Reapers: The Shadow Soldiers (17 page)

“What do you mean?” he asked stringently.

“I mean they were expecting us. They had the whole thing rigged up like a honeypot. The moment I got in and turned the cannon off, it turned itself back on and sounded the alarms. Had you been there, you would have probably ended up dead too.” Burns looked forward again with a grimace. Their mission was no more. They had been sent down to turn off a cannon that couldn’t be shut off. They had no objective, no plan, and no escape. Intelligence should have known it was a trap, but they had sent them down anyway. Had he gone through with his objective, they’d all be dead. He was right not to trust Intel—he was always right.
 

Now, because of his failure to believe himself, Rhett was dead, and the rest would soon follow.
Worse yet, Brosi had a fiancée waiting for him off-world. Burns punched the head of the passenger’s side seat in frustration.
 

He immediately regretted this outburst. He was supposed to be the leader here. Even when no one had faith, he was supposed to carry on and keep calm. Otherwise, the others might lose it too.
 

Looking back at his team through the mirror, he noticed that they didn’t much care about his frustrations. They didn’t seem to be fired up about anything, though he could tell that Carmen seemed to be thinking hard.

“Got something on your mind, Carmen?” he asked. She looked at his reflection in the mirror as she tried to formulate her thoughts into words.

“I—” she stumbled, “I think we should try to contact off-world,” she suggested. Brosi looked up.

“How? The atmosphere will disrupt everything,” he reminded her.
 

“I don’t know how. Don’t you have some sort of gadget or something?” she asked.
 

Brosi rolled his eyes and grumbled back, “I’m not a magician, Carmen.”

“Well, how were we supposed to notify that the cannon was down?” she asked.

“We have flares,” he told her. She shrugged her shoulders.

“So why don’t we shoot them up?”

“And who’s going to be able to reach the surface with that cannon still online?” Brosi asked. She shook her head and looked at the bed floor.

“I don’t know.” The truth was, they had nowhere to run with that cannon still operational. They either got it shut down, or they died here. They’d just have to figure out a way around it.
 

The continuing monotony of snow forced Burns’ mind to think about possible workarounds. There had to be a way.
 

He considered destroying the cannon. The ULC couldn’t fire a weapon that was reduced to ash. It could work, but it would take a lot of explosives. A lot. From what he had seen of the cannon, it seemed indomitable. Besides, it was a crucial part of life here on Silverset. Destroying it would probably not be in the best interest of the populace. He’d hate to save the planet only for it to become inhospitable.
 

Another idea would be to overtake the cannon. The ULC may have stationed plenty of troops aboard, but he hadn’t seemed to have any problem with the troops in the village. The armor allowed him to easily take dozens of men alone. With his team, they might stand a chance. If they captured the cannon, then they could possibly hold it long enough for the
Duchess
to land. It was still risky. If they were to be defeated, Silverset may never be free. Besides, Brosi mentioned that it turned itself back on. It wasn’t just an alarm but also a rigged switch. Which begged the question: how did the ULC fire the cannon in the first place? If they disabled the main functions in favor of a trap, then where was their new trigger?
 

Burns suddenly had a workable idea. He pushed down the brake of the truck until the vehicle came to a stop. He turned around and looked at Brosi.
 

“When you were inside the cannon, did you notice any foreign additions to its control center?” Brosi shook his head.

“Yeah, I actually got in through hacking an EUC the Collective placed,” he told Burns. Carmen shook her head.

“What the hell is an EUC?” she asked broodingly. Brosi explained.

“External Uplink Connector.” She still seemed confused though, so he elaborated a bit more. “It’s an attachment added to allow control of technology from off-site locations.”
 

“So?” she asked, not seeing the full picture.
 

“So,” Brosi went on, understanding Burns’ idea to the fullest, “if we find that off-site location, we can shut the cannon off without entering the weapon itself. We can
avert
the trap.” She then gained a light smirk.
 

“Well, how do we find where it’s at?” she asked. Brosi didn’t know that answer, but Burns did have a clue.

“Thinking strategically,” he began, “I’d source control to the most secure site on-planet.” Carmen raised a finger.

“The Fort,” she proposed.
 

“Huh?” Brosi murmured back, but Burns knew what she was talking about.

“Fort Ledger,” he explained, “I used to hear my old man ranting on about it during his army days. It took the Dominion fleets nearly a year to conquer it.”

“Then how did the ULC get in?” Brosi asked.
 

“Treachery and deceit, as usual,” Burns grumbled. “Regardless, that’s probably the best place to control a weapon like that cannon.” The team nodded their heads in agreement, but one question still remained.

“How do we get in?” Brosi asked. “I mean, we have neither the brute force of a Dominion landing party nor the cunning of a Collective infiltration team.” It was a good question but also a deflating one. Burns didn’t have an answer. It seemed they were back to square one.

“The Survivors,” Carmen suddenly blurted out.
 

“Who?” Burns asked.

“The soldiers stationed here who weren’t killed during the ULC annexation. They’ve created a resistance and helped to free oppressed refugees.”

“And you know this...how?” Brosi asked.

“A villager mistook me for one of theirs. I have the coordinates of the latest camp,” she went on.

“So you think these soldiers can help us with getting inside the Fort?” Burns asked. Carmen shrugged her shoulders.

“Worth a try,” she grumbled back to him. “It couldn’t hurt to stop and ask. If anything, their camp would provide a safe place to plan out the attack.”

“What are the coordinates?” Burns asked, implying that he was going for it. She pulled out a shred of ripped linen with the numbers inscribed and handed it to Burns. Grabbing it, he input the coordinates into his helmet’s map and soon another point was marked. Shifting the truck in to drive, he headed off.
 

The situation wasn’t totally resolved, and Rhett was really gone, but this plan might actually work—and that was enough for Burns to keep fighting. He just hoped these Survivors would be able to help, or for that matter, were still alive.

SURVIVORS

Driving deeper into the mountain range, the altitude continued to rise; Burns could feel the air getting thinner. He also noticed that there seemed to be far less snow and ice in this region. Instead, he saw several canyons and crags. This only made the drive more perilous.
 

Occasionally, the road got so thin that he thought they might drive straight off. He really didn’t know if he preferred the spinning wheels of driving on ice or the bumpy crashes of driving on rocks—both were equally treacherous. He pushed on nonetheless until his helmet’s display map told him to pull off to the side into what looked like a bare, open area. He complied and soon they came to a stop. It didn’t look like much, but maybe that was the point.
 

“We’ve arrived,” Carmen said from the back.

Burns looked around the mountainous point. It was gorgeous. They had risen just above the clouds and could see the large, orange sun sitting on top of them. However, this place was also dangerous if they had to make a run for it. It certainly wasn’t where you’d want to be if you were an underground resistance.
 

“Are we sure this is the place?” Burns asked. Two men then appeared from the entrance of an old mine nearby, and his question was answered. They must have been Survivors, or at least Burns hoped they were.
 

Both were wrapped in rough, cloak-type garb, which made it easier to conceal their identities—and their weapons. One of the men, who had several scars down his face, told the other to stand guard at the entrance. He then made his way toward the truck, reaching for a weapon as he did. Burns grabbed hold of his holstered, right submachine gun and clicked off the safety.

“Sentry, coming at us. You better hope they aren’t ULC, Carmen,” he grumbled.

“Trust me!” she exclaimed. The scarred man then reached the truck and knocked on Burns’ window. Burns took the hint and rolled the window down, gripping his weapon even tighter as he did.
 

“You’ve got no business here. I suggest you turn back,” the man asserted in a thick accent.
 

“Listen, we’re looking for the Survivors. Our coordinates brought us here,” Burns answered. The scarred man didn’t reply. Instead, he turned and motioned to the other man who was guarding the mine. That man shouted something into the mine and soon another man also appeared from below. However, he wasn’t wearing a cloak, but instead the black tactical pants and gray undershirt of a typical Dominion soldier. This man stood sideways to conceal the fact that he had a pistol strapped to his leg. The scarred man looked back at Burns.
 

“What’s in the back of this rig?” he asked.
 

“Two of my team...plus a deceased,” Burns answered honestly. The man acknowledged and then disappeared around back to verify. Burns turned around and looked at his team.

“Careful,” he urged as the man peeled open the back canvas and looked in. Burns looked forward again in order to avoid suspicion, though he continued to spy through the rearview mirror.
 

The man took about a half minute to inspect each member. They both sat awkwardly still as he looked them up and down. He didn’t make any facial indications as to what he was thinking. Not for good or bad. After his partial inspection, the man closed the canvas. Apparently the inspection was over.
 

Burns looked out his window, expecting the man to speak with him again, but instead he walked right past and headed toward the other two guards. It could have been that he was calling for reinforcements, so Burns kept his submachine gun at the ready.
 

The man spoke to the guards in a foreign language, which Burns believed might have originated from the nearby planet of New Alban, but he wasn’t sure.
 

He then disappeared back into the mine, leaving the two guards at the entrance. They seemed to be waiting on something—or someone.
 

“What’s going on?” Carmen asked, but no one answered. Burns was completely focused on the guards and mine entrance. He held tightly onto his weapon, expecting a squad of ULC militants to come rushing out of the mine at any second. One of the guards may have been wearing Dominion fatigues, but that could have only been a disguise. It was never wrong to be too careful. Perhaps this used to be a Survivor’s camp but it had been cleaned out by the Collective and used as a trap for any wayward Dominion loyalists. Burns didn’t know for sure, but he was ready to fire off a shot the moment someone gave him an excuse to.
 

He then noticed one of the guards was moving his fingers around like he was nervous of an impending figure. Sure enough, a bald, brawny man approached from the entrance of the mine. He and the scarred man looked to be arguing.
 

“I told you to keep watch!” the brawny man shouted as they both walked toward the truck. “But what do I get? You doing an inspection for me—with only two guards!” he yelled. The scarred man cut in.

“I figured it was best if you didn’t approach first—for morale.” Brawny stopped his approach and turned fully toward the scarred man.

“Morale?” he restated. “You don’t think I can handle the morale of my own men?” The scarred man seemed to shake his head, regretting he had even mentioned the morale point. Brawny scoffed and then pointed. “Get back in that hole and do something useful for a change!” he ordered loudly. The scarred man acknowledged and then ran back inside the mine. Brawny sighed and then continued his approach toward the truck.
 

“Sorry about all that,” he grumbled as he looked through Burns’ window—he seemed to do a half-second inspection himself. “I’m betting you’re the Reapers the ULC net’s been on about,” he concluded. The armor wasn’t very good at hiding in plain sight, that was for sure. Burns nodded back to the man, feeling relieved. From the gray tactical fatigues he wore, to the gruff accent he spoke in…Brawny was definitely Dominion, no doubt about it.
 

“You’d be right,” Burns confirmed to the man. Brawny slightly bowed his head and then scanned around the mountain a bit.
 

“You better not have led a trail to my camp,” he warned. Burns shook his head.

“We were very careful,” he ensured.
 

Brawny let out a deep breath and then motioned. “Why don’t you park that vehicle inside before someone sees us?” Burns bowed his head and then shifted gears and began driving forward into the open maw of the mine.

The mine shaft was lit by only a single string of bulbs, which hung all the way down the rocky ceiling. The truck barely fit down the shaft, its headlights illuminating crags that hadn’t descended from the shadows for decades. Burns was just glad he wasn’t claustrophobic because this place was certainly nightmarish for someone who was.
 

Pulling the truck off to the side at the request of some more cloaked soldiers, Burns entered a much larger section of the mine where several other vehicles were parked. Sliding in between two bulky, Vanquisher-class military trucks, Burns turned the key and killed the ignition. Without the truck’s grumble, the mine once again became still. Opening the door and stepping out, Burns held his wound a little as he watched the brawny man approach.