Hellsky (Hunter-Killer #3)

Chapter 35 - Weird Day

"I have to tell you, boss," Preese shouted as they piled out into the ethereal light of the facility, "that this has been a really, really weird day!"

Their first experience of following a Scraegan through a freshly dug tunnel had been a story of claustrophobia and nerve-shredding anxiety as he and his squad journeyed with Grunn into the darkness, submerging beneath thousands of tons of rock and dirt, spaced out evenly among the Scraegan pack to ensure they had diggers on either side of them.

Seeing the beasts dig first hand was an awesome sight, their massive bodies twisting in a corkscrew motion, blunt claws and shovel-shaped heads tearing through the planet like paper. It also underlined just how vulnerable the Hunter-Killers were in these depths.

Not carrying anything that even resembled digging equipment, they had to stay closed behind the leading Scraegans to avoid the worst backwash of torn up dirt. If part of the tunnel collapsed, a Scraegan could just dig through it, but without them Ryke knew just how easily they could have become trapped down here.

But it had been the quickest way to cut right through the labyrinth, avoiding the twisting ravines that he'd traversed with a human army just a few short months ago. The rest of the squad had taken a bit of convincing once it became evident what Grunn Rut-Rut was suggesting, but in the end there hadn't been a lot of choice.

As he thundered out into the shining, eerie blue behind Grunn's powerful form, Ryke immediately decided that Preese was right. This was a very weird day.

"Copy that, Deadbolt," Ryke agreed as the feet of his Hunter-Killer struck the solid, unyielding surface of the cavern. After such a long time spent trudging through Rychter's badlands it was startlingly solid, so much so that he had to take a second to reset his footing.

He also needed a second for his eyes to actually take in where he was standing. The massive spine of the communication transmitter filled the chamber with an electric glare, disappearing up through the dizzying shaft all the way to the surface. Seeing it in pictures and diagrams didn't to anything approaching justice to the sheer scale of the thing. On the other end of the cavern was the dark alien control structure, half-immersed in the thick rock of Rychter.

Right in front of him he saw a tiny band of diminutive human figures, insignificant against the vastness of this place. Beyond them he saw the enemy – more than a dozen flame-furred warriors bursting loose of tunnels and charging across the cavern towards them. More enemies piled from the passages on the opposite side of the chamber.

"Everflowing bloody River," Fenix gasped as they spread out from the tunnel mouth. "What is this place?"

"Biggest damned antennae you ever did see," Scantlin agreed.

"Focus up!" Ryke barked, cutting off the chatter. "Eyes on your HUDs, people. We've got live hostile targets and friendlies in the kill zone. Acknowledge?"

The Hunter-Killers' own brand of discipline quickly reasserted itself, and a series of crisp confirmations rattled through the comm from his pilots. He took a breath, nodding as they tightened up their formation into a skirmish line, with Grunn's warriors moving out just ahead of them, bellowing and roaring as they caught sight of their foes.

Ryke's optics swept over the little group of humans in the middle of the cavern, and his heart almost leapt out of his throat when he managed to identify Ivy amongst them, the slim-built engineer lugging a heavy cutter as a weapon. Kelso was there too, but he was limping badly, shuffling away from the onrushing pack of Scraegan rebels.

It took all his self-control not to just charge off into oblivion there and then. At the last second his training kicked in. If he really wanted to help them, and get everyone out alive, he needed to do this like a soldier, not a lover.