Incursion Vector

027

[▲] Unidentified vessel, Caminha Waypoint

Barely aware the entire ship was shuddering from the blast, Keiji felt his stomach contract as he saw the heartrate readouts of Nim, Karda and Damien flicker and then switch to flat yellow lines as all contact with their suit VTIs was lost. For a moment the room around him dulled and he was back in his cockpit again, escorting Watson and Loophole back to the Heinlein's hangar bay as he heard Seig's last words over the comex.

Thrusters aren't firing! Readouts say green... shit.

“Tanuki, Overload, secure the LZ!” barked Valkyrie. “Prepare to fall back! Lawman what's your call?”

“Red Spider to Lawman, just saw a massive heat spike on the deck below you. It's coming back as near-match for incursion IEDs.”

“Errant Lead to Methuselah, that ship just bowed at the middle. What the fuck is going on in there?”

Keiji took a deep, measured breath. Their VTIs were just offline; it wasn't a sure sign that any of them were dead. He ordered the list of things he had to do in his head and began checking things off one by one. “Methuselah Lead to Errant Lead, I need a visual assessment of the ship's hull, ventral side. Red Spider, Valkyrie and I need a triangulated scan of any bio heat coming from the site of that explosion. Riptide called Dropkick so their pings will be no good.” Another slow breath to still his churning stomach. “Flight Methuselah, fall back to loading zone. Secure the bridge side corridor while Tantalus locks down the route to deck two. Move out.”

“What about the crazies?” asked Vic, pointing at the wailing women who were still prostrating themselves in front of Leo.

“Leave them,” ordered Keiji. “Priority is to secure the LZ until we hear back from Red Spider on lifesigns.”

“And if they're dead?”

“We head back to base.”

Vic looked as though he was about to start shouting in protest until he caught sight of the frigid stare Leo was giving him from across the bridge. He pulled his rifle off safety and followed behind Kilo without a word. Leo dogged his steps while Valkyrie hung back and made sure her remaining people got off the bridge safely and the prisoners weren't attempting to follow any of them out.

“Lawman, Valkyrie on private com.” She glanced at him from the corners of her eyes and he could see the quite fury seething behind her helmet. “If every one of those voids was a vat of that IED shit there's more of it down there. Decent chance they made it with Riptide calling Dropkick that fast but there's no way we're popping the bulkhead to get them out. We'd have to space the evidence to avoid blowing up the ship.”

“I'm more worried about what Tiaha's doing now that this thing nearly exploded,” said Keiji as he forced himself not to think of having to recover the bodies of more people he had been responsible for. “No way in hell they can ignore us after that.”

“All the more reason for us to pull back and let the brass decide when we come back in force. Those three Alkonst as their spine negate Minuteman's firepower at this range. Our only advantage now is Heinlein, and she's already gimped sitting at quarter fighter loadout while dead center of the damn flotilla.”

Shalimov's voice disrupted their conversation. “Lawman this is Shanks. We're seeing atmo venting from emergency ports but no debris. Doesn't look like the explosion breached the outer hull but someone popped the cork on all the air below you. Reading halon in the mix too, for what it's worth.”

“Shanks, Lawman. What's Tiaha doing?”

“Getting antsy,” replied Shalimov. “You've got every working gun on every strike carrier and battleship pointed at you, Lawman. In another minute or so you're going to have every working corvette the flotilla has standing between you and Home Base. Last are undocking from the Shamal as we speak.”