Inherited War 3: Retaliation (22 page)

Her response was an inarticulate roar as she sprang forward, arms stretching in front of her, reaching for Jeth. The ground trembled as she ran and the layer of fat over her muscles bounced and jounced. That was new, Thalo thought. She had been all muscle the last time they had seen her.

Jeth neatly sidestepped the charging behemoth and smacked her in the shoulder with a closed fist. It sounded with a meaty thump and a grunt of pain. The Roche stumbled as she flew by, the blow interrupting her balance as she charged. Skidding to a stop, she turned just in time to receive a face full of Jeth’s fist. Jeth hadn’t waited for her to stop. He had hit her and then raced after. He had timed his blow perfectly and caught her unawares right in the nose when she turned. Her head snapped back and teeth sprayed from her mouth. Her foot came up and caught Jeth between the legs, lifting him a few inches from the ground.

The Roche fell backwards and in a surprising move of agility, she rolled and came back up on her feet. Jeth was unprepared when she launched herself ten feet through the air and took him full in the chest. They slammed together and went backwards to the ground. Jeth absorbed the whole blow and the subsequent impact with the ground.

They careened across the pavement, rolling and bouncing. They blew through the line of Roche and finally pitched up against the ramp to the ship. Jeth was lucky to come out on top of her, but was in no shape to take advantage of his situation. He was still fighting to regain his breath when she got her feet under Jeth and snapped them to full extension. Jeth hurtled through the air and landed with a crunch inside the ring. He slipped a few feet and lay still. The Roche female rose a bit shakily to her feet and staggered back in Jeth’s direction.

“Get up brother!”
Thalo shouted into Jeth’s mind, hoping to cut through the fog of pain and dizziness in his brother’s mind. It worked, but just barely. Jeth managed to get to one knee when the Roche finally closed on him. She slammed her knee into Jeth’s face, sent him somersaulting backwards, and knocked a few of his teeth out as well. Stomping forward, she grabbed a hold of the groggy Jeth’s feet and heaved.  Arm and shoulder muscles strained to lift Jeth’s vast weight, but lift they did. She began to circle, building speed and momentum before lifting him up even higher and slamming him face first into the ground. The discipline of the Roche troopers broke at the sight of her feat of strength, and they began to cheer wildly for their champion.

It was at that point that Thalo saw Jeth cram his hand into one of his combat suit pockets. No one else seemed to notice, and the Roche champion was riling up the fervor of her kin. A moment later, a look of peace covered Jeth’s shattered face. Thalo still felt the bond. Jeth hadn’t killed himself or died from his injuries. What the hell was in his pocket? The Roche female turned to see Jeth now attempting to sit up. She took two big steps and leveled a powerful kick at Jeth’s head. If she had connected it may have well broken his neck, but Jeth surprised everyone when he fell backwards and turned slightly to his side, getting a kick in of his own on her support leg.

Her leg flew out and she crashed to the ground in an awkward split. One leg in front of her the other behind. Thalo winced. She couldn’t have been ready for that. She had to have torn something, he hoped.

Jeth used his momentum to roll away from his tormentor and gain some distance. They both rose shakily to their feet and eyed one another from a few feet away. They both launched into a run at the same time, and their hands met with a thunderous slap. They both came to a dead stop and their muscles stood out in massive relief. The taller Roche was trying to come up as high as she could to gain the advantage of gravity while the smaller Jeth was trying his best to break a wrist off too. They stood lock in a test of strength and endurance for seconds, then a minute passed and still no one moved. On both fighters, muscle stood out like mountains on a plain, from neck to feet, both had every ounce of strength focused on the grapple.

Slowly their arms began to inch outward. The Roche smiled, believing that she was winning. That notion was reinforced by the slow flexing of Jeth’s knees as he was forced into a crouch. At the last possible moment, Jeth relaxed his arms and drove with his legs. The sudden release of tension on their arms, plus the downward force she was providing, caused the female to stumble downward as Jeth came up. Jeth’s forehead smashed into her nose and orbital sockets. The sickening sound of her nose breaking and skull fracturing silenced the howling mob of Roche. Her head snapped backwards and she staggered from side to side before falling down to one knee. One of her hands was pressed to her ruined face while the other came slapping down on the ground to support her body.

Jeth wasn’t much better off. The strain of pitting his strength against hers for so long had sapped his meager reserves, and he was a little stunned from the blow he had just delivered. He stumbled forward to finish her off. He stopped just in front of her and raised his hand for the final blow. She snarled and with a final effort, she fell forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. The mighty blow he leveled at her glanced off the back of her head and finished weakly on her upper back. She began to squeeze with her arms and got her shoulder planted firmly in his stomach. Jeth was shocked by her last ditch effort and started to pound on her head in response. She poured on the pressure. Jeth couldn’t get a clear shot at a vital area, and she was rapidly compressing his abdomen. He could feel the pressure on his spine begin to build. Frantically he slammed his fist into the top of her head, but to no avail, the pain in her face kept her focused on squeezing as hard as she could.

Jeth panicked and tried to move, to do anything that would cause her to let up, but he was too weak. He looked wildly around until his eyes settled on Thalo. The look in his brother’s face broke his heart. Thalo knew there was nothing he could do. If she broke his back, his legs would fall, and he would be as good as dead—and Thalo knew it. Jeth saw Thalo rest his hands on both of his pistols as their eyes met. Jeth screamed and bore down on his abdominal muscles. He stopped her bear hug just before he fell. Again, they were locked in a test of strength, to lose would be to die.

Slowly, without losing his concentration Jeth placed his hand on the top of her head and began to shove it away from his body. She fought but couldn’t focus on both actions at once. Her grip faltered slightly as her face was slowly lifted skyward. As soon as Jeth saw one of her blood filled eyes looking into his, he brought his hand up and extended his finger. He slammed it into her blood-filled orb. It smashed through the eye and through the thin layer of bone behind. Jeth curled his finger into a hook and yanked it out along with a large chunk of what used to be the Roche’s skull and face. In her final moments, her muscles contracted and a snap echoed in the now silent courtyard.

Jeth tumbled over with the Roche landing on top. No one moved. Thalo was stunned, but he shook off his stupor and darted forward to his fallen brother. He arrived at the same time as a Roche from the landing craft. They stopped and eyed each other warily from across the pile. Thalo made to move closer, but all the Roche drew their weapons and pointed them at Thalo.

“No interfere,” the Roche said. “One must win, or terms not met.” Thalo held up his hands as if to say he understood. They waited, a soft groan emanated from the mound of flesh. The Roche shifted slightly and the sounds of breathing came from her body. The bodies shifted for a moment before the Roche female rolled off Jeth and came to a halt on her back.

Most of her face was missing. It was a bloody mangled mess. Jeth struggled to prop himself up on his elbows.

“Three days,” was all he said. The Roche looked at their fallen champion and then at Jeth. He nodded slightly and barked an order to his men who solemnly filed back into the landing craft. Thalo got a frantic call that the Roche fleet was backing off further still, and they were intercepting frantic transmission from the Esii to attack. The Roche would honor the terms and give the Nixa their time.

Thalo knelt down next to his brother and watched as the Roche filed back into their ship and the ramp closed. The ship took off and roared for the stars, losing a few pieces here and there. Thalo looked at his brother and smiled.

“Three and O, I’d say you can retire undefeated.”

“Thalo,” Jeth started and paused. “I can’t feel anything below my armpits.” Then he crashed down and passed out. Thalo began frantically calling for medical aid as he felt the bond grow weaker with every breath his brother took.

Jeth groaned and slowly opened his eyes. All he could see was a bright blur and his ears were filled with the yammering of a thousand voices. He tried to move, but nothing happened. He was immobilized or, worse yet, his entire body was paralyzed. He blinked his eyes repeatedly in an attempt to clear them. Slowly the world and everything in it came back into focus.

“Jeth.” He heard someone say his name and attempted to turn his head towards the voice. He had no luck. He had a strange detached feeling from his body. He shut his eyes and felt for his bondmate.

“Thalo, I can’t move!”
he shouted to his brother.

“Jeth, calm down.” The voice said again. “Your back was shattered. The docs are keeping you immobile to limit further damage while you heal.” Jeth opened his eyes and saw Thalo leaning over him. “It is only for a day or so until they and your nanites can repair the damage.” Jeth tried to talk but he couldn’t even open his mouth. “Don’t try and talk. Blinking is about all you can do now.”

“Will I walk again?”
Jeth asked over his telepathic link.

“Yes. Well, they think so anyways. They don’t know much about the human nanites but are impressed with what they see so far. Snow found the best surgeons on the planet to work on you, and they have been for the last twelve hours. They did all they could and sewed you back up. It’s up to the nanites now. They are keeping you immobilized and hooked up to a steady stream of nutrients to aid the nanites in their repairs,” Thalo said.

“Snow?”
Jeth asked.

“Upset, to say the least. Somehow she wrangled a small camera bot up on the surface and watched the whole thing. Security had to hold her at gun point to keep her from going to the surface when you got knocked onto your back,” Thalo said with a smile.

“Very emotional, that one is,”
Jeth replied.

“Speaking of that,” Thalo continued, “what the hell was in your pocket? The docs ran test on your blood but found no substances that shouldn’t be there. I saw you put your hand into a pouch when you were down and out. Then all of a sudden, you’re kicking ass. I knew you had to have injected something into your system to clear your head, but I couldn’t find anything.”

“I forgot. Go to the surface and search the battleground. It wasn’t a drug or stim I was reaching for. Before I left for the surface, Snow gave me a ring. It was special to her and she said it brought her luck. I had it in my pouch and when I hit the ground, it didn’t dig into me so I reached for it. It wasn’t there and I suddenly grew scared of Snow getting mad at me for losing it. That cleared my head and gave me back some energy.”

Thalo looked at his bondmate for a moment then began to laugh. Within seconds, he was doubled over in waves of hysterical laughter. His eyes watered and his breath came in gasps between gales of laughter. The door crashed open and Snow hurtled in.

“What is it, what’s wrong?” she nearly screamed at Thalo. Thalo gasped as he tried to explain. Snow reached back and smacked him full in the face.

“H-, he was-, more scared of you-, than the Roche,” Thalo managed to wheeze out through clenched teeth, and then dissolved back into laughter again. Snow glared at the laughing Worlder and shoved him out the door. She turned and walked over to Jeth. She leaned down to look into his open eyes and began to cry.  She kissed him gently on the lips and lay her head on his chest.

Uriel raced down the passageway as fast as his wings could take him. Where his skin was exposed, it was covered in the blood of his prey. His garments were, of course, still clean white and glowing in the semi dark of the connecting tunnels. He had already cleared out two of the underground bunkers beneath the surface of Nixa and was moving on to the next. Dozens of Nixa that had been possessed by the Esii had fallen to his devastating attacks. He killed with his bare hands. He lived for the feeling of their blood as it splashed over his body.

They tried to hide, but it was impossible. They could never hide their true selves from gaze. He was death and he was collecting his due. The fact that he was aiding a race he didn’t much care for was meaningless now. His mind was focused on the hunt. He could feel the next batch from miles away and the closer he got, the more distinct the feeling was. He would find these and dispatch them, and once again move onto the next location. He would never be able to get to them all. The planet was much too big for just one Kin to cover alone, but in a few days time there would be more than enough Esii on the surface to slack his thirst for their blood.

A grin was always on his face when he was hunting and killing. His hair was matted down with the dried blood of his victims, and a feral light shone in his eyes. To him, this was life. Being trapped on his homeworld for so long with no Esii to kill was pure agony for him. He was a weapon, made to be used on his enemies. He would never go back now. He was out and would stay that way. He would hunt until he was dead or every last Esii lay bleeding their life’s blood out onto his feet. He raced on into the dark of the tunnel, imagining the carnage that was to come.