The giant was secured and stripped of armor. Allan looked at the massive being. From the floor to the top of his head was nearly nine feet, and his body seemed as if it had been wrapped, layered, and wrapped again in densely corded muscle. Allan looked at the equipment Nara had removed from the being; the armor plates seemed to interlock with each other, and sockets placed in the body. 

Allan was holding the two pieces that had been one covering the back of the giant's knee, admiring the handy work of the blade gifted to him by Xulgra. The metal shined like steel, bent like thin plastic, and deflected Allan's normal boot knife as if the blade were made of paper. "This material is insane." 

"It is only a fluke that you managed to cut me." The giant said.

"Well, it was more the work of a god-killing blade than anything else," Allan said, flipping the blade with its strange sheen out of its sheath and catching it by the handle. "I know that this can kill you, but as far as I know, I am the only one with one of these. I need to know what else can kill you. So, unfortunately, I must now conduct some tests that you will be the topic of." 

The giant paled visibly at that. Allan smiled and turned to Nara. "Nara, Xulgra said you were a weapon. Can you kill beings such as this?"

Nara looked at the giant and then nodded. "Based on their molecular structure and the information I can pull from the DNA of the blood on my hands, I believe that I could kill them quite efficiently in one on one fights, maybe even two-on-one. Unfortunately, more than that may result in my termination or the death of the designated primary target."

Allan's eyebrows shot to the top of his head; he still had no idea how advanced Nara was and what she was capable of. "Can you determine anything else about them that may be useful?"

Nara nodded. "They seem to have an intense resistance to radiation and even visible light emissions. Their armor seems to amplify this, as you saw when you fired your suit's repeating laser emitter at them. Any further information is confusing; I do not understand how they exist."

"They were made by the gods to save a dying reality," Allan said, staring at the giant, wondering how he would react, knowing Allan had some kind of knowledge from the gods. "The Url'Esh is what they were called. It means Death Walkers. They were sent to a dying reality and told to attempt to restart whatever it was that had failed, resulting in that reality's end. They tried their best but grew wroth when they realized the Gods would leave them to die. So they fashioned a ship made from an entire solar system and then slipped into the place between realities. Then they traveled for eons." 

"For longer than that." The giant said. "We used to call ourselves the Empire of Last Sun. It was the last star, and we found a way to prolong its death. Had we been able to apply our findings to the other stars before they died, we may have saved the place you call another reality. But when we realized it was not to be so, we used the star and its final death throws to catapult ourselves into what we call void space. The sun is still the core of our ship, but it is no longer an object of light; it is stuck, held between a neutron star, and further collapse into a black hole. So now we are the Empire of Black Sun, and we demand recompense. We will kill the gods who so cruelly cast us aside, and we will reclaim the light that is rightfully ours." 

Allan quickly gestured to Nara and asked her to fetch something, then he turned to the Url'Esh man. "Tell me, what is your name?" 

"I am called Jar'Nah. And I challenge you to kill me without the filthy weapon provided to you by the gods." Jar'Nah snarled, frothing at the mouth.

"Oh, I will kill you. It is simply a matter of how." Allan smiled as Nara walked in with a chest on a cart. Allan opened it up to reveal a stash of weapons left over from the first time he had been to Aly's homeworld. "The gods said you had changed from the original Url'Esh to one of the most war-like species they have ever seen. As a matter of fact, they said there is only one species they believe to be more war-like."

Jar'Nah looked at Allan sharply, and Allan simply nodded as he pulled weapon after weapon from the box and laid them on the tables. "How fortunate am I to be a part of that species? The one thing that we humans have always figured is that if you can't kill it, it simply means your projectiles simply do not have enough kinetic energy. We even had someone design a system called 'Rods from God' where tungsten rods were dropped from orbit onto a target and relied solely on the kinetic energy of the impact to do damage. But that is beyond the scope of today. Today we fall back on an American classic.  We have here a good number of weapons, ranging from this lovely little twenty-two caliber pistol all the way up to a lovely nine-five-zero J-D-J."

Jar'Nah looked apprehensive at best when Allan set the massive .950 caliber round down on the table and then plunked the one-hundered-and-ten-pound SSK Fat-Mac onto the table next to it. Allan smiled and spoke as he patted the massive weapon. "A wedding gift from my brother Eddy. I have no idea why he thought it would be a good wedding gift or where the hell he got it, but it generates more than thirty-eight thousand foot pounds of force. So you will die; it is simply a matter of if I get to fire this lovely weapon or if you die beforehand."

Allan watched the blood drain from Jar'Nah's face as his helmet lowered, and Allan picked up the twenty-two and turned to aim at the chest of the Url'Esh strapped to the chair.

Allan had an answer after a couple of hours of test fires and watching the strange way the Url'Esh skin seemed to absorb kinetic energy. He had learned many things. Firstly, as did many a good tactical vest, the Url'Esh struggled to stop Teflon rounds. Still, even then, a 9mm round would only just penetrate their flesh. 

Assuming that Teflon rounds would not suddenly become the standard for all military sources, Allan had filed this tidbit of information away and continued working. The results spoke only to the strength and power of the Url'Esh. Anything under a .357 magnum barely even hurt. The only exception was 9mm and up seemed to blind an eyeball effectively but failed to penetrate the skull in any meaningful way. 

5.56 NATO rounds and everything up to a 7.62X51mm round penetrated great but failed to cause significant damage. 7.62X54R caused a slight pain reaction, and everything after that only became more painful, ending with the .50 BMG, the first round to punch through the Url'Esh. The Url'Esh screamed in true terror when that happened. 

"Last one, big guy," Allan said, sending the bolt on the Fat Mac home. "This is the end. One way or another." 

Allan didn't break eye contact with the Url'Esh as he took earplugs and put them in his ears before closing the helmet and bracing his armored shoulder against the massive gun, and spoke once more. "Goodbye Jar'Nah. Know that you died so that I could save the lives of thousands. Any last words?"

"Glory to the Empire, may the Dark Sun shine upon this reality, may the gods perish, and may you die the death of a thousand worlds," Jar'Nah said with a sense of superiority and bravery.

"Well said," Allan said and pulled the trigger. The roar of the Fat Mac nearly deafened Allan, even with the suit and the earplugs inside his helmet. Jar'Nah, or at least his head, seemed to vanish into a cloud of pink mist. His body spasmed and collapsed into the bindings. The door opened, and Nara and Aly walked in, 

"Jalla and your mother are on the bridge monitoring our approach to the gate. It is nearly charged." Aly said. "Nara did not want to leave, but it appears you have this well in hand."

"I don't know about 'well in hand,' but they can be killed," Allan said, finishing the removal of the earplugs from his now-opened helmet. "The idea that something could take a bullet and not even flinch, let alone a nine-millimeter bullet, is worrying. Fortunately enough for us, the rounds that can penetrate their skin is a fairly common round. The issue is more a matter of their supplemental armor. It turns away my knife blade like nothing. I'll have to do some tests to see if we can readily make bullets out of something that will penetrate the armor."

"I don't know if I like you sounding so hesitant when we are only two days away from making landfall on my homeworld," Aly said, sounding unsure in her own way.

"We will make sure to get as many people off your world as we can. I need to send Eddy a message, and then we must prepare." Allan said and headed to the bridge to utilize what little time they had left before combat once more took place in the world of the Quillinar.

After sending a message to Eddy and asking Nara to dispose of Jar'Nah's body, Allan set about gathering everything he had as far as explosives and began making improvised explosive devices. Aly, seeing what he was doing, sat down and began to help. Allan spoke as they worked. "When we arrive, there is an order to how we will do things. First, I want to clear the orbital station and get a defensible parameter setup. Once that is accomplished, I will descend to the planet with Jalla; we will move quickly and quietly, killing as many Url'Esh as possible, always looking for your father and sending coordinates for shuttles to pick up Quillinar civilians."

"But I want to come with you," Aly said, knowing how foolish she sounded. 

Allan only chuckled, "I know, my love. I want you to come with me too, but I need you and Nara to ensure the station stays clear of the enemy. To that effect, I will set several of these IEDs throughout the station, especially in airlocks. It will be up to you to ensure our shuttles do not use these airlocks. Doing this lets you and Nara protect the entirety of the station with minimal effort."

Zall had come and found them and had been listening, "What about me, Allan?" 

Allan looked at Zall. She had seemed desperate to try and get back into his good graces. "I assume that there are some Bankers in this world?" 

Zall nodded, and Allan continued speaking. "Good, you will attempt to get a message to them to get to the station. Ideally, they can get there on their own. But if the need arises, you must take a shuttle and retrieve as many of them as possible. Understood?"

"Of course," Zall said, seeming excited to have a task. "Can I make one more suggestion?"

"Sure, Zall," Allan said with a smile. 

"It is a little barbaric, but I am willing to bet that a knife made from the bones of an Url'Esh will penetrate an Url'Esh's hide, maybe even their outer armor."

"That is..." Allan paused and thought, "that is actually not a bad suggestion."

Allan stopped what he was doing, moved to find Nara, and nearly ran into her as he rounded a corner. "Nara, did you dispose of the Url'Esh yet?"

"No, Made a discovery," Nara said and led everyone except for Sarah to the cargo hold, where a freshly removed bone of red material was shoved through the chest of the outer armor. 

"You have made more than a discovery, you have made a mess, but I will clean it up." Aly knew what this meant and braced herself for the coming command from Allan. "Please let me clean up here; I will join you all on the bridge when I am done."

Aly quickly turned and accompanied Zall and Nara out of the cargo bay. Still, she did not miss Allan's blank, emotionless look as he pulled the God-killing blade from his pocket. Aly began to cry, knowing she was asking him to become something he was not.

When Aly made it to the bridge, a steady stream of tears ran down her face. Sarah looked up and stopped what she was doing. "Aly, what's wrong?"

Aly simply shook her head and entered the medical bay, closing the door behind her. A few moments later, the door whisked open and close, and ALy was again sharing the room with Allan's mother. Sarah smiled at Aly and talked once more. "What is wrong, Aly? Talk to me."

"I feel terrible. I am asking Allan to do things no one should ask of someone they claim to love." Aly said, finally breaking down and beginning to sob quietly. 

"What makes you say that?" Sarah said, sitting and wrapping an arm around Aly' Shoulder.

"I am asking him to fight for my people, even though he has worked to not be a tool of violence. I did not understand this earlier. But now, I feel like I am tearing his life from him. And I know you disapprove of the fighting."

"Now, you stop thinking like that right now," Sarah said with some authority. "I do not think you could have stopped Allan from taking up this fight if you had killed him. The thing with Allan has always been loyalty. If Allan feels like he owes you something, Allan will move mountains one stone at a time until he has repaid that debt. But for you, he would watch the entire galaxy burn if he thought it would bring a smile to your lips."

"But why?" 

"Because that is what men do, child," Sarah said with a smile. "I know you did not have a mother growing up and that our two peoples are vastly different, but believe me when I say this is normal for human men; I would be more concerned if he was not so worked up. Right now, Allan is content. Despite how much I know he hates the idea of fighting. I can almost guarantee he would have shown up no matter what you said."

"He has done so much for me already." Aly sobbed.

"Yes, he has, but he is fine," Sarah said, reassuring Aly. "The old earth marriage vows had a great line. I am all about the old vows, as I am sure Allan is. 'For better or worse, in sickness and in health, Till death do us part."  

Aly sniffled, wiping the silvery tears from her face. "The old humans were pretty hardcore, weren't they?"

"You have no idea," Sarah said with a laugh, "the old ways are very much in line with the things Allan believes. You could pull a spartan from Sparta, and he would get along great with Allan because of how similar they are.

"I don't know who the Spartans are," Aly said, seeming to get his emotions under more control.

"Well, suffice it to say, they are the warriors Allan and Eddy aspire to be when they fight," Sarah said, gently patting Aly's back. "Just know that you do not need to apologize to Allan. Simply love him and show him you care for him, and he will take on the world for you." 

Aly nodded and finished cleaning herself up, then left the medbay to find Allan sitting with Jalla and Nara carving a stack of red bones into blades. Allan smiled at Aly, and Aly hoped the end of this war would allow them to finally settle down and live the peaceful life Allan deserved. She smiled back at Allan and sat down to help with the gruesome work.

By the time they went to sleep, four machetes, several daggers, and even a few bullets were made from the bones. Aly and Jalla snuggled up to Allan, and Nara stayed near Sarah's room to care for her. They all slept well, waking to a day that would change the galaxy forever.