A few running tactical steps and they pushed through the door. Where bursts from Truk's and Lash's Kali's cleared out a nest of cloaked Hand agents to secure the bottom of the stairwell.
"Next level is engineering, with the generators, boilers, air circulation and filtration, and water purification and circulation," Lash said. "There's a good chance that such a vital floor will be heavily protected by White Flame elements, just like the server farm was. The library and communication services are on the floor after that, and the medical wing above that, both of which I suspect are also well guarded."
He gave his waiting team a quick look.
"Instead of fighting our way through like we just did, we're going to avoid both floors by using the VIP secret elevator to bypass them. All we need to do is overcome the permanent guard post set up at the elevator's final stop, which will have between twenty and thirty nestari, or, in this case, White Flames manning it."
He paused as the vampires in First Squad that Fordricht left at the door to serve as rear guard, fired several bursts back into the server room.
"Okay, they're advancing on our flank so we need to move. Once we hit the top of these stairs, the elevator will be to the west and close to the stairs in the corner. First Squad on the south wall, Second Squad go north, VGC, you're with me and Truk. We'll split the difference. Now, let's move!"
Moving only as vampires could, the company rushed up the stairs in a tight line, their giant leader leading the way. And, as they gathered on the landing, Fordricht flipped a couple more grenades over the rail to let them fall to the bottom in time to catch the first handful of White Flames running in, in an attempt to follow them, the explosions tearing the humans apart.
Again a flurry of fire cleared the door of the Hand agents trying to protect it from the shadows. Then a second flurry was required to cut down the White Hand operators that were backing up their tenuous allies, ceramic and irradiated rounds exchanging places for several seconds before the humans were overwhelmed and dropped to the ground, sporting multiple fatal holes.
"First Squad south!" Lash pointed, then in the opposite direction. "Second Squad north! The rest of you, follow me!" And he charged in between massive steam boilers and fuel-fed generators to where he thought the center point of the room would be.
There he took a hard left. And found himself looking directly at a fortified checkpoint nearly a hundred meters forward.
It could only be the guard post. And it was already filled with frantic activity as the White Flames manning it, having been alerted not only by the castle's internal alarms, which stopped sounding as soon as the electronics bay was destroyed, but also by the furious gunfight that had just taken place beneath their feet, they were trying to prepare for an attack.
Setting himself for the charge across the intervening space, the big vampire saw something slide out of a gunport directly face him that made him hesitate. Wait. Was that a .50 caliber barrel??
"Kadasa!" he hissed tautly.
It was a fifty cal! Then he was grunting as he twisted hard with every bit of speed he could muster at the outer edge of his reflexes to let a fifty cal round hiss just by him.
"Fifty cal!" he shouted. "Scatter off this track!" And with that, he dove to the side. Hitting the deck, he rolled to absorb the impact and came quickly back to his feet.
A quick glance back at first Truk, then Tanis and his operatives yielded that everybody had managed to get out of the way. He then flashed a signal to Tanis to divide the team, with half going over a track to the north and the other one over to the south, to keep them out of the fifty cal's line of fire.
"Day Witch burn me," Truk growled as he crouched beside Lash. "A fifty cal in a power room? Are they insane?"
"I just hope they don't have a minigun in there," Lash retorted. "White Flames aren't as concerned about collateral damage, remember?" Then he was on the comms. "All assets be advised: the guard post is equipped with one or more fifty caliber long guns. Angle your attacks to stay out of lines of fire." He then gave Truk's arm a light slap to get his attention before motioning with his head that the nestari follow him.
Lash then pointed at Tanis and motioned that he go around the other way with his operatives. After the VCG commander nodded and began moving around the boiler they had picked for cover, the big vampire and his captain moved in the other.
Now outside of a clear line of sight to the guard post, Lash and Truk quickly moved forward, eyes intent and weapons ready. With the guard post boasting that level of fire power, it was unlikely the White Flames that were obviously manning it, would risk moving beyond the reinforced walls of the emplacement.
However, the White Flames had shown a number of times in their recent encounter history a tendency to throw away logic and tactics in favor of their overall objectives. If any of those modified humans currently holding the guard post could be convinced their greater objective would be served by coming out, they would come out.
Moving carefully between massive steam boilers, Lash let himself examine the bunker as carefully as his years of experience allowed. Concrete reinforced with steel; the only way they were blasting through those walls was with ...
Then a realization came to him. They were only attacking the bunker to secure the elevator and avoid having to battle across three floors filled with White Flames and Hand agents. But they didn't need to destroy the bunker to access the elevator. Only keep it busy long enough for them to get on and ride it upward. Because, once in motion, the elevator couldn't be stopped by the controls on this floor.
"Ford, do you have a visual on the elevator?" Lash tersely asked over comms.
"Affirmative. Lightly guarded, but in direct LOF from the guard post," the North African vampire reported.
"Copy. I am sending you the access code. Target those guards and prepare to take the elevator. Ballan, move Second Squad to cover First Squad," Lash commanded.
"Copy. What are you going to do??"
A tap on the side of his Kali's control panel and the barrel dilated to 12.7 millimeters, its largest muzzle opening. His psionic tech long gun would now compress the much smaller standard ceramic slugs into one that would fit that caliber, a solid mass that he hoped would do more than just dent the concrete and steel walls of the guard post bunker.
Then he was bringing it to the ready.
"I'm going to make some noise!" he grimly replied. Then he and Truk were moving forward, weapons ready.
****