FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 15

Umatchki strolled down the long corridor leading from lab 21 to the lounge. The kiori was tired, having not slept well from all the long hours he had been working. It was good work though as everything they had been doing in this lab was fascinating. Learning about a new alien life form was probably the most important thing there was in his mind. Especially the annelid since, by all accounts, it was a potential hostile entity in the galaxy, at least on par with the rynar. It was always important to know as much as one could about a potential enemy. He had a strong feeling though that there was plenty that Dr. Tahk and that stuffy tordenchi Sek Tachai were not telling him yet. He was doubly annoyed that the pair had now begun to confide in that human that had recently arrived in the lab. He might not have been a senior research member but he felt he deserved to be more closely in the loop than he already was and…

The lights went out accompanied by a loud clanging bang sound that echoed through the hallway. For a brief moment he was plunged into pitch darkness, unable to see anything. The lights came back up five seconds later, but clearly only on emergency power. The red lighting cast an eerie pallor to all it touched yet deepened all the shadows there were. The lights also flickered sporadically. That wasn't a good sign at all. It meant something had hit the main facility plant as the ACBS, likely lightning considering the ongoing storm. The facility was completely self-sufficient and did not draw from the main power grid of the city for a variety of security reasons. This was the only drawback of such though. Now the subterranean backup generators were all that was keeping the facility afloat effectively. Only essential power drains were maintained, like diminished lighting and security doors. He wasn't going to be able to do any of his work though like this as work station power would be down as well. At least the specimen vault would be safe as well as a few essential refrigeration units.

The kiori let out a sigh and went to a comm unit hooked into the wall. Those still worked under emergency power. He pressed the button and spoke. “Dr. Tahk. This is Umatchki. We obviously lost the main generator. I'm heading upstairs to see if I can lend a hand." He realized that the slight crackle that accompanied it working wasn't heard by him. He frowned and pushed the button several more times. Nothing. That was odd and shouldn't be happening. He pressed the release latch on the bottom of it, opened up the comm module and began to look it over. The kiori pulled out a small light rod and held it between his teeth to aim it at the electronics before him. He hummed to himself a little as he went over all of it as quickly as he could, his electronics training was a bit rusty, but found nothing wrong with it or any of the wiring.

“What the hells?" he muttered. “Is something off with the central computing and the internal comm network is down? "

One of his ears twitched and flicked to the side as he picked up the slight sound of paws landing on the hard floor of the hallway, the light click of nails tap-tapping over and over. He turned to see a figure walking down the hallway towards him, obviously having stepped out of the emergency stairwell since the door was open. It was an asishi female. None worked down here in sub-level 8.

“Excuse me," he called out to her. “Are you from maintenance? Did they send you down here? It seems the comm network is down and we don't know what's going on. What killed the power by the way? Was it the storm?"

She continued to walk closer to him, not saying a word. One of her arms was held partially behind her back. She wasn't wearing a uniform he realized as she got nearer. Her clothes were wet and ragged, a rip and tear here and there on them. His eyes narrowed and he stepped back a few paces. The asishi continued to close on him. Even with all the odd shadows he could see the blank expression on her face. Something was wrong with her.

“Are… are you all right?" he asked warily. “Listen, you aren't supposed to be down here. I don't know how the security door opened up but it's not supposed to be able to…"

Despite his apprehension Umatchki was raised to believe, like most in the Union, that folk were generally good in nature. All tried to help and support each other to the best of their abilities and get along. It was the foundation of their galaxy spanning society that included so many different races and cultures. He was horribly naïve when it came to understanding the seething hatred deep inside the asishi. The asishi moved up to him and grasped his shoulders so hard that her claws dug into them. The significantly shorter kiori let out a gasp of pain before she whipped her other hand out from behind her back to reveal the truncheon in it. She swung down hard and smashed it across his head. The force of the blow tore part of one of his ears and cracked his skull, blood immediately pouring out of the wound he suffered. By some miracle he didn't get knocked unconscious from the hit and his panic let him rip free of her grasp, though it tore more of his shoulder up, her claws raking across it.

The kiori staggered back and leaned against the hallway wall to keep himself upright, partially dazed. His hand trembled as he touched it to his head and felt the blood leaking out of him. He looked and saw her already coming towards him again. Umatchki barely fell back in time to avoid being hit again as the truncheon whipped towards him. It smacked into the wall with great force, chipping away some paint and duracrete under it. The kiori staggered away from her, his breath coming out in panting gasps. He tried to cry for help but fear tightened his throat so much all that came out where tiny whispered pleas for aid that no one but the asishi could hear aside from him. She continued to come after him in a slow, almost casual walking pace, as if she had all the time in the world on her side.

Umatchki shoved the door to the lounge open, the room bathed in the same eerie red flickering light as the hallway. It was the first room he came to. He pushed it closed behind him and pressed the lock on it several times before he realized it wasn't working. His eyes darted about the room. Tables, chairs, a few couches, entertainment systems, holo tables, a terran pool table sized for larger races, a kitchen, and a bar were all part of it. His eyes settled on the kitchen and he ran for it.

The door to the lounge opened just as he reached the counters. The asishi stepped into the room with him, saw him, and walked towards him.

He fumbled with the drawers, yanking one open then another and another. She came up right behind him, looming over him, her shadow covering his smaller body, and raised the truncheon.

Umatchki whirled around with a large carving knife held in both his hands and rammed it into the asishi's stomach. He let out an almost mad cry of triumph, his arms trembling. The asishi was still. She didn't even move though he saw the blood leaking out of the wound in her stomach. He looked up to see her staring down at him with that same blank expression. She didn't even seem to be in pain. A feeling of hopelessness ran through him as the asishi tossed aside the truncheon and grabbed his shoulders with both hands. She threw the lighter alien upwards, his body smashing into the ceiling then falling to the floor where he landed in a heap at her paws.

The kiori groaned and struggled to move again. He started to pull himself along the floor, barely crawling and whimpering at the same time.

She moved at his side and pulled the knife out of her stomach. The asishi reached down and gripped the back of his neck to hold him in place. She heard him start to beg and plead until she plunged the knife down with such force that it pierced his skull and drove into his brain. His body went limp instantly in her hand then was released to lay on the floor.

She stepped over the corpse and moved back to the kitchen area. Her eyes looked at the drawers. Another large knife waited in one of them for her. She held it up before her eyes, turning it left and right. It would more than suffice. She traced her fingers along the bloody stab wound, pushed them in and felt about. That was a fatal wound but one that would take a relatively long while for the host to bleed to death from.

It was more than enough time to complete her task. She left the lounge to finish her hunt.

* * * *

“The ability to function in the dark and in silence is paramount to the species as apparently a host of natural abilities possessed by them revolves around this concept," said Dr. Tahk as he continued to explain the annelid to Wei. He had expected her head to have been swimming by now with all the information he was giving her but she was remarkably interested in it. Almost as interested as Kendra was when she first arrived. This pleased him. Perhaps she was going to be a bigger asset than he originally anticipated, not just a rough around the edges military person. “Their eyesight, though they can see in extremely low light conditions, is not much more advanced than humans. All three of us, Kendra, Imacha, and I, believe the eyes are an uplifted trait granted to them via genetic engineering. Without the eyes they can still feel all that is around them with astounding accuracy most likely. Despite appearing completely smooth and feeling so to the touch, the annelid body is covered with billions of microscopic non-motile cilia. These cilia are hyper-sensitive to micro changes in air density and to vibrations conducted through surfaces they are in contact with. There is a reaction to such stimulus even within the subject we have in a vegetative state. We can still pick up firing neurons in the alien's brain and measure their sensitivity. We are sure these cilia let them glean a likely three dimensional representation of all about them regardless of them seeing or not."

“So, in other words, it's almost impossible to sneak up on them," said Wei.

“Unless it is distracted in some way or another, that is likely correct."

“Fuck me but these things are horrible. What freakish god made them?"

Imacha said, “Evolution made them or a god made them originally, whatever your beliefs may accept, but they took over from there Wei. Remember, they effectively made themselves."

“Fear molded them into the thing lying in the coffin," said Kendra. She gripped Wei's thigh and shook it slightly. “But the more we learn about them the better we can deal with them."

Wei nodded her head slowly. “Yeah. Right. So, you said it only spoke through the machine in its head? How's that work? They have to have some way to communicate to each other. Some kind of language."

Dr. Tahk resumed speaking. “Not a verbal one that they can speak without artificial means. They have no vocal cords or throat structure that we know of or associate with any language speaking race in the galaxy. What they do have though is an olfactory capacity that rivals the lupari. They may not be able to sense emotions like the lupari can but we are sure they communicate via emitted pheromone bursts. Our assumption right now is that they make use of high-density information transfer. It would be easily possible with the advanced sensory capacity and the complexity of the pheromone emission glands found along the annelid body we have."

“Hold on, hold on. What do you mean by high density information?" asked Wei.

“Spoken language like we use is low density transfer of information," said Kendra. “Written text. Spoken words. All if it is conveyed as fast as the person can speak or read. We get across a little bit at a time which is good, because our minds can only process so much at once anyhow and not get confused. High density though means entire blocks of information concepts are transferred at once. It would be the difference of me saying the word car to you. When I say it you know what a car is, what it looks like, what it does, and even how it works and can be repaired and built. You know all of that. Low density transfer has to tell you that bit by bit. A high density transfer means that these annelid likely would send 'car' to one another and it would include everything they know about what a car is and what it does, all at one time. All of that encapsulated in a burst of pheromones too complex for a human mind or even lupari mind to parse."

“Is that… possible?" she asked, nearly stunned at the concept.

“Absolutely. How do you think the AIs speak to each other? They have to resort to low density communication when speaking with all of us non-digital life forms because we can't process data as fast as they can. To each other, they can transfer and grasp information millions of times faster than us, so they just dump entire data packets to each other commonly."

“I never even stopped to think about that," said Wei slowly. “That's just insane."

“It is pretty far out there, isn't it?" asked Dr. Tahk with a comical edge to his tone. He tapped on the small spectacles at the edge of his snout.

A loud clack sound rang out and the lab was plunged into total darkness. Before Wei could even finish swearing out her surprise they came back on, but in red, making the room appear to be submerged in a pool of clear blood. The lights flickered on and off and made their motions seem jittery. Wei, Kendra, and Imacha all looked about, confusion across their faces. Dr. Tahk remained calm though, casually staring up at the lights then down at his lab coat. He plucked a bit of lint off it and pocketed it.

“What happened?" asked Kendra.

“The power is down. These lights mean the backup generator is working now. Most likely the storm took out the primary generator for the facility. It must be a lot harder than I suspected it would be or it was struck directly by lightning, which is never a good thing," whispered Dr. Tahk.

“Are we stuck down here or something now?" asked Wei.

“Not at all. The backup generator still keeps security doors working as well as some of the refrigeration units here online, including the annelid's vault. We can't use the lift to get up to the main level but we can access the stairs. We are by no means trapped. I have to call to the security desk now to let them know we are all right. Protocol and all you know." The old arkatian rose to his feet and shuffled over to the comm panel on the wall. He pressed it a few times and scowled. His long claw tapped it and he looked pensive for a few moments. He looked back to the others. “The comm system is down as well."

“Could a power surge cause that to happen? Like if the generators were struck?" asked Wei.

Kendra shook her head. “Not likely." She pulled out her yutri and tapped at it. She tried to use it to call the security desk but was surprised to see a signal denial icon flash across the display. Kendra tried again and a third time. Then she tried to connect to the extranet with her yutri to find access to that was blocked too. She scowled. “I can't call up to the top desk or connect to the net," she said. “Something's wrong."

“Neither can I," confirmed Imacha as he used his wrist mounted yutri.

“Now now, let's not get all in a panic over it. We're far from in trouble down here," said Dr. Tahk. “I'll head upstairs and find out what the problem is. You three stay put down here. I'll also find Umatchki and send him over to you. He's a bit on the jittery end normally so this might rattle him." The arkatian turned and headed out of the lab, a bit more urgency to his steps than usual for him.

His stride carried him along at a brisk enough pace, passing through lab B into A then out into one of the corridors. He was about to head directly to the emergency stairs when he heard an echoing crashing sound. It wasn't too loud, likely due to distance from him in the facility, but it was loud enough that he heard it. The arkatian continued down the corridor until he reached a t-intersection. To his left was the stairway. He immediately noticed that the door was open to it. It shouldn't have been such. Dr. Tahk looked down the other direction, which lead to the lounge, office, rest rooms, and Labs 19 to 21. It also had a connecting corridor as well that could bring one to Labs 22 and 23.

His brow furrowed as he looked back to the open door. He wasn't sure which direction the sound had come from so he chose the stairwell. The arkatian stepped into it. He was being cautious now as something didn't feel right to him anymore. The power going out, fine; it happens. The comm network offline, that was possible as well. Security lockdown protocols to sever outside connection, he understood when and where they needed to be activated, but this wasn't such a case. Then he took into account that now, somehow, the security locks on the doors were down as well. That shouldn't happen, ever, unless there had to be an immediate evacuation of the entire facility. If that happened the alarms would come on as well.

Dr. Tahk started to take a few steps up the stairs, one at a time. He leaned over to try and peer up and see what was ahead of him. He glanced behind himself several times as well, just in case.

His mind raced now. All those events were possible, he knew that. Each error in the system could happen. It was within the realm of probability for each of them. But all of them at once stretched probability so far outside the realm of acceptance that it could not be just a random event. Someone did this deliberately, to get into the facility. To get past all the security and necessity of retinal scans and security cards and all other defense protocols, to prevent any ability to send out calls for help from outside of the facility as well.

His mind next went to the ship that crashed in the wee hours of the morning. That was beyond a rare event. No contact with the orbital authorities, transmitting a distress beacon as it barreled past orbital check points, yet it landed safely right near the city. It was a crash landing, but not an outright planetary collision. It had to have been piloted to land as it did, but had no crew on board.

He took a few more steps up, reaching the first landing and sub-level 7. The door to sub-level 7 was still closed. He continued up further towards sub-level 6.

Murders in the city were reported. He heard about them on the news feed in his office. Three of them in the same day. Three in a bar, no witnesses. Sadly no camera feed either. But the location of the bar was on the outskirts of the city, closest point possible to the downed ship.

He reached the landing at sub-level 6. It was also closed. No one was working on that level this day so it should have been closed.

The next murders deeper in the city were of a random citizen and something much more strange. It was a crew member of the crashed ship found at the murder site next to a local who lived in the city. He obviously had to be the one to crash land the ship, but then he left it immediately to avoid the rescue teams that descended upon the crash site, only to be killed by a random person in the city that he tried to kill himself? It made no sense at all. The last murder was another apparently random citizen killed next to a public data kiosk that had been mysteriously disabled. None of it made sense at all unless…

He stopped most of the way up the next flight of stairs, having almost reached sub-level 5. His eyes slowly grew wider.

None of it could possibly make sense to any peacekeepers unless they knew what he knew. They wouldn't have the slightest clue of what to look for or what signs could point them in the direction of the killer.

Something got off that ship that crashed and it wasn't just the asishi they found dead in the park.

“It's here…" Dr. Tahk whispered aloud.

He whirled about and rushed down the steps as fast as his old body could take him.

Chapter 16

Kendra and Wei were still on the work station top. Wei sat on her seat, chewing on a protein bar Kendra gave her. She watched Kendra pacing back and forth before her, arms crossed on her chest with one hand raised slightly to trace along the scar on her cheek. 'Pensive Kendra was pensive' is what she remembered Adam calling it when she was doing that. It made Wei laugh. Sometimes Kendra took life too seriously. She wished she would smile more. Though, in this instance, she didn't mind the woman being more serious. Something was wrong, but Wei wasn't the type to jump to conclusions or panic.

“Wanna take a seat by me? There's nothing we can do until Dr. Tahk gets back you know. I mean, literally nothing, unless you want to scale down the side of the station we're on."

Kendra glanced at Wei and stopped rubbing her cheek. She walked over and stood before her. “You know what I dream about every night?" she asked.

“Yeah, what happened on the planet… with that thing. You told me Kendra."

“I see it in my apartment too, every single night. It comes for me. Like it followed me home to finish the job it started."

“That's just your mind being a piece of shit to you Kendra. You got PTSD, it's clear as day. That can cause nightmares and all kinds of crap in your head. It's not coming for you Kendra. That's crazy talk. You think some insane xenophobic alien race is gonna cross like sixty thousand light years distance just to put a bullet in your head for pissing them off? I know revenge can be a big thing but that's next level shit."

“Is it?" asked Imacha. The tordenchi stood close to the station, his ears twitching constantly. Kendra could see that he was nervous as well.

“What do you mean 'is it'? Of course it is! You all just told me they don't want anyone to come knocking at their area of space. Get off our space lawn. What the hell could make them want to come here to us? One person killing one of their species in self-defense? Tch."

“You're thinking like a human Wei. They're not like you or us or any race we've ever encountered. A slight to one of them could be enough to spark a species wide reaction for all we know. It was certainly enough for one of them to demand we stay out of their space. Kendra killed one. For a race that is effectively immortal that must have immense meaning to them. We robbed eternity from one of them," said Imacha quickly.

“You know what, fuck them. They killed my brother first. Neji. Hakurr. Seriously, fuck them."

“Fine. Fuck them," snapped Imacha. Wei was almost too shocked to react, having never heard Imacha curse before. Even Kendra looked a little surprised. “They killed my friends too. I miss them terribly; I just don't show it as much. That said, try and entertain their mindset. I have already thought about it. One or more of them pushing into our space and trying to find the person that killed an immortal member of their race. Not only that but we took the body home with us. What if they have specific religious practices that demand rites be performed with the body of the deceased? That's another, possibly intolerable slight as well. So just entertain that they do come. How do you think they can find the body or Kendra?"

Wei frowned. “Are we doing this because the lights are down, it's spooky as hell in here, and we're all tense? Fine, let's tell ghost stories," she said. She leaned forward in the chair. “Okay, one or more is dispatched to go find the person who killed Frank the Worm. Frank was important to them. He made the best worm sandwiches. So, person who killed Frank gotta go. We get our best worm assassin to go kill her and… oops! She's sixty thousand light years across the galaxy. We don't know her name. We don't know what planet she went to. We don't know Jack about her at all. Why? Because the only person who spoke to her is dead and they took his body back too. They got nothing Imacha. Absolutely nothing. You can find a needle in a haystack faster than you could find Kendra in the middle of the Union."

Kendra calmly said to Wei, “This is a hypothetical thought exercise Wei. Just say they got here. What would that mean?"

Wei looked back and forth at the two of them. “Okay. All right. So, one or more gets here. They're lucky as hell. Good guess?" she shrugged.

Imacha scowled. “Adam may have been a joker and irreverent most times, but he was never stupid. Don't make me think less of your family line."

“Jesus. Beast mode rude Imacha. Fine, so one gets here. Beyond all reason or logic one of them gets here." She leaned back and thought about it for almost a minute. The silence in the lab was nearly unnatural. It was only broken by the soft ticking sound coming from a small refrigeration unit atop a work station off to the side. “There's only one way I could think of how it could possibly find out where or even who she is."

“That is?" asked Imacha.

She felt slightly sick to arrive at her conclusion. “Someone had to tell it. It's the only way."

Both Imacha and Kendra slowly nodded; a grim look on Kendra's face.

“Whoa, wait a second now. You're trying to insinuate that they might already have someone… something here in the Union? Like, spies, inside other people?"

“We believe they have known about us for decades already. It is highly likely they might have slipped one or more spies into Union territory. These spies, if they manage to work their way into positions in the know about sensitive data, could potentially hear about the incident on RT-4522 and Kendra and I."

“It's not as far-fetched all of a sudden, is it now Wei?" asked Kendra.

Wei frowned and mumbled, “No, it's not. But at the same time it is. Listen, I'm seriously not into conspiracies and stuff like that. I'm a realist for the most part. That still smacks of paranoia."

“I assure you I am more of a realist than you Wei," said Imacha. “But even I entertain the possibility that one or more of them are already somewhere inside the Union. When we make a presentation to the United Assembly and the Security Council we will let them know this assumption as well. We consider it less conspiracy and paranoia and more preemptive measures to protect the Union on the whole."

“The United Assembly and the Security Council? We're going to what now?" she exclaimed in shock.

Imacha's head turned slightly and a big ear twitched. He held up a hand and whispered, “Silence."

Imacha heard the footfalls of someone approaching. For a moment he figured it was Umatchki, but the steps were all wrong. Heavier and slower. The claws clicked on the hard floor louder than the kiori's regular sounds. “Dr. Tahk?" he called out. The sound of the footfalls halted for a few moments. Wei stood up and moved beside Kendra, both of them facing the doorway that led out of the lab. The footsteps began again and a shape appeared in the doorway, half consumed by shadows. The asishi filled most of the width of the aperture but not quite the height. She was breathing heavily and her hands hung down at her sides, fingers curled to bare her claws. Her eyes, sunken deep into her head and unseen by the trio, were fixed on Imacha. All three could see she clearly didn't belong in the labs or the facility even.

Imacha leaned against the work station, his hand sliding behind his back to grasp a heavy specimen tray. “Who are you? You shouldn't be here," he said slowly. “Leave now before security comes."

She stood there silently.

“Do as he says, now," called out Kendra.

The asishi's head instantly snapped to face her. She took a step into the room.

All present saw the knife in her hand, gripped tight.

Imacha immediately backed away from her until he bumped into the work station that Kendra and Wei stood upon. He never took his eyes off the asishi or that knife. Imacha's hand fumbled about on the station behind him until he gripped a metallic tray. He held it tight in his hand.

“This is your last warning. Leave now or security will apprehend you. Drop the weapon," he said.

“I don't think she has any intentions of doing that Imacha. Something's up with her. Look at her," said Wei.

The asishi took slow, measured steps towards them. She seemed to stare straight through Imacha at the tiny form of Kendra. Wei was just to the right enough of Imacha to still have a good look at the approaching female. She spotted the injury in her stomach, which didn't match at all with how well she was ignoring what had to be an insanely painful wound.

“Kendra Forrest," said the asishi slowly.

Kendra felt sick to her stomach to hear this stranger speak her name. Imacha glanced back at Kendra then glared at the asishi. Wei moved over to Kendra's side and gripped her arm.

“She's got a gut wound, looks like from a knife or something, bleeding out all over the place. She's not showing any signs of pain. I think she's hopped up on some kind of combat drug," whispered Wei.

Kendra felt it deep inside her. The dread. The fear. The memories. “Who are you?!" she shouted. “Tell me!"

The asishi paused and stared about. Kendra moved to the side to see the asishi as she looked around the room. Her eyes fell on one of the few posted printouts of the annelid, one that wasn't a hologram and was still clearly visible in the red light. She gestured towards it and slowly drew her hand back. She placed her hand on her chest lightly. The head tipped down and she looked directly at Kendra.

“Us."

The world shattered like a mirror around Kendra when she heard that one word. She shook her head slowly side to side. “No… no… no no no no!" she repeated over and over, screaming it out at the end.

“Oh… shit," whispered Imacha, his eyes wide and staring as he felt fear grip him. More fear for the safety of his friend, but fear nonetheless. It didn't stop him from acting though as the tordenchi whipped his arm around and tossed the tray at the asishi's head. She brought her arm up and batted it aside but it was enough of a pause to let the tordenchi turn around and face his human companions. He scooped them both up in his arms at once, not too worried about how rough he was at this moment in time. They both grunted and lost their breath from the rush of motion and being pressed firmly to his chest.

The asishi lunged at him and he darted aside just in time to avoid the knife which struck the station top so hard that the tip of it snapped, the weapon scraping along the surface loudly. Her head turned quickly and she swung out again at the fleeing tordenchi but he was already out of reach. She moved away from the work station and started to walk after him at a more brisk pace than she had been moving before.

Imacha half ran between the work stations, kicking over a few stools to try and put debris in the path of the asishi. He kept glancing back at her to see her continuing after them relentlessly. She either stepped over or pushed aside the fallen stools with her legs. Imacha focused on running now and passed through Lab B into Lab A. He spun around and shoved the door between them closed with his foot, hearing the door close with an audible click. What he didn't hear go off was the security ping signaling that the door locked. It was supposed to lock automatically.

“Fuck! Imacha, you're hurting me!" cried out Wei as she struggled and squirmed against his chest. Her feet kicked at him several times.

“Trust me, it will hurt you a lot more," he snapped at her. “Listen to me, both of you. I need to get us out of here and I might be a little rougher than I should be. I apologize, but it's following us and the automatic door locks aren't working. I have to get us to the stairs and out of here."

He began to scramble through the Lab, heading to the door that would connect to the north corridor and lead to the stairwell. It was the longer path but he had no choice. It blocked the other way out when it entered Lab B.

“What the hell is wrong with her?" cried out Wei as she was jostled about.

Imacha heard the door between labs A and B open as he almost reached the way out to the north corridor.

“One of them is in her!" snapped the tordenchi. “Haven't you listened to anything we have been say-gah!" he cried out suddenly. Imacha staggered to the side as pain lanced through his left thigh. He leaned against a work station, glancing back at the handle of the knife he could just barely see sticking out from his outstretched leg. He also saw the asishi lowering her arm she used to throw the knife and continue stalking towards them. Imacha almost slid to the floor and grunted in pain but stopped just short of hurting his companions. He leaned over the work station and opened his arms, depositing them on it, the two falling only a meter or so to the surface. Kendra landed on her side and Wei on her feet. Imacha stood back up, reached back, and yanked the knife out of his thigh with a sharp intake of breath.

“What the hell are you doing Imacha?! We gotta get out of here!" shouted Wei.

Imacha held the knife up and pointed it at the approaching asishi, the blade shaking as his arm trembled from the intense pain he felt. Most of his weight rested on his right leg now to keep pressure of the wounded one.

“No… I have to stop her here. I can't move as fast as an asishi anyhow," he snapped.

“You stupid son of a bitch, she threw a knife across a room to hit your leg! That's not something a person who isn't trained can do easily! Get us the fuck out of here. You can't fight that!"

“I have no choice," he said. “So I will… for my family."

Imacha took a step towards the asishi and held the knife out in what he perceived to be a threatening manner. The asishi closed in and never broke stride. She raised her hands slightly as she reached his knife. Imacha swiped and swung at her wildly, shouting at her each time. She merely moved her arms back a few times until he was left open from a wild swing then reached for him and his knife arm. The tordenchi suddenly dropped down, her hands missing him by barely a meter. He let himself plunge to the floor and rammed the knife through her paw with both hands, burying the blade into the firm rubberized padding that covered all the lab floors before stations. Nothing. Not a cry or sound came from her.

He looked up just as she grabbed him, picking him up like a squirming child, and tossing him to the side with ease. He smashed into a work station with a shout and fell to the floor again. Imacha realized that the annelid inside the body wasn't affected by the pain that the body suffered. It could ignore it. The tordenchi groaned and gripped a stool at his side, needing some kind of weapon to help even out their massive strength difference. When he looked up, expecting the asishi to loom over him, he saw it instead moving to where Kendra and Wei were. She had torn her paw nearly in half to get free of the knife he noticed, not even caring about damage to the body it used. All it wanted to do was kill Kendra. Imacha felt sick to his stomach. Kendra was right all along. It was coming for her. They wanted her dead.

“No," he whispered, feelings running through him like he never felt before. “I won't let you…"

Wei grabbed Kendra's arm as she saw the hulking asishi coming towards them. The female raised up an arm, balling her hand into a fist. Kendra was nearly frozen in place, fear and her memories consuming her entirely. Wei wrapped her arms around Kendra, waited until the towering alien swung, then hurled herself and Kendra to the side. The fist slammed down with a station shaking thud, missing them by less than a meter. She saw the two tiny figures sprawled on the work station now, neither of them standing. They would not avoid her again. She raised both arms up, hands formed into fists. Wei hugged Kendra and rolled atop her, shutting her eyes tight. “Don't look," she whispered quickly to her. “Don't look…"

Imacha slammed a stool across the asishi's back. It made her stumble from the impact, her arms slowly lowering instead of smashing down. She turned and glared at the pest of a tordenchi. He swung the stool again. She brought her arms up, taking most of the blow against one shoulder and upper arm while she grabbed the stool with her other hand. With a simple yank she tore the improvised weapon from Imacha's grasp. He stumbled back but wasn't able to avoid the blow when she smashed him with the stool instead. He collapsed to the ground before her, body aching and pain running through one of his arms, too dazed to even move.

She casually tossed the stool aside and instead picked Imacha up, shoving him against another work station. She was in clear sight of the two humans, letting them see what she was going to do to him. The asishi ran her hand up the side of Imacha's face until it cupped his cheek.

Wei had already stood up, no longer on top of Kendra and saw what was happening. “No! Get off him you fucking monster! Leave him alone!" she shouted. She never felt so helpless in all her life and utter rage filled her.

The asishi glanced at Wei and in response shoved her thumb into the tordenchi's eye, claw piercing it slowly. He screamed a second later, his small body flailing and struggling against her, but the asishi pressed her much larger and heavier body firmly on him pinning him in place. He couldn't break free at all and his hands feebly tried to beat at her side and arm. Wei screamed along with Imacha, but her scream was born of pure wrath directed at the thing hurting the tordenchi. The asishi drove her thumb in harder, reducing Imacha to sobbing gasps of agony. Still she stared at Wei and Kendra.

“I'll kill you!" roared Wei. “Your whole fucking species! Every last one of you for this! I swear to fucking God!" Her body trembled, muscles tense, face twisted into a near demonic scowl. Kendra couldn't bear to watch what happened, curling up into a near fetal position and hiding her head, but Wei couldn't stop staring.

An ear-splitting roar was heard by all in the room, drowning out Imacha's cries and Wei's screams. It was monstrous, guttural, and terrifying. Wei and the asishi both looked toward the door that led to the north hallway. They heard slamming footfalls coming towards the lab in a rush. Even Kendra pulled her head up, tears streaming down her cheeks, to see what could have made the sounds. The asishi stood up fully and let Imacha fall from her grip to the floor beside her.

The figure that burst through the door was the last thing that either Kendra or Wei imagined could have made that roar. Dr. Tahk charged in, eyes wide, mouth open and fangs showing; spit flying from his gaping maw. His hands were raised up, fingers curled to make use of his long claws. The aged arkatian had tossed aside his lab coat so only his loose robes were upon him, letting him move as freely as he could. Even his wings were partly unfurled, wide enough that when he entered the room one of them scraped along the closest wall. He didn't need to find his enemy, she was right there before him. The asishi took a step back, the Rider completely unprepared for this thing that came at it. A moment later Dr. Tahk's charge ended with his more massive body slamming into the asishi, scooping her up off her feet, and flinging her back two body lengths. She crashed against a work station, machines breaking from the impact, and fell to the floor in a heap.

Despite any injuries suffered the asishi stood up smoothly, blood all over the floor around her coming from the ruined paw. She grabbed up a stool as the arkatian rushed at her once more and smashed it across his head. It snapped to the side and a few fangs tore free of the dragon-like alien's mouth but it whipped back in place a moment later. He made the most unpleasant, bloody smile possible down at the asishi. Another roar came from him and he smashed and slashed out at her like a being possessed. His arm crashed against the stool, bending and snapping some of the metal legs. He tore it free from her with a second blow, sending it hurtling across the entire lab to crash into a wall. She weaved beneath two more swipes, delivering heavy blows to the arkatian's stomach with her elbows as she twisted her body but they appeared to have no effect either. A backhand from the arkatian caught her and tossed her over an entire workstation, sending her crashing to the floor again.

Wei couldn't believe what she was seeing. That old, decrepit arkatian, who looked like he had one leg and his tail in the grave, was tearing apart the clearly young and powerful female asishi. She realized what she was seeing though. She had heard about it before but never witnessed it. Arkatians, if provoked enough or in enough stress, could fly into a literal rage similar to the legends of berserkers from earth stories. Their bodies flooded with adrenaline which temporarily greatly increased their already immense strength and resilience. She also knew it came at a cost though. Young, healthy arkatians were left exhausted or unconscious when a rage ended. The elderly… she didn't want to know.

The rage driven arkatian continued his assault against the annelid and its host, smashing down at her over and over. Few blows connected but those that did delivered immense damage to the body. The Rider realized that this thing before it was too much to face, too powerful for its host body. The asishi tried to parry another smashing blow but the forearm of the host finally snapped, bones breaking. She looked about rapidly as she backed up, trying to get away from the arkatian and find a weapon. Dr. Tahk came at her once more but staggered to a halt. A grimace of pain crossed his face and his body twitched and shook violently. His hands rose towards his chest, fingers clawing at the air.

“Not… yet!" he roared as he pushed past the pain. He grabbed the asishi, digging claws into her side and lifting her up and off the ground like she was little more than a rag doll. He swung her over his head to slam her down atop the work station connected to the one Wei and Kendra were on, scattering tools and equipment on it all over the place, some of them even impaling the asishi's back in the process. The asishi's hand fell upon a simple scalpel which she immediately jammed into the arkatian's chest. Dr. Tahk merely grunted and ignored the weapon that impaled him. He began to slam his fists down on the body over and over, crushing and breaking it, collapsing the ribs and chest and crushing organs, even as the pain in his chest grew greater by the moment.

Wei saw Dr. Tahk slowing down, not swinging as fast, his breath coming in ragged gasps. She could see the pain etched into his face. His every motion was causing him agony.

The asishi was battered and her body broken so badly that she couldn't raise her arms any more to defend herself. They shuddered and went limp. The Rider felt the host dying around it even as the arkatian's assault slowed then stopped altogether. Dr. Tahk's arms fell and he slumped over the body, letting out a gasp of pain. He wheezed as the rage ended. All the endless might and endurance fled him. All of it was spent and it cost him everything. The pain was beyond anything he had felt in his life before. Both his hearts felt like knives had been driven into them and twisted around and around in circles. He clung to the work station as he moved his face to the head of the asishi. Tears ran from the venerable arkatian's eyes.

“I'm sorry… so so sorry I… had to do this… to you. It has made me… take a life and I regret it so… here at the end," he whispered to her, not even knowing if she could hear him or not.

The asishi coughed once, spitting up blood, and her eyes shifted to look at him. He saw her somehow manage to smile. “It's all right," she whispered back. “I'm f-free. You saved me. Thank… y…" Her head slumped to the side as her eyes shut, Tyryenna finally dying and leaving behind her living hell.

The doctor grunted and struggled to move. He began to roll over the ruin of the asishi's body. “M-Must… finish this… have to get…" he stammered but pain lanced through him even more intensely and he fell back to the floor, slamming against a table behind him. He hugged himself tight and started to rock forward and back. The asishi's body was left partially rolled over, on its side, front leaning against the wall behind the workstation.

Dr. Tahk's head rose up to look at Wei and Kendra, who had pulled herself to her feet. The two human women stood at the edge of the station and gazed at the arkatian doctor. He struggled to smile at them. They returned the smile and both nodded, Kendra openly weeping and Wei struggling to hold her tears in.

“Thank you… so much," said Kendra in a shaky voice.

“There has to be something we can do for…" began Wei but Tahkmethrahn shook his head side to side.

“F-Forgive me… Too old to… hearts both failing," he whispered. “Kendra, you m-must complete… our work we started… with Imacha if he lives. You must warn… Union… make them see what… we know… to be… true…"

Dr. Tahk slid to the left, sank down to the floor, and lay on his side. He released a final long moan and exhale of breath then died. His body went still, one wing partly draped over him like a shroud. Wei placed her arm along Kendra's shoulders and pulled her close. The women looked at each other for a long time then leaned their heads together, forehead to forehead. The lights flickered, still bathing them both in red, a color they both felt most fitting for the terrible events that just happened.

“We have to get down from here," said Wei in a near whisper, almost afraid to disturb the blissful silence that had descended upon the lab.

“Get to Imacha. We have to make sure he's alive. He can't die. He just can't."

Wei gripped Kendra's hand and squeezed tight. “Don't worry. He's a tough little shit. A lot braver than I thought too with what he just did here for us. Our little Guardian. He's gonna be all right, I know it."

Kendra started to nod but then she heard the sound. It was like someone was dragging a wet mop across a tiled floor. All the hair on the back of her neck stood up and a feeling of panic rising inside her. It wasn't dead yet. That's why Dr. Tahk was rolling over the body, to make sure it had died. Kendra looked past Wei and saw the nearly four meter long worm alien slithering along the top of the work station away from the crushed remains of the asishi. It moved via peristalsis, contracting and extending its body, but also pulling itself along with its six tentacles.

Wei heard the sound too, saw the look on Kendra's face, and turned towards the source of the noise.