February 27th
4:32 A.M.
2186
Uncharted world
"HA HA! PUNY MERCENARY! I AM KROOOGAN!" Thorak Kral yelled.
He charged at an armored merc as he was turning around. For a split second, Kral could see the fear behind the his mask before he gutted him with his shotgun omni-blade. He lifted the shotgun up in the air, with the merc still on, and fired. The pirate flew off and hit the asphalt with a sickening wet thud. Kral stood, breathing heavy, for a moment on the abandoned road.
His two friends, or, "friends," were both dead next to him. And in front of him. And behind him. And still raining down above him.
When no more pirates showed up, he walked over to a small prefab building connected to the road into the woods. He found what he was looking for: 100 kg of pure, unadulterated Illian red sand. The Eclipse stole it from him a few weeks back, and he intended to recapture it.
He hoisted the chest with one hand and looked around for more stuff to loot. He found some boring guns, some nice guns, and a whole bunch of prisoners.
"Uh..." Kral mumbled. The prisoners all turned their heads to the sudden noise in the doorway.
"Are you here to free us? Oh, thank the spirits!" A notably civilian turian said.
"Uh... Yeah. Sure, uh, come with me. But don't slow me down." He tossed all 6 of them cheap pistols for defense. The hastily-set up streetlights, in this case a bunch of thorium mining lamps, cast a dark reddish glow, on account of the blood smeared on them.
"Oh Goddess..." one asari prisoner said when they saw the street, slick with blood and bits of people. One of them threw up.
"Come on, this way, my shuttle's just across this weird, inexplicable road. Once we're there, I'll figure out what to do with you all." Kral said. Kral wiped his green crest, and found it coated in semi-coagulated blood.
There was a sudden, loud crack. Then a body slumped to the ground behind him.
For a split second, there was pure, stunned silence. Then all hell broke loose.
3 snipers revealed themselves, and took shots at the hostage group. Kral looked behind him and saw them frantically running for their lives. He checked the heat sink on his rifle, and charged.
One of the snipers was prone on the ground, military-grade sniper rifle pressed up against him, aiming at oh shit! A charging krogan!
The merc scrambled to his feet, trying to run away from the charging krogan one-handing an assault rifle. Kral saw the merc shuffle around, slowed for a second, and hurled the crate of red sand he was still carrying at the merc. It beaned the merc in the skull, caving in his faceplate. Kral sprinted past, grabbing the now-bloodied crate off the dead merc's face.
Kral aimed his rifle, one-handed, to his side and fired a burst. A merc in a low-grade ghillie suit fell out of the tree, riddled with gunfire.
Kral suddenly remembered he had to protect civilians, and doubled back. He burst through the thick forest, back onto the crude road, and was stopped short by a bullet.
He had been shot before, many times in fact, but this was a phasic sniper round at near-point blank. Even with the best armor drug running money could buy, the bleeding wouldn't stop. Kral kneeled down, putting his hand over the fresh wound.
Kral noticed something. Even with him holding an assault rifle and a (very heavy) crate full of illegal drugs, the merc still thought he was in power because he held a bigger gun, and a group of civilians. Kral snickered.
"You! Krogan scum! What the hell are you laughing at? You've lost! I'm in control! I have the power!" The merc laughed.
"Heh. Heheh. Hahaha. Ahahaha!" Kral laughed maniacally. He stood up, other heart already kicking in to high gear, and hoisted the crate over his head. The merc leveled his gun at Kral again, suddenly scared.
"Do you feel in power, tiny mercenary?"
Kral secretly thanked himself for taking a year of shock-put when he was off-world. He heaved the crate at the mercenary with a running start. The merc shot at the crate in vain before it caught him full in the stomach. Before he even hit the ground, Kral fired a stream of bullets into his chest. He walked over to the merc, now lying on the ground and bleeding out.
"Fuck... You..." The merc coughed out. Kral kicked the crate off him, and the merc gasped. He put his boot on the merc's faceplate, and crushed.
He took count of the civvie group, only one lost in the fighting. Good, he thought.
"Alright people, that was interesting, but let's head out to safety."
He ushered the group into the hanger door on his ship, then headed up to the cockpit. He fired up the engines, plugged in Illium as the destination, and kicked back.
Longer chapter than before, and better formatted. The last two chapters were written outside , but this one was written here, so the line breaks aren't as choppy as before. And hey, look at that, I updated! On time even! And remember: A review a day keeps the doctor away!