“Any questions?”
Kline’s eyes searched the faces of every soldier in the room. No hesitation. No fear. Just quiet readiness.
Operation Yamato’s final act. Three teams. Three objectives. Red Team—destroy the Exodus ship itself by deploying a single spider nuke that would obliterate the Union’s prize possession. Green Team—download the Exodus Project’s blueprints by gaining access to the assembly center’s information hub. Blue Team—locate and extract C19H, the Exodus Project’s power core, an energy cell so powerful it rivaled all known energy-producing devices.
“Expect heavy resistance. They will protect the Exodus with everything they’ve got.”
“Are they anticipating an attack?” asked one of the special ops soldiers.
“As of several hours ago, yes, but to our knowledge they have no idea what our tactical approach is.”
Nine soldiers. Ten, counting Kline. He would lead the Blue Team in an effort to commandeer C19H, the ship’s highly classified and mysterious power core. Destroying the Exodus and seizing its power core were Operation Yamato’s two most critical objectives. If those two goals were not met, the mission would be a failure.
“Precision, accuracy, and speed. Stay light, stay focused. We only get one shot at this. You have ten minutes. Meet me in the chamber. Be ready.”
Kline left the briefing room. Examined his tactical suit and armament one last time. Headed to the elevator. There, the foreman conversed with one of his engineers.
“You headed down?” asked the foreman. Kline nodded. The foreman stepped into the elevator alongside him.
Eeiirrt. Eeeiiirrrt. Eeiirrt. The elevator squeaked as it descended.
A low rumble reverberated through the elevator shaft. The conveyance ground to a halt. A red light flashed. The elevator shook. Kline grabbed hold of the side rail.
The foreman wiped his brow. Checked his datapad. Grimaced. “Increased seismic activity this week. Subsurface quakes.”
Kline frowned.
The foreman continued, “Everything’s holding. Soon as you set that nuke, though, you’d better get out fast. These corridors weren’t built to withstand that kind of trauma.”
The elevator started moving again. Kline’s eyes narrowed. Nobody had prepped him regarding this new threat.
