Suns of the Aranol (Obsidiar Fleet Book 5) by Anthony James

Author:Anthony James [James, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Although the green light allowed McKinney to see much better than he could in the darkness, he didn’t welcome it one bit. Any hope – already unrealistic - that they might make significant progress towards their goal was dashed by this development. Upon reflection, he realised it was a surprise it had taken this long for something so major to go wrong. The stride of his march lengthened until he broke into a jog and the pace of his jog increased until he was running.

As he ran, he kept both hands on his rifle and held it across his chest. Garcia and Vega spread across the corridor, keeping their own guns ready. McKinney could shoot straight, but it was harder to make a clean kill when running and three rifles were better than one.

“Keep watch to the rear,” he ordered.

Sergeant Woods was as unflappable as ever. “On it, sir.”

“What now, Lieutenant?” asked Li.

“I’ll let you know,” McKinney replied. He didn’t need the interruption when he was trying to think.

The passage went on and on. McKinney zoomed in with his sensor and still he couldn’t see where it ended. There was a darker area in the distance which was caused by either a variation in the light or a side passage. It was something to aim for.

While he continued running, he realised they hadn’t come across any steps or lifts so far within the Vraxar ship and their lack struck him as unusual. In a way, it reinforced his idea that they’d landed the shuttle in an area of Ix-Gastiol which the Vraxar rarely ventured into.

I wonder if the entire coil was nothing more than a launch pad for the warships we saw them pulling through that wormhole. Bring them in from their home world and send them out to kill and conquer.

“Hostiles behind,” said Woods. “Eight, maybe ten.”

“Squad D, stop and neutralise.”

There was a short volley of gauss fire, the whining hum crushed by the density of the walls.

“Clear?” asked McKinney, slowing down.

“I don’t think we got them all, sir. They’ve taken cover in the side passage.”

“Damnit, we can’t have them shooting at us from behind.”

McKinney stopped, bringing everyone else to a halt with him. The soldiers nearby dropped flat, allowing him a good view of what was happening. The troops of Squad D were thirty metres back, crouched or prone, facing the way they’d come. Two or three of them fired again, though McKinney wasn’t able to see any movement on his sensor. He jerked his head around to look ahead – it was clear as far as he could tell.

“I think that’s a turning,” said Captain Blake, his reflective visor pointed in the direction McKinney was staring. He’d been quiet up until now, content to fade into the background.

“That’s what I think too,” said Vega.

Squad D fired once again and this time there were many more shots. A Vraxar toppled into sight from the adjoining corridor.

“They’ve been reinforced,” said Woods.

“Webb, think you can land a shot right on that T-junction?”

“Coming up, Lieutenant.

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