7 Control 2

I swiftly dodged his attack and countered with a powerful kick to his back, sending him crashing to the ground. Then, I turned my attention to Jek, who was still fast asleep. I decided to wake him up by giving his cheek a quick slap. Startled, he opened his eyes and quickly got up from the bed.

"What's happening? Where am I?" Jek exclaimed in confusion as I grabbed his shirt and pointed towards the commissar who was rising from the ground, visibly angry. Without hesitation, Jek reached for his lasgun, but I quickly stopped him, realizing that killing the commissar would have dire consequences for us.

"In the name of the Emperor, I will kill you heretics!" the commissar declared, charging towards us with great speed. Acting swiftly, I threw Jek aside, creating distance between him and the commissar. Unfortunately, in the process, the commissar collided with me, pinning me against the wall as I struggled to get out of his clutches.

"Commissar, stop! In the name of the Emperor!" I screamed at him, locking eyes with him as he glared back at me, his anger intensifying. "How dare you speak of the Emperor," he growled menacingly, his hand reaching towards my throat. Reacting swiftly, I kicked his hip, causing him to let out a growl of pain as his grip faltered.

With that, I threw a powerful punch at his face, sending him staggering backwards. As he began to recover and prepare to lunge at me once again, a solid blow from the hilt of a lasgun struck his head, causing him to crumple to the ground. As the commissar lay unconscious yet again, my attention shifted to the figure standing behind him.

Jek held his lasgun like a sword, adjusting his grip as I gave him a thumbs up. We both looked down at the unconscious commissar, contemplating how to approach this stubborn individual.

Then, a sound came from outside as Meinko, accompanied by about 10 guardsmen, walked into the room. It seemed luck was not on our side as Jek and I found ourselves in a precarious situation.

"There he is! That's the guy who attacked us, and apparently your commissar as well," Meinko exclaimed, pointing his finger at me with a wobbling arm, a twisted smile on his face.

"I should have finished him off," I muttered under my breath as the guardsmen raised their lasguns, their sights fixed on us. Realizing the gravity of the situation, I attempted to defuse the tension through words.

"Please, gentlemen, this is all just a misunderstanding," I pleaded, raising my hand and signaling for Jek to follow my lead. As he complied, I made sure not to make any sudden movements, fully aware that even one trigger-happy guardsman among the ten could spell disaster.

As an older man with a grey beard slightly lowered his lasgun, he looked at me intently. "Identify yourself," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. It was surprising to see a guardsman of his age, considering the many horrors they faced. He stood out among the younger guardsmen surrounding him.

"Well..." I hesitated, realizing that revealing my name wouldn't be of much use since I lacked any legal identity here. And as for Jek? Yeah, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to knowledge and connections, but he had an uncanny talent for aiming.

"You see, I'm..." Before I could finish my sentence, a sudden hand grabbed my feet, forcefully pulling me to the ground. The pain was excruciating.

Jek instinctively tried to raise his lasgun, but he didn't fire. "Kid!!! Drop the lasgun now!!!" shouted the white-bearded guardsman. Jek didn't drop the lasgun, but he refrained from shooting at the commissar. Meanwhile, the commissar stood up, dusted himself off, and walked past the guardsman, retrieving the laspistol from the ground.

As I stand up He then strode over to the wooden table, where he picked up his power sword and fastened it to his side. With both weapons in his possession, he approached the guardsman and positioned himself at the front of the group. His gaze shifted between me and Jek, leaving no doubt that we were in serious trouble.

"Uhh, we surrender?" I said, my voice trembling, as the commissar smirked. "May the Emperor have mercy on your wretched soul," the commissar responded, raising his laspistol with a purposeful aim.

In an instant, the air crackled with energy as the commissar pulled the trigger. The laser shot connected with my chest, searing through flesh and bone. The force of the impact sent me staggering back, and I dropped to my knees, clutching my chest in agonizing pain.

The commissar's expression turned to one of surprise and confusion as he observed me, still alive and kneeling despite being struck by the laspistol. He couldn't understand how I hadn't immediately fallen or succumbed to the lethal shot.

"Shit, dude, uhh," I grunted, clutching my chest in pain. Jek, witnessing the commissar's attack, raised his lasgun, pointing it at the commissar. I quickly grabbed his leg, signaling him not to shoot.

After a few moments, the intensity of the pain subsided slightly. I managed to rise to my feet, brushing off the remnants of the laser impact on my ruined T-shirt. I looked at the bewildered faces of the commissar, the guardsmen, and Meinko.

"Now, enough of this," I declared, mustering my resolve. The commissar snapped out of his bewilderment and fired again and again until his laspistol ran out of energy. Several shots hit me, causing excruciating pain in my shoulder, head, stomach, and leg. Some of my skin was torn away, revealing the raw muscle underneath. Nevertheless, I gritted my teeth and endured the agony, refusing to yield.

As the commissar's firing ceased, I locked eyes with him once more. Determination surged through my veins as I tapped into my cheetah enchantment, swiftly disarming the commissar and the guardsmen of their weapons. In the chaos, I couldn't resist kicking Meinko in the ass, sending him flying and crashing into a nearby wall.

I stood beside the commissar, pressing a lasgun against his back, causing him to freeze in place. "Now, let's have a little chat, shall we?" I said firmly, my voice laced with determination. The commissar glanced around, seemingly expecting the guardsmen to come to his aid. However, they remained motionless, their lasguns lying discarded on the ground, realizing that their commissar was now in a precarious and dangerous situation.

The Commissar's voice boomed through the room, laced with barely contained rage. "What do you want?"

Against everyone's expectations, I lowered the lasgun. "Listen, Commissar," I said, my voice calm despite the pounding in my chest. "I don't want to fight you." Surprise flickered across both the Commissar's and Jek's faces. Seeing my sincerity, I took a step forward, slowly extending the lasgun towards him. "Here, take it."

Jek's jaw dropped. My sudden shift in tactics left him bewildered.

"Now," I continued, addressing the Commissar directly, "what's a high-ranking Imperial officer like yourself doing on this backwater planet? And why are you so hostile?"

The Commissar hesitated, the lasgun a heavy weight in his hand. His gaze flickered between me and the weapon, suspicion lingering in his eyes. "And why should I answer that?" he growled finally, suspicion coloring his voice.

I met his gaze unflinchingly. "Because," I countered, "there are two things you need to consider. First, I have no intention of dying by your hand."

His lips twitched into a humorless smirk. "Second?" he prompted, a hint of curiosity breaking through the wall of anger.

"Second," I continued, my voice firm, "you've already seen the laspistol barely fazed me. If it comes to a fight, well, let's just say the outcome wouldn't be in your favor."

A tense silence descended upon the room. The Commissar stared at me, his expression unreadable. Jek remained frozen, unsure of how to react. Had my gamble paid off, or had I simply sealed our fate?

The Commissar lowered his lasgun and looked at us, his expression stern. "Then let's talk," he said, his voice commanding. A moment of relief swept over me, but it quickly dissipated.

"In prison," he declared, signaling the guardsman to capture us with a dismissive wave of his hand. The guardsman swiftly moved towards us, ready to carry out the Commissar's orders.

As the guardsman attempted to get a hold of us, Jek struggled fiercely, resisting their grasp. Meanwhile, I managed to evade their touch, using my agility to throw off the guardsman who tried to grab me. But my moment of triumph was short-lived.

In a desperate act to subdue me, one of the guardsman fired his lasgun, hitting me squarely in the back. The searing pain caused me to stumble and fall to the ground. Before I could regain my footing, the rest of the guardsman quickly pinned me down, overpowering my resistance.

As they held me down, a sharp pain surged through my head. I realized with dread that they were striking me with the butt of their lasgun, repeatedly hitting me. Each blow intensified the agony, causing my vision to blur until darkness consumed me completely.

____________________

A groan escaped my lips as a throbbing pain lanced through my head. Disoriented, I blinked, trying to pierce through the heavy fog clouding my mind. Metallic coldness pressed against my back, and I realized I was lying on a hard, unforgiving floor.

"Ugh, this place is like a tomb," I muttered, pushing myself up with a grimace. The dim light revealed a cramped, unfamiliar cell. Rusty bars separated us from a dark corridor, the only source of light flickering torches casting long, grotesque shadows.

As my vision cleared, I spotted Jek stirring on the floor beside me. "Sir?" he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and looked around in confusion. "Where are we?"

I gripped his shoulder, a silent reassurance in the face of the unknown. "I don't know, Jek," I admitted, frustration gnawing at me. "I don't have a clue." Just as I spoke, the room lurched violently. The ground shuddered beneath our feet, and a low rumble echoed through the prison walls. Both Jek and I exchanged startled glances.

As the shaking subsided, the screams of men and women filled the air, a horrifying chorus that sent chills down my spine. "What's happening?" Jek whispered, his voice barely audible over the din. I scrambled to my feet and joined him at the bars of our cell. A sliver of light revealed a claustrophobic corridor. To our right was a heavy wooden door, straight ahead another unfortunate soul trapped in their own cage of steel, and to the left, a dead end that offered no hope of escape.

Staying put in this metal coffin felt like a death sentence. Adrenaline surged through me, pushing aside the lingering tremor in my hands. I grabbed a metal bar protruding from the cell wall and, with a grunt of effort, bent it slowly. It wasn't elegant, but it created a gap just wide enough for a desperate escape. Jek, his eyes wide with a mix of fear and determination, squeezed through right behind me.

Moving with the stealth of a shadow, I crept towards the wooden door on the right. My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs. With trembling fingers, I cracked the door open a fraction of an inch, praying for a glimpse of salvation. But what greeted me wasn't a path to freedom. It was a scene ripped from a nightmare. Blood, slick and crimson, painted the floor in a macabre canvas. Bodies, a horrifying mixture of civilians, Planetary Defense Force soldiers, and even some guardsmen, lay sprawled in grotesque contortions. The stench of death hung heavy in the air, a suffocating counterpoint to the screams echoing down the corridor.

The words caught in my throat. "Holy cow," I blurted out finally, the curse a pathetic whisper against the backdrop of screams. I pushed the door open wider, Jek gasping beside me. The sight that greeted us was enough to curdle your blood. A bloodbath. Corpses, civilians and soldiers alike, littered the corridor in grotesque postures, their faces contorted in silent screams.

Jek's breath hitched. Even here, in the darkest corners of the galaxy, the sight of children amongst the dead was a punch to the gut. A cold dread seeped into my bones. This wasn't war. This was pure, unadulterated savagery. A low growl escaped my throat. "Yeah," I muttered, the words laced with venom, "I really hate this universe right now."