Moteau smiled maliciously as his hand shot toward the NF Drive activation lever. Proteau launched himself at his dark sibling hoping beyond hope to cover the distance in time,
though all too aware of his meager chances. He would be too late. Too late to stop his deviant twin's heinous deed which threatened to cast the crew of the USS Escort into a sea of doom. He'd
hoped to find a glimmer of morality buried deep within his brother's soul, but had underestimated the extent of Moteau's corruption, or perhaps overestimated his own powers of influence. In either case, he'd
failed...
The scraping of metal on metal above their heads caused them both to pause. They looked up in unison to see the grating of a ventilation shaft come loose from its brackets and begin its rapid descent to the
deck. Moteau dove aside as the heavy, metal grating impacted mere inches from where he stood. Proteau looked up to see the muzzle of a pulse rifle edging around the corner of the shaft. A face
came into view behind it, the hardened face of a career enlisted man, a smoke-stick dangling unceremoniously from his smirking mouth.
"Spencer?!?", Proteau breathed incredulously.
The corporal rendered a hasty salute to his boss as he sighted his rifle on the now prone Moteau. Taking his cue, Proteau stepped over to his brother and lifted him roughly by the shoulders. He spun
his tainted sibling around to look him in the eye.
"How could you do this?", he demanded.
As if in response, Moteau began to shift. Though he maintained his mass, his limbs drew into his torso which began to elongate, taking on a reptilian guise. His snakelike form slithered free of Proteau's
grasp.
"It wasss quite sssimple, brother.", he hissed, his forked tongue flicking between oversized fangs. "It'ss a matter of sssurvival."
Proteau placed himself between his coiled brother and the engineering console.
"Want I should kill it, boss?", Spencer queried from above.
The security officer shook his head. "I can handle it, Corporal."
Spencer shrugged noncommittally, taking a deep drag on the smoke-stick.
Proteau began his own transformation, mimicking his brother's appearance exactly. Coiled now, his head bobbed from side to side, daring his sibling to make a move, which he did.
With speed belying his size, the Moteau-snake lunged toward the console, but Proteau intercepted. The two giant snakes wrapped around one another, becoming intertwined. The struggle ensued for several seconds
before they once again separated. Both were struggling for breath, but the battle was far from over. They came together again, each wrapping its thick coils around the other. As the serpents struggled
against each other, they began to edge closer to the NF console.
A shot rang out, reverberating throughout the compartment, catching one of the snakes at the jaw line, all but severing its head. The unharmed snake released its prey as life drained out onto the deck.
Both began to shift back to their original forms, the living quietly observing the death throes of the less fortunate. Proteau looked up at Spencer who still held a bead on the dying Moteau.
"How did you know?", Proteau asked with undisguised awe.
Spencer looked at him quizzically. "Whaddaya' mean?"
"I mean", Proteau explained excitedly, "how did you know which snake to shoot?"
Spencer looked at him curiously for a moment before responding. "I didn't."
Proteau was perplexed. "What?"
"I jes' got tired a' waitin'.", Spencer replied, taking another drag on his smoke.
