by M. D. Cooper
“OK,” he called forward. “We’re two klicks down. According to Gloria’s data, that means we’re almost at the pad. I’m going to drop a decimeter a second for the last hundred so we don’t slam into anything…too hard, at least.”
A few muted responses came from the cabin as the mechs prepared for an impact with the narrowing canyon walls. It wasn’t as though any of them would be hurt by something like a hundred-meter drop, but it wasn’t a fall to the pad that worried them, it was the two hundred kilometers of crevasse that loomed below the landing surface.
Rika pulled up the altimeter on her HUD and watched as the pinnace approached the landing pad’s level, then kept going.
“Don’t fret,” Mad Dog called back. “Our zero-level may have calibrated differently than Gloria’s data. Let’s just keep—”
A dull thud shuddered through the pinnace as the landing gear hit something solid.
“What did I tell you?” Mad Dog called out, relief clearly audible in his voice.
Rika glanced into the cockpit. “At least flying out will be a lot easier.”
“Thank stars,” the pilot muttered.
Fuller was already out of his seat, striding to the side hatch, where he pulled up external readings.
“OK, folks, we’ve got a tenth of an atmo out there, and it’s nasty stuff, so keep your seals tight. Platform’s as dark as the rock around us, so watch your step. Squad One, you’re to stay with the shuttle, map out the pad, and ensure there aren’t any surprises on it. Squad Two, you’re with me. We’re heading to the southern canyon wall. That’s on your right, Dan.”
“Don’t worry, LT,” Jenisa called out. “I drew an ‘R’ on his hand. He’s all set this time.”
“Shut up, Jenisa,” Dan muttered. “It was just that one time.”
“What, you can’t count now too?” Sergeant Tre said, reaching out to cuff Dan in the head. “I remember at least three.”
“That’s ‘cause we didn’t tell you about three other times, Sarge,” Amesi called out.
“OK, people, that’s enough,” Fuller said, trying to hide the laughter in his voice. “Squad Three, you’re going to the northern wall. Four, you’re in reserve until we find an entrance.”
The mechs all signaled their acknowledgement, and Rika double-checked that the pinnace’s weapons systems were active and ready to fire.
Fuller didn’t waste any more time, palming the control to bleed off the pinnace’s interior atmosphere before opening the hatch.
Alison’s squad was first to hit the pad. They fanned out, seeking the edges of the platform that stretched from one canyon wall to the other. Once they’d cleared ten meters around the pinnace, Squads Two and Three disembarked.
Rika was out a moment later, accompanying third as they angled to the left, seeking out the cliff wall and the entrance they hoped was set into it.
* * * * *
“What do you have?” Lieutenant Gary asked as he leant over Aman’s console.
“Contacts on Pad 719,” Aman replied, gesturing at his screen, which showed the dim outline of a low-profile pinnace. The craft was barely visible against the ultra-black pad, but the scan teams had a lot of tricks up their sleeves for seeing in the dark, and there was no doubt a ship was on the pad.
“Why didn’t we spot them on approach?” Gary asked.
“Not sure, that thing is just about as dark as the rock, though. They must have drifted down the canyon on passive sensors. We didn’t pick them up till their ship triggered the vibration pickup on the pad.”
Gary whistled. “Shit…ballsy to fly in on passive. Half our pilots won’t even do that.”
“Yeah, and the other half sweat balls when they do. Which is why they don’t do it, either.”
Gary signaled for his quick response team to begin suiting up. He didn’t know who Faneuil’s visitors were, but the best way to deal with unwanted guests was to kill them before they spread the news that Genevia’s ‘Lost Planetoid’ was a reality.
“It’s weird,” Aman said after a moment. “I don’t see anyone leaving the ship…but there’s a hatch open, the IR is easy to see.”
“It’s not hard to stealth out there,” Gary replied. “No EM to reflect off anything.”
“Sure.” Aman nodded while gesturing at the screen. “But whoever exited—if anyone did—came out of that nice warm ship. Their armor should be bleeding IR like it has nothing else to do.”
“OK, fair enough,” Gary said. “I’m going to join the FRT. You let me know if you see anything.”
“You bet,” Aman replied.
Gary turned and left the small room that the forward scan operators used and turned down the passage that led to the Shaft.
The pad was over four kilometers up, and the FRT was assembling two klicks from the top. As he reached the shaft, several lifts were lowering several people each, as the upper reaches of The Refuge cleared out.
Protocol stated that their best defense was to appear as though no one was home and let intruders penetrate deep into Faneuil before springing the trap.
After a minute, a lift platform arrived, and Gary stepped into it, pulling the simple gate closed behind himself and moving to the open conveyance’s center. He tried not to think of the three-hundred-kilometer drop below as the platform began to rise.
Even though gravity on the planetoid was only a tenth of the standard, a drop to the bottom of the Shaft would still mark the end of a person in a rather spectacular fashion.
He turned his thoughts from the drop below to the intruders above. The resistance group he was a part of had been operating out of the lost worldlet for over seven years, and in that time, they’d never been discovered. That didn’t mean that Gary’s team hadn’t been put to the test, though. There had been two incidents when smugglers who the resistance worked with had tried to rob Faneuil, but Gary’s platoon had made short work of those raiders.
Given the fact that the surface arrays hadn’t picked up any ships running active scan in Faneuil’s nearspace—something necessary to even find the planetoid in the first place—he had to assume that whoever had landed on Pad 719 already had prior knowledge of the dwarf planet’s location.
Which doesn’t make sense. Oda has seen to it that only a handful of people know where we are…and none of them would betray us. Not willingly….
The lift shuddered to a stop, and he stepped off, walking down the dimly lit corridor to the FRT’s ready room. Though his destination was only a dozen meters down the passage, the hall stretched for kilometers more. Even after living in The Refuge for years, he’d only laid eyes on a small fraction of the tunnels and caverns that lay below the surface.
He reached the ready room and stepped inside to see the twenty members of the fast response team already geared up, checking over one another’s armor seals.
“Everyone frosty?” Lieutenant Gary asked as he stripped down to his base layer before stepping into his armor.
“Cold as space,” Sergeant Lasala said.
“Space isn’t cold,” Private Ned countered.
“It is this far out,” Lasala retorted. “And, Ned, tie down that bandolier strap already. Last thing we need is you fuckin’ dropping your ‘nades again.”
Ned turned to do as the corporal had ordered, muttering about it being just a training sparker.
“So, what’s the word,” Lasala asked as Gary pulled his breastplate on. “There’s nothing on the enemy or their loadouts on the combat net yet. What are we facing?”
“Don’t know.” Gary slid his hands into the armor’s gloves and twisted each one to make sure they were locked on and had full motion. “Either they’re still in their ship, or their stealth is ridiculously good.”
“Fuck,” one of the soldiers muttered. “Ridiculous stealth up there? We’ll be blind.”
“Ours is nothing to sneeze at, either,” Gary replied. “Get your shit on straight, Jam
ie. We’ve trained for this. Run it by the numbers and listen to your team lead.”
“Yeah, right, LT.”
A minute later, the FRT platoon was geared up and trooping back down the hall to the lift shaft.
A muted klaxon sounded from below, and then doors on every level began to seal. Gary knew that roughly eight kilometers below, the Shaft was sealing as well. Once everything was locked down, the air would pump out of the area, leaving only a trace atmosphere—what one would expect in an abandoned facility.
He boarded the third lift car, closing the gate and activating his armor’s maglock boots, the action giving him a feeling of added safety.
The single word came from Oda, the man in charge of Faneuil, who bore only the title ‘Leader’.
Oda didn’t reply for a moment, then said.
Though he’d sent an affirmative response, Gary wondered about a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ approach. Whoever was on the pad knew enough about Faneuil to land safely. They could be allies.
If the Niets knew about The Refuge, they’d just smash the dwarf planet with nukes and kinetics, not even bothering to send in ground troops. The fact that the intruders had landed a single ship was a strong indicator that they had no ties to the Niets.
Though that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t sell us out—or kill us to take Faneuil for themselves.
He pursed his lips, forcing down the feeling that he was walking into some sort of trap. He trusted his team; they’d trained extensively for a breach event…but never in all that training had they planned for an enemy that was completely invisible.
The only thing they did know was that the craft on Pad 719 couldn’t fit more than thirty armored soldiers—granted, that count still heavily outnumbered Gary’s team.
Stars…I wish Oda would let me train more fighters. He pushed the thought from his mind and reached out to Sergeant Lasala.
Lasala’s tone was light, almost jovial, and Gary wished he could take a page from the sergeant’s book.
Gary didn’t respond to the remark as the lifts reached the top level of the shaft, and the FRT members disembarked.
* * * * *
Niki only laughed and linked the probe’s feeds to the combat net, putting their visuals up on Rika’s HUD.
<‘Going to’?>
Rika ignored the AI’s response and watched the feeds, which revealed a large, twenty-meter-wide chamber with a single door on the far side. It appeared to be an airlock, and the team moved toward it.
Corporal Hidee said.
Bean relayed the order as Rika moved into the room, her GNR set to its rail mode, ready for the airlock to be filled with hostiles—though she doubted it would be.
If she were the defenders, and she were in their shoes, she’d let hostiles penetrate deeper into the facility. Ensure that they were cut off from any additional support before dropping the hammer.
It would be different if it was a large force attacking. In a scenario like that, she’d make them fight for every meter they took. Of course, if the defenders knew that mechs were on their doorstep, that would be exactly what they should have done.
Of course, this assumes that there are defenders, and that they have a clue about what they’re doing.
A second later, the airlock opened, revealing an empty chamber large enough for six mechs.
Hidee moved in and examined the interior controls before glancing back at the rest of the squad.
The squad sergeant pulled the airlock door shut, and Rika began counting slowly as she waited. A half-minute later, Bean reported in.
Rika’s lips curled into a smile and she decided to join the third group through the airlock. Once through, she moved down the corridor toward the chamber at the end while the mechs checked the rooms for anything of interest.
When she arrived, she spotted Bean’s marker standing just inside the entrance to what appeared to be a maglev station.
Three minutes later, the entire squad had formed up in the maglev station, and three/one took the lead, heading down the maglev track to the left, with Rika joining in. The walls of the tunnel were unadorned, non-reflective rock, giving the eerie feeling of walking down a track that had nothing around it at all.
After a kilometer, the fireteam reached another maglev station, and Rika signaled for the rest of the squad to join them while fireteam three/one checked the area over.
br />
She knelt down and reached out toward one of the track’s coils, feeling a small passel of nano leave her hand.
Rika nodded and rose, watching as the fireteam reached the terminal’s corners and signaled that other than a few crates of sealed food pouches, the area was clear.
Rika quietly pulled herself up from the track’s trench and walked to the location Niki had indicated. Behind her, Bean had arrived with the rest of the squad and was directing one of her fireteams to move down the corridor leading off the station.
Once at the wall, Rika was able to see the panel. It was a display system for the track’s operation and car arrival schedule.
With the nano deposited, Rika walked back to the track’s trench and leapt across. Just before she reached the far side, she gave a short pulse of her a-grav systems, landing silently in the fractional atmosphere.
