Chapter 48 - Iron and Fire
The Sector Seven nexus was a cavernous dome of titanium and saltwater-stained concrete, hanging suspended above an open ocean moon pool where dark waters churned violently below.
Suspended from industrial cranes in the center of the room hung three massive black torpedoes, each emblazoned with radioactive hazard insignias. Their guidance modules blinked with urgent crimson numbers: *04:12... 04:11... 04:10...*
On the catwalk fifty feet above, Marcus stood flanked by four heavily armored Aegis Vanguard enforcers equipped with prototype robotic exo-rigs and high-caliber rotary cannons. Marcus had stripped off his dress uniform, wearing a tactical chest rig over a combat sweater, his face pale and twisted with rage, his sidearm locked in his hand.
"Kill them all!" Marcus roared, pointing downward. "Seal the moon pool and drop the torpedoes into the current!"
The rotary cannons spun up with an ear-piercing whine. Dylan lunged behind an armored reactor housing just as a torrential storm of 7.62mm rounds shredded the metal catwalk beneath him, tearing steel plates into jagged ribbons.
"Suppressing fire!" Ramirez yelled, unleashing his heavy machine gun toward the upper gantry, pinning two of the exo-rig gunners behind concrete support pillars.
"Cover the consoles!" Dylan yelled to his squad. "Disable the launch crane before those warheads hit the water!"
Two Raiders sprinted toward the main terminal, but an Aegis sniper on the upper crane platform dropped one of them with a clean chest shot. Dylan didn't hesitate. He vaulted over the smoking wreckage of a turbine control desk, firing three high-velocity armor-piercing rounds directly into the sniper's optics, sending the shooter plunging forty feet down into the churning moon pool.
"Mia! How do we kill the crane sequence?" Dylan shouted over the coms, dodging a spray of ricocheting rounds.
"The hydraulic release valve is on the east gantry!" Mia’s voice screamed through the static. "Dylan, if Marcus releases those locks, gravity will drop the warheads into the trench! You have less than three minutes!"
Dylan slung his carbine across his back, drawing his combat knife and secondary pistol. "Ramirez, hold this floor! Nobody lets Marcus leave that gantry!"
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"Go, Sergeant! Get him!" Ramirez roared back, laying down an unbroken curtain of lead that shattered the concrete balustrade above.
Dylan leaped onto the maintenance ladder, climbing into the firestorm with relentless, unstoppable speed.
