Proxy War

by Adam Sampson

  Hiking down slower now, they detected another ambush after ten minutes, this time with three zorn. Their first fireball volley took out one, but the other two zorn threw spears of rock at them. Spears collided with Yoon and Emma’s shields, staggering them. Following close behind, one zorn attacked Emma, and stabbed her with three claws, reaching around her kite shield. Dima and Jonas jumped to help Emma.

  The other zorn jumped over Yoon and landed on Peter, claws first. Peter fell to his back on the ground, pierced in three places and coughing up blood. Peter was in agony, white hot pain blocking out the rest of the world. He tried to block the strikes of the zorn, but he moved too slowly. Peter was fading fast.

  Lola stepped into a swing with her hammer, knocking the zorn off Peter and taking a limb off with the same stroke. Yoon moved to help and blocked the strikes of the zorn.

  Dima and Jonas used their powerstrike to hit the one attacking Emma, killing it instantly. The remaining zorn, recognizing they outmatched it, jumped away, trying to escape. Dima smacked it out of the air before it could leave, finishing it off.

  Motionless and bleeding, Peter lay on the ground. Lola fumbled in her bag and pulled out a small plastic bottle. Cradling his head in her arm, she poured the healing serum down his unresponsive mouth. Nothing happened.

  Then with a cough, Peter sat up and his wounds slowly sealed themselves. Lola hugged him tight and cried softly. He whispered to her and got up.

  He hobbled over to Emma and healed her. They took a break to recover and discussed strategies for the next time.

  After what happened to Peter, Lola suggested that they bow out, leave the caves early. But the rest of them wanted to stay and fight, and Peter promised to be careful.

  Lola had to save Peter again half a stan after that. They were trying to decide which path to take, the two tunnels leading to the right or the third one leading off to the left. Peter was about to walk to the one on the left when Lola stopped him.

  “I think these are all trapped. Look at the ceilings, they are all loose rock stacked together. None of the other tunnels had ceilings like that, these have got to be trapped,” Lola said as she walked closer. She peered around trying to find the trigger and mechanism around the trap. After a moment she turned to them and said, “There are a few different ways to trigger it, I don’t think we can just walk around it safely.”

  “Let’s just trigger it remotely then,” Peter said and tossed a large rock into one of the tunnels.

  Suddenly the ceiling in that tunnel collapsed, sending huge boulders crashing down and burying the tunnel. The vibrations set off the other two ceilings, blocking those two tunnels as well, leaving them in a cavern full of dust and rock.

  Coughing, Lola said, “Well, that is one way to do it, but now how do we get through?”

  “We just climb over the rocks, they had to leave space to reset these traps if they get accidentally triggered,” Peter said with confidence. Luckily he was right, and they were able to squeeze through the top of the trapped tunnel and into the space beyond.

  ...

  Jonas winded up and struck the zorn with his mace, sending it careening into its fellows. Dima did the same with his mace and managed to kill two more with the corpse of the first. Peter called out “Weaken!” as he used the eponymous skill on the group of zorn. Yoon and Emma used their dome shield skills to keep the remaining six at bay, and Peter and Lola peppered them with fireballs. Every so often Peter would lop off a zorn leg with telekinesis to destabilize the one he was targeting.

  A zorn in the back screeched as it used its ability. A monster version of the Enraging Shout, this would send those affected into a mindless rage. The first time they encountered it, they almost lost Dima when he dropped his shield and mace and jumped into a group of four zorn.

  Peter had developed a strategy to combat the effects. As soon as he saw a squad mate grow enraged, he would break them out of it with a splash of water to the face.

  Dima was effected this time too and was hit in the face by a telekinetically guided stream of water as he dropped his mace. Frowning, Dima reached down and picked up his mace again. It was an unpleasant method, but it worked.

  The monster skill didn’t affect Peter, his mage training giving him some mental protection. Yoon resisted the effects too, she could fight through the rage without losing her head like the others. But the remaining four had to deal with regular splashes to the face.

  Soon enough the cave was quiet again, all twelve Zorn dead.

  Four orbs appeared from each corpse and were absorbed by Peter. This had been happening more and more frequently as they delved deeper. The monsters were getting more numerous as they delved deeper, but they were weaker. This confused them at first until Lola explained that the closer to the queen they got, the younger and weaker their enemies would get. Zorn on the upper levels were typically two to three weeks older than the ones down closer to the queen.

  Weaker enemies or not, they were getting tired. They had been going for nine stans straight, only stopping for lunch.

  Peter pulled them together and distributed the orbs, “Upgrade if you can, no reason to wait,” he said and bumped himself up to level 12. He smiled when he saw the bonus that came with the upgrade to his telekinesis skill. It didn’t extend his range or the number of things he could hold, but it doubled his strength. Excellent. He turned to the squad and said, “We have a choice, it is about bedtime. We can hole up in this chamber here and rest for the night. That will be the safe option, but we are running low on water.”

  Peter paused for effect and then said, “Or we can go with my crazy plan right after dinner.”

  Lola whipped he head up, “Really? We can do that now?”

  “Yeah,” Peter said with a smile.

  Dima perked up too and laughed, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

  Jonas and Yoon laughed and Emma cackled. They all sat down for dinner that Peter passed out.

  Sergeant Yarrow faded into sight. He had been using his high leveled stealth skill to shadow them. They found out how effective his stealth skill was when a group ran right by the sergeant and ambushed Peter's squad from behind. They were still kind of bitter about that.

  “What is this plan of yours?” Yarrow asked.

  “I will tell you if you tell me how close the other teams are to the queen,” Peter replied.

  The sergeant just shook his head.

  Peter smiled “Well then, you will just have to wait and see. Who knows if it will work anyway,” he said with a shrug.

  “This will work, I know it,” Lola said and put her hand on his shoulder.

  Peter stepped over to a spot on the floor that had a shallow puddle in it and got ready. From his dimensional pocket he took out rope, a body bag full of sand, and two strange devices. He handed them off to squad members and pointed his hands at the floor.

  With a flick of his hand Peter cast void bolt. The miniature black hole drifted to the ground and started eating up the stone. When the skill dissipated a second later, there was a crater in the floor. Five more shots and he saw what he was looking for, an opening into the tunnels below.

  He had been using his sense skill to see when they could drop down to a lower level, skipping miles of tunnels and zorn ambushes.

  Peering down through the hole, he could see about twenty zorn crowded under the hole, staring up at it. Seeing Peter, one of them threw a spear. Peter ducked back, and the spear missed.

  He held out his hand to Lola and said, “Bomb me.”

  She complied and handed him one of the strange devices Peter had pulled out of his pocket. He quickly activated it and dropped it down the hole. Dima slapped the body bag full of sand over the hole, covering it.

  Sergeant Yarrow appeared out of nowhere again and said, “Wait, did you say bomb?”

  Just then a high-pitched whine started up and then a deep loud thwump was heard. They felt it in their bones and the body bag bounced once before settling into place again.


  The squad stood there in silence, half in shock and anticipation.

  After a moment, Peter said, “Huh, I thought that would work, but no orbs...”

  But before he could finish his sentence, a stream of twenty-two orbs came up through the rock and were absorbed.

  Lola laughed and everyone joined in. She turned to Peter and said, “I knew you could do it.”

  Sergeant Yarrow was not happy though, he grabbed Peter by the uniform and lifted him up in the air. “Where did you get that bomb? Did you seriously just steal from the armory? What were you thinking?” he yelled.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I built them myself. I got the explosives skill from the cuff. The machine shop had some alien materials and I made some bombs with the info from the explosives skill,” Peter said and held out his cuff screen to show him.

  Setting him down, Sergeant Yarrow covered his face with his palm and said, “You mean to tell me you built a bomb with the level two explosives skill? Did you even think about what would happen if you made a mistake? You would have died and the machine shop would have been toast. We have a special room in the armory where level five and up crafters work on explosives.”

  Peter looked away realizing the risk now, and sheepishly said, “Well I guess I will use that room next time.”

  He looked at the spare explosive he had taken out, and quickly put it away in his dimensional pocket. Anything put in that skill would be timeless and inert, so it was the safest place to put the bomb he now regarded with renewed respect. Turning to the sergeant he said, “Do you mind if we use the rest of them?”

  Sighing, Yarrow gestured at the sand filled bag and replied, “As long as you continue to take proper precautions, and keep your squad protected from the blast. I am going to stand well away. Those bombs could easily kill us all.”

  Peter clapped his hands together and said, “Excellent. Yoon and Emma drop first, stay close and keep an eye out for zorn wanting to join the party. Dima, take the bag with us. Lola, tie the rope off and feed it down.”

  They all jumped down to see a shallow crater and a cavern full of zorn guts. Peter had them establish a perimeter, and he got to work digging a new hole in the rock with his void bolts.

  Six shots and three minutes later, they had a new hole. This time he had Dima give them an enraging shout to bunch them all up underneath the hole. Another bomb and thirty-two orbs later, they were down another level.

  Digging down one more level with his void orbs, Peter peered in and saw an empty chamber. He jumped down and took the rope with him.

  “That was the last time that trick will work. I don’t sense any levels below this one. There is a large chamber over there though, and I think I see guards standing in front of the entrance tunnel,” Peter said.

  Just around the bend were two zorn. This close, they could probably hear the squad talking, but they didn’t move from their spot.

  “Guards? Are they smart enough to place guards around the queen?” Jonas asked.

  “Who knows? But I think this would be a good chance for you to shine, Lola. Do you think you can take them both out quietly?”

  Lola shrugged, “I think so. One for sure, two maybe. Just be ready to back me up.”

  She used her stealth skill to disappear and slinked around the corner. The two zorn standing at the entrance were larger than the zorn they had fought so far. They stood at attention, their claws out. The redhead snuck as close as she dared. The zorn sniffed the air, knowing that something was there, but unable to detect it. One turned to the other and made a soft clicking noise. The other turned to respond and Lola saw her chance. With one swift motion, she shot directly into the mouth of the first one then the other zorn. Both zorn clawed at their mouths and tried to sound a warning, but the acidic ammo ate away their mouths and soon their lungs.

  Lola raced forward to finish them off, stabbing into their brains through their ruined mouth holes. Floating orbs announced her success and the team soon joined her.

  “Excellent job, Lola. I knew you could do it. Can you also scout ahead and let us know what is in the big chamber up ahead?” Peter said.

  Stealthing again, the redhead creeped around the corner. A few minutes later, she was back. She ran her hands through her hair and said, “The brood queen is in there, but I think you need to see this. Just be quiet and I don’t think they will notice us.”

  As a group, they crept into the chamber, Sergeant Yarrow following close behind them. The tunnel came out about twenty feet above the chamber floor. It was an enormous natural cavern, huge stalactites on the ceiling almost meeting the stalagmites on the bottom. In the room's middle sat the brood-queen on a raised platform. She looked like an enormous zorn, with an even bigger abdomen attached to her back. Unlike the black color of the drones, the queen was a pale white. As they watched, her abdomen pulsed and a large egg came out the back.

  Worker zorn tended to the eggs as they came out of her, in a kind of nursery. As the eggs hatched, workers brought mushrooms to them and fed the newborns.

  But the squad noticed none of that at first. They noticed the floor positively teeming with young zorn. There were hundreds on the cavern floor, the sheer number of them creating a noisey, echoey cavern. Taking a moment to look at everything, the squad turned around and slowly crept back to the tunnel they came out of.

  When they were far enough back they wouldn’t be overheard, Emma swore.

  Jonas looked at her in surprise and said, “Emma, language.”

  She waved her hand in dismissal and said, “I know, I know. It is just. We are so close, but there is no way we can survive that.”

  Dima scratched his neck and said, “Yeah, I don’t see any way we can attack and hope to live.”

  Lola agreed, “It sucks, but we have to turn back. We should get going before any of them find us here.”

  Jonas turned to Sergeant Yarrow with narrowed eyes, “You knew, didn’t you? You sent us down here, and you knew it was impossible, didn’t you?”

  “Of course I knew. I set this up. This was a test, not just of your combat ability to get this low, but also to see if you are smart enough to see when you are outmatched. If you had tried to attack, I would have stopped you and failed you. Knowing when to walk away is an important skill. But your squad performed admirably, I will recommend you be given full hunting rights. My Ensigns will be happy, you have been running them ragged with all the escort missions,” Yarrow said with a smile.

  “So we never had a chance at those free weapons?” Emma said, staring at the ground. Yoon walked over to hug her.

  Jonas stared at the sergeant and opened his mouth to say something. He thought better of it and stomped off towards the hole in the ceiling. Slowly, the rest of the squad followed him.

  All except Peter. He stood still and said, “No. I am not leaving yet.”

  Frowning, Sergeant Yarrow crossed his arms and glared at Peter.

  He held up his hands and said, “I am not stupid, I know we can’t fight all of them. But I have a plan if it is alright with you, sergeant.”

  “This plan better not involve more reckless behavior,” Yarrow growled.

  “No, no, no... Well, maybe,” Peter said, and then explained his plan.

  The sergeant grudgingly agreed to the plan, mostly because he wanted to see what would happen. He called up his Ensigns and gave them a warning, before giving Peter the go ahead.

  Peter and the sergeant crept back out to the cavern. Carefully, Peter pulled out the last four bombs he had made and floated them into the air with his telekinesis. With concentration on his face, he floated them out to the edge of his range, about 120 feet into the cavern where they hovered above the heads of the massed zorn. He was still eighty feet away from the queen. Hoping they wouldn’t look up, Peter armed the explosives with a thought. Using the extra strength from the level 12 boost to his skill, he gave the bombs a mental push.

  They sailed through the air to land at the feet of the queen. The bombs gave the quee
n perspective, showing just how huge she was by how tiny they looked now. The queen must have been twenty feet tall. She screeched at the sudden appearance of the foreign objects.

  Not waiting for the explosion, Peter and Yarrow ran back to the tunnel, turning the corner just as the blast struck. Four bombs went off at once, sending a blinding light and shock wave that knocked them down, even this far away.

  Getting back up, they grabbed the rope and climbed up a level. Dima was there with the bag of sand, and covered up the hole as they clambered through. They stopped there for a moment.

  “I think it worked,” Peter said, smiling through his gasps for breath.

  “Maybe,” Sergeant Yarrow said.

  The stream of orbs that came through the rock at Peter silenced all doubts. First thirty three orbs came through, then five huge orbs followed. The same size as the one they got from the lurker way back when, these five orbs were worth two hundred regular orbs. There was no doubt that it came from the queen's death.

  Peter pumped his fists and said, “All right! Now all we have to do is survive the trip up.”

  Scrabbling sounds in the chamber below announced zorn out for revenge. The stream of orbs had shown them right where the killers lay.

  The squad ran to the next section of rope and climbed up, pulling it up after them. Once they were as high as the rope would take them, Peter stuffed it into his pocket and they all ran for the surface.

  Chapter 24

  Enjoying Flynn’s sour face as the transport picked them up was almost better than killing the queen. Flynn wanted nothing more than to strangle Peter for doing the impossible. Peter just smiled and reveled in the victory.

  Checking in back through the gate brought Peter back down to earth. As usual, when he came in from hunting, the gate took his level in orbs, 12 this time. It was a small part of their total today, but it reminded him of the hundreds of orbs his team had given up on base Beta, not just at the wall but at the commissary and other buildings. Why did Command need so many orbs in the first place? They shouldn’t be taking anything from their soldiers, they should be letting them keep it all so they could grow stronger. Peter suspected there must be some corruption in the upper ranks.