Savage Planet Warrior

by Cheyenne Hart

  "Shoot it!" yelled a tall, blonde crew member. He was on the brink of panic.

  "No! One breach to the ship’s hull and we're all toast!" responded Julius. "We can't fire in here."

  "So, we're helpless?" said the blonde man.

  Several men and women screamed as a giant, frog-like alien stepped through the swirling portal. It had a humanoid body, with much longer arms and legs, and bulging joints that seemed to bend backward as well as forward. The eyes were blood-red and shining brightly as it inspected the terrified humans in the large room.

  "Do you come in peace?" asked Julius. If he was afraid, he was hiding it expertly. But that was part of his job.

  The thing seemed to be thinking for a moment as it just stood there, towering over even the tallest of the humans by a good two or three feet. It would have needed to bend down to fit down some of the rooms with lower ceilings on the ship. The frog-alien was naked from the waist up, apart from a black harness that was holding what seemed to be a metal stick, strapped to the thing's back.

  "There's another one!" shouted a human crew member. The others began to murmur and it seemed like a stampede might start at any moment if something wasn't done or said to ease their minds.

  "Don't yell at it," said Loraine firmly.

  "She's right. You're going to cause an incident," added Talia. She was feeling safer now that they'd seen the alien and nothing bad had happened.

  The frog alien tilted back its head and let out a bizarre croaking noise, just like a frog from planet Earth, only much larger and incredibly moist sounding.

  Two more of them stepped through the portal.

  "The aliens are hostile. They are taking hostages, but we don't know what—" came captain Tate's voice over the loudspeaker, on the verge of sounding frantic. But she broke into a blood-curdling scream and the speaker let out a burst of static before it went silent.

  The alien swung out a long arm at the nearest human, easily reaching quite far without moving. Its slender, foot-long fingers were covered in black gloves but still terrifying, as it grabbed a terrified male officer with blonde hair. He cried out and tried to hit the alien, but it was no good. The alien stepped back, using its extra-bendable joints to move in a weird way. Then, it unslung the metallic stick from its harness and held it out toward the man. An intense, blue light came out of the end, almost blindingly.

  With one swing of the strange weapon, the alien hit the young crew member and send him hurtling to the floor, unconscious.

  "Run!" screamed a female crew member who Talia recognized but didn’t personally know.

  "Come on, let's go!" added a man. And then a cacophony of utter chaos followed with running, shoving, and yelling, making the large room seem smaller and smaller.

  Talia was at a loss, barely able to move. She'd been watching it all happen in slow motion somehow, as though removed from reality and watching a 3D movie.

  "Talia?" said Loraine from beside her.

  It startled her into reacting, even as she watched several of the hideous frog giants come through their portal in the wall and start to stun the hapless humans, who didn't even have any usable weapons to defend themselves. Whoever had decided to equip the Space Corp with only laser rifles clearly didn’t know the first thing about space ships.

  "Come on, girl, snap out of it!" shouted Loraine at her, grabbing her arm and dragging her toward the doorway.

  And she did just that: got herself back to reality, then ran like crazy with Loraine out of the room. There were so many people, and only a few of the aliens, making it easy for the luckier crew members to escape. The alien who’d first made contact was carrying the unconscious young blonde back through the portal. It was clear that they'd come not in peace, nor for war, but to take living captives.

  Adrenaline began to pump and Talia flashed back through all her training. She knew how to deal with extreme situations, even though it had all been theoretical and just training until this moment. Loraine's long red hair trailed along in front, making her easy to follow in the clamor of the corridor outside.

  "No, don't!" shouted someone from in one of the rooms they ran by. Then, there was a red flash and a sudden rushing sound, of air moving very quickly and in huge volumes. It was some moron firing a laser rifle!

  "Someone's breached the hull!" said Talia. This didn’t necessarily mean the ship was doomed, but the risk was grave.

  "The idiot!" shouted Loraine. "Oh, shit!"

  They had run up to a corner in the corridor, where

  another portal had just taken shape, and two of the looming from aliens stepped through it quickly. They had the look of predators on their faces, now that the action and violence was well under way. One of them pointed at the two panicking women and then they ran toward Talia and Loraine.

  Loraine didn't turn and run, but instead she shoved Talia back the way they'd come, away from the aliens. She charged at the nearest one. Leaping off the floor, she launched an agile flying kick right at the thing, planting her foot against its chest. She still didn't have any shoes on, but it wouldn't have made much different judging by the way the thing just absorbed the strike without moving.

  It grabbed Loraine by her long hair and yanked hard, making her shriek with pain. That was more than enough for Talia to bear, and she rushed toward the fight with her fists ready. She shouted as she sent a right-hook directly into the side of the alien's neck.

  Its throat was soft and tender-feeling, not at all like Talia would have assumed, going by how strong these things were. The alien made a whining sound and then acted as though it was about to throw up. This gave Loraine a chance to break free, and Talia helped her to regain her footing so they could both escape.

  Suddenly, something grabbed Talia from behind, before they'd gotten ten steps back in the other direction down the corridor. She gasped and swung her fist around, kicking backward as well to try and free herself. Long alien fingers had her in their grasp, and the next thing Talia knew, a bright light struck her head and she flopped into unconsciousness.

  4

  -Talia-

  Talia woke up alone in a small room, which she assumed was a prison cell of some sort. It seemed she was on a space ship, but the cell door had bars that looked they were made of old iron with heavy patina. There was nothing in the room apart from a strange trough on the wall with several spouts above it. What those were for, she had no interest in finding out. There was no toilet either, so she figured things might end up getting much worse depending on how long she was to be trapped in there.

  A gentle humming sound was all around the room, as though it were coming through the walls. "Oh, crap," she said. It wasn't much like Talia to swear, and she didn't see the point in starting now. Her dignified sense of humanity might be the only thing even slightly human she would have for the rest of her life. The thought caused her eyes to well up with tears, the salty liquid running down and touching the edge of her lips. Talia dropped to the floor and cried.

  Who was she kidding? “Shit, shit, shit,” she exclaimed. If there had ever been a right time for foul language, this was it.

  After hours and hours of mind-numbing solitude, stressing about what was happening to her fellow crew members, and wondering where she might be being taken, she finally fell asleep on the cold floor.

  Until the door to her sell slid open, waking her. There was one of those revolting aliens with its frog-like head and overgrown limbs. It ambled into the cell holding one of those terrible shock sticks, with it glowing bright white, blinding.

  "Get away from me!" she shouted.

  It held the stick out and gestured for Talia to leave the cell. She did not have to be asked formally, already having a healthy fear for what those glowing weapons could do. After being lead through a narrow passageway, Talia was shoved into a dark room full of strange equipment and flashing screens.

  There were Loraine and Julius. They grunted with pain but seemed relieved to see her.

  "I'm so glad you're alive!"
said Talia. "Only, I'm sorry it's here."

  "Don't sweat it," said Julius. He seemed hurt, going by the way he labored to speak and breathe. Loraine only whimpered, possibly from nothing but fear.

  They were tied to these strange upright racks, which looked like metal frames made by some insane scientist from a B-grade horror film.

  Being so distracted by the sheer lunacy of what was going on around her, and the rising dread, Talia couldn't react in time to stop one of the aliens from coming out of the shadows and grabbing her. With the help of several others, it strapped her to her very own metal rack, standing upright just like her friends.

  "What are they going to do to us?" she asked her friends.

  Loraine moaned and said, "I don't think we want to know."

  "Just stay strong," said Julius. But even his stern, brave face began to show signs of cowering as a whirring sound started behind the racks. "What the ..."

  "Get away from my friends!" shouted Talia, fighting against her restrained. The moment the aliens had tied her down, they lost interest in her completely. Instead, they were looking at Loraine with an evil intentness that did not suit them. Something so intelligent and sophisticated came over their faces. A big juxtaposition from the clobbering brutes they had been on The New Horizon. But the evil was still there in spades as one of them moved toward the helpless self-defense training officer, holding a large, tapered cylinder of some kind. The device resembled some hardcore vibrator, only most people would not want that long, wide thing stretching them out. It was attached to a wall of screens and computer-looking devices by a thick cable.

  Another of the grotesque aliens pulled a lever and Loraine's rack began to rotate forward until she was facing the floor. They cut her uniform from her with an oversized scissor-like tool, then tossed it into a clear container as though it were part of a science experiment. One of them placed that on a shelf of other containers containing alien items.

  Loraine was gritting her teeth together, tensing her face. The effort of holding back her tears and sobs was admirable, even as the alien with the steel cylinder covered it with a clear, shiny substance that resembled spit, or lubricant. "I swear I'm going to kill every one of you ugly fuckers." She spat the words out with venom and kept her resolve as the lubed-up probe made contact with her upper thigh. The alien holding it seemed to be taking its time on purpose, enjoying the way the helpless Earth woman suffered by waiting.

  Talia had been twisting her wrist around and pulling at the strap. Julius was clearly wounded, most likely from a beating, and in no condition to even attempt escape. It was up to her. Luckily, she had very supple wrists, probably due to the extra layer there was of her to love. Causing cuts and bruising too herself in the process, she managed to slide her wrist free as her beautiful redheaded friend was just about to be violated with an alien probe in the most uncomfortable of places: up the butt.

  One of the aliens went by just as this happened. With one fluid motion and without thinking for her own safety—Talia slid her arm out and yanked the metal stick from the harness on its back.

  The alien let out a belching screech and flailed around to grab its weapon back, but it was facing in the wrong direction and had trouble turning around quickly in the confined space. That gave Talia enough time to locate the only switch on the weapon and activate it. The end lit up with that searing white glow, illuminating the dark laboratory. She smacked the alien with its own weapon and sent it crashing to the ground.

  "Yes, Talia!" said Julius with effort.

  Loraine cheered from her downward facing position on the rack. "Kill 'em all!"

  The other frog-like creatures, now eyeing her and moving their way around the racks, cables, and machinery, were almost upon Talia immediately. But she had nothing left to lose, and managed to block her brain from the fear of intense pain enough to bring the glowing weapon's tip down on her own rack, right against the strap holding her other hand. It melted away the material instantly, also hurting her skin on the wrist.

  Grunting from the pain and the rush she was feeling, Talia looked up and saw one of the many aliens was right by her, reaching out with its gangly hands.

  She slammed the end of the shock stick into that one too, and knocked it unconscious. There were still several more of them around the dark room, but she focused on undoing her ankles and getting free of that rack.

  Now on her feet, she came face-to-face with three of the aliens, and they were holding their own weapons, which glowed so brightly together in the dark room, that it was hard to see at all.

  She knew there was no way to fight them off alone. Talia panicked and backed into the corner, then decided to cause a distraction by smashing up the computer equipment on the wall behind her. The powerful glowing weapon made light work of the machinery, causing intense sparking—and quickly fire! "Shit!" shouted Talia, easily forgetting her distaste for swearing. She ducked her head and ran from the sparks and flames, just as a small gulf of extreme energy burst out, sending things flying in every direction.

  Through the smoke and growing flame, Talia caught sight of the aliens who'd been about to take her down. They were themselves down, on the floor and not moving. "I guess these things can’t handle the heat," she exclaimed while running to untie her crewmates.

  "Girl, am I glad that we became friends," said Loraine. "Here, help me with Julius. They roughed him up pretty badly before they could get him strapped down."

  Julius was breathing heavily but at least he could walk. "I'm fine," he said, shrugging away their assistance. The growing smoke and heat was not helping his labored breathing.

  "You're not fine," said Talia. "Just don't try to be a hero for now, okay?"

  Loraine chuckled, which was surprising given what she'd just experienced. "Yeah, leave the hero work to Talia the badass."

  They grabbed shock sticks and got the hell out of the room before the fire spread any more.

  5

  -Karthid-

  The cell door suddenly opened. Cautiously, he stepped out of the room, sure that this was just some cruel joke by his condescending guard. But that Gedex was nowhere in sight. A row of cell doors where all open too. Another prisoner came from one of them, looking just as unsure.

  "What's going on?" asked the prisoner, a blue alien with small bumps running all over his body. He was an Areip, from a planet not far from Karthid's own. There were more aliens, male, female, other genders, or even no genders, of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

  But Karthid did not wait around to exchange idle chatter with them. He wanted to get off this ship. Not simply to escape his captors, but because he could smell smoke. Where there was smoke, he knew fire was close. On a space vessel, that usually lead to grave trouble quickly. He wanted a chance at revenge, but not if it meant dying in a doomed ship before he could attain it. Karthid was not so petty.

  After he was taken prisoner and brought onto the ship, he had taken note of the different sectors on the way to his cell. Of particular note to him was the escape pod bay, which he would be able to get to on foot and without passing any security doors that required special access. This was good news.

  Something both bewildering and unexpected happened as Karthid came around the corner of the next dim corridor. He saw the most beautiful creature he’d ever set his green eyes on. What kind of beings are these? he wondered. They were squishy looking, except for the man, who was large and strong with dark skin, but seemed to be injured. The other two were clearly female, judging by their smaller size and shapely bodies. Yet they were so different from the women of his home world. On his planet, life was harsh and even the women were cold and hard.

  One of them was full, ripe, her curving body round in such wonderful ways. Karthid immediately felt a twinge in his crotch when he saw her. The three alien beings were headed toward the center of the ship though, where they would surely be recaptured, or blow to pieces if the ship was destroyed by the growing fire.

  He wanted to get to the escape pods
before they were all gone, but something came to him on the air. The smoke was strong in his powerful nose, but it was something else that struck him, like a slap to the face. Could it have been the scent of this curvy female? Her aura was all around him, strange and enticing to a point that made it hard to focus. He decided then that he must save her life.

  He was so distracted by this bodacious blonde woman, that he had failed to notice the lean, redheaded female had on absolutely no clothing. Karthid's male urges were powerful, even for one of his species, but the sight of the honestly stunning naked body wasn't enough to distract him from lusting after the other female.

  He approached the small group. As he drew near, it was obvious they had been in some recent confrontation. Even without any idea where these beings originated from, he was confident that his translation chip would contain a database of their language—it always had, in all his experiences with aliens from other planets.

  "Hello!" he called out before coming too near. The large male didn't worry Karthid, and he backed down from no other warrior. But he did not want to cause them to startle or start a fight. That would mean losing a chance to save these strange aliens and this woman who had him so mesmerized.

  They looked at him with incredulity, as though they were about to turn and flee.

  "Owuot ghu uhh wehdt?!" shouted the tall, dark man in an alien language. He was impressively sized and moved with the gate of an experienced fighter. There was confusion and brimming hostility in his odd eyes, with their white rings around darkly colored centers. The women had similar eyes, although theirs were beautiful. The blond goddess' were a delicate blue with white rings as clear as the moons of Karthid's home planet, D'khleas. Unlike his own eyes, which were solid green.

  "You're going the wrong way," said Karthid in a way that he hoped would not confuse them. But his words were in his own native language. The chip should have detected that he was about to talk, and made his mouth say the words in the language it had just heard. "Shit," he muttered, again in his own tongue. There was clearly nothing in his translation chip's database about their language, and it would take some time before it could piece together enough to create one and allow him to communicate with them. For now, he needed to prevent the three of them from heading down the wrong corridor.