Recommended listening: "Rooftop Chase" from the Total Recall Soundtrack by Harry Gregson Williams.

"Put your gun on the table and put your hands up. Now," Max reinforced Angie's order. The barrels of their guns burrowed into the back of the lone Captain. Taking care to move slowly, Juno placed his Jet force pistol on the round table while Floyd and Aries looked on.

After dropping his gun, Juno slowly lifted his hands above his head. Though his right hand was empty, his left was holding something. The two operatives froze as they recognized the item clasped firmly in his fingers. Both took several steps back.

It was a remote detonator.

"I knew someone, or several someones were involved in what happened on Goldwood, thanks to Jeff," Juno explained as he slowly turned. "The warning the Drones received that we were arriving there came from Earth. As happy as I was to see you two, I still took precautions. Both of you have a remote mine strapped to your back. I flip this switch, and you get a closed casket funeral."

Angie and Max's eyes flitted to each other's backs. A flashing red light was firmly positioned at the base of their torso armor. They realized Juno must've planted the mines when tapping their backs to switch out point man while making their way through the ship.

"We can't let you leave Sekhmet, Juno," Max recovered. "Floyd is a valuable asset. We need the information he has, and we can't let you have it. Non negotiable."

"Ummm-," Floyd started.

"Quiet," Angie silenced him.

"Let me tell you how this works," Juno retraced. "Your trigger finger moves, I blow you up. My thumb moves, and you shoot me. In both cases, we all die. In both cases, any information I gave you goes nowhere, my team is presumed dead, and my family is safe… for the moment. I view that as an acceptable loss."

It was a standoff. The hesitation was so thick in the air that Juno could practically taste it. If Aries died here, they would get nothing. No droid, no information, and no survivors. Seconds ticked by as the rogue Jet Force team weighed their options.

"Juno-," Floyd spoke.

"Not now, Floyd," Juno cut him off.

WHAM!

The front doors to the Navigation Room exploded into the room, converting from protective structures to dangerous ballistic missiles in an instant. For three trained soldiers, there was no shock, or awe. Only reaction.

Juno ducked as one half of the double doors flew by his head, then leaped towards Floyd, wrenching him from his chair and rolling off the raised center platform. Max and Angie dropped to the floor and slid off on the other side of the platform. As Juno landed, he pressed down on the Remote Detonator.

Two Remote Mines detonated overhead, near the ceiling. Angie and Max had already removed the bombs and thrown them away. Juno wondered if he trained them a little too well. He landed feet first on the ground and came up to a ready stance, drawing his machine gun. Floyd, thoroughly rattled, was safely tucked under his left arm.

"Subject Nine," Floyd muttered. "This is an unfavorable situation."

"Subject Nine?" Juno directed at Floyd. "Who's that?"

"Do you remember the insectoid we lobotomized on the fourth planet from the sun?" Floyd asked.

"You mean the beetle whose brains we blew out on Tawfret?" Juno translated. "Yeah, why?"

"Imagine him, except without the human concept that causes laughter."

"Humor, Floyd," Juno filled in the blanks for him. "It's called humor."

Several sets of blood red eyes appeared through the smoke in the doorway, looking through the entrance at the three humans. Gemini on the left, Aries on the right. The beast stepped forward into the Navigation room, revealing it's full and terrible form.

Four heads bobbed and weaved from it's main body, a carapace that walked on six legs. The separate heads seemed to move independently, and had no mouth; only a protruding snout that extended several feet in front of the face. The dark purple exoskeleton covering the neck of the heads slid across itself like scales, and it's eyes were deep, black pits.

A whirring sound came from the other side of the platform, and moments later a glowing blast of white hot energy burst towards the monster. The four heads reacted immediately, shooting bright red beams from the opening on their face. The beams intertwined in mid-air, and spread a translucent red wall between Subject Nine and the incoming Plasma Ball.

The energy from the charged Plasma shot disseminated harmlessly as it came into contact with the energy shield. Juno heard the distinct sound of Pistol fire, and looked on as the bullets bounced off the shield like rubber pellets. Both attacks had been completely ineffective. The wall dissolved after the danger passed, and Subject Nine reared all of it's heads at once.

A tremendous shriek shook the ship, a piercing noise that burrowed into the skulls of the three humans in the room. The pain was unbearable. It felt like something was crawling into Juno's skull, trying to tear it apart from the inside. He screamed and clutched at his head, then slammed the side of his helmet, enabling their built-in noise dampeners. At once, the shrieking sound lowered in intensity.

"Juno!" Floyd's voice came in over Juno's radio. "Is your condition stable?"

"I'm all right…" Juno replied. "I think. If we're lucky, Aries didn't have the same idea."

"You really think we'd go down that easy?" Max's voice came in over the radio as well. "Our comms are still connected, Juno."

"Max," Angie's voice came over the communicator. "Look at the Drones!"

The White Drones, scientists, that had been sitting at the six Navigation Stations at ground level were most definitely dead. Green blood oozed out from their eyes, mouth, and antenna bases. Their heads sagged, like someone had left a balloon out for a few days.

"It crushed their skulls with sound," Juno realized.

Subject Nine lowered it's heads, presumably because it was done shrieking. Each head began to move independently again, snaking left and right, almost indecisively. The highest head looked directly at Juno, and a red light appeared at the end of it's nose, growing brighter by the second.

"Ooooh, crap," he breathed. Juno sprinted to his left, trying to get something in-between him and Subject Nine. He managed to leap behind the center platform before a blast of searing red energy obliterated the spot he was standing in moments before.

A hail of red beams soared over Juno's head. Subject Nine was on the attack, and whatever got in it's way didn't last long.

"Max, shoot him now!" Juno ordered.

"Why should I cover you?" Max questioned over the headset. He and Angie were keeping their heads down behind a console several feet away. They were more than happy to let Subject Nine direct it's efforts towards Juno. "Out of sight, out of mind. I'd rather not draw attention to us."

"It uses those beams to form it's shield," Juno explained. "If it's shooting at me…"

"Then it can't defend itself," Angie finished.

"Actually-," Floyd began to speak.

"Now!" Max and Angie stood up from behind their cover, blasting away at the four headed monstrosity. Angie fired off several Plasma Blasts while Max fired away with his pistol, six shots in succession. Almost instantaneously, three of the four heads directed their beams together, creating a partial shield while the fourth continued shooting from a small groove in the shield's side.

"Awww, crap," Angie and Max spoke in chorus. Both ducked back down behind the console as a barrage of energy beams rained on their position. Both groups hiding spots were becoming increasingly more compromised as the enemy's attack whittled down their cover.

"Subject Nine possesses superior offensive and defensive capabilities," Floyd explained. "I believe a tactical retreat would be most favorable in this situation."

"Thanks, I noticed," Juno replied sarcastically. "Turns out that thing is blocking our only exit. Any other bright ideas?"

"You are mistaken," Floyd corrected, "There are connections to several other vital systems in this room, two of which having ample space and conditions for an escape route. Also, there are fifteen-"

"Where?!" Juno shouted.

"There is a ventilation port above Aries' position and a connection to the Main Drainage system three panels behind us."

Max and Juno made eye contact from behind their respective covers. Neither said a word, or even nodded. It was just an understanding, of sorts. Max aimed upwards and blasted the hinges on the ventilation duct while Juno carved a hole in the drainage piping with his machine gun.

"I guess this is the part where we split up," Max stated the obvious. He and Angie crouched, poised and ready to leap into the overheads. "If we see each other again…"

"It'll be far too soon," Juno finished."I don't know why, and I don't care why, either. I'm going to get to the bottom of this, and when I do, there'll be hell to pay."

"Heh," Max scoffed in jest. "Good luck with that. Keep watching your back, or I'll put a bullet in it."

With that, Angie high jumped to the ventilation port. Using her escape as a distraction, Juno sprinted for the drainage pipe, sliding inside just before Subject Nine made his position. The smell of sewage and decay assaulted Juno's nose as his boots sank into the muck. Juno activated his armor's oxygen reserves as he began to walk towards the main drainage header. Noxious fumes were just as likely to kill him as Subject Nine or Aries.

"I did not expect Aries to let us go as easily as they did," Floyd spoke.

Plop.

Something landed in the water just behind Juno, and he quickly glanced at it. Floating on the surface of the water, just out of reach, was a primed, high yield Cluster Bomb.

"That's because they didn't."