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"Update Wolcotts?" Commander Ibori requested over the radio.

A.J. exchanged fire with some strange aliens that have been infected by the Creepers. Standing near the engines, the ship was being overgrown by a Hacker Infection that was fueled by the ship's power. It was the wolves' job to manually remove the infection and to stop its growth at all cost. If Drach'n Breath were to be infected and controlled by the Creepers then it'd do an immeasurable amount of damage

"Almost there," Alex answered. He couldn't give an accurate time of how long it'd be until they reached the engines because it was impossible to tell how many infections have made it aboard.

"Major Redding is on route to provide additional support," their commander informed the team.

The projectiles from the wolves sunk into the infected flesh of the alien and tore the Creepers control from the body. Flower pods of the Hacker Infection were torn to shreds by the gunfire as well, and the team of four wolves moved forward. The infection had grown on all sides of the corridor but the wolves have learned to spot a threat among the growth and how to eliminate or avoid it.

"Copy that," Alex responded.

Following the lead of Alex, the wolves checked a door at the end of the corridor. It was the entrance to a maintenance storage room but Alex led them in. A.J. sealed the door behind them so that they would have a little warning if an enemy tried to follow.

"How far are we from the engine room?" Alex asked to Kaitlin.

"Two hundred meters," she answered through the radio. They were all fully armored, as was everyone left alive on the ship. The Creepers have released a microscopic infection form that has proven fatal for several capital class ships. A purification solution was added to the life support systems but it was still too risky to breath in unfiltered air.

Under his armor, A.J. scars from the last battle could not be seen. That battle had cost the Wolcott pack one of their pack mates, and they were having difficulties adjusting to a four-wolf team, instead of five wolves.

"Where is the reinforcement fleet?" asked Alex. He was wandering around the maintenance storage room looking for any sign of infection. A.J. and Yuri covered the door while Kaitlin continued hacking into different systems.

"They're still a couple hours away," Kaitlin answered. "They're having difficulties finding us with the star so unstable. It didn't help that they're rendezvous was so far back behind the front lines."

It was a risky move that the Guardian Moon moved to this star system because the star was on the verge of going supernova. The radiation levels were dangerous to the ships, but it also was dangerous to the Creepers who suffered more from the radiation. The Creepers pursued the fleets regardless and the fleets were now trying to hold the line.

The star was so unstable that it could go supernova any minute, or it could take another hundred years before it'd destabilize. If it were to blow now, the fleet would have very short notice before they could escape the blast. Which made the wolves' mission much more difficult.

"All right, Pack," Alex said after checking the room. "I know we haven't gotten very much sleep in the last week but the reinforcement fleet is almost here. Let's cut the Creepers off from our power supply and purge them from this ship."

"Yes sir!" they all barked.

A.J. grabbed the handle of the closet door and opened it for his team. Entering the infested corridors again, they were immediately met with the gunfire of the strange infected aliens. With a few precise shots from Yuri, the infected aliens fell to the ground.

With their leader taking the lead, the rest of the pack followed. Coming to a perpendicular corridor, they heard and saw gunfire come from around the corner. The pack pressed their backs to the wall and tried to get closer to see where the Creepers were. The gunfire did not last long though and suddenly stopped.

"It's Redding," Kaitlin informed the pack. She was the only one that could make sense of the identification system when it was so scrambled by the star's radiation.

"Major Redding," Alex spoke over the radio. "This is the Wolcott pack. We're coming out."

The wolves rounded the corner to see that it was indeed the crimson armored wolf. His rifle was aimed at the downed Creepers that he must have just shot. He looked up at the wolf pack and waved for them to keep going. Calvin Redding would take another route to the engine room, to help cover the team's flank.

The pack complied and continued their way to leave Redding to find his own way. They've killed about a dozen infections already, which was a large number of the infected aliens that had boarded so other than the Hacker Infection slowing them down, the Wolcott pack made it to the engine room relatively quickly.

Inside the engine room of Drach'n Breath looked like a jungle though. Leafy vines, bushes and even tree like plants were growing everywhere, all fueled by the ship's power source. The metallic walls couldn't be seen because the foliage was so thick.

"Let's start pruning," said Alex while the rest of the pack remained shocked at how quickly the infection had spread. "A.J., Yuri, find the vines that breached Drach'n Breath's water tanks and sever it. Kaitlin and I will handle the main power source."

The Hacker Infection responded to their presence by a few of the projectile flowers opening up but they were quickly torn to shreds by gunfire. Several of the hostile foliage near the engine was shredded as well, from gunfire not by the Wolcott pack. It would seem that Redding had arrived too.

A.J. took the lead while he kept his weapon pressed against his shoulder while he shot at any movement among the infestation, and any flower bulb that could potentially spit a projectile at him or Yuri. Yuri followed and covered just as much fire, both wolves performing accurate shots on nothing other than the Creeper foliage.

They followed the infestation to the far end of the engine room. The Creepers needed both water and power to grow, so one of the vines would be connecting water to the growth in the engine room.

"Start cutting Yuri," A.J. ordered, looking at the vines that disappeared through another corridor. Some of the vines went through the walls, which would make it more difficult to locate the water vine.

Yuri pulled out a standard metal titanium blade and began to cut through the foliage as if he were wielding a machete. Before A.J. could move on to try cutting through different vines, the infestation reacted. The vines themselves started to move like limbs and attacked the wolves.

Yuri reacted quickly and cut the vines that went for him, and stepped back before anymore could reach him. A.J. jumped back at the sight of the infestation movement and fired his weapon at the vines, shredding them and halting their attack. The shortened vines retreated within the walls over the room and corridor in an attempt to preserve themselves. The rest of the team was however having more difficulties.

"Get back," Alex's voice was heard yelling over the radio. A.J. and Yuri turned to look to see how alive the infestation has become. Hundreds of wriggling vines, and blooming flower bulbs now threatened to end the mission in defeat.

"We can't do this," Kaitlin said. "We have to destroy the engines."

"That'll leave us dead in the water for more boarding parties," Alex objected. He had retreated behind one of the control panels. "A.J., Yuri, we need some help back here."

A.J. and Yuri didn't have any specific point to fire at so they aimed for the densest part of the growth and rapidly pulled the trigger.

"We cannot let the infestation take control of the ship," Kaitlin argued, ducking behind the control panel with Alex. "If we cut them off here, then they won't be able to continue to grow. We can repair the engines later."

"If there is a later," growled Alex though his tone suggested that he was growling at the fact that he had to make this decision. Not only were the Creepers still fighting with the fleets across this system but also the star was still on the verge of exploding. If it did explode, there'd be no way they could retreat from the blast.

A.J. was returning with Yuri, trying to provide cover fire for his pack mates but also trying to defend himself. Wherever Redding had placed himself, he was also helping by hitting large plants that were supporting the attack of vines and projectiles from flowers. But A.J. saw something else emerge from behind the thick foliage; it was a large flower bulb similar to the one that Yukiomaru was found in. This one was smaller but A.J. has only seen that type of infection during a serious infestation.

"Alex, there's a Generator Infection!" A.J. warned his leader. The wolf aimed for the flower bulb and fired several shots. The projectiles didn't penetrate the thick pedals but it was still suffering damage. The infection continued to react aggressively making the entire engine room appear as if it were a living jungle.

Vines and organic projectiles prevented A.J. from getting closer for a clearer shot on that flower bulb. The vines were so thick that he could no longer even see the creature clearly.

"We must destroy the engines," Kaitlin urged. The hostile actions of the alien made it impossible for her or Alex to try to aim for a vital area of infection.

Before Alex could respond, from Redding's hiding spot came a high-pitched sound. A bright light streaked across the room and impacted directing on the engines exhaust ports. It was a plasma projectile that disintegrated the Creeper infection that it touched, and did significant damage to the vents.

A.J. was still trying to defend himself when he saw several more volleys follow. Redding must have agreed with Kaitlin's idea because before anyone knew it, a fireball erupted from the impacts and consumed the immediate infection. The force hit the wolves a moment later and threw them all back from the engine. A.J. was thrown into the wall and fell to the ground.

The impact blurred his vision and dulled his senses, but he could feel the suction of a breach in the ship's hull pull on him. On his paws and knees, he could not even look up to look at the blast wound but he assumed only a small portion of the engine was destroyed. Otherwise he would not be alive right now. The fuel source of the Creeper's infection has been removed though. Mission accomplished. A.J. blacked out.

The wolf was slow to come to his senses. The blinding light shining down on him did not help quicken the process. He had suffered worse injuries before.

Blinking a few times, that bright blurry light turned out to be a medical light. He, and the rest of the wolves, were in the medical wing of the ship. Kaitlin, Yuri and Alex were each on their own medical table, all in their fur. A.J.'s own armor was removed, along with Redding who was across the room also being questioned by a medic.

"You finally are awake," said a nearby medic. "You're lucky you don't have another concussion."

Across the room, Redding was still being examined but whatever the medic was saying to him, he didn't look pleased to hear it.

"You have a few bruises and cuts but nothing to worry about," the medic continued to speak to A.J. "The ship suffered much more than that. We're running on secondary power because your team destroyed the engine. At least you destroyed the infection before it could spread too far."

"Are we still able to retreat?" A.J. asked, concerned about the battle off the ship.

"No, Major Redding made sure of that," said the medic. "Drach'n Fury and the rest of the reinforcements have arrived though so we're holding our own against the Creepers now. Don't worry about that now, we need to make sure you're all right. Now is there any pain anywhere?"

Calvin Redding suddenly stood up and stormed out of the medical wing, without even bothering putting on some clothes. The red wolf's tail was slightly bristled.

"What's with Redding?" asked A.J. The medic glanced back to see the wolf storm out before returning her gaze to A.j.

"Major Redding destroyed the engine, nearly killed you all in the process but he still managed to carry Yuri and you to safety. Unfortunately the strain on his body is going to kill him because of his previous injuries. Major Redding is being discharged and sent home."