Danny Phantom: Perfect Host

Chapter 7

Danny slept peacefully, as the tiny creature woke several hours later, and disappeared back into the airduct, intent on procurring food for it and its hive member. Danny was unaware of what was going on, and in a different part of the shuttle, Ripley was pacing the med bay, trying to get answers out of Ash, while everyone but Dallas stood around anxiously.

"Everyone just needs to calm down!" Dallas tried to order, but Ripley was in no mood.
"If you had just followed protocol, we wouldn't have a potentially dangerous unkown organism on board! We have no idea what that thing is capable of!" She roared angrily, poking Ash hard in the chest.

"I am sorry Ripley, but i could not leave them out there." He replied monotonously.
Ripley growled and stalked over to the door to lean moodily against the frame.

"Hey look. Ripley is right but that's not going to change anything. Its to late. Now i managed to rig a sort of tracking device, using the displacement of particles in the air to track moving objects." Parker stated, demonstrating with the odd gun like contraption.
"And i got some netting in case we do find it to make sure it can't escape." Brett added.

"Ok, so what do we do when we find it then?" Lambert questioned, looking to Ripley or Dallas for an answer.
"We take it and blow it out of the goddam airlock!" Ripley replied, as if there was no other option, and for her there were none.

"Now lets not be too hasty." Ash interjected. "This is a species entirely new to us. We need to capture it and freeze it so that we may study it in further depth!" It was more emotion than any of the crew had heard from the science officer since he boarded.

The other crew members all looked to Dallas, hoping that he would agree to Ripley's plan, only for their hopes to be crushed.
"Lets go with Ash's plan for now. Ripley, i want you, Brett, and Parker to check any of the areas around the coring room while Ash, Lambert and i see if its in any of the areas up in this part of the ship." He ordered. 

"Of course." Parker muttered under his breath, as the three of them left the med bay and went on their way. Parker stayed in front, waving the tracker back and forth slowly, making sure that nothing was sneaking up on them in the gloom of the halls.

They passed a room with item lockers and the tracker went off, causing the three of them to freeze in their tracks. Parker carefully aimed the tracker into the doorway and they moved forwards slowly. The tracker led them all to a locker and Ripley tiptoed up.

"Get that net ready! Don't let it slip past." Ripley whispered, getting ready to open the locker door. Brett and Parker moved closer, the net at the ready and Ripley threw open the door, only to have a ginger cat come leaping out at them.

"Jones!" They all shouted, and Brett let the cat out of the room.
"Brett! Why didn't you catch him?" Ripley snapped.
"It was just the cat." He answered, confused on why he was getting yelled at.
"We needed to catch him so that he doesn't show up on the tracker again." Parker stated calmly.

Brett sighed and left the two to find the wayward cat. He took a step into the cooling room and something by his feet caught his attention. He bent over and picked up what appeared to be a shedded skin. A meow quickly reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing and he dropped the skinn and kept going.

"Here kitty kitty. Here Jonesy." The man whispered, following the cat into the damp room. Chains dangled from the ceiling and water dripped down from the cooling tanks. Brett stepped under a steady stream of cool water and splashed some onto his face.

A quiet meow caught his attention and he moved on, unaware of the danger closing in. He found the poor cat hiding in a tight space, where the only way out was forwards. Brett leaned closer, only to have the ginger cat start to growl and hiss at something behind him.

Brett's eyes widened and he spun, onyl to come face to face with a creature much larger than the one they were looking for.
Before he could do anything, the creature opened its mouth, and a smaller mouth flashed out of its face and into his head, causing him to scream as he was forcibly pulled up into an air duct. The only thing left behind was a puddle of his blood, and the baseball cap he always wore. The cat remained hidden in its space, eyes seeing everything that had transpired.