Chương 163: Chapter 161 – Go Hornets

Back in the conference room, Cole took his seat again as Hard Tone lifted the projector screen. Underneath was a whiteboard. He noticed that Nona hadn't returned with the others. Despite her importance to the operation, she wasn't a team lead.

"Alright," said Hard Tone.

"We're going to be jumping into the unknown, here. First off, the eggheads have to figure out if we can even jump to whatever world the Beast Cult are occupying. Oak Ridge has been working on a sort of dimensional anchor to smooth the process and give us a foothold. Sort of like an interdimensional GPS that gives a fixed XDIM. I think this is the best use-case scenario I've seen for it, since we've got someone who can sneak it on world.

"Sounds handy," said Cole.

"Assuming it works, we get all three teams on-world. That caravan is massive but a big group isn't going to just walk in." Hard Tone drew a triangle on the board. At the top, she wrote infiltration. The bottom two legs became Fire support and Secondary support. She tapped the board with the marker.

"Three teams, three roles," said Carrion.

"Sounds straightforward."

"Maybe not," said Tone.

"Infiltration team starts with Blink, right? She's almost as good as having a local. Airborne, I'm guessing you want to be in there to watch her back."

"It's not Nona I'm worried about, if it comes down to it. She's got more tricks to slip out of sticky situations than you'd believe. But my ability can make a slog through a wary camp into a pretty quick grab n' go."

"Heard from Morganstern you put that to good use on Curahee. What's your distance look like these days?" Cole considered.

"Carrying another body, I can do about a kilometer on three charges. I can do that twice before I run dry." Hard Tone pursed her lips in a not bad gesture and put Cole's name under Nona's.

"I still want to make sure you guys have at least one heavy hitter in case whoever you nab puts up a fight. Level forty-plus, so that's my team. Heartbreaker, I think." She wrote the name under Cole's.

"If that's the case," said Carrion.

"Take Salsa, as well. She's quick and quiet. Her ability dampens sound and contains extra-sensory perceptions. Even if we have to burn a few charges to get the target under control, no one should start raining hell on us right away." Hard Tone nodded.

"That's four going into the camp itself. Already pushing it a bit. Alright, fire support. That's me, obviously. Can I assume I have Howitzer with me, Cole?" Cole nodded.

"He's got a bag of tricks and he's dead-nuts accurate with a stovepipe. Take Besson and Alexa with you, too. They can both provide support-by-fire with a decent overlook and the pups will sniff out anyone getting too close." Hard Tone scribbled their names under the fire support section. She put the rest of her team in the secondary support section, along with the rest of Carrion's team and the remaining members of Cole's. She tapped the secondary support section.

"This team is going to be QRF and holding the exfil route clear. They're also going to need someone for first aid in case we take wounds or the prisoner is critical. I'll have Sawbone there. Extraction team will head straight to the secondary support team, who will provide cover fire for the fire support team as they withdraw. Then we get the hell out."

"Simple, efficient," said Carrion.

"I like it. What are our break-points?" Hard Tone tapped her chin.

"They detect our portal infil, it's going to be a real short party, so that anchor's got to be a decent distance from the camp itself. If we ingress undetected, then getting into the camp, selecting a target, and pacifying the target are all potential spots where things can go wrong." She looked at Cole.

"You're certain that if we get someone unconscious, you can get them out of the camp and to the secondary support line?"

"Yes," said Cole.

"Good. Well, we're going to drill the hell out of this, both here and in a neutral off-world location so we can do it with enhancements active. There's only one thing missing. And that's a sure-fire way to pacify the prisoner. I have an idea for that. Cole, I want you along with my team on a little excursion, first. You up for it?" This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Always," said Cole.

"Where are we going?" * Three days later, Cole found himself in the portal pit as a blue and pink disk swirled, apparently leading to a Risk Index 4 world. Hard Tone and her two teammates checked gear and weapons. Heartbreaker was a tall pretty-boy with a perfect-ten smile that immediately pissed Cole off in a way that was absolutely not jealousy—yeah right. Anne Bonne was a shorter woman with a pair of swords at her hip and a stubby carbine strapped to her pack.

She'd leaned into the pirate motif with a tricorn hat, though it had the sheen of an otherworld armament and looked to have been made with the leather of some spotted creature.

"Remember," said Hard Tone.

"This isn't a mission. There's no rescue on this world. Think of it more like a safari. One where the big game starts about the size of an elephant and only gets bigger from there."

"Been meaning to do some hunting," Cole said, making sure his snakebite rifle was clean and clear. He began loading rounds into the internal magazine before strapping it back down to his pack. He held a drum up to his ravenous rifle as well, and the tentacles snaked around the polymer and began to extract bullets into whatever internal reservoir the gun used to digest and remake the ammunition. Hard Tone's teammate, Anne, gave it a disgusted look.

"Locals don't mind us poaching on their land?" asked Cole.

"Believe it or not, we're welcome there. So don't get trigger-happy. A few years back, the local god abducted a trio of humans. One stayed by choice, one was sent home, and the other? Well… let's just say he gave a whole new spin on the term moonshot. It's complicated." The other members of Hard Tone's team were giving each other meaningful looks.

"Complicated. Right." He tightened the cinch on his boonie cap and slung his pack up onto the back of the light vehicle before swinging over the side himself. He noticed the jerry cans strapped to the back.

"Gas vic?" he asked.

"Solar rechargers are unreliable where we're going," said Hard Tone. She slid behind the wheel and started up the engine while the other members mounted up. As soon as the portal stabilized, Hard Tone kicked the vehicle into gear and eased them across the threshold. The first thing that hit Cole was the heat. Arid, desert wind swept across a badland prairie, carrying sand and something slightly caustic. The second thing that hit Cole was the shade, despite it clearly being mid-day at both horizons.

He tipped the brim of his hat back and looked up.

"Woah," he said, staring up at what looked like a whole other planet.

"That thing is way too close for comfort. What is this place?" Anne raised her voice over the wheels crunching across scrub brush and gravel.

"The locals call this area The Land of Shaded Skies."

"Seems appropriate." Hard Tone's other teammate, Heartbreaker, grinned over at him with his million-dollar smile.

"Best kept secret in the Department." The vehicle trundled along, Hard Tone occasionally checking her compass. They passed a trio of grazing creatures with massive tusks, and a massive, lumbering ape the size of an elephant. Apparently, neither were what they'd come for. After about an hour, Cole caught the sound of another gas engine. He leaned over the side, eying the badlands around them until he finally caught a black smoke trail from an airplane to the north—or at least he thought it was an airplane.

Cole pointed it out.

"Tally," said Heartbreaker, following his gaze.

"Good eye. It's a scout. They'll spot us soon." Sure enough, a few minutes later, the aircraft banked toward them, engine making a somewhat strained noise as it passed overhead and then turned in a tight circle. Cole got a closer look at the thing, and it wasn't like any aircraft he'd ever seen on Earth. First off, it wasn't symmetrical. One wing was noticeably larger than the other, and the tail seemed to have been mounted at an angle to compensate.

It made the whole thing seem to slide slightly sideways through the air instead of flying straight. It circled them a few times and then flew back the direction it had come from. A while later, Cole spotted a column of dust rising in the distance. Hard Tone spotted it as well and slowed their vehicle down. She put it in neutral and hopped off the side of the vehicle to wait. She had her launcher at ease, but there was some tension in her posture.

"Keep your sidearm handy, Airborne," said Anne.

"But don't get twitchy." The dust column expanded, and Cole spotted ground vehicles approaching through the heat shimmer off the badland turf. He squinted, thinking they seemed to be much further than the clamor of even primitive engines would suggest, until he realized that the vehicles—as well as their riders— were at about one third the scale as their L-ATV.

"What the hell?" asked Cole. The vehicles approached and spread out, at least ten of them, crewed by tiny humanoid creatures that seemed to be jam-packed on each vehicle, way over capacity. They circled the L-ATV, hooting and raising up a ruckus until a half-dozen of them leapt from the vehicles without even waiting for them to slow. Rather than becoming smears on the terrain, they bounced, and came to a stop, pushing themselves up and approaching with wide eyes and very wide mouths filled with razor sharp teeth.

They only came up to about Cole's hip, and underneath the layer of badlands dust, it looked like they were covered in a short coat of blue fur. The envoys dashed up to Hard Tone, pushing each other to be the first to speak to her—which resulted in two separate fights breaking out.

"What am I looking at?" asked Cole. Anne rested her hands on the sword pommels at her hips and grinned back at him.

"Goblins."