BATTLE CLERIC
ETERNAL WAR SERIES PART 2
By Nick S. Thomas
Copyright © 2020 by Nick S. Thomas
Published by Swordworks Books
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Prologue
The year is 3145 in the Quintan Calendar. War spreads throughout the galaxy like a plague, but one power and authority fights to bring order, the Order of Light and Eternal Chamber, known as Sanctum. One loyal follower is Master Cleric Leif Malik, who has been despatched to the mining world of Therus where a Zealot named Cayne has corrupted workers. Therus is vital to the fuelling of the fleets and armouries of the Sanctum in the Elleon Sector. Malik must restore order, but an inhospitable world and a deadly enemy await him and his Troopers.
On arrival at Therus, Malik’s drop ship and Ward supporting forces were re-directed to an alternate landing zone on approach, before being swarmed by an unending mass of bloodthirsty local creatures known by the miners as Snappers. The Wards were quickly overcome and butchered, with only a quarter of their number surviving the deadly experience. Malik and his Sanctum Troopers managed to get the Luminary into the refuge of the fortified mining facility, but not without a fight. The Luminary was wounded in the struggle, and the mining facility security was less than helpful as the Sanctum Troopers fought for their lives.
Even the battle-hardened and power armour-suited Troopers did not get off unscathed from their brutal encounter with the Snappers, as the creatures found weaknesses in their armour. Malik went straight to the Governor of the mining colony and would have killed him for what he had allowed to transpire. But the Luminary sought a diplomatic solution and went to meet with the Governor personally and in private. Yet as he arrived for talks, armed guards under the control of the Governor seized him, and Malik, along with his Troopers and Wards were sealed in a dome-shaped area. Their power armour locked away in a waiting area, the Governor meant to feed them to the wolves, literally.
Chapter One
Hordes of angry and bloodthirsty Snappers were funnelled into the dome, as unarmoured Troopers and the few remaining Wards backed into the middle of the room, preparing to make their stand.
Malik had his Vanquisher blade in his right hand and Executioner pistol in his left. He held them both up and ready to fight, but looked all around for any sign of the horde moving forward, as they hissed and snapped their salivating jaws. They were not a malicious enemy as far as he could tell, just a hungry one. Food had to be scarce on such a volatile world, and there was a lot of meat on the muscle-bound hulking Troopers, yet even the puny Wards would provide a significant meal for the horde. Malik did not hate them for it, for it was their nature, but he looked up to the window where the Governor loomed over them with contempt and disgust. He had a wicked grin on his face as though he had won the war, but for Malik, this was the opening battle, as he pointed his blade towards the colony leader.
“I’m coming for you!”
He knew the man would not hear him, but his thoughts and intentions were quite clear.
“We aren’t going to die here. The Luminary needs us, or would you accept death, knowing you failed to protect the life of a Luminary?” He riled the group up for the vicious onslaught. Malik knew the fight was going to cost them many lives, but he was determined to reach the Governor and tear his head off for the betrayal.
The creatures began to come forward as one, closing on the circle of six Troopers and twenty-two Wards. One creature lurched forward, snapping at Wyse. Malik quickly moved his muzzle over and pulled the trigger, blowing out its brains. Its body collapsed in the clearing between the two forces. The hissing and chomping jaws of the horde grew louder as if incensed by the death of one of their own, and they looked ready to pounce.
“Fire!” Malik yelled.
The dome erupted into a deafening orchestra of fire as the Ward rifles and Trooper Executioners spat fire at the horde trying to close in. They could not encircle the Terrans, for they fought back-to-back and fired in all directions. One creature leapt into the air to try and land in the formation, but two shots from Malik sent it hurtling back down onto its own kind, flattening one of them under the weight of its carcass.
Every one of them was firing as quickly as they could while maintaining as accurate fire under pressure as possible. Even the Wards were doing their part, their small rifles not as powerful as the huge Executioner sidearms of the Troopers. The first two ranks of the Snappers fell to the combined fire, but several more took their cues from the one who had tried to bring death from above. They leapt up high to descend on the desperate survivors. One landed on a Ward and crushed him almost to death before claws and teeth finished the job.
Another flew through the air heading right for the Cleric. He managed to fire one shot, but it was already descending towards him. He turned slightly to avoid the impact, and it brushed down his shoulder. He felt a talon cut into his shoulder and drag down his upper back, but he barely winced, turned, and shot it in the face, finally killing the beast. Several of the Wards were trying to reload, and the pressure against them increased with the reduction in fire. He saw a Snapper bite down onto a Ward, pin its body with its claws, and rip the head clear from the body, before tossing it at him. Malik knocked the flying head aside with his blade, taking aim at the creature and putting it down with two shots.
He heard a cry as another behind him jumped towards his back, and he turned in time to see it shot down, by none other than Sergeant Adler, who came through for them once more. The Cleric looked surprised but went right back to the fight, thrusting his blade into the neck of one and firing at another.
Hyland cried out in pain as a claw was buried into her left arm. It caused her to lose hold of her weapon, but she did not expect help, so grabbed the Snapper’s head in both hands and snapped its neck. She growled as she fought through the pain, picking up her rifle in time to shoot another dead as it ran at her.
Cries rang out as two more Wards were cut to pieces as gunfire continued to ring out, but the creatures were now swarming the survivors, and with every reload they gained ground. Barick smashed one across the face with his rifle, crushing its skull. He shot another in the face, but he felt a claw bite into his leg, before he shot that one dead, too. He turned to face another and pulled the trigger, but his magazine was empty, and the Snapper landed on him. He collapsed to the floor and was pinned as the creature’s razor-sharp claws locked him in place. It snapped for his head. He caught its jaw in both hands, the teeth slicing into his fingers. He was able to hold it at bay, but as the beast’s claws dug into his upper arms, he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out for.
The head of the beast suddenly exploded, covering him in blood. He shoved the body away as it went limp and looked up to see Andez offering out his hand. He was surprised, but took it and was hauled to his feet. Barick had never given him anything but trouble, and was astonished to find him there. But before he could say a word, the tail of a Snapper pierced Andez through the chest. As it was withdra
wn, Andez began to drop to his feet. Barick went to help him but was forced to defend himself as another Snapper rushed at him. He grabbed his rifle and swung it, knocking the creature to the ground and stomped on its head. He saw Andez was back on his feet with a Ward rifle in hand and firing back against the horde, despite the hole in his chest.
Wyse shot the leg out of one Snapper and put another in the back of its head as it landed face first.
“Ammo isn’t going to last long!” he shouted as he smashed his rifle butt into the knee of another, kneeing the wounded creature in the head, and smashing the stock into its face.
Malik brought down his blade onto the forehead of one Snapper and split its head in two, but he could see so many more rushing his way. He lifted his pistol to fire at one of the creatures flying through the air towards him. But the beast’s claw caught his Executioner and sliced his hand. It latched onto the weapon and ripped it from his grasp as it fell dead to the ground. He looked around for signs of his weapon, but among the dead and dying it was nowhere to be seen, and he could hear the chomping teeth of another creature bearing down on him. He turned in time for it to run onto his Vanquisher, but it wasn’t dead and hissed and snapped at his face. He put his bleeding hand on its throat, held its foaming mouth at a distance, and heaved the blade up. It cut a channel up the body until organs began to fall out, and it collapsed down dead. He then found his weapon on the ground.
“We can’t keep this up!” Wyse yelled.
Gunfire still rang out, but less and less now. The enemy dead lay in heaps, but still more came. Malik looked out to the two doors the creatures had come from and could see yet more coming from one, while the other way was now an empty passage.
“Get to that door, now!”
They were all eager to move, knowing staying put would be the end of them all, but Malik could see they were not making quick enough progress. He rushed to the head of the group and leapt out over the Wards, pushing Barick to leap onto one of the Snappers just like they did. He felt a claw slash across his shoulder, but he buried his Executioner into its left eye socket. As the body went down, he took hold of one of its arms, slashed it off at the shoulder, and began to swing it, using the claws as a weapon. He swung the arm like a flail, and the claws descended onto the head of one of the creatures. They were buried into the skull, but he could not retrieve the arm, and went on.
“Come on, push, for the Sanctum, for the Luminary!” he roared with the utmost devotion to his cause.
He slashed the leg out from one, thrusting into the chest of another before decapitating the first. His blood lust was up now. He didn’t hate the primitive creatures, but he was letting his fury at the Governor flow through his body, imagining what he would do when he got his hands on the treacherous traitor.
He smashed into another, held its claws back, and drove it back to clear the way. Hyland and Barick surged up beside him, firing as they came. Shots zipped past the Cleric as Snappers fell around him, and he thrust his blade into one as its claws slid down his arm. It was not enough to do serious damage, but it caused blood to stream down his arm, and that seemed to attract the attention of another even more than before. It lurched towards his arm, snapping its jaws with anticipation. He slashed across with his sword with one brutal horizontal cut that took off one of its claws and lower jaw. Yet as blood poured from its open wounds, it still lashed out at him with all the weapons it had left. The creature’s tail lashed at his face. He positioned his Vanquisher blade in the way in time to take most of the impact, but the barbed tail still lashed around and cut into his shoulder blade. He drove forward and thrust up into the upper jaw and brain of the beast. As it fell, he pulled the tail out from his back, causing blood to spurt out from his wounds.
He looked back around and found they were all making slow progress as a tail slashed off a leg of a Ward, smashing down into his face as he lay on the floor. They were a few metres from the door now.
“Push!” Malik grabbed the nearest Snapper, held it at arm’s length, and used it as a shield. He pushed it back towards the open doorway, driving the others back with it. The survivors pushed on and in their brief surge had got through the opening.
“Get that door down, now!” he barked at Alder as the rest went on fighting.
The Sergeant opened up a control panel as gunfire rang out and others had resorted to clubbing the creatures with their rifles.
“Come on, faster!”
The Sergeant dared not talk back to the Cleric, or any other Sanctum Trooper. He was fiddling with the controls for a few moments when a Snapper leapt through the line. It crashed into Barick, sending him flat on his back. He held the creature back as it tried to bite his face off. Hyland moved to help him, but he yelled out furiously, “Stay on the line!” He put his hands into either side of the creature’s jaws and pulled them apart, ripping the head in two in a brutal display of raw power. Blood poured out over him, and one of the Wards who had been watching looked on in horror, before turning back to the fight. They feared the Troopers as much as the Snappers.
The body of a Snapper flew past the defensive line as Barick hurled his vanquished foe over them. The corpse crashed into three more, knocking them to the ground as Barick came forward with his subjugator in one hand, and the spine of the creature in the other. He wielded it as a flail, lashing it down against the head of one of their attackers and shattering its skull.
“I’ve got it!” Alder shouted enthusiastically.
“Back!” Malik pulled Hyland back as she continued to fire.
The huge steel doors began to close at a steady pace, bottlenecking the Snappers as they were shot down. Just as the doors came to a close, one leapt through, but the doors clamped shut and sheared the body in two. Half of it dropped as a bloody mess at Hyland’s feet, while the other half remained on the far side of the door. The Wards breathed a sigh of relief, but the Troopers showed no distress, despite their bloodied state.
“Make sure that door stays shut,” ordered Malik.
“Yes, Cleric,” replied the Sergeant.
Chapter Two
The corridor was dim with a low-level strip light running the length of the ceiling. Everyone was breathing heavily, even the Troopers, but Malik looked up as he heard a noise. The whole group looked with dread and soon realised it was the clamour of Snappers. Malik looked around to see there was a small door on either side of the corridor.
“Where do these go?”
Adler hurried to check the map on his datapad.
“That one is a store room,” he said, pointing to the one on the far side, before falling silent. They all waited to hear news on the other, knowing it was their only hope of survival, as the sound of a horde drawing nearer became louder. They could hear the hissing snaps of the fearsome creatures.
“Faster,” growled the Cleric.
“It’s some kind of access. I don’t know.”
“Will it take us into the rest of the facility or not?”
“I believe so, yes, Cleric.”
“Do it, now!”
The Troopers formed up ready to fight this next wave. The first of the Snappers rushed into view up ahead, and Zephyr knocked its head off with a single shot. Yet three more turned the bend and ran over its body as they closed in relentlessly. Zephyr fired again as the others joined in. The surviving Wards were kneeling in front of the mighty Sanctum Troopers.
“Open that door now, or we all die!” Malik roared to the Sergeant who was furiously pushing buttons in an attempt to open the door when suddenly it released and slid open.
“Everyone inside, now!” Malik ordered.
The Wards were the first to rush through, and he didn’t mind, for they would only get in the way of sealing the door shut that would save the lives of his Troopers. Gunfire continued to ring out as the Troopers confidently stayed put as the Wards ran for their lives, though once again Sergeant Alder had stayed with the Cleric and was firing on the enemy.
“Troopers inside, now!�
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One by one they passed through until it was just Alder, Zephyr, and the Cleric. They took their last shots before the Cleric shoved Adler through the door and jumped through. As the door began to close, one of the creatures jumped through and stopped it from closing, though it could not get its body through the opening as it snapped at Malik. He held his pistol to its head and pulled the trigger. The body slumped in the doorway, but the Cleric put his boot in and kicked it through the doorway. They could just see the snapping jaws of many more as the door finally sealed. Adler was already at the controls making sure it never opened again, before finally he slumped down with a sigh in relief. The Wards were overwhelmed and exhausted, and even the Troopers looked bedraggled. Not one among them wasn’t cut and bleeding, though everyone who had made it was still on their own two feet, as there was no hope of saving the seriously wounded. There were just thirteen Wards remaining.
“Andez,” said Hyland in horror as she was finally able to reflect on the loss of one of their own. He had been kind to her, and she was not about to forget that.
“He served the Sanctum well. His name shall be remembered,” declared Malik.
Barick looked furious.
“One of ours is dead because of that Governor. He must pay for his treachery!”
He looked down to Hyland and could see the sadness in her face. He was reminded of the attempts he had made to bully the young Colt, and yet he offered out his hand now.
“Will you fight in his memory?”
She took his hand and was hauled to her feet. He placed one hand on her shoulder and nodded in approval as he accepted her as one of them. The Cleric pushed through to see where they were. It looked like a maintenance corridor of some sort.
“Is that door going to hold?”
“Yes, Cleric,” Adler replied confidently as he continued to patch his own wounds.
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