Attack on the Beaumont

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. If death is virtually instantaneous, you won't be screaming anyway. Grace yanked her dagger from the spine of the crew member. She had learned long ago that the quickest and least painful way to kill was to thrust the blade between the atlas vertebrae and any of the other seven cervical vertebrae, preferably number one or two. What was his name? Did he have dreams of becoming a captain some day? Perhaps he was just trying to complete an internship for experience before working at a medical center. She didn’t know.

"I’m sorry, my friend…but all wars have casualties." Grace said to the motionless young man. She crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes to honor him. He was probably a good person in the wrong place at the wrong time. The corridors on the Beaumont seemed smaller than what she was expecting for a medical vessel. The ceiling was very low, but the width was large. Perhaps for carrying patients through, she thought. The walls were all a deep ocean blue color. She stood up and wiped the blood from her dagger and turned to Chakor, the second in command. “Which way to the surgical ward?”

“Ahead and to the left." he replied. "Then another 12 meters down that corridor.”

“Understood." She turned to face the rest of her team. "Remember everyone, as we approach the ward, we will encounter more and more of the ship’s personnel. Do not use any heavy weapons unless instructed to do so. FG17s only. Once they are stunned to the ground, move out…”

The nearly all male Delta team members nodded in agreement. There were 12 in total and another 12 on Alpha team, which had a different objective. It was not their first assault on a vessel, but it was unusually stealthy up to this point. Delta team moved towards the starboard-facing doors of the surgical ward as an eerie feeling of dread came over Grace. She had felt it before. A soldier in combat develops this sixth sense after enough battles. It’s enough to know that something isn’t right. It typically overwhelms a soldier when a mission seems…

“Too easy…” Grace whispered.

Chakor cocked his head to the side and looked at Grace as if to ask why they had halted their approach.

Grace raised her open hand, circled it around her head, and closed it, which was the signal for the team to take cover and prepare for an attack. Chakor now understood why she paused and began to scan the other side of the door before them.

What did I miss? Grace thought to herself. We modified the ship’s sensors before boarding. Only one person had been killed as far as she knew, and it was done in the absence of other crew members. Any hidden security cameras would have been fed false data after Greg hacked into the ship’s security systems. Maybe I’m being paranoid, she thought. After all...there was no tangible evidence that anything was wrong.

“Psst.”

Grace turned to find Chakor motioning for her to come over. She turned, but rather than moving closer, she clenched her fists and banged it twice against her forehead. Chakor understood the signal and got into the prone position only seconds before the doors opened.

Grace immediately opened fire into the doorway and at first hit nothing. Her team was initially shocked at her action until they began to see impact points that seem to float in the air.

“Open fire, you morons!” She yelled.

The spattering sounds made by the weapons filled the corridor as her team engaged the seemingly invisible targets. An alarm began to sound throughout the entire ship, and the main corridor lights were replaced by red floodlights.

Suddenly, an intense, focused beam of concentrated ions streaked through the air from the doors and burned a hole clean through Serge’s left leg. The beam was followed by several pulses of barely visible bluish light that bore through Erwin’s skin. His scream could be heard throughout the hall. It would’ve been bad enough if his body simply hit the floor like a piece of bloody Swiss cheese, but to watch in horror as he tossed and threw his body in all manner of positions and directions akin to a dying cockroach was traumatizing. For all his twitching, nothing could be done to save him, and Chakor knew this. Erwin was the largest and strongest in the group, but Delta team knew not to go near his rapidly dying body; that was exactly what the sentries wanted. To draw them away from their covered positions.

“How many are there?” Chakor asked.

“At least two… Dammit!" Grace replied. "The doors closed behind them too. I should’ve seen this coming. Set the Honey Comb up here. We have to hold position. Contact Alpha team and tell them to assault the bridge. The stealth part of this mission is over.” Grace said.

“We can fight through this.” Chakor said, “We have heavy weapons in reserve. We can just move them onboard and destroy the sentries.”

“Won’t work.” Grace looked over at 2 men dragging Serge, “Too much firepower. Once we move from our covered positions, we’d be quickly cut down.”

Chakor placed the TR53 on the ground and activated its shields. The TR53 was about the size of a softball, but with an octohedronal shape. It was a basic shield unit that confined a field of charged particles within two magnetic fields of different magnitudes. The resulting field resembled a honeycomb surface. The pulses of light from the sentries could be seen colliding with the TR53 field. It was an excellent shield, but it wasn’t going to last forever.

“Commander? You ever been up against robotic sentries before?” Chakor asked.

“No." Grace yelled over the sounds of plasma bolts being fired on their position. "But you don’t have to taste piss to know that it probably isn’t delicious."

"Greg! Can you hear me?” Carol replied through the radio communicator from the bridge.

“Reading, Carol. I’m already on it…”

“On what?” Grace replied. “Hurry up, the honeycomb won’t hold for much longer.”

The sentries moved closer to Grace and the rest of Delta team. She knew they were pinned down. The sentries had way too much firepower, and the shield could fail at any moment. Greg was their only hope of getting out of that corridor alive.

“Carol, what’s Greg talking about?” Grace yelled through her shoulder communicator.

“He’s trying to use the Beaumont's ship computer system to break into the sentries central processing units. If he’s successful, not only could he stop them from attacking, but he can command them to obey us.” She replied.

“He better do it soon, or we’re toast.” Grace said.

Suddenly, the sentries sped towards the TR-shield and rammed it with tremendous force.”

“Fuck! They are trying to break through!”

The sentries had ceased firing but remained very close to the shield and anchored themselves to the floor using stabilizing spikes.

Grace suddenly had a terrifying revelation. "Fall back and take cover. MOVE!"

Delta team rose from their positions just behind the shield and began to put distance between themselves and the sentries. At about the 10-meter mark, both sentries simultaneously exploded, destroying the TR and sending a shockwave towards Grace that lifted her from the floor and threw her into the air. She landed on her arm and felt a crunch underneath her ulna bone. Smoke and sparks filled the corridor. It was difficult to breathe.

The remaining members of Delta team were on the floor for a few seconds before slowly rising to look around. Grace rose while holding her almost certainly broken right arm with her left hand. She limped over to the gaping hole in the level 7 floor. She then painfully reached for her pistol with her right hand while blood trickled out of her nose.

“Sentries detected your attempt to seize control of their primary defense protocols." Carol's voice could be heard through the radio on Grace’s shoulder. "Must have self-detonated to prevent capture. The bridge is now secure, though.”

She was badly hurt, and she knew it, but Grace refused to allow her men or Carol to detect any weakness. “Any casualties on your end?” Grace asked.

“Not on our team.” There was a silence in radio communication for a few seconds. “The fight was surprisingly easy.”

“What fight?” Asked Grace. “The only real fighting is up here. Serge’s leg was burnt off. Erwin is dead, and so is Helmswood. There are pieces of him scattered throughout the hallway. ”

“You’d better head back to the Jadespear and let Florence take a look at you. We can handle things from here, Grace." Carol replied. "Apart from maybe the ship’s captain, the crew has minimal combat training.”

“The best scientists never make the best warriors. Is the captain there with you?”

“Affirmative. Captain Harlington is right here on the floor at my feet. He can hear you.”

“Captain. You can call me Commander Grace Clovis. Do you copy?”

“I can hear you, bitch. Do you think you can take the equipment on this ship so easily? Your best bet is to get off of the ship while you still can. There’s nothing for you here but more trouble and death.”

“I’m sorry, captain. I seem to be confused. I don’t think I’m hearing you correctly. You seem to be under the impression that the ship is still yours. It is not.”

“You may well have the ship, little girl, but you won’t be able to use it or anything on it without my authorization.”

“You’ve encrypted all the Beaumont's computer systems? We anticipated that.” Replied Carol. “It’s just a matter of time before Greg breaks through your security protocols. It might take all day. Maybe even two days…but he will do it.”

“Oh, I don’t think he will.” The captain chuckles. “You think this is my first dance with pirate scum?”

Grace could hear Carol’s foot plunge into Harlington’s stomach. He barely gave any indication of discomfort, however.

“I was with SABER for years, harlots. My right foot was blown off on my third mission to the Kepler system thanks to Millighan pirates. They assaulted us just like you did. Wanted weapons, supplies….whatever they could get their hands on.”

“Let me guess, captain….you single-handedly killed them all one by one and received a metal for your bravery?” Grace took a knee to the ground to fight off the vertigo coming over her.

“One day….maybe I’ll tell you the whole story from the other side of your prison cell, matey.” He replied.

“Not likely, Harlington. Although, I would like to hear that story of yours. You can tell it to me from the inside of YOUR prison cell on the Jadespear. Cooperate and we won't have to execute any members of your civilian buddies. Carol, how are the rest of the crew on the bridge?”

“They’re fine. No resistance at all except for this old bastard. We killed a few during the initial break, but it was accidental. Most are still in one piece.” Carol looked around at the other crew members and could see the fear in their eyes. All of them seemed young…not more than 30-years-old and some as young as 20 years. Some of them looked fresh out of ORG 2 education. "They’re mostly kids. Medical students, from the looks of it."

“Just keep them secure. We’re heading into the laboratory.” Grace stood up despite the pain that was growing in her arm and the dizziness. Her head was cloudy, but she would not leave the battlefield…not until the mission was done. Captain Harrington looked up at Carol with disappointment. “You and your pirate lady friend are wasting your time... Carol. It doesn’t matter what you find in the lab. You knuckle draggers wouldn't know what to do with it.”

“We shall see… captain.”