Eventually, they made it into a chimney where fractured limestone blocks made for easy climbing up onto the top of the formation that was causing so much trouble. Once Gucci topped out, carbine ready for

  trouble, she saw that she was looking down at a maze of narrow passageways. With Gilah in tow, she crept along until she heard the frantic exchanges of the guards below.

  “That’s enough, let’s get the hell out of here,” a younger man was saying.

  “You think they don’t have the mountain surrounded?” his older companion hissed back. “Even if you get down without drawing a bullet or a missile, where do you think you’re

  going to go?”

  “I didn’t sign up to go out in a hail of gunfire.”

  Gucci moved closer, but couldn’t get a good line of sight on the position. They were wedged inside a crack, blocked by a boulder below her. She probably couldn’t drop down silently, though it

  wasn’t like the men could retreat anywhere. Since they weren’t shooting, she allowed herself a moment to mull the problem over.

  Her enemies continued the debate. “They pull you apart, Rayker said. Experiment on you. Torture. I don’t know what these freaks are, but if we hold them up a bit longer, someone will come from

  orbit, like Hasti said.”

  “Come on,” the younger man whined. “She was probably making that up. She has no clue what this place is, or who these guys are.”

  “I dunno. You saw them running up the slope. Nothing human moves that fast.”

  Now comfortable with her selected course of action, Gucci aimed her weapon and fired a few bullets into the crack.

  “I’m behind you,” she called sweetly, before she was drowned out by the hail of gunfire from the scientists down the ridge.

  The men cursed and yelled as they tried, in their panic, to find another way out. Gucci stood up and raised her hand high, swinging her forearm to signal cease fire. Moments later, silence returned, followed

  by gasps and sobs.

  “Don’t cry, my dude,” Gucci said loudly. “You’re one good decision away from a peaceful hike down the mountain and a hot meal, plus entertaining company. You are one bad decision

  from a quick death. All in all, it’s not so bad.”

  “What the hell are you people?” the older man yelled back.

  “That’s no way to address a lady,” Gilah joined in, having guessed the strategy. “I’ll thank you to say yes, ma’am, no ma’am, and mind your language.”

  A burst of incredulous whispering followed.

  “So, my friend has a bag of grenades she really wanted to use,” Gucci said after letting the tension draw out. “But I think you guys might be cute, being VennZech security guards and all.

  Corpos like their staff to look good, don’t they? If that’s true, it’d be a real shame to drag you out of there horizontally.”

  They didn’t have to wait long. A pair of hands emerged from the crack, followed slowly by an apprehensive, young, male face.

  Gucci kept her rifle trained on him. “Don’t let my personable nature and good looks, fool you,” she said. “Try anything, and I’ll kill both of you.”

  It didn’t take long to get both men out and secured, hands tied behind their backs, and for the scientists to arrive to help move them.

  Then Gucci got a radio call. “Okay, copy that,” she said wearily, and turned to the others. “Look up and smile ladies, you are now on camera. The Augustine is watching.”

  “Told you,” one of the prisoners muttered.

  “You did,” Gucci said kindly. “I heard you. But reinforcements are at least an hour away, so that means that we’re all heading back inside your base for the foreseeable future. For

  your sake, I hope you stocked up on alcohol, because you’ll want us to forget that you tried to kill our friends.”

  The younger prisoner turned away, glancing at the nearby body of the lookout, shot at the beginning of the assault.

  Once everyone had moved inside and the prisoners were put with the others, Gucci left the Collective team with a few positive remarks about their performance, their credit to the organization, and their

  promotional prospects. She took back her sniper rifle, gave it a brief inspection, then sent them on their way.

  "But do you think they'll count it as combat?" the track athlete insisted to Dr Gilah, as they headed away to meet their VennZech counterparts.

  "I don't know, but I will not be insisting on it," Gilah retorted.

  Gucci made a mental note that she owed the woman a drink. Then, as she wandered through the corridors, she stopped to take another, closer look at the scope on her rifle. Muttering to herself, she left

  it with the Rangers interrogating the prisoners and went to find Urtiga, who was conferring via radio with the assault commanders deeper in the base.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “I’ll see you at the bottom,” she said, then turned to follow the queue heading for the stairs.

  “Hold position there, sister,” Urtiga said. “Your chores are not done yet.”

  Gucci hissed to herself, but waited until the senior NCO had signed off.

  “What’s the matter?” Urtiga demanded with a smile. “Eager to get shot?”

  “Or kill Rayker, you know? Whichever option presents itself. No sense sending the new girls down to steal all the credit.”

  Urtiga chuckled. “We have new information. Locations on kidnapped prisoners.”

  “That Ranger squad?”

  “Plus the spook, Christie. Not sure what state they’re in, or if they’re being guarded.”

  She pulled out a tablet and a holographic map sprung to life. The maze of corridors below them spread out like fine circuits on a chip, tendrils growing into empty air where the survey drones were making

  progress behind the assault.

  “According to the team up here, their first prisoner claimed our girls are being held on sublevel four somewhere. But it's a lot of empty space, so we need to go carefully and methodically."

  Gucci nodded. "Are we expecting resistance?"

  "No," Urtiga said. "It should be clear. So it'll only take two of us."

  "Us?"

  Urtiga shrugged. "Masey's got the attack in hand, so I don't have anything better to do for the moment."

  Gucci let her thoughts catch up and her stomach twisted. "Do you think… how do you think they…? She grimaced. “Shit."

  Urtiga put a reassuring hand on her back. "Doesn't matter. We'll take care of them whatever state they're in. But it's not something the young 'uns need to deal with, is it?"

  Gucci nodded, and suddenly felt like a fool. "Sorry for bitchin’."

  "No biggie. Only thing I care about today is that Rayker doesn't leave this place alive. The Helvets can lay a siege for all I care. An exit was never part of the deal."

  There was a metallic screech behind them as someone closed the mountainside door and locked it.

  Urtiga turned for the stairs. "You comin' or what?"

  The search was not difficult. The two Raiders moved carefully, but the sublevels really were empty, and when they reached the fourth level they started banging on doors and calling "Viper". A

  muted, but unmistakable banging came back, and they soon found themselves destroying a lock and pulling open a cell door to reveal seven furious, but mercifully healthy looking Rangers.

  "Where's Rhonda?" Urtiga demanded, and saw the response written in their eyes. "Goddammit. Look, we're stacking weapons by the elevator, so, if you want in on some payback, you can

  get kitted up and follow the crowd."

  "Got anything to eat?" a lance-corporal asked them.

  "Snack bars," Gucci answered. She and Urtiga turned over everything they had.

  "Thanks," said the Ranger. "The bitch wanted to starve us to death, for long-term fun."

  "What about Christie?" Urtiga asked.

  The lance-corporal shrugged.

  Once the squad was armed they rejoined the Raider operators and went from sublevel to sublevel. Christie was on the seventh, and when they pulled open her cell door she wiped away tears and shook their

  hands gratefully.

  “How are you feeling?” Urtiga asked her, a little bluntly.

  “Physically healthy, if that’s what you mean,” Christie replied. “And willing to work.”

  She launched into a whirlwind explanation of what she had seen in the base, Rayker’s plans for the teleporter, and her own attempt to change Byoran’s decision.

  Gucci was immensely impressed, and showed it with a few “no shit?” responses where appropriate. The girl was slighter than most Valkyrie—probably in part thanks to Rayker’s treatment—and

  talked with the same self-assured intelligence of the scientists. But she was obviously as dangerous, if not more so, than any of the operators.

  “Have you heard anything from the Rackeye site?” Christie finished, with a slightly desperate expression.

  Urtiga nodded. “Call came through as we got inside. They grabbed your guy off the mountainside. Apparently he announced his guilt over that shootdown, and was begging for forgiveness.” She shook

  her head in wonder. “I haven’t heard anything after that.”

  “I’m sure they will be able to take care of their end, then.”

  “Oh, and outstanding work getting Milani outside,” Urtiga said, with a smile on her face. “That made our lives a lot easier.”

  Christie only nodded curtly.

  “How about that spider trick?” Gucci asked. “Think we can use that against Rayker?”

  “I doubt it,” Christie replied. “What is happening out there?”

  “We’ve pushed her security force back towards the control room,” Urtiga explained. “I fully expect her to have arranged a covert escape route.”

  “Yes of course,” Christie said. “Probably through the power and data conduits out to the cavern. And that means she’ll want to fall back to the teleporter, from which she will expect

  to make her escape.”

  Her eyes drifted, and the two Raiders held their breath.

  “But we cannot underestimate her instinct, or cynicism. As I said, she may have access to a very dangerous weapon—a defensive system—and if she decides that her scheme has failed, she

  will certainly unleash it on us.”

  “Like, killer spiders?” Gucci asked, her lips twisting into a preemptory grimace.

  Christie shook her head. “I can’t say. But given the sophistication of this place, and its servants, it must certainly be effective. And if we give it access to the teleportation network, who

  knows how far it could spread?”

  “Okay,” Urtiga said, but she didn’t look too concerned. “We can shoot spiders though. I don’t see that as a game-over scenario, necessarily.”

  “Unless there are too many of them,” Gucci countered. “Or they can recruit the workers. Or manufacture more, or—”

  “Alright, I get the picture,” Urtiga said.

  Christie pursed her lips. “But—if I may, Sergeant—this site is the center piece of the whole planet. The… Jotnar built something more than a fortress, meant to stay hidden, yes.

  But I don’t think I can overemphasize how likely they were to account for its discovery by an unwanted party, and to prepare for its resistance. Those spiders are partly biological—which we have never encountered

  outside Caldera—and far more advanced than the drones Rayker made in her first attempt. We must be very careful about the assumptions we make.”

  “Uh, yeah, ‘tiga,” Gucci said fervently. “I think you should lift your finger off the trigger and step back a little, ‘cos she is starting to freak me out right now.”

  “Us too,” called one of the Rangers nearby.

  “This is great,” Urtiga said. “I love this whole thing. Especially the cyborg spiders.” She reached up and tapped her headset. “Masey—‘tiga. How’s it looking?

  We need to get our scientists into that control room, ASAP.”