Krigara swore. A couple of pulses carried to Janwar’s ears, followed by two thuds. “Two hostiles down.”
“Did they know you were coming?” Janwar asked. If the soldiers had been standing there, waiting for the door to rise—
“No. They just happened to be in the corridor when we opened the door. Both were so shocked that they didn’t even reach for their weapons before we stunned them.”
“Drag them into the tunnel.”
“Soval’s already doing it.”
Simone caught Janwar’s gaze. “What happens when they wake up?”
“They won’t. They’ll freeze to death within minutes once Krigara closes the door.”
“Really? It’s that cold out here?”
He nodded.
“T found a terminal,” Krigara whispered. “We’re looking for a way into their systems. Elchan is positioned at the end of the corridor in full camouflage. Soval is halfway between us, ready to take on anyone who steps out of the officer’s quarters.”
A moment passed.
“Incoming,” Elchan whispered. A thud followed. “Put him with the others.”
Metal ground against metal.
Simone winced. “That thing needs some WD40.”
Janwar didn’t know that that was. “Can’t you do anything to quiet that?”
“Soval,” Krigara whispered.
“Two more incoming,” Elchan murmured.
More thuds.
The grinding metal sound wasn’t as loud this time but still concerned Janwar.
T spoke. “The Gathendiens have detected a change in atmosphere in this sector and are sending a crew to investigate it.”
Janwar swore. “The base doesn’t have an atmospheric barrier?” That was usually the first thing erected on planets and moons that lacked a breathable atmosphere so no one would die if an equipment failure or unexpected breach occurred.
“It does not,” T informed them.
Simone scowled.
“They must monitor nitrogen levels,” Krigara added grimly, “so they’ll know if the shifting of the glacier beneath them or the ice above them fractures the base’s exterior.”
“Leave the exit door closed until further notice. If you have to kill anyone else, just pile them in a corner.” Hopefully, when no new nitrogen influxes occurred, the Gathendiens would believe the sensor was malfunctioning. But…
He looked at Simone.
She nodded. “Even if we don’t trip any security alarms, the nitrogen sensor will alert them the moment we open the hatch above the lab.”
“Yes. We’ll have to work fast.”
“I can do that,” she boasted with a wink. But her smile had lost some its former ebullience, betraying her concern.
“T,” Janwar said, “see if you can shut down their atmospheric monitoring system.”
“Yes, commander.”
Fortunately, the AI could execute multiple tasks at once without slowing down.
“Srok’a, you getting this?” Janwar asked.
“Yes.”
“Ready the drones.”
“Already doing it.”
Janwar hoped like srul they wouldn’t need them.
Simone’s nerves jangled over the increasing certainty that this mission was not going to go smoothly. “I take it most bases like this have the same atmospheric barrier that ships use?”
“Yes.” Janwar looked as grim as she felt. “But when those in charge prefer to allocate funds elsewhere, cheaper atmospheric monitors are sometimes used instead.”
Damned Gathendiens.
Simone studied the base below. If T couldn’t disable the atmospheric monitors, then shit might hit the fan as soon as she and Janwar opened the ceiling access. What if the soldiers on the base thought the scientists had opened it because they’d screwed up and released some deadly contagion? Alarms would blare. Chaos would erupt. The officers would all head straight for Krigara and the others, intending to make their cowardly escape. And she didn’t know what would happen to whoever might be incarcerated in the cells adjoining the lab.
Anxiety rising, she caught Janwar’s gaze. “When we open that hatch, will everyone in the lab die from a lack of oxygen?” What would prevent it if the base had no atmospheric barrier?
Reaching out, he touched her arm with a gauntleted hand. “No. It will only be open long enough for us to duck inside.”
“But they will detect the rise in nitrogen.”
“Yes, unless T can prevent it. Srok’a, map us a route from the labs to Krigara’s position and send it to my helmet.”
“Mapping it now.”
She arched a brow. “New plan?”
He nodded. “An atmospheric barrier would’ve allowed us to slip in unnoticed, take out the scientists, and handle whatever we find in terms of captives. We would’ve been able to render aid and get anyone we rescued into protective gear, all while giving T time to download every bit of information he could from the ship’s databases. And even though I know it would be awkward, I hoped we could take whomever we find back through the ceiling vent and have the transport pick us up on the roof.”
“But the nitrogen sensors will likely send the soldiers straight to the lab.”
“And possibly to the roof to check out the vent’s exterior if they think it’s a malfunction, so we may either have to take our chances with the guards that man the emergency exit near the lab or rendezvous with the rest of the team and evacuate through the officers’ escape tunnel.”
Krigara spoke before Simone could respond. “I disabled the alarm on the lab’s vent access. And T looped the security feeds on the roof, in the lab, and in the corridors leading to it. You’re good to go.”
“What about your area?” Janwar asked.
“We looped those, too.”
“Any luck with the atmospheric monitors?”
“Not yet. Too many eyes on it right now, so we have to be doubly careful. But life-form scans are operational. I’m going to send you a live feed.”
A translucent map popped up on Simone’s helmet, surprising her so much that she jumped. When she looked down at the base, lines representing walls and red dots indicating life forms now overlaid the icy structure.
“That’s more guards than I’d hoped,” Janwar murmured.
“Where?” There were red dots everywhere, though most were concentrated in the front half of the base.
“At the primary lab’s exterior emergency exit.”
She followed his gaze. While several dots littered the corridor outside the lab, at least twice their number inhabited a room around the corner that she assumed someone would have to pass through to use the emergency exit. “Oh. Wow. Yeah, that’s a lot of guys to get through.” There were so many they formed one big blob instead of a cluster of smaller dots.
Krigara spoke. “If you can’t exit through the roof, are you going to head our way instead?”
“Yeah,” Janwar responded, “unless we don’t find anyone. Then Simone and I will head back up through the roof and meet you on the mountainside where you dropped us off.”
“Understood.”
Janwar stepped up onto the kada and extended a hand.