by Mark Lemke
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Red Two was in position.? Each team member had a target he needed to get to once inside the perimeter.?
There were cameras in strategic locations designed to allow the station security force to observe intruders and direct their forces to intercept.? In Nick's evaluation, he found that an assault force could shoot out those cameras, which would blind the CAS operators.? This was precisely what Red Two was planning to do.? It should allow the team a few extra seconds to get to where they needed to be.?
The team members had on their lightweight Kevlar body armor, but only ball caps and no helmets.? They'd anticipated hostile fire and believed it was prudent to take some precautions.? It made them heavier and a bit slower, but nothing they weren't used to. ?
The Red Two team leader looked at his watch.? Five minutes was up.? With a wave of his hand, he gave his team the signal to initiate the assault.?
One man activated a switch, which triggered a small charge attached to the five-gallon gas tank used to feed the outboard motor that Nick left in the launch at the intake structure. ?The resulting explosion created a forty-foot-high fireball with dense black smoke and a chest-thumping shock wave.? That would redirect Security for a few minutes.? Misdirection and confusion-the fog of war.