Nippikin checked the marine’s life signs again before leaving them in the cargo hold. It was a bleak place, but lacked the scent of death Mia had complained about in the past. He couldn’t help but to notice that it was almost completely empty, wondering to himself “Why did they bother to come with so little…” He had never been one for war or politics though, and if a little was all there was to give, he would use it sparingly. Even the ship itself seemed understaffed though, when he had been on military freighters in the past, there was someone in every corridor, always with purpose in their step…but, not on this one.

Nippikin made his way to the docks of the ship, again with a feeling, like something was about to change. “Put it out of your mind. This isn’t your concern.” He repeated to himself, cycling those thoughts. 

Nippikin began to feel the moisture in his suit increase, “Not again,” He said to himself.  His thoughts became blurry. He had stepped too far away from his expertise, thought too much about things he knew too little about. “Was the ground shaking and rumbling?” he thought, “No, this is just in your head. Focus on what you can do.” Nippikin slumped in his suit and attempted to regain his focus, his composure. 

“This is a possible riot Nippikin. Outside is unstable. People are going to get hurt, you can help, you can use your expertise.” He felt the moisture leave his skin, he had his purpose again, his focus. “You’re a doctor, Dr. Zed they call you. Go do your job.”

Nippikin picked himself up off the ground with his four tentacles and brushed himself off. He walked into the dock, and was met with an explosion of sound… the people were getting worse; they were starting to push into the ship… 

And then there was blood. That bright red color that told Nippikin a human had been injured. One of the marines, many of the others covered in his viscera. Gunfire started to echo through the dock and Nippikin stood behind some of the marines as best he could. After all he was a fairly easy target standing 8 feet tall.

“Is one of your men in need of medical help?” Nippikin asked the closest marine.
“Get back Gulin!” he yelled in return “do you have a goddamn death wish?”

Nippikin did not. He simply wanted to help the injured party, but it was clear that there were soon to be many injured people. It felt good knowing he’d be able to use his expertise in this situation, but the marine was right. Nippikin slipped back into the craft as a group of marines came charging through.

“Hello gentleman there has…” he said, but it was clear they were not interested in his debrief as they rushed on by. One of their communication devices said something like “all the guns on this ship need to go online now.” but Nippikin didn’t understand the terminology. “Guns don’t need to be connected.” He thought to himself. Humans are so strange, so interesting, and very fragile.