Chapter 21. Duel of Honor
Ripley sensed the death of the queen and after another two hours her enhanced senses she could see through the cloak of the humanoids as they approached the assembly area from different directions. ("Here we go…") She said thinking to herself. Ripley had to make no sudden movements that the humanoids were in the area because if she did the snipers would kill her and it would be over with for her.
The humanoids took up positions around the assembly area and the Hunter Prince stood near a tree observing one of the snipers then he scanned the auto-sentry and the patrols walking their rounds. With a purr he issued orders to the other humanoids, but one humanoid spoke up saying that the hybrid human was his alone to kill. Once they were all agreed they moved in for the kill.
"Scanning sector five… sniper-six report status…" The commander said over the com.
There was a clicking static sound before sniper-six reported in; "All is clear…" No sooner had he signed off that his head was loped of by the blade of a camouflaged humanoid.
"Sniper-six is down…" The commander screamed over the com. The minute he died the entire mobile base came to life.
"Snipers take out the clone now…" Kernel Lock screamed into his head set, but it was too late all the snipers were already dead and the people in the mobile command center watched as life signs flat lined on the screen.
As soon as the snipers were dead along with their back ups Ripley grabbed the bars ignoring the electric shock and bent apart until she could climb out and jump down thirty feet below. A soldier tried to kill her but she jumped twenty feet into the air and landed next to the man and snapped his neck. She took his gun and shot down several more people as she made her way to where Johner and Call were being held.
"We are under attack… I repeat we are under attack..." Lock said into his head set.
Everyone turned to the door when it opened and a glassy figure stood in the doorway. The unseen intruder took his camouflaged hand and threw a dart ball into the command center; the ball split into a bunch of smaller darts and killed six people and severely wounded a couple of others. The soldiers not wounded whipped out their pistols and fired at the door and hit nothing but wall, air, and door. The humanoid shot from his shoulder cannon and killed three people; he then removed two shurikens from his belt and killed the commander and Kernel Lock. Their bodies hit the floor as their heads came off at the same time.
The Hunter Prince stabbed a soldier from behind with is combstick then he killed another man with his blade whip. One soldier got off a shot that disrupted the Hunter Prince's camouflage and he became visible. He roared as the man yelled; "I got one… I got one…" The Hunter Prince pumped his arm gauntlet like a shot gun and fired a spike into the man's head. When the Hunter Prince tried to reset his camouflage a hover chopper fired a steel net over him; he looked up targeting the ship and fired his shoulder cannon. As the chopper went tumbling out of the sky the Hunter Prince used his wrist blades to cut through the net and once he was free he camouflaged and became invisible.
A huge explosion threw Ripley to the ground and this explosion was greater than the one the Humanoids shot from their shoulder guns. Ripley got up and ran with her enhanced speed to the cells holding Johner and Ripley.
"Ripley get out of here…" Call yelled; "…those hunters are after you."
Ripley gritted her teeth and ripped the door of it's hinge; "I'll get out after I free the two of you…"
"Look out…" Johner yelled.
A soldier ran up behind Ripley, but she back flipped over him when he was close enough and she grabbed his neck and snapped it. Then she freed Johner who tried to pick up a gun but Ripley stepped on it. "Leave it… they only hunt armed opponents…"
The three companions cautiously made their way to a truck that had the keys in the ignition. They all jumped in and drove off at a high rate of speed until the tires were blown out and the vehicle flipped over. The occupants were about to exit the vehicle when a humanoid landed on top of the upside down truck. "Holy shit…" Johner screamed as a pair of camouflaged blades tore into the truck like a can opener cutting open a can. The floor which was now up was ripped open and Ripley was grabbed by the foot and slung to the ground. She was about to shoot the glassy looking figure on the truck when she was netted from behind. When Call was pulled from the vehicle she was shot with a low level plasma bolt that shut her off and she was thrown to the ground. Johner managed to get out and he started running, but he was shot in the leg by a spike.
Plasma bolts were fired from four different directions as the marines were taken apart by the humanoids. Battle bridges were hit by the plasma bolts from the arm cannon of a humanoid. Men were cut in half blown apart and stabbed and despite the advanced weapons of their attackers the marines kept fighting, but not for much longer. Another hour passed before all two hundred marines were killed; the humanoids suffered only minor cuts and wounds.
"No…" A man screamed out as he was stabbed in the chest by the blade from a humanoid. As vehicles exploded or burned the humanoids became visible as they gathered together. To Ripley's relief Johner was still alive; wounded, but alive and she was really relieved to see Call who was stiff as a board but at least the humanoids hadn't torn her to pieces.
Ripley was still imprisoned in the net and she was dragged into a patch of ground surrounded by five humanoids. The hunter who captured her released her from the net and as she stood up a humanoid stepped forward; the same one who had tried to kill her in the sewers. He took off his mask and then he removed his shoulder cannon and weapons belt; then he roared at Ripley. Johner was held down on his knees with a blade to his throat and he watched as the humanoid who had captured Ripley handed her a blade handle first.
The blade Ripley took was the same one she killed the humanoid with in the sewers and then was taken from her by Kernel Lock. The other humanoids stood in a semi-circle while Ripley squared off against the unmasked humanoid.
"Ripley be careful…" Johner shouted at the feet of the humanoid.
"Fine let's do this…" Ripley said.
The humanoid purred, "Let's do this…" It repeated in a gurgled voice.
They circled one another and with every circuit they came closer to one another and it began. Their blades made a distinct sound when they hit each other. Ripley was fast but the humanoid was just as fast as he slashed her on the cheek, but Ripley rolled to the ground and slashed him on the leg. When she came out of the role the humanoid kicked her in the face; when Ripley hit the ground she jumped back up to her feet from her back and jumped up into a spin kick breaking his right lower mandible on his face. As Ripley was coming down the humanoid reached out and grabbed her by the throat. Ripley dangled in his hand by her throat and slit his arm; the humanoid threw her down and she rolled and came up on her feet.
The other humanoids watched as Ripley ran at their clan brother throwing her blade. He caught the blade out of the air by the handle as Ripley slid on the ground between his legs and jumped up onto the humanoids back.
"Yeah…" Johner shouted as the humanoid struggled to throw her off.
The humanoid dropped to his back trying to crush Ripley against the ground, but she managed to raise her legs and flip the humanoid over. She tried to snap his neck, but the humanoid grabbed her and slammed her to the ground on her back. The humanoid tried to stab her, but Ripley grabbed his hand; then she kicked the humanoid in the face breaking one of his mandibles. Ripley used her legs and grabbed the humanoid's enormous head and with all her might she flipped him over and straddled his chest. Ripley jabbed her finger into his eye and the humanoid roared; then she stabbed him with his own blade. She plunged the blade into his chest then she slit his throat and the humanoid was still.
"Yeah…" Johner shouted.
Ripley stood up breathing heavy and looked at the rest of the humanoids and asked; "Who's next…"
As if in response to her question the humanoid with the half skull mask stepped forward and removed his mask. Ripley watched as the humanoid handed his face plate to another humanoid then he removed his blade from it's sheave and slid the blade across his hand. The leader as Ripley assumed he was because of the mask squeezed the blood from his hand and when a small puddle of neon like green blood was at his feet the humanoid threw his blade into the ground where the blood had pooled.
The Hunter Prince looked at Ripley purring and nodded to her so she replicated his act; then the Hunter Prince gurgled; "You killed his brother…"
Ripley looked at the Hunter Prince then at the humanoid she had killed; "I killed his brother…" She repeated, "…and this was some kind of honor duel…" The Hunter Prince nodded, "So what now…"
The Hunter Prince took his hand and used two fingers to point at his eyes then he pointed at Ripley's eyes. "Watch…" He flipped up display on his arm band and activated a hologram and projected it into the air. The hologram was of two ships in space in a heated dog fight. The first ship was a humanoid ship that fired its plasma beams and bolts on a second ship of human design, but the ship had energy based weapons.
"That's the ship Slocavitch told us about…" Johner yelled.
The humanoids looked at one another when Johner said this; the Android ship was almost as fast and maneuverable as the humanoid ship. The Android ship's one weakness is that its guns had to recharge after firing. Somehow the Android ship overcame the humanoid ship and even pulled along side and the Androids boarded the ship. The Androids shot their way on board the humanoid ship killing hunter dogs and humanoids as they bravely shot their way through to where the humanoids were keeping the xenomorph embryos.
"Cover fire… cover fire…" An android shouted, but he was blown apart by a blast from the shoulder cannon of a humanoid.
Then the same humanoid was killed by two androids using their military grade plasma riffles. They snatched five embryos, but they only got away with three as they fought their way back aboard to the android ship. As the ship made off with its stolen cargo the humanoid star ship blew up, but the android ship survived the explosion; the hologram flickered off and the Hunter Prince closed down the screen on his arm band.
"So what now…"
"You help us find them…" He gurgled a reply.
"I don't know what help I would be if any… my friend can help…" Ripley said pointing at Call…"
The Hunter Prince ordered the humanoid holding Johner to release him and heal his leg while he bent over Call and placed a device on her chest. The device shocked her and she woke up and screamed and struggled to get away from the humanoid.
"Call its okay…"
"Okay hell… do you know what it is like to be unable to move and yet conscious… it is the pits…"
"Our new friends need our help Call they have something to show you…"
The Hunter Prince showed Call the same footage he showed Ripley then Ripley took the interface cord out of Call's arm to her protestation and hooked it to the Hunter Prince's arm band. At first Call spoke in an alien language then she said made a purring sound like the humanoids and spoke; ["Scanning enhanced by one thousand percent… target acquired coordinates one hundred and fifty-nine minutes east; three degrees one hundred ninety minutes north."] When the coordinates were known Ripley, Call, and Johner accompanied the humanoids to their ship.