Gabatrix: The Warrior of Silence

As they reached the next corridor, Stone could see the large loading dock that led to the outside. He couldn't see anything ahead as he kept both hands on his gun. He didn't see any threats ahead of him as they were about to reach the enormous room.

Ioren had to interject a little bit. She knew that Stone only had one round in his gun. If there were more men ahead, she needed to be ready to take them down. She moved up ahead and had entered the room.

The room wasn't anything imposing. It was mostly just a loading garage that connected to the other doors and hallways throughout the prison. However, it was remarkably spacious, and the main loading door was opened. There was a clear view of the ocean and a large landing bay pad dock that was outside of it. It was here that supplies could be regularly brought to the prison facility. The room was empty with signs that things had been dragged and pulled across the floor. A hasty evacuation was in progress, and the sounds of distant people had gone silent.

"Ioren, get ba....." were the only words Stone said when his voice was cut off. Something big had reached behind him and grabbed him. He didn't even see it coming.

Ioren turned and immediately saw it. Her gun was aimed at something that was even bigger than Stone. The monumental size only had to be one thing as she noted the appearance of the character. This was a woman of great strength and physical prowess as she was holding onto Stone with both her arms. The anthro shark-like Itrean stood at the height of eight feet. She wore a simple T-shirt and short-cut woven shorts. She had almost pink-colored hair that was tied up into two ponytails that hung behind her fin-like ears. Her gray smooth scale-like skin had black tattoos that indicated the similarities of the Dragon's Eye Syndicate. On her right shark-like pupil was a black tattoo of a tear near her protruding jaws. Her elongated tail ended with a chipped fin at the end. This could only be one thing. This was a Shal'rein.

"That is as far you two go......" the Itrean woman told the both of them. Her odd Japanese/French/Spanish-like accent was faint but noticeable. She had the deep resonating tone as Ioren had heard earlier from the prison intercom.

"Argh!" Stone struggled in the fin-like arms of the brutish shark woman. He grunted and tried to use his strength, but it was difficult. Ioren was well aware of the sheer strength and power that the Shal'rein had. There was a look of sheer anger and delight on the Itrean's face. She was actually able to inch forward out into the room with Stone trying to fight back. Ioren backed up to ensure that she was out of the Shal'rein's range. She only had a look of shock that couldn't be seen beneath the armored helmet. Her heart was racing, and she could feel her adrenaline running.

"So.....you are the two that took out my shipping center northwest of here..." the Shal'rein told them. "You caused quite a lot of damage to my little growing organization."

"I'll fucking...!" Stone tried to fight back as he tried to lift his gun upward and towards the Shal'rein's face. Even despite the enormous strength that he had, it was barely enough to counter the resisting physical power of the Shal'rein. Their indomitable bodies had it where she was simply using her clenching arms to hold him in place. She was able to grab onto Stone's arm wrist, twisting it enough to knock the gun to the hardened floor with a metallic thud. She used her four-digit web-like padded feet to kick it away from him.

"I don't think so, little human," the Shal'rein said as she focused her arm-pull onto his throat. She barely grunted. "Thanks to you two, I have lost everything that I made here. For that, I should try to kill you two."

Ioren couldn't say anything as she kept her gun aimed at the enemy. The Shal'rein simply chuckled a little bit.

"Ha, ha.....what are you waiting for, little Itrean?" the Shal'rein said. "Shoot me, and you risk hitting your human partner.....or perhaps.....mate...."

"Why?" Stone struggled to ask as he tried to breathe. "T'rintar.....work here! We......allies!"

"Oh?" the woman tried to tell them. "You think I work for those traitorous Shal'rein of the T'rintar clan. No.....no.....no....." she lowered her voice a little bit in a sinister manner. "Let me tell you about the little attack on this world. The one that we failed so well at......."

It suddenly dawned on what this Shal'rein was that took Ioren aback. This was no T'rintar Shal'rein. This was an enemy Shal'rein from the opposing clan. This was an Itrean that was a part of the failed invasion Shal'rein clan fleet to conquer Oshun.

"Heh...heh.....my scout ship just reached the atmosphere when the ship took a hit," she tried to explain. "I was the only survivor as the wreckage of my ship crashed into the ocean. I.....survived and when I came to this....lovely little shore.....I found a bunch of humans.....all abandoned by their fellow kin. Not.....too bad, of course. So easy to learn your language.....so easy to become the most powerful of the rouges."

"You want a fair fight?" Stone told her. "Let me go, and you'll...."

"Shhh.....shhhh," the Shal'rein said with some deviant excitement. "Are you trying to proposition me!? I haven't even told you my name yet. My name is Shaka'ra, the leader of the organization of Dragon's Eye....soon to leave this world."

"Fight me or kill me! Make your...." His voice got muffled a little bit as Shaka'ra's hand tried to cover his mouth. Her hand alone took up much of his face.

"So feisty.....little one," Shaka'ra explained almost in a mocking tone. "You see, I figure that the humans would eventually launch some sort of response to stop me and my little....money-making operation here, but only two? You are acting as your own, or perhaps the human infrastructure is that weak to even send an army to stop me. So powerful you two are.....you make great cohorts to the future of my.....booming business. And!.....," she lowered her head to Stone's ear. "Because there is a little bit of a setback, I'm moving my nice little business to the Paloran asteroid belt. I have two little simple choices to make. Two little ones.....heh...."

Ioren couldn't get a clear shot. Shaka'ra had Stone firmly in her arms. His eyes showed nothing but raw anger as he tried to bite the fingers of the Shal'rein woman. She kept his body close, using him as a body shield.

"Shoot her!" Stone was trying to order Ioren. She couldn't respond to that order.

"The first choice is that I simply kill you both," Shaka'ra said. "That would be easy, wouldn't it, but it would be too boring. The other choice is that I have you two working for me.....maybe just one. How about this? Toss your weapon down and kick them to me, or he DIES!"

Ioren was in turmoil with herself. Stone was telling her "no," but Shaka'ra was opening her jaws for her to see. There had to be hundreds of razor-sharp serrated teeth. She was preparing to deliver a lethal bite onto the neck of Stone.

"You have the count of three....." Shaka'ra continued. "One.......I savor the bite delicately. Two......we are so much closer to having a wonderful dinner on my trip to Palora. And...."

Ioren tossed one of her AKT-2s down to the floor. She then kicked it over towards her. The Shal'rein's mouth lifted away a little bit as Stone tried to elbow her. Instead, she lowered her voice.

"So good......." Shaka'ra said in an almost seductive tone. "I'll tell you what. I broke many of the men to work with me, but I've heard the rumors from the new ones dropped off here. Humans can impregnate and produce male offspring with us Itreans. I couldn't decide on what I wanted. Are they lies? Are they the truth? So strong for you two to almost wipe out my gang. Perhaps, you can become my new mate. Think about it, little human. Maybe, I will even spare her. Your little mate will watch.....over and over again.....as you give me a....."

"Fuck you!" He yelled out as the hand left his mouth.

"That's the idea.......but our time is growing shorter. My ride is leaving, and the little Itrean must pack lightly. Toss your other guns down and kick them to me, or I'll change my mind."

"Don't fucking do it, Ioren!" Stone yelled at her. "Shoot me if you need to shoot her down, you Golarren bitch!"

Ioren shook a little bit as she knew that Stone was only trying to provoke him to take action. She was slowly reaching behind her to grab her other gun. Despite the pain that resided in her shoulder, she unclicked it from her back.

"Oh.....you are a Golarren?" Shaka'ra mocked. "Heh...." She chuckled. Her hundreds of teeth were displayed in a great smile. "A freak of the freaks that call themselves the T'rintar. Don't worry, little Itrean. I won't eat you.....unless you don't want to join me. I promise that you will have a better life than you will ever had....One!......" she paused as she turned her head and purplish pony-tails. "Two!......"

Ioren tossed her other AKT-2 towards the ground. She kicked it away and down to her feet. The Shal'rein then responded by kicking them both away from her and straight outside.

"You really expect you will be able to get away from Dragon's Eye!?" Stone questioned her. "You will get shot down!"

"You think I wouldn't have gotten this far without an escape plan?" Shaka'ra asked. "I always have a plan. Your other pistol, little Golarren, NOW!"

Ioren started to hold up her hands as she began to act like she was going to get on her knees. She couldn't display the emotions on her face, but her body language was more than enough to see it. Her hands were up as if she was begging for mercy to the Shal'rein. Instead, it made the anthro-shark-like woman laugh. Ioren even lowered herself to the ground and knees as a display of subservience.

"Begging!? You beg for your lives? How exciting to see," Shaka'ra said. "I like counting down, but maybe, I might skip a number this time."

It was here that Ioren used an opportunity to convey something drastically crucial that only the marine would ever know. She used her hands to convey the words of sign language. It was almost odd to look at, but one that Shaka'ra simply dismissed as further prattling with Ioren's begging. Ioren submitted the message as "I throw, we fight together."

Stone saw the message and understood it. He at first wondered what it meant, but it was enough to comprehend that she was acting like she was giving up. He saw her take her other pistol and toss it to the floor. It slid across the hard floor as Shaka'ra kicked it to the side.

"Keep going...." the Shal'rein said as her patience was fully gone. "One......"

Ioren grabbed her spare magazines and tossed them to her to gesture to her that she was surrendering. The armored Itrean then grabbed her last disk grenade and tapped a button on it as she threw her previous magazine down. She then tossed the other grenade right to her feet as it clicked to the ground. It was here that Stone understood what Ioren did. He gave a look of gratification as he closed his eyes and waited for what was going to happen next. The Shal'rein then tried to kick the grenade, but it didn't move.

"Wha?" she asked as she looked straight down at the handheld explosive.

EXPLOSION.....a bright light erupted as the disk grenade gave off a bright flash and harmless non-lethal concussive blast. Stone had anticipated this as his closed eyelids and hearing protection were barely enough to resist the explosion, but Shaka'ra was not as lucky. It staggered her as Stone jolted in her grip. Using his strength, he powered out of her arms and broke free. He spun around and threw a powerful haymaker right into the Shal'rein's pointed face. He charged directly into the powerful woman as he started to deliver a fury of blows and fists into the woman.

Ioren was about to make a run to join up in the fight, but she knew that fighting an unarmored Shal'rein was outright insane even with her armor. She was half her size alone and no match in physical combat. She then turned to see all the guns that were kicked away.

"I'll.....fucking......kill......" Stone yelled as his fists were delivering blow after blow into the Shaka'ra. A fist would slam into her stomach. Another one would slam into her right breast. Another would hit her in the neck. The Shal'rein's immense size was allowing her to resist much of the hits, but it wasn't as if she was invincible either. The sheer power of each of his fists was having a marginal effect. If he was a typical human being, the strength wouldn't be enough, but with Stone, he was far stronger. Each fist careening into her was causing the Shal'rein to back up.

Adrenline kicked in as Shaka'ra's eyes were quickly readjusting to the sudden shock. Realizing that she was under attack, she spun and whipped her large fin-like tail into Stone. He didn't anticipate this as she smacked him in the left hip hard. The blunt force shot him several feet, hurdling and rolling across the hard floor. She could see Ioren darting straight towards the guns.

"Death it is!" Shaka'ra yelled as she started to run towards Ioren. She knew that even in her unarmored state, that she was still vulnerable to the small weapons. She had to stop Ioren over Stone.

Despite the great speed of Ioren and reaching the guns first, the Itrean's time was marginally short. She managed to grab one of her AKT-2s and do a marginal roll onto the floor. She managed to point it directly into the Shal'rein's chest when she pulled the trigger. In less than a second, the Shal'rein had been on top of her. The burst of rounds that came out of the gun was enough to put two bullets above her right breast and shoulder. In the split second of shooting, however, Shaka'ra had swiped and knocked the gun entirely out of Ioren's hand and onto the ground.

Ioren knew that she was in deep trouble. The towering strength and power of a Shal'rein were incredible. The ravenous state that she saw in her enemy was terrifying. She felt the powerful arm grab her, lift her neck and body up before she slammed her down into the hard floor. Shaka'ra then produced a sizeable fist as she brought it straight down into the Itrean's chest. The monumental impact could be felt throughout her entire body. The punch met armor, and it was the armor that almost couldn't stop it. The force was diverted into a crushing blow onto Ioren as she felt a bone snap or crack in her frame. She had nothing but pain reside within her body. The armor was taking a beating.

"Too bad I don't have my gun, thanks to your mate!" Shaka'ra said.

Stone had gotten back up as he began to pull two things out from one of his pockets and the other from a hidden right boot holster. Each second was beyond value as he knew that Ioren could be dead at any moment. Even though somewhat winded from the tail swipe, his adrenaline was in full swing. He started to charge into Shaka'ra, gritting his teeth and releasing his full fury towards his enemy.

Ioren was struggling for her life as the Shal'rein was releasing her exorbitant power over her. She thrashed about as she was pinned to the ground. She waved her tail and flailed her arms and claws at her, but nothing could be done about it. With one hand, Shaka'ra grabbed the armored metal tail of Ioren. With one hand gripping her neck, she used the other hand to hold the midsection of her tail. She quickly made a twisting motion as the armored skin couldn't withstand the force pressed onto it. The tail was bent in half as Ioren felt the bones break. Only the adrenaline that she had masked some of the pain, but she was well aware that her tail had been broken. Her throat was threatening to be shattered next as the crushing hand was squeezing the life from her. Her life flashed before her eyes as she knew that she could be dead at any moment's notice.

Suddenly, there was gunfire behind her back. In less than a second, Stone had fired the OCP-3 pistol from the police chief straight into her. Using his left hand to fire, he put three bullets into her left before he leaped into the air. Shaka'ra had little time to react as the seemingly small bullets had penetrated her. She hissed and screamed in recoil as Stone slammed into her backside. In his right hand was his switchblade survival knife. He plunged it onto the other side of her back and began to stab over and over repeatedly. The blade would chop and cut as it dug deep to be retracted and stuck back in.

The pain that hit Shaka'ra was immense as she let go of Ioren. Ioren, on the other hand, was gasping for air as she had been saved at the last minute of the human boulder that was named Stone. She struggled to move as her tail failed to respond. She felt nothing but pain, and her body was starving to breathe. She very briefly could see the shark-like woman that had pulled away and was struggling to pull the marine off her. Stone was a volcano that was going off. His face beat red with sheer unadulterated savagery. His anger had been utterly unleashed onto his target.

Despite the knife stabs and gunshots, the Shal'rein was seemingly unphased at first. By now, she had at least five gunshot wounds, but her immense size made them seem almost like pinpricks. Even the knife stabbing might as well have been stabbing a toothpick into someone. Her adrenaline was in full swing, and even with Stone neatly wrapped onto her, it wouldn't take much for her to use her left arm and hand to yank the marine off. Unfortunately, the knife was still lodged into her right rear shoulder as Stone was knocked off of her. He tried to raise the pistol to continue firing into her. Her tail once again came into play to slam into his hand and knocking it to the floor.

Ioren turned to see the discarded guns as she started to use her sapped strength to crawl to them. Her fingers stabbed into the hard floor as she dragged herself to reach it. The sooner she could get to it, the sooner the fight could end in their favor.

"Argh!" Stone yelled in raw fury. He saw the Shal'rein had turned to face him. She balled her hands into fists as she made a couple of swings into the marine. He, in turn, managed to divert the blows in a set of well-crafted blocks. He then did a body slam headfirst into her as Shaka'ra's feet tried to drill into the ground to hold her in place.

Ioren had reached one of her AKT-2s. She was still gasping for air as she flipped around onto her back. With an unsteady grip and shaken body, she tapped the button for her gun and aimed it at Shaka'ra, but there was a significant problem. Both of the two were too close together. Locked in grueling hand-to-hand combat, she didn't have a clear shot.

"Fucking die!" Stone screamed at her. He began to do a series of left punches into her gut as he was tightly wrapped into her. Meanwhile, in response, Shaka'ra was doing left elbow swings into Stone's back. The repeated blows were finally having an effect as they weakened the marine a little bit in his resolve to fight her. She shoved him off of her but only by so far. Stone was still pressing his attack as both locked hands and pushed their full force onto each other. It became a pushing match as the towering woman looked over Stone.

"So strong for a human!" Shaka'ra grunted. Her strength was weakening a little bit as blood was coming out of her back. The injuries to her organs were having a marginal effect on her performance. Stone, on the other hand, was using all his might to push into the Shal'rein. Both of their hands were locked as Shaka'ra was trying to summon her last ounce of strength against him.

Ioren still couldn't get a clear shot. She was struggling to catch her breath, but the impact on her body was disorienting. She continued to try to regain enough of her strength as she tried to crawl closer to ensure that she wouldn't miss.

"Once we reach land or water...." Shaka'ra told him. "You will lose!" With that, she swung her tail around and smacked it into Stone just enough that it disoriented the grip lock of strength that they had. The shark-like woman then jumped onto Stone as she momentarily hugged him, opened her jaws wide, and brought them down onto the marine's shoulder. Her razor-sharp teeth bore into his body armor and flesh like hundreds of mini knives. The bite force was so strong that Stone swore that he heard the collar bone crack.