"Sir, she's broken in through sub-level eighteen. Squad thirteen through twenty-six have been completely decimated!" The sound of the Space-Pirate Secondary-Commander was one of absolute terror.
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
Kraid already knew that his chances of survival were slim. He was at least twenty levels below her current location, but he could already hear the wanton destruction she was causing.
How did she get here so fast?
The green reptile put a com-mike up to his vocalizer and ordered "Send in squads 28 and A-122 to sub-level 20. Disable all elevator shafts and place two grenadiers each at lift entrances SL-21 to SL-30."
There was a slight delay in his orders when a shaky voice picked up on the other end of the communication systems. "Sir, she's hacked into the security systems, all sentry turrets have been reprogrammed to fire on Space-Pirate technology."
"Damn it all," he roared. Long, yellow claws quickly stabbed at his communication array. "Marauding Supremacy, this is the Primary-Commander, do you copy?"
A gruff voice broke through on an extremely static channel. "Sir, this is the Captain of the Marauding Supremacy, we are under heavy defensive fire from planetside. Our shield capacity is at twenty-seven percent and falling, what the hell is going on down there?"
Kraid let out another screech of irritation. "Why haven't you opened fire on the turrets yet?" he bellowed.
"Sir, the sentry turrets had targeted our weapon systems and opened fire before we could bring up the shields, we don't have…wait…" the captain's voice trailed off. "Sir, Uprising Conflict has been destroyed. We're going to pull out of sentry range and call for pick-up."
"Damn it, listen," he yelled louder for the sound of destruction was boring down on him. "If you so much as break orbit, I will personally see to it that your entrails will be pulled out through your mouth, tied to a pipeline, and have you dangle over a Xivexian dog-pit!" The gargantuan lizard was in to bad a mood to let any Pirates make their way out of this heap with their exoskeletons still attached.
"Sir, I mu-" the captain's voice vanished in a wave of static.
Yellow claws once again tooled with the communications array. He knew this was not going to turn out in any favorable way. A huge explosion from above him sent shockwaves throughout the compound. Pieces of metal banged against his scaly head, temporarily setting him off balance.
Kraid placed the mike back to his vocalizer. "Secondary Commander, I want a battle report."
"Sir, she's in sub-level thirty-five. We are sustaining massive damage, all squads have been eliminated."
"How in the hells did you lose all squads?"
"The secruity drones were activated, they caught us by surprise. Most of them have been destroyed by now."
"The squads were killed by security drones?" Kraid could barely take this all in. Security drones? This was an insult.
"Sir, the drones only took out eighteen squads. All the rest were eliminated by the Hunter," the secondary commander explained pitifully.
How is that bitch doing this? There were at least three hundred troops in this base!
"What's your troop count?" Kraid demanded.
The secondary commander answered with a shaky finality, "Sir, I have six grenadiers, and two commandos with me, we've-" another explosion rocked the compound. "Sir, she's in sub-level thirty-seven, we're now taking defensive positions."
There was a long silent pause. Perspiration was smeared all over the crocodilian monstrosity.
A voice erupted over Kraid's mike. "Open fire!"
Kraid switched off the mike. He no longer had to hear the commander's reports to know that the situation was already compromised.
The sound of ammunition fire only two levels above his head ceased.
The lizard listened with all intensity. He could hear the very subtle footsteps of the now unopposed Hunter.
He didn't try to disillusion himself with any ideas of victory. He knew she would kill him.
"Damn you Ridley," he said with as much inflection of loathing he could muster.
The grinding wheels of an elevator began to grow as it lowered itself down to his level.
The elevator settled to the ground with a loud thunk. Slowly, the shaft doors pulled apart to show the reviled bitch inside.
She looked different, this time, much more…formidable. Kraid lifted an arm and pressed a small red button in the back of his head. All his memories up to his point of death would be uploaded into the Pirate database on Xivex-8. His memories would then be transferred to a cloned body, and then he would take one hell of a thrashing from the Mother-Brain.
He didn't care though. As long as he would still get to see Ridley's head hang on a pike for this.
With heavy footsteps, the Hunter approached.
Kraid's eyes burst open and slammed back shut because of the bright floodlights focused on him.
"That was a very disappointing display of your tactical skills, Kraid," said the Mother-Brain in an irritable tone.
The lizard's head bobbed dizzily from left to right. He opened his eyes just enough to see the Mother-Brain on a communication screen. "How long?" he mumbled.
"It's only been three hours. Luckily, we have an emergency body for situations such as this." Electrical sparks danced across the spiky nodes placed in her cerebral mass. "You're the only one left from that disaster, I demand you to give me a report."
Kraid let out a growl of disgust. "It was the Hunter. She's something else now, not like before. She's going to be problem."
The single eye of the Mother-Brain flashed wide open and she said with all seriousness, "Kraid, my child, I'm afraid the Hunter is the least of our problems now."