The lift doors slid open, General Poltious marched proudly from the lift and onto the deck of the main hanger, the smell of burning metal filled the air as the sparks flew from the ships that were being systematically destroyed, engineers wandered around, chatting loudly to one another, the General seemed completely uninterested in any of the engineers, his sights were set on the crew’s ship, which sat on the landing bay at the far side of the hanger, it was surrounded by half a dozen or so engineers, who seemed to be busy working away trying to open up the cargo bay door, the General approached a troop that was standing ten feet from the cargo bay door on the crew’s ship,
“Report!” The General stated firmly,
“Oh, Ah, Err.” The trooper stammered,
The General snarled, “Stop stammering!” He growled angrily,
“Sorry sir!” The trooper said apologetically, “Well, the engineers are having a few problems!”
The General growled angrily as he strode past him, “You!” He shouted as he walked over to a short and very dirty, female engineer,
“Yes sir?” The engineer asked,
“What’s the problem?”
“We’ve broken the encryption on the cargo bay door…”
“So what’s the problem?” The General snapped,
“Well sir!” She stammered as she pushed up her glasses, “We’ve detected a some sort of coolant leak.”
“So?”
“Well we can’t just open the door till we know if the coolant is toxic!”
“I don’t care! The queen wants the contents of that cargo bay NOW!”
“But…” She stammered,
“Open it!” The General said angrily as he turned away from her and walked back over to the guard,
The engineer sighed in frustration, “Right guy’s we’re opening her up!” She shouted as she approached the ship,
“What about the coolant?” The engineer that was working away at the control pad asked,
“We’ve orders to go in now! Prepare to open her up on my mark!” She commanded as she turned to a team of engineers that were wearing environmental suits, “Right, I want you guys to go in first, isolate the leak. I want you to keep an open comm. channel, at the first sign of trouble I want you all out, Okay?” The team of engineers nodded nervously, “Good, get in position!”
The team moved into position in front of the bay door, before fixing their helmets on, “Ready!” The team leader shouted,
“Okay open her up!” The female engineer shouted as she backed away from the door,
The engineer at the control panel pushed three buttons and backed away quickly.

The bay ramp hissed loudly as the seal broke, smoke billowed from all sides of the ramp as it slowly lowered, more smoke flooded from the entrance as the ramp fully opened. The ship’s interior was pitch black, although through all the smoke, light probably wouldn’t have made a difference, a quiet hiss was the only audible noise coming from the ship,
The female engineer lifted a small communication device up to her mouth, “Ready?” She asked into the communicator,
“Yes!” The engineering team responded quickly,
“Okay, good luck!” She said,
The team moved forward cautiously, each member of the team turned on a set of small lights on their helmets and slowly walked up the ramp, “Jenkins, go left, Watson, go right!” The team leader said,
“Aye sir!” They both said in unison, as they moved to their respective positions,
The team disappeared into the smoke, “I’ve found the leak!” Jenkins said calmly after a brief pause, “It’s just a coolant pipe, it’s not toxic! I’m turning it off!”
The female engineer sighed with relief, “Well done, move out!”
“Hold on!” The voice of the team leader said over the intercom, “I think I see something!”
“What is it?” Another voice said curiously,
“I’m not sure!” He answered, “Oh, my…..” He screamed, “It’s, AHHHHHHHHH!” His voice stopped,
“What the!” Another voice shrieked,
“Hazard team!” The female engineer screamed, “Come in!”
The intercom screamed into life, scream after scream, then, silence, The General moved forward, raising his rifle, several troopers moved forward behind him,
“What’s going on?” He asked the engineer curiously, without taking his eyes off the door,
The engineer stood, silently and shaking, “Hazard team?” She squeaked quietly,
The General growled, “Move forward!” He said as he waved his hand at the troopers, who all spread out and crouched down, pointing their rifles at the doorway, “Hold it!” The General shouted as he squinted at the smoke, “What is that?” He asked,
The engineer rubbed her face with her hands, “I’m not sure!” She said as she lowered her hands,
A dark figure moved erratically, the troopers raised there rifles nervously,
“Hold your fire!” The General said firmly as he took aim himself,
The figure slowly emerged from the smoke, Jenkins came stumbling from the smoke, his suit was torn across the chest, the once white fabric was stained red, his visor smashed, “Jenkins!” The female engineer shouted as she ran towards the door way,

“Stop!” The General shouted as he tried to grab her,
The engineer was too quick, she ran past the troopers and reached Jenkins just as he fell to the ground at the base of the ramp, “What happened?” She asked as she examined the wounds on his body,
“Urgggg!” Jenkins moaned painfully as he jerked violently,
She moved the smashed plastic away from the visor, revealing Jenkins cut and shattered face, his left eye had been completely destroyed by a piece of plastic embedded in his face, “Jenkins…” She squeaked as he stopped breathing, a tear fell from her eye’s as she looked over to the General, “He’s dead!” A shrill cry came from the cargo bay, the engineer leapt to her feet, “Watson, Anderson, Lucas!” She yelled as she ran towards the cargo bay.

She disappeared into the smoke, a long pause ensued, the troopers crouched apprehensively, their gun’s shaking nervously in their hands. The engineer screamed as her body was flung from the smoke, a small creature leapt from the smoke, it’s claws gleaming in the light, it lunged forward, striking at the troopers,
“Aggggg!” a trooper yelled as his chest was split open, the creature leapt back,
The General gasped in shock, “FIRE!” He yelled loudly as he took a shot,
The creature leapt out the way of all the shots, three more creatures leapt from the ship, swiping at the troopers with their claws, the helpless troopers screamed in pain as one by one they fell the ground,
“Move back!” The General said as he moved forward to provide covering fire, “Agggggggg! Die!” He yelled angrily as he took shot after shot. The troopers stumbled backwards as they tried to escape. The creatures continued to leap forward menacingly.

Three deck’s below, the crew sat in a large cell in the brig, the cell was protected by a force field which hummed imposingly and every now and then a green flash leapt across the invisible wall. The rest of the room appeared to be one piece, the only break in the room was a tiny grated hatch in the ceiling which sat in the middle of several rows of the white removable panels that were used throughout the ship, the vent was only three inches wide, so crawling through it wasn’t really an option. There were two other cells in the room, both were empty however, and the only person in the room was a man, who was sleeping at a control desk on the far side of the room,
Frank lay on the small bed in the corner of the cell, “Well this is just great isn’t it?” He sniped sarcastically,
Susan and Anna were busy playing cards with each other on the bed beside Frank, “It could be worse!” Anna said calmly as she studied her hand,
Frank rolled over and looked at the pair, “How?” He asked,
Anna chuckled, “You could have this hand!“ Anna coyly showed Frank her hand,
“That’s not too bad!” Frank said as he turned over onto his back so he was looking at the ceiling,
“At least we’re alive!” Anna said reassuringly, “I’ll take two!” she added as she put two of her cards down of the mattress,
“Are we going to escape?” Susan asked as she passed two cards over,
“I suppose we should try!” Frank said as he counted the number of panels on the roof, “Well, that is as long as Artok doesn’t get us killed first!”
Artok was striding back and forth in front of the force field, “Shut up!” He sniped,
Frank sat up and looked over at Artok, “What are you doing anyway?”
“I’m thinking!” Artok said angrily,
Frank hummed, “Well we’re saved then!” He added sarcastically,
Artok looked over and growled, “Well if you’re so smart how are we going to escape?”
“Well I can tell you one thing!” Frank said as he looked over at Susan and Anna, “We’re not going to get out of this cell!”
“How do you know?” Artok snapped,
“This is a top of the line brig, it’s escape proof!” Susan said as she took a card from the deck, “What have you got?” She asked Anna,
“Four kings!” Anna said smugly,
“Good hand!” Susan said, “I’ve got four aces!” She added, even more smugly than Anna,
Frank burst out laughing, “I don’t know how she does that!”
“Skill!” Susan said as she put the cards back in the deck,
“Yeah a likely story!” Anna said accusingly,
Artok growled, “If I can disturb you?” He shouted angrily,
There was a loud thud from the other side of the room, “What the….” The guard said as he woke up, almost falling off his seat, “Oi! Keep it down over there!” He said as he stood up and stretched,
Frank swung his feet of the bed and sat back against the wall, “Hey!” He shouted over at the guard, “How long have you been here?” He added as the guard was making his way over to the cell,
“A little over two years, I got my collar off three weeks ago.” The guard paused as he approached the cell, “Why do you want to know?”
Frank raised his arms and stretched, “Why haven’t you left?”
The guard checked a small panel on the wall beside the cell, “I’m leaving next week.” The guard paused as he entered data into a small data pad, “You see, the Central Alliance have a legal mining business, they send a freighter every month with surplus ore, they let anyone that wants to leave go with the freighter!”
“So they really let you go if you stay for two years?” Anna asked curiously as she looked over at the guard,
“Apparently!” He said as he pulled over a small chair that was sitting close to the cell and sat down. Susan sat squinting at the guard, who had noticed and was fidgeting nervously in his seat, “What?” He asked as he checked to make sure he was fully zipped up before looking behind him,
“Do I know you?” Susan asked curiously,
“I’m not sure!” The guard said as he settled down,
“What’s you name?” She asked,
“Golgi Lobanov!” Golgi said proudly,
Susan sat forward and thought for a few seconds, “Golgi!” She said excitedly as she leapt to her feet, “I was on a mission with you, Oh, it must have been about three years ago, we were travelling from trade station 34 to Siltar 6. Half the crew came down with the Diltonian flu…”
“Susan Gale!” Golgi chuckled happily, “I didn’t recognize you with long hair, what have you been up to?”
“Loads!” She replied happily, “But how did you end up here?” She added curiously,
“It was awful!” Golgi said as he rubbed his face, “But… to cut a long story short, I got drunk, fell over, landed on the manual jettison button for the engine.” Golgi paused, “I don’t suppose it would have been too bad, but we were smuggling ore through the fields.”
“I figured that much Golgi!” Susan said sarcastically, “So, how about letting us go?” Susan asked hopefully,
“I’d love to, but I can’t!” Golgi replied,
“Golgi these are my friends, Frank and Anna!” Susan said pointing over to Frank and Anna, “I’ll let you guess which ones which!” She added jokingly,
“Hi!” Golgi said, “Who’s this?” He added as he pointed at Artok,
“Artok!” Susan said angrily, “He’s the reason we’re here!”
“It was your choice to come!” Artok growled angrily as he moved over to the bed, that was furthest away from the rest of the group, and lay down,
“Ignore him!” Frank said sarcastically, “So Golgi, what’s it like here?” Frank added,
Golgi sighed thoughtfully, “It’s not too bad, it could have been a lot worse.”
“How?” Frank asked curiously,
“It’s simple, this isn’t the only ship, Senqual has a fleet of thirty battle cruisers. I’ve heard some awful stories about people who have stayed on the fleet ships. Your cargo must have been important if she risked the mother ship!” Golgi paused, “What was your cargo?” He asked curiously,
Frank shrugged, “Couldn’t tell you exactly, we’ve been lied to that much I don’t know what’s true any more!”
Golgi laughed agreeably, “I’ve been on my fair share of those kind of missions!”
“What is it you do any way Golgi?” Frank said,
“I’m an engineer primarily, but I’m an expert in force fields and shielding!” Golgi answered,
“He’s modest!” Susan said, “He’s one of the best engineers I’ve worked with!”
“Suzy!” Golgi said as his checks turned slightly red, “If you think I’ll let you out because you’re complementing me.” Golgi Paused as a guilty look appeared on his face, “I can’t let you out!” He said solemnly, “As much as I want to…”
“I know!” Susan said agreeably,
“What if you said we escaped?” Artok said as he glared angrily at Susan,
“You can’t!” Golgi said, “I modified the brig, it’s completely escape proof!”
“Don’t worry about it!” Frank said comfortingly, “Fancy a game of cards?” He added as he sat up and picked up the cards that were strewn across the adjacent bunk,
Golgi shook his head, “Not if Suzy’s playing! I still owe her three hundred credits from that job three years ago!”
“I’d forgotten about that!” Susan said smirking, “When are you going to pay me?”
“I’ll have the cash next month!” Golgi replied jokingly.

The main door to the brig slid open and General Poltious staggered in, blood poured from a large gash that ran down his face, the blast proof vest he was wearing was sliced almost completely in half and his chest, which was severely injured, was only just visible through the blood that was oozing through a large diagonal gash that ran from the base of his shoulder almost to his hip. He was dragging his left leg which had some sort of large clawed arm embedded in it,
“Turn off that damn force field!” The General snapped angrily as he approached the cell,
“General?” Golgi stammered as he stumbled to his feet,
“Open the cell!” The General shouted angrily as he removed his rifle from the shoulder strap it hung from,
Artok leapt nervously to his feet, “What’s going on?” He asked defensively as he approached the cell entrance,
Golgi entered the security code and the force field turned off, “Sir…” Golgi said as he moved in front of the General,
“Out my way!” The General shouted as he brushed Golgi aside with one push which sent Golgi tumbling to the ground, “What the hell was in the cargo bay!” He added angrily as he entered the cell,
“What…” Artok stammered nervously, “You opened it!” Artok walked towards the General purposely, “We…” Artok started, before being grabbed by the throat by the General,
“I didn’t ask for a speech!” The General sneered as he pulled Artok forward till he was only an inch away, “What was in the cargo bay?” He added calmly,
Artok croaked as he struggled to balance as he was lifted onto his toes, Artok made a few choking sounds, it was unclear if he was trying to speak or if he was just trying to take a breath, but either way the General’s patience was running short. The General growled, then, almost effortlessly threw Artok back across the cell, Artok groaned with pain as he collided with the wall before slumping back onto the bed, The General strode quickly over to Artok and put his injured leg over Artok’s throat so he was choking him again,
“General!” Frank said as he approached the bed, “Just calm down!” Frank added reassuringly when he was a few feet from the bunk,
The General snarled, and with his free hand he drew his side arm and pointed directly at Frank’s neck, “Don’t tell me to calm down!” He sneered as he stared menacingly at Artok, “I just watched twenty of the crew slaughtered by those things!” He said in a quiet, but extremely angry voice,
“What things?” Frank asked curiously as he slowly moved over to the bed beside Artok and the General,
“Those things you were carrying!” The General shouted angrily as he pressed down firmly with his leg, Artok coughed as he gasped for air,
Frank sat down, “I don’t know what you’re talking about! We weren’t told what we were carrying!”
The General snorted angrily as he lifted his rifle and pushed it into Artok’s face, “Tell me what was in the cargo bay, or the Surt loses his head!” The General said threateningly,
Frank chuckled nervously, “Good! I don’t like him!” Frank smiled, “But he’s the only one in this room who knows what was in the cargo bay, kill him, and none of us find out!”
The General glanced over at Frank, “Damn!” He said in a disappointed voice as he put his pistol back into it’s holster, before standing back up and limping over to the seat that was lying on it’s side out side the cell,
Artok grabbed his throat as he coughed and wheezed as he tried to get his breath back, “Thank you!” He eventually coughed out as he sat up to face Frank,
Frank frowned, “Shut up!” He said angrily, “What’s in the cargo bay!” Frank added angrily as he stood up and walked over to the bed, that Anna and Susan were standing at, on the other side of the room,
Susan looked over at the wounds on the General before walked towards the cell entrance, “That looks bad!” She said nervously as she approached the General, who was now slumped on the seat, “I’m a doctor!” She added as she stepped out the cell with her arms raised in the air,
The General glared at her untrustingly as he griped his rifle in his arms, “Fine!” He said eventually as he summoned her over,
Susan removed a small red emergency medical kit that was hanging on the wall out side the cell, then approached the General and bent down and started to work on the wound on his chest, “What happened?” She asked nervously as she looked into the Generals emotionless eyes,
“Those things in the cargo bay! They killed my men!” The General said angrily, “Start talking Surt!” He added loudly after a brief pause,
Artok sat thinking, sweat was now running down his pale red face, “It’s…” He stammered, “It’s…”
The General snarled, “Speak!” He yelled loudly, his voice echoed loudly around the room,
Artok stood up, “I work for Syn-Tec!” He said, trying to sound confident,
“We know!” Anna snipped as she lit a cigar, “Cut the crap!”
Artok glared at her angrily, “Any way!” He eventually said, “I don’t just work for Syn-Tec, I work in a special division of Syn-Tec. I’m in charge of synthetic weapons research!”
Frank sighed angrily, “I told you!” He snipped,
“Let me talk!” Artok shouted angrily as his face changed from the dull, pale red to a slight shade of pink,
Frank stood up and stared at Artok, “Damn Surt’s, I….”
The General raised his rifle and fired, the energy pulse flew from his gun and made contact with the cell wall between Artok and Frank, the impact made a loud blast as the white wall was charred black, “Next shot won’t miss!” He sneered menacingly as Frank and Artok sat back down on their beds,
Artok coughed thoughtfully, “For the last couple of years we’ve been working on new forms of synthetic proteins, it was hoped we could create synthetic super viruses.” Artok paused nervously as he looked around the cell, “We discovered something unexpected. We found by merging the proteins we could create, synthetic DNA. We then started work on Project Dark Shadow!”
“So what!” The General barked impatiently,
Artok smiled sarcastically at the General, “Project Dark Shadow! Is what you saw in the cargo bay!” He added smugly, “We created synthetic warriors, they’re faster, smarter, stronger and more aggressive than any creature in the galaxy.” Artok looked at the clawed arm in the General’s leg, “I see you’ve one of the clawed arms!” He said curiously, “The creatures have two normal hands.” Artok held up his own hand, “But they have long exposed claws protruding from there knuckles which they can use as a close up weapon. The arm you see embedded in the Generals leg is one of two armed claws the creature has on it’s shoulders, these can move in any direction, striking down with enough force to rip the hull of a ship apart, they have a low centre of gravity which allows them to move in ways nothing else can.” Artok paused as he coughed,
“How many are there?” Frank asked morbidly,
“Four!” Artok replied,
“Three!” The General interrupted,
Artok looked over at the General in surprise, “You killed one?”
“Yes!” The General said proudly, as Susan pulled the arm from his leg, the Generals blood oozed from the large open gash as a pale white gunk dropped from the severed arm,
“How did you kill it?” Artok stammered nervously,
“I blew it’s damn head off!” The General sneered viciously as he stroked his rifle,
“Good!” Artok said as he calmed down, “It’s the only way to kill them, if injured, or if a limb is separated, they will heal themselves very quickly, you need to kill the brain to kill the beast.”
“How do we find them?” The General asked,
“The problem is, their skin is designed to absorb any kind of sensor, it makes them invisible to all your sensors.” Artok said as he smiled nervously at the General, who understandably didn’t look too pleased,
“Any thing else you want to tell us?” The General sniped sarcastically,
“There skin is pigmented with a dye, this allows the creatures to merge into any dark background, it makes them almost invisible to the eye, that’s why we called them Dark Shadows!”
“You said they are smart!” Frank added as he sat forward on the bed, “How smart?”
“We’re lucky!” Artok said, “The creatures need to be programmed with commands and intelligence, so these are operating on there basic pre programmed instincts!”
“Which are?” Frank interrupted abruptly,
Artok growled angrily, “Kill the enemy, secure a power source, disable, or destroy the enemy ship and wait for further orders!”
“How do the creatures know who the enemy is?” Anna asked curiously,
“Well, friendly soldiers are going to be equipped with special implants to identify them from the enemy!” Artok said sadly,
“Let me guess!” Anna said, “We don’t have any implants!”
“That’s right!” Artok agreed glumly, “The implants were sent a month ago with a genuine transport, the creatures were sent alone in case we were caught by the Patrols.”
“That way!” Frank said, “When the Patrols opened the cargo bay they would be slaughtered.”
“That’s right!” Artok agreed, “We need to get to the bridge!” Artok said as he stood up,
“We?” The General sneered as he pointed his rifle at Artok, “What we?”
“You need me! I’m the only one that can help you!” Artok said nervously, “The creatures are built with a few minor defects.”
“Which are?” The General asked,
“They need power, more specifically, mini plasma rods, but they can absorb plasmatic radiation through their skin to recharge their cells in case of emergencies. This means they’ll head to engineering after they try to secure the bridge. The second of the defects is a purposeful implant in their brain, it’s a self destruct mechanism, it can only be triggered from a remote control, but I left it on the ship. The final defect is a glitch in their stealth armour, it is possible to modify your hand sensors to detect them, but only from a very limited range.”
“How limited?” Frank asked,
“A hundred feet or so!” Artok replied,
“That’s not too bad!” Frank said sarcastically.
“That should do you!” Susan said as she finished sealing the wound on the Generals face,
The General looked blankly at Susan, unsure if he should thank the prisoner or not, “Thanks!” He eventually said as he stood up and stepped forward towards the cell. Before he could say anything the lights went out. An emergency siren sounded as the emergency lights came on,
“They’re in the computer!” Artok said nervously as he moved towards the cell exit,
“What do you mean?” The General said as he looked around the room nervously,
“I mean they’ve interfaced with your mainframe. They can’t do much damage because they’ve not been programmed with any of the hacking software we designed for them, but they can shut off a lot of your systems, make it difficult for you to get around. They’re heading for the bridge.” Artok paused, “Let me help, we’re both in the same boat here!”
The General sneered untrustingly at Artok as he moved over to a small intercom that was on the wall beside the cell, “Bridge!” He said as he pushed some buttons,
“Bridge here!” A male voice said through some interference,
“Status?” The General asked,
“We’ve had a major power failure, internal sensors are offline, so are the lifts!” The man replied,
“We’ve a major incident here, get Queen Senqual safe!” The General ordered, “I’m on my way to the bridge now!” He added, waiting for a response, “Bridge?” He shouted angrily,
“Good idea!” Frank said sarcastically, “If the intercom doesn’t work, shout loud enough for them to hear you!”
The General glared over at Frank, “Shut it!” He said angrily,
“General?” The man’s voice said eventually, “We’re having…intercom…system…breakdown…” The voice crackled through the ever growing interference,
“Seal off the bridge!” The General snapped,
“Command….” The interference increased, “Can you hear me? There’s something!” The voice said in a panic, as several weapon blasts reverberated in the background, “AHHHHHH!” The intercom went dead,
“Bridge!” The General shouted several times as he punched the intercom, “Guard!” he screamed angrily at Golgi, who had made his way back to his desk at the opposite side of the room,
“Y…Yes Sir?” Golgi said nervously,
“Give the prisoners their weapons back.” The General said solemnly “We’re going to the bridge.”