Battle For Earth

by Daniela A. Wolfe

  He stomped forward attempting to continue his pursuit of the others, but once I recovered I went tearing after him and slammed into his back. This time he actually staggered forward a few steps and when he roared and spun back around to face me I took off running in the opposite direction. He took the bait and lumbered after me letting out a long drawn out howl of anger.

  I ran at top speed, Jykarr kept right on my tail, but never quite caught up to me. He let out another growl and I glanced back just as he came hurtling through the air toward me. I ducked and took off running back in the opposite direction. I heard a loud thump behind me, but didn’t dare stop to look. Instead I continued on my way back toward the others.

  I had almost reached them when something grabbed at the back of my neck and the ground was torn out from under me. “I must say you’re very difficult to kill. I’m almost tempted to keep you alive so I can see how you’d do in a fair fight.”

  I didn’t answer, but I guess Jykarr didn’t care because I soon found myself dangling in the air in front of his face like sanfai hanging from the window of a Ghrev deli as he studied me with his three malevolent eyes. “I really can’t let you live.”

  “Can’t say I’m surprised,” I replied squirming to break free from his grip, but his massive paws just wouldn’t come free. Unfortunately, Khala’s gravity trick didn’t do much good either as his symbiote managed to dispel the attack just as soon as it hit.

  I thought for sure, that my time had come, but when Jykarr pulled his fist back he abruptly lurched sideways and I toppled back to the ground. I kicked, scratched, clawed, and pounded my fists into the sub-ascendant before I finally managed to break free. I was still a little mixed-up from being tossed around like a ragdoll, but when I finally managed to pull myself together and saw Jokeb grappling with the much larger being it didn’t exactly take require an understanding of hyperjump mechanics to reason out what had happened.

  Jokeb was amazingly strong, but even with all his cybernetic enhancements he just didn’t have the power or the abilities to defeat his towering opponent. The nester was a brawler, someone who got along in fights because of his superior strength, but now that he was facing an opponent who was both more skilled and stronger his deficiencies as a fighter were really showing through.

  I waited for an opportunity then I sprang forward, forcing Jokeb aside before the sub-ascendant could land a blow to his face. I slipped forward and leaned in real close, but since he was so damn tall I had to whisper much louder than I would have liked. “I know the truth. I know you’re little secret. Humans are your progenitors, the first race.”

  That definitely got his attention and when he spun around to swing his fist at me I took off and just barely managed to duck out of the way. I went running away and he came tearing after me howling and screaming like a mad dre’k. I’d expected my statement to get him going, but the reaction I received was far and beyond anything I had anticipated.

  This time I wasn’t just trying to distract him. I actually had a target in mind. I dashed a good ninety meters, spotted a glimmer of metal, dove down sliding across the smooth stone floor of the platform on my knees and swooped up Jykarr’s fallen knife from the ground. I swung around to meet the sub-ascendant’s rush and slashed him across the chest. He howled and countered by slamming his fist into the side of my head. I stumbled back, but managed to recover just before his fists came swinging at me again.

  I ducked and slipped past him making a beeline for the catwalk leading to the destroyer’s platform. He wasn’t far behind, but that was exactly what I wanted. About midway I stopped and spun around to face him as he came rushing toward me. I slammed the blade into his side just as he came barreling toward me and yanked it free as he recoiled away from me.

  “Dre’k gryydda!” He exclaimed just as his fist slammed into my left shoulder.

  I was sent reeling away and it was only through Khala’s intervention that I managed to stay on my feet. “I’d rather be Dre’k bile than a flaming pile of honorless shit.”

  He cursed again, but this time I didn’t quite catch what he said.

  I gritted my teeth and rounded on him returning his blow with what I intended to be a slice across the chest, but just as I brought blade down his hand came up to block it and wassevered from just below his wrist. It was a fluke, made possible by the weapon’s finely-honed razor edge, but even missing a hand the sub-ascendant was not about to let me gain the upper hand.

  He bellowed a cry so riddled with unbridled rage and hatred that it actually gave me pause which was what tripped me up. He backhanded me and the blow took both Khala and me by surprise. The blade slipped from my fingers and I was sent up over the edge of the railing. I just barely managed to grab hold of the edge of the catwalk. My grip was tenuous at best and I didn’t even have time to climb back up before the sub-ascendant’s shadow loomed over me. He was quick to act, stomping his hard calloused six-toed feet into my hands.

  I glanced down over the edge to realizing that I could probably survive the fall with my symbiote’s help, but Jykkar would make quick work of my companions by the time I made my way back up. I dodged his first few attempts to strike my fingers, but the fourth blow struck my right hand and I felt my left begin to slip. By some miracle I managed to swing my arm back up and wrap it around the railing before he struck my other hand.

  This time I had a better grip, but if we kept up this pace it was only a matter of time before he managed to dislodge me. That’s when inspiration struck, I could use Khala’s gravity bending abilities to climb around the underside of the catwalk and make my way back up on the opposite side, but before I could enact that plan Jykkar spun away from me and suddenly lurched back and plummeted over the edge of the railing.

  Confused, I glanced down over my shoulder, and watch him plummeting as he grappled with a much smaller opponent. I hung my head then propelled myself back over the edge of the railing.

  “Oh, my God!” Max cried, but I just couldn’t bring myself to look her in the eyes especially when she spoke his name. “Jokeb.”

  He had sacrificed himself to save me, something I was finding more than a little difficult to swallow, but unfortunately I didn’t have time to let myself drown in my woes. I fully expected the sub-ascendant to survive and it wouldn’t take him more than a few minutes to find his way back up to our level and by then I expect to be long gone. I bent down to pick up the sub-ascendant’s severed hand and the fallen weapon then turned to Max and Velspatt. “I don’t suppose either of you can fly a Qharr ship?”

  “I can.” Velspatt hissed and placed a clawed hand on Max’s shoulder. The medic flinched, but held her ground as she glanced up at the towering Ghrev crime lord.

  I gritted my teeth holding the sub-ascendant’s severed appendage in one hand then with the other, I sliced down with the knife and cut it clean in two. Violet blood got everywhere, but I fought down my revulsion and held one half out to the Ghrev crime lord. Velspatt snatched it from me barred all her teeth glancing down at as if she were looking at her next meal. “Is there a particular class of ship you’re in the market for?”

  “One of the smaller cruisers, something that can carry a team of a few dozen, but can be run by a skeleton crew,” I replied looking around the chamber and pointed at a cruiser parked near the north wall. “There, that Pylkar class ship ought to do the trick.”

  “You two get going, head north and I’ll take a fighter and meet you outside the city,” I added before spinning around on the balls of my feet and turned to leave.

  “Wait!” Rodriquez called after me. “There aren’t any fighters nearby! What is it you’re planning?”

  I craned my neck back to meet her gaze. “I have something to take care of. Hurry, get going, you really don’t want to stick around for the fireworks.”

  Max bit her lip, nodded then with Veslpatt took off running toward the ship in question. I turned away from them and went the opposite direction straight toward the destroyer.

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  In mere moments I had access to the destroyer and after a quick trip through the airlock I was sprinting down the corridor. I needed to find a control panel, but the K’larr was huge and the Qharr were minimalists in all things. There would be a few control panels in the corridors, sure, but on a larger ship they’d definitely be few and far between. Finally, I found one and slammed the half-hand down on the control and let out a sigh of relief when it finally gave me access.

  The Qharr used a standard interface for nearly all their computers so navigating it was no problem, but certain features were buried to prevent just anyone from being able to access them. Finding a layout of the ship was easy, but gaining access to other systems was an entirely different story. I would have liked to just switch on the self-destruct, but even with the sub-ascendant’s bio-signature there was no way I could trigger it without access codes. Fortunately, there was always another way.

  I called up a map of the ship and once I had a clear idea of where my destination was I went speeding down the hallway. The reactor from the K’larr was nearly twice the size of the Duvak’s old destroyer, but worked on more or less on the same principle. It was an easy enough task to drain out the reactor coolant, but when I made my way back to the fighter bay that’s when things got sticky.

  It started with a shriek that raised the hairs on the back of my neck, followed by a thump in the corridor behind me, and when I spun around to face whatever new danger had arisen. This threat wound up being one I had already faced. That’s not to say the danger he presented was any less real. I only lingered long enough to discover his presence then I bolted putting on as much speed as I could. Unfortunately, my max speed proved to be too fast in the narrow corridors that twisted and turned far more than any built by humans would have.

  It was a long chase through the corridors and each time I slowed to turn a corner, the sub-ascendant got closer and closer. Fortunately, Khala came up with a solution that allowed me to go zooming down the corridor without worry of slowing. The next time I approached a bend my feet were moving so fast that I went right up onto the wall and just kept on going. Unfortunately, Jykkar’s symbiote duplicated the trick and the bastard managed to stay right behind me.

  Even with his unusual strength, I was still faster than the sub-ascendant, but only just barely. I managed to put some distance between us, but not enough that I could lose him. If I tripped or stumbled he’d be right on top of me before I could recover. I gritted my teeth and put all my concentration into running. What I was doing was dangerous, the corridor’s weren’t designed to be navigated at such incredible speeds, the only reason I hadn’t completely biffed it was because of my enhanced reflexes and Khala’s little gravity trick, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t make a mistake.

  I had almost reached the fighter bay, when it happened. There was a control panel with just enough of a lip that when my foot hit it I was sent slamming back to the ground, hard. I scrambled back to my feet, but Jykkar pounced on me before I could get away. He slammed his good hand into me and forced me into the side of the wall with enough power to make my bones creek.

  I felt a few of them pop back into place as I clawed and kicked at Jykkar. He tightened his grip around my neck and I gasped, futilely trying to bring in air. I thrashed about kicking out with my legs as hard as I could and I found purchase in a rather sensitive area. I fell down to my knees and crawled to my feet even as air flood back into my lungs.

  I glanced back over my shoulder and felt a slow grin form on my face as I observed Jykarr laying on the ground clutching at his injured crotch. The Qharr prided themselves on their ability to conquer pain, but there were some injuries that even they couldn’t just shrug off. The funny thing was that his symbiote could have easily dulled the pain, but no self-respecting gray skin would ever debase themselves that way.

  I spun away and went running back down the corridor toward the fighter bay. It didn’t take the sub-ascendant long to recover, but by then I’d already gained a pretty sizable lead on him. I heard his furious roar just moments before I heard his massive feet pounding against the metal floor grating in rapid succession. I was in the fighter bay in an instant, leaping over the railing, propelling myself toward the nearest cluster of fighters. A much louder thud soon followed me, but I didn’t look back. I had to reach my destination before Jykarr could catch me.

  Finally, I reached a ship and I slammed the sub-ascendant’s half-hand down onto exterior control console. The hatch popped open and I leapt forward crawling up the side into the cockpit. Once inside, I reached up to pull the canopy back down just as Jykarr leapt up the side of the side after me. I got it closed before his fist came smashing down, and it impacted with a very loud thud. Fortunately, transparisteel was strong enough that even K’teth enhanced strength wouldn’t break through it. I got the engine up and running in just seconds, by bypassing pre-flight procedures and had my requisitioned fighter off the ground in no time.

  The sub-ascendant wasn’t through with me yet. The bastard still clung stubbornly onto the fighter as I went zooming out the side of the bay doors which had started to close. I put on the speed and weaved around even rolling the fighter around onto its’ back, but no matter what I tried Jykkar maintained his grip. I could only guess his symbiote was using some extension of its gravity manipulating abilities to help him keep his hold.

  Worse yet, he wasn’t my only problem, the K’larr was coming awake, its’ crew must have boarded and started the engines. Yes, I had sabotaged it, but there was probably still enough coolant to run the reactors for several minutes. Which was more than long enough, for them to blow me out of the sky and if they launched with enough pilots I’d have to worry about fending off fighters too. Fortunately, Velspatt and Max had already made their escape from the space port, so if I could keep the gray skins occupied there was a chance they’d be able to escape the city.

  I sent the fighter shooting straight up toward the open bay doors and out into the darkness of the night. I guess they must have figured it was futile trying to close the hatch, as fast as my ship was moving I would have found my way out of the bay long before the doors could have closed.

  Fighters came pouring out of the destroyer and I sent mine diving down toward the streets of the city. It was a risky move, the roadways of Scottsdale were more than wide enough to accommodate three or four fighters side by side, but navigating at such high speeds didn’t give me much time to compensate if anything went wrong. A full dozen fighters followed me down into the streets and I gritted my teeth as I realized that I’d be leading them on one hell of a chase.

  For my plan to work, I needed to keep the destroyer in close proximity to the space port. This meant I’d need to stay near and keep both the destroyer and the fighters occupied.

  Jykarr was doing his damnedest to disable the fighter, slamming down into the sides of the engine compartment, and tearing into the hull with his bare hand. Clearly, it was time to do something about my little pest problem. I swooped down and spun the fighter around onto its side and turned a corner scrapping the fighter against the side of a building. I pulled away and was only just barely able to gain control as the ship wobbled and jerked liked a drunken krym.

  I’d managed to dislodge Jykarr from the front of the fighter, but when I craned my neck to glance back over my shoulder I let out a string of silent curses. Somehow he had found a handhold on the tail of my ship, but that would have been a minor annoyance if that had been my only problem. The pursuing craft had begun to open fire blasting away with no regard for the safety of the nearby denizens of the city, human, Qharr, or otherwise.

  I don’t know if hunters in the other fighters realized it was the sub-ascendant who was hanging so precariously from my tail or if they were willing to sacrifice one of their own to bring down a threat. The latter wouldn’t exactly fit into the Qharr code of honor, but I’d seen more than enough evidence to suggest that they were not above breaking their own rules.

  I
went shooting straight up into the air hoping that I could shake the bastard loose, but no matter how much I twisted and turned, zig-zagged and shook he just couldn’t be dislodged. My ascent did have an unforeseen benefit, however; the Qharr ships didn’t anticipate my move and went zooming past. I gritted my teeth, reversed my course and went diving down to the ground at a speed that would make even the most stalwart of Qharr warriors think twice. Once, I was down close to the ground I spun around so that the fighter’s belly was facing up toward the night sky.

  I slowed and brought the fighter down so that it scraped the ground. What followed was a the sound of tearing metal, a whole lot of sparks and what was no doubt a very painful experience for the sub-ascendant. I shot back up and righted the fighter more than a little relieved to discover that I had managed to dislodge the rat bastard–though somehow I doubted that I’d actually killed him–and even more relieved to realize that my ride was still in flying shape.

  Unfortunately, that’s about when the enemy fighters found me, I shot upward and swooped around to face them, phase cannons blaring and managed to take out one of them with my volley before shooting past them. Again, I zoomed straight up, topping one of the city’s many skyscrapers in just a few seconds and went flying straight toward the destroyer which still loomed above the space port like the specter of doom that it really was.

  More fighters came pouring out from the massive insectine hulk and I hung there in the air long enough to make sure they saw where I was going just before I dove back down toward the surface. On the way down I met the original group of fighters head-on blasting another out of the sky as I zoomed past. The two opposite groups of Qharr ships met and when two of them collided and plummeted to the ground in a knotted mass of burning shrapnel. That brought the final number down to nine and I wasn’t exactly real crazy about those odds.