At that moment, one of the Bandits crowding the door yelped and clutched the side of his head. Within seconds, the Bandit had been pulled back and his place filled. Mylak rushed over to him and fussed about for a moment.
Bor nodded toward the medic. “You brought him into combat?”
“He is a combat medic, Bor. It’s his job.”
“Yeah, but…” Bor shrugged. “He just doesn’t seem the type to be within a hundred miles of a war.”
I glanced over at the medic, who had bandaged the wounded Bandit’s head–he was only missing part of his ear, much like myself, nothing serious–and had moved on to the next. He moved with a determination and purpose I liked to see. And he was quite knowledgeable about injuries. He would do fine.
“I think he’d surprise you, Bor.” I focused back on the Swrun barricade and saw that their ranks had thinned a bit. “This is taking too long. Don’t the Swrun know we are on a schedule?”
Bor chuckled. “I’d say they’re trying to delay that as long as possible.”
I nodded glumly. “Wish Juiwa was still around. He’d’ve just snuck right up into them and cleaned them all out before they knew the shadow next to them was loaded.”
Bor frowned for a moment. The loss of Juiwa, Vyena, and the three other Bandits had not been easy for us. We’d spent weeks scouring the system where they had been lost, but found no trace of them.
I harrumphed, pulling my mind out of the dark places it had a tendency to find itself. “Time to get this over with.”
I hefted my rifle and took a position in the center of the doorway. “Let ‘em have it!” I shouted to encourage the Bandits to fire at once.
It worked. A near solid wave of plasma washed over the Swrun, and burned through a good number of them. While they milled about in temporary confusion, I leapt out of the door frame and into the wide room. Yelling a wordless battlecry, I charged the Swrun line, firing wildly. Not inaccurately, just wildly.
I felt a plasma shot impact my chest, and felt the heat spread across my body. Not long ago, that would have been the end of me. I would have been just another corpse, a neat, smoking hole burned through me. But instead I stood firm and returned fire. The Swrun who had shot me had a look of utter surprise plastered across his face when I cut him down.
The many of the Swrun did not fare much better, as they were cut down by the Bandits charging behind me. Only a few survivors remained, crouched against the barricade for shelter. They returned fire doggedly. They were quite determined, it seemed. But they would quickly fall.
A roar echoed through the corridor behind them. With it came an even, repetitive thud, thud, thud. Everyone stopped where they were, guns ceasing, breathing slowed. What was the cause of that horrendous noise, what creature could create–
Three massive Irgh came into view, barreling down the corridor. Giant hulking brutes, Irgh were the shock troopers of the Swrun, the only race trusted to be in the Empire’s armies other than the Swrun themselves. Small Irgh stood somewhere around six and a half feet. The truly monstrous ones stood at ten. These three were somewhere around eight feet. Their dark grey skin was thick and resistant to most trauma. Curved razor claws and sharpened teeth gave the Irgh a significant advantage in unarmed combat, which was unfortunate, as their skin served as a natural IPDM suit.
The lead Irgh smashed through the barricade the Swrun had built, sending the thick metal tables and chairs flying into the air. I ducked under a table and felt it brush my fur as it passed overhead. The trio crashed into the center of the room and bellowed their challenge at us.
“Shoot them!” Bor shouted, his voice rock steady, without a hint of fear. Startled bandits opened fire on the Irgh and had little effect. The most the Irgh did was to turn their faces away from the blinding light. Roaring again, they leapt out into the Bandits surrounding them and swept their long, clawed arms around. Several Bandits went flying, blood splattering into the air.
“Back away!” I shouted. “Hit them from a distance.”
I didn’t really have to tell the Bandits that, as they had already spread out the moment the Irgh attacked. Plasma hit the Irgh from all sides and they spun, clawing futilely around, trying to stop the burning of the plasma. It would not permanently damage them, but it did sting a good bit. The only way to kill an Irgh was in hand to hand combat, ramming a knife into their hearts or brain.
The Swrun had bred the Irgh to be tough bastards and it had worked all too well. I squared my shoulders and loosened my knives in their sheaths. I held my gun out to Bor, and he took it with an expression of bewilderment on his face. “You’re not actually going to fight those things, are you?”
I chuckled. “It can’t be too hard. Clint does it all the time. You keep them distracted though. Or I’ll haunt you for the rest of your days.”
With that, I slipped my knives out and ran towards the Irgh. The nearest one had his back turned to me, still spinning in his attempt to get away from the blinding light. I leapt, burying a knife into his back to provide me with leverage to reach the back of his head. I stabbed my other knife into the back of his skull. It took a good deal more effort than I had anticipated and it merely stuck into the bone, rather than piercing his brain.
The Irgh roared and flailed his arms, scrabbling to get me off. I yanked my knife out and stabbed again, this time with the correct force. The blade slid into his skull and I could feel his body relax under me. As he started to topple, I pulled my knife free and rolled away. Now, the two surviving Irgh were aware of my presence and had lowered themselves into a combat stance, claws at the ready.
The one on the left was closer and was presenting a much better target. I threw my knife left-handed, much more forcefully than I usually did, and it sailed between the Irgh’s outstretched arms–Irgh were not the most coordinated beings in the galaxy–and sank into the Irgh’s left eye. It squealed in pain and fell back, clutching its eye.
I dismissed him as disabled and I focused on the last Irgh. He was the smallest of them, but he seemed to the most brutal. Crimson and green blood dripped from his claws, blood from the fallen Bandits. I narrowed my eyes at him and flipped another knife into my hand. I spun them idly, waiting for an opening.
Plasma fire, which had slowed during my attack, resumed, flashing across my opponent’s face. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. I charged him, knives held at the ready. Pushing off with my leading foot, I sailed into the air, aiming for his chest.
But I never arrived. I jerked in mid-air, my momentum redirected straight into the ground. I collided with the solid metal floor with an impact that forced all of the air from my chest. A loud pop sounded through my body, followed by a great deal of pain. My left shoulder had been shattered.
I glanced back to see what had slammed me into the ground. The half-blinded Irgh grinned, his big hand wrapped around my ankle. I twisted, struggling against his crushing grip. The pain in my shoulder threatened to overwhelm me, but I pushed it away. I would deal with it later. It was to no avail. The Irgh was too strong.
I could hear the plasma shots being fired, and see them impacting the Irgh’s skin, but that did nothing to help. Instead, I heaved my body off the ground–nearly blacking out from the pain in my shoulder–while lunging forward to slam my knife into the Irgh’s hand. He let go of my leg with a yelp of pain. That was the second time my knives had tasted his blood.
I was halfway to my feet before I was hit from behind by what felt like an entire ship. I flew forward, crashing onto my hands and knees. Several ribs had popped with that strike. I pushed myself to my knees, turning to face the Irgh. The sounds of the plasma fire and the yelling Bandits faded out of my ears as my body diverted attention from the less important senses to the ones trying to keep me alive. My reactions were sluggish, despite all the effort my body was going to to keep itself alive.
My vision darkened as the half-blind Irgh blocked the ceiling lights. Before I could react, he swept his clawed hands across my face, slicing open the skin. My vision went dark from the blood running into my eyes, my body flying backwards from the force of the hit. I couldn’t see, or hear, where the Irgh was, but I could feel him walk across the metal floor, the impacts of his stride rattling my bones, sending my shattered shoulder into new spasms of agony.
I could not see him, but I knew he stopped next to me. The next thing I felt was a foot crush my chest. My ribs splintered, the shards tearing through my muscle and skin. My lungs flattened under the force of the blow, all air squeezed from them like a fruit squeezed of juice in a press.
My heart popped. The pain from my shoulder and sliced face faded away before the pain of my ruined chest. No. All of the pain was gone. It was all–
Bor My watched in horror as the Irgh grabbed Tedix’s leg and slammed him into the ground. He could hear bones break from here.
Bor My yelled in rage, and opened fire on the Irgh who had struck Tedix in the back, sending the jahen flying.
Bor My sprinted forward, knife held in one hand, seeking to distract the Irgh from his fallen prey.
Bor My watched with numb dread as the Irgh stomped Tedix’s chest in.
There was no way Tedix could have survived that. His chest had been destroyed by the Irgh’s stomp and there was nothing left but a pile of shattered ribs and ruptured organs. As the two Irgh turned to face Bor, there was only one thought in his mind.
Tedix Jaku was dead.