Boris swore as he approached the hanger. Either by design or accident, mortars had landed near the sheet-metal hangar doors, blowing them apart.
There had to be over a thousand of the enemy troops coming through the hole in his defensive line near those doors. With Weretigers among them, he was entirely sure that they were Sacred Clan. Apparently losing their Empress to Bethany Anne wasn’t enough for those cocksuckers.
He was more surprised that they weren’t attempting to enter the caves in some way. They were, after all, fanatics who were convinced alien tech were holy objects by all reports. And extremists took risks no sane people would.
Maybe they’d convinced themselves that he’d moved some or all of the technology he’d found into the hangar. That showed how crazy they could be. No smart person would move alien tech from a highly defensible location into a far more exposed one. Unfortunately, this left the pods exposed to their attack, and they were streaming into the hangar. Scanning the field of action, Boris spotted Gyada and Alecta covering each other in their animal forms, fighting back to back against about twenty wolves. Letting the shotgun drop on its strap, he charged the group of wolves surrounding them.
With swipes of his paws, he shredded wolves, throwing their remains into the others that were still attacking the two women. Once he opened a hole in their encirclement, Gyada and Alecta went on the offensive. In less than a minute, the two or three survivors were fleeing for their lives. Gyada went to chase them down, but Boris stopped her with a growl. “Tooo thheee hanngger, “he said in the growling voice that his half human form forced on him.
As he moved towards the hanger, he heard a tiger’s attacking snarl echo from within the building. There had only been twenty soldiers guarding the inside of the hangar. If he didn’t hurry, the weretiger had a good chance of taking them all out by itself. That didn’t even account for the added opposition infantry force that was streaming in. Grabbing up the shotgun from its strap, he started firing short bursts into the crowd of soldiers streaming into the hangar. When it clicked empty, he threw all caution to the wind.
Letting the shotgun drop, Boris charged the mob of about a hundred soldiers. He caught them while they were still trying to funnel in through the breaks, slamming into the rear of the force like a furry tank. The enemy troops were caught in total surprise. They had been entirely focused on attempts to find whatever cover they could near the entrance against the withering fire from the defenders in and around the hangar.
Boris was surprised to find Gyada had kept up with him on his rushing attack. She was doing a good job of covering his flank and back from attacks as individual Clan soldiers charged with fixed bayonets. Bullets bounced and whined off the armor they were both wearing, the sound barely audible in the noise of battle.
A glance behind him showed Boris that Alecta had a large pack forming up around her, supplemented by squads of allied soldiers. Moving forward in a control advance, the group was exploiting the hole he and Gyada were tearing through the line. With Alecta’s soldiers taking positions behind fallen bodies, rocks, or anything that offered some protection against enemy fire, the Sacred Clanners would be prevented from closing the gap behind him. This would protect his rear and also keep the Sacred Clanners from stealing anything they tore from the Pods.
When Boris entered the hangar, he was surprised to find the defenders still holding. They’d taken some casualties and were forced back into the rear half of the building, taking cover behind equipment boxes and the like. The defense was still organized and effective. Boris could see why immediately since the weretiger was not attacking. It had climbed on top of one of the Pods, crouching there and looking around.
A man stood at the base of the Pod, waiting with a strange object in his hands. It appeared from the unusual shape to be some form of alien tech. Boris roared, and the man glanced over his shoulder. He shouted, “Take it, cousin, “and threw the object to the weretiger on top of the pod. Spinning back to face Boris, he raised his rifle and fired several bursts. The bullets ricocheted off the werebear’s armor and nicked his arms, but caused no significant injury.
“It’s too late, Ghost Bear. We shall take what you have made from objects that belong to the Clan. When we return with them, it shall be you and your Bitch Queen that tremble.”
Boris charged the man taunting him. Moving faster than the enemy could react, the werebear jumped. He grabbed the rifle and bent the muzzle so it would be only as useful as a club. Boris dragged the taunting enemy out from cover by the strap that trapped his arm. “Nottt todaay, you won’tt, “Boris growled as he pulled the man farther from the Pod.
“Cousin, now! “the man screamed as Boris steadily pulled his struggling body away from the craft.
There was a sudden flash of light and an explosion of force. For an instant, Boris found himself falling backward. Without more than an eyeblink of time, he was sucked forward when returning air filled the vacuum where the Pod had been. The Pod was gone, but the transport device had also taken the Clan soldiers and weretiger with it. Boris smelled burnt flesh and hair. The hair was his own, but the severed and burned hand and leg from the man that he had been dragging explained the other odors.
The limbs had been cut by whatever had taken the rest.
Whatever that device had done, if Boris had been a foot or so closer, he would have found himself severed in half. Even for a Were, such a severe injury would have led to certain death.
Bethany Anne might be annoyed by the loss of the pod, but that was a problem for later. Right now, Boris had an attack force to smash. Heading for the hanger door, he said, “Gyada, cleaar thhee Hanngger.”
Ignoring the bullets that the remaining Clanner soldiers inside the building were firing at him, Boris turned and raced toward the forces that were still fighting outside the doors. He needed to take some of his anger and frustration out on someone, and crushing the remaining attackers would provide a good target.
Battle Debrief, Cave Technology Room
For the debrief, Lilith had requested that she have access to all the video records. A strange-looking device had already been brought out from the Tech room and set up. It turned out to be a holographic projector, and Lilith was running battle recordings through it for all to see.
There was tension in the air. Bethany Anne had come down for the debrief which was unexpected, considering all the other problems occurring. She sat to one side, listening intently and with incipient thunder in her expression.
“Final casualty count? “Boris asked.
Janna answered, “Somewhere around sixteen hundred dead on their side. Fanatics don’t let themselves be taken prisoner. We have maybe fifty prisoners from NVG that were involved in the attack on the town.”
There was a grim look on her face. “Most of the captured NVG will be handed over to the government. They don’t know enough to be a danger to us, so there is very little risk to letting the government take them. Also, it is a good political move.”
Janna paused a moment, “The assistance that the Czarina provided has meant that the railguns are coming online. We have the first operational and more are active each day. If government forces move against us again, we can take out three times as many as attacked us this time, especially considering we have Weres, and they don’t.”
She continued in a grimmer tone, “There is one NVG prisoner I want to deal with personally. Ex-Sergeant Brogonovich betrayed my Intel team and is directly responsible for the death of at least five good men under my previous command. I want to execute him myself.”