Traverian Grey was fast, and he was an excellent shot. The bounty hunter hardly had a moment to register his energy bolt missing entirely before Ivan sprang forward. In an impossibly fast motion, the enormous man ripped the rifle out of Grey’s hands and smashed it into the mercenary’s midsection.
Though the ballistic armor took the brunt of the impact, Grey staggered against the force of the blow. Before he could recover, Ivan seized the bounty hunter around the midsection and tore the helmet from his head in a swift motion. Surprised by the unbelievable strength his foe possessed, Grey didn’t react until Ivan grabbed and hurled him ten feet.
The bounty hunter crashed to the ground face first, smashing out a couple of teeth and cutting a hole in his lower lip. Dazed, he touched his forehead where a wide gash split.
“You are fighting very slowly, my friend.” He heard Ivan behind him. “I know you can do much better.”
Spitting blood, Grey snarled and spun around. He snatched two flechette pistols from his belt and fired.
Ivan ducked one burst and blocked the other with the helmet he still held. The razor cloud smashed into it, a few sliding by and slicing into Ivan’s body. Seeming not to notice the lacerations on his torso, Ivan hurled the helmet, tiny razors embedded within it, at Grey.
Still shocked at his opponent’s speed and strength, Grey managed to roll out of the way, dropping one pistol in the process. He brought the other to bear only to have it disintegrate in his hand as Ivan fired the half-bent energy rifle with frightening accuracy.
There was a pause. Ivan, with the rifle aimed at Grey, took a step forward. “I do not wish to kill you, my old friend. Please do not force me to.”
Breathing hard, blood streaming down his face and bits of the molten pistol clinging to his glove, Grey flitted a glance over to the other, fallen weapon. It was nearly within arm’s reach.
“Please don’t,” Ivan repeated.
Grey clenched his teeth. Without his helmet display, he couldn’t see the locations of the explosives he placed.
A deafening boom filled the air along with smoke and a shower of rock. Three of his buried explosives went, each close to the center of the campsite and away from where he lay. A high-pitched whine streaked into his ears as he snatched up the pistol and rolled. He brought the weapon to bear, ready to fire.
Ivan wasn’t there. Smoke and dust kicked up from the mines clouded around, and Grey couldn’t see any sign of his enemy. His augmented and normally insulated hearing still shrieked with the noise. Swiveling the pistol back and forth, he scanned, desperate to find Ivan. The bounty hunter’s eyes stung from blood, sweat, and dust. Grey blinked, trying to clear them.
Without even the slightest hint of detecting his foe’s approach, Grey’s arms clamped down at his sides. The pistol was knocked from his grasp, and a moment later the bounty hunter was hoisted into the air and slammed into the ground.
An audible crack from his ballistic armor cut through the shrieking in his ears. The wind rushed from his lungs, his forehead again rebounding off the hard ground. Stars danced in front of his eyes, and he coughed. In a daze, something was tugging, yanking at his legs.
The blast went off underneath him. His armor, the finest money could buy, was incredibly tough. Instead of blowing a hole through his torso, the explosive merely broke and cracked a total of six ribs and sent him flying through the air with Ivan still clinging to his back.
Grey impacted the ground, his mental haze bursting with pain as his newly damaged ribs cried out. He couldn’t hear anything at all, the obnoxious whine almost bursting his skull.
He felt the armor ripped free of his leg, the cold of the night air instantly chilling on his bare skin. Grey twisted the dial on one wrist. Tiny jabs poked at various points on his body, and his veins ignited with stimulant pouring into them.
Eyes flying open, the world snapped into sharper focus. Grey rolled over and kicked out, freeing his other leg from Ivan’s grasp and staggering his opponent. Using the moment, Grey stumbled to his feet and charged. He rammed into Ivan’s midsection, hoping to drive the huge man into the ground.
With a casual shove, Ivan sent the mercenary sprawling again. The dull, distant pain roared weakly, hidden behind the blood-boiling stimulant. Grey tried to scramble away, but his leg was seized again. Ivan bellowed and pulled, hands on either side of the bounty hunter’s thigh.
Grey’s mouth fell open as the armor, only slightly damaged from the fight, cracked and split apart down the seams. Ivan cast the broken shards aside and loomed over his foe.
Scores of cuts and lacerations dotted Ivan’s arms, legs, and torso. Blood leaked and dripped down the enormous man’s body. Shards of shrapnel poked out of the wounds and dust caked Ivan’s exposed skin, but the man didn’t seem to be at all bothered.
Grey reached down to activate another explosive.
Ivan shot a hand out, seizing Grey’s wrist. He yanked the bounty hunter to his feet, chopping with his other hand. The armor covering Grey’s arm shattered along with the wrist beneath it. This new pain screamed through the stimulant, and the crushed bits of the ballistic armor shook loose and fell away.
The mercenary fell to the ground as Ivan released him and walked a few paces away. Cradling the injured wrist, Grey clamored to his feet, trying to let his seething rage cut through the agony echoing everywhere in his body.
Ivan stood, arms folded and gripping the flechette pistol Grey dropped some time earlier. The expression on his face was stern, unyielding. Scrapes, gashes, and punctures stood out everywhere on his body, but Ivan didn’t appear the slightest bit fatigued or weakened by the fight.
Grey on the other hand was all but wrecked. The armor was torn from both of his legs, and his feet bled with minor cuts sustained from only seconds of moving on the rough ground. His head, concussed and still ringing from multiple explosions, muddled through a daze mixed with powerful stimulant. He couldn’t stand upright due to the broken ribs, and small bits of bone poked through the wrist Ivan destroyed.
Ivan shouted, cutting through the haze of Grey’s mind and the whine of his ears. “You are finished. Stop this now.”
Never in his life had Traverian Grey been defeated. Never had he failed, and never had he given up. Twisting his face into a snarl, completely unaware of where he was standing and where the bombs were, he punched another detonator.
As the aging man told his story, I noted each injury from the fight with the scars and missing pieces of his body. I believed it was still madness, but I began to understand why Grey had no choice but to revere, perhaps even worship the man who had broken him so easily.
“Rather than bleed to death after my arm and legs were shredded by the one that went off beneath me, I dragged myself over to my rifle.” He smirked. “It worked well enough to cauterize the wounds.”
“And Ivan was gone?” I asked, stifling a grimace.
“There was enough stim left to keep me part-way conscious, and the vitals monitoring of the chest piece, thank the stars it didn’t break, kept enough of me alive and out of shock. After the last one went off, I saw him walk away, chuck aside my gun, get in his ship, and blast on out.” Grey wheeled himself over to the basin. “Since you chatted with Lorric, I’m sure you pretty much know the rest.” He splashed water on his face.
I nodded.
“Well there you have it then.” The former mercenary ran a hand through thinning hair. “The downfall of the great Traverian Grey, laid out nice and neat for you. Of course, you probably aren’t really that interested in any of my stories. You and your employers are still looking to find out just how he managed to destroy that planet.”
Frowning, I asked, “Do you still believe he was telling the truth? Was he only a witness?”
Grey shrugged. “I think he was involved, but I doubt it was his fault. See, that ship of his, you know its name, right?”
“OLGA,” I said, “but that particular name has appeared often.”
The man wagged a finger at me. “Ah yes, a few weapons he carried and such, but I also heard it somewhere else. When I was digging out where to find him, I noticed it was the codename of the project down on Atropos
