[snip]

That caused him some pause, then Rick shook his head. “No, sir. Nessa sniffed it out first. We weren’t in the ducts but looking in through the vent. I did see something and .. there were some bones of something else there and heard the skittering, you know, like claws on metal. You want to come and see? My scanner has the engineering module and is limited for what it will pick up.”
- Rick and Mark

Eric tapped his chin. “Well I wouldn’t expect that it would eat us, typically they would be scared off by our size. You know, going after a meal that is more of a sure bet. But I would expect that it was hibernating in one of the many crates we received before leaving dry dock. I’m sure not all of those originated from Earth.”

Rick scratched at his cheek, thinking. That would be a possible explanation. He was a country boy and not used to ‘interstellar’ traffic. The ‘traffic jams of his hometown were when three vehicles happened to be on the street at the same time. He had been compelled to follow this path and right now he was having mixed feelings over the ‘excitement’ that it brought. Yes they were at a new world. Yes he was in space traveling at vast speeds that he was helping to maintain. That he expected and looked ahead to. What he didn’t expect was ‘mynocks chewing on power couplings’ - a line that came to him from a very old video he had seen as a child. That and a dog. “I suppose,” he said. What else could he say?

Looking over at the clock on the wall, Eric noted that he still had another hour on his shift. Plus a little bit of exploration would be a nice change of pace, he was stuck still trying to organize and label all of the supplies that had been sent up right before they left Earth.

Rick’s gaze followed and he noted the clock. Still a lot to do this shift but Lt Green should be fine with having discovered something potentially risky to ship systems.

“Why not, let’s see what our little stowaway might be.” Opening one of the drawers along the wall, Eric pulled a scanner out. “Lead the way.”

Lt Eric - Wandering Science Officer

“The Sergeant is keeping watch,” he said finding that such a strange thing to say, but still rather applicable. Idly he thought he might want to have a kind of micro camera attached so that he could see where she was at. I mean in this situation what would happen if one or more of those beasties had come out? “Ready,” he said, looking at Mark who held up both hands as if to say ‘you’re on your own’. His gaze back communicated ‘gee thanks buddy’ before turning and heading out with Eric. “It’s just in the cargo space a deck down.”

The trip was not long and without a lot of traffic that they passed. “Have you had much time in space, Lt?” he asked, making chit chat and trying to feel out where the LT was for ‘exo-biology’ experience.

• NPO Rick

“A bit, mostly around Earth, with only a couple of missions farther out. Haven’t had much opportunity to take these longer duration assignments. What about yourself?” Eric said as he followed along.

Once they reached the cargo bay, Eric popped up the scanner and started looking around. “So where did you see this creature?”

Lt Eric -Sci

OOC: Since its been a hot minute can someone remind me is Nessa in the cargo bay here still or did you leave her somewhere else?

GM CockRoach