Unsanctioned Reprisal

by Eddie R. Hicks

  The region Gravity City was located in was once empty land with a dozen rivers carving through it. Morutrin Prime was a large planet, and there was a lot of untamed land across its surface. The first humans that arrived in the system took it upon themselves to build a city that would serve as a safe haven for them. The Morutrin system had become a place where Radiance exiles and Hashmedai runaways ended up, and so, it would only be a matter of time before humans that wished to leave the UNE arrived to make a living on Morutrin Prime or move there to conduct business.

  Morutrin Prime’s surface gravity was one point two g, slightly unconformable for humans unless they possessed strong athletic bodies. Since humans had only been a spacefaring species for a century, they lacked the evolution progress necessary to live in varying levels of gravity commonly encountered throughout space, whereas the Hashmedai and Radiance races did. Living on a world at one point two g wasn’t going to cut it.

  The first gravity dampers were built, tested, and put into operation at Gravity City—hence its name. They operated by creating an antigravity field that blocked and prevented the force of gravity from extending beyond it. The end result was weightlessness to anyone that stood on top of the field. From there it was matter of installing artificial gravity generators, the same ones used on ships, only on a much larger scale, and setting them to operate at one g, then building a city overtop them. Everything outside the city and the field was subject to the planet’s natural gravitation pull, everything inside was Earth-like gravity.

  The invention became so popular it became mandatory on all human colonies, and later Imperial and Radiance ones, when human mega corporations sought to sell and develop the technology to them. Peiun wasn’t too sure about the Qirak, but with the way humanity had shaped the galaxy in the few short years they’d been around, he wouldn’t be surprised.

  The transport lowered into the center of the city, full of towering skyscrapers and flying cars moving single file. Monorails accelerated rapidly on a network of tracks that connected the thriving human-built metropolis to other cities throughout the planet. Humans walking in the streets lowered their umbrellas once it became clear the rains were starting to let up, temporarily of course, if the grey thick clouds in the distance had anything to say about that.

  A starport appeared when Peiun’s transport flew beyond three large office buildings that had been blocking it with their hulking presence. It was covered with idle transports, smaller ships, and human cars. An empty landing space welcomed the Hashmedai transport as it lowered with its blue flaring landing thrusters heating up the small puddles below it into vapor when it came to a landing.

  Moe gave Peiun a pat on the shoulder. “Thanks for the lift, man.”

  “You are welcome,” Peiun said, deactivating the transport. “What shall you do now?”

  Moe shrugged and went to the main exit. Peiun followed behind him to send him off. “Don’t know, man,” Moe said as the doors slid open, letting in the moist, humid air from the outside. Peiun’s arm rose to shield his Hashmedai eyes that despised bright sunlight, unlike humans, or Hashmedai that weren’t born and raised on Paryo. “Probably gonna figure out my next gig, then crash—”

  Moe never got the chance to finish what turned out to be his last words.

  Crimson-colored mist spread out from his chest and head, tearing his white coveralls apart. Shockwaves cut through the numerous holes that entered and exited his body, then into the transport puncturing it with similarly sized holes. Peiun’s Hashmedai predatory instincts kicked in, and he dove for cover, back inside the transport where it was safe, so he thought.

  He went to grab hold of his sword, resting on the floor in the cockpit, not that it would protect him from what came next. Loud tapping noises were heard behind him, and then in front of him, above him, they were everywhere, and they were rendering the transport full of holes that allowed the sunlight from outside to enter.

  Peiun’s early life in the navy saw him surviving an ambush against Radiance rangers while patrolling a small moon. The rangers attacked him and his unit with magnetic rifles. The projectiles those weapons shot, and the speeds they traveled at, killed his commanding officer in the same manner Moe was killed. The outpost he retreated to became full of holes that looked exactly like the holes appearing inside his transport.

  Someone was outside waiting for them with a magnetic rifle. Did the pirates know they were landing? Or was it a new challenger? Whoever it was, they weren’t satisfied with Moe’s death as his unmoving body lay at the entrance to the transport, spilling blood onto the rain-drenched platform of the landing pad.

  The rattling of the bullets came to an end. Peiun kept his breathing as low as possible. Not an easy task with the adrenaline pumping into his body.

  “He’s still inside!” said a voice in the English language.

  A quick crawl across the floor and a peek outside past Moe’s body unveiled a man moving forward with a magnetic rifle. His armor was black and tight against his body, a tactical hologram hovered in front of his face, feeding him everything his rifle saw or scanned. Peiun thought he was a Linl since they were the most common species living in the system. Then he remembered the words the attacker used, they were in English and this city was human built and operated. This man was human and had help from another if his words were of any indication.

  Too bad he didn’t know where they were.

  Peiun backtracked quickly and was rewarded with the gift of being able to remain alive a while longer. The rifle’s shots put holes in the floor he had crawled on to look outside. He had to get his sword back, now more than ever. If he was to die here, let it be in combat, not crawling on the floor.

  He made it back into the cockpit, though the random projectiles entering and exiting made him think three times about proceeding further. The thought of taking off crossed his mind, until the smell of burning metal and wires entered his head. The transport’s shields had been deactivated, which was why the attacker was able to fill it with holes. Vital wires were cut, and whatever device that was used to activate shields was most likely damaged, as were the transport’s engines. Peiun was surprised it hadn’t burst into flames and exploded.

  After the second barrage of was over, he could see sparks flaring, and black smoke rising from the transport’s computers and equipment. It was no longer space worthy. He needed out no matter what. He returned to crawling toward his sword, making careful attempts to not crack the shattered glass below him, thus giving away the fact he was still breathing.

  Heavy footsteps approached from behind, the shooter was looking to confirm the kill he figured. His sword was almost in reach of his hands, and Moe’s killer was almost in reach of the entrance to the transport.

  He grabbed his sword. The attacker entered and used the scope and targeting scanner on his rifle to search for him.

  It didn’t find him, not yet at least. Peiun was hidden in the cockpit, behind what remained of the chair. He held onto the hilt of his blade, hard. He thought he was going to break it at one point. His mind filled with frustration and stress more than the need to figure out a way through the ordeal. Moe’s death, not taking time to look for an ambush . . . it enraged him. Stress only got people killed, stress being something he failed, on his part, to reduce unlike the rest of his crew. Even his HNI sent him warnings that his combat proficiency may be lowered unless he calmed down.

  “No sign of Gemini-C, sir,” said the man with the rifle. “No sign of the Hashmedai either, though, I haven’t checked the cockpit.”

  Peiun’s sword powered on, filling its blade with plasma while he waited behind his cover for the man with the rifle to enter. He heard footsteps crunch and crush the broken glass and metal on the floor behind him, they grew louder with each step. Peiun’s heartbeat became intense enough for him to hear it.

  The footsteps stopped, he imagined the man with the rifle spotting someone hiding behind the chair, that someone being Peiun. If that was the case, he was probably t
aking aim and his finger nearing the trigger. Aim . . . why would he even need to do that? The projectiles ripped through the hull of the transport, the man with the rifle just had to shoot the chair, and Peiun’s life would be over—

  “Durendal!” A voice called out from behind, a female one at that. She was most likely the second person assisting the rifle man, apparently named, Durendal.

  A pair of footsteps made what Peiun figured was an about face, and then Durendal spoke. “Gemini-S, what are you doing here?”

  A new pair of feet entered the transport’s opened door. These ones were lighter than the ones that were nearing the cockpit.

  “Never mind me, what are you doing here?” said the female voice, Gemini-S. “We gun down civvies now?”

  “I have my orders, and so do you,” Durendal said.

  “Yeah, sit on my hands while you shoot the place up?” Gemini-S said.

  Two teammates bickering, it was the break Peiun needed. He silently went to make an HNI transmission to the Rezeki’s Rage. “Alesyna, standby by on emergency teleportation.”

  Alesyna replied five seconds later due to the communication delay. “What’s wrong?”

  He remained silent when the two arguing humans became silent and transmitted everything his eyes saw back up to the Rezeki’s Rage with his HNI. Though, that data too would take several seconds to transmit up into orbit and be received by anyone.

  Peiun peeked around his chair, out into the main cabin of the transport to view his attackers. He and Durendal made direct eye contact.

  “Peekaboo!” Durendal taunted, sending rapidly fired shots at him.

  The shots missed, the human woman, Gemini-S intervened pulling on his rifle. The two humans cursed and fought for control over the weapon. Durendal wasn’t to be trusted, Gemini-S, maybe a little.

  The forward windshield had long been shattered during the assault. Using his Hashmedai speed and agility, Peiun leaped up and over the flight console and past the jagged sharp remains of the windshield. He fell to the wet ground afterward as the sound of projectiles roared and filled the interior of the darkened transport with flashes of yellow light. He had to shield his eyes afterward, the sunlight was too blinding.

  He was in the clear. Alesyna should be able to teleport down with minimal risk, like crossfire.

  “Alesyna now!” he transmitted and waited for the communication delay to end.

  Each half second felt like a year, the intensity of the situation made time slow down from his perspective. When the first second had ended, he heard the struggle of the two come to an end. At two seconds, he remembered that it would still take Alesyna another five to seven seconds to focus and teleport down to meet him, then another seven seconds or more for the two to return back to the Rezeki’s Rage. At three seconds, he began to think of fifty different ways his escape could go wrong, all while factoring in the fact that Durendal was no longer being subdued.

  One of those ways played out before him.

  Gemini-S was pushed from the transport’s opened entrance. She leaped back to her feet, and then dove toward Peiun, tackling him to the ground. Durendal’s rifle projectiles flew above the two as they fell.

  There were no signs of Alesyna, at least not from what Peiun was able to tell as he lay on the surface back first, with Gemini-S on top of him. It gave him a better view of her youthful appearance and black hair, some of which tickled the side of his face. She wore the same armor as Durendal, its blue shimmering glow from her personal shields helped prevent his assault from reaching Peiun, who lacked them. Her body over top of him also helped keep the sunlight out from his light sensitive eyes.

  Her fist rose up and down, crashing into the ground next to him. Peiun felt the surface below him vibrate and crumble. A sizeable hole formed in the aftermath of her fist hitting the ground, and the two fell into what was below the landing platform, crashing into a parked car.

  Peiun hissed and displayed his fangs, doing his best to ignore the pain that went through his body, while the woman donning combat armor fell on top him again. Peiun rolled off the car in one direction, Gemini-S, went in the other. When his feet hit the ground, and his body accepted the fact the pain wasn’t going away, he looked about and noted a number of parked cars everywhere. They landed inside the starport’s indoor garage.

  Gemini-S ran, pulling on Peiun’s arm for him to follow. “Let’s go, pal!”

  Had he remained still, she probably would have pulled it off with the strength her suit gave her, like the ability to smash a hole through the floor.

  “I wait; my psionic should be arriving any second now!”

  He was right. Blue light flashed from the hole the two had fallen from above, the hole they were now running away from. He looked up, watching the distance between him, Gemini-S, and the hole in the ceiling expand. He saw flashes of light and heard the popping sounds of rifle fire. Alesyna had arrived, only to discover Peiun wasn’t where he said he would be, only an angry human gunning her down.

  “Call them off, he’s not afraid of psionics,” Gemini-S said.

  “Alesyna, fallback, and try again!” Peiun bellowed and transmitted via HNI in the Hashmedai language. “Keep track of my signal!”

  Alesyna didn’t reply. The battle she unexpectedly found herself in kept her busy. Peiun continuing to speak with her would only ensure her end. Psionics needed concentration to maximize their powers—

  New gunfire sounded, its source wasn’t far away.

  Gemini-S dove for cover behind a parked car. Peiun did the same behind a pillar. A quick peek revealed other humans with magnetic rifles or pistols, many of them wore black business suits and shades. He had doubts they were here to close on some sort of financial transaction for their company.

  Gemini-S drew two magnetic pistols holstered at her sides, firing relentlessly at the newly arrived attackers. Their personal shields flickered blue several times before shattering. Car windows exploded, concrete pillars cracked and broke apart. Two suited men fell within a mist of red and tiny pieces of flesh, exiting their backs. The rest of the men entered cover much like Gemini-S, shooting through it to hit her shields. She tried to do the same, with little success, as they kept moving and dive rolling to new cover. There were only so many cars she could shoot at, hoping a stray round would hit them.

  She went to change her tactics, though Peiun wasn’t able to get a look at it. Durendal had leaped down from the hole and charged at them. Alesyna wasn’t with him. She was either dead or dying. Durendal’s running speed reached levels that should be impossible for normal humans. His armor was enhancing him in more ways than one, as his eyes and rifle locked on to Gemini-S.

  He didn’t notice Peiun or the angle he had hid at behind the pillar. He smirked and waited, like how an ancient Hashmedai used to wait behind snow-filled hills for their next meal. Durendal’s weapon blasted away while he ran and gunned at Gemini-S’ shields. She wasn’t going to last much longer, the time to act was now.

  Peiun’s retractable claws sprung out from his fingers, it wasn’t necessary, but it was a natural reaction of his species. He repowered his plasma sword, holding onto its hilt tight, and then leaped into the fray, hoping the other men in the distance were too focused on Gemini-S. The plasma sword swung, blindsiding Durendal and his blue flashing shields that absorbed the first three rapid strikes.

  HNI scans sent data to Peiun in regard to the approximate strength of Durendal’s shields. A superimposed blue bar next appeared next to Durendal’s body, only visible by Peiun’s eyesight. Every keen strike of his plasma sword removed 15-24 percent of Durendal’s shields. After the sixth strike, Durendal had no shields, and was oblivious as to why. Peiun’s ambush came hard and fast.

  Durendal made a pivot backward, having realized what Peiun had done, and the advantage he lost. It’s hard to shoot a target that’s so close, you could feel their breath hitting your face, and knowing that one stab through the chest would end you. Hashmedai speed and strength did the rest, forcing Duren
dal to flee and evade Peiun’s next set of high and low aimed swings of his plasma blade. Said fleeing and evasive moves turned into nimble somersaults off the nearby walls, over Peiun, and landing behind him.

  MRF was in use. Humans had originally acquired MRF to augment the abilities of their special forces soldiers known as EDF. Peiun had made the mistake of entering a melee brawl with one.

  Gemini-S’ pistols sent the last of her targets flying back, turning his chest into a blood gulch. Leaping from her cover, she ran to a parked car off in the distance. The occupants of the car were watching the bout, and probably reporting what was going on to a superior. Had they been paying attention, they would have seen the armored woman run up, before she decorated the back seats with their brains with a single bullet through each of their foreheads.

  Durendal’s MRF kept him out of slashing range of Peiun’s superheated weapon. Unfortunately for him, that was all he was able to do. He managed to get three shots off, none of them hit Peiun. Predicting when Durendal was going to jump, leap away, repel off the walls, was the key to Peiun’s survival, until he landed that one fatal blow that would slice through his armor.

  Gemini-S leaped into the car through its shattered driver’s side window, pushing the body of the driver to the side. The car was still powered on, and most likely was the car that delivered the attackers to the two. Turning the wheel brought the flying vehicle to face Peiun and Durendal engaged in close quarters combat.

  Durendal’s foot got a lucky kick off. The impact sent Peiun down for the count.

  She gritted her teeth and accelerated.

  Peiun’s sword was flung from his hands when he hit the floor, thanks to Durendal’s boot. The human soldier stood towering above him displaying an arrogant grin and placing his foot on Peiun’s chest. Behind Durendal was a car accelerating toward him from behind. Peiun could see the face of the driver, it was Gemini-S.