The Black

Mac stumbled at the impact as he was changing into his Void suit. He had just taken off his Delmar Themed Hawaiian shirt when it happened. The explosion was immediately followed by the “Intruder Alert” Klaxon. Mac dropped what he was doing, and grabbed the CZ made Gauss Pistol he carried with him everywhere. That explosion was big, and close… He crept out of the pilot’s changing room to see a massive, jagged hole in the Hanger roof and an escape pod of some kind laying on top of the Crushed Raptor. The emergency force field covering the hole shimmered as it fought against the atmospheric pressure. 3 K’Claram were climbing over the wreckage, and 2 more were waving weapons at the ground crew huddled in the corner. Mac was about to make his move when 3 of those dam Lizard people, Thermians, stepped out of the Hatch of the weaponized pod with larger weapons. Mac glanced at his Day Bag. He had his spare magazines in there. If he could get to an armory, he would be golden. His planning was interrupted by the voice of one of the Thermians barking an order… and the Three K’Claram raised their weapons to the heads of the Delmar Hanger crew...

Mac stopped thinking. He ripped off 7 rounds into the would-be ‘executioners’. 4 rounds hit two of the bipedal crustaceans before the 3rd spun to open fire on Mac. Mac dove passed his Bag, nabbing it as he slid behind a metal chair and table combination. He tipped the table over to provide cover and emptied the remaining 9 round at the rest of the intruders, hitting two Thermians and one more K’ Claram intruder before his weapon ran dry and Mac took a Laser pistol shot in the shoulder just above his collar bone. Mac felt the hit, but it didn’t move him. He ducked behind the table and felt for blood. He could feel a burned hole, but he wasn’t bleeding. He hoped that the Laser hit had cauterized the wound for him and he drew his mag pouch belt from its coiled up position in his day bag to reload. He was grabbed by the hair by one of the two surviving lizards.. Mac roared in pain mixed with Anger and wrenched around violently to face his attacker. The maw of the Lizard opened, and the Being was obviously using its more natural weapons to finish him off. Mac saw the Being lung forward to bite his neck, and Mac instinctively threw up a hand to protect the vital part of his body. That forearm intercepted the lower jaw of the Lizard man and snapped his jaw hard enough to snap his head upward and he released Mac’s hair, hissing a roar of pain. Mac saw his opportunity, He grabbed the arm that had first grabbed him by the wrist, yanking HARD and twisting in a classic dislocation technique to give him space... What he got instead was the Lizard Mans arm... literally. Mac felt a light ripping sensation and lukewarm liquid splashed across his chest. He looked down as his attacker fell to the ground spraying blood from his shoulder where his arm used to be. Mac lifted his right hand where he had grabbed the being wrist to find himself holding the severed appendage. A distraught, and surprised Roar came from Mac’s left as the last surviving member of the boarding party, a Thermian, rolled its eyes into the back of its head and leaped at Mac with its jaws wide open. Mac reflexively reacted with the only weapon he had in his hands at the moment. The Hanger resounded with a meaty *SLAP* and the severed end of the arm Mac had swung connected with the head of the irate Thermian. Its head spun almost completely around as its body went limp from a severed spinal cord.

He turned to the Terrified Delmar ground crew as they watched the embodiment of Death, covered in the Gore of Beings thought nearly impossible to kill by the greater galaxy calmly picked up his backpack, reloaded his weapon and walked over to them.

“Would you kindly show me to the Armory?” BigMac asked, looking out from behind Macs Emotionless Icy blue eyes.

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Jacob Irving was chuckling with 5 of the other Humans who had just arrived in the Transfer Freighters. There had been a few freighters that had made this jump, but the ones that had just arrived were bringing Crew to learn Delmar Freighter and Galactic Unity skills to take back to Sol. The trip would be 3 years for him, then he was told he would be offered an instructorship. ‘If I survive’ he thought. As if the Universe had a sense of Humor, a massive spiked and reinforced Escape Pod slammed into the Promenade not 300m from his group. The sound of escaping atmosphere followed just for a second as the emergency systems kicked in. Jacob looked down to see the Pod open and 7 alien species he had only just learned about stepped out. One pointed a weapon at him and fired. Jacob screamed in pain as a flash of a laser burst his right eye but went no further. The 4 other humans ducked and one of them looked over the wounded man.

“Easy, your head is intact.” One of them whipped out a bandage from the IFAC that all of them habitually carried as part of spaceborn Military training. Another slapped a mild painkiller patch on him.

“Give Me 30 seconds then we move!” Irving barked in english. “These fuckers are in the residential area. We take them out. More laser fire splashed off the railing and the wall behind them.

“Fuck it. Let Go Boys!!!” Jacob felt the painkillers kick in, he drew the Service knife he had smuggled home from the war from his belt. It would have to do. The 6 Humans; 3 Martians, and 3 Terrans. Leaped down from their balcony walkway and landed easily in the much lighter “Galactic Standard” gravity. They landed 30 ft from the combined Thermian, and K’Claram attackers. Jacob was only vaguely aware of the others, he made for the fucker that shot him. He roared as the shell-encrusted being raised its pistol at him. It was too late. the Humans had maintained their body to Terran 1 G standards. They were simply too fast as they closed on their enemy. Jacob slapped away the weapon, only vaguely aware that the hand holding the weapon went with said weapon as it flew. Jacob saw the being reach for a curved blade on its hip and threw a hybrid hook/Close line and his eyes widened as the being head detonated from the impact of his fist and forearm. It was over in a matter of moment, and the dismembered and disemboweled remains of the escape pod occupants littered the floor, covering the Human defenders in various colors of Alien blood.

Silu finally stepped breathlessly into his office from his quarters. It was the Intruder alert. He stood quickly and grabbed his Cane. He was unable to support the weight of his customary Saber, but he still had his laz pistol. Philip burst into the room as he was strapping his sidearm on

“Sir, we’ve been boarded. internal sensors read impacts on the beacon side outer ring. We are getting radio calls of shots fired. We need to get you to the evacu…” The young man began.

“No, we hold this station. Get everyone who is authorized personnel to the respective armories. We HOLD... Send an emergency message to the home world for reinforcements. GO!” Silu stepped out of the office door and set aside his cane.

“Now why would you do a foolish thing like that.” Silu spun to see Mackenzie stepping out of a flickering side corridor. He was covered in blood, none of it his.

Silu stared in shock at Mac as he slowly stepped forward, picking up the discarded cane. “I was going to let you in on our gift’s little secret. But Lyri went into labor the day after we sent it to you.” Mac gripped the cane above and below a decorative metal ring about a quarter of the way from the top and twisted one-quarter turn before unsheathing a short rapier-style blade that began to Humm faintly.

“Don’t touch that blade to anything you don’t want to cut instantly. Unsheathing it activates a micro-vibration system that basically makes cutting into flesh and soft tissue, even bone, fairly effortless.” Mac explained before returning the weapon to its hiding spot and re-rotating it to lock in place.

Silu just glared at him, “We need to have a talk about your Paranoia, Mackenzie.” He said.

“It’s not Paranoia if they are all out to get you.” the shirtless human covered in gore lifted both hands, indicating to the entire situation around them.

Silu snorted, not really having an answer for that. “Lets go.”

Moments later they walked into the CIC room where Philip was handing out Human Gauss Rifles to Human crew, and lighter recoiling Delmar versions to the non-human personnel.

“How many pods made it in.” Mac asked as he nodded his thanks for a rifle and a combination Armor/Ammunition carrying vest.

“Three impacted Captain, The Hanger reported that you took care of one rather, extensively.” The Sudan man pointedly looked the Gore-covered Mac up and down. “And we received an all-clear from the second pods impact point. One of our soon-to-be transfer captains, a Jacob Irving, was with a group of Humans who reacted to it. One casualty reported on our side. The Third group should be on the sector 448 floor just outside the Aquatic sections.”

“Seal that area, we will be responding to that. MOVE!” Silu Barked before turning to jog down the corridor with his men. He was in pain, Mac could see it; but the Older Delmar was a warrior at heart. He did not fall behind.

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Ambassador Ami was trying to shield Gwen, but Gwen was not making it easy. Saurian’s slowly continued to grow their entire lives, once past a certain age, a Saurian was simply impervious to most handheld weapons inside the Galactic Unity. They would have been incorporated into the Unity’s military if it weren’t for their extremely passive and peaceful mindsets. Ami roared in pain as another salvo of Laser fire burned her skin, but otherwise left her largely unharmed. Gwen had taken one shot to her right thigh, and one to her left arm at the elbow joint. Both hits had cauterized, but Gwen could do little but hobble and fire her pistol one-handed. The pistol had 3 rounds left in it, before she had to try to reload one-handed.

“Stay down you crazy human!” Ami pleaded as Gwen peeked around the Dinosaur like woman’s body to take another pot shot, hitting a Thermian in the torso and blowing a 20 centimeter hole out of his back, spraying Gore across the only remaining lizard and two of the Crustacean attackers.

Ami swung her tail frantically, trying to keep the rest away, but they were slowly advancing. She could see the Poison dripping from their knives as they waited for her to swipe at them again. They began their advance once more just as a ripping sound of fully automatic fire exploded from above and behind the two beleaguered friends. Gwen looked up to see Silu along with Mac, Philip and the entire command crew pouring fire into the last of the attackers, as they were quickly reduced to quivering tissue and bone/exoskeletal fragments.

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A lone hooded figure crept into Commander Silu’s office and plugged in a device he had received by dead drop. He downloaded the entire camera data of the Human's response to the attack. He also downloaded the entire database available on the station. Some of it was heavily encrypted, some of it not so. He did not care, It would be there to hack later. He gave little thought to the rubes he had convinced to attack the ‘unfinished and easy target’ of the station. They had done their job. The device beeped, and he slipped down one of the more unfinished corridors to one of the construction air locks. He quickly donned his helmet and shed his cloak to reveal a large thruster pack with external tank attached. He cycled the air lock and fired the main thruster to give him velocity. The Capital ships were to busy looking for real threats to notice him gliding past like so much trash until he was safely past. He pulled up his small Nav database from the Data pad. It was secured to his waist and fed information and course corrections into his helmet. He adjusted his course for the Asteroid belt separating the two planets of the Sonir System.

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Greg was nowhere near any of the attacks. The station was big enough that by the time he had made it to the beacon side, the fighting was over. He quirked an eye at some of the freighter crews and Mac’s condition. Mac was being looked over by a medic for a wound on his shoulder and laughing at just how gross he felt.

“What the hell did you do to yourself” he finally said with a chuckle after wading through the on lookers.

“I might have accidentally ripped a giant Lizards arm off... and beat another to death with it… Serious Wookie Vibes” Mac smiled. It was a bit forced, but Greg Knew to let it be. Mac was coping, so he played along.

“I guess I really should see the other guy.” he said with a smile of his own. “Thanks for the warning BTW, are you going to be ok being technically my subordinate?”

“I’ll manage, you won’t have me for a while though. My Fleet has the most trained crews. We’ll have to use them to train the rest before I go play space police with you” Mac winced as the Human medic prodded the laser wound once again. “Am I gonna live doc?”

“You will, the shot pierced the skinn and muscle, but it didn’t make it to the shoulder blade” the Delmar EMT said, “You are lucky that it was a ricochet.”

“Uh.. Doc? That wasn’t a ricochet... the fucker shot me from 20 meters dead on…” Mac corrected with a confused look.

“Bull Shit!! It would have gone straight throught!” The doctor just looked at him, “You’re not joking... you took a laser rifle shot from 20 meters and only got this damage?!?” The man ranted... shaking his head, “Great, so now we have another species that is basically immune to laser fire, WONDERFUL!” The man just raised his hands in surrender, “Just keep it clean. It sealed itself with the heat. You will be fine”.

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“Ami, Ami are you with me.” Gwen was cradling the massive Beings head in her lap as the EMT literally climbed over her bruised and shot up body to make sure she wasn’t still hemorrhaging internally.

“oooooowwwwww” The Saurian woman groaned as the medical professionals found a particularly tender spot, “It’s been a century since I’ve been shot... I forgot how bad it sucks!!” She moaned.

Ami blinked as a bit of water splashed on her face, she looked up at Gwen to see her eyes watering, no, crying tears down on her, “Thank you… Thank you.” The silver-haired Human said softly stroking the massive woman’s neck, “You saved my life.”

“And you saved mine, If they were not so afraid of your Human weapon, They would have stabbed me with those knives. Saurians have an almost universal anaphalactic reaction to K’Claram poison. I would be dead without you as well.” Ami said up to Gwen, “Even?”

“Fine, even. But this makes us family, born in death and horror, but family all the same.” Gwen whispered.

Ami just nodded.

“I see you two are getting along swimmingly” Came Silu’s voice. From next to Gwen, “Ami, you’re almost as reckless as I am. The techs say that you will need to rest for the next month, but that none of the hits got to anything life threatening. We will have someone come with a freight pallet mover soon to get you to your quarters. Gwen, I need you to walk with me a moment.” He handed Gwen a pillow he had been carrying with him. She stood and laid Ami’s head on the cushion before turning to follow the Station Commander

Gwen stood with a wince and limped after him. She had refused treatment until the Saurian woman was checked over. Silu slowed his gate to match her limp.

“Someone got away.” Silu said, “We found evidence of a database copy from my terminal during this attack... “This was nothing but a diversion.”

“Fuck… What was downloaded. What did they get?” Gwen asked quietly.

“We don’t know, we did not keep anything highly classified in the computer banks, but who knows what they were after. We will be looking into that as soon as we have everything back up and running” Silu sighed, “This is going to get worse before it gets better.”

72 hours of suit flight later, Growrmun Slipped into the waiting courier craft. It was little more than a subspace-capable single-person pod. Growrmun had welded bits to it to make it appear like trash and programed it to stay dormant until it reached the asteroid field, then bribed one of the Brig’s captains to dump it with the rest of the trash. He shed the extra thrusters and the oxygen pod before climbing into the cockpit of the minimalist craft. He hooked everything up to its onboard computer and started a small burn toward the beacon. It would take him a week to creep along the edge of the asteroid field to get to the beacon unnoticed enough to make the jump. He took a sip of the nutrient paste that would keep him alive until he finished his mission.

‘Soon now everyone will see you and your kind, Demon’ he smiled to himself, leaving the vessel on autopilot.