Onward to the Thrusters!

Faolan slowly sat up, still slightly stunned by the fall and the fact that he now had a HUD. Looking up he could only see darkness even with his light illuminating the way up. Shaking his head, he rotated his body and started down the duct, hoping that he was going the right way to Engineering. He slowly crawled, trying to make the least amount of sound as possible. The further he went, the more he felt uneasy, as if something were watching him. He constantly looked back the way he came. Illuminating the small space with his light, seeing nothing he kept pushing forward. The minutes ticked by as the uneasy feeling became stronger and stronger. Faolan pulled out his sidearm and kept it in his hand as he shuffled forward. Suddenly, he felt something wet wrap around his left leg dragging him back. Eyes wide he quickly rotated to his side and shone the flashlight done the duct, and to his dismay the head from earlier was there. Worms moving from inside its eyes and tentacles coming out of its open mouth.

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT-DAMNIT' Faolan thought to himself as he opened fire on the skull. He unleashed two rounds that succeeded in having his leg released and shattering parts of the skull. Once his leg was released, Faolan started to babycrawl in the duct trying to move as fast as he could away from the thing that was behind him. As he was moving, he started to feel the duct start to vibrate. Without slowing down, he kept moving forward, until his hand slipped and his face slammed onto the metal hard. Behind him he heard a squeal of delight as the skull moved closer to him.

Suddenly a spike tore through the metal and pierced the skull, the serrated edges hooking the skull onto the spike. The skull was now squealing in agony the skull was pulled back through the hole, the tentacles that attached it to its main body going with it. Suddenly there was a loud banging noise. Looking back, Faolan used his light to illuminate the way the banging was coming from. Suddenly he saw the carapace of the beetle flying through the duct, banging every which way and more spikes shooting into the duct. Upon seeing this he started to move faster trying to get away from whatever was attached to the spikes. Coming up to a T section in the duct he turned left hoping it would take him farther away. He saw an opening in the duct and rushed forward. Using his shoulder, he forced the grate open and fell down into the room on his side. His health status flashing orange for injured. Slowly it went back to green. Suddenly a loud crunching noise came through the vent along with a loud roar of something massive. Pressing his back against the wall, Faolan tried to make himself as small as possible. After a stressful handful of minutes, he allowed himself to relax. Sighing to himself he moved towards the door using the light from his flashlights to show him the way. From the looks of it, it appeared as though he was in a living quarter for the mechanics that lived int eh belly of the ship. This made him feel relief, for he went the right way.

He did not look around the room other then a path to the door, most likely these individuals were already dead, and it would be a dishonor to them to pilfer through their stuff. Besides in Faolan's mind he was not in such a dire situation that would call for him to go through their stuff. Especially if, on the off chance, they were still alive.

As he was going to leave the room, his transmitter went off. Picking it up he saw that it was Balveer sending a call. Pressing the button on the side, Balveer's figure came out in a hologram.

"My friend, I do hope you are well, given the circumstances." He said to Faolan with a smile on his face.

"All things considered, Balveer, I'm just lucky to be alive." Faolan replied.

"That bad? Is there any good news?" Balveer asked, worry etched on his face.

"Actually, yea there is. Do you have nanobots on the other vessels?" Faolan asked after thinking for a second.

"Nanobots? I'm not sure I can check." More worry came onto Balveer's face. He knew of the trials that were being done back when they left Earth. He would be surprised if it was already completed. Especially since there weren't even at human testing by the time he was frozen.

"Do that, if you do have them then have all of our group get an injection with them. They saved my life twice. But there is an odd side effect, but it doesn't prevent your body from working naturally." Faolan quickly told Balveer. He thought he heard something moving in the duct, he started to hear what sounded like tapping that was getting closer.

"Balveer, I'll reach out when I get to safer area. I gotta go." Faolan cut off the transmission and left the room. Not wanting to confront the thing that might be in the duct, he moved with his right hand on the wall. He saw multiple signs for various rooms, but none of them were lit and did not lead him to the engine or base energy for the vessel. He did not see the point of getting into needless confrontations and wasting ammo.

He kept moving forward, only stopping at intersections to ensure he would not be ambushed, as well as to check the signs. Following the path that would take him to the main engine room, the sense of unease came back. With the unease came the very light tapping noise. Only this time instead of being spaced out, it sounded like there were only a second before the next tap. These noises were getting closer and appeared to be chasing Faolan. Cursing to himself he quickly moved down the hallway, following the signs to the engine room. He stopped being cautious and started to sprint, trying to get away from the tapping noise. This was to no prevail as it sped up, as if trying to keep pace with Faolan. Coming up to one of the main hatches to the engine room Faolan ran through, turned around, slammed the door shut and locked it with the push of the button on the console next to it. Sweating, and fatigued, he dragged his body to the main computer. After checking everything and seeing that the Thrusters needed to be repaired from the outside, he felt as if his luck turned into shit. His weapons did not work in the semi-vacuum of space. If he got into a confrontation out there, he could very well drift off into the cold reaches of space. And he would die a slow and painful death as he starved and suffered from dehydration. Steeling his resolved he quickly turned the power back on, and the Engine roared to life. Feeling relieved that the power was restored, decided it was time to head towards the thrusters. He turned to leave his pistol in his hand, when he saw a face staring at him with a sick smile etched on his face.