When the gunfire, explosions and screaming were heard as soon as the first squad ventured into the cave tunnel, the other soldiers knew they had finally found the delegates. There would be more bloodshed, but the end was finally in sight.
"Second squad, get ready. No heavy weapons or grenade use anymore; we need that datadisk undamaged." Brandon St. Jamais ordered as he cocked the bolt of his 5.56mm assault rifle. Counting off his remaining troops, he could see that he had seven men with the second squad while the third had five men and two wounded soldiers from the initial battle at the cave entrance. "Third squad, stay with the wounded and prepare to advance inside as well when you get my signal."
An eerie, ear-piercing Samurai battle cry could be heard from the inside of the cave as more gunfire erupted within. It sounded like first squad had run into the main opposition.
"Second squad, follow me!" Brandon exhaled his inner tension away as he charged into the cave entrance; he was immediately followed in by a full squad of seven soldiers.
The howling, dust-strewn winds outside was instantly replaced by a twilit, smoke filled tunnel that resembled the bowels of hell as they ventured inside. Wails and moans could be heard as if they came from all directions, chilling even the most experienced WOB infantrymen to the bone. Everyone kept their weapons ready in different directions, as the cave's visibility was awfully poor, even with their nightvision goggles. One or two men tried to hug the sides of the tunnel but instantly fell back in along with the main group in the center of the corridor as they began to sense bullets ricocheting off the cave walls.
"Everyone, stay close." Brandon ordered as they advanced slowly in an almost crouching position. Almost immediately they came upon a number of wounded soldiers and defenders in the middle of a corridor. Brandon ordered the squad to set up a perimeter as the medic began to examine some of the ones still twitching. Although their armored vests and helmets protected their most vital body parts, quite a number of the wounded Blakist soldiers were hit in the vulnerable areas as their blood seeped out from severed leg arteries, eviscerated throats or they had taken shots to the face, leaving a bloody mess of flesh, bone, teeth and brain cartilage.
"Hey, look." A Blakist soldier remarked excitedly to his comrade standing beside him as he pointed his rifle over a still conscious member of the Star League delegation. The young woman was obviously wounded as a puddle of blood formed from where she was propped up on the wall, her bloody left arm hung limply by her side as she raised her right hand at the staring enemy soldier, as if to either call for help or just to meekly infer that she had given up. "This one ain't dead." The first soldier concluded.
The second WOB soldier casually went over to the wounded delegate, aimed his rifle at point-blank range and fired a short burst, cracking open the woman's skull with his 5.56mm APHE rounds, leaving only the lower jaw and a bloody imprint on the dust-colored cave wall where her head once rested at. "She's dead now." The second man said calmly as he turned around to check on the others.
Brandon knelt down beside a corpse of one of his men and examined the wounds carefully. It was apparent that some sort of slashing weapon tore right through the dead soldier's armored vest and shattered his ribcage before severing the arteries. As he looked around Brandon began to realize that there was a deadly swordsman out there. "Everyone, heads up!" He ordered.
"KIAI!" At that moment an ear-piercing scream seemingly erupted from all directions that momentarily startled everyone, allowing the assailant a few, precious seconds to close in.
As Brandon looked around, a lone figure seemed to materialize out of the smoke-filled cave tunnel and ran directly at him. The assailant was a stocky, bald-headed man in a bloody kimono and was wielding a shimmering vibrokatana in both hands. Brandon aimed his rifle just as the man swung the powered blade in a downward angle, cleaving the barrel of Brandon's assault rifle and connecting with his armored helmet, shattering it in two as Brandon fell on his back onto the cold, dusty ground. The vibrokatana only grazed his forehead but it did succeed in momentarily stunning him as he started to roll sideways, hoping to avoid a second, more lethal blow.
One of the Blakist infantrymen tried to shoot his laser rifle from his hip but missed the swordsman as the assailant then turned and slashed at him from a side angle, cutting into the soldier's left forearm as the Blakist's severed left hand fell to the floor. The wounded man fell on his knees screaming as the swordsman swung again, severing his head in one clean blow to the unprotected throat before proceeding to the next bunch of startled enemies.
The others however, were able to recover their composure as they knelt down to one knee, aimed their rifles and fired. 5.56mm bullets and laser bolts tore into the assailant but the man's indomitable force of will kept his momentum going as he slashed at them with one final effort using his one remaining arm, tearing out the throat of another soldier before a second volley nearly tore off his right arm as he finally dropped the vibrokatana. The swordsman was on his knees as small rivers of blood gushed from his innumerable wounds yet his face kept a stoic glare at his enemies as he neither uttered a moan of pain nor gestured that he was dying. One of the Blakist soldiers shouted a curse as all five of them fired their weapons until their magazines and powerpacks were empty. By then, the body of Count Seiji Oshiwara was practically torn apart.
Brandon got on his knees and shook his head as it felt like it had just exploded. The vibrokatana did not pierce the skin on his forehead but the shock of the attack was still making him dizzy. "Is everybody okay?" He said hoarsely.
He could see that the squad's medic was applying some medical attention on a seriously wounded man from the first squad while one of the other five survivors pointed to another man down. This wasn't good, Brandon thought as he keyed in his throat communicator. "Third squad, move in!" He ordered. "Repeat, third squad, move in."
Although Count Oshiwara had finally died, the surviving squad members were still milling about after the sudden, brutal attack that they didn't notice a high-explosive grenade landing near them and exploded. While their armored vests absorbed most of the damage, their arms and legs were unprotected as the flying shrapnel tore into their extremities. Two soldiers immediately went down from mortal wounds, one died instantly as the shrapnel passed through the back of his head because he had no helmet on while the second soldier's jugulars were torn open as she clutched at her throat, writhing and bleeding profusely on the desert floor as she started her death throes. The squad's medic thought he only sustained a slight shrapnel wound to his left leg until he realized with alarm that the femoral artery was indeed severed as his strength slowly started to seep away from him; he screamed for help while he fumbled with a knife, hoping to open up his own leg and clamp shut his torn artery before death could overtake him. Not knowing where the grenade came from, the two remaining WOB squad members fired their rifles in all directions, hoping to hit something.
As soon as he heard the thrown grenade's detonation, Dominic Durant immediately started running towards the enemy while cocking the bolt in his assault rifle. Dominic knew that he needed to take a chance and finish the surviving members of that attack before the next enemy wave could reinforce them. As he ran down the smoky tunnel, he had hoped that some of the others had survived; in all the confusion, he had been separated from them but he kept his hopes up that at least a few were alive anyway.
Whatever was left of Dominic's luck still held as he ran out into the main cave tunnel and saw two enemy soldiers at his right flank, half-kneeling and firing their weapons in the opposite direction. With a cry borne of desperation, Dominic fired the weapon from his hip as he advanced to within hand-to-hand combat range. His initial burst tore into the side of the first enemy soldier, hitting the Blakist on his arms and the side of his face. As the first enemy soldier slumped forward, the second one noticed what had happened and turned to face him just as Dominic squeezed the trigger of his assault rifle to spray a burst into the enemy soldier's face at point-blank range.
A loud click could be heard across the cave, as Dominic's assault rifle was now empty.
Without hesitating, Dominic threw the now empty weapon at the enemy soldier who panicked and used his own rifle to deflect the thrown weapon. Dominic kept running as he tackled the Blakist soldier and both landed in a heap on the dusty cave floor. As both men started to struggle, Dominic's hands were already free and so he was able to quickly draw a knife from his leg sheath and plunged it into the surprised soldier's throat. Once more, black oozing liquid stained Dominic's hands as he roared like a wild animal, his adrenaline rush adding to his desperate rage. As the soldier startled to gurgle and die, Dominic saw another Blakist crawling on the ground towards a rifle; with a menacing beast lurking in his heart, Dominic got up and started running towards his next adversary.
Just as Brandon recovered his senses, he immediately saw two people thrashing on the ground in front of him. As he crawled towards a laser rifle lying on the dusty floor, he saw the other man finish off one of his squad members and started running towards him. Brandon soon remembered that he still had his auto-pistol and started to draw it out from his hip holster just as the assailant closed in. Remembering his martial arts training, Brandon got on his back while trying to level the pistol as the scruffy, blood-splattered man tried to slash at him with a knife, it was then that he noticed who the assailant was.
"Durant!" Brandon St. Jamais snarled as he kicked the knife away from Dominic's hand. Within a split second he quickly aimed the pistol at Dominic's hip and fired.
But Dominic was able to twist away in time as the bullet only grazed his side. The Star League Intelligence officer was beyond pain or feelings as he jumped right on top of Brandon St. Jamais and tried grabbing the other man's pistol with both hands. The two men then began a violent struggle on the ground, twisting and grappling at each other as Brandon desperately tried to bring the pistol to bear onto the other man's side while Dominic was also doing his best to try and take the pistol away from him.
As the two men wrestled on the ground, the WOB medic finally lost consciousness as he failed to clamp his severed femoral artery in time and a pungent puddle of blood began to seep around his prostate form. Just as a quiet stillness began to permeate the cavern once more, a loud bang erupted from where the two enemy commanders had been struggling.
Brandon St. Jamais got up from the dusty cave floor as the pistol remained in his hand, staring blankly at the crimson stain on his armored vest for a few seconds. Dominic Durant rolled over on his back and moaned as he clutched at his stomach. As Brandon knelt down and started to search him, Dominic gasped and made an effort to reach for his knife on the ground, only to have his groping hand pinned to the ground by Brandon's left boot, as the Blakist commander fired another shot into his ribcage to finish him off. As Dominic's life finally began to give way he slumped back onto the ground like a dying animal, he had done his best but it just wasn't good enough.
As Brandon rummaged through the other man's pockets, he found an old trinket of an ancient idol as well as some personal pictures but still no datadisk. After patting Dominic down in case he was hiding something beneath his clothing, Brandon's determination gave way to his rage as he grabbed Dominic and pulled him up by his collar right near his own face. "Where in Blake's hell is the datadisk? DAMN YOU!"
"Long live… the… Star League." Dominic Durant's last words were a gurgle as he spat a dollop of blood at Brandon's face. Wiping the sticky crimson fluid from his cheek, Brandon pushed Dominic's body back onto the ground and fired several more shots into him.
So he wasn't carrying the datadisk, Brandon thought to himself as he stood up, livid with rage. They must have stashed it away somewhere. Perhaps somewhere in these caves or that stupid city, he thought as all the frustrations began to accumulate at the back of his mind and wouldn't let go this time. As a sense of resignation within him was going full force, Brandon opened up his throat mike. "Third squad! Where the hell are you?" He shouted in the comm. link.
A few minutes passed as Brandon realized there was no answer.
"THIRD SQUAD," Brandon was totally incensed now, he would extract a very harsh punishment on his own men for messing around with him. "ANSWER ME!"
"Sorry, there is no one to answer your call." A calm, female voice from behind almost made him drop his pistol.
"Who?" Brandon said as he began to pivot to face the person talking to him but he sensed a weapon aimed at his direction and so he kept the pistol near his stomach, hoping that whoever it was didn't notice it.
"Your third squad," Natasha Kerensky stood behind him, aiming a laser rifle at the back of his head. "Is all dead. I took care of them on my way here."
"You took them all out? Impossible." Brandon was aghast as he turned to face her while keeping the pistol behind him. There were two slightly wounded soldiers in that squad in addition to five fully armed elite shock troopers; could this woman actually be the real Black Widow reborn?
"They were looking the other way; that made it easy. Now let me see your hands." Natasha said. Brandon noticed that she wasn't looking exactly pristine either: dried blood on her mouth, dusty, torn, rumpled jumpsuit, and what looked like massive bruises on her arms and shoulders. He had a very slim chance, but he wasn't going to be taken alive.
"We have other troops down there you know," Brandon did not move as he tried to stall for time. "Surely you don't think you can get away?"
"I could always use you as a hostage," Natasha said. "Put up your hands, now!"
Brandon smiled as he started to raise his empty hands in the air. The pistol was safely tucked away in a vest pocket behind his hip; all he needed now was a distraction. "Okay, you win. But tell me, what happened to that damned datadisk anyway? I just want to know because it's that important to me."
Natasha didn't return his smile. "I have it. It was in the pocket of my ejector seat but your commandos failed to open it so I picked it up after I dealt with them."
"How intelligent of you," Brandon kept smiling. "You don't suppose we could make a bargain? Your life and freedom from this desert hellhole in exchange for the datadisk? I give you my word."
"No deal." Natasha said calmly as she readied the rifle. Brandon's smile quickly disappeared.
"Captain Kerensky! You in here?" Johnny Gundam shouted as he ran into the cave tunnel, vibroaxe at the ready. Momentarily startled by his address of her name, Natasha turned her head.
Now, Brandon thought as he reached back and pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Natasha while pulling the trigger. The pistol's shot reverberated around the cave walls.
The bullet whizzed by Natasha's ear as she pivoted back to face Brandon with uncanny speed and fired her laser rifle before he could get another shot off. The red laser bolt melted through Brandon's skull and easily cored his cerebral cortex as the temperatures inside his head went past boiling point in a matter of milliseconds. The Blakist fell on his knees and then slumped face first into the ground, his body still twitching as its neuromuscular functions began to die down. Brandon's last thoughts were of astonishment as to how somebody could be so fast.
"Wow, that was quick." Gundam quipped as he looked around. He was disappointed that he never got to use his vibroaxe.
"Captain! Good thing we found you!" Jimmy Clavell also came into the cave tunnel as he scanned the area with his dual Sternsnacht pistols on the ready. "All enemy forces have been neutralized and we are now ready for extraction."
"You're late." Natasha said brusquely without even turning around as she safetied her weapon.
"Well excuse me," Clavell answered sarcastically. "Anyone else for extraction, Captain?"
"Just me." Natasha said softly.
"Uh, Captain, we gotta tell ya," Gundam said sheepishly. "It was the Cappies that brought us here and they say that if we don't have the datadisk…"
"I have it." Natasha turned and finally faced them as she patted the inner pocket of her dusty jumpsuit. "Get everybody to the extraction point, I'll be with you shortly."
"Affirmative, Captain." Clavell said as he then turned around and headed back towards the cave lip. Gundam lingered, as if hoping to come up with a funny thing to say but after seeing all the carnage, then decided to shut up and followed Clavell to the outside.
Natasha stood around next to Dominic's body for a few long minutes before kneeling down beside him and placing the talisman of Ishtar around his neck. She then folded his arms to his sides and closed the still open eyelids. The Black Widow sighed and stroked his light brown hair until she could stand it no longer, then she got up, took out the blackened, eight-pointed Star League patch from her jumpsuit and pinned it on his dusty uniform.
As the Black Widow walked out of the cave lip and into the dying sandstorm, she didn't look back.
