SEVEN
A young pit bull fell to the ground; choking on blood that began filling his lungs from the shrapnel that had torn through his upper body. The dog gasped for air in vain as any room for oxygen was becoming occupied by his internal fluid. Panic set in as the Cornerian Space Core mechanic realized his fate, but his will to live wouldn't cave. Keep your eyes open! He ordered. Don't go into shock! He continued to struggle valiantly, hoping for a miracle that would never come.
The pit bull didn't hear nor see the pair of black boots that landed right beside him, nor the individual that filled them. The last thing the dog saw was the flash of a pistol's muzzle aimed straight at his head. The soldier went limp on the floor as his life was extinguished from existence. The now empty shell lay with the rest of its once breathing brethren in the hanger of Charlie-Eighteen.
The lion stood as the lone survivor of the carnage, nearly blending with the widespread splotch of black upon the vast white, gold lined canvass. Shattered crates of various supplies, burning oil and fuel canisters, crippled fighters that erupted and burned from their own internal fluids and electric wiring, and all the shredded, scorched bodies of the pearl white jet chamber's current occupants were strewn throughout the open area.
The burly feline knelt slowly, rested his hand upon an uncorrupted section of the floors glistening surface, and with a red glow illuminating around his hand, the white color bled into his exosuit; swiftly infecting his entire arm before spreading through his core and down the rest of his limbs, even infecting the blaster in his hand and the rifle on his back. All that could be easily made out of him now were the two dense red ports that were the eyes of his mask.
Sheathing the pistol, the hunter spent no more time on the matter as he began walking towards the white steel entry door that led deeper into the ship, mentally planning for what he knew was coming his way.
"Run me through it." He had told Bowman's database back on Venom.
"They are the Cornerian Space Core Infiltration Response Force. Corneria trains these responders to be able to neutralize any threat that were to invade the ship as quickly, and with the least amount of collateral damage, as possible. Their skills far outweigh the combat effectiveness of even the most decorated infantry. Partnered with their abilities, the government arms them with the most efficient tactical gear and weapons known to animal kind."
"Explain." He ordered, lifting his laser caliber sniper rifle up to grasp its barrel in his left hand; gently rubbing his thumb against a countless amount of tally marks that had been engraved into it.
"Their base uniform is a flame retardant material of the white color that matches the interior walls of the ship. Their hands gloved in a fire proof material same as the BDU. On their left forearm they wear a flat, touch screen VDT (visual display terminal) that allows them to control certain aspects of the ship from their person. Their boots, upper body armor, and helmets are made of a very unique, expensive alloy.
"The anatomy of the material used in the armor has a bond strong as diamond, yet remains remarkably lightweight and can absorb, then dissipate offensive energy by adaptively relaxing as it undergoes the impact of its offender. Topping it off, the alloy doesn't retain heat; making even some high caliber laser and plasma based munitions useless against it."
The lion's left hand trailed up the barrel to the body of his sniper, where further ticks had been carved into intended locations; apparently undeterred.
"The IRF's boots run up to their knees and their upper body plates cover all but their arms. The soldiers masks are similar to yours and those fabricated for the Star Wolf faction, with an addition. A transparent visor stretches across both eyes of the wearer, while the rest of their skull is covered in the state of the art armor alloy that fans out over the nape of their necks.
"In the knowledgeable hands of each IRF member lies a thri-bolt burst laser rifle equipped with a flashlight, grenade launcher, supporting barrel grip, and an adaptable holographic scope holding thermal capabilities.
"Trained to face, outwit, and kill things both known and unknown to them, the CSC IRF is one of the deadliest forces known to the universe."
Bowman gave a sinister smirk to the predator. "How I wish I could watch the firefight."
The lion's left hand grasped the charging handle of the rifle and pulled it to the rear; the rifle giving off a sound similar to an electric charge. "You'd be disappointed." The hunter answered, sliding it forward again; proceeded by a sound like before, only at a different pitch. "They are merely my next quarry."
His final comment echoed in his head as he stopped at the top of the long ramp; looking upon a solid balcony that stretched along the elongated wall that contained the doorway to the internal portion of the ship. Removing his supporting hand from his sniper rifle, he reached over his shoulder to his spine, his palm and the underside of each finger illuminating red, attracting a handful of white, solid spheres about four centimeters in diameter each out of an indistinguishable pouch built into his exosuit's spinal column. He bent down and scattered them all across the surface that lay in front of the polished doors, sending a few rolling down both ends of the raised platform.
Right as the last ball left his hand, the predator heard the footsteps of his approaching company. His space had been cleared, his trap set; all unseen by the security cameras he'd destroyed upon entry in the Cloud Runner. I'm ready for you, my prey.
Sliding his rifle onto his back, he pulled out his pistol and aimed it toward a rafter about one-hundred-meters posterior to him in the hanger ceiling. Grasping the blaster with his other hand as he turned to face it, he applied forward pressure to a switch placed on the side of the weapon; launching a small, magnetic, metal half-sphere. The magnet attached itself to the horizontal beam above, and in the split second before the pull the lion tightened his grip while relaxing the rest of the muscles in his body; aiming to lessen the toll the jerk would take on him. The tug came strong, but his grip proved stronger as he lifted off the ground and flew towards the ceiling right as his ears picked up the heavy click of the steel doors preparing to open.
The entrance split and a dense red beam bolted through it; heading straight for the Cloud Runner and delivering an instant death sentence upon impact. The lion curled himself into a ball to shield his vital areas from the flame and debris; his exosuit protecting the rest of him from the heat and small shrapnel that could reach the twenty-five-meter high ceiling. Following the laser was a thick, cloud-like cover that flooded into the hangar via the doorway, providing around an eight square meter concealment for the incoming squad of soldiers.
These stealth attempts never fazed the hunter, his mask's thermal vision could see through most screens of any kind. He switched it on and observed the last two of a ten dog group run into the room and take up positions exactly where he planned. They remained inside the smokescreen, able to see him equally clear with their own headgear.
The predator smirked under his mask.
Right as the first Infiltration Response member spotted him and raised her weapon to fire, the lion manipulated another switch built into his blaster. Simultaneously, the floor on which the defense team stood lit up in an enormous plume of blinding fire, heating the surrounding air to an alarming temperature; overwhelming their thermal vision. The lion used the opportunity to lower himself back down to the floor; waiting only a moment to retract the magnet back to his pistol before sprinting up the ramp into the smoke, past the ten temporarily blind soldiers, and into the hallway from which they came.
During the run the hunter sheathed his pistol, drew his rifle from his back, and locked it's digital scope down against the right side of the weapon. As he neared the passage entrance he slowed his pace and brought the sniper rifle's holographic sight up to his right eye.
The lion cleared the smoke and laid eyes on six soldiers that were positioned at different distance points along the hallway; the first two were taking cover behind steel panels that had about a two square-meter height and width, and were placed only three meters ahead of him. In less than a second, the predator placed the red dot on the head of the dog closest to him and pulled the trigger.
The instant the blast left the barrel he swiftly shifted his aim over to the soldier on the other side, lining up his sights and releasing another shot right as the first bolt hit its target. As he released the trigger, the lion rolled behind the dense barricade that his first target on the opposite side had used for cover; who now lay motionless on the floor with a small hole burned deep into his brain.
The predator grabbed the corpse's head and yanked it's entire body over to his side of the panel. He acted with a purpose as he listened to the bolts burn into the opposite side of his cover, and kept tabs on the group right outside the passage. He grabbed the dead soldier's VDT and quickly searched out door controls, finding the option for it already on the screen's main menu. The hunter knew it wouldn't be hard to find, they were always programmed to be easily accessible in case the IRF member needed to create a split-second barricade. Once the option was selected, it instantly honed-in on his location and gave him the door controls for all entryways in his vicinity. Choosing the one that went to the hanger, he shut the massive, dense steel doors right as the HUDs of the ten IRF soldiers outside the hallway had cleared.
His mind raced to the next step, knowing the dogs he just shut out could easily reopen the door any second. He swiftly pulled out a secure digital card out of a slotted pocket on the right shoulder of his exosuit and inserted it into the designated slot on the VDT.
A voice came over the headset the lion had built into his mask. "Standby… I am now in the system. How can I-"
"Lock hanger two's entry door and deactivate the hanger's security force fields now." The hunter demanded in as hushed a tone as possible. With that he dropped his wrist and braced himself for his next move. The four remaining IRF soldiers had ceased fire around two seconds ago, and the lion knew two of them were already creeping up on him. They'd come side by side, so they could fire simultaneously as soon as they had him in sight; one aiming toward the top of his cover and the other aiming at the side of it. Not ready to waste more incendiary spheres, he decided to beat them with a distraction and a faster trigger finger.
He could hear their footsteps now. The lion reached for his laser pistol with his supporting hand and fired a shot from it at the ceiling. The second the shot left the weapon he dropped the pistol and jumped sideways out from his panel. Promptly spotting the two soldiers hardly a meter away, the lion aimed at the one whose barrel was pointing lower and put a round in his chest right before hitting the ground. After the landing gave its impact, the lion brought his aim to his left and put a second round in the chest of the other IRF dog. As the predator slid to a halt he grabbed the foot of the third soldier he killed and yanked it over to him for cover from the two remaining IRF members. Once within better reach, he grabbed it by the armor's scruff and sat up with it, turning the body into a meaty shield.
He lifted the rifle up with his firing arm until his eye looked down its sights. Honing his holographic sight in on the exposed head of the first of the two surviving soldiers, located to his right six meters down the hallway, he scorched the interior of the dog's snout with a laser bullet, then swung his aim over to the other soldier and brought the annoying hammering into his makeshift shield to a halt. Both bodies fell to the ground, and the lion once again remained as the sole victor of the battle; breathing in the rewarding smell of ozone from the bolts of heat and all the scorched meat and metal. From the moment he entered the passageway, the whole skirmish had taken him twelve seconds.
The hunter threw his dead cover to the side and stood up. "Are the dogs in the hanger taken care of?"
The voice from before answered. "They're sleeping among the stars now; you just have no way off unless you make your way to another hanger."
"I won't be leaving." The lion stated as he leaned down to pick up his pistol he had previously dropped, sliding it back into its holster strapped to his leg.
"Just providing you situational awareness."
The lion started walking down the hallway. "How about you follow your programming and give me troop locations."
"That's situational awareness. There are four more IRF members waiting fifteen meters down this hallway, with two turns for you to take on your way. One to the left, and one to the right. Standby… Note: there is a trap ahead that they intend to use to hold you until they can figure out a way to dispose of you. They will enclose you between two mobile force fields that can adaptively position themselves along the hallway."
The predator just finished rounding the first turn. "Let them. Don't do anything until I give the order."
"Procrastinating my primary directive could prove futile, for you."
The hunter didn't appreciate the last two snide words of that statement, but he ignored his irritation and kept walking down the passage, coming up on the second turn.
The voice continued, its tone carrying a hint of irony. "I can see you are arrogant. I shall stand by and hope for the best."
The lion froze, his eyes grew wide, and his glossy white surroundings blurred.
A voice from a past memory spoke out. "You and your arrogance… I'll wait, over."
The flash faded to black, and a metal door slid open in front of him; revealing flat, widespread soil covered in dense, knee high vegetation with silver walking paths laid throughout. The ground was shaded by a dark tinted glass dome, woven with solar energy gathering circuitry, that gave sight to the upper portions of numerous buildings with varying heights and unique modern architectures; all under a cloudy sky. Rain fell between the window panels above that had automatically opened upon the start of the precipitation, allowing the plants below to collect the sky water.
The lion began walking the paths with haste, headed toward a ground level panel; answering the voice via a small communications earpiece he had concealed under his mane that he kept neatly collected in a ponytail. "We need both our eyes on before you give Hotel the go." As he approached the opening, the lion swung a tan duffle bag he carried on his shoulder from his side to his lower back, lowered himself to the ground, and began crawling through the vegetation to the opening.
"You just want an equal shot at the hostiles, over." The voice replied.
"Be professional."
"For you, that translates to arrogance; over."
As the predator approached the opening, the dismal outdoor light exposed the fur on his arms and face for its dark golden color and his darker brown mane; further darkened by the rain that slowly dampened it and the wet soil underneath. He wore a light weight, short sleeved, tan over-shirt with pockets symmetrically placed on his sleeves, chest, and abdomen. Pants and boots of the same color clothed his lower body, and his knees and elbows were protected by matching pads; everything blending with his exposed fur.
Reaching the edge of the floor, the lion's eyes peered down to water sheened roads and highways fifteen stories below him. The hunter brought his view from the ground below to the buildings ahead, spotting his target. "Eyes on." The lion said, forcefully halting the conversation as he unzipped his duffle bag and began assembling his sniper rifle.
"You never could stay in it to win it; copy eyes on. Hotel, Angels are in the clouds; all eyes on target building, over."
A second female voice came over the comm line. "Good copy, Angels are in the clouds. Let us know when to part the seas, over."
"Standby." The first voice replied. "Guardian five, what's swimming on your end? Over."
"Standby." The predator answered as he removed his button up shirt to reveal a tan undershirt strapped with a laser pistol in a holster kept under his right arm, two ballistic knives on his right shoulder blade, and a small pouch on his lower right ribcage. Guardian five already had his rifle together and in position. Setting his over-shirt down beside it, he grasped the rifle and began scoping the place out.
Approximately three quarters of a kilometer from his position was a twenty-five-story building with a wide circular base that began narrowing out till its round tipped roof; the entire exterior of the building from the third floor up appeared to be made entirely of glass panels.
The structure was placed in the midst of an island that stretched at least five kilometers in each direction. Two wide, flat, solid metal roads, originating from the target building, cut through the surrounding structures to two individual harbors on sections of the island that faced a seemingly endless sea to the north, and a third cut to a harbor that faced the Cornerian continent to the south; an additional ten kilometers away. Countless hover and spacecraft traversed these highways, entering and exiting to and from additional roads that carved in between the meat of the city.
Surrounding the compound of interest was a solid steel wall a little over six meters tall with electrified wire tracing its peak, creating a courtyard with a near thirty-meter radius. Crates, large shipping containers, industrial and tactical hovercraft, patrol guards and physical labor workers of various species filled the courtyard, coming in and out of large bay openings that were placed on the north and south side of the building's base. One gate was present on the south side of the perimeter, and two north gates were covered by his partner; all three were closed and secured.
Guardian five switched on his scope's thermal vision and checked to make sure there were no other armed animals walking close to the tall perimeter fence. "Three pairs of security officers patrolling the north side. I can promise two of them down when this kicks off, then I'll do what I can for the last couple; no promises."
"Your game down a bit today Guardian five?" Replied his partner. "Usually you never leave anything behind?"
"Cute, Guardian ten; you should pay more attention to your field of vision."
"I can multitask; they wouldn't have let me become Guardian Angel if I couldn't."
"For an Angel, you talk way too much; over."
"This Angel's expressive, and she's going to make sure she gets everything off her mind before the good Alpha takes her; over."
Guardian five couldn't resist smirking, he admired her stubbornness. She was a fighter, never one to quit. She had the patience for this field and she lived off the thrill of a successful hunt. It was no wonder that she earned her spot with the Guardian Angels. The lion only wished they both had never joined.
He shook himself free of the memory, returning to his current white and gold maze. He kept walking and forgot he had even had it, refusing to allow his mind to run any further.
He approached his second corner and stopped as he reached its edge. "Get me feed of the hallway the trap is set at."
"Streaming to your HUD now."
Momentarily, the hunter's eyes observed a rear view of the four IRF members awaiting his approach. The first two were hiding behind the corners of a passage that intersected the hallway of interest. The other two were three meters further down the path, taking cover behind panels identical to the ones they had utilized near the hanger entrance. All four soldiers were trained on the corner the lion was preparing to round.
Too easy. The hunter thought as he backed away from the corner and reached towards his spine for another handful of his anti-thermal explosives. "Lock onto them and transfer their exact locations from the security feed to my HUD."
"I am informed that a -please- before these requests is common courtesy among civilized beasts."
"Your opinion wasn't a part of my orders."
"Yet my programming doesn't prohibit me from voicing it. Your HUD is now locked on all four hostiles."
The predator observed four hollow, miniature red diamonds appear before his eyes in the exact locations of each troop around the corner. Perfect.
Without wasting another second, the lion chucked the pile of mini spheres from his hand at just the right angle for them to bounce off the opposite wall of the hallway and bounce toward the IRF members.
Laser rounds hailed down upon the launched projectiles the instant they entered the IRF's sight.
The lion counted to four, starting from the moment the explosives left his hand, then drew his blaster and activated them. Swiftly he sheathed the pistol and brought his rifle up to his shoulder, holding it firmly in the fire-ready position as he walked around the corner, ferociously eyeing the four diamonds in case they decided to pop up from their cover and attempt to take a shot.
Soon as he had walked hardly a meter down the hallway, a blue force field lit up behind him and blocked his escape, whilst another one three meters ahead of him activated, trapping him between the two energy composed walls. Right on cue, both walls slid towards him and took away the extra walking space, leaving him with the same width of the hallway, but its length had been reduced to half a meter. The lion took caution not to make a move that would be slapped back at him by the intense shock of the energized walls.
A stern, agitated voice flooded the halls. "Your turn's over; now it's mine." Admiral Shepherd appeared in the staged hallway via the intersecting passageway; her lieutenant following close behind. She removed her hand from a miniature earpiece, looking the mask of the predator dead in its blood-red eyes; the glint of rage in her own iris as bright as her dress white uniform. "And let me tell you: you've really pissed me off."
With a snap of the admiral's fingers, the distance between the walls suddenly closed enough to come in complete contact with the front and back of the intruder without crushing him.
The intruder roared in immense pain as it felt like every centimeter of his body was being furiously beaten with white-hot wire whips. The walls spread again, and the lion collapsed to his side with his rifle.
Shepherd walked right up to the transparent wall and knelt near the position of the hunter's head, lifting her lips in a snarl to expose her large, sharp, glistening fangs. "I have half a mind to close that distance again and leave it there until your mental endurance shatters from the unbearable pain. There's only one way you can even have a spark of hope to escape that fate. You tell me what the hell you're doing on my ship, stealing the lives of my soldiers; and you explain where the hell you got, and what the hell you were doing with, the Cloud Runner. You have five seconds to make your choice."
The predator mustered a grin underneath his mask. "You value the lives of your grunts?" He aimed his mask's chilling gaze at the admiral. "Funny how your dead can't support you."
Shepherd's lips fell as she reigned in her composure, but the lion caught the wrathful glint flash in her pupils as they constricted. Slowly she stood up, lifted her right hand, and sounded a crisp snap from her fingers. With that the walls instantly pressed up against the hunter's body and he resumed hissing and yowling in torment from their energized beating as the heat intensified.
Shepherd watched for a moment before turning to walk away.
The Lieutenant held fast, a look of subtle confusion and anxiety hanging on his face. After a couple seconds, he pivoted completely around and went to catch up with the Admiral.
The lion was beginning to succumb to the intense beating of his energy composed prison. Mustering all the strength and volume he had left, he bellowed out, "REAR SHIELD… NOW!"
Shepherd and the Lieutenant turned back towards the outburst.
The voice in the hunter's comm set responded in the snidest tone it could. "You're now ready for me to conduct my primary directive?"
The lion was beginning to fade from consciousness, but his fury at his assistant allowed him one more sentence. "YES… you… little… SHIT!"
Shepherd didn't know the exact meaning of the predator's words, but her demeanor dove into unease from realizing it wasn't anything good.
The voice responded pridefully, "Rear shield deactivating."
The rear shield disappeared and the hunter fell onto his back with his rifle on top of him. His body begged to stay there, every muscle pleaded not to tense for movement again, yet hardly a second after release the lion had rolled himself to a sitting position and started to stand up. Live for the hunt. He reminded himself. You live for nothing, but the hunt.
He rose to his feet and found great pleasure in the bewildered, distressed expressions of his quarry as they repetitively tried to use their wrist controls to regain control of the force field. "Trap them."
Immediately the still standing shield took off towards the four IRF members and sent them flying back towards the intersecting hallways.
Shepherd acted the second she saw the energized wall move by grabbing the scruff of her Lieutenant and diving back into the passage from which they came; clearing the force field's path.
The shield continued on, knocking the four defenseless soldiers caught in its charge back a few meters with each blow. Once they were ten meters down the passage, the shield dissolved and the set of motors that powered it slid down their rails one meter past the soldiers and came to a halt. The second set of motors had followed close behind and were already in position before the IRF could gather themselves. In a split second they both reactivated; trapping the four soldiers.
The Admiral had watched the whole thing with a wrathful horror she was struggling to contain. she turned to the hunter, locating his white frame by the menacing red eyes that had already been locked on her.
"You chose to save yourself and the life of your right-hand officer."
Shepherd yelled at the beagle to shut down the ships power as she drew her plasma pistol, but before the Admiral could fire the predator ordered:
"Lights out."
Instantaneously the ship went dark, and Shepherd's plasma blasts hit only the wall of the opposing side of the hallway. Somewhere currently unknown to Shepherd, she heard the predator continue.
"Now witness your consequence as four lives perish a miserable fate from which you freed yourself."
Another order came, one that sent a chill up the Admiral's spine that she hadn't felt in years.
"Execute them."
The walls closed their distance, and the howls of each of the four soldiers rang through all different passages of the ship. All Shepherd could now see was the blue glow lighting up the execution her soldiers had been sentenced too. The sight distracted her a second too long as she felt a rugged boot thrust into the middle of her back, sending her smashing into the ground.
Before she could push herself back up, a muscle-packed arm had wrapped around her neck, the weight of hunter's body keeping her pinned to the ground. "Lieutenant! Shut… the power…!" The Admiral strained to choke out.
The lion spoke to Admiral Shepherd as he slowly tightened his arm's hold around her dense neck, reducing her ability to breath. "Watch them die, accept the consequence of your action, and ask yourself, 'should I still be alive?'"
Shepherd found herself listening intently as her oxygen slowly continued to be deprived of her, undergoing the heart shattering view of her soldiers dying under her very orders; a haunted emotion glazing over her eyes.
The lion didn't cease. "Those soldiers each had lives of their own, friends and family that treasured them dearly. How many more like them have died under your command, whilst you live on?"
Shepherd closed her eyes, making the decision that kept getting harder. "They knew what they signed up for." She reached up and went to grasp the hand of the hunter's choking arm. "They had their duties, and I have mine." She successfully pried it free enough to grip it entirely. "One of them being that I honor their death by either making it worth something." With a quick, decisive movement, the admiral wrapped her fingers around the pinkie of the predator's choking arm, and with a swift bending motion towards the outside of the lion's hand, she snapped the bone in two. "Or die trying!"
The predator hissed from the stinging agony.
Shepherd took advantage of the moment the lion loosened his grip, spinning around to her back side so that she laid face to face with the hunter. She then trapped the predator's left arm and leg with her own, brought the lion crashing to its side, and rolled right on top of him; immediately raining down as many blows as she could to the pure white mask of the executioner.
The predator attempted to shield his face from the strikes and grab one of Shepherd's fists, but Shepherd moved quick and instantly started landing punches into the stomach of the lion, maintaining the dominant position in the brawl.
The hunter fought past the pain and loss of his wind and began keeping better tabs of where the Admiral would hit next.
Shepherd realized her blows were becoming less effective and began to reassess her strategy, but in vain. The lion finally caught hold of both the her fists and they became locked in a stalemate; the veins and muscles of both opponents flexed and prominent from the stress of battle.
In the locked pause, Shepherd took in the sounds of the dying breaths of the IRF behind her. Helpless herself, she remembered her Lieutenant. "Lieutenant, shut down the damn power!"
When no response came, Shepherd hopped to her feet and stood up; growling as her firm, slender muscles bulged further from lifting her opponent up with her, then she deliberately fell forward and brought the hunter slamming back down onto the metal floor; throwing all her weight into him for an extra blow.
With a forced and stunned exhale, the predator's grip failed and the Admiral broke free.
Immediately Shepherd launched up and searched out the beagle; finding him standing exactly where she had left him. "LIEUTENANT!"
The dog still didn't move.
Shepherd wasted no more time and touched her own earpiece."This is Admiral Shepherd, does anybody read me?! Somebody, cut the power to the whole damn cruiser!" She received no response.
Shepherd quickly debated her next move, but her mind froze when her ears picked up the silence. Everything was quiet again, minus the crackling of the four corpses still making continuous contact with the two force fields.
Shepherd brought her attention to the grueling sound, fighting the fantasy that it wasn't too late. They're dead. She told herself. They died for their cause. She looked back over at her Lieutenant standing in the now fading blue glow. Fury slowly boiled up inside the Admiral. "You fucking coward." She growled slowly. "You could've done something!" Shepherd lost her mentality as she moved to lay hands on the beagle's throat. "Why the hell did you just STAND THERE?!"
In her blind anger, she had failed to pick up one detail about the Lieutenant; a detail that instantly brought the Admiral to the ground with a hole burned into her lower abdomen.
The beagle slowly lowered the blaster in his right hand, the residual heat from its barrel rising up to the subtle grin on his lips.
