'Good,' Shaw said, nodding in approval. He knew Lon personally and was impressed with him. 'Get them moving. Fargo will probably be the senior NCO so he'll be in charge of this makeshift platoon under the direct orders of Captain Evers.'
'Yes sir,' Armand replied.
'Send the rest of your company to their objective but leave another squad here with two SAWs for beachhead security. If this base isn't secured in the next hour, it's never going to be.'
'Yes sir,' Armand said, switching his radio frequency.
Lon and his squad were called over and given their new orders. He absorbed the information quickly and then consulted his map of the base to find out the best means of getting to the main pedestrian platform. It took him only a minute or so of study to lock in on a course of action. 'Let's go people,' he told his men. 'The sooner we get there, the less Earthlings we'll have to fight.'
They made their way across the loading platform to the north side of it, where a small access corridor — its door sealed shut of course — led along the perimeter of the base. Horishito, one of the two men carrying the large coils of primacord, placed a length of it on this door and then set a detonator in it.
'Third squad, breaching side door now,' he announced over the command net. There were quite possibly MPs waiting on the other side of the door and his men pointed their weapons in preparation. Part of the security squad that had already been in position trained theirs too.
'Go ahead, Hoary,' Lon told him once everyone was in position.
Horishito blew the door, sending it crashing to the floor. No fire came through hole that had been made and his men advanced slowly and carefully to the sides. They took quick glances through the hole finding no MPs but about ten civilian personnel already lying peacefully on the floor, their hands behind their heads, begging the men that they assumed to be heartless terrorists not to shoot them. Lon and the others dashed into the room and secured it, ordering the civilians through the hole and into the main loading area where they joined those already taken prisoner. They then began to move towards the main tunnel entrance nearly a kilometer away.
Admiral Rosewood had moved to the command post in the main TNB control room. This room was a much larger version of the main control room for Triad since it also was responsible for controlling docking, power, gravitation, and traffic control of the naval vessels in port. Sixty-four controllers worked at computer terminals and monitored security camera displays. They watched in disbelief at the events unfolding around them. Rosewood understood.
He now had a better idea of what he was up against and, as such, he feared for his safety and the security of his base now. Thanks to digital camera images that had been taken before the cameras had been shot out, he knew that he had enemy troops in company strength fanning out from two directions, from two different tunnels into vital parts of the base. The blast doors were presenting no problems for them; they were simply blasting them open with primacord. A third company — at least he assumed it was a company — he had yet to get an image of it — was still pinned down in the main tunnel by the MPs. That wouldn't last long he feared. He could see squad strength concentrations moving in on the main gate through other tunnels, obviously to reinforce and flank. He had no MPs to spare to try and stop them, he couldn't even offer more than token resistance to the companies that were moving deeper into the base by the minute. One of them was heading, as he'd initially suspected, directly toward the space docks where access to the 43 docked ships could be had. The TIRT team as well as about twenty regular MPs, were in position there but, even with the heavy weapons, they would not be able to stand up to a company for very long. His attempt to get the crews to their ships to scramble them had been inspired but useless. It had taken too long and their access was now cut off by the advancing MPG.
He had never felt so out of his element in his life. He was a naval admiral, not a ground combat soldier and he was ill equipped to deal with this situation. He had sent off a report to Earth but the length of communications meant that he could expect no reply for nearly three hours. By then the base and all of its ships, all of its highly trained naval personnel, could very well be in Martian hands. And the pre-positioned container ships with the marine division's equipment on board! If they got their hands on those ships, it would nearly double the MPG's inventory of tanks, artillery, and other heavy weaponry! That simply could not be allowed!
It was the thought of these container ships and the marines they were meant for that gave him a glimmer of hope. There were twelve thousand marines down on the surface of Mars! Twelve thousand marines with M-24s, SAWs, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition. And there were lifter craft capable of bringing those marines directly to the naval base in a short amount of time.
He turned to the terminal that he was using for communications. 'Get me General Sega down at EMB,' he said. 'Highest priority!'
A few seconds went by and the computer told him, 'General Sega is not taking calls at the moment. Would you like his mail server or would you like to...'
'I'd like you to get him on line,' Rosewood interrupted. 'Go through whoever you have to and tell them that this is a matter of federal security that supercedes whatever he is dealing with down there.'
'Attempting to recontact,' the computer dutifully told him.
Another minute went by before Sega's face came on the screen, impatience clearly showing. 'John,' he said, 'I hope this is important because we've just been hit by the MPG. I've got a bunch of dead marines over here and a bunch of greenie ass that I'm getting ready to kick. And I'm not gonna take any fuckin names either.'
'It's important,' Rosewood assured him, dismissing the startling news about the marine base for the moment in light of his own problems. 'I'm having some greenie trouble of my own up here. My base is under attack.'
This put a sobering expression on Sega's face. 'What do you mean?' he asked slowly.
'They hit the access tunnels about fifteen minutes ago,' he explained. 'Uniformed and armed MPG soldiers, complete with M-24s, squad automatic weapons, combat goggles and combat computers. It looks like they're in battalion strength.'
'Jesus fucking Christ,' Sega said, paling as he heard this. 'How are you holding?'
'Not too well,' Rosewood admitted with a certain amount of shame. 'They've breached all three of the tunnels on the base side and two of their elements are now moving through the base. We have another element pinned down in the main tunnel but the greenies have reinforcements enroute to flank my men. I need some help up here. My MPs and my TIRT team are not going to be able to hold for very long.'
'Our equipment ships are up there,' Sega said. 'If the greenies get their hands on those...'
'I have forty-eight front-line naval vessels up here as well,' Rosewood interjected. 'As well as the crews that operate them. That's nearly a
Sega considered for a moment. 'I can load a battalion into two C-12s and get them launched in about twenty minutes if I put a rush on the pilots,' he said. 'Once in flight, it'll take them about ninety minutes to dock with you. Can you hold that long?'
Rosewood looked at his display doubtfully. 'I don't know,' he said. 'We're outnumbered and outgunned by the greenies. I don't even know where the hell they came from or how they got up to Triad without anyone noticing, but there a shitload of them up here.'
Sega now looked a little embarrassed. 'Well,' he said slowly, 'there were reports last night of a large number of MPG troops transporting up to Triad in C-10s.'
'What?' Rosewood said, a glare developing on his face. 'And nobody thought to mention this to
'It was assumed that it was just one of those bizarre training missions that the greenies are always doing,' Sega said. 'How the hell were we supposed to know they were going to attack TNB?'
'Jesus,' Rosewood said, shaking his head. 'What a clusterfuck.' He didn't dwell on the how of the problem and the assignment of blame for the time being. 'Norm,' he said, 'I'll try to keep those greenies contained but I really don't know if I'm going to be able to hold until your marines get here. If that company we have pinned in the main tunnel manages to break out, they'll head directly for this command post. If they take it, I won't be able to initiate docking for your transports.'
Sega paused, seeming to think for a second. Finally, gingerly, he said, 'John, with all due respect, would you mind downloading me a situation schematic? I know that you're above reproach as a naval officer but what you're dealing with now is more along the lines of my profession. Maybe I can...'
'Norm, the download is on the way. I'll do more than take advice from you, I'll put the defense of this base
