Another Hoosier Fear part

“He’s using them as bait. Fear is trying to lure us into his grasp.” Halbman said knowing the Theives

Elsa stepped forward appearing on the screem from her place near the second flight com. “When Fear came to Mars he had two huge humans with him. Mercenaries from the outlands. I don’t think he choice them for their brains. But they are strong like nothing a human should be.”

“Experiments, great. You think they were injured on purpose to get our attention?” Halman asked.

Bell’s eyes met Halbmans. “Yes, It’s Fears M.O. We need to execute a search. But we can use the Warstar’s security to do that.”

Halbman nodded. “Need to get the new control modifiers in place on these as soon as possible. There is no way I want to be chasing Warstar’s across galaxies.”

Aubnu snorted. “You know the criminals will just find a way to hack it. The security bots can only be controlled by central hub because no one has found it useful to steal the codes yet.”

Bell smiled. It was true the security of the Warstar’s hadn’t been compromised before as no one in the criminal element had a use for the clunky old things. The newer models were only slightly less awkward. The battlecruisers were to be streamlined with the new run out to accommodate new ideas and technology. Fear had used the lack of oversight to slip in a loyal follower and take over the three warstars docked for overhaul.

The compromised protocol that Bell has used now allowed the Marshals to use the security bots to access the vid links of the ship. The damage to the Warstar was enough to disable the flight deck luckily the security zone hadn’t been hit. Fear would need to disable the bots by hand to override the Marshals view.

Bell typed in the council code to access the vids for fugitive retreivel. The bots whirred to action on the vidscreen. It only took a moment for the Warstar’s security to locate Fear. The Algathian stood over the down human his dark skin rippled as Hoosier Fear moved to pick the man up. Fear growled something at the creature he held then dropped him to the floor in disgust.

The humans injury looked severe to Bell possibly caused by shrapnel of some type. Fear ranted for a moment then turned leaving the control room. The screen switched to a different vidview. “Fear is in the pod bay. He’s going to jump. I’ve sent jump coodinates to override anything he does. Aubnu prepare jump shields in pod bay and clear the deck. Halbman get a team from Marshal Daine to greet our guest.”

Bell met Halbman on his way to the pod bay. “What are we going to do to stop the hallucinations?” Halbman asked.

Bell smiled at the question. “Give him a bath.”

Halbman laughed. “The ship’s contamination cleanse?”

“Yup.” Bell answered passing through to the pod bay control center. “It shouldn’t cause a problem. Fear is Algathian he shouldn’t be oozing fear slime.”

Halbman nodded. “You think it’s some type of Intiarin Tech?”

“No, I think the slime is a living creature. A lifeform that secretes the fear pheromone. We don’t have all inhabitants of in each galaxy in the system so it could easily be missed. Fear knew of this creature or was given it and used it against us.” Bell said just a the escape pod appeared in the bay.

Bell watched security surround the craft. The eight foot high, three foot wide door held tight over the cavournous interior meant to hold ten survivors. The pod didn’t have external vids or internal navigation. Fear had entered the destination into the main pod escape computer before leaving the Warstar. The pods would get the survivors to the nearest habitable planet in the area if unable to make the destination logged. Fear had to hope for the best.

The counsil had started to make changes to escape pod protocols and options to give survivors a better chance at being found quickly. After all some planets may have the right conditions to live but that didn’t mean they were safe. The Warstar Fear had stolen on the way to be overhauled and refitted for the newest upgrades and the escape pod were still flying blind.

Majour Halbman moved into the bay while Marshal Andrisican watched from the control room. “Majour, start the door override. Let’s get in.  I’ll get the cleanse started for full check. Halbman remember your breathers set to contamination micro organisms and substances.”

Halbman nodded. The man switched his mask on then started the override. Five minutes passed and the pod doors seal broke open. The moment the door popped Bell hit the enter for protocols to start.

The scan lasted 45 seconds.

Then a scream rent the air.

Slime shot up from the slightly open door. The slime coated the outside of the pod. Bell could see the slime seemed dryed out in spots. “It’s dying.”

Halbman moved back from the slime. The slime bubbled and oozed toward the nearest host. The young guard shuffled back quickly to the door.

“All personel pull back to secure locations.” Bell said over the coms. Once the pod was cleared. “Halbman I’m cleansing the room from live water feeders. Should take 15 minutes to be ready.”

“Yup.” Came Halbman’s reply.

Bell jumped when the main line popped spewing artificial fuel into the pod bay. He blinked shut the shield for the observation deck and glanced at the door. The slime had escaped the pod bay and oozed across the room in record time. “Great, intelligent slime. Halbman?”

“Yeah, I see it sir. I’m evacuating to secure location. Security is with me.” Halbman’s slightly frantic voice filtered through the Bell.

“Marshal Daine assume I’ve been compromised and run full diagnostic.” Bell said.

“You got it.” Marshal Daine replied.

The scan ran and the bean detected the contagin again removing it from Bell. The slime pulled back form the room allowing ship security to fully seal Bell in the room for protection. “Daine?”

“Your clear Andrisican. What the simes is that stuff?” Daine asked her image appearing on his vidscreen.

“A living being of some kind. Looks like the fear pheromone was exreted as a defence but I haven’t actually seen the creature. I highly doubt its just a ball of snot.” Bell replied. He turned to the door. “Send the contamination team to secure Fear and the pod. This is going to require more study..”

“You got it.” Daine said making the call. “I’ve got a team mobilized and I have a drop feed of the Warstars history for the last three years. It’s been loaded to your wrist com.”

“Good. I’ll look that over.” Bell said.