Chapter 26
"Area secure and the bomb is in place, you are good to come and join us Captain Rex," came Emotions voice through Rex's communicator.
"Copy that, Emotion, we're on our way," Rex replied back.
Captain Rex turned and faced his group.
"You heard him, load up. We have a mission to finish," Rex told them.
The remaining members of the elite clone troopers that Rex had brought with him boarded the elevator along with the bomb that Pyro was carrying. Once Rex was finished with his head count and made sure no one had gotten left behind, Rex joined his brothers and the Jedi in the elevator.
"Express elevator to Chaos going down," Jester said, trying to lighten the mood.
Everyone ignored his commit though as the elevator began to descend to the lower floor. The tension could be felt in the air as the fourteen clone troopers and one Jedi prepared themselves for the fight that was to come. After what seemed like hours, the elevator finally came to a stop and the doors opened to the reactor room.
Captain Rex was the first to leave the elevator and meet the droid captain that stood there waiting for them. The others then quickly left the elevator and spread out through the room, double checking it to make sure it was secure.
"Pyro, arm the bomb and set the timer," Rex ordered him. "We won't have the time to do it when we open that door,"
Pyro nodded and armed the bomb he had before Emotion showed him the location of the other bomb so that he could do the same thing it.
"How long should I set the timer?" Pyro asked.
Rex looked to Emotion who replied with a shrug of the shoulders.
"Set it for forty standard minutes. That should give us plenty of time to fight our way through the tunnel and back along with a little extra time to deal with complications," Rex ordered.
Pyro nodded and went to work on setting the timer while Rex and Emotion headed to the blast door. The two battle droids and a couple clones had their blasters trained on the door as the two arrived.
"You sure this thing is going to open?" Rex asked, examining the door.
"There's only one way to find out," Emotion said, as approached the doors controls.
Rex nodded and shouted. "Weapons at the ready troopers!"
Emotion pressed a command and the door slowly began to lift up as the clones and droids readied their weapons and steadied themselves, the hum of a lightsaber activating could heard amongst the sounds of blasters being readied.
The blast door continued to retract into the ceiling to reveal the seemingly endless tunnel of darkness that it had concealed. The room became eerily silent as everyone held their breaths and waited for a command.
Rex looked into the darkness and knew they were there, waiting for them to blindly run at them, but captain Rex wasn't going to play the way they wanted him to.
"Flares!" Rex ordered.
Several red and green flares were then fired into the darkness to reveal that the walls, the ceiling and the floor to be covered with the same organic compound that covered the door.
"My, they have been busy," Emotion commented.
Rex was about to give the order to move out when X-2.0 1 jumped in front of him. The cyborg stood, looking out into the darkness when suddenly a brief blur of motion lighten by the flares caught its attention.
"They were waiting for us," The cyborg commented.
Rex was about to make a reply when a mutated screech from the tunnel caught everyone's attention. The sound of something big approaching made the group uneasy. Suddenly a large, six legged xenomorph charged out of the darkness and into the group. X-2.0 1 pushed both Rex and Emotion out of the way while the others rolled to the sides. The two battle droids however weren't as fast and were crushed by the six legged xenomorph. The others were quick to open fire on the creature as several more xenomorphs streamed into the room after the larger one.
Rex quickly got up and fired at an approaching xenomorph and side stepped as another one jumped at him before scurrying up the wall.
"Emotion!" Rex shouted over the blaster firer. "What kind of Sithspawn is that thing?"
"It seems like the xenomorphs managed to implant an embryo into the acklay I had," Emotion shouted back.
Rex was tackled by a xenomorph and slammed against the wall of the room. The xenomorph then jumped forward to finish the job only to be cut in half by, Jedi Floraroma's lightsaber. Rex thanked the Jedi with a nod and stood back to back with her, firing at xenomorphs that approached while she kept them away with the Force and cut down any that got to close.
"We have to find a way to kill that thing," Rex said to the Jedi. "Any ideas ma'am?"
"If you could keep it distracted long enough, I could cut its legs, disabling it long enough for me to kill it," She replied back, Force pushing a xenomorph off a pinned clone.
Rex nodded. "Pyro, Emotion, anyone! Help me distract the xenomorph acklay so Master Floraroma can kill it,"
"Consider it already done!" Emotion called at him.
Rex looked to see Emotion, back against the wall, shooting at the xenomorph acklay and dodging its attacks. Rex and Floraroma rushed to Emotions aid as Pyro joined them.
"Get Emotion out of there, I'll distract it," Pyro told them.
Rex was about to protest, but it was too late. Pyro had already rushed behind the creature, flamethrower he pulled off his back at the ready. Pyro moved behind the creature and opened fire, sending a stream of fire at the creature. It let out a screech of pain and turned to face its attacker. Pyro continued to light the creature up with the flame while Emotion aimed a concentrated blast of electricity at one of its back legs.
The creature let out an angry screech of pain as one of its back legs was blown off while another one was cut. It reared up one of its front legs and impaled Pyro with it.
"No!" Rex shouted, as he witnessed Pyro's death.
The xenomorph acklay, burning and missing two of its back legs tried to charge forward but was flipped on its back by a powerful Force push from Floraroma. The Jedi then jumped on the creatures belly and quickly sliced its head off before jumping off it, throwing her lightsaber to cut through a xenomorph that was on the front of super battle droid, accidently cutting through the droid as well.
Rex joined the Jedi and caught sight of Identity and the rest of the droids running into the tunnel with the bomb, Shade following behind.
"Troopers let's move out, we have to cover the others," Rex ordered following after them.
As they entered the tunnel two clones were pounced on by a couple of xenomorphs but they couldn't afford to stop, they had to get the bomb to the queen's chamber.
The journey through the tunnel was complete chaos; blaster fire was everywhere as the xenomorphs came seemingly from nowhere to attack them. Directions on where they were coming from were coming from every clone as they tried to coordinate their fire.
Rex was running with an eye on Emotion and the other on his surroundings so he would know when to shoot and when to avoid the attack from the xenomorphs. Rex was then suddenly pushed forward by an unknown force and found himself next to Emotion as Floraroma launched them, along with Identity, Shade and the bomb forward.
They were quick to get back onto their feet from the sudden forward push and continued running deeper into the hive.
"We're almost at the door," Emotion told them.
Rex nodded and took a glance back to see Floraroma, armed now with both her lightsaber and the electrostaff from a fallen MagnaGuard as she cut down and swat back the oncoming xenomorphs, while Shadow, Jester, X-2.0 1 and the remaining droids and clones helped by shooting down xenomorphs that were still at a distance.
They arrived at a heavily covered door and Emotion quickly typed in a command on a console on the wall and the door slowly began to open before stopping half way.
"There's too much around it, this is about as far as it's going to open," Emotion told them.
"It'll do, let's move," Rex ordered.
The door had opened enough that they only had to crouch down a little to get under the door. The room they entered was large and was covered entirely with the strange substance that covered the tunnel and door. Two automatic turrets hung from the ceiling, unmoving and damaged. Rex and Shade quickly scanned the room while Identity and Emotion moved forward with the bomb.
Rex and Shade were about follow when a strange object in front of them suddenly exploded. Rex looked to see Emotion had his zap cannon pointed where the object use to be. As Rex looked at the ground he noticed several more of the large objects.
"It might be best if you two stay there. The floor is covered with the eggs," Emotion explained.
Rex nodded. "Alright, but make it quick, Emotion,"
Emotion nodded and hurried to catch up with Identity when Shade raised his weapon at something moving towards the back of the room. Towards the back of the room, suspended from the ground in some kind of organic throne was an extremely large xenomorph that had what appeared to be an egg sack underneath it and a crown like crest on its head.
"Captain Rex, allow me to introduce to you XQ the Xenomorph Queen," Emotion told him.
The queen raised its head and let out a hiss as Identity set the bomb down in front of it. Suddenly two xenomorphs appeared from the walls to the sides of Rex and Shade. Both raised their blasters at the newcomers. The two xenomorphs hissed at the clones while Emotion raised his zap cannon at an egg. The queen hissed at Emotion as he did so.
"I'll do it, I';; destroy every last one of your eggs and I plan to, but if you call if your children it won't be as soon," Emotion said to her.
The queen let out another hiss and moved one of its smaller arms. The two xenomorphs then disappeared back into the shadows. Emotion lowered his weapon.
"You've been a very naughty girl, XQ, so I have no choice but to do this," Emotion said to the queen.
Emotion looked down at Identity as he looked at the bomb, but the imposter droid didn't move.
Without looking up at Emotion, ID said. "It was damaged on the way here. I'll have to stay behind and set it off manually,"
Emotion was about to protest but a call from outside stopped him.
"Hurry it up in there!" Jester cried. "Things aren't getting any easier out here,"
"Go, get, Rex and the others out of here. I'll make sure the bomb goes off" Identity pleaded. "Please, captain,"
Emotion nodded and turned to regroup with the others. Rex and Emotion then ducked back under the blast door, but Shade stayed behind.
"Shade what are you doing?" Rex asked.
Shade replied by dropping his blaster and opening his hands to reveal several thermal detonators.
"Shade you can't be serious get of there now, that's an order trooper!" Rex ordered.
Shade ignored the captain and lobbed a detonator into a group of eggs. It exploded destroying several xenomorph eggs and causing the queen to let out a roar of anger and pain. Rex was about to drag Shade out of the room when he was suddenly pulled back by Emotion and was dragged down the tunnel.
"I'm sorry; Rex, but we just don't have the time. We have to get out of here now," Emotion told him as they ran down the tunnel with the others.
Shadow, Jester, Floraroma, X-2.0 1, two clone troopers and a MagnaGuard were all that remained of the group by the time Rex and Emotion joined them. They then ran for the reactor room before sprinting for the elevator. Once Emotion and the others entered the elevator the MagnaGurad spun its staff around and began to fight back the oncoming xenomorphs as the doors closed.
The elevator rose to the main floor and the doors had just barely opened before the group was hurryingly exiting the elevator.
The xenomorph queen let out a ferocious screech as it began to pull itself away from the egg sac and collapsed onto the ground. Identity saw this and was about to activate the bomb before being pulled back by two xenomorphs. While Identity fought with the xenomorphs the queen got back and headed for the door. Shade quickly picked up his blaster and ducked under the door just as the queen began to crawl its way under it. Shade aimed his weapon at the doors controls and shot at it, destroying the controls and causing the door to drop back down.
The queen however stopped the door before it could crush her and held it that way as it tried to maneuver its body out from under the door without being crushed. Shade took this time to roll a thermal detonator under the door, hoping it would land next to the bomb and cause it to explode.
The queen managed to go out from under the door and knocked Shade aside as it ran past. The queen ran through the tunnel, into the reactor, scaled the wall and began to tear through the ceiling when the bomb in her chambers went off, causing the entire base to shake.
Rex and the others were in the hallway for the south hanger when they felt the floor beneath them tremble.
"The second bomb must have gone off we have to hurry," Emotion stated.
The group picked up their pace when one of the clones tripped and was grabbed by a xenomorph that popped out of the floor. The other clone stopped and tried to help only to be grabbed by a xenomorph and pulled into the ceiling.
Shadow heard the commotion and turned to see the two clones disappear and xenomorphs take their places. Shadow cursed and began to fire at the xenomorphs while walking backwards.
The others managed to reach the door and quickly ran through. When Shadow reached the door he closed and shot the controls and continued to shoot down the xenomorphs until he was over ran. He then activated a thermal detonator, killing himself and several xenomorphs.
Floraroma locked back when she felt Shadow leave the physical plane and become one with the Force. She bowed her head before running to catch up with the others.
Emotion suddenly stopped, pulled the strange wrist gauntlet off of his belt and quickly began to examine it. Rex and the others stopped with him.
"Now isn't the time to study that thing Emotion," Rex said angrily.
Emotion replied by pointing at a strange looking droid ship. The front of the ship resembled that of a droid gunship while the back shared a resemblance to that of an LAAT/i but it was divided into two separate sections with the loading ramp at the back down.
"That's the droid dropship I was telling you about take it and leave. I'll stay behind and destroy the hanger. This thing is a bomb, I think, and once I figure out how to activate it I'll be able to destroy the hanger and any xenomorphs that try to escape," Emotion explained.
"No, Emotion you must go with them" Floraroma said. "Thanks to the Force I'll be able to hold back any xenomorphs better then you could,"
"She's right, Emotion, I don't know how to fly that thing and I don't have the codes to open the hanger" Rex explained. "You have to be with us if we are to escape,"
Emotion let out a frustrated huff before saying. "Fine, X-2.0 1, make sure there are no stowaways. Rex, you and Jester need to get to the ship, I'll join you once I activate the bomb and hand it to the Jedi,"
The three nodded and quickly headed for the ship while Emotion pressed buttons on the gauntlet. When the red letters that appeared on the gauntlet began to tick down, He gave it to the Jedi who then flung him to the ship.
Emotion quickly got back to his feet and headed into the cockpit while Rex and the others shot at the xenomorphs that were heading towards Floraroma form the safety of the ship.
The Jedi was expertly dodging the xenomorphs while sending them flying into each other against the walls. She clamped the ticking bomb to her waist and cut through the xenomorphs that got close. She watched as the hanger bay doors opened and the droid dropship began to lift into the area. As she fought with the oncoming xenomorphs she felt something huge disrupt the Force as the queen xenomorph burst from the floor.
She pushed back the xenomorphs around her and focused her attention on the queen. The queen however wasn't interested in the Jedi; instead it grabbed a hold of the dropship's down loading pay and began to pull itself into the second section of the ship.
Floraroma took in a quick breath and focused on the queen, reaching out to it with the Force before pulling. The queen was pulled down to the ground and lost its grip on the ship as it turned to face the world outside the hanger. The queen let out a frustrated roar as it fought against the unknown force pulling it backwards.
Floraroma was too focused on the queen to notice the xenomorph sneak behind her. She then let out a pained gasp as the xenomorph impaled her with its tail. Floraroma lost her grip on the queen long enough for it to quickly crawl its why into the back of the ship as the loading door closed and the ship left the hanger.
The xenomorphs then began to hurry to the opened hanger door so they could escape when the off world wrist gauntlet exploded, destroying the hanger and the xenomorphs. There was suddenly another much larger explosion as the bomb on the reactor went off destroying the bottom portion of the base and causing it to explode into huge ball of fire, incinerating everything around it.