Chapter 1: Athena

Nine Days Earlier

An alarmingly large asteroid had been detected on a direct collision course with the Earth. More or less the size of a dreadnought class warship, the massive rock was understandably worrisome to the inhabitants of the planet. A small strike force was hastily assembled and dispatched to redirect or destroy it long before it became a direct threat. Not wishing to waste the opportunity, several resource-gathering teams had been crammed aboard the already packed warships, complicating the mission only slightly.

Once in range of the extra-solar object, the small strike force would scan for resource deposits and exhume anything and everything of interest. By the current interception timeline, the strike force had just over a week's worth of time to complete the operation. The only reason the navy was even needed was for transport. It was certainly a good opportunity to test out some of the Earth's United Colonial Naval Force's 'new' ships.

Kevin hated the name. Leave it to politicians to create a name so entirely unoriginal and lengthy that people would make it a point to avoid using it. So far, more than two years after its creation, he had never heard anyone actually use the uninspired title when referencing earth's naval forces. Simply referred to as 'the fleet' or 'the navy', Earth's forces had grown considerably since the 'Battle for Earth' almost two and a half years ago.

Only a handful of the ships were home-made, most of the new additions were 'gifts' from their allies. The Imperial Remnant and the New Republic had plenty of older Star Destroyers that they no longer needed so a small number of these vessels had been purchased. The Hirosh and Amarakk navies also had large numbers of older, obsolete vessels. Scores of these aging warships were simply given to them. Now that the Earth was part of a massive galactic community, her options expanded considerably.

The Earth's economy was booming, its people entirely devoted to a single, coherent purpose. Desiring to become more than a small part of the galactic community, the Earth was rapidly expanding its powerbase. Colonization efforts began rapidly, even the most barren and desolate of planets weren't spared. Countless terraforming projects were underway while the most successful of all the colonies, Alpha Centauri Prime, damned politicians, had become much more than the blossoming rural community it had once been.

In the beginning, the 'Garden of Eden' planet had a single, aging shipyard. It now had six. Despite the rapid progress of industrialization, the planet's beauty was still being carefully preserved. The planet didn't just support the fleet now, nearly a quarter of the Earth's population had emigrated to the planet in waves of government funded settling projects. Rather than improve the living conditions of the most impoverished peoples of planet Earth, the government had found it easier to move them off-world. At first, this had created massive tensions, but as soon as these people saw their new home, their anger was immediately forgotten.

The Earth had entered into a golden age of prosperity. This was most evident when you compared its current standing naval forces to the fleet that had defended the planet only two years prior. Twenty-one vessels belonging to the planet's own forces had made the stand, all in dubious states of operation. Now, the planet and its colonies boasted exactly forty capital-class warships. Every single one of them was shielded and well-armed. Kevin's strike force consisted of four ships, each entirely different from the next.

His ship was a battlecruiser-class warship, the first 'homegrown' warship designed by the Earth and her colonies. Christened as the Athena, she was sleek, well armored, and boasted an impressive armament. Measuring at twelve-hundred meters from port to stern, the sword-shaped ship was smaller than the Star-Destroyers that made up more than half of the fleet. Due to its smaller mass, however, the Athena was faster, much faster.

Its weaponry was almost entirely dedicated to the point-defense role, dozens of fast-firing kinetic weapons and energy weapons stuck out from its flanks. Sporting a series of missile launchers as well, these were nothing compared to its main weapon: a front facing, triple-barreled, slow firing, and frighteningly powerful rail gun. The entire ship was built around this monstrous weapon that was capable of accelerating massive projectiles at incredible, mind-bending velocities. Due to the limited cone of fire that the Athena's main weapon possessed, it would never travel alone.

The rest of the strike force consisted of the newly upgraded Leviathan and her companion ship, a heavy-cruiser, the Triton. Captain Lucrezia Noin still commanded the Leviathan, all too happy to be assigned to the same flotilla as Kevin. The final vessel in the motley strike force was a Nebulan-B Frigate, a small support ship purchased from the New Republic fittingly renamed the Isis. The New Republic wasn't exactly seen as an ally, relations were frosty at best, but they were eager to sell off unwanted material.

Captain Noin, being the senior captain, technically had command of the operation. However, as soon as strike force cleared the bureaucratic boundaries of their assembly point, she passed the leadership role to the newly promoted Captain Kevin T. Anderson, captain of the Athena. Seen as a snub by many, Kevin relished the opportunity to prove his worth. Stepping onto the bridge of his ship, he was casually greeted by his first officer.

"Sup' dude?"

He did his best to suppress a heavy sigh as the bridge crew chuckled. Kevin still needed more time to become accustomed to the relaxed atmosphere aboard the Athena. This hadn't exactly been his intention, but he should have known it would happen when he had chosen Lieutenant Chloe Price as his first officer. It had been left up to him to pick a subordinate from an endless list of names and faces. To his surprise, he had discovered Chloe's name directly at the bottom of the list. She had apparently breezed through the crowded naval academy program, despite a lengthy list of infractions.

In a different time, she might not have graduated, let alone been accepted, but Earth's rapidly expanding fleet needed bodies, endless amounts of bodies.

"You're… sure about this?" He had been asked. He had waved off the concerns, he wanted Chloe. Not only was she familiar to him, she was his friend. Max and Kate would also take comfort in the fact that the pair were together, their combined abilities should be able to protect them from anything. Not that there were any specific threats to worry about. There were rumblings of chaos within the massive territory of the New Republic, but then again, there always were.

"At ease lieutenant…" His jest was not lost on the crew, Chloe was slouched at her station, black booted feet on the console before her. Comfortably stretched out, she had her hands clasped behind her head, entirely relaxed.

"Are you kidding me, I'm always at ease," sparking a fresh bought of giggles from the crew, her words trailed off as her face suddenly turned serious. "Captain on the bridge, at attention maggots!" She was on her feet and at attention before the rest of the crew could hastily scramble to their feet, mimicking her maneuver.

The silence that greeted him as he approached his command chair at the rear of the bridge sent shivers down his spine.

"I could totally do that every time you walk onto the bridge, sound good?"

"Dear Christ, no. Never again. I said at ease not-."

"Careful with that blasphemy Captain, I know your wife!"

"Noted… and I know yours. Now, Lieutenant Price, if you please, kindly release the crew to their duties. They're starting to make me nervous." Chloe smiled as she straightened the officer's cap that mostly covered her bright blue hair, it was amazing that she had been allowed to keep it.

"At ease shitheads, get back to work! What's everyone standing around for anyway? We've got a rock to blow up!" Unable to contain their amusement, the crew returned to their duties, each and every one of them grinning from ear to ear. Morale would never be an issue on his ship, never in a million years.

Checking the information that was scrolling across his command displays, he noted that they were still several hours from contact with their objective. There was still plenty of time before their coordinated deceleration. The strike force would kill their engines, flip their ships and direct their engines towards their objective and reengage them. A long time would be spent decelerating the strike force and then re-accelerating so that their target would approach them from behind just as their velocities merged. Even though his fleet and the asteroid would be moving through space at a frightening speed, it would appear as if neither were moving, their velocities at relative zero to one another.

Braking maneuvers weren't scheduled to begin for a while yet, but he had decided to leave his stateroom and join Chloe on the bridge due to his mounting anxiety. The operation was simple. Everything had been planned, the mining crews had mined hundreds of rocks before. This operation was so mundanely textbook that he shouldn't have been worried. And yet, his apprehension mounted the closer they grew to the deceleration point. He was steadily becoming overwhelmed with concern.

But why?

"Yo, are you feeling okay? Your face is doing that thing it does when you're stressing about something." Damn… Chloe's caught on, that didn't take long. It was no surprise. The pair had become quite close in the few short months of their service together.

"It's nothing specific. I just sense… something. Something troubling." She cast him an admonishing look, she hated when he wasn't specific about anything. "I'm sorry. I can't be more precise. I just… feel something."

"What are we talking about here? Like is this something like the 'danger Will Robinson' sort of something or the 'shit, I left the stove on' something?"

Despite his anxieties, Kevin couldn't help but smile. His smile slowly faded, however, when he thought about how long it had been since he had been home. It had been three months, eleven days, and seven hours since he had seen his home on Alpha Centauri Prime; god damned moronic bureaucratic politicians. He spoke to Kate as often as he could, but it just wasn't the same as seeing her. Holding her. Touching her.

"Unfortunately, I am inclined to measure it against your first suggestion, but I can't place this feeling. It almost feels as if… something is coming."

"Well yeah… an asteroid. Possibly hella' decked out with resources. But-." Entirely caught up with a stronger, more intense sensation of danger, Kevin began calling out orders to the strike force.

"All ships, begin emergency braking maneuvers, decelerate to combat speeds! Deploy stage one squadrons. Battle stations!" Without missing a beat, Chloe relayed the orders to the crew of the Athena. Within seconds their ship was combat ready as it twisted through space to blunt its velocity, the rest of the strike force following its lead. As the Leviathan maneuvered, its first waves of strike-craft began to flood out of its massive maw of a hangar.

Trusting his intuition, Captain Noin was remaining silent for now, but the captain of the Triton was an entirely different story. Contacting him on a private holo-channel, the brusque Captain Renault's likeness glared at him, clearly annoyed. Speaking in an almost chiding manner, the older man's patience seemed to be at its limits.

"Why must you interrupt a childishly easy operation with drills-"

"This is no drill." Kevin stated as calmly as he could.

"There is a threat? From what? From Where?" The man's answer came before Kevin could attempt to explain. The asteroid was now rapidly accelerating towards them, under its own power. Captain Renault must have seen this. The man was now speechless.

"There's your threat," responded Kevin.

Nodding gravely, Renault ended the transmission as the small strike force hastily began its deceleration maneuvers. The time to the engagement should have been shrinking as their ships slowed, but it wasn't. Their objective was accelerating towards them rapidly, reaching near impossible speeds.

"Shields are up, weapons locked and loaded. This girl is ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum… and we're all out of bubblegum, bitches!" The crew cheered in response to Chloe's words, but Kevin could sense their mounting nervousness all the same. No ship that massive should be able to accelerate that fast, its crew wouldn't be able to withstand the effects. Yet, despite these facts, the object which he was certain was no mere asteroid, continued to increase its velocity as it rapidly closed the distance. If it intended to engage them, it would have to slow down, there was no way it would be able to hit them at that insane speed.

Despite the rapidly decreasing momentum of his strike force, their velocity combined with the staggering velocity of the unidentified object would be unthinkable. At these speeds his strike force would pass by the unidentified ship in far less than a fraction of a second. Worryingly, it was continuing on its trajectory that would bring it to Earth.

It had to be stopped.

Hasty communications were dispatched to the fleet headquarters, whatever happened here, the Earth would be ready. One certainty remained despite the many uncertainties that existed, if this object intended to attack, it had to reduce its speed.

Swallowing hard, Kevin watched as the object checked its acceleration, rapidly decelerating faster than the laws of physics should have allowed. He ordered his ships to abandon their own deceleration, perhaps a bit too early. He wanted them pointed in the right direction when this mysterious ship engaged them.

"Object coming into visual range… now." An ensign reported as a haunting image began to materialize on the main screen.

The ship was even larger than he had imagined, easily over two kilometers in length. Its hull was massive, dwarfing the ships of his strike-force. Equally distressing, the unknown ship was as mass-intensive as it was long. Resembling an aquatic creature, a cuttlefish or perhaps a squid, the colossal ship seemed to have a series of retracted 'legs' along its midsection. Equally odd, the approaching behemoth seemed to possess four tendrils that could have been construed as 'forearms' to its front.

"A giant… metallic space-squid? Are we sure that's a ship?"

"Definitely a ship, but I can't get a reading on its composition…"

"Power readings are off the charts… but I'm not reading any shields?"

"Check that… there are barriers deployed around the ship but their wavelengths are all wrong… turbolasers should punch right through no problem!"

Too bad we don't have turbolasers… most of our ships are armed with kinetic weapons… thank goodness we have the Isis with us.

At three-hundred meters in length, the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate was the smallest ship in the formation. Despite its small size, it was armed with a dozen standard turbolaser batteries. It was almost embarrassing. They had purchased the retired vessel for a bargain, and yet, it was the most valuable ship at the moment.

"Detecting multiple weapons systems on its… arms. Medium powered-"

"Power build up, its central main gun is charging… it's preparing to attack!"

"All ships, combat spacing, engage when in range! Isis, use the Leviathan for cover, your batteries may end up being more effective against this thing than anything else we have." Kevin's orders rang true and clear, receiving a chorus of acknowledgements.

He was taking no chances, since the hostile ship's weapons were entirely front facing, he would spread out his strike force as much as possible. As his ships spread out, the Leviathan continued to cloud the area around it with strike-craft. In response, the opposing gargantuan launched a swarm of craft around it.

"Drones? Enemy craft are too small to be piloted. Damn… they outnumber our boys at least two to one." Wonderful… so much for an advantage in strike-craft. At least ours are piloted. Let's see drones contend with human skill and ingenuity!

"As soon as you can guarantee me a hit with our main gun, open fire!" Kevin directed his weapons officer. It was hard to miss the enemy ship, it was so damned big! However, its unprecedented maneuverability had him worried, it might be able to dodge their shots at this range. This seemed impossible, but the unknown vessel had already shown off an impressive list of tricks. His weapons officer, a grim looking mustachioed German, nodded dutifully. He understood what was required of him.

Time seemed to pass at a crawl as the beast of a ship bore down on them. Kevin's worries intensified as it drew closer. It was almost as if the ship was reaching out to him, suffocating him, clouding his mind with dread. Thankfully, he was able to shake the feelings away as his ships opened fire.

The Triton pounded the larger ship with its mass drivers and its particle-based beam weapons. As expected, the beam weapons tore straight through its opponent's barriers while the rounds from its mass drivers had little to no effect. The enemy vessel shrugged off the damage to its armor, undeterred as it approached.

The opening barrage from the Athena's main gun had a negligible effect on its target. The enemy ship's barriers rippled as the three-shot salvo dissipated harmlessly against them. Between the embattled adversaries, the strike-craft and the drones locked themselves into a deadly duel for supremacy.

Missiles frustratingly exploded moments before impacting with the enemy ship's armor. The only weapons that seemed to be making a dent were the Isis's turbolasers and the beam weapons that the Triton possessed. Not sitting idle, the enemy ship's beam weapons responded, harassing its attackers, but doing minimal damage to their shields.

"Incoming!" The words had barely been uttered by a young watch-stander when the Triton exploded after sustaining a direct hit from the enemy ship's central beam-weapon. Momentarily stunned by the sudden loss of the Triton, Kevin stared at the readings of the enemy ship as he desperately searched for a weakness.

"No effect on target!" The gunnery officer was now cursing in his native tongue, switching to 'galactic basic' only to make reports. His report hadn't been exactly correct, their rounds from their rail gun had weakened their opponent's barriers significantly, but this was little solace. The enemy ship continued to resist their attacks as it maneuvered to engage the Leviathan.

The crew of the Athena could only watch as the Leviathan was torn in half by a powerful blast from their enemy, its red beam weapon slicing straight through the once mighty warship. Secondary explosions erupted all along the expanding wreckage. The Leviathan was gone and the Isis was accelerating for all it was worth as it tried to maneuver out of the firing line. While his crew had been watching the deaths of their comrades, Kevin had been focused on something else.

"Chloe, rewind time!"

"What?"

"Just do it!" Conscious of the incredulous stares from the rest of the crew, the woman shrugged and threw up her hand and unleashed her powers. The Leviathan miraculously pieced itself back together, shortly followed by the Triton. Kevin's heart went cold when the time shift suddenly stopped, the world returning to normal. Nearly collapsing from the effort, Chloe quickly wiped blood away from her nose, she could go no further.

There was little time.

"Triton hold your fire until the enemy targets you! Target its main gun, the barriers around it weaken just before it fires!" But he was too late. The Triton had only seconds left, its destruction was inevitable. Frantically turning to Chloe, his words stuck in his throat. She was slumped in her chair, blood steadily streaming out both of her nostrils. Her powers were now lost to him. Just like the Triton.

"Medics, see to Lieutenant Price!" As the medical officers on the bridge rushed to her unmoving form, Kevin opened a communications channel to the rest of the fleet. The Leviathan was to be the next target, but she had no heavy armaments. The Leviathan was a carrier and its strike-craft were currently locked in a desperate struggle with the enemy drones.

"Captain Noin, evacuate your ship! Get out of there! Isis, try and knock out that weapon before it can fire again!" Unfortunately, his enemy had already realized the danger that the Isis presented. Hordes of drones were now slipping by the overwhelmed strike-craft squadrons, bearing down on the small ship. The Isis's single squadron of interceptors scrambled to defend their mothership.

The enemy ship was poised to fire on the Leviathan, seeking a clear shot at the Isis. Out in the open, already harassed by a swarm of drones, and without the protection of the Leviathan's numerous point-defense batteries, the Isis would be torn apart. Wasting no time, Kevin turned to his weapons officer.

We only have one shot at this…

"All weapons hold fire!" Stunned by the order, the German man nonetheless obeyed. "Helm, full ahead, get us nice and close to the bastard! I want every weapon we have in range." Swallowing hard, his helmsman executed his orders despite the fears that were consuming him. The crewman's thoughts rang in his head as if they were his own. Closer? You want us closer to that fucking thing? Fuck!

"Is the plan to let it blow us to pieces, eh captain? Or am I allowed to tickle it some more before we all die?" Smiling wickedly to the German, Kevin was glad that the man hadn't lost his sense of humor.

"Just before that damned thing fires its main weapon, its barriers go down. We're going to hit it with everything that we have just before it fires on us! There's nothing we can do to save the Leviathan, we won't have a shot." Just as escape pods began to trickle away from the Leviathan, it was sheered in half once again. A few dozen survivors were better than none, this fact did little to calm Kevin's mounting storm of grief.

The lesser beam weapons on the enemy craft flashed out all at once just as the Isis began a barrage of its own. Despite its shields and superior firepower, the smaller ship was easily dispatched. A series of explosions rippled the area around the enemy ship's main weapon. Unfortunately, according to his readings, the weapon was still fully operational. The hasty bombardment had failed.

"We're all that's left." Someone whispered, sending a shockwave of fear throughout the bridge. Damnit Jenkins, keep your thoughts to yourself next time.

"Come here you bitch, I'm going to blow you straight to hell!" No one cheered at the German's brave words, some even looked at the mustached man as if he were crazy. It was almost as if he was welcoming their inevitable deaths as the enemy ship turned to face its approaching prey. Hands steady on the controls, mustache twitching, he waited.

"All weapons now in range!" Kevin's weapons officer growled, his posture stiffening in anticipation. The massive enemy ship loomed menacingly over them, like some Lovecraftian beast. Its very presence seemed to be infecting his crew with dread. Kevin could feel it, almost taste it.

"Helm, weapons, on my command you will initiate our attack and begin evasive maneuvers but keep us on target!" A series of tense affirmations rang out, the bridge's nervousness ebbed just slightly now that it was confirmed that their captain was at least going to try to keep them alive, even if the chances seemed slim at best. The waiting was the worst part. Mouth dry, hair standing on end, stomach churning, eyes glued on his data screens, Kevin waited. A lifetime of suffering passed before the moment was upon them.

"Now!"

The ship shuddered as every weapon fired at once. Anti-cruiser point-defense beams and kinetic anti-fighter batteries blasted away as dozens of missiles burst forth from their launchers. Meanwhile, the main gun thrummed underneath them. One…Two… Three, Kevin found himself counting as each round was unleashed. Adding to the chaos, the ships maneuvering thrusters were desperately trying to disobey the laws of physics and move their ship out of the line of fire. The inertial dampeners whined in protest.

The effect of their desperate barrage was immediate, their blow struck home as a dramatic series of explosions raked the enemy ship. The crew's cheers were cut short, however, when it became clear that the enemy's main gun was still charging.

"Evacuate the bridge!" Kevin roared.

Precious seconds were lost as the crew panicked, stumbling over even the simplest of obstacles. The bridge was located deep within the ship, just above the main battery. Usually they would have been safe here from any attack, but their enemy was poised to strike straight through them. There were two thick blast-doors on either side of the bridge and the small bridge crew was rushing to them.

The enemy ship was about to fire. None of them would make it.

Reaching out with the Force, Kevin plucked the fleeing crewman off of their feet and shoved them out of the door furthest away from him. A mass of bodies collided painfully with the deck as the blast-door slammed shut behind them. His concentration was thrown off as someone tackled him, the pair landing hard on the deck as the bridge's blast-door slammed shut behind them. Before he could come to his senses, the most horrifying sound he had ever heard in his life assaulted his ears as the world around him descended into chaos.

"Snap out of it!"

The dull pain in his head doubled, stars exploding at the edges of his vision as it returned to him. "Jesus dude, you scared the shit out of me." It was Chloe, face bloodied, but alive.

"You didn't have to smack the shit out of me," groaning as he struggled to his feet, Kevin was forced to steady himself against something far colder than it should have been.

Reflexively withdrawing his hand, he suddenly realized what had happened. Behind that door, where the bridge had once existed, was nothing but space. The forward sections of the ship were gone, but the rear sections containing engineering must be intact, the ship still had gravity and power.

"Well, we're not entirely fucked…" Chloe used the sleeve of her uniform to wipe at her bloodied face and was only partially successful in her efforts. Finally steady on his feet, he looked around. To his right was the blast-door where the bridge had once existed, while about two dozen paces to his front was another blast-door, sealed shut. Noticing the direction of his gaze, Chloe grimaced.

"Asshole is sealed shut, I was about to see what I could do to open it, but I thought it would be best to try and wake you up again before I went poking around."

"By punching me in the head?"

"Dude, you've been out for a while, what do you want from me, an apology?" Knowing that he would never get anything close to that, Kevin shook his head, sprouting a fresh wave of dizziness. "Good, cause I hella' saved your ass back there. That's two you owe me now."

"Alright, alright, let's go see about this damned door. Thanks, by the way." Chloe simply nodded as she resumed her labors of cleansing her face, her nose had finally stopped bleeding.

The journey to the blast-door felt longer than it should have, but the weary pair made it all the same. The heavy door refused to open, naturally, but the safety equipment insisted that everything was just fine on the other side. The door was cold, but naturally cold, not 'holy shit there's nothing but space on the other side' cold.

Igniting his lightsaber with a snap-hiss, Chloe watched with child-like amazement as he prepared to cut his way through the massive door. Her expression hardened, however, when it became clear what he intended to do.

"Wait, you're not serious, are you?" Blinking in momentary confusion, Kevin hesitated.

"I mean… do you have a better idea? This will take a while but I'll get it open." Chloe sighed, shaking her head in disappointment.

"And if we have to close it again…?" Disengaging his lightsaber with a sigh of his own, Kevin stared regretfully at the insurmountable obstacle before them. He hadn't thought about that. In the state that the Athena was in, it would be suicidal to leave even one blast door inoperable. Luckily, Chloe had a plan, because he was stumped.

Directly to the right of the blast door there was a maintenance panel that Chloe expertly removed without so much as a fuss.

"There's a manual override in here, it's going to a real bitch to get the door open and then closed again but it'll be hella' worth it if there's a decompression in here once we've moved on. I don't know about you, but I want more than just one blast-door between us and space, right?"

"You have a point. Here, let me do that." The embarrassment of not understanding the basic mechanical operation of the doors on his own ship had passed. Watching Chloe struggle with the manual release valve was only momentarily amusing. Now that Chloe mentioned it, he was now more keenly aware than ever that very little separated them from the vastness of empty space. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, or was it something else that had him on edge?

Chloe grumbled as she made way for him to have a go at the valve, but her face turned to wonder when it became apparent that he had no intention of physically wrestling with the mechanism. Reaching out with the force, Kevin ignored the suffocating presence that was weighing down on him and focused on the valve. Slowly, at first, it turned. Screeching in protest, the blast door opened just as slowly, drowning out Kevin's grunts of effort.

As soon as the mighty door was ajar, just wide enough for them to slip through, Kevin ceased his efforts, breathing heavily.

"You alright there? You sound like a vacuum cleaner, you know when it's sucked up a penny?" asked Chloe, flashing a taunting smile.

"Hah, Hah. I'm fine. Let's just get through and get this blasted thing closed again."

"Yes, sir!" Chloe saluted dramatically and climbed over the lower section of the thick door, squeezing her lithe form through the opening. As Kevin followed her, he contemplated on how difficult such a simple task had been. Should I tell her about this… presence that I can feel. Is it just me, or can she sense it too? His thoughts were mercilessly cut short as he took in the scene of carnage that greeted them on the other side of the blast-door.

Chloe let out a sudden gasp as she too took in the horrific sight. Three bodies were clearly visible in the hallway that lay before them. A nearby power conduit must have overloaded and exploded when the ship had been put out of action. The shrapnel from the blast had killed all the nearby crewmen, bringing their lives to a sudden stop. The hallway was covered in blood and gore, far too much to have come from just three bodies. Wrenching his gaze away from the grizzly scene, Kevin set to work closing the door.

Entirely focused on his exhausting task, he was completely surprised to notice that Chloe was gone. Panic set in, but only for a moment. Casting away his foolish reaction, he contemplated the oppressive force once more. Was it influencing him? Corrupting his thoughts and actions? If so, what about everyone else? Did his force-sensitivity make him more or less susceptible to the strange presence? The unanswerable questions persisted as he numbly made his way through the carnage. He didn't need to check the three crewmen. They were dead.

Ahead of him, a blast-door was securely closed, but the passage to his right was open. Rounding the corner, he found Chloe leaning over an injured woman. Injured was an understatement. It was clear from the streak of blood that the woman had dragged herself away from her deceased companions with great difficulty. As he approached, it became obvious exactly how little life remained in the young-woman.

"Hold on Rachel… just hold on!" Rachel? As in Rachel Amber? She's dead, isn't she? Kevin wracked his brain as he peered over Chloe's trembling shoulders to inspect the dying girl's disheveled face. From what he could remember, the girl looked similar to Chloe's former love, but the features were all wrong in every way that counted.

Mentally shrugging, he began to doubt himself as Chloe's grief intensified. The dying woman would soon leave the world of the living, he could feel it. As the woman's presence in the Force diminished, Kevin began to connect the dots. There was no way Chloe would ever mistake anyone for Rachel Amber, she was gone. Rachel's absence in Chloe's life was a constant void that couldn't be filled, even with her love for Max.

There was something sinister at work playing out before his eyes. Something powerful. He had felt it approaching long before the engagement, and it wasn't just affecting him. Whatever it was, it was as oppressive as it was disturbing. His connection to the Force might be changing the nature in which his mind interacted with it, but he was certain it was worming its way into Chloe's mind as well. Turning her own thoughts against her.

The life left the crumpled form of the young woman Chloe had mistaken for Rachel as she worried over her with futility. Her mounting grief exploded in a cascade of agony as she lost her first love once again. His heart ached as Chloe's aura in the force intensified, her despair quickly becoming his own.

Enough!

Kevin's powers were mostly related to combat in one form or another, but he had the Force. As overwhelming as this entombing sensation of dread was, the Force was stronger.

The Force was everything.

Not bothering to take any time to center himself, he pushed back against the dread. It resisted at first, but it relented to his crushing power. It was at that moment, just as the festering dread was mounting a full retreat in the wake of his abilities, that Kevin realized what he had done.

Victory had been so near, so certain. But the cost of that triumph would have been too great. He had touched the darkness, drawn from it, and used it as a weapon.

No. Not like him. Never like him.

Fear consumed his mind as his connection to the Force abruptly broke. He could not afford to touch the dark side of the Force, but he had.

Thankfully, he was spared the moral dilemma and the repercussions of what he had just done as his strength left him. Entirely surprised at how much energy he had expended to push away the menacing dread. He collapsed to the deck, the dull thud of his limp form barely registering to his own ears. Chloe, suddenly awakened from her stupor, cried out in shock, she must have. Kevin was certain of nothing else as his mind slipped into unconsciousness.

"Dude, wake up!"

Still in a daze, his mind muddled and groggy, Kevin slowly returned to the world. Entirely unimpressed with his surroundings, he closed his eyes to the world as he grimaced against a dull throbbing pain that was developing in the back of his mind. He felt unnaturally cold despite being entirely covered by blankets.

Wait… blankets?

Eyes snapping opening after a singular moment of clarity struck him. Kevin shoved himself off of the deck. Regretting his actions almost immediately, he found his body stiff and sore, pain stabbed numbly at him as he gradually become more and more aware of his surroundings.

"Whoa, easy there, space-wizard. You've been out for-."

"How long?" Kevin demanded as his heart raced. Everything seemed darker than he remembered, colder, noticeably smaller. The once spacious corridor now felt like a confined coffin.

"A few hours… okay, a lot more than a few." Chloe's usual enthusiasm was nowhere to be found as her voice trailed off. We've been drifting around in the remains of our dead ship for hours. Fuck.

"Define 'a few hours'." He demanded but Chloe lazily shook her head. Her officer's cap long discarded, perhaps used as a hand-towel to wipe away blood from her face and hands, her blue hair waved haphazardly around her head. It seemed to be acting entirely on its own as her head swayed back and forth, which could only mean one thing: the ship's artificial gravity was beginning to fail. Critical life support systems wouldn't be far behind.

Shit.

Noticing the distress in his face as she forced him to lay down once again, Chloe rolled her eyes. As his head returned to its pillow, which turned out to be Chloe's lap, she slowly started to speak.

"Yeah it fucking blows, right? We barely survive a shit-kicking from some alien ship only to die as our oxygen and heat run out. Fucking grim. Want to take bets on what kills us first? I'm betting on freezing to death, sounds way more appealing than running out of oxygen. You game?"

He couldn't help but smile. As he looked up at Chloe's playful smile, he noticed that she too was bundled up in an electric survival blanket. Moving his head slowly so as not to send shockwaves of pain rippling through his body, he surveyed their surroundings. Portable heaters, air cannisters, portable breathing equipment, even some ration packs encircled them. Chloe had thought of everything.

"I'm Canadian so I'll take freezing to death over the other thing." What was the other thing again? Why was it so hard to think? Was the oxygen that bad already?

"You're lame, no fun at all," chuckling in spite of her displeasure, she fixed him with a hard stare. "Time for the bad news though. You really fucked yourself up when you collapsed. Like, I'm probably more covered in your blood than mine right now. For real dude, Jesus, your fucking head can bleed like a fucking sprinkler when it wants to!"

I guess that's why I feel so out of it… wait, am I wearing a survival suit? After a quick inspection Kevin determined that he was indeed entirely suited up in an emergency survival suit, as was Chloe. She really had thought of everything.

"You dressed me? Aren't you not supposed to move people with head injuries?" Chloe rolled her eyes once again in exasperation.

"Shit dude, I didn't realize you were a fucking doctor too! What if we get spaced when this shit decompresses? Kate would kill me if I let you die in this shithole-."

"Quit bad-mouthing my ship Lieutenant!"

"Your ship is fucked, sir, it's a shit-." Kevin pretended as if Chloe hadn't spoken and cut her off once again.

"And we don't even have masks on, if we decompress we're fucked anyway."

"Rationing our oxygen reserves, who knows when the life support systems will cut out, you know, if we don't freeze to death before that happens."

"Noted. Anything else to report before we both die?" At this, Chloe's demeanor became entirely serious.

"You better go into that Jedi healing trance… thingy or something, I'll take care of things on this end while you un-fuck yourself." At the mention of his powers his entire body went rigid.

"No." His response was flat and firm. There would be no argument, but Chloe being Chloe, argued anyway.

"No? What the shit do you mean: no? You've got badass powers, so use them!"

"I touched the dark side Chloe, no!"

"What? Who the fuck cares?"

"I care! I won't end up like him!" She knew exactly who he was talking about. Just about anybody would. The man he had been cloned from, the man formerly known as Kevin, his 'master'.

Chloe was silent for a long time, she just sat on the deck, leaning against a bulkhead, shivering. He was becoming quite cold as well, the portable heaters and the electric blankets were doing little to keep the all-consuming cold of the dead of space at bay.

Finally, just as he felt himself slipping into a state that was a far cry from conscious, she spoke. Her voice was calm, almost nonchalant.

"Look dude. There's some serious shit out there. I can feel it so I know you can feel it too. I need my space-wizard back, I don't give two shits about the dark side or the light side. I'm not going to talk about what happened back there with that girl, but I actually thought she was Rachel. That was fucked up, I would never mistake anyone for Rachel, never. But I did. Something or someone crazy dangerous is onboard that other ship and I need you to cowboy the fuck up and get yourself in a healing trance so you can kick its ass before I go insane, got it?"

Kevin wanted to protest, to argue, to tell her to go fuck herself. She was right though. Light and dark didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered was survival. Something was out there, something entirely unlike anything the people of Earth had ever faced. He needed to survive and he needed the Force to do it. Exhaling as he centered himself, he opened himself back up to the Force.

Normally the experience would have been intoxicating, but at once he felt the presence of the dread suffocate his thoughts. He needed to push it back, properly this time, once and for all. However, in order to do this, he needed strength. It was time for a healing trance.

"Wake me up if we die." Chloe's telltale chuckle was the last thing he heard before he slipped off into deep, relaxing, peace.

Unsure of whether he had been awoken by the brittle cold, the all-consuming feeling of encroaching dread, or the completion of his healing trance, Kevin was certain of one thing: it was time to act. Focusing, he let the Force flow through him. Feeling the numbness in his body wash away, his spirits lifted as his connection to the Force intensified. The feeling was intoxicating, liberating, and terrifying.

Something new was there. Something clouded. Something dark. He had touched it before. It now begged him, pleaded him, goaded him to touch it again.

Doggedly refusing to give in to the temptation, he steeled himself against the dread looming over him. With the threat of suffocating all too prevalent, Kevin gathered his strength and pushed. It wasn't enough. The darkness laughed and mocked his weakness.

Refusing to be baited to anger, Kevin completely gave himself over to the Force. Sensing Chloe more than feeling her, he took comfort in the warmth of her presence. His mind exploded with awareness. Several dozen other souls still clung to life aboard the wreckage of his ship. He sensed more in escape-pods, scattered in the vastness of space. Best of all, he sensed the grim determination of those who still fought on. The Leviathan and the Isis may have fallen, but the remnants of their fighter squadrons persisted. He touched each presence, nurturing feelings of hope and courage. It was only then that he truly felt his enemy.

His enemy, his dread wasn't onboard the ship. It was the ship. Its power was as massive as its form. The shots from the Athena's final defiant barrage had crippled it, but it remained undefeated. Lurking like a wounded beast, his enemy was close, very close. Emboldened and empowered by those that he needed to protect, by those who still fought on, he pushed. The dread abated.

It was gradual at first, but soon it felt as if a breath of fresh air was forcibly shoved into him. Crisp and refreshing. It took him a few moments to realize that air was indeed being driven into him. Cold air, clean air, packaged air. Chloe had secured his survival suits breathing apparatus. Entirely conscious of his surroundings, he looked up at her through a partially fogged up mask. Her mask was on as well.

"Good work, sir." She coughed and adjusted the intake of her mask slightly, trembling against the cold.

"Life support just went, didn't it?" His question was entirely unnecessary, but he found himself asking anyway. Chloe nodded. The end was coming, it wouldn't be long now.

"How have you and Kate been, I haven't asked lately huh?" Kate. What I would do to see Kate again before this all ends… his thoughts drifted off as Chloe's question hung in the space between them.

"We're good, she's mostly forgiven me for all of the lies. But, there's still this rift between us. My fault." It was his fault. His lies had been his own to make, it didn't matter that he had been told to make them. It hadn't made them hurt Kate any less.

"That's good. Max and I are great. Except for the part where I abandoned her to join up. She's still pissed about it. Gotta keep her safe though, right?"

"Right." Kevin turned to look at Chloe only to find out that he could barely make out the details of her face, the damned mask was fogging up too much. These things suck, how the hell are we supposed to see in these damned things, let alone fight in them?

"We did it though, right? We saved the day and all that?" A sense of horror was creeping into Chloe's voice. She needed to hear that they had triumphed. Luckily for her, he didn't have to lie.

"We did it, we saved the day."

"Fuck yeah! Don't worry about the girls, five bucks says that they will hook up after our funeral." Kevin smiled, that was a much better image of Kate wallowing in misery because he had frozen to death aboard a crippled ship.

"Oh yeah? Ten bucks says that Kate makes the first move on Max then." Chloe giggled as she shivered, her teeth chattering away.

"No way! Twenty says Max jumps her right after the funeral, throws her right up against the-."

"I'll take that bet, you're on!" Dying was a lot more enjoyable when Chloe was around, even though it was miserably cold. The giggling pair shook on it, he could barely feel her gloved hand. It was hard finding each other's hands in the near pitch darkness. The simple gesture was further hindered by the constant shaking that entirely consumed them.

"Fuck it. Since our girls are gonna' be hooking up soon, it's okay if we cuddle, I'm fucking freezing over here, get off my lap and hold me before I turn into a meat-popsicle."

Kevin complied, but the maneuver was difficult. Not only was his entire body stiff and shaking, but the artificial gravity barely existed at all anymore. It took time, readjusting, and deliberately slow movements, but soon the pair had managed to snuggle up in the corner of the hallway, burrowed underneath their spent electric blankets.

They sat in silence for a long time, taking comfort in each other's company as they patiently waited for the end. Teeth chattering, bones aching from constant shaking, bodies numb from cold, they didn't think that they would have to wait long. When Chloe broke the reverent silence, her voice was a ghostly whisper, barely audible above her chattering teeth.

"I wish I could rewind time back before Rachel died, so I could see her again, one last time…" Kevin tightened his grip around his friend, comforting her as best he could.

"You'll see her soon enough. We both will."

"She's awesome, she's kickass. Just wait and see, you will totally love her."

"I bet."

"Max, I'll miss Max though… this is fucking bullshit." Chloe became worrying silent after that. Moments later her body went entirely still.

Kate. Barely had her name crossed his mind when the world around him ceased being cold, ceased having any sense of meaning at all.