Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit (32 page)

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A very large, extremely agile-
looking reptilian life form swept through the dark trees in a blur. As if it suddenly appeared by magic or some sorcery. A hyper-evolved killing machine.

It sniffed and opened its maw to taste the air.

Naero countered by gauging its range of vision and doing her best to sluna. Staying out of its visual field.

T
his was one of the whip-like, indestructible terrors in the flesh. One of them slew her best friend and haunted many of her nightmares.

Finally she
got to observe one up close.

She guessed from its elusiveness
, that this one was a scout for the others. Perhaps an entire hunter-killer pack.

Yes indeed. That made this one a long range scout.

Grayish with streaks of flat black, over six meters long, not including a long, razor sharp tail whip.

Yet s
he thought that she recalled the one Gallan had fought had been larger, and a greenish hue. But who knew what their color range for their race was.

Naero
knew the whipping tails could shatter and slash through almost anything.

Including armored troops.

The creature had long powerful arms and dexterous clawed hands. A squarish, block-like scaled head, armored with dense bone, and massive, crushing jaws, filled with what looked to be large, triangular diamond-like teeth. Fierce, intelligent black eyes in armored sockets.

It appeared to be both agile, and very dense.
Much more than just a big lizard.

Perhaps these monsters
came from a world with heavier gravity. Which of course would make them even faster and stronger here.

Back in the mines,
creatures like this one had ripped their way through metric tons of solid stone in an effort to get at her. Gallan gave his life to keep them from killing her as well.

It flicked its deep black, glistening narrowed eyes and focused
suddenly in her direction for the kill.

How had it located her? By scent, or by sensing her presence with its mind?

This was a terrifying creature, devoid of any fear. Well-accustomed to killing anything it came up against.

Its snarling voice rasped like grinding stone and metal.

Whether it used a translator or could manipulate languages, it spoke to her in Spacer common.

“
Come out little spack. I am Urrek, soldier of the Imperial Dakkur Empire. You will not escape me. And the others are coming.”

Even Om grew
alarmed.

Naero…the Dakkur were ancient enemies of the Kexx. They were servants of the G
’lothc. Mortal enemies to the Kexx and their allies, The Drians.

Let
’s see what he wants Om.

Naero tapped into the
Cosmic flows around her, still struggling to recover her strength. She responded with the voice. Her words echoed all around them.

What do you
seek from me, monster?

The creature merely laughed

“I am immune to your tricks, little spack. They do not frighten me. I propose a challenge, of single combat you and I, to pass the time. So that we may test our prowess. I have yearned to test my strength against one of your kind one on one. There is no escape for you in any case. Just like the other female.”

Did he mean Shalaen…or Hashiko?

You have not captured me yet. What do you plan to do with me?

“W
e shall take you and the other one hiding underground back to our masters, as we have been ordered to do. To join their growing collection. These other humans are but useless meat. We will leave them for our slaves, the Ejjai, to feed upon, after we take a few hundred heads.”

So, these Dakkur were the ones taking the heads.

Naero laughed back at Urrek.

You
’re not a soldier. You’re a parasite–a scavenger.”

“E
nough talk. Fight!”

Urrek launched himself at her. Blinding fast.

Nearly as fast as her. Yet in her weakened state, her edge would not last very long in a hard, prolonged fight.

And he could be
delaying her until the others caught up to them.

Naero certainly couldn
’t face an entire pack of them.

She defended and deflected his attacks, using the trees to block and cover her retreat. Trying to gauge
his actions, movements, and methods.

He almost got her
again.

Naero dodged.

He hurtled past her, smashing through more of the trees as they toppled all around, raising clouds of dust.

Naero staggered back
up to her feet, drawing one blaster and her energy cutlass.

No chance of summoning a
Chaos katana. Not in her current state.

She couldn
’t transport either.

Urrek chortled at her and lashed his tail whip.

“I see why you run and avoid engaging me directly. You are tired and weak, little spack. You can’t use most of your powers. Your pitiful weapons cannot harm me. It’s a wonder you can stand. And you still want to fight a slayer such as myself?”

“N
o, monster. I want to kill you.”

Naero. Stop bluffing. Get us out of here.
We’re burned out. I can’t help you, even if I tried.

Can
’t Om. Like you said. No juice left. Gravwing damaged during the battle. Can you fix it?

“
Little spack bitch. Why do the masters even want you for their collections? You are nothing. At least the other female was stronger than you–and we took her with only a little trouble.”

Naero readied herself and lifted her head high.

“I’m still me. Come and find out what I am.”

He
’s circling. Looking for an opening. He’s bunching to charge.

Naero blasted Urrek
right between the eyes.

His personal shield deflected it in a bright spray of plasma.

She tossed a grenade under him.

Urrek
’s shield deflected the blast, but it did toss him off his feet. Keeping him from slamming into her.

Modulate my blaster to get his shield down with the next shot, Om.

We can’t teknomance. I can barely keep talking to you. Run. We can’t win this fight.

I
’m healing, Om. Every second we hold him off.

How many grenades do you have left?

Five.

Not enough.

Shut up, and fix the damn blaster!

Naero took Urrek back
into the thick dark fir trees of the tree line forest.

For a creature who could bore through solid rock, he
merely tore his way through them.

That
ploy didn’t work any better the second time around.

Naero relied on her agility.

She was still smaller, quicker.

Urrek
cut through huge trees and branches with his tail alone.

She couldn
’t let him get close yet.

Suddenly the monster
charged right in on her.

Naero flipped, slashing his spine with her energy cutlass.

Urrek roared in pain. Shields still didn’t stop blades.

He spun
like a drill, knocking her high into the air.

Then he leaped up at her, ready to drag her down.

Even worse, Urrek’s deep wound on his back sealed up and healed almost completely, right before her eyes.

Dakkur
regenerated?

And apparently a lot faster than Spacers.

Her damaged gravwing still did not respond.

Naero tried to levitate. Nothing.

Summon wings. No dice.

She gnashed her teeth and plummeted, thrusting her cutlass out in front of herself protectively.

Naero, we can’t win a head on fight in this state.

No choice, Om.

She tried to maneuver, but Urrek came straight at her, roaring a challenge that chilled the marrow in her bones.

H
e rampaged straight up through the trees, smashing through all the thick branches in his way.

Naero turned to snap off a quick shot
with her blaster. No effect.

Something that felt like a
furry rock blind-sided her out of nowhere.

It
snatched her away and carried her out of Urrek’s outstretched claws.

Haisha!

40

Naero grunted. Stunned and winded for an instant.

What the flaming hell?

A short powerful, hairy arm encircled her as they rapidly passed through the trees at incredible speed.

The creature was breath-robbing fast, up there wi
th Baeven. And an acrobat in the trees like nothing she had ever seen.

Even carrying her
under the one arm, they leaped and flipped and raced through the trees in a flash.

Naero
struggled to break free, but the creature was also incredibly strong for its compact size.

She dropped her blaster.

The thing actually flipped and caught it. With its tail, and secured the weapon back in her holster.

While it kept going.

She tried to slice it with her cutlass, but the thing was too quick for her.

The damn tail again. It ripped her weapon from her hand and sheathed it back behind her hips
in the scabbard.

Then it spoke to her.

“Don’t try to cut me, dammit. That thing is sharp.”

Naero t
wisted in panic, fighting for all she was worth.

Long
whiskers swiped across her face. She tried to get a look at her captor. Difficult while they swung through the trees and bumped around at high speed.

She glimpsed
an intelligent mammalian face. Large green eyes and many sharp white teeth. White whiskers tipped with blue.

She scratched and bit.
Her efforts flustered them both.

“H
old it, spacechild,” the creature said, its voice almost a snarl. “Stop your damn wiggling, or I’ll drop you!”

“T
hen drop me!”

She
re-doubled her efforts to break free, but the thing matched her strength. At first she feared it might be an Ejjai, but this creature wasn’t like anything she’d seen before.

A
nd no Ejjai could ever climb or flip through the forest like this.

“U
gh! Do I have to knock you out or something?”

“O
kay…I give up. Please, don’t hurt me.”

She
faked giving up–to get a hand on one of her blades.

But the thing wrapped its tail around her arm and nearly
crushed her bones when it squeezed.

“
Stop fighting me,” it warned. “We don’t have time to wrestle with you!”

It called up into the tree canopy.
“S’krin. Get down here and give me a hand tackling Baeven’s little hellion!”

Laughter filtered down through the leaves, along with a
musical, almost child-like voice calling back down to them. “What’s the matter, Danjen? Can’t handle a little girl?”

“A
aughh! Little girl? She just bit me again! I can’t control her much longer without breaking something on her. And Baeven insisted that we protect her.”

The other voice kept laughing.
“Who’s going to protect us from her?”

“S
eriously!”

Naero stopped fighting.

These were…Baeven’s friends…from his mysterious crew?

Something flew overhead, its shadow passing over them.

“Make ready for battle, Danjen–our foe comes straight for us.”

Naero couldn
’t look up in its direction the way she was held.

What in the hell were these
aliens? Not from any of the known species. That was for sure.

With
Urrek attacking, she had to break free.

Naero sank her teeth deep into
a furry forearm once more. The muscles wiry and tough, like biting into hardwood. It hurt her jaws.

“
Arrghh!” Danjen roared. He flung her into the brush below. “You little idiot! Stop biting me. We’re friendly, damn it.”

An insect woman flitted above Naero, like a giant damsel fly in iridescent armor. Four diaphanous wings helped her maneuver, but Naero guessed that the g
ravdisks she wore front and back helped uphold at least some of her mass, on worlds with heavier gravity.

Each of her six hands held a
n energized weapon of some kind.

Naero had read about several insectoid races, but none
like this, and with such humanoid faces. “I am S’krin,” she said, “Please believe us. Baeven sent us here to find and protect you.”

She finally got a good look at
Danjen, still licking his bleeding arm. About her height and covered with longer, light brown fur, darker and ringed around his ankles and wrists. His face also humanoid, but mammalian, more like that of a Terran weasel or ferret.

He wore little else except an ornate battle harness, his
several weapons, and a striped blue loin cloth.

Then Naero
heard Urrek roaring through the forest, catching up fast.

Danjen sniffed
the air, dropped to the ground right in front of Naero on one knee in a firing position. He squinted through the sights of some kind of hi-tek carbine.

“D
akkur are tough and fast. We’re in for a fight. Here it comes!”

“T
oo bad Gaviok isn’t with us.”

“Y
eah, he loves fighting these things–by the dozens.”

“O
r Baeven.”

Danjen snorted.
“The two of them would make these scum shit themselves.”

Naero scrambled
to draw her pistol, even as Danjen and S’krin’s weapons tore into their foe.

Bright sprays of warping energy burst around it.

Dammit. Urrek’s shields still held up.

Naero sprang up into the trees and hit
Urrek with her last grenades.

The blasts drove their foe in
to the ground, but it spun, rolled away, and sprang into the air faster than weapons could track it.

Urrek
’s tactics remained sudden, abrupt, and blinding fast.

S
’krin unleashed a cry that nearly split Naero’s ear drums–an actual vocal, sonic attack. The air warped around it in pulsing rings.

She swept down at
Urrek, fearless, force blades blazing and arcing.

T
hey collided in mid-air. S’krin fast. Urrek a match for her.

Despite
her six limbs, armor, and multiple weapons, they smashed into a sixty meter tree, slashing and slicing at each other.

The
ir fighting shattered the heavy tree into splinters and severed most of its main branches. The trunk uprooted and crashed down, torn completely out of the ground by their ferocity.

S
’krin finally took his shield down, but Urrek gained the upper hand, pinning her down. Pummeling her unmercifully. Somehow she endured and kept fighting back. Whatever race she was, she was tough.

Danjen leaped
over to help, seeing an opening. His own blades drawn.

Naero
drew her blaster to help, then her cutlass again.

Unfortunately, with the three of them fighting and thrash
ing back and forth…

Her first shot kinda hit…S
’krin.

“U
gh! Hey, watch it you fool!”

“S
orry, sorry!”

She
charged in and tried to run Urrek through.

Instead she jabbed Danjen in the butt
as he jumped in. She even cut his tail slightly.

“O
w, my tail! Dammit, girl. Will you stay out of this and just heal up for a bit? We’ve got this.”

“I
didn’t mean to.”

Urrek
punched Danjen right through another big tree.

She wasn
’t used to any of their odd moves and fighting styles.

But neither was she convinced that Danjen and S
’krin had the situation under control.

They
all took a pretty good beating, as bad as they dished out, and Urrek was a terrifying combatant.

They
’re holding Urrek off, giving you a chance to gather your strength and help them.

When it came to
raw speed and agility, Danjen was faster than Urrek, faster than Naero and anything she’d seen before, outside of Baeven’s Mystic-honed speed.

But
Urrek was more than three times their size and mass, and Danjen no taller than Naero herself. But he sprang upon the back of the Dakkur with his own war cry and sank his blades in deep.

Urrek
reared up in pain.

Danjen used its momentum to flip it off of S
’krin. Naero finally snapped off a few clear shots, with Urrek’s dense hide, they seemed to do little damage.

Urrek
flung S’krin aside when she attacked. It writhed and nearly twisted itself in knots trying to crush and rend Danjen.

T
he small, furry fighter stayed one step ahead.

Danjen
dodged, kicked and slashed, slowly wearing Urrek down through attrition.

The Dakkur
went mad trying to get at Danjen.

Naero, I
’ve finally managed teknomance your blaster to penetrate Urrek’s tough hide. I’ve exhausted myself. You only have two, maybe three shots. Get in close. Make them count.

Thanks, Om. Will do
.

Urrek
spotted Naero as soon as she attempted to close in. He reversed his attack and and lunged at her suddenly, ignoring even Danjen’s blades.

Naero
side-stepped at the last instant, driving her energy cutlass deep into Urrek’s right eye. Even as he snapped at her with his bone-splintering jaws and broke off the blade.

He just barely missed
biting off her arm.

Urrek
thrashed wildly in pain, partially raked her with one claw, and then pinned her to the ground with a clawed arm heavy as titanandium.

She shielded her
self briefly with Chaos energy covering her body like a thick glaze. She kicked and punched.

H
e tried to crush her.

Urrek
’s yawning maw sped toward her neck and head.

Then
he threw back his jaws and screamed.

Danjen appeared at Naero
’s side, just as she thought she might black out.

He drove one blade
deep into Urrek’s neck until his blade also snapped off, and then rammed his other short sword into the Dakkur’s skull.

S
’krin sprang upon Urrek from above, a long energized halberd flashing down.

She severed
Urrek completely in half with one powerful stroke, just above the hips.

Hot steaming blood and
glowing, dusty entrails exploded in a gritty cloud of stench, as if under extreme high pressure.

Even
in his death Urrek’s two halves thrashed and fought them, knocking Danjen aside, raking S’krin.

But
he leaped at Naero again, one arm useless, except for helping him crawl.

Flying at him, Naero kicked Urrek
backwards, rocking his jaw and splintering several teeth. Another flip-kick knocked him all the way over, skidding to a halt in a gory heap.

Urrek
shuddered and tried to right himself.

Naero trod upon
his thick neck and rammed him back down with one booted foot. Some of her strength returned.

Urrek
snarled at her.

“M
y kind and our masters will swarm over your worlds and rend you all,”
Urrek said with a gurgling, laughing hiss.

Naero
pressed her blaster right to its head.

C
lose enough Om?

“R
oast in hell, monster.”

She fired and kept firing
until her blaster clicked.

Urrek
jerked as his skull blew apart and exploded in flashes of fetid dark energy. Until his ruined, smoldering face stared straight ahead and fell lifeless to one side.

“
Not bad.” Danjen said, kicking Urrek’s corpse a few times to make sure. “If it’s dead, you’d better step back.”

Naero stared at them
and raised one eye-brow.

“
Haisha, if it’s not dead by now, we’re in trouble.”

All thre
e of them pulled away.

The corpse smoked with curls of black ic
hor and a sickening dark energy that made Naero’s flesh crawl. What the hell was this? Where had she sensed something like this before?