Hey all.
This is the last fully written chapter and so updating will be subjective, due to work, college or writting future chapters whichever comes first. However, the next chapter is almost complete with some minor things need to be added.
i thank each of my readers for their positive feedback and so i leave you with this action packed chapter.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 16- Savior
Kra'vyx and his friends had in fact been taken to the other side of the refinery. To the entrance of the mines. This place had been chosen so that Alaric would have to bleed his way through the refinery and the many traps that had been set. And in his weakened state, he could be finished off once and for all. Or at least that was the plan.
Tan'kor had decided to pass the time and make the situation to Alaric much more important. He singled out Kra'vyx for some sparring, for being the most defiant member of the initiates. The very one sided sparing that involved every dirty cheating trick and illegal move in the book. Kra'vyx fell to the ground, taking yet another blow to the head. Coughing up blood, he stubbornly heaved himself to his feet.
The Yautja warriors had his fellow initiates bound, gagged and on their knees, watching as their leader toyed with Kra'vyx from a raised platform in the middle of the yard. Their weapons had been confiscated along with their masks, wrist-comps and other equipment in a pile at the bottom of the platform.
Kra'vyx stood up, shook his head to throw of the daze and he tried to swing a punch at Tan'kor's head but the hunter effortlessly deflected it before giving Kra'vyx another jarring punch to his gut that drove him to the ground again. The arrogant noble bent down and forcefully grabbed Kra'vyx's face, raising him up to eye level.
"What's the matter, kid?" He jeered. "Can't take it?"
Malfax managed to spit out his gag as Tan'kor punched Kra'vyx in the face again, sending the initiate to the ground again.
"You bastard!" Mal'fax shouted out, struggling to help his friend. "Fight him with honor!"
Mal'fax was answered by his captor delivering a jarring punch to the face. Tan'kor snorted in disgust at the mere thought, as Mal'fax was re-gagged. Fel'tak grumbled behind the large gag that had been shoved in his mouth.
"Fight with honor against a low born weakling like this?" He questioned in disgust. "The things they teach inferiors these days."
He then gave Kra'vyx a hard kick in the face and the initiate went into a heap on the ground. Tan'kor snorted in satisfaction as Kra'vyx fumbled to get up. He turned to the bound initiates.
"Low-borns like you pathetic bunch are nothing but dirt, born only to serve us and die." He stated sneeringly.
He walked up to them.
"Your ooman friend will come to rescue you, but when he does, he'll walk right into our trap." Tan'kor told them. "And after he is dead, along with the rest of his wretched line, and you lot have fulfilled your purpose, you will join him afterwards." He then dragged a finger over Ly'enta's forehead, trailing down under her chin. "You, on the other hand, have another purpose to fulfill." He added smugly, relishing the shocked and frightened eyes of the young female. "And if you're lucky, and good enough, I might even consider keeping you alive."
He then walked away from them, past the barely moving Kra'vyx before walking up to a nasty looking tunnel in the wall. It was roughly two meters tall and one-and-a-half meters wide and it was lined with a combination of jagged crystal-like ice and rock that glinted with malice. He reached down and picked up a miner's corpse laying next to the tunnel. He looked back to the initiates and sported a nasty grin.
"Praise be the gods for providing me with a garbage disposal for your filth." He said.
He then hurled the corpse with great speed into the tunnel and the initiates could see the dead human get shredded by the ice and rock . Tan'kor chuckled at the sight of the initiates frightened expressions.
By now, Kra'vyx had somehow managed to get up on his knees. He looked up to Tan'kor and grunted in defiance. Tan'kor raised a brow at Kra'vyx's stubbornness.
"Are you serious?" He asked, crossing his arms. "Do you honestly think a low-born like you has any chance against a superior specimen like me?"
Kra'vyx had been taught by his mother and Alaric not to fear bastards like Tan'kor. As Alaric had always put it 'Those who prey on the weak are weak themselves', and had Zel'tyr heartily agreed with him.
"You may kill us... but Alaric will not let any of you get away with it." Kra'vyx said, standing up. "Especially a sadistic, dishonorable, and inferior warrior like you."
That sentence had definitely stung Tan'kor to the core there, though he didn't show it. So much that Tan'kor just whipped out his plasmacaster and shot Kra'vyx dead center in the chest without a word. Kra'vyx was blown off his feet and landed hard on the ground, his armor blowing apart into glowing fragments that peered around the area like ember from a fire. The thermal vest underneath was melted and charred and he strained as the burning material stuck to his flesh. Tan'kor walked up to Kra'vyx and gave him a fierce stomp to the gut, knocking all the wind out of his lungs. Kra'vyx rolled onto his side and then Tan'kor gave him a brutal kick to the face. Kra'vyx sprawled on the ground, dazed and unable to move any more. Tan'kor grunted in satisfaction turned to his subordinates.
"Get into your positions and prepare to end that accursed bloodline once and for all." He ordered before grabbing Kra'vyx by the throat. "Anymore defiance from you and you will beg me for death in the end."
Kra'vyx could only grunt as he felt Tan'kors talons dig into his neck. Tan'kor's followers bowed their heads and went into their positions, activating their cloak fields as Tan'kor dragged Kra'vyx by the throat. The ones guarding the initiates stayed where they were to act as bait for Alaric. The hunters who were guarding the initiates remained uncloaked and Tan'kor, the arrogant bastard he was, stood like a pillaging warlord guarding his treasure. He didn't even bother to activate his cloak field in confidence that the plan would succeed, and his arrogance was going to take a blow right down to the core.
A low rumbling was heard coming from all around them. Like the sound of a herd of stampeding animals. And it was slowly getting louder. Tan'kor looked unnerved by the sounds that were echoing around them, reverberating off the rock and ice walls.
"I thought you said the Primarch wasn't any where near us!" Tan'kor shouted to his nearest subordinate.
Kra'vyx, silently listening under the guise of half consciousness, processed that word. 'Primarch? Wasn't that the name of the God-Prey in the legends?'
The hunter looked around the cavern, listening to the rumblings.
"That is not the Primarch." He answered. "That isn't even Kainde Amedha. It's not even organic."
What the hunter said was true as the sound was now taking on a more mechanical tone to its roar. This in turn was muffled by the sound of distant crashing. The sound of metal walls being torn from their fittings. That was the moment when a rude awakening happened. The refinery wall half collapsed, half exploded in a spectacular fashion, sending fragments of wall flying everywhere and the hulk of the Archangels' APC came roaring into view. Smashing through a wall, possibly a whole refinery of reinforced metal had done a number on the vehicle. The dozer blade had been completely buckled, it's frontal armor had been partially beaten off, the windscreen was smashed open and in the driver seat was an equally beaten up Alaric who was feverishly manhandling the controls.
Tan'kor was shocked to find that Alaric had completely circumnavigated their trap in a completely unexpected way. He had come right through the refinery instead of navigating around it. He didn't think the humans had anything with the ability to reach them. It seemed that their surveillance had failed them for once. That or they had seriously underestimated Alaric's resolve.
"We can't die yet, guys!" Alaric yelled out over the roar of the engine. "Hold on!"
Tan'kor then snapped out of his shocked stupor as the APC went steamrolling towards them. The defensive grenade launchers on its hull then fired out EMP grenades in all directions, impacting the surroundings in lightning storms that forced the cloaked hunters into visibility.
"Don't just stand there! Kill him!" Tan'kor commanded to his subordinates. The warriors and hunters opened fire with their plasma casters, spear guns and other projectile weapons, to a limited extent since their targeting systems were knocked out.
The APC's armor was holding against the incoming fire, as can be expected from an Archangel transport with Alaric ducking under the controls, the APC swerving to the left. He kept the APC at full speed, aiming for a bunched up group of warriors that were holding their ground. He forced down the accelerator levers and bolted to the APC's hatch before diving out of the APC. He rolled hard into the ground, crashing behind some crates as the APC went smashing into the adjacent cavern wall, crushing the Yautja warriors into the rock wall with a loud crash. Falling rock and ice cascaded down and green blood oozed from between the APC and wall from the resulting road kill. The initiates took their chance and half rolled, half shuffled into cover, dropping off the platform and rolling behind crates and vehicles.
Kra'vyx meanwhile was still grabbed around the neck by Tan'kor as he was dragged off to a safer position. Alaric pulled up his pulse rifle, and Razeal, in both hands while his plasma casters locked into combat position by the time he stopped rolling, and he sprinted around at blurring speed.
Alaric fired his pulse rifle and Razeal in succession while his plasma cannons tore the air in a hailstorm of blue arcs. Projectiles from both sides were filling the air, impacting in showers of sparks against any surface hit and any rounds that impacted each other.
The hunters were being mowed down at an alarming rate, torn apart by the sheer number of projectiles being fired at them, their armor was doing very little to protect them while their weak spots were being exploited with expert precision.
Alaric was dodging everything being thrown at him in blurring maneuvers and acrobatic parkour moves. One of the most spectacular was when he went vaulting from on top of a crate, roundhouse kicked a hunter in the face and then blew his throat out with Razeal before he even landed on the ground.
"How is this ooman so fast!" A hunter yelled before his head exploded in a shower of gore as Alaric landed on his feet.
Alaric dived behind a concrete barrier, holstering his spent pistol before he vaulted over it with a loud roar and one of his hand axes drawn as he charged, his eyes flashing crimson and hair morphed into his crown of spikes as the Rage set in. The nearest hunter stood no chance as Alaric split him in half from head to groin, in a spectacular shower of green blood and gore that flew everywhere.
Another hunter drew his stave and tried to block Alaric, but the axe sliced right through the stave in sparks and his torso soon left his legs in a green arc. The few warriors that were not cut down in the crossfire made the foolish decision to engage Alaric at close quarters, drawing staves, wrist-blades and other melee weapons as they entered the fray. They thought that they would have a better chance of killing the slayer if they ganged up on him.
Alaric mercilessly engaged them with lightning fast speed and precision, honed over a lifetime of training, conditioning, and near-death situations. He would dodge an attack, followed by cutting his opponent down in quick succession when they were exposed.
"Get behind him, you fools!" Tan'kor commanded. "Don't give him room to maneuver!"
One hunter made the mistake of making a flying leap at Alaric when his back was turned. Alaric, in his heightened state, sensed the impending threat and dived out of the way. He brought up the pulse rifle to meet the flying hunter. And before the hunter could even scream, Alaric squeezed the grenade launcher's trigger. Suffice to say, the hunter ended up as a bright green firework display, sending gore and shrapnel in all directions. What was left of the hunter was nothing more than an immolated ripped open carcass that went tumbling to the ground in a heap.
Alaric hurled his pulse rifle into the hands of one hunter before throwing his axe at another, embedding into his chest and leaving him staggering as his blood left his body in a torrent. Alaric promptly flipped over the top of him, grabbed him by the neck, and pulled him over backwards. Alaric landed on his feet and snapped the hunter's neck like a twig before pulling his axe back and then decapitating the hunter holding his pulse rifle in quick succession. All in the blink of an eye.
At this point, one of the few surviving hunters made the only wise decision of the fight and turned tail to run down the tunnels. Tan'kor, standing several feet in front of the razor ice tunnel could only watch with shock and most likely fear in his eyes as he watched his Elite hunters getting mowed down like grass by a single human.
The initiates watched from their hiding places with awe, fighting the urge to yell out praise and support to Alaric, lest they get captured again.
Kra'vyx's battered face opened one eye and saw that, as evident by the growing number of bodies, Alaric was making mince meat out of the hunters. He smiled and started to laugh.
"Who's inferior now?" He wheezed.
Tan'kor looked down at Kra'vyx and snarled. "Silence, scum!" He commanded.
Kra'vyx gave the noble a piercing leer. There was now a different tone in the noble's voice. Something that despite masking it, it was prevalent over the anger, and that was fear.
"You're scared. I can hear it in your voice." Kra'vyx pointed out. "All your speeches of superiority are nothing but a smokescreen for your own fear, ignorance, and cowardice. Then again, that's your only defense because you're obviously too weak to challenge him any other way."
Tan'kor growled in hesitation as he looked up in time to see Alaric brutally finish off the last hunter by smashing his head into the ground, breaking his neck with a stomp, and then decapitating him with a swing from his axe like a pro golfer, sending the head rolling a few feet away. In truth, Tan'kor was in a brown loincloth moment. He realized, from the moment Alaric began cutting down his hunters that he was no match for Alaric head on. And it was unlikely that he would be able to escape the Slayer's wrath. All of his hunters, were either dead, or had fled the area to save their own lives.
In his arrogance, he had ignored Mal'kah's warning. He thought of the glory of being the one to kill the slayer rather then just crippling him.
Alaric then set his eyes on Tan'kor, who still had Kra'vyx by his throat. Seeing how beaten up Kra'vyx was made his blood run like liquid fire. His eyes flashed crimson with more intensity as he growled with ferocity.
He raised his pulse rifle's barrel to the Yautja's head and started to pace forward. Tan'kor at that point, in a clear sign of desperation, did something very, very stupid.
"Hold it!" Tan'kor yelled, bringing a battered Kra'vyx up. "That's close enough, Slayer!"
Alaric stopped, panting and bleeding as he still held the pulse rifle and his plasma casters pointing at the noble, smoke seeping from their glowing overheating barrels. His axe was slick and dripping with glowing green blood.
Tan'kor then brought his dagger up to Kra'vyx's throat, provoking a grunt from the initiate. Alaric, after a moment's reluctance and the fact that he couldn't let Kra'vyx and his friends become innocent victims of his rage, spat blood out of his mouth as he dropped the spent pulse rifle and axe before his plasma casters retracted. His eyes dulled and his hair draped back down.
Tan'kor's arrogance came back out now that Alaric wasn't going to fight. Looks like something of his shot down plan of glory had finally worked.
"That's it." Tan'kor mockingly applauded, loosening his grip around Kra'vyx's neck slightly. "Now, the inferior is showing some intelligence."
But the hunter's arrogance was coming back to bite him in the ass as Alaric heaved up the SADAR missile launcher onto his shoulder and aimed it at him.
The hunter's eyes went wide in shock and disbelief as a laser sight homed in on his chest before stoping right between his eyes. The cruel irony. Tan'kor's mind was now full of panic and disbelief. The human was crazy enough to use a weapon of that power in a moment like this?
"No way! You're bluffing!" The Yautja yelled in disbelief. "You'll never risk killing your friend!"
He then drew Kra'vyx right into line of fire as a living shield.
Kra'vyx reached to his belt and pulled out the one thing that Tan'kor didn't notice. It was a jagged piece of metal, no doubt a shard from his armor, ending in a wicked barb and he carefully gripped it before winking to Alaric that he was ready.
Alaric snarled, showing his blood stained teeth as his finger squeezed the trigger. "A Slayer never bluffs, Coward!" He said in a snarling growl as his eyes flashed.
The SADAR fired in an almighty roar, a plume of flaming exhaust and snow billowed around Alaric while the rocket went flying. Tan'kor couldn't believe that Alaric had done that and was too shocked to even drop Kra'vyx.
Kra'vyx took his chance as he swung the metal shard and slammed it right into Tan'kor's chest, penetrating between his armored plates, and digging right into his lower ribs, freeing himself and dived out of the way, bracing himself for the detonation.
The noble flinched in pain from that escape, instinctively clasping the shard with one hand, failing to pull it free and looked up to see the missile detonate in front of him in an almighty bang. A massive fireball erupted and the hunter was sent hurling backwards in flames from the concussive shockwave. He flew right into the jagged ice tunnel in a nice flaming arc. The noble screamed in tormented agony as he was torn apart in gory glowing flaming chunks on the ice.
The trash had finally been taken out.
Alaric dropped the spent SADAR launcher with a loud thud on the metal decking, spat some blood out of his mouth, and limped over to Kra'vyx, picking up his axe on the way. The young hunter heaved himself up, holding his throbbing head. Alaric helped him up as the initiates hobbled out of their hiding places.
"You okay Kra'vyx?" He asked.
"I've gone deaf!" Kra'vyx wheezed.
"At least you're not dead." Alaric told him, gesturing with his eyes to the tunnel.
Kra'vyx looked up and saw the green stained tunnel with the shreds of Yautja flesh adhered to the jagged ice lining. His eyes went wide as he saw the massive spread of gore and he hobbled over for a closer look, using the wall to support himself. Alaric meanwhile drew his knife and started to free the others.
"By the gods, you did a number on him." Kra'vyx said, peering down the gore encrusted tunnel.
"Kra'vyx, stop gaping at the blood and guts of that bastard, and help me." Alaric said, cutting Mal'fax free. Mal'fax immediately started nursing his throbbing head as Kra'vyx hobbled over to their pile of confiscated gear and picked up his kataras.
Mal'fax did the same with his hammer as Alaric moved over to Ly'enta.
"You lot okay?" Alaric asked as he un-gagged and cut Ly'enta free.
Kra'vyx, after some fumbling, cut Fel'tak free with his katara and Fel'tak immediately went for the gag in his mouth.
"As fine as can be expected after being a hostage." Ly'enta said, rubbing her wrists. "Don't you think that explosion was just a bit of overkill?"
Alaric just shrugged his shoulders as he stood up and holstered his axe.
"Why did you drop your weapon in first place?" Fel'tak said, chucking his gag over his shoulder. "You could have just shot him in the head."
"I would've, but I ran out of bullets." Alaric said, reloading Razeal. "Let's just hope we wouldn't need that SADAR in the future."
At that point, Alaric's coms chimed. "Alaric, this is Andrzej." The Captain voxxed in. "There was an explosion. Did you set your friends free?"
"Yeah." Alaric answered. "They're beat up but they're walking."
"And the hostiles?"
"All dead, their leader especially. But I seemed to have wrecked the APC a bit."
There was a slight pause. "Define 'A bit'?" Andrzej demanded.
"I rammed it through refinery walls and then smashed into a rock face, crushing several Yautja." Alaric explained. "The dozer blade took the brunt of the punishment."
"That's all? Well, at least you didn't pull another exploding ram like you did with our last one. Are all the hostiles neutralized?"
"All that was here. There may be a few stragglers hiding about in the refinery. Even saw one of them high tail it out of here."
"I'm not surprised with the way you get riled."
Fel'tak, having a vague idea of what Alaric was talking about, interrupted.
"Well, let the demon Kainde Amedha handle those. We need to get back to the ooman colony." Fel'tak said, picking up his glaive.
Alaric just held a hand up, shutting up Fel'tak.
Fel'tak had distracted Alaric just as Andrzej said something important.
"What was that, Captain?" Alaric asked.
"The first attacks on the colony were not far from your position. Somewhere in the mines." Andrzej voxxed. "Alaric, I hate to ask you this but we need you to find out where exactly they are coming from."
Alaric grumbled as he heard the order.
"How did I know you were going to tell me that?" He said.
"I'm sorry, but you and your friends are the closest that we have ever got to the hive. If you can find the hive and collapse the tunnels leading to it, it will increase our chances for survival dramatically."
"Well, I just used the SADAR on their leader. What do I use to collapse a tunnel aside from hacking away like a frenzied lumberjack?"
"We prepared for that earlier in case we got this chance. There's a stash of mining charges and demo kits in the APC. Find out where the bugs are coming from and bring down that entrance."
"I'm on it. What about the rest of the squad?"
"We'll salvage some transport for us and you. We'll try to keep the way back to the colony clear as long as we can, but be prepared for the event of being cut off. Just in case."
"Roger that."
"I'm sending the coordinates and information. Good luck, Reaper."
Alaric turned to the initiates who were watching. He sighed as he broke the news to them.
"Guys, we're not done yet." He told them.
Outbursts erupted from the initiates.
"Not leaving?" Fel'tak blurted. "What the hell for?"
"We have a chance to find the hive and seal it off. We're not exactly in the state to hold off another attack from the bugs, now are we?"
"And we're not in the state to go wandering off in those tunnels either." Fel'tak countered.
"Strike first before the prey does." Mal'fax said. "Code of the Hunter. We all know this."
"Well, if it doesn't stop them then at least it will slow them down and give time for Lai'kairis to get here." Ly'enta added.
"The lesser of two evils." Alaric added.
Kra'vyx then started to cough hard, bringing up clotting blood before dropping to his knees in pain.
Ly'enta and Mal'fax quickly knelt down to his side. Alaric bent down and quickly examined his chest, properly seeing the damage clearly for the first time. He saw that Kra'vyx's destroyed armor's jagged and melted openings were digging into his chest, adding more injuries to his charred and battered body. His thermal vest was melted and stuck fast to his skin.
Alaric was amazed and shocked at the amount of punishment that the young initiate had taken. Maybe his training had worked better for Kra'vyx then he first thought.
"Help him." Alaric said. "He's not much use in this condition."
Ly'enta and Mal'fax went about helping their friend, laying him on his back and trying removing his destroyed armor. It was obvious that Kra'vyx had cracked ribs, maybe bruised lungs from the way he bent over in pain. And he also had bad swelling and bruises from where he was struck repeatedly in the face.
'What did that bastard do to you, Kra'vyx?' Alaric thought.
Kra'vyx was having trouble to stop coughing. He had to cough to get rid of the blood that was clogging his lungs but that meant pain erupting from his battered and burnt chest so he was stuck in a vicious cycle of endless discomfort.
Mal'fax went about trying to keep him down while Ly'enta tried to administer painkillers. But Kra'vyx, in his pain induced throes, was thwarting their efforts.
Fel'tak, the least hurt of the initiates, was keeping a lookout in case any of those hunters or xenomorphs would strike at this vulnerable moment. Kra'vyx's loud coughing was not helping their precarious situation.
"Can't you keep him quiet?" He asked.
"I'd like to see you in his state!" Mal'fax barked.
"Stop arguing!" Ly'enta snapped as Kra'vyx gave off a loud retch.
They had to get Kra'vyx's breathing normal otherwise he couldn't be helped. Alaric then did a little trick that was known for calming people, a relatively simple trick. Fumbling around for something in a pouch, he pulled out a survival flare. A bit big for his liking but it had to do. He ripped the cap off and the end erupted into red flames, catching everyone's attention. He ushered Ly'enta out of the way and brought the flame over Kra'vyx's head to get his attention.
"Kra'vyx." He said, reassuringly in a calm soothing tone. "Look at the flame."
He then slowly waved the flare from side to side. Kra'vyx's eyes followed the flare. His friends just watched as Alaric did his work in calming their wounded friend. Kra'vyx seemed hypnotized by the red flames as Alaric continued to keep him fixated on the flare. Like a snake following a piper's flute.
"Look at the flame." Kra'vyx's coughing was slowly dispersing and his breathing was becoming more relaxed as his eyes kept following the flame.
"Look at the flame." Kra'vyx had now gone completely relaxed and his breathing was now steady and the coughs had begun to subside; only the slight occasional cough escaped his mouth.
Alaric turned to Ly'enta who was preparing the needle. "Okay, tend to him." He said, tossing the flare away.
Ly'enta administered the shot into Kra'vyx's neck. Kra'vyx grunted from the needle and Mal'fax brought up some healing salve. Alaric got up.
"I'd never have thought of that." Ly'enta said as she smeared salve onto Kra'vyx's battered face.
"Clearly, you've never seen or read Band of Brothers." He said to her before turning to Mal'fax."Support him when he's able to move."
Alaric left the two of them to tend to Kra'vyx, unlatching his useless armor and peeling the melted vest from his flesh as the initiate winced from the tugging of his flesh.
Alaric walked over to the smashed up APC, picking up the pulse rifle he dumped along the way and clambered inside the messed up interior. The entire compartment was in a complete mess resulting from the many battering ram maneuvers he'd made while moving towards the initiates' rescue. He went about scavenging what was of use, chucking things not of use over his shoulder. He found the mining charges and the demo kit in a secure overhead compartment. He also grabbed another pulse rifle and what little ammunition he could find for it from the weapons locker before stowing it into a bag. He also grabbed a bolt-gun and a drum of bolts for some added punch. To top his whole findings off, he found some spare thermal gear and popped them on his shoulders.
He sighed to himself. 'I almost failed Ja'anya there.' He thought angrily. 'I won't let it happen again.'
He hopped out of the APC with his scavenged loot. Alaric saw that Kra'vyx was now sitting on his own as Ly'enta finished tending to his wounds. He had the healing salve administered to his chest and his face before protective coverings were wrapped around him. The pain meds were now keeping him oblivious to the pain. Alaric walked over to the initiates and placed the weapons on the ground, catching their attention. He grabbed the pulse rifle he'd been using and reloaded it, slamming the new magazine in place and thumbing grenades to the grenade launcher before cocking it.
He handed it Fel'tak before loading the second rifle. He then loaded up the bolt gun and handed it over to Mal'fax.
"Since you lot haven't got any ranged capabilities, I'll run you through this quick." He said as he held up the rifle he was using.
"This is a spec ops variant pulse rifle." He described, pointing to the relevant parts.
"10mm bullpup assault rifle with built in under slung 30mm pump action grenade launcher. Fires armor piercing rounds at 750 rounds per second along with high explosive grenades. Reflex sights for aiming per standard and the magazine contains a standard 95 rounds of ammunition." He then held the weapon in the correct manner, with barrel pointing down to the ground and the butt firmly into his shoulder.
"Aim down the sight, line 'em up and squeeze the trigger." He said, aiming at a crate. He then fired a burst and the rounds impacted the crate, punching holes in showers of sparks.
"You got that?" He asked. It was evident from the initiates' faces that it went way above their heads.
"So... you point this at the prey and squeeze the trigger?" Fel'tak queried.
Alaric nodded and then gestured to the crate. Fel'tak followed what Alaric did, only that he pressed the wrong trigger by mistake. The grenade launcher gave out a loud bang followed by the crates exploding in a huge fireball. Bits of incinerated crate went flying in smoking arcs all around. Fel'tak's eyes went wide at the destruction he caused. Alaric rolled his eyes, reached over, and cocked the pulse rifle's launcher. The spent shell pinged out and the fresh shell slid into the breech.
"Squeeze this trigger." He clarified, pointing at the correct part.
Fel'tak clicked his mandibles in embarrassment.
"Still. If you want something dead immediately, the grenade launcher is the way to go." Alaric added. "Just make the shot count."
He then moved to Mal'fax.
"This is a mining bolt-gun, used for punching holes in rock faces for anchor points." he explained, showing Mal'fax the workings of the tool.
"Works via the magnetic rail method, using magnetic force to propel bolts at high velocity. These 14mm tungsten alloy bolts have more penetration then a pulse rifle but it is limited to single shots only. This drum holds ten bolts. Make every one count."
Mal'fax nodded and he tried it out on a rock face, aiming for a hanging stalactite. He fired and a bolt went flying out and impacted the base of the spire. Large cracks formed in its wake and the piece of rock then snapped off and crashed into the ground. Mal'fax gave a content grunt to himself.
"Not bad for human technology." He said.
"Well, that's good to hear." Alaric added. "You and Fel'tak scrounge for anything of use from those hunters. It's not like they're gonna need it."
Mal'fax nodded and walked over to Fel'tak who was now holding the pulse rifle correctly. Mal'fax told him to salvage for supplies from the dead hunters. Alaric turned to Kra'vyx who was still sitting down. He saw that Kra'vyx was starting to shiver slightly from the cold, now that he had no thermal heating from his armor. Ly'enta was busy placing her own thermal pads onto him.
"Here, get him into these." He said, dumping the thermal gear in front of her.
Ly'enta removed the pads and then she and Alaric started to help Kra'vyx into the largest jacket that he found, helping Kra'vyx lift his arms into the sleeves. It took some effort but they were able to fit him inside and zipped him up. The jacket fit snuggly on him.
'Ja'anya and Zel'tyr are gonna flip the bend when they see him.' He thought.
Ly'enta attached the thermal packs into the jacket pockets. Alaric then put the jacket's hood up to keep Kra'vyx's head warm.
"Kra'vyx, are you okay to move." Alaric asked.
Kra'vyx simply nodded, still drugged at the moment to speak. Alaric bent down and with Ly'enta's aid, they helped Kra'vyx to his feet. Alaric looked around, saw one of the hunters' staves laying nearby and went to pick it up. He then came back and gave it to Kra'vyx as a prop. Ly'enta kept Kra'vyx steady as Kra'vyx put his weight on the stave. Mal'fax and Feltak came back to them, their arms full of salvaged gear. They both had surprised expressions because of the things that they found.
"Have you seen some of the gear these guys were packing?" Fel'trak said, dumping his load to the ground. From the myriad of items, ranging from weapons, tools and hunting gear, that he and Kra'vyx had scavenged, it was clear that these hunters were professionals, well equipped and totally devoted to winning by any means. Illegal means.
"You'd be severely punished, maybe even executed, if you were caught even holding one of these." Mal'fax said, holding up a vial of lava like liquid.
"This stuff makes even breathing and the circulation of blood excruciatingly painful." Mal'fax said nervously.
Alaric, upon seeing the vial, went silent. The mere sight of the glowing liquid brought the memory of that night back into his mind.
Alaric opened the door and the screams from his wife, Sam, and their son, Ares, grew louder. But before he could even see what was happening, he felt two things impale him in the chest, slicing through and between his ribs. Alaric fell to ground hard. When he instinctively pulled the two wrist-blades out of his chest, he saw glowing rivulets of orange dripping down into his body. And the pain that followed, like xenomorph acid pumping and burning through his veins, was something that even he had trouble suppressing. His vision was going blurred as his senses were overloaded and he strained to see what was going on. What he saw, as best as he could focus, was horrifying.
Sam was being violently raped by Sil'cais the Scourged while another Yautja was pinning her down and Ares, chained against the wall, was sadistically tortured by a large hulking Yautja and by a more lithe but somehow cold and calculating Yautja. Alaric strained against the ungodly pain coursing through his body as he gripped the blades in his hands, drawing his own blood and throwing them blindly. His efforts were greeted by a pained yell coming from a fifth Yautja. Alaric lifted his head and saw the Yautja clutching at his face, blood seeping from where the left eye used to be. The Yautja caught sight of Alaric struggling to pull himself up, pointed at him and roared.
"Alaric?" Ly'enta asked, shaking his shoulder. Alaric came round from his silence and memory and stood up.
"You were hit with this stuff?" Mal'fax guessed, lowering the vial.
"And it's something I won't forget any time soon." Alaric said, taking the vial from Mal'fax. "Still, something like this might come in handy." He slipped the vial into a pouch before focusing on the pile of salvaged gear.
"Everyone, gear up." Alaric said, reaching down into the pile.
Among other things that were salvaged were pieces of armor that Alaric hadn't torn apart with his axe. Mal'fax was already attaching armor to his arms and legs before grabbing the largest armored cuirass he could find to replace his ruined scale vest. Fel'tak was doing the same, armoring up his torso but leaving his limbs lightly armored for quicker movements. Ly'enta chose the lightest armor that she could find so her mobility would not be compromised. Alaric didn't choose any extra armor, stating that he was the least vulnerable or beat up out of all of them, apart from patching up his armor from his crash course through the refinery in the APC and then flying dive into those crates. The only things he did take were small metallic disks that Mal'fax confirmed to be plasma barriers, devices that create a barrier of burning plasma to block means of entry from hostiles. Alaric decided that these would be useful in slowing down the bugs if they were ever discovered and he popped them into one of his pouches. Kra'vyx, in a remarkable show of determination, was now heaving himself up more on the stave and struggling to maintain balance in his drugged state.
Mal'fax saw him trying and reached down to help his friend onto his shoulder. Ly'enta came up to attach segmented plates to Kra'vyx's chest and the back of his jacket for added protection. Alaric slipped on and checked his mask as he typed in the coordinates that Andrzej sent to him as the initiates prepared. Using the map data and survivor reports that he had examined back at the colony, he was soon able to get a rough location of where the first attacks originated. And conveniently, it wasn't that far from their current position. Only several kilometers into the mines.
"I have the location." He told the initiates, getting their attention. "Are you all ready?"
They all responded in turn, apart from Kra'vyx who simply nodded his head. Kra'vyx was doing everyone proud for holding up after all the damage that had been inflicted on him. Alaric could see that they were now armored and well equipped. They were now more like proper hunters rather then the poorly equipped and out of place initiates that had crash landed on this ice world. Like Alaric had said, Adapt or die. And the initiates were adapting.
"Right, lets go." Alaric said, turning to the mines entrance. "The faster we do this, the faster we can leave."
And with that, Alaric led them down into the mines, cocking his pulse rifle and switching his cloak field on. The initiates followed suit, Fel'tak grumbling that this was a bad idea with Mal'fax hushing him, and like ghosts, they vanished into the darkness of the mines. Like the souls of the dead flowing to the Underworld.
"Tan'kor is overdue." Mal'kah said, typing into his wrist-comp.
Qul'dan didn't pay attention, simply continuing to punch the rock wall. Whether he was taking out his stress from being denied a fight, not being allowed to follow Tan'kor and the hunters or if he was simply sparring wasn't known. But judging from the increasing pile of gravel that was accumulating around his feet, he seemed to be enjoying himself. Mal'kah watched as the brawler delivered some punishing blows that caused fragments of rock to chip off the wall and hairline fractures to snake across like a spider's web.
"Qul'dan. If you keep punching that wall, this whole mountain will colapse on itself." Mal'kah warned, halfheartedly.
Qul'dan ignored him as he delivered a fierce punch to the wall, the rock on the wall gave off a loud crack and then the wall's punished rock layer collapsed around him in a small avalanche of rubble. Qul'dan dusted his hands, stepped out of the rubble and turned to the veteran.
"If you are finished causing planetary destruction, I said Tan'kor is overdue." Mal'kah stated.
Qul'dan cracked his knuckles. The look on his face betrayed his contempt for that noble. "I couldn't care less whether that inbred moron is late or early." He answered. "He's probably doing what he does best. Rubbing his breeding into everyone's face and torturing 'low-borns'. He's likely torturing those initiates."
Mal'kah's wrist-comp bleeped, getting the veteran's attention. The surveillance drone was in connection and it was where Tan'kor was holding the initiates. Mal'kah punched in some keys and the holographic display projected what the drone was seeing to him and Qul;dan. Mal'kah raised an eyebrow while Qul'dan's eyes went wide.
"Well, that went as well as I can expect from him." Mal'kah said. What was shown was the aftermath of a massacre at the mines' entrance. There were the hunters, dead, gore soaked and eviscerated into many pieces or partially whole. The drone patrolled around the area, revealing more carnage and destruction before focusing on the Archangels' APC that was partially embedded into the wall and a large green puddle was pooled around it.
"How did that ooman cause so much death?" Qul'dan asked. "Do you see that one there? Completely sliced in two."
"Alaric clearly went into his Rage." Mal'kah concluded. "Hence the amount of damage inflicted everywhere."
Qul'dan looked around and he could not see whether or not any of the bodies was Tan'kor. Much to his annoyance.
"Where's Tan'kor?" Qul'dan asked. "Is he in some hidden corner in the fetal position while pissing himself?"
Mal'kah gave Qul'dan a disapproving look.
"If he's lucky." The veteran answered. "But I don't think Alaric would give him the chance, especially if Tan'kor did something to really infuriate him."
Mal'kah sighed. "Looks like we have only one choice." He concluded. "They will have to come back that way in order to get back to the other oomans. So, naturally, we won't let that happen."
Mal'kah switched the display off and flipped his wrist-comp shut. Qul'dan started to eagerly clench his hands, his knuckles cracking. He knew that, at last, he was going to get his hands on Alaric and the initiates and he was going to relish every part of the fight that was to come. Mal'kah saw that Qul'dan was getting excited by the prospect.
"You're that eager to fight him?" Mal'kah asked.
"Aren't you?" Qul'dan countered.
Mal'kah rubbed his eye plate as the phantom itch returned. In truth, he did want to pay Alaric back for his eye. He did, in a warrior's view, want vengeance against Alaric for his disfigurement. An eye for an eye as the old saying goes.
"Entirely professional." Mal'kah clarified.
"Me? Well, I'm always up for fighting him again." Qul'dan said. "Maybe he'll stay down this time but I wouldn't mind going for thirds."
"As much as your eagerness is somewhat commendable, our lord doesn't want him reappearing a third time." Mal'kah slipped his mask on and Qul'dan did the same.
"Very well. It is time to tend to this matter personally." Mal'kah declared, fading into nothing as his cloak field engaged as Quld'an followed suit.