Battle for Xilos

It had taken hours of drilling to reach the complex. Hours of waiting, or slowly advancing behind the mining drones. It did not sit right with the commander at all. It wasn’t at all that he was uncomfortable underground. He just didn’t like sitting still for so long. He longed for movement, for action. He’d been dealt stinging defeat time and again. He never should have let that Boromite live. He’d been dogging his steps ever since.
There was a loud bang and dust sifted from the top of the cavern. “We’ve breached the complex.” The voice of his lieutenant was laced with static over the comm system. Moments later another bang and Sergeant Fenn’s squad reported the same in sector 3.
Commander Kurar had nothing to do but wait. His men knew their business. He watched the flickering images from the probes following the units as he waited for his own breach to open. Lieutenant Myrval’s assault squad Secured the room of the tunnel complex they’d entered and then spread out looking for enemy contact. The Boromites had made it here before them judging by the signals they’d been picking up. Sergeant Fenn and his men did likewise in sector 3. They left the support team behind to cover their backs.
“We have contact. Boromite presence confirmed. Engaging hostiles.” Kurar clicked back over to watch the feed of the assault team. From the shaky images he could make out the assault team charging down the hall towards the Boromites at the far end. Between them were a pack of those rock monstrosities the Boromites insisted on bringing everywhere with them. Hot red flares spewed from their mouths as they closed with the charging Algoryns and screams rang out across the comms. The cramped conditions made it difficult for the team to fight effectively, but the little rock dogs seemed well at come. The corridors became a death trap. Armor plates were torn away by the powerful jaws of the lavamites. The assault squad was forced to retreat, dragging their wounded along behind them as they struggled to get away from the hateful creatures. The overseer drove the rock dogs on relentlessly chasing them down endless corridors. Eventually the assault squad could run no further and turned back to fight. It was futile but they bought their wounded comrades a few precious moments to flee. One of the lavamites went down but the remainder of the unit was forced to blow the tunnels behind them in order to escape the complex.
Kurar looked on in horror. He couldn’t believe what he’d seen. Finally his own tunnel had reached the complex and he tensed as the wall breached. He led his unit through the breach towards the spot where he’d last seen the assault teams stand against the boromites. He knew his only chance of salvaging this operation was to finish off the hateful things before they could do any more damage. He radioed Sgt Fenn to approach from the other side. They’d trap them between them and try to finish them off.
Reports scrolled through his optic feed. Boromite reinforcements were pouring into the facility and had taken most of the vital areas and were pushing towards his own men. There was little chance of victory in this now. But before he could order a retreat there were upon the lavamites. Shots screamed down the hall from the other direction taking chunks out of the lavamites but not doing enough damage to put them down. They ducked back into an open chamber and Kurar ordered his men in behind them. They charged with plasma streaking out before them.
Sergeant Fenn watched as bright flashes of plasma discharge lit up the corridor. He and his men jogged up to the doorway and began to peer inside just as Commander Kurar lurched out of it. “We’ve lost the facility. Call in a retreat.” He said hoarsely. He had bad burns across his face and blood pouring from a rend in his suit. The room was a charnel waste filled with dead Algoryns. One of the lavamites was still on its feet. Chomping and making all kinds of horrible noises. Everything else was dead and blackened.
The Algoryns retreated to the tunnel breaches hounded by squads of worker gangs. They blew the tunnel entrances behind them and made their shameful escape.