Well, here it is. The huge fight chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
The fall of the Hunters
Rula stood and peered into the forest. He couldn't see any enemies anywhere. As far as he knew, nothing was out there. Then he saw something. A huge, dim outlined figure in the fog that had sunk into the forest. It was a familiar shape. "Lekgolo" Rula whispered.
"Lekgolo! Approaching from over here." He said quietly to the other Sanghelli. They nodded grimly and readied their weapons.
The captain Sanghelli watched the aliens approach. He had never truly recognized their size. They were huge, standing at full height. He silently counted them. 15, 16…. 20 aliens in total. All of them carried something over their claws, a gauntlet of sorts. He squinted, trying to see what they were. They were metal coverings for their own claws. Great, Armour upon Armour. Thought Rula.
"All sanghelli, firing stance. Do not fire until I say so. We are gonna catch them by surprise, take as many out when they aren't ready." Rula spoke quietly into the comm. his order was acknowledged by several lights. But as the captain returned his gaze to the Lekgolo, it was clear something was different. They were splitting up. No, organizing. He watched, fascinated. Two pairs hung back on the left and right. Another stayed to the back. But what next? Rula got his answer. The two front aliens roared a battle yell, and charged. The rest of the aliens followed, keeping their diamond formation.
"BREAK! WE'VE BEEN SPOTTED! ALL SANGHELLI BREAK FOR COVER!" Rula yelled into the comm. instantly they scattered, but two sanghelli hung back to give cover fire to the others. It was a brave, but fatal idea. The diamond formation hit them. The Lekgolo savagely tore into the relatively smaller aliens, and rula could only watch helplessly as two of his squad was killed mercilessly. Rula stood, and angrily fired at the Lekgolo on full automatic. The projectiles tore into the backs of the huge Lekgolo. A normal weapon would do little against such Armour. But Rula's weapon was no ordinary one. He was a captain, and received weapons worthy of an officer. It fired rounds much faster, and was able to use something special- fireshot. Fireshot was a projectile, with an armor-piercing tip. When it punctured armor, it released a mixture of chemicals. The hunters roared with pain as the Fireshot burned their insides. One was hit with more Fireshot than others, and it moaned and toppled over, smoldering. The hunter's partner screamed angrily, and charged. Rula's teammates were still present, however, and they set up a dangerous cross fire, which pierced the charging alien's armor over and over. By the time it fell there wasn't much of the Lekgolo to hit the ground. The rest of the Lekgolo broke up, their formation useless without the two headmen, and charged. The Sanghelli retreated, firing away. The Lekgolo quickly caught up with the fleeing aliens, and attacked in hand-to-hand combat. Rula found himself fighting for his life, toe to toe against the biggest creature he had ever come across. The Sanghelli had never seen something so big be so agile. The Lekgolo was fast, but not as fast as him. However, the giant had something that gave it an advantage over him, a weapon. This was unacceptable. As the sanghelli jumped out of the path of a clawed hand that came crashing down, he noticed something from the corner of his eye. It was a short, sharp metal pole sticking out of some wreckage. It would have to do. Rula feigned a retreat, and ran over to where his intended weapon was. The Lekgolo followed after him, growling for Rula's blood. The Sanghelli dove out of the way as an armored fist smashed down where he was a second ago. He grabbed up the makeshift spear and slammed it into the Lekgolo's midsection. It yelled in pain. The sanghelli pulled out the weapon and drove it into the alien again, this time through its neck. It gave out that soft wail that was becoming familiar to Rula, and collapsed. The sanghelli pulled out the spear, and saw it was covered in orange blood. He looked up remembering his squad. He saw two of them, laying on the ground with terrible wounds. One was missing its head; the other had a hole through its middle. Rula heard a huge crash, followed by a Sanghelli's mocking voice.
"You wish to slay me, creature? You will have to fight better than that!" Rula recognized that voice. It was Anlo, one of the few battle-hardened Sanghelli in his squad. He looked on in amazement, as the veteran was fighting three Lekgolo at once. Rula took careful aim, and threw his spear. It whistled through the air and stuck itself through one of the Lekgolo's heads. It screamed, unusually loudly for its kind, and fell over. One of the two remaining Lekgolo left Anlo, and ran over to face Rula. It charged recklessly and attempted to tackle the Captain. Rula swiftly dodged left, avoiding the attack. Must be a recruit, thought rula. What kind of moron would try a full-on charge? He picked up a rock and swung it at the Lekgolo. It bounced off the head of the alien with a sickening clang. The Lekgolo seemed to be embarrassed that such a blow had gotten through its defenses, and it rushed again with full vigor. One of the aliens flailing arms clipped Rula, and he went sprawling. The Lekgolo towered over Rula, an iron clad fist held high, ready to strike down and crush Rula's head.
"No. You. Don't." growled Rula. He reached down to his belt and grabbed his weapon. His free hand reached over…. and found another gun. Just as the Lekgolo prepared to strike, he fired with both guns into the unprotected belly of the towering alien. Such was the power of the two weapons that the Lekgolo fell over backwards, unable to make a sound because of punctured windpipes. Rula stood. He saw Anlo had defeated his enemy, as well.
"Now what?" Rula asked.
"We get out of here." Anlo.
Suddenly both of their communicators crackled to life, and the voice of a Sanghelli came on.
"All ground units, return to drop off points! Prepare for full retreat of all ground forces. Repeat, all ground units return to drop off points!"
Anlo looked up at Rula.
"Sooner than later would be best."
Chapter five will be coming!
