ATLAS'S POV
I slammed my fist on the briefing room table hard enough to crack it.
"Four dead in less than an hour. FOUR." My voice came out like gravel. "Martinez, Chen, Rodriguez, and Kim. All torn apart by that thing."
Fifteen security officers stared back at me, their faces pale. Some had worked with Martinez for years. Some had shared meals with Kira in the cafeteria, laughing at her terrible science jokes. Now they had to hunt the creature that killed them both.
"Commander," Marcus Cole said carefully. He was my second-in-command, twenty years older than me and twice as steady. "We need to talk about—"
"There's nothing to talk about." I pulled up the lab security footage on the main screen. The image froze on Kira's transformed face—those massive black eyes, those claws dripping with blood. "This is what we're hunting. It's fast, strong, and it killed the woman I loved without hesitation."
My voice cracked on the last word. I cleared my throat, forcing the weakness down.
"Sir," a young officer named Peters raised her hand. "Dr. Tanaka submitted a report. She says the creature exhibited unusual behavior patterns. It avoided killing her when it had the chance. And it only attacked the guards who fired at it first."
"It killed Martinez before anyone fired a shot," I snapped.
"Actually, sir, Martinez fired first. The footage—"
"I DON'T CARE!" The room went silent. I took a breath, trying to control the rage burning in my chest. "That thing murdered Dr. Chen. It's wearing her DNA like a disguise, but Kira is gone. Do you understand? She's gone."
I couldn't say the word "dead." Not out loud. Not yet.
Captain Cross's face appeared on the communication screen. "Commander Vance, status report."
"We're mobilizing search teams, Captain. The creature is hiding in the ventilation system. I've ordered motion sensors installed at every junction. When it moves, we'll know."
"Excellent. And your orders to the teams?"
I looked at my officers. Good people. Scared people. People who deserved to sleep safely knowing the monster wasn't coming for them.
"Shoot to kill," I said. "No hesitation. No capture attempts. This thing is too dangerous to contain."
Marcus stood abruptly. "Sir, I need to speak with you privately."
"We're in the middle of a briefing—"
"NOW, Commander."
The steel in his voice surprised me. Marcus never challenged orders. I nodded to the others. "Five minute break. Check your gear."
When they filed out, Marcus rounded on me. "What the hell are you doing?"
"My job. Protecting this ship."
"Your job is to think clearly, not run a revenge mission." He stepped closer, his weathered face stern. "That creature has Kira's DNA. Her brain patterns. Maybe even her memories. Dr. Tanaka thinks—"
"Dr. Tanaka is a junior biologist who wants to study every specimen that crosses her path." I turned away, unable to meet his eyes. "You didn't see what I saw, Marcus. You didn't watch that thing tear through my men like paper. You didn't see Kira's face melting off—"
"I saw the footage." His voice softened. "I know what you lost, son. I know you loved her. But ordering a kill-on-sight without investigating what she's become? That's not justice. That's murder."
"She's already dead!" I whirled on him, feeling something break inside my chest. "Kira died the second that thing touched her. What's left is just a monster wearing her corpse!"
Marcus was quiet for a long moment. "What if you're wrong?"
The question hung between us like a knife.
"I'm not," I whispered. But my hand went to my pocket, feeling the engagement ring there. Still warm. Still covered in blood. "I can't be wrong. Because if any part of Kira survived that transformation, and I kill her..." I couldn't finish.
"Then we capture it alive," Marcus said firmly. "Study it. Figure out what it is. If it's just a creature, we terminate it humanely. If it's Kira somehow..." He put a hand on my shoulder. "Then you'll have saved the woman you love."
"And if it kills more people while we're trying to capture it? How many deaths is that gamble worth?"
He had no answer.
The comm on my wrist beeped. Peters's voice crackled through. "Commander, motion sensor triggered in Section 12-B. The creature is on the move."
My heart jumped. "All teams, converge on Section 12. Non-lethal weapons first, but keep plasma rifles ready. Marcus, you're with me."
We ran through the corridors, following the sensor alerts. The creature was fast—moving through vents, across walls, places humans couldn't reach. But it was also heading somewhere specific. Not random. Purposeful.
"It's going to the animal testing lab," Marcus panted beside me.
"Why would it—" Then I understood. "It's hungry. It needs to eat."
We burst into the lab just as something dropped from the ceiling vent. The creature landed in a crouch, all four arms spread wide, those black eyes reflecting our flashlight beams.
Up close, it was worse than the footage showed. Bigger. More alien. Its body constantly shifted, like it couldn't decide what shape to be.
"Freeze!" I raised my plasma rifle. "Don't move!"
It turned its head to look at me—such a human gesture from such an inhuman face—and made a sound like clicking and hissing mixed with a voice I knew.
"At...las..."
My name. It said my name.
"Don't listen to it," I told myself. "It's mimicking. That's what predators do."
But my hands shook. Because the way it looked at me—desperate, terrified, pleading—that was pure Kira.
"Put down your weapon, Commander," Marcus said quietly. "Look at it. Really look."
The creature's lower right hand was touching its chest, right over where its hearts would be. The exact gesture Kira made when she was nervous. Her tell. The thing I'd teased her about a thousand times.
"Sor...ry," it rasped. "Did...n't... mean... kill..."
Tears. It was crying. Black acid tears that hissed on the floor, but tears nonetheless.
"Kira?" My voice broke. "Is that... are you..."
It nodded. Then its body convulsed, and it made a sound like screaming. Something was wrong. It was in pain.
"Help... me," it begged. "Plea...se... At...las... help..."
I lowered my rifle. Took one step forward.
Then the lab door exploded inward. Captain Cross stood there with ten armed guards.
"FIRE!" she commanded.
Plasma bolts filled the air. The creature—Kira—shrieked and bolted straight up, clinging to the ceiling like a spider. More bolts chased it. One hit its leg. It screamed again, that awful multi-voiced sound, and crashed through the ceiling vent, disappearing.
"CEASE FIRE!" I roared. "What the hell are you doing?"
Captain Cross stepped into the lab, her face cold. "My job, Commander. That specimen is too dangerous to contain. I gave the kill order."
"That's not a specimen! That's Dr. Chen!"
"Dr. Chen is dead." She walked past me without a second glance. "That thing killed her. And if you can't do your job because of personal feelings, I'll find someone who can. You're relieved of command until you can prove you're thinking clearly."
"You can't—"
"I just did. Guards, escort Commander Vance to his quarters. He's under protective custody until further notice."
Marcus started to protest but I held up a hand. There was no point fighting. Not here.
As they led me away, I heard Captain Cross on her comm: "All teams, switch to lethal force. I want that creature dead within twelve hours. And someone find Dr. Tanaka. I have questions about her research logs."
In my pocket, Kira's engagement ring burned like a coal.
Because I'd seen something in those black eyes. Something that made my blood run cold.
Recognition. Intelligence. Memory.
And something else. Something growing in her body that pulsed with a light I'd never seen before.
Whatever Kira was becoming, she wasn't just transforming.
She was pregnant.
With something that might be half-human, half-alien.
And Captain Cross wanted her dead before anyone else found out.