Riot strode to one of the side doors, grabbing on to a handle near the hatch. Everyone followed, except Doctor Miller, who moved to join them, then thought better of the moment and remained seated.
Memories of the doctor’s genuine interest in her well-being, as well as the safety for all those in the unit, crossed Riot’s mind. The nightmare she had of being an old woman alone also pushed to the surface. Before Riot could convince herself it was stupid, she motioned to the doctor. “That means you, too, Bubbles. If you want to stay, you have my blessing, but the team’s not complete without you.”
“Me?” Doctor Miller stood like a kid who had been called in from riding the bench all season. “I don’t know. At first I thought I wanted to stay, too, but now I don’t know. This is a combat mission, not an exploratory venture.”
“It’s your call,” Riot answered back.
“Okay, I guess I can go. But we really shouldn’t call ourselves the War Wolves. I mean we’re a peacekeeping exploratory team sent out—”
“We get it, we get it,” Riot hushed the doctor, already regretting her decision. “Right now, we need to focus.”
Riot’s helmet below her eyes came out into a shallow point that ran the length of her nose to her chin. The visor extended from halfway up her nose to just past her eyebrows. Once again, Riot was struck by how much it reminded her of an ancient knight’s helmet.
One of the new updates to their armor was the ability for her visor to shift from a dark tint to clear. Riot tapped a button on the back of her left forearm, where a control panel regulating different functions of her armor stood ready. With a flick of a button, the dark visor on her helmet went clear.
Every member of her unit, minus Ketrick, who didn’t wear a helmet, did the same, to look Riot in the eyes.
“Here we go again.” As she spoke, Riot took the time to look them all in the eyes, even Doctor Miller. “Into the belly of the unknown. But it doesn’t matter. We could be entering a fight against the entire universe, and I wouldn’t rather have anyone else by my side. When we go out, we’re not alone. We’re not single individuals looking out for his or her own safety. We’re looking out for each other first. Nothing breaks us—nothing!”
Riot pounded a fist on the chest of her armored suit. Heavy thumps from everyone in the circle around Riot answered back. “Let’s introduce the Zenoth to the Marines and make them remember forever, this day! The day the corps paid them a visit! Oohrah!”
“Oohrah!” everyone shouted back.
Adrenaline raced through Riot as she felt the familiar tingling sensation spread through her body, to every finger, to every toe.
“Touchdown in three,” Troy said over the comms, “two, one.”
The transport craft landed with a jolt on the planet’s surface. The door in front of them slid open from the middle, out to either side. A bleak landscape greeted them. The orange sun just cresting the horizon was already promising a hot day in the near future. Dry, red sand crunched beneath Riot’s boots.
Rippa and her team had already set up a perimeter around the transport ship. One giant armor suit at each corner created a secure box for the ship to land inside.
Everything looked calm. No wind blew at their unit, no sounds of scurrying animals or alien birds overhead. The only noise came from the Archangel transport ship that lifted off once more.
Sand whipped at Riot’s armor as the ship regained the air. Riot’s heads-up display marked each mech unit with the Grovothe pilot’s name on the bottom of the outlined unit.
The mech unit with the name Rippa underneath jogged toward Riot. The twenty foot armored beast moved like a human in long, easy strides; nothing like Riot had imagined.
The mech armor’s metal arm reached with a long finger and pointed east.
Riot’s helmet compensated for the brightness of the rising sun. She followed a straight line to where the mech unit directed her attention. In the distance, no more than a click or two away, a mound rose from the ground.
The mound reminded Riot of a volcano that had recently been pounded by an orbital strike. All around the mountain-like form were blackened craters, courtesy of the Dreadnaught’s attention during the night.
“That’s the hive we’re going to take out,” Rippa’s voice came over Riot’s comms. “I’d say we’d take the lead, but I don’t think you’re going to go along with that.”
How hard are you going to make this, Riot? she asked herself. As much as she didn’t want to take orders from a commander she wasn’t familiar with in the field, she understood the importance of a command chain while in the field. Rippa knows the enemy, and she knows the terrain. Arguing with her will only weaken the unit. Give her a chance.
“This should be your show,” Riot said into her comms. “This is your backyard and you’ve engaged this enemy before. Take the lead.”
“Understood,” Rippa’s voice came back, a bit surprised. She recovered immediately and started barking out orders. “Ragnar, Brimley, you’re on our six. Atlas and I will take point with the War Wolves in the center of the pack. We’ll reach the hive in minutes if we hurry. We need to get in and out.”
“Major, if I may?” Brimley’s voice came over the comms, stressed.
“I know,” Rippa answered the member on her team as if she were reading her mind. “Let’s move out. The faster we get there, the faster we’ll be able to see why.”
Atlas arrived next to Rippa, and the two mech units began to move toward the hive. A steady pace for them meant Riot and the others on foot ran in a light jog.
“Care to enlighten us with what you’re talking about?” Doctor Miller asked Rippa. “What’s going on?”
“Something’s wrong,” Rippa said. Her mech unit didn’t turn back as it strode toward their objective. “The Zenoth have always challenged our arrival on their planet. Something is very wrong.”
18
“Vikta is approaching and will keep our exit point secured,” Ketrick said over his comm. “If that meets everyone’s liking. Or, I could always try to bring her inside the hive.”
“She’s fine outside,” Riot said before Rippa could lay into Ketrick with another sarcastic comment. “We’ll need someone watching our back, anyway.”
“And your space serpent can be trusted to obey?” Rippa voiced her concerns. “She understands you?”
“We share a bond,” Ketrick growled. “My word should be good enough. Vikta will die before she allowed our exit path to be compromised.”
Rippa remained quiet as if she understood further talk in this train of thought would be pointless.
Grovothe, humans, and the Trilord walked and jogged to the hive. The mound rose higher and higher as they approached. Soon, they were in the pockmarked terrain around the hive, where the Dreadnaught had unleashed its wrath. Craters in the sand ranging from no more than a few feet wide to yards in diameter marked the ground in every direction. Even the slope leading up to the entrance of the volcano-like hive was dented from the blasts.
“What does the absence of the Zenoth mean?” Ragnar asked what they were all thinking. “Are they dead? Gone?”
“There’s not a single corpse we’ve discovered on the way to the hive,” Vet answered back. “It seems unlikely that they’re dead.”
“I agree,” Rippa said as the unit reached the base of the hive hill. “Gone, maybe. Maybe they’ve gone deeper into their hive, waiting for us to come.”
“Great, I can’t wait to go inside,” Wang said with a cough.
“Spartans, on me,” Rippa instructed as her armored unit placed a heavy foot in the sand. The mech’s foot barely sunk into the hard-packed mound. “Warrant Officer Riot, follow close behind.”
“Roger that,” Riot said, forming a line with her unit behind the four armored giants. “Wolves, let’s get ready for battle when we crest this hill. Eyes open, trigger fingers ready.”
A chorus of “rogers” met her orders.
The hive hill was a lot higher than Riot had first anticipated. The j
ourney up the steep slope was rough. At times, it was easier for Riot to sling her pulse rifle on her back with her war hammer and use her hands to claw her way up the hill.
The sun was higher now, and hotter. Riot said a silent prayer to Vet and the engineer team back on the Bulwark. Before they had left, the engineers, along with Vet, had installed temperature control systems in their armored suits. Without the aid of the cooling system regulating their temperature now, the trek would be unbearable.
“I should workout more.” Doctor Miller breathed hard into the comms. “Missed too many yoga classes, and now look at me.”
“We’re almost there,” Ketrick answered back. “I don’t know who this Yoga is, or what kind of classes he teaches, but steel yourself. The ridge approaches.”
Riot looked up to realize Ketrick was right. No more than fifty yards away, the four Grovothe mech units were reaching the lip of the hive. Now that she saw the end so close, Riot pressed harder. Her calves and quads burned with the exertion, but Riot forced the feeling from her mind and willed herself on.
Despite the cooling agents circulating her armored body, a cold sweat had gathered on her forehead.
“Still nothing,” Brimley said, her mech unit looking down into the depths of the hive. “They must have retreated deep when the Dreadnaught unleashed on them.”
“Let’s assume the worst,” Rippa said as Riot finally reached the edge of the hive. “That they know we're coming, and that they’re down there waiting for us.”
“Sounds lovely,” Riot said. She pressed her right foot on the lip of the edge and swung her pulse rifle into her hands. She looked down into the hive through the sight of her weapon. “Oh, great. At least we’ll have light.”
As soon as the sunlight failed to illuminate the deep hole into the ground, a blue, luminescent glow began. The glimmering came from the walls of the tunnel itself, like someone had linked together thousands of black lights and lined them up to light the path.
“The Zenoth exude an excrement from their body they use to plaster the walls, ceiling, and floor of their hive,” Brimley explained. “We’ll have no problem seeing while we’re inside.”
“That makes me feel better,” Wang said, joining Riot at the lip of the hive. “At least we’ll be able to see what we’re doing, courtesy of their piss and saliva. I can’t wait.”
“She said excrement,” Vet corrected his friend. “That could be eye goop or sweat, as well.”
YOU’RE NOT MAKING THIS ANY BETTER, Rizzo said over bright red text that popped up on all the Marines’ heads-up displays.
A rush of wings sounded from their right. Everyone, minus Riot and Ketrick, jumped at the noise. Red sand kicked up in all directions. Riot hunched down to make herself a smaller target for the buffeting wind that threatened to push her over the edge.
Rippa and her Grovothe looked like toy soldiers compared to Vikta’s true size. Riot wasn’t sure if she would ever get over how massive the dragon really was. White scales covered her from tail to chin. Leathery wings folded on her giant back as she settled on the edge of the hive.
Vikta lowered her head as if she were saying hello. A wild gleam that Riot loved shimmered in the creature’s eyes.
“She says we can trust her,” Ketrick said out loud. “She will hold our exit point, no matter the cost. She also says your armor units are quite fascinating. She likes the way they look.”
Vikta cocked her head as if she were examining Rippa and her Spartans.
“The hive floor is too far down to jump or propel,” Rippa said over the comms. “I’ll head down first. Spartans will provide a ride for the War Wolves after me. One on each of the mech’s shoulders. Let’s get this done.”
Blue flame shot from the bottoms of Rippa’s armored unit as she lifted gently into the air. She maneuvered over the edge of the circular opening to the underground hive, then slowly lowered herself down.
The remaining three Spartan mechs each took a knee and bent their back waiting for Riot and her team to mount up.
“Well, come on,” Atlas said in his deep, baritone voice. “We won’t bite.”
Well, what did you do today, Riot? Riot asked herself as she waved the others to follow her lead. Oh, nothing much. Just rode giant mech units into battle against bug creatures from another planet.
Riot placed her rifle on her back again as she hefted herself onto Atlas’s right shoulder. Climbing onto the armor felt like taking a ride on a tank. The steel was as unforgiving and as firm as any piece of heavy military equipment Riot had ever felt.
Ketrick followed her lead. He mounted the opposite shoulder Riot had taken on Atlas’s mech. Vet and Rizzo climbed up on Brimley, and Wang and Doctor Miller settled in atop Ragnar.
“Easy does it now,” Atlas warned. “I’ll need to stand up, so adjust yourselves accordingly. Hold on. There will be a brief moment of turbulence as I fire the lifters on the mech’s boots.”
“Hold on to what?” Riot said out loud. She settled on placing her right hand by her left butt cheek where the mech’s shoulder armor provided a grip. Her left hand grabbed ahold of the mech unit’s helmet.
As promised, Atlas slowly shifted into a standing position. A moment later, his armor shuddered and lifted off the ground. Something like the sound of giant blowtorches going off accompanied the lift from the ground.
Vikta watched in fascination from her spot opposite them on the hive ledge.
“No, Vikta,” Ketrick shouted to her with a smile. “Even in your smallest form, you would crush them. What? ... No … I’m not calling you fat, just … not suited to ride these war machines…. We will be careful. Strength and honor my friend.”
Riot wasn’t sure what she was more fascinated by, the fact that Vikta seemed to have a nice personality, or that she was descending into the bells of hell on an alien planet.
As Atlas lowered into the hive, the bright orange sun that rose over the planet lost its dominance. Riot looked up to see Brimley and Ragnar following close behind. Beyond them, the entrance to the hive grew smaller and smaller.
Soon, varying shades of bright and dull blue luminescent light coming from the walls lit their path. Lower and lower they descended, until nothing remained from the entrance above other than a tiny speck of light.
“Reached the bottom,” Rippa voiced over the comms. “This is definitely a trap. Still no hostiles to be seen. They’re waiting for us somewhere in there.”
“That’s good, right?” Doctor Miller’s voice came over the comms in a mixture of nervousness and frightened curiosity. “I mean, if we know it’s a trap, we don’t go in, right? We head back up to the surface and figure this out.”
“Nothing to figure out, Doctor.” Rippa had said the words Riot would have herself, if she were the one speaking. “We are the answer to this. Trap or not, we can’t allow the Zenoth to travel from their planet to any other.”
There was a loud gulp over the comms as Doctor Miller’s hope of turning back to the surface died.
“I’m scanning their tunnels now,” Rippa said.
Riot leaned out over Atlas’s mech to see how much farther they had to descend. No more than three stories down, Riot saw Rippa’s armored mech. Her unit stood at the entrance of four different tunnels that all slanted deeper toward the planet’s core.
The tunnels leading down were each larger enough to fit the Valkyrie through. They would provide enough room for the Spartans to walk side by side if they so chose.
Atlas touched down next to Rippa.
A jolt ran through Riot’s butt and up her spine.
Atlas slowly bent over, making sure Riot and Ketrick would have plenty of time to readjust their seating.
Riot jumped off his shoulder as soon as she thought she could stick the landing.
All around her, Marines were dismounting from their rides. Riot reached behind her back and pulled out her pulse rifle. Her heads-up display was going crazy with data and readouts of the surrounding area.
“This way.
” Rippa pointed to a tunnel on her right. “Still no life signs, but it has to be this way.”
“How can you be so sure?” Ketrick asked.
“Because the holograph technology we have says the ship lies in a cave down this path,” Rippa answered. “They will not leave it unprotected. Ragnar, Brimley, watch our six; everyone else, with me.”
The unit fell in line with Rippa’s orders as they entered the tunnel the Grovothe Major had pointed out. The tunnel itself reminded Riot of a freeway. The ground was rough, but always the same width as it sloped down. The walls rose so high, Vikta might have been able to come after all.
Riot’s heads-up display calculated the wall height to be forty feet tall. Hanging from the ceiling were an army of razor-toothed stalagmites that looked like some kind of ancient monster’s mouth. Everything was lit by the blue luminescent glow the Zenoth had left.
The team walked in silence, their weapons up and ready. Rippa and the Spartans swept the area with cannons mounted on the backs of their forearms. Riot walked between the two front mechs Rippa and Atlas piloted. Her pulse rifle was ready, safety off, finger hovering to the side of the trigger.
“Shhh…” Vet whispered through the comms. “Do you hear that?”
Everyone stopped and listened.
Riot was about to tell Vet to calm down and head forward, when she heard the noise he had picked up. It sounded like … engine thrusters?
19
“Double time.” Riot couldn’t wait for Rippa to figure out what she had already realized. “Their ship is already operational!”
The engine sounds from deeper in the cave only grew louder. Rippa and Atlas took off at a sprint, their long legs outpacing even Ketrick, whose six-seven frame was made for quick travel.
Riot’s heart pounded in her chest as she checked to make sure the others were still keeping up. Doctor Miller was falling a bit behind, but Wang stuck by her side.
Up ahead, Rippa and Atlas rounded a sharp corner.
“Holy Allfather, protect us,” Atlas said over the comms.
Click Click Boom (War Wolves Book 2) Page 12
