CHAPTER NINE // GRANDE BOOM
0130 HOURS // PLANET ALPHA NOVUS FOUR
James sprinted back towards his team, having set the fuse for the explosive he had planted. Precision placement was the key in this particular mission. If the thing detonated but didn’t take out both doors, they would have blown their cover for nothing. If, on the other hand, it was too close and was detected, it would be disabled before it could explode. The only real option was to place it exactly right. James knew the exact range of the explosive detection systems in the rebel base, and he knew the exact blast radius of the explosive he had planted. His scans had provided him with a fairly accurate idea of where both doors were that he wanted to get rid of. Therefore, the laser rangefinder fitted to his helmet let him move back to the exactly perfect position to place the explosive.

“Down! Get down, Dante, this thing’s not going to discriminate between us and them. Whatever you do, team, do not catch any shrapnel; we want to get back to base in one piece. And nobody goes inside until I’ve confirmed the buildings within this rebel base are structurally sound. I do not want a repeat of two years ago. If there’s a collapse and we’re in there, we have less chance to survive than we did then.”

The shockwave from the explosion slammed into the four soldiers just before shrapnel peppered their armour and all the ground in a sixty metre radius from the source of detonation. All four of them ducked a massive piece of metal from a Genesis the rebels had stolen, which proceeded to knock down the three trees that had been still standing an instant earlier. From their position, Blue Team could see straight through where the airlock had been and into what was left of the rebel base.

“Well, I suppose we don’t need to scan, then. To me it looks like the place is on the verge of crumbling,” Cat laughed, “But then again, all rebel bases do.”

“I’m not going to risk disaster again. Two years ago, Cat, you got your Victoria Cross because you kept coming back in to a half collapsed building to save everyone you could. Hell, I should have died then. Shelby was killed because she came back in to try and get one of Dante’s team out of there and the rest of the building collapsed on top of her. The only reason Brendan wasn’t killed was because he was one of the ones you saved, and the only reason you and I weren’t killed was because we were outside when it fell down. I think we’re lucky. But it should never have happened. I knew the place was structurally unsound, but I led everyone in anyway, against my gut feeling – and against Brendan’s advice – and look what happened. I’m not going to make the same mistake again,” James deftly sidestepped a piece of shrapnel that had been thrown by a secondary blast within the building, “And so far the evidence suggests we would be wise to come back later, when the building has either fallen down or stabilised. Is our Cyclone still intact?”

“Over there,” Cat pointed at the overturned LRV, “Who wants to flip it?”

Everyone stepped forwards, looked at each other, and laughed.

“James? Your decision,” Dante nodded, “Unless someone wants to step backwards?”

Nobody moved.

“I think it’d be quieter to walk it, but it’ll take hours and we need to be back before anyone else is up. No, Brendan, we can’t have a game of zero-gee to decide. We don’t have time. It’s Dante’s turn to do something useful, isn’t it?”

“Er, yeah,” Brendan picked up a rock and threw it at the rebel base, “Can we get moving already?”

Later

“Are we there yet?”

“No, Brendan,” Cat sighed.

“How ‘bout now?”

“No!”

“Now?”

“Brendan, if you don’t shut up right now,” Dante reloaded his assault rifle, pointing it at Brendan’s faceplate, "You can eat lead."

“Okay, boys, calm down. I can see the base. The bad news is,” Cat sighed, “It’s sunrise. The others will be well and truly ready to recon the mines.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Uh, no,” James muttered something his team didn’t hear, then shook his head slowly, “They’ll be bored, most likely not warming up like they should, and they won’t want to wait while they do. I’ve got it sorted, though. I’m sending a message to the other teams to start getting warmed up to fight these rebels.”