The ever-dark universe loomed in the clear spaceship glass at the edge of the hallway. Stars twinkled in rhythm around the horizon, providing little interest to the people on board.

The massive spaceship flew through space like a free bird, but this liberty was non-existent for those on the spaceship's cramped bridge.

A large digital screen hung at the center, where three people could be seen frantically moving their hands around and doing calculations.

"Captain, we're 0.005 AU (1) from our target planet. We'll be reaching planetary orbit soon, ETA 20 minutes under sail mode." The man at the center in a black and white full-body spandex informs.

On the upper left of his chest was a logo of a planetary symbol surrounded by a thin ring.

"Get the scanners ready. We don't want these nasty creatures lurking around in the backyard of the Federation." A young but stern man ordered. He was similarly dressed to the people on the bridge, albeit a golden badge was hung on his upper right chest, signifying his superiority and authority.

"Calculating new vector and adjusting secondary engine thrusters in preparation to entering the orbit of Planet X10-254-L2."

"Long-distance EM scanners detected no anomalies."

"Long-distance radar receivers and scanners also didn't detect anomalies within the nearby region."

"…"

Personnel from various parts of the ship were reporting their findings in immediate detail. The captain was pleased to hear such news. 

"Keep it up, team." He opened his Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) handheld device the size of a regular tablet and reviewed their mission.

Planet X10-254-L2. An L2-class planet that was highly habitable with a dense presence of vegetation and possibly animals as well. It was 1.55 times larger than the Federation's mother planet, Earth, but twice farther than its G-sequence star which was also remarkably similar to the Sun itself.

The 256th Reconnaissance Company led by Captain Julian were sent to investigate the possible presence of their enemy, the Hive Cluster. Julian was given the privilege of this task as one of the star graduates of Star Sol Imperial University.

Carrying the Federation's 18th Generation light recon ship, the difficulty of completing this investigation mission could be said as non-existent.

He eyed the rest of the long text displayed on his PDA. The immersion prevented him from noticing the panicked expression of the personnel in front. His gasp caught the attention of the others and long before they could react, he had already pressed the red button on his right.

The blaring siren and flashing red lights woke the dazed captain from his stupor. His ears ringing from the warning of the ship's AI.

"Warning: Emergency combat button has been activated. All personnel to battle stations."

"Ba-battle stations! Pilot, what happened?!", Julian shouted, "Where is the enemy?!"

"Captain, they're near us!"

The PDA fell onto the floor. Julian grabbed the steel railings and howled, "How near?!"

"3000 meters!"

The ship navigator brought up the spatial radar map screen into the center. Thirty grids southeast under from their position, a huge blue dot could be seen. Not so long after, several similarly sized dots appeared on their west and south.

"Captain, our ship is identifying Federation signals from the hostile ships! These people must be from the Federation!"

Julian's eyes widened, "Determine the ship's model and type!"

The pilot's eyes wandered around the screen. "The ship seems to be of a berserk cruiser type, modeled by the Federation's MileAge MTech, released year 2984!"

"A new model of the Berserker cruiser class?! Who would be so extravagant to kill me like this?!" Julian rummaged in his mind, 'The Elite Terran party! They plan to bury me on this planet full of hives!'

The ship's AI issued another warning, "Warning: Detecting weapon systems lock from a nearby spaceship."

Everyone became aghast. Being locked while still setting themselves up was certain death, especially if it came from a berserker cruiser ship.

Julian waved his hands, "Report to the nearest Federal Space Port!"

"Signals are blocked! FTL (3) Drives are also blocked! We cannot enter the subspace for an exit. Our stealth systems are compromised, and each of our scanners is losing against the strong interference."

The continuous reports slowly drained the blood from Julian's face.

"And, oh no! Power to the defensive turrets is down and some of the main thrusters-!"

Before the engineer could finish, Julian saw a long streak of golden light being shot from far away into the bridge in less than a second. The surprise attack was blocked by a light-blue energy shield which left it flickering for a while. The energy shield, however, did not stop the ship from shaking in distress.

Everyone held on for dear life. 

Another rumble consequently set off from the rear and left side of the recon ship.

Most of the crew started to puke while others rolled on the ground, tipsy with all the concurrence in the ship.

"Warning: Ship shield integrity is at 85%. Initiating countermeasures."

"Error: Turrets are offline. Initiating electrical system override."

"Error: Electrical distribution to the turrets is cut off. Please repair ASAP."

"…"

Julian wiped off the sweat on his face.  'Luckily, they haven't been able to infiltrate the energy core room where the shield energy core is also located.' 

Looking at the distraught expression his crew members gave to him, Julian analyzed their current plight. 'We should plan for orbital entry. Atmospheric entry with the ship is possible, but the enemy will definitely not let us go under a big target flag.'

Both entry options had their problems. Either they die or die faster.

A berserker cruiser ship was equipped to almost match the speed of light ships like the one they were in now. If Julian and his company wanted to survive, then they had to give it their all.

"Initiate the remaining thrusters and focus most of the core's output into it. Alter our vector to the planet, drive it as close as possible!" Julian commanded. "All essential personnel, ready yourselves and enter the ejection pods. Be careful of any personnel that you encounter. Some might be traitors!"

His voice was transmitted on the entire ship through the speakers. Everyone who heard it quickly ran to the nearest ejection pod.

"Sir, should we let the AI engage in the ship's evasive maneuvers?", the pilot asked.

"Don't!" Julian yelled. "It'll drag down our speed. Only when the energy shield is at 10%, and when we are also close to our target!"

They were already locked in by the berserker cruiser's weapon systems so what was the point of evading now?

The pilot gulped at his Captain's orders. 'Can the shield even hold down to 10%?'

The pilot shook his head in guilt, prepping the AI's new target vector and its thruster speed to the maximum possible. However, the outages from the ship's thruster and propulsion systems cut down its speed to a third of its maximum.

The AI then asks for their authentication. Julian, together with the pilot, unanimously agreed.

They quickly processed the captain and pilot's authentication and the ship starts to hum in motion, slowly increasing its speed.

Julian and the crew used the force to ram their way to the ejection pods.

The ejection pods were at either of the lower wing sides of the jet craft-shaped recon spaceship. It would take Julian several twists and turns to be able to arrive on time.

They took another turn when a laser blast was shot out.

Julian saw how the man in front of him had its head burst into chunks. His breathing remained stable, unperturbed by the event that just happened.

"I'm sorry Captain Julian, but that's your very last step."

A mocking crew member points a short red laser pistol at him from afar, standing above a descending stair that would lead directly to the ejection pods.

'Have they compromised the ejection pods?' Julian narrowed his eyes. The crew members behind him also stopped.

Just as the traitor pulled down the trigger, another rumbling occurred.

The enemy stumbled and accidentally threw out the gun, giving Julian the chance to run closer to him.

He ran without feeling disoriented, grabbing the laser pistol and triggering the laser charge. He slid right past the enemy and aimed the laser pistol at its head.

Bam!

The highly charged laser pistol blasted through and melted some of the brain matter.

Julian snorted and reminded his crew. "Go and stand up! Run to the ejection pods!"

They stood up and rushed into the ejection pods. Julian suddenly rolled away after hearing a low hum to the left.

The thick metallic shell of the wall melted down and the sight of it frightened Julian, 'If I was a millisecond slower…'

He hid in the corner behind the door leading to the stairs.

Julian tried to close it but the AI continuously spat out errors such as malfunctioning and damaged door components.

"Captain!" His subordinate turned around, frightened by the situation.

"Just go! I'll hold back the enemy!"

Julian slowed down his breath, anticipating the appearance of this unknown enemy.

"There's no running, Captain Julian. You are too good for your own good. It is time for you to take a good deep rest after all the outstanding efforts you have done for the Federation."

The voice sounded haughty and aged. Julian felt that this voice was too familiar, "Sergeant Vasquez, I didn't know you were this petty. A dog for the elites. I should've crippled you during the final star examination if not for your petty dog father."

'And how the hell did he manage to enter my ship? He must've bribed someone.'

While talking, Julian noticed a small shard of glass conveniently placed at the edge of the corridor reflecting Vasquez's clumsy figure.

"How dare you hurl curses at us! I will make sure I will be your end!" Lieutenant Vasquez took out a large laser rifle and started charging it with immense energy. All his eyes focused on the corner where Julian was hiding, ignoring the glass shard.

"You're as dumb as always, aren't you, Vasquez?" Julian mocked, "No wonder your combat ability was marked as a 5."

'Projectile-based laser armaments were always set to manual charge while in outer space territory. Was this guy even listening to his weaponry classes?' Julian inwardly insulted Vasquez's intellect.

He had long charged his laser pistol. With confidence, he jumped out of cover and aimed the muzzle right at Vasquez's upper body.

The laser pistol shot out a horrifying blast, hitting Vasquez's still-charging laser rifle.

Vasquez staggered backward under the force and suddenly felt his hands scorching hot. He then realized that the energy capacitor of the laser rifle was destroyed and blasted him in the face, burning his skin thoroughly.

"Ahh!"

Julian ignored the squeals, pointing the laser pistol at the pipe directly above Vasquez.

He controlled the charge and blasted some high-pressurized air into this traitorous dog.

It rushed to Vasquez's face as if rubbing some salt further into his already grievous wounds. Vasquez's wails were so loud that the AI's non-ending warnings were overshadowed.

Julian left without batting an eye.

He passed through the rest of the corridors and finally made his way to the ejection pods. During that time, the recon ship has long suffered under the continuous bombardment from the berserker cruisers pursuing them.

"Warning: Energy shield integrity is at 10%. Initiating evasive maneuvers."

The ship's AI has finally acted up and started its grotesque display of mind-blowing and gut-wrenching evasion skills. Julian could already see Planet X10-254-L2 on the distant horizon and it was several seconds until planetary orbital entry.

Looking at the screen above, only one ejection pod was available.

Julian forced his way through under the extreme vulgarity of the ship's evasive maneuvers. Any other crew would've long passed out.

He arrived right in front of the ejection pod and opened the tightly sealed door hatch.

"Identity confirmed: Captain Julian Rogers."

The hatch slowly opened but Julian didn't wait for far too long or else he would also pass out. He quickly closed the slow-ass hatch and ordered the AI to buckle himself in place.

"Planetary Orbital Entry is complete. Proceeding with the pod ejection process."

"How long until ejection?!", Julian asked while looking at the flooding reports.

"ETA: 30 seconds."

"Opening pod cargo bay doors."

"Warning: Energy shield has been exhausted. Initiating FTL Drive."

"Error: Subspace is locked. Unable to initiate FTL Drive."

"Pressurizing pods."

Julian's body tensed up.

"5."

"4."

"3."

"2."

"1."

"Detaching pods from magnetic links."

A small rectangular metallic object shot out of the recon ship and into the atmosphere of the planet.

"Firing small thrusters."

Julian's body suffered a small shock as the speed of the metallic pod increased by a huge margin, 'I'm going to die of brain injury first instead of enemy fire!'

His head was so full of air that he no longer cared about the explosion happening around him and his crewmates dying.

"Grrr!"

"Pod is now subject to atmospheric entry. Calculating optimal air pressurization based on planetary atmospheric pressure."

"…"

"Adjusting pod air pressure. The crewmate may experience lightheadedness during the process and may also possibly pass out."

"…" Julian had long passed out. How dare this AI warn him of something that has already happened?!

"Adjustment completed." the AI ignored Julian's current state.

The air screeched against the metallic pods as they rapidly descended on the planet. The sight was akin to a rare meteor shower, especially during daytime.

Meanwhile, Julian's pod veered off farther than the rest, heading straight toward the center of a forest biome. A cloud of purple mist suddenly appeared from far away, releasing buzzing sounds and heading toward the pod's vector.

"Warning: Unknown invisible barrier detected. ETA to barrier contact: 15 seconds."

"Analyzing barrier characteristics."

"…"

"Warning: Extreme danger detected ahead. Activating thrusters!"

"Error: Unable to-!"

Julian's metallic pod crashes through the barrier and starts making contact with the mysterious purple mist. Hissing sounds echoed in the skies as the purple mist rapidly tore through the pod's structure, leaving only the organic human after the passing of a second.

Julian suddenly woke up, feeling bloated and wanting to vomit whatever was in his stomach.

His breath was so deep and suffocating that his eyes reddened in despair and his skin turned bluish-purple. He almost choked himself just so that he couldn't breathe under such pressure.

Then he saw on the periphery of his vision a surging purple mist closing in on his battered body. Once close enough, he noticed that this purple mist was made up of small purple insects!

"Ah!"

The very fiber of his skin and muscles were being torn apart and his oozing dark-red blood continuously showered the animals and trees on the ground. Amid this suffering, Julian also saw a set of white insects pouring into his body.

'Wh-what is this! I don't want to be eaten up by insects!'

Helpless, Julian could only wail in pain as his body streaked through the sky in a bloody manner. His figure shot through the thick canopy and vegetation, providing a cover against the huge cruiser spaceships hovering above the planet's atmosphere.

"Sir, the target has landed on the planet. Should we initiate a search party?", a military officer reported and bowed.

There was the shadow of a man sitting on the highchair at the center of the wide room. His dark eyes shone on the other end of the room. There was a wide pane of glass showing the beautiful outline of Planet X10-254-L2.

"Do you want to violate the Convention's Treaty?", the man coldly asked.

His subordinate shook his head.

"Then ignore them. You never know what lies in the darkness. The Convention has eyes and ears everywhere." He nonchalantly waved. "The Hive Cluster will feed on their crew sooner or later. Catch that fleeing light recon ship and see if anyone else is alive. Retreat to the nearest secured planetary system once that is done. A long celebration is waiting."