"Heads up," Ryan announced, holding up one hand to signal a halt. "Syd says that she found something."

"She found... something?" Amy made a face, barely visible in the darkening gloom. "What's that supposed to mean? Found what?"

"When I asked, she just told me that I'd want to see it for myself."

"Of course she did," Amy said with a sigh.

"I'll try asking again – oh, wait a minute. She's drawing me a picture."

One after another, glowing purple notations in Syd's distinctive scrawling handwriting started to appear around her location on his wireframe area map. A trio of shaky lines labeled ALIEN LASER DEATH FENCE came first, accompanied by what he thought was supposed to be a skull and crossbones. Next, circled locations were identified with arrows as BULLDOZERS and BIG PILES OF DIRT respectively, both of which seemed straightforward enough. Stick figures designated ENFORCER GOON (NOT TRANSFORMED) popped onto the display in various positions, forming a rough oval within the arc of the defense grid.

Six enforcers, that's a standard patrol pattern, Ryan recognized. Leaving her attitude aside, he'd been pleasantly surprised by how effective Syd was proving to be at detached reconnaissance. Probably two more on standby somewhere close, and the same number on the other side of the grid, too. Whatever it is that she found out there, the Zorvax clearly think it deserves all this security.

Before he could speculate further, she continued writing. In the middle of the other symbols, the words SECRET UNDERGROUND BASE (?) (UNDER CONSTRUCTION) scribbled across his display.

"Huh. I guess that explains what they wanted a geological engineer and a bunch of earthmoving equipment for," he muttered to himself. "Why here, though?"

Ryan, did you get all of that?

Got it, he sent back. Good work, Syd. We're only a few minutes out from your position. Anything else to report?

No – hold on. Yes, actually. The professor just walked out, and there's a pair of Zorvax talking with him.

Outside? Are they riding in little cartoon hovercar-looking things with see-through domes on top?

Yeah. What's the deal with those?

Hostile environment transports, to keep them from being crushed by Earth's gravity. Even so, they really don't like being exposed like this if it's not absolutely necessary. Are you close enough to hear what they're saying?

I think so... but it just sounds like a bunch of yelping and squeaking to me, Ry. I can't understand a word of it. She hesitated briefly, then asked, Should I try to get closer?

No need, he told her. Bring up the master settings panel on your visor display.

Um, okay. A pause. Done. Now what?

Find the toggle for your suit's audio passthrough and switch it on. That'll let me listen to whatever you're hearing, then I can interpret what the Zorvax are saying.

An echoing whine of feedback blasted directly into his head, nearly making him trip over his own feet.

Establishing audio passthrough connection... connection established.

"– experienced a number of unforeseen delays, Reserve-Commander," said a reedy male voice, once the phantom ringing faded from his ears. Ryan recognized the speaker as Owen Henson, even though it had been years since he last talked to the man. "We're doing our best –"

A whistling tea-kettle noise, the Zorvax equivalent of an aggravated sigh, cut the professor off before he could finish his thought. It was followed by a series of grating chirps, which his Implant began translating for him a moment later.

"To this point, Commander-Candidate-Thirty," the Zorvax replied, "your best has been found... disappointingly inadequate."

"If more Enforcers could be assigned to the excavation teams, and more funding for additional construction equipment," Henson tentatively suggested, "or perhaps if we were given permission to work in War-Form –"

"Significant resources have already been invested in this project," the other Zorvax said, interrupting him again. "You were permitted to select your own teams, provided with the large quantity of elemental gold you requested, given first priority for teleportation cycles and granted broad authority to carry out your plan as you saw fit. At the commencement of the operation, you assured us that this would be more than sufficient to accomplish your assigned tasks. Was that a miscalculation on your part, Commander-Candidate-Thirty?"

"No, no, of course not, Station-Captain! Everything is within acceptable parameters. We received the last parts shipment yesterday, and the backup portal generator has already been assembled, ready for use. I'm certain that my teams can reach the first objective in the next day or two at the latest. Extraction will commence on schedule. It's only that –"

"It is good that you remain confident. For your sake, it would be preferable that your predictions prove accurate. Recall, Commander-Candidate-Thirty, that the position and privileges you currently hold are merely temporary." The string of bubbling screeches grew quieter as the symbol on his map representing the pair of Zorvax officers moved further away from Syd's position. "Countless ambitious humans have been brought into the Empire's service. Any one of them would be eager to take your place..."

They went back inside the tunnel, Syd complained. I think there's too many bad guys wandering around for me to follow them.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Don't worry about it, Ryan assured her. I heard everything I needed. Get clear, find yourself some cover, mark your location, and then I'll transform you back. We'll be there soon.

***

"Syd was right," Amy muttered, once they'd passed through the section of the defense grid that Ryan had temporarily disabled. "I wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't... all of this."

Ryan made a quiet noise of agreement.

From their vantage point at the crest of the hill, concealed by the thin brush, they looked down at the frantic activity going on below. Syd had called it a secret underground base under construction. That description, he decided, was as good as any for what they were seeing.

Tall floodlights had been erected in a semicircular arrangement. Powered by chugging portable diesel generators, they pushed back the gathering darkness as the sun dipped between the mountains on the horizon. All of them had been pointed towards a rocky cliff face with a huge missing chunk at the base, bored out into a yawning cave entrance wide enough to drive a car through. Lit by strings of drop-lights, the tunnel was dug into the steep cliffside at a downward angle, disappearing from sight after a hundred yards or so.

Heaps of dirt and rock were piled up haphazardly around the entrance. While they watched, a bright-orange bulldozer emerged from the mouth of the cavern, its blade lowered to push another load of debris ahead of it.

A number of distant human figures could be seen milling about, some carrying tools, others operating heavy industrial equipment, while the rest rushed from place to place. There were no idle hands that he could see.

"What do you think they're up to?" Amy asked.

"It reminds me of an archaeological dig," Cat observed. "Or a mine."

"Mining...?" Amy tapped the side of her jaw pensively. "Syd said that there was a whole lot of radioactive waste buried here, didn't she?"

"She did," Ryan agreed. "But I can't imagine any reason why the Zorvax would want to bother digging it up..."

"Holy fuck, you guys, keep it down!" Syd's voice hissed at them from the darkness. She emerged a moment later, stark naked, from her hiding spot in a nearby stand of scrawny pine trees. "You're so loud that I could hear you talking all the way over on the other side of the hill."

"I'm sorry, Syd, we don't all have as much trespassing experience as you," Amy shot back sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, maybe if you did –"

"Ladies, please, could we save this discussion for another time?" Ryan waved them to silence. He handed Syd's clothes back to her, receiving a grateful nod in return, then pointed towards the entrance. "It looks like something's going on down there."

***

From the tunnel, Professor Henson emerged, yelling for attention and waving his arms. The short, heavyset man had changed from the civilian clothes he'd been wearing earlier into a Zorvax hostile-environment bodyglove.

"Drop what you're doing!" he yelled. "Teams two and three, form up and prepare for transformation sequence! Team five, report to the teleportation chamber immediately!"

"You're pulling more bodies off the dig? Now?" a red-haired woman asked, her gruff voice barely audible over the mechanical racket even to his enhanced hearing. Something about her tone struck Ryan as oddly familiar, although he didn't recognize her. If he'd ever met a woman that tall, he was sure, he'd remember it. "Henson, we're already way behind schedule, even with everyone working double shifts. What's so damn important –"

"Address me as Commander-Candidate-Thirty!" he snapped. "You've been warned about your insubordinate tendencies before, Enforcer-One-Eighty-Nine." When she didn't immediately respond, he continued tersely, "A cache of stolen Changers was just located, and we're being sent in to recover them... not that I need to explain command decisions to you."

She scoffed, planting the shovel she was holding into the ground with far more vehemence than necessary.

"Why us? That sounds like a job for the big shots on team one to handle."

"Team one is already on-site and engaged. Apparently they bit off more than they could chew, and now they're screaming for reinforcements. We're being sent in to provide support."

"Wait, stolen Changers? Did command finally track down Forward-Commander-Two?"

"No, this is a different group. American government or military, we think. Well-equipped and highly organized. We've had run-ins with them before, and they've managed to get their hands on a few Mark-I Changers. Of course, that won't do them any good without a Change Interface Implant to activate them, so they were considered to be a lower priority than hunting down the traitor... until now, that is. Something must have changed."

"Something changed," she repeated with a laugh. "Typical. Well, I'd rather be fighting than digging, I guess." On either side of her, the other Enforcers formed up into widely-spaced ranks. "Team two, ready to transform," she announced.

"Team three, ready to transform!" shouted another man.

"Stand by."

There was a momentary, brilliant-white flash of light, the only outward indication anyone not connected to the neural network would see when a transformation sequence took place. One second, rows of humans waited; the next, armored War-Forms stood in their place.

"All teams, move out!" Henson ordered.

The heavy tread of metal boots on stone echoed as the Enforcers marched into the mouth of the cavern.

***

Ryan counted as the Enforcers disappeared into the tunnel. Each of the teams appeared to be at full strength, which meant sixteen of the enemies present were about to be whisked off to who-knows-where.

And that meant sixteen fewer enemies for them to deal with. Granted, that left a lot of hostiles still present, but the Zorvax weren't likely to offer them better odds any time soon.

"That looks like the face of a man with a plan," Cat observed. "Want to share, handsome?"

"...it's the start of a plan, anyway. This isn't the main base we were looking for, but it sounds like the local Zorvax leadership got their tentacles on a second portal generator somehow, and installed it in there. Where there's a portal generator, there's also a command terminal. Amy, do you think you and Cat could make some kind of big, loud distraction out here?"

The two women shared a glance.

"I think we can handle big and loud," Amy said. "But what's that supposed to accomplish?"

"While you two have their attention, Ryan and I are going to sneak inside and find the terminal," Syd confidently declared.

"No, we're not," Ryan corrected her. "I'm going to sneak inside and find the terminal. You're going to wait out here where it's safe. You already did your part by getting us in through all the defenses and guards, and your Changer is still on cooldown."

"So what? You don't even have a Changer, and you're going, right?"

"Syd..."

"Don't Syd me, Ry. I've got way more experience sneaking around and getting into places I shouldn't be able to than any of you do. What happens if you run into a locked door or something?"

Ryan searched the young woman's face, looking for any sign of the fear that had paralyzed her when they first met. Her expressive brown eyes met his, determinedly holding his gaze. Finally, he gave her a grudging nod.

"Okay," he said. "Fine. We'll do it together."