The Heavy Cruiser
Copyright© 2023 by Adam.F
Chapter 6
We approached the massive space station in the dead of night. Once a marvel of human engineering, it now hung in the blackness like a rusted skeleton. The metal panels were corroded and broken, and faint lights flickered in a haunting rhythm. The air was thick with silence—and something else, something darker. We all knew the creature had been here, but no one knew where it had disappeared to.
Our best soldiers and scientists formed a team and entered the station, their footsteps echoing through the empty corridors. What they discovered was horrifying. The station’s crew had been transformed into lifeless drones; their bodies twisted grotesquely as if puppeteered by some terrible force. The malevolent presence seemed to seep from the shadows themselves, bending these victims to its will.
The team searched desperately for clues. Hours turned into days as they sifted through logs and broken data cores, piecing together the creature’s movements. It wasn’t just a mindless beast—it had been observing us, learning about our fears, and exploiting our weaknesses. This was no ordinary enemy; it was a predator that knew us intimately.
At last, the scientists traced a faint signal a hint that the creature was moving beyond the station, searching for new prey. Though the threat still loomed large, we finally had a lead. The nightmare was far from over, but now we understand the true nature of the enemy we faced. And with knowledge came the first flicker of hope.
The team searched desperately for clues. Hours turned into days as they sifted through logs and broken data cores, piecing together the creature’s movements. It wasn’t just a mindless beast—it had been observing us, learning about our fears, and exploiting our weaknesses. This was no ordinary enemy; it was a predator that knew us intimately.
At last, the scientists traced a faint signal with a hint that the creature was moving beyond the station, searching for new prey. Though the threat still loomed large, we finally had a lead. The nightmare was far from over, but now we understand the true nature of the enemy we faced. And with knowledge came the first flicker of hope.
But the hope was fragile. As the team prepared for pursuit, Lieutenant Vasquez’s hands shook around her pulse rifle, not from fear, but from the memory of the creature’s last attack. The way it had peeled back the bulkhead like wet paper, its black chitin shimmering under the emergency lights. The smell of ozone and something else, something sweetly rotten, still clung to the air filters.
“Signal’s fading,” whispered Dr. Cho, her voice cutting through the static of the comms. The holographic map flickered, tracing the creature’s path through the derelict mining outposts on the asteroid belt’s edge. A pattern emerged not random hunting grounds, but calculated stops. It was heading somewhere. And it moved faster than expected.
Private Rook adjusted his visor, the sweat on his palms making his grip slippery. “You think it’s got a nest?” The question hung in the air, unanswered. The creature had never behaved like an animal before. Why start now? Vasquez’s jaw tightened. The pulse rifle’s weight was familiar, but the cold dread pooling in her gut wasn’t. This wasn’t just a pursuit. It was walking into its territory.
Dr. Cho’s fingers danced over the console, pulling fragmented surveillance feeds from the outposts. Grainy images flickered twisted metal, shattered glass, and in the corner of one frame, a distorted shadow too fast to capture clearly. Then, a new detail: a jagged symbol scraped into a bulkhead, over and over. Not claw marks. Intentional. “It’s marking them,” she breathed. “Like waypoints.”