Chapter 5

We reformed and continued, stepping slowly and lightly down the next major vein of the Yeerk facility. There were another seventy-to-eighty potential enemies in the facility, and Surote intended to clear every single one. Where they were was a mystery, but we'd coped capably up to that point, and Arkv was confident of getting the job done soon. Santorelli and Menderash, still in morph, were a few meters back from the rest of the group, and I had also been relegated to ride along on Santorelli's back.

The churnings of machinery and clanging of lively tools grew uncomfortably loud. We came to understand that the next hall over was highly active, either with automatic mining machines or a large workforce. Arkv was keeping his team right to the sides and as quiet as possible. Santorelli was sent even further back to reduce the noise of his hooves.

The entrance to the hall was closed, giving us an annoying issue to contend with. We parked steps away from it and listened out for signs of life on the other side. There were many.

Arkv scuttled to the opposite side of the tunnel and scanned the wall to find the control panel. "Cluster formation," he whispered. "Expect numbers. Do not allow breaching."

We broke our approach formation and moved tighter together into a circle that, once engaged, would look outwards for a full three-sixty defense. Barring an ambush, we had a good shot of completing the task without issue. The two in morph and I, however, would be left as back-up. We weren't needed unless called upon.

There came voices from beyond the door. They approached, became louder, and then started to fade as their owners walked away.

It was our time. Arkv barked and slammed the panel. He dove back into the bracing formation as the big industrial door buzzed and sluggishly ascended. We heard no reaction from the other side.

"Go!"

The circle formation bundled forward. Some members had to bend down to get under the slowly rising door, but they were in. I felt Santorelli buzz beneath me, eager to see some action.

I watched as they began to fire. They fired a lot. I saw enemies of all kinds in the far distance, slow but eager to defend their home. Darts flew, the sound of screams and limp bodies falling filled the air.

Surote, at the rear of the circle, called over. "Tobias, they have no weapons! Fly for us!"

I dropped from the ox's back and soared forward at the invitation. Lifting, I flew high up over the group that was splitting their circle to form a blockade around the entrance. They were silent in their frantic assault, and all the screams and yells were coming from the terrified Yeerks. About eight of them, mostly Gedds. They were quickly dealt with.

But there was one… he was screeching down a handheld device. I couldn't stop him, and nor did anybody else until after he'd spread word.

((He got a message out,)) I warned.

"Hold position!" Arkv ordered. He was heading the new formation, a semi-circle broken by the entrance. "Morphed Humans, keep watch of the rear, be prepared for an attack!"

I took a moment to observe the surroundings. It was a loud, busy room. In one corner was the main drilling entrance, an excavated hole in the ground with conveyor belts straddling the sides. Nearby was the drill, a behemoth of black metal with a deadly pointed tip, webbed by electrical cables like strands of wet hair behind it. They connected to a labyrinth of generators in an unprotected block. Elsewhere, a vast, empty conveyor belt made slow progress to a shimmering cylindrical crusher. The pipes containing toxins led to and away from it, reaching from ceiling to ground everywhere around us.

There were three other entrances: two large doors and one small. It could be only moments before the Yeerks came pouring in. Would they have weapons? Hork-Bajir?

Two simultaneous bangs from both the larger doors! They began to rise, and Team Hook steadied their position for the inevitable attack. I kept my eyes glued to the opening doors, averting my eyes from left to right and back again. There didn't seem to be anything there…

I ran out of space heading forward and turned left before I came too close to the wall. The turn took me back towards the others, and the sight turned my blood cold.

Giant yellow centipedes were squeezing out of the wall above the door, wiggling and emerging from narrow black holes like writhing larva. They squirmed in silence, but sharp claws and drooling jaws would descend right onto static prey!

((Taxxons!)) I shouted. ((They're coming out of the walls!))

They started to fall like thick sludge, dripping behind the wall that Arkv had orchestrated. Up they stood, six feet off the ground with screeching, hungry mouths.

Everybody turned, suddenly alert to the proximate danger. Four Taxxons. Five. Six! They infiltrated the tight blockade in such close proximity, lunges away from a deadly blow. It brought instant reaction. Bodies spun on the spot, weapons at the ready.

"Spread!" Arkv screamed. "Take aim! No wayward shots!"

Marco fired a dart at a shifting Taxxon. The projectile skimmed the skin and shot by, almost catching Et in the shoulder. Et shouted his distaste angrily, and Arkv reiterated his order with more fury.

A Taxxon lunged at Fruyt, slapping claws and gnashing for a meal. Fruyt dodged, barging against Marco and breaking the line. Fruyt struck with his weapon and scrambled away. A dart hit the back of the Taxxon, and it started to sway, but before it could collapse on its own accord, another Taxxon dropped down, crushing the other beneath with a horrible squelch!

"Sarge! Mendy!"

Jake had called them, and things were about to get a whole lot worse. Pounding hooves echoed down the tunnel and the huffing of a living steam locomotive. The ox bounded from the entrance and right into the back of an unaware Taxxon. Horns impaled, and the ox emerged on the other side, blinded by innards. With momentum, he continued, knocking allies roughly to the side before he attempted to skid to a halt.

The Yeerks had a plan. They weren't going to be taken so easily. Distracted by the falling Taxxons, Hook were much less prepared for what awaited them in the two other entrances to the hall. As panic erupted in a flurry of darts and shouts, the spreading and breaking of the formation, the rest of the Yeerk cavalry arrived.

Hork-Bajir and Oo came sprinting, bursting from the dark tunnels with blades and claws flashing.

"Keep your focus!" Arkv boomed, swiveling to see the oncoming force. "Keep in line for the Hork-Bajir!"

Jake and Marco were almost in blind panic, so vulnerable in small Human bodies. Jake dashed from the front of a Taxxon, and for the first time, managed to dart one from close range, but that was nothing compared to what was coming. He made the call. "Battlemorphs! Into battlemorphs!"

Menderash pounced before him, and Marco rushed to join Jake at the rear. They backed slowly into the tunnel with Menderash growling and snapping their defense. They started to morph, and quickly, as the Hork-Bajir and Oo's small army engaged the highly advanced but restrained ensemble. Darts flew like arrows, catching their targets more often than not.

And then there was Santorelli, much less forgiving. He snorted, scraped at the ground, and rumbled forward like a barrel down a hill. A stunned Hork-Bajir took the full brunt of his momentum and a horn to the abdomen. It crumpled and fell beneath his stamping hooves.

"Keep control!" Surote bellowed desperately. I saw his head twitching, coated in Taxxon goo, his weapon trembling in his grasp.

Santorelli wasn't going to stop. He was deep into the mass of enemies, plowing through them like they weren't even there.

He couldn't keep it up. I saw red blood splattered over his back. With Menderash protecting Jake and Marco and everybody else determined to hold position, I would have to lend my help, no matter how limited. I began my descent, watchful of the frantic Hork-Bajir and Oo that dropped one-by-one. It wasn't quick enough to stop their spread.

Santorelli caught another Hork-Bajir solidly between his horns. The Hork-Bajir flopped over him, winded and paralyzed by the impact, but Santorelli didn't stop. He kept moving, unaware of the block of generators directly in his path. With a terrible bang, the Hork-Bajir was slammed into a jumble of live cables. Blades sheared the protective casing, and just as Santorelli was aware enough to jump back, the block was engulfed in an explosion of electricity and sparks that lit up the entire hall.

Surote squealed something mechanical, twitched, but then found the time to stomp forward and put an Oo deftly out of action with a shot of his own weapon. "Remember the mission! We must keep control!"

The raging ox, stunned by the blast it had unintentionally caused, span and kicked in place to ward off an ambitious Oo who wanted to claim a kill. A horn nearly took its head off, and it was flung backward across the floor. I saw another one approaching, attempting to catch Santorelli off-guard.

He hadn't seen it, too caught up in the red mist that had swallowed his ox brain, but I had the perfect opportunity to act. I turned to come in line, aimed straight for the face of the oncoming Oo.

It saw me too late. I dove, raked my talons forward, and sunk them messily into squishy, vulnerable eyes. The Oo screamed out hoarsely and swiped at me, trying to snatch my talons but only working to pull his own eyeballs almost to complete removal from their sockets. Before it could think of a logical reaction, I released my grip and swerved downwards, then upwards away from the carnage, dodging a wild throw of the nearest Hork-Bajir's blades.

Only then did I see the flash of black and orange. Jake and Marco had joined the scrap. It was no longer a rescue mission.