In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

planning an attack, why did she let any of her men get trapped in the Safe rooms?" the security officer asked.

"I know!" Roderick exclaimed. "She handed off a knapsack to one of the men who stayed behind. I bet there are weapons in that knapsack!"

"They’re planning to blow the door into the tunnel!" Rupert finished excitedly.

Zack smiled proudly at the two boys. "If that’s the case, what do you think we should do about it?" he asked, seeing a tactical teaching moment.

"That’s a small room," Roderick said. "if they set off a bomb in there, the concussion will get them too. Maybe we should just let them try it and hurt themselves."

"If they set off that blast it might collapse the roof and they aren’t the only people in there," Juliette protested. "Some of the fishers might get hurt too."

"Look at those other doors, they’re thick. I bet they wouldn’t get hurt too bad if they lock themselves in one of the other rooms," Rupert argued.

Zack had been examining the schematics of the tunnel just outside the Safe rooms. "Okay, that’s one strategy that might be tried, can you think of any others?" he asked.

Lucinda had been looking at the map too. "They only left about six of them. Why don’t we open the door?" she inquired.

"What?" squalled the boys. "You can’t do that! I bet they’ve got weapons and explosive charges! If we let them in, they can set them off in here. People will get hurt. Our people."

Lucinda made a rude noise and pointed to two access tunnels beside the door. "You don’t listen! I didn’t say let them come down into the cavern. If we open the door pretending we’ve come to get them, they should let us in. If they don’t we can wait there for when they come out. Like we did that time Grouter sent us in to get—" she stopped and looked guiltily at her parents."—Stuff. And we got trapped in that alley, remember?"

"We could ambush them!" Rupert and Roderick said in unison.

Zack looked over at Katherine and grinned. "Good little strategy session, huh?"

She punched him playfully in the arm. "They have a good teacher."

"Do you think they’ll try anything right away, sir?" Lolli asked.

"No, my guess is they’ll want to coordinate any attack with Lister’s crew. Lister will need to wait for a lull in this storm before her crew can operate up top, so we have plenty of time to get our men in place."

"Um, Zack?" Katherine asked. "I think that it would be just like Lister to use those fishers as hostages when the fight starts. Most of the fishers are already in the infirmary, so when the attack starts, we could isolate them by closing the infirmary door from here."

"Can you handle that?" Zack asked the screen operator.

"Sure," the boy replied. "I have auxiliary control from here. I can override any command they input."

"How soon will there be a break in the weather," Zack asked the meteorologist.

Joyce frowned. "From the size of this one, I’d say we’ve got about twenty-four hours before the eye gets here."

Zack nodded. "Okay, Lolli assemble a security team to meet me in those tunnels just outside the safe room door. Do we have gas masks?"

"Yes," Lolli answered. "Do you think they are planning to gas us?"

"It’s been done and we don’t know for sure what is in that knapsack," he replied. "I'm thinking better safe than sorry. I also want two teams to guard the access tunnels to the Lodge and the animal shelter."

"While we have time," Vernal who had not yet gone to bed suggested, "I think we might cut down our casualties by setting a few traps inside the Lodge and at the tunnel entrances."

He looked over at the boys. "I think you can help with that. We will need pressure plates and some netting. And I think maybe a quick release trigger on some of the animal pens. Particularly those feisty birds."

Twenty-four hours later Corrine and Katherine sat tensely in the command center watching their men prepare to go to battle. On screens the two women could glimpse the various groups moving into positions of defense. For safety, everyone who had stayed in the Lodge had been temporarily moved into the dorm section of the Barn Dome. Vernal commanded the squad protecting the access from the Lodge and had already met with his team. Zack would join the clan fighters in the Tunnels after he had given his final instructions. Lolli and more security were guarding the doors to the Barn Dome.

Rupert and Roderick had put up a fuss at not being able to accompany Zack and his fighters.

“No," Zack had said quietly. "Much as I would enjoy your company everyone has an important part to play, including you two. I want you boys in the second defense. Report to Security Spec Nigel and he will give you instructions. Lucinda, I need you to take a weapon, go down and wait with Violet and Jelli. You're in charge of you and Violet. Report to Master Drover Brinna who is in command down there for orders."

"Take a weapon for Violet," Katherine instructed. "Juliette, Corrine and I will need you up here. Go to the armory and draw weapons for everyone here, including yourself and bring them back here. Joseph, go with her."

“The eye of the storm is making landfall," Joyce warned quietly. "We've got about twenty minutes left."

As the group disbursed, Katherine reached for Corrine’s hand, squeezing it for comfort.

Juliette and Joseph had barely arrived back with weapons for the command center crew when Noreen, the tech monitoring the Top Side Landing Room exclaimed. "My screen’s dark!"

"They’ve found the console. I wondered if they would," Katherine said. "Do you still have audio Noreen?"

At the woman’s nod, she instructed, "keep monitoring it. We may get some inkling as to their immediate intentions."

"Mia," she said to the Clanswoman who was acting as com coordinator for the entire dome area defense, "notify everyone about losing the