***
Behind the sand dune, Kracht and Saleek slowly made their way towards the rear of the structure.
‘C’mon Kracht, keep up. We gotta get in and out as soon as possible!’ said Saleek as he looked back at his companion.
‘That’s easy for you to say. You ain’t carrying a heavy weapon, all the grenades and wearin’ a suit of armour! Man, I hate this planet already. I’m gonna be cleaning sand outta my armour for weeks!’ replied Kracht as he continued to trudge through the fine grains of sand which kept giving way as he placed his enormous boots on them.
‘You’re the one who wanted to wear the armour in the first place. I told you this was a quick, hopefully stealthy, rescue mission. Why’d you need it anyway? We’re not goin’ into a pitched battle,’ said Saleek.
‘We ain’t all as fast as you, spiky,’ retorted Kracht, huffing a little as he struggled against the sand. ‘I ain’t built for movin’ around real quick and doin’ somersaults like you can. My defence is my tough body and unrivalled strength but in case these guys are armed, I wanna be protected against weapons fire.’
‘Just...please try and hurry,’ pleaded Saleek as he jogged onwards.
Sixty seconds later they were at the rear of the structure.
‘Sounds like Ellu is havin’ fun with the ship’s laser cannon,’ said Saleek as another explosion could be heard from the other side of the sand dune.
‘Why wouldn’t she be? She’s got the best seat in the house for this mission while I gotta trudge through more sand than I’ve ever seen just to make it to the place.’
‘Just hang in there, big guy. You’ll get to have your fun real soon,’ said Saleek as he patted the large, armoured alien on the shoulder.
Kracht exposed his teeth in a wide grin and laughed a little evilly.
‘Now you’re talkin’. Let’s get inside, quick!’
‘Hold on,’ said Saleek as he held out a hand which stopped Kracht from moving past him.
‘What is it?’ hissed Kracht in irritation.
He was eager to get going and get into the heart of the battle.
‘I can’t see the rear entrance to the structure for all this sand everywhere. Damn, it looked so simple when it was on the screen back on the ship,’ confessed Saleek, his hands trying to dig away the mounds of sand which covered most of the structure.
‘So...let’s just go in the front entrance. What difference does it make?’ suggested Kracht as he primed his laser rifle which let out a high pitched whine to indicate that it was charged and ready to fire.
‘I was hoping to avoid directly attacking them if I could help it. The whole point of Ellu getting their attention with the ship was so we could slip into the structure through another entrance,’ explained Saleek as he continued to dig with his hands.
It was then that the lyan accidently pressed something with his fingertips as he plunged his right hand into the sand once more. Masses of sand gave way as a hatch suddenly opened outwards and upwards about three metres to the left of Saleek and Kracht, revealing a small room containing two creatures who were clearly not expecting the hatch to open.
As the two shocked aliens began to yell and scrambled to grab their weapons they were interrupted by a shot from Kracht’s laser rifle. The blast of pure energy exploded in a flash of yellow above their heads, sending the pair tumbling forwards out of the structure in an attempt to avoid being showered with sparks. It was then that Saleek darted towards them and connected with a leaping forearm smash to the first alien’s neck. The poor creature bounced twice and rolled a bit before stopping in a crumpled heap, half-buried in the sand. Kracht marched briskly over to the second alien who was slowly trying to get back to his feet. The alien looked up at the huge, armour-clad being standing over him and let out a whimper of terror. Kracht responded by grinning a sadistic smile and smashing the butt of his rifle down on the scared alien’s head before booting him in the chest. The powerful kick sent the already-unconscious creature flying several metres through the air before landing on the sand with a soft ‘fwump’ sound.
Saleek turned around to look at his ally.
‘Havin’ fun yet?’ he asked.
‘Just warming up,’ answered Kracht with a smile.
‘Well, at least we found a way in. Follow me!’ said Saleek as he jumped through the open hatch and into the room beyond.
‘Looks empty to me,’ commented Kracht as he stepped through the hatchway and joined Saleek.
‘Yeah, it does. Do me a favour and keep this in your armour’s storage compartment, will ya?’ said the lyan as he held out a hand containing the flashing brown disc.
This was met with a look of displeasure on the large warrior’s face.
‘Why have I gotta carry your shit? You brought it, you carry it!’ insisted Kracht defiantly.
Saleek sighed in exasperation.
‘Look, I thought we’d be facing more hostiles than this. This little drone was our ticket into this place by distracting the guards for us. Maybe we can use it to help us escape once we’ve got Patrick but I can’t wield a weapon and carry this thing at the same time. You can!’
Kracht scoffed and reluctantly snatched the drone from Saleek’s outstretched hand before stashing it in his armour’s rear storage compartment.
‘Fine! Let’s just get moving! Those two were barely a warm-up back there. You promised me a good fight and I intend to get one before this mission is over,’ said Kracht as he stomped past Saleek and walked out of the room and into the tunnel beyond.
‘Man, I almost feel bad for the people who are gonna get it when he lets loose and goes into full-on fight mode,’ said Saleek to nobody in particular as he jogged after the big alien.
The pair navigated the maze of tunnels and rooms as best they could, with Saleek making frequent glances to a mini-computer that he had strapped to his wrist. However, after a while all the tunnels began to look the same – they all had featureless walls of brown earth which contained stale air and a rather unpleasant smell.
‘Well?’ said Kracht impatiently as the two of them paused by a T-junction.
Saleek furrowed his brow and studied the mini-computer with every ounce of concentration he could muster but it was no use – he couldn’t make head nor tail of the tiny map on the display.
‘I dunno,’ he said bitterly.
‘What do you mean you dunno? Which way do we go?’ asked Kracht, beginning to get frustrated.
He had been promised a proper fight and so far all he had done was trek through mounds of sand and get lost in underground tunnels. Thinking was not his strong suit so when things didn’t go according to plan, he tended to just get angry and break things. Sadly the big creature sensed that that was not going to help their current situation.
‘This map doesn’t make any sense to me. Maybe Zeeree’s scans were wrong, I dunno,’ said Saleek.
Kracht let out a snort of derision. ‘So what the hell do we do now?’ he demanded.
‘Only one thing for it...we’re gonna have to try and track down where Patrick is being held by ourselves.’
Kracht glanced at Saleek with a look that suggested he did not think much of that idea.
‘And how are we gonna do that? All these tunnels look the same.’
‘Well, I’ve got pretty good hearing and you’re always going on about how good your species’ natural hunting instincts are – I’d say it’s time to prove it!’
Kracht sighed but couldn’t think of anything else they could do. At the moment, even finding their way out of the tunnels and out of the structure was going to be difficult.
‘Fine,’ said the big alien as he closed his eyes to help him concentrate.
He stepped forwards and smelled the air repeatedly. Saleek kneeled down on the rocky floor, pressed one of his ears to the ground and strained his hearing in an attempt to pick up a sound, no matter how faint. After several seconds of doing this, the spiky alien got back to his feet.
‘I’m pretty sure
I hear noises coming from the right-hand tunnel,’ offered the lyan.
‘I agree. The stench of wulstarks is definitely coming from over there,’ said Kracht.
‘Anything else?’
‘Yeah, scents from a whole bunch of other species that I don’t even recognise. There’s too many of them to be sure exactly what they are. Plus, I don’t even know what hoo-manns smell like, so I couldn’t pinpoint your friend if I tried.’
‘Anyway, it’s a start. Let’s go this way and get ready for some action,’ decided Saleek as he bounded off down the right-hand corridor, eager to get Patrick and get the hell out of the tunnel network.
‘Works for me. I’m tired of all this sneakin’ round anyway. Time to crack some skulls,’ said Kracht excitedly as he hurried after Saleek.
Fortunately the big warrior did not have to wait long to get his wish. The pair continued on their path for about twenty seconds before turning a corner and unwittingly walking straight into a large room that contained a group of eight aliens. Two of the aliens were carrying weapons and the rest were unarmed yet very aggressive-looking. One of the aliens, a creature of medium height with silver skin and dark slits for eyes yelled something in a language that was definitely not Standard. Whatever he yelled, it soon became apparent that it was not a friendly greeting. The two armed aliens shouldered their weapons and started to aim at Saleek and Kracht, while the other six all ran at the pair at once with balled-up fists and sharp claws raised.
Saleek barely had time to bend his knees and catapult himself out of the way before the six aliens rushed into Kracht. Unfortunately for them, it was like running into a brick wall. The large warrior did not budge a single inch and the first two aliens got crushed against his solid armour as the other four slammed into their backs. For a split second, all you could see was a mass of bodies and Kracht’s head and shoulders poking out from above them. Then Kracht changed his stance and bellowed something unintelligible as he pushed out with his arms. This sent all six aliens flying backwards a couple of metres, such was his formidable strength. As the six aliens got back to their feet and tried to attack Kracht again, the two armed creatures turned their weapons on Saleek. They fired and laser blasts filled the room, making hot sizzling noises as they shot through the air. However, the spiky lyan was far too quick for them. He ducked, spun and ran to avoid being riddled with holes before leaping a tremendous distance in a single bound and connecting with an athletic flying kick to the nearest alien. The laser gun was knocked from his hands as the creature was sent backwards, knocking the other armed alien off his feet. Seconds later, Saleek had gone from one floored alien to the other, rabbit-punching them both in the face until they lost consciousness. Breathing heavily as his species’ equivalent of adrenaline flowed through his veins, the lyan looked up at Kracht, who seemed to be in no danger. In fact, he seemed to be having the time of his life as he took his time eliminating each alien in turn. First he knocked the nearest threat down to the floor by swinging his laser rifle at him. The poor creature was introduced to the floor with a thud, quickly followed by Kracht stamping on his back. As the heavy warrior bent his knee and pushed all of his weight downwards onto his leg, the floored alien let out a strangled gasp of pain. Suddenly there was a sickening popping sound as various parts of the creature’s spine were crushed underneath Kracht’s large foot. Kracht then stepped forwards and lashed out with a kick to an alien who was trying to attack him from the side. The kick caught the alien squarely in his mid-section and sent him hurtling through the air before slamming into the rocky wall of the room.
The armour-clad warrior was beginning to enjoy himself now and his lips parted and widened until they formed a sadistic open-mouthed grin which stayed on his face the whole way through the fight.
The next creature leapt on Kracht from behind and attempted to apply a chokehold to him, or at the very least pry his helmet off and expose his head to further attacks. Kracht nonchalantly reached up with a single hand, grabbed the alien by the scruff of his neck and threw him the way a baseball pitcher might throw a marble. It was as if the being weighed virtually nothing as Kracht threw him with ease – he shot through the air before being compressed rapidly against the rock-solid wall of the room. He made no noise at all as his twisted body slumped to the ground, obviously dead. Kracht then raised his rifle menacingly. The remaining three hostiles that were still standing backed away nervously before Kracht pressed the trigger. He was surprisingly accurate as his military training kicked in and he let loose a barrage of laser pulses. Four blasts impaled each one of the creatures until there were only two beings still alive and conscious in the room – a triumphant Kracht and a slightly shocked Saleek.
Kracht glanced around in case there were any more threats that required neutralising but, sadly for him, there were none. He slowly calmed down and lowered his laser rifle, which was Saleek’s cue to walk up to him and speak.
‘You OK, Kracht? You ain’t gonna attack me too, are you?’ he asked, somewhat concerned that his ally had come down with a serious case of bloodlust and might decide to go nuts and trash the entire place with him and Patrick still inside.
‘Not unless you get in my way,’ replied Kracht as he looked intensely at the lyan.
‘Well, at least you’re honest,’ said Saleek. He took a deep breath and let it out explosively.
‘I know what you’re thinking. I’m fine, I got it under control. Man, that was fun!’ exclaimed Kracht as he grinned again and slapped a surprised Saleek on his back.
This sent the lyan stumbling forwards several paces and coughing, such was the big alien’s strength.
‘What next?’ asked Kracht eagerly.
‘No Patrick here. We gotta keep going. Let’s head out and try somewhere else!’ said Saleek as he darted out of the room with his companion in hot pursuit.
Chapter 26