Jonathan A Countyman
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Interlude Boarding Party
🕑 Added 2025-12-27 17:55:51 +0000 UTCThe young woman did a final gear check, while she waited for the plasma cutter to finish cutting through the hull. She was part of the boarding party, which meant full combat gear. She was encased in a suit of Centurion-S armor, on her belt were a dozen grenades and her side arm, an LP-1230. It was a solid if rather light weapon, but it did have a stun setting which made it versatile. She’d use it if a chance for prisoners came up.
In addition to the grenades and the pistol, she also had a plasma cutter and two breaching charges on her utility belt, along with a couple of spare powerpacks. Everything there checked out, so she did one last check of her rifle.
Like many marines, she was carrying the XR-471. It was a very popular particle rifle, and had been in service for decades, for good reason. It was modular, easily updated and outfitted with whatever tactical modules you happened to need. She’d fitted hers with a holographic ‘x-ray’ sight but had elected not to use any of the other modules available. The sight would let her peer through walls and see opponents coming.
Her hud and rifle displays were in agreement. The rifle was fully charged, in the past the XR-471 would only have about 240 shots per powerpack, but the more modern energy cells the fleet were using these days had better energy density, she now had 370 bolts per power pack. Far more than she figured she would need, it only took one well placed shot to take someone out.
A sudden clang reverberated through the hull, “We’re through! Go, go!”
Taking the signal, she moved to go through the hatch, two other marines dropping down before her. A green bolt whizzed by her face, and she turned, firing a shot center mass before the foe had even fully registered in her mind. It was big, easily two meters tall with thick bulging muscles and encased in solid laminated armor.
Her shot hit the burly armored humanoid square in the chest. The energy tore through the alien armor and exploded, sending bits of molten alloy and charred carbon everywhere. The body, largely intact, slumped to the ground.
Checking her corners, she noted a couple more corpses as the team secured the area. Information was important, so she approached the nearest dead alien and ran her scanner over the body. Armor was a lightweight laminated polycarbonate alloy with a nanoweave underlayer. While the alien was male, generally humanoid, with very high bone density and thick musculature.
This one had no head, so she was able to get a good look at his organs. Four lungs, two hearts, primary and secondary liver, along with a number of cybernetic implants. She had a feeling he would be quite resistant to toxins and would put most athletes to shame, human or alien.
Frowning, she checked the other corpses, and had the computer do an analysis. After a moment she told the squad, “Computer thinks these aliens are genetically engineered super specimens. Very fast, very strong, resistant to most toxins and bioweapons.”
“Alien supersoldier project? Wonderful,” replied the squad leader in a rather sarcastic tone.
She agreed with that, and pulled the helmet of an alien off. Taking a moment to take in the alien face. His face was shaped like that of a gorilla, there was some fur on either side of his chin, the top of his head marked by thick ridges. His skin was a dark green and his deep-set eyes were a menacing shade of red, “Well if they are genetically engineered I’ll give them credit,they got intimidating down.”
“Agreed,” commented another Marine, “I wouldn’t want to face one in a dark room.”
“Stop the chatter,” said the leader, “You two stay here and hold the fort, I’m taking the bridge. Lieutenant Crusher? I want your section to take the engine room.”
She replied quickly, “Got it!”
Taking a few others, she advanced from their breach point towards the aft of the ship. The orders were only logical. When it came to seizing control of a ship, the two most vital targets were the main command center and the engine room, even on the Enterprise that held true, even if it did have multiple auxiliary command centers and two engine rooms.
The alien ship had a number of winding corridors with random struts on either side of the corridors. Likely there more for covered fire positions, than structural support. Twice they ran into opposition, but her sight module gave her warning. Careful shots and grenade usage let them blow past with little effort.
Engineering was another story, getting into cover just beyond the armored blast door, she levered her sight module and scanned the room. Quickly noting that alien marines and engineers had secured the room. Clearly the alert was already out, it was a two deck engineering room, she noted six men were on the upper catwalks, two of them mounting heavy turrets faced at the main entrance. A dozen more were in covered positions on the lower level, along with two more heavy turrets.
She gestured to the two Marines on point, “Get some breaching charges on that door, then stand ready to use your grenades. I’d like a couple laser grenades and an EP-grenade tossed in. Standby with a photon grenade after that.”
“Understood!”
She pointed to her last marine, “Get in that vent, after we distract them, I want you to flank and take out the gun positions on the upper level...”
The man saluted, “You have it ma’am!”
He ripped open the wall panel and moved into the crawl space, the metal deforming to his grip as he moved up into the vents. She watched him for a moment as he climbed into position. Once he was close enough, she said, “BREACH!”
Almost instantly two charges went off, the armored blast door disintegrated with molten metal spraying into the engine room. Several grenades were tossed into the room before the dust even cleared, the laser grenades activated first, floating off the ground and spraying rapid-fire laser bursts in all directions.
A couple of aliens not fully covered by their barricades took multiple hits, their laminated armor seemed to hold for a moment but a few rounds got through. While numerous holes were burned into the makeshift barricades. Then the first EP-grenade went off, sending arcs of charged plasma throughout the room. Several forcefields failed and the consoles sparked. A couple of discharges hit the defenders, cooking them in their suits, but enough were still up.
She watched deadly energy bursts sail past her position. “That got them angry, maybe they want more?”
A chuckle came from the front, as one of her point marines tossed in the photon.
The grenade bounced twice before landing near one of the two heavy turrets, then it exploded. A bright burst of light engulfed the turret and the two aliens manning it, leaving behind mangled melted metal and a hole in the deck.
Up above, the marine she’d sent to flank opened up, taking out the upper turrets with several well placed shots. “Upper is clear! I don’t have a shot on that lower turret though.”
“We’ve got it,” she replied, turning to the marines up front. “Jones! Draw their fire.”
She could feel the grimace in his voice, but he obeyed by sprinting into the room.
Fire traced him but scored only a glancing hit. The distraction was enough as she and the other marine took out the turret. With that gone, it was a simple matter to eliminate the remaining resistance. A moment later she reported the engine room secured and was informed they had the bridge as well. The fleet would be happy.
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