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something he had not done since his early childhood.
    * * * *
     
    Jump Station Andromeda 2, Mu Arae solar system
    Mel hung onto a computer console in the control center of the jump station, trying to keep from floating away. All around her red and yellow lights flashed and warning sirens blasted her eardrums, mixed in with the moans of the injured and screams of the frightened.
    Papers, data pads, and anything not attached to a wall or floor drifted around her.
    What was more disconcerting was the number of blood globules that hung in the air.
    Some of it was hers, but most of it belonged to the two dead Antareans that now floated near the ceiling, or what now served as the ceiling.
    Suddenly, the room rotated once more almost two hundred forty degrees.
    Mel held on as everything suspended in the confined space bounced off solid surfaces like billiard balls.
    “Nowicki,” she shouted to be heard above the chaotic noise. “Find someone to shut those damn sirens off. And let’s get the gravity fixed.”
    “Working on it, Captain,” Nowicki shouted back just as all went silent.
    The station slowly reoriented itself. The dead Antareans fell to the floor not two feet from her. Their scaly green skin covered in rust-colored blood. It had taken more than laser blasts to take the bastards down; lasers barely pierced through their tough hides.
    She’d finally resorted to her serrated battle blade. Severing their major blood supply had been their death knell. A messy one.
    Was it any wonder the Alliance wanted to ally with the Prime? The Prime had fought against the Antareans’ arrival in the Milky Way for eons and survived to tell about it. She wished she’d had some Prime inside information, or at the very least some of their specialized weapons, to stop the tough-skinned bastards. Might have saved her time and some of her own skin and blood. Combat by trial-and-error was no way to fight.
    Feet solidly planted on the deck once more, she let out a breath. “Whoever fixed all that at once, please give them my heartfelt thanks.”
    “You’re very welcome, Captain.” Her chief engineer, Commander A’tem, sent her a snappy salute. “We have complete control of the facility once more, sir. The jump gate is back online and can accept space traffic once again. The Antareans hadn’t gotten any farther than gravity control when we boarded.”
    The damn pseudo-reptiles didn’t need gravity. They just used their little suckers and walked along any surface. She shuddered as she recalled how the one had dropped on her from above. But he was dead, she wasn’t—and in the final analysis that was all that counted.
    “Thank you for the report. Continue to render the jump station crew any assistance they might need.” Turning to Ensign J’ar, she asked, “What is the status on the remainder of the Antarean boarding party?”
    “Two-thirds are dead. The remaining third are contained in a cargo area and are under guard, awaiting Alliance military police to arrive and remove them to the penal holding cells on Tooh 10.”
    “Excellent work, Ensign.”
    The tall Volusian smiled. “Just doing our job, sir.”
    “Did we track the mother ship that carried the boarding party?” she asked Nowicki.
    “Blue Squadron arrived right on our heels and picked them up. The Antarean ship engaged several of Captain Warten’s battle cruisers and was destroyed in the ensuing battle.”
    Thank God for that.
    “Convey my congratulations to Captain Warten and his men. Advise Alliance Military Command that we are in control of the station and will finish cleaning up while waiting on the cruiser to take away the prisoners.”
    “Uh, Captain, ma’am.” The communications officer of the jump station stood next to Mel, a nervous look on the woman’s too-pale face.
    “Yes, Ms. Baldwin, isn’t it?” The young woman’s nervousness melted away under Mel’s use of her name and kindly smile. Being forcefully boarded by anyone was stressful, but