A/N: Thanks for all the reviews etc so far, you guys are awesome :)

Thanks again to Sweedledome for looking over this chapter for me. She's the best :)

I do not own Pitch Perfect or any of its characters

Beca's back was pressed against the wall of the ship they had boarded, her team-mates beside her.

Aubrey had held a solitary finger to her helmet and they all stayed silent.

A lone ship containing the brutally cruel Malician had entered Terram's airspace and was picked up on their radar.

The Malician had a habit of sending out scouts to other specie's ships or planets, before retreating and then coming back as an army and devouring what they could before they were killed.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason. It was like a sport to them.

In Beca's lifetime there had only been one successful Malician raid, and it had been responsible for the death of her mother.

A team was required to board the ship and, as quickly and silently as possible, dispatch any Malician on board.

"Why can't we just blow it up?" Beca had asked during the briefing.

"Because, Mitchell, it is likely that if that happens we will be swarmed by them in seconds," Boston said, his jaw slightly clenched. "Need I remind you what happened the last time?"

"No sir," she replied. "But surely they'll see whoever it is, coming? And even if they don't, once they fail to get back to their ship, we'll get swarmed anyway."

"So what do you suggest?" He said, rolling his eyes now.

"We blow them up," she said. "Then we boost up our shields, and pick them off as they come. We can wait them out."

"Their population is almost four times what ours is, Mitchell," he said, sounding a tad angry that she wasn't simply swallowing what he had to say. "And they can reproduce at a ridiculous speed. They have no fear of death or of decimating their population, all they want is to consume. We can't wait them out. What we do, is we dispatch them, and we relocate. I won't risk another massacre, Mitchell." Beca opened her mouth to argue again but was shut down. "Enough! Now, our squadron has been picked to do this, so I need to choose a team to send, and I believe, Ms Mitchell, you have just volunteered Team B." He was smiling now.

"Sir, we have no medic," Aubrey said, speaking up.

"Are you disobeying orders, Sergeant Posen?" He said, fixing her with the same stare he had once given Stacie.

"N... No sir," Aubrey said, trying to hide the shake in her voice. Stacie had given the opposite answer, and Stacie wasn't here any more.

"Very good," he said. "Once this briefing is over, take your team to get ready and be at the loading bay in one hour."

"You can't send us out there without a medic," Beca said. She had never been one to keep her mouth shut, and she wasn't about to start now.

"Beca," Aubrey said, in a cross whisper.

"Sir, why not send us instead?" A solider named Jesse asked, his sergeant Bumper was sitting beside him and gave him a nudge in the ribs.

"Because I have chosen Team B, Swanson," he said. "Meeting over, go back to your teams. Posen, Mitchell, if your team isn't at the loading bay in one hour, consider yourselves in a lot of trouble, understand?"

"This is a fucking suicide mission," Beca said, furious. "You can't seriously expect us to do this without a medic!"

Boston stood up, and walked towards Beca.

"If you can't kill a few blundering Malician without getting yourselves injured, you might as well be civilians," he said. He kept walking until their boots were practically touching. He towered over her, but Beca wasn't the type to let height intimidate her, so she met his gaze and stared at him with undisguised fury.

He reached down and held one of her dog-tags between his thumb and finger. Beca tensed slightly but didn't show it.

"I'd hate to have to remove these, Mitchell. But I suppose you must be eager to see your sister again," he paused, his grip on the tag tightening. If he pulled, the tag would snap off with ease. "Don't think I won't do it." His voice was low and menacing. "Loading bay. One hour." He released the tag from his grip before saluting her. Beca had no choice but to return it before turning and storming from the room, Aubrey close behind her.

"God dammit Beca, why do you have to rise to him like that?" Aubrey said as they made their way to where the rest of their team were.

"I don't know how you can just sit there and swallow everything he says," Beca said, still furious.

"Because I am trying to protect us," she replied.

"He was always going to pick us, Aubrey, he hates us," Beca said, trying to shake off the guilt that her outburst had caused the girls to be picked for this suicide mission.

They arrived back at their quarters to see the other girls in the middle of a heated pillow fight.

"Oh my god," Aubrey said, rolling her eyes. "Fall in!"

They all immediately stopped what they were doing and made a line in front of Beca and Aubrey.

"Get yourselves ready girls, we've got some Malician to kill," she said. Five pairs of eyes landed on Beca.

"Some how I feel this is your fault, shorty," Fat Amy said.

"We don't have a medic," Cynthia Rose said.

"I know," Aubrey said, holding up her hands to silence the rest of the muttering. "And Beca may have spoke out of turn but she was just trying to save some lives. We all know basic first aid, if we're smart about this, we can do it."

They were pressed against the cold metal of the Malician's ship wall, the skeletal guard dog was walking past them.

It was totally blind, its eyes a clouded dull white. Its teeth sharper than razor-blades. Ears twitching, straining to hear the sound of something it didn't recognise. Once it picked up a sound or scent, it would let out a shrieking, growling bark that would alert any Malician near by.

The Malician would then arrive and fire blindly, with undisguised excitement. Their guns weren't lethal, just incapacitating. They preferred to do their killing with their hands and their teeth.

Beca could feel the sweat trickling down her neck as she stayed pressed against the wall, the rest of the team beside her. Her heart was pounding.

The dog walked slowly and deliberately, dragging its feet as it sniffed the air.

Beca looked towards Aubrey and made a slitting throat gesture before pointing at the dog. Aubrey nodded.

Beca took her knife and in one quick and fluid motion, slit the creature's throat.

She had prepared herself for the spurt of tar-like liquid, but the deafening shriek she heard was new.

She had killed these creatures before, but this had never happened before.

"Run," Aubrey's calm but serious voice said in her earpiece. She watched her team, crouched low, moving quickly back towards where they had docked their ship, before following along behind them.

Despite being dead, the shrieking was still coming from the dog. Like an alarm.

She heard the excitable, garbled noises of the approaching Malician.

"Speed it up, guys," Beca said.

They weren't far off.

Just another few yards.

She heard the high pitched sound of their guns charging up.

They were so close.

"Move, move, move!"

Beca was hit in the back by something, and the crackling of electricity filled the air.

White hot pain exploded from her shoulder and spread rapidly throughout her body. She lost the grip on her gun and her legs turned to jelly.

The computer sitting on her arm began flashing red.

Danger, it said.

Medical attention required.