Dragon_Scribbles
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Mac and Itchy (or Antman and the Marine)
🕑 Added 2019-12-21 00:40:11 +0000 UTCA/N: So, a holiday special for you! This is an excerpt from a story that's been kicking around in the dusty corners of my head for a while, now. I was considering what to slap together for Plucium's end-of-year wrap up on the HFY subreddit, when the song I associate as the theme of this story wandered across my playlist, and I was inspired. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSvnxv_Mh2A in case you're wondering what song is playing through my head every time I run through these scenes, and a few other climactic scenes in the story.)
It actually predates the genesis of the Fearless Universe it's set in, but it slotted into that universe almost perfectly. This is another story that I intend to write, eventually, but it will probably stay a back-burner one-off for quite a while.
Itchy and Mac, or Antman and the Marine
A Fearless Universe Story
“It’s my fault…” she whispered, staring at the gauntleted hands of her power armor. “It’s all my fault…”
“Shipwrecked by pirates, and I had to play the fucking Marine again… I got out for a goddamn reason…” She closed her eyes, pushing aside memories of another crash, on another world.
Ankszhai moved hurriedly around her, the large, ant-beetle-like aliens giving the “fallen sky warrior” a wide berth. They were all from Itchy’s clan. It was an unpronounceable series of clicks that was some honored ancestor’s name. She called them the Click-Clack Clan in her head.
In the background, she could hear Itchy’s father, arguing with other leaders from his clan. She had been around them long enough that she could tell them apart by the sound of their voices now.
She frowned at her gauntlets again, reminded of her own father. I wasn’t just playing Marine. I was playing detective, like daddy. I never could let a mystery go, just like you. No wonder you forbid me from being a cop. So I ran away and joined the Marines. She clenched her fist, squeezing her eyes shut. And look where that got me! Got half my squad killed, got myself all shot up, and now… Now I’ve got the only friend I’ve made since getting out killed!
She opened her fist, staring at the oversized gauntlet that contained no part of her actual hand. I’m not even a Marine anymore…
She sagged in despair, only to have a burst of fire shoot up from the depths of her mind. The same pit of stubbornness that had kept her going when her drill sergeants were screaming at her in the mud. That had sent a heavy infantry Marine into the cockpit of a crashing shuttle. That had kept half of her squad alive. That refused to say die.
No! Once a Marine, always a Marine! A medical discharge doesn’t change that. Crashing a shuttle doesn’t change that. Losing people doesn’t change that.
She looked up. Her efforts to uncover the mystery of the Tulukkti Empire’s advancement, and the signs of outside meddling, had given her more than just a sense of purpose she had been sorely lacking, but also a sense of duty that she hadn’t realized she had been missing. I have a responsibility. I can’t sit here and abandon that.
Sitting up from her slouch, she looked about, the bustle around her and nearby conversation finally registering. “They’re leaving…” she muttered to herself. Imperial retaliation was infamous, and there was some concern that they could bring reprisals upon Itchy’s clan… “They’re leaving him behind…”
She stared about her as she realized, he’s not dead yet… She clenched her fist as her life coalesced into a new purpose. It IS my fault… And I have a responsibility to fix it. “No one gets left behind…” she whispered, and stood up.
Sarah approached Itchy’s father and his war council. They ignored her. They were quite happy to listen to me when I was the Great Fallen Sky Warrior, before they knew I was a woman. She sighed. Maybe it’s also because some of them listening to me got them into this mess… But I need to fix this, and I don’t have time to for bullshit. She stepped into the midst of them.
“I’m going after him.” She bumped up the volume of her external speakers enough to get everyone’s attention, bringing all conversation and work to a stop.
“Women have no voice here,” Itchy’s father said.
Sarah turned and gave him a faceless glare through her visor. A part of her wished it wasn’t stuck at full tint so he could see her face. None of them knew what she looked like inside her armor, nor that her smooth skin resembled their deformed, plateless demons. “Yes, I am a woman,” she said. “But I was also a Marine. Among the fiercest warriors my people have ever created.” She leaned forward, emphasizing her glare. “And Marines don’t leave people behind.”
“We have no choice.” Icxthin said, ignoring her in favor of studying the maps and figures on the table he had just been arguing over. “Our camp here is well known. We must leave before the Empire sends their soldiers.”
“Are you just going to leave him at the mercy of the Empire and their clergy?”
“We can’t help him.”
“They’re going to deplate him!”
“HE IS MY SON!” Icxthin snarled, turning to glare at her. “I know exactly what they are going to do to him! My heart dies for it.” He looked away, his mandibles stiff. “My duty is to my clan, even above my own son.” He waved at a map on the table. “Their fort is beyond our reach. We would die on their walls, before their guns. We can do nothing for him. My son is gone,” he said, turning to stab a chitinous finger at her, “And you lost him to me!”
“I can get him back,” she said. “If you help me.”
“And what can you do against their army?” Icxthin snorted, dipping his head to emphasize each point. “They out-number our entire clan five-to-one, nevermind their guns, nevermind the stone walls of their fort.” He waved a hand at her. “I have seen what your weapons can do. Terrifying though they may be, they can do no more than scratch their walls.”
“You haven’t seen all of them,” she said, a smile creeping across her face as a plan started to come together in her mind. “I can breach their walls, blow open their gate. I can’t take their whole army, but I can get an army inside.”
Icxthin paused, and even through his alien, chitin-covered face, she could see the hope he yearned for.
“Send riders to all the clans,” she said, pressing forward. “Enough of them are close enough. Many of them are still at the Meet. None of them have any more love for the Empire than you do, and I know most of them are itching for a fight.”
“You want me to rally the Clans?” Icxthin gave her a disbelieving stare.
“Yes. Tell them to call up all their warriors. Tell them we can breach the gates of their fort, and that we’re going to reclaim one of the People from the Empire’s grasp, and make the Empire fear the retaliation of the Clans.”
Sarah stepped back. It was still difficult for her to read Ankszhai expressions and body language at times, but she’d spent enough time with them now that she was getting the hang of it. Icxthin was wavering, torn between the instinct to save his son, and his duty to his Clan.
Well, he’ll either come, or he won’t. She slung her rifle over her shoulder. “Whatever you decide, I know what I’m doing. The Empire has my friend. I’m going to get him back, or die trying.”
***
I still can’t believe that worked… Sarah looked across the army of warriors, an army that she had called. Had inspired people to call. She sat uneasily atop her mount; the beast had finally agreed to tolerate her, but she was much heavier with her power armor than any of the ankszhai, and it wasn’t happy about the burden. Not that I’ve ever actually seen these things express anything I’d consider happiness…
She glanced down the line of old-fashioned cavalry assembling in the pre-dawn gloom. Icxthin rode alongside another Clan warlord, smoothing out another dispute of leadership, or perhaps just inter-clan rivalry. He’s got a talent for it. Pretty clear where Itchy gets it from.
Most of the clans had come, or sent bands of warriors, and she was pretty sure they now out-numbered the Imperial Army Legion garrisoned at the fort.
Icxthin rode up as the sun crested the ridge to their left. “I would have liked to have the sun to our backs, but the terrain did not favor us today.” He briefly glanced at the rising sun. “At least it does not favor our enemy, either.”
Sarah nodded, exaggerating the motion so that it would be visible through her armor’s lack of a neck. “Do we have everyone?”
“All who are going to be here in time are here, and ready.”
Sarah brought her armor to full combat readiness, and spun up the jump jets on her back. “Let’s roll.”
Icxthin kicked his mount and walked up to the top of the low hill that hid their assembled army from the Imperial fort. He stood there a moment, staring down at the walls and the army encamped in and around them, the staff of his Clan held aloft.
Sarah would have preferred to kick into a massed cavalry charge behind cover and sweep down on the fort completely by surprise, but according to the Taikkixkts, there were ways these things were done. Statements to be made, yadda yadda… She sighed. Meh. It’s a free army, and beggars can’t be choosers…
Icxthin brought his arm down, driving the butt of his staff into the ground, leaving it to stand upright on the low ridge. That was the signal. Sarah spurred her own mount as Itchy’s clan crested the ridge behind their leader. Zooming in across the rolling plain, she could almost feel the Imperial soldiers’ laughter at the lone Taikkixkt stutter and crumble as first his clan joined him, and then the warriors of twenty-seven other clans stepped up to join them, covering the ridge in cavalry. In the distance, a warning bell started to toll.
******
Itkchxthi was dragged out of his cell in the pre-dawn gloom.
He knew what was coming. He would have fought them, mandible and claw, but he was exhausted, barely able to stand. If he couldn’t fight it, he would face what they had in store for him with dignity.
They hauled him up onto a platform in the open center of the fort, and strapped down to a canted grate in the pre-dawn gloom. Wisps of fog twisted up from the dewy grass and the rows of tents between the platform and the inner wall. Hundreds of imperial officials, officers, and soldiers began to gather to watch as his plates were stripped from his body, before his execution.
As the sun crested the walls of the fort, the Priest stepped up onto the stage and began his intonations. Itkchxthi slumped against his restraints. He knew that he was beyond rescue. He knew that there was no chance that his Clan or even Sarah could save him, but some part of him had held out hope. I’m doomed now, as I was five days ago… The Clan will survive. I just wish I could have told Sarah she was right. There was a plateless demon dealing with the Empire!
A runner came up, and whispered something to a general.
Itkchxthi glared at him, then straightened against the grate. I’m going to die today, and it’s not going to be pleasant. But I will die as a Taikkixkt Warrior, and I will not give these demon-consorting bastards the pleasure of seeing anything else.
More runners sprinted up to the crowd, and the Priest’s intonations faltered as the crowd erupted into murmurs and a few shouts.
Across the fort, a bell started to toll.
******
Icxthin left the banner staff of his clan where he planted it, drew his curved longsword and raised it above his head. Sword held high, he glared across the field only just long enough for all the clans to form ranks, which also happened to be just long enough to be dramatic.
Ant bear-pigox cavalry? There’s a meme in there, somewhere… She frowned, driving such distracting thoughts from her head as Icxthin’s posture shifted. Game time.
With a wordless bellow, he swung his sword down and spurred his mount forward. Sarah barely had to kick her mount’s flanks for it to leap forward as the entire rest of the assembled Clan warriors surged forward with a deafening roar.
She glanced down at her mount as it let out a snorting bellow. “Is this what it takes to make you happy?!” She growled as she brought her plasma rifle to bear. “Stupid bear-pigox.” She fired twice, the pulsing whine of the rifle and snap of the plasma bolts distinctive even over the raucous thunder of hooves.
Even more distinctive were the small explosions as the rounds hit the ground, the superheated plasma vaporizing soil and sending bits of dirt and grass spraying into the air.
Swaying with her mount as it bounded across the plain, she fired another burst, and missed again. Her suit’s targeting systems were still damaged from the crash, and her internal systems weren’t able to keep up with the dynamics of her armor and the unpredictable movements that came with riding atop a charging bear-pigox. A third burst went high as her mount leaped over a small depression, jarring her aim even more.
“Fuck this,” she said, crouching over her saddle. Her mount landed, coiling for its next bound, and Sarah leapt from its back, firing her jets.
Clearing her mount, she landed at a run. Her suit’s jets were too damaged to give her a proper jump, but timing them with her run, she was able to achieve a bounding gait that quickly out-paced the Taikkixkt cavalry.
She fired a single shot, and her aim bore true. The plasma bolt slapped into the torso of an Imperial soldier, punching straight through his light steel cuirass and the chitin exoskeleton underneath. The collapsing packet of superheated plasma flashed the Ankszhai’s flesh and organs to steam, and the entire left side of his torso exploded in a gout of purple and green viscera.
She fired again, and another soldier popped. Two shots, and two more soldiers sprayed their super-heated guts across the battlefield.
More pops and bangs sounded as the soldiers started to respond with their muskets, and the regiments camped outside the fort began to form ranks. Inch-wide balls of lead zipped and snapped past her as she continued her charge.
Sarah continued her steady rhythm of precise plasma fire, chewing a hole in their lines as she closed the distance. Taikkixkts and their mounts were starting to fall around her, but it was a pittance. Drops taken from a tidal wave.
A volley of arrows flew from a group of cavalry, their powerful, laminated shortbows flinging heavy bolts of death that could punch through chitin and armor when loosed on the charge.
Another volley followed, then a veritable swarm.
Sarah fired twice more, then barreled through the ragged line of soldiers. She plowed two out of her way, and felt more than one chest cave in under her armored boots. Gore splashed up her legs. They might have been nearly as large as her heavy power armor, but they weren’t half a metric ton of advanced armor, metal, and brute force.
The gates were before her, and she raised her rifle, slowing her pace. Time to do my part. She squeezed the secondary trigger, and a 40mm HEAP grenade spat out of the launcher.
She didn’t have many of those, so she quickly reloaded with a “standard” HE grenade and sent it arcing towards the gates before the first had struck. The door looks sturdy, and that’s only equivalent to ten kilos of TNT…
The HEAP grenade impacted with a loud thunk-BOOM! The explosion tore a gaping hole in the heavy doors and knocked them both off their hinges. As the doors started to fall inward, the second grenade detonated higher up, fragmenting them and blasting splinters through the soldiers gathered on the other side.
The horde of Taikkixkts let out a trilling cry at the sight, and surged forward to slam into the soldiers who stood between them and the gate.
Sarah didn’t stop to watch the slaughter. She had a friend to save.
******
The bell tolled.
Itkchxthi lowered his head, closing his eyes. I’m so… tired… His limbs hurt. His joints ached. He suppressed a grimace as another cramp spasmed through his leg. He was bound so tight to the grate he could barely twitch his fingers, and he couldn’t remember when the last time he had any water.
He opened his eyes to stair up at the clear, blue sky. At least I’ll die with a clear path to the heavens…
The bell continued to toll.
He looked up. The inner fort was now bustling with activity, but the crowd was gone. He heard a distant roar, and felt a faint rumble through the grate he was strapped to. The priest was arguing quietly with someone in their tongue.
They’re preparing to march. Please, Sarah, keep them-
His thoughts were interrupted by the deep, distinctive crack of musket fire. One, two, then spattered volleys. He frowned, wondering what was going on, when he felt in his chest as much as heard the double thump of an explosion across the fort. I can’t turn my head far enough… What was that flung into the air?
The priest cut off the other man, snapping off an order. The soldier, no, officer bowed in acquiescence, and ran off.
The priest stepped back to Itkchxthi. “You die today, infidel,” he whispered, his accent rough. “And I will cast your soul to hell.” He snarled at him, then turned to his implements, and resumed the intonations of his ritual.
What is going on? The soldiers in the inner fort were moving frantically, now, and the trilling roar was louder, closer. It sounds like a war cry, but from a thousand throats… Musket fire and the unmistakable sounds of battle could now be heard over the inner walls of the fort. His eyes went wide in disbelief. “No…”
A line of Imperial Fusiliers marched into view, their muskets on their shoulders. They filed in front of his platform and their sergeant called them to a halt. At another command, they pivoted as one. Another, and their muskets were off their shoulders and being loaded.
A burst of fire and debris shot out from the inner gate, across rows of tents and pavilions, and the thump of the explosion reverberated through his inner bones. Another roar poured through the gate, the war cry of a dozen clans.
Tents were trampled, pavilions toppled in a rising wave that surged out of the gate. Over the growing din of battle, he could hear the distinctive, pulsing whine of Sarah’s plasma rifle. He blinked, and there she was, leading the charge of a horde of warriors, more clans than he could count.
“Present arms!”
The line of Fusiliers put their heavy muskets to their shoulders as a second line hurriedly filed in behind them.
******
Sarah barreled through the camp of the inner fort, trampling tents, gear, and Ankszhai without regard. Dirt and gore were splattered across her armor. Her rifle whined as she popped any soldier she saw who looked to be holding a gun. The Takitiks can take care of the rest.
She burst through the last of the tents, a horde of antman bear-pigox cavalry mongols at her back, and there he was. He was strapped to a grate on a platform, with some priest-looking bastard chanting over a set of unpleasant-looking knives, and a line of infantry pointing muskets at her and the horde behind her.
“Not today, assholes.” She flicked the selector switch on her rifle as she painted the entire line of Fusiliers in her targeting system. Without even slowing down, she squeezed the trigger and held it.
The rifle spat her fury in full auto at eight hundred rounds a minute.
She timed the sweep of her arm to the cyclic rate of the rifle, stitching a stream of glowing bolts across the entire line of infantry. Their bodies burst apart with each hit, and in seconds she had popped the entire line of infantry like a row of goo-filled water balloons.
She stormed across their steaming remains and leapt onto the platform. It rattled under her weight. She stepped over to the table Itchy was tied to, and set her rifle down as she inspected his bonds. The priest had disappeared.
“You came for me,” he rasped, twisting his mandibles in the Ankszhai version of a smile.
“Of course I came,” she said, giving him her own smile, even though he couldn’t see it. “Marines don’t leave anyone behind.”
His eyes went wide as her suit’s proximity sensors lit up. Those still worked.
The priest was charging at her, screaming, a wicked knife that was more of a spike held high in both hands.
Without looking, she drew her sidearm, pointed it at arm’s length, and fired.
The M932 Heavy Pistol was technically classed as an Anti-Material weapon. It was made for heavy power armor, for use against heavy power armor. An old-school sidearm that still used chemically-propelled ballistic projectiles, it fired a fat, 20mm round that contained a high-explosive shaped charge. While its effective range was limited, and it wouldn’t penetrate the front glacis of any modern heavy armor, it was still quite capable of punching through any other part of modern power armor at close range.
Point blank into an Ankszhai eyeball was no challenge at all.
Her pistol barked its deep, throaty growl, doing its best to buck out of her motorized grip as the action cycled and the spent polymer casing was ejected forward.
The round took the priest in the eye, and less than an eyeblink later, his head exploded into a mist of brains, bits of skull, and gore.
Itchy blinked at the mess that sprayed across his face as Sarah holstered her sidearm and put both hands to the strap holding his left arm. “C’mon,” she said, using the suit’s strength to snap the leather strap with ease. “Let’s get you out of here.”
******
Itkchxthi sagged in relief as Sarah swiftly broke the rest of his bindings and helped him climb to his feet.
Around them, the battle raged. The clans were running rampant inside the walls, trampling Imperial soldiers as they scrambled to form ranks and defend against the attack. The periodic crack of muskets still boomed across the fort, and a number of okzvft were trampling around without a rider, or lying in the dirt screaming from mortal wounds, but the Clans were dominating for now.
Itkchxthi stumbled as he stood, his limbs tingling with fire as circulation was restored. Sarah caught him, and threw an arm around him while pulling his arm over her broad shoulders. “Alright, buddy, one step at a time. Let’s get the fuck out of here.” She picked up her rifle and they made their way down from the platform.
The rifle whined several times as they made their way across the inner yard of the fort, heading for a cluster of riderless okzvft that had found an upended cart of grain and stopped to graze in the middle of the battle.
“How did you convince all of the Clans to come?” he asked, almost shouting over the chaos.
“I told them I was coming with or without you, and said anyone who didn’t come was a pussy,” she said. He couldn’t see her expression, but he could hear the smile in her voice. “Let’s save the long stories for after the battle, okay? We’ve still gotta get the hell out of this mess.”
“Right. Okay, I think I’m good to stand on-“ He cut himself off as he caught a glimpse of the soldiers to the other side of her. “Sarah, look out!” He pointed towards the field cannon that had been rolled out and was pointing straight at them, trying to pull her away.
He felt her grip on him disappear, and then he was shoved to the side, barely able to keep his feet.
She spun to face the cannon, her rifle at her hip. “Yippee ki yay, mother fuckers!”
The barrel under her rifle thumped and spat fire at the same time as the Imperial cannon. The cannon ball slapped into her chest with a deafening clang, knocking her to the ground with an earth-shaking thump.
The weapon she fired arced gracefully through the air, the cannoneers tracking it as it passed over their heads, and right into the open-air magazine where the bulk of the army’s gunpowder had been stockpiled.
He didn’t hear the resulting explosion. He saw a flash of light, and then felt himself tossed to the ground, like the gods had picked up a hammer and used it to knock him flat.
He lay in the dirt, his ears ringing, struggling to regain his breath. Smoke and dust filled the air, and bits and pieces of debris rained down around him.
Coughing, he rolled over and pushed himself to his feet. Sarah! He shouted, hearing nothing. He looked around, trying to regain his bearings as he pushed himself to his feet. Bodies and debris surrounded the armory, mostly Imperial soldiers. Further away from the blast, men were picking themselves up, as stunned as he was. Even further away, the fighting continued.
He saw an upended cannon, and he was pretty sure it was the same one that had shot Sarah, but it was between him and the inner wall of the fort, while the magazine it had been rolled out of was in the center…
Turning, he spotted her, covered in dust and debris, a mangled cannonball embedded in her chest. “Sarah!” he shouted, rushing to her side as his hearing came roaring back. “Sarah!”
“Did. You. SEE THAT?!?!” she shouted, throwing her hands into the air. “That. Was. Fucking AWESOME!”
Itkchxthi kneeled down beside her as she sat up, and he gaped at her. How?! I’ve seen those cannons cleave straight through Ankszhai, armor and all!
She reached up and pulled the cannonball off her chest. It was deformed and split where it had struck the center ridge of her armor. Her chest plate was scraped to bare metal and the ridge was dented, but otherwise intact. “Here, hold this for me, Itchy,” she said, passing him the iron shot. “I wanna keep it as a souvenier.”
He gaped at it as she stood up, then reached down and hauled him to his feet. “No time to gawk. The rescue mission isn’t over until everyone’s safely the fuck out of here.” She turned to where the grain cart had been. “Now, I saw some bear-pigox shits around here, somewhere…. Shit!” She shoved him aside as she turned to her left, bringing her rifle up.
He heard a staccato burst that sounded too sharp to be regular musketfire, almost at the same time as several, rapid pops against Sarah’s back. She staggered, falling to one knee, and he was sprayed with something red. She fired a burst from her rifle and an Imperial soldier exploded in a burst of gore.
“Fuck!” she cried, falling to the ground.
“Sarah!” Itkchxthi dropped the cannonball and rushed to her side, falling to his knees once more.
“Stupid. Fucking. Damaged. Second-hand. PIECE OF SHIT!” She screamed, her hand scrabbling for something clipped to her suit. More of that red something oozed out of a jagged hole in her armor. “Well, I found proof that the pirates were arming the Empire! Gah!” She hissed a breath in. “Found it right in the fucking kidney…”
She groaned, her hand still clutching at something she couldn’t quite grasp. “Itchy, help,” he said. The tones of her voice were different than any Ankshzhai, but he could still here the pain in it now. “Medkit. Box, here,” she flopped her hand against it. “Open it. There’s a foam injector.” She groaned again. “Shit. Nononononono! Don’t reboot, you piece of shit! Fuuuck!”
“Sarah,” Itkchxthi said, pulling everything out of the box and staring at it all in confusion. “What do I do? How do I help?”
“The tube thing. It’s got a point end, and a trigger. Stick the pointy end in the hole and squeeze the trigger until it stops.”
“Sarah, I don’t… How is this going to help?” He held up the tube thing, staring at it. It looks like one of her guns…
“Look, Itchy, I can’t shut off the pain. I had to tie in half this thing’s systems with my own to get it to operate after the crash, and shutting things down makes it want to reboot. I can’t do that right now.”
“Shut down the pain? What?”
“Itchy! Pointy end! In the hole! Squeeze the trigger!”
“Okay! Okay!” he placed the pointy end of the tube into the hole in her armor, closed his eyes, and squeezed the trigger. There was a faint click, and a hissing noise. He eased his eyes open to see a thick, white foam bubbling out of the nozzle.
“Ah, shit! Oh, fuck, that’s cold. And burns…” Her arm flopped. “All of it, Itchy, just fucking squirt all of it in there.”
He nodded, holding the trigger down until he heard another faint click and the tube thing buzzed. Not sure what to do with it, he stuffed it back in the box.
“Patch.”
“What?”
“There’s a square patch in there. There’s a tab on it. Pulls a sheet off of it.”
“Yeah. Okay…” Itkchxthi pulled the tab, and a clear sheet of something came off with it.
“Pull the tab.”
He looked at the sheet in one hand, and the gray metal square in the other. “Okay.”
“Now put it over the hole. Sticky-side down.”
Itkchxthi looked down at the breach in her armor. The white foam, now tinted red with what he realized was her blood, had filled the hole, and a little more. “Do I clean-“
“Just slap it on, and push!” she growled. “Push real hard.”
“Okay.” He carefully aligned the patch to cover the hole as thoroughly as he could, then pressed it against her armor. She grunted. He pressed hard.
“Ahhhh, fuck!” she groaned. “Press the sides again, just to be sure.” He did, and she cried out in pain again.
“Sarah, I’m, I’m sory…”
“It’s okay,” she said, patting at him. “I’m going to be okay. I’m going to be okay.” He wasn’t sure if she was talking to him, or herself. “I’m going to need some help up. I’ve got some power, but this piece of shit armor doesn’t want to cooperate.”
“Of course,” he said, standing and taking her hand. He pulled as she slowly leveraged herself up to her feet. She wobbled on her feet, and he put her arm over his shoulder to steady her. Gods, she is heavy… he thought as she leaned on him. How does she walk so easily with all of this?
“Come on,” he said, easing her away from the smoldering ruin that was the center of the fort. “Now I can be a proper man and rescue you.”
“Ha! Fuck!” she groaned. “God damnit, Itchy, laughing hurts.”
“Itkchxthi!” a voice shouted behind him.
He turned, and his eyes lit up with hope. “Father!”
Icxthin trotted over, leading two empty mounts behind him. “Itkchxthi! I thought I’d lost you…”
“She’s hurt!” he said, slowly turning Sarah around to move towards his father. Icxthin reigned his okzvft to a halt and dismounted. “Something hit her from behind, I don’t know what it was.”
“Rifle,” she grunted.
“What?”
“It was a rifle, a Terran rifle.” She gestured back towards the exploded corpse that had struck her. “Need it. It’s proof.”
Itkchxthi opened his mouth, but his father placed a hand on his shoulder. “Stay with her. I will get it.”
Itkchxthi nodded. Icxthin handed him the reigns to his okzvft, and made his way carefully across the blasted battlefield. Itkchxthi shifted his grip on Sarah, already growing tired under the weight of her and her armor, as one of the okzvft stepped over to bump Sarah with its muzzle.
“Oh, it’s you,” she muttered. “I thought I was finally rid of you, you bastard.”
“Is this what you were looking for?” Icxthin said, returning a moment later. He held up a weapon that looked like a mating between Sarah’s plasma rifle and an Imperial musket.
“Yes,” she said, leaning against her okzvft as much as she was leaning on Itkchxthi.
“What is it?” Itkchxthi asked.
“Terran battle rifle. It’s old. Stopped using ‘em… decades ago.” She paused to catch her breath. “But they still pack a fucking punch.” She groaned. “Are we done? Can we make a clean withdrawal?”
“Yes,” Icxthin said. “The Imperial soldiers, they are… There aren’t many of them left. The bulk of them had been rallying at the center of their fort… The Clans are just… stamping out the last of them, and pillaging now, waiting the command to leave.”
“Then let’s blow this joint… Haha- ughh… Ow. Fuck. Let’s just fucking go.”
“Agreed,” Icxthin said. He nodded at her okzvft. “Can you?”
“No, I’m going to need help.”
“We’ve got you, Sarah,” Itkchxthi said.
With some effort, and a few pained cries from Sarah, Itkchxthi and Icxthin managed to help her climb onto her okzvft to drape herself across its back. “Gods, how heavy are you?”
“Never ask a woman how much she weighs,” Sarah said, her voice muffled by the okzvft.
Itkchxthi and Ixcthin exchanged a glance, though it was more Itkchxthi glaring at his father’s smirk, which only caused Ixcthin to smirk even more.
“Let’s go,” the older man said, hopping onto his own okzvft. He waved an arm above his head and trilled a cry at the top of his lungs. The cry was taken up by others as he spurred his mount into motion, and soon the Clans were streaming back out of the fort and across the plains.
