Chapter 3 - Raid on Gaia (2)

Mariah Sampson laid on the ground, completely defeated.

I lost.

She rested her hand on her face in shame.

Were these invaders really that strong? No, I was just weak. Not only did they have no problem knocking me to the ground, but they also didn’t even think I was worth finishing off.

“Defenseless,” they called me.

Mariah had always believed that she was unmatched within her age group. Whether it was in school sports, tests, or even the few times that she had to fend off bullies who thought it was a good idea to pick on her tall stature, she seldom experienced defeat.

At the young age of 19, she passed the long series of tests to become a Trial Ranger, despite her parents’ dissuasions. It was then that she learned what it meant to have been a big fish in a small pond.

She couldn’t beat Quin in hand-to-hand combat exercises, nor keep up with him in zero-gravity- movement training in spite of the two-year age gap and height disparity. 

She couldn’t learn as fast as Hayden, the other Trial Ranger in her class, nor could she apply what she learned nearly as well.

There were even several soldiers in the Regular Army, ones that would never dream of becoming Rangers, that had her beat in target practice. 

Even with all of this, she still felt that she would find a time to shine. If she just continued following orders, completing her tasks, and working as hard as she could, she would find herself in a place where she could be recognized as someone great.

Her time to shine had come. Invaders came into the station right where she happened to be, but even then, she failed.

She didn’t like that.

“If you don’t like something, change it,” she recalled what Quin had told her after every one of their sparring sessions. 

She clenched the fist that was resting on her head and slammed it down to the ground. Her frustration grew into anger, and her anger grew into resolve. 

She didn’t know if it was adrenaline getting to her, but for some reason, she felt stronger. Her wounded arm didn’t struggle much to lift her rifle. She picked up and holstered her side-arm, and walked forward without hindrance, before finally reaching the pirates’ location and aiming down her weapon’s sights. 

“I told you to wait.”

The invaders stopped in their tracks and turned around.

Mariah fired one shot, and before they could understand what was happening, one of the pirates fell over. 

Another shot, and then another one. One after another, three pirates had been sent to the floor by powerful beams. 

“Get to cover!” Lek yelled out. 

The Tothans scurried into one of the cells, hiding away.

“That wasn’t a normal guard, who was that? I didn’t get a good look at ‘er,” Lek asked his crew.

“Just the girl that escorted me here, we had her injured to the point that she shouldn’t be able to fight anymore, so we just left her,” said Kaaran, “I think one of the guys addressed her as Trial Ranger…” he stopped mid sentence as he realized what had happened, “Oh.”

“Idiot! We showed you pictures and everything before we started this plan. We have to capture or decommission all three of ‘em to get our full payout.”

Kaaran clicked his tongue, “Humans really all do look similar to me. Well, whatever, now she’s brought herself to us, we don’t have to worry about it.”

“It’s not that easy anymore, seems like she’s in the midst of an Epiphany,” Lek paused for a moment, “It could be worse, though. Nothing too serious, she’s just got a little more firepower. We’ll do it like this, then…”

Mariah continued aiming her rifle down the hall. She moved her finger up to her earpiece to communicate the situation, only to realize that it was no longer there as she recalled the heavy kick she received a while back. She needed to find a new earpiece, or else she would have to bet on the fact that Lieutenant Ivory was watching her through the security cameras to get any form of backup.

Although she didn’t feel great about it, she looked toward the guard who was earlier sliced across the chest by Kaaran’s spear to see if she could salvage his earpiece. As she reached out to grab the earpiece, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned to face it. 

She saw the figure move from one cell to the next one adjacent to it. As it crossed the hall, she fired once, but missed. The figure zig-zagged across the hall once more into the cell closest to Mariah, and waited there. 

Mariah walked up near the cell and turned the corner. The figure revealed itself as Kaaran, and he was thrusting his spear directly at her. 

She had him in her sights, and was in the midst of pulling the trigger when suddenly, a sharp pain entered her right leg. Mariah’s rifle fired, but her aim was thrown off as her knee dropped to the ground and the beam hit the ceiling. She glanced over to her right to see Captain Lek aiming his pistol at her, and as she looked at her thigh, she saw a gaping, bloody hole blown into it. 

Kaaran quickly flipped his spear around mid-thrust and swung the handle of it at her head. She raised her rifle with both hands and was narrowly able to deflect the attack. Kaaran grabbed the rifle and tried to pull it out of her hands, but Mariah quickly jabbed her fist into his side, launching him back a little. He held on tight, however, so the rifle flew back with him. 

She pulled out her sidearm and began to aim it at him, but another beam of light pierced through her arm, and the pistol fell out of her hands. She held onto her wound and groaned loudly.

“Better to end this here, girl,” Lek said, calmly, “You’re worth a little more alive, so I don’t want to kill ya,” he looked towards Kaaran, “How are you holding up? That was a hard hit.”

“Not too bad,” Kaaran replied, “How many did we lose?”

“Three,” one of the pirates responded, “We’re pretty sure they’re still alive.”

“Alright. It’s a shame but I think it’s best if we call it quits here,” Lek sighed.

“Really?”

“Yeah, don’t you think it’s weird that no one else is coming for us? I think they’re setting up an ambush in the main area. I’d reckon that’s where the other two targets are, too. I’d rather not lose anyone else, and we need to get the injured to safety. Besides…” he looked at Mariah, “even one is sure to fetch a good price. We’ve done enough damage, they’ll reward us properly.”

Mariah glared at the pirate captain. 

“Don’t get so angry, we don’t want to hurt you, and neither do the people we’re taking you to,” Lek said, before glancing at the blood dripping down three of her limbs, “Well, we don’t want to hurt you further, I guess.”

One of the pirates took out a small vial and said, “Here, this should do the trick.”

He held the vial to Mariah’s face and sprayed it. She tried to back away, but she couldn’t move much at all. Seconds after the mist reached her, she was out cold.

“I gotta say, though, this seems a lot like kidnapping,” said Kaaran.

“I think it is. Not really our style,” Lek responded, “Just move her gently, we don’t want those wounds getting any worse.”

“Roger that,” Kaaran responded as he lifted her off the ground and hoisted her over his shoulder, “Though it’s a little late to act nice, now.”

Three of the other pirates holstered their weapons and lifted the three that were wounded onto their backs, and the crew walked toward the hole in the station at which they had docked their ship. 

Suddenly, there was the sound of loud footsteps marching towards them. 

“What the hell is that?” one of the pirates yelled out.

A group of eight people were running full sprint into view of the pirates. There was a Yujunoan in the back. Seven of the men stopped running as soon as the pirates were visible and carefully aimed their rifles so as to not hit the hostage. 

The pirates ran into cover quickly, although one got hit in the side. 

The eighth person did not stop running, it was a blur of a man with mid length, light brown hair. Lek aimed his pistol at him, but his hand was struck by a beam. It didn’t wound him seriously, but it was enough to make him miss.

Quin glared at him with his bright brown, almost red eyes as he sprinted past him. 

He continued running towards the Tothan that was carrying Maria, and leaped at him with all of his might, throwing his fist directly in between his eyes. The Tothan’s head slammed into the wall, and his eyes went white.