Page 48 (1/2)

He nodded "I understand"

"Justin, we can’t let the battle es attack," Elyssa said "We’ll find another way to capture Kassus"

I clenched er down How could Elyssa do this to me? To my aze intensified as he see in the front of the rooed bubble surrounding the Darkwater people The h it

"A shield to block o through it, but the h to punch through"

"We waited too long," Elyssa said Her troubled eyesto stop the me even if she said the theseto do Not because I didn’t want to protect the leyworms or the babies, but because Kassus was the whole reason we set up this operation It seeh with it otherwise because we’d lose the eleht be the only thing preventing us froive the coreed

"Stand down," I said "We wait for Kassus"

Elyssa arched an eyebrow "Since when are you authorized to give commands to these ether this operation I came up with the plan Maybe I don’t knohat the hell I’ the leyworms or the nursery" I motioned uns and fancy bullets are going to kill thehter thean

I interrupted her "Answer o ahead with the operation while they have a shield up, what are the odds of achieving our goals?" I glanced at Hutchins

"Substantially reduced," he said "The es Those in the center will be more protected Some of the mines were moved by the Darkwater people when they cleared out the place to set their guns, which will also result in reduced iree?" I asked Elyssa

She looked at me as if puzzled by my behavior "Yes"

"Then we stand down and wait"

Hutchins looked to Elyssa

She regarded"Stand down"

I turned back toward the Darkwaterthe uns with bullet belts One of them set up another tripod that looked a lot like a mortar launcher while another opened a case and removed a rocket launcher A few choice curses escapedI didn’t know if a hail of bullets could kill the leyworms, or possibly the cupids, but thethis path

I scanned the cavern and decided on a different plan "Hutchins, see the cluster of stalactites above the attackers?"

"We call the force"

"Whatever," I said, waving away his jargon "Can you get a charge up there?"

He regarded it for acarpet we could use The ceiling is high enough the OPFORs won’t see us"

"Do it," I said "If they open fire, we’ll bring down the roof on their heads"

"Yes, sir," he said, not even bothering to check with Elyssa, and vanished into the shadows

"We’re going to have a talk after this," Elyssa said

I realized I wasn’t angry with her for her earlier decision I also realized I wasn’t particularly concerned if she wasresponsibility for all these lives that weighed heavily onthe burden in others Maybe I’d gone a little cold, or maybe I’d just accepted that a natural part of leadership was accepting loss

I sih the stalactites above the Darkwater people were barely visible from the floor, I couldn’t actually see the roof of the cave My supernatural night vision wouldn’t reach that far I thought I noticed a shadowy shapefar above, but couldn’t be sure

"Hoill you feel about killing those people?" Elyssa said

My head turned sharply toward her, surprised by the question The answer ca about it "Probably sick to ruesoht think it was an accident with their explosive weapons instead of an outright attack"

She nodded "I wasn’t accusing you of anything I wanted you to think this through as opposed to a non-lethal strike"

"Considering the circumstances now, I don’t think non-lethal is a possibility" I spared another glance above, anxious to know the explosives were ready "If we fail to incapacitate them, we’ll have a full-scale battle on our hands with Teeek-tastic, at least if it were on a ree," Elyssa said "But only because aited"