* * *
Spartan and his small group of marines and commandos had made good progress in working their way across the Station. So far, they had run into just three insurgents and each had been dealt with quickly and quietly. After the bloody work of landing at the Station, the commandos seemed almost relaxed as they worked their way through the ruins of the old bar. Being so close to the habitation zone, they had to be as quiet as they were able and that meant using close quarter weapons or silencers when possible. As they moved past the ruined wooden bar several men and a bloodied woman leapt from cover. They managed to drag one of the marines down to the ground and proceeded to stab at him repeatedly with a stiletto-like knife. Spartan waded in, slamming his heavy boot into the woman’s chest and sending her flying back against the side of the bar. One of the commandos grabbed the arm of the closest man and jammed his fighting knife into his collar. He then pulled the blade out and struck several more times before letting the body slide to the floor. The rest of the squad made quick work of the rest before pushing on to the far side of the bar. As they reached the back section they moved more slowly, each well aware that on the other side could be scores, even hundreds of people. They inched along until Teresa found a crack in the wall that gave him a large enough gap to look though. As he peered inside his helmet-mounted headset crackled.
“I’m at the landing zone, there is a group of about forty insurgents on your way, we picked off the last few but the rest made it past us, watch your backs. We should be airborne in five minutes, will meet you at the rendezvous,” said Lieutenant Daniels on the intercom.
Spartan looked back, he couldn’t see any trouble but he wasn’t taking any chances. He sent four of the marines back to the rubble to keep an eye on their rear.
Looking back inside through a small gap in the wall he could see hundreds of people huddled in groups throughout the courtyard section of the habitation zone. The area was like a large dormitory with lots of rooms surrounding an open courtyard. Three or four Zealots guarded each group and there were large numbers of more guarding the doorways that led into the zone. Also there were more of them higher up, probably armed with sniper rifles to cover the courtyard.
“Captain, we’re in position, have you received our tactical data?” he asked.
“Good work, Sergeant, we will assault the four main entrances. We’ll start with a flashbang storm and then rush it. As soon as the firefight begins, I need you to clear the snipers and then move to the guards around the prisoners. Assault starts in twenty seconds.”
“Understood, Sir,” replied Spartan.
Siege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1) Page 34