"Here we are! I've got a console for you, Siu!" Van barked.
Siu, followed by Kolyat, came at a run. As the first part of the strike team, Sheffler had insisted the most necessary thing was for Van and Kolyat to get Siu to a terminal and let him do his thing. Normally, it would just be Kolyat and Siu, but on a hostile station, Sheffler felt safer doubling up the security on his best tech.
Siu hit the console the instant he could get fingers onto the interface. As he worked, he narrated what he was doing, tapping his team into his stream of consciousness. "Venting procedures for this hangar are…disabled. Door controls to all hangars on this deck…also disabled. No one's leaving without my say-so."
Or, rather, unless someone better than Siu allowed it. Hopefully, Cerberus didn't have anyone that competent.
"Shadow Team is now on-station," Siu continued, "beginning their infiltration—looks like they're leaving a team to hold their own hangar. And…no one will be doing anything with that hangar, either. I have a readout of the station…I have personnel files…"
"What kind of resistance are we looking at?" Kolyat asked, glancing around the small control room.
"Sizable given our numbers, but given the size of the overall station pretty damn minimal. I think," Siu looked up, grinning, "I think we caught the bastard with his pants down! Most of the stuff I'm seeing is automated, not a lot of stuff that needs a real person to handle."
That made sense. The fewer people on station, the fewer potential traitors or foul-ups. Kolyat was glad to hear most of the defenses were automated. Automated defenses could be shut down; he had complete faith that Siu could do it, too, given enough time.
"Can you isolate his office? It'll make Shadow's job easier," Van put in.
"Yeah, hold—oh, hell-lo…"
Kolyat shifted nervously, checking his rifle for something to do.
"Siu?" Van prompted.
"Oh, sorry. Shadow's tech expert, I just ran into her in the systems. She's already mapped out where Shadow needs to go. We just need to start making some noise to distract any organic presence on the station; it doesn't matter where we go, as long as we're loud." Siu looked up, then grinned. "And I know just where and how to start." Siu didn't look that smug that often, so Kolyat began to grin in anticipation of his friend's bright idea.
"Where?" Sheffler asked, the rest of the team lumbering into the control room.
"I'm gonna take some of those unmanned fighters, turn them around, and launch them right into the station. How's that for property damage?" Siu asked.
"I'd say our little nerd just won our bet," McVie observed ruefully. "If he can pull it off."
Kolyat grinned as a single fighter zipped across their field of vision, proof-positive that Siu could 'pull it off.' The unit had had a bet over who could cause the most property damage before the mission was over; McVie and Sheffler both felt they were strong contenders to win.
And now Siu, the team's little nerd, had just blown them both out of the water. Because no one would argue fairness when it was clearly a case where a marine adapted, improvised, and overcame.
"Alright, when we get back to the ship, everybody pays up," Sheffler said, shaking his head as if wondering how he could have missed such a strong contender to win. Then, on a more serious note, and over the groans of McVie and Mercer, "How many of those fighters do you have access to, Siu?"
"Five more. Here, I'll show you…hang on," Siu's fingers flew over the console. "Shadow's tech just wanted to make sure that was me before she went and locked the 'source of those splendid pyrotechnics' out of the system. They're on radio silence, except helmet to helmet, so we're writing back and forth. Here," Siu produced a hologram of the base. "These are the fighters I have. These are how I wanted to launch them." Pink lines laced the facility, driving upwards and inwards.
Kolyat wanted to ask how safe that was for the Alliance teams on the station, but didn't. Siu wouldn't risk Alliance assets carelessly. If he was going to do something so dramatic, he would be sure it wouldn't impact his own side.
Still, he wanted to ask about the safety…
"Ask Shadow's tech if she knows where any key points are. See if you can hit those," Sheffler commanded.
Siu did so, several green dots appearing on the hologram, as if the tech had remote access. "I can hit, let's see, three of them," Siu announced, altering the trajectories of the pink lines to show which ones he could hit. "On your mark, Commander."
"Mark," Sheffler answered with a wolfish grin.
Siu launched the three fighters. The last two he launched at blue dots.
"What are the blue dots?" St. Claire asked.
"Dormitory and mess hall, according to Shadow," Siu answered.
"Insult to injury!" McVie crowed, clapping his meaty hands over both of Siu's shoulders. "Nice one, kid."
"I did learn from the best," Siu announced, locking out the console and picking up his rifle. "If you want, we can follow the trail of destruction, or we can work our way through conventional hallways," he reported to Sheffler.
"We'll take the hallways," Sheffler answered, as if seeing the hologram in his mind again. "We're supposed to be nice and visible. Well, most of us." He winked at Kolyat.
Kolyat grinned. The stealth generator he'd been allowed to use on Ontarom had become a permanent part of his kit. He knew his father hadn't needed any such trinket, but he wasn't up to that level of discretion. It was fun to have…though he used the phrase loosely.
The team moved out, working their way out of the hangar levels, grenades exploding at frequent intervals.
But nothing compared to five unmanned fighters plowing through the station. Nothing.