Queen Nor Solis, the leader of the Olen System, stood in the cargo bay of the Marauder. Valen hovered beside her, both of them smiling like demons released from the mouth of hell.

“I will never bow to you,” Andi seethed.

Then her crew members stood, dead no more. They moved to flank the queen, expressions of adoration on each of their faces. And seeing her girls at Nor’s command, like a pack of smiling wolves...

The sight brought Andi to her knees.

She’d lost them.

She’d failed them.

And now she would die.

Andi woke with a start.

The horrors of her dream were vanquished as a new nightmare materialized before her bleary eyes. Red lights flashed in the doorway to her quarters, in unison with the blaring sirens that resonated across the ship. Confusion racked her brain until realization came rushing inward.

She’d fallen asleep studying a map of Solera, Lon and Dex in charge of charting their course...

Something was very wrong.

Andi leaped up from her cot and ran into the main corridor. With each step, the clamor of the alarms felt as if it was vibrating in her bones. Her tired muscles screamed as she hoisted herself up the ladder, almost running into Lon as she scrambled onto the landing. He was kneeling on the ground before the door to the bridge, twiddling with wires.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“The ship is going into meltdown,” he told her. “I don’t know why. But everything is shutting down, including the doors. I can’t seem to get them open.” He dropped the two multicolored wires in a huff.

“Where the hell is Dex?”

Lon helplessly held out his hands, and Andi let out a growl of frustration. “Move aside, unless you want to land your ass in the med bay.” Lon hurriedly backed away as Andi pulled Gilly’s double-triggered gun from her belt and fired the stunner at the door’s scanner in a hail of sparks and smoke.

The door teetered on its hinges for a moment before falling inward with a rattling bang.

“There, it’s open.”

Lon whistled as he looked at the gun. “That thing is awesome.”

Andi rolled her eyes and rushed inside.

The control panel on the dash was going haywire. Holographic blueprints drifted across the console, lighting up many areas of the ship in flashing red. Too many.

“Memory?” Andi called out as she slid into Lira’s pilot seat. “Run a diagnostics scan.”

Memory’s voice crackled over the ship-wide com, weakening with each word. “Fuel leak in the engine room. Oxygen levels at thirty-four percent and dropping.”

Both of which were their lifelines—though by the looks of it, neither would be viable for much longer, at the rate they were dropping.