Star Crusades Nexus: Book 05 - Prophecy of Fire by Michael G. Thomas Page A

Lieutenant cut them off.
    “It doesn’t matter either way. We have to get in there and stop them. The last two ambushes failed, but they still managed to escape. We need prisoners and a successful counter-operation. This will be it.”
    Jack wasn’t so sure, but they moved on until the passageway widened the split with the hall on one side and a staircase leading up on the right. Callahan lifted his carbine slightly and aimed up the staircase.
    “Up, Sir?”
    “Affirmative.”
    It didn’t take long for them to reach the next level up in the narrow stairwell. The doors were all missing, and refuse and debris filled the hallways. They ignored it all and moved on to the next and final level. Halfway up the stairs, Callahan stopped and lifted his hand. The group stopped and automatically dropped down to one knee.
    “What is it?” asked Riku.
    There was silence for perhaps three seconds, and then an insurgent appeared and looked down at them. The breathing apparatus hid his face, but his body language suggested he’d been caught by complete surprise. Even the Helion’s rifle was hung low as though he had not expected to see a threat on the stairs at this point. Jack leaned forward, grabbed his lead arm, and yanked down. The insurgent lost his footing, and they stumbled down the steps until he reached Riku. Although slight, she had no problem in dropping her knee down onto his chest and pinned him to the step.
    “Stay,” she whispered.
    Callahan moved his carbine around the corner at the top of the steps and watched the video feed from the sight directly on his helmet overlay. It showed a short passageway of six to seven meters and then a broken doorway leading to a long passageway that must have run for the entire length of the building. He nodded and went ahead with Jack and the Lieutenant right behind. Their footsteps crunched on the flaked paint and dust that seemed to litter the place. Jack slowed his breathing, but his pulse continued to race as he watched for signs of the insurgents. He spotted the green shapes on his overlay; it was a group of Hammerheads that had landed near the Bulldogs.
    Good, the Medevac teams are here.
    There was little worse than the idea that you might be left injured on a battlefield, with no chance of help. They reached the broken doorway and fanned out, but it was clearly almost entirely deserted, but for one place, a large room with two doors that looked like a machine room. The door was missing, and Jack could see large pieces of machinery lined up, presumably refinery machines or tooling of some kind. He almost missed the twinkle of a gun sight and then dropped to the floor.
    “What is..” started Riku, but a large caliber round burned a fist-sized hole in the wall exactly where Jack’s head had been.
    Lieutenant Elvidge ducked to the left away from the doorway and toward the smaller entrance off to the left and further down the passageway. Riku followed in the same direction and was about to enter when Jack spotted something like a fine, silvery line, almost like a spider’s web.
    “Stop!” he cried.
    The gunfire from the machine room was light, but every single round was aimed through the larger doorway.
    Yeah, they want us to take the other door.
    “Looks like a booby-trap, Sir.”
    Riku squeezed past the officer and bent down to check. It only took a few seconds for her to confirm Jack’s fears.
    “Yeah, you’re right, it’s a trap all right. Tripwire and a thermal wall charge, we were lucky!”
    The Lieutenant nodded politely to Jack, a modest gesture but one that meant a lot under the circumstances. He pointed to the doorway that Jack and Callahan were watching.
    “Yours?”
    Callahan was on his knees and checking the frame but staying back to avoid defensive fire. He finally lifted himself back up and spoke quietly.
    “This one’s clear.”
    Lieutenant Elvidge inched back with Riku in tow.
    “Very well,” he considered his options for just a few seconds, “we