Havoc Squad (Fire and Rust Book 3) by Anthony James

Author:Anthony James [James, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-11T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Twelve thousand meters beneath the surface of Reol, the main cavern at the bottom of the mineshaft had suffered a major collapse. The clouds of dust seemed to hang in apparent defiance of gravity, so that the UL Fixer’s sensors could only distinguish hints and shapes, and then only from close range. Griffin saw enough to think this was the end.

“There’s no route back to the mineshaft,” he said, after fifteen minutes of searching. Each careful repositioning of the Fixer brought its nose up against stones, rocks and boulders. Logic suggested that this rubble had to have come from the ceiling, which in theory meant there should be extra space up high. Not so. The piles of rock had fallen in such a way that he couldn’t find a way up or over – at least not one that came anywhere near to the shaft.

“If we can’t get out the way we came in, we should keep searching for another exit,” said Dominguez.

Griffin wasn’t going to lie down and give up. “The rockfall is worst around the center and the northern parts of the cavern,” he said, shifting the control sticks to rotate the Fixer. “I remember seeing a couple of tunnels to the south as well.”

The spaceship’s engines shuddered, cut out and then spat reluctantly into life.

“Shit,” said Griffin, checking over the status panel. “The stealth module draw jumped a couple of percent.” The last thing he wanted was propulsion failure. “Shutting off the stealth.”

The moment the Ragger tech stopped drawing from the engines, the Fixer’s utilization gauge plummeted, before settling at ten percent. The grumble of overstressed propulsion vanished at once and to Griffin, it was an immense relief. The controls felt lighter and the spaceship responded quickly and easily to the slightest movements on the sticks.

“Got my ship back,” he said.

He piloted it carefully through the gloom. The Fixer was capable of withstanding a low-speed impact, but the hull was already damaged from the heat of the nuclear blast and he didn’t want to risk it suffering any more damage if it was avoidable.

“According to our positioning system, we’re close to the south wall,” said Dominguez.

A solid grey barrier loomed out of the dust and Griffin angled the Fixer along its length.

“Fly a bit lower, sir,” said Dominguez.

At an altitude of two hundred meters, Griffin’s HUD feed picked out a few more details from the ground. This area of the cavern had escaped the worst of the devastation and it appeared as if the covering of smaller rocks had scattered from elsewhere. One or two of the Ragger buildings were visible, crushed beyond recognition. A lone ore truck had somehow survived everything. Rocks hemmed it in from every angle, leaving it trapped. The vehicle’s headlights were operational, but the truck itself was going nowhere.

“The tunnel should be close,” said Dominguez. “Looks like the poor alien scumbags on that truck were on their way when the shit hit the fan.”

A darker patch alerted Griffin to his destination. “Here we are,” he said, aiming the Fixer towards the opening.

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