Pinwheel Remastered

Around the corner came a Drone, its iridescent shell shining under the red light like a waxed sports car, its compound eyes glowing an eerie green. The mandibles where its mouth should have been flexed and twitched as it raised its plasma pistol, aiming it at my face. I stared down the conducting rail, watching as sparks of energy began to crackle between them.

An orange blur removed its arm before it could fire, the severed limb dropping to the floor, twitching like the leg of a spider. The insect hardly even reacted, turning to look up at Raz as she prepared a second blow, viscous ichor the color of pus leaking from the wound.

She struck it across the face with all of her strength, roaring like a lion, her vicious claws leaving inch-deep furrows in its carapace as she sent it reeling with the force of her blow. It impacted the wall on the far side of the corridor, but rather than collapse, it steadied itself as if preparing to fight back. How was the thing still standing? I could see the exposed, pink flesh beneath the shell of its face, fluid pouring from its mandibles.

It drew its knives, coming at Raz with no concern for its injuries, the ornate blades glinting as they whipped through the air. It sliced into her thigh, then cut across her stomach, blood welling after a momentary delay. The thing was half her height, it couldn't reach anything else.

Raz didn't even flinch, weathering the blows. Instead, she reached down and closed her furry hand around its head, even as it flailed at her forearm with its daggers. I heard the crack as her claws pierced its brittle shell for purchase, then she placed her paw-like foot against its thorax, grunting with the effort as she kicked. Her powerful thigh bulged as she ripped the alien apart, tearing its head from its body. Something resembling a twisted rope of nerves and veins dangled from the severed head as the body keeled over, Raz throwing her grizzly trophy like a football.

"Raz!" I exclaimed, watching the crimson blood trickle from her wounds to stain her blue uniform. "You're hurt!"

"Don't worry about me," she snarled, "this is nothing. Get the Sergeant to safety!"

I began to drag Vasiliev backward, the Sergeant groaning in pain as his wound sizzled. The smell was turning my stomach, but I fought back the bile that was rising in my throat, handing him to a pair of recruits who propped him against a nearby wall. I wasn't sure what we could do for him right now, but if we didn't fight the Bugs off, none of us would be doing anything for much longer.

"More are coming!" Raz shouted.

Harry ran past me, making for the severed Bug arm that still clutched its plasma pistol. He snatched it from the stiff fingers, holding the alien weapon in his hand and examining it hastily. It was made from what looked like orange resin, with exposed metal along the magnetic rails, oddly crude in appearance despite its obvious technological nature.

"How the fuck do you fire these things?" he complained, searching for some kind of trigger. He seemed to find it, because he leaned out into the corridor, firing off a shot. He ducked back in, avoiding a volley of return fire. "Shit, there's half a dozen of 'em down there!"

"Raz!" I shouted, "find the Sergeant's gun!"

She could pick it out far more easily in the semi-darkness with her feline eyes, and she stooped to grab it, tossing it to me. It was like a toy in her hands, she couldn't have gotten her finger through the trigger guard. I caught it and ran to Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder as I readied the pistol.

"Let's do it!"

We leaned out into the corridor, firing plasma and caseless rounds at the Bugs. They were clustered twenty feet or so down the hallway, perhaps deterred by the sight of the severed head that was resting on the floor at our feet. I saw one of them take a plasma bolt to the chest, its carapace caving in on itself as it melted. The lighting was too poor for any measure of accuracy, but I laid down suppressing fire, the rounds creating showers of sparks and ricocheting off the walls.

The corridor was suddenly illuminated by flashes of light, the Bugs popping their wrist-mounted shields, the glow reflecting off their colorful carapaces. They began to advance in a phalanx, the rounds from my pistol melting harmlessly on contact, while Harry's weapon didn't seem to have the rate of fire required to overload them.

"Here they come!" Harry shouted. "Should we fall back?"

"Where would we go?" I asked. "If we can't stop them here, they'll just hunt us down in the tunnels!"

Raz stepped forward, but I put a hand against her belly to stay her. She was tough, but she wasn't plasma-proof. The moment that she stepped out into that corridor, she'd be no better off than Vasiliev.

I heard a low rumbling sound, and a giant, scaly hand reached down to ease me out of the way as one of the Krell lumbered by. It was followed by the second, Raz pressing herself up against the wall to avoid them. They marched forward, their movements slow and deliberate, their weight making the metal grates beneath our feet bounce. They proceeded toward the end of the corridor, just as the glow of the Bug shields became visible. They were almost on top of us.

The lead Krell suddenly accelerated, as if footage of it was being played back at three times the normal speed. The massive alien powered forward in a blur of green scutes, muscles that put even Raz to shame rippling beneath its scales, its weight making the corridor shake. It loosed a guttural bellow that brought to mind images of dinosaurs, its hunched form rounding the corner like a scaly battering ram, its momentum making it drift like a truck taking a turn too quickly. Its open jaws were lit by the colorful plasma as it faced the Bugs, revealing rows of jagged teeth. They could move so quickly when they wanted to, despite their immense weight and their usual sluggishness.

It vanished, its long tail sliding out of view, the second Krell loosing a similar roar as it followed behind the first. I saw flashes of light, heard the booming sound of the reptiles throwing their weight around, and I chased after them with my pistol ready.

When I turned the corner, I saw a scene of carnage. The Krell had used their size and weight to crush and smash the far smaller insects. There were bodies strewn everywhere, their carapaces splintered and crushed like someone had taken a giant lobster cracker to them. I could see the pink meat within, their bodily fluids dripping down through the metal grate and smeared on the walls.

I heard a terrible cracking sound, watching the lead Krell emerge from another junction in the corridor, a flailing Betelgeusian trapped in its alligator-like maw. With a sound like splintering wood, the giant reptile bit down, its teeth penetrating the creature's shell and crushing it. The Krell shook its head like a dog with a toy, then threw the now limp Bug against the wall, where it fell to lie lifeless on the deck. I noticed that there were burn marks from the plasma pistols on the Krell's underbelly. The Bugs hadn't got off many shots before the reptile had barreled into them, but it still looked painful, its tough scales charred in places. It certainly wasn't immune to damage, but on such a large and sturdy creature, the injuries were not incapacitating.

I was shocked to see how brutal the gentle giants could be when provoked, but at the same time, I was relieved that the Bugs were no longer a threat. What would we have done without them?

"Get their weapons," I said, "the shields too."

Harry crouched, struggling to pull one of the wrist devices off a ruined Drone, and the other humans stepped gingerly through the gore to retrieve their pistols. I gave my Krell buddy a pat on the thigh, wishing that there was something I could do for his burns, but he seemed none the worse for wear. Even on their underbellies, their scales must be incredibly thick and resilient.

As I turned around, I saw that one of the recruits was helping Vasiliev along, and I was relieved to see that he was still conscious. Nobody else knew how to navigate these tunnels. His burn looked awful, the fabric of his clothes had melted to the pink, charred skin beneath. He gritted his teeth in pain as he leaned on the trainee, appraising our handiwork.

"Not a bad job, recruits," he muttered. "I'm going to be out of a job if you keep doing it for me."

"You alright, sir?" I asked. I made to return his handgun to him, but he shook his head and gestured for me to keep it, the motion making him wince.

"I'm not going to die today, recruit. Keep the gun, looks like you know how to use it."

"Where to next?" Harry asked, strapping one of the shields around his wrist like a watch.

"We carry on to the armory," Vasiliev replied, nodding toward one of the junctions in the maze of hallways. "Keep an eye out for more Bugs, there will be more where they came from. Or rather, keep a nose out," he said as he glanced at Raz.

CHAPTER 7: TRIAL BY FIRE

We marched for a while longer, Vasiliev and the wounded Krell hanging near the back, with the armed humans at the front. We'd figured out how to use the shield projectors, they were handy little things, devices about the size of a wrist-mounted computer that could create a barrier of plasma roughly the size of a garbage can lid. If we came across more Bugs, we could use their own tactics against them.

"You doing alright, Raz?" I asked as she walked beside me.

"What, this?" she asked as she gestured to her blood-stained coveralls. "This is nothing, those knives are tiny. I've had more serious cuts than this during play fights. Borealans heal fast, I'll be fine."

"Thanks...by the way," I added.

"For what?"

"For saving my ass back there. If you'd been a second slower, my face would be looking like Vasiliev's shoulder right about now."

"You'd have done the same for me," she replied with a shrug. "Besides, that's what friends are for, right?"

"Well, I owe you one."

"Oh, I have some ideas about how you can pay me back," she said as a grin spread across her face. She leaned in closer so that nobody else could hear her, whispering in my ear. "Most of them involve your tongue."
I straightened my collar, trying not to look flustered as we rounded another corner.

"We're here," Vasiliev said, "the armory is through that door."

One of the recruits helped him over to a keypad, and he typed in an access code, the bulky door swinging open to reveal another short passageway. We made our way through, and behind the second reinforced door was the armory. I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped out of the dingy, cramped service tunnels and into a whitewashed room, the familiar sight of the range greeting me.

Suddenly, a man wearing a yellow uniform and wielding an XMR emerged from behind an upturned table, aiming the barrel of the rifle right at my face. He lowered it just as abruptly, his eyes wide.

"Oh fuck, I almost blew your heads off! Get inside, and get that door closed!"

We piled into the room, one of the recruits closing the reinforced door with a click. The man, he was probably an engineer judging by his attire, came over and helped Vasiliev onto a nearby chair.

"Sitrep," the Sergeant coughed, gritting his teeth as he shifted to get more comfortable.

"The torus was boarded," the engineer replied, glancing at us nervously. "I was told to lock down the armory and to await the arrival of a group of trainees."

"That's us," I said, "are we the only ones that made it?"

"I haven't seen anyone else," the engineer replied. "Some Marines stopped by to resupply a while ago, but nobody has come to the door since. I swear, you nearly scared the life out of me. What the hell were you lot doing in the service tunnels?"

"There are Bugs all over the torus, and we were unarmed," Vasiliev explained. "I had to bring the recruits here via the tunnels, we wouldn't have made it ten feet out there."

"How many of them are on the station?" the engineer continued, "have they called an evacuation yet?"

"We didn't get any orders to evacuate," Harry replied, "they told us to come here."

"As much as I appreciate a good conversation, I'm kind of suffering from third-degree plasma burns over here," Vasiliev complained. "If one of you could go get a medkit, I'll consider not punching you once I regain the use of my arm..."

The engineer nodded, hurrying away to an adjacent room. I was relieved that we were finally safe, but there was still a battle going on outside on the torus. Could we really sit here and do nothing while Marines fought and died for our sake? The armory was full of XMRs and ammo, our own personalized weapons were here. I glanced back at my fellow recruits. One Krell was tending to his injured friend, while the humans were milling about around Vasiliev. The three Borealans were off to one side, looking as uncertain as I had ever seen them.

"Are we just going to stand here?" Harry asked, beating me to the punch. Vasiliev opened one eye, peering at him as if anticipating his rant. "We're surrounded by guns, and we know how to use them. Let's get out there and help!"

"I agree," I chimed in, the Sergeant turning his eye on me. "All due respect, sir, we handled those Bugs in the service tunnels. We can handle the ones on the torus, too, give the Marines some support."

"Fuck that," one of the other humans interjected. "Did you see how those things fight? If the Marines got overrun, what the hell do you expect us to do? We don't have armor, we haven't even completed our training!"

"The Sergeant has authority," Raz growled, the recruit going silent under her amber stare. All eyes turned to Vasiliev as he slouched in his chair. The engineer came rushing back to him, taking a knee beside him and opening up a little medical pouch. He withdrew some kind of cooling gel, spreading it on the wound gingerly as the Staff Sergeant gritted his teeth.

"My orders were to get the recruits to the armory and to hole up," Vasiliev said as the engineer applied a bandage over the burn. "But considering that I've already lost track of ninety percent of the recruits...I don't see how I can carry out those orders. I won't order anyone to go out there, but if you want to help defend the station, then I won't stop you."

Harry shot me a grin, moving over to the racks where our weapons were stored. Raz and I followed after him, and I wondered how many of the recruits would join us. All of the humans were onboard besides for the one who had spoken up. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, scowling at us.

"This is bullshit," he grumbled, "I'm not going to go out there and get killed. None of you know what you're doing, we weren't trained for this."

I couldn't blame him too much, this wasn't what we had signed up for, but it would have been our reality eventually if we had succeeded in becoming Marines.

The two Krell lumbered toward us too, one of them stopping along the way to let the engineer dress his wounds. The three Borealans remained where they were, huddled together and glancing around suspiciously with their yellow eyes.

"I'm sick of this," I heard Raz growl. Her tail whipped back and forth as she marched over to them, flexing her claws like she was preparing for a fight. "You bring shame on Elysia!" she snapped, her voice dripping with malice as she confronted the aliens. They seemed alarmed by her sudden outburst, closing ranks and baring their sharp teeth at her. "Is this the courage of a Borealan warrior? Huddling in a shelter while others do your fighting for you? Will you not lift a claw to help?"

One of them hissed something in their native language at her, and Raz snarled a response.

"Speak the language of the humans! This is their station, they are our pack now."

"You are not Alpha any longer," one of them replied.

"And where is your Alpha? Xhe was beaten like a kitten caught stealing from the meat locker, and unless you want to face the same fate, you will obey me."

"R-Raz led us straight before," one of the other Borealans added, glancing at her fellows nervously. "Perhaps...without Xhe here, we should follow her lead. She has proven herself with the human rifles, after all."

"You are disgraced," another added, "we will not follow you."

"Then do you challenge my dominance, Yuza?" Raz spat as she turned to face the offending Borealan. "Step forward and claim the mantle for yourself, if you're so certain of my disgrace. Prove it with tooth and claw."

The one called Yuza turned her eyes to the floor. The larger of the three stepped forward, however, her head held high. The two began to face off, Raz's ears flattening against her hair as she circled her opponent. I glanced at Vasiliev, but he wasn't making any move to intervene. Was this normal for the aliens? Was this how they decided the hierarchy of the pack? The one that they called Xhe had taken Raz's place in the social order, but she was in the medbay right now. What did that make these Borealans, the third or fourth strongest?

Raz's challenger lunged at her, slicing the sleeve of her uniform with her sharp claws, the orange fur poking out from beneath it. She responded in kind, clawing at her opponent, hissing and spitting furiously. The two became a blur, yowling and snarling, swiping at each other with a violent abandon that shocked me. Perhaps it was all part of the show, Raz hadn't even been this ferocious when she had decapitated the Bug back in the tunnel.

She weathered her opponent's blows, blocking the majority of them with her forearms, her own flashing talons digging deep into the other Borealan's flesh. Blood soaked into their clothes, now tattered on the forearms and the torso. They looked like they had been fed through a wood chipper.

"We don't have time for this," Harry muttered.

"Trust me, this is important," I replied. "If we want those Borealans on our side, then Raz has to prove her worth."

The other Borealans leaped out of the way as the two scrapping aliens moved over to the wall, Raz piling on the pressure to keep her challenger on the defensive. Even I could see who was going to win, Raz was noticeably larger and stronger, the will of her opponent waning as she was backed up against the bulkhead. Raz cut her across the chest, then delivered a vicious swipe to her face, crimson droplets staining the whitewashed metal behind her. I couldn't help but gasp, watching as blood seeped down the alien's cheek where Raz had sliced her open.

She yielded, cowering, raising her shredded sleeves in a gesture of submission. Raz paused, a clawed hand poised for another strike, and then she backed off. The fight had been fast and brutal, no wonder Raz had been so casual about the knife wounds that the Bug had inflicted upon her if this was how they resolved their disagreements.

She let her defeated adversary rise to her feet, her head bowed. The two other Borealans followed suit, lowering their heads, gazing at the floor as Raz caught her breath.

"Now go get your guns," she snapped, pointing to the XMR racks. "And configure them as I tell you."

They did as she asked without question, hurrying over to the racks. I approached Raz cautiously, eyeing the fresh blood that stained her clothes, and she looked back at me with wild eyes.

"Are you...alright?" I asked. "Should we dress your wounds?"

"These will be healed by tomorrow," she replied. "And don't worry about her," she added, nodding to the now submissive Borealan with the cuts on her cheek who was now occupied with disassembling her XMR. "The worst that she'll be left with are some faded scars, a reminder to show courage."

"If you say so," I mumbled.

"Remember what I told you, monkey, battle gets our blood flowing. Now let's occupy ourselves with a gunfight before I see fit to lead you away to a storage closet so that I can burn off this heat."