The Colonel came over the comm. “You knock ‘em down and we’ll take ‘em out. We are ready whenever you give the word Mr. Grange.”
The Colonel turned towards his men. “Listen up! We have trained for this and it’s time to put that training to use. Get your butts in gear and check the kit of the man to your right. When you are finished do the same for the one on the left. Make sure those boots are tied and your zippers are up. We are going in heavy to kick some tri-head ass!”
“Billings! You will have point on squad one. You have left flank, Riggs you have center and I’ll be clearing out the right. We are going to breach that top deck and then work our way down. Remember, communicate, communicate, communicate! I don’t care if you are stopping to take a fart! You get on that comm and let the rest of us know. And as always, no idle chatter and be aware of your fellow Marines, we don’t wanna be killing our own!”
Twelve seconds after the Colonel finished his speech the frigate’s engines came back to life. Frig was ready with another negative bolt and the frigate once again went idle. He then released the ion bomb which floated in close to the Milgari hull before it detonated. The entire ship went black with the loss of power.
The transport landed on the top of the upper deck and the Colonel and his men laid out plasma charges in a two meter diameter circle. Seconds later a short flame could be seen followed by a quick out-gassing of the frigates atmosphere. When the pressure had sufficiently dropped the Colonel and his men could be seen jumping into the hole. The video feeds on the comm channel quickly came to life.
The Colonel yelled at his men. “OK, I count 42 in! Squads take your stance. Miller get that hole sealed so we have some atmosphere left to ride home with.”
Miller and Morse remained behind for any Milgari who attempted to exit the ship to attack the transport. They dropped in several crates of extra rounds before sealing up the hole that had been made.
The Colonel spoke, “Awe Moses! I can smell that foul odor already. Billings, you are a go, Riggs, you are a go! Let’s go kill some Milgari boys!”
The Colonel carried a custom pump shotgun with a twelve round clip.
Boom! Ch-ch Boom! Ch-ch
“Clean up any that you come across that aren’t breathing. I don’t want these freaks coming back to life behind us. No sloppy kills boys. Everything counts!”
The interior of the ship was pitch black due to the absence of any power. The Colonel’s squads were wearing helmets with a combination of infrared and doppler detectors. Both had been modified to work on a small negative ion supply. For the Marines, the pitch black was crystal clear due to the high resolution sensors and displays built into their helmets.
The first Milgari they encountered seemed confused, but they soon revealed their acute sense of smell.
Boom! Ch-ch Boom! Ch-ch!
“OK team. Back of Deck-1 is clear. Let’s move forward and clear this floor! Check every nook and cranny, open every door. And don’t let them get that tail near you. Those spikes will poke a mean hole and leave you with a nasty rash and infection. I saw a fellow Marine take one of those to the crotch. So keep your balls at a distance, if you got ‘em!”
I switched monitor feeds continuously as I wanted to see each and every action. The Colonel continued to bark orders. “Deck-1 is clear! We have isolated two elevators and two stairwells. This one in front of us should be the only way up or down from this deck. Billings! Post one man at the top of these stairs. If he sees anything moving on the deck have him kill it! It ain’t ours!”
“And listen up! Before we go down those stairs keep this in mind. Most Milgari ships of this size in the past held their Marines on Deck-2. I doubt this one is any different. These are trained killers coming up here. They will attempt to use anything and everything they can to get a crack at you. They are crafty so keep your eyes peeled and take that shot if you have it. We aren’t looking for any prisoners on this level. Save thoughts of those for the bridge on Deck-4.”
The Colonel was the first onto the stairs.
Boom! Ch-ch Boom! Ch-ch Boom! Ch-ch! Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!
The Marines quickly crowded down the stairwell, dropping Milgari Marines who were coming at them with chairs and knives. The video feeds would scramble momentarily as the Marines turned and ducked, checking every corner and kicking in every door.
When the first room was cleared Billings tossed a grenade into the hall. “Nade out!”
The squads all dropped their stances and hugged the walls.
Boooom!
The grenade cleared the way as two Milgari met their maker.
“Hall is clear! Move up!”
The Marines moved into the hallway.
Ak-ak-ak-ak! Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!
Two more Milgari fell as they attempted to move out into the now occupied space.
“Rolling nade left, nade right!”
Booom! Booom!
Billings rounded the corner of the left room.
Ak-ak-ak-ak!
The Colonel moved to the right. As he rounded the corner, he was met by an injured but angry Milgari. The trooper charged the Colonel knocking him to the floor and digging his left wrist claw into the Colonel’s right shoulder. The Milgari’s right arm had been blown off below the elbow.
The Colonel held the Milgari and his razor sharp teeth just above his head with his big hands on either side of the Milgari’s face, keeping its gnashing teeth at bay. In one quick move the Colonel plunged his left thumb into the Milgari’s right eye socket and with his right hand drew his .45 caliber sidearm.
Boom! Boom!
“Yack! Someone get this greasy thing off of me! Grrr! That claw hole is deep, but not lethal. Harris take point!”
“On it Sir!”
The next two squad members rounded the corner of the right room.
Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!
The room was cleared as three other injured Milgari met their end.
“Left clear!”
“Right clear!”
“Ok people, let’s move up. Same drill only drop a few slugs around the doorway before stepping in people. Keep ‘em peeled!”
The three teams continued down the main hallway. Several more Milgari attempted to charge, but the Marines cut them down before they made any progress. At the end of the hall was the door to the main bunkroom, the place that most of the Milgari Marines would likely reside. Billings strapped a small plasma charge to the door and the squads emptied the hall.
Bang!
The door blew open.
Billings and Harris stepped briefly into the hallway, just long enough to toss two grenades through the newly opened door.
Booom! Booom!
The Colonel yelled, “Move up people! Pop anything that moves! Keep frosty! Check every locker and under every bunk.”
Twelve seconds later the bunk room had been cleared. “Nobody here Colonel! Looks like our fun is going to continue!”
Harris kicked open a door to a bathroom.
Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!
“Ho Colonel!”
Harris placed his hand over his external air filter.
“That is the rankest thing I have ever…”
Harris knelt as he threw up in his helmet.
“Awwwwg! Awwwg! Awe crap Sir… sorry!”
The Colonel leaned down and pulled him to his feet. “You aren’t the first Marine to do that son, has happened to yours truly several times. Step back to the hallway and clean yourself up. We’ll be waiting at the next stairwell.”
Harris moved back to the hallway and removed his helmet, pouring out his puke onto the floor, he grimaced and gagged while attempting to not throw up again. He pulled a water line from his pack and flipped off the drinking tip. Using the line, he rinsed out his helmet before placing it back on his head. He locked it in place.
The Colonel yelled, “Listen up people! Close those external ports and flip on your rebreathers. We don’t want any distractions while those tri-head Marines are still on the loose! Now, ke
ep moving towards those stairs, let’s get this deck secure!”
The remainder of Deck-2 was empty of Milgari. Becket was assigned to stairwell two as the rest of the team moved down to Deck-3.
On Deck-3 Billings rolled a bar down the hall past the first two doors. A video feed had been attached to each end and still snapshots of each room were returned. Frig quickly perused through them pulling out the ones with the highest amount of information. Two Milgari Marines waited around the corner of each door with sharp objects, ready to charge the first invader they encountered.
Billings stepped slowly forward. “Tuvor and I have this Colonel.”
The two men stopped short of the doorways and fired repeated rounds through the walls. The interior walls on the frigate were thin steel panels filled with foam. It was standard construction on most ships.
Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!
Four Milgari fell to the floor, riddled with lead from the AK-47s. Rosen followed up with a shot to each dead Milgari’s head as a safety precaution. As Billings moved up to pick up his video cylinder a sharp steel poll came ramming through a hallway panel, impaling him through the kidneys. Billings turned and emptied his clip through the wall beside the poll as he slumped to the floor.
Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!
He grunted and winced as he started to talk. “Sorry Colonel. Should have seen that coming.”
Tuvor stepped up and emptied his clip into the wall on the opposite side. Another Milgari could be heard dropping to the floor. Rosen cleared both rooms with two more precautionary shots to the head. Billings head tilted backwards as he passed from this life into whatever was coming next.
The Colonel barked out another command. “Get him off that poll and put him back by the stairs. We’ll collect him when we are done. Let’s get your heads on straight people. Keep sharp. I said these things don’t play fair. Billings just got the worst example of what to expect. Let’s keep pressing forward!”
As two of the Marines moved Billings body back towards the stairwell the Colonel spit a wad of Omega root onto his pant leg. “God be with you kid.” Several of the others followed suit as his body passed by.
Five more Milgari were cleared from Deck-3 before the team descended to Deck-4. Tuvor took point and eased his way down the staircase. Three Milgari were waiting in the hall with sharp metal polls that they used as spears. The first two spiked through the front of the staircase and the third entered Tuvor’s left ankle, shattering the bones and staking him to the staircase.
“Arrrgh! Ghaw!”
Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!
Two of the Milgari fell silent after they turned to run. The third rounded the corner into a room on the left side of the hall. Malik and Jefferson hurried past Tuvor down into the hallway and took up firing positions while the others worked to free Tuvor.
Tuvor spoke, “Colonel. One of them got away. He went into the room on the left.”
The Colonel grabbed Tuvor on the shoulder and then gave him a few pats. “You feel up to watching this stairwell son? We have a ways to go and I get the feeling we are going to need all our resources on this one. These tri-heads don’t give up.”
As one of the three trained medics finished bandaging the ankle and giving Tuvor a shot for pain, he nodded to the Colonel. “I got it Colonel. I can’t move with this ankle so at least I can make myself useful.”
The Colonel stood and then spit a wad of Omega root onto his pant leg. “We’ll be back soon enough.”
Tuvor nodded and smiled a pursed smile.
The Ghouls worked their way down the hallway on Deck-4. Another four Milgari had dates with hot lead before the teams came to the doorway onto the bridge. The Colonel spoke, “Listen up! These doors are hardened. But I happen to know where the weak points are. Place those plasma charges here, here, here, here, here and here. And place an extra on this lock mechanism. I’ve seen these doors blow back and get wedged.”
The plasma charges were placed and the hallway emptied of Marines. Seven seconds later the charges went off and the doors blew open.
Bbbbooom!
As the first two Marines stepped back into the hallway they were met by a large group of Milgari Marines wielding knifes.
Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!
“Colonel… arrgh.”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Ghaw!”
Boom!
The melee turned into an all-out hand-to-hand brawl with the occasional .45 caliber shot mixed in. The Milgari were fierce fighters, but the Human Marines had strength on their side. The Colonel jammed his knife into the side of a Milgari skull as he barked out orders. “Watch those claws and teeth! And punch up under their arms to those scent glands. Gives off a nasty smell, but it will disorient them long enough for you to ram a blade in their skull!”
Ak-ak-ak-ak! Ak-ak!
Tuvor did his best to keep any Milgari from making it to his end of the hallway. By the time the fighting had ended, four of the 26 Milgari Marines who had stormed out of the Bridge lay dead at his feet. Rosen did the rounds with his shots to the heads of the fallen Milgari.
The Colonel spit a wad of Omega on the forehead of a dead Milgari. “What’s our count?”
Harmon spoke up. “We lost King and Garner Sir. Martin and Houser are pretty chewed up. They will make it, but they won’t be joining us for the rest of this fight Sir. Other than a few other gashes we are in good shape!”
The Colonel continued, “OK, boys! Let’s take that Bridge! Groover and Sanchez you got point!”
Just as the team began to step though the doorway to the bridge the power began to come back on. With it came ion bolts from the Milgari rifles. Groover’s chest exploded from a blaster shot before he could take cover.
“Swift! This is the Colonel, they have power! See if you can do something about that for us!” Bolt blasts started to come across the room in an almost continuous stream. Shrapnel blew off the walls as the energy from the bolts expanded into them. The Ghouls were quickly forced back into the hallway before a second ion bomb exploded just outside of the frigate’s hull. All power again went dormant as a momentary orange wave swept through the ship.
The Colonel yelled, “OK, let’s hit that Bridge hard people! And remember, we want to fly this bucket out of here so keep your shots focused on those soft targets in there!”
The Ghouls once again stormed onto the Bridge. The Milgari they encountered were not the hard Marines they had been fighting, they were technicians, navigators and other general crew found on a ship. The Ghouls cut through them hard and the Bridge was overrun in under a minute.
The remaining two decks were cleared of stragglers. All Milgari on the frigate were dead except for a single pilot who had been shot, once in each leg. The Colonel stepped up to interrogate him. “I know that with that translation chip in your head that you can fully understand me. We have taken your ship and the only reason for you to live now is if we have a use for you. Give the codes to fly this thing or I’ll splatter your brains all over this deck!”
The Milgari sat silent, snarling for several seconds before responding. “There is a…”
Boom!
A .45 caliber slug ripped through the Milgari’s head, exiting the back of its skull with a sizable portion of its brains in tow. “Bah! Swift! This is Harper! Get your engineer over here to fly this bucket. We are going to want to get out of here ASAP as I’m sure these tri-heads in here blasted out a distress call with the few seconds of power they had. We need to get a move on!”
We made the transfer and just as Frig stepped onto the Bridge the power once again began to return. The injured Marines were stabilized as Frig worked to decode and override the Milgari flight console. Another 20 minutes passed before the captured Milgari frigate’s ion engines shuddered and began to push the ship along. We had our prize. We would now have to figure out a use for it.
Chapter 8
Back on Bullwort the Gray Ghouls were in a celebratory mood. The liquor flowed as well
as a small amount of blood from enthusiastic head butts gone awry. I asked the Colonel about those that had been lost. “Colonel Harper, is this customary after losing some of your comrades?”
The Colonel looked at me for several seconds. “Son, those boys died fighting for their people. Tuvor and a few others have permanent injuries and may not be able to return to fight. But they all freely accepted the risks involved and to a man they would do it all over again, including those that died.”
“We don’t mourn the loss every time a soldier goes down. We celebrate the victory, we celebrate their sacrifice and then we go out there and do it again. If you spend your life feeling sad and gloomy every time someone dies you are going to spend your whole life feeling sad and gloomy, everybody dies son, each and every one of us!”
“We choose to celebrate that they lived instead of mourning that they died. It’s not a path that is for everyone. It is however, the path chosen when one becomes a Marine. So, come celebrate the lives of those men we lost out there. Their sacrifices are ones that will probably never be known, so, we honor them in celebration the best we can.”
The Colonel threw his big arm around my shoulder. “Bartender! Set a couple up for me and my friend!”
The celebration lasted late into the night. The following morning Frig was knocking at my door. I slowly dragged myself out of bed and unlocked it. “Sir, I think I figured out the new Milgari shield. They have a large charge well up forward and a number of sensors spread across the external nose of the ship.”
“The charge well is a negative pool Sir. When the sensors detect an incoming positive ion bolt the charge well is coupled to the forward hull, essentially canceling out the ion bolt before it has a chance to expand outward through the metal structure. If they are experimenting with negative ion wells, it may not be long before they translate that knowledge into building a negative ion cannon.”
I was tired; I was hung over from the night before. “Tell someone who cares this morning. I appreciate your work but I’m not interested at this time. I need my rest Frig. Come back tomorrow.” The door closed behind him and my blissful sleep continued.
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