Cmdr. Brick Turgid and the Corpse Corps
Chapter 10.
The fetid air of Boule City's Level 12 hangar bay was ablaze with laser fire. Corpse Corp cultists were aiming powerful nega-beams at the pilots of the Angel Wing, Cmdr. Brick Turgid's special fighter group. The pilot's were doing all they could to avoid being rezzed alived while also trying to save their precious assault craft. But it was a losing battle, the crystal ships of the Angel Wing were a wreck on the flat track of landing glass. All but one.
Major Ajex's sleek and slender crystal fighter vibrated with a musical trill. The twin light shards positioned in the nose cap glowed ominously as the ship began to hover and pivot. Major Ajex sited a line of cultists and whistled a counter trill into his ships control vox. The twin light shards burned with a holy glow and blazed pure omni-tron radiation at the devilish cultists. A few seconds pause then a group of the armored skele-villains burst into sparkling flame.
Major Ajex positioned his 'wing' to face another group of the terrorists. The main line of the Corpse Corp Assault squadron, about fifty strong, split itself in three and each part sought cover from Major Ajex's death bringing beams. Two happened to make it before he could bring his beams to bare. There was another musical trill signaling the beam activation, and the third group puffed and went aflame. The thick armor of the skele-men bubbled and smoked. The men inside, screams turing to watery gurgles, as they themselves, melted in the intense heat.
Though Major Ajex had managed to turn the tide of the battle it was far from won. The Angel Wing pilots were still outnumbered three to one. Many of them were wounded and running low on ammunition. With no decent cover they made use of their shattered ships as best they could, praying a way could be found to save themselves. Major Ajex knew that their window of opportunity to do that was rapidly closing. He keyed his vox twice and hummed a low note to open an outbound channel. He had to hope that Cmdr. Turgid was within range to receive it.
"Vox J to Vox T. Vox J to Vox T. Angel Wing under fire. Time short. Level 12. Corpse Corps took us by surprise. In need of rescue. Vox J to Vox T. Vox J to Vox T.!"
That was all he time for before the scattered squadron of skele-men retaliated. Forming up into two cross-fire lines they swung their nega-beam rifles in Major Ajex's direction. A concentrated group of beams smashed into his left wing causing him to lose balance in the air and tilt wildly to one side. His thruster also received a jolt from a beam and the resulting explosion from his heat coil shoved the crystal fighter hard to the ground and skidding directly out onto the extended landing glass. Major Ajex fought to gain control of the violently chiming instruments in his cockpit. The edge of the landing glass approached far to quickly for his liking. Unable to bring the cacophonous alarms back to a harmonious hum he gave a shrill whistle and leaped out of his ship as the canopy shattered into a million twinkling shards.
Major Ajex sprang to his feet with the grace of a Varkian leopard, somersaulting to a stop a mere yard from his skidding, sparking fighter wing. He watched as it slid ingloriously over the edge and down into the ether clouds below. He had no time to mourn the loss of his trusty fighter as another group of armored skele-men attempted to fry him with radiation. He dodged with all the skill his years of training as a warfighter had instilled in him and made it to cover with a contingent of his men with nary a burn nor scorch.
"We might have something to worry about if they ever learn to shoot straight, eh boys?" Major Ajex winked as he surveyed the pilots huddled near him. Of the six only three had working laz-beams and one was seriously wounded; bleeding from a head trauma. He pulled his own laz-beam from its holster and tossed his reserve ammunition to the three men who could use them.
"I don't know about you, but I've sure got a bone to pick with them! Let's say we get what's ours before this is over, eh?!" Major Ajex stood and let off three bursts of laz-heat before popping back into cover. Though he didn't verify it, each one of his bursts had found a mark and scorched a bony face to black jelly. His men rallied at his bravado and skill. They dashed from cover to cover, linking up with others and forming a proper defensive grid. In under a minute the Angel Wing was once again a deadly fighting force pushing the skele-men of the Corpse Corps back into cover.
The battle lines held as a momentary cease fire occurred then, both sides forming up and checking ammunition reserves. The Angel Wing pilots knew they had one good push left, but if they failed to find some way to take out the remaining 40 beam toting terrorists they were sunk. Sometimes in battle it happens that the overwhelmed but determined and righteous side of a fight finds some favor with deities who watch over such matters and rise up to win the day. However this day those deities must have been presiding over some other combat for they offered the men of Cmdr. Brick Turgid's Special Fighting Group no such serendipitous intervention. In fact, this particular battle must have had an audience of foul minded demons, for as the men of the Angel Wing prayed for deliverance a dark cloud began to materialize and from this cloud stepped a giant.
The giant wore flowing purple robes that sparked with electricity. A hood was drawn up over the giant's head, obscuring all but three rows of hideously gleaming teeth. The skeletal smile seemed to hover in the black void of the hood, then maddeningly they began to chitter and chatter. As the robed giant's teeth gnashed at the nerves of the downed pilots, the giant also raised its arms revealing not hands but insanely sharp scythes that glimmered in the dying light of Boule City's Illumi-grid.
The giant held the vicious blades at the end of his arms up for what seemed like eternity whilst his teeth clashed and skittered, driving the Angel Wing pilots near to madness. Then in almost unbelievably slow motion the scythes dropped to the landing glass and sunk with a whisper deep to the hilt. The robed Giant seemed to give the slightest of shrugs and suddenly the ground beneath the Angel Wing's feet began to heave and quake with demonic spasms. The floor tilted to near 90 degrees causing the pilots to slide and slip. The Giant flexed and the section of landing glass that the Angel Wing was desperately trying to gain balance on was suddenly shattered into millions of twinkling shards. The dark ether clouds of Boule City's lower levels yawned hungrily beneath them. And just as suddenly they fell, along with the remnants of their shattered ships, into the gaping abyss.
