The maintenance shaft was a dark, inhospitable place, the lighting on the side walls had failed and the whole shaft was encased in a prison of darkness. The only light provided was by the strap on wrist lights the group had been supplied with by the General before they had begun their climb, but that just gave them enough light to find the rungs on the ladder. The group had climbed eight floors, Frank, who was in the middle of the group, shone his light over to the wall, illuminating part of a large red number that was printed on the wall,
“Deck four! At last!” He panted as he wiped some sweat from his brow, “General!” He said as he stepped onto a small ledge. Frank couldn’t see the General in the dark, but from out the dark a bright light shone down on Frank,
“Get back on the ladder!” The General boomed from the darkness,
“General, we’ve a crew member in your medical bay, we’d like to rescue him!” Frank said sincerely, “As well as your own people!” He added quickly,
There was a brief pause, Frank could make out the echoed whispering of the General and one of his officers. “Sir!” The voice of the trooper whispered, “We may need medical personnel…” Frank struggled to hear exactly what was being said as the echo seemed to distort the quiet whispers, but it did appear that the trooper was agreeing with Frank,
From the dark there was a loud grunt of frustration, “Fine!” The General boomed,
Frank grinned at Susan as she stepped onto the ledge, “Thank you General!” Frank said as he bent down and opened a small hatch, “Susan you first!” and directed her through the hatch, “Anna…” He said as he started to help Anna on the ledge,
“Hold it!” The General demanded, “Do you think I’m stupid!”
Frank pulled himself to his feet and looked up into the gloom, “What do you mean?”
“Don’t play stupid! You and your medical officer can go with three guards.” The General paused, “The rest stay with me.”
Frank sighed angrily, “Why? Where can we go?”
“Shut up!” A guard snarled angrily as he yanked Anna back onto the ladder,
“Hey!” Anna spat as she regained her grip on the ladder,
“Look…” Frank sighed,
“Look nothing!” The General interrupted abruptly, “The rest stay with us, as, insurance, a little guarantee you’ll come back!”
“I’ll give you my word we won’t try to escape!” Frank said desperately,
“I know you won’t!” The General snarled, “Keep climbing!” He yelled, “The three guards at the back go with the prisoners, if they try anything shoot them and bring me their heads!”
Frank looked at Anna “I’ll see you soon!” He said reassuringly,
“Frank!” Anna said as the trooper behind her shoved her in the backside
“Yeah!” He replied as he looked over his shoulder,
“Be careful!” Anna said quietly,
“Like wise!” Frank replied before turning and crawling through the hatch.

The hatch led into a long gloomy corridor. Frank pointed his light down the corridor, there had clearly been a gun fight, scorch marks from energy weapons covered the walls, overhead lights hung from their sockets, and occasionally buzzed on then off, on the walls were what appeared to be several dozen blood stains. Frank started to turn to look up the other way, he swung his light round as he did a dark figure appeared in the gloom only feet away,
“Ahh!” Frank exclaimed as he jumped backwards, he drew his pistol, raised it and pointed at the figure, “Susan!” He stated as he sighed a breath of relief, “What you doing?”
Susan was peering over a hatch she had swung open to access the circuitry for a small flat panel monitor that was part of the corridor wall above the hatch, “Sorry Frank!” Susan giggled, “Give me a second!” She added as she leaned back into the hatch,
Frank leaned back against the wall to catch his breath, “They wouldn’t let Anna come!” He said panting,
“Hmmm, what?” Susan said as she popped her head over the hatch,
“I said they wouldn’t let Anna come!” Frank repeated as he shined his light over at her,
“Damn!” Susan said angrily, “How many troopers?” She added thoughtfully,
“Three.” Frank replied as he looked over at the open hatch, “They shouldn’t be too long!” Frank saw through the hatch there were several beams of light from the troopers that were climbing the shaft,
“Got you!” Susan said as the monitor switched on,
Frank stood up slowly, “Well done!” Frank said as he nodded his head in adulation “How did you get it powered up?” He added curiously,
“I used a spare power cell from my pistol!” Susan said proudly, “It won’t last too long!” She added as she closed the hatch partially and stood up to the monitor,
“Not just a pretty face eh!” Frank said jokingly,
Susan smiled at Frank, “If you think that was good you should see my needlework!” She said raising her eyebrow,
Frank smirked “Where’s sick bay?” He asked as he checked the hatch again,
“Let me see!” Susan said as she started to press the on-screen buttons, “Right, it’s…” Susan said as she looked at a map that had appeared on the screen, “Ahhh!” She said thoughtfully as she pushed a button that made the map zoom in on their location, “We go down to the end of the corridor, turn right, and sick bay’s…” Susan paused as she counted the doors on the screen, “The fourth door on the left!” She said triumphantly,
“Good we’re not too far!” Frank said as he walked back over to Susan, “Any access hatches?”
Susan pushed a couple of other buttons, “Three!” She said as she brought up detailed schematics of the sick bay, “Only one on our side though! The others are maintenance tunnels, except this one!” She added pointing to the map “It’s a vertical shaft that leads directly to the bridge!”
Frank nodded agreeably, “Good!” He whispered thoughtfully to himself, “Can you access ship information from here?” He asked,
“No, only information for this deck! Sorry!” Susan replied apologetically,
“That’s okay, power the monitor down I think I hear the troopers!” Frank said as he listened attentively,
Susan opened the hatch and pulled her power cell out, the monitor made a low buzz as it switched off.

Anna pulled herself on the ledge, sweat rolled from her brow, “I gotta’ start exercising more!” She panted as she took her jacket off completely and used it as a rag to wipe her forehead,
The shaft led onto a short corridor, The General was crouched just in front of the hatch, his rifle trained down the corridor, “Get out!” He snapped angrily, “Come on!” He said loudly,
Anna struggled through the small gap, “Okay, Don’t rush me!”,
The General stared at her, “Don’t tempt me to kill you!”
Anna smiled sarcastically at him, but decided not to push her luck all the same. The corridor only ran about twenty meters or so and the hatch sat at one side, to Anna’s left were a pair of sliding doors. Anna shone her wrist light on them, ‘Lift 01’ was printed in bold red letters, there were only four other doors in the corridor, three down the left hand side, and the fourth was at the far end, which Anna assumed was the bridge. Half way down the corridor, Artok crouched to the side of the second door,
“How you doing?” Anna whispered as she crouched down behind Artok,
“What…” Artok stammered, “Oh, right, I’m fine I guess!” Artok said as he looked back over his shoulder at Anna, “You?” He asked,
“Could be better!” Anna said quietly as she got as close to Artok as she could (Or more accurately as close to Artok as she could stand!) “We had an escape plan!” She whispered into Artok’s ear,
Artok scoffed loudly, “Was it that lame stuff about needing to rescue Wilson?” He said in a sarcastic voice,
“Do you have a better plan?”
“Yes!”
“Well?” Anna said after a brief pause as a trooper moved quickly past them,
Artok looked down the corridor at the General, who was directing the last of the troopers out the shaft, “Well what?” He snapped eventually,
“Well, what’s your plan?” Anna said angrily,
“None of your business!” Artok growled,
Anna frowned furiously, “What!” She snapped angrily, and too loudly,
“Shhh!” Artok hissed, “Look you weren’t going to…” he paused, “You weren’t going to let me escape with you!”
Anna scowled at him, “What! You’re the main reason we didn’t escape earlier!” She snapped, “We’ve got Golgi on our side, he’s found a part for the ship!” She added,
“Okay!” Artok whispered apologetically, “The only thing I can think of is…” Artok paused while he checked behind them, “If one of the creatures is in there, there’s going to be a severe fight.”
A puzzled look appeared on Anna’s face, “So?” She asked,
“So, when the fight starts we leave!”
Anna sighed, “Oh great plan genius!”
“You do better!” Artok snapped back
“I did!” Anna said defensively,
“Yeah and it really worked!”
Before Artok could say anything else Anna put her hand on his shoulder, “Shhh!” She said as the General quickly made his way towards the bridge,
“You two with me!” The General snarled as he pushed Anna and Artok, “I wouldn’t want you to try any thing if there are any creatures in there!”.

As Susan closed the access door, a beam of light appeared from the hatch, which was followed closely by a tall, muscular trooper, the trooper looked down the corridor quickly then turned towards Frank and Susan,
“What the!” He exclaimed in shock as he stumbled back, “Oh, Ah!” He stuttered as he regained his breath,
Frank grinned reassuringly, “Hi!” Frank said as he raised his hand, Susan leaned her head on Franks shoulder and made the same gesture, “Need a hand?” Frank asked as he stretched his hand out,
“Ah, Yeah, thanks!” The Guard stammered as he accepted Franks help, “I’m Major Terouln!” The trooper said as he stood up. The light wasn’t very good but it was fairly obvious by the sight of a third eye in the middle of his forehead that he wasn’t human,
“You okay?” Susan asked curiously,
“Fine, thanks!” Terouln replied confidently as another trooper appeared from the hatch, “I need to make something clear!” He added, “We need to work together, that way the less likely we are to die!”
Frank nodded his head in agreement, “That seems smart!” He added,
Terouln’s third eye closed partially and it seemed to glower suspiciously, “That said I won’t hesitate to shoot you if you try anything!”
Susan smiled agreeably, “I’ll do you a deal! I won’t shoot you if you don’t shoot me!” She turned again to Terouln, “Deal?” She asked after a slight pause,
Terouln looked over at Susan “Deal!” He said, “What are your names?”
“I’m Frank!” He said as he shook Terouln hand,
“I’m Susan!” She said grinning,
“Sick bay’s just round the corner, so stay close and follow my instructions!” He added as the final trooper emerged from the hatch. Terouln turned to the two troopers, “Rels! Markus!” He said commandingly, “Take point, hug the walls, we’ll cover your backs!” He added, “Frank, Susan, you’re with me.” Terouln paused as Rels and Markus moved quickly and efficiently into the gloom, Terouln moved forward and raised his arm, “Let’s go!” He said quickly as he lowered his arm and followed the troopers up the corridor,
Frank turned to Susan and shrugged before following Terouln.

It didn’t take long to reach the end of the corridor, the troopers moved over to the right hand side of the wall beside the turn onto the corridor leading to sick bay,
Terouln stopped and crouched down behind Rels and Markus, “Rels!” He said quietly,
“Sir?” Rels answered
“Check the corridor!” Terouln whispered,
Rels turned his wrist light off and peered round the corner, “All clear!” he said after a couple of seconds,
“Good. Move forward towards the med bay! Close formation!” Terouln ordered
“Terouln?” Frank said as Rels and Markus moved down the corridor,
“Yes?”
“How did he…” Frank said in a curious voice,
“How did he see down the pitch black corridor?” Terouln butted in expectantly “He’s got optical implants! He can see in the dark!” Terouln smiled, “Move come on!” He added commandingly,
Frank smiled as he and Susan followed Rels and Markus moved the corridor.
Frank had noticed a strange smell, which seemed to get stronger the closer they got to the sick bay, “Susan!” He whispered as they approached the Medical bay door,
“What?” Susan replied,
“Do you smell that?” Frank asked curiously,
“Yup!” Susan whispered quickly,
“Any idea what it is?”
“Yup!” Susan said as her face scrunched up,
“What is it?”
“A mixture of drugs and…” Susan paused as they reached the Medical bay door,
“And?” Frank asked curiously as they crouched down,
“And, Dried blood!” Susan said as she looked at Frank,
“Oh!” Frank said grimly,
Frank looked up at the medical bay door from where he was crouched down, the door appeared to have been ripped open, then forced closed, there were large holes in the side of either door, there was a large tear in the top of the left hand door. Terouln taped Rels on the shoulder, when he turned round Terouln pointed to his eyes and then at the tear in the door, Rels nodded understandingly and stood up quietly and peered through the hole the tear had left. Rels ducked down quickly and whispered something into Terouln’s ear, a look of irritation appeared on Terouln’s face,
Terouln moved away from the door and over to Frank and Susan, “We’ve a problem!” He whispered quietly, “Rels couldn’t see any survivors.” Terouln paused and looked over at the door quickly, as if he had just heard a noise, “There’s one of the creatures in the room, it’s standing at an open hatch at the far side of the room!” He said quickly as he turned back,
“Any idea where the hatch leads?” Frank asked,
“It’s an emergency access shaft!” He said firmly, “I’m fairly sure it leads directly to the bridge.”
Susan nodded her head in acknowledgment, “Okay, what’s the plan?”
“We need to blow the doors and take the thing out!” Terouln said confidently,
“Good idea!” Frank said agreeably, “How do we lay down enough covering fire though?” He added grimly,
“There’s an emergency tunnel leading directly into medical!” Susan whispered abruptly before Terouln could say anything,
Terouln looked over at Susan suspiciously, “I see!”
Frank rubbed his chin nervously, “If one of us went through the access hatch they would probably have a direct line of sight to the creature!” Frank said quickly,
“And we could flank the thing!” Terouln said thoughtfully, “Where’s the tunnel?” Terouln asked,
“I think it’s one of the bottom panels next to the closest door back the way we came!” Susan said confidently,
Terouln nodded in recognition, “I probably shouldn’t ask you how you know this! Should I?” He said “Wait here!” he added before creeping back to Rels and Markus,
“Frank?” Susan said questioningly,
“Yup?” Frank whispered,
“Never mind!” Susan said in a deep, quiet sigh as she drew her pistols.