You would condemn us all. All for the sins of those who led us here. And you think yourself deserving to live. You who fled into the night and dared come back in shame!

Vadir shivered, the temperature in the room had plummeted creating an icy coat on his breath. That venom had come from a familiar voice. She had been an engineer he had worked alongside as they travelled through the vast reaches of space. She came to him now as a wraith would, a manifestation of his guilt and abandonment. A challenge to his resolve. If I could have done anything else…

A hand fell on his shoulder and it shocked him enough to turn sharply. It was Miller looking back at him. “You looked lost there for a minute.”

“It’s nothing,” Vadir said.

“It’s still trying to manipulate you.”

“It’s trying to do that to all of us,” said Munroe. “Our will can only do so much. The visions will continue to get stronger as it spreads across the ship. If we’re not careful we’ll all end up like Gregory.”

“Then all the more reason to get a move one,” said Jackson. “Sooner we’re done, the sooner we can put this behind us.”

“Amen,” said Mason.

“The shuttle will take us into engineering. My only concern,” said Vadir as he began leading them back the way they came. “Relates to what the AI said about the bulk of the Mortalis being holed up in Hydroponics. We’ve been lucky so far but that won’t last forever.”

“I wouldn’t call it luck. Something tells me they are more interested in getting out than dealing with us,” said Miller.

Vadir frowned. “We’re still a threat. It knows we have the Captain’s key. Even if the bulk of them try and breach the barrier surrounding the ship, some will have remained behind-”

The sound of clattering and low growls up ahead signalled the imminent arrival of more Mortalis. The Welcome Wagon knew how to fight them but this was quickly becoming a numbers game. The one directing the Mortes would do all it could to keep them from reaching their destination. The light flickered in the corridor and that was followed by a loud crash as a grate a few feet away became dislodged and met with the floor. What followed in its wake was a large, bulging mass of Deterrent Mortalis. Only one?

“Don’t give it a chance, fire!” ordered Miller.

The Welcome Wagon began their combined assault that kept the beast at a distance but even with their plasma weapons its hard exoskin was proving difficult to penetrate. A loud bellow came from where they had just been and another Mortan, sleeker in shape and more bestial bound forth. It used all fours to cover the ground like it was nothing. Munroe had caught sight of its approach and began firing off a series of shots. The creature soaked up most of them and lunged at the man, driving him back into the wall, and forcing him to use his rifle as a block for the Morte’s massive black claws. Vadir let off a single charge shot that blasted the creature backwards. As smoke curled off its grotesque body, Jackson in his more appropriate gear led the charge against the first Morte while Vadir and Munroe dealt with the second. The creature clasped its hands together and pulled them apart creating a small ball of energy. A psionic clap-

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The Morte slamed its large hands together and the small shockwave buffeted the two men while also having wider ramifications. The Welcome Wagon’s weapons stopped working.

“Vadir what just happened?” asked Miller.

“A psionic electric pulse, our weapons and yours rely on electricity to function. The pulse disables them.”

Jackson gave a wide grin and his exosuit shifted around his hands and arms to form metal blades. “Up close and personal it is then!”

“How long until our weapons are working again?”

“I don’t know,” said Vadir as he watched the second Mortan look on, its wide grin and grunts seemed to show it was laughing at them.

With no means to stop it, it gunned for Munroe who once more managed to crack the side of its head with the butt of his temporarily inactive rifle. The creature lashed back, catching Munroe and sending him stumbling backwards. This gave Vadir Kor an opening to try and overwhelm the psionic suppression affecting him and their weapons. It was all he could hope to do. He focused his power on his right side and lunged forward, caught between the real and the other side that had in the past only haunted his dreams. He was fast enough to see the Morte's lunge, slicing his psionic blade through the creature’s hand and sending it screeching back and much like how it has used the psionic blast to be disruptive, he wanted to try something he had only ever been taught about. He channelled the residual energy he had built up away from his projected blade and let it form in front of him, a large, writhing ball of psionic mass. Using his mind’s will he thrusted it at the creature. It had nowhere to go as the ball collided and exploded upon impact, showering them all in bits and pieces and leaving the monster to fall backwards to its demise. That left Jackson and his problem. Turning back to it, the big man kept the beast on its toes but for how long?

“I would ask you to do that again, but I’d like my Lieutenant to make it out of here in one piece.”

“I need time to recharge anyway,” said Vadir dropping down to a knee. “I’m not used to channelling that much energy.”

“Better start getting used to it!” roared Jackson as he slammed the large monster into the wall. “It just keeps growing back, god damn it!”

Jackson hacked away at the tough shell until he could stab the exposed weaker flesh. The creature tried to resist but nothing could stop Jackson from ripping its symbiote free and casting it aside. The creature lingered a little longer before coming to rest. The silence was only broken by the sounds of their weapons regaining their charge.

“Let’s hurry back to the shuttle before more show up.”

Vadir imput the destination and the shuttle lurched again into life. He rested on the console and shook his head. “We’re heading straight into hell, Captain. They won’t go quietly.”

Captain Miller stood close by and looked from Vadir to his men. “Well, neither do we. We’ll fight till the last. Even if you alone have to light this place up, do what you must. The Welcome Wagon knew this might be a one-way trip.”

“Did we? I had a retirement plan and everything!” objected Jackson.

“I wanted to live the rest of my days out in the Bahamas after this,” said Mason. “What about you, Roe?”

“I had plans to propose…”

Vadir looked over, he had been able to understand the humans a lot better since he had first performed a trace. He didn’t need to ask to know what Munroe was referring to. Before more could be said, the screen next to the console flashed red indicating a blockage ahead. The shuttle slowed to a stop.

“Mortans?” said Jackson.

“Vadir and I will check what’s outside,” said Miller. “If it were Mortes wouldn’t we know about it by now?”

“He’s right,” said Mason.

The doors to the shuttle opened outward and allowed both men to climb onto the main track. They approached the front of the shuttle and stopped dead, neither man could believe what they were seeing.

“Not just a Mortan,” said Vadir.

“A piece of something bigger.”

“The whole ship is being converted. It’s no surprise they’d eventually block the track. That’s why they’ve not been gunning for us,” said Vadir. “They know there’s only one other way we can approach Engineering.”

“Hydroponics…”

“Either through the main corridors or the maintenance tunnels, but with this blockage here. No telling what we will find.”

“We don’t have to like it but if we’ve got no other choice,” said Miller. “Let’s go tell the others, we're making a diversion into hell.”