Nebula (ESS Space Marines Book 4)
Author: Victor, James David
Date: 2017-10-20
Rights: Copyright 2017 James David Victor. All rights reserved.

Nebula

ESS Space Marines, Book 4

James David Victor

Fairfield Publishing

Contents

Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Thank You

Copyright © 2017 Fairfield Publishing

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for review quotes, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.

This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental.

Chapter 1

Everything was hazy.

Andrea ‘Andy’ Dolan stood in the center of a far-reaching fog, unable to see anything on beyond the grey mist. A sense of unease settled deep into her as she turned in a slow circle, searching for something, anything. But there was nothing, just fog. She was utterly alone.

Despite the way her skin tingled with nervousness, she remained calm.

Andy cautiously lifted her hand and moved it through the mist, slowly, testing what it felt like. It didn’t feel unusual. Her hand passed through air, feeling just a touch of cool dampness.

Silence. There was also silence.

Andy lowered her hand and turned her head one way and the other, trying to pick out any sound but there was nothing but deafening silence. She had always thought the term sounded impossible, until she had actually experienced true silence. It was like her body and brain tried to fill in the gaps, forming a sort of white noise, a hum. It was deafening in its way.

There was a sense of sterility to the haze. No sight or sound or smell. Nothing suggested that the mist itself was dangerous, since she had been breathing it for several minutes and was still alive.

She took a slow, deep breath and decided that the only way out of the fog was through it.

With one last look around, she took a cautious step forward. When nothing happened, she took another step forward. After a few cautious steps, the fog began to lighten up.

Andy continued forward at the same careful pace until finally, shapes began to emerge in the distance. She paused and studied the shapes, but there was no detail, or even a hint at what they were. The size suggested they were part of the landscape, or buildings.

She started moving forward again, and the shapes began to take on definition and color.

The last of the mist thinned and revealed a city that spanned a large valley, as well as buildings built up into the mountainside. There was a mix of building ranging from sterile, straight line buildings to ancient constructions with elaborate designs and bright colors.

Everything appeared to be made of stone, a mix of white, light gray, and deep azure blue.

Andy could see lines running along the side of the mountain, cutting straight or weaving around buildings and she knew that they were roadways. Everything was still and quiet. The uneasy feeling grew alongside a sense of...being haunted.

Among the discomfort, there was a thread of another emotion that was difficult to pick out. She stared at the city and worked at it, trying to pluck loose the errant thread.

Longing.

There was something about the city that drew her in. It felt like it was calling to her, even though she knew she had never seen it before.

Andy stared at the sprawling city and wondered where it was; she wondered if it was a real place somewhere in the universe, or just something in her imagination. She knew as the moments passed that this was a dream. She almost always knew when she was having dreams, and ones like this were getting more frequent.

She could sense that this city had something to do with her father’s people. Was this an Arkana city? No one had ever seen one, aside from the Arkana, or even knew where they were.

Was this real, or was it just her imagination creating what she thought it might be like?

Finding a white stone-paved road, she put her feet on it and realized that they were bare. She frowned at that, but couldn’t do much about it so she kept walking. Andy needed to know what the inside of the city looked like.

When she reached the first buildings and started to enter the city proper, a figure appeared on the road ahead of her. This one was not another building, all of which were now bright and clearly defined, but that of a person. It was a vague humanoid shape that gave her the sense of belonging to a man.

She had seen this figure in her dreams before.

‘He’ walked toward her and she stopped, but did not retreat. She stared at the featureless figure and waited for him.

As he drew nearer, she saw a shimmer—that was the only way she could describe it—showing in various areas of the shape. With each one, she almost caught a glance of a person within it. The faintest sign of facial features, but never enough to get an idea of what that face actually looked like.

“You’re here,” the figure said without a mouth.

“I am,” she replied plainly.

All was silent for several moments as pale, misty figures began to pass her on both sides. They also had the sense of being people, and yet there were no forms or faces to them as they went about their hazy business through the city.

“Why don’t you leave us alone?” she asked brazenly. It was her dream, after all, so it wasn’t like she had to practice diplomacy. Unless the Arkana could break into her dreams, but even then...

“You’re in our way.”

A shimmer and a flicker, a hint of a pair of crystal blue eyes and white skin.

“The ESS is in your way, or I am?”

A shimmer and a flicker, a hint of a pair of lips curved in an almost sinister smile. The figure, despite lacking all consistent features, managed to radiate arrogance. It was like an aura that lingered around the shape of the being and insidiously sunk into everything around him and her. She surprised a shudder.

“Both,” he replied.

Andy scoffed quietly. “I will stand in your way until they put me in a tube and shoot me into space.”

The figure seemed to tilt its head, quizzical and amused. “Why do you resist? You cannot stop us now that we are coming. We are the best of you, and you are now the least of you. There is nothing you can do that we cannot also do, and do better. It’s only a matter of time before you are overcome. You cannot stop us.”

“We’ll see about that,” she said.

Then, she slapped herself hard across the face.

Chapter 2

“Damn,” Andy breathed, staring at the ceiling of her bunk. “I can’t believe that worked.”

She had never tried to wake herself up from a dream before, it had always just happened on its own. However, she’d heard once about pinching yourself or otherwise inflicting pain to snap your dreaming mind back awake. So, she had slapped herself and apparently that had been enough to do it.

Reaching up, she rubbed her shoulders where tension from the dream had followed her into the waking world. A few moments later, her computer’s alarm went off and she knew it was time to start the day anyways.

The Star Chaser was in transit, so the duties of Major Andrea Dolan, Commander of the 33rd ESS Marines, were minimal. Still, she kept to her schedule.

She got up, took a shower, got dressed, and then headed down to the brig.

Since she was there almost every morning, the guard on duty just nodded in a familiar greeting. “Going to breakfast?” she asked.

“Same as usual,” Andy replied.

The guard looked down at her console and pressed a few keys. “Valin will be here in a moment,” she announced a moment later, smiling politely at the Marine.

Andy returned the expression and then went to the first brig cell, looking through the combination metal bars/energy field door at the Arkana on the other side. He had a few objects in there with him now, compared to the sparseness of the other cells, but this one was being used more “long term” than usual.

Anath looked up from the book in his hands and smiled.

“Come to break me out for my morning meal?” he asked with no apparent rancor for his situation.

“I assume you’re interested,” she replied.

Andy’s half-brother—a fact that had been confirmed by the ship’s doctor—closed the book and set it aside. At least he had clothing to wear now beyond the generic “random guest” things they had for him at first. He looked...almost like a regular person, except for the ethereal air and pure snow-white skin and hair.

A tactical crewman by the name of Valin—who Andy and Anath had been their escort before—came through the door to serve as guard for Anath while they went to the mess hall. It wasn’t that Andy wasn’t qualified to guard a prisoner, of course, but in her position, she was supposed to remain free for other things.

The guard at the console disengaged the field and slid open the physical door. Anath waited a moment before politely stepping through with his hands lightly laced behind his back, the same as he had every morning for the past two weeks since he had defected from the Arkana to join his half-sister in the war against them. The Star Chaser captain wasn’t willing to trust Anath completely, but was giving the Arkana some leeway.

Their walk from the brig to the mess hall was practically a stroll, keeping it nice and easy and making Valin’s job as placid as possible. They didn’t talk much until after entering the dining area and fetching trays of breakfast.

With food in hand, they found a table near the back of the room. A few crewmembers ignored Anath, but others gave him a polite nod or ‘good morning’ as they passed.

The ESS Star Chaser was the only ship in the fleet that flew with a member of the enemy and an officer who was half-breed to the enemy. However, it made the ship stronger and they knew it. Andy had proven her loyalty to the ESS and refused to her father’s people, and Anath was a full-fledge traitor to his own people. He didn’t bring a lot of tactical information, but he did have insight into Arkana psychology and physiology that the ESS hadn’t had before.

“I had a dream last night,” Andy said once they were settled and had started eating. Half of her coffee was already gone. “I dreamed of a city, half built in a valley and half built up the side of a mountain.”

Anath looked at her curious, tilting his pale head. “What did it look like?”

She searched the foggy memories of her dream. “Like a mix of colorful old Earth buildings and modern buildings, all white and grey and blue. The blue was so bright, though. It made me think of jewelry, although it didn’t look like it was made of jewels.”

“It sounds like Ankareth,” Anath said thoughtfully. “A capital city of the Arkana people.”

“It’s a real place?” she asked. In truth, she wasn’t surprised, but it was unsettling. “I know I have never seen it, so how can I dream it?”

Her half-brother shrugged, finishing chewing before he replied, “Good guess?” He paused. “I mean, I imagine there’s some sort of genetic memory, shared consciousness. It’s always been believed among the Arkana, to a degree, and our father is a powerful man.”

She bit the inside of her lip. “Are any Arkana telepathic?”

“Not that I’ve ever known of,” he said with a shake of his head. “We engineered ourselves to resist abilities, not take them on. Humans aren’t telepathic.”

“Some are empathic, to a degree,” Andy pointed out.

“True,” he conceded. “But that’s still a far cry from true telepathy.”

She nodded in agreement.

Her Arkana DNA was nothing but trouble, she decided. True, it had come with some benefits, such as keeping her mind from being taken over by a telepathic race bent on chaos or being fried by bio-electrical bolts. Still, it had remained hidden for over twenty-five years until surprising her with its presence and now there was a chance of it having a “memory” that gave her images she hadn’t witnessed herself?

Or was there something more that her father was able to do and that was affecting her? He knew of her now. Apparently, her refusing to join her own people in their war against humanity and the ESS was legendary among the Arkana people. No one had ever done that before, but it was never a decision that she regretted.

The Star Chaser and its crew were her family, not some random species she just happened to share genetic heritage with, and who were now trying their best to kill her. That wasn’t really an endearing trait, frankly.

“The city looked like such a strange blend of styles,” she said thoughtfully.

“It is,” he chuckled. “As an Arkana, you are either a scientist or a soldier. Our leaders come through one of those two channels. There isn’t much choice in our culture, but the two choices are something of a dichotomy and it shows in our architecture. But I still think that it works.”

Andy looked at her breakfast plate. “I suppose the scientists made things to do all the menial tasks,” she commented.

He nodded, and they were quiet for several long moments while they focused on eating their food.

“Is the city beautiful?” she finally asked softly.

Anath smiled sadly. “It really is,” he said. “It’s a shame that the gifts my people, our people, have to create such wonders are now being turned to war.” He paused and sighed, looking at his food like he suddenly didn’t have an appetite anymore. “It’s a shame that you’ll never get to see it, and that I will never see it again.”

Andy looked at her food as well, poking at some scrambled eggs. “Well. I guess I’ll just have to show you some beautiful places on Earth.” She managed a smile as she looked back up at him. “And the other ESS Allied worlds we’re going to save from ‘our people’.”

Chapter 3

After two weeks of working with Anath, and the science department still wasn’t over its excitement.

The Star Chaser was not a science vessel, so the “science department” was a contingent of three science officers with labs connected to sickbay and its medical facilities. The lead scientist was an excitable, short man named Roger Stan. His assistants were a little more sedate, but they still clearly enjoyed learning about the new race. They were less enthusiastic about using the knowledge to aid the military efforts, but they understood the necessity.

“I’ve been granted limited access to your scientific database,” Anath said as they stood around a table in the science office, “so I could research species known to the ESS. So far, I haven’t found any record of the Morrann peoples, so we’ll have to work off what little I know.”

He tapped on the table and brought up schematics of the current energy signatures of ESS energy weapons.

“The frequency that your current energy weapons use is very similar to an ability of the people called the Morrann, which the Arkana have encountered,” he explained. “There are three other known species to have abilities using energy of this nature, so not only do we have to avoid the frequency the Morrann generate, but we have to make sure that we don’t make it similar to any of those other three too. Two of these species are in your database so we can use that, but the last one is not so we’ll have to work off my memory.”

“I hope you have a good memory,” Stan said thoughtfully. His tone was calm but he was rocking back and forth between his toes and his heels, the way he did when he went ‘full science nerd’ as they affectionately called it.

Meanwhile, Andy was just glad they were finally getting to this. She still didn’t understand why they hadn’t started with improving their energy weapons, but that hadn’t been her call. They were there now, and she was pleased. She also liked understanding what the problem with them had been in the first place.

She didn’t like having to rely on old-fashioned projectile weapons the way that they had been, though. Ammunition tended to run out faster, the options were more limited, and not every weapon had the same effective range and aim as their energy weapons. The Arkana weapons they had stolen were better, but could only be used by humans.

Even with Anath’s help, they hadn’t figured out how to change that, and she wasn’t sure they ever would.

“I guess we’re going to find out how good my memory is,” Anath said to the scientists with a wry smile. “I hope we can avoid using me as a live test subject, but I’ll submit to the most minor settings if it’s needed.”

“We’re not much for live test subjects around here,” Stan assured him.

“Even the Marines would rather not subject anyone to friendly fire,” Andy added with a half-smile for her half-brother.

“I appreciate both of you being willing to keep my pasty hide intact.” Anath’s steely blue eyes glinted with his sense of humor as he inclined his head to them. “I have also come up with some suggestions to adjust the aural frequencies for the stun grenades.”

He typed information into the computer set into the table and the view screen on the wall lit up with his suggestions. Stan and the other two scientists moved closer and peered at it closely. Proximity apparently increased the scientific comprehension. Andy just watched them with mild amusement.

When in school, she hadn’t been a bad student in science, but it definitely hadn’t been a passion of hers. She’d always been more physical, drawn to boxing and martial arts as a teenager. Going into the Marines had just seemed like a natural progression after school, and she had never regretted that choice.

Andy had to admit to herself, however, the scientists were intriguing. She stood back with her arms crossed over her chest, trying to not smile lest they all misinterpret her reasons for it.

“I have been wondering if there’s anything we can do with the Marine armor to improve it against Arkana weaponry,” she said, turning to her half-brother.

“I have been wondering that myself,” he said ruefully. “We haven’t managed to perfect any sort of personal energy armor, and since we use energy weapons, that’s the primary type of shielding that would work.”

“There is no material you know of, that we don’t, that can be integrated into our armor to increase our resistance?” she asked.

He shook his head slowly. “None that I know of. I’m sure even if there was, it wouldn’t be something accessible to you. Anything in your systems that we would be able to get our hands on would already be known to you.” Turning to look at her, he offered an apologetic smile. “We have managed to make our heavy assault vehicles somewhat resistant to energy weapons, but I was never involved in that area of things so I don’t know the process.”

Like her, he had been a soldier. A good one, apparently, though never on the leadership track that she had taken. If that bothered him, he never let it show.

“It’s something to think on,” she said. “Maybe an idea that we can turn them loose on.”

Anath chuckled. “You don’t think that they have enough to work with? I think their heads might explode if we give them too much more to play with.” He paused, tilting his head. “Your doctors have been pretty intrigued too. I feel like someone’s favorite toy.”

Andy smirked slightly. “Well, that’s not really too far from the truth, I guess, but it will go a long way to helping us...as you put it...topple an empire.” She glanced at him sidelong, her own dark eyes roving over his pale face. Andy questioned why he really wanted to leave his own people, but so far, everything he said was genuine. And while she didn’t think anyone on the ship or in the ESS would trust him completely any time soon, what he provided was very helpful.

Before either of them could say anything more, Stan wandered back over to them.

“If you wouldn’t mind, Anath, let’s go into the lab so we can start trying to figure out those energy signatures,” he said, bobbing his head a couple of times. Sometimes, he reminded Andy of an enthusiastic turtle. “Assuming you don’t need him for anything?” This was directed at her.

“Not at all, Lieutenant,” Andy said with a polite smile. “I will let you guys go about it. I have some work to attend to.” She nodded at her half-sibling and then to the scientists before turning and making her way out of the office.

She nodded at Valin on the way out, not envying the conversations he was going to end up overhearing.

Chapter 4

After leaving the scientists and her brother to keep at their work, Andy headed to the briefing room. She knew they were on their way to their next task and now was the time when everyone else was going to be let in on the secret.

Andy walked into the room, nodded to the other senior staff members who were there, and took her seat. Now that she’d attended a few of these briefings, her place in them didn’t feel as awkward as it had right after her rather large leap of a field promotion from sergeant to major. She settled in as the silent Marine shadow in the room.

Captain Wallace came in a few moments later, followed by his first officer. He waved at everyone with one hand while the other held his coffee. He couldn’t seem to deliver one of these without it.

“Good morning, everyone,” he said, taking his seat. “I’m sure you’re curious about where we are headed, so I won’t keep you in suspense. We are going to Starbase Forty-Six, which is on the border of ESS space and the Kaijian Coalition. As I’m sure you are all aware, or should be aware, they have repeatedly turned down invitations to join the Earth Space Service Alliance. However, they have become aware that they are just as vulnerable to Arkana attack as anyone else, laying in one of the apparent paths to Earth.”

“Have they chosen to join the ESS?” Doctor Martin asked.

Wallace shook his head. “Not exactly,” he said. “However, they have contacted us to discuss a treaty and the possibility of helping each other for the extent of this war. Peace thereafter, but not as part of our union.”

Andy nodded thoughtfully. It wasn’t as ideal as having a full ally, but it was better than nothing. So far, one of the problems in this war wasn’t the enemy but the non-Allied species fighting on their own fronts while the ESS fought on theirs. Without coordination, they had tripped over each other more often than she would care to count. The Kaijian had never been precisely hostile to the ESS, but they hadn’t been especially friendly either. This could be a good step. But first they needed to win the war.

“So what’s on Forty-Six?” the tactical chief asked.

“The ambassador from the Kaijian Coalition,” Wallace said. “His people will bring him to the base and they want an ESS ship to escort him to the meeting with ESS Command and the members of the Allied Species Council. Our ships are better equipped in a fight and they have made the tactical decision to risk our ship instead of their.”

Andy thought through what she could remember about the Kaijian. Not a warrior species, so she could understand not wanting to fly one of their own vessels through ESS space. What could they bring to the plate? Their ships wouldn’t be ideal fighters, but one more species at least cooperating with the ESS would help them all. She knew they were also strong in the medical fields, including xenobiology, and that could go a long way too.

“Where is the meeting with ESS Command?” the tactical officer asked. “Or more to the point, how long will the ambassador be on board? If the Arkana get word of this, they’ll be coming for us. They won’t want us allying with anyone else. Our divisions help them.”

“Well said,” Wallace replied with a nod. “It looks like we’ll be graced with the good ambassador’s company for two days. He will be coming with a small security detail, but is mostly relying on our ship’s security, which would be you and Major Dolan.”

Andy noted that the captain didn’t actually tell them where the meeting was, just answered the question about how long it would take.

“We’ll be ready, Captain,” she said simply.

The captain smiled a little. “I have no doubt, Major.”

* * *

Andy stood behind the podium, leaning against it while she waited on the last of the Marines of the thirty-third to enter and find a seat. There were thirty total, in six squads of five, which included herself. In their faces she saw the spectrum of species, gender, and colors, and she knew that this little sampling of the ESS and its allies alone was everything that the Arkana hated.

“Good morning,” she said once they were all sitting. She recalled her first time doing this as rather awkward, though she was assured that it didn’t show to anyone but the two Selerid in the group. “We are presently on our way to Starbase Forty-Six to pick up an ambassador from the Kaijian. They will be meeting with the ESS and Allied Species Council for a possible treaty during this war.”

There was a brief wave of murmurs as everyone made a comment or two to the person sitting next to them, but it died down fairly quickly. They all knew their jobs. They were in this room to be told, not to tell.

“The ambassador will be coming on board with a small security detachment of his own, but otherwise, we will be responsible for him and the ship during transit. We will be liaising with tactical, as always. We are hopeful that this meeting will avoid the notice of the Arkana, but if it doesn’t, we will have to be prepared to defend the ship. Assuming we make it from Forty-Six to the meeting place, we will also be responsible for getting him back to the starbase to be picked up by his own people.”

One of the Marines of Beta Squad raised his hand and she nodded. “Will we be responsible for the ambassador at the meeting place?”

Andy shook her head. “No, this is a drop and then pickup. The meeting will have their own ESS Security Force.”

“Are the Kaijian one of those that don’t particularly like us?” a Marine from Theta Squad asked, one of the youngest in her detachment. He had come on board after the war began. She still wasn’t convinced he was old enough to have joined up and gotten through basic training, but there he was. She really didn’t think she was getting old, but the recruits were definitely getting younger.

“They’ve never been hostile toward the ESS,” she answered. “But they haven’t been very cordial either. The ESS has extended invitations to the alliance and for treaties and always been...politely refused. However, war makes for strange bedfellows, as it is said, and here we are. We know what our jobs will be. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.” She looked around the room, catching as many eyes as she could. “For now, we continue our usual training regimen in both combat practice and exercise.

“We must be prepared for anything, since it seems that anything is always what ends up happening...”

Chapter 5

The rec-room doors slid open and the five Marines of Alpha Squad sauntered in. Dan was grinning like a fool at Anallin, but as usual, the Hanaran didn’t seem to share the humor. And, as usual, no one could really be sure whether it did or not.

“You should have ducked,” Dan said, eyeing the blue bruise rising on Anallin’s face.

“Yes, you have told me this repeatedly and my own evaluation of my performance revealed the same idea,” the Hanaran replied.

Andy glanced back at them. “That almost sounded like sarcasm, Anallin.”

The Hanaran’s blue brow ridges rose in a decidedly human gesture, and she knew that Anallin had been spending too much time around them.

“I second the motion,” Jade said with a smaller, but still amused smile, as they found their way to the opposite side of the room, each taking their personal data-tablets and tapping in a few commands. The room filled with high-pitched beeps to note the messages that each one had gotten, as they wandered to a table to sit down and read or watch.

Andy knew that she wouldn’t be getting any messages from family. Her mother was dead, and her father was...well, the enemy. The only sibling she knew of was here on the ship with her. She did have some friends on other ESS ships that she kept in touch with occasionally, but there weren’t any message today. She stifled a sigh as she set the tablet on the table.

She looked around at her squad-mates, taking note of each one.

Anallin’s eyes were clicking rapidly but quietly. She interpreted that as happiness or excitement. Dan was easier to recognize, because he was just grinning like an idiot again, but this time, it was a different shade of idiot.

“I think Dan got a letter from his mom,” Jade said, looking up at him without lifting her head. “He always smiles like that when he hears from her.”

Dan laughed. “You got me,” he said. “She’s just catching me up on stuff going on at home. My brother’s wife is pregnant again. This will make baby number five.”

Roxanna, Andy’s sergeant and the group’s Selerid, looked up. Her purple eyes flashed in the room’s light as she smiled. “You say that like it’s a lot,” she said, almost innocently. “I didn’t go medical, so I haven’t talked to people about their perceptions of family size.”

“Five is...a healthy number, we’ll say,” Dan laughed. “It kinda runs in my family, though. I’m one of four and my mother is one of seven. My dad, on the other hand, was one of two.”

“Only two...” Roxanna said thoughtfully. “I’m one of nine, and that’s rather small for a Selerid family.”

This wasn’t news to Andy, who knew her squad pretty well, but it never ceased to amaze her. She had been her mother’s only child, as far as she knew, and the idea of siblings, in any number, was foreign to her.

“But we usually have children three or four at a time,” Roxanna added.

“Ow,” was all Jade managed to say, wincing as she looked at her tablet again and very obviously tried to think of anything but what delivering four children would be like.

Frankly, Andy didn’t want to think about it either.

“Hanarans only have one,” Anallin joined in.

“At a time?” Roxanna asked, brushing loose purple curls off her forehead.

Andy was amazed at how they had spent all this time together and there were still things they didn’t all know about each other and each others’ races.

“Ever,” Anallin said. “Hanarans only have one time that they are ready to bear a child in their lives. They do so, and that is that.”

Roxanna’s eyes opened a little wider as she tried to grasp that. “How strange.”

“Not to us.”

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

Anallin shrugged, another human gesture. Andy considered sending it home for a while to get used to being more Hanaran again.

“My mother still calls you my girlfriend by the way,” Dan said directly to Andy, his expression a combination of humor and embarrassment. “I keep telling her that you’re not, but she won’t listen.”

“If she sends enough cookies for everyone in the next care package, she can call me anything she likes,” Andy said with an indulgent smile. It wasn’t like it hurt anyone. If his mother had been part of her unit, then it might be trouble. But she was just a kindly woman, and fantastic cook, back home on Earth who happened to like Andy.

Truth was, Andy liked her too. Dan’s mother was everything that her own mother hadn’t been, considering her mother had spent more of Andy’s life in prison than out and Andy had spent her childhood in group homes until she enlisted in the Marines.

Dan chuckled and went back to reading. “I’ll be sure to let her know to send plenty.”

Andy looked at Jade. “Any good news from home for you, Martin?”

“Oh, yes,” Jade said, blinking her big green eyes and looking up like she was surprised that someone was directing a question to her. “My mother and father are celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.” She blinked and her gaze drifted for a moment. “It’s the first year I haven’t been able to make it home for the dinner, but my sisters are there.”

“How many sisters do you have?” Roxanna asked, her tone curious but also gentle as she tried to pull Jade’s mind away from not being home.

“Two,” Jade said, looking up again with a smile. “Sixteen and three. You can guess my youngest sister was a surprise.”

Andy chuckled. “That is a bit of an age difference.”

The youngest Marine nodded. “There’s only three years between me and Amber, but Crystal...yeah, they didn’t expect her.”

“Your name’s are Jade, Amber, and Crystal?” Dan asked with a laugh.

“Yeah,” Jade chuckled, a little embarrassed. “My mother is Ruby and she decided to continue the tradition, I guess.”

Meanwhile, Andy was stuck on the reminder of just how young Jade was. She was only nineteen, and here she was, fighting a war in the darkness of space. The major tried to not get stuck on that thought, however, because she knew that it wasn’t productive. It wouldn’t help her, and it wouldn’t help Jade. The young woman was a well-trained Marine. She had already fought at Andy’s side many, many times and always carried herself well. There was nothing good in looking at her for her age rather than their experiences together.

She came back into the conversation to hear Roxanna saying, “My mother and father have moved to Unaria along with my three youngest siblings that still live at home.” She looked around the table. “Unaria is the city under the ocean.” Her purple eyes lit up with excitement, and they all remembered her saying how much she loved that city. “They’ve extended the invitation to all of you if we ever get leave and can get to Seler.”

Chapter 6

No matter how many times it had already happened, being woken up by the flashing red lights and klaxons was a jarring experience.

Andy’s eyes flew open in an instant and she was fully conscious within a moment. Her heart pounded as adrenaline surged through her body, but the rest of her was tense and still. An alert meant that an enemy ship was on approach. With the ability of Arkana ships to teleport people from one ship to another, that meant there was a chance of intruders.

And when there were intruders, it was the job of the 33rd to sort it out.

Major Dolan pushed herself quickly out of bed, bare feet hitting the cold deckplates. All of her gear was in the locker room, which was situated close to the Marines’ sleeping quarters. She raced out of her room and to the locker room.

Just as she was taking the corner into the room, the ship shook from the impact of a direct, throwing her into the doorframe. Andy caught herself and steadied herself for a moment. She saw that Anallin was already there, but that was no surprise. The Hanaran was pretty much always first in, probably because it didn’t sleep as deeply as other species. She wasn’t really sure what even qualified as sleep for a Hanaran.

“Never a dull moment, eh?” Andy said as she opened the locker door and pulled out her uniform, putting it on.

The ship shook a second time and the Marines swayed.

“Indeed,” Anallin agreed.

Just then, she heard footsteps from the door. Jade and Dan collided at the entrance and he all but picked her up and put her inside before following her. It was one of those moments where the height difference was especially pronounced, but they were both at their lockers a moment later, with Roxanna a few seconds later.

“It looks like our pale friends are back for another friendly chat, huh?” Dan said as he fastened his uniform. “Personally, I find their opening remarks to be a bit abrasive.” The ship shook again. “See? So rude.”

Andy managed a small smile as she fastened her armor over her uniform. Dan could find the humor in almost any moment. There had only been one period of time where he’d lost that, and it had nearly made the world stop making sense.

“Everyone put on their best,” Andy said. “I think we’re going to have some dinner guests.”

“I’m pretty sure you mean breakfast guests there, Major,” Dan responded instantly. “I don’t know what you were doing, but I was getting some sleeping done when they showed up at the door.”

“Fine,” she replied. “Breakfast guests.”

“Personally, I’ve never been too fond of uninvited guests who wake me up,” Jade chimed in.

Andy glanced back at her, but the younger Marine almost looked surprised herself that she’d joined in. Gallows humor usually wasn’t her thing. Apparently, she was spending a lot of time around Dan.

With the last of her armor on, Andy nodded at Jade. “I’m with her,” she said, and then hurried to the armory.

The others were behind her within moments and everyone was given their weapons. They were armed with knives in addition to the projectile weapons. Dan also had the stolen Arkana energy rifle. He was of a size to carry both weapons on him and that usually ended up being his task.

Alpha Squad was the first one out and immediately headed to the bridge.

Each squad—of which there were six in the 33rd—had a designated location on the ship to protect during an alert. Alpha Squad was tasked with protecting the bridge.

As the lift rose toward deck one, the ship shook again and the Marines inside braced themselves against the walls of the lift. Andy looked up warily, even though looking at the ceiling didn’t give her any information, but she did it anyways. She suddenly was concerned about the lift losing power and their having to climb out of it and use the access tunnels to get up top, but fortunately for them, that didn’t happen.

The doors opened and they exited onto deck one.

When they reached the bridge, Andy pressed the lock-panel to open the door. (The automatic doors shut off when there was an alert, to make it more difficult for possible intruders to move through the ship.)

The five Marines entered the bridge and saw the bridge staff all clutching their stations amid the dim, almost macabre flashing red lights.

“Roxanna, Thomas,” she ordered, pointing to a little used second entrance to the bridge where they would be stationed to cover. Dan followed the Selerid off the bridge with a simple acknowledgement of the order. Andy then gestured for Anallin and Jade to wait in the main corridor for her.

With her Marines deployed around the bridge, Andy moved to stand beside the captain.

Wallace had a tense expression as he watched the view screen. The Star Chaser moved as best it could and the tactical officer returned fire.

“So far, only one Arkana ship,” Wallace said to her without looking up. “We’re holding our own. The energy shielding is mostly in place, and we don’t have any intruders just yet, but you know we will.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied. They had yet to get into a scrap with the enemy where they weren’t boarded in the process. It was the Arkana way. Her thought was that they wanted the ships themselves.

They had attempted to capture a small planet called Baccem, which would have allowed them to produce vessels and parts for repairs closer to the front lines and make it easier to keep their forward momentum. The 33rd and two other Marine detachments had prevented that from happening, but she was sure it was still on their mind.

The capture of an ESS vessel could mean information, parts, and cover. And potentially unfettered access of ESS space, and they certainly couldn’t allow that to happen. So far, no ESS ship had been taken, although two had been destroyed.

Andy stepped back to press her earpiece.

“Dolan to all squads,” she said in a low voice, bracing herself by balance alone as another shudder ran through the ship. She heard the captain curse. “Status check.”

“Beta Squad is in position.” One by one, each of the other squads confirmed that they were in position and ready to face the enemy.

It was only a matter of time now.

Chapter 7

“I think they’re late,” Jade said as the three stood guard outside the main door to the bridge. “They have usually teleported over by this point in a firefight, don’t you think?”

Andy thought she could hear the edge of anxiety in Jade’s voice, although it was less pronounced than it may have been just a few months earlier. The major didn’t take her eyes off the corridor around them, but she did smile slightly.

“How rude,” she said. “You’d think they would know that we have a schedule to keep.”

She snorted in what Andy figured was a laugh, and Anallin clicked.

The klaxons had at least been turned off, although the red lights still flashed and they would continue to flash until the danger was over or the ship had blown up. The klaxons would only begin again if there were intruders.

“Bridge to all Marines,” came over the communication devices of the 33rd. “The Arkana vessel is in teleportation range.”

During the past several months of conflict, the ESS had learned that the Arkana had limits on how far they could teleport. It was a saving grace for ESS forces, because it meant that they couldn’t teleport down to a planet or even board ships if a proper distance could be maintained.

Now that they were in range, however, it became far more likely that their “guests” would be arriving.

Andy inhaled slowly and put her game face on. She waited.

The Arkana didn’t make her wait long.

Throughout the ship, the klaxons started going off again.

“Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert,” the computer’s automated voice began, before the voice of the sensor officer followed a few moments later. “Intruders located on deck thirteen, section c. Intruders located on deck six, section b. Intruders located on deck one, section b.”

“They have their favorites,” Andy muttered. Deck thirteen was engineering. Five was the armory. One was the bridge. There were Arkana headed straight for Alpha Squad, which was of course no surprise at all. The Arkana were not particularly original, so it was easy to know what they’d do.

Maybe that was no surprise. The entire race had been created from, genetically engineered off of, humanity. They themselves were not exactly “original” either.

Soon enough, the snow white forms of the enemy came into view. They moved cautiously, hugging the walls to either side of the corridor to reduce the available target area as much as possible.

In an instant, however, Andy took in that they looked a little different than usual.

The Arkana usually carried full rifles, which had to be carried in both hands. This time, they were armed with a more compact weapon. It resembled a handgun, although was larger than the average pistol. Andy’s dark eyes were darting from soldier to soldier, her brain racing to figure out why the change. She didn’t let that delay her as she held up her weapon.

“You have illegally boarded an ESS vessel,” she declared perfunctorily. “Surrender now or—”

Their response was to open fire.

That solved any attempts at diplomacy. The three Marines pushed themselves back against the walls and returned fire. One shot took down an Arkana soldier, but the others missed. Andy was sure that shot was Anallin’s, as the best shot in her squad.

That was when she learned why they had changed guns.

Each one swung up their off-hand in a blink and with a strange jerking motion, a device was activated that built...what looked like a shield of a dull white color. The Marines were already firing off their next round, but the bullets hit the shields and bounced right off. They made a faint clinking sound as they hit the deckplates.

“Damn,” Andy hissed. Apparently, the Arkana had been working on their research and development as well.

The ship shook again, and the dampeners weakened. For a moment, they all felt the sway of the ship as it performed its evasive maneuvers. Everyone widened their stance, holding themselves upright against the movement until it settled again.

Bringing up their shields, the Arkana lowered their heads so they were just looking over the top edge while keeping most of their head and torso behind their new line of protection.

They held their weapons out around the side edge, so they could still fire while keeping the shield before them. With these layers of defense in place, the group of five began to move forward.

Andy did a quick survey. The shields didn’t cover full body and she saw feet and lower legs exposed. She adjusted her rifle and took two shots. One hit a foot and the other missed. Trying to hit a slender leg like that was harder than center of mass, but the resulting cry of pain was something. That soldier stumbled back and dropped the shield slightly, revealing more of their top. Andy scored a head shot.

Anallin managed a head shot as well, without the lowering of the shield. The strip of skull was narrow, but it was a crack shot.

Jade followed suit and her next bullet shattered a shin bone.

A shot from one of the remaining enemy seared the arm of Andy’s uniform and she grunted, feeling the burn through the fabric. It wasn’t disabling, however, and she returned fire. It was low enough that she was fairly certain a toe had been blown off, if the Arkana had toes. She assumed they did, though hadn’t checked with Anath.

An energy beam shot wild, scorching into the corridor wall just over Jade’s head. The younger woman ducked but came back up, firing off another shot that pinged off the shield. Her second shot flew lower, taking out a remaining leg and then the head as it came into view.

Four Arkana were dead, and two were on the ground. One of them had the focus to lift his weapon, but Andy took care of that one. The last one just lie on the ground, bleeding and groaning faintly. Andy nodded for Anallin to move forward and secure the prisoner, but the groaning stopped before the Hanaran even got there.

Anallin nodded by the body and checked it, then looked back at her and shook its head.

“When all this is done, make sure the science people get one of those shields,” Andy said, blowing out a frustrated breath. Shields, huh? That was scaling back a few years, but somewhat effective. They were going to have to work around that.

Chapter 8

There wasn’t a lot of time, because more Arkana could appear at any time. Andy, Anallin, and Jade just moved the bodies to the sides of the corridor to get them out of the way as much as possible and then returned to their watch. Andy’s arm burned where the shot had glanced it, but she chose to ignored it instead of leave her post to have it tended to.

When it was clear that they weren’t about to get another group coming at them that instant, Andy took a moment to check in with the other squads. Most replied with all clear or intruders subdued, although Delta didn’t reply. She assumed they were still in combat, rather than the opposite, and would check in again shortly.

“Keep the watch,” she told the other two as the ship shuddered, and then did so again in quick succession.

She backed up into the door to the bridge and then pressed the panel. The door slid open and she stepped inside, finding the scene twice as tense as it had been before. She saw Captain Wallace’s hands curved around the ends of his armrests, his knuckles almost white from the death-grip even as his face remained stoic.

Crossing around the back of the bridge, she chose a face to face check with the others of Alpha Squad.

Andy found two Arkana on the ground and Dan and Roxanna standing there. They nodded to her.

“Check out the shield,” Dan said, pointing.

One looked just as pristine as the others, but the second had a burn mark in it, almost a whole. She lifted her dark brows and turned back to him.

“The Arkana rifle had a little effect with a sustained energy stream,” he explained. “It took too long to be truly effective, but it’s good to know.” He turned back to the bodies on the ground and sniffed, rolling his shoulders. “I hope we’re able to figure out some new weapons, if they’re going to be using stuff like this against the guns.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” she said, satisfied Dan and Roxanna had their post secured.

Andy walked back onto the bridge and looked at the viewscreen where the white metal Arkana ship was firing another energy beam that shook the Star Chaser. The Arkana could really stick to a color scheme, Andy would grant them that.

“All squads have given the all clear except Delta, Captain,” Andy reported in tightly.

“Where is Delta stationed?” Wallace asked without looking at her.

“Engineering, sir.”

He grunted. He didn’t like the idea that one of the most sensitive, most important places on the ship didn’t have the “all clear” yet, but there wasn’t much that could done about that, yet. They both just had to trust that her Marines knew what they were doing.

“Forward starboard armor is weakening, Captain,” the sensor officer announced. “We are running the risk of a hull breach in that section if we can’t get them to stop firing there.”

“Helm?” Wallace asked.

“I’m trying, sir,” the navigation officer replied tensely.

There were several equally tense seconds as the ship flew around and the Arkana flew counter-measures as each vied for dominance of space. Andy had never had the desire to fly the ships herself, but there was some fascination in watching the process. The ESS Marines had fighter pilots, but manhandling one of these big boats was another matter all together.

A short sound came from sensors. It was something between a bark and a growl and it made Andy turn back to look.

“Another hostile incoming!” she called out. “And more intruders!”

The klaxons started up again and the computer went through it’s programmed announcement, before the sensor officer announced the locations.

Deck one again.

Andy hurried back out to the corridor without saying anything else to the bridge crew. There wasn’t anything else that needed saying.

“There’s a second Arkana ship,” Andy told Anallin and Jade as she rejoined them. “I don’t know how long the Star Chaser can hold out. We’re taking a beating as it is.”

It wasn’t that she was pessimistic or wanted to scare her fellow Marines, but she did want them to understand the situation. The Star Chaser was a military vessel, but it wasn’t impenetrable. There would be a limit of both what it could take and what it could dish back out. Andy resisted a feeling of anxiety regarding just when they would reach that point, and if they’d be able to get out of the situation when they reached it.

“Intruders on deck ten, section d. Intruders on deck five, section c. Intruders on deck two, section a. Intruders on deck one, section b...”

Andy’s mind did a quick run-through, wondering what they could be going after on ten and two. There weren’t as many critical systems on those decks. Perhaps this time, it wasn’t strategy so much as getting on board and overwhelming as many points as possible. On decks where there weren’t Marines already stationed, they could do some damage to minor systems or potentially gain access to other, more critical areas.

The ship’s tactical department had some roaming teams on security support for the Marines, but they weren’t as well-trained for combat as the 33rd. Andy hoped that none of those groups had to deal with the Arkana.

This deck’s new group had teleported into section b. That meant they were as close as the last ones had been, and Andy did a quick mental calculation about how quickly they would arrive in range of the Marines.

And then what the major had been wondering just a few moments before came about as the ship’s internal communications came alive again. This time, it wasn’t with news about more intruders or where they could be located. And unfortunately, it wasn’t with good news that the ships had been beaten back and were in retreat.

Instead, it was the “what if” Andy had been afraid of.

“A third hostile is incoming. All crew, brace yourselves. We are about to make a high-speed retreat.”

Chapter 9

A group of five Arkana came around the corner just as the ship began to shudder.

The Marines raised their rifles and the Arkana deployed their shields. She was sure they saw the bodies of their comrades, but whether it made them fearful or angry, or both, Andy couldn’t tell. She just barely saw the flashing blue of their eyes over the tops of the white metal as they stalked forward.

Anallin fired the first shot. Just as the bullet left his gun, headed for the lead soldier’s head, a new sort of tremor ran through the deckplates.

As Andy took aim for a shin, and the ship swayed. Anallin’s shot had been true so one soldier was on the ground, but the remaining four Arkana and three Marines were thrown toward one side of the corridor. Andy was the closest to that particular wall and her shoulder jammed into it, sending her aim askew just as she pulled the trigger.

The bullet bounced off the shield and clinked to the ground. She struggled to regain her balance and take aim again. The Arkana directly opposite her managed to do so first and fired at her. Fortunately, his aim wasn’t any better and the space just above her head sizzled.

Everyone managed to right themselves after that shot and shifted to be against the walls on purpose, protecting their backs as they fired another round of shots.

One bullet hit a foot and one hit the deck plate next to a foot. A weak energy bolt hit Jade’s chest armor, but was light enough that it just knocked her back a step and left a burnt mark on it. It may not be able to take a second hit, however.

Andy took aim again and the ship must have been hit from directly behind. (If the Star Chaser was running, it made sense that they were being pursued.) Andy cursed inwardly as she was pitched forward. Despite all their training, they couldn’t control themselves against the outright bucking of the ship.

She curved her body to avoid hitting the deck in a way that would be especially detrimental to her, and her shoulder collided with the leg of an Arkana soldier. They both went down in a tangle of arms and legs. Andy’s head hit the shield. Her helmet took most of the impact, but she still felt a few stars spiraling around her.

“Damn,” she hissed as she worked to untangle herself while the Arkana did the same thing. Neither one could get an arm free to effectively attack, so it was a matter of who could stand up first. It reminded Andy of boxing while she was in training. Who could get to their feet first?

Who would win?

She was almost upright when the ship took another hit. A panel over their heads suddenly broke loose, sparks flying as it fell to the ground. She heard it just in time and threw herself into a roll. It got her out of the way just in time, but took half of the Arkana soldier with her. The panel hit the Arkana on the back, and he cried out in surprise and pain.

Andy wasn’t about to waste any time on pity for him.

With the weight of the Arkana man and the panel on top of her now, she grunted and realized that there wasn’t a lot of air. The ship’s movements definitely weren’t helping anything.

Another evasive maneuver and the ship rolled. It spent her rolling again as well, all but flipping the pair of them over. Now she was half over him and the panel was under him. He cried out a second time and arched his back as Andy scrambled to get herself disengaged and off of him, back onto her own feet.

The Arkana lifted his head and saw that she was up. He took advantage of the fact that she couldn’t find her center of balance as fast as she would have liked and he kicked out.

His boot hit her shin and she bit down on a shout of pain. The impact shoved her leg back before she was even steady on it, and she fell forward again. She caught herself on her hands before she collided with him, holding herself partially suspended above the ground. Taking advantage of this moment before he could, she swung her knee upward.

The top of her thigh slammed into the edge of the Arkana’s shield, but his grip on it was loose. The shield hit him in the face at the same time her knee hit him between the legs. The high-pitched scream that came from the Arkana was impressive and almost broke her eardrums. She scrambled back to her feet without any further resistance from him. All he did was roll onto his side with a bloody lip.

Once Andy was standing again, she looked around quickly.

She saw Anallin pinned beneath an Arkana man who somehow had the upper hand and was hitting her Marine in the head.

Not knowing how long she would have before the ship threw them into the walls again, she quickly grabbed her rifle and took aim. She got a shot off and it drove through the head of the enemy attacking her squad-mate. The Arkana stiffened for a moment, arm frozen overhead as he prepared for another swing, before collapsing forward on top of the Hanaran.

Andy saw that Anallin wasn’t pushing the slender enemy off, which she knew it was perfectly strong enough to do, so she rushed over and pulled the body off.

The Hanaran was on the ground, eyes clicking sluggishly, splattered in blue and red blood, but still breathing.

“Anallin,” she said, kneeling next to it and looking it in the eyes. “Are you with me?”

The eye-clicks began to pick up speed as the Hanaran focused on the major’s face and then nodded twice. “I am with you, sir,” Anallin said, accepting Andy’s hand up.

Jade was standing over one Arkana soldier while another was coming at her. The Arkana’s weapon was gone, but she was using her shield like a bludgeon. Jade couldn’t get her rifle up fast enough to get off a shot while the shield was being swung at her and pushed forward. It forced her into a retreat, where she just barely managed to avoid tripping over the body at her feet.

Anallin took aim to take care of the problem for her, but the ship shook again and the lights flickered. They went out for several seconds and then came back on. By the time the illumination returned, Jade had gotten back several steps and had her rifle up. She got off her shot and caught the Arkana in the shoulder. It spun the Arkana around but did not bring her down automatically.

Everyone got tossed into the wall again, and Jade cried out. The Arkana fell to the floor with the second massive shudder, sparks raining down on all of them from the hole in the ceiling where the panel had fallen out.

Andy and the others clung to the wall, waiting for the next strike.

Chapter 10

Just as they were bracing for the ship to try to knock them down again, everything went unnaturally still and silent.

Andy looked at Anallin and then Jade, who looked back at her. Both of them looked pretty rough, but Andy imagined she didn’t look much better. The way the lights played around them from the intermittent sparks gave everything an eerie air, and reminded her of one of their more disconcerting missions on Starbase Zenith. Those were memories that she shook off, however, since she knew they wouldn’t at all help here.

Since the ship wasn’t tossing about for the moment, Andy nodded at the bodies on the floor. “Check for survivors and bind those still alive,” she ordered, not wanting to give any of them the chance to rise up and get them from behind.

Between the three of them, it only took a few moments to check them all over. There were two survivors, although one certainly looked like that wasn’t going to be the case for too much longer. The remaining one, Andy was pretty sure would join him soon since there had only been one Arkana taken prisoner that didn’t commit suicide and he was in their brig, and related to her. That made it a rather special case.

They took the welcome moments of respite to move the bodies along with the others and stash the live ones in another area along the wall.

“Everything being so still almost makes me more worried than being thrown around did,” Jade commented as she rubbed the back of her head. She pulled down her hand and there was a faint trace of blood, which she frowned at. “I guess I hit my head.”

“You hit the wall pretty hard,” Andy agreed, moving behind her Marine to do a quick check. “It doesn’t look too bad, but let us know if you start to feel worse. We need to know if you have any signs of a concussion.”

“Yes, sir,” Jade agreed solemnly.

Andy rubbed her shoulder. One had slammed into the wall and the other was burnt, and neither was happy. “I’m going to check in with the bridge. Maintain the watch.” There were no more intruder alerts, however, so unless a few came up from other decks or sections, they should be in the clear.

Nodding at her other Marines, she turned and headed onto the bridge.

She found a console that looked like it had all but exploded, though only the slightly charred remains told the tale after the fire suppression system had flooded the room. The first officer was kneeling in front of the navigation officer, holding a compression cloth against his head. Andy could see the blood trails from a wound to the temple even from where she stood.

Clearly, maneuvers hadn’t been any kinder to the bridge staff than those in the corridors.

“Captain,” Andy said, walking over to where Wallace sat in the command chair, holding his arm against his chest. “Sir?”

“I think my wrist is broken, if that’s what you’re asking,” he said tightly. “We lost the backup engineering console and Feri,” He waved at the navigator with his good arm, “tried to crack the console open with his skull. I think the console won.”

“Thanks, Captain,” Feri muttered from down in front.

Wallace managed a weak, though generally mirthless smile. “We’re all but dead in the water. We managed to evade the Arkana just enough to get into the C19 Nebula. We’re lucky we were so close to it, as it’s one of the few of its kind. It can obscure us from the Arkana sensors and they aren’t likely to try to follow us.”

Andy looked at the view screen, which was flickering in and out on its picture of the nebula gases they had hidden themselves in. She tried to remember her science. “Doesn’t the same thing that will hide us also make it hard for us to get out of it again?”

“Sadly, yes,” Wallace agreed with a heavy sigh, “but we got a distress call out and hopefully, there was someone close enough to hear it. If so, they’ll come and tow us out.”

“We can always get out and start pushing,” Andy commented drolly.

Wallace looked up at her like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be amused or annoyed by her flippancy. It didn’t really seem like either won, and he turned away from her again. Keeping his left arm pinned against his chest, he pushed the fingers of the other through his short salt-and-pepper hair.

“Let’s not start worrying about that just yet,” he finally said. “Right now, our focus has to be on making sure the ship is secure and doesn’t shut down entirely. It won’t matter if we can move out of the nebula if we all die first.”

“Very optimistic, Captain,” the first officer said, putting sealant on the cut on Feri’s head. “I am sure that there will be other options once we know what the full status of the ship is.”

“Not good, Commander,” Wallace returned immediately. “We can see that from here.”

While the two of them spoke, Andy stepped aside and checked in with her other squads. Delta still wasn’t responding, and now neither was Beta. The remaining three checked in that they had either subdued their intruders or were in pursuit in other areas. Dan and Roxanna had their side of the bridge locked down.

Andy returned to the captain. “Sir,” she began, “I’m still not getting anything from Delta, but the armory has been secured. Intruders in that area have been neutralized. Theta is in pursuit of intruders outside the normal lock-down areas.”

“What is Theta normally supposed to be guarding?” Wallace asked with a frown. “I don’t want them chasing marauders and leaving sensitive areas of the ship vulnerable.”

“Theta is normally a squad in motion,” she replied tightly, trying to not be offended at the suggestion that her Marines would do such a thing. They had been a well-trained machine before she inherited the detachment, and she had only worked to make it even better, ready for war. “They are pursuing their normal targets.”

The captain nodded. If he noticed her affront or her efforts to restrain it, he didn’t say anything, and he shouldn’t. He was the captain, after all.

It worried her that she still couldn’t raise Delta, and now had another squad she couldn’t get a hold of. Battles with the Arkana usually were intense but short, with one side or the other coming out on top pretty quickly in small group engagements.

“Sir,” the sensor officer interrupted, “the ship’s systems are shutting down.”

Chapter 11

The lights flickered.

Andy looked up at the glowing spots of recessed lighting along the bridge, the pale white of the “normal” lights mixing in with the flashing red ligths. Her dark eyes focused on the ceiling, trying to will it all to stay powered up, even though she knew it was unlikely. If the ship was damaged that badly, it was all going to start coming apart.

How long would it take for their distress call to be received, and how long would it take for someone to get to them with enough force to get rid of the Arkana? If the enemy was even still going to linger outside. They might just assume the Star Chaser was dead in the water and leave them to their death inside the nebula. Which, judging from the way the lights were still flickering, wasn’t a tactically unsound plan. The chance that they would fail while waiting on rescue was not insignificant.

Finally, the main lights went out.

Emergency lighting came on, giving everything a dim orange glow. The alert lights were gone too and everything was half-shadowed.

“The ship is now operating on emergency power,” the sensor officer said, although Andy could have already guessed that. It didn’t take an engineer to figure out just how deep in the weeds they were. “Communications are down and life support is reverting to baseline. It’s going to start getting a little thin.”

“The Callian crewmembers will be happy,” Andy commented. Their planet had a lower oxygen content. It wasn’t enough to keep them from serving on the same ship as humans and other similar races, but it made them a little “high” when they were initially serving on the ships until their bodies adapted. Andy, however, wasn’t looking forward to it. Her Marines had trained in similar situations, decks and bays being environmentally adjusted to do so, but it wasn’t her favorite condition.

Damn. Communications were down. That announcement now wound its way through her brain, and she realized that she’d have no way to talk to her squads.

“Before communications went down, I still hadn’t heard from the squad in engineering, Captain,” Andy said solemnly. “And if there is anyone on this ship we need working right now, it’s our engineers.”

“You can say that again,” Wallace said.

She didn’t. “Permission to take Alpha Squad from the bridge and go down to engineering and find out what’s going on there,” she said instead.

Wallace thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Go ahead, Major. Good luck.”

Andy nodded once in acknowledgement, then crossed to the back side of the bridge to get her other two Marines.

She knew she’d be leaving the bridge without a Marine contingent, but the bridge wouldn’t mean anything if engineering had fallen to the Arkana. She had to keep her priorities in order, after all, and she couldn’t call on another squad to check. That left it up to her and Alpha Squad.

Andy reached the door and realized that it wasn’t going to open by the panel. This was going to be fun.

Reaching into one of the many utility pockets on her uniform, she pulled out a micro jack which worked wonders in situations like. She fastened it to the door and let it engage, then used brute force to pull the door open. By the time it was open enough for a person to fit through, she had Dan and Roxanna looking at her.

“Power go down?” Dan quipped wryly.

“How could you tell?” Andy replied in kind. “Come on, folks, we got a new job. We can’t raise Delta down in engineering and we need to be sure that things are secure down there.”

Roxanna nodded. “Did we lose the comms too?”

Andy snorted something like a laugh. “Of course we did,” she said. “Why make our jobs too easy?”

Andy stepped back and let the other two follow her onto the bridge. She pulled the micro jack from the door, but kept it in hand. She didn’t close the door, so the bridge crew could see what was out there and get out more easily if they needed to.

As they passed by the captain’s chair, they all nodded and said “sir” with respect, but didn’t slow down. They were Marines on a mission.

On the other side, she put the micro jack on the door and then, this time with Dan’s help, forced that door open as well. They left it as it was and Andy returned the device to her pocket. She knew she’d need it again soon, but until she did, she wanted to keep her hands free for her weapon.

“Everything going to hell, sir?” Jade asked wryly.

Andy chuckled. Yes, this girl was spending too much time around Dan. “All we need is the hand basket.” She looked around to each of them, trying to take visual stock. Dan and Roxanna didn’t look like their side had been hit too hard. Anallin seemed sound. Jade seemed a little rough, but all right. “Here’s the situation. We are presently in the C19 Nebula, because it’s letting us hide from the Arkana. Three ships were a little too much for us.”

“What’s the status of our communications, inside and outside the ship?” Roxanna asked.

“Not good,” she replied honestly. “Both are down, as is much of our power and we’re on low-level life support. We did get a distress call out, so we have hope for the cavalry, but no way of knowing if or when it’s coming. In the meantime, I haven’t been able to reach Delta Squad. I don’t know the status of engineering, so we are going to have to go down there and see what’s going on.”

“Do we have any idea of where Arkana may be?” Dan asked.

Andy shook her head. “Not really. The last reports were when the last wave came through and they’ve had time to move, or be taken out by the other squads. We can’t get anything from sensors with the ship on emergency power, so we’re just going to have to start moving and figure it out as we go. Lifts aren’t going to be working, so we’re going to have to go through the tunnels and hope the Arkana haven’t figured that out.”

Everyone nodded. “Sounds like fun,” Dan said with a mirthless smile.

Andy gestured for everyone to take up their weapons and move out in formation. Andy took point with Dan, then Jade with Roxanna and Anallin behind them. The bodies of the Arkana lined the walls as they passed, but they didn’t have the time to stop and check on any of them. She doubted any of them would still be alive by now anyway, either from their injuries or suicide.

“Just another day in the life of the ESS Marines,” Andy commented quietly.

Chapter 12

The more time passed, the more Andy began to feel the effects of the ship’s current situation. Her eyes felt dry from the strain of trying to see things in the dim light and she began to feel like it was more difficult to pull in full lungs of air.

It made her head begin to feel...just a little off. She wasn’t dizzy or truly lightheaded, but she could sense that difference at the very edge of her awareness. The tension didn’t help things either, but she had trained herself to ignore most of her emotional reactions to things. In her job, one couldn’t afford to let that kind of stuff impact the task at hand. At least not too much. Because she might be able to suppress it, but she couldn’t get rid of it.

Emotions lingered in the background, and the knowledge that the ship itself might kill them before the Arkana did was enough to make anyone anxious. She felt it and knew it was there, but she couldn’t let it get to her.

Andy was sure that the others were feeling it too, but she couldn’t stop to look back and check on them. She had to keep eyes forward. Even so, she could imagine that Jade’s green eyes were wide, set in an otherwise calm face. Roxanna’s purple skin would be swirling with pearlescent hues. And she could hear Anallin’s reaction, eyes clicking rapidly. Andy still didn’t understand the biological mechanisms that made the Hanaran’s eyes click, but they did and it was how she best could tell how it was feeling.

Dan was probably making a dozen jokes in his head that he couldn’t say out loud in their present situation. That, at least, brought a small smile to her face.

The five Marines made their way down the corridor, moving cautiously but with a sense of urgency. They knew that time would be of the essence if there was trouble in engineering. They moved through the vague shadows and looked at everything within the tunnels of light from their flashlights connected to their weapons.

“Here,” Dan said in a low voice, nodding at the access hatch in the wall.

The hatch would lead to the tubes running through out the ship that allowed the engineers to reach various parts of the ship’s systems to keep it all running. They made for a tight fit, but you could move through them and access other parts of the Star Chaser. It would be particularly useful for them since they couldn’t use the lifts.

“Cover,” Andy said, slinging back her rifle and pulling out the opening device. The other four moved into position to keep watch down both sides of the corridor while she approached it, then forced the door open. She couldn’t slide it fully back into the bulkhead, but it was open enough for the five of them to get through—if barely.

“Roxanna,” Andy said, stepping back and picking up her rifle again.

The sergeant shifted back from her position and then entered through the hatch first, bringing her weapon and flashlight up to view ahead. “Clear,” she reported and then started crawling forward. It was roomy enough to be on all-fours without bumping one’s head on the top, but there wasn’t enough room to stand.

After she gave them the go-ahead, Anallin went in, followed by Jade, then Dan. Andy covered them, then entered last. She went in backwards, bracing herself against the tunnel wall to pull the hatch as far shut as she could from inside. She wanted to cover their tracks as much as possible, just in case. It wasn’t perfect, but it was all she could do.

From there, she made the slightly agonizing turn-around and followed her squad forward. Roxanna knew where they needed to go and Andy had total faith in letting her lead; the Selerid was her second-in-command for a reason.

As they crawled, Andy wondered how the ship “felt” to Roxanna. The Selerid were an empathic people, which was a trait that had actually come in handy for their squad but was also something that made the job even more difficult for the woman. Andy was frequently surprised that the Selerid had chosen to become a Marine. Most of her people that joined the ESS chose medical positions, or science. Combat was not a fun place for an empath to be.

And now, everyone on the ship had to be scared and tense. Being in a battle was bad enough, but the sudden dark and quiet was...unnerving.

They made their way forward even more slowly than they had been walking in the corridor before and their lights bobbed along with them. Now that they were in the tube, there was even less light than before. Emergency lighting inside the tunnel was further apart, although the occasional sparks from troubled systems within the panels added a bit of light, and some more tension.

“Ahead,” Roxanna announced.

They were coming to a junction of the horizontal and vertical tunnels, where they could continued forward as they were or move onto the ladder and start climbing down. They were on deck one, so down was their only option. They had to climb down eight decks to deck nine to reach engineering.

That was no small feat, but they were well-conditioned.

Reaching the open hatch to the ladder, Roxanna shone her light down. “Clear,” she announced before slinging her weapon back and moving her feet to the rungs. She started on her way down, followed one by one by the other Marines into the open tunnel that would take them down. Roxanna would nearly be to the next deck by the time Andy started down.

Andy hadn’t had to spend much time crawling around in these tubes or up and down these ladders, fortunately, but it wasn’t the first time she’d been forced to use them during an emergency either. That was months ago, she reflected, when they had first learned of the Arkana and nearly lost their ship to those bloody snowflake people for the first time. That was when they had gotten them by surprise. Now, it was war, so at least they knew they were there and what to do about them.

Moving down the length of one deck, Roxanna came to a halt. She held onto the ladder with one hand while shining her light down.

A beam of energy weapon discharge appeared below them. With five Marines in the way, Andy didn’t get a good look but she could see that much. Were the damned Arkana down there already? Roxanna fired a shot, but the angle was bad and she couldn’t truly see the enemy. It ricocheted off a deckplate without hitting anything else.

“Wait!” a voice cried out. “We’re ESS!”

Chapter 13

“That sounds like Wilkins,” Roxanna commented. She kept her gun close and shifted her body to get a better look. Andy waited nervously until the sergeant called up that they were ESS after all. That was when she slid her rifle back and finished climbing down, crawling into the tunnel on the other side.

She recognized their uniforms as engineering personnel. They both looked human, with the woman sitting upright and the man laying back, holding himself half up with his elbow but looking ashen even in the poor light. In the glow of her flashlight, she could see a sheen of sweat across his shivering skin.

“He’s hurt,” the female crewman supplied.

“Why didn’t you keep going to sickbay?” Andy asked.

The woman shook her head a little. “I’m hurt too and I can’t carry him.” She looked at him then with an apologetic look in her eye. He waved the one hand he had free, and Andy could see drying blood on part of it.

The major stifled a sigh. “I’m sorry that we can’t stay and do much for you. We’re not medics, and we have to get to engineering.” She reached down to one of her pants pockets and pulled out her med kit. “Use this as best you can.”

“Thank you,” the woman said. “If you’re going to engineering, I have to warn you. The hatch you’re on is not just closed, but locked. We had to lock it. There was damage that we couldn’t repair in the systems there. It’s what injured him. We just barely got up here and sealed the hatch against it, locking it in that section. But you can’t go through there until repairs are made.”

Andy cursed inwardly. Of course. That meant they were going to have to crawl through this tunnel for a while until they reached a hatch to exit onto the deck, go further down to a second access hatch and return in another area of tubes.

The “time was of the essence” time line was getting trickier every moment.

“When I can, I’ll alert medical that you’re here,” Andy promised. “I’m sure you’re aware that communications are down.”

“Yeah,” the woman said. “We tried contacting medical ourselves.”

Andy nodded, frustrated that she couldn’t do more. The best she could do was getting her own job done, securing the ship so people could get it working again.

“Hang in there,” she said, feeling almost foolish for the platitude but it was the best that she had to offer. “Like I said, I’ll alert medical as soon as I can, and we’re going to get to engineering and make sure things are okay there. We’ll get the ship right.”

Both engineers smiled weakly. She worried that they may not have much longer to wait, but again, she couldn’t do anything more.

“Good luck, Major,” the man said, his voice hoarse.

Andy nodded once and then uncomfortably turned around, gesturing for her Marines to continue down the tunnel. “Until the next access hatch so we can cross the deck.”

And so, onward they began to crawl again. What had been a multi-deck ladder trip was now becoming something more like a maze, and the prize at the end was just as likely to be nothing at all or a big battle for engineering to clear it of enemy soldiers.

Either way, the risk-reward ratio was imbalanced, but that was not unusual.

“Ahead,” Roxanna announced.

They reached the next hatch and this time, Roxanna pulled it open. Every Marine had their own micro jack, since one never knew when they’d be separated from one of the others.

Exiting the access tunnel, they entered the corridor and looked each way. The straightaway was clear, but the other side was a T-junction and they couldn’t see very far down either direction. Andy moved to take the lead again with Dan beside her, back in their original formation. They started forward toward the junction and Andy gestured left.

She reached the corner with her back against the wall, pausing before turning the corner carefully. Just as she began to move her body around the corner, energy beams shot down from that side of the corridor and she swung back into place.

“Enemy located,” she declared dryly. Apparently, the intruders on deck two were still on deck two.

“Let’s clear the way,” Dan said, bringing around the projectile rifle. He still had the stolen Arkana rifle slung around his back, but they kept that as a weapon in reserve. They had yet to figure out how to recharge them, even with Anath’s help, so they used them sparingly. Though with the number of battles being waged, there was usually a steady supply.

Andy looked back and gestured for Anallin to change positions with Dan. As the best shot in the team, she wanted the Hanaran to have first shot at the enemy. Once that was done, Andy and Anallin met each others’ eyes and nodded once.

They swung around the corner, guns up. Energy bolts shot toward them, but didn’t even come close to hitting them. Andy took a moment to realize that the Arkana ahead didn’t have their own lights, so they were operating half in the partial darkness and half in the sudden glare of the ESS lights. Andy and Anallin took advantage of that fact and returned fire quickly. Their bullets crossed the distance in a heartbeat and there were two less energy weapons firing.

Another bolt came at the Marines, scorching the walls over their heads.

Andy’s next shot missed and a “ting” sound echoed back as it didn’t hit its mark, but Anallin’s next shot took care of that. There was a quiet gasp and a thud, and no more energy discharges coming their way.

Lifting her rifle and light, she surveyed the corridor ahead.

There was a panel hanging down with the smell of electrical smoke and the occasional jumping sparks. With no more active Arkana in sight, Andy gestured for everyone to start forward. Their lights moved back and forth over the bodies on the floor. Only one was moving, and that was feebly. Andy noticed that one was still sitting up, leaning back against the bulkhead with the head of its comrade on its legs and one hand over a vivid red hole in the other’s chest. It struck a chord in her and made her shudder.

It looked...familiar. It looked human, until you saw the pale white skin and hair; until you remembered that this was the enemy. That these people were trying to kill and conquer their way through every corner of ESS space until they could reach Earth and “reclaim” it for the Arkana and any humans who “thought correctly.” The Arkana were, technically, human as well, but what they considered to be a more elevated level of humanity.

Here in this damaged corridor, Andy could see the similarities again. The protective soldier with his wounded companion could have just as easily been ESS. In fact, they were; they were the engineers that Andy and Alpha Squad had just seen in the access tunnel. Why were they fighting? Why did they have to fight?

It was beyond comprehension, when one really got down to it.

Andy didn’t have to understand why, though. She was a Marine, and she would fight against those who would destroy them.

No matter how alike they were.

Chapter 14

Things continued to not go as planned.

Alpha Squadron made it through the corridor of deck two without encountering any more of the enemy and entered the next access hatch. They made it down to deck five before they found their way blocked again by more damage. This time, it wasn’t a locked hatch but actual debris that they knew would take longer to clear than crossing another deck.

Deck five was the tactical deck. The Marines’ locker room and armory was located there, as well as the ship’s armory and the brig.

It occurred to her once her feet were on the deck plates of deck five that she hadn’t even thought about her half-brother. Andy’s mind had been fully focused on the job, her Marines, and the ship itself. Somewhere in her mind, she felt a wash of guilt, but that part of her brain was ignored because like so many other emotions, it wasn’t useful.

As they kept moving forward, steadily and cautiously, she contemplated if she should make a side trip for the brig and make sure Anath was okay. Could she afford the time? After all, he was part of the Star Chaser’s crew now, sort of. He had turned on his own people and helped them fight the Arkana, didn’t she owe it to him to not just abandon him? And yet, she had just left behind those engineers in the tubes because she couldn’t afford the time.

However, the decision turned out to not be hers to make.

After several minutes of walking, they heard the sound of a fight. A few quick glances were exchanged before they quickly changed course down a corridor to move toward the sound, and Andy realized just a moment later that it was coming from the brig.

Alpha Squad rounded a curve and as they did, the source of the noise came into view. There were the backs of three Arkana fighting against another. It was pretty easy to see that the one facing them was Anath and he was doing his best against the three soldiers in front of him, but he didn’t look like he was armed with a gun. What he had in hand, she couldn’t tell, but the blood running from his temple stood out in stark contrast even in the dim light.

“Try not to hit my brother,” Andy said in a low voice, pitched just for her Marines to hear.

None of them acknowledged her aloud, but she and Anallin raised their rifles. Suddenly, the gunfire was painfully loud in the ship’s silence as each Marine fired once. Two Arkana immediately arched back and dropped. Anath looked shocked for an instant before realizing what was happening. Before either Marine got a second shot off, he had driven his weapon into the final Arkana and let him fall with the others.

Once the immediate threat from the three Arkana was over, Andy surveyed the scene and realized that there were another two on the ground. Had her half-brother really held his own against five Arkana, single-handedly?

Anath looked up at them and held himself against the wall, panting heavily. “She’s hurt,” he said, pointing down at the tactical crewman on the floor, sitting back against the wall and holding her side.

The Marines hurried forward. Roxanna knelt beside the tactical crewman and pulled out her med kit, while Andy moved to her brother.

“What happened?” she asked.

She reached down for her med kit and then remembered that she left it with the engineers. She turned to ask Dan for his and found that he was already standing beside her with it out. Andy smiled slightly and nodded her appreciation before turning back to her sibling.

“I’m not sure which hit did it, but one of them knocked out the energy field,” Anath said, still panting but it was starting to calm. “There was an intruder alert so Lisa—” He nodded to the woman against the wall. “—chose to trust me to fight with her and she unlocked the gate. I came out just as they came in. She took out one but two others got her bad. I took out another and could only hold off the remaining ones.”

Andy cleaned the blood away from the wound, making him wince but he didn’t complain about it. Instead, he looked over at the tactical crewman, Lisa.

“Is she going to be okay?” he called to Roxanna.

The Selerid turned her head to speak over her shoulder. “I think so,” she replied, “but she can’t move from here. We’re going to have to leave her. We’ll have to send a proper medic as soon as we can.”

Anath’s pale face drew in, brows knitting a little and lips pursing. “She’s been good to me,” he said, although his voice was quieter now. His steel blue eyes turned to Andy. “She must survive.”

Andy managed a faint smile. “We’ll do all we can,” she said, “but we’re just Marines. I don’t have a medic in this squad.”

He nodded quickly, then stopped when she glared at him because she was still treating his head wound. “I know.” He took a shallow breath. “I’ll stay here and protect her.”

“No.” This came in a weak voice from the other side of Roxanna. “Anath, you should go with them. You’re a good fighter and they’re going to need all the help they can get. I can take care of myself until the medic comes.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Anath replied without hesitation. “You’re hurt. How can you fight like that? If they show up, they’ll just kill you.”

“Don’t worry about me,” she replied. Her voice wasn’t strong, but it was stubborn. “You need to help them. If the ship isn’t secured, then what does the state of one tactical crewman matter?”

Andy glanced over Roxanna’s shoulder at Lisa’s ashen, but resolute, face. “She has a point,” she said, turning back to Anath and applying the wound sealant. “We’re on our way to engineering. We weren’t able to get in contact with them before everything went down. I’m worried they were overrun and the Arkana have engineering, or are at least have them pinned down. We need to make sure the engineers can do their work and keep the ship from dying.”

Anath looked at her somberly. “It’s that bad?”

She nodded. “It’s that bad.”

The Arkana blew out a hard breath and then pushed himself off from the wall. “Alright, then I’ll go with you. I’ll need some kind of weapon. That pipe thing I pulled from my cell won’t do well for long.”

Dan pulled the old-fashioned rifle off his shoulder and handed it to Anath. The Arkana took it with a nod of thanks. Dan brought the Arkana rifle around as his new primary weapon.

Her half-brother took a step, paused to make sure he was steady on his feet, and then walked to the other wall. He knelt beside Lisa and put his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you,” he said quietly. It was only just loud enough for the others to hear. The tactical crewman nodded weakly and managed a faint smile.

When Roxanna stood, her skin was swirling and her purple eyes held an unexpected tinge of emotion, and Andy wondered what she was feeling...or what the others were feeling.

Chapter 15

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Andy asked Anath as they moved out of the brig foyer.

He cast one more look over his shoulder then sighed and faced forward, walking along with Alpha Squad. “Yeah, I’m alright,” he said. “The head was the worst of it. I can push through everything else.”

Andy thought he sounded like a Marine, and she was glad to have her brother with them. She didn’t say anything, though, and just kept them moving toward the next access hatch to get onto the ladder. They managed to make it down the rest of the hallway without encountering any more resistance.

“Roxanna,” she ordered simply. The Selerid moved to the hatch, while Dan pulled out the micro jack to open the door. The sergeant leaned in, checking around before climbing in. Dan followed, then Jade and Anallin. Andy nodded for Anath to go next. He hesitated, like he wanted to argue that she should go first, but a pointed look made him change his mind.

He followed the others through the hatch, and Andy brought up the rear. She checked down the hallway in each direction before shutting the hatch as much as possible and retrieving the device. She put it in one of her pockets to return to Dan when she had the chance.

Eight decks to climb down, assuming they didn’t find more trouble that spurred them into a different deck crossing. And with the way that things had been going, she had absolutely no confidence that that wasn’t about to happen. The open question was just in what form it would take.

Maybe she was just being pessimistic.

By the time Andy was able to start moving down at a decent pace, Roxanna had almost reached the next deck. The line was even longer with the addition of another body, especially one that was tall like Anath was. That was one gene that Andy had apparently not inherited, not being particularly tall herself. What she lacked in size, she had learned to make up for in speed, flexibility, and guile.

Andy’s optimism was starting to return as she estimated that Roxanna was passing the hatch for deck eight as Andy passed seven.

They continued downward amid the flickering of the emergency lights. Andy looked around at the dim glow as it came and went, wondering if those lights were about to go out too. It didn’t bode well for engineering being free to work on the ship if even the emergency systems were struggling this much.

After a few more rungs, Andy felt herself growing winded. She began to chastise herself for being out of shape, somehow, until she remembered that life support was on minimum.

Nothing like an eight-deck climb in thin air.

Andy looked at the access hatch to deck eight, and kept on climbing...

Until the abrupt sound of energy weapons fire shattered what had otherwise been silence, followed by an inarticulate sound of angry surprise from Dan. Unlike the last time someone had opened fire on them in a tunnel, there was no call of friendlies. This time, there was just more energy weapons fire. Andy cursed inwardly that she was trapped in this single line, attached to a ladder that any of them could be thrown from at any moment.

Peering down as best she could, she could see her Marines and her brother trying to dodge...while attached to a ladder. This usually equaled then holding onto the rungs with one hand and foot while swinging the others to the side and getting as much of their bodies as possible out of the line of fire of the tube itself. Within moments, Andy was joining them.

“The next level is blocked,” Anath said, relaying the information that he had been slightly more able to see than she had.

“Well, damn it then,” Andy returned in a rather unprofessional manner. “Stun grenade and close that hatch.”

She couldn’t be heard over the noise, and even if she could be, Andy didn’t want the enemy to hear her plan. Anath passed it down and it went that way until it reached Roxanna.

A few moments later, Roxanna called out, “Fire in the hole!”

The concussive noise and the light from the explosion was enough for Andy to hear and see even from where she was, but not enough to affect them. The weapons fire stopped and she knew that Roxanna and Dan would be working to close the hatch that separated their current level from the next one down.

It sealed off any Arkana who avoided the effects of the stun grenade, but also cut them off from the rest of that ladder pathway. The Arkana would be able to follow the corridors, but the stun grenade would have slowed them down.

Andy tried not to think about how they had managed to get into the access tunnels, because that wouldn’t help her current task or her current chances of survival.

“Proceed down the corridor to the next exit onto deck nine,” Andy ordered, not as annoyed by the change of plan this time because she had been entirely expecting it. Her optimism had not gotten much of a foothold before they’d been fired upon.

There had been a saying on Earth about something called “Murphy’s Law,” where anything could go wrong would go wrong. Andy felt like she was having a “Murphy’s Law” kind of day.

One by one, they moved from the ladder into the tunnel heading along the length of the corridor. They crawled onward until they found the hatch onto deck nine. Roxanna opened the hatched, peered through the opening, then exited. Andy waited as each one of the group moved down and then out into the corridor, joining Roxanna where she had her gun up guarding their exit.

They started moving down the dark—and quiet—hall. There were no signs of any Arkana up ahead.

As they moved, they found clusters of people. There had been a battle in this corridor and there were dead Arkana lining the wall. They didn’t look like they had killed themselves but had died in the fight. She saw a couple members of the tactical staff, who must have covered this section since there hadn’t been any Marines active in this location. Andy stifled a sigh at the sight, wishing they could do something for them but knowing there wasn’t time. They had to keep moving.

There would be time to grieve later.

Chapter 16

This time, they managed to reach the next access hatch, get in, and make it down to deck thirteen without meeting further trouble. It was nothing short of a minor miracle, Andy thought, having moved from pessimistic to downright cynical.

Once they were on deck thirteen, it took the major a few moments to reorient herself. They had moved from one service tunnels to main hallways so many times that she had to remember which direction engineering actually was. Once she had her bearings, she took the lead and brought her squad cautiously but quickly down the corridor and around two turns to reach engineering.

As they walked, she realized that some of the emergency light fixtures along the floor were not working. Others were flickering. It certainly did little to help decrease the tension, which had continued to grow since they had left the bridge.

“How much longer can your ship keep functioning like this?” Anath asked in a low voice from directly behind her.

“I have no idea,” Andy replied, turning her head slightly to speak over her shoulder. “I’m not an engineer. I will say that I’ve never been on the ship when she was in this bad of shape. I have seen her pretty beat up, but those times were after a battle that had ended. We managed to limp back to a base. Now...”

“Where are we now?” he asked.

“The C-19 Nebula,” she replied. “It’s hiding us from the Arkana. Three of their ships were after us and may still be waiting just outside. Our sensors were down, and the same interference that works against them works against us.”

“I presume a distress call was sent.”

“Yes, and hopefully reached...someone.” Andy sighed.

They came to a corner and slowed, moving around it carefully. Seeing no hostiles ahead, they kept moving. The hall curved ahead and they followed it. Andy knew that they would be coming upon engineering soon. They crept around the corner...

...and saw several people, all sitting on the ground.

Andy’s brows knit. Some of the people looked up as the Marines approached. One man in an ESS uniform pushed himself to his feet, along with a Marine. Andy immediately recognized Krall, leader of Delta Squad. A moment later she recoginized Lieutenant Norrell, the chief engineer. One side of Krall’s face was covered in drying blood.

“Situation report,” Andy said, coming to a stop before the two of them. She gestured to the other four Marines to cover each direction of the corridor. Anath came to stand beside her, but his attention was on the Arkana soldiers also sitting on the floor.

“We were stationed here when the attack came. We defended our position, which resulted in the group you see here,” Krall reported, although it didn’t look like his eyes were focusing very well.

“Why are you out here in the hall?” Andy asked, although she spoke a little slower, concerned for the sergeant.

It was Norrell that answered. “Ma’am,” he greeted, sounding hoarse. “One of the hits the ship took just before we got into the nebula caused the tanks to the ercium converter to blow. It leaked ercium gas and flooded the bay. We had to evacuate or die. Some of us still were burned or inhaled it and that’s why we’re resting while we are figuring out how to evacuate the bay of the gas so we can go back in and do our jobs.”

“That’s...” Andy sighed. “That’s just great. Have you had any ideas about how to do that yet?”

Norrell sighed and hung his head. “No good ideas.”

Before either of them said anything else, Anath spoke. His words weren’t directed at them, however.

“Why are you still alive?”

When Andy looked back, she saw that he was looking at one of the Arkana prisoners. It was then that it dawned on her as well how odd the sight was. Since the beginning of the war, Anath was the only Arkana that hadn’t committed suicide after they were captured. With his help, the ESS scientists had an idea of the mechanism but still couldn’t figure out how to stop it. He had explained that preventing it was not a high priority for the Arkana.

The soldiers were expendable. Little more than the currency of war. Once the war had actually started, the leaders of the Arkana decided that keeping them from giving out information was more important than keeping them alive.

There were always more soldiers.

This attitude was deeply ingrained in every soldier. They were eager to die for their cause...except Anath. He was different, and that was why he was there with his half-sister.

From the floor, the Arkana woman glared daggers up at him. Her icy white lips, streaked with blood from where someone had broken her nose, were pursed and that made it pretty clear that she had no intention of telling them anything at all. That wasn’t in the least surprising, but Andy wouldn’t have minded at least one thing going easily.

“Where did you say we were again?” Anath asked, turning back to her. He had clearly come to the same conclusion.

“C-19 Nebula,” she replied, wondering why he had asked.

His blue eyes seemed to lose focus as he looked off into nothing. Andy knew they had things to figure out, but she had to wonder what he was thinking.

After a few moments more, he spoke. “I will need to talk to your scientists...” He paused and smiled ruefully. “...assuming we survive this. But the gaseous mixture in this nebula that obscures our sensors could have something to do with them being alive. It could interfere with the suicide device.”

“Traitor!” the Arkana soldier shrieked, picking that moment to speak. She tried to get to her feet, but it wasn’t easy with her hands tied behind her and little room to maneuver. Anath dropped to his knee before her as she snapped like a rabid dog, trying to bite his face. “You are traitorous filth! How dare you work against your people! Against your own father! He will have you pulled limb from limb when he gets a hold of you.”

“I guess I better just not let Father find me then,” Anath said, then knocked his head against hers. She swayed and then fell back against the wall.

He got to his feet again and looked at Andy, who was staring at him.

“What?” he said, blinking. “I have a hard head.”

“I should say. You probably just re-injured it,” she pointed out. Adrenaline would only get him so far, after all.

Anath shrugged. “We can worry about all that later. There are other things to worry about right now.”

“How do we get into engineering?” Andy asked rhetorically.

Chapter 17

Andy told Krall to sit back down. He looked like he was going to pass out.

“Tell me again what happened,” Anath said, turning away from the other Arkana on the floor. The woman was still out cold.

“The ercium tanks were damaged during that last attack,” Norrell said. “It vented gas into the entire bay. It’s filled up the space, like smoke. We can’t get under it, and we can’t get through it without being burned inside and out. We don’t have our protective gear.”

He was quiet for a moment, looking between Andy and Norrell. “No offense, but shouldn’t you have some sort of failsafe for that kind of thing? I mean, if you have this substance on board, shouldn’t you be prepared if it breaks?”

Andy looked at the chief engineer, wondering if this was going to turn into a fight during a survival situation, but Norrell didn’t look offended. He was a pragmatic man.

“We do,” he said, “but they’re damaged too.”

The major snorted. “Of course they are.”

Anything that could go wrong...

“Can it be vented from inside the bay, then? Are those systems working?” Anath asked.

“Yes,” Norrell said. “They are tied into the ship’s emergency power and will still be functioning. But we can’t go in there. We would probably be incapacitated before we finished.”

Anath nodded slowly and took a deep breath. He dropped his head and looked at the floor as he spoke again. “Ercium gas is a lot like the emissions of a race called the Aloah. You haven’t met them yet.” He glanced up without lifting his head. “I looked for them in your databases and they aren’t there. The ESS has missed a lot species, considering how long you’ve been out here, but that’s neither here nor there.” He waved a hand before either of them could have an issue with that. “The important thing is the similarity.”

“Why is that important?” Andy asked.

“It’s important because the Arkana met the Aloah two generations ago,” Anath explained. There was a tension in his voice and around his eyes that Andy didn’t understand, but felt an instinctive discomfort with. Something that made her nervous. “You should recall what happens when the Arkana meets a new special with biological abilities.”

“You create a resistance to it,” she said.

“Yes. Which means that I have a resistance to it,” he said with a sigh. “Our resistance isn’t perfect, but it is considerable. You have it too, but less so than me since you are also half-human. So if it’s going to be one of us...”

Andy blinked as his meaning dawned on her. “What do you mean, one of us?”

He met her gaze with a dry look that said he knew that she knew exactly what he meant, but he explained anyway. “Someone has to go in there and vent the gas so the engineers can get back into engineering and start repairing the ship. None of you can go in there. If anyone can, it’s someone with a genetic resistance that’s at least close to what’s in there. You’re less qualified than I am. I am going to go in there and get the bay cleared.”

“You said yourself that it’s only like it,” Andy pointed out in a low, tight voice. “It could just as easily kill you as anyone else.”

“It might, but it will kill anyone else,” he retorted. “Do you have a better plan?”

She didn’t, and they both knew that.

Anath took her silence for agreement and he turned to Norrell. “Tell me how to vent the gas.”

Norrell looked at him and then at Andy. “We can trust him?”

“Yes,” Andy said flatly.

Taking her word for it, Norrell turned to Anath. The engineer took a deep breath and then began explaining the exact sequence of actions Anath would have to take in order to get the gas vented to a place where they could safely enter and get back to work. The Arkana looked like he was listening intently, nodding and asking questions at points. Most of it was beyond Andy, since this was not an area she spent a lot of time on.

They went through it a second time before her brother said he understood.

“Wish me luck, my sister,” Anath said with a faint smile.

“Good luck,” she said quietly.

He slowly walked down the corridor. The safest way to enter without letting the gas vent directly onto the group of survivors outside the main doors was to go through an access hatch, and so armed with a micro jack, he left them and hurried to the hatch. She watched until she saw him vanish around the corner.

“Do you think he can do it?” Norrell asked, leaning back against the wall and look exhausted as he hung his head.

“I hope so,” the major replied honestly.

* * *

The time seemed to pass incredibly slowly.

The injured, exhausted members of Delta Squad remained on the floor, recovering from their battle as best they could while Alpha Squad—in better states of health—kept a watch for any hostiles that might come their way. So far, everything was quiet except for the labored breathing of the ESS and the discontented mumblings of the Arkana.

Andy felt the urge to pace but managed to hold that off. She knew it wouldn’t instill much confidence to the see the commander of the 33rd losing her mind with worry.

And she was worried.

The idea was almost as surprising to her as she imagined it would be to anyone else, but there it was. In the weeks that she’d had the chance to get to know her half-brother, she had come to like him. There were even similarities in things like their humor and ways they looked at the universe around them. She had come to trust him, and appreciate his presence. It was almost like...having a family.

She knew her Marines, her squad, were her family. But Anath was different; they shared heritage.

If she lost him now, sacrificing himself for her ship and the rest of her family, she didn’t really know how to process that. The loss of her mother hadn’t affected her as deeply as the possible loss of her brother did, since she and Anath had actually...bonded, while her mother had never seemed to want anything to do with her.

Anath actually wanted to be her brother. He’d forsaken his species for a half-sister who had forsaken only half of hers.

What if he didn’t come back out?

Chapter 18

“Lieutenant,” Andy finally said, turning to the chief engineer when she couldn’t take it anymore. “How long should it take to complete this?”

“It’s hard to say, Major,” Norrell replied, leaning his head back against the wall. “It depends on the state of the systems in there. They might be sluggish. If his resistance isn’t quite as good as he thought, it could take time because of that. On a normal day, it would have been done by now, though not by much. Given the state of things, I’m not surprised it’s taking longer and we’re not in worry time yet.”

That was easy for him to say, she thought but didn’t give voice to.

Neither did she add, ‘Or he could be dead.’

Andy shifted away from him and back to her place near Roxanna. The Selerid glanced sidelong at her for a long moment.

“I’m sure he’ll be okay,” the empath said softly.

Of course Andy didn’t ask how she knew, since that was obvious. She just managed a faint smile and nodded, though she didn’t say anything.

It was another small eternity before the main bay doors opened. Andy spun around and moved toward them, getting there just in time to see her half-brother stagger through, clutching the door edges where he’d pulled them open before falling through. Andy just barely had time to drop her weapon on its sling and catch him. He was taller than her, but slender and she was able to keep him from hitting the floor.

“Anath,” she exclaimed, being pulled down to the floor by his weight and momentum, but keeping either of them from hitting the floor hard.

“The bay,” he gasped softly, “is cleared.”

Norrell was on his feet in a moment, a long moment since he still wasn’t in his best shape, but his place was clear and it was time to get to work. The single-minded motivation of an engineer with a damaged ship came into play and he and his remaining staff hurried inside.

“I’m okay,” Anath said, but his voice was hoarse and she could see angry red splotches at random intervals on his skin. “I’m sure I look bad, but just a few minutes...to rest...and I’ll be okay. I promise.”

She looked down at him doubtfully, but his pale lips managed a faint smile.

“With engineering secured, we should get you and the injured down to sickbay,” she began to say...

That was when Jade called out, “Enemy incoming!”

Anath all but threw himself out of Andy’s grasp, freeing her to get to her feet and take her weapon back up. The Delta Squad Marines who were able to also rose and took up their weapons, which added three to the rest of them. Anath had pushed himself back against the wall, breathing hard as he glared down the corridor at the encroaching Arkana. He grabbed one of the weapons on the ground and lifted it. Andy felt a brief surge of pride at that.

The Arkana fired first. Neither side even attempted any sort of talk. They were both far past that.

Energy bolts shot down the corridor, singing bulkheads and just narrowly missing the Marines on the first volley. They all returned fire, listening to bullets ricochet as they too missed their original marks.

“They can’t get past us into engineering,” Andy declared, although she didn’t really need to. She knew that everyone knew that. A second round of fire was exchanged. One Arkana fell with a wound to the head, but one of Delta Squad went down with a brush of energy fire to the shoulder. Andy could smell the faintly singed flesh, but knew he would probably survive.

Andy prepared herself for a third shot, but when the Arkana let loose, the targets they aimed at brought the ESS up short.

Within moments, the prisoners—who hadn’t been moving but were only partially guarded by the positioning of the ESS—had all been shot and were slumped over. Caught off guard, the Marines hesitated for just a moment, and that was when the Arkana charged them. Why they chose a physical assault rather than a few clear shots in the moment of distraction, Andy would never know. But they did.

Before the front line had a chance to fire again, the Arkana were on them.

Andy was driven back against the wall. The soldier in front of her punched at her face, and she moved her head just in time for the blow to be a glancing one rather than a direct hit. She still could feel the blood running down her cheek from where the punch had crack the skin.

When the second punch came, she managed to slide to the side further and his fist connected with the wall. She heard a crunch from the bones in his knuckles. Twisting, she grabbed his wrist with her right hand, holding it in place against the wall as she drove her own fist up into his elbow joint.

The soldier screamed in pain, right in her face. Her ears rang from the sound but she was able to take advantage of his pain and push him back. A boot to the stomach followed a moment later, sending him stumbling back where he fell into the pile of comrades he’d just killed.

Before she had a chance to turn, she felt a fist in her back. It was close to a kidney shot, though off just enough to not cripple her. She still grunted with pain and stumbled forward. She kept her momentum going to give her a little bit of space as she spun around to fight this new attacker.

Pain still radiated through her back and kept her from standing fully upright, but she got her fists up to block a wide hit and then a second that quickly followed.

The punches came in a flurry and Andy managed to block each one, not letting any of them reach her, but she was so busy defending herself that she didn’t have a chance to retaliate. She held her ground, blocked, dodged, and ducked, all the while trying to find an opening to burst through and turn the tide. He was faster than most of the Arkana she had faced so far, when it came to hand-to-hand combat and he was definitely pushing her to the limit.

Her frustration grew until she heard the report of a projectile-firing rifle. It wasn’t an Arkana weapon, and when the punches suddenly stopped, she knew who the target had been. She pulled her arms apart just enough to see the soldier stiffen and then fall. Andy had to dance back fast to avoid being landed on.

She took in a deep breath and looked around, seeing her brother—still sitting on the floor—with his rifle up, aimed where she had been fighting the Arkana soldier. He lowered it and nodded at her.

Andy nodded back, then surged back into the fight.

Chapter 19

They fought off the rest of the Arkana, taking two of them alive. They piled them up at the end of the line against the wall.

Anallin had a bad burn to the shoulder, which Roxanna was treating with a numbing gel to ease the pain and provide a barrier from debris until they could get to sickbay. Andy walked over to check on them, ignoring her own sore back and jaw. Anallin assured her everything was fine and to not worry. Andy patted the Hanaran on the other shoulder and went to check on the rest of her Marines.

Dan had a graze to the side that mostly damaged his uniform, and Jade and Roxanna were fine.

One of the Delta Marines was dead, but the others were fine. Krall looked even worse for the wear now, but he was still conscious and coherent. She let him remain where he was while she finally went to check on her brother.

“I’ll survive,” he said before she even had the chance to ask.

“Thanks for saving my backside,” she said, lowering herself to an aching seat beside him. The lack of full life support that had them all feeling weak and more exhausted than they would have otherwise, but even in optimal conditions, there had been enough battles to make them weary.

He smiled a little. “I’m sure that you would have managed,” he said. “I just sped it up.”

Andy laughed softly. She wasn’t entirely sure of that herself, but she wasn’t going to argue with him. “We can’t stay sitting here forever,” she said. “Some will have to guard engineering while they work, but we should work on getting the others to sickbay. We have a lot of injuries here.”

“Leave as many as you can here,” he said.

She would have said that was obvious, but there was something in the way that he said it that caught her attention. She frowned slightly. “That was already the plan, but what makes you say that?”

Anath leaned his head back against the wall and blew out a hard breath. “I know the Arkana,” he said. “The fact that more came to engineering tells me that they know the state of things. They know that they can’t kill themselves in this nebula, and that the chances of being found by the ESS is as likely as their own people.”

“So what does that mean?”

“They are going to try to destroy the ship,” he said flatly, staring into the darkness of the ceiling.

Oh, was that all... Andy’s head made a dull thud as she dropped it back against the wall beside his. “If they can’t kill themselves, they’ll try to take the whole ship out? Pretty much all or nothing.”

He snorted a laugh. “That’s our way.”

“So, defending engineering is suddenly even more important,” she thought out loud. “It’s the only place that has the power and resources to destroy the Star Chaser from the inside.”

“I figured as much,” he agreed. “And they will too. Every Arkana loose on this ship will be coming here, and the internal sensors aren’t functioning so we have no idea how many more there are.”

“That’s...just great,” she drawled, closing her eyes for a minute and wishing that she had gone into history or art or something. Anything other than enrolling in the ESS Marines when she was sixteen. She could be back on Earth, painting seascapes or reading old texts about the ancient days of Earth cultures.

Wishing got you precisely nowhere, though. Besides, all that sounded quite boring.

“Alright. Well. That’s what we have to do then,” she said. “That means we can’t spare anyone to help people to sickbay, so everyone will just have to hunker down here.” She hated to say that. She hated that that was a decision she had to make, but it was. So she did. Getting the wounded to sickbay would mean nothing if the entire ship was blown up.

She pushed herself back onto her feet. “How are you doing?”

Another weak smile. “Better than I was when I first got out of there,” he said. “We Arkana full-bloods look frail, but we’re surprisingly hearty. Genetic engineering at its finest, yeah?”

Andy laughed softly. “I guess so. Are you able to fight or are you staying here?”

He took a long moment to answer and then stood up slowly. He stretched and then nodded. “I’ll fight,” he declared. “I’m not going to help anyone by sitting there on the floor, myself included. Besides, who’s gonna protect your backside if your big brother isn’t around?” He smirked.

Part of her felt like she should be offended, but another part enjoyed the familiarity. So, she smiled back and shook her head, then turned to the rest.

“Alright, Marines!” she called. “I have it on authority that since their primary objective failed, the Arkana are going to be coming for engineering. Everyone still up and moving is going to come here. Since we lack sensors, we don’t know how many that is or where they’re at now. Their goal has moved from capturing the ship to destroying it outright, and they aren’t stupid. They know that this is the place to do it. Every Marine who can fight is going to man the interior of the engineering bay.

“There are other points of access into the bay, as we know. I’m not sure how our enemy will has learned this, but I’m not going to trust in the hope that they haven’t.”

“Hope is a bad plan, right?” Jade asked lightly.

“Yes, hope is a bad plan,” Andy agreed wryly. “So, we’re going to watch every point of entry until we know the coast is clear. Either that means we’re rescued or the engineers get the sensors working to tell us who is where. So, everyone who is able, move into engineering. We need to move everyone who is injured inside as well. I’m not leaving anyone outside. Be careful but be quick.”

She heard the echoing chorus of “yes, Major” and then stepped back to let people work.

Those uninjured outnumbered those injured, and so the latter were moved to positions of safety in short order. Andy knew that it wasn’t the best idea to move people who were injured, since you may do more harm than good, but leaving them to the mercies of the Arkana in a deserted corridor wasn’t a good option either.

Andy looked at those who remained able to fight: herself, three from Alpha Squad, Anath, and two from Delta. She stationed Anallin with the injured. The Hanaran was probably well enough to fight, but the shoulder was bad. Besides, it would help to have someone with the injured just in case they were targeted by the Arkana.

That left seven people to guard three access points.

“Roxanna, Yalwa, Anath, guard the main entrance. Thomas and Hennessy, watch the tunnel access hatch. Martin, with me. Eyes open and ears sharp. And try not to get in the engineers’ way.”

Chapter 20

The engineers were furiously at work, seemingly everywhere and nowhere at the same time. They completely ignored the Marines with an impressive single-minded focus on the task at hand, pretending the non-engineers in the room were little more than air and dust particles. It was all the better since the Marines wanted to guard them, but did not want to be in the way. Each group knew precisely what their jobs were, and they went about them.

The tension grew all around them, and as Andy watched her specified hatch, she could hear them at work. They were a noisy group, or maybe it was just in an emergency. They shouted across the room at one another, announcing what they saw as well as what they needed or wanted to see. The results of diagnostics. Curses as colorful as any Marine if something didn’t work right, and that times two if it started sparking.

“Do you think they can repair the ship before it dies and takes us with it?” Jade asked quietly, not turning her head to look at the major as she asked it.

“I certainly hope so,” Andy replied honestly. “The ESS trains its engineers pretty well and we’ve got some talented folks down here who know what they’re doing. They’re fighting to keep themselves alive just as much as we are. I know they’ll do their best and if that’s not good enough, there was nothing else that could be done.”

Jade didn’t reply for several moments. “No offense, Major Dolan, but I’m not sure that does anything to make me feel any better.”

Looking at the younger Marine, Andy smiled slightly with a soft laugh. “No offense taken, and I wasn’t trying to make you feel better. I was being honest with you. Platitudes and kind lies are all well and good, and maybe they work well when you’re in a relationship, but that’s not what we have here. We are ESS Marines on an ESS vessel, stranded and breaking down in the middle of a nebula, unsure of who is waiting just outside. The truth is what we need, and that’s what I’m telling you.”

The blonde blew out a breath and then nodded. “Yes, sir,” she said. “You’re right.”

“Of course I’m right,” Andy said wryly. “They didn’t put me in command for nothing.” If she hadn’t had insight into the enemy, she was sure she wouldn’t yet be a major and in command of the 33rd ESS Marine Detachment, though. Maybe she didn’t give herself enough credit. She would probably never know sure. What she did know was that she was a Major and in this position, she was responsible for a lot of lives.

Inwardly, of course, Andy also wanted someone to tell her something, anything, that would make her feel better. Rationally, she knew and believed everything that she had just told her squad-mate, but she was human too.

She wanted good news.

And listening to the curses from the engineers, she was beginning to think she wouldn’t be getting any.

Andy forced herself to stop thinking that way. Cynicism would get her nowhere, and it would bring everyone else with her. She wasn’t an engineer, so there was nothing that she could do about all that. What she could do was be part of the defense and watch the access hatch to make sure the Arkana didn’t get through.

“Do you think they’ll find the other ways in?” Jade piped up again.

“I hope not.”

“I thought we all agreed that hope is a bad plan.”

Andy half-smiled. “I didn’t say it was a plan,” she pointed out. “It’s just my feeling, and hope is a justifiable feeling. I’ve heard it said that if we don’t have hope, we don’t have anything.”

They were quiet again for a while. She could still hear the engineers at work, and the dull murmur of the other Marines. She stole a glance at the wall where the injured were lined up and it didn’t look like any of them had died during the interim, so that was a good thing.

“Then I hope so too,” Jade declared with a nod. “I want to see my sisters again.”

“I want you to see your sisters again too,” Andy said sincerely.

Jade looked at Andy for the first time during the exchange and smiled a little. “My sixteen-year-old sister is a dancer,” she said, “and she’s really good. She’s already been admitted to a prestigious dance academy.”

Andy smiled, this time more than before. It had taken Jade a while to start opening up, and despite the circumstance, Andy was glad for it happening now. “That’s impressive,” she said. “I never had any ability for that kind of thing.”

“You fight really well,” Jade said. At Andy’s uncertain look, she went on. “They aren’t really that different, dancing and hand-to-hand combat, when you think about it. It’s all about footwork, balance, body position.”

“I never thought of it that way,” the major said thoughtfully. “If only we could set it to music.”

Jade laughed softly.

Before either of them could say anything else, one of the engineers shouted. This sound was different than all the others had been, though. It was more exuberant. It sounded almost like a cheer, although the actual words were rather incoherent.

Andy couldn’t help but turn her head back to look toward where they were all working, wondering what he was cheering about. Not that she would understand what she was seeing at the workstations, but maybe he would care to elaborate.

“I’ve managed one of the major reboots and rerouting of power grid four. We’re going to have to go to the physical grid to finish it, but it’s ready to go,” he said to whichever other engineer might have been listening. “I have to stay here to monitor the fluctuations, though. I need someone, anyone, to go do that! And soon, before I lose it again.”

“I’m on it!” another engineer called from the other side of the bay. Andy couldn’t see this one, but she was glad for it. This actually sounded like good news after all. If the ship could get some power back, they could get more lights and better air. Those two things alone would be something of a miracle after walking around in the dim light and thin air.

Andy took a slow breath, turning back toward the hatch she was guarding and let the engineers go about their repair. Her job was to guard them while they did what they needed to do.

She was just beginning to feel almost optimistic when the access hatch began to shake from the inside.

Someone was coming through.

Chapter 21

“Oh, come on,” Andy all but hissed as she brought her weapon up and aimed it at the hatch.

It was a natural bottleneck for anyone coming through there, since only one at a time would be able to come through and, in theory, they would be able to pick them off as they came out and keep a small problem from becoming a bigger problem. However, Andy wasn’t going to count on that, considering how things had been going so far.

The hatched was pulled open by whatever device the Arkana had for it—either taken from one of the Marines or something of their own—and she could see pale hair, but very little of it. It took a moment to realize that the person who had opened the door was now laying down on the floor of the tunnel to minimize the area that could be targeted.

The white shifted and an arm came through. Andy brought up her gun, aiming for the arm and pulling the trigger. Given the narrow target, her shot hit just beside it. She realized then that at the end of the arm was a hand holding a small weapon. Blindly, the arm swung back and forth as it fired.

Andy and Jade both had to dodge out of the way, but they knew they’d have to take the shooter out fast or they would end up damaging engineering even worse than it already was when they were so close to getting it going again.

By the time Andy and Jade righted themselves from their sideways dash, Andy saw that there were already three Arkana on the floor. It boggled her mind that they had gotten through the hatch and down on the ground so fast, and she wondered if they were part snake. Not that the ‘how’ really mattered, because they were there.

“Be careful where you fire,” she said to Jade quickly, bringing her rifle up. She aimed fast and pulled the trigger...

And her gun clicked. Jammed.

She wanted to start shouting and cursing, adding to the cacophony around the room. She knew that Marines were engaging more Arkana in at least one other area, but she didn’t know which one or if it was both. She didn’t have the time to spare to look. She could also hear the engineers still hard at work, undoubtedly trying to keep doing their jobs while not putting themselves in the line of fire.

Knowing her only option was hand-to-hand combat—and wondering why this happened so often—she surged forward to close the distance and keep their energy weapons from having an effective range to shoot from. The Arkana soldier saw her coming and didn’t bother trying to get a shot off and waste that time. He swung his rifle like a club and she ducked underneath it, coming back up with her own rifle in both hands. The long, hard barrel cracked into the Arkana’s chin and he staggered back a step, but kept his balance.

She kept up with him, pushing forward with one end of the rifle while using the other side to stabilize it, swinging it almost like a door into his gut. He wheezed but kept his wits and brought on fist against her extended forearm. Instead of keeping her arm rigid, she let it bend with his hit to lessen the impact. It still hurt and badly, but he didn’t do any serious damage and she was able to take a big step back and get out of his range.

He didn’t give her much time, swinging his rifle overhead like an axe. She brought her own up just in time to catch it before it caught her on the head. Andy felt the reverberation of the contact down her well-bruised arm and hissed with the pain. She tried to set it aside in her mind as she grit her teeth, stuck in a another evenly matched brawl.

Andy knew her strengths and her weaknesses, and she knew that the Arkana had the advantage on her in a straight out strength battle. They were both trained, hardened soldiers and he was winning—ever so slowly—in the pushing contest. She knew that she had to use her other advantages to get one over on him.

She gave him one more hard shove and drove him back slightly, then she let go abruptly and jumped back. Unprepared for the sudden loss of tension, his weight carried him forward and down. Using his off-balance moment in her favor, she swung her own rifle around and cracked it over the back of his head. He dropped the rest of the way to the floor in a small, pale pile.

Heaving a breath as the world tried to spin around her slightly, she turned to view the bay.

Jade had both Arkana on the ground with gunshots and was trying to sniper shot the others around the bay while avoiding the equipment. Andy watched as an engineer was rushing toward a lower tunnel, which was engineering access. She realized that the woman was probably going to the grid.

There was an Arkana soldier just about to grab her. Andy pulled her sidearm and fired quickly, hoping she would be accurate enough to save the engineer. Her shot took the Arkana in the shoulder and spun him around to face her. It hadn’t taken him down, but it gave the engineer enough time to dive into the tunnel and crawl away on her task.

He raised his other arm, the one with the rifle. As he did so, Andy dropped to her knees and took a firing position again. She angled her aim up before he could aim low and got off a second shot, dropping him.

“Major!” Jade called out a warning. A gunshot rang out, but it missed it’s target as an Arkana soldier came rushing at Andy from the side. Andy began to turn to get off another shot, but a white boot came up into her face. Her jaw snapped and she felt a tooth crack, blood filling her mouth as she was thrown onto her back.

The Arkana woman threw herself to the ground, going for Andy with a gleam in the eye that said this was personal.

Fame was a terrible thing. Or perhaps infamy was.

Just barely in time, as her head swam, Andy rolled out of the way and let the enemy soldier slam fists first into the deck plates. Rolling back, she drove her elbow over and down into the pale woman’s back. She cried out and flattened to the ground as Andy hit her again and again. When the woman stayed still long enough, Andy threw herself forward and got to her feet as quickly as her dizziness allowed.

She spat blood from her mouth, and possibly a tooth, as she turned to see the enemy soldier pushing herself up on her arms. Andy, who had kept her weapon in hand like she had been trained, held it on the other woman.

The Arkana looked back over her shoulder and sneered. “You’re nothing more than muddy filth that should be wiped from the universe, half-breed,” she hissed, out of breath. “You may win today, and maybe even tomorrow, but you won’t prevail. We will win the war, no matter what tricks you learn. You will never be anything but a mutant.”

“Maybe so,” Andy said hoarsely, feeling her lip swelling. “I may be that and will always be that. But you won’t win this war. If I have to do it all alone, I’ll make sure of that.”

Jade suddenly appeared and pushed a knee into the enemy soldier’s back. The woman grunted as she was pushed face-first into the floor, her hands and arms forcibly drawn back and bound behind her. She spat and cursed the whole time, but neither Andy nor Jade gave her much mind.

“Starboard hatch secure,” Dan called from the other side of the room.

“Port hatch secure,” Andy called back, if a little feebly.

“Main entrance secure,” Roxanna called.

Andy blew out a breath. “Engineering secure,” she said. “We can’t let our guard down though, people. There may be more and they may be coming.”

There cam the usual “yes, sir” chorus.

Suddenly, the lights came on.

They weren’t at full strength, but there was a lot more than just the flickering emergency lighting. There was a slight hissing from the vents as the life support systems revved up again.

Andy smiled, then stopped because it hurt.

“OORAH!” Jade shouted, surprising everyone with both the loud sound and her exuberance, but no one chastised her for it.

“Oorah,” the Marines echoed.

Chapter 22

The Marines stayed in engineering until they got communications back.

“It’s good to hear your voice, Captain,” Andy said with a half-smile. Her whole body felt like she had been thrown around in a cage fight with a gorilla. She had seen them once in the nature preserve near the children’s home she’d grown up in. They were huge and somehow frightening. Their size and muscle mass was something that imprinted on her mind and that was the beast she felt like she’d gone toe-to-toe with.

She wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for days.

“It’s good to hear your voice as well, Major,” Wallace replied. “We were fortunate to not meet any further enemy top-side.”

“They were all coming down to meet us here.” She couldn’t hide a certain wry sarcasm in her voice, but after what they’d all just been through, she figured she was allowed. “I don’t suppose there’s any news about the cavalry, is there?”

“As a matter of fact there is,” he said. “Once we got communications going again, we received a hail from the ESS Mayweather. They and the Saint Charles are heading our way and are due to arrive in just over an hour. We only have to hold on that long.”

Andy nodded. With life support and the lights back on, an hour didn’t seem so bad. “Do we know if the Arkana are still waiting for us outside?”

She thought she could hear him shake his head. “Sensors are still down,” he said, “and we know they aren’t the type to want to have conversations. We certainly tried often enough early on in this mess.”

Blowing out a breath, Andy nodded to herself. The conversation came to a close and the channel chirped closed.

“We need to get the injured to sickbay,” she declared. “Thomas, Hennessey, and Yalwa help the others get there. Anallin, you go with them and get that shoulder looked at. We don’t need infection. Roxanna, Martin and I will remain here. I think the worst is already passed. Anath, you should go with them.”

Her brother came around to where she stood. “I’ll stay with you until we’re sure that it’s clear,” he said with a tired smile.

She looked him up and down. “You’re an idiot,” she declared, but she couldn’t help the smile that curved half of her mouth.

“I must get that from my mother’s side then,” he said.

It took her a moment, but then she realized he was complimenting her and she couldn’t help but smile again. It was a tired expression, but she appreciated it.

* * *

When the Mayweather and Saint Charles arrived, the Arkana were gone. It was unclear if they had left immediately or were scared off by the new ships. Either way, they were gone and the two ESS ships got the Star Chaser out of the nebula.

The propulsion systems were shot, and the Saint Charles had to tow them to the nearest starbase, which wasn’t the one they had originally set out for.

“We’re going to have to expand sickbay,” Andy declared, blowing out a breath as she stood with her arms crossed next to the chief medical officer.

He looked up from his old-fashioned notebook and pen. She told him that his data-tablets were likely working again, but he said he didn’t want to risk it. “I certainly wouldn’t mind an expansion, since your Marines, Major, have a habit of clogging up my space.” He smiled as he said it, however, and she knew it was without rancor.

She shook her head. “Doctor, I would gladly keep all of my people out of here for anything but a social call.”

The Selerid doctor patted her on the shoulder and then moved back among his patients, many of whom were indeed from the thirty-third. There were plenty of others, too. She saw the engineers that had been trapped in the access tunnels. They were both still alive, although the man just barely so. Krall was in a medical coma, but expected to make it.

The medical systems were still in various states of functionality, but Martin was a good doctor and everyone was getting taken care of, one way or another.

Her brother came up beside her. He looked better than he had earlier, though still tired. They were all tired.

“Do you think they attacked us because they knew where we were headed?” she asked him the questions that had been on her mind for a while. She hadn’t wanted to broach it with the main staff yet. She wanted his Arkana opinion first.

“It’s possible,” he said. “They came in force. Three ships to take on one is a little excessive even for them. On the other hand, it may have been circumstance. After the first attack, it could have just been nearby ships crashing the party.”

She nodded slowly. She had thought of that too. “If they did know, then we have bigger problems. Such as...how did they find out?” Andy glanced at him, trying to keep the concern from her eyes and unsure of how successful she was. “But I doubt we’ll ever find out if they knew. I imagine the prisoners have all successfully offed themselves, now that we’re out of the nebula.”

Anath sighed. “I imagine you’re right.” He rolled his shoulders. “Your captain has given me permission to start sleeping in a real room. I’m going to find one that isn’t blown apart and get some rest.” He stood next to her for a moment and then hugged her.

She stiffened with surprise for a moment, then hugged him back.

He left without saying anything else, and she moved deeper into sickbay. On the other side, Anallin was sitting on the floor. All the beds were taken up and the Hanaran’s injury didn’t need a bed, or so it refused to accept anyone saying otherwise. Anallin’s shoulder had been treated with a disinfecting sealant and would heal, given time. Jade, Dan, and Roxanna were sitting nearby, on the floor and leaning up against the wall. It warmed her to see them all like that, and all still alive.

Moving closer, she dropped herself to the floor next to Roxanna.

“You all did great work,” she told them. “No matter how bad the circumstances get, you rise above it. I couldn’t be prouder.”

“I think her brain is still feeling the effects of the thin air,” Dan commented with a smirk.

“Shut up, Corporal,” she returned, but without any menace or command.

She let her head lean back against the wall, then closed her eyes and sighed.

The Star Chaser was going to be in dock for repairs for a while, and someone else would be getting the ambassador to the meeting. There was still plenty to do, though, and even more to think about. Had the Arkana known about their mission, or had they just gotten lucky? If they had known, how? Could they intercept outside communication? Or worse, did they have a spy? It wasn’t beyond possibility that there could be other half-breeds like herself who maybe hadn’t allied with the ESS like she had. They could hide among them, and work for the Arkana half of her heritage.

It also didn’t escape her that someone could wonder if that spy was her.

* * *

THANK YOU

Thank you so much for reading Nebula, the fourth book in the ESS Space Marines series. I am so excited you took the chance to read it and I really hope you liked it. If you could leave a review for me, that would be awesome because it helps me tell others about my books.

If you want to be the first to hear about new releases and special offers, be sure to sign up for our Science Fiction Newsletter. We have several fun things planned that will only be available to newsletter subscribers and can’t wait to share those with you too. To start with, you will get a free short story from the Niakrim War series. It tells the story of Cyrus Jones, one of the main characters in the series, and how he came to be part cyborg. All the information is on the next page.

I have also included a preview of Mimic and the Space Engineer which is the first book in the Space Shifter Chronicles. After you read the preview, you can download the book on Amazon.

- Get Mimic and the Space Engineer here: amazon.com/dp/B075FKW915/

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Preview: Mimic and the Space Engineer

I stared at the little creature intently, noting its movements and habits. As soon as I had arrived in my room, it had scurried off my shoulder and under my standard-issue cot. And then into my shoes. And then out of my shoes and into my own personal scrap bin. I had never thought that I would have to alien-proof my quarters, but I was beginning to think it might be necessary.

“Higgens!” Dang it, I had still forgotten to turn my comm down. It was obnoxiously loud in my tiny space and my new guest let out a squeal of panic. “Gonzales has some expired blaster cores that need to be disposed of. We just found the case that was lost on the load up. Some idiot labeled it as stims! Can you believe that?”

“Have them meet me at the lift on their floor. I’ll make sure to have the proper containment unit.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll deliver the message. Be there in ten.”

At first, it had been strange to me that I only corresponded with the head of crew, Francis Giomatti. Now, I was grateful for it. The thought of having all twenty members of the crew bothering me with every little thing that went wrong—and probably wasn’t even in my job description—made my stomach twist.

“Alright, so, I gotta go, but I’ll be right back in less than half an ho—” I trailed off as I realized I couldn’t see my new alien friend anywhere. “Um, hello? Little fella?” I walked toward my worktable, looking everywhere for the obsidian guy.

Worry started to prick at me but that quickly disappeared when I realized something had changed on my desk.

“Since when do I have two water bottles?” I murmured to myself, reaching for one.

Only that same water bottle exploded into a dark goop in my hand, then it solidified into the alien.

I screamed again—I really needed to stop doing that before I blew a vocal cord—but this time, I managed not to throw my friend into a wall. “D-d-did you just…?”

The thing wiggled, sticking two of its spikes up like little waving arms and turning a gradient of grey and deep blue.

“Y-you can shapeshift?” I said breathlessly, my mind thoroughly rocked. “You’re like uh…uh, mimic!”

It trilled, then crawled up my hand once more to sit on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, lad, but you’ve got to stay here.”

I went to pick him up, but he scurried into my open collar and curled up along the neckline of my work tank underneath. “You know what, that’ll work. If you can hear me, just stay in there.”

It trilled again and I grabbed my power source containment case then headed out. I had to admit, my heart had never pounded so hard on my way to a simple energy-disposal pickup, but I was pretty sure I didn’t want my crewmates to know that I had picked up a bit of a straggler. I knew the regulations well enough, and that would mean the spacing of an unknown danger. I didn’t want my new sidekick to be hurtled out into the void of space when we were just getting to know each other.

There was also that thing about it being a species I had never heard of and just learning that it could shapeshift. Which I was pretty sure was impossible.

The lift doors opened and my heart spiked when I saw Gonzales standing there, half a dozen blaster coils in her hands. She was an impossibly tall woman, and had these dark eyes that just seemed to look through everything. From what little I knew, she was a mix of Mexican and Polynesian, which apparently explained her impressive height of six-foot-six. Granted, I knew almost nothing about Earth culture, considering I had been born on a colony and lived on ships and stations my entire life.

“Oh, hello there!” she said, professionally pleasant.

“Hi! I hear you have some cores for me?”

“Indeed, I do!” she said, beaming and handing them over. I went about putting them into the case, only to feel my little hitchhiker pull against my shirt. Quickly, I pressed it flat with my hand and let out a pathetic cough to cover the noise.

“You okay there?”

“Fine! Everything is fine!” I chirped, hastily finishing up with the cores and holding the case flat to my chest. “I’ll make sure these are taken care of!”

With that, I turned right on my heel and rushed back into the elevator. My mimic friend was going crazy, tickling at my collar and trying to crawl directly out of the front of my shirt.

“Relax, buddy. We just gotta get to my room.”

It didn’t listen. Granted, it probably didn’t understand me. It wasn’t like everyone in space automatically spoke English. By the time I reached my room, I was a bit of a mess, and I set the container down and finally freed the mimic from within my shirt.

“Geez, little dude, what is your problem?”

It practically erupted from me and ran over to the case, which it jumped up and down on several times.

“What? You want to see the cores? I guess if you’re that enthusiastic about it.” Leave it to me to travel all of space to find some sort of strange, shapeshifting alien who was some sort of blaster core aficionado. With a shrug, I opened up the slotted, anti-rad case.

Everything seemed to happen at once. The mimic jumped down it, spreading itself flat in a matter of seconds. It glowed vibrantly for a moment, before suddenly expanding into a bubbling, boiling heap.

Once more I found myself leaping back in horror. Had I just killed my friend? What if it was the last of its species? Was I a murderer?!

I didn’t get a direct answer, but the bubbling stopped, and my friend reassembled itself, chirping quite happily.

….and about a foot bigger than it was before.

“Oh my…” I murmured, once again finding myself in utter shock by this strange creature. “You just…” I took a breath. “You just ate my blaster cores!”

It chirped again, grey and light pink rippling through its body. It had just gone from palm-sized to small dog in seconds, but it seemed nonplussed by the transition.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to dispose of them safely.”

I sat down on my cot, the whole day catching up to me. In just a few hours I had made a new friend that just so happened to be an unidentified species, found out it could shapeshift, and devoured things that had nuclear energy in them which would then result in a rapid growth spurt.

The mimic… Actually, that wasn’t a half-bad name for it. Mimic.

Anyway, Mimic didn’t seem to pick up on my anxiety and nestled up to my side, trilling with a spacy, fragmented sound that reminded me so much of a cat’s purr. And I couldn’t help but think if our first day was this hectic, that day two was going to be one heck of a wringer.

* * *

Read the rest of the story here:

amazon.com/dp/B075FKW915/