Gashford glanced again at the holomap. They appeared to be coming up on the entrance to the station. He would have liked to have sent one of the men on bikes ahead to scout but he didn't wanted to alert the guards with the noise. It was just beyond the next rise.
He was correct and the guards were startled at their arrival. They had been gathered on either side of the door, three were playing a dice game, the initial shooting started and ended very quickly and six bodies littered the hard, frozen ground.
"Rudge, take your bikes in now," Gashford commanded.
The biker leader was not the quickest of the cult followers, but he was the bravest. The bikes, which had emitted a low rumbling as the riders bumped along beside the foot sloggers now roared to life. Each one of them had been given a powerful explosive charge to carry out demolitions. They raced towards the comm tower a group of acolytes in their wake.
Gashford stood back and watched as the bulk of his infantry used the stolen codes to access the main entrance and then heard the sound of gunfire.
He watched the battle unfold on his holomap. The bikers reached the comm tower and he heard and saw the massive explosion. He watched over the bunker as the metal tower leaned at first and then fell, the crash fading into the coldness.
He could see the men making their way into the bunker, the gun fire was audible through opening. The guards put up a valiant resistance, but at this point they were outnumbered by more than three to one.
It was just a matter of getting to the generators or the command station before help could arrive now.
The acolytes made it to the opposite side of the building, he could hear the scrape and grind of the heavy mining equipment as it cut its way through the buildings reinforced walls.
Over his radio he called Rudge.
"Why aren't you using your explosives on the wall? It would be quicker."
There was silence for a moment and then Rudges confused voice came through the crackle of static.
"We used them all on the comm tower, sir."
"You used all of them?"
"Yes, sir."
The Naxos did not reply, he heard the whine of engines now. They were too late, but much of the damage had been done. With the delay in fixing the comm tower a shuttle could make it to the orbital platform and that would be all they would need to take it.
The two Valkyries became visible and were suddenly strafing Rudge and his bikers on the far side of the building.
One slowed and banked to land while the other was still moving at speed but turning to make another attack run.
Armoured troopers were deploying from the first Valkyrie even before it hit the ground, moving and firing into Chigwell.
Gashford activated the toggle on his radio and spoke into it "All hail the Four-Armed Emperor," he said before the second Valkyrie had made its turn and ripped him apart with its attack.
returns to show us how he painted 
