Gravitas

Ineros Station was loud, as loud as any pirate mining station on the fringes should be, and either dim at best or pitch dark at worst. It was so loud that Uch could easily block out the sounds of shouting and beating occurring on the causeway across from him.

The idiots had jumped their mark in the glare of one of the bridge’s few working lights. He made a mental note to berate them for it later, for that and for sticking him on babysitting duty. It took him a moment to reprimand himself, the youth wasn’t stupid or incompetent: he had managed a few minor jobs on his own. It was the combination of youth and inexperience that he resented since that was what got people killed.

“Hah! Look at that Yytik!” Kolt laughed bloodlust hazing his eyes which meticulously tracked the limbs of the rest of the gang as they assaulted their victim. 

Uch grunted, hand tightening on the ancient laser pulsar under his jacket. It was low powered drek and Uch would have complained about that too, but it was already more than most other thugs carried. Heavy weapons were a great way to bring the attention of the station’s shot callers and that always ended with becoming part of the station’s ring system. 

“Should have paid your dues!” Kolt shouted at the Yytik, who was now on the ground trying to shield itself, his arms unconsciously mimicking the falling blows. 

“Control yourself!” Uch spat, striking the youth in the back forcing him into the rails, driving the air from his chest. 

Kolt spun to face his aged peer “What kind of Bandleader are you?!” he demanded, eyes raging 

“One that survives.” Uch growled “One that controls his bloodlust before it devours him. One that has killed more people than you’ve met. Contain yourself and keep watch or I’ll carve the warning into your crest.”  

“You don…” Kolt began falling silent at the look of murderous intent cast towards him. 

“Hand on your gun, eyes open, track the approaches not the fight.” Uch said, exhaling heavily, his blood beginning to burn. Less from the fight across from him and more from the stupidity of the youth next to him. Barely molted once and the youth thought he could take the world. The years after the true plates came in was when they were thickest, when blood burned hottest, and when they felt invincible… Uch’s mouth twitched slightly as he remembered himself at that age and then it fell as he remembered the first battles where so many of his clutchmates fell. Feeling invincible and being invincible were two very distant cousins. 

“What?” Kolt asked, noting his senior’s thoughts. 

Uch sighed “I know how you feel. Control it or die.” He continued gruffly “You feel like a god and you’re stronger than most but…” His face spasmed at an unwanted memory: “Plate and fury won’t protect you from a plasma grenade or kinetics.” 

Kolt grumbled barely biting off a venomous retort “I know. I know.” He finally conceded

“Good. Too many…” 

“OI!” The bellow louder than the station’s din and loaded with murderous intent.

The figure didn’t walk or run. Each stride seemed to glide over the station’s rusting walkways, rapidly closing the distance between itself and the attackers. Kolt raised his gun to fire, hands steady despite his arousal, blood would flow, he would kill, take a life… it wasn’t the first time but it was still sweet to the young predator. 

“Uch! There!” Kolt shouted, finger already moving to depress the trigger and send a beam shooting across the causeway and into his target. 

He fired: into the bowels of the station, the gun swatted from his hand following quickly after. 

“What?!” Kolt demanded “You TRAI…!” The rest of his rant stifled by the Uch’s heavy hand covering his mouth 

“Shut up!” The elder hissed “Do you want to fucking die?” Uch’s eyes were wide, already scanning for exits, the words, the action, the expression of naked fear chilled Kolt’s searing blood. 

“What?” 

“Fuck.” Uch swore “They’re dead. The stupid fucks. If they’d waited for the mark to get into shadow… fuck….” 

“What? It’s one…” Kolt's jaw went slack and his body numb.

The gang had spread out to block the causeway. Put themselves and their now drawn weapons, between the target they had been sent to re-educate and the interloper. Jyst stood a half step before the other three, ready to strike a killing blow and bless himself in blood… The interloper was fast. Faster than he should have been but he was unarmed and outnumbered. Kolt still didn’t understand Uch’s fear, until the moment of contact. 

One moment Jyst was standing strong, body and arms moving to deliver an executioner’s  stroke and the next he was… gone. The interlopers right hand, tipped with dull metal claws, ripped through Jyst’s plates, slashing him to ribbons and before Jyst could react, the interloper drove his left hand into Jyst’s chest and tore it out: bones, organs, everything. 

Bellowing with rage and painted with blood the interloper pitched Jyst’s corpse back into Kolok who had barely registered what had happened before the attacker shoved his hands into his eye sockets and ripped his skull apart. Brain and bone erupted like flesh of an overripe fruit. Worse though, the interloper had fallen silent. He had stopped raging and begun to hunt. 

Ynit and Flov had tried to run. Ynit, always the coward, drove the butt of his spear into Flov’s gut. It was cruel and, in spite of himself, Kolt couldn’t help but hurl a curse at Ynit, but his vows of revenge were wholly unneeded. The attacker barely paused to smash Flov’s body into the wall, killing him from blunt force alone, before closing the distance. Out of all of them, only Flov had the presence of mind to scream. Kolt had never heard a sound like that before, even Uch, who had seen more death than most shied away. The high pitched shriek was a death knell, the kind of sound only those who knew they were to die in agony could make. The interloper crashed into Flov, knocked him down, raised his fist, and brought it down. Once, twice, again, and again, and again until he was satisfied with the pulped mass on the ground in front of him. It stood, covered with viscera and gore and completely indifferent to the slaughter. 

“What… what do we do?” Kolt muttered, primal instinct forcing his voice down and his body together. 

“We have…” Uch froze as the avatar of butchery looked up. The two could feel it in their souls and both of their hearts: it saw them. Not that they were standing there, it wouldn’t have cared if they had just been bystanders. It saw them. It knew that they were involved. Its gaze drifted back to the beaten Yytik on the ground and then back to them. Its body began to move towards the Yytik and, only reluctantly, did it tear its gaze from the two. 

“We have to go. Now.” Uch said 

“We have to run!” Kolt started to bolt 

“No! No running.” Uch hissed, grabbing the younger man by the scruff of his jacket “If you start running it’ll know.” 

“It already does.” 

“No. It thinks it does.” Uch began walking, faster than normal, in the opposite direction of the scene “It thinks we were involved. But it…” He shuddered “It doesn’t know so it might hesitate a bit before the Yytik names us. If we start to run it’ll start hunting. And they…” Uch shuddered again “They like hunting.” 

“Do you know what it is?” Kolt asked 

“Human.” 

“Human?” 

“Human” Uch confirmed “You don’t know them?” 

“No. I’ve heard of them but never seen one before.” 

“Makes sense.” Uch nodded “They’re rare. From a different spiral arm.” 

“Are they all like that?” 

“Almost all of them. Some are worse.”  

“Worse?!” Kolt shouted, his voice echoing off the metal of the side passage Uch had led them through.

“That one wasn’t a professional.” 

“Not a…?! How?” 

“Ok maybe he was, but that was personal.” Uch explained, weaving through the warrens before rejoining the main causeways “It knew that Yytik or someone it cared about knew the Yytik. Humans don’t get that bloodthirsty for no reason.” 

“So what do we do now?” 

“Now? Now we get something to eat. Something to drink.” Uch fell silent for a while, weighing his options, calculating the odds of life and violent death “Somewhere public. Somewhere open. And we pray to the ancestors and the stellar creator that the Human doesn’t track us down.” 

“Can it?” 

“Maybe.” Uch shrugged, heading towards the Ascension. A club owned by one of the kingpins, one which Uch could only afford to enter thanks to his close relationship to the chief bouncer back in their mercenary days. 

Normally, Uch would enter the club, find a drink, wrap the nearest beauties around himself, lead them to a circle and relive the glory days of his youth. The music, the ambient intoxicants in the air, the narcotic smoke that suffused the place, and the abundance of fresh meat took years off his age. Here he felt young again, like a core world Baron who had just stepped from a rejuvenation chamber. Kolt, who had never stepped foot inside the club, stopped dead in his tracks, the sights, the smells, the sounds overwhelmed his already strained mind. His body took control and began to drag him to the bar, half sunk below the stage. 

“Eyes ahead” Uch said “We’re not staying.” 

“But you said.” 

“Move!” Uch gave Kolt a harsh shove “Follow me and!” He spun to face Kolt “Hands. To. Your. Self!”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Kolt nodded, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. 

Off to the side of the club was a lounge. More exclusive. More expensive. Only one entrance and, to those in the know, one secret escape route. 

“Why here?” 

“It’s quieter” Uch began “Food’s better. Drinks are the same. Easier to see if someone comes hunting for us.”

“And a quieter place to die.” Kolt muttered 

“That too.” Uch chuckled, nodded to the guards and passed through the door, palpable relief radiating from him as he did.

“Fuck happened to you?” Goryz asked, dropping a pair of drinks in front of the pair as soon as they had sat down “First one’s on the house 'cause the boss wants to know what’s got you spooked.” 

“Human.” 

“Pfft.” Goryz scoffed “Yeah good luck. It want you dead?” 

“Probably not.” Uch shrugged “Just making sure. Loose ends get tied.” 

“True, true.” Goryz nodded “Well then, I won’t kick you out.” 

“Then I’ll take another round.” Uch grinned to which Goryz nodded and returned to the bar. 

“So…” Kolt leaned forward, the walls, doors, and guns granting him a feeling of safety “What are they? How did it do that?” 

Uch sighed “Their home world. People like to talk about death world this, crucible world that, but that’s not it.” Uch paused to light a smoke “Their world is dense. Really. Really dense.”

“So?” Kolt asked, stealing one of Uch’s cigarettes 

Uch shook his head “Higher density means more gravity which means more… everything. They’ve got denser bones which means more and denser muscles which means a stronger heart which means higher pressure which means thicker skin which means… that.” He twitched his head towards the doors. 

“Gravity?” 

“Yep.” Uch nodded “That’s why they’re all so short. Gravity makes ‘em small. But it makes ‘em strong and mean. And since this station has gravity that’s less than the galactic standard which is already less than their own…” He trailed off meaningfully 

“They’re really fucking strong.” Kolt breathed 

“And they know it. Especially since they implant themselves with all kinds of metals.” 

“Metals?” 

“Think!” Uch smacked Kolt gently “Stronger bodies, stronger weapons, stronger armour! Everything had to be more, had to be heavier, and when it was too heavy for their natural bodies they started reinforcing those. Endless loops until they turn themselves into war machines.”

“Huh…” 

The two lapsed into silence, both reflecting on the day’s events and then wiping the memories away with drink. Uch had almost fallen into a meditative trance when Kolt finally spoke again. 

“So then… if they’re that strong…” Kolt’s young mind wandered. 

“No.” Uch said flatly “Don’t even start wondering about that. They have more stamina and they’ll break your bones.” 

“How do you know?!” Kolt demanded 

“Personal Experience” Uch grunted 

“Personal?” Kolt guffawed, the stress, fear, and anxiety bleeding away through his laughter. 

Uch couldn’t help but join in, until the two were falling over the table and each other. That was all they needed to break the tension, and start to drink and laugh and mourn the dead. A second round, a third, the fourth die halfway down their throats. 

“The music.” Kolt coughed

“Goryz! The tunnel” Uch blurted, halfway starting to rise out of his seat before a voice froze him. 

“Move, or die.” The voice clearly audible over the deathly silence that had descended.

It wasn’t a threat. Not really. It was a binary choice. The doors slid open and, for a moment Goryz held the line, his plasma shotgun aimed at the figure in the doorway. 

“Bet your life that I’ll get my hands around you before I die.” The words were friendly, as though it was a kind of joke between old friends. It was a ghoulish juxtaposition to the figure’s clothing. Saturated with blood, flakes falling free with every step as it approached the bar leaving a trail of red dust in his wake. 

“Vodka. Three doubles.” It said finishing its approach, utterly indifferent to the gun. Ultimately Goryz blinked, lowered his weapon, and grabbed a bottle. 

“Make it four.” It said, draining the first shot as soon as it was placed. 

Still smiling, it took the three shots, joined the pair, and slid one each over to Kolt and Uch. 

“Do you know why I like shots?” It asked, teeth still bared. 

Uch swallowed hard “No.” he said, answering for both of them. Kolt was too transfixed on the sanguine figure before them. Sure it was relaxed, smiling, and completely at ease but from this distance Kolt could see the layers of blood, the spots where it hadn’t completely dried a shade darker than the rest. He could see the shards of bone, and drying flesh still stuck in the hair of its face and head… and it terrified him.

“It’s simple. It gives everyone exactly one out. One chance to stall the conversation, one opportunity to buy time. Beer, wine, cocktails… too many chances you know? And honestly, between you and me. Who likes wasting time neh?” 

“Of course.” Uch nodded, trying to maintain the air as though it was the most reasonable and trivial conversation of his life “Understandable.” 

“Good!” The man clapped his hands together jerking Kolt out of his fixation “I’m glad we understand each other. Which means I hope you can help me understand. Why did your crew attack my friend?” 

“Your… friend?” Uch asked, strain already showing through his voice. 

“Indeed.” The human nodded emphatically “See, that Yytik is a dear friend of mine and seeing him get beaten down like that…” The Human clicked his tongue “It bothered me. And I’d really like to prevent that from happening again.”

“Naturally.” Uch croaked 

“But to prevent it from happening again I need to know what it was. So? What was it?” The Human directed its gaze at Kolt, transfixing him again in its blue eyed stare. 

“The Yytik… owed us money.” 

“Owed you money?” 

“Protection money.” 

“Ahhhhh I see, I see…” The human nodded, seemingly satisfied by Kolt’s response. Kolt would have relaxed had Uch not remained wired with tension. “I hope you understand that that Yytik’s protection is being taken care of by me.” 

“Absolutely.” Kolt nodded frantically “We didn’t know. And, and…We weren’t going to kill him just…” Kolt started babbling, unable to control himself “We thought it best to show him the risks of not being protected you know?”

“Oh of course of course. Public service and all that neh? Better that someone gets a beating than a bullet. Really quite thoughtful of you. But… How will I make  sure that the point is clear?” 

“I think” Uch drank his shot “I think it already is…” 

“Is it though?” 

“This is quite a statement.” Uch said hurriedly gesturing to the human, before the alcohol lubricating his throat dried up. 

“But is it personal enough?” The human mused “I’m not sure.” 

“What are you…” Kolt began

“Please.” Uch said, breathing hard and squaring himself “He’s still a juvenile.” 

“Is he?” The human nodded, its expression changed to a brief moment of consideration before settling back into an inscrutable mask “In that case…” 

Before Kolt could react the human was in motion. With one hand he grabbed Uch’s head and the other he tore the crest of bone free. There was no blood, there was little pain, but the sound of crunching bone and breaking pride unimpeded by bloodlust or battle trance… Something in Kolt revolted at the sound.

To have one’s crest broken off like that was only possible if you were completely at another’s mercy and for Uch… the humiliation until it grew back would be terrible… Kolt gasped as the Human casually tossed the crest to the ground and stomped on it, breaking it into pieces. He met the Human’s eyes for a final time, expecting to see anger, hate, rage, or some kind of lust but instead he was met with a hollow emptiness: an expression of cold calculation and suffocating power. 

“To your good health. May you learn, and live.” The Human said, raising his shot glass to Kolt as he stood, pouring the contents down his throat and vanishing through the doors back into the club. 

The music began again, Goryz all but vaulted the bar to attend to Uch, but Kolt… He raised his shot glass in trembling hands. The alcoholic warmth helped remind him that he was alive, that Uch was alive, and that, he would live and learn. But the echoes of death personified and the terrible, awful, weight that the Human projected... it had broken his sense of invincibility and nothing could ever bring it back.