An armored bear eight feet tall had barricaded himself behind a flickering force field of cerulean blue, half his fur burned away and blood masking his face. The assault rifle he clutched against his chest was fire blackened but fully functional.

“They’re already here!” the bear roared, fangs bared and eyes blazing. “It’s the Uminh! They’re everywhere!” He spun around suddenly, turning his back on James and the security team, one giant paw drawing something from the bandolier he wore. “Stay back!” he shouted to the empty air. “No! Don’t come any closer!”

The dread click of a grenade pin being pulled echoed in the ensuing silence following this statement. Then the bear made a throwing motion.

The corridor rocked and boomed as the grenade detonated with an evil green flash, the blast vaporizing most of its plating. What survived became liquid metal, oozing towards the ruined floor, solidifying on the walls as an insane and warped striation that gleamed like raw silver.

James narrowed his eyes and studied the towering figure before him, his gun in his living paw. The robotic one was twitching at his side. “Get that force field down, sergeant,” he said tiredly to the she-wolf kneeling before the power conduit to his left. “Get it down before he blows a hole in the hull and we all die.”

“I’m trying, sir,” the wolf said, her voice calm and steady. James admired that coolness. “It’s been encrypted…wait a minute. I think I’ve got it!”

The rest of James’ patrol readied their weapons. His enhanced ear picked up a choked giggle with an undertone of hysteria from one of the soldiers behind him, barely audible. The hyena corporal, of course.

As the force field vanished the bear turned towards them but didn’t raise his rifle. His face was filled with confusion and his eyes were wide and puzzled. “What are you doing? If we can’t hold them here they’ll overrun the whole station without that.”

“Soldier,” James said evenly, “They’re not here, their fleet is light years away. I’m a lieutenant, a CO. I’d know if we were under attack. Stop and think.”

For one suspenseful moment the bear seemed to do just that. Then his face, caked in crimson, changed. It gained a slyness James didn’t like at all. “Yes sir! I’ll just put the gun down and-“ as the words were being spoken the rifle became a blur, aiming for the fox’s head.

The she-wolf sergeant was faster. Her shot blew up the bear’s rifle, another tremor wracking the wreckage of the corridor. When the smoke cleared the bear’s arm was missing. He stood swaying in the stink of melted duraplast and obliterated titanium.

“Bastards,” he rasped, clawing at the bandolier with his remaining paw, his voice seeming far away as the concussion of the blast rang in James’ ears. Before anyone could stop him he brought the grenade to his mouth, fangs flashing as they ripped the pin out of it. Then he swallowed it. “Uminh filth, wearing our skin!” he thundered. “I’ll take you all with me!”

As the bear charged James stepped forward to meet him, his cybernetic paw smashing through body armor and crushing the flesh beneath as he grasped it. Taking the immense weight on his artificial leg he threw the bear savagely to the side and through the diamond glass window. As it shattered the vacuum beyond rushed in, ripping away air and debris with a sound that was like the howl of a god.

The titanium emergency panel slammed down in the empty window frame a second later, sealing the corridor off from space once more.

James leaned against a bulkhead and closed his eyes. Then someone was resting a paw on his shoulder.

“You saved us all, sir,” said the sergeant. “Are you…alright?”

His eyes opened and met the wolf’s. They were a beautiful shade of amethyst, flecked with gold.

“I’m okay, sergeant,” he said softly. “I’m just catching my breath.”

The hyena began to laugh uncontrollably, madly. James closed his eyes again. Just a bad call.