Deep

Chapter 86 Go, go, go.

There is a military adage, -Hurry up and wait.- that describes the period after your preparations are complete but before combat starts, and it is a bitch. The time slows to a crawl, and you spend it itching for something, anything to happen. I glanced at the clock in my visual for the nth time. It was still five minutes till the expected intrusion. 

I decide to oversee the operation from my office. I wanted to keep the mission as low profile as possible, but I am pretty sure everyone would notice something was up. 

For sure, I will have to make an official announcement after the mission is complete. I checked the time again, still four more minutes. Argh.

As the ship's commander, I had access to the digital personal feeds of the troops in the field. This was available as observational only. The operational control remained with the Major. To test, I brought up the feed Sergeant Romeros. I could basically see what the Sergeant saw. 

The Sergeant was talking to Corporal Iwona Motyl. She was tall and broad, with thighs that looked like she could kick-start a rocket. She was wearing light armour and carrying the new carbine. The tight spaces in the transport drone prevented the use of powered armour. 

I was not comfortable sending the marines in to fight an opponent with unknown capabilities in what was essentially riot gear. Unfortunately, I don't think the Major would have approved the use of armed automatons to do the job. I could have forced the issue, but I'm not the kind to second guess the decades of training the Major had.

T-minus three minutes. God, this thing is taking forever.

T-minus two minutes. I'm hungry again.

T-minus one minute. I think I might need to go to the head.

Zero... Nothing. Where is this thing?

T-plus one minute. This looks like it is going to be an abort.

T-plus one minute and thirty seconds... 

Lance Corporal Gupta's voice rang out across the comms. "Radiological contact at sensor MH3-11B." 

The Major's voice came across the channel. "Sergeant Romeros, your team is up." 

"Lock and load people. This just got real." Corporal Motyl primed her weapon.

"Radiological and sound contact at sensor MH3-11C." 

There was a loud hum from the Sergeant's feed as the drone moved forward to deliver the marines to the contact site. 

"Radiological and audio contact at sensor MH3-11D."

"We're in the zone, weapons free, go go go," said Sergeant Romeros.

The door of the drone transport opened, and the marines rushed out into the service corridor.