“You want us to do WHAT?” Schmitt yelled in a shrill voice.

Dilip shook his head; he was standing in front of the projector screen in his office. It was starting to get late and he really wanted to get some sleep, but he had to give his department heads the bad news.

This is how he found himself giving a PowerPoint briefing to Farkas, Alejandro, Schmitt and Artyom. The last one may not have been as expressive as the rest, but the smoke wafting from the dragon’s nostrils pointed to his less than ideal mood.

“I want you to assemble a team lead by one of our engineering officers, make your way to a nuclear power station, and follow instructions to shut it down.” The Captain repeated calmly.

“This is plain crazy! We’re not suited for that task.” Schmitt contested.

“I know we aren’t, and it’s even clearer for you out of all of us. Regardless…” The Captain waved a paw in the direction of the window. “We’ve all seen it. Everybody… Pardon, almost everybody is gone. But that doesn’t mean the reactors are gone, and they are a matter that must be addressed, and quickly. There may be other survivors out there, but they will never get their chance if someone doesn’t put shut those reactors down. That HPI organization… I don’t trust them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a point.”

“And here we go with that so-called HPI Captain… You know how shady they sound?” Alejandro interjected.

“I do, nothing good ever comes from the UN’s Security Council, and if it’s considered a classified secret by their standards… I expect the worst. Which is why the team I want to send investigating their installation will be armed, preferably heavily.”

Schmitt stood up and approached the projector. He pointed a claw at a cross indicating Tihange on the projected map.

“The installation thing with handing over the controls to the HPI, that much I can get behind, easy enough. What matters to me is… None of my guys has any training with these things. We don’t have any leeway. One step to the wrong side and…” He made a cutting motion with his claws “We plunge Europe into a nuclear catastrophe the likes of which hasn’t been seen since ’86, and we forever ruin any hope of humanity recovering from this apocalypse. No pressure.”

“For what’s left of humanity…” Farkas said somberly. The Greek was still nursing the wounds from his fall earlier that week, though they were healing rather quickly.

Dilip crossed his arms.

“I may have a theory on that. After I interrogated our dear unicorn survivor, it appeared the fellow reappeared at a different time than us. It’s a wild conjecture but it may be possible that other survivors would reappear at a later date.”

“Implying?” Alejandro asked.

“It’s just a theory for now…” Dilip shrugged. “But more people could come back after the cataclysm. For me to verify that would require us to find more survivors, but that’s my first assumption. And if it’s true, that means people would start reappearing in a nuclear wasteland and die in droves. We don’t want that now, do we?”

“How much time do we have?” Schmitt asked.

“One week they said. You’re willing to do it now?”

“As you said, we don’t have much of a choice. I don’t want to be the guy that’s responsible for making the apocalypse worse than it already was because I couldn’t get around doing something that’s slightly out of my area of expertise. The slightly is sarcastic if you hadn’t guessed.”

“Look at it that way Schmitt; it’s just a really big steam turbine.” Alejandro tried.

“I wish it were that simple, but thanks for the attempt.” The Chief Engineer set his focus back on the Captain. “So, how do you propose we go about it?”

“We’ve got one plant in the Northern half of the country, and two objectives in the Southern half, those we can’t reach with Amandine.” Dilip began, waving a paw at the map. “My proposal was to assemble a ground team, with an engineer as its leader, to go secure the objectives down South. How big the team should be, I don’t know yet, but it would have to be small enough not to cripple our ability to move Amandine to a new dock. Because…” He pointed at another area on the map. “There is a container terminal, about two kilometers South of Doel in Antwerp. I want to move Amandine to that berth, and from there we can send a team to the power plant.”

“Meaning we will have to subtract even more people to make up a boat team and handle the lines ashore.” Artyom said.

“I may be able to help with that.” Farkas butted in.

All the assembled guys in the room turned to the female sphinx, who levitated a pen out of his pocket when they looked at him.

“We’ve got three sphinxes on board, I included, and I believe we can make use of that telekinesis we just discovered. I’ve spent all afternoon training the two others, and got them to grasp the concept and start moving small objects around. At this rate, give me a day and we will be able to wrap the lines around the designated bollards from the deck.”

“That… might actually work.” Artyom conceded. “So that’s the mooring settled. Now who would we send off with that ground team?”

“I would like to lead that team…” Schmitt began.

“No deal. We need you on board to oversee engine operations.” Dilip stopped him.

“But the Tihange plant is in a French-speaking area, I can speak French, and I’m fairly certain neither Angelo nor Aleksei can. They’ve been here for a while; they know how to work the engine.”

“Why does it even matter if it’s a French-speaking area?” Alejandro asked.

“It’s not to have a chat with locals obviously.” Dilip said.

“No, but the controls and instructions in the plant will be written in French.” Schmitt defended his point.

“If you need a French speaker on that team, then we can add Roberto, the secretary. I know for a fact that he speaks Italian, French and English. He can translate for them. It’s not like he’s doing anything that makes him requirement for mooring and navigation.” Dilip said.

“Fine. Then the team can be lead by Angelo, if he even fits in a truck.”

“He does, but he won’t drive that’s for sure, too big. That’s two guys, who do we send with them?” Farkas said.

“The unimogs can fit three people in the cabin, but three won’t be enough. I say we settle with four, so they can take two trucks loaded with tools and gear.” Artyom proposed.

“Deck department crewmembers won’t do since they’re needed for the mooring. How many can you spare in engineering Schmitt?” Dilip asked.

“I’m short a guy, since Thanasis is a sphinx and will be helping with the mooring. That makes it one guy I can spare. Nikola ought to do the trick.”

“The gargoyle? Fine by me, he’s got years of experience in engineering, and his experience in the army makes him the team's guard. Farkas, you think you can spare a cook for the cause?” Dilip said.

“Rahul would do the trick…” The sphinx shrugged.

“Bad idea, he and Roberto hate each other’s guts.” Artyom pointed out.

“Then let’s send Nguyen. He’s a cat too, might get to bond with Roberto.” Farkas said.

“A bit naïve since Rahul is his best friend, but better. So, we’re set?” Schmitt asked.

“We’re done. Tomorrow morning, Angelo will lead the team to Tihange with Roberto as translator, Nikola on engineering assistance and guard duty, and Nguyen as the second driver.” Dilip concluded. “Does anyone wish to contest this decision?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Excellent. You may go break the news to your respective departments. I expect departure of the ground team tomorrow no later than 09.00. Dismissed.”

The department heads slowly trickled out of the office and Dilip let out a sigh of relief as the door finally closed. The crew would not like it but the hot potato was out of his hands.

The next morning, two of their unimogs parked in front of the stern ramp under the Captain’s vigilant eye. By his side, Farkas was reading off the content of the equipment list to one member of the team. The rest were still busy securing the supplies in the back of each truck.

One good thing with the trucks was that their cargo bay was made for troop transport as well as lightweight cargo. The flatbed could be extended up to create benches, and it had a tall steel frame with a tarpaulin wrapped around it protecting the cargo bay, which left plenty of space for up to three tons of cargo per truck. They had briefly considered taking tents in case their task took longer than expected (they had found a large supply of field tents in an aid container earlier that week), but the flatbed protected by tarpaulin was already enough to shelter them if they really needed it.

“Ammo boxes?” Farkas asked.

“Two of 5.56, 1000 rounds each, one per truck, plus one of 7.62 for the machinegun, and half a box of 9mm, all loaded and secured.” Nikola answered. The gargoyle was already dressed for travel, a combination of a woodland flak jacket and the usual orange coveralls worn by the crew.

“Mobile pump?”

“Ready to siphon any fuel station we find and the battery is full.”

“Rations?”

“One week worth of French combat rations, veggie variant included for the minotaur’s sake.”

Farkas switched his gaze from his levitating list to the gargoyle.

“The guns?”

“No worries, Roberto is getting them from the vault as we speak. One MAG for Angelo, a SCAR for me, and the rest gets the regular rifles. Then it’s half pistol, half less-lethal. We’d have taken some Geiger counters, but the ship only has dosimeters for when we work on the radar.”

The list folded itself and flew back in Farkas’ pocket.

“And you took them?”

“Three of them, half the ship’s stock. Left the rest for you when you go for the Doel power plant. We also have one mobile satellite antenna to hook to a laptop, but that’s Roberto’s business. Got the regular sat phones, walkie-talkie and two of those military-grade long range radios for the trucks. Got all frequencies covered.”

“Fine then.” Farkas smiled. “You’re all set. Anything you want to add, Captain?” The sphinx added, turning to the dog at his side.

“Negative. You’ve all had your briefings, you know the procedures. Remember to be careful out there. Those circles Geert and Rahul found in the marina? Avoid them like the plague. We think they’re the source of those wood hounds.”

Nikola scratched his antler at that remark.

“Really? You mean like some demonic circle thingy?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Part of me wants to call you out on that, sir, but I’m a gargoyle talking to a sphinx that’s moving stuff around with his mind, and you are a giant talking bipedal dog.” He shrugged. “Demonic summoning almost sound like a side-dish to all that. I will keep it in mind, Captain.”

“Don’t take any risks. We will be offshore moving Amandine to Antwerp, so if anything happens to your group, you won’t be getting any assistance for a while. I want an update via SATCOM every six hours, copy?”

“Wilco sir, I will tell Angelo about it.”

“Good, consider yourself dismissed.” Dilip concluded.

The gargoyle politely nodded at the Captain before walking off towards the trucks. He mounted on the driver side of the lead vehicle, one painted bright white with the letters ‘UN’ written on its side and on the tarpaulin protecting the cargo bay. On the other side of the vehicle, Dilip saw the large silhouette of Angelo mount up as well, the truck’s suspension sagging for a few seconds under the bulk of the minotaur before recovering. A plume of smoke left the exhaust as Nikola started up the engine.

Behind the lead truck, Nguyen and Roberto embarked in their own vehicle, that one being of the exact same model, but painted olive green instead of white. Contrarily to most of the crew, the cats’ general appearance hadn’t changed that much. Their coveralls had only needed some rework to fit their tails, but that was pretty much it. Sure, they got taller, but they didn’t have to completely redo the sewing around their necks or modify the hips too much, unlike cases like Angelo. The minotaur had gained so much bulk with the transformation that he practically had to make himself a new set of coveralls, and it showed when you got a closer look at it. Furthermore, Angelo had gotten way too large to fit in the regular issue of flak jacket they had procured, which resulted once again in the minotaur having to practice his sewing. Granted, the jacket had been easier to modify than an entire set of coveralls, but Dilip still had to hand it to the minotaur, he could be remarkably quick to work when faced with the threat of wandering the ship naked.

Soon enough, both trucks were driving down the stern ramp and disappearing around a corner of the trailer yard. Dilip tracked them with his ears for a few more seconds before turning to Farkas at his side.

“That’s one thing done for today. Better hope that turns out okay.”

“I consider myself an optimist… but I wouldn’t be too confident about that.” The sphinx commented.

“Eh, at least they’re armed to deal with what’s ahead. Literally I mean.” Dilip glanced at his watch. “Think we still got time for some extra breakfast?”

“No extras today I’m afraid sir, kitchen’s understaffed.”

Dilip’s eyes widened.

“Shit that’s right, I just sent off half the kitchen staff on that mission.”

“As your chief steward sir, I have to warn you the kitchen will be reduced to one hot meal per day until staffing issues are resolved.” Farkas said with a small smile on his lips.

Not that he would be caught saying it, but the sphinx relished the sight of the Captain’s ears drooping when he heard that remark. He had to hold back a chuckle. Captain Prateek may not reveal much about himself but when you knew how to push his buttons you could get some pretty hilarious results.

Case in point with the sad puppy by his side who would not get his extra morning omelet.

The road to Tihange mostly sent the two truck convoy through highways. They had to take some smaller roads before reaching a junction with a highway at the start, but the infrastructure in this part of Europe was extensive, so it didn’t take them too long. There were plenty of roads, and the landscape around them was largely made up of industrial terrain and suburbs, with the odd small pasture stuck between two towns, more because no one had bothered to build there yet than because of an actual agricultural interest. They were in one of the busiest parts of the country, and it showed.

Which made it all the more glaring that the area was completely deserted. Save for one lone dog they passed upon leaving the harbor; they had yet to see a single sign of life. The roads were devoid of any vehicle. The place, which was usually known for being pretty bad as far as traffic flow was concerned, had had its problem solved overnight. The only cars left were those that were parked.

After passing the old town of Bruges, they took a highway headed south-east. Going further away from the coast, the amount of buildings started to thin, but it was still a far cry from an actual countryside. The trucks crossed several bridges going over canals, more signs of the country’s prolific industrial development.

Angelo took a look at the display on the GPS screen. In about fifteen minutes they would pass the capital city of Brussels. The minotaur readjusted the machine gun in his lap before addressing Nikola. He had to be careful not to scratch the roof with his horns when he turned his head.

“You think we should stop for fuel before getting to the power station?”

“Nah it’s fine.” Nikola said checking the fuel gauge. “We got about 600km to go on one tank. Might want to stop when we get back from Chooz, but not yet.”

They lapsed back into silence for a few minutes before Angelo felt compelled to speak up.

“You seem rather calm considering what we’re about to do.”

The gargoyle shook his head, which made his ginger colored mane rustle softly.

“I’d rather be doing it than twiddling my thumbs. At least I feel like I’m in control of what’s happening. Honestly if they had asked someone else I would have volunteered in their place.”

“That’s a philosophy I can get behind… though I can’t say I share your confidence.”

“They did give us a number to call. We got specialists to back us up, what more could you ask?”

“Oh I dunno, maybe to have the specialists actually do it.”

“They have their reasons not to…”

“And those reasons are flimsy at best. A special kind of radiation my ass, they want us to be their errand boys and the Captain is gonna let them have their way.” Angelo countered.

“Look, if you started to work in the merchant navy and expected anything else other than running errands, I got bad news for you.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” He almost shook his head but stopped himself before skewering the roof; instead he let out a very bovine snort. “I saw the video; these guys are comfily riding out the End of the World from the safety of their bunker while we peasants have to fix everything. You call that fair?”

“Life ain’t fair.” Nikola said in a bitter tone. “I know that. Don’t go saying I wouldn’t have wanted to be in that bunker of theirs, but it’s too late anyway. I say, let’s make do with what we got, and find something to enjoy on the ride down to Hell. That good for you?”

“Amen to that.” Angelo laughed. “Anyway, how are you coping with the changes? You got turned into something pretty original I must say.”

“Good I guess?” The gargoyle said, rolling his shoulders. “The wings get pretty uncomfortable under the coveralls and the flak jacket doesn’t help, but the fur is rather comfy. I got a bit smaller, but it’s something I can work with. Feels like I’m as tall as I used to be when I was fifteen.”

“And the antlers?”

“Barely notice them to be honest; I get more bothered by the changes to my face.” Nikola clicked his tongue. “Muzzle is barely noticeable, but it’s there, and I stopped counting how often I cut my tongue on those fangs.”

“Could be worse. In fact all things considered you and I got off pretty well compared to some.” Angelo snorted. “Except for me being forced to go vegetarian. That’s just bullshit man.”

“Bullshit? Now that’s something coming from someone that’s half bull.” Nikola smiled. “Say, don’t you have some music on your phone? I could use some tune to make the drive pass quicker. Can’t say I’m particularly fond of roadtrips.”

“Sure.” Angelo pulled out his own Smartphone, not the satellite one they used to communicate with the ship. “Any preference?”

“Dunno.” Nikola shrugged. “Got some hard rock?”

With a soft nod, the minotaur put on one of his playlists and the drive continued to the rhythm of the music. Soon, they passed the capital city. The large urban sprawl of the European capital was hard to miss, but the bustling city was now but a shell of its former glory.

Without a population to give it its beat, the city was nothing but an empty husk. Gone were the various nationalities that had gathered in this place to make it the symbol of the European Union. Now, all the streets were deserted, and the numerous embassies devoid of their former diplomatic intrigues.

Not that Angelo would complain about it. Being Greek, he had plenty of built up resentment against the Union that had forced his fellow countrymen into poverty with their sanctions. Still, knowing that all those efforts made to counter the debt amounted to nothing thanks to the cataclysm… that was rather depressing.

Sure, he was an expat and hadn’t really been affected by the crisis, but his family had, even with all the financial aid he sent them.

And even that aid, having to tighten his budget, move to a smaller apartment, and all that jazz… All of that, done for nothing. Years of efforts, vanishing overnight without reason and leaving him with a pair of hooves and a body that would make Conan the barbarian look like a nerd.

Not that he complained about the muscle, but between not having an apocalypse and being beefy, he would rather choose the option that didn’t destroy civilization.

The convoy soon left Brussels behind and headed even deeper inland. The GPS made them leave the highways and take smaller roads. They were getting to the Southern part of the country, somewhat less developed than the North, and also less populated. Warehouses and factories traded place with villages, fields and small copses of trees.

The terrain was also a lot less smooth now. Gone were the flatlands of the Flanders fields, they were headed for the hilly and densely wooded terrain of the Ardennes.

Angelo took another look at the GPS. After three hours of drive, they were on the last stretch. One turn South and they would be heading down in the basin of the river Meuse, where the power plant was situated.

“Hey Niko, can you stop the truck a moment? I really need to take a leak.”

The Bulgarian gargoyle didn’t object but certainly made it clear that the stop displeased him by rolling his eyes. He grabbed the walkie-talkie on the dashboard and contacted the rear truck.

“Convoy One to convoy Two, we are make a small halt for the sake of our engineer who needs to empty his sewage tank, do you copy? Over.”

“Two to One, roger, stop wherever you want and we’ll follow. Out.” The answer came seconds later.

The convoy stopped next to a small building by the side of the road. The place, deserted much like the rest of the country, must have been a gas station at some point because there were traces of a fuel installation and an old shop, closed long before the cataclysm took its owner. Some old caravans were parked next to the building, a sign stuck on them presenting them as ready to be bought by buyers that would never come.

There were fields on either side of the road, but they stopped after a hundred meters or two, trading place with thick pine forest.

Stepping off the truck with his gun slung over his shoulder, the minotaur breathed in some fresh air, appreciating the smell of the countryside for a change.

Not that he would ever admit it, but driving around made him more nauseous than the worst of storms, for all the sense that it made.

He made his way to the building and tried to find the toilets of the old gas station, if there were any. Turns out they were behind the building, he noted, following the distinctive sign.

Two minutes later, Angelo exited the building. Old or not, these toilets still smelled of spilled beer and old piss, which was all the more offensive to his now sensitive nostrils. The engineer tugged at the zipper on his coveralls before adjusting the straps on his flak jacket. There was a waft of ozone accompanying the foul odor of the toilets.

Angelo’s eyes lazily shifted over to one corner of the yard that was behind the building. And then adrenaline rushed through his bloodstream.

Of fucking course he had to find one of these.

Right in the corner of the yard, some ten meters away from him, was one of the dreaded circles they had been warned about that very morning. The thing was solidly burned into the pavement of the yard, right next to an old campfire.

Now wait a second…

Competent as he was as an engineer, Angelo didn’t quite grasp the concept of risk assessment the same way the guys of the deck department did. He took his machinegun in his large hands and carefully crept up to the circle with a curious frown on his face. He had an itching feeling in the back of his mind, as if there was an instinct in the back of his head warning him of impending danger.

Barrel loosely trained in the direction of the circle, Angelo closely observed the scene.

There were in fact three of these circles, but only one of them corresponded to the description given to them earlier. The circle design with the thirteen outward lines and triangle in the center was there, but the other two circles were very different.

For one, the symbols were different, and a bit clearer to read. Granted it still was complete gibberish to him, but they were different from the other type of circle. They weren’t as aggressively burned into the ground… almost as if someone had engraved them with a laser instead of using a cutting torch.

For second, the size and shape were different. The circle was larger by a whole meter, and only had a spiraling pattern inside of it.

The odd thing was, there were two of those, both very close to the campfire. The other circle, the one with the triangle in the center, was further away, almost five meters away from the campfire.

Checking around quickly, Angelo snapped a picture of the scene and tagged the position on his phone’s GPS. He began to turn around with the intent of returning to the trucks when he spotted something even more out of place.

There was dried blood by the campfire, a lot of it.

The minotaur walked closer, taking quick looks around to make sure the area was safe. Sure enough, there was a large red mark on the pavement, definitely dried blood. Most of the blood had been spilled around the fire, but there was a trail of it going in the direction of one of the ‘spiral’ patterned circles.

After another quick picture with his phone, the minotaur quickly made himself scarce. His mind was urgently pressuring him to vacate the area. He walked back to the convoy at a brisk pace with the unsettling feeling heavy on his back.

“What took you so long?” Nikola asked as he was leaning out of his truck’s window smoking a cigarette.

“Demonic circles. Time to leave and we’d better be quick.”

The gargoyle didn’t ask questions and waved at Nguyen behind them to get the other truck started again. Within seconds, they were motoring away from the old gas station. Angelo wasn’t too sure about it, but he could have sworn he saw the treetops in the adjacent forest rustle as they left.

“You said circles?”

“Three of them, two of a different kind than we’ve seen in Zeebrugge. Took photos, and jotted down the location on my phone.”

“How different are we talking?” Nikola asked, careful to keep his eyes on the road.

“Different enough that it looked like there was a confrontation. I saw blood.”

“Any other clue?”

“Other than a campfire in the corner of a paved backyard, not really. But I got that feeling…”

“Impending doom or some shit? Yeah, same thing for me, almost had me worried about you.” Nikola admitted.

Angelo scratched at his muzzle pensively.

“You know Niko, I think that… something was still in the area. Just a hunch though.”

“You’re probably right.” Nikola glanced in the rearview mirror to ensure the cats in the other truck were following. “Back when I was in the army some people used to say you could feel you were about to be ambushed.”

“You believe that?”

“Not really. But if it were true I bet it would have felt like that. We aren’t here to fight critters or what else anyway, so I’d rather not risk it. We don’t gain anything from picking fights with whatever creature came out of those circles.”

“Agreed.” Angelo said, leaning back in his seat.

Still, the Captain would have to be informed of this detail. Apparently there was more than a single individual involved with these demonic circles.

The convoy finally reached the valley of the Meuse half an hour later after passing through some woods. By then, the terrain had changed even more drastically. They were now well inside the Ardennes, and more hills beyond the horizon showed the verdant area extended even further South.

But the local landscape was not what mattered at the moment, for in front of them were the three massive cooling towers of the power plant, on the other side of the river. All three of the massive buildings were still belching titanic amounts of steam, and the members of the convoy could already spot the reactor housings at the foot of the towers.

Further upstream of the power station was the Belgian town of Huy… or rather what was left of it. Rising above the town was a column of black smoke, caused by the multiple fires that were spread across the city which they could spot even across the fairly large distance that separated them from the city center.

The city must have been burning for a while because a handful of city blocks had already burned out after the passage of the fires. Thankfully, it didn’t appear that the fires were progressing in their direction or that of the power plant, so a quick look on the map was enough for them to find a way around the desolated city.

No word was exchanged among them as the convoy passed through some desolated suburbs. Angelo kept glancing around for a clue as to what may have caused that but he kept coming up short.

Probably just an accident after a fire was left abandoned by its tender that suddenly disappeared. With the drought that had been hitting Europe that year, that could have been the triggering effect for… that.

The only time Angelo had ever seen anything that bad was back in 2007 when wildfires had ravaged the countryside in Greece… but even then it hadn’t been a town of that size. He hoped there weren’t any survivors like them inside of the city when it caught fire.

“A sight for sore eyes, eh?” Niko said.

“You don’t say. The area has been populated since the time of the Roman Empire, now it’s just a ghost town. I wouldn’t want to see my own country in such a state.”

“Neither would I. Which way is it now?”

“Third on the left for the entrance of the power plant facilities.” Angelo answered, turning his eyes away from the city.

Thankfully, the power station was separated from the main city by a fair distance. The local authorities had decided to build it further downstream, next to the village of Tihange that had become a suburb to the city proper.

Angelo hadn’t ever visited a nuclear plant in his life, but he supposed the fact that the facilities were secured by a double layer of fencing and barbed wire was normal. The convoy came up to the entrance checkpoint and the sight of a closed gate.

“Well there it is.” Nikola stated, halting the truck. “Now you wouldn’t happen to have something to get us inside? I don’t really want to have to cut all that steel open with a torch.”

The minotaur allowed a smile to grace his features. Time to show off a bit.

“Won’t need a torch. Have you been to the ship’s gym since the cataclysm?”

The gargoyle quirked an eyebrow at his superior.

“You can’t seriously believe you can rip it open?”

“I totally do. Tried some lifting yesterday. Managed to do forty reps.”

“Yeah, at 150kg maybe. You ain’t trained for shit.”

Angelo opened the door and stepped off the truck.

“More like 400kg; and I know my technique sucks balls. Watch this.”

The checkpoint securing the entrance was build around a large concrete guard post. First there was one steel gate made out of thick bars, then a wall that forced vehicles to make a turn before being confronted by a second barrier and another gate, thus protecting the compound from attacks by ramming trucks. Each of the barriers, as well as the thick concrete walls and fences surrounding the guard post were topped by razor wire, which was probably electrified too if the soft clicking they were emitting was any indication.

The perks of making an installation Greenpeace proof, Angelo guessed. Too bad it wasn’t made to withstand minotaurs.

Angelo took a look at the first barrier. It was supposed to roll to the side to open, and was secured by two thick locks on one end. He grabbed the gate with both hands and took a wide stance, hooves braced firmly on the ground.

The minotaur exhaled softly, before suddenly heaving with all of his considerable might. Angelo might not have been aware of it, but the formerly geeky Greek engineer was still rather puny by minotaur standards.

Not that it had any influence on the matter at hand, because the metal around the locks started to warp as he pulled. With a sharp twang, the metal bar that connected with the locks broke apart, and Angelo’s strength caused the rest of the gate to be propelled in the opposite direction, breaking the electric motors that were supposed to move the gate.

“Color me impressed, never thought I would see you of all people ripping apart a steel gate like that. You gonna do that with the other?” Niko said, coming up behind him.

“Fuck no mate.” Angelo said, shaking his head. “You get inside that guard post and open the door. Try to find the facility’s master key too if you can, though I suppose I can kick some doors open. Imma call that HPI to tell them to get ready.”

Angelo went back to the lead truck to get a sat phone while Nikola was busy getting them access to the plant.

Behind the lead truck, the two cats had dismounted their vehicle and were keeping a close eye on their surroundings, rifles held in a loose grip.

Dialing the number given to them by Agent Eko was a simple affair, Angelo even spared the time to connect the phone to a headset to make his life easier. Convenient as they are, satellite connections tend to have some mild latency issues, so he might as well make the best of it.

“This is Agent Eko on the line, who am I talking to?” The line finally sprang to life after almost a minute.

“Greetings, this is Second Engineer Angelo Molnàr from M/V Amandine.” The minotaur said through the headset. “My team has reached the nuclear plant in Tihange as planned and we are awaiting instructions.”

“Excellent mister Molnàr. Have you gained access to the control room yet?” The agent really did sound pleased at the news, Angelo had expected the guy to be more restrained from the Captain’s description.

“That’s a negative. We were hoping you’d have the schematics to guide us there.”

“I’m afraid we don’t. Our data only extends to the workings of the plant; you will have to find the control room yourself.”

“I suppose we can manage to do that. One more thing, we have brought the equipment for a teleconference via satellite so that we can get some visual assistance. Are your nuclear specialists able to do that?” Angelo said, looking in Roberto’s direction.

“I can get a telecom specialist on the case, but it will take longer than just an audio call.”

“Good, that means we can make use of the time to find the controls. Do you mind if I pass the call to my communications guy?”

“Pass him the phone, then he can discuss the modalities with our agents.”

On the other side of the guard post, the locks on the second gate released with a loud clang before it slid out of the way. A minute later, Nikola left the guard post twirling a set of keys in his fingers.

Angelo passed the headset to Roberto, the cat accepting the phone without question. Turns out his ears were sharp enough to pick up the conversation he’d held with the HPI agent. The minotaur didn’t bother listening in to what the cat was saying across the line. He had a role on this team, and Roberto had another, no need to get things mixed up.

They parked the trucks close to a very large building that looked different from the reactor housings, and was made up of more glass than the rest. With a bit of chance, that was their objective.

From what Angelo could see, there were different types of building in the compound: the reactor housings, three of them, each close to a cooling tower. Then there were some thick bunkers recessed in the ground, probably the place where they stored reserve and spent rods for the reactors.

There were also some tall buildings that were connected to a large number of power lines, so they were most likely the location of the turbines and transformers. These buildings were also linked to some very large diesel generators, large enough to make the Amandine’s engine look tiny. The emergency generators then, put in place in case they had to stop the production on the reactors.

Each of those buildings was connected to several large diameter pipes, feeding from some pools next to the river, and each of the pools was connected to what looked like a filtering station. The minotaur engineer was already trying to piece together what he was seeing and drawing some schematics of the plant in his mind.

So the plant was constructed with the filtering station monitoring what was being pumped from and into the river, and cycled the water through the pools before feeding it to the power station proper. Check. That was the water feed circuit, and maybe it had some part in the general cooling too.

The piping going from the turbine to the reactors seemed to be reinforced with lead and recessed into the concrete onto which the compound was bound, and some similar piping ran to the cooling towers. That circuit must be driving the turbines, and there had to be a heat exchanger inside the reactor housing since Angelo couldn’t picture the water from that circuit being in direct contact with the fuel rods.

So that made two water circuits not in contact with the nuclear materials per reactor, plus the pressurized one inside each of the reactors. Nine in total to manage at once. Not. Difficult. At. All.

Roberto came up behind him, the Italian cat having hung up on his conversation with the HPI.

“Their comms agent told me they would need about half an hour to get the equipment ready for the conference. I will do my best to get the stuff ready, think you can find the control room?”

“You sure it’s in that building?”

“The sign over there says: Contrôle et commande de la production. Do you really need me to translate that?”

“Just checking is all.” Angelo said. “What will you be doing?”

“I got three drums of cable with connectors for approximately 150 meters. I think I will get to the roof and put the antenna there, so we should have enough cable to reach the control room.”

“And the power?”

“HPI guys told me that even after we shut down the station it still will be warm enough to keep going for a while, so I’m just gonna plug in on a power outlet.” Roberto shrugged. “I packed a generator just in case but turns out it won’t be necessary.”

“Good, tell Nguyen to guard the trucks, I will be looking for the control room with Niko.”

The inside of the building looked more modern than it had any right to considering that nuclear plant in particular was supposed to be decommissioned soon. Maybe those Belgians hadn’t been too honest about their intentions regarding the phasing out of nuclear power... In the lobby, Nikola and Angelo activated their dosimeters and stopped by a supply shed to grab a Geiger counter.

The counters told them the exposure rate at the moment was at five microSievert per day, which was within safe limits according to a chart they had found in the lobby. No reason to start panicking at the moment.

Finding the control room wasn’t so difficult in the end, and the keys Nikola had obtained from the guard post opened the heavily reinforced doors easily (though the gargoyle had to ask Angelo for assistance since the doors were so heavy he could barely move them).

The inside of the room was particularly impressive for the two engine room workers. If the engine controls of Amandine were relatively large and were considered impressive by many people, the controls of the power plant were in a league of their own.

In front of them, the room divided itself into three different semicircles, one for each reactor of the power plant. Each of those semicircles housed a large amount of control panels for the reactors, and any single of those semicircles were twice as big as the entire control panel banks of Amandine.

There was a set of computer workstations on a raised dais in the centre of the room overseeing the three semicircles, and another set of computers arranged just next to the dais. The central computers were probably there for general oversight, and the other set of computers for the secondary systems.

The back wall of the room was lined with numerous shelves holding folders and manuals regarding how to operate the controls.

It was a shame they were worthless to Angelo since they were written in French. Roberto wouldn’t have time to translate them anyway. He turned to Nikola at his side.

“Get to the roof and bring Roberto here. I will need him to translate those controls for me. Make sure he puts the antenna in place, ‘cause we’re gonna need those HPI specialists.”

The gargoyle quickly nodded before leaving at a small jog in the direction of a staircase. Angelo turned around and made his way to the central consoles, already trying to figure out how it worked.

Pulling out a seat, the minotaur dropped his machinegun on a table next to the computers. Might as well get settled, this was going to take a while.

Outside the building, Nguyen was making some rounds to check the surroundings. The cat had his rifle slung around one shoulder, and a walkie-talkie around the other. He had made his way back to the guard post to close the gate after parking his truck to ensure they would not be surprised by any wooden wildlife sneaking in the compound.

Walking around, the Vietnamese cook wasn’t particularly worried about anything threatening them inside the plant. Sure, radiation was a risk, but there were plenty of dosimeters and Geiger counters around in addition to those they had taken from Amandine, so as long as he paid attention to the instruments he should be fine.

The cat had cracked open one of their combat rations earlier in the truck. As it turns out, there was a good reason the rations they had retrieved from a Belgian military installation were French: they just were that good.

In all seriousness, these rations were almost ridiculous. Nguyen had heard stories about how nasty MRE’s can be and how the food is impossibly bland, but it was far from being the case with those: there were appetizers, an entrée, two canned meals ready for reheating (one can even read ostrich in cranberry sauce), and even more!

There it was gents, his own cooking had been beaten by a mere MRE, how humbling…

The cat spotted a short wall overlooking both the entrance and the control building. As good a spot as he was gonna get to enjoy his meal. Nguyen popped a caramel (part of the MRE’s contents) in his mouth and got himself seated on top of the wall, with the ration’s portable grill at his side.

Within minutes, Nguyen was reheating the can of ostrich meat. If he was going to be outshined by military food, at least he could console himself with the fact it was French and that he would get to enjoy it. There was a tang of preservatives in the food, but it was good. Behind him, the cat’s tail slowly swung back and forth in pleasure.

He opened his flak jacket and the top of his coveralls to release some of the heat he was building up. The transformation had come with a thick coat of brown fur with white stripes for him, and while it protected him nicely from the wind when out at sea… it also retained a bit too much heat for his taste. Even though he wasn’t wearing anything under his coveralls, the heat felt stifling, and it was only May in a temperate country.

Nguyen looked up towards the roof of the control building to see Roberto finish assembling the satellite antenna. He idly wondered if the Italian cat was experiencing the same issues with his fur, though that was less likely considering his coat was visibly thinner. Nikola then walked up next to Roberto, exchanging some words with the other cat before Roberto headed down the stairs, leaving only the gargoyle on the roof. Nguyen’s radio sprang to life.

“Eh Nguyen, Niko here, do you hear me? Over.”

“I hear you loud and clear. What’s the matter? Over.” He answered on his talkie-walkie between two mouthfuls of ostrich.

“I got a link with the control room from here on the roof, so I don’t need to stay with them when they’re doing the shutdown. Have you checked the area yet? Over.”

“Affirmative, but it was only a quick check around the guard post and control building. Just to make sure the gate was closed. Over.”

“Good. I will be keeping an eye on the area from the roof, but Angelo might call me down if he needs something done, make sure they don’t get any nasty surprise. Over.”

“No worries pal; I will do another patrol after I finish my meal. Nguyen out.” He concluded before setting down the radio.

He may or may not have taken more time than necessary to finish his lunch, but it wasn’t like they were in immediate danger: the fires in the town were progressing in the opposite direction of the power plant, and the gate was secure.

Nguyen tossed the empty food can in a trashcan by the side of the control building before putting the boxed MRE back in his truck. He was tempted to just leave his trash lying around since no one would be bothered by it anyway, but chose not to out of self-respect. He had been turned into a cat, not a pig.

After wiping some sauce off of his whiskers, the Vietnamese cat started walking around the compound with his rifle slung around his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he could spot Nikola sitting cross legged on the roof with his rifle in his lap. The gargoyle’s weapon was better suited to his elevated firing position, what with the scope it had come equipped with.

Nguyen started humming a tune as he walked. He had no idea where he had heard it, either in an advertisement or maybe from back home in Vietnam, not that he cared.

There was something to be told about wandering freely like that around a nuclear power plant. The cooling towers, for one, really were impressive to look at. When looking at them from afar you couldn’t really get an accurate idea of just how freaking big they actually were. The cat had to crane his neck and lean backward just to get a look at the top of the towers.

At the bottom of the towers was a basin filled with boiling water. There were walkways going above the pool, but using them would have been ill-advised considering the sheer amount of steam rising out of the water. Nguyen didn’t feel like being steam-cooked, so he kept going.

Upon passing a tool shed next to the diesel generators, the cat heard a soft buzzing that made his large ears twitch. There was some light coming from inside the generators’ housing, which was odd since they were supposed to be inactive.

Nguyen entered the building to check it out, careful to keep an eye on the radiation in the area with his instruments.

The building was fairly simple, being made out of corrugated steel with some lining on the inside to dampen the noise of the generator. There were hardly any windows inside except for the glass door Nguyen had entered through. In the middle of the building’s only room was a four story tall generator surrounded by several walkways that allowed mechanics to work on different parts of the system without having to call in an elevator. The roof of the building was covered in pipes and cables going from and to the generator.

Since the system was controlled from the control room, there were no command consoles inside the building, only some instruments and an emergency stop button.

The buzzing that had attracted Nguyen inside stopped the moment he passed the door, but the light was still there. It was some pale bluish light, similar to xenon headlights, that reflected off the shiny metal that made up the walls.

Which was odd. None of the neon lights on the roof were on.

He slowly made his way around the generator, his rifle now in hand, but not cocked. Wouldn’t want to accidentally shoot up a nuclear plant.

“Troi oi…” Nguyen muttered in dismay upon rounding the corner.

There was one of those demonic circles burned into the ground right in front of him. The same kind as the one in Zeebrugge, and the other found earlier that day by Angelo.

Before he had time to take a closer look at the thing, several warning bells went off in his mind. His instincts suddenly told him to duck, warning him of a danger behind him.

Nguyen’s reaction wasn’t a second too late, as a lightning bolt sailed over his head just as he moved, scorching the ground with a loud ‘Zap’. He turned around and looked up at the source of the lightning.

Up in the air above him was a swarm of moth-like insects. Each of the insects was covered in fluffy sky blue hair, with large translucent membrane wings, a pair of large pinkish eyes and bolt shaped antennae.

The swarm actually was the source of the bluish light he had noticed, which was a byproduct of the electric arcs going from one of the insects to another, turning the whole swarm into a bright ball of lightning.

And if the bolt of lightning from earlier was any indication, these things were fiercely territorial.

The swarm started to buzz angrily, spreading out further than before. Nguyen kept his eyes riveted on them, walking backwards in the direction of the door.

Shooting them would have been futile, so the next best option was to lock them inside and ensure they didn’t get out.

The cat’s mind rang out once again to warn him of an impending attack, this time telling him to go right. The hunch was correct, because the swarm fired another bolt at him, missing by a hairsbreadth as he rolled to the side.

The swarm flew right at him before he had time to regain his footing, forcing him to throw himself backwards to dodge the incoming cloud of very angry insects. Nguyen sprang to his feet the moment the insects were past him, already turning around to face the threat.

The swarm was making a run for the door.

“Oh no you don’t you little fuckers!” He yelled, cocking his rifle.

The cat aimed at the swarm and fired a single shot in their direction, aiming just enough not to hit anything critical in the building. The shot, fired inside a building, made his ears ring painfully.

The bullet shattered against the wall in front of the swarm, halting their advance and forcing them to focus their attention back on the Vietnamese. They started to spread out again, the lightning around the swarm increasing in intensity.

Good, the little fuckers were biting the bait. As long as they were focused on him they weren’t making a run for the exit, and he could keep them contained.

Now to get between them and the door…

Nguyen fired another shot at the swarm (much to the displeasure of his ears) before pulling out a stun grenade from a pouch on his flak jacket. After putting on his ear defenders, he moved to throw it, hoping to stop the insects long enough for him to run for the door. Unfortunately, the swarm had no intentions of staying passive and flew back in his direction, buzzing angrily.

His mind didn’t give him any warning before the swarm fired a third bolt at him. The electric arc hit him square in the chest just as he was throwing the grenade, leaving a scorch mark on his flak jacket.

The cat barely held back a cry of pain as his muscles seized up, sending him falling to the ground. He barely managed to brace an arm in front of him before landing face first against the hard concrete.

With his fangs grit in pain from the tremors that were still coursing through his body, he managed to wrench his gaze away from the concrete floor and looked up to the buzzing swarm of insects.

Turns out his grenade had flown true, because the little demons were hovering just above it, still buzzing angrily. They started to spread out again, preparing the finishing bolt…

And then the stun grenade exploded.

Nguyen cursed himself for ever thinking it was a good idea to throw a stun grenade in the same room he was in, because even through his closed eyes and the ear defenders, he was still sent reeling from the explosion. Fortunately for him, the swarm was worse off, having been unprotected and practically on top of the grenade when it exploded.

All of the insects were down trashing on the ground, made completely unaware of their surroundings by the explosion. Some were still flying aimlessly in the air, hitting objects and walls at random.

Nguyen didn’t stick around to let them recover. He pushed through the pain of the bolt, the haze due to having a stun grenade explode a dozen meters in front of him and the painful ringing in his ears. Standing up was excruciatingly painful, but he managed it and stumbled in the direction of the door. His rifle was hanging by the sling on his chest, momentarily forgotten.

Passing by the door, he slammed a paw against the fire alarm button. If the system was similar to what they had on Amandine, then it would close off all ventilation in that part of the building, hopefully.

Still stumbling like a drunkard, Nguyen slammed the door shut behind him before finally allowing himself to fall over. The fire alarm was ringing loudly, his muscles were twitching, his chest was aching and probably burnt in some way, but he had made it out without letting the bugs escape.

A small victory but he would take it, for now…

Author's Notes:

First off, here's a chart with the crew's objectives, 'cause I like charts.

Now giving the spotlight to some crewmembers from engineering, because sending deck guys to do that would make no sense at all and I got a cast of 25 guys to fool around with. Hope you guys enjoy the read, and have a nice day.