8. The defeat of Alax
The chatter of machine gun fire could be heard ever so faintly just outside of the ship, and then all went silent once again.
“ The other commandoes!” Vargev cried as he realised, he sprinted back towards the hatch.
“ I’ll come with you,” Michael replied as he chased after him.
Together they ran the length of the corridor to the elevator that would take them to deck 6, the lowest deck on the ship, and where the hatch was located. Soon enough the elevator deposited them, as the doors opened they sprinted down the main corridor on the deck, making a sharp right turn, about half way along, and located the hatch.
Vargev slowly crept out, keeping his body close to the hull of the downed ship. The distant echo of explosions and weapons fire was still audible from outside the loading area. The commandoes and the rest of the armoured company were putting up one hell of a fight, Vargev thought. It made him proud.
He looked around the immediate area as Michael clambered out of the hatch behind him. The raider was still intact, however along the interior of the loading bay lay the bullet-ridden bodies of a dozen or so Krenarans, freshly culled.
The commando manning the roof mounted Armschlager was dead. His head was a mangled, bloodied ruin. The other commandoes were also dead, laid amongst the Krenaran bodies.
Vargev made his way cautiously over to one of the commando bodies, picked up its weapon and ammunition, and tossed it over to Michael.
Silently, the big Russian pointed to the wide ramped corridor that led up onto the spaceport platform. Together they sprinted across the loading area to the edge of this corridor. Vargev peered around it, half expecting a dozen more to come at them.
Instead, there was nothing, no sign of movement, just dead silence. Carefully the two of them made their way up the gentle incline, and were almost halfway there when they came upon the gigantic form of the Krenaran Vargev spotted earlier. Oh, this is not going to end well, he thought.
Close up, it looked even more terrifying. Dwarfing even Axus, whom they killed eight months ago, and he had been no pushover, in fact, he had damn near killed them both.
Its heavy mechanical legs hissed and crackled with power. With heavy footfalls that pounded the very ground, this behemoth of a Krenaran slowly, ominously advanced towards them. Its huge triple barrelled cannon levelled straight at them.
This monster regarded them as though they were nothing more than little inconveniences, to be crushed by his merest whim, “I am Alax, overlord of the Krenaran race, and you had better pray to whatever deities you believe in, because only they can help you now!” The aliens voice boomed across the length of the corridor.
The sight of this massive lumbering Krenaran triggered something in Michael’s mind, suddenly he went back to that time eight months ago, trying to remember something important, damn it, he couldn’t remember what it was.
Reality rapidly snapped him out of his reverie when three simultaneous beams shot forth from Alax’s weapon, they both dived in opposite directions as the shot flashed past them and blasted a sizable crater out of the concrete floor.
They both let loose with their Armschlagers, the roar of weapons fire was deafening around the deserted corridor; the weapons juddered as round after round pumped into the oncoming leviathan, spent cases tinkled and danced off the hard floor. A transparent yellow haze formed around this lumbering beast of a Krenaran, and the shots simply ricocheted off it.
“ He’s got some sort of god-damn energy field!” Michael shouted in desperation.
“ No shit! Like I didn’t know that!” Vargev retorted.
Another blast shot past the Russian and they retreated, stumbling down the corridor and back into the wider loading area.
Slowly, inexorably, as though death itself; Alax followed after them.
“ We have to get to the raider, it’s our only chance!” Vargev shouted.
They ran further into the loading area, with Alax in pursuit. The only advantage they had was that for all his power, all his brute force. Alax was slow on those mechanical legs of his, although it wasn’t much of an advantage.
“ Now I remember!” Michael said, as his mind returned to that time eight months ago.
“ Remember what!” Vargev shouted over the increasingly loud footfalls behind them.
“ Eight months ago, when we fought Axus,” Michael said breathing hard.”
“ Yeah, what about it?” Vargev replied as they raced towards the safety of the parked raider.
“ Axus said that he had a master, and he was going to deliver us to him.”
“ And this guy must be it.”
They almost made it to the raider when three blindingly bright green energy beams shot past them and smashed into the vehicle. Vargev and Michael both dived out of the way as the sheer force of the impact smashed the 4x4 onto its side, its engine caught fire and began churning out thick black smoke.
“ I have wasted enough time with you pitiful humans, prepare to die!” Alax said, with such an evil uncaring tone to his voice, these Terrans were nothing to him, weak insects to squash at his merest whim.
Both Michael and Vargev were down, as the force of the blast had momentarily dazed them. Their heads were swimming as those heavy, pounding footfalls continued to close, there was a kind of grim finality to those ominous footfalls, maybe this was one enemy they couldn’t defeat or escape from.
Together, both of them picked up their weapons and opened fire at the hulking great Krenaran in one last valiant attempt to bring it down, its yellow energy field blazed into life once again.
It was at that point that Vargev accepted his fate, this enemy was simply too powerful, too strong, they were hopelessly outmatched and deep down he knew it; there was just nothing he could do against an enemy of such power.
The battle at the main gate had intensified, the constant chatter of heavy machine gun fire and intermittent buzzing of pulse rifle shots, met the powerful ‘wuu-doom’ of Krenaran energy weapons. Both humans and Krenarans were dying in equal measure in the bitter fighting.
The wreckage of a blazing apollo main battle tank, and a dominator assault walker was spread out across the road. Surviving commandoes and infantrymen were using it as a kind of makeshift barricade.
The Krenarans were continuing to press the attack, throwing everything they had against this gate despite the horrific casualties the E.D. F troops were inflicting on them.
A shot from a Krenaran weapon blasted apart the head of a heavy machine gunner, the crimson spray of blood and brain matter coated the nearby sandbags in a deep red sheen. A dozen Krenarans tried to charge the sandbagged position, but were mercilessly ripped apart as the heavy assault cannon of big Bertha roared its anger.
In the loading area, the battle was every bit as intense, as Michael and Vargev raced past the huge Krenaran, trying to use their speed to their advantage, their lungs burned, patches of sweat, blood and grime marked their skin.
The enormous trunk like fist of Alax tried to swat them as they sprinted past, but only whipped through fresh air.
Michael spied a covered metal box at the top of one of Alax’s mechanical legs, a small light blinked at the top of it. Michael had an idea what this was.
“ Aim for the shield generator at the top of its leg!” he shouted to Vargev, pointing to this box.
Alax opened fire with his weapon again, the Russian barely had time to jump out of the way of the blast as it narrowly missed turning him into crimson froth. The shot blew a large hole in the metal clad wall behind with a loud explosion.
