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"Sparky, reload the Big Bertha, now! Two minutes. All hands stand ready! Safety procedure Code Red. 2nd Mate out." I hear 2nd Mate's voice, thick with urgency and desperation, in my earpiece. I shudder. Big Bertha? Suicide. No time for Code Red checklist anyway.
"Yes, Sir! Big Bertha reload. Sparky out." I report back. "Baltu, power to the bleed capacitors, Checklist Procedure Code Red. Now!" I yell to my only remaining crew, the Second Lineman Baltugirbaldorge-and that is just his first name.
"Another back-to-back mission! What happened to the Regulations' mandated five-minute rest, debrief, re-brief and all that good stuff? I am not a machine, I am a Mzzit, I need rest! And what about all the other squadron pilots, the brown nosers! Yessir, yessir! Have them fly back-to-back missions!"
Torl took a deep breath and relaxed a bit at the bio-controls, sipping refreshing Spank gratefully while programming the bio-zoid to maintain same course at current speed and altitude for two seconds.
Much needed rest. Dangerous but within tolerances of the current situation. Torl shut down most of his eyes tiredly, leaving just a few open to scan the instruments and any dangers ahead. And dangers there were, to be sure, somewhere ahead. In Quadrant ZZX.
They move pretty quickly, considering they're dead.
"Blood-sucking bastards," the Captain growls, shouldering his assault rifle.
The gun barks three times. The sound that follows shortly after can only be best described as a watermelon being smashed by a baseball bat.
The Captain lowers his rifle and smiles proudly. Even after all that we've gone through, he still manages to find joy in the simple things.
"Took off the top half of his head," he muses.
I'm lost. Damn. What the hell was I thinking? I'd have sworn I smelled Jessica's perfume, but... how stupid is that? This is a sewer - nobody ever comes down here except me. Why would she be here? What would she be doing here? Stupid stupid stupid. I should've just hid in the entrance, cooked up a hit, and gotten out like I always do. Didn't even think it over - just barged in and started wandering around. And with the party in three hours, too. 
There it was in front of him. Arthur stared into the darkness at the pair of glowing eyes that stared back at him. He clutched the heavy wooden chair as if it were a shield, frozen in place. Were it not for the spot lights on the stage behind him, Arthur would be in darkness with only the flashlight in his back pocket to guide him.
What the hell is this thing? He thought. In the moonless early morning, Arthur could see almost nothing outside the little circle of light emanating from the stage behind him. It was one of those portable ones that had been brought in by truck the day before.
He slowly backed away from the beast in the darkness. For a moment he thought it might eat him right there on the spot, this whatever it was. It let out a low growl. Arthur jumped, dropping his chair. The beast began to inch toward the light.
