The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Forty Six

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ALPHA TEAM -55:20

“Almost there!” the General said gleefully. “Just another few hundred yards through this passageway, and then up six levels, and that should be it!”

“Ain’t you the least bit suspicious that we ain’t hit nothin’ harder’n a mine, General?” Zoe asked.

“Of course! I’m expecting something nasty at any moment. I can’t imagine my ancestor making things this easy for us. Especially not when the objective is the main control center for the entire Sun Tzu.”

“I’m thinkin’ that chamber we saw on the map might could be a likely spot,” suggested Zoe. “It’s nice an’ wide, but there ain’t but the one way out. What was that thing again?”

“The Officer’s Auditorium. Likely a room for demonstrations, classes, strategic briefings and the like.”

“Figures,” grunted Zoe. “If anythin’ nasty is comin’, likely be an officer involved.” The General could only chuckle at that.

They had made their way across the precarious bridge and into the forward section of the ship. They had passed through a number of areas of interest, including Orbital Bombardment Control, the Main Fire Control Center, which apparently controlled the three big lasers, and the Strategy and Tactics Center, full of classrooms and computer sims and the like. It seemed like most of the forward section was devoted to that sort of thing.

Every section they had passed had been empty, although they had discovered two more mines, another Motion Seeker, and a regular old flash-bang concussion mine. The latter was more a nuisance than a real danger.

One room that had caused them some pause to think was a heavily shielded doorway labeled ATOMIC ARSENAL. A brief – very brief! – reconnaissance by Master Lei had revealed three rows of nuclear weaponry sitting neatly, waiting for the day when they would be called upon. They were not the little five-kiloton devices used by Astroengineers to shove comets and asteroids around, either. There was a variety of deadly ordinance, eve