Star Hopper Chapter 13
#13 of Star Hopper
Chapter 13 out of 17 of my furry sci-fi book, star Hopper. I hope you guys enjoy it. It will be availible on Lulu.com once all the chapters are uploaded here for around $7.50. Now I'm not an editer, so there will be typos but just look past those and enjoy the book!
13
Skye huddled in the corner of a cell, it's gloomy presence made her feel dark herself. Her clothes had grown dark and blotted along with the filth that covered the ground. Her eyes moved around, she didn't know how long she'd been in here. When she woke up she was just here. Bot was gone and no record of Daysus or anything. She sighed.
"What am I going to do?"
Her voice drifted farther then she thought because she heard a voice. "About what?"
Skye looked up and twitched her head on several directions trying to put a face to the voice. "Over here!" She found it across the hall. The electric barrier must not hold sound in.
"What does it matter, and why are you putting your nose in to my business."
He smirked, "Ah, I see you still have some delusions of the outside world." This caught her attention and she slid closer to the door. "What do you mean by that?"
"You see, prison isn't like out there." He stuck his thumb out behind him, "you don't have the same liberties. Including secrets and all those ideas of keeping to yourself. Because I'll tell you, it won't happen. In fact it happened just now, I'm talking to you, that's not really keeping to yourself."
"You're not talking to me, you're just explaining this."
He held up a finger, "Ah, but now I'm talking to you." Skye realized that he'd gotten around her defenses, she crawled back to the corner to rebuild them.
He continued, "There was only one in my years here that I've seen keep to himself mostly and keep secrets. What was his name?" He turned, "Luyi, what was his name?"
Skye watched another emerge from the darkness of their cell, "Stop trying to get her to talk to you, she obviously isn't."
"No, but seriously what was his name?"
"Ian."
Skye's ears pricked up and she quickly crawled to the edge of her cell, "What was his name?"
Luyi turned, "Ian." The intenseness of her voice gave Luyi a bit of curiosity, "why, does it mean something to you?"
"Was his fur different? You know mixed, strange, you know half-breed?"
He slowly nodded, "Yeah, you know him, or should I say knew him."
"Yeah! He's my...my..." She paused.
"Your what?" His question dug into her mind like a drill, she didn't know why but she had to answer him.
"He's my brother."
He laughed, "Ha! See, I told you secrets don't last here, what got you in here?"
Skye smirked as she thought about her feeble plan, "I tried to rescue him, but he'd already escaped."
The two in the other cell looked surprisingly at each other, "You're saying that he escaped on his own! From the trial?"
She shrugged, "That's what they told me, but he wasn't alone, Colleen fled with him."
He cocked his head to one side, "Princess Colleen, is that the one you're talking about?"
"Yeah." Skye said nodding, "Except she's not the princess anymore, the Queen disowned her."
It looked as though they didn't exactly get it, "Let's just say the Queen wasn't too happy to learn that he knocked up Colleen. You know him being a half-breed already."
As soon as the words escaped she cupped her paws around her muzzle.
"See what'd I tell you about secrets, although we already know about the half-breed thing. But, you're telling me that the fox that was in here had gone all the way with the Princess?" Skye nodded. Erit scoffed. "Wow, he did pretty good for himself."
A loud bang from down the hall shut up their chatting, Daysus marched in front with two others behind him, including the sergeant that had accompanied her at her swift trial. He had a grin on his face that read, "I'm going to enjoy this." Daysus stopped right in front of Skye.
"Open the door!" Immediately the door turned green and the Commander came in. He picked her up by the arm. "OW! Is that necessary?" Daysus brought her to eye level. "Quite so."
He dragged her out of the cell and back down the hall, he hauled her through levels of the prison until he came to a room with a steel door that matched the rest of the hall, you wouldn't notice it unless you were trying to find it. It opened with a defying squeak and closed it with a thunder. Skye stood, frightful of the darkness that engulfed her body. But dim lights soon flickered on and slowly grew brighter to reveal one chair, the rest of the room lay in darkness.
One thundering word echoed through the room, "Sit!"
Timidly, but immediately, she did as she was told. The cold steel that she embraced felt like ice through her fur, she felt frozen in place, by the feeling of the cold and the entire ambiance of the room. Once she felt as settled as she could be, the sergeant that had been at her trial came up, in his paws held leather straps. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was going to. One by one he fastened her limbs down. Skye was sure that they were not getting enough blood and by the end of this they'd be useless. Once he was finished and Skye was properly held down he disappeared back into the darkness.
But Skye would much rather have him then what she saw next. Like a dark ghost emerging from a closet the new Commander came from the shadows. His claws clicked on the floor leaving a feeling of dread behind him. Daysus leaned in, "There are several ways we could do this. I don't mind doing either, it depends on you." From his paw emerged a small remote, he held it up to her, "You and this remote."
He kneeled to one knee, "Look, I don't want to do this to you" he said, "but I need some info."
"Bull...shit!" Skye spat in his face, Daysus wheeled back. He breathed out of his nostrils quickly making a noise. "That way huh'? Well it was your choice." He thrust it into her restrained paw and forced her to press the button herself, Skye cringed as she felt it click under her finger, hoping for the best, expecting the worst.
The Apex thundered into the atmosphere of Alleendro, it's gigantic engines whipping up the sand even as they were still miles in the air. Captain Trent stood up from his chair and took a deep breath of the filtered air.
"What do you want to do captain?"
Trent made his way to the back of the bridge and slid through the door, the officer who asked him followed him through. "Sir?"
Trent moved to the elevator he got in and turned around, "assemble a landing party, I want this place searched."
"Anybody you want as the head of this team?"
The doors started to shut but they kept open just for him to hear his captain say, "Yes, me."
The officer looked at his feet and shook his head. Then he started on calling on several others for a party, which they happily obliged.
Trent stood on the ground of Alleendro, the dust still settled from the landing. He surveyed the landing party that was presented to him. All of them held a plasma rifle with a side arm and had a green armor on. The helmet swooped down to cover one of the eyes, behind the screen held a map, onscreen GPS of all known planets and even the level of plasma left in the cores of their weapons. They were all ready for action. Trent slowly nodded, then he quickly turned on one foot. With one twitch of his head they fell into formation behind their new captain.
All of them held their rifles down, but ready to immediately bring them up and fire upon anything they were told to. They slowly crept into the city, to their surprise it was deserted, nobody was there, or at least nobody that they could see. Trent spoke to them for the first time,
"Careful, this place is actually full of life. Anybody could jump out at any time."
The constant jittering of their equipment echoed off the walls of the city creating the illusion that somebody was following them.
One of them leaned in to his friend, "seems a bit excessive for just one person, ya' think?"
"I don't think so," He whispered back, "I heard he escaped the trial after killing six guards."
Another jumped in, "That's nothing, last year I heard he did a raid on...um..." He thought for a couple quick seconds, "I can't remember the name of the planet but he snuck past an entire bases guards stole ten thousand credits worth of cores and left, killing like twelve without anybody noticing until he was long gone."
Another butted in, "Oh yeah, that's nothing!" Each story grew grander and further from the actual truth. Although, sometimes that's all you need. A reputation. The mind is a place of imagination, and that can sometimes run ramped. So when somebody fears something it will usually get blown out of proportion. It kept others on their toes.
"Quiet all of you!" They all shut up at once, "you do realize that you're hunting the same person and if those stories you say are true, then let's just say you'll probably be a part of those."
Trent stared angrily at them, while they pleaded for forgiveness with silence and looks.
He sighed and signaled with his paw for them to create a defensive perimeter while he checked with a local. He knocked on a door while each of his team found places to kneel for an accurate shot from the most likely sources.
"Have you seen a Half-Breed or a pregnant Vixen around here?" His voice husky and grim.
The local shook his head and slowly backed away to close the door in his muzzle, "No, no, no, nothing around here. No, no, no, not a thing to see."
The door started closing, but Trent wasn't finished. With lightning fast reflexes, Trent paced his foot under the door as a door stop and dampened the door with a paw. "You'd better tell me! Or else!"
His growl broke down the wall of the local. "Now that you let me think for a sec. A strangely furred fox has been seen around here lately."
"Did he have a pregnant vixen with him?"
"I don't know," he searched his memory blanks for anything, even a lie. Just as long as it got this crazy wolf out of here. "There have been rumors of a vixen that is pretty large down the road. Could be your pregnant one?"
"Where?" Trent asked sinisterly.
He whimpered under the pressure, "Eleven buildings down, an old half-breed is said to harbor them. His name is Canta. Check there."
Risking it, the local pushed the door with all his might and it finally shut. He stood behind the doors taking deep breaths, got through that one.
"Ow!" He yelped, something pinched him in the back.
He looked down, he could smell plasma discharge, a sticky liquid started to saturate his clothes around the low chest area, he looked down and without saying a word fell to the ground dead, shot through the torso. Trent put down his plasma rifle, he heard a thump through the door telling him the guy was dead.
"Eleven buildings, I'm after you."
He didn't even bother signaling his troop, he just yelled at him. His victory was assured.
"Come on, eleven buildings that'a way."
Trent snuck along the dirt road counting the buildings, he looked ahead, "Number eleven." It was quaint, it seemed different from the rest of the buildings on Alleendro almost up kept. Whoever lived here didn't have any plans on moving anytime soon. With a signal of his paw three of his troop circled around back in case they tried to escape. Trent's teeth shined in the bright sunlight, his revenge was almost complete.
When they had a secure perimeter, Trent moved up to the door and with a silent countdown he kicked the door and rushed in, others soon followed. The local had been right, a half-breed sat at a chair reading. His old eyes stared at the intruders without fear, more defiance then anything were in them.
"Where are they!" Trents voice boomed
"Who?" He said.
"Black Son and Colleen! I know they're here and if you don't tell me." Trent pointed his barrel right at his head. "This floors going to be real messy."
The old half-breed chuckled, but it grew into a full out laugh, "Does it look like I'm going to live much longer anyway. Go ahead shoot me, I don't care"
Trent snarled, "If that's what you want!" He started to squeeze the trigger, to blow this defiance to hell but he stopped. "Wait! No, I'm not gonna kill you. You could be very useful." He pulled his rifle from the half-breed's head.
"Come on, let's check up-stairs."
The half-breed smirked, but didn't say anything. Trent kept an eye on him as he climbed the stairs to the upper rooms. Four others followed him. The rest stayed downstairs.
The upstairs held a room much like the lower one, except for one door on the far end. The five of them crept as silently as they could and stacked up against the wall two on either side. Trent would enter first, as he is the one who will kick the door, the others will follow in sequential order. He counted to them and on zero he kicked in the door with a defining crack. The door split into two and side fell to the ground while the other side fell limp on the hinge. Trent bust through with his eyes aiming down his rifle sights. The caught one figure laying on the bed, he zoomed his sights back and centered on the figure. It was Colleen. She sat up with a start to find now five barrels centered on her, each ready to fire into her.
"Where is he!"
She played the same game as Canta, "Who?"
Trent was not amused, and he didn't want to play games. "You know very well who I'm talking about bitch. Black son."
She shook her head, "I'm not familiar with anyone of that name."
Trent jumped on the bed and the four others moved closer, he dug the barrel of his rifle into her head. Colleen's head fell back and hit the pillow, dust flew up into the air. "Black son!"
"Nope"
"The pirate!"
"No idea."
Trent was now panting like a crazy person, "IAN!"
Colleen used a paw and moved the rife away from her face, "Ian, is that who you want?"
He yelled in her face, "YES!"
"Oh! He would be right behind you."
She grabbed his rifle and yanked it out of Trent's paws as he turned around.
Ian pounced on his first victim, his heart stopped beating before he fell to the ground. He rolled in front of the second one on the right side of the bed and stood up so he was three inches from his face. He grabbed the butt and the paw rest of the rifle in his paws and twisted it so it broke out of them then shot him in the face. He was obliterated, you wouldn't have known that he even had a head at one point. Ian quickly wheeled around and shot the others on the other side of the bed. Just grazing Trent, who sat motionless in the bed partly because of the shock that Ian had just killed his four guards within twenty-five seconds and also because Colleen had the cold steed of the rifle barrel digging into his back.
Ian threw away the rifle, and with a growl pulled Trent off of the bed. He threw him on the floor then pounced and pinned him to the ground. His arms held down by Ian's and his legs held down by Ian's knees.
Trent started to cower, "Look, it was orders! We were sent to kill you, honest. Don't kill me!"
"Oh what a wussy." Ian laughed, "Look what happened to you, captain, nice. But how did you get there?" He got in real close, Ian teeth glinted and Trent shivered. "How would Kilda think of you right now? Would she like you? Love you? Or hate you, for the cheating, under-handing, fucker you are."
Trent laughed nervously, "Uhh, the second one?"
Ian cocked his head, "Wrong! By the way, remember that little deal we had on Veare? The one where if you hurt Colleen I would rip your throat out?"
Trent didn't like where this was headed, "Kinda sorta?"
"Well, it's time for that to be repaid."
Ian dove in, his jaws wrapped around Trent's neck. He chomped down, blood shot into his mouth as his sharp teeth tore through Trent's fur. His legs squirmed and muzzle gurgled as the esophagus squeezed shut . Ian bit harder, and like razor blades they tore through the rest of the meat. Ian shook his head back and forth as he bit ripping vein and bone from the wound. Finally, he pulled up and with a squelch a large chuck of Trent's neck ripped from him. Ian sat up, the meat still in his mouth. Blood drenched him and it spread around dripping from everything. He coughed the chunk out, it landed with a splat.
As Ian closed his muzzle he twitched, "Ech, I don't care much for blood."
Trent lay on the floor his head laying to the right side and the color of his eyes gone. The neck was half gone and some of the vertebra stuck out leaving Colleen an image that would haunt her for years to come. As she stared at it, stepped in front of her line of sight and kneeled to eye level.
"You don't need to look at that. Just look at me." He said this of course not knowing now bloody he actually was. He reached out and grasped the rifle that she'd stolen from Trent. Her paws gripped it with such intensity that Ian had to yank it from her.
"Come on," He said, "We'd better get out of here before the rest of the team finds us."
"To late." Ian turned his head to the door way to find a plasma rifle pointed directly at him. "If you move, I shoot." He stepped into the room and just about slipped on the blood, others followed behind him. One of them came in and gagged at the sight of their new captain lying on the floor and his neck ripped out. They carefully stepped around him to surround Ian. There was at least one of them who couldn't stop looking at the bodies.
Ian kept a steady eye on them, carefully watching how they move and what they're capabilities could possibly be. He recorded the way they walked and held their rifles, even the sound of their voices and the inflections of their words. To see if they were scared of him, from the sound of it, they were.
Behind them lay the ocean of blood, left behind by Trent.
The one who had surprised Ian reached in and grasped him by the neck, "You better come with me."
Ian spat in his face, "Yeah, just so you can kill me in a more 'civilized' matter."
"Oh, you mean like the way you killed our captain!" He yelled back.
Surprisingly, Ian couldn't think of one of his witty comebacks and just took that as his leave.
He placed his right paw on the soldier's upper arm, then his left on the lower part and without saying anything he pushed. A defining crack echoed through the small room. The soldier let go of Ian, dropped his rifle and cradled his arm. Stepping back as a reflex he slipped in the blood and fell to the ground, one of the others put down his rifle to help him up but just as he did, Ian rose from the bed with Colleen in his paws. He kicked the guard of the door in the stomach, he hunched over and let them go by.
The soldier who's arm Ian just broke growled deeply from his gut.
"Looks like we just became another story."
Ian slid down the stairs and into the main room where Canta lay dead, his paw held a pistol loosely in its grip. A streak of gore followed behind his head and around him lay the bodies of three other soldiers with shots right through the head. Ian stopped for a second, he let Colleen down.
"Did he take his own life?" She asked.
"I think so, I think he was done with all this stuff." Ian quickly glanced around the room, all teams heavy gear had been loaded off here. "There" he thought. A galactic radio lay on the end table, he plucked it with his paw. Rustling and voices drifted down from the upper floor, they were on their way. Colleen slipped her paw into his.
"I'm ready when you are."
Her smile lifted the gruesome scene out of his mind. "Then let us go!" With her trailing behind him still and grasping onto his paw, the two raced out of their making their way through the city.
Ian yelped with excitement as he ran, "I've never been so lucky in my life!"
"Really?" He heard from Colleen behind him.
"Well, other than the time I met you."
"Good catch." She said behind him. He didn't respond.