As the SUV pulled around a bend, she spotted the semi ahead, parked next to a small cave entrance. The doors were closed, but the vehicle otherwise looked abandoned—she saw no one lurking past the windows. Then again, she couldn’t properly see inside from the lower height of the SUV.
“Full stop,” Rhea said. “Will, get Gizmo to perform a preliminary scan.”
The convoy stopped and Gizmo descended. Constantly weaving back and forth so as to avoid becoming too stationary of a target, the drone darted in front of the different windows. Then the drone swooped low, sliding to and fro next to the undercarriage.
“The cabin is empty, according to Giz,” Will said. “And the underside is clear.”
Rhea nodded. “Send Gizmo into the cave. Fifty meters.”
Will gave her a hesitant look. It was obvious he was worried about losing the drone.
She raised an eyebrow. “Unless you’d rather one of us scouted?”
“No,” he said.
The drone darted into the cave a moment later.
Rhea tapped into its video feed, and saw the LIDAR generated walls, floor and ceiling pass by. The cave proved empty, at least near the front.
At the fifty-meter mark the scout halted.
“Nothing up to fifty meters,” Will said.
“Bring us in,” she ordered. “Slowly.”
The technicals approached slowly, and the SUVs followed.
“Should we destroy the semi?” Brinks asked.
“What, and waste perfectly good salvage?” Will replied. “I don’t think so.”
“Leave the semi,” Rhea agreed. “We’ll hack its ignition system later.”
The technicals formed a half circle in front of the cave and semi; some of them kept their turrets trained on the bigger vehicle, as if expecting it to come alive at any moment. Rhea didn’t blame the machines: she half expected it to detonate or something, too. The remaining technicals scanned the surrounding hills with their weaponry, and the cave entrance.
“We’re going to clear the semi,” Jairlin announced.
“Careful,” Rhea said. “The door might be rigged.”
“Should we stay back?” Will asked.
“Probably a good idea,” she replied.
Their SUV halted while Jairlin’s continued into the protective ring of pickup trucks. A couple of the technicals backed up to act as shields around Rhea’s vehicle.
Jairlin and the Wardenites emerged from the second SUV; while some of them stood watch, keeping their weapons trained on the hills and cave, others searched the semi. The doors were unlocked, so they made short work of it.
“The drone was right,” Jairlin announced. “It’s empty. There are no obvious charges or bombs in the cabin.”
One of the Wardenites lay flat on the ground next to the semi and scanned the underside of the vehicle with a small flashlight. “Undercarriage is clear as well.”
“All right,” Rhea said. “Let’s go.”
She opened the door and stepped out. Then she approached the cave.
“We keep having to enter caves…” Will said.
“I have a feeling this will be the last of them,” Rhea said.
Jairlin and the others took the lead, while Rhea’s group followed next.
Beyond them, Gizmo led the way into the long dark.
17
Rhea stepped carefully across the pitch-black cave. The walls, outlined in white wireframes courtesy of the LIDAR bursts Gizmo released, were fairly tight around them; while she didn’t have to crouch, Will and some of the taller men did. And while there was room enough for them to travel two abreast, they moved in single file, slightly offset from one another so that they formed a zigzag pattern when viewed from above on the overhead map.
She had sheathed her pistol and instead was ready to deploy her Ban’Shar at a moment’s notice.
“I should be in front,” Rhea said over the comm. “I’m the only one who can protect you all against unexpected plasma attacks.”
“There won’t be any unexpected attacks,” Will sent between what sounded like gritted teeth. “We’ll have ample warning, thanks to Gizmo, who’ll be the first to go down.”
She tapped into Gizmo’s feed and positioned it in the upper right of her vision.
The walls eventually fell away around the drone as it entered a wider cavern.
Just like that the feed winked out.
“And there’s our warning,” Will transmitted. “Gizmo is down.”
“Everyone, drop,” Rhea said. “Turn on local LIDAR.”
The men dropped and activated their own LIDAR so they wouldn’t be deceived by outdated data if enemies decided to approach.
Jairlin led the way. He reached the opening and scanned the room.
“Lots of places to hide in here,” he transmitted. “Stalagmites everywhere. There’s a bunch close to the entrance. My men and I are going to take up positions behind the nearest.”
She glanced at her overhead map and watched as the Wardenites split up, separating to take cover behind the aforementioned stalagmites.
She reached the entrance with Will. The chamber was wide, with stalagmites scattered across the floor, and matching stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
Will crawled inside past the entrance. At first Rhea wondered what he was doing, and then she spotted the wreckage of Gizmo not far from him. He reached it, retrieved the drone, and retreated back to the entrance. When he was safely crouched inside, he shoved the drone into his backpack.
“Is it salvageable?” Rhea asked softly.
“Looks like Giz took most of the damage to the power cell region,” he replied. “I think he’ll be fine.”
“Good.” Rhea returned her attention to the cavern.
She activated her Ban’Shar and stepped out. The blue glow lit up the surrounding rock, and her body.
“Wait!” Jairlin said. “You’ll—”
Incoming fire immediately came from the stalagmites. Smiling wickedly, she swung her Ban’Shar into place. This was exactly what she had wanted: for her enemies to reveal their positions.
“Open fire!” she sent. “Take them out while I distract them!”
She walked calmly forward, being careful to deflect any incoming bolts upward and away from the Wardenites crouching behind the rock structures before her.
When she stepped through a gap in the stalagmites and passed her men, she attempted to bat the energy bolts directly back toward those who launched them. Her attackers had to partially expose themselves to fire out from behind their cover, and she succeeded in causing a few of them to topple. Humanoid shapes, one and
