Despite the howling winds of the Sherji, the defenders sensed them because the enemy soldiers entered a number of other caves before they finally found the right one and so therefore had some time to prepare. The WOB infantrymen came in a single line as each succeeding soldier aimed at a different direction while venturing into the main tunnel of the cave. As soon as the first squad started making its way into the catacombs, both bodyguards on opposite ends of the side tunnels closest to the cave entrance opened up with point-blank bursts from their sub-machineguns. The first two squad-members instantly went down from a number of fatal wounds, as their armored vests were not enough to stop a barrage of explosive bullets hitting almost every part of their bodies. The succeeding soldiers quickly returned fire in every direction as they staggered clumsily backwards, their laser beams and 5.56mm slugs reverberating across the entire cave tunnel. Quickly readying their grenades, the first four soldiers threw them in a number of directions before once again resuming their advance into the tombs.

Although one of the already wounded bodyguards was instantly killed by the grenade shrapnel when they tore into his battered body, the other one was prudent enough to place his stretcher in front of his prone form and piled some rocks on top of that as additional protection; he was still alive and threw a high-explosive grenade of his own towards the entrance, just as he was gunned down by the second enemy soldier who was making his way through the main tunnel.

"Grenade!" A WOB soldier yelled as the fist-sized bomb rolled out into the mouth of the cave, right where several soldiers had lined up to follow the first squad. Everyone immediately started to scatter just as the grenade went off, followed by screams for medics to come to their aid.

At that moment, the remaining squad members that were already inside the cave entrance immediately came under fire from the adjoining tunnels. Although most of the firing was done by people who lacked training on how to aim and fire properly, the close range and the amount of laser beams and bullets were enough to maim and kill most of the squad. Men began to keel over and would either moan from their wounds or stopped breathing at all. The few survivors however, kept their cool and began to fire back as each knelt down, faced a different direction, and let loose with their own weapons.

Almost immediately, a number of defenders fell to the ground, mortally wounded from the Blakist return fire. As Mandrissa Monika Lee tried to grab onto a wounded archaeology student to try to drag her back into the safety of an adjoining cave, a laser bolt eviscerated her stomach as she fell to the dusty floor, grimacing in an almost unimaginable pain. But despite her misery, Lee kept on groping for the fallen student as she tried desperately to crawl backwards even as her world began to fade around her.

"She's dead, let her go!" Karen Udeze cried out as she grabbed onto the folds of Mandrissa Lee's dusty robes and tried to drag her away.

Lee said nothing as blood began to trickle down her mouth and her eyes began to turn white. As Karen kept dragging her away, she saw a wounded WOB soldier turn and face them as he pulled out a grenade.

"Look out!" Jessica Bradshaw said as she fired her small pistol at the enemy infantryman. The bullet smashed through the soldier's goggles and blood spurted from his face just as he threw the high-explosive grenade at them.

Karen screamed as the grenade landed just beside her. All her training as a flight attendant proved absolutely useless as she just stared at the fist-sized cylinder lying there.

"Take cover!" Jessica screamed as she threw herself on top of the grenade. A split second later, a muffled explosion could be heard as the Maskirovka operative seemed to bounce slightly up into the air in her prone position as the grenade exploded beneath her. Within seconds, a pool of blood formed underneath her body.

"Jessica!" Karen wailed as she knelt beside her fallen friend. As she turned Jessica's face towards her, she noticed that her eyes were still open as blood dripped from the slightly opened mouth. They had reaffirmed their friendship just a few hours before and now she had lost her, this time forever.

A shadow loomed over her as Karen looked up and stared back at a goggle-eyed WOB soldier standing over her kneeling form. The infantryman looked like an armored robot, as she could see no trace of humanity in it while staring at nothing but ballistic armor and molded steel.

"Why?" Karen whispered as the enemy soldier calmly aimed his laser rifle at her face and fired point-blank. It was then that she felt a burning sensation on her features, as if she dived headfirst into the surface of the sun and then felt nothing as her lifeless body tipped over onto the dusty ground.

The defenders quickly rushed the outnumbered enemy soldiers while the second squad was still reforming outside. Count Seiji Oshiwara cleaved through several Blakists with his vibrokatana as he led a headlong charge into their ranks, screaming at the top of his lungs the ancient battle cry of the Samurai. As the moans of the wounded and dying from both sides reverberated along the tunnels, Dominic Durant threw a smoke grenade that he pilfered off a dead enemy soldier towards the cave entrance to try to gain some time just as the second wave of Blakists began to enter through the tunnel.

"Fall back!" Dominic shouted as he nearly fell face down on the ground as the enemy soldiers once more started advancing even while the main tunnel began to fill with smoke. Bullets and laser bolts began ricocheting and scorching the sides of the tunnel as the remaining defenders grabbed whatever weapons they could find off the fallen first wave of the enemy while beating a hasty retreat to any adjoining tunnel nearby. Several of them got wounded as they were helped back into cover. A few returned fire in order to slow the enemy advance but everyone knew it was just a matter of time now.

"Major Durant, over here!" Baroness Mishai Singh called out to Dominic as she fired a burst of automatic fire from her hip. She had minimal training on how to use the weapon as it reverberated wildly in almost every direction. Dominic winced as a near miss zinged passed his cheek by a scant inch. A loud click from her weapon indicated that she had ran out of ammunition just as Dominic got up and ran over to the adjoining tunnel where she was.

"Christ, you nearly shot me!" Dominic said as he crouched behind the cave wall while keeping his head out so that he could see into the main tunnel. He could hear sporadic fire coming from the entrance and it seemed to get louder, indicating that the enemy was advancing deep into the tombs and would get to where they were very quickly.

"I'm sorry, Major. I do not know how to operate these things." Singh said as she tried to pull out the magazine from the assault rifle but failed.

"Here, let me." Dominic said as he took the weapon from her, ejected the magazine and put in a fresh clip into the rifle.

Despite it all, the official representative of the Federated Suns smiled even as the gunfire became louder. "You might as well keep it." She said softly.

"What about you?" Dominic said as he readied the rifle on his shoulder.

"I'll manage." Singh said as she pulled out a small knife from the folds of her dusty blouse.

At that moment, an enemy soldier ran through the smoke in the main tunnel and turned to face them. Dominic could see that the WOB trooper was already pulling the trigger just as Baroness Singh stepped out in between the two of them. She took the full burst into her upper body and collapsed just as Dominic returned fire, tearing away the trooper's lower jaw and throat. As he slung the rifle over his shoulder and got down on his knees to see if she was still alive, he noticed that she was breathing in shallow gasps as the blood began to pool on her chest.

"I'm so sorry." Dominic said as he cradled her head in his arms. He wanted to cry but no tears came out of his tired eyes.

"F-feel… cold." She whispered back to him as blood oozed from her lips.

He could see that she was terribly wounded and in horrific pain and yet a part of her clung to life and would just not let go. The seconds stretched on like an eternity as she shuddered with gasping breaths and the blood looked like buckets of black ink in the twilit recesses of the tunnel. It was then that he realized that he had to do a terrible thing.

Dominic took out an automatic pistol from his coat pocket and aimed it at her temple. "Forgive me." He said softly, hoping that she would not hear it because of the nearby gunfire and explosions.

As soon as he pulled the trigger a short spurt of black liquid hit him squarely in the face and stung his eyes. He tried to wipe it off but it only mixed with the dust that already clung to him, like a mark of Cain.

It was then he noticed that his hands were covered in her blood, a sticky and pungent liquid that just seem to cling to every part of him no matter how hard he tried to wipe it off. Dominic lowered her head back softly into the dusty ground and left her there, making a silent vow to himself that he would personally bury each and every one of them if he made it out alive. In the end, the burden would be his, and his alone.