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Chapter Text

The loss of the TWES Shirakumo

Report update: Year 2130 Month December Day 27

It has been 8  years since contact was lost with the cargo hauler registration 511131619 went missing. 

As it has not been detected by any core probes, standard procedure states that the crew has surpassed any reasonable ability to have survived and therefore is being declared lost in space. Any and all search efforts are to be canceled immediately. If debris from the ship is found, it shall be handled according to local salvage laws established by the Trilateral Pact. Loss is being attributed to crew error in lieu of other workable evidence.

The crew manifest is listed below for notification of any surviving next of kin.

Captain Shota Aizawa

Executive Officer Yuga Aoyama

Warrant Officer Ochako Uraraka

Science Officer Mei Hatsume

Navigator Toru Hagakure

Chief Engineer Hanta Sero

Engineer’s Mate Minoru Mineta 

A copy of this report is being sent to Yagi-Shigaraki headquarters, as the ship was contracted to them and they are responsible for any contracted payouts to relevant parties now that the search has been concluded.

End report.

Chapter Text

Year 2122 Month December Day 25

Ochako’s Perspective

Hypersleep was a very strange thing. It was able to keep a person in suspended animation for years at a time, allowing for them to travel the void of space without aging a day. The sprawling system of colonies, mines and other intergalactic civilizations that humanity had built wouldn’t work without it.

If only you felt like you’d actually slept a decent amount when you woke up. ‘Hypersleep sickness’, that’s the official name for the dehydration, fatigue, nausea and plethora of other symptoms that Ochako Uraraka and the rest of the Yuuei’s crew were feeling when the Nano Equipment Zeroing Unit, or NEZU for short, deactivated the hypersleep pods and forced the crew back into consciousness. 

Ochako blinked, her head foggy from the hypersleep conditions. She slowly sat up and stretched, reliving some of the stiffness in her body from the extended sleep. Looking to her left, she saw the familiar chartreuse hair of Toru Hagakure, the ships navigator and her closest friend on the crew. Technically as warrant officer Ochako had a command role over her, though most of her supervisory duties involved watching over the engineering crew of Hanta Sero and Minoru Mineta so her friendship with Hagakure wasn’t much of a conflict of interest.

To her right, the pink haired figure of Mei Hatsume had already gotten up and started the process of getting dressed, having put on a pair of olive green cargo pants and throwing a white lab coat on, with the title SO Hatsume stiched over her heart. Hatsume was the newest addition to the Shirakumo’s crew, with the previous science officer Hijari Majima taking a laboratory job at Yagi-Shigaraki after their previous trip.

Ochako and Hagakure followed Hatsume’s lead, exchanging their sleepwear for more functional clothes before stumbling into the mess hall to rehydrate and eat something before their tedious duties of guiding the ship into a landing in Antartica.

As the three women got to the mess hall, Ochako saw the faces of Hanta Sero and Minoru Mineta at one of the tables sharing breakfast. Mineta took note of the three first saying,

“Mornin Ladies, glad to see you all got your beauty sleep.”

“To bad you didn’t, Mineta.” Came Hagakure’s reply.

“Have Aizawa and Aoyama gone to the bridge already” Ochako inquired.

“Nope, Aoyama decided to hit the shower before breakfast and Aizawa went to talk with NEZU. Though before they get back, maybe we can open up discussions on the bonus situation again Uraraka.” Sero cut in. 

“You get the bonus you earned from the contract you signed before the trip. Same as it’s always been. If you wanna change that then whine to YS coroporate, they might have some more sympathy.” Ochako replied. 

The pay situation was a constant source of friction between Ochako and the engineers. While they now had a decent working relationship, it was likely they’d never fully get past the fact that Sero and Mineta would always be bottom of the pay scale. Granted even the bottom of the pay scale was very well compensated, the money was the only reason someone would sign up for these glorified milk runs hauling ore from the outer colonies back to Earth. 

That was why Ochako was up here, she’d be just as happy using her zero gravity quirk to give her parent’s construction business back in Japan a boost. However they insisted she follow her dreams of going to space and seeing the stars, so Ochako worked to qualify for her ICC license as a heavy cargo specialist and pilot, earning her a well paying job aboard the Shirakumo. And she kept her own promise, sending every penny she didn’t need home to her parents. She thought about them a lot, hoped they were doing well. Maybe she’d take some time off after this job to see them. Granted if she did that then they’d definietelty ask some embarrassing questions about her finally finding a boyfriend and giving them grandkids and she’d blush and have to respond about how it’s hard with her job to meet people and how she’s happy in her career and all the usual excuses people give their parents to those questions.

God parents could be embarrassing sometimes. Not that Ochako minded too much.

Hagakure had found the coffee pot, and kindly poured a mug for Ochako. Ochako gratefully took the mug and sipped the bitter liquid. Frankly it could’ve been motor oil for how it tasted, but Ochako wasn’t a particularly picky person so she drank it anyways. 

Breakfast was interrupted by the appearance of Captain Shota Aizawa appearing in the mess.

“Good morning everyone. Unfortunately, there is some bad news. NEZU says we’ve been brought out of sleep early to answer a distress call.”

Ochako froze at this. Not only did this delay mean they’d likely forfeit the bonus for a swift delivery, which was annoying, but rescue calls were a risk to the ship and cargo. This was going to be a massive headache for all involved.

“C’mon Aizawa, this is a cargo ship not a rescue! We didn’t sign up for this.” Sero complained.

“Actually you did. According to the contracts we all signed failure to respond to this means we forfeit the entire contract. Meaning we do this or none of us get paid. I don’t like it either but that is what we signed up for so we’re gonna do it. No more arguments on the matter. In other news, today’s date by earth standards is December 25th, so consider this your Christmas gift from the company.”

Aizawa’s deadpan joke didn’t do much to lift the mood of the crew, but the extra rations for Christmas did improve things a little bit. Following breakfast, Ochako took a quick shower, pet the ships cat which was very originally named Neko, and walked to the bridge to get the actual rescue mission details from Aizawa.

The rest of the bridge crew, Hagakure, Aoyama and Aizawa were already gathered. As the bridge door closed, Aizawa began,

“Alright, since Uraraka’s here, we can go over the assignment. A distress beacon has been detected on the planet below. We are going to put the Shirakumo into geosynchronous orbit above the signal and then descend in the shuttle. Once we make planetfall Aoyama=, Hagakure and myself will make an EVA to the distress site. Uraraka, you’re in charge of preparing the shuttle to transport any survivors we find. Any questions?” 

The plan was straightfoward enough, and Ochako was not going to object to staying on the shuttle so she said nothing. The other two bridge officers also nodded in quiet agreement to the plan. What followed were the mundane preparations for loading the shuttle, putting the Shirakumo into orbit, setting autopilot functions and then launching the shuttle towards the coordinates of the distress signal.

The ride through the atmosphere was bumpy to say the least. Aizawa and Aoyama had the flight controls, while the rest of the crew were strapped into seats in the rear of the shuttle. Turbulence sent the shuttle jolting from side to side, with the sudden movements bringing Ochako to the brink of losing the meager breakfast she’s managed to have that morning. 

Mercifully, the ride smoothed out as the shuttle’s retro rockets fired and they descended to a clearing near the signal. 

What the crew saw through the windows shocked them. A massive structure, unknown in any ship logs to belong to any of the major spacefaring nations, jutted out of the ground.  It resembled a horseshoe, buried sideways in the ground. 

As her three crewmates changed into their EVA suits to head into the structure, Ochako felt a twist in her stomach. Something about this whole call didn’t feel right. She quickly shook those thoughts aside, instead choosing to blame the coffee for her stomach and throwing herself into the task of looking over the shuttle until the three returned.

Yuga’s Perspective

Yuga Aoyama was the first of the three crewmembers to enter the derelict structure. Any fears at the unknown structure were immediately pushed away by curiosity and wonder of the sprawling, foreign place that he found himself in. With the three entering, they split off to look for survivors, staying in contact through the individual comlinks in their EVA suits. 

Aoyama descended further into the structure, he knew that Hatsume would be envious of this opportunity. The ever curious addition to their crew had a tireless curiosity to her, seemingly able to spend days in the lab with little rest or food. Granted, most scientists like her were a little mad so he paid it no mind. 

So far there were no signs that anyone had lived in this place for centuries, let alone recently enough to set a distress signal. Hopefully this was just an annoying false alarm. Maybe the company would pay extra for the rights to this discovery site even. 

And then Yuga saw it. Something that guaranteed this trip wouldn’t be a waste of time.

“Aizawa, Hagakure, I found something.”

“Is it survivors or bodies?” Aizawa inquired.

“No it’s, like pods, or eggs. It doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever heard of.”

“Leave them be and keep searching. The sooner we’ve finished the sooner we can get back to Earth.” Aizawa ordered.

But something drew Yuga towards the pods. It was almost hypnotic.

“There’s a layer of mist covering them. Suit readout says it’s not toxic, but it can’t get a chemical composition.”

“Aoyama, focus on the job.” Aizawa chastised.

“It doesn’t seem to react when I touch it with my hand.” Yuga continued.

He then brought himself closer to the nearest pod, he needed a closer look, though he couldn’t quite explain why. So he went closer, closer, closer.

Then in a flash, everything went dark. Yuga heard a muffled scream rip through the comlink. He realized it was his own. Then he went silent, he felt something encase him, drowning him. Something had latched onto his helmet. No, it had torn through the helmet and was on his face. It was in his mouth. Down his throat. It was a crushing terrifying pressure around his whole head. 

He desperately tried to rip whatever was attacking him off, but it was useless. His struggles only quickened his suffocation. And then slowly, like sleep overtaking an newborn, the world went quiet. Yuga Aoyama slipped back into a dreamless sleep. 

Chapter Text

Ochako’s perspective

Ochako was going to kill Sero.

Apparently, something had gone wrong with the shuttle’s wiring, not a critical issue but definitely something worth fixing while they waited for the recovery team. Unfortunately for Ochako, Sero decided that this issue was the perfect leverage to restart his crusade for a larger share going to the engineering team.

“C’mon Uraraka! Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t want a bigger cut either! Company sends us outta our way to do this, meaning extra work and extra cryo time, so we should get some extra dough right!”

“Sero, we all have the same contracts from YaShig and we’re all getting paid what we were promised. Trust me, if I could pay you more solely for the fact it’d stop your constant bitching at me I would, but I can’t.” 

Mineta looked like he was about to add something, but Ochako cut him off.

“I swear to God Mineta if the phrase ‘alternative forms of payment’ comes out of your mouth I’m firing you outta the damn airlock.”

Mineta made the wise choice to not speak.

“Listen, if you aren’t gonna do your damn jobs, then you can tell it to the damn captain, no skin off my nose.” 

The bluff worked, as Sero and Mineta grumbled, but got back to the task of opening the wiring panel and looking around for whatever new problem had popped up, probably to shoddily patch it back together with their tape and sticky ball quirks out of spite for her.

A quick call from Hatsume caused Ochako’s day to go from bad to worse.

“Uraraka, I’ve gotten word from the rescue team. Something’s gone wrong and they need to get into the ship right now!”

“What the hell happened!”

“A parasite of some sort has attacked Aoyama and attached itself to his face. He’s not conscious.”

“Protocal states that we DON’T let them onto the shuttle if it’s an unknown parasite Hatsume. Get the hab set up and have them quarantined for 24 hours until we can determine it’s safe!” 

Ochako sprinted to the airlock where the rescue crew were gathered on one side, Hatsume talking through the comlink on the other. What greeted her on the other side of the window was shocking. Aoyama’s face was gone, covered completely by some … creature that resembled an octopus or a starfish which had broken through his helmet to wrap around his head. 

Aizwa glared daggers at Ochako through the glass, before saying,

“Uraraka, let us in now!”

“I can’t, protocol states that he needs to be quarantined outside of the ship. If I let you back in we could all die.”

“Ochako please, if you don’t let us in Aoyama WILL die!” Hagakure begged. It broke Ochako’s heart to see her friends and crewmates like this, but she knew she was in the right. If she let that parasite on board and they all got infected then it would be on her head. Aizawa should’ve known this too for all the times he’d emphasized being “logical” and “making tough choices when you’re in command.” though clearly her mentor and boss wasn’t thinking that way now. 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. The rules are there for a reason, we can’t just break them when they aren’t convenient for us. Hatsume, go get a hab ready so we can quarantine them safely until we know something about this parasite.”

To Ochako’s horror, Hatsume did the exact opposite of what she had ordered, and instead wordlessly walked over to a panel by the door and pressed the override button on the airlock, opening it and allowing the three beleaguered members of the rescue team to spill in. 

Ochako stared in silence, as Hatsume led the group towards the shuttle's medical bay. She was absolutely stunned. Was she in the wrong here? Had she just shattered her relationship with the rest of the crew? 

There was no point in second guessing herself now, she had followed the rules and did what she thought was right. Aizawa would understand, even if he disagreed. Toru would too, or at least she hoped. Hatsume was the one that gave Ochako the most pause. The two didn’t talk very much, hell Hatsume couldn’t be bothered to remember Ochako’s name for the majority of their time working together, but to so blatantly disregard an order from her like that just didn’t seem like her. Ochako reasoned she probably just didn’t want to go against Aizawa as the newest crew member. 

With those unhappy thoughts settled Ochako made her way back to the bridge, she’d have to help Aizawa fly the craft back to the Shirakumo with Aoyama incapacitated. She’d just keep things professional and hope that the worst was behind them all. At least they’d be getting off this awful pit stop and be able to head back to Earth.

Aizawa’s Perspective

If there was one thing Shota Aizawa took pride in, it was in being a captain who always guided his crew to perform to the best of their abilities. He ran a tight ship because that meant the job got done and everyone got home safe.

Only, that didn’t happen this time. Aoyama was in the medbay of the Shirakumo with Hatsume performing some type of medical scan to figure out what was wrong with him. Apparently he was still alive, whatever parasite had latched onto his face was feeding him not only oxygen, but also the other nutrients he needed to sustain him. Hatsume was curious about this, but Shota simply told her to get the thing off of Aoyama as soon as she knew it wouldn’t kill him. 

Uraraka was there too. They hadn’t spoken a word since the incident at the airlock. He was in the wrong. His and Hatsume’s actions had undermined the chain of command that he set and damaged Uraraka’s standing in the crew. If he couldn’t trust her judgement then how could he ask Sero and Mineta to? 

Apologies would have to wait however, as Hatsume announced that she was about to start cutting the creature off of Aoyama. The pink haired scientist produced a scalpel and made began making an incision into one of the tentacles that curled around the back of Aoyama’s head. A green fluid dripped from the cut landing on the floor below and began to sizzle like meat on a hot grill.

Startled, the three gathered looked in horror as a hole in the floor grew, and the liquid continued dripping down. Ochako made the realization first,

“WHAT IF THAT EATS THROUGH THE HULL!

“Get down there now Uraraka, I’ll call Sero and Mineta. Hatsume what the hell could do this.” 

Hatsume regained her composure and looked up, Shota could see the gears turning in her brain,

“Some type of acid possibly. Using a base like bleach should neutralize it and stop it corroding the ship.”

Shota hammered the intercom button shouting, “All crew, there’s been a leak on the medical deck. Some type of strong acid is corroding through the floors. Grab some bleach or another strong base and head down to the floors directly below medical to cut it off before it melts the hull and kills us all!”

Uraraka replied on the comm, “It’s gone down two more floors! Sero, get over here!”

There was a brief, tense pause, then she spoke again. “We got it! Thank God, we got it!” 

Shota let out a brief, silent sigh of relief. He then turned to Hatsume to discuss how they were going to move forwards with this unpleasant knowledge. 

Not being able to cut the creature off left only one choice according to the science officer, freezing Aoyama in stasis with the parasite on him and getting him to treatment back on Earth. Aizawa didn’t like it, bringing an unknown parasite back to Earth wasn’t exactly in his or his crew’s contract and wasn’t without risk. Unfortunately, there was no other choice that gave Aoyama a chance to live so he assented. Hatsume said she’d need a few more hours to run some tests and make sure that Aoyama was stable, then the crew would settle back into hypersleep for the remainder of the journey to Earth. 

Aizawa went and relayed that information to Hagakure, who began programming the navigational computer in order for the Shirakumo to get from their current position back to Earth, all while remaining in Three Worlds space lanes in order to avoid an intersystem incident, or at least to avoid paying extra fees to the United Americas or the Union of Progressive Peoples. 

Uraraka went to go help, but Aizawa pulled her aside for an overdue conversation,

“Uraraka, I would like to apologize for the position I put you in with the rescue.”

Uraraka looked shocked and upset, so Aizawa continued in order to clarify.

“You were being logical and followed procedure as I expect from my crew, especially my second officer. I undermined your command and acted irrationally and while I did so for good reason, that doesn’t make me right or you wrong. I’m deeply sorry for breaking that trust in the chain of command and protocol and hope that you still wish to continue on the Shirakumo.” 

Tears welled up in Uraraka’s eyes, the young woman clearly having expected worse than what Shota had just said. He decided to give her one last push back on track.

“The Shirakumo will probably have to undergo a refit for a couple of months back on Earth. I hear Hawaii is very nice this time of year.”

He had recalled Uraraka’s dream of taking her parents on a trip there back when she’d first joined the crew.  

“That does sound very nice sir.” Uraraka replied with a smile, before heading to the bridge to prepare for the trip back to Earth.

The next few hours passed by and Shota felt that some of the tension in the air started to ease. Aizawa decided to take one more walk by the medbay to check on Hatsume, when the day took another turn.

Aoyama was awake.

Ochako’s Perspective

The mess hall rapidly became the scene of an impromptu party once Aizawa had brought the news of Aoyama’s awakening to the rest of the crew. Hagakure cried and hugged Aoyama, then Ochako, then both of them at once. Sero and Mineta raced around to find and prepare some of Aoyama’s favorite foods from the ship’s rations before they had to go back to hypersleep.

Even Aizawa was smiling as they all gathered around the mess table, talking excitedly about what had happened, and what they would all do when they got back to Earth. 

Fortunately Aoyama didn’t remember anything that had happened after he’d gone into the rescue site. All he could remember is waking up with a sore throat and being very confused why he was back in the medbay. 

Mineta was the one who found the parasite’s corpse curled up in a corner, Ochako still giggled at the memory of how he screeched when he saw it first. Hatsume had taken it and stored it inside the lab in a secure biohazard container. Who knows, maybe they’d get some extra cash for delivering this thing back to the company. Or they’d be detained for bringing an alien parasite back onto Earth. Time would tell.

Ochako had made a decision for herself though, she was gonna use the payout from this trip and she was taking her parents to Hawaii. She knew her father was likely joking about that when he’d suggested she could do it for them after she’d gone to space and made her dream come true, but now that she had it would be a perfect way to finally pay them back. 

She was pulled out of these thoughts by a loud sputtering sound.

It was Aoyama, coughing, choking.

“Oh c’mon man the food ain’t that bad is it?” joked Sero. 

Aoyama kept coughing.

“Hatsume, do something he needs help!” Ochako shouted.

The pink haired woman ran over, but by this time Aoyama began violently convulsing. Sero helped Hatsume secure him to the table, but they couldn’t do anything to stop whatever was happening.

The convulsions became more violent, Aoyama’s head slammed back against the table, his legs kicked out, he coughed blood. 

Ochako felt utterly helpless.

Then in a sudden, violent climax, a spray of blood erupted from Aoyama’s chest, striking Hagakure in the face. Aoyama stopped moving, and from the newly formed cavity in his chest emerged a small, wormlike creature. There was a moment of deathly silence, and then the creature unleashed a screech that embedded itself into the remaining crew's souls.

Chapter Text

Ochako’s perspective

Ochako stood paralyzed, Aoyama’s lifeblood covering the right side of her shirt. Hagakure standing next to her screamed, the blood had gotten into her eyes. Sero grabbed a long bladed kitchen knife and moved to eviscerate the creature that was wallowing in the gore of their murdered friend, but Hatsume seized his wrist with an iron grip, preventing him from killing the parasite. It was all the distraction the creature needed, emerging from the cavity in Aoyama’s chest and slithering off deeper into the ship, out of sight.

Sero broke free of Hatsume and yelled,

“What the hell was that for!?”

“The original parasite had acidic blood, if you gutted this one and it has the same then it would eat through the ship and kill us all.” came Hatusme’s cold reply. 

Aizawa quickly regained his composure and said,

“Well then, we need to hunt this creature down and contain it. Take some of the motion sensors from the shuttle and split up. We find this thing and blast it out of the airlock where it can’t hurt anyone else. Uraraka, you take Sero and Mineta, Hatsume, you and Hagakure see if there’s anything else useful you can find to fight this thing. I’ll take care of Aoyama.”

No one questioned the captain’s orders, everyone springing to their tasks with a nervous yet determined energy. 

Ochako, Sero and Mineta methodically went throughout the ship, Ochako equipping herself with the motion sensor, Sero holding a large net and a baseball bat and Mineta carrying a pet cage to take Neko in if they found her before the creature, since both would show similarly on to motion sensor. 

After clearing the top deck of the ship and sealing the hatchway behind them, the trio descended to continue their search, then they heard it.

Ping … ping … ping, ping, ping 

The sensor was picking moving towards them.

Fast.

The three braced themselves, approaching the end of the hallway where it turned a corner, the creature was almost on them …

Neko sprung from around the corner, like a bat out of hell. Mineta screamed and dropped the cat case on Sero’s foot, causing the taller man to curse and drop the net over Ochako’s head, ensnaring her. After getting out of that embarrassing tangle Ochako barked at Mineta,

“Dammit, go and get the cat so we can find the actual alien, Sero is your foot ok?”

“Yeah … just need a minute.” Sero whined

“Ok, Mineta, get too it. If you can’t find him then meet us at the entrance to the next deck.”

“What if I find the creature!” the fear was palpable in Mineta’s voice.

“It’s tiny, I doubt it could hurt Neko let alone you. But if you’re that worried I’m gonna make sure Sero’s foot’s really ok and then we’ll come help you look for the damn cat, ok?”

“Fine.” grumbled Mineta.

Minoru’s perspective 

The short end of the stick. Minoru Mineta’s life in a nutshell right there. Starting off with the fact that he was literally quite short, barely reaching 1.5 meters in height, led people to underestimate and look down on him. In turn this caused him to live up to those low expectations, he was often lazy, ill tempered and unmotivated.

The job on the Shirakumo had changed things for the better though. He and Sero got on like a house on fire, their efforts quite literally keeping the ship taped together when the company didn’t set aside the money to get things fixed properly.

Even his working relationship with Uraraka had improved over the past couple of voyages. Initially Minoru painted her as the same type of girl who’d pity or mock him back when he was in high school and at university. Poor treatment and a lack of good male role models had left him with poor social skills, especially with girls and he had fallen into some misogynistic ways of thinking then.

However, after an admittedly rocky start involving a comment about her choice of sleepwear, the two had come to trust each other. Minoru trusted her as his boss implicitly. She was willing to get her hands dirty and did a better job at listening to his and Sero’s complaints than any other boss Minoru had before. 

Granted, she still sent him off by himself when there was a creepy alien thing on the ship, but it was much smaller than he was and her and Sero would be over soon so it was probably fine.

“Here kitty kitty, here Neko.” Mineta said, entering the large storage room he saw the cat scurry into.

“C’mon Neko, just get in the nice comfy crate and I’ll get you a warm glass of milk.” 

Neko was deep under a storage cabinet, the light from the hallway reflecting in his eyes. Minoru crouched down to try to coax him out of hiding, but the cat wouldn’t budge. He looked terrified, as if Minoru would kill and eat him as soon as he came out from his hiding spot.

Minoru stood up, thinking about how to get the damn cat into the crate. Then he felt the presence of someone behind him. Thinking it must be Sero and Uraraka, he turned to greet them.

“...”

His words caught in his throat. His palms began to sweat as he stared at the massive, glistening monster in front of him, towering at almost twice his height. 

Minoru didn’t even have time to scream before it was on him, its maw crushing his skull like a grape.

Toru’s perspective

Oh God, oh God. Why, why was this happening? Ochako and Sero had just rushed back to the bridge in a panic. Apparently the creature had mauled Mineta and dragged him off, all they found of him was a trail of blood leading to the vents and some of the pop off balls that made up his hair. 

She couldn’t breathe. Was there something wrong with the air scrubbers? No, no she was just terrified beyond belief. They weren't military! They shouldn’t be out fighting aliens, that was the Royal Marines job dammit! 

Toru broke out of her panic induced trance hearing Aizawa’s voice. 

“Hagakure, Hatsume, tell me you found something to kill this thing?”

“Well, there is an incinerator unit here that I found. Though without knowing more about this specimen I can’t say for sure if it will kill it.” came Hatsume’s answer.

Aizawa turned to Ochako and asked,

“So the blood trail led to the vents, right?”

“Yes sir.” Ochako absentmindedly petted Neko, who she had collected from the storage room Mineta was killed in. 

“Alright then, here’s the plan. I’m gonna take that incinerator, go into the vents, and kill this bastard before it harms anyone else.” Aizawa had a steely determination in his eyes as he said this. Ochako looked as if she was going to object, but whatever words she had died in her throat under Aizawa’s glare, instead she asked,

“How can we help?”

“Hatsume, connect the motion sensor to the security feed, and you can use that to guide me and tell me where the thing is coming from. Then I fry it.”

The set up for the plan took roughly half an hour. Toru let herself relax just a bit. Much like everyone on the Shirakumo, she trusted Aizawa with her life and he was not going to let them down now. 

Aizawa took the incinerator, and descended into the depths of the ventilation system.

Ochako, Toru and Sero crowded around the security screen, watching the motion sensor dot that represented Aizawa ping as he moved further away down the vent.

As the navigator on the ship, Toru was the one in charge of directing Aizawa through the vents. She had trained with this same motion tracking technology to avoid asteroids and other space debris that drifted around planets so finding a single alien should be child's play.

“Alright Aizawa, I need to you hold your position for a second here, I don’t see the creature.” Toru said. 

“Make sure there’s no interference, Hagakure.” Aizawa replied.

As Aizawa’s ping stopped, another started. Close. Too close. The dot disappeared as fast as it had shown up.

“Aizawa, I see something. It’s there! It’s gotta be there! Do you see anything!” Toru tried not to let the panic she felt leak into her voice.

No response from the captain.

“Aizawa?” Ochako asked, as the crew waited for a response with baited breath.

“It’s … alright.” came the soft voice of the captain.

Aizawa spoke again.

“I think I wanna get outta here, Hagakure.” 

Right as he said that,

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping

A second dot reappeared, rapidly closing on Aizawa’s position.

“Oh God, Aizawa it’s coming right for you!” Toru all but shrieked into the comlink. 

Aizawa didn’t reply.

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping

“Move, get outta there, please Aizawa please!” Toru was begging now. She felt her chest constrict with anxiety. Sero was frozen, Ochako looked on, her teeth grinding against each other.

“No, no, no Aizawa the other way! Oh God!” Toru cried.

A gut wrenching scream cut over the comlink before it descended into audio feedback and cut out. 

“Aizawa, Aizawa come in!” Ochako spoke.

No response.

Toru broke down crying. She had completely and utterly failed.

Ochako and Sero set off to look for Aizawa, returning a few minutes later Sero slammed down the incinerator unit onto the table.

“That’s all that was there! No blood, no Aizawa, no nothing!” 

Sero slammed the table in anger.

“How come none of you have anything to say huh!”

“I’m thinking.” came Ochako’s bitter reply. 

“Unless one of you has a better idea, we proceed with Aizawa’s plan.” she continued after a pause.

“WHAT! And end up like the others! Ochako you must be outta your mind!” Toru felt sick, Ochako was her best friend, how could she be this … pigheaded.

“Do you have a better idea?” Ochako spoke softly, like she would break if she spoke any louder.

“YES! WE ABANDON THIS SHIP! TAKE THE SHUTTLE AND GET OUTTA HERE WITH OUR LIVES!” Toru was hysterical at this point, but she didn’t care. Damn her dignity, if she died what did it matter anyways.

“DAMMIT WE CAN’T TORU!” Ochako shouted back, tears in her eyes.

“The shuttle won’t support the four of us, we’ll all die in space if we try that. We have to beat this thing here”

Ochako’s face then lit back up, as if a light bulb went off over her head. 

“I’m the commanding officer. NEZU has to answer me now. It has to have a way for us to win.”

And with that, Toru watched her friend, her last hope, sprint off towards the ship’s computer.

Ochako’s perspective

NEZU, why didn’t they think of this earlier. God she was such a fool, but that didn’t matter now, she’d get her answers, kill this thing and save the rest of her friends. 

Ochako stormed into the room where NEZU was kept, a small octagonal room right above the ship’s bridge. Sitting in the chair in the room’s center she began typing.

‘Request clarification on science inability to neutralize alien’

Green text rolled across the screen as NEZU responded,

‘Unable to clarify’

Ochako tried again.

‘Request enhancement.’

‘No further enhancement. Special order 4994. Science Officer eyes only.’

Science officer eyes only? That made no sense, the order of hierarchy went Captain, Executive Officer, Warrant Officer then Science Officer. How could an order be Science Officer only? 

‘Emergency command override 07151227. What is order 4994?’

Ochako looked on in horror as the text showed her the truth she sought.

‘Shirakumo rerouted to new coordinates. Investigate lifeform. Gather specimen.’

Ochako felt herself getting nauseous as the text scrolled on

‘Priority one. Ensure return of organism for analysis. All other considerations secondary.’

Then came the coup de grace,

‘Crew expendable.’

“There is an explanation for this you know” Hatsume appeared at Ochako’s side like a ghost, causing her to jump in fright. Fright turned to rage as Ochako grabbed Hatsume by the throat and pinned her to the wall of the chamber. 

“What goddam explanation can you possibly have Hatsume! You got my friends killed you sick bitch!” Ochako howled. She then threw Hatsume away before collapsing into an uncontrolled series of sobs and storming out of the computer chamber.

She tried to activate her comlink,

“Sero? Toru?”

As she tried to leave to bridge to get back to where the others were, the door slammed closed in front of her, pushing the button on it didn’t work. Turning, Hatsume was there an unnerving frown across her face.

“Open the door Hatsume.” Ochako ordered.

Hatsume said nothing, Ochako tried another door only for it to close on her again. 

“Stop messing around dam … urk ” Ochako’s last word was cut off as Hatsume seized her by the neck, crushing her windpipe. Ochako was then lifted off the ground and slammed against the wall. Her vision flashed white as her head impacted the cold steel. 

Hatsume then threw her across the room, leading to Ochako being sprawled over a table, struggling to reorient herself and stand back up. She choked for breath and her head was spinning. Before she could stand, Hatsume punched her in the stomach. She tasted bile in her throat as the blow sucked any resistance she had in her out of her body. 

Lying there stunned, Ochako saw Hatsume take a magazine and roll it up. It was some trashy swimsuit magazine Mineta liked to sneak aboard and poorly hide in his room. Though how Hatsume got it was a mystery. 

Hatsume’s intentions for the magazine was not to read it however, as she then took the rolled up magazine and smashed it into Ochako’s mouth, banging it against her teeth. Ochako tried to fight back, but Hatsume felt supernaturally strong. The magazine slipped through Ochako’s teeth, leaving an awful taste of ink behind as Hatsume tried to jam it into Ochako’s throat to strangle her to death. Ochako tried to bite down, to push off, to do anything to save her life, but it was a losing battle. 

And then, a crash came, and the pressure stopped. 

Sero came charging through the broken down door and tackled Hatsume to the ground. Toru ran in after him and carefully pulled the magazine from Ochako’s mouth. Ochako coughed as her friend helped her up, and then turned to face where Sero and Hatsume were facing off. Hatsume punched Sero and then threw him off her, the larger man screaming in pain as he went down. 

Getting a second wind, Ochako charged back into the fray, kicking Hatsume in the stomach and driving her back. Hatsume recovered quickly and began grappling with Ochako, Sero joined in but the Science Officer seemed to be stronger than them both. Right as Ochako thought they were going to lose, a loud cry rang out and a fireaxe came down on Hatsume’s neck. Toru had used her quirk to go invisible and sneak up on the melee, striking a critical blow and saving the other two’s lives in the process.

The three crewmates were then covered by a spray of warm, hydraulic liquid. Synthetic blood. Hatsume was a goddam android, not even a real fucking person.

A few minutes later, Sero and Ochako hooked Hatsume’s severed head up to a power source in an attempt to revive her temporarily. Ochako wanted answers and this damn traitor was gonna give them to her.

“How come the company sent us a freaking robot huh?” Sero asked.

“They want the alien, she was protecting it.” Ochako answered. 

She turned the power on to Hatsume’s head,

“Hatsume, can you hear me?” Ochako asked.

Hatsume gurgled, white synthetic blood poured from her mouth and then she spoke

“Yes, I can hear you.” 

“What was your special order?”

“You read it. It wasn’t very complex, Ochako.”

“Say it.”

“Bring back lifeform, priority one. All other priorities are secondary.”

“And what about us you heartless bitch!” wailed Toru.

“I repeat, all other priorities are secondary.” came the monotone reply.

“How do we kill it, Mei it has to have a weakness you found how do we do it?” Ochako begged.

“You can’t.”

“Bullshit.” Sero replied.

“You still don’t understand what you’re dealing with. It’s a perfect organism. Its structural perfection is only matched by its hostility.”

“You admire it?” Ochako asked.

“I admire its purity, Its ability to adapt and survive is … unrivaled.” 

“Uraraka, can you just pull the plug, I think we’ve heard enough.” Sero said, in a tone that was almost a whisper.

Right as Ochako went to do that, Hatsume spoke once more,

“Wait … I can’t lie to you about your chances … but … you have my sympathies.” 

The android known as Mei Hatsume then gave a sad smile as she was disconnected from power, and went wherever androids go when they die.

Chapter Text

Hanta’s perspective

Hanta Sero was pissed off. He was pissed off at the company for declaring him and his friends expendable and sending them on a suicide mission to bring back some freaky alien so they could put it in a fancy zoo or something. He was pissed off that said alien had outsmarted and picked them apart at the seams every turn. But mostly, he was pissed off because it felt like there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. 

Aoyama, Mineta, Aizawa. All of them had died alone and likely scared out of their minds and he was utterly powerless to help. Who would be next? Uraraka? Hagakure? Or would it be him facing down the monster that now haunted their ship.

Hanta’s fears were interrupted by Uraraka, who had gained a new look of determination as she spoke,

“Toru, we’re going with your idea after all.” 

“Huh … what idea?” Toru sobbed.

“We take the shuttle and run. It has three hypersleep drives. Better to chance it in the void than to get picked off by that … thing.” 

Hanta spoke up,

“So what do we do about the Shirakumo? If that thing crashes down on a populated system with the alien on it then things aren’t gonna end well.”

“I’ll activate the ship’s self-destruct sequence. Perfect lifeform or not there’s no chance this bastard can survive a reactor meltdown and the vacuum of space. You two go grab whatever supplies you can and beeline for the shuttle. I’ll meet the two of you there.” 

“Ochako no! You can’t go off alone, that thing will get you!” Toru wailed. 

“I won’t be alone Toru, I’ll have Neko with me. Plus I’m the only one who can activate the self-destruct and we’ll need all the supplies we can carry. I’ll also be on the comms the whole way.”

Hanta cut in.

“You’re also bringing the incinerator with you. Hagakure’s right that this thing’s only gone after us when we’re alone, not in groups. We’re not losing anyone else.” 

Uraraka nodded in agreement, taking the incinerator from Hanta.

“I’ll see you both on the shuttle.” Uraraka said, giving the two of them a thumbs up as she went towards the reactor room to force a meltdown and blow the Shirakumo to kingdom come.

Hanta made up his mind.

If anyone else was gonna die, then it would be him or no one. 

Toru’s perspective

Toru and Sero were running now. There was one thing they knew they would need to carry plenty of if they wanted any hope of surviving the hypersleep journey in the shuttle.

Oxygen.

Larger ships like the Shirakumo had a large enough supply of oxygen that air scrubbers could recycle the oxygen the crew would consume. The shuttle was not so well designed, so they would require compressed oxygen to hook up to the hypersleep chambers and sustain them. 

They’d already grabbed food and medical supplies just in case, they just needed three of the oxygen cylinders stored in the ship’s hold and they could get on the shuttle and be free of this nightmare.

The two burst into the storage room and started packing in a desperate rush. The metal cylinders clanged on the deck of the ship as Toru ripped them from their storage in the wall to hand to Sero. 

A sudden hiss then pierced Toru’s ears. At first she thought that it was one of the oxygen tanks springing a leak, but then she looked and saw it.

The alien dropped in behind the two crewmates. It dwarfed both her and Sero, standing well over 2 meters in height. It was covered by a glistening black carapace, with a perfectly smooth head and no discernable eyes. Further down, a pair of wicked claws snapped open and shut, like it was mimicking what it was about to do to its newest prey items. A whiplike tail ending in a horrific barb ended the grisly creation, swishing back and forth, like a cat’s did when it was playing with mice before eating them. 

Toru felt herself start hyperventilating. She pressed on her comlink to call Ochako, but she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t even move. Oh God she was going to die!

“Hagakure run, get outta here!” Sero roared and struck the creature from behind. He was holding a large pipe wrench in both hands, and it made a sickening crack as it bounced harmlessly off the beast’s carapace. 

“Toru? TORU!?” Ochako’s panicked voice cried over the comlink. 

The alien turned with an unnatural speed for something it’s size and seized Sero in it’s claws. Sero screamed and continued pounding on it’s head but to no avail.

Toru didn’t stick around to see her friend’s inevitable death. She ran. Activating her quirk and shedding her clothes she desperately hoped that the thing wouldn’t be able to find her. Right as she kicked her shoes and socks off and dove under a large sturdy desk in an adjacent room she realized that Sero wasn’t screaming any more. 

In fact the only sound Toru heard as she lay curled up beneath the desk was the beating of her own heart. 

Her heartrate kept thundering in her ears as she lay naked and vulnerable on the floor, and then she felt a sharp, cutting pain. It was like a knife had just been stuck in her chest! The pain radiated out from her chest through her left arm. 

Toru realized she was having a heart attack. 

She desperately tried to move, but her body would no longer cooperate. She heard footsteps, was it Ochako? No, she couldn’t be here, that thing would kill her! 

She had to warn Ochako, she had to help her friend.

Though for all the desire she had, her vision began to fade until everything was a black as the void of space.

Ochako’s perspective

Ochako was desperate. She heard the screams of Toru and Sero all the way from the bridge control where she had just put the reactor on an overload path. Thirty minutes were all that stood between whatever was on the Shirakumo and a nuclear explosion. 

The first thing that Ochako found upon bursting into the storage room were Sero’s remains. Unlike the other victims, he hadn’t been dragged off. Ochako crouched down, and felt for a pulse, but couldn’t find one. Holding back tears, she looked up and noticed something on the ground, a jacket. Toru’s jacket! 

Following past it, she saw a trail of clothing leaving the room and turning to an adjacent one. She followed it, desperately hoping to find her friend, to save at least one person. 

Entering the room, she saw the pair of tan boots that Toru wore discarded in its center. Hoping against hope Ochako whispered out,

“Toru? Are you there? Please Toru, are you ok?

Nothing.

Then Ochako heard it, a faint groan coming from under one of the desks at the far edge of the room. Looking under it, she found Toru motionless, her right hand clutched over her heart. 

Activating her zero gravity quirk, she made Toru weightless and ran with her back to the mound of supplies that had been gathered for the shuttle. 

Blocking her way, was the bastard alien who had taken so much from her already, now coming to take her life. 

The alien hissed and charged her, but Ochako was quicker, bringing up the incinerator she had slung around her shoulder and unleashing a gout of flame at the beast. The jellified fuel stuck to the creature as it burned, and the alien unleashed a hellish shriek at the fire’s touch. Ochako kept the pressure on, and the creature fled, scurrying off deeper into the ship, its hide still smoldering. 

Toru’s eyes fluttered open for a moment, confusion evident as she was now floating in the hallway behind Ochako, who had let go of her to fight off the alien. Ochako grabbed her friend once more and set her down next to the supplies. 

Tearing into the medical bag, she clawed through the contents until found the item that her friend desperately needed. Nitroglycerin tablets. She took one out and placed it into Toru’s mouth, under her tongue so she couldn’t swallow it. If that first aid class she had to take for her officer’s qualification was correct, then the tablet would dissolve and relieve the tension in Toru’s blood vessels, reducing the strain on her heart.

That and the slowdown of hypersleep should allow her friend to survive until she could see a doctor once they were picked up. And they would be picked up.

Dammit they would survive this. 

Ochako rapidly floated Toru, Neko and and all of the gathered supplies over to the shuttle, she then got a body bag and collected Hanta’s remains so they could be sent to his family. Even if she couldn’t save him, she owed him that much. Sealing the shuttle door, she launched into the void, driving the engine as hard as it would go to make as much distance from the Shriakumo as she could before the reactor detonated. 

5 minutes later, there was a flash out of her peripheral vision, then in mere moments, a shockwave shook the shuttle so violently Ochako feared it would come apart at the seams.

Luckily, the ship held. 

Sighing, Ochako suddenly felt her entire body relax. All of the terror and fear and adrenaline seemed to wear off at once, and she collapsed to her knees on the deck of the shuttle.

The first thing she did was to help Toru get dressed and into the hypersleep chamber. Her friend was still very weak from the heart attack, but at least she was alive. She gave Ochako a fragile smile, and then closed her eyes as the cryo chamber froze her for the long journey until they were picked up. 

Ochako took a pause, triple checking every vital sign hooked up to the machine. Every pulse reminding her of at least one person she didn’t fail. Though she also was reminded of one person she certainly did when she looked over to the next hypersleep pod, the one containing Sero’s body. 

Ochako let out another sigh, and she felt tears well up in her eyes as the magnitude of all that was lost hit her. 

She decided to go and make herself a cup of tea before she went to sleep herself, hoping to be picked up in a couple of days, weeks at most. As the kettle began to boil, Ochako kicked off the dirty outer layer of work clothes that she’d had on since their first rude awakening for the ill fated rescue mission. 

Now standing in her shorts and undershirt, she walked back across the cold deck to pour herself some tea and calm her nerves.

Then she saw something.

Something was moving behind the tangle of wires on the other side of the small kitchenette in the shuttle.

Something that reeked of napalm.

The alien was on the shuttle. 

Ochako felt her breath catch in her throat. Her heart pounded in her ears. All the stress she’d allowed herself to drop flooded back, tensing her entire body. Her mind raced to come up with a plan. She desperately looked around the room until she saw something that gave her a faint ember of hope.

The EVA suits.

Inch by inch, Ochako crept over to the suits. She didn’t know if the creature was aware of her presence or what would trigger it to become aggressive again and she certainly didn’t want to find out. 

After what felt like an eternity, she reached the suits, her eyes never having left the undulating black form at the edge of the shuttle. Her right leg went in, then her left, then her arms went into the sleeves, and finally the bubble helmet went over her head, sealing with a hiss.

Ochako then began to move along the edge of the ship again, this time creeping towards the airlock. She tied herself into one of the seats nearest, and then began working the controls in order to open the airlock and vent the creature into the void of space. 

Ochako pressed through the button combinations as quickly as her EVA gloved hands would allow. Then the screaming started.

The kettle! She’d forgotten about the tea kettle!

The whistle of the kettle woke the alien out of its stupor and it unleashed a hellish howl as an eyeless gaze latched onto Ochako. 

The alien sprung at her like a tiger leaping for a deer, but it was a second too slow as right before its claws could disembowel its final victim Ochako’s fist slammed onto the button that opened the airlock to the cold vacuum of space. 

The suction force of the air venting from the ship caused the alien to careen by Ochako and out of the doorway. But right as Ochako thought she’d finally won two clawed hands appeared on either edge of the doorway, the alien had caught itself and was trying to reenter the shuttle!

Thinking fast, Ochako grabbed the largest thing in reach, one of the oxygen bottles Toru and Sero had gathered, and launched it towards the exit. The large metal cylinder crashed into the alien’s torso, and dislodged it from the entryway allowing the door to close and reseal the ship. 

Ochako then stumbled over to the flight controls and slammed her hand onto the throttle, firing the twin rocket engines of the shuttle. She felt a lurch as the shuttle sprung forwards for a second before she once again cut the thrusters. Rushing back to look through the hatch, she saw the glinting metal of the oxygen cylinder, and the thrashing monster that it had defeated screaming futilely in the open void, with no air to carry the horrible sounds it made.

Ochako collapsed to her knees, and began to weep uncontrollably. This was all too much. 

Then she felt something pawing at her leg.

In shock she turned around, expecting some horrible monster to finally finish her off.

But it was only Neko, the small black cat seeming entirely unbothered by recent events. Ochako scooped the cat up in her arms and placed him down on the final open hypersleep pod, the one she would be resting in until someone found the small helpless shuttle. 

However, as she shed the bulky EVA suit and poured herself the now very well earned cup of tea, Ochako realized she had one duty left as an officer of the Shirakumo.

She had to tell the story of her crew, and what had happened to them so that it would not be lost with her. 

And so, Ochako Uraraka turned on an old recorder she found aboard the shuttle and spoke,

“Final report of the Three World Empire commercial ship Shirakumo. Third officer reporting. Multiple members of the crew, Aoyama, Sero, Mineta, Hatsume and Captain Aizawa are dead, navigator Toru Hagakure was incapacitated with a heart problem, cargo and ship were destroyed. I should reach the frontier soon, with luck the network will pick this up and I will be recovered. This is Uraraka, a survivor of the loss of the Shirakumo, signing off.” 

Taking Neko up in her arms, Ochako got into her own hypersleep pod, and activated it. Her eyes closed, and dreams of a long earned vacation began to take hold.