Miya swiped through the terminal’s flickering gray screens. Her eyes acted as cursors, switching between the ship carrier’s layouts, nerve systems, registered crew members, and defensive protocols.

The ship’s corridor creaked with metallic churns, the black void resting on either side of Miya stretched to undefinable lengths as she continued to gather information in the twisting shadows.

She closed her eyes and thought.

I’ve never heard of Flotilla before, but they’re obviously a cricker org if their ship’s GEOM isn’t serialized or connected to a bureau. It seems they disabled the lower carry-on brig’s defensive measures for their last assault, so I had nothing to worry about, but it’s still best if I make it to…

Miya taps the screen’s jelly-like glass, pointing to the ship’s main deck briefing room.

Looking at the ship’s comm-logs, their last order was to gather in this room. That’s my next—

Miya whipped her head, gazing down the black chasm with scrunched eyes. She then detached her Xacto from her hip while lifting a foot off the ground.

—CLANG

Her head is thrown into the side of the wall with enough force for a wide indent. She looked back, unable to perceive her attacker, only able to feel four long, slender fingers gripping her skull. Her aggressor then revealed themselves—A Scozacki, their long scaly snout unveiled first through ripples, their skin a glistening deep violet that traced down their seven-foot stature.

The Scozacki hurled Miya against the adjacent wall and stood tall and erect, their yellow almond eyes shaking and bouncing through the darkness like golden nuggets.

With a hiss that served as its war cry, the Scozacki lunged at Miya, driving her forcefully through the ship’s metal wall and into the adjoining room—a medic bay adorned with red alloy walls and cabinets filled with supplies behind black paneling. With relentless force, they burst through yet another barrier, leaving only a jagged imprint of Miya’s backside on their path. The following chamber was a black supply room housing an assortment of chemicals. Unyielding, they pressed forward, akin to an unstoppable train, breaching the next wall—this time, a silvery compartment resembling a surgical room, complete with a long, pristine white table and drapes hanging from the ceiling.

Miya drives her feet into the ground, stopping the Scoz’s next charge, and jumps back. The Scoz straightens its tail and then jabs it forward like a pistol; Miya leans to the side, dodging the darting appendage, then slides into a brisk uppercut. The Scoz throws her fist to the side, then counters with a tail sweep under her legs. Miya catches herself mid-fall with one hand, then pivots into a two-legged kick. The Scoz catches her feet and throws her back, causing her to slide across the ground and slam into the white surgical bed.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Aqam thruisr ai roqa mu tharmeqia, shur’ racusmeza.” (Translation: Kaatini, I recognize your loose style even though you have no technique.) The Scoz hisses.

She then jabs her tail into Miya’s abdomen, causing her to gasp and jolt.

“Darch Qudar. Au krudausan er ruuk er urrui aad aukdaen u urruis deaur.” (Darch Qudar. I noticed as soon as you attempted to Gorud Argu with your feet instead of your missing back limb.)

The Scoz then pommels Miya with her tail again, with enough force to cause the surgical table to rattle and move back.

“Umua raxpryaqi i gapamp yar ug i yaarir, kiyaxx umua xuri a grup ga umuar.” (You disgrace the fighting art of the tailed beasts you stole it from with your brute force and mindless action.)

Miya rolls to the side, nearly missing another tailed prod, and disconnects a long-cylindrical blue-roped scalpel from the surgical bed. She throws it forward, driving it into the Scoz’s leg and flipping the switch on with an array of white and red lights flickering. The Scoz’s legs condense like a deflating balloon, then a long ring of beads shoots from the scalpel and runs up the inside of her leg into their torso, leaving a bulging-red ringworm-like trail.

The Scoz’s eyes flutter close. She stumbles to the side, watching the crimson beads wiggle past her stomach below her skin. She hisses and lunges with her tail straightened. Miya whips her Xacto from her hip and fires a crisp white bolt past her backside, severing her tail and causing a trail of blue blood to splatter throughout the room.

The Scoz fell onto its back, sputtering with froth foaming from the sides of their mouth as the beads slowly entered her chest. Miya walked to her side, reached down, and picked up a metallic patch on their sleeve.

“Flotilla, huh?” Miya grinned with a nod. “I understand what she meant. It’s all coming together now.”

She aimed her barrel down at the Scoz’s face with a scowl. “Guess even with a tail, you weren’t shit.”

A few drapes in front of the surgical bed flap to the side as if they were pushed. Miya’s pupil swiveled to the side of her eye. But before she could react, an invisible force struck her, shoving her back.

Miya grit her teeth, searching the left side of her room with her eyes and the right with the nozzle of her pistol. A grid of golden hexagons flickered over the Scoz’s body as a gun-metal black heel dispersed through the masking particles. The glinting hexagons manifested a leg, two, then an entire humanoid frame in a full slim suit, absorbing the darkness surrounding it.

Relay coils and metal straps wrapped around the lower thighs, covered in a thin gray fabric, and extended up to the more armored upper torso. The mecha-gear's torso had two breast cups that bulged, giving it a feminine appearance, while a black transparent helmet covered the head, producing an array of falling white droplets.

Miya groaned and pointed her gun between the suited individual and the Scoz. “Are you serious? How many Yasura are they going to send? It’s getting annoying.”

The suit looked down at the Scoz, then back to Miya, and nodded.

“What? You aren’t with them?”

The suit nodded again.

“Oh. I just assumed.”

Miya aimed her pistol down and shot another white bolt toward the Scoz’s noggin. However, the suit bent down, shielding the blast with a blue ionic shield from their open palm.

Miya chuckled and leaned her back on the wall. “Okay, so you aren’t with them, but you’re willing to save their life—“

The suit tilted their head to the side. Miya looked down and began chuckling with raised shoulders. Her pistol twisted and churned, elongating its upper receiver while its lower receiver and handle morphed into spinning mecha-balls.

“It’s nice to meet you again,” Miya held her head up with a sadistic grin, “C-Larka.”