Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 3: Vengeance

by Ronald Wintrick

  The lift-tube not twenty meters down the corridor began ejecting Vaes just as I leveled my blast-rifle and fired. Serrath was already busy firing down the corridor in the opposite direction and Leethea was blasting us another bolt-hole through the deck though what we’d drop into this time was not a thing I wanted to think about in advance. It had gotten just about as ugly as I had ever seen it and we were far from the worst of it but on a steadily downward spiral towards it.

  Blaster fire came from farther down the corridor on my side but struck the wall to my right with an explosion that would have slapped me tumbling if I hadn’t already been going through the new hole in the deck Leethea had created- right behind the females. We fell into a Kievor made trans-metal cage that filled in its upper bars as we landed on the lower. I looked up just in time to see the last of the bars of the top of our cage flowing into place and knew better than to think I would be able to break them by physical force alone. We were in a cage within a room made of trans-metal I quickly noted next- solid trans-metal walls around and below us. The only way into this room was the hole in the deck above us but for some odd reason the deck wasn’t fixing itself.

  “Don’t even think about it.” I told Leethea as she raised her blast-rifle to blow away the top bars of our cage. The concussion in our little chamber would take us out right along with the bars of the cage. Reluctantly she put it down but she was staring right into my eyes- I didn’t need to read her pheromones to know what she was thinking. When the Vaes reached the opening of our prison it would be lights out for the good reptiles. Suddenly fierce fighting broke out above us, from both directions down the corridor above us and lasted for long minutes while we awaited our fates. As the fighting slowly began to die down- as was quickly inevitable when weapons of mass destruction were used- suddenly the bars of our prison were vanishing from where they had sprouted and the trans-metal floor was lifting us up and into the corridor we had just so precipitously departed.

  “I’m never jumping into another hole without looking in it first.” Leethea said. Serrath looked disgusted with herself though I didn’t bother reminding them that we had jumped into that hole to escape a blaster bolt and at least from my perspective the unknown was always better than the known- when what was known was that a blaster bolt left nothing to be known.

  “The Vaes run out of credits?” I asked the Kievor ignoring the females. I had just been about to begin haggling with the Kievor as well there at the last moments in that cage, sure that credits were our only way out of that cage and suddenly wondering if I’d had enough to win the auction if that was what it had come down to. I had been quite sure that money was to be our only hope- at least there for that moment. That the Kievor’s treachery knew no boundaries was the only thing I was sure of at that moment. I was also quite sure the Kievor were listening at this moment.

  “Your forces have secured this level.” The expected Kievor voice responded. “The Emperor of the Vaes has cancelled his request that you be detained. You could have bid against him for the services we provide.” The Kievor added helpfully as the very forces the Kievor was speaking about surrounded us. They filled the corridor for as far as could be seen in both directions and through immediate pheromone communication we knew they had secured all the levels around us and were doing mop-up operations as we spoke. It had been another bad day for the Vaes. They had come expecting their overwhelming numbers to take the day and had been humiliated roundly. They were now pulling back after their all-or-nothing attempt on my life had failed and left their flank open to the attack from my troops.

  Was now the time? I asked myself this with almost unbelief. Was I really considering storming a Kievor Trade Station? I think my thoughts were clear on the matter if not wholly sane. With more than ten thousand fighters at my command was now really the time? Both humanity and the Alartaw’s further existence were utterly contingent on my securing the Kievor data-base and the technological edge that would give us. It went without saying that we would never be able to sneak in and steal anything without setting off every alarm the Kievor possessed nor would there be any sneaking off the Station after- so the only logical conclusion was to take the entire Station by force of arms and make the Kievor give us what we wanted.

  Leethea and Serrath were both looking at me both clearly understanding what I was thinking. Was it that obvious on my face but more importantly would the Kievor be able to stop us if I went forward with the craziest plan I had ever concocted. Did they have the defenses to stop a ten thousand strong highly armed lizard army already deep within the bowels of the Station. Level One was only a short ways farther.

  I gave my silent pheromone command to start digging into the Station to my massed soldiery around me. We would blast our way to the core of this Station and right back out again after if that was what became necessary. I raised my blast rifle to begin the madness because there was no time like the present. The Kievor must have been able to read pheromones after all, or partly so, or simply deduced what was about to happen- even if possibly the reasons weren’t clearly fathomable to them. Who could really know what the Kievor knew or why they did the things they did- only the Kievor themselves. They had figured something out but I wasn’t sure if I’d live long enough to find out what it was. The trans-metal floor opened beneath us and all three of us vanished into the maw which had been created. As the trans-metal closed over me two things occurred. Blaster fire erupted in the corridor I had just departed- my troops beginning the assault without me- and I pulled one of my hand-blasters in the vain hope that I’d still be alive in two minutes and that our hidden nullification hardware would somehow be able to do something for us.

  It wasn’t a lot to base a being’s hopes on.

  Chapter 58

  I couldn’t remember the incident but I thought that being born must have been somewhat similar to what we were now experiencing as we were moved through the trans-metal of the Station itself but where we were going was the question of the hour. Then we simply fell out of our trans-metal cocoons and into another trans-metal cage. This one had no bars but no opening in the ceiling either, I quickly noted as I watched it reseal itself back into its seamless natural state. Then I noted something else. The females noted it simultaneously and we were suddenly all looking at one another and wondering if this could finally be the end. It seemed certain. I noted that both the females had their hand-blasters in hand but I didn’t know if we would last long enough for the two minutes to expire or whether anything would even happen when it did. The Kievor could have known who I was from the moment I had arrived and for whatever odd impulses it was which moved the Kievor- and their treacherous methods of gaining their ends whatever it was the Kievor strove for- with their magic-technology had simply pulled the nullification chips out of our blasters and were now having the greatest laugh of all as we were delivered to our Fate. Our deaths to be little more than a single episode of a Cosmic reality show and the Kievor the blood-thirsty attentive audience. Who could really know what a Kievor thought.

  “This might be it.” Serrath said as we all watched the walls slowly closing in on us. We were in a seamless box of trans-metal that was steadily growing smaller and which would become smaller than us in just a short time. It was going to be painful and no guarantee it would be over quickly. Depending on just how vindictive the Kievor were this could turn out to be a ride that lasted for millennia. A painful millennia. I tried not to think the thought in case they simply hadn’t thought of it themselves and thinking the thought could somehow give them the idea. At this point I was hoping for a swift death and couldn’t help my glance at the blaster I was holding. However, while there was yet breath in my lungs there was yet hope, slim though it might be.

  “The Kievor do have a vindictive side.” I said.

  “Very much so Marc Deveroux.” The Kievor voice said, though I wasn’t sure if I had been expecting a response or not and certainly hadn’t been expecting the one I got. That was all the Kievor had to say howeve
r, the closing walls of our box doing all the talking that was necessary.

  I tried to concoct a witty ripping come-back but with the situation at hand what it was everything I tried to compose seemed to fall flat in my mind and so I didn’t open my mouth- not that the Kievor wouldn’t know what I was thinking at a moment like this, were they able to read our pheromones or not. The Kievor were going to put to an end forever the saga of Marc Deveroux.

  “How in the hell did you know?” I did however just have to ask. The Kievor weren’t given the chance to reply however, had they been so inclined. Suddenly the floor beneath our feet opened once again and once more we were falling through the trans-metal of the Station. Falling through the trans-metal but not being delivered by it. It opened beneath us and through it we fell.

  We landed in a reptile’s bedroom but before that startled being or its partner could cease what they were doing and grab for weapons- and force me to blow them away- the floor opened beneath us again. We fell through the deck and into the next lower level and the next after that. We continued to fall through floor after floor and amongst startled beings of every stripe. A moment after we would land the floor would open again and we were on to the next lower level. We witnessed several pretty bizarre scenes along the way in places where the beings who were participating in those events weren’t expecting sudden visitors. It need not be reminded that all alien life-forms procreated through sexual intercourse though some of the scenes we witnessed I was sure I would be seeing again soon in my nightmares. If I lived to sleep again that was.

  I lost track of the levels as they came and they went. Our weapons had to speak out on more than a few occasions as we dropped into different and hostile situations by the moment. I noticed that I wasn’t the only one still holding the hand-blaster however and our more powerful blast-rifles still slung over shoulders. I did not know where this ride was going to end but I did know where it would end if I put my hand-blaster away and with it my protection from the trans-metal which I was sure would close a little more rapidly around us the next opportunity it was given were the Kievor given that next chance. I imagined the trans-metal impaling me with millions of micro trans-metal filaments and slicing me into a billion pieces all at once and my grip on that hand-blaster became just that little bit firmer than it had before. I could hardly believe Bren’s invention was working so well but with Bren and technology there was just no accounting for his ability.

  Suddenly there was no longer any trans-metal below us. It was grass below us and a great deal more besides. This fall was slightly longer than any of the previous and I rolled to take the impact out of my landing. I came to my feet in the thick grass, my claws finding solid purchase and now on real soil and solid footing whether my hand-blaster was in my hand or not I would have my first real chance to strike a tangible blow against the Kievor. The grassy plain stretched for as far as the curve of the horizon allowed- a half-kilometer or so in every direction- and upon those lazily-rolling plains had been grazing thousands upon thousands of Kievor. They were no longer grazing. For as far as the eye could see in every direction- I noted as I took a slow look around- stood Kievor staring at us in what I could only call frightened herd fashion- and then Leethea gave them cause to be frightened and opened fire.

  Leethea’s blasts took out two of the closest Kievor but the rest did not run as I had expected. When backed into a corner even a herbivore will fight. The Kievor charged and suddenly both my hand-blasters were speaking.

  Chapter 59

  There were more of them than our blasters could produce bolts and I immediately recognized that we were going to have to run and truly push these lizard bodies to their fullest potentials or be trampled under millions of angry hooves. The Kievor simply charged en-mass as some silent signal was passed among them. They covered the grassy plains for as far as I could see and were charging from one whole half of the horizon. There were hundreds of thousands of Kievor just within sight- I realized as I took in their full scope- and millions of pounding hooves all rushing in our direction. It sent a chill down my spine as I recognized the inadvertent trap we had fallen into. This was where they congregated, where they slept, where they lived when they weren’t on their Station business and we had intruded on their most sacred ground. Serrath turned to fire behind us but the Kievor there quickly outdistanced the fire and began circling around the edge of the horizon and out of our blaster range to queue up for their chance to make a run at us.

  Six hand-blasters were mowing the closest of them down as they came but their ranks were endless and when the main body of the herd hit us it would be like a fully loaded ore-freighter landing on a fully loaded escape pod. Our fire wasn’t even slowing them though for the moment we were still keeping them at bay by concentrating our fire on the closest of the lone charging herbivores but we would never keep the main herd at bay. The Kievor were large animals- fifteen hundred kilos at least I estimated- and there wouldn’t be a scrap of us left to find once that stampeding herd had passed overhead. We had about two seconds before the main bulk of them would hit us like a fifty kilometer an hour runaway brick wall and the hundreds we had already turned into dog food not in the least intimidating them. “Run!” I screamed over the thundering of the hooves and turned and did just that.

  Serrath was ahead of me and Leethea just behind and there for a moment as we heard those thundering hooves racing up behind us, approaching to nearly right behind us and I swearing for a moment I could even feel their hot breaths upon my back- with no time to look back to see just how close they were- I thought the Kievor herd was actually going to catch us and trample us down. Then our amazing reptilian bodies caught their strides and the thundering of the hooves began to fall behind us as with incredible grace we bounded across the grass and easily outraced the frenzied herbivores. Before us stretched an open plane but which suddenly began to fill with Kievor now charging from the opposite direction.

  “Where do we go?” Leethea yelled out to me. A more embarrassing ignominious death I could not imagine but death was all I could imagine at that moment. The Kievor had now closed ranks around us and were charging from every direction. There was nowhere to run.

  “Right here!” I said because there was nowhere left to go. I slid to a halt as I spoke and began firing at the herd once again nearly upon us. The females were firing at my side but time was up as the Kievor closed the last little remaining distance, running fearlessly right into the fire of six repeating blasters and their only concern that enough of them survived to get through the blaster fire to put their hooves on us. We were about to be trampled to death by herbivores.

  It was just about then that I noticed a secondary rumbling somewhere above us- above the brilliant light shining from the trans-metal ten meters above our heads- though now that I noticed it I realized I had been becoming subconsciously aware of the rising noise of the secondary anomaly for the past few moments and this only scant moments before the herd was about to hit us. I didn’t know what was going on or who was doing it but there was a hell of a ruckus going on somewhere right above us and it was definitely increasing in intensity. That was when the lights and gravity went out.

  “Jump!” I told the females as the sound of the millions of thundering hooves vanished with the loss of gravity and then I did just that before my own footing vanished beneath me. I timed my jump fairly well and bumped off the now darkened ceiling just as we heard the mass of Kievor go tumbling past beneath. They were entirely invisible to us in the utter darkness but we plainly heard their distinctly prey animal braying and bellerings of distress mixed with the sounds of heavy bodies colliding at velocity as the now out of control herd tumbled past in the zero gravity environment. Kievor clearly weren’t very coordinated in zero gee I thought crazily.

  Visibility was gone for only a moment however as the first of the horde of storming Fsyth fighters began blasting their way through the still darkened ceiling. The blaster flashes illuminated a strange scene indeed. There were
Kievor floating everywhere and struggling ineffectually to find purchase in the zero gee. Legs kicking and thrashing, unable to understand all that struggle would get them nowhere. My reptiles launched themselves through the new openings still being created in a thousand places at once, guiding themselves by the numerous blaster flashes lighting up the whole place and upon the franticly screaming Kievor floating everywhere in the atmosphere. That was when the lights and gravity came back on.

  It was a reduced gravity and dimmer light, as if some secondary power source had kicked in, but I was on the ground in a moment and sending Kievor blood and gore raining everywhere before the battered and bewildered Kievor could gain their feet and react. Reptiles were dropping from the ceiling in droves however and soon I had to put that blaster away and do as the rest of my reptiles were doing. I fell upon the closest Kievor and with snapping jaws and with flesh shredding teeth took my first taste of a reptile’s favorite snack- fresh organic grass-fed herbivore. It couldn’t get any fresher. The blood ran red.

  Chapter 60

  My reptiles dropped out of the ceiling and right onto the herd. I killed dozens myself before the main body of the herd broke free and quickly raced out of sight. Somehow I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not but I called my reptiles back from chasing after them. If we chased them we would run into a trap was my sure guess. I looked around to find Serrath and Leethea covered in blood and mania shining from eyes. Serrath was still chewing.

  “Finally a taste of revenge.” Leethea said as she licked blood from red-covered green reptilian lips.