The War Begins
(Text in < > means the speaker is talking in their native language. Text in which a character speaks galactic universal should be in the usual “ “)
A human soldier walked down the hall, empty cells on either side of him. It had been a while since any of them had been occupied. But then, what was expected from a military outpost in the middle of nowhere? There was never anyone to arrest. At least until a few days ago.
In the last cell, the blue plasma barrier that kept people inside was active, filling the hallway with a low humming noise. Of course, these kind of cells were very inefficient for power, but when it came to the species of the prisoners, they were a necessity.
“Rise and shine.” The soldier said, banging on the metal wall bordering the plasma barrier.
Two forms shifted in the cell at the racket, rising from the bunks. They wore the customary orange jumpsuits commonly associated with human prisoners, but these two weren’t humans. Where pale flesh might have shown, dark grey feathers poked through instead. The smaller of the two had some pale purple tipped feathers poking through, while the larger one’s feathers were tipped with maroon.
<Why can’t I just get an extra hour of sleep…> The Maroon one groaned.
<I mean seriously… I thought humans had some kind of rights pact or something. Maybe we could sue them when this is all over?>
He chuckled at that thought as he stood up. It had been a while since he’d been out of this cell, and he could go for some fresh air.
The purple one however didn’t seem so optimistic.
<This is it. They’re gonna kill us.> He said, shuddering.
<Don’t be so f***ing dense. They’ve got nothing on us. They can’t even prove the stuff on our ship was stolen.> The Maroon one said.
<Believe me, we’re covered. We’re probably even getting out right now.>
(Note: The use of F***ing Is wasn’t the actual word, but rather their species’ equivalent of that word.)
The purple one refused to lighten up though, just pulling his knees to his chest.
The two birdlike beings were known as Teth, an alien species that was a part of the USF, or United Species Federation. The Teth with maroon tipped feathers was Corvax Montresor, and the one with purple tipped feathers was his younger brother, Piddry. And why were these two brothers currently residing in a military prison? Well, after receiving a suspiciously large order on stolen Shrall weaponry, the two had gone to the meeting point only to find themselves facing a heavily armed human gunship. Apparently, cracking down on smuggler operations was a thing now, and they’d decided allegedly buying weapons was the best way. And so… here they were.
<They’re not going to kill us, you know that right?> Corvax said to his brother.
<Humans have all sorts of laws that don’t even let them execute their own kind, let alone us. A bunch of softies if you ask me. And I mean that literally. Have you ever felt one before? It’s like touching a Quipper.>
That at least got a chuckle out of Piddry.
<I thought you told me you didn’t do this anymore.> Piddry said.
<Hey, I have to pay the bills somehow. And there’s no way I’m letting the Zulu get repossessed.> Corvax said, referring to his ship.
<And I’m definitely not letting you skip out on an education.>
<But you think education is pointless and stupid.> Piddry retorted.
<It is. Well… for me anyways. There’s still some hope for you.> Corvax waved off.
<After all, you’ve got the smarts to make it at the Nuvia Academy. No sense in wasting skills you could cash in on.>
Piddry nodded, seemingly recovering from his depression.
But that wasn’t going to last long.
The human that had earlier woken them returned, as usual, to deliver their breakfast. Except… he didn’t have it with him.
“Where’s our food at?” Corvax asked, his voice sounding incredibly rough and scratchy as he spoke in galactic universal.
“You won’t be needing it. Back up to the back of the cell, really slowly.” The human guard said. Two more humans joined him, outfitted in power armor and holding Archon LR25s.
“What’s up with this shit?” Corvax asked, fists clenched. He had a bad feeling about this.
“On order of the base commander…” The unarmored guard began.
“, you two are to be executed by sensory shutdown.”
“WHAT!” Corvax screeched.
<W-what!> Piddry stuttered, eyes widening.
“You can’t do this! We get deserve a fair trial!” Corvax shouted angrily.
Sensory shutdown had been deemed the most efficient and humane means of execution by galactic society. All it did was sever the connection between the brain and the rest of the body. Apparently, it was almost like falling asleep. But Corvax had no intention of seeing if that rumor was true.
“This base, while under jurisdiction of the USF, is outside of USF space. The USF laws are guidelines at this point, and we have no desire to go through the lengthy process of a trial.” The guard continued.
“Yes, we know the stuff on your ship was stolen. Smuggling weapons of that power is a crime punishable by life imprisonment, but we can’t afford that here. You’re both criminal scum. The galaxy doesn’t need you, and it doesn’t want you. There’s nothing you have to offer it that would make it better. And we’re doing it a favor by putting you two down.”
With that being said, the guard brought down the barrier.
His two armored compatriots advanced into the cell, one going for Corvax and the other for Piddry.
Corvax of course made to fight back. He kicked with his taloned feet and made to actually bite the guard with his beak, but the human was well armored, and the attacks just annoyed him.
Piddry, despite his simply standing there in shock at what was happening, was roughly handled by his guard, who moved about securing his arms behind him as if it were a machine behind the armor.
Soon, the two had their feathered arms cuffed, neither of them able to believe this was happening.
“Take them to the shutdown room. Make it quick and painless.” The unarmored guard said before turning to walk away.
“What, too soft to do it yourself!?” Corvax shouted after him.
The guard didn’t even stop at that remark, soon disappearing around the corner.
~~~~~
Piddry was shaking and crying all the way to the room.
<Just shut up…> Corvax hissed at him, trying to keep him calm.
<You’re going to get out of this just fine.>
<Nn-n-n-n-n…?> He tried to say, but whatever words he’d tried to form quickly disappeared with his terrified stuttering.
“Hey.” Corvax said to the guards roughly escorting him to wherever they were going.
“Yes, I’m the smuggler. But this guy, my brother, he had nothing to do with it. He’s only 19. He’s got a lot of life left. Let him go, take me instead.” Corvax tried to reason.
But the guards remained silent, not even acknowledging he’d spoken. Almost as if they were soulless drones.
They group soon arrived at the room they were meant to go to. A single chair sat in the middle of the small area, five metal cuffs on it. Two on the armrests, two near the floor for ankles, and one for the neck. Clearly, it had been designed for humans rather than any other species. Off to the side was a body disposal chute. So, Corvax wouldn’t even get a proper Teth passing ceremony?
“You first.” One of the guards said. But it hadn’t been Corvax they had been talking to.
“No!” Corvax shouted as Piddry’s guard pushed him forward.
“He’s innocent! Let him go! He didn’t do anything wrong!” He practically screamed.
Piddry was crying out as well, shouting <No!> repeatedly while trying to run, but his small Teth build was no match for human strength.
The guard pushed him into the chair, securing one of his legs to keep him stationary before moving about to secure the rest of him in the magnetic cuffs
Once the small bird alien was secured to the chair, the human walked over to the control panel off to the side, beginning to input the settings.
“Do you have any last words?” The guard asked as he typed away at the console.
Piddry was too an emotional wreck to even nod or shake his head.
And with that, the guard started up the machine.
The headrest behind Piddry’s head lit up, beginning to vibrate as the process powered up.
Piddry clenched his eyes shut, tears dripping down his face.
<Don’t worry! I’ll see you at the end of all of this!> Corvax called to him.
<I told you, everything’s going to be just fine!>
Piddry opened his eyes for one last second just in time to see his brother. And then… blackness.
~~~~~
“Long range radar is down.”
“I can’t reach any other military bases.”
“The central power grid is fried.”
The central command of the base was in disarray. Military personnel, all human, were running about, trying to figure out just what was going on. Their entire network was a mess, some kind of screaming noise blasting out whenever any kind of radio contact was made. Luckily the command center was EMP hardened and possessed its own backup power grid. Why was this lucky? Because the rest of the base had just gone completely dark. Out of the 300 or so soldiers stationed at the base, only 20 were in the command center. That left a whole lot of them in the dark with no way of finding out what was happening. Even the ones outside in the protective dome of oxygen around the base weren’t any better off, as with the base being on a moon, there was just the blackness of space in the sky.
“Can we re-route power from non-essential systems to at least power the lights?”
“We don’t have non-essential systems here.”
“We do now. Re-route from the comms. They’re fried anyway.”
“Yes sir. Re-routing.”
Soon, the lights all over the base were coming back on, though slightly dimmer than usual brightness. That included the spotlights outside used for guiding in ships at night. And the lights were currently illuminating quite the spectacle.
“Mother of God…” One of the soldiers muttered, removing his glasses to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. But unfortunately, they weren’t.
Even with the low power, the high output spotlights illuminated several dull, grey ships descending towards the base. Their almost Zeppelin-like appearance was enough to identify just what they were dealing with.
Spoiler! :
“The Shrall…” One of the men gasped.
The base commander rose from his chair.
“Sound the alarm. Get our fighter pilots into their ships. All other pilots are on evac duty.” He said.
“Yes sir!” The gathered men saluted, setting about their appointed tasks.
“All pilots, we’re under attack. A Shrall assault force is descending on the base. This is not a drill.”
One of the men present approached the base commander.
“Our fighters don’t have the firepower to take down Shrall troop carriers. At best, they’ll only delay them.”
The commander sighed.
“… I know. That’s why I’m staying here. This base is the only warning between the Shrall and the rest of the galaxy. If we can’t get out a warning that trouble’s coming, then some planet is going to be getting a nasty surprise. We need to get the comms back up. Find out what’s jamming them.”
“Uh… sir. You might want to take a look at this.”
The discussion ended as the commander turned towards the officer that had spoken. He was standing at one of the windows, a pair of high powered electronic binoculars in hand. He had been looking out the window until a few seconds ago.
The commander approached the man, who held out the binoculars for him.
“In the sky. I… think this is more than a terror attack.”
The commander stood against the window, looking up into the black void of space.
“Holy shit…”
Shrall ships. Thousands of them. Dreadnaughts and capital ships, all poised towards Oculus 5.
“You’re right. This is no terror attack. This is an act of war.”
~~~~~
Piddry had expected… something to happen. Maybe the white light often talked about. Maybe even something like him just appearing in the room he died in as a ghost. But all he saw was blackness. He could even still feel the restraints of the chair on his wrists and ankles. If this was death, then it was boring. Would he be like this for eternity? Just feeling every sensation his body went through from now on? No… he could still move his fingers. Then… was he alive? Did he have some kind of immunity to sensory shutdown?
“Did we blow a fuse or something?” The voice of one of the human guards asked.
“We shouldn’t have. That thing’s no electric chair.”
Seconds later, the lights returned, though slightly dimmer.
Corvax sighed in relief, seeing his brother was still alive.
“Emergency power.” The guard sighed.
“That chair’s as dead as a brick.”
“Well what do we do now? We can’t kill them.”
“We can with a gun.”
“We’re breaking enough laws as it is trying to execute them humanely without a trial. I’m not risking court martial just to…”
The two guards jumped a little as the intercom crackled with static before delivering a low quality message.
“All pilots, we’re under attack. A Shrall assault force is descending on the base. This is not a drill.”
The room suddenly felt a lot colder. The Shrall were infamous throughout the galaxy. Unarmored, they looked a lot like tall, buff humans, except for their rocky skin. But very rarely was one ever seen without its suit of full body armor. Corvax had actually once seen a Shrall eat another Teth before. Alive.
“Pilots… that’s me!” One of the guards said, snapping out of his shock.
“I’ve got to go!”
“Wait! what about these two?”
The guard whose pilot services had been requested looked to the two Teth in the room with him. He slowly drew his sidearm… and tossed it to the floor.
“Lock them in here. They can either use that to save themselves the agony of being eaten by the Shrall, or they can try and fight the bastards off, though I’m betting they’ll be smart enough to choose the first option.”
The guard in charge of Corvax released his grip on the Teth, though did nothing of the cuffs on his wrists.
“Let’s go.” He said to his partner, his rifle aimed at Corvax from the hip in case he tried anything before they’d gotten out. They backed out of the room, the door slid shut by one of them followed by a metallic thunk. They were locked in.
Corvax wasted no time, sitting down onto the floor and working his cuffed wrists out from behind his back, working the cuffs under his rump and down his legs until he brought them out in front of himself.
<Not that good at doing what they’re meant for, eh? Just like the species that made them.> Corvax chuckled to his brother, who was working on freeing himself. With the electricity out, the magnetic cuffs on the chair had lost power, and so were easily separable.
<There are Shrall coming…> Piddry said, as if he couldn’t believe it.
<Hey, it’s no big deal. Those guys left us a gun after all.> Corvax reassured, picking up the pistol.
<And so long as we avoid them, we don’t have to fight them.>
He strode over to the door, pressing the gun up to where the locking mechanism likely was.
<Might want to cover your ears Piddry, this thing might be a little loHOLY SHIT!>
Corvax cried out in pain, dropping the pistol. He’d definitely blasted through the lock with the gun, as there was a hole all the way through to the other side, but the recoil was too much for the brittle boned alien to handle.
<Shit, shit, shit… that’s why I like lasers better…> Corvax groaned, gripping his wrist.
Piddry finally finished freeing himself from the device that had earlier been designated to kill him, running over to his brother.
<Are you hurt?>
<Hell no. This is nowhere near as bad as the first time I tried shooting a human gun. And I held it with one hand that time.> Corvax waved off, retrieving the pistol.
<Buuut… I’m going to hold off on firing this unless I have to. Here, hang onto it while I open this.>
Crovax handed Piddry the pistol, the younger Teth holding it away from himself for fear he might set it off. Corvax dug his hands into the grooves on the door designed for opening in case of power loss, tugging the metal panel aside.
<Nnnngh… hah! Got it! We’re home free!> Corvax cheered, snatching the gun out of the relieved Piddry’s hand.
<Stay behind me, Piddry. No telling what the other guards might do if they see us, though hopefully they’ll be too busy to mess with us.>
And the guards certainly would be, as at that moment, another announcement was delivered over the intercom system, the voice sounding almost haunting with both its tone and the message it carried.
“All pilots, abort fighter launch! All pilots are now assigned to evac duty! Shrall dropships are touching down all over the base!”
~~~~~
Spoiler! :
A squad of five soldiers trained their weapons on the door that was currently slowly turning orange as the hostiles on the other side of the door worked on melting through it. All of them were armed with Archon LR25s, though they wondered if that would be enough.
“Their shields are weaker near their heads, but it still takes a f***ton of rounds to bring one down. Keep your aim steady, and we’ll get through this.” One of the soldiers said.
The other four nodded slightly in confirmation, raising their weapons.
The door was red now, the heat clearly noticeable. And then it was completely disintegrated.
“Weapons free!”
The five soldiers immediately opened fire into the red haze, the green lasers of their rifles flickering on and off with their concentrated bursts. A loud cry of anger echoed through the hall over the quiet noise of the lasers. Seconds later, a single large form barreled through the ruined door right towards the soldiers.
The five scattered, but not before one of them took a clothesline from the Shrall trooper. And even after all this, the blue haze of its energy shield was still visible. They hadn’t even scratched it yet.
The Shrall, not even paying the others any attention, brought its heavily armored foot up before crushing the dazed soldier’s head under its foot. Blood splattered everywhere, reddening the surroundings even more. The Shrall then pulled a four barreled rifle from its back, the barrels spinning as the gun revved up before flinging a barrage of superheated metal scraps at the remaining soldiers. To say it killed them was an understatement. It shredded them to pieces, their armor not designed to withstand projectiles of that nature. The heat of lasers with the ballistic lethality of a rifle. That was the power behind Shrall weaponry.
Once the five soldiers, whose commendable bravery had been in vain, were disposed of, the rest of the Shrall troopers moved in. Each one wore a suit of ashen grey armor that hummed with their personal energy shield. They appeared almost human in stature, but that illusions was broken the minute one took off its helmet, revealing an obsidian skinned face with a large overbite and stony appearing skin. The one that took of its helmet approached one of the fallen soldiers, already working on tearing off pieces of flesh for food.
“Stop.”
The Shrall turned towards the sound of the voice. A figure dressed in full dark purple battle armor with red power lines running down it followed behind the group, an almost old fashioned looking sword at its waist.
“You will not feast until this moon is cleansed of infidel filth. Do I make myself clear?” The figure asked, looking right at the helmetless Shrall. It just grunted in response, putting its helmet back on.
“Good. Kill all you find, and take whatever you wish from this place.” The figure continued.
The Shrall all roared with triumph at this order. Not complicated to follow, and joyous to carry out. They began their hunt through the halls, the telltale sound of their weapons going off as they shredded whatever they found.
The purple armored figure had one specific task in mind though. He drew his sword, which began to hum and glow with an eerie light.
And then, in the blink of an eye, the figure was gone.
~~~~~
“How much longer?” The base ocmmander asked.
“Whatever is blocking our signal is more advanced than any Shrall tech I’ve seen before, but I just need three more minutes, and I’ll have our broadcast around it.” One of the tech officers informed.
“And once it gets through, the Shrall won’t be surprise attacking anyone. Not even they can stand up against the whole ISN.”
The base commander looked out from the window of the command center. The shields around the center, supplied by emergency batteries, would last only an hour. He could see the Shrall tearing apart whatever they could find. At the very least, ¾ of the evac shuttles were gone. But he wouldn’t be on one of them.
“The rest of you… get to your ships. I’ll stay here to make sure the signal gets through.” The commander said.
“Bu…”
“That’s an order.”
The command center fell silent, no one making to argue with their CO.
“Yes sir.” They remaining soldiers saluted, making to leave.
They unsealed the door, checking to make sure that no Shrall were lying in wait for them. The halls looked clear though. The Shrall hadn’t made it to this part of the base yet.
“All cle…” One of the soldiers started to say, but something cut him off. Quite literally in fact, as his head flew from his body. The crowd making to exit the command center leapt back, another soldier seemingly impaled by an invisible sword.
“Tsk tsk tsk… such unintelligence.”
The air seemed to shimmer, a spectral looking figure starting to take form before they began to solidify, revealing the purple armored figure from earlier.
“So… delicate.”
The soldiers all pulled their weapons out, opening fire on the figure. But what he didn’t deflect with his sword bounced off his armor, some even hitting other soldiers.
“Hold fire! We can’t afford to lose any systems!” The Commander shouted.
The figure looked at his wrist in a bored fashion, as if gazing at an imaginary watch.
“You know, I’ve always questioned that gesture I’ve sometimes seen watching your old entertainment programs, but I can infer that they’re pretending to look at your people’s time pieces, correct?” He chuckled, sheathing his sword.
“Who are you?” One of the soldiers asked.
“Ah yes, the cliché question of who I am? What next, are you going to wait for me to gloat about my “villainous plan” and go into extensive detail as to how to stop it?”
The armored figure walked towards the surviving soldiers, still not bringing out a weapon though.
“I owe you nothing. No explanation as to why I’m here, or why I’m going to kill you. You will die in ignorance of WHY you had to die. That death, I feel, is worse than any other. I’m uncertain what your faith is, but I hope for irony’s sake that you believe in nothing. That seems to be the belief resulting in the tales of confused spirits haunting areas of great tragedy, such as this one. Who knows, you may have a book written about you someday.”
There was a ping as another bullet bounced off his armor.
“Can I not have a chance for at least a monologue?” He sighed, turning towards the base commander, who had a heavy pistol pointed at him.
“Get the hell out of my command center.” He hissed, teeth gritted.
“Or what? That’s the question, isn’t it? There is nothing you can do to me. You lack the firepower to pierce my suit, and if you’d like to have a debate about philosophy so as to crush my spirit, I’m afraid you’d lose. I’ve studied the religious texts of every religion of every species. I doubt you barely know anything about your own faith, whatever it may be.” The figure scoffed.
“Now, if you’ll please just not interfere for a few minutes, I have some business to take care of.”
The figure, ignoring everyone else in the room, advanced on the tech officer.
“No, wait!” He panicked, standing out of his chair. But the figure grabbed his head in one of his hands, and twisted it with an audible snap. The tech officer collapsed to the floor, dead. The figure passed his hand over the control panel, which soon had several error notifications pop up, one of which read “connection failed.”
“Your military, I’m afraid, will be caught quite off guard by the Shrall’s arrival.”
But as he turned around, he got a nasty pistol whip across his helmet by the base commander. Even with the helmet on, the impact dazed the figure for a brief second. But that second was over all too shortly.
With a cry of anger, the figure drew his sword and ran it through the base commander.
“Take him… down!” The commander managed to gasp out.
The soldiers all opened fire with their weapons. The ballistics weren’t of much worry to the armored man, but the lasers that were heating up his armor were. He’d known people to be cooked alive inside their suits by continued laser fire.
He stretched out his hand, and the Archon LR25s exploded in their grip, bathing their wielders in superheated plasma and fire. With incredible speed and precision, the figure lunged at each soldier and cut them down. Where a normal, metal sword wouldn’t have stood a chance against their armor, this figure’s sword cut through them like a knife through butter. Soon, the floor was littered with the bodies of the dead humans. His job was done.
“Th-th-there…”
The figure turned, chuckling lightly.
“You should feel proud. Not many could survive a stab such as that from this blade.” He said, wiping the blood from it.
“There is no… gloom or d-d-deep darkness… where evildoers may… hide themselves…” The commander gasped.
“I’m well aware of that. But consider this. What if I’m not evil, and you’re in the wrong here?” The figure spat.
“Your kind fights, kills, and rapes each other. My kind does no such thing. There is no murder that goes unpunished, no evil that does not receive justice. Our society is perfect in every way imaginable. If I didn’t know better, I’d say your kind is the evildoers. And there is nowhere you can hide from Orphan, the son of Benevassus.” The figure boasted. But the commander just laughed, blood starting to drip from his mouth.
“You’ll get yours… you bastard… and I feel sorry for you…”
“I don’t need your pity!”
The armored figure drove his sword through the commander’s head, silencing him.
“Orphan has decreed your deaths, and who are we to go against him?”
~~~~~
Spoiler! :
<Why the hell did they have to make this place so big!> Corvax shouted, a round from a Shrall rifle missing him as he and Piddry skidded around the next corner. As Teth, their speed was unrivaled by any other of the intelligent species. The Shrall stood no chance at pursuit. But they did have strength in numbers, and the brothers had no idea where they were going.
<Stop shouting. They’ll be able to find us easier.> Piddry hissed worriedly. He wasn’t as athletically fit as Corvax, but relatively speaking, he was still pretty fast.
<Like they can hear us over those guns of theirs! Seriously, do those things ever run out of ammo?>
Corvax, his hands still cuffed and gripping the gun, skidded to a stop upon passing by a small observation window.
<Ha! Look, there she is!> Corvax cheered, seeing the familiar sight of his ship, The Zulu, landed in what appeared to be some kind of maintenance hangar.
<Still in one piece. It even looks like they gave her a good cleaning.>
<How do we get to it though?> Piddry asked. So far, the duo had seen no unlocked doors. The entire base had basically gone into lockdown.
<Piddry, come on. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one here?>
Corvax raised the pistol, firing two shots into the glass. The first one compromised its integrity, and the second one smashed right through it. The breeze of artificial air generated by atmosphere simulators on the moon flowed through, Corvax taking a second to enjoy it. Though once that second was over, he got to knocking away any sharp pieces of the remaining glass. Honestly, he didn’t care how cut up his own hands got from this, so long as it meant safety.
<There, climb through.> Corvax said, ushering Piddry towards the window. Once again, the genetic advantages of being a Teth came to light as Piddry managed to squeeze through the space that would generally be difficult for any other species.
<Here, help me through will you?> Corvax said, tossing the firearm through the window first before following his brother out. Piddry helped pull Corvax through, trying to be gentle enough so as to not get him cut on any of the glass lying about.
At long last though, the two were through, and their escape all but assured.
<Run!> Corvax hissed, grabbing up his weapon and making an all out sprint towards his ship, Piddry right behind him. But Corvax skidded to a stop as his path and another’s crossed, the both of them heading for the same ship.
“You…” Corvax said, absolute hatred in his voice.
Standing in front of him was the same human who’d been in charge of his execution.
“You two? You managed to escape?” The human exclaimed, his face having gone completely pale.
“Yeah, no thanks to you.” Corvax continued, the gun in his hand twitching slightly. The human, however, was unarmed.
<Piddry… start up the ship. I’d like to have a chat with this guy.>
<Corvax… are you going to kill him?” Piddry asked.
<No, no. Nothing like that. Like I said, just talking.> Corvax reassured his brother.
<You remember where the backup latch is, don’t you?>
<Yeah, I do.> Piddry nodded. He approached the underside of the ship, running his hand along it until he found one specific place on it. With a sharp shove of his hand, the hatch leading up into the ship slowly swung open, Piddry disappearing up the lowered metal ladder shortly.
That taken care of, Corvax turned his attention back to the human.
“Look… I’m sorry. I was just following…”
“Orders? Yeah, I hear that a lot.” Corvax said coldly.
“I like to follow orders too, you know. Specifically, ones from my brain. Like this one.”
Without any indication of his intents beforehand, Corvax’s weapon snapped up and fired into the human’s knee. Without any armor, the bullet tore right through the bone and muscle, the human collapsing onto the ground.
“See? I was just following orders too? Doesn’t make it right though, does it?”
“Please… don’t kill me!” The human begged, arm extended in a pleading gesture.
“Oh, I’m not going to kill you.” Corvax chuckled. He then fired the weapon into his other knee.
The guard cried out in agony, sobbing hysterically from the pain.
“There. That leaves about… one shot left.” Corvax said, checking to see if that were true. It was. He tossed the gun to the ground, barely out of reaching distance of the human.
“You can either use that to save yourself the agony of being eaten by the Shrall, or you can try and fight the bastards off, though I’m betting you’ll be smart enough to choose the first option.” He voiced, a wicked grin on his face.
“Payback sure is a bitch, isn’t it?”
Satisfied with his work, Corvax turned and entered his ship, the engines already powered up and ready for flight.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t kill him?” Piddry said, sounding both sad and angry.
“I didn’t kill him. He’s still alive down there. For now anyways.” Corvax said nonchalantly, exchanging seats with Piddry at the pilot’s seat.
“We’ll head to Dealer’s Station. I’ve got a buddy there that can help us lay low until this whole Shrall thing blows over.”
But it wouldn’t just blow over.
As Corvax’s ship took flight, leaving the human to die, the thousands of Shrall ships in orbit around Oculus 5 were already making FTL jumps to their destinations. The generals had been assigned their targets. The Shrall would carve themselves an empire on the dust and ruins of the planets under control by the Inter-Species Navy. And Corvax and Piddry weren’t the only ones whose lives had been effected by the Shrall attack. In the following days, several others would have their lives rocked by the onslaught of the Shrall war machine.
They, like Corvax and Piddry, would know the sorrow of losing their family.
Spoiler! :
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