TTO Episode 6.4

6.4         

The trip to Grecia IV was uneventful. I had Commander Tarnia taken care of by the troopers. They held a personal feud with the Stingers pilots and no one cried when the body was jettison out. Who cares; she was not one with the other pilots on the Shield IV. I have the protection of five squads of troopers for my disposal.

“Admiral Hoffman asked that you try to being them all back alive.” I glared at the Captain. I did not appreciate his remark. The military and the Order have not been on equal terms. We, the Order have the Grand Order for our supreme commander while the Council of Nine ruled for the military.

“Your transport is ready.” The Captain saluted and then walked away. I boarded the transport and flew towards the Temple of Stars.

“Trooper Leader, I want the area scanned.” The leader stood there unmoving. I hate those military stereotypes. They won’t act unless you are the commander. I glared at him. “Is there anything I said that you do not understand?”

“I can’t do it not without authorization from the Captain.” The leader was direct. I ignored him and walked to the communicator. I had the Captain on it.

“Captain, I want the area scanned on its structure. I need to know if there are any subterranean levels and any adjacent structures. The Grecian are adept in such structures.” I then looked at the Trooper Leader. “And I will have another leader appointed. The current one does not suit me.”

Without warning, I have the Trooper Leader dismissed from his post and also took his head. The sickle on my right hand dropped to my side without a trace of blood on it. The other troopers looked at me with their fingers hovering at the trigger on the rifle. I glared at them one by one, without a nervous tic. It was the way I was trained. The stare me down will avoid any of them being heroic or at worse, brotherly love for the dead leader.

“The Captain told me to get another leader.” I spoke up. “I want you.”

The trooper I motioned saluted and then began the drill on the others. The ranking makes them think they are powerful over the others. If only he could read their minds. The report on the structure arrived. I was right. The temple has an intricate tunnels and subterranean levels. I studied the schematics and then gave my orders.

“There four exits from the subterranean levels.” I showed the troopers. “I want the incursion from there. We will work it inside out while the other exits are guarded. I also want troopers on the hills here and here.” I motioned to the holographic image of the hills. “Stingers will assist them all.”

“I also want the troopers to carry thermal goggles and also flash grenades.”

The troopers split into three squads; twenty by the front door, twenty troopers at the exits and the others into the tunnels. I knew then when in the subterranean levels, the squad will split further into ten or twelve troopers each and then they will start the search. I was not taking lightly that we might encountered ambushes. I have ten bikers on the hills and three Stingers.

Ambushes were what the troopers disliked. It caused them to lose one of their numbers first before they could retaliate. And in ambushes, most times the defenders tend to lose more. I overheard one of the troopers told the other that they were in Grecia.

“They are pacifists there.”

I soon find out he was wrong.

“Give me cover fire!” I shouted to the troopers that were at the other turning in the tunnels. We came to a triple tunnel intersection when we were shot at. Two troopers went down firing their rifles blindly during the fall. We were part of the second sub-squad of the second squad. We had journeyed down like half a dozen tunnels of which some led to nowhere. I had them retraced the steps and then searched on.

We got shot at when we reached a huge cavern.