The brawl continued through the room, into the hallway. Crashing through walls, into side rooms and breaking everything in sight. Derek was fast, so very fast. Armed with nothing but a small blade, he countered the merc axe with precision.
He would dodge the fired blasts at mere inches, blasting past his nose. He would return with kicks and punches. On occasion he would nip the mercs armour, sometime dealing damage.
Derek drop kicked the merc, sending him flying through the air. He landed hard but rolled and leaned on the wall. His helmet was torn and his blaster gone, armed with the axe and his armour that was being torn to pieces, he stared Derek down.
Derek slowly walked up to him, his hand on his blade. He had a smirk, infuriating the merc who lunged up. He swung his axe widely, Derek spun in the opposite direction. With his force he brought the blade and stabbed the merc on his right shoulder and followed with a knee to the ribs.
The merc coughed. Derek struck the back of his head with his left hand so hard he hit the floor hard. The body twitched. Then went still.
"Fool" Derek scorned.
The squad caught up to him and lined up. The two who were cut struggled up to Derek, their armour torn and dripping with blood. The other two saluted him, awaiting orders.
Derek who stood over the body of the merc, sighed. Looking around, numerous troopers entered.
….
Somewhere at a command centre in a Voss base, the young lord of House Voss stood silent.
Wein watched rows and rows of monitors flicker and shift. There were live feeds from helmet cams, surveillance drones and base security cams hijacked by military operators.
From them he witnessed the entire ordeal. Every panicked enemy, retreat, they fall and infiltration of the troopers.
A small female officer in military attire stood beside him, a data pad cradled in one gloved hand. Befitting her military bearing, she stood upright and solemn.
"Primary resistance on the entrance has been neutralised, my lord" she reported. "Reports coming that indicate the base will be captured very soon."
Wein's gaze stayed on the central screen, he saw his old comrade. He was reminded when Derek was his superior and now, he was his. Obviously, his existence was behind massive red tapes. Still, he got to witness a Shock Trooper in action once more.
The officer leaned to the side, listening to a report on her ear.
"My lord, the base has been surrounded. The leader's positions have been discovered, troopers are on route."
"Most of these operations were a success and we found their leaders. But we lost many too, they will go underground making it harder to find them. So, make sure to get him" Wein ordered.
"Yes, my lord"
The officer excused herself and left.
Wein remained alone in the room to contemplate.
The past months House Voss had been doing a lot. During the last years of Neilson's rule, criminal activity rose by a large percentage. They had embedded themselves everywhere, from businesses to positions of power. Gangs operated in broad daylight, intimidating people.
Militarily House Voss was strong but the increased crime rates in Velmora, and the other domain led to a decline in its power. Before Wein could climb as a lord, he needed to reign back Velmora into his control. That meant tackling the cancer that weakened his authority.
So, all over the globe, he deployed his military to clean it up. They attacked bases, companies and slums hauling out known criminals. One after the other, the bases went down, and criminal empires crumbled within weeks.
He knew he would not end crime as a whole, but that act reduced it drastically.
…
Elsewhere in the base, the last defenders made their last stand.
They had barricaded themselves in the office building where their boss stayed. Crates and crates were stacked in front of the doors, each man crouching behind an oil drum and crate. Guns drawn and waiting to fire.
Inside, the gang enforcer screamed orders to his men, rallying them for a final assault.
Then the lights died. They were all alerted.
The room fell silent, the only sound was the laboured breathing and distinct roars of troopers outside.
Then Bam!
There was a loud explosion. It tore a hole through the door, the mercs were stunned and could not do anything about the troopers who busted through. Bolts of energy ripped through the defenders, tearing apart armour and flesh.
The enemy was overwhelmed, some fled and were shot down and others just gave up. Dropping their weapons and lying down.
The troopers entered the room and contained everyone. The lights were brought back on and more troopers entered.
Taking the building after was only a matter of time, the enemy was severely outnumbered. The troopers went through every floor, arrested everyone, and surveyed the building.
As expected, the leader was not there.
…
Derek entered the office of the base. It was a mess, as if the owner took off in a hurry without a care. In front of him were a few troopers standing in front of a sealed safe planning to open it.
"Report the status" he enquired.
"We have arrested most of them. Transport to take them to a containment facility is underway" an officer replied.
"What of the target?"
"This way, sir"
The officer led Derek to another room connected to the office. There he saw, a hidden entrance busted open by blasters.
"We have reason to believe the target escaped through this. We sent troopers after him" he added.
Derek scoffed. Catching the leader was vital and he could not risk letting him escape, he needed to secure him.
"Secure the safe and its contents and report to HQ" he ordered the officer. "I'll be back soon."
Like that he jumped inside, the dark tunnel and began running, sprinting through the tunnel.
He moved like an animal, each step propelling him forward. He moved with force yet silence, zooming through the narrow dark tunnel. Ahead, he could only see flickering lights, no movement just an unending corridor.
In no time, he reached the troopers who had gone on ahead. He did not stop for them sprinting past them, but he could notice his stamina was decreasing rapidly at that.
He reached the end and drew out his blaster. Once there he could hear sound, movement, and vehicles.
He spotted the target. He entered a small pod car, beside him was a tall man carrying two cases. Derek knew he had to stop them from leaving lest they escape through the commotion above.
He released a barrage of blasts.
They noticed him.
"Deal with him!" he heard the leader ordering his guard as he took the cases.
The guard pulled his own gun and returned fire. Derek took cover.
There was an endless barrage of shots, there was no time to counter. Derek also knew that he was currently not at optimal condition. He caught his breath and thought of what to do next.
The escape pod made movement. The target would get away at this point and his reinforcements weren't near yet. So, Derek drew his rifle and aimed at the enemy.
The guard was just buying time, his relentless barrage was made to limit Derek's options, force him to hide while his boss escaped. Still, he was the guard, Derek did not know his skill level if he was Shock class. The confrontation would be to his disadvantage.
Peeping over, he could see the pod begin to move. It was now or never.
He rose up and began firing back. His shots were concentrated at the guard, who had to cover himself. Derek focused on him, not stopping and pushed forward. He changed mags and moved forward.
Then he changed direction shooting at the pod. Twenty shots were all he could manage, they damaged the pod, but it still moved. It was getting away and unfortunately Derek's rifle could not fire anymore. He threw it aside, drew his blaster and sprinted forward.
The guard hearing the fire die down peeked over and shot back. Derek had to weave and dodge the shots running full sprint to the pod running away. He ignored the guard, focusing on the pod and emptied his blaster into the rear until it disappeared.
"Damn it!" he cursed.
His gaze met the guard's. They both did not have ammunition left, the guard raised his fist ready to brawl. Derek clicked his tongue in disgust.