Fall of Icarus (18 page)

“That isn’t very convincing,” Adam frowned.

“Well, I have less of a plan and more of a good idea,” Yen said, smiling mischievously.
 
“Adam, I want you to take a team over one hall and then turn toward the back of the ship.
 
I’ll take the other team and continue on ahead.
 
This still won’t be an easy fight and our only real chance is to hit them from multiple angles to keep them guessing.”
 

“What about them?” Adam asked, pointing at the three wounded.
 

Oradine, one of Yen’s Avalon soldiers, was still bleeding from an abdominal wound in spite of the coagulants applied to the gunshot.
 
They would be a liability during the battle.
 
He really only had one choice.

“We leave them here for now,” Yen said, regretfully.
 
“Once we make a hole through the Terrans, we gather them up before we move to the
Cair
.”

Adam’s brow furrowed in disapproval.
 
“What if the hole we make through the Terran ambush is only temporary?
 
What if we don’t have time to come back and get them?”

Yen frowned, already foreseeing Adam’s line of questioning.
 
He had wondered the same things before making the difficult decision.
 
“We can say ‘what if’ all day, but in the end it has to be my decision.
 
If I’m wrong about this and we have to leave them, then I’ll be the one that has to live with it.”

He could see Adam’s disappointment, but the Pilgrim said nothing else.
 
Yen and Adam split the team down the middle, the Oterian remaining with Yen so that each group carried a heavy machine gun.
 
As the others checked their weapons and any explosives they carried, Yen pulled Adam aside.

“This isn’t going to be an easy fight,” Yen explained.
 
“Stay on your toes.”

“What do you want to use as the signal to engage?”
 
Adam’s tone was completely professional, betraying nothing of his previous dissatisfaction.

“The Terrans will be on thermals too, but we’re going to try to minimize their effectiveness in this fight.
 
Stay out of sight with your team until I initiate contact.
 
If all goes well, I’ll be able to open a small window where the Terrans will be distracted.
 
You move when that happens.”

Adam nodded in agreement.
 
“In that case, I should be wishing you luck.
 
Sounds like you’re just suicidal enough to need it!”

Reaching out, they shook hands before Adam turned away.
 
Gathering his team, he jogged back down the hall, the way they had already come.
 
Shortly thereafter, he found the side hallway and disappeared from sight.
 
Yen watched a moment longer, making sure he wasn’t surprised by gunfire.
 
When he was confident that Adam was on his way, Yen gathered his own men and moved down the hall.

After only a brief walk, Yen slowed his group.
 
Ahead, an open doorway emitted a steady glow of heat.
  
Slipping forward, Yen moved until he could peer around the corner of the alcove and examine the source of the glow.
 
Beyond the open doorway, the room opened into a metal shop, which glowed with its own red aura of warmth.
 
Stepping inside, Yen felt the heat rolling off of the majority of tools within the shop.
 
When the Alliance had attacked, the shop must have been in full use, repairing and fortifying the Destroyer.
 
Though evacuated quickly, the ambient warmth remained long after the Terrans were gone.
 
Yen held his hand above a set of welding torches, the tips of which still glowed a brilliant white.
 
The flame when lit, Yen realized, would have to burn incredibly hot to still leave such a high residual heat after being turned off for quite some time.
 
Slowly, a plan began formulating in his mind.
 
With a smile, Yen picked up the nearest torch, examining the searing tip.
 
This would be just the distraction Adam would need to make his attack.
 
Picking up a second torch, Yen rejoined his team.
 
No one made a comment about his new weapons as he moved them further down the hall.
 
Eventually, the hallway ended in a sharp turn, one that Yen knew would lead to the open foyer beyond.

Leading the way, Yen flattened himself against the corner.
 
He dared not peak around, knowing that even the fainted sliver of his face would give off a telltale heat signature.
 
Instead, he lined up the rest of his team behind him before opening the valves on both the welding torches.
 
A faint hiss was released, followed by the sharp smell of gaseous fuel.
 
Opening his hands, the two torches floated weightless in the air, encapsulated in the soft blue glow of his psychic energy.
 
Yen pushed the pair around the corner, hanging in the air at nearly head level.
 
He could only imagine how the white-tipped torches would appear to the Terran soldiers.
 
Side by side, they would have looked like the eyes of a demon, emerging from the cool blue of the surrounding walls.
 
A demon was a fitting image, Yen realized, as he snapped his fingers.
 
On the torches, flint and steel struck together on his command, showering the front of the torches with sparks.
 
The burning embers ignited the leaking gas, erupting into jets of flames that burned scorching white.

Under the view of the thermal goggles, the light burned the Terrans’ pupils as it overloaded their goggles, casting them into a thick darkness.
 
Yen could hear their screams of both surprise and pain as he suddenly released the valves and shut off the flames.
 
Stepping around the corner, his men moving quickly with him, they began firing into the front of the Terran ranks.

The Terrans had taken cover behind barricades, but many had stood in agony as the flames left permanent lights dancing in their vision.
 
Exposed to the still goggled Alliance team, the Terrans dropped as rounds tore through flesh and shattered bone.
 
Taking advantage of the distraction, Yen charged forward, the rest of his team close behind.
 
Hurdling the low barricade, Yen fired directly into the faces of the stunned Terran soldiers.
 
Blood splashed across the floor as the Terrans fell and Yen tucked into a roll on the far side, narrowly avoiding their blinded counter fire.
 
Turning to follow Yen’s attack, the Terrans were woefully unprepared as Penchant led the rest of the team through the barricade.
 
His face elongated into a snout with razor-sharp incisors, Penchant clamped his powerful jaws down on the head of a nearby Terran.
 
Shaking his head from side to side, the Lithid reveled in the coppery taste of the blood that filled his mouth.
 
Penchant dropped the limp and mangled body to the floor as Karanath smashed into the barricade, shattering its weak foundation and sending wood, metal, and Terrans sprawling onto the floor of the foyer.

At the same time, he could hear Adam leading his team against the eastern barrier, his heavy machine gun tearing through the sheets of metal and the tender flesh behind it.
 
As they tried to regroup to face the new threat, Yen flicked his hand toward the Terran defenses.
 
Panes of metal sheeting and wooden slivers flew from the ground, tearing through the air like
make-shift
projectiles.
 
The wood and metal sliced through flesh, peppering the Terran soldiers.
 
Collapsing to the ground in pain, the Terrans were easy targets for Adam’s team as they broke through the far barricade.
 

The Terrans that had survived thus far broke ranks as they tried to flee the combined assault, but found there was nowhere to go.
 
With both major exits cut off by Yen’s team, they tried to run across the open foyer and charge up the stairs.
 
Left in the open with no cover, however, Yen’s men made quick work of the last of the soldiers.

They stood in silence around the corpses of the Terrans, taking in the scene.
 
As far as they knew, this was one of the first major engagements against the Terrans and, through two
ambushes,
Yen’s team had decimated their ranks.
 
He felt virtually invincible, ready to take on the entire Empire.
 
However, he had enough wits about him to know that it was time for them to move on.
 
Giving commands, Yen ordered some of the team to go retrieve the wounded soldiers.
 
Adam joined him as he stood in the gap between the staircase and the elevator.

“What are you thinking?” Adam asked.

“Up or down.
 
I can’t decide which way I want to go.”

Adam turned toward Yen.
 
The Pilgrim’s face was flushed from the exertion and he was smeared with blood, though Yen couldn’t tell how much of that, if any, was his.
 
“I appreciate what we’ve been doing here as much as anyone, Yen.
 
We’ve done some damn incredible things with a fairly small group.
 
But this is just one floor.
 
They know we’re going for the engine room, so we can expect this to get worse every step of the way.
 
Let’s take the stairs up and get on that
Cair
and get the hell out of here.”

Yen nodded as though agreeing, but didn’t move.
 
His eyes remained fixated on the elevator.
 
“Where do you think it leads?” he asked cryptically.

Adam had started to turn away, but now followed Yen’s gaze.
 
“The elevator?”

Yen nodded.

“Down, would be my guess,” Adam replied sarcastically.

Behind the pair, Yen’s team returned carrying the wounded.
 
Still, he kept his eyes on the sealed elevator doors.
 
“I know that.
 
How far down, do you suppose?”

“All the way down,” Adam answered, his voice full of irritation and impatience.
 
“We’re wasting time.
 
Let’s go.”

Yen gestured toward Karanath, waving the Oterian over as he continued his conversation with Adam.
 
“I came here for a reason, and that was to blow up the engines of this ship.
 
I’m not leaving until that’s done.”

Adam leaned in so that others couldn’t hear.
 
“So you’re willing to jeopardize all our lives just to fulfill your twisted sense of duty?” he hissed.

Yen turned toward the Pilgrim, a sardonic smile cast upon his lips.
 
“My dear Adam,” Yen said, his voice taking on a dangerous edge that Adam hadn’t heard before.
 
Behind him, Karanath began prying open the elevator doors.
 
“The Terrans shut off the power, which left the elevator stranded.
 
I couldn’t take it even if I wanted to.”

Adam arched an eyebrow.
 
“Then why are you…
”
 
Adam stopped in midsentence before cursing himself for his short sightedness.
 
Smiling himself, Adam turned to the rest of the team.
 
“We’re going to need everyone’s explosives.”

Yen was right.
 
The elevator was frozen in place three floors below them.
 
As Adam packed pound after pound of explosive clay into one of the larger packs, Penchant slid agilely down the cable and onto the lift’s roof.
 
Adam tossed the bag into the elevator shaft and Penchant caught it easily, lowering it down and onto the roof.
 
Activating the sensors throughout the bag, Penchant climbed back out of the shaft and joined the others.
 
Yen laughed softly as he handed Adam his pistol.

“Would you care to do the honors?” Yen asked.

Adam gladly took the pistol and aimed it at the cables.
 
They had packed enough explosives into the bag to level a building.
 
Even protected, the engine would suffer irreparable damage from the shockwave alone
;
more if Yen and his team were lucky enough to set up a secondary fuel explosion.
 
Adam smiled at the possibilities as he squeezed the trigger.
 
The pistol went off like a cannon blast, shearing the metal cable and reverberating loudly up and down the elevator shaft.
 
As the elevator car plummeted away with a screech of grinding metal, Yen and his team began running up the stairs, trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the upcoming explosion.
 
They had just made the landing on the floor above when the entire Terran Destroyer lurched violently.