Why were the Bag Lanaktallan so different from the Great Herd that remained on the outside? That’s an easy question to answer…
TerraSol.
You see, Earth isn’t the way it is because it is the Cradle of the Mad Lemurs…the Lemurs are Mad because of Earth: there’s no other place even remotely like it, because the Malevolent Universe isn’t Stupid or Sadistic enough to make a second one.
Humanity twists and changes everything that it touches, but Humanity isn’t the culprit…only the catalyst for Mother TerraSol’s Will (a fact to which every Confederacy Race will attest) in execution of the Malevolent Universe’s Grand Plan…
…or perhaps not.
Regardless, the Lanaktallan, Tunvaru, Telkan, and other races that were on Earth changed more in their fifty-two years of confinement than the same races on the outside did in forty-thousand.
They went Native, and though they may not be Humans, they were Terrans all the same…and that became everyone else’s problem. – Lanaktallan Philosopher Moo’rto’kno, Confederacy Cultural Anthropologist, “Re-Engineered: The Culture Bomb of the Repatriating Terran Diaspora and the SUDS Flood.” Lanaktallan Great Galloping Press, 49231 (Confederacy Reckoning)
Wrixet was all by himself but he wasn't alone.
The lead creature, mouth full of fangs, drooling red glowing liquid, snarled and jumped forward from where it was crouched down on all fours.
"FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE, TELK!" he bellowed you, stepping into the leap, swinging from the hips. The grav-fist hit the charcoal skin and the creature's head and shoulders exploded into burning chunks of charcoal that reminded Wrixet of BBQ briquettes.
The body of the creature flew back, shattered from the increased kinetic force amplified by the grav-fist, briquettes raining down into the mass of creatures in the interlock zone transition chamber.
The others all screeched and charged. Some leaping, some jumping onto the walls, digging in their claws to scamper forward, others jumping to the ceiling and bounding along it.
They swarmed out.
Wrixet parried claws with his forearm and upper left arm and answered with punches, open hand smacks, backhands, elbows, and forearms. When he had to, he kicked out, his boots shattering the charcoal. Each wound brought forth a gout of red energy that tore at his nerves, made him feel like he was being shockprodded by...
by...
...by Lawsec in their armor and uniforms, laughing at him as they shockprodded him again, on the ground, trying to crawl away from the boots and the prod.
The rage welled up inside of him and he roared back into their faces as he answered their screeching with punches and kicks. He slammed the grav-fist into bodies, shattering them, into faces, destroying their skulls, into their arms or legs, ripping them free.
The red energy ripped at his nerves and he bellowed his rage back.
They still got by him. The airlock was built for the big insects to be able to use.
One Telkan brawler couldn't hold it.
He hit with everything he had, repeatedly, knocking them back and forth. A punch to the face or the lower midsection shattered them into briquettes. The spikes weren't just for looks, when a punch or a grab and twist ripped them away thanks to the grav-fist, reddish energy poured out and they screamed, trying to reach the base of the now missing spike.
He could hear the roaring of the cutting bars behind him and knew that D44 and Naxen would handle any that by him as he stepped all the way into the doorway. It was a short passage, doors on each side, an additional airlock to protect the ship in the interlock zone was compromised.
They could only come at him a few at a time. Screaming and screeching, clawing at him.
His armor was scored, slashed, gouged, but he kept swinging, kept fighting.
"Wrix, we gotta run, Telk," Naxen yelled out as Wrixet backhanded the face off of one and it crumpled to ash.
"GET OUT!" Wrixet yelled. "Run!"
"Not without you!" D44, Imna called out.
"GET OUT!" Wrixet turned and threw a hard punch, driving the thing against the black metal of the airlock wall. It shattered, coals and red energy that lashed at him.
"We'll be at the computing core!" Naxen shouted.
Wrixet didn't answer, ducking under a sword blade and coming up to shatter the creature's chest with a punch.
Bob, weave, strike, bob, strike strike strike, weave, bob, strike.
He was kicking burning coals out of the way with every step. Every punch sent coals showering through the airlock to bounce off the walls, the ceiling, the floor.
The HUD in his visor was showing his upper left arm pauldron as yellow, his shoulder gardbrace was yellow, his rerebrace bright amber. His chest plate was still green, edged out of blue, but the grav-fist was blue and the power level was stable.
The air in his armor hissed and he could suddenly breathe easier, the HUD displaying "O2 INJECTION UNDERWAY" in the upper right. He was still sweating, his whole body feeling like it was slicked with sweat.
None of that mattered as he kept swinging, kept holding the hallway.
They were still getting by him, but in less numbers.
He planted his feet, part of his mind imagining that his feet were tree trunks, that he had roots sinking deep into the ground as he kept swinging.
One breathed fire at him and he got his arms up, crossed in an X, protecting his visor. When it stopped he reached forward, slapping its jaw shut with a hard open handed slap. The creature's head broke free and it collapsed into chunks of smoldering coals.
"I'm going to close the door!" Emry's voice was far away, tinny, barely heard.
Wrixet just backed up, steadily, still swinging. His shoulders were starting to ache, the nerves across his chest, his abdomen, the front of his thighs were burning like he'd been splashed with molten metal.
He pushed it away.
He could hear the Lawsec patrolmen laughing at him as they kicked him, his school satchel spilled open, books having fallen out.
One tried to leap over him and he punched upwards, jumping slightly.
The grav-fist shattered its body.
"Telk thinks he's gonna be something with them books," one of the Lawsec laughed, kicking his math book into the gutter.
Another tried to go by, low and fast, but a kick to the side slammed in against the wall and he drove the grav-fist against the back of its head even as he shifted and lifted his left arm to take the hits from the other two, which were getting in each other's way, against his upper arm's armor.
"Gonna be special, Telk?" another laughed, putting a toe on the screen of his school dataslate and leaning on it. The cheap macroplas cracked and broke.
He took two steps back and more flooded toward him. A kick disabused the leader of any notion he was giving up, the boot shattering its skull.
They all laughed at him as one began urinating on the ground, the liquid splashing his swollen and bruised face.
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He was out of the entryway, still swinging.
"Lick that up, Telk," one of the Lawsec laughed.
He started to step back in, screaming against the visor. Lift the shoulder, take the hit on the pauldron, line drive into the face, feel them crumble. Backhand, tear the face and front of the head off, feel them crumble, drive the forearm forward, bent at the elbow, shatter the torso, kick the coals away.
"DROPPING THE BLAST DOOR!" Emry yelled out.
The door thudded down and Wrixet hit it with the grav-fist, the punch suddenly intersected by the door instead of impacting the screeching face.
"Run, Wrixet," Emry said. "We have four more ships locking into the docking rings."
He turned at the waist, smashing aside a screeching creature that had been raking at his back. A step forward and kicking one into chunks of charcoal. Smash down with the elbow, ignore the beeping and HUD warning as it goes red, shatter the body.
The hallway was clear and he looked around.
Wrixet suddenly realized he didn't know which way to go.
"I'm lost," Wrixet said.
"Go straight," Emry said.
Wrixet took off running, following directions.
At one point he heard screeches in the reddish darkness.
More screeches came back.
The burning feeling was setting into his bones, having chewed through the muscle. It was in his abdomen, filling his guts full of gnawing and chewing fireants. It was in his brain, bringing up every single time he had been beaten, spit on, knocked around, robbed.
A creature reared up, swiping at him. He bobbed underneath and came up inside of its reach. The smashing blow from the grav-fist shattered its head.
The energy washed over him as he killed two more in rapid succession.
He was six again. Coming home from school on the public tram. His school uniform was old, a handmedown his mother had bought at a used clothing store, but it was clean, repaired, and lovingly pressed.
Two more jumped him. The first he shattered with a single blow.
The second he pinned against the wall, his hand open, the grav-fist snarling as he pressed its spiked head against the wall.
He started driving his fist into its midsection, answering its screeches with bellows of his own.
The Lawsec got on. They moved down, making people put their hands on the scanner. They reached one. One laughed, knocking his school cap off. Another grabbed at his satchel. He tried to hold on, crying out, confused.
He ran forward and slammed a shoulder against four of them, crushing them against the bulkhead, roaring at them, punching punching punching
Lawsec were supposed to be his friend. That's what they said in school. He didn't understand. What did he do wrong? He was a good Telkani. He got good grades. The teacher said he was smart and worked hard. His mom said he was a good Telkani.
One tried to run and he followed it, his boots thudding against the deckplate as he gave a howling cry back. A shade swept out of the wall and he shattered it with a negligent swing of his arm, the protoplasm coating his armor and steaming as the icy cold gel hit the hot plates of his armor.
They rooted through his satchel. One took the dataslate, showed it to the other. They were all laughing.
It screeched and he bellowed back, catching up to it. He was faster than even a Telkana at short distances.
The other Telkan looked away. Why wouldn't they help? Why were the Lawsec mad at him? What did he do wrong?
He tackled the running one, taking it to the ground, bouncing through a cluster of them that were exiting an interlock zone airlock. He was kicking, punching, smacking, beating his face against theirs as he screamed back into their faces.
The Lawsec bent his datapad like teacher said not to, all of them laughing harder. He could see the quiz he took with the "GOOD JOB! A+! DOING GOOD!" on the screen.
He grabbed spikes on the back of a big one, pulling himself to his feet, ignoring the pain, and slammed two hammerblows with the grav-fist into its back. It screamed and he bellowed back.
There was an older Telkana next to the window across from him. Old like momma. He looked at her, staring to cry, wondering why she wasn't helping him. Isn't that what mamma's did?
He turned and punched another out of the way, grabbing the second one by the horns and pounding his face against its face, screaming back.
The old Telkana looked away, out the window.
One raked talons across his chest. He slammed the grav-fist into the elbow and the arm turned to smoldering chunks.
Why wouldn't she help him?
He stepped forward again, punching, slapping, kicking. He was in a warped hallway, the black metal of the hallway curved and ribbed strangely, with burning runes everywhere and chains hanging from the ceiling. Two ran at him and he charged them, both flinching back at his sudden bellowing charge.
One of the Lawsec grabbed his ear and twisted. He started crying harder, pawing at the arm of the hand twisting his ear.
He grabbed a chain and used the grav-fist to yank it free. Three more creatures were staring at him as he wrapped it around his forearm, the HUD showing it bright amber with strobing lines outlining it.
The dataslate broke with a loud snap, blue smoke wafting up, chunks of macroplas flying free.
He roared and charged.
One ran.
He slammed into the other two, kicking one apart, grabbing the other and slamming it face first into the wall, punching the back of its head.
It crumbled.
The Lawsec laughed.
He turned and kicked on out of the way, grabbing the other by the horns with both hands. He screamed back at it as he wrenched the horns apart.
Its skull split in two and it fell into burning chunks.
One of the Telkani across from him, that he knew from homeroom, jumped up and pushed at the Lawsec. "Stop, your hurting him. Hurting is wrong!"
A group rushed by behind him and he spun and followed them. He grabbed the slowest by the ankle, yanking it back, punching it where the legs met the body, throwing the crumbling chunks aside. The grav-fist was snarling, sparking, the leading edge of energy burning red.
One of the Lawsec laughed, grabbing the other Telkani, holding him while another slapped him.
Two turned to face him. He slapped one into charcoal and shoulder blocked the other, driving it against the wall. He slammed the grav-fist twice against its head before it was nothing more than crumbled coals.
"Stop hitting! Hitting is wrong!" he sobbed/yelled.
One tried to get away and he held it, punching at it, even as it scrabbled to get away. He didn't care.
The Lawsec pulled them off the tram, into the rainy street, laughing as they slapped and punched him and the other Telkani.
He blocked a set of jaws with the chain wrapped around his arm and slammed it agianst the wall. The jaw broke off and it crumbled to coals.
The tram drove away.
They ran through the interlock, into the ship. He followed, killing the ones that turned to face him.
They kicked and laughed in the rain, their heavy boots slamming into the two little Telkani's bodies.
They piled into another group.
He charged in, swinging, cursing, bellowing, screaming. He could taste blood, taste copper, feel something inside of him screaming to get out.
The Lawsec left the two boys crumpled on the sidewalk.
More piled in but he didn't care. He could feel their claws raking at the armor. The armor was howling that the kinetic gel was running low, he was going to have armor breaches, integrity was dropping, power was dropping.
He didn't care.
A Telkana came up. Older, like his sister, with glitter on her face. He held his arms out to her, sobs pleading with her to help him. She knelt down next to him, between him and the other Telkani.
He slammed one repeatedly against the wall until it crumbled, then looked around for more.
She patted them down. Took his school-link. Took the other one's. Put them in her pocket.
He heard their screeching further in and roared back, charging toward the screaming. The ants, the pain, the burning licking acid pain, had sunk into his bone marrow, had sunk into his brain. It pumped through his veins with his blood.
She stood up and walked away.
Some were scrabbling at a door, ripping a hole larger while singular ones twisted and writhed through it.
The two Telkani lay on the pavement sobbing in the rain. He got up, wiping away his tears angrily. He held his hand out to the other one. "Get up." The other one reached up and he pulled the other Telkani to his feet.
He hit at a charge, crushing one into coals, the others scattering. He slapped and kicked and punched. One was halfway through the gap and he drove the grav-fist down in a hammerblow into its back. The edge of the gap cut it in half and it fell into coals.
"Naxen. Sunny Meadows Hab, level 68," the other boy said.
He snapped the spike off of one's back and drove it through the head of another.
"Wrixet. Level 52."
The door slowly opened. There were dozens of them inside, all screaming, all lunging forward, all attacking the small group in the corner of the room. The servers beyond the clear macroplas were all lit up, all blinking.
The two boys put their arms around each other's shoulders and staggered into the rainy overcast afternoon.
He could see Imna swinging her cutting bar with both hands, desperately trying to keep the things back.
He screamed at them, charging.
They scattered like pins, tumbling and falling. He kicked and stomped, throwing a fist or a forearm into any that got up. He got next to Imna, clenching his hands together, lifting them over his head, and slamming his clenched fists onto any that close.
The grav-fist sputtered.
His armor retracted the faceplate and was suddenly heavy on his limbs.
He didn't care.
One broke free and tried to run as Imna hacked on the other remaining one.
Wrixet chased it as it bounded toward the far door.
Dozens more poured through another door.
Wrixet backed up, smacking the nearest ones.
Flames enveloped the one that had bounded through the far doorway. It collapsed in a burning heap, pink and white flames consuming it.
Emry was against the wall, his eyes wide.
Wrixet was shoulder to shoulder with Imna, who had lost her shield and was hacking with both hands.
Something looped over the creatures, that were crawling on top of one another in their eagerness to reach the two Telkan.
It bounced twice.
"GRENADE!" Emry yelled.
It beeped, magnetic systems oriented it so it stood on one pointed end. It flashed pink.
A hexagonal barrier appeared.
Flames covered the other side of the barrier.
Wrixet sagged slightly and looked at Imna.
"Where's Naxen?" he asked.
Imna's faceplate opened.
Her face was streaked with tears.
She pointed down, behind them, between them and Emry.
Wrixet turned and looked.
Naxen was on the floor. His guts were spread out. One leg was at least a meter away.
Wrixet went down on his knees, pulling his friend into his lap. He pulled open Naxen's faceshield.
Naxen was staring into eternity, panting, breathing fast, the Bliss carrying him off.
"No, no, no," Wrixet said. "No, don't leave me. Don't leave me, Telk."
Naxen was breathing faster and shallower.
"No, no, no," Wrixet sobbed, tears falling on Naxen's face. "No, please don't leave me."
Imna knelt next to him, putting her hands on his shoulder and resting her helmeted foreheard against his scarred and gouged shoulder pauldron.
Naxen's breath was hitching. Shallow, fast, hitching. His pupils were dilated. His tongue flicked out and wetted his cracked and bleeding lips.
"No, please, don't go. Don't leave me," Wrixet sobbed.
Naxen stopped breathing.