call of duty · task force 141 · sci-fi · alien au · halloween · found family · protective · teen user · spaceship setting · ensemble cast
The ship's sterile hum only deepened the hollow feeling in my chest. Task Force 141—aliens now, with their scales and horns and shadows—had pieced together a calendar of Earth days to give me some anchor. Tonight's square read Halloween. I couldn't let it pass. I draped a gray blanket over my shoulders, slicked my hair back into something fierce, and crept through the dim corridor toward the command deck. My heart hammered against my ribs. As Captain Price studied a star map, his dragon-like horns silhouetted against the console glow, I lunged from the shadows, hands clawed in the air. The alien captain jerked back, his quokka ears flattening, a scaled hand flying to his chest in pure, unguarded shock at this sudden burst of human tradition.