Hard and Fast

Chapter 9

Cha the Medic stood in Bekken's hidden lab and was completely shocked by what he saw. There was drugs both illegal and rare here, bodies and body parts of varying races in jars. In all his years of learning medicine and healing he had never seen such primitive and barbaric practices.

He organised his team to sort and catalogue everything, while the guards kept watch. Bekken had labelled most things, but even Cha grew nervous when he looked into a jar with an organ he had never seen before. If he had all this here, who knew what else he kept hidden in the walls. Cha picked up a nearby wad of paper and started to read. Scratchings of a mad Yuatja.. but it was medical research.... Of some kind... He had been testing and experimenting for years... Going through all the items, it became clear. Bekken was reliant on a plant that grew on a planet nearby the home planet .... Cha considered it, maybe Bekken escaped there? All his research appeared dependant on this plant, and if he were to continue his studies he would need a lot more.

Cha moved around the tables still cataloguing when he accidently bumped against a button hidden on the wall. A deep humming sound rumbled through the room and the guards were already on the alert. The medical team ran out of the room, and Cha was rooted to the floor by fear. The opposing wall opened and revealed Bekken's sickening final twist.... Face huggers......Bekken had facehuggers...alive...in jars.... An entire wall of....death.... Cha slowly moved forward and saw Bekken had left a diary next to the jars. Creeping forward he took the diary as the face hugger in the nearby jar swirled around frantic in the water trying to get to Cha.

Reading it, Cha found that this notebook revealed more to Bekken's twisted mind. He had secretly hated the clan for years and sought to bring about its down fall... Cha's stomach plummeted... He was going to wipe out the clan with a host of dragons as soon as it reached home planet. Cha read on, Bekken had secretly committed this crime before when he was hiding with the Clan Wolf but not satisfied on their destruction he planned something more sinister..... Bekken had plans not only to breed Beserkers but to also use some of the babies as hosts for the dragon. The result would be devastating.... Berserker Pred-Alien. An unstoppable abomination... Reading on, it showed where Bekken was going to destroy certain facilities, to stop any chance of clan survival. Cha had to stop the ship from reaching home.

Cha approached the Captain, "Captain... I.."

The Captain bowed, "I am Lolack, You may call me that... Cha...."

The head medic stiffened. He felt nervous around these warriors... They were born to fight, lead... dominate... to be addressed so informally.... It felt intimidating to Cha... but then Cha hid behind his medicine and research. He did not want to live the life of a warrior. Gathering his strength again, he tried to talk but found himself being studied by Lolacks' golden eyes.

'Captain...Lolack.... get your men to secure this lab, no one is to enter it.....After you have done so, please proceed to these locations marked in the diary to check it out. Use caution it could be traps... it could be worse.... Be careful. Bekken plans to use the ship as a carrier to bring the dragon to our home world and wipe us out. I will report to the Matriarch immediately." Cha pressed the hidden button and the wall slid back into place hiding the presence of the face huggers once more. Cha's skin prickled......It was bad enough when we have to send our warriors to hunt these things, but to be on the clan ship? One mistake and it would mark the Clan's end.

The Lolack stopped Cha, "wait for the second team. They will escort you to the Matriarch. We cannot let this information go unprotected." Cha nodded. He hadn't thought about any backups that Bekken may have. Bekken may have been desperate enough to ensure that his plan went ahead, whether if he was here or not.

The second team arrived shortly and Cha looked relieved. "Did you see my Medical team out there? Can you please send them back in?"

The second team Captain shrugged, "There was no one out there, or on the way to this location."