Simmons jumped through the hatches, swinging himself through the narrower ones. He held a laser machine gun in each hand, firing madly at any Hieenah that jumped in his way.

“Move.” He shouted at his partner, “Come on, Slaney, dammit!”

He pushed his blonde hair out of his eyes and shot a Hieenah squarely in it’s nose.

“Laugh that off.” he shouted at it as he ran past it’s twitching corpse. He grabbed Slaney’s hand and pulled her through the final door.

They were in the control room.

Simmons quickly began fiddling with the heat monitor but Slaney wandered to the window. Outside, the battle was going well. The distinctive Hieenah ships, round with spikes that cut at any approaching cruisers, were diminished. Fleet cruisers were massing, almost blotting out the stars with their bulk.

“Come on, Slaney.” shouted Simmons, “We haven’t got time for sight seeing. Get your butt over her.”

She ran to the control board and smiled at him.

“We’re nearly done.” she sighed, relieved.

The explosion shook the planet.