Cold Fusion - A Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Fusion Short Story Anthology

Company D5

A pair of steps took him to the door, which was bowed inward from the force of the explosion but not breached.

"B!" The former engineer came staggering through the dust cloud. Seeing him, Chanse jerked a thumb at the door. "Open it."

Nodding, B pulled one of his charges free and, after a quick look at how the door was bent inward, placed the charge in a seemingly harmless spot. As he was doing that, the rest of the squad appeared through the dust.

"He took out the guards, but that blast is drawing in warriors from every part of the base," G grimly noted as he stepped through last and immediately turned to face the cloud. "We might have a minute or two then they'll be all over us."

"That sounds like your cue, B," Chanse dryly noted.

The former engineer jerked a nod even as he took a step back from the door.

"Charges are placed and set to blow the door inward," he reported. "Triggering them in three, two, one, fire in the hole!"

The entire squad braced themselves against the blow back. Then the door was smashed inward by the pressure from the shaped blast. The resulting opening stayed empty for a second, maybe two before it was filled with a rush of deadly light.

J and L both went down in the vicious counterattack, leaving only B, C, G, and Chanse still on their feet. Grimacing, C flipped one of his charges grenade style into the doorway and the resulting explosion took out the defenders closest to the door.

Chanse paused long enough to pull J and L's charges free then he was turning to run into the smoke-filled doorway, firing as he went. G, C and B were right on his heels, equally free with their weapon fire, shooting at anything that moved. Running double time, they quickly traversed the short corridor the main door opened in to and to yet another closed door at the corridor's end.

"According to the schematic, the array's power core should be behind this door," C said.

"Let's hope that intel is solid," B said as he stepped forward with the last of his charges. "We are swiftly running out of things that go boom." He began to place the charge.

It was then that Chanse noticed the panel set at about eye level. Well, a human's eye level, at least. Motioning for B to hold up for a second, he reached out and tentatively touched the panel. And he nearly laughed out loud when the door slid silently out of the way.

When the other three looked at him, he shrugged.

"You never know until you try, right?" he said with a smile. Then he was lifting his rifle to the ready and charging in, firing at anything over seven feet tall.

Luck was finally with them: the intel was right. This was the power core, in the form of a throbbing cold fusion reactor sitting in the center, guarded by a couple of surprised technicians. Those Chanse cut down before they could even get out of their chairs.

"C'mon!" he barked, waving the other three in before hitting a matching access panel on the inside to close the door behind them.

"We've got a minute, maybe two before they figure out where we are," he said as the others busied themselves with getting their charges ready. "Let's get those things set then cover the door until they go off." He then took his own direction and began to prep and place the charges he had.

The power core was surprisingly small for what it was supposed to be doing. Because of that, it only took a couple minutes to place all of their available charges. And the veteran soldier wasn't the only one noticing the reactor's diminutive size.

"Are you sure this is the power core?" C asked as he placed his last charge. "Seems awful small to be powering an interstellar communication station."