“Team Beta Two advancing to take the enemy on the stairs.”
In my rear cams, I saw Spy and Maul. They darted out of the nest and into an open doorway. I could feel Spy’s panic. Smell the blood on her fur. Sticky on her paws. “Shining, Sugah,” Jolene said. “Private channel to you. Spy and Maul were inside long enough for their cameras to show that Clarisse Warhammer is wearing some kind of military armor, and so are some of her people. And she has a barricade midway down the hallway. It looks like the same heavy-duty honeycombed hemplaz carbon-fiber composite that the door is composed of.”
“Bloody hell. Someone got intel back to her. Even if it was just last night. How many small rockets or missiles does Mateo have on the Simba?”
“Four SSM antitank missiles that would fit the parameters and goals I perceive you might want addressed, based on the current skirmish as viewed through the armor cams.”
“Copy that,” I grunted, firing my blaster at a new round of enemy fighters.How many people did Warhammer transition?
“Team Beta Two is opening fire.”
Screams echoed from the stairwell and down into the hallway.
I slapped the blaster into a charger and pulled an older model Smith & Wesson nine mil.
“Jolene, ask Mateo if he can get in here in his warbot suit and—”
A second wave of fighters poured out of the nest. Firing up the stairs.
“Pull back! Pull back!” someone shouted.
I emptied a mag into a line of advancing thralls on one end of the hallway. Dropped the mag to the floor and popped in another. Emptied it into the attackers on the other end.
“Good shootin’ Li’l Girl, but fuck dis,” Bengal said. He pressed a place on his armor at his spine and a fully auto machine pistol folded out. I had never seen anything like the weapon. Bengal rammed his blaster into my hand. “Cover our six.” He dropped to one knee, supported his body on the wall, and began to fire up the hallway toward the nest. The sound of Bengal’s weapon was so loud I couldn’t fully dampen it on my helmet speakers.
I dropped flat and began blasting.
Across from us, Jagger and Jacopo laid down fire.
More enemy combatants were coming into my firing zone.
I kicked Bengal’s leg and indicated my direction. His new toy took down a couple of dozen, but he went through ammo faster than the speed of sound. Within seconds after he was out, we were hemmed in again on both sides.
I pulled a grenade from my armor. Depressed the striker lever, pulled the pin. Tossed it into the new crowd. “Frag!” I shouted.
Jagger threw another frag up the hallway toward the nest.
We all ducked back as they exploded, seconds apart. Taking out a dozen more encom in both directions. They stopped advancing. Giving us breathing space. Blood, the wounded, and body parts were everywhere.
There was a fine spray of blood across my armor and face shield. The air was full of blood and smoke. I could smell the stench of battle even through the air filters. Gorge rose. I swallowed it down.
The enemy combatants still on their feet withdrew, dragging their downed compatriots into rooms to either side.
Across the hall, Jacopo was on a knee, blasting pinpoint. Took out two who were still moving.
One woman fired from cover. Jacopo returned fire. She died. Methodically, he took down whoever peered out. Jagger did the same in the other direction.
Mina appeared farther down the hall. Fired toward the stairway near the nest, joining the slow attrition of our enemies.
“Jolene,” I said. “How many more warriors does Warhammer have?”
“Our people took out the cams, Sugah. But from what I can still access, at least fifty more, coming down from the barracks, various directions. And Sugah, they got bigger weapons. As Mateo would say, big-assed weapons. Some of them are not in my databank.”
Bengal changed out magazines. “You a good li’l mofo, ain’t you, baby,” he muttered to the gun.
I got a good look at the weapon and made sure Jolene did also, through my cam.
“Well, well, well,” she said. “Now ain’t that interestin’. Warhammer’s weapons remind me of Bengal’s.”
