The men sat, strapped into their drill pod’s bench. The only sound that could be heard was the grinding of the pod’s drilling mechanism driving the squad upwards. The five, two man teams nervously thumbed their breaching saws and shotguns. Commander Rorge gazed at them intently. This was to be only the fifth time this specialized unit of subterranean assault troops and seen action. He reached for his communicator and spiked the ‘all units’ button.

“This is Commander Rorge. Surface penetration ETA 5 minutes. Squad leaders sound off.” He let go of the comm button as he awaited response.

“Gamma team is go.” replied Sergeant Hanes.

“Beta team is go.” came Sergeant Aldair’s voice over the comms. Rorge looked over at Sergeant Octavos who occupied the same pod. They both nodded to each other as a stammering voice came over the communicator.

“Lamda….lamda team is no go.” said the voice. The commander frowned behind his gasmask.

“Say again Sergeant Thourd? You say Lamda is no go?” he repeated.

“….yes sir. Our pod’s engine is dead. I’ve had Corporal Gerrant look it over and… and there’s no way we could fix it.” Rorge sat in his thoughts for a moment, accompanied only by the shaking of the pod.

“Have you…” he started.

“Yes sir. I’ve had the lads take their pills. Now you should get back to preparing sir. You have a hell of a battle ahead of you. Lamda might not make it topside but we’ll see you on the other side sir.” replied Sergeant Thourd. Commander Rorge nodded.

“Without a doubt Sergeant.” he unbuckled himself from the bench and saluted. “He protects Sergeant.”