Two Apollo’s and a Dominator had been lost defending the main gate, another two Dominators at the loading platform, as well as more than fifty soldiers, both ‘Hell’s angels’ and commandoes were amongst the dead.
Worst of all, General Steel was in critical condition from shrapnel injuries sustained during the defence of that main gate, which meant that Vargev, being next in the chain of command, was now in command of the defence, however, along with his fellow commandoes he was cut off from the rest of the base.
Pacing across the roof of the warehouse, the Russian considered his options which he had to admit, were very few.
Eventually he spied an abandoned Raider A.T. V, partly concealed by the corner of a nearby warehouse. Behind it a 7 tonne truck was parked which the engineers normally used to transport ammunition to the warehouses.
Climbing down from the roof of the warehouse via an access ladder, he motioned for the surviving commandoes to do the same. As they all silently made their way over to him in the cover of the rear of the warehouses, he spoke to the assembled group.
“ Listen comrades, we are going to abandon the warehouses and form up with the rest of the armoured company on the other side of the base. But since the Krenarans hold the spaceport and what’s left of the command building, we’re on our own. To get to the other side, we’ll have to use those,” he pointed toward the abandoned vehicles.
“ Sir, what if we are fired upon, the truck is unarmed.”
“ We’ll cover you from the raider since it has an Armschlager on the roof.”
“ Understood, sir.”
“ Okay men, let’s move out!”
They made their way towards the vehicles, carrying their injured with them, keeping in cover until they came to a wide road that ran between the warehouse buildings; this was the main route that ran all the way through the facility. Those that could, sprinted across the cracked asphalt and formed into a fire-team on the other side, covering the slower injured men with quick bursts of weapons fire. Eventually they all made it safely across the open expanse of road.
Once there, Vargev quietly signalled that three were to ride in the A.T. V, and the rest in the truck. He joined the others in the Raider, taking the drivers seat. One of the commandoes quickly manned the roof mounted Armschlager, while the other trained his weapon through one of the vehicles fire-ports. The engines in both vehicles simultaneously thrummed into life, and together they both sped off.
The damaged Dominator which had defended the breach in the perimeter wall so bravely, was finally relieved by two undamaged units, strengthening the defence in that area. The lone damaged Dominator slowly trudged its weary way back towards the tank factories for repairs. The Krenarans in the centre largely ignored it they were too busy fortifying their position, besides they didn’t think one damaged walker with barely any ammunition left was much of a threat.
Vargev continued to drive down the main road, the Raider rocked gently as the thick all terrain tyres hit the occasional crack and divot in the tarmac, this road connected the warehouse buildings in the east through to the tank factories in the west. And from the warehouses to the munitions factories, where most of the ‘Hell’s angels’ were camped, just over a kilometre away.
The biggest problem lay in getting past the spaceport, loading area, and command building currently held by the Krenarans, as all three were located perilously close to the road. There was however, a large field on the other side of the road, which was used for recreation and some small store houses further ahead. The heavy rain throughout the night had made the ground sodden, so any truck trying to cross that field would get quickly bogged down, Vargev silently cursed his luck.
There was no other choice, they would have to keep to the road and risk the Krenarans opening fire on them. They would have to drive as fast as they could manage, he hoped they would not attract too much attention.
The small convoy closed upon the spaceport, the commando gunner in Vargev’s Raider readied the roof mounted Armschlager. The other passenger also readied his weapon. The injured had all been loaded inside the truck since that was the safest place for them, some of the other commandoes were tending to them on route, however their condition was worsening, they needed to get to the triage centre and quickly.
Since the raider was the lead vehicle, Vargev gently pressed the brakes; and steered the raider alongside the larger truck, taking up a position between the buildings on the right hand side of the road and the vulnerable truck where at least the Raider could give the truck some covering fire.
Flashes of bright green energy began to slam into the ground around them from Krenaran weapons fire on the landing pad. The commando on the roof spun around and the Armschlager returned fire, peppering the sides of the tall building. Spent casings clattered upon the cabin floor of the A.T.V.
The truck increased speed, as did the Raider to match. All along the landing pad enemy fire came hurtling towards them, blasting apart thick chunks of tarmac, a shot slammed into the passenger door, blowing a wide hole in it and shattering the bullet-proof Perspex glass, just missing the commandoes leg. Vargev kept going, there was no choice; he had to.
5. The arrival
The Liberty and the remainder of the giant battlegroup was only minutes away from Gamma IV now. The repairs on-route had gone well, however the damage on deck 6 still concerned Michael. The viewscreen shimmered into existence once again, “this is Admiral Sato of the Hermes; prepare to drop out of plasma drive on my order.”
The viewscreen gently phased out of existence once again, leaving only the bridge wall.
“ Send the acknowledgement,” Michael replied.
“ Done sir,” Kinraid said.
A tense pause fell across the bridge, “here we go, into the lion’s den,” Michael whispered.
Kinraid looked over at him, “aye sir, nothing the Irish like best than a good old scrap.”
Michael chuckled, Kinraid had that innate ability to lighten almost any situation. The viewscreen blazed into life for a second time, “Sato to the fleet, drop out of plasma drive.”
“ Okay let’s do it, drop out of plasma drive, ready all weapons and defensive systems, all hands battlestations!” Michael announced.
At once the command team jumped into life, Eldathar brought the ship out of plasma drive. Logan Jones brought the weapon systems online and charged the exterior hull plating. Across the entire fleet other ships were doing exactly the same, all 188 ships dropped out of plasma drive simultaneously in a gigantic burst of bright white light that was visible for several hundred thousand kilometres.
And found absolutely no trace of any Krenaran activity whatsoever.
“ I want full scans every few minutes, sensors to maximum,” Michael barked out his orders, where the hell are they, his brow creased in thought.
“ Aye cap’n, if they’re out there, we’ll find ‘em,” Kinraid said.
“ No doubt you will commander,” Michael replied, confident in his most senior subordinate’s abilities, Kinraid was like a bloodhound with the sensors.
The viewscreen blazed into life once again, “Hermes to the fleet, advance toward the shipyards.”
“ You heard the man, ahead one half sub-light speed.”
Eldathar gently pushed forwards on the arms of the chair, and the Liberty quickly picked up speed.
“ Anything yet?” Michael asked, casting a glance toward Kinraid.
“ Nothing yet cap’n, wherever they are, they’re well hidden.”
“ Keep trying.”
Michael stared intently at the viewscreen as the fleet slowly, cautiously advanced toward the vast shipyards which made up the orbital part of Echo base. Tense minutes passed as the shipyards grew larger as they closed with it, like an enormous flattened orb, docking bays for all manner of ships encircled the main structure, massive communications and sensor towers extended from the centre of the facility like tiny metallic strings reaching up into the infinite vastness of space, the docking bays were all empty however. This was damned peculiar, he thought. The Echo base shipyards are one of the busiest in E.O.C. A space, there were always ships here, either being constructed, undergoing upgrades, or being decommissioned. He knew those Krenaran ships had to be out there somewhere, but where, and how many?’