by Nick Braker
“Kill her, kill her, kill her,” he screamed.
Damn, he needs to make up his mind.
Li let go of the man’s wrist, spun to her right, and grabbed the gun on his hip. She rolled away. The third guy raised his gun to fire. Li snapped the pistol up and pulled the trigger twice. She hit him in the head and chest. Li froze, keeping the gun pointed at the third guy’s head. He managed to stand there, his eyes focused on something in front of him. He teetered one way and then another, finally falling backwards with a splat.
She stood up and walked back to the fourth man. His incessant screaming annoyed her.
“Shut the fuck up already,” she said, putting two bullets in him, one in the head and one in the heart.
Li checked her surroundings one more time. It looked like a tornado had blown through the room with all the debris, dead bodies and missing concrete. The first guy that had attacked her started to move. He managed to stand, albeit not very gracefully. Blood covered his forehead from where he had been laying on the floor face down. Now that he was upright, a trail of blood flowed down his face. He wiped it with his hand, inspecting it.
“You Beitch,” he said.
“Do you mean bitch? You fucktard,” she said, raising her pistol and pointing it at him. The gun’s slide was all the way back. Damn it, it was empty. The white shirted man smiled at her. Li threw the pistol at him, hitting him again in the forehead. He dropped to the floor face first. Li grabbed the back of his head in one hand and his chin in the other. A quick twist and a snap of the neck made sure this goon would not be getting up again.
That left Miguel as her only remaining target. Her EP was still active. “Ruth, Magnus, can anyone hear me?” Silence. “Can anyone fucking hear me?” Her fists shook. She had to calm down, the situation wasn’t over.
“Li, this is Jules. We are heading back to you. We will be there in less than five minutes. Do you have a visual on your team or... Mag... Magnus?” Jules’ voice broke up on the question. “We cannot locate them. Their EPs are not responding.”
“No visual, Jules. Nothing, not a damn shred of them is left. Whatever it was that took them, took part of the building with it.”
“Was it an explosion? Are you trapped?” Jules asked.
“It wasn’t a fucking explosion, Jules. They and part of the floor they were on was ripped out of existence. They are fucking gone, disappeared, finished, dea....” She couldn’t say the word. “Excuse me, I’ve got to finish this. I’m going in there to rip this mother fucker’s head off and get some answers. Maybe not in that order.”
Li checked her weapons; a boot knife, two push blades on the back of her belt and a collapsible baton. None of it worth a shit against a gun. She scanned the area and found the pistol the third asshole had used. She picked it up and ejected the magazine, two bullets left plus one in the chamber. She had three shots for this fucker. Li could shoot both knees and still have one left. She couldn’t help herself. She wanted to make sure the Omarii suffered and she had nearly thirty seconds to concentrate as much pain as she could before he, she or it could get away. An evil smile spread across her sweat covered face. Li crept silently down the hallway. She placed her back against the door, hearing someone clapping inside. She didn’t move.
What the fuck?
“I was told that women on your planet were the weaker gender. You surprised me by besting four of Miguel’s security team. Impressive,” the Omarii said.
“Well, do you want to see what I could do to you? I would love to show you, you fucking toad.” Li said, from her position of cover.
“I might as well have a little fun before I destroy your planet.” A high-pitched cackle slipped out from the Omarii lasting several seconds. “Come on, little fiend, let’s play. No guns, just hand to hand combat.”
Li heard a clip being ejected from a pistol and then the gun’s action being worked, presumably unloading it. The Omarii threw the pistol into the hallway. Li watched it tumble past her several feet. The gun’s slide held back and the magazine missing. She stepped out, aimed and fired at a point between the Omarii’s eyes. The gun jammed.
Shit.
“You disappoint me, little fiend,” the Omarii said. “Where is your honor?”
Honor? What the fuck do you know about honor?
“Okay, we’ll try it your way,” Li said, holding her hands up.
Li took a deep breath and repeated the same process the Omarii had done with her gun, tossing it to the ground in front of her. It landed close to the other one. The image of the two pistols laying grip to muzzle reminded her of the yin and yang symbol.
“So, you are an Omarii from Kron?” Li asked, still staring at the guns.
“Little fiend has knowledge. You impress me again. Come in farther. As you can see, I am unarmed,” the Omarii said.
Li took another deep breath and stepped into the room. The room was not what she expected. The front entrance was all concrete and steel but, where she expected a back wall, it opened into a cavern that looked man-made. The cavern had lights hung all around, but another brighter source was behind Miguel. The edges of the wall where they stopped were jagged and rough indicating that it had been torn out. The earthy smell of the cavern wafted over her. Her eyes settled on Miguel.
“So, what should I call you? Miguel doesn’t seem to fit since I’m talking to an Omarii and ‘fucking bitch’ seems too good for you.” Li forced a smile on her face.
“You can call me Chitra,” the Omarii said. The name didn’t come easy to her as if it was the first time she had spoken her own name in this language.
“Well, Chitra,” Li said. “I think it fair to tell you that I will be killing you today.”
Chitra barked a laugh as Li finished the sentence. “Little fiend, I think it fair to tell you that we will both be dying today.” Chitra stepped aside and waved a hand toward the cavern. The bomb sat in the middle of the room and, from the looks of it, it was assembled and ready. It was unlike any bomb she had ever seen. It emitted light from both the top and bottom, illuminating the room. “You see, whatever your friends did back there disconnected me from my home planet. I am already dead and I will be taking this planet with me.”
“My friends?” Li protested. “You did that to my friends; they didn’t do it.”
A puzzled look crossed the Omarii’s face.
“If your friends didn’t do it, then—”
A thoughtful expression replaced the puzzled look she had made earlier. “My Queen is responsible. Yes, it would be her design. That means...” Another barking laugh exploded from Chitra. “Finally, the mighty Magnus has met his fate. Your hero and your team are truly gone.”
What the fuck was going on with this alien? She acted crazy. Her emotions were all over the place. The thought of her team being gone brought back the pain and reality of the situation. Ruth had always cautioned Li to control her emotions. She took another deep, relaxing breath. She needed more information, information that would be transmitted to the rest of WSO through her EP. “A bomb? You plan to destroy the planet with that little bomb? Do you not realize how big our planet is?” Li asked, edging her way closer to Chitra.
Keep talking, bitch.
“Of course, what you don’t realize is that this bomb would be better described as a planet destroyer. You see the energy signatures at the bottom and top of the bomb? It is a creation of my own design. It will tunnel to the core of your planet in a matter of minutes. Once there, it will explode. Your planet will break apart and humans will be no more.”
That’s right, just keep talking.
Chitra was proud of herself and could barely restrain her enthusiasm. Magnus had warned Li these Omarii were crazy. Seeing it firsthand, Li understood. She needed to keep the Omarii talking. They needed information and Li needed to give Jules and team time to get here.
“You designed that?” Li said, “Impressive. You must be a great scientist. How exactly does that burrow through the planet?”
“Let
me keep it simple for you. As the bomb descends, it will teleport the matter in front of it to the rear, keeping the space ahead of the bomb empty of matter. It will fall while teleporting that matter to the space now left empty behind it, allowing the bomb to travel deep into your planet. The difficulty in this design is that it requires a lot of energy. Your nuclear technology provided the solution. I used your own technology to destroy you.”
“That’s truly fascinating.” Li didn’t mean a word she said. She wasn’t impressed by the technology. Li just needed to keep Chitra talking. She had to understand it enough to find a way to stop it. “How do you teleport matter like that?” She crossed her arms and placed her finger on her lips, tapping them gently as she eased a little closer to Chitra.
“Well, it’s not easy to rip a hole in space. Especially, since your planet lacks the materials to stabilize such a tear. I therefore had to create an energy field that would stabilize it. This brought on a new challenge, as the energy field minimized the amount of matter that could be transferred. It will only transfer about an inch at a time.”
The Omarii shit was proud of herself. This monologuing thing worked. Li thought this kind of thing only happened in the movies. If the Omarii weren’t fucking insane, Li doubted the piece of shit would say a word. Li moved closer to Chitra again.
“But that doesn’t matter,” Chitra continued, chuckling. “I made a human joke.” She was giddy with herself. “You get it? It doesn’t matter?”
Dear god, they are insane and stupid.
Li laughed, playing along.
“That’s really clever. But one inch at a time seems slow to me.”
“Oh, as I was saying, the transfer is instantaneous. The speed is generated by the acceleration force of your gravity. The faster it falls, the faster the material is transported through the small wormhole. It builds up speed quickly. I’d give you actual numbers but I’m sure your weak little mind is not capable of understanding simple physics.”
Li ignore the insult, focusing on keeping the alien talking.
“So once this thing gets going, it’s all over?”
“Exactly,” Chitra said. “That’s what I was saying.”
“Why hasn’t it started moving yet?”
The Omarii paused.
“It’s charging up. Yes, that is an adequate summation. It needs time to build up the explosive force necessary to destroy a planet.”
“But what triggers the bomb to detonate?”
“Oh, excellent question, little fiend but the answer is very simple, so perhaps you can understand it. I designed this bomb and I understand it. The modified nuclear material’s energy is growing at a linear rate. I have engineered the containment field to keep the material in place until it reaches critical mass. The bomb will detonate when its atomic structure can no longer hold itself to together. When the first atomic molecule breaks free, a chain reaction will start, instantly expanding outward as it expends its built-up energy. I’m trying to keep it simple for you. Strange, I’ve wondered for weeks now how you humans, as primitive in technology as you are, could ever pose a threat to us?”
“A threat to you? We were never a threat to you until you attacked us. Surely you know that.”
“Of course you were, that is the only reason I am here.”
“Well, shit for brains, the only reason I am here is to kick your ass.”
Li had heard enough. She kicked out at the knee of Chitra’s host. Chitra turned the back of the knee toward the kick saving her from tearing it open. Chitra knew how to fight and had been prepared.
Li’s eyes opened wide as Chitra turned the momentum of her fall into a spinning heel kick. The kick landed, hitting Li in her ribs. Li saw it coming and spun with the blow. She recovered and stopped herself in a ready stance. The move had protected her from most of the force. Chitra got up, gingerly rubbing her knee. Li reacted and planted a jump front kick into Chitra’s chin. Chitra fell, turning it into a backwards roll and came up on her feet.
“Impressive again, little fiend,” Chitra said, spitting blood from her mouth. “But now it is my turn.”
Chitra struck out at Li with both fists and followed it with a kick. Li blocked both punches but missed the kick to her chest. It hit her on her right side. Li mitigated the blow by letting the force of it spin her. She turned the fall into a shoulder roll but it forced her to land on her ass in a pile of re-bar. Li struggled, trying to get to her feet. The blow hurt but he was thankful it wasn’t worse. The Omarii knew how to fight.
“Come on, little fiend, you can do better than that.” Chitra taunted.
“Why in the fuck do you keep calling me that?” Li said, as she got to her feet.
“Where I am from we fight a beast called an ash fiend. It is one of the most feared creatures on our world.”
“So, this is some sort of compliment from you then?”
Li moved back into her default stance, facing Chitra.
“Yes, of course. You killed four men that were bigger and stronger than you. You fight like a fiend. Well, a small one.” Chitra smiled, still bloody from Li’s kick.
Li feigned another jump front kick. Chitra snapped her arms down to block. Li shifted her weight, turning the attack into a punch. The blow connected solidly. It didn’t seem to do much. Chitra smiled even more.
“Really,” Chitra said, “is that the best you can do?”
Li’s face turned red. The Omarii was deliberately trying to piss her off. It was working. Li lunged at Chitra. She jumped, kicking out sideways. Li came to an abrupt stop as Chitra’s boot landed squarely into her abdomen. For a split second, Li hung in the air as her body wrapped around the boot doubling her over. Gravity exerted itself and she slammed into the ground with a grunt. The combination knocked her breath out. Chitra stepped next to Li and kicked her to the side of her face. It felt like a truck had slammed into her head. She had to do something. Laying on the floor acting like a punching bag would get her killed.
Li remembered her instructor’s advice, keep moving. Li rolled away as another kick struck the ground where her head had been. Li pulled her baton from its holster. Chitra struck again, coming at her with a punch to her head. Li swung the baton first and hit Chitra across the forearm. Chitra reared back to strike again. Li swung a second time but Chitra caught Li’s hand in hers. Chitra twisted, putting Li in an arm bar. Chitra knocked the baton out of Li’s hand and punched her in the face in rapid succession. Li lost track of time. The punches stopped. Her arm was freed and she fell to the floor.
Li lay on her stomach, the left side of her face pressed hard against the concrete floor. She couldn’t see Chitra. She had to raise her head. Li’s right eye had already swollen shut. Chitra stood several feet away from Li and was holding both fists together and then pulled them apart. Li had been warned during her debrief what the Omarii was doing. She was signaling to her home world to extract her.
“You did well, little fiend.” Chitra said, not looking at her. “Looks like we were both wrong about me dying today. My connection to home has returned and I am going back. The planet buster is seconds from activating. Please, just lay there and rest. It will be over soon. I have to say, I enjoyed our fight.”
Chitra’s smug smile infuriated Li. Her fists shook and her mind filled with rage. Adrenaline surged through her again, renewing her. The alien wanted to leave and there was no way in hell Li was going to allow it.
Don’t stop moving...
The thought was all she needed to keep going. Li rolled over, getting up on her knee. She grabbed her boot knife. Chitra was focusing on the exit signal. Magnus had reported the same behavior with his girlfriend before she died. This alien wasn’t going home, no... fucking... way.
Chitra pulled her arms apart. Li threw the knife. It landed deeply in Chitra’s chest, thudding to a stop. Chitra’s eyes opened wide. She wanted to say something but no words escaped her lips. She stared down at the knife in her host’s chest.
Li screamed. It was primal li
ke an animal and filled with rage. Li grabbed her two push blades from the back of her belt. She leapt at Chitra. Chitra looked up as Li plunged both blades into her. She struck again, stabbing Chitra repeatedly. Blood squirted with each stab, covering Li in blood. Pieces of flesh dropped to the floor mixing with the blood already pooling there. Chitra dropped to her knees in front of Li.
“You can’t, win,” Chitra said, gurgling blood from her host’s mouth. “No species ever does.”
Li grabbed the Omarii’s hair, forcing the alien creature to look up at her. Li spit in Chitra’s face.
“Fuck... you...”
Still holding the Omarii’s hair, Li jerked the creature’s head left, forcing it to the side. It fell, landing in its own blood. Li’s exhaustion returned full force and she collapsed forward. She lay on her stomach, struggling to breathe, her right cheek on the cold cellar floor. Miguel’s blood flowed, pooling around the body and flowing toward Li’s face. Stars danced at the edges of her vision. Blackness threatened to consume her. Her eyelids felt heavy so she closed them.
No, stay awake. Fucking stay awake.
Li’s eyes jerked open and she took a deep breath. No other fight compared to this one. She had almost lost for the first time. Why hadn’t the Omarii just killed her? Crazy bitch. Miguel’s blood drew closer. It was only inches from her face as it flowed slowly toward her. She wasn’t going to let that blood touch her like this. For some reason, it mattered.
Get up. Keep moving, damn it. Don’t stop.
The roar of the engines from planet buster flared to life. Li needed to get up. She had to stop that bomb. She tried to lift her head. Li reached out and shifted it slightly but that was all she could manage. Exhaustion overtook her. The fight had taken everything but her life and now the bomb was about to take that. Earth was doomed.
She took several quick breaths as Miguel’s blood reached her. Spittle dangled from her lips, moving in and out from her mouth as she strained to move. She wept. The blood touched her cheek, feeling cold and lifeless. An electronic blip reached her ears from the bomb as the restraints released their hold. Miguel’s blood pooled around the right side of her head. Li struggled to say awake. She pushed herself over on her back and laid there, gasping for air. Was it over? No, not yet. Not while her four friends were still alive. They needed to hurry.