(This is a slight prologue to something in the works. Primarily however I simply wanted to explore this aspect of Kayle's history. I probably wouldn't have any other place to really explore this relationship so I did it here. One of the main goals in the end to write a story where you didn't know who was the hero and who the victim. That is probably my favorite part about Kayle's tale of vengeance, that at the end you don't know or atleast hopefully you don't know who is the victim and whos victimised. Its long I did it for me, but hopefully atleast a few will read and give feedback lol. The second portion is inspired by and homage to Heavy Metal 2000)
The Ace of the Black Void
Kayleira Aurorez never cared for pirates few did they were raiders fleets of idiots with enough stolen firepower to be potent on many worlds. Kayle knew them most for reaking havoc on the farm worlds like the ones Ravek and Kayle grew up on. She could still vividly remember the videos she had watched after Ravek had told her at one point. It was demented work, she needed somewhere to go however and as such she had considered the option of joining such people. Four years of runing around picking off small time forces fighting rebelious people and doing whatever it took to servive. Somewhere to confide in would sertainly be apreciated for a change. Thats when the bartender spoke, she was on a refueling depot in a distant star cluster. Kayle though armed in her usual Keresh weaponry had tried to keep the armor in the ship before she got screwed over by some xenophobe. Her black cloack masking her eyes and face from the world. "You know how you said to keep an eye on your ship?" Her brow arched her gold eye jolting to the man. "Yeah some people are out to claim it."
Kayle glared in radiant agrevation her hand brushing died violet bangs from her eyes. Her hood falling to a rest as she got up from her seat. before she turned to head for the dock bay. As usual she had made sure it was the closest to where she would be, the walk rather short from where her ship was held to the bar she had been in. A slight gesture of her hand and the door slid open. Her eyes taking a moment to assess the situation at hand, center of the hanger bay was her TM. The mech/ship slightly concealed by its boxed locked off seting the veteran implemented. The gold eyed woman rather glad to have put in such a feature. Bright lights illuminated much and most of the docking bay. Six men stood around trying to steal her home which being the paranoid vixen she was sertainly wasn't going to be ok. Years of training and survival made her movements fluid. Charging forward, she was never one for guns they were rudimentary. Things were fine when it came to the mech but on ground and without a sevral ton suit she prefered blades. A swift onslought of high calibur weapons fire raining down on those before her. The first droped from two rounds to the head, not much finess but the back of his skull was a devastated completely. The next of the victims, an alien cool blue skin and a slight elongated head took a trio of bullets. One hit by the art the second striking just short of the vital artery. Droping as pinkish colored blood flowed from his corpse the third bullet colided with his head, just above the brow. The third was a girl, she couldn't tell where the bullets hit she could however make out that she had killed her lover a second ago. The look in the girl's aqua hued eyes told the grim story.
Kayle however couldn't care about such facets rather she had to keep moving keep fighting. Holstering the guns and spining a plasma round seared past her head as the veteran bypassed the attack and a slim blade extended from her gauntlet. The blade delving into the sartorious muscle. A kick off the ground lifted her up allowing her to follow her previous stab into the thiefs jaw. Rolling as she pulled the blade and hit the ground her movements were hard to track hard to gauge, energy of searing heat passed all around her but never hiting the Keresh. Raising to her feet her blade severed arteries of the next mans throat taking his life as hot blood splashed along her glove. Wrapping her arm around the latest victim she let the body drench her in his blood as she pulled her pistol free, Plasma rounds stoped as rounds pumped into the victem without a throat. Kayle had a meat shield and the last of the thiefs he did not. A small barage of bullets riped apart his chest as bullets made it so most his chest was blown away. A small grinding sound was heard, the door again that was never good. The last thing she needed was more people geting in her way the lethal lost soldier spun arm raised rocket at the ready. Fire and a small explosive would decimate anyone who came through.
"Hey whoah hold up there spark plug. Your hired" Kayle froze where she was. A burned blood seeping throat slit man in her hands. A pistol aimed forward as her wrist glowed a rocket primed to open fire. Her hair was a wild mess and yet despite being in the presence of a corpse surounded killer the man that spoke had no pressence of fear or concern. From the looks of it he was roughly six feet and well built what his vest didn't cover clearly showed off muscle tone. He was clearly a bit of a slez dressing and carrying himself in a way he thought would be fastest rout to get a girls attention. He was a Serdeshian, maroon skined species with a small crown of horns. They were known atleast to Kayle as the species that could get drunk off their ass like no other. These facts and the striking yellow eyes however meant little to the blood soaked warrior. What cought her eye was the sword at his side, he was clearly a pirate a good for next to nothing pirate. Yet there was also an obvious talent with a blade and it had been so long sence she had a legitimant swordsmen to be around.
A year passed the two quickly becoming more then just business partners. To this day she has never been able to say that she loved him though she cant hide the fact either. After losing Micera, the girl she was with for over twenty five years it was hard for Kayle to commit a ocasional short friend maybe as she scavenged planets but nothing ever serious. Not untill BlackAce, she found the name rather lame but she wasn't going to hurass her lover. He had given her the world, spreading slowly over the galaxy anything the crime wave scored was free for the girl to take. She became one of them though she hated pirates it was a nice change to have somewhere to call home. And so she became known as the Pirate Queen, the Queen of Blades. Come good or bad she had decided to hold onto that title it fit her personality. And over the year she had truelly made it so, she murdered with her blades without so much as the concept of trouble. To avoid being taken advantage of, they were pirates even the best behaved were bad behaved, she became a heavy drunk and ocasional smoker. A strong tolerence raised to the point of being able to contend with Ace himself. It all seamed to go well, they were not her family they were not Keresh but they did give her comfort. Mercera and Ravek weren't around hadn't been for decades and so these people were her own. The gold eyed pirate had money, she had men at her disposal, and a companion it all seamed to be a good life. Then like so much in her world it seamed to all come crashing down.
Kayleira awoke screaming her dream filled state severed in two as a sharp pain consumed her body. She gasped for breath as she saw Ace with a knife attempting to be jabed into her lungs. The comforting lies of those three words as he dug his blade into her. Then he vanished letting the blade go as Kayle blacked out and vanished from the room. Her eyes fluttered as she got up from her bed. Allmost all her stuff was in her mech all she had was the garments she wore as she fell asleep and the piece of her gauntlet that taped into her TM. Well those and the two katara plasmis, the blades always something she had with her. Now though she was steadfast from then on out holding onto the belief that the best thing to do was have her entire home or room stacked with weapons and security. Choking back tears though she pushed the need for security back, she had just had her heart ripped from her again. This time by someone owns means not warfare. She had no time to feal shattered, to try and pick up the pieces she needed to kill some people responsible. Removing the blade would mean bleeding out so she settled for having it remain as she exited the room. "He ain't here doll he left you for dead." Her gold eyes flashed as she stared him down a ruby colored blade snapping out of the handle. The energy weapon spearing through the heart of the man "you wan't to kill me, do it from a distance." The Queen of Blades would massacre anyone and everyone on the ship untill she got to an air duct. From there she could call in the ship she loved so dearly.
Federation Assigned Ketogenic Killzone On Second Level
The last thing someone want is a girl like Kayleira with a love bound betrayed vendetta against them. The girl was trained by the Vanguard making her an assassin and soldier that was feared. Then she joined the Guardsman of Keresh, her wicked abilities in hand to hand and solo opps further heightend. Lastly came years of survival, she was not the perfect soldier but she was unequal in the ways she went about things. It had been a long time coming but the two years of hunting had finally pin pointed where Ace was heading. She had devastated any and all people to get in her way. Some were small scale raids on the ships and hide outs. Other times was full scale war ending lives of anyone on the ship or ships of choice. Entire bases were found in shambles from the pirate queen gathering information. Untill finally she located where Ace was heading. The Serdeshian space vessel known as the Collas. Their language for really fecking big.
From what Kayle learned they planed to raid it for the impound of illegal contents various spice, tobaco and other things to sell for profit. This pirate however ploted something else entirely. Most the species was known as pirates this station was a hot spot for such and leting her Keresh inspired resentment take effect she had no trouble with what she was plotting to do. The scientists had been working on something called the F.A.K.K. It stood for a Federation Assigned Ketogenic Killzone, the latest bio weapon to be issued to pirates everywhere. Atleast so they thought, Rez wasn't going to let that be the case. The federation was meant to be sarcasm something to make the pirates laugh as they claimed the people who would die by it, had also sanctioned it. The ketogenic part was in refferance to what it did, normally the process was that body fat was absorbed into energy. What the chemical did though was release a toxin into the air that caused that process to excelerate, the body devouring itself as it disassembled flesh muscle and fat to make energy. The body eventually being programed to destroy itself. Today she planed to put it to full use, a complete test run of what it could do. The game was subtle at first a clever play of the people, deceived into thinking she would just be another imfamous pirate stoping in. She was deamed the typical guest and given full blown clearence. And so her clever plan began to be weaved, there were women and children here. It was a given that there would be some collateral dammage but the gold and black haired woman had no mercy for these people. Today they were pirates, and scum and she was Keresh. She roamed the station in her typical uniform of the military she belonged to. The armor polished reflected light making many aware of the circumstance their minds told them couldn't be coming to pass.
Roaming into the security room she gained a full understanding of the eighty floors of the base her helmet memorizing the map as she had the H.U.D indicate where she wanted to go. Black Ace and his current shuttle was pinpointed. And so with nobody willing to oppose the armored warrior so far Kayle ventured into the lab. The TM was on the second level and so once she had claimed the ingrediants to make F.A.K.K she set out to orchestrate her bloody vengeance. The station had enough of the stuff to put a planet under its plague. It was safe to say that everyone was going to die here. The vents were planted with the toxin, only place it would be safe was rougly along the route between her TM and Ace. She also locked every hanger but her own meaning nobody was going to escape the Collas. The options were clear, hide untill you die, venture into the open where the fighting would be risking death by combat or the poison, or...well that was it. She was rather set on her goal and the sins of it all had no effect on the girl known of escaping odd ends. In the wake of a deadzone she would be the only one to walk away it was moments like this that she was called Rez, as she seamed to "rezurect." Plan set in motion she rigged the system so it would respond when she was ready and then proceeded back to her hanger. It was time a click of a button and it was like pressing start on a game.
The station was eighty stories tall the chambers big enough for a TM to progress even. Granted in most places a single mech was all that could fit but that was fine by her. The bottom floor was completely shut off, those within were dead first as they had nowhere to turn or run. Others had a slight chance of hope to live a few more minutes. The toxin started with hangers and worked into the many coridors. Rooms were safe if you managed to have the door shut the whole time. Once the doors opened though the virus moved into the homesteads as well. There was only one place free of the enetial virus and that was the path Kayle was going to take. What happend next was an orchestrated slaughter on what some might label a genocidal level. If she were to ever be judged by the Serdeshian culture it would be death, and rightfully so. She was not invincible, not even in the towering mechanical weapon. Her main gun of choice was a heavy repeating carbine, the three barels repeated spraying a storm of railgun fire with rounds that were also naturally pretty heavy. The result was that they brutally punched through one victim exploded out of the back and continued untill they hit a wall. this high powered spray of rounds thundered from floor to floor. Resistance was minimal but environments were target rich.
Ocasionally guards shot at her tried to fight her tried to bring the machine down. The primary weapons however were poor against something like what she walked about in. They goughed her mech with burns and explosions. She returned with a sprey of bullets that cut through four bodies bursting them all into plumes of bloody mist. There was the ocasional rockets thankfully most were wide shots that hurled pass her. A few slowed her down however the only one to score a critical hit was near the top floor. By the time she had climbed to that height though the majority of targets were dead. The F.A.K.K worked like a charm. Reaching the hanger a sinister smile krept along Kayle's face as she had sensors detect how many were in the only hanger not contaminated. It was light she was going to have her way and placing a large mechanical leg on the door she easily kicked it in. The force strong enough to rip it from the panel in two seperate shards. One crashing into a man the force enough to shatter the bones of his body. The way he flew and landed was like that of a rag doll. Blades extended from her mech's forarms and in a quick motion the six guards left were cut down. plasma burned on the edges of the weapons making them rip through the opponents with no real effort.
Vengeance Amongst The Stars
Finally she was back to her home away home, she had learned to think of this place as a place to take comfort in. This was where her and Ace spent so much time together sparing, indulging and thinking. She had poured her soul out to him let him become her world. Then he gave her a world in exchange. This had been a year of joy in a life tainted by war, then he turned on her. Wounded her tried to kill her and all her trust was shattered. She was destined to a life of second guessing most people. Years upon years now would be governed by having more guns and blades than anyone else. Her existance had become one dictated on aspects of paranoia and it was all because of this Pirate King.
Kayle walked down the halls kataras' in hand as she took in the familiar suroundings. To contrast the bland layout of metalic gray art from all around the galaxy covered the walls. Imagery of distant worlds and epic space battles. The further she got to the bridge that was also where Ace seamed to make his main room the scenery changed. Imagery slowly fading into seedier imagery of various aliens and people and less then moral poses or acts. From luxury to depravity a true pirate home. The xeno music echoed through the ship. She was quiet and stealthy many times making little to no noise as she walked. Her movements so gracefull it was like that of water than a moving creature. Yet in the here and now she could of sworn her feet drumed to the music like thunder. Perhaps it was her own exileration for what was to come, her body escalating things to unseen levels of glory. Whatever the reason everything around her seamed to come to a close as she entered the bridge. The music ended, for a brief moment the setting was void of sound, as empty as the black ocean beyond the station they were in.
Kayle stood in her armor of her people in her hands glowed two blades of ruby light. Her helmet off leting her gold and black hair flutter from the cool air that blowed into the room. She had chosen to play fair leave her guns gernades and assorted gadgets in her mech. It was just the Queen of Blades and her blades. Looking unimpressed Ace leaned in his chair his sword seaming like a cane. His typical vest and cloack, he treated her entry like it was nothing. A level of disrespect that only made Kayle want to take his head even more. Inside the room stood another eight men armed with a variety of blades or tools to use as a weapon against her. "Oh Spark Plug why must you come in here like that?" The man spoke in his usal smug manner. "I trusted you, I put my life on the line for you and handed my heart to you!" The remark met by a cold laugh. "Oh yes Spark Plug let us put faith into the pirate. You of all people should know better." Rez narowed her eyes in anger "your right I should have, you couldn't be more than a fecking monster could you." The laughter only seamed sharper the lackies around him made it a chorus.
"Oh yes I am the monster, bad business man bad. Yet you orchestrate genocide for a game of revenge." Of course Kayle was quick to deffend herself against that remark. "Oh please all your species dose is commit crimes as drug lords and pirates" Ace was not impressed. "Yes damn this entire species man woman child from the withered old to the soft young, Clearly we are all something to kill what hope is there for us? All this time you have fought Symaarians just so your own can go on. Even though their population clearly wishes to expand partially just do to over population. For years you fought beside the Teres Morba and despite clearly being the smarter species you let them die. All those Keresh that fought at your side and you think you have the adacitiy to live for them? You who lives like a pirate, who lives for herself? You preach to me how I am the horror here yet you slaughtered us all. So Spark Plug who is the victim and who is the one who victimises?" Kayle fought back her pain from it all and raised her blades. "Shut up."
The words echoed and the various pirates steped forward ready to confront her. "Even now she seams to only crave war." Kayle heard the remark but shut it out to focus on her suroundings. First was the man who positioned himself behind her, slightly scaley some lizard humanoid he charged with a wrench. A flicker of motion and her blade speared through the man's heart. A chain ax was being swung at her head, a duck and the ax found way into a Tar'vorian head. She fealt some remorse to the fact as the cat like alien of the Tar'vorian were a allie of the Keresh and she had grown to rather like them. No time for that however and in fluid succesion her blade had severed the arm of the Tar'vorian killer. Leaping she watched as a blade passed below her just barely missing her legs. Her response was to have removed his head before she so much as landed. Spining she thrusted her blades forward impaling the next two who had plotted to catch her from behind. Another ax came down intent to cleave her in two swiftly yanking her blade free she brought it up to halt the blade. Dodging to the right she cut the blade free the head of the ax falling to the ground. In movements swifter than most could perceive she had kicked the head of the ax the roaring blade knocked into the last mans skull. The last of the guards stood with the handle of his ax in hand, he was defenseless and begging for his life. Kayle didn't care and split him in two halves without the slightest hint of remorse.
Ace glared at the violent display still fealing confident he would be fine in the fight to come. His ego told him he could survive this fight. "I won't lie I am no saint. I played you into my hand and then I played you into my bed. I then proceeded to try and end you so I could move on to another. I built you up and then I broke you. Nobody deserves what I did to you and yet I hounestly don't regret any of what I have done." The pair circled eachother blades ever at the ready. "Yet look at you you're no better than what you label me. So don't allow yourself to think you have a higher goal than your own ententions." The Queen of Blades raised the dual energy blades to her king. "I make no apologies, I have done this and regret none of it. Keresh made me." Her king laughed "Teres made me" Kayle continued. Again Ace laughed "killed both your nothing new." Then it was time for the golden eyed assassin to laugh "and you, you couldn't touch me." With that the pair exploded into a flurry of violence and motion. The fight was swift a blitzkrieg of attacks and parries. Kayle only took one scratch the gash claiming one of her eyes. Thanks to healing abilities and cloning tech it didn't bother her and her momentum continued. Ace was good but nowhere near what he needed to be, his body was covered in grievous wounds and minor ones as well. Untill finally Kayle drove her knee into his the Pirate King doubleing over and in a split instant in a scream of rage that rivaled that of the roaring engines of lift off she struck her killing blow. Her heated blade slaming down the mans throat. Her lover gaging on the blade a moment before death came to him. The kill ending as she pulled the blade free and with her other blade slashed forward. The body cut open from jaw to pelvis and without a head. The Queen of Blades staring down at the carnage she had created. The last kill of a blood soaked dead zone.
Epilogue
Evie the woman also known as Syapt sat in the Nexus Station as she listend to the dark tale. Her mind taking in and picturing every piece of the frantic journey of Kayleira. Her pale hand reached out to shake that of the pirates. "So that is the extreames you are willing to go to? My dear Aurorez you're hired. Your services will be of great help in the future."
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