They had an effectively limitless oxygen source, as far as the engagement went. The intruders had only what they could bring on their ship and vehicles. Keeping them from acquiring resupply locally was first on the list. If they ran out of oxy, or eventually water, the fight ended. They might also have issues with power. Certainly the power plants on the ships would have plenty, but changing that energy to usable form for vehicles and suits took time and equipment. A man charging his suit batteries and filling up on breathing mix wasn’t combat effective.
The plan was to delay, stall, hinder, then if need be damage or injure, and if all else failed, kill, but only after the Ueys had made the first aggressive move.
The devices and events constructed over the last three days, since the UN launch, with either secrecy or careful cover stories and work orders ready to go. They were still hidden, and nothing appeared out of line. However, to maintain the pretense of normalcy, the lock itself had been left operational until now.
Crawford and his men and woman were almost in a panic as they rolled into the Outer Bay. He felt very exposed this far from the main habitable area without a pressure suit even within reach.
The Outer Bay had a light sheet floor over the regolith, framework pressure doors, and parking slots for four ready vehicles to recharge, reload, refit and get back out. There were racks for batteries, tanks and bottles. It made it quick and efficient to supply and resupply outside functions without entering deeper into the maintenance and support area of Middle Bay. During a busy project, the four rollys would be nonstop ferries of people and sundries.
He pointed around the bay and ordered.
“Okay, load the oxy on that goat trailer, then pull power lines on the rollys. We’ll take those in.”
Rojas said, “Those aren’t all gonna fit.”
“Right. We’ll make more trips, and try to dismount charging ports as well. If we have time, we’ll take the batteries. If we can’t do that, we’ll try to disable the vehicles some other way.”
“If you say so.” She didn’t sound convinced.
“Yeah. We’ll do what we can. Let’s move, okay?”
The bottles were easy enough, it was just tedious to move so many. The ready racks held enough for an entire shift of three work crews to be outside, right about a hundred tanks.
“Stack them neatly. We can dump to unload, but the neater, the better for loading,” he said.
Ravi had been just tossing them. He grumbled, but started aligning them for a geometric pile. And thank God for .16 G.
Those all fit, with room to take all four power cables from the other rollys.
“Hurry,” Crawford urged. Once everything was piled, he jumped on the saddle, powered up and rolled in to the Middle Bay, then past Lock 3A and 3B to Inner Bay and Maintenance off to the side. That was big enough to pull pressurized maintenance on a single rolly, and for two others to pass each other in turn. There was just room to back the trailer carefully inside the main hab, Lock 4. The haulers used for palletized cargo were specialized for that lock and used in trains, not singly.
Barely. He scraped one side and almost jammed a wheel before he got it backed in.
“Just toss the stuff off and we’ll go back for more.”
Really, more labor would be useful. On the other hand, it would only take one sympathizer to wreck the whole thing.
He scraped back out, the vehicle thumping and rising, then back down in the low G, as one of the trailer wheels caught on the hatch frame.
For the second trip, two of the large recharge tanks fit on the trailer, along with charging ports. There was still power in the battery banks, but the Ueys would have no way to charge or draw from them without bringing or making a Charging Interface Unit. The batteries could be dismounted and used as is, but that would take time the Ueys probably couldn’t spare.
His phone beeped. He pressed the button on his collar and heard Coffman. “They’re rolling into view.”
“Crap, guys, we go now.”
He bounded across the garage in two leaps and slapped the button to close Lock 1. Then he turned to the remaining recharge tank, pulled the hammer off his belt, and cracked the safety disk. The tank began a slow hiss as it vented into the enclosed space.
“At least we’re not losing that air,” he said. “Kick it.”
Rojas shrugged and took the wheel, and rolled back through to Inner Bay. Morton followed, disabling the lock control on this side, then doing a bypass on the inner control. He couldn’t smash it completely; it housed all the circuitry here. There was a manual override for emergencies. No one had foreseen needing to cut lock controls and run them remotely. It was cheaper, faster and safer to build one box for each hatch and simply run a control line in. That was going to bite them in the ass now. They couldn’t cut it without surrendering control to the Ueys. The Ueys could cut it and take that control, and probably would.
The maintenance section in the Middle Bay was empty. That meant lots of room for Ueys to get in, but nothing for them to hide behind. When it came to booby traps, this entrance was as good as could be hoped for.
They needed to get on those booby traps.
“Rod, you know that divot right about the middle of the entryway floor? Reinforced with lattice?”
Godin said, “Yes.”
“Can you open that section and mine that lattice?”
The man nodded, wrinkled his brow and said, “I need an hour.”
“Faster if you can. We might not have more than that. They may come straight in.”
“Can I have Rojas with me? And Ravi, can you get the charges? I’ll need at least ten. One hundred grams each.”
Malakhar said, “I’ll get them now. Do I need authorization?”
Crawford said, “You have it.” He pointed at his screen. He’d already pinged Control and gotten approval.
The three skipped off.
Then he said, “Stu, can you prep those transducers we talked about? I want them up high out of reach.”
Morton said, “On it, boss,” and skipped away.
The transducers could generate enough sound pressure to be heard in five percent atmospheric pressure. They were armored against impact, and Rojas had fabbed a second cover for them that should stop bullets. Properly placed in one of the locks, they would hopefully be very effective stun and distraction devices.
All that set, Andre took a few moments to peel out of his coverall, skin into a leotard, and pull his friction suit on. He had his helmet and bottle right there in case he needed them.
Back to the fliptop he had as a control console, he looked at the screens and written report. Nothing was coming through on audio yet.
“Can you hear me, boss?” Godin came through his headset.
“I have you.”
“I’m wired into the channel here. Didn’t want to use radio.”
“Good.” And that decision-making ability was why he’d grabbed these people.
Godin said, “Ravi is prepping the charges for me. Laura is helping me open the floor panels. Worst case, we pull out and there’s a big hole in the floor they have to work around. What are they doing?”
The video feed showed three ArctiTraks lumbering evenly around the ridge cut.
Crawford gauged them and said, “Approaching by vehicle. At that speed, you still have ten minutes before arrival. I’d say they’ll need ten to debark and arm for entry. Which also assumes they’re in a hurry. They’re certainly visible and can’t expect to surprise us.”
“Roger. I’ll update as we go. I’m pulling the wire. Give me a channel squelch and a word ‘go’ if we have to run.”
Crawford nodded to himself. “Sounds good. Signal is quelch and go.”
Right then, Coffman came on. “Andre, we have two friends of Ravi’s who are going EVA for observations.”
“Yeah, he mentioned them. What do you have on this element out there?”
On screen, Coffman shrugged. “The same camera you do, sir. SELSAT has nothing. We d
on’t know if it’s dead or jammed.”
That was bad. “All three? Shouldn’t two be over the horizon at present?”
“Yup, nada. The colonel doesn’t want to put a skimmer up because that would be obvious and possibly provocative. We’re waiting for them to come to us.”
“Got it. Whatever you do see, keep me informed. I may not notice everything.”
“I’m listening in. What you’ve been reporting so far is good.”
“Glad to hear it.” But as much as he liked being in charge, this was a bit outside his comfort zone.
The element was large. He looked over the imagery and tried to think. Three ArctiTraks, possibly sixty Ueys. Ground staff . . . space crew, if they were double trained, and probably were . . .
Ravi came back through the door.
He said, “Hey, boss, I’m in their way. What do you need?”
Crawford replied, “Hang here until we have more info.”
“That I can do. Want me to look?”
“Please.”
Turning his head back to the screens, Andre tried to estimate against known landmarks.
He said, “Estimate a hundred men? Figure three Traks with twenty each plus support?”
Malakhar agreed. “That seems a fair appraisal. Anything on sat?”
“Coffman says they’re down.”
Malakhar scowled, his lean face looking odd with the expression. “That’s not good. I may be able to get a powered drone up, or I have a man outside who can slingshot a camera overhead and try to retrieve it later. Both have advantages.”
Crawford said, “Yeah, I do want to know. On the other hand, I don’t want to waste anything too soon, or give away our knowledge.”
Rojas came in right then and said, “Boss, they have to know we know. I wouldn’t worry about that part.” She sounded out of breath.
“True,” he agreed. “Which leaves finding out now, or waiting. It’s not as if it’s going to change the troop numbers.”
The talk was necessary, but agitating. Andre prompted again, “Okay, get me whatever you have.”
Malakhar said, “I’ve got an observer going up Peak Five from the outside. We painted his suit tan. It’ll flake off, but should drop his profile a lot. He has a laser signal he can beam to the tertiary receiver. Coffman’s the only one with access.”
“Well done, thanks.”
“No problem. I’ve got another guy behind the outcropping who’s going to launch the camera, then duck inside. We get one shot, so tell me when you want to do it.”
Andre chewed his lip and thought.
“Don’t let them get close enough to catch him. But when they’re a few hundred meters out, I say do it.”
Malakhar said, “I count three vehicles, but it’s likely there’s two more out behind the ridge.”
He nodded. “Right. Do it when you see fit.”
“Roger.”
“And we need to get that emergency hatch moved into position and sealed.”
Morton said, “I’ll do that now. Laura, help?”
“Yup,” she said, and bounded back to her feet.
Godin leaned his head into the Hut and said, “I’ll help. I’m done in Outer Bay.”
“Good.”
The emergency lock mounted into position anywhere a precut slot existed. Those were in the rock every twenty meters, and in the habitrails every fifteen. The idea was a leak could be isolated to the smallest volume possible, and then repaired or worked around.
But an emergency lock was just that. It wouldn’t handle many sudden significant pressure shifts but it might handle one. It bought time in an emergency. This wasn’t the emergency it was built for, but it would still work.
Out in the main passage, Morton and Rojas mounted the lock base, set the sides, and cranked the tension up. Godin latched the mounts. Andre watched through the door, while turning back to his screens every few seconds. Once they had all four sides in the precut slots, Morton pulled, twisted and slapped the button that extruded sealing goop all the way around. It was effectively airtight; leakage should be in grams per minute or less. It wasn’t proof against an overpressure slam either way. They’d need to avoid that.
Andre was back at the screens as the three returned. There was a video feed from up high. That man on the ridge had good imagery, though his field of view was limited.
Malakhar took a look at the scan and said, “Yup, two more. Now, that’s three plus two that we can see. We’re assuming a lander-type Albatross C. That doesn’t mean they didn’t strip down and squeeze another vehicle in, or that they didn’t land another craft farther out. I don’t see a reason they would, but it’s not impossible.”
“Got it,” Crawford said with a nod.
An overhead image at an oblique, ballistic angle showed the exact positions of the Uey craft and vehicles. They were well clear of any feasible weapon from here, out of view of the dome or the tunnels, but close enough to make their own support and recovery easy.
Malakhar stared at his screen and replied, “Yes, Albatross C, single, can carry five ArctiTraks and most of their gear would be inside those, or wedged between. We’re looking at everything they are likely to have. They may be able to lift if they abandon everything here, or if they get a fuel drop from an orbiter.”
“Good.”
Ravi continued, “Okay, my man outside is now inside. The man up on the peak can hold for four hours on his oxy supply if you need him to.”
“If he’s comfy, it can’t hurt to do so.”
Malakhar pointed. “He even sent a pic.”
The image showed a suited figure draped in a hollow, one leg hanging over a formerly sharp edge he’d hammered flat. From any angle, in that color, he’d be tough to see, and no one should be looking. He was flashing a peace sign.
Crawford had to grin.
“Yeah, as long as he can last. More intel always helps.”
He stood, stretched and looked at the other three.
“So let’s summarize: We have three airlocks, one of them twin. We installed an emergency unit as a fifth. Four sections, five hatches. We can secure controls from in here, but that could be bypassed eventually. We need to stop them from entering or causing infrastructure damage that would lead to personnel evacuation. We want to minimize casualties, and avoid first use of force if at all possible. We’ve improvised several nonlethal weapons and the three of you can hopefully fab gear as needed against incursions. It’s dawn here, and as the sun clears the peaks, it will get hot fast. That means they’ll need to force entry or build shelter. Ultimately, we win if they surrender or run out of oxy and retreat. They win if they achieve entry and control the entrance.”
Morton said, “Of course we never needed lethal or projectile weapons here, and they’d be dangerous in a habitat. And whether that was intentional or circumstantial, they’re going to exploit it.”
Crawford nodded and scowled. “Yeah. I said all along that pistols wouldn’t breach the sheathing, nor most light rifles, and that they’d be useful in case of a rebellion or even a criminal threat. Everyone ignored me. Then Gresham freaked out last year and stabbed five people before he got dogpiled.”
Rojas said, “I’m not sure firearms would have changed that outcome.”
Andre shrugged. He’d seen knife fights on the South Side. “Probably not, but if it happens once, it can happen again. We can discuss it another time. I just wish we had them now.”
The four sat down to wait. That was the main thing in war: boredom. All parties would maneuver, sit around, maneuver some more, change positions. Eventually someone would attack or, more likely, trip over the enemy. Then the fight started.
“Make sure we keep the coffee full,” he ordered. “Food regularly. We can talk, or move around, or plan. I don’t want anyone playing cards or gaming. We need to notice motion on the screens and messages. No outgoing messages. Everyone’s phone is off, right? And the suit comms are for official use only.”
“Yup.”
&
nbsp; “Yes.”
“Got it.”
“Ravi, please confirm.”
The man had been fiddling with his fliptop to get the screen at a good angle.
“Yes, I understand. Sorry.”
He was usually taciturn and didn’t communicate much. He had to be reminded that for this, verbal confirmation was a must for record.
From his raised position, Colonel Zeiss looked around Central Operations, then at the external view on the large screen. Often, that carried news or mission footage. Now it just showed the majestic scenery. It was almost high enough resolution to fool the human eye into seeing it as “real.” Almost.
Even though the moon ran on Zulu time, lunar sunrise was relevant to several functions. It was also very pretty. The main screen showed a polarized view of a bare glow peeking through a notch in the rim wall. That tendril that might just be a prominence added to the grandeur.
Zeiss felt reasonably calm under the present circumstances. He had some of the best people on the job, and it was unlikely the UN wanted violence. The wrap-up at Hadley Dome indicated that.
On the other hand, he also had some of the most stubborn and cantankerous people, and they were getting aggravating.
Zeiss had only a moment to appreciate the canned view, as approval requests and advisories started chattering in.
The hope was to stall any EXTAC—EXTernal ACtivity—until the dispute was resolved. Otherwise, a lockdown phrased in that way would guarantee rumors as to why. Those would be bad if true, potentially worse if wild speculation. Nor was it possible to bottle this many people up, even with hard vacuum outside.
Zeiss asked, “What’s the word on the Uey landing?”
Coffman said, “No movement yet, from any available source. We still have nothing from SELSAT. Definitely compromised.”
“Who else knows that?”
Coffman replied, “Just my section. No one has any urgent commo queued.”
Solar activity did sometimes interfere for minutes at a time. But that was minutes. He needed hours.
Battle Luna Page 9