Blink: Interdiction (Book 4)

08

Three teams spearheaded the first Blink operation on Ravine.

Taking the lead with Hammerhead, Darien had selected Rigel and Vandal squads to accompany them, with the remaining two units on standby in case things went wrong, under the nominal command of Vass Juntaar.

In the back of a balloon-wheeled crawler the remaining Blink teams waited, packed in side by side in the vehicle's rear passenger compartment. Gone were their normal dark fatigues, replaced by a motley selection of overcoats, air-scrubber masks, hooded jackets and heavy worker boots to let the blend in with the locals at Shukker's Deep. Firearms were concealed where the operatives could fit them, along with their standard issue combat knives, and light body armour fitted easily beneath the baggy clothing.

Amber had Hekket alongside her, though he had somehow managed to fall asleep though the bouncing, undulating motion of the crawler, and sitting opposite her was Rigel's squad leader, Vanna Proctor. Up close she was a striking individual; porcelain skin and high cheekbones, coupled with a pair of piercing sky-blue eyes. She looked like a Valkyrie from the old Earth myths. The stern young woman said little, even to her own squad mates. By contrast, a little further down the compartment, Taggs chatted amiably with the members of Vandal squad, the jokes flying thick and fast between them.

She watched it wistfully. There was no sign of the underlying tension that crackled beneath the surface in her own squad. Right now they functioned, but she didn't know how long that would last. With a sigh, she settled back against the seat, shutting her eyes and trying to imagine herself somewhere happier.

It was the better part of an hour before the armoured vehicle finally rumbled to a halt at their destination. A temporary staging area had been set up for them a few kilometres to the south of Shukker's Deep, little more than a set of armoured prefabs and a mobile command and control vehicle manned by Lieutenant Breznik and a trio of marines from the tech and engineering divisions of the Beltock Dragoons.

Amber dug a gentle elbow into Hekket's ribs. "Wakey, wakey," she murmured.

Hekket blinked himself into wakefulness, focusing blearily on her. He groaned, stretched and rubbed his eyes before releasing the seat straps that held him in place. Amber followed suit as the crawler's thick rear door thumped open, letting the acrid air of Ravine rush into the passenger compartment. She grimaced at the taste – it was like scorched bones. Pushing up out of her chair, she loped down the ramp and out onto the black craggy ground of Ravine.

The sky glowered down on them, unwelcoming as a black hole, churning in bruised cloud formations of purples and reds. Lurid flares of orange smeared the horizon from the dozens of vast volcanic ranges that spanned Ravine's main continents, and its star burned grimly in the sky, a red giant that hung there like a demonic portal.

Looking away from the barren scenery, she cast her eyes over the dark armoured bunkers of the staging area. Each had a hexagonal shape, with sides sloped like tank armour, and in the middle of them sat the command and control vehicle manned by Breznik and his marines. It was a brown-grey cuboid boasting an impressive comms array on of dishes and antennae across its roof and no less than eight heavy armoured wheels to drag it from place to place.

The vehicle's side hatch swung open and Breznik exited to meet them. The hulking marine had shed his combat gear, now clad in khaki trousers, grey t-shirt and beret, and with a pistol stripped to one thigh. She could see the patches of sweat on his chest and under his arms from the searing heat and wrinkled her nose. Everything about this place was hot and harsh.

"Right on time," Breznik said, shaking hands with Darien as the Blink teams gathered around the command vehicle. "There's a shift change at the main loading port in less than an hour. Link your comms into mission frequency one then stagger your approach to the town. Go in piece by piece and nobody'll notice a dozen extra kids hauling gear."