The End Result... (Chapter 15 - The Great Battle of Blood and Ice (Part II)

[dragondream]

The End Result

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Chapter 15 – The Great Battle of Blood and Ice (Part I)

Harold and Terry cautiously led the rest of the group back through the tunnel, constantly looking out for any signs of Xenon or any other movement. Their torches pierced the empty darkness, threatening to reveal anything that was hidden in the shadows.

Harold looked around uncomfortably. “How far do you think we are to the cave’s end and we get to the trench?”

“Paranoid, Harry?” Terry asked mockingly.

“Just a little concerned,” Harold said shrugging his shoulders. “Don’t know what could be just around the corner or hiding in a crevice along the path.”

Terry rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Look, would you just chill? Nothing is hiding behind a rock and waiting to pounce on us any minute. We shouldn’t face any problems along the way until we get back to the trench.”

At that exact same moment Harold saw a red light flash and then disappear again. He froze in his tracks and grabbed Terry’s shoulder to catch his attention.

“Don’t move, I think I saw something,” Harold whispered.

Terry shook his head. “Harry, what did we just talk about? You’re being paranoid!”

“No, no, I saw something move.”

A flash of black shot across the path of Terry’s flashlight just as Harold had finished his sentence. Terry pushed himself tightly against the wall of the cave and swung his flashlight in the direction of movement, his other hand gripping his gun firmly.

“You saw it too, didn’t you?” asked Harold, noticing the suspicious action Terry had taken.

“There’s something in this cave other than us,” said Terry nodding his head then turned to speak to the others. “Press yourselves against the wall, weapon in hand, and everyone keep a lookout for anything that moves.”

The group obeyed immediately and began searching everything that bordered the rim of light that originated from their flashlights. With adrenaline-fuel strength and agility Harold jumped out of the way just in time to avoid a barrage of bullets that followed. Terry spotted the Xenon that had fired the bullets and opened heavy fire in response, but with little effect on the receiving robot. Within seconds the entire cave was riddled with bullets as heavy rounds of gunshots attempted to hit the opposing enemy. Harold threw himself down to ground level as he leveled and aimed his weapon at the centre of the hostile machine and vigorously pulled the trigger seven times, shattering the essential microchips that controlled the robot’s actions. The mechanical soldier dropped slowly to the ground and the firefight abruptly stopped.

Terry wiped the sweat of his forehead. “Phew, that was close.”
“You still think I’m being paranoid?” asked Harold indifferently.

“Maybe not as much,” Terry chuckled.

Harold remained silent as his eyes widened in an expression of utter disbelief, his eyes fixatedly staring at the spot where the Xenon had been shot down.

“What now?” asked Terry, shaking his head.

However, Harold remained silent, his eyes now even wider than before. An expression of horror had completely overtaken him. Terry carefully followed Harold’s stare and reacted in the same way that Harold had when he saw the same thing. Exactly where the Xenon had been shot down, there were now two, the remains of the destroyed one being gone.

“There is just no way.” Terry’s mouth dropped wide open, leaving enough space for a spaceship to pass through. “How in the name of Terran…”

“They can replicate!” one of the group yelled.

Harold’s expression abruptly changed from a horrified expression to a fierce, aggressive look of hatred. He took down the two robots as quickly as he had the first, but to a worse effect, for in seconds the two heaps of machinery transformed into four angry, determined Xenon robots.

“Run!” Terry yelled almost instantaneously.

“Where to?” asked Harold confused.

“Back!”

“Back?”

“Yes, back!”

Harold furiously shot off another round at the newly created Xenon. “But it’s a dead end, Terry!”

Vocally Terry did not bother to respond but pointed resolutely back towards the cavern they had discovered earlier. With that the entire gang of Terran miners hurried back down the path they had come, occasionally looking back to see the distance that had been gained or lost between them and their pursuers. Harold, out of desperation, launched a tiny grenade in the enemy’s direction to temporarily hinder them from their pursuit. Instead, however, it only helped to make matters even worse as every time a Xenon was killed it gave them a chance to duplicate themselves again. The small of Terrans came to a grinding halt when they reached the mining location where they had gotten the crystals from.

“Now what do we do, braniac?” Harold tormented. “You got us into this mess, now get us out!”

Terry stood wordlessly, staring at the oncoming hostiles, not for the life of him knowing what to do.

“Tell us what to do, Terry,” Harold furiously kept telling him.

For the first time, during the entire expedition, Terry did not have a thing to say. After a short period of deep thought Terry firmly placed his foot into the ground rock.

“I guess we fight,” he said shrugging shoulders.

* * * * * * * * * *

The pinnacle of trench began peering over the horizon as the army neared the battlefield. More and more footprints made my Xenon had now become visible, buried deep in the snow. Keldak had slowed down to let Robert catch up with him, who had great difficulty to march through the snow at the same pace as the rest of the army.

“Robert, their numbers are many,” Keldak warned him when he got nearby. “There is no room for any mistakes or second chances. The battle will have to be decisive and over as quickly as possible, avoiding as many losses as possible and rescuing your friends will have to be the first and most important priority.”

“I just hope for goodness sake that they are still alive,” Roberts said doubtfully. “Or I will have lost my friends and you will have sacrificed for nothing.”

“They will be fine,” said Keldak reassuringly. “Would your people send out incapable and defenseless men to do a task such as this?”

Robert shook his head. “I guess not, but I don’t know what kind of chance they would stand against so many of these killing machines. There is something else I need to tell you Keldak.”

“What is that?”

Robert hesitated for a moment. “Well if we win this battle then…”

He was cut off at the sound of battle cries and soldiers shouting as the trench draw nearer. Hundreds of Xenon robot on top and by the entrance of the trench could now be seen and the army charged at full speed. The lighter infantry, led by Robert, entered the trench while the heavier infantry, led by Keldak, began holding the position at the entrance. Robert could feel bullets flying only inches from his head and momentarily looked up only to see dozens of Xenon soldiers jumping at enormous speeds down from the sky, or so it seemed, and land meters away from him. He grabbed the H-PAD from his holster and pulled the trigger at the nearest five robots, disintegrating them completely but only for a few seconds before they had replicated into twice the number.

“Keep shooting at them,” he ordered the other troops and then commanded five of the soldiers to follow him.

Robert began searching the surrounding carefully with his eyes and soon spotted a small empty cave. With the H-PAD firmly gripped in his hand, he shot down every Xenon machine he could see and ran into the cave, followed by the five soldiers that had been told to follow him. Before long, Xenon soldiers had spotted the cave Robert had entered and followed at a rapid pace. Robert turned around to see the Xenon that were following them and quickly shot them down, who in response duplicated themselves in a matter of seconds and continued the chase.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Robert said to himself.

Soon he could hear guns going off on either side and realized what it meant.

“We’re getting close,” Robert told the five foot soldiers who were loyally covering his back as he progressed through the tunnel.

One of the soldiers shouted something in response which Robert couldn’t understand even with the translator on. The gunshots ahead of him grew gradually louder and he could hear shouting, humans shouting. His heart paced as he came to a sharp turn in the cave and peered round the edge of the rocky wall and to his shock and horror saw what must have been at least fifty Xenon robots firing bullets at the mining team.

“I see them!” he yelled to the five Old Ones, unintentionally also catching the attention of the Xenon that were attacking Harold and the rest of the group.

There was a hesitation on the robots side for a few seconds and then they turned and began firing at him. Robert quickly ducked back behind the wall and called for backup. The five Old Ones simultaneously jumped with perfect motion into the line of sight of the Xenon and instantly shot down most of the hostiles. Robert ran as fast as he could past the destroyed robots before they could replicate and flung himself against the wall inches away from Harold.

“Miss me?” he asked mockingly.

Harold snorted. “Why would we miss you, we’ve held our position so far thanks to Miss Sunshine here,” he said pointing at Terry.

“Hey, we’re still alive, aren’t we?” Terry argued.

“No thanks to you,” Harold replied. “And we’ve got a man seriously injured.”

Robert looked around and saw a man lying on the ground, clutching his arm which had received a bullet.

“Is that what you call holding your position?” Robert asked. “You’ve got one man with an arm that’s been shot and over fifty now Xenon robots sharing the same cave with you.”

“We’ve been waiting for rescue,” Harold said defensively.

“Well that’s what I’m here for. Now let’s get the heck out of here.”

Robert charged at the Xenon disintegrating them with his H-PAD, signaling the team of crystal miners to run past before the Xenon reintegrated back into twice the amount. Then, running as fast as they could, they hurried out the cave and into the trench, taking down as many enemies along the way as they could. Robert knew that time was running out now both for the Savior and for the Old Ones and them to escape before it became too impossible to finish the mission. The heavy infantry that had guarded the entrance to the trench had now taken many casualties and Robert could see Keldak fighting for his life and struggling to hold their position. He could see the relief on Keldak’s face when he saw Robert and the rest of the team approaching the exit and leaving the trench hurriedly.

“You would not believe how happy I am to see you still alive and having rescued your friends,” Keldak said laughing with rejoice.

“You too,” Robert said. “Now let’s go before the Xenon become too many.”

Keldak gestured to all his subjects to retreat and fire only defensively and the entire army fled from the scene of battle. The Xenon did not bother with pursuing them but calmly watched the small crowd of Old Ones and Terran run into the horizon. As one famed but now dead scientist once claimed: the one thing about AGI, you never really know what goes on in their minds.

[dragondream]

Comments and feedback on this story is very much appreciated, so please don't be afraid to comment on or even criticize the story.

[Technojerk36]

I really hate cliff-hangers >.<

But good story nonetheless. Can't wait for the next chapter.

[dragondream]

Next chapter posted.