“Shit. I was afraid that’s what you had in mind,” he replied.
“Unless you have a better idea, I figure we take the devil we know over the one we don’t,” Charline said. When he didn’t reply right away, she went on. “I don’t like it, either. But if that ship is coming for us instead of the Satori...”
“It means they probably fought Beth and won,” Andy said. He cinched down the straps holding the pile of gear together. Neither of them wanted to say what they both had to be thinking. Beth would never willingly abandon her friends, but battles in space were brutal. The losing side was usually destroyed, not vanquished. Charline hoped her friend was alive out there, but the evidence against it was mounting.
“We’re headed for the cave. Carry everything you can,” Charline said. “Assume anything we leave behind is gone for good.”
“We’re going back down there with the killer bugs?” Halcomb asked. “Ma’am, I’d be happier taking my chances with whatever’s coming in that ship.”
Charline heard a few murmurs of assent from the others. She needed to nip that in the bud quickly. They needed a clear chain of command. She couldn’t afford to have people questioning her decisions. Right or wrong, having someone in charge was essential in a crisis. Not making a decision fast enough was often worse than making the wrong decision.
“You think so? Will you still feel that way when they rake our position from a thousand feet up? Blow us all to bits first, come down and check us out later?” Charline asked. When Halcomb hung his head instead of meeting her gaze, she knew she was on the right track. “That ship is probably the same one the Satori took off to deal with. If it came back and our ship didn’t, I think we can assume they’re hostile. Let’s move.”
“Yes ma’am. Right on it,” Halcomb said. “You heard the lady! Let’s grab our gear and get the hell out of here!”
Charline shook her head inside the armor, where no one could see her bemused smile. Halcomb was the first one to question authority. But both times he’d done so, he folded in a heartbeat. She suspected he wasn’t nearly as rebellious as he wanted everyone to think. He voiced the fears and concerns all of them had to be harboring, just loud enough that Charline was forced to deal with him. When the ‘rebellious man’ capitulated to her decision, it became that much easier for the others to follow along as well.
Cunning, that. If she was right about his motives, then Halcomb was smarter than she’d given him credit for.
She leaned in next to the pile of gear and set her claw-like hands to the grips in the big crate it all rested on. This was a heavy load. Charline watched as the stress gauges went into the yellow when she lifted the crate. By itself the fabricator was pushing the limits for the suit. With the rest of the gear she was well past the margin for safety. There was no other way to get even most of their equipment to safety, though. She had to do the best she could.
“Move out, everyone!” Charline called. She followed her own order, stepping forward with the load. One foot, then another, she made her way across the dusty field to the cave entrance. Remnants of the cave-in were still piled there. If they could get everyone inside in time then the rubble ought to help conceal their presence. But their footprints were everywhere. It wouldn’t be hard to tell where they’d gone to ground.
She’d deal with that when she could. At least they would have to come down to the ground and face them in the tunnel. That might even the odds a little. They just had to hope there were no more insects waiting below, or they could end up facing enemies from both sides at the same time. It was a dangerous position to be in. Charline learned long ago that hope was not a very strong strategy, but there she was hoping that it would somehow work out. She didn’t have any better ideas.
She crossed the threshold into the cave, only a few of her people ahead of her. She would have to lead the way down. If there were more insects below, her armor was best suited to fighting them. Now that she had weapons mounted, she was pretty sure she could make short work of one or two stragglers if she had to.
“Move fast, folks! Head on down the tunnel around the first corner,” Andy said.
Charline looked back over her should and saw him doing something at the cave entrance. “What’re you up to, Andy?”
“That cave-in was a good idea. If they see a cave entrance when they land, they might come downstairs to take a look around. That would be bad for us,” he said. “If they see a pile of rubble, though? It might throw them off.”
Charline moved on, rounding the corner. She had to be careful not to tread on any of the people. They were all fragile compared to her armor. If she stepped the wrong way or leaned in a bad direction, someone could be badly hurt. It was much harder to steer the suit safely inside the tight confines of the tunnel.
Any came running around the corner and shouted, “Fire in the hole!”
A moment later there was a booming sound, followed by the grinding of rubble smashing against itself. A plume of dust came around the corner, making Halcomb cough. Andy went back up the tunnel to investigate and returned quickly with a thumbs up.
“It’s blocked again. Here’s hoping that works,” he said.
“You have any more of those explosives?” Charline asked.
“That was all of them,” Andy replied.
“Getting out again is going to take a while, then,” Charline said. “Let’s hope there isn’t anyone waiting for us downstairs.”
ELEVEN
Too close to the surface, they might still be picked up by sensors aboard the alien ship. It wasn’t enough to merely be underground. They had to go deep if they wanted to be certain of avoiding detection. Which meant facing that room full of pools at the bottom and whatever life was still there waiting for them.
“I’ll lead out down the passage. As soon as we reach the bottom, I’ll drop the load. It’ll give you at least some cover if they try to rush you,” Charline said. She figured it would block at least part of the tunnel opening. That might not save them if a large number of the insects attacked, but it was better than no protection at all.
“And what are you going to do?” Andy asked.
“Scout ahead and see if we have company.”
“Not alone, you’re not,” Andy replied.
“I’m best equipped to survive one of those things if it jumps out. You lead a team to cover me from the tunnel mouth,” Charline said.
“You could swap out. I can go in with the suit.”
This was hard enough without Andy trying to be a hero. When had he gotten so overprotective? It’d snuck up on her. They hadn’t been on a mission together since they started seriously dating. Maybe that was it? Guys just lost all their brains after the first date?
“You’ve never piloted this suit with the mods, and I’ve logged a lot more hours in the basic suits than you have. That’s why I was doing the loading earlier, remember?” Charline snapped. “This isn’t a debate, Andy.”
He didn’t reply. Charline kept walking.
She didn’t have time to deal with this, right now. Later they’d need to have words. He meant well, but he wasn’t helping. The truth was, she’d have given just about anything to not have to go into that cavern. Letting someone else be the bait while she waited behind cover to use her marksmanship skills to best effect was an appealing alternative. But she was the person most likely to survive the experience. None of the others had has much practice with the suit as she’d have. Certainly not under combat conditions.
Charline set her burden down just inside the tunnel entrance. It settled with a loud thud that made her wince, but her armor was already making enough noise. Every footfall landed with a resounding clang of metal against stone.
Anything waiting for her in the chamber beyond would have long since heard her coming. It wasn’t a comforting thought. She looked out into the massive cavern and flicked on the armor’s spotlights. The light reflected off scattered pools of water, sending reflections against walls and ceiling that were very far away.
The cavern was immense. They had only begun to explore its depths on their last foray when the insects attacked. The bugs had set a neat ambush. Only Beth catching a glimpse of them in their hiding place had saved her people from being wiped out.
Charline scanned the open space, watching for movement. But there was nothing, not even the smallest ripple in a pool of water.
“It’s still as a grave in there,” Charline said. Then she winced, hearing her words. It was a grave, after all. Many soldiers had died in there during the fight with the bugs. If she wasn’t careful, she could end up joining them.
The armor was good, but it wasn’t impervious to the insects’ clawed legs. Charline glanced to her left, where Halcomb had soldered up the tear one strike had made near her head. Not even close to invulnerable.
“OK, folks. I’m going in. Cover me from the barricade,” Charline said. The gear piled up made an impressive fighting position for something so hastily put together. The crates wouldn’t stop the bugs completely, but might slow them down enough. Enough for what, she wasn’t quite sure. There were damned few weapons that could punch through the insects’ carapace armor, and two of the ones they had were mounted on her suit. If she fell, the others were going to be in a lot of trouble.
She took a few steps out into the open. Each footfall echoed through the cave, the clanking sound coming back to the suit’s auditory receptors. There were no other sounds.
Charline scanned the distance as she walked, watching for even the smallest movement. Nothing stirred. Not even the young, which were usually found lurking in and around the pools of water. What she wouldn’t give for a proper sensor suite right then! The suit had only basic sensory capacity – enough to hear and see what was going on around it. Infrared cameras would have been useful. Maybe then she could spot the next ambush before they jumped out at her.
The caves were beautiful, in an unearthly way. Her lights reflected off the water and sent shimmering shards of blue-white light scattering across the ceiling and walls. The stone was rough, but it sparkled. There was something reflective in the stone, catching the light and winking it back at her.
The scientist and explorer in her wanted to go check everything out. There were so many mysteries in this place. Of all the structures the ancient civilization had built, the only one they’d found which was mostly intact was this place. What would they learn if they were able to examine it properly?
It was believed this race had been the one which invented the Satori’s wormhole drive. A civilization with that level of tech might have other equally amazing creations just waiting to be discovered.
A rock clattered off to Charline’s left. She brought all her focus back to the present, scolding herself mentally for letting her attention wander at all. Explorations later. Survival now. Her light beams stabbed through the darkness toward where she’d heard the sound, but the only movement she saw was a small set of ripples in a pool about twenty feet away.
“What are you seeing?” Andy asked over her radio.
“Not much. I heard a noise, but no positive contact. Might have been a rock shifting,” Charline said. She leaned back, aiming the lights at the ceiling above the pool in question. No mass of monsters lay there waiting for her.
“Be careful. I’ve got myself, Tessa, and Halcomb here with high-powered rifles. We’ll nail anything that comes after you,” Andy said.
“Just be careful not to nail me,” Charline said. Anything that could punch through those armored shells was a threat to her, too.
“We’ll watch our aim,” Andy said with a chuckle. “Not our first rodeo.”
“Not mine, either. All right – I’m pushing ahead a bit more. Tell me if I get too far for you to see me well.”
“Will do. Be careful,” Andy said.
If she was being careful, she wouldn’t be out there in this armor looking for trouble. Careful would have meant staying home on Earth instead of taking missions into space and exploring new worlds. Of course, Earth was no guarantee of safety either, these days. It wasn’t humans who were the biggest threat anymore. It was dangers from space. Careful didn’t matter much when the Naga were trying to drop a world-killing asteroid onto your home planet.
“I’m nearing the far wall. Looks like another passage over there. A solid path leading to them, but deep pools on either side,” Charline said.
“You’re at the edge of our range, and I don’t like the sound of that spot. Why don’t you pull back? We can work out a plan for tackling that together,” Andy said.
“Will do,” Charline said. The way ahead was almost entirely blocked by pools of water so deep that her light couldn’t stab to the bottom. The only way through was a narrow path about five feet wide. The more she looked at the place, the more it felt like a trap. It was a choke point with easy ambush positions on either side. If she were an amphibious creature looking to surprise someone, that’s where she would have waited.
“Coming back now,” Charline said. She turned the armor around, snapping on the rear facing cameras so she could keep an eye on those pools.
Which was why she saw them explode into a frenzy of motion the moment she turned away.
TWELVE
The water went from tranquil to a foaming mess in less than a second. The insects were moving so fast that it was hard for Charline to track their movements at first. She was still turning back to face them when the first one slammed into her. She tumbled forward, the suit’s arms stopping her drop. A second and then a third bug attacked, all of them lancing out with deadly limbs against her steel shell.
Her suit couldn’t take much of this abuse. They were going to punch through before long. Without the reinforcements Halcomb added, they probably already would have. Charline brought her left arm up toward one of the creatures. It lunged in at her robotic fist, mouth closing around her forearm.
“Right where I wanted you,” Charline said. She pulled the trigger for the machine gun mounted in her arm, and it spat several hundred rounds into open maw locked around her hand. The centipede thrashed about as the rounds tore into the delicate tissue in and around its throat. It was still twitching when it relaxed its grip on her arm and dropped to the ground.
“One down,” Charline said.
“Can’t get a clear shot! They’re too close to you,” Andy said over the radio.
Crap, that was why she didn’t have any covering fire yet. Two of the things slammed into her, one from either side. It was like they’d learned their claws couldn’t easily shred her, so they were trying to pummel her to death instead.
The idea might work, too. The webbing holding her in place was superbly designed, but even it had limits.
“I’ll try to get clear,” she replied. She took a step, trying to move off to one side.
That was when the fourth bug lunged out of the water and latched claws and teeth around her leg. Charline had time to give a yelp before her armored suit toppled forward. It hit the surface of the water with a splash - then sank like a rock. Her lights were still working, so Charline had periodic glimpses of the pool’s wall. It was a smooth cliff there. That had to be manufactured. Nothing formed so smoothly in nature. That surface would be hard for her to climb out, too.
The machine gun wouldn’t work well underwater. She wasn’t sure it would fire at all, but she didn’t want to risk damaging it further. That still left her shoulder-mounted Naga rifle. It ought to work just fine down there.
Charline dialed the focus on the rifle to maximum. It would fire a pellet of energy about the size of a pea – that would punch through a foot of steel. It was one of the most effective weapons they had against these bugs.
The twisting body of one of the insects swept past her field of vision. She fired reflexively but missed, and it glided away. They weren’t going to stop coming after her. They would keep biting and clawing until she died. Which wouldn’t take long if they managed to punch through the armor. Her armor would fill up, and she’d have to choose between drowning and o
pening the hatch to swim for it. Neither option sounded like a great plan.
“Charline! Are you OK?” Andy sounded desperate.
“More or less,” she replied. She backed the armor into a corner at the bottom of the pool. The bugs would have to come at her from the front, where she could use her weapons. It was the best she could do.
“Thank god. We’re on our way. Nailed one of them, but the other two are in the water with you,” Andy said.
On his way? What did he think he was going to be able to do to one of these creatures when they were submerged and deep under water? The best he could hope for was that one of them might get distracted by the easy prey walking around outside the water. Charline wasn’t about to buy herself a few more seconds at the cost of someone’s life.
“Negative. You’ll get cut to ribbons,” she said. “Go back. If one of them pops out, nail it. Otherwise … wish me luck?”
“There has to be something we can do!” he cried.
One of the insects swooped in from her right side and slammed into her shoulder armor. They were fast, even in the water! Slower than they’d been on land, maybe. But so was she. They still seemed incredibly fast to her. One lucky shot was all they needed to break through her shell and drown her.
“Little busy right now!” Charline called into her radio.
She swung her right hand at the one trying to chew her shoulder off and managed to hook one of its legs in her hand. The clawlike robot hand clamped down. Her grip was literally like steel in this thing. Her muscles were motors powerful enough to lift half a ton or more in cargo. Charline yanked down hard with the arm and the bug came off her shoulder with a swishing sound as it slid through the water. She didn’t let go, though. It would just swim away and come back for another pass. Now that she had it in hand, she dragged the bug in front of her, where her shoulder cannon could hit it.
She depressed the firing button once and waited anxiously for it to recharge. At this power setting every shot took a few precious seconds to bring up enough energy to fire. The insect shook as the first shot hit it dead center. Dark blood spread through the water from the wound. It was hurt, but it didn’t look like she’d hit anything vital.
Dust & Iron (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 9) Page 5
