Chapter 14- Archangels and demons.
Someone on the ice planet was about to give up, and it wasn't Alaric, not even by a long shot. The group of initiates continued walking down the tunnel, which was now starting to be obstructed by snowy mounds, cloaked and ever vigilant against possible attackers as they followed the tracks. They had to maintain a constant vigilance since Fel'tak kept voicing his opinions on their current state.
Fel'tak had been doing nothing but griping and complaining about how he hadn't become a hunter to freeze his ass off, or to demand to know whether or not this was some sick joke that the Elders had forced upon them. He for one had intended to go in, prove himself, and go home, no questions asked. But now he was stuck on an ice ball with no conceivable way off it and no one at home had any idea that they were gone.
Alaric was a few paces ahead of the growing tensions, taking point as usual but his mask's audio enhancers kept track of the bickering.
"This sucks!" Fel'tak whined.
"Oh, shut up!" Mal'fax barked, his dreadlocks whipping about his mask as he spun his head towards Fel'tak.
"You have been saying that for the last hour!" Ly'enta said, holding her head in exasperation.
Everyone was coming close to punching Fel'tak in the face. Not only was he causing tension in the group, he was also giving away their position. And in a hostile environment that was something that invites death.
Alaric, for the most part was resisting the urge better then the other initiates. Mostly because he would knock Fel'tak out with a single punch and then drag him by the dreads the rest of the way if he kept complaining.
Alaric sighed and wiped some ice from his mask's visor.
"Fel'tak, we just keep following the tracks until we get there." Alaric instructed in a calm but annoyed tone.
Fel'tak scoffed and kicked the snow in frustration. Snow plumed through the air, causing his and his fellows cloak fields to short out and crackle.
"Keep following the tracks?" He asked as their cloak fields shifted and resumed. "These tracks are leading us to the middle of nowhere!"
Mal'fax clicked his mandibles in mock thought and holding a finger under his jaw.
"That's odd… didn't we land in the middle of nowhere?" He pondered. "And now you're arguing about us moving away from the middle of nowhere."
"Shut up!" Fel'tak barked at Kra'vyx. "I had enough of your philosophical..."
He strained to think of something to say so he looked to Alaric.
"What's a suitable word?" He asked.
"Bullshit." Alaric answered. "You should know; since you've been spewing alot of it long enough."
Fel'tak growled angrily for having falling for Alaric's little insult. Mal'fax gave off a hearty laugh at Fel'tak's expense.
Ly'enta rubbed her arms to get some warmth back into them.
"With you two constantly bickering, it's a wonder none of the oomans know we're here." Ly'enta said, flexing her chain whip.
"Or what ever killed that ma-rine." Mal'fax added before turning to Kra'vyx. "What do you think, Kra'vyx?"
Kra'vyx was silent during the trek. It was clear he was thinking about other things then just their situation. Alaric saw this and slowed down to let Kra'vyx catch up.
"What's wrong, Kra'vyx?" Alaric asked, walking up to the young Yautja.
Kra'vyx brought his cloak tighter around himself.
"How long have we been gone from Lai'kairis?" He asked. "We should have been back home by now. Mother's going to be worried and I dread to think about how Ja'anya is reacting."
Alaric gave the young Yautja a reassuring pat on the back. In a war, it was important to keep the soldier's morale up and even more so in a survival situation. Loss of morale weakened the spirit and ultimately destroyed the will to survive.
"Don't think about what happened in the past." He told him. "What's done is done. Concentrate on how to survive in the here and now. You keep thinking about getting back home to Ja'anya and Zel'tyr and we will get back."
'I made a promise to Ja'anya that we'd make it back.' He thought. 'And I don't intend to break that promise.'
"Well, it's easy for you to say. You've done this sort of thing since you were a pup."
That all too familiar memory of the incident when he was seven popped into his head but he quickly blotted it out. He didn't have time for that.
"Yes." He said, hesitantly as he looked forward. "Since I was a kid."
Alaric then stopped suddenly, his eyes fixed on the snow and causing the others to bump into each other.
"What'd you stop for!" Fel'tak asked, annoyed.
Mal'fax and Ly'enta lunged at him, grabbing him by the shoulders.
"Shut up!" They both told him.
Alaric had now knelt to the ground and bent down slightly as they relinquished Fel'tak from their grip. Something had puzzled him and from what he was seeing, it wasn't a good sign. The tracks had suddenly vanished. It was as if the walkers had vanished into thin air in mid stride.
'I don't like this.' He thought. 'It smells too much like a trap.'
Kra'vyx knelt down and looked as well.
"The tracks have vanished." He said, looking around. "Were they killed?"
"No, but I think we're about to find out." Alaric said.
That was when the hunters suddenly became the hunted.
A loud crack and a surge of stunning power erupted around them, surprising them as a massive lightning storm. Massive arcs of lightning tore around them as their cloak fields shorted out and died in whining fizzing. Their masks also shut down, casting the darkness upon them. They crashed into each other as they tried to consolidate their position. Fel'tak tripped over Alaric and faceplanted into the snow.
'EMP mines!' Alaric calculated as he stood up. 'It's an ambush.'
That was when the snow around them erupted into clouds as several things emerged from their icy tombs. Weapons could be heard cocking and beams of light illuminated them.
Human weapons.
The initiates found that, after their masks surged back into life, they were surrounded by six marines in full arctic gear covering their bodies and lower face concealing balaclavas under their helmets and wrapped in arctic camouflage cloaks. Each one had a myriad of scavenged and improvised equipment holstered on their bodies. The most prevalent were high powered bolt-guns used for punching anchor points into cliff faces and mining charges. Another odd thing that was strange for a marine was that each of them had what looked like a sword of a different style strapped to their backs with the hilts pointing out of a hole in their cloaks.
The initiates drew their weapons defensively. Ready to fight their way out if they had to. It had come to stand off as both sides waited to see who would strike first. Alaric could recognize from the marines' combat stance, crouching slightly and aiming down the sights of their bullpup style pulse rifles that these were the Spec Ops marines that the tracks had indicated. And the cloaks were thermal insulating stealth cloaks, like the one he hid in when he was a child.
The marines been waiting for them for some time and they had walked right into their cunningly laid trap.
Both sides stood there, waiting for the other to launch the first blow. No one dared make a move or even a sound.
The initiates at this point realized that the marines had not fired their weapons at all. If they did, they would've been dead before the EMP storm dissipated.
"Why aren't they shooting?" Whispered Kra'vyx gripping his kataras tightly.
"I don't know." Mal'fax answered, hefting his hammer. "Don't they normally shoot our people on sight?"
Fel'tak raised his stave and that provoked the marine facing him to aim for his head.
"I think that 'Company' wants us alive." He whispered. "I'd rather die then submit."
Then the marines, after the surge of springing the trap passed, spoke and it wasn't in the way that would be expected for those in the employ of Weyland-Yutani.
"Predators?" One of the marines, a woman and French from the accent said, slightly lowering her pulse rifle.
Annoyed groans and mutters came from the squad. The Yautja were one thing that a marine didn't want to face. Especially if there was a xenomorph infestation for obvious reasons.
"As if things weren't bad enough already!" A second cursed in a Scandinavian accent. "Now we got these skull-hunters skulking around!"
"Well, at least they're not one of Them." Another marine added in a thick Russian accent, brandishing an anti-material sniper rifle's long barrel at each initiates head. "Still, they might decide to hack our heads off first chance they get."
"They try that and I'll introduce them to Reckoning." A marine added, American and brandishing an intimidating looking pistol-grip smartgun, like a futuristic MG42 at Mal'fax.
"Wait a second." A marine, a captain with a polish accent said. "Look at the way they're dressed."
The marines followed their captains order. From what the marines could see under the improvised cloaks, the Yautja had no where near the protection needed on this arctic world. And they weren't armed like those of the Predators that had been encountered in earlier times. They didn't even have those plasma casters on their shoulder. All they had were the melee weapons they could see. However, the short one seemed to be the only one who had gotten the protection right.
"These are rookies, Unbloods I think they're called." The Captain said. "They don't even have plasma cannons on their shoulders."
"It's not their plasma guns I'm worried about." The Scandinavian marine pointed out, looking at Ly'enta's chain whip. "That whip thing will fuck us over big time."
"Then we'd better resolve this quickly." The captain said.
The Captain then stepped forward. He still had his pulse rifle aimed at them. His eyes behind the visor examined each of them in turn. First with the larger Mal'fax and then with Kra'vyx, Fel'tak and Ly'enta. And with some question at Alaric.
It seemed the marines thought that Alaric was an abnormally short Yautja. And nothing was showing to make them think otherwise. His axes were still holstered and out of sight under his cloak. As were his bare shoulders and arms. His banded hair had so much ice encrusted into it that the marines were none the wiser that they weren't Yautja dreadlocks.
The captain took a breath.
"Predators." The Captain addressed them, trying to make himself understood. "We don't know your reason for being here but we are not in the mood for one of your hunts, nor for any of your manhood tests. There's enough crazy shit going around as it is without you lot in the equation. If you try to kill any of us, then you'll be the ones to lose your heads. You have been warned."
The marines, to Kra'vyx's and the others confusion, lowered their weapons in a non-threatening manner. Alaric nodded to the others to do the same, which they did reluctantly. The marines then started brushing off what snow was on them.
It was here that some identifying marks were noticed on their snow encrusted helmets. They each had a name or more accurately, a title stenciled on the side and a symbol that accompanied it. The polish captain had 'Guardian' with a shield. The French marine had 'Apothecary' along with a medic's cross. The American had 'Scribe' and a quill pen. The Scandinavian had 'messenger' and a winged scroll. The Russian had 'Guide' and a compass. And the last marine had 'Justice' along with a pair of scales
"They seem oddly cooperative." The Russian said, cleaning his rifle's scope.
"That small predator seems to be their leader, Sergei" The marine spoke a Japanese accent pointed out, pointing at Alaric with his cloak slipping. "No doubt a veteran."
Alaric then saw a familiar symbol on the marine's left hand pauldron. A pair of angelic wings surrounding a sun with a shining crown hovering above it.
A flash of memory surged into his mind and he recognized the emblem. In fact, he used to wear it not long ago.
"Archangels?" Alaric said in English.
The marines were taken back when they heard a human voice coming from the hunters. A voice they had not heard in a long time. Several of them had slightly lowered their weapons.
"That voice?" The captain said. "It's familiar."
"It's Reaper's." The French medic confirmed. "Alaric's."
The marine gunner aimed his weapon at Alaric and cocked it.
"What did you bastards do with Reaper?" He demanded. "Did you finish him off days after slaughtering his wife and son?"
Alaric slowly reached up to his mask and pulled on the tubes connecting it. Air hissed out in jets of gaseous cloud.
Alaric removed his mask and the marines went wide eyed behind their visors. The gunner's smartgun slipped out of his grasp from the sight, burying its barrel into the snow. In front of them, in Yautja armor and his axes holstered was their former comrade, Alaric. And he was with the three predator hunters. The marines surrounding them were dumbfounded that one of their own had somehow joined the Yautja. Especially one with such a turbulent past regarding that particular race.
"Lieutenant?" One of the marines said in disbelief.
"It can't be." Another said.
"I think I need to sit down." The gunner said, letting himself go thud onto his butt on the ground.
Alaric pulled a slight if somewhat hesitant smile.
"Greetings, Archangels." He greeted before turning to the captain. "Captain Andrzej Kowbaski."
The captain snapped out of his stupor, followed by the marines.
"Alaric, what the hell are you doing here with those hunters!" The Captain demanded. "Where have you been all this time!"
Alaric sighed as he rubbed his eyes.
"It's a long story." He said, lowering his hand, "I have still trouble believing it. Besides, what are you and Weyland-Yutani doing on this planet?"
"Answer the question, lieutenant." Andrzej ordered, pulling rank.
Alaric started to remove ice from his hair as he explained.
"Floria VII, hunting down any Yautja that got in my way."
"Yaught-ja?" One of the marines said in confusion.
"Yaut-ja. That's their race's name." Alaric pointed out, gesturing to Kra'vyx and the others.
Andrzej then nodded as he understood the answer.
"Ah, I remember now." Andrezj said, holding a finger up. "The day you went missing was when you recovered from that attack. You were never one to let anything like that go unpunished."
Alaric lowered his hand from his hair.
"The way you said that, you thought I should be dead." He queried.
The sniper then spoke up.
"The official story was that you died shortly after your family, but we didn't believe it for a second." He told Alaric.
"That's not the first time I got that treatment, Sergei." Alaric shrugged. "You know that."
Kra'vyx then tapped Alaric on the shoulder, getting his attention.
"You know these ma-rines, Alaric?" He asked in Yautja
"My old squad." Alaric answered back in the same tongue.
The Archangels were really surprised when they saw that Alaric was able to speak the language. Sergei pulled his helmet off, revealing long black hair and started cleaning out his ears with an armored finger. Like he had trouble believing what he had just heard.
"He's speaks their language." He said pulling down his balaclava and scratching coarse stubble before slipping it back on followed by his helmet. "Impressive.".
"Actually, I'm still learning." Alaric answered back. "Took me ages to learn the most basic phrases."
"Well, you now know more then all of us put together." The Norwegian remarked before tilting his head to the gunner who was still on his butt. "You're putting Hicks to shame."
The gunner heaved himself up, brushing snow off him.
"That's fine talk coming from a former dyslexic." Hicks countered.
The Norwegian merely grunted in mock humor.
Alaric hooked his mask onto his belt.
"Well, since we're going to be stuck here for a while, we should introduce each other." Alaric said. "Break the ice in a manner of speaking."
Alaric turned to Kra'vyx and the others then gestured to each archangel as they were removing their helmets and lowering their masks.
"Guys, these are the Archangels, the most bad-ass marines in the corps." He introduced in Yautja. "Captain Andrzej Kowbaski 'Guardian'. Lieutenant Sarah Dubois 'Apothecary. Lieutenant Sven Karlson 'Messenger'. Sergeant Major Sergei Zaitsev 'Guide', Gunnery Sergeant Jason Hicks 'Scribe' and Master Sergeant Mac Kyonaki 'Justice'."
The initiates got their first real look at a marines' face, aside from Alaric.
Andzrej Kowbaski had a veteran's weathered face, a jagged scar running from his left cheek to his chin, cutting through a short black, graying beard. He also had penetrating green eyes, like he could see right through you.
Sarah Dubois had symmetrical and lithe features with hazel eyes and her blond hair tied back in a short ponytail.
Sven Karlson had a Nordic face, reminiscent of the Vikings of old. He also had a fiery red bushy beard that seemed to have a life of its own and his blue eyes stood out of the hairy forest.
Sergei Zaitsev was a proper tracker, with his long hair and stubble to add. His aqua eyes were also sharp and calculating, constantly looking for a weakness to exploit.
Jason Hicks was evidently the youngest of the squad though not by much. His short cut dark hair that stood out on his head. Behind his hazel eyes was a wise and calm, but sharp intelligence.
Mac Kyonaki sharp features were like a hawk's, complete with dark green eyes. He also had an intricate network of tattoos under his eyes.
Another thing about each of the Archangels was that on each of their right hand pauldrons they each had a different symbol. Andzrej had what was a parachute with a winged sword vertically in the middle of it and a number one on the bottom surrounded by oak leaves.
Dubrois had what visually looked like a very stylized fleur-de-lis with seven flame-like petals and an orb at its base.
Sven's was a winged dagger, similar to Alaric's SAS symbol but with the dagger's blade pointing upwards and the wings more triangular.
Sergei's emblem was a direct one and it showed a fist clenched around an AK47 assault rifle on a star base.
Hicks' emblem was a simple one, a dagger on an arrowhead base with the words 'Airborne' on top.
And Mac's was also simple, a winged parachute with Japan's national flag above it.
These emblems showed that the Archangels were made up of international members from each of Earth's nations special forces units. And the Archangels answered directly to United Earth Forces' high command.
After allowing the initiates to get a good look at his fellow humans, Alaric then introduced the Archangels to the initiates.
"This is Kra'vyx, Fel'tak, Mal'fax, and Ly'enta." He introduced in English before turning to the initiates. "Come on, show them your faces."
They were hesitant in releasing their masks until Alaric told them that this was an issue of trust, something that would be necessary. Kra'vyx was the first to remove his mask and Mal'fax followed. Fel'tak removed his after mumbling something indistinguishable and Ly'enta cautiously removed hers.
The archangels moved closer to view each initiate more clearly. They considered themselves lucky to see a Yautja this close and not lose their heads. It was even new to them when they saw that Ly'enta was female. Dubois, being of the medical profession, was more then intrigued.
"This is a female?" Dubrois questioned, examining the huntress closer. "Fascinating."
"Amazon compared to us, don't you think?" Sven said, comparing her height with Ly'enta's.
Sergei moved past them as he looked down the tunnel, kneeling and aiming his rifle down his scope. He was keeping a lookout for any trouble heading their way. Hicks came up to him, rapidly typing something into a datapad with his smartgun holstered on his back.
"You getting this down, Scribe?" Sergei asked, sweeping his rifle from left to right down the tunnel.
"This is our first non hostile encounter with predators, of course I'm writing it down." Hicks said.
"Well, get it down quick. I don't know how safe we are in this tunnel."
Andrzej was busy issuing orders to his fellow squad mates that he didn't notice that Kra'vyx was looking intently at the sword hilt on his back. Kra'vyx reached out inquisitively, attracted by the crescent shaped cross guard and the gothic decoration on it. The circular pommel had a shield emblem, the same as his helmet's, embossed on both sides. Written on the cross guard was the name Szczerbiec.
Alaric noticed that Kra'vyx was reaching out a hand to take a closer look and Alaric stepped forward, pushing the Yautja's hand away. Andrzej saw this and his gripped his sword's hilt possessively.
"Hands off the sword." The Pole told the initiate.
"Don't worry about Kra'vyx." Alaric said to his captain. "He's just curious."
Alaric then led Kra'vyx away as his fellow initiates watched.
"Kra'vyx, you'll see their swords in due time." Alaric told him firmly. "Don't do anything that will anger them."
Fel'tak snickered at Alaric scolding Kra'vyx and he was answered by a slap over the head from Mal'fax. Fel'tak growled at the larger initiate and Ly'enta watched them bicker among themselves while crossing her arms.
The Archangels watched the two initiates arguing with each other and the argument was over when Alaric stepped in and cracked his knuckles. They immediately stopped arguing.
"Yep! Looks like Reaper definitely went berserk on them at least once!" Mac said, slipping his balaclava on. "Why else would they back off?" He added with a snicker.
Hicks came walking up to them, holstering his datapad.
"Captain, I hate to whine or anything." Hicks hinted as he drew his smartgun. "But we should be getting back to base before They show up." He checked at his HUD's time display. "It's already this planet's night cycle and we know they're most active at night."
Zaitsev stood back up and followed up behind.
"I agree." He added. "This tunnel wouldn't slow them down enough for us to have a chance."
"Very well, we'll discuss this situation back at the colony." Andrzej said before turning to Alaric. "Alaric, there is much to tell you about this planet."
The Archangels led the way back to their base. The initiates followed them, but were constantly kept under marines' watchful eyes. Not that you could blame them due to the two races' turbulent past.
Sergei was on point sweeping his sniper rifle around each bend and turn. Hicks had taken the rear, his smartgun poised ready to blast anything that comes at them.
The other Archangels were mixed in between with the initiates who had put their masks back one. Alaric was busy listening to Andrzej about what had been going on the past year while Fel'tak was still bickering with Mal'fax with Mac and Sven watching them. Ly'enta walked along while Dubois was busy examining her and taking notes down in her medical journal. Kra'vyx just walked along although he did try to get a look at the other Archangel swords, all which were met by a quick hand on the hilt to discourage him.
Hick was mumbling to himself at the back.
"Blasted Company." Hicks said, his disgust evident. "With the amount of death's occurring whenever they're get hold of some Bug eggs, I'm surprised they hadn't been taken down."
"Like it or not, Weyland-Yutani is here to stay." Mac said, having overheard his comrades rant. "They're too well connected, otherwise."
Mal'fax tapped Alaric on the shoulder to get his attention. Alaric turned his head.
"Your friend seems to have a grudge against the 'Company'." He pointed out. "Something personal?"
"Yeah, with good reason." Alaric said. "His uncle served in the marines and he was part of the ill fated Hadley's Hope incident on LV-426. Official report is he's MIA but we severely doubt that."
He turned to Hicks.
"Your uncle was counted as missing right?" He asked.
"Missing? The company had him killed off more like." Hicks stated.
"That's true." Sven said, scratching his beard. "If the company gets wind of something that interests them, they'll dispose anyone to get it."
The group reached another small cave with multiple tunnels leading out of it.
"The colony is down this tunnel." Andrzej pointed, signaling the others to follow him.
Through the tunnel, they passed several mounds in the snow, each roughly ten to twelve inches in diameter. The mounds were all situated at fifty meter positions.
"These what I think they are?" Alaric said, gesturing to the mounds.
"Motion trackers." Andrzej said. "So we can track the bastards before they come barging in."
He then held a hand to the side of his helmet.
"Colony, this is Captain Kowbaski. We are at the edge of the motion tracker grid." He voxxed.
"Roger that." A voice responded. "We're picking up five more signals. What are they?"
"Some friends we found in the tunnels. You'll see who when we arrive."
"Copy that."
Kra'vyx turned to Alaric.
"What was the lead ooman doing?" He asked in Yautja.
"Just making sure you lot are not walking into a trap." Alaric answered in the same tongue before turning to Andrzej. "Just informed them it's not a trap." He said in English.
Andrzej nodded just as Hick's said something quite profound.
"The first stage in avoiding a trap is to know of its existence." Hicks quoted. "So said Thufir Hawat to the Ducal Heir."
The Archangels turned to the gunner. Alaric chuckled. This wasn't the first time that Hicks said something profound out of the blue. Hicks' articulate and factual wordings at random intervals, not to mention his knack of recording information, stemmed from a rare mental condition in which he had both great academic skills and perfect, if cryptic, memory recollection of trivial facts. In fact, he was often jokingly compared to an elephant because an elephant never forgets.
"That's from Dune, right?" Sven asked,
"Behold the infinite tact of The Messenger." Mac said.
"Noise discipline." Andrzej ordered.
The archangels immediately complied with their captain's orders.
The mixed group eventually arrived back at the colony within the hour. Or what was left of it. All of the buildings and surrounding rock and ice had damage of varying degrees. There were jagged tears, holes from explosives and weapons fire and melted areas from acid sprays. In fact, most if not all the buildings were now frozen uninhabited piles of rubble and metal supports useful only as cover in a fire fight. The only place which seemed the most fortified or least damaged was the command center. And that was heavily reinforced with improvised armor.
There was also a grizzly decoration for this rag tag colony and that was the splashed arcs of red that were scattered around the colony. Blood that had frozen on the metal habs and ice walls after many unfortunate souls met their end.
There was slogan painted on the command center saying "Mining Colony LV-303 Solomon's mines."
There were a handful of people moving about, shifting supplies, repairing damaged barricades, or just skulking around. There were other people moving around inside the ruined hab units. There were mostly civilians; miners, their families, colony personnel, and the like with a scattering of marines. They numbered, outside, about three dozen standing and a few wounded were on makeshift stretchers and hooked up to med-units. And there was a long line of body bags, several dozen in number, of various sizes containing the dead, or what was left of them.
The colonists' reaction when they saw the Yautja initiates was less then friendly as evidenced when they scurried away with a few yelps of fear, grabbing their children or friends and pulling them into hiding places. The marines around aimed their weapons at the Yautja but Andrzej raised his hand out.
"Weapons down!" He ordered. "These predators are not the enemy."
The marines were hesitant in lowering their weapons, giving off a few objections with an explicative or two to add. And one among them chose to voice his opinion.
"Fuck that!" A marine with a shotgun shouted, walking up. "Anything not human is an enemy."
"Stand down, private." Andrzej commanded.
The marine looked at the captain and then to Alaric in hunter armor. He then walked up right up to Alaric, invading the Slayer's personal space. The marine looked at Alaric up and down.
"I didn't think predators adopted humans" He said sneeringly. "How many of us did you behead, traitor?"
He then gave Alaric a hard shove and Alaric simply drew one of his hand axes and flourished it under the marines chin, like he was toying with the idea of decapitation. The marine wasn't so angry, now that he had a razor sharp implement firmly pressed under his chin.
"If you keep pushing me, you'll be the first to find out." He warned and just as quickly withdrew his axe.
"You don't want to piss off the Archangel of Death." Hicks warned. "He eats Bugs for lunch."
The marine eyed everyone and gave Alaric a venomous glare.
"Just you wait, you'll see I'm right." He warned.
The marine then promptly left them, his dignity wounded, as the other marines lowered their weapons and resumed whatever they were doing.
"Sorry about the icy reception, but you understand our predicament." Andrzej apologized.
"None taken." Alaric said.
Kra'vyx tapped Alaric on the shoulder as the Archangels dispersed, holstering their weapons. Alaric looked up to the young hunter as Andrzej watched.
"If that happened back home, that ooman would have been beaten severely." He said. "Why didn't demonstrate your status?"
"He's not worth it." Alaric told him. "Besides, what's out there is a more pressing concern."
"If he did that to me, he would be decorating the floor with his intestines." Fel'tak mused.
That was when he noticed something inviting. A large oil drum that was being used as a fire pit by a miner. The roaring flames were like a miraculous gift from heaven to the half frozen Yautja. The others took note of it and paced over to the flames. The miner instantly scampered away with a few yelps to give them room as they eagerly gathered around the fire.
"Don't like cold weather, do they?" Sven guessed.
A miner and a marine came walking up. The miner was Hispanic, possibly Chilean. He was in full mining gear that was all scraped and smudged from wear. He was holding an ice pick in his hand and had a nail gun slung on his shoulder. The marine was equally banged up with a bandage wrapped around the left side of his bald and scarred face. He was carrying a flamer slung on his right arm and his left arm heavily bandaged. It was evident that he was subjected to burns from acid or fire.
"Welcome back, Archangels." The marine said before seeing Alaric in hunter armor. "Who's this?"
"Alaric, this is foreman Hernandez, head miner, and ranking leader of the civilians." Andrzej introduced before indicating to the marine "And sergeant Kelso, highest ranking officer of the marines."
Kelso looked at Alaric, seeing him in Yautja armor was a first for the veteran marine.
"So, you're the Alaric they told me about." He said before looking at the axe holstered on his hips and back. "Nice close quarters gear you got."
He then looked at the initiates huddled over by the fire barrel and his reaction was more neutral then his subordinates.
"Well, I can't say I'm happy with the thought of predators being here." Kelso said. "But any help is better then none."
"Nothing about this planet is right." Henanderz added. "I think the Company had an ulterior motive for this colony."
"What is going around here?"
"Come, you'll wanna get comfortable for this."
Alaric was led to a large vehicle shed that was being used as an improvised mess hall. Lines of chairs had been placed around lake makeshift stables made from sheet metal and tires. A miner was behind the rickety cooking unit, which had several pots balanced precariously on the heat plates. There was also two large kettles resting on open flames, and the recognizable smell of coffee was wafting from one and other had a meatier, salty smell to it.
"I figured you would have some of that brewing." Alaric smirked.
"Would have? This is the only thing keeping us through this." Andrzej said, grabbing two mugs.
He handed one to Alaric before he took one of the kettles and poured the hot drink into the mug. He then filled his up and put the kettle back on its stand. Kelso and Hernandez pulled up some chairs and sat down with their weapons on their laps.
"Get that down you." Andrzej said before taking a big draft from his mug.
Alaric did the same. It was nice the way the thick soupy drink slipped down his throat, warming him from the inside.
The drink, nicknamed Spartan's Blood, was essentially just powdered meat with stimulants and energy supplements added to it. It was cheap, easy to make and effective in the field and soldiers swore by it as the only thing that would keep them going, even in a god forsaken place like this planet.
"Now that you're comfortable, we should get started." Kelso said.
"Start from the beginning." Alaric said, sitting down on a nearby chair. "What is this colony anyway?"
"Mining colony, extracting ore for starship construction." Hernandez told him "Despite this planet being a remote ice ball, it has bountiful resources."
"Though beneath the exterior was a little nasty secret." Kelso said.
"If this place was remote, far from any space lanes, how did the company know about it?"
"Actually, Mining Division found out about this place from an anonymous tip off. Probably from some independent prospector group." Hernandez answered. "Planetary scans showed that no life, human or alien, was around so the company chose to stake the planet."
"Seemed fine until that signal appeared.
"And when was that?" Alaric asked.
"Well, two weeks ago the colony picked up a heat source several miles south of our location, deep below the surface." Hernandez said, pulling out a data pad and projected a three-dimensional display of the heat source. "Upon examination of the thermal pattern, it was identified as a predator temple and that only meant one thing, Bugs, and lots of them."
He was right. The heat source was indeed a Yautja temple complex and it was massive. It made all the other documented temples look like small hovels in comparison. This one was easily over ten times as large.
Alaric turned his head. He saw that the initiates were still congregating around the fire barrel and the humans were giving them wide berth.
"Kra'vyx, get over here." Alaric called in Yautja, catching Kelso and Hernandez off guard with his sudden change in language.
Kra'vyx came walking over, making the foreman shrink back slightly in caution. Andrzej took a sip from his mug as Alaric took the data pad from the head miner and showed the display to the Yautja.
"Do you recognize the layout?" Alaric asked.
Kra'vyx took the data pad carefully, trying not to crush it in his grip and he examined the display. He flipped it upside down in confusion before calling the others. His friends arrived, he showed them the image, and they debated over what the layout was in hushed voices.
Hicks came walking up and seeing the initiates discuss among themselves, started recording on his data-pad. Evidently, he wanted to get some of the language recorded for translation.
"Do any of you know it?" Alaric asked.
They shook their heads.
"We have never even seen a layout of this kind before." Mal'fax answered. "But we do know that it is not an initiation temple."
"Well, at least that's one thing that's useful to know." Alaric said.
Alaric then saw that Kra'vyx was looking at the hot food, cocking his head. His stomach then gave a loud grumble.
"I think your friend is hungry." Kelso said, smirking.
Alaric cocked his head to the pots, telling the initiates to help themselves since they hadn't had anything to eat for a long time.
"Go help yourselves." He told them. "Can't have you lot weak from hunger before you prove yourselves."
The young Yautja followed his advice with enthusiasm and they all moved over to the pots and went about their business while the miner behind the cooker scampered away from them, keeping his head down.
Alaric turned back to the foreman who was slack jawed from hearing Alaric speak the Yautja language. Kelso had only raised an eyebrow at this linguistic feat before noticing the slack jawed miner.
"Ahem." Kelso said, giving the miner a smack over the head. "Eyes front."
Hernandez snapped out of his stupor, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, what did they say?" He asked as he was handed back the pad.
"Not much." Alaric answered slowly to make sure everyone was listening. "Only that it is not an initiation temple."
Andrzej scratched his beard in thought.
"If it is not one of their initiation temples, then what is it?" He pondered.
"Might possibly be a prison?" Hicks said, looking at the layout. "It looks like one. Look how thick the walls are and the amount of chambers."
"What happened after you discovered the temple?"
"Well, the Administrator sent some of my boys to seal that temple up, to at least stall them long enough to send a distress call." Hernandez told him. "However, they just vanished into thin air."
"Vanished?" Alaric asked.
"Just that. No comm signal, no PDTs, nothing. They just vanished."
"Some of us marines, those with demolition experience, were then sent to find them and finish the job." Kelso explained. "Out of the seven sent out, only one returned, or at least most of him."
"Dead?"
Kelso nodded and led them to the row of body bags and unzipped one. Inside was the eviscerated remains of the marine he was talking about. His entire right arm was severed at the shoulder, his legs fractured in multiple places and his torso partially shredded open, revealing his still intact lungs and heart.
"Damn." Alaric said in disgust.
"My words exactly, Alaric." Andrzej added.
"How he managed to survive that long and drag himself back here with only one arm was beyond us." Kelso said, zipping up the bag. "But when he reached us, he finally gave up the ghost as we got to him. However we did manage to salvage some frames from helmet-cam footage."
He pulled out a small hand held PDA and pressed a button. An image flickered onto screen.
"This was the clearest we could recover but it gave us some idea of what the enemy is."
It took a moment for Alaric to focus on the fuzzy image. He took the PDA and examined it closely. All he could make out was an outline but the outline definitely resembled that of a xenomorph. The distinctive curved head was a dead giveaway. Alaric showed it to the initiates and from their more enthusiastic reactions, that confirmed that it was indeed xenomorphs.
"That settles it." Alaric said. "These 'things' are some offshoot of the Bugs."
"Offshoot?" Kelso said, taking back the PDA. "That's stretching it, isn't it?"
Alaric walked back to the marine.
"What happened next?"
"When night fell, the attacks started." Hernandez said, rubbing his forehead as he remembered. "First it was just a couple of quick strikes in the outlying mine tunnels, nabbing miners and marines on the late shift, but then they started coming right for the colony itself. We been holding them off as best as we could but every time they take more of us away and killing any who resisted. The Administrator and other command staff was taken on the first night and we had sent out distress calls for any earth forces ship to come."
That was when Andrzej stepped in.
"Four days ago, we received the distress call. The message was badly corrupted, weather being the culprit, but we managed to make out keywords. 'Predator temple' and 'Xenomorphs'. So we were prepped up and sent to deal with the infestation."
"But it wasn't that simple, was it?" Alaric said, gesturing to the body bags.
Andrzej shook his head.
"Suffice to say, we were completely unprepared for what befell this colony." He told Alaric.
"The things we found looked like Bugs but they were completely different to what we ever documented or encountered. For one thing, their carapace is a lot stronger. Our weapons' fire just bounces off them and even our grenades barely so much as wind them."
"They're impervious to weapons fire?" Alaric asked.
"Unless you can get them at the joints, yes they are." Andrzej said. "Which is hard enough with the way they move."
"However, our mining equipment works quite well against them." Hernandez said, patting the bolt-gun he was holding proudly. "These babies were designed to punch through rock faces and they can punch through those things, no questions asked."
And it was at that moment that miner would have to back up those words. Because They are coming.
A loud roaring screech was heard echoing down the tunnel. The marines all around reacted immediately by raising their weapons, aiming down the tunnel. The motion tracker's forward sensors then started to give out the eerie foreshadowing bleeps as the civilians gasped and scrambled to the safety of the command center and barricades.
"Svoloch', here they come!" Sergei cursed, pointing down the tunnel.
"With the amount of people they took last time I'd thought they'd lay off us for a bit." Kelso said, bring his flamer up.
Andrzej took one last swig from his mug and placed it on the table before getting up.
"Defensive positions!" Andrzej yelled, cocking his pulse rifle. "Get tactical, Archangels!"
The Archangels sprinted into cover, slamming into defensive positions. Marines and some miners picked up their weapons and got into supporting positions. Hicks braced his smartgun and cocked it while Sergei rested his sniper rifle on a crate and looked down his scope.
"Guys, this is your chance to prove yourselves." Alaric told the initiates, fixing his mask on. "Draw your weapons and get ready."
Alaric drew his great axe and hefted it in one hand as the others did the same.
"Alaric, we don't have any ranged weapons." Mal'fax told him, drawing his hammer.
Alaric merely pressed a button on his wristcomp and to the initiates surprise, two plasma-casters extended from his back and locking into position over his shoulders. Unlike the single barreled version that most Yautja used, Alaric's were more human-like as they had six smaller barrels in a circular arrangement like a minigun. Alaric let the barrels whir around for a moment, warming them up and getting rid of any ice that built up on them.
"These were for the initiation hunt." Alaric told them. "I wasn't supposed to use them until you got yours, but then things changed haven't they?"
Kra'vyx drew his kataras and Fel'tak extended his stave. Ly'enta flexed her whips and gave them a flourish. Sven, who was standing right next to her dodged the mono-edged blades and cursed at her in Norwegian before aiming down the tunnel again.
"Alaric." Andrzej called.
Alaric turned to the captain and saw him throw something in his direction. It was a sidearm holster with magnetic locks for attaching to body armor. Alaric caught it with his free hand and saw the pistol grip sticking out. He saw a single word carved into the grip.
Razeal.
'I'll be damned.' He thought with a grin as he dropped his axe and quickly drew the pistol.
It was his desert eagle, Razeal's desert eagle. And it was still in top condition, just as he left it nearly two years ago. In fact, the magazine loaded in was still full.
Alaric attached the holster to his chest and picked up his axe.
"Bastards are coming into lamp range." Sergei voxxed to his squadmates.
Alaric and the initiates caught their first glimpse of the enemy and it was not what they thought was possible for an already deadly species.
They did resemble xenomorphs but that was where the similarity ended. These ones looked like xenomorphs from the deepest depths of hell. Gone were the skinny lithe bugs, these ones were more broad, hardened and they had the thick chitinous carapace to prove it. Their claws were large and razor sharp like scythes and while their tails were long, segmented and tipped with a wicked barb. Their heads shield like crest was somewhat like a praetorians but not as wide.
Everything about them seemed to be like these xenomorphs were more evolved or possibly more primitive.
"Two hundred meters." Sergei said, cocking his rifle.
Everyone cocked their weapons and got into firing positions. Sergei pulled the bolt back on his rifle, sliding a shell into the breech before closing the bolt. Hicks locked his smartgun's bipod into position and braced it on a crate before aiming down its holographic sights.
"Steady." Andrzej commanded.
The xenomorphs were charging ever closer, and by now they were vaulting the walls and ceiling.
"Fire!" Andrzej shouted.
Every marine and miner let loose with their weapons, filling the dark tunnels with orange strobing lights. Alaric fired his plasma casters, adding a blizzard of blue bolts to the volley. The barrage of fire impacted the alien, sparks erupting from their armored forms. And Andrzej's description was right.
The bullets and plasma bolts were ricocheting of their carapace, causing little or no damage to their bodies. The bolt-guns on the other hand were punching deep into their armor, causing large cracks to erupts before their acidic blood melted through the bolts. But extreme acupuncture was doing nothing to deter the stampeding xenos
"See, bullets bounce of them!" Hicks shouted over the gunfire.
Sergei's rifle gave a loud bang as he fired an AP round at the xenomorph taking point. He had aimed true as the round penetrated the Bug's neck at the base, causing its head to partially peel off it's body and it rolled into the snow with momentum enough to cover several meters, it's brood members fluidly evading its body.
"Adeen." Sergei counted in Russian, dropping another xenomorph by blowing its right leg off at the knee. "Dva."
Even though it was missing a limb, the xeno was still intent on gutting the closest human near it. It got back up, using its tail as a simple and effective spring, leaping far into the air and roaring loudly from its gaping maw. Sergei responded by firing dead center into its mouth and the back of its head exploded. It then rolled into a twitching heap as Sergei switched magazines.
Any archangel that ran out of ammo for their pulse rifle didn't waste the time to bother reloading. They just reached for the bolt-guns that were holstered on them and let loose.
Alaric's concentrated barrage of fire on one of them was having an effect as the carapace protecting it head went fracturing into shards and its head then disintegrated. But its headless corpse was still running, obey the last commands from its now absent brain as it absorbed the incoming fire. Alaric's plasma casters were now glowing hot so he had to let them cool. He drew his desert eagle and fired high caliber rounds at the rushing xenos.
It felt good to wield Razeal's pistol again.
The xenomorphs were now within leaping range and leap they did. Marines and miners went falling back, Kelso letting his flamer loose igniting several xenomorphs as they leaped right up to their perimeter. But being on fire wasn't going to stop them. They immediately charged at the nearest humans. They caught one marine, grabbing his leg and throwing him far into the colony where he connected to a hab wall with a sickening smack. But the Archangels were not budging. In fact, what happened next was not something that the initiates would think a marine would do.
"Swords!" Andrzej shouted.
Each Archangel dropped their weapons and drew the sword from their backs in one fluid motion and got into close quarter combat positions. Alaric holstered his pistol and hefted his axe.
The swords of the Archangels, like their nationalities, were all derived from their home nation. Andrzej's was undoubtedly a hefty broadsword, with the crescent hand guard and circular pommel. Sarah's was a knightly longsword with a cruciform hilt. Sven's was a hardy sword of the Vikings, with a runic hilt and cross guard to add. Hicks wielded a falchion, with a transcript on the blade reading 'Learn this!' Sergei's was a traditional Russian sword called a Shashka, a cross between a saber and a longsword with a cross guard only covering the front. Mac's was the legendary weapon of the samurai, the katana and its curving blade shone in the light.
The Archangels met the xenomorph attack head on, parrying their swords with flawless coordination. They dodged the attacks from the xenomorphs, moving back to a strategic position before counterattacking. The other marines and miners withdrew to more secure positions away from the close quarters of the tunnel
Alaric looked to the initiates.
"Show them no mercy for you shall receive none!" He roared as he charged into the fray.
The initiates gave out a war cry and they charged into the fray behind him. Now the odds were even in this brutal melee. The Archangels would get to see if Alaric had improved since they'd last seen him. And Alaric would see if the initiates' training paid off.
Alaric heaved his axe, biting deep into the chest of one xenomorph, acid seeping and sizzling around the axe head. He was somewhat amazed and a little stunned to see that his axe didn't slice right through like it did in the past. However, he had to adapt to this new kind of foe.
He gave the xeno a good backwards kick to its teeth, smashing it off his axe and pulling it free. He then brought the axe down hard to its head but it slid out of the way, his axe hit the ground below leaving him exposed and it lashed out at him. He narrowly dodged its claws, the razor sharp appendages leaving deep cuts on his armor in a shower of sparks.
'Ancestor's breath!' He thought in surprise. 'Gotta adapt!'
He threw his great axe at the xeno and it ducked. Alaric had expected that to happen as the axe went flying and hacked right into the back of one that was engaging Sergei and Sven, giving the archangels an opening for attack. He then delivered a pile driving knee to its face, stunning it for a second before drawing both his hand axes and with one synchronized slash from both axes, decapitated the xeno in a flash of acid green. Some acid splashed on his left arm, sizzling on contact with his skin. He gritted his teeth and suppressed the pain as he chose his next target.
The archangels were busy on concentrating on single targets while Alaric was picking targets solo, not that he needed the help. The initiates were taking on targets in pairs, Kra'vyx and Fel'tak engaged one while Ly'enta and Mal'fax engaged another. The other marines and miners were busy shooting xenos that had got past the melee. If they could keep the majority of them busy then maybe the casualties this time would be light.
Kra'vyx and Fel'tak engaged one from both sides, trying to out maneuver it and find a weak point to exploit. The xeno was blocking their every move as it lashed with its tail. It wrapped around Fel'tak's neck like a constrictor before lifting him off the ground and slamming him head and shoulder first into the ground. Fel'tak, half stunned, managed to grab its tail tight, and struggled to both hold it still and prevent it choking the life out of him. He found an opening at the base of its tail and drove his stave fast and hard. The stave penetrated deep, acid spurting out of its gaping wound. Its tail went limp as muscles were severed and Fel'tak squirmed out of its coils.
Kra'vyx lunged at the xeno while it was distracted by Fel'tak and he drove his kataras under its arms. It screeched and bucked, throwing Kra'vyx of it before it lashed out with its claws. Kra'vyx yelled as he felt them slash his chest, tearing deep into his flesh as he hit the snow. Fel'tak leaped forward and with one lunge of his stave drove it right into the rearing xeno's chin and into its brain. It thrashed around as its nervous system crashed before slumping into the ground.
Kra'vyx got back up, forcing most of the pain back as he retrieved his weapons. And not a moment too soon because another xeno was stampeding towards him, smacking one of the Archangels out of the way.
Mal'fax swung his hammer, smashing a xeno right in the teeth with a loud crack and send shards of chitinous shell and teeth into the air. He was rewarded for his effort by a hard tail lashing to the chest, rending his armored shirt into a hail of torn disks. The large initiate was shaken back a few steps and gave the xeno ample time to pounce on him. They both fell into the ground, grappling each other and exchanging swiping blows. A chain whip lashed out and wrapped around the xeno's neck as it now struggled against this new threat. Mal'fax saw that Ly'enta had now got the xeno in a choke hold and barely pulling it off him, giving him a few precious moments to counter attack. He got his leg under it and pushed hard, hurling it off of him. Ly'enta lashed out with her second whip and coiled its legs together. Mal'fax got up and Ly'enta drew back the whip around its neck and then pinned its arms together, leaving it open for Mal'fax.
Mal'fax smashed its chest with his hammer forcing it to the ground on its back and with one final swing; he crushed its neck with a loud crunch.
"What the fuck!" Alaric shouted as he dodged the claw of a xeno that he had cut down earlier. "Didn't I just kill you!"
"It's hard to knock them down and it's even harder to make them stay down!" Sven yelled, driving his sword into the back of his foe as it was distracted by Sergei.
Ly'enta drew back her whips and turned to see one of the xenos, a far more heavily armored, and intimidating beast, looking right back at her. Before she had time to react, it head butted her hard, cracking her mask. Stunned for a second, she was then smashed hard into the ground where it then coiled its tail around her neck and then slammed her into the ground repeatedly, intent on rendering her unconscious. Despite giving her best effort, it finally knocked her out with one final slam and it roughly grabbed her.
Mal'fax rushed to her aid but he was soon tackled into the ground by another xeno and he had no way of reaching her. In fact, none of the humans or his fellow Yautja could get to her.
Hicks was the first to see that Ly'enta was defeated and being hauled off as he charged at his foe.
"They caught one of the preds!" Hicks shouted, driving his sword into his opponent's throat. "Take it down now!"
The xeno then leaped onto the tunnel ceiling, Ly'enta dangling from its tail like a hanged criminal and proceeded to withdraw. Alaric saw this happen and, knowing full well what would happen to her, he forced his way after it. He hammered xenos left and right as he picked up momentum. One claw lashed out and tore his mask from his face without cutting him. His eyes were starting to go crimson as he felt the strength of his ancestors surge in his veins. Finally, he forced his way out of the fight, smashing one xeno right into a nearby wall, and seeing the initiate stealing xeno move onto the tunnel wall, he made his move.
Alaric threw his axe at the retreating xeno, watching spin towards it and hoping he had aimed right. He didn't wait to find out as he charged at it, weaving past anything in his way and slashing one or two xenos stragglers in the process.
The flying axe had struck true, slicing through its tail in a splash of acid and embedding itself in the tunnel wall. Ly'enta's unconscious body hit the floor and the coiled tail loosened its grip. The xeno hopped from the wall onto the ground and faced Alaric. It snarled at him but Alaric casually twirled his axe. The two adversaries just stared at each other, daring to see who would make the first move. Crimson eyes flashed and eyeless features connected. However, the xeno then did something odd.
It gave out a loud roar that caught the other xenomorphs attention. Then on some cue, the xenomorphs withdrew, instantly fleeing the area and not getting in anyone way. Alaric walked over to Ly'enta and knelt beside her, not taking his eyes of the xeno for one moment as he pulled her away. The xeno in turn stared him down as its brood kin passed, picking up its severed tail before following them down the tunnel. Marines and miners came running up to the tunnel as the Archangels were catching their breath.
"They're retreating!" One of the archangels shouted
"Gun 'em down!" Kelso ordered.
Marines and miner took potshots at the retreating aliens. The shot glanced off the xenos carapace but otherwise the shots just missed. And just as quickly as they appeared, the xenomorphs were gone. Alaric's eyes faded to normal as the battle was now over.
"They're gone." Sergei said, "Why did they retreat?"
"I think they've had enough for one night." Andrzej said, wiping his sword on one of the corpses the in the snow to get the acid off.
The other archangels were doing the same, making sure their swords were clean before sheathing them. Alaric went about retrieving his axe from the wall. Ly'enta was stirring as she gingerly moved her arms and legs. Kra'vyx came walking up to them, sheathing his kataras.
"How was your first taste of the hunt?" Alaric asked, pulling his axe from the wall.
Kra'vyx didn't answer because he was undoubtedly confused. He was baffled by the Archangels' swords and Alaric's axes. Now, what was odd about the Archangels' swords was that acid had no effect on them, other then bubbling on the blade's surface and leaving the metal warm to the touch. Alaric's axes had the same effect. And he also saw that where acid had landed on Alaric's arm, he did not suffer any horrific burns as was associated from xenomorph acid. The only thing he did get was what looked like a bad case of sunburn with thin rivulets of blood seeping through his skin.
"Alaric." Kra'vyx asked, looking at the axes and the Archangels swords. "Your weapons are still intact. That's not possible, even from films I have seen from other hunters."
"Secret." Alaric said, wrapping a bandage on his arm with one end held in his teeth. "Though my axes were the inspiration."
"What about your arm? That should've been melted right off."
"Oh, that. Been wondering about that for some time. Might be genetic. But since it makes me immune to acid, I'm not complaining."
"Doesn't it hurt?"
"Yeah, it still burns but it doesn't burn my arm right off."
Ly'enta groggily picked herself up and Kra'vyx walked over to help her. The moment he laid his hand on her, she instinctively tried to force him off her, thinking he was one of the xenos. Kra'vyx calmed her down, assuring her that the xenos were gone.
"Ly'enta, it's all right. They're gone." He said soothingly.
Ly'enta calmed down when she saw that it was Kra'vyx.
"By the gods, I thought I was going to be harboring an abomination."
The archangels came walking up, having picked up their weapons. Fel'tak and Mal'fax was with them and they were each dragging a xenomorph corpse. They were looking pleased with themselves, now that they had their first trophies. They were now in the process of beheading them and bestowing the hunter's mark. Kra'vyx and Ly'enta didn't have any trophy to show but from the way things are here, they wouldn't have long to wait for another chance.
"That doesn't make sense." Sven said, scratching his beard. "Why the hell did they leave so soon?"
"Maybe the predators caused them to reconsider their strategy." Mac said. "And we know that Alaric is the best hand-to-hand fighter out of all of us. I'm certain that's enough to make them think twice."
"I'm guessing these bastards are just Warriors." Sergei said, giving the corpse Fel'tak was dragging a good kick. "I'd hate to see a praetorian next time or a queen."
Fel'tak growled at the archangel for kicking his trophy. Sergei shrugged in mock question before he walked off. Mal'fax gave a good roar of victory as he proudly held aloft his trophy. He was then followed by Fel'tak who gave his head a good yank and it snapped off it's neck, trailing some of it's spine with it. Fel'tak gave a roar of victory as well.
"Well, at least some of us are having a good time." Sven said, gesturing to the proud initiates.
"Count ourselves lucky they didn't get one of the preds." Hicks said, pointing a thumb at Ly'enta. "Hybrids are the worst of both races."
"Don't even joke about that, Hicks." Sarah said, walking over to Ly'enta to check on her. "Those things are nasty enough without this genus in the equation."
"In that case, we should get back to the colony and prepare for the next attack." Andrzej said, reaching for his coms. "Kelso, how are things were you are?
A pause was heard before he got an answer.
"Much better then expected, no deaths, no one was carried off, but we have wounded."
"What about the marine they hurled?"
"Unconscious with broken arms and cracked back but he'll live. What about you?""
"Same here, just cuts and bruises, although they did try to nab one of the preds. Alaric here stopped that."
"Great, if they had a hybrid then we'd be proper fucked."
"We're coming back. Get some Spartan on the heat."
The Archangels then walked back to the colony, tending to their own injuries. Especially Sven who was unfortunate enough to be tossed like a rag doll in the fight. The others suffered scrapes and bumps but their armor and cloaks suffered little damage. Alaric walked with the initiates, pulling his great axe out of the corpse of the xeno it hit. He then found the severed head, his trophy, of the first xenomorph he slew, and he casually carried it on his shoulder.
"Alaric I noticed that your clothing and theirs are not damaged. How come?" Kra'vyx asked.
"Xenomorph proof gear designed by the Grant Corporation." Alaric said. "Designed for combating Bugs and protects against their claws and acid. How else do you think these fatigues of mine have lasted so long?"
They arrived back at the colony and saw that miners and marines were busy dragging xeno corpses to a large tarpaulin. The initiates went over to see what the oomans were doing, and were answered when the tarpaulin was removed and a deep pit full of dead incinerated xenomorphs was uncovered. The miners then shoved the bodies down the pit. A soot covered marine carrying a large mining flamer came walking up, smoking a fat cigar to add to the image of pyromania. And his visor was up and his eyes were clean, giving his a somewhat comical appearance
"If you lot are finished ripping heads off things, stand back." He warned, his blackened visor sliding down.
He then turned, got into a bracing position and let loose the flamer. A large gout of orange and yellow flames erupted out of the nozzle, engulfing the bodies. A screech was heard coming from the pile and to the initiates surprise, a partially dead xenomorph was scrambling to climb out of the pit. From the looks of it, it shouldn't be alive from the amount of damage it sustained but it was.
"Shut up and burn, you bastard!" The marine yelled before letting loose another gout of flame.
The xeno just refused to die as it now started grabbing onto the pit wall. It now clawed its way up the wall and forced its flaming head over the rim. Mal'fax was on it and he swung with his hammer and smashed it in the face, sending it screeching back into the pit. The marine then pulled out his pistol and fired a few rounds. The xeno was silenced as the flames now roared intensely, engulfing the entire pit. The marine lit his cigar on the pilot light of the flamer and took a good draft.
"Nice swing." He said to Mal'fax, smoke coming out of his mouth.
He turned and saw Alaric had walked up, having come over when the flames went up. Alaric looked down into the pit and saw the some of the other aliens were moving, writhing in the flames. His plasma caster locked in position and he fired one long volley into the pit. He watched for any other movement and then turned to the marine.
"These bastards are just refuse to die." Alaric said, his plasma casters retracting. "What's your name, Marine?"
"Flambe, for obvious reasons." The marine said proudly while indicating his blackened form and the inferno in the pit. "That's not the first time we had zombies popping up."
Kelso came walking up, the flamer was still holstered on his back, and he was busy holding and a large chunk of ice.
"I heard screeching. Did one of them get back up?" He asked.
"It was that one again." Flambe said, pointing at the specific xeno.
"For God's sake, how many more times?" He muttered in annoyance before turning to Alaric. "Alaric, Andrzej wants to see you at the generators hab"
Alaric saw where Kelso pointed to and nodded before he walked over to where the Archangels were gathering. Kelso threw the chunk of ice into the pit, hearing it thump one of the aliens before it melted. The initiates meanwhile walked off to examine their trophies.
Alaric saw the building that Kelso pointed him to, the generator hab and Sergei and Hicks were sitting outside on some crates and drinking some S.B from warm mugs. They saw Alaric approach and they held their mugs up in silent salute to him.
"Good fighting, Alaric." Hicks congratulated.
"You really improved since we last saw you." Sergei complimented. "Good shot, nailing that xeno attacking me and Sven"
"You think so?" Alaric said, scratching the ice out of his hair. "Well, thanks for the compliment. Is Andrzej inside?"
"He and Sven are checking the generators for damage."
Alaric nodded and went inside. He saw the captain was looking at the corpse of one xeno that had gotten past the fight and a marine was sitting on it with a bolt-gun on his lap. The xeno had numerous melted bolts in its head making it look reminiscent to a certain horror movie icon.
"I nailed this fucker going for the generators." The marine said, tapping the xenomorph's corpse with his boot. "Killed it but it took this miners face off."
The miner in question was propped against the wall and his face was sheared clean off below the eyes. His jaws, cheekbones and nasal passage was showing clear as day with his face hanging lopsided to his left and dripping blood, But he was still alive, though clearly in shock as indicated by his ragged breath. Sarah was already tending to him, administering pain-meds. She then tried to reattach his face as best as she could. The miner would likely need cloned tissue reconstruction when this situation was over, but until then he'll have to refrain from moving his face.
Sven was busy checking the generators for damage while Mac had his sword out and was preparing to behead the alien.
"Did the generator take any damage?" Andrzej asked, shining his lamp to the Norseman.
"None that I can see, though I'd better open it up just in case." Sven said, reaching around for a toolbox.
"Good, I don't want another night like our first one."
Andrzej turned round and saw Alaric standing there, waiting for him.
"Alaric, now you see what we're up against." He said.
The sound of metal hacking into flesh was heard as Mac started hacking the xeno's head off in quick fluid strikes.
"Yeah, I noticed that some of them refused to die." Alaric said. "I saw that some incinerated Bugs were trying to claw their way out of that pit. What's the deal with that?"
He was answered by Hicks as he came into the room.
"A hypothesis is that they just enter a state of suspended animation when gravely injured and their bodies heal at an alarming rate." He postulated. "Kinda like you, they're adapting to survive. We have to make sure they're dead, and not just 'sleeping'. And even then it's difficult."
"These Bugs adapt too well to be honest." Mac said; giving the corpse one final slash and its head came clean off. He turned to the marine as he picked it up by its crest. "You wanna keep this as a trophy?"
The marine shook his head in disgust and refusal.
"You can stick that on your wall if you want, I don't wanna be any where near it, full stop." The marine said, getting up and walking out of the room.
Mac muttered in Japanese before whistling to Sergei. The Russian came walking in and he roughly grabbed the corpse by the tail. He and Mac then dragged the body out of the room, heading to the fire pit to dispose of it. Sven opened a maintenance panel on the generator and peered at its workings.
"Every time they've attacked us, they had been following a coordinated plan." Andrzej said, sitting down on a crate. "They would send individuals to sabotage key colony systems while the bulk of the attackers distract us."
"These bastards are very smart, almost too smart." Sven said, reaching for a spanner.
"Bugs are fast learners." Alaric pointed out.
"Not this genus." Hicks corrected. "They knew things, things that no newly bursted alien could know. They knew exactly where to hit us hardest for maximum effect. They took out generators, mining vehicles, comm-station, anything that would've helped us gain an advantage."
Alaric paid attention to that one detail. Comm-station. It reminded him of the one thing that he and the initiates needed. A way to call for help.
"Andrzej, is the comm-station still working?" Alaric asked. "Has it been repaired enough to work?"
"As well as can be expected in this weather." Andrzej told him. "Not to mention its makeshift state of repair. Why?"
Alaric pulled out the emergency transmitter from a pouch. Andrzej looked at the piece of Yautja tech. Hicks pulled out his data pad and took a quick photo of it. The transmitter looked like a segmented disk about the size of Alaric's fist.
"It's time to call for some help." Alaric said, juggling the transmitter in his hand.
"Hmm, evidently the Slayer is stronger then we thought." Mal'kah said, going through the footage multiple times on different angles. "That being said, even the Patriarch's kin is pushing his skills to the limit."
He, Qul'dan, and another hunter, one which had a look of superiority on his arrogant, piercing covered face, were going through the footage that their surveillance drone had sent back.
They had been watching the initiates every move, utilizing technology that ensured the surveillance drones would remain undetected. They saw how they had come into contact with the humans, Alaric's old squad, and the colonists. They had seen how the initiates and the sword wielding marines stood their ground against the Patriarch's kin. Mal'kah for one was impressed by their skill and by Alaric's successful rescue of Ly'enta. And he saw with great interest how the Kainde Amedha retreated after their leader and Alaric started each other down.
Qul'dan was pleased by what he saw, meaning that they would have a better challenge from them when the time comes.
The hunter on the other hand voiced his disgust.
"Lower born hunters don't deserve to hunt prey such as this." He said. "It is insulting."
Qul'dan grunted at that comment.
"You really love rubbing your class and breeding in, don't you?" Qul'dan said. "Inbred moron."
"Inbred? I am from superior stock!"
They both started throwing insults at each other, aimed at each others background and upbringing, before Mal'kah's patience ended and he slapped both of them in the face with a loud smack.
"Pay attention!" He ordered.
The two Yautja stopped and resumed watching the footage while rubbing their cheeks, the pierced hunter in particular for obvious reason. The aliens retreated and they caught sight of Alaric's glowing eyes as they faded.
"Why have they retreated? They could've gutted them all easy." Qul'dan questioned before noticing something. "And why was the ooman's eyes glowing?"
"It seems that the memory of the Bloodline is still strong in their minds." Mal'kah said, "It would appear that it has given the Patriarch pause for concern."
"Does that mean that the Patriarch, a god among the prey, is afraid of this ooman?" the pierced hunter asked.
"No, it sees this as revenge for its imprisonment, Tan'kor. It will likely formulate a new plan to combat him."
Qul'dan was eagerly flexing his fingers. He had been itching to fight Alaric and the initiates ever since they crash landed on the planet. But so far, he hadn't been able to indulge in his desire for combat.
"So, what is the plan?" Qul'dan asked, cracking his knuckles. "When can we kill them?"
Mal'kah rolled his eye.
"Qul'dan, we are here to make sure they don't leave the planet but that doesn't mean we're to kill them." he told the hunter, evidently tired of repeating the mission constantly. "Our lord has put emphasis on making it so that the Kainde Amedha kill him, not Yautja."
"And if He alters the plan?" Qul'dan asked, raising a brow.
"Wait, what is that the ooman has got?" Tan'kor said, pointing at the holographic screen.
Mal'kah used his wrist-comp to zoom in on the image of Alaric talking to Andrzej. And it was clear what Alaric had in his hand. It was a distress transmitter.
"Pauk and damnation, he has a transmitter." Mal'kah said. "He is very resourceful."
Qul'dan had now gone from eager to fight to downright angry at this turn of events. If one thing infuriated him, it's prey that gets away.
"Then that means they could very well get off this planet!" Qul'dan roared, smashing his fist into the nearby ice wall. "I say we strike now!"
Mal'kah wasn't fazed by this sudden change. But then Qul'dan had a good point. Even if the transmitter could work through the storm and bring help, it was one thing that mustn't be allowed to happen. Their lord had made that point very clear.
"Very well, we will attack." he said, watching Qul'dan smacked his fists together in delight. "BUT, we need to think this through."
Qul'dan was slightly disappointed by that demand. He preferred to just charge in and let Fate deal the cards. Tan'kor nodded to the veteran's advice. If there was one thing that every hunter should know and that was to know the prey's weakness.
"Listen." Mal'kah said, making himself heard. "What do we know about his 'ooman'."
"He's a fighter, a psychopathic one if you annoy him." Qul'dan said, immediately stating the obvious.
Mal'kah sighed, and rubbed his eye.
"Putting him being a fighter aside, what do we know about him?" Mal'kah clarified.
"Judging from what I've seen, he's something of a protector." Tan'kor pointed. "He's keeping these initiates safe."
"Those marines with the swords are some old ma-rine friends of his, so he has something of a connection." Qul'dan pointed out.
"Good, but there is always one thing he will always uphold." Mal'kah added.
"What is that?"
"An oath, a promise."
Tan'kor fiddled with a piercing located on his lower right mandible with his tongue.
"So he has made an oath that you intend to take advantage of." Qul'dan postulated.
Mal'kah nodded and then Tan'kor realized what Mal'kah was thinking.
"Those initiates." Tan'kor said, clicking his mandible "He's been looking after them after since the crash."
"Exactly, he's the only guide they have." Mal'kah said. "And he has taken it upon himself to make sure they survive. He and his bloodline never go back on a promise."
"So... that oath is going to cost him... his life?" Qul'dan said, getting it with a grin.
Mal'kah nodded. It should be that obvious since that was what they did with Alaric's wife and child. And that seemed to work pretty well, though Alaric survived. However, they would need to plan this attempt through very thoroughly.
"You take those close to him." Mal'kah said, illustrating the process. "Lure him towards us and when he's right were we want him, on our terms and home advantage, THEN we kill him."
"But that didn't work last time did it?" Tan'kor said. "Our lord told me of how enraged he was when he learned that ooman had survived."
Mal'kah rubbed the plate where his eye used to be. Tan'kor, that arrogant noble, had to rub it in.
"Does it hurt?" Tan'kor said, trying to rub salt into the wound. "The failure of that little mission? That was the first time the great veteran has lost something to his prey, isn't it?"
Mal'kah wasn't affect by that slur. He remained very calm and Qul'dan merely coughed, like he was foretelling that something was going to happen.
"Well, as an ooman saying goes; 'Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it." He quoted before gabbing Tan'kor by the neck, throttling him. "And our lord does not want that past surviving a second time." He brought Tan'kor's pierced and gagging face up to his. "When we attack that ooman, don't do anything fancy. Just kill him."
Mal'kah then shoved Tan'kor from him, sending the Yautja rolling to the snow covered ground and gagging for air. Qul'dan merely snickered at the noble's expense, because even he knew when to keep his mouth shut around the veteran.