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"Oh, they will," Watchman said, suddenly putting up a hand. "And I'd say they're prepared for it right about here."
Twister peered into the gloom as the group came to a halt. Three meters ahead, the corridor they were traveling along opened up into a large, high-ceilinged room whose stone walls were decorated with colorful flags and imprint shields. Probably those of the last tribe to own the fortress, Twister guessed, before the Warlord had come in and booted them out. There were several long and heavy-looking wooden tables laid out throughout the room, with equally heavy wooden chairs surrounding them. In the wall directly across from their corridor was a large metal door.
"It is the storm banquet chamber," Su-mil identified it, keeping his voice low. "A place for feasting in comfort and safety when the spring storms endanger the towers."
Twister nodded. According to the floor plans the Eickarie leaders had drawn for them, the fortress's i
"Not too seriously," Watchman said, his helmet moving back and forth as he examined the room. "There's a scent of explosives: grenades under some of the tables or chairs."
"Command frequencies?" Twister asked.
"Nope," Watchman said regretfully. "No carriers, either, so I'm guessing they're not remotes. Probably fused with proximity triggers."
"Too bad," Twister said. With remotes, the Imperials could often find and lock down the control frequencies, rendering such devices useless. There wasn't much they could do with proximity fuses except identify and locate them. "I guess they're learning. What else?"
"Two sniper hollows, one on each side of the door behind those long ba
Beside Twister, Su-mil stirred. "Do we simply stand here?" he demanded.
"Patience," Twister advised, frowning across the room at the electrified metal door. There was something about this whole thing that didn't feel quite right. "He's trying to locate the grenades."
One of the released prisoners growled something. "He says that is not possible," Su-mil translated.
"Tell him he'd be amazed at what's possible for the Empire of the Hand," Twister said, still studying the door.
Su-mil turned to the other Eickarie, murmuring in their trade language, and Watchman stirred. "All right," he said. "There are grenades beneath those chairs"—he pointed at two of the ones closest to them—"that end of that table"—he indicated one of the tables to the right—"and those chairs there and there," he finished, pointing to two chairs on opposite sides of the hidden sniper hollows. "Those last two are probably there to blast anyone trying to sneak up on the snipers from the side. There are a few more, but they're off to the sides, away from our optimal attack vectors."
"Okay," Twister said, ru
"Sounds good," Watchman said, shifting his BlasTech to one hand and getting his whipcord thrower ready. "Su-mil, get them back."
Su-mil gave a brief order over his shoulder, and the rest of Eickaries backed up a few steps. "How do we detonate the grenades?" he asked, making no move to join the rest of his people. "It will not be easy to shoot through those chairs."
"Just watch," Twister said, wondering if he should insist Su-mil go back with the others. But the young Eickarie would probably refuse, and they didn't have time to argue. "Watchman?"
"Ready," the other said.
"Go."
With a faint hiss of compressed air, Watchman's whipcord snapped outward toward one of the two booby-trapped chairs. The grapple on the end caught the backrest just above the seat, and with a flick of his wrist Watchman pulled backward. The chair tipped sideways toward him and toppled onto the floor, putting the heavy wooden seat squarely between the stormtroopers and the hidden grenade.
As the room echoed with the thud, Twister lobbed a concussion grenade over the edge of the seat into the path of the other grenade's proximity sensor.
The double blast was deafening, or at least it would have been without the sonic cutoff protection of their helmets. The physical effect on the room was equally spectacular, the force of the blast rocking everything in its path and sending clouds of splinters and dust into the air. The sound of the blast had barely faded away before Watchman disengaged the grapple and fired the whipcord into the second of the nearest rigged chairs. Another yank, another toppled chair, and a second blast and cloud of debris joined the first.
Half a heartbeat later the two stormtroopers were on the move, cutting across the room at a sharp angle to avoid the booby-trapped table, then cutting back and braking to a halt directly in front of the electrified door. Twister had his whipcord thrower out, fumbling his BlasTech slightly as he tried to handle both devices at once.
"Pull the chair over," Su-mil's voice shouted in his ear. "I will detonate it."
Twister blinked in surprise. Su-mil had followed right behind them and was crouched between the two stormtroopers, his own weapon held ready. "Right," he shouted back, setting down his BlasTech and firing his whipcord. The grapple caught, and with both hands free it was a simple job to pull it over and drag it to just in front of the hidden sniper hollow. "Go!"
Su-mil fired, and Twister winced slightly as the edge of the explosion slammed into him, threatening to knock him off his feet. He glanced into his rear display, confirming that his armored body had shielded Su-mil, just as another blast rocked him from the other direction. "Clear," Watchman called. "Cover me, and I'll start on the door."
"Right," Twister said, scooping up his BlasTech again. The grenade's explosion had ripped the concealing ba
They hadn't been so lucky with the other sniper, though. Twister turned to see a heavy blaster poke its nose through the lower slit, swiveling toward the intruders by the door. "Get behind me!" he snapped to Su-mil, swinging up his own weapon and firing a burst across the viewing slit.
There was no effect. The blaster continued to track toward them—
And then, suddenly, a withering hail of fire erupted from the corridor. The Eickaries whom Su-mil had sent down the corridor for safety were on the move, targeting the Lakran sniper as they charged across the room.
The Lakran sniper reacted to the new threat exactly the way Twister would have expected a trained soldier to. Abandoning his attack on the stormtroopers, he shifted his aim to the advancing Eickaries, and several of them toppled over with grunts or shrieks of pain as his blaster began to take its toll.