1/30/2068 (military calendar)

CIA-operated Starship, Lunar-Mars Trajectory

*****

Staring at the magnetic chess board, the US Army Captain, Matthew Ryder, picked up the black knight figurine and moved it to the side, taking out his opponent's pond.

"Bad idea," King said with a confident tone.

Warrant Officer 1 Rommel King took his queen and intently slowly dragged the figurine across the board until it aimed toward his captain. He then looked up and smirked, confident with his move.

Ryder carefully stared at the chess board as he tried to plot his next move. Seeing that his XO had successfully trapped his king, he leaned back and said, "Checkmate."

"Three games in a row," King said. "I have no idea how you became an officer."

"If you don't ask," Ryder said. "I am not going to tell."

The two stared at each other and laughed.

"Wanting to punch the person who came up with this game," Ryder replied.

Rommel King found his superior officer's annoyance humorous. "Welcome to the job, sir."

"Don't worry, boss," Eger Wallace said. "You will get that redhead one day."

Looking over at the two Sergeant, Ryder saw him working out with his buddy, Bruno Barrios. The two are nearly inseparable, so the team nicknamed them the 'Twins.' The two of them were racing on the treadwheel, working on maintaining their form in this zero-gravity environment.

"You are hilarious, Eger," Ryder replied.

Ryder and King started their next game. At first, the captain forced his XO on the defensive. But with one move, Rommel King exploited the mistake and took out the captain king.

"Something got you distracted," King said. "You are usually better than this."

"I am just excited. It has been a childhood fantasy my entire life, and I thought I never got the chance to go to Mars."

King stared at his captain with a puzzled look. "Really? You didn't get enough sand and rocks in Iraq?"

"Close, but they are not the same. One is always trying to murder you, and the other is a place of wonder and adventure.”

“And which place is what exactly?”

Ryder stopped and thought of what he had just said. With a chuckle, he responded, “The sand color is different."

He then waited a moment to respond as he collected his thoughts. "I always look up at the night sky, looking for answers now, that otherworldly feeling you get when figuring things out? I think that is why I took this job. I get to see all these different places and test my metal, and going to another world somewhat represents that."

"Interesting," King said. "You could have always joined the Space Force or the Marines."

Ryder gave his second-in-command a look. "I am not that desperate."

The two laughed again.

Taking a deep breath, Ryder grabbed the folder that was hovering next to him from the lack of gravity. Once open, he reviewed their mission.

Before their retrieval operation, His team, Combat Fire Team-1 or better known as “Comanche,” was undertaking its first lunar training on USSF Base Lunex when they received their new sudden orders. Without any details, they were told to cease all training operations, board this CIA-operated spaceship, and head to Mars. They were to provide protection for a possible high-value package and bring it back sadly to Space Base Raymond, Colorado.

At first, the mission sounded like a standard operation, with the only catch stuck in a tin can for a month. The one thing that made no sense was the 'possible' part of those orders, which baffled the captain. How couldn't anyone within Space Command or SOCOM know what they are retrieving?

Rommel King was the first to express how the orders fell off; however, they had their orders, and nothing would stop them from succeeding.

Seeing his XO ponds advancing toward his king, Ryder decided to head to the bridge and talk with the ship commander. "It was a good game."

"Yes, it was," King confidently said. "Best to stop while you still have a savings account."

As Ryder unbuckled himself from his seat, he grabbed his fruit smoothie packet, which floated next to him. He then turned back to the chessboard, grabbed the bishops, and moved it across the board, checkmating his opponent king. “You are correct. My mind has been distracted.”

"You tricked me," King said, staring at the board. "Clever, but I still won more games."

"People only remember how the game ends, never how it begins," Ryder said. He then started to float away but stopped himself. "Rommel. Only my wife can drain my savings account.”

The Comanche captain pushed himself toward the ladder and entered it. The corridor was significant compared to the rest of the ship's central interior passageway. He floated in and closed the hatch before heading to the bridge, passing a CIA man in a flight suit.

Ryder noted the man was in a flight suit and wondered what he was up to while they were in the middle of nowhere. "Hey, is everything okay? Are we expecting something?"

The pilot looked confused and acted annoyed by the question. "This is why you Spec-Ops shouldn't be here. Let me mind my job and continue taking up space." The man pushed away, heading to the cargo bay.

Watching the pilot leave, the interaction baffled Ryder. He couldn't decide if the pilot was having a bad day or if more was at stake, making these operatives uneasy.

Once at the bridge hatch, the security guard allowed the captain to enter.

Ryder couldn't help himself and stopped, grabbing the railing and looking in awe at the bridge, seeing all the state-of-the-art terminals throughout the room, making up four and the commander stations.

"First time?"

Realizing that he was being spoken to, Ryder responded, "Yeah. Second time on a spacecraft, first time on something like this, this far from Earth."

The captain saw the CIA commander at his station with a big smirk. The two crews needed more interaction outside the formal introductions when Comanche arrived.

"What can I do for you, Captain?" Nelson asked.

"I am interested in more details about the mission, but first, is everything all right?"

Nelson turned to face the captain with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I saw one of your pilots heading to the cargo bay. I thought we were only halfway there?"

"Very observant," Nelson said, leaning into his seat. "Don't mind Johnathon; he doesn't trust any outsiders. In our line of work, distrust is a means of survival."

"I can understand. Why was he heading to the cargo bay?"

"To the point, I like that." Nelson looked at the screen above his station, and the cargo appeared. Inside was an Aether-class spacecraft commonly known as a capsule. While they are used to transport personnel, they are short-range without additional modules. They are not usually stored within the hull of a spaceship, "I told him to get our capsule ready to launch on a moment's notice. Just in case."

"Worried about pirates?" Ryder asked.

"I am worried about everything, Mathew. A lot could go wrong on a mission like this; worst of all, we are alone within the void. Especially with how little prep we had before this. When was the last time you had to be deployed at a moment's notice without preparation, and it turned out well."

Ryder thought back to his mission within Northern Iraq. The Republican Guard pinned down US and Turkish Special Forces. When he was a platoon officer of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the company was rapidly dropped to reinforce US Special Force operation with the Türkiye Republic in the formal state of Iraq. While they successfully prevented the Green Barratts from being overwhelmed, it came at a cost.

Noticing the captain's reaction, Nelson returned to his screen and said, "But yes, I am worried about an operational attack."

"Operational attack?"

"Don't play dumb with me. We both know Jack Sparrow isn't flying around in the void raiding spaceships. Space still needs to be cheaper for the average Joe to buy a capsule. Even if they could, where would they go?"

Ryder had the same thoughts. While space has grown dramatically over the decades, it is still young. They could go to only so many stations, habitats, and astro-outposts. Most are still operated government-run, and the private stations were heavily regulated.

"That means it has to be the IRA or CCP," Ryder said. "They have the largest alternative infrastructure to get away with that."

"Not that simple," Nelson said. "These so-called pirates might operate from their bases, but plenty of nations are allied with them. It could be anyone wanting to give us a bloody nose."

"Plausible deniability then."

"That is correct."

"I get all that. If you cannot compete, you go underground to undermine your enemy. I don't understand how they can take out ships without anyone knowing."

"What we do know is that they fire a drone that mimics the transponder of their target. Then, they jam their prey so there isn't a competing signal for Lunar Traffic Control to track. After that, we have yet to learn how they naturalize their target. We never found any remains of weapons fire, so ship-to-ship engagement was ruled out. We need to find out how they get close enough not to be detected. Some stealth technology."

"That we cannot detect?" Ryder asked.

"Desperation creates innovation, Captain," Nelson replied.

Taking a deep breath, Ryder realized how complex the situation was. He always wondered if these attacks were more media hyped or if the government was making a mountain out of a molehill.

"And before you ask, you wonder how this could happen. It is simple, really, history."

There was silence for a moment before Ryder realized the commander was waiting for a response. It seemed that this man was trying to test him. Or to see what he was made of.

From a historical point of view that the commander mentioned, Ryder remembered that an online history creator talked about how the old Imperial powers would sponsor privateers to raid against the more powerful fleet. A tactic that the world sea lanes had started seeing again. The more he thought about the subject, the more it made sense.

"Currently, no one can go against the American military in space," Ryder replied. "At least directly. So, that means they would have to engage indirectly."

"Correct," Nelson said. "I know you are wondering why I wanted you to say that. Wherever you are on the food chain, you must constantly adapt to survive, especially when you are on top. You never know what sucker punch will come around the corner. And if you ever find yourself below the top, be the one who gave the sucker punch."

“Like what you are trying to do,” Ryder said.

Hearing the words from the commander, Ryder looked out through the bridge windows, staring at all the stars. While he understood the terms, he needed help to connect the topic and their mission. Was he speaking his mind on current events or philosophy? "Thank you for the conversation, sir; I think I should get back to my team."

As Ryder began pushing himself away, he heard the commander say something. "What was that, sir?"

"Captain, you are not going to make the landing."

"What?" Ryder asked with a confused tone. "With all due respect-."

"This isn't personal, Captain," Nelson calmly said. "I understand why Space Command wanted you here. They wanted their eyes on the package. Not a spook outside their control."

Nelson then looked to the captain. "However, this is my ship. I will not be sending outsiders to pick up the package. I have not gotten this far in my career by trusting outsiders on high-stakes operations."

Feeling his blood boil with rage, Ryder stared directly at the commander to ensure he disapproved. However, the commander had operational authority while on the ship and was forced to only the order.

Realizing that the conversation was over, Ryder floated toward the exit.

2/01/2068 (military calendar)

Ulysses Fossae Ridge, Ulysses Tholus, Tharsis Montes, Mars

*****

With the exhausting journey from Alpha Base, Captain Taylor Miles couldn't help but release a loud yawn. Glancing over to the British officer, seeing the dark bags under his eyes, the look quickly reflected how everyone felt.

He understands the days before the automotive and locomotive inventions became widespread. It took people weeks, if not months, to travel between states. Sometimes longer if you were going cross country. While they were far more mobile than the wagon, the journey was still uneventful and overbearing because of the lack of speed and rough terrain.

Throughout their journey, it was stated multiple times that everyone here grew a new appreciation for paved highways.

"Please tell me we are almost there?" First Lieutenant Randall asked.

"We are about an hour and a half out," the driver replied.

"Thank god," Hata blurted out. "I am sorry, boys, but I am pulling the woman card here and taking the shower hot first. This man's smell has been driving me crazy."

"Come on," Miles said. "We don't smell that bad."

Technical Sergeant Kyomi Hata stared at him and leaned forward from exhaustion, plugging her nose, which caused the group to laugh.

Miles shook his head with a smirk as he felt relief that the journey was almost over. He stood up and looked out of the giant driver's window, seeing the red desert. In the distance, though, he could see the largest volcano in the Solar System. "Damn. That is big."

"We are just passing the Ulysses Fossae Ridge, sir," the driver said. "We are still pretty far from our destination."

The reality of what he was seeing was striking for Taylor Miles. Everyone had grown up learning about the largest volcano in the solar system and shown a picture of its size. Seeing satellite pictures and witnessing the scale with his own eyes was unbelievable. "As I said. Damn."

"How big is it?" Randall asked.

"Hold on," Hata said as she grabbed her tablet. "It is basically the size of Poland."

Feeling a bump as the vehicle drove over the ridge and started heading down, the two sat back down. The group began preparing themselves and their suits for the final stage of their journey.

Eight long days from Alpha Base, a day longer than planned. One of their vehicles got trapped in a dune, and the Marines had to pull it out. Outside that and the human drama from being stuck in a tight space, the journey had been uneventful.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

With the passing of ninety minutes, the rover stopped, with the driver confirming that everyone could offload.

Miles reached the upper cabinet and grabbed his helmet. After checking his suit, he ensured that the oxygen flow was optimal and that all seals were secured.

The ramp slowly opened, with everyone acknowledging that their exo-suits were functional and ready to dismount. The ramp felt like it had taken a century, and Miles could tell the group was excited. A small gust of wind flowed into them as the Martian air filled the vehicle airlock.

With a short, blinding moment, Miles looked out and saw the red sea of sand and dunes.

Hearing Kyomi Hata call his name. He turned in the opposite direction and instantly saw what she saw. The only sight that engulfed the landmass was the colossal volcano, Olympus Mons. Over twenty-two kilometers high, he now fully understood why nineteenth-century scientists named it after the home of the Greek Gods.

Miles heard his name again from the suit's radio and saw a man approaching. On the HUD, a display appeared and stated that this man was the head of the NASA mission here, Ellsworth.

"About time that you guys arrived," Ellsworth said with a Southern accent.

"Is everyone all right?" Miles asked, concerned by the statement.

"What? No," Ellsworth replied, then glanced upward with a complex look. "I mean, probably yes. I don't know. All I know is that your crazy military folk won't let us enter the facility until you arrive. So, everything is fine then. Fine and boring."

Glancing around the area and analyzing the situation, Miles saw NASA and JAXA personnel everywhere. Crates of equipment are scattered throughout the camp. Multiple teams set up a habitat module, drilling equipment, research station, and more. A truck with what seemed to be two small modular reactors or SMR - small-nuclear reactors that have been key to the expansion of Mars and urban energy.

The Marines and other personnel from the other rover wasted no time and started establishing a perimeter.

"Have you…," Miles started to say before his brain registered what Ellsworth noted beforehand. He quickly faced the man, "What facility?"

"We found this door within the volcano," Ellsworth calmly said. "Follow me, and I will show you." As the group headed toward the volcano's base, the head engineer sang, 'It was the end of the world as he knew it.'

Miles looked at Hata and saw the same confused look. He couldn't decide if he was shocked by what the engineer said or how casual the man was about finding an underground door on Mars. The two then gathered their equipment and followed the engineer.

As the group walked through the camp, Ellsworth spoke, "We discovered the door pretty quickly, taking about two days to drill through. Whatever that signal is, it led us directly where we needed to dig."

"That makes it easy," Miles said; however, the captain was worried. They were on borrowed time before other nations could discover their location or the signal, assuming they hadn’t already. "Let's get to it."

Once at the dig site, they saw a massive hole that was recently drilled through. They were going directly through the escarpment of Olympus.

"Be careful," Ellsworth said. "There is a sharp dip once you get inside. The tunnel reaches a wide subterranean cavern. We had to install a railing system to get down safely."

With the warning, Miles walked through the tunnel. It was uncomfortably tight with the spacesuit. The surrounding dust nearly blinded his vision, with the suit lights only deflected by the surrounding dust.

While not an excavation expert, he could tell the drill team focused on speed over the procedure. With the brass on your back, he couldn't blame them for focusing on results as quickly as possible. For long-term operations, though, they would have to redesign everything to reach the other side safely.

Seeing a makeshift sign with an arrow pointing down, the captain stopped and realized he had almost walked off a cliff. "Shit, he was not kidding."

Finding the railing, Miles hooked himself and slid down to the floor. While not as steep as he expected, if someone fell, it would cause serious damage and death if the suit was damaged.

Once he landed and unhooked himself from the zipline, he turned to face the other end of the underground chamber. His eyes widened for what he saw. A large, tan, artificial, closed wall with three lines represented a door.

In front of it was a sealed tent-like module that acted as an airlock. While not designed to be a permanent structure, usually used during an emergency or a short-term place for protection from the planet's hazardous environment during construction, they seemed to utilize the tent as a makeshift airlift to the facility door.

"So…, it's true," Miles commented.

"What have we stumbled into," Hata added as she approached.

"Something we have been dreaming about since the 1950s and now will regret for the rest of our lives," Ellsworth humorously said. "Welcome to Pandora Box, my friends."

"You're an optimist," Miles stated.

"Someone has to be around here," Ellsworth replied pridefully. "Whatever the reason why this is happening now, it will either be very good or horrible."

"What do you mean?" Hata asked. "Isn't this why you joined NASA? I believed this was every astronaut's dream to find evidence of alien life."

"You are completely right, my lady," Ellsworth said as he faked tipping a cowboy hat. "I would like to add to that. We astronauts prefer to discover things like this - not being called by someone."

Tylor Miles understood what Ellsworth felt. The feeling didn't feel right. He always expected if the first contact ever happened or if they discovered evidence of intelligent civilization, there would be excitement, wonder, and thrill that this new era would begin. However, that was not how he felt. He wondered if it was because they did not seek this discovery themselves or if it was some strange accident. The entire situation felt more like they were being summoned and that these events were being forced upon them. All he could do was hope that Humanity was ready for what would happen.

Once the captain could focus on the task, he saw three NASA and two JAXA personnel attaching wires to the door. He could already tell they were trying to power the door with their reactors. "Do you think the SMR will work?"

"This is attempted two," Ellsworth said. "We nearly mushroom cloud ourselves two days ago. If nuclear energy cannot power a door, then we are screwed."

"There is always the C4 option," Miles stated before heading toward the door.

"Nuclear C4," Ellsworth said as he considered the proposal. "I'll vote for that."

Kyomi Hata shook her head. "Americans…"

Captain Taylor Miles then joined the engineering crew that was working on the alien door.

*****

It took another Sol Day of around-the-clock work to make the final arrangements to connect their SMR module to an alien terminal. To Captain Taylor Miles's amazement, these engineers figured it out, showing they were some of their national space agencies' brightest minds.

Taylor Miles stood as he watched the engineers finalize the power cables to the door panel.

The panel was what the captain was fascinated about the most. It had three crystal-like objects that, at first, he thought were buttons. With closer examination, he discovered they were not buttons but solid, making him wonder what they were for.

In addition to the strange crystal button-like objects, this flat surface was next to them within the panel with a large crack. If he had to assume, it had to be some display screen. This led him to believe that the broken screen prevented them from accessing the door commands or that it was dead.

"We are ready to go," Ellsworth said.

"How do we know if it works?" Miles asked.

The engineer turned to the captain and said, "I don't know. I guess if we are still alive in the next five minutes."

Thrilled by this man's sense of humor, Miles stepped back and took a deep breath. They decided to try to power the door again and hoped the panel was dead. If that didn't work, then the problem was far worse, and outside of blowing the door opening and possibly destroying everything inside, they would have to wait for more specialized equipment from Earth.

The captain saw five large power cables from the SMR that were outside. Even with the suits sealed, a humming sound could be heard as the humming sound from the amount of energy being directed through them.

Ellsworth walked over to his laptop and activated the generation. "If this goes south, I will see you all on the other side."

Sparks shot out from the conduit to the door panel.

Taylor Mile saw the display activated for what felt like a split second. The three crystals glowed; however, the panel exploded. Small additional explosions followed up as the conduits exploded.

"Is everyone all right," Miles asked.

With everyone fully accounted for, Miles walked over to where a JAXA engineer was, staring at the long cable line. To his shock, all five cables were smoldering. The power's urge destroyed them.

Hata spoke through the radio, "Sir, I think the power surge worked. We have an opening."

The two men stared at each other, shocked that maybe this worked.

Rushing toward the other group, Miles saw other personnel inside the airlock tent. Some checked the tent's integrity for any holes caused by the power surge.

Once through the airlock, Taylor Miles passed the small gathering crowd. Over the radio, he heard a few already celebrating and giving high-fives.

He saw Tactical Sergeant Kyomi Hata standing by the alien door. That is where he saw what everyone else did. There is a small gap between the door panels.

"We are in business," Miles said. "Open it."

Five of the engineers with crowbars began forcing the door open. At first, the door barely budged. As the group focused on the lower section of the door, it slightly widened bit by bit.

It was when they could get the lower two-door sections wide enough for a power crowbar. From there, the lower half of the facility door opened quickly and widened enough to allow one person at a time.

"That will be good for now," Miles said. "Let's go in and find history."

Once the expedition team gathered, a mixed group of marines, guardians, engineers, and other researchers entered the strange alien facility. The first sight anyone could see was dusk and darkness.

As more personnel entered the room, they fanned out. What they found was little. A few small piles of debris and dust concentrated in areas, making some wonder if they were the remains of some rusted mental furniture.

"It does not look like anyone's home," Ellsworth commented.

"It looks like this could be a lobby," Hata said.

"I agree," Miles said. He pulled out the scanner and adjusted it. "It seems the signal is down this path.'

He was stopped by Staff Sergeant Gifford, stating how his Marines should be taking point in this unknown environment. Seeing the logic, he agreed.

"Keep all contact to a minimum," Ellsworth ordered. "The last thing we need is someone to be inflected by something we don't understand."

"And don't wander off," Miles added. "What is how every bad movie starts."

As they adventured through the facility, they noticed how smooth the walls looked. It is some reflective marble made from some alloy. One of the engineers theorized that the walls were made of an unknown metal marble. At the end of the hallway, they walked into a fork in the hallway. Miles aimed his detector and quickly picked up the signal from the third option.

The expedition group slowly moved down the hallway - and passed multiple doors that were closed shut. Each entry had its own strange symbols and lines, clearly being some identification system. A detail from one of the engineers stated that each door had this square-shaped panel with two triangles. Each one had the same crystal, miniature orb, and display screen. Most looked broken from decay.

After a short debate, it was agreed to let one of the scientists press the two triangle crystals to see what would happen. Once the scientists did, nothing happened.

"It seems that everything in this place is dead," Hata said.

The thought crossed the captain's mind, and his fears were confirmed. He knew that his nation would want to explore and reverse-engineer this facility at whatever expense, and based on what they saw so far, this place would need an external power source even to start exploring - which would be fine pre-say. Just a delay. After that, they might need to reconstruct sections to seal it from the Martian atmosphere. The most urgent issue for him was that if they needed to get through a door, they would not be able to open it without force.

Miles looked toward Ellsworth to tell him his thoughts; however, he saw that the head engineer had reached the same conclusion.

"With your permission, Captain, I want another team to follow us," Ellsworth said. "If the lights are off, then we might need to torch through a door or two, and we don't have that equipment."

"Agreed."

Ellsworth placed his hand on his helmet and began speaking through his radio. With no response, he shook his head toward the captain.

They lost their connection to the surface.

Being forced to split into two groups, a marine, and a scientist, head back to the surface to reestablish contact and prepare an engineering team. The rest continued to adventure deeper inside the structure.

Hata approached and said, "Hey, Taylor. Did you notice that the hallways have been getting misty?"

Miles looked toward her with confusion. He then looked around with his helmet flashlight and found she was correct. At first, he assumed it was dust. "I think you're right. It seems that there is a limited amount of atmosphere down here."

"That means that this place is still alive," Ellsworth said. "At least to some degree. I wonder if anyone is home."

"I don't think so," Miles replied. "No skeletons so far."

"That was my point," Ellsworth said. "Something just isn't adding up."

"How much further?" Staff Sergeant Gifford asked. "My creepy meter is off the scale."

Seeing how dark and misty the facility was becoming, Miles understood the feeling. Everything so far reminded him of a horror film.

Checking the scanner, he held it toward a new hallway. "The signal seemed to be coming from here."

The expedition group traveled down the hall; they reached a circular chamber with three pillars. Excluding the hallway they were in, they saw three other doors.

Slowly moving the scanner to determine where the single was strongest. The device screen glowed brighter when it was pointed to the door on the right.

"I think we found it," Miles said.

Ellsworth signed with his team to investigate the door. Two men from both space agencies approached the door and pressed the panel, and like before, nothing happened.

"Try the crowbar," Ellsworth said.

Two Marines walked over, and the four tried to open the door, using the crowbar as a wedge while the rest pulled in opposite directions. While the door widened, it was barely enough to fit a crowbar inside. But as quickly as it cracked open, it slid closed again.

The group felt defeated, knowing this would take a while. Ellsworth gave the order to try again, opening it wide enough to squeeze something inside the gap, but clamped shut again. While they worked on the door, the others started exploring, securing the rest of the room.

Miles stayed behind and watched them pull the door open a second time. As this took longer than he wanted, the captain couldn't help himself, and his eyes started to wander. He then thought that he heard a strange sound over TEAMCOM. Nothing loud or threatening, closer to the sound of someone vomiting, quietly.

"Sound off. Is everyone okay?" he asked as he turned. "I want an oxygen check-."

Miles' body began to tremble, feeling his right arm shake from what he had just seen. In front of him was one of the NASA personnel lying on the floor in a growing pool of blood. The chest price of his suit had a hole, almost like something pierced through.

Then, over TEAMCOM, a loud feminine scream was heard. Without hesitation, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to see what was happening.

Technical Sergeant Kyomi Hata was behind a chamber's pillars, which blocked his view. She backed away and fell to the ground as if something had impacted her.

For that moment, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. As he passed through, he saw something gray and long fly past her chest, hitting her. However, it happened so fast that he didn't believe what he saw.

He could see that her suit was damaged and leaking air. One hand was on her chest while the other tried to crawl away.

He knew that time was crucial for patching a spacesuit in a world without oxygen. Everyone had been trained in what to do in a situation like this. Speed was vital; however, everyone remained frozen in place. All watching Hata's attacker appear from behind the pillar.

A bulky humanoid machine with two full-grown arms with burning red blades where the hands would be. The head had one visor-like eye and a plate where the mouth would be. The machine warrior was a giant, close to eight feet tall and twice the size of anyone here with their suit.

The alien machine-warrior turned to the rest of the group with flashlights. One of the Marines aimed his rifle and could fire two shots before the machine charged forward at Olympic speed.

One of the blades nearly hacked Miles, but could leap to the ground. He quickly leaned up and noticed that his P52 saved his life, which was not sliced in half. Hearing the screams of the rest of the group, he looked up and watched others seek cover while the large humanoid machine easily cut through the marine suit like butter, killing the man instantly.

Over the radio, he heard the fear in everyone's voice, asking what the hell that thing was and looking for a way to escape. Ellsworth was trying to get his people out of the room while Staff Sergeant Gifford was trying to get his other two Marines to counter the sudden threat.

Taylor Miles grabbed his M21 sidearm and prepared to engage the strange metal attacker but remembered that Hata's suit leaked air and only had moments to breathe. He got up and rushed over to her. Once he reached her, she was still on the ground in near shock, hands trying to cover the leak within her spacesuit. "Hold on, Kyomi, breathe slowly and calm down."

Noticing a leak from her chest, he patched her spacesuit; Miles grabbed a sealing spray and sprayed it over the damaged area. From the quick view, the enemy weapon didn't cut through her suit. Still, from the damage, the patch will work temporarily.

"Taylor!"

Not knowing who yelled his name over the radio, he turned and saw the machine warrior charging toward him with one long blade-like arm that stretched out wide, readying to slice the captain in half.

Attempting to aim his sidearm, the captain laid on top of Kyomi Hata to protect her as he fired with one hand. The bullets did impact against its armor but didn't slow it down.

His eyes widened with fear as he didn't know what else to do.

A sudden weapons fire came from the hallway as two Marines emerged, engaging the machine warrior from its flank. This made the alien machine stop turning to the new reinforcements.

Sensing the opportunity, Staff Sergeant Gifford organized his last two Marines, surrounding the hostile, and combined their fire with the reinforcements. This worked as the machine warrior seemed confused about who to attack next. Miles reloaded his sidearm and began firing at what seemed like an open armor section.

The alien machine-warrior stopped as one of its chest plates exploded open.

The machine-warrior fell to its knees, and the body impacted the ground with a loud thud.

Miles could only stare at the hostile corpse, aiming his sidearm toward it. He barely held his weapon steady, expecting something else to happen. He only calmed down when Hata grabbed his arm and mentioned that he was breathing heavily.

Staff Sergeant Gifford rushed over with another Marine and pulled them away from the corpses. Once far enough away, the Marine aimed his rifle at the machine body while the Staff Sergeant kneeled to him. "Are you okay, sir?"

The captain slowly stabilized his breath now that he knew he was safe. "Yes… yes, Staff Sergeant."

The Staff Sergeant helped Miles up, then helped Hata stand on her feet. Looking past the two Marines, he saw the scientists and engineers staying as far away as they could from the machine corpse, all looking terrified. He couldn't blame them as he wanted to get out of there. Sadly, they still have a mission to complete. "Damage report."

"Two dead, one wounded," Gifford said. "If it were not for the second team arriving when it did, we all would be dead."

"What the hell is that?" Hata nervously asked. She couldn't help but stare at the corpse, keeping her free hand on her chest as a reaction to where she was attacked.

"I have no idea," Miles replied. "Clearly some kind of defense."

"It must mean we are close," Ellsworth said as he worked up the nerve to get close. "Can…, can I get more light? Can you help me, Miles?"

Miles disagreed with the head NASA engineer that they were close. The encounter seemed too random and only happened after they were there for a while. This machine warrior likely patrolled or noticed them beforehand and ambushed them here. However, he was in no mood to start a debate now and just wanted to complete the mission and get topside as soon as possible.

After ensuring that Hata was all right, Miles let her go and approached the corpse. Two Marines aimed their weapons directly at the carcass while everyone else was on alert. He noticed this orange-like gel slowly leaking from the body when he kneeled by it, almost acting like blood.

"It looks humanoid," Miles said. "But it is a big sucker."

"Look here," Ellsworth said. "I see rust."

Taking a careful look, Miles saw what the head engineer meant. The pure, shiny alloy now looked more broken than in the moment. He also discovered a third-half arm with the top half rusted apart and what looked like a slot for a fourth arm, which must have rusted off. Most of the armor looked degraded and barely functional. The rest of the body part that collapsed was covered in this Mars rust, which explained why it broke with their combined fire.

"All right, mark the body to a retrieval team," Miles said as he stood. "We still have a mission. Gifford organizes a team to get the wounded and dead to the surface. Ellsworth, get team two to open that door so we can get out of here."

"No arguments here," Ellsworth replied.

The second team started cutting through the door with plasma torches while the dead, wounded, and non-vital personnel were escorted out of the chamber.

Everyone who remained was on edge, staring at any shadow. There was a short debate on where the alien machine came from, as no one could conclude, which sent everyone on nerve.

Thankfully, the time between first contact and cutting through the door could have been more fruitful. It took nearly two stressful hours to get through the door.

"Captain," Ellsworth said over the radio. "We have successfully cut through the door."

Taking a deep breath, wondering what else they might face on the other side, Miles walked over. "Are you guys ready?"

"With all due respect, you're the officer," Ellsworth said.

"I had a feeling you would pull that card." Miles checked his M21, a sidearm designed to operate in space and other worlds, and headed to the gap in the door.

After lowering himself, he used his helmet flashlights to get a good view of the room. A slight breeze of dust flowed toward him, making him lean back.

Realizing there was no danger in the other room, he slowly moved through the hole within the cut doorway. Once on the other side, he aimed his sidearm and ensured he was the only one there.

What he was looking like was a large storage room. Mars sand and dirt were everywhere, making him wonder if a hole was nearby. With a Marine and Ellsworth following behind, he felt safer and lowered his sidearm, replacing it with his detector.

The device pointed toward a dirt pile behind what looked like a large counter.

Carefully walking toward the pile, he looked for anything to sneak around and ambush them. Noticing nothing alive or machine-like, he moved a strange-looking box out of the way and got on his knees, digging with his hands. From there, he noticed an orange glow pulsing.

Reaching down, Miles grabbed the object and held it in his hands. To his amazement, it was a perfect sphere. The sphere became dark, almost empty, when it was not pulsing orange.

"Is that it?" Ellsworth asked.

"I think so," Miles replied. "Let's get out of here."