Save Me from Extinction

Chapter 2

Recap

He seemed unscathed and stood there quietly as though listening to something. What the female didn't know was that he was getting a message from his ship that would change her life forever.

Present

Centanu stood silently, listening carefully to an incoming message from his ship.

"Centanu, we have been carefully watching the Kainde amedha's numbers. They have multiplied much faster than originally thought. In short, the Xanidian raceand Xanidiaitself are doomed. They don't have the needed equipment nor the physical prowess power to fight the Kainde amedha; they are far too peaceful a people. There is no more hope for this planet and all that remains now is the hope that by destroying it completely the Kainde amedha will be eradicated from this particular area of the Universe. You know what you must do Centanu: finish the job."

The message ended and Centanu stood stone still. He was only vaguely aware of the fact that the Xanidian woman was staring at him curiously, for he was more focused on the fact that under his newest order, she would have to die, and even more disturbing than that, the fact that he actually kind of…cared. He wasn't going soft; he didn't give half an amedha's tail about killing off her people, but it was something about the thought that she would be gone that bothered him, if only slightly. She was different than the others of her race: she was stronger, regardless of the value of an enemy's life, and to top it off, she was cunning.

'And for her species, beautiful as well…' Eyes widening under his mask at the unbidden thought, he quickly added to himself, 'But of course, she holds nothingon a Yaujta femaleBesides, it isn't as if a warrior such as I would ever be attracted to thisweak creature. She is nothing to me...but nonetheless, it seems a waste to allow her to die...she might not be as strong as my people, but…it might be possible for her to learn. Yes…with her in the physical condition that she is, it wouldn't be an impossible task for her to reach our level, or at least something close. She seems as if she could take to our ways in time.' Centanu considered his own thoughts for a moment, and what his subconscious was trying to tell him. 'I could get in a heap of trouble for this, but…'

Turning his attention back to the Xanidian female, he noticed that she was staring blankly into space, no longer even acknowledging his presence. This was his golden opportunity: all he had to do was grab her...it was so simple, like outsmarting an amedha. Slowly he took a step towards her; she didn't react whatsoever, not even a blink. To be so void of attention, she clearly must have been quite deep in her thoughts, whatever those may be. He stood in front of her and slowly reached his hand towards her spiked tail. It was common sense, when you went to grab a poisonous snake you grabbed its head, the most dangerous part of it in order to avoid injury; this was much the same concept, as he had seen firsthand the kind of damage that tail of hers could cause when the female was threatened. Her spikes had retracted, forming an armored point on the tip of her tail, though as soon as he had his hand firmly on her tail, she snapped of her reverie.

The female abruptly turned on him, shouting loudly at him in her native tongue. She thrashed her body and tail violently, attempting to get out of the Warrior's vice-like grip, but to no avail. She continued shouting, screaming at the top of her lungs, if she in fact had any, in her foreign language. Some of the words she was using were somewhat similar to those in his language; as far as he could tell, she was not saying very pleasant things, and the most complete part of any of her exclamations was roughly translated as, 'with a fondue fork'. This did not bode well for poor Centanu should the female ever get free and decide to exact revenge. As she continued her yelling and thrashing, Centanu managed to angle himself in such a manner that he could unbalance her and cease her struggling, struggling which continued only until he deftly swung his leg underneath her, toppling her over and into the sand. Her face was blank with shock for a moment before she once again resumed her thrashing, now with renewed vigor from what Centanu assumed to be outrage. Before she was able to regain her footing however, the Yaujta warrior started walking, dragging her thrashing body behind him. She certainly was quite a violent fighter for a Xanidian woman.

After a few long test-strides to make sure the dragging wouldn't kill her or injure her too severely, Centanu allowed himself to pick up speed and soon began running as fast as he could towards his escape pod; the longer he remained on Xanidia, the greater his chances of running into more Kainde amedha, and the more of them he ran into, the more likely it was for the Elder to deem him and his operation compromised, and decide to blow the planet to bite-sized Xanidian chunks himself, and that didn't exactly leave poor Centanu in a good way, now did it?

He reached the small escape pod in no time at all and, realizing that the Xanidian female wouldn't cooperate with him willingly, unless screaming at one about doing things of a painful nature to them with a fondue fork was some odd indication of affection on her planet, he reached over into the pod and grabbed a sedative.

As soon as the female noticed the syringe, she stopped her squirming and writhing, probably in an attempt to convince him that there was no need for it; he wasn't convinced.

He took the sedative and injected it into her neck, and within seconds, her body went completely limp. Releasing her tail, Centanu scooped the female up into his arms and placing her gently into the adjacent seat and strapped her in with the complex harness-like device, which was attached for basic safety reasons. Closing the door to the pod, the Yaujta warrior turned and ran back to the Arcova Mountains.

It didn't take him long to reach the mountains, since he now had only himself to carry. Entering into a small cave, he punched a fist-sized hole into the wall of the cave, then proceeding to plant, set, and activate the bomb with the kind of ease that came only with time-tested experience and the grueling, sometimes even excruciating, training he had undergone as a youngling.

Without breaking a sweat, Centanu arrived back at the small escape pod within a minute. Opening the door, he gazed at the young Xanidian woman thoughtfully for a brief a moment before returning his mind to his duty and sitting in the pilot's seat, instinctively strapping himself in. Flipping an arrangement of switches into different positions, and pressing an array of flashing buttons, the pod buzzed with electronic life and the door snapped shut and locked automatically. Flipping more switches and pressing more buttons in a strategic order, the small pod lifted itself from the ground, hovering motionless for a brief second and then shooting off into space with alarming speed.

After exiting the planet's atmosphere, Centanu pushed a small crimson button, causing an electronic male voice to speak in his language. "Twenty seconds until detonationninteen...eighteen...seventeen...sixteen...fifteen...fourteen...thirteen...twelve...eleven...ten..nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one...zero...detonation initiated."

Centanu looked behind him, watching dispassionately as the planet of Xanidia imploded into itself, creating a miniature black hole that sucked the meager remains of the planet into the depths of space where no creature dared venture.

Xanidia then ceased to be at that very instant in time, and one unlucky female then became the very last of her kind.