The tactical diagrams were superior to X-Rays, and the tactical satellite in orbit some 150,000 miles nearly straight up was feeding him plenty of those, but they couldn't penetrate beyond the outer perimeter. What Odyssey’s sensors could tell him at this distance, even though the deepest depth of the water as they were in, proved slightly more useful. This meant that they wouldn’t be useful to find out where Captain Winter was being held inside that compound, and so he couldn’t rely on them. Snipers could tell him what was going on on the outside, and could make sure the remaining tangos in the surrounding area (yeah, there were still a bunch of the armed and variably identically uniformed bozos still around pulling the graveyard shift—more literally if they tried to make a move) didn’t blow the proverbial whistle on the fact that the most elite of special operators known to any intelligent in the know bi-pedal humanoid were present on this planet, and had no compunction about carrying out their mission by any means necessary and as was permitted by the rules of engagement, on which Daniel and the rest of this detachment were experts. The mission objective was clear: get our man back. If only it was as simple as the statement of four simple words. And it would be, so long as the stealth systems in their suits remained functional. And it was designed to be unless one of them deliberately shut it off. That wouldn’t happen unless Daniel, as their field team leader, gave the order, or all communication was severed and the tactical status quo had changed so radically that stealth was no longer needed, or proved to be more a hindrance to the mission than a tactical advantage. As hard as it was to believe, and it was to Daniel and the rest of this detachment, there were times (at least from a strategic projection’s ‘guess’ standpoint in rare mission instances) where that could be the case. Given the Shadow’s MOS—very rarely.
The passive and active sensor relays embedded into group two’s combat gear penetrated the compounds every minute detail, even the slightest imperfections in the air conditioning and circulation system were briefly highlighted. The inner compounds tactical and strategic ‘weaknesses’ became obvious in a question of about ten seconds. The scans were like sonar, but dozens of times more clear and precise, and the map didn’t fade away. There was a vast network of tunnels, corridors, and utility access points, rooms of various size, and armed alien personnel virtually everywhere. The deeper the compound, the more cramped things were going to get between navigating through the presence of hostile personnel, and the sheer number of variably tactically sound areas where things might get dicey if a firefight were to break out were infiltration be the primary goal by which to find Captain Winter. Daniel reasoned this had to be some kind of terrorist ‘forward-operating-base’ if terrorists had such a thing. These terrorists didn’t strike him as the run-of-the-mill bad guys. Their planning, their organizational infrastructure, their weapons, and outfitting all told him whatever snake was at the head of this madness had to be dealt with directly. Negotiation was probably going to be unlikely to be an effective resolve. But that planning would be for another day, and it might not be him that will spearhead that op, should it get green-lit by the CIC. As many times as he had trained for such situations, he would be ok with that.
There was a dense concentration of activity a dozen stories down, and more west, this information that was also visible to group two via their HUDs. Daniel highlighted the route he wanted them to take to their next destination on his handheld, and then signaled them to move out. The route appeared on their HUDs as they faced deeper into the tunnel, stood up, formed a single-file line, raised their rifles and started marching while continuing to pan around them, just in case. They were still running on night vision, and they could smell the downed targets. The tangos weren’t dead, but their combat armor and uniforms were burned from being shot. If they were to regain consciousness before they could reach their destination. . . And then there was the question of how busy they were going to be if an alarm would be raised, and what might happen to the hostage. . .? That much was clear: nothing. They would make sure of that. It wouldn’t be long before they could phase again.
Group two was approaching the door to the way ahead. Daniel looked at his handheld and read how his next most recent order was ‘weapons-free’, and the time that he gave that order. They were still cloaked, which means that if the hostiles didn’t have the outfitting to permeate the cloaking technology, they wouldn’t know what hit ‘em.
There were multiple hostiles in the adjoining corridors ahead, and the door was locked.
Group two stacked up on both sides of the doorway. 3D scans revealed the door was secured by twin pin barrel hinges—and that lock! Picking the lock would take too long.
“Breach and clear!” Daniel commanded, watching the night vision video feed.
One Shadow stepped forward, took a device resembling a tongue depressor out of a small storage compartment hanging from their right hip, sharply extended the device like pulling tape out of a tape depressor and then pressed the device around the edge of the doorway. The device lit up in the Shadows’ HUDs. In two seconds, the doorway disappeared and the Shadows marched inside as a two-by-two formation like a flood.
A tango walked around the corner and looked in the Shadows’ direction. There was a breeze where there had not been a breeze before, and where there shouldn’t be one.
It quickly made a low growling noise as it raised its rifle hanging from its shoulder.
As group two marched the two Shadows in front snapped and fired two shots each. Plumes of a dark matter shot from the tango’s upper torso as it sharply collapsed backward into a wall and crumbled onto the ground.
The indicators on the viewscreen said the targets were down. For now, at least, Daniel thought.
Group two got ready to take a sharp right, tucking their rifles under their arms as they turned the corner and then aimed normally continuing to quickly march as the last two around the corner faced the opposite direction for several seconds. The corridor way behind them was clear. They quickly rejoined the group.
Daniel watched the indicators revealing group two’s real-time location in the compound in relation to their destination and their objective. They were getting closer by the second—more tangos were ahead, and on every level between group two’s location and their destination. There were several levels to go before group two could attempt an action on the objective.
The behavior of the indicators representing the rest of the tangos in the compound indicated they didn’t know group two was there. What appeared to be Captain Winter’s indicator appeared stationary, and he wasn’t alone. The compound must have been some kind of forward operating base, Daniel reasoned. Even with group two completely cloaked, with so many tangos so close together in that place, a direct assault could blow group two’s cover. The cloaking system is effective, but if the tangos knew or figured out how to see through it, things would get messy. Fast. Especially considering these aliens’ reputation.
They haven’t yet. That was the good news. Daniel wanted it to stay that way.
Daniel pulled up info about the aliens on his handheld—a longer paragraph detailing The Union’s history with dealing with them appeared. He read it in seconds, then queried information about the aliens on the compound that Odyssey had sensor stills of from their descent earlier. . . Shoot. Who the tangos were working for was confirmed by Intelligence.
He fingered back to his operational notes and made another entry.
Aaen’s eyes were adjusting to the lighting. He wasn’t comfortable and figured he wasn’t going to be. Those dark figures were still tall, and still dark, but the angle they were standing at gave him a vague glimpse of their faces—
This rescue op was gonna be tricky, Daniel thought, looking over his shoulder for an instant at the Shadow behind him. “Distance?” he asked directly.
The Shadow looked at the data on his computer monitor, quickly wrote down a few digital notes on the monitor and then turned to the front of the bridge, “Group two is about a hundred meters from the destination. Multiple tangos ahead!” he eyed several new sensor contacts on a 3D map of the geographical area surrounding the base. “We’ve also got hostile aircraft approaching from our four o’clock! ETA: two minutes!”
“Roger that.” Daniel acknowledged. “Keep tracking the aircraft,”
“We’re picking up inbound comm traffic. Attempting to trace to the source!”
“Roger that!” Daniel acknowledged. “Let’s tap the signal and record and interpret when able,”
“Aye, sir!” the work began immediately.
“Group two is eight meters from destination!”
“Check!” Daniel acknowledged, fingering more data into his handheld. He looked up and saw there were too many hostiles nearby. “Group two, weapons-reserved!” he commanded. Group two would only fire when fired upon. For now.
The number of red indicators near group two were increasing by the second. They didn’t look like they were looking for them, maybe they were headed for Captain Winter?
They needed to find out what Captain Winter’s status is, and what the tactical situation was in his immediate vicinity. Group two was fifty meters away from their destination.
It wouldn’t be long now.
*****
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