Defiance

Chapter Four

Minis, catacombs below the palace, one day after cadet graduation 

It's pitch black below. We are rappelling down into one of the numerous cave entrances into the catacombs below the planet Minis. I'm the first down, and I flood the passageway with my helmet spot lamp. A huge boulder, probably weighing an amount of tons that I didn't know, separated us from the Minia on the other side. I haven't got time to calculate the amount of blast to break it down. A lot, then. Line the boulder with detonators and press the button. Easier said than done. The blast might collapse the tunnel, and then this entire operation would fail and we would all die.

Rya Squad's sergeant jumps onto the comms. "You having a party down there, Wodma?"

"Can't rush an artist..."

"You wanna tell that to the mass amount of Minia and killer machines out here?"

"Patience, Rya." Come on, come on. Stick already, will you?

"Nearly there..."

"A lot of killing machines..."

"I hear you, Rya."

"In your own time. No pressure. None at all..."

Trickshot slammed down the last one and jammed the detonator.

"Clear!" We flatten ourselves against the passage wall. It's all white light and painful noise and flying dust for a fraction of a second. When we can see again, the boulder had been blown to bits, the new opening billowing smoke.

"Rya Squad—clear for entry. Go, go, go!"

"Thought you'd never ask." Rya Squad hits the ground, and they're in, firing, while we stand behind and cover their backs. It's a maze of tunnels down there. If we're not careful, something could jump out and attack us at any moment.

My helmet's supposed to protect me from high decibels, but war is noisy. Really noisy. I can't hear my helmet comm through the sound of blaster fire and explosions. But I can feel it all through my boots.

Movement catches my eye up ahead, but when I look closer through my HUD, it's gone.

"Trick, hold the position." Arrow gestures to the five tunnels, and motions for Target and Parrot to follow, and they move almost back to back into the rightmost one.

Then I look up, overhead. There's a lot more enemies than we had anticipated. A lot more. Minia fall on me and my squad in a swarm. I take down two above me, and more come from the left, so I shoot there too.

"Target! You receiving me?" I can't see him. I can't see any of them. I can hear rapid fire to my far right.

"Target! You receiving?"

Silence.

I began to panic, trying to wade through the mass of wings and fire but getting stopped at every turn. Then a few, fragmented crackles of "...Mayday! Man down!"

Who? Who's down? "Target! Parrot! Arrow! You receiving me?"

Nothing.

I've lost contact with my squad.

It was the last time I saw them.