25. OP URANUS
The warning klaxons went off inside Tellus station as soon as the incoming bursts of exotic particles disgorged their deadly cargo. The two vultures on duty attacked immediately to buy time for the larger strike force to launch. No match for the six Prometheus's and six SVGs, they nevertheless allowed the first three Valkyries to launch along with a group of five Seeker missile bots.
As per her orders, Cat let the Prometheus's engage the Valkyries and dove straight towards the station exits with her wingman to keep the next set of fighters from launching. The heavy Itani and Serco fighters engaged and seemed rather well matched until the second wave of Serco fighters arrived with another set of squads. The outgunned Itani tried to draw the Prometheus's away from the station but only lured the initial six after them. The other six of squad two engaged the Seeker missiles and destroyed them with only a single loss on the Serco side.
Cat kept above the dorsal launch bay with her wingman to the side. Another Valkyrie launched slowly through the force field that kept the air inside the station and Cat fired her twin neutron guns directly into the top of the fighter, hitting with every shot. Her wingman did the same to the side of the fighter and when it finally exited and engaged the turbo, it was down to 5% armour. A stream of neutrons covered the distance from Cat's guns and to the remaining armour in no time at all and exploded the Valkyrie around 200 metres from the station. Several red dots on her radar told her that the others from her squad were as successful as her team had been. The second wave of Itani fighters tried to escape to open space with the same result as the first set. Cat counted the Itani losses and came up clean. The forces they had been informed would be here for protection had been killed except for the Valkyries that were having a running and losing battle with the six Prometheus's. The signal for all clear was given and ten seconds later another group of circular expanding ripples in space paved the way for the assault Atlas's that came in towards the station on full power.
It was going to be a cakewalk.
###
William started running as soon as the klaxons went off, moving at top speed towards his Valkyrie Vengeance heavy space superiority fighter knowing that the strike force on duty was launching while he ran. The launch bay was a mess when he arrived with seven out of nine berths showing red light above their empty cradles, meaning that the fighter was destroyed, and two showing amber meaning they were running on 30% operational capabilities. He bolted directly to his fighter and jumped into the seat expecting a go for launch immediately. When it didn't arrive he opened a link to command.
"Tellus command this is Banzai 01 ready for launch. Confirm clearance."
"Tellus command, Negative, no clearance Banzai 01. Stay put, acknowledge."
"Banzai copies, Wilco. Status on strike force?"
"Presumed destroyed. Stand by for new orders Banzai 01."
"Banzai ready, send."
William started to become concerned about the situation. If the Serco aggressors were audacious enough to attack a fully equipped military research station three jumps into Itani space, they had to be after something specific. And that would mean that they probably had a very good plan that took into consideration that he Itani defenders had to launch through one of the three gates. The natural choke points of the station so to speak. He started wondering what he would do if he would attack a space station and tried to come up with countermeasures. He saw several of his Banzai squadron pilots that were off duty, including Janice come running and watched her jump into her own Valkyrie. He immediately opened a private channel to her fighter.
"Baby, you can't launch remember?"
"The station is threatened, what do you want me to do? Bleat like a sheep while the Serco slaughter us? You should know better."
William grinned fiercely inside his helmet at the harsh rebuke. That was the Janice he loved and was going to ask to marry him in two weeks time when he made Flight Lieutenant.
"You just be careful my love, I don't want to have either you or the little one getting hurt do you hear?"
"Yeah, I know. Me neither love. What is happening?"
"I am waiting for orders right now but am in reality thinking options. All options. See what you can dream up beneath those pretty curls of yours that does not involve the launch bays."
"Wilco."
She terminated the link and left William to his own thoughts.
###
At some point, Brix had no point how long time had passed, the outer hatch opened and the air left the compartment with a mighty roar that silenced as quickly as the air exited. The awakening was very uncomfortable indeed as Brix was torn outside bumping into the door on the way out. Two persons in heavy armoured space suits were waiting outside and grabbed Brix like a bag of potato's before unceremoniously dragging him over to a battered and ion-storm corrosion-damaged Centaur Mk I. Once inside the hold of the cargo ship they stripped him of his helmet and placed him on the floor between them, keeping their own helmets on. He looked at the chrome surface of the helmets, trying in vain to see the persons inside. A loudspeaker crackled from somewhere unseen.
"Mr Brix. In a minute we will put a standard Serco mem-corder on your head. If you haven't tried it before I must warn you that it will be rather unpleasant. The process takes ten minutes and after that we can restore you into a clone or any other body as we see fit. When you have been mem-corded you will be briefed and sent on your way. Do you have any questions?"
"Yeah, why me?"
"Because you have a very good reputation among the Serco, as a matter of fact you are known as a Serco Pillar of Society. And that makes you perfect for our mission. Anything else Mr Brix?"
"Nah, just get it over with."
"Very well, the guards will show you where the device is and assist you in donning it. Then you will be on your own until the process is over. Godspeed Mr Brix."
Brix frowned, how bad could this be? After all he had escaped from the Xang Xi prison asteroid and that was right now all that mattered.
###
The assault Atlas hammered into the station impacting on where one of the access hatches ended in an airlock and melted the front of the Atlas into the station surface with a special coating of nano bots that bonded the ship directly to the bulkhead. The massive EVA marines inside the Atlas unfastened their restraining harnesses and hefted their weapons ready for the automated systems to breach the station's outer walls. A metallic clunk and the air inside the Atlas thinned immediately by around 15 percent, the difference from Sol II standard and Eo standard; the station was breached. The first two marines charged into the station to clear the corridor. A set of Itani that were surprised enough about the massive noises from the airlock to linger and investigate were cut in half by the marines' heavy needle gun before they realised that the station was invaded. The squad leader Lieutenant Kelb Prinowalsky watched the remaining four privates and the sergeant move out into the corridor and secure the perimeter. Prinowalski moved out as well and noted the slightly whiter light than on a Serco station, just as had been briefed.
"Sergeant Plimscoe, move out. We are on a tight schedule here."
The sergeant nodded and gave a hand signal to the point man who started to move quickly down the corridor towards their assigned target, the nerve centre of the station, the station traffic command, STC. The point men peeked around the corner with a small camera and stopped.
"Three Itani in combat armour with what looks like crowd control blasters. Permission to engage?"
"Jeez Tranklar, do I have to tell you everything? All Tanis are hostile. Take 'em out."
The sergeant shook his head in amazement over his marines before he remembered that it was their first live mission. The point marine jumped out into the corridor and fired his needle gun while his buddy peeked out at ground level with his 4,7 mm gauss rifle. The twin pre-fragmented depleted uranium slivers from the gauss rifle smashed through the air at mach 9 with a massive crack towards the Itani, impacting on his chest armour and ripping directly through as if nothing had been in their way, taking quite a lot of the Itani along on the other side. The other Itani's were peppered with tiny darts that impacted and stuck in their armour with no effect. They both retaliated with shots from their blasters that hit the Serco equally impotently. A new crack announced another set of hyper accelerated slivers that killed another Itani soldier. The remaining Itani turned to run away but was caught with a set of slivers between the shoulder blades.
"Clear."
"Move out. Double speed now."
The Serco marines started running towards their target to keep the Itani security forces in disarray. The lead Serco turned a corner and was hit by a fusillade of gyrocks, their characteristics Boom-swoosh-Crack-fwump-Gung's spelling the doom for the marine as they ripped him apart. The other marines stopped immediately and brought their weapons to secure the corridor with the second man shouting back.
"Gyrocks"
"Roger. Trank is showing life-status negative, Plimscoe verify when we pass. Heavy weapons team to the front."
"Wilco Sir. Dada and Lumpskin get that mark seven up here."
Plimscoe tossed a spider into the corridor while the heavy weapons team moved up to the corner with their heavy plasma canon and readied it for firing. The spider was basically a small multi-spectral camera on eight legs that was designed to be able to crawl on any surface and relay the data to the tactical squad command net. The spider showed four heavily armoured Itani security soldiers behind some sort of silvery protection screens. Probably moveable xith screens with shock absorbers to take the deadly javelins from the gauss weapons that was the Serco standard. Prinowalsky nodded, a very good tactics that would cost his squad a lot of casualties if they had to assault it frontally. Unless the Serco had a Fusigon mark seven that is. Designed for fighter combat, the plasma canon was basically a downscaled version of the same weapon that could be equipped into a heavy weapons slot on a fighter but with a single shot in its battery. Weighing in at 250 kilo for the weapon and 190 for the battery, it was the only weapon that needed two Serco to operate. The two heavy weapons soldiers sent a ready signal and Prinowalsky gave the go. The helper hefted the gun on the tripod and moved it sideways into the corridor with the gunner holding him and the bulk of the gun behind the corner. As soon as the gun cleared corner the gunner fired the Fusigon and created conditions otherwise only found in the insides of a star among the Itani soldiers, vaporising the lot along with their shield, the bulkheads to the sides and the door behind. The back-blast melted the tiny spider and left the Serco blind again. The point man peeked out into the corridor.
"Clear."
"Move out and take the target. Leave the mark seven here."
The Serco moved out into the corridor and crushed the glassy remains under foot as they advanced, encountering no further resistance. The STC was full of smoke and the nine Itani inside were too shocked to resist the marines. Double taps to the head ensured that they would make no resistance at any time and Prinowalsky moved into the STC. He pointed to the large grey box to one side and watched as two gauss equipped marines reduced the station mainframe to so much scrap. Prinowalsky opened the higher command net and sent a message.
"Mission complete. Going for secondary objective."
So far the mission had been a huge success and with the destruction of the STC they had just ensured that the Itani could make no co-ordinated opposition. Time for the real mission.
