Free Branded By Kesh by Lee-Ann Wallace

through the doors, shouts and curses filled his ears. The scent of blood hung heavy in the air, the scent of carnage.
    A body fell through the door of the lift to thump heavily down on the floor. Kesh recognised one of the newest members of the crew, a man they’d picked up on a moon they’d stopped at to resupply after finding Tarnee’s parents.
    Now he was dead.
    Taking a quick look, he counted five Delarians down the hall and numerous bodies on the ground just outside the doors to the lift. With only one arm working, it was going to take him a while to get where he wanted to go. The last of the men from the crew were standing with their backs to the walls just outside the lift. Devral was one of them. That solved one of his problems, so now he had to get rid of the Delarians and to the bridge.
    A body flew through the open doors of the lift and pressed up against the opposite wall. Kesh looked at the man standing opposite him—Devral was covered in wounds, his clothing burned by laser fire in multiple places. The cyborg was a tough bastard. He’d proved more than once he was a valuable man to have in a fire fight. More machine than man, he could take a hell of a lot of damage before being out of action.
    “I need to get to the bridge,” Kesh told him.
    “I figured,” Devral replied.
    “If we clear a path to the lift, can you remote link to the ship’s computer and activate it?”
    “Of course.”
    Kesh took another quick look down the corridor. There were now only four Delarians. The men outside the lift had shot at one of them.
    “You take the left and I’ll take the right,” he told Devral.
    He received a nod, then they both checked their weapons, readying themselves.
    “Ready?” he asked Devral.
    Another nod and they were turning towards the corridor, firing their weapons and retreating. Laser fire hit the back of the lift. Steady streams of blue light sizzled through the air to land with a hiss on the back wall of the lift, blackening the sheet and filling the air with the smell of heated metal.
    They looked at each other briefly before stepping out again and firing at the last two Delarians. They fell into crumpled heaps on the floor of the corridor, their bodies piling up with those of their fallen brethren.
    “What are we up against?” Kesh asked.
    “I don’t know. We haven’t been able to get past here. They kept killing us.”
    Faces appeared in the doorway, the men who had been standing out in the corridor. They had faces with anger painted on them, and some with a little fear.
    Kesh could understand the anger. He was pissed that they hadn’t killed all the Delarians when they’d escaped, pissed that they were on the ship and that Magnolia had been hurt. Nobody had the right to hurt his woman.
    He couldn’t understand the fear. They lived, they died, there was no use fearing death. He didn’t believe there was anything after you died, he believed you just ceased to exist. He was looking forward to the argument he’d surely have with Magnolia over the issue of life and death, and the making up part after the argument.
    First, they had to get to the bridge, and to do that, they had to find out what was at the other end of the corridor.
    “Let’s go,” he said to the men gathered around him.
    They separated into two groups, one for each side of the corridor. There was a slight bend in the hall about halfway along. The group on the left would get the first clear look of what they were up against.
    Kesh took the front position of the group on the left, Devral the head of the right.
    Cautiously, they made their way down the corridor, one step at a time. A hush had fallen over the ship, seeming to be waiting with bated breath for what was going to happen next.
    A quiet voice spoke in Delarian, urging someone to go faster. A mumbled response was unintelligible.
    Kesh got his first look at what they were up against as he reached the bend. A group of Delarians stood outside the lift, the hatch