Supernova Blitz

Chapter 13: Salvage and Rescue

Grey chuckles, "Oo-rah." He hops down from the shuttle and spots Long inspecting several weapons. He realizes she hadn't grabbed one initially. The Chief approaches, handing her his alien blaster. "Bigger the better, today, Marine."

She takes it, admitting softly, "I'm... I'm scared, Chief. B-but, y-you can count on me!"

Grey nods. "We're all scared. Keep your sights down range and squeeze the trigger 'till they stop shooting back. Do that for me, and your twenty-first birthday is on me."

Long scoffs and nods, "Deal, Chief."

They jog behind the rest of the away teams as they file through the ship. The zero gravity is awkward, but their suits make it bearable at least.

The marines pack into each of the six airlocks, 20 at a time, to cycle through to the outside. Grey stays close to Long, just in case the twins missed something on her suit. It's a thin layer of material between a marine and a gruesome death.

Her suit holds, and she follows the rest of the team as they jog out to find positions to fire from.

Grey almost thinks he stepped into a laser light show. Bright colors streak by in every direction. Flashes cast eerie shadows all over the place. The only indication of war audibly is the rumbling of the Polonia's artillery cannons turning and firing, which quakes through Grey's boots.

The short wave radio open frequency is alive with marines calling out targets and directions, as well as screams of brothers and sisters falling in battle. But, just as quickly as Grodrrn shock troops are landing on the hull, marines are unloading on them. The transports and shuttles are the bigger threat as they swoop by, but the marines have prepared as much as possible for this day.

Rocket volleys race into the void, virtually trapping the shuttles and transports and detonating them. Captured Grodrrn blasters fire at them as well, chewing through the armor plating and keeping the dropships from easily unloading boarders.

But, the silence is so eerie. Grey is a seasoned soldier. He has seen combat from deserts to seas and every environment in between. During all of it, this much chaos would be pounding on his nerves directly via his eardrums. Instead, it's flashes, brief fireballs, and lasers.

Grey grabs Long's shoulder and taps his helmet's ear position. She nods, and they both switch to their boarding team's private channel. Tachibana is already calling out, "Brown, Moody! Focus on air contacts! Pazna, covering fire! Thing Three, look out for Thing Four! Fisher, Dumas; finish off anything Thing Four hits! Fredericks, alternate fire with Thing Four!"

They cheer, "OORAH!", continuing to fire seemingly in a full hemisphere around themselves. Grey says to Long, "Take position with Thing Three and do what she says. Otherwise, shoot at anything alien."

Long squeaks as loudly and confidently as her young fearful voice can muster, "Yes Chief!"

Tachibana reports as Grey joins her in firing into the flying craft, "Similar to ground assault, Chief! Basic drop and shock!"

"Good! I like predictable targets!"

She cheers in agreement, "Oorah, Chief!"

The minutes tick by slowly. The Polonia isn't giving up without a fight, even as cannons are whittled away, venting precious oxygen with every hit that punctures. Still, only two of the ships are actively approaching, and Grey notices something new. One of them has stopped firing. The paint scheme on it isn't as familiar as its partner battleship, but the damage to its pulse generator is.

Captain Long's voice breaks through static, calling out, "No one panic! Dr. Lopez just successfully accessed one of the hostile battleships; the mission zero one. Stand by!"