After a time, Lanson and his crew neared the airlift which would take them to the shuttle.

  Remembering that the final corridor leading to the airlift was fitted with windows, Lanson brought his crew to a halt a few metres back, so that he could scout ahead. The passage was accessed by a door and he touched his hand on the panel to open it.

  Beyond, the passage was just how it remembered it, when he’d stood here looking at the activity on the landing field only yesterday. Now, it was almost dark outside and the light from the incendiary fires weren’t so strong here.

  Since the interior of the corridor was lit, Lanson knew he’d make an excellent target for any enemy who happened to be watching from outside. Fortunately, the windows were installed more than a metre high, leaving plenty of room to crawl beneath and thereby – hopefully - avoid detection.

  Just as Lanson was about to pass on instructions to the rest of his crew, the corridor’s far door opened. Framed in the opening was an eight-foot creature with broad shoulders and long limbs. The Sagh’eld was dressed in dull grey combat armour made from fine alloy links and reinforced with solid plates on the chest, legs and arms. Through the narrow visor on the alien’s angular helmet, Lanson saw piercing green eyes.

  The Sagh’eld was carrying a bulky gauss rifle, with a metre-long barrel. Lanson didn’t give the alien a chance to use it. His own rifle was already raised and he pulled the trigger.

  With a thumping whine, Lanson’s rifle hurled out projectiles, each discharge producing a solid recoil which drove the stock into his shoulder.

  While the Sagh’eld’s warship tech might be in advance of the Human Confederation’s their ground hardware was not, and the enemy’s combat suits offered little protection when struck by a direct hit from an AR-50 gauss rifle.

  Lanson’s shots punched into the alien soldier, smashing through its chest armour, and catapulting it backwards onto the floor. He waited, still, in case any more Sagh’eld were coming afterwards. None showed their face.

  “Lieutenant Perry, Lieutenant Abrams, you provide cover while the rest of us crawl over to that far door,” said Lanson.

  Immediately, he dropped low and crawled along the floor, staying close to the wall beneath the window. Although Lanson was curious to find out what was happening outside, he wasn’t in the least bit tempted to poke his head into view. If he was unlucky enough to be spotted, the Sagh’eld would blow him and his crew to pieces.

  When he reached the far doorway, Lanson stayed low, which forced him to climb over the dead Sagh’eld soldier. A huge bloodstain had formed on the creature’s chest and the bullet entry wounds glistened. Before he climbed to his feet, Lanson took one look through the alien’s visor. Its eyes remained open, though the brightness had faded, and the top of its nose and cheekbones were visible.

  Then, he was on his feet once more, his gun ready. Soon, the others in the corridor joined him and then Lanson waved Lieutenant Perry and Lieutenant Abrams to follow.

  Once this minor operation was complete, Lanson led the way to the nearby airlifts. A short lift ride down would take him and his crew to the underground shuttle. After that, another airlift ride would take them to the parking area next to the underground bay. After that would come a potentially dangerous journey to the New Beginning. With the Sagh’eld already sighted in this area of Cornerstone, Lanson hoped he wouldn’t meet too much resistance.

  Even if he succeeded in making it as far as the warship, he knew his difficulties would have only just begun.

  TEN

  Sergeant Gabriel was almost in a good mood, though his expression didn’t betray as much. Having fought the Sagh’eld for as long as he could remember – and lost his two brothers to the alien bastards - he was eager for this chance to screw with the enemy plans to steal whatever tech it was the researchers had been working on at Cornerstone.

  Gabriel had no doubt the mission was going to be exceptionally tough, but he liked to think he thrived under pressure.

  “We’ve landed in the shit here, Sergeant,” said Corporal Ziegler, next in line as the squad headed down the corridor and away from the Gallivant’s crew.

  “That we have, Corporal,” said Gabriel. “But we’ve also been handed an opportunity – and I aim to make the best of it.”

  “That head of research lady was keeping plenty to herself about this Galos module,” said Ziegler.

  “Absolutely,” said Gabriel. “Luckily, it’s not our worry. We’re going to recover the module and then Captain Lanson can take it from there.”

  “Nineteen hundred metres stand between us and eternal glory,” said Corporal Hennessey.

  “Plus another five thousand metres back to the New Beginning once we recover the module,” said Private Castle.

  “All under the watchful eye of that Ex’Kaminar battleship,” added Wolf.

  Gabriel came to an intersection and paused briefly while he checked out the connecting passages for Sagh’eld troops. While he wasn’t expecting the aliens to have made such rapid progress into the base, he’d fought enough battles that he’d learned not to jump to any conclusions that might get him killed.

  “According to the map, we should turn west at the next intersection,” said Gabriel, resuming his journey. The weight of his gauss rifle was a comfort and he held it in a firm grip. “After that, there’re a couple more turns before we exit this building.”

  “That’s when the shooting will start,” said Ziegler.

  “If we’re lucky, the crew of that battleship will be focused on the fast transport for as long as it takes them to crack it open and find out the Galos isn’t inside,” said Gabriel. “Even then, I doubt they’ll be watching the streets too closely – not after they firebombed them.”

  “And, if RH Rose was right, the enemy won’t even know where their target is located,” said Hennessey.

  “That’s right, Corporal, and the logical place for the Sagh’eld to start their search is the central research building.”

  Gabriel didn’t feel as if he was being overconfident – as far as he was concerned, he’d simply identified a potential flaw in the enemy’s attack plan, and he intended to exploit that flaw.

  He continued south at a fast walk. The air temperature, having almost stabilised for a time, was on the way up again, touching on 150 Celsius and rising. Inhaling through his nostrils, Gabriel could smell the heat, and it was mixed with the tang of metal and something else he couldn’t identify.

  As well as the scents, the sounds came from everywhere. The walls continued to groan like an ancient ocean-going ship, and the Ex’Kaminar’s propulsion beat down, even through the alloys of the building.

  When he came to the western turn, Gabriel checked quickly around the corner. It was clear and he entered the corridor.

  “There must’ve been no Cornerstone personnel working in this entire building,” said Private Teague.

  “Either that or they ran out onto the streets, and now they’re no more than ash and bones,” said Galvan. “Damn, just thinking about it makes me want to shoot some aliens.”

  Gabriel felt his own anger simmering, but he didn’t let it show. He hurried along the corridor towards the south turning ahead. Once again, Gabriel went through the routine of stopping at the corner and looking in every direction for Sagh’eld. The aliens were not currently in evidence.

  “One more turning and we should reach the exit door,” said Gabriel, setting off once more.

  This new corridor was long and wide. No signs hung from the ceiling to indicate the former purpose of this area of the Cornerstone base, and, when Gabriel peered through the open doors he passed, he saw nothing that offered any clues. The rooms were fully equipped with consoles and other tech, but it was all powered off.

  The next turning led to yet another, and then to a ten-metre room fitted with basic furniture and some wall screens. In the opposite wall, a closed door should, according to the map, open onto one of the streets outside. The temperature here was approaching two hundred Celsius.

  “This is where it gets dangerous,” said Gabriel. “You all know the plan.”

  “Don’t get shot, incinerated or taken out by a plasma missile,” said Private Chan.

  “I’m glad to see you’ve grasped the basics,” said Gabriel. “And, as much as it pains me to say it, we’re not going out of our way to shoot the Sagh’eld. It’ll be better for all of us if the Ex’Kaminar remains ignorant of our presence.”

  Taking a breath, Gabriel approached the door, glancing once over his shoulder to reassure himself that his squad members were in good positions. He stood to one side of the exit, and his suit registered the heat coming off the metal.

  Gabriel stretched out a hand and turned off the lights, plunging the room into darkness. Then, he touched his hand onto the access panel. The door opened and hot air rushed inside, along with odours of metal and char.

  For a moment, Gabriel stood still and listened. At first, all he could hear was the battleship’s engines. He knew the warship was over the base, but from the weight of the sound, it was close enough to touch. After a few moments, he heard explosions, though it was impossible to determine either the distance or direction. More explosions came – two or three every second.

  “The Ex’Kaminar is bombarding the facility,” said Gabriel.

  “That means less chance its crew will be looking our way,” said Ziegler.

  “Maybe.”

  Gabriel switched on his night vision enhancement, poked his head into the door opening and then withdrew. It was utterly dark outside, with no fires still burning.

  “What’s out there, Sergeant?” asked Teague.

  “A road. It doesn’t look as if was too busy when the bombs landed.”

  Since he hadn’t been shot the first time, Gabriel chanced a longer look. The street outside ran east to west, with a road and pavements. A couple of gravity cars were stationary in the middle of the road to the east, their occupants having either abandoned their vehicles, or been killed by incendiaries. West, Gabriel saw a few other vehicles, these ones farther away.

  The building opposite was flat fronted and about thirty metres high. Its polymer windows had melted in the heat and shrunk away from their frames. Some of the windows had fallen out completely and they littered the ground in misshapen lumps. The entrance to the building wasn’t hard to spot – a pair of double doors was offset to where Gabriel was standing, and about sixty metres away.

  It would have been an easy run, were it not for the Ex’Kaminar overhead. Gabriel’s night vision allowed him to distinguish the many emplacements on the vessel’s hull, any one of which could annihilate both him and his squad. Suddenly, he wondered if his words from earlier had been too bold. Anyone crossing the street would be incredibly vulnerable.

  “I don’t much like it,” said Corporal Hennessey, who was standing on the opposite side of the doorway.

  “That makes two of us,” said Gabriel.

  He checked the base map again for alternative routes. Unfortunately, the 3D model was enormously intricate, owing to the fact Cornerstone was a big place. This made it difficult for Gabriel to identify other ways to reach the Galos module. Maps were all well and good, but he’d have preferred some local knowledge.

  “Listen up - it’s sixty metres from here to the next building,” said Gabriel. “If we all run it together, that’s only one chance for the Ex’Kaminar to detect us.” He beckoned the soldiers closer. “On my word, we move.”

  When he was satisfied everyone was ready, Gabriel took one more look out of the door. He saw no sign of alien troops.

  “Go!” said Gabriel.

  He sprinted through the doorway, his feet thudding against the ground. His combat suit was heavy, but he was accustomed to the weight and it didn’t slow him down. Gritting his teeth, Gabriel looked up and down the road as he went. If any Sagh’eld soldiers turned up now, life would become far more difficult.

  Wide pavement gave way to road and Gabriel ran as hard as he could. The melted windows on the ground were larger than they’d first appeared, and he was forced to divert around one, rather than jump over it.

  Ten seconds after he’d exited the previous building, Gabriel arrived at the entrance to the next. The double doors had been made from a mixture of metal and polymer, both of which had partially melted. As a result, the doors had sagged open at the top and fused together near the bottom. The interior beyond was dimly lit.

  Slamming his palm onto the access panel, Gabriel was not surprised to find the doors wouldn’t open.

  “Corporal Ziegler, grab that side,” he said.

  With the instruction given, Gabriel took hold of one door, while Ziegler got the other. A couple of heaving pulls didn’t break them apart. Other squad members joined in and the doors parted suddenly. Gabriel wrenched his side all the way open.

  “Inside!” he ordered.

  The soldiers scrambled through the opening and Gabriel followed, expecting a Kraal slug to turn him into paste at any moment. No shots came and he made it inside.

  Gabriel’s relief at successfully crossing the street under the Ex’Kaminar’s nose was soon replaced by anger.

  “Ah crap,” said Wolf. “Look at all this.”

  The entrance area to the building had suffered extensive damage from the incendiaries, to the extent that everything was covered in char. Blackened lumps which might have been desks and chairs were positioned in a row across the exits in the south walls. Gabriel approached, wrinkling his nose at the smell, and, sure enough, he spotted the crisped remains of base personnel on the floor behind. They’d evidently tried to run, but there was no way they could have escaped the heat.

  “You saw the personnel when we first came off the Gallivant,” said Gabriel. “Aside from Lieutenant Aveen and his platoon, everyone else was wearing a normal uniform. It’s no wonder they were killed.”

  Gabriel cursed, though it wasn’t as if the Cornerstone workers could have known they were opening themselves up to an agonising death. Working in a spacesuit was a pain in the ass, until it eventually became second nature. Here on an apparently safe facility, Gabriel could understand why there was no base-wide order for everyone to wear protective gear. And yet, here were the consequences.

  “Let’s get moving,” said Gabriel, gesturing towards one of the southern exits from the room, the door to which was currently closed.

  Treading past the corpses, he stared at the door for a few moments. The metal surface was covered in a thick layer of grime, but the door itself didn’t appear to have suffered any damage.

  Turning to check on the others, Gabriel nodded. “Be ready.”

  The door opened readily enough and a corridor was revealed. A red light, the thickness of blood, filled the space and a siren wailed piercingly. Gabriel listened for the sounds of movement, or anything else, but it was no use with the battleship being so close and the siren active.

  “The air temperature isn’t so bad in here,” he said. “The incendiaries didn’t penetrate and the HVAC must have kept everyone alive.”

  “Where’d they go?” asked Corporal Hennessey.

  “They must have an emergency muster point,” said Gabriel. “Hopefully it’s underground somewhere.”

  While he desperately hoped the personnel in this building had survived, he was also glad to find they wouldn’t be in his face, asking questions he couldn’t answer. Gabriel didn’t want the hassle when he had a mission to complete.

  He headed south. According to the base map, the Galos module’s last known position was less than sixteen hundred metres away. It suddenly seemed like a hell of a distance.

  ELEVEN

  The interior of the new building was extensive, and by the time Gabriel and his squad arrived at the far exit, they were more than three hundred metres closer to the target. No personnel had shown themselves, and Gabriel had made no effort to go looking.

  “There’s a street outside, but it looks narrow,” he said, studying the base map on his HUD. “When I’m ready, we’ll open this door, and head for the next building on the route. It looks like a storage facility. Once we make it to the other side of that, we’ll be significantly closer to the last known position of the Galos.”

  As Gabriel was turning towards the exit door, he heard a shriek of metal – somewhere in the distance, yet far closer than he wanted – and then came the muffled boom of an explosion.

  “Shit, that was somewhere in this building!” said Hennessey.

  A second explosion followed, and then it seemed as if a dozen or more plasma missiles struck at the same time. Gabriel had one hand on the wall, and he felt the entire structure shudder. A moment later, the floor lurched beneath his feet.

  “We’ve got to move!” he yelled.

  Another salvo of missiles detonated, these ones much closer than the previous wave. A pressurized wave of searing air rushed into the room, sending the temperature readout on Gabriel’s HUD past four hundred Celsius. He hit the access panel with his hand and the door scraped open a few inches and then came to a stop.

  Swearing loudly, Gabriel dropped his rifle, put both hands on the door’s edge and pulled as hard he could. The door moved, but only a little.

  A third wave of Sagh’eld missiles exploded within the building, and Gabriel cursed the murderous alien scumbags for thinking a bunch of helpless personnel were fair game. The air temperature rose again – worryingly close to the design maximum of his combat suit – and he heaved at the door. Corporal Ziegler helped out, but there wasn’t enough room for both of them to apply their full strength to the task at the same time.

  As he pulled the door open, inch by excruciating inch, Gabriel glanced to his left, just as yet more warheads detonated. The structure of the building was no longer able to absorb the blasts and both the wall and ceiling had become distorted.