Dark Hunter's resolution.
Chapter 26: Ral'craz prison, Decepticons attack.
28th October 2901
Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz prison.
Nearly two weeks into his stay in what could only be viewed as a hellhole, and Alex had not ventured far past his cell block except to gather food and water.
Food was delivered down in crates, piled in the centre of the quarry hole, and as there seemed to be a 'pecking order' among the prisoners, Alex was careful to stay back, feeding off scraps. His mechanical limbs meant he did not have to consume very much food, for a human, to stay alive and in reasonable condition. He could get by on only 800 calories a day easily.
Drinking water was delivered in a similar manner, despite there being an oasis of sorts near the quarry hole's bottom, the 800 metre tall, overall 85 degree slope, stepped in many places with ledges, outcroppings and some natural, probably nested caves.
The oasis, in reality more like a 5 foot deep muddy pond, was avoided for drinking due to the inherent diseases notorious on this world, particularly the water borne diseases. However, Alex still made trips to that oasis, crossing on a few occasions where all the other prisoners busied themselves with fetching supplies.
As fate would have it, the duetrium content of the oasis water was 1 in 3000 duetrium count per molocules of normal hydrogen in the water molocules. And with his more power-consuming systems down, such as weapons, Alex's reactor could easily sustain him on just 2 litres of water per day. His fusion reactor feed was calibrated to filter out the duetrium molocules to use as fusion fuel, and eject the rest of the water. And less than a gram of fusion fuel could sustain him for a week, even two weeks.
But running low on fusion fuel was the least of Alex's problems. Neither was the prospect of escape, which while only very difficult to climb from the quarry and past the guard ring, was impossible once he would reach the jungles.
The worst problems lived in the same quarry as he was trapped at the bottom of.
Retreating back to his cell, Alex took his normal route, scrambling beneath and around large boulders and ridges that marred the quarry's base. Stepping as silently as he could, the cyborg human rounded the next corner.
Ahead, the mining tunnel, inside which was his and a few other cells, lay open.
Walking briskly, Alex noticed a few other prisoners standing by their own tunnel entrances, and the looks they were giving him. Of course, this deep in the Alliance territory, they wondered what this human was doing here.
Reaching his mine entrance, Alex cautiously brushed past a female Kro'nogri, scars criss crossing her face, bare shoulders and arms. As he entered the dark, mined out corridor, he failed to notice the look of predation on her face. Her back arched upwards, and she moved in.
The human walked at the same speed, his cell in sight, while another two inmates, these two male Kro'nogri, joined the female in silently following him.
Walking up, Alex reached to grab his cell door. Then, his world became a rush.
The female Kro'nogri seized his shoulder, unluckily for him his recently re-scarred right shoulder, and threw him backwards from his cell. Hitting the dirt floor, Alex gasped in pain from his shoulder, as he rolled to a stop. The sun streamed in from the entrance, illuminating his face and shoulders.
Hearing the stomping, Alex jerked his head up, scrambling backwards as the 3 Kro'nogri advanced on him. Their faces were feral, and they looked to be enjoying this.
Leaping up, Alex lashed out, throwing a precise punch to the female Kro'nogri's stomach. She twisted to dodge, managing to move enough that the punch was a glancing blow, knocking he back with no true damage. After her, one of the 2 male Kro'nogri brought a hand down, claws outstretched.
Raising an arm, Alex blocked the swipe, and spun around to smash his elbow into the Kro'nogri's face, grabbing the blocked hand and wrist as he spun. Knocking the Kro'nogri backwards, still in his grip, Alex twisted to kick upwards, smashing the swinging arm of the third Kro'nogri out of the way, his mechanical foot nearly fracturing the Kro'nogri's bones.
Feeling the Kro'nogri struggling in his grip, Alex turned quickly, and holding the Kro'nogri's hand, chopped downwards with his free hand, and the crunch of the reptile's broken wrist echoed through over the fight volume, before his shriek of pain overtook him.
Spinning, Alex failed to see the Kro'nogri female behind him. She swiped out as his back was turned, her claws nearly missing as Alex reacted instinctively. But he was not fast enough, and her claws raked through his thin prison garb, leaving 3 cuts in his skin, beginning to bleed.
The slash floored him also, the pain making his knees buckle. He gasped in pain, collapsing onto his side, joining the male Kro'nogri whose wrist he'd broken on the floor.
Above him, as the 2nd Kro'nogri male stumbled back to his feet, no longer favouring the arm Alex had kicked, the bones nearly broken in them, the female Kro'nogri growled, advancing on Alex. As she stepped over him, she smiled in a sick manner, gesturing to the other 2 male Kro'nogri with her, one still on the floor:
"Hello, Alex Hunter. Ala'mei Ranothis, remember me? Or at least, remember what organization we worked together in?"
Gasping, Alex rolled onto his back slightly, the blood beginning to drip from his 3 back scratches. Looking up, he couldn't recognize the face of the female reptilian above him. Coughing, thankfully not coughing blood, Alex croaked: "The KI?"
"Good guess. You were one of our best members once." She slammed her foot into his side, the human crying as he was rolled over onto his stomach in pain. She then hissed: "And you betrayed us. Because you grew soft, you couldn't handle the dirty work."
Rasping, Alex said: "No. Look at the Varya operations, that was what all KI members would have eventually become, slaves. Just like we all were. Unlike you and others, I was smart, and quit while I was ahead."
His response was a planted foot on his back. Leaning over him, Ala'mei looked at his upper back and neck, noting the still scarred skin and protruding neural implants in the spine. Not accepting the lies, she pressed her foot further up his back, saying: "Unlike you, I didn't betray them. I survived, still loyal to the KI. And you tried to kill us all, we all know it was you. Most surviving KI members ended up here."
"NO! Many were at Varya, they were taken to become those-"
"SHUT UP!" She extended her feet claws, raking her foot down Alex's back, earning cries of agony from him. He tried to get up, to use his dark matter, but the pain was too much at the moment. She hissed in delight at the growing blood stains on the ground from the human, and said coldly: "You betrayed all of us, and you destroyed what life we had. And besides, no one will miss you if I kill you."
Her foot raked across his neck and back, scratching around the spinal implant protrusions greatly. The claws ripped skin, and blood began to flow in many small rivulets down his back, as he gripped the ground in pain, trying to not pass out as he yelled in absolute agony.
The Kro'nogri male whose arm was only nearly broken then asked: "Let me get at him! He nearly broke my arm, let me cut him open as well."
"You're welcome to him." Ala'mei said, stepping off Alex briefly. The male walked up to the downed human, just as the 2nd Kro'nogri male struggled to his feet cradling his broken wrist.
Those few moments were the key moments.
On the ground, as the pain from constant raking grew, Alex realized he was here, surrounded by people like him, tricked, deluded into doing horrible things for what they believed was right in their eyes, or what was required to help their people.
People manipulated, people who were exploited, and people who would never be the same. They were non-negotiable, and would never stop being those people. Just as Alex would always be affected by his constant use and manipulation, or being downtrodden or cast aside when he pledges himself to a cause.
It was in those moments that Alex finally realized, that he could only ever be fully loyal to himself to survive this prison. He was surrounded by people much like himself as he once was.
And he hated it. He hated every single one of them.
Every moment of self hatred for what he had done came flooding back, all the killings, all the crimes for the greater good, whether it was true or him being deceived by the KI, all the vicious pleasure he took from such horrific acts as a way to sate his guilt. It overwhelmed him, and he saw that he was a horrific person, and could never truly be free from his guilt or his 'darker' traits and tendencies.
The only benefit he was to the world was not to make it better, but to remove those sources that made it worse, permanently.
There would only be one remaining KI member in this prison, that he swore.
As the male stepped up to the human, Alex's hand swung out, and from his hand, a limited, powerful asset extended.
The black blade sharpened as it swung, and with no armour on his ankles apart from his scales, the male Kro'nogri's left ankle was half clean severed, the blade not quite managing to cut the bone.
Screaming, the male fell down, the blood flowing from his foot. Struggling up from his groundside spin, Alex was on his knees, fighting the pain in his back from the blood and scratches. The skin around his spinal implants was horrifically scratched now, but the pain was not a hindrance. It gave him a driving force, the pain was a reminder of what he needed to do to every KI member in this prison, to end it once and for all.
The female Kro'nogri charged, but Alex rolled painfully to avoid her charge and swipe with her claws, and gripped her shoulder from behind in his vice like grip, the mechanical hand squeezing her shoulder bones with painful pressure. Taking his own claws in his free hand, he extended the finger tips into claws, and thrust them into her side.
Her shrill shrieks echoed out of the cavernous prison tunnel, and attention was drawn from other areas of the prison. A few prisoners presumed a case of sexual assault, but a few crunching noises proved it was far worse.
Having dropped Ala'mei's body on the floor, her side gushing blood, and her neck now also punctured and twisted to snapping point, Alex turned to the broken wristed Kro'nogri, who tried to scramble away. He charged, and grabbed the Kro'nogri, throwing him down onto the floor.
Looking back, Alex saw the 2nd male Kro'nogri still clutching his half severed ankle, and he stomped over. Looming over the male reptile, Alex raised his foot, saying: "I will live to suffer while you will be free, that is better than the reward the KI would have given you in the end." He smashed his foot into his throat, crushing the neckbones and windpipe.
Walking from the pulpy body, Alex pressed the remaining male Kro'nogri on the ground, and he then saw the gathering crowd nearby. He was just outside the cave entrance, and the crowd was apprehensive.
To them, he was maniacal, and he glared at them, shouting: "Anyone once in the KI beware! I will be the last one living so that the horrors of that group die with me! Here's to show I mean it!"
Bringing a fist up, Alex smashed it into the Kro'nogri's chest, feeling the armoured scales snap underneath his blow. Again with his other fist, and again with each fist. Armour, scales and bones broke under his blows, and organs began to rupture.
A few seconds later, and Alex was hunched over the body, listening to the gurgles of the male Kro'nogri's last life signs leave him.
Slowly, the human rose, his eyes holding a long forgotten look in them. Anticipation, satisfaction, and guiltless rage. It was the same look he held on the Haenkyo Pirate base, when he assaulted Quirinth out of vengeance, and when he set the dead bodies of himself, his father and Quirinth's comatose form on his step sister and her now lover, then friend.
The crowd stayed quiet, some advancing slowly, most other backing off.
Those who advanced, made the smile on the Dark Hunter's face grow ever so slightly with each step towards him they took. The Hunter's claws extended with each step, and unseen black, dust like material accumulated in his hands, invisible until formed into a blade weapon.
That day and night, the grounds of Ral'cratz prison became stained with the blood of multiple races. The blood of both hunter and his victims.
Over in other parts of the prison, a few eyes recognized the human standing over the Kro'nogri corpse, all of them once KI like he was. All shared an opinion, all knew of their ultimate intended fate as Varya slaves as part of the KI, but they knew that Alex had destroyed the KI fleet. 3 of them had also been at Varya, under the slave control as he was, and understood why Alex did it, to save them, and to stop the terror of the Emancipator from attacking as the Dreadnoughts now did.
For those reasons, blood soon began to spill elsewhere in the prison.
30th October 2901
Fetal'ra system, Planet Ras'hana, Ral'craz prison.
"Sir. We have our daily prison roster, and something's happened."
Atop the rim of the abandoned quarry pit, inside one of the main guard towers, one of the sentry guards brought the news to the local watch guard. While Ral'cratz relied on the terrain, and inhospitable landscape to block off most of the rest of the ways out, the path directly between the quarry prison and the nearest city, only a few miles away, was blocked by an array of watch towers. The towers blocked the direct route to the city, but their secondary role was to stop escapes from that direction, the only once safe direction.
The primary purpose of the prison watch towers was to maintain information on the prison and its inmates, including population, and any possible escapees. In today's case, the health and population of the prisoners had seen a significant change.
The reporting guard, a young Kro'nogri male, handed the prison surveillance report to his boss, a middle aged, worn Kro'nogri male.
Looking over the numbers, the chief watchman asked incredulously: "212 prisoners yesterday, now there are only 165? How can near 50 prisoners die in the space of 2 days?"
"We checked footage and sensor feeds. There was a fight, which evolved into many others, between some members once in that rogue group, the Knight Initiative. A mass fight broke out, and after the first fights ended, they began killing off others. Most stayed out, but it was a handful who did all the killing. Only 5 involved in the fights survived: 2 humans, a Sril'sask, a Kro'nogri, and a Predator, all males. Those 5 weren't fighting each other, only the others.
Contemplating, the head guard thought for a moment. Their job was to ensure none of the prisoners escaped to the city, and to keep tabs on the prisoners. They could let them escape into the wild jungles, as the wildlife would kill them quickly. And riots broke out in the prison quite a few times, as with many prisons. If one was larger than normal, it was simply a larger fight for once.
"We have our jobs. The prisoners are free to live as they do in their hell, even if it means killing each other for sport. Besides, they make out job easier, less filth and scum to keep track of."
With that, the reporting watchman headed back to his post atop the quarry rim.
Taking up his post, the watchman lowered his scope on his binoculars, zooming in on the prisoners below.
Scanning the walls of the quarry basin, he saw one area stained red and yellowish-blue, the colours of the blood of multiple races. The guard saw the human, Alex Hunter's prison cell tunnel, and knew who else was down there in that pit: Murderers, high profile smugglers, gangsters, and even slavers. But the human was one among 5 survivors down there, all of a different breed.
He was a KI former member, many of whom, but not all, having been given abilities considered, and mistaken as unnatural powers by the untrained eye. He was bred from the DNA of a dead human, and possessed the same transferred mind and memories of the same human, and was imprinted with the knowledge to become a living weapon, even before considering giving him to the Varya operation.
With the human and the other 4, including another human, a Kro'nogri, Sril'sask and a Predator, having killed nearly 50 people within 2 days in the prison, hunting them down and killing them in a myriad of ways, the guard felt no need to question any of them on the morality or reason behind such murderous endeavours.
They were all each a great danger on their own, and they had to stay down in that pit.
3rd November 2901
Konurich Station, Alliance Space.
The pinnacle space station of the Alliance had seen its own share of conflict during this interstellar war. Most of the conflict was to do with rioting, including the riots that claimed the life of the dismissed female Vulcan ambassador, unknown to the UIP, before the war, or to do with the uprisings and encouragement from the NKI and its Underworld Guild counterparts.
Konurich station, being 1000 light years from the home world star clusters of the Alliance races, faced a greater risk from invasion than other key Alliance controlled worlds or settlements. In wake of all the rioting and civil conflict, many of the station's inhabitants had fled to safer locations in Alliance territory, and as Konurich station was a trading port and hub station, its activity had seen a decrease in wake of this civil unrest. With the recent exposure of the Dreadnoughts weaknesses to the UIP, and the NKI's Dreadnought, the garrison for Konurich station was significantly less.
All this made the vast, 16 kilometre long, 8 kilometre wide station a prime target for Decepticon assault.
A day ago, the Decepticon forces had assaulted the station, their advanced weapons and troops, combined with space vessels either disguised as relief vessels or genuine NKI defected warships, providing more than enough military assets to seize many station sectors within a few hours.
Half of the station had fallen under Decepticon might, but the remaining garrison fought savagely against the titanic army.
Inside one station sector, a firefight was still raging inside what was once a shopping district, the central walkway becoming a no-man's land. The arrival of an additional squad of Decepticons changed the tide. It was now a handful of Decepticons, each roughly 15 foot tall, against now gradually retreating Alliance troopers.
"Squash the meatbags! They're trying to fry the bulkhead door circuits to the next sector!" Screamed a Decepticon shock trooper. The mech had just intercepted comms from the Alliance, ordering to sabotage bulkhead doors as they pulled back to more fortified positions.
Ahead, Kro'nogri and Leg'hrul fled, returning fire towards the much larger Cybetronian attackers, were cut down one by one as plasma and sonic weapons fire cut them to pieces, some vaporized entirely. Retreating, the bulkhead doors began to shut behind them, the 4 foot thick armoured doors lowering to block the attackers for a minute or so.
But Brawl would have none of it.
He had joined the attacking squad as a reinforcement, and he wanted this squad dead. The 25 foot mech transformed to his tank mode, and charged his booster rockets. The hover tank sped through, firing plasma cannons at the troopers still exposed beneath the shutting door.
Finally, the bulkhead door slammed shut, giving the Alliance troopers a few seconds to breath. But only a few.
5 seconds after it shut, the bulkhead door was smashed, ripped in two by the hover tank firing plasma shots at its centre, and ramming it down.
The bulkhead doors spear outwards, flying metal debris cutting down one Leg'hrul trooper during his attempt to fall back. Through the sounds of the grating metal, shifting components and a charging high velocity railgun sounded.
Looking onwards down the station's street, Brawl opened fire with his left arm's plasma machine gun, casually incinerating and vaporizing Alliance forces wherever they hid and tried to fire on him from.
Advancing, Brawl fired his main cannon on rapid fire, the high power plasma bolts racing down the long street passage, over the heads of cowering and firing Alliance troopers. The plasma bolts tore through the walls of a lounge and bar area, now abandoned and full of bunker equipment.
But the plasma bolts continued through the lounge, tearing apart the walls of an observation deck.
The lounge area blown apart, air began rushing out of the ruined transparisteel viewing window. Screaming Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri caught in the suction were vented out into space to suffocate and freeze, until the automatic venting shutters sealed off the damaged viewing window with an Aluminium and lead lined layer of shutters.
Behind Brawl, as he fired again at some distant Alliance troopers, another Decepticon, Stockade, comm'd other squad leaders across the station: "Blow out any of the sides of the station in heavily defended areas. By the time the shutters kick in to seal the leak, they'll be disorganized in the chaos of oxygen loss."
On board an NKI affiliated destroyer, this one mounted with Cybertronian weapons to make it a match for a cruiser in firepower, Shockwave surveyed the station on the holodisplay before him.
Soundwave was nearby, silently inputing new information he received from commanders in station sectors, applying them to the tactical map they were projected. Laserbeak was perched menacingly on Soundwave's shoulder, optics greedily admiring the progress the Decepticons made on the quite large Alliance capital space station.
"Shockwave. Decepticon forces have securely captured 41.3% of the station's areas. 34.8% are still under combat situation, and the remaining areas are too deep inside to attack with space attacks or boarding forces as of present. Alliance reinforcements: Unavailable. Alliance defeat and capture of Konurich station: Inevitable. Estimated time until secure capture of entire station: 53 hours."
"Yeeesss. The scaly and feathery meatbags are putting up a respectable fight, but they are powerless to stop the attacks launched against them." Laserbeak commented.
Shockwave rumbled to himself, and said: "We must ensure no one escapes the station unless we allow it. Until I give an order otherwise, any vessels with Alliance IFFs are to be destroyed on sight. Civilian ships are to be disabled by EMP and searched for Alliance military at worst. No exceptions, the civilians trying to escape the station are not worth the effort of killing if they serve no strategic purpose when dead."
"As you wish Lord Shockwave." Said Soundwave, relaying the updated orders upon command.
Standing at his post, Shockwave momentarily remembered how the NKI had fallen into the shadows after the raid on New Cybertron and the capture of Alex and Sha'krii, along with the reported death of Morthas Krithos on Pandora and the numerous injuries sustained by many that same day.
While Kal'sik was still out there, Shockwave allowed himself a rare treat mentally, a feeling of confidence and pleasure. The plan of a Decepticon army being used to end this war more quickly was proceeding smoothly, and it showed that past prejudices and mistrust of such tactics, in such desperate times was illogical and wasteful.
And Shockwave knew that in this war, it was illogical to waste such a military resource like the Decepticons revived and any volunteers not in the UIP. He briefly was grateful to Primus that this aspect of the war seemed to be on the way to smooth progress.
Exams, job training course, so much going on, but I finally finished this chapter. I promise the others will come more quickly.
Please review if you liked this chapter.