Vargev continued to make his way along this gantry, careful that his footsteps did not give away the colonel’s position. The metal grating he walked across creaked slightly, still no sign of Kalidis, I bet the fucking coward’s ran off, he thought, pursing his lips in anger.
From behind him he heard the faint, almost imperceptible shuffling of feet.
“ You’re getting old Vargev, a commando colonel surprised like that is not good,” Kalidis scoffed.
He was holding a single shot laser pistol directly behind Vargev’s head. Nikolai could just about feel the cold steel of the barrel resting against the back of his skull.
“ Drop the gun!”
Vargev had no choice but to comply, and the Armschlager fell onto the gantry with a loud metallic clatter.
“ You know, you really are underestimating me Kalidis,” Vargev said calmly.
“ I don’t think so, not this time, especially since I’m the one with the pistol trained on your head.”
Kalidis’s voice was thick with venom, he hated Vargev, hated the fact that he was this perfect commando; built for war, and he was little more than a glorified mechanic, Vargev seemed to get all the plaudits; where were his?
“ You’re underestimating me if you think you surprised me.”
Kalidis blinked, and in a blur Vargev spun around and simultaneously swiped the weapon out of his hand. It sailed through the air and over the gantry railing, skittering off one of the tank hulls below.
Without even leaving the general a chance to react, Vargev cuffed Kalidis across the mouth, sending the commander of Echo base sprawling onto his backside and rattling the gantry. Blood streamed from his cut lip.
“ I’ll have you up on charges for that, you bastard!” he snarled as he wiped the blood from his mouth.
“ For what?” Vargev replied, “a piece of shrapnel flew off the tank factory wall in the firefight. Besides I wonder what charges you’ll face,” he said as he casually walked over to the struggling general.
“ The head of Echo base letting the entire facility fall to the enemy, and like the coward you are, not lifting a finger to prevent it. Pretty unbecoming of an E.D. F senior officer don’t you think?” Vargev retorted, he was ice cool and wasn’t playing around, Kalidis was a coward and he hated cowards especially those of the higher ranks, and he had no problem shooting Kalidis for it if he was pushed.
Kalidis slowly stumbled to his feet as Vargev approached, swinging a vicious right hook towards the Russian’s chin. The blow was slow and clumsy, the colonel easily caught his fist and smashed his elbow into Kalidis’s nose, the general staggered backwards; his shattered nose pumping blood down his mouth and chin.
Kalidis turned and made to run back down the gantry, desperately trying to escape. He realized that he was grossly outmatched. Vargev was the faster however, and the Russian charged after him, their heavy boots making the gantry shudder as they ran.
Nikolai quickly caught up with the general and rugby tackled him to the ground, the entire gantry rattled violently under the force of the two men slamming onto it. Kalidis attempted a wild kick at Vargev’s head, but completely missed the colonel. Nikolai then crawled over the prone form of Kalidis, using his powerful muscles to hold the cowardly general still as he clasped his hand over the general’s throat.
Breathing slightly heavier, he lowered his face close to the Kalidis’s, his eyes bored into him and he bellowed. “Listen to me, you little prick!” the colonel’s voice boomed as it echoed around the deserted tank factory. “To me, you’re nothing but a fucking coward! And I would kill you right now, but I need every man I can get, even a snivelling little waste of space like you.” He squeezed a little tighter as if to emphasise his point, Kalidis coughed and gasped for breath as he writhed in a desperate bid to escape Vargev’s clutches.
“ What would you have me do!” he spluttered, “I’m an engineer, not a fucking soldier! I fix vehicles, not fight wars.”
“ Well tonight, you’re both.” Vargev replied sternly, not letting go just yet. “I want you to lead your engineers as you would any other day. I want you to work them like they have never been worked before, repairing the vehicles that are helping to save your sorry ass.”
“ Okay okay, I will,” Kalidis spluttered again.
“ You had better do; because if you don’t, all that will be left of you once I’m finished is another casualty statistic…comrade.” Vargev finally released his vice like grip on Kalidis, he scrabbled unsteadily to his feet.
“ Yes, fucking sir.” The general coughed, his throat was raw from the near strangulation he received from Nikolai.
“ That’s better.”
Retrieving the heavy Armschlager, he pointed it in Kalidis’s direction. “Now get out of here, you have vehicles to fix.”
Slowly the general made his way down the gantry, clutching his still bleeding nose. Vargev watched him leave and clicked on the safety switch on the side of the weapon.
“ And Kalidis!” he shouted down from the top of the gantry.
The general turned to look back up at Vargev.
“ At the first hint of trouble I hear from you.” He pressed the trigger on the weapon, and a loud click reverberated around the factory. The echo made it sound even more ominous.
Kalidis simply grunted and trudged away.
One of the worst things Vargev despised was a coward, and Kalidis was one, but Vargev had no other choice, he didn’t have to like it though.
Nightfall was now rapidly descending, and he made his way quickly to the front line. Offering a small prayer to the motherland far away, he silently begged for his men to hold for just one more night. In reality, he probably knew it was his last, for three nights straight they had fought intense, bitter firefights. His men were tired and low on ammunition.
Vargev couldn’t see any way of holding the base, they were simply outgunned and damn near overrun. He checked his webbing, only two clips left for his weapon, he would have to make every shot count. Taking up position with the rest of the commandoes who he had ordered to defend the main gate, he surveyed the blasted, scorch marked fields beyond. Already he could pick out movement, this is where the fighting would be fiercest, he and his men would fight like dogs, fight to the last man drew breath than see a single Krenaran step through those gates.
The Krenarans began to resume their attack. Artillery pieces thundered as they resumed shelling the advancing alien’s positions, loud explosions blasted earth and Krenaran alike high into the air. High velocity shells from strategically placed Apollo battle tanks pounded into the advancing aliens.
Despite scores dying, still more of them came on through the onslaught. Those that couldn’t walk or had lost limbs, crawled through the muddied, blasted ground toward their hated enemies, not giving up for an instant.
Vargev waited until they got into range, before bellowing out the order. “Open fire!”
The roar of multiple Armschlagers all firing in unison, together with the heavy machine gun nests was deafening and awesome in its fury. Tracer fire lit up the main gate as a storm of rounds punched into the Krenaran positions. Big Bertha, and the other dominators added their awesome firepower to the mix, its heavy assault cannon glowed red hot as it poured fire into the Krenarans, cutting great swathes through them, over fifty had fell, their armoured reptilian bodies littering the fields.
Where those had fallen, yet more took their place, heedless of the horrific losses they were taking, the Krenarans still inexorably advanced.
The huge weapon the Krenarans used to breach the loading area doors was now trained on the Dominator’s defending the breach in the perimeter.
The miniature particle cannon buzzed and crackled with barely contained power. Before the Dominators could even react, the operator unleashed the full fury of the weapon, the incandescent green energy beam shot forth once again. One of the machines was hit in the rear, the force of the weapon tore its power plant apart in a deafening explosion that showered t
he entire area in razor sharp shrapnel. Its flaming wreckage was thrown forward due to the force of the impact and smashed through the perimeter breach.
The second Dominator turned to engage this new threat, however the particle cannon opened fire again. Against a weapon of such power the walker had no chance, its leg was blasted clean off; the war machine toppled backwards onto the perimeter wall itself. A third shot decimated it in a bright ball of flame, lighting up the broken concrete wall and the nearby breach in a bright fiery glow.
The huge Krenaran commander, Alax, stood on the landing pad and oversaw the destruction the weapon had caused with a satisfied grin, the weakling E.D. F have failed, Echo base is ours, he smirked evilly at the thought.
Vargev, embroiled in a titanic fire-fight at the main gate had suddenly realised something was missing. Where were the stealth ships that had been pounding them on previous nights?
For some unknown reason, he ventured to look behind him. There in the night sky he could just see a tiny faint shape moving towards them. His heart sank, here come the fucking stealth ships; right on cue.
As the enemy ship approached, he noticed that this one was badly damaged, it was partially on fire and trailed smoke. Then Vargev noticed the blue indented thrusters on either side of the ship, and realised it wasn’t an enemy ship at all.
“ It’s the Liberty,” he thought aloud.
Two stealth ships were pursuing it, Vargev could plainly see bright flashes of weapons fire in the night sky, as two particle cannon shots slammed into the rear of the former captured stealth ship, it was losing altitude quickly.
With an almighty crash, it slammed into the field at the rear of the base, throwing up huge plumes of earth and gouging a deep trench into the ground as it hurtled uncontrollably towards the base. Its underside screeched over the road sending out a shower of sparks, and the whole ship smashed into the main loading area, slowly coming to rest partway inside the huge structure itself.
Vargev knew that he was hard pressed at the gate, as the firefight intensified, several commandoes lay dead on the tarmac, huge holes blasted through various bloodied body parts.
However he had to make sure that the people onboard the Liberty were okay.
“ Grenades!” He roared over the din of battle, as a cannon shot blasted into the tarmac next to his foot.
Together, the surviving commandoes each took out a single grenade, pulled the pin, and as one, hurled them into the Krenaran lines. A thunderous ripple of deafening explosions tore through the enemy, showering the commandoes in dirt and Krenaran body parts.
That should make them keep their heads down for a bit, he thought as he grabbed the five nearest commandoes and made his way towards the Krenaran controlled loading area.
Big bertha covered them as they made their escape, Greystoke winked down at them as he piloted it. The twelve foot tall war machine stomped its way up the road to reinforce the gate, spraying the advancing Krenarans with heavy assault cannon fire.
Vargev, together with the five other commandoes headed towards one of the munitions factories and climbed aboard an unmanned raider A.T. V, one of them instinctively manned the ubiquitous heavy machine gun in the roof. Luckily the keys were still in the ignition, Vargev started it up and the engine quickly thrummed into life. With a spray of mud from the heavy tyres the vehicle accelerated back towards the main gate.
He chose a slightly more difficult route towards the loading area, between the perimeter fence and the Krenaran occupied buildings, as it would attract less weapons fire. However this was almost all off-road. Nearing the main gate itself, the occupants saw that the fighting had reached its peak, scores of Krenaran and human bodies lay on the road, crawling, shouting, and screaming. The constant chatter of weapons fire was everywhere and the stench of smoke hung thick in the air.
The commando manning the roof mounted Armschlager, swivelled the weapon and opened fire as the vehicle sped along the road. The heavy machine gun bucked and swayed as large calibre rounds thumped into the enemy, the unmistakable sound of empty bullet cases clattering onto the floor of the vehicle once again greeted Nikolai.
The big Russian commando steered the raider off the road, and set off east into a small expanse of field separating the ruined command building from the perimeter fence.
Those Krenarans that had taken up positions amongst the ruins began opening fire on the raider, blasts from their weapons thumped into the ground all around the vehicle
The Armschlager opened fire again in return, blasting apart thick chunks of masonry as the commando gunner sprayed the Krenaran positions with lead. The other four began returning fire through fire ports in the high tensile polycarbonate windows. Two Krenarans screamed as they were hit, tumbling into the dirt.
Vargev yanked the steering wheel hard, the raider skidded and turned south throwing up great clods of earth and grass as it sped between the ruins and the loading area. However, they were now attracting weapons fire from both buildings.
A shot smashed into the passenger side of the A.T. V, and the commando sitting next to Vargev suddenly went limp. His weapon clattered onto the foot-well of the 4x4.
The other commandoes opened fire through the fire ports once again, several Krenarans fell from the buildings as shots slammed home, landing with a dull, wet thud on the ground below. The roof mounted Armschlager raked them with yet more fire.
Nikolai sharply turned the vehicle east again, and skidded through the mangled front facade of the loading area.
The Liberty dwarfed them, jutting out of the front of the building where it had come to rest. Sparks from flailing circuits fizzed and popped around them, smashed girders and crumpled metal debris littered the floor from the colossal impact of the 149 metre long ship crashing headlong into the structure.
Four Krenarans were cautiously advancing on the stricken ship, the roof mounted Armschlager quickly silenced them in a deafening hail of rounds. They fell to the floor gurgling, white blood oozing out onto the smooth concrete floor.
Vargev quickly grabbed his weapon and climbed out of the vehicle. He did a quick visual scan of the Liberty, it had sustained heavy damage, its rear engines were a mess and one of its torpedo launchers reduced to nothing more than twisted scorched metal. He had never seen the Liberty take such a beating. Jesus, he thought, this thing looks like it’s been in world war three.
He ordered the rest of the commandoes to cover the position as he attempted to enter the Liberty by opening the port crew hatch. With a weak hiss of de-pressurised air, the hatch opened and the colonel clambered inside.
The interior did indeed look like a scene from world war three, main power was down and the lights were out. Vargev fished out a small torch from a pouch in his webbing, and fixed it to the barrel of his weapon. Shattered displays threw out sparks from damaged conduits, smashed girders and various detritus covered the floor, the colonel had to pick his way through carefully.
Crewmen were slumped on the floor in various places, some dead and some merely unconscious.
He continued carefully picking his way through the ship, his torchlight throwing up shadows in the gloom. Some sections still had power, probably running on emergency backup. How long it would last, he had no idea. It was nearly eight months since Nikolai had last set foot on this ship and it felt, strangely enough, as if he was getting re-acquainted with an old friend.
He managed to make it to one of the main elevators, which, luck would have it, were still operable.
“ Bridge,” he said as he stepped inside, a garbled acknowledgement came through the speakers before slowly taking him to his destination, although noticeably slower than he remembered.
The bridge doors would not open, and with a heave, he managed to open them just enough to crawl through. The stench of smoke and melted circuits was present throughout the whole ship, but especially so here, it hung thick in the air, and his throat felt raw, he hacked and coughed occasionally, Nikolai saw that many of her crew were laid motionless
on the floor.
One man groaned as he shuffled uncertainly, trying to get to his feet. He had a deep ragged gash on his upper arm which had stained his royal blue uniform a crimson colour. In addition to another wound on his forehead, just above his right eye.
Vargev quickly made his way over to the man in an effort to help, and as he neared, recognised the man as his old friend Michael Alexander. He held out a hand to steady him.
“ What the hell happened comrade?”
Michael held up a hand to his forehead, it throbbed painfully, “we were in a huge battle in orbit, we were hit, one of those damn command carriers. Drifted for a while before we regained control, then chased by two stealth ships before we crashed.” He lapsed back into unconsciousness.
Vargev gently shook the weakened Michael to awaken him again, “stay with me,” he said studying his friend. “Did they bring any reinforcements?”
Michael slowly opened his eyes again, “no, we came in a fleet, over one hundred and eighty ships, and the biggest fleet we ever put together. However, the Krenarans, they had three hundred. We were outnumbered almost two to one. The battle is still being fought in orbit.
Michael lapsed into unconsciousness a second time, however a medic had managed to make it onto the bridge, looking somewhat battered himself, his white uniform was blackened and torn in several places.
“ Over here!” Vargev called out in the darkness.
The medic made his way over to them, and studied Michael intently before bandaging his wounds with synth-flesh patches. “He’s in shock, and he has lost a lot of blood.”
The medic laid Michael flat out on the floor, and put together a portable stretcher. “I need to get him to sickbay; will you help me carry him?”
“ Of course,” Vargev nodded.
They carried the unconscious Michael down to sickbay, where Kathryn Jacobs, the British chief medical officer, gave him blood. Gradually Michael came around, he recovered quickly.
E. D. F resurgent (e.d.f chronicles) Page 8
