* * *
The boarding party had pushed past the lightly defended engineering hub and had progressed to just thirty metres from the power plant core when they came across heavy resistance. Dug in all around the engineering section almost thirty Zealots had rushed to defend the critical core of the ship. Unlike their normal aggressive tactics, they held back with each one taking cover and doing their best to hold off the marines. They ducked behind the thickly armoured coolant tanks and pipes that ran all through this sector of the ship. The battle looked bizarre as most of them were using their grav boots to stand on the walls, floor and ceiling. It made the battle both fluid and highly confusing to Lieutenant Erdeniz. Volley after volley poured down the corridor and every time one of the marines tried to push ahead, they were blasted back by the weapons’ fire.
“Shit!” barked the sergeant on the intercom. “We need heavy weapons here, we’re pinned down,” he shouted, though none of the marines seemed to know what to do. They were going nowhere.
Lieutenant Erdeniz leaned around the corner and fired several shots from his thermal shotgun. It looked impressive but he had no idea if he hit anything. He looked at the clip, noting he had only half the clip remaining. It was useless, at this rate they would end up surrounded. He looked around in the vain hope of finding something more dangerous than his shotgun. It was then that he saw the technician’s terminal behind the blast hatch on the left side of the corridor.
“Sergeant, I might be able to short out the coolants units, it could give us the break we need,” he called over the radio.
One of the marines tried to help the Lieutenant to the other side but another volley of shot blasted down hitting him in the arm and throwing him back in pain. The Sergeant could see what was happening and without hesitating, gave the order.
“Give him covering fire, now!” he ordered.
Seven marines pushed out from behind cover, each of them firing shot after shot at the enemy. Their fire was inaccurate and the Lieutenant saw only one of the enemy take a hit to the torso, before he was manhandled across the corridor and in front of the terminal. More fire blasted behind him that caught the Sergeant and another marine directly in the face.
Lieutenant Erdeniz did his best to ignore the ongoing carnage and pulled open the hatch. He needed the use of his hands and had to release several of the EVA seals on his suit to release his arms. They were still sealed inside his skin-tight protective suit but nothing like the armour the marines wore. One good stab with a knife could penetrate the skin of this clothing. He looked at the display carefully. Though he couldn’t shut down the power plant he could alter the controls that regulated part of the power grid and cooling. Luckily, his computing skills were significant enough for him to isolate and boost the coolant controls to overload. Warnings came up immediately but he easily overrode them and embedded a lockout on the engineering panel. Only a senior officer could override his work and even then the officer would have to make it down to engineering. It wasn’t perfect but he had bought them some time.
Turning to the rest of the marines and crew from the battlecruiser he gave a hand signal so the men ducked down and kept out of the line of fire. Corporal Jones moved up from further along the corridor, he held his L48 carbine at the ready.
“How long, Lieutenant?” asked the Corporal.
“Fifteen seconds!” Lieutenant Erdeniz shouted back.
“Take cover, when the tanks blow everybody move forward, no matter the cost. We have to secure the power plant!” ordered the Corporal.
They all pulled themselves into any cover they could find as the odd single shot tore down the corridor. There were now dozens of marines and crew all huddling down as they waited for the coolant tanks. Fifteen seconds passed and nothing happened. The Corporal turned to the officer, he was about to start shouting when a great burst of gas rushed down the corridor.
“Go!” he shouted, and in moments the corridor was packed with scores of people trying to fight their way into the area. Fire scattered around them but the mixture of gas, steam and debris gave them enough cover to get a handful of marines into position.
Lieutenant Erdeniz moved ahead as bodies tumbled about him from both sides. He grabbed onto the wall pulling himself clear of the carnage and kept tugging until he reached the far side of the room where the defenders had been holding out. Further ahead was a dark room with a dull red glow flashing in sequence. He recognised it immediately. The Corporal had somehow survived the devastation and pulled himself up to Lieutenant Erdeniz.
“Is that it?” he asked.
Lieutenant Erdeniz nodded at the Corporal who sighed with relief.
“Get the thermite charges here now, everybody else clear the route to the boats, once they’re set we are out of here!”
The two dropped to the deck and, using their grav boots, made quick progress into the room. All around them were huge pipes and glowing tanks that surrounded the reactors. Though the actual reactors were safe, about fifty metres further inside they could easily cripple the ship by removing the coolant and generator links from the rest of the ship. By Lieutenant Erdeniz’s best calculations the reactor could manage three to four minutes once the link to its coolants supplies was removed. His plan was to overload the weapons grid at the same time. The strain should help to superheat the reactor and cause catastrophic damage.
A team of four engineers from the crew moved into the room, each of them carrying a crate of mining thermite charges. They were all experts at their jobs and it took less than a minute to rig the charges and set them with a three-minute timer. As Lieutenant Erdeniz set the timer the Corporal stopped him.
“You sure that’s enough time for us to get out?”
“We can’t take the chance, any less and they could get down here and disable the charges,” replied the Lieutenant.
The marine nodded and helped the men to the corridor where they started to make their way back to the boats.
Siege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1) Page 35
