Chapter 57

“Is all ready?” I sent out the request for info via the AI network as I stood at a wall in the median level of Hrunesh Block, waiting.

“Pellet firer in place; behemoth shell ready; Regiments are ready,” came the reply.

“Open the wall.”

The wall slid open silently as the AIs had now designated it a door.

“Begin!” I commanded and then raced forward to throw myself out of the building.

I was swiftly followed by three squads of Troopers, all drop specialists and all grimly determined to breach the alien barrier and open it up for the coming charge of the Regiments. Even as we dropped I could spot the explosions caused by the giant pellet firer as its power and the weight of the pellets themselves penetrated beneath the surface of the weird extrusions, exploded and caused a sundering of the surface layers. I also caught a glimpse of a squad holding up the behemoth carapace and using it as a shield to mask themselves from alien counterfire as they advanced under a torrent of alien fire.

And then with a sudden lurch my grav-pack kicked in and I more or less glided into the narrow space between the top of the alien barrier and the upper wall of the Silcom media foundation, firing my serial pellet firer on any target I saw. I then did a sharp drop to ground level and with my falchion almost sliced in half a smaller alien who was totally focussed on firing some sort of weapon at the approaching Troopers.

Whilst this did alert the aliens to our presence, it was too late for them to catch us at our most vulnerable, whilst in the air. The rest of the squads were landing and forming a line and drawing their polearms, whilst Senior Monitor Mack and Specialist Tegre used their weapons to prise open the extrusion and insert multiple explosive packs into it.

“Brace!” Mack yelled and we all did our level best to push forwards even as a massive blast erupted to our backs and bowled a few of us over.

“Breach made! Hold them off!” Tegre yelled, somewhat redundantly, as a mass of aliens seemed to race towards our line.

I, at this stage, had to stand slightly back even as I was observing the progress of Imperial Forces via the battlenet, noting that the sheer volume of fire from the aliens holding the barrier was dropping off as they turned to try and get at us. This enabled me to deal with any aliens that managed to squeeze through until at last our reinforcements, led by Truvia and Commander Vrice, arrived.

“Worked like a charm,” I said as they took a place at my side.

“Well, we’re in,” Truvia replied wryly.

“Other Regiments are breaching the barrier now as well,” Vrice added. “Looks like the aliens are falling back a little.”

“467^th squads one to three will advance!” I yelled out the order.

“You heard the Officer! Move your lazy behinds!” from Mack.

Our line extended as we pushed forwards into the corridors of Silcom, forcing the aliens back even as they fought hard to prevent us.

“Doesn’t look like they’re going into ambush mode,” Vrice noted.

“Thank the gods for small mercies,” I replied as we both stabbed down with our falchions at a still struggling alien.

“I suspect they’re now heading for a last stand of some type,” Truvia added.

“Still a few bosses unaccounted for,” I observed.

“Yes, worrying.”

“Very,” I agreed. “Looks like they are moving back to the market.”

“All the other Regiments have now broken through,” Vrice informed us.

“Good. Hello, what’s this?”

Glissos, the senior Master, stood steady in his gleaming armour as the Reelc retreated around him. ‘I call for a cessation of fighting! All hostilities to be settled by an honourable duel! Fight me, prey, and represent your feeble Empire!’ he demanded on a mental channel he knew the weakling prey could hear.

“Why should we honour you who in your arrogance slaughtered billions of my people for your gluttony?” came an unexpected answer from the central prey of a group of three, even as the lesser prey ceased to attack the Reelc, who also did not attack them, merely standing back, weapons levelled.

‘To prove who is mightier, even as my race goes into the long night at your hands!’

“Why should any of us afford you that honour?”

‘There are three Masters left, kill us and our Reelc will ... cease.’

“And should you win?”

‘You find someone more worthy to face our challenge!’

“Three against three?”

‘No more than.’

“I will consult.”

‘Unacceptable! Choose your champions!’

“Truvia, Loss, attend me,” I requested, making up my mind on the spot, seeing a swift end to this idiotic war.

“Does it want what I think?” Truvia asked whilst Loss simply listened.

“Yes. A duel, three against three; we win they all ... as in all aliens, die. They win, we choose someone better.”

“Intriguing, count me in.”

“Me too,” Loss added.

“Let’s go.”

“She’s what?” Amantil asked incredulously.

“Three of them are to duel three aliens. If they win, it’s over,” Marshal Tuvic replied. “The AIs stopped the Troopers from fighting. They had picked up the alien’s channel and the words registered as a challenge of honour.”

“And if they don’t?”

“We get to try again, presumably on another day.”

“I don’t like this, who authorised it?”

“Commander Kiria as Commander-in-charge, after the alien put her on the spot. It was a case of fight now and end it or take more casualties.”

“That’s my girl,” Cure David chuckled.

“She’ll win?”

“I can’t think of any better, other than an Imperial bodyguard and she also has Truvia there to assist if needed.”

“You’d better be right and, believe me, I’ll be having a word with her about usurping Royal prerogatives.”

“Serenissima, you’d only choose a champion as that’s lawful policy and there’s already one there,” David chuckled.

“Dammit. Stop being right all the time!”

“Of course, Serenissima.”

“And sarcastic too!”

For all the aliens wanted an immediate duel, they did allow us time to prepare and choose weapons. Basically this meant we all chose a polearm for the initial confrontation and a sword once their tactics were ascertained. Truvia chose what she called a rapier and Loss something that looked short and deadly, the AIs described it as a ‘spatha’ which meant nothing to me as yet.

The other masters were garbed in similar, if less showy, armour than the senior Master and stood beside it, simply waiting until we strode forward to face them.

‘Your garb denotes you as prey,’ one of them sneered.

“Where are your creatures? Where are your ships? Where is your future? Now tell me, who is the prey here?” Loss replied for us.

‘A good question. Now let us see,’ the senior Master replied.

All three aliens strode forward cautiously, keeping to a tight defensive formation, even as we moved into one ourselves. It was obvious that they were wearing the deadly gauntlets they tended to use, but were also carrying some type of curved bladed weapon as their primary means of attack, plus the armour they were wearing.

The one I took to be the leader struck first at me, though I deflected the blow away with the spear point of my polearm as the other two bosses moved against Truvia and Loss. It was soon obvious that the creature was quite skilled with a blade, but seemed somewhat hesitant in applying that skill in its attempts to get at me, something which I put down to lack of practice.

‘Soon you will be my slave in the next life, forever supplying me with the nectar of life,’ it mentally sneered at me.

“Can’t see that happening any time soon with your lamentable talent,” I hit back, though I was pretty sure the alien was as good as me, though possibly not Truvia.

‘You may have brought my race low, but you will talk of us in hushed tones as you remember our glory, prey.’

“I doubt it. You’ll just be an obscure footnote in Imperial history,” I chuckled, mocking the creature even as we continued to test for each other’s style.

‘Do not lie. The Reelc were the fiercest foe you have ever met. We harvested on over 20 of your worlds!’

“And where are you now? Fighting something you regard as prey to recoup a little honour for your miserable defeat and descent into extinction. You failed to come near the majority of our worlds. Your kind will not be missed, or glorified.”

‘You lie! The Reelc will be remembered in glory!’

“Not by me, not by the Empire and not by the civilisations you butchered in the past.”

This appeared to irritate the creature as it made several wild swings at me, only to be held back and once stabbed by the polearm, which admittedly healed quickly. Of the others, they were holding their own, though Truvia had her opponent on the defensive, but she was being careful due to her lack of an Imperial Armour unit. Loss seemed to just be concentrating on learning his alien’s style as blows were exchanged. Neither of us were actually doing any real damage to our opponents as our use of polearms kept the aliens at a distance.

‘Cowardly prey, using a spear to keep me back,’ my opponent sneered.

“Oh, that keen to die, are we?” I asked in mocking tones which I now knew the creature could pick up on.

‘You mock, but know you are but prey.’

“Truvia, show the one you face just who is prey here,” I requested with a savage smile.

“Thought you’d never ask, Kiria,” she replied with a grin as she pressed her assailant back before dropping her polearm and drawing her sword.

She then moved into full attack mode against the now struggling boss as she used her weapon to inflict several deep (if easily healing) cuts before suddenly dodging a flailing gauntlet, stepping past the wild blow, and, with an incredibly powerful slash, decapitated the creature.

“Sure you want me to stop playing?” I asked my opponent with a scornful laugh.

The two remaining aliens stepped back, whilst all three of us watched them carefully like a villat about to strike. From the surrounding Reelc there was a low moan, though no other movement.