Chapter 2

IT WAS TIME TO let them know who they were fighting.

Firbin crouched low. He held a pistol in one hand and in the other, his container of homemade munition. He pushed his body forward, half running, and half sliding past the stairwell. At the same time, he flung the explosive up and outward and then shot it with his gun. The moment the bullet hit the container, it exploded, sending white light and flames up the stairs where a contingent of soldiers were waiting to attack.

There were shouts, and screams as the men became engulfed in fire. Those that managed to break free came out onto the platform shooting. Firbin returned their fire. Niail and Weise added their own skill. Within seconds of the attack, the enemy was defeated. A couple of soldiers were able to surrender, but the rest were dead.

They had cleared their first barrier.

“What the hell was that?” Captain Barton barked as he pushed his hair away from his forehead. “Why didn’t you wait for us before storming in?”

Firbin stood and readjusted his pack. “You were busy.”

Barton looked at the pile of bodies that barricaded the stairwell and motioned to his men. “We’d best clear this away.”

Firbin bent and picked up the shards of the container that had held his explosive. He pulled a larger package from his bag and secured the pieces inside. It was dangerous to let the enemy know too much about their technology.

“I thought you said you didn’t have anything from your planet?” Barton’s tone was accusatory.

Firbin shrugged. “I said I might.”

Barton rolled his eyes. “I’m glad I’m fighting with you guys and not against.”

“We fight for what is right.” Niail’s voice was serious as he walked up to them. “That is an honorable thing.”

“You do the same.” Firbin slapped the captain on the back. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be here with us.”

Barton grunted and walked back to his men. It took several minutes for the stairs to be cleared and the wounded attended to. They still had a number of security levels to break through before they’d be safe. Who knew what awaited them ahead.

“It will not be easy.” Jehon crossed his arms over his chest. “We need to proceed with caution. The humans are too vulnerable.”

“We can take the lead.” Niail hoisted his rifle onto his shoulder. “I feel safer knowing what to expect.”

“Agreed.”

Jehon gave Demil the signal to join them. Demil was clan Saidir and had been on earth for over thirty years. He knew better than most Hunters how humans thought. Jehon also motioned for Weise to join them.

“We will go ahead. Yagar can bring up the rear. He still has a couple of the wounded to attend to,” Jehon said.

Firbin frowned as he scanned the stairs now that they were cleared. They were metal with concrete walls. There was something wrong about the stair rails attached to the walls. They were too thick and not necessary. It was unusual to have a safety measure like a railing in a place that was meant for military use.

“What are you sensing?” Jehon followed the direction of his gaze.

He had worked on several missions with Jehon in the past. They were comfortable with each other and Jehon was one of the few warriors in the unit that didn’t treat him like a child that needed protection. He might be the youngest of the Hunters by several years, but his talent in explosives had earned him a place in the elite unit that guarded the High Council on Cygnus. Jehon respected his skills.

“The railings are wrong.”

“Have a care.” Jehon looked over at the others. “Weise, will the cameras still roll on a loop?”

“Yes.” Weise was definite. “Once we are up the stairs, I can reassess. From what I saw, they are all attached on the same circuit.”

“Good.” Firbin dropped his pack and edged closer to the stairs. “I don’t want them seeing me undoing their handiwork.”

Barton’s crew had cleared away the dead so he was able to inspect the stairs without interference. He squatted down by the first railing and tilted his head under. Wires were taped to the underside and ran up the length. He hadn’t been wrong.

“It’s wired.”

“Damn,” Barton swore.

He started to move closer, but Firbin waved him back. “It is best if I do this alone.”

“They were expecting us.” Jehon’s words echoed in his head.

“How?” Niail asked. “All the attacks have been coordinated, so they didn’t have any reaction time.”

“There is a traitor in the H.R.F.” Jehon’s voice was matter of fact.

Firbin had to agree. Not all of the humans were convinced that the Albireons were a danger to their planet. They did not have the same experience with the aliens that the Hunters did. They only saw the good that they were getting in the form of advanced technology and opportunities to make money. They did not consider that many human lives would be lost. There was no point in worrying about it now. It was done.

The element of surprise was gone.

“I shouldn’t have any difficulties with disarming this.” Firbin reached into his bag and pulled a smaller packet of tools. “Notify Ardal that he is walking into a trap.”

“Done.” Jehon went over to Captain Barton.

Firbin focused on the problem before him. In some respects the explosives were primitive and in others very advance. There was evidence that the Albireons had helped with the devices attached to the railing. That was what they had expected though. Alien technology combined with human.

Firbin whistled a popular song he’d heard on the radio. Hunters did not listen to music on Cygnus so the novelty of hearing it on this planet intrigued Firbin. It amused him to mimic human habits. It also helped him focus.

He took out a pair of pliers and reached for the first connection point. He popped the box and took a look inside. It would take a few minutes to trace all of the wires. His only concern now was that there might be a new surveillance system when he reached the top.

It was slow and tedious work.

He reached the top of the railing and followed the explosives to an ignition box that was set on a remote starter. For whatever reason, the soldiers had failed to trigger the detonator. His fingers moved quickly as he detached wires and unarmed the system. When he had everything disconnected, he gave the go ahead to Jehon.

“This was set with a thermite-based compound.” Firbin stood and showed the explosive to Jehon. “It was wired for remote ignition, but not activated. The Albireons may have had everything pre-wired in case of any attack and not necessarily because of us.”

“We will not take a chance. From here on, we will proceed as if we are expected.”

“Understood.”

Firbin picked up the explosives, ignitors, and switches and stowed them in his bag. Without ignition there would be no explosion, so he left the thermite in place. He might have a use for them later. When he had packed everything away, he fell in place behind Weise. Captain Barton had already received his orders from Jehon and his men were at the back. Yagar was the last man. He would warn them of any attack from the rear.

The top of the stairs opened up into a series of hallways. It was eerily silent. Firbin would have expected guards to be posted at the hallway intersections. None were there. They were being led into another ambush. They had no choice. They had to move further into the compound in order to find the Albireons.

There was a bank of elevators in the center of one of the halls. It had the number six on the outside. The information they had received from the H.R.F. said that level seven and eight was where they should find the Albireons. They had to find a way down.

Elevators would be deathtraps in a situation like this.

Jehon moved passed the elevators and down the hall.

The stairs were at the end.

A set on both sides.

They could not risk using them without first checking for an ambush. Firbin had come prepared for this. He reached into his pack and pulled out a couple of tennis balls. Primitive, but effective. He threw one to Jehon, who went to the opposite stair well.

“On the count of three.” Firbin nodded.

“One, two, three.”

Together they pushed the door open with their weapons and threw the balls down.

They weren’t disappointed. The resounding echo of gunfire met their efforts. Both sides had soldiers waiting. It was time for something more deadly than a tennis ball. Firbin reached in and pulled out two of his anti-matter explosives. He’d salvaged them from their crash on Earth and kept them for a special occasion. These were definitely not found on this planet and were capable of clearing the stairs instantly.

He set and threw the first one down the stairwell closest to him. It was on a timer of ten seconds. Just enough time to shut the door and wait.

The explosion was silent.

Vapor was the only evidence that it had been effective.

He ran across the hall and threw the second one down the stairs. Again, the vapor let him know he’d hit his target. This time when he opened the door a crack and threw the ball down there was no gunfire. Niail was the first to proceed down. Everyone followed him. On the next level they would be facing Albireons and that meant that not only bullets, but fire would be necessary to be certain that they were dead.

Albireons had the ability to regenerate, so unless a bullet severed their brain stem, they could still function and heal themselves. There would be no mistakes with this mission. Every Albireon was to be killed and their bodies abolished. None were to be left on the planet.

It was a room to room search and destroy mission.

Barton took half of his men, along with Weise, Demil, and Yagar, and went down to the lowest level. The rest of the H.R.F. soldiers and Jehon, Firbin, and Niail went down the other stairs to the next floor. Thero stayed as their lookout. There were no human security people on these levels. They were restricted to the aliens and that suited their purposes just fine. They wanted to minimize human loss and focus all of their attention on the Albireons.

Firbin pulled out the direct energy weapon that had been modified for this battle. The humans thought that the technology was restricted. Once Eogan, a Hunter who had been held in captivity by the humans working with the Albireons, had joined them, he’d given them detailed lists of the weaponry at the disposal of the aliens.

They had used the information and produced their own weapons.

Two by two they divided up and went into each room, killing every Albireon they came in contact with. Shooting and then blasting them with the direct energy weapon so that they were incinerated. The air was filled with smoke and the smell of death, but that didn’t stop their relentless mission.

They couldn’t risk leaving even one Albireon alive.

There was one room left for Firbin and his human partner, Gus, to check. Firbin nodded his head twice at Gus. That was the go signal he used with the human. It was so much easier to communicate by mind connect.

Gus flung the door open and rushed in shooting.

Firbin followed.

He aimed his weapon and fired at the first Albireon, obliterating him. Another three aliens stood around a table. It was a sterile room with bookcases of white steel and glass shelves lining three of the walls. He killed the next two before they could react.

The third grabbed someone from the table and used them as a shield.

The hostage was human.

Gus raised his weapon to fire.

“Stop.” Firbin’s voice echoed around the room.

“We can’t risk it.”

Firbin kicked out at Gus, pushing him over so that he was lying face down on the floor and his gun went skittering across the tile floor. Gus scrambled for the weapon. Once he retrieved it, he kept it aimed on the alien.

“No.” Firbin’s command echoed through the stark room.

“We can’t worry about collateral damage, I’ll try and shoot him in the head.” Gus’s eyes narrowed as he focused on his target.

“We cannot risk it.”

The Albireon was using a woman hostage as a shield. She was petite with long, blonde hair and pale-blue eyes that were filled with fear. She was dressed in a navy knee-high pencil-skirt and matching blazer jacket. She looked like one of the business women that Firbin had seen on the television commercials. Perfect and professional.

Firbin lowered his weapon.

“Hunters do not harm women. Ever.”