[D]

  He watched in horror as the girl walked up to the nightmare.

  Watched as she pointed at them.

  How had there not been a massacre?

  How had no one even reacted to a monster like that running loose?

  “Talking person.”

  “Know. Heard.”

  It took all his experience in the military to not shut down as the deepest natural voice he had ever heard came from the walking weapon. War-beasts were dull things that endlessly spread and destroyed everything in their path. They were a planet killing weapon of last resort. The cost to breed them and then clear the planet afterwards was so high it would bankrupt most nations in the galaxy. Most of that cost came from making sure the things that were destroyed were the right things as well. To be found with a War-beast outside of strictly controlled areas was a galactic level crime, it could see an entire nation expelled from the council and blockaded.

  The only thing that stopped a War-beast hoard from overrunning the galaxy was the fact that they were dumb beasts. No better than most animals. So long as no technology was left in their path, they would never leave the planet they were deployed on. They were cunning enough to be a problem, but not smart enough to overrun orbital ships.

  He had even seen them deployed once. That was all it had taken. He was selected to oversee a test on a pirate vessel. They had sent three War-beasts, with specialty measures, testing their viability as a boarding strike. He didn’t know exactly how things ended up, as once the pirates were all dead the War-beasts found and mostly disabled their ability to monitor things. The test was labeled an abject failure and the ship was vaporized with a drive wake.

  It was deemed the least risky option.

  From what he had seen, he didn’t think they had needed three.

  The nightmare in front of him was not only the largest War-beast he had ever seen, being so close to the military specified upper limit that he swore it was over, it was smart enough to talk. No one, not the most aggressive council members, not the most savage generals, not even the Humans, thought a War-beast deployment was a sane thing to do.

  Now someone had made one larger and smarter than the military’s worst weapon.

  …. And they let it loose on a civilian station.

  He had to find a way off this station. He had no idea who was after him anymore, but if they were willing to go this far rather than just destroy the station, he needed to be constantly on the move.

  All he had to do was avoid the living weapon that was crouched right in front of him.

  “When I distract it, find a ship and steal it. This station is doomed.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  As he whispered to Christy, he passed her the data card. He didn’t have high hopes of getting out of this.

  “Wait, nothing has happened yet. It’s better to distrac—”

  He didn’t bother to finish listening. She didn’t understand. No one outside the special forces would understand. Some people may have heard stories, but only the select few had seen what a War-beast could actually do, and that information was heavily classified for a good reason.

  His heart beat faster as he dashed towards the beast. He hoped Christy would take the hint. He was sure the beast would take a few minutes to finish with him. He didn’t expect to live that long, but if he riled the beast, it would attack his corpse rather than chase.

  He hoped.

  He could see the first few movements. The beast cocked its head as he drew near. He would use his nails to inflict a wound on the inner thigh and then quickly change direction to –

  He felt a heavy weight on his back, as his face pressed against the ground.

  ‘Wha?!?’

  “Important?”

  “I don’t know. The Crova said not to mind him. We can just ignore him I think.”

  As he listened to the voices above him, his mind desperately tried to make sense of the situation.

  How did he end up on the floor? He didn’t even remember hitting the beast!

  ‘Canireans are the most agile, how did I not even see anything?!!’

  If he had caused damage, he should be dead. Did he not even manage to hurt the thing?

  “Please don’t hurt him!”

  His ears swiveled at Christy’s voice.

  ‘Why didn’t she run!’

  He tried to say as much, but he couldn’t get enough air to form the words. The weight on his chest was heavy enough to be a problem.

  “We will do anything you ask, just please let him go!”

  “Fast talk. Small things. Pup, follow.”

  It took his mind a moment to realize that it was the beast talking. Probably the lack of air getting to him. When the weight lifted, he desperately gasped in as much as he could in preparation to spring up. As he tensed for the motion, he felt the world stop making sense. It felt as if he was flying. Gravity pulling him down but the world refusing to listen.

  As his eyes refocused and his mind caught up, he found himself crushed in the beast’s grip.

  “Why small thing heavy? Too much small thing.”

  He heard more deep grumbling from above him as he did his best to assess the situation. Trying to struggle so he could free his hands. It seemed like they were headed into the docking tunnel for a ship. He couldn’t allow that. Couldn’t put Christy in a situation where she had to choose him or the mission.

  ‘Why can’t I break free!?’

  Nothing he tried broke the creature’s grip or allowed him the smallest bit of freedom. All he could do was listen to the clicking footsteps clearly belonging to Christy and watch as the light faded away. He had to shake his head several times to make sure he wasn’t still losing air.

  ‘Why is it so dark?’

  “Your eyes will get used to it. Eventually. It took a while for me.”

  “That doesn’t help me see now. Is it just a straight path?”

  It seemed that Christy was having just as much trouble with the light. The shocking realization that the young Canirean had adapted just made things worse. Their race could see in low light, but it took prolonged exposure. Very prolonged exposure. Getting locked in the dark long enough for their bodies to submit to the environment and change was a grueling experience. An Alpha could speed the process, but it still wasn’t pleasant being without a sense for that long.

  When they made it into the ship proper and neared what he expected was a command room, based on the many blinking colors coming from the doorway, he smelled something that set everything he had on alert and shrunk his tail fur down to nothing. He could even feel his instincts screaming to quietly leave.

  It smelled like an apex from a savage world.

  “Run!”

  He finally got enough air to give commands after the beast dropped him in front of the door.

  “Wha? How?”

  He couldn’t even answer her.

  It was like staring at a mountain. What could he even do? He could only see an outline against the lights behind it, but even then he could tell.

  He was insignificant.

  His awareness faded to the sound of thunder.