After the turbo elevator doors opened, Tyger and his team stepped out first, while aiming their weapons out. Patterson stood behind them. Since their task was to escort him off the station, his life was their main priority. If anything happens to him, his blood will be on their hands.

Across the red flashing, hallway were bodies of the dead. Tyger couldn’t believe how many lives they lost when the unknown invaders boarded. With so much security on the station, any attacker wouldn’t last long. Apparently, the invaders had enough expendable soldiers to fight through the levels. The humans prepared most Star Alliance bases for any attack, but they encountered nothing like this before.

“Those alien bastards are killing everyone!” Patterson shouted.

Tyger held up his left fist, and the group stopped behind him. His ears twitched at the sounds of snapping and clapping. Something was coming toward their position.

“Star Cats!” Tyger shouted. “Battle position!”

The Star Cats kneel in front of Patterson and aimed their weapons forward. Rila was the only one holding her katana up. Jage held up two little light guns in both of his hands.

Straight ahead, a bug shadow stepped out from the corner toward the light. It looked like a tall blue ant, standing on two legs, carrying a cocoon blaster in both of its hands.

When the bug spotted them, it screamed like nails on a chalkboard. Patterson sprints in front of Tyger and blasted his rifle as he yelled.

His light beams burned through the bug’s exoskeleton skin, until it fell to the ground, covered in green blood. Patterson approached the corpse and blasted his rifle at the bug’s face. “Die you son of a bitch!”

Rila approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “I think you killed it, sir.”

Patterson glared at her. “We don’t know that! It might regenerate when we-”

“Quiet!” Tyger heard more clicking sounds down the corridor. A dozen humanoid ant shadows charged the group.

Patterson got up and aimed his light rifle at the invaders. “Take those bastards out!”

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The Star Cats blasted their weapons at them. Each bug exploded like balloons; guts flying across the air and green blood splashing against the walls. But most of them kept coming.

As they charged, they blasted their cocoon rifles down the corridor.

Maya jumped to the front of the team and held out her hands. Her blue energy shield flashed and deflected the white energy blasts.

“I can’t hold them back for long!” she shouted.

Patterson turned to the Star Cats. “We need to get out of here!”

“I can take them all out if you lower the shield,” said Rila.

Tyger reloaded his rifle and turned to Rila. “You will not last. There are too many of them.”

Rila growled.

It seems like she has a blood thirst for battle, but Tyger wouldn’t let her risk her life for the team. Not when it seemed impossible, they could win in the corridor.

“Look over there!” Jage shouted. “There is a garbage compactor shaft over there! We can use it to escape!”

“But I took a shower!” Red shouted.

“Don’t be a goddamn baby!” Patterson shouted. “Let’s move it!”

He dashed straight toward the vent, past the elevator doors. He kicked it open and looked through it. “Peeeeeuuu! It smelled like my grandma’s diapers!”

He paused when he heard a clicking sound behind his back. When he turned around, an ant crawled out of a ventilation shaft from above. It dropped to the floor and charged toward Patterson.

Patterson screamed until a blast popped the ant’s head. The green blood splashed into Patterson’s face and he wiped it off his face.

Tyger approached him. “Always watch your back, Admiral.”

Maya approached the group backward while her shield blinked. “My power is getting low!”

Red pulled out his light machine gun as he approached her. “You can lower it now, comrade. I will handle them.”

Maya’s shield vanished, and then Red blasted his machine gun at the bugs. The bugs’ green blood splattered across the walls. More leaped over the bodies as they charged. Red couldn’t count them all, and he doesn’t know how long he could keep firing.

“We must move out of this section now!” Maya shouted.

Red turned to Rila and smiled. “Ladies first.”

Rila leaped through the shaft. Jage leaped through next, then Patterson and Maya.

“Come on, Red” Tyger shouted.

Red lowered his light machine gun and placed it on his back. He dashed straight to the shaft.

The ants charged forward over their dead, firing angrily. After Red jumped through the shaft, Tyger fired at the ants and jumped through the shaft.