FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Prologue

Commander Stefano Valentine, had said his goodbyes and finally left, he had kissed Lin, expressed his final love for her. But as the battlestar rose into space, he could feel his death becoming more obvious.

This was one mission he would not return from, not ever.

A crack team of elite had moved from, his home Serenity Island, where his poeple had been destroyed, years before. A power that was released by his greedy father had killed everyone on the island.

This team, consisted of Admiral Lin O'Conner, a respectable figure to say the least, she had the brains of an tactician and the beauty of a goddess. She, Stef and the resident computer expert Adam had board this collossal vessel to stop Dr Aurido.

Dr Ivan Aurido was a leading scientist in the field of space physics, he had help to develop many of the engines of the power, air-based, sky-ships.

However Dr Aurido had grown tired of his job in the military and turned his attention towards using his intelligence to build machines of mass destruction that could hold the planet for ransom.

Stef and his team mates had joined the fight to bring down Dr Aurido's worst ever weapon, the Temporal Inhibitor, this weapon was a massive vessel that if it could fire, would be able to cause a tear in time that would just eat up all the planets in the solar system. The Intelligence Organisation and the Military of planet Earth had banded together to save Earth.

Stef felt the coldness come over his body, Lin and Adam were safe now and he was in a lift on the way to command center to confront Dr Aurido before he noticed that the ship was set to self destruct.

He would not be coming back from this alive.

This was Earth's last chance.

He recalled the last moments of the team in his head.

"Self destruct system is online" called Adam from the terminals which were in front of two massive windows. Clouds could be seen from these windows, so tangible that you could touch them, the sun was leaving a red tint on them as it was the end of the day.

Lin walked back over to Stef who was stood in the corner by a small door, his handgun was firmly in his hand. Stef's had was firmly on the control panel as he prepare the escape pod for launch.

"This door will take us to the surface" said Stef, he smiled at Lin, they had down this too often. The walls of the room were balck and disgusting, there was pipes that came out of the wall. Obviously, the worker bees had not done a good job.

Lin was a tall woman of about twenty, she had her long, blond hair combed back into a hair clip at the back of her head. She wore jeans and a blue tank top, uniform was not always the best option.

Stef on the other hand had a different look from Lin, he was a lot more flamboyant and wore clothes to prove this, a carribean style shirt and a pair of orange shorts showing his dark haired legs. The most interesting thing about Stef was by far a scar that ran through one eye.

"Stef, Lin!" called Adam as Stef and Lin stared at each other, for a moment Stef wondered whether Lin could see the way he felt for her but under closer inspection she obviously didn't.

"What's the matter?" asked Lin, she had a nice semi-low female voice that could calm even the most troublesome of poeple.

"There's a problem" said Adam, he looked down at the console and then back at Lin.

Adam was the youngest of the team, at only fifthteen, a boy wonder and the quickest computer decoder Stef had ever met. It wasn't usual for the MMS, the military to begin recruiting new people as young as twelve. It was better to teach them while they young.

Stef himself was only eighteen and already risen to the rank of Commander, he was only two ranks away from Lin and she had reached Admiral at nineteen. However Grand Admiral Benjamin Challenger was fourty-two and he was commander of all of Earth's military empire and expanding space and orbital territories.

"A warning is going to go up to the bridge, a minute before the destruction sequence is complete" exclaimed Adam, his hair fair down onto his face. A hopless jesture?

"So Dr Aurido will know and have time to deactivate it!" said Adam as he stepped over the defense machine which had been destroyed in order to gain access to this room.

Lin looked surprised, how was this going to work?

"But the Alvanor is expecting us to return in an escape pod" she gestured over to the hatch which Stef had opened.

The Alvanor was the MMS sky-ship that was waiting inside a cloud, ready to catch the escape pod as they desended back to Earth. Their support ship, it was not capable of going this high.

The clouds in the window disappeared as the sky got darker and cold, with the occasional twinkling of stars from distant worlds.

Stef suddenly realised what to do, it didn't mean a particulary glamourus ending or heroic but it was nobel, he had thought with himself for years and now, he understood his purpose in life, to save the planet.

Many poeple considered this to be a pretend idea which was a fantasy to many a young boy however Stef had never grown up normally, he had left his sacred home of Serenity Island in the South Sea, he recalled the waves, the air, the beauty and purity of his home town, Millennia.

But one night, his own father had gathered a small band of troops and attempted to take control of the tribe, he accessed the Emerald Sanctuary at the top of a hill that overlooked Millennia. It was where the sacred and mystical Emeralds were kept, he released an ancient power and destroyed his island.

But that was a story for another time.

He had to save Earth but before he picked up Lin and put her in the escape pod kicking and screaming and then Adam who went quitely, illuminated her with three magic words.

"I love you"

Back in the lift, which had reached the third deck and was travelling upwards towards, the bridge of fate, Stef comtemplated what Lin's responce had been, she was quiet, unusal for her, she had a very talkative manner to her. He loved her for that, he had always loved everything about her.

Lin had an open mouth, which did not appear right for her, she stammered but could not find the words before Adam reminded them that time was running out.

Stef thought of her one last time before stepping out of the bridge.

The war was over, his torment was over. He actually welcomed death.

"Stef!" screamed Lin as she pressed her face on the glass of the Alvanor's windows, she was in a large room which had white walls and a large window which took up the entire of one of the walls.

An explosion had lit up Lin's face against the glass, the machine was gone, Dr Aurido's evil had been exterminated, but she had lost more than she had ever hoped for, she had know idea that he loved her and his intentions were made all to clear when, she said nothing to him, he pulled her in for a kiss.

That kiss.....

"No! Why!" Lin burst out into tears and grabbed Adam, she buryed her head in him, she wanted Stef back, she wanted to say that she felt the same after all these years she had worked together but now.....

He was gone....

Another figure walked into the room, she looked at Lin and then stopped, her long wavey red hair was beautiful and she had many suductions about her.

As for her uniform, she wore black, she always felt comfortable in black, a colour of what she had been through. Enough was enough.

"Lin" said the woman of about twenty, quite softly, she smiled gently and looked at her through her blue eyes. "I'm sorry"

"I can't believe he's gone" cried Lin, her tears were no going to bring her back.

"He can't be" said Thorn, she looked back out the window.

Chapter 1

Four years later........

Space was vast. A mass of planets, sun, wormholes, nebulas and other things but at the moment, there was a lone planet, a planet with a rusty colour like Mars of the Earth system.

Pieces of rock had been caught in the planet's gravity and formed a ring around the planet, sort of like Saturn however not as pronouced.

A large black mass head towards the planet, all the colour on this vessel was from the green glow of the engines, the ship was like a giant, oblong rectangle with smoother edges on both sides that moved into a neck for the bridge and on the other end, a cylinders for the massive engines which made the ship look formidable.

The entire of the ship was a grey/black mass that shone against this planet's sun, the only light source in the area. On the hull of the ship were plain white letters.

UMSS ERIKA - NAP 96743

As the Erika swung towards the planet and quietly slipped into orbit, a bizzare event was happing inside the sickbay. The sickbay was a large room, with sterile white walls and several uncomfortable looking beds, further inside the room was a door that led to the Chief Medical Officer's office and the other door on the left of the room, left to the medical research lab.

It was inside the laboratory which the event was taking place, a small, box-like room with a operating table in the center of the room, with lots of cabinates and worktops, like a kitchen.

The was also a large cylinder filled with water and pipes from it leading into a computer system. Three people were in this room, first of them was a small girl, of about sixteen, she had long black hair and a beautiful complexion, she was wearing a lab coat. The second character was a man of about sixty, he had short grey hair and an aging face, he was the Chief Medical Officer.

The third character was a lot more forboding, he wore black, all around his body, he had dark sun-glasses on and hardly no skin showing, apart from his face, his hair was ject black and he wore a black trenchcoat with a gold insignia embroided on it, an bird rising out of fire with the letters "P.G" around it. Phoenix Grace.

Phoenix Grace was the most powerful company in the entire of United Military and Security Services (UMSS), they controlled a mass number of buisness and they had defense contracts under the military.

"Ready for cell regenaration" called the girl as she tapped the computer next to the tube of liquid. She looked at the rising power levels and she knew that her captain would be interested in seeing this person again.

"Right" said the old man, he was writing on a clipboard. "Chaos, Increase the power to the emitters"

Chaos complied, Dr John Goddard was like a father to her, she had learned to love him as she never really knew who her real parents were, abandoned at birth. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

Agent Rift, as he liked to be called had a completly solemn face, he had not smiled for years, he couldn't, it would interfere in his mission. He had come here to oversee this mission at the request of Ivan Grace, leader of the company Phoenix Grace.

"Beginning to materilize" called Chaos as the whirling tube came to life.

Particles began to form which we sucked up through the hoover-like pump, over the heads of the people in the room, in a pipe and down onto the operating table, where they began to take shape.

First feet formed and then moved up, they were creating a body, Rift watched at the amazing technology, "how this would be so benefical to the company" he scoffed in his mind.

Finally the machine finished and now a person laid on the table, a person well forgotten by the passage of time, he was a man, tall, about eighteen, blond hair and a scar down his right eye, Stef Valentine had returned.

Rift reached for a needle, he watched as Dr Chaos watched him suspiciously, he was up to something but this was what the Erika crew was told to do. They had to clone Commander Stefano Valentine from the DNA the UMSS had found and extract some of his blood. The question was. Why?

"What are you doing?" asked Chaos, as she approached Rift. The agent looked down on her as if she was a mere dog,

"You know the deal, we want his blood, that's all little girl."

Chaos felt like snapping him in half but she decided against it, she looked back at Stef's closed eyes on the table, somehow, she wanted to know him.

"Can we keep him alive?" asked Chaos, as Rift finished off with the needle, a syringe full of blood and walked straight out the glass double doors, into the corridors.

"I don't know, ask the Captain" said Goddard, Chaos turned to a panel on the wall and pressed a large button.

"Dr Chaos to Captain Wildcat, what should we do with Stef, can we keep him alive?"

There was a long quiet before a voice spoke back down the communications device, the voice was womanly and young, it had a faint accent to it.

"I believe we should" said the voice back through the comm-ocarina.

Chaos turned off the comm system with a brief click and looked back at Goddard, he was puzzled, about something.

"Does the Captain know Stef?" thought Chaos, Captain Flex Wildcat had a long and distingished career in the military and intelligence core, but so did Stef. It seemed that at some point Stef and Flex had met.

But whatever......

She was doing her duty.

"Erika" called Chaos and a transparant woman with a red uniform on appeared in front of her, the woman had blond hair that went down to her waist and blue eyes. Some of the male members of the crew were pleased by her appearance because the Erika A.I could change appearance at will however Chaos thought this display of sexuality was stupid.

"You called Doctor" said Erika, Chaos always found it strange talking to the new computer programme, this progamme was the Erika, the ship. In a hinch she could take over all of the ships operations and control the vessel. Or herself.

Whichever way you wanted to look at it.

"Erika, can you seal the doors of the lab with a level-5 security clearance when Dr Goddard and myself leave?"

Erika looked up onto the ceiling, working and then looked back down at Chaos, she smiled a completely innocent smile.

"Your command is accepted, Chaos" she said deactivating herself.

Goddard then turned the lights out and Chaos and him walked out the room.

Into the corridors that made up the maze of the Erika.

Chapter 2

Agent Rift walked with a triumphant smirk on his face, down the corridors of the Erika's lowest decks, these decks had not the same comfortable coloured walls as the other higher, living decks. These were bare, dark, industrial style decks with pipes pertruding out of the wall and mashing together.

Hardly anyone went down here as this was the darkest bows of the ship however it also housed a different perpose. This deck, deck twenty-three led to the shuttlebay at the rear of the ship but also led to the Phoenix Grace area of the ship.

As Phoenix Grace had put a tramendous amount of money into the construction of the Erika they demanded in return that a special area be built in which they could conduct their own operations, this area was forbidden to everyone, even the captain of the ship.

Rift approached the massive metal doors that were at least ten feet high, he walked over to a panel on the wall and spoke to control panel.

"Agent Maximillian Rift" he said in the control panel.

The doors acknowledged him as they grinded open, revealing a massive hall, it was a all made of marble with a massive staircase leading directly down two the marble floor.

This was the Phoenix Grace, the most powerful organisation, ever in exhistance.

Rift walked up the red carpeted stairs and gazed at the massive stain glass window on the wall. He walked through a door on the right side of the landing.

The sign on the door read;

"Director Ken Solomon - Chief Director of Phoenix Grace Operations"

He opened the door and step inside.

The room was more a small dark closet than an office, there was only one window which looked out into the blackness of space. There was an overloaded fileling cabernet in the corner and a desk in front of the window, the desk itself was buried under plenty of paper.

A man was sat at the desk and looked up as Rift entered the room, he was an older man, his hair greying, the lines on his face becoming more evident.

"I got it" said Rift, in a calm voice while stepping through the door.

Solomon looked up, he was wearing a grey tunic, the preferred dress code of Phoenix Grace. He had been assigned as chief of the companies operations onboard the Erika, his wife, Illana and child, Katrina were all here, with him. Phoenix Grace had helped to construct the Erika so they had constructed an area in which to conduct research seperate from the rest of the ship, no UMSS officer could enter without permission of a Phoenix Grace operative.

Solomon stared at Rift and then at the test tube of human blood which he held in his hands, his grey eyes lit up with natural excitement, a sciencetist by nature.

"Well done, Agent Rift" he said in a low voice. "Have our researchers begin work on the extraction of the gene nessacary to collect the virus"

Agent Rift, looked back at him with his cold eyes and sat down in the chair in front of the desk, he pulled out a pistol and a silencer. Rift was obsessed with weapons.

"I must congratulate you on your excellent conduct during this mission" said Rift, he smirked. "However the Erika is an excellent testing ground for the weapon. There is just one thing, I believe that naive doctor and his "oh so lovely" assistant are planning to keep our clone alive. This presents a problem, we should kill the clone"

Solomon scrambled through the paper on his desk to reveal a file, a picture of a teenage boy, he got up and looked out the window.

"Yes, he could be a problem but he is just as unaware as they are. But I suppose you'll have to kill him"

Rift's face lit up at the prospect of killing someone, or was it knowing what was to come?

"I guess that leaves one thing" he stood up and turned to face Solomon, his hand on his belt. "Ivan Grace thanks you, and goodbye"

Before, Solomon could move, Rift pulled a hilt of something from his belt, out of the hilt came a vine like blade, it quickly wrapped around Solomon.

"No! You bastards, your......"

Rift walked up to him pointing the gun at his head.

"Dead?" he suggested and pulled the trigger.

Chapter 3

"Stef!" shouted Lin, as she sprung up from her bed, she panted and waited for the comfort...nothing.

Linda was in her bedroom, she looked around, everything looked normal, she lived in a house that was locate in a place called Aruora Lake on Earth.

Damn! Four nights in a row she had this dream and for nights she had woken up, in the morning, it felt like a prediction. However four years had passed since Stef died, a long time ago.

Why was Linda getting this now? What is it about? Why now? Lin had decided to give the military, two weeks after Stef's death.

Lin got out of bed and walked into the bathroom, something had also woke her up, she could here it, a soft beeping sound.

Her videophone!

Walking over to her dressing table, Lin picked up the phone and pressed the button. A picture of her friend and family member, Adam filled the phones screen.

"Am I causing a problem?" said Adam, he looked into Linda's pale eyes

"No of course not" she replied, she was reluctant to tell him about her dreams.

"Do you remember Flex Wildcat?"

"Yes, how is she?" asked Linda, Flex and her went way back, they friends and worked for the same crack-team as Stef but unfortunatly she had left to join the UMSS Command Corp five years before Stef died. Flex had always felt guilty. Lin knew that she had not seen her for years.

"She was in command of a ship, the Erika, It's gone missing, the last transmission indicated that they were moving to LV-924 however she has not been heard from since. I'm in Central City and Grand Admiral Challenger has personally asked me to reform the old Special Command and Infilitration Specialists (S.C.I.S) and go to the Erika"

Lin wondered why Challenger would become involved completely, Challenger was in charge of all the UMSS, a master tactician, he was elected by his generals. He would normally allow on of his generals to deal with the lost ship so why was he directly becoming involved?

"Will you do it?" asked Adam, he looked back up

"Yes, if I can lend you a hand"

"Ok, the military buildings are located in Central City"

Lin knew that that was on the other side of the planet, Central City was the heart of the UMSS. By the time Adam got off the video phone, Lin had already began to pack.

Central City was a bustling metropolis on the shore leading out to the sea, there was a beautiful beach, the sand golden, a number of hotels along the promenade however from this clean version of Central City there was also a slum area, which poeple lived with little money, flats stacked upon each other into tenants, the cloud of unnatural fog always seemed to surround this area. There was also a nightclub district which only came to life at night, where it's neon signs would give most of the colour to the city.

However Lin was heading for none of these.

Instead she headed after getting off at Terrenburg International Airport, straight onto the main shopping streets which the congested traffic filled the roads and lots of shouts from angry motorists could be heard eminating from within the cars.

The building which Lin was heading for was a massive glass skyscraper, the biggest in all of Central City. The building itself was a massive glass skyscraper which extended straight up and almost the entire outside walls were made of glass, which was bulletproof and darkend when the sun hit it, to ease the discomfort of the people inside.

This was the true power of UMSS, this was their command headquaters.

Lin walked up the marble steps, into the courtyard, which was so big that several starships could have fitted inside it, in the middle was a fountain and a mass of people were sat there, eating, drinking, telling stories.

Lin walked straight past all this and into the revolving doors of the military complex. Of course the military did not keep there secrets inside this base, that would be an easy target, this was where the offices were.

Chapter 4

"Eh... Can I help you miss?" asked the lady at the front desk as Lin entered the hall, soildiers with guns were placed at every access point and even by the great glass elevator tubes which pertruded up from the middle of the complex.

Lin looked round, awestruck, the military had spared no expense when designing this place.

Lin turned to speak, "I'm waiting for..."

"Me?"

Lin turned and behind her, standing in the doorway was Adam, he look considerably older than he did when she had last saw, him however, he was teenager, now he was a man.

Linda ran forth and gave him a hug which Adam was surprised but graciously accepted and hugged her back.

"So" said Adam, thinking about what to say next. "What took you so long?"

"Well, you know, flights are shit this time of year"

Adam laughed, "same old Lin" he thought.

At that moment two men entered the room, first of them was a grey haired man of the most important in the military, he wore a white uniform and had a beard, he was amazingly unattractive.

The second man, both Lin and Adam knew, not personally but through reputation, he was the founder of Pheonix Grace, a massively powerful healthcare and trading company. His name was Ivan

Ivan Grace was quite a short young man, he was only in twenties, he had taken over the company from his mother, Cecelia and turned it into a powerful force in both the commercial world and politically. Ivan had long white hair that came down to his shoulders and magical blue eyes, they were almost electrically charged, like a lightening storm in his soul, a man of determination.

"May I present, Grand Admiral Ben Challenger and owner of Phoenix Grace Inc, Ivan Grace" said Adam, he pointed out both of them.

Lin shook hands with both, she found Ivan attractive, he had a dauntless gaze and she liked that.

Challenger looked at his watch, he wanted to act quickly.

"Greetings, please follow us"

He led them to an elevator.

A woman passed into her box-like bed room, she had dark red hair and an a tattoo of a snake on her back which only half of it could be seen as a black crop-top concealed the rest. She had black boots and a black leather mini-skirt. A woman of war.

The woman, who was about twenty, walked up to her bed and slouched down on it, she was looking at her gun which lay on the side of the bed.

Her gun and her had been through many missions together as she progressed through the years of the Special Taticial and Defense Agents (S.T.D.A). Her name was Cassandra Eclipse, she was a member of the team which had help the UMSS many times before and now, she was being called into duty as well.

"Corperal Eclipse?" said another person through the door, Cassandra looked up and smiled, he sounded some much like a rookie.

"Yes Aaron!" she said back through the metal door, these cabins were designed for efficency rather than comfort, everything about this room was bleak.

"We have recieved our new orders! Top priority!"

"Go on then, tell me?"

"We are to join the civilians and accompany them as a tactical task force in the location of the Erika"

"Sounds like an easy job, what's the pay?"

"6000 Nemorens" said Aaron back through the door.

Cassandra smiled, this was a vast improvement, 400 Nemorens was usual price for her services. She had anticipated that this ship the Erika was important to military.

She picked up her gun and loaded it, this was gonna be a long day.

Grand Admiral Challenger sat at the head of a massive table, it was a large room with windows that looked out over the sun soaked Central City. The table was a fine oak one that could seat many people around it, but now only four people were there, Lin, Adam, Ivan and Cassandra.

Cassandra and Lin had stared at each other across the table as they had walked in, Cassandra was a woman of substance and so was Lin. They would probably get on, probably.

Cassandra wore a blue, police-like tunic with a blue beret, it suited her well. Cassandra was not the sort of woman of whom to fuck.

"Right" said Ivan looking out the large window. He wondered about his company. "We have not recieved word from the Erika in four days, she was sent to a planet, KV-924 to collect soil samples and she has not been heard from since."

Challenger looked back across the room, Ivan and him were close friends, very close. Phoenix Grace and the UMSS had been working alongside each other for years.

"So" said Cassandra, she smiled at Lin and gestured. "Could just be a faulty transciever?"

Lin's upper lip curled at Cassandra, she sensed that she did not really care about this mission, only the money. It irritated her.

"Well..........yes" said Admiral Challenger smiling, he wanted to stop Lin from pouncing across the table at Cassandra but was lost for words to a blunt question like that. "But if it's not, we'd like to send a team in, Cassandra your team will be joined by Admiral Lin O'Conner and Leutenant Adam Bolder. These are fine military commanders, they have personal experience of the Erika's captain, Flex Wildcat."

Adam smiled at Cassandra, who tried to smile back. "He is so young" she thought "He couldn't be that good"

"You will take a shuttle to the Erika and dock, it will remain nearby to pick you up. Once inside locate the bridge, determine that the Erika is alright, if so, bring it back to Antis Salano Shipyards, orbiting Tyson V" said Ivan, he smiled. "If you encounter problems bring it to the Phoenix Grace facility at Daraggo, it's nearer and....."

Challenger stopped him.

"Ivan, they will take it to Antis Salano as it is a military ship, we went through this"

"However that ship is a investment to Phoenix Grace"

"I don't care, I want to see what happened"

"But....."

"IVAN! This is not a debate!"

At that Ivan, who had risen from his chair sat down, Lin looked into his eyes, he was worried about something.

"Any questions?" asked Challenger.

There was silence

"Ok, go to the roof of this building, the shuttle, Garrison will pick you up. The Garrison is a Phoenix Grace tactical shuttle craft, it will take you there."

Chapter 5

"Ok, My name is Captain Enrico Vanczez and I will be your captain to sector 561, outside known space, I estimate a speed of Hyperthrust at 9000 hps and an elapsed time of 5 hours"

Enrico was a small, Karian, a member of UMSS, Karian had purple skin with massive frontal elongated fingers, they had brilliant reflexs and were often pilots or gunners.

Lin stepped out of the elevator and found herself feeling the cold, they were on the landing pad, on the roof of the military building which extended high into the sky. She glanced at the dark clouds above her, a thunderstorm was brewing, poised, like a lion waiting for a deer.

Enrico walked forward and and turned to face the team, the team was relativily small, there was three people in Cassandra's unit, Aaron Kazaan, a excellent demolition expert and Juian Cervantes, a brilliant computer hacker. They were an elite team of missionaries that were sent into some of the worst situations.

Aaron was the youngest on the team, bearly in his twenties, he was broad shoulder and was very tall but hat a small case of acne on his face. He was an impulsive person, who always tried to please Cassandra.

Juian was more of a quiet person, Cassandra had worked with him for about six years, and now he was twenty-nine. He felt that Cassandra was more of a commander than a friend and kept a professional relationship with her.

Infront of them were two "military-turned-civilians", Lin, who had always a keen eye and Adam, a bright spark with most kinds of technology.

Enrico pointed to the ship which was parked on the center of the landing platform, it looked old, battered, not really functional but it would have to do. There was missing pieces of hull, exposing the external circuitry and conduits which provided major power to the vessel.

"What?" said Cassandra, she turned to the others, slighty disgusted. "The military gave us this piece of crap to fly in?"

Enrico looked as if she had insulted him directly, he had been close to this vessel for many years.

"Uh" he said, stopping Cassandra. "This ship is one of our fastest vessel, wait and see." smiling, he turned to the rest. "Everyone in."

Lin climbed in the shabby shuttle from the back, it was dirty inside, the walls were grimy and there were two rows of stasis chambers coming from out the two walls wither side, this was how they were to travel.

Even though the UMSS had discovered a way to traverse a massive amount of space, they had not solved the problem that when in Hyperthrust mode, the ship is warped in time and space which would cause extreme harm to anyone unprotected. It would be like being pulled apart by two magnets, each pulling you in a different direction. You would split apart. So crews of ships with Hypertrust would have to go into stasis until the military had devised shields to protect them.

"Right, go on, hop in" said Enrico. Adam looked reluctent, he hated space travel of any sort, hypertrust was his worst.

"It's alright" said Lin, hopping into one of the stasis tubes, she knew how much he hated it. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Adam relented and climbed into the coffin-like stasis pod, as a massive burst of energy came from the engines and the ship shook madly throwing them upwards, through the atmosphere and into space.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee haw!!!!!!" shouted Enrico from the cockpit at the top of his voice, Lin had begun to feel quite sick. She did not like this part at all.

Suddenly the ship stopped and an Enrico walked from out of the doors leading to the cockpit.

"Right guys!" he started. "After that little burst of enjoyment, it's time to take your nap"

The team climbed into the tubes and Enrico sealed them.

"Night night" he called to them before pushing the button making all of them fall into a sleep.

Lin screamed....

Enrico was standing over her the moment she had woken up, he sleep had been troublesome, a nightmare you could not wake up from. It sent a powerful shock up her spine.

"What are you screaming bout?" asked Cassandra, getting up from the cryo-tube.

"He just shocked me, that's all, I haven't had a good sleep"

Enrico smiled at Lin, in a comforting way and then went to the cockpit at the other end of the vessel. Linda got up to go and join him while the others found there bearings.

The cockpit was small and could only fit two inside it, a co-pilot and a pilot. Lin sat down in the pilot chair, she had some experience in piloting space-vessels but only in a simulator.

"There she is!" said Enrico, moving his long fingers along the control panel. "She's beautiful!"

Lin could just make out a ship coming out from behind the planet, trapped in orbit, she stared at it. The Erika was a massive vessel however there was no engine blast coming out from the back of the vessel, no green tinge.

No power?

"This is the shuttle Garrison to the UMSS Erika.......over" called Enrico down the communications microphone, behind him there was a deadly silence.

"Garrison to Erika do you read?"

Lin watched as the massive vessel got nearer and then she noticed someone strange on sensors. There was movement aboard, movement of all the enlisted crew, their comm-signals were showing up. The reactor was offline with primary power but there was still breathable air and a working gravitational field.

No responce still.....

"Look!" pointed Lin, Cervantes poked his head around the door followed by Cassandra. "There is life aboard but there is no lighting, no engine power, no weapons, no defenso-shields........"

"OK!" shouted Cassandra, she was slightly annoyed. "We get the picture. The question is.......What shall we do?"

Enrico turned round to look at the panel infront of him. "Well I can remotly open the hanger doors and we could go take a look"

He looked at Cassandra and then at Lin, Lin could detect something else behind his warm, compassionate eye, he knew more about this then he had let on.

Cassandra smiled, she had obviously not had the same notion about Enrico as Lin as she said without a doubt in her mind. "Take us in"

Chapter 6

The Garrison sped towards the Erika at a fast pace, the hull of the Erika up close did not appeared damaged or attacked. What was this ship doing outside known UMSS controlled space?

The Garrison flew straight by the bridge of the ship but there were no lights on, no power indicators, something had happened.

"Right" called Enrico, he pressed a button and two massive doors on the bottom of the Erika retracted, leaving a way inside the massive vessel.

Enrico moved the vessel till it was underneath the collosal Erika and pulled up into a dimly lit network of pipes which spanned up to the docking platform which the Garrison set down on, with a dark hiss.

The hanger bay was like being inside a giant metal cylinder with only one platform in the middle, this also served as a maintance shaft, for ship operations.

The landing shunted Adam up against the wall of the Garrison, he was already bewildered by the speed in which he had got here, Hyperthrust made him feel sick.

"Right" said Cassandra, she pulled open another hatch at the back of the ship and pulled out a formidible display of weaponry, guns, knives and granades. "Ok, right, each of you will take a weapon and some ammo pouchs, you do remember how to fire a gun eh? Admiral?"

Lin snarled at her, not-so-witty comment, she was beginning to dislike Cassandra, well, she already did.

"I've been going over the specs of this ship and I must remind you, don't put a bullet through a designated hull wall, or the ship will lose containment and we'll all die!" exclaimed Juian

Lin felt Adam's hand behind her.

"Our mission is to check out the ship and try and bring it back" ordered Cassandra. She loaded her bullets, the tiny metal shards that could cause damage to a human on the highest scale.

On that note, Enrico extended the docking platform from the lower part of the main hold of the shuttle, Lin climbed down and stared into the blind black abyss wihich made up the shute, there was a strong cold breeze coming from up the shute, this was a main ventalation shaft for the whole ship.

The landing pad itself was a small round polished circle suspended by a bridge that led to two massive metal doors. All around the gleaming chome metal of the polished platform was a circle of lights that went around the platform and lit up the walkway to the door, a straight wide path.

The inside of the shaft was lit with small red and white lights that appeared to work their way down the shaft in sequence, going "White, Red, White, Red" until you could bearly see them. Lin did not want to fall down there, even though the docking doors were closed you did not wanna fall down there or you would be as a flat as pancake.

"Well" thought Lin. "at least we cannot fall out into space"

She recalled the last time she had been inside one of these shaft docking pads, it was while on a trading mission to Earth Station, they had forty of these docking bays. Anyway she had taken some supplies up as she had worked a supplier in the docks on Earth after she quit the military, she remembered loading crate after crate onto a cargo shuttle and landing in Earth station, her boss, a fat weasel-like man had come along too. However the station lost containment and the docking doors opened by themselves. Luckily, she was inside the ship but she remebered watching through the ships windows, her boss frantically grabbing for the platform as he was being pulled out by the vacuum of space. It consumed him in minutes and he was pulled out into the lonely cosmos. Ever since that incident, Lin had been weary of docking platforms.

"Hey? You ok?" said a male voice behind her as she stared down the chute into nothingness, she could not even see the bottom, Lin had not realised that she had become consumed by it and snapped back to reality.

"I'm fine" she replied quietly, she turned from Adam and walked towards the door where Juian was working at the door. Enrico signalled Cassandra and climbed back in the ship, he would stay until they came back.

"What's taking so long?" said Cassandra, he was so impatient, Juian was working at the control panel beside the door, he had a portable data terminal in his hand and connected it to the door.

"I'm running a bypass"

"Well hurry up!"

Juian tapped frantically on the control panel, the numbers flashed up in a sequence, "4134". A sound erupted from the door, massive sound of grinding metal, metal that had rusted. It was a old, re-inforced door, it had been on a colony before it was fitted onto the Erika.

Juian stood up and switched on the flashlight on his rifle which had stayed neatly by his side, suspended on a strap. This rifle was Lexington Assult Rifle, it was commonly used in the UMSS, lightweigth and easy to mass produce it gave an excellent accuracy but it's magazine was small and could only hold about thirty bullets before reloading, so every shot had to count.

Juian Cervantes was born in the hotter continents of Earth, the Ascifrica region, this was well known for some of the hottest days in the whole of Earth and the worst tropical storms. Juian moved from house to house as his people allways living in a tropical storm area, he had had his house torn down nearly every year, for ten years and still his father refused to move. After that his mother died in last of the storms he had known, she was a fair woman but even the fairest or most intelligent woman in all of the world could not escape the power of mother nature.

The last he saw of his mother was her buried under kilotons of rock from the collapsed villa.

She was gone. It was painful for him to talk about even now. However his father moved the family of him and his brother to Central City to work in a factory. However Juian showed great physical promise and join the UMSS at age 14, now he was 23 and a fine man with a fiery temper. He discussed his past, only he, and his commanders knew of his torment.

The inside of the Erika was nearly pitch black, if it wasn't for the white lights that run along the sides of the metal floor, they moved, continuing up the path, blacking out as they moved further away from them. Like runway lights that were constantly moving up the run way.

"The whole place seems to be on emergency power" stated Aaron, he let the flashlight of his rifle look around the dark, and lonely corridors. This whole place seemed dead. The corridors were pentagon shaped with metal gridded catwalks that pertruded up into the darkness, beyond, there were many doors leading to ajoining corridors or seperate rooms like crew quaters.

"Well that's a unique observation" said Cassandra sarcastically, she always teased Aaron. "Take up a defensive formation as we proceed inside".

Aaron and Juian both nodded and took up a position just behind Cassander while Adam and Lin trailed behind. Lin thought that it had been a small annoyance that either her or Adam had been given a gun for this mission however Cassandra did have a point.

"You're just civi's, you gave the UMSS up so you are not equipped with weapons"

The massive metal door began to grind close behind them, blocking out the light coming in from the docking platform, all that was left as light source when the door closed was the depressing emergency lights on the floor and the light of the three flashlights on the end of the guns that lit up like spotlights.

There was no turning back now. The door to saftey is shut.

Chapter 7

The team moved more slowly down the corridors, this whole place was a ghost ship. Cassandra made heavy sounds on the gridwalk with her long black boots. She had decided to go as something more practical than formal.

The corridors of the Erika were deserted, nobody, not an officer in site, how could a crew of over two hundred people just be.....gone?

"Where exactly are we?" asked Adam, he had kept quite for most of the mission and stayed by Lin but this enviroment scared him, it was not...."right!?" he thought. There was now anouther glint of like on dimly lit corridor as Juian brought up his personal computer which fit snugly on his arm. It was small compact device that allowed wireless interaction with the Erika's computer. It was the miracle of technology and served as a communication with the Garrison in case of emergency evacuation.

"Deck 9, sub-grid 31" replied Juian, he had a smirk on his face. "We're near the secondary med-labs, at least we won't have far to go."

Cassandra stopped, she looked directly infront of her, there was something on the floor, she could see the black shadow of it, it appeared to be a unique shaped, shaped like..like....like..

A human

Cassandra let out a short scream, it was not girly but set the team running to her side.

"What is it?" asked Lin, she bent down to look at it, reached out her hand and pulled it over. Her face was filled with terror, Cassandra and the others took a step back.

This body had definatly been human but it now had ghostly white skin, there was a massive pulsating growth on the back of this human. The body looked quite dead but the growth began moving as Lin approached.

"Lin don't!" called out Adam but it was too late.

A small, octopus like creature burst out of the back of this human, leaving him with a massive hole in his back and went straight for Lin's head. She dodged the creature and the door that seperated Lin from the team rapidly closed, leaving her trap.

"What the fuck!" shouted Cassandra, she looked at Juian, in despiration. "Open the DOOR!"

Juian was busy, tapping away at his wrist console. "I can't!"

A female computer's voice filled the air.

"Warning, Warning, Containment failure. Sealing off effected areas!"

"LIN!" Adam banged furiously on the door, Cassandra grabbed him from behind, she knew that nothing could be done. She carried the screaming Adam away from the door and all five of them, darted into different rooms before the doors to the outside deck slammed shut.

"Make your way to the bridge, I'll meet you there!" shouted Cassandra just before the door shut and she was left alone in the med-lab.

Lin however was still struggling with this thing, it was like an octopus, it had eight tentacles however they had massive thorn-like spikes on them. They were brown and were slimy, covered in human blood.

Lin could not hold the creature back much longer, it got, nearer and nearer and nearer to her head.

Until

Bang!

A bullet flew straight into the brown octopus and it exploaded, leaving Lin splattered in blue blood and bewildered. A character in black robes rushed out of nowhere, and grabbed her. Lin's face was one of agony, what was that thing and where was this person taking her.

The mysterious person opened a shaft in the wall of the bulkhead and threw Lin in, she felt herself slide down a massive tube, the fear was so evident on her face, fear with an instictive will to survive. She landed.

The room she found herself in was a ventalation juction, there were great metal grates on all four walls a one in the ceiling which she had just dropped out from, landing flat on her bottom. There was single console in the corner, that was the only bit of floor left, this room was filled with junk, paper, food boxes and some other things scattered about the floor. She had landed on a makeshift bed, it felt as if someone was living here.

The stranger slid down a few seconds after, he had a Terro 42 Calibur, a powerful handgun, capable of deliving powerful and accurate blows. The way he moved about the room, seemed familiar, however she still could not see his face.

"Um...........hi."

The stranger just looked at her, he was male, she could tell and he was also blond, she saw a few tangles of his hair float out of the hood.

"I'm Admiral O'Conner. We're here on a rescue mission for the UMSS and Phoenix Grace"

The stranger looked up when she said the word "Phoenix Grace", she had obviously done something.

"So your here to terminate the experiment and everyone on this ship" said the stranger, Linda knew that voice, it was old, the last time she heard it was.....................four years ago.

Lin's eyes widened, she had a feeling who it was. It's not possible.

The stranger began to lower his hood, he revealed his head, a red bandana round his forhead. His eyes, as pale blue as the sky she had once known. His face, skin as clean and clear as his soul. His lips, a round sinkhole. He was reborn.

No! This was impossible!

Lin flung herself backwards at the sight of him, no! He was dead! How could he be before her now?

"I anticipated that reaction" said Stef, he smiled at her. She began to climb back in amazement, almost in trance.

"Stef?" questioned Lin, she did not questioned him but the reality of this situation. How could she be seeing this. Was she dead?

"How......" asked Lin before Stef cut across her.

He looked straight into her eyes, his powerful gaze attracting her, she could not do. She could not face him yet, she turned away. "What? How am I here? I'm supposed to be dead right? Yeah well, my last image is me watching the station blow up and then I woke up in a labrotory on this vessel. The poeple around me debating my exhistence. I dunno then..........I must have blanked out. Anyway, when I woke up there were those brown things on the windows of the lab, cracking the glass, the ship in chaos and poeple screaming. I jumped into this shaft. I don't know where I am or what my prupose was?"

Linda looked straight back into her eyes, her iron stare was melted by the warmness of his heart, a tear dropped from her eyes. She had accepted that she had lost him, how? Why?

She lept into Stef's arms and he began to cradle her, his feelings so natural, she felt good.

Loved.

Finally.

In another part of the Erika Cassandra had her rifle pointed firmly in front of her, as a member of an elite team she had been in situations like this but somehow this was different. Something horrific was aboard this ship, some alien perhaps or some experiment.

As a member of military she had heard many rumours of experiments that were being conducted on poverty stricken poeple by Phoenix Grace but this had never been proven. Phoenix Grace was a good company, they had excellent realtions with the UMSS and other species in space such as the angel-like, Zelnaians and the blob-like Kelvaians. These were two of the most common races that were outside the UMSS, there was only one other race that was a potectorate of the UMSS and that was Enrico's poeple, the Karian.

The room was a medical room, the walls were bright white, however in the dark black of the dimly lit room, it hardly stood out. There were counters around the edge of the room with broken glass cylinders on them, the draws were open, surgical instruments were scattered around the floor and there was blood stain on the wall.

Cassandra heard a faint moan from the wall, Cassandra placed her finger on the trigger, she was waiting to kill. She walked forward, aimed. There was a old man in front of her, sat against the wall, with a gun in her hand, dripping with blood, he was wearing white doctors robes and was breathing heavily.

"Are you ok?" asked Cassandra as she bent down in front of him. He was in pain, his clothes were drenched in his own blood.

"Yeah.......I'm.......ok" said the man faintly, he was old, his hair was white.

"Who are you?" asked Cassandra, she said getting up and looked for some bandages.

"Doctor John Goddard, I'm the chief.............ugh..........medical officer here."

"Really what's going on here? It's insane!"

"I don't know, it some sort of virus, me and my associate are trying to create a cure but I was attack by the zombie-like creatures........they may appear dead but they have a.........hunger for flesh to feed.....their creature which grows.......on their back." Goddard breathed heavily and he was ghostly pale.

He began to breath faster and faster and then let out a scream, his body was mutating, his blood was pouring out through his wounds as he changed, his face was fearful. He mouthed two words! "Kill me" and then dropped his head silently, leaving Cassandra in the room, alone.

Chapter 8

"Hey?" whispered Cassandra as she tapped Goddard's corpse with the edge of her gun, he was quite dead. "Hey? You awake?"

Cassandra pulled back and looked straight at the dead Goddard. He shook. The must have been a few miss-firing nerve endings. Cassandra felt a bead of sweat fall down onto her eyelashes. Something frightened her.

What was it?

His body twisted again and his muscles in his cheeks moved, Cassandra took a step back and checked her gun, just in case.

Suddenly, Goddard lunged at her, his eyes immortally open, his personality gone, a raving lunatic was left clinging onto Cassandra as she rolled around the floor. Goddard was no longer a reasonable man but a biting, flesh-hungry machine determined to eat her at any cost.

Cassandra struggled with Goddard on the floor, he was taking swipes at her, his skin was light shade of purple, blood seaped from his mouth and eyes as it a pump was inserted in him and it was being pumped out. Cassandra screamed but it was obscured in the soundproof medical lab, she tried to push Goddard away from her. What the hell was wrong with him? His blood driped onto her face, it was no longer the dark red of human blood but a dark black, the blood on his face went black. Cassandra lifted her arm to avoid his teeth but......

Crunch.

The sound of Cassandra's screams filled the room as Goddard drew his teeth into her cold, perfect flesh. Cassandra felt the sharpest pain she had ever felt and with the renewed strength it gave her, kicked Goddard off her.

She stood up and searched for her gun, she could see it.

Damn

It was behind the mutated Doctor Goddard, she had to fight him the physical way to get to it, the pain of her arm was unbearable, it ran through her body. Sharp and powerful. She lifted her arms regardless, determined to fight this monster.

Two shots came flying out behind her, they passed Cassandra and flew straight into Goddard's head, knocking him back and killing him as he crashed into the cabinet behind him.

Cassandra stood there, cradling her arm and turning to face the figure that had saved her. It was a woman, she was short, a teenager wearing a tattered white lab coat with dirt on her face. She had black hair and a good complexion, her face was slightly scratched and numerous cuts lined on her face. She had been in battle. She was wearing a black, vest like top with black trousers. She looked a little young to be a doctor but her face was telling Cassandra that she knew that life well. She was also holding a silver handgun which looked massive in her petit hands, her stare was like that of an iceberg, beautiful but cold. The young doctor fell to her knees as Cassandra walked up to collect her assult rifle.

Oh no! Not again!

But she started crying softly, her gun on the floor, the tears dripped onto the metal floor. Cassandra felt ackward, she also did in emotional situations, she was a brilliant shot with a gun but could not deal with emotional strife well. There had been rumours that she had developed an intrest in several of the girls there however this was never proved.

"Look, I'm...." Cassandra took a deep breath, she should have brought a psychologist along with her, how was she going to word this? "sorry about the doctor, was he a friend of your's?"

The young female doctor nodded but did not look up. "More like a father"

"Oh I'm so sorry" repeated Cassandra.

"It's not your fault, it the virus. Some sort of virus has infected most the ship to become hosts for monsters. It's all Phoenix Grace's fault! Those Bastards!" Cassandra looked down on the floor, she could not let slip that Phoenix Grace and the UMSS had sent them or the doctor might try to kill her but she did not believe that Phoenix Grace was capable of something of this magnitude, even if Ivan Grace was a slimy snake. "Are you a rescue team?"

"Yes"

"Who sent you?"

"The military, they were concerned about you, look have you found anymore living people?" asked Cassandra, she was ignoring the bite mark on her arm, it was getting extreamly painful and then dying down for a while before flaring up again. The doctor shook her head. "We then I suggest we head back to our shuttle, I take it you have the codes? Miss....?"

"Chaos, Doctor Chaos Serenity and yeah I've got the codes. Are you going to destroy this ship?"

"No the military will be here soon to destroy it" Cassandra knew this was a lie but she did not want to go any further into this base. She would get in the shuttle with her remaining team and leave. With or without Admiral O'Connor, she believed that she was dead by now anyway. A beep came out of her pocket and Cassandra pulled out a small badge which she tapped.

"I see you got the transmittor working" said Cassandra first and muffled, highly distorted voice came from inside it. It was Aaron.

"This mission is not a easy as it appeared Cassandra, we have not located a living soul and are on our way back to the shuttle. I'm losing the signal.....gonna cut out......found Juian...........meet you at docking.....doors.....UMSS......nuke this place....." The signal then became too corrupted and Cassandra was stood there with Chaos.

"We better go" she said.

Chapter 9

Lin had never known a pleasure like this.

She had been reunited with a friend who had been dead for four years, but why? All he was was a clone, why did she feel more for him? She battled with this as Stef and her climbed out of the service tunnel and onto the same deck that she had started her adventure on.

"We're gonna get you out of here" said Lin as they made their way down the dimly lit corridor, many of the passages that were open to her were now slammed shut, due to biohazard contamination. She hoped the others had not left her, she hoped the Garrison would soon be there. The Erika could be destroyed by the UMSS later.

"Linda?" said Stef as the ran down the maze of corridors, Lin knew that they were on the right deck and that the docking port was on the starboard side so the ran in that direction. "Was it fate that a ran into you again?"

Lin stopped, she had to think about a reply but the simplist one was....."Yes"

"Then why does my heart still feel attracted to you?" he said, looking down as if he were ashamed of it. "I still love you"

Lin smiled, she had never known Stef's feelings till the end, till he was about to die, she had been with this boyfriend, a ex-mercinarey for years and she had never known how much Stef wanted to be in his shoes. Anyway she had dumped that guy years ago and been single ever since.

"Well eh........Unfortunatly........I'm married" said Lin, she felt it better to lie, relationships had been nothing but trouble and this was one friendship she wanted to keep. The expression on Stef's face went from bad to worse and Lin felt awful for lying but she did not want another lover. Not after last time.

"Oh" said Stef "Well congradulations....."

Bust something interrupted him while he spoke. The sound of three footsteps coming down the corridor. Stef drew his gun, he pointed at then noise and then lowered it. More humans, one of them was the doctor that created him.

"Chaos" he said under his breath.

"Good to see your still alive, Admiral O'Connor" said Cassandra as Adam gave her a hug and then looked at Stef. He fell backwards in horror. "Lin! Stef's behind..."

"I know" smiled Lin, chuckling at his reaction. "Looked like somebody cloned him, so who's the new girl?"

"My creator" said Stef slowly making Lin turn to him. Chaos hung her head down in shame, she had a feeling that Stef had something to do with the terrible events here as this "sickness" had started on the lower, Phoenix Grace parts of the ship and had soon engulfed the entire of this vessel. Lin stared at Chaos, she thought that the creator of Stef would be a little older.

"I'm Doctor Chaos Serenity, I work for the UMSS. Can we please just go. I'll answer all your questions when we're out of here."

Lin could not agree more, she had questions but she was not going to stay here any longer then she had too.

"Right" said Cassandra, she pointed towards a large door down the corridor. "Let's go" Cassandra walked down the corridor, she expected Aaron and Juian to be on the transport, ready to leave and go home.

She tapped the control panel on the door while the others caught up with her, the massive metal doors grinded apart, revealing the massive cyclindrical tunnel which led out to freedom. Juain was sat on the ramp and shouted something up to the pilot.

The Garrison's engines blazed to life and they lifted of the ground, hovering above it. Stef stared at the shuttle, he felt something, something was wrong. Cassandra frowned, what were they doing.

Suddenly Stef saw it in his mind's eye.

"GET DOWN!" he screamed and pushed Cassandra down on the floor as a bullet flew past them narrowly missing. Stef picked up the gun and returned fire, there were two targets, Juian or the ship.

Stef shot Juian straight in the torso and he fell off the ship. Why were the doing this? They were supposed to be their team-mates. Something clicked in Cassandra's mind. They knew! They were told to leave them there, on the Erika, waiting for death.

Lin dodged the fire from the Garrison, massive blue bolts of laser energy and rolled to the dead Juain that was lying underneath where the ship was hovering, Stef had pulled the bewildered Cassandra and Adam back into the doorway. Chaos ducked behind the door providing cover fire.

"Lin!" he shouted.

Linda rolled under the massive of laser fire, grabbed the sniper rifle and aimed for the fuel tank under the vessel. She took perfect aim and it almost felt as if time had stopped about her and she was a completely new state of exhistance. She pulled the trigger.

"Checkmate"

The bullet flew into the underbelly of the ship as Enrico lost control and the Garrison burst in a mighty vortex of flame that fell to the side of Lin and all the way down the shaft. Never to be re-discovered. Lin was left laying there, alone. Stef ran to be by her side, she had suffered no injury, no phsyical one at least but she stared up into the vast darkness of the shaft.

"Come on, we have to go." said Stef as he helped her up.

"They betrayed us, we've come here to die. We can't escape, we will die and nobody will know the horror that went on here. Not even us!"

Chapter 10

Cassandra smiled, she looked at the ship's directory, she was out of choices. Now there were only two, survive or die trying. Adam worked with her, they were looking for something to help them escape. Lin sat and stared into space and then at Stef. What a horrible day, she had accepted this mission and now it ended up that somebody had paid the men to leave her there, in space. Alone. Well not exactly.

Stef was staring out the window in the blackness of space, Lin had filled him in on current events. Four years. He had been dead for four years, Chaos did not want to talk about why they brought him back from his eternal slumber. Chaos was sat in the corner of room, thinking.

They were in what could only be described as a crew lounge, it was a secure area one deck up from the docking bay and it was comfortable, plus the only computer terminal so far that worked.

"Found it!" said Adam as he tapped away on the table-like console, there had been silence for about an hour, everyone was regaining strength.

"What?" said Stef, he looked carefully at Adam. "A way out!"

"No"

The rest of the people in the room slumped back where they were standing or sitting.

"Something better."

Stef looked interested, he wondered what Adam could have found in the mass jumble of computer. He smiled at Adam, he was exactly as he expect him to be, a little taller but Lin had hardly changed at all so why should Adam.

"Activating!" said Adam, the smile shone through his desperate face, he need this.

A body started to appear in the center of the room, it formed into a woman wearing a military outfit, the projection was distorted. Chaos clicked her fingers. Oh course! Erika! The interactive computer matrix which allowed the crew to interface with the ship directly.

"Well, I like this projection" said Adam, he stared at her. To him, she was the apex of computer systems, a perfect interactive programme. Erika opened her eyes, she had a large blue orbs and a small eyes. Something flashed around her body and small blobs of blue protoplasma appeared, these were her interface controls.

"Greetings" she said in a sexy female voice, her projection distorted again, the computer was unstable at the moment.

"Erika, we need a damage report!" said Chaos, almost taking over before Adam could say anything. Erika closed her eyes and frowned, she could not get into the computer, she just had no power over the ship. No. That was wrong.

She was the ship.

"I cannot access the main computer system, command relays have been fused, I am not in direct control of the ship. I cannot even tell you where the nearest shower is."

Chaos looked back at the Erika, Cassandra was holding her bittern arm, she had let Chaos take a look and she had put a bandage on it but it was so painful. Lin stopped, she saw no way how they were going to get out of this. She remember a mission that she went on with Stef and Adam before. They had infiltrated a research centre in an attempt to gather information. They were captured and tortured for nine days before the facility was attacked and they were rescued. She was harden because of that experience.

But now.

She felt her own reserves going, her body breaking down, she did not know whether they were going to escape this. This was wearing her down, all of her moral fiber.

"Well" said Chaos breaking the uneasy quiet in the room "I guess we have to head to deck one, the bridge and repair the relays, we might be able to pilot the ship back to Antis Salano shipyards."

"No!" said Stef, shocking everyone in the room. "We must destroy this ship! We cannot allow this "illness" to infect others."

"I'm not destroying this ship!" shouted Chaos, he eyes full of pain, part of her was in morning for John. "We HAVE to save it, this is my home!"

Lin turned and expected Stef shout back, with rage in his heart but he acted with strange compassion, he smiled and mumbled in Chaos's ear. "One step at a time." He turned and faced the others.

"Let's get moving"

"Erika! Why arn't the engines working!" said a voice, it was commanding voice, female and graceful. However at this point she was annoyed. She stood in front of a console on the bridge of the ship, the lightening was dim, only a few consoles remained lighted. The bridge was large with the command chair in the centre, two massive windows which looked out into the blackness of space. There were stations of consoles which surround the perimiter of the room except for the back wall which contained two doors and a massive schmatic of the vessel. However only half of it was lit up. The bridge itself was on three levels which were seperated by a couple of steps. The first level had the pilots station at the front and steps that led up to the second level which had the command chair with two small alcove-like stations oppersite one another and then another couple of steps which led up to the top level. The top level was wider and had another door which was on the right, that led to the captain's personal ready room. There were also three two other alcove like stations which looked out over the rest of the bridge.

There was only one person in room, she had a dirty face and her hair was slightly out of style, she worked frantically at the massive console which displayed a cross-section of the ship, it was damaged.

The computer had suffered a major power drain caused by the attack in Enginnering on the bottom half of the ship, one of the crew had gone insane, killed the Chief Engineer and caused a cascade failure in the computer system. This meant that all systems were offline and then the outbreak of this disease, spread quickly creating more of those monsters and had killed the entire crew. The rest of the crew she had orded to escape in shuttles but she had not heard from any of them.

Were they all dead?

"Main Hyperthrust drive is offline, Main thrust drive is offline - Cause unknown" called a computer back to her almost in answer. The woman knew this ship well, she had a small military tunic on which had loosened as she had been working. Her hair had lost it's normal ponytail style and was just loose. She was in command none-the-less. She was human, about twenty-three, beautiful skin that had blemishes on her face, her eyes were pale green and her hair brown. She was a tall woman with a almost masculine body which had her mistaken for a lesbian sometimes. Her name was Captain Flex Wildcat.

"What do you mean!? Cause unknown!?" called Flex, she was getting aggrivated by the computer's advasiveness.

"Cannot find cause - internal sensor resolution is below 12 percent" said the computer, it too had an aggrivated tone in it's voice. Flex hated this new A.I type computer which was equally as rude as useful. However she had grown to like it over the last year, it was amusing friend and she respected it. The Erika felt alive that way. It felt like home, the Erika was the mother of them all.

"Oh shit!" said Flex loudly. "Damn, sensor's have gone again eh? What's the problem now?"

"Command relays are fused!"

"Bypass" shouted Flex

"Unable to comply...."

"Hang on!" Flex looked through the computer logs for the access of the projection system. She looked up confused, it had been used five minutes ago? How was that possible....

Unless......

Somebody else might still be alive.

"Erika, why didn't you tell me that your projection system was activated five minutes ago?" asked Flex, Erika usually told her everything, it was part of her programming, to be most reponsive to the captain and answer all her question without hesitation.

There was plain silence in the room, all that could be heard was Flex's heavy breathing, she had always been slightly frightened in the dark but this add more terror. What if one of those octopus-like things came in here and grabbed hold of her brain? She did not want to think about that. Not one iota!

"I do not understand?"

Flex looked back at the console puzzeled, the control links must have been damaged when the main computer crashed because Erika would remember all the accesses of the programme. Flex found herself fighting two emotions, curiosity and fear.

"Warning, Warning!" sound Erika, like an alarm. "Intruders on Deck 1."

Flex quickly ran down to the middle section of the bridge and grabbed her weapon, she did not want to die yet and she would put all her strength into making sure that she did not.

"Erika!" she shouted "Where are they?"

The computer responded with a simple word; "Lift" and Flex pointed her handgun at the door which led to the lift, she had only a few bullets and she planned to save that last one for herself.

"Can you identify them?"

"No, sensor resolution too low."

Flex watch the door hiss open as she took cover behind her chair, she was ready to leap up and fire. In her mind, she was ready...one...two...three. Flex swung up from behind the chair, she found that the intruders were not zombies or monsters but people, real people.

"Chaos!?" Flex squinted at her to check that it was not a deception. How could Doctor Chaos survive? She was a girl, just a girl. But she had company, two men, one in his twenties, the other just eighteen. She recognised the one who was eighteen, it was Chaos's latest science project, a clone of the once well-known Stefano Valentine. He looked exactly as she remembered him, she also recognised the other woman out of the two next to Chaos. Admiral Linda O'Connor.

"Don't shoot!" called Chaos in panic, seeing the gun raised towards her. Flex lowered it instantly, she was alive.

"Chaos, I must say you were the last place to find you and you brought friends, these the poeple the UMSS sent?"

Chaos nodded and went around the room introducing everyone, Cassandra looked straight into Flex's eyes, she had to know that she could trust the living because they could quite easily go the way of the dead. Like Goddard.

"I must be honest" said Flex, looking straight into Lin's eyes. "I thought you had given up the UMSS, it's great to see you Lin."

"That's the reason I came. Because of you, we were worried, old friend" said Lin and she smiled at Flex, who felt warm and comfortable. "We also brought a few things that may help you."

Adam brought forward a black case, laided it down on the floor and opened it, inside were long tubes of metal with glowing green circuitry inside them. These weere were what the ships computer used as a source of power, the command relays that allowed the computer to interface with every other part of the ship. Flex's eyes lit up when she saw them. She rushed over to the console that she was just at and inserted the tubes in a circular hole located under the panel itself.

"Computer!" she said, regaining command and power in her voice. "Transfere main command sytems to the realys I've just inserted into the consoles."

In a flash every light on the bridge flared up, blinding nearly everyone in the room, the clunking of the engine coming online from the lower decks was heard and a hum filled the room. Flex looked triumphant, she had regained control of her vessel, nothing could stop her.

Chapter 11

As the ship began to power up, lights began to switch on everywhere, revealing the littered dead bodies of the entire crew which had died in this disaster. On the lowest decks of the Erika, the door to the powerful Phoenix Grace facility blew open in a power surge, some kind of surge had overloaded the controls for it. As the massive door came crashing down revealing a marble hall of extreme grandure, lights flickered on and through the first door on the left was the research lab.

Inside the research lab, lights flickered on and machines began to power up, the sight of which the lights revealed was horrific, it was little girl inside a massive tube of water, like a test tube baby except this little girl had green motted skin and looked like she had been mutated. Her body was four times the size of a normal little girl of nine and she had more muscles that a professional bodybuilder, pipes of green liquid had been inserted into her neck, drawing liquid into her body, which allowed her to have these enhancements. Her face was pale and grey but she was asleep. The most deadly feature about her was the tentacles on the her finger nails that pulsated through the water of which she was suspended in.

The machine flicked to life, lighting up the tube and drained the water. She was a perfection, a master of Serenity, amazing skill and brilliant power. All eminating from such a feeble figure as this little girl.

She looked peaceful in her slumber until...

He massive eyes opened, they were red and bloodshot. She lifted her massive arms and shattered the glass. Then she stepped out of the tube, onto the cold floor and as her massive tentacles draped behind her and let out a piercing cry, part pain and part anger.

Her dark shadow passed the dead scientists on the floor in white coats with blood spattered all over them and out of the door, her mission was simple, kill for no reason.

Her memory erased, Katrina Solomon was gone and back in her place was this monster. Tirana X. A scientist lay by her feet as she stumbled out the door, bewildered by her own weight. The scientist was holding something in his hand, his face was mutilated and in his blood covered hand was a metal tube that flickered green. A command relay, the Erika had lost power for a reason. To keep Tirana out.

"Right, I have basic control of the computer" Adam furiously tapped at the control panel at the front of the ship. The bridge was now lit and Cassandra was sat in the Captain's chair still holding her arm. It stopped hurt now, the whole thing had gone numb. It scared her, a lot.

"Ok" said Flex, she turned to speak up to the ceiling. "Erika. Damage report."

The computer began to speak back to them, filling the loud speakers in the room. "Engines are 13%, Hyperthrust core is offline, weapons are offline, shields are offline. Decks nine, ten and thirteen have lost primary power due to biohazard risk."

Lin stood there listening, if they could not move this ship then they no over choice. Destroy it.

"Computer find and localise the main contaminated area of the ship. Where is it?" asked Chaos, she wondered how this outbreak was caused and by what. The computer remained silent for a few second before the voice of the computer filled the room.

"Main contaminated areas are located at the Phoenix Grace Operations Facility on deck twenty-three, sub-section eight, nine, fourteen and twenty-two."

Chaos looked as if a lightbulb had turned on inside her head, it made sense.

"Adam?" she asked making him turn round to face her. "I here from Lin that your an expert hacker. Can you access the main primary P.G. Computer and access encypted files, it might give us a better idea of what we're up against."

"Sure" said Adam, who instantly began tapping away on the back wall console like a beaver knawing on wood. "Done, main Phoenix Grace encyption system is offline, what do you want to know."

Flex stepped infront of Chaos and squinted at the screen, she was unable to believe that Adam could have hacked a level 10 security grid that quickly, but he had. "Nice work" she said tapping him on the shoulder.

"Right" Lin went back to Cassandra who was looking awfully pale, she kept twitching all of a sudden but made the excuse that she was fine. Lin got the picture that she was not exactly the woman that liked to think that she was not in control of her life. "Adam, tap into the latest experiments Phoenix Grace have conducted.....um....we need a keyword to search for."

Chaos put her head down. "Project Valentine" she said slowly causing Stef to poke his head up from the corner of the room, he had been trying to work on the engines but he had know idea how they worked. So much had changed in four years. Just four years. Stef walked over to observe the console in which Adam was typing at.

"Keyword search complete" it read, the team waited for results and what they saw next shocked Stef to his very core.

Project Valentine:

A clone of UMSS officer Commander Stefano Valentine, critical componant for synthesis of the "Serenity Virus", a genetic virus which cause unnatural mutation in living organic tissue. The Serenity Virus is a compound of the blood of a person from Serenity Island in the mid-Triascha sea. Unfortunatly, that species of people were exterminated by an unknown cause about ten years ago. The only known example of Serenity or Type "S" blood is Commander Valentine.

The blood acts as a catalyst speeding up the effects of the Serenity Virus, causing in minutes what would usually take decades, there is also an organic mass which grows on the infected subjects back region and will burst through the back cavity, causing the host to die. The creature itself will continue to consume living tissue and continue it's stages of evolution. Exactly how far this creature will grow is not known but as a weapon to Phoenix Grace, it is a important found to protect the companies assets.

The host body itself, when it is infected will begin to grow the organic mass, there is no known term for these creatures. The host itself will revert to a zombie-like state eating living tissue to help develop the creature.

There is one cure which involves anti-kyrocides which will poison the creature and cure the host. This poison will cause no harm to infected humans as the poison is attracted to the growth but this is a deadly poison to ordinary humans so caution is recommended at all times.

Stef slumped down on one of the steps, so that was his purpose. He was a part of virus, his blood was part of a thing that mutilated people, stripped them of their individuality and caused them to die. He was wounded, like an animal and he was prepared to show his teeth.

Stef lunged for Chaos and slammed her up against the wall, everyone was shocked including him, Chaos was a frail looking body. He could have snapped her in one twist.

"So this is what I was created for!" he shouted in her ear, she started to cry. Tears fell down onto her white lab coat. "To be the mother of this virus! Why?!"

Chaos mumbled and then burst into tears, there was genuine sincerity in her eyes that calmed Stef's raging heart, he let go of her and turned around going straight through Lin.

"Stef" said Chaos, between sobs. "I swear I did not know! Phoenix Grace told me to do it, we were on a mission for them. They wanted your blood for something. If I'd known. I'd refused!"

"It's a bit late now, Doctor!" said Lin, who felt as angry as Stef was, he had been violated and become a weapon.

Cassandra stood up, she looked like death. "So this is what it's all......." she collapsed onto the bridge floor, Chaos ran to her side and ran her medical scanner along her body.

"It's the virus!" she shouted at the rest. "This is all my fault! I'm losing her! There must be a way to save her!"

Stef got up and quickly ran to Chaos, his revenge would have to be on hold for a little while.

"Where are the Anti-.....um....doo dahs?" he asked Chaos.

"There'd be some in the Medical lab one, it's next to main Sickbay on Deck 5. It will be....eh....in the main poisons section" commanded Chaos. Stef got up, he had to go down five decks and retrieve a vial of this poison which wold cure the deadly virus.

"I'll go and get it" said Stef, he picked up and loaded one the rifles that was laying on the floor beside Cassandra. He pulled the chamber back and made sure that he could aim it. He had never fired this model before, this was a type 7 -Calvenette, made by the company Aulustria Industries, the biggest arms dealers on Earth. They provided most of the firearms and weapons for the UMSS and almost as powerful as Phoenix Grace themselves. Stef swung the model round, it was cold and quite heavy, a metre read how much ammunition was inside this weapon, it was fully loaded and came equipped with a night-vision heat scope.

"Your not going alone!" said Adam, he grabbed Flex's handgun that lay on the console she was working at. He stared back at Stef. He was not willing to lose Stef again. He did not want to. He felt close to Stef. "Maybe you wanna die in blazing glory but we really don't want you to. So I'll go with you for back."

Stef smiled, he wanted to tell Adam to stay behind but then he remembered the vows that Adam, Lin and himself had took to keep each other safe from harm. So he had to get on and endure it. Plus he also welcomed Adam's help, Adam was quick, an brillant computer hacker. He would be helpful for doors that they ran into that would not open.

"Ok, let's go" commanded Stef and they walked towards the lift. Inside it was a small cicular room which was now lit brightly, not like it was before when main power was offline. The lift was not the only access to the bridge and if you went through the ready room you would come out in some of the adjoining corridors that made up deck 1. Stef and Adam stepped inside the lift. Personally he hated them. He hated the feeling of an enclosed space, he always had.

"Deck 5" called out Adam the lift began to move, lower and lower, deeper and deeper in the Erika.

Chapter 12

Meanwhile...

Another vessel blazed out of the green vortex of Hypertrust into the edge of known space. Hyperthrust was always considered to be a spooky realm as the green was a dark and evil colour which made some religous believers on Earth think that this was the "gateway to hell". This of course was religous rubbish, Hyperthrust was created by pushing a vessel out of phase with the known galaxy allowing them to travel faster than any other form of travel. The science of it was complicated but the idea was that when a vessel engages Hyperthrust, a field or "bubble" of plasma particles are created around the ship, the beam is focused to single spot in space and a Hypertrust portal appears allowing the vessel to enter it.

The only problem with Hyperthrust that because the vessel's interior was still in normal space time, the whole crew had to go into cryo-tubes because it could kill them, causing them to age a thousand time quicker than usual. Living their lives in a blink of an eye. The sciencetists on Earth had almost devised a solution for this, a shield which protected the ship from the deadly differance in space-time.

This vessel was a prototype, one of the newest vessel that had been created, it had a "bio-plasmic shield" which allowed the vessel to travel at Hyperthrust without the crew going into stasis. It was a lot sleeker than other vessels, like the Erika but a lot small aswell. This vessel looked completly different in design, it had a green hull and had two wings either side of the main command neck which crained out into a sort of curved nose. On the wings, ingraved into the metal there were what appeared to be feathers.

She was new design, the best in her class. The new wave, that out-preformed all other vessels, she was a predator. Her name, perfectly inscribed on the side of the main command hull was the P.G. Angel.

On board the Angel, Captain Lilika Hunt sat in the command chair on the bridge, for a newest vessels of it's class, the interior had not much changed from the Erika. The bridge was still a three tier system and the consoles were all in the same place, however the lighting in the room was different. It gave out a more green tinge than the Erika's bridge did.

Captain Hunt was a human, like most of the captain's in the military, however her ship was not from the military. This entire vessel had been created and engineered by Phoenix Grace, itself. This ship had all the latest advancements in technology that Phoenix Grace preferred to keep from the military. Captain Hunt was one of Phoenix Grace's most decorated operatives but she had noticed a change in behaviour of the company. At first this ship was asked to aid the military in a whole range of activities, even battles with the nearby Kelvanians which resulted in the Treaty of Satos V being drawn up to maintian peace.

But now...

Lilika sensed that her mission were more to do with undermining the UMSS's power. Just last week she had been asked to take a consignment of weapons to the planet Dellos, Dellos was in a UMSS occupied planet and the local freedom fighters wanted autonomy for their planet, so the Angel was covertly sent to deliver some weapons to the planet and return with a mysterious device which appeared to be a bunch of technology. She had given these to Agent Rift who had taken them aboard another vessel.

"Captain" said an officer sat at the side of the room, he was young in the face, he had bad acne. Captain Hunt turned to face him and smiled, she knew how nervous she was on her first mission. "Go ahead Steven" she said.

"We are at the co-ordinates that P.G. Command Centre has sent us and we are receiving a transmission from a Hyper-band communications array nearby" said Steven in a high-pitched voice which had not escaped that power of puberty yet. He had been assigned to this ship as a sort of summer job, his parents were poor and Phoenix Grace through the programmes it had set up employing younger teenagers to work over the school holidays on star-ships. Of all classes.

The great vision of the powerful Phoenix Grace.

"On speakers" she commanded and Steven tapped a few buttons, a brilliant, powerful voice echoed through the bridge, ensnaring every member of the bridge crew in his suductively powerful voice. Ivan Grace - The great public speaker.

"Captain Hunt, this is Ivan Grace. Your mission is of extreme importance to Phoenix Grace, there will be a large shore leave for you and your crew if you complete this."

Lilika thought about this while she swayed her long purple hair, Ivan Grace was not the one usually to give free holidays. What was he up to?

"Thank you, sir" she replied politly "What can we do to be of service?"

"Have you detected a ship, at the edge of this system?" asked Ivan's disembodied voice. It left a strange aura in the air around the bridge.

"Yes" said Lilika, wondering where this was going. "The UMSS Erika"

"Good. That ship has suffered a major containment breach, there are no survivors. The military have asked me to destroy it. So aim a Type 10 nuclear missile at them. I want not a spec of that ship left."

Captain Hunt looked confused, Mr Grace had just contacted them with this? Why did he not send on of his trusted "agents" out here to oversee this distruction? She hated Ivan and was thinking about leaving the companies space force. It just was not the same now as it was when Cecelia was in control of it.

Cecelia Grace was Ivan's "mother", nobody in the company knew about Ivan's origins, there was small talk of him being Cecelia's adoptive son and not really of her bloodline. This would have made sense because Cecelia was a kind and pleasent woman, who tired effortlessly to be loved by all those who worked for her and Ivan was a cold heart, mysterious character who never seemed to praise his workers at all. It was almost like he was using the company. Anyway about five years ago, Cecelia Grace was on a transport ship and mysteriously died. So Ivan inherited the company but not without suspicion, some people believed that could have been a lot more colder towards his family then he let on.

"Alright" said Captain Hunt. "Arm a nuke and target the Erika"

Steven turned round in disbelief, a P.G. vessel attacking a ship that was the pride of the UMSS, how was this possible? There were strick guidelines which the company had to follow before attacking a UMSS vessel, contact the military was one of these.

The whole of the bridge went red and movement could be heard as the nuke fell into one of the torpedo tubes.

Captain Hunt closed her eye's, a prayer, for the people of the Erika. "Fire" she said quietly.

A bright spark cut across the blackness of space, a deadly missile that would obiliterate the Erika in an hour.

Chapter 13

A console beeped loudly on the bridge of the Erika. Captain Flex got up from Cassandra's side and answered it, she tapped on the console and muttered "oh great!".

"We have an hour to get off this ship" she turned round to the others, Chaos and Lin crouched by the infected Cassandra.

"What!" shouted Chaos, she got up and went down to where Flex was reading in disbelief. "A Type 10 Nuclear warhead! Oh fucking brilliant!"

Lin looked shocked, how could the UMSS want to destroy one of the prides of the military, unless...

"Scan for nearby vessels" she said calmly. Flex complied and ran her fingers elegantly over the control panel and replied. "One, it's a class sensors does not recognise but by the hull markings, I would say Phoenix Grace."

Lin turned round, she understood at last!

Phoenix Grace had sent a ship to eliminate all evidence of the "Serenity Virus" and that included the entire ship!

"They can't get away with that!" shouted Chaos, she was so angry that she had played a part in the destruction. Lin slumped down on the floor, she was ready to embrace her fate!

"They can and they will!" said Lin quietly, she had said it so softly that Chaos and Flex had almost not heard her. She put her hand on her heart and looked sliently at the viewscreen in front of her. "It couldn't end her!" she told herself, she had been so far, so many dangerous missions, this was no different!

But it was.

The terror she felt was almost beyond her control, she was scared. What horrors awaited her? The experiments here? But all she could do now is pray that Stef and Adam got back to the bridge with the antidote and the then they could get the hell of this vessel.

It was either that or?

Death.

Adam ran down the corridor, slightly ahead of Stef, the pistol in his hand. His protection. The funny thing was. The dead bodies that lined the corridors, were no longer there.

Adam stopped at a place where he had seen a dead woman, she was no longer there. Stef turned and told him to keep moving as they approached the med-lab. The radio on Adam's belt flickered, somebody was trying to contact them. He stopped, in middle of the lighter corridor.

The light of the corridor's were now active, it was almost blinding. It created a whiteness, a purity about the corridors. Perhaps the lights settings were a little too high and were about to over-load. Adam could not tell.

Adam fiddled with the radio and with Stef running slightly ahead of him. He smacked it against the wall. It still did not work, so he left it and ran off. Somehow the noise was distracting.

Stef and Adam ran to a door, it was made of solid iron and led to the medical area of the vessel. The door was shut tight and they took up a position either side of it. Ready for action.

Stef reached for the control panel on his side of the door, somehow. He recognised this technology. His memory was returning, he was a clone. A stain. He was not the person he was engineered to be. His memories, feelings, personality had all be replicated perfectly. But in his heart, he knew. Commander S Valentine was dead.

However he still had his years of military training fresh in his mind. He reminded himself.

"It's Stef's military training, not yours"

To an ordinary person, this would have not made sense but to Stef it did. When did a clone, stop being a clone and become a person?

Stef gestured to Adam as the door grinded open, revealing a dark, murky lighting. Stef clicked on the flashlight of his rifle and shone the light into the room. The light was enough to see by without the flashlight but Stef wanted extra security. He remembered his tutor at the academy. Why?

His memory was perfect, he remember every detail of Stef's life but the original was dead. Stef was dead. How did he feel, think? Stef asked himself these question. How was he compared to the original.

One day all of this would become clear.

Adam swung into the corridor which was lit darkly, there was a lush read carpet of which was a little too expensive for a military vessel. The corridor was small and only had two doors leading off from it. The sickbay and medical research lab that joined on. The Erika was equipped with a few more medical research labs but not on this deck, this was the main one.

There was dead end wall at the end of the short corridor and a potted planet, a sofa and some comfortable looking chairs lined all along the left wall. A waiting area?

The chairs and sofa looked out a pair of glass double doors with an symbol imprinted on the glass, a globe surrounded a triangle. The symbol of the UMMS's far reaching power. There was another glass door further on but this one was smaller, it led to research lab and the cure to the deadly Serenity Virus. This was the door that Stef and Adam headed for, beads of sweat dripped down onto Adam's forhead as he tightly grasped his gun.

This was way too quiet.

Stef approached the door with the same emotional suppression that Adam allways remarked about. Adam recalled a mission to Kellnok Prime, the people there had a terrible torture device there. Adam was still left with emotional scars and nearly died because of torture. He, Stef and Lin had been sent to that planet to gather information about the massing of weapons on the southern continant however they were captured and the Ky'Onison's particular method of information extraction is to tamper with the brains biological functions and cause a wide array of unpleasent emotions to surface in an uncontrollable pattern. However Stef always managed to keep his emotions suppressed, he was frightened and he felt exactly what Adam and Lin went through but he kept a calm exterior. It took ten days until the UMSS helped the northern state bomb and stormed the base, they were finally released. It was one of the reasons that Lin left the military. She had never really recovered. All of them had not.

Stef swiftly moved his fingers on the control panel outside the medical lab. He could not seem to get it to open without a military command code but getting one would mean going all the way back to the bridge to see either Flex or Chaos.

Clunk

Stef and Adam turned to face to door, some sound had drawn their attention to it. They peered into the murky darkness and a figure stepped out in front of them, pointing his gun straight at them. He wore black, completely black, there was not a patch of skin showing but his face which had allowed some of his black, sweaty hair drop, out of place down to his forhead. His sun-glasses reflected what dim light was in the corridor, his face was solemn and cold. He could shoot them at any time and not feel a thing.

"Who are you?" he asked, stepping further towards them, his gun still raised. It was a small Octovere 26, a handgun that was usually personally carried by people of only on company, Phoenix Grace. Adam noticed this and his hand was ready to raise, to kill the guy for all the experiments that were going on here. Ultimate Retribution. Stef obviously had not witnessed Phoenix Grace's dramatic ascention to power and global dominance but he understood that they were now responcible for his creation and the virus.

"I'm commander Stef Valen..........." started Stef but he was cut off by this man's, seemingly calm voice.

"I know very well who you are, clone!" said the man through his cold, heartless lips. "I was referring to the other person beside you. I have not seen anyone like you on the crew manifest?"

Adam's face contorted, he was ready to put a bullet through the guy's head but he spoke back with malice instead.

"Why should I tell you?"

Stef looked back at Adam, slightly bewildered by the responce that Adam had given. He felt the tension grow but he could not feel anything else. That was the strange part.

Ever since he had been cloned, he had always had these strange feelings, like preminitions and he could also tell what people were thinking, this was an ability he did not have when he was the original Stef. He thought of an example, he knew when the Garrison was going to fire at Cassandra. He had these psychic moments and even though he knew they were real, it was stupid thing to say because psychic power was always something that was ridiculed. But now...

He felt nothing from the man, as if all the emotion had been sucked out of him and replaced with nothingness. It was disturbing.

"Because I have the code for that door?" said the man, he let out a small grin, that was disturbing too. "I'm Agent Rift from Phoenix Grace, however I have left the company since all of this happened. I wish to help you."

Rift walked towards Stef which made him fell slightly weird, as if he was being choked by an invisible vine. Rift walked forward and entered his command code into the control pad on the wall. It beeped in acknowledgement of his command and two beautiful glass doors slid open revealing a more kitchen like room than a medical lab.

"I will wait out here for you to return and watch for monsters" said Rift, the calmness went with his natural accent which sounded slightly Russian in our world but in this universe, Rift can come from a middle-class family in the coldest country on Earth, Minos. A beautiful snow-white landscape with rolling hills and powerful scenery that had inspired the great poets of Earth, like Thomas Forcourt and Andrew Maére. Thomas Forcourt had once written a verse which summed up the entire of Minos.

"For I have never seen a land so fair

It's whiteness shining in my face

Or the subtle breeze, without a care

Passing through this beautiful, seductive place"

However the beauty of Minos did little to the people of country, who until the unification of all of Earth's continents in 1978 lived in poverty, while the core and resources of the land was taken and used in wars which spanned generations. Until 1977, Minos was governed by a ruthless and all powerful family, called the Aranmov's. This family were obsessed with expanding their kingdoms massive boarders in foreign warfare and the people became increasingly tired of it. Then, in 1976, they rose up and killed the last king of Minos, he was the last king ever to rule over any country on Earth. The poeple had revolted and when the "One Year War" broke out in 1977 between all the other countries of the Earth, Minos remained neutral, still crippled by the revolution. However their protection was ensured by the creation of MMS and eventually the United Alliance Government, which unleashed the most powerful space military, the UMSS. Both Stef and Adam had been born in the period of 1985, however only Adam knew about the terror, even though he could not remember it.

"The reason the war only lasted one year" said Adam's father "was the fact that there was so much damage created by the nuclear missiles that both sides had to give in."

However Stef had grown up on on island, lost in the culture of ancient ways and unknown until 1995 by the world. Stef reminded himself, just because he had grown up on an island that had no involvement in the massive destruction of the world, he had seen his entire tribe wiped out by his own father and a power that never again should be awakened.

Chapter 14

Flex sat down in the captain's chair of the bridge, it was empty and silent except for the sounds of the computer whirling and beeping.

"How could I let this happen?" she said solemnly, her darkened face lowering to her knees allowing her hair to droop down beside her. Chaos and Lin were taking care of Cassandra and had moved her from the cold bridge floor to the comfort of Flex's personal ready room.

Flex got up and turned towards the steps that led down to the doors of the ready room. What was going on in her head? Why was this happening to her vessel? Why had Phoenix Grace done this?

The console let out a small beep; she walked to it, instantly attracted by the sound. This was the true power of technology. She allowed her eyes to read the gleaming console and then tap a few buttons next to display.

"Wildcat to Chaos" she called and repeated this until she got a small distorted noise, even if it was only a signal from the next room.

"Yes"

"I'm reading another bio-signature, right next to Stef and Adam. However they do not appear to be running."

"That's...odd" said Chaos as the doors to the ready room slid open and Chaos came through.

"Yeah. I thought so too" said Flex, turning to look at her. Chaos always hated Flex's way of looking at people so directly. Flex had been captain of the Erika since Chaos had joined the medical team...five years.

"Erika?" called Flex and a transparent projection of a woman appeared in front of her. She smiled at Flex, Flex always thought that Erika's smile was just a little bit cakey, ever since they had installed this A.I. Computer Core two years ago (much to the male officers delight). The Erika was an older and more experienced starship than the new computer core and at first the Erika programme was so annoying but she seemed to have settled into her role. However there were still some annoying aspects to the programme.

"Can I help?" asked the holographic representation.

"Can you identify the human bio-signatures on Deck 5?"

"Hang on. Processing" said Erika in a robotozied voice.

Chaos moved to the tactical console as Erika processed her data, her programme would have been quicker but there was massive damage to the power grid causing the A.I. systems to be slightly slower than usual.

"Request completed" said the Erika, she smiled and shook her body forward. "Sorry it took so long, I'm identifying three human life-signs on that deck. They are Commander Stefano Valentine, Lieutenant Adam Carrington and Agent Maximillian Rift. Chaos's eyes narrowed as soon as she heard Rift's name mentioned. She had to get to them! Rift was one of the top Phoenix Grace operatives...

He would kill them to protect the company.

Chaos grabbed a shotgun from the weapons locker on the side of the bridge and rushed into the life despite Flex telling her to stop. She needed to save them. Nobody else was going to die.

Nobody!

Stef scanned the room with his pale blue eyes, his gun was firmly in his hand. He had got here to easy, somehow he expected it to be...

Harder?

Adam was carefully covering him and Rift was back at the door, a cold sweat dripped onto Adam's forehead as he neared the freezer where they kept the poisons, this was a large metal rectangle that was big enough to hold a person inside. Rift nodded to the them from the door, a signal to hurry up.

Stef crouched down by the control panel on the side of the large freezer, it was combination lock, the buttons were there from one to nine and glowed. They were like the numerical pad on a touch-keyboard. Stef looked a Adam and he stared back.

"How are we going to get this open?" he asked in dismay, to Stef who was still smiling at him.

"Easy" whispered Stef and he smacked the keypad with the butt of his gun, shattering the glass. A green light glowed through the shattered pieces, it was disfigured and strangely beautiful, like light through ice on a winters morning.

The door begun to depressurize and cold, icy coolant spilled out onto the tiled floor. Stef explained to Adam that the lock was an old two-sixty combination lock and was subjective to pressure at a precise point.

Adam laughed, making a comment that Stef was quite intelligent for a blond.

Stef pulled a stupid face and continued looking at the large metal box of which the poison was sealed in. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and pulled the door gently open.

Chaos stood in the lift, he determination was absolute. She had been involved in the creation of these monsters and destruction of this ship.

The lift stopped in front of darkened deck, it looked like main power in this section had destabilized again! She stepped out onto the metal floor, her boots making a large clunk on the hard metal.

She stopped and took out some shotgun shells from a utility belt that now hung around her waist, she opened the hatch on the top of the shotgun and placed in the red and black cartridges. The gun itself was a beautiful black pump-action shotgun, designed for a high rate of fire and maximum power, however the recoil on that gun was massive, it could probably break Chaos's arm.

Chaos pulled pump back, she was ready to go.

Meanwhile Stef rummaged through the numerous shelves of the medical lab, he had put his gun on the table beside him and Adam was cautiously waiting for him to finish.

"Got it!" he said finally, a triumphant grin on his face. "Not bad" he thought "for a clone."

Adam was investigating the rest of the room when Stef called him, he was looking at the blood patterns on the wall. This blood was deep red and appeared to be fresh. There was another cupboard at the edge of the room that looked like a place to store Med-kits.

"We might as well stock up on Med-kits while we're here" said Adam, Stef nodded and grabbing the tube of anti-kyrocide, it was a blue mixture, luminous and looked every bit a deadly poison.

Stef put the vile in a special container and gave it to Rift at the door before turning and walking back towards the Med-kit cupboard. This was large place that a person could hide in. Stef opened the door and picked up the Med-kit.

Bad mistake.

Suddenly a zombie-like human fell out of the cupboard, he was wearing a tattered scientists coat and had an eye missing, covered in blood. He moaned as he fell on top of Stef who was unprepared for this.

The zombie snapped and clasped onto Stef's clothing as he rolled about on the floor, Adam looked frantically around the room for something that could pry the two apart, he obviously could not risk shooting as he might hit Stef.

Stef kicked the zombie back and clambered to his feet, his gun was on the other side of the room and Adam was stricken with fear. He stood there shaking.

Stef and Adam made straight for the door but it was locked shut, Rift's ever cold face staring through the frosted glass. He let out what looked like a smile and watched carefully as the zombie behind them began to splutter and clasp its back.

Adam watched in horror as piercing talon shot out of the back of the zombie causing blood to spatter everywhere. A creature began to emerge from the zombies back as it lay, now permanently dead on the floor.

The creature was dark, grey blotched skin covered it under the coat of its host's blood, it had a massive mouth with thousands of teeth and a tail with the long talon that had come out of the zombie's back on the tip of it.

Rift pressed his race against the glass, his eyes lit up, he had been waiting for this for years. The ultimate killing machine. He smiled; this was a combination of his tireless work and his devotion to the company.

"Open the door!" shouted Adam as he banged against the solid glass. Rift stood with his cold eyes fixed on the creature, he was letting out an evil grin, he was in love with the creature, he admired it. Never before had he seen such a formidable force and such perfection in his work.

Rift looked straight at the monster with cold, calulating eyes. His heart was filled with rage and this rage had consumed him, his hatred of his family, his life, himself had all merged into the unfeeling, unmercifal character that he had become. However he wanted one moment of complete euphoria before he returned to his dark life.

With this he let out an evil laugh that had the power to shake the very walls of the Erika.

Stef watched from inside the room as he fought with the creature. The creature had now grown to about six feet tall, it had white skin and took the shape of a large human however all of it's internal organs were now on the outside of its skin, transparant through a thick layer of a jelly-like substance that it encased itself in. It changed shape as the creature crouched, the substance surrounding it, solidifying and expanding creating tentacles of long jelly matter. The humuniod structure inside was obviously the core of the being.

It continued expanding, Stef and Adam moved to the far side of room, by the door as the creature began to form a hole in the substance with lots of spiky teeth in the middle. Stef was awestruck, somehow he felt connected with this creature, they shared the same genetic bonds except the creature simply acted on instinct.

The instinct for blood.

Rift's face was in total pleasure at seeing his creation, finally! It had taken many experiments and simulations to come up with a creature that was anywhere near as powerful as this one was. Many researchers had become involentary "sacrifices" to the virus but now...! She was perfect, or he, it did not matter about the sex.

Bang!

Rift's facial expression changed, his face became more twisted and painful to watch. He looked down at his torso, he fell backwards, the was a massive hole in the middle from a shotgun wound. He rolled onto his stomach to see who had shot him.

Bitch! It was Dr Chaos, her arm was up in the air, not really prepared for the recoil of the gun that she was holding. He closed his eyes, smiling and let death take him, he would finally understand the meaning of life, he was not devising ways to kill people but waiting for someone to devise a way to kill him. He breathed heavily, it was his last.

Chapter 15

Chaos stumbled frantically for the controls of the door, she began to imput her access code despite listening to Adam's yelling. She closed her eyes, what was her code? She had to remember... YES!

"4356 - Katsun"

The doors slid open and Stef made a massive dive out of the room, the creature was nearing the entrance out of the room, Chaos grabbed her shotgun and blasted a hole in the blob-like creature however it continued moving, with the massive shotgun shell floating in the ooze surrounding the humunoid body. This was a creature that Chaos had helped to construct, there was no point denying it.

Adam turned his sweaty face towards the door where Chaos and Stef had fallen backwards against the hard metal wall, weapons were useless against the giant, slimy blob. It was almost laughable if it was not deadly. Adam dived for the door, they could lock it in the room! A clear tentacle latched onto Adam's foot and began to reel him in.

"Adam!" shouted Stef, he felt powerless to help him. Adam looked back up at Stef and the at Chaos, he reached for his belt and pulled out a round ball-like object, it was black and had a single button at the top. Adam smiled at Stef and shouted "Take care of Lin for me!" and despite of Stef's screams he pressed the button on the ball.

In an instant a blue light filled the room and a explosion threw itself out of the room. "Get down!" shouted Stef and he pushed Chaos out of the way. The creature cried out in pain and then there was no other sound to be heard, all the lights had gone out in research lab and all that remained was the glow of a blue field that covered a gaping hole in the wall. Outside was the cold blackness of space. No Adam, No creature.

The research lab had been completely destroyed, Stef dropped to his knees, Adam had given himself to save them, he knew he would never find another individual like Adam again. Chaos knelt down beside and picked him up, they had to go.

"Captain Flex" shouted the Erika's A.I. programme. Flex could tell by the look on her face it was bad news. She nodded Erika to go ahead. "I have suffered a hull breach in the research lab, Deck 5"

Flex sighed, what if Chaos, Stef and Adam had all died, maybe Agent Rift had killed them with a granade. She couldn't take any chances, this was a battle between her and Phoenix Grace. She now knew what sick experiments Phoenix Grace had been conducting here and would no longer be part of it!

"Begin a level 9 lockdown on all key..." started Flex but she was cut off by another female voice.

"No need! Mr Rift will not be joining us"

Flex smiled, she turned. Chaos had returned with Stef carrying her, she had been a little dazed by the explosion in the research lab but she was alright besides. Stef put her down and she produced a tube of liquid which glowed ominously.

"I'll ask you later but we have the get that to Cassandra... Hey? Where's Adam?"

Flex watched Stef's face darken and Chaos looked solemn, she understood what that meant.

Adam had fallen.

Cassandra sipped the liquid from the tube and she laid back down. The ready room was a small room with a raised section that had two massive windows that looked out into the murky clouds of this unknown planet. The raised section of the room also contained the sofa that Cassandra was laid out on, the lower section contained Flex's desk and filing cabinets.

Cassandra looked terribly unwell, he skin was pale and white, her blue veins showing through the pale skin, she was near the mutation stage. Lin had put a blanket over her to keep her warm.

Stef walked into the room with Lin, Stef felt his mouth run dry. Chaos was leaning down, tipping the remainder of the cure into Cassandra, she then got up and looked down at her.

At first, Cassandra did not seem to be making any change but over the course of a few minutes she gradually began to change. Her skin changed back to her original colour, her hair shone back radiantly and her eyes, instead of cloud and grey became blue again.

She sat up, smiling.

"I guess it worked then?" she said in slight confusion.

Chaos grabbed the nearby medical scanner, a small cylindrical device that she glided over Cassandra's body and then place in the slot on Flex's desk. She then logged into Flex's computer and asked for the scan analysis.

She smiled and sighed.

"Looks like your clean, no trace of the virus and the organism inside you is dead, your anti-bodies are breaking it down now."

Cassandra looked relieved, suddenly she had regained all of her former strength, she was a strong woman. No doubt there.

Chapter 16

Lin sat silently in the ready room, looking out at the murky atmosphere of the foreboding planet they had come to. She reflected on all that had happened and now...

She had lost Adam.

Adam was a very old friend, she had known him as long as she had known Stef, all three of them were friends at the UMSS academy, they had done everything together and even served in Team Fox together. But now?

He was gone.

But what of Stef?

Stef had come back from the dead, did that mean that Adam could too? No. Stef had been reborn by a miracle of technology but that very technology that could bring Adam had been destroyed in the research lab.

So Adam was gone forever?

SMACK!

Lin whacked the metal frame of the window in her fury; she was angry, she was a soldier but could not even say her friends now. She burst into tears, her crying was soft and gentle, as a woman's crying should be.

Another person sat down beside her as she slouched down on the sofa, it was Stef, his tears were quite obvious too.

"It's ok" said Stef, putting his arm round her in some attempt to comfort her.

"Oh Stef" said Lin, burying her head in his arms. The romance of this situation was all too clear, Stef came nearer and nearer! Until!

"STEF! LIN!"

Chaos came rushing through the door and Stef pulled back from the gaze of Lin beautiful eyes. He cleared his throat and then asked; "What is it, Chaos?"

"We've found a working shuttle!" rushed Chaos excitedly, dying on this ship was not very appealing to her. "It's in the hanger bay on the other side of the ship but we can make it, in time?"

Stef looked up curious, he had not obviously been told.

"In time?"

"Yes, a missiles heading straight for the Erika, it will turn this entire ship in dust in 15 minutes"

Stef sat up. Why did nobody tell him these things? Was it a case of "lets not bother telling the clone"

As they left the room empty, a transparent figure emerged and sat down, almost like a ghost image, she looked sad. She was brown hair and wearing a beautiful red dress, she was in her teens and beared the same tribal marking that Stef had on his arm.

A link?

She smiled and disappeared.

"We better get moving!" ordered Stef, getting up from his chair with a rush of anticipation and urgency. He strode out onto the bridge and looked straight at Flex, who was sat at the pilot's station staring a computer.

"We better get out of here, Flex" he said quickly. "Oh and by the way, next time we have the graping jaw of death hanging over us, please tell me!"

Flex smiled but through it she could see the full impact that Adam's death had had on Lin and Stef, it looked as if they were about to give up hope. Adam would usually come in with a smart comment about now but no more.

"Ok" called Flex and the remaining members of the crew and special forces team gathered around her. "I've had Erika's A.I. charge up the main computer on the last drop-ship and ready it for take off. We need to get there in less than 15 minutes, I have drawn a plan" she showed the crew a map of the ship and an enhancement of their route. "Because the shuttle bay is straight through the Phoenix Grace facility, we will cut through there using the emegency door release, a little somethin' that Phoenix Grace didn't know about! Well take the lift down to the bottom of the ship and enter the facility, the entrance to the shuttlebay is through the research labs..."

Crash!

The entire team jumped and stared at where the noise was coming from, the lift, something had just got off and smashed the lift up as well, now they had to find an alternative route out of the bridge.

The creature that stood infront of them and glared down from the higher level of the bridge was not the "zombified" men and woman that they had come to expect but a different creature all together. It was at least eight feet tall, humanoid, it's skin was grey and dark, a few patches of blond hair strung out from it's skull, it's face had the remenants of a little girl in them but it had become twisted and contorted, through her red, dark eyes Stef swore he could see the pain and torment she was in. However her right arm was not as tormented as her eyes, it was a massive single talon that went from her hand to almost the floor, she was changing it from a floppy state to a strong ridgid state, either way it looked painful.

Stef suddenly felt strange while looking into the monster's eyes, he fell to the floor where Lin caught him and fell into a deep vision.

Chapter 17

"Huh?"

Stef opened his eyes, he was in a spot-light in a completely dark room, there was no other light present and nobody else except for the figure of small girl, only about ten. She wore a purple top and purple skirt, she held a teddy bear.

"Um...?"

"Katrina Solomon"

"What?"

"10 years old"

"How?"

"They did it to me"

In the pitch black background, no scene, just voices...

(door opens)

"Mrs Solomon?"

"..."

"There's been an murder, Director Solomon has been murdered"

"..."

"I'm sorry"

"..."

"I have to ask you and your daughter to come with me to the research lab, we can protect you"

"..."

"It's for your own safety"

"I understand, I will get Katrina... Thank you, Mr Rift"

In Phoenix Grace's debriefing room...

"I'm sorry about your husbands death, Mrs Solomon"

"Oh Mark, don't call me that"

"I'm sorry, Illana"

"Oh Mark, please, hold me!"

(sound of kissing)

"Oh Illana, I'm...ugh...sorry about your husband and I..."

"Forget my husband, he was too wrapped up in his work, I was going to tell him about us"

(sounds of kissing)

"I have to ask you something"

"What?"

"Your daughter is infected with a virus and we have the tools to help her"

"Really?"

"Yes, it's imperative that we operate"

"Of course, please, save Katrina"

In a Phoenix Grace Lab

"Mummy!!!"

"It's alright sweety, these men are gonna help you"

(Male voice)

"Activate the first dosage"

(Machine whirls and Katrina screams! Illana's voice cuts in)

"You're hurting her! What are you doing! You're turning her into a monster! STOP IT!

(Gunshot is heard and a person drops to the floor)

"MUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET UP MUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Take her to the second lab, revive her and begin tests, it was only a tranquilizer"

"MUMMY!!! UGH!!! LET ME OUT!!! PLEASE!! *Crying* MR SILVERSTAR!!!!!!!!!"

"Katrina, I'm right here, we have taken your mum to be tested, that's all, she was angry because she's not thinking straight. Don't worry, I'm here. You'll be ok"

"PLEASE!!! LET ME GO!!!"

"It's alright"

(Katrina's voice lowers and distorts while talking)

PLEASE!!! I WANT MUMMY OR DADDY!! I WANT, I wannnnnnnnnnn"

(Machine finishes working)

"It's done, take her to the containment cell, she needs to spend a night there for the virus to begin it's work. Welcome. Tirana!"

Chapter 18

Stef woke up with a fright, Tirana was stood there still looking at him as he got up. Lin and Cassandra did not understand what had happened, Stef had been asleep for about three seconds and then just got up.

"Those bastards!" shouted Stef out loud, making Chaos and Flex turn to see him. Tirana had waited long enough, without any thought, just instinct, she jumped over the handrail and stood infront of the team that were all together in a corner of the bridge, trapped, like rats in a maze with a cat stalking them. Flex let off a barrage of shots from her machine gun that seemed to effect Tirana in anyway what so ever except make her angry.

Tirana picked up her massive hand tentacle and caught Flex round the waist, lifting her clear off the ground, Flex screamed in agony as most she felt the enormous force of this tentacle. Stef faulted again, falling foward but catching himself and picking himself up halfway down. A memory of a girl he had not seen for years flashed inside his head and she whispered to him.

"There's a vent in the ready room which leads to a shaft that will take you into the facility"

Lin looked at Stef and decided that she needed to take action to prevent Flex from being crushed alive, she drew a knife that she had taken with her, all the way from Earth, it was her special one that Adam had given her as a birthday present a few years ago. She kissed the blade, hoping that maybe Adam's determination and drive was present in the knife too, a rediculous notion. She threw it right in Tirana's face who snarled in pain and stumbled backwards, releasing Flex.

"You can't kill her" shouted Stef out loud, he decided to take command. "Everyone in the Ready Room now, there's a vent that leads to the facility!"

Flex turned round, how the hell did he no that and she forget it. Of course, the ventilation goes to every part of the ship, it would have actually been quicker than going the way she suggested.

The team turn and ran into the Ready Room, Stef turned to the door controls, ready to shut the door when everyone was in but just as Flex jumped through the gap, the tentacle of Tirana pierced her torso and brought her back onto the bridge.

"Flex!" screamed Chaos and she ran for the door but Stef stopped her, held her back, she punched and kicked him wiggling to get free. He knew that she was as good as dead. Blood spayed the walls and Flex was in extreme pain. Stef did not want her to die that way, he quickly took out his handgun and aimed for Flex's head.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" shouted Chaos who was being held back by Lin and Cassandra. She did not understand that Flex was not going to survive a wound like that, Chaos was too young, she could not save everybody.

Flex shouted with all her might, her lungs punctured and her stomach ruptured. "GET THEM OUT OF HERE! GO! STEF! PLEASE KILL ME! I DON'T WANNA DIE AT THE MERCY OF ONE OF THESE!"

A tear came to Stef's eye, his hand on the trigger. There was a war of morals going on inside of him, one side was telling him that it was the least he could do and one side saying that by doing that he was extinguishing all hope of saying Flex.

What should he do?

Could he kill a friend?

Even for mercy?

He didn't know!

HE COULDN'T DO IT!

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" shouted Stef and he pulled the trigger with one final bang, causing Flex to instantly wilt on the end of Tirana's tentacle, like a flower drained of sunlight. Stef knew he had done the right thing.

Cassandra slammed the door down, blocking Tirana as Stef let go of his gun and collapsed to his knees. He had down the right thing, then why did he feel like crap. Chaos was crying in Lin's arms but it wasn't over yet. They had to go.

"Let's go" said Cassandra, breaking the silence and smacking the grid of the wall by Flex's desk, exposing the ventilation duct. "Let's go!" she repeated. Stef and Chaos got up, looked at each other, Chaos's eyes were filled with sorrow.

The door behind them smashed however it still held, it appeared that Tirana was trying to get in.

Cassandra led the way as they crawled on their belly's along the air duct, Chaos who wasd the last one in continuely looked back to see if Tirana would follow them, it appeared not.

At last Cassandra came to the shaft which was a long, pure drop, how the hell were they going to get down there. A computers voice filled her head and echoed through the shaft.

"Warning, Warning! Proximity of nuclear missles detected! Shields are non-operational! Impact in five minutes and counting! Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Primary coolant system disengage. All data from Phoenix Grace computer system is being copyied to back up disk"

Stef's eyed widened, if they could get that disk, then they could bring Phoenix Grace down, providing that they are still alive by the end of this. Chaos peered behind them again and this time a tentacle shot up through the horizontal, box-like structure. Chaos shoved the Lin in front and pushed everyone up shouting that Tirana was coming. Cassandra fell out of the duct and into the shaft followed by the rest of them. This was how they were going to get down there!

The team free fell until Stef smacked against the side of the shaft that sloped, like a big, death-drop slide. Chaos looked petrified as she slid down and landed on a cold marble floor. The team could not believe it, this was the Phoenix Grace facility.

The facility was like a massive mansion, it was expensively decorated with gold symbols but there was was no time for staring, Tirana was probably following that, Chaos stood in awe for a few seconds, she could not believe that Phoenix Grace was hiding this, how did they make it without the UMSS knowing. This ship was top of the line but she had never know anything on a ship like this before.

Cassandra walked towards the first double doors on the right.

"Warning, three minutes to impact"

The team followed Cassandra and went into the first lab, there were a few zombie creatures in here that were too slow to catch up with them, they then ran into a computer room and Stef picked up the backup disk that the computer had made, obviously a copy of the hard data that Phoenix Grace could use to restart their experiments.

This was war.

The last room was the hanger, there was a drop-ship parked right in the center of a massive room, all along the perimeter of the room was fuel drums and chains drapped from the ceiling, the back wall looked out into the blackness of space but they were protected by a blue field covering the back wall, this was cheaper than massive doors.

"Warning, two minutes to impact"

Lin ran inside the cockpit of the dropship, the drop-ship was basically the same design as the Garrison except it was a little more scarred, this one was called the Starlight. Lin stepped in the cockpit and prepared the engines.

"Damn!" she said shouting, this made Stef come over to her. "The landing clamps are engaged! Somebody needs to go to the control switch and release them"

"I'll go" said Stef and he ran down the ramp, towards the switch, it was a large metal leaver. He pulled it down with all his might and the dropship's engines blasted to life. Stef began to run back towards the ramp of the Starlight. Until a tentacle shot out behind him, Stef narrowly dodged it, he had no weapons, no defense, he was unfit to fight against something as powerful as Tirana.

However.

Quickly he rolled inbetween the tentacle and pulled out Lin's knife from his face, the disk fell out of his pocket and Tirana smashed it with he foot. Stef was now facing Tirana with just a knife. He could not win this? Her tentacle made another swipe for Stef's head, he narrowly missed it and plunged the dagger into her chest, she screamed in pain and Stef ran for the ship. Tirana's tentacle flew out and latched out him. NO! He would not go the same way as Flex but Tirana pulled him in. The drop-ship hovered over him, Stef looked up.

For salvation?

Chaos was stood on the landing ramp with a Sniper Rifle, she placed it on her shoulder and aimed carefully.

"For Flex! DIE, YOU BITCH!"

A bullet shot through her tentacle relieving the strain on Stef, allowing him to clambered to his feet, Tirana screamed, high and loud, her arm severed and blood began to pour out of her disected arm

Warning, one minute till impact"

Stef jumped onto the ramp and was helped up by Chaos, Tirana collapsed on the floor. Was she dead?

The ramp closed and the Starlight shot out of the hanger bay and into open space!

They could not believe it. They were alive!

They had survived!