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Tearc dragan
Chapter One
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A/N: A.M. said I need to specify the time line here. The start of this story starts 13 years before the ending of Tainted angel, and When the ship is found, it's 7 months after Tainted angel. Hope that makes it clear for everyone. Thanks Dark
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Deep Space
Dearcán of Tearc dragan looked out at the expanse of space. He leaned back and closed his eyes, sending up a small prayer for the fulaings and tabhairs who had lost their lives. His mate had been among the dead, and his heart still ached at seeing the small body of his Solas broken and bloody.
"Dearcán?" Dearcán turned to the man who had spoken. "Your son is restless, he misses his fulaing, he doesn't understand."
"Alright, I'll be there shortly." Dearcán replied softly, he looked back before the man left and saw the man was favoring his right leg. He frowned as he turned back to his instruments. For over a hundred the Garnetiers had been on the ship his grand-tabhair had made him promise to find home.
He closed his eyes again as he thought back to what he had read. Over a hundred years ago, seventy-five Garnetiers had left their small wounded planet in search of a new home. A place for the people to get away from the radiation and mistakes, to make a new start. Only, the expedition didn't go well, and they had lost their way and now they couldn't find home.
He had grown up on the ship, Tearc dragan, as did his parents. After they had lost their way, the fulaings and tabhairs had decided it would be best to find mates. And so, the second generation had been born on the ship. They hadn't exactly prospered, but had fought for what they had.
But then those things had attacked them, and while they had not killed them all, they had almost been wiped out. Only fifteen Garnetiers were left, in the search for home. And three of them were children. His own son had only been saved because Solas had thrown himself in front of the attacker to save their son.
He wondered if they would be welcomed home with opened arms, or condemned because they couldn't find a place. With a sigh, he pushed a button before standing. He knew the ship would run the program that would look for their home. He walked down the corridor and found it was hard to ignore the marks of lasers and deep gashes from swords.
He paused outside his quarters and shook his head before entering. He saw the small fulaing look up and stand before nodding his head as he left. Dearcán walked over, sitting down next to his son. "I know you miss your fulaing, as much as I do."
"I don't understand why he had to die, tabhair." The child whispered, as he moved to crawl into his tabhair's lap. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know," Dearcán whispered he felt his son bury his face in his shirt. "Solas Na Gealaí, I understand you're scared and don't understand. But, all we can do is hope to find home."
"I don't believe this place exists." Solas Na Gealaí replied shaking his head.
"It does, we've seen the pictures," Dearcán replied. "come, it's time for bed, I'll read you a story."
"Alright." Solas Na Gealaí replied. He moved off his tabhair so they could move to the bedroom. Solas crawled into his bed, while his father reached for the book they had been reading. After the story ended, he got up to tuck the blanket tightly against the boy before heading to his own bed. It was at these times that he missed his mate horribly.
Dearcán woke only a few hours later, tears filled his eyes and so he got up and dressed before checking on Solas Na Gealaí. He left the apartment, he knew that should Solas awaken, the boy would go down to the central commons.
He made his way slowly down to where they had frozen the dead their own little graveyard. There were others there, some quietly crying while others just stared. Dearcán walked over to where his mate was, looking down into the clear tube. A small very sad smile found his face: Solas looked beautiful, except for the small cut on the boy's cheek.
"Dearcán?" He turned at the voice.
"Yes Ionga?" Dearcán asked quietly as he turned back to his mate's body.
"Several want to meet in the central commons, they are concerned." Ionga replied softly. Turning Dearcán studied the man, seeing he looked tired.
"Of course, how about in an hour?" Dearcán replied seeing the man nod. With another look at his lover, the captain of the Tearc Dragan left to head towards his quarters to get his son. Then he would head to the commons area, and face what was left of his people.
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"This search is stupid, we should find a place and settle." One of the life givers hissed, his eyes glared at the people around the room. All fifteen Garnet souls were in the room, the young children clinging to anyone they could. Dearcán shook his head.
"We have looked, there aren't enough of us. If we settle some place, what will happen to us?" Dearcán asked softly. "We have only five life bearers: one expecting and two are children."
"We found that we are compatible with some of the species that we have come across." The same life giver said.
"Of course, and we've found that most of these species want to kill our life bearers, as to them it's not natural." Dearcán said with a shake of his head. "What happens when their females start bearing boys that have babies?"
"He has a point." Fáilte, the life bearer who was expecting, said softly. "Was it not Solas who almost lost his life when he carried his son? Because the planet we traded with decided he was carrying a demon?"
"It is." The life giver muttered.
"Laicear," Dearcán said looking around the room again. "I am with you. I am tired of searching, tired of the cold expanse of space. But we have nowhere to go but home."
Nods went around the group it was an old argument one that really didn't need to be gone over again because they had tried to settle. But when they did, found their lives, and the lives of their life bearers and offspring were always threatened. So they had been forced to move on.
"Is there anything else?" Dearcán asked softly. No's were muttered around the room, and slowly defeated Garnetiers left the room until only Dearcán, Solas Na Gealaí, and Fáilte were left.
"Captain Dearcán, may I speak with you?" The young life bearer asked as he looked up at the captain.
"Of course Fáilte." Dearcán replied softly.
"I am, um, concerned about my son." The young life bearer said as he slowly ran a hand over his stomach. He glanced between his captain and the life giver's son. "I am the only unbound life bearer about to bring a son onto the ship."
"You have no reason to be concerned Fáilte." Dearcán replied softly he reached down to place his on top of his son's head as the boy clang to him.
"I worry, for my son and your son's emotional health, they will be the youngest children here." Fáilte replied letting his eyes drop again.
"The loss of his fulaing was very hard on Solas." Dearcán shook his head and glanced down at his son.
"I understand." Fáilte replied softly, he turned intending to leave the room.
"Fáilte," Dearcán replied he reached out to grab the boy's arm. "come, we'll talk in my apartment."
"Alright." Fáilte followed after them. He kept his eyes on his protruding stomach as he tried not to fidget under the stares of the rest of the shipmates. One he stepped into his captain's apartment took a glance around.
"Please, make yourself comfortable." Dearcán said, as he stepped to the side. He came back into the sitting area to see the young life bearer seated at the edge of the sofa watching Solas. Dearcán sat down across from the boy to watch them. His mate was barely a week gone, but Fáilte's had lingered. And for a while they thought the security officer would make it.
"I'm sorry." Fáilte said he jumped when Solas climbed up beside him.
"Fáilte," Dearcán started, "I can see where you are coming from, but I'm not sure I am the best person for this."
"You are the only one I trust for this. You and I are the only ones left close in age, and I have always been very close with your mate and son." Fáilte replied he had dropped his eyes when he had spoken. It was several minutes in awkward silence before Fáilte spoke again. "I am afraid. My heart hurts so badly, and I have no one to turn to. Those that are left don't like me, or understand."
Dearcán watched tears slip down the expecting life bearer's pale cheeks. He glanced at his son and saw that the five year old boy wanted to reach out. With a sigh he leaned back and closed his eyes, he had always gone in search of his mate when something was difficult. Only his mate was gone, and he had no one left except his young son.
He opened eyes to met Fáilte's pale tan eyes. Getting up, Dearcán crossed over to sit beside the life bearer. Slowly he drew the boy into his arms. He knew that it was the right thing to do, to make a whole out of two broken families at least now Solas would have a fulaing. They sat that way for a very long time, until Solas' stomach growled.
"We should eat." Solas said grinning.
"I have to go back to the bridge." Dearcán said softly and dropped his arms from the expecting life bearer.
"I'll take him." Fáilte replied as he stood.
"Thank you." Dearcán said, he walked them out of the apartment. Fáilte and Solas watched the captain walk away, before Fáilte took Solas' hand to lead him towards the community area. Fáilte was quiet as they got their food, his eyes scanned the room, and the other people in it.
"You shouldn't worry." Solas said softly, he watched as Fáilte looked around again.
"But I do, they all stare." The young life bearer said, his hands going to his stomach.
"You are young, they found your bond to Lasair… strange." Solas said he shrugged his small shoulders. Fáilte watched him, his tan eyes locked with Solas'. The boy's eyes were like the sun drenched deserts from home. Dark tannish brown mixed with gold. "It was because Lasair was nearly twice your age, and the man never looked at another life bearer in all his years."
"And you know this?" Fáilte asked.
"My parents talked a lot." Solas replied as they finished their meal.
"I'll walk you back to your quarters." Fáilte said. They left the community area, and once back Fáilte read Solas a book, before he tucked the young child into bed.
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Solas woke to hearing something with a frown he sat up to try to listen closer. When he figured out what it was, a small sad smile found his face. His tabhair was mating with Fáilte, and while it made him sad that his fulaing was gone, it was nice to have another fulaing there for him.
He waited for several minutes before he finally snuck out of his room and into his tabhair's room. He saw the two laying in each other's arms so he crawled into bed to lay his head against the side of Fáilte's stomach. He closed his eyes and found that sleep came easy for him because of he feel of Fáilte's hand rubbing his back soothingly and his Tabhair's smell that permeated the room.
His life was good, it was finally looking up.
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Dearcán shook his head and glared across the table at his men. "I did what I needed to, Fáilte is now protected, and my son has someone."
"He was Lasair's mate, now he's yours. He's young and rash." One of the tabhair replied.
"It was my decision, not yours," Dearcán replied. "it was a personal matter, not something to do with this ship or its people. No one wanted the boy but me."
"You're going to have your hands full with three of them." Another said. A few minutes later the group broke up, and Dearcán headed towards his apartment. He slipped into the apartment to pause in the doorway to watch his new mate with his son. He could see that Solas and Fáilte got along very well.
"Hey." Fáilte said, as he pulled away from Solas to struggle to his feet. Dearcán crossed the room to help the life bearer to his feet. With a blush staining his cheeks, Fáilte looked up. "Thanks, Solas and I made dinner."
"Oh?" Dearcán grinned as he followed them into the small kitchenette.
"I haven't had much of a chance to cook." Fáilte explained as they sat down. "Lasair was teaching me, but I didn't do very well."
"I'm sure it's fine." Dearcán replied as they sat down. He found that it wasn't bad, of course it would be better if it actually had taste.
"How is it?" Fáilte asked, he frowned down at his own plate.
"It's fine." Dearcán said with a smile. The meal continued in silence, things still weren't up to par. He wasn't sure where Solas had been with their son's studies when he was killed, and Dearcán couldn't find a way to bring it up. He sat back as his son and new mate cleaned up.
"Would you like dessert?" Fáilte asked.
"No, I have a new system to chart." Dearcán replied as he stood. He scooped up his son to snuggle Solas against his chest. Dropping a kiss to the boy's head, Dearcán placed Solas back onto his feet. "I might be back late."
"Alright." Fáilte said as he watched his new mate leave the room. He turned to Solas to frown at the boy before a wide grin split his delicate face. "How about a book?"
"That would be great." Solas said, as the boy bolted into his room. Solas grabbed a book before he headed back into the living area and plunked down on the sofa. Fáilte laughed softly as he joined the boy, he pushed pale green hair out of his eyes he took the book from Solas and opened it.
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Solas woke and jumped as the ship shook. He gazed around the room, trying not to jump again when the ship shook. However, a yelp escaped him when the entire thing moaned and then shuddered. Rolling off the bed, Solas crawled towards his door only to be thrown off his knees onto his side. With tears streaming down his face, Solas pulled himself to his knees again and headed to a place he knew was safe.
Not many people could fit into the small space he crawled into the little cubby behind his bed, which he always hid in when he got scared. He pulled his arms over his head and curled himself into a ball as tightly as he could. With his eyes tightly closed he tried not to cry out every time the ship jerked, shook, or moaned.
Solas wasn't sure how much time has passed when he finally realized that the ship had stopped shaking. Slowly uncurling, he listening hard trying to figure out what was going on. He waited several more minutes before finally he figured it was safe to come out. He noticed the room had and odd smell that he was unable to identify as he emerged from his hiding place to search for Fáilte or his tabhair.
"Tabhair?" Solas called out. He saw Fáilte seated on the sofa he slowly made his way towards the life bearer. But he could see something was wrong, the life bearer was too still. Once he came around the sofa, the five year old boy stopped, his eyes wide as he stared into the unseeing eyes of the life bearer. "Fáilte?"
Solas took a step back and scanned the body in front of him. He could see a small hole in Fáilte's chest, and of course, there was one in the life bearer's extended stomach. Tears had started to slip down his cheeks when the door opened.
"Solas?" Dearcán called as he eyed his son.
"Fáilte is gone along with the baby." Solas whispered as he moved towards his tabhair. He paused when he saw the blood coating his Tabhair's side. "Tabhair?"
"I'm okay, come on." Dearcán said softly, he lead his son from the room, he knew that he would have to come back to lay another mate to rest. The atmosphere was quiet and grim as they searched the ship until they had accounted for the rest of the Garnetiers. All were dead, and Dearcán knew that he was close behind.
He turned when he heard his son cry out and watched as blood bloomed across Solas' chest. Limping back to his son, he grabbed Solas and watched as those eyes came back to him. "It's okay, I promise you."
He scooped the boy up and headed to the medical lab. He laid his son onto a table he called up the ship's AI, he saw an image appear. "Check my son."
"Yes sir." The image replied. It was only a few seconds later when the AI looked at him. "He will be fine if put into a regenerating tube."
"Okay." Dearcán moved to place Solas into a tube, then watched as his son turned scared wide eyes onto him. "It'll be okay sweetheart, don't worry. You're going to sleep, and when you wake up you'll be healed okay?"
"Okay," Solas replied softly. "I love you, tabhair."
"I love you too." Dearcán replied as he shut the tube and watched as it cycled. He looked up as his son's vitals appeared on the screen. "Give me a run down on the ship."
"There is extensive damage to all areas but the ship's skin is repairing itself. As for the ship, we are out of the asteroid field, and repairs have been started. However, it will go slowly without humans to help." The AI replied, the damage was from small meteors that had punctured the ship, causing massive damage and a significant lost of life. "Also, your wounds are fatal."
"Yeah, I know. But I wanted to check everything before I got into a regenerating tube," Dearcán said he watched as the AI seemed to fidget. "what?"
"The ship doesn't have enough power right now to repair itself, your son and you." The AI replied softly.
"And Solas' chance of survival if I'm not here? With no one here?" Dearcán asked.
"Are better then if the ship waits on repairing itself, and focuses on Solas' wounds first. Because he is small, the ship can afford to divert the power to his tube." The AI explained, it glanced down at the small boy in the tube. "I could simply make sure he doesn't wake up, and after you expire I could destroy the ship or continue to search for home."
"No." Dearcán shook his head. He would give his son a chance, it was the only way. "You will take care of Solas, I will leave him in your care."
"Sir?" The AI asked.
"You will take care of my boy right? Give him the best chance of survival, and the chance to find home?" Dearcán asked as he shifted from the pain in his side.
"Of course I will." The AI replied. Dearcán nodded, and then moved to patch his side. He knew that it wouldn't help, but he wasn't going to leave dead bodies out when his son woke up. It wouldn't be hard to get the thirteen people down to the small holding cell.
His first stop was his apartments to slowly he lift his mate's small body into his arms before he moved to place Fáilte onto the gurney. He reached up to run his hand over the life bearer's stomach. "I am so sorry."
After that it was a blur, the only help was the fact that the AI had been able to use the smaller cleaning units to help him move the dead. He was rapidly losing strength, and things were becoming blurry around the edge of his vision. He paused to breathe deeply before he looked at the AI, the computer image was attractive, short burnt orange hair, with a pair of startling copper red eyes. The image stood about five foot six, and had the air of a parent.
"We are finished." The AI said as Dearcán pulled himself up into one of the tubes. He nodded before he laid back, his eyes closed as he took a deep breath.
"How is Solas?" Dearcán asked.
"The boy is resting peacefully, and his wounds are healing nicely." The AI replied.
"Promise me you'll protect him with everything you have, that you will teach him and help him?" Dearcán asked the man. He had to think of the AI as a man, because it wouldn't be fair other wise. "Please Tearc Dragan, keep my boy safe."
"With everything I have, Captain Dearcán." The AI replied. He watched as the man's vitals slowed, until his captain took his least breath. Once done, he activated the tube, freezing the body along with the last fourteen Garnetiers that had inhabited the ship.
It would be six months before Solas na Gealaí would awaken, and for months the boy's heartbroken wails could be heard in the empty corridors of the wounded ship. The ship mourned along side the boy, having lost its family as well. But slowly the waling was replaced with quiet talking, and by the end of their first year alone together, every once in a while there would be laughter.
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Thirteen years later
Deep space
"There she is." Devin Adams said, as he looked out the huge window of the cruiser.
"What the hell is it?" Troy asked as he to looked out at the ship in front of them.
"A legend." Devin grinned, this was great. He had finally proven that the stories were true. The ship had been floating through space for at least a hundred fifty years. His family had passed down the picture of the unidentified ship and he had finally found it. He had proven that his grandfather wasn't crazy. The only thing was, were there still people on board? "Bring us in slowly the last time it was seen, its weapons were still active."
"It looks dead." Troy said, as he glanced back at Devin.
"I hope so." Devin said, he watched as Troy's people slowly took the cruiser closer the unidentified ship.
"I don't know why I'm doing this for you." Troy muttered, as he watched his friend. But when he saw that Devin was ignoring him, he turned back to his crew.
"Sir, we're coupled to the other ship, stabilizing now." His first in command said.
"Alright." Troy said. With a grin the two of them left the bridge, followed by the other two of Devin's crew. "You ever figure out what those things were on the side?"
"Some language we figure, not sure which one or what it says, but we're gonna go with the ship's name." Devin replied as they stepped into the elevator to take them down to where they were docked to the other ship.
"How long has your family been looking for this ship, Dev?" Troy asked the other man.
"Nearly a hundred and fifty years." Devin pulled out a picture and with a smile handed it over to Troy. He could see the man's surprised looked.
"Wow." Troy said with a shake of his head. It was the same ship in the pictures as the one they found. And standing in the picture, was Devin's great-grandmother.
"You said it. We've searched after she found it but they told us that it was just a hoax. However, I knew my great-grandmother, while she was a bit lost, she knew what she was talking about." Devin said as he took the picture back. He slipped it back into his pocket before he followed the Captain off the elevator and down the corridor.
"Well?" Troy asked his people.
"Suits, just to be safe, we're not getting any readings." One of the men said. Troy and Devin nodded they moved to work themselves into safety suits. Devin turned back to his two crew members to see they were also suited up. He hoped that if all went well they would be taking the ship back with them.
"Ready?" Troy asked the four that would be accompanying him. Nods went around the group, and Troy nodded to his man to cut the airlock. But nearly feel on his butt when the thing hissed, and then opened.
"David?" Troy asked he saw the man look at him and shrug.
"I tried to open it before figuring I would have to cut it." David explained as he set the torch down.
"I'll go first." Devin said softly, he moved towards the front of the group. After some rearranging, they were ready to board the ship. Devin's eyes widened as he looked around, he knew they were on the lowest level of the ship, and he could see damage to it. "Was there damage outside?"
"Not that we could see, but we'll get a closer look with the scans." Anila replied. Devin nodded as he turned his attention back to the ship. They walked for a little ways before finding a stairway, and figuring that anything important would be up. Devin started up before he glanced back at Linos.
"What are you getting?" Devin asked.
"Readings are strange, not sure yet if there is anyone here. At time I get multiple life signs, others I get none." Linos replied before he dropped his eyes back to his equipment.
"Hey Dev, look at this." Troy called out, and Devin turned too wandered over to what the man was looking at.
"Looks like Laser marks," Devin said as he shifted, "but then these look like sword marks."
"Hard to say." Troy said before he moved away. As the group moved further down the corridor, Devin kept his eyes out for anything that would give them an idea of the ship's origin.
"Jesus." Devin turned when he heard Linos' mutter. He looked to see what the man was looking at, and found his eyes widen. The planet in the picture showed colors rarely seen, deep purplish looking seas, and emerald green land. It was a picture perfect paradise, and Devin grinned figuring it was a fake. "Man, look at that."
"It's fake." Devin muttered as he walked away. He paused when he felt as if he was being watched, and he scanned the area again to see nothing out of the ordinary. "We need to find the bridge and personal quarters."
"Figure the personal quarters are one more level up and the bridge should be," Linos paused to glance at his instrument again. "if the outline from the outside is right, top level all the way to the other side of the ship."
"Well let's get moving." Devin said as he started forward again.
"There is something creepy about this ship." Anila said.
"Air's normal for us." Linos threw out, he looked up when the people stopped to look at him. With a shrug he went back to his scanner, he found again the life signs fluctuating. He couldn't figure out what his instrument were reading. He glanced around to find that most of the walls were bare, but every once in a while they would get pictures of the planet.
"I want to leave the suits on, at least until we can finish the scan for foreign bodies," Troy said. "no need to get sick because we jumped the gun."
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"Okay, are we lost?" David asked he looked around at the other people. They had spent nearly four hours, and had yet to find anyway leading up to the part of the ship they wanted. It would seem that they could get to the top level of the ship but couldn't find a way to the bridge. Nor could they find anyway from the three other levels.
"I say we call it a night, finish up the scans and tackle it back in the morning." Troy said. The rest nodded, before they headed back towards the way they came. They had found the personal quarters, but found all doors locked, and no matter what they tried they couldn't get them open.
Crossing back to Troy's ship – the Terrace Queen – they found that the airlock closed behind them. As they pulled off the suits Devin looked back at the airlock. He studied the airlock to try to figure out if had ever seen the marking before anywhere in his travels.
"Dev?" Anila asked.
"I've never come across markings we haven't been able to identify, at least with one of our programs." Devin said.
"Come on, let's eat and maybe we can figure it out." Anila said as they headed towards the mess hall. They found a table, and sat down. Devin pulled out papers he had used to copy down markings from the ship. "Put them away Dev, you need to eat."
"Yeah, just get me whatever." Devin replied his light blue eyes scanned the papers again. He knew that somewhere there was a planet with a missing ship. There had to be, because a ship didn't drift through space for those many years without being mourned.
"Dev?" Anila asked. Devin turned to look at her.
"What?" Devin asked.
"Eat, your dinner is getting cold." Anila shook her head before she turned her attention to her own meal. Devin studied the woman across from him. Anila was from small poor planet, her skin was greenish blue with what looked to be scales around her eyes.
He had picked her up on one of his runs because she was very intelligent, could fly nearly any ship, and there was the fact that she was very good in bed. With a grin, Devin turned to his dinner, his eyebrow raised slightly as he wondered what it was.
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Devin rolled and his eyes popped open as an idea came to him. He got up to pull on his clothing. He moved to a table where he pulled a book towards him. It had all the better and the lesser known planets listed with sections of language and writings. He flipped through the book, keeping an eye open to anything that remotely looked like the marks on the ship.
It was only after about two hours that Devin finally gave up. He returned to his bed, and ended up staring up at the ceiling for the rest of the night. He knew the answer was staring him in the face, he just couldn't place it. Maybe it was only because he had spent so many years staring at the picture his great-grandmother had taken but he swore that he had seen those marks before.
Devin jerked awake when he heard someone knock on his door. He got up only to realize that he was still dressed from when he had been looking at the book. He crossed the room to open his door surprised to see Linos standing there. "What?"
"Breakfast and the scans are done." Linos replied. The man stepped back as his captain exited the room. They walked towards the briefing room, Devin had decided to skip breakfast and head straight to the meeting. They entered the room, Devin dropped into a chair.
"Good that you could join us." Troy said with a glare at the other captain.
"Sorry was up late or early, depending on how you want to look at it." Devin shrugged before he smiled at Anila as the woman set coffee down in front of him.
"Anyway," David started. "the scans finished, and as far as we can figure, there is no outside damage to the structure of the ship. Something did break off though, from what we can tell it was its communications dish. This could account for the reason that no one had been able to hail them on the radio."
"And the life readings?" Devin asked as he sipped at his coffee.
"The same," Linos replied, "they still are fluctuating all over the place. It could be a way that the people kept anyone outside of the ship from know how many inhabit it."
"Could be," Anila said. "I've never seen things like some of the things on this ship. It's amazing, I can hard wait to find the bridge."
"What's your take on it Troy?" Devin asked his friend, he could see that man was contemplating on what to tell him.
"I think the ship is empty, the scans from the inside show no potential threats to us, so the suits aren't needed now." Troy said.
"Good, if we are unable to get the engines to work, you'll be able to tow it back to Earth right?" Devin asked he looked around the room. He could see that his two crew members were anxious to get started.
"We should be able to," Troy said, he looked at David to see the man was nodding. "we can start with the cable while you and your crew look at the ship again."
"Prefect," Devin said as he stood. "let's get started then."
Devin and his two crew members left the room to head down to where the cruiser was connected with the other ship. He paused outside the airlock to let his eyes scan it again. He reached out to touch the metal, he could feel the power that hummed through it.
"Some parts have power still," Linos said, he watched as Devin stepped back and then the airlock opened. "it would also seem that someone is watching us."
"Could be, or it could be the ship." Devin said as they started through.
"Ship's dusty and has the air of being uninhabited, I would say it's the ship." Anila replied as she followed after them.
"Smells musty too." Lion replied as he took a deep breath. Devin shook his head as he moved towards the stairs. Lions and Anila just shook their heads as they followed after their captain. When the caught up with him, they found him standing in the middle of the hallway as he stared into a room.
"What?" Anila asked.
"Those weren't there yesterday." Devin stated as he pointed to the books that were sitting on the table.
"Are you sure?" Anila asked as she moved towards the table.
"I'm sure." Devin said, he jumped when something else hit the table. Anila jumped back, the woman's eyes wide as they watched the small ball bounce.
"Captain?" Linos started, his eyes were scanning the room. It was then they heard something, it sounded almost like someone was moving across the room above them. Devin looked at the other two to see that they too looked worried.
"I would say we're not alone." Devin replied as he shook his head.
"And that airlock wasn't secured last night." Linos whispered.
"You don't think…" Anila trialed off, she watched as Devin pulled out his communicator. Seconds later her captain had Troy on the phone, and within minutes a stem to stern search of the Terrace Queen had been started.
"We have to find out what the hell it is." Devin moved from the room. He strode towards the other end of the ship, where the noise had gone. They could see that their captain was listening hard to any noise the ship would make. They followed, their eyes keeping a look out for anything.
When Devin reached the next floor of the ship he glanced around. He could hear the noise, but now it sounded like it was coming from below them. "Fuck, whatever it is, it's between the floors."
"How the hell did it get there?" Anila hissed.
"I have no clue, and I would rather not rip the ship apart to find out." Devin said. He glanced up as he heard a noise come from above him. With a frown, he moved to try and see if he could see anything. He caught a glimpse of something and as he moved forward his communicator beeped.
"Devin, get your ass back over here, something has been on my cruiser!" Troy yelled. Devin glanced one last time at the ceiling before he and his crew ran all the back to the airlock where David was waiting to secure it.
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Dark's Ramblings: alright, there is the newest installment in the Garnet series. Hope you liked it, I look forward to your feedback.
Dark's Preview: Solas comes face to face with Devin's Crew, and they find that the language barrier is hard to overcome.