“Mendez,” Cameron called over the comms. “Talk to me.”
Two crewmen, armed with assault rifles poked their heads through the main doors. The first one got caught in the shoulder by an energy bolt and was knocked back. The second crewman got the message and ducked back behind the hatch frame.
“Bridge! Tell them to come in on the catwalks! They’ll be able to pick’em off from above!”
Mendez peeked over his cover and took a few more shots at the enemy positions. He could see Sergeant Weatherly’s foot sticking out from behind the crate on the far side of the bay, and thought he saw movement. “Sarge,” he called over the comms, “you still with us?”
Sergeant Weatherly sitting on the deck, his back against the crate, grimacing in agony as his shoulder smoked. He could feel the heat from the burned flesh radiate against his face. “Yeah! I’m still here,” he answered over the comms.
“How bad are you hit?”
“Oh not bad. Just my fucking shoulder is on fire, that’s all.”
“You still in the fight?”
“Hell yeah,” he answered, dragging himself to his knees and turning to face the fight.
“Can you see the starboard catwalk access ladders from your position?”
The sergeant looked over the top of the crate providing his cover. He could see both ladders on the opposite side of the cargo shuttle from where Ensign Mendez was firing. “Yeah, I can see them both.”
“Good. Our people are gonna come bustin’ out onto those catwalks at any moment. So don’t let any of those fuckers up those ladders. Understood?”
“You got it,” the sergeant answered, as he raised his weapon and opened fire on the first enemy combatant trying to ascend the catwalk ladder. Several of his rounds bounced off the trooper’s armor, but one of them found a weakness in the knee joint, sending the enemy soldier falling to the deck in agony.
“Aim for their joints,” the sergeant called over the comms.
Jessica peeked around the edge of the doorway, quickly ducking back behind the heavy frame as a focused energy bolt from a sniper blasted a chunk out of the door frame, sending splinters flying in all directions.
“Fuck!” she swore, the smoke from the sizzled door frame burning her eyes. “They’ve got snipers up on all four sides. Vlad is laying down fire and forcing the ones on the ground to move into the buildings along the far side.” She peeked out through the door again, drawing another shot from the sniper. “Shit! We can’t do anything with those damned snipers up there!”
Suddenly, the side door from the neighboring greenhouse into the shack they were hiding in burst open. Jessica spun around to open fire but caught herself just in time when she saw the terrified face of Tug’s oldest daughter, Deliza, standing in the doorway, frozen with fear.
“Get down!” Jessica yelled at the girl, just as another shot from the sniper shattered the window glass, narrowly missing the girl as she ducked, a scream jumping from her throat. Jessica took the opportunity to swing her weapon around the edge of the door and pop off a burst of fire at the sniper’s position, just to let him know that they would fight back.
“Who are they?” Nathan asked no one in particular.
“I don’t recognize their uniforms,” Jessica said. “But whoever they are, they’re not amateurs, that’s for sure.”
“They are Ta’Akar assault troops,” Jalea told them. “Highly trained for such actions.”
“I have to get to my father!” Deliza cried.
“You keep going through those greenhouses and one of those snipers will pick you off for sure,” Jessica warned.
“Then we must wait?” Deliza asked.
“We can’t wait,” Jessica insisted. “This is probably just the first wave. They’ve probably got reinforcements on the way.”
“My father will activate the shield.”
“The emitters!” Nathan realized.
“I don’t think so, honey,” Jessica told her, as she peeked out the door and saw several troops making their way around the side of the main house. Tug and Ranni were firing madly through the windows but were unable to prevent the troops from advancing.
Jessica turned back to face the girl. “Where are the shield controls?”
“In the reactor shack, in the corner,” she said, pointing toward the far door on the other side of the shack that led into the next greenhouse.”
“Straight that way?” Jessica asked.
“Yes. All the way to the end.”
Jessica peeked back out the door. The troops were getting into position to take the main house.
“They’re getting ready to charge the main house. Tug and the misses are trying to hold them off.” Jessica thought for a moment, the sound of weapons fire being exchanged about the main house in the distance. “Okay, new plan. I’ll activate the shields. That’ll get the snipers off our backs. With most of the troops headed for the main house, you guys might be able to take the ship.”
“What about you?” Nathan asked.
“If I’m not back in five minutes, then I’m not comin’ back.”
“Jess-”
“You wanna go?” She didn’t wait for a response, bolting across the room and crashing through the door into the next greenhouse.”
Jessica sprinted through the first greenhouse without a single shot being fired her way. The tables were all loaded with empty dirt trays, having been freshly harvested, which meant there was little to no concealment offered. As she burst into the next transfer shack, she knew it was unlikely she’d make it so easily through the next greenhouse.
But that didn’t slow her down, and she charged through the shack and into the next greenhouse. This time, however, she was met with rapid sniper fire that shattered the glass windows, sending shards flying in all directions. She stumbled slightly and then fell to the deck, scrambling the last few meters on hands and knees until she was through the next door.
“Jesus!” Nathan exclaimed. “She’s taking fire.” He poked his weapon around the door frame and opened up on the far ridge line, hoping to force the sniper to duck for cover, but his shots were too wide of his target to have the desired effect. He peeked out the door toward the main house only to see one soldier break out in a run between the main house and Tobin’s ship, skirting around the corner of the house and heading toward the back corner of the compound.
“Jess!” Nathan called out of his comm-set. “One of them is headed your way! I think he’s gonna to try and cut you off!” When he got no response, he called to her again. “Jess! Do you copy?!”
Jessica reached up and switched off her comms as she settled down into the darkness, tucked in behind a tall rack of watering hoses. She quieted herself and forced her heavy breathing under control as she heard the sound of the outside door in the next greenhouse opening and closing, followed by the slow, careful footsteps of an armored assault trooper on the gravel floor.
Jessica pulled out her combat knife, slowly and silently as the enemy drew closer to the door. Suddenly, the door swung open and the intruder burst into the room. The speed of his entry nearly startled Jessica, and it took all her nerve to control her reaction.
The soldier immediately checked behind the door but found no one. He searched the small, dark room, quickly eyed the rack of hoses in the darkened corner, and approached slowly. He pushed his weapon muzzle forward to part the hoses.
What a dumbass, she thought as she pushed the rack forward, causing it to fall over onto the intruder. His weapon discharged in a knee-jerk reaction, its energy blast grazing the left side of her hip as the hoses and the rack spilled forward, burying the trooper under the heavy hoses.
Screaming in pain and anger, Jessica lunged forward on top of the pile of hoses covering the enemy, pushing his weapon up and away from her as she lay atop him. Pinned on his back by the hoses and Jessica, unable to bring his weapon to bear, the soldier reached up with his left arm and grabbed a handful of Jessica’s hair, pulling her
