One of the King’s men was walking past watching the commotion up above but too far away to hear what was going on. Not even bothering to take his assault laser gun off his shoulder as he watched the man’s mouth moving then getting tossed out to fall, shot at and hit the deck. Changing course he walked over to the body and kicked its head around and smiled. Then cupping his hands he yelled up at the group on top of the wall made of cargo containers. “You got him through the head dead center. Good damn shooting there Guy.” Giving him a thumbs up he continued on the way he had been going.
The man turned around and knelt beside Insco’s body. “That is what you get when you make us practice in the damn shooting gallery every waking minute you weren’t working our ass’s off for the last six months you puke face. At least you know now we can shoot.” Shaking his head looking down into the compound as a tear ran down his cheek. “If I would have known what Pigbreath was doing with the wounded, I would never have even winged the few I did.” Turning to look at Jack. “Thank god that most of the ones I winged escaped or were taken up by someone else than Pigbreath though now I know why he got so upset when he wasn’t allowed to.” Taking a deep breath. “You must be from the other ship. I was hoping you people would realize what was going on up here and put a stop to it. We are your men now Lieutenant for the duration. We have a lot of scores to settle including putting a stop to that megalomaniac self-proclaimed King. What are your orders sir?”
Jack new the man could be trusted as he smiled, slapping him on the shoulder. “You are in charge of the watch detail up here now Wolf. Strip these bodies. “We will toss them down the shaft. Keep me informed about what you can see from up here. You know the scoop around her better than me. I don’t want any surprises.”
“Aaa sir. Why are the women coming back up here instead of heading down to your ship?”
“AA. Because the ship is not my ship. There is a death trap waiting at the bottom of that shaft and I do not have contact with the crew. I am Captain Turner of the Red Pepper. I and a few crewmen in a shuttle boat stumbled across the emergency beacon the lower ship has going and right now I am just trying to keep everyone alive long enough for help to get here from my ship. I need you to help me do that. Can you?”
“Yes sir but you have big problems then.”
‘So what is new?’ Jack thought. Then aloud. “OK. What big problems?”
“The king has been working on tanks. Tanks made from cargo mechs. They are crude but out in the open like this bay or long passageways we don’t stand a chance. Hell they just may be able to break into the lower ship in a direct assault the King has been planning for a while now. That is until he came up with this little trick to sidetrack or trap the forces below. We have to warn them Captain.”
“Well the ship’s acting Captain is with us but she can’t even get down below from this side without everyone sucking vacuum let alone get a message through.” Shaking his head as he looked at the contents of the carts below being stripped and passed out. “But hopefully we have enough to take them on now that we know about them ahead of time. “ Turning back to Wolf. “How many does he have?”
“They had 10 cargo mechs. We were able to sabotage one. Another 3 were sabotaged by others before the King locked them down under guard 24/7. So that makes 6 unless they were able to repair any of the others.”
“Others sabotaged mechs you say? Do you know who these others are? And can you get them to switch sides?”
“I don’t know any for sure Lieu… Captain. Not something I wanted to talk about to anyone I wasn’t barracking with. Too many ears and you can never be sure of anyone with the King holding public executions weekly for traitors but I have a good idea.”
“Well, if you see any of them try recruiting them. I really don’t want to have to kill people like you and your buddies.”
Wolf looked down at the bodies. “Very well Captain but I will keep the bodies up here then. They take one look at them and I will know who is for or against us. All I have to do is call them up for a chat and I don’t even have to say anything.”
“Very well then Wolf. You are running the show up here do what you can. I will send up some ropes so you can retreat off the back when things get dicey. Oh and.” Jack showed them the Republic black armor laid over his armor to hide most of the color leaving the red streaks down the sides. “You guys are damn exposed up here, use the armor off these guys and double up your front and backs and I will see what I can come up with to get you something to make barricades along the outer perimeter.”
“Thank you sir. Aaa. It would be helpful if you would let us shoot out the lights overhead. Give us a little shadow, being back lit from the rest of the Bay just makes us better targets.”
Jack looked up and frowned. “Someone sees you taking out all the lights up there, they are going to get suspicious. Though I suppose one or two every few minutes wouldn’t be too noticeable. I will have someone from below start shooting them out as well so it is not so obvious. But most of them will have to be saved until the shooting starts.” Slapping Wolf on the shoulder Jack gave the Commander a call to have one of the marine snipers start knocking out lights on this end of the deck.
Jack dropped down the ladder and stepped up to 1st class Curry, looking him in the eye for several seconds listening to him finally start to talk to himself about why this strange officer was staring at him and not saying anything and why Pigbreath was thrown off and shot from the top of the Containers but it was about time someone did. “Mr. Curry. I am not from your ship as you already suspected and I am trying to save the prisoners until help arrives. You have the choice to help me or simply join as a prisoner of war until it is all over.”
Curry’s eyes got big as he swallowed. “Aaa. You need me to deactivate the bombs I have been handing out Captain so I better join you.” Looking around at the few packs left before turning to head into the Compound. “I have a lot of work to do sir.”
Jack followed Curry through the gate past the baffled guard long relegated to watching people coming and going without interfering. Stopping just inside, Curry looked around for the nearest pack and only finding a pile of packs next to the gate with their chest straps unfastened. “Jack put his hand on Curries shoulder. “We have taken all the packs you activated and tossed them down the shaft.”
Curry turned and looked at Jack. “And none of them have exploded yet?”
“Not that I know of, why?”
“Then they are stuck just down the shaft. We need to recover them.” Curry headed for the shaft and spotted the women coming up out of it. Shaking his head as he approached some 120 degrees around the shaft from the line of women coming out seeming to be just walking over the edge with help from a pair of crewmen flanking them.
Jack caught up to him at the edge. Jack looked down and could only shake his head. The women were stepping out of a hatch on the next level down onto a catwalk that ran from the edge of the shaft hole down out of sight. Then standing up on the catwalk with their heads pointed toward the center of the 10 foot wide shaft, they walked up and over the lip of the shaft and onto the Gundeck Bay without having to climb. The catwalk disappeared down into the distance with the white packs scattered along the top hundred feet of the catwalk after bouncing off the side as they fell until they came close enough to the catwalk’s gravity to be pulled onto it where they fell to the grating and came to a stop. “Well that explains how they were going to make the prisoners assault down it.”
“Ya sir. When the first packs reach the bottom, a program would start with the packs talking to one another. When the packs stopped descending all of them would explode at the same time.” Taking a deep breath. “There is enough explosives down there right now to take out everyone up here. I need to get to work.” Curry started to jump over the edge only to have a surprised Jack catch him by the arm and pull him back. “Sir, you need to let me do my job.”
Jack realized as he brought Curry back onto the deck that he was not suicidal
but knew physics well enough to know that the lower gravity of the shaft pulling toward the catwalk would allow him to reach the catwalk before he picked up any speed and land safely on it. “I need you to show others how to disarm the packs while you do something more important.” Jack tapped his comm. “Cmd. Glenn could I see you shaft side please.” Then to Pan still hovering out in the middle of the shaft. “Pan could you drop down and bring me one of those packs please?”
Pan looked down and shrugged as she dropped and quickly returned carrying a pack and handed it to Jack.
“Thanks Pan. Please start bringing more up.”
Cmd. Glenn walked up. “I am a bit busy distributing weapons and power packs Captain Turner. As well as figuring out what to do with a hundred female crewmen that don’t even have armor.”
“That can wait Commander. I need volunteers for Mr. Curry to show how to disarm the bombs we tossed down the shaft before any of them reach the bottom and they all explode.” Jack pointed down the shaft. Then we need to talk about defending against Mechs. Cargo bots made into tanks.” Turning to Curry. “You know anything about them?”
“Yes sir. I helped arm them sir. They should have 7 of them ready to go in a few hours.” Thinking for a few seconds. “I can program the demolition packs into mines if you can find someplace to put them that the mechs will get close to. They have damn thick armor up front and on the sides but the backs are plastic so even a small explosion behind or under or over them should take out the pilot or blow off a leg. The problem is getting behind them with the damn point defense cannons they have armed them with or making them step on one of the bombs.”
“We will figure that out as we go Curry. You just show a crew how to disarm the packs and then get busy programing the packs into mines.”
Cmd. Glenn smiled. “I will grab a squad to disarm the packs Captain and then start organizing Anti-mech teams.”
“Aaa, hold on there, Glenn. Armored crewmen aren’t required for deactivating the packs and we need them to get ready. Put some women on the detail. They are from your crew so you should know who can do it safely and it will keep them busy and out of the way for a while.”
“Very well Captain.” Jack turned around just in time to watch Curry jump off the edge with the pack over his back and sail across the shaft to land on the catwalk below the line of women coming out of the hatch. Grabbing the next one’s coming out of the hatch he quickly had a half dozen half naked women and took them a few feet down the shaft along the catwalk. Jack watched him explaining how the bomb worked for a few minutes as he disarmed the back pack bomb in his hand before sending two of them back up the shaft with the now disarmed pack while the other four went after packs themselves. He watched each of them disarm a pack before turning them lose and he went back up and grabbed six more women.
“Seems to be doing Ok.” Pan said floating next to Jack. “Mind if I join in. I see some packs the girls are not going to be able to reach from the catwalk.”
Jack looked at her and frowned. “Just don’t get yourself blown up. I have kind of gotten used to you being around.”
Pan smiled. “Don’t worry Captain. So have I.”
The two women Curry had sent up with the bomb shoved the pack at Jack as one of them said. “That ass hole is crazy thinking we would even want to be near his bombs. Now can we go so we can get away from them Captain?”
“You can’t go far enough to get away from them which is why he is disarming them.” Shaking his head. “Go join the other women and don’t say a word to anyone about the bombs. We don’t need a panic. That is an order. One word from either of you and you will be back down the shaft with one strapped to your back.”
One of the women got a disgusting look on her face. “You can’t give us any orders. I didn’t let that prick King give us orders why should I let you. We don’t have to stay here and get blown up. You are not our Commanding officer.”
‘Ok, so much for hypnotizing people to do my bidding. I can’t even get them to follow orders.’
“But I am your commanding officer crewmen.” The Commander walked up. “And one word about these bombs and I will shoot you myself for disobeying orders. Now join the other women over on the core side of the compound.” Looking down at a dozen women scattered down the shaft disarming packs as a half dozen women the Commander had picked tried to make their way down over the lip of the hole with the solid stream of women coming up making it hard. “If you had told me you were going to have the 1st class just grab women on his own it would have saved me some time.”
“Initiative Glenn. His initiative. I didn’t have a say in it.” Watching him another few seconds. “He seems to have gotten it well in hand with the crew he found though. Only taking about half of the ones he shows how.”
“Well he can show one more. I want my bomb disposal crewman down there in charge if she can even get there.” Spotting the crewman far below. “How the hell did he get down there so fast?”
Jack had to chuckle as Curry leaped across the shaft falling down to snag a pack hooked on a power conduit brace on the other side then kicked off and fall back across onto the catwalk landing a good 30 feet below where he had jumped from. “You have to admit he has good timing Glenn. That was how he got down there so fast. The shaft is at only a tenth Gee. Now get your disposal team down there so he can come up and get busy on the mines. We have got to figure out a way to take out those mech’s without costing good men’s lives.””
Cmd. Glenn turned away yelling at the crewmen trying to get down onto the catwalk.
Jack watched Cmd. Glenn head around toward the catwalk. Jack’s gaze crossing the carts with Sheppard’s marines handing out mags and weapons and heard a snippet of a statement in his head that shocked him. Shaking his head Jack stepped over to the crew Jack could not believe what he was hearing them say to themselves. Stopping to one side he stared at each of them in turn for several seconds, swallowing as dread descended across him. He finally realized that one of them was now completely silent no matter how long he stared at him. Stepping up to the man as he finished handing someone several mags and wondering why, he stepped in front of him and was surprised that he was a Master Sgt. as he read his name on the suit and noticed the patches. Taking a deep breath. “What do you think of the men Sgt. Dundy?”
‘What the hell does this puissant lieutenant want?’ The Sgt. Asked himself. ‘Half his men can’t even put the damn mags into their guns properly while looking down the barrels with the safeties off. Most of the rest don’t look like they have ever fired a weapon outside a gun range for yearly qualifications, if that and he expects to go into battle against mechs with them. Hell only a quarter would keep their pants clean the first shot towards them but this ass hole wants to know what I think of his girl scouts.’ Taking a deep breath. “Well lieutenant. I think you have the best fighting men in the navy. Sir.” And then again to himself. ‘Damn shame Cmdr. Glenn’s good troops didn’t get themselves captured instead of the damn stupid slow office pukes. We are going to get our asses stomped 5 minutes after the first shot is fired but that is all we have to work with. I wonder if this shit would let us do some training. Hell, even an hour could make a difference to some of the better pukes that show some promise.’
Jack could not help but chuckle as the shock started to wear off as he looked at the rest of Sheppard’s crew and realized that they all shared the Sgt’s opinion. “Damn Sgt. Dundy, so you think most of my men are shit. Why did you let Shepperd talk you into helping?”
This time Jack did not hear the Sargent say anything to himself before he spoke aloud. “I was hoping that Captain Glenn’s marines and those monsters would be up here helping out but it really didn’t really make any difference since we could not very well let the King execute all the prisoners once the Lt. told us they had weapons, a chance and help. But know that we are here all we can do is the best we can and hope Commander Glenn gets us reinforcements before we are all killed Sir.”
Jack started loo
king around for the first time actually at the crewmen around him as someone dropped a mag onto the deck while someone else rested their chin on the muzzle of their pistol as they sat leaning against the bulkhead around the Compound. Most seemed to be just sitting playing and fidgeting with their weapons. An assault gun clattered to the deck and Jack realized that he had been hearing that sound every few minutes since he had stepped into the Compound. Turning he looked at the 3 crew served heavy weapons and realized that one crew still had not assembled their gun as they argued over how it went together while the other two had not done either of theirs properly with Jack wondering how they had even gotten the pieces to fit together. A grenade rolled across the deck towards Jack’s feet. A crewman chased after it and as he bent down to grab the rolling round he started dragging the grenade launcher across the deck at the end of its sling.
Jack closed his eye’s rubbing his temple. He had been so busy trying to get what they needed and figure out what they were going to do, he had forgotten the most important item on the list. The crewmen’s abilities. Taking it for granted that they at least knew the basics. After all, the boot camp he went through had drilled them into him well enough. But then Jack remembered hearing that the screw-ups and substandard crewmen were the ones assigned to the Dwarf Battletransports and in a Navy desperate for crewmen would they really flunk someone out of boot camp even if all they did was go through the motions.
Come to think of it, he did remember seeing a few companies that were shit marching into the parade deck at graduation that had stood out like sour thumbs but in the excitement he had ignored them. They even had a couple of guys in his company that he could not believe were not kicked out as bad as they were at everything with the company working around them just to get through Bootship. Turning back to the Sgt. He knew he did not have a choice. They did not stand a chance of taking on even what he saw gathering on the other side of the Core let alone Mechs. “Sargent, we are going to need a rear guard while we try to get the rest to safety. I will give you anything you need along with our best men. You have an hour I hope, to get them ready. You are in charge of all weapons and combat personnel. You should be able to put together at least a couple of platoons of men with some training in the next hour or two.”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 47