Captain Watts was slumped over the control desk of the shuttle. His head was pounding and he hadn't been able to check any hangover pills on the flight.

As he glanced out of the cockpit window, all he saw was inky blackness. How far were they into space already? He wasn't sure. His attitude last night had been to go out with style. He'd rounded up partying with his buddy Melvin Schrauwen. He was wealthy and connected, which meant they got VIP access into every club on Ganymede. He couldn't remember returning to Europa and he definitely couldn't remember doing the boarding call for the mission. He was too far gone.

Mission Control didn't care. They were sending him out here to die, he was sure of that. Well if he was going out on a ghost ship full of killer aliens or whatever it was, he was gonna make it a night to remember, which sadly he didn't. The ship had a pre-programmed destination, it was gonna fly if he did anything or didn't, so there was no escape or turning back. Time to face up to this godforsaken mission.

A rush of pain hit his throbbing temples as he remember he probably needed to go speak to the crew. He didn't recall any of them but he'd picked civilians thinking they'd cancel the mission. They hadn't.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw a sight to behold. His party buddy Melvin was comatose on the bridge sofa! The idiot had followed him on board. Probably didn't realise what was happening and now he was stuck on this mission. It was sick but Watts found it hilarious.

On the panel in front of him, a red light was bleeping. Somebody was trying to speak to him. He picked up the comm transmitter and waited. A familiar crotchety voice came back.

"Watts! You have broken another six or seven mission control directives and you've barely even left Europa!"

Oh great, they were just starting out. He took a breath and spoke back through the transmitter.

"Sorry Mike, won't let it happen again buddy. Literally won't!" There wouldn't be an again for it to happen in.

Michael Lindberg on the other side of the comms device was a stuck up officer who wanted badly to make rank but had failed where Watts had glided through. He was bitter and it was entertaining. Lindberg was a guy who followed protocol to the book. When Watts had come out telling him after the brief that the mission was allowed a civilian crew, it had almost broken his brain. He'd obviously gone to some authorities and confirmed that wasn't the case and was now trying to dress the Captain down, despite the fact that Watts was a superior.

He could feel the hiss of disapproval as Watts called him "Mike". He hated being called Mike.

"Well you've gone too far this time! Mission Control has ordered me to correct your mess! I now have a command of my own! I will be leaving shortly with a non-civilian crew. We are taking one of the Fusion X4 shuttles so we'll outrun that thing you're in and catch up to you before the Dalia boarding even begins."

Watts sighed. All he needed was to be stuck on a ghost ship with that jerk Lindberg.

"We shall do the mission by the book! Lindberg Out!"

All Watts could do was sigh. Were there any hangover meds on this thing? As he left to go to the rec room, he stopped and glanced at Melvin's comatose and drooling form one more time.

"Gonna have a worse time than me buddy!" Said Watts with a grin.

Watts walked through to the rec area and found a young woman sitting down. She had a mysterious look. Could be fun!

"Hey there." Said Watts as smooth as possible with his hangover. "This is your Captain speaking, how may I assist you today?"

She smiled a faint smile and shook her head.

"You can't help me really. I don't think anybody can..." Her voice trailed off.

"Well let me know!" Said Watts. He didn't really have the energy for this today.

"Thanks." She said calmly. "You can call me Freyja. I'm used to it now."

Strange thing to say, thought Watts as he slumped on the sofa.

A man walked through into the room. He was dark skinned and wore strange attire. He also had a p. cool hat.

Watts and Freyja looked up and started to speak but he was ahead of them.

"Tesimal Adetokunbo. I am on a journey. Are you also journeying?"

Watts rubbed his head.

"That's a bit of a mouthful."

Freyja smiled.

"I'm on a journey too!"

This prompted a smile from Tesimal.

"Excellent! We can journey together!"

Another young woman was milling about. There were a few things off about her though.

Firstly the fact that she was barely dressed. It was a little jarring to say the least. Watts might've enjoyed it more if he had the mental capacity to process all this nonsense.

Secondly, she had a name tattooed on her arm. It said "Eliza".

"That your name?" He asked curiously.

She didn't reply, merely glanced up and smiled and walked around some more.

There was a loud groan from the bridge. Watts smirked. He'd been waiting for it.

"What is this noise??" Asked Tesimal with awe.

"This noise is Melvin. And Melvin just woke up to realise he's signed up for a mission wasted and can't get out of it."

Melvin burst into the room. He was stumbling a lot. His smart suit was a little worse for wear, and he was wearing sunglasses.

"What the hell is this? How did I..." He paused the audience looked on.

And Melvin Schrauwen proceeded to vomit all over the deck.

There was a resounding crash outside of the rec area. The assembled group ran over to look down. A very strangely dressed man had just rolled into a wall.

"Kip DeBarge is..."

"Space Shuttle."

He looked up at the crowd and launched himself at the stairs, running up them at a frantic pace. He jumped into the room and slid across the floor. Then paused at the pile of vomit.

"Nasty." He concluded.

The group was stood in stunned silence at Kip's entrance, to the point where nobody quite noticed the strangely dressed woman in red hovering in the background.

"There are bad omens on this ship."

She approached the central attraction of Melvin's vomit with a ghastly expression.

"You have banished the demons that plagued you!"

Melvin nodded. He'd still got some left to banish.

"There are bad omens on this ship." Agreed Eliza.

The woman was happy to have a captive audience.

"I go by Morwena. Be warned, for there is no easy ride ahead. Grave danger awaits us all. But destiny calls."

Watts yawned. Destiny was a bit slow today.

There was another noise from the deck below, and some people went to go and check it out. Watts marched out ahead. Kip readied his fingers like a gun in case it was an alien invasion.

"Even more noise!!" Said Tesimal excitedly.

Down below there was a figure climbing out of one of the cargo pods. They seemed to be quite small.

Dusting herself down, the young girl looked up at the onlookers with a bright smile.

"It is only child?!" Said Tesimal in disbelief.

The girl in question was only a kid. She'd snuck on board in one of the cargo pods. But the ship was already mid-flight. This was something even Watts wasn't ready for.

"You can't be on here! How did you get on here kid? This is a dangerous mission!"

She frowned.

"Where else am I gonna be now? The ship's in space. Looks like there's nothin' you can do to stop me!"

Watts groaned. This was a disaster. This was something they wouldn't overlook in debrief if they even made it that far. Why hadn't he swept the ship first? Because he didn't give a shit. But he did now!

"Anyway you'd better get used to having me around I suppose. I'm Rin! Nice to meet ya!"

There was even more hubbub. Rin put her hand over her mouth in shock.

"Oh I nearly forgot. Somebody else wanted to come on board too so I gave him a hand!"

The onlookers exchanged glances as Rin reached down into the cargo hold and helped out whatever it was. She picked it up and carried it back to the group, placing it on the floor as it crawled away.

It was an infant.

Watts face turned a new shade of pale. Tesimal was going crazy next to him screaming something about nursery but he couldn't focus. This wasn't just a kid. It was a goddamn baby.

He was screwed.

Melvin patted him firmly on the back.

"Looks like even more mess to clean up." He said with a weary grin.

The toddler crawled across the floor and gurgled up at Rin.

"Rin." Said Freyja in a calm voice. "Why did you think it'd be a good idea to bring a baby on board the ship?"

Rin looked put out.

"He wanted to come! He was crawling around outside and nobody was paying attention so I just helped him out a little that's all. He's my friend!"

The infant gurgled incoherently.

"His name is Aldo. I don't know why but that's what I'm calling him. He looks like an Aldo."

He looked like a baby. Watts went for a lie down. This was all too much.

In the distance one of the three RAMSES units on board the shuttle sprang to life, marched over and cleaned up the vomit.

"Ah good to have servant!" Said Tesimal approvingly as the android slunk back into hibernation.

"I think they're cute!" Said a woman walking out of the ship's bathroom.

"Sorry, had to go!" She announced to the world.

Rin smiled.

"Thank you! What's your name?"

"I'm Cassie! I love kids! Do you watch much TV?"

Rin shook her head.

"Did one time but it's been ages since I really had a TV."

Cassie looked shocked.

"No TV? That's crazy!" She rubbed her head. This was a view of the world she found mind-blowing.

"Well maybe there's one aboard the ship and we can watch some together."

She slumped down in the sofa looking agitated then yawned.

"I'm tired. When does this thing reach Callisto?"

The group stood in silence for a moment.

"This ship is going somewhere dark and dangerous." Said Morwena slowly.

"NAH! Callisto is bright and wonderful! You're talkin' crazy bitch."

Morwena looked a bit put out.

"This military ship!" Said Tesimal helpfully. "Going on journey! But Callisto very nice! Must be wealth and prosperous."

Cassie was gobsmacked.

"But I need to go home!"

"There is no home now. Only the destination." Said Morwena.

Cassie looked up in horror and then sat down. She'd got on the wrong shuttle again.

The ship was suddenly rocked with a bout of turbulence. Watts who was slumped down in the bridge looked outside. They were pulling into a radiation storm of some sort. Looked like a bad one. Auto-pilot wouldn't get them through this well but he couldn't override it. Damnit!

"Electrical interference incoming! Hold onto your butts!" Shouted Watts.

Tesimal proceeded to grab his rear in a timely fashion.

The ship rocked and tossed and turned this way and that. Aldo started screaming, adding to the already overwhelming noise from the storm.

"Looks like even more mess to clean up." Said Eliza under the racket.

Cassie screamed out as the ship tumbled around. Watts looked back over at the wall. Electricity was coursing through the hull of the ship.

"NOBODY TOUCH THE HULL!" He screamed out. Who designed this thing?

There was a loud pop as one of the Ramses droids exploded, leaving a gooey mess on the floor. Those things had biological...bits....it didn't help to think about it.

"MAKE IT STOP!" Shouted Rin. But there was no stopping it. Another pop resulted in the second RAMSES droid exploding all over the walls and floor.

"These things are useless!" Said Watts damningly.

Beneath them Kip was dashing around, looking for way to quell the storm. Morwena had her eyes closed in a calm prayer. Melvin couldn't really stop himself and threw up once more.

A surge of electricity pulsed through the third and final RAMSES unit. However this one didn't pop. Instead it lifted its hibernated head upright as its eyes glowed into life. The storm subsided slowly as the RAMSES marched forth a little uneasily. It looked around at the astonished crew. These things were only supposed to start up on command and they were buggy to begin with.

It outstretched a hand, as if learning to do so for the first time, and then another. Finally it looked up, in what could almost be described as satisfaction.

"Hello." It spoke out soothingly.

Amidst all of the chaos, another dark skinned man walked out. He was wearing sunglasses too.

"Hello everybody. My name's Elliot."

"Greetings Elliot. May fate favour you." Said Morwena solemnly.

Tesimal looked him up and down. He was very snappily dressed.

"You look like man of fine wealth! You wealth man yes?"

Elliot looked puzzled.

"Wealth is kind of overrated." He said despondently.

Tesimal looked confused. This response wasn't one he expected at all.

With all the surrounding chaos, nobody had noticed another figure standing awkwardly in the doorway between the lower deck and the rec room.

It was a young woman. Her expression was one of concern and confusion, coupled with concentration. She began to speak but stopped herself.

"Can we help you?" Asked Morwena.

The woman said something in a language nobody was quite clear of and pointed towards the bridge window. When she realised this wasn't achieving anything, she sat down on the rec room sofa.

Aldo crawled across the floor gurgling and made a noise. The young lady smiled and spoke again. It was a single word.

"Jeong."

Aldo gurgled as she smiled. She looked over at the bridge window again, pointed and then pointed at the baby. But whatever she was trying to do was lost on the group.

She sat down looking nervous and uncomfortable once more.

Another passenger came in and sat down amid all the hubbub and noise. He flexed his arm in a strange way, looking around at everybody.

"Nobody stop on my account! Carry on!"

There was silence.

"I don't think anybody was stopping." Said Morwena.

"The whole thing is bugged anyway. Kayla Interplanetary is watching us right now. Like rats in cage man. Rats...in a cage."

He looked down at the confused kids.

"Kids you don't wanna be dealing with this shit. You're way too young. Go out into the fields and play. It's all just...one big joke. One big complex plot. The military know about it too."

Kip was stood stock still in the same pose he'd adopted at the end of his speech.

"What's this guy's problem? Probably that he, like the rest of you just can't plain handle the TRUTH! Well I speak truth and Kayla and the other corporates, just a bunch of liars man, I swear."

He closed his eyes and rubbed his arm.

"Cronkite. You can call me that. Don't like to use my name on THEIR ship but they already know. And they..."

He stopped and stared at the RAMSES which was currently sorting through the exploded messes.

"What the hell man? They have one of THOSE things on here? They're just like, there to watch our every action...document our movements so they can study us like rats. RATS!"

Cronkite closed his eyes again, but this time he appeared to have fallen asleep.

A man in a long trenchcoat and Fedora walked into the room. He was smoking a cigarette which he held aloft between two fingers.

Turning to the assembled group he waved his hand.

"This mystery ain't gonna solve itself. Seems to me like we're getting caught up in the semantics and not focusing on the real problem at hand."

He turned to look at the children.

"Go on home kids. You don't wanna be apart of this crazy messed up deal. Do like Mr. Cronkite here says."

Snapping his fingers sharply under Cronkite's nose elicited no response.

"Out for the count. Since he's got all the intel we need, it's a damn shame. A real damn shame."

He took another drag of his cigarette and looked over at the kneeling and still Kip.

"What's with this guy? Putting on a pantomime or what?"

He turned dramatically for a second.

"Name's Francis. I got caught up in this mess for real but I'm about to see it through to the bitter end. Ain't nothin' can't be solved with enough elbow grease and the right attitude."

Francis flicked his cigarette butt downwards and walked over to the RAMSES.

"Hey cap'n. Your toys are a little defective here."

He walked over to Melvin and took him by the arm.

"Hey buddy, you look like you could use a drink or several. I know a little place around here that'll sort you out no problem."