“We do not know the code to these doors,” one of the Soldiers said defensively. “Your companions controlling us are already well aware of that. We are just meat shields.”
“Then become heroes instead by helping avoid an unnecessary slaughter,” Hulax countered, gesturing at the bodies covering the ground. “This base spreads far and wide. Thousands more of you are manning it. Lead us through the maze of passages beyond, convince them to listen to us before any bloodshed can take place.”
The Soldiers exchanged a glance then appeared to concede. I looked questioningly at my mate who nodded, confirming their honesty. While more of our Team Alpha ships were landing, and the men were assigning the Soldiers to their units, I walked up to the console where the Dragons were busy fiddling with the controls.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Bane and Myriam’s team are hacking through the system,” Reaper explained. “I’m just having fun disabling the security mechanisms triggered by their attempts. We’re getting close.”
I nodded, feeling edgy and restless. My adrenaline had been too high just minutes prior, and now I felt like I was crashing. I needed to get back into action before I did. Varnog’s amused smirk made me want to kick him, but his gentle psychic caress made me want to hug him.
Minutes later, a loud clang startled the living daylights out of me. However, it wasn’t the reinforced doors into the base that were opening, but the bridge maze that was finally receding back into the sides of the crater, granting access to our bigger ships. Our men from the Vanguard, aided by the Queen’s Guard, piled the corpses in one section of the hangar to make room for two of our frigates, a few chasers, and a dozen fighters.
Our battleships would remain outside with our other frigates and the rest of the fleet to make sure Khutu wouldn’t escape through some other back exit. But it was also to avoid all of our troops getting destroyed by more traps we knew awaited us ahead.
It took a few more minutes before the wretched reinforced doors finally gave way. I’d never consider myself bloodthirsty, but I was beyond chomping at the bit to get moving. The massive passage that opened before us only went about one hundred meters before ending in a bottomless chasm on the other side of which we could see a smaller corridor. On each side of the passage, a series of small tunnels led to the other sections of the base.
“Linette?” Legion asked, staring at the smaller corridor.
I walked up to the edge of the chasm to get a better look. “Our smaller shuttles and Fireflies will fit. But I bet everything I own if we send our ships in there, they will be obliterated.”
Legion nodded and turned to the Kryptid Soldier that had been assigned to his unit. “Any way around to whatever lies beyond this?”
The Soldier shook his head. “This is the only way, and you need a vessel. No one but the Enhanced get to go there. And they only come out to bring us the hatchlings as soon as they can walk, or to collect resources from us.”
“The Enhanced?” Doom asked.
“Workers with…” The Soldier hesitated. He touched his right eye and the side of his face while looking for the right words.
Understanding dawned on me. “Workers with cybernetic implants,” I said before projecting in his mind the ‘cyborg’ Workers we’d labeled ‘Zombie Workers’ after our encounter with them on the Moon of Melibos.
The Soldier’s eyes widened in shock, and he slightly recoiled. “You’ve met them before?!”
“Yes,” Wrath said. “How many of them are there?”
The Soldier shuddered. “Many. Countless. All the healthy larvae are raised as Workers and then Enhanced. The rest, like me, are turned into Soldiers.”
Turned into expendable meat shields and cannon fodder.
My heart went out to him and to those our men had put out of their misery.
“You are not deformed,” Commander Hulax argued. “Why did they make you a Soldier?”
He snorted and gave the Queen’s Guard’s leader a sad smile. “Because I’m slow,” the Soldier responded, tapping his head, “and because my immune system is worthless.”
“I can fly in and check it out,” Bane said, drawing the attention away from the poor male. “We’ll see how far I can go and what trap that will trigger. Ayana can bring me back. But Linette can catch me if disruptors pop up again, correct?” he added, giving me an inquisitive look.
“Yes,” I said with a nod. “As long as you remain within my psychic range. It has increased a bit since the new and improved me, but we’ll still have to be careful.”
He exchanged a look with Chaos, Legion, and then Varnog. As much as I worried for Bane, that acknowledgement of my man as one of the leaders of the Vanguard touched me deeply. All three males nodded their assent.
“Better tell your mate to have my Shell on standby,” Bane said to Legion with self-derision. “Shadow me,” he added this time to my mate.
“All right,” Varnog said.
His face went slack as he connected to Bane’s consciousness. Varnog’s mind would ride Bane’s psychic waves, enabling my mate to see through his eyes. Sadly, the Dragon leader didn’t possess Sabra’s Ghosting ability, which would have allowed Varnog to remotely use his mind-control powers. But at least, he would be able to accurately broadcast to all of us what Bane was seeing.
Summoning his beautiful, translucent bug wings, Bane took flight under our watchful stares. At the same moment, Team Beta and half of Team Alpha spread out with their assigned Soldiers to secure the front half of the base where the rest of the crippled Soldiers were holed up. But my eyes remained glued to the Dragon leader. With powerful flaps of his wings, he crossed the chasm in a blink before entering the corridor. I held my breath and stared until he became barely visible in the darkness of the tunnel.
My nape started tingling and then images flowed before my eyes. The corridor was even more roughly carved than this ship hangar we were standing in. It was a little over three hundred meters long and opened up into what I could only assume to be a natural cave. Stalactites hung from the bumpy edges of the ceiling, while the floor, which was at least thirty to forty meters below, had been expeditiously flattened.
But it was the sight of the thousands of eggs and larvae filling the room, and of Queen Selixa on a slightly elevated dais on the left corner of the chamber that held my attention. A few dozen Zombie Workers were tending the eggs and the Queen. On the right side, in what could qualify as garage slots, five shuttles could be seen, no doubt used to fly the young Soldiers old enough to walk to the front side of the base.
Moving up close to the ceiling to remain inconspicuous, Bane weaved his way around the stalactites towards a tiny tunnel only big enough for a Firefly. It then became clear to me that Khutu had grown so paranoid as to strictly control whoever had access to him.
But as Bane approached the smaller opening, my attempts at psychically touching him began to waver.
“Ayana, Bane is moving out of my range. Do you still have him?” I mind-spoke to her.
“Yes, for now,” she responded with obvious worry.
“Understood,” I said before turning to Wrath. “I need to get closer to him.”
He stiffened and Legion frowned. I didn’t need to argue or defend my statement. They understood the situation and knew I wouldn’t say this lightly.