The miniature particle cannon opened fire again, smashing into one of the Dominators, its heavy armour no defence against the sheer force of the weapon. A pall of thick smoke spewed from the great rent in the armour of the machine, and it staggered a couple of steps backwards, then burst into flames before finally falling backward with a deafening ‘clang’ as its steel armour slammed onto the concrete floor.
The lone surviving Dominator desperately tried to continue the defence sweeping its heavy assault cannon in wide arcs, the muzzle flash blinding as dozens upon dozens of heavy caliber slugs burst from its myriad of spinning barrels, more spent casings skittered along the floor.
There must have been fifty Krenaran corpses piled up all along the corridor to the landing pad, nobody had the time to count, just to shoot. Bodies lay everywhere, the stench of charred meat and blood hung in the air, the alien’s milky white blood formed into tiny rivulets running down the long ramped corridor to where the freighters were docked above.
The huge Krenaran strode forward on his mechanical legs, giving off a hiss of released pressure as the bird-like feet slammed down on the concrete with such a force that it cracked underfoot. Calmly levelling the triple barrels of his weapon at the equally large assault walker tearing chunks out of his men, he clicked the internal trigger, and, with an intense blast of incandescent green energy, the second Dominator stopped motionless, its weapon hung limply by its side and it appeared to gently stoop forward.
A ragged hole the size of a watermelon had torn straight through the bullet proof cockpit glass, and reduced the pilot inside into crimson jelly that smeared every panel and instrument throughout the interior cockpit. Commandoes defending the loading area continued to rake the onrushing Krenarans with weapons fire, a deafening explosion from a grenade thrown through the breach filled the corridor with smoke, around twenty more Krenarans had fell, the floor turned slippery from their blood.
The advancing Krenarans returned fire and several commandoes were blasted back across the giant warehouse-like room. Landing in a bloodied heap with a crack as their heads snapped back and smashed into the smooth concrete flooring. The surviving commandoes knew they were fighting a desperate battle, and that the loading area was lost, but they had made the Krenarans pay dearly for capturing it.
High above the base, stealth ships continued their attack runs. Several more torpedoes slammed hard into a weakened section of the perimeter wall, sending debris and shrapnel flying in all directions, this last attack was finally too much and a small section of the wall collapsed into a large pile of dust and concrete rubble, the Krenarans had finally succeeded in opening a gap big enough for them to get through.
A lone Dominator advanced toward this gap, the muted ‘thump’ ‘thump’ of its feet could be heard as it stomped its way through the muddy grassland, groundwater pooled in the muddy depressions of its footsteps. A single Krenaran managed to scrabble through the pile of shattered concrete and was greeted by a hail of high power assault cannon shells from the approaching Dominator, its body was ripped apart from the impacts of the heavy weapons fire and flung back through the breach.
Their objective complete, the stealth ships turned their attention to the forces defending the main gate, the hastily constructed barricades were already taking a beating from Krenaran weapons fire, the final remaining barricade was torn asunder by simultaneous blasts from two particle cannons, vaporising several soldiers using it as cover. However the firepower from four Dominators, together with cannon blasts from the Apollo battle tanks in support proved too much for the Krenarans, scores of the brutal aliens fell from the barrage of heavy assault cannon fire and the Apollo’s high velocity shells, their bodies littering the sodden ground. Those few surviving Krenarans fell back from the main gate, many of which were injured.
The lone, brave Dominator defending the breach in the perimeter wall was relentlessly pouring fire into the oncoming Krenarans, his weapon smoking hot from the friction produced by the rapidly spinning barrels and the hail of hot lead he was pumping into the advancing aliens. Shot after shot raked them as they threw everything they had at the breach, his ammo counter was beginning to run low.
In an effort to help the lone Dominator, struggling against near impossible odds, Vargev ordered some commandoes on a nearby roof to open fire. The awesome firepower unleashed from the commando fire teams’ Armschlagers tore into the advancing Krenarans, dozens fell as masses of high power rounds ripped through their alien bodies, their metallic battle armour no defence against solid slugs. Just for a moment it seemed as though the Krenaran were wavering under the intense firefight.
Resolutely however, the aliens returned fire, pressing their numerical superiority. Fire from several of the Krenaran cannons slammed into the walker, knocking it backwards a pace or two, its feet dug a shallow trench in the ground which quickly filled with rainwater as the assault walker weathered the storm of fire. The pilot’s cockpit glass was cracked in several places; a large hole was blasted into it just above the pilots head. Its frontal armour was also torn and bent in several areas, exposing the delicate electronics and wiring underneath. The pilot gnashed his teeth, and held fast.
Two of Vargev’s commandoes fell, as the Krenarans returned fire on them, their bodies plummeting from the roof of the warehouse. Vargev took aim with his own Armschlager and pressed the trigger, it bucked under the recoil of the high power rounds. One of the brutes fell, clutching its ruined face, a couple of others next to him hugged the wet ground, fearful of befalling the same fate.
The surviving commandoes on the loading platform were not faring quite as well though, embroiled in a desperate rearguard action now as the Krenarans pressed their attack, gaining ground all the time. Three more men died, gaping holes blown through their chests. The massive Krenaran commander levelled his weapon and fired, the resulting blast flung two more commandoes like rag dolls high into the air, their bloodied bodies slamming into the steel clad wall behind them.
The commandoes had put up an intense fight, but the Krenarans were now amongst them, and no human could match an eight foot tall Krenaran for brute strength, almost a dozen commandoes died as the bone crunching impacts of Krenaran fists and kicks snapped necks and broke legs and arms. The few surviving commandoes retreated out of the loading area completely, some were blasted face first into the concrete floor, as Krenarans shot them in the back as they ran, barely five commandoes had made it out alive, and two of them were badly injured.
Vargev, having made his way to one of the warehouse roofs to get a better view had witnessed the retreat; he knew they had lost the loading platform. His commandoes were cut off from the rest of the base as the Krenarans now controlled all of the spaceport and adjoining loading platform, and would very soon occupy the ruins of the command building as well, silently he prayed for a miracle.
The Gamma sun began to crest the distant Valcasian mountains, hailing the beginning of dawn for the third day and the fighting gradually ceased in its intensity, although the occasional crump of pulse rifle fire could be heard as well as the pounding of Apollo shells into the nearby Krenaran lines, who were now busily consolidating on the advances they had made throughout the night. The ‘Hell’s angels’ began counting the cost.