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  "You got a problem, Specialist?"

  "No, Sarge. I'll keep an eye on the baby for you."

  Perez inched close to her face. The two were a similar height. "Do your damn job."

  Lindgren returned. "Got the gate, Sarge."

  Keeping his eyes on Tarva, Perez spoke to the rookie. "Great work. Willis is through. Be ready with the gate."

  The four of them moved out, seeing the other fireteams had ventured through the soft-seal. The Marines ahead all walked on the ship's flooring without hassle. The Verminus still had gravity.

  "Strange," Perez said to Lindgren. "The ship has gravity. It must be running on full power and not auxiliary. Not sure why the external lights were out. Either way, we need to board her and find out."

  The two Marines were last to exit. The seamless transition of downward pressure from one ship to another passed by with ease. The X20T and the MDSE utilized dampers to keep the soldiers grounded.

  Lindgren held up the security gate to the breach point while Perez sealed it shut with a fast-acting welder. The portal would only open with a code found on Perez or Willis' tablets.

  "Security gate is on. What do you see, Willis?" Perez asked as he moved into the hallway. Willis was too far ahead and out of sight.

  "No oxygen. Readings are at zero. It's like someone vented the ship's supply into space. But that's not all. You better get up here."

  "What have you got?" he asked as he brushed past his team.

  Willis didn't answer. Perez continued, pushing through until he found a group of Marines standing around a single location. "What is it?"

  Slowly turning her head in his direction, Willis said, "The CSO. At least what's left of him."

  Chapter Three

  Perez stared down at the bloodied corpse of Doctor Ilya Aksyonov. The CSO's body was leaning against a wall near the main dock on board the Verminus, accompanied by a pool of blood.

  "What the hell happened to him?" He shifted his eyes from one person to the next as if they had the answer loaded up and ready to go. All he got in return were shrugs and mumbles.

  Serrano knelt by the body. "Looks like he's been shot about a dozen times but not with any sort of conventional weapon."

  "What do you mean, Corporal?"

  "Take a look," Serrano said. "He's got burn marks on the front and back of his body consistent with a laser rifle. The weird thing is the size of the holes. Laser rifles don't do this much damage."

  Perez got down close to the body and understood what the corporal meant. The man's chest contained burn holes as big as tennis balls. He had not been wearing any sophisticated armor, allowing the lasers that struck him to punch right through with ease.

  "He's got no breather on which would suggest there was air on the ship at some point. So, where's the rest of his crew? The dock behind is wide open. It almost seems the CSO planned to escape before he got hit."

  "So who shot him?" Willis asked, pushing in. "There was something special on board this DSE. Maybe word got out about it."

  Perez stood and turned to Willis. "What are you thinking, pirates?"

  "Makes sense. Earth has been sending out a few contractors to deal with them across the system. I'm guessing the DSE stumbled onto something valuable. Why else would the CSO care so much about discretion?"

  Before Perez thought of an answer, something in the CSO's hand got his attention. He leaned down and pried out a small device no bigger than his little finger. The black object resembled an old-styled data drive Perez had seen online. "What the hell is this?" he said as he picked up the ribbed rectangle.

  A shriek in the distance interrupted his finding. All twelve soldiers raised their weapons in response and aimed them toward the source of the noise. Perez shoved the drive into a protected pocket of his suit.

  "Sergeants," Serrano yelled as he scuttled off. "Orders?"

  Willis and Perez looked to one another without a word. A stunned moment of silence broke out between them until Perez mustered up the ability to speak again. He shook out the thoughts in his head and took control of the situation.

  "Serrano. You're on point. Willis. Cover our six. We move out toward the sound, now. Watch your sectors and be sure not to fire on sight. We may have a few civvies still on board."

  The corporal acknowledged the order and organized his soldiers, as did Willis. Perez went about ordering his fireteam to get in line. Tarva took point while Grego covered their six. Lindgren hovered close to his sergeant.

  "You got this," Perez said to the shaking private. "This is part of the job. You're going to be fine." Perez couldn't tell if he was comforting the kid or himself. Either way, his words weren't fooling anyone.

  Serrano's fireteam pushed further ahead, leaving the two slower teams a tad behind. "Slow down, Serrano. We don't know what we're up against. Could be a team of mercenaries, for all we know."

  "Sorry, Sarge. Got a bit carried away."

  Perez caught up to Serrano as his fireteam waited stacked up against a bulkhead door. The interior of the Martian craft resembled any other vessel in the MAF fleet: the ceilings were low slung and ribbed with dull crossbeams for reinforcement. Networks of hallways and gray corridors splintered off in all directions for access, often leading to larger open areas in the ship's center.

  A deep space explorer only had the facilities to house a crew of twelve at the maximum. Most of the Verminus was taken up by onboard scanners and data processing server farms to relay the ship's findings back to Mars.

  "Door is locked, Sergeant. Orders?"

  "Blow it," Perez said. "We need to clear this boat."

  The three fireteams stood ready to breach the bulkhead and find some answers on the other side. It dawned on Perez a moment too late that the sound could not have come from the other side of the closed door.

  "Charges set. Fire in the hole."

  "No, wait," Perez yelled over the comm. By the time any of the Marines registered his command, the door had been cracked open from the concentrated blast. Serrano and Willis charged their fireteams inside and all came to a sudden stop part way in when they witnessed a sight before them.

  "Holy crap," Perez said as he entered the room. He craned his neck up the walls and saw nothing but a purple substance coating every surface. Glowing sections of wiring gave the material life, allowing it to expand and creep throughout the room on its own.

  Remaining silent, Perez had no answers for the discovery. He instead continued to sweep his eyes over the room and glance up at the high ceilings covered in the shimmering purple material.

  "This can't be good," Willis said. "And where the hell is the rest of the crew?"

  "Maybe they're back on the Invictus?" Serrano offered.

  "I doubt it," Perez said as he gravitated toward an object on the far side of what appeared to be the mess hall. Fixed tables and chairs poked out of the purple ooze; their metallic surface reflected the radiance above. A hand poked out along the ground with twitching fingers.

  "I think I've got someone. Tarva, Grego. Get over here." Perez shouldered his rifle as he approached the moving body. He lowered down into a squat and found a young man in desperate need of medical attention with twisted, broken legs. His eyes appeared dazed, and his head gushed with blood.

  Perez got close to the man and said, "What happened here?"

  The eyes before him danced around, jumping from one soldier to the next until they closed.

  "Are you okay?" Perez asked, grabbing the person's shoulder.

  Landing on Perez, the eyes of the man stretched open as he went to speak. "They're here."

  Perez turned to Tarva. "Who?" Before he could understand what the person meant, one of the Marines from Willis' fireteam yelled out. Something hit the man in the back and lobbed him into the air. The soldier hit the purple floor and fell silent. He was dead with a searing hole in his back.

  Panic erupted as another Marine died, falling to the ground in a heap, causing the rest to start shooting in random directions. Bullets fle
w out as a third soldier took several hits from a distant laser weapon.

  Perez stumbled back as he realized he needed to take control of the situation. "Check your fire. Regroup and fall back." Some order was restored for a few seconds as the Marines all began to slink back to the door, firing at an invisible enemy. As Willis led the last half of her fireteam back to the ship, something no Marine had ever seen before came barreling in from the breached bulkhead.

  "What the hell?" Willis called out.

  A group of tall, mechanical creatures stepped through the gap. The lanky monsters were not human. Within a second, they fired upon Willis. Her body wriggled with a hail of purple laser shots, snuffing out her life.

  "Daisy," Perez yelled three seconds too late. She was dead along with several more Marines. Time seemed to slow down as the remaining soldiers fought back against the lean giants who were wielding long, foreign weapons. The Marines got a few rounds off before being hit by streaking laser fire.

  Perez snapped out of his trance and fired his weapon, blazing the trigger to drain his clip on one of the eight-foot-tall beasts. His target stumbled backward but failed to take much in the way of damage.

  As Perez's empty magazine clattered on the floor, he reloaded and spotted Lindgren out of the corner of his eye about to be shot by several lasers. He charged toward the private and grabbed him by the shoulder. "We have to go, now." Perez yanked Lindgren in the opposite direction of the one-sided gunfight behind and headed for a tall vent in the wall. He kicked open the grille and pushed the private through as he heard more soldiers succumb to the attack.

  "Go, go, go," Perez yelled as he pulled Lindgren further along. He knew the narrow tunnel to be an access point for a technician to reach the server farm on the deck below. A few of the bridging systems existed within the walls and allowed the two soldiers a place to escape through. Whether the monsters were following behind was another matter.

  "Don't stop, Private. We'll take the ladder." Perez pushed Lindgren ahead. The rookie fumbled on a short ladder a few seconds later and scrambled down it with Perez hot on his tail. The two halted when they each saw the server farm full of purple. "Go back up."

  The two soldiers scurried up and found a corner to hide in. None of the tall, skinny, mechanized beasts followed them into the vent area, leaving them both alive for the moment.

  "What happened?" Lindgren asked. "They all died and we ... "

  "We survived, Private ... That's what goddamn happened."

  "No. We left them there to die. We abandoned our squad. I didn't even fire a single bullet." He got close to the sergeant. "I need to go back out there." Lindgren stepped toward the walkway.

  Perez pressed the private hard against a wall. "Stop. You'll be dead in less than three seconds."

  "But, Sarge—"

  "But nothing. I didn't save your ass to let you die. Now sit down and shut up while I try and figure this thing out." Perez felt himself slam into something solid behind and slide to the floor. He brought up his tablet and had no idea what to search for or if he should risk communicating with the Invictus.

  Lindgren slid down his own wall and dropped his rifle.

  "Catch your breath and pick up that weapon. Do not let go of your rifle or leave it for anyone to find."

  "Anyone? You mean like those fucking aliens?"

  "Aliens?" Perez said. The word hit his ears with a cringe.

  "Yes. What else could those things be? They were taller than any human, skinnier than possible, and covered in armored suits. I couldn't even see any eyes."

  Shaking his head, Perez realized the private was right. His mind tried to deny the obvious. "I know the MAF doesn't have any drones with that kind of capability. Maybe these were something from Earth. Some new tech, or ... "

  Lindgren shook his head fast. "They can't be. I saw them bleed."

  Perez realized he saw the same thing. A short silence formed between them. The private broke it after a few moments. "What are we supposed to do now?"

  Perez's eyes danced from one possibility to the other. He always had an answer for any situation the MAF had thrown at him. Hostile and deadly problems of the service were his expertise. But aliens on a stranded DSE? There was an apparent limit to his mind's capability to think.

  He turned to Lindgren and shrugged. "I don't know what to do."

  Chapter Four

  Perez leaned against a wall covered in blinking lights as visions of the tall aliens plagued his mind. The creatures could be mistaken for advanced drone but they had organic dark-purple flesh sticking out of their peculiar armor. The aliens stood on two stick-thin legs holding up heavy chest plating held together by a mess of cables. In place of a head was a smooth protective shell devoid of eyes. The monsters carried long weapons similar to a laser rifle with apparently ten times the power. It was unlike anything Perez had ever seen.

  Like a man possessed, he couldn't take his eyes off the small screen built into his armor. He checked for life signs of the three fireteams every few seconds, only ever finding Lindgren's heartbeat or his own. The rest of the squad was declared dead according to his system. KIA certificates had been generated on his tablet for post-mission processing. If Perez and Lindgren managed to find their way back to the X20T and escape to the Invictus, they could call for help or attempt to pilot the giant ship back to safer territory.

  Perez hit refresh on his life-sign scanner, wishing for a miracle out loud but silently knowing the machine wouldn't find anything. "Goddammit," he yelled kicking the wall in front of him. "This is such bullshit."

  "I don't think they're alive, Sarge," Lindgren said. "Most of them were dead when we ... "

  "We did what we had to, Private. Sometimes you have to do the unthinkable to fight another day. I know it sucks, but at least we're alive."

  Lindgren rocked back and forth while gripping his knees. He leaned forward, eager to ask a question. "How did you know to come through here?"

  Perez gazed away, thinking back to his time as a factory worker at Tyson Heavy Industries. The mega corporation built many of the MAF's ships including their DSEs. Perez knew the ship's layout well.

  "Doesn't matter," he finally said.

  A silence expanded within the cramped space, creating a bigger rift between Perez's authority and Lindgren's willingness to acknowledge the Sergeant as his commander.

  Perez shook his head for the tenth time as he scanned the area again for human life. The only thing the scanner managed to achieve was to pick up the aliens temporarily on his display as anomalies. Their mobile bodies flashed up for a few seconds before disappearing.

  "What's our next move?" Lindgren asked. "We can't just sit here waiting for those things to find us."

  The private's confidence was surprising given the circumstances. If Lindgren managed to survive his first mission—this mission in particular—the kid would be able to handle anything.

  Perez pushed himself up the wall and rotated his neck from side to side. "We're not going to do that. We're going back out there to make a break for the ship."

  Lindgren nodded sharply. "I'm in, but how are we supposed to bypass them?"

  Glancing down at his wrist, Perez pressed the scan button on his tablet. A few of the aliens showed up on his display and vanished a second later. "With the help of this. Unfortunately, your tablet doesn't have a scanner. Only commanders are privy to the tech. I'll keep scanning until we find a gap and move out. This thing still has a day of battery on it."

  Perez stepped back toward the mess hall and peeked around the corner. "Probably best to avoid that direction. I've also got a map of a standard issue MDSE on my tablet. If we head past the server farm, we should be able to find an access tunnel leading back to the dock. Just have to pray we don't run into any more of those tall bastards."

  Lindgren's head stayed glued to his neck as he refused to lift his chin up from the floor. His fingers jittered, stifling his confidence to move out. The realization of going back out into the open seemed to disabl
e his legs.

  "Hey, Private," Perez said. "We've got this. Just need to take our time and sneak through the ship. You're standing with the Commander of this mission who has the access code to open the X20T's security gate. Could be a lot worse."

  Lindgren lifted his head and slowed down his breathing a little. He tightened the grip on his rifle and twisted the underside of the long weapon in his fist.

  "Let's go," Perez said as he hit the scanner. He left his rifle shouldered. There was little point firing upon any of the beasts. The two soldiers wouldn't be able to put up a fight with only two rifles and no heavy weapons. Perez still had his HE rounds sitting in his pack, but the risks outweighed the benefits.

  "Stay low. Keep right on my ass and follow my every step. We can't do much about the sound of our suits, but we'll move with purpose."

  "Go it, Sarge. Lead the way."

  The scanner button became available again as Perez moved out toward a ladder. The thin alloy of the service tunnel traversed down into the server farm. His initial scan showed nothing within the device's 100-foot, orbital radius. Anything outside the scope of his wrist was a mystery.

  Perez hit a button at the top of the ladder to open a seal between the levels of the ship. The protective layer helped to isolate one area from the next in the event of a fire or worse.

  "Here goes nothing. Slide down the ladder. They should have taught you this in training." Perez mounted the ladder's rung and interlocked his boots around the edges before sliding down the smooth surface with ease. He landed with a hint of grace and hit the scanner again to recheck his surroundings. Four figures glowed on the edge of the radius and disappeared. They were not human.

  "We've got four of these skinny bastards up ahead. Keep it quiet when you land."

  Lindgren planted down a bit harder than expected and rolled forward. Perez caught him before he smacked into a server tower and lifted him back up to his feet. "Quiet. No need for us to botch this just yet."