by Lee Guo
The faces in front of Yamato were taking it all in. Some nodded while others cringed, probably because of the amount of time they had to accomplish the mission.
Yamato continued, “No questions? Good. I am transferring the internal schematics of each Titan to each of you as seen by the sensor suits on board each pulsar. Using the information I’m about to give you, I want everyone to prioritize taking over each Titan’s power core and command center, and to plan the best way to get to these two crucial areas as fast as possible. I must remind all that this is an once in a million chance. This is the first time we can actually capture real, fully intact enemy warships. Especially, enemy capital ships that’s not already a debris field, because usually the enemy’s capital ships are well defended by escorts and other capital ships that would normally make marine assaults impossible. This time, all of the enemy’s intact capital ships are both immobilized and isolated… they are spread over a distance of a 10 million kilometers, making existent the perfect conditions for a marine assault… so let’s use this once in a million opportunity and not waste it! We’re lucky that they’re all isolated and can’t share a combined defense.”
His subcommanders nodded enthusiastically.
“Now… any questions?” asked Yamato.
“Yes, sir,” said one woman. “What do we equip our marines with? What type of conditions do we expect on board their Titans?”
Yamato nodded. “The same we can expect on their orbital structures. We will need armored suits, because the enemy may very well deplete the oxygen inside their ships. We will need antigravity boots, because the enemy may alter the internal gravity to halt our advance. You will need stun grenades, because we will need to interrogate prisoners later for intel.”
Several other questions popped up and Yamato answered them quickly. Soon, it was time.
Yamato spat, “Everyone get it? Do it now! Go! Go! Go! The sands of time are more important than diamonds at this point!”
One by one, his marine subcommanders saluted and closed their link to the channel.
Godspeed, thought Yamato.
15 minutes later…
Marine storage bay, Marine Assault Boat 1, en route towards Titan 5
Emily “Mike” Fields’ stomach grumbled as she felt her assault lander’s gravity field switch from planetary gravity to artificial gravity. Her stomach protested again, when her nostrils detected the odor of someone’s puke.
Get yourself together! She wanted to yell, but she knew she was experiencing the same thing. No matter how many times she entered combat, she got pre-battle jitters that made her nervous… except, she never threw up — not once.
Get yourself together and rise, Mike. You’re their leader. Show them what you got! She stood up in the dark cavernous storage bay full of other marines. “Ok, I want everyone on board,” she said. “When we latch onto that enemy warship, we will move as fast as possible through its corridors.” Thank gods, that they actually have hallways and corridors, after all, how else would their own crews maneuver inside their ships? “Until we reach section omega. Omega is the warship’s power core. We must get there and defend it at all costs.”
“Yes, Major!” her marine team yelled in unison.
“It should not be hard,” she continued, “as the enemy must be too surprised initially to offer resistance.” As for what type of resistance, we have no idea. “Still, we should be ready to expect anything.”
“Yes, Major!”
Her next thoughts flashed through her head at lightning speed. What she kept to herself was this: In short, I have no idea what to expect. The only times we actually faced heavy resistance was during attacks on a fortified ground position on a planet — and enemy orbital structures. Humans have never actually successfully gotten close to an enemy warship with marine landers so that the enemy warship could be boarded. Nobody knows what types of weapons the crews of enemy starships have in their arsenal. Or if they even have weapons. Nor do we know if they even have armor, for that matter. In short, we’re completely clueless. If the enemy is really prepared, they could have automated gun sentries or internal force fields that can cut a human marine into ribbons. Given that, we don’t know what to expect, we can expect anything.
“What I want everyone to know is this,” said Mike, this time as loud as possible. “Whatever we face, whatever comes at us inside that enemy warship, know this: We ARE the United Federation’s marines and we will give it all we got! Remember your oaths. We will hold steadfast to our values: honor, courage, and commitment, and we will use these values when the going gets tough. Because when the going get tough, marines get tougher. We will fight to accomplish our mission, at any costs, for the sake of our little blue planet, our motherworld. We will show these Argonans that entering the human home system will NOT be richly rewarded.”
“Hurrah!” yelled 100 other voices in unison. “Hurrah!”
The sound of cheers bounced inside that little dark chamber so loudly that it hurt her ear drums, but Mike grinned anyway, knowing that everyone was on board.
Then, she sat down to the task of memorizing the maze of corridors and chambers inside the Titan. She wanted to be the sharpest thing out there, because she wanted to succeed in her mission at all costs.
That Titan was hers.
Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia, outside Titan-5’s main weapon range
Twenty minutes later…
We’re finally ready. Yamato eyed his new marine transports hovering on the holomap in a circle around enemy Titan-5.
Yamato stared at Titan-5… there were four other Titans that were equally immobilized, but this one was the first to be marine boarded because it was closest to Earth. As his gaze scanned it, he noticed its operational TPCs. For the past twenty minutes, Yamato had ordered his pulsars to keep firing at Titan 5’s TPCS, but the damn things were indestructible.
Even now, his three pulsars were still firing at its main weapon, but no matter what, the TPC didn’t go down. He would have to marine assault Titan-5 with the titan’s TPC operational.
Worse, Titan Five’s point defense lasers were also fully operational, but… Yamato wasn’t too worried about that. The armor of his marine assault boats were made to withstand enemy point defense punishment, meant only for taking out missiles and fighters.
Yamato gazed at the holomap. Once he saw that all of the marine assault boats meant for Titan-5 had finished positioning in a circle around it, he knew it was time to order the attack. Even though it would take another 4 minutes for the other marine assault boats to position themselves around Titan-4 ‒ which was .6 light minutes away ‒ Yamato knew that the earlier he began the attack on T-Five, the better. By now, all Titans should have been alerted to the possibility of a marine strike, and Yamato was a little suspicious why none of the Titans had self-destructed, yet.
It’s time. “Marine assault boats two to twelve, begin the attack on Titan-5.”
“Yes, sir,” said the subcommanders in control of each respective marine assault boat.
He watched all the marine assault boats on the holomap that surrounded T-5 ‒ each one appeared as blocky pieces of metal from his view ‒ and they all began moving. While small on his holomap, he knew each marine boat was 80 meters long and armored to the max to withstand the point defense punishment the enemy Titan would surely fire at them during their path towards latching.
Each assault boat was loaded with some 100 marines.
Yamato was also very aware that soon the marine assault on Titan one to four would also take place within the next twenty minutes. It simply took the other marine assault boats longer to get there, as Titans one to four were further away from Earth.
As he stared at the battlemap as a whole, Yamato’s nerves nevertheless got to him. He felt a little impatient, because he wanted to capture as many Titans as possible. He knew that any additional time that passed made that possibility less likely as it gave the enemy more time to defend or self-destruct their ships
—
Calm down, Harvey. What isn’t already at their destination is soon making its way over. You can’t change the laws of physics, so don’t sweat it.
For now, he resigned to the task of watching his marines and their commanders attempt to board the first of five Titans. The commandeering of Titan-5 was under way.
**
All eleven marine assault boats dove towards the lone Titan in the center. As a result, the distances between the human marine boats and the Titan shrunk rapidly.
130,000 kilometers.
120,000 kilometers.
110,000 kilometers.
At 100,000 kilometers, the Titan used its directional thrusters to angle its main weapons — its dual TPCs — so at least some of human assault boats were within its firing envelope.
And then… it fired both cannons.
Two massive beams slashed out into the void. Both hit, disabling marine assault boats four and eight. While ‘four’ was only partially hit, causing it to lose only propulsion control, ‘eight’ was hit in its entirety. Marine Assault Boat 8 lost 40% of its forward hull, and then exploded into two lifeless pieces. All 100 marines died in the explosion.
By the time the Titan recharged its dual TPCs, the other nine marine boats had already closed the distance to 30,000 kilometers.
Marine storage bay, Marine Assault Boat 1, assaulting Titan 5
Mike gritted her teeth upon seeing MAB-8 blow up. What had once been an 80 meter long solid armored structure full of marines had been utterly devoured by a tachyon beam meant to destroy entire capital ships.
There was no contest.
Through Mike’s helmet-infofeed that tied her into the main computer, she could see what was happening outside her assault lander.
The Titan used its maneuvering thrusters to change direction, again. It aimed its pulse cannons, again. This time, there was no chance of a miss. This time, the distance between it and the human MABs was only 20,000 kilometers.
The Titan fired its TPCS.
Two huge beams of armor-devouring tachyons sped out at the remaining MABs. At her.
Immediately, she saw the pilot of her boat suddenly twist her transport’s trajectory. It wasn’t perfect, because her MAB wasn’t agile like fighter, but it was as close to a fighter’s jinking as it could be.
But at this distance, she didn’t think it’d make a difference.
Luckily, she was wrong. The beam hadn’t been aimed at her.
The beam struck MAB-2 dead in the center. That’s Sullivan’s command! Mike, gasped.
MAB-2 was wiped off the map. 60% of it bubbled away, demolecularized — the remaining scattered as debris, dead marines and all.
“Nearing latching distance!” her pilot yelled. “Get ready!”
“Get ready, everyone!” yelled Mike through the company net, as she watched her distance with the immobilized Titan close to 5000 kilometers.
4000 kilometers.
3000.
2000.
1000.
CLUNK.
In her helmet display, she saw her transport suddenly attach itself to the outer structure of the Titan. It was a perfect latch — right above what the marine computer designated as corridor F9 inside the Titan.
“Beginning drilling!” yelled the pilot.
She suddenly saw three large monomolecular drills lowering from her MAB. They descended until they touched the surface of the Titan’s armor. Then, they activated.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
“Two minutes!” yelled the pilot.
Mike exhaled. She had made it. It had begun.
Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia
That’s the fifth assault boat to go down. Yamato sighed. At least, the rest were able to latch.
He counted them. Five got blown up by the Titan’s TPCS, but six managed to clamp onto the Titan’s surface. He thought he had lost a significant amount of marines, but then resigned to optimism. What did he expect? At least the remaining marine assault boats from the first wave had made it.
And… even better, more were coming, like a swarm. Some of the new MABs that were coming out of Earth’s orbit were heading for the other Titans, but some were still heading to Titan-5. Yamato made sure of that.
Reinforcements are coming. More are going to die, of course, but what are the deaths of a hundred marines compared to gaining control of an alien Titan?
Marine storage bay, Marine Assault Boat 1, drilling into Titan-5
“Drilling done!” yelled the pilot of Mike’s MAB. “Opening made! You are a go! Marine Company 1, go, go, go!”
Mike saw the opening inside her MAB that led to the inside of the Titan. It was a long smooth corridor with walls made of carbon nanofiber armor, drilled brilliantly to perfection. “Alright, marines,” she yelled, “activate your powered armor. Activate your antigravity boots. First wave goes in first. Angel, you’re a go! Second wave will be right behind you!”
“Yes, ma’am!” yelled Sargent Hernandez. “First wave, let’s go in!”
Mike watched platoon A as the first of her many marines entered the Titan. Her helmet allowed her to tie into the info feed from the sensors of every member in platoon A.
She saw…
The first of many marines pour into the alien corridor…
There were no aliens there.
Hmm… any alien crewmembers must have been scared away.
Her first group of marines did it by the book. They took up defensive positions inside corridor F9 so the next group of marines could enter.
My turn, thought Mike. “Alright! Second wave, go! Go! Go! Platoon B, let’s go!” She turned to Sargeant Villiers, who stood beside her inside the MAB. “Lead the way, Sarge.”
“Yes, ma’am!” said Villiers. “Platoon B, follow me! I want two lines so that two men jumps into the hole each time. We get to lead the major, so don’t fuck up! Gray and Bullions, you two first!”
Mike watched as two privates jumped into the hole. Once they went in, two more men jumped in, and then another two. Each man went through the length of the hole and soon, Mike could see their icons moving through the alien warship’s corridor F9.
Now, it was her turn. She walked to the hole in the ground of her MAB, and then leapt into it.
She was a little disoriented at first, as her suit’s artificial gravity pullers planted her feet onto the walls of the hole. But once her dizziness was over, it was a simple matter of walking the distance through the hole made through drilling the Titan’s armor — and into corridor F9.
When she reached the end of the hole, she leapt into corridor F9 and was amazed.
My gods, it was a huge tunnel. The alien corridor’s width was massive. It could have easily fit 20 marines side by side — no small feat on a warship, even if it was an alien one.
When she planted her feet into corridor F9’s side walls, she relaxed. She was in. There were no artificial force fields or sentry-gun emplacements that could mow her advance. For all intended purposes, it looked like the aliens had no plan to counter a marine assault.
When she walked to Sargent Villiers, she was greeted with a smirk and some enthusiasm. “Let’s go,” she said. Then she gave the signal for the other platoons to enter.
Inside Titan-5, Company 1
2 minutes later…
Soon, all 100 human marines in her company had entered the Titan. Then, they maneuvered fast through corridor F9, heading straight for their target given to them by human high command — the Titan’s power core.
Then, they met their first alien crewman.
Three of them actually.
Through Mike’s helmet feed, she could see the alien crewmembers through the helmet camera of Private Swanson. The bipedal lizards were massive, towering Swanson and every marine. They were easily 3 meters tall with jaws equipped with rows of giant teeth. They screamed in a horrid unnatural cry and flung themselves at Private Swanson.
Swanson fired his rifle.
The aliens were unar
mored and unarmed — these had no weapons except the claws on their arms, and their jaws.
Swanson’s bullets pierced all three, cutting into their flesh and pushing them back against the opposite side of the tunnel. When Swanson’s firing ceased, he could hear moaning and shrieking as the aliens tried to get up but failed. They moaned while their bodies leaked green blood from the many holes created by Swanson’s rifle. Swanson shot each of them in the head, and that was that.
“Private Swanson,” said Mike.
“Yes, Major?”
“Don’t unnecessarily kill them next time. We need prisoners for interrogation.”
“Yes, Major. But we’ll meet plenty more in the future.”
“I know that.” Mike cut the connection and ordered the rest of the troops to advance.
Boy, if the rest of the crewmen on board this Titan are going to be as unarmed and unarmored, this is going to be easy. But I think we’ll meet some of the enemy’s marines in the future. They can’t all be unequipped for combat?
Eventually, the company reached a hatch which was clamped shut. Through Mike’s understanding of the internal schematics of the Titan, corridor F9 ended here. Corridor F8 — on the opposite side of the hatch — would lead deeper into the rest of the ship in the direction of the Titan’s power core. “You know what to do, marines,” ordered Mike. “Use your monomolecular blades and cut through that metal.”
“Yes, ma’am!”