Everything was going so well.
Then the explosion happened.
Half the station's sensors went dark, two reactors lost containment for nearly three seconds, and something appeared on long-range scanners.
They had picked up a strange, large, dark red and yellow, sickly winged bipedal creature. It had been floating nearby in an asteroid belt several nauts south of the station.
It was still alive. Its heart was beating at least.
Originally, they didn't want to bother with it. Their systems had already been damaged from the sudden explosion that occurred not a few moments prior.
They weren't sure what to do with it. It was certainly a unique creature, that was for sure.
"No external life-support systems." One of them examined the reports she was getting from what few sensors and detection arrays were still operational.
"Natural vacuum adaptation?" A lankier, skeletal-looking reptilian asked as he clung to his chair.
"Impossible."
"Perhaps it evolved around a neutron remnant." Another one, on the opposite side of the room, proposed as he looked up from his monitors.
Did it come from the blast? Maybe. How fast it was travelling did seem to show some kind of propulsion. It looked to be relatively unharmed, though. Maybe it was only caught up in the blast?
Similar discussions spread throughout the station. Such a fascinating creature that had more or less handed itself to them hand and foot.
It's not as if it would take up too much of their resources to get. And if it was truly still alive, albeit unconscious, then they could mix those genetics into themselves or their experiments and finally be able to leave this sector without notifying the Lanterns.
Their DNA signature and body proportions, if spliced well enough, would be able to mask them well enough so they could slowly leave.
And so, despite their main priority, rightly being on repairing the damaged functions of their station. A small team was dispatched to collect the creature.
"Are we sure this is a good idea? A younger one, Gortum, asked as he donned his black and gold reflective suit near the hangar on the west side of the station. He looked over at his older crew, many of whom were mostly or completely done suiting up and simply now checking on their suits' functionality. Typing away at the wrist-embedded gauntlet panels to ensure that the built-in AI, among other systems, was still functioning.
Some of the panels faced upwards, and some faced downwards. Naturally, it depended on the individual Psion's choice of operating their equipment and personality.
"Probably not, but there's not much we can do about it; orders are orders, and it may end up working in our favour." A raggedy and gruff voice spoke up despite the question not being directed his way.
The voice belonged to that of an older reptile; he bore a more deteriorated, baggy face, his scaly skin drooped over in folds over his eyes with them barely peeking through. He carried a very pronounced hunched disposition, though despite that he was only half a head smaller than the much younger Psions. He barely looked over at the younger one as he was already making his way to the small shuttle that they would take to retrieve the specimen.
"Hehe", another cackled to themselves as she mumbled to herself as she rummaged through her toolbag, filled with all sorts of devices and items designed to tear apart flesh from flesh, "Just imagine what we'd be able to rip out of that thing? I just want to get my hands on it and rip it open"
"Oh!" A terrifying spark of inspiration hit her face as her scaly mouth stretched to the far corners of her snout and face. Her red and gold eyes beamed with excitement as she twirled a scalpal-esque knife in between her clawed fingers, "What if there are more of them? Oh my, an entire species of the things would rocket our splicing power tenfold!"
A low growl came out of the elder as he was setting up the 4-winged shuttle, "Do not get ahead of yourself, child; we are simply to acquire the creature, not dissect it."
"Huh?" Her smile fell, aghast at what the steadily deteriorating Psion revealed; her face, which was once lush and green with excitement and wonder, had now darkened and drained of any vibrance it once had. Her eyes were now a blank void of emotion. "Then what's the point of me going on the retrieval mission if I can't tear into it?"
The other Psion that was assigned to this task spoke up this time, interrupting whatever Gortum was going to say. Her golden eyes reflected her more... relaxed tone of voice. "Come now, Argath, let the young one have fun theorising on what they may scalp from the entity; they're only a few decades old."
"Old enough to know better." He only huffed in response.
"If I'm not going to be able to study it, then I'm not interested." Valta began changing back into her former lab attire, though now a lot more slowly than the blindingly quick speed she had put on the astronautical protective suit. "My time would much better be spent on those two Tamerianians we were able to get a hold of; besides, there's a modification I want to try out on them."
This time it was Gortum who spoke up at his colleague's change of attitude, "Well, think about it like this, we'd be the first ones to get a good, up close and dissectible view of our new specimen." He proposed the idea as a sort of olive branch to his DNA-extracting, fanatical friend. Twirling one of the two whiskers from the top of his head.
Valta did not respond right away, stewing in her thoughts as she tossed and turned the idea across her head and in between her eyes.
She would have to choose soon, as the other two were already on the ship and ready to fly off soon to retrieve the scarlet creature.
"Hmmm," a tapping noise was heard as she rapidly jabbed her finger into her head. A series of grunts and puffs could also be heard as her head slightly swung from side to side. "Arghh, fine, but so help you if this isn't worth it."
========
"Okay, you were right; this was worth it, very worth it." The gene splicing maniac said as she nodded in awe. The ship quietly hummed around as they stood under sparse lighting.
Before them was a strange, deep magenta coloured bipeal creature roughly double the height of any one of them.
The scanners didn't specify that it would be this big; it could just barely fit in the ship. They had to move to the other walls just to be able to make room for it.
It was somewhat spindly despite its large size; its gills that lined the sides of its torso added to the image.
The centre and around the eyes of the specimen had black markings. Silver horns extending from its mouth and nose to the top of its head, in between its currently closed eyes and curving out and inwards.
"Those look like... um, maybe something for courtship? Maybe the darker the markings and horns, the more attractive they are?"
"Wouldn't be the first time... Oh! What if they produce a chemical or colour during courtship? If it lives in the water, then that would explain the darker gradients."
A similar silverish grey, or greyish silver, patagia under its arms connected to the sides of its body and start of its tail, which it might use to fly or perhaps swim through water, going off the gills it has on its body. It's not entirely possible that it can do both; the length of its three-fingered arms and feet, coupled with its shorter legs and large wingspan and the membrane they're made of, seem to hint at perhaps both being the case.
"Then what are the wings for, smarty scale?"
"Well... um obviously... well isn't it obvious, Gortum, surely you can tell."
Now that would be interesting: a creature capable of both flight and swimming; how that factored into it being able to survive in the vacuum of space was a different issue. Perhaps its gills could close up? They would certainly need to look into that when they brought it aboard.
Two black lightning bolt-like stripes coming down from his shoulders to a strange circular disk-like object on its chest. Perhaps some kind of badge or dial, if the symbol displayed on it was any indication.
"So... what do you think it is?" Valta asked her seniors. Her eyes stayed fixed on the creature in front of her, her mind whirled into an internal fever as she thought of every conceivable way to open it up and gaze into its internal workings.
Sal-tal hummed in thought as she looked over a scan of the entity. "Definitely aquatic in nature."
"The patagia likely function as stabilizing fins." Argath mused aloud as he stroked the thin thread-like whiskers on his face.
"Those are wings." Gortum
"No, they're much too thin for powered flight." Valta snapped, "Don't you know anything about aeronautical creatures?"
"Not really, wasn't interested in them."
"...course you weren't, this is why none of the other girls like ya."
"Huh?!" Slamming his hands onto the table, Gortum shot the woman across from him a rather incredulous look "What are you trying to insinuate?" pointing at his friend, he continued his rant, his tone getting louder as he went on, "And you're one to talk, when was the last time you went on a date?"
"Hey, hey now, we have a currently unconscious, unknown and possibly dangerous creature in front of us; lower your tone, boy."
"Don't side track the question!"
"Both of you, quite please." Sal-tal rubbed her eyes in annoyance as Gortum kept looking over other scrying screens.
While looking at one, a rather curious bit of information came to his attention. He brought his sight to the disk on its chest. Perhaps they could-
"Perhaps it glides between ocean currents." Valta purposed as she held up one of its arms, bouncing it in her hands. Watching the silver coloured membrane jiggle in response as the creature's chest rose and fell slightly. Not seeming to even know that there are four bipedal reptiles talking about it like it's already dead.
"But how is it capable of space travel?" Gortum asked the golden-eyed assistant. "The scryers detect some kind of energy coursing through its spine and that strange item on its chest.
Following Argath's gaze, Valta, out of curiosity, reached out and grabbed the strange device before anyone else could stop her.
[Unknown Intelligent DNA detected]
Immediately, she removed her hand from the dial once it started speaking and lighting up. The red dim glow that once hummed from it illuminated into a bright light. Though what it was saying, they did not know. But engaging any further in it was a bad idea for now.
[Ultimatrix DNA capture mode is unavailable due to damage to systems]
"Why would you do that?" Gortum furiously asked
"How was I supposed to know?"
[Ultimatrix has received damage from an unknown source]
"The energy readings didn't seem to indicate anything." She continued as she pointed at one of the scry screens near Gortum.
[User is unconscious]
[Calculating...]
"Hmm," The sound of Argath's usual musings as he continued to look at the creature as he stroked one of his whiskers. Drawing another screen closer, the blue transparent filament softly glowed under the dim lighting of the ship.
[Class 3 Intelligent life forms in area...]
[Entering low-powered mode until user is awake]
And soon, the light once more shrank and dimmed.
And so, they wait patiently for anything else to transpire.
"If we die... I'm going to push you out into space."
"I don't mind; I got what I wanted. And I'd rather it be you than someone like Sul-Ka."
Moments passed and...
Nothing seemed to happen. The badge didn't make any other noise, nor did it light up again.
The creature just... lay there.