Klane fought hard against the paralysis induced by the creature's energy weapon. This time it was a bit weaker or he was stronger because he felt some control come back to his limbs as the creature landed the aerocopter and came to kill him. Yet there was not enough time! He was sure that now he was going to die and what would then happen to Lucalle and Ketha? In this moment of desperation Suak attacked. Swooping down on the creature from the blind side he let his talons rake over its face, catching it by surprise. With a great roar of rage the creature turned to face the alegoyle. 

"Pes.. ss.. tilential vermin!" it hissed. "Your kind has.. s.. been wiped out in all civilis... s.. ed systems. This wretched planet needs more pes.. s..t control. I will kill you too!"

The creature roared loudly as Suak made a second pass and its jaws snapped dreadfully close to the alegoyle, who wheeled out of reach and uttered two taunting cries "Suuuaaakkk! Suuuaaakkkkk!" It was a standoff. With the creature alerted to its presence the alegoyle could do little to hurt it and dare not venture too close to those fearsome jaws. Yet the creature was unable to reach the alegoyle without taking to the air in its vehicle again or procuring other weapons. It hissed in frustration.

As Suak circled the creature and it hesitated for a few precious seconds, Klane got slowly and painfully to his feet and prepared to face death standing. Then he saw Lucalle running towards him with the klane! 

"Over here! Quickly!" he called raising his hand and she threw it towards him, spinning end over end. With a desperate snatch he plucked it out of the air and grasped the hilt firmly. Fresh hope flooded through him as he felt the familiar touch of the geared controls, registering firmly and clicking solidly into place beneath his fingers. The klane hummed in anticipation of action. He turned to face the creature, still feeling the after effects of its weapon but with a grim determination to settle the score.

"There is nothing made on this world which can harm me", the creature boasted confidently as it advanced, pressing Klane back into a shadowy corner angle of the base, although something in his stance made it uneasy for the first time and a flicker of doubt crossed its mind. 

"You don't know what this is do you?" Klane replied and he raised his weapon. Some instinct guided him as he adjusted the settings, selecting a cold modality where ribbons of icy anti-energy flowed out from the blade in a coruscating curtain of force and a bright blue light glittered with defiant intent from the tip of the shiny metal. 

"It was not made on this world. It is my klane and I am the Klane of Kalonia. You have trifled with Lucalle and with Ketha for too long, treating them as your slaves and abusing your power. That time is over. Now I have come to bring justice for them and for the people of this world and to end your tyranny forever!" 

"Yes... s.... ? You think s...s... o? Let's... s... s... eee!" 

Goaded into an instant attack the creature still didn't really believe this youth could hurt it. Neither the namesake who currently wielded it nor the scion of the powerful and venerable species it now faced in combat knew anything of the distant age when their kinds had fought wars across the stars. Only the klane itself carried the legacy of that ancient animosity for this very klane had been present at the once fabled battle of ten thousand moons which raged across the entirety of the Thuban A and B systems for more than fifteen years. In those troubled times the great knight wanderer Jalesh had rallied the forces of the Golden Allies to drive the Dark Legions out of their stronghold and deliver a famous victory. The klane was mute; a silent inanimate witness to places far away and times long gone. The battle of ten thousand moons had been largely forgotten on the Earth even before the Great Forgetting put an end to so much more history. It was little noted in the vast record stores of the Galactic Compact. The name of Jalesh had not been spoken for uncounted millennia. The knight wanderers were no more and their legacy just dust and ashes. Yet still, in some strange way the klane sensed again its ancient foe and the icy form of attack best suited to defeat it. And perhaps something of its own knowledge helped Klane select exactly the right mode of attack...

Klane didn't have much time to think. The creature reared to bear down on him and instinctively he thrust the point of the klane hard into the base of the hood below the neck. There was almost no feeling of impact. The force fields cut through the living and mechanical armour beneath as smoothly and easily as the blade of an oar might push through water. A brief electrical thrill seemed to ride up and down the shaft, transmitting a high frequency torsion which twisted the sharp end of the weapon inside the violated flesh. Then for a moment the numbing cold of the anti-energy fields glowed brighter blue before with a sudden appalling explosion of blood the creature's ruptured main artery began to spray the hot red fluid of its life out into the chill winter air. Klane jumped back and this time there was a drag from his weapon as it opened the fatal wound still further. The creature was in shock. It turned and twisted to find him but Klane danced out of the way and watched in awe at the rapidity of his enemy's downfall. Blood was pouring everywhere and it had no way to staunch the flow. The thrashing served only to speed its demise. In a few moments its eyes dulled and it slumped to the ground. It would not rise again. The creature in the crater was finally dead...