CHAPTER 2

1300 Hours, Drop Zone, Mobian Airspace, 300Km South of House Acorn Territory.

The fifty foot drop the ground took three seconds, the tight rope harness they all wore let out forty feet and then the last ten feet was arrested suddenly by their drop belts. They landed on their feet barely, the ground vibrating as their boots hit the rocks. Finn looked around and ejected the rope from his harness, the dust from the engines above was creating a massive dirt storm and he could barely see the others in front of him. "Two section on the ground sir, advancing on objective" he sent out over the comms to Orin. Finn grabbed his weapon and slung it properly removing the safety catch. "Two section on me, move move move…" He got up and ran forward out of the dust cloud, immediately followed by his section. As they emerged they got the first sight of the target, a large black and ominous looking complex. Ahead of them they could see a reinforced door, set back in the complex's wall and it was shut tight. "Kull, use the explosives to blow the door" he shouted and pointed at the entrance. "The rest of you keep your eyes open"

Kull, the sections explosives expert ran forward to the door and unslung his pack, producing three circles. The placed them on the joints of the door and then pressed the correct arming codes. "Move back!" he shouted as a warning and then ran for it.

After five seconds, a loud crump sounded and one door flew out towards the transport that was still hovering, hitting its side with a clang. The pilot gave the troops the finger as he swung the aircraft around then took off. Two section regrouped and looked at the black hole that had been the doors. "Lights on!" Finn ordered and switched his own light pack on. "Kull, Haller take point and then rest of you follow up, clear the area"

Kull and Haller moved forward slowly into the darkness, followed by Finn and the others. They didn't know it yet, but today was going to be one of those days.

They managed to get sixty metres into the complex before reaching the first signs of resistance. In the briefing they had been warned that the enemy would be heavily armed and dangerous. Kull had managed to warn them in time to duck the firestorm that had opened up on them when they moved out of a corridor and into a large room of some kind. They returned fire, the crack of the plasma rifles deafening in the close quarters. After a few moments the return fire disappeared and ceased. Haller sent two grenades into the enemy position as a goodwill gesture and they detonated with a low bang. "Clear it and hold it" Finn shouted as he tried to make sense of the static on his radio. The others, led by Gilly moved up and searched the area returning back a moment or two later. "Couple of the wolves we were told about boss, had a heavy weapon put up for us. They are all down and out"

Finn nodded and then tried to contact Orin. "No joy on the radio" he seethed. "We will continue on until we come to the objective"

Gill nodded in agreement. "Right you are Corp, move till engage"

They returned to the others and then formed up again, moving towards the centre of the complex. Finn took a second to look at the bodies of the wolves as he passed them, all charred and bleeding from the plasma weapons and the grenades. He felt no emotion. They were heathens.

One minute later they got their second engagement. Haller screamed a warning to the others just in time to let them take cover. He took three shots to the back as he tried to get out of the way and fell to the floor with a thud. Steam coming from his body armour and a small pool of blood already forming underneath him. He was out cold.

"Return fire damn it!" Gill shouted as he stuck his rifle around a broken piece of wall and sprayed down the corridor.

Finn rose up and fired a full clip down the corridor, ducking just in time to avoid a searing shot over his head. He knelt down to reload and took his place next to Gill who was also reloading. They both looked at each other, then at Haller's twitching body. Gill took out a grenade and primed it. "On three" he said.

Finn smiled and told the others. They all nodded.

Gill threw the grenade over the top of the rubble and down the corridor. It landed, rolled and then went off with a loud thud, shaking the walls. Before the sound had even gone away all nine of them had begun charging down the corridor firing from the hip to clear the enemy. Behind them, Hallers body twitched again and then stilled.

Their firepower had managed to keep the enemies head down long enough for them to reach the barricade which had been set up. Finn realised he was empty and instead dived over the barricade with the others. Behind it, three wolves in heavy armour were cowering from the firepower. They watched as the section landed in front of them and then growled in defiance. They dropped their crude weapons and with a roar they charged Finns section, intent of tearing them apart with their bare claws.

Kull managed a short ranged burst of fire that punched the first off its feet with a spray of blood and in return was batted across the corridor and into the opposite wall with a horrible crunch of bone, he literally slid down the solid steel wall and came to a stop in a heap on the floor. Gill ran up to bayonet the one who had attacked Kull and managed to score a hit on the creatures leg, the steel running right through the thigh and out of the other side. The wolf roared in pain and then punched him in the head, throwing him to the floor. Finn managed to duck a wild blow from one of the almost frothing wolves and quick draw his long fighting knife, lifting up with momentum he managed to ram it up to the hilt in the beast's stomach and just about push the heavy wolf from on top of him and to the floor. A second later he was knocked to the ground and blacked out for a moment as something heavy hit him across the back.

When he awoke he could see Gill fighting with the remaining wolf, with Private Gabor on the wolfs back trying to pull it off him. The wolf bit through Gabor's forearm with a messy attack and then threw him over his shoulder. Gill managed to pull out his sidearm and shot the wolf though the head twice, the shots making the beasts head recoil back wickedly. The body of the wolf stayed upright for a moment and then it slumped sideways. Finn watched as Gill managed to claw his way from under the corpse and after a moment of catching his breath, reload his rifle and retrieve his knife.

Finn got to his feet painfully and then retrieved his rifle and knife also. He took stock of the situation as quickly as possible. He had three men down, Haller, Kull and Gabor, the latter was whimpering silently to himself as he tried to stem the flow of blood pouring from his arm. He detailed the medic, Private Jang to deal with Gabor whilst he checked Kull. It only took him a second to realise that he was dead, no living things neck was that shape without it being broken. Gill came back a few moments later carrying Haller's body as well on his shoulder. "Bled out boss" he cursed. "He's going to need an evac right now or he's a gonner"

Finn almost growled as he ordered the others to fan out and secure the dimly lit room. He was impressed with the way the section had dealt with the wolf's in hand to hand combat but he had lost two guys in under a minute. He knelt down and took Kull's dog tags, ripping them off. "Section two to command, this is Corporal Finn, do your receive?"

Static for a moment and then some garbled messages. The line sorted itself out in a few more seconds and Finn could clearly hear gunfire over the radio. "Two this is One, go ahead"

"Heavy resistance sir, one man killed in action, one man seriously injured and one man wounded sir, what are your orders?"

The line crackled for a moment whilst Orin made up his mind. "Two this is One, move forward to link up with my section. We have a medical team with us. Scanner shows we are only three hundred metres away to your east. Move as quickly as possible. Over."

Finn sagged at the order. "Received sir, moving to link up"

"Good luck" Orin replied and then the line went dead.

"Orders boss?" Gill asked, wiping some blood from his mouth and covering the corridor.

"We move up, we always move up"

"Right you are boss" he replied spitting some more blood away. "Moving up"

Two minutes later they managed to arrive at an intersection of two corridors, making a crossroads. The far door had been destroyed by explosives and power cables flickered with energy as they wriggled unsecured on the floor. The right hand entrance still had a door that was secured. That was the way to the centre of the complex. Finn sent up Jang to search around and he came back a few moments later. "Looks like our guys up ahead Corporal; the Lieutenant is occupying the next room"

Finn thanked him and ordered his men to move up. They came to the junction and took the left hand corridor until they came to a large room which had been taken with a fierce firefight. Both doors had been annihilated by a blast and the ground was hot from a detonation. The room had a thick layer of smoke which was only negated by the helmets they all wore. He looked around at the other troopers and the corpses that lay on the floor; almost fifteen of the wolves like he had fought lay dead.

They linked up with the others and took defensive places; Gill took the injured Haller to the medics who were waiting for him whilst Finn found the lieutenant talking to a comms officer both of them kneeling down. He joined them and saluted Lieutenant Orin. "It was pretty bad back there sir, very hard hand to hand with those Wolves"

"We've had the same here Corporal; unfortunately the swine's have managed to shut off the inner sanctum before we could get there" he pointed to the reinforced door Finn had seen at the intersection. "We don't have the right gear to get through, so im calling up some reinforcements"

Finn nodded slowly and looked through the smoke towards the door. It was pockmarked with previous detonations but they had obviously been unable of getting through. He turned back to the officer. "What's in there?" he asked innocently.

"Don't know Corporal" Orin replied genuinely. "Not my place to know, but im damn well not going to be stopped by a bloody door"

A shout came up from one of the troops near the doorway and then a loud crack of gunfire as they opened fire. "You may not have to worry about the reinforcement's sir" Finn replied whilst jumping to his feet. "I think someone opened it"

Orin jumped to his feet also and was knocked back down again with all the others as a large explosion ripped its way through the room engulfing the roof in fire. "What the hell!" he shouted trying to find his feet again.

"Legion!" someone shouted and then gurgled as he was run through.

Finn staggered to his feet and looked through the smoke that was clearing at three dark figures approaching his troops, stepping out of the now open doorway. They were firing short controlled bursts of fire, each of them twice the size of a regular trooper. All of the return shots that hit just bounced off their metal armour. They cackled manically and muttered guttural curses as they advanced, red eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Destroyers!" he screamed and fired his rifle at the approaching behemoths. "Bring them down!"

As one all of the troopers that had been in the room and were able opened fire on the beasts. Instead of drabs of fire at first, they were hit by a veritable fusillade of plasma and solid shell fire from twenty troopers which continued to bounce harmlessly off their powerful armour. They made no sound except the whirring of their rapid fire cannons and occasional a hiss as a piece of important machinery was hit by a stray round. They kept moving slowly towards the troops, not breaking stride. Behind them the door to the centre remained open. "Fall back!" Gill shouted, emerging from the smoke carrying yet another wounded man. "Fall back, we need heavier weaponry!"

Finn saw him running towards him with the wounded trooper and then stop as something thudded into the back of him. He watched in horror as Gill just stopped as his eyes rolled back into his head, he dropped the wounded soldier and then fell to his knees. He stayed there for a second and then slumped forward over the trooper he had been carrying.

"Regroup and fall back!" Orin screamed at the smoke. "Move backwards to the next room!" he got up and ran towards the room, his comms officer following him. Finn just got up and ran with him, hoping to Edmund he didn't catch one in the back like Gill had. As he entered the room his heart dropped again. Up ahead of him in the dark were six dark figures, dressed in sinister body hugging uniforms and wearing skull masks. They were approaching through the smoke at a rapid pace. "Behind us, there's more here! He shouted. He was about to pull the trigger when Orin grabbed the rifle and pushed it way.

"Reinforcements" Orin shouted at him over the din of the battle. He winked and then turned around to continue firing and the approaching Legionnaires. Finn took another look at the approaching figures for a moment. They looked so sinister and so alike to the pictures he had seen that it was unbelievable to think they were not Legion. He watched in awe as they picked their targets up ahead in the room and began firing their weapons. The rifles didn't fire like the standard plasma rifle did, they kicked and jerked, but they were obviously much more potent that the one he carried. He sagged against a pillar and just stared at them as one of the group reloaded with practised ease and then continued to fire. He noticed a large high powered shot from somewhere in the darkness which screamed down the hall past him and the lieutenant and struck home with a loud bang. A sniper weapon.

"Move back Lieutenant, take up firing positions alongside us" One of the figures had ordered without so much of a gasp. "Together we can hold this room"

Orin nodded and shouted to the rest of his men that were standing, all seven of them. They sprinted back to the firing figures and took up a position next to them in a rough defensive line. "Fire" he shouted at his troops and they opened fire again as one. Finn amongst them.

Despite the roar of the formidable firepower the three daemonic figures approached towards the door and nearly entered the room. The smoke wasn't anywhere near as thick and Finn could see them clearly. Like all other troopers, he had been given training on different Legionnairetactics and weaponry and they had all scoffed at the poor photos they had been handed to study. There was no laughing now. The creatures were huge, armoured to the teeth. The lead one carried a large barrelled rifle in his right arm and a massive powered claw on the left hand which was drenched in bright red blood. The creatures head was nothing more that an armoured face, half a skull and half uncovered robotics with a baleful red glass eye socket. It hissed and groaned as the mechanisms inside its body held it upright.

"Dear Edmund…" Finn whispered, unable to do anything else in the frightening presence of the beasts. He didn't even hear his rifle run out of ammunition; he just kept pulling the trigger.

"Fall back!" someone shouted from behind them. "Jacob, get them back and get to the objective, ill deal with this!"

Finn turned to see a very powerfully muscled figure, dressed in similar armour to the others running towards them. His spines trailed out behind him as he closed in. As the figure ran past them all Orin grabbed Finns arm and pulled him alongside him. "Come on!" he screamed. Finn began running alongside his lieutenant but looked back over his shoulder. Finn somehow made one of those heroic decisions you only regret for the few remaining moments of your life. "Carry on sir" he shouted whilst pulling out his knife. "Im going back to help"

Orin looked at him for a moment and then at the disappearing skull masked figure moving through the darkness. "Good luck" he replied as he ran off with his men following the one called Jacob and the five other skull masked warriors.

With more than a little hesitance Corporal Finn ran back to the room to help and in doing so became the sole witness to something that he would never forget.

The first thing he noticed was that everything seemed to slow down to a crawl as he watched the fight. For some reason he looked at his hand and then clenched it twice.

The second thing he noticed was the combat between the sole figure and the LegionnaireDestroyers. The figure stood in the centre of the room for a moment and just stared at them. They appeared to be staring back. All three had now entered the room and stood apart by a few meters, obviously attempting to circle the figure. The figure stood motionless except he casually scanned all three of them, looking at their eyes, not flinching.

The Legionnaires returned the glares, doing nothing. Then all at once they moved together to attack, frightingly quickly.

The figure moved quicker than anything Finn had ever seen. He ducked the first attack of a large claw and then span around to block another attack aimed at his stomach. The air around the figure seemed to glimmer for a second with a red hot haze, he shook violently for a single second and then he began his counter attack. The skull masked figure barged all three of the massive Destroyers away and grabbed one by the claw. He bent it back and simply tore it off the machine with a shower of sparks and a cry of rage from the Legionnaire. He followed up with a right hand punch that lifted the thing off its feet and threw it to the ground two metres away.

Standing still and breathing heavily, the figure dropped the powered claw to the floor and looked at the other two though his skull mask. He moved closer to them both and then pounced like a predatory cat. He landed a powerful undercut on one of them and then another straight after. He fell on top of the machine as it staggered over, literally smashing the thing to the ground and then wiping out its circuits and head with incredibly powerful blows to the face and neck. Black oil and sparks flew out in all directions as he continued to pummel the Destroyer into a pulp.

Finn couldn't believe what he was seeing or even understand how much strength was required to literally tear an armoured limb from a LegionnaireDestroyer. All he could focus on through the haze was the third machine, now approaching the figure and about to smash him with its large mace like arm whilst he grappled with the fallen Legionnaire.

For some unknown reason to himself, and something he would never understand Corporal Finn charged with his knife. He leapt onto the creatures back and plunged his blade as far as it would go through the creatures head and down through its skull. He held on for all his life whilst he continued to drive the blade further and further, trying to move it about to cause more damage. The Destroyer turned around and around, trying to shake him from its back but couldn't. His arms ached but he held on. After what seemed like an eternity the mammoth creature sagged, held out a horribly mechanised arm as if reaching for something and then toppled to the ground with him under it in, wriggling in its death throes.

It crushed the wind from his lungs and as he tried to free himself he could feel his eyesight fading. He was a dead man, the creature weighed tonnes and it had fallen on him. Finn held out a hand for something to hold onto as his eyesight blacked out and the world faded. He was aware for briefest second of someone holding it reply.