The Lion's Hunt: Part 5

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PART V

Still covered in much of the innards of Commander Heiyan’Khul, Commander Vyuum stepped forward expecting to greet the Arms team’s commander. Etom' also wanted to express frustration at their lack of foresight but realised that Commander Laal’Fysun was not among them. The heads of every member of the Arms team dropped at the mention of their leader's name, and they gathered to explain the reason for their Commander’s absence. It was a brief story of jammed platform controls, an amassing contingent of enemy soldiers, and an audacious bluff from their commander that had saved the squad's lives.

Commander Laal’Fysun, a usually very astute Kurin commander, had sacrificed themselves to get their platform moving. They then sabotaged the controls leaving no option to return the platform to the surface. Knowing this, the Commander taunted the enemy to destroy the platform even with the team on board. The explosions from a few charges rolled from above would kill the Kurin combatants, but those explosions would almost certainly demolish the old platform too. Commander Fysun was grateful that the Surion soldiers were smart enough not to fall for the taunt, but while they concentrated on what to do about the descending Kurin soldiers, Commander Fysun could take advantage of their lack of focus elsewhere.

The Surion soldiers had searched Commander Fysun, but the Commander had hidden the detonator well. And when the opportune moment arose, Commander Fysun broke free from the Surion's grasp and tossed the detonator down to the soldiers below. Unfortunately, none of the Kurin soldiers on the platform expected the detonator, and it clattered to the platform's surface between them. They retrieved and inspected it, discovering that the screen had been cracked by the fall, but at least they had the device.

On the platform, members of the Heavy Arms team had gone about securing their explosives to the exposed walls of the elevator shaft, as per the orders of all the squads, while others among them tried to fix the detonator. Repair was, of course, impossible, but this wasn't a big issue as far as they were concerned. They could simply use the wiring they had in their packs to connect the explosives physically to each other. With the detonator attached, they would still have the option to activate them. The way they saw it, the result would be the same once the detonator was tethered to the explosives. They hadn’t yet realised why the outcome couldn’t be the same.

With the absence of Commander Fysun, the Arms team’s lieutenant, Imey’Eda, led the team now. However, it might be a responsibility they weren’t quite ready for as they seemed a little jittery. Unsure of what had happened to their commander, the emotions of everyone on the team ran hot. Commander Vyuum would need to establish command. Fortunately, Lieutenant Eda accepted that Commander Vyuum had operational control of the mission as the senior soldier on-site. None of the remaining Arms team members had tails even half as long as Etom' or Rekla'. Each was happy to defer to the legendary Kurin warrior’s experience.

Rekla’ took the Arms team’s detonator and inspected the damage. The screen was cracked, but as the triggers still appeared to function, the Lieutenant came to the same conclusion as the Arms team, securing the device until it was time to be called upon.

Etom’ struggled to identify the soldiers of the joining team but thought back to helping pick every member of this and every other squad on this mission. The commanders had to be meticulous in their choices. Still, the names of the soldiers were elusive to Commander Vyuum now. In a war this long, remembering their names felt almost pointless. As were attachments and bonds. They were often painfully ripped away with little chance of being able to say any meaningful goodbyes. For Commander Vyuum, Heiyan’Khul’s was one such death, but the Commander couldn’t show the pain of that loss right now. Leadership had to be maintained. But attachments were a reason to keep fighting, weren't they? Even through the pain of losing so many. And Etom’ had lost many. Almost three decades of war for the Commander made certain of that, but remembering all their names still felt futile. Remembering all their names would make the pain of those losses worse.

This war had gone on far longer than almost any Kurin had been alive. Just three council members and a smattering of elders back on their adopted world had been there on the Night of Exodus. The Kurin populous was becoming more aware that they didn't have the resources on their adopted homeworld of New Suri to fight this war indefinitely. Soldier’s rations had become sparser, resupplies were becoming rarer, and even communications back home were limited. As long as planet Surios had power, its inhabitants could keep fighting indefinitely and might go on to win this war. These four infiltration teams, small as they were, were meant to level the field. Or, at the very least, give the Kurin a fighting chance. The team’s primary missions were simple. Either cut the Surions off from their seemingly endless supply of power by destroying the elevator shafts and the platforms. Or the long shot, destroy that power source entirely.

Before the mission began, the chance of destroying the Surion power source was unlikely as doing so could irreparably damage the Surion homeworld. Still, the situation had unsurprisingly deteriorated, and options were at a premium. What they could not afford to do, though, was give up. Back above the skies of Surios, a massive compartmentalised part of the plan was unfolding. While Etom’ might curse their lack of options down here in this cavern, the losses up there would be for nothing if the infiltration teams failed.

Every Kurin soldier on this mission had brought with them packs containing wiring and communications gear. They brought batteries for their weapons, days-worth of rations in case they got cut off, and an assortment of high yield explosives that could be set off in various ways. The number of charges they had with them was enough to fulfil either of their missions twice over, but it was never just about how much you had with explosives. Where they were positioned could increase their effectiveness tenfold. That’s why they had spent so long on the elevator platforms. It was why they had ventured down into this cave at all. If they wanted to end this war with one decisive effort, this was the place to do it. Their mandate included them attaching explosives to all four elevator shafts and platforms. With the collapse of the elevator shafts, the Surions would have no access to the deep-lying naturally occurring liquid that powered most of their technologies. With no access to that liquid, they would struggle to charge their ships. They might not even be able to produce those ships, at least at the rate they were currently able to. With that slowdown in Surion production, the Kurin could press their advantage. They could win, but things often went wrong, even with the best-laid plans.

It had been a personal goal of Corporal Olin’Lawal to be instructed by the best. To watch how they made their decisions and learn how they reacted to desperate or impossible situations. With this insight, Olin’ hoped to become one of the greatest Kurin soldiers in history. Recent events let the soldier know that would likely never be the case. To become that took something more, and Olin' found it tough to accept that they were simply not a good soldier. Still, Corporal Lawal had watched Commander Etom’Vyuum over the last few days and had gained a valuable insight into what drove the Commander. It didn’t take long for Corporal Lawal to realise what had caused the sudden fall in Commander Vyuum’s energy. After the platform the Surion forces had been on was demolished, Etom' was clearly deflated. Olin’ felt it too, but no one else seemed to understand what its destruction meant.

Olin’ was amazed that the war hero, Commander Etom'Vyuum, gave instructions to the joining team without telling them of their colossal failure. As far as the Corporal was concerned, this mission had failed spectacularly when the Arms team destroyed that platform. Each Kurin team had done exactly as ordered, fixing explosives to the exposed walls of the elevator shafts, but of the four Kurin teams that had vied to make it down to the cavern, only three had been successful. All four infiltration squads had to make it to the cavern for both of their objectives to succeed. Or, more specifically, access to all four elevator shafts was a necessity. With a team not making it down, one elevator shaft had not received its allocation of charges. This was why each squad had been given so many explosives. If it became necessary for any of the teams to ride a different platform back to the surface, they would have enough charges to cover that shaft too. But with that platform destroyed, the remains of which were now a twisted smouldering heap of metal, there was no way to supply that shaft with explosives on a return journey. No one seemed willing to raise this point, but Commander Vyuum had to know. Corporal Lawal understood that it might not go down so well if an honourless, tailless soldier among them announced their incredible failure. So instead of interrupting, Olin’ waited and listened.

This made no sense, though. Commander Vyuum was a hero. Olin’ had seen it, so why now was that hero not sharing this pivotal information? The Commander continued to pass on orders, keeping the conjoined teams on task instead of sharing the more crushing news. Perhaps it was because one of their missions might, in a way, still be possible, but everything was dependant on timing. Ultimately, the goal of all Kurin soldiers was to win the war. They might not be able to entirely destroy the Surion’s access to their energy source, but if they slowed its retrieval, that might give Kurin forces the opportunity needed to press an advantage. That had to be the focus now, Olin’ thought.

Having had Lieutenant Kyuul check the Arms team's gear, Commander Vyuum was satisfied they had all they required. Bewilderingly, the Commander ordered the soldiers to empty their canisters of honey water and leave the bottles behind. There wouldn’t be another chance to collect the luminous rain, and with no other way to easily transport the liquid, this made the most sense. Nobody noticed that Commander Vyuum neglected to add their half-used bottle to the lot.

With that, Commander Vyuum ordered the soldiers to plant their explosives on the support struts and the two elevator platforms they weren't planning to use for the ride back to the surface. The two joined teams would ride one platform together later.

Corporal Lawal should have been with the teams as they headed out into the darkness but opted not to join them. Instead, after pouring out the contents of their own canister, Olin' moved next to Commander Vyuum and waited for them to be alone. Rekla’, having earlier found Corporal Lawal ducked behind that metal cart after the last skirmish, was ready to kick the soldier into gear, but Etom’ waved the Lieutenant away. Before Lieutenant Kyuul disappeared, Etom' handed their own pack over to the Lieutenant. Corporal Lawal seemed to have something to say, and the Commander wanted to give them a chance to say it privately.

Lieutenant Kyuul hadn’t realised the possible futility of the team’s efforts. Yes, they had suffered losses, but the Gods had allowed them to continue. Yet here was this young corporal, having displayed such cowardice and dishonour, now upsetting the mission further by expecting a private audience with Commander Vyuum. Maybe they needed a pep talk, Rekla’ thought. Whatever it was, even though the Commander had fought to have Corporal Lawal on the team, the Lieutenant was sure that this soldier was not meant to be among them.

The only reason Olin’Lawal had made it to this team was that Commander Vyuum had seen some value in the young soldier. The Corporal was still rough and probably not suited to battle, but Etom’ was sure there was a soldier of a much higher rank waiting to emerge. The questions Corporal Lawal asked as the two stood together were signs that they might one day have the capacity for leadership. One needed a particular aptitude and intuition for command, but while Olin’ required answers, Etom’ was tired. And sometimes, understanding the answers to some questions came from a place beyond words, so Etom’ offered none. Instead, hiding a knowing smile behind their faceplate, Commander Vyuum looked around and found a nearby cluster of rocks. Etom’ took a seat on the largest one and began cleaning armour that had been covered in the long strands of hair, skin, blood, and entrails of commander and friend, Heiyan’Khul.

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