Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

Muzzle flashes lit up the cavern, and explosions shook the walls as five dwarves ran away from a writhing mass of carapace and limbs.

"Shit! There's no end to these bastards!" exclaimed a dwarf dressed in red armor, the Engineer, before quickly launching a grenade at their glyphid pursuers.

An orange fireball engulfed dozens of the insects, but it was for naught because the great tide seemed to devour the explosive, replacing any holes in their ranks that had been lost.

A dwarf in green turned around and revved up his minigun, and unleashed a barrage of lead into the approaching swarm, turning the forerunners into Swiss cheese.

Brzzzzzzzzzzzt! Click click click click click.

However, his gun clicked a moment later, indicating the dwarf was out of ammo.

The gunner urgently shouted, "Scout! How much further till the drop pod!"

A dwarf dressed in blue swiftly pulled out his terrain scanner, "70 Meters! We're close! This way!"

The Scout turned a corner but abruptly stopped, "NO! The cave collapsed!"

With the swarm mere moments behind them, they didn't have enough time to dig their way through.

"Step back," Grunted the dwarf in yellow armor, "I'm called driller for a reason."

The Driller pulled out a satchel charge and haphazardly tossed it onto the rubble blocking them.

Boom!

The five dwarves scrambled through the tunnel, which opened up to a large cavity with numerous natural pillars. At the end of the cavern, a grimy orange pod sent out illuminating beams.

There it was, their ticket out: The extraction pod.

As they dashed to the pod, the Scout sniffed the air in confusion, 'Rotten eggs?'

Crack! Crack!

Two large, bright-orange appendages emerged from the floor.

The dwarves' expressions became grim.

As they watched the hulking beast pulled itself from the stone, it let out a series of bone-rattling clicks and groans.

Its body was disproportionate as if a cancerous growth overcame it. The beast's front legs were far larger than the others, while its abdomen was inflated like a balloon riddled with tumors, giving it a horrific look.

The Engineer cursed, "A bulk detonator?!?"

The bulk detonator raised its front legs, and embers spewed from its body.

"Take cover!" The dwarves quickly dived behind several stone pillars and covered their ears.

The bulk detonator slammed the ground.

KABOOM!!!

Hot air and debris whizzed, and the pillars crumbled, followed by four of the five dwarves getting thrown away.

They were battered. They couldn't take another explosion like that, and there was no more cover nearby.

The bulk detonator towered over them. All they could see was their deaths.

Scout cursed at Driller, "This is definitely your fault for using me as bait!"

"Nuh-uh, you're the one who swan-dived into a cave leech!"

Bam!

Suddenly, the fifth dwarf leaped from behind and swung a pickaxe at the bulk detonator, sending it flying into the cavern wall, the impact contorting its body. The detonator convulsed and began to glow a vicious orange before exploding again, leaving a massive crater in its wake.

In the air was a dwarf with a magnificent, gray beard swinging a pickaxe twice the size of his body.

""Karl!""

Karl barked at the dwarves, "Go! Now! Get in the pod!"

The four dwarves quickly got off the ground and scrambled to it, running for their lives.

'I need to buy time for them!'

Karl made a break for a nearby stone pillar and raised his pickaxe.

His muscles bulged as he brought down the mighty steel tool onto the pillar before leaning against it and pushing with all his might to bring it down.

Crash!

The pillar fell and crushed several dozen glyphids.

It only bought a few seconds because the glyphids began to climb over it, but that was all they needed.

Quickly catching up to the dwarves, they all dived into the extraction pod.

Karl urgently smashed a button, causing the pod's engines to start up, and the machine began to ascend.

The Scout sighed in relief before turning to Karl, "What hazard rating was this again?"

Karl laughed, "Haha! This was only hazard level 3."

The Scout groaned in response.

"hey, look on the bright side! You guys only have one more mission with me until you become official Deep Rock miners and complete your training!" said Karl.

Before long, they arrived back at the space rig and headed to The Abyss Bar to grab a few drinks.

Taking their seat, Karl turned to a small robot at the bar, "Lloyd, a round of Oily Oafs!"

"Beep Boop!" Affirmed Lloyd, the robot.

Several mugs popped out from inside the bar as Lloyd began to fill them with beautiful liquid and foam. Indeed, the Abyss Bar was the best place to grab a beer after a Hoxxes expedition.

Karl raised his drink, "To another successful mission!"

The team grabbed their beers and clanged them together.

""For Rock and Stone!""

They downed their beers in one go, savoring the taste.

After some banter and horseplay, Gunner suddenly ordered a round of hardcore alcohol, "Lloyd, give us some blackout-stout..."

Gunner turned to the others with an evil grin, "I'll bet 200 credits I'm the last standing."

"You're on." Said Scout.

They began to drink it at the same time.

Blackout-stout was one of the strongest beers known to dwarfkind, and it was only for those with the strongest of tolerances. One sip and you would already start wobbling; one glass was all but guaranteed to knock you out.

20 seconds in:

Gunner confidently laughed, "I'll be 800 credits richer after this!"

1 minute in:

Scout drunkenly berated Driller, "Won't ya stop blowin' me up with your satchels!"

Driller grunted, "Then stop walking into them."

"I DON'T!" exclaimed Scout, "You toss them onto me!"

1 minute and 30 seconds in:

Scout, Driller, and Gunner all passed out, and Engineer was teetering on the brink.

They hadn't even managed to down the entire mug.

Before Engineer passed out, he asked Karl in slurred speech, "Drunk you not? How?"

Karl laughed, "Who knows?"

Engineer passed out.

"I guess I win," said Karl.

He sloshed the remaining blackout-stout around in his mug before finishing it off.

Karl smiled as he watched the four dwarves. He was almost a little sad that the next mission would be the end of the four dwarves' training. He would miss their antics.

From their training, Karl could tell that they would be successful. Hell, they might even surpass him if given enough time.

They were a solid team.

Gunner could consistently lead the team and hold them together when they got overwhelmed, and Engineer was able to solve a lot of problems and help everyone else shine.

Scout was by far the most selfish of the team. Still, he certainly was able to do his job well and was able to gather the most resources a lot of the time. Driller was also always able to put the team into advantageous terrain and make cave traversal many times easier.

Granted, Scout and Driller had a rivalry going on, but it wasn't a problem because they never let it get in the way of the mission— most of the time.

Karl lifted the dwarves and began to shuttle them back to their rooms; they would need all the rest they could get for tomorrow.

He should also rest. As their mentor, it was his responsibility to make sure they all completed the mission safely.

Karl went to a different side of the space rig to his own room and laid down in his own sleeping pod.

He stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

It was unusual to see a bulk detonator in a mission rated as hazard 3. It wasn't unheard of, but it left him uneasy.

The glyphids only moved for one of three reasons.

The first is if there were intruders in their territory, the second is if something pushed them out, and the last is by order of the glyphid queen.

The first was the most likely, because the dwarves were, in every sense of the word, intruders.

The second was possible but equally unlikely. The glyphids weren't something to be pushed out easily, and if that had happened, management would know.

The last one was out of the question.

Karl couldn't think of anything. It was just him overthinking.

-=-=-

SCREEEEE!!!

Karl jolted awake in a cold sweat.

He didn't know how long it had been since he had gotten a good night's rest. The only thing his dreams brought was old memories he wanted to forget.

Karl tossed on some casual clothes and left for the cafeteria, grabbing a suspiciously green platter of glyphid omelets for breakfast.

After eating breakfast, Karl headed to the workshop to fiddle with his gear and wait for the other four.

Before long, the other four arrived and were ready to go.

"Let's see where management wants us to go today, shall we?" Said Karl.

Scout grimaced, "I really hope it's not hollow bough."

Driller nodded his head, "For once, I agree with you. Those stabby-vines still give me nightmares."

"But it has goo-sacs!" snickered Gunner.

Karl shook his head before opening a map terminal of the planet and saying, "Hmm. There it is. It's a mission in Crystalline Caverns. Similar to before, it's only hazard 3, so let's do our best."

"Drop pod is ready - time to leave," stated mission control.

Karl was never fond of mission control.

Engineer headed over to The Abyss Bar, "Ooh! Today's special is skull-crusher ale."

"Lloyd, a round, if you will," said Karl.

Sometimes, the bar served special drinks that acted as stimulants of sorts. In this beer's case, it made their pickaxe swings more vicious— for whatever reason.

Once they boarded the drop pod, a countdown ensued, and they began their descent.

Karl still felt uneasy but then shook his head.

No matter what Hoxxes IV threw at them, they could handle it.