Chapter 42: Always an Uphill Battle
The royal guardsman captain froze, their helmeted head turning instantly towards Paulie as if in shocked disbelief. “You.. don’t know?” That robotic tone droned as the alien chittered.
Jakiikii patted his shoulder and gestured down the hall, “We can explain as we move. Come on.”
Paulie nodded after a moment’s hesitation. He needed to know what was at stake here, from the worry on Jakiikii’s own face and the way the other alien had reacted to his question he was starting to get an idea of what was going on. And whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
They moved down the wide hall rapidly, nearly too fast for the adjudicator officers to keep up. As they did, Paulie leaned towards Jakiikii and huffed, “So.. these star children.. I assume they are related to Holy Nastrica?” He didn't know much about the world’s ruling monarch, her imperial majesty as they often called her, other than her race and name.
Jakiikii gave an affirmative hand gesture as they tromped along, their footfalls echoing on the hard marble-like stone of the floor. “Yes. They are the heirs to the throne and council seat of the whole Trellan system. Holy Nastrica herself, may she live forever, is the reagent of this entire star system. In charge of developing its resources and contributing to the wider galactic community. Trade and commerce are the lifeblood of the Greater Galactic Intercession, planets that fail to provide are considered unproductive and may be cut off from trade. I don’t have to tell you what kind of a disaster that would be for any local populations, do I?”
Paulie pursed his lips slightly and shook his head slowly as they took another corner, keeping his eyes alert for any more hints of trouble. “So they are the heirs to this throne and the responsibility, but there can only be one leader.. wait he said children. How many are we talking about?”
Jakiikii skidded to a stop before she could answer followed by a pair of gasping aliens as Officers Kreenin and Flaxiga came up at the rear of the formation. Captain Elldite had stopped with the three of his left arms up in the air, plasma stave held low and to the ready in the other three. There was a scuffling sound from up ahead, then the sound of something heavy crashing into the ground. The floor underfoot shook slightly as weapons fire erupted in a nearby location.
“Obstruction ahead!” Officer Flaxiga gasped out between labored breaths, raising a long arm and crouching her lanky body low to the ground.
“Can we go around?” Officer Kreenin asked, a quaver in his melodic voice. He looked at the royal guardsmen nervously, his long tufted tail lashing the air behind him as he rubbed a stubby horn oddly with one hand.
Paulie took action immediately, stepping to the front next to Captain Elldite. He glanced towards the alien who looked his way in turn. “I am assuming that that’s the direction we need to go?” The alien made a gesture, but the gist was clear from their posture. “Alright. We need to stay on point, I might not look like it, but I am wearing enough armour to stop their incoming fire. My other companions however are not.”
“Understood, Urrenian. We will take point, stay close to me. I do not want additional friendly forces to mistake you for an enemy.” It was a good point, and he nodded.
He pointed towards the sounds coming from ahead. “Alright. Let’s move.”
Paulie grunted as his back hit the wall, damn but he was sore. He had been battered and bruised all night long, and now there was more incoming? Why did the universe hate him so..
Dark laughter echoed in the back of his mind, he pushed it away with a grimace only to look to his left in surprise as a firm hand gripped his shoulder. It was Jakiikii. Her bright orange cat-like eyes locked with his, that tell-tale crinkling along their edges betraying her emotion. She was worried, and he had the feeling it was not for herself, he understood how she felt. He was worried too. About the city, about all the people caught up in the attack…
About her.
Long moments passed as they decided on a fast plan of action, the firefight ahead continued but seemed to shift in dynamics. That must be the guards on the other side being informed of their imminent reinforcement. Another heartbeat passed, then the signal.
The captain chittered, his alien speech translated into that same robotic monotone by the in-built translator of their suit. “Execute.”
Paulie tensed and then moved, the others moving with him though only Jakiikii and the mendagoonian soldiers in their power armour were able to match his speed and reaction time. Before he knew what he was doing he was through the door, throwing himself wide and to the left as they had planned while Jakiikii and two others went right.
In a second the power dynamic of the fight had shifted completely out of favor for the attackers, their once solid lines of cover suddenly threatened from behind as they were cut down like grain during the harvest. Paulie fired his gun, taking more than a few himself. In moments the room had quieted and the smoke started to clear. All that was left of the enemy were scattered corpses, some of them recognisable species he had seen before. Others not.
Twisted abominations of malignant science or evolution they might have been even before their bodies were further shattered by violence. He suppressed his impulse to gag at the smell of spilt blood and offal, now was not the time to lose his stomach. So he held it in, grim set features and smoking gun held low by his side.
Officer Kreenin seemed shaken by the extreme scene, leaning on Officer Flaxiga as they navigated the shattered ruins their enemies had been reduced to. There were more of the royal guard in the room, but only two. Paulie could see the bodies of two more lying where they had been cut down. Their intervention not quick enough to save them, he cursed softly under his breath.
If only he had been quicker.. arrived earlier, maybe then their deaths could have been prevented. He looked at the surviving guards, Captain Elldite seemed to be in conversation with them and after another moment they joined together and moved towards his group.
The alien began speaking, the chittering buzz of their voice soon replaced by unaccented English from their mechanical translator. Not for the first time he wondered why they were not using their jargon worms, maybe the suits interfered somehow so they had to use inferior methods?
“We need to continue moving, the resistance encountered on the way to the star children is most concerning to me. If there are this many of them between us already there must certainly be more on the way to their chambers.”
Paulie nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking something similar.” He gestured to lead the way and the power suited bugs took point. Walking quickly on their six insectoid legs, the armour enhancing their strength and stamina.
Paulie looked from side to side as they stalked as quickly as they dared down the next hall, the palace was a huge structure he was beginning to realise. They took a left and descended some stairs before another left led them to an ascending staircase almost right after. The new hallway looked the same as all the others, native red stone like bloody marble all around. Huge pillars of the same red stone holding up vaulted ceilings so high he could have flown a kite under them. Were he by himself he would surely have been lost in that maze in an instant. But Captain Elldite clearly knew the route well as they never wavered from their path.
As they marched towards the next corner one of the royal guards tensed before a bright flash seemed to bloom on the front of their torso followed by a plume of white smoke. The medagoonian was thrown back by the force of the blast, their smoking body rolling to a stop only centimeters from the opposite wall as the concussion of the explosion washed over the rest of the group, staggering those nearest.
“Cover!” Jakiikii hollered, the sound of something hitting the ground punctuating her remark.
Paulie only had time to notice a small object rolling into view near the middle of the intersection before he was bodily slammed to the ground behind one of the pillars by a flying termaxxi.
“Ooughff!” was all he had time to say before the room was filled with a terrible light and screaming wind, the pressure of it nearly rendering him senseless for a moment amongst the sounds of whipping shrapnel. As he came to, he found Jakiikii half slumped over him, the alien woman seemingly unconscious. Alarm immediately flashed through his whole body as the rest of the pain and sound seemed to fade away like stage lights.
Pulling her onto his lap he rousted her gently, a hand going to her cheek as her skin flashed a pale tan. “Jakiikii?! Jakiikii.. wake up! Are you alright, oh please be okay..” He saw no blood nor wound upon her, but as dark as her stealth suit was it was possible that her pink blood might have simply blended into it.
She stirred after a moment, a slight groan coming from her chest as her breathing slits flared. Two hands raised jerkily to his own and several of her eyes opened and searched around before the rest opened and all six orbs found his face.
“Oh.. Paulie? I think I hit my head. Oh.. that hurts.” She raised a middle hand to her head as she said it and he let out a mild sigh of relief. She was alright, a little banged up maybe from whatever had happened, but not in any life threatening danger. A pang of anger flushed through him, but he pushed it down deep. Now was not the time to lose control.
He smiled instead, his eyes glistening from the strength of his newfound solace. “Hey, are you okay? If you can stand, we need to keep moving. It isn’t safe here, Jakiikii.” he paused, her eyes crinkling in a smile as she groaned and then pushed herself to her knees. “I thought.. nevermind. I’m glad you are alright.” He got to his own feet, quickly helping her up as he reassessed their predicament.
From what he could immediately glean it seemed as though they had encountered another group of enemy forces. This time instead of the royal guards just trotting through them the cultists seemed to be putting up a meaningful resistance, at least one of the royal guards was down from what he could see. The smoking remains of the alien pushed up against a wall surrounded by a slowly expanding pool of dark viscous fluid. Their adversaries must have some manner of heavier weaponry to have taken the power armoured guard out so handedly.
They needed to push ahead right now or they risked becoming pinned down and surrounded. Just like they had done to the last group of bad guys they had surprised. He cursed to himself, why did everything always have to be so hard? He felt like he was climbing a mountain of sand, every second step forward carrying him another step back down. Paulie’s eyes lit up as he suddenly remembered something, he checked under his greatcoat on his waist for the belt of concussion grenades that he had taken before they had entered the palace.
Pulling two, he crept forward till he was behind the next pillar. Captain Elldite was hunkered across the hall from him, laser pistol raised and body held at a low ready. He waved towards him and brandished a grenade, the alien seeming to understand after a moment before Paulie tossed one towards him. Catching it deftly, they made a motion of throwing it into the other hall and Paulie nodded. He leaned into the red stone pillar as he grasped the arming pin and pulled.
The small device made a flat arc through the air as he threw it with considerable force, the grenade seeming to fall almost leisurely in the lower gravity of the planet before moving out of sight around the corner. He had rebounded it off a far wall in an attempt to get it deeper into the enemy formation and it seemed to work. For as a bright flash and wave of noise enveloped the other corridor, the royal guard moved forwards like a wave of vengeance and Paulie struggled to keep up.
They swept into the hall, guns blazing lines of spectral green fury that cut the enemy apart like razor blades. Paulie followed, his own gun roaring like an enraged beast and every time he pulled the trigger another adversary was thrown to the ground amid colorful splashes of viscera by the wrath of his nemesis revolver.
He hurdled the body of another only to be slammed back by something hitting his chestplate like a truck. He slammed into the ground with enough force to see stars, the dazzling lights swimming through his vision doing only a little to obscure the bulk of something huge moving towards him. He froze in place for a moment, dread terror filling the lizard part of his brain as he struggled to clear the panic from his mind.