In the clutches the ever-expanding darkness, drifting aimlessly with volumes of oxygen leaking out of it was a transport shuttle.
Inside this shuttle, a red alarm was blaring violently, warning the passengers of their impending doom while trying to signal to any passing vehicles for aid.
It had been this way for 30 minutes now. If aid hadn't come already, well, that didn't matter now.
Bodies lay sprawled all around the ground, blood coated the walls and floor boards, and ripped-up livewires hung around, begging to spark a fire. Every step they took made the metal plating creak under their weight. That shouldn't have even been possible. The gravity system had shut down in their initial assault.
Their personalised gravity system was the cause of that.
Who are they? Or rather, what are they?
Powerful, unstoppable killing machines that cared not for lives. They only did what they were programmed to do. In the first decade of their creation, they won not just one, but 15 planets for the empire.
They were Rank 3 slayers.
There were only 2 of them, yet they had destroyed every single living creature on this tiny space shuttle. However, they weren't done yet.
Only 2? Well, that was quite an insulting statement. It should have been, 'There were 2 of them. 2 is 2 numbers too high for the mission they were sent on.'
And their mission?
Well, that's obvious.
Their mission was to kill me, but they hadn't found me yet.
I held my breath as I hid in a cluster of corpses, rolled up like a ball. I heard one of the slayers near the cluster I hid.
'Please pass by, please pass by, please pass by.'
I prayed silently, my eyes fixed on the cold, unfeeling death machine.
The slayer stopped right in front of me. It stared at the bodies in front of me, like it knew I was there. As if it knew I was pretending to be amongst the corpses.
[Warning! Your body is approaching its limit]
[If you do not reheat your body in 3 minutes, you will die]
[If you do not start your heart in 2 minutes, you will die]
[Resuming bodily functions to preserve host's life]
'Not yet!'
I barked silently; my eyes laser-focused on the red dots that stared at me like motionless flames. I couldn't even show any signs of anxiety or the slayer would figure me out.
I'd been stuck here for 25 minutes now, hoping to inch closer and closer to the escape pods without the slayers realising.
I was quite literally on the verge of death after lasting so long without a heartbeat or heat.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but the modifications that bastard made to my body were the only reason I lived this long in this situation.
After a minute, the slayer turned its focus elsewhere, leaving my cluster alone. Its steps thundered as it walked away.
Once I couldn't detect it within a 10 meter radius, I resumed my escape plans. Creating little gusts of air to push the cluster of bodies in a particular direction. Ever so slightly and silently, moving inch, by inch. I didn't care how long it would take me, as long as I got to the escape pods.
Time seemed to move by in the blink of an eye, with no progress to show for it. I'd barely even moved 10 centimetres towards my goal.
The sound of heavy footsteps grew louder, implying the second slayer was behind me. I had to pause…
[[Warning! Your body is approaching its limit]
[If you do not reheat your body in 1 minute, 21 seconds, you will die]
[If you do not start your heart in 20 seconds, you will die]
[Resuming bodily functions to preserve host's life]
'No! No! I can make it, damn it! I can go another 5 minutes before brain damage, right? Cancel, cancel!'
The system paused at my insistence. Under normal circumstances, the system wouldn't pay mind to the average soldier's desperate plea. But I was different. I was his favourite, so I received some… benefits.
A single second passed before all hell rained loose.
[Resuming bodily functions to preserve host's life immediately]
'Huh?'
The system disregarded my command.
BA-DUM!
What some might have considered a signal for life was now my signal for death.
The slayer's scanners were scarily efficient. At the slightest sign of life, they located me and sprayed beams of red light mercilessly.
Fortunately, my psionic barrier shielded me from the brunt of the initial attack.
The slayer paused after eradicating all the corpses that hid me and stared at me, almost mockingly. It's red lights for eyes blinked furiously. It was calling for the other slayer.
If that slayer came around, I would be pincered, with no chance of escape.
That was, of course, the reason why I was already speeding through the shuttle, using my oxygen reserves as makeshift thrusters.
"Target: Nemva Cruis Elisia El located."
The slayer's unfeeling voice stated.
"Switching to Neutralisers."
'Neutralisers? I-I must have heard wrong, right?'
Neutralisers? The lasers that easily tore holes into the people of this ship weren't neutralisers? What the hell did the slayers consider neutralisers then?
I heard clicking and whirring, but I didn't bother turning around to confirm. I couldn't afford to confirm. There was not enough time, or energy for that. My heartbeat still hadn't stabilised and my body wasn't warm enough yet to function at maximum.
Hell, with what I'd just gone through, I'd need an actual emergency look up to get back to normal state.
In the next second, all I heard was a single, thunderous roar, followed by the sound of my metallic arm creaking as it dangled lifelessly, then my own deafening scream of pain and finally, the system's warning.
[Psionic Barrier breached]
[Psionic Barrier shattered]
[Can't recover enough energy to reactivate Psionic Barrier]
[Psionic Barrier unavailable]
[Warning! Warning! Please-]
"Oh! Shut! Up! Gaah!"
The pain was unreal. Beyond anything I could ever hope to describe. It burned. A searing, scorching pain went through my right arm, particularly from the elbow up. I couldn't feel anything below. The arm was barely hanging on by the grotesque mix of tendons, wires and exposed bone. Oil and black blood leaked, threatening to drain my body dry of any blood I had.
But I couldn't even afford the pain a second.
My body moved on instincts, down the corridor, and taking a sharp left, narrowly avoiding the second bullet that whizzed by, hitting the wall of the shuttle. The impact created a loud thump, exploding the wall and creating a hole leading into space.
And space was cruel. All oxygen was forcefully sucked out, threatening to drag me along with it. Hell, it managed to drag my arm outside painfully in the blink of an eye.
Even then, I wasn't afforded a moment's respite.
Down the hallway, the other slayer was waiting for me, its demonically lit red eyes glaring at me lifelessly.
I gritted my teeth, whipping my neck around to look for an escape means, but there was none. The other slayer was there, it's neutraliser—a lean silver rifle sticking out of its forearm—aimed at me.
When I looked to observe the other slayer, it also had its neutraliser at the ready.
Moving forward would get me killed, just as moving backwards would. And in this situation, the only way for me to survive, was if I was somehow faster than the slayers and their bullets that I couldn't even perceive.
'Faster?'
Both slayer's neutralisers cocked. Any second from now, they would be fired and I would be incapacitated.
An idea had formulated in my head. It was risky, but I had no choice. Worst case scenario, my body was torn to bits and my head would be debris, best case scenario… well, we'll see.
I turned off my thrusters and my body jerked backwards immediately, being pulled along by the vacuum of space.
The bullets were fired off, both speeding along so fast I couldn't see them. Hell, there was no timing for this risky plan of mine. I simply turned my body headfirst in the direction of the hole.
I somehow, be it by the grace of an otherworldly deity or luck, evaded the bullet from the slayer and flew past it. Before the hole could swallow me up, I turned on my thrusters and propelled myself quickly. There were escape pods on both sides of the transport ship. Even now, I could still make it into one.
The two bullets, upon collision, created a loud chime, accompanied by a powerful shockwave that ruptured the hallway and my back. It felt like countless lacerations had opened up on my back and fractures forming on my ribcage.
"Aaaahh! Damn it! But hell yes!"
As a side effect of blowing my back out, the force had propelled me even faster and further than my thrusters did.
There was no time to confirm what happened to the slayers themselves.
The blast sent me flying into the escape pod room. I pushed the button to one of the escape pods, opening it, but the door was taking too long.
"Open, stupid door! Open! Open! Open!"
I furiously pushed the button, looking over my back to see if the Slayers were coming. My arm was losing too much blood, but I couldn't care about that. I saw red from behind and I could hear the machines drawing closer. When the door opened, I got in and pushed random buttons in distress.
[Detaching from main ship]
[Step away from the door]
The automatic voice said.
"Hurry up you bucket of bolts, or else we will both die."
The door closed quickly and the pod detached itself from the ship.
"I…. I made it! Woohoo. Hehe. T-that was lucky."
"Welcome to the SRN8. Where would you like to go?"
"Send me anywhere. Just get me out of here. Now!"
I violently barked, nervously looking back to see if the slayers were on my tail.
I felt my heart stop and all colour drain from face as two pairs of red orbs stared coldly at me. There was no new scratch or dent on their hunk of metal bodies. Their neutralisers were aimed at the pod, emotionlessly watching as I slowly drifted away from the ship.
[Understood: setting a course for planet Sonoe 9NRV]
There was no point. I was done for.
I collapsed to my knees and leaned on the door, tears leaking from my eyes. I tried my hardest, but there was no point. Even now, as I literally sat in a pool of my own blood and oil, having lost an arm and almost dying in a risky gamble to escape, it was all pointless.
The bastard won once again.
Time seemed to slow down to a halt. Agonisingly slow, as if mocking me for my foolishness. Allowing to me stew in my dumb attempt at escape.
More seconds passed, and somehow I still had my three limbs and a conscious mind—well, half conscious—and the blood loss would soon fix that. I looked up and the slayers were still staring at me. Much like they did when I hid in the pile of corpses.
They couldn't see me. They couldn't see the ship.
It suddenly hit me.
The reason why I chose this passenger ship out of the countless.
This wasn't really a passenger ship. It was a transport for criminals looking to escape from the empire. Secret routes through dangerous, unexplored star systems, such as this one, were used to avoid the empire's all-seeing eye.
Out here, there were things worse than the slayers, waiting for any sign of life. For that reason, the ship, including the pods, was designed to hide all heat signatures from within.
So, how did the slayers even track me to this star ship?
I thought hard, then it hit me.
'That bastard. He sold me out.'
The one to aid me in my escape. He ratted me out to the empire once I got on the ship. He must have told them the secret route. Very soon, the empire would set up a patrol unit here.
'No, they won't. They haven't been able to get a lock down on this star system in the 500 years they've ruled and I doubt it will change now.'
I cursed under my breath as many more thoughts began to swallow me whole. They were all stopped by the striking pain of my arm and back.
"Ship, emergency treatment. Now."
The ship's A.I beeped, calling for a scan. It took note of all my injuries, noting them out loud as if to remind me of just what I'd suffered for this victory.
[Countless lacerations found on the back, slight bleeding in the brain, missing limb, loss of blood and bodily fluids, fractures on rib cage, multiple instances of internal bleeding, a heartbeat rate slower than expected levels, likely due to heart damage, body heat 45 degree Celsius, mechanical modifications faulty with exposed wiring threatening to cause unexpected shock, psionic levels far below expected output, hole in mechanical lungs, leading to loss of air]
[Alert! You should be dead!]
[Initialising medical treatment]
I couldn't focus on anything the system said. As its mechanical arms lifted me off the ground and quickly attended to me, I remembered the name of my impromptu destination.
"Planet Sonoe 9NRV?"
A designated scrap planet in the AL 259 galaxy. It will take approximately 600 hours to arrive]
"Are there any food supplies?"
[Affirmative! However, the available food supply won't last that long. Do you still wish to go?]
"Whatever. Just go! Now!"
"Understood."
I looked back at the space ship. The two slayers were looking at me from the ship and they were pointing their rifles at me. It felt like they knew I was here, but didn't at the same time.
I hissed at them, my ears and tail perking up.
"I'll get you, you bastards. Just wait and see. One day, I'll kill all of you."