Operation Phoenix:  Vengeance


Part 4 of 5


 
	The 9 returning fighters approached the awaiting formation of bombers, 
carriers, and heavier fighters.  "It is done," reported the leader.  "We 
will lead you in, then return for repairs and rearming before taking our 
stations."

	"Understood," came the voice of the assault coordinator.  "Lead us down."



	The massive assembly of fighters, bombers, and carriers descended 
slowly, taking time to carefully plan the assault from the scans made by 
the first wave of fighters.  It was decided that the bombers would break 
away first, with some heavy fighters for cover and defense from any 
incoming help, then the carriers would land near the holes that they had 
punched with their big bombs and insert the battle-armored troops.

	At 35000 ft, the bombers peeled off the force with their fighter 
escorts.  Trios of bombers headed for each of the marked hardpoints near 
the surface.

	Suddenly, the V-1 came seemingly out of nowhere, weapons blazing.  
3 of the fighters went down before they knew what was coming.  6 more 
fighters, however, peeled off the main force and took their place, pursuing 
Elektra, who saw that her thinking had perhaps been a bit flawed.  She 
decided it would be best to land nearby and cloak.  She was good, and she 
had excellent weapons and defenses, but a single vehicle challanging an 
assault force of that size was sheer foolishness.  And she had the 
intelligence to know it.



	Inside the cargo hold of the Carrier _X'ehaylesss_ the X'hirjq 
X'ehmahr watched on the monitors inside his battle armor as  the V-1 zoomed 
in and out again.  He replayed it, and looked closer at the screen.  He 
magnified it and enhanced it.  And what he saw made him smile.

	Samhain was not in the V-1.



	The bombers all simultaneously dropped the bombs from their belly 
racks.  The skies darkened somewhat as the air filled with the hulking 
ships and the flurry of bombs, and soon filled with dust and dirt from the 
resounding explosions of the bombs all hitting their marks.



	Inside the command center, the ground trembled with a tremendous, 
deep, rumble.  And it wasn't the HQ stereo system.  Damage reports started 
rolling in almost simultaneously from 11 points on the big screen.  The 
X'hirjq were coming.

	Throughout the headquarters, personnel took up the defensive 
positions they'd drilled for, though hoped they'd never actually need.



	Their job done, the bombers returned to their home ship.

	The carriers, on the other hand, landed and started unloading their 
battle-armored occupants.  X'hirjq in Exoskeletons were the first through 
the holes punched by the bombs, followed closely by still more X'hirjq in 
light and medium battle armor.

	As the first Exoskeleton-clad X'hirjq bounded into the opening, he 
was greeted by a fiery onslaught from the flamethrowers of Vodkabots which 
had come to secure the area and soon reduced to ash.  But the next one 
through was always a X'hirjq wearing Medium armor, which survived the 
flames and squashed the Vodkabots like little metallic bugs with its packs 
of concussion missiles.

	The Exoskeleton-wearing X'hirjq raced through the opened tunnels, 
slaughtering the somewhat-protected troops.  They were weapons technicians, 
after all, not the trained front-line warriors of the Jihad.  But they did 
their best, and took at least a few with them.

	When a X'hirjq in an Exoskeleton found a door, he called for one in 
light armor to open it with its heavy plasma rifle.  If that didn't work, a 
medium did the job with its "door opener," the chain gun mounted on its arm.

	They moved through the headquarters systematically that way, a 
demolitions team following behind them and planting charges every so 
often.

	All but one of them did, that is.  One named X'ehmahr, wearing his 
medium battle armor, headed straight for the command center.



	Lights went on one by one on the big screen showing areas that had 
been compromised.  The pattern was clear almost immediately.  They weren't 
trying to chase anyone out.  They were closing in from all flanks, 
killing.  The lights converged towards the command center on all levels, 
until suddenly the door in the back of the command center flew open and a 
X'hirjq in an exoskeleton came charging in.

	Samhain dove as a flurry of shots flew through the air where he'd 
once been standing.  He raised his MP-5 and double-tapped the X'hirjq 
between his large reptilian eyes, the custom loads piercing the skull 
instantly and making the head explode in a blue-green puff of gore.  More 
of them leapt into the room through the same door, while still others 
started coming through the door to the left.

	Samhain kept shooting and picking them, off, and quickly switched 
clips repeatedly in a vain attempt at keeping his men in the command center 
alive long enough to use the emergency evac systems and sound the klaxon to 
abandon the headquarters.  But it was pointless as his men fell one by one 
around him.

	Amazingly, none of the X'hirjq were firing at him, and seeing the 
last of his men fall dead under the onslaught, he rushed out the last door 
to the command center that had not opened.

	In doing so, he almost ran right into the burly X'hirjq in medium 
battle armor standing outside the door.



TO BE CONCLUDED!


"Vengeance" and "Vengeance, Part 4"
Copyright 1995
David R. Hibbs