by E M Gale
‘Why are you still here? Go away.’
‘Hmm, I’m not sure I can. There is a minimum time to this resonance.’
‘Great. Just don’t think anything too distracting.’
“Get what weapons you need and head down to docking bay two,” said Connor. “We’ve been breached. B s ’s already down there.”
I nodded, dry-mouthed.
‘Believe me, I don’t want to be involved in your stupid fight. Even at a remove,’ remarked Price.
I ignored him and ran over to the weapons locker. I picked up the gun we trained with the whole time and strapped on one of the biggest of those nice shiny, shiny swords.
‘’Shiny, shiny’? What sort of description is that?’
I ran down towards the docking bay. ‘Be quiet, Price. Can’t you just not think?’
‘I’ll try to deaden my thoughts,’ he thought and it got a lot quieter in my head.
I raced up the corridor towards the docking bay and a bullet careened over my head. I ducked round a corner.
‘First mistake: use cover, Clarke. That was close.’
‘Phew!’ commented Price.
I peered round the corner. There were some pinky-orangeish aliens, a type I’d never seen before. They were short, were carrying guns, and had knives attached to their belts.
‘They’re Kreegle,’ Price informed me, having heard the description from my mind.
‘Earn your pay. What do I need to know?’
‘Well, they don’t like vampires–’
‘Great.’
‘–so you’ll probably be a target when they realise what you are.’
I leaned round the corner and fired at the Kreegle. There were three in the corridor. I could smell B s retreating the other way up the corridor behind them.
‘Where the hell are my reinforcements?’
‘’When in doubt, get behind an orc,’’ Price quoted.
‘Shut up.’ I fired at the Kreegle. Two dodged, I got one.
‘Great.’
‘What are Kreegle tactics?’ I asked in a panic.
‘Don’t know.’
‘How will they attack vampires?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘C’mon, give me something!’
I was firing the gun up the corridor. My gunfire was all that was stopping the Kreegle from advancing. Just then the gun made a funny twang noise.
‘Oh, no!’
‘It broke!’ Price exclaimed.
‘OK, so Connor was right, it is worth learning how to disassemble and reassemble a gun under fire. That’s great, I’ve learnt this.’
I ducked back round the corner. I smelt the Kreegle pirates advancing up the corridor.
‘Hurry!’ thought Price.
‘OK, pull back, twist here…’
My fingers worked the task easily, competently; it must be all that practice.
Click-twang, a spring fired off the gun at an odd angle and bounced up the corridor.
‘Oh. Huh, you know, I think that was a useful part.’
‘Florentina!’ thought Price.
‘Well, who would have thought it? Stupid guns.’
I drew my sword. I knew they were nearly on me, and worse, I knew that B s was in trouble: there were far more at that end of the corridor.
‘Mist!’ suggested Price.
‘Too bloody slow.’
‘Oh, no, don’t do that!’
I jumped round the corner swinging my sword. I chopped the head off the first one and sliced the neck of the second.
‘Lovely.’
The Kreegle dropped to the floor.
‘Get their guns,’ suggested Price.
I leapt over the fallen pirates and ran up the corridor. To my left up the corridor was the boarding party, in front of me B s behind about twelve Kreegle with their backs to me.
‘Strange, why would they go that way?’
‘OK, the docking bay by myself or the twelve Kreegle with help? OK.’
I sprinted up to the other end of the corridor where B s was and swung my sword, decapitating two of the pirates.
‘Yuk,’ commented Price.
I swung my sword in a kata move and cut another two across the back. I had to bend my legs to get down low since they were short. A silver crossbow bolt narrowly missed my head.
‘Damn B s !’
‘Leave them, they’ll just shoot you by accident,’ suggested Price. The Kreegle in front of me were only just turning round. I slashed twice, cutting the necks of two more. That made six. And the others still hadn’t turned to face me.
‘Wow, vampires are fast.’
‘Yes,’ thought Price. He sounded amused.
I fell into a back stance, my weight on my back leg, the sword held high.
‘Where the hell is my backup?’
‘You’ve only been down here for about a minute.’
‘No way.’
‘They’re probably putting their shoes on. Brushing their hair. Flossing their teeth, perhaps.’
I lunged, impaling a Kreegle who was just lifting a gun at me. As he fell I could see B s . They recognised me.
‘OK, that’s seven Kreegle I’ve done…’
I was looking around for the others when Price interrupted the flow of my thoughts.
‘They’re all dead.’
‘What?’
‘Pay attention. The mercenaries killed the others. But there are more behind you round the corner by the docking bay.’
He was right. I could smell them.
I ran lightly up the entrance to the docking bay. All the bulkhead doors were jammed open to prevent us from shutting them and then opening the docking bay to vacuum to space the pirates. We were in the main corridor. To our right was a short corridor that led through the open airlock to the docking bay. The Kreegle held the docking bay and were advancing through the airlock.
“Ka-kaj Ink Becoo!” one of the Kreegle said.
‘There’s a vampire up there,’ Price translated.
‘You can speak their language? How handy.’
‘You’re in trouble, Flow.’
‘Just keep translating.’
B s caught up with me and stood behind me further up the main corridor. “How many?” asked Bron.
‘You’re in front of the orc, Flow,’ Price informed me.
‘Ah, Bron’s commanding B s .’
I could hear about twenty. “Twenty-ish,” I said to him.
“Gooz-id,” yelled a pirate.
‘Flashbang,’ translated Price.
‘Why? Why? Why?’
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Flashbang!” I yelled to the mercenaries. I put my left arm over my eyes. There was a deafening sound.
‘Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!’
My ears rang and now I couldn’t hear anything other than featureless noise.
‘Why would anyone choose to do this as a career?’ asked Price.
‘How will they attack a vampire?’ I asked him urgently.
‘My guess? Flashbang grenades to blind and deafen you, wooden stakes or crossbow bolts as the finishing blow.’
‘Great. Will that kill me?’
‘What to do now? The mercs are behind me, and I can’t hear what they’re saying. We’ve got a narrow corridor–’
‘Wooden stake through the heart might not kill you straight away, but it would stop you long enough for someone to chop your head off, which would,’ thought Price.
‘–Kreegle heading up it. Aiming for me. Do I go behind the marines or in front? I’ve got no ranged weapons…’
‘Ah, second mistake, Clarke: this sword’s too bloody long to swing in a corridor. I don’t want to fight in the corridor, I’ll have twenty Kreegle aiming for my front, and no room to use my sword for anything but defending my chest. And if they get within my range what will I do? Cry?’
‘Mist. Sneak past them,’ suggested Price.
‘If I can get into the docking bay, I can swing my sword, but I’ll be surroun
ded on all sides, and they’ll be aiming for me. Shit. But I will have the benefit of surprise.’
I dissolved into mist and felt my way along the corridor walls. I still wasn’t used to doing that.
‘You’ve only done this four times? Misting is a basic thing, Flow,’ Price informed me. I ignored his comments, even as they interrupted my thoughts.
I kept going forward. I could hear nothing, but I could smell the Kreegle in the corridor as I went past, around and through them.
“Ah, Jood!” exclaimed one.
“Kajak Jood!” said another.
‘Ah, cold. Bloody cold,’ translated Price. ‘You’re much too close to them.’
I knew that. In front of me was open air and the smell of more Kreegle. They were confused. Other than their varied scents, there were the smells of their docking ship–
‘You don’t want to be in mist form if that airlock gets opened.’
–leather, oil, metal.
‘You do have a phenomenally good sense of smell, even for a vampire,’ Price commented.
I positioned myself roughly in the middle of the docking bay. I was surrounded by Kreegle but most of them were in front of me.
I reformed. My ears still hurt, less than before but more than when I had been misted. Most of the Kreegle had their backs to me and were looking up the corridor towards the airlock. The marines were hiding round the corner and occasionally firing at Kreegle who got too close.
‘Here goes nothing.’
I swung my sword at the closest pirate, blocking out all unnecessary thoughts and distractions.
‘Twist on the ball of my foot, strike down, step back, slash sideways, strike to the right–’
‘Oh, yuk.’
‘–stab behind–’
‘How did you know he was there?’
‘–spin, sword to the side, slice up, twist to the right, dodge to the left–’
‘Flow, are you even aware of what you’re doing?’
‘–strike backwards, guard my leg, kick, slice across, left arm back, out to the side, cut low–’
‘Another decapitation. Once you’ve seen one–’
‘–stab forward, oh, shit, get off my sword! Shake–’
‘–you’ve seen them all.’
‘–slice, twist, dodge, thrust, turn, dodge, jump–’
‘Wow.’
‘–slice across and down.’
I stopped, my sword held out low in my right hand. I was utterly still other than my breathing, which was hard and fast, shaking my body. There were no more Kreegle heartbeats in the room. I could smell a lot of blood. I looked down. Blood dripped off my shiny, shiny sword on to the floor.
‘It’s made of silver, you know,’ Price informed me. ‘Call it a silver sword.’
Up the corridor I could smell the mercenaries–human blood, orcian blood and overpowering those smells was the strong scent of Kreegle blood coming from all around.
‘Blood, blood, blood on the sword.’
‘Oh? Do you want to lick it off or something?’ asked Price.
‘Oh, God! That’s disgusting! Licking dead blood off a sword you used to kill the person!’
‘I think it’s disgusting, but I’m not the one who just killed them all so easily.’
‘And it does still smell like blood. Blood I’ve not tasted yet and I do want to try it.’
‘Blood and damnation!’
‘Are you being theological now, Flow?’ thought Price. He felt amused.
I looked round. I didn’t think I really wanted to see what I could see.
‘Me either,’ he thought.
I had ignored what I had been doing when I had fought, but looking around, I felt sick.
‘Not surprised,’ he added.
‘And look, loads of wooden stakes on the floor.’
‘You didn’t notice the stakes before?’
‘I think I noticed the pirates coming towards me, not which weapons they had.’ I replied. ‘I was only really focussed on their movements.’
I looked up at the mercenaries who had just entered. B s were at the front.
‘I can go now if you want, Flow. I could have gone mid-fight but I thought it might have distracted you more than staying.’
‘Stay.’
‘I don’t want to be alone in here.’
The marines were looking at me. Bron was nodding to himself. The humans looked impressed.
‘Ah. I did good then.’
‘Well, your sword-fighting was exemplary. But as for whether you did good…’ thought Price.
‘Maybe I should have asked him to go.’
I sighed and was about to drop the sword. Then I looked around at the carnage.
‘I hope I don’t have to clean this up.’
I looked at the sword again, and breathed in the smell of the Kreegle blood on it.
‘You know, I think I’ll hold on to this, just in case.’
‘So… you’re definitely not going to go round the corner where the crew can’t see you and lick the blood off it then?’ asked Price.
I dropped the sword. It clattered on the metal floor.
B s moved into the docking bay, aiming their guns at the corpses, just in case, and I heard the sound of a hastily assembled s following after them. They rushed in, weapons high, expecting trouble.
‘Hey, how come I got sent down here all by myself and they waited until they had a group?’
‘Because you’re a vampire.’
‘But still, by myself?’
‘Look around you, Flow, you did all that by yourself.’
I walked towards them casually. “Hi, guys.” The new arrivals gave me an odd look.
‘What’s that look in aid of?’
‘It’s because you’re unarmed, splattered with blood, surrounded by dead pirates and appear from the outside, no doubt, to be completely calm and relaxed,’ Price told me.
‘Ah. What should I do, scream and shout?’
‘Depends, how much do you want to scare your blood supply?’
‘Oh, you know about that?’
‘It’s not a bad setup you have here, Flow.’
“You on duty, Clarke?” asked Sticks, a tall, chunky, black mercenary. He was in charge of the s that had just arrived. It was a mish-mash of A and C s s.
I shook my head.
‘Why is he called Sticks?’ asked Price.
‘He plays the drums.’
‘Cute.’
“You can go and report to Connor then,” said Sticks. I nodded and walked back up the corridor.
‘Hey, look, there’s no one in the corridor. If you’d kept that sword you could be tasting Kreegle blood now.’
‘Shut up, Price. Why do you want to wind me up?’
‘I cannot believe you wanted to lick that bloodied sword.’
‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’
Somehow, I knew he was laughing.
I entered the docking bay and walked over to Connor. He looked surprised.
‘Surprised you’re still alive, perhaps.’
The major was there too. He didn’t look surprised at my continued existence.
‘Is this the sort of thing he expects of me?’
“Yo,” I said instead of saluting.
‘You’re rather casual, you know,’ commented Price.
“Are you on duty next shift change, Clarke?” asked Connor.
I nodded.
“OK. Get some sleep, then.”
I nodded, pulling off the pressure suit as quickly as I could.
‘I’m getting out of here quickly before someone assigns me clean up duties.’
‘Is that because you don’t want to clean up the mess you made, or you don’t think you could trust yourself to not use your tongue?’ asked Price.
‘Shut up, Price!’
‘You know, you could call me Jonathan. That is my name, Flow.’
I headed off up the corridor, I still had the smell of Kreegle blood on me. Technically, because
I had been wearing the suit my clothes weren’t splattered, but somehow the smell lingered.
‘Well, come up here and have a shower,’ suggested Price.
‘What makes you think I’m coming to talk to you?’
‘You’re heading towards my quarters, not your own. And anyway, who said anything about talking?’
‘Why am I doing this? I should go back to my quarters,’ I reasoned.
I misted and drifted under the door to Price’s quarters. He gave me a sympathetic look instead of the sardonic one I had been expecting. Then he walked over to me and put his arms around me, I just stood still, not thinking anything, breathing his scent. It was a much nicer scent than what I had been smelling in the docking bay. He stroked my hair and held me tight. I relaxed into his arms and let him hold me up.
‘It’s OK, Florentina, it’s OK,’ he thought.
I realised I was crying.
Worst Disguise Ever
It was morning. I was awake. I took a moment to just breathe and look at the ceiling. I was still dressed and I was being hugged. I turned my head to the side to see Price’s sardonic grin. I smiled.
“You’re awake then?” he said.
I nodded. “Did you sleep?”
He shrugged. I suspected that he wouldn’t have trusted me to be in the same room as his dead body whilst he was ‘asleep’.
“You just watched me sleep?”
“It was pleasant, you are warm, nice to hold, and you looked so restful.”
‘What the hell does that mean?’
I sat up. It was kinda weird to wake up with a guy and to have to ignore his coffin that he had leaning up against the wall. I stared at it then I looked back at Price. He was quiet; the guy did a good line in still and quiet.
“Thanks,” I said simply.
“What for?”
‘Well… for hugging me really.’
“Nothing major,” I said with a smile. I ran my hand over his cool body.
“Do you still think I’m rude?”
“Yup.”
He laughed at that.
“Are you OK now?”
“Yeah, much better.”
He sat up and nodded. I raised an eyebrow at him
“I can’t imagine why anyone would choose to be a mercenary, but you’re good at it.”
I frowned. “What the hell? Was that a backhanded compliment or a double insult?”
“Depends on whether being good at killing is a good thing or not.”
I started at this. Price’s eyes were dark with emotion.