Chapter 16 : Chemical cocktail.
While the Ithlin troops settled themselves, Harrigan and his friends were discussing the best way of infiltrating the Scarran ship over the interphone. Since neither Aeryn nor Crichton were with him this time, he'd stationed Dargo in the upper gun turret; when they'd met up with Chiana again at the spaceport, she rushed on board and stationed herself in the tailgunner's turret where she was before.
"We'll have be very, very quiet once we're on board" Talannah cautioned them "Dreadnaughts have a crew capacity roughly the same as a Command Carrier – about 40-50,000. We must avoid confrontation if at all possible. No, Dargo!" she barked, at his snort of disgust "We can't just kill them. There's far too many, even on the route we'll use! Anyway, even you would start slowing down after you'd killed ten or so". "Besides..." Harrigan explained "Why should we tire ourselves killing the Scarran crew when I've got a little something in the back room that'll do that for us?"
"Why not just destroy the ship?" asked Chiana, surprised "Blow the reactor complex, bolt for our ship, and leave. Hmmm?" Talannah started this one. "Your courage does you credit, young Nebari" she replied "But the reactor complex will be the most heavily fortified and guarded part of the ship. Even more so than the bridge. Plus the air filtration junction is in a different direction in any case. Why we're going there, though..." Talannah wondered "I still don't know". "Because we're going to give them a little present" Harrigan revealed "I don't think they'll like it much, but that doesn't matter. I want them to have it. A little first-contact present to the Hierarchy from the people of Earth, just to show what we think of them".
Talannah was becoming more accustomed to her lover's moods and expressions by now, and if she was any judge of the expression currently plastered on his face then mass carnage would probably be involved at some stage. "We'll fly low over the hull from dead aft and clamp down over one of the starboard hatches nearer the engineering sections. Then we sneak and skulk our way over two decks and a couple of hundred metras or so..." Then Talannah remembered the size difference between this ship and a normal dreadnaught, and corrected herself "..Probably at least four hundred metras at least actually, of corridor and cargo area while at all times trying to remain undetected".
"Once we've got there, I'll deliver their little present" Harrigan explained, with a nasty grin on his face "Once that's done, we'll need to wait a while for it to take effect. That will be our most vulnerable time. If we come under attack then, Dargo, you can kill as many of the crew you like. It'll buy us more time. Once that's done, well..." he pondered "One problem at a time, I think"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Once the Harbringer broke atmosphere, they had no problem finding the Scarran ship. It positively dwarfed the other ships still present – any others nearby seemed to disappear in the shadow of its looming presence. Harrigan immediately asked the Harbringer's computer for an ID check. After almost 120 microts, it reported "No match. Previously unknown vessel type. But clearly based on the existing Scarran dreadnaught design commonly known, even though the design has been altered considerably". "Classify this type as 'superdreadnaught' until we know more about it" Harrigan decided. "Done" replied the Harbringer.
"Has it detected us?" asked Dargo. "Frell no!" replied Harrigan "This is a stealth craft. Even your Lo'la couldn't get as close us. That cloaking shield doesn't block heat signatures, only visuals and active sensor sweeps. Their sensors won't even flicker at our presence. They could get a very small heat trace if I gave it too much throttle close-in" he conceded "But that's not going to happen".
Events unfolded exactly as Harrigan had foretold. A quarter-arn later, they were only fifty metras from the hull and still not even a beep from the threat receivers. A bloom washed across the forward outline of the ship on the Harbringer's scanner screen. "Energy surge!" reported Talannah "They're powering up their forward guns!" Harrigan knew that if they managed to fire, the ground forces under Aeryn's command, and indeed all civilians not prepared to swear fealty to the Scarran Imperium, would be annihilated.
So he swung low over engine 3 on the starboard side, lowered the clamps, and locked onto the massive ship's hull over the nearest hatch they could find. "Everyone to the droproom!" Harrigan yelled, not bothering to use the interphone "Load up! Despite the fact that this is supposed to be infiltration for this leg of the mission, I want everyone to be ready to fight. That means you too, Chi!" A slight slithering noise marked Dargo sliding down the ladder and running aft. Talannah stood up more sedately and followed Harrigan as he slipped in behind him.
"Right, my little band of merry marauders" Harrigan briefed "Here we are. Everyone armed and ready, I hope?" All responded in the affirmative. Dargo had unsheathed his qualta and converted it to rifle mode. Even Chiana had remembered to bring the weaponry she had from earlier in their stay on Ithlin. "One vital point. Once we get to the aircon control, you'll all have to go onto emergency air. Make sure your bottles are charged and your suits don't leak. Dargo, you'll need to grab armour from the armoury. You can scabbard that qualta on the outside".
Harrigan scampered back to the storeroom and the barrel. The barrel was sufficiently bulky, though not sufficiently heavy, to restrict him to one sword and his Viper. He'd need his hands free, which meant carrying the barrel slung over his back in his backpack. This meant that the G8C and twin scabbards that usually went there had to be left behind. He quickly altered the shoulder harness to take the Viper and ammo under his right armpit and one sword under his left, strapping the scabbards and other sword to the side of the bag, then returned to the droproom.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Everyone done a suit integrity check?". Various replies on the line of "No problems!", "Just fine!", "All intact" came forth from the soldiers. Even Chiana's "Sealed tight. Wanna check?" had a ring of readiness about it. He activated the hatch controls and the hatch controls and the hatch irised open. Talannah chanced her override code from her time in the Deadheads – fortunately the door accepted the code without any alarms going off. Once all were inside, Harrigan shut the Harbringer's hatch and then the airlock securely.
"We're in" he whispered over the comms "From now on, silent signals only. I only know the battlesign from my own planet, and that of the Scarrans – which Talannah knows. So I hope you know Scarran hand signals". Dargo nodded, and some of Lord Aranak's NCOs did as well. "It'll have to do" groused Harrigan "We don't have time to teach you. Just don't get lost". He then moved off slowly for the nearest staircase. Talannah gave the signal for 'advance with caution' and followed with Dargo, Chiana and the rest of the troops.
They made it down one flight of stairs without encountering any resistance. At the small walkway between the first and second flight of stairs, two crewmen walked down to the next stairway. They were well equipped, armed with pulse rifles, and various other weapons and equipment stashed on their belts. Harrigan drew his Viper, and signalled Talannah to do the same. Thirty microts or so later, a muffled brrp! brrp! of Viper fire announced the death of the enemy crewmen. Returning his Viper to its holster, he ordered four of the Ithlin troops to drag the bodies over to the small store cupboard. This proved to have maintenance equipment and supplies for the Scarran variant of DRDs in it, but both of the bodies were eventually shoehorned inside. Slamming the door shut so the corpses wouldn't fall out, he ordered Talannah to take point and followed her down.
Harrigan stared almost hypnotically at Talannah's swaying figure going down the stairs before him. She turned slightly as the stairs curved in a slow circle downwards, and saw the soft smile on his face. Love you, he mouthed silently. Love you too, she mouthed back, adding an inviting smile and a slow, enticing, swing of her hips to the mix before calming down and moving off down the steps in a more businesslike manner. Ten microts later, she stopped short up against the wall and drew her swords. After teen more microts, two Scarran DRDs trundled down the corridor. Their blaster pods were open and ready. Talannah leaned over and speedily impaled one on the tip of each sword. A brief squawk of electronic protest later, the two DRDs went silent. Talannah shook them off into a nearby waste chute.
"We'll have to pick up the pace" she reported to Harrigan over a private, shielded, frequency "The destruction of those DRDs will be noticed eventually. If we haven't got to where we're going by then, we'll have more unwelcome attention than we can easily deal with and our cover is blown". Harrigan's signals directed the group down a side corridor, past what appeared to be crew quarters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- They appeared to be in pristine condition, even more so than was usual for a Scarran military vessel. They peeked inside one or two, seeing no signs of habitation, and came to the same conclusion. "Most of this ship that we've seen seems to be unoccupied" the Ithlin lieutenant reported "Even taking account of the fact that the troops are now on-planet, that should leave about 30,000 people on board. We've seen two guards and a couple of DRDs. The way I see it, either (a) this monstrosity only shipped with a partial crew, or (b) it's even bigger than we thought and the crew's all somewhere else".
Aeryn was definitely getting edgy. By now, reports of the approaching Scarran superdreadnaught had got as far as the general officer corps, and the resultant panic had affected morale quite badly already. She'd had to thump several officers, and quite a few enlisted soldiers, back into line herself; and several other officers had had to do the same. So far discipline was holding, but only just – she wished that Harrigan and his odd Scarran lady would get their end of the situation sorted out fast.
"Ma'am!" the tank's comm operator called. "Scouts report enemy reinforcements arriving!" "Type and origin?" Aeryn barked. "Heavy infantry, ma'am" he reported. "Wearing the badges of Rathlaas militia. If you lot hadn't destroyed that staging base, they'd have attacked with the first group and we'd have been toast!" "Never mind that!" she growled "What about their weapons?" The comm officer got back on the radio and contacted the scouts. Distant pulse and missile fire could be heard over the airwaves before the comm officer came back with "Heavy rifles like ours, ma'am! Backed up by semi-portable cannons and tak-7 tube launchers".
"Their Scarrans overlords have equipped them well, it seems" Aeryn mused "The only good thing about that is carrying all that weaponry will slow them down. But if they dig in, we'll never shift them. Send Lord Lorshul's raiders out to whittle them down, followed by the light armour and motorised infantry. We'll get as much as we can before they fully deploy. Pay special attention to any supply posts, especially ammo dumps and food and water caches" she ordered the relevant units once the comm officer put her through "The worse their supply situation gets, the lower their morale will be, which can only be good for us. Good hunting!"
Harrigan's squad jogged quickly down the next corridor with a definite nervous edge to them. They'd had run-ins with a couple of wandering ship's officers and one security patrol – and had barely managed to avoid a firefight in the last instance before Talannah persuaded them to leave. They were obviously getting to the outer edge of a populated portion of the ship – a Scarran-populated portion. Talannah held up her hand to stop the squad again. A five-man patrol of Scarran infantry jogged past, singing some odd Scarran marching cadence. Talannah flipped her hand forward and they followed the Scarrans down the corridor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- A couple of momens later the Scarran NCO caught on that his patrol had grown by several people. "Who's that following us?" he growled calling a halt. "We were going to be taking over from you on the next watch" Talannah replied "But the XO rousted us out of the barracks to guard the aircon control room. I heard he reckons the Kalish resistance got a couple of saboteurs on board. Patrols are being directed to certain important areas. We got aircon control". The Scarran NCO laughed. "Kalish resistance, my eema!" he laughed derisively "More likely an Ithlin assault team. Not all of them are strangled by that chivalric tradition of theirs. Though how they're going to get past the sensors, I don't know. That's the one part of ship's systems that's fully operational".
The Scarran patrol turned right at the next junction, while Harrigan's unit continued on. "Glad that's over wi—"started the corporal before they came face to face with four Scarran officers. They immediately recognised that the squad weren't Scarran and raised their guns to fire. Harrigan immediately blasted one full-pelt into the wall with an electrical blast, and kicked another in the chest, breaking several ribs. Talannah drew her swords and almost eviscerated one of the others. But the last one got on his comms, yelling "RAISE THE ALA---"before Harrigan shoved a sword through his mouth and out the back of his head. A few more microts later a harsh klaxon sounded.
"Damn!" Talannah growled "RUN! Our target should be less than a hundred metras straight ahead!" And indeed it was. But that hundred metras was starting to be occupied by more crewmen, of both Scarran and Charrid origin, than they could easily deal with. "Loud and proud, men!" Harrigan decided "They know we're here. Let's make sure it's the last thing they ever find out!" The Ithlin squad raised their scatterguns and cut loose down the corridor. Four Scarrans and six Charrids fell to the initial fusillade of hypervelocity steel cubeshot. Harrigan holstered his Viper – he knew it would be of extremely limited usefulness against Scarrans – and spent a few extra microts untying his second sword from his backpack. After swinging his arms round a couple of times to warm up, he stepped forward to battle. Swinging both swords in a whirling circle of steel death, he accounted for six Charrids and one Scarran, briefly clearing the entrance to the aircon control room. He quickly threw two of the CS grenades still strapped to his harness over to Talannah before taking up his swords again.
"Pull the pins and roll those into the room" Harrigan ordered at the same time as he was trying to fight off two Charrids. He gutted one with a sword, spilling intestines, blood, flesh, and breakfast over the floor; he kicked the other one in the crotch, giving an Ithlin trooper time to shoot him. "They're CS grenades. Incapacitating gas. Hurry up, I can't hold them for ever!" Talannah could see the truth of this. While the immediately available troops were being slowly thinned out, the ship still had a huge number of crew to call upon. Talannah and Harrigan only had ten, plus themselves – so had to move fast.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah slung both grenades into the target room. A blue-white cloud of choking gas bloomed out from the canisters, filling the room and spilling out into the corridor. "CHARGE!" yelled Harrigan, leaping into the room. Five Kalish technicians and two Scarran scientists were there. Scattergun blasts quickly pulped the Scarrans, but one of the Kalish raised a hand. Harrigan imediately loosed a high-yield blast from both arms, frying the Kalish and silencing his remaining comrades in stunned horror. "We can't take chances" Harrigan responded callously "Anyone, of any species, on board this ship could be an agent for the Captain or officers in charge. You can help us and live, or we kill you all now".
The senior remaining Kalish stepped up to Harrigan. "Be assured, whoever, WHATever you are" she replied angrily "That we do not wish to be here. We are Kalish. The Scarrans enslaved our world, and our people. We have no choice in the matter of our presence here". "I know the story" Harrigan responded brusquely "An ally of mine has a Kalish on their crew. We've heard it all. Now let's get on with it. We need to disable air filtration shipwide..." he explained, while unbuckling his bag and removing the barrel. Once he'd strapped his scabbards back on over his shoulders and resheathed his swords, he continued with "...because we're going to dump this in. High- strength nerve poison. One drop on the skin, and poof! Death in a microt or two. At least for a Sebacean or Kalish-sized target"
"Over here" the same Kalish explained, directing Harrigan and Talannah to a console. She crinkled her nose in disgust, partly because of the still dissipating cloud of CS gas but mostly because she had just realised Talannah was a Scarran. Harrigan noted the hostility, growling out "Don't even think about it...". The Kalish didn't need to look at Harrigan to know that he meant it. She pointed to a console. "These control the filtration and recycling systems for air" she explained. Then an underling pointed to a vat by the wall. "This is were we put fumigation agents into the system. It's quicker to kill any vermin on board that way than sending the DRDs after them. You can deliver your nerve agent that way. It'll take about half an arn to disperse throughout the ship – so find somewhere to hole up for a while and hope your air holds out".
Harrigan nodded at Talannah, who immediately knocked out the Kalish, with the assistance of two of the Ithlin troops. Harrigan undid the cap on the fumigation vat. It was currently empty, so he upended the whole barrel into the system, emptying it in less than fifteen microts.
Down on the planet, Lord Lorshul's raiders had returned from their third hit-and-run raid of this section of the war. "There's too many, ma'am" their commander reported "We kill many each time, but there are always many more coming up to replace them. We have to pull back under cover of the wall guns". Aeryn nodded reluctantly. The weight of enemy numbers would soon erode any advantage in firepower they might have unless they were able to be covered by the huge wall-mounted ram launchers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- She immediately got on the comm. "Back to the wall!" Aeryn ordered "Fall back by fire and movement!" The superheavy tanks immediately reversed thrust and headed back for the city. The light armour stayed where they were to cover the retreat, as did the remains of the motorised infantry, but Lord Aranak's PA troopers loped forward to clear the way. The enemy infantry formations gave chase, but not too quickly – not only were they on foot, but they were also weighed down by great amounts of heavy weaponry as well. Just as they were coming within sight of the wall, a familiar high- pitched whine came from one side. "Buggies!" came the call from Lord Aranak "Mounting tak-7 missile racks!" "Well don't just stand there taking holiday snapshots!" Aeryn yelled back "You've got guns. SHOOT THEM!!" "Absolutely, ma'am!" Lord Aranak replied, passing on the order.
The buggy drivers expected to find a bunch of slow, ponderous tanks. What they got was a bunch of heavily armed PA troopers that bounded around on their grav-packs like deranged pinballs. Every time they came down, they fired a volley of pulse fire or, occasionally, a tak-9 missile; each of these shots connected with a buggy, destroying it.
Though a miserable performance in itself, it gave time for two companies of mark-5 tanks to catch up. Eight were immediately felled by tak-9 missiles at long range, but then the mark-5's closed to gun range. "SCATTER!" yelled one NCO shortly before a direct hit from a mark-5 obliterated his suit. The remaining troopers leapt for the crew hatches on top of the turrets or just ahead of the main guns. Ripping these off with the left claw, they followed this up with a volley or two of pulse fire from their right arm cannons, which finished the crews for good. The thump of lighter guns and the whoosh of tak-9 missiles from the rear of their formation told that the enemy formations were catching up from that direction as well. The huge turrets of the Royal Guard superheavy tanks turned slowly to engage the enemy armour. This was not entirely successful – three tanks had their anti-missile systems overwhelmed by huge numbers of tak-7 missiles from infantry and buggies and were destroyed. The rest laid down a withering curtain of fire, holding back the remaining tanks, buggies, and infantry for long enough for their group to reach the safety of the wall.
Harrigan ordered Talannah to get the environment control subsystem to give the a regular progress report. Then, with Talannah leading (after all, she still had her G8C with her), the group headed towards the bridge bay way of the internal transport system. Harrigan got one of the Ithlin troops to seal both doors with his blowtorch before they moved off, boobytrapping them with shrapnel traps, in case enemy troops attempted to retake the room. Two stops down the line, Harrigan called a halt. They quickly dumped the still-comatose Kalish technicians in a nearby escape pod, set its course for Ithlin spaceport and fired it off, before returning to their train.
The further forward they went, the more crew they found. Two Ithlin troops lost their lives in skirmishes with Scarran guards before either Harrigan or Talannah could prevent it. The envirocomp reported "Fifteen momens remaining until full saturation" in Harrigan's ear, while he lopped the head off yet another Scarran while they got off the train 30 kilometras further down the ship.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "We've got five kilometras further to go, on foot!" Talannah explained to the troops, during a lull in the fighting "So we'd better get moving!" One private started moaning at the strain he was under until Talannah clipped him round the ear. He staggered from the force of the blow, then caught up with the remainder of his fellows. However, a clink of metal caused that same private to spin right round and bring up his gun. Firing off one blast straight up a Scarran trooper's left nostril, he yelled "Contact at 6 o'clock!" before firing again at one of the late Scarran's squadmates.
The corridor erupted into complete bedlam. Pulse fire and scattergun blasts flew back and forth, and the screams of the fallen rent the air. What felt like half an arn, but in reality was no more than 30 microts, later, the Ithlin troops had only lost one of their own for seven Scarrans. But they knew that this simply would not do – the Scarrans had numbers on their side, and could easily just keep throwing troops at them until they ran out of ammo if they wanted to. The Ithlin troops distributed the dead man's remaining ammo amongst themselves and stashed the body under a trolley.
"Ammo check!" called Harrigan. "Two more mags!" replied Talannah. "One only!" sang out one private. The remaining eight gave answers of between three and one mag left. "My qualta's still charged" added Dargo "but I'm not sure how long it'll last if we're fighting Scarran squads every few metras". Harrigan walked amongst the Ithlin troops and redistributed the ammo again. Then he went into a huddle with Talannah and Dargo and discussed strategy. "We're getting very bogged down" declared Dargo "If this goes on much longer we'll all be out of ammo with about two kilometras left to go. For you, Talannah, and myself this won't matter much – all three of us have swords, and you two have those Vipers as well. But the Ithlin troops only have pulse pistols – and we all know how useless they are against Scarrans".
"Into the DRD maintenance tunnels!" directed Talannah, pulling a hatch in the wall open. Harrigan wriggled into the tunnel first, followed by Talannah, then the Ithlin troops, with Dargo bringing up the rear. After he'd pulled the hatch firmly back into place. "Forward, Harrigan" urged Talannah. "Yes, love" he replied squirming down the tunnel. He had the worst problems, as his enormous shoulders scraped both sides of the tunnel. But he moved ahead surprisingly quickly anyway. One kilometra later Harrigan started fidgeting and shifting from side to side. When they came to the next wall hatch, Harrigan stuck his head out to see if anyone was around. When he didn't see or smell anyone, he slithered out of the tunnel and checked the wall signs frantically. When he'd found one he liked, he immediately beckoned the others to follow. What the frell is he up to? groused Talannah
Ten metras further down the corridor she caught on, and burst out laughing. The sight of Talannah's giggling set the others off as well, and soon the whole squad, even Dargo, was joining in. "Come on!" Harrigan pleaded "Sooner or later, even I need to clear off for relief!" "Go on, Harrigan" urged Dargo "May as well get it over with now we're here". On the way in, Harrigan met the ship's helmsman and comm officer coming out. They stared, amazed, at Harrigan's extreme size, but that didn't hold them for long. But it was long enough.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Harrigan immediately grabbed each one by their necks and banged their head together as hard as he could, cracking their skulls and knocking them out. His whistle brought the Ithlin troops running. "There's two full loadouts there" he said, pointing at the comatose officers. "Get that gear on the two guys with the least ammo left". Three momens later, a much relieved Harrigan emerged, and slumped on the floor by the doorway. "Go on guys" Harrigan decided "Best stop now. We've got four momens left before the poison cloud reaches this sector of the ship, so make it quick".
Everyone except Dargo rushed off, leaving him and Harrigan guarding the entranceway. A few microts later, three Scarran women came out of their side as fast as they could go, and didn't slow down until they were at least half way to the nearest train stop. A momen later Talannah emerged, looking and feeling much more rested. "What's with those three who just came out?" Harrigan asked "Something on fire in there or something?" "Hah!" sniggered Talannah, smoothing the collar of her uniform. "They took one look at my uniform and decided they had pressing business elsewhere. Judging by the way they took off, they won't stop until they reach auxiliary steering control, or maybe the aft freezers".
"They won't" Harrigan stated with an air of finality. "The cloud achieved lethal saturation in the aft sections first. We've got..." he consulted Talannah's suit chronometer "...Frell!...Just less than a momen to get as close to the bridge as possible. If we're not within three microts distance of the bridge when the last crewman dies, they'll lock the bridge down and I won't be able to smash the door in before you're all dead. That" he said emphatically, drawing Talannah close for a kiss and cuddle, "Will never do". "If I'm right..." Talannah mused out loud, breaking the embrace "A straight-line dash 120 metras that way, reaches the bridge security station. We won't get past it before critical saturation, but that should be close enough". The Ithlin troops were rapidly reaching the end of their capabilities – the were fast approaching complete exhaustion. Apart from Harrigan, only Dargo and Talannah could still move at speed.
"Right" growled Talannah "Time for some old-fashioned Scarran-style motivation, I think". "Not too hard" cautioned Harrigan "We still need these guys for the bridge assault. The bridge crew will be too much for me, you, and Dargo to kill quick". "Right!" she growled again, picking up a short whip off the belt of one of the still-slumbering officers. After cracking it barely a tenth-henta over a trooper's head, she started yelling in no uncertain terms in her native language to get moving. The Ithlin squad picked up speed quickly after that. One of the privates looked like he was going to drop, but when Talannah cracked the whip smartly across his butt he rose almost three hentae off the floor and sped up so fast he almost left skid marks on the floor. A little less than the allotted time later, they reached the security station. Automated systems had not yet locked the bridge down, so the two elevators were still operational. Harrigan pointed at Talannah, who raised her G8C and swept a burst of suppressed autofire across the two guards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah directed half the Ithlin troops to head off across to the secondary lift with Dargo, and the other half, including the lieutenant to head up the primary lift with her and Harrigan. Two microts after the lift doors had close and the lifts themselves started the short trip to the bridge, the lockdown warnings sounded. The elevators immediately stopped where they were. "What the frell's going on?!" Talannah yelled at the elevator comm at the bridge crew. "We get to the guard station to relieve the midwatch shift. The midwatch shift is dead. Just after we get in the lift to come up and tell you, some son-of-a-brindz hound stops these frelling elevators!" "Pipe down!" came a voice with real authority "Lockdown procedures due to enemy action have been initiated. We'll just check your lot over the cameras, and then let you up". "Yes, Captain" Talannah responded. "Won't take long" that individual replied.
Talannah immediately reactivated her antisurveillance unit. Not a microt too soon – the cameras started sweeping over the elevator's insides, attempting to scan the passengers. Thanks to Talannah's little black box, they were unable to report back to the security station on the bridge. "The cameras don't seem to be working" replied someone who sounded like a security officer. "Since our chief helm officer hasn't checked in, we can't take chances. You'll have to stay there". "One of my group is a trained helmsman, you incompetent clod!" Talannah screamed back "Let us up, or you'll answer to my superiors! Who are in a really bad mood right now, I can tell you!"
On the bridge, the duty security officer turned to the Captain. "Whoever that woman is, she says she's got a helm-qualified officer with her" he said "Should we let her up?" The Captain turned to another of his bridge crew, saying "Comms? You have something to say?" "I say not. Lockdown procedures are clear – no one goes anywhere". "But without a helmsman" added the nav officer "this ship goes nowhere. None of us are trained helmsmen. Even our Captain came up through the EW branch of the naval command. We need a helmsman". "Guns" asked the Captain "Can we at leat fire one volley on the walls before we need to reorient the ship?"
The gunnery officer scratched his head, and eventually said "Yes. But one volley only. Planetary rotation will take us out of range, even at low orbit, for another volley unless the ship can be moved". "Give that one volley" the Captain ordered "Punch a hole in the city wall big enough for the tanks to enter. Then we let this bunch up here".
Down below, the superheavies had reached the wall. With the lighter forces arrayed around them, Aeryn radioed for fire support from the wall guns. In the gun pits, the Scarran A-Team immediately blew the power cables to this sector's wall defences. "Frell!" the civil defence officers screamed "Power's down! We can't get ammo up, or launch what we have! Backup's dead as well!"
"Time to go!" urged the A-Team leader. The others needed no encouragement – citizen's militia troops were already combing the area, and would soon find them. Though they could easily kill many times their own number of militia troops, their officers had home-ground advantage and would soon call in more firepower than they could deal with. They team scuttled out on their memorised E&E route, emerging several streets closer to the town centre behind a public bathhouse covered in sewage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Sabotage!" Aeryn growled. Then she got on the comm back to the civil defence officers. "Get engineers down there and repair the cables. We need those guns on line NOW!"
But this was not to be. A hissing sound, a felling of blasted air, and then several blasts from the three forward plasma cannons on the orbiting Scarran superdreadnaught atomised several hundred metras of wall, and everything and everyone within thirty metras either side – including all the wall guns. Fifteen Royal Guard superheavies were lost. Forty vehicles from the light armour units followed their larger comrades into oblivion, as did ten of Lord Brathal's IFV's – but only two of Lord Lorshul's raiders. "Those mates of yours better get their asses in gear" growled the officer in command of the Royal Guard armour "Because if that titanic monstrosity in orbit opens fire again there'll be nothing left to save!"
Aeryn zeroed in on the offending Colonel. "Perhaps you would rather be court-martialled for your defeatist mutterings?!" she growled angrily back at him "Because if I hear of one more remark like that, you will be!" She squared her shoulders, calmed down just a little, and called the civil defence officers again. "Deploy the citizen's militia. If we can't restore power to the guns, we'll need them. It'll be hard, close and nasty – but your people are fighting for their homes, which should give them an edge". Whether it'll be enough, who knows? Aeryn thought to herself. Harrigan, get that ship off our backs and we may just get out of this thing alive!
In the marshalling areas, sirens wailed. Old, retired soldiers, now officers in the militias, plus those others in command positions, yelled and booted their squads into sandbag bunkers and upper floor buildings. Several units deployed heavy weapons on street corners as well, in anticipation of approaching armour and heavy infantry. Outside, the armour was slowly being driven back behind the walls by sheer weight of numbers. Aeryn grabbed her rifle and leapt out of the tank and joined one of the units holed up in the ground floor of what had been a baker's shop. Now it had a tak-7 missile team and nine rifle troops garrisoned in it. She opened up-the militia command frequencies, and addressed her troops.
"This is Sub-Commander Sun" she stated "The enemy is coming. Conserve your ammo – do not blindly spray the street. Only shoot at what you can hit. Missile crews – go for the heavy armour as soon as it crawls over the rubble. With any luck, we may block the breaches, at leat temporarily, with enemy tank hulks. It'll cost the time and lives to clear the breaches again" Lord Brathal's motorised infantry and the Royal Guard heavy infantry had dismounted and had dug themselves in to assist their less well- trained militia counterparts. These veteran troops, and especially the officers were much appreciated and increased morale amongst the militias noticeably just by their presence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- The A-Team dodged from building to building, sticking to the shadows and alleyways until they came to their second safehouse, close by the palace. Once inside, they grabbed a hurried meal and collapsed, exhausted, onto various chairs and couches. The recon specialist powered up their comm gear in case further orders were forthcoming, then went to sleep in his chair. The demo specialist couldn't sleep, so took point at the house's front window. All the others grabbed some much-needed rest.
Back on the superdread, the gunnery officer reported that the target area was now out of range. "We'll need that helm officer out of the elevator, Sir" commented the gunnery officer "if you want me to give any more fire support". The Captain flicked his left hand at his security officer, who re-established power to the lifts. "Almost there..." whispered Harrigan excitedly "Dargo" he ordered over a shielded frequency "Stand ready!" A Luxan war-curse was his reply. "I see Dargo's got the proper attitude already" Harrigan said happily. Then he turned to his own troops "We have to hit hard and fast" he briefed them "Whatever you do, DON'T MISS! Those bridge officers won't give you a second chance. They WILL have weapons close by, and may have some troops in there as well. Tal, it'll probably be down to us in close to finish the job. Feel up to it?" She knuckled him on the shoulder, saying "Always, dear. Always!" and finishing off with a happy growl. A 'ting!' from the elevator announced their arrival. "Switch it off!" hissed Harrigan. Talannah immediately shut her antisurveillance unit off.
A howl of rage from Dargo announced that his troops had entered the fray. "GRAK TA'HAA!!" yelled Harrigan, and led his men at a dead run for the Captain's command chair. In addition to the bridge officers, six Scarran security officers were present as well. The Captain instantly understood Harrigan's cry in Old Scarran, muttering "It's been cycles since anyone's heard the old language spoken", then shouting out "Repel boarders!". The security officers on Harrigan's side ducked down behind the helm station and opened fire. Harrigan decided to let his carapace take the punishment, which it did (though only just, and it really hurt too). Straightening up, he laughed spitefully at them, which only enraged them further. "Is that all you've got?!" he taunted "Perhaps you'd like some of this?" drawing both swords. "Kill the officers, but don't damage any equipment. I want it intact!" he ordered the Ithlin troops, who leapt into action with enthusiasm.
Dargo was glad to be in the front line again. His opening shots had killed two security troops, and those of the Ithlin troops had accounted for the officers on the comm station. He quickly returned his qualta to sword mode and followed Harrigan's example, leaping into action while yelling all manner of Luxan curses at his enemies. An "Aaargh!" marked the death of the engineering officer by two scattergun blasts on low power. Three Ithlin troops were killed by fire from the gunnery and security officers' rifles before the could get out of the way. This only urged Harrigan on. Talannah fired a burst from her Viper straight into the right eye of the XO, while Harrigan grabbed Captain and hurled him to the floor. "CEASE AND DESIST!" Harrigan ordered, standing with one foot on the floor, the other planted firmly on the Captain's chest and his swords in his hands. "Bring those surviving officers here!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Only one nav officer and the security officer were still left alive – they were disarmed and dragged down by the bloodied but functional Ithlin troops. One booted the Scarran gunnery officer in the ribs after he dumped him on the floor. He drew back his boot for another kick but Talannah shoved him aside. "Harrigan commands!" she yelled "He determines punishment, not you!"
"I'm sure that the Ithlin commanders down below would want to interrogate and torture you a bit" Harrigan told his captives "Well, hard cheese to them. You have one choice, and one only. Pledge your allegiance to Ithlin's king, or be executed here on the bridge. What say you?"
"And what about you?" spat the gunnery officer "You slaughtered our crew by poison gas. That would get you charged with serious offences by many cultures". "Well, they aren't here, or in command. I have been placed in command by the king of all Ithlin's armies and defences until you are repelled from this world. I am in command. This ship is now mine"
"I will be DEAD before I see this ship commanded by a non-Scarran!" he yelled with as much dignity as he could muster. Then he noticed Talannah standing beside Harrigan, and snickered nastily. "A Deadhead. I should have known. A bigger bunch of two-faced, double-dealing fekk faces doesn't exist in the whole of known space!" He drew breath to continue, but Harrigan shut him down. "Be careful what you say about my "he added the Scarran word for 'matchless one', which caused Talannah's arms to tighten happily around Harrigan's waist "or your death will be a traitor's death – slow and painful; instead of a warrior's death – quick and merciful".
The Captain looked at Harrigan in surprise. It was difficult to tell what surprised him more – that Harrigan actually knew that word, or that he actually applied it to a Scarran female, when he himself was not Scarran. "You do know what that word means , don't you? And it's degree of emphasis? "he probed. Harrigan and Talannah gazed into each other's eyes for a microt or two, before she wrapped her arms around him and leaned against him. He sheathed his right sword, wrapping that arms around Talannah's waist, before he responded. "Yes, Captain" he replied "I do. Both from my own knowledge, and because my love has explained the word to me herself". The Captain saw this for himself just in their body language, and grunted "Do what you will , then".
Harrigan nodded at Dargo who quickly sliced the gunnery officer's neck off with his qualta. Talannah stabbed the nav officer through the left ear with a shortsword, and Harrigan himself decapitated the Captain. "Do a full systems check, Tal, dear" Harrigan ordered "I want to see just what we've got here, and how much of it works. Dargo, get on the engineering console and get the scrubbers and DRDs to get the Taunt residue cleaned up. Space the bodies. You" he directed the Ithlin lieutenant "will immediately establish contact with Sub-Commander Sun and King Torthil so I can advise them of our change in fortunes".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- The ship's computer came online, saying "Have I been assigned an official Captain?". Harrigan gestured for silence, replying with "What is the current situation? Are you under command of the War Minister yet?". The computer immediately replied "No. This ship is a test article, built by the navy. No official Captain was assigned, nor command authority detailed, nor was this ship even given a name. Are you here to do this?"
Harrigan pondered just how he was going to do this. After all those B- grade movies back on base, on rotten screens and rainy nights, here am I with my own interstellar warship! "Yes I am. Though you may be a little surprised at the outcome" he addressed the ship's AI. "I am Commander Harrigan. I am both owner and Captain of this ship now. Sub-Commander Talannah" he added, drawing her to him "is first officer. You may take orders from her also. As for the name..." he mulled that over for several momens. After discarding several possibilities, including the 'Jolly Roger', he finally made a choice. "Captain?" prompted the AI. Harrigan smiled at that, then revealed his choice.
"This ship is hereby named the ESV Cry Havoc!" he yelled out loud "May it bring terror to our enemies and sanctuary to our allies!" Wild cheers broke out over the bridge of the newly-acquired superdread, until Harrigan remembered that his Harbringer was still latched onto the outer hull. "Open the nearest fighter bay to the bridge" he directed the Cry Havoc. "and activate a landing beacon. Tal" he ordered "Put me through to the Harbringer, so I can bring it in on automatic". "Yes, Captain" she replied proudly, adding a salute. Harrigan's only reply was a soft smile.
Fifteen microts later, the Ithlin lieutenant reported in. "Both Sub- Commander Sun and King Torthil are waiting, Captain" he revealed. Harrigan lowered himself into the helmsman's chair, and ordered "On screen" to the computer. One high quality image came from the palace war room; and one grainy one from a field comm unit. "I take it you mission was successful?" the king asked wearily. Several troops in the uniform of Lord Aranak's special operations units could be seen in the war room as well. "More so than I could have hoped" Harrigan replied "The ship is now under my direct ownership and command, King Torthil". The king was just about to congratulate him when Aeryn cut in. "Perhaps you could prove it, Harrigan?" she asked, flustered. "We're under heavy attack here! I'm taking heavy losses in the militia units here. Only the presence of Lord Aranak's PA units and Lord Brathal's infantry, plus the Royal Guard troops, keeps our lines steady so far. I'm not sure how long we can hold. I've had to order the tanks to return to base – they're useless inside the walls".
"On the way, Aeryn" Harrigan replied One helping of burning doom, extra large, coming right up". Then he cut both calls and turned to Talannah. "Get to the gunnery desk and bring the forward guns online" he ordered happily "I don't want anything left of that Charrid mechanised force bigger than a grain of sand".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
While the Ithlin troops settled themselves, Harrigan and his friends were discussing the best way of infiltrating the Scarran ship over the interphone. Since neither Aeryn nor Crichton were with him this time, he'd stationed Dargo in the upper gun turret; when they'd met up with Chiana again at the spaceport, she rushed on board and stationed herself in the tailgunner's turret where she was before.
"We'll have be very, very quiet once we're on board" Talannah cautioned them "Dreadnaughts have a crew capacity roughly the same as a Command Carrier – about 40-50,000. We must avoid confrontation if at all possible. No, Dargo!" she barked, at his snort of disgust "We can't just kill them. There's far too many, even on the route we'll use! Anyway, even you would start slowing down after you'd killed ten or so". "Besides..." Harrigan explained "Why should we tire ourselves killing the Scarran crew when I've got a little something in the back room that'll do that for us?"
"Why not just destroy the ship?" asked Chiana, surprised "Blow the reactor complex, bolt for our ship, and leave. Hmmm?" Talannah started this one. "Your courage does you credit, young Nebari" she replied "But the reactor complex will be the most heavily fortified and guarded part of the ship. Even more so than the bridge. Plus the air filtration junction is in a different direction in any case. Why we're going there, though..." Talannah wondered "I still don't know". "Because we're going to give them a little present" Harrigan revealed "I don't think they'll like it much, but that doesn't matter. I want them to have it. A little first-contact present to the Hierarchy from the people of Earth, just to show what we think of them".
Talannah was becoming more accustomed to her lover's moods and expressions by now, and if she was any judge of the expression currently plastered on his face then mass carnage would probably be involved at some stage. "We'll fly low over the hull from dead aft and clamp down over one of the starboard hatches nearer the engineering sections. Then we sneak and skulk our way over two decks and a couple of hundred metras or so..." Then Talannah remembered the size difference between this ship and a normal dreadnaught, and corrected herself "..Probably at least four hundred metras at least actually, of corridor and cargo area while at all times trying to remain undetected".
"Once we've got there, I'll deliver their little present" Harrigan explained, with a nasty grin on his face "Once that's done, we'll need to wait a while for it to take effect. That will be our most vulnerable time. If we come under attack then, Dargo, you can kill as many of the crew you like. It'll buy us more time. Once that's done, well..." he pondered "One problem at a time, I think"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Once the Harbringer broke atmosphere, they had no problem finding the Scarran ship. It positively dwarfed the other ships still present – any others nearby seemed to disappear in the shadow of its looming presence. Harrigan immediately asked the Harbringer's computer for an ID check. After almost 120 microts, it reported "No match. Previously unknown vessel type. But clearly based on the existing Scarran dreadnaught design commonly known, even though the design has been altered considerably". "Classify this type as 'superdreadnaught' until we know more about it" Harrigan decided. "Done" replied the Harbringer.
"Has it detected us?" asked Dargo. "Frell no!" replied Harrigan "This is a stealth craft. Even your Lo'la couldn't get as close us. That cloaking shield doesn't block heat signatures, only visuals and active sensor sweeps. Their sensors won't even flicker at our presence. They could get a very small heat trace if I gave it too much throttle close-in" he conceded "But that's not going to happen".
Events unfolded exactly as Harrigan had foretold. A quarter-arn later, they were only fifty metras from the hull and still not even a beep from the threat receivers. A bloom washed across the forward outline of the ship on the Harbringer's scanner screen. "Energy surge!" reported Talannah "They're powering up their forward guns!" Harrigan knew that if they managed to fire, the ground forces under Aeryn's command, and indeed all civilians not prepared to swear fealty to the Scarran Imperium, would be annihilated.
So he swung low over engine 3 on the starboard side, lowered the clamps, and locked onto the massive ship's hull over the nearest hatch they could find. "Everyone to the droproom!" Harrigan yelled, not bothering to use the interphone "Load up! Despite the fact that this is supposed to be infiltration for this leg of the mission, I want everyone to be ready to fight. That means you too, Chi!" A slight slithering noise marked Dargo sliding down the ladder and running aft. Talannah stood up more sedately and followed Harrigan as he slipped in behind him.
"Right, my little band of merry marauders" Harrigan briefed "Here we are. Everyone armed and ready, I hope?" All responded in the affirmative. Dargo had unsheathed his qualta and converted it to rifle mode. Even Chiana had remembered to bring the weaponry she had from earlier in their stay on Ithlin. "One vital point. Once we get to the aircon control, you'll all have to go onto emergency air. Make sure your bottles are charged and your suits don't leak. Dargo, you'll need to grab armour from the armoury. You can scabbard that qualta on the outside".
Harrigan scampered back to the storeroom and the barrel. The barrel was sufficiently bulky, though not sufficiently heavy, to restrict him to one sword and his Viper. He'd need his hands free, which meant carrying the barrel slung over his back in his backpack. This meant that the G8C and twin scabbards that usually went there had to be left behind. He quickly altered the shoulder harness to take the Viper and ammo under his right armpit and one sword under his left, strapping the scabbards and other sword to the side of the bag, then returned to the droproom.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Everyone done a suit integrity check?". Various replies on the line of "No problems!", "Just fine!", "All intact" came forth from the soldiers. Even Chiana's "Sealed tight. Wanna check?" had a ring of readiness about it. He activated the hatch controls and the hatch controls and the hatch irised open. Talannah chanced her override code from her time in the Deadheads – fortunately the door accepted the code without any alarms going off. Once all were inside, Harrigan shut the Harbringer's hatch and then the airlock securely.
"We're in" he whispered over the comms "From now on, silent signals only. I only know the battlesign from my own planet, and that of the Scarrans – which Talannah knows. So I hope you know Scarran hand signals". Dargo nodded, and some of Lord Aranak's NCOs did as well. "It'll have to do" groused Harrigan "We don't have time to teach you. Just don't get lost". He then moved off slowly for the nearest staircase. Talannah gave the signal for 'advance with caution' and followed with Dargo, Chiana and the rest of the troops.
They made it down one flight of stairs without encountering any resistance. At the small walkway between the first and second flight of stairs, two crewmen walked down to the next stairway. They were well equipped, armed with pulse rifles, and various other weapons and equipment stashed on their belts. Harrigan drew his Viper, and signalled Talannah to do the same. Thirty microts or so later, a muffled brrp! brrp! of Viper fire announced the death of the enemy crewmen. Returning his Viper to its holster, he ordered four of the Ithlin troops to drag the bodies over to the small store cupboard. This proved to have maintenance equipment and supplies for the Scarran variant of DRDs in it, but both of the bodies were eventually shoehorned inside. Slamming the door shut so the corpses wouldn't fall out, he ordered Talannah to take point and followed her down.
Harrigan stared almost hypnotically at Talannah's swaying figure going down the stairs before him. She turned slightly as the stairs curved in a slow circle downwards, and saw the soft smile on his face. Love you, he mouthed silently. Love you too, she mouthed back, adding an inviting smile and a slow, enticing, swing of her hips to the mix before calming down and moving off down the steps in a more businesslike manner. Ten microts later, she stopped short up against the wall and drew her swords. After teen more microts, two Scarran DRDs trundled down the corridor. Their blaster pods were open and ready. Talannah leaned over and speedily impaled one on the tip of each sword. A brief squawk of electronic protest later, the two DRDs went silent. Talannah shook them off into a nearby waste chute.
"We'll have to pick up the pace" she reported to Harrigan over a private, shielded, frequency "The destruction of those DRDs will be noticed eventually. If we haven't got to where we're going by then, we'll have more unwelcome attention than we can easily deal with and our cover is blown". Harrigan's signals directed the group down a side corridor, past what appeared to be crew quarters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- They appeared to be in pristine condition, even more so than was usual for a Scarran military vessel. They peeked inside one or two, seeing no signs of habitation, and came to the same conclusion. "Most of this ship that we've seen seems to be unoccupied" the Ithlin lieutenant reported "Even taking account of the fact that the troops are now on-planet, that should leave about 30,000 people on board. We've seen two guards and a couple of DRDs. The way I see it, either (a) this monstrosity only shipped with a partial crew, or (b) it's even bigger than we thought and the crew's all somewhere else".
Aeryn was definitely getting edgy. By now, reports of the approaching Scarran superdreadnaught had got as far as the general officer corps, and the resultant panic had affected morale quite badly already. She'd had to thump several officers, and quite a few enlisted soldiers, back into line herself; and several other officers had had to do the same. So far discipline was holding, but only just – she wished that Harrigan and his odd Scarran lady would get their end of the situation sorted out fast.
"Ma'am!" the tank's comm operator called. "Scouts report enemy reinforcements arriving!" "Type and origin?" Aeryn barked. "Heavy infantry, ma'am" he reported. "Wearing the badges of Rathlaas militia. If you lot hadn't destroyed that staging base, they'd have attacked with the first group and we'd have been toast!" "Never mind that!" she growled "What about their weapons?" The comm officer got back on the radio and contacted the scouts. Distant pulse and missile fire could be heard over the airwaves before the comm officer came back with "Heavy rifles like ours, ma'am! Backed up by semi-portable cannons and tak-7 tube launchers".
"Their Scarrans overlords have equipped them well, it seems" Aeryn mused "The only good thing about that is carrying all that weaponry will slow them down. But if they dig in, we'll never shift them. Send Lord Lorshul's raiders out to whittle them down, followed by the light armour and motorised infantry. We'll get as much as we can before they fully deploy. Pay special attention to any supply posts, especially ammo dumps and food and water caches" she ordered the relevant units once the comm officer put her through "The worse their supply situation gets, the lower their morale will be, which can only be good for us. Good hunting!"
Harrigan's squad jogged quickly down the next corridor with a definite nervous edge to them. They'd had run-ins with a couple of wandering ship's officers and one security patrol – and had barely managed to avoid a firefight in the last instance before Talannah persuaded them to leave. They were obviously getting to the outer edge of a populated portion of the ship – a Scarran-populated portion. Talannah held up her hand to stop the squad again. A five-man patrol of Scarran infantry jogged past, singing some odd Scarran marching cadence. Talannah flipped her hand forward and they followed the Scarrans down the corridor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- A couple of momens later the Scarran NCO caught on that his patrol had grown by several people. "Who's that following us?" he growled calling a halt. "We were going to be taking over from you on the next watch" Talannah replied "But the XO rousted us out of the barracks to guard the aircon control room. I heard he reckons the Kalish resistance got a couple of saboteurs on board. Patrols are being directed to certain important areas. We got aircon control". The Scarran NCO laughed. "Kalish resistance, my eema!" he laughed derisively "More likely an Ithlin assault team. Not all of them are strangled by that chivalric tradition of theirs. Though how they're going to get past the sensors, I don't know. That's the one part of ship's systems that's fully operational".
The Scarran patrol turned right at the next junction, while Harrigan's unit continued on. "Glad that's over wi—"started the corporal before they came face to face with four Scarran officers. They immediately recognised that the squad weren't Scarran and raised their guns to fire. Harrigan immediately blasted one full-pelt into the wall with an electrical blast, and kicked another in the chest, breaking several ribs. Talannah drew her swords and almost eviscerated one of the others. But the last one got on his comms, yelling "RAISE THE ALA---"before Harrigan shoved a sword through his mouth and out the back of his head. A few more microts later a harsh klaxon sounded.
"Damn!" Talannah growled "RUN! Our target should be less than a hundred metras straight ahead!" And indeed it was. But that hundred metras was starting to be occupied by more crewmen, of both Scarran and Charrid origin, than they could easily deal with. "Loud and proud, men!" Harrigan decided "They know we're here. Let's make sure it's the last thing they ever find out!" The Ithlin squad raised their scatterguns and cut loose down the corridor. Four Scarrans and six Charrids fell to the initial fusillade of hypervelocity steel cubeshot. Harrigan holstered his Viper – he knew it would be of extremely limited usefulness against Scarrans – and spent a few extra microts untying his second sword from his backpack. After swinging his arms round a couple of times to warm up, he stepped forward to battle. Swinging both swords in a whirling circle of steel death, he accounted for six Charrids and one Scarran, briefly clearing the entrance to the aircon control room. He quickly threw two of the CS grenades still strapped to his harness over to Talannah before taking up his swords again.
"Pull the pins and roll those into the room" Harrigan ordered at the same time as he was trying to fight off two Charrids. He gutted one with a sword, spilling intestines, blood, flesh, and breakfast over the floor; he kicked the other one in the crotch, giving an Ithlin trooper time to shoot him. "They're CS grenades. Incapacitating gas. Hurry up, I can't hold them for ever!" Talannah could see the truth of this. While the immediately available troops were being slowly thinned out, the ship still had a huge number of crew to call upon. Talannah and Harrigan only had ten, plus themselves – so had to move fast.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah slung both grenades into the target room. A blue-white cloud of choking gas bloomed out from the canisters, filling the room and spilling out into the corridor. "CHARGE!" yelled Harrigan, leaping into the room. Five Kalish technicians and two Scarran scientists were there. Scattergun blasts quickly pulped the Scarrans, but one of the Kalish raised a hand. Harrigan imediately loosed a high-yield blast from both arms, frying the Kalish and silencing his remaining comrades in stunned horror. "We can't take chances" Harrigan responded callously "Anyone, of any species, on board this ship could be an agent for the Captain or officers in charge. You can help us and live, or we kill you all now".
The senior remaining Kalish stepped up to Harrigan. "Be assured, whoever, WHATever you are" she replied angrily "That we do not wish to be here. We are Kalish. The Scarrans enslaved our world, and our people. We have no choice in the matter of our presence here". "I know the story" Harrigan responded brusquely "An ally of mine has a Kalish on their crew. We've heard it all. Now let's get on with it. We need to disable air filtration shipwide..." he explained, while unbuckling his bag and removing the barrel. Once he'd strapped his scabbards back on over his shoulders and resheathed his swords, he continued with "...because we're going to dump this in. High- strength nerve poison. One drop on the skin, and poof! Death in a microt or two. At least for a Sebacean or Kalish-sized target"
"Over here" the same Kalish explained, directing Harrigan and Talannah to a console. She crinkled her nose in disgust, partly because of the still dissipating cloud of CS gas but mostly because she had just realised Talannah was a Scarran. Harrigan noted the hostility, growling out "Don't even think about it...". The Kalish didn't need to look at Harrigan to know that he meant it. She pointed to a console. "These control the filtration and recycling systems for air" she explained. Then an underling pointed to a vat by the wall. "This is were we put fumigation agents into the system. It's quicker to kill any vermin on board that way than sending the DRDs after them. You can deliver your nerve agent that way. It'll take about half an arn to disperse throughout the ship – so find somewhere to hole up for a while and hope your air holds out".
Harrigan nodded at Talannah, who immediately knocked out the Kalish, with the assistance of two of the Ithlin troops. Harrigan undid the cap on the fumigation vat. It was currently empty, so he upended the whole barrel into the system, emptying it in less than fifteen microts.
Down on the planet, Lord Lorshul's raiders had returned from their third hit-and-run raid of this section of the war. "There's too many, ma'am" their commander reported "We kill many each time, but there are always many more coming up to replace them. We have to pull back under cover of the wall guns". Aeryn nodded reluctantly. The weight of enemy numbers would soon erode any advantage in firepower they might have unless they were able to be covered by the huge wall-mounted ram launchers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- She immediately got on the comm. "Back to the wall!" Aeryn ordered "Fall back by fire and movement!" The superheavy tanks immediately reversed thrust and headed back for the city. The light armour stayed where they were to cover the retreat, as did the remains of the motorised infantry, but Lord Aranak's PA troopers loped forward to clear the way. The enemy infantry formations gave chase, but not too quickly – not only were they on foot, but they were also weighed down by great amounts of heavy weaponry as well. Just as they were coming within sight of the wall, a familiar high- pitched whine came from one side. "Buggies!" came the call from Lord Aranak "Mounting tak-7 missile racks!" "Well don't just stand there taking holiday snapshots!" Aeryn yelled back "You've got guns. SHOOT THEM!!" "Absolutely, ma'am!" Lord Aranak replied, passing on the order.
The buggy drivers expected to find a bunch of slow, ponderous tanks. What they got was a bunch of heavily armed PA troopers that bounded around on their grav-packs like deranged pinballs. Every time they came down, they fired a volley of pulse fire or, occasionally, a tak-9 missile; each of these shots connected with a buggy, destroying it.
Though a miserable performance in itself, it gave time for two companies of mark-5 tanks to catch up. Eight were immediately felled by tak-9 missiles at long range, but then the mark-5's closed to gun range. "SCATTER!" yelled one NCO shortly before a direct hit from a mark-5 obliterated his suit. The remaining troopers leapt for the crew hatches on top of the turrets or just ahead of the main guns. Ripping these off with the left claw, they followed this up with a volley or two of pulse fire from their right arm cannons, which finished the crews for good. The thump of lighter guns and the whoosh of tak-9 missiles from the rear of their formation told that the enemy formations were catching up from that direction as well. The huge turrets of the Royal Guard superheavy tanks turned slowly to engage the enemy armour. This was not entirely successful – three tanks had their anti-missile systems overwhelmed by huge numbers of tak-7 missiles from infantry and buggies and were destroyed. The rest laid down a withering curtain of fire, holding back the remaining tanks, buggies, and infantry for long enough for their group to reach the safety of the wall.
Harrigan ordered Talannah to get the environment control subsystem to give the a regular progress report. Then, with Talannah leading (after all, she still had her G8C with her), the group headed towards the bridge bay way of the internal transport system. Harrigan got one of the Ithlin troops to seal both doors with his blowtorch before they moved off, boobytrapping them with shrapnel traps, in case enemy troops attempted to retake the room. Two stops down the line, Harrigan called a halt. They quickly dumped the still-comatose Kalish technicians in a nearby escape pod, set its course for Ithlin spaceport and fired it off, before returning to their train.
The further forward they went, the more crew they found. Two Ithlin troops lost their lives in skirmishes with Scarran guards before either Harrigan or Talannah could prevent it. The envirocomp reported "Fifteen momens remaining until full saturation" in Harrigan's ear, while he lopped the head off yet another Scarran while they got off the train 30 kilometras further down the ship.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "We've got five kilometras further to go, on foot!" Talannah explained to the troops, during a lull in the fighting "So we'd better get moving!" One private started moaning at the strain he was under until Talannah clipped him round the ear. He staggered from the force of the blow, then caught up with the remainder of his fellows. However, a clink of metal caused that same private to spin right round and bring up his gun. Firing off one blast straight up a Scarran trooper's left nostril, he yelled "Contact at 6 o'clock!" before firing again at one of the late Scarran's squadmates.
The corridor erupted into complete bedlam. Pulse fire and scattergun blasts flew back and forth, and the screams of the fallen rent the air. What felt like half an arn, but in reality was no more than 30 microts, later, the Ithlin troops had only lost one of their own for seven Scarrans. But they knew that this simply would not do – the Scarrans had numbers on their side, and could easily just keep throwing troops at them until they ran out of ammo if they wanted to. The Ithlin troops distributed the dead man's remaining ammo amongst themselves and stashed the body under a trolley.
"Ammo check!" called Harrigan. "Two more mags!" replied Talannah. "One only!" sang out one private. The remaining eight gave answers of between three and one mag left. "My qualta's still charged" added Dargo "but I'm not sure how long it'll last if we're fighting Scarran squads every few metras". Harrigan walked amongst the Ithlin troops and redistributed the ammo again. Then he went into a huddle with Talannah and Dargo and discussed strategy. "We're getting very bogged down" declared Dargo "If this goes on much longer we'll all be out of ammo with about two kilometras left to go. For you, Talannah, and myself this won't matter much – all three of us have swords, and you two have those Vipers as well. But the Ithlin troops only have pulse pistols – and we all know how useless they are against Scarrans".
"Into the DRD maintenance tunnels!" directed Talannah, pulling a hatch in the wall open. Harrigan wriggled into the tunnel first, followed by Talannah, then the Ithlin troops, with Dargo bringing up the rear. After he'd pulled the hatch firmly back into place. "Forward, Harrigan" urged Talannah. "Yes, love" he replied squirming down the tunnel. He had the worst problems, as his enormous shoulders scraped both sides of the tunnel. But he moved ahead surprisingly quickly anyway. One kilometra later Harrigan started fidgeting and shifting from side to side. When they came to the next wall hatch, Harrigan stuck his head out to see if anyone was around. When he didn't see or smell anyone, he slithered out of the tunnel and checked the wall signs frantically. When he'd found one he liked, he immediately beckoned the others to follow. What the frell is he up to? groused Talannah
Ten metras further down the corridor she caught on, and burst out laughing. The sight of Talannah's giggling set the others off as well, and soon the whole squad, even Dargo, was joining in. "Come on!" Harrigan pleaded "Sooner or later, even I need to clear off for relief!" "Go on, Harrigan" urged Dargo "May as well get it over with now we're here". On the way in, Harrigan met the ship's helmsman and comm officer coming out. They stared, amazed, at Harrigan's extreme size, but that didn't hold them for long. But it was long enough.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Harrigan immediately grabbed each one by their necks and banged their head together as hard as he could, cracking their skulls and knocking them out. His whistle brought the Ithlin troops running. "There's two full loadouts there" he said, pointing at the comatose officers. "Get that gear on the two guys with the least ammo left". Three momens later, a much relieved Harrigan emerged, and slumped on the floor by the doorway. "Go on guys" Harrigan decided "Best stop now. We've got four momens left before the poison cloud reaches this sector of the ship, so make it quick".
Everyone except Dargo rushed off, leaving him and Harrigan guarding the entranceway. A few microts later, three Scarran women came out of their side as fast as they could go, and didn't slow down until they were at least half way to the nearest train stop. A momen later Talannah emerged, looking and feeling much more rested. "What's with those three who just came out?" Harrigan asked "Something on fire in there or something?" "Hah!" sniggered Talannah, smoothing the collar of her uniform. "They took one look at my uniform and decided they had pressing business elsewhere. Judging by the way they took off, they won't stop until they reach auxiliary steering control, or maybe the aft freezers".
"They won't" Harrigan stated with an air of finality. "The cloud achieved lethal saturation in the aft sections first. We've got..." he consulted Talannah's suit chronometer "...Frell!...Just less than a momen to get as close to the bridge as possible. If we're not within three microts distance of the bridge when the last crewman dies, they'll lock the bridge down and I won't be able to smash the door in before you're all dead. That" he said emphatically, drawing Talannah close for a kiss and cuddle, "Will never do". "If I'm right..." Talannah mused out loud, breaking the embrace "A straight-line dash 120 metras that way, reaches the bridge security station. We won't get past it before critical saturation, but that should be close enough". The Ithlin troops were rapidly reaching the end of their capabilities – the were fast approaching complete exhaustion. Apart from Harrigan, only Dargo and Talannah could still move at speed.
"Right" growled Talannah "Time for some old-fashioned Scarran-style motivation, I think". "Not too hard" cautioned Harrigan "We still need these guys for the bridge assault. The bridge crew will be too much for me, you, and Dargo to kill quick". "Right!" she growled again, picking up a short whip off the belt of one of the still-slumbering officers. After cracking it barely a tenth-henta over a trooper's head, she started yelling in no uncertain terms in her native language to get moving. The Ithlin squad picked up speed quickly after that. One of the privates looked like he was going to drop, but when Talannah cracked the whip smartly across his butt he rose almost three hentae off the floor and sped up so fast he almost left skid marks on the floor. A little less than the allotted time later, they reached the security station. Automated systems had not yet locked the bridge down, so the two elevators were still operational. Harrigan pointed at Talannah, who raised her G8C and swept a burst of suppressed autofire across the two guards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Talannah directed half the Ithlin troops to head off across to the secondary lift with Dargo, and the other half, including the lieutenant to head up the primary lift with her and Harrigan. Two microts after the lift doors had close and the lifts themselves started the short trip to the bridge, the lockdown warnings sounded. The elevators immediately stopped where they were. "What the frell's going on?!" Talannah yelled at the elevator comm at the bridge crew. "We get to the guard station to relieve the midwatch shift. The midwatch shift is dead. Just after we get in the lift to come up and tell you, some son-of-a-brindz hound stops these frelling elevators!" "Pipe down!" came a voice with real authority "Lockdown procedures due to enemy action have been initiated. We'll just check your lot over the cameras, and then let you up". "Yes, Captain" Talannah responded. "Won't take long" that individual replied.
Talannah immediately reactivated her antisurveillance unit. Not a microt too soon – the cameras started sweeping over the elevator's insides, attempting to scan the passengers. Thanks to Talannah's little black box, they were unable to report back to the security station on the bridge. "The cameras don't seem to be working" replied someone who sounded like a security officer. "Since our chief helm officer hasn't checked in, we can't take chances. You'll have to stay there". "One of my group is a trained helmsman, you incompetent clod!" Talannah screamed back "Let us up, or you'll answer to my superiors! Who are in a really bad mood right now, I can tell you!"
On the bridge, the duty security officer turned to the Captain. "Whoever that woman is, she says she's got a helm-qualified officer with her" he said "Should we let her up?" The Captain turned to another of his bridge crew, saying "Comms? You have something to say?" "I say not. Lockdown procedures are clear – no one goes anywhere". "But without a helmsman" added the nav officer "this ship goes nowhere. None of us are trained helmsmen. Even our Captain came up through the EW branch of the naval command. We need a helmsman". "Guns" asked the Captain "Can we at leat fire one volley on the walls before we need to reorient the ship?"
The gunnery officer scratched his head, and eventually said "Yes. But one volley only. Planetary rotation will take us out of range, even at low orbit, for another volley unless the ship can be moved". "Give that one volley" the Captain ordered "Punch a hole in the city wall big enough for the tanks to enter. Then we let this bunch up here".
Down below, the superheavies had reached the wall. With the lighter forces arrayed around them, Aeryn radioed for fire support from the wall guns. In the gun pits, the Scarran A-Team immediately blew the power cables to this sector's wall defences. "Frell!" the civil defence officers screamed "Power's down! We can't get ammo up, or launch what we have! Backup's dead as well!"
"Time to go!" urged the A-Team leader. The others needed no encouragement – citizen's militia troops were already combing the area, and would soon find them. Though they could easily kill many times their own number of militia troops, their officers had home-ground advantage and would soon call in more firepower than they could deal with. They team scuttled out on their memorised E&E route, emerging several streets closer to the town centre behind a public bathhouse covered in sewage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Sabotage!" Aeryn growled. Then she got on the comm back to the civil defence officers. "Get engineers down there and repair the cables. We need those guns on line NOW!"
But this was not to be. A hissing sound, a felling of blasted air, and then several blasts from the three forward plasma cannons on the orbiting Scarran superdreadnaught atomised several hundred metras of wall, and everything and everyone within thirty metras either side – including all the wall guns. Fifteen Royal Guard superheavies were lost. Forty vehicles from the light armour units followed their larger comrades into oblivion, as did ten of Lord Brathal's IFV's – but only two of Lord Lorshul's raiders. "Those mates of yours better get their asses in gear" growled the officer in command of the Royal Guard armour "Because if that titanic monstrosity in orbit opens fire again there'll be nothing left to save!"
Aeryn zeroed in on the offending Colonel. "Perhaps you would rather be court-martialled for your defeatist mutterings?!" she growled angrily back at him "Because if I hear of one more remark like that, you will be!" She squared her shoulders, calmed down just a little, and called the civil defence officers again. "Deploy the citizen's militia. If we can't restore power to the guns, we'll need them. It'll be hard, close and nasty – but your people are fighting for their homes, which should give them an edge". Whether it'll be enough, who knows? Aeryn thought to herself. Harrigan, get that ship off our backs and we may just get out of this thing alive!
In the marshalling areas, sirens wailed. Old, retired soldiers, now officers in the militias, plus those others in command positions, yelled and booted their squads into sandbag bunkers and upper floor buildings. Several units deployed heavy weapons on street corners as well, in anticipation of approaching armour and heavy infantry. Outside, the armour was slowly being driven back behind the walls by sheer weight of numbers. Aeryn grabbed her rifle and leapt out of the tank and joined one of the units holed up in the ground floor of what had been a baker's shop. Now it had a tak-7 missile team and nine rifle troops garrisoned in it. She opened up-the militia command frequencies, and addressed her troops.
"This is Sub-Commander Sun" she stated "The enemy is coming. Conserve your ammo – do not blindly spray the street. Only shoot at what you can hit. Missile crews – go for the heavy armour as soon as it crawls over the rubble. With any luck, we may block the breaches, at leat temporarily, with enemy tank hulks. It'll cost the time and lives to clear the breaches again" Lord Brathal's motorised infantry and the Royal Guard heavy infantry had dismounted and had dug themselves in to assist their less well- trained militia counterparts. These veteran troops, and especially the officers were much appreciated and increased morale amongst the militias noticeably just by their presence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- The A-Team dodged from building to building, sticking to the shadows and alleyways until they came to their second safehouse, close by the palace. Once inside, they grabbed a hurried meal and collapsed, exhausted, onto various chairs and couches. The recon specialist powered up their comm gear in case further orders were forthcoming, then went to sleep in his chair. The demo specialist couldn't sleep, so took point at the house's front window. All the others grabbed some much-needed rest.
Back on the superdread, the gunnery officer reported that the target area was now out of range. "We'll need that helm officer out of the elevator, Sir" commented the gunnery officer "if you want me to give any more fire support". The Captain flicked his left hand at his security officer, who re-established power to the lifts. "Almost there..." whispered Harrigan excitedly "Dargo" he ordered over a shielded frequency "Stand ready!" A Luxan war-curse was his reply. "I see Dargo's got the proper attitude already" Harrigan said happily. Then he turned to his own troops "We have to hit hard and fast" he briefed them "Whatever you do, DON'T MISS! Those bridge officers won't give you a second chance. They WILL have weapons close by, and may have some troops in there as well. Tal, it'll probably be down to us in close to finish the job. Feel up to it?" She knuckled him on the shoulder, saying "Always, dear. Always!" and finishing off with a happy growl. A 'ting!' from the elevator announced their arrival. "Switch it off!" hissed Harrigan. Talannah immediately shut her antisurveillance unit off.
A howl of rage from Dargo announced that his troops had entered the fray. "GRAK TA'HAA!!" yelled Harrigan, and led his men at a dead run for the Captain's command chair. In addition to the bridge officers, six Scarran security officers were present as well. The Captain instantly understood Harrigan's cry in Old Scarran, muttering "It's been cycles since anyone's heard the old language spoken", then shouting out "Repel boarders!". The security officers on Harrigan's side ducked down behind the helm station and opened fire. Harrigan decided to let his carapace take the punishment, which it did (though only just, and it really hurt too). Straightening up, he laughed spitefully at them, which only enraged them further. "Is that all you've got?!" he taunted "Perhaps you'd like some of this?" drawing both swords. "Kill the officers, but don't damage any equipment. I want it intact!" he ordered the Ithlin troops, who leapt into action with enthusiasm.
Dargo was glad to be in the front line again. His opening shots had killed two security troops, and those of the Ithlin troops had accounted for the officers on the comm station. He quickly returned his qualta to sword mode and followed Harrigan's example, leaping into action while yelling all manner of Luxan curses at his enemies. An "Aaargh!" marked the death of the engineering officer by two scattergun blasts on low power. Three Ithlin troops were killed by fire from the gunnery and security officers' rifles before the could get out of the way. This only urged Harrigan on. Talannah fired a burst from her Viper straight into the right eye of the XO, while Harrigan grabbed Captain and hurled him to the floor. "CEASE AND DESIST!" Harrigan ordered, standing with one foot on the floor, the other planted firmly on the Captain's chest and his swords in his hands. "Bring those surviving officers here!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Only one nav officer and the security officer were still left alive – they were disarmed and dragged down by the bloodied but functional Ithlin troops. One booted the Scarran gunnery officer in the ribs after he dumped him on the floor. He drew back his boot for another kick but Talannah shoved him aside. "Harrigan commands!" she yelled "He determines punishment, not you!"
"I'm sure that the Ithlin commanders down below would want to interrogate and torture you a bit" Harrigan told his captives "Well, hard cheese to them. You have one choice, and one only. Pledge your allegiance to Ithlin's king, or be executed here on the bridge. What say you?"
"And what about you?" spat the gunnery officer "You slaughtered our crew by poison gas. That would get you charged with serious offences by many cultures". "Well, they aren't here, or in command. I have been placed in command by the king of all Ithlin's armies and defences until you are repelled from this world. I am in command. This ship is now mine"
"I will be DEAD before I see this ship commanded by a non-Scarran!" he yelled with as much dignity as he could muster. Then he noticed Talannah standing beside Harrigan, and snickered nastily. "A Deadhead. I should have known. A bigger bunch of two-faced, double-dealing fekk faces doesn't exist in the whole of known space!" He drew breath to continue, but Harrigan shut him down. "Be careful what you say about my "he added the Scarran word for 'matchless one', which caused Talannah's arms to tighten happily around Harrigan's waist "or your death will be a traitor's death – slow and painful; instead of a warrior's death – quick and merciful".
The Captain looked at Harrigan in surprise. It was difficult to tell what surprised him more – that Harrigan actually knew that word, or that he actually applied it to a Scarran female, when he himself was not Scarran. "You do know what that word means , don't you? And it's degree of emphasis? "he probed. Harrigan and Talannah gazed into each other's eyes for a microt or two, before she wrapped her arms around him and leaned against him. He sheathed his right sword, wrapping that arms around Talannah's waist, before he responded. "Yes, Captain" he replied "I do. Both from my own knowledge, and because my love has explained the word to me herself". The Captain saw this for himself just in their body language, and grunted "Do what you will , then".
Harrigan nodded at Dargo who quickly sliced the gunnery officer's neck off with his qualta. Talannah stabbed the nav officer through the left ear with a shortsword, and Harrigan himself decapitated the Captain. "Do a full systems check, Tal, dear" Harrigan ordered "I want to see just what we've got here, and how much of it works. Dargo, get on the engineering console and get the scrubbers and DRDs to get the Taunt residue cleaned up. Space the bodies. You" he directed the Ithlin lieutenant "will immediately establish contact with Sub-Commander Sun and King Torthil so I can advise them of our change in fortunes".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- The ship's computer came online, saying "Have I been assigned an official Captain?". Harrigan gestured for silence, replying with "What is the current situation? Are you under command of the War Minister yet?". The computer immediately replied "No. This ship is a test article, built by the navy. No official Captain was assigned, nor command authority detailed, nor was this ship even given a name. Are you here to do this?"
Harrigan pondered just how he was going to do this. After all those B- grade movies back on base, on rotten screens and rainy nights, here am I with my own interstellar warship! "Yes I am. Though you may be a little surprised at the outcome" he addressed the ship's AI. "I am Commander Harrigan. I am both owner and Captain of this ship now. Sub-Commander Talannah" he added, drawing her to him "is first officer. You may take orders from her also. As for the name..." he mulled that over for several momens. After discarding several possibilities, including the 'Jolly Roger', he finally made a choice. "Captain?" prompted the AI. Harrigan smiled at that, then revealed his choice.
"This ship is hereby named the ESV Cry Havoc!" he yelled out loud "May it bring terror to our enemies and sanctuary to our allies!" Wild cheers broke out over the bridge of the newly-acquired superdread, until Harrigan remembered that his Harbringer was still latched onto the outer hull. "Open the nearest fighter bay to the bridge" he directed the Cry Havoc. "and activate a landing beacon. Tal" he ordered "Put me through to the Harbringer, so I can bring it in on automatic". "Yes, Captain" she replied proudly, adding a salute. Harrigan's only reply was a soft smile.
Fifteen microts later, the Ithlin lieutenant reported in. "Both Sub- Commander Sun and King Torthil are waiting, Captain" he revealed. Harrigan lowered himself into the helmsman's chair, and ordered "On screen" to the computer. One high quality image came from the palace war room; and one grainy one from a field comm unit. "I take it you mission was successful?" the king asked wearily. Several troops in the uniform of Lord Aranak's special operations units could be seen in the war room as well. "More so than I could have hoped" Harrigan replied "The ship is now under my direct ownership and command, King Torthil". The king was just about to congratulate him when Aeryn cut in. "Perhaps you could prove it, Harrigan?" she asked, flustered. "We're under heavy attack here! I'm taking heavy losses in the militia units here. Only the presence of Lord Aranak's PA units and Lord Brathal's infantry, plus the Royal Guard troops, keeps our lines steady so far. I'm not sure how long we can hold. I've had to order the tanks to return to base – they're useless inside the walls".
"On the way, Aeryn" Harrigan replied One helping of burning doom, extra large, coming right up". Then he cut both calls and turned to Talannah. "Get to the gunnery desk and bring the forward guns online" he ordered happily "I don't want anything left of that Charrid mechanised force bigger than a grain of sand".
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