Chapter 17: Last Flight of the Legacy

The worst of it occurred while the staff member was writhing in pain. A newborn specimen burst from his arm, and a shot was fired from one of the surprised guards. The shot from the laser pistol hit one of the living tubes for the specimens and made a small crack. Right after, several more embryos hatched out of the injured staff member’s arm and attacked nearby technicians.

Grafael smashed the head of yet another Parasite that had clawed its way through the hull, his war hammer dripping with orange gore. That made close to a dozen now. Three crewmen had already lost their lives in the attacks. The Parasites were making holes all throughout the engineering bay as they dug through the metal walls. Sharon had her hands full working at the controls to keep the cabin pressure stable by raising yellow forcefields whenever the Parasites entered. No one had the time to get their hazard suits on, but the pirates had magnetized boots to keep themselves from getting sucked out whenever a Parasite broke through. Grafael used his Elemency to keep himself tethered to the metal floor plate. Metal was still in the Earth Spectrum, and Grafael already had a little experience manipulating the element. All around Grafael, crewmen shouted as they used fire extinguishers to put out the flames that had sprung up all over the engineering bay. They couldn’t stop even for an instant. If the fires got too hot, there was a chance of igniting the power core which appeared as a large yellow glowing orb with wires sticking out as it transferred energy throughout the ship.

As orange blood pooled over the ground from the Parasite’s crushed skull, Grafael turned to a crewman that had been stung by a Parasite tongue. “Help me! Please help ... Aah!”

The human crewman was overtaken by a ghastly transformation, tentacles exploding all over his body, dripping with blood as he sprung at Grafael screeching like a Parasite. With a solemn soul, Grafael brought his hammer up and smashed the man’s skull. The poor man’s skull made a terrible squelching noise as Grafael caved his head in. He had to do the same for the other two crewmen whose bodies lay crumpled around the room with the other Parasites.

Portman. Anderson. Desser, thought Grafael gravely as he named off the fallen crewmen. Forgive me. Forgive me for leading you to this fate.

Turning back to Sharon with a growl, Grafael said, “Was that the last one!”

Sharon, her breathing haggard and her face alive with fright as she typed furiously at the console, stammered, “I ... I think so! Cuzzman’s a good pilot! He shook the others off the hull! If we can just break orbit, we can get out of here before-”

“Gumar cra ga ja ra ma Sharon vas Grafael!” rang out Gumar’s voice on the com, coaxing an even more frightful look out of Sharon.

“We need to get to the bridge now!” she shouted.

Grafael strapped his war hammer to his back and bolted after her as they ran through the junctions and up the stairwells. Crewmen dashed about in a panic, gripping their laser weapons tightly as they scampered to the battle stations or to perform emergency repairs. Red lights blared off and on, briefly casting the metal halls in darkness as he and Sharon ran. Soon they arrived at the bridge, and Grafael nearly shed his scales at what he saw on the viewscreen. Directly ahead of the vessel loomed a fleet of ... asteroids. Ahead of the asteroids were those black creatures that herded them towards the planet’s northern hemisphere. Grafael thought they had shaken those pursuers by hiding in the planet’s atmosphere.

“Those black bat creatures again!” Grafael growled. “And are those asteroids following them?!”

“Not just following them,” said Cuzzman furiously as he got up from his console near the front and stalked towards Grafael in a threatening manner. “Those asteroids are crawling with Parasites! It’s not just the flying ones we have to deal with now, it’s a whole bloomin’ fleet.”

Grafael’s shocked gaze swiveled between Cuzzman and the enemy fleet hovering just beyond the ship, but before he could make up his mind what to address first, the Dark Elf drew a pistol from his holster and pointed it at Grafael’s head.

“They’re positioning themselves to keep us from escaping the planet! They’re not just hunting! They’re gunning for us! I looked at that signal again! It’s originating from those bat things! They mimicked Fire Ministry frequencies to lure us here, and it’s all your fault!”

Gumar, who was manning a turret and awaiting the order to fire, turned to Grafael and Cuzzman in confusion. Sharon’s mouth opened as if she meant to say something, but no sound came out as she just stood there, too shocked to react. Grafael stood there silently as Cuzzman pressed the gun’s barrel to the Saurian’s chin, his weakest point. At that range, not even Grafael’s scales would save him.

“We’re gonna die here, but before we do, give me one reason why I shouldn’t have the satisfaction of putting you down first?” said the livid Dark Elf.

Grafael said nothing, his training and heritage granting him calmness in what may very well be his final moments. Then he said without a hint of fear, “If you desire my life, I won’t deny you that. However, if you let me live, I will do everything in my power to ensure that you live through this as well. The choice is yours.”

Cuzzman hesitated, the gun shaking in his hand as his fury turned to confusion at Grafael’s unflinching resolve in the face of certain death.

Grafael heard Gumar gasp and saw the Troll pointing to something out the window. “Gumar vangna sho!”

Sharon, finally recovering, gave a slight yelp as she put a hand to her mouth and said, “They-they’re coming! The bat things are closing in! We’re boxed in on all sides with nowhere to go, and with the damage we’ve sustained, no way will we outmaneuver them!”

Given the damage that the strange new creatures had effortlessly caused the ship earlier, Grafael knew that facing the black things head-on was more perilous than the Parasites. He growled and turned a withering glare down at Cuzzman. “Put the ship in reverse, now!”

“I can’t! There are asteroids behind us, too!”

“Do it anyway!” roared Grafael, leaning against the gun barrel.