“Hey, you fat fucker! We’ve got places to be and this whole moon is a criminal’s wet dream. So, how about you do us a favor and fuck off?” Ember gently suggested from my side.
“We’re going for diplomacy, then?” I asked her.
“Shaun, like you told me so long ago, in a fantasy world far away, these arseholes aren’t here for friendly chit-chat. Capiche?”
“Yeah. I know that,” I huffed. “But let’s at least find out what they want first.”
“Meh! You might have a point,” she smiled, which I loved. Under attack on an alien pirate moon, and Ember was still giving everyone shit with a smile on her face.
“The three of you need to stop moving forwards, now! Stop or we will shoot your legs out from under you.” He must have been under orders not to hurt us if he could because he looked like he really, really wanted to. I was impressed with his restraint; I knew how annoying we could be.
“What do you want?” I sighed. “We haven’t got all day.”
“Oh, but you have. At least until you’re executed for attacking galactic spaceships and taking Torax from their planet.”
“That wasn’t us, dude! Honestly, we wouldn’t do anything like that. Now, come on. Out of the way.” I made a shooting gesture, while at the same time asked Havok to come around in front of me. He happily obliged with a maniacal laugh as his cover fell away from him.
“Oh, baby! It’s my favorite time of the, EVER! Let’s chop some shitheads up, Shaun!”
“We will, Havok. Don’t you worry about it.”
Bebopaloobop raised his gun to shoot, as Havok slapped into my palm. “Put it down now, or I’ll put you down!” he snarled.
Everyone else was a second later to the party, but now this whole section of Arus was bristling with death-dealing devices. Remembering we were being followed, I took a quick look over my shoulder to see who was there. Four more armed aliens had their guns trained on us. Feeling concern for the Veiletians, I spoke in a hushed tone. “Hey, guys. I want you to clear the area. I don’t want you to get hurt, and it’s going to be messy.”
“Damn right, it's getting messy,” Havok announced to me.
There was no answer from the Veiletians.
“Guys?”
“Looks like they’ve already made that decision, Shaun. Now, fucking focus will you,” Ember snapped at me.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’ve got this. Stay behind me and defend yourselves against those guys. I’ll cover you as best I can. If you can get somewhere safe, do it.”
“Their weapons are plasma; they will only tickle,” Calparr smiled. “Ember should take cover between us.”
“Sounds good to me. These open pitched battles aren’t really my thing. You know, not being bulletproof.”
“Are you three stupid? You won’t make it out of here alive. Now, drop the weapons.”
I didn’t answer. I just started walking towards him again, Ember behind me, Calparr behind her, weapons raised facing the enemy at our rear.
“Last chance!” the guard shouted.
Havok actually giggled in my head as he charged himself up. Blue plasma flaring to life over his crescent moon blades. Then all hell broke loose… just not the kind I expected.
“Noooooooo!” Havok screamed after deflecting the first shot.
Gushing torrents of blood began pumping out of the severed neck arteries of all of the guards in front of us, almost as one. It was like some kind of sick art display as it sprayed all over the street in the panicked death throes of our attackers. I turned to see the four behind us in a similar disposition. “Fuck me! Was that the Veiletians?” I said to Ember.
“My kills. They took my kills!” Havok cried in my head.
She looked at me wryly. “Of course it was the Veiletians, dumbass. Now, let’s get moving. This is not going to go unanswered.”
“You’re right. We need to get to the ship, fast.'' Running now was probably our best option. So, off we went. I just had to assume that the Veiletians were with us.
I brought Calegg up on my comm. “Hello, Captain,” Calegg said, respectfully.
“Hey, Calegg. We're comin’ in hot, as usual. We were attacked on our way back; Arus guards, apparently.”
“Oh, shit. Are you all okay? Do you need us to come out and help?”
“No. I think a bunch of Torax kicking ass would turn this little scuffle into an intergalactic incident. Just fire up the engines. Get ready to fly as soon as we're aboard. Shit, are the repairs even complete?”
“Yes. Luckily, they were complete around two hours ago. I’ll have everyone ready in case we’ve no choice but to come down and help out… oh, Captain. A group of guards have just appeared on the gantry to the ship. Shall we deal with those, at least?”
“No, Calegg. Thanks for the heads up but we can sort that out. See you soon, and be ready to get the fuck out of here. As soon as that door goes up, I want to be like a well-baked shit, shooting out of Arus.”
“No problem, Captain. Piece of cake, yeah?”
“Yeah, Calegg,” I said as a shot fired by my head. I ended the communication just as we entered the final street leading to the docks. Plasma fire crackled through the air. I had to deflect the occasional shot from hitting me, and Ember seemed to be developing a knack for deflecting plasma fire herself.
Calparr, however, couldn’t give a fuck. He had a thin veneer of fire over his skin and just fired back merrily as plasma shots fizzled out on him. Looking round, I saw more uniformed guards appearing from adjoining streets. We were doing okay, but it was turning into an absolute shit-storm. “Not far. Come on!” I shouted. I fell back to make sure Calparr and Ember were in front of me and I could deflect incoming fire. As for the Veiletians, I could
