Although we were running from the explosive alien, the cargo hold didn't have enough space to truly let us escape. From a quick glance, this section of the ship was mostly intact, leaving only two possible exits. The first one was behind us, blocked by that octopus-starfish monstrosity. Getting past it would mean brushing dangerously close to its flailing, explosive tendrils.
The other way out was...
"Eva, find the hatch! Open it if you can!" I shouted through the radio, hoping to snap her out of her panic.
If we could just locate and open the hatch, it would be our ticket out of this death trap! But before I could even finish mapping out a plan, Eva's sharp gasp crackled through the comms.
{S-Shit! Fuck! Argh! The path's blocked by a ton of metal debris! Arthur, do something!!!}
My heart sank as I glanced around. The dim space was illuminated only by the beams of our powered suits' headlights, leaving most of the room in suffocating darkness. I hadn't even noticed until now, but we were completely cornered. The wall of tangled debris ahead was an impenetrable barrier, and trying to dig through it with the suit's limited strength would take far too long—longer than the alien would need to reach us.
In short, we were sitting ducks about to be harvested.
'But there's no way I'm dying here. No fucking way!'
Without hesitation, I opened a comm channel to the Range Falcon. "Percy! Lock on to our position. Fire all lasers and missiles at the rear end of this wreck!"
If there was no way out, we'd just have to make one ourselves!
Announcing it in the open channel meant Eva heard the command, too. She snapped to attention and quickly darted away from the wall, ducking behind a pile of rubble. Her visor lights blinked off as she activated stealth mode.
I followed her lead, shutting off every light on my suit and blending into the shadows. The visor's night vision mode kicked in, bathing my view in an eerie green glow. Using the faint outlines, I slipped into the same cover as Eva, leaning behind the debris pile.
"(Eva, check if that thing's still chasing us!)" I whispered through the radio.
{No way! You do it, Mr. I'm Not Scared of Anything!} she hissed back.
"(I'm not doing it either!)" I grumbled, keeping my voice low. "(Let's just hope and pray it doesn't find us before the Falcon's barrage hits.)"
{You? Praying? What happened to all that bravado? Whatever. Suit yourself—I don't believe in God either way.}
"Neither do I. So, uh, yeah..."
{...}
The tension was still thick in the air, but the earlier wave of panic had eased slightly. The knowledge that help was on the way gave us a sliver of hope to cling to.
But of course, Murphy's Law kicked in at the worst moment.
A slimy tentacle snaked over the top of the debris pile, reaching for my powered suit's arm. I reacted instinctively, rolling to the side. Unfortunately, the movement sent me tumbling right on top of Eva.
{You little shit!}
Her glare would've melted steel if not for the immediate danger. Before either of us could react further, the alien's tentacle reared back for another swipe.
"Damn it!" I grabbed the plasma cutter strapped to my suit, intending to slice the tentacle clean off, but Eva lunged before I could act.
{Stop, idiot! If you want to kill yourself, do it far from me!}
She wasn't wrong. This alien was highly flammable, and plasma weapons were like matches in a gas leak—one lick of the flame, and we'd be vaporized.
"But all our weapons are plasma-based!" I snapped, dodging another grab. "What am I supposed to do, die without fighting?!"
Eva didn't answer, instead launching herself upward with her thrusters. She hit the ceiling in a single leap, then turned her suit's headlights to maximum intensity. A blinding flash lit up the cargo hold, momentarily illuminating everything.
The alien, with its dozens of bulbous eyes spread across its tentacles, recoiled violently. Its appendages flailed in every direction, writhing like a child throwing a tantrum. Taking advantage of the chaos, I bolted for safer ground.
But Eva… she did the opposite.
"What the hell?!" I yelled, seeing her dash in the opposite direction.
Her thrusters flared brightly as she landed near the debris blocking the hatch. She reached into the rubble and pulled something out.
"Is that… a ship's armor plate?"
The object was a long, thin fragment of metal—three inches wide and about five feet long. At first, I had no idea what she planned to do with it, but the way she held it gave me a clue.
She wasn't holding it like a tool. She was holding it like a weapon.
"A… greatsword?!"
{HAAAAAAP!}
With her thrusters at full blast, Eva launched herself toward the alien in a streak of blue light. She cut the thrusters just before reaching it, likely to avoid igniting an explosion that would vaporize her on the spot. Then, she swung the makeshift sword in her hand with all the force her suit could muster.
It wasn't elegant—her movements were rough, untrained, even clumsy. But the results spoke for themselves. In one sweeping motion, three of the alien's writhing tentacles were severed. The dismembered appendages flailed wildly like cut-off gecko tails, their frantic thrashing sending bits of debris scattering.
Eva didn't stop there. She swung again and again, hacking away in a frenzy. Another dozen tentacles fell in rapid succession, reducing the alien's arsenal by a third in mere moments.
But then, as expected, disaster struck.
{Ugh...! You...!}
The alien recovered its vision quickly. Its remaining tentacles darted toward her in a blur, wrapping around her powered suit like hungry serpents. One snared her arm, halting her swings mid-motion, while others coiled tighter and tighter around her frame.
"Eva!"
I shouted, feeling a pang of dread as her groans of pain echoed through the radio. The suit's reinforced plating began to creak and buckle under the crushing force.
And yet, even in the dire moment, a stray thought crossed my mind. 'Why do tentacles and beauties always seem to go hand-in-hand in these situations?'
But this wasn't the time for stupid musings. Watching an alien slowly crush my crew member to death was the last thing I'd want to do. If she died here, my entire mission—and probably the entire universe—was doomed.
"No choice...!"
I powered my thrusters to the max and charged toward them.
"Take this—Sun Flare!" I shouted, flooding my suit's lights to their highest intensity.
The alien, clearly learning from Eva's earlier trick, snapped its dozen eyes shut before the light could blind it. A perfect counter—but I wasn't trying to blind it.
"That's all the opening I need!"
At the last moment, I killed my thrusters and slammed directly into Eva. Before she could process what happened, I yanked the makeshift sword from her hand and brought it down in a clean, brutal arc.
The alien's tentacles fell away, severed in one decisive blow. Eva tumbled free, but the damage had already been done—her suit's thrusters, crushed by the alien's grip, fell apart in shattered pieces.
"Shit..."
Then, as if on cue, the salvation I'd called for finally arrived. A barrage of lasers tore through the tail section of the ship, vaporizing the debris blocking our escape. In one fiery moment, the sealed end was obliterated, replaced by a gaping void leading to the open dark space.
"Hang on tight!"
With Eva's mobility crippled, I had no choice but to carry her. Clutching the improvised greatsword in one hand and dragging her by the other, I kicked off the alien's flailing stump of a tentacle and launched forward.
After gaining enough distance, my thrusters roared as I pushed them to 500% output, blasting us toward the new opening at breakneck speed.
{Shit... it's still chasing us! Faster, faster, you damn slowpoke!} Eva barked through the radio.
"I'm already beyond max output! You're just too heavy!" I snapped.
{Heavy?! You fucker, how dare you—! It's my suit, not me!}
"Yeah, yeah, save the excuses for later!" I growled, focusing on keeping us alive.
The alien, furious and flailing, was still hot on our trail. Its tentacles stretched out like barbed whips, desperate to catch us before we reached safety. There was only one way to shake it off.
"Percy! Lock onto us with the tractor beam! Pull us in and fry that bastard into stardust!" I barked into the comms.
Tractor beams were meant for objects, not people, but powered suits like ours were close enough to trigger the system. A brilliant blue beam of light shot out from the Range Falcon, wrapping us in a magnetic pull that combined with my thrusters to propel us forward even faster.
The gap between us and the alien widened, but it wasn't giving up. Its remaining tentacles flailed, clawing through the void in pursuit.
Finally, we breached the safety of the tractor beam pad. I threw Eva down the hatch, spun around mid-air, and roared into the comms one last time.
"NOW, PERCY! FIRE!"
Percy didn't even wait for the turret to fully charge. A single, crackling beam of semi-transparent blue light lanced through the void—striking the alien dead center.
The explosion that followed was blinding. A massive sphere of fire and energy erupted, a detonation so violent the ship's hull trembled beneath it.
The force of the blast was staggering—easily equivalent to ten thousand megatons of TNT, or about 200 Tsar Bombas exploding simultaneously. But of course, the ship wouldn't fall from just this much.
The cargo bay doors hissed shut behind us as the system re-pressurized the room. I popped the suit's visor open, and let out a long breath. The cold, fresh air hit my face, grounding me in reality.
"Survived... once again," I muttered, collapsing onto the deck.
Eva, still sprawled on the floor beside me, groaned and turned her head to glare at me. "You call that surviving?! You dropped me like a sack of potatoes, you asshole!"
Despite her qualms, her voice lacked its usual venom. For once, I could tell she was just as relieved as I was.