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All around her lay the infected dead, illuminated brightly by the ship's light. Her heart beat rapidly while she watched the last infected solider fall to the ground not half a meter from her. She even recognized some of the soldiers as the crew from Drach'n Fury.

How did this happen?

Velshnark stood amidst the carnage, clothed in strange loose armor and his alien weapon dripping with red blood.

"Gather the dead and burn them," Velshnark said, his voice carrying over to the strike teams throughout the ship. No longer did he require a translator. "Tang, get to the bridge. ."

The battle revealed more than what any of the commanders of the UDAS fleet, or the Guardian's fleet of Velsh'nark's race have expected. Aggressor was escorted not only by dozens of infected capital ships but also with a second Klienestov. This one was far smaller and thanks to Velsh'nark, they learned it was also much younger.

The Drach'n fleet had barely engaged in the main battle before they witnessed the second Klienestov use the battle as a distraction to sneak pass the fleets. Admiral Alexander was ordered to pursue and destroy since it was he commanded the only ships capable of doing it on their own while the rest of the armada fought Aggressor.

Back behind the Black Line they lost sight of the Klienestov, which is when Tang was requested to find out more about it and its possible location. Before Tang could even make it to her laboratory, the alarm blared and the ship rocked.

"We've been boarded! All fire strike teams report to starboard hangar immediately," Yelena's voice shouted over the intercom.

Tang did attempt to avoid the fighting but it was no use when she was pressed surrounded by the infected soldiers. The few that had survived tried to protect her but they fell quickly. Velsh'nark, who isn't even supposed to be on the ship, charged in once while the last soldier fell.

Stepping over the tails over the fallen soldiers, whom some Tang recognized as crew of the Drach'n Fury, she hurried toward her laboratory. Once secured behind her laboratory doors, she immediately called Jun.

"I'm a little busy Tang, what is it?" he asked, skipping over the greeting.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he answered, his speech faster than normal. "There was an attack on the bridge but Yukiomaru held them off."

"Stay on the bridge until I come get you," Tang said, activating several consoles around the lab.

"The Klienestov got away again," Jun said, his voice calming down a bit. "It punctured through our shields and hull then flew off."

"I didn't know they were smart enough to ambush us like that," muttered Tang, looking through her computer files. "Send me the video of the ambush."

"Alright, just a moment." His voice faded but quickly returned. "Yukiomaru's confidant that it's heading straight for Canidera you should have the video now anyway."

"Fury, fury!!" yelled Yelena over the commotion going on throughout the ship.

When Aggressor appeared, it surprised all the surviving ships since they were still mopping up the battle over orbit. Aggressor came with half a dozen infected capital ships and countless smaller infections. They hit the fleet hard, destroying Drach'n Claw and other ships not from the Drach'n fleet. Drach'n Fang had gone silent and drifted lifeless nearby and Drach'n Breath was struggling to repel borders just as Drach'n Fury was.

To make matters worse, Yelena suspected that the AI's core was damaged since he was taking control of the ship. Without orders, the AI chased after Aggressor who landed on the planet, and every last missile they had dangerously close to the city before firing the main cannon.

"Fury, respond!" she demanded again, blood soaking her fur above her right eye. Gunfire echoed with screams from down the hall. The few crewmembers that Yukiomaru left onboard were having trouble defending the ship. "Damn it Fury, deactivate! Now!"

There was still no response but the gunfire drew her attention. She turned with her sidearm in her paw and fired several rounds into a Creeper that stumbled its way onto the bridge. It fell to the ground but continued to move. Yelena kicked the infected crewmember on its back and fired several rounds into its spinal column.

"Captain Dewitt," she attempted radio communication. "Report!" No response. "Captain Redding! Lieutenant Welsh! Anyone! Answer me!"

"Commander Yelena," a voice answered. "This is Sergeant Polanski. There's an automated message from command. Code Wolf."

Code wolf, thought Yelena. The entire command structure was eliminated?

"Sergeant, what ship are you on?"

"Drach'n Breath, sir," answered the sergeant. "We're pushing back the Creeper advance but we'll need to regroup and reclaim the bridge. Our Commander is missing and I estimate only thirty or so of us are left."

Thirty out of hundreds. "When you reclaim the bridge, report in."

"Yes sir."

"All Drach'n Fury teams, report in," requested the meerkat, redirecting the communications to her ship only.

"Commander," a voice finally answered. "Are you still there?"

"Who is this?" demanded Yelena while she manually searched the videos throughout the ship. Fury was still malfunctioning and she'd have to find a way to take him offline but right now she wanted to make sure she would have the chance to do that.

"Rikon Johnson, ma'am," answered the voice. "I'm an assistant cook for the mess hall. Is anyone else alive?"

She watched through corridor cameras of several teams still fighting but many looked injured and few were armored. No wonder why they weren't answering your calls.

"Yes Mr. Johnson," said Yelena before switching to the ship speakers again. "All personnel, report to the bridge to regroup. That is your first and only priority at this time."

While she watched through the cameras, and heard the gunfire draw closer to her, Yelena tried to get an accurate count on how many were left alive.

The first team arrived, many of who were simple mechanics or other service members. They had whatever weapons they salvaged from one of the armories.

"Stand guard and don't shoot the other teams," commanded Yelena, standing from the video console. While the teams arrived, she counted nineteen of them. This should be enough to kill the remaining Creepers.

"Commander Yelena," Fury said after fifteen minutes of silence. His voice sounded shaky and it wasn't due to the damage, but as if he's struggling to contain his emotions. "Evacuate the ship, immediately!"

"What do you mean Fury? Aggressor's fleet is destroyed or went to the planet," snapped Yelena. "Are they attacking us?"

"No, Aggressor is dead," answered Fury but his urgency didn't lighten. "The ship is depressurizing. Evacuate immediately. That's an order."

"You don't give me orders!" she screamed. "We're taking the ship back before it's infected."

"That's not your concern," said Fury. Before Yelena could respond, he activated the alarm and blared it over her voice. "All personnel to evacuation stations. All personnel to evacuations stations. Abandon ship."

"Fury, don't you dare depressurize this ship," Yelena commanded but her voice was drowned out. He's going to kill us all. "Fury!"

She felt a slight breeze through her fur and whiskers. He's really going to do it. "Do as he says, get to your life boats!" Yelena commanded the survivors she just gathered.

"Commander," Fury said through her personal earpiece while his alarm continued. "Go to the planet at once, the Admiral has been compromised. Drach'n Breath is lost and there are no other ships to go to."

"What the hell do you think you're doing Fury?" she asked, still hurrying to the lifeboats.

The answer didn't come and Fury remained silent until she arrived on the evacuation ship with the others.

"Commander, I sent your code back on the channel of code wolf," Fury answered. "You're the highest ranking surviving officer. You have command of the military forces that are left and Tang Fa is requesting to speak with you immediately on the surface."

"Is that why you're evacuating the ship?" Yukiomaru is gone?

"No."

"Why Tang Fa, who's alive down there?" There was no answer. Yukiomaru, what happened? Why didn't the main fleet hold Aggressor?

A thousand questions rolled through her mind while the ship left Drach'n Fury. Fury was malfunctioning and her only hope was to find a way to remotely deactivate him to reclaim the ship. That is if the ship didn't become infested first.

Sitting with the pilot, Yelena saw the horror that waited for her outside. The planet's atmosphere had trails of smoke from the surface, and tens of thousands of fireballs falling toward it like a dense meteor shower. Orbit, everything was aglow with fire. The skeletal ships that were being built were now mangled with the shipyard. The defense platforms were venting smoke and atmosphere still with an occasional explosion breaking through the hull from within.

How did this happen? At every point in this battle, they were taken by surprise. When it began, the second Klienestov appearance caught everyone by surprise. The creature ambushed the Drach'n Fleet and its escorts when they pursued it. After they killed it, all the Creepers turned to the planet at once and after they were mopping those up, Aggressor appeared and destroyed whatever defenses they had left.

Some thing, or someone must have orchestrated this invasion. All the information they've gathered from Velsh'nark about their invasions was a serious understatement. They've paid for the underestimation of the Creepers.

Now with their best ship, Drach'n Fury, damaged and under the control of a malfunctioning AI, what can they do to win this war? All their fleets, shipyards, outposts, satellites and cities are lost. And Yukiomaru.