“I don’t know. A feeling.” Maxwell dropped into a crouch and motioned for the others to do likewise. “We’re coming close to the north end of the base and the Kijol don’t have unlimited forces. It would make sense for them to station troops at what they might see as the low risk approaches. Wait here, I’m going to take a look.” He aimed a finger at his chosen volunteer. “Private Lyles, you’re coming with me.”

  Lyles nodded and crouch-walked to the front. The two of them headed cautiously north.

  “Private Vaughan, set up that repeater and point it south,” said Corporal Fine.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Two hundred metres was a long distance to cover in a crouch. Maxwell and Lyles’s progress was painfully slow to watch and Grisham felt tense with the pressure of being here.

  The soldiers made it to the north doorway and they crouched there for what seemed like a long time. Every few seconds, Maxwell changed position slightly. Grisham saw that the soldier was holding another of the extendible sensors and using it to look across the room.

  “This must have been a storage room for all the tech the Kijol planned to install in those rooms we just passed through,” said Maxwell on the squad comms. “It’s a big place and everything’s burned out. There’s no sign of Kijol.”

  “I can hear doubt in your voice, Sergeant,” said Grisham.

  “If I was given the job of guarding this room, I’d keep myself out of sight and see what came my way, sir.”

  “How do we proceed?”

  “Carefully,” said Maxwell. “There’s a melted console across the door and plenty of cover on both sides of the entrance. We should advance through the room to our chosen exit.”

  “What exits are available, Sergeant?”

  “East, north and west, sir.”

  “We should head north if it’s safe, otherwise west.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The mission personnel approached with the same care displayed by Maxwell and Lyles a short time before. Grisham’s back and leg muscles ached from keeping so low and he gritted his teeth.

  At the doorway, his view into the room was limited by a wrecked console which lay east-to-west across the entrance. However, by raising himself slightly, Grisham could see the far ceiling corners. The room was square and he estimated it to be forty metres along each wall, with heat-damaged alloy cladding on every surface.

  Maxwell handed him the extendible sensor and Grisham interfaced with the device. He raised it and watched the feed on his HUD. The north and east passages were each about four metres wide – enough to bring in all this hardware, and enough to make Grisham sure the mission personnel were now in an area of the base that would have once seen plenty of use. West, the passage was narrow and with no visible cladding.

  The floorspace was filled with more ruined Kijol tech. Big and small, it was all badly burned, though here and there, Grisham saw patches of matte grey. Whoever had brought it here in the first place hadn’t bothered to arrange the hardware in any sort of order and the consoles, cabinets and furniture were placed chaotically.

  “Why would the Kijol want to guard this room, Sergeant?” asked Grisham, handing back the sensor. “Wouldn’t it be preferable to have a clear space to shoot into?”

  “I didn’t say the enemy were guarding this room, sir, but we should take precautions based on the possibility,” said Maxwell.

  If Maxwell had that feeling in his guts, Grisham wasn’t going to argue. “Is it wise to go north, Sergeant?”

  “No, sir, I don’t believe it is. We’ll skirt the room and head along the western passage,” said Maxwell.

  The soldier gave orders. When he was done, Maxwell crawled into the room and headed west. Private Lyles went next and then Grisham. As the mission personnel approached their goal, the pressure was increasing. So far, they’d suffered no casualties, but Grisham couldn’t see that lasting.

  Keeping low, he headed west.

  SEVENTEEN

  When he emerged from behind the console lying in front of the entrance, Grisham could see about ten metres north. In other places, the burned-out hardware limited his view to less than five metres. The smell of char had lingered and it possessed an unpleasant, chemical edge. He listened carefully, but the only sound was that of his own breathing.

  Maxwell and Lyles were already behind another console, this one at a diagonal three metres from the south wall. Crawling across, Grisham joined them, taking up the last of the space. Glancing back, he saw the other soldiers waiting for the front of the queue to move on, so they could follow.

  “Let’s take another look,” said Maxwell. He was at the far end of the console and he lifted the extendible sensor so he could see across the room. “Nothing.”

  A short distance away, an overturned cabinet lay near the same south wall and nearly halfway to the eastern wall. Maxwell looked around the console and then crawled rapidly across to the cabinet. Lyles went straight after and Grisham slid along so he could move when space became available. Private Vaughan and Commander Deneuve joined him behind the console.

  Grisham was just beginning to think this was a waste of time – that Maxwell’s instincts were wrong – when he heard a soft thumping from deeper in the room. The thumping came again, slow and unhurried.

  “Shit, what’s that?” said Lieutenant Adler.

  “Alien,” said Corporal Fine curtly.

  Grisham held his crouch behind the console and didn’t move. He heard more footsteps and guessed the creature must weigh an enormous amount. Then, the room went silent again.

  “Can you see it, Sergeant?” asked Corporal Barkley.

  “No,” said Maxwell, holding the extendible sensor a couple of inches above the upper edge of the cabinet. “I think it came in from the west and it’s heading east or north.”

  The seconds turned into a full minute and the pain in Grisham’s knees from his awkward position became hard to bear. He didn’t dare move. The creature in the room was listening – he was certain of it.

  “I can take it down, Sergeant,” said Private Lowe.

  “We can’t risk it, Private,” said Maxwell. “We don’t know where the target is located. You might not be able to see it when you stand. Or it might be too close and you’ll have to hold your shot.”

  Another minute went by and Grisham was starting to believe the enemy knew the soldiers were hiding and it was waiting gleefully for them to show themselves.

  “We can’t stay here all damn day,” said Maxwell, becoming angry.

  Five minutes after hearing the first footstep, Grisham’s knees were threatening to seize up. He’d be no use in a fight if he couldn’t stand, so he shifted position as carefully and quietly as he was able. The relief when blood began flowing properly again was immense.

  “What are we going to do, Sergeant?” asked Corporal Fine. “I’m still at the entrance. I could head east and show myself in the far corner. When the enemy comes for me, Private Lowe and Private Vaughan will have a chance to kill it.”

  “I appreciate the suggestion, Corporal,” said Maxwell. “I’m not ready to make a sacrifice of you.” He gave a short laugh. “Not yet, anyway.”

  “Why don’t we throw a few grenades?” asked Diaz. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “Or maybe we’ll bring a hundred Kijol here to find out what’s making the noise,” said Maxwell.

  “We need a distraction, Sergeant.”

  “I’m thinking on it,” said Maxwell. “One screwup and we’ll be dead.”

  Unable to handle the pressure of not knowing, Grisham leaned out far enough that one eye could see north into the room. Wherever the alien was hiding itself, it wasn’t anywhere in sight. Then, he spotted something incongruous on the charred side of the console directly north of his position. A circular object, about one-point-five inches in diameter was not covered in the same grime as the console.

  What the hell?

  Grisham zoomed in with his helmet sensor.

  Shit.

  “Sergeant Maxwell, there’s a Kijol sensor fitted to the hardware near here. It has a view straight into the gap you and Private Lyles just crawled past.”

  “Well doesn’t this just keep getting better?” said Maxwell.

  Even as he was speaking, other footsteps became audible from either the north or eastern passages. The Kijol had been alerted by the security monitor and they were coming in for the kill.

  “If they’ve got a rocket soldier with them, the first thing they’ll do is launch in this direction and hope to wipe us out,” said Corporal Fine.

  “What about the alien?” asked Grisham.

  “We can’t keep our heads down and hope everything works out for us, sir,” said Maxwell. “Private Lowe, when the time is right, fire at our enemies.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll have to stand up to pinpoint their approach direction.”

  “Wait for my word,” said Maxwell. “Private Vaughan, your XR will rest on the top edge of that console. If the alien comes our way, cut the bastard down.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “The rest of us will take out whatever Kijol remain after Private Lowe’s hit them with a rocket.”

  “Ready on your order, sir,” said Private Lowe.

  “Everyone up!” roared Maxwell.

  Grisham surged to his feet, his gaze sweeping across the room. He had a much better view with his own eyes than with the extendible sensor, and the storage area was even more cluttered with burned tech than he’d realised. Most of it was waist or chest high, but some was taller than his head. He could see the top half of the eastern entrance and a few metres along the passage, but everything below chest level was blocked by the storage room hardware. The northern entrance was partially obscured by a cabinet, but through the gap he could see ten or fifteen metres along the tunnel. Again, his view of the floor level was blocked.

  Of the alien, there was no sign.

  “Where is that bastard?” snarled Vaughan. He placed the bipod stand of his repeater on the edge of the console and supported the rest of the weapon with his arms. The firing position was less than ideal, but it was far better than trying to control the repeater with nothing but his strength.

  “Incoming east. I have no visibility into the north passage,” said Private Lowe, over by the southern entrance. “Aiming east. Rocket out.”

  The missile sped across the room and entered the eastern tunnel. Grisham averted his gaze, and the storage room lit up with the flash of detonation.

  “Targets north,” said Corporal Fine.

  “Waiting on launcher recharge,” said Lowe.

  “Targets sighted,” said Vaughan. His repeater droned. “Targets down. That cabinet is blocking half of my view north.”

  “I’m moving north-west, for a better vantage,” said Maxwell. “Too many damn obstacles in the way.”

  “I’m heading that way too,” said Lyles.

  Grisham’s position wasn’t ideal either and he glanced west. After a moment’s consideration, he dropped low and crawled rapidly across to the hiding place recently vacated by Maxwell and Lyles. Those two soldiers were now behind a different console a few metres north-west. They fired a couple of shots into the east tunnel and then dropped low.

  “Shit,” said Maxwell. “That’s the easy targets down. The rest are staying low and out of sight.”

  “I’m ready to take another shot, Sergeant,” said Lowe.

  Before Maxwell could respond, a Kijol grenade sailed into the room from the eastern passage. Grisham saw it glint in the low light and then it landed halfway into the western side of the room. It exploded with a whump.

  “Bad throw!” yelled Diaz. “Have one back.”

  She hurled a grenade of her own and a couple of the other soldiers followed suit. A Kijol raised its head above one of the consoles near the northern entrance and Grisham took a shot. The alien ducked out of sight and the two grenades exploded near the eastern entrance.

  “This is going to be messy,” said Vaughan without relish.

  Grisham could see it too. It was impossible to know how many Kijol remained, but they were staying low. The fact they hadn’t fired missiles indicated they either didn’t have any rocket troops with them, or Private Lowe already killed them with his first shot. Grisham was sure the enemy would have replacements incoming at fastest speed.

  In the meantime, that left gunfire and grenades. While it was hard to throw a grenade accurately over thirty or more metres without standing, this engagement was about to become an exchange of small-scale explosives until the rocket troops arrived to finish things off.

  “Private Lowe, are you in a position to take a shot north?” said Maxwell. “I need you to land one against the wall of this room.”

  “Yes, sir, I can do that,” said Lowe.

  “Make it count.”

  Lowe stood from his crouch, the gauss coils of his launcher already warming up. Two or three Kijol near the eastern entrance adjusted aim towards the soldier. Grisham fired his rifle at one, and a fusillade of shots from the other soldiers was enough to screw with the enemy aim. Lowe’s rocket shrieked north and exploded against the far wall.

  Taking advantage of the opportunity, Maxwell and Lyles crawled rapidly north-west. Grisham slid his gauss rifle across the floor in front of him and crawled to the place they’d just vacated. Another grenade exploded somewhere out of his sight, though he saw its flash illuminate the ceiling.

  Raising his head, Grisham looked quickly into the room from his new position. His overall visibility hadn’t much improved. He could see further along the eastern corridor, but the northern entrance was now completely obscured by the Kijol tech.

  More enemy soldiers poked their heads into view and a gauss shot thudded into the console in front of Grisham. He waited a moment, then raised his head and fired his rifle three times in quick succession. The stock thudded into his shoulder with each shot.

  Braced against the adjacent console, Vaughan fired his repeater in a short burst. He changed aim and fired again, cursing all the time. In order to shoot, he had to keep his head up and that made him a target. “This is no place for a repeater,” he said.

  “Private Vaughan, head to me,” said Maxwell. “You can set up over here.”

  “On my way, Sergeant.”

  “We’re going for the western exit,” said Maxwell. “I want everyone to keep moving.”

  By now, the mission personnel had spread out along the southern and western walls of the room, and they crawled rapidly across the gaps between the hardware. Private Diaz joined Grisham behind the console. She was grimy as hell and her eyes were wide.

  “Where’s that damned alien?” she said through her chin speaker.

  “I thought you’d be more worried about the Kijol, Private.”

  Diaz didn’t answer. Maybe she hadn’t even heard. Grisham raised his head again. He saw a target and fired. Other Kijol were visible, spread out and behind the hardware – ten or twelve in total, he estimated. The enemy were making rapid progress into the room and Grisham guessed they weren’t planning to wait for the shoulder launchers to arrive. Shots struck the wall a few metres behind him and he ducked again, wondering how close those slugs had passed by his head.

  “You’ve got to move, sir,” said Diaz, pointing north-west. “You’re holding up the show.”

  Grisham nodded. He checked once around the edge of the console and crawled rapidly across to the next one, three metres away.

  More grenades went off, both near and far, while the gunfire was nonstop. He looked around. Maxwell and Lyles were close by the western exit, hiding behind two cabinets, one of which had fallen at an angle on top of the other.

  Instead of waiting behind his new cover, Grisham crawled onwards at once, looking eastwards as he went. He saw no movement, but a grenade exploded close behind a compact console two metres to his right. The console protected Grisham from the worst of the blast, but the explosion knocked it sideways. It was heavy and struck him full length. Grisham kept his wits about him and scrambled north-west.

  He made it safely and was grateful the impact hadn’t caused him any injury. Private Lyles gave him a thumbs up when he crouched beside her next to the cabinet.

  “I think we’re screwed,” said Maxwell. He’d crawled a short distance north-west to where he had a view along the western exit. “It’s a three-hundred-metre run this way,” he said. “The Kijol will cut us down before we make it.”

  “Incoming to the north!” yelled Corporal Fine.

  “And more heading in from the east!” said Chau a moment later.

  Grisham stared back the way he’d come. The soldiers were making progress, but the Kijol were becoming bolder. He also guessed they’d arrived in significant numbers, given how many different sources of gunfire he could hear.

  Private Lyles rose partway from her crouch, but only managed a single shot before she was forced to duck once more. “We’re outnumbered and outgunned,” she said.

  A grenade exploded nearby and Grisham felt the two cabinets shift. A second blast followed and the cabinets slid a half-metre across the floor, pushing Grisham and Lyles with them.

  Snarling with anger, Grisham raised his head. He didn’t want to die here on Ovintus, but it seemed like the inevitable outcome had arrived. Firing a shot at the first Kijol he saw, Grisham scored a definite hit. He changed aim, but could see it was no use – the enemy were too numerous – and he ducked out of sight. This encounter was going to end for him in one of two ways. Either he’d be shot dead next to this cabinet or he’d take a bullet in the spine running west.

  Whichever way it ended, Grisham was determined to kill some of these Kijol before they did the same to him. He raised his head again in readiness to fire.

  EIGHTEEN

  Grisham managed to fire only one shot, before his attention was drawn to a place near the southern entrance, not far from where the mission personnel had first entered the room.

  A hulking shape rose partially into view. Grisham saw hunched shoulders, the top of a head and not much more. Then, it vanished out of sight behind the hardware.