Luciana let her World regain focus. She’d thrown up, several times, inside of her helmet, glad that the system pulled away her stomach contents from her face. She’d need to find the engineer who invented that and buy him a few cold ones. Her World was still spinning when she unbuckled herself and released the emergency harness tethering her to the ship.
Captain Smith hung loosely from his support harness, giving the impression that he was dead. She staggered towards him and began to unbuckle his harnesses, gently lowering him onto the floor of the ship. She took off his helmet and looked at him.
Blood poured out of his nose and mouth, so she immediately turned his head to the side and used her finger to scoop out the blood from his mouth. She didn’t want him to die from asphyxiation. While she was doing that, EVE sent out an alert to get the medic team to the bridge of the ship.
Luciana pulled up the Captain’s eyelids. His eyes were filled with blood, but she could see from the blood bubbles that gurgled up as he breathed that he wasn’t dead. The blood was a deep red, which gave her some relief. If it was a pink color, it could mean that the cerebrospinal fluid was leaking into his blood, which indicated a fatal condition.
She knew he would be out of commission for a while, but couldn’t understand what made him suffer these side effects. Nootropic stimulants maybe? Perhaps that explained why he went from a very ordinary Captain to an elite fighter pilot. They’d have to be heavy duty to have such a dramatic effect on him.
She put those thoughts out of her mind. Stabilizing him was most important, other considerations could wait. The medical gurney arrived and she helped put him on board and move him. She was now the Commanding Officer of the ship.
“SFC John Stelmach”, she said, “You’re acting officer of the bridge. Take us to the entrance and prepare for boarding.” He turned his chair around and saluted. She switched her communication channel to all. “Attention. The Captain is currently down, I’m the Commanding Officer until he has recovered and been declared medically fit to resume command. All personnel not necessary for flight, meet me in the loading dock. We’re preparing for assault and breach.”
She had run through the option to assault or not to assault. They might be able to escape. But she didn’t like the odds. The Captain was out, and they hadn’t destroyed all of the lasers or missile turrets on the Void Terror. As soon as they tried to escape, they’d have their backs to the bigger ship, and the number of sensors that were rear-facing were less than the ones that were forward facing. Most importantly though, if the other ship survived, their mission would be compromised. Someone knew who they were, and she had to find out how.
She ran to the loading dock as quickly as she could. She selected the smart locker and went through the combinations of equipment they had available. She’d need to do some serious shopping if they managed to get out of this. Ideally, they’d have mechanical turrets and robots they could use to secure areas after they left, insuring a proper egress route if they had to turn around. They’d also have service drones that could act as a forward push to resupply units without them having to swap gear in the middle of combat. Unfortunately, they didn’t have that.
The haphazard way the groups were arranged and the gear they wore would lead to a very quick defeat against a trained group, or hell, even an untrained group with superior numbers. She made her selections as best she could and then looked at the load out screen.
Locker Gear
Load out settings:
Assault Group.
Responsibilities: The assault group’s primary responsibility is to clear all rooms and areas out.
- [X] Laser Rifle. Attachment - Enhanced Targeting Scope (ETS) for Team Leaders. The ETS allows Team Leaders to tag and highlight targets for concentrated firepower by their fire team.
- [X] Reflex bodysuit - Light Armor. Reflex Body armor is useful for stopping projectile weapons, but not useful against laser weapons. Light armor is designed to allow maximum movement.
- [X] Reflex gloves - Light armor.
- [X] Reflex boots - Light Armor.
- [X] Three High-Explosive Material (HEMP) Grenades.
- [X] Two Concussive Grenades.
- [X] Two sticks of C4.
- [X] One hundred yards of detonator cord.
- [X] One Vibroblade knife.
- [X] One Vibroblade sword.
- [X] One laser pistol sidearm.
Support Group.
Responsibilities: The support group’s primary responsibility is to provide logistic, engineering, and medical support to the assault group. Secondary responsibility is to provide overwatch support to the assault group. If the assault group is too damaged, may be called in to fill the ranks as needed.
- [X] Laser Rifle. Attachment - Enhanced Targeting Scope (ETS) for Team Leaders. Attachment for other members - HEMP grenade launcher.
- [X] Reflex bodysuit - Heavy
- [X} Reflex gloves - Heavy
- [X] Reflex boots - Heavy
- [X] Six HEMP Grenades.
Security Group.
Responsibilities: The security group’s primary responsibility is to hold a position after the assault group has cleared it out. If they are not holding a position, they must move to assist the Assault Group. Security group should also hold all areas that can potentially enable new targets to enter the area, such as stairs. Any security at the back of the unit should prepare a defensible position for potential inbound hostiles during an emergency egress.
- [X] 4mm Gauss Light-Support Weapon (LSW). Attachment - Enhanced Targeting Scope (ETS) for Team Leaders.
- [X] Reflex bodysuit - Heavy
- [X] Reflex gloves - Heavy
- [X] Reflex boots - Heavy
- [X] One Gatling Laser issued to entire squad, to be used to hold the landing area.
She supervised her team. She broke each team into color-coded groups: Red for assault, blue for security, and white for support. Each team would also be assigned a callsign, Whiskey Alpha for the first support team, Whiskey Bravo for the second support team, Bravo Alpha for the first security team, and so forth.
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The Chain of Command (COC) was established based on brightness of the unit’s color. As a team member was immobilized above a personnel’s rank, their indicator would brighten up in their Heads-up Display (HUD) along with their teammates. She really wished they had time to rehearse this, but every second she spent dallying meant that the Void Terror’s crew could reinforce position and setup ambushes and choke points. Time was critical.
She had to divide up the teams, a difficult choice. She wanted to use the entire boarding marines party as the assault force, but that would leave inexperienced people to provide security. Bad security meant they could be ambushed from behind and wiped out in an instant.
She made her decisions and looked at the loud out screen in her HUD.
Assault Squadrons
Team Romeo Alpha:
Emily Gułminski - Boarding Marine. Team Leader, SSG (E6 - Staff Sergeant).
Grace Fugiel - Boarding Marine. Squad Leader, SGT (E5 - Sergeant).
Sergio Murphy - Boarding Marine. Squad Leader, SGT.
Beniamino Lloyd - Boarding Marine. CPL (E4 - Corporal).
Antonia Thomas - Boarding Marine. CPL.
Emiko Palmieri - Boarding Marine. SPC (E4 - Specialist).
Anjali Piastowski - Boarding Marine. PFC (E3 - Private First Class).
Jeffrey Mason - Boarding Marine. PFC.
Team Romeo Bravo:
Harumi Izban - Boarding Marine. Team Leader, SSG.
Elda Schypinski - Boarding Marine. Squad Leader, SGT.
Ingwaz Black - Boarding Marine. Squad Leader, SGT.
Daniel Drager - Boarding Marine. CPL.
Yasushi Kerntopf - Boarding Marine. CPL.
Michael Omilian - Boarding Marine. SPC.
Marwa Wedmann - Boarding Marine. PFC.
Christopher Preuss - Boarding Marine. PFC.
Security Squadrons
Team Bravo Alpha: Lead Security
Violetta Wasek - Boarding Marine. Team Leader, SSG.
William Gordon - Boarding Marine. PFC.
Dr. Katsuo Pakula - Medic.
David Roslon - Medic.
Team Bravo Bravo: Extraction Team
Absalon Legezki - Boarding Marine. Team Leader, SGT.
Jason Brown - Boarding Marine. SPC. Gatling Laser Operator.
Team Bravo Charlie: Command And Control
Luciana Smith - Executive Officer, Team Leader, 1Lt. (O2 - First Lieutenant).
Fabrizio Bamburak - Engineer. SGT.
Support Squadrons
Team Whiskey Alpha:
Thomas Budz - Navigator, Team Lead. SFC (E7 - Sergeant First Class).
Juliusz Williams - Sensory Operator. SGT.
Kameko Schodzenski - Ship Missile Gunner. SGT.
Alfonsyna Edwards - Ship Missile Gunner. SGT.
Team Whiskey Bravo:
James Rychlinski - Ship Missile Gunner. SGT.
Akira Oslaszewski - Ship Missile Gunner. SGT.
When the entire crew minus crucial personnel were in the loading bay, they began to put on their new armor and exchange in what they had selected for themselves. A few were slower about it than Luciana would have liked, but they did all comply without grumbling.
“Listen up while you get dressed people”, she yelled in a commanding military voice, “I don’t have to tell the jarheads this, but since this will be the first live mission many of you have participated in, this briefing will be all you get before things get hot.”
“We will be using a subdued entry method for this operation. That means loud and hot when you clear a room, but otherwise, silence. Team leads will mark the spots and issue all orders, keep the channels clear of all non-essential chatter.”
“When moving, move from cover to cover or from cover to concealment if that’s not possible. If only open space remains, hug the walls and keep out of the middle of open hallways. You are not AI in a bad video game, the type far too many of you have been playing recently.” She gave what she hoped was a stern scowl at the people to whom she was referring, but the guilty parties kept their heads down and put on their gear. That was good, lower-enlisted survival instincts kicking in.
“Use dynamic entry. Assault teams, do not move in front of doors or attempt to assault directly in front. Use eight-balls for dynamic entry, try to use non-traditional means of entry like windows or through the wall. Engineer Fabrizio and I will attempt to hack into the mainframe and get layout for non-traditional routes and mark your HUD as appropriate.” An eight ball was an eighth of a stick of C4 stuck to an entry way to blow it out.
“If you must use the doorways, make sure that Support Squadron is in place to shoot a grenade in there immediately after breach to clear the area and provide cover fire if needed. Do not lose your support squad by moving too fast, practice tactical patience at all times.”
“Security Squadron Bravo Alpha, do not let the medics attempt to retrieve any injured personnel. No person should move by themselves, a battle buddy must be present at all times. If your partner is injured, do not engage the enemy any further than necessary to clear an egress path to the medics. Do not be a hero. Take your battle buddy to the medics and reinforce the security squadron until another partner is available for you to partner with. At that time, reinforce either the squadron with the least people on it or the Alpha squadron.”
“In the event of overrun, team leaders are responsible for moving back to the last foothold and taking accountability of their team there. No one gets left behind and there will be no suicide stands made. Remember your training and CEPP: Cover all immediate danger areas, eliminate all threats, protect your buddy, and pick up any slack as it arises. Are my orders understood?”
A strong “Yes Ma’am” echoed throughout the headsets as they’d all finished equipping while she gave them her speech. She hoped it would be enough. She knew she couldn’t distill years of military training into one speech and have it stick, but she hoped it would be enough to prevent the non-combats from doing anything that would get themselves killed.
She opened up the exterior door to the loading bay, flanked by the security team ready to reign fire on anyone who hoped to mount an offensive, and looked inside. Their breach area was only a few meters across, and the Bravo Bravo support team fired off their grappling hooks, secured them, and then rappelled inside the gap. When no hostile contact was made, team Bravo Alpha followed, and then her team went inside.
The teams immediately set up a 360 perimeter. They were inside a cargo hold, which gave them a useful vantage point for building a barricade and setting up an obstacle belt in case they were chased by enemies. Team Bravo Alpha began doing that, and she was relived that she didn’t have to micromanage the group in order for them to coordinate effectively. Once all the teams were inside, the medics began setting up emergency evacuation kits for the wounded. She knew they’d need them.
The Assault teams were preparing to leave when she gave them the order to halt. “Check for rats.” She said in the comms. She was glad they were assaulting from the top, as a top-down assault was much easier to secure than a bottom-up one. The ventilation and temperature shafts above might be hiding someone in them, and while it would be a tight squeeze, she’d rather not find out after the assault teams left that there was an unwanted guest hanging around.
Her engineer began looking for a way to interface with the ship’s computer system via the cargo storage computer. By military regulation, each computer unit should be sandboxed from interfacing with any other system that was non-essential, but most civilian ships didn’t do that. Unfortunately, he’d be mucking about with the encryption system while they needed intel, and she didn’t want to keep the teams stationary while the enemy had a chance to reinforce and barricade key points.
Fortunately, no one was hiding in the ventilation shafts, and the assault team moved out.