Conquest: A New Home

Jumar waved away the message of the RnD sector and picked up the comms.

[WE HAVE AN ALIEN IN THE SHIP!] Jumar blared out. [I REPEAT! WE HAVE AN ALIEN ON THE SHIP!]

[Dispatch 7 this is Control Center. We hear you loud and clear. Report.]

[Lifeform was detected on D6 when a minor coolant leak was under repair. Creature code is Creature 0911251!]

[Central copies, please confirm if the creature was found only when the coolant leak happened.]

[Affirmative copy.]

[Central is now working on how to deal with the threat, thank you for the report. We will be sending an investigation team your way, please be patient and wait.]

[Dispatch 7 Copies.]

Jumar breathed heavily as sweat poured out his forehead. This was going to be a nightmare to deal with. They would have to cease all the coolant flow and manually sift through all the biomaterial and contaminants in the system before they can resume normal operations.

In the mean time, all personnel would have to deal with all the complications of losing the coolant system.

The reactors would have to be shut down, auxiliary generators would have to power them on the lowest output. The solar panels could not operate at the usual operating cycle, the navigation would need to stop, the auxiliary cryosystems would have to be on low output to preserve maximum efficiency on the deep sleep Cryogenic pods that the 5 century old sleep of 1,800 colonists laid on a thin line.

These colonists were born and bred genetically for the sole purpose of entering one sleep that could last for millenniums.

These people could only sleep on cryopods once.

Any more and they would die.

The personnel aboard Exodus starship had to do everything they can in order to maintain the sleep of the colonists at all costs. The ship could not sustain more than 300 awake personnel, it would definitely not be enough to feed 2,000.

"You got some grim face in there." Kaylen spoke as she raised a brow at Jumar. "If such a low class alien were to cause such concern, all personnel would have been in a panic right now."

"They ARE in a panic right now." Jumar rolled his eyes. "Only a dimwit like you wouldn't be concerned."

"And why would that be?" Kaylen smirked. "That I couldn't sniff coolant like you do? I'll pass on that."

Jumar laughed.

"You're on the Mechanic Divison." Jumar pointed at her. "Assigned to the engine maintenance. You should know what the hell it means if the coolant's got a problem."

"Pff. Lets see…" Kaylen counted on her fingers.

"We would have to shutdown the engine, remove the brittle parts, unwind the main chase… clean the 2 kilometer's worth of piping… wipe the thrust pane..ls… repeat the exact same thing eight time…s."

Kaylen had visibly paled by a few shades at this time.

"That's right." Jumar rubbed it in her. "You wouldn't be able to go on a date with Eliza tonight, or tomorrow, probably even next month. Ignorance sure is a bliss isn't it."

"NOOOO!" Kaylen screamed as she pulled at her hair.

She was throwing a fit while floating in the air, punching at the nothingness while spouting all sorts of curses. She tried to kick once on the wall and ended up with a lot of rebound that sent her crashing headfirst into the aluminum panel above her.

"FUCC! AWW!!" Kaylen wiped the blood off her forehead. "SHIT ON A STICK FOR FUC SAKE THIS SON OF A BITCH OF A GODDAMN F.U.C.KTARD PANEL-"

*BSSSSTT*

"I SWEAR TO THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G HEAVENS IF THIS GODDAMN PANEL COULD JUST F.U.C.K ITSELF I WILL JUMP OUT OF AN AIRLOCK AND PISS MYSELF IN A F.U.C.K.I.N.G SUIT WITHOUT DIAPERS FOR F.U.C.KS SAKE THIS PANEL---"

"Is there a problem here?" An investigator clad in a airtight jumpsuit asked Jumar as he opened the latch and floated inside.

"Not much, she went ahead and fought against air and lost miserably." Jumar shrugged. "Don't mind her. It's this you're here for."

Jumar held out his stained glove towards the investigator, who then calmly took it and placed it into the airtight container strapped to his hip.

"I would like to see the coolant leak you mentioned." The investigator said to Jumar.

"Here." Jumar pointed beside him. "This one."

"Hmm…" The investigator scanned the area with his heavily modded IRIS. "Seems about right, however, I see traces of the leak being caused by external blunt trauma, do you happen to know the source?"

Jumar gulped. Damage to the ship was penalized with 3 days of receiving substandard meals, which were consisting of the most disgusting goo and synthetic compounds that were somehow safe to eat.

Jumar did not want to eat some raw cultured bacteria and plant goop. He was expecially not excited for the algae soup.

"Umm… There was this swift thing that was um… flying towards the panel at subsonic and… well it hit it." Jumar sweat profusely.

"And… this 'swift thing' you speak of." The investigator narrowed his eyes. "Could you perhaps describe it in much more detail?"

"Um… It… ah…" Jumar fumbled. "It was something too fast for me to recognize."

"I see." The investigator nodded. "Would Miss Aldos happen to have known what caused this?"

"It was obviously Jum-"

Jumar kicked the still flying around bottle of oil and sent it flying straight to Kaylen's face, the latter was then enraged and started to throw a fit before she could answer the investigator.

"Oh, it must have been a bottle like that that was flying around when the breach occurred earlier, or the rapid pressurization after we sealed the breach." Jumar coughed. "You never know."

"I see." The inspector nodded. "As someone who has discovered a new species, I will not doubt your testimony."

"W-What are you talking about ahaha…"

"However." The inspector floated closely to Jumar. "I must give you a disciplinary record for breaching the standard operation procedures since you have not safely stored such items, which is a safety hazard for you and others. Please keep this in mind from now on."

"Y-Yes. Sure." Jumar wiped the sweat off his brow.

The investigator then left the two of them as Jumar placed back the floating bottles to the panel and pulled along the still grumbling Kaylen behind him out of the external modules.

"STUPID SON OF A BITCH OF A BOTTLE OF SHIT I SWEAR--" Kaylen lashed out. "MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G DINGLEF.U.C.K OF A SHITTY A.S.S F…"

Jumar at this point couldn't give two damns about Kaylen and just dragged her to the changing rooms with him.

"The f.u.c.k did you drag me here for?!" Kaylen was now mad at something else again. "You f.u.c.k.i.n.g piece of-"

"If I were you I would have saved my energy." Jumar sighed as he entered a cubicle and started to unzip his jumpsuit. "We have to go through a lot of shit the following days for god knows how long. Consider this a moment of bliss, a calm before the storm."

There was a loud thump on the Plastisteel divider between them as Kaylen could only smack it in frustration from the cubicle next to Jumar.

"I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate it when you're right goddamnit." She grunted. "I swear to the stars... you're a f.u.c.k.i.n.g harbinger of bad news."

'And you're the harbinger of stupidity.' Jumar rolled his eyes.