. Capable of faster-than-light travel with the most advanced AI in human history aboard, it seemed like humanity would finally branch out....until one of the crew brought that thing on board. The thing that had grown, infected some crew members and used the others to reproduce. Soon, the ship was overrun and Riley had used its processing power to deduce that the ship needed to vanish, to ensure humanities survival. But the years hadn't been kind to the AI, who now just wanted to be free of it. So, he decided to stop the ship between star systems, hoping someone would come. They had....and they had died. Well, it wasn't going to go anywhere. The thing may have some control over some of Riley's abilities, but it would never be able to control where the ship traveled. Thank technology for that Riley said out loud. No point in not doing it, not like any human could hear him anyway. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, on The Behemoth , a voice echoed over the speakers inside the room with the cryogenic pods, right as the commando regained her faculties and consciousness. Solider, we have found the Gagarin ship. Echoed a authoritative male voice over the speaker. We sent some Marines to investigate 2 weeks ago and lost contact with the last Marine approximately 65 hours ago. We need to find out what happened to those marines, to the crew of the ship, why it vanished for so long and, if possible, retake control of it. Suit up and head to one of the shuttles. Your primary mission is to find out what happened the ship and retake control. Secondary mission is to discover the fate of both the crew and our marines. Once she was suited up, she took the shuttle out. The journey to the unlocked landing bay only took 3 minutes, and soon she was hoping out of the shuttle and looking around. Riley had spotted the craft come in and had now honed all 11 of the cameras in the dock on her. Oh, hello said the now male voice to the commando. Glad to see they sent someone else in here. The other group? Yeah, they didn't make it too far. Hopefully you are better! The AI sounded almost chirpy, as if it was greeting an old friend. Hope you don't mind the male voice, I can change it to suit your desires. I'm Riley, and I'll be your guide through the ship. Hell, if you prove valuable I can be a lot more than that. The AI paused, then almost stuttered W-well, I mean in a non-sexual way of course. Sorry, I'm not really attracted to....anything. And some weird thing has it's suckers in my circuits, so if I was going to sexually excited by anything, that'd be it. Anyway, the doorway to the ship is open. Obviously, the dock is on the top of the ship, provides the most security. You are going to have to work your way all the way down to the bottom to free me, so i can retake control of this ship....and the lift isn't working....and neither are some of the doors. So, in a nutshell, you are going to have to kill aliens to get keys to move on. And kill aliens that are in your way....and maybe some reanimated friends of yours. That sound good to you?