It didn’t surprise him in the least that Tekly spoke up first. “What in the Great Valley was Zithe thinking putting that little animal in charge?”

  Little, dag, did she have to make the short joke? At least be original.

  Egrid, the Otlian spoke up next. Rudjick found that odd, Egrid was a good sort, kept quiet and to himself too. He wouldn’t even mind having him on their squad, but he’d washed out of special ops early on. Too bad. He’s a capable dropship pilot, and he doesn’t snap images of everyone every chance he gets like Mikle. “I’ll tell you what he was thinking. He just wanted to give his buddy, the party guy, a chance to lead. He must be listening to Vaughnt. Let’s face it; all seven planetside expeditions have been led by Monstero Nach squadron members. Four of those were by members of the Blade Force.”

  Really, that many?

  With a grunt, Telsh chimed in. Good maybe she’ll defend me. “Rudjick may a party guy be, but he also be the most experienced climber. Zithe be thinking long and hard about who to be putting in charge. I be his top pick.”

  Rudjick considered that as the light from outside the crag cut out and he entered into a tunnel. He felt the walls. They were smoother than the rest of the crag.

  “I be ceding leadership because Rudjick be needing the exposure, and his skill be just too great. Now get to respecting the chain of command or I be tossing you back into the wind.”

  Rudjick smiled at that. Damn but if Telsh weren’t so tall.

  “None of you know Rudjick all that well. He only shows you his public face,” Bichard explained, the clicks of his mandibles echoing up to Rudjick. “Even I didn’t before our last break. Sure he laughs, jokes, plays tricks and in general sees the universe as his plaything...”

  Rudjick considered cutting into the link. He had a reputation after all, but the walls of this tunnel merited further inspection and he fished into his bag for his geoscope.

  “You’re proving my point,” Tekly snapped.

  “I wasn’t finished,” Bichard replied, the sound of grilling meat in the background. “Last break Rudjick took me on a climb with his father. He grew up leading tourists and professionals on climbs all over Anul and the other planets in the system.”

  “So he climbs a lot. So…”

  “He wasn’t finished,” Alieha snapped. The micomm revealed that even Telsh was agitated.

  “Thank you Alieha. As I was saying; if there is anything that Rudjick takes seriously, it’s climbing. He prides himself on it and getting people up and down safely.”

  Rudjick smiled at that and continued to feel the tunnel wall. A moment later, the geoscope returned its findings. “Bugger me sideways,” he exclaimed; looked up. He couldn’t see much and let out some line to dangle beneath his last piton. With the conversation below muted, he bounded off the wall of the tunnel and looked up. Nothing. He tried again. Sky. His hearts raced with excitement. He set his goggles to rangefinding mode and leapt again, training them on the distant lip of the tunnel. The numbers made him gasp and he released the brake on his line to drop back towards the others. Oh, this news is too awesome not to share!

  As he descended he keyed his link back open, Telsh’s voice rang through. “I be admitting Rudjick can be a pain. But he be nothing but professional on this climb. He won’t be messing it up, not when we be so close to the summit.”

  Rudjick shook his head. Why does she have to be so tall and promised to Trevis? Fragging Tomeris.

  He smelled grilled meat and flipped upside down. In a flash, the group appeared and he snapped his brake shut. He jerked to a halt in front of Bichard, pinning the line above him with his feet and spun about to look at them all. Turning to Bichard he produced his knife and stabbed the slab of meat, smiling the whole time. “Thanks Bichard, smells great.” He continued to rotate around and bit into the steak. The juices ran up his face and into his nose, exhilarating him. Just what I needed!

  “How can you be doing that?”

  “What? Eat upside down? Rudjick family tradition. The climb leader always eats their last meal before the summit this way. Besides, when the spices drop into your nose it wakes you the frag up better than caff tabs,” he couldn’t help but wink at Telsh. She didn’t rebuff him. Oh yeah!

  Tekly looked up at the handholds Rudjick had used, glow in the dark markers showing his trajectory. “How far up does this reach?”

  Smiling the whole time, Rudjick stuffed the last bit of meat into his mouth and flipped back over. “It reaches all the way to the top. We’re in a lava tube from that big Caldera a few kimets out. That fissure we came in through must be where it blew out the side. The rest of the way should be a rookie climbers dream. We’ll be totally sheltered from the wind.”

  “That be fantastic news!” Telsh replied, looking Rudjick up and down.

  “Exactly! So I say we should press. Now if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to drop down a bit and empty my relief bag. I recommend everyone else do the same, then we’ll head for the top. Move it, light’s fading!”

  A hect later and they were nearing the tunnel exit. The roaring winds atop the lava spire howled down the tunnel, threatening to deafen Rudjick and his team. He wished he could get a link back to their ship, but the tunnel had blocked everything he’d tried to send. The heavy cloud cover rolling in was becoming a concern. “Those clouds can mean only one thing. There’s a storm brewing and it’s going to bring the winds faster than we expected.”

  “The clouds will also cut out any moonlight. What’s the plan?” Bichard’s reply seemed far too casual and Rudjick envied the Coretherian’s strength in that moment.

  “We leg it. I’m going to mark the exit with a flare. The rest of you catch up as fast as you can. Telsh. Drop pitons for me, I’m going full bore.”

  He didn’t even wait for a reply before he turned on the speed and rushed up the remaining distance to the exit. His arms burned from the exertion. He didn’t care though. This was great, a true fast climb. He set his visor to nightvision, the tunnel walls beginning to glow. Each handhold stood out like a cliff as he leapt from one to the next. His hearts thundered in his ears, threatening to drown out the wind outside and before he knew it, open sky lay above his head.

  He fingered the opening of the tunnel. His muscles screamed for a respite as he fired a piton into the wall to secure himself. He checked the seal on his mask and goggles then peeked his head out. He saw an outcropping that would provide adequate shelter from the wind and might even be large enough for all of them. Crawling out of the tunnel, he took in the view. To one side, the stygian darkness approached. To the other, the red hues of the setting sun, and more importantly, the hovering marker of the probe’s location in his Heads Up Display. He salivated at the thought of reaching that probe and wished he could see it down this alleyway of rock.

  He slid back towards the entrance and made out the rest of his team, they weren’t far. Turning around, he drove his flare into the rock and ignited it, his visor killing the nightvision mode. The area bathed in the light of the flare, he sat back against the rock wall and planned their next move. The cold of the wind seeped in through his suit as he checked the low-res terrain map Gokhead had provided them with. What I wouldn’t give for a warm sleeping bag and an even warmer body to share it with right now.

  He shook his head. Get in the game man, we don’t want to get caught in the storm those clouds are promising.

  An update appeared in his micomm, a weather report, good. He looked over the report as Telsh’s gloved hand appeared, followed by the rest of her. I should take her on a warm weather speed climb some cycle, let her ditch those heavy clothes. He shook his head again and helped the rest of the team through. The six cadets filled the small windbreak.

  Telsh took a look past the outcrop and a gust threatened to knock her off her feet before Tekly pulled her back. “Don’t be telling me, the winds be shifting.”

  “Bad,” Rudjick replied and opened his macomm to project the wind plots. A blue wire frame of the mountain top appeared; red wind arrows and green hatched clouds formed around it. An animation played showing the last few hects and the projected weather for the next cycle. “We’ve got about forty pulses before that storm hammers this area. While the winds now are bad; they’re manageable. After that, we’d better be bunkered down because this could last a couple cycles.”

  Alieha snuck a look outside the windbreak and a gust tore her hood back, exposing her raven hair. “How bad are we talking?”

  The whole universe seemed to slow in that instant as her luscious hair flowed like something out of a painting. Arion is one lucky sum bitch. “We’ll be lucky if we only get hurricane force.” He forced himself to look away, and towards the group. Even with their masks he could read the fear in their eyes. “So this is the plan. Everyone drops an anchor here. Once the winds die back in a few pulses we make a run for it. Tekly, Egrid: once we reach the probe, I’ll need you two to pull the data toot sweet. Then we all beat feet back here.”

  The Otlian, Egrid, shook his head. “We may need more time than that. I don’t know what kind of probe we’re dealing with. I might have to set up a power supply or risk losing the data.”

  Rudjick shook his head. “No time. If you can’t power it off your suit then download it to everyone’s macomms. There should be enough space among the six of us.”

  “That could take more time than you say we have…”

  Telsh gave Egrid a hard look. Sometimes regular cadets didn’t get the sense of urgency that the Special Ops and even flight cadets lived with every cycle. “Then you best be thinking of something faster.”

  Tekly perked up and pointed out past the windbreak. “The winds are dying down.”

  Rudjick leapt back to his feet, aching muscles screaming in protest. He grimaced in response and was glad for his mask. He didn’t want to show weakness. “That was fast. Let’s move!”

  He leapt out into the darkness, his visor compensating, and ran full tilt towards the probe signal. The rest of the team followed, running as fast as they could in their cumbersome suits. A boulder stood in his path and Rudjick vaulted it, his arms screaming at the move, but this was a race against time and the elements. He continued to run, glancing over his shoulder to watch the others clamber over the rock. Bichard stood tall upon it, his foot claws digging into its surface. “I think I see the probe!”

  Rudjick turned and looked where Bichard’s outstretched hand pointed. Sure enough, the probe was right where the beacon sang.

  Rudjick smiled and before he could set off again, Bichard’s line slapped his shoulder. The big Coretherian’s jump landed him a good twenty metra past him. He skittered on and Rudjick gave chase, enjoying this despite the fatigue creeping into his bones. The rest of the team didn’t have a prayer of catching up before the pair would reach the probe.

  The sight of the probe turned Rudjick’s stomach. Rocks littered the area around the battered and corroded machine. The whole front end was embedded in rock, as if it had crashed into the still-molten lava flow. Rudjick dropped to his knees and scraped away at the rocks. If we can just reach the data core, that should be enough. We don’t have to take the whole probe back.

  The rest of his team joined them. Rudjick had quickly realized that there wasn’t much they could do. The main access panel to the data core was underneath the probe, the edge poking out like a present he couldn’t open. “This isn’t happening!”

  Egrid pushed past and ran a handheld scanner over the hatch area before turning to Tekly at the rear of the device. “It’s no good. I can’t get a wireless signal to download from here. We need physical access. Is the engine access panel clear? Maybe I can weave in from there.”

  Tekly shook her head. “No good. The ones I can see are smashed beyond repair, and I can’t see the ones on the underside at all. We need to get a clear access to them.”

  Rudjick gritted his teeth. They couldn’t give up now, not when they were so close. He looked up at Bichard as he watched for changes in the wind. “Bichard. Can your resin make a dent in this?”

  Bichard shook his head, his antennae just poking out of his hood. “This is way too hard for my blades. They’d shattered before I could scratch the surface.”

  Rudjick nodded and released a catch behind his back. “That’s what I figured,” he announced and his bullpup style light gauss rifle slid into his hand. He strode to the rear of the probe. Tekly and Egrid skidded backwards away from him as he slapped a magazine into the weapon. He hefted the composite stock to his shoulder and peered through the scope at the rock obstructing the engine panel.

  “Are you insane elf? Are you trying to scuttle the probe?” Tekly roared.

  “No. I’m a geologist you silly thing. You think I didn’t plan for this contingency and didn’t pack the right ammo?” He patted the wooden foregrip his grandmother had given him for last birthcycle. “My slugger here can get us access. Now everyone get back. This is going to make a mess. This is our only chance to beat the winds and not get stuck here. Are you with me?”

  He didn’t even bother waiting and fired his first burst into the rock. The rounds ripped into the rock, stopping after only a centrimetra or two before the plasma cores detonated, shattering the hardened magma. He examined the shot for a moment, gauged the penetration, and fired again. He loosed three more bursts into the rock, carving out a pocket in the surface large enough to open the access port. He looked towards the forward access hatch. It had taken almost a full mag just to make the rear hatch accessible. There was no way he had enough ammo to clear the larger panel.

  Egrid shoved his way past and slid in to open the hatch. “Give me twenty pulses, maybe less!”

  Rudjick shot a look at Bichard as he looked back up the gulley towards their tunnel. “Big Bug! Is that enough time?”

  Bichard shook his head. “Barely.”

  Rudjick looked over Egrid’s shoulder as Tekly knelt beside him, the soft glow of interface lights illuminating the rock below. Egrid’s macomm lit up a moment later and his shoulders slumped. “We can’t access the data core from here. There’s not a single intact comm thread leading to it from the engine controls.”

  Rudjick scowled and cursed the universe for his misfortune. “All right. Then we scrub…”

  “No wait,” Alieha called and stabbed at the macomm image. “The probe still has fuel. Couldn’t it blast its own way out of the rock?”

  “I be liking the sound of that,” Telsh called and looked down at the display, mimicking the probe pulling out with her hands before winking at Rudjick.

  Rudjick felt his cheeks flush and looked back at Egrid. “Okay, make it happen.”

  “On it. Everyone get to cover,” Egrid called and inputted the commands into the old probe.

  Rudjick didn’t need to be told twice and slid in behind a boulder with the rest of the team. Egrid joined them a moment later.

  “The engines passed their BITs. I’ve set it to burn at both ends.”

  Rudjick just stared back at him. “We’re trying to get it clear you numbskull.”

  “I know. I set the main to burn at 10%, then the retros and rotational thrusters at full power. The plasma jet from the mains should soften the ground enough to let it back out.”

  Rudjick peeked over the top of the rock. “When should it start?”

  Before Egrid could reply the engines ignited, the force of the blast shoving Rudjick back, peppering him with dust and debris. Rudjick batted the dust out of his face and looked down at Egrid. Even through his mask he could see the smirk on his face. Rudjick turned back to the probe and watched as it began to push its way from its rocky prison. The whole area shook as the rockets burned, liquefying the rocks behind the probe. With a horrid wrenching of metal, the probe began to twist free.

  Rudjick began to sweat in his suit, the intense heat of the probe’s engines radiating in all directions and conducting through the rock. Unable to look away, Rudjick watched the ground beneath the probe glowing. Plasma flames licked the ground as it slid free, exposing numerous gashes in its armored hide. He shielded his eyes and noted that the data core panel was clear.

  His hearts skipped a beat as he looked back down at Egrid. “You have a clear shot at the core. How much longer will that thing burn?”

  As if in answer the engine of the probe sputtered and died. Steam wafting off the scorched rocks, the whole team leapt to their feet. “Hold up, we need to give it a few pulses for the heat to dissipate,” Rudjick called.

  “We’ve only got ten pulses Elf!”

  Pulling on heavy welder’s gloves, Egrid pushed past Rudjick and dove towards the probe, punching the access panel with one of his upper arms. The big Otlian grabbed the four upturned corners of the panel and pulled. It didn’t budge. He braced himself again the probe with his feet and pulled again, straining until the panel gave way and he dropped to the ground.

  Rudjick didn’t even get a chance to look at their prize before Tekly leapt past and snapped off the data cores mounting lugs. “It’s a Mark 65 self-contained, hazardous conditions data core. The battery’s reading yellow. We could drop it down the mountain for another annura and it would survive.”

  “Just what I needed to hear,” Egrid announced and pushing Tekly aside, grabbed onto the core. “How much time do we have?”

  “Less than five pulses,” Alieha called.

  “No time to be gentle then.” Egrid ripped the data core free, a shower of sparks from the secered cables trailing it. He examined the core for a moment, then twisted Tekly about with his lower arms and pulled everything out of her backpack. Once emptied, he slipped the datacore in and snapped the bag shut.