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"Okay, I guess she's really who she says she is." Dylan closed the file and brought back the feed from Cora's optics. He'd wondered why she had accepted Vacendak's story without question, but then she'd sent a copy of Vacendak's file to everyone's comms. Most of the info in the file was redacted, but there was enough to prove the new arrival had told them the truth. Cora must have found the information on the way back to the Jemison, or shortly after coming back onboard.

"Good," Ralissa whispered from behind him. "As long as it increases our chances of survival, it's good enough for me."

"Can't argue with that." Dylan focused his attention on the image on his comm and tried to keep his breathing steady. He'd always been confident in his wives' ability to take care of themselves, but after learning how vicious their "guests" were and watching Anderson grow increasingly unhinged, he couldn't help being terrified for them.

"What the hell was that kid thinking?" Gonzales, huddled in the back of the room with Ralissa and the rest of the science team, muttered.

Dylan winced. Damn it. It was my job to keep them safe. How did I not notice Lorkis slip away?

"I know what you're thinking, Dylan," Syala said from her position behind the console on his left, peeking over the top and keeping her rifle pointed at the sealed door. "He got away from all of us, not just you."

"Thanks." Dylan glanced at her just long enough to give her a quick smile. He kept his eyes on the door for a few seconds before tossing a glance over his shoulder at Gonzales. "Teenage hormones, probably. I've had my share of experience with them."

"The difference is, you'd never do something as stupid as what Lorkis just did." Zilaka, behind a console past Syala, shook her head. "You've always been more level-headed than that."

He shrugged. Before he cold say anything, Anderson's wince-inducing voice rose in pitch as her hateful ranting reached a crescendo.

"That's exactly what I'm gonna do! I'm gonna _kill every last goddamned one of you!"_

"Oh, no," Zee said with a gasp.

At the same moment, Dylan blurted, "Cora!"

The image on his comm whipped to the left a split-second before Anderson pulled the trigger. After a second or two of confusion, he realized she'd watched the merc's finger tighten on the trigger and timed her dodge accordingly. He let out a long sigh and slumped over the console as Cora returned fire and the mercs scattered.

A beep came from his comm and he stared at the text on its screen.

"Damn," Syala said under her breath. "One of the other teams is right outside."

"I see it." He sucked in several deep breaths and centered his aim on the door. "Here we go."

---

Kolya lunged back around the corner and flinched as another burst of plasma beams drilled into the wall behind her, turning metal and plastic molten and releasing acrid smoke. She gasped for breath and then coughed. She glanced over her shoulder and found flames dancing behind the new holes in the wall. Her heart pounded even harder and for a few seconds she couldn't breathe.

That's not like the explosion all those years ago. Not even close. You're not reliving it. Get your shit together! Trembling, she dragged her gaze away from the flames just as automated fire suppressors covered the exposed wires with foam and snuffed them out. Kolya took a quick look around to find everyone still more or less where they'd stood before, except Donovan and Lorkis, who'd retreated around the next corner.

Nishara fired a long burst down the corridor. Kolya peeked out and found more holes melted through the wall at the far end - and an arm suddenly flicking out from the side-corridor to the right. She caught a glimpse of a palm-sized, cylindrical object tumbling through the air before Grishnag clamped a hand onto her belt and yanked her up.

"Grenade!" Grishnag hauled her away from the intersection and opened the hatch at the far end. There were no other corridors branching off from this one.

Kolya spotted everyone else sprinting toward Donovan's end of the corridor before Grishnag shoved her through the hatch and ducked around the corner. Kolya took the opposite corner just as the grenade blew. The sharp bang in the confined area left her ears ringing. She grimaced, shook her head, and sucked in a deep breath as she squinted into the sudden darkness.

The grenade had taken out the lights in the intersection, torn the monitors and control panels apart, and cracked open the walls. Between the damage and Kolya, Cora glanced over her shoulder at her and Grishnag. Grish gave her a thumbs-up and Cora nodded before facing the intersection. Farther along the corridor, Ayastal picked herself up slowly and Nishara lay sprawled on the floor.

Clanking footsteps approached from the side corridor.

Cora dropped to one knee to get out of Grishnag's line of fire, and Grish raised her plasma rifle. Kolya did the same, keeping her aim well above Cora's head.

Anderson darted around the corner and glared straight at Cora. Davis appeared beside her and took aim at Kolya and Grishnag. Osborne and Antonio rushed into the intersection and covered Ayastal and Nishara.

"Note to self," Grishnag grumbled. "Buy armor for everyone when we dock for repairs."

Kolya glanced at the mercs' armor and noticed several spots on each glowing red-hot from glancing hits they'd taken. The armor probably had cooling systems or some way to radiate the heat away, but Kolya hoped they were malfunctioning.

Anderson sneered and adjusted her aim downward. "Think I'll start at your feet and work my way up."

Cora's unarmed! Kolya stared at her. She must've dropped her rifle when the grenade exploded. She gave the whole corridor a quick sweep. Wait a minute. Where the hell did Vacendak go?

"Hmm." Osborne took a step toward Nishara and Ayastal. "These two aren't my type, but what the hell. Think I can have some fun with 'em before we finish 'em off."

"You really think we'd let that happen?" Ayastal bared her sharp teeth and growled.

"Oh, you'll do whatever I say or I'll find that kid you've been fuckin' and slowly cut him into tiny pieces right in front of you."

Davis grinned at Kolya and licked his lips. "Guess I'll settle for that one. Not very pretty, with half of her face all marked up, but at least she's human."

Kolya shifted her aim down to his crotch.

"Once we've had our fun, there are certain markets where the whole crew would bring us a good chunk of money."

"No." Anderson's finger tightened slowly on the trigger. "We kill 'em all."

Cora turned into a blur and slammed into Anderson. She wrenched the plasma rifle from the merc's hand drove its stock into her forehead. Anderson snapped backward and staggered away, clutching at her face.

Kolya fired a burst into Davis's crotch and he doubled over with a shrill cry. He snarled, stood up straight, and raised his gun. Kolya shot him again, right in the same spot, and caught a glimpse of his codpiece glowing almost white-hot before he dropped his gun and stumbled away, screaming.

"Note to self," Grishnag muttered again as she lined up a shot. "Buy better armor for all of us." She squeezed the trigger and drilled Osborne in the back of the head. He had just enough time to release a truncated scream through clenched teeth before the beam cooked his brain.

Cora slammed Anderson into the wall hard enough to crack the paneling, spun and threw her into the opposite wall, shattering a monitor - but the merc still managed to remain on her feet. She shook her head, blinked, tried to focus her eyes - and yanked a huge knife from her belt. She lunged at Cora, who clamped a hand around her wrist and jerked her off-balance. Cora pulled her other fist back and drove it into Anderson's gut, the blow landing with enough force to crack open a slab of granite, and Anderson doubled over. Her mouth opened wide, but she couldn't draw a breath to scream.

Kolya caught a glimpse of a dent in her armor as she dropped to her knees.

Cora ripped the knife from Anderson's hand and plunged it into her gut, hilting it in the softer, flexible material beneath the abdominal plates. Anderson released a whimper. Cora twisted the knife, prompting a sort of gulp-hiccup out of the merc, and then pulled the blade out. She let Anderson topple over, stared at the knife and the blood covering her hand, and hurled the knife off to the side.

Kolya stared past them and found Antonio trying to pin Nishara to the floor and shove a knife into her throat.

"What a shame I couldn't take my time with the lot of you," Antonio snarled. "I just got my hands on a fancy new set of pain inducers. I was so hoping I could try them out on you freaks."

She bore down harder and the blade inched closer to Nishara's throat - but then the girl wrenched it sideways with her upper hands, and the blade stabbed into the deck plating with a clink. Nishara snapped her head forward, connecting with the tip of Antonio's nose. The merc reared back with a scream and blood gushed from her nose. Nishara sprang at her and coiled her lower body around the woman, pinning her arms to her sides.

Then she grabbed a handful of Antonio's hair, pried her head back, and sank her fangs into her neck.

Oh. Oh, shit. Kolya stared as Antonio let out a scream that made her wince. The merc tried to thrash out of Nishara's grip, but the serpentoid cinched herself even tighter. She held her grip for a few more seconds, then uncoiled abruptly. Antonio shrieked and flopped around, but her movements quickly weakened and her screams became raspy gasps. Then the gasps grew more shallow.

Kolya shuddered and walked slowly back toward the others. She glanced at Antonio, noticed her swollen neck, and looked away.

Her hands shaking, Nishara lifted her shirt to wipe her face off. She glanced up at Cora and muttered, "I ... I'll need to go to the med-bay and find something to wash the venom out of my mouth."

"You might need to use it again," Grishnag said softly.

"I hope not." Nishara crossed all four arms over her chest and shivered. Ayastal put an arm around her.

"We still need to take the rest of these assholes out," Grishnag said. She turned to walk around the corner - but stopped and raised her gun when Donovan and Lorkis bolted into sight.

"Two more!" Donovan yelled before gasping for breath.

"Get behind us," Cora snapped.

"Saves us the effort of hunting them down," Ayastal snarled.

Donovan's already pale face lost a little more of its color. "Hooray," he muttered.

---

"Drop your guns!" Cora lined up a shot on the nearer man and tracked him as he stumbled a few more steps forward before bringing himself to a stop. The other man almost collided with him, jumped to the side to avoid it, and brought his rifle up to aim it at her.

Oh, they can't be that stupid. Cora's wives and Kolya pointed their own weapons right back at the two men. Nishara held a rifle in each of her four hands, having grabbed as many as she could carry from the bodies of Anderson's team.

The other merc whipped his gun up and both men tightened their fingers on the triggers.

The air behind them rippled as a humanoid shape came out of nowhere. The distortion cleared, revealing Vacendak. The guy nearest her spun around to face her, but she jammed one of her pistols under his chin and fired before he could finish letting out a startled grunt. At almost the same moment, she snapped her other gun up and blasted a round through the other man's left eye. She holstered her guns and arched an eyebrow at Cora before the bodies finished crumpling to the floor.

Grishnag stared at her, gasping for breath, her expression turning confused for a moment as she processed what had just happened.

"Holy shit," Donovan mumbled.

Kolya grinned.

Lorkis stared wide-eyed at Vacendak. "That ... was ... amazing!"

"Hold on," Grish said. "Where the hell were you?"

"I texted her when the shooting started," Cora said. "I asked her to head for Engineering and back up the rest of the crew and passengers before the other merc team reached them." Cora faced Vacendak and added, "Why she came back is ... unclear."

"I spotted these two coming this way, so I doubled back to prevent them from pinning you down between them and Anderson's group." Vacendak motioned at the bodies. "That's Terrence Austin and Paul Harris, by the way. I'd give you their profiles, but I guess there isn't much point now."

"What we need now is to get to Engineering and keep the rest of those goons from killing anyone." Grish stepped past her.

Cora accessed the ship's internal cameras and checked Engineering, dreading what she might find. What she saw on the feed was ... unexpected.

"Engineering's empty. Well, aside from Ponson's dead body."

"What?" Grish turned back to her and gaped.

Cora checked the cameras in the corridors between here and Engineering. "They're chasing the other two mercs back this way."

"Is everyone okay?" Nishara slithered over to the intersection and took aim down the corridor.

"They're all okay." Cora shook her head and laughed softly. "Sands and Wernick look terrified."

"Nice." Grishnag chuckled and joined Nishara in the intersection. "ETA?"

"They're almost at the hatch." Cora pointed at the end of the corridor.

Vacendak smirked and engaged her armor's stealth system. She vanished as the sounds of boots on the deck plating reached Cora's auditory sensors. She planted herself in front of the others and took aim at the hatch.

"Get ready."

"I hear 'em," Kolya whispered. She took a slow breath and raised her gun into position. "Sounds like one of 'em is dragging one foot."

Cora nodded. "It's Wernick. Looks like his prosthetic leg took a few hits."

The hatch opened and both mercs tried to squeeze through at the same time. Wernick's good foot caught on the bottom edge and he tumbled forward. Sands stepped on him and sprinted toward the Jemison's crew.

The air beside him rippled and twisted - and something yanked him off his feet. He screamed as the top of his body tried to snap backward while his legs tried to continue forward. The Vacendak-shaped distortion in the air locked its arms around his head, rotated, and dropped, breaking his neck with a nauseating crunch.

Wernick scrambled across the floor toward the rifle that had bounced from his hands when he fell. Vacendak kicked the gun out of his reach, grasped the back of his head, and hauled him up. He flailed, trying to get his hands on her, but couldn't bend his arms that far back.

He suddenly rocketed back to the floor, his head smashing into the metal with enough force to crush his skull. The distortion in the air cleared and Vacendak reappeared. She made eye contact with everyone and shrugged.

"Now you don't have to take any more lives."

The others stared back at her, clearly unsettled. Finally, Lorkis leaned over to whisper something to Donovan.

"I wonder if she's single?"

Grishnag rolled her eyes. "Oh, for -"

A soft grunt came from somewhere to the left. Cora turned and found Davis dragging himself across the floor, heading back to the cargo ramp. Cora lined up a shot and took it. Then she dropped the rifle and walked over to Lorkis.

"Let's get you to the medical bay."

"Hey!" Kolya nudged Cora's shoulder and pointed. "Where the hell's Anderson?"

Cora swept her optics over the corridor and found every one of Anderson's team aside from Anderson herself. She sent a command to the ship's computer, closing the cargo ramp and locking all the hatches.

"How the hell is she still alive?" Grishnag stared at the spot on the floor where Anderson had collapsed.

"Powered by crazy, I guess." Vacendak shrugged.

"We've got to find her." Ayastal crouched and pointed at the floor. "There's a blood trail leading away from here."

"If I know Anderson," Vacendak said, "she'll go for the jump engines or one of the reactors. She just lost her team to what she honestly believes are demons, and the only thing that matters now is stopping you." She rolled her eyes. "Well, it's revenge, nothing more, but Anderson's the kind of whack-job who'd insist that it's about ridding the universe of a bunch of abominations - even if it costs her own life."

"Shit!" Cora motioned at Lorkis. "Split up. Dylan, Syala, Ayastal, Nishara - get Lorkis to the med-bay and guard Ralissa's team. Everyone else, with me." She charged down the corridor. "Let's go!"