Page 30 of Alien Warlord's Fury
"Yes." I offered her water and the last of our rations. "Eat. You'll need the energy."
We prepared in silence, checking our minimal gear, ensuring the masking paste remained intact. Our bond thrummed with shared anticipation and resolve.
"The plan remains the same," I confirmed. "I create an opening at the maintenance access. You interface and disable the core systems."
"We move quickly—we won't have long before they detect the intrusion."
Claire nodded, taking a deep breath. "Ready."
We moved from the shelter, using the shadows and terrain for cover. Reaching the perimeter fence required careful timing, slipping between the patrol paths of the automated sentries. I used my blade to cut a silent opening in the fence mesh, holding it aside for Claire to pass through before following.
The maintenance access panel was secured with electronic locks. Claire knelt before it, placing her hands on the interface. Her markings glowed faintly beneath the paste as she connected, bypassing the security protocols with a skill born of her forced experience under Hammond.
The panel clicked open.
"Go," she whispered. "I'll monitor from here, warn you of internal patrols."
I slipped inside, blade ready. The corridor was narrow, filled with humming machinery alien to my mountain senses. I moved quickly toward the primary power junction Ravik's intel had indicated.
Two technicians worked at a console, oblivious to my presence. I incapacitated them quickly, silently, using Aerie nerve strikes designed to incapacitate without killing. Necessary, but regrettable.
I reached the junction box—a tangle of artificial conduits unlike anything grown from Arenix soil—and began physically disabling the connections to the external relay arrays, working against time. Behind me, I felt Claire's focused energy through our bond, her awareness extending through the station's systems.
Suddenly, a surge of warning flared through our connection—danger internal, power fluctuating, drone activating!
I finished severing the last connection just as a sleek, weaponized drone descended from a ceiling hatch, its sensors locking onto me. Simultaneously, alarms blared throughout the station.
Something had gone wrong. A failsafe.
"" I projected through the bond, focusing all my urgency, spinning to face the drone.
It fired. I dodged, the energy blast scorching the wall where I'd stood. I needed to disable it quickly and escape.
Then the explosion ripped through the station. Not from the drone, but from deeper within—likely the core systems reacting violently to the severed connections or a secondary failsafe. The floor bucked beneath me.
Lights flickered and died, replaced by red emergency strobes. The drone faltered as primary power failed.
I didn't wait. I sprinted back toward the access panel, shouting Claire's name aloud and projecting fierce urgency through our bond.
Panic flared back through the connection, sharp and cold, carrying the impression of explosion nearby, her struggle to get clear.
I reached the access panel just as she stumbled out, coughing from the smoke billowing behind her. I grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the compromised structure.
"Move!"
Sirens wailed in the distance, converging on our position. Red lights pulsed through the trees. We plunged into the dense forest, the sounds of the burning relay station fading behind us as we ran.
The sabotage had worked, but not cleanly. Hammond would know exactly where we were.
CLAIRE
The ground shook beneath my feet. The relay station behind us exploded in a spray of sparks and twisted metal. Nirako grabbed my arm, yanking me into a run.
"Move!"
I didn't need telling twice. My legs pumped as we crashed through the underbrush, putting distance between us and the security system we'd just thoroughly wrecked. The forest blurred around me, branches whipping past my face.
"That wasn't supposed to happen," I gasped, ducking under a low-hanging limb. We'd planned to disable it quietly, like the first station.
