Battle For Earth

by Daniela A. Wolfe

  “Hu-man,” the typically deep baritone voice of a Qharr spoke into my ear. “Step away from the panel.”

  I did as my would be captor suggested and spun around to face him once he’d pulled the blade away from my neck. He had a phase gun trained on me and I stared back at the guard letting him think that I was intimidated by his little show. He didn’t yet realize exactly what he was dealing with or else he would have never leveled the pistol at me. The knife was the bigger threat. Nevertheless he kept it gripped in his left hand.

  I leapt at him, slamming my fist into his chest and grabbing at his knife hand, but somehow he managed to slip free. Surprised I pulled back, but not before he stabbed me. He managed to embed the thing into the right side of my chest, slicing clean through my nipple until it hit the bone of my ribcage. I screamed and dropped my phase pistol and slammed the back of my hand into his chest. His phase weapon clattered to the ground, but that didn’t stop the bastard from rushing me.

  He was quick, even by human standards, but I was still quicker. I hadn’t been as attentive as I should have been and in returned I gotten stabbed. My opponent pounded his fist into my face and he got one hit in before things finally took a turn in my favor.

  He swung his fist, but I brought my arm up in front of my face and blocked the blow. Again he tried to attack, and again I shut him down. I butted my head into chest and I felt a rush of satisfaction as he staggered back a few steps. I took the opportunity to yank the knife free from my chest and slashed out with it slicing him across the chest.

  Violet blood spilled out from the wound, but it didn’t slow him down. He came charging at me, howling with the intensity of a rabid dre’k, but fortunately I’d been expecting him and dove out of the way. He stopped, throwing his hands down on the console to steady himself, and spun around so he could lung at me.

  When he was almost on top of me I leapt aside and slammed the blade deep into his side. I jerked back pulling the blade out and when he swirled around to face me I stabbed him in the throat.

  I turned away before his body even hit the floor, not wishing to watch the life slip away from his eyes. I don’t think I’d ever been so relieved than when I got the side bay door open. Even when the chilling winds came rushing in and brought goosebumps to my skin, the sight of Jokeb, Max, and ten Ghrev brawlers more than made up for my discomfort.

  They scuttled inside and I let the door clank shut behind them. Jokeb barreled toward me with a speed that belied his squat little frame. He grinned and held my pistol out to me glancing at the blood that had dried on my now-healed breast. “You run in to trouble?”

  “No.” I snatched the gun out his hands and felt my cheeks burn. “Not any more than usual.”

  Jokeb chuckled and turned away. “Personally, I don’t mind looking at you as you are, but Max here as brought you some clothes.”

  I stiffened a bit, but didn’t reply to his sentiment. Had I seen an attractive woman in a practically unclothed state as I was, I would have had a hard time not staring. It didn’t necessarily make it right, but I wasn’t about to make an issue out of it. Jokeb’s statement might have made me uncomfortable, but at least he was honest. Maxine approached, and I think my cheeks burned even brighter when I realized that her gaze had also strayed. I coughed and Rodriquez’s eyes grew wide and she quickly turned her head away practically forcing the satchel she was carrying into my arms.

  Grateful for the chance to be fully clothed again, I tore the bag open and pulled out a tank top and pants from the bag. I dropped the furs, but left the rest of my scant little outfit on as I slipped the new clothes on top of it.

  “Let’s get this done with,” I said as I turned to the group of armored and helmeted Ghrev. “I’m sure the gray skins know we’re here. We need to act before they put the whole place under lockdown.

  

  The space port was massive, and hangar in which we’d made our entrance was one of many. The main reason I had been able to infiltrate the north bay was because it was the smallest and had the most lax security. There was only one bay that we needed and unfortunately it was the most heavily guarded. It was central bay where they kept all the big ships were kept including, the K’larr, a Rynnal class destroyer, the largest and most power size of ship in the entire Qharr armada.

  We made our way through the corridors of the space port and at first it was pretty easy going. The crawlspace we took was mainly for maintenance access and was only used sparingly, but when we got closer to the central bay it gave way to much larger corridor which was in use and that’s when things started to get sticky.

  A pair of Qharr technicians stopped dead in their tracks and turned back to us with wide unblinking eyes. Nobody moved, not us nor them, but when a third gray skin climbed down the ladder from above, well that’s when everything went to hell. He took one look at us, let out probably the most gut-wrenching, ear shattering scream I’d ever heard from any species and charged right at us, with fists swinging.

  I was perfectly fine just lettings the bastard come to us, but I guess Jokeb had other things in mind. He lurched forward and went rushing to meet the gray skin. The technician was the first to attack, but Schmit ducked away and countered with a powerful blow to the chest.

  For once I didn’t even have to lift a finger, the Ghrev took out the other two technicians with quick and devisive force and when I turned back to Jokeb, he too had managed to finish off his opponent. Had that been our only fight the whole affair would have been as easy as baking up a batch of fryll leaves. Unfortunately, before we could even so much as take half a dozen steps, a cadre of guards came sliding down the ladder one after another.

  I don’t know if they’d heard the other Qharr’s screams or one of the technicians had tripped an alarm, but I suppose it didn’t matter. Either way the end result was the same.

  Fighting in the narrow tunnel was difficult and we lost two of our Ghrev allies in the first few seconds, but we outnumbered them by nearly two to one and in the end we would have won the fight just from sheer numbers.

  When it was all said and down, I looked down at the still-sizzling corpses of the guards and grimaced.” We’ve managed to get this far unnoticed, but it looks like the cat is out of the bag now. I don’t think the tunnels are our best option.”

  Rodriquez nodded and glanced up at the ladder biting her lip. “Only other choice is we go back up to the surface level. There’ll be a lot more guards, but honestly I don’t like the thought of getting trapped down here if things get bad.”

  We all shuffled up the ladder and that’s when yet another group of guards found us. They were firing at us from a distance and had managed to find cover behind a large support pillar which made hitting them pretty damn hard. I picked a few off with a couple well aimed head shots, but their numbers kept on growing and unfortunately they managed to take out another two members of our Ghrev escort.

  Something had to be done, and as hesitant as I was to go charging in like I would have not so long ago, I was beginning to realize that I might not have any other choice. If they kept us pinned down they’d be able to pick everyone off one by one until I was the only one left. Our numbers were limited and they could easily call in reinforcements.

  “Rodriquez,” I ducked behind the doorway and bit my lip. “I’m going in.”

  I dashed forward and shuddered at the familiar buzz of power as phase bolts blasted and peppered my skin. I reached the gray skins, and slammed into them before they could even stand to greet me. I killed one and knocked a second to the ground before the remaining three even got remotely close to me, but that’s not for lack of trying.

  “You are the one we were warned about,” One of the guards, a hulking female whose skin had an unusual violet tinge to it, said swinging a massive fist at me.

  The blow hurt, but I’d suffered worse. I countered, beating her across the chest with one fist and following up with another with my second. She staggered back and I turned to meet the other two guard
s who were trying to get the jump on me. The first, a giant with a claw-mark scar across his mouth, threw his fist out at me, but I grabbed it out of the air and slammed it back into his face.

  There was a crack, maybe I broke his wrist, but I didn’t really spare the time to check. Violet rounded on me, but rather than continue a fight I would have won anyway I drew my phase pistol and opened fire, blasting her into oblivion. I managed to kill scarmouth with another blast, before another guard, a lean-muscled fellow knocked into me and sent the weapon tumbling away.

  I growled and kicked out hitting him across the chest and sent him soaring away and I spun around to face the next opponent, but my companions had already taken care of that. They’d finished off the remaining guards with their phase weapons. I snatched my weapon back up from the ground, wiped the sweat from my forehead and glanced back at Max and Jokeb as they approached.

  “You got any idea how much further we have to go?”

  Rodriquez pursed her lips and ran a hand through her hair. “Not far, the layout Velspatt provided has been pretty accurate so far. We shouldn’t have more than a couple hundred meters.”

  “A couple hundred meters?” Jokeb clenched is jaw and glanced over his shoulder. “This place is crawling with gray skins, I’m liking this whole thing less and less.”

  “Well then let’s not dally.” I waved them forward, but didn’t wait for a response before taking off at a run. No one called after me, and I took that as a good sign especially when I looked back and noted that they were keeping up just fine. A lot of that had to do with the pace I’d set which any fit human should be able to match.

  We ran into trouble again along the way, and while they Qharr were appearing in greater and greater numbers we were able to take them all out. Unfortunately, our Ghrev friend’s numbers were dwindling away. By the time we’d reached the last intersection before the central bay there were only three of them left. I stopped just before we reached it, creeping around the edge until I could get a good look on the other side.

  I cursed silently and backed away from the edge, turning to the others and mouthed the words. “We’ve got company.”

  “When I swing around the corner, you open fire with everything you got,” I said glancing back at Jokeb and Rodriquez before taking off.

  I charged the group of almost a dozen guards phase fire plastering me, the wall and the Qharr. My companions managed to kill three guards before I’d even gotten close enough to confront the group. I took out two more a moment later, blasting them with my own pistol before the remaining six rounded on me.

  The corridor was wide, but face it you can only fight so many opponents at once without the other ones getting in the way. So three guards hung back and exchanged fire with Rodriquez and Shmit while I took on the other three. I was fast, but there was only so much I could do. I was looking to end it quickly, but each time I leveled my weapon on one of the guards the other two would shut me down.

  I grimaced and tucked my weapon into my waistband. Clearly, they weren’t going to make it easy for me, but they were mistaken if they expected me to just lie down without a fight. I slammed my fist into the nearest, an averagely built Qharr whose only distinguishing feature was an eye-patch over his left eye and sent him reeling away just as the second, a female with a shaved head, pounced on me. She grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me up and slamming me into the wall with enough force to really disorient me.

  It had happened so quickly and I’d been caught so completely off guard that she actually managed to slam me into the wall two more times before I was finally able to recover. I kicked out slamming my left foot into her chest and grunted as she went flying away and I took a bit of a tumble as result.

  I scrambled to my feet and had just enough time to take stock of the situation and realized that my allies had managed to take out two more guards while I’d been occupied by just the one. Patch-eye came back and took a swing at me, but I grabbed the knife from his belt and slashed it across his chest. Baldy was right on his tail and I stabbed at her with the knife, but just as I pulled back for another blow there was a blinding flash of light.

  When my vision returned to me a brief moment later, I was able to watch as she collapsed to the ground clutching at a gaping phase wound. I pounced on the next guard only to watch, yet again, as a blast also shot him dead. I rounded on the final guard, and this time I was the one who ended him. It was quick, he didn’t seem to put up much of a fight almost as if he knew his death was inevitable. It was an odd way for a Qharr to go out, but not all gray skins were cut from the same mold.

  “Well,” I said stepping away from the dead bodies of the guards and approached the intersection where the others were waiting. “That was fun.”

  “Ain’t the word I would use to describe it.” Jokeb replied with a shake of his head and raised his weapon. “You know things are gonna get a lot worse in that central bay.

  “I believe that goes without being said,” one of our Ghrev companions and said in agreement.

  I stopped dead in my tracks and turned sharply to stare at her. That voice… Could it be? “Velspatt?”

  She let out a low growl, and cocked her helmeted head. “It seems I have given myself away, but at the moment I believe we have a mission to complete, don’t we?”

  I didn’t know what scheme Velspatt had cooked up, but there had to have been a reason for her to conceal her identity. It didn’t sit particularly well with me, but I couldn’t spend much time mulling it over. She was right. It was time to hijack ourselves a ship.

  Chapter Ten

  When we stepped inside the central bay, there was a solitary figure waiting for us. His blue hair betrayed him for an Edant K’teth, but his massive two and half meter frame was enough to give any sane person pause, even one bonded to a symbiote. He watched us as we stepped into the domed chamber, but didn’t budge an inch as we slowly approached.

  The bay was so massive I couldn’t even begin to guess at its size. The destroyer which was huge even by itself, and took up more space than any other ship, but from where it was resting in the chamber it looked positively tiny. On either side of it, the chamber plunged into a deep crevice that housed fighters, patrol ships, and other smaller ships.

  When our friend finally moved, it was so sudden that I didn’t even realize it had happened until he was finally on top of us. I came to my senses just in time, pushing Jokeb out of the way and spinning around to face the bastard just as he planted a blow in my chest. I flew back through the air slamming into something with a loud bang and a sickening crunch.

  One of the Ghrev let out a low gutteral scream as I pulled myself up and out of the pile of scraps. I grunted and rotated my neck as my bones snapped, cracked and popped back into place. I was a little slow getting back on my feet, but once I did I took off running toward the fight. The mysterious Qharr was tearing into a second Ghrev, while Velspatt, Jokeb and Max backed slowly away.

  He finished off the Ghrev in no time, but by then I was ready to take him on. He spun around to face me, moving far faster than his towering frame should have allowed for any Qharr even one joined to a symbiote. I slammed my fist into his chest, he grunted a bit, but it didn’t seem to have affected him much because he didn’t budge an inch.

  “Shit,” I cursed just a short moment before he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up off my feet.

  “Powerful for a human. I believe you are the one I’ve heard about,” he spoke in a low tenor, which was unusual for a Qharr especially one of his size. “I can feel the symbiote, it must seem so liberating for you. The power!”

  I struggled under his grasp, trying to get his fingers free from my neck, but his grip was like iron and it was all I could do to suck in what little air I could. “Fuck you,” I said, coughing out a reply.

  “Such defiance,” he replied lifting me even higher and produced a long bladed knife from his belt. “It’s a pity I have to kill you. If your species’ leaders had shown the same determinatio
n during the war I don’t think I would have pushed to invade. So many of your kind are unworthy… so weak… so frail. Maybe then…” he trailed off leaving the rest of his sentence unfinished.

  I felt cold chills shoot down my spine as I stared down at him in shock. He could only be the sub-ascendant, Jykarr Bynd, the bastard responsible for the invasion of my world and the enslavement of my people. It stretched credibility that we had just wandered on him by accident. No, somehow he had known we were coming.

  I felt the cold metal of the blade touch the skin of my neck and I called out to my symbiote in a final desperate plea. “KHALA DO SOMETHING!”

  Fortunately the wave of distorted gravity my symbiote sent hurtling at the bastard arrived just in time. His hand was yanked out from around my throat as he was suddenly thrown away from me and his weapon shot away clattering against the metal floor planks in the distance. My landing wasn’t exactly graceful, but Khala softened it so at least there was that.

  I scrambled to my feet and screamed at the others to run. Needless to say no one stopped to argue, but they weren’t moving nearly fast enough. Only K’teth enhanced speed would be enough to outrun the sub-ascendant and unless Khala was ready to spontaneously give birth to a litter of symbiotes that just wasn’t going to happen. She might have managed to surprise Jykarr once, but I doubted she’d be able to pull it off again.

  I glanced over my shoulder and cursed as I watched Jykarr roll back to his feet. He jolted forward and I spun around to meet him as he came lumbering down the path to meet us. It was pretty obvious that I wasn’t going to win in a contest of strength, but I was pretty sure I was faster than him. If I could keep him busy I just might be able to keep him off the others long enough for them to escape.

  I dove forward and planted a blow in his side then ducked away as he slung his fist in retaliation. I risked a quick glance over my shoulder just long enough to be assured that the others were retreating and returned my attention back to the sub-ascendant just in time for him to plant a blow square in the middle of my face. It wasn’t as powerful as the last one, but it was strong enough to send me spinning away.