War Fleet: Resistance, стр. 28
Olsen had opened the front doors so they could close in and take over his ship. But why did they want them alive? No, it wasn’t that. Probably, Aarsh wanted Olsen’s head completely preserved when he presented it to his leader on a stake.
As he watched the Arstan boarding module close in, he opened up a channel on the intercom. “Kota, get yourself down to the shuttle bay. We’re about to boarded.” Then he turned to the young engineer. “Get yourself to the engine room, Ensign Chang, and lock yourself in. Your only priority is to get that warp drive online.”
30
Kota reached the shuttle bay slightly out of breath. She and her squad had entered a full sprint to get there. Being the lightest, she got there first, but the rest of the squad wasn’t far behind. She took a moment to take a deep breath and ground herself, and then she punched open the shuttle bay doors.
She was also anxious: not so much because she feared death, but because she worried about Redrock. He would fight for himself, if given the chance. He’d take up a pistol, or a rifle, or whatever weapon he had, and pretend he had as much skill with firearms as a Marine. But he was in the sickbay, unconscious and defenseless. And if she let the Arstans through to him, she had no idea what they’d do.
But she also didn’t know how many stood on the other side of the sealed doors that now separated the Tapper and the Arstan boarding module. Each one could carry up to thirty aliens, which was far greater than the number of Marines they had on this ship.
The Extractor dominated the shuttle bay, which looked empty now without the escape pods in there. The shuttle looked bruised and beaten. As they entered, Kota left the doors to the shuttle bay open. They needed retreat routes; otherwise this room could become a slaughterhouse.
The enemy boarding module had now sealed the gap between the two crafts completely, with a rubber suction mechanism that stopped any air leaking out into space. They had no time to lose. Kota ordered her men into position, and they fanned out.
Connery carried a grenade launcher, and she positioned him on the left wing. The plan was to launch ordnance into the ship and take out the Arstans as soon as they blew open the doors. They might punch a hole in the Arstan module, admittedly, hopefully large enough that they got sucked out with the violent outrush of air. Kota would rather patch up a hole in the hull than fight these Arstans any day.
Chang had already removed the engine from that wing, as he’d deemed it volatile, so Connery stood no risk of having the thing blow up from under his feet. But if any Arstans remained, Kota hadn’t discounted the tactic of drawing the Arstans towards the other engine and causing an explosion. This would cause unpredictable damage — but that might be better than getting wiped out.
Singh immediately found his way into the Extractor and powered up the weapons from the cockpit. The laser cannons on the shuttle wouldn’t be accurate at short range, but would cut through anything that entered their path.
The other three Marines took positions with their XM-461 rifles — Riley and Kota at each of the rear landing legs of the shuttle, while Turgin crawled underneath the undercarriage to unleash carnage from below.
Kota’s heart was thumping in her chest while she waited for something to happen. Arstan bay doors were reinforced, and not easy to punch a hole through. It was better to wait for them to open, meaning the Arstans always got to make the first move.
It all happened at once. The blast doors swept open, and a gush of wind rushed out of them. A flash grenade went off before Kota could even see who or what was in the module, and there came the plunk, plunk, plunk of Connery’s grenade launcher from above her head. A massive bang ricocheted around the deck from the Extractor’s laser cannons, and the room rocked for a moment.
Kota covered her eyes too late and saw spots. Then came another rush of air, brightness, and thunder, and the air filled with warmth. The smell of smoke drifted over to Kota’s position, and silence ensued.
As Kota returned to her senses, she could see nothing from inside the module, but still the smoke shrouded whatever was inside. A victory, perhaps, but it would be short-lived, as there was a backup boarding module behind this one.
Kota’s breathing was heavy. She tried to peer through the swirling wisps, wondering when an attack would come.
Just as Kota was ready to order her squad in to investigate, something flashed green, and a Doppler wave from a plasma rifle sounded from the inside of the module. From above Kota’s position, Connery screamed out and then tumbled off the wing. He landed on the floor with a thud, and the massive grenade launcher spun towards the back of the shuttle bay.
Then Arstans poured into the shuttle bay, and all hell broke loose.
31
Olsen switched the viewscreen display over to the shuttle bay corridor, as the camera in the shuttle bay proper now displayed static. He could see no Marines in the corridor, but he could still hear gunfire in the distance, which meant at least one of them was alive.
He’d seen enough of the scene play out to know that they were losing. Kota had ordered her squad into the room, and they had waited there until the Arstans blew it open. Then they’d unleashed grenades and carnage from the Extractor’s cannons — much to Olsen’s chagrin, as he didn’t want to have to deal with any holes down there. The Arstans had waited a moment and then