The caverns were damp and rank. The smell of mold and mildew was prevalent in the air. Light seemed to be emanating from the cavern walls as shadows bounced off of the sides and loose sand floor. Lt. Jonathan Lataro suspiciously, carefully sidestepped his way through the passageways as his own shadow was cast on the wall. Finally, he heard an echoing howl coming from just down the passageway. The muscles in his stomach began to constrict and contract as he progressed on slowly and cautiously. At the end of the passageway, he noticed a cavern opening. It seemed that it was dug out of rock, but the mold and mildew was even stronger. Death was in the air, and Lataro's arms began to twitch. Uh oh.. Trouble! he thought.
He decided to finally enter the cavern, and, just as he did, a force of unknown strength hit him right between the shoulder blades. Jon landed face first in the sand-covered floor. He rolled over to see his assailant, a large horrid beast. It was humanoid, bipedal, with a large torso and huge arms. Its head was that of a skeletal head, but fuller. The creature was armed with a bone, sharpen to a point at the end. His crude weapon was poised over his head, ready to strike at the downed Lataro. Immediately gaining composure and attitude, Lataro swept the creature's legs causing him to step back flailing, his arms dropping his weapon. Lataro quickly got to his feet and assumed a square fighting stance ready to strike.
"All right you ugly p'tok! Let's party!" Lataro yelled. The creature howled. His howling echoed throughout the caves and rung in Lataro's ears. "That is going to be enough of that." Lataro immediately did a snapping front kick that connected to the creature's midsection. Without stopping, he performed a perfect side lunge kick and a high flying helicopter that caused the creature's head to be driven into a wall. It was startled and shook it off. Without warning, it ran to Lataro. Lataro grabbed the leading arm, and led the creature around in a circular motion, and suddenly jerked the arm back. The creature flipped and landed on its back totally subdued by Lataro. Just as Lataro thought he was in control, the creature kicked him with its powerful legs so hard that he swore he heard his ribs snapping. All Lataro knew that he felt pain: a lot of it! He ended up releasing the creature whereby it regained it stature quickly. It began to pound at Lataro, right punch, left punch; all Lataro knew was the pain he felt in his ribs and where the creatures huge powerful hands were connecting to his face. The creature then reached and grabbed Lataro at the throat and began choking him. From instinct, Lataro shrugged his shoulders which helped loosen the vice grip it had on his neck. He then reached over top a hand and grabbed the other one by a "thumb" and pulled it back and forward and back again. By forcing the hand up and over, it entangled the other hand and again the creature was trapped under Lataro's arm. Lataro then hit the creature with a fist that sent it back again. This time, Lataro did not stop. He continued to deliver blow after blow to the creature till it was laying on the ground with a smashed face. Even after the creature was down, Lataro kicked and stomped and kicked.
"Computer end program!" a woman's voice yelled. Jon was still kicking and stomping now at nothing. "Hey, Jon! It is me K'Lara. Stop!"
"That son of..." Jon said breathing heavily.
"I heard the captain wasn't too happy about the away mission."
"No. He wasn't pleased."
"Why?" K'Lara said handing him towel. "Look at that cut! Did you turn off the safety protocols?"
"Oh, I don't know. He mentioned something about not investigating that ship thoroughly enough," he said as he used a dermal regenerator that he got from Lt. Richardson on the abrasions and cuts he received. The bones were reset as best he could do, but it was adequate for proper healing. "And yes I did. I wanted the full effect."
"You could have been really hurt."
"I know, but good training to me is real training!"
"Well, do you think we did a thorough job?"
After a pause and wiping himself down, Lataro answered. "No. But he said he wanted us done and finished in as little time as possible. I figured the log and the cloaking device would have been fine. I guess I was wrong."
"What did you tell him? He didn't exactly seem mad about it. After all, he was happy about the cloaking device, but the log and the information was corrupted. We didn't get anything from that. He mentioned about going over again."
"I gave him my report. It told him what exactly we did from the moment we left the shuttle bay to when we got back into the shuttle and headed back. I don't know. You see, I really want to make a good impression on him. I want him to see that I am command material, you know some day I would like to command a starship of my own, but being Chief of Security is not going to get me anywhere."
"Jon, you are the third highest ranking officer on board. Give it time!"
"I know, but it is just so hard. I do what I think is right and look: I screw up a mission that a first year cadet could have done!"
"Don't worry about it. Look I am off duty now. How about you and I finish where we left off at Denmar IV?"
A smile crept on Lataro's face. "K'Lara. You are awful! So your quarters or mine?"
"Well let's see, Lieutenant, you can use a shower, so how about yours and I will scrub your back."
Lataro reached out and engulfed her with his arms. A smile formed on both of their faces.
"Well, Lieutenant Junior Grade," Lataro smiled. "I tell you what. I will let you scrub mine if you let me scrub yours?"
"Deal!"
"Then, I will cook you dinner. How about lasagna?"
"Sounds good."
"Good. Then I guess the last one in is a rotten egg!" They both jerked away and ran through the corridors trying to beat one another.