Free Aneka Jansen 6: The Lowest Depths of Shame by Niall Teasdale Page A

mines or standalone devices. Had one of the anti-aircraft missiles triggered them? But, no, the delay was too significant. It seemed that they had been a response to the continued attack. There had been the reports of radio broadcasts…
    Analysis would have to wait. The surface damage was significant and there would be extensive disruption of the mine tunnels. It was known that civilians were working in the mines and hostages were being held down there. Radioactive fallout was already dispersing across a wide area. The city was likely safe; it was domed due to the cold, thinly oxygenated atmosphere. Data was still lacking detail after the explosions, but the dome seemed intact.
    ‘All teams switch to hazard suits,’ Thackett was ordering. ‘I want men on the ground in less than thirty minutes! Vashma damn them! What were they thinking?’
    Norden said nothing in reply. He was busy coordinating the launch of drop ships to the planet’s surface. There were still going to be Herosians down there, and it seemed they were far more desperate than had been estimated. The fight was far from over, and it was going to be hard.
    Shadataga, 12.7.530 FSC.
    ‘I’m… not sure I believe what I’m seeing,’ Gillian stated.
    Ella was just staring, wide-eyed, at the operations room display. Most of the others were watching in silence. Aneka had closed her eyes, but she was still getting raw data displayed behind her eyelids, which seemed to soften the impact a little, but still managed to get across the probable level of destruction.
    ‘This is not a normal reaction for Herosians,’ Evolution stated. ‘Summer was the real expert on their behaviour, and I’m not sure all his reports can be classed as impartial, but no reading of their mindset I have suggests this kind of action under these circumstances.’
    Winter was nodding. ‘I think we need to go over the sensor records for the period before the detonations.’
    ‘All those people…’ Ella whispered.
    Aneka opened her eyes and wrapped an arm around Ella’s shoulders. ‘There’s nothing we can do for them, love,’ she said. ‘It’s up to the people out there.’
    ‘I know,’ Ella replied. ‘It’s just… I can’t watch this. Not when I can’t do anything.’
    Nodding, Aneka steered her out toward the door. The data feeds continued in her mind, detailing the devastation on Beryum. There was nothing she could do either, but she felt she had to watch. Something about all of it felt wrong and she wanted to know what.
    Beryum.
    Jared edged through the wreckage-strewn interior of the building on alert. His suit’s sensors were watching for the data transmitters the Jenlay had embedded in them, but he was not getting much luck with that. The Herosians had, of course, had theirs deactivated, otherwise spotting the remaining aliens would have been a lot easier and Jared would not have been on such high alert.
    Except it felt like a waste of effort. The Jenlay commanders were insisting that there were still Herosians hiding out in the buildings, but none of the Guardian squads had encountered them. There were bodies, plenty of those, but nothing on its feet.
    It was better than being on the mine clearance operation, however, so he was not exactly unhappy about being dispatched to the city. The Argus’ factory facilities had been used to build equipment to clear fallen rock. Largely that had come down to microbots built for digging. The tiny robots could shift tonnes of dirt, shoring up as they went, far more safely than traditional tunnelling mechanisms, but it still took time. Since it was going to be hours before they could move into the mines, spare troops had been moved up to the city.
    Not that they had seemed welcome. The Jenlay had appeared reluctant to let them in, and they had been assigned to clearing habitation blocks which, as best as Jared could tell anyway, had already been cleared.
    A flash from his HUD caught his attention and he turned into an apartment