“Are you pushing for a fight, is that it?” Minn-Erva said. “You always have to push it too far, Vers. Don’t even think about it. You heard Yon-Rogg. Do not engage.”

  Vers grumbled to herself as the duo continued to trudge along a muddy ravine. As Vers walked, she heard a SCHLORP sound every time a boot went into the mud, and a THWUCK sound every time one came out, each sucking noise serving as a punctuation to the angry thoughts bouncing around her head. Who had died and made Minn-Erva the boss? Where did she get off, parroting Yon-Rogg and trying to tell Vers what to do?

  Finally, Vers couldn’t take it any longer. She had to say what was on her mind.

  “Question,” Vers said, and as she turned her head to look at her comrade, she could see Minn-Erva already rolling her eyes. “Why don’t you like me?” Vers hated that it made her sound like she cared, even a little. But she was genuinely curious. What was it about her that set Minn-Erva so on edge?

  Minn-Erva looked at Vers for a moment, incredulous. “Like you? What are we, children?”

  Now it was Vers’s turn to roll her eyes. “Look,” she said, taking another step in the mud.

  SCHLORP.

  “No,” Minn-Erva said, whirling around, finger in Vers’s face. “You look. You do what you do, and I get it. You’re an asset. Yon-Rogg thinks you have something to offer Starforce. So does the Supreme Intelligence.”

  “And you?” Vers asked, pointedly.

  Minn-Erva didn’t say anything for a moment. Then, slowly, “I think you make a lot of noise. I think you cause a lot of damage. I think you don’t have any control. And that makes you a danger. To me, to the team, even to yourself. You keep a lid on it, follow my lead, and maybe we’ll make it off this mudball.”

  Then Minn-Erva turned around without another word and continued ahead through the filthy surface.

  SCHLORP.

  THWUCK.

  “Right,” Vers said to her teammate’s retreating back. “Good talk.”

  An hour had passed since Vers and Minn-Erva had last spoken. After their confrontation in the ravine, neither had tried to spark conversation with the other. They continued to wade through the mud in silence, looking for occasional signs of life from the tracker that Minn-Erva clutched in her right hand.

  SCHLORP.

  THWUCK.

  SCHLORP.

  THWUCK.

  The sounds had become monotonous, just

  like everything else on this planet, Vers thought. So far, it appeared the only thing that Aphos Prime seemed to have in abundance was mud, muck, and filth, and not in any particular order. The Kree probes had unearthed no natural resources of value, and no signs of life. Aphos Prime really was what it appeared to be—a big, rotating ball of mud.

  Why the Skrulls would have any interest in a place like this was a mystery. Aphos Prime was too remote to be of any strategic value. It didn’t border Kree territory. The surface was too unstable to provide a permanent base for troops, and it was useless as a port or refueling station for Skrull spacecraft.

  So why?

  That was the question that Vers kept rolling over in her mind, but the answer evaded her.

  SCHLORP.

  THWUCK.

  “Quiet,” Minn-Erva hissed, breaking the silence.

  Vers suddenly sprang to attention, and looked at the tracker in Minn-Erva’s hand. The dial had lit up again, displaying multiple red targets. Vers counted them quickly, before the dial faded.

  Three.

  Three Skrulls, within range, which meant they were within five hundred meters or so. Vers looked all around her, in front, behind, to the sides.

  She couldn’t see anything except mud.

  Minn-Erva motioned for Vers to kneel down next to her. The two were close to the ground as she whispered, “I don’t know if we have the drop on them, or they have the drop on us.”

  “That’s not a good feeling,” Vers said back.

  Minn-Erva nodded. “This tracker is useless. There’s no way we can get an accurate read.”

  “We’re gonna have to go with visual contact,” Vers said.

  “Visual contact means fighting,” Minn-Erva replied. “That’s outside mission parameters.”

  “Mission parameters just changed,” Vers said.

  Minn-Erva paused, then sighed. “I believe they did,” she finally answered.

  Army crawling along the muddy ground, Vers dragged her body up a hill. Her foot slipped in the slimy muck, and she very nearly fell into a trench that had worn into the hillside. With a grunt, she hefted herself up, and continued the slog.

  Soon, she reached the top of the hill, and stretched her neck outward to get a good look at the enemy.

  There were three of them, crawling through the mud, just as Vers had been doing. They appeared atop a hill roughly a hundred or so meters away. She was just about to slide back down the hill to alert Minn-Erva, when she heard one of the Skrulls shout, “Target acquired!”

  Figures, Vers thought. The resounding blast from the Skrulls came as she released her tentative hold on the muddy surface, and immediately slid downward. She landed right in the trench, and saw Minn-Erva standing there, waiting.

  She looked annoyed.

  “Stealthy,” Minn-Erva commented.

  “Not in the mood,” Vers replied.

  “Moot point, they know we’re here, and they know where we are,” Minn-Erva reprimanded.

  “And we know they’re here, and where they are,” Vers pointed out.

  Minn-Erva looked worried. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I think we might be able to scare them off,” Vers said, raising her right fist.

  “Stow that,” Minn-Erva said. “It’s too much, too fast, Vers. Yon-Rogg would not approve.”

  Vers smiled. “Yon-Rogg’s not here.”

  The photon battery at the base of her neck had become a part of her. At times it emitted sensations or vibrations, but it was more of a continuous presence, almost soothing in its consistency. There were times that Vers even forgot that it was there. Not often, but sometimes.

  This wasn’t one of them.

  Already, the familiar buzzing sensation sounded in her ears, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Peeking her head over the hilltop, she saw the Skrulls, rifles ready. They opened fire. The blasts whizzed past Vers’s head.

  Vers stood to her full height. She balled each hand into a fist, arms stretched outward, toward the Skrulls. The buzzing sound in her ears continued to build, and her fists started to glow.

  Photon energy erupted from her hands, and the beam sliced through the air, covering the distance between her and the Skrulls’ hilltop in a nanosecond. The ground crystalized where the photon blast struck, making a hole about three meters across, sending the Skrulls flying.

  She saw one of them try to regain his footing, aiming a rifle at her. Vers raised her hands, and sent another burst his way.

  There was a smoldering hole where the Skrull had stood.

  Vers kneeled and slid back into the trench.

  “I think that did it,” Vers said confidently.

  “You get them all?” Minn-Erva asked.

  “One for sure,” Vers said, taking a deep breath. Whenever she used her abilities, she felt a strange emptiness afterward. Like she needed to recharge. “But I’m betting the others will think twice before attacking us again.”

  Minn-Erva nodded.

  Then, a soft humming noise sounded in the distance. Vers perked her ears up, looking toward the hilltop. The sound grew louder, the hum closer. She and Minn-Erva raised their eyes skyward, and they saw it.

  A Skrull hovercraft, high above. In perfect position to fire on them.

  “So much for thinking twice, twinklefists,” Minn-Erva said.

  “How many up there now?” Minn-Erva said, ejecting a cartridge from her weapon. She reached for a magazine from her belt, flipped it end over end in her hand, and slammed it into the weapon’s loading compartment. One second later, the weapon emitted a high-pitched whine, indicating that it was ready to be fired.

  “Eight,” Vers said. “Give or take.”

  “With more on the way,” Minn-Erva added.

  Vers nodded. “Undoubtedly.”

  “Hold on. Did . . . did we just agree on something?” Minn-Erva asked.

  Vers cracked a grin. “Sadly, yes,” she said. “Believe me, no one’s more upset about it than I am.”

  “I’m definitely more upset,” Minn-Erva said, hoisting her weapon.

  “Now that we’ve established that,” Vers said, “what’s our next move? They’ve got us covered from above. I can take them out, but I need you to cover me. There are eight Skrulls on that ridge that are dying to take a shot at me.”

  “I know how they feel,” Minn-Erva said, and Vers wasn’t fully certain if she was joking or not. Then she took a deep breath, slung her rifle over her shoulder, and scrambled up the muddy hillside. “I’ve got your back,” she said. “You take out that hovercraft.”

  “I’m on it,” Vers said, as she dug her hands once more into the muddy wall before her.

  When she reached the top of the hill, the Skrull hovercraft swung around. From her position, Vers could see the pilot catch a glimpse of her and bark commands into his communicator. She doubted he was telling his fellow Skrulls to invite her and Minn-Erva over for dinner.

  Minn-Erva was already at her vantage point atop the hill, and laying down suppressing fire with her rifle. It was one against eight, and Minn-Erva was winning. Every time a Skrull sniper tried to squeeze off a shot to take out Vers, Minn-Erva responded with a burst that caused the sniper to duck. The volley was unceasing. The time between Minn-Erva’s shots was practically nonexistent.

  Which opened a window for Vers to unleash another blast of photon energy. She heard the buzzing sound in her ears again, the build, and the release. This one seared the air itself, leaving a stench of ozone in its wake. The beam extended upward from her fists to the Skrull hovercraft above, punching a hole right through the hull.

  The blast soon enveloped the hovercraft. There was no explosion. In a matter of two seconds, the hovercraft simply ceased to be. Its pilot had thrown himself out of the ship right before, dropping twenty meters into the soft mud below.

  “Hovercraft down!” Vers shouted.

  “Great,” Minn-Erva said, still squeezing off shots. While Vers had been busy taking out the hovercraft, Minn-Erva had brought down three Skrull snipers. “Then you can help me out here.”

  Vers turned toward Minn-Erva, and felt light-headed. She had used her powers again, before allowing herself sufficient time to recharge. Rather than risk another beam and further weaken herself, she grabbed for the sidearm that she had taken from the ship, threw herself to the muddy surface, and crawled over next to Minn-Erva.

  “What, no more ‘twinklefists’?” Minn-Erva asked sarcastically.

  “I thought you didn’t want me to use ’em in the first place,” Vers said.

  Minn-Erva was silent, then, “Like you said; Yon-Rogg isn’t here.”

  Vers smiled as she aimed the weapon in her hand and fired at the remaining Skrulls.

  “We need to get around this hill and get behind them,” Minn-Erva instructed. “That’s the only way we’re going to end this. Right now, it’s trench warfare.”

  “I can keep them pinned down while you sneak around,” Vers offered.

  Minn-Erva shook her head. “I’m a sniper. And a better shot. No offense,” she added half-heartedly.

  Vers stared at Minn-Erva. “You totally meant offense.”

  “You’re right, I did,” Minn-Erva replied. “Truth hurts.”

  Vers wasn’t offended—Minn-Erva’s strongest assets were her undeniable instinct and ability as a sharpshooter. She was the best on Starforce, and right now she was the one best suited to keeping the Skrulls busy while Vers made her way around and took the enemy by surprise from behind. But the battlefield was wide-open. How could Vers get behind them without being seen?

  SCHLORP.

  Vers and Minn-Erva both turned at the sudden sound. They peered behind them, but saw nothing.

  THWUCK.

  SCHLORP.

  THWUCK.

  Footsteps?

  But where were they coming from? There was no one to be seen anywhere close to them, only the Skrull snipers on the opposite hill.

  SCHLORP.

  THWUCK.

  The sounds were growing closer, as the mud all around them began to bubble.

  What was happening?

  The mud around them, bubbling.

  The stench of gas released with each pop, filling the air with the odious smell of

  sulfur.

  The sickening sounds of something struggling to break free of the muck.

  And then, at last, Vers saw it.

  A little speck of green, just breaking the surface of the mud, right next to her. It was rounded and smooth, and as it issued from the muck, Vers wondered what it was, curiosity temporarily getting the better of surprise and fear.

  The object protruded farther and farther from the mud, assuming a more distinctive shape until Vers and Minn-Erva could see the thing in its entirety.

  It was a Skrull head.

  Its eyes looked lifeless, its jaw opened in a silent scream, and for a moment, Vers thought that the Skrull was actually dead. But suddenly, the alien gasped for air, and attempted to reach for Vers. It grabbed her right leg, clawing desperately at her uniform.

  “Save me! Save me!” the Skrull croaked, its voice a weak whisper.

  Momentarily startled, Vers lurched back, breaking the Skrull’s feeble grasp.

  Then, just as quickly as the Skrull had appeared, it was sucked back under the mud with a disgusting SCHLORP.

  The two members of Starforce stared at each other wordlessly, stunned into silence, as if to say, What did we just see?

  Neither of them had an answer.

  Suddenly, in the distance, they heard more screams, and they knew instantly where they were coming from.

  Skrulls, as they were sucked beneath the muck-ridden surface of Aphos Prime.

  “We need to get off this mudball,” Vers said. “Now.”

  “I don’t disagree,” Minn-Erva allowed.

  The two warriors let go of their purchase on the muddy hill and slid down its side. Along the way, they noticed the ground bubbling, little pockets of gas bursting through the mud. When they hit the bottom, they started their slog through the mud field, toward the ravine, and—hopefully—back to their ship. They had no idea if it was even functional at this point, but it was the only option.

  “What do you think the Skrulls want with a planet that kills everything that lands on it, including themselves?” Vers asked.

  “The same thing the Kree would want with it,” Minn-Erva said. “It’s a weapon.”

  “How do you make a weapon out of a planet?” By now, the women were practically hip-deep in mud as they waded across the field. Every step seemed to bring them just a little deeper into the muck, the level of mud creeping up their bodies slowly.

  Minn-Erva had no answer.

  Instead, the mud all around them seemed to reply. It bubbled, as it had before when the head of the Skrull broke through its surface. Vers and Minn-Erva stopped in their tracks. The mud continued to bubble, almost like it was boiling. The little pockets of gas popped when they hit the air, and once again, everything around them stunk of sulfur.

  There was a low rumbling, as the mud started to roil and foam.

  “I don’t think this is mud . . .” Vers said, her voice trailing off.

  “Then what is it?” Minn-Erva asked.

  “Whatever it is,” Vers said, “I think it’s . . . alive.”

  Vers had hardly spoken the words before the ground beneath her began to shift, sliding, the dark muck slowly creeping up her legs. She tried to pull herself free, but found it impossible. Glancing sharply at Minn-Erva, she saw the same thing happening to her teammate.

  “What is this?” Minn-Erva shouted, struggling to free her legs in vain.

  “Some kind of defense mechanism, maybe,” Vers said.

  “Fine. Let’s give it something to defend against,” Minn-Erva snapped, and pointed the

  weapon that was still in her hands toward

  the mud below. She fired a quick burst, and the ground began to rumble. The gas bubbles that had been percolating now came even faster, breaking through the skin of mud, popping, and filling the air with its noxious smell.

  “I think you made it angry,” Vers said, and she was right. The goop that had started to creep up Minn-Erva’s legs now began to pull her downward into the mud itself, exerting more force than she could push against. Minn-Erva began to sink deeper into the surface of the planet.

  “Give me your hand!” Vers shouted, reaching out, trying to grab Minn-Erva. But she was too far away, and disappearing fast.

  “Can’t . . . reach!” Minn-Erva yelled, struggling to meet Vers’s extended hand. The mud was now chest-deep. Another second, and she was in up to her neck.

  Vers’s situation wasn’t much better. The mucky substance had started to pull her into the ground as well, but so far only to her waist. She wondered for a moment if maybe Minn-Erva’s blast really had angered whatever this thing was, and that’s why she was sinking faster.

  She didn’t have much time to think, though. Looking over at Minn-Erva, she saw her teammate’s face poking out just above the mud’s surface, her mouth slightly open in a terrified O.

  Minn-Erva didn’t say a word as she completely disappeared from sight.

  Vers’s instinct was to blast the ground with her photon abilities, but she instantly thought better of it. She remembered the way the mud had reacted when she fired at the Skrulls, how she had left a burning, gaping hole in the hill. Firing away at the mud wasn’t going to get Minn-Erva back, and it wouldn’t help her to free herself—it would destroy them both. Besides, she was weakened after expending so much energy earlier. Until she built her reserves back up, her powers would be useless.

 

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