Battle the Zzuragg part 4
#8 of gift work
Battle of the Zzuragg
Chapter 4
By
Dustin Feyder
Commissioned by
Rogueybear
Elion mutes her radio momentarily to look to her partner "what are we doing here Corman?"
"Standard rescue and recovery mission" Corman keeps her eyes on the computers tracking the team
Elion puts her hands on Corman shoving her "Don't act like I'm a four-year cadet. I have been sitting in this chair for over twelve years now, you don't think I can see something is wrong here? The court doesn't call in space marinas for RnR jobs. This is an extraction. What are they in there looking for?"
"you don't have clearance..." Corman starts to explain
Elion cut her off "I don't have clearance? What do you mean I don't have clearance!"
The two opperators become forceful with each-other "I don't have clearance either, Dawg is the only person that know what the real job was!"
"Dawg is nothing but an infantry man..." this time it is Corman that cuts of Elion.
"he also has family in the courthouse." The argument is cut short by a clashing sound as something strikes the roof of the command vehicle. The two silences themselves looking around. Corman points over her shoulder "you stay on the horn, I'll take a look around."
Corman approaches the hatch to the command center, she unclips her side arm drawing her pistol, the pistol has barley left its sheath before a par of moon shaped blade cut through the door pulling it down Corman shouts lifting her weapon. A brute of a beast steps into the ship, it has a body that looks like a clam shell and no determinable head, it has scythe shaped arms and a scorpion like tail, the shell at the center of its mass parts to show off hundereds of fishhook like teeth.
Corman tries to shoot the monster but her shots are deflected by the monster's shell. The beast thrust its body at Corman knocking her to the ground with its massive size, it brings up its claw threatening to sunder Corman's body. Corman is curled up on the ground cradling one of her arms, she kicks off the ground pushing herself slowly away from the towering mass. Corman yelps and cries.
Elion jumps up from her set taking notice of the six-lagged monstrosity pushing its way into the ship. Elion picks up the nearest tool to her, which happens to be a Cold-fusion shocker. Many mettles show abnormal behaviors in low gravity, the mettle the command station is forged from for example when exposed to wide with radiation, aka microwaves, takes on a semi gelatin skin, if two or more sections of mettle with the microwave skin on them touch they melt together, this tool generates that microwave.
Elion is terrified by the beast standing before her but she must act, she gasp and jumps away from the monster before taking a stand. Elion holds the microwave stick in front of herself like a spear, the monster slaps at the stick pushing it away, Elion rolls it up pushing it between them again. The monster tries to run past the spear only to find it stabs itself.
The microwave stick sparks, the monsters shell partly liquefies, Elion takes advantage, the monster jumps, Elion chases after it. The combatants stab and thrust at each-other. Elion has reach over the monster giving her the upper hand. The beast fears the sparking stick and pulls away every-time Elion thrust at it. After some time Elion gets a lucky thrust, the monster clasp its shell shut with the spear becoming trapped inside of it.
The monster thrashes and howls, its mouth fused shut, in its death throws it picks up Elion, it lifts her in the air threatening to squeeze her to death in its claws. Elion can do nothing but grab the monster's claws and hopelessly try to elevate the crushing power. The beast might have cut Elion in half if only it had a second more strength, but oxygen depredation sets in and the monster faints. It throws Elion at the floor as its last act of wrath. Elion falls to the floor, a dozen rips broken she gasp struggling to crawl to her partner.
***
Chin sets the cafeteria ablaze, Kauri kicks open a service tunnel and waves the team on. Maize drops onto all four and is the first into the tunnel, Huston picks up Dover and is next in. Kauri calls for Chin next, Chin pushes Kauri in instead choosing to bring up the rear. Chin fires her touch down the tunnel as they crawl to discourage the winged demons from chasing them.
Kauri taps his radio to call base "we are under fire, repeat, we are under fire. I need a HUD map of HG-1016 mining frater. Repeat, HG-1016 HUD map, I need one." The radio remains silent Kauri huffs to himself "this part of the ship must be emitting radiation as well." He yells to Maize "we are blind, were fallowing you Maize."
"Grate, I love having three smelly men nipping at my tail. Next time Kauri, you go first."
Huston jokes "at least the view isn't bad."
"if you can think about chasing tail in full combat gear you have a stronger imagination then me." Kauri comments. "Dover, what is your condition?"
Dover grabs his helmet and drops it in the tunnel, his fur is bleeding color and he is sweeting bullets "it's about 200* in here and I can't breathe."
"Can you still fire a rifle?" Kauri ask
Weakly Dover nods "sure. You aim for me and I will squeeze the trigger."
Chin blast her flamethrower again keeping the tunnel behind the group clear "Dover, if you die, I'm tacking your bike catalogs from your locker."
"what about my girly magazines?" Dover tries to act optimistic
Chin adds on "I'll take those too."
"check out issue 440 of 'HEAT', it is my favorite, it has an interview in it with editor of 'Bite My Tail' I love that fox."
At the front of the team Maize tacks aim and shoots a full round ahead of her as the lights on her shoulders pick up movement coming from the other end of the service tunnel. "hard left" she calls to the team pointing at a turn in the pipes slightly ahead. Maize crawls past the turn and mounts herself into the ground to keep shooting at the monsters moving in from the other side.
A ten-armed variation of the centaur looking bugs is running at them, Maize lays down fire, the monster seeming only slightly stunned by the gunshots. Dover and Huston take the turn, Kauri stops next to Maize and point his rifle with one arm seeing now what Maize had seen already. The two of them shoot down one to reveal a second behind it.
Chin bumps into the two of them as she is crawling backwards down the tube. "these things sure can suck up rounds, can't they?" Chin complains.
"Maize, fallow Dover and Huston. Chin Trade me" Kauri offers Chin his riffle and takes her torch. Kauri looks down at the fuel gauge noticing that he is out of gas "that didn't last did it?"
Chin and Kauri sit back to back with monsters charging them from two sides "it's a welder not a flamethrower, I jerry rigged the thing." Chin sprays a wave of shells down both tunnels to keep the monsters at bay.
Kauri rolls the empty fuel canister down the tunnel then pulls out his postal. Kauri takes a single shot at the canister rupturing it. Even without gas in the can there is still prepollent and the prepollent being exposed to oxygen forces a defining blast of dark light and a wave of noise.
The monsters are paralyzed by the shockwave, Kauri and Chin chase after the rest of the team being given some breathing room. The tunnels twist and turn becoming ever more foreboding. Dover complains as he is being pushed down the tunnels "Slow down man, help me take off my chest plate. It's just too heavy"
Huston looks at Dover as if he was crazy for a moment but ultimately complies. "you know you are going to get a 'red ticket' for this"
"I don't care. the check is in the mail already." Dover drops his armor on the ground stripping down to his service greens then keeps walking. After being lost in the tunnels for a time they team comes to an exit. The team emerges from the tunnels in what looks to be the medical word. "I didn't know mining ships had such nice labs." Dover comments.
Huston lifts his ears as he looks around the dark lab. Gunfire can be heard echoing from all sides, then the sound of a grenade detonating, then chattering whispers coming from the depths.
Dover falls into a sitting position squeezing his chest struggling to keep breathing. Maize emerges next, Chin and Kauri not long thereafter. Kauri orders "Maize, I need this door charged shut."
Maize digs around in her pouches looking for her shape chargers. Dover's ears twitch as in unnatural whisper shouts in his ear, alien voices call to him in alien dialects. Dover pushes himself to his feet and walks over to Maize "Let me help you with that."
Maize looks at Dover as the two of them start to set up explosives around the tunnels hatch "you aren't licensed to do this."
"there is a lot of stuff I'm not licensed for. Are you going to stop me?"
"Maybe another day"
"Hay, Maize do you remember just before we left for the academy how you and I spent a month out on your grandparent's property?"
Maize nods "yeah, it was you and me; Clair, Victor, and Chris. We wanted to spend the summer searching the coast for sunken treasure." She chuckles thinking about it "or maybe we just wanted to go SCUBA diving."
"yeah, and your baby brother was with us. The night before we were supposed to get on the boat going back to the mainland's, you, me, and Angelo snuck away to go for one more dive. Right after we jumped off the boat you lost your swimsuit..." Dover reminisces
Getting into the memory Maize cuts in "and there was my kid brother with his underwater camera tacking snapshots of my tail, that little scamp."
"then when we got back to land you chased Angelo up and down the beach still naked." Both of them laugh for a moment remember the better parts of their childhood before Dover cuts in "I totally told your brother to do that. We both though it was funny as hell. He mailed me the pictures he took a few days later." Dover uses the distraction to pocket a hand full of charges.
"You told my brother to take a picture of my muffin and send it to you?" Maize can't tell if she is confused, offended or both.
Dover nods "yeah, that was all me."
The explosives go off burning the hatch shut not a moment before bounding on the door alerts the team that there pursuers are still coming.