Shannon stumbled into a large, unfamiliar room with at least two dozen other human women. More were winking into existence as her training kicked in, and she began to survey her surroundings, looking for the most immediate threats and paths to escape. She didn't see very many of the latter but felt the entire setup was the former.

The influx of women stopped abruptly, finishing with about fifty in the room. Many were from the Agency but knew none of them personally. She noticed all of them were no longer armed, holsters empty on their hips.

She put her hand on an unadorned, dark gray wall. It didn't quite feel like metal, but it also wasn't plastic. Both the floor and ceiling appeared to be made of the same strange material. Bright, fluorescent light poured from fixtures in the high ceiling, and ventilation ports well out of reach. The air seemed fresh, but Shannon had a gut feeling they weren't on Earth anymore. Maybe we're on one of Their ships? But, They're still so far away!

The room was sparse. A ring of benches molded from the walls ran around the edge. Above each one, she noticed a compartment. Shannon tried to open the nearest one and found it to be locked. She also tried the closest of the two doors she spied to discover it contained a very Earth-like bathroom with several stalls as well as showers.

Shannon whirled around when one of the women started banging on the other door, shouting to be let out. Recognizing a panic attack when she saw one, she made her way through the group before the woman's pleas set off a chain reaction.

"Hey," Shannon entreated the woman, leaning on the door so the woman's wild eyes could focus on her as a distraction. "Look at me. Hey—"

Her aid was interrupted when the woman cried out and leaped back as the door shocked her. A green curtain of light appeared along the wall and slowly made its way toward the group of women. Instinctively, they all backed away from it. Shannon tried not to share the same expression of frightened horror she saw on so many of the faces, even on those who were Agents and supposedly trained for crises.

The light successfully herded the group into one-third of the room. In the space it had swept clear, more women, all human, began appearing. In the first dozen, Shannon finally recognized someone.

"Tonya! What's going on?" Shannon cried as her friend pivoted toward her voice.

"Shannon!" Tonya pushed through the throng to get to her, but the barrier separated them. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. I think we're on one of Their ships or something. I saw people being taken from the beach in Brazil, too."

"We saw you materialize on the lawn with War, and then he left!" Tonya accused.

"He also came back and tried to rescue me," Shannon spoke in his defense.

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know, Tonya. He didn't tell me, only that he had to go."

Women stopped being transported into the room, and the green wall disappeared. Tonya jumped to Shannon and hugged her tight. "I'm glad we're together at least."

"I am, too." Shannon clung to her friend, emotions threatening to overtake her. Before she could cry outright, she pulled away, blinking away the tears.

"Bigsby! Lansing!" a voice yelled. Another Agent, Charlene Sampson, from the ISD, slowly made her way toward them, waving her phone.

"Hey, do either of you have a signal?" she questioned.

Shannon looked at the forgotten phone in her hand. "No," she shared, shoulders slumped.

"Me neither," Tonya shared.

Shannon shared her suspicion. "That means we're either in a shielded room, or we're on one of Their ships, right?"

The other two nodded. "I think we're on a ship. But," Charlene surveyed the room, "why are there only human women here?"

Tonya glanced at Shannon before whispering. "My guess is breeding stock."

Charlene paled. Shannon's stomach rolled.

A series of clicks around the room sounded from the compartments. Tonya turned to the nearest one and tried the latch. This time, it opened. Inside, there were snacks and water.

"What the fuck?" Charlene muttered.

A giggle bubble up in Shannon at the absurdity of being kidnapped, then given pretzels, peanuts, and water, but she quickly swallowed it; once she started laughing, there would be no stopping the hysterics.

The three of them took nothing from the locker. Not many of the women did, though several grabbed bottles of water. The Agents knew better; never trust the food or water of the enemy. They'd hold out as long as they could, and they cautioned the other women to do the same. Most didn't listen.

As abruptly as the others had winked in, three of the women close by fluttered and were gone. One was the woman who panicked at the door. The clap that followed silenced the other women in the room for a few moments until the low chattering began again. Everyone speculated what was going on and telling their stories of abduction.

Shannon, Tonya, and Charlene did the same and then asked those around them. Each of them was outside when taken.

"Does that mean they can't beam us out of buildings?" Tonya mused.

"That seems as likely a conclusion as anything else," Shannon agreed.

Some ten minutes later, two of the three extracted women appeared again wearing loose dresses similar to long hospital gowns, sporting buzzed hair and mild but extensive skin rashes. One was in tears and the other in shock. They both took seats on a bench and huddled together.

Charlene began to question them. "Where did they take you? What did you see?"

The crying woman sniffled and tried to compose herself. "Um... I was taken to a room with five of Them. They stripped me, and... um... inspected me. Then They put me through this machine that cleaned me using lasers or something." She reached up to touch her head, and a tear rolled down her face. "Then They paralyzed me somehow, shaved off my hair, and stamped me with some kind of symbol." She pulled up the edge of her gown and showed the fresh black ink on her irritated skin.

"What is that?" Tonya asked, leaning a little closer before glancing at the other women. "Does she have one, too? Is it the same as yours?"

"I don't know. I haven't exactly looked," the first woman explained.

Tonya sat next to the woman and gently touched her. "Hi. My name is Tonya. What's yours?"

"Lucy."

"Okay, Lucy. Can we see the mark they gave you to compare to hers?"

Lucy looked at her, then slowly lifted the hem of her shift. They compared the ink. The emblems were similar but not identical.

"So, maybe serial numbers?" Shannon mused.

"That seems likely."

A small clap of vacuum suddenly being filled following immediately after three more women, including Charlene, winked away. The crying woman started up again, and even Lucy had tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Where's the third woman they took?" Shannon whispered to Tonya.

Tonya looked at her wide-eyed and opened her mouth to speak a split second before she, too, blinked out of existence.

Shannon stumbled back into one of the benches and was forced to sit or fall. She didn't know what to do; there was no way out and nothing to fight with. The image of Ben's outstretched hand flashed through her mind, and she desperately wished she'd taken it.

She leaned forward to put her elbows on her knees and hold her head, hot tears finally slipping out to drip into her hands. However, her moment was short-lived; she snatched herself upright when several of the women scream.

In the air above them, riding a trotting Victory, was Ben. "Shannon?" he cried, surveying the crowd.

She jumped up, wiping tears away. "Ben! I'm here!"

A large rucksack appeared in front of him, and he reached over to drop it on the floor. The women ran from it, clearing a space for Vic to land. Ben slid off and as Shannon emerged from the mass of bodies and swept her into his arms for a deep but short kiss.

"Shannon, I need you and the other women to take what's in the sack with you as They take you from the room. When you get where you're going, open the container. It contains a knock-out gas and a pathogen that will only affect Them. The incubation period is about a day. If you all can hold out that long, we have a rescue force coming. The Claxians are ferrying troops."

"Where are we, Ben? One one of Their ships?"

"No, you're on a moon base on the back side of the moon. How They managed to build it without us knowing is unknown. Perhaps it has been here, cloaked, since before we started to map it. And," he explained as he jumped slightly, "They've managed to change the gravity. We don't know how They do that, either."

Ben pulled her close and clung to her. "I can't take you with me right now. You must get yours released."

"Why?"

"I can't explain. Please, just do it."

"Yes."

He reluctantly let her go and remounted. Without another word, he spurred Vic into the air and disappeared.

She immediately turned to the women, one of which was already passing out the fist-sized canisters they found within. Shannon moved quickly to grab one of her own and help hand out the rest.

The next batch of women began disappearing just as the last canister was distributed. Those who were left paced, agitated and anxious. Now, they had a mission, which meant Agents had something to occupy their minds. The fear was still palpable in the room, but so was a growing sense of determination.

Tonya reappeared in a gown and with a shorn head. Shannon ran to her and embraced her. She didn't react at first, but then she hugged Shannon.

"It was awful, Shannon. I felt so helpless."

"Look. Ben was here and had us pass these out. Most everyone has one now."

Tonya looked at the canister. "What are they?"

Explaining as fast as she could, Shannon noticed women started to disappear again. She braced herself for being taken soon.

Her instinct wasn't wrong. Only, she didn't end up in one of the rooms that had been described. Instead, she ended up in a room of what could only be high-ranking officers gathered around a conference table.

Not wasting any time wondering why she was in a debrief, Shannon cracked open the canister and threw it across the room. It sprayed a crimson mist as it bounced on the conference table and went spinning out of control. It was just the maneuver needed to spread the gas effectively.

They started to cough and wheeze, and those near her slipped into unconsciousness and dropped to the floor heavily. She crouched and crawled under the table to hide. Soon, all of Them in the room had succumbed, and she was left alone.