It was cold inside the ship called Xenos. It was a merchant ship, run by a man named Charles.

Charles lived a normal life. Traveling from planet to planet in Xenos, making a living off silk and spices. Other intergalactic delicacies were also found in his hold from time to time. This particular trip was different in one very important way. He finally got permission from his ex-wife to bring Jack, their son. He rarely got to see Jack because Charles's trading schedule did not fit with Jack's and his mother's. Charles focused on making this the best trip ever. If Jack goes home happy and excited, he reasoned that then Jenny would let him come on Xenos more often. Pinpricks of light shown out from the inky black darkness, and were seen through the portholes of the ship. In the front of Xenos was a large window, stretching out to enable Charles vision of where he was going. He kept a steady hand on a joystick in the front, while the other hand accessed a computer. He had become very deft with using his left hand to type on the computer. Merchants always had to be up to date on the prices of all the various goods.

"I'm bored." Jack groaned from his chair in the back. Charles looked back and frowned. Not off to a good start.

"Want some ice cream? Or chips?" Charles had stocked up on every movie, every piece of junkfood he could find. He knew he wasn't there enough for Jack, and he was dedicated to making it up to him. Jack just groaned again, and turned back to staring out the window.

"Would you like to watch a movie? I've got your favorite."

"The Trion Trilogy?" Jack looked up excited.

"Er, not exactly, I thought your favorite was Captain Conundrum?" Jack snorted. "Yeah, when I was five."

"You know what? I've been trying my best to get everything ready for this, I've been waiting for this for weeks. I've got every kind of junk food you can imagine, and you're going to act this way?" Charles ground his teeth.

"Admit it dad you know nothing about me."

"I've done my best." Charles released the joystick and turned to Jack. The engines were still on, and they were moving ever so slowly to a large hunk of metal that was an abandoned outpost.

"You're best? Seeing me every other month? That's the best you can do? I didn't even want to go on this trip anyway, mom made me."

"You know what? Fine. Let's just turn back around. You can go back home, you're not my son." Charles turned back and worry set in as he began to jerk the joystick around. Jack fell quite. Abandoned outposts are abandoned for a reason Charles thought to himself. Stories of strange aliens, and ships going missing were recalled in his mind. There once was a trader named Julio. He was a bit of a risk taker. Tried to cut his journey short by going near an abandoned outpost they say. He was never heard from again. Personally Charles thought he just finally settled down on that lovely desert planet he kept talking about. But still, the stories were unsettling. He was adjusting course when the ship started to rock. "Dad?" Jack sounded out, frightened as the rocking increased in intensity. Charles flicked his hands across the keyboard in an effort to pull up the security camera controls. There was a camera mounted on each side of the ship, which could be swiveled around via the controls. Charles made the cameras move back and forth searching for the problem. Nothing came up on the left side, but when he glanced to the right he gasped. There was something. Some living thing attached to the side of the ship. It was big and had brown leathery skin. Tentacles came out of the beast and started to pound on the side of the ship. With each blow the metal weakened and bent out of shape.

"Quick Jack get in a suit!" Charles shouted, running to the back of the ship. He accessed a cabinet and pulled out a small kid's size suit, with a big fishbowl helmet. The suit was made out of thick heavy blue material and had pipes running from the suit into the fish bowl. Charles helped Jack pull his on when one of the beasts tentacles burst through the metal and wrapped around Jack. He creamed as he was pulled back against the wall. With shaking hands Charles took a gun out from a small drawer and aimed at the tentacle. He squeezed the trigger, and the bullet pierced the monsters hide. Yellow muck spattered the walls and the tentacle recoiled away. Charles pulled his own suit on and ran back to the front of the ship.

"Get away from the wall. I'll try and get us out of here." Charles pushed the throttle as high as it could go. Reaching up he pulled down a small microphone, he fiddled with a knob for a few seconds before talking into it.

"This is the merchant ship Xenos. We are being attacked by an unknown ship. We need assistance. Re-" he was cut off by the sound of static and another voice.

"This is the... on our way." Those were the only words that made it through the garbled transmission. "Dad!" Jack screamed, three more tentacles had penetrated the metal and were wrapping around Jack. The tentacles pulled back and this time the metal came apart with a screech. "Jack!" Charles leapt forward for Jack's hand, but the beast had already detached itself from the ship's hull and was drifting toward the abandoned outpost. "Damn it!" Charles punched the wall. What do I do? Think Charles! What do you do? That's when the radio started to crackle again. "Xenos, can... us? We're coming up on you now. Are you still there?" The signal became clearer over time. Charles's suit kept pumping oxygen into the fishbowl helmet as he peered out of the ship, toward the back. Approaching fast was a military ship, he could tell from its sleek design and weapon systems mounted on its sides and front. As the ship pulled up alongside Xenos Charles read the white letters drawn on its side. The ship was called Titan. Very fitting for a warship Charles thought as a hatch on Titan slid open. A woman peered out at Charles and grimaced at his damaged ship. "Are you okay?" She shouted from inside her helmet.

"No, my son, he was taken to the abandoned colony. We were attacked by something. It had tentacles, and it was like a big bug."

"Aye, we call em cockroaches, disgusting things. Why'd you fly so close to the outpost?"

"I wasn't paying attention, me and my son were having an arguement. You must save him!" Charles grasped the womans suit.

"Calm down, we'll have to ask you some questions first, come aboard. Someone will tug your ship back to a trading outpost." The woman moved aside, giving Charles enough room to enter the warship. The hatch hissed closed behindo him as he stood in awe at the inside of the ship. Lights and switches covered the ship, along with rows of sturdy chairs. This is a lot more complicated than my ship Charles thought to himself. In the front sat the pilot with a heavy black headset, and was bobbing up in down to some kind of music Charles couldn't hear. The pilot started flicking switches and pressing buttons with the rythm of whatever song he was listening to. In the rows of chairs sat four people. One was a woman, blowing her gum into a big bubble, then popping it. She had her feet slung over the chair and front of her and was staring at charles. The other three were men, one held a book up and wincing at every pop

of the bubble. The other two men sat in the back, whispering to each other and then laughing loudly. The woman who let Charles into the ship gestured for him to take a seat.

"Okay, my name's Alaya, this is Millie." She gestured to the woman with the bubblegum. "Brennen." The man with the book nodded at Charles. "Elliot and Frank." The two at the back thrust their hands in the air while Alaya turned to the pilot. "This is the last member of our crew, George."

George spun around and lifted one ear of the headset. "Pleased to meet you, who are you again?" He held out one hand. Charles took it while telling them his name. George smiled and then turned back to the music and the vast array of controls.

"Okay, Charles. Tell us everything." Alaya sat down across from him while she took her helmet off. He felt the words tumble out of his chest. About the argument. About the beast. The frantic search for the suits, the tentacles, everything. Once he finished his story Alaya leaned back, arms crossed. She sighed and sat still, thinking. Finally she leaned forward. "Okay, listen. Your son may be alive, if he had his suit on properly there's a good chance he lived through the initial abduction. Depending on how low their food supplies are and how much oxygen's in the suit tells us how long he lives. What kind of suit you got?" Alaya leaned back again. Charles turned and pulled on his suit trying to get to the number printed on the back.

"Here let me take a look." Alaya walked over and examined the suit. "Yeah, that's a X-32 suit if I ever saw one. He should have 48 hours of oxygen left, if you used the bundled oxygen tanks?" Alaya raised an eyebrow. Charles nodded. "Well now we can only hope they're not hungry. Get ready guys, we've got a rescue mission. We'll blow the whole outpost up when we leave. As for you, Charles, George here'll take you back with your ship, we'll get your boy back if we can." She turned away from Charles as if she didn't expect any arguing. Clearly she's used to getting her way.

"Now wait a second. I want to come too, that's my son in there."

"Sorry, no rookies allowed."

"You know what I told my son? I told him he wasn't my son. I have to make this right." Charles begged Alaya. Hesitantly she nodded.

"What? He'll only bring us down." Millie snorted. "He can come." Alaya said pointedly. It was clear who ran the show around here.

Brennen dropped a rifle and combat suit into Charles lap. The rest of the team were also getting into thick suits with plates of armor, and a less bulky helmet that conformed to their faces. Inside the helmets there was an attatched microphone, that when spoken into would be transmitted to the rest of the helmets. The rifle felt odd in Charles's hands, it was heavy, but he took it gladly nonetheless. The rifle also had a black strap going around it. Charles used this to sling it around his shoulder, to where it lay ready to be used but also left his hands free.

"These cockroaches seem dangerous." He muttered. Nestled in with the rifle and suit lay a dozen clips of ammo all strung around a belt. Charles stripped his cheap suit off and donned the armored gear over his regular clothes. The suit fit perfectly and tight, as did the helmet. He could see easily through the glass of the helmet.

"Okay George, bring us to the abandoned outpost, we'll stay in radio contact as much as possible. When we get out we'll get your ship for you, Charles." The pilot nodded and tenderly began to maneuver the ship, they were close to a landing point when something shrieked.

Cockroaches. Three of them sailed out from the outpost and propelled themselves toward the warship. Alaya went to a ladder in between the rows of chairs and started to climb up. "What's up there?" Charles wondered aloud.

"A turret's controls." Millie answered. Alaya had climbed to the top and began to swivel the mounted turret toward the three cockraches. A wave of bullets sent the first one spinning and drifting off. It was dead. The other two started coming faster and extending their tentacles toward the warship. Another hail of bullets killed the other one, but the last one slammed into the front of the ship. Millie pushed Charles into his seat on her way to the hatch. The monster was now slamming it's tentacles into the glass and completely obstructed George's view. "Shit!" the pilot tried to shake the thing off.

"Why doesn't Alaya just shoot it?" Charles asked the pilot. "Cause, the turret can't turn that far."

Millie pulled the hatch open and leaned out with her rifle. She was unable to see the bug yet, so she groped out and grabbed one of the iron bars on the out side of the ship. With one hand she pulled herself to the roof of the warship, her other hand holding the rifle. She moved closer to the front until over the edge she could see the cockroache. She aimed, her right hand straight out and fired. The bullets tore into the cockroach, sending the bug off the glass and twirling out into space, finally dead. Muttering under her breath she pulled herself back inside. The hatch closed behind her.

"Good job!" Charles reached out to shake her hand. She snorted. "That was childs play." Alaya clanked back down the ladder. The pilot manuevered them closer to the outpost. Everyone was standing still, tensed, ready for another attack. None came. Finally they pulled up beside a large pipe jutting out from the outpost. Alaya slid open the right side's hatch and revealed the pipe, was really a hallway leading into the outpost. Alaya went first, followed by Millie, then Charles. The rest of the male soldiers followed. Alaya lead them down the hallway, while walking backwards.

"Alright men." Her voice crackled through the helmet. "First objective, find a computer, we need a map of this place, in order to find where they'd lay their eggs. That's where your son'll be Charles. After this we're running silent, if you talk you'd better have a good reason." She turned back and activated a light on her rifle. It took charles a good amount of fumbling with the gun before realizing where the flashlight attachment was. It was just underneath the barrel of the rifle, and one press of a button sent it's light splaying onto the iron floor. They moved down the hallway past equally distanced portholes looking out onto the stars. "I'll find you Jack" He muttered. At the end of the hallway was a thick metal door. Alaya punched the open button, but it refused to budge. She took a crowbar from Millie's backpack and used it to pry the metal door open enough to where they could slip through. One by one they slipped through the crack sideways, into a dark lobby area. The only light came from their flashlights. Their was wilted plants in the corners, and frayed grey couches. There was a computer on a grey desk. Alaya walked over to the desk and set her rifle down on it. She sat down and peered at the computer. Her fingers clacked across the keyboard as she brought up a map of the outpost. She withdrew a small little pad, which she hooked up to the computer. When she noticed Charles staring at it she pointed to it. "Data pad. Downloading the map to it." Charles felt nervous in the dark room, silence oozing out of every pore in the room. He felt like any second something was going to kill him. Once again the stories of the abandoned outposts came to mind, unbidden. He tried to clear them out of his mind, when Alaya motioned for them to come near. She gestured to the datapad.

"Now look, we're going to have to take an elevator down to the third floor, they should be infesting a room back in the back. That's a storage room, and sounds like the perfect place for them. If they're not there I'll be damned. Now look here, there's some reports in the database, of some other kinds of creatures. I don't know if they're still here but keep on your toes." She motioned to the door opposite the one they entered from. This one was just a thin piece of metal, easily slid open by hand. Another

hallway stretched out before them, and doors, which opened onto cabins. They walked past the cabin doors toward the elevator at the end of the hallway. They gathered outside the door and Alaya pressed the button. The elevator dinged, and you could hear the groans as the elevator slowly traveled up to them. The screech of the elevator brought even more sounds. The sounds of clanging and movement. Doors burst open and four legged beasts raced toward them. Charles thrust his rifle up with panic and held down on the trigger. A burst of bullets sped down the hallway but completely missed the oncoming wave of creatures. Alaya pushed Charles back and crouched in front of him. She fired bursts of bullets at the beasts. The creatures had large gaping mouths and thick leathery skin.

"Aim for the head!" Alaya shouted. Millie dropped to one knee beside Alaya and started to shoot. Charles and the other three stood behind them and shot. One beast shrieked as a bullet to the head caused its body to go lifeless. Charles could see that their head was tender, compared to the rest of their armored body. More shrieks filled the hall and the beasts began to press forward again. The sound of gunfire seemed to go on forever to Charles, when finally it stopped. The silence felt odd compared to the previous bouts of nothing but noise.

"We must've got them all." Charles panted heavily. Alaya held Mille's arm and was peering worriedly at a long gash in her arm. The gash was stained yellow, and looked swollen. "Elliot, Frank. Take Millie back to the ship, get her strapped down and get her fixed up." The two men took Millie by each end and began to drag her off toward the ship.

"Come on." She motioned for Charles and Brennen to follow. She led the way into the elevator. The doors slid shut with much protest and the elevator groaned downward. It was dark inside the elevator, and the silence felt even more foreboding. Charles jerked at every screech. Finally they reached the third floor, and filed out into another hallway. There lying on the floor was a corpse. The stench of death permeated everything. Charles could fill it seeping into his clothing and hair. Alaya shined her flashlight on the corpse to reveal another one of those black leathery beasts feeding on the corpse. The thing shrieked and looked at them before Alaya shot. The creature fell limp. The corpse's mouth was agape and was missing it's eyes. Charles couldn't wipe the eyeless corpse from his mind. Closing his eyes didn't stop him from seeing the screaming mouth of the corpse.

"What happened here? Where's my son?" Charles saw his son in his mind's eye. He could see his son lying dead, with a beast eating him. And it's all my fault. Charles collapsed to the floor, his head in his hands. Uncontrollable sobs racked his body. "He's dead isn't he?" Alaya walked over awkwardly and crouched down beside him.

"Listen. Your son may still be alive. He needs you now more than ever. I have a daughter. I know how it feels, she was taken by bandits when she was nine. I wasn't able to stop them. The point is, unlike me, you have a chance. You can save your son. But we have to keep moving." Alaya extended a hand to Charles. Nodding he wiped the last of his tears away. He took her hand and she pulled him up. He avoided looking at the corpse when he surveyed the hallway. It was just like the other one, with many doors leading into rooms, though some were labeled differently. Alaya led them down the hallway, examining each door until she reached one labeled storage room B. She nodded to them before throwing the door wide open. Inside was a huge domed area, once filled with old cardboard boxes and shelves overflowing with supplies. Now this room was filled with some kind of pulsing yellow fungi. Inside the pulsing fungi he could see the shapes of smaller versions of the beasts that had attacked them. Charles filled the room with light from his flashlight, hoping to see his sons face. Instead he alerted the sleeping beasts. They rose to all fours and began to saunter toward the doorway. One shrieked and ran full tilt out the door catching Charles off-guard. The beast rammed into his chest and knocked the breath out of his chest. The next thing Charles knew, the beast was on top of him. Another shriek sent the beast's claws tearing into his chest. He screamed, as fire filled his chest. The fire multiplied and began to spread through his body. Time slowed as the fire spread. The beast raised another hand for another swipe, when a gunshot erupted from Alaya's gun. The beast collapsed onto Charles chest. He heaved the beast off with a groan. Alaya stood at the doorway firing off bursts of bullets into the room as Brennen knelt beside him. Tenderly he touched the two long gashes in Charles's chest.

"You need medical attention. Alaya, we need to abort the mission."

"No, I-I can keep going. Please. I've got to save him." Charles winced as the pain throbbed through his chest. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up off the ground and leaned on the wall. He peered around the corner to a pile of dead beasts. Alaya reloaded her weapon and studied Charles's face. Grudgingly she nodded.

"Wha-"

"Brennen, I know how he feels. You'd understand if you had kids. Now come on, we don't have much time." They entered the room, picking their way amond the dead beasts. Charles stumbled along as best he could, the pain clouding his thoughts. They split off in different directions to search.

"What am I looking for?" Charles called out. He didn't know where to begin in all the fungi and bodies. He's got to be alive.

"I don't know, you'll know it when you see it." Alaya walked to the middle of the floor, and pulled some explosives from Brennen's backpack. She attatched the explosives to the floor, along with a countdown timer. Several different knobs set the time. Fifteen minutes after clicking the set button, they would explode. Charles shined his flashlight in the fungi looking for something anything. His search was fruitless, there was too much to look at.

We'll never find him Charles thought. In that moment of defeat Brennen's deep voice echoed throughout the room. "Here he is." Charles ran over as fast as he could, almost tripping on the beast's dead bodies. Brennen crouched down in front of a large blob of fungi, and started to cut into it with a curved knife. He cut away sections of the fungi until a boy's body appeared. It was Jack. Charles pulled him out of the fungi and into his arms. "I-Is he?" Charles muttered, studieing his sons limp body.

"No, he's only unconsious. We have to get him back to the ship." Brennen put the knife away.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Alaya pressed the set button in with a click. They had fifteen minutes to escape the Outpost before the explosives went off. Carrying Jack in his arms Charles stumbled along with the group toward the elevator. He refused their help to carry Jack. They clamored into the elevator to find it wasn't working anymore.

"Damn. Come on." Alaya pulled the hatch off the roof and got up on top of the elevator. Brennen grabbed her hand and she pulled him up. "Hand me the kid."

"I won't let him out of my grasp again." Charles muttered, looking down at his son. "Give me the kid, I'll take care of him until you get up here." She pleaded. Hesitantly he handed Jack up, and followed him up. Alaya peered up at the cable stretching up to the top. She started to climb with her hand and knees, keeping one arm free with the rifle. "Hold this." Charles stowed his rifle into the man's back pack before he climbed up the way Alaya did. He shimmied up with his knees and one hand, clutched to his side was his son. They were slowly making progress when shrieks filled the elevator shaft. The beasts were clawing up the walls. Alaya shot as many of the beasts as she could while still making progress but they

kept coming up from the elevator. Charles tried to keep climbing when an added weight almost made him fall. One of the beasts had pounced onto jack and hooked into his clothes. Jack was slipping from his grip.

"No! Not again!" Charles roared, sending kick after kick into the maw of the beast. One final kick sent the beast flailing down the elevator shaft. It crashed with the crunch of metal and the elevator's roof bent inward with it's weight. He picked up his pace of climbing, strength filling his body. Alaya pried the doors at the first floor open, and jumped down into the hallway. She held a hand out and pulled Charles and Jack into the hallway. Brennen was climbing up hand after hand after them. Alaya held her hand out for him. He was almost there, he reached out with his hand. With the sound of tearing fabric a beast leapt onto Brennen and pulled him back.

"No!" Alaya screamed. The man and the creature fell down to the elevator with a crash.

Alaya turned to Charles with a set look in her eyes. "Go." She coldly turned back to the elevator and started to spray bullets at the creatures.

"Alaya. You can't change anything, we've got to go. Millie'll be waiting for you. Besides, I want Jack to meet his savior." Hesitantly Alaya turned back.

"You're right. Let's go." They ran down the hallway past the cabin doors. Beasts poured out of the elevator shaft behind them and started to chase them with their long loping run. Alaya glanced at her watch.

"We've got three minutes!" They ran down the hallway into the lobby area, and slipped through the crack into the long pipe heading out to the ship. Titan was still docked. They ran as fast as they could toward the ship.

"Get ready to go!" Alaya shouted and waved her arms. The beasts were pouring out into the hallway and racing after them. Alaya grabbed Charles and jumped through Titan's door.

"Go, go, go!" She shouted at George. He frantically flipped switches and jerked the throttle forward. The warship sped away from the outpost. A shockwave rocked the ship, as behind them the outpost exploded in a giant sphere of flame and debris. Charles laughed as he collapsed to the floor. His vision started to blur, and then fade away to nothing.

A little while later he awoke in a hospital bed. There was an iv in his arm and the beeps of different monitors made him jump. At the foot of his bed stood his son.

"I'm sorry dad." Jack jumped onto the bed and hugged him.

"No, I'm sorry." Charles held him tightly. Tears rolled down his cheeks. It took him a few minutes to realize Jack was crying too. Then they laughed at each others blubbering. "I'll never let anything, or anyone take you away from me again." Charles stated sure of himself. Another familiar person stood beside his bed. Charles didn't noticed her until she coughed. It was Alaya.

"I want you to meet someone, Jack."