Shizuka sped down the connecting corridor and swiped her ID on the elevator console. She tapped her right foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator. After several seconds, she thought better of it and rushed down the stairs and slid down several ladders to get to the common traffic hallway of Sector N.

The Hallway looked more like an extension of the ship infirmary. There were tens of soldiers that sat or that lay on the opposite sides of the hall in varying wounded states. The distinctive smell of rotting flesh and dried blood was in the air. The medics and various evacuated personnel were rushing and scurrying to tend them or at least try to ease their pain. Those who are able to salute the Lieutenant did so; Shizuka returned it each time.

“Lieutenant Shizuka,” A burly, Asian-decent soldier called her attention from the blockaded end of the corridor. The Lieutenant walked up beside him and returned the man’s salute.

“Sergeant Parks,”

“Ma’am. Team 11 reporting for duty.” The Sergeant looked over his right shoulder, beckoning four worn out soldiers to stand to.

“At ease.” Shizuka eyed them as she returned their salutes. Three of the fireteam members looked no more than Twenty years old.

“We have reason to believe that GEOM shifters have taken control of the ship’s engines.” Shizuka briefed, “Knight Lyon and the Captain investigated the sector two hours ago. We’re here to extract them.”

“Don’t we need more people for that?” One of the young soldiers asked. The young female soldier beside him elbowed him hard. The boy took the hint and ended his query with a “Ma’am”.

“We do.” The Lieutenant replied, “But we can’t spare anymore of the Fireteams. We’re spread too thin trying to plug the breaches and protecting the essentials. The earlier we get off this GEOM-infested room, the more flexible will be.”

“That’s right Jenkins,” Sergeant Parks boomed with his deep set tone. “So quit pissing your pants. The sooner we get off this GEOM field the sooner you’ll shit yourself proper.”

“Right.” Shizuka second the notion (culturally shocked by the language of the noncom. She has yet to experience leading and commanding enlisted men).

“Lead the way Sergeant.”

They marched towards the barricade Shizuka saw earlier the pungent smell growing stronger with each step. The Sergeant knocked on it which resulted into three dull, metallic clangs. After a while, the lower part of the barricade lowered with a groan then dropped heavily on the hallway floor. When it was Shizuka’s turn to duck and enter the hatch, she realized that the makeshift gate was actually a Dim bay door and almost immediately covered her nose and mouth. The strong rotting smell was unbearable. She heard one of the guards joke about welcoming them to Hell and to not feed the animals because they bite.

When she fully exited, she saw Sergeant Parks was laughing good naturedly what seemed to be a joke; which surprised Shizuka seeing how he acted earlier.

“…Now tour guide Jones give me the sit-rep on the zoo animals.” Shizuka heard the sergeant say.

“The G’s attacked about…see ah..some thirty minutes ago.” The one called Jones reported through gapped teeth, “might go about again in the next thirty I reckon.”

Shizuka surveyed the blockade as she listened to Jones’ briefing of the GEOM attack patterns in the past few days. The makeshift blockade consisted of two machine gun nests that flanked the “Hell’s gate” on both sides and the scrapped Dim’s auto turret in a more advance position – which looked like a giant severed head from atop the caked bloodstains on the metallic floor.

Shizuka counted ten sentries. Most of them already wounded. Including tour guide Corporal Jones. Shizuka took note of his bandaged neck which by the looks of it something narrowly missed his jugular.

“..Madam Lieutenant…Ma’am?” Jones tapped her off her thoughts. She turned and was greeted by the lopsided grin of Corporal Jones, “If I were you Madam Lieutenant, I wouldn’t step in front of see here door.”

Shizuka followed the Corporal pointed out chin. It was a room on her immediate left labeled AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL DO NOT ENTER. As if Jones was reading her thoughts he continued to blabber, “we’re do you think we keep all the dead G’s holed up?”

A pool of blood trickled from the base of the door.

“We don’t know when the pow’r hold up. You don’t want to be standing there when it doesn’t.” Jones brandished again his signature smile, “and we’ve stacked them high enough that we’ve started using this other room here.” He pointed with his thumb the room further down the right side.

“Ok Jones,” Sergeant Parks boomed again, “Stop pestering the Lieutenant with your sloppy housekeeping and get to it.” He started walking towards the end of the hallway to the direction where the bloodied and bullet peppered metal sign “Stairs” pointed.

Shizuka then saw the soldiers in a new light. Their contempt curls in their mouths; the sneers being held back. They hated her. They we’re knee deep in GEOM blood and wounded and she was almost as shiny and as a buffed as a freshly issued UTSF boot.

Parks then laid a hand on her shoulder, might as well be an act of insubordination or sexual harassment but Shizuka let it go when she heard what he said after.

“Don’t worry Lieutenant. You have your own Job and we have ours.”

Shizuka nodded almost like a child being chided by his/her parents when the dead pet gold fish is going to heaven after you flush them down the toilet.

“…it’s a shame we can’t use explosives though.” Jones chimed once again as he walked towards his post on one of the machine gun nests. “Would’ve been much easier.”

SOLAR YEAR 2429, LEO SYSTEM, SECTOR ONE, PLANET RED 420 MOON ORBIT. 0200 HOURS, THE MARSHALL DECK 2 SECTION A, FOURTEEN HOURS AND FIVE MINUTES AFTER INVASION

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“Section A is just right ahead Ma’am,” Sergeant Parks pointed the steel nameplate after consulting his console. “Lieutenant Rivers and the two fireteams under his command were ordered to set up a blockade here right after Knight Lyon confirmed Shifter activity here.”

“I don’t think they were successful on their mission Sergeant.” Shizuka replied. She pointed towards the piles of non-bolted objects littering the section entrance. “Looks like they were in the middle of establishing the blockade when they were attacked.”

“That’s definitely dried blood.” Private Enriquez, The only other female soldier in the fire team was kneeling near the hastily strewn blockades. “It’s G blood ma’am. It’s fuckin everywhere.”

Shizuka nodded, “Stay Alert, they might be still alive or the shifters picked them off one by one.”

They inched closer towards the Section A doors and found the control board shot off.

“Either they locked themselves in there or we got ourselves a mouse in a trap, “Sergeant Parks mused, “Get on it Bacon.”

The technical specialist opened his tool kit and started working on the door console.

“Make use of the barricades,” Sergeant Parks ordered, tactically distributing the fire team members. Shizuka knelt beside Private Samuel “Bacon” Gordon.

“Bacon huh?”

“Yes ma’am.” The young soldier answered non-chalantly, expertly taking apart the console motherboard and docking his own console into it.

“Why do they call you that?” Shizuka asked, “Some kind of sarcasm towards your thin physic?”

Private Gordon, eyebrows raised, eyed her momentarily and continued on to his work, “Ma’am, you officers speak real formal you know that? As for the Bacon nick, they use to call me fresh meat during boot because the drill sergeant thought I looked like I’ll die first. Happened to save some fellas by arming some turrets before getting overwhelmed by some G’s back on Liberty and one of them started saying Saved by the bacon. The name stuck I guess.”

He tapped a few more wires and typed the access protocol on his console and the section A doors opened with a hiss.

“I’m in Sergeant.”

“Good work Bacon. Enriquez with me.” The Sergeant commanded, “Bacon and Porter protect the lieutenant.”

Bacon saluted and positioned himself on the barricade on the opposite side of the lieutenant.

Sergeant Parks signaled that he was going right and gestured Enriquez to go left. The private nodded and they entered the pitch black section A.

Shizuka watched the dark closely, her pistol at the ready. Shifters are very cunning assassins. Sergeant Parks was well aware if they were shifters inside section A they would have to seal it off. Whether or not him or Enriquez were still inside.

“Clear!” the Sergeant shouted from inside Section A.

“I got something in here sir!” Enriquez shouted back. There was the clang of boots as the Sergeant ran towards Enriquez’ voice.

“Son of a bitch,” The Sergeant expelled. The Sergeant’s rifle flashlight swayed on the metal floor as he jogged back towards the entrance. Shizuka pointed his pistol when the Sergeant came near enough for his face to be seen.

“What’s this Lieutenant?” he asked his arms up in surrender.

“You understand that we are dealing with shifters right? Shizuka entailed, “I need proof that you’re not a GEOM in human clothing. Bacon you have an x-ray in your kit?”

The private nodded and scrambled to find it in his pockets.

“No need for that Bacon,” said the Sergeant. He slowly reached for his knife on his belt all the while as the Lieutenant trained her pistol firmly at him.

“What are you doing Sergeant?” Shizuka shouted, “Don’t make me shoot you!”

Her tone made Porter and Bacon also train their weapons on their sergeant.

“Ma’am you need proof right that I’m not one of those mother fuckers right?” He answered, his knife now in his hand, “And we don’t have time to fuck around, so lets get this over with.”

The sergeant proceeded to cut himself on his left forearm and dripped the blood where his rifle light illuminated the floor. A crimson color pooled from the wound.

The Lieutenant put down her pistol and beckoned Porter and Bacon to stand down.

“So what do you have for us Sergeant Parks?”

“Son of a bitch.” Lieutenant Shizuka cursed, Enriquez and Bacon nodding in agreement from her flanks.

“Gags,” The Sergeant said in discontent, coining the foot soldier term for the slimy, dull-colored, GEOM eggs. Big enough to cramp a fully grown man inside---bodies that the GEOMs to be feed on and roughly molds into.

“Is this all of eltee Rivers Platoon?” Shizuka asked.

“Yes Ma’am,” Enriquez answered, “Exactly Nine, Two look fresher than others.” Kicking one of the two lighter colored GEOM eggs to his left.

“Amelia,” Shizuka consulted her console, “Any reports on Lieutenant River’s platoon before they were cut off after the blasts?”

“Yes playing it back now ma’am.” The ensign answered. After an electronic beep a static charged message played.

….found the shifters on Section Alpha….tssss…they infiltrated my men and may have begun their gestation process…It’s just me and specialist Petrov now…we’ll try to confine them..update soon.

Another beep followed ending the recording.

“Is that all Amelia?”

“Unfortunately that’s all Ma’am.”

“Ok, thank you. Stay on coms,” said the Lieutenant, her furrowed eyebrows betraying her anxiety, “What do you think of this sergeant?”

“Well in my honest opinion Ma’am,” The Sergeant said, gripping his rifle tighter, “Knowing they couldn’t destroy the gags with small arms, they sectioned off A and tried to come back and report.”

“Yeah, tried.” Shizuka agreed. “We can’t blow these eggs inside this ship and none of you have flamethrowers. That leaves only one option.”

The young soldiers looked at her waiting for her command.

“Throw them out,”

“Ma’am The next hatch here is through section C,” Porter asked, clearly dubious of the idea of dumping the eggs into outer space.

“Well unless there are AWOL incinerator grenades up your ass Porter shut your mouth and get hauling,” Sergeant Parks commanded, “ there is a cart on one of the barricades we can load them there and carry them off.”

“B-but they could fucking hatch anytime sir,” Porter relented, “we could get fucked any second!”

“We’re already fucked son,” The Sergeant retorted, “But we can’t let this mother fuckers fuck the others up on N.”

“Exactly,” Lieutenant Shizuka agreed, “Nine Shifters will significantly compromise the security of this ship.”

“So what do you have us do Ma’am,” Enriquez questioned.

“This is a dumb idea,” Porter complained.

“Shut your pie hole Port,” Private Dawson exasperated, pushing egg-laden trolley, “I’m tired of your shit.”

Sergeant parks grinned, “You know you’re being an ass when Dawson speaks up.”

“Is it really a good idea to split the team up sir?” Porter continued his tirade, “I mean transporting and dumping almost nine gags with three people through three uncleared sectors? That bitch is crazy!”

“Watch your mouth dipstick.” Sergeant Parks reprimanded, grabbing the private by the collar, “We’re UTSF troopers, and it’s not for us to reason why.”

“This is a rescue mission but we can’t ignore the threat of shifters fucking us in the ass,” The sergeant now nose to nose with the private, “If you want to run away be my guess. Just so you know it will be my pleasure shooting you for desertion.”

“He’s just scared Sarj,” Dawson appealed as Parks released the terrified private, “But I have doubts that miracle boy Bacon’s contraption would kill any gags that happened to crack while we’re out dumping.”

“Do and Die son,” Parks simply answered as they continued down deck 2’s main hallway, “Do and Die.”

It’s this is the route the Captain and Knight Lyon took Ma’am.

Shizuka double tapped her console to enlarge the highlighted route. Private Enriquez craned her neck over the Lieutenant’s shoulder.

“That looks like a nice stroll through a G-Trap if I ever seen one.” She commented.

“You’re right.” The Lieutenant agreed, “They know we will rescue one of our own.”

“They sure went all out for one B rank potential and one slippery S rank Knight Ma’am,” Bacon asked from the point position of their column.

“GEOMs would do anything to get their slithering appendages on potentials Bacon.” Shizuka answered, “I just hope we get to the Captain and Knight Lyon before they do.”

Oh I think you’re just in the nick of time. A prying voice interrupted their thoughts.