Page 91 of Dark Gambit Reliance

They were about to face an enemy none of them had ever fought before, an enemy that was stronger, faster, well trained, and under compulsion to defend the compound at all costs.

He was jerked out of his reverie when Onegus's voice came through again. "It's 1:45, and the signal from Jade is on. Time to flip the switch on the communication disruptor."

"Done," William said. "Communications are down. We are good to go."

"Done as well," Charlie said. "The drones' ETA over the compound is one minute."

As the driver rolled the vehicle down the fourth and last tunnel, Marcel watched the countdown on William's screen.

"We are in range and ready to launch the missiles," Morris announced.

Marcel couldn't help but be impressed by how calm everyone was despite the unknown they were about to face. They had a solid plan, and everyone knew what they were doing, but to quote the Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, no plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with enemy forces.

But then, von Moltke had never met the likes of Turner.

Morris's dry voice broke the stretching silence. "Launching missiles in 3, 2, 1, launch."

Marcel stood up so he could see the impacts on William's split screen, but he should have followed the pilots and William's example and put on goggles. As the missiles hit their targets within a fraction of a second apart, he was momentarily blinded. As his vision cleared, two gaping holes appeared where only seconds before stood massive gates supported by reinforced concrete walls.

63

TOVEN

Yamanu whistled in Toven's earpiece. "Man, that missile did the job and then some."

The ground still shook, and they felt the blast quite intensely despite their protective gear, but there was no time to wait for the dust to settle to confirm the damage. They had fifteen seconds to close the distance to where the gate was, enter the compound, and get in position.

The purebloods were amazingly fast, so even if most of them were fast asleep, it wouldn't take them long to grab their weapons and charge forward to defend their turf.

"On my mark," Yamanu said. "Go!"

As the team sprinted full speed ahead, the ground thundered under their heavy exoskeleton suits. To those who were proficient in using them they provided speed in addition to strength and protection, but Toven struggled to keep up.

"We are in position," Bhathian's voice sounded in his earpiece.

"So are we," Yamanu said.

They had to overcome several disadvantages. The purebloods and the hybrids were significantly stronger and faster, and they outnumbered the Guardians and Kalugal's men two to one.

Including the females, there were roughly a hundred and sixty purebloods and hybrids. Based on Jade's assessment, some of the females would stay to protect the children, but most would join the first response warriors and fight just as fiercely as the males to protect the compound.

On top of that, the Kra-ell were intimately familiar with every nook and cranny of the compound, while the Guardians were only familiar with the general layout.

To compensate, the clan had the technology, modern weaponry, a brilliant strategist, and the element of surprise.

Turner's plan was as simple as it was brilliant.

Enter the compound from both ends to force the defenders to split up, and spread out in a wide semicircle formation, so that when the Kra-ell rushed out to meet them, they would have to spread apart as well and, in so doing, would make it easier for the teams to target individually.

If possible, it was better to avoid shooting darts into a cluster and potentially hitting one person twice.

The darts were calibrated to incapacitate a feral animal, which might be too much for the Kra-ell slim frames, but since their bodies had self-repairing capabilities, one dose wouldn't kill them.

Two doses, however, could prove lethal.

During the planning of the attack, a concern had been raised about a tactic that depended on the Kra-ell’s disorganized rush to meet their attackers. A smart commander would hold the warriors back to better assess who and what they were facing, so betting on all of them charging ahead was risky, but ultimately, the consensus had been that this was precisely what the Kra-ell defenders would do.

The reasoning was that the Kra-ell were habituated to defer to Igor in everything, and since he was absent and so were his second- and third-in-command, they wouldn't know what to do and would react instinctively rather than strategically. In addition, Igor's compulsion would drive them to defend the compound at all costs without regard for their own well-being, and that would spur them into mindless action as well.