A long, dark hallway was revealed. Multiple other doors led to rooms left and right, some of them closed and some opened.

Major Leo didn’t give the order to enter yet. He knew from Aquarius that the building complex had its own defenses.

The soldiers positioned themselves in a half circle outside, with Taurus in the lead, holding a towering black shield.

At this moment the tall man’s silhouette was suddenly illuminated by a red light. Multiple lamps turned on inside the building.

However, contrary to expectations no sound accompanied the activation. The flickering light created a tense atmosphere.

“Major, maybe the defense doesn’t work anymore?”, suggested Pisces carefully.

Leo furrowed his brows, looking past Taurus into the hallway.

“Taurus. Take one step forward.”

“Yes, sir!”

The tall man advanced without fear. When his foot touched the floor, he stood inside the building.

At this moment, a turret suddenly extended from the ceiling. It swirled around, aiming at Taurus. Its multiple muzzles unleashed a hail of bullets.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Bullets shot through the air, crashing into the soldier’s heavy shield. Even with the power armor’s support Taurus’s arm trembled heavily.

He gritted his teeth, veins building on his arms. But he didn’t move a single step.

However, the onslaught only lasted two seconds. The turret veered to the side. Bullets collided with the wall, turning into dangerous strays.

Suddenly a strange sound could be heard. One of the turret’s joints broke. The weapon couldn’t hold its grip to the ceiling anymore, crashing to the floor. A few more bullets came out before the scene fell silent again.

“Time stops for no one…”, commented Pisces with a look at the turret.

“I’m surprised it still worked.”

“Hey, Taurus, are you ok?”

“I’m fine. A few bullets are no threat.”, said the soldier smugly.

“Yeah, those vintage things shouldn’t be able to damage our equipment.”

The atmosphere noticeably lightened. In situations like these it was preferable to get attacked instead of moving in uncertainty.

Leo allowed his soldiers to vent their emotions for a short while before signaling them to quiet down.

“Aquarius, any movement?”

“No, sir.”

“Good. Let’s go in.”

Leo didn’t lose his cautiousness, directing everyone to go forward. Taurus was still in the lead. His heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway.

Looking at the turret below his feet, Taurus stopped for a moment. He only advanced after making sure that it could not pose any danger.

The soldiers kept their weapons raised. They glanced at the rooms to their left and right while approaching a spacious stairway.

“You said there were bodies below us, Aquarius?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s take a look. Secure the vicinity and then call the doctor over.”

“I’m sure he will be overjoyed.”, joked Virgo.

“Soldier, focus.”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”

Leo frowned, not commenting further as he followed Taurus down the stairs.

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They entered another hallway. It was almost pitch black, only the flickering red light from above accompanying them down the stairs, creating ominous shadows.

The power armors reacted automatically, activating a night vision not much worse than their sight in daylight.

A simple hallway with multiple doors came into view. Behind all these should be the bodies spotted by Aquarius.

Leo glanced at the first door to the left. Suddenly a strong pressure drove into his mind, making his body tremble.

“Stop!”

With a decisive command all the soldiers stopped.

“Did you sense danger, major?”, asked Pisces with a voice indicating that this wasn’t a first.

“Yes. That door to the left.”

“Any orders?”

“Aquarius, scan again.”

“Yes, sir.”

The female soldier stepped forward, holding her hand against the wall. An invisible pulse was sent out. Immediately her heart sank.

“There sems to be an additional entity, sir. It sits on a chair in the center of the room.”

“You didn’t detect it earlier?”

“No, sir.”

Aquarius’s words left the entire group with a frown.

“Use your ability!”, ordered Leo calmly.

Taking a deep breath, Aquarius nodded, focusing her eyes on the door before her. With a thought her vision changed, penetrating the solid structure before her. Even the power armor was ignored as a clear picture emerged in her mind.

She spotted a black body sitting in the center of the room. It was made from metal, clearly a robot. The longer Aquarius observed, the more information was fed back to her.

“It’s a robot. The material looks to be Black Sun Steel. Danger level at least C. It has been corroded by the freezing temperatures in the room.”

At this moment a pained groan escaped Aquarius’s mouth.

“Enough, Aquarius. Thank you.”

“Yes.”

Aquarius ended her ability and retreated to the back of the group, relaxing her mind.

“Your orders, major?”

“Those other bodies are valuable research material. Let’s see if we can draw the robot away and fight outside.

Capricorn, prepare a timed bomb. We will retreat.”

“Yes, sir.”

While the rest of the unit left the building, a lean man with a never smiling expression stepped in front of the door. With a flick of his hand, a small device appeared.

Holding it against the door, imperceptible vibrations were sent out, analyzing everything about the obstacle.

A second later he pulled away, considered the information, and retrieved a small bomb from his space storage.

He plastered it on the door, setting a timer of two minutes and calmly left the building.

The soldiers regrouped outside. Taurus and Pisces deployed heavy, temporary shields for the soldiers to take cover.

For a moment everyone waited with bated breaths, their weapons peeking form behind the cover, concentrated on the door.

Suddenly the sound of an explosion reached their ears. Underground, two red lights abruptly lit up on the robot’s face.

“Danger detected.”

An emotionless voice rang out. The robot stood up, its movements jerky from the cold. Messages flashed on the soldiers’ power armors, informing them that a scan just washed over them.

A few seconds later steps could be heard. A silhouette appeared within the hallway, its black armor illuminated by the red light.

“Fire!”

High pitched noises rang out as the soldiers fired their laser rifles. The robot shook. Signs of melting could be seen from its armor.

“Danger!”

Assessing the intruders to be extremely powerful, the robot immediately prepared its strongest weapons. It raised its arms, a blue light shining brightly from two muzzles in its palms.

Leo’s sense tingled heavily.

“Take cover!”

The soldiers instantly dove behind their shields. They were not a single second too late as a stream of mysterious blue energy erupted, burning everything in its path.

The surrounding temperature directly rose by several degrees.

It took a few seconds until the robot was seemingly out of energy. Feeling the attack subsiding, the soldiers instantly came out behind their cover, retaliating in kind.

It didn’t take long for the robot to be turned into a sieve.

“Stop! Good job, guys!”

“Quite sturdy for a thousands of years old robot!”, exclaimed Taurus, clearly impressed.

“I’m surprised our ancestors had such technology.”

“Well, after all they managed to leave this backwater solar system.”

“True.”

The soldiers talked among themselves as they carefully approached the robot on the floor.

“No signs of movement left. It should be destroyed.”

“Better to be safe than sorry. Aries.”

“Yes, sir.”

Aries knew what the major wanted from her. She stepped forward, directing her palm at the robot on the floor. With a thought white clouds appeared out of nowhere, enveloping most of it.

Although these clouds looked extremely soft, they were difficult to destroy and strangely gluey, sticking tightly to any surface.

Aries didn’t overdo it, just making sure that the robot wouldn’t be able to move anymore. Using her ability too much would easily exhaust her.

After the robot was dealt with, Leo led his subordinates down the stairs again. Not feeling any more danger, the major calmly opened all the doors.

A freezing air even colder than the atmosphere spread, escaping from those rooms. More bodies could be found within all of them.

Leo thought about it for a second before coming to a decision.

“Let’s cover all directions and ask the doctor to come.”

Back in the spaceship Delphi faced the tall Scorpio in a staring contest. But at this moment an electronical voice sounded through the ship:

“Message form Major Leo: Scorpio, Gemini. Lead the doctor to our position.”

Immediately the doctor’s eyes lit up like a child’s during Christmas.

“Haha, I won, Scorpio! Let’s go!”

The soldier only rolled his eyes. Without commenting he approached the cabinets and revealed his own power armor.

Soon, the spaceship’s hatch opened revealing three heavy black armors. Two of them emitted a dangerous aura, scanning the surroundings closely.

The third suddenly bent its knees. The spaceship shook as it jumped and landed outside, its head turning left and right, taking in the atmosphere.

“Doctor! Don’t move randomly! We can’t be presumptuous on a foreign planet!”

“Foreign? How is this foreign? This is earth, Scorpio! The land of our ancestors will finally welcome humans again.”