by Chris Hechtl
“Great,” the captain muttered.
<)>^<)>/
Jethro's fire team met the RECON fire teams outside the main entrance. He hand-signed to the troops to kneel and regroup. The RECON team members took cover behind defenses and then decloaked to conserve their power.
“Alpha plan is still a go?” Letanga asked.
“So far so good,” Jethro murmured. He had extra packages with him. Each of his squad members was carrying gear. They distributed a few extra clips of ammo to those who needed it while he set up a long-range communication's relay and then transmitted what they knew so far back to the brass. His momentary delay allowed Jasper's fire team to arrive on the scene.
When they were finished with chores, Jethro looked at the door and then turned to Jasper. “Knock please. I think they are expecting us,” he said.
“With pleasure,” Jasper said with a grin in his voice as he leveled his plasma rifle and fired it into the depths of the cave, scoring a direct hit on the door. He emptied his clip, then stepped aside to let Cocoa fire her rounds.
The bear opened up with her RPG. The rocket propelled grenade tore into the melting armor and detonated, vomiting molten debris halfway back to them and sending a scab of metal inward to skitter and bounce down the hallway. She fired two more rounds to make sure the opening was big enough, then two more into the opening to keep anyone from firing at them for a moment.
“Way's clear, boss,” Cocoa said as she stepped aside.
“Romeo Baker, you are up. Get in there,” Jethro said as butterfly drones winged into the opening from the RECON suits. Some of the drones got too close to the still stripping armor and were destroyed by globs of metal, but many of their fellows got through.
“We're going in,” Pam said as she cloaked and moved in. Her fire team followed suit. She dropped to all fours and then leapt through the gaping opening and into the fire-lit darkness beyond.
<)>^<)>/
“Damn,” Sergeant Sekidu said, shaking his head as he picked his way along his assigned path to the enemy's front door. “They sure know how to make an entrance, don't they?”
“You could say that,” a trooper in a suit said. “I'm not thrilled about playing rear guard and porter for their ammo though. How do I get one of those suits?”
“Good question,” the Neochimp noncom said thoughtfully.
<)>^<)>/
“They're in,” Major N'v'll said.
“Getting there is the easy part,” Dana said, eyes intent on the latest feed. The warrant was being dutiful about transmitting to them everything he and his people had in case they lost contact inside. “Gods speed,” she murmured as the suits moved in.
Chapter 62
As Pamplona's fire team advanced, those who clung to the ceiling found 2-centimeter-diameter holes drilled into the rocks in the ceiling. Fingers felt cords that went into those holes. Carefully, Pam and Roarack cut the detonation cords as well as hidden ODN lines. They found and disabled more cameras as Alpha team moved in.
As they crept forward, they left behind communication relays to provide secure communications as well as cameras to watch their back.
<)>^<)>/
The frustration in the command and communication room was palatable when they realized the bombs in the ceilings had been disabled somehow.
“I don't get it. How …,” Mackie said waving a hand. He flipped the shield up and then toggled the switch over and over. “Nothing,” he snarled. “Not a gods-be-damned thing!” he snarled, slamming the shield back down.
“Well! So much for Plan B. Okay, we're on to Plan C,” the captain growled. He was tempted to call the general but didn't want to give the general's location away. Then again, if the man was stupid enough to call back, he deserved what he got he thought.
“I hope we don't run out of letters,” Mackie muttered to Askdall.
“Can it. Go suit up, Mackie, do it fast,” the captain growled as Lieutenant Zevaya came in still adjusting her gloves. Her rifle was stowed on her back. She had a sack full of grenades slung over her right shoulder, her pistol locked and holstered on her hip, and bandoleers of ammunition. “And get the armory issuing everything. This is a use-it or lose-it time,” the captain ordered as he followed the private out the door to the morgue.
“We're on Plan B,” he said over his shoulder to the lieutenant. “Gunny is up.” she nodded in reply as she heard his footfalls recede. Her eyes turned to scan the various feeds.
<)>^<)>/
Based on what Zenko had drawn from the limited time his bots had in the enemy network, as well as their own scans, Pamplona's fire team knew they had a series of doors to get through. The doors served as a fire break and airlock system. There was a bend between the second and third door.
When Pam's fire team got to the first door, they stopped. The wall was thick and made out of stone. Pam slipped a long narrow optical probe under the bottom crack of the door to see what was beyond. When she didn't see any opposition, Zako walked butterfly probes down her arm and then slipped them under the door to get in and look around.
“We're seeing more explosives lining the walls, ceiling, and backside of the door. They even have directional mines placed on the back of this door and wall.”
“I guess they don't want us to get through. Tough for them,” Roarack said as the probes moved in deeper. He turned to see Jasper's fire team stacked up and hugging the sides of the wall at the front entrance. Beyond them were Letanga's fire team and finally Alpha team. They were keeping the center of the corridors clear.
<)>^<)>/
The Horathians saw the white butterflies in what they thought was a secure area. As they watched, the things fluttered and then turned gray to match the walls around them. “What the hell?” Askdall demanded, licking his lips. He picked up his water bottle and tried to take a sip, but it was empty. He grimaced and then set it down beside him. “How the hell did they get in??”
“What?” Lieutenant Zevaya demanded as she came over. She rested a hand on the back of his chair, tipping him back as she leaned over his shoulder to look at the video of the tunnel.
“Should we blow it, ma'am?”
“And squish a couple bugs? No. We wait,” she growled.
<)>^<)>/
Pam was ready to use one of her limited breaching charges to breach the door, but Zako stopped her. Instead, the A.I. sent nanites out to unlock the door and disable the charge on the other side, then used them to eat through welds and hinge. After a minute, the nanites withdrew. She reached out and touched the door with a fingertip and it fell over.
“Very F'ing cool,” she murmured, deploying a couple more butterflies ahead of her.
<)>^<)>/
“What the hell? What the hell did that?” Lieutenant Zevaya demanded pointing to the offending image of the fallen door as she heard familiar sounds of armored boots in the hallway.
“It's gotta be those cloaked suits the captain said they've got. They either got in before we shut the door or they are on the other side and used something to open sesame the door,” Private Askdall said.
“What suits?” the lieutenant demanded.
Mackie and Captain returned just as she asked that. “What'd we miss?” the captain asked, half afraid of the answer he was going to get.
“Ma'am, sir, the explosives aren't responding,” Private Askdall reported, pointing to the red lights on that board.
“Frack!” Mackie snarled.
“Of course they aren't,” the captain muttered darkly. “Go suit up, Private, and hurry.
“Um, yes, sir,” the private said as he got out of his seat. His eyes were still glued to the video screens though as he backed to the door. He stumbled against Lieutenant Zevaya.
“Now, mister!” she barked. He took off like a jet. Mackie snorted, then took his former seat. His chair groaned under the load, threatening to collapse. Since he didn't want that, he got up again and then pushed it aside and knelt in place.
“Easier to do withou
t the damn suit on though,” he muttered, flexing his suddenly thick and gloved fingers over the keyboards doubtfully.
<)>^<)>/
Pamplona saw the inner lock walls were thin; they looked to be made out of wood and plaster or something. They were thin enough for her passive sensors to see through them. She tisked tisked as she saw enemy personnel stacked up behind makeshift barricades covering the door.
She ordered her snipers forward. Dave and Roarack moved forward, then the duo laid down on their stomach.
Pamplona and Lobo took the ceiling. It was tougher, but she was up for the challenge. She used her suit's toe claws and clipped into spikes she drove in near her hips. That way her hands were free to unsling her rifle and aim.
When she was ready, she gave the signal; they began to fire right through the thin wood wall to take out four suits. They got a fifth suit and wounded a sixth before the enemy returned fire.
<)>^<)>/
Gunny Brillo realized they'd screwed up by thinking the wood wall would be any good for cover. Clearly the enemy could see through it, most likely with thermal or energy signatures he thought as he hunkered down lower.
“Frack this! I got this,” PFC Marco “Mad Dog” Mafiss said as he stood up. Mad Dog opened up with both of his hip-mounted Gatling guns into the tunnel. Weapons fire roared as he swept his hips back and forth, disintegrating the wood wall in front of them.
“Save …,” the gunny said just as the PFC's guns clocked out and his Gatling guns clicked empty and spun down. He grimaced. So much for that he thought. “Get down, you idiot! Now before …”
A single enemy shot cracked through the silence, striking Mad Dog's skull face mask between the glowing red eyes and driving through his helmet into his brain. His body jolted and then toppled over backwards to slam down onto the ground.
“ … That happens,” the gunny snarled in exasperation. He saw two more of his people go down and then hand-signed for them to back off to the next fallback position. This wasn't working at all as planned. His remaining four suits managed to drag the three wounded clear while taking light fire on their shoulders.
<)>^<)>/
The RECON suits took out any target of opportunity as they could, but it was inevitable that some of the suits would get away. Roarack tried to hit the enemy suits in the rear to force them to stack up and bog the other retreating suits down enough to hit them, and also under the assumption that the rearmost suits were the leadership. He got two but then had to reload.
Pam saw what he was doing and got a couple shots off into the backs and shoulders of the enemy, but unfortunately, none were clean kills. Her angle was wrong; there was enough of an angle for some of the energy of the round to not get through the armor it seemed.
<)>^<)>/
Gunny Brillo swore as he noted the five injured suits. “Well, you aren't good here. Leave your ammo and get back to the morgue. Get Scornlan to get your suits sorted out,” he said, waving three of the suits out. He grabbed one of the fallen suits and tried to pull it towards him but a round hit the corner near where his head was so he gave up the idea. He motioned to the others to hustle to the barricade. He turned to the others. He'd just lost an entire squad and had one more squad here.
<)>^<)>/
Pam and the others reloaded, then moved forward slowly and cautiously. There was no telling how the enemy suits were booby-trapped. They got to the barricades and vaulted over them, then dropped and stayed near the walls.
Pam pulled some of her probes out of a port and cradled them. She set them down on the wall and had them walk forward slowly. They moved forward, broadcasting back the information they picked up.
When they got to a four-way intersection, she saw more barricades. There was no way around in the RECON suits, not even overhead. All three paths forward had personnel behind them. They'd created metal barricades with gun slits and most likely sand or some other material behind the panels. The bastards were good; they'd thrown the barricades together quickly.
Since there was no way to get around them, she crawled up the wall and then moved forward. When she got to the center of the intersection, she directed her probes to move along one path until they were out of range. Then she pulled a grenade, primed it, pulled a second, primed that one, and then dropped one in one direction with one hand and the other behind the lines in the other direction.
<)>^<)>/
Gunny Brillo heard soft sounds, but his computers couldn't localize the source with the sounds of the other troops around him. “Will you shut up and listen!” he said just as an egg shape fell from the ceiling. He caught the motion of the falling object on his right. “Grenade!” he got out just as the thing erupted in flame and debris. A second explosion on his left made him swear more. His people panic fired into the opening. He looked up and fired at the ceiling.
<)>^<)>/
Pam saw the guy in the back look up as the other troops recovered and blind fired down the hallway. He raised the barrel of his rifle to fire at the ceiling as she readied a grenade for him. Instead she disengaged her claws and spikes and dropped to the deck through the fire. Lady Luck was with her; none of the rounds caught her as she came down. She grimaced as she landed on her back though, like a turtle. She threw herself over into a roll to lie on her tummy and then crawled forward to get to a barricade and use it as cover. A barrel poked out of the gun slit above her, firing wildly. Either they couldn't depress to hit her or they didn't know she was there.
Shots rang off the ceiling above her down the corridor. When the gun stopped firing and withdrew to reload, she primed the grenade and deposited it into the gun slit like it was mail. She then grinned to herself as she heard someone swear and the grenade go off. She was about to follow it up with another grenade when a shot rang down from the hallway nearly hitting her hand. She withdrew it fast and shot an unseen glower down the hallway.
Other shots were fired through each of the other gun slits hitting weapons and suited troopers on the other side.
<)>^<)>/
Gunny Brillo swore as the private in front of him took a hit and grunted. Another shot went through the slit to hit a weapon and DX it. He reloaded his own weapon and fired it in the slit to suppress the enemy's fire. He wasn't certain how long it would work for. He was depressingly certain it wouldn't be for long enough.
<)>^<)>/
“Someone got careless,” Mackie said with a shake of his head as they watched the camera feeds.
“Two at once? At exactly the same time? No way, they got grenades in there somehow,” Askdall said, staring at the monitors from the doorway.
“We're losing more troops. Most are wounded,” Mackie said stonily. “The grenades aren't doing much, just light damage. But shit like that adds up. It can lock a limb up or frack up ammo belts,” he growled.
“Tell them to fall back to the next defensive point. The enemy only has so many suits. We'll let them spread out at the intersection, then pick them off,” the captain said. “You heard me, Gunny?” he asked, leaning forward and keying the microphone.
“Roger that,” the gunny replied.
As they were trained, the suited troops fell back, covering each other. After a long moment, they watched the camera feed as one of the barricades moved as if on its own.
“How the hell are they doing that? A cloaked suit? Like the Reapers?” Mackie demanded.
“It's got to be. But it's better than anything we've got,” the captain mused. “I wonder …”
<)>^<)>/
Once she was certain the intersection was clear, Pam released more probes. She then set up a comm relay and camera trap and then destroyed the enemy sensors. Only when she was certain there were no hidden explosives did she signal the rest of her fire team to advance.
<)>^<)>/
“Move forward to the bend,” Jethro ordered once Pam moved forward. Jasper got to the edge of the corner and then stopped. Letanga darted out and placed a comm relay on the opposite wall so it was in line with
the open doors. He came back and then tapped into the comm relay. They suddenly had a better feed from Romeo Baker's suits.
<)>^<)>/
Gunny Brillo saw something moving on the wall and smashed it.
“Just a bug,” Tray said. “A moth from the look of it.”
“The hell it is,” the gunny said as he examined his hand. He saw circuitry, not bug guts. “Look for bugs on the walls. They look like moths. They blend in. You see motion hit it hard and fast. If it's big, shoot it,” he growled.
Trig lashed out to smash something, and then hit another on the ceiling. “They are every fracking where! No way can we get them all.”
“Damn it,” the gunny said under his breath. Things were not looking good.
<)>^<)>/
Pam grimaced as more of her sensor probes went down. She was getting more of a look at the layout. The place was a warren of intersections and tunnels. There were curves, gentle inclines, and slopes down … stairs here and there … searching it all was going to be a pain in the ass. There were squads stacked up in various places waiting. Some had improvised barricades; some had very heavy weapons. She passed on everything she had to the fire teams coming in behind her.
The good news was once they got past the enemy's defenses, they'd have a breakout. The RECON suits could then act with virtual impunity to savage the enemy behind their lines.
They just had to get to that point though she reminded herself as she crept forward.
<)>^<)>/
“They've gotten to the first intersection. All three surviving forces have fallen back,” Bast reported, showing Jethro with a compiled simulation.
“Now it gets interesting,” Jethro said. He knew the enemy's plan; they wanted his people to go down one path to encounter a roadblock. Then one or both of the flanking forces would move in to hit them from the sides and rear. He could count on traps and heavier resistance the deeper they got.
“Alpha team. Each take a path and map it. Roarack, cover Dave,” Jethro ordered.