Alien Mine

Editor's note: this story contains scenes of rough, reluctant, dubiously consensual, or non-consensual sex.

Chapter 12B

Rhys sprang into action when he got Amancia's call. They had practiced this over and over, and it took only three minutes and 20 seconds to get everyone aboard the shuttle. Sandy got them airborne while everyone else scrambled into armor and grabbed their weapons. The strike team was there, a few in just their underwear having been asleep. Extra sets of armor and weapons were always kept on the shuttle for just this purpose. He briefed them as they pulled on their armor and checked their weapons.

"Extra load-out on the heavies, Mike, no need for a sniper weapon; this will be close fighting," Kiania said. Mike nodded and picked up a chain gun. Truth was, he had fallen in love with the power of the weapon. Explosive rocket assist rounds that would chew through armor or a building. William was in armor, attaching his auto-cannon. Even more potent than the chain gun, he had extra load-out on his back and a drone by his side with additional ammunition. Mike didn't know what to make of the drones, they were too natural-looking, and he just wasn't comfortable working with them. None the less he had one attached to him; they all did. Everyone had practiced with the heavily armed machines, but this was the first time they had gone into actual combat with them.

Kiania looked over the team with a critical eye, checking everyone's gear and armor. She was satisfied with what she saw; the men were excited but went about putting their gear together in a professional manner. "We're good," she told Rhys.

"Five minutes," Sandy said, projecting a map in the air showing the position of Leslie's car and the pursuing vehicles. "Shit, there are Trangrods ahead of them; want to bet our friendly Om is there as well?

"God Damn it," ready on the weapons, I want those fuckers taken out as soon as we are in range. Then we will go after that thing from the warehouse; keep a lookout; it's got to be there somewhere.

Thea watched nervously as Leslie's car jumped the curb and into the open field. Their sensors detected an energy discharge, but then the Trangrod were in range, and all the shuttle weapons began firing.

"Fuck," Rhys swore as he saw the hole open up in from of the car and the two women eject from it. "Good job on the car Thea. Leave the humans to Amancia and Leslie," he said, but Sandy interrupted him.

"There it is, about 6.5 kilometers ahead," she said, zooming in on something that was darker than night.

That was insanely close for a ship designed to fight in the reaches of space. "Fire!" Rhys ordered, and bright yellow beams reached out from the shuttle to touch the darkness.

"It's not there; it disappeared just as we fired,'' Thea said.

Return fire briefly hit the shuttle, but the shields shrugged it aside. It would take more than a handheld weapon to cause any damage.

Sandy zoomed in further with the sensors as the shuttle came over the spot and began to descend. " Rhys, there's a tunnel; it's gone underground."

"All right," Rhys said, "drop us here; we are going after it. Take the shuttle and see if you can tell where this tunnel goes."

Rhys, Kiania, and the strike team leaped out while the shuttle hovered just above the ground. Then Sandy brought the shuttle just high enough for the sensors to penetrate far enough underground. As she flew northeast, the subterranean complex was displayed on the sensors. About a mile in length, it opened up underground in two areas 100 meters in diameter and had three exits, not counting the one Rhys had just dropped down into.

"Take out the other exits," Rhys ordered as he slowly moved into the tunnel. Rhys was moving cautiously, drones out in front. He had no intention of fighting this thing at close quarters; he wanted to corner and destroy it with high explosives and lasers from the shuttle.

Sandy and Thea felt the familiar shift into combat mode as she followed Rhys' orders. Everything sped up. Into a slow-motion blur of action that moves like a glacier. Sandy always thought it was amazing how much can pass through a mind in a millisecond. Taking the shuttle up, she mentally pointed out the other entrances to Thea, who quickly destroyed them with laser beams that sliced through the ground and collapsed the tunnels.

Rhys sent one of Thea's new tiger drones into the tunnel, staying low to the ground. It was accompanied by three of her smaller flying ones moving ahead. Rhys controlled two of the four-legged drones, as did Kiania, and this would be the first real test of this technology. The drones worked well in simulation, and the integration with the symbiont seemed flawless. Just think your intentions at Bob, and he translated them into action for the drone, but of course, regular humans did not have that kind of abilities, so their use of drones was more limited. Still, Sarge had two at his command, but they were mainly for defense, carrying extra load-outs for the heavy weapons.

The tunnel mouth they entered had been well concealed until the shuttle's weapons had burned through, leaving a dark hole that descended steeply into the ground. It was oval rather than round, about two meters in diameter, but the shape seemed off to Rhys, definitely alien, he thought. The walls were covered by some kind of organic material, smooth to the touch but soft as if pressing against a leathery skin.

Rhys paused when he felt something almost tickling his mind. Then, recognizing it, he let it in, and suddenly everyone was connected with the shuttle AI, all their minds together exchanging information at the speed of thought. He had only felt this once before, during the battle in space. Now He, Sandy, Amancia, and Kiania were tightly linked, seeing what the others were seeing, and the combined mind knew what each was thinking. There was something different about it this time, as if another presence was there, but Rhys dismissed it as plans were formulated, examined, and discarded in a millisecond before deciding on one.

There was no visible light for the human eye, but plenty in the lower infrared and even some in the ultraviolet range. Rhys could see in all the bands without difficulty, and the men's helmets displayed the same frequencies but not as clearly. The tunnel sloped down at a steep angle, probably about fifteen degrees, Rhys thought. He led the way, followed by Mike, one of the riflemen. Each was armed with Thea's latest rifle and grenade launcher, deadly against Trangrods but only marginal against the Om they had encountered, Rhys guessed. William and Anthony were next with the auto-cannon and chain gun to provide heavy fire support to the front or rear. Each had an armed drone with additional ammunition.

Sarge was next, followed by Isaac and then Kiania in the rear with two more drones. Sandy and Kiania had wanted Rhys in the back; they had argued that this was what he had trained Kiania for, but Rhys was experienced at this kind of fighting, and besides, he couldn't let Kiania lead against the Om that had nearly killed them. Moreover, the unusual light frequencies in the tunnel made everything appear distorted to Rhys, and he was worried about how the team would function in these conditions. Not exactly the best for their first alien contact. "Sarge, how is everyone?" he asked on a private channel.

"Good to go," he replied, but the stress was evident in his voice.

Bringing up the rear, Kiania would typically have been walking backward, but instead, she had their rear covered by flying drones and one of the tigers. That freed her up to focus on the deployment of the strike team and enabled Kiania to respond to threats from either direction. Rhys instructed the drones he controlled to move on ahead. The tunnel dipped and then turned to the left. The small dragonflies flew around the bend close to the walls while the tiger drone seemed to collapse in on itself as it moved close to the ground before following. The dragonflies flew down what appeared to be a smooth corridor for about fifty meters and abruptly stopped transmitting, Rhys had a brief glimpse of Trangrods before the bugs suddenly died.

They all saw it simultaneously, and Rhys dropped to the floor, watching the approach through the eyes of the tiger. It was like being in two places at once, he thought. The symbiont connection with the drones let him see as though he was the drone. Data scrolled over his eyes as well, Bob categorizing the threat, feeding him information about movement, weapons, and attack vectors. A similar but limited amount of information was displayed on the visor of the men. It wasn't a tac-grid, but it was better than anything they had ever seen.

William moved up behind him, cannon ready. The Trangrods, there were four of them, didn't seem to recognize the tiger as a threat and ignored it initially. "All right, let's see what it can do," he said, commanding the drone to attack. Like the tiger it was named for, the drone sprang up and charged the first Om machine. Two bounds, and it leaped, Drans metallic claws outstretched and mouth open, six-inch fangs extending from the metal jaws. Rhys mentally flinched as he saw the first Trangrod fire, but the rounds glanced off the Drans metal, while the drone continued its attack. Like its namesake, the drone attacked in a rush, claws, and mouth ripping, the two artificial machines tearing at each other.

Rhys and William stepped around the curving tunnel and added their fire. William's auto-cannon hammering into the Trangrods while Rhys pumped grenades at the ones further back. The Trangrods were unprepared for the intense fire, and the new weapons and explosives were even more effective than Rhys had imagined. "

Thanks, Thea

," he said quickly before ordering William to cease firing. Rhys advanced down the tunnel, the drone still alive but damaged. The sensation of fighting in two separate bodies had been almost overwhelming. He had not felt pain when the drone was fighting, but he was aware of it taking damage, almost like his own body was being torn at by the Trangrods metal claws. Rhys also saw how easy it would be to get target fixation. For an instant, it had felt as if he was closing his jaws on the Trangrod and had to consciously pull back from the drone to keep himself focused on the battle. He sent a brief warning to Kiania and sent the tiger down the tunnel to see what other threats awaited them.

Sandy and Thea had been following the battle through the tac grid, but Mei could not, so Sandy kept up a running account of the fight.

"Isn't there anything we can do," Mei asked?

'Not yet, Sandy replied, "the Om is blocking our sensors. We can see the tunnels but not anything else." Sandy's mind was working furiously with the shuttle's AI trying to sort out the jamming, or at least identify where it was coming from. They had been able to counter the jamming when searching for Leslie, but the Om seemed to have learned a few new tricks as well. She bit her lip in frustration as she watched her lovers move deeper into the tunnel system.

"

We are finished with the interrogation. Can you pick us up? The police are on their way, and Leslie wants to go to Rhys; I think it would be better for her to be on the shuttle

.

"

Ok, coming in, let's make this quick. I want to be back in position to kill that Om if we get the chance

."

"Going to pick up Amancia and Leslie before the police arrive," she said to Thea's questioning look as the shuttle turned and hovered over the ground.

Leslie and Amancia bounded into the shuttle and then into the control room as Sandy took them back up to where they could cover the area. They both looked like they had been in a fight but didn't seem hurt. Dented armor, dirt smudges, but otherwise ok. Leslie, however, was splattered with blood, but not hers.

"

Leslie has anger problems; the interrogation was effective but messy

," Amancia said in response to a raised eyebrow from Sandy.

Sandy nodded while focusing on trying to break the jamming. Yes, she could feel the anger still flowing from Leslie, that and the frustration of not being with Rhys in battle. They all had that, it was difficult, but Leslie did not seem to be dealing with it as well as the rest of them. The problem was she was used to being in charge, the alpha bitch. Now she was just a bitch, not the alpha, and she didn't like it. Sandy's attention switched back to Rhys. "Stand by; I think we have something," she said.

Rhys had continued past the wrecked Trangrods and down deeper into the tunnel. He wanted to move faster now but had to keep it slow so the rest of the team could keep up. One of the problems working with ordinary humans. The tunnel continued to twist and turn for no apparent reasons, but it slowed their advance. He motioned everyone to pause just before they came into an open area, sending the damaged drone ahead. The drone saw something black, and Rhys' connection to it died simultaneously as the wall exploded well behind him, followed by Trangrods pouring through the rubble.

"Down!" Kiania yelled and shoved herself away from the tunnel wall, abandoning a clear shot along the passage for cover. "Take cover!" There was metallic scuttling as the black insects emerged as if from a nest. Their movements were swift but robot-like as if preprogrammed, the shapes were the same, stilt-like legs supporting a rounder body with armor-plated segments overlapping for protection. The Trangrods fired automatic weapons, and Kiania wondered why they were not more heavily armed but was thankful for it. Their own armor was good enough now to withstand the fire, and she opened up with her rifle as the tac-grid erupted with insects and incoming explosives, grenades, and chaingun fire outgoing.

Warheads detonated like strings of giant, deadly firecrackers, and her view disappeared as the tunnel was filled with blasting shrapnel that cracked and shuddered against her suit. Targeting the hole, she poured fire power into it, but more Trangrods scrambled through. "Grenades' ' she shouted as one of the alien machines died at her feet

.

Sarge and Mike were caught in the initial blast, each thrown in a different direction by the explosion. They were stunned for a second, but now they added their fire, launching grenades into the hole. The Trangrods were quickly piling out of the tunnel, like the insects they resembled, uncaring about their own casualties as they climbed over the dead or broken bodies. Anthony turned and cut loose with the auto-cannon, staggering as the recoil almost knocked him down despite his armor. Trangrod armor and legs came apart under that fire, and Isaac and Kiania added their own to the maelstrom of destruction. Firing from the ground where he landed, Sarge saw the explosion from his grenade knock over one of the Trangrods, then another as the auto-cannon blew it to pieces.

"

Fire fire fire!" Kiania yelled, running forward into the tunnel as grenades and rifle fire blew everything to hell. Standing in front of the newly opened tunnel, she leveled her weapon just as a racing Trangrod darted through the smoke and fire coming directly at her. Not giving an inch, she fired, and the body came apart as others fired around her, a storm of bullets, grenades, and exploding, spinning debris. The final Trangrod came apart, torn and ripped in all directions.

"A distraction!" a part of the combined mind noted calmly. "It will attack, Move now!"

A spot appeared on her tac grid, not red like the others, but blue, and approaching Rhys. "What was that?" Sandy thought briefly but was too busy to worry about it right now.

Dave started to roll to his feet, but his leg buckled as pain shot through him. Gasping, he fell back. Damn, it's broken," he said, looking at his leg. Anthony got to his feet, staggering but staying upright. He had caught more of the force of the blast, but had been thrown clear, with the armor protecting him for the most part.

"Anthony, stay with him and get ready to cover us if we need to retreat. Isaac, with me, we are going after Rhys," Kiania ordered.

When the fighting started, Rhys did not look back but remained focused on what was ahead. He trusted Kiania to protect his back, and the real danger was up ahead, still cloaked in inky black. Rhys pressed forward with William following. "Don't worry about our rear; Kiania is there; that's our target," he said, pointing out the black dot on the tac grid. Rhys could feel something similar to the experience in the warehouse, a palpable feeling pressing on his mind and a nauseating smell, almost like a barrier. He risked a quick glance at William, but he didn't seem affected. He sent his remaining drone slowly up ahead, searching for the blackness.

The blackness was just inside one of the open areas as if waiting to pounce on an unwary intruder. There was a raw stench of death surrounding the Om. Bones littered the floor, some half chewed, the remains of a grisly meal.

Part of Rhys' mind noted the warning and the target designation on his tac grid without having time to wonder where it came from. A quick exchange of thoughts and Laser beams flashed down, melting through the tunnels, collapsing all except one the Om would have to use to escape. Isaac and Kiania joined Rhys; and Kiania sent her remaining drone ahead to attack. The drones moved swiftly toward the darkness, accelerating to 100 kps while firing. William had maintained discipline and was ready when Rhys told him to fire, laying down a tremendous amount of firepower at something he could only vaguely see. He had a target on his heads-up display, and that was all he needed. The barrel of his auto-cannon extended around the curve of the tunnel, the only part of him exposed.

Rhys added his own, as did Kiania, and for a second, the patch of darkness was lit up by the explosive rounds impacting it. Then a violet beam lashed out, and the drones fell to the ground in pieces, while the dark blob remained still despite the fire it was taking. Then with two quick leaps, like a grasshopper jumping across the grass, it was upon them. Rhys moved, anticipating the Om's speed, but Isaac went down as the beam weapon found him severing his right arm at the shoulder. The armor offered no protection from the beam but sealed over the wound as he fell to the ground unconscious. The combined mind made an instant decision, and Rhys hurtled to meet the Om before it could fire again.

Rhys fired into the Om point-blank as he found himself in the clutches of the alien being. Multiple appendages grabbed him with a strength he could not match as his bullets bounced harmlessly off the exotic alien armor. Rhys struggled to get out of the grasp, but it was like fighting against steel cables. He was pulled in close, and a sharp appendage shot forward into his chest. He felt pain briefly as the Om drove it through his armor and into his chest, but it could not penetrate his bio-polymer muscles. Rhys knew it wasn't trying to kill him; the Om was after his symbiont, and the virus it was injecting was designed to attack and destroy Bob.

Rhys struggled to get away, but the Om held him tightly like a spider grasping its prey. Kiania couldn't fire for fear of hitting Rhys, but thoughts were exchanged, and decisions were reached. Bob had been ready this time, and the barriers it had designed after the first attack held. The nano-virus that had done so much damage previously were now being deflected harmlessly, and this time Bob had his own weapons ready, sending his own virus back into the Om. Rhys could sense the battle raging between the symbiont and its ancient enemy, but there was little he could do until he noticed a silvery cloud forming around him.

The nano-bits from the cruiser! Rhys felt a slight nudging at his mind, and something else joined as he opened the link he had formed with the others. Suddenly it was there, whatever It was, and the silvery cloud took shape as it flowed from Rhys to surround the Om. Wisps of the cloud entered the mouth or hole in the creature's head while the rest covered the body. The counter-attack was instant and violent to the Om, and the darkness disappeared, revealing its true shape. William recoiled at the sight; three times the size of a Trangrod, it screamed 'alien' and looked deadly, like a strange new insect you knew was poisonous and shouldn't be touched. The nanobits poured in, seeking out their own ancient enemy. Rhys felt an alien scream of rage and panic from the Om beating on his mind as it let go of him and tried to pull away. Instead of letting it go, Rhys grabbed the appendage stuck into his chest, trying to hold it there while the nano-bits attacked.