Slake leaned back into the genuine Earth mahogany chair behind his lavish steelwood desk, the smoke from his Hithian Cigar coiling towards the slowly revolving ceiling fan. He glanced out the slatted window of his office and looked over the small portion of the city he could see. It was raining heavily outside, thundering too. He smiled to himself.
Putting his feet up on the desk he pressed the call function on his assistant and after a moment his aide Fulinda answered.
“Yes Mr. Slake?” her melodic voice warbled over the intercom.
He smiled again, Fulinda’s soothing voice was her main selling point, and the reason she was still working for him. Well, that and the fact that she was a bit of a xenophile and an interesting experience in the bedroom as well. Sitting up straight again he asked “Where is my six o’clock? They should have been here by now. Call Henry at the front and see if there’s a problem." He said to her over the link.
She made an affirmative noise and closed the call. Slake waited impatiently. This was not the day to cross him, there was too much at stake. First his shipment had gotten nabbed by the feds at the docks, and then he had lost contact with one of his main suppliers. And now this? Was it a coincidence or was he just cursed.
He sat up straight as he heard a loud noise from the outer room. Reaching slowly towards the gun he had hidden in his desk he grabbed the small but powerful sonic pistol from under his desk.
Pressing the last call function on his assistant he said into it "Fulinda? What's happening out there? Did you get a hold of Henry?" He got no response however and he stood from his chair and moved against the near wall towards the door of his office. Something didn't feel right, something felt very wrong in fact. Fulinda should have answered, unless something had happened to her. He gulped in fear as he inched towards the door.
He jumped as an object smashed through the glass pane on his office door and impacted the far wall. He looked at it in surprise, it almost looked like a…
He yelled in shock and covered his eyes with his arm as the object suddenly detonated in a blinding flash of light and concussive blast of noise that made his ears ring and head spin. Choking on a noxious smog he stumbled towards where he knew the door to his room was, as he exited he blinked his eyes rapidly in an attempt to clear them of smoke and blindness.
After a moment he made out a white shape stretched out across the floor in front of him, after a second he realised what it was.
"Fulinda!" Slake gasped suddenly in shock. He stumbled over towards her and knelt by her still form. He laid his hands on her chest and he felt her slow steady breath, she was not dead just unconscious.
Gasping in fear and a little pain he looked around, why was she here like this? Who had thrown that grenade? As if to answer his question he heard heavy footsteps behind him. He turned to see a huge figure walking towards him, imposing in a black trench coat and dark wide brimmed hat, one single glowing green eye was visible beneath the dark hat.
Shuddering in fear as this avatar of death strode his way, Slake reached for his gun, and stopped. It was gone, he looked around and saw it laying where he had dropped it in his rush to Fulinda's side. Slake made a move to leap for the weapon when it was destroyed in a thunderous impact that smashed the gun to pieces and left a fist sized crater in the floor. Looking back at the figure he saw them brandishing a tremendous revolver, a ThunderEagle part of his mind noted.
Slake stood shakily as the figure reached him and asked "You are going to kill me?"
The steely gaze of his doom looked upon his pitiful features without remorse or mercy. Raising their weapon to Slake's forehead they spoke in a rough voice. "You got that wrong, Dead wrong."
Slake quiverd like a leaf as the figure reached behind them and pulled out a dark object, then his world went black as a sack was thrown over his head.
**********
Bret walked with Hugo around the large stack of crates that had just been delivered by the huge Galaxy pattern starfreighter hovering above, it was large enough to be visible even from the ground. He had always wanted to work on one of those massive ships, their gigantic skeletal frame able to hold hundreds of the large containers at once. While not designed for planetary entry, they were quite capable of hovering in one position while a stream of bulk lifters carried the cargo to the surface, or to do what it had done and docked to the massive space elevator that towered its way into the sky.
Bret and Hugo were friends, had been for years, he had always gotten along with the somewhat dour Slaaveth man. While he was a Nerivith male and not generally considered suited for this kind of labor intensive job, he had taken it to get closer to the ships he had dreamed of one day working aboard. And the news was good. He and Hugo had been working hard over the last two years, slowly progressing up the work tree and where now invaluable to the company, they knew too much to be in any risk of losing their jobs and Hugo had even been given a side job of training some of the rookies on the general safety and recovery methods for emergency use.
Bret smiled and Hugo gave him a sideways look. Hugo slapped him on the shoulder and looked at him with his large black eyes before asking him “What's got you so smiley today pinky?”
Bret laughed and said “Ah there we go with the names, just because you’re a grump doesn't mean we all have to be, and to answer your question, I was accepted for platform crew training.” he said with a grin.
He saw Hugo smile a tad before his usual glum demeanor reasserted itself “I'm happy for you, no really I am. But, this means we won't be working together anymore.” Hugo said with a shake of his scaled head.
Bret flicked his sinuous tail and then bobbed his head sadly. “Yeah, but that doesn't mean we can’t still hang out after work, hit the bar or play some hologames right?” he asked Hugo.
Hugo just walked in silence for a while before they turned another corner around a large stack of pipes. Bret figited his hands a bit and then opened his mouth to speak before Hugo began “It's just, I'm scared man. There is so much changing around here, and I wont have you at my side anymore. It hurts a bit, I know why you are doing it. But you are leaving me behind man.” he said with a wave of his webbed hands. Bret knew him well enough to know that something else was bothering him too.
Reaching out with his long fingered hand he patted Hugo on the back and asked softly “How's your mother? Is she, any better?”
Hugo stopped and stood still before he spoke in a strained voice “The doc said… He said she hasn't got much time left… Shit man. Why does it have to be like that, she aint past her time yet, why she gotta go man?” Bret hugged Hugo as the older man began to cry. He knew his friend's mother was ill, but he hadn’t know it was that bad. He felt tears threatening to flow down his own cheeks but mustered his mental facilities and stood back from Hugo before gripping both the man's shoulders and looking into his face.
“Hey, Hey. We are going to make it through this Hugo, you are going to make it through. I know how much she means to you, and I'm sure the doctors have done everything they could for her. If you need to talk about it at all, please remember I'm here for you man. You don't have to go through this alone.” he said to Hugo.
Hugo nodded and sniffed before gurgling out “I know, it's just. Well it hurts you know. We need to finish up, then I want to go get a drink down at Tardigrade’s. I think we could both use it.”
Bret patted his friend on the shoulder and smiled once more before they continued their last minute rounds. They had only one more area to check in the space dock storage pad before they were done for the night. He looked forward to a tall Crecini ale at Tardigrade’s and maybe he would be able to see that one bartender that worked there. Jessie was her name or something like that.
As they rounded the corner Hugo stopped and crouched slightly. Bret almost ran into him and started to exclaim before being pulled down and shushed by Hugo.
Hugo turned to him and whispered fiercely “I saw something move over there, by that opened container. Could be street rats again, coming to try and lift anything they can carry.”
Bret nodded and tapped into his assistant for backup security just in case. The last time he and Hugo had found those dirty trespassers they had taken a pot shot at him and narrowly missed. It wasn't something he was keen to repeat as he pulled his compact FrezNein maser pistol from his holster. It was a non lethal weapon designed to cause the target's muscles to spasm and leave them incapable of movement.
Nodding to Hugo he began to creep around to the left of the crate they were behind, this was not something to be taken lightly. The containers could contain anything, from farm equipment to industrial explosives. He knew first hand how dangerous these seemingly random materials could be in the hands of some neerdowell. As he moved around the box he heard a slight scuffle to his left and popped his head up just in time to see a dark clothed figure plunge a long knife into Hugo’s neck.
“NOOOOO!” He screamed as he stood and fired his weapon at the murderer. His aim was true and with a pained scream the dark figure went down convulsing. Bret sprinted towards his fallen friend and reached Hugo’s side to see him gurgling and choking on his own blood as the devastating wound that had torn his neck open pumped his pink blood out onto the cold duracrete of the spaceport.
Tearing off his jacket, Bret tried desperately to stem the flow of blood, but it just kept flowing, staining his fingers and pooling on the ground beneath him. He watched in horror as Hugo took a last shuddering, choking gurgle, and lay still.
Bret was in shock, it wasn't happening, it couldn't be. This was not how it was supposed to happen, they had made plans, they were going to go to get drinks. No, he couldn't be dead. But he was.
Bret stood and gasped for air as his lungs seemed to be incapable of sustaining him. Looking around frantically, he spotted the still twitching form of his friends killed lying on the ground a short distance away. In a daze, he opened communications on his assistant as he stumbled over to the fallen person saying “Man down, we have a man down. We need armed backup.” before he cut the line.
As he reached the figure he yanked the hood off and snarled in rage as he saw the features of a Human. A filthy Human man, this piece of filth had murdered his best friend, and now Bret would do the same to him.
Before he could make a move however he was smashed backwards to the ground. He gasped in shock as his body went numb. He couldn't move, his arms would not respond, his legs felt made of lead. Groaning in pain he lifted his head slightly and saw with shock that he was bleeding from a huge hole in his chest. The bright blue blood pulsed out in time with the beating of his heart and he watched in fascination for a while before he became aware of a new noise.
Heavy footsteps announced the arrival of another person and Bret watched as they walked over to the now recovering Human and helped them to their feet. After they regained their footing they both walked over to him and stood over him as he slowly bled out. He watched, his vision beginning to fade as the still covered figure handed the fallen knife to the Human who accepted it with a savage smile.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
As the man knelt on his chest all he could think was ‘I'm coming home mom, your little boy is coming home.’ and then his world ended as the darkness swallowed him whole.
**********
Dav grimaced with his sharp shark-like teeth at Josh as he furiously stabbed the poor bastard who had shot him.
“DIE MOTHERFUCKER, YOU THINK YOU CAN SHOOT ME AND GET AWAY WITH IT FUCK YOU!” Josh screamed as he stabbed the corpse of the Nerivith security guard repeatedly.
He let it go on for another few seconds before grabbing him and pulling him off the mangled body. Josh whipped around and raised his fist before he froze, the barrel of Daz’s gun aimed straight at his face. After a moment the blood maddened Human calmed enough to notice his surroundings and who was standing in front of him.
Daz laughed and said “There we go, back with us sparky?”
Josh growled a curse under his breath and stomped away. Daz shook his head, that one was becoming more of a liability every mission they went on. One of these days he was going to need to be put down like a crazed sluurge. But not today, today he still had a better use than as a sidewalk decoration. He glanced down at the two sorry bastards who had come poking about. If they had just kept their noses out of his business then this all could have been avoided. Daz didn't enjoy killing like Josh did, but he was prepared to do what was necessary for his brotherhood. He rubbed his scaled hands together after holstering his gun and walked over to where he knew Kent was.
As he approached he saw Kent shrug and roll his shoulders as if preparing to get into a fight. Daz raised an arm and called “Hey Kent! Any more movement? We need to get the goods out of here before any more of these assholes show up.” He said, indicating the corpses behind him.
Kent looked over curiously and then to him before answering “Nah, we good to move in a few minutes. The boss gave a ring while you were taking care of that interruption by the way, wants us to move it to the place over on 327th. You know, the golden boys.” he joked.
Daz shook his head and warned “don't let them hear you call them that, they might string you up by your entrails for that one.” he laughed. After a moment Kent chuckled as well before he spoke again.
“Hey, I know you said this was your last gig, are you really getting out?” He finished with a small gesture.
Daz sighed and shook his head before moving to stand next to Kent. “I never wanted this life, I've told you that. It's not my fault I was so damn good at it. My father, you know what he was like, well. I feel like I'm becoming too much like him. I have full permission from the boss himself to leave, no hard feelings. He knows how much I've put into this outfit, and he's an understanding guy. I just want to be there for my little girl as she grows up.” He finished slowly.
Kent looked him up and down before giving him a slap on the shoulder. “Shit man, I knew you were a family man, but I didn't think you had such a soft side.” Daz opened his mouth to protest but Kent cut him off with a wave saying “No, man, it's cool. You got something good to go home to, I'm not holding it against you. Besides, we have been friends for long enough to get way past that bullshit." Kent finished with a shake of his head.
Daz smiled sadly, they had been friends before it all went downhill, back when they didn't have to kill to make a killing. Nowadays it seemed to all be violence. He was just glad that this was the last time he needed to do such horrible things. Part of him liked the blood, reveled in it, but another part hated himself for what he had become.
Shaking himself out of the doom and gloom, he pulled up his assistant and checked in with Josh "Josh, the left side is all clear, how's the south?" All he heard was static however. Trying it again on the wideband link he asked "Perimeter units report in." He looked over at Kent as static once more responded.
Kent straightened and upholstered his pistol, an old yet ever reliable Colt 3011 semi automatic pistol. Cycling the action and chambering a round, Kent got low and moved to crouch beside him.
Daz pulled out his MR-12 and checked his magazine, twenty nine shots left, but only one reload. Better make them count.
Kent tapped his shoulder and made a hand signal to say 'I'll take point, watch my back' Daz nodded and followed behind him. They both made sure to stay low to the ground and in cover as much as possible. They didn't know what directions the enemy had swept in from nor where they were currently. But it was best played safe to stay near heavy cover.
Suddenly a thunderous report snapped through the deserted spaceport, in the cool night air it was deafening. Daz crouched lower into cover and swore, that sounded like a large bore kinetic weapon. Likely law enforcement.
He heard another noise, a sort of off-cadance foot falls that made images of ancient land predators appear in his mind. Definitely an animal of some sort, but what was an animal doing in the spaceport, or was it a Yeown sprinting on all fours? He wasn't sure but he tensed as it got closer.
He heard Kent shout in alarm and fire his gun twice at something on the other side of the crate before Daz heard somthing slam into him. There was a vicious tearing sound and Kent let out a gurgling scream. Daz jumped up and opened his mouth in shock. Kent's lifeless corpse was dangling from the mouth of a furred creature with a distinctly predatory build. It looked like someone had taken a Yeown and molded them to their most basic form, made purely for violence.
Daz raised his rifle towards the monster but gurgled in shock as it was smashed from his hands with an explosion of sparks. He screeched as his broken fingers began to bleed and he fell to his knees. Heavy footfalls approached him but he was near blind with pain, looking up he saw a huge dark figure walk up to him and stop. The figure wore a dark trench coat and wide brimmed hat but their left eye was obviously cybernetic and glowed a baleful green.
"Who?" Daz managed to gurgle in fear as he looked at the ominous figure.
The figure raised its right hand from which suddenly extended a long shining blade. "Death." Was all they said to him before plunging the blade into Daz's skull.
**********
Balinski yanked his wrist blade out of the very dead criminal's skull with a meaty crunch. Shaking the Slaaveth's purple blood from the weapon, he resheathed it into his cybernetic forearm and then holstered his ThunderEagle. He would give both weapons a thorough cleaning later, but now he had to deal with the officials.
Hearing a slight crunching noise he looked over to his left and said "Caesar spit that out. You have no idea where that's been, you could get sick."
Caesar whined and then spit out the dead man's arm she had been chewing on. She was his companion, a cyberhound or enhanced dog. She had bionic legs and enhanced organs as well as a fully cybernetic jaw that allowed her to sheer through armour and bone with ease. But her most important upgrade were the twin cognition implants behind her pointed ears. As an Alaskan Husky she was intelligent, but the cognition implants made her capable of understanding vastly more complex words than an unenhanced dog.
Caesar wagged her tail happily as she closed her metal jaws and trotted to his side. Balinski knelt and fondled her ears a bit until she rolled onto her back and paddled her feet in the air.
Chuckling he stood and said "No belly rubs until after the job is done, you know that girl. C’mon, I'm sure Siyel will oblige, she always does. He shook his head as Caesar whipped back up to standing and practically bounced on her toes. He gave her another pat before he started to walk towards the middle of the storage area.
Balinski rounded a corner and swore as he saw the two dead security guards, he rushed over and swore again as he saw the condition of them. One of the poor bastards looked like he had been stabbed twenty times, his face unrecognizable and a wide pool of blue blood spreading from them. He gritted his teeth, if only he had been given the go ahead to kill these assholes twenty minutes earlier, but that fucking port athority had to try and measure his dick against them.
Balinski raised his assistant and said “It's all clear Siyel, but we have two friendlies down. No need for para, we will need two coffins.” he finished in a grim tone. Caesar picked up on his darkening mood and whined softly while pressing her large body against his leg. He smirked, she was always trying to cheer him up. “Thanks girl, you always know when I need a pick me up.” he said, giving her head another few pats.
He sat on a nearby box and tapped his foot idly as he waited for the regional police commander to arrive. He grunted as he saw a few SWAT officers in their dark riot gear and brandishing MR-12s rush in, he raised his hand with three fingers up as a signal he was friendly. The officers kept their guns on him as they approached and only lowered them when they got a few meters away.
“Heyo guys, what brings you here on a fine night like this?” he asked the sergeant cheerfully.
The sergeant, a Nerivith man with polished horns, huffed in annoyance and said “We are making sure you didn't miss anyone. One of these bastards could be waiting to ambush us, you never know.”
Balinski raised an eyebrow before he pointed at the lounging form of Caesar and said “Not likely, she would have smelled them and alerted me if there was. There aren't any more baddies around, are there Caesar?” he asked her with a smile.
She gave a huff and very non doglike head shake before lowering her head down onto her large paws again. The sergeant looked at her and said “What is that anyways? Some sort of pet?”
Caesar growled and stared at the man making him step back a pace as Balinski retorted “She isnt a dumb animal, and I dont think she liked that. I recommend you apologise to her.” he said to the man.
“Uh, s-sorry there. I meant no offense.” Caesar just lowered her head and perked her ears back up before closing her eyes.
Balinski chuckled and said “She was never such a pain in the ass until I got her cognitive implants. She is able to understand most speech now with the comprehension of a child, she can't speak unfortunately, but as you can tell she has no trouble getting her point across anyways.” he said as Caesar thumped his leg with her tail in response.
The sergeant just nodded and said “I'm not sure I would give implants like that to a shrij if I owned one.”
“Eh, to each their own, it's just nice to have a friend that won't let you down.” he said with a fond look at his staunch companion.
The sergeant raised a hand to his ear suddenly and nodded to himself before straightening and speaking in a more official tone “The commander is on her way, along with Mr. Sluurm. They want to meet you by the main track.” he said with a gesture in the direction he had entered from.
Balinski nodded and said “I guess Mr. Sluurm doesn't want to get his boots dirty then. Tell her I'm on my way.” he said with a nod. His cybernetic legs whirred quietly as he stood and began walking. He was wearing heavy pants to help muffle the noise, but they could only do so much.
As he walked he thought about how he had come to be here, just two years had passed since he had been blown to pieces, and now he was a void warden in the back end of the Union. He was almost as far from the front as he could be while still being in civilized space.
Caesar trotted alongside him and he gave her a glance. She was his only friend he had left, all of his squadmates had died, that's the official report he had dug up at least. He had been captured and held prisoner by rebels for almost a year before he had been rescued by Union forces. After being transferred to a major hospital on one of the core worlds, he had opted to strike it out on his own. He had been declared KIA and his records had been filed, so when he was rescued he had technically already been discharged and awarded posthumously with the Silver Cross for his contribution to the war. It wasn't much, but it had allowed him to purchase a Star Eagle gunship from a salvage yard and fix it up to be a home. He had called his training base where he had left Caesar when he shipped out, she had been given to one of the base maintenance workers after he had been declared dead but the man gladly returned her to him when he learned Balinski was alive. She had been so happy to see him, the memory brought a tear to his remaining eye and he wiped it away with a gloved hand before turning a corner towards the loading tracks.
As he exited the confined labyrinth of the storage depot, he saw a large group of people standing a short distance away. Immediately upon exiting the depot a spotlight flicked over to him and illuminated him as a potential hostile. After a second the light moved away as he was recognised and he made his way over to the command group.
Siyel Saw him coming and walked out of the group, she cut an impressive figure. Fully two hundred centimeters tall from her feet to the tips of her swept back horns, she glided towards him with a grace common to her people. She was a Nerivith, her pink skin and horns along with her long sinuous tail were some of the more defining features of her race, along with the tall slender body of a dancer. Siyel smiled with her flat blunt teeth as she walked over to him and put out her hand.
Balinski gripped it and said “Hello my lady, wonderful to see you.” in his slightly gravelly voice.
She was about his height so was one of the few people he knew capable of looking him in the eye directly. He was two hundred and one centimeters tall but built for Earth's much higher gravity. While his kind had lived and grown on the standard one gravity of their homeworld, the gravity of Siyel’s homeworld, Neirvauhl, was only about eighty five percent that of Earth.
She stood in front of him and asked in her husky tenor voice “How was it, did those perps give you any trouble?”
Balinski waved his arm and said “Not really. They were untrained gutter trash, hardly worth the bullets I used on them. That's why I let Caesar take most of them out herself.” he said while gesturing to her.
Siyel pulled her attention to the gore spattered, metal jawed monster of a dog and grinned widely. Crouching down she said “Ah, look at you, you have fun Caesar? Aww who’s a good girl?” she laughed musically as Caesar grumbled appreciatively and flopped onto her back waggling her feet in the air. Balinski grinned as Siyel spoiled Caesar with a thorough belly scritching that left the pup snuffling with pleasure.
Siyel stood after a moment and said “Damn, I wish I had an Earth dog, such incredible creatures, strong, loyal, and fluffy. I love them.” she said excitedly. Balinski just shook his head, as he did every time she said that.
He nodded towards the short Slaaveth that was walking towards them from the group “You know, those two security guards would still be alive if that asshole had just let me move in as soon as we were ready. Those men died because of his BULLSHIT!” he finished with a roar.
Sluurm sidled up to them a moment later and ignored his seething features as they turned to look at Siyel. “Well, it seems as though the problem has been rectified. I thank you for your help Commander Siyel.” he started to turn away but she stopped him with an outstretched arm.
Continued in Part 2