Shendra's rifle glowed a malevolent blue as she charged a final shot.
Adelaide could hardly believe what was happening. Acting on impulse, he tackled his commanding officer to the ground, grasping her rifle in his hand and forcing it askew. A powerful shot rocketed into the wall, leaving a smoldering crater which crackled blue with phazon.
"What the hell's wrong with you?!" the marine cried, straining to keep his opponent's limbs against the ground. He winced as he strained his injured arm. Shendra's arm canon fought fervently to free itself, arching inwards, desperate to release a shot into Adelaide's chest.
The Commander looked on with mild disinterest. His own opponent was trembling visibly, inching backwards with shaky steps, his visor darting to his comrades and then back to him.
The pirate grinned, bringing forth his ever-ready blade. He rammed it upwards, into the rim of the marine's helmet. The scythe bore straight through the visor. He felt it make contact with something soft as he slowed his drive just the smallest of bits, letting the tip of the blade rest against the still-intact top of the helmet.
The Commander held the marine aloft by his head. He heard a satisfying cry of pain, and hurled the creature off in a vicious sling. His blade took the helmet with it, and the marine's body careened into the far wall.
Kayleer struggled to right himself to his knees. He clutched at his face, wincing as his armored fingers unintentionally found their way inside a deep wound. His face had been lacerated right down the middle. His antennae stuck stubbornly against his head, adhering to the blood and flooding his head with its unpleasant stench.
His nares bubbled with gore, and Kayleer wheezed as he felt a bit of it slip down his throat. He looked up, still clasping futilely at his wound. The pirate Commander was watching him with sadistic interest.
"What a sstrange little mutant you arrre," the Commander smirked. "One of Sscience Team's many failures, I assume?" he asked, stepping towards him.
Kayleer sneered at the mention. He refused to answer, knowing full well the Commander was simply drawing out the kill for his own pleasure.
"Not goinng to entertainn me with an answer?" the Commander frowned. "Fine."
The pirate's thundering footsteps made their way over to the injured marine. He dug his claws into the creature's wound, grinning at the resulting cry of agony as he did so. Using the gash in his face as a handle, the Commander plucked him from the ground.
"I think I'm done toyying with yyou," the Commander growled.
Kayleer roared in pain. The Commander's morbid grip coupled with the force of gravity was tearing his head in two. He felt the searing touch of an energy blade against his neck as he struggled fruitlessly to free himself.
It was over. His light was to be extinguished. Since the day he left Aether, he knew full well the risk that he would die in battle. He thought he had accepted that long ago. And yet, even now, faced with the end, he found himself in denial.
Even as the warm edge of the blade cut through the flesh of his neck, he still couldn't believe it was true.
His throat flooded with blood. He struggled to breath through the liquid, his vision starting to haze. His mind began to fill his blinded world with the illusion of water. It went on for miles above him, burying him beneath it.
A sudden jolt snapped him from his hallucinations. The deathly grip released him, and he could hear the staggered steps of something heavy moving away from him.
Kayleer could feel the ground shaking. The tremor wracked the canyon walls and increased in intensity as an ear-splitting shriek filled the air around him. It was as if the very planet were crying out in agony. The quake threw him against the wall, calming as the ground at last seemed to settle in a new position.
Adelaide and Shendra were tossed against opposite walls, their stalemate finally broken. Adelaide groaned as he struggled to his feet, old wounds reopened from the violent tossing.
He raised his rifle weakly, his arms exhausted. He prepared for a renewed attack, but was surprised to find that none came. Both Shendra and the Commander clutched at their heads, shaking violently and crying out.
"What is happening?!" the Commander cried in own tongue. "My brethren, where have you gone?!" his screams devolved into mindless roars as he slowly lost control of his movements, writhing on the canyon floor.
Something lightyears away had at long last met its end. A leader, a mind, indeed an entire planet had left its place in the galaxy vacant. Phazon no longer had any will to control it, and each and every one of its infected minions was left to devolve into madness.
Urtraghus felt it stronger than perhaps any other. Its inhabitants began to turn on one another. With nothing to hold back the ravenous contagion, it quickly consumed the minds of its hosts.
The Commander's screams slowly died down. Phazon dribbled from his mandibles as he stared around himself with deadened eyes. He reached out for the nearest living thing. As luck would have it, the injured marine from before had landed close by.
He hissed, letting fly a copious amount of loose phazon from his jaw as he raised his blade-arm into the air.
"What are you doing?!" Toni cried as the pirate towered above her.
The Commander roared mindlessly in response, driving his blade straight through her chest. His scythe steamed with evaporate blood as he withdrew it from the human's heart. He turned his greedy eyes to the two marines against the wall.
He twitched erratically, drawing closer as he hissed in brainless bloodlust. Entirely focused on his impending kill, the Commander failed to notice the silver suit of armor that came careening towards him from his side.
She rammed against his waist and set him off balance. The Commander fell to the ground and roared in rage, slashing his blade spastically before him. But the marine quickly drove her rifle up between his mandibles. A vicious barrage of Hypermode shots filled the Commander's head.
His roars ceased at last. His body became limp, his blade-arm fell uselessly to the ground.
A thin haze of spent phazon wafted upwards from the marine's armorsuit. She fell backwards, armor clattering loudly to the canyon floor.
"Shendra?" Kayleer spoke weakly, struggling to stand. He grasped at his throat, wincing with pain as he touched the wound. To his astonishment, the bleeding had stopped. The cut on his face, it seemed, had also stopped. He pulled his hand away bloodied, tiny bits of silver glinting in the black clots. Momentarily confused, he quickly threw his own concerns to the dust. He looked up towards the collapsed body of the Lieutenant Commander, eyes wide with fear as he remembered what had happened.
"Shendra? Shendra what happened, are you alright?" Adelaide cried, running to her side. Fearful that she was not breathing, he tore her helmet off and raised his own visor.
"What..." he stared down in disbelief.
Finding the strength to walk, Kayleer joined his teammate at her side. Surprisingly, he offered no objection, his attention remaining solely on the injured body before him. Kayleer turned his own gaze to meet hers, and felt his blood turn cold.
Black cracks etched their way across Shendra's face. The whites of her eyes had blackened, the vivid greens of her iris turned a hollow blue.
"You're going to be fine, just stay with us," Adelaide stammered.
Kayleer shook his head in denial. His breath stuttered desperately against his open mouth and he found it hard to swallow.
"Adelaide, she's…"
"BE QUIET!" he yelled. "Shendra… " he began, voice lowered to a hush. "We're going to get you out of here. Just hang on, alright? You'll be-"
His words were cut off as her body suddenly spasmed. Her darkened eyes clamped shut as she grimaced, throwing her head against the floor. She tried to speak, but found the task impossible. She swallowed, fighting back the flood that slowly worked its way up her throat.
"You saw what happened to the Commander," Kayleer cracked.
"Yeah, I did," Adelaide smiled weakly. "You kicked his ass, that's what," he told her, praying silently that she would return the hopeful gesture. He turned to Kayleer. "Pick her up, come on let's go," he begged.
Kayleer's wanted to listen, to believe he was right but knew it already that there was nothing they could do.
"What are you waiting for?!" Adelaide cried defiantly, glaring at the pirate.
A blood-curdling scream filled the chasm. It slowly shifted tone, turning hollow and voiceless. The cracks on Shendra's face extended, bursting with blue mutagen as they ruptured her skin. Phazon riddled with blood dripped down her lips.
Her harsh blue eyes met Kayleer's gaze, and the pirate could feel the very moment her light left them. He felt her fear and pain dissipate, leaving nothing behind but an empty shell.
"No…" his voice twisted with despair.
Shendra's body rolled over to its side. A hideous wretch wracked through her as she spilled a huge amount of phazon from her mouth. She rose shakily to her feet, letting loose an inhuman hiss as she stared back towards her former squadmates.
"What the hell is happening to her?!"
"The infection…" Kayleer gave him a piteous expression. "Brain damage. She's gone, Adelaide," he said, his voice hoarse.
"What?" he shook his head in disbelief.
The blood-hungry creature roared in a voiceless cry. It launched itself at Adelaide. Not having the intelligence to raise its own weapons anymore, it merely clawed at him with its limbs, human teeth clamping down on air, trying desperately to meet flesh.
"Get off me," Adelaide cried, pushing against its face as it tried time and time again to bite him. It roared, phazon-tainted dribble flying against the pinned marine's face. Its hand began to clamp itself around his neck.
"GET OFF ME!" he screamed, desperate to free himself, unable to hold himself back as he drove his rifle forward.
The sound of a spent plasma shot echoed across the featureless cavern walls. Something hard and metal clunked against the chasm floor, and gave way to silence.