First of my Kind

by Stevens, Marc

  I heaved myself out of the tube and viciously kicked the Tibor’s other pistol from his hand before he could turn it on me. He looked up at me with a neutral expression on his homely face. It was all I could do not to pull the trigger as I stood over him with the shotgun pointed into his face. The explosive rounds that hit the calf armor on his leg ripped the plating loose and left an ugly wound. I took a couple of deep breaths and eased the pressure on the shotguns trigger. I did not have it in me to execute the unarmed Tibor but knew he would not return the favor unless I could somehow persuade him we were not enemies. In the back of my mind I could hear Justice telling me to speak with power and authority.

  “If you and the rest of your crew wish to live, I will let you leave in your shuttle. You have fought with honor and I no longer hunger for your destruction. I will now turn my wrath on the skulking cowards who run this station. They have trespassed on my world and unlawfully seized innocent citizens. They have preyed upon the weak and defenseless. Now I come to prey upon all the lawless cowards that have committed crimes against my people. I am bewildered why you would spit on the honor of your clan by protecting criminals.

  The Tibor looked like he was stunned by my outburst.

  The wounded Tibor croaked out, “I know nothing about the crimes you speak of. I was hired to guard this station from pirate scat such as you, nothing more.”

  I started laying it on thick before the Tibor decided to take action. “You have been corrupted by the deceitful lies of murderous cowards. Soon there will be no station to guard. I am going to destroy this cesspool. You and your crew must leave now or you will wander the void for eternity with soulless cowards.”

  The Tibor looked truly shocked by my words. “If what you say is true, I have dishonored my clan and deserve to perish along with the filth I have pledged allegiance to. End my life now so I will not suffer another moment of disgrace. I am the last of my race on this station, take my shuttle as your own and remember the honor of our battle.”

  What the hell! The Tibor still wanted me to kill it. I opted for more righteous rhetoric.

  “I sense your honesty and I know well of the murderous treachery of those who are in charge of this station. They hide behind honorable warriors then spit upon your graves when you fall. You are only guilty of poor judgment, which is not a crime that warrants the death of an honorable warrior. Your bravery in the face of death taints the taste of my revenge. I regret destroying your crew for the crimes of others. I have done a great injustice to the honor of their clans. I ask you to reconsider your decision to die and take compensation to the clans of the warriors I have slain. I was reared in the ways of righteousness by my clan elders and I will not go to my maker with this misdeed weighing upon my soul. I offer up one million credits to each of the clans that lost a warrior to my implacable rage.”

  I could tell by the look on the Tibor’s face, hostilities between us were over. Nothing pisses on honor more than being made a sucker by criminals who target the weak. I guess there was only one real way of finding out if I was correct. I pulled my shotgun out of the Tibor’s face and turned my back on him as casually as possible and started reloading my weapon. If something was going to happen, it would be now. I could hear him struggling to push himself against the wall. I turned back to him with my loaded shotgun pointing at the floor. He looked me up and down then gave me a quizzical look and said,

  “What race are you, I wish to know who I now owe for my life and the honor you bring to the clans of the fallen.”

  It was done I had won him over. “I can only tell you my name is Nathan Myers and until I bring my world’s enemies to judgment, it is wise to say no more.”

  My fancily worded parley was quickly running out of steam. I needed to get back on mission now that I knew the meanest mothers on the station were not going to be a problem anymore. The Tibor was going to say something but got interrupted by Tria as she dropped out of the down tube with both weapons pointed at the Tibor.

  The Tibor looked surprised and then said, “You have chosen your allies well Nathan Myers. Even cloaked it is not difficult to see you have a Chaalt warrior with you. This speaks well for your honor. The Chaalt would never seek an alliance with pirates. Chaalt females are regarded throughout the galaxy as extremely capable warriors.”

  Chaalt female warriors! What the hell, this is a story I would definitely like to hear. I was sure she could sense my curiosity, but she came to warn me of more impending mayhem.

  Tria kept her weapons trained on the Tibor and stepped close enough for me to pick up her discreet comms. “Justice did not wish to interrupt your negotiations, so he thought I should come down and personally inform you a large gathering of Sitch has left the hangar and is currently headed to this location. Coonts has made little headway with the command center door. He believes we are running out of time. The chances for the Overmaster to contact help increases with every moment we are delayed.”

  I nodded to her and turned back to the Tibor. “Tibor, I wish to know your title so that I might address you properly. The Overmaster in charge of this station is sending his slaves to take up his cowardly cause. I do not think the Sitch will care who they kill when they arrive at this location. I will find no honor in slaying the mindless surrogates of these criminals, but all who oppose me shall fall.”

  “I am Troop Master Klutch, and I am patriarch of clan Zuma. I will stand and fight to my end to restore the honor of my clan.”

  “Nathan, I have picked up the massed signals of sixty one Sitch control units moving to your location. There will be great danger if you are overrun. I suggest you go to the command center level and make your stand. They will be easier to target as they attempt to leave the lift tube.”

  “Troop master Klutch, I believe it would be to our advantage to go to the upper level and destroy the enemy as they leave the lift tube.”

  “No Nathan Myers, I will stand my ground. It is not the way of the Tibor to turn our backs to the enemy. I will suffer no more loss of honor. I will thin the herd so you will live on to avenge your people.”

  Crap! I had a feeling he would say that. I walked over and collected his weapons and handed them back to him. I reached down to help him stand upright on his damaged leg. It was like trying to pick up a house. The front of my cloak suit was a tattered wreck from the repeated back blasts from my explosive shells. There wouldn’t be any hide and shoot tactics. I looked to where Tria stood cloaked and started to tell her to go up the lift tube but knew without saying anything she would refuse. I vividly remembered my last encounter with Sitch and called out to my allies.

  “I have fought the slaves of these cowards before. We can slow their attack by taking their legs out as they come through the door. I will start things off and when my weapons run dry, I will step back to reload. Tria you come forward and shoot till you run out then step back so Troop Master Klutch can give them what he’s got. Shout out if you get in trouble and we’ll help each other as best we can.”

  I reached down and felt the handle of my hunting knife. I was not discounting the possibility of having to use it before the battle was over. I noticed Klutch looking at me while I readied myself. He gave me a horrific toothy smile then pulled out about a 16 inch long knife from behind his breast armor. It had a bright glowing edge on it and looked wicked as hell. I wondered at what point during our battle he would have introduced me to that bit of bad news. He stabbed it a few times in the direction of his fallen comrades. I finally got the idea and walked to the drop tube and searched the fallen Tibor until I came up with two of the weapons. Then I thought about it for another second and searched till I found the last one and gave Tria two.

  I caught sight of movement in the next room. For some strange reason the nervous fear of the coming combat seemed to fade away. It was hard to explain, but I was starting to feel as if there was no other place I would rather be. Even Justice was quiet and had nothing to say. I quickly passed it off as not wanting the aliens with me to th
ink poorly of humans when it came to a fight. I could see the crowd of grotesque slave beast moving rapidly through the lab. I oddly felt a sudden calm settle in on me and I took comfort in the fact that no matter what happens it is the will of my maker.

  17

  I steadied myself for the coming onslaught and I felt the familiar grim smile come to my lips. I was glad my comrades could not see my face because they would surely think some form of madness gripped me.

  I waited until the Sitch made it to the wrecked doorway. I took aim and put two explosive rounds into their legs momentarily clearing the doorway before they started to rush in at us. I gave them three more rounds and then jerked the pistol out and gave them six more before falling back just behind Tria’s position to reload. Hot brass started raining down in front of me as Tria started giving them hell with the AR and then the shotgun. She dropped the mag on the AR and reloaded as the shotgun ran dry. She let loose with another thirty rounds from the AR then stepped back behind me because it took too long to load the shotgun. Klutch started firing his pistols. Each pistol could discharge six shots before the end of the weapon became white hot. The heat and kinetic energy released when they hit their target was incredible.

  There was a huge thrashing pile of Sitch almost blocking the end of the hallway as Klutch’s weapons went quiet. I could only get four rounds in the pistol before it was time to give them another five from the goose gun. I slowed my fire and waited until a Sitch made it up onto the growing pile before knocking it back onto the rest of its mindless companions. Tria yelled she was ready and I once again stepped back behind her as she put rounds into the growing mass of targets. Klutch’s pistols were still a golden orange at the discharge ports so he tossed them down and drew the big knife and hobbled towards the oozing messy pile of Sitch.

  I pulled the pistol back up and shot down four more before holstering the pistol and reaching to pull the Tibor fighting knife from the floor. I looked over to Tria as she set the rifle and shotgun on the floor. The pale blue glow of her power source indicator moved towards the knives sticking in the floor. I had a hard time not letting maniacal giggles escape my lips as I witnessed the floating knives rotating in figure eights and spinning circles like the blades of a lawn mower. That girl has secrets I have just got to know!

  As we got closer more Sitch were pushing over the top of the morbid pile. Since Klutch and I were the two visible targets, we were getting a lot of attention. The creatures moved rapidly toward us. Klutch barreled right in slashing. I opted for the jump in your face and hack your big rotating eyeballs off approach, which worked for the first couple. I got caught with a huge blow to the side of my helmet that knocked me down. One of the big bastards tried and stomp me to death. It was getting some good shots in on me. I slashed one of its legs badly enough to bring it down on the floor with me. In its mad attempt to grab me I cleaned one of its arms and one of the rotating eyeballs off it before it finally lost interest. I was trying to regain my footing when Sitch appendages rained down from above me. I looked up to see Tria’s cloaked power source floating gracefully while shredding the current king of the hill. It was frightening to watch the two Tibor fighting knives cut and slash with practiced surgical precision.

  I hope Tria never hears “Sweet cheeks” was less than a respectable moniker.

  The Tibor was in a corner but was giving better than he was getting. The huge pile of corpses was funneling his opponents into him one at a time. I wish I would have thought of that! I climbed back up the pile to the king’s position wondering where the Queen of Death got off to. When I found her she was pinned and taking a beating. I leaped off the pile landing on the Sitch flailing at her. I split its cone head down the middle and shove it aside so I could pull Tria up to her feet. I was going to get on her about not calling for help, but was jerked violently backwards and thrown to the outstretched arms of the last dozen or so Sitch. I landed in a heap losing my grip on the Tibor fighting knife. I was getting the hell stomped out of me when Tria landed across my legs and got the same treatment.

  We were being overwhelmed; I could not keep blocking the heavy blows I was taking to my head. I was starting to panic when a Sitch was knocked off of me by the Tibor. He rolled down the back side of the pile to the edge of the lab where Tria and I were getting tenderized. I sat up only to have a Sitch get a grip on my helmet. It proceeded to try to tear my head off. I jerked my hunting knife from my boot and stabbed the arms wrenching at my head. My vision was blurry, and I did not think I could take much more. I thought I was hallucinating. A Sitch started flying around over my head pounding the hell out of its companions then landing in a heap. Then another one started the bizarre aerial display crashing into the beast working over Tria. My vision cleared and the ringing in my ears calmed to the point I could hear someone talking.

  Coonts uncloaked and said, “Mr. Myers, The Chaalt and most assuredly the Tibor should have pointed out to you being in such close proximity to Sitch during a death match is considered foolhardy behavior by all races.”

  The Grawl’s use of the gravity jack as a weapon was scary to watch. He used the few remaining Sitch as weapons to smash the rest of the mindless beast into piles of thrashing limbs. Coonts use of human sarcasm to express his point was almost amusing if it were not for the fact I was groping around in alien corpses trying to recover my Tibor fighting knife. I pushed myself up from the grotesque pile of limbs and entrails. I looked at my battered troops and decided even the Tibor earned combat pay after surviving this goat rope. We had a meeting to attend with the asshole in charge and his survival was very much in doubt.

  “Coonts did you get the control room door open?”

  “Before I came down to assess your progress in negotiating a peaceful surrender of this facility, I made sure no one was able to exit the room until we returned.”

  I had to give the Grawl credit where credit was due. I was not sure about Tria or Klutch but I do not think I could have taken a beating like that for much longer. I helped Tria to her feet and turned back to Coonts.

  “Coonts, I must commend you on your additional input to the negotiations. We have come to a permanent solution to problems we were encountering. You have earned every credit of your combat pay. I suggest we go up tube and finalize the deal.” It was doubtful if the Grawl had ever received praise for a job well done. I was not positive, but I thought he might be smiling.

  I introduced Coonts to Klutch. The Tibor gave him a bow of respect for bailing us out of a bad situation and said, “In all my star rises I have never witnessed such bravery from a Grawl. You bring honor to your clan.” The Grawl stood up straighter and it looked like his chest puffed out a little. We were going to climb over the pile of dead Sitch but Coonts held a finger up to us. Using the gravity jack, he bulldozed us a path through the mutilated corpses like Moses parting the Red Sea.

  Battered, bruised and pretty pissed off, we arrived in front of the command center door. Coonts went back to work with the gravity jack. He was jerking the door up and down trying to tear it out of its frame. It was getting looser but refused to break free. I suggested letting me try, but the big Tibor held up his hands. We stopped and watched him walk up to the door and examine the frame. He hobbled three steps back and wounded leg and all came bounding forward leading with his armored shoulder. He rammed the door sending it crashing into the control room. Unfortunately the moron in charge chose the spot where the door landed to stretch out on the floor and surrender. It was a very unhealthy choice on his part.

  “Coonts shut down the alarm and tell the remaining personnel on this station to gather in the hangar and assume the position if they don’t want to join that pile of Sitch.”

  “Yes Mr. Myers!”

  I stopped and gave the Grawl a big Earthman smile “Coonts, I would like you to call me Nathan from now on. The same goes for you Tria, and you Klutch. We stood against overwhelming odds and walked away victorious. Together we are a force to reckon with.”

  Tria sh
ook her head and said, “No Nathan Myers your aura shines brightly. It is a sign our maker stands with us and has set you on this righteous path.”

  The Chaalt was entitled to think whatever she wanted. I personally thought I had found my wayward dumb luck.

  “Nathan, I have gained access to the security systems now that the alarm has ceased functioning. You now have access to the secured storage areas.”

  I appreciated good news accompanying the return of my dumb luck.

  “Justice, release your captives and inform them of the situation. If you suspect any treachery contact me immediately. We’re going after your processing cores, we believe we have located two, but could use help to locate the others. Keep me appraised.”

  “Coonts you and Tria secure the cores we have located and continue searching the facility for anything else of interest.”

  “Klutch, do you have medical supplies aboard your shuttle to patch up your leg wound?”

  “Yes Nathan Myers, the shuttle has emergency medical supplies. I have given over the ownership of the shuttle to you and only the lowest of Tibor scum would go back on their word. I never expected to survive the battle and only did so with the aid of you and your crew. The shuttle is now your property. No one will question a Troop Master’s word on this matter. Such is the way of armed conflict. The shuttle is now the spoils of a warrior’s victory as it would be anywhere else in the galaxy.”