Silence. There was silence. Stopping in your tracks, your boots scraping on the diamond-plate flooring, you tremble in fear and anticipation. Where had the noise gone?...The blaring alarm had stopped. Now, in the pulsing red glow of the empty hallway, with the silence closing in, you calmed yourself. You had been trained for this. Years of service aboard the station, and years of training before had prepared you for this exact scenario. Foreign Biological Contamination. Someone, or something, had snuck aboard the station.

Collected, you began to walk again. The other members of the security team were elsewhere on this level, sweeping their sectors to try and locate the foreign entity. As you began to walk again, the echo of your magboots on the synthetisteel floor rang in your ears, and you tightened your grip on your flamethrower. It felt good in your hands, it felt strong, secure, powerful. A tool of utter destruction, designed to  fire jets of icy blue flame up to five meters, hot enough to burn through clothing and flesh, muscle and bone, metal and rock. In fact, the only thing that it couldn't burn through was the containment shielding, a safety feature currently active on this floor. It had come on with the alarms, and reminded you of its presence with the soft, static sizzle that came with your every step.

....A sound. A shuffle? Footsteps? You halt, and press yourself against the wall. The synthetic lens of your left eye focuses as you look down the hall towards the source of the noise. You make no sound, but send out a signal through your communicator. The ping was returned a split second later. Five other pings. One of your security members did not respond. Flipping the catch on your flamethrower's safety, you slowly move down the hall.

In the dull red light, you could make out a shape. It was humanoid, like your own. The infrared reflection of materials on the figure's uniform made its identity obvious to you: the uniform of a security member. Her height and outline made it clear that it was Jacqueline, the only woman on the security team on this floor, a well-built German Shepard of average height. She was slumped slightly, leaning against the wall of the corridor.

Another ping. A shift in stature. She must have been a bit overwhelmed by the situation, and taken a quick breather against the wall. That ping was a response to your own, so everything had to be fine. Those signals were unique to each individual, and nearly impossible to intercept or imitate.

*click* The catch on your safety s flipped again, and you relaxed. Taking steps closer, you silently open a channel with her.

"Jacqueline? Is everything alright? Over."

Silence. Her body straightens, and she turns to face you. Slowly. Her face shield obscures her features, but her figure was undeniably her own. You take a few steps closer, and reach towards her.

There is a loud crack, a ringing in your ears. Your vision blurs, and then everything is normal. Jacqueline's voice comes to your mind as she replies. "Yes. Everything is fine. No need to panic. I merely needed a moment to compose myself."

You nod, and turn to look behind you. The hall was still clear, illuminated by the throbbing red emergency light. "Good." You reply. "Have you cleared your sector? Over." A trickle of heated fluid on the side of your head distracts you for a moment, and your vision blurs again. It must be nothing.

Her reply is a little slow, and your vision blurs again as she responds, "N-not quite. I've just annnother hallway to goo.."

Your vision blurs again, and you reach up to pat Jacqueline on her right shoulder with your left arm. Your hand dangles limply, bone protruding from a shattered wrist. The scene takes you by surprise, and suddenly the illusion is broken.

Blood. You cannot see out of your visor very well, as blood has covered the front of it. It oozes slowly down, and you struggle to lift your head. Jacqueline stands over you. She too is covered in blood. Her body twitches and trembles grotesquely, and there is a pulsating mass on the side of her helmet. Her visor is raised, and you see that her eyes are white. They've rolled back in her head, and her face has gone pale. She holds your left glove in a trembling right fist, and blood is dripping from it.

You struggle to move, but you cannot find the strength to lift yourself from the cold floor, against the wall. A loud ping erupts in your head, and suddenly there is pain. There is something latched onto your helmet, and it squirms. Your vision blurs harshly as the mass throbs and squirms, and you can feel something inside of your skull. It lashes, it thrashes, it soaks your brain in chemicals as it warps your reality.

You pat Jacqueline on the shoulder, and the two of you turn towards the hallway in the direction you had been heading before you encountered her. About to suggest that the two of you finish your patrol together, another loud ping erupts in your mind, and you lose focus again. You struggle to find your bearings, but more loud pings sound in your brain.

Jacqueline has turned towards the hall, still standing over you. You manage to turn your head, and you see what she looks at. Four other members of your team have arrived. Their flamethrowers are pointed towards Jacqueline, and flames lick from the ignition torches, eager to ignite a spout of liquid thermite from the canister.

Your vision blurs harshly, and you scream in sudden pain...Or was it rage? Jacqueline leaps, and is engulfed in flame. You watch through blurry eyes as she is ignited, collapses, and melted into a pile of ash by the jets of four flamethrowers.

You stand alone in the hallway now. Jacqueline is gone, and you wonder where she went. Taking a few steps, you collapse to your knees as loud pings again shatter your concentration.

You see them. There are four of them, standing across from you. You reach towards them, and an unearthly, screeching howl belches from your jaws. Everything turns white as you too are engulfed in flames.

* Station Log. Galactic Date four-three-nine-eight-seven point two-two. A foreign biological contaminant was introduced aboard the station at Station Time Eleven-Hundred-and-Twenty-Six hours on Docking Deck Seven. Security Team gamma dispatched to contain the threat. Life signs from Security Officers Habora and Ych lost at Eleven-Hundred-and-Thirty-Eight hours, and Twelve-Hundred-and-Two hours, respectively. Security Team gamma located the source of the Biological Contaminant at Twelve-Hundred-and-Eleven hours, and destroyed it.

Biological Containment Teams alpha and beta dispatched at Twelve-Hundred-and-Twenty hours. Station verified  secure at Fourteen-Hundred-and-eighteen hours. End Station Log. *