seen before. He timed the shots with each step until he was on the other side of the wall that Alan was hiding behind. She watched Burke pull out the remaining bullets from the gun and fire it purposefully without any ammunition. The inert clicking of the hammer striking nothing filled the air. “You idiot, it’s a trick,” she whispered hopelessly down at the floor. Alan spun around the doorway once more only to be punctured by a blade protruding out of Burke’s armor. It pierced through his head and cleanly into his skull. Jess saw the cracks snake out along the skull from where the blade went through and couldn’t help but cringe. The blade popped free when Burke moved his arm away and Alan fell dead onto the floor. She was sure he died instantly. The computer terminal emitted a series of beeps behind Jess and she turned to the screen. Someone was accessing the system and she remembered reading about the AI component included in the Phalanx aegis. She strained her mind to recall anything else she could about the armor. It looked damaged when she looked down at it but it still withstood Alan’s assault. She tried to remember if the visor of the armor had the same functionality as her bionic eye. She couldn’t remember for certain and pushed the thought aside. If he could see her as she could him, then she was done for. She would have to risk it either way. The screen changed to show that the ship’s roster was being accessed. Five crew members, of which only Marcus was named. She turned away from it and looked back down at the floor. Burke had moved into the engine room that took up the rest of the lower level. Jess moved quietly out of the room and onto the railing overlooking the cargo bay. She kept him in her view as she grappled the railing and heaved herself over it. She climbed down it slowly, moving her hands to deliberately lower herself until she was gripping the bottom part of the floor. Her feet dangled less than a meter from the lower level and that was when she let go. She landed nimbly on her feet and looked through the single wall that separated Burke from her. He had done a quick circuit of the engine and had turned back to walk in her direction. She felt her legs tense as he looked her way; she was ready to run if he could see her just as well as she could him. When he made no movement or reaction to her, she made two quick strides and pressed herself against the wall, sliding along it as he moved closer. Alan’s body was slumped outside of the right hand entrance. Burke was moving back toward it. Jess shifted herself toward the left entrance. Alan’s blood had pooled and was running over the floor toward her. She moved her feet away from the trickling blood and urged Burke to move faster. She couldn’t risk moving into the room too soon but the blood was threatening to touch her feet, causing her leave a trail when she finally did move. Burke neared the door as Jess balanced on her left foot, keeping her right one suspended above the blood below her. He took a single step through the door way and she twisted on her left foot, putting only her right foot through the door and turning on it, not risking more noise than a single step. She held her breath as she stared at him through the wall. She could feel the blood rushing through her ears; her face felt hotter than when the planet’s air had smothered her. Burke made no reaction that he noticed her. He walked to the stairs to explore the upper floor and she exhaled slowly in time with the rush of relief. She kept her neck craned and faced upwards to watch him as she stepped back into the cargo bay. The ship had many secret places to hide storage from unexpected searches. She had crawled around the ship so many times to rig pieces together that she knew the hidden places more than Marcus did. She saw that Burke was in the middle of the shared crew quarters. He looked like he had picked something up and was inspecting it. She took the