Thirty six GalSen operatives took up points in a semicircle around the ship, standing watch for anything out of the ordinary. They were silent, alert sentinels, who said nothing to those that approached them, and ultimately refused to help the 'National' forces, each from their own respective cultures, communities, militaries. They stood as silent statues, waiting to come to life in the face of possible danger. No one could hear the quiet conversations that went on between these soldiers, maser-type communication devices allowing them to speak without risk of their signals intercepted.

It was just when a very faint howling started that they started perking up.

The first time it was audible, everyone in the hangar froze, looking towards the central, flickering hallway. 

Again, a long, drawn out wail, echoing across metal walls, twisted and distorted to even new terrifying lengths. 

Men shivered; others curses. Some still went back to setting up their base camp as normal, while others fingered their belts for handguns or submachineguns, cautious and fearful.

Over and over, the wail grew closer, louder. GalSen soldiers had their weapons up and ready, SMGs ready to rock, but their fingers weren't resting on the trigger.

Suddenly, the wail grew to a new pitch- and then stopped entirely, replaced by a low, echoing growl. Five seconds into the rumbling growl, it turned into a rough bark, and the central hallway, the only one that the men on the ship's ramp could see straight down, turned entirely dark. Six GalSen soldiers were already aiming, laser lights hovering at random spots. At the same time, they flipped on their night vision; immediately, the central hallway's lights flicked back on, and the welcoming party was found.

A man stood there, just inside the entrance of the doorway, stumbling forward. A low wail came out of his open mouth, head lolling back and around as he walked, limping and lopsided. The man's clothes were torn; he was covered in blood, and a strange, yellow-y substance that appeared almost like syrupy sand. The substance leaked from great slashes in his arms, his legs, from the man's torn chest, starting at the bottom of his chest and spreading up to his neck, his body pulling itself apart like a hot dog left in the microwave for too long.

The man wailed again, lower jaw unusually hinged, hanging lower, more slack, more lopsided than it should have been. Halfway through it, he coughed, and coughed, and the third cough ended with a spray of blood. The distance between the nearest GalSen soldier and the creature was significant; either way, they edged back, afraid of the ghoul.

The creature stared at them with decaying eyes, and slowly dropped to his knees. A gurgle built up inside his throat, slowly rising until he was bordering on screaming. And not a moment after, the creature's head exploded, spraying gore across the area between the GalSen camping trip team and the central hallway. The body fell forward, lifeless, still gurgling.

Three GalSen troopers turned to look at their fourth. The solder was holding the rifle of the National beside him, a larger calibered gun than the SMGs they currently had. Handing it back to him, he commented out loud, "Anyone have a clue what the hell is going on?"

There were no answers.

A full minute later, the hallway with the most direct route to Engineering, the AI cores, and to the station's more industrial sector darkened entirely. The lights didn't come on again; very faintly, one could hear a chorus of wails.

And every know and then, a set of burning yellow eyes would appear down the hallway at its very end, before disappearing entirely for a few minutes. The occasional rough bark-coughing sound came, beating the wailing for a moment. The sounds made hackles raise, and stay raised.