A moment stretched where neither side moved.

The trio, armorless but armed, were a few feet inside the stone structure. The doorway was only wide enough for a single person, but Reid could make out other sets of burgundy armor behind the one that had ripped off the door. The one in front had dark red, stippled skin and wide, flat nose that sat even with a pair of large eyes. They wore all of the Belar trademarks, including a rifle that was slung over one shoulder. When the still moment passed, they lifted the gun.

Gerald responded first, his spear flying through the air and slamming into the guard's chest. F grade bone met F grade power armor - and the armor lost. The speartip made it through the metal and the occupant let out a pained cry that spurred the rest of the Belar goons to action. One hauled their wounded fellow away, spear still stuck in his armor. The rest aimed their rifles towards the entrance, and fired.

Bolts of energy sizzled as they slammed into the walls and the ground. Gerald yelled as he slid the bench he'd been relaxing on a few minutes ago over in front of Reid to act as cover, then jumped down behind it with him. He'd somehow managed to retrieve his shield, and had it strapped to one arm. Brinkha and Norton had run forward and each was pressed hard against the front wall, to either side of the doorway. The stone was thick enough to give them an angle of protection from the rifle fire outside.

Bits of dust and debris were kicked into the air as the fire concentrated to the bench Reid and Gerald hid behind. His knife appeared in his left hand, and Reid tried to use energy to recall a brock, just to have something to throw back at their attackers. His energy burned through his internals ineffectively. It was all a goddamn mess.

Fire continued for another thirty seconds, then a voice broke through the noise.

"Hold! All hold!"

The fire stopped almost immediately, and Reid chanced a peek at the doorway. A canid man with short blonde fur was walking forward with a hand raised. He pointed at two of the guards, and they took up positions in front of the obvious officer.

"Vuxarinans! I am Officer Panlislava! You are fortunate, and my soldier will live. That means only one of you needs to be punished for the act. Come peacefully, and the rest of you will not be harmed for this. Comply with our questions about the barbarian, and you will be given preferential treatment!"

Reid's blood ran cold. They were looking for him, or information on him. There was no way they'd manage to pass by their notice if he were captured. Had they been followed? Or, was Belar still going after beast lords with their leader dead? The second made more sense, but why had these guards still come all this way when the beast was already dead? Only one explanation seemed relevant. Fact finding. They were here to investigate the result of his fight, and try to figure out more about him. They weren't here after Reid, but after ways they might be able to beat him in the future. That explained the shoddy work in opening the door to the shelter and getting surprised when it was occupied. They never expected to encounter people at all.

Beside Reid, Gerald shook. Brinkha was breathing hard, looking at the floor. Norton grimaced, and shouted. "Just leave us be!"

Outside, Panislava's grin exposed a set of metal-capped teeth. "You are property of Belar. Your world is property of Belar. Your options are to join us, come with us, or suffer the consequences. Offering you the chance to come out of this peacefully is a mercy you are not owed. Reject mercy again, and... well, I think you can figure out the rest."

The trio traded glances with one another. Reid could see it in their faces. None of them wanted to fight, but they couldn't bring themselves to surrender, either.

"Fine then, burn." Panislava punctuated the statement by tapping the guards in front on the shoulders, and each started firing into the structure again. Behind them, the canid man fished around in a pocket, then pulled out a blocky device with one black side. He tapped it twice against his shoulder, then flung it into the wall of the stone structure. Reid winced as the impact slightly shook the stone.

Then it ignited.

Stone started to glow as thermite-like sparks chewed straight through the wall of their structure. They lit the ground on fire, and the stone itself began to burn. Flames licked up and, to Reid's surprise, started to burn into the relatively fresh leaves and plants that made up the structure's roof. Norton was forced to flee from his side of the doorway, and a rifle blast caught him in the leg as he leapt over to where Brinkha hid. The chef cried out and held his leg.

Smoke started to fill the space. Glowing rifle blasts tore through the air, coming through the doorway and the melted hole in the wall. Gerald shifted himself and his shield to keep Reid covered against the shots. The roof burned, and pieces fell down into the structure as it crumbled.

This wasn't sustainable. They were doomed. He had to do something.

Panicked notions scrambled in his brain, and Reid screamed and swore as he repeatedly tried and failed to recall brock. He burned himself further in an attempt to get his mace back. Reid clutched at his head as blinding pain stabbed back at him for his efforts. His elbow was knocked sideways when a rifle blast slammed into it, and Reid quickly lowered his arms to get them out of the line of fire. He swore at himself for being an idiot - then swore again.

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His elbow was okay.

A little singed and bruised, sure, but otherwise undamaged from the enemy fire. Reid nearly slapped himself on the forehead. He'd taken damage from these weapons at the first Belar base, but that was back when he'd still been in G grade. He was so much tougher now, and he was stronger. Enough to take these shots, and enough to strike back at these people. The only question was whether his body would hold out long enough or move well enough to make it work.

More of the burned ceiling fell, and Brinkha coughed in the corner.

One bad option was still better than no options at all. Reid poked Gerald to get his attention, and managed to pull the small shield away from him. It was too tight for Reid, but he forced his damaged appendage through the handles. With the shape his hand was in, having the shield stuck on was something of a benefit, anyway. The mason held onto Reid's arm and tried to stop him, but Reid forced himself to stand on his burned feet.

Shots slammed into the shield, and his skin. They felt like paintballs.

He worked his body through the pain and fatigue. One foot in front of the other, he stumbled forward and out of the door.

The canid man raised a hand to stop the rifle fire. He looked over Reid's wounds with a confused expression.

"If you're the last one alive, I think I can make an exception on the surrender. You'll need to answer questions before you receive any medical care. Are you still lucid?"

Reid took a breath of the fresher air. It was tinged with the smoke as the last bits of the roof burned away. Every part of his body felt spent and dead. Just lifting the shield and the knife took effort. He closed his eyes and rolled his neck. Panislava tilted his hand, and rifles readied at Reid.

"Don't be so quick to throw your life away, savage. I can assure you that Belar is a truly amazing place to ingratiate yourself. You can become part of something grand."

Reid swallowed, and his still-raspy voice filled the air.

"I'm too tired and too goddamn sore to argue about why your company is shit-" Reid tightened his grip around the knife and surveyed the enemy. He picked a soldier two in from the right flank, and raised his knife at Panislava.

"Fuck you, dog-boy. You shot my chef."

Violence erupted as Reid sluggishly pressed himself forward towards his real target. The man spooked like Reid hoped he would, and soon his bone knife was sunk to the hilt in the soldier's neck. Reid left the two soldiers to his right alive as he spun on the next goon to his left. Shots peppered his body and threatened to send him sprawling onto the ground. He realized he hadn't started a count of the enemies. That was alright. He just needed to keep going until they were all dead.

The next goon tried to use his gun like a club when Reid got close, but he batted the strike away with Gerald's shield and stabbed the man in the armpit twice. His body felt like it was moving through gelatin, but he was still leagues quicker than the forces before him. He let the wounded man fall to the side, and stabbed the next one through the chin. His knife plunged deep until it scraped against the inside of a helmet. The dead body took him off balance for a second, and another Belar goon used the opportunity to knock Reid back two steps.

With the distance, the rain of fire on him intensified as more Belar rifles piled shots in his direction. Reid took one short step, pressed back by a constant stream of incoming attacks. The enemy retreated away from him. It took another ten excruciating seconds to gain enough ground on his foes to actually reach the next guard, and another two to stab him through the neck and take him down.

The goons had used their comrade's death to reposition again, and Reid came under more fire.

This was going poorly. He just needed a few moments of clear field, and he could make it to the next guard, and the next after that. Just a little breathing room.

A white projectile sailed through the air and slammed a rifleman in the shoulder. Shots stopped for a moment, then shifted to where Gerald, Norton, and Brinkha were standing over a pair of dead guards. They had each managed to put on their ivory chest plates, and Norton's knife was slick with blood. The trio used the two guards as cover when rifle fire shifted their way.

Pressure lessened, Reid moved forward, and sloppily took down another burgundy-wearing guard. This time, he did fall down with the dead body. It took precious seconds to force himself back onto his injured, aching feet, and more to press forward through the enemy fire.

As he reached his next target, Reid lost his grip on his knife, and it fell away to the dirt. He used his bodyweight to take the guard to the ground, then used the edge of the shield to slowly sever his neck.

He panted onto the dead man's armor, and shifted his feet to stand. His knee gave out when he was halfway vertical. Fire poured in towards him. Shots flew out from where Brinkha and Gerald had armed themselves with the dead guard's weapons, but they did little to suppress the enemy near Reid. They were barely holding back the Belar riflemen trying to flank around their macabre cover.

Reid dug the shield into the dirt, and crawled. He wasn't done. His body was failing him, but he still had the fight. He grit his teeth and used every muscle that wasn't dead to wriggle his way forwards.

Panislava re-emerged from the back of the enemy line, and held up a hand. Rifle fire stopped. A rhythmic 'chsht, chsht, chsht' marked Reid's movement as he used the shield to move himself. The canid looked to his right flank.

"Go reinforce the troops taking out the other three. This one is as good as gone." He smiled down at Reid. "You're him, aren't you? I couldn't tell at first, without the armor and the usual weapons, but you're the barbarian."

Reid grit his teeth. The canid looked up the mountain.

"I should thank whatever beast that was, you look like shit. Now, you're going to pay for killing the LT."

He pulled a smaller version of the energy rifles from his back, and flipped two switches on the side. It whirred and then made a sound like a slide-whistle.

"This -" Panislava leveled the gun at Reid, "Is a marvelous bit of engineering. It concentrates an entire rifle canister to a single shot. Highly inaccurate, can't be stood down once primed. But a perfect tool to remove stubborn targets. Ones like you. Wait for it..." The gun made a single click. "And just like that, it's ready to fire."

Heat rose in Reid's stomach. This wasn't right. He wasn't going to die here. Not like this. Not against some nothing enemy with a pop gun. He hadn't even made it back to Earth. Sara didn't know he was alive. He hadn't heard from his wife in over a thousand years.

Not yet. I won't fall. I can take you.

Something shifted deep within Reid, and he lifted the shield just a bit higher, and slammed it just a bit farther into the dirt. His leg twitched and flexed. He'd scraped the edge of something fundamental, but it still wasn't enough to shift the fight back in his favor.

"Goodbye, barbar-"

Panislava froze mid-word, eyes wide in panic with his mouth open in a silent scream.

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