Working on a corpse hauler is a grim and lonely job, but ever since war broke out in the Telanis system, cargo ships like mine had been pressed into service to remove the dead for proper burial. The fighting has intensified over the last few weeks, meaning more work for me, but this last run was something else entirely.

I was on the bridge, headed for the burial planet of Ordan when I heard a loud metal clank from somewhere below deck. I didn't suspect anything at first as any number of old metal parts might have come loose from my cargo ship and fallen over. Leaving the controls on automatic, I headed toward the ladder. Hooking a foot around the handrails on either side of the ladder, I slid down to the lowest level, the engineering deck.

My ship was small with only my quarters, the bridge, and the engineering deck housing life support and propulsion. The rest of the vessel was used for cargo space. I didn't mind the solitude as I'd traveled with crews before, and it never ended well. Everyone came with their own problems and emotional baggage, and I'd never wanted to carry anything more than cargo. Some of my former crew had accused me of being cold, or even soulless, but I didn't care for them, so I cared even less for their opinions. I was a ship pilot, and I refused to also be a therapist.

It took ten minutes to check everything over and learn nothing was out of place. I was starting to think I'd imagined it until I heard a grinding sound similar to a hollow metal pipe being dragged along the floor. It didn't last long, but it was enough to convince me what I was hearing was real and it was coming from the cargo area.

Climbing the ladder, I opened the first cargo compartment. Stacked floor to ceiling with shelves, the room was filled with zippered pouches of sterile, white plastic. They varied in length from five to seven feet from end to end. Strapped into the shelves and only a few inches apart, the pouches held the remains of those killed in the latest conflict. Name tags marked each pouch, listing the planet where death had occurred and the manner in which it had happened. A few of the tags were also stamped with biohazard symbols as the enemy was employing a new biological weapon never seen before. Its lethality was absolute.

Leaving the first cargo area, I moved to the next. When the door opened, I felt a chill that reached to my very soul. Zippered pouches lay strewn across the floor. They were open, and they were empty. I heard a slight shuffling sound and a wheezing intake of breath from behind me. I reached for the blaster holstered at my hip, and just as my hand closed around the grip, skeletal fingers painfully seized my shoulder.