I touched down in sight of Olympus Mons (not that I was sure what it looked like; I just looked for the tallest mountain on the planet, thought that took a while). The other undead were gathered in rough squads, except the zombies, who naturally gravitated around their masters. The still-living necromancers had been issued with safesuits. We working stiffs didn't need protection from the environment.

I looked around for anyone I knew, and ended up with jackshit, as in most situations. I'd been hoping the lich had made it before me, but-

Ah. I turned around at the shift in the aether. A pillar of darkness, filled with screaming skulls, parted like a curtain, revealing the lich. And they call me a showoff...

'Good time, Liam,' the ghoul colonel said, his voice sounding even more eerie in the thin air. 'And thank you for the comm spell. This way, we won't have to use sign language...again.' He shot a meaningful look at another ghoul officer, who shrugged, grinning toothily. I had a feeling their unit was more concerned with results than discipline.

'Remember: only kill them if they try it first. We don't want to spur the Collective into a war. The ARC personnel wil remain here, at the arrival point.' To mark it, he stomped down with his reinforced boot, pulverising a bathtub-sized hole into the red soil. 'If we fail, or are overwhelmed, you are to return to Earth and seek reinforcements. Questions?'

The ARC mages and agents shook their heads, though I noticed the latter did it grudgingly. Maybe they'd hoped to keep a closer eye on us, but the colonel was in charge of this mission.

'We do not know the nature of their defences, but expect the worst. That way, you won't be disappointed.' Did I dare ask if he was joking?

'Good. Now-'

The ground burst apart under our feet. I jumped away just as it began shifting, and turned to mist in midair, letting the supersonic chunks launched by the reptilians' entrance pass through me. I didn't believe they could harm me, but...

Liam the lich cursed as three reptilians seized him, clutching and ripping at his withered form with the strength to level small towns. Flaming eyes flashing, he raised his staff, even as a reptilian tried to wrench it from his grip. Then all three shuddered, their eyes rolled upwards, and they fell. Liam drew his robes around him, muttering a petty spell to sew the tears shut.

The draugr brought axes and hammers down just as the reptilians burst from the ground, splitting heads with such force Olympus Mons shook on the horizon. The runes tattoed on their arms and throats glowed red at the kills, revelling in the spilled blood.

Zombies drew around voodoo priests, defending them as their masters prepared battle spells. The dead men were turned to red mist dozens of times as the reptilians tried to get through them, but healed just as fast as they were destroyed, stalling them. Then, the priests held up wands and amulets surrounded by auras of black light, and the reptilians burst apart into dust, or turned into piles of bone, or simply flopped down onto the ground, bodies emptied of guts and life alike.

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I glanced over at the ghouls, but they had already taken care of their attackers. Now, the colonel and his subordinate officers were beating the soldiers about the head and shoulders, to get them to stop eating the enemy. They'd have enough time for that when the mission was over, they promised.

I looked down at the reptilian who'd tried to jump me, and saw it coming up at me, fire blazing around its body from the speed. The spot where it had jumped from was a steaming crater, the sides smooth and glassy.

As it reached for my throat and eyes, claws extended, fanged mouth open and snarling, I jabbed two fingers through its eyes, and kept pushing until I felt something spongy and soft-in comparison with its scaled body, that is.

Fingers scrabbling at its brain, I drew upon my power to shape weather. The bastard was still moving-the only thing my move had done was removing its sight-, still trying to beat me to a pulp. Grinning, I tapped into my power, and lightning danced around my hand, shaped into a spear by my will. I sent it deep into its brain, and received a claw swipe to the eyes in response. A clawed foot kicked me in the balls.

I frowned. No respect for showmanship, I swear...I'd been hoping to end this scaly arsehole with a lightning spear, but  no.

I ripped my hand free of its skull, pulverising it, and returned its little favour. The reptilian didn't have genitals of any kind, but that didn't stop my kick from pasting its body.

I watched the bloody mess fall to the ground. A ghoul who'd started laughing at the beginning of my fight with the reptilian was still in mid-laugh. The fight had only seemed long to me.

I let myself fall, and zipped over to the colonel. His eyes flickered from my bloodied, loaned ARC uniform to the remains of my opponent, and he nodded approvingly.

I was going to ask about the next step when Olympus Mons rumbled.

You know those Bond movie scenes when the villain's lair rises or opens, if it's domed? It was like that. Roughly humanoid, reptilian-sized figures broke off from the mountain in their millions. It was like seeing the mountain shed a layer.

The mountaintop split apart to reveal three figures. Not stone men, but reptilians, though unlike any I'd seen yet.

One seemed to be an albino, white-scaled and pink-eyed, twice my height, a muscular tail covered in black spikes lashing at the air behind it. Its pink eyes zeroed in on me, and turned red.

The second was an ordinary reptilian, in terms of size, but it was changing colour and fading out of reality like a glitch in a videogame. It smirked widely, showing needle teeth.

In the middle was a hunched, pale green reptilian, barely a metre tall. I couldn't see anything unusual, besides its tiny, unassuming appearance.

It worried me the most.