She had never been in this much agony in her life. Meisha awoke, propped up against a cold steel floor in some vast hallway. With each ragged breath she took, sharp pain spread through her chest and throat. The young captain whimpered, which was a mistake as even making the smallest noise hurt. She opened her eyes while blinking back tears, her vision blurry and disoriented. Something red and gray on the edge of her vision was moving, and as it got closer, she could finally make out what it was.

  A pale woman was leaning over her, somewhat shadowed by the gas giant’s orange clouds floating past outside the windows of the room they were in. The woman had the strangest pair of eyes she had seen. An orange ring separated the pupil from the stormy gray iris. The eyes stared back into Meisha’s, concern clearly showing.

  Meisha blinked, trying to clear her head and focus on the rest of whoever was looking at her. The rest of the woman was as unique as her eyes. She wore a silver space helmet with its visor retracted, revealing only an attractive face. Blinking again, Meisha could see that the woman wore a red dress, seeming to more fit a socialite than a miner. Underneath that, the woman had a lightly armored spacesuit on, with an old fashioned gun holster on one hip and a long, strange sheathe on the other. By far this was the most interesting, mismatched individual that Meisha had seen. As she stared up at the woman’s face, the stranger smiled.

  "You’re actually alive… I had my doubts, to be honest. You sucked in quite a bit of toxic gas.” The woman glanced away for a moment, studying her surroundings. She looked back at the injured captain. “You’re lucky I was in the area. Even with my help, I thought it would be too late for you.”

  Meisha tried to speak, but the woman shook her head. " You have an oxygen mask on, won't be able to speak until I finish prepping this disinfectant." She flicked an inhaler like device that she held in one hand. "That hot gas burned the hell out of your face and lungs, and there's enough bacteria in the air here to give you a very serious infection. This inhaler is standard issue medical mining equipment. It'll give your throat and lungs a bit of a protective coat and relieve some of that pain. It’ll also give you an adrenaline spike; help wake you up a bit. I think it's aloe based?" She paused as if lost in thought. "I hope you aren't allergic, that would be embarrassing."

  The woman spoke with a strange accent, one Meisha hadn't heard before. The captain gave the smallest shake of her head, and the woman clapped her hands together. "No? Good! That'll make this so much easier. For me, not for you. This is probably going to hurt. I'm going to take your mask off and hold this up, and I need you to bite it and breathe deeply, no matter how bad it hurts. If you take in any air beforehand, it could kill you. Understand?"

  Meisha gave a nod, and the woman unhooked her oxygen mask, quickly substituting it with the inhaler. Meisha took in a deep breath, and fought against screaming in pain as her throat and lungs felt like they were being lit on fire. "Again." The woman ordered. The captain breathed in again, blinking back tears and balling her fists. She kept breathing, and the pain eventually started to fade, going from a fierce burning to just a dull echo. After what seemed like hours of agony, the woman seemed satisfied and removed the inhaler, crouching next to the young captain. "See, it wasn't that bad!"

  Meisha groaned and leaned her head against the wall she had been propped up against. "That was the most painful thing I've ever felt in my life." She said, her voice hoarse.

  "Well most people don't have their insides scorched to hell, but you're a special case. Regardless, you're alive! And, for the moment, safe enough to move around without risk of infection. That dose should last for a couple hours. If we can't hook you back up on pure oxygen by then, we'll need to find another."

  Meisha gave a nod, looking around the room, feeling a fog lift off her brain. "I’m Captain Meisha Al-Jihlani of the UCDF Dauntless Midnight…” She fumbled around her scorched armor to display her ID. “Where am I? And who are you?" She paused for a moment, her eyes widening. "My crew, where are they? What happened?"

  "Ah this is the part I wasn't looking forward to." The woman murmured. She drummed her fingers against her hip for a moment, as if thinking of what to say. "I guess I'll answer the easy question first. We're on Hanaloi station, the gas mining colony on the hot Jupiter gas giant Hanaloi. My name is Fubuki. I'm the CEO of a starship scrapping company. I was here to work out a sale, but as you can probably guess, that didn't happen." She looked around at the empty room, and then back at Meisha. "As for your crew, this is where things become a bit weird. I saw your ship take that plasma bolas mine head on; you never had a chance."

  "I've never seen a weapon like that before. I didn't even know they existed." Meisha murmured. "We couldn't evade it… it cut right through us."

  Fubuki's eyes darkened, a well concealed cloud of rage shadowing her face. "You haven't seen anything like it before because they're outlawed. Illegal."

  "Illegal? But who-"

  "Regardless." Fubuki continued, cutting Meisha off. "I've been here for a few days, trying to find a way off. I have no idea where the station citizens are; the place was empty when I got here. Your first ship landed a few hours ago to the north; I think they landed fine but radios haven't been working. I was heading there when your ship was destroyed. Saw you fly out, your ship split in two. And then…" she paused, looking contemplative. "The station jumped."

  Meisha blinked. "The station… jumped."

  "Yes."

  "Jumped how?"

  Fubuki shrugged, an embarrassed smile on her face. "I'm not quite sure. It's like spacetime changed around us; like we're in our own little bubble of gravity and matter. One moment you and your ship were falling away from the station to the east, and the next you were right above me. Your ship crashed on the eastern side and you. " the woman stifled a quiet laugh. "You landed in a moisture purification pool. Guess the air in your armor caused you to float, because I found you on your back, face up. You've got to be the luckiest woman I've ever met!"

  "I don't feel too lucky." Meisha coughed, wincing.

  "Well as long as that inhaler coating holds, you won't have to worry about infection!" Fubuki said cheerfully. "So what's your plan? Any idea on how to get off this station?"

  Meisha struggled to her feet, and steadied herself with some help from Fubuki. "I need to get to the crash site and see if my troopers are ok. Same for the landing site up north. We squeeze everyone we can into the transport that landed and leave this cursed station." She paused. "We'll have to figure out how to avoid that bolas weapon though, or we'll be just as dead on the way up as we were on the way down."

  "Well I happen to know a gal who can evade those bolas mines." Fubuki said, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm not military, but I've been flying and fighting for years. I've flown through fields of those bolas mines before; I can pilot you and your guys out of here."

  Meisha raised an eyebrow. "You know how to handle a Phoenix class troop transport?"

  "Can't do any worse than your pilots did at any rate!"

  Meisha ignored the playful teasing and mulled over the idea. "I guess I don't have much of a choice. If you can fly my men and I out of here, then I'm all for it. Any ideas on how we can move to the crash site?"

  "Actually, yes." The woman started pacing, her dress flowing behind her and her armor clanking with each step. "The trams!" She exclaimed with a snap of her fingers. "The system is automatic on these sorts of stations, it should be running for as long as we have power."

  "Alright. Let's go."

  Fubuki frowned. "Are you sure you're ok, captain? You're pretty cooked, both inside and out. Are you sure you don't want to rest more, or need something to drink?"

  "I'm hurt like hell." Meisha growled. "But waiting around isn't going to help anything. I messed up and got my men into this mess. It's up to me to get them out. I need to know if they're ok. If they aren't…" she trailed off, leaving a heavy silence between the two strangers. Fubuki gave a single nod, as if thinking to herself.

  "Alright then. The tram system isn't far off. Right this way!" She said, spinning and walking into the hall.

  Even though it was empty, Hanaloi station wasn't quiet. The winds from the gas giant's atmosphere constantly buffeted the station, causing it to creak and moan like no starship ever would. While the inside seemed nice enough; almost akin to being in a small city, Meisha had decided she would have never wanted to live here.

  Night had begun to set on this side of the gas giant, and the station's lights clicked on as the sky around them grew darker. Throughout this, Meisha and Fubuki found no trace of the colonists whatsoever. Even Fubuki's carefree attitude had faded into a reserved alertness. The silence between the two strangers was filled by the station's groaning, and the air heavy with tension. Meisha couldn't take it.

  "I have a few questions." She blurted out. Fubuki glanced over her shoulder, looking back at her.

  "Questions? I have a few too. We won't find the answers by chit chatting about them though."

  Meisha cleared her throat and winced. "I mean about you."

  "Why captain?" Fubuki exclaimed with a glint of playfulness. "Surely there will be enough time for that later?"

  "Let's try this. I have questions and I want answers. " Meisha growled. "Thanks for saving my life but the more we walk, the more I realize I don't know you and I don't trust you. And now that I've had some time to think, things don't seem right."

  Fubuki stared at her for a long time, the playfulness she had been showing replaced with a cold calculated look. "Alright captain, ask away."

  "When we arrived in the system, the first thing we did was check out the starshot. Your ship was in the hangar."

  "Yes, it's my own specific design."

  "You landed in the starshot, somehow managed to avoid haywire security bots, who referred to you as a dragon, and locked them in the hangar."

  "Yes."

  "Then you took the starshot's transport craft instead of your own ship, where you came here and landed to find not a single person, body, or sign of a fight."

  "The Starshot's transport is bigger than my ship. It's made for hauling teams of people, while mine is just made for me to fly around to different sales. I was thinking that if something bad had happened, it would be better to evacuate. As for Hanaloi station, yes I've searched around for a few days, but this place is huge. Just because I haven't found anything doesn't mean that nothing is to be found. This is a classic case of piracy and…"

  Meisha's eyes narrowed. "It's not piracy and I think you and I both know that. There's still valuable machinery and scrap all over this place, and it doesn't look like anything has been taken or salvaged. Pirates also tend to leave the colonists alive and around so they can return and hit again."

  "Alright." Fubuki said. "Slavers then. Colony like this is an easy target."

  "Slavers took every last body, and the colonists didn't put up a fight at all? I very much doubt that."

  "It's the most plausible theory, captain."

  "Look." Meisha breathed. "Something is very very wrong here. I can feel it and I think you can too."

  Fubuki's face softened. "Meisha, you've been nearly killed and are in a great deal of pain. You're in a strange place with a stranger and the people you care about might be hurt or dead. Of course something feels wrong." She grabbed the captain's shoulder. "You can rely on me, ok?" She clapped her hands together. "Let me tell you what I know. I know that you're the transport captain who stopped that pirate raid on that colony a while back. Did what an entire battlegroup couldn't do with a transport ship. So the fact that you're here with actual troops means that you're no longer captaining a transport, but at least a multistrike vessel. Which is strange because the experience and training required for a transport is vastly different than a multi strike ship. Which means you're way out of your element."

  "I…"

  "There's no shame in that." Fubuki continued. "If that's how they promoted you, that's all there is to it. But it means that you aren't at all used to these sorts of situations. You're injured, jumpy and nervous. A bad combination, wouldn't you agree?"

  "I suppose."

  "So I have every right to not trust your judgment or stability at the moment. You could snap under the stress and pressure and lose it. There was a sole survivor on the starshot that cracked." Fubuki paused. "Judging by the super guilty expression on your face, you met him and it didn't end well."

  "I didn't want…"

  "You see what I'm getting at." Fubuki said pointedly. "We’re stuck in this mess together. Focus on getting away from this place and figuring out what happened. There will be plenty of time for you to grill me later!" Meisha blinked a few times, choosing to ignore the obvious joke that could be made. Fubuki gave the young captain a sympathetic smile. "Not much further to the tram station. Should be a short ride after that then just follow the smoke!"

  Meisha closed her eyes and nodded. "Alright. Yeah, let's keep moving."

  The duo set off again, quietly walking through vast empty corridors. It didn't take long for the tram station to appear; an immense grouping of stairs, escalators and elevators all in the center of the station district surrounded by timetables and small food dispensers. Fubuki clapped her hands once and smiled. "And we're here! Power is still on so that's fantastic for us!" She hesitated and then frowned. "The bulkheads are sealed. It's in lockdown."

  "Ok, so how do we lift the lockdown?"

  "It's not that easy." Fubuki muttered, pacing back and forth. "The trams are the central method of transport for stations like this. If you need to go anywhere, you take the tram." She paused for a moment. "I mean you could also take the superhighways, but most people feel more safe in the tram instead of driving across the station's surface in plastic pipes. The only time the tram locks down is if there's a catastrophic failure, like a fire or explosion or… a loss of atmosphere." The woman's eyes widened and she held up a single finger.

  "What?" Meisha asked, her hand drifting towards her sidearm.

  "Do you hear that?"

  Meisha concentrated, but could only hear the station's groaning as it fought against Hanaloi's winds. "What am I listening for? You have to be more specific."

  "Of course, I always need to be more specific with you people"

  "What a minute, what do you mean 'you people'?"

  "The air pumps!" Fubuki exclaimed. "Listen for the air pumps.

  Meisha listened again. "You're right! I hear absolutely nothing!" She said sarcastically. "Fubuki I'm not sure…"

  "They aren't running. The air pumps." Fubuki interrupted. "The tram tube needs to be pressurized and full of atmosphere. This close to a major platform we should be able to hear them running. Hell we should be able to feel them vibrating under our feet. I don't hear or feel anything."

  The young captain paused, realizing that Fubuki was right. "So the tram tubes must have had a loss of atmosphere at some point, either by malfunction or… by sabotage." Her eyes widened, panic beginning to rise in her. "Fubuki, that's where they are."

  "Who?" Meisha took off, half running, half limping in the direction of the security station, with Fubuki in tow. "Captain, where who is?"

  "Everyone." Meisha whispered, reaching the security station's door. She gave it a tug, and looked back at Fubuki as it opened. "Door's not locked. You'd think the security door would be locked." She ducked into the room, her eyes scanning the screens that covered the wall in front of her. To the side was a weapons locker, completely empty. "There has to be some sort of camera system." she muttered. "Ah, Drone system, here we go."

  Fubuki hovered over her shoulder as Meisha took a hold of the drone's controls. A small screen came to life, showing the drone's diagnostics scrolling past, too fast to read. Its camera flickered on. The video feed was pitch black. Fubuki leaned in, reading some of the scrolling data on the top of the feed.

  "Drone's detecting a lot of carbon dioxide and some trace amounts of nitrogen in there. No oxygen… that can't be good." She paused for a moment. "What's wrong with the camera? It's not broken, is it?"

  Meisha shook her head. "No, I haven't moved it from its housing yet. I'm trying to find… aha!" She thumbed a switch, and the feed lit up as two high-powered beams of light illuminated the drone's multiple camera angles. Meisha pushed its control joystick forwards, and the drone hovered out of its housing, its propellers the only sound picked up by its microphone. After a moment, it dropped into the tram station. As it neared the floor, the cameras focused as the light painted its surroundings. Blood drained from Meisha's face. Fubuki gasped in quiet shock.

  "It's a massacre." She whispered, as if the words themself were the cause of the unspeakable actions that had led to the image they were both staring at. The station was packed full of bodies. Young and old, men and women, people of all colors were laying on the ground. Some had their eyes closed, others open. Some seemed to have tried clawing at the doors, others

  leaned against walls in silent acceptance. There was no doubt about it though: all were dead.

  "Why?" Fubuki asked, a quiet fury starting to rise in her tone. "Why seal them in? They were just people."

  Even after seeing the mangled bodies on the Starshot, Meisha's brain couldn't comprehend the scale of death that lay in the tram tunnel. She leaned back in the chair, staring. Fubuki was shaking next to her, knuckling white and clenched fury on her face. Meisha couldn't bring herself to feel that anger. Or sadness. Or… anything. 'That's probably a red flag,' a small voice in the back of her mind said. Realizing she had been holding her breath, the captain let out a long shaky breath and thought about why someone would choose this way to kill a city.

  "It's easy." She muttered.

  "What?"

  "It's why whoever did this put them in the trams. It's easy. The trams have to have air pumped into the tunnels. If you want to eliminate a bunch of people quickly, lock them in a room and leave them. They'd run out of something. As for why kill them, convenience maybe?" Meisha shrugged. "I only know two things. Pirates didn't do this and you're hiding something."

  Fubuki stared at her, a hardness in her expression that was devoid of the friendliness that had been there before. "You don't think I had anything to do with this, do you?"

  "I barely know you. You say you've been on the station for a few days but you never thought to try the trams until now? Doesn't make any sense. Also, why are you angry?"

  "What? What do you mean?"

  Meisha nodded to the video feed. "I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this. I can't even muster up the energy to be angry. Or sad. It's just… death. It's like this isn't real."

  Fubuki's face softened, and the hardness was replaced with a worried look. "I think you're in worse shape than I thought, captain. That sounds like Shock… I'm sorry, I didn't even consider that." She pursed her lips. "I know you still don't trust me and that's fair, but I need you to. I do have your best interests in mind, and I did not have a hand in this." She said, her voice lowering to a growl.

  Meisha nodded once, leaning back in the chair again. She was tired. She could close her eyes and go to sleep here in this room, and never wake up and deal with the images in front of her, or the fates of her troops. It was an enticing thought. "So what now?" She murmured, blinking a few times to keep herself awake.

  "Well." Fubuki sighed. "The trams are obviously a no-go, and you’re in no condition to walk for miles and miles. We’ll have to try the Superhighways. Hopefully the mag tracks there still have power. We should be able to override the automated traffic system and push our way through.” She looked worryingly at Meisha’s fluttering eyelids. “The adrenaline boost from the inhaler must be wearing off. Hold on.”

  “ I won’t go anywhere.” Meisha murmured as she closed her eyes. Fubuki left the security booth, her presence being replaced with the quiet moaning of the station. It sounded less like wind now; more as if the station was crying out for its lost population, she thought. Her mind drifted to the people in the tram tube. What would it have been like to be locked in there? To be one of the last survivors, knowing that there wasn’t an escape? Watching the people you loved die? She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, feeling a wetness on her cheeks. Fubuki had quietly returned and was watching her, another inhaler in her hand.

  “Are you ok, Meisha?”

  “Just some condensation or something.” She muttered, wiping her eyes and sitting up. It was good that she had cried, Meisha thought to herself, even if it was just a little bit. She was still herself, just exhausted and in pain, pushed to the end of her limits. "I'm not broken yet." She muttered.

  Fubuki knelt next to her chair, and pushed the inhaler into her hand. "This one's full. It should last you a few hours." Her voice was soft, almost pitiful. Meisha's face hardened and she gripped the inhaler, breathing deeply and gripping the arm of the chair as an outlet for the pain. As her mind began to sharpen again, so did her resolve.

  "If we have to take the superhighways, I'll need a new suit." She grunted, standing up. "This one is punctured to all hell. If those tubes are damaged and we have to hoof it, I need to be able to breathe."

  "Good point. There should be some exostation suits in the central security hub for the tram station."

  "The central security hub?"

  "It's like this booth. But bigger. It should have the security suits. They're not much more than your standard environment suit, but they do have a tad bit more armor." Fubuki's eyes lit up. "Come to think of it, that's the security hub for the local superhighway access as well. It runs the transportation for this district! We can turn off the automatic traffic controller and be on our way!"

  Meisha took one last look back to the camera feed of the tram tunnel, and shuddered. "Well there's no use staying here then. Let's start moving while I still have the energy."

  Finding the security hub and its armor and systems ended up being mundane, much to Meisha's gratitude. Her new armor was lighter and didn't fit quite as well as her older set, but it was functioning and able to actually hold oxygen. It also had some override functions on station systems, and the duo were able to bypass the small fee required to rent a magcar for the superhighway. Meisha found the word car a weird way to describe the vehicle; it was a large pod with two doors and no windows. It reminded her of a big rounded bullet with some magnetic field generators sticking out its sides. Fubuki had strapped herself into the magcar's driver's seat, and waited expectantly as Meisha stared at the vehicle. "First time in a magcar?" She inquired, a hint of teasing in her voice.

  “I grew up on Earth.” Meisha admitted. “Cities there are too big for magcar systems, we use the skylanes instead.”

  “Ahh the flying cars, how fancy. They do tend to look better than the magcars. This won’t bite though, the basics are similar. Instead of a set skylane, it rides on a magnetized rail through a tube system that sits on the surface of the station. They’re generally speed limited and the automatic system makes sure they don’t crash.”

  Meisha blinked. “But we turned that off.”

  “Exactly!” Fubuki said cheerily. “We’ll be redlining the entire way there.” She looked over at Meisha’s hesitant face and rolled her eyes. “Believe me, Captain. We’ll be ok. Come on, we’re wasting time.”

  Meisha did what she was told, pulling the door down until it clicked and leaning back into the seat. The magcar’s interior lights dimmed with the sealing of the doors, and screens lit up showing camera views of the front and sides. It lurched forward with a sort of awkwardness, before the magcar depot’s hatch slid open. The ride smoothed as the magcar was pushed onto the superhighway’s magnetic railing. They rode out of the artificial station light and back into the orange hue of the gas giant’s atmosphere, clear plastic tubing protecting the magnetic track they rode on. Meisha felt like a toy car on a track, and the feeling made her uneasy. “I understand why people prefer the trams.” She muttered.

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  “I don’t know, I always kind of enjoy this.” Fubuki admitted with a smile. They were moving fast now, gliding along the rails past towers and antenna on the station’s surface. “It's much more freeing than the trams, and it has a great view. See, look.” She pointed at two plumes of black smoke on their left. “That's where your transport crashed. At this speed, I’d guess we’re maybe 15 minutes away?”

  Meisha nodded, both fear and relief settling into the pit of her stomach. Whatever happened to Gabriels, Lupus, Donovan, Reiya and the others, she would know soon. For better or for worse, she would know. She leaned against the side of the magcar and looked out its side viewscreen, watching the landscape of the station surface zip past as the orange sunlight glinted off it. It was getting darker out, she realized. Must be almost to the planet’s night cycle. She wondered if it would last longer or shorter than Earth’s cycle, and was lost in that thought when something in the back of her mind screamed danger. “Stop the pod.” She ordered.

  Fubuki turned to look at her, startled by the sudden intensity in the captain’s voice. “Why? What's wrong?”

  “Just do it.”

  The magcar slid to a halt as Meisha stared out the viewscreen. She had seen something wrong; something that wasn’t supposed to be there. As she scanned the station’s horizon, it happened again. A blue light shooting up from below the station, turning, flying low right at them. It was followed by another, much brighter light. Her eyes could make out the first one as it got closer, though it wasn’t anything she had seen before. It was a ship moving fast, its wings and weapons like that of an insect. Antennae bristled around it, and it grew closer and closer at an alarming speed. The other two lights were clearer now as well; another insect-like ship, followed by a much larger and more brick-like craft. The ships were foreign to her, but their formation and profiles weren’t. “Two interceptors and a transport.” She said, looking back at Fubuki. Fubuki’s eyes stared hard at the ship and she didn’t meet Meisha’s gaze.

  “Have you ever seen ships like that before?”

  “No.” Meisha admitted. “I have no idea what they are, I’ve never seen that design. But the profiles are similar to Hellcats and Phoenixes. I’m guessing they serve the same role, which begs the question: who the hell are they?”

  Fubuki pursed her lips. “I’m more worried about whether they've spotted us at all.”

  They both waited with breath abated as the trio of strange ships bore down on them. Meisha let out an audible breath as the ships thundered over them, shaking the magnetic rail with the power of their engines. The relief lasted only a moment as she realized where they were heading. “The wreckage!” She gasped.

  “Hold on.” Fubuki growled as she pushed the magcar forwards again. It shot off like a bullet; the sudden increase in momentum pushing Meisha into the seat even more. “We can’t beat them there, those crafts are too quick.”

  “They’re smart soldiers. If anyone survived, they wouldn’t have stayed at the crash scene.”

  Fubuki blinked, a look of confusion on her face. “This whole time We’ve been heading there and you think your troops aren’t even there?”

  “Not directly at the crash site, no.” Meisha admitted. “They know we were attacked. That site is a big signal for whoever attacked us. Probably those guys.” She said, nodding at the strange ships in the distance. “So the smart thing to do is to pull the survivors and what gear you can away and observe the site. That's hard to do on a station like this though; not many good places to hide and watch.” She turned and looked at Fubuki. “How long has it been since they crashed?”

  “Maybe five hours? Not terribly long.”

  “Time’s not on their side then.” Meisha thought for a moment. If she were Gabriels, or Lupus, or any of her troops, where would the best place to hide be? “What district is over there?”

  “If I remember my last visit here, it's entertainment. Movie theaters, restaurants, casinos… you name it.”

  Meisha thought for a moment, and decided on a conclusion. “I’d go to one of the casinos. Lots of cover, elevation, and vaults. That's where they’ll be. The question is, which one?”

  Fubuki glanced over at her and reached past her, tapping one of the view screens. A menu pulled up cheerfully advertising the approaching district and all it had to offer. Meisha blinked and began scrolling through the maps and information available. After a moment, she let out a small sharp laugh. “I know where they are. The Midnight Luxe.”

  “I remember that one. It's huge, has a balcony as well that looks over the biggest street in the district.” Fubuki pursed her lips in thought. “Depending on where your ship crashed though, your guys are gonna be split up.”

  “This magcar have a local radio reception?”

  Fubuki shrugged. “Yeah I assume so. Here, let me-” She fiddled around with some controls, and static filled the cabin. “There’s your radio.”

  Meisha started flipping through frequencies. “They’re jamming communications from orbit.” She explained. “I couldn’t receive anything with the ship-based Qcomms. But I’m wondering if they bothered to jam local broadcasts and networks?”

  “Why would your troops be broadcasting on the local network? Don’t they have radios?”

  “Well, yeah.” Meisha said a bit sheepishly. “Each suit has its own radio, but it's limited and on a closed network. We did have some more capable long range units but we, eh, used them.”

  “Used them?”

  “We cannibalized them for wiring to make an improvised EMP blast to destroy those security bots on the starshot and take out a nuke.”

  Fubuki stared at her like what she had said was insanity. Meisha supposed it was, for someone who hadn’t lived it. It did sound far fetched and wild. Meisha wondered if the Admiralty would believe that detail in her report.

  “What sort of woman are you?” Fubuki asked incredulously.

  “A very unlucky one.”

  “Or.” Fubuki said. “A very lucky one indeed.” She looked ahead again and slowed down the magcar, the station’s doors sliding open. The magcar slid out of the fading daylight and back into the artificial light of another station depot, though this one was far more decorated. Neon lights painted every shadow of the area, and advertisements still looped on screens and projections, hoping to sell to a population no longer present. The two women got out of the magcar and moved out of the depot, checking the hallway before moving low and fast into the streets of the entertainment district. “The Midnight Luxe is down the end of this boulevard.” Fubuki said, pulling out her revolver and leaning around the corner. Meisha enhanced her suit camera’s view and stared in that direction.

  Sure enough, the Midnight Luxe sat like a queen surrounded by attendees; its gold and purple lights flashing, promising fortune and a change of life. Around it were smaller restaurants, hotels and similar buildings, all with the intent of routing traffic to the Luxe. Meisha zoomed her camera in on the balcony and its garden, and smiled with relief as she saw a small black tube sticking out of a decorative bush.

  “It seems that you were right.” Fubuki admitted. “I see a gun barrel in the balcony garden, around twelve degrees to the right. Someone’s keeping a lookout.”

  “Which means that someone is organizing.” Meisha exclaimed in relief. She studied the angle of the gun barrel, and followed it. “They aren’t watching down this boulevard, they’re watching to the left.”

  “There’s a dock over on the left side. I’ve used it before; it's gigantic. I’ll bet that's where those ships landed.” Fubuki leaned around a corner and waved Meisha over. “There’s your smoke. Looks like the ship crashed closer to the docks than here. Station’s void shields managed to seal the breaches for the most part. We have to be leaking environment somehow because you can still see smoke from the station surface.” There was a loud crash in the distance, and Meisha became aware of a low droning noise coming from that direction.

  “Sounds like whoever they are has already deployed and is moving. We don’t have much time to make it to the Luxe.”

  “How quick can you move?” Fubuki asked.

  Meisha grimaced. “Well there’s an easy way to find out.”

  “Wait, if we book it towards the casino, your watchdog is likely to take a shot at us. That could end with us dead and their position given away.” Fubuki put her hand on Meisha’s shoulder. “We have to do this smart. Quick, but smart.”

  Even though she hated it, Meisha knew that Fubuki was right. Fubuki’s red dress wasn’t exactly camouflage, and even Meisha’s borrowed security suit had parts that glinted and reflected light. If they didn’t approach carefully they could be dead in a second. On the other hand, if they got too close and surprised anyone who was jumpy, it could end in the same result. “Damn.”

  “I have an idea.” Fubuki said hesitantly. “We can’t sneak up on them or run to them. We need to nab their attention and get them to bring us in.”

  “Ok, and how do you plan to do that without giving away their position?”

  “Simple!” Fubuki exclaimed. She looked particularly proud of herself. “I’m sure our friend on the balcony garden isn’t the only watchdog. I’ll bet almost anything that they have someone watching this boulevard too. They’re smart soldiers, you said, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So we need to draw their attention without the use of noise or any major flashes. Which leaves us with very few options. So-" Fubuki said as she drew the strange sword carried. "I figure we can make a flag."

  Meisha blinked. "Sure, I guess, but out of what?"

  Fubuki grabbed a handful of her red dress and with one quick motion, cut the hem of it off. She took the red fabric and tied it around the blade's tip. "You stay here in case something bad happens."

  "Like hell I will." Meisha snorted, but Fubuki had already dashed into the middle of the open street, waving the sword above her head like a battle standard. With one easy motion she leapt onto a nearby table and stood there, waving the sword back and forth.

  Despite Meisha's objections, she remained where she was and watched the casino; looking for any sign that the troopers inside had spotted them. The watcher on the balcony turned towards them but didn't fire. Meisha relaxed a bit. They had seen Fubuki but hadn't fired. The noise to the left of the district was getting louder by the second though; whoever was in charge there would have to make a choice soon.

  It took a while for Meisha to spot the four figures approaching them from the casino. They were moving in a quick formation and staying well hidden, sticking to the shadows and corners of the boulevard. As they approached Fubuki, two fanned out and covered the sides while the other two trained their rifles on Fubuki. Meisha peered from her hiding place, unwilling to step out just in case the troopers were a bit too jumpy. She couldn't hear what the troopers were saying, but the captain had a close enough guess. Fubuki stepped off the table with as much grace as she had leapt onto it, removing her makeshift flag and sheathing her sword before she landed. Meisha saw her point over to where she hid, and after a moment, stepped out of her cover with both hands raised. One of the troopers waved her over and saluted when she got close.

  "Holy shit captain, I thought we had lost you." Gabriels exclaimed.

  Meisha started laughing, almost unable to stop herself. It was a laugh of relief and anguish, and she knew that if she wasn't careful it could very well turn into sobbing. "You have no idea, Gabriels. I would have bitten it big time if it wasn't for Fubuki here."

  "So she's with you?"

  Meisha nodded. "Absolutely. She saved my life." She hesitated, not wanting to ask this next question. "How bad is it?"

  Gabriels face darkened. "We lost about a third of the second platoon. When whatever hit us split the ship in half, some of us got lucky. One of the pilots survived the hit and somehow guided us into as gentle of a crash landing as he could manage. Lots of injuries but only a few deaths there." He paused for a moment, clearly thinking over his next words. "The other half wasn't so lucky. Only five or six survivors. We thought you were a sure casualty as well. Hell, I saw you torn out."

  Meisha shook her head and gestured to Fubuki. "She tells me I'm lucky. Gabriels, I'm sorry. I mean-"

  Gabriels held up a hand. "Way I see it, Captain, this isn't your fault. I've never seen that sort of weapon that hit us, and neither has anyone else. I also saw the station move. Went from off in the distance to directly below us. I don't see a way to explain that. " He looked around, checking his corners. "Captain, I think we're above our paygrade here."

  "You're telling me." Fubuki muttered to herself. She had gravitated to Meisha's side, and her eyes were scanning the left of the district as the noise grew closer. "We can talk inside, can't we?"

  Gabriels nodded, and motioned his troops to fall in. “That's the smart thing to do right now.” He grimaced. “Though we’ll have to be careful bringing you inside. Briggs is furious right now.”

  “Briggs is here too?”

  “The whole First Platoon is. They landed on the East side of the station without any issue but couldn’t take off again because of some mechanical trouble. Said they saw us come down and hit, the station jumped underneath them. Managed to make it to us a few hours ago on foot. That's when we set up in the casino.” The group started moving back to their makeshift base, keeping to the shadows. “He blames you, by the way.” Gabriels said hesitantly.

  “Who? Briggs?”

  “Yeah. Says he told you that we weren’t ready for ground ops, and that you’ve got his troopers blood on your hands.”

  Meisha grit her teeth, suppressing a fury that exploded inside her chest. “I’ll talk to him.” She said, trying to remain professional. She knew that Briggs was right to a certain extent; She had known any ground ops would be risky, and he had warned her about it. At the same time, they had a mission to do. It was one thing to lament the loss of troopers. Meisha herself felt guilty enough about that. It was another to go around assigning blame. She couldn’t have known what would happen, nobody could have.

  The inside of the Midnight Luxe used to be glamorous. Iit was the pinnacle of luxury, with dark walls and gold accents everywhere, ornate wall sconces and indoor gardens. Soft jazz music played throughout the casino, and advertisements flashed, showing the beauty of the casino’s upper floor hotel rooms.

  The style of the casino, however, was contrasted by the 200 or so troopers who had taken up residence. Tables had been thrown to the ground to create cover or barricades. Chairs had been thrown in piles to make room for the medics to work on the injured. Soldiers sat in small groups, eating from their ration packs or cleaning their weapons. The air was tense and smelled of blood, antiseptic and oil.

  As they walked through, Meisha caught a glimpse of nine men in REAPER suits heading to the upper balcony. The REAPERS would easily have survived the transport crash, and that brought her some relief to know that Lupus was most likely alive. They passed a bar where a handful of men were busy making molotov grenades using strips of fabric from furniture. Fubuki grabbed a bottle of Earth-made bourbon as they walked past, winking at Meisha and taking a sip.

  Had Fubuki been one of Meisha’s troopers, she would have immediately taken it from her, but the woman was a civilian and had saved her life. Meisha decided that she had earned the drink.

  Briggs stood on the inner terrace looking over data and camera footage on his holo-pad. He was talking with a soldier with a long rifle, somewhat heatedly, when Meisha felt a strong hand grab her shoulder. She looked behind her to see Lupus, a somewhat sad smile on his face.

  “Good to see you, Captain.” He said. He nodded towards Briggs. “Be careful with him. First time he’s lost troops in a very long time. He’s not happy.”

  Meisha nodded and took off her helmet, handing it to Gabriels. She approached Briggs and the soldier. The marksman saw her first and snapped to a salute. Briggs turned around slowly, and Meisha gave him a sad smile. “Briggs its-”

  Briggs’ armored fist slammed into Meisha’s face before she had a chance to blink. It knocked her off her feet, her world going dim and a ringing filling her ears. There was no pain yet, but she knew that would come later. She felt something wet on her face and reached up to touch it, her fingers covered in bright red liquid. Her nose was broken, there was no doubt about that. Briggs was leaning over her, his face a bright red. He was shouting, she could see that, but she had no idea what he was saying. She saw Fubuki standing over her, revolver in hand, pointed at Brigg’s head. The Marksman had raised his rifle at Fubuki, and Lupus had attempted to step in between Fubuki and Briggs. Briggs had turned his attention to Fubuki, and Meisha’s hearing returned slowly.

  “-unfit for leadership of this unit.” Briggs was growling. “Forty-three of my men are dead because of her.”

  “LT, I don’t think this is the best way to handle it.” Lupus said.

  “I’m not letting us get screwed again by some spineless idiot fleet commander. That happened in the jungle. Not again.”

  “Ah so because something bad happened once, mutiny is the best choice?” Fubuki asked cheerily. Her thumb cocked the revolver’s hammer. “Seems kind of like a coward’s way to live, if you ask me.”

  “If me caring about my men’s survival more than the fleet’s goddamned paychecks is cowardice, then sure.” Briggs growled.

  Meisha rolled herself over and got to her hands and knees. The bleeding from her nose had slowed, and she pushed herself to her feet with some effort. She staggered a few steps and braced against Gabriels before steadying. The marksman lowered their rifle and excused themselves, knowing something above their pay grade was about to commence. Fubuki lowered her pistol slowly and looked at her with concern. “Are you alright?”

  Saying nothing, Meisha took the bottle of bourbon from her hand. With one fluid motion, she slammed it into Brigg’s face as hard as she could. It shattered and he hit the ground, just like she had.

  Unlike him, however, she jumped on top of him, her fists slamming into his face. She was vaguely aware that she was shouting, losing military bearing. She didn’t care. Gabriels and Lupus grabbed her and pulled her off. She fought them but the pair were too much for her, and they held her back as Briggs sat up, his face bruised and bloody.

  “You think I don’t care?” Meisha screamed at him with murder dripping from her voice. “You think I wanted this? You think that every name of the men and women who’ve died today, under my command, won’t be seared into my brain for the rest of my life?” She spat on him, no longer caring about who overheard what. “You advised me about ground contact. We needed to recon. Suck it up. I made the call. I own that. But these are MY troops, and their blood is on MY hands. And YOU don’t decide that because something bad happened, you’re allowed to mutiny. I swear to god if you EVER try and pull this self-righteous shit with me again I will throw you in a cell and let you rot for the rest of your pathetic life. Get over yourself and do your goddamned job!"

  She screamed the last part, breathing hard as the whole casino fell silent. She hesitated, and her shoulders slumped. "Go put some ice on that, then come back here. I want a full debrief on what's been happening."

  Briggs stared hard at her for a moment, and then saluted. "Aye captain." He muttered.

  "Go with him Gabriels." Meisha ordered. The second platoon leader helped Briggs to his feet, and the two made their way down the stairs. Lupus let go of her arm, and let out a deep chuckle.

  "I've been serving under Briggs for 15 years ma'am and I've never seen him take a licking like that." He frowned, still seeing the anger in Meisha's eyes. "He really is a good man, Captain. Cares a lot about his troops.”

  Meisha sat down on a nearby chair and sighed. Fubuki knelt next to her, examining her face for a moment before wiping the blood off with her makeshift flag. “How bad is it?” Meisha asked.

  Fubuki gave her a warm smile. “It's not bad. Hell you look the same as when I found you, dear captain.”

  “Is Briggs gonna be a problem?” Meisha asked Lupus.

  “No, he’s not.” Briggs announced, climbing back up the stairs. He had a bag of ice held against his head and a holo-pad in the other hand. Meisha raised an eyebrow and waited. The towering man cleared his throat awkwardly.

  “Do you remember our conversation about how my file didn’t exactly mention everything?”

  “Vaguely, yes.”

  “It was 12 years ago. I was 3 years into my first command, serving on the carrier Vesuvian Majesty. Had a great force of 300 troopers under me, and we had never lost a soul across all 10 deployments we had made. That lasted until Perenia Echo.”

  Fubuki leaned on the balcony railing next to Meisha. “I remember that colony.” She said. “Was settled by a bunch of ecofacists right?” Briggs snorted.

  “All the Perenia colonists wanted was for Earth to leave them alone. However the Admiralty had shares invested in a good sized logging fleet, and Perenia was a jungle planet. So they sent a fleet out to Perenia claiming they weren’t paying their standard resource tax.”

  Meisha blinked, confused. “Resource tax?”

  “Wow you really are an Earth kid.” Fubuki laughed. “All colonies pay some sort of tax to Earth. Some don’t pay in money, they pay in resources.”

  “And Earth wanted trees.” Briggs murmured, his eyes distant. “You know how rare trees are on Earth these days. Wood is a limited resource and it's rare for us to actually find carbon based plants like that. Perenia was a jungle; carbon based plant fiber as far as the eye could see. The colonists on Perenia loved their planet. They had a lot of pride in it. But once the feeds from Perenia made it to Earth, the logging firms started packing. Government declared Perenia’s tax would be paid in trees. Perenia refused and offered money and crops instead. Earth refused and demanded trees. And they sent the fleet to enforce it.” He shook his head. “The captain I served under was Captain Vanessa Townsen.”

  Meisha felt a vague memory stir. She recalled Branson talking about Townsen. “She’s a decorated captain, right?” The laughter she received was not light. Lupus spat on the ground.

  “She’s something, but not decorated.”

  “Her husband owns Townsen Logging.” Briggs continued. “The company Earth sent to go collect what they thought they deserved. Loggers tried landing, but the locals pushed them offworld and refused to give in. That's when Townsen ordered us down. All we had been told was that a bunch of ecofacist terrorists had attacked the loggers, and we were gonna take them out. We landed on the outskirts of their capitol, and it seemed like the whole damned colony fought us.”

  “I remember the first time I realized we weren’t fighting terrorists.” Lupus murmured. “Farmer came at me with an antique shotgun. Older guy, out of shape. I had the old HAU suit instead of the REAPER back then. Big set of heavy armor, and this guy is still charging at me screaming that we’ll never take his home. He went down, but that's when I started actually looking at their faces. No armor, old weapons. Young and old faces. We were pushing through their neighborhoods, and even the police force was fighting us.”

  “I realized that something was very wrong, and tried to call it in.” Briggs growled. “Townsen told me that it wasn’t my job to think about it. I had been given an order and I was to follow through. Even though we were better armored and better trained, had better equipment, we were outmatched. There were too many. Hell, some threw rocks. My guys started going down and I called for air support. Nothing came. I called for evac. Nothing. They were recording footage of the battle and broadcasting it to try and sell the angle that the colony was full of aggressive murderers. In all reality they just wanted to be left alone.” He shook his head sadly. “Townsen got tired of waiting. She decided to make an example out of the colony, saying it had declared itself a rebel and would bomb them into submission. They turned the cameras off and started the bombardment. It started a massive firestorm; apparently the trees on that planet were super flammable. Jungle was burning a mile a minute. I begged for EVAC but was told it was too dangerous and that we were on our own. I gave the order to push for the spaceport. I thought maybe we could be lucky enough to grab a ship.”

  “By the time we managed to break through, it seemed like half the planet was burning. The sky was dark with smoke and it was hard to breathe. Ash fell like rain. There were lines of families with children and all sorts of evacuees trying to evacuate the planet. We grabbed a transport and tried to usher everyone in, but they refused. Spat at us. A few even started shooting again.”

  “I lost three more guys in just a couple minutes; we had to go. Fifteen of us made it off-planet. Out of three hundred. I let Townsen know what ship we were in, and she confirmed. As we left the atmosphere, we saw other ships launching as well. Townsen… She shot them down. Every single ship that launched she fired on. And she got a damned medal for it afterwards.”

  Meisha shook her head. “No, I don't believe you. Nobody would do that. Least of all the Admiralty. Nobody is that bloodthirsty.”

  “It's true.” Lupus said flatly. “The Admiralty does what it wants and what benefits them.”

  “Then why do you still serve them?” Fubuki asked lightly. “You have this terrible story about how corrupt your military leaders are, but you’re still in the military.”

  “I stay to try and take care of these kids.” Briggs said, motioning to his troopers. “Because god knows the Admiralty won’t.”

  Meisha shook her head again. “No. Even if that did happen, it's just one person. The whole Admiralty isn’t like that.” It was Fubuki’s turn to laugh.

  “Dear captain, I’ve seen and heard a lot on my travels. Lots of theories about how the Admiralty funds the pirate fleets, the Admiralty pockets as much as possible. The upper echelon of your military wing is very much corrupt. But they’re able to control their image more easily on Earth by filtering your Quantum communication, so you don’t hear about it often.” She gave a small chuckle. “Your leaders are bullies and thieves. I’ve known that for a while, but war criminals are a new one.”

  “So why haven’t you told anyone?” Meisha whispered, trying to come to terms with the blanket of innocence that had just been ripped away from her.

  “You think we haven’t tried?” Briggs asked. “You can’t fight something like the Admiralty. Hell, you’re the first captain I’ve ever seen deploy with the troops, and you're the first captain I’ve ever seen care about groundside losses. I was furious. I thought you didn’t care and I blamed you for feeding us into the grinder like all the others.” He rubbed his jaw where a large bruise had formed. “I was completely mistaken. Gabriels told me about your actions on the Starshot, and the amount of fury you had put me in my place.” He extended his hand as an offer of apology. “So charge me, do whatever you need, take care of my troops. But, if you turn out to be another Townsen, I won’t let them be fed into a grinder again.”

  Meisha hesitated, then accepted the handshake. “You’re not getting out of a leadership role that easily LT. I want a full report on what we’re dealing with as well as an assessment of our combat status, how many injured we have, and an inventory on supplies done. I want it in fifteen minutes. We may have to fight our way offstation.” Briggs began to open his mouth, but Meisha held up a hand. “No arguing, we don’t have time for it.” Briggs gave a sharp salute and turned, barking orders at soldiers.

  “Well that went better than expected.” Fubuki murmured. “Glad he got over himself quickly.”

  Meisha pushed herself to her feet. “Lupus, you know how to access the roof?”

  “Sure do.”

  “Take us.” Meisha picked up her helmet as they left. Lupus led them to a small closet with an access ladder, and motioned up.

  “My armor is too much for the ladder, but it leads to the roof.”

  Meisha gave a nod and started up, popping the access hatch at the top and climbing out. The noise of the district filled the air, and the sound of movement was much closer now. She moved low to the edge of the roof and lay on her belly, looking in the direction of the noise. Fubuki lay next to her after a moment and pointed. “In the street there. I’d guess maybe twenty minutes away?”

  Meisha zoomed in on the street and froze. Her heart was pounding. “I’m insane.” She breathed. The marching force was clearly visible, but entirely unrecognizable. “They aren’t human.”

  Fubuki furrowed her eyebrows, and peered through her revolver’s scope. “No they aren’t.” Her voice had no sign of surprise or disbelief, just grim determination. Meisha forced herself to calm down and study the force, taking pictures and video with her suit’s camera. The aliens were tall, standing easily a head taller than a human in REAPER armor. Their armor was a silvery gray, and they reminded Meisha of insects. Their legs were shaped like a locust’s, and it appeared that they had four arms, each pair holding some sort of rifle. They marched perfectly in sync. Movement caught Meisha’s eye, and she turned to see one jump from one rooftop to another.

  “They have flankers checking the surrounding buildings.” She whispered. “They’re tactical. Intelligent.”

  Fubuki was still staring hard. “Meisha, we need to leave. Now.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” Meisha hissed. “Our one dropship is damaged, and the other destroyed. We have wounded troops as well. How the hell do you think we abandon the station? We can’t sneak past them; that’ll make a decent amount of noise.” She paused. “They had a dropship, the aliens. If we can make it past them, maybe…”

  “No, Listen to me.” Fubuki said, staring at her hard. “These are Ferronians. They are faster, stronger, and have better weapons and armor than you. They live for centuries and are some of the most disciplined soldiers in this galaxy. You cannot defeat them in a fight.” Something in her voice had changed, Meisha realized. It was no longer light or playful, but now held an air of authority that she had only heard a few times in her life.

  “How do you know all of this?” Meisha asked.

  “I will tell you later. For now I need you and your soldiers to gather what you have and move to the docks. There’s an open air emergency dock on the top of the station near there. Move your men there.”

  “They landed over by the docks, genius. They’ll hear us moving if we try to do that, and I’m sure they have guards there. They’d be stupid not to.”

  “Your REAPER suits can take care of the guards. I’ll distract the primary force and meet you on that emergency dock. The Ferronians would have landed on the master dock, and I guarantee the emergency one will be free. Now move quickly.” None of this was worded as a suggestion, and Meisha had the feeling that Fubuki’s will wasn’t denied much.

  “Like hell that’ll happen.” She growled. “I am not letting a civilian go and initiate first contact with an alien race. Hell this may be a big misunderstanding.”

  Fubuki blinked. “Dear captain, do you trust me?” When Meisha nodded, Fubuki gave her a warm smile and stood. “Then know that I have your best interests in mind, and that I am wise beyond my years. Be at that dock in an hour.” And with those words, the woman in the red dress stepped off the roof. Meisha scrambled to look over the ledge but Fubuki had vanished. She leaned back, staring off at the alien force heading their way.

  “Holy shit what have I gotten us into.”