Our two ships vented hot vapors onto the barren landscape. We’d successfully landed on 944 Hidalgo without shooting at each other—that was something, at least.

  Now it was Red Company’s turn to take center stage. When any ship was grounded, her troops became infinitely more important. Our Red Company men trotted to the airlocks, ready for deployment. Sergeant Cox’s 1st Squad had been assigned to remain on Borag for defense, while my team was supposed to join Lt. Quinn and a squad from the Teklution ship.

  After hustling through the guts of Borag, we marched down the ramps to stand in formation on the dusty surface of the asteroid. The Teklution people were half our number, and they didn’t look as tough, either. They all appeared to be tall and skinny—low-gravity types. They didn’t even resemble Mars people, who made up the bulk of our force.

  “I wonder what would happen if we challenged the lot of them to an arm-wrestling tournament?” Ledbetter asked.

  Everyone in our squad laughed, even me. But then I remembered I was the sergeant now.

  “Shut up, Corporal.”

  The laughter subsided, but we continued eyeing the skinnies on the other side.

  “I’m Lt. Quinn,” Quinn told them. “Is this all the men you’ve got?”

  Their leader, a tall, slender man with a sharp face, nodded. “Sarasvati’s accountant doesn’t allow waste. We are sufficient to defend our vessel. I’m Lt. Voss, and my orders are to work together with your pack of trained dwarves on this joint mission.”

  Just as these two were about to start an argument, Captain Hansen’s voice crackled over our comms.

  “Hold on,” she said. “I want Starn to switch places with Sergeant Cox. 3rd Squad will take over watchdog duty while the rest of you head to the pirate base.”

  I frowned, disappointed by the sudden change. “Understood, Captain,” I replied, trying to mask my frustration.

  Grumbling, my men marched back up the ramps into Borag’s guts. As we switched places with 3rd Squad, I couldn’t help but suspect that Cox had been busy complaining and demanding his chance to lead the charge.

  At security headquarters on the mid-decks, I took the opportunity as he passed by to ask him about it. “Cox, did you have anything to do with this last-minute change?”

  Sergeant Cox raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Starn, you know better than to question your orders. We all have our roles to play, and right now, 3rd Squad is staying home on a tight leash. You’ll be aboard Borag—right where your pack of losers belongs.”

  His answer only fueled my suspicions, but I figured this wasn’t a good time for accusations. I nodded. “All right, I’m relieving you of this post.”

  Laughing, Sergeant Cox led his men down toward the ramps and the pirate base. They soon joined forces with the Teklution skinnies and ran off into the craggy mountains nearby.

  Hours passed as we stood on guard duty aboard Borag. The boredom was setting in fast, and some of my soldiers began to complain.

  “Can’t believe we’re stuck here doing nothing,” Private Johnson grumbled. “If it wasn’t for Marek’s lameness, we’d probably be out there with the others.”

  “That’s right. He sucks. We all know it.”

  Marek’s face turned red, but he said nothing in response.

  “Hey, shut up and lay off Marek,” I intervened. “We’re a team, and we’re here because the captain assigned us this duty. We need to trust her judgment.”

  Before anyone else could mouth off, the perimeter alert suddenly blared, causing us all to snap to attention.

  “Enemies outside the ship!” I yelled, reading the computer’s alerts. I felt my heart rate accelerating.

  My squad—the only one left aboard—rushed to the ship’s belly airlocks, weapons at the ready. At first, we suspected the Teklution ship of treachery. It all seemed too perfect. Move most of our defenses off base, into the mountains, then deploy your real strength in a backstab maneuver. It all sounded so typical of Teklution—but we were wrong.

  “Starn, we’ve got incoming!” Ledbetter shouted, his enhanced hearing picking up the sound of approaching enemies. “They’re not from the Teklution squad—they’re pirates!”

  He was right. I could see them now, on the feed from the external cameras. God only knew how he’d heard them. Were they vibrating the rocks out there with their boots? Hell if I knew…

  “Look at those freaks…” I said.

  One of the lead pirates had an unnervingly elongated neck, allowing him to peer over the shoulders of his fellows and spot our positions. His eyes were a striking shade of red, which glowed menacingly in the dim light of the asteroid. As he moved, his head swayed like a snake’s, his long, thin neck undulating in a way that I found disgusting. How had they even sewn together a spacesuit for that circus escapee?

  I raised my weapon, feeling my guts churn. “All right everyone, lock and load! They’re trying to strike before we’re in position, but we won’t let them breach our hatches!”

  Another pirate passed close by the external camera pickup. This guy wasn’t a looker, either. He sported large, mutated arms that seemed to have a life of their own. The arms were twisted and misshapen. Muscles bulging grotesquely beneath the skin. Each one ended in a massive, clawed hand that could easily crush a human skull. The pirate swung those freak-show arms wildly. The sharp claws left deep gashes on the dusty rocks as he passed by.

  My squad formed a defensive perimeter around the airlocks. It was time to put our balls on the line and protect Borag from invasion.

  When the airlock doors burst open, it was a surprise. Sure, we’d been waiting for it, knowing it had to happen—even so, the speed and violence of the attack was a shock.

  The pirates hadn’t bothered with anything subtle. They just set a charge on the outside of the door and blasted their way in. The passageway we were defending depressurized with a gush of wind.

  A large band of mutated pirates poured into Borag’s passages. They were downslope from our makeshift positions. I shouted orders to my team, but they were slow to react. Most of them were so green they’d never fired at a real armed enemy.

  “Ledbetter, take passageway seven! Welks, cover three! Marek, stay close to me! Everyone else, hold your positions and shoot pirates!”

  A firefight erupted in the narrow passages. Laser carbines flashed, dazzling our eyes despite all the optical protections our helmets provided. We exchanged fire with the grotesque invaders. It wasn’t until they were all inside Borag, and had sealed the inner airlock doors behind them, that I could hear their guttural cries.

  The savage in the lead appeared to have multiple sets of limbs, each one sprouting from a different part of his body. The additional arms and legs were not symmetrical, giving him an unsettling, insect-like appearance as he skittered toward us.

  The pirate’s face was just as unnerving, with an additional, smaller mouth embedded in his throat, about where the larynx was supposed to be. Both mouths were filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth, and the two emitted guttural growls in unison. This created a disorienting cacophony that filled the passage as we tried to shoot him down and end his charge before he reached our lines.

  “Marek, watch your back!” I yelled as a pirate lunged at him. One mutated arm extended, but Marek dodged just in time. I blasted the pirate, destroying him with my laser carbine. I must have put forty bolts into him before he sagged down in a gory mess.

  “Thanks, Starn!” Marek shouted. His voice was shaky, but not quite panicked—not yet.

  A stray shot from a pirate’s weapon struck one of our marines then, and he cried out in pain before collapsing.

  “Man down!” Ledbetter shouted. “We can’t let them get any past us!”

  I glanced over at Welks, who was priming his flamethrower. “Welks, we need to push them back. Use your toy and force them to retreat!”

  Welks nodded, his eyes filled with a dark gleam. He’d been chosen for this, I was sure of it. Every firebug in the marines had failed a psych test along the way somewhere—at least, that was my theory.

  “You got it, Sergeant!” He rushed up close, and bolts flew past him. It was sheer luck he wasn’t hit in that single, exposed second before he unleashed a torrent of thermite gel. His flamethrower ignited the sticky mess, and intense heat and flames quickly spread throughout the passage.

  The pirates screamed in pain and terror as they scrambled backward to escape the inferno. Their retreat was chaotic, and we continued to fire, picking off the remaining stragglers. Within seconds, they’d broken and run for the exit.

  Finally, the last pirates who’d been too stubborn to escape fell under a shower of laser bolts. The passageway fell silent, save for the crackling flames. We had successfully repelled the invaders, but the cost had been significant.

  As we caught our breath and surveyed the damage, I clapped Marek on the shoulder. “You did well, soldier. We all did.”

  The team exchanged weary but proud glances, knowing that together we’d faced a serious attack and defended our ship. From this point forward, 3rd Squad wasn’t going to be called a pack of virgins anymore.

  Chapter 7: A Fight to the Finish

  As we tended our wounded and moved them to Medical, Commander Kaine’s voice buzzed over the comms system.

  “Sergeant Starn, the Teklution ship is calling for assistance. I want you to take your squad out there and render aid. Proceed with caution.”

  I frowned, glancing around at my men. “But, sir, we’re the last Red Company squad protecting Borag. Are you sure it’s wise to leave the ship with only Green Company for security?”

  Kaine shrugged off my concerns. “Green Company can handle defense, Sergeant. You need to assist our allies. That’s an order.”

  I sighed and exchanged glances with Ledbetter and Welks. We all knew the risks, but orders were orders. “Understood, sir. We’re moving outside.”

  We made our way out through the nearest wrecked airlock. Merek seemed particularly nervous. “Do you think this is a good idea, Sergeant? Seems crazy to me. We’re leaving the ship with just Green Company? If they lose the ship, we aren’t ever going home.”

  Ledbetter snorted. “Don’t worry, kid. Kaine says they can handle it, so that makes it all his problem. Stop pissing in your suit about it.”

  Merek nodded hesitantly, clearly unconvinced.

  We stepped into the airlock, and our suits hissed as they sealed themselves against the vacuum of space. I looked around at my squad. Everyone was grim-faced—but they were game.

  “All right, team,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “We’re going to help the Teklution fucks. Why? Because that’s what we’ve been ordered to do. Keep your peckers and your rifles high and straight, and we’ll get through this bullshit.”

  With a final nod from my boys, I hit the airlock release. We stepped out onto the desolate surface of 944 Hidalgo, looking every which way for trouble.

  The cold emptiness of space enveloped us like a blanket. Instantly, we were cut off from most of the sounds we’d been hearing. Hissing oxygen, tiny fans running over heating elements, crunching boots, and our own labored breathing. That was it.

  We made our way across the barren surface of the centaur rock. The asteroid’s weak gravity made each step feel like a slow motion ballet. Soon, we walked out of Borag’s long shadow and approached Sarasvati. The two ships were both the size of buildings. Their burnished metal hulls gleamed with faint light from distant stars.

  The sky above was a vast carpet of blackness. Now and then, a twinkling star gleamed. Our sun was a mere speck of light in the distance. It cast a pale, cold glow over the desolate landscape. Far away, we could see the faint outlines of other planets, but their surfaces were blurred by the distance.

  We continued our cautious trek across the asteroid’s surface—but we weren’t sprinting toward the other ship. We were taking it slow, moving from one chunk of cover to the next. You never knew when someone was hiding nearby and lining up your back for a shot.

  What the hell were we going to find when we finally reached Sarasvati? It was a big question mark. Their captain had impressed me as an arrogant tool, and I doubted he would call us for help unless he really needed it.

  That probably meant a similar force of mutants had attacked his vessel as well. If so, his handful of skinny defenders had probably been overwhelmed already.

  My squadmates—who consisted entirely of loudmouthed asshats and complainers—couldn’t help but share their thoughts with me.

  “Why are we even helping these Teklution assholes?” Private Welks grumbled. “They wouldn’t come to help us—not even if we were dying right now.”

  Ledbetter spoke up next. “Yeah. Welks is right, Starn. I mean… we’ve got our own problems to worry about, don’t we? Let the Teklution boys handle their own shit.”

  I considered their points valid, of course, but we had our orders. “Look, I get it. But we’ve been ordered to help, so you all need to shut the fuck up. Got it?”

  Ledbetter smirked. “Hey… how about we just take it real, real slow, huh? Maybe Welks has a stubbed toe.”

  “But… I don’t,” Welks said, not getting it.

  “Yeah, you idiot. We’re pretending.”

  “No,” I said, interrupting them. “We’re not stonewalling. We’re going inside.”

  “But Sergeant,” Ledbetter whined. “There’s no need to rush in there and save their undeserving butts at the expense of our own. We’ve already been heroes once today.”

  Marek, my greenest recruit, pointed and spoke up, ending the squabble. “Uh… Sergeant Starn? What’s that?”

  He pointed ahead, and we spotted what he was talking about. Vapors were rising out of the Teklution ship. Was it on fire? Venting gases from her tanks? It was hard to tell. But it didn’t look good.

  I looked around at my squadmates, weighing opinions. It was true, we had our own issues to deal with—but we couldn’t just abandon the Teklution crew. If they were overwhelmed by the enemy, it might be Borag’s turn next.

  “All right, listen up!” I boomed, grabbing their attention. “We’re not going to let the Teklution boys have all the fun. We’re going to charge right up that ramp over there, and we’re going to catch those pirate freaks off-guard. We’ll hit them in the ass as they invade Sarasvati. Now, let’s move!”

  With that little speech, I took the lead. My men followed. They were reluctant, but they were game.

  We picked up the pace. Our armored boots crunched on the rocky surface. 3rd Squad, now committed, surged forward with renewed purpose.

  When we were about a hundred yards out from a blown hatch, a hulking, mutated pirate lunged at me. He’d been hiding among the asteroid’s jagged rocks. His arms were grotesquely elongated, and his face was a twisted mass of scar tissue. I barely had time to react, bringing up my armored arms to shield myself from his vicious assault.

  Our hand-to-hand struggle was fierce. His unnatural strength seemed to match my own. His grotesque limbs flailed wildly, seeking any opportunity to land a crippling blow. I grunted and grappled with him, doing my best to avoid his attacks and searching for an opening.

  More attackers appeared a moment later. My squadmates fired at the pirates, but they couldn’t risk taking a shot at the mutant grappling with me, lest they hit me by accident.

  Summoning all my strength, I saw an opportunity and struck with my overpowered left arm. The massive blow connected squarely with the mutant pirate’s chest, sending him flying backward through space, stunned.

  The force of my strike wasn’t enough to finish the struggle. I hosed him down with a dozen shots from my rifle. Finally, the mutated pirate lay motionless on the ground.

  With one enemy down, I quickly turned my attention back to the ongoing battle. I joined my squad in repelling the rest of the attackers. Fortunately, they weren’t well-trained or good with guns. They were numerous and physically strong, but they couldn’t shoot worth a damn. Some of them were so deformed they couldn’t even aim and pull a trigger properly.

  We ran off the ambushers, who’d doubtlessly been parked here just in case we’d tried to flank the men inside the ship. We pressed forward, and when we next engaged the enemy group, we had them trapped. They were sandwiched between us and the beleaguered defenders of Sarasvati. I could see the Teklution crew had been fighting valiantly, but they were clearly outnumbered and on the verge of being overwhelmed.

  As we closed in on the mutants, I heard a new voice through my helmet’s comms. “Sergeant Starn? this is Captain Rajan of Sarasvati. We’re pinned down inside the ship. Can you get to us?”

  “We’re on our way, Captain!” I replied, then I shouted commands over the voices of my excited troops. “Okay, we’re advancing on the ramp! Welks, check the side passages! Ledbetter, cover our rear! Marek, stick close to me, and don’t shoot me in the ass!”

  My squad continued to advance, guns blazing. We attacked the mutants from the rear, and we crushed them between our guns and the ship’s defenders. Caught off guard and now outmatched, the pirates began to break and scatter.

  “Starn, your timing is impeccable!” Captain Rajan shouted, his relief evident. “We could have held out, of course, but your attack decided the matter.”

  That wasn’t how I saw things, but I didn’t mind letting the man keep his pride. “Always happy to lend a hand, Captain,” I replied, trying to catch my breath. “But we’re not done yet. Let’s mop up and secure every deck.”

  Together, our squad and the final handful of defenders from Sarasvati cleared the passages. We drove out every living mutant we found. The battle was over, at least for now, and both crews were grudgingly grateful for the teamwork that had saved the day.

  As the fighting died down, we finally got a chance to properly meet the Sarasvati marines. They were a strange bunch, tall and skinny—almost as weird looking as the pirates themselves. I pretended I wasn’t grossed out and clasped hands, trying not to crush their skinny fingers by accident.