I
THE CALLING

2
Bloodfall V, Hazeroth Sub

"Shas'vre, new activity from the vessel."
Shas'vre M'yen narrowed his red eyes; his mouth wrinkled into a frown. He turned to the sensor-operator. "What is it now?" he asked in Low Gothic - it was the Commander's policy to have his men speak in the Human language, so as to better interact... especially in situations like this one.
"They're sending down a shuttle," the sensor-operator said, excitedly.
"It's about time," M'yen hissed, hefting his pulse carbine as he stepped towards the airlock. "Get ready to check them," he said to the surrounding Fire Warriors, all clad in the same uniform of blue-gray and ruby. He was never easy about arms deals.
After a few minutes of patient waiting, M'yen spied the sensor-operator grow anxious again. "They've landed! Picking up several individuals getting off... grouping suggests they've got heavy cargo."
"That's our thrones gelt," M'yen soberly announced. "Open the airlock for them," he ordered, and was obeyed.
Another minute passed before the sounds of the airlock repressurizing could be heard. "Be ready. I don't trust these people..."
A few moments after, the door opened, and each of the Fire Warriors within the chamber trained their weapons on the airlock therein. Within was a thin human woman, the upper half of her body hidden under a short cloak; she stood at the fore of a group of men carrying large crates. With a source of fresh air available to them, they all removed the re-breathers they had worn outside.
"Step inside, all of you," M'yen commanded. "Leave the boxes there."
"You're under the suspicion that the crates contain weaponry for us to surprise you with," the woman noted; she knew she was spot-on from the Tau's reaction. "Cute paranoia."
"Shut up," M'yen ordered. "Submit to our search."
The woman sighed, and raised up her arms, pulling back the folds of her cloak - attached to her belt were numerous vials of a thick, red liquid: Human blood, M'yen realized.
"What are those for?" the Shas'vre asked, pointing to her belt as the Fire Warriors began patting down the woman and her associates.
"Medical," the woman deadpanned. "I need regular transfusions."
M'yen grunted at this. He noticed markings on the woman's open palms - tattoos. Probably commemorative markings.
"Sir." One of the Fire Warriors produced a handgun from a holster on the woman's backside.
M'yen frowned, then looked back to the woman. "The deal was that you come down unarmed," he said, his rising irritation becoming clearer with each word he spoke.
"Forgive us for being cautious," the woman calmly said.
"We are nothing but cautious!" M'yen snapped, taking several steps forward. "Ten generations did mine and my Commander's force spend traveling the warp, as you call it, to bring the Greater Good to this distant place, and for another ten generations have these warriors fought in the shadows of this region of space, to break the will of the resistors!" He raised his hands up, indicating the entire number of the Fire Warriors present.
"I did not mean to bring offense."
"Your very refusal to accept the Greater Good is an offense. Your entire existence is an offense."
M'yen looked to a Fire Warrior as he cracked open one of the crates. The Fire Warrior animatedly turned to his captain. "The money's all here!" he said in his native tongue.
M'yen turned again to the humans. "Kill the others," he commanded, not taking his eyes off the woman. The Fire Warriors obeyed M'yen's order, shooting the woman's associates; each dropped to the floor, sizzling, creating a foul odor on the air which made the helmetless M'yen's face twist into an expression of revulsion. He smacked his lips for a moment, before slipping his free hand behind his back, pulse carbine carefully aimed away. "I know you... I understand your master is very fond of you. I think I like the idea of keeping you for ransom."
"My master will crush you like a bug," the woman tranquilly assured him as two Fire Warriors put their guns to her back.
"No, he won't."
The two stared at one-another... then the woman smiled. "No. No, you're right, he won't. Because, he won't be able to." She clenched her left hand, digging her long fingernails into her palm.
M'yen began to chuckle. "That's an odd boast!"
A droplet of the woman's blood hit the floor; even before it splattered, a circular hole appeared in the floor, directly beneath the woman, and she fell through, leaving the Tau shocked; the same instant she was gone, the hole disappeared.
"What sort of illusion is this?" M'yen cried, hastily scanning the room with his carbine at the ready.
A Fire Warrior behind him cried out in agony, pulling M'yen's attention - the Tau convulsed violently, arcs of electricity connecting his body to the human woman, who had reappeared atop a pile of equipment cases. As her victim collapsed, the other xenos opened fire, confusedly shouting directions and orders between one-another. The human bent herself back then launched into the air, rolling for a moment before landing on her hands; as she did so, she held one open palm out towards the Fire Warriors, and several of the heavy boxes around her shot out of the mass, smashing against the Tau.
"Kill her! Kill her!" M'yen shouted, furiously spraying his target with his carbine's plasmafire - all to no effect as the woman mockingly dodged his and his team's efforts with astounding grace.
As the woman performed another aerial, she reached outside her spin, and the pulse rifle of one of the dead Fire Warriors slipped from its owner's cold grip and rocketed towards her, planting itself firmly in her hands as she landed on her feet - she began firing that same instant while she began to cartwheel to the side, cutting down two Tau, and sheering away Shas'vre M'yen's leg beneath the knee. The remaining Fire Warriors, now attempting to flee the chamber in the wake of this goddess of battle, died with pulses against their backs.
Shas'vre M'yen, broken against the floor, attempted to raise himself off the ground. The woman calmly stepped over to him, and rolled him over onto his back with her boot. "You... won't get away with this... this... this thievery! This... villainy!"
"What are you talking about?" the woman coldly responded. She pressed the heated mouth of the pulse rifle she held against M'yen's forehead, and he screamed in agony at the branding heat. "It was you that dared attempt to trifle me in the first place." She pulled the trigger, and in an instant the boiling gore that had been M'yen's head spattered across the ground and the woman's leather leggings.
The woman dropped the weapon, and looked down at the palm of her left hand: The tattoo was gone, leaving behind an open wound of the sort she was used to, within which flesh bubbled and sputtered in a pattern identical to the shape which had once been marked upon it.
She reached back with her right hand, and retrieved a bottle of counterseptic. She twisted the cap off between her fingers, and then poured the liquid onto her left hand, biting through the sting. As she shook the excess off, she reached back again, putting away the counterseptic and taking out a ream of bandaging, which she immediately applied to her hand.
She slid a hand into her pocket, and pulled out her vox. She flipped it open and thumbed a number out on it; she held it to her ear with her now-wrapped left hand while she approached the corpse of the Fire Warrior who had taken her pistol.
"You're late," a deep, powerful voice growled on the line. "Did the deal go through?"
"Things went sour. The idiot fish-faces thought they could hold me captive to get some ransom out of you," the woman said as she plucked her weapon up from the floor.
"Then they're all dead."
"Yes," the woman looked over the room, over the equipment she had just obtained, free of charge. "Though I have a feeling Shas'el Var'ur is going to be bothering us for a while because of this."
"He is nothing. If he attempts to cross us again, he won't stand an instant."
"Of course," the woman stepped over to the sealed crates that would have been bought in the transaction. She undid the latches on them, and was pleased to find the promised weapons within. "Everything's here. They were going to give us the weapons. It looks like this wasn't Var'ur's plan."
"Nevertheless, our business with him is done. Get the crates and our money loaded back onto the lander. Get back up here."
"Very well. I'm going to need another team to help me, though. The ones here have all been shot."
"I see... I'll send others down. Fine work nevertheless, Losa."
"Thank you, Master."