Operation Musket

[Manticore]

Eisenhart held up his left hand, signaling a stop as he and Webb approached another intersection in the narrow engineering passage. They had cleared the port side almost to the ship’s stern, but these passages near the ship’s drive required an extra level of care.

Returning his hand to his carbine, he took three steps forward – mag boots making a soft clank as they stuck to the deck, despite his practiced fluidity. It was impossible to be completely silent while doing this, but it was still far better than trying to clear a ship in zero-gee. Eisenhart knew that from personal experience.

He pivoted, snapping his gun around first to the left, then to the right. Clear. Clear.

“Move up,” he grunted into his helmet, broadcasting only to Webb.

Soft clinks of metal as Webb advanced to his side. Having now established it was clear, Eisenhart took another glance down each hallway. They were both dead ends – passages stopping identically each way with the bulk of an engine compartment.

End of the line.

The comm in his ear crackled to life with Lieutenant Arland’s voice. "One contact down, team one. Armed. Not sure if it was our man... He tried to play hero. Status on your end?"

“Just finished our sweep. No contacts.” Eisenhart paused a moment, before adding, “I reckon that means he was our guy.”

Webb spoke up, his voice strangely devoid of its usual sarcasm. “We gonna tell the family?”

“Not yet,” Eisenhart responded. “But Arland, I want you and Herrin to swing back by that cargo hold. Go in there and check the area thoroughly for any sort of comms device or weapon, and take anything that seems even slightly suspicious.”

Arland grunted assent.

“You’ll frighten them a bit, but avoid giving any unnecessary details. They must know something’s up, so I don’t want any more surprises.” Eisenhart paused, considering. “Webb, we’re going back to the bridge and getting this thing underway. The longer we wait, the riskier this whole op gets. Let’s move.”

He and Webb trooped back through the maze of engineering passages and up a deck to the bridge – moving much quicker now that the ship was secured. Back on the bridge, Eisenhart carefully lowered his armored bulk into the captain’s chair.

He pulled up the captain’s logs, skimming through the recent entries and looking for further details.

“Looks like they were headed for Holman, Tau-31,” he said, speaking over the squad net. “The civvies were on the official manifest, so they will be expected there, along with the rest of the cargo. Looks like Java was just a stopping-off point for a short refuel. Probably why the AI picked this ship, actually – it’s right on the way back to friendly space.

“The civvies being here changes our mission parameters. We’re going to head into Tau-31, but break off the lane and rendezvous with Jaeger before we hit Holman’s sensors. From there, we’ll decide how to proceed.”

He paused, glancing over at Webb. “Get us underway, PO. Arland, get back up here when you’re done.”