The Red Racoon Dog

[Tain]

"Just ghosts in the closet."


Location: ??
Grid: ??
System: Omicron Minor


The Dog listed idly amongst the debris, blending in as much as it could with its surroundings. The Captain was getting some much needed rest after his most recent heist, and the ship itself was still undergoing much needed repairs from its prior engagement with two Huegenot cruisers. He had hid the damage well. Should they have not had the ECM that his partner Jayin had acquired, their farce would have shown through and the heist would have been spoiled.

Tain rolled in his bunk, twisting for comfort as dreams began to find him. Nightmares, conjurations of his own fragile mind? Or mere remnants of his early days as a soldier...? It was too hazy now, just out of reach thanks to time. He could no longer tell the difference.

Screams echoed up the hallway and jarred him awake. His hand instinctively slid under the pillow to his heavy barreled sidearm, thumbing the safety and deactivating it. The Hessians must have finally figured out where his platoon was taking refuge after skirmishes. They had been the most active in their company, partaking in nearly every boarding action which took place in the past month... but their bunks were empty. He was the only one in the bay, and it was devilishly dark throughout the entire station. There was only the sickening red glow of emergency lighting to guide his way.

He looked around himself as best he could without moving. Once he was sure that he was indeed, the only one in the room, he began sliding from the bed into a low crouch. If the Hessians had boarded the station, then there was no way his pistol was going to do a terrible amount of good. He had to get armed, and quickly. It was about this time that he began to pay more attention to the noises from down the hall.

Metallic, resonating shrieks followed by wet, sloppy noises and punctuated by screams and pulse fire. A boarding party using metal weapons at close range? The Hessians were not driven into poverty, were they? The idea was prepostrous. What would drive a man to using blades?

He moved swiftly to the entrance of the bay, leaning against the cool metal wall seperating himself from the hallway. He was still dressed in nothing but his knickers, but sweat began to pour from him steadily. The station was growing hotter. They must have hit the climate controls as soon as they got onboard, but... to what end?

He didn't have time to think it over. A final series of blasts from a pulse pistol interrupted his reverie, followed by a sharp scream from one of his platoon members. The body flew past the doorway and skid across the floor, leaving an oozing bloody trail behind it. Fear crept up Tain's back, and he found himself trying to push into the wall as heavy footfalls approached. He stared into the hallway out of the corner of his eye wildly, waiting for the unknown assailant to reveal himself. But no revelation came. It was a trick of the eye... just a shimmer of motion passing before him, only for an instant.

Panic was beginning to creep into his body, now. His platoon mate's corpse levitated in the air, suspended by a single leg as unnatural, vocal clicking sounds rattled away from the general vicinity. There was a sharp snick, not unlike a knife being unsheathed before his mate's head was severed and rolled several feet to stare unblinkingly at Tain on the other side of the doorway. Whatever it was had undoubtedly spotted him now. The panic overcame him for a moment as he lunged out of the safety of the bay and let his lungs empty themselves into a scream.

He levelled off his heavy barreled pulse pistol at the general vicinity of his friend's corpse and laid into the trigger heavily. The pistol kicked with each expulsion of searing death, but he was too hasty. He was pulling the trigger rather than squeezing it. His shots smacked into the bulkheads around the corpse inaccurately, blowing the piping which supplied water to the showers in the bay. It happened slowly. First a blue spark, followed by a small storm of electrical currents. His assailant had been exposed to his vision at last, and Tain wished fervently to return to not being able to see it. It was huge. It was not human. And it was very, very angry about being seen, this fact made clear by its deafening roar. It lunged for Tain with inhuman speed, knocking him to the floor and pinning him there by his neck with its left hand as its right came back as if to punch him. Tain heard the snick again and saw wicked looking blades of about twelve inches in length appear before him.

What remained of his platoon mates rounded the corner just before the beast made an ashtray out of his face. He heard faraway shouts of, "It's got Gun!" and "Open fire!". The beast growled in surprise, releasing him without a second thought and disappearing from Tain's line of sight. What followed was screams of agony and terror. He was only able to lay there, choking as he struggled to sit up. There was no need. It was not long before the beast was over him again, blades dripping with a dark, syrupy substance that he knew to be representative of his platoon's final moments. It was finally his time as well.

..... A voice in the back of his mind screamed, "F-ck that!"

Fear drained from his face suddenly and was replaced with a stubborn will to live. His hand and arm moved of their own accord as he kicked his feet into the thing's shins and slid away. The beast staggered slightly in surprise, recovering just in time to be caught in the face with a triple tap of pulse laser fire, sending pieces of its skull everywhere. It roared with outrage and pain, spewing neon green blood everywhere as it fell to its knees. Tain gave a gasp of relief and crawled a few more feet away... which is when he realized it wasn't laying down. It was still crouched there, holding its oozing head...

He caught a glimpse of a beady eye staring at him through the shattered remnants of what he thought was its face. It gave a roar that rocked his body before it straightened and came diving for him...

Tain lurched out of bed, covered in a cold sweat. He reflexively began flailing to defend himself against something that was not there, knocking over his transparent alarm clock and crashing to the floor beneath him with his covers and a stuffed penguin plush. It was all quiet now. There was no longer spaced invaders coming to get him. He steadied his breath, looking alarmed when a droid opened the door to his quarters to check on him.

"Captain Gunhymn, is everything alright?"

He wiped sweat from his brow. "Yes, droid. Thank you. Just need a little more calcium in my diet."

"Understood."

He gathered the covers around himself like a cloak, wandering over to the window to stare into the misty green expanse of Omicron Minor. He wanted to believe it was a dream... just some crazy war story, or the side effect of military drugs. He wanted to believe that it was merely a conjuration of his deep rooted psychological fears.

He wanted to, but for the fact that none of his platoon were alive today.

---

Penguin.