“Always,” Keryn replied confidently before turning off her microphone.
Yen looked over his shoulder at the blue shades of hallway behind them. There was still no sign of the Terrans, though that barely put him at ease. They knew the ship significantly better than did Yen’s team. They also knew where Yen and his team were now headed. From their current position, it left little doubt that the engine room would be their target. Even now, they could be moving parallel to his position, taking shortcuts in order to cut them off. The more Yen thought about it, the more real the possibility became. This was their ship, after all. It made sense that they would be flanking Yen, trying to destroy him before he could complete his mission. He glanced nervously left and right. Though there were no shadows in the blue glow of the thermal goggles, Yen could feel the presence of Terrans all around him. It had been over a century since the last Alliance soldier was on board a Terran ship. No one knew what technology they had in their possession. Maybe they were able to cloak themselves from heat signatures.
Yen raised his fist, calling the team to a halt. Penchant, from the point position, and Adam, from the rear of the group, came to Yen’s side to find out what made them stop. They both looked at Yen inquisitively, though the psychic’s focus seemed a million miles away.
“We need to keep moving,” Penchant said quietly.
“We’re almost above the engines,” Adam added. Yen knew he was right. He could feel the gentle vibrations in the floor. “Let’s get this mission done and get out of here.”
“No,” Yen said sternly, his eyes slowly coming back into focus. “No, they’re waiting for us.”
“You can’t know that,” Penchant replied impatiently.
Yen frowned. Through the goggles, Penchant couldn’t see the stern look Yen gave, though the intent was obvious. “I can know it. I can feel it in the walls, under my feet, in the air. They’re all around us, even now.”
Adam looked around nervously. Gesturing, the team spread out further, hiding as well as possible in the surrounding alcoves. “I hope you’re not right, Yen,” Adam whispered. “We’re too close to the back of the Destroyer to suddenly run into a small army of Terrans.”
Yen closed his eyes, letting the contrasting blue and red heat signatures disappear into an open field of black. There was a use of his psychic power that Yen had used before, when he served as a spotter on a sniper team. Then, he had used his abilities to look through solid walls to find Terran soldiers before his team entered a building. Breathing deeply, Yen let that same power saturate his mind.
Adam took a step back as waves of heat patterns danced in the air around Yen. The patterns swirled as though Yen were caught in the center of a raging inferno. A stab of pain bit into Yen’s forehead above his right eye, but he shook it away without a second thought, concentrating instead on finding his focus. As he opened his eyes, the walls around him melted away. His thermal-enhanced vision pierced the solid structures of the ship, revealing a gentle glow of heat from a short distance ahead, near the rear of the Destroyer. Pushing his second sight deeper into the ship, the glow consolidated into individual heat signatures. Yen had been right. Not only had the Terrans flanked his position and cut him off from the engine room, they had already set up defensive positions around the stairwell and elevator lifts that would grant access to the lower engines. If they were to complete their mission, Yen and his team would have to find a way through the Terran defenders.
Walls slowly reformed in his vision as Yen retracted his psychic powers until, finally, he found himself standing back with his team. Grimacing, his head pounding, Yen rested his hands on his knees as he waited for the nausea to subside. “They’ve set up another ambush for us.”
“Where?” Penchant asked. “How many?”
Yen took a deep breath and stood upright. The world swam before his eyes for a moment before settling. “There are about thirty or so Terrans dug in around the stairs and elevators at the rear of the ship. They’re set up around some sort of open foyer.”
“Then we go another way,” Adam stated.
Yen shook his head. “There is no other way. By now, the Terrans have cut us off from behind too.”
“So we just go forward,” Penchant said, his tone implying that it was not a question. Yen smiled weakly, knowing that if anyone would be eager for a fight, it would be the Lithid.
“Yes,” Yen confirmed. “We go forward and we finish the mission we started.”
“I’m assuming you have a plan,” Adam said, shrugging his shoulders in defeat.
“More or less.”
“That isn’t very convincing,” Adam frowned.
“Well, I have less of a plan and more of a good idea,” Yen said, smiling mischievously. “Adam, I want you to take a team over one hall and then turn toward the back of the ship. I’ll take the other team and continue on ahead. This still won’t be an easy fight and our only real chance is to hit them from multiple angles to keep them guessing.”
“What about them?” Adam asked, pointing at the three wounded.
Oradine, one of Yen’s Avalon soldiers, was still bleeding from an abdominal wound in spite of the coagulants applied to the gunshot. They would be a liability during the battle. He really only had one choice.
“We leave them here for now,” Yen said, regretfully. “Once we make a hole through the Terrans, we gather them up before we move to the Cair.”
Adam’s brow furrowed in disapproval. “What if the hole we make through the Terran ambush is only temporary? What if we don’t have time to come back and get them?”
Yen frowned, already foreseeing Adam’s line of questioning. He had wondered the same things before making the difficult decision. “We can say ‘what if’ all day, but in the end it has to be my decision. If I’m wrong about this and we have to leave them, then I’ll be the one that has to live with it.”
He could see Adam’s disappointment, but the Pilgrim said nothing else. Yen and Adam split the team down the middle, the Oterian remaining with Yen so that each group carried a heavy machine gun. As the others checked their weapons and any explosives they carried, Yen pulled Adam aside.
“This isn’t going to be an easy fight,” Yen explained. “Stay on your toes.”
“What do you want to use as the signal to engage?” Adam’s tone was completely professional, betraying nothing of his previous dissatisfaction.
“The Terrans will be on thermals too, but we’re going to try to minimize their effectiveness in this fight. Stay out of sight with your team until I initiate contact. If all goes well, I’ll be able to open a small window where the Terrans will be distracted. You move when that happens.”
Adam nodded in agreement. “In that case, I should be wishing you luck. Sounds like you’re just suicidal enough to need it!”
Reaching out, they shook hands before Adam turned away. Gathering his team, he jogged back down the hall, the way they had already come. Shortly thereafter, he found the side hallway and disappeared from sight. Yen watched a moment longer, making sure he wasn’t surprised by gunfire. When he was confident that Adam was on his way, Yen gathered his own men and moved down the hall.
After only a brief walk, Yen slowed his group. Ahead, an open doorway emitted a steady glow of heat. Slipping forward, Yen moved until he could peer around the corner of the alcove and examine the source of the glow. Beyond the open doorway, the room opened into a metal shop, which glowed with its own red aura of warmth. Stepping inside, Yen felt the heat rolling off of the majority of tools within the shop. When the Alliance had attacked, the shop must have been in full use, repairing and fortifying the Destroyer. Though evacuated quickly, the ambient warmth remained long after the Terrans were gone. Yen held his hand above a set of welding torches, the tips of which still glowed a brilliant white. The flame when lit, Yen realized, would have to burn incredibly hot to still leave such a high residual heat after being turned off for quite some time. Slowly, a plan began formulating in his mind. With a smile, Yen picked up the nearest torch, examining the searing tip. This would be just the distraction Adam would need to make his attack. Picking up a second torch, Yen rejoined his team. No one made a comment about his new weapons as he moved them further down the hall. Eventually, the hallway ended in a sharp turn, one that Yen knew would lead to the open foyer beyond.