Jon Messenger - Fall of Icarus

“Keep it down!” the Uligart ordered. “You think I’m going to get other people involved and share my fortune? No, you’re mine and mine alone.”

Keryn looked down and noticed the gun wavering slightly in his hand. His grip was awkward, as though he didn’t usually carry a pistol. She didn’t notice the traditional calluses that would mark a steady gunman. The Uligart’s hands seemed smooth, the hands of a storeowner and not a gunfighter.

She took a step forward, smiling broadly. “First of all,” Keryn said condescendingly, “this isn’t the first time I’ve had a pistol pointed at me, nor will it be the last. Go ahead and put that thing away before someone gets hurt.”

The Uligart took a step back, his eyes locking intently on the Wyndgaart woman. “Stay back,” he stuttered.

“And secondly…” Adam rumbled as he stepped forward. His hand shot out in a blur, catching the pistol near the trigger well and smashing the Uligart’s fingers between Adam’s fist and the pistol’s grip. With a grunt of pain, the pistol went flying from the storekeeper’s hand and was lost in the desert beyond.

“…you really should have called for help,” Keryn finished as she stepped forward.

The Uligart’s eyes opened in surprise as Keryn’s knife slid smoothly into his abdomen. The sharp blade slashed through organs as she turned the knife upward until the tip of the blade entered the Uligart’s right lung. He opened his mouth to scream, but only a gurgle escaped. He leaned forward, he weight falling on Keryn’s shoulder. Slowly, as she supported his weight, she lowered the storekeeper down to the hard, desert clay as his blood soaked his shirt and pants. Once he was firmly on the ground, Keryn leaned back and looked at the Uligart, who looked surprised but peaceful on the ground. With a sharp twist, she pulled her knife free, splashing her own arms with the Uligart’s dark blood. She angrily realized how much she wanted to do the same thing to Cardax. Looking up with a renewed determination, Keryn led Adam out of the town and into the desert separating the mining community from their landing field.

The gunfire Keryn expected never came. Whether their distraction worked better than she had anticipated or the townsfolk had lost their heart once Cardax was gone, she didn’t know. However, she counted her blessings as she and Adam sprinted through the tough shrubs that littered the desert floor. As they rounded the edge of the plateau and the landing field came into view, flames leapt from the bottoms of two of the ships as they ignited their burners and began lifting off from the planet’s surface. The two ships seemed fairly nondescript, but Keryn knew that one of the two carried the traitorous Cardax. Increasing her speed, she sprinted the rest of the distance to the cleared landing zone. By the time she arrived, however, the air was thick with traces of burning plasma exhaust. The smell burned her lungs and caused her eyes to water. More importantly to her, though, was the fact that both ships were little more than distant specks on the horizon by the time she reached the nearest of the still parked ships. Cardax was getting away and she had yet to even reach the Cair Ilmun .

As they hurried through the smoky haze, the exhaust from the departing ships became thicker. The once distinct figures of parked ships became nondescript, amorphous shapes all around Keryn. She staggered forward, supported only by Adam’s comforting touch on her back. Keryn’s eyes burned and she coughed roughly as she searched for the telltale lines of the Cair Ilmun . With tears streaking from her eyes, she didn’t notice the limp shape lying on the ground before her. Keryn’s foot caught on the figure and she fell to her knees before the body.

“Stop!” Keryn yelled moments before Adam would have tripped over the body as well.

Adam stopped and pulled free his rifle. His soldier instincts took control as he turned, scanning for any nearby threat. “Is it one of ours or one of theirs?”

The body was face down before her and, in the darkness, it was hard to make out any details. Frowning, she slipped her hands underneath the body in order to roll it over. As her hands slid between the body and the sand, she felt them sink into a thick, tacky fluid. In surprise, she immediately pulled her hands away. Dripping from her fingers, a mixture of sand and blood fell from her fingers in congealed droplets.

Though she felt her stomach turn, she slid her hands back beneath the body and rolled it over. The face was badly torn and bloodied, but evidently Uligart. Keryn let out a sigh of relief and sat down heavily in the sand.

“It’s not one of ours.”

“There are more over here,” Adam said coldly.

Keryn didn’t bother looking at the other torn figures that were strewn around them. She already knew how they would appear. The Uligart’s stomach had been torn open and the exposed entrails were coated in sand. The man’s throat had also been torn away, leaving a ragged wound from ear to ear. Keryn felt bile rise in her throat at the sight. While she hoped that this was the work of one of her teammates, she feared that they had met a similar fate.

From behind her, sand crunched beneath a heavily booted foot. Keryn leapt to her feet and pulled free her pistol, as Adam turned toward the sound as well, his rifle at the ready. From out of the smoke, a humanoid shape emerged. The pink, fleshy skin and straw-like hair showed predominantly Pilgrim features, though most of his skin was covered in blood. His arms were held defensively before him, his palms outward, in a sign of peace. Despite the reassurances that the Pilgrim was unarmed, Keryn and Adam didn’t lower their weapons.

As they watched, the fleshy skin began to peel away from the Pilgrim’s hands and face. It sank beneath the surface, revealing the cold, smooth Lithid exterior. The clothes themselves melted as well, all part of the illusion created by Penchant as he walked unnoticed through the landing field.

With a sigh of relief, Keryn lowered her weapon. “Penchant. Where is Cardax?”

The featureless face motioned toward the stars above. “He left on one of the two ships.”

“Which one?” Keryn asked impatiently.

Penchant looked toward the distant horizon for a moment before turning back and shrugging. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Keryn asked indignantly. “How can you not know? This was your one responsibility!”

“I was a little busy!” Penchant yelled back, his voice sounding like boulders crashing together. The Lithid motioned toward the bodies strewn about. “Cardax left us a present while you were gone.”

“McLaughlin,” Adam interrupted. Keryn, too, remembered the radio transmission saying that the Pilgrim had been injured. “Where is he?”

“Cerise already took him into the Cair Ilmun , but he has been hurt pretty bad. He was standing close to a grenade when it exploded.”

“Rombard and Keeling?” Adam asked, though he lacked the conviction in his voice.

Penchant shook his head. Keryn felt her heart sink. She had no doubt that Rombard and Keeling were already dead. Now, with McLaughlin injured as well, that nearly reduced her team in half, and they were no closer to capturing Cardax. Grimacing, Keryn realized that she no longer wanted to capture Cardax. To hell with the High Council and their directives. Keryn had every intention of making the Oterian pay for what he did to her team on Pteraxis.

“Get in the ship,” Keryn said sternly. “We have a smuggler to kill.”

“You mean catch?” Adam asked.

“I didn’t say catch.”

Without another word, the trio, led by Penchant, found the Cair Ilmun and climbed aboard. A part of Keryn wanted to go to the medical bay and check on McLaughlin. The more sensible side, however, knew that the more she delayed, the better the chance that Cardax would escape. Instead, she turned toward the cockpit and strapped herself into the pilot’s chair. Bypassing the majority of ignition protocols, Keryn cold started the engine and, within moments, the Cair Ilmun was lifting off the planet’s surface.