“We’re losing them, one by one,” Jesus said as he frantically tried to isolate several of the systems before the lot went down.
Crackling in their headsets signalled a message from General Rivers.
“All company commanders, this is an urgent message. We are detecting explosions in the main reactor cores. According to our calculations, the insurgents are triggering a station-wide series of explosions that will destroy it. You have no more than forty minutes to get your people and as many survivors off as possible. I repeat, you have forty minutes to evacuate. We’re sending every shuttle we can find to you. Get out of there!” he barked.
Captain Mathews rubbed his jaw as he considered the situation.
“General, what is the status on the civilian population?” he asked.
“So far we have taken off sixty-two percent of those we are aware of. There are still three habitation zones, including yours, left to clear. We have spotted insurgents all around your position, expect heavy resistance if you try to reach them, just don’t be late!” said the General.
“Can we do it?” asked the Captain.
“We can’t clear the habitation area and get back to the landing craft in forty minutes, we have to choose one or the other,” answered Spartan.
“How about we wait at the habitation zone for reinforcements to pick us up?” Lieutenant Daniels asked.
“You’re assuming there is anybody that can reach us in time,” replied the Captain before calling to the Santa Maria.
“General, how long till those reinforcements get here?”
“We have a final shuttle group on its way, it will be landing in approximately thirty minutes.”
“Can you redirect everybody to the Central Habitation Zone Plaza? There is enough space to land shuttles and we can evacuate the entire section from there,” asked the Captain.
“Interesting, yes, it should be possible. I’ll see if I can get a few transports to redirect to you, good luck, Captain.”
“There won’t be enough transports to take off all the marines and the civilians,” said Lieutenant Daniels.
“There is another option,” said Spartan.
“All squad commanders prepare to move out,” said the Captain before turning to Spartan. “I’m listening,” he said.
“Give the Lieutenant one of your companies to clear the route back and get the landing craft. If they can do it in less than thirty minutes, they can get the rest of the landing craft and meet us at the central plaza. That should give us enough capacity to load the civilians and get out of here.”
“Can you get back with one company?” asked the Captain.
“Yes, Sir, no problem,” replied Lieutenant Daniels.
The Captain thought about the plan but only for a few seconds, decisive action was needed.
“Okay, Lieutenant, make your way back and get the boats to the plaza.”
Daniels turned and ran outside, though he was a lower rank than would be expected, he was a commando junior officer and the marines instantly recognised him as such. It was just seconds before the company were moving away and back towards the landing craft.
“Ok, Spartan, the rest of us will split into three groups, I’ll take the two main groups directly to the habitation zone, it’s two, three minutes tops from here. I want you to take two squads plus the rest of your commandos and take the right sector. You’ll be entering through the ruined bar and then hit them from the side. Get in there hard and fast, we don’t have much time,” he said.
“They aren’t my men,” Spartan said as he prepared his gear.
“They are now, Spartan, I’m giving you a temporary field promotion to Sergeant, now get going!” he said with a grin.
“Sir!” shouted Spartan before turning to see a grinning Jesus staring at him.
The CCS Crusader approached almost point blank range of the damaged battleship Victorious. Both vessels were still moving ever closer to the Titan Naval Station and it was critical that the battleship was stopped, one way or the other. A boarding action between two such vessels had never been attempted but that wasn’t going to stop Admiral Jarvis. As the battlecruiser moved into position her guns were silent. Unknown to the crew of the Victorious she was charging up her weapons for one final, overpowered volley of fire. This meant she was exposed to four more volleys of fire before she was in position.
As the two massive ships approached to within two hundred metres, a final broadside from each ship crashed into both vessels. At this range the damage was horrendous and hole after hole appeared along the length of the battlecruiser. It still wasn’t enough though and the leviathan slid into position, her gun ports waiting to unleash their deadly new weapon. This time the Crusader made use of her double-charged railgun to fire the modified and lethal close range Sanlav round. It was the first test of the weapon and at this range the damage was nothing short of impressive. Like a giant shotgun the railguns blast a wide dispersal, that at such a short range tore chunks from the outer plating along the entire length of the battleship. With a massive cloud of debris blocking the view, the magnetic couplers powered up, drawing the vessels towards each other. In less than twenty seconds the two ships crunched together and like a privateer in the seventeenth century the Crusader jammed herself tightly against the enemy vessel. The only way the two ships would now be sprung apart was if both took their couplers offline and this was something that could be decided by the first ever capital ship boarding action.
In the Combat Information Centre Admiral Jarvis watched her screens as the Sanlav rounds did their work. Several of the weapon batteries were taken off-line by the brutal overloaded attack, but it had done its work. As well as tearing the great chunks out of the outer skin of the Victorious, the weapon had created a screen of dust, debris and plasma that gave her the cover she needed for her boarding action.
“All marine units, boarding action is a go, commence your assault. Good luck!” she exclaimed over the intercom.
From key points along the hull of the Crusader a dozen landing craft rushed out to transport their precious cargos of marines to the battleship. There were only three hundred marines and another two hundred volunteers from the crew in the attack but they were all targeting one point on the ship, the power core, the only target they could assault with any hope of slowing the warship.
Lieutenant Erdeniz kept his head down as the landing craft he was in dashed across the short distance between the two capital ships. He and the rest of the passengers all wore sealed suits, but the gear he wore was the bulky variant designed for extra vehicular activity when working on the ship. It was not the closer fitting personal protection suits of the marines. Most of the decks’ gunnery crews had been selected to provide assistance to the marines during the boarding action. It was the duty of all crew to practice basic hand-to-hand combat and marksmanship for such eventualities but he had never expected he would have to help in such a situation. Unlike the marines he was armed with a thermal shotgun, a powerful close ranged firearm but it was nothing as effective as the L48 rifles and carbines carried by the rest of the marines.
With a jarring impact the landing craft smashed through the damaged outer skin of the battleship and continued on until embedding itself fifteen metres inside the wrecked metal. Their objective was specifically chosen so they could insert the marines directly into the crew area of the ship. The front of the landing craft pushed though the sidewall of one of the service corridors. The onboard sensors indicated a partial pressurised area, but it was still failing and like most of the ship, lacked gravity.
The bow doors opened to reveal the damage and the marines were already out, each using their hands or their manoeuvring thrusters to push on inside. According to the schematics of the battleship they should be near the main engineering hub that connected to key parts of the ship.
It was hard work to fight through the debris as well as trying to manage the lack of gravity and the bulky
