by M. J Kreyzer
Hendrick paused when he realized that, now, he was only talking to himself. Her breaths were so shallow they were barely noticeable, and Hendrick knew that it wasn’t long before she was gone. He lifted her head and drew her in as though for the last time.
He held her tight, resting his head on hers, as he felt the warmth of her body, the soft touch of her skin. He held her for what could have been forever, and if he’d died right there alongside her he would have been completely content.
There was an explosion in the direction of the shipyard that snapped Hendrick back to sobriety.
Seraphine could fix her. He’d seen what she’d done for him and she could easily do the same for Sable.
But not if she was dead.
Hendrick put his other arm beneath her legs, gave Sable one last embrace and got to his feet, grabbing his mask as he did. With careful, depressed steps and a heavy limp, Hendrick made his way towards the shipyard. Sable hung limp in his arms, her weight being a constant reminder of what he had to do. And Sable wasn’t the only one who was reminded of why she fought against the Commune, fought for freedom. And looking down at her dying form, Hendrick knew that he could never give up, never let them win. For a long time it had been a pride issue, but now it was something more. It was for freedom, real freedom. It was for a life he had always wanted, and saving Sable was the only chance he’d ever have at finding that life.
With distant, echoing gunshots and explosions winding through the streets, Hendrick adjusted the settings on his Blazers while keeping Sable resting gently in his arms. He was going to make it to the ship, get to Seraphine, and Sable would be fine. And it’d be a gruesome, bloody encounter for any Legionnaire that stood in his way.
Chapter 30
Legionnaires poured across the shipyard by the thousands, bearing down on the hovering battle cruiser at dock. From the docking bays open doors on the cruiser’s belly, incessant gunfire kept several Battlecrafts at bay, hampering their attempts to land and, after receiving revised orders, kill Rush and the Ditrinity.
Inside the ship’s bridge it was a flurry of frantic activity. Engineers and pilots ran everywhere as they prepared for takeoff. With the battlecruiser armadas bearing down on their position and the new ‘kill at all costs’ order that had been issued, they worked with the very real idea that their lives depended on it.
Merino shouted orders with anxiety and apprehension blatantly raging across his face. From the command module he kept an eye on the radar signatures of the enemy aircraft. And they had just taken radar scans from the areas outlying the Bremmonni Badlands; dozens of enemy Strikers and Blackshredders were inbound.
“You!” Came the gravelly voice of Pontious. Merino spun around to meet him.
“We gotta take off!” Pontious explained angrily. With his injuries he could barely stand. “We’re getting pushed back in the docking bay and Legionnaires are forcing their way in through the upper decks! So once Seraphine and Sable get-“
“What do you think I’m trying to do!” Merino shouted and pointed to the rest of the bridge. “What, you think this think starts like a car! We have to go through an entire launch sequence before we can-“
“WELL GET IT STARTED!”
“Captain!” Came the voice of one bridge operator. “Legionnaires are coming up the elevators and flooding the terminals. With the equipment they have they’ll slice through the bulkhead doors and onboard in a matter of minutes.”
Merino swore and pounded his fist against the wall. “Where’s Hendrick?” He asked. “We need him to get a team together to hold off those boarding parties.”
“Hendrick is gone.” Pontious growled. “So’s Sable, Tess, and Muldoon.”
“Then you lead them!” Merino demanded desperately. “Man the turrets, protect the gates, if we have to lock down the docking bay then that could buy us some time.”
“Why haven’t you closed the blast doors to the docking bay!”
“They don’t close until we’ve started up! What, you think I’m retarded!”
“Just get it started!” Pontious yelled, turning his back and limping towards the door. On the brink of losing it entirely, Merino turned back to the bridge. It was clear that, in the terrifying pandemonium, Merino was no longer thinking clearly.
Back at the central bulkhead, Morlo had already moved into position. His legs weak, he stumbled against the sides of the pipe lined tunnels with his axe dragging behind him. After pulling several syringes full of stolen Stimulant Dose, Morlo injected two into his bicep and felt a new wave of energy flow through him. With renewed strength (though still in incredible pain) Morlo sniffed up blood from his nose, swung the axe into both hands and sped up into a crooked jog.
As he came up on the bulkhead he heard pounding. It wasn’t hard hits, though. They were weak, pitiful, and Morlo quickly popped it open.
Cool night air gushed through the open door. Small, slender fingers wrapped around the edges of the door and tried opening the door faster. Morlo got to a knee as Seraphine squeezed through the gap and fell to the floor sobbing. As gently as he could, Morlo put three fingers around her wrist and helped her to her feet. When she was standing Morlo pulled the door shut and locked it back up.
“SHE’S GONE!” She wailed, burying her face Morlo’s waist. “I had to run there was nothing else I could do!”
Morlo’s heart sped up as fear boiled into his chest. “You mean… it was Sable that-“
“They were about to kill me and she saved me! The Legionnaires surrounded her and that’s all I saw cause she told me to run!”
“And Hendrick,” Morlo asked, maintaining his composure for appearances. “He went after you and Sable. Did you-“
Seraphine looked up at Morlo, her eyes narrowing from sorrowful to fearful at Morlo’s statement. “You mean… Hendrick was coming after us?”
It wasn’t the answer that Morlo wanted to hear. It was becoming too much to bear. The expression on his face answered Seraphine. She whimpered and broke down into deeper, harder sobs. “Please no! No, no, no-“
“Bridge!” Morlo shouted. They couldn’t wait around anymore. They had to move and it would be stupid to wait for their dead friends. Hendrick wouldn’t let him hear the end of it.
“What you got!” Came Merino’s demanding voice.
“Seraphine’s onboard and we’re clear for takeoff.”
“And the rest of the Ditrinity made it too?”
“Just take off.” Morlo commanded him.
There was a rush of static as another person butted into the conversation. “What you talkin’ about, Morlo!” It was Pontious. “We’re not going anywhere until Hendrick and Sable-“
“THEY’RE DEAD!” Morlo shouted. The longer they dealt with it the harder it was becoming for him to stay calm. “Now get this thing moving before those Helio’s blow us out of the sky!”
There was a hopeless pause as the news soaked in. Sable was dead. And Hendrick… Hendrick couldn’t die. The man wasn’t sane enough to die.
“Morlo, are you-“
“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t.” Morlo barked. “Now let’s get-“
“I SEE THEM!” Came Pitt’s ecstatic voice over the radio. “It’s Hendrick and he’s carrying somebody! But there’s… holy damn, they’ve got the entire Legionnaire army behind them and…”
The radio exploded with terrified chatter Enforcer engineers and pilots panicking about the incoming forces.
“Strikers incoming!”
“They’re on the roofs and they’ve taken the terminals and the loading docks-“
“The grounds moving… dammit they’re everywhere! Tens… hundreds of thousands-“
“Just find a way to get them up here!” Morlo yelled into his radio. “Get those elevators moving!”
Hendrick sprinted as fast as he could. His legs burnt like they never had. His entire body was going numb beneath exhaustion, fatigue, and excruciating pain. But Sable was still alive and, if he didn’t survive for himself, he’d ha
ve to do it for her.
Large metal containers, freight equipment and assorted barriers provided cover for Hendrick as he sprinted towards the ship.
“Hang in there,” He wheezed through a dry, cracking throat. “Please hang in there.”
Bullets impacted all around him. Holes punched through the metal containers, grenades created billowing columns of flames out of Grave armor and luggage trolleys, and terminal supports were blown apart as every Legionnaire on the tarmac gunned for the Helldog and his unconscious partner.
“We don’t have time!” Merino shouted as Morlo sprinted onto the bridge carrying Seraphine.
“YOU MAKE TIME!” Morlo commanded as he sprinted towards the edge of the bridge to try and get a look at Hendrick’s position. He pressed his hands up against the transparent steel and looked back down the ship. “There an elevator waitin’ for him?”
“Power’s cut!”
Morlo punched the wall and yelled, unable to do anything as he watched Hendrick pounding at the elevator doors, shouting for them to open up.
“We gotta do something!” Morlo yelled. “What about the ship’s weapons! Use the sweep lasers!”
“We have to be at maximum power for that but if you can make it there in time for some doomed rescue then be my guest.”
There was nothing he could do, a fact which made the scene all the more difficult to watch. All Morlo could do was look on as Hendrick was surrounded and massacred.
It didn’t take long for Hendrick to figure out that the elevators weren’t coming. But as the Legionnaires closed in around him, Hendrick turned to face them.
They were everywhere, more than there had been at the hotel. The entire space of the shipyard was a solid crowd of Legionnaires. The occasional Berserker or Monolith rose up among the average heighted soldiers, some wielding axes and hammers, while others marched towards him with rumbling Chainlances. There was one Monolith though, with an emblem of a blood-drenched battlehammer on his chest, whose eyes rested hungrily on Hendrick. With a Chainlance in hand, he parted through the crowd towards the front lines.
They had stopped in front of him, the Legionnaires in the front crouching with their weapons raised, ready for an imminent attack. Hendrick knew there was no way out. Not this time. Formed up around him, it was obvious they intended on capturing him. That, though, was something that Hendrick would never allow.
Hendrick looked down at Sable’s pale face and pulled several strands of hair from it, muttering a silent apology before gently laying her on the ground. Kneeling beside her, he pressed his forehead against hers and drew in a long, relaxing breath. The Legionnaires watched him as he rested there, calm, collected. The Monolith moved up to the frontline.
“Now I bet I could last ten, maybe fifteen seconds.” Hendrick said, getting to his feet and standing over Sable. Casually he adjusted the dials on his Blazers. “Chances are that it’s gonna be one of you who takes me down and the vast majority of you will walk away from this without so much as a bruise.” Hendrick cocked an eyebrow and looked across the frontline. “But… what I do know is that you…” He pointed to a Knight in front of him. “…you…” And then to a Skirmisher just to the Knight’s left. “And you…” His finger rested on the Monolith, whose body language became more aggressive at the challenge. “You won’t be making it out of here in anything but an urn.” Hendrick flipped the handles of his Blazers into his hands and raised them up, aiming at the men he’d threatened. With renewed ferocity, Hendrick’s eyes burned as he roared between borne teeth. “And that’s just them! Give me the chance and I’ll fry every last one of you bastards!” Hendrick clenched the handles to his Blazers and gritted his teeth in a grin. “So what are you waiting for, huh? Kill me!”
Legionnaires who hadn’t cocked their guns did so. Looking down their barrels, Hendrick thought everything over, the war, Sable…
But he was sure Seraphine was on board. He had no doubt. He was dying for something. It was time to go out in style.
“Just try it! Kill me!”
The Legionnaires went to squeeze their triggers. The Monolith’s Chainlance roared to life.
It was time to go. Hendrick tightened his grip and went to fire.
In a flash of blue steam and an explosion of blood, the Monolith was tackled backwards. With two metallic slices, the blood-sprayed Legionnaires scattered, cowering. Their guns switched from Hendrick to the newcomer.
Crouched in the center of the circle with his massive sword resting along the pavement was Luke, glaring across the white-armored expanse. Toe to toe with the bulk of the Pretoratan Legionnaires, Luke slowly rose up to face them.
Fearfully, the Legionnaires watched his every move. The upper half of the dying Monolith crawled feebly away from him. Their eyes and guns, beginning to tremble, followed him. Those closest to him shook where they stood, daring to aim but not daring to move. Luke turned towards Hendrick and pointed at the Legionnaires who still aimed at him. All guns fell immediately off of Hendrick. The elevator had started up and was slowly lowering towards ground level
“You made it.” Hendrick said as the elevator slid open. A headless Skirmisher fell from inside the cab while Tess stood amidst an entire squad of butchered soldiers. Hendrick scooped up Sable and moved inside the elevator, greeted by a thankful Tess.
Luke nodded to Hendrick as the elevator closed on them, leaving him to face the army of Legionnaires that crowded the tarmac.
A commander towards the front shouted a command. His call was desperate, unsure, and it echoed across the armored masses. “CLOSE RANGE!”
There was a rolling rustle of steel as weapons were drawn, starting from the front and moving towards the rear as Legionnaires prepared to go hand to hand with the man they knew as The Grinder. Clutching his sword with both hands, his breathing slow and calm, Luke got into a slight crouch selected his first targets.
The elevator had reached the top, and with his attention split between the Legionnaires and his escaping comrades, Luke switched from his priority of saving Hendrick and Sable to his next objective.
Massacre.
“Move! Go!” Hendrick shouted as both he and Tess burst into the bridge. The Ditrinity was there waiting.
“Damn, what happened with Sable!” Pontious shouted.
“The engines are ready for launch.” One of the engineers declared.
“Then what’re we waiting for!” Hendrick shouted, slapping Merino on the shoulder. “Get this hefty whore moving!”
“Yeah, uh…” Merino was dazed from the bedlam. He was surprised things had turned out like they had. “Plot course for Pyre. Try and circumvent those Helio armadas and…”
“What about Luke!” Seraphine cried, near hysterics.
“He’ll be fine!” Hendrick yelled. “Seraphine get over here now! Morlo, how’s Luke doin’?”
“It’s hell down there!” Morlo’s eyes were glue to the scene. There was a deep rumble through the ship as it lurched into motion. Without time to retract the jet ways that were still connected to the ship, the walkways snapped off as the ship launched.
On the ground, the Legionnaires charged Luke in mass. It was chaos. The terrified yells and pained cries of the Legionnaires rent the night air. At any given second there were at least half a dozen men simultaneously striking at Luke. Their staggering numbers did nothing. And no matter how hard or well-coordinated they attacked, Luke maintained his stoic composure, parrying several blows at once, launching through the air and spinning through the crowding masses as he wrecked complete carnage within the Legionnaire ranks. His face spattered in wet crimson, Luke fought on, plunging through plumes of spraying blood as he moved from soldier to soldier.
“Sweep lasers online!” One pilot shouted. Merino’s heart skipped and he stammered an excited response.
“Fire then! Fire!”
The bottom of the battle cruiser lit up as blue lasers swept across the tarmac, cutting through the Legionnaire ranks and scattering them. Luke saw his chance and brok
e into a sprint, hewing only the Legionnaires who stood directly in his way.
The tarmac was a disaster. Cars burst into large explosions. Explosives ignited, and any Legionnaire that was caught in the lasers was reduced to a glowing pile of molten steel. The Legionnaires no longer attacked Luke and now they simply ran. With the Grinder’s indiscriminate slaughter and the sweep lasers tearing effortlessly through their ranks, the Legionnaires forgot about bravery and courage and ran for cover as fast as they could.
The Mysto that the Ditrinity and Rush flew on was nearly clear of the shipyard. In the distance the roar of Striker engines became audible above the commotion. Then, only seconds after they could be heard, the fighters screamed overhead and launched a volley of missiles at the cruiser, exploding harmlessly on the ships shields in brilliant flashes of blue.
Luke snatched an abandoned Infiltrator from the ground and aimed it with one hand. He spotted a Machbike coming just overhead, took aim and pulled the trigger.
The pilot tumbled backwards off the seat and the Machbike went motionless, suspended in air as it fell to the ground. It took out several soldiers as it crashed, tumbling across the ground and coming to rest against a burning trolley.
Slicing through a few Legionnaires on his way, Luke got to the Machbike and found it in damaged but working condition. With steam rising off his arms, Luke flipped the bike upright and pulled it from the flames. He threw the strap of the Infiltrator over his shoulder and started the bike back up.
He worked the throttle and it roared to life. The entire bike shook as the powerful engines gave a deep, grumbling hum. Luke wasted no time and hit the accelerator hard, going from zero to a hundred in less than a second and banking the bike up towards the battlecruiser. Keeping low across the bike’s gas tank, Luke drew his sword and aimed the bike towards the cruiser’s docking bay.