Into the Battle Read online

  “Brace for impact!” Commander McKee yelled out again as another pair of Zodark missiles made it through the barrage of point defense shells and then transformed into a comet-like slug.

  Bam, bam!

  More alarm bells went off; a couple of new sections of the ship were flashing yellow. One was flashing red, which meant they had either a severe fire underway or a hull breach in that vicinity.

  “Got ’em! That was the last of those little bastards,” Lieutenant LaFine announced with satisfaction as the last group of Zodark fighters was finally destroyed.

  Returning his gaze to the enemy warship, Captain Hunt watched a string of shells from the Rook’s main gun hit the Zodark carrier. He’d counted at least twelve hits against the carrier so far. He relaxed his clenched fists a bit when he saw the Zodark carrier’s failed attempts to outmaneuver the magrail shells.

  Flames poured out of the Zodark vessel in several sections. It was clear more and more of the Rook’s magrail slugs were punching through their armor and causing serious damage to the guts of the ship. One hit blew out a massive jet of flames before it extinguished itself.

  Captain Hunt hated relying on their magrails and missiles to destroy the Zodark ship. Magrails took time to cross the vast distance, giving the enemy vessel time for defensive maneuvers, and causing many of their magrail slugs to miss the mark. Sadly, the Republic Navy starships’ pulse beam lasers weren’t strong enough to cut through the enemy’s armor like kinetic weapons could.

  In contrast, each time the Zodark carrier fired one of its pulse beams at the Rook, it slammed into his ship seconds later. The Rook was taking so many hits that Captain Hunt wasn’t sure they were going to make it. Looking at the damage control board, he saw yellow lights across dozens of areas of the ship intermixed with flashing red sections. He was losing people, a lot of people. He needed to end this fight promptly or his ship was doomed. But his only strategy was to keep firing missiles and hoping their slugs eventually blew something critical up.

  It felt like forever, but the Voyager was finally within range to join the fray. Volley after volley of their magrail slugs slammed into the Zodark ship. The Voyager steadily moved into a blocking position between the Rook and the enemy vessel to act as a shield.

  As Captain Hunt watched the Voyager block for them, the Zodark warship appeared to pick up speed to make a run for it.

  Two of the three remaining RNS destroyers finally caught up to the Rook and were in range to fire their own weapons. They initiated a series of magrail volleys and missiles at the retreating Zodark ship as they joined the fray on the flanks of the Voyager.

  When the RNS destroyers got within twenty thousand meters of the enemy vessel, the Zodarks fired several pulse beams at the smaller Republic warships. One of the beams hit the lead destroyer, and like the Ottawa, the ship was cut right in half. A second later, another beam sliced off the front section of a third destroyer, crippling it. The last destroyer broke away, trying to escape the Zodark ship’s pulse beam. It was becoming abundantly clear the new RNS destroyer armor spec was no match for the Zodark pulse beams at close range.

  “Take that ship out before it can get away!” Captain Hunt roared angrily, growing frustrated that the Zodark vessel was successfully opening up some distance between them. If the enemy ship kept gaining speed, they were going to escape.

  A few minutes later, a stream of thirty-six-inch magrail shells finally landed all along the rear section of the Zodark carrier. Seconds later, a massive explosion ripped two of the six engine ports right off the main body of the ship. Then another volley of slugs pounded the wounded carrier further.

  On the bridge of the Rook, the computer monitors briefly whited out again from another massive flash of an explosion. When the resolution came back in focus, they saw a chunk of the rear section of the Zodark carrier blown wide open. Without engines, it was adrift, only moving from its initial forward momentum.

  Hunt watched the ship slide sideways a little bit; it was clearly not able to stabilize itself. With the engines and main reactor offline, the remaining weapon systems appeared nonfunctional. A few lights indicated a functioning power source, but the ship was no longer firing at them.

  A wild thought entered Captain Hunt’s mind. He turned to his XO. “Commander McKee, send a message to the rest of the fleet to cease fire. Next, send a message to the Delta commander—tell him to board that vessel if possible and capture it. Take prisoners if they’ll give themselves up, but let’s take that ship.”

  She smiled at the idea, even though she looked like it was probably the craziest thing she’d ever heard. McKee reached for her communicator and passed the order along to their ground detachment.

  The Deltas were the shock troops for both space and ground combat. They had trained to conduct hostile boardings of spacecraft, assault orbital stations, or attack ground facilities from orbit. Having undergone a year of physical enhancements and augmentations, they were a cut above their regular army counterparts, the Republic Army soldiers. They were far and above the most feared soldiers in Sol.

  “Captain, Admiral Halsey is sending you a message,” his coms officer relayed.

  Captain Hunt nodded in acknowledgment. “I’ll take it at my station.”

  He moved back to his captain’s chair and opened the channel. He saw her tense face, strained by stress. “Captain Hunt, is your ship OK? It looks like you sustained some serious damage.”

  Glancing over at the damage report readout, he did a quick scan. “Nothing we can’t fix, Admiral. We have a couple of hull breaches, but they didn’t punch too deep. Four meters of armor is clearly not enough when going up against these bastards, that’s for sure.”

  “Well, in any case, good shooting,” Halsey replied. “What’s with calling a cease-fire? We were just about to finish that ship off.”

  Captain Hunt paused for a moment. “If you agree, I plan on ordering my Special Forces to board it and capture it,” he explained.

  A smile crept across Admiral Halsey’s face. “Really? What makes you think you can capture it?”

  “I think if the enemy was going to abandon ship, they would have already done it,” Hunt pointed out. “That leads me to believe they’re going to make repairs to regain control. Right now, the ship doesn’t appear to have power to its weapons or propulsion systems, which gives us a unique opportunity. If we can get a boarding party on the ship and take control of it, it’ll be an enormous intelligence boon. Admiral, I think it’s worth the risk.”

  Instead of overriding him, Admiral Halsey nodded as if praising his initiative. “Good call, Hunt. Do you want us to assist you?”

  Captain Hunt looked at the drifting enemy ship for a moment and thought about how to respond. He hadn’t really considered how many Zodarks might be on board. He had a company of Deltas led by Captain Hopper that could do a lot on their own, but having more soldiers on hand couldn’t hurt either.

  “I think Captain Hopper would appreciate the help, Admiral,” Hunt finally said with a nod. “Once my Deltas depart the ship, I’d like to continue toward New Eden while we repair the ship. Then we can conduct a more thorough scan of the moons and the planet before the rest of the fleet gets much closer.”

  She wrinkled her brow like she was about to disagree with his assessment, but then she consented. “OK, Captain, you can continue toward the planet, but only if you think your ship is still able to carry the fight to the enemy. Right now, you look pretty beat up. I don’t want to risk losing the Rook because we didn’t take the time to get her fully repaired. In the meantime, I’ll take operational control of the Deltas once they leave your vessel. Oh, and Captain, when you do get near the planet and those moons, deploy your satellites and surveillance drones. I want to know what’s down there and what we’re facing.”

  “We’re on it, Admiral,” Hunt replied with a smile. “If my engineers tell me we need some time or even a day or two to get things fully repaired, we’ll wait. I won’t risk the ship like that.
” With that, he cut the feed and got in touch with his Delta commander. He wanted to personally brief him on the new mission he was giving them.

  Chapter Two

  Hostile Boarding

  RNS Rook

  The Synth drones had attached close to three dozen small thrusters to the front of the vessel to slow it down. That was a bit of a test, to see if the Zodarks had any defensive capability to stop them. When the enemy didn’t interfere in their operation, the Deltas figured they probably wouldn’t encounter any resistance in attaching their own ship to the vessel once they found a soft spot to breach.

  Captain Hopper cleared his throat. “Listen up, Deltas! This is going to be a combat breach of a massive Zodark vessel. The only intelligence we have on this thing is it appears to be some sort of carrier. It was deploying fighters to attack our ship when its engines were sheared off, leaving it adrift and out of power. This ship isn’t going anywhere, and our admiral wants it.

  “As the captain said earlier, chances are this ship has enormous intelligence value, so it’s worth the risk for us to board and seize it. We will attach ourselves to one of the many holes in the ship created by our magrails. Because we have no idea if the ship has lost its atmosphere, or what kind of atmosphere the Zodarks actually maintain on their ships, I want everyone to keep your combat suits sealed up.”

  The briefing went on for another ten minutes. They went over what squads would handle each part of the breach and then how the platoons would handle clearing the ship. Their primary goal was securing a couple of additional sections so the rest of their Delta battalion on the Voyager could join them. Then they’d systematically work on clearing the ship of enemy combatants.

  *******

  Master Sergeant Brian Royce made his rounds as the soldiers prepared to leave, checking on his platoon to make sure they were packing extra fragmentation grenades and flashbangs. He wanted his platoon armed and ready for a close-quarter fight, which meant bringing some additional tools of the trade.

  Twenty minutes later, Master Sergeant Royce’s platoon climbed into their Osprey and prepared to embark upon a historic mission for the Special Forces community: the first-ever seizing of an alien space vessel.

  As the soldiers strapped themselves into their harnesses and attached their rifles to the locking port next to their seats, the two crew chiefs walked down each side of the craft, doing a quick double-check of their passengers and equipment. When their shuttle was hurled down the magnetic launch tube, the last thing they wanted was a piece of equipment not being properly locked down, flying around and injuring people or vital ship systems.

  Lieutenant Aaron Crocker was seated near the flight engineer and the pilot; he’d help them find a spot to insert the platoon. Royce, meanwhile, was positioned near the rear troop hatch.

  Some of the soldiers were whispering quiet prayers, some rubbing a rosary while saying a few Hail Mary’s. Others were playing whatever workout or fight song they’d selected to get them pumped up and ready for the mission. Each soldier, man or woman, had their own private ritual before the start of a mission. Royce had his own routine; he’d usually listen to a hard-hitting rock band. Now, as the platoon sergeant, it was his responsibility to make sure his soldiers were ready for combat.

  “Everyone’s ready, all equipment is locked down,” called out one of the crew chiefs to the pilots and the flight engineer.

  Moments later, the Osprey moved forward until it was safely in the magnetic launch tube, ready to be shot down into the blackness of space. Another minute went by, and then they felt the Osprey being hurled forward. In seconds, they were weightless in their straps, on their way to make history.

  The pilots banked their shuttle towards the alien craft and chased after it. The closer they got to it, the more imposing it seemed. They knew how big it was because they’d been briefed, but nothing could prepare them for seeing how enormous it was close up. The Zodark carrier ship was still moving at a good clip while the temporary thrusters steadily slowed the beast down.

  As Master Sergeant Royce looked forward to the cockpit of the shuttle, his eyes went a little wide as he saw how big the Zodark ship was.

  He chuckled to himself as he thought, That’s what she said…

  “What’s so funny, Sergeant?” Lieutenant Crocker inquired. The lieutenant had a slight grin on his face like he almost knew what he had thought. The two of them had become pretty good friends over the last year.

  Royce blushed briefly. Not wanting to share this private thought aloud or over the NL, he coughed and replied, “Oh, um, I’ll tell you after we get back on the ship, sir. Time to put our war faces on.”

  He refocused his mind, then barked out, “This is it, Deltas! We’ve trained to assault a hostile ship in space. We’ve trained on how to clear a warship in zero g. Now it’s time to earn our pay and put that training to good use. I want weapons set on blasters—no magrails unless I order it.”

  The Osprey sped over toward the Zodark ship, zipping past blown-out chunks and holes in the armor from the engagement with the Rook. Captain Hopper pointed at something, and the pilots steered in its direction. A few minutes later, they descended over a section of the ship with a massive blast hole. The Osprey was more than large enough to cover the entire hole.

  When the Osprey settled on the outer hull of the Zodark vessel, one of the crew chiefs released his harness and floated for a moment in the troop compartment until his magnetic boots attached to the floor. With a metallic clunking noise with each step, he then made his way over to look at one of the computer panels. He hit a few buttons, and everyone felt the shuttle latch itself to the Zodark vessel as the ship created an artificial seal between the two ships. A few seconds later, they heard a hissing noise as the compartment below them pressurized just a bit. They weren’t filling it with oxygen, but they were making sure there wasn’t a vacuum building up beneath them or a pressure buildup that might break the ship’s seal.

  The crew chief then gave the pilot and Captain Hopper an all clear. They could begin their operations.

  Nodding, the captain turned to Royce and gave him a thumbs-up to get things going.

  Master Sergeant Royce made sure his boot magnets were activated before unstrapping himself. Standing up, he barked, “Breaching team, on me.”

  Royce made his way over to the floor hatch in the center of the shuttle. A moment later, the crew chief told him they were ready. Royce brought his rifle up and flicked the safety off. So did the rest of his breaching team. The crew chief then unsealed the hatch and opened it, revealing to everyone on the Osprey a real honest-to-goodness alien ship.

  Royce aimed his rifle with its powerful light down into the dark hole.

  Nothing. All clear.

  He turned to his team. “Follow me,” he ordered as he disconnected his magnetic boots from the floor and dropped down into the blown-out cavern below.

  Royce floated down fifteen meters to the bottom before his magnetic boots attached to the ship, leveling him out. The two flashlights attached to the shoulders of his suit flicked on, providing him with enough light to see around him. The rest of his five-man breaching team landed moments later and joined him. The team did a quick check of the hole, looking for a bulkhead or compartment door they could breach and gain entry into the ship. It wasn’t easy, since they had no idea where they were on the alien ship, or what lay on the opposite side of the sealed bulkheads.

  Royce reasoned that if a Zodark ship was anything like a human ship, they had corridors and bulkheads—compartments they could seal up in case of a hull breach. After a few minutes of searching through the torn and twisted metal, one of his Deltas found a hatched door about ten feet in height, about the same size as a Zodark.

  One of the Deltas walked up to the door and pulled out a small cutting laser. He activated it and used it almost like a pen as he cut a hole into the door.

  Meanwhile, Royce sent a message through his NL, telling the rest of the platoon on the Osprey to join them.


  Once a hole in the bulkhead had been cut open, the first several Deltas moved in, rifles at the ready. Royce was the third guy in the bulkhead. Soon he found that his instincts were correct—the Zodark ship was laid out like a human vessel, with sealed hatches separating long hallways to prevent a massive depressurization in case of a hull breach.

  Royce immediately noticed as soon as they entered the hull that the artificial gravity had returned. He wasn’t sure how or why, but as soon as he had gained entry into the hull, he was back to operating in a typical gravity environment.

  That’s going to make our job of securing the ship a lot easier, he thought.

  The Deltas advanced thirty meters into the hallway before they came across the next sealed door. The guy who had cut through the first door moved forward and proceeded to cut a hole in the next hatch. He’d barely started cutting when the locking latch suddenly lifted and the door was pulled inwards, away from the Deltas.

  Master Sergeant Royce saw a Zodark standing in the doorway. The blue four-armed alien with vicious looking talons had a look of shock on his face when he realized who had been cutting through the door.

  “Charge!” Royce yelled as he ran forward. He lowered his shoulder and rammed into the Zodark’s stomach, knocking the enormous ten-foot-tall creature down.

  Three or four Deltas ran and jumped past Royce and the Zodark he had tackled to the ground as they searched for more targets further down the hallway.

  When the Zodark recovered from his initial shock, he grabbed Royce. Seemingly without effort, the ferocious creature threw Royce across the hallway into a wall. Before he could respond, one of his Deltas fired his blaster at the Zodark, killing him.

  After Royce had a few seconds to shake off the shock of being thrown, he nodded his thanks at the Delta who’d covered for him and took off at a trot to catch up to the rest of his team. As he ran, he heard a lot of shouting ahead from the Zodarks and some of his own soldiers. Blasters were being fired. Then the heavier M90 squad automatic weapon tore into something. After that, he heard the unfamiliar sound of some unknown weapon firing.