Tunnel Apes pose a serious one of the most serious threats we have ever encountered on any of our archeological digs. I request for a unit of Section 12 to investigate ways of permanently dealing with the issue immediately.

Eryn and Athena peeked around the next corner and saw their prize, the equipment of the three dead marines back where they rudely fell into the section. The apes had pulled most of it off before dragging them into that dead end to eat later. Eryn and Athena fought the urge to race for the equipment, both of them had a funny feeling. Athena fired off a burst of flame into the pipes above, two apes scurried down the pipes, howling at their fear of fire. The group raced for the equipment and picked up what they could. One of the pulse rifles was damaged from four last claw marks cutting through the middle of the rifle and was useless. Most of the rest was covered in blood but right now they did care. The picked up the weaponry, Eryn and Robert, the two with the most weapons experience picked up the rifles, Jason was able to salvage a proximity scanner and two pistols. They also managed to find several grenades, three knives, and a metal flask of something.
Jason turned on the proximity scanner and slowly started sweeping the room. " Nothing here" he said, " but I'm picking up an energy source to the south about 15 meters."
The moved in a tight formation, almost shoulder to shoulder, no one daring to move too far out in case something was in the shadows that surrounded them. The found another marine, he had been cut in half and managed to crawl across the hall before loosing his head leaving his intestines as a trail. The four paid no attention to the body and gathered up his weapons. As Jason picked up the rifle there was a loud ping on the proximity scanner making everyone freeze, " Ten meters" Jason whispered pointing down an adjoining hall.
Then two more pings joined the first, " Eight meters, and two meters" said Jason.
Jason lifted his pulse rifle and started firing up into the ceiling above them. There was a loud howl and the ceiling caved in. A Tunnel Ape dropped dead on the floor, riddled with pulse rifle shots that had burned his hair. Eryn turned and squeezed three rounds down the hall and they heard another howl and something big and heavy hit the deck. " Where is the third one?" asked Athena.
" I can't find him" said Jason, sweeping the area so fast he looked like a top, " maybe we took the fight out of him."
" Let's keep moving" said Eryn, sweat racing down her face, " we have to find the other marines."

Ami paced wildly about the bridge, " Please sit" said Starlight, " you're going to wear yourself out."
" I don't care" said Ami, " have you got the internal sensors back online yet?"
A computer console on the bridge lit up, " Yes, yes I have" said Starlight, " along with internal communications."
Ami vaulted over the console and looked at the display, " Naesians spoke English?" asked Ami.
" No, I reconfigured the language files" said Starlight, " it wouldn't help you if they were left in their original format."
" Huh, good idea" said Ami, " let's try this thing out."
Ami touched the broadcast button, " Athena, can you hear me?"

The sudden sound of Ami's voice echoing through the hallway made them all jump. " Yes Ami, I can hear you" said Athena.
" Great" said Ami, " we have the internal sensors online, I'm reading six life signs in your sector, five human, and one primate."
" Five humans?" asked Eryn.
" I'm picking up a faint signal, ah, four hallways over to your right, no left" said Ami.
" You sure?" asked Eryn.
" Yah, and if you think you can do this better get your ass up here and prove me wrong" said Ami.
" We believe you Ami" said Athena.
The group carefully made their way past four hallways and when they rounded the corner pulse rifle blasts hit all around them. One hit Eryn in the leg as they leapt back, " We're humans!" Athena shouted.
" Traitors!" screamed Isaac, " you're all fucking traitors."
More pulse rifle blasts hit the junction, " What should we do?" asked Jason.
" Kill me" said Eryn, " he is holding his guts in with his hands and he won't let us get close to him."
Robert took a bandage out and Eryn snatched it from him, " I'll do it" she said, " to prove to all of you I'm not going to turn on you."
Eryn leaned around the corner to get her bearings and ducked back before. Eryn spun into the hallway and fired once. " Done" she said, applying the pressure bandage.
Everyone else was in shock, " We had a past" said Eryn, " he never showed mercy, that was justice."
" Okay" said Athena, " Ami, where is the other ape?"
" Opposite end of the section, it think its trying to get into the engine room" said Ami.
" Let's split into two teams" said Athena, " Robert, Eryn go left, Jason and I will go right."
Eryn walked over to Isaac and kicked him hard, " I told you I would pay you back" she said, " hope your victims are enjoying your torment in hell."
Eryn turned back and joined Robert, " He owe you money?" asked Robert.
" He was a sadist" said Eryn, " when we were on Alderon III he use to rape girls in the towns we took back from the Guild. He made children watch their mothers being raped, parents their daughters. He would tell the witnesses this is the penalty for treason and then kill them."
" Sick fucker" said Robert.
" We came to blows once" said Eryn, " I almost killed him then."
" Why didn't you?" asked Robert.
" He was the golden boy of the general, he could do nothing wrong" said Eryn, " I knocked four of his teeth out and was sent to Sigma Draconis. My luck he was transferred there too after he raped a rich merchant's wife. I've waited three years to do that."
" Funny" said Robert, " I was once part of the Guild, back when I was idealistic and thought words could change the galaxy. There was a point in time we would be pointing these rifles at one another."
" Where did they capture you?" asked Eryn.
" Fezlof Asteroid Belt" said Robert, " running medical supplies, my medical degree saved me from penal labor."
" Why did you join the Guild?" asked Eryn.
" Truthfully the hottest girl in my town joined up and I followed my dick after her" said Robert, " sounds incredibly stupid but love makes idiots out of us all."
Eryn giggled a little, " Wow, you TUC thugs do laugh" said Robert.
" We're all full of surprises" said Eryn, " besides I'm an outlaw now, I can laugh all I want."

" Forty more meters" said Ami, " it is still at the hatchway."
The two groups both saw the Tunnel Ape violently bashing the hatchway with his two massive fists. The both aimed and shot. The ape hit the ground without a sound. " Is that all of them?" asked Jason.
" I think so" said Ami.
" Think?" asked Robert.
" Just kidding, come back up you great white hunters" said Ami, " all the doors should be unlocked by now and Starlight says she'll get drones to clean up the mess down there."
" Great" said Athena, " my mop and bucket skill suck."

They stowed the weapons in the weapon's locker with the exception of the pistols which were divided among the crew just in case. Eryn returned to her quarters and laid on the bed staring at the stars passing by. This was the freedom she had craved, here she could find peace.

Daphne sat on the bridge of the Barnabas looking at the sensor display. The mysterious giant ship had passed by one of the listening posts between Sigma Draconis and the badlands heading on a path straight for her. Daphne didn't believe all the talk that Major Fleming was a traitor, they knew one another too well for Daphne to believe she willingly made off with the ship, but the woman had some serious personal demons maybe they drove her to do it, to try and break free. Daphne wasn't sure but knew she had a job to do. " Captain Kobiyashi" said the sensor officer, " the ship is entering our sensor range."
" All right" said Daphne, " send the information to Captain Hyerdahl, start scanning the ship the best we can, I want all the information we can about this ship.

" The vessel is scanning us" said Starlight, " shall I jam it?"
" Yes" said Athena, " the less they know about us the better."
" Proceeding with jamming" said Starlight.

Suddenly all the sensor readouts on the Barnabas went blank, the com also went dead. " What is going on?" asked Daphne as alarms sounded all across the ship.
" The vessel must be jamming all our sensors and com channels" said the first officer, " should we fire?"
" No" said Daphne, " Captain Hyerdahl's direct orders are not to fire on the ship no matter the circumstances, but raise the shields, maybe it will filter out some of the interference."

" The vessel is jammed" said Starlight, " we can keep the jam up until we enter the badlands."
" Good, they'll be blind in there" said Athena, " how will the badlands affect you?"
" I believe I will only suffer a moderate reduction in my long range sensors, close range sensors will function normally, communications will be cut off but who would be call?" said Starlight.
" How much longer until we are in the badlands?" asked Robert.
" Another two minutes" said Starlight.

The Starlight Dreamer slowly passed into the hazy orange section of space known as the Tarsus Badlands. The long range sensor display began slowly fade in and fade out. " Well now what?" asked Jason.
" Supplies" said Ami, " we need to find some way of sneaking a shuttle through the ships and get to a trading hub."
" The nearest trading hub is Hydra Prime" said Jason, " that is a couple of days away."
" Why don't we head that way and then sneak a shuttle out of the badlands and get the supplies and sneak back in" suggested Ami.
" Only problem is that navigating the badlands isn't an exact science" said Athena.
" I can do it" said Jason, " I can compensate for the interference."
Jason walked over to the 3-D star chart of the area and began plotting a course. " Okay" he said, " it will take two days worth of traveling, assuming the TUC doesn't get in our way."
" And what are those chances?" asked Starlight.
" Very good" said Eryn, " while our sensors are almost useless they will probably pursue us and use ionized charges to try and find us."
" Then best we hurry" said Athena.

The Pollux slowly entered the badlands, Jonathan listened as the sensors and communications went blank. Now it became blind man's bluff. " Ready the charges" said Jonathan, " fire them in a spread pattern, that ship can't be too far in this mess."
" Yes sir" said the weapon's officer.
The Pollux fired the ionized charges and Jonathan watched as they exploded. The ionized particles illuminated nothing. " Follow the estimated course" said Jonathan, " I want charges fired every hour."
" Yes sir" said the weapon's officer.

" There is it again" said Robert pointing to the battlecruiser before it faded off the sensors again.
" That didn't take long" said Eryn, " but this ship can probably out run a battlecruiser while it is in a search pattern."
" Let's keep on this course" said Jason, " can we increase speed?"
" Yes but I'm already experiencing a build up of particles in my engine intake hatches increasing speed will only increase the build up" said Starlight, " if the particles build up enough it can clog the hatches and the drive engines will fail."
" Let's risk it" said Athena, " we will need to keep our distance from them."
" Increasing speed" said Starlight, " at this rate I will need to shut the engines down in 72 hours in order to purge the hatches."
" Let's just get away from them and worry about it later" said Ami.
The Starlight Dancer gracefully slipped through space slowly leaving the Pollux far behind.