Page 47 of Uncovered By the Alien Commander
I extend my natural claws, smiling with menace, a promise of what’s coming. “Screams,” I state simply, before turning to once again traverse the perilous gap that was once a functioning lift shaft.
Emerging into the corridor of floor seventy-two, an eerie silence permeates the area, a stark contrast to the destruction and death lining the walls. I waste no time rushing towards my quarters, which once promised relaxation and pleasure, now a harbinger of righteous fury.
Entering the room, I approach the polymer window, running my hand along its surface. With ease, I crash my armored fist through the translucent material. It shatters into a hundred pieces at my might.Just like the Gorglaxians will in mere moments.The thought almost ignites my Rush.
I climb through the smashed opening and I’m greeted by the dizzying sight of the streets and alleyways below. A wave of vertigo almost overwhelms me as my vision warps and I feel myself tilting, forcing me to grasp the window frame to steady myself.I must be voiding mad to attempt this!
The garnish drones skitter and zoom overhead, casting their lights over the sprawling cityscape, as people appear like tiny specks mill around. Some stand, peering up at the building asothers stream out the entrance, running in fear, some almost naked in their haste to escape their guest quarters.I’ll need to end this quickly before station security becomes involved.
After a steadying moment, my gaze turns to the window below, the target of my audacious plan. To my relief, it also has a narrow ledge similar to the one I’m perched on. I scrutinize it, wondering if it’ll support my weight should I drop.Maybe?I shrug to myself, turning round to face the building, drawing in a deep calming breath that does nothing of the sort.
My heels shuffle inch by inch over the edge, until in a sudden rush I plummet like a massive rock of awful ideas. The terrifying weightlessness threatens to overpower me with mad, flailing panic as the ledge below rushes to meet me. With a crashing, jarring thud, my foot connects, though the momentum carries me off center, my lifeline just out of reach.
My vision spins, and I think I’m flung sidewards as I careen off the ledge. My left hand shoots out instinctively and in desperate panic, I clutch the ledge with just my fingertips, just enough to halt my descent. The jolting force yanks my arm and rips the air from my lungs as I dangle from the ledge like a broken branch swaying in the wind.
“Praise the Gods,” I wheeze in a breathless whisper as I swing my other hand round to clutch onto the stone shelf, my frayed nerves returning to normal. It’s a trifle to pull myself up onto the ledge as I speculate if this was my most foolish idea yet.
I peer through the polymer window, thankful to see the room is empty with a tidy, arranged bed and spotless furnishings. Eager to render murderous revenge on the ones responsible for forcing me to slide down a building, I thump the polymer window with just enough force to crack it, intending to create as little noise as possible, hoping to remain unseen—for now.
Pressing my armored hand through the crack, the reinforced polymer gives way under my might, allowing me access. I crouchthrough the opening, moving with careful steps as my ears strain to pick up any noise. I approach the door of the quarters, steeling myself, knowing that beyond lies the corridor, likely teeming with enemies.
Activating my arc blaster that hums and crackles with lethal intent, I open the door, peeking around the corridor to see the backs of many armed Gorglaxians, their attention fixated toward Noroth and Logarn. Amongst the group almost hidden due to her tiny size, is Felacia.
The sight of the duplicitous Nebian causes my blood to boil as I switch my arc blaster to arc claws. Knowing the close-range plasma claws will make quick work of their shields, I skulk forward like a shadow, their creeping death about to erupt into bloody reality around them. Close enough now to see their tentacles fluttering as they shuffle with nervousness. Felacia tinkers away at a device that resembles a modified ship warhead.
“I’ve nearly got the timer set,” Felacia states in her soft voice, a shocking contrast to the sinister implications of her words.
“We’ll hold them off until the building is evacuated—” Triandale rises further down the corridor, but I’ve heard enough. I’m now directly behind the closest prey. With a primal roar, I lash out, my arc claws arching with molten death, raking through a lanky Gorglaxian. Who, to my dismay, dies before he can even scream.I just hope my roar is enough to alert Noroth and Logarn.
I waste no time seizing the initiative, taking advantage of their stunned surprise. As my glowing yellow eyes leak wisps of burning Rush, a golden promise of their imitate deaths, as time slows and my body swells with increased strength and speed. It’s as if the ancestors themselves bolster my every sinew, their chosen avatar of war.
Felacia and Triandale recoil in slow-motion horror as I press forward, whipping my claws towards my next prey, who still hasnot turned to face me.So slow to react, but so quick to die.I thrust my azure claws that burn with the heat of a thousand suns through his armored chest. His lifeless body crumbles and falls, further eviscerating against my plasma claws.
“We’re under attack!” Triandale roars, the quickest sentence he’s ever delivered, fueled by his obvious fear, his death by my hands mere seconds away.
My next Gorglaxian prey turns towards me, but I loom before him. In his terror, he holds his rifle out like a barrier, a fatal mistake, although any action he takes would produce the same result—his imminent demise. I snarl, thrusting my claws into his fluttering tentacled face, relishing the look of horror spreading over his expression, until his head is no more, reduced to a gory blue molten slop.
“Detonate the explosive now, Triandale!” Felacia screams, as she brandishes her tiny laser pistol directed at me, its deadly power giving me pause. A streaking red beam strikes just above my head as I leap to the ground, putting an end to my murderous charge in an instant.
More Gorglaxians peel from the room with the stairwell to reinforce Triandale and Felacia, their weapons drawn and burning, hatred etched on their dropping faces. Felacia readjusts her aim as I spring from the ground, engaging my arc shield just in time to absorb another of her crimson death blasts. The impact has no kinetic force yet overcomes my plasma shield in a purple flash, my large defensive barrier blinking out of existence, almost taking my hopes of victory with it.
Switching my gauntlet back to arc blaster mode, I unleash blue bolts of liquefied murder amongst their ranks as I leap crashing through a doorway, seeking refuge from Felacia’s brutal, efficient laser weapon. But even as I flee, indiscriminate red streaks of laser penetrate the walls, forcing me prone to the ground yet again.
“Quickly, Triandale, before all is lost!” Felacia shouts, her voice cutting through the growing clamor and chaos emanating from the corridor. “The Klendathians mean to attack Nebia—they must be stopped!”
The crazy Nebian female means to blow up the entire building, murdering everyone!“Don’t do it Triandale. We work against the Scythians and seek an alliance with the Nebians!” I roar back, crawling towards the bed, seeking cover from the imminent attack that is no doubt heading my way.
“Lies!” Felacia spits, her anger and hatred manifesting in more sporadic laser beams piercing the walls of my room. “Scythian deceivers! For the future of the entire universe, you and all your kind must be exterminated, no matter the cost!” followed by more haphazard blasts casting ominous red hues throughout my area.
“She’s a crazy fanatic Triandale,” I retort, as I pull down wardrobes and desks, forming a defensive position in the room’s corner. “If you kill all these innocent people, you’re as twisted as the Scythians who you claim to hate!”
The only response is the arrival of more Gorglaxians at the doorway, their weapons drawn, their runny eyes twisted with hatred “For Gorglaxia!” Their war cry intoned together, directed towards me, the living totem of their burning anger and bitter loss. They unleash a barrage of weapons fire, causing the room to explode in a hail of deadly projectiles and blasts.
With desperation and brutal accuracy, I return searing blue bolts from my arc blaster. Chunks of black stone wall explode and erupt into debris as my makeshift cover splinters and snaps, absorbing the onslaught.
My own shots find their targets, but to my dismay my attackers’ graviton shields deflect the molten blasts, sending them pooling near their feet. I attempt to re-engage my arc shield, but the stubborn thing refuses to activate, still rechargingafter absorbing the cursed Felacia’s laser beam. The situation grows grim, cornered with enemies pressing in. But as my blood thunders through my veins, I know no fear, only a savage determination to drag as many enemies with me to the halls of my ancestors.
Finally, the shield of one Gorglaxian gives out under my barrage, the black haze blinking out until disappearing, leaving him merciless before the molten blue death, which consumes him, reducing him to a pile of gruesome glop. But In retaliation, bullets whiz and ping off my shoulder and chest armor, jolting me backward, disrupting my aim.