“Kill them!” Lieutenant Fletcher yelled.
A marine fell with spikesembedded all over his body, and over hisfallen form stepped Tsarkov. He snarled as shots hit his armour,and then he opened fire.
“You heard the Lieutenant. Kill themall!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Ski’ligFlagship, EkatiAlpha
The ground shook as demolitioncharges ripped through the deck. Some ofthe Novas cheered as the powerful warheads wreaked havoc, but asthe smoke and debris cleared, more shapes leapt out to attack them.Something hit Valentine’s shoulder, and she immediately lostpower.
Limb motive functionimpaired. Rerouting backup power to compensate. Perhapsstop taking damage?
Valentine laughed to herself as sheblasted away.
“Keep fighting!” said a voice in thedistance.
Valentine had no idea who it was,and continued the butchery as theSki’ligs threw themselves at the attackers. They were smaller,weaker, and nothing like the soldiers they’d fought on the surface.At one point, she knocked one aside and was able to see the nextwave more clearly. They were slighter built, some with wings, andmany without. Some wore helmets as well as armour over theirchests, and the majority held Ski’lig rifles.
“Who are these people?”Kallias asked.
One leapt from the side carryinga kind of tool or wrench. It hammered as it struck Valentine’s leftarm, and she swung her shield around,striking the Ski’lig in the face. The creature dropped down, andshe placed her foot on its torso to pin it there.
“Stay there!”
Lessthan a dozen of the enemy were left, and though they should run,not one considered it. They threw themselves at the Novas and diedjust as quickly. The first thirty minutes inside the alien vesselhad been hell itself. Valentine’s armour was buckled, scratched,and covered in blood. And now, for some strange reason, the soundof the fighting had died down. She looked down and sighed uponseeing the alien warrior had been hit by stray fire and killed inthe last moments of the fight.
“Damn it.”
She pushed it over and bent down tolook more carefully.
“Ski’ligs all right. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re armedcivilians. Maybe the crew, or a militia.”
“Crew,” said Hawkins,“Look.”
He lifted one of the bodies with onearm. The Ski’lig was unarmoured and wore a utility harness filledwith tools.
“He’s right,” said SergeantJablonsky, “This place. Look atit.”
He pointed to the walls, and in particular to the heavilydamaged bulkheads that were partially sealed back up. There werespare parts nearby, as well as machinery and numerous bodies. Andfurther back were five floating platforms, each packed with partsand tooling. He pushed down on it, and the thing pushedback.
“I’d say we stumbled into a repair crewby the looks of things. A heavily guarded repair crew.”
He snorted as he looked back tothem.
“They knew we were coming.”
One of the marines rushed to thefloating platform and ran his hands overit.
“Corporal,” said LieutenantFletcher, “We don’t have time forthat.”
The marine looked up and sighed.
“The technology…it’s already beyond us.Anti-grav tech like this would allow us…”
“I know. And if we’re not quick, we’re going to end up buriedhere.”
He then hesitated.
“Take somescans, but be quick.”
A flash of light enveloped partof the wall to the right, and Valentine swung her guns around as ashape appeared before her. IFF alerts warned her they werefriendlies, and she lifted her muzzle asfour Novas approached, as well as the bulky shape of Captain Olik.Three more followed behind them, each showing signs of recentbattle. He entered the space and then looked to the bodieslittering the place.
“Captain,” saidLieutenant Fletcher, “You’re a sight for soreeyes. Where’s the rest of your platoon?”
“2nd Platoon have split upand are making their way to the rear engineering decks, smashinganything they run into. We were separated in thefighting.”
He looked aroundthe area they had half obliteratedalready.
“It looks like you’ve been doing thesame. But it won’t win this battle for us.”
“Sir?”
“The General is working his waythrough the ship. He believes he’s located the missing crew ofCoventry, but their transmissions areweak and being blocked by a local dampening field.”
Lieutenant Fletcher nodded as helistened.
“As Nova units move too far away, we’relosing contact.”
“That’s the field. Itis making coordination difficult,” agreedCaptain Olik.
“The General.You said he’s working his wayforward?”
“Correct. His ship punched achannel into this monster, and now he’strying to keep the momentum against the Ski’ligs before they canregroup and counterattack. His forces are moving in from the rearof the ship. We will approach from the left to assisthim.”
“Why?” Valentine asked, “I thought this was a smash and destroyoperation?”
Lieutenant Fletcher started to speak,but Captain Olik drowned him out.
“A fair question. They have beenhere since the fighting in EpsilonEridani. If they survived this long, they may have tactical data onthis ship. And we need it…”
He then growled, glancing back at the breach he and his unit had enteredthrough.
“We must hurry. General Gun andColonel Barnaby are holding their own on the rock below, but every minute this ship remains over theplanet sees more troops sent down to fight them.”
“Our fleet?” Lieutenant Fletcher asked.
“They’re doing little more thanharassing this ship now. We’re evenlymatched and reinforcement will take weeks.”
He stamped his foot hard on themetallic floor.
“This battle and this war will be decided onboard this very ship. Westop them sending troops to the surface, and general Gun will bevictorious. Are you ready?”
“Yes,Captain!” said the exhausted Novas and marines.
“Good. Then let’s go.”
They left the shattered part ofthe ship and made their way through a rabbit warren of tunnels andwalkways. There was no obvious design or structure to the ship. Andat one point the style of the interior completelychanged, with bright colours and crampedcompartments. Minutes later they were back out and into a dark,gloomy area filled with open spaces.
“Is it just me, or does this place feellike it’s been added to over a long period of time?”
“Yeah,” said Hawkins,“You might be right.”
Valentine could barelybreathe as her body tensed. They movedthrough so many sections of the ship that she’d utterly lost herbearings, and still the Captain pushed them forward. He wasrelentless, and when they ran into small groups of the enemy, hecrashed through them, expecting the Novas to deal with any stillstanding. That was when they finally reached
