Kayla returned to the circle as the sky was darkening, and saw that a new group had arrived. They were mostly Vipers who had circled around the city to reach them, including some from Kayla’s platoon. Most of the company was still stuck trying to extract from Rackeye without provoking an incident, and a great deal of Raiders and ODT’s were needed to help. That left the ad-hoc strike force with only a few dozen members, though Kayla was happy to see her Platoon Sergeant Reyes, who had managed to pick up some friends on her way.
“Hi, Dr Gilah,” Kayla called as she waved happily.
Her former bootcamp instructor and the few nervous looking researchers were carrying heavy looking backpacks. As they greeted each other, Kayla learned that the scientists had heard about the planned counterstrike, and offered their services to bring ammunition and equipment.
“A new comms system,” Gilah explained, as she unpacked a shiny looking machine. “We finally got a singularity-based connection shrunk down to something practical, and we rushed some prototypes. So, no radio waves to detect or jam. There’s only a few, though.”
“Doc, you are a legend,” Urtiga announced.
The soldiers traded stories from their chaotic day, and commiserated over lost friends. Once tears had been shed, and hugs shared, they gathered together around a small clearing where Urtiga had built a dirt mound. It appeared to be shaped like half of a bowl, with a vertical outer edge.
“So, this is the objective,” she announced. “A mountain, obviously. Kayla’s log of the tracking beacon showed that it reached a spot near the summit before disappearing. Probably another small, hidden entrance, like we’ve seen on all the Calderan sites.”
“Easily defended then,” Masey said. “That’s a tough piece of terrain to walk up without getting shot to pieces. Anyone at the top can see everything.”
“That’s right,” Urtiga said. “But we really want to try and get in there without alerting Rayker. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think she’s become complacent. Surprise can only make things easier, no matter what she’s prepared.”
“Frontal assault is out, then,” Gucci observed. “Even at nighttime. I don’t know—maybe they feel comfortable taking trips outdoors? Might be a way to infiltrate?”
Kayla shook her head. “Won’t work. As far as we know, Rayker chose every person at that site.” Her brow furrowed. “I feel you’re overcomplicating things. Why don’t we just climb up the back way?”
Gucci’s eyes went wide. Up the cliff face? It’s gotta be a few thousand feet tall.”
“Nearly two thousand,” Urtiga said calmly.
She glanced at the nearby Mountain Rangers. Whilst many of the Raiders and ODTs had colored at the suggestion, the Venomous Vipers were nodding.
“It’s a big wall to approach without equipment,” Sergeant Reyes said thoughtfully. “But we train climbs like that regularly. It’s definitely a possibility.”
“What?” Gucci demanded. “And what if you fall?”
Kayla shrugged. “What if we get shot when we get inside? Life is risk.”
“Oh, okay,” Gucci said, as though she didn’t believe what she was hearing. “So, you’re all just going to climb up a mountain face without ropes? I mean, I won’t be, just FYI, because holy shit.”
“I think this is the best option,” Urtiga said. “Anyone who feels like playing spidergirl can join the Rangers. The rest of us can kick up a fuss at the base of the mountain. Draw attention away while you either make entry or kill the defenders.”
“Cleaning up at the top might take a lot of time,” Masey said doubtfully. “Might not be worth the risk if Rayker figures out what’s happening.”
“What we can do,” Reyes said, as she scanned the suddenly alarmed expressions around the circle, “is use some chalk to mark the best route for followers.”
Gucci let out a strained laugh. “That’s cool. Good luck to you. I’ll take my chances with the machine guns entrenched on high ground.”
Dr Gilah raised her hand. “Excuse me.”
Kayla cringed. An introduction like that amongst operators was likely to draw mockery. To her surprise, however, the others only smiled and fell quiet.
“What’s up, doc?” Urtiga said in a friendly voice.
“Well, none of my team can climb,” she said apologetically. “Though, we feel that we could probably do some good inside the base. The problem is that whatever is in there is consuming enormous amounts of power from site four, which is a gigantic fusion reactor. We thought about cutting the power, but…” her voice trailed off as she searched for the right words.
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“…but we don’t want to risk blowing up the planet?” Urtiga suggested.
“That’s one of several catastrophic scenarios. The coupling control mechanisms have an awful lot of redundancies in place specifically to prevent any interruption of the wormhole. The designers very clearly did not want it to fail. Anyway, we all have a lot of experience with the other installation’s systems, so if we can figure out what ‘it’ is, we might be able to disable it, or at least make sure it’s harmless.”
“Hmm,” Masey said carelessly. “I was just going to whack a few nanitic charges on the thing. We’ve got some spare.”
“Uh, hey, how about no?” Kayla stammered, anxious as she was that her home not be reduced to an asteroid field.
“I don’t think that would be wise,” Gilah said carefully.
The handful of scientists watched nervously as the soldiers reflected on the problem.
“You’re probably right,” Masey announced after a moment. “Check this out, then. The obvious compromise is to initiate a small attack at the bottom of the slope while the climbing element goes straight to the top. Once there, they can split in two—one group breaches, the other helps clear a way in for the ner—uh… the Collective ladies.”
“How many operators can climb?” Urtiga asked. A dozen hands went up, including Masey’s. “Plus, what do we have?” she said as she craned her neck to scan the back of the crowd. “About thirty Rangers?”
“Thirty-two,” confirmed Reyes.
“Intel estimated fifty defenders, and we can expect this site to be as big if not bigger than the others.” Urtiga said doubtfully. “And, with all due respect, you Rangers are not that well trained for close quarters fighting. Elmira, can you give us an update on air support?”
The combat controller stepped forward. “The Shrikes were refueled and sent back upstairs,” she explained, “so they’re out of the picture. We just couldn’t risk them drawing attention at the airstrip. We still have drones there, and if the army starts looking in that direction, we could build out a brand-new field somewhere along our route.”
Urtiga’s face turned sour. “I don’t like the sound of that. Any aircraft going back to Rackeye might spot it, and we can’t take the risk.”
Elmira shrugged. “It’s just a possibility. Without that, a drone flight would be more than an hour’s round trip which could close at a moment’s notice.”
Kayla swallowed, then loudly cleared her throat. “Uh,” she said cautiously, and butterflies danced in her stomach as everyone turned to look at her. “What if we just hit them with everything at the same time?”
“Expand, clarify,” Masey said patiently.
“If we manage to achieve total surprise, we can do a bunch of things at once,” Kayla said, and tried not to rush her words. “You could set up a local airfield the night before, while the climbers start up the cliff. The um…” she hesitated and cast around for right word, “front door element, I guess, can drop ordinance just after sunrise, then attack the slopes. The climbers go in immediately behind the defender’s backs. Maybe two squads can stay outside for a short delay to support the attack, before following them inside.”
Masey raised an eyebrow. “Thus leaving the main attack outside, alone, in daylight?”
“Not to mention giving Rayker time to call for assistance from the army,” Urtiga said.
“She hasn’t co-ordinated with them—look at her position,” Kayla insisted. “She thinks she’s won, and so do her men. They have no idea that an assault like this is even possible. Probably only a small contingent will be manning the defenses, and they won’t be that alert. And okay, they could still be very capable, but if chaos erupts everywhere all at once, they’ll lose situational awareness. Rayker and her security force will be able to tell friend from foe, but the VennZech employees won’t. The base will be filled with people running around, trying to figure out what’s happening. Anyone wanting to fight will be isolated and confused. I bet we can get a long way inside before running into any kind of substantial resistance.”
Masey let out a surprised laugh. “That is an insanely ambitious, and gutsy plan.”
Kayla scratched her head. “I dunno, I see this whole thing as a longshot anyway. It just seems worth going all in.”
“I kind of like it, though,” Elmira said with a smile. If the army reacts, they’ll struggle to figure out where they’re going, and might try to investigate our airfield by default. We only need to do a couple of trips with the drones before scattering them to go crash into the mountains somewhere. Should give the attackers enough firepower to make it up the slope.”
“Let’s not forget,” Urtiga cautioned, “the only way a plan like this ends is with a Barrochian battalion laying siege to the mountain.”
“But do we care about that?” Kayla asked. “We only have to get inside, not out.”
“Oh damn,” Gucci said with a chuckle. “That’s some cold-blooded calculation.”
Urtiga held up her hands. “Alright, this gives us a starting point. We have a long hike ahead of us, so plenty of time to think it through. In any case, a lot will depend on what we find once we get there. Myra has maps of the route with checkpoints marked, and remember, we will be maintaining radio silence throughout. Go make sure your teams are sorted for food and water. You can start moving in your own time, but leave a ten-minute gap between each group.”
Kayla joined the queue of women lining up next to Myra, and scanned her night vision goggles against the waiting tablet. With the map uploaded, she rushed back to her squad to share it with their devices.
“How’s it looking?” Thandi asked her.
Kayla tried to maintain a positive expression. “I think we have a real shot of taking Rayker down, and sealing off the Omega site. Um…”
“Um…?” Thandi asked, as the others turned and watched them.
Kayla swallowed. “We might be looking at a one-way trip.”
The group remained silent, as each Ranger stared at nothing.
“As God wills,” Thandi said eventually. “I don’t mind what happens after we find Christie and the squad from weapons platoon.”
“How do you think they’re doing?” Tian asked glumly.
Kayla shivered. She had been trying not to think about it. But she turned to face her squad with a confident expression. “We’re going to find them and take care of them, alright?”
The girls nodded, and turned to their packs with renewed energy.