Everyone watches on bated breath. Smoke has exploded around the two combatants, and no one wants to know the outcome. Hancock is no longer firing, which could be a sign of the worst. And, the volume of the shrill noise subsides a little as one of the devices dies or is destroyed by the Queen.

  A large shadow appears near the edge of the cloud, and the moment becomes even more tense. Even the grodrrns, both from Khla’s ship and from the nomad fleet, seem to be keenly focused on the suspenseful moment. Will Hancock be able to finish the Queen? Will she end him as quickly as anyone else she’s faced so far? Mrff was the only one who was able to hold his own for any period of time against her during the capture of Khla’s battleship, and Dzor was the only one who managed to wound her during the capture of the Polonia. Most grodrrns train to be excellent soldiers and fighters. This strange Queen has trained to kill grodrrns. And even, to not kill them when she chooses.

  The moment seems to go on forever, as the Queen stalks through the smoke. It seems, given that she is still alert, that Hancock may not yet be dead. She destroys another of the devices, and it’s clear there’s only one left.

  Suddenly, the Queen lurches, and she lunges out of the smoke with a ferocious roar. A thundering mercato of a hybrid rifle belonging to the human soldiers of the fleet pounds the air with bright flashes.

  A tidal wave of energy washes over the audience, similar to when Dzilika hatched. No one outright cheers, but the hope is almost palpable.

  He’s holding his own.

  Hanging from the Queen’s back and firing his rifle in bursts is the human champion facing the Queen in the first sacrificial battle. The Queen bucks and swings, trying to dislodge or reach him. And although many of his shots miss from her violent movements, orange-ish blood sprays from the Queen where several shots find their marks. Failing to dislodge the human warrior by simple bucking and thrashing, she throws herself onto her back, rolling backwards as Hancock is momentarily pinned to the ground by her body. She grips his sides as she rolls off of him to her feet, but he kicks free, bracing when she spins into a follow-up kick that tumbles him across the ground.

  This time, he is unable to keep hold of his rifle, and it clatters away from him towards the smoke.

  Hancock’s unwillingness to simply give up is inspiring, though. Jessica has watched him in training, and she’s heard things from Little Bird after they got separated on Earth. She’s seen him in action a little on the Cave Queen’s world as well as during moments on the Polonia.

  Hancock doesn’t lament the temporary loss of his rifle. He doesn’t watch it flop uselessly away from him, nor does he chase after it. His hand is already on his hybrid sidearm, drawing it quickly from a kneel and firing it with impressive cycling speed. The pistol pops in an uneven rhythm, and though the bullets are similarly accelerated as the rifle, they tend to have less impact and lower accuracy than the rifle shots. This is proven when the Queen flinches at first, but seems to simply brush off the pistol rounds. She storms towards Hancock, partially shielding her eyes with her forearm as she stalks towards him. Hancock empties the magazine of the pistol, still in a kneel. He instantly, as if knowing the final shot was cycling, hits the magazine release and lets the gun spit it to the ground as his secondary hand finds a magazine on his belt. The moment his magazine is ejected, however, is the same moment the Queen lunges towards him, and Hancock rolls deftly to his left, avoiding her pounce. She slashes towards his new position while his hand finishes feeding the magazine in -started during his roll-. Hancock flops flat onto his back to avoid the slash, springing up instantly after to his feet in an acrobatic bounce using his legs. This puts him face to face with the Queen as she rears up, punching her claws towards him.

  Hancock deflects her arm with his left forearm in a batting strike, snapping his hand up to stop her jaws from following towards his helmet by gripping her neck. He fires the pistol repeatedly into her chin, which causes her to flinch and snarl. The Queen roars as she feints back a step, pivoting on her broad foot to swing her leg next. Hancock springs in a side flip over her kick, pivoting in his own melee strike with his new position outside of her front attack reach. His punch finds a narrow block from her arm, and it stumbles her with a meaty ‘thwack!”

  The block seemed to register in the Queen’s brain, but this punch seems to have really made her realize; Hancock may not be able to take too much of a hit compared to the grodrrns she fought, hence his agility, but he can deliver damaging blows. He ejects a canister from his arm that steams and is glowing bright red and white.

  The Void Queens buzz and hiss angrily, but the Queen seems to simply recover her posture for a moment as she newly sizes up her opponent. Hancock holds steady for a moment with his pistol aimed at her. She flexes her jaw in spite of the light bleeding under her chin, and he holds fire for the moment. Just as she underestimated him, he dares not overestimate his weapons.

  Jessica notices in the eerie quiet when Tanya whispers cautiously, “D-... Do we cheer? C-Can he… beat her?”

  Jessica looks at Hancock. His armor hides what’s really going on with his expression, and thus how he might feel. But, whatever he feels, he doesn’t show it to the Queen. Considering the young officer that kind of made her feel comfortable with his own caution and inexperience, she almost feels like he’s come a lot further than she has in terms of growth. He was approachable and easy to talk to because he was just like her; young and naive. Now, he’s the one person who may stand between the monstrous Blue Queen and the whole of humanity.

  Can… Should I be doing something?

  She looks around. Her other go-to for what to do in tense situations, Chief Grey, is lounging as he watches. It’s not that he’s uninvested in the battle. He seems to know that there isn’t much to be done except let Hancock face the Queen. After all, just as one being potentially doomed them, one potentially can save them.

  A sudden presence appears and takes a seat near Long, startling her lightly. It's a grodrrn helmdraavv thought to potentially have disappeared forever.

  Khla whispers, "Spaceman Long, I need Admiral. Is she nearby?"

  "Craw!?" whispers the young woman with surprise in her voice. "How…"

  "No time. I can make it back to the shuttle undetected, but I need to ask someone higher if I should."

  "Should what?" asks the gruff marine nearby without looking.

  "Contact Fievegal. Not ideal, but Hancock thinks it may be the only way to get all of our fleet offworld."

  Grey nods his head towards the grodrrn section, saying dryly, "Fievegal's already here."

  "Not Jardzen Craw, Chief. The Fievegal will not leave this world uncontested with so many grodrrn prisoners. But…"

  Everyone is quiet for a moment. Those who know are aware that Dzor urged Long to bombard Zeeannssii and the crew of the Argonaut from orbit. The number of individuals saved did not make up for the number they stood to lose if Dzor was unable to intervene in the way he did. And, she left the Fleet in his hands if she failed, accepting that he might just have done it himself. True, in that situation, Dzor, an individual with a personal connection to the one person making what he viewed as a foolish choice, chose to act in favor of saving everyone possible. But, the Fievegal is not Dzor. If an entire fleet of ships arrives, it’s unlikely they’ll spare anyone on the surface when the Zarakyssns are involved. Grey gestures towards Long and Dzor, stating coolly, “You can if you want. But, I think we all know that…” He trails off as the room silences to an explosion.

  Hancock short-tossed a grenade, firing at it with his own pistol once, causing a close range explosion that engulfed them both when the Queen scooped him up by the chest with her terrifying grip.

  A telltale whine follows shortly after; one no one else has heard yet. It pierces through the silence like a cicada, though unnatural in origin.

  A supersonic crack explodes, and the blue Queen roars a fearsome roar from behind smoke, stumbling clear of the grenade’s small cloud.

  Hancock tumbles clear, and a third object lands on the ground between them.

  A terrifying reptilian-insectoid hybrid’s arm.

  The Queen snarls, momentarily stumbling away from Hancock as she rips part of her dress off, field-dressing herself in the moment’s pause. Everyone looks to Hancock.

  His armor is damaged, and he’s taking longer than usual to recover, and he ejects something from the bottom rail of his pistol. He loads another one, and it looks like a cross between a grenade launcher and a micro winch, which he plugs into his armor’s wrist.

  Everyone is silently urging him to rise, watching this human david versus an alien goliath. The Queen is very proud of her strength, and even she has retreated for the moment, taking cover behind one of the pillars as she uses her remaining hand and jaws to cinch a tourniquet over her severed arm to reduce the bleeding.

  Vivi is the first to cry out, “HANKYYY!”

  Her tiny voice reaches him, and he climbs to his feet, glancing towards them for a moment as he stays fully aware of the Queen.

  The Queen doesn’t seem to be any weaker, however. She seems to be having a mental breakdown, but is, in fact, psyching herself back up in a frenzy.

  It seems strange to Long to think about it, but how often have the humans been able to cheer since the fall of Earth? How often do they really rally together as human beings and celebrate the way the grodrrns were able to when Dzilika hatched? Hancock is literally fighting for the fate of the humans, grodrrns, Cave Queen and Princesses, and Syretia and her daughter.

  Maybe it’s not enough. Maybe there’s something more Jessica could do. But, her instinct now, similar to everyone else, isn’t to cause trouble where none currently exists.

  It’s to give Hancock what moral support they can on an alien world as he fights desperately for not only his own survival, but all of theirs as well.

  “Hancock… Hancock… Hancock. Hancock!” Jessica starts sheepishly, but raises her voice slowly. Chief Grey glances at her, but he smirks. He stands up, shouting, “ROOKIE! Your damn bullets ain’t doin’ you any good weighing you down!”

  Tanya jumps to her feet, cheering, and soon, everyone breaks the dam on the energy they have. They shout and cheer, in spite of the fear of repercussions. Both Hancock and the Queen observe briefly, and though the Void Queens seem to buzz angrily, the blue Queen doesn’t order them to silence. Instead, she flexes her body and roars, launching herself towards Hancock once more.

  ***

  Strange. These timid creatures would openly mock me in my own home.

  The Queen darts towards the human known as Hancock, keeping low and unstable in her movements. His newest weapon is terrifying, but it gives a warning before it fires, meaning she can easily avoid it if he doesn’t time it perfectly. When she withstood one of the human explosives, she was certain he was drying up his arsenal of tools to defeat her, but he found one more on his curious belt. She can clearly see that his inventory is dwindling quickly, and with what little she’s gleaned from the collective knowledge of the Horde and Zeeannssii, he will quickly be reduced to his virtually ineffective sidearm and a single magazine of spare rifle ammo.

  His element of surprise claimed her arm, even when she thought she had him at her mercy, ready to be smashed into the ground in a final, glorious blow.

  And yet, this human; this pathetic little mammal in a shell of alloy and technology, has managed to do what few have ever done.

  He has surprised her. He has intrigued her. And, he has entertained her.

  She trained to destroy Mrrk’lah in hand-to-hand battle, that she might exact her revenge on him. She’s never been shy about that fact, and by being the apex predator few dare even look in the eye, she has found herself lacking worthy opponents. No one present believes Hancock could defeat her with merely his flesh and bones. But, Mrrk’lah had that opportunity as well when she ambushed him the very first time. She was ready for him, and she was able to disarm and humiliate him, claiming her prize; both of his precious hatchlings.

  This Hancock, however, ALSO has trained and prepared to fight grodrrns, meaning that, although he cannot do it with merely his muscles, he is clearly prepared for threats few others in the galaxy can face.

  And that makes him entertaining.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  He moves quick, utilizing agility provided by his armor, no doubt. Especially when he lifts into flight. He undoubtedly expected his flight to be his advantage and allow him to rain weapons fire down on her from safety. When he was wrong, he didn’t falter in the face of disappointment or surprise. He leapt to the next idea he could muster, and then the next. She is an enemy he is not prepared to face without the fire of battle within him, and so, he has lit his fire and shone brightly so far.

  The Azure Queen is unlikely to be defeated by a mere mammal in any circumstance, save perhaps an orbital bombardment. If that is ultimately how she must be defeated, so be it. She will linger in nightmares and legends as the creature too dangerous to face.

  Hancock aims his pistol, and she intentionally plants her foot while sprinting straight for him to a solid root, allowing her to change direction in an instant, including springing into a coiling jump similar to what he’s used as well.

  However, his other hand is the one she nearly loses track of. He swings it out wide, throwing something.

  She springs forward, swatting it back at him. It was another canister of some kind, and irrelevant if it defeats him.

  The impact slams his chest, catching him briefly off guard. While he was expecting her not to be hit directly by the same attack twice, he doesn’t seem to have predicted that she would be able to hit him with his own attack. The grenade, however, explodes in a cloud of liquid water with no apparent explosives. It also seems to be made of the strange rigid, flexible, but relatively fragile oil-based material with a complex molecular chain the humans favor for light duty equipment primarily.

  Neither of them dwell on it, though. Hancock is slightly off balance from the impact, and she springs into a spinning front flip kick. He is able to loosen his footing with a light hop as he uses his free hand to intercept and soften the blow of her downward-angled kick. He is forced into a tumble, but much more softly than a full-force kick.

  She keeps pressure on him, though. She swoops her body low, lunging back in close to him. His weapon whines, and her heart races.

  Oh!

  She throws her body sideways as hard as she can. Pain burns through her wounded shoulder, and the thunder cracks the air again. His shot misses. He was able to fire near-perfectly even while recovering from a tumble to a kneel, and he springs without hesitation away from her direction of momentum.

  He ejects the spent shot as she gains her footing.

  When was the last time I felt that? She smirks as he fumbles on the back of his belt a moment. He doesn’t seem to have many, if any, more of that particularly nasty device.

  The Queen pounces towards Hancock, and he reacts. His motions are fast as well, but she glimpses his hand gripping something. During his movement, though, he snags something on the side of his armor and pulls.

  The Queen feels his armor scrape under her nails as he vanishes in another explosion of the white, sour-smelling smoke that expands rapidly from canisters clattering across the ground.

  She huffs and sniffs as her nose is overloaded again. She listens closely, though as the piercing noise makers start ringing. She’ll only get one chance if he manages to line up the weapon again. Fortunately for her, he still has to attach the specialized armament to his sidearm.

  ‘click clack’

  It’s a noise that barely registers over the aggravatingly loud and noisy devices, but it’s distinct from those same devices. She pounces through the air, emerging from the smoke towards the direction of a human device being operated.

  However, her discovery in midair is a little surprising.

  The individual she is soaring towards with her full strength and weight is not the human warrior known as Hancock.

  It’s not even a human at all.

  It’s Zeeannssii.

  There’s only about a second, but her thoughts race quickly. Zeeannssii arrived as his prisoner, and though she opened her first attack on Hancock with Zeeannssii in the dangerous area of her attack, the Azure Queen never suspected treacherous thoughts were within Zeeannssii, and even now, as the Void Queen braces herself for the impact, she senses no ill will from her darling young sister.

  In fact, that’s almost the weirdest part.

  There is currently no ill will in Zeeannssii at all.

  The Azure Queen is interrupted briefly when the acrobatic human warrior appears in her lower peripheral vision, directly below the Queen. He has his hand planted as his body flips, and she is kicked upwards.

  The Azure Queen viciously swats at him with her claw, slamming her claw across his helmet with piercing force. Hancock tumbles once more, slamming his back into a column, and the Queen recovers her positioning with her own claw, scraping down the column, landing on her feet behind the column as she listens for the tell-tale whine. She doesn’t hear it over the noisemakers. Thankfully, they’re far less disorienting when they aren’t nearby.

  She glances briefly to Hancock. He’s got his sidearm forward and at the ready, but she landed a brutal hit. His helmet is shattered, revealing a portion of his face, which is bleeding lightly from shrapnel.

  Hancock keeps his back to the column, rising to his feet. She can hear him take a deep breath and exhale.

  In the grand scale of the fight, the last hit on Hancock was a glancing blow, and it has him rattled. He was able to absorb the impact of her kicks using his agility and his armor’s enhancements. A single blow near his head nearly finished him.

  Though, likewise, if one of his specialized rounds hit her in the head, she’s finished as well.

  It’s then that she makes the connection. The round is some sort of high power round with tremendous impact and penetration, but the mechanism by which it fires is familiar to the Azure Queen, who has researched and learned all she can about both her own empire as well as the Fievegal.

  The weapon round that poses a threat to her is based on the same primitive-seeming weapons the Nizzkurezz use. According to historical records, these weapons could pierce through Zarakyssn armor easily, even shattered into shrapnel. The grodrrns don’t appear to have ever faced off against the Nizzkurezz, but the weapons have a lot of destructive power and are almost impossible for other races to use, in spite of how simple they are.

  Several of the other Void Queens have finally raced in to grab Zeeannssii, but it caused another peculiar effect. Humans and Grodrrns have rushed the stadium, shouting. The Azure Queen finds herself in a brief bewilderment. They stop when the Void Queens draw on them and hum angrily in return, but the Queen orders them, Calm yourselves, Sisters. They misunderstood. They may watch wherever they feel comfortable. I am still me.

  But, Sister…!

  But ‘what’, Sister?

  Nothing…

  What do we do with Zeeannssii?

  Hold her for now.

  The Queen flexes, wondering what she should do next. She’s down an arm, he has one of his deadly rounds loaded, and he’s still conscious. She could attempt to lie in wait, but he’s unlikely to get especially brave very quickly. She could throw something at him again and try to get him to discharge his round. That’s among her best options, since the moment his round is expended, he’s almost helpless -she assumes-. She of course knows better than to make blind and committed assumptions.

  Sister! He’s upon you!

  Surprised, the Queen looks up, tumbling instinctively clear of her hiding spot. She realizes she reacted without thinking; there was no whine. However, Hancock surprises her again. He’s already beside her on the opposite side from the pillar, and she can hear his armor’s systems strain.

  A thunderous impact finds her waist, and she experiences something she truly can’t recall.

  She blacks out. Briefly, of course, but it still happens. She loses at least a second or two of time from the excruciating pain of her innards rattling around. She DEFINITELY will be needing her regenerator after this battle.

  She turns, but coughs. The pain is worse than she thought. She’s never faced a Zjikha before, but she suspects that it’s about what it would feel like to take a direct strike. Normally, the Shining Daughters send legions of soldiers after the creature possessing the stingers, and only a handful return victorious.

  This armor-enhanced human just cracked some of her bones. His leg armor ejects another one of the small canisters that don’t seem to reload, glowing and hissing as it expels heat from the discharge.

  Her only saving grace, most likely, is that she didn’t stop moving, and she darts clear of his line of sight. She uses the pillar to draw closer to him, and like him, climbs the stone column for a similar sneak attack. It’s more difficult with the pain in her abdomen, as well as with only a single arm.

  Hancock can apparently still fire his sidearm with the special shell loaded, and he fires at her as he tries to hover backwards carefully. He’s wisely keeping his distance, but he knows she can avoid his special shell once it starts to prime. She pounces between columns, staying high. A few times, she winces in pain, but she is able to keep moving quickly enough that no one should be able to see. She is alive, and she is an apex predator. Hancock is impressive, particularly for a species that only barely squeaked into space travel and survival, but even for the galaxy at large. She might actually have been concerned by the human race if they had naturally progressed into space travel, as they would have developed the military to stand toe to toe with the Fievegal and the Zarakyssn Horde. At least, that’s what she’s seeing in Hancock right now.

  However, she is also the apex predator of the galaxy for a reason.

  She pounces downwards at the right time, and Hancock dodges opposite of her.

  Straight into rubble from the column she smashed earlier. He loses his balance, and though his armor’s flight system is keeping him upright, it distracts him long enough for her to spring towards him, kicking the rubble towards him. Debris and rocks pelt his armor, and he shields the exposed portions of his face.

  Instead of returning to trying to aim at her, though, he springs back. Good thing for him, as he avoids the rock the Queen throws. This game is coming to an end, and it’s clearly going to come down to that one final shot. Though, he can deliver some powerful strikes, he seems hesitant to risk getting close enough to find out if he can defeat her.

  She can taste her own blood in her mouth, but she ignores it. She stays close, slashing at him. It’s then that she realizes that some of the ambient noise she’s hearing is coming directly from him. His helmet is buzzing a crackling noise, alternating with a shrill alarming as he moves.

  Still, he keeps his senses, sliding through her legs to behind the Queen, and he kicks her more moderately, merely stumbling her. She spins quickly, though, gripping his forearm as he prepares to block. Just as she prepares to kick him and rip his arm clean off, his armor seems to explode -at least his arm’s armor-. His right arm’s forearm plating and glove pops off with a burst of air, and he is only barely shoved by her boot as he also lunges away.

  The Queen stumbles, unprepared for her own force to be un-countered.

  Breeeeeeeeeeee.

  She hears it, and it is already at tone. She looks directly at Hancock shifting her weight to pounce at him, but she sees it. It’s already too late.

  Many thoughts flash across her mind, even as she springs forward anyways. Perhaps, if she can land on him, her body, even deceased, can still claim him as well. She will not be defeated without taking her enemy with her.

  Many images flash across her mind, though. Images that surprise her to say the least. She feels like it’s the same amount of time as her entire life, as the images flash before her in slow motion. But, that ever-present whine lingers in her mind.

  For the first time in her life since she was a child, she’s felt that imminent feeling. And, for the first time since all those decades ago, she feels something alien to her; something she instills in everyone who gazes upon her.

  Fear.

  She tightens her muscles, as if any change could be made at this point. She readies her arm, just in case it can swing and make the difference. She braces her core, as if to reduce the pain of her landing. Hancock’s gaze is locked with hers, and hers with his. A tiny primitive in his protective shell will be her demise.

  However, something strange flickers across his eyes as that imminent moment reaches its climax. He’s alien to her, and what she saw is even more so.

  ***

  It all comes down to this. A final shot. Hancock has expended two of his armor’s impact capacitors, and two more have been drained below where he’d likely be able to deliver any sort of meaningful hit. He used both of his armor’s smoke-rips, his rifle is in the hands of the Void Queens -as is Zeeannssii-, and his pistol’s magazine is low on ammo. He probably has one more pistol magazine, but he doubts it will matter. If he can’t finish the fight here, he probably won’t be able to kill her. She’s still fighting as if he’s accomplished nothing, and he’s winded, aching, and running out of power.

  He has no idea what Zeeannssii was thinking. She bought him a moment, but he felt the need to deflect the Queen. Why?

  Simple. She is his responsibility until she’s safe, since he dragged her into the arena. Foolish as it probably was -he likely could have had a perfect shot on the Queen-, he promised Zeeannssii he would get her home safely. Technically, that’s complete, and technically they’re enemies again, but he has no hatred for her. Not now. It doesn’t matter anymore. Humanity is meant to live or die not on the crimes of its enemies, but on humanity’s own strength and character. Everything in the universe is trying to kill them, it seems. If they hate everything that tries to kill them, they’d hate inanimate objects and even space itself.

  Hancock holds his aim steady on the Queen. She’s airborne, which means she likely can’t contort too far out of the way. He’ll need to aim for center of mass anyways, as the round is already priming. He’ll have a fraction of a second to adjust if she does manage to maneuver.

  But as the last drops of adrenaline fizzle out in him, and time is starting to pick back up, Hancock comes to a realization. It’ll likely cost him his life, but he met the intent, right? Maybe he can, maybe he can’t beat her right now. But, Zeeannssii is returned, and he fought the Queen.

  He can accept that.

  He shifts only slightly, and thunder rips through the air as his shot fires. A sudden metallic shriek rips through his side, intended to interrupt him and throw off his aim. Pain courses through him, stumbling him. He cries out, losing his focus on the Queen as his shot explodes somewhere against the ceiling.

  And, the freight train of a living body barrels through his vision. Hancock blinks.

  In the brief moment of surprise, a terrifying roar startles him, rattling him to his very aching bones and deafening virtually anyone that hears it. He whirls, clutching his abdomen. He dares not look at his hand. What he will find is a given. But, he’s still on his feet. His pistol is still in his hand. He aims it at the blue Queen, but he finds a surprising sight.

  Her back.

  The reptilian-insectoid chimera is facing away from him, holding a Void Queen off of the ground by her head, as other Void Queens squeak and buzz in terrified and timid noises. The roar wasn’t meant for Hancock.

  It was meant for the Void Queen.

  It’s not Zeeannssii this time, though, meaning it was one of her other loyal sisters attempting to protect their Queen.

  Rage is causing the Queen to shiver, and the Void Queen in her grip flails and kicks lightly, losing strength quickly.

  Hancock coughs, grunting, “D-... Don’t.”

  The Queen snaps her gaze to him, but his vision is getting foggy quickly. Still, he tries to keep the balance, keeping the pistol locked on her even as his hand begins to shake.

  The Queen's gaze drifts to the distance, and Hancock sinks to a kneel, collapsing to the ground. In the last shreds of his vision, which show the Queen's boots, he sees the Void Queen dropped to the ground, scrambling away before seemingly bowing before the predatory blue Queen.

  But then, maybe it was all just a long, bad dream.

  ***