by C. F. Harris
She realized who she was trying to hit and blushed, then reached out and touched the spot she’d nearly hit. "Sorry."
"No need to apologize," I said, grinning. "That was pretty damn impressive."
"You will follow us," the Klik said.
It held its plasma rifle up. The tip crackled with energy. One shot from that thing and I’d be having a very bad day. Hell, one shot from that thing and I wouldn't be having a day at all.
"I get the point," I said.
"We can’t…”
I held up a hand to stop whatever she was about to say.
"Kliks pointing high-powered weapons at you isn’t the time to try and fight,” I said.
"Fine," Dalia said, her lip jutting out in a pout.
I had to admire her. After all, she’d just tried to attack a Klik guard in power armor with nothing to augment her combat ability. That was fucking admirable.
Admirable and stupid. Almost as stupid as when I'd tried to do the same, but at least the one I’d attacked back in our cell hadn't been in power armor.
"Another day," I said.
"We’ll make them regret ever doing this to us," she replied.
I smiled and nodded, but I couldn't help but feel that it was so much bluster. No, the closer we got to wherever these two Klik guards were taking us the more I thought something new, different, and very bad was about to go down. Something bad we weren't going to survive.
They walked us down the same familiar corridor I’d walked every other time I was thrust into the arena. I glanced at Dalia and wondered what their game was. Every other time a girl had been thrust into the arena it was from a secondary door that the prizes came out of.
Finally we reached the familiar bars. They hissed up and the guards shoved us through. I heard a loud clang as the bars slammed shut behind us.
Kliks were all around us in the tiered arena seats above, and they were all stomping and doing some rhythmic chanting. That was new and ominous.
I looked at them staring down at us with their eyestalks wiggling in a gesture I'd come to recognize. The crab aliens were really pissed off.
"This is not good," I said.
"You can say that again," Dalia replied. "What do you think is going to happen?"
I listened to what they were chanting. I was mostly familiar with the Klik language, but they were saying a word that was different from anything I'd ever heard before.
"I have no idea," I said. "It's a damn shame though. Just when things were starting to get interesting back in the cell.”
"Who's to say they won't get interesting again?"
“That’d be nice, but I’m not holding my breath right about now beautiful.”
“You know just what to say to make a girl feel all fuzzy inside,” she growled.
I looked to the other side of the arena. Something was happening over there. The bars came up. I peered into the darkness, expecting to see another fighter like the one we’d faced last time around. Only as the bars hissed up I realized there was something even larger and more ominous hiding in the darkness. Something that glowed in all the wrong places.
I swallowed. Fuck. This was about as bad as it could possibly get.
"Is that what I think it is?" Dalia asked.
"It is," I replied.
It was starting to look like I'd been absolutely correct that something bad was about to happen. I hated when I was right.
A Klik in power armor stepped into the arena. It was the same segmented battle armor I recognized from my time fighting the Kliks planetside. We’re talking the real deal. The kind of thing they used to subjugate entire worlds. Not the kind of weak bullshit the guards used on their ships.
Fuck.
The thing was armed and ready to do damage. And as I looked it over I realized there was something else different about this power armor.
One armored eyestalk was hanging loose. As though there wasn't anything in there to hold it up. And then the dawning realization hit me.
"It's the researcher,” I said. “The one I attacked."
"What are you talking about?" Dalia asked. "That can't possibly be…"
I didn't respond. I simply pointed to the eyestalk hanging limp. Her eyes went wide. Suddenly what the guards said made a lot more sense.
"Satisfaction," I said. "They're going to let him kill us because of what we did to him."
"Oh," Dalia said. “Fuck.”
I looked to the center of the arena. To where the usual weapons were waiting. At least they had the good grace to give us weapons to defend ourselves with. The only problem was the weapons were the same old weapons with a blade at one end of a stick and a large blunt metal ball at the other end of the stick.
Not the kind of thing that’d hold up all that well to a Klik in full power armor.
It was even worse than when I’d been sent out with the penal battalions planetside. At least then they gave us real energy weapons. Sure there weren’t enough weapons for everyone to go around, but that’d never been a problem. The survival rate for people in those penal battalions was so dismal that they expected the first wave to die with the next wave picking up those weapons to continue the assault.
The Klik lurched into the arena and its remaining eyestalks fell on us. A speaker crackled to life on the front of the armor and it let out a bloodcurdling shriek that sounded exactly like the shriek it let out back when I was busy whipping its shell with its torn off eyestalk.
Yeah, if there'd been any doubt in my mind that we were facing down the same Klik I’d assaulted then that doubt was gone as I heard it shriek. It lurched forward.
Lurched was the right word. There was something off about the way it moved that gave me hope. That made me think there might be a real possibility of getting out of this alive. The thing obviously wasn’t used to running around in power armor.
And why not? The thing was a researcher. It wasn't used to combat. The Kliks probably threw it in here thinking power armor would be the only advantage the thing needed.
Maybe that would be all the thing needed if it was going up against anyone else, but I had experience fighting these things. Experience that was hard won fighting for a planet my people didn't even care about aside from the fact that as long as the Kliks were attacking that planet they weren’t attacking one of the more critical systems.
My eyes narrowed. If this thing wanted to dance then it was time to dance.
17
Kir
"Try to distract it!" I shouted.
“What?” she shouted back.
"It's the researcher," I said. "It doesn't know what it's doing in hand-to-hand combat. We need to take advantage of that!”
“I’m a pilot!" Dalia shouted as the Klik went after her. "I don't know what I'm doing in hand-to-hand combat either! It’s been years since I had basic training!”
Well there's never been a better time to remember!” I shouted.
I dove across the arena and picked up one of those primitive weapons. Turned around and looked at the Klik. Armor covered its shell above and segmented armor bits held together by some sort of hydraulics or machinery down below covered the legs. That segmented armor was the weak spot. That was what I needed to take advantage of.
The Kliks were spindly. Those legs were difficult to defend and easy to bust if they weren’t in their power armor. Next to those eyestalks the legs were probably the single most vulnerable part of these alien assholes. It was the perfect spot to apply a little bit of blunt force trauma to try and disable one of them.
I learned that the hard way watching a lot of men die. I wasn't even going to say they were good men, they’d been in the penal battalions after all, but I still felt bad for them. Thrust into the meatgrinder to buy a little more time for the actual military was less than most men deserved.
The Klik stumbled forward and swung out a claw at Dalia. I couldn’t tell if it didn’t know how to use the double plasma cannons attached to its armor, or if it was playing with her because i
t wanted to make this as painful and drawn out as possible.
Knowing what I knew now of the Kliks I was inclined to say it was the latter.
Oh well. If it wasn't going to use the high-tech weapons at its disposal I was more than happy to take advantage of the advantage it was giving us. Especially when the Kliks setting this thing up had been stupid enough to give us weapons.
The jerks probably thought primitive blunt force weapons wouldn’t be any good against a Klik in power armor. The real bitch was they were probably right, but that wasn’t going to stop me from trying.
I ran forward, pushing away the sound of Kliks stomping and shouting down at us. I slammed my weapon down on one of the Klik’s rear legs. The thing buckled and I heard its speaker crackle to life as it let out a cry of anger.
I smiled. It wasn't much, but it was proof that what I’d done on the planet I’d been captured on hadn’t been a fluke. This was a weakness that could be exploited.
Normally a Klik warrior was experienced enough to keep someone away from its legs. I’d discovered that weak spot, but it was obvious they knew about it as well. The one I took out on the planet had no doubt thought it would be fun to crush me under its carapace, and it’d given me an opportunity to attack it instead.
The big difference between that fight and this one was the Klik we were facing down now didn’t have any combat experience. I could use that.
Arrogance. Inexperience. They were two things that were universal in this galaxy. This was a Klik who’d give me every advantage without realizing it.
The researcher tried to spin around and some part of its armor smacked me sending me flying. It was completely by accident, but even doing something by accident hurt when that accident was backed up by the full power of the damned Klik’s armor.
The thing heaved around to face me. I wasn't sure what to do. Shit. It wasn't fun facing down the business end of a Klik. He waved his armored pincers around trying to keep me from getting close enough to land another blow on those legs.
Crap. He’d realized his weakness. That was the only advantage I had. Any moment now it was going to use its plasma rifles and that’d be the end of everything.
So I did the only thing I could think of. I tossed my weapon to the side and ran. If I could distract the thing then it might give Dalia a chance to do… something. I didn’t know what I expected her to do, honestly, but I had to hope for something.
The Klik took the bait and came after me. The ground shook under me as heavy power armor slammed into the dirt. Only there was something irregular about its movement. As though it was injured.
I smiled. Maybe I’d done more damage with that blow to its leg than I thought.
I reached the wall and turned around. Sure enough the thing was coming for me. I was against a wall and I realized, too late, that I’d trapped myself.
Stupid!
The Klik raised a claw. Yeah, it was playing with us. Maybe it wanted us to feel as much pain as it had when I ripped its eyestalk out.
Whatever the reason, there was going to be no shot from a plasma rifle followed by a quick trip to oblivion for me. No, he was going to make this hurt before he finally killed me.
I expected to feel another hit, but instead the Klik was the one who screeched in pain. It stumbled to the side revealing Dalia behind it with my discarded weapon in her hand. She whirled around and slammed the thing into the Klik’s leg again. It was enough to cause the armored segments to buckle, and there was a shower of sparks as a piece of armor actually broke free.
"Try to cut it!" I shouted.
Dalia had said she didn't have much experience with ground combat, but I wouldn't know that from the way she wielded that weapon. She twirled it around and brought the blade end down to the segment that’d been blown open. There was another shudder from the Klik power armor as its leg was knocked out from under it. This just wasn’t the day for this Klik when it came to keeping its various extremities.
The Klik tried scurrying away, but it was made more difficult because of the missing leg.
Yeah, this was a scientist who thought he’d have a little fun at our expense, and now he was finding the easy prey wasn't as easy as he thought.
"You should’ve led with the plasma cannon buddy," I said.
The Klik might’ve been unwilling to use the plasma cannon in the name of having a little fun and prolonging our torture, but I wasn't making the same mistake. The Klik was twirling around in a circle, screeching as its eyestalks turned this way and that to get a look at its recently removed leg, and I figured now was the time to take advantage of the thing’s predicament.
I hopped onto its shell and grabbed at the nearest plasma rifle. The thing was supposed to be automatically operated as part of the power armor, but I’d transported enough grey market Klik armor smuggled out of abandoned battlefields that I’d long ago learned how to quickly override their power armor’s programming to switch these to a stand-alone weapon.
Assuming I could disconnect it from the power armor with the Klik bucking under me and trying to get me off of it.
"What are you doing?" Dalia shouted.
"I need to get this thing disconnected!” I shouted back.
The only problem? It was a lot easier to pull these plasma rifles off when I was sitting in the bay of my ship working on a piece of contraband Klik power armor with a full set of tools. Less so when I was in an arena pulling at the power armor of a Klik that was still very much alive and very much able to move around and try to knock me off.
Never mind that he wasn't a warrior. Never mind that he wasn't a fighter. He could still make things difficult for me.
"I can't get it off!" I said.
The Klik was still moving in panicked circles, but that could end at any moment. It could realize what I was trying to do and end me. The person in the control booth up top could realize what I was trying to do and fire on me. I didn’t have long, and a prickle ran up and down my skin as time slipped away.
I couldn't reach the locking mechanism when the bastard was moving and bucking like this. The Klik shifted again and looked up as it dropped to the ground to try and get rid of me. Or maybe it fell because it was off balance from losing a leg. It shifted, and I realized its game. It was trying to flip over to crush me, and as heavy as this armor was it’d work.
A shadow fell across us. Dalia held her hand out. A weapon materialized there and I stared in astonishment.
"How long were you planning on hiding that thing?"
"Until it was needed," she said. "And this seems like the opportune moment.”
She squeezed off a couple of shots. My hair stood on end as the bolts sizzled past. Damn. She was cutting that close! She was also a pretty good shot. I was left wondering if maybe she’d underplayed her ground combat abilities just a bit.
It did the job. The blast hit the Klik and it went still. That gave me enough time to work at the locking mechanism holding the plasma rifle in place, the quick release they had in the event of the autoturreting being disabled was a hell of a security flaw on the off chance someone got within melee range, and the plasma rifle came loose in my hands.
"Gotta love the Kliks and their inability to imagine a scenario where someone could do something like this,” I said.
The theory was the power armor could be disabled and the Klik warrior would still be able to rapidly disconnect the plasma rifle and use it since it relied on an independent power source.
The practical upshot was I was able to use the thing too, which probably wasn’t what the original Klik designers had intended. I flipped open a small control panel and yanked at the wire designed to slave the thing to the power armor. It was quick work to pull the thing out. I held my breath as the rifle buzzed and sputtered for a moment, wondering if this was going to work in the field, but then the thing started to hum ominously and I grinned.
I looked up at Dalia and my grin widened. "We're in business!"
I stood up, pointed the weapon down a
t the Klik, and fired a couple of shots. There was one final squeal as the plasma blasted through its armor and then did its terrible work to the far softer and gooey insides.
I looked up at Dalia. Eyed the weapon in her hand. Looked at her torn clothing and her toned body.
She’d never looked more beautiful. Or dangerous. I hefted my new toy.
"Are you ready to do some damage?"
18
Dalia
"You know it," I said.
I was really glad I'd saved the magical moment when I revealed the hidden weapon stored in my subcutaneous pattern buffer. It meant I was able to get off one hell of a surprise, and now we both had weapons.
I figured that was the Kliks’ fault for sending an inexperienced researcher in to try and fight us. What did they think was going to happen? That he was going to crush us just because he had armor?
Then again I guess I could see a Klik thinking that way. These sons of bitches were arrogant, and I figured that arrogance was the kind of thing we could use against them.
I was learning all sorts of fun things about these alien assholes. My real trick was going to be surviving long enough to let the rest of humanity know what I’d learned.
Kir looked up. I heard something moving above us and the sound of the crowd rolled over me. I’d been so focused on the Klik trying to kill me that I hadn't thought about all the Kliks surrounding us. Now I thought about them and then some.
We were surrounded by enemies. Though as I looked up and around I couldn't help but smile. After all, we might be surrounded by enemies on all sides, but we were surrounded by enemies who weren't wearing armor, and it looked like most of them hadn't bothered to carry weapons in here either. Otherwise they’d be using them on us.
Most of them did seem apoplectic at what we’d just done. More of that arrogance. They were so upset at what we’d done that none of them had stopped to think about the potentially dangerous implications our jailbreak was going to have for them.
