9 Planning, scouting and more planning
"This is the position of the final nest, and most likely the heart of the colony, where the king stays and coordinates the termites," Riley said.
The team was sitting in a circle around a green wireframe model of the sewer system augmented into their HUDs. The labyrinthine sewer system had multiple branches and pathways, which split up and rejoined at seemingly random points.
"At the moment, we have no idea how big it is, how far it has spread, or if it has any other sub-colony. We're practically flying blind."
"So, we'll use Mako's drone to scout it out. The drone will approach the nest from every possible direction." Riley said as parts of the map changed color, highlighting all the tunnels leading to the nest's location.
"As soon as the drone reaches the edge of the colony's territory, Mako, you'll have it observe if possible. Otherwise, retreat and approach from another direction. We need to estimate how large this thing has spread. Before we are done scouting, it'll be best to avoid getting their attention."
The team discussed several escape routes for the drone. In case it got discovered and pursued, it would pick one of these routes to shake off the pursuers instead of leading them back to the team. Mako quickly programmed those directions into the drone.
They also designated the spot they were currently at as the fall back point. From here, it was easy to retreat to the mission's starting point by backtracking through the nests they had cleared. They planted a few mines to slow down potential pursuers.
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"Ready when you are, Mako." Riley said. Nodding, Mako turned on her drone and directed it toward the last nest at a moderate speed.
The team alternated between watching the drone's position on the map and looking at its 360-degree camera feed. The path was mostly empty, save for glowing moss and mushrooms dotting the floor and walls, and the occasional small rodents scurrying about.
"There!" After several minutes, Mako announced. Several dozen meters ahead the drone was the tell-tale brown slime completely covering the tunnel's floor and walls. Worker and soldier termites were bringing material and adding to the growth. She had the drone hide and observe the swarm.
"Got it," Riley said, marking the sighting onto his map, noting down the number of spotted termites. After observing the place for several moments, Mako had the drone retreat and follow another path.
As Riley continued marking the map, the green-colored tunnels gradually became overtaken by a large misshapen splotch of brown-red, the designated color for the termite colony. It was like a tumor growing, infecting the green veins of the sewer.
Occasionally, the drone would run into a couple of patrolling termites. Immediately, Mako would control it to latch on the nearest surface and turn off its propellers. Only when all was quiet did she let the drone proceed.
Thirty minutes later, the drone had scouted every entrance leading to the nest, and they had determined the rough size of the colony. From the original location, the colony has spread at least one kilometers in every direction. The estimated number of termites could be anywhere from 1000 to 3000. The drone was unable to get close to the center to properly count, thus the large margin of error. At least 10 termite warriors were spotted. It would be a tough fight.
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The team observed the map, considering their options.
"What do you guys think?" Riley asked.
"I still think this is nuts," Cheng answered " but there might be some ways we can reduce their numbers. We can bait the termites at these distant parts... " he marked the parts that were the furthest away from the colony's center "... and draw them to us, then pick them off, thinning their forces."
"Not a bad idea." Mako nodded "We can either use ourselves or my drone as bait. I'd vote for using the drone though, I have a feeling there will be plenty of running to be done when the fighting really starts. No point wasting all our stamina right off the bat."
"Good point." Riley said, "For the group at this corner, we can draw them through this path..." He began marking on the map as he spoke: "... and after the last of them crosses this chokepoint, we cut off their retreat and smoke 'em."
They repeated the process several more times, finding more ambush points. The key was to be efficient with their resources. They will only be allowed to use a limited number of ammo and explosives. At the same time, they will have to make sure no termite survive the ambushes. There's no telling what they could do if they escape. The whole colony might be alerted and mobilized to find the aggressors.
"How many of these things can we kill this way?" Cheng asked the important question.
"Hard to say. I'd estimate it at 30 to 100 per ambush." Riley answered.
"We can probably do this about six to seven times. That makes it... 180 in the worst case and 700 in the best case scenario."
"Seems like it."
"So what else can we do, besides picking them off?"
"We can also trap them!" Mako said, her voice suddenly cheerful. She was looking at her smart-pad. "There are about a dozen gates around here. Let me see if there's an area we can completely close off." Several minutes later, she exclaimed triumphantly. "Check this out."
A dozen blue-colored boxes appeared on their map, marking the locations of the sewer gates. Six of them were blinking, and Riley noticed that closing them will seal off a sizable section of the map. The team could easily draw several hundred of termites and trapped them there.
"This is pretty good. I've only got two question. One, can the termites break through the gates? And two, can you control the gates?" Cheng inquired, scratching his chin.
"Help me find a maintenance panel!" Mako requested. The group spread out and before long, they found one. Mako opened the panel and connected her smart-pad to it.
"Bingo! We can close off those gates 'for maintenance'. I'll try it right now." She fiddled with her equipment; minutes later, they hear distant groans of the closing gates. "Yep, all six are functioning correctly. We're in luck!"
She hesitated a bit, then added. "After closing these gates, I'll need to mark them as being 'locked down' to prevent anyone up there from accidentally opening them at the worst possible moment. After they are 'locked down', they won't be able to open for 6 hours. So we can only use these gates once."
"That's good enough. But can they hold off the termites?"
"I'd say they can. They are 80 cm of reinforced concrete, not easy to break through with just teeth and claws." Riley answered. "Can we do anything else with the remaining gates?"
They checked the map again. The other seven gates did not completely enclose any particular section. However, they could be used to redirect the flow of the swarm to their advantage.
"Anything else we can do before strolling into their turf?" Cheng asked.
For several minutes, they tried to think of another solution to further reduce the number of termites at the base but came up short.
"So we can pick off from 200-700 termites and trap an additional, say, 500, to be conservative." Riley summarized "That still leaves anywhere from 0 to 2300 in the nest. I say we assume there would be 2300 left."
"Which is more than the other three nests combined," Cheng commented.
"True," Riley admitted.
"You still think we can do it?"
"It's gonna be tough, but I do."
"So do I," Mako added.
"You guys are nuts." Cheng shook his head "All right. What about plan B?"
"Well, if things went sideways," Riley said "and we were in way over our head, we'll make our way back here, and go straight back to the entrance. Good enough?"
"Yeah. I hope." Cheng said with a sigh.
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For the next ten minutes, the team redistributed their supplies.
The mines and grenades are split between Cheng, Riley, and Mako. Jenkins wasn't given any explosives and didn't object either. The first aid kits were given to the three guys while Mako carried all the trauma kits.
The assault rifle ammunition and grenade launcher rounds were split between Cheng and Riley. The 9mm pistol ammo between Riley and Mako. Jenkins was instructed to sort out his ammo into different pockets and to load slug shells - the ammo type with the longest range.
Jenkin's Arctic Hawk was loaned to Cheng, along with its ammunition. Cheng's sidearm, the Anaconda revolver, was given to Riley, and Riley's B-93R was given to Jenkins.
Riley checked the time. 13:16.
"Mako, Cheng, you guys check our gear one more time. Jenkins, come with me!"
