guns, and yet none fired. Only twenty-two of the humans still stood with her. Klimenko was close at her side. His helmet was smashed open, and his face covered in a mix of both his own and enemy blood.
Chandra pulled off her helmet. She could no longer bare the closeness of it. She stood upright and awaited what was pushing through the Mech lines.
“What is this?” asked Klimenko.
The all stayed frozen in place until the last line of Mechs divided and through the parting lines came the one alien she could recognise — Demiran. He wore a lavish version of the armour Tsengal had. It was adorned in alien text and gold. He looked just as Taylor had described Karadag.
Demiran walked with an eloquence and grace that the Mech armies never displayed. A black cloak hung from his shoulders, and a lavishly decorated pistol was held onto his thigh armour. He wore no helmet and bore a huge bladed weapon that was three metres long, resembling a glaive. The last metre of it was a broad curved blade, and the other end a solid metal ball with spikes protruding from it.
“Colonel Chandra,” he stated.
“Demiran, you bastard!”
“Lord Demiran,” he replied.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
The creature smiled wickedly as he lifted up the vast hafted weapon, inviting her forward and taunting her. Her anger overcame her, and she rushed towards the enemy leader at a sprinting pace. Klimenko and the other survivors remained still, watching in astonishment. As she approached, she used the power of her suit to launch her into the air, heading right for him, but to her surprise he was not clumsy and slow like the Mechs she had so recently despatched.
The alien Lord stepped aside and smashed the tail end of his glaive into her. It smashed her off course, and she tumbled down to the floor. She landed hard and rolled over several times until crashing into the legs of a Mech. It kicked her backwards, causing her to roll over again. Her body armour was all that had saved her from being crushed.
Despite her tumble, she nimbly got to her feet and held her weapon at the ready. She had underestimated Demiran, and she would not do so again. She circled around him with her Assegai held out in front. The alien had a grin on his face, and his teeth glinted between his wicked smirk. Demiran was enjoying it, and she wanted nothing more than to spoil his fun.
She rushed forward again, avoiding a thrust from the glaive, but was hit by a kick that pushed her back. Demiran rushed at her, swinging a mighty vertical strike that would have crushed her in one blow. Chandra leapt aside, and the blade smashed into the metal floor, cutting several centimetres into the thick surface.
As Chandra spun out to avoid the strike, she swung out with the Assegai, and the very tip of the weapon slashed Demiran’s cheek. The burning hot blade scorched his flesh, and he stumbled with a scream. He regained his composure and came on guard once more to see the defiant Colonel was waiting for him. The smile was gone from his face. She was satisfied now.
Demiran charged at her in a frenzy, swinging the blade in a huge horizontal arc. She avoided the strike, but he used the weight of the blade to pendulum the weapon around his head and struck as hard a second time. She quickly lifted her weapon in time to meet his blade, but the mass and speed drove through it, cutting deeply into her armour and knocking her off her feet.
Chandra stumbled to get back up. Blood seeped through a gouge in her armour. It was clear to all that she was badly hurt. She lifted up her weapon to taunt the creature one last time.
“Taylor’s going to kill you, just as he killed Karadag like the dog he was. You’ll end this war steeped in the blood of your own people!”
He ran at Chandra, smashed her weapon out from her hands, and spun the blade around, thrusting the bottom spike through her breastplate. The immense force of the strike drove the weapon right through her and out the back of her armour. She dropped down to her knees. Blood poured out from her mouth.
Demiran ripped the weapon back out from her body. Blood gushed out as the blade was torn out from her chest. She didn’t wince in pain, nor cry out. She moved back into a kneeling position and refused to lie down for her last few moments. She stared into the eyes of the alien leader with one last defiant glare, drew her last breath and died upright where she sat.
Klimenko gave out a booming battle cry and rushed forward with the last human survivors. They screamed with all the energy they had left as they ran onto the alien guns. They were cut down as they reached Chandra’s body. Demiran stood and enjoyed the slaughter before him. But when it was over, and the last body dropped, he lifted his hand to his burnt and cut cheek, wincing from the pain. Chandra’s body still sat upright where he had struck her down. His victory had been bittersweet and far from what he had imagined.
He looked out across the grounds they had fought over and the mounds of bodies. A thousand Mechs had died in that room alone. Everywhere he looked were the steeped bodies of his own kind, with the so few humans that had remained in the last fight. The humans had always found the aliens to be relentless, but Demiran had learnt that humanity was not the weak race he believed them to be.
Taylor threw his last grenade down the corridor and waited for the blast, then leapt out with his shield at his forefront. A pulse crashed over the shield, and he could feel fragments burn into the gaps of the armour on his right arm, but he kept driving forward. He was firing rapidly as he advanced with Jafar at his side. There were three Mechs left, and their hail of gunfire cut them down as they continued to advance.
The platoon didn’t stop and passed through their vanquished foes before the last one had finally collapsed lifelessly to the deck. Taylor led them on and around another corner towards where the breach had originated. He caught sight of movement up ahead and raised his rifle to fire when he recognised the outline of one of their own. He lowered his rifle and rushed ahead to find they had reached Jackson’s unit; the Captain was only a few men down the line. They were reloading their weapons and had clearly just finished off the remaining attackers.
“Good to see you, Major,” he said when he saw Taylor approaching.
“Did you get them all?”
“Except a few that made their way to where you just came from.”
“They’re dealt with.”
Taylor saw a comms module down the corridor and hurried to it to gain contact with the bridge.
“This is Major Taylor. Floor 5 breach is clear.”
“Major, we’ve had three further breaches. Several enemy units remain unaccounted for throughout the ship,” replied Huber.
“Is the bridge secure?”
“We have had no enemy contact as of yet. Hang on, Major.”
The line went silent, and Taylor waited for the bad news. He knew it could not mean anything good.
“I lost a few dozen in this last fight. We haven’t got the strength to cover all sectors, and with the enemy scattering in the ship, we’ll be in trouble before long,” Jackson said.
Taylor nodded in agreement.
“That’s for sure. We stay here much longer, and we’re all finished.”
The comms channel crackled again.
“Major, we’ve got a breach on the floor above you, sector B.”
“Affirmative, we’re on it.”
He turned to Jackson. “I need to reach the bridge.”
“Go, we’ll handle this.”
“Good luck, Captain.”
“And to you, Sir.”
Taylor gestured for Jafar to follow with Parker’s platoon in tow. They got to the elevators to find the bodies of five Navy personnel and no enemy in sight.
“This doesn’t look good,” whispered Parker.
Taylor continued on past and leapt into the elevator with the remainder of their force in the one next to them. As the doors began to close, Mitch just made out the shape of a Mech turning the bend ahead. He lifted his rifle and fired a quick burst as the doors were closing. They slammed shut, and the pulse smashed in, buckling the doors and burning through in several places.
