Inside the briskly battleship, workers and crewmembers were trying their hardest to re-establish the connection with the away team. Bio Lights lit up the room softly, covering the whole place like a warm blanket. Afren paced around the command center, as she held a silver cup in her hands. The warm liquid of the Energy Shake was especially warm to her palms. Her claws scraped the smooth surface, making several white scratches.

The air was stuffy and the overall mood was dark. The whole place was filled with tension and discomfiture.

"Can we speed up the process already?" Afren asked as her patience was near to the limit.

Roxan looked at her with a pair of weary eyes. He hadn't slept for twenty-eight hours. Black blotches underneath his eyes could be seen. His face was without energy. He opened his mouth to say something, then he thought against it. He looked away and continued the conversation with the officers.

Frustrated, Afren many times thought about wearing the Bio Suit along with the Combat Armor and venturing out to find Jake. She felt something was wrong, but she couldn't grasp what it was.

Her bluish eyes traveled in an arc. Finally, she set her eyes on Orb, whom, at the moment, was typing feverishly on a floating keyboard. His eyes were focused with all his attention.

Slowly, Afren moved toward the small, silvery alien. She bumped into one of the workers and she apologized. Her gaze, however, never left her target.

Just before she could see what was on the screen when she got near enough, Orb closed it immediately. He sighed as he looked up. Then he shuddered with shock.

*A... Afren! I didn't know that you are right beside me!* Orb exclaimed inside her head as his large, almond-shaped eyes blinked rapidly.

She narrowed her eyes with suspicion. "What were you doing just a moment ago?"

Orb was now trembling slightly; however, he quickly recomposed himself as he scratched his egg-shaped head. *Uh... I was... I was just going over the engine status, you see. I need to see if there are any problems with the engines or not.*

"Why are you checking the engines? You're supposed to be our Spy Operation Officer. Since when have you become an engineer?" Afren placed her cup on the armchair of Orb's.

The alien saw the deep grooves along the hard surface of the stainless steel cup. He gulped once before answering: *A... Afren! I... It's necessary to have more than one person to check on the status of the ship! What would happen if it breaks down while we're battling?*

"You've been acting strange lately, Orb," Afren's voice deepened. Her suspicion continued to grow. Something was wrong here and she knew it.

*You're being overly reacted!* Orb whined as he tried to explain to the giant Caten. His eyes especially bulged out at the length of her claws and talons. He got up and nimbly circled around her. *I'm sorry, Afren. But I'm quite busy right now. We'll talk later.*

"Yeah, we sure will..." Afren mumbled under her breath as she walked away toward her compartment.

I tapped the side of my helmet, and spoke: "Afren? Afren is that you?"

I quickened my pace as I continued to speak into the microphone. Finally, when I was near the surface, my female companion's voice came through loud and clear.

Instantly, I became alert. "Afren, you must tell Roxan to check over the troops! Now! We have a mole in our away team, and I suspect that there is a spy, if not more, in the ships!"

"I know, Jake. And I think I already know who the spy is. It seems that the ex-Federation Spy isn't as completely brainwashed as we thought he is."

I turned around a muddy corner and headed straight for the opening in front of me. My headlights went offline as the battery pack was expired. The scenery outside was completely coated with night's darkness. "Orb is the traitor? How? I thought Wriik-"

"Apparently, Wriik has failed. Talus told me a moment ago that he is going to have a chat with Orb in the next five minutes. I'm sending three guards to go with him, just in case."

I stepped out into the cool nightfall. Around me, all was quiet. It was as if the whole region was engulfed with death.

"Afren, I'm heading back to the ship right now. Have a beacon light up to guide me. I have six Uranium Spheres with me right now. Also, be prepared to leave immediately next morning. This whole area is going to blow up in twenty-six hours."

I crushed a half-decayed tree branch. It disintegrated into ashes. The ground was still bemired. My talons were covered in mud. My suit was covered in leaves and other filthy materials that were not worth mentioning. Several times, I had stumbled in the darkness.

"Jake..." Afren transmitted after half an hour's silence. "We've caught Orb planting explosives in the Hyper Engines."

"Damn it!" I cursed as I received the dour news. "So what are we going to do with him?"

"We don't need to do anything else anymore. Talus has already killed him with a blaster shot in the head."

I groaned as I slammed through a dense brush. I was running now, partly because I was low on time and partly because I wanted to see the situation back in the mother ship.

"It can't be helped, Jake. He was going to murder us all," Afren explained.

I agreed. It was true that if we didn't finish off the double-crosser, our plans would be ruined. The truth was, valuable information could have already leaked to the Federation side in the Capital Dome - which was our main target.

I saw an ember flare being lit up in the center of the field. In the distance, where shadows obscured the outline of the ships, I saw Afren was running toward me with a suit on. When I was near enough, I dropped the load and embraced her.

She didn't mind my sweat. She didn't mind the dirt covering me. All she cared was my safe return. I pulled her even closer to my chest as I hugged her tightly. We stayed in that position for quite a while before we broke apart.

Afren panted from her run as she said: "It's great to have you back. I was so worried about you."

Smiling behind my visor, I answered: "Yes. It's great to be back with you once again."

People cheered when we entered the main vessel with the Uranium Spheres. With those, physicists began to develop a way to modify the radioactive shells that could produce an even greater explosion.

I tried to find Talus but I couldn't see him anywhere. Wriik greeted me with a warm handshake and he told me that the Elder of the Cave People had some deep thoughts that needed to be cleared up. He told me not to disturb him. I nodded as I patted Wriik's board shoulder and left.

Tossing the Bio Suit and the Combat Armor into a special bin, I went to the Sanitation Room near the cubicles where most soldiers were sleeping and took a long shower. I used my claws to scrape away the soil that was stuck onto my body and talons. After half an hour, I went to my own bedchamber and fell asleep. The Bio Lights dimmed slowly according to my brainwave patterns, which were monitored by a sensor.

The next morning at six o'clock, we had six nuclear warheads ready with modified explosives. Everyone was excited for the big day. We installed the rockets and everything was ready. Talus accosted me as he took his seat beside Wriik. An empty chair was between us where Orb was supposed to be sitting. Afren's face looked sorrowful, but her eyes were stern and full of determination.

"All right, people. Let's get this show on the road," Roxan shouted as he pressed the com button. "All units! Power up and head for the designated coordinates!"

Engines were activated one after another. The earth rumbled as two hundred thousand battleships rose off the surface of the decadence land.

The main view screen displayed the domain that we had occupied through the night. Now it was bare and sterile and it would continue on to be like this for the next two decades before a green leaf would sprout from the barren soil.

Far away, sensors detected several massive implosions coming from underground where the nuclear missiles were stored. Shockwaves were like ocean waves, they roared through the ground, tossed up hundred of pounds of land into the air and emitted poisonous gases from the fractures along the impotent loam. A gigantic fireball, as bright as the sun, rose up from the mountains. Several seconds later, a sooty and precarious mushroom cloud appeared and hovered over the clear horizon. Strong and thick wind barrier blasted away from the center of the detonations. It slammed into our group of starships and rocked the whole formation inside and out.

It was a good thing that our shields were durable and reliable. Soldiers were looking at the monitors to see the spectacular view.

"Target will be in contact in sixteen hours and forty-two minutes." The AI informed us as our battle cruisers sliced through the sky with weapons armed and afterburners heated.

Afren took hold of my hand and I gripped hers tightly in return. She gave me a weak grin.

"Don't worry. Once this battle is over, you and I will be alone. We'll go to somewhere far and no one will know where we will be," I whispered.

"Will there be a lot of trees, like the ones back in our home world?" She asked.

"What say, we will head back to our own world after this? I haven't yet visited Trenten-Six before. I want to see the place of my origin. I want to see the Caten race."

"That would be wonderful," she laughed softy as she rubbed my claws with her own. "I miss my parents. Perhaps I can introduce you to them."