SWNOVELS Chapter 23: Penetrating Kartoom
Penetrating Kartoom
Meanwhile on the inside of the door, the two Zarukar guards who had been arguing stopped their argument when they heard the discharge reverberate soundly through the bulkhead. One guard was seven and a half feet tall, gray-skinned, with long matted greasy hair and a set of long fangs that made him look like a vampire. The other stood just shy of seven feet, very dark skinned, bald with a pug nose, grimy face, and three-inch tusks jutting from his lower jaw. Each wore armor and had swords and blasters. Both were ugly as sin and twice as mean. “What the fuck was that?” the smaller guard hissed as they heard the noise. Seconds later, the video monitor went down, leaving nothing but static on the screen. “Shit, the goddamned eye has failed again!” he growled, seeing the static-covered screen.
The larger guard wasn’t in the least bit concerned about the noise or the monitor. “So what, you stupid pile of tarok shit,” he growled. “That piece of junk is always breaking down anyway. There aint nothing out there but dead meat, and you know it. Hell, it’s probably a tarok getting vaporized by the shield, so don’t get your panties in a wad. We’re not paid to stick our necks out, and you know it.”
The smaller guard ignored the larger one, checking the monitor, finding it useless. “The mother fucker is toast this time,” he commented crassly, “None of the channels are operational now. I told them they should repair this thing, but no. Now we can’t see what’s happening outside our door. I’d better check the shield on the door.” As he spoke, he heard something tapping faintly on the bulkhead doors, making him hesitate.
“Will you shut the fuck up, you sniveling sack of werack shit,” the larger guard barked, smacking the smaller guard on the back of the head. “I told you there aint nothing out there but carrion for the beasts. Shit, I don’t know why we’re here anyway. No one ever comes back from that pit anyway. Fuck, I could be off killing humans, but no, I’m saddled here with this paranoid piece of slug shit who suspects everything.” He then uttered an unrepeatable curse on the smaller guard.
The smaller guard turned, slugging the large guard across the jaw so hard he fell to the floor. “Do that again and I’ll blow your ugly mug clean off your shoulder, you bug-brained twit!” the smaller guard hissed venomously, now training his blaster on the larger guard.
“You’re so dead, maggot,” the large guard roared, rising and drawing his sword. “I’ll split you in two!”
The smaller guard shot the sword out of the large guard’s hand without blinking. Before the large guard could react, the smaller guard pushed him against the wall in a forearm choke, putting the barrel of the blaster to large guard’s forehead. “Will you just shut the fuck up and listen for a minute!” he ordered viciously. “Something is going on out there. Listen.” Just then, they heard a distinct series of taps on the bulkhead doors. It went silent for a few moments, and then another series of taps echoed forth. The tapping repeated in a consistent intelligent fashion: Morris Code, which was unknown to the guards.
When the large guard finally heard the intelligent tapping coming from outside, he growled, “Well, what do you know, you sawed off runt; you’re right. It sounds like something is out there. Now get that blaster out of my face before I make you eat it.”
“In your dreams, you slug,” the smaller guard retorted, “I’m not just anyone you can fuck with. Now let’s check the door. If you so much as look at me wrong, I’ll burn you down.”
“You’re going to regret this,” the large guard hissed, pulling his blaster and heading toward the bulkhead door. “I promise. No one gets the drop on me.”
“That’s an easy thing to do,” the smaller guard chided menacingly, stepping up to the control panel. “You’re such an imbecile that even a maggot could outthink you. Keep your guard up, you stupid clod.”
“Just open the goddamned door,” the large guard hissed, pointing his blaster at the door. “If there’s nothing out there, I swear I’m going to tear your head off and eat your brain!”
“In your dreams, you fucking turd,” the smaller guard growled, seeing the shield down on the control panel. “Shit, I knew something was wrong. The shield is down around the door too. That rumble we heard before the tapping must have been it shorting out. Keep your guard up, dumbass.”
“Open it, you goddamn slug!” the large guard bellowed. “Shit, the tapping we’re hearing is probably just reverberation from the metal after the shield shorted.”
“I hope you’re right, you brainless shit,” the smaller guard answered tartly, triggering the door. He quickly moved beside the large guard, training his blaster on the door. The door whined as the locks clunked and the servos began to split the door in two, drawing them back.
When the doors started opening, Hannibal immediately motioned for Nemesis and Andrew to step forward. Nemesis switched to his claws and Andrew stood with his blaster ready as Hannibal held the scepter like a spear, spear-point forward. “No mercy,” he told them as the doors slid open. Seconds later, the Zarukar guards were face to face with Hannibal in Grimm’s Mask, Nemesis, and Andrew. Hannibal stood there a moment as the doors cleared.
Shock and utter fear swept the two Zarukar guards when they saw Hannibal in Grimm’s Mask and Nemesis poised next to him ready to strike with his machine claws out. They froze in panic; having never seen what they thought was a real Grimm before. A menacing draken-like laugh rose from Hannibal’s throat as he said, “Gotcha!”
Before the pair of guards could move, Nemesis rushed in and gutted both of them in less than ten seconds, tearing them to pieces with brutal efficiency. He stood over their dismembered corpses, shaking the blood from his hands and claws. “Good job, Nemesis. That was the easy part. Now to make sure this thing stays open,” Hannibal stated grimly as he found the control mechanism for the door and wrecked it with the scepter. “All right guys, let’s get to it. We have a time issue here.” At that, they split up. Hannibal took with him Horace, Ana, Andrew, Nemesis and his team, which included eight hybrids, eight gladiators from the Emperor’s gladiator school, and eight Cimmerians, including Tyr with the core being the objective. The remaining teams followed Enoch to free any remaining prisoners in the slave pens.