Posted by Vice Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - C Deck - Rick’s Quarters
[snip]

As he looked off to the side he saw said ball just laying 5 inches away from Nessa, her attention though was on the nearby life support grate. Once Nessa heard Rick was near she looked back whined then barked again at the grate. It seems something was getting her attention and she felt was worth noting of being a threat or something.

GM CockRoach

“Good girl, Sergeant,” Rick said, hoping that was the right thing to say in this circumstance. He was plainly confused. Dogs had good noses. He got down onto hands and knees and peered at the grate, listening. He knew that at this angle he couldn’t see anything. But he was a small town boy, raised in the midst of the flowing prairies of Canada. He knew that ‘critters’ could get into places - but here? This was a ship essentially built in space. You didn’t have critters out here. Or was there? He turned his head to Nessa’s furry snout not far away. “What do you think?”

Nessa looked at Rick then at the crate, she gave a whine of some sort in reply, but seemed otherwise unsure how to proceed evidently letting him choose. Listening at the crate he could just faintly hear something scratching at the metal inside the duct work. It was faint to his hearing but there for sure. As he had thought the idea of a critter like a Earth based rat, or something getting onto the ship without notice was pretty rare. But then again Nessa got on here by some mess up maybe an inspector for foreign elements like a rat or something also messed up?

Rick put his ear nearer to the grate. Something was there. Nessa had detected it first and he was now playing catch up. It reminded him of squirrels on the roof back home, that contact of tiny nails. Were there any traps on board? They’d probably have to build them. Was this duct big enough for Nessa to move around in? Was she a trained ‘ratter’? Was that what they were called? Weren’t terriers more made for that? He shifted himself. He needed to see more.

This was a storage bay. Surely he could find a light and a tool kit to take that grate off. “Guard,” he said to her as he got up to find those very things. The thought that there was something ‘dangerous’ in a ventilation duct didn’t occur to him. Maybe he should call Ensign Gagarin over and see what his paranoid mind thought of it. In time he did conjure up what he was looking for. With those in hand he returned to where Nessa was. “Shall we have a look, Sergeant?” he asked, turning on the light to try again to peer through the grate.

• Rick

Nessa crouched closer and slightly ahead of Rick on the floor by the grate, evidently ready to spring into action if something emerged to attack. Peering the light into the duct he caught a brief glance of something low to the metal plate scrabble out of sight deeper into the duct that went port-starboard on this area of the deck. From the brief glance he could be pretty sure it wasnt a rat/mouse it was too slim bodied. He could also be pretty sure the invader had six legs not four. The coloring on the body seemed darker toned too and he was pretty sure it wasn’t fur unless it was very short haired.

Rick gave out a yelp of shock. Six legs? He backed out and put his back to the bulkhead, his eyes wide. “Sweet mother of Melchizedek! What was that?!” he said, and looked at Nessa. The Sergeant looked rather more composed than he was. “Pull yourself together, Rick. It was just some six legged mutant .. thing. That’s all.” Turning again and shifting the light more to see what he could see he saw something. “What the ..” he said, trying to get a better look.

After the critter had departed beyond his range of sight and hearing he could just make out too inside the duct four feet in where it split to port-starboard what seemed a bit of tiny bones, what kind was impossible to say.

GM CockRoach

“Bones?” Pretty small. But still. Bones. Swallowing hard he tried to see more but that was it. He looked at Nessa and then at the duct. Was it big enough to send her through there after it? Did it stay in the ducts or did it come out? Was there a pack of them that would make Nessa into a larger pile of bones? No, not that quick. That was reacting. Nessa could track things by scent. They would first need to get something … maybe like the bones? Put a camera on her so they could see what was going on. And maybe there were avenues in the ship where it got out. Nessa could start there?

“Nessa, guard,” he said. That would mean the bay would hopefully be safe from infestation for the moment. He needed to report this … “I’ll be back,” he said to Nessa. “Good girl,” he added.

With that Rick left and then paused outside the Bay. They were on E Deck … he could go back to his quarters to see Mark. He was a sci-guy geek but, wait, he might be in the science lab. Who was the chief there? Locke. A full Looie. They were up on D Deck. Making that choice, Rick took the lift one deck up and made his way to the Science Lab. Entering he looked around. He’d never been there once it was populated but had been part of a group that moved equipment crates back to the Cargo Bay once they had been unloaded. It wasn’t that big but it looked impressive with tidy consoles and a couple of machines he could only guess at what it did. Mark had said something about a wild expresso machine they had. Was one of them that?

“Hello?” he called out. Was it odd that he was feeling alone without Nessa beside him?
- PO Rick Walters, Eng

OOC: Hi Rob .. setting the stage here so that we aren’t professing knowledge where it may not be .. I’m guessing this might be a vole, though don’t want to jump the gun or others. Is this a ‘new’ thing for the crew? Certainly Prairie Boy Rick wouldn’t have seen one. .. thanks! Gene