Michael Thomas - Siege of Titan

“Can you get back with one company?” asked the Captain.

“Yes, Sir, no problem,” replied Lieutenant Daniels.

The Captain thought about the plan but only for a few seconds, decisive action was needed.

“Okay, Lieutenant, make your way back and get the boats to the plaza.”

Daniels turned and ran outside, though he was a lower rank than would be expected, he was a commando junior officer and the marines instantly recognised him as such. It was just seconds before the company were moving away and back towards the landing craft.

“Ok, Spartan, the rest of us will split into three groups, I’ll take the two main groups directly to the habitation zone, it’s two, three minutes tops from here. I want you to take two squads plus the rest of your commandos and take the right sector. You’ll be entering through the ruined bar and then hit them from the side. Get in there hard and fast, we don’t have much time,” he said.

“They aren’t my men,” Spartan said as he prepared his gear.

“They are now, Spartan, I’m giving you a temporary field promotion to Sergeant, now get going!” he said with a grin.

“Sir!” shouted Spartan before turning to see a grinning Jesus staring at him.

The CCS Crusader approached almost point blank range of the damaged battleship Victorious. Both vessels were still moving ever closer to the Titan Naval Station and it was critical that the battleship was stopped, one way or the other. A boarding action between two such vessels had never been attempted but that wasn’t going to stop Admiral Jarvis. As the battlecruiser moved into position her guns were silent. Unknown to the crew of the Victorious she was charging up her weapons for one final, overpowered volley of fire. This meant she was exposed to four more volleys of fire before she was in position.

As the two massive ships approached to within two hundred metres, a final broadside from each ship crashed into both vessels. At this range the damage was horrendous and hole after hole appeared along the length of the battlecruiser. It still wasn’t enough though and the leviathan slid into position, her gun ports waiting to unleash their deadly new weapon. This time the Crusader made use of her double-charged railgun to fire the modified and lethal close range Sanlav round. It was the first test of the weapon and at this range the damage was nothing short of impressive. Like a giant shotgun the railguns blast a wide dispersal, that at such a short range tore chunks from the outer plating along the entire length of the battleship. With a massive cloud of debris blocking the view, the magnetic couplers powered up, drawing the vessels towards each other. In less than twenty seconds the two ships crunched together and like a privateer in the seventeenth century the Crusader jammed herself tightly against the enemy vessel. The only way the two ships would now be sprung apart was if both took their couplers offline and this was something that could be decided by the first ever capital ship boarding action.

In the Combat Information Centre Admiral Jarvis watched her screens as the Sanlav rounds did their work. Several of the weapon batteries were taken off-line by the brutal overloaded attack, but it had done its work. As well as tearing the great chunks out of the outer skin of the Victorious, the weapon had created a screen of dust, debris and plasma that gave her the cover she needed for her boarding action.

“All marine units, boarding action is a go, commence your assault. Good luck!” she exclaimed over the intercom.

From key points along the hull of the Crusader a dozen landing craft rushed out to transport their precious cargos of marines to the battleship. There were only three hundred marines and another two hundred volunteers from the crew in the attack but they were all targeting one point on the ship, the power core, the only target they could assault with any hope of slowing the warship.

Lieutenant Erdeniz kept his head down as the landing craft he was in dashed across the short distance between the two capital ships. He and the rest of the passengers all wore sealed suits, but the gear he wore was the bulky variant designed for extra vehicular activity when working on the ship. It was not the closer fitting personal protection suits of the marines. Most of the decks’ gunnery crews had been selected to provide assistance to the marines during the boarding action. It was the duty of all crew to practice basic hand-to-hand combat and marksmanship for such eventualities but he had never expected he would have to help in such a situation. Unlike the marines he was armed with a thermal shotgun, a powerful close ranged firearm but it was nothing as effective as the L48 rifles and carbines carried by the rest of the marines.

With a jarring impact the landing craft smashed through the damaged outer skin of the battleship and continued on until embedding itself fifteen metres inside the wrecked metal. Their objective was specifically chosen so they could insert the marines directly into the crew area of the ship. The front of the landing craft pushed though the sidewall of one of the service corridors. The onboard sensors indicated a partial pressurised area, but it was still failing and like most of the ship, lacked gravity.

The bow doors opened to reveal the damage and the marines were already out, each using their hands or their manoeuvring thrusters to push on inside. According to the schematics of the battleship they should be near the main engineering hub that connected to key parts of the ship.

It was hard work to fight through the debris as well as trying to manage the lack of gravity and the bulky suit. As he moved, he positioned himself over the corridor and then activated his grav boots. With a clunk, he found himself walking on the surface though it soon became clear he was upside down as he pushed forwards. About ten metres ahead the marines gathered around a sealed door. From the plans, it was one of the many sealed sections of the ship. One man was already running a bypass on it whilst the rest had their weapons at the ready. With a jarring sound, the door slid across to reveal the main access corridor that led to the engineering hub. As they made to move inside a series of bright streaks rushed past him. Lieutenant Erdeniz jumped to the sidewall as the projectiles blasted past. One of the marines took multiple rounds in the chest. The impact of the weapon’s fire propelled him backwards.

“Go, marines!” The sergeant shouted over his intercom.

The first group pushed ahead, each man firing his weapon as he went. It was a surreal sight as the violence of the battle compared with the silence of space. The lack of sound didn’t cut the noise of the shouting and orders that constantly blared through his intercom.

Spartan and his small group of marines and commandos had made good progress in working their way across the Station. So far, they had run into just three insurgents and each had been dealt with quickly and quietly. After the bloody work of landing at the Station, the commandos seemed almost relaxed as they worked their way through the ruins of the old bar. Being so close to the habitation zone, they had to be as quiet as they were able and that meant using close quarter weapons or silencers when possible. As they moved past the ruined wooden bar several men and a bloodied woman leapt from cover. They managed to drag one of the marines down to the ground and proceeded to stab at him repeatedly with a stiletto-like knife. Spartan waded in, slamming his heavy boot into the woman’s chest and sending her flying back against the side of the bar. One of the commandos grabbed the arm of the closest man and jammed his fighting knife into his collar. He then pulled the blade out and struck several more times before letting the body slide to the floor. The rest of the squad made quick work of the rest before pushing on to the far side of the bar. As they reached the back section they moved more slowly, each well aware that on the other side could be scores, even hundreds of people. They inched along until Teresa found a crack in the wall that gave him a large enough gap to look though. As he peered inside his helmet-mounted headset crackled.