Outside Lake City, Station Eleven outpost
POV of P'sy
Raiding the government vehicle had been Dallas's idea so we climbed back down to the truck for him to satisfy his curiosity of what might be useful in it. Even with healing chest injuries I was quicker than them, resisting the very human tic of tapping my foot as they came down. I would have helped Kelly except she was in a bickering match I was secretly pleased she was winning.
"Jesus Christ Dallas, you couldn't unlock the truck? Instead he's got to stand there and wait for us?"
"Kel, I'm a little busy making sure I'm not going to die if my hands slip off a boulder here. Excuse me for not having more than two arms."
"That fob has long range, you could have unlocked it from the top if you had thought that far."
Dallas's stony silence showed he saw the logic of her words.
I was thankful for my biomask, it hid my amusement as the two oomans finally reached the ground. With one click the truck was open and Dallas was pulling out the cases Kelly had thrown by the wayside when she drove to that cabin.
"Let's see here."
The first case held a rifle neatly stacked. Kelly immediately grabbed it. "This is an AK-47…. Really high-tech though"
Dallas paused. "Okay…is that supposed to mean something because you're talking to a civilian and an ali-"
"Can you shoot it?" I interrupted him.
She studied its sleek surfaces. "I think so. This takes really big bullets for some reason-" She trailed off as she pushed the magazine back into place. "Maybe they expected to go up against something bigger than you?"
"Like that queen?" Dallas pulled another case towards him.
Kelly didn't answer as she pulled some of the ammo loose. "Wait a minute."
"What?"
She glanced at the weapon again. "This isn't the AK I know…I think it's modified."
She turned to me. "Look familiar?" She held it out.
I had to hand it to whoever designed the thing, as almost nothing could stand up against kainde amedha blood. Yet there I was, holding exactly that, some sort of material that could withstand the acid.
"These are meant for us."
"Who?"
Kelly rolled her eyes. "Him… him and A'luet or anyone like them."
Her words caught me for a moment. Anyone like them. From the scene involving the government agents I killed until now, I noticed her attitude change. She was different, less hostile though I suppose I was too. And even after she saw what A'luet and I looked like, her manners never wavered. She treated us equally, with no exasperation unlike she threw almost constantly at Dallas.
"More guns… jeez, these people were armed like they were going to war."
Kelly only glanced up once as she puzzled out the modified gun.
"Hey, look at this….." Dallas pulled the long case he had open closer. "Looks like your caster thing… maybe you can use this in replacement of the broken one."
"What's wrong?"
I had taken too long to answer and Kelly noticed.
"It's a homing-energy weapon." I glanced at Dallas. "It's not a caster. We call it an electroshock missile battery." I took it out of the case.
"How'd they get it?"
"The same way humans always get their hands on our technology. We can use it though. Blow that door apart, it's got enough power."
"Is this something you can use too?" Dallas was grinning at me.
A gauntlet was in the last case, its design telling me it was from most likely an arbitrator's at one time. An unexpected emotion hit me.
"I've had this since I was 16…" I ran my hand over the cover of my own gauntlet.
"Maybe you can fix it at a later date." Kelly said.
"Yeah. Maybe I can." I released the micro teeth, pulling it off my wrist.
"Here." Kelly disappeared around the side of the truck and returned with a bag. A child's. "Molly forgot it but I'm sure she's too enamored to care too much."
"Enamored with what?"
She didn't reply to Dallas. "We can store yours in here for now."
I opened a small slot on the side of mine, pulling a micro card loose as Dallas handed me the new one. There were two slots for micro cards last I knew with the newer gauntlets, hopefully my card wasn't too old it wouldn't be recognized. I slid it over my wrist and felt the teeth sink into my skin.
A light blinked as the screen came alive. It had been a while since I calibrated a wrist gauntlet, done with a less than amusing situation involving a newly blooded teenager wiping his information clean off its hard drive. A'luet came over in time to see my face and spent the twenty minutes listening to me bitch under my breath, the kid profusely apologize and himself trying to hide his enjoyment of the whole thing.
"Let me see that." I gestured to the missile battery and waited for the gauntlet to recognize the weapon.
Dallas leaned back when the mount whirred and went through its automated adjustment cycle.
"Looks like we're good. Let's get back up-"
A small docking arm shot out from the top of the gauntlet, scaring Dallas back a few steps.
"Relax."
"Seriously." Kelly snorted.
The docking arm retreated back into the gauntlet, followed by the twin wrist blades snapping out.
Dallas tried to downplay his question. "How many swipes on average, does it take to uh- you know…"
"Take off someone's appendage?" I watched the blades retract. "Depends on the victim and how much force is applied. If its human, one swipe and not a lot of effort. One of us, depends." I paused, staring at the computer screen. "Well that's handy."
"What is?"
A large static ball shot out above the gauntlet, spinning quickly and growing in size.
"Would the electric power source be easily accessible?"
"Possibly. Why?"
I turned to Kelly. "I'm not asking permission by any means, but you go in there with me be ready for the retaliation I'm going give them."
"I wouldn't expect it any other way." She pulled out the armored vest she had gotten from somewhere the night Gunnison was attacked and put it on. "Lead the way."
…..
There was a low bass like pounding in Jessie's ears as she came to. What had happened? Slowly she pushed herself up from the ground, feeling something sticky along her jawline. She reached up, her fingers coming away with congealed blood.
"What the hell?"
"It happens sometimes." A'luet appeared to her left, his answer slightly muffled.
"I-I can't hear very well." She wished she sounded less frightened.
"It'll go away."
Jessie turned to see the enormous body of the queen laying still. One clawed toe curling around her foot. "She's dead?"
A'luet glanced over dismissively. "Yup. Killed herself. A damn shame." He put his hand out to pull her up and then studied the walls.
"How do we get out of here?"
"I don't know yet. I'm sure the bitch was watching this whole thing so she'll know we're alive." He paused, trying to listen, wishing his hearing wasn't also fucked up. "There's a fake wall…" He drew away from her.
"There is?"
He nodded. "I can hear the air current. Right….here." He took a step back and gave the area a powerful frontal kick.
The faux rock collapsed into a tunnel. "Ordinarily ladies first, but I'll go first in case there's more surprises."
"Won't argue with that."
…
Bunk 9
"I told you that bitch was loca, man. If you think she's gonna forget about us helpin' that alien and those kids, estás fuera de mi mente."
"Oh, I'm out of my mind? You're the one who said we should give the alien all of his shit back."
"Yeah, give him his shit back and he'd fuckin' leave, hopefully."
"Before or after you started yapping about that second alien."
Jimenez's face turned red.
"That's not-"
"Okay, shut up." Perreca snapped.
"Yeah Jimenez." Stein said sarcastically. "Shut up."
"That goes for you too." Perreca growled, ignoring Stein's glower in his direction. "If we don't want fake treason charges slapped on us, we need to come up with a real plan to get our asses out of here."
"Who said anything about treason?"
Perreca scoffed. "C'mon seriously. You really think that skinny twit isn't going to come up with some bullshit lie to justify her retaliation against us?"
"He's right." Booker finally spoke. "We just got caught aiding an extraterrestrial creature and the kids who came in with him. It's not if but when they come in here and either shoot us where we're all sitting and standing or drag us out to somewhere else…"
BANG.
The four soldiers startled, two of them grabbing for their guns surprisingly left behind by the commandos who locked them in their bunk room.
"Fuck."
Nerves on high alert it took no time for the guns to point at A'luet. Not giving them much attention, he glanced up at the ceiling duct he fell through, comically annoyed.
"You can put those away, they're like gnats to me….enough to piss me off and want to cave your heads in."
He gestured to something they couldn't see and held his hands out. The human girl grasped his forearms, her landing a lot smoother than his.
"How in the fuck..?" The one called Booker inched forward with his handgun, looking up at the ceiling. "How did you get away? We heard your scream over the guy's radio…."
"He killed it, the alien." Jessie eyed them all. "Are you going to lose the weapons or are you just going to stand there like trigger happy assholes?"
"You swear he's not dangerous."
"I am dang-"
Jessie whacked A'luet's arm. "Not to you… only those who deserve it."
"Oh, oh… d-deserve it…" Booker didn't sound convinced. "What do you want?"
"Well, we didn't mean to end up here but now that we're here. You can help us."
"Look lady, we already tried to help you and look where that got both of us." Booker lowered his gun slightly. "I think we're even."
"Even?" She echoed. "Really? Well, last I checked A'luet is still here and I bet you know where his ship is."
"His ship? This isn't ET."
"No…." Jessie faked surprise. "It isn't? Well damn, wasn't I fooled."
Booker didn't appreciate her sarcasm. "Listen, how do you even propose we get out of here, the door is locked from the out-"
A'luet grabbed the doorknob and with one jerk, the mechanism broke, the door opening.
"We can get you there." Perreca stepped forward. "It's on the way other side of the building though. This place is like a half mile long."
"That isn't a problem."
"Good." Perreca grinned.
"I need to find my friend too."
"The guy?" Booker questioned, not hiding his irritation at yet another request.
"Yeah, the guy."
Booker rolled his eyes, turning to shove his boots on when the power died.
…
The resulting explosion from the electro missile battery was impressive as the concrete bunker door ceased to exist. P'sy walked through with no apprehension, Kelly right behind him with her new rifle and Dallas next to her, only determination replacing the jitters he experienced up until that moment.
"WHAT! WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK?!"
P'sy ignored the yells of the humans who happen to be manning the desk just inside the door; seeing him coming they didn't hesitate to fire, missing in their haste.
Wishing his own combi-stick wasn't snapped in two he made due with A'luet's, pulling it off his back and kicking the desk, breaking the bolts on the floor.
It hit the two men, slamming them backwards into the wall. Kelly was quick, finding her mark in their foreheads, red splotches painting the concrete in a half halo pattern around their heads.
"Nice shot." Dallas commented.
Kelly didn't answer, the scope pressed to her eye but a smile lit her face. "Electrical room." She jerked her head. "Kind of stupid to have it so close to an entrance."
"What's stupid is great for us." P'sy muttered. He pushed the door open, the large machines humming loudly. He pressed a button on his gauntlet, the electroshock bolas fizzing to life in a spinning circle just above the tiny antenna-like conductor poking out. "Back up."
Kelly and Dallas wisely moved, taking cover behind the wall outside the door.
P'sy too moved to the hall, and let the bolas shoot out, hitting the generators. Static spread across the machines, crackling up the ducts into the ceiling. He calmly left the room, continuing down the hall.
"I wouldn't stand there if I were you." He called over his shoulder.
"He wouldn't what? What did he say?"
"He said to move your fucking ass Dallas." Kelly punched him in the shoulder.
They barely moved away when there was a thunderous BOOM that took out the walls outside the room in a spectacular blast.
In response all power died, throwing them into darkness.
"Shit dude." Dallas turned to P'sy as emergency lights lit up the hallway. "How do you expect to see?"
"I'm wearing my mask."
Dallas rolled his eyes. "Alright, how do you expect us to see?"
P'sy's mask stared back, void of emotion and cold. "Don't lose sight of me."