Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (3 page)

The Corinari technician rapidly ascended the ladder through the shuttle’s topside hatch into the breaching box, the hatch closing behind him after he passed. As he peered through the small windows on either side of the breaching box’s main hatch, he could see the hull of the Loranoi passing by less than a meter away. A moment later, the shuttle’s maneuvering thrusters fired once more, and the shuttle came to a stop. Another small blast and it moved closer to the Loranoi, the apron of the breaching box bumping against the Loranoi’s hull.

The shuttle rocked slightly with the contact, despite the pilot’s best attempt to be gentle. The hydraulics hissed as the walls of the breaching box’s sealing apron adjusted their shape to conform to the minor variations of the enemy frigate’s outer hull. A few moments later, a green light came on next to the hatch. “Good seal,” the technician reported. “Opening the hatch.” The hatch split down the middle and slid to the sides, disappearing into the walls to reveal the outer surface of the Loranoi’s topside, midship EVA hatch. It was considerably smaller than the breaching box hatch, but more than adequate in size to allow them to pass through with ease.

The technician immediately attached an electronic device over the digital control pad for the Loranoi’s hatch. “Attempting to override hatch controls now.” The technician began furiously punching buttons, his brow furrowing as he concentrated on his task. If he failed to open the doors electronically, they would have to either cut them open or blast them open, both of which carried significant risks as well as delays which might allow the crew of the Loranoi to prepare for the assault. “The entire system is down,” he reported happily. “The control system doesn’t even have backup power.”

“Maybe they didn’t think it was necessary on an EVA hatch,”
Lieutenant Waddell’s voice commented over the suit comms.
“Or maybe they have a manual activation system inside.”

“Who cares,”
the technician stated.
“All I know is that this is going to be easy.”

“
Maybe the other hatches will be just as easy,
” Jessica wondered aloud.

“Doubtful,” the technician disagreed. “The aft hatch, maybe, since it is just a maintenance hatch. But team one is going through the main forward boarding hatch. That one is bound to have its own backup power, not to mention a much better encryption on the control system.”

“
Why is that?
” Jessica asked over the suit comms.

“That’s the hatch used when they’re in port or when ships dock with them,”
Lieutenant Waddell answered.

“That’s it,” the technician reported. “I’ve got control of both the inner and outer hatches here.”

“
Great,
” Waddell stated.
“Rig it so I can pop them both at the same time with a single button.”

“Already on it, sir,” the technician promised. A moment later, he was done and coming down out of the breaching box and back into the shuttle. Despite the fact that the breaching box was securely sealed to the hull of the Loranoi using extremely powerful electromagnets as well as negative pressure seals, until the box was hard-fastened to the enemy frigate’s hull, it could still dislodge.

As soon as the technician was down, the first two Corinari troops went up the ladder, followed by two more.

“Remember,”
the lieutenant reminded them,
“as soon as you cross the threshold, the direction of gravity will change and will be Takaran standard, so make sure your feet are oriented in the right direction.”

The lieutenant moved into the breach box, squeezing past his four men to get to the control panel next to the hatch. He looked back at his men to ensure they were all in position.
“Charge weapons. Safeties off,”
he ordered. A moment later, all four of his men had their weapons fully charged and ready, all aimed at the hatch that the lieutenant was about to open. If there were armed Ta’Akar troops on the other side of the hatch, they had little chance of surviving. Their only hope was to hug the walls of the breaching box and hope no one on the other side would have a clear shot.

“Opening the hatch,”
the lieutenant reported as he hit the button. The outer hatch moved slightly, dust from the numerous light years of space the frigate had traveled through breaking free of the hatch seals and falling to the floor. The outer hatch retracted away from them before sliding into the hull. A moment later, the inner hatch swung inward, giving them direct access into the ship. There were no shots fired from within the enemy ship, no signs of commotion.

Lieutenant Waddell peered in through the hatch. The space between the outer and inner hatches was nearly two meters, creating a tunnel they would have to traverse. There was a ladder leading through the tunnel into what appeared to be a small chamber. He took a carabiner from his belt, unclipped it, and tossed it gently forward through the Loranoi’s outer hatch. As soon as it crossed the hatch threshold, the Loranoi’s artificial gravity grabbed it and accelerated it toward the deck of the small chamber at what apparently was the bottom of the ladder.

“Down is that way,”
the lieutenant advised his men, pointing in the direction the carabiner had fallen.
“First two,”
he ordered waving them past.

The first man moved feet first through the tunnel, using the ladder as the frigate’s gravity pulled at him. Just before his feet were about to clear the tunnel and enter the chamber at the bottom, he paused, took his energy weapon in his right hand, and jumped free from the ladder, dropping the last three meters to the deck. Realizing he was facing the wrong way, he quickly spun to his right to face the inside airlock hatch. It, too, was locked.

“Hold,”
he told the second man who was waiting for the first man’s signal to descend.
“Hatch is locked, Lieutenant,”
the first man reported.

“No time to get fancy,”
Lieutenant Waddell said.
“Blow it.”

The first man let his snub-nosed assault energy rifle hang from his shoulder as he pulled a small canister from his thigh pouch and sprayed a foam-like substance along one side of the hatch. The substance quickly hardened into a firm paste, into which he inserted a small, flat, electronic device. He flipped the small switch on the device, turned, and quickly ascended the ladder until he was back inside the transfer tunnel between the inner and outer hatches. With his right hand, he pulled out another electronic device, a remote detonator, from his thigh pocket. He armed the device and called out over his suit comm,
“Set.”

“Do it,”
Lieutenant Waddell ordered.

“Fire in the hole,”
the first man announced.

From inside the shuttle, Jessica smiled. It seemed that some Earth expressions still managed to survive over a thousand light years of space and a millennium of time.

There was a small explosion in the distance. Jessica could feel a slight wave of air pressure as it translated through the transfer tube, the breaching box, and into the shuttle. It wasn’t much, but it was noticeable. She wondered if it were enough to shake the breach box loose from the hull of the Loranoi, but immediately dismissed the thought, knowing that if it were, the lieutenant would not have used it. It was undoubtedly some sort of specialized explosive compound that directed its explosive force in a predetermined direction. “Add that to the list,” she muttered to herself.

“
You’d better start writing them down,
” she heard the lieutenant say over the suit comm.

The first man dropped into the chamber once more, immediately advancing forward through the blown open inner airlock hatch to make room for the next man coming down the ladder behind him. He stepped through the hatch and moved to his left, dropping to one knee with his energy rifle held high against his shoulder. He scanned quickly back and forth, peering through the lingering haze left over from the explosion and finding no opposing forces.
“Clear,”
he reported.

The second man appeared through the blown inner hatch next, moving to his right and dropping to one knee in similar fashion. Both men remained alert and ready, their weapons in firing position, as the remaining eight Corinari troops made their way from the shuttle, through the breaching box, and into the enemy frigate. Jessica was the last one through, closing the hatches on either side of the breaching box so the next shuttle carrying teams five and six could dock with the box and make their way in to join them.
“
Breaching box is secure,
”
she reported over the comms to the flight crew of the shuttle.

“
Shuttle two-four moving off,
” the copilot’s voice reported.

Jessica quickly descended the ladder and made her way through the chamber at the bottom to join teams two and three. She double-tapped her visor to call up the tactical display and immediately noticed that, although team four appeared to have already entered through the aft maintenance hatch, team one no longer appeared on her display. “Where’d team one go?”

“They’re probably still trying to get through the hatch,”
Lieutenant Waddell told her.
“If they’re still outside the ship, we’ve got the hull between us and them.”

“Oh yeah,” Jessica remembered.

“
Shuttle two-two moving in,
” a voice reported over the suit comms.

“
Team one! Contact! Taking fire!
” another voice reported.

Jessica looked at the tactical display inside her visor. All five green dots representing team one were showing on the display again. She touched her faceplate with her thumb and forefinger and moved them apart to zoom in, sliding the map over as she did so. There were at least a dozen red dots just down the corridor from them, and team one appeared to be trapped in the entry airlock of the main forward boarding hatch. “Why was someone waiting for them and not for us?” she asked.

“Their internal sensors are probably down,”
Lieutenant Waddell surmised.
“Looks like they’re running on emergency battery power only, which means gravity, life support, and minimal lighting, nothing more. They didn’t know we were coming. They just surmised that the forward boarding hatch was a likely target.”

“They’re trapped,” Jessica warned. “They’ll get torn apart in seconds.”

“They know what to do,”
the lieutenant stated confidently.

“
Shuttle two-two docking,
” a voice reported.

“Team three, head aft,”
Lieutenant Waddell reported.
“Team two, forward.”

“
Lorentz is hit! He’s down!
” one of team one’s men reported, the sound of multiple energy weapons’ blasts sounding in the background.

Nathan winced at the report. Someone he had never even met was wounded, maybe even dying, because of an order he had given less than an hour ago.

“
How bad?
” the team leader’s voice asked.

“
I don’t know, but he’s in the open!
” More weapons fire was heard. “
Oh shit! They shot him again!
”

“
Can anyone see if they’re wearing full gear?
” another voice asked as the energy weapons fire continued to sound.

“
I can’t tell for sure,
” the first man answered. “
I don’t think so.
”

“
Everyone! Ear-busters! On three……two……one……NOW, NOW, NOW!
”

“What’s an ear buster?” Nathan asked.

“Sonic grenades,” Tug explained. “They send out a sudden burst of high frequency sound that disrupts the inner ear. It kills your hearing for several minutes and throws you off balance for ten to twenty seconds. If you’re close enough to it when it goes off, it can completely incapacitate you for nearly a minute.”

“Is that safe to use in such close quarters?” Cameron wondered.

“Normally, no, as the metal corridors tend to create acoustic bounce-back which intensifies the effect. But our men are fully suited, so the effects will be minimal if anything. However, if the enemy is not suited, the effect will be quite severe for them.”

There were several seconds of silence as they waited to hear the results.

“
Wilkie! Go right! We’re going left!
” the team one leader ordered.

“
Going right!
” Wilkie responded, the sound of his weapon firing nearly drowning his voice out.

Ten more seconds passed without a word. Nathan literally held his breath as he waited. He knew that, right now, those men were running out into the open corridor, hoping to get the drop on what they expected were disoriented and ineffective opposing forces. But they were outnumbered three to one, and at least half of those enemy numbers were farther down the corridor and might not have been affected by the sonic grenades. If that were the case, those three men would be killed.

“
I tossed another sonic farther down the corridor! Take co…
” Before the man could finish his sentence, the radio transmission was overwhelmed with a blast of static as a result of the sonic grenade.

“Christ,” Nathan mumbled. Another fifteen seconds went by with no communication at all from team one. They could hear the other teams reporting their advance without resistance. Team three had encountered several men, all of which immediately gave up without resistance. As expected, only the Loranoi’s designated security forces were armed, all of which were probably Takaran citizens. That would make their job much easier.