"But that will leave you vulnerable."

"We're going to the hanger bay, only a few can follow in these tight quarters and I found a shortcut, remember?" He glanced down to where a robot began tending Lindy's injury.

"Very well, but do be careful, I can't lose you, it seems like only a nano second since we met." Rookie turned and headed out into the fray. It was something right out of a movie, as both armies fired thousands of shots per second. The robot floor was aglow with laser bolts sizzling back and forth in an array of reds, blues, and greens. Guns began to overheat and shields weakened. Power supplies faded, and now the bots began piling up like Armageddon.

Deep in the battered hold of his ship, Harkentofor eyed the one remaining egg with conceit. He knew it held the future, but more could be made easily enough. His thoughts were interrupted when the annoying hen squawked at him,

"The robots aren't faring as well as we thought, master. I recommend we make our escape."

"Very well, I grow tired of this trifling anyway," but when they turned, Kato was there with ten crew from XARC. Harkentofor didn't seem concerned, as if death could stop him.

"Let 'em have it, Sir," said the woman. Kato's finger was already pulling the trigger, but there was a blur, and somehow Harkentofor was gone. By the time he finished blinking, the hen set her master down well clear of the area being consumed by the tiny black hole. Then she was on them, attacking with a ferocity Kato had never seen in a Baird, as if she had something to prove. And indeed she did. One swipe of her clawed hand disemboweled two men where they stood. A third took a spur to his eye socket and the fourth lost both his legs. She exerted her prowess and tore two more to shreds before the woman dragged Kato clear of the room.

"Let me go," he protested, but her sweaty grip was firm.

"Not on my watch, we don't stand a chance against that thing."

When the feminine bird drove her blade into the last human's neck and twisted with smug satisfaction, she felt a knot in her stomach, a pang of regret, a squeamish reaction to her violence. She turned her back on her master, so he wouldn't see her expression, but he was unaware of her new emotional turmoil.

"Leave them be, it's time for us to go."

On the robot floor, Rookie put his new plan into action. Half his army dropped their weapons and began advancing past the front lines covering fire. They waded waist deep through the bodies of fallen robots until they faced their adversary. Then they began to fight, with fists and feet. They initiated the first robot street brawl in history. Rookie used his practice with Sizy to teach the others new moves on the fly, downloading each protocol even as the other became useless. First karate, then a Sumo wrestling attack. As soon as the alien bred bots learned their technique, they switched to boxing. Rookie stood toe to toe with an identical bot, bobbing and weaving as he poked and jabbed. He scrambled his feet, faking with a left, he clocked the bewildered bot with a right hook. Others were cheering him on as he finished the poor creature with a merciless blow that took his head off. But now they adapted so Rookie substituted another lost art form. The information was years of research from Bakes' family lineage of fighters, unavailable to the alien bots, he switched to Ju-jitsu. In the end, the bodies were piled neck high and Rookie tried to finish them off with a knife fight, but then the remainder formed up into a column like water. They interlocked their shields and flew up through withering fire to where Harkentofor was waiting.

"They're not running from fear, they've been ordered to retreat." Rookie announced.

"Go after them," ordered Bakes. "If they escape, we may never find them."

Outside, Rear Admiral Barg had been unable to open the airlock doors so he devised a plan to blast his way in. He had small robot army assembled in space under the control of PFC Dill-tard.

"Bring 'em in easy private, we don't want to damage their armor."

If you've come this far on the journey I hope you enjoy the end. Remember the last character introduced Pon-shea Sedona. She is the leading character in my new novel DeadWalker Subdivision book two.
You can find the first chapter right here on Wattpad, and it's available on Amazon now as an e-book for 2.99

Read vote comment and thanks for joining me.