Overrun: Project Hideaway (27 page)

The holovid view raised to show
RadCom sitting with his back against the wall. Then it turned and pressed
against the chest of the soldier strapping the transmitter onto RadCom’s
shoulder gear.

When he moved away, the captain
could again see the flames scattered across the far end of the boarding tube
towards the Hideaway.

"We can't get any
transmitters set up in there," the holovid image rose as RadCom stood up.
"You're going to have to settle for this. See if you can spot their
positions while we put some fire on ‘em to push ‘em back."

"Copy that," the
captain acknowledged softly. "Throw in concussion grenades. Then flame.
Then artillery fire. That should push them back out of the bay. You’re going to
need access to the controls of the ship right quick regardless of loss of
life.”

"Copy," RadCom said.
The image bobbed up and down as he sprinted back down the corridor.

The sound of running feet, the
approaching sound of gunfire, and RadCom’s own haggard breathing came from the
speaker.

The captain held his breath
while he watched RadCom and the men behind him head back across the tube.

They had almost reached the two
members of RadCom’s team still holding positions at the bay door and returning
fire back into the Hideaway, when the holovid image dipped abruptly towards the
deck. A loud series of explosions quickly followed. The captain’s holovid
screen again became suddenly dark.

"RadCom!" the captain
screamed over a sudden burst of multiple weapons being fired. A man shrieked in
pain inside the boarding tube.

"Son of a bitch!"
RadCom screamed over the sound of metal being shredded around him.

"RadCom!" the captain
yelled furiously at the dark screen. "RadCom!"

"Transmitter two!” RadCom
yelled over the din. “We got another one up. Go transmitter two!”

The captain pressed hurriedly at
the controls in front of him until an image appeared again on the holovid. This
time he was able to see RadCom with the remnants of the obliterated holovid
transmitter strapped to his arm.

The image was tilted and
slightly garbled from the device being knocked over on its side. But it was
enough to show the captain what kind of danger his crew was now in.

"We're tossing the grenades
now!" RadCom screamed.

The captain watched him reach
into the shoulder pack of a soldier in front of him. Two other men crouched
with RadCom behind the crumbled wall just inside the landing bay.

Pinned completely down by the
heavy fire, RadCom pulled the small metallic devices from the soldier's pack.
He crouched back to the ground next to the holovid transmitter. He was so close
his face filled the entire screen.

When the firing coming from the
bay lessened a bit, the two men next to him leapt up and returned a barrage of
weapons fire from their own assault rifles. Small bits of smoke and flame burst
from their weapons’ tips.

The fires along the floor and
near the end of the boarding tube were growing quickly in size. They surrounded
where RadCom and his men pressed down along the ground threatening to overtake
them at any second.

"They're going!” the
captain heard one of the men scream at RadCom. “They’re heading back deeper
into the ship!”

"Keep firing!” RadCom
yelled back. “Maintain that cover fire while I get these ready!"

RadCom scurried to the edge of
the wall. Behind him, the captain could see the figure of another man lying
still across the floor. His weapon was on the ground next to him near the front
of his head. Its barrel was pointed toward RadCom and his two men.

Bright lights lit across the
objects in RadCom's hands. He tossed two to the man next to him who then
dropped his weapon and pressed his back against the wall.

"Seal off the tube before
you use those!" the captain screamed.

RadCom moved to the wall nearest
him. Without standing, he reached up and activated a set of controls near the
entrance. A second mammoth door, one not damaged when they accessed the ship,
slammed down behind them sealing them off from the frigate.

"Boarding tube secure over
here," the captain heard someone yell.

He watched RadCom pull one of
the men close and whisper something into his ear. At that moment, the firing
had again stopped. Another of RadCom’s team crouched down next to him. His
hands were clasped tightly about his rifle trigger.

The three men pressed their
backs against what was left of the wall behind them. Smoke from the fired
weaponry hung lazily over all their heads.

There they waited. No sound came
from further within the bay. Silence rang through the battered air interrupted
only by the soft licking of the flames scattered about the floor.

And then the captain saw RadCom
nod.

The soldier holding the assault
rifle jumped to a crouched position across the top of the war-battered wall and
began to fire. RadCom and the other soldier stood to their full heights next to
him and hurled the concussion grenades deep into the Hideaway corridors.

The haze cleared enough in front
of the holovid transmitter that the captain thought he saw a pair of shoulders
and feet turn and flee into the corridors leading from the landing bay. The six
concussion grenades bounced along the ground just behind.

The last thing the captain saw
across the screen was RadCom and his men dropping back beneath the destroyed
wall structure and covering their heads with their arms.

The image on the holovid screen
disappeared again. The sound of the grenade explosions reverberated throughout
the explorer ship causing its entire structure to shake.

After the initial effects of the
blasts had settled, silence followed again. The captain flicked the button on
his intercom. No sound came from the speaker.

RadCom?"

For a moment there was no
answer.

"RadCom?"

"Captain, we're moving to
access the rest of the ship," RadCom's voice finally spoke quietly over
the communications link. It was accompanied by the sounds of his men coughing
near his transmitter.

"Roger that," the
captain replied and sat back in his chair. With a deep breath he rubbed his
sweaty hands through his hair.

* * *

The captain sat like that for
more than an hour allowing the shock of the sudden battle work its way through
his head. An alarm on one of his consoles finally ripped him back from his
thoughts to the frigate’s empty command chamber. He reached over and hit the
intercom switch, this time making contact with people onboard his own ship.

"Captain," a tired
voice came through. "Swanson died before we could get him to the med
ward."

"Thank you," the
captain said. "Don't leave the station. Get it ready. There'll be more on
the way."

"Yes, sir."

And with that, the captain
flipped the intercom back off.

He sat back in his seat and
stared ahead to the front of the room.

He didn't care if he had to
pilot the Hideaway with the bloody severed hands of the pilots himself. Now
more than ever, even before the onset of war, the days had become increasingly
excruciating and unbearably long. He didn’t know if it was vengeance, hatred,
or despair that guided his movements now. Or an undeniable uncontrollable fear.
Fear of what it was he helped cause.

Whatever it was, he tried to
push it back. He stood from his seat in the empty command room and went to
assist what was left of his crew.

The empty image across the
holovid screen buzzed softly at his back.

"Get back to the
Defenders!" Parker screamed over his shoulder at Barnes. Barnes huddled
against a wall across the corridor from him.

They had gone about fifty feet
from the landing bay further back into the Hideaway. Parker pressed his body up
against the pieces of wall that jutted from the side of the passage. He stopped
firing his weapon momentarily. His eyes darted about the darkness looking for
his copilot who stood against the walls on the other side of the corridor.
Small weapons fire ripped at their feet and the metal they hid behind.

Barnes' assault rifle dangled
loosely from his arms. Its long barrel hung exposed from the side of the wall.
A stray bullet caught it near its tip and ripped it from his hands. It flew
down the corridor out of his reach.

Barnes didn’t move. He pressed
his back further against the wall he cowered behind. His eyes centered on
Parker who again raised his weapon and returned fire at the men trying to
access their ship.

"Barnes, don't do this to
me!" Parker bellowed over the firing of his weapon.

"Barnes! Goddamn it!
Barnes!" Parker screamed not relaxing his grip on his trigger.
"Barnes can you hear me?!"

Parker's rifle clicked empty. He
stepped back from where he stood partially exposed in the corridor and threw
his back against the wall. The air became alive with small rounds piercing the
air where he stood as the boarders returned fire.

Parker gritted his teeth and
waited for it to subside.

He could somewhat see Barnes
through the sparks and flying metal as the cannon fire shredded the corridor
around them.

The boarding crew had caught
them by surprise.

Parker had shot one man dead the
minute they breached the Hideaway's landing bay and pierced both kneecaps of
another with automatic weapons fire. This second one moved slowly trying to
pull himself from where he laid exposed across the floor. The others had ducked
back into the boarding tube.

"Barnes! Goddamn it! Can
you hear me?!" Parker shrieked.

The firing lessened again.

This time Barnes was able to
react. A light seemed to turn faintly back on in his eyes. He reached behind
his back and slowly pulled out another weapon. With a blank deliberate
precision, he readied rounds in its chamber.

"Barnes, get back to the
Defenders!" Parker screamed. "We’re going to need to go after them
from the outside."

Parker extended his arm from
behind the protection of the wall and fired three more prolonged blasts from
his assault rifle. The hundreds of metal slugs it discharged ripped into a wall
over the crouched figures of three of the attackers near the tube. Their heads
disappeared as they ducked away for cover. The wall obliterated in a flurry of
shrapnel and debris.

Parker's weapon clicked empty,
and he threw it on the ground in front of him. He reached back and snatched at
the next one strapped across his back. With a quick pump action and a flick of
the safety switch, he readied it to fire. Before the men had a chance to pull
themselves from the destroyed wall, he drenched their positions again with
cannon fire and kept them pressed to the ground.

Parker pulled his rifle into his
chest and backed up against the wall. For the moment, the ship was silent. The
firing had stopped from both sides of the bay. Parker used the time to empty
his spent rounds onto the floor and jam ammunition from his pocket into its
vacant chambers.

"Check your weapon,"
Parker spoke calmly across the corridor to Barnes.

There was still no movement from
the other end of the shredded Hideaway landing bay. He could hear a voice
rattling off status reports back to their ship and whispers from the men hiding
behind the damaged walls near the bay doors.

"Load everything. Ready
everything you’ve got left."

Barnes nodded in his direction
but didn’t speak. He was completely overwhelmed by his fear. His skin was a
deathlike white, and his movements were slow and robotic. His hands shook as he
clicked open the ammunition chamber of his assault rifle.

He stretched his body out to
peer around the wall he hid behind. He reached his hand into his pocket and,
after fumbling awkwardly through the fabric, pulled out two ammunition
cartridges. With a dull expression on his face and exaggerated sluggish
movement in his arms, he pushed them carefully into the empty chamber.

"I want you to get back to
the ships," Parker said to him again. Barnes pressed his back up against
the wall and raised his weapon. "I already charged power through both of
them before I left the control center. They should be ready and online. At
least very close."

Barnes didn’t move. His back
seemed glued to the wall behind him like it was the only thing that kept him on
his feet.

"Barnes, do you understand
me?" Parker whispered through the smoky din.

Barnes nodded slowly. The end of
his weapon shifted up and down with the movement of his head. His eyes jutted
from their sockets like they were about to explode from the back of his skull.
Sweat trickled down his face and across his lips. His hands left sweat spots
across his weapon when he shifted his grip.

Thirty seconds had passed since
the firing had ceased. Parker could still hear the hushed voices of the men
receiving instructions from their ship.

Parker looked down the corridor
they had just fled. He could see the tops of their heads moving behind the
metal structures and obliterated walls. The wounded man was still sprawled
across his chest beyond their reach. His body was still.

"Bring full power from the
ship reserves and flood it through both of the defense crafts. Bring the
computers online and fully power up the weapons systems.

“Barnes, I need you to do this
for me."

Barnes nodded again. His grip
was noticeably tighter across his rifle. The expression on his face seemed to
shift back and forth between sheer panic and quiet determination. However, the
wild look in his eyes never lessened in intensity.

"You ready?"

"I'm ready," Barnes
said and took a breath.

"Good, cause here we go,"
Parker said softly.

Parker nudged his rifle out
around the corner and aimed carefully at the top of the structure the men hid
behind. Their heads were no longer visible. Nothing moved in the room. Only
flames licked about the room.

"Go, Barnes," Parker
hissed.

Barnes jumped at the sound of
his name and darted from where he stood. He moved away from the wall and backed
down the corridor towards the next structure that offered cover.

The silence of the room was torn
again by artillery fire when his body was fully exposed.

The abutment he originally hid
behind exploded into a cloud of debris. Barnes dropped to the floor and let out
an ear-piercing shriek.

Parker pulled hard on his trigger
sending the heads and weapons that had suddenly appeared back down to the
floor.

With frightened screams still
coming from his lips, Barnes positioned himself on his stomach and fired
several continued bursts. The passage wall he had hidden behind disintegrated
in a flurry of destroyed metal that fell across his back. Flying shreds of
steel ripped blood from his skin while smoke from his weapon bit into his eyes.

With one hand still firing his
own weapon, Parker reached down to pull at a chunk of debris that landed across
Barnes' back. It pressed him to the floor and kept him from being able to stand
up. Large weapons bursts tore over his head and along his sides ripping large
chunks of metal from the wall.

It was becoming despairingly
clear the fire and manpower of those trying to overtake their ship far
outmatched their own.

Parker stepped back and tripped
over Barnes' body. He fell to the deck next to him. Still on the ground firing
his weapon, Barnes did his best to keep their attackers pushed back in the
distance while Parker scrambled to flip over after landing on his back.

Hauling himself on his hands and
knees through a hail of debris, Parker crawled around a corner into the next
passage. Still low across the ground, he reached back around the corner towards
Barnes and tugged at his feet. Raising his head and arms slightly higher, he
pulled at the metal and concrete holding him to the deck.

Barnes' weapon continued to roar
ahead while Parker struggled to pull him free.

Finally with a loud grunt,
Parker yanked his copilot loose and dragged him on his chest across the
passageway back into the protection of the next corridor.

Barnes still continued to fire.

When he had finally pulled him
free, Parker dove for cover to the corridor that led to the right while Barnes
scampered to the left. A flurry of shots destroyed the area between them.

A stray bullet ripped across
Parker's right arm tearing his uniform and bringing blood from his skin.

Parker grabbed at the wound and
sank to his feet. He pressed his back against the corridor wall and covered his
head against the new bombardment of attack fire from the landing bay.

Barnes scurried to stand on the
other side of the passage. He grabbed Parker's weapon from the floor and tossed
it across the corridor being shredded by cannon fire.

Parker's long fingers snatched
it from the air as he rose to his feet. He swung his shoulder around the corner
and fired.

Their attackers had not yet
followed them into the passageways. Rifle flashes still came from deep within
the landing bay. The injured man at its center remained sprawled across the
deck. No one had yet been able to get close enough to pull his body back.

Even from as far back as he
stood, Parker could tell the man was already dead.

"Go!" Parker screamed.

Parker swung his body out and
fired again. From the other side of the exploding corridor, Barnes stepped out
with his rifle firing from his hip. Diving towards Parker across the center of
the passage, his weapons blasts made the men in the landing bay pull in their
weapons and duck further back.

The area around the boarding
door disintegrated from his fire.

On the other side of the
passageway, Barnes stood up and dropped his weapon. A thin wisp of smoke curled
up from its tip through the fog left by the falling debris.

Parker pulled himself back
tightly in against the corridor wall when Barnes was safely across.

Barnes did not stop and ran down
the corridor towards the access portholes to the Defender ships. Parker turned
his head and watched him go while he pulled another weapon from across his
shoulder.

A short round of blasts tore
down the passageway and ripped into the wall next to him. Parker pressed back
in again against the wall and lost sight of Barnes as he disappeared around a
corner and fled towards the defense craft access area.

The firing stopped again.

Parker swung his body out and
raised his weapon. It was then he saw two figures down the corridor quickly
stand. Both cocked their arms far back behind their bodies and hurled two
metallic objects down the passage.

Parker did not fire. He watched
the objects sail through the air and clank when they hit the deck. They bounced
toward him along the metal grates of the floor.

He didn’t wait for them to stop.

He dropped his rifle and tore
after Barnes down the corridor. He heard the objects make two more metallic
clanks behind him.

Channeling every ounce of energy
left in his body to his legs, Parker leapt through the air away from what
rolled after him down the corridor. But it was already too late. The concussion
grenades had rolled too far.

The passage leading from the
landing bay erupted into a mammoth surge of fire and smoke. Violent heat pushed
at his legs and elevated him from the disintegrating floor. His body slammed
into a wall at the end of the corridor. A portion of the left wall
disintegrated and poured down around him.

Parker clawed at his ears with
his hands trying to ease the pain coursing through his brain from the sound of
the blast. For a moment, nothing registered across his tortured eardrums. The
only sense he had was half-obscured sight. He lifted his head from the exploded
floor covering him and fought to bring everything back into view.

He stood groggily and ran after
Barnes towards the entrance ports of the Defender ships. He ripped the last
rifle from the straps across his back.

Half running, half dragging his
tortured body, Parker made his way down to where bright lights flashed at the
end of the passageway. His shoulder and shirt stained a deep red, he leaned
against the wall and punched at a keypad protruding from the side of the
passage.

"Defense craft access
approved," an electronic voice muttered calmly.

Parker could barely hear it
through the excruciating pain coursing through his skull. He stood before the
doorway that appeared from behind a sliding panel. With his uninjured shoulder,
he leaned against the access switch. The door opened silently into an area
filled with clean air untainted by the landing bay battle.

Parker stepped wearily inside.
The sliding door immediately shut and sealed behind him. He moved toward the
crawlspace leading to the ships. Using the small step at its base to ease his
frame into the entrance, Parker crawled on his stomach into the snakelike passageway
leading into the wall.

On his hands and knees, he
crawled the ten meters of metal leading away from the side of the Hideaway to
the rungs of a descending ladder. Ignoring the pain of his body, he swung his
legs down into the docking tube.

Making short time of the
distance down the ladder, he dropped hurriedly into his personal defense ship
jutting from the docking tube into the dark reaches of space.