Star Cat: Killer Instinct

by Andrew Mackay

  “Not exactly,” Jaycee continued. “When I was a little boy, all I ever—”

  “—Yeah, you s-said that already. Skip to the good bit.”

  “Space. Go into space and find new worlds. And occasionally kill some aliens,” Jaycee thumped his exo-suit shoulder pad, right on the USARIC logo. “Those bastards back on Earth gave me the opportunity. But now that I’ve taken that opportunity, I don’t know what to do next.”

  “S-So?” Jelly sat up straight and scratched her nose, “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  Jaycee smiled and helped her up, “You came along, Jelly. You changed everything. I’m not sure what it is you’ve changed, or what your purpose is, but you’ve managed it so far.”

  Jaycee yanked her to her feet and looked at her. Seven feet and five inches of gorgeous half woman, half cat stood before him.

  In pain, sure, but standing nevertheless.

  “I’m n-not so sure about that, Jaycee.”

  Her retort genuinely surprised him.

  “What? Why?”

  “I’m n-not a good cat. I’m n-not much of a human, either. I’m both, yet I’m neither. A part of me wants to protect everyone, and the other half wants to kill.”

  “Huh?”

  “When I was a little girl,” Jelly quipped. “My sisters and I were abandoned by our owner. Left in the middle of the freeway for dead. I should have saved them, but I c-couldn’t.”

  “I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”

  “Ngggg,” Jelly spluttered and cleared her throat, “I-I could have saved them. They trusted m-me.”

  Jaycee frowned, knowing full well that any addition to the conversation would be met with derision.

  “Look, we’ve come this far, Jelly. We can’t do anything about the past, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure whatever is planned for us in the future is done and finished.”

  She smiled at her friend and clutched her jaw. A subtle growl flew up her throat, culminating in a freaky cat-yawn into his face. The momentary visual nightmare of such an action - the sharp teeth, elongated smile, and weird retraction of skin and fur around her eyes took him by surprise.

  “Damn, Jelly. You’re scary when you do that.”

  Jelly licked her lips and sniffed the tears away, “Sorry.”

  “Feeling better?”

  “A bit—”

  AYY-ROOOOO-GAH.

  The alarms sounded off unexpectedly. All the lights in the walkway dimmed, replaced by spinning red lights.

  “Occupants and employees of Space Opera Charlie,” Manny’s voice whirled down the stairwell, “This is a message of warning. This is not a drill. This is not a dramatization—”

  Jaycee looked up and grabbed Jelly’s hand in his, “Huh?”

  “What the hell?”

  Alex’s voice could be heard in the distance, “Jelly? Jaycee? Can you hear me?”

  “That’s Alex,” Jaycee pulled Jelly forward and ran with her towards the control deck, “Sounds bad.”

  “Alex?” Jelly yelled. “We can hear you.”

  “Jelly?” came the response, “Guys, listen. We have a situation, here. Whatever you do, do not enter the control deck. I repeat, do not enter the control deck—”

  Jaycee’s heels skidded along the walkway. He extended his arm and kept Jelly from moving forward.

  The room to the control deck door loomed in the distance. The rolling red lights flipped up and down in time to the alarm.

  “You there, big man?” Alex’s hurried voice came from Jaycee’s Individimedia Ink on his forearm.

  “Yes. We’re by the primary airlock.”

  “We got a situation in here, man,” Alex hurried. “Is Jelly with you?”

  “Yes, she is,” Jaycee glanced at her heaving chest.

  A coronary wasn’t far away for Jelly.

  “Miew.”

  “Good,” Alex quipped, urgently. “No time to explain. I don’t have any weaponry. I hope you’ve got some serious firepower on you, though.”

  “—Huh?” Jaycee yelped into his wrist, “What do you mean serious—”

  “—I have to do it, man. I have to protect Jelly’s girls and the control deck. I’m sorry.”

  “What do you mean you’re sorry—?”

  SCHWUMP — WHOOOOSH.

  The door to the control deck opened up and vomited out a chair with a half-Tripp, half-Shanta tied to it. The casters rolled at speed along the walkway, headed for Jaycee and Jelly.

  “Oh, oh, shiiii—” Jaycee saw the door slam shut in front of Alex.

  “Deal with him, he’s turning,” Alex screamed through Jaycee’s headgear.

  “Jelly, move,” Jaycee planted the sole of his boot on her hip and kicked her out of the path of the zooming chair.

  WHUMP—THUD!

  As Jelly slammed against the wall, the chair clipped the end of her tail.

  “Miew.”

  Jaycee stepped back and let the chair scream past him, “Is that… Tripp?”

  “SHAAAAAAANTAAAAA,” came the croaking, ungodly voice.

  The chair whizzed along the ground, towards the airlock.

  Tripp’s top half rocked forward and smashed his forehead against the already-broken window on the hatch.

  SPRRIISSHHHHHH.

  A gust of decompressed air blasted through the shattered glass, lacerating Tripp’s neck.

  “Oh… my… God,” Jaycee widened his eyes as he watched his former Captain stumble forward on six of his limbs and shake the head away from the cavity.

  “Jelly, uh, be a good girl and take cover in the control deck. I got this one.”

  Jaycee unhooked his Rez-9 and took aim at the Shanta.

  “What?” she spat and extended her infinity claws, “You think I’m gonna leave you here to deal with that bastard?”

  “It’s not safe here, pet. You need to go and keep Alex and your children safe—”

  BLOITCH-SPAAATTCCHH.

  Tripp’s body cracked open and shattered against the ground, releasing the Shanta within. It growled and slammed all twelve of its limbs against the walkway walls.

  BLAM-BLAM.

  Jaycee fired two shots and missed the Shanta entirely. Its first limb smacked the gun out of his hand.

  The second limb rammed him in the stomach, hurling him against the wall.

  “Gaaoow.”

  The Shanta’s midsection swung around to face Jaycee and Jelly. The slit in the central section shimmied apart and revealed its razor-sharp, goo-covered fangs.

  “SCREEEEEEEEEE.”

  Jaycee staggered to his feet and coughed, “Ugh, I think I dislodged something.”

  Jelly rolled her head around, cracking out the knots in her neck. She was ready to fight once again.

  “Don’t call me pet, Jaycee. I’m much worse than that.”

  She took a step forward and fanned her claws out in front of her face, threatening the disgusting, fleshy Shanta blob in front of her.

  “Hey, you.”

  “SCREEEEEEEEEE.”

  Jelly scrunched her face in anger at the Shanta as it moved its limbs along the wall, inching closer and closer to her along the walkway.

  “You killed my friend,” Jelly lowered her infinity claw and offered the Shanta a piece of her, “Come and get me. Pick on someone your own size, asshole.”

  RAAAAAARRRR.

  Her threat worked. The Shanta didn’t understand English, but knew for sure Jelly was offering herself to it.

  Its ugly limbs slapped along both walls, ceiling, and floor like a complicated octopus-cartwheel. Its talons created sparks as they scraped against the surface of each section of the walkway.

  “That’s it, that’s it,” Jelly whispered, readying herself, “Come to mommy.”

  “Uh, Jelly?” Jaycee tried. “I, uh, don’t have any weapons on me.”

  She closed her eyes in a huff, already fed up with his whining. She looked over her shoulder and snorted, “Then why don’t you be a good boy and go take co
ver in the control deck?”

  “What?”

  “I got this one,” she finished and returned to the approaching Shanta. “Come on, you ugly bastard. Come to mommy.”

  The Shanta pressed six of its limbs against the wall and catapulted itself at Jelly. She jumped back and swiped her infinity claws at it.

  SWISH-SHWUMP.

  She tore a chunk of pink gore from two of its limbs. It tumbled to the floor like a crazy, agonized squid and slammed its ten remaining good limbs against the walls and ground, ready to strike.

  “Yeah, yeah, come on. You know you want some more, Healy,” she licked her mouth and bolted after it.

  “Jelly, no,” Jaycee called after her.

  She ran forward, but fell to her knees in pain, “Uggghhhhh,” her low-pitched growl forced ropes of spit against the floor, “My t-tummy hurts.”

  “Jelly,” Jaycee called after her, “Get out of the—”

  WHOOOOOOSH-SCHLAAAMMMMM.

  The Shanta took advantage of its opportunity. It whipped its first three limbs out and punched Jelly in the side of her head, smashing her against the ground.

  “Bastard,” Jaycee ran toward the ghastly creature and clenched his fists, “Leave her alone.”

  “SCREEEEEE.”

  The Shanta turned its attention to Jaycee, who lifted his arm and prepared to punch its throat into the floor.

  “Yaaaaaah.”

  WHVOOOM.

  Jaycee launched himself over Jelly’s chest and punched the Shanta in its midsection. It released itself from the wall and slammed to the ground in pain.

  Jaycee fell to his knees and made a mad scramble for Jelly. She was hurt; battered, bruised, bleeding, and rolling around on the floor in agony.

  “Jelly,” he said, “Take my h-hand.”

  Jelly removed her arms from her face and rolled onto her back, “Nuh, nuh.”

  He widened his eyes in horror.

  Jelly’s face had cracked. Most of the fur had shed from her face, revealing a porcelain-textured layer of skin.

  More human than feline.

  She whined in agony and, as she screamed, her whiskers pushed out - along with the front of her skull.

  GRUNT.

  “Whoa, Jelly,” he said, backing up along the walkway, temporarily forgetting that this trajectory would lead him to the Shanta.

  GRRROOWWWWLLL.

  Jaycee climbed to his feet in shock, and ended up right underneath the Shanta, who prepared for another strike.

  Jaycee tried his luck, “Tripp?”

  The Shanta loosened its limbs and appeared to squint at the man.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Jaycee huffed, somewhat relieved that he might be able to talk some sense into the beast, “It’s you in there, isn’t it?”

  “SCREEEEEEEEEEE—”

  “—No,” Jaycee said. “You got inside my friend, and now you want to take us?”

  The Shanta flicked its talons out and stabbed Jaycee’s shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

  “SHAAAAAANNNTTAAAAAA.”

  “Ngggg,” Jaycee winced and coughed out a mound of pink blood. “Let me go.”

  He tried to kick at the ghastly beast, but it wasn’t much use.

  Jaycee had an idea, “Tripp, I know you’re in there. Let me g-go.”

  “Shaaaaaaaaantaaaaa,” the creature whispered.

  Jaycee stared in the creature’s slit, “Your wife remarried, Tripp. She thought you were dead.”

  The Shanta’s midsection tilted and blinked it slit. For a brief moment, Jaycee knew Tripp was in there somewhere.

  “I meant t-to t-tell you,” he struggled through the pain, “I’m sorry, Tripp.

  WHUMP.

  Jaycee saw the floor rumble up to his ass as he hit the floor. The Shanta had unpinned him.

  He looked up at the creature, who appeared to take the news pretty badly. It retracted its limbs and hung its midsection.

  “Tripp?”

  The Shanta flicked its talons and turned to face Jaycee, who held his hand out at it.

  “Friends?”

  The Shanta trundled over to him using its first four limbs.

  Jaycee felt his life flash before his eyes. He looked over at Jelly groaning on the floor for a second longer than he should have.

  It gave the Shanta enough time to strike.

  BAAAMMMM. STRAAAPPP.

  “Whaaa,” Jaycee yelped as his feet lifted off the ground. The Shanta’s limbs twirled him upside down.

  SCHLAAMMM.

  Beyond anger, the Shanta pinned him against the wall, imprisoning him with its limbs.

  His right leg bent out, awkwardly, against the wall, along with his right arm. Mashed up against the surface, the Shanta pressed its body in an attempt to crush the man to death.

  KEERRR-RUNNNCCHH.

  “Whoagh,” Jaycee yelped as his exo-suit splintered against his chest, “I ch-chu-ca-n’t b-b-breathe—”

  “SCREEEEEEE.”

  Jelly flipped onto her paws and caught her breath.

  She swished her tail and spat more pink goo onto the floor before tilting her head to the Shanta.

  Jelly wouldn’t watch her friend get crushed any longer. She found the energy within herself to get to her feet and stumble toward the creature.

  “Hey, you.”

  KEERRR-RUNNCH. CRAAACCK.

  “Juh-Juh,” Jaycee tried to call her name, but his face and skull pressed into the wall.

  “Let go of my friend, asshole,” Jelly screamed at the Shanta, but it wouldn’t relent.

  “D-Dumb…bomb,” Jaycee shook his leg as best he could. “T-Take it out.”

  Jelly tiptoed along the walkway, using her tail as balance. She threw herself forward and walked on all fours behind the creature.

  SCH-TATCH-KERR-REEAAAAK.

  Jaycee’s exo-suit chest plate bust open, along with his Kevlar-based pants. Now that his armory was broken, all the Shanta had to do was apply more pressure and crush him to death.

  Whooosh.

  Jelly reached the back of the beast. She raised her front paws up the wall and grabbed Jaycee’s right ankle.

  CRUNK-CRUTCH.

  “Juh, Juh—” Jaycee tried, but couldn’t speak, as the Shanta’s mid-section closed in on his face. He felt the metal in his head warp and dent inward, “Ngggg, uh, nggggg.”

  Jelly opened the thigh compartment on Jaycee’s leg and slipped her paw in. She rummaged around feeling for the dumb bomb.

  Five seconds later, she felt something hard and oblong. Success.

  “Shhhh,” she winked at Jaycee and took hold of the bomb, expecting it to be less squishy than it was.

  “Huh?”

  The left side of Jaycee’s face cracked outward in sections, revealing the circuitry inside his skull, “Ngggg.”

  Jelly made the fatal mistake of looking at what was in her paw.

  It wasn’t a dumb bomb at all, but a dead kitten - her third and previously unaccounted-for child.

  At first, she didn’t process the information. She flicked her ears and thought about her discovery.

  A red mist wafted in her periphery vision as she held the small, haggard ball of flesh in her claws.

  It rocked around the sharp edges. Her paw shook uncontrollably. She couldn’t make it stop.

  Her heart began to pound harder and harder. The very fiber of her being turned red and heated every muscle and bone inside her.

  “Grrrrrrr,” she whimpered and took a deep breath.

  Jaycee Nayall was responsible for her daughter’s death. She thought she could trust him.

  “AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH.”

  She picked herself off the floor and released her daughter from her clutches. “You sonofoa—”

  She fisted Jaycee’s thigh compartment, grabbed hold of a solid metal connector and yanked his leg through the limbs of the Shanta.

  WHUMP.

  Jaycee’s body slipped down the wall and smashed to the floor. Beyond anger, Jelly pulled her fist out of his thigh with his dumb bomb
in her claws.

  She lifted it to her face and slid her tongue through the pin.

  The Shanta wrapped its limbs behind its back and planted them along the wall behind her.

  SCHWIP.

  The dumb bomb armed itself as she spat out the pin to the floor.

  “SCREEEEEE.”

  The Shanta catapulted forward and opened its slit. A sharp talon jutted out from the cavity as it clambered towards Jelly.

  “Come to Mommy,” she screamed at the top of her lungs and rammed her fist into its slit up to the elbow.

  “SQUOOIIIIEEEE.”

  It gargled as it suffered Jelly’s arm deep within its throat. She released the ticking dumb bomb deep in its gut and stared right into the slit.

  “Get out of my home.”

  Jelly was beyond anger. Filled with hate and a desire to kill absolutely everything and anyone in her path, she wrapped her claws around two of the Shanta’s limb and flung it down the walkway.

  It crashed against the deck.

  Jelly stormed after it and scraped her infinity claws along the walls, creating an intense flurry of orange sparks, “Get up, asshole.”

  “SCREEEEE.”

  The Shanta shunted its limbs against the wall in pain, gargling and choking.

  Jelly elbowed the shattered glass from the airlock hatch and lifted the door, “Yaaarrggghhh.”

  She grabbed the Shanta by the midsection with both sets of claws and pulled it into the airlock.

  Biddip-biddip-beeeeeeep.

  “Oh, shi—” Jelly pushed forward and rolled to her knees. The Shanta crashed the inner airlock with its limbs, suspending itself in the air.

  Jelly yanked the inner airlock hatch down and glance at the Shanta, “Go to hell, you son of a bitch.”

  She turned around and sprinted up the walkway at full speed.

  Jaycee squirmed on the floor, broken and mostly-battered, “Jelly—”

  “—Cover your face and stay down,” she roared and flung herself chest-first onto the walkway, “Do it, now—”

  KERRAA-BAAAAAAAAMMMMM.

  The airlock exploded. The door burst apart, vomiting debris against the wall and releasing a ball of fire up the walkway.

  The outer airlock door exploded and coughed out a ball of fire into the sky.

  Jelly rolled onto her side and slid along the ground.

  The heat from the passing fireball singed the fur on her back as she slammed her arms to the ground.