Blood on the Horizon
- Chapter 35 -[]
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Send in the Marines[]
Location: Camadierre, Taurian Concordat
Date: July 12, 3002
"What do you need me to do?" I asked Paige as she and her company of Marines began suiting up and loading their weapons.
"Respectfully, Sir," Paige looked me dead in the eye, a helmet in her hand. "I need you to stay the fuck outta our way. All of my people are Zero-G certified. You're not, and unless you've trained with us specifically I don't want you anywhere near this. You groundpounders have your job. Now let us do ours."
"I'm at least going to be on the King Henry," I replied. "I'm the CO, I can't ask you to do something if I'm not willing to be there too."
"You're going to stay here," Paige picked up the rifle and slung it behind her back, taking some magazines and slotting them into maglocked pouches. "We all know that you're willing to go up into the void with us. But you need to learn something about command."
"And what's that?" I asked, my fists balled angrily into fists.
"That delegation is important, and probably the only superpower that really exists," she counted off her fingers. "That you can rely on the people who you found and hired to do their jobs the right way, and finally, that micromanagement leads to a lot of bad policy decisions. Leadership always starts at the top and trickles downward, how you lead will always impact those at the bottom. We respect that you want to be an active part of every operation, but sometimes, it's best to just leave us to do our part. We've got the training, we're zero-g certified. So, let us do the jobs you're paying us for, and don't worry so much."
"Captain, you're new to all of this, and I have high hopes for you to be a great CO. But don't get bogged down like this or you'll end up with just another broken merc unit whose assets got sold off to the highest bidder to pay for debts."
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Buccaneer Class DropShip
She secured her helmet and nodded at her Marines, the men and women leaving me behind as the dropship's loading bay raise and sealed it shut, the fusion torches igniting and sending the aerodyne down the runway, the Buccaneer disappearing into the horizon.
"Godspeed," I said as I looked at the light from the dropship slowly disappearing. "Godspeed."
Time take out the Trash[]
Date: July 20, 3002
Location: Unknown System one jump from Camadeiere
"We read two Jumpships within boarding range," Paige looked at the pilot of her boarding shuttle. "What are we working with, here?"
"Looks like a Tramp and a Merchant," the pilot reported. "Captain Frye's designated entry points for us already."
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Tramp Class JumpShip
"Copy that," the Lieutenant turned to look at the platoon. "Mathis, you have point," the massive man nodded, his rifle looking small next to his frame.
"I'm on bullet sponge duty, copy that, ma'am," he grinned underneath the sealed helmet. "Do you want any of them alive for interrogation, or am I free to cut loose?"
"If you can identify a VIP, then try to take them alive," Paige instructed. "But if it comes down to it, I'd rather not have to write any letters today. Don't take unnecessary risks, don't go home in a bag, understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" the shuttle roared.
"Now, once we get there we're to take both Jumpships and hold them until our resident tech expert can take a look at their astrogation systems, he's on loan from Peterson, so make sure to give him some shit for me. "
Boarding Action[]
The shuttle rotated until its 'mouth' faced the pirate Jumpship, a series of specially built electromagnets ensuring that they were pulled into and connected to the Tramp. Then, a specially designed section created a seal with the external door, an airlock unopened to the void while a set of automatic plasma torches began doing their work.
This was where things were most likely to go wrong. The marines had no intel on how charged the K-F drives were, nothing on what kind of resistance they would be facing, and there was always a chance that the seal would fail in the middle of the cutting process and they would accidentally vent the JumpShip before they were able to board. Sending their shuttle hurtling into the void.
So the platoon collectively held their breath as minute after minute went by while the cutting tool slowly worked its way around, eventually stopping as a small battering ram slammed down out of the ceiling and threw the circle into the enemy ship.
"Airlock's pressurized," the pilot tapped a few switches above him. "If you're going to board, then you should do so now, I can't tell you how long our seals will hold."
Mathis pulled the manual switch on the airlock's doors, the hiss muted by the sound of blaring alarms from within the enemy Tramp.
Pausing for a minute, the large man took a deep breath before stepping through the hole, finding himself in a poorly lit corridor, the only lighting available was the red glow of emergency lighting and there were places where armored panels had been placed as cover.
Holding his ground, Mathis waited until two more marines had stepped onto the DropShip and were ready, then with a sharp nod, he pushed forward, his large size belying his speed as he fired a burst and gunned down one of the pirates before they could react.
Then the rest of the marines poured into the opening he had created, their armored suits absorbing few hits without issues as they split up and began clearing the Jumpship room by room.
The darkness of the Jumpship did little to help the pirates, in fact, it enabled the marines to push faster then they had planned on, and soon they had taken the bridge and the engine room, securing the captain and a few engineers with little to no trouble.
"King Henry, this is Paige, Jumpship one is secure, I repeat, Jumpship one is secure."
<<"Good work, Lieutenant. We've got repair techs ready to ship out if you need 'em,">> Frye replied. <<"I can send the Vagabond over whenever you're ready.">>
"We'll need some of those repairs," Paige glanced around the engine room. "I think they ruptured a few Helium seals and overloaded their reactors trying to hot-charge."
<<"Dead in the water?">> Frye asked.
"That's an affirmative," the Lieutenant laughed. "We're stuck with emergency lighting for now."
<<"Sending the Vagabond over now,">> the Jumpship captain replied. <<"Try to keep the ship locked down until they get there.">>
"Wilco. We'll keep the air clean for ya!"