“ What about the shipyards, any life signs on board?”
Kinraid performed a separate sensor sweep of the shipyard interior; studying the findings closely. The light from the console lit up his stubbled features in the darkened command centre.
“ Negative sir, no lifesigns,” he finally said.
“ What about damage to the station itself, anything?”
“ None, cap’n; if the Krenarans did take it, they took it intact.”
‘ Nearly two thousand men lived and worked on the shipyards alone, where did they all go?’ Michael thought as he rested his chin in his hands, deep in thought.
“ I don’t like this captain, smells like a trap.” Lieutenant Jones said nervously.
“ Hold ya’ station, Lieutenant.”Kinraid said, fixing Logan with a stare.
The Lieutenant nodded his understanding.
Michael said nothing, as he returned his attention to the viewscreen, he knew full well the rest of the crew were anxious. Hell, he was anxious. It probably was a Krenaran trap, but right now he couldn’t do a damn about it.
“ Anything yet commander?” he repeated.
“ Nay Cap’n, seems the Krenarans won’t come out an’ play,” Kinraid said as he gazed intently into the sensor systems monitor.
Michael couldn’t help but raise a smile at Kinraid’s choice of words. Damn, where the hell were they? You don’t capture a key shipyard like this, kill everyone on board, and then just abandon it, it didn’t add up and he didn’t like it for a second. There were too many unknowns here, what happened to the workers on the shipyards? Where were the ships they were working on? And where the hell were the Krenarans? These were three basic questions and Michael didn’t know the answers. He hated going into the unknown, because usually it was the unknown that bit you on the ass.
The shipyards themselves loomed large in the shimmering holographic viewscreen now as they neared the facility. The enormous docking facilities were in full view, outstretched servicing pylons and huge repair bays which made the one hundred and forty meter long Liberty look like a tiny speck in comparison.
The lights within the facility were all on, as they could see the thousands of lit viewports, so the base had power. As he gazed into the viewscreen, stroking his chin in thought. Michael noticed that there was not a single scratch anywhere on the station, so they hadn’t been in a fight the Krenarans had surprised them.
“ Any ships in those docking ports?” he asked just to be sure, their may have been others around the other side of the facility, unseen.
“ Negative Cap’n, docking ports are all clear, so they are.” Kinraid replied.
Normally there were around twenty ships assigned to defend Echo base, it was all that could be spared from the front lines, and they were ordered to defend the facility at all costs. Where were they? Michael thought.
Suddenly the viewscreen blazed into life again, startling him and breaking him out of his train of thought. “Admiral Sato to the Honduras, and Eurinades, attempt docking procedures. All other vessels, adopt defensive posture.” The transmission ended.
“ You heard the man, bring us about and adopt defensive position bearing 147 elevation 0,” Michael said.
Eldathar instantly complied, and he swung the Liberty 90 degrees, accelerating slightly away from the station and then held position.
Michael looked towards Kinraid who could guess what the captain was thinking, “Still nothing, sir.”
The massive Danitza’s took up strategic positions around the base, as the Alexander class medium cruiser Honduras, and the Jefferson class heavy destroyer Eurinades advanced toward the station and gradually adopted docking positions.
A formation of Ghandhi class destroyers and Mandela class light cruisers continuously patrolled the area. Other than this the entire fleet sat perfectly still, every ships sensors were constantly screening the surrounding space, as if expecting some sudden strike by the enemy.
On the surface of the planet far below Colonel Nikolai Vargev revved the engine of the raider hard, continuing to speed past the enemy held positions. Energy pulses from Krenaran weapons fire continued to blast apart the ground all around them. The roof mounted Armschlager bucked and swayed as it returned fire; raking the Krenaran positions.
Two of the brutal aliens fell, one gurgling as a shot passed through its neck in a spray of white blood, it plummeted to the ground from the high landing pad. The second was thrown backwards as multiple rounds slammed into its chest. Both the driver of the truck and Vargev in the raider floored the accelerator as they sped past the loading area, and the highest concentration of Krenarans. Yet more energy blasts hurtled towards them and Vargev had to steer hard to avoid the incoming fusillade, smoke and dust thrown up by the weapons fire hammering into the ground all around them. The other commando and the gunner were jostled severely, cursing as he almost lost his grip on the armschlager.
A single lucky shot tore into the roof mounted heavy machine gun, cooking the gunpowder carried within the ammunition and causing it to explode in a bright fireball, showering the occupants in hot metal debris fragments. Vargev very nearly lost control of the vehicle as the force of the explosion rocked the raider violently, causing the A.T. V to veer onto two wheels.
“ Not now!” He shouted in desperation, as he wrenched at the steering, beads of sweat lined his chiselled features as he struggled to get the vehicle back under control. The occupants were thrown around the interior of the speeding vehicle, as it jerked violently.
The gunner fell back hard on the steel floor of the vehicle, choking and coughing up blood as he tried to breathe through his ruined airway, his face was a torn and bloodied mess, a burnt ruin from the explosion and shrapnel. Once the A.T. V had settled again the other commando onboard tried to tend to his fallen comrade as the vehicle sped through the hail of Krenaran weapons fire, Vargev cast a quick glance in the rear view mirror, and saw the other commando solemnly shake his head. Silently he cursed.
They quickly passed the fiery ruins of the command centre, fortunately only drawing minimal fire from other Krenarans advancing through the shattered building. They seemed as though they were more interested in consolidating their position for the big push during the night.
Finally the battered raider and the accompanying truck screeched loudly to a halt in front of the huge munitions buildings, Vargev and his accompanying commandoes from both vehicles quickly dismounted, carrying their injured with them.
A young sergeant approached them, and saluted the colonel.
“ Where is General Steel sergeant?” Vargev asked as he returned the salute.
“ In sickbay sir, he’s badly injured. We didn’t think you would make it either after being cut off like that.”
“ We almost didn’t sergeant; take me to see General Steel.”
“ Of course sir.”
Vargev followed in the sergeants wake, the colonel felt a slight heat in his right leg, as he looked down he could see that his fatigues and a small portion of his flesh had been singed from the Krenaran weapons fire, while he was driving he had not felt it, ignoring the burning sensation he followed the sergeant inside the temporary triage centre hastily rigged up in a far corner of number 2 tank factory, as far away from the fighting as they could manage.