“Mission time: eleven hundred hours Zulu. SitRep: things are pretty bad and probably will get a lot worse,” I said into the MultiPad Unit, knowing that the chances of it or I making it out of this situation alive were slim to none.

“I have been separated from the rest of my unit for over five hours and have had no luck in contacting any of them,” I continued. “I have to assume that they are all dead.”

I shut the MPU down and started to shake, violently. Too many stimulants combined with the realization that I was the only human left aboard this freighter triggered a mini-breakdown. The fact that I was sharing this freighter with about a dozen ThroGs didn’t help matters any.

I suddenly awoke, in the dark, only the blue glow of the MPU to keep me company. According to the MPU ’s chronometer, I had been out for about an hour. I did a quick scan of the area and found no sign of either ThroG (good!) or human (bad,) so I decided that now was as good as time as any to get off my dead butt and get moving.