Unity

Chapter 37

"Has anyone checked the mineshaft?" I asked.

"I figured that's what it was," he replied. "Nobody has dared brave that dark tunnel."

"I want to hear your thoughts on this Commander," I stated. "We find a seemingly abandoned mining facility for a race who abhors mining for materials themselves. The facility is powered and has atmospherics, but nobody is inside to keep it running. Now you find out that the only mining that was done was for a fifteen meter shaft that seems to go nowhere. On top of all that, there is a larger than normal fleet in the system guarding the useless facility."

"I see the point you are trying to make, and I agree completely," he responded. "I'll send men down to scout it out immediately."

"I was thinking about that Commander," I said, stopping him before he could give the order. "If there are hostiles waiting down there, it is a great defensive choke point and it would create a bottleneck for our troops. It would be an easy location to defend."

"I thought you said it was the only entrance," he replied.

"It currently is," I said with a smile. "While this facility is just a façade, the equipment obviously works. If we don't like the entrance they made, we'll just have to make our own."

It took a couple of hours to move the equipment where we wanted it. It was a hundred meters away from the existing mineshaft, but with Sarah's help, we were able to learn how to use the mining equipment. The equipment was simple enough to operate and with the information Sarah pulled from the terminal, she said it would take roughly five minutes to create the secondary shaft. That seemed like an incredibly short amount of time, and it was obvious the Zrynt stole this advanced technology from some extinct race. The drills silently made their way into position. Once they powered on, they tunneled their way through the rock easily and much quieter than any equipment back on Earth would have been capable of. There were two drills working in tandem, creating parallel tunnels. I figured two tunnels were better than one, especially if it meant we could move our troops in faster.

The drills were stopped just before they broke through the wall. The drills were moved back, and a team began disassembling them for further study while a demolition team was placing breaching charges at the end of the new tunnel.

"Time to see if anyone is home," Commander Morozova said over the comms.

"Worst case scenario," Sarah said privately to me, "if this tunnel is empty, at least the marines get to have some hands-on training on something other than the Unity."

It was at that moment when I felt an odd sensation as the charges detonated. The combat suits we wore dampened the sound of the explosion, as well as the concussive wave that followed, but the charge was large enough to send tremors through the asteroid itself. Seconds after detonation, marines ran down the tunnel into the unknown. Almost instantly, I could hear the sound of weapons discharging. The marines pushed to try and gain a foothold, but it was clear the Zrynt were putting up an effective defense as I watched injured marines being pulled back. The injured were immediately replaced by bloodthirsty reinforcements.

I felt useless standing at the rear while my men engaged the enemy. We needed to gain a foothold and get past the natural choke point the entrance created. Once that was accomplished, we had the numbers to easily overrun them. I thought for a moment before an idea came to mind. I motioned for the two closest platoon leaders to come closer, as the comms were flooded at the moment.

"I have an idea that will help us break through the enemy line," I explained. "Grab your men and follow me." I was busy justifying my actions by telling myself I was just giving commands, not getting into danger myself. We joined the platoons guarding the original mineshaft entrance. I gathered the leaders and said, "We're going to breach here and see if we can't pull enough of their forces this direction to allow our main force to break through. In order for this to work, you're going to need stealth, speed, and a watchful eye. There is a good chance that they have rigged several traps, so keep your heads on a swivel and be careful."