Everyone sat in front of the console terminal that Erin had used as the controller. It showed the layout of two different hexagonal sectors in 2 dimensions. She quickly tapped a few buttons and the lights of the hall dimmed as a 3D holographic display showed a detailed schematic of Unity and Sanctuary sector side by side.

“Unity sector lies here,” Erin said pointing at the larger hexagonal structure. “Its transit hub has fallen to ruin. No direct path exists for entry.”

The hologram zoomed out slightly and panned to the side to show a closer look at Sanctuary sector and the multiple pathways that led to Unity sector.

“Sanctuary sector borders Unity here,” Erin continued, tracing the connection between the two hexagons. “It too crawls with abominations, yet offers passage through this maintenance tunnel.”

Kyle leaned closer to the display. “That’s where Clyde is?”

“It is the only uncorrupted entity that registers at these coordinates,” Erin said. “Your brother resides in what appears to be a storage chamber of the facility, infested by flesh structures. The path tunnels leading to the sector are also highly infested.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s infested,” Gale said. “What’s the best route to Unity?”

The hologram spun again as Erin tapped on her bracer. It zoomed in on the paths between the sectors.

“Upon arrival at Sanctuary, you must proceed to the Core Chamber here.” She indicated an entry duct within Sanctuary’s Core Chamber. “Within dwells a maintenance duct that leads to this service route. This service route continues until it meets the civilian path. At this junction, two choices present themselves.”

The first path Erin had laid out was a path that followed 12, 9, 12, 9, 7, 9, 10, 2. The last two paths were long straight paths and an entry duct that exited to the middle of the sector.

On the other hand, the second path led to a shorter path that had more turns, which would need clearing before proceeding. This one had a path that followed 12, 9, 2, 11, 9, 6, 10. The path also had more red signatures all over the walls, floor, and ceilings, which didn’t give any confidence.

“Path 1,” she said, “carries you through these maintenance ducts, emerging here.” Her finger tapped a spot near the pulsing dot in Unity sector. “This position lies approximately two hundred metres from where the entity resides.”

“And the second path?” Rachel asked.

Erin’s finger moved to trace the alternative route. “Path 2 offers wider tunnels originally designed for civilian evacuation. The space permits greater tactical flexibility, yet demands more time to traverse due to these seven turns and three elevation changes.”

Gale focused on the direct route. “Is Path 1 infested as well?”

“The invaders shun tight spaces,” Erin replied. “The initial infested civilian tunnel will lead to a service duct that is clean of any infestation.”

Gale turned to the rest of the team, specifically more to Ollie and Lily. “Thoughts?”

Ollie rubbed his chin. “Tight spaces mean limited movement, but faster travel. If these things don’t infest ducts, that’d give us a break from fighting before we get to the main part of the operation.”

“Assuming the instruments are working accurately, and the instruments are accurate at pinpointing where the infestation is,” Lily stepped forward to the hologram, tracing Path Two with her finger. “Wider tunnels give us room to manoeuvre if we’re attacked, while duct tunnels would have only the person at the rear or the front fighting at a time.”

“But Path 2 takes longer,” Kyle said. “Every fucking second counts.”

“Rushing will get us killed. We’re already doing this mission. Might as well do it right,” Lily said.

“Kyle,” Rachel said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’re going to get him back. But we need to do it correctly.”

Kyle winced at what Rachel said, but took her hand and nodded. “Sorry. You’re right.”

“Don’t say sorry. We’ll fuck those abominations up,” Rachel said.

Ollie pointed to several junctions on Path Two. “These areas could be choke points if we’re pursued. We could set traps, create diversions.”

“Diversion works only if they possess intelligence enough to track you,” Erin said. “These abominations operate on primitive faculties.”

“They were smart enough to grab Clyde,” Kyle muttered.

“They were always smart. Remember Harmony sector and the eyeball watchers?” Gale said. “They waited and struck at the best opportunity. They probably knew Clyde was the most non-mobile too.”

Kyle clenched his fist, his face contorted. “I should’ve been at the back. I should’ve…”

“Kyle, we’ll make them pay eventually,” Gale said, and that wasn’t a lie. One of the missions was literally to annihilate the corruption, which meant completely culling everything. He’d ask Erin later.

Lily walked around the hologram, viewing the map from different angles. “What about contingencies? If the direct route is blocked or we get separated?”

“The ducts connect at these three points,” Ollie said, pointing to intersections where the paths converged briefly before separating again. “We could map alternative routes.”

Rachel raised her hand. “Smaller spaces are probably better for my skills. Burn up the whole tunnel through a jet of flames, then close it up.”

“That’s a last resort. That would lead to closing up our exit route,” Ollie said, looking to Gale.

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“Right. But I think Rachel has a good idea this time. We try to go for the 1st path first. I’ll be vanguard until the tunnels, then I switch with Rachel,” Gale said. “We do usual positions with Lily at front first.”

It didn’t make sense for Gale to be the scout, even if he could potentially gather information better than Lily. She wouldn’t be able to protect the rest of the group if the abominations bypassed the scout and charged straight at the main group.

“Lily, what you think?” Ollie asked.

“It’s solid. No other plans unless we want to look at more roundabout ways, and that might be too late,” Lily said, then turning to Gale. “You calling the shots like back then?”

Gale nodded. Surviving was his forte. Rescue is just one part of survival. It’s just how he stole the boon from the bear’s nest in one piece and unharmed. “Probability is just probability. What matters is to make choices that’ll make the opponent make mistakes that increase it. A standard assault may be less than 1%, but this is nothing but standard, right, Rachel?”

Rachel nodded, smiling but also having something fierce in her eyes. “Kyle, we’re going to get your brother back even if it’s the last thing we do.”

*

The train hummed through the darkness of the sector tunnels. Nearly five hours had passed in near silence. Gale watched them all as the tunnel lights passed by the windows.

Kyle had been gripping his dagger tightly and would randomly fidget with it. Rachel sat beside him, sometimes saying words like ‘it’ll be okay’ to Kyle. Ollie sat across from them, closing his eyes with furrowed brows and leaning his head on the window. Lily sat beside him, reciting something inaudible.

Gale sat beside Rachel, and in front of him was Erin, shaking her legs.

“My participation in this rescue should be reconsidered,” she said as she looked directly at Gale. “My involvement should be at the terminal providing critical oversight of the operation.”

Kyle’s head snapped up. “What?”

“I did not expect my physical presence to be part of this team,” Erin continued. “I believe this is a mistake. From Sanctuary’s control hub, I can control instruments that provide guidance and superior intelligence against the abomination.”

Gale sighed. “We’re already down a person. Besides, everyone here knows you can fight even with that injury. Your ice spears could provide cover fire from near Ollie’s position.”

“Without intelligence, the success of this mission is at jeopardy,” Erin said. “The terminal provides all the information in detail we need to secure the passages of Sanctuary and Unity’s outer and civilian pathways.”

“The entire map’s red,” Lily waved her hand. “You’ve already told us that. What’s the point of knowing more red stuff in our path?”

Erin narrowed her eyes slightly. “If there are moving abominations about, I could provide the necessary tactical information.”

Lily pointed to herself. “Scout. That’s already my job. No point in redundancy.”

“We need fighters, not observers,” Gale said. “You’re coming with us, Erin. An extra person can change the tides of the battle.”

Erin paused herself before speaking up. It looked like she was thinking about it, calculating something in her head that she missed. Or maybe, she’s just thinking of a counterpoint to get back to the terminal.

“My combat effectiveness is suboptimal compared to my strategic value,” she finally said.

“Look. You see those spider mech tachikomis?” Ollie said. “What happens to you if we die? They’ll put you back as battery one way or another.”

Erin didn’t reply to that one. Instead, she intently looked back at Gale, waiting for him to speak.

“Those flesh abominations aren’t going to stop at Unity sector,” Gale said. “If we fail, we die. And if we die, you’ll die a slow death, whether that be from the abomination invading or the tachikomis making you a battery again. In other words, you’ll just die slower than us.”

The train shuddered, beginning to slow down. The side of the tunnels changed into smooth white rock akin to marble. Blue inlays littered as patterns on the sidewalls of the tunnel.

“A valid argument,” Erin’s legs stopped shaking. “I shall provide backline support.”

“Good,” Rachel said.

The train’s brakes fully engaged as the train decelerated quicker than before. Through the windows, the outline of the transit hub could be seen. Multiple embryonic pods, sacred wombs, dangled off the ceiling and walls. All of them had a rhythmic expansion and compression as if they were breathing. The smell hit them as they entered, making Kyle almost gag.

“Lily,” Ollie said.

Lily whispered inaudibly, then pointed at each of the team members’ throats where a light blue sigil appeared.

“Air purification sigil. It’ll last a whole day,” she said, then pulling out her phone and creating a timer for 24 hours. “I’ll refresh the duration when I get the alert.”

Everyone stood up and moved to the door. As the train came to a full stop, Erin tapped on her bracer, opening the train door with a hiss.

“Let’s move,” Gale said, stepping onto the platform. “Lily, you’re up.”

Lily stepped forward, moving past Gale into the transit hub. Her boots splashed on the viscous red liquid flowing through the stone floor of the sector. She lowered her centre mass and nodded to everyone before continuing to the first pillar of the hub.

Gale moved next, boots splashing against the same shit. Kyle followed next, hand on dagger, clenched tight. This was followed by Ollie, Erin, and then lastly Rachel as the rearguard.

Passing through the transit hub, everyone looked up and to the side of the walls. Sacred wombs or what the team called embryonic sacs, were clustered above and to the side. They all held something inside them in their transparent, bulging sacs of green fluid. Some looked like deformed humans with metallic augmentations and extra limbs. Others contained creatures with just torsos and sliced off limbs. Some had no skin on their heads, while others had a hole in their chests right where the hearts should be.

“Focus on the path,” Gale said.

“These were clearly humans transformed into something,” Ollie whispered from behind. “From what I’ve seen so far, they’re clearly humans from Earth.”

“Question is, how are they producing more in this place?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t even want to know,” Ollie said.

Lily held up her fist, stopping their advance. Twenty metres ahead was a fountain that seemed to have its water replaced by a bright green liquid. Its surface bubbled, releasing small clouds of vapour that dissipated before reaching the ceiling. Marks of corrosion on the stone ceiling could be seen above the fountain.

“Acid,” Lily said, pointing up. “We need to go around.”

“Path clear on the right,” Gale said, checking both sides. The right path was narrower but didn’t have as many embryonic sacs hanging down.

They skirted the edge of the acid pool, keeping their backs to the wall of flesh. Gale counted sixteen separate types of embryonic sacs as they passed. Each one contained something more twisted than the last cluster they passed. They looked to be more ‘mature’, if that made any sense for a description.

The bodies inside had more augments. A couple of them had their eyes gouged out, replaced by a metal ocular device that ran wires through the base of their heads. Another one had a glowing heart that beat at a rate of 160 bpm. One didn’t even have a head. It was replaced by a full on metal skull. Would it even have sentience once it was born?

As they reached the far side of the acid pool, Lily pointed ahead. “Defense hall entrance, fifty metres.”

They picked up the pace, still moving cautiously. The floor began to slope upward, leading to a large archway that would eventually take them to the Core Chamber.

Suddenly, a large embryonic sac hanging at the top of the arc began convulsing. With each convulsion, it bulged more and more until it split open. A wet tearing sound echoed in the vicinity as fluid splashed on the floor.

Green-yellow fluid gushed out, splashing onto the floor. Something dropped from the sac, a bony, thin, hairless figure hit the floor, twitching and gasping for air.

“Back,” Gale commanded.

Lily went back to the main group, behind Gale.

The thing pushed itself up, but it looked towards the group. Where its left eye should have been was just smooth bone. The right one, though, had a red ocular lens; its aperture contracted as its gaze landed on the group. Its chest held a glowing red heart, beating at a high rate, while its hands and feet were replaced by long jagged black metal blades.

“The fuck is that?” Kyle said.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep