Chapter 37: Another Way
Paulie sat back on his haunches as he watched the alien woman he loved grin at him with her eyes, the petal-like eyestalks that sprouted from her angular head crinkling with her display of emotion. With another small nod the termaxxi’s body seemed to shimmer as if the air around her had suddenly become superheated. And then she was gone. Nothing but the illusion of a shimmer in the air that quickly moved out of his line of sight.
Paulie lost track of her after a few seconds as she left. He turned his attention back to Officer Sasfren who had flipped up the visor of her riot-helmet and spoke, “It still gives me chills to see her just vanish like that.”
Paulie nodded, gripping the handle of his pistol as he jerked his head towards the front of the disabled APC. “Should we give them something else to worry about?”
Sasfren smiled wide, her sharp teeth glinting in the overhead lights that lined the street. “Yess. Let’s knock them down.”
With a shout, Sasfren and Paulie popped out from the cover of the burning APC. It took him but a moment to notice a familiar shape in the thick smoke that drifted across the street like streamers of sooty strands. A bultesian, the alien was standing completely in the open, as if entirely unconcerned with its own obvious lack of cover. It was holding a large tubular weapon system connected to a large pack on its back via a series of thick insulated cables. Sasfren wasn’t shooting at them, in fact it looked as though she had not yet spotted them at all.
Paulie didn’t wait to see her weapon in action though, he aimed at the creature’s center of mass and squeezed the trigger of his nemesis revolver. The barrel lifted, a flash of light bursting forth as the weapon hurled a piece of hardened brass alloy at terrible velocity. This was followed by a second flash as the integrated micro-rocket motor fired to push the bullet even faster towards its target, the distinct double crack of its firing causing Paulie’s ears to ring. The bultesian didn’t even have time to notice its own demise as it was hit by the heavy brass bullet. A large hole appeared in the center of its chest as it was thrown physically backwards to the ground in a spray of dark green viscera.
Firing his gun gave away his position with its obvious muzzle flash and thunderous report and Paulie was forced to duck back into cover as a barrage of return fire was directed his way. Officer Sasfren slithering towards him, the maggastium obviously a little out of breath from the way her mouth gaped open. Her chest heaving as if in great pain.
She slumped down next to the tire and it was then that he realised the smoldering crater in her chest rig.
“Shit! You’re hit.” He said, kneeling quickly by her side, a sharp wave of panic flooding his veins like ice.
Officer Sasfren raised a boneless arm and waved it tiredly. “Not.. dead..” She panted, her expression petals flushing a deep blue and orange gradient. She shook her head, “I.. can’t breath. Help.. remove..” She gripped the main plate covering her chest and Paulie nodded in mute understanding.
Whatever had hit her had deformed the heavy metallic plate and it was crushing her chest, restricting her breathing. He gripped the chest rig and quickly found the magnetic pins that held it in place. Undoing them, he gripped the main part of the plate and tore it free. Sasfren immediately slumping before she sucked in a terrific shuddering breath.
“Thank.. you..” She panted, hand holding her obviously aching chest as her expressionless face turned towards him. Paulie nodded, glancing down at the sundered armour plate. Whatever had hit it had atomised a portion of the hardened material, he looked at it closer.
“Hey, is this based on my design?” He asked, noticing the familiar appearance of the armour.
She nodded. “Yes. After the undeniable.. proof of its effectiveness. Mack ordered thinner plates to be made for many of the officers that were in his district. And a.. zalcing good thing too. That plasma blast would have gone.. straight through my old armor.” She chuckled, the hissing stutter manifesting as a sense of amusement as his parasite translated her alien speech. “Saved my tail again. I thank you.”
Paulie nodded, not sure what to say. He wasn’t used to feeling like the hero. But he couldn't help but give her a wide smile in response as they shared a small moment of closeness.
She slapped his upper arm and nodded towards him, suddenly serious. “The shooting.. it stopped.”
Paulie raised his head, she was right. He nodded to her as if to say ‘stay down’ and moved towards the front of the vehicle once more. He blinked as the greasy smoke from the smouldering cabin stung his eyes and throat, but soldiered on through the discomfort. Peeking around the corner, he ducked back into cover before the expected barrage of fire came. But there was no return fire. Not this time.
Looking towards the two officers still hunkering behind the cover of the first cruiser, he motioned to get their attention. “Cover me, I am going to investigate.” He said, raising his voice only enough to be heard.
The nearer one, a makkmakkian with a thick ruff of quills, nodded in understanding before elbowing the other officer and speaking rapidly. They moved to the sides of cover, weapons held in slightly shaking grips as Paulie took a deep breath.
He gave them a hand signal and then moved out of cover, but not laterally. That might have been expected. Instead he gripped a handhold on the side of the APC and vaulted straight up and over the top, landing on the roof of the tall vehicle before immediately dashing towards the far side of the roadway. He landed hard on the ground and stumbled slightly before he slammed into the wall of a nearby structure, back first. No gunfire assailed him and he took another deep breath. But before he had the chance to move he heard a small noise from his left and then Jakiikii spoke.
“It’s fine. They have been neutralized."
Paulie raised a hand immediately. “Hold fire! Hold fire!” After a second he stepped out of cover, Jakiikii appearing before him a few steps away. Her suit had a few dark stains on it, but she seemed unhurt. He stepped towards her and then wrapped her in a tight hug before she had the time to react.
“I am glad you are okay.” She pushed against him slightly as if trying to get free.
“Hey, ugh.. You are getting blood all over your coat.” He pressed her closer in response.
“I don’t give a damn about the coat. I love you.” She chuckled and then pushed him away again, this time with enough strength to let him know she was serious.
“Yeah, I love you too. But we can’t delay. I heard some of them talking before I put them down, they were talking about finishing us so they could join ‘the main assault’.” She motioned to the officers behind him. “If we hurry we can probably get to the precinct in a few minutes, but they will slow us down a lot.” She said it casually, but he knew the question she was asking.
Turning to look at Officer Sasfren, the maggastium leaning heavily on one of the other officers near the front of the smouldering armoured transport, he made a split second decision. They needed to move fast, and they could only do that free of the others. He told Officer Sasfren so as the other officers gathered around in a defensive ring.
The maggastium wheezed, the alien holding her chest as she tilted her head. Those large expression petals that sprang from the base of her skull doing small fluttering movements as she swallowed heavily. “I.. understand. You will be much.. cough safer without us anyways.” She wheezed, leaning for a moment on the officer next to her.
Paulie nodded. “I’m sorry to leave you alone like this, but the city seems to be unsafe for us, groups or not. Our best chance is to move fast and remain unseen.” He was secretly glad she had agreed so readily, he had planned to leave whether she agreed or not. And it was nice that she had understood that and had no will to fight him on it, there was no way she could have stopped him anyways short of physically incapacitating him.
Paulie turned to go, but Sasfren stopped him briefly with an outstretched hand. “I... Paulie?” She paused, her hissing tone unemotional. He knew what she was thinking, the dark purple of her expression petals gave away her feelings more clearly than words. “Be careful.”
He glanced towards Jakiikii, the woman had grabbed an electron rifle from one of the other officers. She nodded, Paulie turned to the wounded adjudicator and smiled. “Of course, I have Jakiikii to watch my back.”
Sasfren gave her version of a smile in return, waving a hand. “Then go. Hurry.”
At her word he stood, giving her and the assembled officers another last long look before he hopped off to follow Jakiikii who was already moving out. Behind him he heard Officer Sasfren giving stern orders to the others. Likely telling them to batten down and form a defensive bulwark, more enemies would likely be coming. And they needed to get to stronger cover.
The sounds of the ambush site faded quickly however as Paulie and Jakiikii rushed along. Not quite as headlong as he had before, but much faster than they would have been able to otherwise.
Jakiikii ranged ahead of him a few paces, scouting out for potential dangers in a way that Paulie himself was unable. Her incredible senses of perception and remarkably keen eyesight would allow her to spot dangers and any additional potential ambushes long before his own comparatively weaker ones would. Though he did keep his ears alert for hints of danger, his own hearing was still more sensitive than hers.
And indeed as they moved along he was forced to skid to a stop and duck into the cover of a nearby structure as she signaled frantically for him to hide. They slipped into the cover of an adjoining alley as she plotted a path around the intersection ahead.
“What was it?” He hissed, he had not heard anything. He readjusted his greatcoat as it caught on a piece of protruding masonry.
“Ambush. At least three guns in the third building, two on the street. No heavy weapons, but I don’t want to take the chance.” She spoke quickly, answering his question with minimal fluff.
He glanced around, the dimly lit alleyway seemed safe enough for the moment. But he knew that its illusion of security could change in bare moments should a group of them entrap them inside. He looked around, and then up.
Pointing towards the roofs of the buildings far above he asked, “Should we cover the rooftops? More exposed but they would never be looking for anyone up there. We are both athletic enough to cross the small gaps easily enough.”
To his mild surprise she shook her head after a second of thought. All six of her eyes focused on him for the moment. “No, not a great idea. They have lookouts on the rooftops for sure, all it would take is for one raising the others and we would be caught out in an indefensible position with little hope of a quick retreat.” She shook her head again. “No, far better to avoid them and go around the longer way.”
Paulie cocked his head. He hadn’t been thinking of that. And why should he have been? Up until a month ago he had been a simple shoe salesman. Jakiikii was already walking away, and so he quashed the doubts stirring in his own mind and followed.
They managed to slip around another two patrols that way, the city was near-to overrun with armed gangs of aliens patrolling. Their voices full of bravado and swagger, their apparent swift victory all but assured. It made Paulie sick to his stomach to hear their growling laughter so casually discuss the murder and torture of innocent people, aliens or not.
Paulie was no stranger to violence, especially not since his abduction and introduction to the wider galaxy. But he did not revel in wanton cruelty, not like those that had taken him from his home. The ones who had killed Krissh. Paulie felt a tear form in the corner of his eye but sniffed loudly as he cleared it.
Jakiikii stopped, looking back at him with some of her flexible eye-petals. He waved a hand to let her know he was fine, but he wasn’t. He felt pain in his heart for one whom he had barely known. Pain that he carried on his shoulders like an iron yoke. If only he had been stronger.
His booted feet shuffled through a small pile of detritus and rubble that had been strewn haphazardly across the side of the alley. He kicked it away, the clattering of the trash was the loudest sound he could hear. The strife of the greater city around them strangely muffled in the dark, still air between the buildings.
“What’s the point.” He grumbled under his breath.
Jakiikii was a few steps ahead, if she had heard his uttered question then she gave no sign of it. Instead she continued her pace, leading them quickly to the end of the alley and beyond.
Paulie buried the pain back down deep, jamming it into the crumbling bulwark that just barely held back the darkness that lived in the corner of his consciousness. That deep grumbling laugh echoing from nowhere and everywhere all at once endlessly, the jargon worm constantly chipping away at his sanity. Paulie swallowed heavily and then shook his head. He had not gotten this far just to be beaten by an alien brain slug that he could have crushed between two fingers were it not lodged deep in his own grey matter.
They took a sharp turn as Jakiikii thought she heard voices from ahead, it could have been anything. But they were taking no chances. As they raced towards their destination they had to dodge at least two other patrols of criminals. The wandering groups of thugs seemingly looting the helpless citizenry of Korscam with abandon. Smoke wafted through the air from distant fires, the sounds of far-off sirens and gunfire cracking like rainfall from somewhere in the middle distance.
“Where are all the adjudicators? Where is the palace guard, is there no law enforcement out on patrol?” Paulie asked aloud.
Jakiikii shook her head. “At this time of the night, it was lucky that there were as many on active duty as there were. And most likely headed back towards the precinct the moment the first explosions went off. They are likely trapped in the mire.”
He shook his head. Even in the relatively small town he had grown up in back on Earth he would have expected a more drastic first responder response than this. Another siren sounded from somewhere a few streets over followed by the rapid pops of weaponsfire. So it seemed as though there was at least some active resistance to the city’s sudden invasion.
It made him think, but where had the invaders come from in the first place? Had his encounter with the bultesian cultists a few weeks ago been a forewarning of things to come? Surely an entire alien army could not have been hidden below the city streets without attracting at least some attention.
The sounds of distant fighting only intensified as they drew nearer and nearer to the main precinct, as did the smell of smoke and burning fires. Certainly the air was growing more and more polluted with sound and ash, the small grey flecks now visually drifting through the air. The acrid stench of drenched ashes and electric tang of spent fire retardant stinging his nose.
They stopped as there was another loud noise above the rest, a sort of snarling, humming groan. He looked towards Jakiikii with wide eyes, “What.. the hell.. is that?”