We rushed outside of Palmer Hall, stopping only enough for Peter to snatch a few items from his lab. There were very few students in our area, but the ones we ran into were just as confused as we were. In between siren wails, an announcer could be heard directing people to shuttle stations.

"Students and faculty, please proceed in an orderly fashion to the nearest shuttle lift," echoed the announcer. The same announcement continued to repeat over the sirens in varying languages I couldn't understand.

I whirled around, half-panicked. On all of the days I could be visiting, why did this have to happen today?

"Does this happen a lot?" I asked. "Peter, do you know what's going on?"

My little brother stalked past me, clutching a datapad tightly to his chest.

"No and no," he answered firmly, shoving a lunchbox sized capsule and a tablet into my bag before handing it back to me. "This way, Charlie."

Despite being in the middle of an evacuation, he seemed awfully calm. Still, it was an evacuation, and I jammed a hand into my pocket, grasping the shell there for good luck. Then, I slipped the backpack back on, feeling his box digging into my back. There weren't that many items in my bag at the moment. Maybe when we came back, Peter would give me more junk from his lab to fill it with.

"Why aren't you worried?" I demanded. "Isn't this an emergency?"

"No, it's not," he said. "The school is large. If something were to happen, the sheer size of this habitat gives us ample time to retreat to safety via evac shuttle before the incident becomes life-threatening. That is, anything short of an explosion on the dome. And even then, it needs to be one hell of an explosion to break through this dome's exoskeleton."

He started to lead me toward the center of the department, but instead of turning onto the street with the tram station, he continued on ahead. I stared after him in confusion, then caught up and spun him around.

"Alright, fine," I said, pointing to the side. "But the nearest shuttle station is a long way off. We have to take the tram to get there. Where are you going?"

"It's too far," he answered. "We're zoned for a nearby lift."

He glanced back at me. "Hopefully they have an extra seat."

I followed, wondering just how an evacuation would work with such a large dome. After a minute, I noticed that the students and staff appearing around us were all headed in the same general direction. Surprisingly, very few people were in a rush, and some kids were even chatting amiably as they walked. It certainly didn't feel like an evacuation to me.

It wasn't long before I noticed we were headed for a tall thin tower, standing nearly a kilometer tall. I could see the students that arrived before us splitting and disappearing down large hatches and stairwells, lit by red emergency lighting. Peter and I followed them, winding down a particularly wide staircase. Along the way we passed several doors, but Peter kept tugging on my arm, forcing me to keep going. When the crowd finally began to thin out, Peter stopped us at the next door and shoved me in, pushing me toward a seat next to the door.

"There," he said, dropping into the seat next to mine. "I really hope we didn't unseat someone important."

I glanced at him, horrified. Peter looked up and saw my confused face.

"A joke," he said. When my face still didn't change, he sighed and reached over my lap. "Just buckle yourself in."

As we strapped in, Peter turned to the side, tugging at the sleeve of the nearest staff member.

"Excuse me, but I thought there wasn't an evacuation drill scheduled for today."

The instructor shrugged. "I'm not sure, but we're to be evacuated nonetheless."

Peter's eyebrows furrowed, but the instructor was already moving on. He turned back to me and mouthed something slowly.

"What was that?" I asked.

"The Institute rarely calls an evacuation," he said. "Not unless something was seriously wrong."

Around us, the remaining seats finished filling up and staff members ran around sealing each door. We sat still in our seats, dimly lit by the red light, waiting for something to happen. Outside the doors, other students were likely still looking for an open door, but we couldn't hear them through the seals.

We sat like that for another few minutes, and then the lights changed, turning green. Immediately, the seats rotated backwards, shifting the weight from our buttocks to our backs. I glanced over and saw Peter stiffening as he braced his shoulders against his backrest. Not knowing what else to do, I decided to copy him.

Suddenly there was a muffled thump, and then a tremendous force threw me backwards into my seat. My stomach lurched as the force increased, constricting my breath and making the entire shuttle rattle. It suddenly hit me that we were going up, and at this rate, we'd break through the dome.

Just then, the force pushing me into my seat vanished, and light suddenly streamed through the window on the door. I took a gulp of air, feeling an ache in my chest from the gravitational strain. Weightlessness took hold, and I felt my stomach lurch strangely from the feeling.

"We're outside," I breathed, half incredulous. "In space. Why didn't we break through the dome?"

"Sections of the dome are retractable," Peter answered. "Just before we launch, multiple blast shields slide up and connect with a retractable panel on the dome. The tower itself becomes a tunnel from the ground floor to the dome roof. Protects the nearby buildings from being blown to bits during takeoff and prevents the vacuum of space from permeating the habitat."

I squinted out the small window. From my perspective, I could see only the sun, bright and pale in the distance, dimmed somewhat by the heavily tinted window. The shuttle hummed softly as all systems powered down to boost life support.

"Rescue ships are approximately ten minutes away," an announcer's voice said. "Please wait for local port authorities to arrive."

I glanced back at Peter as the announcer continued to repeat the same message over in other languages.

"By the way," I said. "Mom said she wants us back in time for dinner."

He glanced around the shuttle and back at me, raising an eyebrow.

While we waited for the rescue ships to arrive, some of the students began to chatter or work on their tablets, which made me wish I'd brought something to entertain myself. I would have pulled out my mobile, but it didn't have enough charge left in it to last much longer. Instead, I glanced out the window, keeping watch for the rescue ships while Peter kept busy with some homework.

Time passed slowly, mostly because I had nothing to do. The ventilation was poor so the room got a little stuffy, and nobody moved to get out of their seats. Talk about boring. I passed the time watching my spare change float through the air, enjoying the benefits of zero gravity.

Finally, a patch of space outside the window warped, creating a strange halo of red light. What was that?

"Peter, something's happening," I said excitedly. "Look out the window."

From the halo, a massive ship emerged, slipping out of the portal of red light like a massive behemoth. Two enormous wings rotated around one central body, nestled between the wings for protection. Yellow stripes ran along the body of one trapezoidal wing, suggesting hangar doors and access hatches. No other visible markings were to be seen anywhere along the hull, but it had to be the rescue ship. After all, no one else knew we were out here.

I wasn't the only one to notice the ship. Others started to chatter excitedly, filling the cabin with the sound of lively conversation. I didn't recognize the make and model of the ship, so I started digging into my pocket for my mobile. I could snap a quick picture and-

"Hmm?" Peter muttered, glancing up. "Wait a minute. That's not a-"

He bit off his words unexpectedly, eyes widening as he stared up at the ship in shock. When I glanced out to see what had him so quiet, I realized the vessel outside my window was considerably larger than before, and getting bigger by the second.

"Armor plating," Peter gasped. "That's a Gholian warship."

I blinked at him, doing my best to make my lack of comprehension obvious.

"Mercenaries," he said. "They're not allowed in Kingsfield space, so there's no way they're the ones answering our distress signals."

"Uh..." I said. "What makes you so sure?"

"And the way they entered," Peter said. "Like a portal opening in space. That's not how ships emerge from a negative matter highway, and it wasn't a cloaked ship either. They must have some kind of highly advanced portaling technology."

He started pawing at his harness. "Charlie, we need to warn the rescue ships!"

The instructor on duty noticed us trying to detach our harnesses and glared at us.

"Keep your harnesses on until we're picked up," he scolded. "It'll just be a moment; we're being reeled in."

"We're in trouble!" Peter shouted back. He discarded his tablet and pushed off of his seat, floating down the aisle to the control panel beside the door. There was an emergency comm set into the panel, which Peter activated.

"Get back in your seat!" the instructor called frustratedly, fumbling at his own harness.

Peter ignored him, pressing the broadcast button on the panel.

"Hello, anyone there?" he demanded. The comm crackled and a voice responded almost immediately.

"This is RS289," the responder answered. "What is your emergency?"

"I'm a student from the Institute-"

"We are already on our way. Sit tight and we'll be there in about eight solar minutes."

"We're under attack!" Peter shouted. "A Gholian warship is-"

Suddenly, the comm crackled as interference cut him off.

"Blast," my brother said through gritted teeth. "They're jamming us."

Meanwhile, the shuttle chamber had fallen silent, having heard Peter's short-lived conversation with the rescue ship.

"Warship?" someone called. "What's a warship doing in Kingsfield space?"

"We're under attack!" another person cried. "Someone warn the rescue ships!"

The shuttle shuddered again as I tugged at my own harness. By the time I managed to get out, most of the instructors were also out of their seats, struggling to contain the students' growing panic. The one that had spoken up earlier turned and shot Peter a nasty look, which my brother ignored. He was too busy staring out the door's viewpoint, which now showed the warship directly on top of us. It was so close, I could see the piping and armor plating on its underside.

A panel along the side of the warship slid open, a little patch of white light against the dark expanse of space. I saw specks of movement buzzing around the doorway, and as I drifted over to join my brother at the door, I began to make out the individual ships flying out of the warship's hangar.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

My brother didn't answer. Instead, he pulled himself closer to the window, clutching the door and staring outside with wide eyes. The swarm of ships outside split ways, and I realized with a start that they were headed for the other evacuation shuttles.

"What's going-" I started to say.

The swarm of ships opened fire, shooting down the unarmed evacuation shuttles. The cabin of our shuttle suddenly filled with screams as we watched in horror, the shuttles nearby cracking apart under the heavy plasma rounds. I couldn't bring myself to look away, frozen in place with fear as I watched a shuttle fall under the fire, dead students and faculty floating into space.

"Oh, Zeus," I whispered. "It's a massacre."

The shuttles were evacuation lifeboats, not equipped with shielding against plasma. Through the small window of our shuttle, I could see the swarm of alien ships darting in and out of the evacuation shuttles, firing away at anything that still had power. Debris, bodies, and burned metal drifted past our viewport, casting eerie shadows.

I felt a cold numbness sink into me. Only an hour before, these had all been the best and brightest students of the universe. Now, they were dead bodies floating through space. The students in our shuttle were crying and screaming, but I couldn't bring myself to pay much attention. A ship flew closer to our shuttle, levelling its cannons at us.

The ships stopped firing.

"We're going to die!" someone screamed. "We're going to die!"

"Something's not right," Peter whispered.

I glanced around, panic gripping me. I shoved one hand into my pocket, feeling the brass shell there. Mom would be worried sick, and I promised to bring Peter home for dinner. There had to be something out here. Maybe this shuttle had armor plating, or there was another way to signal the rescue ships somehow. Maybe there were survival suits we could put on, or-

The ship outside flew closer, turning sideways as it neared.

"They're docking," Peter gasped, suddenly drifting away from the door.

He turned toward me, his eyes wide.

"Charlie," he said. "Something's not right."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, still looking around for shelter of some sort.

"They shot all the shuttles on the outside," Peter said. "They shot all the ones on the outside, and they left only the shuttles in a small area intact. They're...they're looking for something, and they don't know which shuttle it's on."

"Peter, we have to get some shelter," I said. "Come on."

He reluctantly followed. I moved back, ducking behind a seat, digging a hand into my pocket to feel if the shell was still there. The viewport on the door darkened as the ship extended a docking tube, which connected to our shuttle with a resounding clunk. Something clicked on the other side, and the door hissed as their clamps hooked onto the shuttle's seal.

For a few brief moments, everything was quiet.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and three hulking monsters floated in, hefting massive rifles on their hips. I screamed along with the rest of the students as the monsters opened fire into the masses, mowing down students and instructors who weren't fast enough to take cover. My brother, who still hadn't reached me, suddenly turned around and raised his hands to his mouth, containing a blast of powerful noise. I felt a rhythmic pulse and suddenly, Peter's hands were thrusting forward, sending the wave of sound barreling through the monsters.

The monsters suddenly dropped their guns, pressing their large hands to their heads as they screamed, a rumbling roar echoed through the chamber. Two of them turned and kicked off, scrambling back into the warship as quickly as it came while the remaining one tried following and struck the panel on the side of the door headfirst, collapsing limply in the air. As the body drifted in the cabin, it was illuminated by the light from the warship, allowing me my first glimpse of these Gholians.

The creature was easily two meters tall, with flat facial features and an extremely muscled body. It had dark leathery skin resembling rock formations, making it seem like a small mountain, and each hand sported only four fingers. In its arms, the Gholian cradled an energy cannon, the make and form I recognized to be alien in origin. Its fingers were rounded and stunted, giving it a slightly clumsy look, but the alien's muscles made it clear that our attackers were not to be taken lightly.

Once I'd gotten a good look, I let out another cry, scrambling back behind my seat. My little brother was still hovering near the door, hands outstretched as if to ward off the remaining attackers with his little fists. As another pair of Gholians rushed through the door, my brother made a whistling noise and the two new Gholians dropped their rifles, clutching their heads and screaming wordlessly. One of them managed to discharge a few energy bolts, which crackled through the cabin.

"Peter!" I shouted. "Peter, take cover!"

Peter spun around in the air, reacting to my voice.

"Charlie, stay down!"

Something sailed in through the doorway, bouncing off the nearest chair and floating up beside my brother. My eyes widened, but I didn't have the time to react before the energy grenade went off, sending an electrifying shockwave washing over everyone in the room. As the charge passed through my brother, he spasmed and went limp, prompting me to rush toward him.

Then the energy charge hit me and threw me back against a seat, sending a wave of pain flashing through me. The world spun dizzily, and I was barely aware of the remaining students screaming in agony as the charge struck.

Everything went black.

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