Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11), стр. 54
They quickly made their way down the slope, using as much of the natural cover as there was, and hunkered down again just outside the slatted security wall. There were no outward signs from the complex that they'd been spotted. Now that they were apparently all back on the same page, Jason waited while Lucky scanned the area with his more advanced sensor suite, while he and Crusher knelt down in the small drainage ditch that paralleled the wall.
"No active scans of any kind, only one detected passive sensor system mounted on the mast on top of the main building," Lucky said. "No detectable security patrols, either."
"Let's get this party started," Jason said, keying in a burst transmission to the gunship that should just now be cutting across the southern tip of the continent.
He was rarely on the ground near a position that was hit with weapons meant for space combat. It was never a pleasant experience, and it drove home just how fragile he really was compared the metal behemoths that did battle in the void. The Phoenix's main guns were plasma cannons that, while subluminal, did travel significantly faster than the speed of sound. They never got any warning of what was coming until the first brilliant red streaks split the clouds and hit the building with a force that shook the entire area.
More shots rained down from above as the Phoenix hammered the side of the building with two full bursts from her main guns. When the last of the second salvo ended, Lucky ripped a section of the security wall away from its framing and they all filed in, sprinting across the remaining distance, and waiting to be fired upon by some unknown position they'd missed during recon.
"Doc really overdid it," Crusher said as they cleared around the corner and saw that their ingress into the building was now a massive smoldering crater. Jason could just begin to make out the alarms blaring inside the building as they skirted around the damaged area and climbed over the rubble to get into the building.
"This way," Jason said. His armor could see through the dense smoke without trouble, and he saw the junction up ahead that would take them down into the wing they assumed the objective was stored in.
"Security personnel are responding," Lucky said. "A general order to lock down all areas has gone out."
"How the hell do you know that?" Jason asked before being taken off his feet by a concussive blast. He looked up and saw Crusher returning fire at the two security guards posted up on a catwalk that ran above the entire warehouse complex.
"Stupid," he admonished himself before lining up his railgun near the catwalk's closest junction and opened fire. Two hypersonic slugs turned the alloy to liquid and blasted the anchor points free from the structure, sending the catwalk veering wildly and the two guards tumbling to the ground. "They, at least, have a fighting chance of surviving. We need to hurry."
"Are we not killing this time?" Crusher shouted over the confusion.
"I'd rather not," Jason yelled back. "These are just people doing a job." Crusher grumbled something he couldn't hear, but adjusted his fire from kill to suppress as they made their way into the wing that held all the communications equipment.
If they hadn't been in a hurry and fleeing from an increasing number of security guards, Jason would have loved to take tour of the massive facility. There were major components from every class of starship the Eshquarians had built going back decades. All the stuff that the Empire didn't sell to outsiders or want to risk being in the hands of salvagers was all there. Thankfully, centuries of relative peace had made them lax on security.
"Lucky will you recognize this thing if you spot it?" Jason shouted.
"Yes."
"Then scout ahead, Crusher and I will hold them here at the security check point."
Lucky ran ahead and ripped the gate from the portcullis as a terrified badge-checker stumbled away from the desk and sprinted in the opposite direction of the fray. Jason and Crusher moved quickly back into the chokepoint, the former's railgun doing an admirable job of keeping everyone's head down and the returned fire to a minimum. Wherever the hypersonic rounds hit, there was an explosion of debris and shrapnel consistent with a large frag grenade. The local guards, mostly looking like retired military, wanted no part of that as they half-heartedly fired back with the pitifully weak sidearms they carried. Jason didn't even bother seeking cover as the few lucky hits that they scored did nothing more than leave a scorch mark on his armor. The heavily armed assault team coupled with being hit from the air by some sort of large plasma weapon had the desired effect of confusing and scattering what security there was.
"They're bound to have an armory in this place that will have the big boy toys," Crusher said.
"And?"
"And maybe standing there with your chest puffed out letting them shoot at you isn't the greatest tactic you've ever devised," Crusher said. "Although I guess it's really not the worst, either."
Jason fired three shots in quick succession that tore the staircase leading to the catwalks above them free and crashing to the floor. Now there weren't any more guards above them and they should only have to worry about those trying to at them from the sides. The wall exploding above his head dispelled that theory as the pair began taking fire from behind them. Jason wheeled and saw that guards were streaming in through a door on the left side of the wide hallway they were in.
"Shit! We're