Alric’s faceplate showed instantly where he and his no long-dead crewmates had planted the explosive traps and mines. Those were still very much active, and the girl who had traversed the gauntlet of deadly booby-traps, then dragged his stasis pod under fire and killed multiple soldiers, suddenly became even more amazing.
He slowed his breathing and went into the state he taught his troopers – Dead Still – used when a Star Marine was about to ambush their enemy. Alric then deactivated all of his spacesuit’s systems, but not before using the exoskeleton’s power to wrap his body with a piece of floating metal. He waited for the fools to come...
The Taz’aran boarding team soon reached his position and began tripping the traps. From a group of thirty men, only about half survived and reached the place where his concealed suit was. The Star Marine took one deep breath and, re-activating all of his systems, unsheathed his greatsword. Its blade soon decapitated the closest two Taz’arans with one stroke, their headless corpses floating away with arms and legs still twitching.
Engines on full power, he flew through the blood trail and shot another soldier straight through his chest using his shoulder laser. In a moment of complete disbelief, the Taz’aran sergeant in command saw Alric flying in and out of different hull breaches, each time outflanking his troops. Sometimes he would leap from behind the cover of broken bulkheads and slice them to pieces with his vibro-sword, then in the very next moment unleash a devastating barrage of projectiles from his hand auto-railguns, making them duck behind cover.
All semblance of military order and discipline completely gone, the Taz’aran captain began sweating in his command chair. His every order and plan was in an instant made obsolete by the tactical brilliance and combat prowess of this single star marine. The Taz’arans began an “orderly” retreat and tried tirelessly shooting the Terran.
To no avail. Relentless, Alric continued stalking them, using his knowledge and expertise of the terrain against them. Even though they had scanners and theoretically could use them and map their way, it took precious time, time that they sorely lacked in that instance.
The Taz’aran sergeant leading their ship’s second boarding team section considered himself to be a tough melee combatant. After some of his troopers had managed to hit the enemy a couple of times, he decided to face him. With shield in one arm and vibro axe in another, the Taz’aran stood in his way and assumed a battle stance.
With a sudden blast, his enemy’s engines propelled him forwards, and his shield was instantly sliced in twain by the Terran’s deadly sword. For some minutes the Taz’aran desperately fended off his attacks, with all of his own strikes hitting nothing in return.
It was evident for anyone versed in space combat that his time was near, and so he tried one last feint. Instead of deflecting his enemy’s sword, the Taz’aran skilfully slid backwards, feigning retreat, axe concealed behind and ready to strike.
But instead of stepping forward and getting sucker-punched, the star marine shot him in the face. The laser beam streaked from his shoulder, hitting him from point-blank range.
Losing power, the Taz’aran’s spacesuit floated upwards and hit the ceiling. His still-working vibro axe’s blade got stuck in the bulkhead, pieces of shredded, melting megasteel igniting the suit’s oxygen reserves.
Alric quickly moved past the fireball and targeted another Taz’aran soldier, who at this instant was running as quickly as his mag boots could carry him. His laser beam sliced the back of the Taz’aran’s suit, melting armor, equipment, flesh, and bone to such an extent that he could see through his now-lifeless corpse. Somehow the running soldiers had switched their links to the comms wave on in their panic, and he was listening to their dying screams and horrified whimpering for the whole time.
He remembered the same cries of pain and smell of death all those years ago in Berlin.
They were hiding in a nearby hospital’s basement, as he tried to call his parents on one of those old cell phones which everybody had in the 60’s. There was no signal, and in an effort to reach a higher place, Alric’s hand stuck through the basement’s window. One of the aliens must have seen his arm because soon after, the entire building was shaken to its foundations.
The children listened in terror as patients and other people who had taken refuge in this hospital were slaughtered. The fizzing of the invaders' guns, mowing down those who resisted, followed by buzzing and splashing. The muffled voices begging for mercy were then replaced with the sounds of people drowning in their own blood.
They tried running away by crawling through that basement window and outside to the streets. Too little, too late.
The aliens found them and entered the basement by melting its door. Alric was the only one who had managed to crawl outside. He watched with utter horror as the invaders began killing his helpless friends, either by crushing the kids’ skulls on the ground with their boots, or choking them, or slashing their throats with blades. In just under a minute, all of them were dead.
Alric stood watching, both hands covering his mouth, tears running down, while one of the aliens walked directly towards him and opened her helmet. She was smiling and licking her lips, while an expression of absolute happiness was written all over her greenish face. He screamed and crawled away as fast as possible, but bumped into somebody’s boot.
Terrified Alric looked up, only to see another alien looking down at him while playing with a severed human head. He held a bloodied blade in his other hand and, encouraged by the female alien’s boisterous laughter, raised it up in the air.
Something deep inside Alric broke, and he stopped crying. Beside him was a decapitated corpse, and next to its hand – a pistol. Alric suddenly rolled aside, dodging the alien’s first blow and grabbed the pistol with both hands. Eyes wide open, he aimed the weapon.
It was a Luger, made for the army during the war, light, accurate and easy to use. Most kids had received more than enough shooting lessons during and after the war since there were some Illuminati and communist terrorists left. The new Imperial Government wanted its citizens to have better personal protection, and many weapons were sold at bargain prices.
Still on the ground, Alric squeezed the trigger. Luckily, the pistol was loaded, and with his very first shot he hit the unprotected face of his attacker. Inside the helmet, the alien’s head exploded to pieces.
Flesh, bone and brain matter splattered all over him. Alric searched the human body, quickly grabbed all the spare magazines he could find and ran back towards the hospital basement’s window. There stood the alien woman, laughing no longer, with mouth open and eyes wide, staring at him with pure disbelief.
While still running, he slid over the pavement on his belly and aiming at her face, opened fire. Her helmet began closing, but not fast enough. Most of the bullets ricocheted from it, turning her head into mush. The rest of her alien friends started screaming and shot at him a couple of times, but Alric was long gone.
He ran, pistol ready in hand, towards his home, and without thinking of his own safety, shot another alien passer-by. The last bullet in his Luger’s magazine bounced off of the alien’s armored suit and while walking towards him, Alric took a spare from his pocket and reloaded. The alien was so confused and taken by disbelief, that by the time he raised the beam gun and shot at Alric, he himself was mortally hit in the neck.
Alric was taken completely over, by something he didn’t know he had it in him. No longer he was feeling fear and sadness. It was hate that drove him. Hatred towards the invader, those monsters, who with barbarous cruelty had slaughtered his friends and many others. They had no place here! He would kill as many of them as he possibly could, even if it would cost him his life.
There was a great emptiness within him, as deep inside, he knew that his parents and brother were dead, even without seeing their bodies. He was right, sadly; turning around the corner, Alric saw the corpses of his mother and father lying bloodied on the street. They were surrounded by five other human bodies. It looked like all of them had been executed by the nearby aliens.
Alric walked towards them and again shot point-blank, aiming at their heads. The last thing he remembered of this day was the aliens shooting him to death. And as they thought Alric finally vanquished, they left him to die.
His father’s forgotten ancestry awoke in him, as the deadly wounds closed by themselves. His flesh, organs, and bones regenerated, all surrounded by white glowing light. Alric rose, his shirt burned, and tore it aside, grabbing his pistol from the ground. Reloading it once more, Alric fearlessly ran after his alien executioners, aiming to fulfill the oath he had taken...
