Hard Luck Hermit

One of Khem’s massive spears sailed through the air, and impaled three Horuk as it flew. It embedded itself in a wall for only a moment before Khem ripped it free and sent it hurtling towards another group of Horuk.

“Fuck am I glad I’m on his side again,” Kamak said.

The battle against the Horuk was going very well thanks to Khem and his titanic spears. The heavy weapons were surprisingly effective at piercing even the tough-shelled hides of higher ranking Horuk. They had yet to meet one of ‘the Two’, as Farsus and Doprel had, but Kamak was actually optimistic for once. Worst case scenario, he could always just leave and let the invincible alien kill Khem instead of him.

“Alright, Khem, if you’re done impaling,” Kamak began. Khem was not done impaling, and he speared a few more Horuk even as Kamak spoke. “Well. I think our first nerve center is around here.”

Kamak opened the door, took a look inside, and immediately got shot in the chest. He fell backwards as the armed Horuk stepped forward, standing atop Kamak’s body, and brandished its weapon. The thick-carapaced Horuk shrugged off the blaster fire from Ghul, and even the hurled spear from Khem, roaring in triumph as it endured their blows. The roar came to an end when Kamak stopped playing dead and shoved his pistol in its open mouth and pulled the trigger.

“Dipshit,” Kamak mumbled. He tossed the dead Horuk aside and brushed the blaster scorchmarks off his chest armor. “Fell for the oldest trick in the book.”

“Maybe they don’t have the same books,” Ghul said. “You alright?”

“Been better, but I’ll live,” Kamak said. The shot had actually broken his chest armor entirely. He grabbed the dead Horuk’s gun and took a quick look at it, then strapped it to his hip. He didn’t like the look of the alien gun, but Corey had a thing about collecting weapons.

“So is this actually what we’re looking for, or did you get shot for nothing?”

“No, this is it,” Kamak said. “See for yourself.”

The room on the other side of that nearly-lethal doorway was covered wall to wall in complicated machinery -and in the rootlike growths of Morrakesh’s massive body. The myriad sensory blossoms coating the room swayed in the direction of Kamak as he entered, guns drawn.

“Pick a branch and get pruning, folks,” Kamak said. He aimed and fired at the nearest offshoot of plantlike growths. A few of the blossoms withered and curled in on themselves as the quick burst of laser fire hit them. The other blooms didn’t even flinch.

“This is your plan?” Khem scoffed. “Take a few potshots at something the size of a starship?”

“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” Kamak said. He made a few of those thousand cuts as he spoke. “Classic strategy. What’s the issue?”

“You’re lying.”

The voice of Morrakesh over the intercom caught Khem off guard, and he hurled a spear into the ceiling on reflex. The spear at least cut into one of Morrakesh’s tendrils, so it wasn’t a complete waste.

“Okay, yes, obviously I’m lying,” Kamak admitted. He never stopped blasting away at the exposed tendrils. “But only because you’re obviously listening.”

“You do have an actual plan, though, right?” Khem asked. “You’re not just flying by your ass and hoping something works out?”

“Yes, I have a plan,” Kamak said. “A good plan.”

Khem and Ghul exchanged a quick, skeptical look. Kamak rolled his eyes.

“Look, I didn’t ask you to come with,” Kamak said. “Feel free to ditch and do your own thing if you’re so smart. I’m going to keep doing my plan, and you’re just going to have to trust me.”

The idea of trusting Kamak in any way shape or form clearly made Khem sick to his stomach. Ghul was more amenable to the idea, though not exactly happy with it. Their protests stayed internal.

“No objections? Alright,” Kamak said. He fired off one last shot at Morrakesh’s exposed body and then lowered his gun. “Come on, and keep your eyes open. Next objective’s through the hangar.”

The massive hangar bay was the shortest route between this location and the next hub of Morrakesh’s exposed body. Kamak was hardly eager to return, since he’d watched a doppelganger of himself get ripped to shreds on his last visit, but they could not afford inefficiency. He took the lead once again and opened the hangar bay doors. Kamak didn’t get shot this time, which he considered an improvement.

There was only one gun-wielding Horuk in the hangar. They had their odd weapon trained on Kamak as he stepped forward, but did not fire. Kamak took cover behind one of the few remaining ships in the hangar anyway, as did Ghul and Khem. They knew from experience that such restraint was almost always temporary.

“So, judging from how you look, I’m guessing you’re one of the Two?”

“I am,” the black-carapaced Horuk said. “And I am obliged to speak to you of the Ordered Count, and the perfect system of-”

Kamak ducked out of cover and shot the Two right in the center of its body. The single blaster shot didn’t hurt it, but it did make it shut up, which had been Kamak’s real objective. He’d had enough proselytizing for ten lifetimes, and he had a long lifetime, so that was saying a lot.

As the Horuk started to return fire, Khem hurled a spear at it, which predictably did nothing. The Two flinched slightly as the bladed weapon made impact, but was soon back to laying down a persistent blanket of suppressive fire.

“Alright, one indestructible alien, three very destructible us’s,” Kamak said. “Any ideas?”

“Farsus killed one, didn’t he?” Ghul said. Kamak had kept them appraised for Farsus’ discoveries, just so he wasn’t bearing the burden of knowledge all on his own.

“Yeah, but he boiled it alive,” Kamak said. “I don’t see any water around.”

“They can be killed by biological means, then,” Khem said. “I have chemical weaponry on my ship.”

“You have chemical weapons?”

“I do not use them in systems where they are illegal,” Khem said. That was most systems, so he didn’t use them much.

“That’s a long walk,” Ghul said. They’d breached the hull quite a ways away. Kamak looked back at the door. It would be a long detour, and they were already on a tight timetable -and getting tighter. The door was opening.

“Shit, move,” Kamak snapped. The warning gave Khem and Ghul enough time to dodge out of the way as the flanking squad of Horuk entered the hangar and began to fire. These ones were more vulnerable, and a single spear from Khem took out a bulk of the new arrivals. Each one that was cut down was soon replaced by another, forcing the bounty hunters to retreat and find new cover.

“God I should’ve stayed home today,” Ghul said. “Bounty hunting’s bad enough if it’s one, maybe two guys, sometimes a dozen if you’re after some fucking pirates or something. I do not do well with hordes!”

Ghul shot down three of the swarming Numberless Horuk and pulled back further.

“You know what the worst part is?” Kamak asked.

“We’re not even getting paid for this,” Ghul said. In spite of herself, she managed to laugh.

A hundred black hands grabbed on to the edge of the starship they took cover behind, and the nigh-indestructible Horuk pulled itself upwards. It held a gun in its spare hands and took aim at Ghul.

Kamak found himself caught in another situation where he had to act immediately, and on instinct. With a mind frozen in time, he rapidly analyzed the situation, considered every possibility, and then said “fuck it”.

The volley of blaster fire aimed at Ghul mostly bounced off the armored plating on Kamak’s back as he dove in front of her. One hit him on the left shoulder in a small gap between plating, and he felt the sting of burning energy sear a hole right through his flesh. He let out a sharp scream of pain, one matched by Ghul as the shots Kamak could not block struck her in the leg, arm, and stomach.

The volley came to an end as Khem swung his spear like a club and batted the Two aside, sending him flying across the hangar. The short rampage gave Kamak enough time to grab Ghul and get moving, limping across the hangar towards relative safety. Kamak appraised her injuries as they moved, and was surprised by their severity.

“Come on, Ghul, where’s your kit, you could’ve taken those shots,” Kamak said. He’d been expecting her to be wearing concealed body armor, just like him and most of his crew.

“Didn’t come here looking for a fight, Kamak,” Ghul grunted. Conversation made it easy to compartmentalize the pain.

“Then what the hell did you come for?”

Ghul glared right at him.

“Shit.”

The low level of guilt Kamak had felt this entire time suddenly crossed over acceptable thresholds. He looked at the massive hangar bay doors, then back at the horde of Horuk that was still pouring into the hangar. He was starting to form ideas. None of them good.

“Up here, come on,” Kamak said. He dragged Ghul upwards, towards the cockpit of one of the ships still in the hangar. “Get inside.”

“Not sure this is where I want to be, Kamak,” Ghul moaned. “Not a lot of firepower here.”

The shuttle had only a single small turret mounted to its front, barely of use in a space battle and only slightly more useful in the confines of the hangar.

“It’s bigger than the gun you’ve got and easier to shoot with one hand,” Kamak said. “And sheltered.”

Kamak knocked on the thick plastic cockpit to reinforce his point. That could take a few hits, and it was airtight.

“And if shit gets real bad you can fly right out of here,” Kamak said, a little too insistently.

“I’m not going anywhere until the job’s done,” Ghul said.

“Fuck that, you need a doctor,” Kamak said. He slammed the cockpit shut to seal Ghul in. She held up her one good hand in a quick wave to Kamak, and he tried to ignore all the blood on her palm.

“Khem, you too, pick a ship and get in,” Kamak shouted.

“These vessels lack the firepower needed,” Khem shouted back. He was still struggling to deal with the horde of Horuk, led by their nigh invincible leader. He’d managed to disarm the Two, which reduced his threat significantly, but the sheer numbers were starting to overwhelm.

“We just got to clear the chaff first, don’t worry about it,” Kamak said. “We’ll handle the tough one later.”

“You’re up to something again, aren’t you?”

“Yes!”

The honesty was a refreshing change of pace, at least. Khem held a very low opinion of Kamak in general, but even he respected Kamak’s ability to improvise under pressure. With no other plans, and an ever-increasing horde of Horuk pouring into the hangar, Khem decided he might as well play along and see what Kamak had in store. He clambered into the nearest cockpit, crammed his massive body into the small space, and looked to Kamak.

Khem cursed under his breath as he saw Kamak running, not towards another ship, but towards the hangar controls.

If the Horuk realized what Kamak was doing, they realized too late. They thought little of the hangar doors opening. Between that and Kamak’s allies jumping into the spare ships, they thought it was just an attempt at escape. They were slightly more confused when Kamak bashed open a panel below the controls and started pulling on and reconnecting wires.

Their confusion came to a dead halt the instant the hangar went cold. They had a half second to process the change in temperature before the cold pulled them into the abyss.

When the hangar doors were open, a pair of energy barriers and a buffer of empty space between them usually kept the atmosphere inside while still allowing ships to pass through. Thanks to Kamak’s hotwiring, those barriers had been tricked into thinking the door was still closed, opening the hangar to the cold void of space.

For the Horuk, whose movement operated on a liquid hydraulic system, the loss of atmospheric pressure was an immediate death sentence. They could not even move their limbs to hold on for dear life, and their scattered bodies were pulled into the abyss with no resistance. They might have been screaming as they drifted into deep space, but there was no air to carry their cries. Kamak liked it better that way. He had enough problems without having to hear five dozen death wails.

In plotting out this plan to eject the Horuk into space, he had been relying on his more conventional, no-pressure-required muscles to hold him in place. The plan might have worked -if he still had full use of both his arms. The hole burned in his shoulder was making that hard. The failsafes had activated, and the hangar door was closing again, but the massive door moved slowly. Kamak didn’t know if he could hold on that long.

As it turned out, he could not. Kamak whispered a quiet curse into nothingness as his hand slipped free.

The first impact should’ve just been a warning sign of worse things to come. Kamak had probably just hit the door on his way out, and the gradual drain of the atmosphere in the hangar would soon pull him into the void, just like the Horuk. Then whatever had impacted started to push back.

Never too surprised to want to stay alive, Kamak latched on, and found he was holding on to the wing of one of the shuttles. If he hadn’t been so focused on holding his breath to avoid explosive decompression of his lungs, Kamak would’ve breathed a sigh of relief. He waited until the hangar door fully closed, and the hangar pressurized with a loud hiss.

Kamak almost wanted to jump for joy upon realizing he had survived his own idiotic plan. The urge got a little easier to resist when he realized how much pain he was in. Getting shot, nearly having his arms pulled out of their sockets by the call of the void, and then getting slammed around the hangar had not done his body any good. He hit the ground and took a breather as his rescuer exited their ship.

To his surprise, it was Khem. They locked eyes for a second. Khem betrayed no emotion.

“I was expecting Ghul,” Kamak said. “No offense, I’m just surprised you could even fly that thing. The controls are all tiny, and your hands are like fucking tumpa fruits.”

Kamak held up his hands, fingers splayed, to emphasize the size. Khem rolled all six of his eyes.

“And, uh...thanks,” Kamak said. Khem didn’t respond, so Kamak slowly got to his feet, shaking out aching knees and bruised ribs. “Alright, Ghul, come on, showtime, let’s get you a medical kit.”

Kamak looked to the ship he’d stashed Ghul in. It hadn’t moved, and continued to not move as he watched it.

“Ghul?”

In spite of his injuries, Kamak hustled over to the cockpit and threw it open before Khem could reach it.

“Ghul, come on-”

Kamak froze in place, as motionless and silent as Ghul herself. Both the natural and synthetic halves of her face were frozen in a placid expression, staring into nothingness forever. Kamak was staring at her, watching, waiting, for a sign of life that never came.

“God damn it!”

Kamak hurled himself away from the cockpit and slammed his fist into the side of the small ship.

“God fucking damn it,” he repeated, punching the side of the ship again. “I did everything right!”

He stopped punching the ship long enough to slam his fist into his wounded shoulder a few times.

“I played hero! I took the shots, I put my ass on the line, and people still drop dead around me! What the fuck is wrong with me?”

He’d run around like a madman trying to save Ghul, and she’d bled to death in the darkness all the same. Kamak hated her for it, but not as much as he hated the universe, and nowhere near as much as he hated himself. Khem watched the self-flagellation, and his mandibles curled into a close approximation of a frown.

“The universe reserves no reward for the benevolent,” Khem said. “We do what we think is best. And we live with the consequences.”

Kamak glared up at Ghul, briefly focusing his mournful rage.

“That why you stick to your fucking codes so hard? So that when things go wrong it’s the codes fault, not yours?”

Khem said nothing. None of his six eyes blinked. The defiant rage was pulled out of Kamak faster than the Horuk had been pulled from the hangar. With a defeated sigh, he leaned against the side of the shuttle that had become Ghul’s coffin.

“She came here to save me,” Kamak mumbled. “I didn’t even thank her.”

Khem grit his flanged jaws. He understood the need to mourn, on some level, but he preferred to respect the dead by avenging them.

“You have friends who yet live,” Khem said. “Do not lose the living to mourn the dead.”

Kamak gave the cockpit one more gentle punch, and grit his own teeth. Khem had a point. Doprel, Farsus, and Corey were still on the shop somewhere. Kamak once again drew his gun, holding it in his one good hand, and took a look at Ghul’s motionless face.

“Sorry I can’t get you out of here,” he said. Between his wounded state and the chance of an active firefight, there was no way he could haul a corpse around. “But I promise I’m going to give you one hell of a funeral.”

With a gun in one hand and Khem by his back, Kamak limped onward, towards vengeance.