THE RDTS

[V]

"Hey can you hand me plate there? No no, not that one, the one next to it. Yeah that one! Thanks." Repairs were being made the sides of residential area structure. Some debris was knocked into high speed by a passing tram, and cut a deep gash into the side of an apartment wall, literally just inches from piercing a hole and starting a vacuum. This had only happened a mere hour ago, and already they had a repair crew on the job, not wanting to compromise their reputation, Earthgov often responded quickly to these emergencies. Deployed at the moment was a small group, of four engineers fresh from the CEC block, probably coming in for the first shifts. They worked quickly, almost like clockwork. The gash in the building's hull wasn't very large, but it needed to be sealed of quickly to avoid debris lodging itself into it.

Two of them were working close, side by side. The CEC did try to promote safe work practices, and often their employees complied. The exception for this pair was that they weren't just partners on the job, they were partners at home too. One was a woman given away easily by her voice, but as well as her frame being far less bulky than the other's, though both were lugging around a rather large oxygen tank on their backs. The metal would be a little more cumbersome in a gravity zone, even if just filled with oxygen, but out in space, it was of course, weightless.
The female engineer moved the plate easily to where it needed to be with her TK module, keeping her hand with the module steady, she began to fire in bolts at the corners with her rivet gun. No longer needed the module to hold it in place, she let herself drift backwards a little, so she could fire in the rest of the rivets along the edges of the plates. These plates would work as a sealing patch, while a fitted sjeet of metal was being forged back at the CEC base. This large sheet of metal would be cut to specific measurements to fit perfectly over the gash, and over the plates, to make the side of the building appear good as new. For now though, the side of the building was still being worked, and it would take a few more of these plates to fully patch it.
"There...that's one. Need about twenty more!" The accent with the woman was a rather think one, back on earth, she probably grew up in the Latin populated areas. "Think you can keep up, Marky?" She winked, though unseen at the other engineer. Those who knew them would easily know by now that this pair was married, and happily so for nearly two years! They'd met on their first on site job, and had practically been a love at first sight case.

[B]

It was quiet except for the muffled thuds and clinks from the construction job. Back on Earth this would be the loudest thing in the neighborhood. The banging of hammers, the sound of electric tools like drills and buzz saws, but out here in space there was hardly a noise and anyone inside would never have guessed there was construction occurring outside. Everyone on the station slept comfortably, in bliss ignorance of the constant repairs the station undergoes. The only real dangers on the station was the glass. Normally guns were only allowed to certain security and military personnel but it would only take one well places shot to vacuum out an entire apartment building, luckily there are safeguards to stop this.

"The tram on East Bank is halted, Mark."
A young voice reported over the radio.
"Good, get those metal sheets ready, Reg."
His voice was deep and thick, it made it easy to tell what racial background he came from. He took a few steps on the side of the wall, magnetic boots sticking to it as if there were gravity. He gazed up to the smaller engineer across from him. He saw the figure look back at him, he only saw the light from the visor, naturally, but he knew that smile was there. Smirking, he he looked at the other two engineers, one was on debris duty and the other was moving another metal sheet. The debris duty was necessary, there was an incident quite a few Earth years back where an engineer was smashed by a chunk of blasted rock because nobody thought to keep an eye out. Due to the planet cracking, much of Titan was blasted away but much of it still linger around the station in addition to broken/discarded pieces of the station and a few junked ships that are yet untouched. Mark lifted from the side of the building and moved close by the smaller engineer from before. They both began firing rivets when the engineer carrying the metal finally placed it in. Within less than 20 seconds the metal sheet was tight in.
"There... That's one. Need about twenty more!"
The smaller engineer called out, her voice carrying a latino accent.
"Think you can keep up, Marky?"
She turned towards him and the larger engineer couldn't help but to snicker.
"You kiddin', baby? You know the real fun is when it takes longer."
Mark grinned and at the corner of his eye he could make out the engineer on watch-out shake his head. Second slab, finished. He leaned in close even though it was futile to try to whisper since their only communication was through the radio but Mark didn't care.
"Did I tell you how sexy you look in metal? You should take that to bed with you sometime."
The one gathering the sheets couldn't help but to speak up.
"Jeeze, Mark. Can you go one job without decompressing your dick?"
"You just jealous, Johnny boy. Find yourself a girl like this and it'd be a crime not to want her every few minutes."
"Yeah? I had a girl like her once. When I found out she was pregnant with you, I never looked back."
"Hah! You aint black enough. Nice try, though."
The one on watch duty spoke up.
"Can you two stop slapping each others ass and concentrate on the hole, please. We only got 7 minutes of oxygen left."
"Yeah, yeah. I heard you, Martin."
Johnny grumbled as he placed the fourth sheet in. There were oxygen resupply stations but they'll need to boost up to it and that could take a good two minutes.
"So Ana, I was thinking Martian, tonight?"
The station at Mars actually had food similar to that of French cuisine but he always found it more amusing to call it Martian. While he waited for a response he superheated the next rivet. As they stack more and more metal sheets on top of each other they'll need more penetration to properly compact all the sheets and keep them from flying off or becoming fragile.

[V]

Surprisingly this was a common occurrence, Mark and a few of the other engineers did tend to grow annoyed of his sexual jokes with his wife on the job, some even complained to the super, but it wasn't against any policy or regulations, so nothing could officially be done. However, Mark was often encouraged to focus more on the work than his pretty wife. The woman engineer, Ana was her name, had grown used to this already. She used to stand up for herself, but Mark always had the last word in, so she just let him take care of it. The insults to her just glanced off her back. Like the old saying goes, let the water roll off your back.

She didn't know how Mark was able to do it, but the man was able to keep focused on work even while flirting and sticking up for his lady. He seemed like a crude individual, but she knew he was just a big ol' teddy bear, it's what she loved about him.
"Did I tell you how sexy you look in metal? You should take that to bed with you sometime." He'd said to her, and the latina could response by scoffing from behind her mask.
"Been thinking about it. But how would you get to the goods? Besides..I perform better unrestrained."
"Hey Ana, could you help me over here for a second?" Martin had called.

"Yeah, I'll be right there." Boosting from her position, she glided flawlessly beside the other engineer who was removing some of the jagged and warped ends of the gash with a plasma cutter, which Ana would need to hold the container that he would TK the cut metal into.

"So Ana, I was thinking Martian, tonight?" Mark's voice broke in from the radio.

"Martian?" Ana sounded a little shock, perhaps mortified at the suggestion! "I don't think the CEC pays us enough to eat there tonight. But why go leave the apartment to eat? You can eat out right at home." A sly grin affixed itself on her face. "How about some..Mexican?"

"Alright, alright you two." Martin spoke up again. It seemed this engineer was appointed in charge at least for now. "You two work the best and fastest together, which is why I haven't separated you two yet. But if you keep this up, I'm going to stick you on debris watch, Mark. A joke here and there is fine, but Johnny here looks like he's about to let some debris hit you." He looked back over to Ana, as he cut the last section of the jagged metal, leaving a smoothed out surface along the section of gash so he could fasten another patch plate. With his TK module, he placed the last bit into the container, then placed the lid on top, sealing it at the clasps. "Thanks, Ana. I might need you again later."

[B]

Mark chuckled at her gasp.
"I don't think the CEC pays us enough to eat there tonight. But why go leave the apartment to eat? You can eat out right at home."
Thinking she was seriously he looked up at her, an even bigger smile on her face. He knew she couldn't cook for shit and neither could he so what was she talking about eating at home?
"How about some... Mexican?"
She asked. Mark let out a burly laugh.
"You didn't just go there, girl!"
Martin cut them off there. They both quieted after he mentioned debris watch. That definitely wasn't the funnest job in the world. Finally they fired in the last rivet on the last piece of metal.
"Alright boys... And girl. Lets get to the oxygen checkpoint and we should be good for now."
All four of them lifted off of the side wall and made their way for the checkpoint in clear sight ahead. As they flew at maximum speed, Mark looked down and saw the giant ship in the distance. It had just arrived a week ago. They called it the Ishimura.
"They say the Ishimura is haunted you know."
Mark started. Johnny looked down at it in the distance. It was giant, naturally the station was practically the size of two New Yorks but the Ishimura still looked a good 5-10% in comparison and that's saying something.
"Bunch of ghost stories. Next thing you're gonna say is that Event Horizon is real."
"Never know, man."
Martin came in after that.
"Cut comm. chatter, we're coming up on the checkpoint."
They all spun around to slow themselves enough to grab onto railings that were around the oxygen dispenser. They all took turns filling their tanks. The last one to fill was Mark, right after Ana. While he was filling, Martin got onto the comm. link to the CEC.
"Command, we're done patching the hole, we'll be coming in now... Command? Reg?"
There was silence and then someone spoke up.
"Hey Martin, it's Bob."
"Bob! Damn good to hear from ya. I thought you were on vacation."
Mark stated.
"No. Look guys, there's some kind of station-wide emergency going on. Some kind of contamination. I need you guys to get here right now. It might be another test but I don't know."

While Martin, Bob, and Mark exchanged radio transmissions, Johnny let go of the railing and boosted off a little bit. There was some kind of chunk of meat floating around.
"Hey Ana, come look at this."
He said, waving her forth but not turning his head away from the floating piece. Behind it and nearly perfectly centered around it was Saturn. Naturally after living on Titan station the view becomes less spectacular but some people knew how to appreciate it every now and then. Johnny kept his focus on the slab of meat.
"Do you think that thing is a thing? Maybe it's condensed omni-gel?"

"Bob! Where's your mind at?"
"I'm not kidding Mark. You guys need to get your asses ove- What was that?"
Mark could hear a few more people in the background talking. Mark drew up a video feed with his rig. Bob was an older gentleman and a seasoned engineer. At the moment that experience seems to have been replaced by a frightened child. He appeared to be looking up at the ceiling.
"I can hear something in the vents."
Bob said. Martin was the next to speak.
"Bob, calm down, it could be a child."
"I don't know..."
A crash was heard and the video feed instantly got showered with blood and Bob's screaming could be heard. Mark began yelling into the video.
"BOB!... BOB!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOB!!"

In almost perfect timing, right after what happened with bob, Johnny had grabbed the piece and was examining it, including the probuscus sticking out.
"This thing looks... Ali-GAUCK!"
Lightning speed. The probuscus had penetrated through the metal of the helmet, through soft tissue and bone straight into the brain. Johnny twitched there, his radio giving out sickening choking noises. Then the metal of his suit started to bend and break, his gloves ripping to shreds as the scythe-like bone broke through it and out. Blood could be seen spraying out in large globs as Johnny's helmet exploded apart. It wasn't Johnny anymore, his jaw seemed to have ripped in half his eyes wide. The radio went silent but they can still see the face making as though it were screaming. Then it looked at her, Ana, she was the closest, it wasn't able to move but it could still reach, it lunged its make-shift bone blades at her, swiping furiously. It wanted nothing more than to split her in two.

[V]

The patch job was very deceiving, it looked like it could have taken hours, but with the wonderfulness that was the TK module and the rivet gun, the work time was reduced drastically. Of course there was the issue of the fitted sheet to completely seal the hole and the covering work, to make it appear less...ghetto, as it were. But for now, they needed air, which Martin was clearly well aware of. The order was given now to head to the oxygen tanks and then back into the station, a break after so little work was always welcomed.
The ascension to the oxygen source was a bit of a quiet and boring one, so people would often speak of things on their mind. This time it was Mark who broke the silence, telling stories of how the Ishimura was haunted. The pride of the CEC it was and the ship itself had quite a bit of boasting rights, but most planet crackers did, the ships were just overwhelming and brought such a presence. Ana had heard all the stories before, even prior to meeting Mark, but he told them much better than she could. As they refilled at the Oxygen station, Martin made a call to the headquarters. At first, it was met with silence, Reg wasn't responding, which was odd, since he was the kind of man to never leave a post on the job, unless someone could cover for him. After a second call though, a different voice chimed in, one she was familiar with, it was Bob, one of Mark's old friends.
But his voice brought a tremendous amount of urgency and she was intent on listening, until she heard Johnny beckon to her.
"Huh? What is it?" She gave her suit a tiny boost, spotting what had taken the other engineer's interest. A flat, floating, fleshy thing. It looked disgusting! "Agh, that's some disgusting space debris!" She stayed a good few feet behind Johnny, clearly not wanting to have anything to do with it, and gasped in shock as the engineer reached out with his hand for. "Don't touch it! Are you crazy? You don't know what it is! At least use your TK module."
But Johnny was always that kind of guy. Intrigued by most, and curious. He always told her how he felt his true calling was in the science and research branch, not the engineering. Suddenly there was a shrill shriek on the radio, which startled the woman, causing her to jump back...but nothing would prepare her for what she was about to see.

The bit of alien debris came to life, and it's first motion of reanimation was stabbing Johnny through the neck, right through his helmet! Ana could think of nothing but screaming, shrieking and shouting to the other men there. "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! What's happening to him?! What's happening?!" Slowly, Ana was drifting back, as Johnny turned into that thing. Her mind never went once to her rivet gun that was on her thigh, only on boosting to get away from him. "MARK! MARK HELP ME!" She was panicking, despite Johnny not being able to boost himself, and sort of just flailed and swung while suspended in the zero gravity.

Martin too noticed this, eyes widened behind his helmet. They had NO idea how they were supposed to handle this, at all. "Get inside!" Was all he could really shout, and the three of them boosted to the nearest entrance, Martin quickly putting his hand on the scanner and the blast door opened to let them in. It of course lead to a compressed room, to give them oxygen and reestablish the gravity, so that a vacuum wasn't created and that they could get used to the feel. Those bulky oxygen tanks felt quite a bite heavier now. "What was that?! What the was that, what happened to Johnny?!" Ana was in hysterics, sobs mixed in with her panic, clearly the whole ordeal was already too much for her.
Martin himself wasn't doing all that much better, internal feeling-wise, but he was an older gentleman, experienced in handling most things thrown at him. "No idea...something..something happened at the headquarters. We just need to contact Security, and they'll get things all set straight I'm sure. We just need to remain calm, stay in here a few minutes to catch our breath...get used to the gravity. We'll be okay, Ana." He obviously wasn't sure on his own words himself, but he didn't want Ana to stress herself out right now, it was the last thing they'd need.

[B]

When shit went to hell, Mark boosted to Ana and helped pull her away from the flailing creature that was once Johnny. Martin was the one to get them through the door. As he went in, Mark looked out to where Johnny was in the distance, still flailing but going nowhere. How was that even possible? He should be dead being exposed like that, his limbs should be too cold to move but there he was, several impossibilities embodying one man. The gravity set in and Ana started going hysterical and Martin tried to use reasoning to resolve this. Mark let his mask drop down into the suit revealing his bald head. He wasn't as old as people would think and he was only about 8 years older than Ana, an odd age difference but they pulled it off well. He knelt beside Ana and grabbed her mask, forcing the white light into his eyes, acting as though he were looking into her eyes.
"Look at me, Ana. It's going to be okay, okay? I'm not gonna let anythin' happen to you. Neither is Earthgov, you know they have the best fuckin' security team out there, okay?"
He gave her a gentle smile and Martin continued speaking.
"Bob did say it was a station wide alert. Maybe there is some kind of infection going on. If that's the case maybe we shouldn't move, just in case."
Mark shook his head.
"Infection, man? You think that looked like some infection? Johnny turned into some kind of demon, dude. This aint no infection, it's a motherfuckin' invasion. You're also sayin' you wanna stay in between an airlock? You think this is the safest place, man?"
Martin shook head, placing a hand to is.
"I don't know, man. How do you expect to handle something like this?"
It was clear that Martin was trying quite hard to be calm and remain a leader-like person but it was clear Mark was the calmest of the three.
"Well first, I would try to find a security force or military. We got rivet guns, these things can kick some shit out of those things if we need to. hen we bunker down with those security officers until Earthgov sends the military. Then after mop-up is done. Me and Ana are going back to Earth and I'm becomin' a motherfuckin' school teacher."
Mark didn't take his glance off of Ana.
"It's your choice, Ana."
He said.
"If we go out there, we might have to fight. If we stay here we have no clue what happens out there and we might possibly get vented out into space again, unable to get back inside. I'm sorry baby, but I don't want to force you into anythin' you don't wanna do."

[V]

Ana was terrified. The horrific transformation of one of her friends played back constantly in her mind. It was an awful awful thought, but the fact aliens were among them was else horrific. She was snapped out of her daze by her husband, who'd grabbed her face with his hands. He was staring her right in the eyes through her visor, and though he couldn't see her face, he'd probably know it was helping. Martin was doing his best to keep his composure, but in the end, Mark did take better charge of the situation. "That sounds like a better plan. I just wanted to spend a few minutes in here is all." While explaining himself to Mark, he'd been flipping through the channels of the CEC and Earthgov that were in his security clearance. All the channels were blank, and full of static.
Ana hated being on the spot. She finally let her helmet drop, revealing her short auburn hair and dark skin. Not as dark as Mark's of course. "We should...should probably go out then." Ana wasn't one for stuttering or backing down from say some form of physical challenge, but what she just saw scared her shitless. "I'm scared Mark, but I don't we have a choice, do we?"
He'd feel her arm lace around his, the woman pressing up against him for comfort, for security. "Just don't leave me...I'm sure I'll be fine."

A loud screech came from Martin's radio, heavy feedback. "Ah, I got something!" He said a bit excited. He put his hand up to keep everyone quiet.
"This is Director Tiedmann..." That struck him as odd, he doubted he had the security clearance to address Tiedmann directly. But his suspicions were soon put to rest and proven...it was just a recording broadcast among all channels. "Attention citizen, I have declared a stationwide emergency. All non-security personnel are hereby ordered to remain in your homes and out of the halls for until further notice. If you are not at home or doing your tasks about the station, then proceed to the nearest indoor facility for your safety. All business and residents are also hereby ordered to accommodate those who cannot make it to their homes by allowing them inside your walls. Violators of the last mentioned will be punished. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill." It was broadcasted again, seeming to be on a continual loop. "I don't think staying here is longer an option. And Security is clearly aware of the whole situation." Luckily, they were just working on an apartment block, so at least they didn't need to go far for shelter.

[B]

Mark held Ana tight. She had made her decision and they were to go in. Martin allowed the broadcast to run, it seemed that this was worse than anyone could have thought if they had a looped broadcast going, those were only the worst, the only noise among dead civilizations were looped broadcasts. Mark stood up and let go of Ana, holding her hand with his left and the right holding onto the rivet gun. He squeezed her hand.
"It's time, baby. The head is usually a weak point but don't fire unless you need to."
He squeezed her hand one last time before he let go of it. Martin took a deep breath before engaging the door into the station. They were still in the tram tunnel. The apartment building wasn't far. In fact they could see the platform where people get off the tram. Engaging his helmet, Mark and the others ran and pulled themselves on the platform. The platform was dirty, bags and objects laying all over the floor. And blood... But not a single body.
"My god..."
Martin gasped. Mark saw a blood trail going up a wall and into a vent. He recalled Bob looking up at the vents as well.
"Keep your ears out for the vents. I think that's how they move."
He informed them and they began moving. As they approached the electronic door leading out into the apartment halls, they could hear the screaming and crashing.
"Shit! We can't go in there."
"We have to, Martin. It's not exactly safe here, either."
He allowed the door to slide open and immediately as the door open in front was a lady being mauled by another one of those things. She screamed and gargled as blood filled her lungs. Mark fired a rivet straight into the creature's head. The creature reared its head and screamed. Martin and Mark let out a volley of more rivets before it was able to charge. Finally it fell to the floor. Mark instantly moved to the lady. He held her head as she gasped her few last breaths.
"Fuck. Rest in peace gal."
He said closing her eyes. Martin moved towards the carcass of the creature, examining it. Then he turned his head to Mark.
"That thing took a rivet to the skull, man! It didn't die! It took nearly 10 rivets to take the fucking thing-"
He was cut off... Well his leg that was. The creature had moved again, swiping its machete-like arm severing Martin's leg clean off. Mark reached around for his gun but he wouldn't be fast enough to stop Martin's killing blow. Only Ana was prepared to fire.

[V]

Horrifying, how fast they moved! One would never expect them to move so fast. They charged, the dashed, they juked things thrown and shot at them. It was the single most horrifying thing she'd ever seen. Perhaps second only to the carnage they were causing. What kind of order was it that Tiedmann just gave out? Safety in doors? She could already see some of the apartment doors were ripped out at the hinges, blood spatter along the inside and on the halls of the wall. She stayed on the tram, while Mark and Martin went forwards, trying to save the woman who was being butchered to death. There was no way she could have been saved, the helpless of the fact, how screwed they were came crashing down on Ana's mood, this was a horrible situation indeed.

On top of it, there was no security here yet. Why weren't they? They should have filled the entire station by now. She watched Martin approach the corpse he and Mark just gunned down. How could he just look at it like that, why didn't he just step over it. It was dead right? No...wrong. Very wrong, and it was Martin who'd pay the price. One clean swipe cleared off his entire leg, and he was down on the ground. She could have tried shooting at the monster, trying to put it into stasis. But Martin would have been dead, even if she stopped it from attacking him, he's bleed out from such an injury, and Mark and her were no surgeons. Despite how horrible it sounded, this would be the most humane way to deal with Martin's suffering. The creature lifted it's bladed arm, and stabbed it right through Martin's chest. He screamed for help, screamed in pain, but at least they didn't last long, the blade went up and came down again over his neck, cutting off his head.

The torso then turned and face Mark, and got back up again. It was well in range to cut off his head too, and was just about too, Mark had no time to prepare. But luck was on his side...and so was his wife. The creature suddenly became blue, movement slowed considerably, almost as if the monster was absolutely frozen, it's lightning quick blade reduced to the speed of a snail. Seconds later, the right bladed arm exploded in a shatter of stasis afflicted flesh and then the left. It was pure luck targeting these two places, since the head was gone, her main intention was to just disarm it. But it fell then to it's knees, letting out a slow motion screech, falling forward slowly, then picking up speed as stasis wore off. Ana came running in behind, looking at Mark. Her terrified expression was hidden by her RiG helmet. And she looked down at Martin's body. The shock of it, the loss another dear friend, within ten minutes. It was horrible, it was too much.

Without even regarding Mark, she returned to a hysteric state. She ran passed him, and panicked, screamed and rushed down the hall. She just needed to go. To run, away from this all! Monstrous wails and screeches echoed through out the hall, and by some miracle, the monsters weren't even paying attention to her. One couldn't blame them though, they had more exposed, slower, and crawling targets to choose from. Mark could still catch up, as long as he didn't stop to shoot any of them or try to save anyone. Finally, the gravity on her suit became too much, stopping a the junction of a "T" shaped hall. One way went to an elevator, the other into another section of the apartment complex. It was overlooking a balcony. Mark would have probably arrived soon after. "We're dead Mark!" She cried to him, mixed with panicked sobs. "We're dead, we can't do anything. No place is safe! Did you see what it did to Martin?!" If Mark was about to say something, it was drowned out, but a loud, guttural rumble, followed by a retching sound. Around the corner came a horrendously hideous beast. It had no eyes, it's lower jaw was totally missing. Both arms were misshapen, and had three clawed, hooked fingers at the left arm, a slightly disfigured right hand. The left leg had been form by the twisted and fused legs of the original owner, the right a string of innards. The sight alone made Ana want to vomit herself...but it beat her too it, spraying a corrosive blast of the regurgitated crap right on top of the couple. The suits protected them from the acidic burning, but it slowed their movements. Ana could only move so fast, to rise to her feet. The options they had were to make a dash for the elevator or try and kill this thing first. By the looks of it though, it was a pretty sturdy beast.

[B]

Before he could get his gun up, the thing started mauling Martin, even decapitating him.
"Martin!!"
He almost had his gun in hand when it already leaped for him. He closed his eyes and turned away but when he figured out that he wasn't dead yet, he turned back and noticed it glowing blue and floating towards him. Stasis. Ana fired at it and severed one of its arms. It fell but Ana didn't wait to make sure it was dead. She darted off.
"Ana! What are you doing!?"
He shouted at her as he scrambled to his feet and ran after her, almost slipping in Martin's blood. The creatures were slaughtering people around them. They were unbiased besides that of which was the easier target. Children, women, pregnant mothers, elderly, it didn't matter, they were all killed. Mark wouldn't stop, though, Ana was more important than the whole of the station. She paused to catch her breath at a T-junction.
"We're dead Mark!"
She cried out to him as he ran up and embraced her.
"We're dead, we can't do anything. No place is safe! Did you see what it did to Martin?!"
"Don't say that baby, we can't stay here, okay? Lets just... Just."
He turned towards the location of the guttural noises and saw the creature. This was different from those scythe things, it had claws instead. In Mark's mind, he would just try to deal with it the same way as the other things, shoot and hope, maybe disarm it like Ana did, that seemed to be effective. Before he was able to let go Ana it fired itself, puke. It fell all over both of them. Mark could see the rig lose its vitals slowly. This stuff was acidic and horribly sticky. He moved Ana and pushed her towards the elevator which was on the opposite side of the puker. They only had to make it down that hall. They moved as fast as they could, the puker had attempted to charge but Mark turned and fired a charged rivet at the thing, sending its head clean off. It started swiping crazily, scratching up the walls around it.
"Go, Ana!"
He shouted as their rigs fell into the cautionary yellow. The puker had lost track of where they were but still flailed and moved down the hall towards them. The slime started to prohibit movement less and less as they shook it off. Finally they were able to sprint and push the elevator button. The doors slid closed and they began moving up the elevator. There was a police floor here. They could bunker down there, hell with their TK modules and rivet guns they could easily build themselves a powerful defense against the creatures with the help of the security team.

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. There was a hallway leading to the security station. The door was green and ready to be opened. Both Mark and Ana sprinted for it.
"See, baby! You can't give up!"
There were no sounds of screams nor gunfire up ahead but they were picking up comm. feeds. Security operatives most definitely. They opened up the door and a dozen lights were cast on them.
"Don't shoot! We aint one of them!"
"Orders?"
Both sides were quiet and Mark held Ana's hand, they couldn't make a move with that many guns trained on them. Then the order came.
"We can't risk infection. Gun down the civis."
"WHA-"
A hail of bullets but not as dramatic as in the movies. THey stopped firing after both Mark and Ana fell. Mark still had some consciousness left. His rig blinking red. He reached over and grabbed her hand again. The last thought...

"Not hot? You sure? That aint what I heard."
"Just try it!"
Ana laughed. The sun shined full above them. A visit to Ana's mother. Ana was sitting across from him in a white plastic chair and he was standing. She was holding some red peppers.
"They're just Jabeneros. Try one, you'll like it."
He took a deep breath and grabbed one and took a bite. She instantly started laughing as he started gasping.

His eyes closed, regretting everything he missed with her. The security officers kicked both their feet.
"Rigs are offline. They're dead."
"Probably more humane dying like this."
Another one justified.
"Earthgov is sending military reinforcements. They'll be getting orders directly from Tiedmann like us."
"As long as they hurry their asses up."

[V]

Responding swiftly to Director Tiedmann's request, rested and ready troops from a nearby Earthgov fleet were sent immediately to assist in Titan station's crisis. Being one of the most successful of their moon harvesting station, it was nearly crucial that it be saved from whatever plight.
As if on cue, after disposing of the two corpses in the police office, a transmission came in for the Officer's there. "Titan station, Titan station." A female voice came in. It came with a thick, English accent, something it seemed the station had quite a few of people having. "This is Earthgov Gunship Echo 1. I'm here with six other transports, requesting information on available docks. Where do you want us dropping? Over."
The officer responded immediately. "Titan station, Echo 1, We have available docks in four different sectors, I'll download them to all your RiGs now, I'll direct you to Director Tiedmann, and he'll instruct you on drop off. Over"
"Copy Titan station, awaiting orders. Over."
Inside the gunship, everyone was restless, raring to go. Earthgov's military wasn't called upon often for things like this, and all the soldiers were just itching to shoot something. Most of the time it was all peacekeeping between the stations owned by different countries, but this was their first response to combating aliens.
The pilot could see they were anxious, but to her, drops were always the same. She drop off healthy, fit, and excited men and women, and return hours later to retrieve those same people, often injured, or sometimes even dead. The whole thing desensitized her to the thrill of battle. But that didn't mean she was an apathetic soldier, no in fact she always did what was necessary to get the job done, to minimize casualties as much as she could from space, but considering since most fights were inside the stations, the most she could do was lay down fire through cracked glass, which often put both sides in danger by creating a vacuum or destroying the oxygen supply. She'd been a part of Earthgov for the past decade, this woman now reaching the middle age of thirty-four, and had been aboard long enough to know quite a few of their actions were shady, and perhaps even unethical and unorthodox. But when brought to attention, she'd be denied and threatened with insubordination. Soon, she too allowed those things to slide, and anything she viewed as shady she'd simply ignore. Despite not being expected to go out and help the troops directly on the ground, she was still equipped with a RiG, standard issue Earthgov security soldier RiG, with the helmet currently down. Her face long, and a bit angular, having a short nose and defining wrinkles, below her lower lip, on the right side was a beauty mark, or more crudely referred to as a "mole". Her long brown hair was done up into a rushed bun, hair sticking out all around the gathering of it. Across the back of her seat was a Seeker Rifle, colored to match the scheme of her RiG.

Finally, after so many minutes waiting, Direct Tiedmann finally came through the mic. "Riven Fewins." The pilot perked up in her seat, as the Director said her name, likely getting information from the RiG. "I've cleared you for Landing in Dock C, Bay 2. It's in a residential area. Give the good soldiers my regards and good luck. Tiedmann out"
A bit of a cheer went up from the soldiers inside. "Finally! Can't wait to see what these aliens look like! Never seen one before!"
"What color do you think they bleed?"
"Settle down, Settle down." The Captain of the group spoke up. "Now before we begin, there are some things that the Director wanted us to know. Headshots are NOT a confirmed kill, and in fact we aren't even advised to shoot for the head. We kill these by dismemberment, and the best way it start with legs, then work up to the arms."
It was about here that Riven started to zone the Captain out. She didn't need to hear this, and the excitement the soldiers were expressing was a little sickening. They were so eager to shoot things, so eager to go out and make names for themselves. When in reality, they'd hardly be remembered for these actions, whether they lived or died. They'd maybe get a say of recognition, but that's as far as it goes or even a medal. Riven herself had earned one, a high honor, the Medal of Honor, for flying through a glass wall to pick up pin down troops while fighting in a Earthgov-hostile station. But she didn't frame, she didn't even display it. The medal did say she was brave, the medal only said she was lucky. And that was the last time she'd ever put her life on the line for such an ungrateful organization. The docking pad inside, she hovered along side it, until gravity tethers locked onto her docking gear. the platform extended to the dropship doors, which quickly slid open.
"Alright boys!" Riven spoke up, trying to sound as enthused as they were. "Give it ten seconds to make the seal around the ship air tight, and you'll be on your way. Be as blood loud as you want to be, and always, always, keep a kill count! Am I right?" She rolled her eyes at what she just said, and made an inaudible scoff. The doors began to open.

The first of the soldiers filed out, going down the platform and onto the station! It wasn't a long platform, but it was narrow, so they had to file out one by one. But as soon as the first soldier hit the ground, an ajared door burst open, and out came a giant hulking beast. It had two blooded arms and a bloated stomach. This was all the first soldier's, who raised his plasma rifle and fired right into it. He might have been aiming for the arms, but the inaccuracy of this rifle made it a little hard to line up shots. Pulse rounds entered the entire front of the creature, and it fell back motionless. But it was alone, behind it came running a huge pack of pale colored children. By then three soldiers were out and laying down fire on them. While they were mowed down easily, the fat one slowly started to stand back up, then with it's still intact arm, pierced it's own stomach, and a two legged one came out! This one with an up angled skull with fangs, and a super long tail. A fourth soldier came out, and the pilot could already see they were being overwhelmed. The new two legged one with a tail, already leaped onto one of the soldier's she just dropped off, and was mauling him. The rest were too caught up fighting off the pack of children to be able to do anything. She looked behind her the Captain just got off, there was one more on board with her. She then looked back outside. The one that was leaped on had already been killed. The one who sounded excited and elated not a minute before! Another one was on the ground, being lashed at and cut by the pale children. This was enough. Before the last soldier could leave, she slammed her hand on the emergency close button. The Captain had turned around, and screamed something at her, but the distortion from the briefly vacuum she created drowned it out, before the platform doors closed as well. The gunship was released from the tethers immediately, and slowly started to drift away.
"You'll be thanking me for this, you bastard." She said over her shoulder, at the fortunate trooper who was spared a horrendous death through dismemberment.

[B]

He played around with his dog tag that he pulled from underneath the armor. It had his name with his rank imprinted as a single arrow. "Private Ethan Foster". A private, yeah, but at least he got his tags. His light brown eyes glanced up towards the cock pit where the female pilot was seen doing her stuff. He figured that she had done this a lot and didn't expect to get her own hands dirty. Getting her bun caught in the helmet would be horrible. He chuckled and then the soldiers started their hype up. He ran a hand across his short brown hair and stretched then lowered his hands down onto his leg where they tapped nervously. He was excited, just as much as the others.
"What color do you think they bleed?"
He asked another one but the captain shushed them and started giving them the rundown on how to kill them. Then he gave the squad line out. Four per squad. Alpha, Beta, and finally Charlie.
"Myself, Sgt. Greene, Pvt. Pertz, and Pvt. Foster. We'll be exiting last."
He then gave a final speech as the doors opened then they started to rush out. Finally it was their turn. As Ethan engaged his helmet and stood up his pulse rifle fell to the floor. Two had already left.
"For god's sakes, Foster! Hurry the fuck up!"
He shouted and the screams and gunfire drown out the sound of anything else. The captain then jumped from the ship. Ethan already had his pulse rifle in hand and was running for the door when suddenly he found himself crashing right into it. Stunned, he felt the gravity tethers kick off.
"What the fuck are you doing!?"
He shouted at British pilot, his accent screaming American. She didn't reply.
"You stupid bitch! They're getting slaughtered out there, they need our help!"
"You'll be thanking me for this, you bastard."
Ethan shook his head in bewilderment.
"THANK YOU!? This is treason! NOW TURN THIS AROUND!"
He shouted and ran up to the cockpit, grabbing her hand and the control.
"WE ARE NOT GOING TO LEAVE THEM!"
He was definitely physically stronger than her and the controls inched to the left ever so slightly. These controls were touchy, though, and the ship hit the side of the wall with a loud thud. Both inhabitants were stunned and Ethan was knocked into a leather chair next to him.
"You stupid..."
Crrk... Crrraaack. Ethan looked up at the windshield. It was beginning to crack.
"Oh shit... Oh shit... Put on your helmet..."
He whispered to her and then they watched the crack continue to slowly streak across the windshield. Once there was a crack there was absolutely no way to stop it, space was just too powerful. Ethan slowly stood up and braced himself. The crack seemed to stop. Due to his inexperience he thought it would hold.
"I think we're okay... We should just fly slow-"
CRASH! WOOOOSH! Both Ethan, the pilot, and many of the electronic systems were ripped clean out of the ship. The oxygen timer instantly turned on at the corner of his visor. 2 minutes. He engaged the thrusters to slow himself. He was now looking around frantically. Oxygen station? No, airlock? Not that he can see. He was going to die out in space like a pussy thanks to that bitch pilot. He shot an accusing glance her way as they float. Hopefully she had a plan because she was in the same situation.

[V]

"Come on, come on." Riven kept a steady hand on the controls. This guy was screaming at her, some more military brainwashed bullshit that she's all heard before. If he knew what was good for him, he'd stay in his seat. But she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt him actually grab the controls, her hands with them. He definitely was stronger than she was, there was no doubt, and how sensitive the turning was on these craft was the reason why pilots were specially trained to fly them. "Wait, stop stop stop! What are you doing?! Let go Let go!" The gunship did a sharp turn, thrusters had been engaged, thankfully though, they didn't go too fast or they may have exploded on impact. No, it was just a big bump to the side of the station. But hard enough, a warning alarm went off. A constant electronic beep, and loud too, and on the screen, the same words were flashing "Cabin pressure dropping." With wide eyes, she stared at the crack that had been made. The glass was reinforced and "bullet-proof", but they knocked the station hard enough to damage it. Now the pressurized air inside the ship was rushing out and fast, causing the fault to expand. "Fuck fuck fuck! You bloody fucking idiot! I just saved your life!" Smacking the side of her suit, she braced herself as her helmet went it. Mouth part first, then the back came up. It cleared her bun coming up, so it didn't rip her hair out, but when it came to clasp onto the front, some strands of the hair were caught, causing the pilot to squeak. "And now we're in danger again!" She unstrapped her seat belt, and reached for the seeker rifle behind her seat, attaching it to a clasp upon her RiG. The crack had just about reached its breaking point and Riven was flinching, hidden by her suit. "Here it comes.."
The glass shattered, and the two of them flew out. The vacuum pulled on the stick, and so the gunship listed forwards. The pilot was definitely not planning on leaving that ship, but you're always trained to be ready...well as ready as one can be. She stared at the soldier and shook her head. She spoke calmly, knowing that yelling would increase her oxygen intake. "Come on, let's find a way in." With that she boosted lightly along the sides of the station, sure there was an access point for maintenance crews along the sidings here. She didn't know if the soldier was following her, but he probably was if he wanted to get out of there, floating out in space is not a good way to survive.
Riven's eyes constantly darted to her oxygen up in the side of her view. "One minutes...come on..." And suddenly, there it was, up ahead. A large blast door, with a palm reader in front. "There!" There was no time to waste, hitting her thrusters again, she boosted for the door. It was a good distance away, but there was enough oxygen for them to arrive. Slamming her palm onto the reader, it took it a couple seconds to analyze, while Riven watched her oxygen counter tick. Ten seconds..nine...eight. The database it had to go through was huge, but eventually, it did approve her, and she rushed right in, the soldier right behind her. The door still needed to close, by then they were out of oxygen, but they could hold their breath a for a few seconds more, until the airlock sealed. And once it did, Riven's helmet went down, and she sucked in huge amounts of air. "That...that's two. You bloody...bastard.." She stated to the soldier, a stupid toothy grin on her face.

Suddenly her radio came to life. "Titan station, Echo team report in." Riven was about to speak up and response, when suddenly her RiG link went up. It was the Captain of the squad she just dropped off. His lower jaw was caked in blood, as was most of his RiG, meaning he must have coughed some up. He had trouble breathing, wheezing between words. "Ehhhcho team Captain heere."
"Holy shit, you sound terrible, everything all right?"
"It...woould have beeen..but we weere overwheelmed. Short...short a maan."
"Short a man? That's not possible, the scanners detected six soldiers and a pilot."
"Our gunship dusted off...too early. Taking shelter in...in a supply closet...going to bleed out...sooon..." Riven watched while shaking her head, as the Captain's body laid back against what he was leaning on. The man exhaled once...but never took a second breath.
"Dusted off too early? We didn't approve of an emergency detach, Fewins."

The pilot had finally caught her breath, she was ready to stick up for herself. "You bloody fucking twats! If you were here, you'd know exactly why I did what I did, wouldn't you? But no! No, you hold onto regulations so dearly. I did what I had to do to save who I could! Myself and that soldier!"

"You had six fully armed men and a fully capable gun platform on your ship, there should have been no reason for an early dust off."

"You morons said it was clear! We were clear to dock! What bloody fucking call was that?! The moment the first soldier stepped foot onto the station, they were all swarmed! Swarmed and dead before they all disembark the ship! Who's fucking call was that?!"

Another link came up...it was Tiedmann. "That was my call." He wasn't yelling, but he sounded a little irritated. "And I stood by it. I expected the force I was sent to be more adequate. And you are in my station, and so now you play by my rules. And I'd appreciate if you'd show my chief of security a little more respect."

Riven huffed, she was pissed now, the expression on her face showed it clear as day. "Oh fuck you Tiedmann! And fuck your Security. And hell, fuck Earthgov too! I knew this organization was a shady, corrupt, and heartless rabble of money-lusting shitheads! But I didn't think you'd go so low as this!"

Tiedmann only sighed. "Look. I have more important matters to attend to right now. Like saving this station. Chief Gansly I expect you know what to do. Tiedmann out."

"Right." The Security officer, a name now put to him as Gansly, began again. "Fewins, you and the soldier are to report to the Government district, immediately."

In response, Riven just laughed, long peels of spiteful, laughter. "Why's that, so you can put a bullet in our heads? Blame it on the aliens? Arrest us and send us a moon to spend out the rest of our days slaving in a mine? You better fucking believe I'd rather choke out in space than report to you!"

"Then you'll leave me no choice but to mark you both for Treason and Desertion."

"You'll have to come get us then, Gansly. But I'm sure between all the aliens running amok, you have more important things to waste man power on. But try to come get us, love. I'd love to see it happen!" And with that, Riven cut the link, and settled down. In truth, she could talk, she really could. But when it came down to it, she was just a pilot, definitely not a fighter. She was scared right down to her core, but she had to keep it hidden from the soldier...especially now, since she too marked him for death.

[B]

It was she who made the action first. She had seen an airlock in the distance and started boosting for it. Ethan followed as close as he could behind her. He was a bit more at a distance than she because his training in Zero-G was lackluster at best. The pilot was first to the door, trying to get permission to enter. Ethan was still boosting towards, the door opened about the moment he got there. He boosted in and found out his suit was now out of air. He gasped, and he could hear the pilot gasping as well. The doors weren't closing, why weren't they closing? Finally they did. Gravity set in and Ethan fell to his knees, his visor opening up. He took a long hard gasp as did she.
"That...that's two. You bloody...bastard.."
He heard her gasp.
"Two..? You..."
He couldn't muster the breath to finish and the radio bursted out. It was the captain. Ethan brought him up on vidcomm. He did look like shit. Ethan gave a venomous glance towards the pilot. The captain reported they were short a man and then he drew his final breath. The security operative then addressed the pilot. What did the pilot do? Yell at the man on the other line like a spoiled fucking brat. Then there was Director Tiedmann and she didn't do anything much different. Her hate for them is what drove people to die. The pilot was then put with the Chief again and signed their death warrants. Ethan quickly hit the comm. button.
"Wait!"
He gasped.
"I wasn't... I wasn't a part of her... plot!.. She abducted me! I'll go to the Government district!"
He shouted in the radio. There was silence for a second but then the Chief spoke up.
"We'll be waiting for you."
Ethan shook his head. He knew there was no going there now. If they weren't going to shoot them before they were definitely going to shoot them now. He glared up at the pilot.
"You did this..."
He said, still recovering from the lightheadedness.
"Save me?... Me owe you TWO!? You owe them FIVE!... No SIX. You've dragged me into your little hateful rebellion! If my daddy didn't teach me any honor then I'd be in government district with your head."
He shakily stood up.
"Two brothers... My dad... Even my sister are in the military. Do you know what being marked traitor means!?
He growled and started moving towards her. His eyes were frenzied and his teeth were bared. He saw her move back as he moved forward but she didn't have long before she backed into the wall. He was close enough now. He ignored her threat of her high-powered rifle.
"You costed me everything... With just a few words! You've ruined my whole world!"
He raised his fist and slammed it against the wall, inches from from her head.
"And now you've hurt my hand!"
He gasped and pulled away. Ethan moved away from her and sat against the wall across from her, he engaged his helmet. Ethan was silent for a good 10 minutes. It was clear to Ethan that the pilot wasn't going to leave without him. Of course not, cowards can't fight, that's for sure, it wasn't exactly difficult for Ethan to crash the ship through her grip. Ethan put his hand to the front of his helmet. It was clear that the silence wasn't going to make him move any faster.

[V]

Riven may have been scared, but she was no damn coward. She wouldn't back down truly, she only stayed back to avoid hurting this little snot. "You have no idea, do you? You have NO IDEA what honor is do you? DO YOU?! Do you know the bloody fucking snakes you work for? Who we put our lives on the line for? And they don't give a bloody damn! You can be rewarded with so much empty recognition, but you'll be nothing but scum on the bottom of their fucking shoes!" She straightened herself out, projecting a confident posture. And she began to calm down, her voice lowering in volume and attitude. "I've been with Earthgov for near eleven years now. When I started, I was just like you. A spunky little bundle of excitement, ready to blindly rush in at the snap of a superior's finger. I nearly died so many times, before I wizened up. In my career, I've probably picked up and dropped of a few brigades of troops. Soldiers like you." She stared at him, stern and intent. The airlock was a fine resting place right now, and she figured she'd at least owed this person some insight. "I know exactly what I was doing. This is all Earthgov's fault. You think they care about you? You think they care about the troops that died? No. They only care about me disobeying them. You're only as useful as the tasks you can perform. If you go above and beyond the call of duty, they commend you, so that you would do it again. There is no special honor. If you were to die the next day after, they wouldn't mourn you. I saved YOU. I couldn't save the rest of them, there was nothing you nor I could do. Say we didn't crash the ship...say you did get out before I closed the door. Do you really think you could have helped your Captain fight them back?" She chuckled, and shook her head. She didn't expect him to turn to her side from this little bit of information, but maybe he'd know where she was coming from. "Don't be so quick to judge people by one little action."

She moved over to the other door, opposite of the one they just entered through. "Now come on..." She placed her hand on that scanner. "We're fugitives now. To be frank, I've no idea where we're to go. We're wanted, likely kill on sight. But if we can something to fly, we can get off this blasted heap. I don't know this place at all, but I know we need to avoid the government sector at the very least. Don't hesitate to shoot back, if you're shot at." She did prefer to keep her helmet down, but if she was given a well enough reason too..say discovering that these aliens did prefer to go for the head, or a leak in the oxygen, then she'd have no choice, of course.