Gitmo’s dock was unique.  The dockyard was enclosed, and covered walkways could be seen extending from the piers in the dockyard, providing ramps for crews to disembark.  In each dock, a huge Steel frame was securely bolted to the dock floor below, and large slings were strung from one side of the frame to the other, allowing ships to come to rest on them.  Then, once the ship came to a rest on these slings, the frame housed a mechanism that elevated the ship to the proper height so that walkways could then extend themselves to the ship’s airlocks.  Not that they really needed airlocks, because the dockyard had a fully breathable atmosphere, along with artificial gravity fields.  Before ships could dock, they had to go through a giant airlock and then navigate to their assigned dock using maneuvering thrusters.  This remarkable dockyard was capable of accommodating nearly any ship commercially available, except for capital class ships.

As they neared the RES. Choyo the gator slowed down, and when the emergency hatch came into view in the distance ahead of them, the boatswain brought it to a stop.  The Marines leapt out, and quickly formed a perimeter while Tasha and Commander Schultz disembarked.

“Wait for us here, unless you are in danger of being discovered.” Commander Schultz ordered the driver as the others dismounted the vehicle.  Jumping down off the gator, the Commander muted his external microphone on his helmet and ordered Corporal Wittaker to put a man on point.  A second later, PFC Grobnak moved towards the emergency hatch on the RES. Choyo.  Waiting about thirty seconds, Commander Schultz followed in the direction Grobnak had walked, towards the emergency hatch.  Grobnak was about five yards beyond the emergency hatch when the rest of the team arrived.

“Serms, breach.  Delgato, rear.” Corporal Wittaker ordered.  Serms moved towards the emergency hatch, and Delgato moved back a ways in the direction they came from, taking a knee and scanning for hostiles.  Corporal Wittaker joined Serms, and covered the hatch while he applied a kind of putty around the hinges of the emergency hatch.  Unlike normal doors, emergency hatches were hinged rather than powered, and secured by a latch reminiscent of the old naval ships of earth.  This was because there were fewer things that could keep a hatch from opening than could a traditional powered door.  The downside is that a well-placed corrosive agent could usually breach an emergency hatch with making little or no sound.

In a few short moments the putty began emitting a stench and smoking as it ate its way through the metal while Serms prepared to support the freed weight of the emergency hatch, which promptly fell into his arms. Corporal Wittaker, still covering the now open emergency hatch with his subrail gun, knelt down on one knee, positioning his other leg below the emergency hatch, providing Serms a temporary step, which he used to climb up into the ship.

“Clear.” Serms husky voice sounded loud in Corporal Wittaker’s ear.

“Delgato, then-” Corporal Wittaker’s voice cut off as Commander Schultz took the initiative, using Wittaker’s knee to climb up through the hatch to join Serms.  Irritated, Corporal resumed his orders, “Then Altihkova, and Grobnak.”  Delgato moved, followed quickly by the rest of the team.  The corporal entered last, pulled up by Lance Corporal Serms.

Opening a private channel to Commander Schultz, Corporal Wittaker said, “Sir, do you want to leave one of the men behind to secure this hatch?  We could use it as a point of egress.”  He saw the commander shake his helmeted head.

“No. We may not come back this way.” Commander Schultz replied.  Switching to the general coms channel, the Commander ordered, “Alright, let’s go.” Grobnak again took point, though the team’s spacing was much tighter now.  They quickly and quietly made their way through the Choyo’s corridors and up a maintenance ladder to the deck where the secondary data ops center was located.

“Stop.”  Grobnak’s voice sounded hushed.  Tasha could see Grobnak standing at a corner, using a small flexcam to peek around the corner. “Patrolling guard, coming our way.”

“Take him quietly.” Commander Schultz replied.  Grobnak grunted, and let his subrail rest by its harness attached to his armor as he slid out a large knife easily as long as the big man’s forearm, though it looked of average size in Grobnak’s large hand.  Tasha could hear the boots of the guard approaching. Just as he came into view, Grobnak lunged, thrusting the point of his knife forcefully into the man’s throat, severing artery and windpipe simultaneously while Grobnak’s other arm grasped the man’s sidearm which was still in its holster, blocking the guard’s frantic attempts to draw it as the force of Grobnak’s attack, as well as Grobnak himself, pinned the man against the corridor wall.  The man thrashed, trying to free himself and fight back, but only succeeded in tearing open his wound further as Grobnak’s knife, still embedded in the guard’s throat, slid against bone.  In a few moments, it was done.  Grobnak let the dead guard slide to the ground, and withdrew his knife.  Turning briefly back towards the rest of the team, Tasha could see the guard’s blood all over the front of Grobnak’s armor and helmet.  Withdrawing a dark cloth from a pouch on his combat harness, Grobnak wiped his helmet clean and continued on, taking point once gain.  Tasha’s face grew pale, and she felt a little shaky.  Afraid she might throw up, she slipped her helmet off, and put a hand on the wall to steady herself.

“Shake it off, Lieutenant Commander.  We have a job to do.” Commander Schultz’s voice growled, loud enough to be heard through the coms system of Tasha’s removed helmet.  The moment passing, Tasha nodded once to the Commander and pulled on her helmet again, feeling a little embarrassed at her momenet of weakness.

“Prostite.” Tasha apologized.

“No need to apologize.  Everyone reacts differently the first time in combat.  You’re doing better than I expected.” Commander Schultz replied. “Let’s move.” He said to the others.  After a few moments, the Commander opened a private channel to Tasha as she shakily put her helmet back on.

“Don’t worry about it.  The first time I saw a man killed in such close quarters, I couldn’t get my helmet off in time.  The rest of the mission I was stuck smelling the remnants of what I ate just before the mission, and the smell lingered for days.”  Commander Schultz said.  Tasha gave the Commander a shaky chuckle, feeling better.

As they moved through the deck, they had to stop two more times to avoid more patrolling guards.  Grobnak stopped at a corner near where the door to the secondary data ops was, and again used his flexcam to see around the corner.   After a moment, his voice came over the general coms channel.

“Two guards.  Rejai Special Forces by the look of them.  These guys aren’t a part of the ship’s normal compliment.” Grobnak reported, then hesitated a moment before adding, “Something doesn’t feel right.”  Usually, a ship is manned by a compliment of military or naval personnel dedicated to the ship’s security.  This was in addition to any military personnel being transported to conduct military operations.  If these Rejaian soldiers weren’t part of the ship’s normal compliment, that meant there were more Special Forces personnel hanging around somewhere.

“Let me see.” Commander Schultz requested.  Grobnak again inched his flexcam around the corner while the Commander patched into Grobnak’s video feed.  He recognized the equipment of the guards instantly.  They wore body armor that was black, a style used only by Rejai Special Forces, and both held assault rifles, which looked to fire flechettes.  The flechettes Rejai Special Forces used depended on the situation.  Sometimes they were made to easily break apart on impact, delivering explosive impact, which had a far deadlier affect on infantry than a solid flechette that would merely go through the body, often making a fist-sized crater in armor and flesh alike.  Many times, even if an explosive flechette did not penetrate the armor, the concussion was sometimes enough to cause internal bleeding.  Likewise, they had other kinds of ammo that delivered different payloads, depending on the situation.  On board a ship, regardless of whether or not it is docked, Commander Schultz knew that they likely had ammo that fragmented on impact, so that if they missed their target, it would not puncture a hole in the bulkhead.

“Nothing we can do.  We need to take them out.” Commander Schultz sighed.  He had hoped to already be in the room and have Tasha doing her thing before they were discovered, but since these guards were armored, they could not use their knives to take them out quietly.  “Corporal, let’s hit them hard and fast.”  Corporal Wittaker signaled Serms with his hand to follow him as he moved to join Grobnak at the corner.  Behind them, Delgato dropped back even further, hugged the wall and took a knee, covering the rear approach.  

The silence was split with the muffled chatter of subsonic rounds as Grobnak moved his large frame swiftly around the corner, firing.  Following him, Serms fanned out to the right of Grobnak, firing at the second guard.  One guard went down immediately, a three round burst penetrating his helmet, but the other guard was screaming into his helmet’s coms as he hit the deck and brought his rifle around, firing.  The guard’s assault rifle was on full auto, and Serms was thrown back as he took a burst directly to his chest, slid a few feet, and did not move.  Swinging wide and jumping over Serms, Corporal Wittaker fired a three round burst from his subsonic gun, sending oval metal slugs into the remaining guard’s helmet.  In less than five seconds, it was done, but it was already too late.  Alarm klaxons rang throughout the ship. Commander Schultz brought up the medical readouts of Lance Corporal Serms.  He was still alive.  Corporal Wittaker bent down to check the Lance Corporal’s armor, as Serms began to weakly move and noticed that, while his armor looked a bit worse for wear, it had done its job.

“Get up, Marine!” The Corporal roared over the alarm Klaxons.  Grabbing Serms and hoisting him up by his armor, Corporal Wittaker steadied the injured Serms while he regained his balance.  His armor showed impact craters where the flechettes had hit him.  Serm’s groan could be heard over the coms as he steadied himself by placing a hand on the wall. “My chest is going to be bruised for a week.” He complained.

“Bruised is not dead!  Move it!” The Corporal ordered, indicating the now unguarded door.  Moving stiffly at first, and then with greater ease as he walked off his injury, Serms pulled out his corrosive putty and began placing it in a ring around the door.  It was faster than trying to hack the door control, which only opened the door in response to a RFID chip of someone that had been given access to the room.  A few moments later, Serms grunted as gave the door a good kick, launching it a few feet into the room with a loud clang.

“It’s open!” Serms yelled, then disappeared inside the room.  After a moment he yelled, “Clear!”

“Tasha, you’re up.” Schultz prompted.  Delgato had come up from the rear and entered the room with Tasha and the Commander as Corporal Wittaker positioned Grobnak at one end of the hallway outside of the secondary server room, and took position himself at the other end.  Serms was positioned at the door, waiting to reinforce either position.

Tasha moved quickly to the server console, and plugged in her special communications pack, which consisted of hardware that stored a variety of algorithms and programs that would help in code breaking and breaching security.  After plugging in, the HUD on the inside of her helmet changed, providing readouts and other information relevant to the task at hand as she went to work in trying to breach the server’s security.  She ignored the beads of sweat running down her face, her helmet’s small fan and cooling system working overtime trying to cool her down, and pushed down the nausea that still threatened to make her try and empty her stomach again.  Almost with relief, she sank into the familiar territory shown to her on her HUD as code fragments and other information quietly lit up the inside of her helmet.  She was so absorbed in what she was doing that she flinched at the sudden sound of gunfire from Grobnak’s end of the hall.  The enemy had found them.

“Sir, I have a Special Forces fire team!” Grobnak yelled.  There was a muffled explosion that made the entire deck tremble so violently that Tasha’s HUD flickered a moment before growing steady again, and Tasha shook her head, and tried to focus again.  She was past the logon security encryption, and was now flicking through server directories trying to decipher their naming standards so she could ascertain where their logs might be held.  There were so many directories!

“Serms, support Grobnak! My corridor is clear!” ordered Corporal Wittaker.

“Aye Aye, supporting Grobnak!” Serms acknowledged

Tasha absently noted that Serms was no longer in the doorway to the server room, and Delgato automatically moved up to take his place.  Commander Schultz was busy himself, but in a different way, as he sent schematics to each team member, which projected on their helmet HUD’s as small mini maps.  Highlighted on the mini map, Tasha could see red dots that reflected the suspected size and disposition of the enemy.  A scream punctuated an explosion, and Tasha gasped as the scream was also coming through the coms system.

“Delgato, move up! “ Roared Schultz.  Tasha wanted to cry as fear gripped her.  Closing her eyes, she took a moment to steady herself before opening them again to continue her task.  She had found the captain’s logs, and the sensor logs, but the ship’s manifest was being difficult to find.  Tasha noted on her mini map that Delgato had moved up towards where Corporal Wittaker had been.  Wittaker’s blue dot was gone.

“Tasha, we’re running out of time!” the Commander growled in her ear.  "Hurry it up!"

“Almost there, Commander.” Tasha responded.  To her surprise, her voice sounded calm and cool, which was odd, because she was anything but calm and cool.

 “Sir, I have more Special Forces on my side. We’re boxed in.” Delgato reported.  His report was punctuated by the chatter of his gun in the background.  “Corporal Wittaker is KIA.  They threw a shredder at his feet.”  Tasha shuddered.  A shredder was a type of grenade commonly used in combat inside a ship.  A shredder threw out thousands of fine steel slivers designed to find the spaces between the combat armor’s plates.  If the slivers found purchase, any body part it hit was ground to hamburger meat, and the legs were the more difficult part of the body to protect, as there was usually a gap between your thigh plates and shin plates to allow for movement, as well as gaps between the thigh plates and the waist armor.  Had they been wearing powered armor, a shredder would have been inconsequential, but with combat armor, a shredder thrown at your feet was pretty much a death sentence.  Most of the time it would shred your femoral artery to ribbons.  The lucky ones were killed quickly.  The not so lucky ones died slowly as they bled to death. 

Tasha smiled as she finally found what she was looking for, the ship’s manifest, and transferred that file to the hard drive in her communications pack.  Then, as an afterthought, sent the files as an encrypted databurst to the ship.  In passing she took quick note that there were goods being transferred from the Guan Yu in addition to the Choyo providing ongoing supplies to the Guan Yu for continued operations.  The goods the Guan Yu was bringing to the Choyo seemed to be of a chemical nature, or other compounds that she had never really seen used before in such quantities, presumably looted from their victims.

“Done.” Tasha announced, as she unplugged from the server.  She glanced at her mini map and saw that Grobnak and Serms were holding down what looked to be eight hostiles, while a small question mark showed down Delgato’s hall, reflecting an unknown number of hostiles.

“Delgato, sitrep.” Commander Schultz said.  Delgato’s breathing was heavy as he spoke.

“Only seems to be one fire team, down a man.” Delgato reported.  Delgato fired again, then reported, “Make that down two men.”  After a moment, Schultz’s voice came back over the coms channel.

“Serms, Grobnak, bounding withdrawal.  Tasha, Delgato, and I will punch a hole down the other corridor.” Schultz ordered.  Then drawing his mags, the Commander walked purposefully towards where PFC Delgato was positioned, firing down the corridor.

“Delgato, do you have shredders?” Commander Schultz asked.  Delgato barked a laugh as he stopped firing for a moment and detached a small pack attached to his leg and tossed it towards the Commander, who deftly caught it.

“I have Shredders, flashbangs, boom sticks, and plasma incendiaries.” Delgato reported.  Schultz whistled appreciatively and withdrew two orbs, pressed their arming buttons, and rolled them down the corridor, first one and then the other.  In moments the shredder exploded, identified by a unique whirring sound it makes as thousands of steel slivers blanketed an area, punctuated by several screams.  Moments later it was followed by a flashbang, a weapon that seemed to have weathered the test of time over the last few centuries, designed to blind and stagger hostiles.

“We’re moving! Grobnak, Serms bring up the rear!” Schultz roared as he launched himself past a surprised PFC Delgato and down the corridor with his Mags in one hand, and a rather large combat knife in the other.  Recovering, Delgato followed the Commander, firing at anything that moved.  Tasha steeled herself as she tried to keep up, but being unaccustomed to moving in heavy armor and carrying a heavy pack, she was hard pressed.  As it was, the firefight between Grobnak and Serms had reached a rather sudden crescendo.  Glancing back, she could see Serms scrambling backwards as fast as he could, firing his weapon down the corridor they had just left behind with one hand while pulling Grobnak across the deck flooring with another.  Grobnak, obviously wounded, had his right arm tightly curled against his chest, his face fixed in snarl as he fired his mags back down the corridor with his left hand.  While she was watching them, she did not notice the Commander and Delgato run to the right, nor did she realize what hit her when she turned left and was promptly clubbed senseless by a Special Forces soldier wearing powered armor.

Next Chapter: Chapter 7