That’s not how Nilo runs things.
And so when I come to my last donk, an older zhee with long strands of gray and white hanging wispy from his chin, I blast him on the ground where he lies, waving off an attack that he still can’t see. I don’t think he was armed, but he was more than likely one of the frenzy-makers. A donk who whipped up other donks into a thirst for blood and then sent them out after whoever was unfortunate enough to be in their way. So even if he wasn’t fighting, he was responsible for more than a share of death.
“Clear!” I call, pivoting to see how the rest of my team is doing. We’ve all reached our terminus at about the same time, and soon they’re echoing my call. We took the room and are set to push farther into the compound itself.
The room’s only door other than the one we came in through leads to the great hall of the temple itself. A long affair with smooth columns upholding stone arches and polished floors with mosaic depictions of war, torture, and varied and unsettling images of a graphic and sexual nature. This place isn’t meant for our eyes. To even breathe the air inside is considered a most serious sacrilege. So much so that every zhee in the galaxy is honor-bound to kill us for it, should they know our crime. Which means the zhee in the palace should especially want to wash the floors with our blood. Only thing is… there aren’t any donks I can see except for the mosaic ones that my team tramples over as we move down the hall.
“Where’s the party?” Easy whispers into the comm.
I can hear the steady echo of weapons fire from the opposite end of the temple. It’s going back and forth, but the zhee with their archaic slug throwers are doing most of the talking. It’s Hopper’s team who has to do all the listening.
“We need to move fast to find out,” I say, deploying a trio of surveyor bots of various sizes. These will hover ahead quickly. They don’t tag targets, but they do make a quick map of the area for us to use. That will help in clearing the place and getting relief to Hopper.
The biggest one moves straight down the hall, bathing it in infrared lasers and painting a picture of how everything is laid out. Two smaller bots zip along behind, sneaking under doors or through openings to survey any rooms they come by.
We don’t waste any time, following the bots until we reach a small door. The map the machines created tells me the room is small, maybe ten by ten. I grab the door, prime a fragger, and toss it inside, moving on after the boom.
“Clear these rooms fast,” I say to the team. “Fraggers in each. Lana, keep eyes on our rear in case any donks hiding in there come out after us despite any new holes we give ’em. We only sweep the rooms big enough to where a couple of grenades can’t do the job for us.”
That’s a risk, I know. We ought to be clearing every room we pass to ensure that no zhee can hit us from behind. But Hopper and his guys are in the thick of it, and they need us there. I realize I haven’t heard from them in a while, and check in.
“Alpha One, Bravo One. What’s your status?”
“Not good,” Hopper responds almost as soon as I finish. The sound of blaster fire threatens to mute his voice over the comm. “Lost two guys and we’re pinned. Need some support, brother.”
“Roger. We’re moving your way now. Bravo One, out.”
I see Winters toss a fragger into a room and wait for it to boom before calling on my squad. “We need to double-time it to Alpha Team! They’re gettin’ hammered by the donks.”
“Just a few more rooms,” Easy tells me. “We should link up with Alpha on the other side of that door.”
The proximity is right, we’ve moved through most of the open temple structure. And the blaster fire is growing louder as we move.
“Let’s make it fast,” I tell the team. “Time is lives. Lana, how we looking back there?”
“No followers.”
“Carter,” Lash calls out. “This room is too big. We need to clear it before we move on.”
I grit my teeth but move over. The delay is unwelcome, but the big man is right. We’re of no use to Hopper if we show up only to get dusted from the back by some zhee we left behind in our haste.
“Stack up,” I say. “Let’s do this fast, but right. Don’t hurry it and make a mistake.”
We keep Lana back to have eyes on the hall. The door opens with a kick from Lash and then we toss in fraggers and bangers and wait for the rumbles to end.
“Go!” I call, and the three of us storm inside.
The room is big, maybe fifty square meters. But the only donks I see are in the back of it, standing on either side of another door—this one distinctly modern. Lash and Winters have their weapons firing first, sending shots at medium range into the donks. But it soon becomes apparent that they
