Menace of the Red Planet Ch. 06

Looking briefly upwards he saw the bronze dome rotating as it was aimed towards the Earth, the slot in its roof was open and a single beam of yellow light had begun to shine into the sky and he grew cold with fear as he realised that behind the walls of marble the device that meant the destruction of his world was being aimed along the slight beam of light.

The fear spurred him onwards and he climbed the slippery slope with increased desperation, behind him his company floundered and made their way forward slowly. They could have assaulted the solid fortress observatory along the road leading to the dome but that way was protected by an elite cohort under its Murit officers that was held to protect the Emperor within the thick walls.

Hawk heard the battle on the plain below. He heard the boom of exploding sexium and within it he heard the screams of rage and pain that filled the air. He noticed that the explosions were becoming fewer as the sexium had either burned away or the fires had guttered out. Shadows grew and covered Hawk and his men as they climbed the slippery slopes to the plateau and its building above them. The Murit officers watched the road and waited not even considering the chance of a strike force being able to climb the slippery slopes of crushed rock behind them.

It was then with relief that Hawk climbed over the lip of the small wall that marked the boundary of the thin path that snaked around the Observatory and lead to the gaping unprotected entrance of the building. Hearing a noise behind him he reached down to help the man behind him over the wall who helped the others following. Satisfied that his men were joining him he pulled free his electro-sword which glinted a sharp blue in the shadows and stealthily moved forward along the dark path.

Crouching low against the cold stone of the building he scouted ahead using the skills he had learnt in the West Texas plains and watched the cohort waiting silently like a coiled snake barely two hundred yards from him and facing away from him as he hid in the shadows near the doorway. He heard the whispered movement behind him and stepped out from the shadows and with the silent skill of the panther sliced through the midsection of a guard at the open doorway. Blue sparks flew as he pulled his blade free and then he signalled his men to organise before the door.

Raising his arm he screamed his battlecry.

"Death to Toza!!"

The battlecry exploded into the air as Hawk and his company threw themselves onto the unsuspecting insects and their officers. Swiftly the line was broken as they turned only to see the men sweep upon them and begin the killing. Officers died first and were quickly followed by the guards who without their officers were merely fodder. Satisfied with his victory Hawk told his men to stop any reinforcements from reaching Toza.

Calling on five men to follow him he bounded through the open door and ran through empty corridors towards the weapon and those who would use it on his world. Holding his blade before him he was surprised to see no guards try to stop him from getting to the central chamber. So he was surprised when the first guard stepped out of the shadows. It was quickly dispatched and Hawk found that he was faced with other guards rushing towards him. Suddenly the enclosed corridor opened into a vast hall. At the centre lay a large crystal chamber that swirled with green and yellow gases and lit the bark marbled chamber.

As Hawk saw Toza sword in hand he screamed with a mixture of rage and pleasure. Toza still only with half his armour on his body snarled his defiance and stalked forward. A Eunuch rushed in front of the man and the blade sliced through his fat neck sending the man's head to fly from his body. Contemptuously he stepped over the body, dark blood pumping across the floor. Then before Hawk could reach the Emperor a man stepped before him and thrust a blade towards his face. A quick parry and the man's blade whirled through the air and he looked in surprise as the blade pierced his heart in a hail of sparks. Yet all too quickly he was replaced by another officer. Behind him he heard his men fighting the guards who tried to close with Hawk. Across the battlefield Hawks volcanic blue eyes flamed as he watched Toza's dead black eyes.

As Hawk and his men battled across the chamber above them on the device itself the inquisitors looked down and left their posts. Below them Chan Li observed them and screamed in wordless rage and climbed the iron stairs towards his inquisitors on the firing platform. He felt a hand on his arm and with beguiling swiftness his body spun and the knife in his hand ripped out the throne of the man who had touched him. Freed Chan Li swept up the iron steps until he stood on the platform thirty feet above the floor below.

Turning to face the inquisitors he said nothing and watched as the men returned to their instruments and he moved to the control panel. A slender graceful hand reached out and flicked a switch down. With a loud hum the gantry holding the device rose as it was moved into the firing position that had been calculated. A quick glance allowed the Inquisitor to see that in twenty minutes the weapon would be ready to be fired.

Below them Hawk had finally reached Toza and the men began their deadly duel. The two blades met in a shower of sparks and the sound of stressed metal. The two men whirled, struck, feinted and attacked with a fury that cleared everyone away from their action. Some watched open-mouthed as the blades moved in a continuous arcing curve of sparks. The blades moved in a blurred dance as each tried to find an advantage in their dance of death.

Hawk towered above the Emperor by a head and used his height to advantage pressing the man back towards the walls, yet even as he did so the other though appearing supremely obese was in fact powerfully built and quick. Again and again as Hawk thought of Toza as trapped when he would suddenly find the black-maned man twisting, turning and attacking him from somewhere he would never have thought of, each blow sending a shower of sparks into the air, even so Hawk pushed continued to push him back towards the wall.

Desperately Toza grabbed a scurrying inquisitor and threw him onto Hawk's blade which sheared through flesh and blood only to jam in the chest. Taking advantage of the distraction Toza pressed forward drawing his blade across Hawks shoulder drawing blood. Though stung Hawk wrenched his blade from the dead inquisitor and met the other blade as it sliced towards him again and wounded the man in his thigh.

Blue sparks showered the two of them as they continued their deadly dance. Toza stepped forward and suddenly felt his foot slip from under him forcing him to the floor. Hawk stepped forward his blade a spear to pierce the foul creatures heart when a sudden commotion started behind him. Incredibly he heard a voice he knew.

"Hawk."

Looking over to the door he saw a struggling Ronnie in the simian clutches of Guan Di, behind both of them Murit Officers pressed forward their blades at the ready. Beneath him the last of his men lay dead their unseeing eyes staring into the distance. Seeing his deliverance Toza rose from the floor and took Hawk's blade from his nerveless fingers and then slammed his fist into the man's stomach. As Hawk doubled over Toza walked over to Ronnie and his champion.

"We have cleared the rabble in front of the observatory your Ferocity and the legion is about to destroy the others in the compound below," a sharply dressed captain remarked his black eyes shining in triumph.

"Tell the Legate to take prisoners I have some lovely thoughts on what we should do with them," Toza said slowly, then his face broke out in an ugly grin as he saw Hawk stand properly. The yellow and green flames from the device forming monstrous shadows on his face.

"Did I not say that you should be a gladiator Earthman. Well you shall have your only bout before me. Strip for you will fight my champion Guan Di hand to hand. He has never been defeated and as he snaps your neck you shall see the end of your planet and know that I will fuck your woman after you are dead. But for now STRIP!!!!" the man demanded a vein throbbing violently at his temple.

Chan Li watched as both Hawk and Guan Di stripped completely naked, Guan Di's body glistened with oil which would make it difficult for the Earthman to grip the champion's skin. A glance at the clock told him that there was only another fifteen minutes before the Earth was in position and the weapon was ready. As he turned back to his instruments he did not see a red robed figure slip into the hall and climb the iron stairs.

"Let it begin," Toza said as he took the cloth of the shirt at Ronnie's neck and tore it from her body. Trying to break free she could do nothing as her shirt was ripped from her body and both her breasts were exposed. She stirred but he crushed her hand in his and she saw the murderous rage in his eyes, rage that could easily see him lash out at her.

Grunting in satisfaction, Toza's fingers traced abstract patterns around the woman's nipples and enjoyed feeling the weight and size of her breasts. Ronnie want to scream her outrage at what this creature was doing to her but her eyes were on Hawk who desperately was trying to find purchase on Guan Di's oiled body. Blows that would usually fell an ox bounced from the Murit's densely packed body whereas the other man's blows left Hawk feeling dazed and sick.

Hands wrapped about Hawk's neck and he slipped away from huge hands, looking down he was shocked and angered that Guan Di had an erection as he aimed to kill the Earthman. Had Hawk been able to ask anyone who had seen Guan Di fight he would have been told that the man became aroused as he beat a person to death at the moment of death Guan Di would cum over the dead body. Hawk smashed a haymaker across the champion's jaw that broke the bone but only resulted in a grunt from the other man. Then he felt the champion's hands wrap again about his neck.

Holding his arms straight Guan Di lifted Hawk off the floor with his hands tightly around his neck so that he was being strangled to death. Lashing out with his feet he was unable to harm the champion even though he felt his feet make contact with the man's chest. Hawk felt his body weakening as his oxygen starved eyes began to darken. As they did he watched as Toza ripped away Ronnie's trousers leaving her naked to the leering, obscene man who began to paw her naked cunt.

Seeing the action and realising that he had to do something gave Hawk found strength to twist out of the champion's grip. Dropping to the floor Hawk tackled the man and felt as though he had hit a brick wall. Dazed he knelt before the champion. Just as he felt the man's hands grip his waist he saw Guan Di's cock in front of his face and in desperation he bit hard into the erect flesh. Hawk felt and tasted the coppery blood spurt into his mouth and the hands releasing him. While the champion rolled on the floor the desperate Hawk staggered to his feet and smashed the heel of his foot onto the man's neck feeling a sickening crunch as he crushed the man's larynx.

Guan Di clutched at the air as though trying to pull air through his smashed breathing passage. Slowly his face flushed purple and then slightly blue as his body starved of oxygen died. As his champion died the Emperor of Mars rose with a scream of outrage and threw Ronnie to one side.

All through the fight an inquisitor made his way silently towards stairs leading to firing platform where Chan Li continued to wait to press the red firing button. As Guan Di died the inquisitor reached the platform that held the firing panel and taking a knife from under his robes he slit the throat of the inquisitor nearest to him. Chan Li turned towards the sudden noise at the end of the gantry and looked into the angry eyes of the Professor as he slashed his blade across another Inquisitor who fell from the narrow platform.

"You!" Chan Li hissed and taking a blade from the hidden pocket at his waist advanced on the Earthman.

"I will enjoy killing you Earth creature," Chan Li remarked venomously.

The Professor did not say anything as he advanced on the Inquisitor. The other inquisitors fled without trying to stop the Professor from attacking the Grand Inquisitor. In such narrow surrounds the two fought quickly barely avoiding each others blades. The Professor's blade caught on the robes of the Inquisitor and ripped through them opening a wide swath of cloth and exposing the the small breasts on the Inquisitor's chest.

When the Professor saw them he realised that the man-hating Chief Inquisitor was in fact a woman himself. Realising that her secret was known the woman threw herself with rage at the Professor who deftly side-stepped her and pushed the woman down the stairs. Turning from the woman the Professor began the task of destroying the infernal device. With skillful movements he started the process that would destroy the device with a few adjustments to the instruments in front of him. Once satisfied that the process had begun he slashed his knife through the black rubber cables that linked the control panel to the device. Electric currents sprouted across the gauges and instruments in blue lightning.

Below him Toza had reacted with shock as he saw the death of his champion and he knocked Ronnie to the ground. Released Ronnie threw herself at a man near her and took the blade that had fallen from his hand and threw herself onto the back of the man standing before the throne. Hearing the noise behind him Toza turned back and saw her and with lethal ferocity sent her flying into the wall behind her.

Raising his blade Toza suddenly felt a hand on his wrist, turning he found Hawk's bruised and battered face near his. Hawk heaved Toza into the air coming down against one of the large crystal containers of energised sexium gas that fed the device that was rapidly heating up and was sprouting clusters of yellow sparks. Slumped against the clear container Toza heard an ominous cracking from the container. Gas erupted as the crystal shattered beneath Toza and felt the hot gas flow over his body, it was then that he began to scream with the pain.

With Sexium gas in the air and the rapidly overheating y-ray generator exploding as Hawk with a blade again in his hand cut down what few Murits who had not fled the hall. Looking towards where he had thrown Toza he found he could not see him and as stepped towards the containers that were venting gas only to find the Professor blood on his lip standing before him.

"We must get out of here. With the sexium gas in the air there will be a disastrous explosion soon," the Professor said clearly and defiantly.

Hawk desperately wanted to find Toza but realising that the Observatory would soon become a massive fireball Hawk reluctantly nodded his head and joined the Professor over the still groggy Ronnie. As they turned away from the containers they heard crystal containers shatter. As they did the three Earth-people ran from the building. As Hawk passed through doorway as the building was shaken by explosions from deep in the building. Rocks rained down on them as they dashed down the road. As they made their way to safety the building exploded in a bright yellow flame that shot high into the air and flattened the trio as they moved down the road.

vi

Below the observatory the black mass that was the Imperial Guard lapped against the thin line of humans that Moran held together almost through sheer force of his will. Even Moran despaired as he watched the battle and felt that his line would soon break, that a hole would see the legion flood through and break the line into scattered units. After that the Guard would hunt them down and kill every one of them. Or rather those who died would be the lucky ones because those men who lived would die with great cruelty for the pleasure of Toza. Sighing Moran fixed his mind on the problem before him already his men had beaten back three attacks and the next would more than likely see the end of the battle.

As the men waited for the coming attack clutching at their weapons they prayed to their Gods. They muttered as they took comfort in knowing that fighting well would see their spirits going to the Ever Green lands of their fathers. Suddenly their prayers were interrupted as a huge yellow flame fountained into the air from the observatory. The shockwave soon followed and swept through the cohorts disrupting the line and spreading unease through the Murit ranks. Just as everyone looked to the observatory explosions and flames sprouted from the rear of the legion's ranks.

"Now men we have a chance. Hawk has killed Toza attack them now!" Moran's voice exhorted above the sound of explosions as he realised that there was something happening that he could use to his advantage .

Sensing a change in their position and with renewed hope the men rushed forward and thrust aside ranks of the insects as they clawed wedges into the Murit battleline. Though shaken the Murit rapidly rejoined the battle and began to press against the T'lanta force, had they been allowed to continue then Moran and his men would have died as the legion surrounded them.

As the Murit pressed forward explosions shattered their right flank and the guards turned to see Bran and his company perched in skimmers rolling breached barrels of sexium towards them. As the barrels would reach the ranks they would be fired using fuses. The explosions they caused would decimate as they struck the ranks of the Guard.

Above them the observatory roared with yellow flame that lit the battlefield in garish light. It was then that Suzann and her force of five hundred Amazon warriors attacked the cohorts from the rear and though ill-armed the human Murit broke as they feared being surrounded. The fear sent a shiver of apprehension through the Murit ranks that shattered the legion into a desperate bunch of fleeing units.

The legion's discipline cracked Moran who was fighting in the front rank screamed orders to his triumphant men and began to herd the Murit and insect soldiers into traps where using the skimmers he was able to continue rolling barrels of sexium into the crouching enemy and burning them alive. Those who tried to flee were slain without mercy. Those who were human since the insect guards stood and died silently in the flames.

As Moran herded the enemy it was Bran who attacked with supreme courage, riding his skimmers close to the enemy. Seeing Bran exposed and bringing death to them The Murit sought desperately to slay Bran. Beside him he was joined by Suzann whose eyes spewed hatred at the Murit and their soldiers as she would joined in the attack. Both were wounded slightly as they attacked but still they would continue the attack.

For hours the T'lanta hunted their enemies, tired but exultant they hunted and killed their enemies. Those who were wounded were tended by Lorena and her assistants. Those too wounded to survive were eased to the life in the Ever Green Lands and those who were dead were cremated with all the appropriate rites by Lorena and her tending nurses. For the victory did not come cheaply. No T'lanta that fought was unmarked but only twenty Murit survived this battle under the stars at its end.

Finally the soldiers sank into a deep exhausted sleep where they stood, a sleep that did not need beds or soft mattresses. As they slept Lorena and her assistants tended the wounded and prepared to plan for the victors to depart. A groggy Moran stalked the battlefield and gave praise and comfort to his men and wondered what they must do now before the legions of Viridis arrived. Hawk staggered towards him his ribs broken by the shattering blow of the explosions from the observatory. He carried an unconscious Ronnie and beside him the Professor staggered to the tired Duke who was sitting with Bran and the others.