Chapter Thirty-Four

The Siege Continues

The Kryl commanders sent a division of infantry. They had re-established themselves inside the outer main corridor area and this time they would not be removed.

The battle moved on to the access tunnels which lead to the main bulk heads and it was here that Major Dunwoody was making his last stand. He knew they could not hold on much longer. The Kryl would soon reach the main bulkhead doors.

* * * *

Inside those doors, three hundred and twenty –five meters deeper into Alpha’s subterranean battle fortress, Admiral Koenig was apprehensive. He knew that Dunwoody’s troopers could not hold on much longer and that the main doors would soon be under pressure. The doors were strong, but not that strong. The Kryl would force there way through and then have access to the upper levels of the facility.

Not that this would achieve much. Koenig gave the order to evacuate to the inner section of the base, forty eight hours before. Known as the “vault”; there was no way in and no way out. A one meter thick shell surrounded the entire vault, with the access door sealed in with a magnified field. It was completely impenetrable and even leaving would take some time, as the access door demagnetized. The vault was sound proofed, lead lined and the interior walls were super cooled to ensure no heat source would give away the fact that over seventy-five thousand Alpha personnel were within. The final precaution, there were no comms facilities, no way of communicating either within the facility or with the outside world. They were totally entombed within the vault and here they would stay until it was safe to leave.

Theoretically, they had supplies and facilities to stay within the vault for six months. The reality was different. Two days was too long.

Admiral Jonas Koln joined Koenig in the small makeshift ready room.

“Well, this is very unpleasant.”

“Yes, Jonas, but if it stops them from finding us, then hopefully they will leave quickly and we can repopulate the outer shell.”

“They have reached the perimeter of the vault. The next hour or so is critical. According to our scanners there are over two thousand Kryl inside the base.”

“Okay…let’s just sit tight. How are the civilians?”

“They are not complaining yet. It’s the children though. It is virtually impossible to keep them quiet.”

“The sound compensators should absorb their noise. I would be more concerned about the troopers. It is too confined a space to keep them at bay. How in the hell did we let it get like this? Hiding away in a vault, hundred of meters below the ground. The once mighty Alpha.”

“We will be strong again. The message will now be at the relays, waiting for the Contingency Patrols to pick it up. They may even have it already…We owe a debt of gratitude to our scientists.”

“Yes…but their sacrifice was necessary. If we could have gotten them back in the vault, they would have been safe; but they just knew too much. I don’t doubt that the chief scientist’s last visit here gave the game away and probably lost Clarke his life too.”

“Yes, I miss the old bugger. Not sure I could have taken my life to preserve our plans.”

“He may have not had much choice. His sacrifice, together with the scientists, those on the HSL list, and everybody else lost in this bloody conflict, for that matter, will not be forgotten. We will avenge each and every one of them.”

* * * *

The Kryl Commander gave the order to leave the Alpha facility once he was certain all the humans were eliminated. At first, he questioned why so few Alpha personnel were actually located, but the place was empty and obviously was never brought up to its true capacity when the invasion took place.

As the last of his drones left the facility, he looked back at the cave. Something still did not feel right. He felt a presence…a faint stutter of electrical impulses, a large number of them beneath the surface. Was this a residue of those humans lost today in their battle? He had never fought the humans before today. They were an unusual species. Limited in brain capacity, but resilient and selfless. The residue was obviously just part of their substance. He vowed to take a human for himself; before he returned to fleet.

The lead drone reported all Kryl had now cleared the cave. The commander gave the order to return to their shuttles. Their task here was done.