Their Spores Ate Our Detonator Before We Reached the Den | Military Sci-Fi Infantry Story for Sleep

Beneath Station Nine, an abandoned refinery-harbor on a colony moon, sulfur minks have spent twenty years hollowing the pilings and seeding the tidal coast with heat-resistant cyst beds. Seven combat engineers descend into the sulfide-soaked understructure to demolish the primary den complex before the infestation reaches the mainland extraction facilities.At low tide, they cut through the floodgate with a plasma cutter, carry seismic charges through chest-deep black water, and begin locking them to the central support pylon. The minks match the temperature of stone and ambush through dissolved walls, while mineral-armored spores clog filters, soften seals, eat concrete, and work into equipment still listed as operational.This is "The Sulfur Minks" by Sascha Schmidt