Heya, it’s your boy, Choujin here.
Today I’m deciding to post something already done, something tied to my last story and the Bola’Vettir bit This little number is what I’ve been working on for a while and takes place in that same universe, with a bit of a space western vibe to it. I hope you don’t mind my work and enjoy this this as much as I have written it.
Slayer of Foultongues
written by TheChoujinVirus
Bindi X, a Terran Federation planet caught up in the Terran-Acheronite War. This Mining Colony found itself under occupation by an Acheronite battalion, with little to no resistance. A good chunk of some people still fight the Acheronite invaders, but not enough to push them off the planet. At a nearby small shipping area of the mining colony, away from any form of conflict, A lone stranger, not part of the war, found himself stuck in this world. The transport he was on was locked down as the Acheronites prevented no ship from leaving the planet, not even private carriers As stranger stepped off the transport, it would be clear that he was neither human nor Acheronite. In fact, he was a race of humanoid aliens called Kiralins. His sandy grey pants, shirt, rusty dirt brown colored long coat, and hat perfectly covered his chitinous, scaly body. His hat was covering his face, which looked human save for the texture, greyish yellow skin. The Stranger found his travel cut short as he looked at his surroundings. The shipping area was more or less nearly barren with a few humans doing their best to go on with their lives with this occupation. The stranger’s first stop was the local bar as he was in need of a drink.
As he walked into the bar, he noticed it was pretty drab by human standards as only three people were there, an old bartender and two patrons. The bartender beckoned the stranger over to the counter as he asked: “Anything you’d want, stranger?”
“what do you got?”, The stranger asked
“We got scotch, beer, and water,” the bartender replied, “I would have the special stuff, but with those xeno she-devils, I have to hold onto that stuff for special occasions.”
“Water,” The stranger asked.
The barkeep began to pour the Kiralin a glass of water as the two patrons started eyeing the stranger from their table.
“Hey, boy! You ain’t from around here are you?” said one of the patrons.
“You’re right I’m not,” The Kiralin replied.
“what’s with your bit? You trying to copy some old Earth cowboy movie?”
“You know those xenos, Lester,” the other patron replied, “They want to copy our movies because they think Clint Eastwood is a real-life cowboy or superhero. Knowing this feller, he really thinks those movies are actual ‘historical documents.’ “
The Kiralin watched the two patrons chat on, though not before the barkeep handed him the water he requested. Bit thanked the barkeep then quietly enjoyed his drink, looking around as the sound of old Earth country music played on a busted jukebox. The somber tone of the bar was interrupted as a woman’s scream can be heard outside of the bar. Everyone in the bar ran toward a window as they watched the scene unfold. Three Acheronite soldiers in armor were holding a seventeen-year-old girl by her wrist. People fled to their homes as they are familiar with these attacks. Not a single person was willing to stick their neck out as they knew what happened to those who tried to resist Acheronite soldiers
“Trying to cause trouble like the rest of them?”, One Acheronite snarled, her amber eyes glared at the girl.
The other Acheronite replied, “These Terran jy’alk need to learn a lesson. We’ve already killed several of them, but they keep coming back and harder than ever.”
“Perhaps so, but the commander suggests we do not kill her,” the leader said, holding the girl’s wrist. She looked like she could snap that wrist like a twig.
“Just kill her here and now!” the third Acheronite snapped “This jy’ alk need to know their place!”
Back at the bar, the barkeep shook his head “shit, this is the fifth person this month. If this keeps it up, they’ll just purge us all.”
Upon hearing the distressed tone of the barkeep, the Kiralin placed his glass down, got up from his seat and headed toward the door quietly.
“Hey! Boy, what are you doing?!” Lester’s eyes were shocked, “They’ll kill you!”
Bit turned to the bartender and said “There may be a way to diffuse the situation without any bloodshed.”
The stranger walked out the door and toward the trio. The Leader of the trio threw the girl to the ground and aimed her weapon at her head.
“This didn’t have to go like this,” The leader told the girl, “But you Terrans leave us no choice.”
As the Acheronite leader was contemplating about killing the girl, the Kiralin let out a sharp whistle that got the four’s attention. He merely stared at them, his green glass-like eyes glaring at them like targeting irons.
“What’s with the show of force?”, he asked, “I assumed the Acheronites were above this level of barbarism?”
“This doesn’t concern you, Kiralin,” the Leader said calmly.
He sternly glared, “It does if you’re harassing the locals. I’ll ask again, why the show of force?”
“We’re at war, so stay out of this!”, One of the Acheronites was ready to pull her gun on the stranger.
The Kiralin began to scan the trio and kept calm and cold as ice even though he did feel a twinge of fear coursing in his mind. Usually he was expecting them to just talk it out, but they looked like they meant business. The Kiralin and the Acheronite trio were in a standoff, the leader stared back along with her compatriots. Both sides waiting for one to make the first move. The Acheronite ready to fire shifted her feet, the sound of dirt shifting caught the stranger’s ear. On that cue, the Stranger reached into his coat and pulled out an elegant but bulky looking handgun. The trio heard the sound of gunfire as the Acheronite that was about to attack fell to the ground, the bullet striking her through her through her amber eye. The Leader prepared her weapon while the second Acheronite dashed at the Kiralin, closing the distance to kill him. The Kiralin muttered the words.
“Flak Shot”
The gun in his hand began to transform, changing itself from a handgun to the appearance of what one would describe as a sawed-off shotgun. The Acheronite was caught off guard as she was sent flying backward, hot buckshot tearing through her armor. The girl looked at her rescuer then turned around to spot the leader of the group making a quick retreat.
“Hey, mister! That Acheronite’s making a run for it!”
The Kiralin noticed the Acheronite leader fleeing in the distance like a panicked animal fleeing a predator in pursuit. He said another word:
“Long Shot”
His gun slowly began to change into something built for long range shooting as the barrel of the gun looked elongated. The girl watches as the Kiralin took aim and fired. The fleeing acheronite in the distance fell to the ground as the bullet struck her. The girl dashed toward the bar’s entrance as the Kiralin followed behind, looking back as he wanted to be sure that was it.
“Maria! What the hell caused you to get in that amount of trouble?!”, The Barkeep said sternly
“They only caught me because I was entering some no-go zone,” the young girl snapped back
“That was completely stupid and reckless of you! You know they’ll kill you”, He turned his attention to the stranger, “I don’t know why you did it. You were either brave, stupid or both. Either way, thanks for saving Maria…”
“Don’t count on it,” the stranger replied, “I just didn’t want to see someone get hurt.”
“by the way, what is your name?”, Maria asked the Kiralin
“the miners referred to my getup as a ‘bit,’ so I guess you can call me Bit if you want.”
“Okay,” Maria asked.
—————————————————————————————————————-
The next day, the area was abuzz with rumors about Bit’s skill and how he managed to defeat three Acheronites by himself. Most of the miners couldn’t even take down one of them, and they were surprised that an alien was able to do it. Some were amazed while others felt disdain that a xeno had to do something the Federation failed to do. Bit, on the other hand, woke up after sleeping in a guest room the barkeep kept for overnight guests (it wasn’t pleasant or pretty, but it kept him warm). As he left the room, he was greeted by the patrons as a hero.
“Three cheers for the stranger who saved Maria.”
Bit remained silent as he headed to the barkeep and asked: “anything to eat?”
“Only ration packs,” he replied as he hands him a ration bar “It’s not much but with the Acheronites blockading all supply routes, we’re stuck here with limited supplies. I would make you some chicken fried steak and eggs as a thank you for last night”
“that sucks. Why are the Acheronites here anyway?”, Bit asked
“hell if I know, they showed up and mentioned about this being some sacred ground of some sort,” the Barkeep served Bit some water as he continued talking “First the mines claimed that the mines got some ‘feral infestation problem’, and now the Acheronites have arrived here and occupied the planet. All because of a war the Federation got us into with these she-devils.”
“Figures…,” The Kiralin said calmly.
“Can I ask you a favor, Bit? Can you go to Maria’s room and get her down here.”, The barkeep said, “She may have had to deal with that mess, but that doesn’t excuse her from work. I need her checking the water filtration system.”
“Alright,” Bit replied, “where’s her room?.”
“Oh, it’s on the right, the sign that says ‘No Entry’ is her’s,” The barkeep replied.
“never knew that was a room. I thought it may have been something else entirely. Alright, I’ll inform Maria then.”
Bit headed back upstairs to find Maria. He found the “No Entry” sign. He opened the door and was surprised to see Maria in a transition of changing her clothes. Due to Kiralin upbringing and customs, he was oblivious to human nudity. However, he noticed that Maria had something different than any other human, she’s got aa lizard-like tail. Before he could even tell her about the Barkeep’s request, she gave a loud shriek and began throwing stuff at Bit.
“OUT, OUT, OUT YOU XENO PERVERT!”
Bit closed the door in a rush just as she started throwing some heavy stuff. The Barkeep overheard the commotion as he tells Bit, “we usually knock on doors before entering. Ladies don’t like that when you walk in on them changing.”
“Wasn’t expecting her to change clothes,” Bit replied, “Though what is she?”
A nearby patron walked up to the two. A heavily built African American male with a square face and wearing a sandy dirt mechanic’s jumpsuit then spoke to the Kiralin. “I take it you’ve never seen an Augment before?”
The Kiralin turned toward this patron, “What’s an Augment?”
“Bio-Engineered Humans, supposedly hybridized with animal DNA. Maria’s one of them.”, the big guy said.
The barkeep noticed the heavily built man and scowled “Finley, what brings your sorry ass over here? Didn’t I kick you out because of that brawl you started?”
“Hey! That little shrimp started it”, Finley snapped in defense.
Bit quietly enjoyed his meal while listening to the two bickered. He saw Maria headed downstairs, but not before she gave an angry scowl at Bit before heading out the door. Finley looked at the Kiralin and replied, “Well, you’re off to a good start with Maria already”
“If you mean romantically, I’m not interested in cross-species-“
Finley interrupted, “Whoa there, Polanski, I wasn’t hinting that. I was talking about your little stunt with the Acheronites.”
“I had to do something,” Bit said, “Though I didn’t want to kill them”
“True, but now those Acheronites are going to be mighty pissed,” Fin stated, “You just killed one of their captains, and they don’t like that one bit.”
“What’s going to happen?” Bit asked
“They’re probably going to come and kill us all,” Finley asked. With that, everyone stopped and stared quietly at the group upon hearing this conversation.
Bit looked at the group before turning to Finley, “Now I can see why you got yourself kicked out of this bar. I highly doubt they would cause that much trouble for three soldiers.”
“I’ve heard them Acheronite she-devils will kill people just for killing one of them. Supposedly they’re all sisters to one mother.” Finley said “I hope you’re right that they won’t kill us all over your stunt.”
“I hope so. This town doesn’t have the equipment to deal with an Acheronite force. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be occupied when the Federation base fell.” The barkeep said.
Meanwhile, outside of the bar, Maria was cleaning the grime and crud off the water filters for the bar. She hated that job with such a passion that she wished she was captured by those Acheronites than doing this hard labor. She heard the sound of vehicles pulling up near the loading station. Maria saw from a corner and noticed they were Federation APCs, though something felt wrong. The APC doors opened, and several troops of Acheronite soldiers emerged, followed by another, decked out in much heavy body armor than the rest of them.
“Search this place! We lost contact with our sisters in this area”, The large Acheronite commanded as several troopers began scouting the area. Maria saw this and quickly ran into the bar, terror in her eyes as she ran into the bar, and announced loudly to the patrons
“Acheronites! They’re outside!”
On cue, everyone stopped and made a mad dash outside to see the area had around 20 soldiers, all of them lead by the sizeable four-armed female that was heavily armored. Bit followed outside last as he overheard the four-armed Acheronite announce to the crowd.
“We have reports that three Acheronite soldiers disappeared in your area following reports of capturing someone violating the no-go zone. As you know, we’ve allowed some form of protection to ensure safe transitions. Therefore, we are requesting any information on what happened to them. Cooperation will produce compliance.”
The crowd murmured as one townsperson yelled out, “What if we refuse? You’ve chased us out of our homes and such.”
“Then we’ll have no choice but to occupy and detain this area like the rest,” The Acheronite leader replied.
“That’s not a wise way to win the hearts and minds of the people,” Bit replied as he walked out of the crowd and out in the open where the large Acheronite could see them.
“A Kiralin? Here on this planet”, The leader couldn’t wrap her head around Bit’s appearance
“What are you doing on this planet, Kiralin? I thought your government wasn’t lending aid to the Terrans? Has your government decided to fight alongside these ji’alks?”
“I was passing through and found myself stuck here,” Bit stated. The crowd continued to watch them, “even though your soldiers were harassing a girl,” Bit explained, “But I’m sure you would know…after all, don’t Acheronites have some form of psionic link between each other”
“You lie, the soldiers would not resort to that lower level of barbarism! You probably killed them in cold blood. None of my soldiers would ever attempt that basis of barbarism””
“I did it in self-defense,” Bit said, “Maybe you need to keep your soldiers in line.” The crowd began to cheer on as one of them yelled: “Tell those she-devils off!” The group grew bolder and pushy, making the Acheronite soldiers nervous and defensive.
“Stand down! We do not want to start violence!”, The leader yelled. Finley, leading a small group, entered the bar while the crowd got louder against the Acheronite forces. Bit remained quiet as he watched the squad leader’s face grow worried. She wasn’t expecting the humans to become this agitated and Bit knew this.”
“Listen, we can just walk away from this situation if you just take your soldiers and leave these Terrans alone.” Bit said, “We don’t need more bloodshed.”
Despite his words, the Acheronite was more occupied with the humans around them than Bit’s words. “Keep the ji’alk in check!”, She barked. However, one Acheronite noticed something thrown at her. It looked like a metal ball with a charge as it began beeping. However, she realized too late what it was as it exploded, searing her and sending three Acheronites flying. Some of the human townsfolk found themselves shaken (a few injured) by the detonator.
The Acheronite squad found themselves under fire as Finley, and his group took positions in the buildings and began firing, sending the lot into cover to hide or fight.
Bit just witnessed an uprising, an uprising that he’s now caught up in. An uprising that he himself had no clue would change his life and views of both occupier and occupied.
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