Three Square Meals Ch. 065

Moving at a quick pace, they closed the distance with the camp, and started to see glimpses of the brown-hued pyramids through the thick foliage. There were a couple of guard posts on the perimeter of the camp, offering good vantage points over the base. Oddly enough there were no fences or security walls of any kind, adding further evidence to support Rachel's pheromones theory of how the Kintark were controlling the prisoners and maintaining order.

"It looks like two guards per tower," John said over the Paragon closed-comm network.

The girls moved fluidly in response, with Dana and Rachel covering the nearest pathway that led deeper into the base, while Alyssa drew alongside him.

*West tower first?* she suggested.

*You take the seated guard,* he replied, as they both raised the big, glossy white rifles.

"VrmPkaow," the railguns whispered, sending hyper-accelerated rounds towards the oblivious Kintark soldiers. The bullets seemed to strike the Lizardmen at precisely the same time, their scaled heads exploding as the twenty-millimetre slugs smashed into their skulls. Both of them toppled over with barely a clatter, the noise too quiet to be heard over the background noise from the jungle.

Without wasting any time, John and Alyssa lined up their shots on the next targets, and eliminated them just as efficiently. With those two guards slain as well, both guard towers were now standing vacant, and this corner of the base was now unguarded. They could see a half-dozen pyramids beyond, with figures moving purposefully about their business, both Terran and Kintark alike.

There was only a short gap between the jungle and the outer edge of the camp, the Kintark being particularly lax about security this deep into their galactic territory. John wasn't about to complain though, as this all made their life easier. He raised his rifle to his shoulder, then approached the base, breaking cover from the treeline of the jungle.

"Any sign of a barracks?" Alyssa asked him, as they crept closer.

They ducked behind a worn-looking truck of some kind, the big chunky wheels standing taller than any of them. John poked his head out to take a careful look, and after watching the interior of the base for a couple of minutes, he turned back to the girls, and nodded.

He looked at their attentive faces as he described what he'd just observed, "There's a big central pyramid that's seeing a lot of traffic. The entrance is big, and I watched a truck come out of there. It might be an alternate entrance to the mines. Over on the far side of the base is another big pyramid, and I only saw Kintark soldiers go in and out of there. There's Terran prisoners wandering between the rest, and some of them aren't in good shape."

"Do you want me to start triaging them as we go?" Rachel asked him, her expression one of concern for the prisoners.

John shook his head, and replied, "There's too many. We'll clear the base of Kintark, then you can start treating the prisoners."

"What's the plan for killing these asshole slavers?" Dana asked him, her blue eyes glinting with excitement.

John made eye contact with the redhead, and replied, "You'll come with me, and we'll cover the North-eastern section of the base. Rachel and Alyssa can cover the South-east." Turning to face the others, he continued, "On my signal take out any Kintark in sight. Switch to high-power shots as soon as anyone fires back at you."

"Got it," Alyssa replied, and she peeled away with Rachel in tow, darting across to hide behind some crates further into the base.

John looked up at the pyramid to his left, then glanced back at Dana, and said, "We'll go up there. Don't shoot until we lose the element of surprise, then you can fire at will."

She nodded, her eyes flashing with excitement, and replied, "Sure, no problem!"

Activating flight mode, he used the extra lift to make a quick series of jumps up the pyramid, being careful to stay on the western side, and hidden from the centre of the base. Dana followed his lead, bounding up the brown pyramid after him, and soon they had reached the top, with a clear view of a significant portion of the camp.

He took careful aim at a Kintark soldier who was walking towards the truck they had just abandoned. A moment before he pulled the trigger, he thought to Alyssa, *Open fire!*

He squeezed the trigger with a gentle caress, and he felt a slight vibration in his Punisher rifle as it accelerated the heavy slug down the magnetic rails. He'd positioned his targeting reticle square over the soldier's face, and the round hit the Lizardman in the snout before the bullet blasted into its head. It toppled over onto the scant remains of its face, and he quickly switched to another oblivious Kintark, dispatching it with the same lethal efficiency.

As he was looking for his next target, he spotted a couple of headless Kintark dropping to the ground in a fountain of yellow blood. He turned away to focus on his side of the base, and shot another guard as it strolled out of one of the smaller pyramids. He'd landed another clean headshot, and the Lizardman crashed to the ground as its legs gave way beneath it. All of a sudden a strange sizzling sound filled the air, and John started to see green flashes of light in his peripheral vision.

*We've been spotted,* Alyssa confirmed for him a moment later.

"Alright Sparks, you're up," he said to the eager redhead beside him, as he switched to high-power mode on his Punisher rifle.

She stepped up beside him, the big Justice Laser rifle leading the way, and she sighted a group of soldiers who were running out of the barracks. Holding down the trigger, she sent a solid sheet of bright blue laser bolts scything into the guards, punching steaming holes through their shimmering green armour. Their body armour was mildly reflective, and it resulted in a bright prism of light every time she hit the unfortunate soldiers with a powerful laser bolt.

"Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed, as she blasted one of the stragglers who'd escaped her initial salvo.

John heard a low-hiss by his side, which he remembered from the firing range was the Justice rifle venting excess heat from the barrel. The major downside of firing a laser weapon, was the bright blue bolts gave a clear indication to the enemy where their attackers were firing from. As a result, a storm of green plasma bolts started to slam into the pyramid around them, forcing John and Dana to duck back behind cover.

He heard the familiar bark of a Punisher rifle on high-power mode, and after a chorus of shots from Alyssa and Rachel, the volume of incoming fire lessened considerably. Looking out over the burning wall, he spotted a couple of Kintark off to his left who were attempting to flank them, and he raised his weapon and snapped off a quick shot at the lead Lizardman.

"VrmPkaow!" the Punisher rifle snarled, and the shell hit his target, blasting a plate-sized hole through the torso of the unfortunate soldier.

Dana opened fire on the second, and her high-powered laser bolts hit it in the shoulder, melting through the joint and leaving a steaming lump in its place. The Kintark crashed to the ground, clutching at its dismembered limb and screeching in shock. Dana shot it in the head to put it out of its misery, instantly silencing the creature's terrified screams.

Throughout the raging gunfight, the prisoners carried on about their business, completely oblivious to the railgun rounds, plasma fire, and laser bolts flying around them. It was really quite disconcerting, watching them care so little for their own safety.

John switched to thermal imaging and looked at the big building that he'd assumed was a barracks. He could clearly see at least a dozen more soldiers inside, their heated body armour kicking out enough heat to make them visible through the walls. He switched to the integral grenade launcher in the Punisher rifle, and sent a three-round-burst into the doorway. The entrance to the pyramid exploded outwards, the doors cartwheeling away as they were blown off their hinges.

The front walls collapsed, revealing the soldiers inside, who were busy gearing up in the armoury. The three round bursts from his railgun were joined by a curtain of blue laser bolts from Dana, and soon the heat signatures began to fade, the Kintark armour ravaged by the deadly firepower.

*We're about done,* he said to Alyssa, as he looked over the scene of devastation. *How about you two?*

He could hear the satisfaction in her voice as she replied, *We've cleaned up too, we're just-.*

She was abruptly cut off, and he heard a big crash from his right. He whirled around, and saw a big red lizard had charged into the crates that Rachel and Alyssa had been hiding behind. The two girls had been knocked sprawling by the Kintark Royal Guard when it crashed into them, and it followed up by pouncing on Rachel. He could see its long, sharp claws flashing in the sunlight as it tried to tear through her armour.

Taking careful aim, he lined up a shot at its back, to make sure he wouldn't hit the girl beneath. He pulled the trigger, and blasted a big chunk out of the spine of the flailing monster. It roared in pain, and flipped over onto its side, thrashing and rolling in agony.

"John! Two more of them!" Dana called out in alarm, as she opened fire with her laser rifle.

She hit the first one in the leg, causing it to stumble, but not hitting hard enough to sever the limb. Her eyes narrowed in anger, and she flicked up the power setting, sending searing blue blasts of energy into the wounded creature. The overheat warning was spiking alarmingly, but she kept tapping out shots, as she speared the stricken animal with blazingly bright azure lances of laser fire.

John didn't have time to check if she had finished it off, as he was more worried about the second Royal Guard that was tearing towards Alyssa and Rachel. Despite its size, the hulking lizard could move surprisingly fast, and his initial burst hit the ground as the Kintark beast darted around a stationary truck. When it reappeared he took a couple of seconds to lead his target, then landed the next three rounds in the lizards flank. The slugs smashed through its scaled hide, gouging huge craters into its body. The hits were accompanied by a spray of yellow blood and ichor, and the lizard crashed to the floor, sliding for nearly ten metres before it collapsed in a heap.

The hiss of venting heat from Dana's weapon told him she'd overheated the Justice rifle, and when he glanced at her target he could see why. The Royal Guard was a charred ruin, with scorched holes perforating its hide in over a dozen places.

"They regenerate, right?" she asked him, with a hint of smug satisfaction in her voice as he surveyed her handiwork.

Her sudden reminder of the Kintark Royal Guards' startling regenerative abilities made John snap his head back to look at the first lizard he'd shot. Sure enough, the gaping crater in its back was starting to close, the wound healing before his eyes. The Royal Guard lurched to its feet, the heavy head swinging around threateningly as it searched for targets. John was about to raise his weapon to fire, when the red scaled monstrosity sudden lifted into the air, limbs thrashing as it reacted in panic.

"VrmPrrrrrrkaow!" Rachel's Punisher rifle thundered, as she unloaded on the twisting lizard, firing on full auto.

She hit the floating Kintark with twenty heavy rounds, all hyper-accelerated by Dana's devastating railgun technology. The Royal Guard seemed to explode outwards as it was literally ripped in two by the massively powerful railgun slugs. Chunks of shredded flesh landed on the ground with a wet squelch, and one poor prisoner was caught in a shower of yellow blood. The man ignored it completely though, slipping once before continuing on his way.

John ran over to join the girls, who were scrambling to their feet. As they did so, Alyssa turned and shot the second Kintark lizard in the head, neatly decapitating the monster with a single round. When John glanced its way, he saw that the ugly wounds on its back had already begun to heal.

"Are you two alright?" he asked them, as he jogged over and helped Rachel to stand.

Alyssa nodded and replied, "It just came as a surprise. It was running so fast, it seemed to come out of nowhere!"

There were some savage rents in Rachel's armour, but the Kintark lizard had only penetrated the outer layer of the Paragon suit. The brunette looked shocked as the adrenaline wore off, and she replied in a shaky voice, "I'm fine. I don't think it managed to cut through."

Dana ran over to give the brunette a hug, and exclaimed, "Don't scare me like that, okay?!"

John turned around to survey the compound, and he glanced back at the girls as he said, "Save that for later, ladies. We've still got that Consort lurking around here somewhere, as well as whatever that big thing was in the jungle."

Rachel and Dana separated, and Dana covered the area to the south while Rachel ejected her spent magazine, and slapped in a new one. John checked his ammo readout, and saw it was showing 07/04, so he quickly replaced the twenty-mil magazine. The ammo counter displayed a far more healthy 07/50 once he'd inserted the new mag into his rifle.

"Have you seen any of the new prisoners yet?" he asked the girls, who all shook their heads that they hadn't.

Alyssa frowned, and asked, "Where could they have taken them?"

John walked over to a passing Terran prisoner, and placed his hand on the man's chest, stopping him from walking by. The man was clearly Terran Federation military, and judging by his tattered battledress uniform, he was a Lieutenant-Commander. His breathing was laboured though, and he had an unsettling glassy look to his eyes.

"Excuse me, but do you know where the Consort is?" John asked the prisoner politely.

The vacant looking man turned to point towards the big pyramid in the centre of camp, and he murmured, "She's in there." When John withdrew his hand, the prisoner wandered away, and they could hear him muttering to himself, "Must obey... so beautiful..."

After watching the delirious man leave, John noted, "Another mark for Rachel's 'pheromone indoctrination' theory."

The brunette nodded, and said, "I have a few ideas how we can break them out of this mental state. We'll have to look into it once we've taken out the rest of the Kintark."

The prisoner walked away, stopping for a moment to hunch over and cough violently as he departed.

"We better hurry," Alyssa noted, thinking about Mateo being exposed to this toxic environment.

John took the lead, and they fell into step behind him as he walked at a brisk pace towards the big pyramid in the middle of the camp. The entrance to the big construction was set back a little way into the building, and there were two huge doors that had been thrown wide open. Deep ruts in the ground led through this yawning portal, and he could make out the heavy tread of big tyre tracks in the dirt. There were hundreds of footprints in the soft mud as well, ranging from booted Terran feet to the clawed footprints of Kintark troops.

"Check this out!" Dana exclaimed, as she crouched down by the wide wheel ruts in the ground.

John glanced into the gloom beyond, searching for danger, before he stepped over to join her and see what she was pointing at. She was looking at a big round puddle, which was filled with murky-looking water.

"Something interesting about the water?" he asked her, not seeing anything particularly remarkable.

She shook her head, and then using an armoured finger, she gouged out a shape in the dirt, redrawing the edges of what appeared to be an enormous clawed footprint.

Recognising the disturbingly huge shape she was drawing, he asked, "The Consort?"

Dana shook her head, and replied, "Whatever made this was a -lot- bigger!"

"Good job we came loaded for bear," John said, hefting his Punisher rifle in his arms.

Dana glanced towards the shadowy entrance, and said ominously, "Yeah, but maybe we should have come loaded for Dragon..."

John glanced down at the glossy-white rifle in his arms, and for the first time in months, he started to worry they might not have enough firepower at their disposal. Realising they weren't faced with much choice, he turned towards the entrance to the pyramid, then started walking inside, his weapon raised cautiously. Alyssa moved to flank him, and Dana rose gracefully, then fell into step beside Rachel as they brought up the rear of their formation.

It was dimly lit inside the huge pyramid, and once through the entranceway, they found themselves in a huge room filled with loading machinery. Several waist-high conveyor belts were lined up in rows, clanking loudly as they drew powdery yellow rock along their dust-choked surfaces. As the lumps of sulphur reached the end of the conveyor belts, the chunks were directed by funnels into huge hoppers set into the ground. The massive containers were steadily filling up with the chalky blocks of ore, and appeared to be in danger of spilling over as they waited to be unloaded.

The conveyor belts stretched off into a yawning tunnel entrance at the back of the room, then immediately sloped downwards, making them disappear from sight as they headed below ground. The tunnel itself was illuminated by a flickering orange glow, which reminded John of the dancing flicker of candlelight. The warm glow contrasted sharply with the gloom of the ante-chamber they were currently standing in, and they could clearly see swirls of thick smoke drifting up towards powerful vents set into the ceiling. Those noxious fumes were being drawn up the sloping passage by that flow of air, and were then spewed out from the top of the pyramid.

John heard a distant throaty rumble coming from behind them, and after warning the girls, they quickly repositioned themselves so that they were hiding behind the loading machinery. One of the big, bulky trucks eventually came into view, and reversed into the loading area, stopping before the hoppers full of powdery ore. As soon as it had come to a halt, prisoners began to drift into the room, wearing clearly inadequate protective gear, which consisted of big gloves and crude masks.

The sibilant hiss of Kintark voices echoed from the cab of the blocky vehicle, and the doors were flung open as two Lizardmen clambered out, making their way into the loading area. More prisoners were filtering in through the entrance to help transfer the ore to the huge truck, and John realised it was soon going to get very crowded in there. He stepped out of cover, and shot the closest of the two Kintark drivers in the face, with Alyssa shooting the second a moment later.

Just as before, the Terran prisoners walked around the steaming corpses, not paying them the slightest bit of attention. They walked over to the loading machinery, and began to operate the cranes and scoops, hauling the chunks of sulphurous rock out of the hoppers, before dumping them in the back of the truck.

There was no sign of any more Kintark amongst all the people working studiously around the truck, so John turned to the gaping tunnel at the back of the room, and started walking towards it. The girls moved as one, smoothly forming up behind him as they approached the foreboding passageway. They stopped at the top of the slope, and looked down to see where it led. Surprisingly it ran in an unwavering straight line, with the tunnel turning into a long ramp, as the passage opened out into a huge cavern below.

Twisting streams of lava threaded lazily through that vast subterranean hall, the deep crimson glow casting frightening shadows across the cavern walls. With the darkness broken only by the flickering light from the molten lava, and the thick sulphurous smoke billowing up the tunnel, it seemed like they were about to enter the gates to hell itself.