David groaned quietly to himself as he stooped to pick up his flamer off the ground. He was really hurting, every muscle seemed to burn slightly and his chest was a single dark aching void. But he had a job to do, and he would be damned if he didnt give it everything he could.

Leiah stood several paces from him, the large handgun looking out of place in her hands, she seemed to handle it well though. She had killed his attacker while he was unconscious on the floor, he knew she could handle it now. He shook the thoughts of his near brush with death out of his mind and turned to the small feathered female across the hall. “Okay, Let's go do this.”

Leiah gave a small nod and they started down the hall again. The hall was quiet, it made the hairs on the back of his neck tingle as if they were being watched. But as he looked around he saw nothing, it was likely just nerves beginning to fray in response to the mental trauma he had experienced. And he was so damn tired too.

“Hey, uh, David?” He heard Leiah ask quietly from behind him, her slightly musical voice pleasant to hear.

Turning his head only slightly he asked “Yes? What is it?”

Leiah hesitated before asking “What's the plan? What if there are too many?”

He stepped over a bundle of shorn wires and replied “Well, our plan revolves around the enemy being preoccupied and not watching their asses. When we get close I'm going to ask the Captain to create a diversion so I can get close, then I'm going to…” but he was cut off by Leiah as she asked him in an annoyed tone.

“What? You, but what about me? You think I can't handle a close quarters fight?” she asked him hopping to his side and raising her mane of black feathers in a seemingly angry pattern.

David stopped and sighed, a harsh sound. He looked into her golden eyes and wondered briefly what to say. ‘She was right though’ he thought grimly. He was not sure she would be able to handle the inferno any close range brawling would likely become, and the thought of coming all this way together and then seeing her die… The thought sat very ill with him and he shook his head. “I can't lie to you, I won't lie to you. I don't want you to get hurt Leiah, I…” but he couldn't think of the words to say and trailed off.

Her anger seemed to fade away, replaced by that familiar emotion, she looked down at the ground and said “I… I feel the same way David, I don't know what I would do if you got hurt again, or worse, if I wasn't there to back you up.”

“Well, I guess we will have to watch each other's backs then. If I can't leave you here safe, then I will just have to keep you safe myself.” He said adamantly.

Leiah just warbled in a way that could have been amusement and stepped to his side. “Well then what are we waiting for? Let's send these wingterrors back to the pit they crawled out of!”

David smiled in spite of himself. She certainly was a fiery little bird. “Alright. We will continue down this corridor for another thirty meters then take the first main left. That should be a straight shot to the Captain’s position. From there it's going to be pretty touch and go, so be careful and look out for potential traps.” He added, thinking about the trap that had killed Greedi earlier.

She gave him a nod as her small feathered mane made a series of fluttering signals that he couldn't parse. It didn't matter either way, they had a job to do and they would get it done. He hadn’t suffered all this way just to fail at the final hurdle.

David and Leiah walked carefully as quickly as he felt was safe down the quiet hall. He had expected to be able to hear some sort of conflict from ahead now that they were getting so close, but it was all quiet in front. The silence was somehow more straining to his frayed nerves than if there had been the sounds of a slaughter. The quiet could mean almost anything, had the tearers already killed the crew? What if they were approaching a scene of grisly death?

He shook his head slightly and tried to relax his inner voice, it wouldn't do to psych himself out before they even got to the fight. He glanced down at Leiah who saw him looking and raised her feathered mane while cocking her head slightly. The look was enough for him to gather she was curious as to his thoughts and he said “Okay. It's too quiet, I don't like it. Change of plans, we are going to take the next tunnel and try to come up alongside the reclamation plant instead of rushing it headfirst. I have a bad feeling that there may be an ambush waiting in the main tunnel.”

Leiah just nodded again slightly, she trusted his judgment it seemed. He cursed slightly to himself, he was going to get them both killed, but what could he do? They had to rescue the rest of the crew, there was no way he was letting a single one of these cannibalistic bastards get away. Not after what they had done.

He shuddered as he remembered the horrid feeding room and the bodies piled where they had been butchered like base cattle. His eyes turned hard as he once more spat in hatred for these abominations, the sudden motion causing Leiah to jerk in alarm.

“What was that? What happened?” She chirped quietly.

David shook his head and growled “We are going to kill the fuckers. That's what happened, I won't leave this place till every single one of them is pushing up slimpetals.” She said nothing but he could feel her concern as if she was telepathically communicating her emotions to him. He shook it off and started down the hall once more.

The station was quiet as the grave, the smell of rust and old oil apparent even through the musk of mildew and damp. The halls were made of metal plates speckled in rust, the place had the feel of something far past its time, a partially desiccated corpse still forced to labor away despite its age.

David ducked behind a stack of corroded metal crates as he heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps, he couldn't be certain as to their type but they sounded heavy. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Leiah was alright, she was crouched just behind him. The 3011 clutched in her graspers and a look of wary unease on her ruffled feathers. It was so hard to read her emotions but even he could tell she was tense.

“What is it?” She hissed at him.

David shook his head. “Not sure yet, hold on.” He hesitated, not sure if he should duck back into cover or prepare an ambush. His indecision got the better of him as he was still stuck halfway out of solid cover when a huge brute of a human male lumbered around the corner carrying a large spar of jagged metal like a club. Any sense that the creature was a simple man was immediately thrust out of his mind as he saw the monster was bedecked in goreish trophies consisting of severed hands. human, slaaveth, and even a few razah'vool hands dangled from a large neck chain that clattered as the mummified finger bones clattered together.

The brute froze as it spotted him and for a moment neither moved, David stared into the eyes of a beast. Any sense of civility had been burned away by the bloodlust and hunger that now drove this abomination with one single imperative, hunger.

David swore as the hulk let out a bloodcurdling roar and rushed him headlong, the fifteen meters that separated them were far too few for him to activate his flamethrower in time and he watched his demise approach as if in slow motion. Suddenly a crack issued from just behind him and the charging man’s head snapped back as a crimson star appeared on its forehead. The monster slowed to a halt as if confused before smashing face first onto the floor only two meters from David’s boots.

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It took him a moment to gather his wits as the sudden rush of adrenaline made his vision swim. Turning to look behind him he saw Leiah with her pistol raised, a slightly puzzling set of feathers raised.

“Holy… Thank Luck you are a good shot Leiah. I thought we were lunch meat for sure there.” David said more excitedly than he meant to, but the adrenaline rush had set his heart thudding in his chest and he felt as though a jolt of electricity had flown through him.

Leiah lowered her slightly shaking arms and warbled low and amusedly. “Looks like I had to save your sorry skin again David. This is becoming a habit.” She mused.

David shook his head, the rush fading slightly but not retreating entirely. The jig was likely up, the rest of the tearer’s had to know they were coming now. “Alright, it's time to go, no breaks, no holdups. We stop and we die, we have to end this right now. I'm going to call for the Captain to make a distraction, it might buy us a few seconds.”

“That's it?” She asked him.

David nodded solemnly as he raised the radio to his mouth and activated the communications. “Commander, this is David. We are in position sorry about the delay. We could use a distraction, anything will do, just something to buy us the time to get in close.”

There was a bit of static before the Captain’s voice broke through the noise. “David! Damn its good to hear your voice, we are pinned like fucking znots in here. We can make some noise that might grab their attention, but you better be ready to lay the hurt down as soon as we do!” The nerivith man’s voice said over the small device.

David just glanced up at Leiah before saying “We are locked and loaded. Make some noise Commander, we’ll bring the heat!” David stood and lit the pilot flame on his weapon, the faint hissing an ominous portent of doom.

Leiah gave her equivalent of a smile and David smiled back. “Hey if we get through this…” He started but Leiah cut him off.

“When. When we got through this, I didn't follow you all this way to fall off the last branch. I have your back.” She said grimly.

David gave her a nod and warned “Okay, but stay back a bit, I don't want to scorch your feathers off.”

She gave a small huff of amusement and they started walking. The sound of their footsteps on the metal floor was loud to his hyped up senses, the smell of old oils and grease mixed with the faint copper tang of spilled blood. They were getting closer.

David peeked around the next corner, he could see a twenty meter section of hall devoid of any cover that led to the large antechamber in front of the treatment plant. As he watched, several figures moved in the shadows near the far end of the hall, no doubt flesh tearers waiting to ambush them if they tried to rush the hall headlong. David cursed under his breath, that was exactly the plan he had in mind. Dangerous and foolhardy as it seemed it was still their best hope for success.

Suddenly another sound drew his attention, it was the sound of a door opening on protesting hinges, a muted squeal that demanded attention. The treatment plant’s doors creaked open and a flurry of indiscriminate fire struck out at seeming random. David saw at least one shadow fall but the majority of the others simply took cover behind boxes or piles of rubble.

David glanced at Leiah one last time before he grunted “Move!” And started to book it down the short hall as fast as his protesting muscles would allow.

The move was mostly successful as the cannibals had their attention fixated on the source of the noise, all except for a single nerivith male that was looking their way.

The male raised a weapon of crude but deadly design and fired a burst of semi-automatic fire at him. David cried out in pain as he felt two rounds pierce his flesh, one in the thigh and another in his side. Neither was enough to put him down as he reached the end of the hall and skidded to a stop, raising his flamethrower with malicious intent he spat “Time to fry motherfuckers!”

David’s vision swam as a torrent of flame was projected across the room and into the horrors. While their cover had proved to be effective against the small caliber fire from the doorway, it was rendered entirely obsolete against the tide of flaming napalm that he sent raging after them.

With a whoomph of displaced air, the liquid fire rushed over and through the despicable creatures. David smiled savagely as they screamed and wailed in rage and pain, sweeping the pillar of flame back and forth he slowly advanced across the room to ensure that every single enemy was charcoal.

After twenty or so seconds his flame guttered and died, the remaining fuel spent and its rage satisfied. He slumped heavily against a nearby crate as the pain of his injuries rushed back to the forefront of his mind. He had torn some muscles in his mad dash for sure, at least a few broken bones and now two new bullet wounds. David closed his eyes as the flames guttered and died around the battle site.

The room was in shambles, all around the corroded walls were charred black with soot and the still smoldering remains of well over a dozen of the beasts could be seen around the perimeter of the room.

As he sat exhausted against the crate he heard the voices of the trapped crew as they exited their would be crypt and stared at the carnage he had wrought. He felt gentle hands holding his cheeks and opened his eyes to see Leiah’s own only inches away. He smiled and said “Hi there. I'm glad you’re okay.”

She released him and shook her head, her feathers dancing with the motion as she seemed to float between angry and relieved. She settled on relieved but was interrupted before she could speak by Commander Killoy walking up and stopping in front of him.

David looked up at the man and attempted to stand but was halted by the nerivith raising a hand to stop him. “No, stay down. I have medical on the way, they’ll pick you up when they get here. That was a hell of a job you did there, I’m sorry to hear about Greedi.”

David nodded silently, not sure what to say in response. He decided to wait and see if there was anything else the man wanted to say before he opened his mouth.

Commander Killoy waited just a moment before he continued. “I must say, your performance here impressed the absolute Hel out of me, I want to offer you a permanent position on the ship. Special forces attaché as it were, if you are interested?” He said with a raised eyebrow.

David cracked a smile. “Sir, I think I can think of a few compelling reasons to stick around.” He glanced at Leiah squatting next to him and smiled, she had the good grace to look embarrassed as he did so.

The Captain chuckled and said “Ah, I see. Well, I owe you two a whole hell of a lot of thanks so its well within my power to keep you together if that's what you want.” David nodded.

Leiah spoke up finally and said “Yes Commander, I want that very much.”

Commander Killoy nodded his head and said “Well then good news, we are withdrawing from the station and standing by. We have an entire company of marines on the way to clear out the rest of the station. Void power armour, heavy weapons, the works. Our job here is done, and thank the Powers that be that it is. I'm offering you two up for commendations for your actions, potential for fast tracked promotions, all the bells and whistles.” The tall man hesitated, his tail flicked a few times as if he was unsure of his own thoughts before he added “And I wanted to thank you two personally. It was looking pretty bad there for a while, you both really saved our asses big time. Thank you.” He said with genuine emotion before walking off to shout orders at some of the crew that were busy kicking a dying tearer in one of the corners of the room.

David was elated, he was going to be able to stay on the ship, and the crew would probably be a lot more open to him now. He chuckled as he felt Leiah crouch beside him again, one of the crew was likely to be very open with him for sure.

“We did it, you did it really.” She started but he snorted and cut her off with a waved hand.

“No Leiah, we did it. I would have died alone out there, you saved my life on multiple occasions. I'm in your debt. Is there some way I can repay you?” He added with a wink.

Her expression feathers fluttered into that unreadable pattern again and she bobbed her head a few times before she said “I think I can imagine a few things.”

David smiled and pulled her into a one armed hug as they sat on the cold metal floor, he knew that things could only get better from here. And she seemed to want to stick around him as well, and that was just fine too.

The medical personnel arrived shortly after with stretchers for the critically wounded, of which there were several. David tried to wave them off but was assisted onto one of the transports anyways. One of the medics gave him a shot of something that made the pain fade and he smiled, his vision slowly darkening as he faded on the edge of consciousness. The last thing he saw before he fell fully under was a pair of beautiful golden eyes full of concern watching over him as he drifted off into that peaceful oblivion.

END