After another few minutes’ walk, they reached the edge of what must once have been a small village, a small hill rising in front of them. Oren checked his tablet again and gestured for them to get down. They dropped to their bellies and crawled to the top of rise to survey the abandoned command post. A series of squat, gray buildings were spread over a small mesa, surrounded by a fence, which was broken in places.
“Anything we need to know about from the drone, Oren?” Laila asked.
“No Xakul sighted. We should be fine,” the intelligence operative said, tapping on the tablet and flicking through the screens to check the various views of the area courtesy of the drone’s cameras. “The dust storm is moving in, though. We have to get down there.”
Laila nodded, and they began making their way towards the central building, which was their target. The dust storm had closed in and was now whipping dirt around them in all directions, reducing their visibility. That could be a mixed blessing, Laila thought as she scanned the buildings in front of her. At least they wouldn't be seen as they crossed the exposed ground in front of them.
“Zac?”
“Yes?”
“We have less than thirty minutes to get in, find what we need, get out, and start back to the landing site.”
Zac scowled, staring intently at the building. “That's not long enough.”
“I know, we should split up.” She was loath to admit it, but she really needed his help if they were to get this done, and if they split up, they could work faster. But splitting up was not ideal. She knew that, but what choice did they have?
He shot her a sharp look. “If we split up and this storm moves in—”
“I know. Do you have a better idea?”
Zac turned away from her to scan the ground between them and their objective. “No, I don't.”
The trio slid down the slope and stashed their packs behind a large boulder so they could move faster without the added weight. They agreed Zac and Oren would circle around to the rear of the building and enter that way. Laila would enter through the front. They all had small explosive charges to use in case the entrances were barred. Hopefully, small enough that they would not attract the attention of the Xakul.
They turned to make their way towards the back of the building as Laila cautiously approached the front, encountering a solid metal doorway. The door wouldn’t budge. A distant blast alerted her that the others had encountered the same obstacle at the rear entrance. She quickly attached her own explosive and took cover, the blast blowing apart the locking mechanism; the door swinging part way open.
Quickly entering the building, she flicked on the light attached to the barrel of her plasma rifle, illuminating the dark interior. More Xakul corpses littered the cramped space, these much larger than the juvenile they had seen earlier. It looked as if they had been dead a while, and theysmelledlike they had been dead a while, the filter of her mask not obliterating the smell. Laila gagged as she carefully stepped over the corpses to head further along the dim corridor.
In the third room she checked, she found the control room itself. There was a wall of large screens, all black because of the lack of power, and what must be an interface area where one Xakul would stand to operate the computer. She guessed they must stand, as she found no evidence of a chair, though she wasn’t sure how they would sit, anyway. Their six appendages would not move like humanoid arms and legs.
The place appeared to have been abandoned in a hurry—a container of what must once have been food was lying open on a table; the smell making her nose wrinkle in distaste. Laila quickly located a switch to turn on the overhead lights, then checked through the debris for anything that looked familiar, exclaiming in triumph when she found a tablet. Now for the data device, which should be... yes!
She pumped her fist in exultation as she found the small, black box partly tucked under a large view screen. She carefully stashed her finds and continued to search for anything else that would provide useful, only pausing when a distant noise caught her attention.
A low hum began from above, almost unnoticeable at first, increasing in volume until Laila had to clamp her hands over her ears. The sound was unmistakable. Laila had heard it only once before, but she had never forgotten it.
She froze in shock. The Xakul had returned.
