by J. N. Chaney
“Of course, Riva,” AMI replied, all politeness.
The image rotated, then zoomed in until a reconstruction of the mountain pass and outer gate became clear.
“A three pronged assault,” Riva began. “One squad at the main entrance and two more for the outposts we’ve taken.”
I studied the image for a few beats, then moved the holo to show a better angle from the rock ledges overlooking the main gate. “We need a plan to deal with the guards up here. Do you know how they man it?”
Riva was a fast learner. After observing how I interacted with the holo, she gave it a try and was able to forego the voice commands. She tapped a section along the wall, but it only showed rockface before dropping off. “Here. Is part of the map missing?”
“I am afraid so, Riva,” AMI said. “My satellites will obtain more data on their next flyby.”
“Ah, I see. Is there a marking function?”
“Of course. I’ve activated it. You can start any time by touching the image and dragging your finger over it.”
Testing, Riva reached out and drew a line on the holo. The mark glowed white, standing out from the blue of the rendered image. Next, she marked a path from the ledge up the side of the mountain opposite the gate.
“There is a trail that leads to the top,” she explained, stopping to make a larger mark. Now that she had the hang of it, she didn’t hesitate to adjust the view so we could see what she meant. “The guards must go to the top, then travel down the other side before looping around to reenter the mountain through the front gates. The report from the last scouting mission here said they rotate the guards in thirteen hour shifts.”
I folded my arms over my chest and studied her little drawing. A plan began to form in my head then. “If we time this right, we can attack the relieved guards after they swap with the new guys. Our best bet would be to send two small teams. One to take out the relieved, one to replace the relieved.”
Riva’s head snapped up. “Replace?”
“Yes. If we can replace the guards with your people, it would give the party storming the gate some backup. Makin wouldn’t figure it out until it was too late.”
The feathers along Riva’s neck and back quivered slightly. “This is a devious plan, Chief Kent. I am impressed with its simplicity and effectiveness. If my scouts put on the Turned armor, I don’t think anyone would know the difference.”
“Exactly. Makin doesn’t strike me as the kind of leader to know his people by sight. He’ll expect to see Turned Volcuri in armor, protecting the gate. I don’t typically rely on unknowns, but I’ve got a gut feeling about this.”
The rebel leader jerked her beak forward to indicate the holo. “The gate may require extra planning as well. It and the main cavern’s doors are said to be impenetrable. As you saw during our last trip, there are easier ways to get in.”
“I think I have an idea for that too,” I replied. “Explosives.”
Riva tipped her head to the side as if puzzling out what I had meant. Then AMI spoke to her in the Volcuri tongue and a look of understanding crossed her face. “You want a big boom.”
I smiled, already picturing the look on Makin’s face. “Oh, yes. A hell of a big boom.”
“Whose idea was this again?” asked Tara.
We were watching Riva’s people learn to handle our explosive charges. So far no one had blown themselves up, but the day was still young. Watching made me restless because I didn’t like having to take the time for training. It couldn’t be avoided unless we wanted to send the Volcuri soldiers in without knowing how to properly deploy the foreign weapons.
“Like I said before, it was a joint decision by myself and Riva.”
I glanced down to check the time and noted that nearly thirty minutes had passed. The two smaller teams responsible for dealing with the wall guards had already left an hour before to get into position before shift change happened. Once they did that, we had until the next change, roughly thirteen hours, to make our move.
“You know, there’s still time to go the covert route. Riva did say that they’ve spent a lot of time watching the mountain and found a few other entrances that aren’t as well guarded.”
“Won’t work,” I told her. “I did consider it. The problem is we don’t know that Makin doesn’t watch them somehow. There’s always a chance he has a way to monitor. If we storm in with one entrance, he can direct everything he has at us and trap us in a bottleneck.”
“Yeah, I hear you, Chief. Being a cop, I never really participated in these kinds of operations that often. I guess I like the idea of strength in numbers.”
I angled my head down to look at her and saw a faint tinge of embarrassment in her features. “That has its place too,” I conceded. “We’re trying to penetrate one hell of a fortress. I’d prefer more time to plan, but this is what we have to work with. Splitting up our numbers with a planned attack will force him to react.”
“It’ll make him scramble and more likely to make a mistake,” she added.
“That’s the plan. Let’s hope it works.”
Tara didn’t reply right away. I figured she was mulling over what I’d told her for future use in combat.
“I know the past is a little bit of a sore spot for you, but I wanted to say that I’m glad you’re with us, Chief. Honestly, if you weren’t the Chief Mission Ward, the First would have succeeded in taking over the Ark. We wouldn’t be here right now, either.”
The praise made me uncomfortable, and I lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “I’m just a soldier, Perez.”
I was saved from further conversation by the sight of Riva coming toward us. “We’re ready,” she announced.
“Good,” I replied. “Tara, get our people into position. I’m going to check in with Mitch. I’ll meet you both at the entrance.”
When they were gone, I hailed the other Team Leader on the ear comms. “Give me your status.”
“All set on our end, Chief. I got the data drive on how to open the door and an updated map. We’re ready to go on your signal.”
Mitch was one of the few Ark survivors that had pertinent military training and experience. After all he’d seen during the First’s attack on our vessel, things had been touch and go as to whether he would bounce back. I was glad that he had. It boosted my confidence in his team, and I trusted that barring external forces, this operation would go as well as attacking the outpost did.
“Stand by,” I told him.
An almost eerie calm had settled over our new base. A mix of half a dozen Volcuri and humans patrolled and would stay behind just in case things didn’t go well inside. Those that weren’t going with my team left for the main mountain pass when the training finished.
Riva had picked Nami and another of her warriors named Mirtos to be the Volcuri half of our team. Besides Tara and me, a man named Aaron Moore made up the humans. Secondary Mission Ward Jay flagged him as one of the combat competent crew members, so I figured he was the best choice. It felt a little strange to add unknown individuals to what I had come to think of as my inner circle. That was ridiculous, though. I’d entered countless firefights and missions with soldiers I didn’t know, and this shouldn’t be different.
Annoyed my thoughts were doing their own thing again, I reined them back in and proceeded to the tunnel entrance where the others waited.
Riva inclined her beak. “The wall guards have been taken care of, and Team One is in position. If I’m indisposed, Nami can handle the tech side of things. We can begin at any time.”
That part was up to me. I felt the slight discomfort from anticipation subside as I pulled my rifle off my back. Tara and Aaron did the same. The Volcuri carried a variety of weapons taken from the outpost that matched what the Turned used.
“Here we go,” Tara murmured.
I opened a public comm channel to all the teams. “This is Chief Mission Ward Kent. Moving out in one minute on the dot. On AMI’s signal, free to engage. Kent out.”
That would be my last communication. I didn’t expect to have a signal once we got inside, so all team members had been given explicit instructions to follow. Like the Volcuri, none of us wanted to be captured. If defeat looked inevitable, it was time to get out.
AMI began counting down the last ten seconds. I nodded to Riva, and she moved to the door’s operation panel.
“Zero,” announced AMI in a cheerful voice. “All units engage.”
“Time,” I said.
Any unvoiced worry I had that the door would open diminished a few seconds later.
Directly on the other side, presumably waiting for us, were two guards. As much as two Volcuri minds enslaved by the First could, they looked startled. One reached for a device at his waist, but Nami got there first, slashing down with her long ax and relieving him of the limb. He took the blow with a grunt of pain but still tried to attack with his other hand.
Moore didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the other guard’s surprise. His rifle came up while Nami was finishing off her quarry, and he squeezed the trigger three times. Each round slammed into the guard’s head, and he sank to the ground in a lifeless heap.
Riva moved away from the panel and joined me to lead the rest of the way in. Our eyes locked briefly, giving me a glimpse of the sorrow there before she tucked it away. The decision had been made not to go for non-lethal takedowns, given the circumstances and nature of the op.
The concession only served to further elevate my opinion of the rebel leader. She was willing to make the hard decisions in order to save her people, no matter how much it cost her.
As we moved down a stone corridor, she spoke quietly. “They were not expecting us. Either there are always guards there or Makin didn’t believe we could open the door.”
I had to agree. “Too startled by our arrival and weren’t fully kitted out like we’ve seen before.”
The way was illuminated by automatic lighting strips. Even though the outpost had obviously utilized power somehow, it was a little surprising to see. More unknowns.
Our small unit pressed forward until we came to the first split that offered the choice of left or right. Or at least it had on schematics from the data cube. In reality, the left side—the way we were supposed to take—had been walled off.
Black Shield agents adapt to overcome.
So we did.
I motioned to the right and kept going, pausing every so often to listen. According to the map, we’d made it half a kilometer when we encountered more of Makin’s guards. I heard them before I saw them.
Without the translators, everything they said was gibberish to me, but from the cadence and volume I suspected word of our attack had reached them. I came around the corner fast because the auto lights were going to give me away. Again, we managed to take the enemy by surprise.
My rifle silencer didn’t do as much as I would have liked to mitigate the sound when I fired. Even with all of humanity’s technological advancements, that particular problem couldn’t be solved.
Wielding a temple sword, Riva lunged forward with a hiss and brought it down on the neck of the next guard. The sharp blade acted like a cleaver and cut the Turned Volcuri from clavicle to sternum with one blow.
I recalled the temple sword from my childhood studies as a weapon used by guardians. We weren’t defending a religious site, but Riva’s mission to protect her people qualified in my book. The weapon fit her, both in body and personality.
The sound of running feet had me jerking my rifle back up to see another guard move toward us. I didn’t bother to use the sight and plugged a trio of rounds, center mass. The ammo had no problem going through this lighter armor, so strategic shots weren’t as necessary. As Riva had speculated, Makin hadn’t expected us to gain entry this way.
“At this rate, we’re going to open the gate ourselves,” Moore crowed. “This is way too easy.”
“Don’t get cocky,” I told him.
I fell silent so I could study the map. It showed that we were headed toward the large unknown sector I’d noted before. The map wasn’t complete, and no one knew if there wasn’t enough data or if that was all the information to be had. This left us in the dark in some areas, forcing me to guess.
I hated guessing.
“There’s a small, enclosed area just ahead,” I told them. “The map doesn’t show a way around it, but it’s just off of the large chamber we think is there. Maybe we can go through it.”
No one argued or offered up an alternative, so I led the way. The strip lighting continued to illuminate our path. It continued with no more breaks, and I didn’t hear any additional guards.
Moore and Nami were at the flank positions to keep an eye on our backs. Tara and Mirtos had the middle with Riva, and I was at the head. It almost felt like overkill since we hadn’t even seen as many guards as our team had members.
“There,” said Riva, pointing.
At first it looked like a dead end, but when I surveyed the wall there was a panel off to one side, revealing it to be a door. As we drew closer and the lights activated, we could see the lines where it opened.
Think you can open this one?” I asked Riva.
“I will try. The data cube contained a number of entry codes.”
She went to work again, though it took a hair longer this time. Even so, the slight delay wouldn’t matter much in the long run. “I think I have it. Let me know when to open it.”
Tara stepped forward, next to me, and raised her rifle at the same time I did. “Do it,” I said.
It slid open quietly, revealing a lab inside. Two Volcuri, scientists from the look of them, whipped around to stare at us. Then there was the tube-shaped tank standing vertical in the middle of the room. A human floated inside, completely lifeless.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Tara said under her breath when the face became clear.
It was Miguel Alvarez.
14
Caught off guard, I tamped down a flicker of rage at the sight. Years of practice kept most of my emotions in check at any given time, but I could still be surprised. I motioned for the others to follow me in. Tara and Moore knew how to stack up and did so without me asking. Riva and her two warriors saw what we did and mirrored the move to clear the lab.
Alien equipment covered the tables. I saw a few pods like what was upstairs, empty. Unlike a lot of labs I’d seen, this one was orderly. Everything in its place, even though I couldn’t identify most of what I saw.
Besides the pair of scientists—and Miguel—the lab was empty.
Once I was sure, I strode forward without lowering my weapon. The Volcuri scientists could be there against their will or under the Mindslaver’s control—I had no way to know. They didn’t cower back like I might have expected, but that didn’t mean much on its own. I approached with extreme caution on the assumption they were Turned.
Riva stayed at my side and looked at the scientists as if waiting for something. They showed no recognition, which I took as a bad sign. “Who are you?” she demanded.
None of them responded. That was a good enough answer for me.
“Wait!” Riva said, putting an arm out to stop me.
My finger stayed off the trigger, but my eyes stayed on the group. “Why?”
“They might be useful. Nami, Mirtos, restrain them.”
She had a point. These weren’t guards, so even if they were Turned, if we found the cure it might be worth keeping them alive. “Fine. Just make it quick. I don’t want them setting off any alarms to warn Makin.”
The two warriors did as they were instructed and soon had the new prisoners restrained. Content enough with that, I lowered the weapon and moved to the tank where Tara already stood.
“He’s not alive,” she murmured.
Now that I had a second, I studied Miguel’s floating form. His lids were open, revealing eyes filmed over by death. The wound at his neck still gaped, revealing white bone. His skin had paled, giving him a ghostly look.
> With the initial shock passed, I could look at the scene with a measure of objectivity. Why had they preserved his body? I decided to find out.
“Riva, I need you to translate,” I said, walking to the corner Mirtos had them corralled in. “I want to know what they are doing with the body.”
Riva didn’t waste any time interrogating them in the Volcuri language. She had her translator on, but I didn’t get any answer from AMI when I asked her to translate the scientist’s responses.
“They said they are studying the body. Trying to make the mind enslavement more effective.”
I frowned. “I thought they had it perfected with Avery.”
“Apparently not.”
“They’re going to pay for this.” Tara’s tone was deadly quiet.
I almost told her not to let her emotion get the best of her but checked myself. She was not the kind of person to respond well to that. I had compartmentalized the situation. That pretty much meant that I wasn’t going to let it distract me. What was the point? Miguel was doornail dead, the kind no one came back from.
“We need to keep moving,” I said. “When the mountain is under our control, we’ll come back for him and make sure he gets a proper funeral.”
Tara wasn’t the crying type and turned away from the tank with anger flaring in her eyes instead, which I much preferred. When she paused, I followed her line of sight to find a wall.
“I think those are windows,” she commented.
The wall was blocked out by two lines running from ceiling to floor. If Tara was right, the entire wall would show what was on the other side.
“That appears to be the case,” Riva said from a different part of the lab.
Nami’s voice came from what I thought was a computer on the other side of the room. “Getting them online now. Just a moment longer.”
I checked my wrist unit. Twenty-one minutes had elapsed since the op started. “We need the other door open.”
“Got it!” Nami proclaimed, jumping up.
