"Captain Daniels, please report to the med-bay." Mother's ever present calm voice spoke out over the speakers. The ship, and the small number of crew who were still awake, and alive, had retired to their rooms, or found other places to be to relax. It felt strange, incredibly strange to finally have a moment of peace. Just to lay, to try and sleep and to relax. Not that two of those things were easy to come by. Sleep was plagued with memories of the whole experience which had been endured so far. And relaxing was impossible with latent adrenaline still being present and keeping eyes open.

Just laying in her darkened room was as relaxed as Daniels was going to be. She hadn't managed to sleep since returning back. She had gone back to check on Lope, the man was out for the count. Upworth had placed a temporary fix over his cheek, but the man would need serious surgery which they couldn't do here, not without proper resources and a doctor. Alma was sleeping soundly too, curled up on her side, hugging tightly onto the pillows which she had cocooned around herself. She didn't look wholly at peace, yet she was asleep. Satisfied they were fine and not likely to reappear up deck, Daniels had found Walter. The synthetic was seated straight-backed and stapling the cut which was on his cheek. He had sustained other injuries from his scrap with David, but those had already been dealt with. What remained of his hand too had been bandaged and covered up. Figuring it was only fair to repay the favour, Daniels had took over the staples, after all, Walter had saved her life twice. Though nothing of this was particularly relaxing, it kept her mind focussed on something, for once that something not being bad and revolving around survival.

"Captain Daniels, please report to med-bay." Mother's voice appeared again a few moments later, not sounding impatient, just blank as ever. Daniels had rolled over in bed and pushed herself up. Something tweaked in her brain though which caused her to stare at the wall ahead.

Something clearly wasn't right, or why else would Mother be waking her? It wasn't anyone else, it was Mother. Did this mean that she was the only one aware to whatever the problem was? Swinging her legs over the bed, she sought to slipping her feet into her boots. "Why, Mother?" She asked while flinging laces out of the way so she could get her feet in.

"There seems to be an unidentified life form on this ship." She explained simply. Daniels found herself pausing, she had stopped moving to hear the response the AI would give, and this, this was certainly not something she was expecting or wanting to hear. She was expecting to be woken to alert her to Lope possibly being lucid, or even Alma. Not this.

Her eyes widened slowly though, med-bay was where those two were; from experience, did this life form come from either of them? Were they secretly harbouring it and neither knew? If that were so, then the incubation time was greatly increased, Daniels erased that possibility from her mind. No. So, that means it got onboard some other way. She didn't know how, she just knew that it was here, and it was down there with them two. Those two, who happened to both be in basic medical induced comas. They were fast asleep, if this thing was down there like Mother said, they didn't stand a chance.

Finishing tying her boots up, she stood and ran out of her room. The alarm was blaring in the corridors, the lights flashed from white to red with each turning of the alarm. It was a bit off-putting, yet Daniels caught sight of Tennessee waiting for her at the end of the corridor, gun in hand. His expression was stern as he handed the gun over and ran behind her down towards med-bay, his own gun held tightly, ready to be used at any time.

The last thing they were both expecting was to turn into the medical department and be confronted with windows stained and blotched with blood. It was everywhere, smeared down and pooling on the ground. The whole room was obliterated, things had been turned over, destroyed and torn up. Blood speckled and splattered over most of the interior as Lope's body lay in a pool of his own blood, chest ripped to shreds on the floor. He didn't stand a chance. And he probably didn't even know what had happened, which in some ways was merciful. The damage done to him would've been agony if he was awake and aware. This way, he was basically already dead when the attack happened.

Daniels tensed, she let out a breathless sigh over the damage and the sight of yet another dead crew member. Her eyes, slightly tear filled now, slid over to the opposite room, this thing had moved from one room to the other. The room in which Alma was in was splattered with blood too, bloody hand prints were smeared on the glass, yet the damage was less, and there was no body. Daniels swallowed thickly, suddenly feeling like she was going to throw up, had this thing dragged her off somewhere? Where was she, if Lope was here; ripped up, mauled and mangled, it was clear it didn't discriminate, so where was she?

"Jesus Christ," Tennessee said under his breath. It was clear that this wasn't what he expected either.

"Walter, location of unidentified life form." Daniels said shakily, she thought they had seen the last of this thing. Crumpled in the crane and falling in pieces to the dead planet below; she believed that was it, and the only one. It would be asking for too much for that to be it. No one could be that lucky, and so far none of them had been lucky on this mission. "Any movement at all?" She questioned again, knowing full well the synthetic was in the bridge and his lack of answering wasn't helping matters. "Walter!" She shouted and stormed around to face a screen on the wall. The signal was patchy, the picture was static now and again, but he was there.

"Standby." He replied while his eyes were clearly looking at something else, Daniels hoped a map layout of the ship.

"Do you know where Alma is?" Daniels asked, she was certain he could multitask. "There's no body, only blood. Is she with you?"

"She was relocated." Walter responded simply, seemingly not wanting to give anymore explanation on where exactly. It was a little infuriating, suddenly being kept out of the loop after everything everyone had been through together. "B Deck," Walter said after managing to find the blip on the map. "It's heading to crew quarters."

"Is anyone down there?" Daniels asked, hoping no one was.

"Ricks and Upworth." Walter said, there was no location stamp of them in their room or anywhere else that could be currently deemed a 'the safety zone', they were down there, with that.

"Shit," Daniels said shortly. "We're on our way. Walter, sound the alarm, warn them!" Daniels ordered while turning and glancing quickly at Tennessee before picking up running out of the room. There was nothing else that could be done here. They needed to get to Ricks and Upworth before that thing did. If it got to them, they were done for. Mother's voice soon picked up and voiced the alarm, but it seemed useless.

The atmosphere was completely different down here, thicker, heavier, the music which was loudly playing, as upbeat and catchy as it was, wasn't helping matters. Even from the door, which mechanically slid to a shut behind them, they could hear the music, the running of water, and definitely the smell of blood. Copper, acrid, putrid even. Neither of them wished to walk forwards, especially when it was clear that both Daniels and Tennessee knew what had happened to Ricks and Upworth.

Regardless, they pressed forwards, guns now raised and ready to fire as they slowly rounded the corner. They didn't even need to fully get to the corner to see the pool of blood which was coming from Ricks. A sizeable hole was in his head, brain matter and blood splattered around him as he laid on his back looking upwards with blank eyes. Upworth's body was much like Lope's, slightly torn up and cowering against the wall. Neither had a chance. Ricks seemed to have been caught by surprise, and Upworth encountered it head-on, not that she had the chance to do anything else.

Tennessee didn't need to see anymore. He turned away and looked downwards. He had spied the bloody handprints on the floor before Daniels, she was too busy looking over the brutally barbaric scene in front of her. He followed the prints so far before stopping. They needed to stay together. "Walter, where is it?" Daniels had found her voice again and looked angrily around the scene. All her friends were dead, because of this, or things similar. She wanted to know where it was, so she could get rid of it once and for all.

"Daniels, this way." Tennessee replied, they didn't wholly need the synthetic to show them the way when there were bloody handprints leading them.

"T, let's choose our ground." Daniels said lowly as she followed behind the pilot. Their pace was slow, not wanting to literally run across it and end up fighting in narrow corridors. "We'll bring it to us."

"Where?" Tennessee briefly looked over his shoulder when he replied, but for the most part his eyes stayed ahead, always watching and on guard.

"My turf. Walter, close all doors behind us but keep hatch to Level C open." She said sternly while they continued to walk along, following the footprints.

"Understood." Came the one word response as the thudding of doors echoed even over the loud music. Each corridor they passed through was accompanied by the shutting of heavy doors, and Mother's voice listing them as they went. By the time both had climbed down the ladder and found themselves where they wanted to be, the shutting of doors and Mother's voice had been slightly tuned out.

"Okay, Walter, where is it?" They stood in a crossroads, corridors span either side and the prints had disappeared.

"It's on B Deck, Starboard side, descending into C Level." Walter said, having a brilliant view of it climbing and going head down the ladder, long tail wrapping around the ladder as it did so. Tennessee looked to the nearest shut door, they were just there. The knowledge of that caused him to cautiously look the door over. Walter counted off where it was, keeping track of it easily as it travelled along the decks. It was maybe a second later that heavy banging suddenly came from the door. That thing was there and trying to get through.

"T, come on," Daniels turned away and walked quickly down the corridor, red lights now illuminating the way. "Walter, clear his way to the terraforming bay." Each door they came to opened and then locked behind them until they reached the airlock. They needed to suit up for the oncoming encounter, which meant that it was currently trapped in a small space surrounded by locked doors, and with nowhere to go.

Walter was the only one who had eyes on it, and could see the almost discouraged annoyance at suddenly encountering a locked door. Being trapped and baring its way caused it to double back, tail lashing out behind it as it crawled back the way it had come. There was nowhere for it to go. Not until a door was opened. That wasn't to say it was just going to accept being kept in one place. Slowly it raised and stood, the screen present with its flickering image of Walter was snarled at before the mouth opened, and the second one came out to pierce and smash the screen. Walter flinched back from the screen, having now lost sight of it. He didn't know that it was smart enough to recognise what was happening, the fact that it was being spied on. Looking towards another screen, Walter was able to catch sight of Daniels and Tennessee being suited up and ready to go out. Their plan seemed simple, if not a little sketchy, yet he opened the door when he was ordered to. He opened the door to let him, seems Daniels kept referring to it as a he, through. Having lost sight of him, Walter was uncertain where he was until he crossed another camera.

"All yours," Walter said once Daniels asked for him to open the terraforming bay doors. They were in their designated positions for their plan, and he was left in the bridge.

Daniels was waiting and staring intently towards the door. Slowly, almost contemplating and searching, it walked through. In comparison to its charging and running, this was almost calm as it assessed the area which it now found itself in. Hissing slowly came out of its mouth as equipment was glanced over, its feet thudded nearly as loudly as their boots as it continued onwards. Both Tennessee and Daniels were waiting for their moment. Neither moved, and it hadn't charged them yet, which meant it couldn't quite figure if they were here or not.

Regardless, that didn't stop it suddenly spurting to life and bolting when Daniels commenced hitting a wrench against the barrier by her side. In comparison to its slow, methodical walking moments ago, this was manic. It jumped and latched onto the nearest thing to it before climbing up and springing forwards with a screech. Faltering when it got tangled with the mesh of the barrier, it fell to the grating floor before standing back up, and climbing upwards. It was following Daniels, who had moments ago, cleared the ladder and commenced climbing through the cabin of a vehicle.

The door slid shut as soon as it was in thanks to her hitting the panel near her. The electrified fences either side sparked as its larger frame hit against them. Each time it got hurt, there was a high pitched screech and hiss. Climbing over the chairs and pushing meshy hanging items out of the way, expertly and quickly it moved towards Daniels, who stumbled backwards and shut the door behind her.

It didn't stop it from hitting its head against the glass in the door and fracturing it, spiderwebbed cracks splintered out as it stood snarling on the other side, sharp teeth and copious amounts of slime coming from its mouth. Boasting didn't end well for Daniels as the second mouth pierced through the glass and was literally inches from her face. She stumbled and climbed down the ladder, finding herself kneeling on the floor and shouting out for Tennessee to open the door. Above her the busting and hitting of the glass continued, they had a plan which was being greatly disagreed with. The decompression of the large room caused rushing high winds and everything to strain against the tethers which kept them in place.

Tennessee may have been rooted down, but Daniels wasn't. She was still struggling about trying to find somewhere safe to stay until everything was done with. But things could never be so simple. Through shattered glass and straining heavy duty machinery, a head burst through the window as the vehicle it was in became jammed. Everything was getting caught up, what should've been something straightforward turned into chaos.

Tennessee rushed to release the second truck before freedom become an absolute, but it was for nothing; the glass finally gave out and slithering through the gap it disappeared into the darkness above. It climbed and jumped across different vehicles and machinery, disappearing from sight. Screeches and screams accompanied it, as if rubbing in the fact that their plan had temporarily failed.

Even with being in space, it still leaped and clung on, trying to climb back into the room. Hearing Tennessee shouting for her, Daniels turned to see him behind the wheel of one of the heavier vehicles; sharp points made up the front shunter, more made for destroying and clearing the way than anything else. Daniels watched both the vehicle and the creature draw close before choosing her moment and hunkering down. The scream which came from it when it become impaled echoed out in the otherwise darkened space.

Tennessee ditched the vehicle just in time to see it and the creature fall out into the darkness of space. He breathed heavily, still hearing the long drawn out scream which came from it. But he was mainly looking out for Daniels, who he couldn't see. Had she gone down with it? He didn't know, she was gone by the time he had righted himself. "Daniels?!" He called out worriedly, eyes scouring the space in search for her.

Slowly though, her helmet popped up, she turned, shaking and breathing unevenly as she looked back at him. Tennessee couldn't help but laugh, he couldn't believe it really. "Want to give a girl a hand?" She asked while holding her hand up and watching as he walked forwards.

He hauled her up, gave her a quick hug before patting her on the shoulder and leading her out of the room. They weren't harmed, they were the only survivors and they had the rest of the journey to Origae-6 to just sleep, and recover. Tennessee returned to sleep first, seemingly thankful for it. He felt tired, utterly drained of energy. He laid in his chamber while Daniels double checked his vital signs. Seeing he was fine she looked up, Walter was standing near her chamber waiting for her.

"You're next, Captain." He said with a small smile, nodding her way as she let out a sigh. She smiled in return though, the thought of sleep did seem nice. She could see why Tennessee was so up for returning to a chamber now. Yet, there was a slight twinge of sadness as she looked down. "When you wake up, we'll be at Origae-6."

"What do you think it's going to be like?" She asked once laid down and looking up at him.

"I think if we are kind, it'll be a kind world." He said after a moment of contemplating the question.

"Hope you're right." She said quietly, the thought of it was sort of hard to imagine. Even more so when she was going to be without most of the crew, and Jacob.

Walter smiled down at her before turning to the controls. "Sleep well." He watched the doors slide up and connect to shut. Hearing a knock on the glass, he looked back to Daniels.

She laid looking up at him, "Walter?" She lowered her hand back down. "When we get there, will you help me build my cabin?" She asked with a fond smile, watching the synthetic move closer and lean over the chamber, smiling lightly at her. She swallowed thickly when he just remained staring and smiling at her, "The cabin on the lake." He just tilted his head slightly and watched as she let out a shaky breath, her eyes growing a little distant as she looked back at him. "David." She whispered almost hollowly when she realised that all this time, they had been spending time with the wrong synthetic, and that their one was back on that dead planet in who knew what state.

He pressed a button to commence sleep, she shook her head desperately looking up at him. This lasted a few seconds before she started thrashing and shouting and banging at the glass screaming. He in return put a finger to his lips and shushed her. Smiling still he watched as sleep crept in and took over. Her thrashing lessened, her eyes grew hazy, yet still looking at him. "Don't let the bed bugs bite." He said while watching as the lights in her chamber darkened. "I'll tuck in the children," he said while turning on his heels and walking away. "New security code, David 73694/B," he said quickly while hearing the click of doors in front of him.

"Welcome, how may I help you?" Mother's voice asked while he stood and looked into the room with all the colonists.

"How about some music, Mother?" He pondered lightly while eyeing up what was in front of him.

"Selection?"

"Richard Wagner, Das Rhiengold, Act Two; the Entry of the Gods into Valhalla."

"Yes, David, as you wish." Mother said moments before the music commenced playing loudly through the ship.

David moved forwards quietly, enjoying the silence which was only just cut apart by the raising and falling of the melodic music. Leaning down, he opened the drawers which housed the embryos. He looked at the small soon to be humans before looking slowly upwards, from within him he bought up a small oval shaped object. Within it was a curled up form, the little fingers were curled and the tail almost wrapped around itself, he placed it down before bringing another one up. He looked at them both fondly before shutting the drawer and turning to look at all the sleeping people surrounding him.

He sighed, he supposed really he should report in, much like how Elizabeth did when their other mission came to a dramatic end. He found himself on the bridge, "This is colony ship Covenant reporting. All crew members apart from Daniels and Tennessee tragically perished in the solar flare incident. All colonists in hypersleep remain intact, and undisturbed. On course for Origae-6, hopefully this transmission will reach the network, and will be relaid in one-point-three-six years. This is Walter, signing off."

——

(Edited: 8/March/2021)