I jogged down through hallways as I rushed to flank the enemy. Two of my troops were dead, and three more were injured; that left only four who could help me out. On the enemy side, I had four confirmed dead, leaving as many as eleven still to face.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be that bad. It seemed likely my soldiers would have taken out at least a few of the enemy, but I couldn’t count on it.
Nor could I coordinate with them when communications were being blocked by the enemy Psion. The sergeant was still up so he might, perhaps, notice my dot approaching on his map; if he wasn’t too busy keeping everyone alive.
Slowing as I came round a corner, I began stalking forward, staying as quiet as I could. With combat boots stomping on metal flooring that was not particularly quiet, but I could hear the loud crack of plasma fire coming from nearby.
With luck that would cover my approach until I was in a position to strike.
Soon I was glancing down a hallway that split in the middle. Here the enemy had stalled, setting up barricades with doors removed from their frames. They must have brought one of the cutting tools with them.
Past them, the two split corridors ended in doors still set into the walls. After a moment one opened, plasma fire pouring from both sides. My men had chosen their fallback point well; I could see why the enemy was having trouble getting past.
Only eight of them remained behind the makeshift protection, several sporting bandages. They took potshots when either of the doors opened, but otherwise seemed happy to hold position.
It would have been a strange tactic for an assault team if I hadn’t known about the advance squad they’d sent ahead. As far as these men knew, all they had to do was keep my troops busy until their squadmates took the ship.
Now they were trapped themselves. Shooting them in the back felt wrong, more cold-blooded than I’d ever been before, but I steeled myself anyway. They had come here ready to slaughter us all; the least I could do was return the favor.
I waited a few moments for the perfect opportunity, confident the enemy was too distracted to notice me. When both doors opened within a second of each other, I struck.
My first burst cut down a man on the far left, my second the woman next to him. The enemy scrambled to return fire as they realized they were dropping despite their cover and I had to swing back out of view.
Six to go. The rattling detonation of a grenade sounded, and for a moment my heart jumped into my throat. Had the enemy managed to grab from one of our corpses?
Then I heard the screams from around the corner and realized the truth. My troops, my wonderful troops, must have held one in reserve; ready for a counterattack.
Ducking back into the open, I shot one of the still-standing enemies, then paused as the last three dropped their weapons, holding their hands in the air. We’d won.
I dashed forward, keeping my gun trained on the prisoners as I kicked their guns away. One had a medic badge, his eyes trained on two men writhing on the ground, riddled with metal shrapnel.
It seemed their cover had turned on them, in the end.
“Sir, can I treat our men?” He asked, his tone verging on begging.
“Toss their weapons first, then go ahead,” I nodded. There was no point in being a monster now we’d won.
Without moving my gun, I raised my voice and called down the corridor. “This is Count Hope, how are you doing back there?”
“Much better now you're here, my lord,” the voice of Sergeant Jones called back. “Do I hear prisoners out there? We can take them off your hands, Sir.”
I bit my lip, considering. It didn’t seem fair to drop this on them after they had taken such a pounding. “Only if it won’t endanger our wounded. If you need to get them to medical, make sure that happens first.”
There was a pause then the doors opened and three of my men came out. “Shouldn’t be a problem Sir, our medic has them stable. Besides, these fine fellows,” the man’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “can help us get them there.”
Pausing I considered the risks of that, then nodded my acceptance. They might be the enemy, but they were also professional soldiers. I couldn’t see them risking their surrender to cause trouble.
“I’ll leave it to you then Sergent,” I nodded at the man. “Good work holding out. That last grenade was a lifesaver.”
“With respect, I’m not sure I’d agree.” Defeat filled the man’s tone as he stared at the enemy. “Not when we lost James and Peter.”
Hearing aloud into me like a knife, but I didn’t have time to mourn the lost soldiers yet. “I understand,” I said, clapping a hand on the man’s shoulder. ‘But if it’s anyone's fault, it's mine.”
“I was the one who got us into this situation, and it’s my ship we're guarding. We could have walked away and let them have it, but I chose for us to stay and fight it out. While you faced superior numbers from a poor position, and still kept most of your men alive.”
The man relaxed slightly but shook his head. “I wouldn’t say it's your fault, Sir. They were the ones that came here to take what’s yours. Keeping you safe is our job, and we're happy to do it, even with the cost.”
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Both the other soldiers paused in their search of the prisoners to give a light cheer. Their support warmed my heart, even if I wasn’t sure I deserved it.
But there was no time for self-doubt either. “I need to go,” I said turning back the way I came. It might be a slightly longer trip, but I wasn’t sure I could face our wounded right now. Not and still be effective.
“Aye sir, we’ve got it handled here. Go kick the rest of them off the ship.”
With that I jogged off, heading back to the center.
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A minute later, my watch buzzed endlessly, messages scrolling across the screen. “Linnea,” I breathed in relief. She had to have pulled off the assassination of the Psion, it was the only explanation.
Ignoring the other messages for now, I put in a call straight to her; eager to get confirmation, and hear that she was alright. For several moments the call rang before it was answered at last.
“A little busy here, Jared,” Linnea said, grunting.
“Sorry, I’ll call back later,” I responded, a broad grin spreading across my face.
The deafening crack of her sniper mode echoed through the call before she responded. “No, it's fine. I should give a quick report at least, Sir,” she said, the teasing note in her tone letting me know she was fine.
“It took us a while to track the guy down, then longer to get everyone in position. The shot itself was easy then, he was so distracted by whatever he was doing to the ship he never noticed us.”
“That was when things got rough. Five more guys showed up to help out the two he had with him. I don’t know if he was planning on sneaking them into the ship or just wanted more security, but now we’ve got to deal with the lot of them.”
More cracks sounded, and she continued, her tone hurried. “And that’s it. I’ve got to go, love you.”
The call clicked off, leaving me warm, though a little worried. Still, if anyone could handle them, it was her and the scouts. Compared to our bogged-down battle in the ship, a running firefight in the woods was what they were made for.
“Twenty on the cargo bay,” I muttered, counting off the enemy. “Fifteen on the main doorway, and five out in the woods.” That left ten unaccounted for; the biggest risk that remained.
A glance at the wider map had me raising my eyebrows. Sergeant Kepler and his men had moved from their defensive positions, circling the doorway. He’d lost one of his ten men, and all of them flashed with various wounds, but it seemed he’d pulled off a miracle and won.
I had to give that man a promotion, he deserved it. They all did for that matter.
“Mira, do we have sensors back yet?” I called out, confident she was listening again without the interference of the Psion.
“We’re working on it, Captain,” she said, her voice echoing from my watch. “The initial actions taken by the enemy Psion caused the most damage, but we are prioritizing sensor recovery.”
“I am presuming that is a higher priority than the engines in the current circumstances?”
“Correct,” I responded, nodding though she wouldn’t be able to see it. “Let me know as soon as they’re back up.”
“Affirmative,” she responded, then went quiet.
Zooming the map out as far as it would go, I scanned over the troops guarding the smaller entrances. There; one was flashing.
Putting in a call, I waited, unsure if he would have time to respond. Then it picked up a moment later. “Private Clarke reporting sir. Two hostiles attempted to breach the door, but I shot one and drove the other off.”
“Great work, Soldier,” I said, respect filling my voice. Holding off double his number was impressive, even with a defensive position. “Do you require medical attention?”
“No Sir,” the man responded quickly. “I’ve got the burn bandaged for now, I’m good until this is over.”
“Understood,” I said, “Hold position then. And again, amazing work.”
Closing the call, I looked over the rest of the positions and froze. I’d been so distracted by the obvious blinking light, that I’d missed the two dots that had vanished. Two more of my men dead, and two entrances that must have been breached.
“Fuck!” I shouted, guilt filling me once again. Again, there was no time for it, and I pushed the feeling aside. The entrances were on different sides of the ship; there was no way I could manage them both.
At the same time, I couldn’t pull the other troops off their doors. I couldn’t assume all remaining enemies were inside just because two positions had been breached.
Desperate, my eyes darted back to Sergent Kepler's position. It didn’t seem fair to ask any more of his men, but I didn’t have a lot of choice. Placing a call, I got a response a second later.
“Sergent Kepler reporting, Sir. We have secured the situation with minimal losses, and have taken eight of the enemy prisoner.”
“Incredible work, Sergent,” I said, my eyebrows rising as high as they could. How in the world had the man taken almost half the enemy captive? That was nearly as many troops as he had.
Hardening my heart, I continued. “I’m sorry to ask, but can you spare any soldiers to handle a breach? I don’t want to risk anyone, so only agree if you can manage the prisoners and your wounded.”
There was a pause before the Sergent responded. “Understood, Sir. I can leave my second here with the medic and the three with the most serious injuries. We have the prisoners secured, so they should manage fine.”
I sighed in relief, that was four troops, though they were all lightly injured. I couldn’t imagine more than three or four remaining enemies being in a single group, so that was better odds than we’d faced yet.
“Thank you, Sergent I won’t forget the skill and bravery you and your men have shown here. I’m sending you the position of the breached doorway now, but we won’t know the enemy's current location until sensors come back online.”
“Understood, Sir. I would suggest we move to secure either Engineering or the Bridge then. Those would be the priority targets for any enemy groups.”
I blinked, why hadn’t I considered that? While there were other important sections of the ship, those were the only two locations where they could seize control. Nowhere else would turn their failure of an attack into a win.
“Amazing insight there, Sergent. Engineering is only a floor above you. Please secure that, but consider that the enemy might attempt to release their captive comrades if they are heading in that direction.”
“Got it, Sir. Change of plans then, I’ll move everyone up on the cargo lift and we’ll hold the prisoners there. Permission to leave the cargo bay undefended?”
I paused, tapping my fingers on the opposite arm. Perhaps that was the right course of action? At this point keeping the enemy out had failed, maybe I was too caught up with securing all the doors.
From that point of view, I should pull the remaining six troops off the other doorways. With three on each side, they could form two groups of reinforcements. It might lead to a couple more enemies sneaking in, but we could track them down when the sensors were back online.
“Permission granted, Sergent. As you say, it's more important to hold the key positions at this point.”
Composing a bulk message, I ordered the remaining doorway guards to form up. Then one group would head to reinforce engineering, while the other would join me at the bridge. That should leave us outnumbering the enemy, for once.
Grinning at finally having it our way, I pushed into a sprint. “Mira,” I called out, once more thankful for my enormous Toughness stat being restored. “Please inform the bridge that they might come under assault.”
“Myself and another group are coming to reinforce.”
“Understood, Captain. Sensors should be back up in a couple of minutes.”
That was great to hear, and my heart lifted as I rushed towards the bridge.
The ordeal was almost over at last; victory was within our grasp.