The sound of our weapons was deafening. Arvin and I held down the triggers as we rained proton fire down on the Kekoan troopers below us. Arvin focused on the heavily armored exo-trooper ascending the lift cable with his heavier pair of rifles, while I focused on suppressing the rest of them with my pistols.

Tayle wasted no time leaning into the lift shaft to take out the far safety locks. A quick pair of shots from her proton cannon and they were slagged. We pulled back, and Arvin and I quickly reloaded our spent magazines, steam wafting from the superheated barrels of his rifles.

"Only go for one of the locks this time. Trying to take them both will take too long and leave you exposed when we run out of ammo." I ordered.

"Got it."

"Yes."

Arvin slammed the second magazine home, and I nodded. We stepped forward again to lay down a wall of screaming blue proton fire. The exo-trooper was now halfway up the lift shaft, giving them a better angle to return fire from. Something they wasted no time in doing as their heavy maser cannon opened up, pelting us with deadly green bolts.

I felt my jacket heat up as it absorbed several shots, and I began to sweat from the heat it radiated. The other Kekoans below had begun to use their fallen comrades as cover, holding their armored bodies in front of them to absorb shots as they fired back at us. Arvin's rifle fire spattered across the heavy exo-suit armor to little effect, the Kekoan unflinchingly tracking us with his maser cannon as he raked our position with green bolts.

Tayle leaned out again presenting her back as a target as she aimed for the next safety lock. I watched out of the corner of my eye as several shots hit her improvised armor suit, and it began to glow from the heat. There was a sharp whine as her proton cannon discharged, and she ducked back into the corridor, our own jackets pock-marked with glowing spots from the hits we'd taken as we pulled back.

"Alright, last one." All three of us were soaked with sweat, cooking in our armored jackets as they radiated heat from the absorbed shots.

We set about reloading again, the barrels of Arvin's rifles now glowing white-hot from the non-stop barrage they had been firing, but we had no time to wait for them to cool down. My own pistols were also getting painfully warm to the touch as well. It took several moments longer to reload as we carefully handled our over-heated weapons.

Leaning out one last time, we found the exo-suited Kekoan almost level with the entrance to the command deck, and I forcefully shoved down my rising panic at what would happen when they did reach it and gained a clear field of fire. Arvin wasted no time in opening up again, his rifles spitting a constant stream of blue fire so rapidly it looked like a single solid beam.

I continued to ineffectually take potshots at the other remaining troopers below as Tayle leaned out one last time. My jacket burned my skin as it absorbed more shots, the entire surface glowing like a star as the exo-trooper's fire raked over us again. I realized in horror, that they had ceased their steady back-and-forth motion to focus on Tayle.

I abandoned my efforts to distract the other troopers and focused the fire of both my pistols on the heavy-weapon-carrying exo-trooper. Their armor was pockmarked with dozens of hits, but the thick plate remained uncracked. I needed some other way to stop them.

Shifting my aim, I targeted the massive cylindrical cannon cradled in their arms. I poured fire into it in spite of the excruciating pain from the skin on my hands beginning to melt and burn from the heat of my guns. Arvin saw what I was doing and followed suit, pouring on the fire as we desperately tried to stop them from killing Tayle.

It all happened at once as I heard the whining discharge of Tayle's proton cannon. Even as the sound of her weapon was still fading, There was a green flash of light as we finally hit something important on the Kekoan's maser cannon, and it died with a puff of smoke. But the whining noise didn't fade, and it was in fact increasing. I barely had a moment of horrified realization before one of Arvin's rifles detonated in a flash of blue light as it overheated, rupturing the proton magazine.

Arvin was blasted back down the hall from the explosion as Tayle slammed into the wall, her proton cannon clattering to the floor. I staggered as the blast pushed me back and blinded me momentarily. I had been farther from Arvin so I had escaped the worst of the explosion.

Regaining my eyesight showed me Arvin's smoking form laying in the middle of the hall, his right arm a charred mess while his other still held the rifle melted to his skin. Tayle's condition wasn't much better. Her jacket and vest had protected her torso, but her face sported flash burns, and she was unconscious.

I checked the status of the lift and my heart fell. The last lock was still intact. For whatever reason, Tayle's final shot hadn't finished it. I painstakingly opened my hands, my eyes tearing up as my melted skin painfully tore. I ignored the blood seeping from my hands as I forcefully tore the pistols free and threw them to the floor with a scream of pain, taking the skin on my palms with it.

I could hear someone desperately yelling in my ear, but the burning pain of my raw hands reduced sounds other than my own breathing to mere noise. I staggered over to Tayle's limp form and picked up the proton cannon. My hands left a slick coat of blood on the weapon, and I struggled to hold it properly.

Leaning out of the doorway, I paid no attention to the approaching exo-trooper. I carefully aimed at the last remaining safety lock, desperately trying to get my wrecked hands to cooperate. Slag-it-all! My nerves are so cooked I can't even hold the damn thing steady.

The sensation of burning ice welled up in the back of my head again, but I refused to flinch. The pain of my cooked nerves faded and my arms steadied. I lined up the shot and pulled the trigger in a single smooth motion, sending a burning blue ball of protonic fire upwards into the safety lock.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Leaning back into the corridor, I heard the scream of tearing metal as the lift broke free, and the floor shook as a massive black form landed on the deck causing me to stumble forward into the hall. Turning I saw the Kekoan exo-trooper straighten up, towering over me as the left fell down the shaft behind him. The floor shook again as the sound of the lift hitting the hull reverberated across the ship as if someone had turned it into a giant gong.

Alarms sounded and I felt the draft of a hull breach as our plan succeeded in destroying the lift airlock, hopefully dislodging the itzli boarding shuttle. The lift doors slammed shut cutting off the rush of air and leaving me trapped in the hallway with the massive Kekoan exo-trooper. Their void-black armor was a mess, the massive glacis plate covering their chest pockmarked and battered by proton fire.

I brought the proton cannon back up and fired before diving backward to avoid the lunging swipe of the massive alien warrior. I rolled back to my feet and fired again, another ball of blue fire leaving a crater on the armor glacis.

I tried to fire again but had to roll to the side to avoid another lunge. I ducked, the bulkhead to my back, as the Kekoan charged me, ramming into the wall. I dove away and flipped over firing on my back, slagging one of the Kekoan's shoulder plates.

Scrambling to my feet I attempted to fire again only to be greeted with the 'bleep' of an empty magazine. I backed away, fumbling for another magazine as the Kekoan regained their bearings and turned to face me. They reached for a sheathe attached to their surprisingly intact combat rigging, pulling loose a wicked blade the size of a sword, but looked like a mere knife in their massive grip.

I finally managed to retrieve another magazine with my blood-slicked hands as the Kekoan advanced menacingly toward me, knife at the ready. I was greeted with the reassuring whine of the proton cannon as I locked in the magazine.

Bringing the weapon to bear again I fired, leaving a third crater in the exact middle of the thick armored chestplate. Finally having had enough, the heavy plate split down the middle and broke free landing on the deck with a heavy 'thud.' The Kekoan lowered their armored head and charged.

I backpedaled as I desperately, futilely tried to keep the distance between us. I tripped, Arvin's still form in the middle of the hall completely forgotten until now as I stumbled over it. I raised the proton cannon in front of me as a last defense even as I fell. The Kekoan's blade cleaved into the barrel, slowing down the attack enough to give me those extra seconds to get out of the way of the blade as it went on to lodge itself in the floor by Arvin's head.

Abandoning the blade, the Kekoan warrior grabbed my throat, slowly crushing my windpipe. I glared up into the expressionless helmet, its vile green eyes staring back impassively as I struggled and choked. The edges of my vision were growing hazy and my lungs burned in desperate need for air.

I flailed, punching and kicking ineffectively as I desperately sought to break their grip. My ears roared with the flow of blood in my head desperately trying to deliver oxygen it didn't have and my entire head felt as if it was burning in the depths of space like a distant star.

My oxygen-deprived brain held only a single thought, a single burning desire. I need a weapon, any weapon, to destroy what was killing me. I scrabbled desperately for anything I could use as my vision narrowed even more and my consciousness grew smaller.

I felt the reassuring weight of a proton rifle in my hands and jabbed the barrel into the chest of the Kekoan towering above me. They looked down in what I could only guess was surprise at the weapon that had appeared in my empty hands.

I held down the trigger as the abused weapon shrieked. My vision went blue, then white at the point-blank energy discharge as I kept firing until the magazine ran dry.

The grip on my throat eased and the Kekoan, their chest a smoking ruin, collapsed to the side. I coughed and gagged as I desperately pulled in massive lungfuls of air into my oxygen-starved body. The noise of the ship came rushing back as I descended from my adrenaline high.

"Rama! Rama! Are you ok? What's happening out there?!" I checked the ship's status screen as Winri's worried voice echoed in my head.

"We-" I coughed harshly "We're clear, get us into Subspace and away from here, then get down here. Arvin and Tayle are hurt and we need to get them to the medical bay." There was a worried gasp over the communications line before it cut out.

A moment later I felt the familiar feeling of my stomach falling as we transitioned to Subspace. I staggered to my feet and made my way past the cooling corpse of the Kekoan over to Arvin. Kneeling, I checked his pulse sighing in relief as I found it and saw his chest rise and fall with his shallow breath. I winced at the sight of his mangled and charred arm and tried to figure out how I was going to move him without hurting him. I looked up at the sound of feet pounding down the hall to see Winri and Nathalie sprinting toward me.

"Arvin!" Nathalie skidded to a stop beside me as she knelt by her husband.

"I knew this was a terrible idea when he told me some long-lost friend of his had a way out of there. Some friend you are; staying with you on this derelict will just end up with him dead!"

"Hey! If it wasn't for this 'derelict' you'd both be dead after the Itzli bombed the station!" I argued indignantly.

Nathalie opened her mouth to continue arguing but Winri's hand fell on her shoulder stopping her. I looked up to see her standing there with Gericht by her side, his hand rebandaged much more neatly. Behind him floated a trio of hover-stretchers.

"We can argue later, let's just get Arvin and Tayle treated, ok?" Nathalie gave a stiff nod before glaring at me as if to remind me this wasn't over.

I directed the first hover-stretcher to the ground and switched it to loading mode. A gravity field was carefully laid over Arvin placing him in zero-g, and a weak gravity field was used to gently guide him onto the stretcher.

Nathalie set off for the medical bay with Arvin, and I took one of the other stretchers and made my way back to Tayle, still laying comatose against the bulkhead. I deliberately tried not to think about how close she was to the lift doors; she'd narrowly avoided being sucked out into the void. I initiated the loading sequence again and watched as the finely manipulated gravity fields gently moved her onto her back before gently setting her down on the cushioned stretcher.

Winri popped up at that point with the last stretcher, "Alright, it's your turn mister."

"I'm fine." She glared up at me, hands on her hips.

"Those arms don't look 'fine' to me, Rama. Get on the stretcher."

"Ok, so maybe I'm not fine, but I can still walk. I don't need a stretcher."

"Yes, you do."

"Make me." I retorted as Winri rolled her eyes and muttered something about children.

"Alright fine, if you're going to be a big baby about it. We don't have time to waste arguing about it when Tayle needs treatment." I bit my tongue cutting off my reply to the baby comment, instead nodding and setting the hover-stretcher to follow mode as we made our way back to the medical bay.

I made it three steps before my legs gave out under me, the last of my adrenaline rush wearing off as my body rushed to meet the floor. I felt a small pair of arms grab me as I collapsed, the last thing I heard was Winri's voice grumbling about idiots who didn't know when to stop.