They were of taut nerve, ready for action, and for the most part highly trained fighters. They were up against a force that was unprepared for the attack, and had no idea that their leader had been chilled—at any moment, they expected some kind of leadership, and none were prepared to take the lead. The explosion in the ob port had resounded along many levels of the redoubt, but without an alarm or any information to tell them what was occurring, the Illuminated Ones were easy meat.
Some were more alert and had better fighting instincts than others, banding together to try to form bridgeheads from which they could defend their positions. But despite their laser rifles, and the defensive strength of being inside the rooms that were overrun with the invading forces, they didn’t have the skills of the Gate and were soon eradicated. The invading fighters suffered few in the way of casualties, with only a few Crossroads dwellers getting caught in the cross fire. For the most part, the Gate warriors mopped up resistance with ease.
The companions stuck together as they swept through the redoubt, with Gloria and Tammy joining them when their paths crossed at corridor junctions.
“Where are Mildred and Doc, sweets?” Gloria yelled over the noise of blasterfire.
“I don’t know,” Ryan answered briefly. “We need to find them.”
Tammy soon joined the party, and they headed toward the sec door leading out onto the bridge.
“Over the other side there’s very little going on, but they must have some kind of warning by now,” Ryan shouted as they ran. “Can only get a few people over at a time, so we need to really hit hard and fast.”
He keyed in the sec code and the door rose, revealing the bridge stretching out over the chasm.
“Sweet Gaia,” Gloria breathed as she surveyed the narrow metal strip that ran across the abyss. “That’s gonna be a fucker if they come out the other end.”
“We’ll have to get across quick and hope they don’t, then,” Ryan said with gritted teeth as he stepped onto the metal, not looking down at the rock shelf below. “Tread lightly,” he said to Gloria and Tammy, “this bastard thing moves too much for my liking.”
“Don’t worry about us.” Gloria grinned. The Gate warriors had spent too long moving through trees and dense foliage, balancing and picking their way across branches, to be worried by the metal bridge.
Gloria and Tammy moved across behind Ryan and Krysty, and before Jak, Dean and J.B. The Gate women looked over the side at the chasm and at the ledge populated by the subhumans.
“What the fuck are those poor bastards?” Tammy asked.
“More experiments by these coldhearted scum,” Dean said softly. “Could be us, if we hadn’t got the hell out in time.”
Tammy shook her head sadly. “Be a better place without any of those scum fuckers.”
They were halfway across when the sec door on the opposite side opened. A sec squad of Illuminated Ones was behind the door, armed with laser blasters. It was obvious that they were now aware of the battles taking place on the other side of the redoubt. Although they hadn’t had time to recce fully, it was possible that some of the corridors curved around the chasm, and war parties had already reached that area, alerting the Illuminated Ones to the invasion.
Whatever the reason, the party standing on the metal bridge now found itself at the mercy of the sec squad, with nowhere to run.
“Damn those bastards to hell,” Ryan yelled as he pulled the Steyr from his back and blasted toward the gathering of sec that were clustered in the doorway. The rounds from the rifle ripped through them, scattering the Illuminated Ones. Some fell to the ground, chilled or fatally wounded. Others dived backward to get out of the angle of the shots. Others still dropped to their stomachs and began to fire back with wayward blasts of laser fire that dipped wildly about the bridge.
“Try and keep out of range,” Krysty yelled, diving to the moving floor of the bridge and attempting to take aim with her .38 Smith & Wesson. But the bridge was now beginning to sway wildly as the seven people gathered on it began evasive maneuvers. Both Ryan and J.B. were trying to aim their weapons with one hand while gripping the thin metal rail with their free hands in an attempt to duck out of the way of the laser blasts and still stay on the walkway.