Part 91

The creatures body finally stopped twitching. The flesh charred and in some areas melted to show bone. Solomon sat with Decius as his blood flow slowed with Lyra's magical hands doing their business, Sandra hugged Solomon, as Byryl continued to fret and molly coddle Bene, checking him over for any breaks of the skin or bruises. Sykra went over to Xern and helped him pack the troop carrier up. Patting the hull, Solomon sent a dull echo through the hanger bay. "Ah. Solomon. Nice of you to join us." came the ever familiar wonderful soothing voice of Eve. He could have cried with joy. Eve explained that she had informed Sandra and Decius of the damaged troop carrier needing only minor work to be airborne, and when they arrived she transferred herself to the trooper carrier with their assistance, she explained that this was why she only had limited extensions to help Solomon. She had arranged the transfer because her main systems were failing and she would undoubtedly die if this was not done.

"It's good to have you back Eve."

"It's good to be back, Solomon. Heads up, I have a large group of unidentified contacts approaching from the southern corridor."

Lights, damaged by the entrance of the red creature flickered and died in the distance, soon the beams of hope that illuminated the hanger, died row, by row until only the area immediately surrounding the group of survivors was the only beacon of life left. "I can only keep the closest lights active, my apologies Solomon." said Eve.

Then came the hissing. Wet leathery tongues, forcing breaths through needle sharp teeth. The halo surrounding the survivors lit them up so well that it might as well have rang the dinner bell for the Banshee's as they invaded the hanger bay. Xern looked out at the Banshee menace, their contorted skin caught the light and he saw hundreds of glistening orbs that were the creatures eyes erupt through the darkness. Sandra removed the welders helmet from her head and her limp fingers gave in to the half containers weight as the shock of fear sunk in. Byryl and Bene backed away together, before quickly fleeing into the belly of the troop carrier. Sykra loaded his last magazine into his pistol with a heavy heart. Lyra propped Decius against a container and loaded his weapon for him "You are still useful, don't go down without a fight." she whispered in his ear. The young soldier was terrified. Theo and Solomon both swore and then took aim, carefully selecting their targets, and put their rifles on single shot.

The very air stood still for a moment. The survivors held their breath and the horde advancing through the darkness ceased to hiss. The silence was broken by the crack of a bullet casing exploding as the firing pin sent the round on its way. The flash from Solomon's muzzle began the onslaught. Soon, all were firing into the crowd. Dozens of Banshee's came into vision as their guns lit up the shadows. Shrieks followed as banshee after banshee fell. Solomon emptied his magazine and slapped a new one home and fired again, Theo cursed his limitations of ammunition has he emptied his rifle and pulled his pistol from its holster.

Over four hundred rounds were expelled from the group's weapons in less than three minutes, and then Solomon fired his last round and threw his pistol into the advancing crowd in frustration. Xern was next to be out of ammo and with an alien curse he threw his final grenade into the crowd, which cleared a rather spectacular hole in the horde. Soon, the Banshee's stopped coming. All that remained in the hanger bay was a very large number of twitching corpses. The closest a banshee got to the group was one meter from the containers that they hid behind.

Solomon needed to know the situation.

"Eve, report."

"Solomon, out of ammo. Lyra, out of ammo. Sandra out of ammo. Decius, thirty one rounds, rifle. Two rounds pistol. Counterpart Theo, out of ammo. Counterpart Xern, out of ammo. Counterpart Sykra, six rounds, pistol. Counterpart Bene, unarmed. Counterpart Byryl unarmed. Ammunition reserves, none." Eve reeled off the information as clearly as she could. Sandra thought for a moment whilst the group despaired. "Eve, what about the shuttle?" there was a pause. "Unfortunately I am unable to read the shuttle's status. It is out of commission." came Eve with a sad defeated tone.

The group shared glances between one and other in silence as they each savoured their last moments in their own ways. As a group, they had thirty nine bullets. Decius pulled himself to his feet with a groan, which he met with embarrassment all the eyes that jumped to him. "Sir, here." he said with a wince, presenting his loaded weapon to him. But Solomon didn't take it. He instantly became distracted by the approaching hissing.

"Eve. Overload the troop carriers fuel cells. Lets take these monsters with us."

"Negative, Captain. Troop carrier is offline and I am unable to access anything within. However, you can perform this action manually."

Sandra volunteered to go inside and manually overload the fuel cells, killing them all and everything within the one kilometre radius. As Sandra scampered into the mouth of the troop carriers rear holding ramp, the Banshee's began their horde advance. Decius made shot after shot, killing a single Banshee with each. Various colour skinned Banshee's approached, some wearing the armour of the human settlers, some of the Gryph and many of the pirates and civilian population.

Eve explained in mass detail what Sandra had to do. Who kept asking Eve to repeat the last sentence, to describe which switch to flick, which panel to open, which wire to cross with which wire. The gunfire soon ceased. She nodded to herself, knowing thirty nine bullets had been expelled, and thirty nine Banshee had been exterminated. But now, it was her job to kill the rest. "Now, join the red cut wire, to the green wire with a yellow stripe. Be careful not to join it to the yellow wire with a green stripe, as this will cause a shock to surge through you." Sandra, in a panic from the shouts and calls from outside, paid only half of the attention she needed. And joined the red cable to the yellow and green striped wire. With an almighty bang, her body was flung across the decking of the troop carrier and finally came to rest at the base of the Command terminal.

The noise alerting Solomon and drew him to see what was happening. He found Sandra's unmoving form slumped against the command console at the other side, he checked her neck. He found a pulse.

Moving her slightly rougher than he should have to lay her in the recovery position, almost smiling to himself at the stupidity of the act, considering they were dead in the next five minutes. Looking below the console as he lowered her head, he saw why Eve couldn't do anything with the shuttle. The frame had been bent and the damaged metal shorted out against the electrics of the console, blowing the fuses. Turning his head, he had an idea. Byryl came running in, looking for a more ignorant place to spend his last moments. He and Bene had hidden in the cockpit of the carrier and could see their doom approach. "Give me your shoe." commanded Solomon as he held out a hand behind his kneeling form. Byryl froze to see another living person, and stupidly continued to do nothing. Solomon needing things done quicker, simply forced Byryl to the floor by placing a leg behind his, and pushing an arm against his chest.

Once he removed the shoe, then forced it in between the metal casing and the circuit board. Placed his knife in the safely glove of the shoe and forced the two fighting sides apart. This reset the thermal fuses inside the command console. Almost instantly sparking in to life.

"Eve, report on the shuttle."

"I have full readings, Solomon. Guns are prepared. Turning now."

A volley exploded from the fore turrets on the carrier. Eagerly followed by the atop mounted turrets. Bullets designed to pierce heavily armoured tanks tore through a Banshee, through the one behind it, and the other three behind that, and then through a deck and a half of plating.

"Engines are firing up. All who desire to live, I do strongly suggest you climb aboard." came Eve's voice over the speakers outside the carrier.

This sparked a cheer of fear and relief, as Lyra, Decius, Xern and Sykra ran so fast in to the belly of the carrier they might as well have simply just appeared. Solomon hit the ramp raising button and the red light flashed. The door came up. Slowly. The guns kept the Banshee's back. Targetting only the closest, it allowed the ramp to close without any interference from sharp teeth or claws. The engines roared and the belly scraped against the decking of The Evergreen, turning to the external passage, the engines screamed with excitement as they jetted the carrier through the security sealed blast doors, that Eve easily opened with her clearance.

The journey up, was turbulent to say the least. Eve piloted the vessel up, higher and higher. The eight survivors, now Sandra had woken back up and was placed in her restraints, strapped in their chairs, shared cheers and clapping. Solomon laughed, "Eve, what's this shuttle called? I love this thing!"

"This carrier has the designation 'Cariad'."

Solomon smiled at himself and shook his head. Ironic, for something that was designed to carry and destroy. Eve continued to bring the carrier into the void of space. They were safe. Well, safe from the Banshee at least.

"Eve, make sure there are none of those things holding on to the hull, please. I saw a movie like that once. It didn't end well... neither did the movie franchise, if I'm honest." he said jokingly. Eve, simply re-entered the atmosphere of Merriden IV, flame licked the hull as it burned everything it could, and then once satisfied, She brought the carrier back into the coldness of space. "Course plotted for Earth, Refuge will be offered to non-human survivors." said Eve in her now restored clear and calming tones.

"What does cariad mean?", asked Sykra who sat next to Solomon, who in turn gazed into Lyras ever changing eyes, now supporting a hazel green. "It's from an old language, back on Earth, it's Welsh." he smiled at Lyra, "It means 'Love'"

- The End -