St. Legier: The Jessica Keller Chronicles: Volume 7 by Blaze Ward

Author:Blaze Ward [Ward, Blaze]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knotted Road Press

Chapter XXXV

Date of the Republic Jan 11, 402 Buran Hammerhead Aleph, Stanovoy Orbit

Every second counted.

Senior Centurion Harun Chong had a count going, both in his head and in the Heads Up Display (HUD) screen inside the Heavy EVA armor that cocooned him. How many seconds since the shuttle had cleared the lockshield. How many seconds since Vanguard had tried to cripple his target with accuracy and beamfire. How quickly the various craft could decelerate, crossing the gap. How soon he could get his men and women aboard the alien craft.

Today, he really missed Auberon. He could even imagine missing Gaucho, although he would never admit that in public. They were doing this in transport shuttles rather than a pair of DropShips. Rugged, but not the sort of desperately-overpowered chariots that could bring his old team, Auberon’s entire First Battalion, on a single raid, like Cayenne.

He had settled for strapping every suit of EVA armor possible to the outside of one of the shuttles, until he had run out of space. Then every marine in the lighter armor that he could cram inside as well, stripping out everything that wasn’t welded to a bulkhead in the process.

“Archer Transports, this is Archer One,” Chong said over the comm. “Cut thrust now. Archer Force, begin your assault.”

The target, a Buran escort/destroyer, had been sitting still in orbit, hardly moving relative to Vanguard, the dreadnaught crossing the lesser ship’s beam at a slow pace. Still, there had been a lot of delta-V to kill. Clearing the locks, every ship had gone out a different direction, flipped end-for-end, and gone hard on the engines.

It had worked. At least well enough. They were still closing on the hulk, but at a pace soft enough that the thrusters on his armor could bring him to rest. All shuttle engines shut down. It was up to him and his team now.

And time was more important than pretty, as Navin the Black always liked to say. The shuttles shed warriors like lice escaping a sheep about to be dipped. Chong lit his thrusters with the team and moved to where he had a better view.

About a dozen figures in light armor held boarding axes, two-meter-long boarding poles with blades at one end. Perfect for prying things open when the power goes out. Or hitting people who didn’t want to surrender.

Chong watched that force take the lead. There were a couple of engineering experts over there to help, in case they had to breach the bulkheads inside, and one Command Security Centurion who had no business being out here, except that he still qualified high enough on this sort of thing that he could displace a younger marine. Expertise mattered, with these risks.

And Navin was generally willing to take orders here. Hell, even the Fleet Centurion had come around, once Denis Jež weighed in on the need.

Fast over pretty.

The heavy assault team came to rest relative to the ship. The escort was tumbling slowly on the roll axis, but not so much that they would have problems.

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