Chapter 14
The II Het was placed against the wall. What we expected was a small hangar with an equally small number of Kelbrids residing within. When the II Het started to flash a startling red, we knew that our assumptions were justified.
Six flashes. Seven flashes. Eight. Nine… Nine flashes. Nine Kelbrids. At least.
The Survey Party retreated to the wall opposing the hangar. They would scan the station's outer air shell and prep a hole in the compartment for the Engineers' entry. Taking their place was the Sweep Party, armed to the teeth and each sporting a blue-green striped shoulder strap. They shouted directions through thought-speak and invaded the area beside the door, guarded by Marco and Santorelli.
Six of them against nine Kelbrids. Even without surprise on their side, the odds were good. Their abilities were impeccable, so we had been told.
The signal scrambler was fired off for a second time, and that was the cue. Arkv tapped a finger to the cold wall, and the Sweep Party leader released a sharp hiss. Marco and Santorelli stepped aside.
A Kelbrid hand slid to the opening side of the circular door. The team was poised and ready…
Then the light of the hangar burst through, replacing the bodies of the Sweep as they bundled out. The guttural shouts of Kelbrids echoed in, whether from our own or the adversaries. The click of paralysis gun fire quickly followed. All the while, Arkv had a hand raised into the air. We all watched and waited until the moment that he shot it back down.
I got up, pulling on my aching, kneeling legs, and gripped tighter on my gun. Marco and Santorelli, closest to the action, had already entered the battlefield. I was next through, charging with full speed at the tightest angle from the hangar door I could be allowed. Behind me came the deafening sting of a stunner blast, a burst of electric energy. The Kelbrids were firing back. Golden flashes decorated the air.
((Move in, Tobias!)) came a shout from Arkv. ((Push them central!))
I halted my run along the edge and allowed my sight to peer into the action. I saw two blasts of enemy fire, but the only bodies I saw were our own, crouched behind large objects and shuffling forward, keeping to the ground.
WEEEEEOOOOO! WEEEEEOOOOO!
The station's alarms were sounding! It was inevitable, but it came as a burst of panic, anyway. I ordered myself verbally to focus and recalled Arkv's order. I bent down and crept forward, finding shelter behind a big, boxy wheeled vehicle. The Kelbrid fire was blasting some way off, so I deemed it safe to turn and aim. I slid my gun around the side first and followed with my head.
I saw a small number of downed Kelbrids, maybe four or five. Not a single one had a shoulder strap. Nearby, I saw Jake crouched beside half a Kelbrid ship, fiddling with his weapon's spare ammo. He was temporarily out of action. When I noticed that no enemy was within eyesight, I snuck over to his hidden position.
((I see four down,)) I said, accepting the worst-case scenario. ((You out of ammo?))
((No, man. Just reloading the damn thing.))
((I have you covered.))
He ducked back further while I hovered at the edge of our shelter. The firing was still present, though more infrequent. I heard calls that they'd been blocked from the only exit from the hangar, but with the alarm raised, their reinforcements were surely not far. The sense of urgency to end it now was swelling between us.
I swiveled, bringing the paralysis gun to attention and gazing down the barrel. Two of ours had pushed up, still in the midst of the battle. I stayed low to the ground and emerged from my spot, unblinking as I searched for whoever remained in our way.
There! I had seen one! Joined with frantic, panicked calls was what appeared to be the last hostile Kelbrid sprinting behind a large green concave barrel. Starved of reinforcement, his shots were aimless and chaotic.
"Back-up!" he screamed over sizzling weapon fire. "Back-up, hangar!"
((Kelbrid reinforcement will arrive within the minute!)) Arkv shouted with insistence. ((Get it over with!))
I charged forward past another defense, holding the gun barrel to my eye line, seeing the head of the last Kelbrid wobbling around the scope. I slowed, focused harder, tried to get him perfectly in line…
I flicked the cylindrical trigger. The barrel clicked, the cube surrounding the dart melted and set off some complicated chemical reaction. The soaked dart blasted away with the politest of explosions, sent hurtling like a missile to the target!
Chink!
It bounced harmlessly against the side of his metallic cover. Damn!
I flicked a switch to reload, sending another cube hurtling around the weapon's ungainly loop, readying it once more. But before I could even think about retaking my aim, the opportunity had passed. A dart, doused in the peculiar anesthetic, sank snugly behind the Kelbrid's baffled right eye. He swayed and then collapsed forwards, colliding with the barrel and falling consequently backward. He was down.
((Got the bastard!)) called Santorelli victoriously.
Then came Arkv's next ear-piercing order: ((Secure the corridor! Move it, move it, move it!))
The Sweep Party was the first to organize. They sprinted to the hangar exit route and began the next assault. A defensive turret was placed. They would progress further down the ship, securing all that they could with whatever surprise element remained. Our Holding Party was to do just that: Hold.
They pushed down the corridor to the inevitable tune of weapons blasting. Arkv pulled our party closer together, just behind the exit, and waited on signals coming from ahead. The Sweep Party leader reported as they worked to secure the first compartments. When he did, Arkv commenced the next steps.
((Begin infiltration of the air shell! Holding Party, secure emergency entrance!))
Jake added a delegated order. ((Mendy, Tobias on me! Sarge, Marco, position by the main entrance!))
Fruyt added from nearer the storage compartment, ((Medical post set. Providing guard to Survey Party.))
((Hold positions until my command!)) Arkv concluded.
I jogged towards Jake, who was climbing a set of steps to a small, discrete emergency entrance that hugged the starboard wall. Jake pushed cautiously through, uncovering a grungy, shadowy passageway, and gazed into the unknown. ((Clear,)) he said.
Menderash and I joined him at the threshold. I took a look myself, seeing the passage descend towards the opposite end of the ship with a slight curve inwards. No noises, no sign of an oncoming force.
But any competent tactician would see its value. It would only be a matter of time. The question was: How many would come charging our way?