Chapter 9

Luke led his team away from Alpha team and down towards the tunnel leading to the spaceport. They formed a line and moved carefully between buildings, leap frogging each other as their eyes swept the environment for hostiles.

This was a team that Luke had led in many exercises. Nick was a weapons and electronics expert. Blake's specialty was demolitions and recon. Georgia and Kevin were both scout/medics. Minny was the newest member of the team and was fast becoming one of the best snipers in the militia.

At the spaceport tunnel entrance they stashed the p-suits for later pickup. The moonbase was quiet. The overhead light was dimmed to simulate night. The buildings glowed with a subdued grayness that made them look dingy and dirty.

The camouflage that their genetic enhancement gave them shifted as they moved and paused. Each was also keeping their body temperatures reduced as much as possible to lessen the chance that infrared detectors would pick them up. They tried to stay by cover to hide as best they could from other sensors.

They approached the next set of tunnels and encountered two guards sitting on a bench just inside the main dome of the base. They both had display pads out and were studying them.

The team froze in place at a signal from the lead soldier. Luke slowly made his way up to her position.

"Georgia, what do we have?" Luke sub-vocalized. Their implants were able to pick this up and sent it over their tactical links.

"Two guards - they are both preoccupied with their display pads. Those aren't military pads. They are rec-pads; they must be reading or watching a video."

Luke reviewed the situation and thought hard. He knew these tunnels led to the recreation wing of the base. That's where the fleet personnel were being held as hostages. His orders were to secure the operations center before freeing the hostages.

As much as he wanted to liberate his friends, he knew that it was too risky right now. There was too much open space between cover and the guards. There was too great a chance that they would be able to sound the alarm before being disabled. Even though it was a rec-pad that they held, they could have easily programmed a simple alert switch on it. An alarm would allow the operations center to lock down and their mission would be a bust.

It would be better to move farther into the dome and around the guards. They could then get to the operations center undetected. He moved back from the scout's position.

"Beta team, fade back. We will go back to the last block and move into the dome to bypass the guard position up ahead. Kevin you were tail, now you are lead. Move it."

Luke moved and leapfrogged his team mates; he was soon back in the lead position next to Kevin. He was crouched near a corner when he received Joe's warning about having to take out the patrol.

"Roger Alpha 1, we are close to the op center now. We'll keep moving," Luke acknowledged.

They navigated through the buildings and soon had the operation center in sight. The blast door was open and no guards were in view.

Luke peered at the door, a frown on his face. It did not seem reasonable that the door to the operations center would be unmanned; the op center controlled the entire base and its defenses. That's why it was critical that they secure it.

Once inside they could lock down all airtight doors at will. This would allow them to seal off and isolate hostiles. It may not stop the mercenaries if the alarm was raised, but it would slow them down significantly.

Luke reached into a special pouch in his abdomen and removed three small items. One he expanded with a pull and fit to his right eye and ear and flipped a small micro switch on the side. The second was a small, pea-sized ball. He held it to his mouth and whispered quietly into it. His voice activated the micro-probe which vibrated briefly.

He laid the probe down on the ground and stood back up. The third item he unrolled into a 4-cm diameter flat circle that he applied to his left palm. He took his right index finger and laid it against the circle. The circle was a touch sensitive control pad for the probe. As he moved his finger over the pad, the probe rolled off towards the door.

Images and sounds from the probe were transmitted to the viewer and ear plug. He maneuvered the probe carefully to the wall next to the door and listened. He could hear voices. Slowly he advanced the probe until it was just at the door and could show him what was inside.

His view was limited by the low angle of the probe's camera; he could not see very much into the ops center. He tapped out a special cadence on the control pad and small legs sprang out from the probes sides. Micro-hooks at the end of the legs gave the probe enough purchase to allow it to scurry up the door way. From the higher vantage point, Luke could see a soldier who was leaning over the desk of a female sensor operator. Luke could hear him talking in a low voice.

"Hey darling, you know Sarah said that she had a great time with me last week. The days and nights get too long up here. Let me help reduce the monotony; you won't regret it." The soldier leaned harder on the desk.

"Give it up, Marouk. I'm just not interested. Sarah's a nice girl; she can have you all she wants."

It was obvious where the guard had gotten to. Luke made a quick decision and used hand signals to position his team for an assault. He moved the probe's cameras around and noted the positions of the sensor techs and others in the room. He counted five in total. There were some rooms off of the main one, but they would just have to deal with that potential as things unfolded. He relayed the information on the occupants to his team.

"Beta team enter on my mark. Once the hostiles are down, move to secure the rest of the rooms. Nick, you get the main command console under your control and lock down all airtight doors except the ones that Alpha team is using. Ready?" He received nods all around.

"3 — 2 — 1 MARK."

Luke ran through the door and put a disabling round into the soldier who was still leaning over the tech. The tech was pushing back from her desk and just started to scream when she was hit by a shot from Georgia and slumped over.

The other occupants were quickly dispatched and only one of them had made it halfway to a base alarm button before being put out.

"Nick, get busy on the command console I want those doors secured," James said as he crossed back to the open door they had enter through. He pressed the control that closed the door and raised the blast shield. The rest of the team readied themselves to enter the other rooms that led off of the main center.

The sizzle of an energy weapon broke the silence as a beam lanced out from a suddenly opened door. Luke spun towards the sound while falling down in a crouch. He brought his weapon up into firing position. He saw the beam from the door hit Blake and he fell to the ground clutching his side.

Two answering particle beams cut through the air and hit the soldier who was standing in the doorway. One beam struck him in the head. The ray burrowed through his skull and superheated the liquid it encountered. He died instantly as his grey-matter cooked.

Status screens in the operations center turned red as the weapons sensors detected the energy discharge of the beam weapons. Automatic alarms started blaring throughout the base as the caverns started glowing brighter under the day lights.

"Damn it! Nick silence that alarm now. Is the base locked down?" Luke's voice was strained but in control.

The alarm abruptly stopped as Nick found the right interface to end it.

"Yes, all doors are locked down except for the ones being used by Alpha team," Nick replied.

Georgia had entered the room that the guard had emerged from.

"Clear!" Her voice rang out from the door. Minny cleared the other rooms which were empty.

Meanwhile, Kevin had moved to Blake and was treating him. His chameleon camouflage was inactive and his skin very pale and his breathing labored. He had taken the energy hit in the side and looked to be going into shock from the injury.

"Nick, evacuate the air from the tunnels that lead to the other residential wings that Alpha team is not in. I want those mercs to be stopped as long as possible. Minny, take Georgia with you as a spotter and take out those two guards we left at the rec center tunnel. Then set up somewhere high with a good view and Nick will call targets into you if needed. Use disabling rounds where you can; it will be harder for them to backtrack to you. Move."

"Alpha 1, op center secured. Will update you in a moment. Beta 1 out." Luke sent a quick message over the command channel to Joe to help reduce worry.

The team sprang to action to carry out his orders. Luke kneeled down next to Blake and asked Kevin how he was doing.

"He's going to be ok. There is not much bleeding; the wound is pretty much cauterized. The biggest thing we have to watch out for is just shock from the trauma. I've given him something to help with that and he is responding well. He's stable and if we can get him to a hospital within the next 8 hours or so, he should be just fine." Kevin's voice was professional and matter of fact.

"Alright keep an eye on him as needed. Go over and give Nick a hand in monitoring the base sensors and video. I'm going to contact Alpha team again and get an update and any orders Joe may have."

James dove low and crouched behind a building when the alarm sounded. He looked back to where Howard, Wilma and Fritz had secured the four lieutenants and stashed them in the corridor leading to the main cavern. They were not in sight.

He looked over at the next building where Joe and Tarra were a moment ago. He spotted two warm blobs on his IR sensors lying down on the ground along the building. The image was much cooler than a normal human, but just right for a chameleon that was expending some energy to move. Visually he could see nothing as they had completely blended in.

The alarm klaxon suddenly ceased it's blaring. The lights returned to their normal night-time setting.

"Alpha team, report status." Joe's order came over the tactical comms.

"Alpha 2 gone to ground at building B," replied Tarra.