Opeation Phoenix:  Vengeance


Part 5 of 5: the conclusion!


 
	Samhain's eyes climbed gradually up the hulking mass of metal and 
weapons standing in front of him until they reached the grinning eyes of the 
X'hirjq inside it.  The big toothy grin she showed him told him something 
else--this one was not like the others.  Her eyes spoke of an attack 
directed at him alone.

	He dove past the metal legs, tucking and rolling, drawing his 
katana as he did so.  He hoped it would provide some kind of defense since 
he somehow knew the submachinegun would be worthless.  However,  he highly 
doubted his maneuver would be much help.  Retreat seemed to be the best 
option.

	X'ehmahr had something else in mind and was not about to let 
Samhain make his retreat.  She made her own diving leap towards Samhain, 
who promptly stopped his roll and allowed her to fly right over the top of 
him.  But that was what she had intended to do anyway.  She put the arms 
down and did a handspring off of them, vaulted back into the air and 
landed on both feet, bending her legs as she did so, one up and one down, 
into a kneeling position.  In the same fluid motion her arm with the 
chaingun came up and pointed menacingly at Samhain.

	A single thought suddenly came into Samhain's mind as the first 
shots  
were fired from the chaingun's rapid-fire muzzle. "OH SHIT!" he thought as 
he held the katana vertically in front of him and began to roll away from 
the streams of bullets headed toward him.  He felt the blade wrench 
violently from his hands as three separate impacts hit it.  The 
sword flipped up and over his head and fell onto his side as he rolled 
sideways, leaving a bright, fine, red line down his side as it cut through 
the uniform he'd gotten only about 15 minutes earlier and into his 
unarmored flesh.

	"Your skill is admirable, Samhain, but it will not help you 
escape.  Know this:  You shall die at the hand of X'ehmahr of the clan of 
her majesty the Empress.  Such an end is an honor worthy of such a warrior 
as yourself.  Now, prepare to die!" came the reptilian voice from the 
battlearmor.  She reached to her side with her other hand, and grabbed the 
plasma cannon slung there.  It was up and blazing in a single swift motion.

	Samhain had struggled to his knees during her lecture, and now 
dove away  
from the blazing streams of plasma bolts she was laying down, but not 
before one of them caught his left leg, spinning him almost 180 degrees 
midair and setting his clothing ablaze.  He howled in pain as the lower 
section of his leg charred, and rolled back and forth to put out the fire.  
His arm stretched out to grab his katana, only to find the blade stepped on 
by a large metallic foot.  He looked upwards into the barrel of the 
chaingun, and closed his eyes, expecting it to be his last sight in this body.

	Just then, Charcarodon came charging around the corner, led only 
slightly by a vodkabot that had miraculously survived the initial 
penetration of the headquarters security systems.
"Samhain! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" He cried out as the vodkabot raised 
its flame throwers, only to have a string of shots from the chaingun 
turn it into useless scrap iron.  He watched helpless as a large hand 
reached down and picked Samhain up and then flung him against a wall like a 
rag doll.

	The X'hirjq looked at Charcarodon as she strolled back closer to 
her chosen prey, and uttered some words he could not forget as long as he 
lived.  "You shall be spared, for today is the day that your leader shall 
perish at my hand.  You shall be my witness, and carry his memory.  Such a 
warrior should have someone to carry his memory, and you shall be the one."

        The other X'hirjq warriors, now beginning to arrive, began to
voice their concern about her actions to her in their native tongue
upon seeing that she was going to continue in her attack, but to no avail.

	She stomped twice rapidly on what remained of Samhain's legs, 
and the hall filled with the sickening sound of crunching, shattering bones.  
Samhain screamed again in agony, and his consciousness began to rapidly 
fade rapidly as a result of the incredible pain in his legs.  He reached 
out with his mind and extra senses... if he was to die, he had to find a 
new host body suitable for his use, and found... none.

	She reached down and grabbed his arms, one at a time, and snapped 
them 
like twigs, but all Samhain managed was a dull grunt before he passed out.

	"And now, a trophy for the rest of the invasion..."

	She picked Samhain's unconscious body up by the waist.  She 
squeezed tightly crushing his hips in another loud crunching noise, and 
gripped the top of his head with her other large, metallic hand, 
ignoring the already large and now growing protest from X'hirjq warriors 
assembling around them.  She began to twist, slowly and deliberately, 
pulling as she did so.  She was soon rewarded by another snap as the 
spine broke in the neck.

	Charcarodon could not help but look away as the tendons, blood 
vessels, and flesh first stretched, then ripped apart at the neck, and 
blood gushed over the metallic hands, staining them a dark crimson color 
for all time.  She held the head up high, her trophy claimed, and let the 
body drop, dull and lifeless, to the floor.  The other X'hirjq were 
suddenly stony silent.

	The cave suddenly went incredibly silent, as if sound could not be 
carried by the air in the corridor.  A gentle, but very cold wind blew 
through through it, chilling man and reptile alike to the very marrow of 
their bones.  An eerie fog rose from the floor throughout the 
hall, and was rushed away by a sudden, very harsh gust of wind.  Then, as 
suddenly as it had begun, it was over--sound began to carry normally 
again, the temperature returned to normal, the fog dissipated.  Charcarodon 
thought he felt something cold and wet brush past his face as the last gust 
blew, but decided it was just his imagination induced by the massive shock 
of seeing his Fleet Commander decapitated before his very eyes.

	X'ehmahr dragged Charcarodon out of the headquarters and joined 
with the others of the assault group.  The charges began to detonate, the
Earth shuddering and cracking open in places.  Geysers of dust and fine dirt
sprayed high into the sky, the settling particles covering the assembled
force.  Several X'hirjq shifted their balance from their normal stance to 
lean on one foot or their tails in order to maintain their balance as 
the main charges exploded.  Charcarodon, the only dobermensch to 
survive the assault, relied on his captor's grip to keep from falling.


	WEDJEE Headquarters was gone.


	The other X'hirjq looked at X'ehmahr's trophy, and turned their 
heads away.  A rush of air forced from where no one had been standing 
across Charcarodon's face signaled the arrival of three X'hirjq, each 
clad in incredibly bright red, blue, and yellow, respectively.  At 
their request, Charcarodon told of what he'd seen, and then the X'hirjq 
returned to their ships, discussing something or other in their native 
language. They took off, leaving a free if not baffled Charcarodon 
behind them.  He turned to look at where the headquarters had been, and 
hung his head sadly at the thought of his commander and benefactor, 
beheaded and then buried with his men. 



        Elsewhere, Windigo the Feral shredded a Sponge Minion with a swipe of
her Big Ass[tm] Claws and left her guard open to another on her side.  With a
rush of strength of dexterity, she hopped-jumped from her feet in a twisting
motion, her right Claw whistling loudly in a vicious back hand.  The shocked
spongy was literally thrown off of its feet from the force of the blow as its
chest erupted in a sheet of gore, its torso nearly torn in half.

        "Wondering where _that_ came from, I am," said a pleasantly 
surprised
Windigo.  In a gasp of utter shock and comprehension, she received her answer.



(to be continued by other authors...)

"Vengeance" and "Vengeance, Part 5"
Copyright 1995
David R. Hibbs