Human Weaponry

Chapter 7: Breach and Clear

We eventually made it to the disabled ship. The human command hailed them and got no response. I was able to watch events unfold through monitors in the safe room.

Sergeant Gerrick was thankfully alright. He had been grazed by a projectile on his abdomen, but was refusing treatment until the more critically wounded were taken care of. When I found him, he was wiping blood off of his knife onto his sleeve.

I watched helmet camera footage from a soldier escorting a medical team on a transport ship. They were going to board the enemy Frigate and look for survivors. On their way to the ship, they were not shot at. Any communications devices must have been located at the back of the Floriacian ship, as no calls for aid or surrender could be detected.

It was difficult to dock. The ship had begun moving at full power before it had been hit with the railgun. Now it and all of its debris from the mangled engine portion of the ship were still moving at that same momentum. This forced the human cruiser to keep pace with it.

I knew one thing now though, just because the humans were saving these creatures, it did not mean they were friends. Every single gun on this cruiser was trained on the frigate.

I switched to another helmet camera. This time on a first entry soldier. They were going to make sure everything was clear before the medical teams boarded. They attached and cut their way through a thin portion of the hull. When they entered, they were greeted with darkness. Much of the ship's power supply had been destroyed, smaller functions like lighting had been reduced to favor life support and gravity. The squad turned on portable lights on their guns and helmets.

Slowly, they moved through hallways. They had yet to see a single sign of life. Were it not for the furniture and personal effects around, one might have thought it had been abandoned long ago. There was simply no one here.

Before the boarding process, the U.S.S. Indianapolis had done a scan of the frigate when it was close enough. It was done to determine if the ship would stay intact long enough for boarding. It also was able to locate important parts, such as where the command crew was most likely to be.

This squad was moving for that position to hopefully find a command crew, and force a surrender if they hadn't already. They were moving toward a large door, their firearms swaying, checking every corner. They had two humans stay back on the hallway entrance, covering their exit.

The door to the command room was locked shut, either on purpose, or a malfunction after the engines were hit. One of the humans, who was carrying a different, bulkier looking firearm compared to the others approached the door. He took off a bag on his back and retrieved some sort of rectangular device that he stuck on the door. He then motioned for everyone to get back. They all retreated behind the walls of the hallway entrance, peeking around the corner with guns aimed at the door.

The man pulled out a smaller device, and with the other hand, counted down from three on his fingers. When he reached zero, he squeezed the device. Suddenly the door they were working on exploded! Gods, had they fallen into a trap?

I looked around frantically, but no one seemed concerned. Sergeant Gerrick was simply looking at the monitors.

"What was that explosion?"

"Breaching charge."

"You mean that was deliberate? I thought it was a trap!"

"Got to get through the door somehow."

He was of course correct, as usual. When the smoke cleared, the door was definitely open. Or well, more like there was a hole where a door used to be. There were lights still on in the control room. No signs of enemy contact yet.