There was a long arduous silence after Rels had made his way off to the tunnel, Frank and Anna had made there way over to the Medical bay doors and were crouched down beside the wall to the right of the doors. Terouln had set up a small explosive charge on the right hand door, small enough to allow Markus to lay down covering fire from the tear in the left hand door, but powerful enough to blow a large enough hole for Frank, Susan and Terouln to advance in all guns blasting, the charge had been set, and the electronic timer slowly counted down. Twenty seconds, it was like torture, this was always the part of battles Frank had always hated, Frank stared into the dim gloom of the corridor as sweat rolled from his brow. Fifteen seconds, Frank was convinced the timer was slowing down, it was the first time in years Frank had sat in complete silence, usually he had the sound of impulse engines, slip drives, power generators or air filtration units buzzing loudly in the back ground, the sound of the silence was deafening, Frank wiped his brow. Ten seconds, Frank rubbed his eyes before he removed his pistols and checked the power level. Five seconds, Franks head was swimming, his mind was drowning in adrenalin, a million thoughts entered and left his head with each second the timer counted down. Three seconds, memories of old friends, enemies, lovers, family, his whole life seemed to pass before his eyes. Two. One, the one digit hung on the electronic display for an eternity, Frank raised his pistols, shielding his eyes from the blast, then. The explosion cut through the silence like a plasma torch through butter, the creature screamed in surprise as it swivelled round to face the door, it’s eyes glowed menacingly in the dark, it’s clawed arms raised in anticipation as the smoke from the explosion slowly cleared, Markus leapt to his feet and opened fire, the creature squatted in preparation as Terouln scrambled through the hole, as the creature was about to advance forward when Rels kicked the hatch open, and fired a quick fire volley of blasts at the creature, which cried out in pain as shot after shot tore through it’s soft body, in a last gasp of desperation the creature leapt backwards through the hatch and vanished into the gloom.
“Move in!” Terouln shouted commandingly as he took a covering position behind a large medical bed,
Frank and Susan moved quickly through the hole and ran over to Terouln’s position, the medical bay was dull and gloomy so it was difficult to see the proper lay out, a long wall split the room into two unevenly sized treatment areas, along the wall of the main area, which was the area Frank, Susan and Terouln were crouched in, was a long line of half a dozen medical treatment beds, the wall however only ran for three quarters the length of the room, and at either side of the beds were open door ways,
“Markus!” Terouln whispered,
“Yes sir?” Markus whispered quickly as he entered the room,
“Find the emergency power generator and start it up!” Terouln commanded,
“Aye Sir!” Markus said before moving off through the opening and towards the far right wall,
“Rels!” Terouln whispered loudly, “Rels!” He repeated slightly louder,
“Yes sir!” A faint voice said from out the gloom,
“Secure the hole on my mark! I’ll lay down cover!” Terouln snapped as he turned on his wrist light, “Frank, Susan!” He added as he checked the charge of his pistol,
“Yup!” Susan said nervously,
“I’m moving round to the other opening.” Terouln said as he pointed towards the doorway at the far side of the room, “Watch our backs!” He added as he moved over to the closest doorway,
“No problem!” Frank said reassuringly as Terouln moved to the second part of the medical bay.

As Anna and Artok approached the end of the corridor they could make out two of the troopers, who were crouched down directly in front of the double doors,
“Are you ready?” The General asked calmly,
“Yeah!” The trooper whispered in a gruff voice, “We just need to blow the electronic clamps!” He added,
The General turned to the crouching troops that had followed him up the Corridor, the General made a series of hand commands and the troops moved over to the left wall, “Stay sharp!” He said reassuringly to his troops, “You two!” He snarled angrily as he turned back to Artok and Anna, “When the door goes, the troop there will pull the door open, the first wave of troops will move in, we’re the covering fire.” The General paused, “Once they move in you’ll follow me to the door! Got it!” Artok and Anna both nodded their heads in agreement. The General raised his hand, three fingers raised from his clenched fist, the mood in the corridor deepened dramatically, as the troopers shuffled nervously behind the General, the General lowered one of his fingers, two, the trooper at the door attached a magnetic clamp to the right hand door. One, the second trooper prepared to pull the magnetic release handle. The Generals final finger went down, the trooper pulled the release handle, the door made a loud clunk as the magnetic locks receded, the second trooper pulled the door open as quickly as he could before raising his rifle and moving in first, he was closely followed by a further eight troops who moved quickly and efficiently in single file. Once the last of the troops at entered Artok and Anna moved forward cautiously to the door,
“All clear!” A voice yelled grimly from the bridge before Artok and Anna could take up their position at the door,
“Move in!” The General ordered loudly as he poked Artok and Anna in the back’s with his rifle,
Artok moved quickly onto the bridge. It was a grim sight, the emergency lighting had come on, so it was very poorly lit, even still, the bridge was fairly impressive, it was long, relatively narrow room, the main floor was split in the middle by a long railing, at either side were three steps that led into the main operations area of the ship, the second part (Of which Artok, Anna and most of the troopers was currently in) appeared to be made up of minor terminals, however most of these terminals had been destroyed by pulse blasts that had missed their target, on the wall beside the main doors was a closed door, which was presumably led the captains ready room, as Artok and Anna moved into the main operations area the reality of the situation started to become clear, most of the bridge personnel lay slumped over there terminals,
“Poor guys!” One of the Troopers said as he checked to see if any of the personnel were still alive, “Most of them didn’t even get a chance to draw there weapons!” He added angrily,
“Lieutenant!” The General said as he summoned the trooper over,
“Sir?” He asked,
“Try to see if you can bring the systems on-line!” The General ordered,
The trooper nodded in acknowledgement before turning back to the systems.

As Terouln reached the doorway he peered into the gloom, he could only just make out the crouched figure of Rels, Terouln raised his hand and pointed at the hatch, Rels inched forwards cautiously, staying as close to the wall as possible, his pulse rifle raised and ready to fire, as he approached the hole he heard a strange scratching sound, which made his pause, back up against the wall and aim his rifle at the hole, seconds passed slowly, Frank crouched beside the medical bed, his right hand pistol trained on the hole, his left hand and other pistol lay flat on the ground to help him balance, Susan squatted, using the bed as a rest for her arms as she aimed nervously. Rels shuffled silently forward. Rels yelled in pain as a long sharp claw ripped through the wall and through his right shoulder,
“Rels!” Terouln yelled as he tried to get a shot at the creature, “Damn!” He shouted in frustration, “Does any one have a shot!”
Frank shuffled awkwardly as he turned his wrist light on, illuminating Rels fully, the claw stuck at least a foot out his shoulder, blood dribbled from the wound, “No!” Frank yelled as the claw moved from side to side,
“No!” Susan shouted in frustration,
“Rels can you get free?” Frank shouted as the creature trilled with excitement
, Rels coughed up a mouthful of blood, which sprayed from his mouth, “I think so!” He said angrily as he pulled his pistol out and held it to the side of his stomach,
Frank raised his left hand, leaving his other pistol on the ground, “Wait!” He said as he pushed an ominous looking red button on the side of his pistol, “Terouln when he’s free….” Frank shouted as his pistol started to hum loudly,
“I know!” Terouln shouted quickly,
The hum of the pistol grew louder till it was a high pitched scream, “You ready Suz?” He asked comfortingly,
“Let’s blow the thing to hell!” Susan said firmly as Rels groaned with pain again,
“NOW!” Frank yelled loudly,
Rels pulled the trigger, the pistol made a loud blast sound as the blast tore through Rels’s stomach, the creature screamed as the claw retracted through the wall, sending a long spurt of blood across the room, Terouln leapt to his feet and ran, full speed across the room, Susan opened a volley of shots as Terouln grabbed Rels and dragged him towards cover, Susan’s shots made small holes in the wall, the creature leapt from the hole and into the medical bay, it glared menacingly at Rels and Terouln. Frank’s snarled angrily as he took aim, Frank whistled loudly. The creature turned and trilled menacingly at him,
“Bye. Bye!” Frank growled happily as a huge smile leapt across his face,
The creature squatted as it was about to leap forward, but it wasn’t quick enough, Frank pulled the trigger, the pistol made a huge pulsing sound which echoed through the whole ship as it emitted a giant energy ball, which knocked Frank backwards and skidding quickly across the room. The creature screamed as the pulse blasted it, sending it flying through the wall, almost doubling the size of the hole, this was followed by a serious of loud thumps as the creature fell down the shaft.

Frank groaned as he struggled back to his feet, “That’ll learn ya!” He snarled happily as he pushed the clip release button, the clip dropped to the ground with a loud metallic thud,
Terouln pulled Rels, who was unconscious and barely breathing, over to the closest treatment bed, “how did you do that?” He panted as he sat Rels down,
“Energy overload!” Frank said smugly “I discharged the entire energy clip in one blast!” He added as Susan ran over to Rels,
“I need a medi Kit!” Susan shouted loudly as the lights flickered on and the medical systems flickered into life,
“Hold on!” Terouln said as he ran over to the far side of the room and grabbed a large medical bag,
Susan pushed firmly down on wounds but the blood continued to ooze through her hands, “Frank press down here!” She shouted as she pulled Franks hands over to the claw wounds, “Terouln where’s that medical kit?” She shouted commandingly,

“Here, Here!” Terouln stammered as he handed the kit to Susan,
Susan opened the bag and pulled out a medical scanner, “Hold on Rels!” She said calmly as she scanned the wound, “This is bad!” She added while pulling out a hypodermic injector, “His left lungs collapsed, he’s got severe internal injuries.” Susan paused as she injected something into Rels’s neck, “I’m most worried about this blast wound, what model of med bed is this?” She asked Terouln,
“Um, err, am!” Terouln stammered as he looked for a model number,
“Come on we’re losing him!” Susan screamed,
“Degas ZK9821!” Terouln stammered eventually,
Susan grimaced, “Good! They’ve got a holographic life support unit built in, if I can…” She said as she rolled Rels over onto his back, “We might be able to keep him alive long enough for me to stabilise him if the beds still operational!” She added as she pushed Frank out her way, she moved round to a control screen that was at the foot of the bed, “No!” She frustrated yelled as she hit the weapons scorched screen, above the bed on the wall there was a monitor which was displaying the condition of the patient on the bed, the image of the body started to flash red as a loud high pitched bleep echoed around the medical bay, “No!” Susan said as she ran over to Rels, “Frank!” She shouted,
“Yes?” Frank replied quickly,
“Check the other beds, see if any are working!” She ordered as she removed a small neural stimulator, Susan looked up at Terouln, who was staring blankly at Rels while sweating nervously, “Terouln!” Susan Shouted, “Terouln!” She repeated angrily as she put the stimulator onto Rels’s forehead,
“Hmm, Ah?” “Terouln stammered,
“Hold Rels down!” She said, Terouln froze nervously, his hands trembled over Rels, “Terouln!” Susan snapped,
Terouln looked at Susan, “I… I…” He stammered,
“Terouln relax!” Susan said calmly, “Help me, or Rels will die!”
Terouln stood for a second before taking a deep breath before putting his hands on to Rels,
Susan smiled reassuringly, “Hold him firmly down!” Susan moved her hands away for the stimulator, “Three, Two, One!” She said before pushing the button on a small device, Rels’s body constricted violently, the monitor bleeped before flat lining again, “Again!” Susan shouted as she pushed the button again, still no luck, “Come on Rels!” She screamed as she pushed the button one more time. Success the monitor bleeped to life, the pulse was faint, Rels wheezed loudly and weakly, “Frank!” Susan yelled as she removed the Stimulator,
“They’re all bust!” Frank yelled loudly,
Susan took a deep breath while she looked through the bag for something useful, as she pulled out a small scanner the monitor flat lined again, Susan turned back, “No!” She squeaked angrily, “When I tell you, push down on the chest gently!” She said firmly to Terouln as she tilted Rels’s head back and opened his mouth, Susan pinched his nose and breathed deeply into his mouth, half his chest inflated, “Now!” She said calmly, Terouln pushed down gently, pushing the chest down, “Come on!” Susan said as she listened at Rels’s mouth, “Come on!” She repeated as she breathed deeply into him again, “Now!” She repeated, Terouln pushed the chest down again, “No!” She said in frustration, “Move!” She snapped as she pushed Terouln away, before climbing up onto Rels, “Come on Rels damn it!” She shouted as she massaged the chest, “Breath damn it!” She leaned down and breathed into his mouth, “Come on! Breath damn it!” Susan placed her hand down onto the chest over his heart, “Come on!” She shouted as she firmly hit the chest several times, “Come on!” She repeated angrily,
“Susan!” Frank said as he pulled her off Rels, “He’s gone!”
“No!” Susan said as her eyes welled up, “No, I can save him!” She squealed angrily while pushing Frank away,
Frank pulled her into his chest and hugged her, “No you can’t! You did what you could!” He said compassionately.

It didn’t take Susan long to regain her composer, “Thanks!” She said as she wiped her eyes,
Frank moved away and into the middle of the room while Terouln had made his way over to the gaping gap in the wall and was pointing his light down the shaft. With the emergency power on the medical bay was grimly clearer, The walls were almost coated in dry blood and medicine bottles were smashed all over the floor, Frank couldn’t imagine anyone had actually survived the attack,
“You did your best you know!” Frank said as he walked over towards two large scanning chambers that were built into the wall on the opposite side of the room,
“If the beds had worked!” Susan said angrily as she turned the monitor off, “Sorry Rels!” She added quietly as she covered him up with a blood soaked sheet,
“What happened?” Markus said as he appeared from the far side doorway,
“Rels is dead!” Terouln said grimly, “What took you so long?” He added accusingly,
Markus frowned angrily, “I had to go through a maintenance tunnel to get the generator.” Markus paused and looked over at the Medical bed Rels was on, “The generator was badly damaged. It won’t last long!” he added,
Terouln turned to face Markus, “Sorry! Good work!” He said apologetically, “Frank!” Terouln started to make his way over to Frank,
“Yes?” He replied,
“I don’t think your friend survived!”
“I…” Before Frank could say any more there was a loud thud from the second of the two scanning chambers, the group drew there pistols and pointed them at the chamber, “What was that?” He asked,
Terouln shrugged his shoulders as he approached the control panel, “Susan, any idea how this thing works?” He asked cautiously,
Susan stood thinking for a second, “It’s been a while since I use something that advanced!” Susan said thoughtfully, “Look at the screen.” Susan paused as she slowly advanced,
“Yes what am I looking for?” Terouln replied.
“Is there a button that says open?” Susan asked mockingly,
Terouln looked over at Susan and smirked, “Very funny!” He said before looking back over at the screen, “Oh, wait…” He answered coyly after a brief pause, “Get ready!”
Terouln pushed a large ‘Open’ button that took up the whole of the bottom part of the monitor. The chamber hissed as the hatch moved back on a set of large hinges that were attached to the front before sliding up to reveal the chamber. The group trained their weapons at a small bed that was sliding out on the tram lines that ran into the chamber. The bed rolled out Frank pointed his pistol at it,
“Don’t shoot!” A voice yelled,
“Wilson!” Susan yelled happily as the bed came all the way out,
Frank shook his head in disbelief, “How did you survive?” He asked curiously,
“Survive what?” Wilson yelled in fear, “I woke up in this damn chamber, one minute I was being scanned, then the power went off!” Wilson paused as he clambered to his feet, “Aw, it’s good to be out of that damn thing!” He groaned while stretching,
“Just tell us what happened!” Terouln snapped,
Wilson looked over in surprise, “And you are?” He asked cautiously,
Frank coughed, “This is Terouln!” He said pointing, “He’s part of the pirate troops!” Frank smiled at Wilson (who was looking decisively nervous) “And that’s another Trooper, his name’s Markus! Now what happened?”
Wilson’s gazed darted between Terouln and Markus nervously, “Any way! I was being scanned, when the power went off, I heard voices telling me there had been a systems failure and they would get me out as soon as possible.” Wilson paused as he looked at the dried blood on the walls, “And well I suppose this happened!” He said nervously, “I’m glad I shut up when I heard pulse blasts!” He added happily, “What is going on?”
Susan moved quickly over to Wilson and started to check him over, “Do you want the long version or the short version?” She asked,
“Short!” Wilson replied,
“Artok tricked us into smuggling big scary creatures.” Susan paused as she shone a light into Wilson’s eye, “We got captured, imprisoned, the creatures escaped, wreaked havoc, we’re heading to the bridge to see if the queen is still alive! A giant mad General is also threatening to kill us!” Susan smiled happily, “But you’re fine!” She said slapping Wilson on the arm,
“Thank you!” He replied gratefully, “So basically, things couldn’t be worse!” He added angrily,
“Your alive aren’t you?” Markus snapped, “Shut up!” He added as he pointed his rifle at the hole,
“What is it?” Frank asked,
“I heard some thing!” Markus snapped as he approached the hole,
“There!” Terouln said as a faint tapping sound emanated from the shaft.
Markus shone his light into the hole, one of the creatures flashed past the hole, the group opened fire, blasting several holes in the wall,
“Hold it!” Terouln said as he approached the hole, “Do you hear that?” He asked as he peered cautiously up the shaft,
“What?” Frank asked,
“Shhh!” Wilson snapped, “Weapons fire!” Wilson added,
“It’s in the bridge!” Terouln said, “Come on!” He added as he slung his rifle over his shoulder before leaning into the hole and grabbed the ladder,
“Are you mad?” Wilson objected,
Markus walked over to where Rels had dropped his rifle and picked it up, “Am I mad?” He asked calmly, “No! I’m insane!” He added as he stared coldly into Wilson’s eyes, “Here!” He said before throwing Rels’s rifle at Wilson, “Come On!” He shouted before entering the shaft him self,
Wilson glanced over at Susan and Frank as they were approaching the hole, “Let’s escape!” He said coyly,
Frank paused and looked back, “What?” He said angrily,
“Let’s escape!” He repeated urgently,
“Anna’s up there!” Susan snapped as she leaned over and grabbed the ladder,
“Anna can take care of her self!” Wilson said coldly,
"I told you we should have just left him!" Frank snapped as he glared at Wilson, "Go to hell Hall!" Wilson said threateningly, Frank lunged forward and grabbed Wilson, who dropped his rifle, "I'm not abandoning Anna to those things!" He snarled, "If you want to escape you’re on your own!” Frank pushed Wilson away as he let go and turned away and started for the shaft, “Oh yeah! Before I forget!” He added as he reached the hatch, “There are only two other creatures.” He said smiling menacingly, “But I’m sure you’ll do fine on your own!” He added before climbing into the shaft behind Susan,
“Ah!” Wilson said nervously as he glanced between the dark, uninviting corridor and the hole leading to the bridge, “Let’s rescue Anna!” He said as he ran over to the hole.

The main lighting strips on the ceiling of the bridge flickered gradually one by one,
Anna was slumped lazily in the captains seat half asleep, “Hmm, what…” She yawned, “Ah damn! It wasn’t a dream!” She added angrily as she woke up fully, “Artok!” She said looking over to Artok who was sitting over at the main helm control with his feet up on the consol,
“What?” He snapped angrily as he looked back over his shoulder at Anna, who was now making her way over to him,
“Calm down pinky!” She said snidely, patting Artok on the belly “What’s going on!”
Artok growled in irritation, “They’ve got some power back to the grid by the looks of things!” He said as he took deep breaths to try and calm himself down,
Anna crouched down next to Artok, the bridge was awash with activity, the troopers were all busy working away at the consoles and seemed completely engrossed in there own assigned activities, Anna hummed thoughtfully as she watched,
“What are you thinking?”
Anna glanced over at Artok, “What makes you think I’ve something on my mind?” She asked calmly,
Artok sighed, “Cut the crap!” He snarled, “I know you well enough now to know when you’ve spotted something of interest!” He added confidently,
Anna smirked agreeably, “Okay!” She said nodding her head slowly, “Look over there and tell me what you see!” She asked,
Artok glanced across the room several times thoughtfully, his gaze passing a careful eye on each of the troopers, “A bunch of Pirates!” He said sarcastically,
Anna smirked, “Yeah! But what are they doing?”
Artok glanced over again, “Working to get the ship operational!” He stated,
“And what aren’t they doing?”
Artok stared in confusion, “No!” He said thoughtfully, “What?” He added curiously as he glanced over at Anna, who smirked viciously,
“There not bothering paying any attention to what’s going on around them!” She said smugly,
Artok smiled in semi agreement, “That’s true but there’s only one way of the bridge, and that’s through them!”
“I wouldn’t worry about that!” Anna said coyly,
“Why?” Artok asked morbidly,
“Listen carefully!” Anna said as a faint tapping became slightly audible,
Artok closed his eyes and tried to listen beyond the sound of the troopers, “I can’t hear anything!” He said dejectedly,
Anna drew her pistols and pulled Artok of the seat gently and moved them both behind the flight console, “Maintenance shaft, far right, there’s something coming!” She said with a degree of panic,
Artok looked over, “How….” He started to say,
The hatch on the maintenance shaft flew open, sending it flying across the room, a severely damaged creature pounced effortlessly from the shaft and landed beside three troopers. The troopers screamed with terror as the creature used it’s one remaining claw arm to cut down two of the troopers. The creature trilled with delight as it grabbed hold of the third trooper by the neck and yanked her close. Several other troopers scrambled from there terminals and fumbled desperately with there rifles. Several blasts emanated from a group at the far side of the bridge, the creature moved the female trooper quickly to block the blasts, which thumped her back loudly and sending an almost powder like spray of blood into the air, the creature threw the trooper effortlessly across the room, making full contact with the troopers that had been firing. More troops emerged from the top of the bridge and started firing. The creature screamed as the blasts hit it’s already perforated body before leaping the width of the room and landing feet first into the middle of the four troopers that had been firing at it, several screams of pain emanated from the bloody carnage as the creature slashed indiscriminately at the troopers, The General appeared in the door to the captains ready room,
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” He yelled loudly as he launched volley upon volley of shots at the creature,
The creature turned and started to make it’s way quickly towards the door, the General backed away and the door slammed shut, the creature slammed into the door, almost completely destroying it with one hit, it struck again, buckling the door inwards, with one further swipe the door collapsed and the creature dove in avoiding a hail of pulse blasts,
“Come on!” Anna snapped quickly as she scrambled to her feet,
Anna almost dragged Artok across the length of the room towards the bridge exit, pulse blasts screamed from the ready room, along with several blood curdling screams, the pair reached the door to the long, narrow, dark corridor. Anna started to move quickly through the door, when the creature burst it’s way through the wall and into the corridor. It snarled loudly as it crouched in preparation to pounce at Anna and Artok, who stumbled helplessly backwards onto the bridge, the creature pounced as Anna regained her footing, but there wasn’t enough time to shoot, the creature flew quickly straight at her head, it’s claw raised, in preparation for a strike on Artok. There was a loud, and sudden blast, an energy shot flew quickly across the room, the creatures head exploded as it slumped harmlessly to the ground, inches from Anna and Artok.

Anna opened her eyes, a tear slowly dribbled from her left eye, “Wfsdf….Awqew….Ssad….D…G” She stammered incoherently, as she patted her body in disbelief,
Artok fell back breathing heavily, as hard as he tried he couldn’t seem to say anything either,
“That’ll ruin your weekend!” Susan said triumphantly as she crawled from the hatch, her pistol smoking profusely, “Aw yeah!” She said proudly as she blew the smoke from the barrel of her pistol, “You know you Missed me!” She said joyfully, before slotting her pistol firmly back in her holster.
A tear ran quickly from Anna’s left eye as she regained her composure, “Wow!” She sighed as she backed of slowly from the semi-motionless creature, her heart still beating audibly, “I owe you big time!” She added gratefully, “Where…” Before she could finish her sentence Markus shoved his way past her, with Terouln in close pursuit, the pair ran into the captains ready room, where there was the sound of a furious battle occurring, other than the weapons fire, the occasional scream became bone chillingly obvious,
“There’s no way I’m going in there!” Frank proclaimed firmly as he moved over to Anna, “How is every one?” He added patting Anna on the back,
Anna turned and smiled at Frank, “I’m alive, what more could I want!” She said jokingly,
“I’m Okay!” Artok said as he clambered his way to his feet, groaning with each effort,
“Ah damn!” Susan sighed, “Did I save you too!” She said punching the air with irritation,
Frank laughed, “You can’t win em all!” He added,
“Hey, I hate to break up this heart warming family reunion!” Wilson sneered sarcastically, “But we’re all alone!” He smirked,
“So we are!” Susan said agreeably, “Now, should we wait?” She added sarcastically, “Or escape?”
The group looked at each other, “Escape!” They all said in unison.
Anna sprang into action, moving quickly down the hall towards the lift shaft, Frank, Susan, Artok and Wilson followed quickly,
Anna leaned into the shaft and grabbed hold of the ladder, "Stay close!” She said commandingly,
“HOLD IT!” A booming voice from the bridge commanded,
Frank looked down the hall, the General stood at the end of the hall, he glanced subtly into the shaft at Anna, “Keep going!” He whispered before turning back to the General, “General!” He exclaimed loudly, “We were just…” Frank paused thoughtfully as he made his way down the corridor towards the General, “We were just, checking to make sure none of those creatures were coming our way!” He lied convincingly,
The General snarled angrily as he limped his way over the corpse of the dead creature, his face was bloody and his clothes tarnished with the goo, of the creatures inners, “Who’s in the shaft!” He proclaimed menacingly,
“What?” Frank exclaimed innocently, as he blocked the Generals path, “No one!”
The General raised his rifle and smacked Frank viciously in the face, Frank fell to the ground, blood trickled from his mouth,
“Frank!” Susan declared as she drew her pistol and pointed it at the General,
“Do it and he’s dead!” The General stated as he continued to point the barrel of his rifle at Frank’s face, “One more time scum! Who’s in the shaft!”
Frank looked at the General defiantly, “One more time!” He snarled “No one!”
The General growled frustratingly as several guards rounded the corner and pointed there weapons at Susan, “Drop it!” The General shouted at Susan, without taking his eyes, or the aim of his rifle, of Frank,
“Do it!” Frank said to Susan as he stared challengingly into the Generals eyes,
Almost before Susan had lowered her weapon the General started to moved rapidly towards the lift shaft, “Out my way!” He shouted as he shoved his way passed Susan,
Susan groaned with pain as she was thrown aside by the Generals huge arms,
“You b….” Frank exclaimed, before being firmly kicked in the stomach by Markus, who had made his way down the corridor,
The General reached the open lift shaft and peered his way into the gloom, “Stop!” He boomed as he pointed his rifle downwards,
There was a brief, but agonising silence, before the faint sound of Anna’s voice echoed around the corridor, “Yeah right!” Anna’s voice echoed before several weapon shots drowned out the sound of the echo,
The General pulled his head back into the corridor rapidly, just before several shots went hurtling past where his head used to be, he snarled angrily before aiming his rifle blindly down the shaft, keeping his head and body well out of the line of site, and blasting randomly down the shaft,
“Missed me!” The faint defiant voice of Anna proclaimed, before she returned fire with several shots,
“Cow!” the General shouted angrily as fired off several more shots,
From the gloom a loud scream of pain echoed ominously around the corridor, the General smirked in satisfaction before launching another volley of shots down the shaft, another loud scream echoed it’s way around before the faint sound of something falling down the lift shaft,
“Anna!” Frank shouted loudly as he tried to scramble his way to his feet, “I’ll….” He screamed in anger as he crawled his way along the corridor, but before he could get to the General Markus thumped him in the back with his rifle, Frank groaned with pain as he continued to crawl towards the General, “Nothing…” He started, before being thumped firmly in the spine again be Markus,
The General smirked in delight as his troops surrounded the group, “Who’s missing?” He commented proudly as he glanced at the group, “Hmmm!” He said thoughtfully as he reached Frank, who was still trying to get the General, “I don’t think so!” The General snarled as he stood on Franks out stretched hand, a blood curdling crack was clearly audible as Frank winced in pain and anger, “The only person missing from your bunch!” he proclaimed happily, “Is your captain!” He added as he glanced at Markus’s foot, then at Markus. Who immediately removed his foot from Franks chest,
Frank groaned as he gained a breath, “I’ll….” He croaked weakly,
“You’ll what?” The General said gleefully as he flipped Frank over onto his back effortlessly,
“Use your imagination!” Frank smirked menacingly, before blood spurted from his mouth,
The General stood over him and put his rifle barrel into Frank’s mouth! “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to plug that mouth of yours up!” he snarled, almost jokingly, “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t blow your head off!” The General proclaimed rhetorically,
“Mffff, gfhjaty, hjkyugh!” Frank mumbled incoherently,
The General stared angrily at Frank for interrupting him! “What?” He proclaimed curiously as he removed his rifle slightly from Frank’s mouth,
Frank coughed as he regained his breath, “I said! If you kill me!” He paused, a smirked crossed his face, “Who’ll keep your wife satisfied?” He said before bursting out in laughter!
The General growled as he smacked frank in the stomach, “Thank you for giving me a reason!” He said as he shoved his rifle barrel into Franks temple,
“Ow!” He grunted between laugh’s, “Truth really does hurt!” He choked merrily as he grinned with satisfaction, Frank’s gritted his teeth before staring coldly into the Generals eye’s “Go for it!” He shouted loudly, before shoving his head forward, pushing the barrel of the General’s rifle back, “Because I promises you’ll never get another chance!”
There was a long silence, Frank and the General stared into each others eye’s, neither willing to blink first. The Generals finger twitched, as it hovered over the trigger. Frank glared challengingly at the General, who’s finger moved slowly onto the trigger. Frank took one last deep breath as he prepared for the inevitable,
“Scared?” He General jeered quietly,
“Nah! Just bored waiting to see if you’ve the gut’s to get dirty!” Frank replied defiantly,
“Wait no longer!” he replied as he started to depress the trigger,

As the General was about to pull the trigger, the lights changed, from white, to red, a loud siren howled,
“What the hell!” The General yelled as he withdrew his rifle from Franks face and turned towards Markus, “What the hell’s going on!” He shouted angrily,
Markus, and every one else in the corridor, finally took a breath, “I….” He stuttered, “I, don’t know!” He blurted out!
The General growled in irritation, before shooting Markus in the chest! “Who knows what’s going on!” He yelled angrily, as Markus slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blood where he had slid down,
One of the troopers ran into the bridge and started to frantically push buttons on one of the active consoles. “Sir…” Trooper said nervously as he reappeared at the entrance of the corridor, “It’s… er….” He stammered,
The General’s eye’s narrowed angrily, “It’s what?” He yelled,
“It’s the core!” The trooper stammered,
“What about the core?” The General yelled as he stepped off Frank,
“It’s going critical!”
The General threw his rifle to the floor in frustration, “DAMN!” He yelled,
“We’ve got an hour and a half to shut it down!” The trooper squeaked fearfully,
the General drew his holstered pistol and shot the trooper in the forehead, “Did I tell you to interrupt me!” he shouted angrily as the trooper fell backwards,
“That’s what they do!” Artok proclaimed loudly,
The General punched the wall, before turning round to look at Artok, “What?” He asked angrily as he pointed his pistol at Artok,
“That’s what they do!” Artok repeated, “They can’t directly gain control of the ship!” He stated ominously, “So they’re going to blow us to hell!” He added coldly,
The General moved over to Artok and pressed him up against the wall, “How do we stop them?” he snarled angrily,
“Them?” Artok exclaimed in a concerned voice, “Didn’t you kill the one in the captains ready room?”
“No!” the General muttered “It escaped down one of the ventilation shafts!” The General paused, “It’s as good as dead, there wasn’t much left of it!” He added rapidly,
Artok lunged forward, “It…” He started, before being shoved firmly back by the General’s hand,
“It’s what?” The General said calmly,
“It’s not as good as dead!” Artok replied, “It’s capable of self repair, so we’ve got two to deal with!” He added angrily,
The General withdrew his hand from Artok’s throat, “Well, well, well!” he proclaimed as he moved his way over to Frank, “I guess I’ve found my reason!”
Frank sneered viciously, “What’s that?” he proclaimed sarcastically,
The General smiled with amusement, “You can act as a distraction while we kill the creatures!” The General looked around his troops, “Take their weapons! And prepare the Queen for transport.” He ordered, “We’re going to engineering!” he sneered in anticipation.