They finally all had a few moments to catch a breath and compose themselves. The Wards look distraught, whereas the Troopers simply looked angry.
“What is going on here?” Barick asked.
“A Governor taking a Luminary prisoner, and trying to have Sanctum Troopers killed? This is unheard of,” replied Wyse.
“There is a lot more going on here than we knew,” replied Malik as he tried to piece it all together.
“Why would they even try this? They must surely know the full weight of the Sanctum would come down on their heads,” Wyse asked.
“Unless they think they have the strength to hold back that tide?” Hyland asked.
“But how could they? These are not fighters. They are common Provincials.”
“The Governor must have fallen to anarchy and be in league with Cayne. That is the only way he would feel powerful enough to risk this,” replied Malik.
“Who is this Cayne?” Barick asked.
“We don’t know, but he’s been causing all kinds of trouble. He’s turned the workers here against us, and he must have a lot of power and resources if he thinks he can get away with it.”
“We should call in assistance,” replied Wyse.
Malik didn’t like to think they needed help and could not achieve success by themselves, but he knew their situation was grave.
He pressed a few keys on their communicator to call the pilot of their drop ship.
“This is Malik, what is your status?”
“Sir, I have put down at Docking Bay 33A as requested.”
“Are you safe?”
“The hangar doors are closing now,” he replied as he shut down the craft’s systems and headed out, pressing the door release. The ramp began to lower.
“Do not leave the drop ship. I repeat, do not leave that drop ship,” ordered Malik.
But the signal was poor and it crackled, the pilot only hearing half of his words. Finally, it came through clearly on the third attempt.
“Do not leave the drop ship!” Too late, the ramp had hit the hangar bay floor.
The pilot reached for a pistol, realising the peril he was in, but found himself facing six armed men. His hand reached for the button to close the ramp once more.
“Don’t do it. We’ll put you down right here!” yelled one of the men.
“What is going on up there?” Malik demanded over the comms.
“Lay down your weapons and come with us,” the man ordered.
“Sir, I am being told to surrender.”
“Seal that door and stay put!”
The pilot pressed the ramp door and snatched his pistol to defend himself, but two shots struck his chest, and one of his attackers leapt through the ramp before it could close. Malik heard two more shots ring out before all went quiet. He didn’t look disappointed, only angry.
“That’s our wings gone,” said Barick.
“What now?” Wyse asked.
“The only way is forward. We’ll work our way through this facility and kill any who get in our way until we find the Luminary.”
“What about our power armour?” Hyland asked.
“Right now we’ll have to manage without. A Trooper doesn’t need armour to fight.” He held up his sword, “I am going to find that traitorous Governor and the scum they call Cayne, and I’ll end them personally,” he declared with absolute certainty.
“Ammunition isn’t going to last long,” said Barick.
“Then we find what we can. The Snappers might be formidable, but miners are just miners.”
“You want us to kill Provincials, Sir?” Hyland asked.
“If they have turned against a Luminary, yes. You will not hesitate to strike down anyone who shows a shred of insubordination. It will not be tolerated, do you understand me?”
“Yes, Sir.”
The Cleric was looking around for anything that might be useful, but it was nothing but boxes of electrical equipment.
“Sir, what do you need?” Wyse asked.
“It’s more what you need, weapons. Like you said, ammunition will not last long if we cannot get back to our gear.”
“What weapons will be around a place like this?”
“I don’t know, but keep your eyes open, we need anything that can help us.”
“We need our armour,” growled Barick.
“And we will get it, but first we have to fight our way out.”
“We can’t go back out there?” asked Wyse.
“Not where we came from. We need control over the doors so that we can clear a path back to our gear.”
“What makes you think it is still there, and that the Governor hasn’t taken it for himself?”
“Sir, the wounded we left there, they will fight to the death to protect your equipment,” insisted Sergeant Alder.
“They better,” snapped Barick.
“Come on, we need to move before they figure out where we are,” insisted the Cleric.
“You think the Governor knows we survived?” asked Wyse.
“I would not presume to know what he knows. Stay vigilant, and be ready for anything,” he replied as Alder got back to his feet and put his med kit away. For a Ward, the Sergeant impressed Malik. He’d not seen one be so resilient and determined in a long time, but he would not inflate his sense of worth by telling him. A Ward’s determination was demanded of them, not something to be rewarded.
“Let’s move.”
Malik led the way forward confidently. He knew they were up against it, but a Trooper never showed fear, and a Cleric never doubted their ability to succeed. That is the way they were trained.
They worked their way through several maintenance tunnels until he found a ladder up to the next level. It was the best hope they had of getting out of the way of the Snappers.
“The Governor must surely think us dead?” Hyland asked Wyse.
“Likely, until he goes looking and finds no sign of us behind that doorway.”
“Assuming he can even get down there anytime soon. You saw those Snappers, they’re wild animals. Sure you can open a few doors and funnel them about like a herd, but they won’t work on command, and they’ve got a whole food source back in those rooms.”
“You think they want to feed on us?” she asked in surprise.
“Beasts like that only want food or to defend their territory. Did that look like defence of a territory to you?”
She shook her head. It was a daunting prospect to know your opponent was to eat you, and one she had never considered before. It was unsettling, but she dazed out for a moment, and Wyse smacked her on the side of her head. She instantly snapped out of her dazed state.
“Focus, we need everyone on top form. We’re going to get through this.”
Chapter Three
He gestured for Hyland to go up the ladder. The Troopers led the way. They considered the Wards to be little more than cannon fodder, but they were still compelled to lead from the front, as was their warrior caste way. Malik finally reached a large, old steel door with a locking wheel and a small porthole. He peered out through it but was unable to get a good enough angle to see what was in the room ahead. He nodded for them to be ready before turning the wheel, heaving the heavy door open, and stepping through.
He soon came to a stop as he found miners sitting about in what was clearly a rec room. There had to be thirty or more of them, and they all fell silent as they caught sight of the Master Cleric. They looked at him with disgust, as though he was a stranger and not welcome there, or worse, an enemy. The rest of the Troopers stopped behind Malik, studying the faces of the filthy miners around them. They were large set men, each and every one of them. The result of years of hard labour, combined with muscle recovery aids to allow longer work hours without rest. The result was the workers almost matched the Troopers in width, having become so strong.
Several of them got up. They looked angry and picked up various heavy tools that would make strong bludgeoning weapons, but none had firearms
.
“By order of the Sanctum, you are ordered to stand down and let us pass,” Malik stated.
There was no response, and others got up to block their path. They looked ready for a fight.
“There will be no mercy for traitors,” growled Malik.
Hyland wasn’t sure if that was meant as a threat to make them stand down or a statement of intent. She could see the Wards were as scared as when fighting the Snappers, for the workers were not so different to them, and the prospect of killing their own was repulsive. One of the hulking miners stepped up defiantly before Malik, and everyone braced for what they knew what was coming next. The miner stopped within arm’s reach of Malik in an attempt to intimidate him. He wore thick quilted clothing, but it was still clear the man was a good size match to the imposing Malik.
“You are not welcome here,” he growled.
Malik didn’t even reply as he reached into the man’s mouth, gripped his jaw, and wrenched him down to the floor. He hit headfirst, and Malik stamped on his head before he could recover. His skull split and blood spewed out. Even Barick was surprised by the brutal display, but Malik was not in the mood to be trifled with. Yet the bloody demise of their colleague did nothing to deter the miners who came forward slowly, but angrily. They intended to fight it out. That much was clear.
“Save your ammunition,” Malik said.
Nobody was under any illusions as to why. The Cleric would have had no problem gunning down everyone in the room if it were not for the need of holding onto their ammunition should they have to face the gnarly Snappers once more. Compared to those slavering beasts, the burly miners seemed like no threat at all, despite the fact they carried heavy tooling that would crack a skull open with ease.
The first of them went straight for Malik, wanting to avenge his friend, and clearly having learnt nothing from his demise. He swung a huge wrench at him. It was clumsy but heavy. Malik caught it, assuming his powerful frame could handle anything a Terran could throw at him, but the heavy tool was swung in two arms with such force the wielder seemed to want to smash him through the floor. His grip held firm, but one leg buckled slightly as the Cleric dropped to one knee, resisting the immense force with nothing but his bare hands. The rest of the miners came forward. Hyland went to help the Cleric, but he yelled at her, “I’m fine, move on!”
He growled as he pushed the wrench up and held it in mid-air with one hand, delivering a swift punch to the groin of his attacker. He instantly lost his grip, and Malik ripped the wrench from his hands. He dropped to his knees in agony, for he had hit with all his force. Malik swung the wrench mercilessly at the man’s head. He lifted a hand to stop it, but the wrench broke his arm and caused it to drop. The Cleric swung another thunderous blow against his attacker, striking his face. Several teeth were thrown across the room, and his neck snapped from the weight of the blow. Malik appeared pleased with his work. He looked around to see the entire room had erupted into chaos as a mass brawl ensued.
Barick took a strike across the face from a steel rod that snapped his head back, but he roared angrily as he picked up his attacker and threw him, snapping his spine as it struck a support beam. He looked happy with himself as he looked for another victim. Hyland ducked under the heavy handed punch of a miner and delivered a precise uppercut to his sternum and another to the face. It sent him tumbling back, but he came right back at her as if her strikes had done nothing but move him back. She looked around for something to do more damage and spotted a long driver. She snapped it up as the man came at her. She jabbed at his face, but he kept coming forward and reached for her throat. She lifted the driver, thrust it into his eye socket, and drove it home. He dropped instantly. She was a little stunned from what she had been capable of, but Barick was smiling back at her, impressed with her work.
“That is how you get it done,” he said, taking a blow to the face once more in his distracted state.
A miner reached Adler who used his rifle as a club, but his blow was weak compared to what a Trooper could do. The miner took the blow on his collar and shrugged it off, picked up the Sergeant, and tossed him across the room. He landed on a countertop, slid across, and dropped down the other side in a heap. He sighed in frustration but also pain. He didn’t much appreciate being thrown around like a rag doll. He pulled himself back up to see his attacker was picking up the rifle he had dropped. He looked around for anything he could use to defend himself when he spotted a pneumatic nail gun. It was a large industrial grade piece of equipment. He snatched it up in two hands and took aim as the miner lifted the muzzle of his own rifle to shoot him.
Adler squeezed the trigger, and the first bolt loosed off. It clipped the man’s cheek and opened a cut, but struck the wall behind him. There were no sights on the gun, for that wasn’t what it was intended for, but his first shot had told him all he needed to know. He lowered the tool a little and fired three shots in a row. The huge 30cm long nails burst through the miner’s clothing doing horrific damage. The third shot went straight to his heart, and he was killed instantly. Adler looked down at the nail gun but felt someone grab his shoulder and wrench him around. He found himself facing the torso of one of the huge miners. He was towering over him, saving the moment before destroying him. But two more shots rang out from the nail gun as he fired point-blank into his body.
The Sergeant smiled for having overcome his newest attacker, but it was premature. The miner seemed to ignore it entirely and smashed his forehead into his nose. He grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off his feet, strangling him in the process. He lifted the nail gun and fired a nail into the miner’s arm. He winced in pain but proceeded to choke him more violently, instantly cutting off his windpipe. He was about to pass out when he lifted the nail gun to his head and fired a nail straight through his skull, causing him to collapse. The Sergeant crumpled to the floor, his legs having no strength in them. He gasped for air and grabbed hold of the counter top, hauling himself up to lean on it.
It was chaos everywhere as punches and kicks were thrown, and limbs broken. The miners were no match for the formidable Troopers. Though they had developed comparable strength, they had none of the training and fighting knowhow of the supremely capable Sanctum Troopers. A Ward was launched through the air and crashed into a wall, falling unconscious.
The Cleric had seen enough, as it was all taking too long. He drew his Vanquisher and surged forward to where a miner was holding a Ward at arm’s length while battering him with his other fist. Malik brought down the blade on the big man’s arm and severed it at the elbow, splitting his skull with another blow, but he wasn’t done there. He stormed on to the next one and slashed off one of his legs at the knee before slashing across the back of the head as he fell.
The vicious display soon caught the attention of the rest of the miners. One turned and fled, and the rest quickly followed. Malik was standing triumphantly in a pool of blood. He didn’t feel for the miners, and yet he could see the Wards looked distressed and disgusted by the brutality against their own people.
“Don’t feel sympathy for them. When you turn your back on the Sanctum, you are no better than those Snappers. Worse even, because they weren’t driven by a primal motive, they chose that course of action. There will be no mercy for traitors.”
He then noticed a wounded miner trying to get back to his feet. The Cleric stepped up to the man, who froze.
“You chose the wrong side, may you burn for all eternity,” he declared before plunging his blade into his skull. As he pulled it out, he spotted a rack of equipment on the far side of the room.
“What is that?”
“Shock rods,” replied Adler.
The Cleric looked surprised that a Ward had any clue about the equipment.
“Sir, my brother worked in a place just like this,” he added to explain, as Malik strode over to grab one of them. It was two metres long and felt sturdy. It had a steel spear type head on it. It looked more like a weapon than a tool.
“W
hat is it for?”
“Controlling wild animals and herds. The blade will do physical damage, but any contact with the tip will send massive electric voltage through a target.”
“Killing them?”
“That would depend on the size of the target, Sir. It would likely be fatal to a Terran.”
“And those?” He looked to what appeared to be door-sized shields with strapping to allow them to be carried as such.
“Blasting shields. The miners use them as protection from explosive usage and cave-ins.”
Malik tossed the rod to Barick who looked less than impressed to be handling a common agricultural tool, and handed it off as he took up a simple hammer.
“What do we need this for?”
“Ammunition isn’t going to last long, and when it runs out, we need to be ready. Everybody is to conserve ammunition wherever possible.” He gestured for the others to gather the rest of their new weapons. One Ward tried to pick up a shield and could barely manage it, laying it back down.
“Just take a rod,” the Cleric said in a disappointed tone as Wyse leaned in close to speak more privately.
“Cleric, if things have gotten to this point, I have to wonder if we should be considering an evac and aerial bombardment.”
“Negative, we must protect the Luminary and bring this facility back into operation.”
“But how? The miners want us dead.”
“Only because those leading them have told them to. We will recover the Luminary, deal with the Governor, and end the influence of that traitor they call Cayne.”
“But if we headed for our drop ship, we could still get out of here and call for assistance.”
Wyse didn’t sound scared or desperate, only calculating, but the Cleric was having none of it.
“This is our charge and our duty. We will bring order to this colony whether the Provincials like it or not,” he replied with absolute conviction. He then addressed them all.
“It is unlikely we will face firearms in much of what happens next, though the Governor’s protection detail is certainly armed. Nobody fires unless fired upon, or if to hold off what would be detrimental to the operation, is that clear?”
Battle Cleric 2 Page 2