Death Drop by Sean Allen Page A

black mace at Gyumak as a wailing phantasm cracked its glowing whip across the glistening flesh of the giant’s back.
    Gyumak screeched at the ghost and then at the two Berzerker soldiers frantically reloading each of the cannons clutched in his tentacles. The creatures bared their rotten teeth in unison as they cocked each slide almost simultaneously and howled with delight, waiting for the destruction that would follow. Gyumak aimed the left cannon at the machine speeding across his line of fire and the other on the red Hellion ship as he braced his body for the tremendous kick of the cannons and their deafening call of ruin. He squeezed the triggers. Both guns gave out a whirring sound followed by rolling booms; and then, havoc.
    Almost as soon as he fired the big weapons, Gyumak knew something was horribly wrong. The Berzerker in charge of loading Gyumak’s left cannon was shredded by a Dissension mortar, and his body flew through the air, slamming into the giant’s gun arm with tremendous force. Gyumak watched helplessly as both gun barrels strayed to the right, and he was certain that General Killikbar’s spiked mace would split his skull before the wayward shells stopped flying through the air. But he was spared a cruel death by the slightest chance. The shell from the left cannon, intended for the Dissension machine racing across the shipyard floor, hit the Hellion fighter instead. Dark fate waved its mysterious hand and the slug sailed through the open cargo door and struck the power core. The ship ignited in a ball of fire and leapt into the air as if trying to reach the cavern’s domed top and escape its blistering fate. The shell from the other cannon slammed into the northern wall of the shipyard and sent a considerable slide of black rock and glittering Banzium dust to the floor.
    Killikbar wailed with contempt at Gyumak, who was using the suction rings on four of his tentacles to pull himself upright again. The dark general roared and the rows of Berzerkers in front of Gyumak parted to clear the line of fire between the big cannons and the scattered Dissenters stirring on the floor to the north. The wrath of Killikbar alone would have been enough to send them scurrying, but they jumped and bounded out of the way with almost unnatural speed as his phantoms lashed them with whips and brandished their blades and spears menacingly. Gyumak fixed his target in his sights and shrieked, hoping his offering of rage would appease his disgusted master as he prepared to fire at the two helpless figures coughing and crawling on the open foreground.
    Wuuuuuuuuurrrrr—KABOOM! KABOOM!
    Gyumak’s rockets whistled through the air at the Dissenters. They were unprotected and the force of the cannon blasts would disintegrate them. His huge eyes had narrowed as he’d squeezed his triggers, focusing on the spot where he had commanded death to appear, but something unexpected reflected in his giant orbs instead. A streak of gunmetal gray materialized from the miasma an instant before Gyumak’s shots erupted in great balls of fire. The flames flashed out and Gyumak screeched with frustration as he saw the Dissension machine sliding backward, clawing at the ground, presumably with the soldiers he intended to kill behind it. Gyumak aimed his barrels again, hoping to eradicate the contraption and the Dissension troops it was shielding before Killikbar could punish him for failing yet again.
    CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP!
    Two spikes of curled bone pronged from the gloom, followed quickly by a brown grimacing snout attached to a big, muscled torso. The weapon in the newcomer’s hand snapped viciously and bullets pelted Gyumak’s body. The Dissension machine had come to a stop and the streaking soldier dove behind the cover of its hardened metal side, barely escaping the storm of gunfire sent to destroy him from the Berzerker ranks as the machine added a shower of bullets to the fray. Gyumak wailed, dropping his cannons to the ground