Grappling Hooks & Roses

[xdesperado]

One might wonder at the sight of a pretty young girl sitting in the command chair of the small starship. Delicate features with high cheekbones and full red lips might lead one towards daydreams of the bedroom, but the long hair tightly braided about the crown of her head so the matching helmet to the space armor she wore could be quickly donned would tend to quell more carnal thoughts. Seeing the single warriors braid adorning her right cheek and the intensity of her stormy green eyes would give quick confirmation that she was indeed the one in charge here.

"Bring her about hard and give me full thrust helm, lets stuff it right down their throats!"

"Ah Kier-Bri are you sure that's wise," the grizzled man at the weapons station asked. "I mean that Cader Skylift does have the Fidei Defensor here outgunned by quite a bit."

"Stuff it uncle Paul, maybe if you had been doing your job right back on Aro Prime dad would still be in charge around here. But since you let those Rychart bastards shoot him in the back while you were busy getting the electronics and weapons on board I'm the one giving the orders."

"Hey I was only following orders..."

"Just shutup already and give these syndicate panzies another torp to chew on! Helm get the lead out I want to be in that Skylifts airlock before those Cadar imbeciles figure out which end of the gun their supposed to hold onto!"

"You're planning to board?"

"I thought I told you to shutup uncle Paul."

Standing up the girl slammed her helmet in place locking it tight then picked up an evil looking sword nearly as tall as herself.

"Uncle Paul you have the bridge don't fuck this up, her voice boomed from the external speakers on her suit. All non essential personnel with me time to get a new ride!"

[xdesperado]

Thankful that the Spacearmor she wore hid any signs of her nervousness from dozen hardened spacers standing next to and behind her in the cramped confines of the Fide Defensor's main cargo lock, Kier-Bri Stormraven mused to herself at how ugly life had gotten in the last couple of weeks.

She had finished training at the Thulun Institute of Truth less than a year ago and as luck would have it her father had been in port at the time. Instead of shipping out to some forgotten dustball of a planet as a junior assistant to a slightly less junior military attache to the resident ambassador of House Thulan on said dustball, she instead was granted leave to undertake a period of "field study" under the auspices of her father Keirnan Stormraven. Her father was a "Free Trader" to the galaxy at large, though the Ardok Death Warrant and Uniform of a House Thulun Dragoon he kept carefully locked in his private safe aboard the Fidei Defensor gave the lie to that. Years of hard work running about the quadrant from one planet to the next on missions for Prince Shahin Thulun had earned him some small reputation at court and gained her entry to the Institute of Truth, so if he wished to oversee her continued development that could only help make her skills more polished and valuable to House Thulun. At first things went well and even uncle Paul, her fathers illegitimate half brother and First Mate of the ship, was bearable despite his ingratiating manner and odd looks. But then they got the mission for Aro Prime right in those Rychart snakes back yard. Supposed to be an easy bit of work. Set down in a deserted corner of nowhere and give some DeValtus agents a data pad, pick up a few crates of weapons and electronics then head back to Hydra-Thulun Prime with the goods and any return message. Of course things can never be that easy. First the damn grape squeezers were late to the rondevue, then those Rychart snakes showed up while they were loading the goods. The fact that she managed to kill the two snakes that shot her father only slightly tempered her raging thirst for vengeance. Then after elluding pursuit to get within sight of Hydri-Thulun Prime what should block their landing? A house Thulun Patrol ship? Some Javat rock pusher in a hurry to get to the spice halls? Nope stinking brainless Cadar thugs trying to put the squeeze on legitimate traders. Well she'd had enough! Time to take the fight to the syndicate buthumpers and start making them all pay for what they did to her father for all those years.

Her revere was broken by the lock doors swinging open just as a huge impact rocked the ship under her suits magnetic boots.

"Lets take these godless sons of whores", she screamed over the command channel as she leapt for the now visible lock of the Pirate Skylift.

Pushing off she arrived at her goal just as it cycled open to discharge blue suited Cadar thugs. Barely taking time to plant her boots on the enemy ships deck she swept the wicked hand-n-half sword she carried up in a vicious arc that took the legs from under the first opponent continued rising to bury the odd axe like projections of the blade high in the second targets chest, then as it ripped free she brought it about in a whistling swirl to shear the head off the third Cadar dog to cross her path.

Seeing that the rest of her men were across and the enemy lock secured she quickly ordered the majority of them to head for the engine room while she went in search of the bridge and enemy commander. The shaking of the ship around her told her they were still hotly engaged with the Fidei Defensor despite the close quarters of the two vessels.

It was like lambs to the slaughter as she carved her way updecks leaving a swirling mist of gore and lifeless bodies in her wake. Shortly thereafter she arrived on the Skylifts bridge to see a large figure in blue armor raising out of the captains chair, a massive powered warhammer in his guantleted fists.

"Thanks for keeping it warm for me!" She sang out on her external speakers, then as the man moved to engage her she calmly whipped out a heretofore unused pistol and shot him twice through the helmet.

"I've got 18 more rounds and Vengeance is still thirsty, she yelled, who wants to die next or are you all ready to give up?"

Seeing the giant blade dripping blood from its razor sharp tip to its spiked pommel in one hand and still smoking pistol in the other her announcement was quickly met by the sounds of weapons hitting the deck as hands reached for the overheads.

[xdesperado]

A short while later two ships floated in orbit above Hydri-Thulun Prime. Or to be more precise a relatively undamaged Skylift and the nearly destroyed wreckage that had been the Fidei Defensor.

"Captn Stormraven ma'am, the prisoner r secure here an we're ready to start wor on Fido. Never thou tha ol bastr woul figh like tha."

Looking at the disheveled man wearing the rumpled uniform and insignia of a chief machinists mate, Kier-Bri turned a cold eye on him.

"Get everything salvageable off the Fidei Defensor, put all the dead on her then let me know when your done. Oh and chief, she went on in a deadly quiet voice that sounded like smoke from a funeral pyre, for all his faults and regardless of whose bed he was born in, that ol bastr as you called him was my uncle and last living relative, the First Officer of my fathers ship and a Thulun Warrior. He faught and died as was expected of him by birth and rank. I'll hear no ill spoken of him by anyone. Now move out, you have two hours to get things arranged."

With that she turned on her heal and headed for the galley where the remains of the Skylifts crew were being held.

"Listen up, my name is Captain Kier-Bri Stormraven. I've taken possession of this vessel and everything on it. You all have a choice to make. You can sign on as part of my crew right now and as soon as we make port I'll file the paperwork with the appropriate guilds or you can refuse, in which case you'll be kept in close confinement and when we land I'll turn you over to the Thulan Admiralty for piracy, murder and the attemption of such acts. If your lucky they'll place you on a prison ship for the next several years, if not they'll hang you and let the crows pick your bones clean. Personally I like crows since they're related to ravens and giving them a nice feeding would be my first choice, but I need crew so you have a chance. Just remember if you sign on with me its for a full term, you try to jump ship in port I'll track you down and hang you myself, you disobey my orders on board and I'll flog you, try mutiny and I'll stick you out the lock. This is your only chance and you have an hour to decide."

Two hours later the Chief reported that all goods and personnel were onboard the Skylift.

"Good, please escort these five Cadar scum onboard the Fidei Defensor Chief and secure them in the cargo bay."

"Yes ma'am," the Chief responded with a puzzled look on his face as he complied with her order.

In the meantime Kier-Bri had re-donned the helmet of her space armor and disappeared toward the bridge of the Fidei Defensor.

Meeting her back at the Skylifts lock he was shocked to see the the Fidei Defensor's thrusters fire and the wreck starting to angle away from them.

[xdesperado]

Eight hours later in a shady bar in Hydri-Thulun Primes spice district.

"I tellin ya Captn Stormraven may loo li som cute piece o fancy ya migh wanna make tha beas wi, but she a real bi o the devils own an no bi o fluff."

"Come on man you been in space to long, no fancy houser barely off her mammas tit can be that tough," the spacer sitting across from the Chief said.

"Loo I figr us for all gonrs follow er ou tha lock bu was like tryn ta kee u wi a Valkrye collectn tha dea when we hit tha Skylif. Er blud col like dee space no sof in er. Only hea wa when I ask er wha she dun wi Fido an tho poor Cadar basta we lock in the cargo. Tha when she say...Uncle Paul earned a warriors passage...I swea I see tha fire o hell in tho green eye o er when Fido star burn an broke up hittn tha atmo belo us...then she loo me righ inna eye an says...Besides I hate doing paperwork and the lord only knows how much the Admiralty loves paperwork, this way I might be done in time to get my hair done before dinner tonight."

[xdesperado]

Chapter 2

His ramrod straight posture, close cropped blond hair and precisely creased and starched attire would lead one to think military or government agent of some sort. But the clothes were casual attire, not a uniform despite their being so sharply pressed, and these were the halls of academia and not a government building or military post. The man moved with purpose, a small daypack slung over his left shoulder, the angular imprint of books just visible.
Although obviously a few years older than most of the students filling the corridors around him, the difference in age wasn't glaringly obvious and it was more the air of experience that hung about him than general appearance.

A sharp sound somewhere between what heavy fabric makes when torn and a string of firecrackers going off sent him diving for the floor just as he entered a rotunda with several corridors leading out of it. The cry of, "Razor Freak! 3 O'clock, Bravo Team Take Em!" Had him leaping back to his feat, bag held in front of him like a small shield as he charged towards a corridor to his right. The sounds of laughter behind him and stares of the students around him, quickly brought him up short.
The look on his face was thunderous, promising a great deal of pain for whoever the prankster was.
When those icy blue eyes zeroed in on the source of the laughter they got even tighter and harder.

"Only reason I don't beat you senseless is because I don't want to waste the time explaining to the cools why it was justified."

"Had to see if you still had the moves Jack!" was the happy response of the slightly balding older gentleman facing him.

"What do you know about moves? you weren't there asshole! Besides that's all behind me now, seems the Corps decided they needed to trim the fat and jumped up Gunnies with rather questionable field commissions were top of the list to go, especially when they kept waking up screaming and tried killing anything that moved," was the bitter reply of the blond man.

His expression suddenly hardening the older man replied, "No Captain Hollister I wasn't on Endividius with you and the rest of the 3rd Recondo but that doesn't mean I haven't seen those pointy eared slant eyed bastards up close and personal like myself. Now, his face relaxing back into a smile, let me buy you lunch Captain Hollister and explain to you how this chairwarming, pencil pushing excuse for a SpaceMarine is going to see you back in uniform on active duty."

[xdesperado]

15 minutes later saw the two men entering a quiet bistro just off campus, the older pointing to a booth in the front corner of the room, then watched with amusement as the younger man settled in the booth positioned so he could scan both the bistro's interior and then front window.

"So Colonel VanGuilder what possessed you to leave the squirrel house and track me down? I'm not one of your cracked nuts anymore..."

"Actually Captain you never were one of my cracked nuts," the older man said with a smile.

"What do you mean I wasn't one of your cracked nuts? Never mind that just answer the damn question of why the fuck you came playing head games with me today!" was Jack's somewhat heated response.

Just then their conversation was interrupted by a perky young waitress, a tray holding a steaming carafe and a couple mugs in her hands. "Care to try the hot Wassail? it's the house special through the holidays you see!" She exclaimed brightly.

Colonel VanGuilder noted how Jack Hollister tensed, the colour leeched from his face, as the scent from the steaming carafe washed across the table.
"No thanks miss, a pot of black coffee and the menu will be fine for now," was the Colonel's reply to the waitress.
Turning back to the suddenly sweaty man seated across the booth from him, he took in the white knuckled grip Jack had on the tables edge and fever bright eyes that were rapidly scanning everywhere about them.
The waitress quickly returned with a pot of coffee which she placed on the table along with a pair of mugs and the menus.
The Colonel picked up the pot and poured both mugs full. Then in a quiet voice that seemed about to crack on some carefully hidden emotion, began to speak as he pushed one of the mugs towards Jack.
"Eighteen goddamn years and the smell of cinnamon will have me unable to sleep without fucking nightmares for the next week at least. Rotten damn Freaks!"

By the end of this statement Jack's eyes were locked on the Colonel's.

"Told you that you weren't the only one to meet the pointy eared ones up close and personal didn't I Jack."

While a casual observer might mistake the Colonel's expression for a smile, Jack could see this was the look of a fellow SpaceMarine who had met the devil in person. This was the look of a man grinning at death because to do otherwise ment curling up into a gibbering ball and surrendering your life.

"It does get better with time Captain." the Colonel murmured as he picked up his own mug of coffee.

"Tell me sir...please!"

[xdesperado]

The two men sat with their gazes locked together, swirling memories of nightmarish scenes hovering at the edges of both mens consciousness. Then as Jack looked on still unconsciously gripping the table hard enough to crack its veneer, the Colonel's eyes took on that faded look of someone seeing something from long ago and light years distance instead of the here and now.

His voice barely more than a whisper now so that Jack had to lean into the table to hear him, the Colonel started to speak.

"Well since in a way it's connected to the reason I came for you today I guess I can tell you at least part of it Captain...you deserve that much at least if your going to be of use to us...of course you might decide to walk away from it all and forget the SpaceMarines after I'm finished, can't say as I'd blame you for that..."

"Colonel please I need this, just tell me."

The Colonel let out a choking sigh, took one more sip of his coffee then started to speak.

[xdesperado]

Chapter 3

Six years as an officer in the Thulun SpaceMarines. You could say what you wanted about the Cadar military or Shalun Mercs but Captain Sebastian VanGuilder knew his 3rd Recondo was the hardest, meanest, nastiest group of combat soldiers in the whole quadrant. The fact that they were on the backside of some dustball that didn't even rate a real name, just got labeled with the original survey heads name and the number designating the order it was surveyed in or some such, kicking hell out of yet another load of them Cadar buthumpers just served to prove him right. Sebastian like all good SpaceMarines didn't ask why they were here, the Corps and those they served had its reasons he was sure and generally that was all that mattered. People lived on this dustball, at least they had before the biggest and strangest looking spaceship he had ever seen apparently fell out of the sky on top of the poor bloody farmers or minors or whatever the hell it was they did here. To compound the problems for the ignorant fools trying to survive on this rock, apparently not all the freaks on that monstrous ship were dead when it hit the surface, and the Cadar Admiral Cruiser that had sent it on that plunge had followed it down apparently to try finishing what they started. All of which wouldn't have made a bit of difference in the lives of one Captain Sebastian VanGuilder and his band of killers if not for some puffed up minor noble in the Princes Court who decided that claiming this dustball for House Thulun would be a good idea and had sent an even more minor hanger on at court and Sebastian's chunk of the 3rd Recondo to check it out and bring a report back.
Now a good reconnaissance mission is one where you get in get the required information and get the hell back out without anyone ever knowing you'd been within 10 AU of the place. Of course with giant alien ships all but crashing into your head and a boatload of boy loving Cadar Psychopaths blowing up the landscape apparently for the thrill of it, getting out undetected was going to be a real bitch. Then little lord blackbird or bluejay or whatever his name was decided that filling their little ship with alien artifacts would go over at court much better than vials of sheep shit and boxes of rocks. Which is how mamma VanGuilder's little boy found himself in the current situation, which if the truth be told while it hadn't quite yet reached that level of sheer ass puckering intensity a couple of his previous combat missions had, it certainly had the potential to get there in a hurry.

[xdesperado]

Sebastian had seen his share of dead bodies, had even made a number of them himself, so what was left of the little grub town the aliens and the Cadar had decided to use for round two of their grudge match shouldn't have bothered him. But there was something just wrong about it all that he couldn't quite put his finger on that had icy fingers playing along his spine.

"Hey Captain where are all the cunts?"

Leave it to Alicia Gommez, my comms tech, and biggest bulldyke in the Corps to spot the obvious.
"They all heard you were cumming Corporal Gommez and decided a picnic in the desert was the best way to celebrate! How the hell should I know, now everyone look sharp Alicia needs to find a new girlfriend or three!"
While this got the expected laugh and eased the units tension a hair it definitely had my mind running at full tilt, where the hell Were all the females? Maybe this was some sort of male only commune but if so they were getting new members at a young age as I'd seen the bodies of a few boys little more than toddlers. Not to mention the remains of a store full of women's clothing we'd passed by on our way through town. As I started to look at the bodies a bit closer trying to spot the missing females, I started to notice the differences in the way they died. While a number of them had died of the expected hyper velocity rounds, plasma bursts and anti personnel explosions, there were also large numbers that looked like they had been shredded by razor blades.
That's when the next bit of wrongness dug its claws into my brain and started learing at me. They were all dead. Despite the continuing sounds of combat growing loader as we approached the alien ship there were no injured out here only dead. Then as a final blow to my intellect a last bit of oddity rose up to mock me. There were plenty of dead locals, and the closer we got to the alien ship the number of dead Cadar was steadily rising, but there were no dead aliens. Not unless the crew of that alien craft looked like a dead goatherder or Cadar bully boy.

[xdesperado]

As we reached the far edge of town the alien vessel came fully into view. Its sheer size hard to grasp even with the squad of blue suited Cadar thugs providing some sense of scale where they hunkered down in a semblance of a security perimeter just outside a massive hatchway that yawned open behind them. The sounds of Cadar hyper velocity rifles, pulse cannons and explosive ordinance echoed out from the interior of the craft. From this closer perspective the damage to the ship it had suffered in orbit appeared to be largely superficial at best and I started to wonder if the alien craft had really been forced down or had come to ground for other reasons. Interspersed with the dull roar of the Cadar weaponry was a higher pitched noise something between the sound of thick cloth being ripped apart and a string of overlapping high pitched explosions. In the couple of minutes I took to size up the situation I noticed that these sharper tearing sounds seemed to be making the Cadar grunts very nervous and jumpy. My unit had taken pains to stay concealed and under cover as much as possible as we made our approach and so far apparently hadn't been detected.

"What's the holdup Commander VanGuilder?"

The sound of our ships First Mate voice had me nearly jumping out of my skin. Spinning about I realized he was hunkered down right next to me, the ships Captain and a handful of the crew directly behind him. Apparently my surprise at not only seeing him there but also how he had arrived unnoticed showed because his ugly face lit up in a snaggle toothed grin.

"Me and the lads did some time with his lordship in the Black Watch before he took us to space. So whats the holdup lad?"

I gave the lot of them a better look really paying attention to them for the first time. The Royal Highland Guards were the best in Thulun's army nearly up to the Corps standards as far as I was was concerned and the Black Watch was the Highlanders special operations unit. According to rumors they were all crazyier than a hold full of monkeys in freefall and meaner than a shark that hasn't eaten for a week. Yep looking at their gear and the way they held themselves they had all danced a jig with the ferryman before.
"Sorry sir just planning on the best way to neutralize those Cadar and get us inside."

"Don't sir me lad I'm just Paul, save the sirs for his lordship here," he muttered, "besides your the one wearing the brass I was just a lowly grunt."

"Lowly grunt my arse SarMajor," The ships Captain drawled, "father would be so disappointed to hear you talk so. Anyways why don't you and I go give these gentle souls a little talking to and let the Commander here get on with the heavy lifting inside?"

This last was said with a rather predatory grin aimed at the First Mate who returned the look fully.

"Nice day for a stroll what O!"
Turning back to me the First Mate said, "give us five then your lot should be clear to head onboard that pile of scrap."
As he was speaking the crewmen from the ship had all been slipping away from our position apparently having received some sort of signal from the ships Captain.

While I wasn't to thrilled with the Ships Captain putting himself in danger, I wasn't about to tell his Lordship what to do, so simply shrugged then passed the word to my marines to hold up till I gave the signal.

It was while I was laying there waiting for the First Mate and Ships Captain to do whatever it was they were going to do, that I first noticed the smell. The air was ripe with all the usual smells of a recent battlefield. The slightly ozoned air of high energy weapons discharging, burnt chemicals, ruptured flesh exposing parts of the human body that were never meant to be exposed, but there was something else as well, just a faint wiff of it like some sort of candy that I couldn't quite put a name to.

Not quite five minutes later I was shocked to see the Captain and First Mate go strolling up the middle of the street towards the Cadar position. Apparently the Cadar were as surprised as I was because they didn't open fire as soon as the two came into view. That was their mistake and proved to be fatal. The two men couldn't have been farther than 15 meters from the Cadar position when those poor bastards started to bring their weapons to bear on the pair. The First mate yanked a short barreled Breaching Gun out from under the long coat he was wearing. The 20mm explosive rounds it spit out were designed to blow the armored hinges off starship hatches, regardless of which side of the hatch the user was on. Even the heaviest power armor was practically useless at this short range and the ratcheting sound the weapon made as the First Mate jacked each fresh round into the receiver was almost drowned out by the nearly continuous roar of the guns firing and its rounds exploding on impact sending their heavy metal penetrators through armor and flesh like nails going into a loaf of bread. That weapon was meant to be used by a man in power armor as its recoil was hellacious but the First Mate was firing it with apparently no strain quickly taking down the half dozen Cadar on his side of the perimeter. While that was quite an impressive feat that would normally have gotten much more of my attention, it was what the Captain did that had me dumbstruck and immobilized temporarily. It looked from my perspective like the Captain had mearly waved his hands in the general direction of the men on his side of the line and they had all fallen down.

"Your up Devil Dogs!" was the Ship Captains call as the First Mate quit firing and started moving in to make sure all the Cadar were down and going to stay that way.

"You heard him Marines in the hatch! Digger your alpha team is up front put Mouse on point. Gomez with me. Casey your bravo team pulls drag don't let anyone get behind us. Move it! Move it! This is why we get paid the big money!"

"Hey sir what did his lordship do to them bumpers?" Alicia asked as we jogged towards the now unguarded hatchway.

"Damned if I know Corporal."

Must say though that I took a quick look at downed Cadar as we jogged by and headed up the ramp and felt a boney fist squeeze my gut when I spotted the metal spikes jutting from the throat crease where the helmets joined the chest armor. One spike dead center of each of the dead bodies. Duelist, bearer of an Shalun Ardok Death Warrant, had to be, they were the only ones that were trained to use those sorts of weapons that effectively.

[xdesperado]

As I followed my Alpha team into the alien ship thoughts of our strangely accomplished Ships Captain quickly faded from my thoughts, but not before making a mental note to myself to find out more about him once this was over. While I held the usual SpaceMarine disdain for the nobility and the affairs of the court, I also realized that some of them could be rather influential in military affairs, so cultivating some sort of relationship could prove a boon to my career in the future.

The ships architecture was truly bizarre, no simple walls here but instead every surface was sculptured and finely inlaid with various materials in baroque patterns that were both incredibly artistic and deeply unsettling by their obvious otherness. It was like whoever created it didn't have the same sense of line and proportion that humans did. Even though the passageway was extremely large, matching the scale of the ship it still managed to feel almost to tight like those curving walls with their swirling patterns were squeezing in on us. That was another thing about it, there were no straight lines anywhere, even the passageway curved so that I quickly lost sight of both my point and the hatchway to our rear. Also that odd candy like scent I'd first noted while waiting outside had definitely grown stronger as we entered the ship, though I still couldn't quite place a name to it.

My attention was brought back to more immediate issues than alien artwork and odd smells when Heidi "Mighty Mouse" Wünderlich the newest member of my unit and the one I'd placed on point announced that the corridor split ahead. Her small size, barely making Corps minimum standards and seemingly timid personality had earned her the nickname, but she had shown she could more than hold her own against some of the larger members of the unit in training and showed an innate talent for sensing and reacting to possible dangers.

I ordered her to head towards the sounds of combat since I'd rather catch the Cadar and whoever they were dancing with from the rear rather than find my line to the outside cut off by them. I ordered Casey to look sharp to our own rear anyways at which point he informed me his team had been joined by the Captain, First Mate and their small group of sailors.

After that first branch several more branches and intersections quickly appeared along with a multitude of hatchways. The situation sucked as far as I was concerned, my short platoon was way to small to deal with a vessel of this size. Indeed I was starting to think the entire 3rd Recondo could have gotten swallowed by this monster. The sounds of fighting became louder and more distinct and soon the damage from that conflict made it easier to choose our direction of travel. Bodies of dead Cadar started to appear as well, most of them looking like they had been shredded by a swarm of razorblades, though some had obviously bought it up close and personal from swords and other melee weaponry. After about ten minutes of our cautious advance Mouse called back that she had found something in an intersection that I needed to see, so I jogged up to her position. At first I thought perhaps we had found one of the missing women from the town outside as the barely clothed form left little doubt as to the sex of the body despite the bloody wounds from a Cadar HV rifle. But then I saw the pointed ears, oddly slanted eyes and that her proportions weren't quite right as she seemed longer off limb and thinner than most humans. Most of the others quickly crowded into the intersection to see her. An extremely wicked looking blade like a serated saber was clutched in one dead fist, a length of chain running from its hilt through an ornate bracer on her forearm and up to a gorget at her neck where it appeared to be permanently attached. There was an odd looking pistol type weapon next to her other hand and it was while I was bending to retrieve this that one of the ships crewmen said the "Freaky Bitch smells like Cinnamon!" He was right that was the smell I couldn't place before.

Then as I stood back up alien pistol in hand all hell broke loose. Another alien, this one a living male in ornate armor leapt out of a hatchway down one of the side passageways and the long rifle like weapon he carried cut loose with that odd high pitched explosive tearing sound. A ships crewmen went down his left shoulder and most of his shoulder shredded by whatever it was the thing fired. A couple of the others got sliced by the weapons projectiles as well, but nothing serious as we all dove for cover in the other corridors. The First Mate tossed something around the corner that actually shook the walls and had my ears ringing when it exploded. A quick look showed the alien was down, unfortunately just then mouse announced we had company to the front and cut loose with her pulse carbine. Sure enough it was a squad of Cadar and the fight was on in earnest. Somehow mouse was able to hug the deck tight enough to get missed by the answering fire from the Cadar, but a couple others in Alpha team weren't so lucky, one catching an HV round square between the eyes that tore the back of his skull off, while the second took two rounds one to his left arm and one to his left leg that put him out of action. However the sharp response from mouse and the rest of Alpha team had the boys and girls in blue quickly falling back.

I yelled for everyone to push them and not let them regroup and the fight was on in earnest. Things got really hairy then as the curving passageways, multiple hatches and crosscorridors meant everything was at practically point blank range, but as they kept backing up we never quite reached melee range with them. Then more of the aliens started popping out to snipe at us with those damn razor guns from every which direction.

Five minutes later we managed to put the last of the Cadar squad down but not before losing another sailor and two more of my marines. The sailor was gut shot by a Cadar HV and the two marines got hit by aliens. One of the marines had both legs chopped off just above the knees but would survive, the other one had his chest nearly sawn in half from a long burst.

With the last of the Cadar down things cooled off for a minute, then we truly entered hell!

[xdesperado]

Colonel VanGuilder paused in his recital for a moment to take a swig of his cooling coffee. His features had grown taught and drawn, a film of sweat covering his face despite the relatively cool air in the Bistro.

The ashen look and slight trembling of the older man's hands had Jack ready to tell him it was okay he didn't need to hear the rest. He understood and it was enough just knowing they had both met the Fae and survived. But a part of him still desperately wanted, no at this point needed to hear it all and his tongue stayed frozen in a mouth gone long since dry with tension. Then as he finally started to to open his mouth to say something, anything to break that lull, the Colonel took a shuddering breath and seemed to draw strength as his eyes focused back on Jack's face instead of that distant nightmare, and in a low voice that crackled with emotion, started to speak once more.

"As I said the sounds of combat had all but faded away and at first this came as an almost welcome relief. But then as we moved on deeper into the ship other sounds made their presence known, shrieks and wails of pain and terror rent the air, the very cries of the damned in torment. These continued to grow louder and more piercing as we moved forward and other noises, grunts and growls like animals and less identifiable noises made their presence known.

A horrified "MOTHERFUCKERS" and the sound of the normally quiet and calm mouse's carbine going to full sustained autofire, had those of us behind her surging forward in a mad rush. This wasn't her normal call to imminent combat, but instead was some primal cry of rage and vengeance.

Rounding the corridors curve I saw that it opened out in front of us into a larger chamber the railing of a catwalk or gangway visible in front of us. Mouse stood leaning over the railing her weapon pointed down pouring out a screaming torrent of destruction, with no apparent concern for her own exposed position. As the members of the squad in front of me reached her position they were fanning out to either side and adding their weapons fire to hers. My yell for information got no response so I flung myself forward forcing my way in next to mouse to gauge the situation for myself. We had entered a huge circular chamber about a third of the way up. Spiraling rampways like the one we stood on descended from a number of passageways to the floor below and it was on that floor that a section of hell had come to life. Here was the missing women and girls from the town, here as well were forty or fifty Cadar thugs, all male. The shrieks and wails came from those females still able to, while the animalistic grunts and growls rose from the Cadar who were raping and torturing them with no apparent concern for if their victims were young or old, living or dead.
Unthinking my weapon rose to join the slaughter of those beasts below us. It was only as the last Cadar fell less than a minute later that I realised not a single one of them had tried to fight back or seek cover, so intent had they been on their grisly, perverted, pleasures.

We quickly descended to the floor of that obscene chamber spreading out to see what aid we might render any of the victims. Casey said he thought he had seen a couple of the aliens disappearing down one of the floor level passages, so I sent him, Alicia and the still raging mouse to check them.

[xdesperado]

Sorting the living from the dead and putting my medical schooling to work assisting Sergeant Paine, the unit medic, treat those we could, quickly consumed my full attention. I was distracted by the sounds Corporal Shiply, one of the largest and hardest men in all of the 3rd Recondo, crying and repeating over and over again, "I'm sorry, god I'm so sorry !", as he did his best to aid an unconscious woman. Moving to his side I asked him what was wrong and if he was okay. Pointing to the tattered remains of Cadar uniform and the bits of broken and twisted blue Cadar battle armor around her he said, "They were women, all women sir!"
At first I didn't comprehend what he meant but then in a moment of soul sickening realization it struck me. The Cadar Squad we had fought and killed in the hallways had all been women. I had killed women on the field of combat before and would do so again in the future. But never before or since, to my knowledge, have I killed anyone, male or female, who was simply fleeing from a scene of abject terror.

A cry of "Captain I've found one" coming from one of the sailors had me scrambling unthinkingly in the direction of the voice, so dazed was I by this nightmarish scene of horror and depravity. Apparently our Ships Captain had had the same concerns as Casey and had dispatched the last three sailors he had brought with him to help check the floor level passages.

The call had come from the largest of the passageways, easily three times as large as any of the others. As I rushed into it I was startled to see the sailor standing at the far end, both hands held out to his side and empty. Reaching his side I saw this short hall opened into an even larger chamber this one hexagonal in shape that apparently stretched to the top of the vessel, as the sky outside the ship was visible through huge windows. A series of large balconies ringed the chamber but there was no direct access to them from the floor. Across from us was another hallway of a similar size to the one we stood in, the only other way in or out visible on this level.
The floor was a charnal house scene, even more crazed than the one I had just left. Dead bodies littered the floor and blood and gristle covered everything including the small naked child that knelt in the midst of it pointing a large Cadar pistol at us with her tiny hands. Pushing past the sailor I called out that it was okay, we were here to help. Then I heard the distinctive clicking of that HV pistols trigger being squeezed. I'm not sure who was more surprised, me the sailor or the child when nothing happened. She got a puzzled look on her face as she looked down at the gun in her hands. Then looking up she said, "damn, I forgot it doesn't go bang anymore." Letting out my pent up breath, I started forward again.

A hissing, yet somehow lyrical voice halted me in surprise and drew my vision to the hallway on the far side of the chamber.
"The witchling is mine! Leave now and thou may live."
A male alien in highly ornate armor announced behind him stood three alien women swords in one hand and leveled pistols pointed at us in the other.
Looking at the child the alien ordered her to come to him.

Looking at him defiantly she screamed back, "No my father is here now and I'm leaving with him!" and flung a hand out to point towards the hall I came down.

A thunderous look on his face the alien started to stride forward towards her.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw that the First Mate and Ships Captain had joined me. The First Mate was reaching inside the long coat he wore, presumably for the breaching gun or another weapon of some sort.

A tremendous belling sound rang through the air and the entire ship shook so badly that everyone was knocked to the floor.

The alien male was the first to recover his feet and a couple of long strides had him reaching out for the child.

I was still trying to struggle to my feet and bring my weapon to bear, as were the Ships Captain and First Mate, the ship continued to shiver and tremble under us as other less strident bell tones echoed through the air.

A shrieked "No!" was the only warning any of us had as the child surged to her feat, impossibly, the hilt of a bizarrely shaped black sword larger than herself, was grasped in both tiny hands. Green and red runes seemed to pulse and throb weirdly along the length of the blade as it came up, the point slicing through the aliens armor at his groin like it was so much tissue paper and continued up almost to his breastbone to gut him like a nearflounder. Then as he started to collapse a look of mingled shock and surprise on his face she brought the giant blade around in an arc, the axe like projections on it cleaving effortlessly through his neck decapitating him cleanly with one stroke.

We all stood momentarily frozen in place, the fact that the belling sounds had quieted barely registering on our consciousness.

The sounds of hands clapping broke the momentary paralysis. First it was the sound of a single pair of hands, then two, then a score, and finely the the entire chamber throbbed to the sound of hands clapping in time with one another. A steady precise beat of acclaimation.

In stunned disbelief I looked up to see hundreds of aliens lining the balconies. Then my gaze was drawn to one side of the Hexagonal chamber. A portal had opened in one of the walls and an alien male in even more ornately fashioned armor stood, his hand raising now to still the throng.

Looking at the little girl he asked, in a voice like some fallen angels, "You say your father has come for you and you desire to depart with him?"

"Yes!" she yelled back and this time I could see she was clearly pointing at the Ships Captain.

"You would be a Sidhe princess amongst my people and we could teach you much he and his kind cannot." The alien responded.

"No you are evil and bad I'm going with my father!"

"We are neither evil nor bad, just different as your mother should have taught you little one, but perhaps you are to young to understand such things now. Very well if your father will claim thee then thou shalt be free to depart with him. But know this, if in time thou desires to know thy true power, then seek us out. My court shall always have a place for thee."

Turning to look at the Ships Captain the alien spoke again. "The rules have been broken and the one responsible payed for that crime with his life. Will thou claim this young one and guard her with thine life and blood?"

"She is my daughter and the reason for my presence here. She will leave with us or none shall live to see the sun set."

I looked at the Ships Captain like he was a mad man. The score of us left would be slaughtered by the sheer number of aliens now present, and what did he mean by saying this little girl was his daughter and why we were here?

The alien gave a laugh that had my flesh crawling. "Well said master Stormraven."
Pointing a jewelled gauntlet at a wall next to us a light sprang from it and a portal opened.
"Take what is within for the young ones care. Be quick about it though as I desire to leave this wretched place forthwith."
Turning back to the girl he said, "You must leave the sword young one."

"No," she cried with a pout, "it's mine!"

"So it is," the alien responded, "but thou art to young yet for its keeping. When the time is right thou shalt have it, whether thou comes to my court or not."

The girl looked the alien straight in the eye, then with a very serious look on her face walked to him, seemingly oblivious to the dead bodies and gore she walked across, the sword now dragging in a bloody line behind her. Straining she lifted the hilt up to the alien. As he grasped hold of it she intoned in a surprisingly strong and loud voice, "This I swear by my blood before the Mother and her Consort, none may wield it before I again claim it. Let any who dare be cursed and shunned by both the light and dark. This I will by flesh and bone. So mote it be!"

As she finished speaking a quiet chime rang through the air, the aliens crowding the balconies looked shaken, their leader had a grave look on his face and gave her a quick bow. "So mote it be."


Less than an hour later all humans were off the alien ship both those still living and the dead. Seeing how few of us there were alive the alien leader had some of his people move the artifacts he had promised the Ships Captain out of the ship to the edge of town. No sooner were the last of us clear than the ship lifted into the rapidly darkening sky.

Shortly thereafter the Cadar ship with its greatly diminished crew lifted off as well.

We spent the night doing what we could for the survivors of the town. The Ships Captain seemed impatient to be off though so early the next morning we lifted as well.

[xdesperado]

Chapter 4

She looked around the cabin in disgust at the jumbled mess it was in. True in the haste to transfer everything from the wrecked Fidei Defensor to the Pirates Skylift there hadn't been time to properly stow personal effects. Also true that those bureaucratic clowns at the Admiralty loved their paperwork even more than she remembered. But still she felt that somehow in the week since the ship made port, somehow the time should have been made to get her quarters, however temporary they might prove to be, in some sort of order. Yet here she stood surrounded by jumbled piles of gear and cases personal effects. If she was lucky the appropriate civilian attire for the dinner she was scheduled to attend in one of the palaces lesser wings would be in one of these cases here. If not she would have to check in the other two officers cabins that supposedly held her fathers and uncles personal effects. While she was certain the Chief would have ensured that anything not welded to the decks of the Fidei had made it onboard this vessel, she was much less certain of his ability to ensure it maintained its proper sorting. Four hours to find suitable attire, get her hair done and find her way to the appropriate section of the vast palace complex was going to be cutting things very close as it was. At least she had been able to arrange for a stylest to come to the ship instead of having to make her way to a salon in the city.

She proved to be in luck as the desired clothes were in the third case checked. The stylest arrived on schedule and after only a brief debate where Kier-Bri made it clear that the three thin braids with their odd off white beads that adorned her right temple and cheek were to be left alone, the stylest was given free reign to do with the rest of her long raven hair what she wanted. Privately she laughed to herself at how the fussy woman would probably have run screaming from the ship if she had known that those, "ghastly colored bits of drivel", as the woman had put it, were actually the polished and hollowed out thumb bones from men she had killed.

[cdelight]

This os the best thing i ever read...its a good one..it has more of everything into it