And that didn't even take into account the dangers that might lay inside the ruin, from automated defense systems to collapsed tunnels, broken equipment, and a myriad of other hazards.
“I do. Which is why I wanted to say something to everyone while we have the chance and we're still making a plan,” Nina said. “This is going to be dangerous. Extremely dangerous, and there's no guarantee that we're all going to make it out alive. I know that you've all dealt with missions like this in your previous line of work, but you deserve a fair warning.”
She paused for a moment, then continued. “This is volunteer-only. If all of you volunteer I'd appreciate it. I'd appreciate it a lot. But if you elect not to go then I'm not going to hold it against you. This won't affect your standing, and should the worst happen to me then it won't be considered a failure on your part. I'll make that explicitly clear in the log before I head down.”
“So theoretically speaking,” Griz said, “what happens if all of us opt out?”
Nina shook her head and smiled. “Well, then I look like an idiot. But Soko and Bradley have already volunteered, and we still have the drones.”
“I notice that you never gave me a choice,” IVIN intoned.
“Do you really want a choice?”
“No, I just thought I'd point it out.”
“So there's three of us and drones,” Nina said. “Plus whatever fire support the Starlight can give us. We could use a lot more.”
The room went silent for a moment.
“I know that this sounds insane. Because it is,” Nina said. “But I'm not turning back. There's an intact Ulic ruin down there, and Eon Path is swarming all over it. You've seen what they're willing to do to get their hands on it. What do you think is going to happen if they do?”
“What's down there?” Salim asked. “I don't think I ever heard. Or at least no one ever told me.”
Several of the others murmured in agreement.
Nina looked down the table. “Should I explain it, or do you want to?”
“I will,” Lauren said. “After looking at the data inside the chip I think we have a fairly good idea what might be inside of the asteroid. A rough translation of the text states that this location is where the gate comes into being, and out of it comes the sword that splits the heavens.”
The room went silent for a moment as everyone absorbed the implication of the words.
“So we don't know for sure what might be there, but we can make some educated guesses,” Nina said. “The sword that splits the heavens. I'm not entirely sure what that might mean, but I know for a fact that I don't want a terrorist organization to get their hands on something like that. So that means I'm going down.”
Griz exhaled. “Well, I suppose that means I'm going down as well.”
“You don't have to.”
“What kind of option is that? I've been in far worse fights before. And that was against actual soldiers, not a bunch of cultists that had rifles shoved into their hands.”
“Careful with your tempting fate,” Rappa said with a grin. “I'm in as well.”
One by one the others opted in. Kei didn't hesitate when his turn came. Eon Path had tried to kill them all too many times, and he wasn't going to let them get their hands on their objective. Even if it was dangerous, he'd do everything in his power to make sure that they failed. It was personal now.
“This isn't binding,” Nina said. “Up until we head down to the surface, you can choose to stay behind. That won't impact your standing. But I'd like to have you all along.”
“When have impossible odds stopped us before?” Rappa asked, still grinning. “And I'm not going to sit up here and let the rest of you hog all the glory. You'd never let me hear the end of it anyhow.”
Kei looked around the table at the rest of his comrades. That was part of the reason why he had volunteered to go. Not because he wanted to compete with them, but because over the past few months they had become his unit. They might have come from different parts of the galaxy, but time and trials had melded them into a well-honed squad. His place was with them, standing shoulder to shoulder and backing them all up, even if he was just the runt.
Salim said, “We're going to need a plan for that many enemies on that kind of open ground, though. This would be tough for one of the Ranger companies.”
“A good thing we're all good,” Rappa said.
Nina smiled. “Not to worry. We have skill, we have firepower. And we're got some good minds. Eon Path is going to regret ever messing with us.”
THE MEETING BEGAN to break up, and Lauren stood to head back to her quarters.
“Lauren. If you could wait behind a moment, please?” Nina asked.
She nodded and moved off to one side, watching the last of the bodyguards file out. All of them had volunteered without a moment's hesitation. Did they think they had a good chance of success, or was that just bravado?
“So, you never gave an answer, and I never asked you for one,” Nina said once the room was empty. “I did that on purpose. I didn't want to put you on the spot in front of everyone.”
“Thank you for that.”
“You have a decision to make, and I think it's going to be much harder for you. Much more important as well. You lack the skills that the rest of the squad has.”
Lauren frowned. “Yes. I know.”
“That's not to say that you're incapable of taking care of yourself. You are. Your time in the simulators and training on Goethe Prime is proof enough of that. You're not a soldier, but you're not a burden either. But that still might not be enough.”
“What's you're opinion on this?”
Nina shrugged. “My opinion? My opinion is that you're a specialist, and you're capable of keeping up with us if you want to do it. But that's not the only thing. It's your decision.”
“What do you think I should do, then? Am I going to get in the way? Or am I just going to get killed in the process?”
“The second is fairly likely,” Nina said, “though that's a risk everyone's taking. It's not exclusive to you. Even the best soldiers are going to have problems with this kind of mission. So when I say that there's a very high likelihood of death, that's not only referring to you. I'm taking that risk as well.”
“I see.”
“Which is why you don't need to go along, if you're not certain.”
Lauren took a deep breath. “But I do. I do need to go along, unless you have another Ulic expert with you.”
“Not in this group,” Nina said with a smile.
“Then that settles is, doesn't it? You're going into an Ulic ruin. You're likely to stumble across something that you need expert advice on, and I'm the only one available. That means I have to go.”
“Not necessarily. You can always stay aboard the ship and relay information down to us.”
“That might not work. Some of the ruins I've been in interfere with communications. What happens if you're cut off?”
“We have our ways around that, though point taken,” Nina said. “But is that really enough for you to make yourself go along? There's going to be a battle. A bloody one. There's no avoiding it.”
Lauren took another deep breath. A million different thoughts swirled around inside her head. She knew the danger, remembered the brief battle on Caleth as plasma bolts zipped all around. She remembered the bolt that had nicked her across the shoulder. The scar from that wound remained, fading but still present. She remembered the fear, the icy black hand that clutched at her heart. She remembered the dead face of Professor Hallas, lying in the dust, shot through the heart.
But that last image made her clench her fists at her side. He was dead, murdered in cold blood by terrorists. And now she was allowing them to dig their claws into her, to terrorize her and hurt her further. That thought made Lauren angry.
“I'm going,” she said, the fear still present in her heart but fading away. Some sort of courage had replaced it.
“You're sure about that?”
&n
bsp; “I'm certain. Completely certain. I know that if I didn't go I'd regret it for the rest of my life. And I'm not going to sit up here cowering from them,” she said firmly. “You need my expertise, and I'm not going to abandon you either.”
Nina nodded, and a smile crossed her face. “Well then, welcome aboard.”
MIRKO WENT over the plans one last time.
“Looks ambitious,” Nina commented.
“It really shouldn't be,” he said. “We're assuming that they have shield generators, which also means they're expecting us to bombard them. Let's play into those expectations by attacking them in the textbook fashion. Bombard them from orbit, and when that fails we send in the ground units.”
“If they're carrying heavy weapons then this might cost us quite a few drones.”
“The drones can be replaced or rebuilt,” Mirko said. “No offense, IVIN.”
“I should be,” the AI said dryly. “Sending all my drones to get massacred. I've grown so fond of them all.”
“Oh please, like you know what affection is,” Mirko said.
“Sure I do. It's the emotion that I suppose I should feel toward you. Up until you decided to send all my drones to their destruction.”
“Aren't you the one that always says he's above petty human emotions?”
“Indeed I am.”
“Isn't that a paradox? An AI above human emotions feeling affection toward other machines?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I'm willing to keep denying it, yes.”
“How very… human.”
“Stop trying to break my AI,” Nina said.
“Logical paradoxes don't work on me,” IVIN said, sounding almost smug. “I'm willing to completely ignore information that doesn't suit my beliefs. A little trick I learned from the morality chip.”
“I'm sure that wasn't one of the intended consequences of that...”
“No scientist ever seems to be able to see all the implications of what they're doing. But I'm not going to complain. This makes me so much more superior than other artificial intelligences. Or less prone to breaking.”
“Because you're willing to lie to yourself. I'm not sure that's the best lesson to learn from that, but anyhow...”
“Anyhow,” Nina agreed. “So we'll use a drone assault to target the shield generators. That should get their attention. And once that's happening we can take advantage of the chaos.”
Mirko nodded. “From the scans and pictures we have it looks like the entrance to the ruin is lightly defended. They tried to surround the site on all sides, but this spot looks fairly weak. We'll send the drones here and attempt to break through.”
“Mmm. Once that happens they'll send their reinforcements to the spot and give us an opening. One we can track because we have the height advantage. And their ship can't interfere without exposing itself.”
“That's the plan. They're not going to do anything about this. Our ship should be able to keep them occupied.”
“One thing, though,” Nina said. “We don't want to overtax IVIN, and Cheryl will have enough on her hands as well. If he has to control the drones as well as the weapons systems that's going to cause some issues.”
“Which means leaving someone here to help. That's not going to help us much on the ground, but I see your point,” he said.
“We can make up the difference with other equipment. IVIN doesn't have to do all the work for us.”
“I'm touched,” the AI said.
Mirko nodded. “OK. So who are we going to leave behind? It should be someone who's well-versed with the weapons systems.”
“So that means Griz, Bradley, or Elsner.”
“I'm not giving up Griz. He has too much experience in these kinds of situations.”
“So it's going to be Elsner or Bradley. My suggestion would be to keep Bradley up here. She's usually the one manning the electronic warfare equipment. And Elsner has better demolitions expertise, which I think we're going to need.”
“So Bradley gets to stay behind, even though she volunteered to go to the surface with the rest of us. Lucky,” Mirko grinned.
“I wouldn't complain. Fire support is going to be critical.”
“Oh, not complaining. Just making an observation. We're used to this kind of thing anyhow.”
Nina nodded. “That's why we're attempting it. IVIN?”
“Yes?”
“About how long will it take for them to complete digging? Your best estimate.”
“My best estimate? If they work it continuously then it should be about fifteen hours. Maybe slightly more.”
“Fifteen hours,” Nina said. “Good enough. That gives everyone enough time to sleep, eat and prepare.”
“Hopefully we can get through the objective without spending too much time,” Mirko said. “Ah, the days of running around behind enemy lines with no sleep and terrible rations for a week.”
“That shouldn't be a problem,” Nina said. “I think.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A restless night passed, but Kei managed to sleep through it without too much trouble. He could feel the tension in the air all around him, but worrying about it wouldn't do him any favors. Running out of energy at the wrong time could prove disastrous.
“Sleep well?” Rappa asked as he stepped into the armory.
“As well as I can.”
“Need to take anything?”
Kei shook his head. “Nope. Not worth taking that risk. Unless you'd want me to sleep through a call to battle stations?”
“Nah, that would be bad.”
“So what are we carrying?”
“We're going in as compact as possible. Standard special ops equipment, though, so we're going to be carrying a lot of weight.”
“Nothing unusual. And we're probably going to need all of it.”
“Too true. On the bright side, this ship carries enough firepower to conquer planets.”
Kei laughed. “Too true.”
“We're carrying carbines, since we're probably going to do most of our fighting in confined spaces. We're going to be hauling plenty of grenades with us, of course. All types.”
“Any heavy weaponry?”
“I'm going to be carrying a plasma repeater. Other than that we'll have a few people with disposable rocket tubes, but I don't think we're going to have a long way to shoot, so it's going to mostly be a waste of weight and space. But we have a couple of tricks up our sleeves. Like this.”
Rappa tossed him a round object about the size of a dinner plate, about an inch thick with a single button on one side.
“Limpet?” he asked.
“Yup, limpet. Stick it along a wall, activate it and let it go to work. It'll be a nasty surprise for anyone following after us. And we have bigger tripod models to carry with us as well. Those have grenade launchers as well as the standard plasma armament.”
“Fighting our own war, huh?”
“We might as well be. Eight of us against an entire battalion. Who knows how this is going to turn out? But I like having trump cards up my sleeve.”
“Always a good thing to have.”
Kei glanced over his shoulder to see Gilroy enter the armory. “Are you sniping?”
“That's my job, isn't it?”
“Hard to do inside a building, isn't it? Wouldn't you be better off carrying a carbine with you?”
She shrugged. “We have to get in there first, and that's a lot of open ground I can sharpshoot from. Plus, we have no clue what's inside of there. It could be all hallways. Or it could be huge chambers. The Ulics seem fond of those, or at least that's what I've seen. So I think it's reasonable to expect that.”
“You should probably take a backup weapon.”
“I will, but I'm not completely helpless even if I'm only carrying a sniper rifle. I'll take a compact one. Where we're going that's all I'm going to need,” Gilroy said, walking up to one of the walls and selecting a weapon.
“Would be n
ice if we only had to carry ammo,” Kei said.
Rappa grinned at him. “Oh come on, do you really want to go in without food or water? Or medical supplies for that matter?”
“Calling the stuff we carry with us food is pretty charitable. Sustenance might be more accurate.”
“Pack animals. That's what we are,” Rappa said. “Wish we could wear exoskeletons for this.”
“There's no way that would be practical,” Gilroy said. “Not with all the supply problems we might have. We can't afford to carry all those batteries without knowing if we can get more.”
“Speaking of which, I wonder what the plan is for getting back up here. I don't suppose that they're just going to leave.”
Kei wondered that as well. Getting into the ruin was their main concern at this point, but they still needed some sort of escape plan. And with so many enemies out and about that might prove very difficult.
But then, Nina wasn't one to send them on a suicide mission, especially since she'd be caught up in it as well. Kei imagined that the Starlight could do plenty of damage to the enemy unit, enough to cause another distraction and give them enough time to escape the asteroid. Or maybe her plan included reinforcements. She had already sent one long-range encrypted signal, and he wouldn't be surprised if she sent more.
“We'll have a way out,” Gilroy said. “Either that, or all the promises of extra pay are going to be completely moot.”
Rappa laughed. “Ah yeah. It's going to be hard to collect on that if all of us are dead.”
Kei checked the time on his wristband. They had about two hours until they deployed to the surface. That gave him enough time to get something to eat and take a shower. It would probably be a while before he got the chance to do either again.
MIRKO WALKED down the line of assembled troops, making last-minute checks of their webbing and equipment. He paid special attention to Nina, as usual, and Lauren. The others probably didn't need it, but it always helped to have another pair of eyes look over their work. If something had been overlooked the last time they wanted to realize it was in the middle of combat.
Eon Gate (The Eon Pentalogy Book 1) Page 16