Read Online Ilox Saga 1: Eris Monroe: More Than Human by Bruce Adams - Free Book Online

meticulously made his way down the sheer cliff and jagged jutting outcroppings to reach his destination. The high flying robotic sentinels that protected this stretch of territory shouldn’t be able to detect him. They were the reason he was here, because an orbital strike or close attack fly-by to destroy the target would be detected and possibly stopped. He had a heavy pack strapped to his back and carried a laser pistol firmly holstered against his left leg. He paused in his exertions to look down once again - the precipice was almost ninety degrees straight down. The snow covered rocks he had been clinging to were large and sharp and could easily cut unarmored flesh and fabric, but as a K’Tosk his thick chitonous skin would have barely been scratched. He saw the monorail below that came out of the mountainside like a never-ending grey tongue stretching away into the distance. Surveying the valley below him he saw that the rail line snaked along a river for at least two kilometers and then began veering south towards a very small outpost. From this distance it was not difficult for the unaided eye to tell that one side of the town had a large starport as the ships were obvious and situated on variously sized docking platforms. He didn’t try to make out the types and numbers of ships; he concentrated instead on climbing with his cargo intact. Inside was essentially a small nuclear device that would deliver five hundred tons of explosive force, more than enough to accomplish his task. The concealing cover of his armor continued to blend with his surroundings as he carefully climbed down to the top of the tunnel. It had been bored from the mountain using fusion cutters at least forty years before. Long ago, this had been a primary method of transporting the raw materials of heavy metal mines to the one starport on the planet. Now there were five other starports scattered all over the mineral rich surface of this world. Soon, this rail line would be buried under countless tons of rock. If he did his job right, then the train that would soon emerge would also be destroyed along with the cargo it carried. He climbed inside the tunnel and slowed to a crawl. Even though his armor allowed him to stick to the rock walls, it was decidedly uncomfortable, especially when he was hanging upside down. The tunnel was large and wide and he finally found what he was looking for, a small vent that traveled at an angle towards the outside of the mountain. He decided to situate the device there, at least fifty meters from the mouth of the exit. It could be remotely detonated easily, but as he prepared the explosive he made sure to set a timer…just in case the signal couldn’t be sent in time to trigger the device. He had enough experience to realize that contingencies needed to be accounted for. With the device firmly attached to the ventilation shaft and the timer set to explode in the next four hours, he slowly crawled back the way he had come. K’Tosk were not expert climbers as their joints were not made for such activity – they had evolved on a world as armored mammals and preferred the flat and spare plains of their homeworld. He never paused and continued to work his way back up – with any luck he’d arrive back at his destination with plenty of time to spare. He wanted to make absolutely sure that no one knew what he was doing. For those that were going to lose their lives in the next few hours he cared nothing. It was just another job he did for pay and he enjoyed it.
    The me rcenary waited patiently for the command to be given. He’d been told to wait, so he was waiting. The air was chilled and crisp as snow had been falling and sticking to the ground for hours. Standing in front of piled up payload crates on a loading dock he was clad entirely in plasteel armor which showed no outward markings or insignia of any kind. The dock had a commanding view of the entire spaceport as it was elevated the most. The view