The Orphan Alliance (The Black Ships Book 3) (8 page)

The
Völund
, Krorian
Orbit

H
arry
lowered his hand from where it had shielded his eyes. The brilliant flash of
the self-destructing station was already fading, leaving spots in his vision.
Spots, or the small army of escape pods that had left the Dactari logistics
station only moments ago, he couldn’t tell yet. He looked over at Walter
Schirra, sitting in the pilot’s seat of the small shuttle. “Shut her down,
Wally.” He rubbed his eyes. “We won’t be going anywhere this morning.”

“Shuttle, Bridge,” Carol’s voice interrupted. “Those pods
are heading straight for us, they’re inside the Mosquito envelope. I’m going to
guns.”

“Bloody hell!” Liam Kennedy released his restraints and
activated a ship wide channel. “All hands, action stations. Stand by to repel
boarders! All hands, action stations!” The sounds of gunnery began to vibrate
throughout the ship.

Harry suppressed an angry curse. He should have given that
order. Major Kennedy’s quick thinking may well have saved the ship from a
humiliating capture. Harry was still too focused on the disappointment of their
failure. They had been so close to capturing the station.
Get your head out
of your ass and get back to the bridge.

He filed out the back of the craft behind the twenty-five
Marines who had been waiting to board the enemy facility. Liam led them out
into the companionway but stopped and held up his hand, his fist tightly
closed. His men split up and moved to crouch at alternating sides of the
passageway.

Harry moved up to Liam, who held a finger to his lips and
pointed at the wall. There was a definite crackling sound and some of the
interior hull plates were starting to discolor and buckle.

The escape pods were using their arc-sealers to attach to
the
Völund’s
hull. The fact that they had passed the shields so easily
meant that they had finally found a way to copy the shield arrays that the
Humans had been using for their Mosquito warheads. That was a thought that
Harry would have to file away for later consideration.

“There was a troop ship docked at that station,” Harry
whispered in the major’s ear. “They may have pulled the soldiers into the
station to defend it, which means they probably loaded onto those pods before
setting the self-destruct.”

“Lieutenant Horrocks,” Liam whispered hoarsely, bringing the
young man forward. “Those pods are carrying soldiers. Take twenty of the men
and search for boarding points. Leave five at each. Go quickly now.”

“Sir!” The young officer quickly chose four fire teams and
moved off, leaving Liam with five men.

“Their pods are self-sealing, just like ours,” Liam
whispered. “When they cut a hole, we toss in a flash-bang first,” he said,
pointing at the closest man, “then Michaels and Jones will step to the opening
and open fire. Helmets closed, lads.” Though the Dactari shuttle could seal
holes automatically, it would still leak while doing so and a sustained burst
of weapon fire hitting one spot could conceivably overload the capacity of the
sealing gel and leave a permanent breach.

Harry closed his helmet as the Marines took their positions
on the flanks of the large discolored ring on the side of the passageway. The
ring began to turn a dull red.

“Here they come!”

The dull red quickly became a brilliant yellow as the fabric
of the hull began to drip and run onto the deck plating. A ring of bright flame
finally burst through the wall as the ceramic ring containing a mix of reacting
oxides was pushed through by the pod’s hydraulic rams. The metal oxides burned
at temperatures high enough to melt any hull and the four-foot disc of metal
and composites fell to the deck with a harsh clang. Harry realized he was
unarmed and he quickly pulled his Colt out, rotating the cocking handle to
insert the first round.

The first Marine deployed his flash-bang and stepped out of
the way, leaving room for the next two men to step up and fire into the small
pod. Even in his EVA suit, Harry could feel the concussion of the stun grenade.
He could only imagine its effects in the enclosed environment of the pod.

It was over almost before it began. Michaels and Jones
ceased firing and Jones slid his submachine gun back into its chest holster. He
drew his sidearm and swung himself into the opening, taking care to avoid the cooling
cross section of the hull. There were a few single shots and then he slid back
out.

“Packed to the gunnels, sir,” he confirmed. “Thirteen
soldiers in a pod meant for six.”

The exterior gunnery had fallen silent, but a lighter beat
began to pick up the slack as the distant sound of assault weapons reached
their ears.

“Bridge, this is Sergeant Willems,” a loud voice sounded in
Harry’s earpiece. “We have at least twenty hostiles trying to reach the
engineering sections. If we withdraw any further, we risk damage to the main
plant.”

Just as Harry was grabbing Liam by the shoulder, planning to
order him aft with his last fire team, another voice intruded. “Captain, this
is Commander Cernan,” Carol began. “Be advised, we are dropping the forward
shielding to bring Midgaard reinforcements in through the hangar bay.”

Harry and Liam both turned to look through the bay window.
Sure enough, a Midgaard cruiser, one of Lothbrok’s vessels, completely filled
the view through the open bay exit. As the two men watched, she pushed in
against the
Völund,
the plates of the two ships buckling with a massive
shriek. The shock of the impact ran up their legs.

“Get moving, Major,” Harry ordered. “Take some of the
pressure off Willems’ men aft. I’ll bring our allies up behind you.” He turned
back in time to see the reinforcements exiting their ship through a side hatch.
Roughly forty warriors poured into the hangar and moved to the door by Harry as
their ship pulled back, dragging tangled sheets of metal until they parted and
tumbled away.

“They’re aboard,” Harry reported. “Raise the forward shields
and repressurize the bay.

It was maddening, watching the pressure readout by the bay
doors while his crew was fighting against a determined boarding party. The
Midgaard troops on the far side had collected by the door and waited in
silence.

After what had to be only seconds but seemed like a
lifetime, Harry decided the difference would be small enough and he smashed the
glass below the readout and pulled a toggle to override the door safeties. He
hit the ‘open’ button and the doors slid aside. Harry was caught in a sudden
hurricane-force wind and found himself staggering into the lead Midgaard before
the pressures equalized between the bay and the rest of the ship.

Harry and the reinforcements retracted their helmets.
“Fenris, isn’t it?”

“That’s right,” the good-looking warrior replied with a
grin. “Lothbrok’s been putting his old hands on the new vessels to keep them in
line. He asked me to keep an eye on the captain of the
Heimdallr
and
I’ve already damaged his ship!” He hefted his G-19 assault rifle. “Where do you
need us?”

The Midgaard were accustomed to doing most of their
shipboard fighting on enemy ships and their aggressive nature tended to result
in very few defensive fights aboard their own vessels. As a result, their
assault weapons were based on linear acceleration. The incredible destructive
power gave them a distinct edge in combat, but it was a liability when fighting
aboard friendly vessels. Many haulds had managed to acquire the Heckler and
Koch G-19 used by their Human allies. When Harry and Lothbrok had convinced
Towers and Caul on their scheme, they had also convinced Towers to release a
supply of assault rifles from armories on the
Midway.

 “We need to get aft,” Harry was opening a channel to
the bridge as he spoke. “There’s three access points to the engineering
sections and I’m betting the enemy will oblige us by collecting there. My men
can hold them as long as we come behind and finish ‘em off.” He held up a
finger, asking for a moment. “Bridge, this is the captain. Signal the squadron.
We’re to jump back immediately to the rally point.”

“Roger that,” Carol replied. “We’re to jump to rally point.
Signalling now.” The rally point was only a ten minute jump away. A larger
force waited there to scrape off any enemy pursuit.

And to secure captured equipment, the only real purpose for
this raid.

They raced aft as the waves of distortion washed over them.
Perception couldn’t quite be trusted during an initiation or drop-out and Harry
bounced off a bulkhead as they rounded the corner. Fenris and his men noted the
collision and took a wider route, avoiding mishap. It was all Harry could do to
keep his lunch down as the deck in front of him suddenly stretched out and his
foot seemingly remained above it, twenty feet away. Both came rushing back to
him and the waves died out as the ship stabilized in her bubble of distorted
space.

They brachiated quickly up the forward riser and came out on
deck seven, streaming through a narrow alleyway between two massive storage
compartments built to hold either ore or gas. The
Völund
had originally
been built as a trading ship and her massive storage spaces took up much of the
ship’s volume, leaving only a few paths to the engineering spaces.

Harry held up his hand and Fenris echoed the signal, halting
their column.
They’re in the tool room,
Harry realized from the sounds
ahead.
Trying to push into the rainforest.

The ‘rainforest’ was a large space filled with high pressure
steam lines as well as the conduits carrying the reactor coolant. The coolant
lines condensed vapor from the ship’s air, causing it to fall as rain.
Collector channels under the floor gratings channeled it back to the filtration
systems.

He ignored the shrieks of pain coming from in front of him
as he concentrated on his wrist pad. Finally ready, he looked up at Fenris.
“I’m going to hit the tool room,” he explained, pointing to their objective,
“with a five-second burst of infrasonic energy. It’ll disorient them and scare
the hell out of them in the process. Then we move in.”

He looked down and stabbed his finger at the button. A low
vibration rumbled through the walls beside them and Harry waved his team forward.
Just as they reached the opening to the tool room, the emitters in the ceiling
cut off and he led his reinforcements into the room, cutting down the enemy as
they stood or lay in various postures of distress.

A Midgaard beside Harry took a round in the shoulder and
spun to the ground. Harry brought his pistol up and forced himself to take
careful aim. He was firing into the forest now and couldn’t risk releasing too
much coolant from the unarmored conduits. He dropped one Dactari with a
three-round burst and a Midgaard took the second enemy.

Harry moved forward into the rain, weapon up, but he could
see no more living enemy. In the entry to the forest, there were only the two
who had just died and three more lying on the deck behind them.

They were cut cleanly in half through the upper torso.

He reached out to stop the warrior moving along on his
right. “Steam leak,” he said simply, nodding toward the corpses.

Movement ahead brought both their weapons up, but it was
Petty Officer Del Castro and two of her assistants, also aiming along the
sights of the G-19’s they kept in lockers for just such an occasion as this.

She lowered her weapon, raising her left hand. “Stay back,
sir. There’s a steam leak right in front of you. It was caused by that portal
beacon we found on the ride home from Khola. I figured it would make a good
trap so we cut it open again and fell back.”

“Quick thinking, Del Castro. Any damage back there?”

“A couple of lines got hit, but we can fix ‘em after we
finish fighting.”

“Alright, you hold down this section.” He opened a channel.
“Bridge, this is the captain. What’s our status?”

 “Harry, we’ve got about thirty enemy spread out in the
mess hall and gymnasium areas.” Harry had known Carol Cernan since their
academy days and, since their voyage as civilian officers on the
Völund
,
they had assumed a more relaxed manner in addressing each other. Though they
were now back in the service, they often slipped into the easy informality of
their previous careers.

“Liam and Jan are pulling back in front of them,” she
continued. “We were just getting ready to hit ‘em with a blast from the
emitters.”

“Good. I’m on my way up there with twenty Midgaard warriors.
Use a pulse in the alpha range so you can sustain it without causing any
structural damage. I’ll let you know when we’re in position to hit them from
behind.”

“When we’re done here,” Fenris said, loading a fresh
magazine into his G-19, “you’ll have to tell me how these ‘sound weapons’ of
yours work.”

“Gladly,” Harry swapped out a partially empty magazine from
the top slot of his pistol as he started back down the narrow passageway. “But
first, we need to get to the forward riser and move up five decks.”

As they approached the forward entry hatch into the common
areas, they became aware again of vibration in the deck plates. The pulse
itself was too low to be heard by humanoid ears, but the sympathetic vibrations
in the fabric of the ship were causing their own, higher-frequency sounds.

“Gods,” Fenris muttered. “It sounds like the horn of doom.”

Harry opened a general frequency channel, heard by all the
crew. “Give me a five-second burst at full intensity and then cut it
completely. I’ll come into the common area from the forward entry hatch with
twenty Midgaard. Liam and Jan – keep them from getting past your positions and
we’ll put ‘em down.”

The vibration increased and Harry suddenly felt an
indescribable, amorphous fear. He knew to expect it, along with the nausea and
loss of balance. At full intensity, it was starting to bleed out into the
passageway and he turned to see that the faces of his allies reflected his own
feelings.