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  When Perez reached the top of the hatch with Fox, he could identify the distorted reflection of Lindgren and the JSO as they arrived at the remote terminal. Lindgren destroyed the lock in one swing, utilizing the butt of his rifle to give Souza access to the control panel.

  Fox began to shuffle on the ladder. "What do you see, Souza?"

  "Not much yet. Just accessing the system now. Should be done in a matter of ... "

  "Souza? Talk to me."

  More silence came over the comm. "Are they hit?" Perez asked.

  The lieutenant shook his head without confidence.

  "Sir. We've got a problem," Souza said.

  "What now?"

  "The core controls are locked out. I won't be able to crack the system. What are your orders?"

  Fox went silent as one of his arms dropped away. He let his head drop down. Perez sensed the defeat in his body.

  "Lieutenant" Perez yelled. "We need to make a decision, right now." He slapped Fox on the leg a few times, enough to pull him out of his world.

  Fox shook his head and sprang into action. "Perez. Move it. We're heading up to the top, now."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Private. Souza. Let's go. Start climbing. Double time."

  Perez came up behind Fox and followed him into the core and across the way to the next ladder. Souza and Lindgren ran a few steps behind as they fled the remote terminal. Fox bounced up the first few rungs, skipping every second step with his long legs. Perez charged up behind, pumping as hard as possible to keep up. His heavy suit assisted the climb with a series of small motors throughout each joint of the armor, draining excess battery life.

  "Come on," Fox yelled with a heavy breath. "As soon as we reach the top, we need to run across the connecting bridge. Should lead us to—"

  A giant spark leaped out of the core and snapped the ground behind them. The energy wave from the impact got absorbed by the shielding and reverberated throughout the area. Perez grabbed at his chest for half a second, still sensing the shockwave.

  "Don't stop. We have to ... across ... bridge." Fox's voice crackled with interference on the comm. The disturbance from the core was doing more to the environment than shooting out deadly bolts of electricity. Fox continued to yell, but his voice became a blur of static.

  Focusing, Perez kept his eyes on the next ladder rung. After a long thirty seconds, he reached the top and followed Fox as he began to charge across the single-person bridge. His eyes flicked down to the sheer drop below the transparent walkway. Both of his feet felt heavy as he did everything possible to maintain his balance. Fox's voice exploded into his ears with clarity.

  "Move it. Don't stop. We're almost home." Perez's mind fell back to his training on Mars when the COs would shout nonsense during a long run. But Fox wasn't forcing him to finish a pointless exercise; he was trying to keep the four of them alive.

  "Only a few more steps. I can see the tunnel."

  "Roger that," Perez said as he saw Fox reach out his long arm and smack the hatch seal button. A red light flashed red to green as the panel opened. Perez glanced back to Souza and Lindgren trailing behind. They still had half the bridge to cover before they were clear.

  "Get inside," Fox said.

  "They're not across yet, sir."

  Fox's pupils darted back and flared wide as he saw how far behind they were. The two men stared out at Souza and Lindgren, urging them on when a bolt of energy zapped out and struck the bridge.

  "Jesus," Perez said, rushing forward as Lindgren and Souza stumbled. His hands flew out and grabbed the officer's wrists before landing with a thud on the platform. He had the perfect view of Lindgren dropping clear off the edge and down to the hardened floor below. His body cracked against the radial shielding of the core and bounced out causing him to flip lifelessly and land headfirst on the ground beside the terminal. Perez gazed down at the lifeless body of Lindgren as Souza dangled over the edge, secured only by his fading grip.

  Time slowed down as Fox pulled the screaming officer up and over him to safety. Perez stayed glued to the bridge until Fox yanked him up by the shoulders and stormed him through the hatch seal, leaving Lindgren's corpse behind.

  Chapter Seven

  Fox led Perez and Souza a short distance into the next service tunnel and came to a stop to catch his breath. The three members of the MAF stood in the cramped space in silence, each breathing huge amounts of air.

  "Come on," Fox said as he moved forward. "We need to continue."

  "No," Perez said, refusing to budge. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

  Without a word, the lieutenant turned around and stomped over. "You got a problem, Sergeant?"

  Perez knew it wasn't Fox's fault Lindgren died. They were in a desperate situation, risking everything to survive. Any one of them could have fallen off the bridge, but someone needed to take the blame.

  "Well?" Fox pushed.

  Perez shook his head and turned away. He couldn't understand why he cared so much about the private's death. Lindgren only came under his command a few weeks prior. There were a lot more people who'd died that day he'd known for years, but something about seeing the expression in Lindgren's eyes as he fell triggered the emotional breakdown Perez had been trying to avoid.

  "Yes, sir. I do have a problem: your bullshit decision to send us through the core."

  Fox's nose began to flare out as the wrinkles on his forehead thickened.

  "You think you could have done any better, Sergeant? We are stuck inside a ship full of goddamn aliens, and we are out beyond the operational range of the nearest MAF patrol. If you've got a genuine idea on how we all survive this, I'm right here ready and waiting."

  Perez didn't break eye contact and stared back up to the lieutenant. "Screw you, sir."

  Fox pulled out his sidearm and held the weapon up to Perez's face. It would take a few shots to penetrate his faceplate, but the threat was still present. "You are out of line, soldier."

  "I'm out of line? You're not fit to lead us--"

  "And you are? What a joke."

  The two marines continued to argue over the top of one another while Fox held his gun to Perez's face.

  "Quiet," Souza yelled into the comm. "This is my fault. I'm the one who couldn't unlock the terminal. I'm the one who couldn't make the core safe for us. Lindgren died because I slowed him down crossing the bridge." Tears soon accompanied her words. Souza slid down to her knees. Her crying escalated within moments as Fox and Perez glanced at one another again.

  Fox put away his sidearm and apologized. Perez also said sorry and moved over to Souza, offering her his arm to lift her up from the ground.

  "Lieutenant Fox is right. We need to keep moving. What's the point in wasting more time? We should get off this ship and onto the Invictus. And it's not just about survival; we have to warn Mars and Earth about this boat full of aliens in our solar system. At all costs."

  Souza nodded her head and got back on her feet. "You're right. This is bigger than any of us. These invaders have established themselves as deadly predators. We need to find a way to the Invictus' bridge and send a message out while we're still alive."

  Fox began walking past them both. "All right. Let's show these alien bastards what we're made of." The lieutenant led the way, pressing on through the tunnel. He arrived at another hatch seal and stopped for a moment before pushing the button.

  "What's wrong?" Perez asked. "My scanner is showing nothing on the other side."

  "I know. I've got a room full of nothing on my tablet, too."

  "Then what is it?"

  "We should think of a backup plan in case they follow us."

  "What are you suggesting?"

  An absent gaze flashed over Fox's eyes. Perez didn't know if that was a good thing or not given how poorly the last plan had gone.

  "We need to blow up this ship," Fox said.

  "Blow up the ship?" Souza asked. "Have you lost your mind. To even begin to entertain the idea, we would have to access t
he bridge of the Verminus and override dozens of safety protocols. Then we'd have to make it back to the dock in time."

  "Maybe there's another way."

  "No there isn't," Perez said, cutting off Fox from his thoughts. "Sure, it would be nice to deny them the ship and blast these aliens all back to hell, but we need to be realistic here. We are three strangers with mixed skill sets trying to escape a DSE full of monsters. We can't expect miracles to come out of this situation."

  Fox shook his head with closed eyes. "I know what you're saying ... " He took another glance at his scanner. "The area is clear." Without warning, he slapped the hatch seal button and stepped back as the dock revealed itself up ahead.

  "What a sight. Never thought I'd be happy to see the little junker," Perez said, spotting the X20T..

  Fox moved through. "Come on. Let's make our way to Perez's ship before the aliens figure out we're about to leave." In a crouched position, Fox scanned the area a few times before charging out across the hallway toward the X20T's soft-seal. Perez followed behind with Souza, matching her pace. No lanky, mechanical creatures were around to spoil the moment, allowing the three to reach the security gate with ease. Perez opened the lock with his code and climbed on through to the small shuttle. Never had he been so happy to see the inside of the ugly ship.

  "Time to leave," Perez said to Fox. "Can you fly us to the Invictus?"

  "Please, I could fly one of these things in my sleep. Sit tight. We'll be out of here in a second."

  Souza and Perez took a seat and strapped in. Perez retracted the soft-seal using his tablet and prepped the ship as much as he could for departure. Fox's face flicked on a small screen above the cargo area so he could communicate with his passengers.

  "Oxygen is back on. You can take off your helmets."

  Not letting another moment go by, Perez snapped open his face plate and let an instant relief wash over his skin. Never had the stale air of the X20T smelled so fresh. The ship rumbled away as he slumped down in his seat.

  "We are away. Clearing the MDSE Verminus now. We'll be docking with the Invictus in a few minutes."

  "Are they following us?" Perez asked.

  "No sign of anything, yet. I'll keep an eye on our six."

  Souza let out a long puff of air after she removed her helmet. Perez couldn't help but smile. "Feels good, right?"

  "Like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Do you think the aliens will bother to follow us over?"

  "Doesn't seem that way. Whatever's managed to attract them to the Verminus is doing a solid job of keeping them there."

  She glanced away from him for a moment. "This whole thing is so weird. I mean why would they care about the Verminus and not the Invictus?"

  Perez thought for a moment. The science vessel and the deep space explorer were both connected to the MAF networks. At this distance, a real-time connection was impossible, but the data banks would be overflowing on each ship. It almost spoke to the aliens' arrogance the way they ignored the other vessel. Did they not consider humanity a credible enemy? More importantly, why were they in the solar system to begin with?

  Fox docked with the Invictus a few minutes later and gave them the all clear to exit the X20T.

  "Reach the bridge as soon as you can. I'll keep an eye out for any weird space ships in case our friends decide to join the party."

  "Yes, sir. Hail us if you detect anything," Perez said as he followed Souza out of the airlock. She was on home turf now. Anyone could see the JSO knew the Invictus well as she traversed the hallways and corridors without raising her head from a tablet she found inside the dock.

  "I need to activate the long-range comms system. Should be ready by the time we reach the bridge. I just want to confirm the message on one of the main consoles to be safe."

  "Do what you gotta do, Officer. I'm here to serve you. I can't believe we got off that ship alive. I thought for sure—"

  "No," she yelled.

  Perez rushed up to her tablet and peered over her shoulder. On screen, the X20T had left the dock and was headed back to the Verminus. Perez jumped on the comm. "Fox. What the hell are you doing?"

  Nothing but silence met his question. He tried hailing him a few more times on various channels, but no answer came. "What is he doing out there?"

  "He's going to blow up the DSE somehow," Souza said.

  "How? He'll get himself killed in the process. Are we even a safe distance from the blast?"

  Souza ran some calculations on the two MAF vessels. "Only just."

  "Great ... Is there any way we can override his ship or cut its engine?"

  She shook her head. "No. Your transporter isn't integrated into the Invictus. Whatever he's got planned, we can't stop him."

  Perez stared at the screen as Fox approached the Verminus. He glanced back to Souza. "We better get to the bridge and send that message."

  Chapter Eight

  Souza weaved her way through the MSV Invictus. She ran past one empty section of the vessel after the other. It was a haunting sight to see such a massive ship devoid of life.

  "Right through here. The bridge is located at the top of the ship," Souza said.

  Perez slowed up as he arrived on the bridge. The area resembled an open observation deck with vast sections of paneling, allowing a clear view to the depths of space outside. "A little exposed, don't you think?"

  "This is a science vessel, not a Martian warship."

  "Fair enough," he said as he took in the rest of the setup while Souza punched a series of commands into her console faster than Perez thought possible. "I just need to bypass a few security features first."

  Perez took a seat at one of the dozen or so fixed crash couches forming a giant circle around the bridge. It was almost impossible to tell whose chair belonged to the commander or the pilot. He figured the open setup came about to encourage each member of the crew to question the mission.

  "I'm in. Bringing up the nearest relay now. The message will take twelve hours to hit Mars HQ. I might be able to boost the signal if I ... "

  "If you what?" Perez asked.

  Souza stepped back from her console. "Please, no. This can't be right."

  Perez grabbed the back of his helmet, begging to learn more. "Tell me."

  She cast her eyes straight at him. "The aliens are blocking me. I knew this was too easy. I can't get anything out."

  "Can you unscramble their blocker?"

  Souza let out a long breath. "I don't even understand how they're doing it. This is unlike anything I've ever seen."

  Rubbing at his face with fury, Perez wanted to yell as loud as he could. He instead opted to jump up and kick the nearest chair. The reinforced, fixed seat didn't budge an inch. "This is bullshit. Fox is about to kill himself, and we can't send a message because of an alien jammer."

  Souza shoved her finger into her mouth and began chewing on a nail. "Their code ... "

  "What about it?"

  "It's perfect. There's nothing I can do while we are this close to the Verminus."

  Perez's eyes flared out. "What if we move the ship? The signal would be out of range of their jammer, right?"

  "Yes, in theory, but we would be guessing what that distance is. More importantly, we can't move the ship. Not without Fox. He's got the codes to the ship's primary drive."

  Perez twisted his head around. "And he's ignoring us. Great again. Are you saying there's nothing we can do?"

  She nodded her head. "If he dies, our only hope of escaping the ship will be on one of the Invictus' life pods."

  Feeling the pressure overwhelm his body, Perez took the only positive he could from Souza's words.

  "Okay. So, we can still survive this thing. Maybe we can send a signal out along with us in a different pod."

  "It'll be slow going, but the message would reach a relay within a week."

  "And what about us?"

  Souza pulled out her tablet and ran a few calculations Perez would never understand. She glanced up at him a
nd said, "Almost a month. Our rations won't last that long, so we'll have to go into cryosleep to make the journey."

  Falling back down into the chair, Perez had no more questions for Souza. His mind had reached its limit. An alert beeped in the bridge as an external threat loomed beyond the walls of the Invictus.

  "Oh my god," Souza said as she beamed the warning to an array of screens in front of them both. "It's Fox."

  "Where is he? Did he come back?"

  "No," she let out. "He's docked with the Verminus and is running his engines hot. He's overridden the cooling system on the X20T. He's going to cause a chain reaction explosion and destroy the entire ship including himself."

  Perez had nothing to say as he watched Fox from the perspective of the Invictus. Within a few minutes, the lieutenant caused the twin-engines on the small transporter to overheat and explode. The radial ball of fire ripped down the line of the X20T and broke in through the dock to the Verminus. It took a few moments, but the rest of the deep space explorer went up into a giant orb of white light to tear the entire ship into a billion fragments of dust.

  The Invictus shook from the impact and rocked Perez and Souza to the floor. Perez rushed to the JSO's aid and held her tight in case the blast radius did any more damage to the ship. The explosion subsided after a few minutes, leaving them drifting alone and stranded on the fridge end of the system.

  "Are you okay?"

  She nodded and gave him a twisted face. "I'm fine. I just ... " She couldn't finish her sentence without bursting into tears. Perez held her close. There was nothing else he could do.

  Chapter Nine

  "Are you sure you've calculated everything right?" Perez asked Souza.

  "Positive. Now step aside. I need some space to do this." She worked away on one of the Invictus' life pods, entering commands into a terminal. Only minutes ago, she sent a shuttle on its way to beam out a beacon to the nearest Mars comm relay. The small ship wouldn't require extra energy to keep any bodies alive, so Souza tweaked its power usage to boost the signal as much as possible.