Kerrick stepped over the body of a dead Xigna lieutenant, whom he had just decapitated. His bladed tendril was still dripping with the blood and he kicked the head away from him. He watched silently as the target slipped away into space and growled. Failure. It was something he did not tolerate. The lieutenant had failed him and how he had failed the ultimate price. He had allowed the human ship to escape, denying Kerrick the precious cargo it carried: human females.

But it does not matter. There were other opportunities to attack human ships. The escaped ship would surely alert the ADD and this time they would have to come out. Kerrick had spent nearly a month attack various cargo ships, capturing many females but the ADD had refused to come out and meet him. But no longer. By now they should feel the seriousness of the situation and Kerrick was expecting one of their best agents to come out and meet him. He always enjoyed a good fight.

The massive alien walked away from the bridge and sat down on the throne of his makeshift command ship, an infested human transport. It was large enough for him to fight in yet just small enough for him to crew it by himself. Smiling to himself, Kerrick waited.

Elsewhere a single figher had just arrived in the system. The Lancer Space Fighter was an obsolete fighter by even the ADD standards, but still one was in service. The fighter actually consisted of two sections a transport/living quarters and the fighter's itself. The idea was that the transport section got the ship to a system and would be ditched when a battle occured. Since then ADD had gotten more modern fighters that didn't use such an archaic system, but that was the only fighter the ADD would assign to the conscripted pilot.

Minerva Rocha sometimes cursed being in the ADD, but at least here she could fight with some chance instead of being left to this cruel universe on some remote planet unarmed. Still this would give her the only chance to save her younger sister from the fate that awaits her upon "graduation". It was then a signal appeared.

Minerva took a look and immediately realized that it was alien transport, probably one carrying human slaves. Minerva immediately reported her position to the ADD and headed out. Time was of the essense. That transport will realize it just broadcasted over an open channel and try to move before the ADD could swoop in. She had to catch it before it got away. Little did she know the transport had already escaped, and another transport lay waiting for entirely different purpose.

The scanners picked up a weak frequency of communications coming from a small fighter. Kerrick smiled to himself. The ADD was here. But little did the fighter know that Kerrick had chosen this system for a reason. Surrounded by interstellar clouds, the radiation around this area so strong that any human communications frequencies would be blocked and therefore communication was impossible. In other words, the fighter was stranded and no one can hear its cries of help.

Kerrick directed the ship towards the fighter, giving it a clear view of its infested hull. The ADD would lured on board and Kerrick would be ready to spring his trap.

Minerva saw the approach of the transport as it came towards her fighter. She immediately detached her transport section as she prepared to deal with the transport. Transport, I am Minerva Rocha of the ADD, please prepare to stand down and surrender. She tried to identified the transport but its hull looked it had been some how transformed upon closer inspection.

It made the ship difficult to identify and her fighter's computer couldn't figure out the exact make or model of the ship. In fact, it looked like the cloud sheand the transport was some how interfering with her sensors. Probably her communications too. Minerva cursed the cloud, help would not be arriving after all. She would have to handle this herself.

Kerrick did not respond to her hail immediately. After awhile he opened the gates of the small hanger on the ship's starboard side, beckoning the ADD agent to enter. To give her encouragement, he activated the ship's tractor beam, which was used to pull in lost cargo, and began sucking her small fighter towards the belly of the ship. Suddenly the transport came to a halt and it drifted there, as it waited for the ADD ship to enter.

No response. It looks like I going to have to figure out a way in. Even as she finished her sentence, she saw the transport open its hanger on the starboard side of the ship. She got ready to head that direction, when her fighter shook and began to move towards the transport on its own.

Oh crap! Minerva struggled with the controls as she tried to pull her fighter out of the pull of the tractor beam. But it was too late, the transport's beam was too powerful and the old Lancer was unable to pull away. There was nothing Minerva could except prepare to board the mysterious transport.

As soon as the ship landed in the hanger, the large metal hanger doors closed and locked itself. Meanwhile the door leading to the cockpit opened itself, a message telling her to follow. The hanger of the ship looked nothing like its original state. Slime and ooze covered the floor, what looked like blood vessels criss crossed on the ceiling, and a red moss like substance covered the walls. The humidity of the room combined with the acidic moss were beginning to rust the metal walls.

In the cockpit, Kerrick (now in his human form), sat on his throne, observing the movements of the ADD agent on several screens spread out before him. The cameras installed by the humans were already destroyed, so Kerrick had to install his own "cameras". Those "cameras" were actually the body of the dead crew, absorbed by the alien substance on the wall and completely unseen.

Minerva stepped out of the fighter in her body armor, her rifle at the ready. The inside of the ship was not anything she expected, the ship was covered in some sort of organic material. The ship even looked alive as the ceiling looked like it covered in blood vessels. THe walls had some sort of moss that waved in the ventilation. She kept her suit on tight as she was not sure what happening to the ship.

The door out of the hanger opened as she approach, inviting her in. It was clearly a trap, but she had no choice now, she had to press foward. She slowly and careful she began to make her way out of the hanger bay. As she moved forward it was clear that her armor did little to hide her curves.

"Come closer. Come to me."

A voice in her head said, urging her to go forward. The rest of the life was exactly like the hanger, completely absorbed by the organic Xigna substance. Some of the blood vessels were actually pumping a strange green substance. The ship it seemed was alive. As she continued down the hall, every single door opened to allow her access. The last door to open, was to the bridge. The command chair with Kerrick in it was facing away from her, so she could only see a faint outline of a human. The voice in her ahead appeared again.

"Welcome on board the Scimitar. Or whats left of it anyways."

Minerva heard a voice as urge her to move forward as she continued to move through the infected ship. In fact it seemed to be less of a ship and more of some sort of organism she was moving through. The sights of the ship were bizarre as she saw some sore of green substance being pumped through some of the blood vessels.

Finally she reached the bridge whose door opened as she approached. She sighed and built up her nerve before entering the bridge. She haw a human in the command chair facing away from her. As he welcomed aboard she, she was surpised the learn it was the Scimitar. The Scimitar? That ship has been missing for months? Who are you? She kept her weapon aimed at the chair, ready for anything.

"I am known by many names. To the Raxii I am Garak Tag, the Destroyer of Worlds. To the Hellion species I am Aransi, the Corrupter. To the Xigna I am a God. But to you humans, I am simply known as Kerrick."

The chair turned around and the human Kerrick faced the ADD agent. He smiled as he touched a button (or what looks like a button) and the door behind her closed. He got up and walked towards her, stopping just a short distance away.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Minvera. I'm really glad the ADD sent you to me."

Kerrick said a series of commands in the Xigna tongue which sounded like a series of shrieks to the humans. Several bumps appeared on the moss covered walls and moments later, the bodies of the dead crew were "ejected" from them. They were perfectly preserved, except for their emotionless eyes and a cord that was attached to the top of their head from the wall. Another series of commands the corpses rose and walked slowly towards the ADD agent.

"Now let us begin."

You monster! What did you do to them! Minerva training kicked in as she took aim at the crew. It was clear that the forms that approached her were no longer alive but seemed to walk unnaturally towards her.

Minerva took aim at the lead crew member and fired a shot at the cord attached to them. She was sure they were controlled by the cord. It was unclear what would happen to the body, but she doubt they would continue to move.

The former human screeched as its cord was blown apart and collapsed to the ground, but there were seven others. All of them walked slowly towards her. Meanwhile the cord was already beginning to reform on the human on the ground. Behind her, five more of such infested humans were marching towards her, she was trapped.

"They chose their own path."

These infested humans were expendable. As long as the ship was alive, they would never die. The cord would simply reattach themselves to head. Kerrick was simply using them to test her strength and weaknesses. He continued his smile as he stood there, watching her struggle against a small army of his minions.

Minerva saw that the cord retach to the dead body on the floor. [i]This isn't working. Minerva looked around as more corpses appeared behind her. She had to think of something quick.
Minerva looked up at blood vessels above her.

Having little to lose at this point she switched her gun to burst fire and fired a burst at one of the blood vessels, perhaps that would slow them down some. If it didn't she was going to have to buy time with her knife until she got clear of them.

The ship screamed as one of its vessels exploded, spraying the area with hot acidic blood. Unfortunately for Minevera, it also melted the ground, causing her to fall down to the bottom floor. Kerrick quickly transformed himself into his monster form and jumped down to meet her. "I cannot tolerate you destroying my ship," he said to her, "Now you will deal with me."