The Wraithborn jumped into the back of the crowd. They began to slash with their long knife-fingers. Blood sprayed onto the dirty ground. People fell. The screaming grew louder, turning from fear into pure horror."Sir!" Vance yelled in the command room. He pointed at the screen. "The shield is broken! Sector 7 is open! The enemy is inside the perimeter!"Oliver's eyes darted across the screens. He saw the red dots mixing with the green dots. He saw the purple lightning in the sky getting wilder. The storm was closing in."Pod 3, launch," Oliver ordered calmly, pressing a button. Pod 3 flew up, narrowly dodging a lightning strike. "Pod 4, launch. Pod 5, wait... launch."Vance grabbed the edge of the table. "Sir, what about Pod 7?! The monsters are right next to it!"Oliver pulled up the camera feed for Pod 7. He saw the mother, Mary, inside the door, reaching out. He saw the father, Thomas, on the ground outside, trying to crawl up the ramp. He saw thirty other people still outside, s

The command room was completely silent for only three seconds.Oliver held his heavy black pistol. He was ready to leave the room. He was ready to fly up to the Iron Star and hunt the monster in the sky. Captain Iris was standing next to him, breathing hard.Then, the whole room went dark.All the bright white lights turned off. The giant computer screens on the walls went black. The humming sound of the big machines stopped. Everything died."What is happening?" Iris asked. Her voice was loud in the sudden dark.A loud alarm started ringing. It was not the city siren. It was a new sound. BZZZ. BZZZ. BZZZ.Red emergency lights flashed on. The red light made everyone look like a ghost.Captain Vance typed very fast on his keyboard. His hands were shaking again. "Commander!" Vance yelled. "We have a massive problem! The main power is gone!""I can see that, Vance," Oliver said. His voice was cold and calm. He did not yell. He never yelled. "Tell me why.""The Wraithborn," Vance said. "T

The heavy spike shattered a massive glass tube. Glowing green liquid poured out like a waterfall. It splashed onto a group of fifty charging Wraithborn. The liquid was highly acidic. The monsters melted into black puddles. They screamed in terrible pain."Now," Oliver commanded. "The path is clear. Run straight ahead. Fifty yards. The main control desk is there.""Run!" Jax shouted.The six remaining soldiers ran. They fired their guns behind them. They sprinted past the burning bodies of the monsters.They reached the big metal desk. There were three large, heavy red levers on the desk. They were the manual reset levers for the power grid."Jax," Oliver said. "You must pull all three levers at the exact same time. Not a second late. Not a second early. If you fail, the system will overload and blow up the entire city.""Kael, grab the left one!" Jax ordered. "Soldier Two, grab the right one! I have the middle!"The three men grabbed the heavy red handles.Behind them, the ocean of mo

"I know you are busy, boss," Billy said. He typed very fast on his keyboard. His fingers moved like lightning. "You are looking at the sky. But I am looking at the dirt. I saw the monsters attack the power grid. I saw them steal the data. I recorded everything.""And what did you find?" Oliver asked. He stopped writing. He gave Billy his full attention."I found a pattern," Billy said. His face became very serious. He stopped smiling. "Commander, the Wraithborn are not just a bunch of angry bugs. They are a network."Billy pressed a button. A new video played on the screen next to his face. It was the video of the monsters in the Power Nexus, from Captain Jax's helmet camera."Look closely," Billy said. He paused the video. He pointed a dirty finger at the screen. "Look at how they move. When Captain Jax shot his heavy gun, he made a giant noise. A normal animal would run away from the loud noise. But these monsters did not run away. They stepped back exactly two paces. At the exact s

The command room was as cold as a grave. Captain Vance stood in the corner. He was shaking. He was looking at the giant main screen. The screen was empty. Ten minutes ago, the giant spaceship called the Iron Star was on that screen. Now, there was only black space and floating pieces of burning metal.Commander Oliver sat in his large black chair. He did not cry. He did not shake. His face was a mask of gray stone. He looked at his hands. They were clean. But in his mind, they were covered in the blood of four thousand innocent people. He had killed them to save the rest of the solar system. He had killed Captain Iris."Commander..." Vance whispered. His voice was broken. "They are gone. The ship is gone.""I know, Vance," Oliver said. His voice was completely flat. "The Brain is dead. The multi-front attack on the neighbor colonies is stopped. We won that hand.""We won?" Vance asked. He sounded angry. Tears rolled down his face. "Four thousand people are dead! Iris is dead! How is