Chapter 1 - The Lapse
Chapter 2 - A Past Life
Chapter 3- Old Friend
Chapter 4 - Pirate Spy
Chapter 5 - Dream Factory
Chapter 6 - Pirate Colours
Chapter 7 - The Ruse
Chapter 8 - The Other Face
Chapter 9 - Reflection
Chapter 10 - Cracks
Chapter 11 – Back on the Trail
Chapter 12 –
Chapter 13 – Unforseen Talent
Chapter 14 –
Creed hit the door release and launched himself through it to the momentary surprise of the guards outside. He felt shuddering blasts hammer into the body of the Split before he half hurled it into the front row causing them to fall back. His temporary shield gone the pain stick whipped across the face of a trooper, who’s body jarred and jolted while a scream of agony escaped his lips. Snatching up a fallen blaster he discharged it point blank into the chest of a trooper and suddenly he felt the weapons dampening field engage. With a smile Creed, knew he had evened the odds, the guard nearest him swung his rifle like a club, only to glance off the shoulder of a colleague who dived forward in an attempt to grapple with him. The struck pirate twisted awkwardly from the blow and Creed right hand snaked out and hammered into the mans jaw snapping the mans head around while dislocating his jaw.
Creed pirouetted to avoid a second swing from the improvised club and the sole of his boot caught the pirate behind him full in the chest, throwing the attacker back to slam, temporally winded into the wall.
When he finished his turn he caught hold of the rifle butt and drove the pain stick into the soldiers face. The man fell back tugging the rifle before the pain stick touched flesh and the he was forced to let go with a tortured scream.
The pain stick continued to buzz agonisingly in his hand and the pulse rifle was bent beyond recognition while he left a trail of cracked skulls and broken limbs sprawled in the corridor. Fear shone from the eyes of those close to him when out of the blue a shockwave hit him, the corridor flashed white and a wave of pain tore through every nerve ending.
Blinded and in body numbing agony he staggered back. Every muscle in his body screamed and nausea turned his gut, every survival instinct kicked in and forced his body not pass out. He tripped on a body and struggled to rise, a primal sense alerted him to the sound of a door opening.
He felt a hand but was in too much and he was about to lash out when he heard the girls voice, “Are you alive?”
“Help me to my feet,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Did you kill them all?” Raish’s tone seemed both worried and impressed.
“No, stun grenade. It’s temporarily stolen my sight, you’re going to have to be my eyes. We don’t have much time now help me up,” he said slightly more harshly then he would have intended but then he realised this was not the time for pleasantries and it would not take long for the pirate reinforcements to arrive.
He felt a tug on his arm and fighting against the waves of pain caused by every movement he regained his feet, and said “Use the datapad to check for an empty room.”
After a moment she said, “How do I do that?”
“Switch to the main menu and select the active interface sub menu.”
“Okay, do I choose the station plan?”
“Yes, and then the occupied suites on this level.”
“Okay, there’s one two doors along.”
“Lead me there,” he felt her take his arm and gave a gentle tug.
Raish said in a quiet voice, “Are you really Creed? I mean I’ve read the stories about you, but most of them seemed really far fetched, but after this .. I mean .. my friends say you never really existed and were made up to frighten people. Watch your left foot one of them has his legs across the deck ahead of you.”
“Which of the horror stories would you like me to retell?” Creed felt as though the conversation might take his attention away from the pain.
“Did you really board the Pirate Base in Brennan’s Triumph and kill ten men with your bare hands by ripping their heads off?”
“I’ve only had one reason to board that station and it was with a Hell Fire chain gun. The death toll was considerable,” Creed responded, not really liking the line of questioning, and added, “By the way it’s not good to test me by making up stories of my exploits, most of the ones that exist have been toned down to be acceptable,” Creed muttered, and was aware that he felt a semblance of shame as he ended the sentence.
“It’s always been my luck to attract violent men,” Raish muttered.
“In what sense?” Creed said to distract himself from the thought that he was being rescued by the one he was trying to rescue.
“Barring this lot, one of my previous boyfriends was arrested for beating up one of his ex’s and the last one was so obsessive he gave me a black eye just because I smiled at a stranger.”
Creed felt sympathy for the girl and said, “Give me his address and he’ll never touch you again, or see come to that.”
“Is that all men think about, fighting each other?”
“No, not always. I only long for peace unfortunately too many people want me dead to ignore.”
“The door’s here. I still can’t believe that I’ve met the real Creed.”
“The violence doesn’t put you off?”
“You’re the most violent I’ve ever read about and I can’t think of anyone better to be rescued by.”
Creed took a deep breath, the room was beginning to appear as silhouettes and he heard the door close behind them. He said “I’m not nice, however hard I try there’s always something that stirs the killer. Now you must leave me here, take the shuttle lift down and then find the Teladi Nattelaminnus, if I’m not mistaken she works for someone I know. Get to my ship and leave this station as soon as you can.”
“What about you?” Raish asked.
“For now they won’t care where you are, I’m a far more important problem so get out while you can.”
“They’ll kill you!”
“It’s no more than I deserve. Now leave, don’t be here when they come.”
“You’re giving up?”
“I’m still blind,” He said in a whisper, “I will only slow us down, and then nothing good will come of this. Take your freedom and go.”
“There must be a way?”
“Not this time,” Creed remained quiet, he could feel the gaze of the girl but he remained blind and felt a deep sense of residing regret. Deep inside he knew she was not going to leave without him, “Get out of here.”
“You’re blind!”
“Just shout that out loud so everyone can hear.”
“I’m not going.”
“Then stay here and die,” Creed muttered and closed his eyelids. In the silence that followed he heard the hiss of a small drone fly over the balcony.
The speakers came on, “And for our surprise event of the evening in our very own station, here is the Curse of the Clans, once regarded as the ultimate killer and nemesis of all free living pirates, Creeeeed. And standing against him, second only to his twin brother and the greatest Pit fighter of our time Therum, we give you Doyum.”
Creed frowned, ‘so that’s what they’re upto,’ in the depths of his mind he could hear the baying of the crowd. Blind to the world around him he could almost feel the layout of the room. He opened his eyes again briefly and looked around at the shades of grey, picking out the vague images of furniture.
“What’s happening?” Raish spoke with an air of anxiety.
He whispered, “It’s too late to ask. When the door opens stand back and pray.”
***********
If there was any facet of Lumar left in Creed it gave itself over to the animal without objection. Creed could not only hear his own heart but that of the girl in the silence, every sense extending to the limits of possibility to the point he could not only smell but taste her fear in the air.
The door slid open and he kept his eyes closed and in his minds eye he could see the swing of the clinking chains. There was the roar of the crowd and he fell back the whisper of metal passing over his face and with unnatural spring he flipped himself up onto his hands while the second chain whipped under his body.
“So you are the brother of Therum?”
Chains crashed down, ripping upholstery and splintering wood.
“How does it feel to be the third best,” Creed said calmly and skipped the frantic beats of metal. The image of the room behind his eyelids was perfect to him, the sound of the chains vivid streaks of light he knew he had to avoid. He sensed that Doyum had changed tack and was moving towards Raish. As one chain swung below him he trapped it under his left foot, “You’re moving towards an innocent, that is against the...” Creed felt a hammering blow to the chest the lifted him from his feet and threw him through the air. He hit the deck hard and rolled to the wall.
He could feel the coppery taste of blood in his mouth while with every breath rasped and felt as if it sent ribbons of fire though his body.
He could hear the chant, “Doyum, Doyum, Doyum ..” There was the whip of chains and the slam of steel against the deck. Creed said in Doyum’s ear, “No contest,” Only to Creeds surprise Doyum had dropped the chains and sprung out of grappling range in the moment of address.
In the dark grey’s of vision he could see Doyum adopt a semi-defensive pit stance. Doyum spoke, “You’re an old man Creed. Every move you make tell me you’re blind you heard the chains, that was impressive, but now your death will come from silence.”
“Fight the best you can,” Creed responded and almost instantly regretted it, Doyum closed in, he defended himself from the deadliest of blows but others cracked like breaking bone against body and limbs. Only two of his own strike backs made contact against the solid muscle of his opponent. Doyum caught him a full body blow to the chest that lifted him into the air and sent him crashing to the deck which knocked the remaining wind from him. In an instant he saw in his minds eye, Doyum following with a rib crushing, life ending drop. Creed rolled away and heard Doyum’s feet hit the deck where his chest had been. Despite the pain in his chest and the blindness he was back on his feet and back into a defensive stance, his eyes open.
Doyum as shadows of grey moved in Creed’s vision. The pit fighter said, “You’re already dead you just haven’t accepted it yet.”
“I’ve seen my death a thousand times, but I go unwillingly into the darkness.”
“Willing or not I will show you the way.”
Shadows moved and Creed caught the shape of a blade, it was thrust towards him and he dived away, his hand caught the back of a chair and in a moment he had cleared it to drop into a low crouch. All his muscles continued to scream at him and in the brief blink of his eyes the subdued colours of the room washed back into view and with them a clear definition of the room.
The heavy pit blade in Doyum’s hand shattered the frame of the chair and Creed could tell that the younger half-breed was in the peak of fitness. It struck him that the pit fighter was being more casual than cautious in finishing him off, and he reflected bitterly that it was with good reason. He could see the Braisen armour the protected the fighters vital organs from a sudden killing blow and blind he would never manage to find a weak spot.
“Your vision is improving. Good. Now you can see your end.”
Creed shook his head, a smashed chair leg came to hand and Doyum’s eyes narrowed, the younger man adopted a crouched defensive stance, the blade held back ready to meet any lunging attack. Against the background of pain still screaming across his nerve endings he could feel a howling rage wash over all emotions. Cornered like an animal, he prowled and paced while his eyes took in every detail of his enemy, noting every muscle and sinew, the effortless grace of every movement.
Doyum feigned an attack, but Creed knew better than to be deceived by the trick. The second time the pit fighter moved in he did not step as far back, they remained less than a stride from striking distance.
The pit fighter made the first move, with a sweep of the blade followed by a quick reverse thrust. Creed dodged, turned and slapped the flat of the blade with the length of wood. Ducking low Creed swept a foot around but missed with a low sweeping kick to the knees.
Five, ten, twenty moves later and neither had found advantage or had drawn blood. The pain had evaporated in a surge of adrenalin and natural endorphins while muscles long neglected swiftly attuned themselves to the rapid reactions that kept Creed alive for so long. He noted the casual attitude of Doyum had been replaced by the grim features of a man who dare not make a mistake. Even so there was no tell tale sign of fear, just the hard resolve to win.
They moved at the same time and Creed was forced into an awkward twist and felt the bite of steel trace its way across his left shoulder, before Doyum staggered back with a fleeting look of surprise the chair leg having hammered into his protective chest plate. The young fighter quickly composed himself and regained his posture while a fleeting smile touched his lips at the sight of Creed’s blood.
Knowing full well the same move would not work a second time, Creed ignored the warm wet feeling of blood but allowed his shoulder to stay slightly dropped. They circled each other with wary caution, while he kept the young fighter subtly biased to his left side. Doyum feigned two attacks Creed blocked and dodged a further five and always kept his right side protected. They never exchanged a word and time had no meaning to either of them, Creed had no idea whether they had been fighting for mizuras or stazuras. They moved again, Creed ducked rose twisted and turned quickly his left hand grasping Doyum’s right wrist having switched the chair leg to his right hand, the splintered end rammed up under the throat protector. Doyum swung his right hand up to make a grab for Creed’s neck, only he caught the younger man’s fist and they grappled for several mizuras while all the time the pit fighter’s life and strength ebbed away.
When Doyum finally sank to the floor, Creed could only hear the rasp of the dying man’s breath. All about him silence reigned until the stations alarms blasted into life.
“All pilots to fighters, sector invasion detected!”
A momentary lapse of reason - ch14 complete (31/10)
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A momentary lapse of reason - ch14 complete (31/10)
Last edited by Mercenary on Tue, 31. Oct 06, 20:46, edited 1 time in total.
WOW! Cool action there and nice turn with the stun grenade! Well, nice for tension, not so nice for Creed, I guess. So this is how he'll meet the pit fighter. Will be interesting to see the outcome of that fight. I can imagine his opponent will be dying to take the honours of having killed Creed but perhaps not?
Looking forward to the next part!
Found two bits at the beginning.
"and Creed right hand" - Creed's
"and the he was forced" - then
Looking forward to the next part!
Found two bits at the beginning.
"and Creed right hand" - Creed's
"and the he was forced" - then
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Captain Chris sTc
- Posts: 991
- Joined: Fri, 6. Feb 04, 01:21
I love it! Cool fight and tough one, too. I'd say Creed probably hadn't had many harder ones. Blind for most part of it and probably physically disadvantaged, only his experience and speed saved him. The sector invasion has probably saved both Lumar's and Raish's escape and lives at that. Just wonder who is invading, might well turn into another gauntlet. 
Looking forward to the next part! :thumb_up!
Found two bits, so not a lot of work.
"armour the protected the fighters vital organs" - armour that ...
"only he caught the younger man’s fist" - reads almost like 'he' refers to Doyum and only context clearifies it
Looking forward to the next part! :thumb_up!
Found two bits, so not a lot of work.
"armour the protected the fighters vital organs" - armour that ...
"only he caught the younger man’s fist" - reads almost like 'he' refers to Doyum and only context clearifies it