Chapter 3
The transporter landed in the haze of the Ooguui landscape. The wind blew fiercely, whipping claws of sand through the air that buffeted my body as soon as I swooped from the exit compartment. Team Hook marched in single file, checked one-by-one by Surote as they left the security of the vessel. He followed the line behind Marco when all but the pilot had left, and the motley collection proceeded through the dense sandstorm in a northerly direction. It wasn't comfortable, but I shot ahead to locate the mining station's wall, doing what I could to deter the flying debris from my eyes.
The transporter had landed no more than fifty meters from the closest wall, but it did not become visible until about twenty. When it did, the oval shape emerged high above, protecting against the weather but very little else. I flew in close and got the slightest relief from the storm when I dropped to the loose dirt on the ground. I pressed myself close to the surface as the rest arrived. They organized a circle, with Surote the last to arrive.
"Point of Action 1!" he shouted against the hurtling wind. "Prepare the sound shield!"
The giant seaweed alien pulled from his belt a thick metal stick. He played around with it, expertly curling his fingers around its surface until its base glowed a barely-noticeable red. Nothing else would seem to happen to anybody uneducated on its purpose, but what it did was form an invisible barrier around us that prevented the escape of an extensive range of sound waves. We were entirely silent to the world outside of it, and that included the wall we were about to slice open. Arkv helped another member of Hook remove a heavy tool from its casing: a monstrous turret whose barrell tapered to a sharp point. They placed it against the wall, and Arkv stepped back for Fruyt to take his place. The cutter was quickly activated with two people holding it, unleashing a horrible grinding that could only be heard within our secure sound bubble. The metal of the wall around the tool glowed a boiling red. They gradually raised it, leaving behind scarred, broken metal. It went five feet up, then five feet across, and all the way back down. The power to the tool was cut, and the newly-created door dropped forward into the interior's darkness.
"Enter," Surote said. "Stay in form. Don't drift. Our safety is paramount."
Kv-Aret-Cukku Et was the first line of defense, blending in seamlessly to the dark. After a minute or so of nothing but the howling wind in our ears, we heard: "Clear." Arkv waved a hand instructively to us, and, in our pre-planned order, we crawled in through the low hole.
As the eyes of the operation, I was the first to go in after Kv-Aret-Cukku Et. I opened up my wings to face the wind and allowed the unpleasant blow of sand to push me up into the air. I was lifted ten feet into the air, and I dipped to the right to swerve outwards and gather some momentum. At a safe distance, I turned again and shot straight down towards the hole. Surote ducked to his left, and I zoomed shakily over his head and then straight inside. At first, it was total darkness, but as I turned sharply, various light sources came into view. The ceiling was incredibly high but lined with bulbs that had no issue laying blurry white circles across the wide-open floor. Like the bleakest art gallery, the left wall was a series of enormous green rectangular blocks, the faintest signs of swirling liquid held within. I saw no enemies.
Now, I was out of the soundproof barrier, so I had to be cautious regarding the noise I was making. After my initial cursory glance, I swerved back in the still, windless air. Looking down, I watched the rest creeping inside, forming a semi-circle on this side of the wall with weapons raised outwards. Fruyt, who would remain at the rear throughout, replaced the collapsed section of wall and threw the golden medical kit over his shoulder. Surote's eyes bolted to me immediately, and he flicked a finger in the forward direction. I flapped my wings hard and rose high toward the ceiling, keeping well clear of any bulbs that would cast my silhouette across the ground. In the dingy open hall of this section, I had to locate the enemies.
I remained hidden against the black ceiling. The hall was vast. Much of it was hidden by rotund sections of wall curving from the edges and toward the center. It gave those suspicious of our entry plenty of places to hide. The interior was like a raspberry turned inside-out with deep, dark cleavages. It meant that I had to be deliberate with my movement, and I stuck close to the edges, dipping between the protruding segments just enough to see right into the shadows at the bottom. We weren't alone from what I saw, and I also got a good look at the few entrances to the hall we were aiming to breach.
I reported back as concisely as Surote liked: ((Two Mak, two Oo. Both Mak are approximately forty meters from your position, behind the first wall on your left. One Oo is at the far end, about eighty meters. You will be in his sight eight meters ahead of your current position. The second Oo is beside the main door to the hall, at ninety degrees from the center. There is a second door exactly ahead, ninety meters. No weapons seen.))
Surote allowed Arkv to take control, stepping to the side and prepping his paralysis gun. Arkv threw up some simplistic signals with his rubbery handsthat got everybody shifting to the right, opposite to the wall of the two Mak. Still within their sound shield, they made absolutely no noise as they crept against the curving surface, giving them maximum space while still avoiding the oblivious senses of the Oo at the far side of the huge metal cavern.
Arkv raised a hand to my friends, who had clumped together at the rear with Fruyt. He was saying something, and from the sight of them lowering their weapons slightly, I could only imagine that they'd been told to leave these four to the experts. This was going to be a lesson.
He signaled to one of the others. The smallest of our group - a member of the Brou'gn race - handed its paralysis gun to Arkv. Brou'gn weren't too impressive to look at, being only four or five feet tall with stumpy little arms and a squat, humpbacked stance. Their mouth was wide and flat, making its head look like a Pac-man, only green in color and with two round, unblinking eyes just above the neck. It wasn't going to startle the Oo, which were, in contrast, gangly gray creatures with four spider-like legs and very straight, narrow snouts coated with teeth all the way around. They were native to the planet Ooguui, of course.
The Brou'gn – who, so far as we knew, had no name or gender – waddled out into the open, unarmed and posing as a dazzled, lost civilian. It stepped out of the sound barrier, made obvious when its footsteps suddenly became audible, and then made its way past the wall and into the eyeline of the Oo.
The Oo froze momentarily. Untrained and unarmed, the simple mining Yeerk would hopefully take the bait, no questions asked. I saw the alien walkie-talkie at his side, but his spider claws made no track for it.
I kept myself high overhead and remained clear of the lighting. I could see each enemy's reaction: The confusion of one Oo, the lack of interest from the other, and the total ignorance from the two Mak.
The Oo gave way to curiosity. He crept forward with all four legs, tooth-coated snout close to the ground. The other Oo called something out gutturally but still seemed disinterested. Unlike the first, he could not see the Brou'gn, nor did he attempt to observe what his peer had.
Arkv was static as he watched the Brou'gn. He waited for the signal, weapon poised and his other hand raised as a red light for the others. The moment was coming…
"What are you?" The Oo demanded of the Brou'gn.
There was no time for an answer. Arkv's hand dropped, sending his team towards the Mak at pace. He bounded forward, around the side of the blocking wall, and raised his gun to his eyeline. The Oo jumped, panicked, but had no time whatsoever to do anything else. Arkv fired, and with a cute chink, a dart was fired directly to the Oo's chest. He convulsed, swayed, and then collapsed to his front. Arkv reloaded his weapon, pushing out the ammo cube and sending another looping forward into position.
I saw the remaining three enemies bolt up, now fully alert to the danger they faced. The second Oo was much too far to be dealt with any time soon, and I caught sight of the walkie-talkie at his side. I had to get rid of it.
The two Mak, however, were easier targets. Arkv's team were mere meters away when they turned the corner to see what all the commotion was. In a split second they, too, were down, pulsing on the ground. Paralyzed.
The second Oo had enough time to consider the situation. It was only a matter of time before he raised the alarm. I twisted in the air, dipped forward, and tucked my wings close. I dropped towards him like a bullet, eyes fixated on the walkie-talkie that his awkward claw scrambled for.
He raised it to his mouth. I saw him inhale.
My talons reached forward, and with great speed, I grappled the boxy object, tearing it from his weak grasp. I rose back into the air, disappearing again to the backdrop of the wall.
Surote was bounding forward as the Oo attempted to decide what the hell had just happened. He saw Surote and was faced with a difficult choice: Flee or fight the mechanic monstrosity fast approaching.
He chose incorrectly. He rushed ahead with a frightening screech, but Surote was already well-prepared. He also had a secret weapon. I'd certainly never seen it before.
When the distance between them shrank to little more than three meters, the air abruptly flashed! Bolts of electricity shot directly from Surote's midriff, coating the Oo in a terrifying, blinding electric veil. He moaned horribly, but only for the couple seconds that the immense discharge lasted. When it finished, he collapsed. His chest rose and fell slowly.
Surote looked pleased, but his first action was not to self-congratulate or cheer for the minor victory. He bent down to the fallen Oo and brushed a hand gently over his shoulder.
"Prepare for a better future," he whispered.