Tenzin turned away from Lucas and the others and lowered his voice. “Jane, what’s the latest on raider activity in this area?”
Jane began speaking rapidly directly into Tenzin’s earpiece. “The latest report from Oculus was clean for this sector, but my own analysis of their source data does indicate the possibility of a new raider enclave two valleys over. I can’t give you anything more without more information.”
Tenzin nodded to himself. “Understood. Try to access a satellite and get a more current image.”
Tenzin turned back towards the group and called out to Sven from where he stood watch. “Sven, launch some HAWKS and scan the town for signs of hostile activity.”
“Right away, Captain,” the man responded.
As Sven hurried over to his equipment, Tenzin shifted anxiously in his armor. He realized that even though the sun was high and the desert was hot, he wasn’t sweating. He resolved to thank Rick again when he got back to base.
In a few moments Sven had his surveillance equipment out and ready. With the press of a button three small shots pierced the silence as the HAWKS launched from the top of the nearest transport. Tenzin strained his eyes to follow the bird-like drones as they glided over Arkjut’s walls. As he watched them disappear, Tenzin noticed Lucas approach.
“Do you think they got attacked?” the balding man asked with just a hint of nervousness.
“I don’t know yet,” Tenzin said, still looking up the valley. “There doesn’t seem to be any damage done to the town, and we’ve no reports of enemy movements in the area. I’m just being careful.”
Lucas nodded, but Tenzin’s answer obviously didn’t satisfy him. The other four engineers in his team must have felt the same, because they huddled closer together and edged back towards the trasnports. Tenzin smiled. As much as Glaucus seemed to regret the need for Aegis’ squads and weapons, they sure appreciated the protection when things got dangerous.
Tenzin walked over to where Sven worked. “See anything yet, Sven?”
“Negative, Captain,” Sven replied. “Not a single person in sight, not even any heat sources in the buildings. It’s like the whole town vanished.”
Tenzin felt a stab of worry in his stomach but simply nodded. “Keep searching. Do a sweep out to the fields and the solar farm before setting up a holding pattern over the town.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tenzin stepped off to the side and addressed Jane again. “Jane, what are my options?”
Once again, Jane immediately began speaking in Tenzin’s ear at the maximum speed he could handle. “The villagers either surrendered without a fight and were taken prisoner, or they all made it to the emergency bunker underneath the communications tower.”
Tenzin considered this for a moment. “Option 2 makes more sense. They saw some raiders coming, got spooked and hid.” A sudden insight struck Tenzin. “Lack of power due to solar farm failure could have kept them from contacting us.” This made sense to Tenzin, and help relieve the feeling of worry gnawing at him.
“Do you have a current satellite feed yet?” he asked. “I don’t want anyone sneaking up on us.”
Consternation filled Jane’s voice as she continued. “I’m having trouble accessing any of Oculus’ spy satellites at the moment, but it’s very unlikely any raiders would still be here. Our transports made a lot of noise and dust. They’d be long gone by now.”
“Either way, I would like some backup here.”
“That’s unlikely to happen,” Jane said. “Remember, all of Aegis’ squads are currently deployed. We’ll be lucky to get a gunship from HQ.”
Tenzin sighed and grabbed his suit’s helmet from his stack of personal equipment. It was a dangerous task ahead of them, and Tenzin took his responsibility for the squad’s safety very seriously. Because the city walls went right up to the valley’s sharp cliffs, they would have to traverse the whole town to reach the bunker, under risk of ambush the entire time. But they couldn’t just leave, not when the townsfolk might potentially be in danger. That would be a betrayal of everything he fought for.
“Alright, Jane,” he said resolutely. “Contact HQ, update them on the situation and tell them we’re going in.”
Tenzin put his helmet on, expecting Jane to simply acknowledge his order, but she surprised him.
“I’m not sure that’s wise, Tenzin,” she said. “According to my calculations…”
Tenzin cut her off. “Just do it, Jane.” She stopped speaking instantly.
Tenzin knew Jane would make him regret being so snappy with her, but he didn’t have time for her discussions of quantum probability at the moment. He grabbed his rifle and activated his microphone.
“Keleres,” he yelled, “form up!”
He only had to wait a moment for all four squads to gather. He noted with pride that even as they did so they kept their eyes on the perimeter. He’d trained them well.
“Alright men, we’ll be acting under the assumption that the security of Arkjut has been compromised. There is a com bunker at the far end of town. Any remaining townsfolk most likely would have relocated there.”
Some of the soldiers shifted nervously, and Tenzin heard a bit of murmuring. He smiled. He was proud of the fact that each of soldiers had enough tactical know-how to recognize how risky a situation this was. He’d spent a lot of time and effort giving them that knowledge.
“Some of you are probably thinking we should just wait for backup, but that is not an option. Even if the other squads weren’t all out on assignments, we all know that most of the time we have to back them up!”
Several of the more experienced of the Keleres hooted softly at that. The nervousness and murmuring died down a bit as well as they caught the intensity in Tenzin’s voice.
“Time is of the essence,” Tenzin continued. “These people are under Minerva’s protection, and it is our duty to enforce that protection. We’re all alone out here, boys, but remember one thing. We are the Keleres, the toughest team Aegis has. We can handle this!”
The men let out a fierce cheer, making Tenzin grin. These were his men. They recognized the danger, but when duty called, they always responded, trusting him to lead them to victory. With soldiers like these at his side, Tenzin felt invincible.