Relias: Uprising (21 page)

 After climbing down several sets of stairs they reached the main command center. More Darks scrambled to and fro with computers, weapons, and Dark intelligence stacked high in their arms. Tables that once served as a resting place for an army of military technology were now littered with loose wires and hastily cut cables. Standing at the head of the room was Samuel Alighieri, his hands behind his back and peering hopelessly at the massive screen in front of him. It was the only working piece of equipment left in the room. On it were dozens of panels of various images being collected by video cameras placed around the city. Each one showed the same thing: death and defeat; smoking, flaming, and collapsing buildings, people running through the streets as Legionnaires pursued them. The most common visual, though, appeared to be still images, images depicting fields of dead bodies littered throughout the streets. One by one the cameras were going off line. At the center of the screen was a larger panel with an entire view of the city. In the distant sky large dark objects could be seen piercing through the smoke.

 “Sam.” Hendrick said. “Get out of here now. And tell me where Tess is.”

 Alighieri didn’t move. Hendrick and Sable exchanged looks before Hendrick stepped closer.

 “Sam, listen to me.” He said. “They’ll have the city soon and they’ll just be mopping up and once those cruisers get here we’re all screwed. Now get to a Battlecraft and tell me where Tess is!”

 “There was no way they could’ve known.” Alighieri whispered in a bemused voice. “Perimeter sensors kept them from getting any surveillance on the city and because of the planet’s dust belts they can’t launch any satellites because they’ll get blasted to pieces by the thousands of tiny-“

 “SAM!” Hendrick yelled, tearing Alighieri away from the video screen and clutching his shoulders. “Get a grip! Grow a pair, grab your crap, get on a Battlecraft and live to fight another day! Now tell me where Tess Semprys is!” 

 Alighieri’s face was vacant, his eyes were lost in shock. Hendrick asked again, calmly and slowly.

 “Listen… Where is Tess.”

 Without a change of expression Alighieri shook his head. “…she’s gone.”

 Hendrick’s eye twitched and he ground his teeth. “What the hell do you mean she’s gone.”

 “With Rush… the secret operation… they ran.”

 “Secret op… where did they go!”

 Alighieri was distant and didn’t reply immediately. “…I don’t know.”

 Hendrick swore and pushed Alighieri against the screen. He gave Sable a hard shove towards the entrance of the room and started walking. He stormed out and yelled back to Alighieri.

 “It’s your ass, Sam! If anything bad happens to her… and get the hell out of here!”

 They left Alighieri standing there, standing in his mussy suit and dumbfounded. Several soldiers came along and helped him towards a Battlecraft.

 Hendrick and Sable were running now, throwing anybody who got in their way to their backs. Hendrick fumed.

 “We need to stay here and wait for the Ditrinity to regroup. It’s gonna be a matter of minutes before the Legionnaire breaks through those walls.”

 They reached the main level and were in the massive central hangar. All vehicles were being directed outside to repel the Legionnaires. Hendrick and Sable made their way to the open area where Dark tanks, Razes, and heavily armed soldiers massed for a defensive.

 Hendrick appeared confused. “What’re they…”

 “Hendrick!” came a deep gravelly voice. Hendrick saw Pontious outside the hangar dripping with blood. They ran over to him and saw that he was hurt; he had a massive gash in his side and a split eyebrow. He was breathing heavily but the wild in his eyes was more intense than ever. But there was a sadness that Hendrick had never seen in Pontious before.

 “What happened to ya?” Hendrick asked. “How did this-“

 “We held the east gate for nearly twenty minutes.” Pontious said as blood dripped from his mouth. “They couldn’t get past us. Trey hijacked a set of Raze armor and-“

 Pontious coughed up a glob of coagulated blood. He shook it off his hand and wiped his mouth. He looked at the ground as anger boiled inside of him. “Dammit!”

 “Pontious, wha…” Sable began, the realization setting in on her. “…where’s Trey?”

 Pontious looked her in the eyes and she knew the answer. Her eyes began to water.

 “Oh god… please no…”

 “They’re gonna have this place overrun before Morlo and Vyvyr can get back.” Hendrick said immediately. “You can still fight, right?”

 Pontious nodded.

 “Alright then. Spread yourselves along the outer wall.” Said Hendrick while putting a hand on Sable’s back.  “We stay here til Morlo and Vyvyr get back. After that we’re out of here. If these guys wanna stay here that’s dandy but we’re getting out and finding Luke. “

 There was a deep explosion sounding like a spectacular burst from a massive sub-woofer that shook through the ground. A sudden urgency spread across the base. Hendrick knew what was coming.

 “Particle charges.” He said. “Morlo and Vyvyr better get here quick.”

 Another deep boom like the one before. As soon as it reached its loudest there was a chain of sharp explosions that erupted across the outer wall of the compound. Flames shot up and curled around the tops of the walls. Everybody near the wall jumped back and some fell to the ground, scrambling away and getting their distance. Cracks shot up through the crumbling brick and sagging steel and showered the men below with pebbles and dust. The Darks formed up along the wall wielding every weapon they had, raising them with uncertainty and aiming them at the wall and the yells, jeers and frightening commotion that came from the other side.

 “I give it two minutes.” Pontious said.

 “Bet ya twenty steele they can do it in one.” Hendrick said, raising an eyebrow at Pontious. With anger on his face, Pontious shook his head, picked up a nearby rifle on the ground and moved towards the wall. Taking a few steps with Pontious, Hendrick stopped and turned back to Sable, her arms folded while one hand covered her eyes. Hendrick went back to her and put a hand on her waist.

 “Hey,” He said quietly. “You know how it is. We all go sometime.” 

 “But we haven’t lost anybody since Ayla.” Sable said emotionally. “And that was twenty years ago.”

 “I know.” Hendrick said, the name drawing a faint albeit noticeable reaction. He was quick to shrug it off, drawing Sable’s sword from its sheath. “But we’re in the war business and crap like that happens.”  Taking her wrist, Hendrick pulled Sable’s hand towards him and placed the hilt of the sword in her hand.

 Sable looked up to Hendrick’s face. She saw his complete, unflappable confidence and she suddenly felt stronger, more able to move on. And, from somewhere inside of her, she gave a short, reassured smile. Hendrick looked back towards the wall where the tops had begun to break off and fall. He turned to Sable and held out an arm towards the imminent battle.

 “Shall we?” He said.

 Sable’s smile laced with emotion, she regripped her sword and together the two walked towards the wall.

 Around the entire compound the Darks had set up Forge tanks with their sights set squarely on the lower part of the wall. Lined up in tight formations in front of the tanks the Dark soldiers waited for the inevitable breach. Hendrick, Pontious and Sable made it to the front line and squeezed in.

 On the landing pads on the other side of the compound Battlecrafts took off ferrying supplies and people. Machbikes zipped away and darted around the city shooting at anything dressed in white. Just behind Hendrick a soldier in Raze armor joined the line with a massive cannon clutched in its robotic hands. The line thickened up as every Dark in the base hopped into the formation.

 “Hey,” Hendrick said to a nearby tank pilot getting ready to climb into his vehicle. “Just as the wall’s about to open up fire your cannon.”

 The pilot was confused and some nearby soldiers heard the request.

 “You insane!” One said. 

 “Doesn’t matter.” Hendrick said. “But we’ll get the first shot off and we’ll take out quite a few of the Legionnaires if we do. I would bet my life on them having two full lines of thick-armored Monoliths that’ll be coming in first and making our guns worth crap.”

 Hendrick spoke again to the tank pilot. “Listen for my command and fire when I say. That good?”

 The walls were crumbling fast. Several grenades were lobbed over. Some Darks tried to lob them back over. One Dark hesitated, unsure of whether he should try it. He picked the grenade back up, went to through it and his arm disappeared as the grenade exploded in his hand.

 “Ready!” Hendrick yelled.

 Another chunk of the wall fell. Only fifteen feet of the wall remained. Hendrick pounded the side of the tank and shouted “POWDER ‘EM!”

 The two tanks jolted back beneath the incredible force of their blasts, sending a quake through the surrounding ground. The wall disintegrated and there was a mess of pained yells that came from the other side.

 “Shoot, you morons, shoot!”

 Gunfire exploded from the lines, starting with Hendrick’s section. Glowing streaks of lead pierced the smoke and buried themselves into the enemy they couldn’t yet see. After a few seconds the fire was returned. The retaliation was stronger and more numerous.

 All the tanks opened fire. What was left of the walls tumbled and everything was passable now. But the Darks had Forge tanks firing at point blank range. The Legionnaires had only soldiers.

 “Move back behind the tanks!” Hendrick ordered, seeing the damage that they were doing and cheering. “They can’t get past this!”

 The rest of the city must have been secured because it seemed that every Legionnaire was outside these walls waiting to get in. Their white armored figures filled the streets, jostling and shoving, anxious to get a piece of the last of the Dark population.

 The entire compound was exposed now; not a single wall remained standing and along its entire perimeter the situation was the same. Legionnaires were getting pounded by the Dark Forge tanks.

 “Hold em off til the Battlecrafts take off!” One commander yelled. “Fall back to your own Battlecrafts by squads and-“

 There was an explosion. The Commander was quiet.

 “Hendrick!” Said a woman.

 It wasn’t Sable. This voice was barely passable as a woman’s. Hendrick turned around and saw a Battlecraft pilot running towards him.

 “Price! How’ve you been!”

 “Hendrick, I’m takin’ off!” She cried, ducking as a grenade went off nearby. “The Battlecruisers are almost in range to attack! Grab the Ditrinity and come on!”

 “Not all here yet!” Hendrick replied while taking a quick look around. The Legionnaires weren’t in range of his Blazers so he broke away and spoke to Price face to face. “Morlo and Vyvyr still have to get back and I’m not sure how long they’ll be.”

 Price nodded disappointedly. “So,” she said “what’re you gonna do?”

 Hendrick pointed his thumb back towards the battle. “Kill some guys, wait for the others. We’ll need transport out of the area though. Could you wait for us somewhere in the forest?”

 Price gave an immediate nod.

 “Perfect. I’ve, uh, got my radio here.” Hendrick said holding it up and shaking it. “And as soon as we’re out of here I’ll call you, you give me your coordinates and we’ll get there and take it from there.”

 Price nodded and paused, thinking something over in her head. Then, seeming almost scared to do it, Price hugged him. “Be careful, Nate.”

 Hendrick was surprised but returned the hug. “I never am.”

 Price gave him a squeeze, stepped back, gave him one final look and sprinted back to the fleet of Battlecrafts. Sable came up behind him. “Nate…”

 Hendrick shrugged. “She’s got a pretty face and a great body but that voice and…” Hendrick turned and looked Sable from head to toe. “And you need to stop popping up next to other woman that I think is attractive. No matter how good looking they are they suck in comparison to you. Stop it.”

 Sable blushed and Hendrick moved back to the front line.

 The Legionnaires had begun to pull back. White armored piles circled the complex with barely a body that had made it past the rubble that remained of the outer walls. The Darks cheered and fired at the retreating Legionnaires. Some soldiers broke away and ran back to the waiting Battlecrafts while others did nothing to hide their confidence of being able to hold onto the complex and keep it from the hands of the First Legionnaire. The gunfire had stopped and the Darks kept their cover behind the Forge tanks. Some walked out into the open space and taunted the Legionnaires to the amusement and delight of their friends. Hendrick took in the last of the situation before turning back towards the hangar. He raised his wrists and examined his Blazers, checking the temperature and spread settings and reaching satisfaction. Sable and Pontious came up next to him and walked at his side.

 “We need to get out of here.” Sable said. “The Legionnaire never retreats like this.”

 “I know.” Hendrick replied as he pulled his mask up onto his forehead. “But Morlo and Vyvyr aren’t back yet.”

 Pontious grunted to himself as a bolt of pain shot through his side and he spoke up. “Soldiers have started coming from the west gate.” He said with obvious frustration. “Morlo and Vyvyr couldn’t hold it.”

 Hendrick pursed his lips and looked to the ground. “I saw.” He murmured.

 Sable’s breath became short. “Nate, does that mean-“

 “No.” Hendrick was quick to reply. “It just means that they knew they couldn’t hold it and they pulled back before they got pinned down.”

 Pontious gave Hendrick a small nudge. Hendrick clenched his jawed and responded with a bowed head.

 “So has Price left yet?” Pontious asked.

 Hendrick pulled a cigar from his pocket and clenched it between his teeth. He ignited one of his Blazers and lit the cigar in the blaze. He took a long hard draw from it and savored the smoke.

 “I’m sure she has.” Said Hendrick as he looked to the sky to see the battle cruisers piercing through the smoke. The three watched as two more battle cruisers, giant, destructive titans, emerged from the smoke in the distance.