Tommy's feelings of unease were soon justified as he stepped into the large hanger bay of the USCC Avenger. The emergency back up lights gave off an eerie red glow and was the only source of light aside from the flashlights the rangers had brought with them. Occasionally a live wire would flicker and hiss near his head, causing him to duck for cover, but the ship was devoid of any other sound. As he crawled through pile after pile of smoking debris he began to think that the Megaship's sensors had been right. There was no way in hell than anyone had survived whatever had happened aboard the ship.

Tommy crawled forward on his hands and knees, his flashlight held tight between his teeth. He hadn't moved more that a few inches when a bloodcurdling scream painted the silence around him with fear and death. He froze as the echoing scream passed down the corridor and faded into the darkness.

"What was that," he whispered to the man behind him.

"I don't know," said Jason, fear coloring his voice, "but let's not stick around and find out."

"Right."

Tommy began to crawl in the opposite direction, far away form the origin of the scream, taking a side corridor that was less crowded, and slightly less destroyed. He found an easily manageable path that allowed him to half-way stand, and started in the direction of the blinking red dot on his tracking device that was Andros. Exiting the corridor a few yards down he found an abandoned store room and another corridor.

Jason followed along in Tommy's footsteps, constantly glancing behind for any movement in the shadows.

"I don't like this man. I don't like this at all."

"Just keep moving," said Tommy concentrating on the tracker and hoping that he wasn't walking in circles, or even worse, straight into a dead end.

Finally, he found the corridor that the red space ranger was on and ducked into it. The debris covered most of the floor and live wires swung menacingly overhead, just waiting for a careless victim to venture too close. He took to his hands and knees again and, allowing Jason to go first, followed the corridor until he found the space ranger.

"Pssst!"

Tommy craned his neck to look at Andros over a small pile of smoking rubble. The space ranger's face was grim, his eyes betraying what Tommy already knew: there was no life to be found, they were just wasting their time.

But still something gnawed at Tommy's stomach, something told him that they had to be extra cautious – they were in enemy territory after all, and that scream…it was like nothing he had ever heard before. It wasn't human, that much he was certain of.

"We should go back to the Megaship," he said, not daring to raise his voice above a whisper.

Andros nodded and began to backtrack towards the other ranger teams. Tommy made to follow him when his hand connected with something cold and familiar. His breath caught in his throat as he looked down at the hand sticking awkwardly out from beneath a mound of debris.

"Andros!"

The ranger turned at the sound of his name, his breath catching in his throat for a very different reason.

"Tommy! Behind you!"

The words had barley left his mouth as Tommy turned to find himself face to face with a huge black beast. Two rows of sharp, shiny, metal teeth smiled back at him like twin rows of tiny daggers. Caught hunched down against the wall Tommy had no where to go. He was trapped. He threw up his hands as the monster slung its giant club straight at his head. He tried to duck the blow but he felt it connect with the side of his head and white hot pain exploded before his eyes. He was vaguely aware of Andros calling his name and a blaster firing in the distance as his world came crashing down around him. The red glow faded as the room pitched and the world turned black.

--- --- ---

"Get a move on," hissed Wes from behind Rocky.

"I'm moving as fast as I can," he complained as he moved a heavy chunk of metal from the path. "Maybe one of you should be the ones clearing the way huh?"

Adam rolled his eyes, "you know this would go a lot fast if you weren't trying to pretend this was some kind of mission impossible mission…thing. I heard you humming the theme song!"

"Whatever man I don't…"

"Shut up, God, you two sound like an old married couple!"

Rocky turned to Wes, intent upon burning his ears with a venomous retort, but the sight that awaited him chocked off his sentence just as surly as if the man him had hit him.

"What are you staring at," asked Adam, amazed that Wes had finally silenced Rocky.

"Guys." Rocky's voice came out as a croak. He rubbed his throat and tried again. "Guys……..turn around."

Wes and Adam glance at each other and then slowly turned to see what the big deal was. Behind them, down a side corridor that they had passed but opted to not go down, they saw a still figure lying face down under the red glow of a back up light.

Adam crawled forward, his blaster at the ready. As he drawer near the prone figure he realized that it was a girl, her dark uniform torn and covered with dried blood. Slowly, as if afraid she would suddenly jump up an attack him, Adam placed his fingers on the side of her throat, feeling for a pulse. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt the warm surge of blood beneath his fingers.

"She's alive," he whispered to the other, "she's actually alive."

"Adam!" Andros' voice emanated from Adam's communicator breaking the spell of silence that had fallen over the red men. "We have to get off of this ship, meet us back at the rendezvous point."

"Andros we've found someone, she's alive."

"What, are you sure?"

"Yeah, we'll bring her with us."

"Ok, just be careful. We are not alone on this ship."

Adam and Wes exchanged worried glances.

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever attacked this ship never left it. They are huge black creatures with blazing orange eyes and huge clubs. Keep a look out and we'll meet you back at the ship."

Andros broke the communication as a very stunned Wes and Adam stared at the woman before them.

"I'll carry her," said Wes without a moment's hesitation. "You and Adam keep a look out for those creatures."

"Just when I thought this could get no worse, "mumbled Rocky pulling out his blaster and taking point as the small group slowly crept its way back to the hanger bay, completely unaware of the creature trailing along behind them in the shadows, hungering for the carnage that was to come.