Kusari Gold

[arvg]

Fraser scrambled up and out of the crawlspace, striding back as he un-holstered his Sonic Disruptor, the Marine Company checking their own weapons, as they stood ready in the hold around the docking tube that connected them to the Destroyer.

Behind them the Kusari already aboard the T’Zaht had no idea that the crew had slipped past them, and were still attempting to flank the cargo bay and sieze control of the deserted Bretonian gunboat. Unaware that the CO2 scrubbers had ceased to function and that with each breath, they were turning the air about them toxic.

The motley collection of his crew armed their own weapons as Hartley flashed a toothy grin at Fraser, hefting a shock grenade, nodding to one of the marines who pulled open the hatch on the surprised Kusari officer who was coming down the tube.

The grenade bounced past him as he looked down at it clattering down the short hatch tube, bouncing into the midst of the technicians that had clustered beneath it. The one climbing the ladder looked up again as it blew, a marine rifle barking once killing him instantly.

“Go!” Chuck bellowed, pushing his troops ahead one at a time as they dropped down to the deck below, coming up with their pulse rifles and clearing the room exactly as they had been taught, covering the other marines dropping down beside them.

There was a burst of gunfire as Chuck gestured to Hartley’s squad of T’Zaht crew members, sending them down into the Destroyer next. He glanced across at Fraser, “You sure you want to come with?”

“Can’t stay here,” Fraser said tightly, easing his grip around the Sonic Disruptor as he tensed, nodding to the First Officer as he jumped down the ladder into the Destroyer.

He turned as the first Kusari boarder from the T’Zaht tried to sprint for home. Fraser smiling at him as he pulled the pin from a grenade and tossed it into the docking tube. The Kusari’s face was priceless as he dived for cover… Hartley already slamming the access controls to seal the airlock as the grenade detonated, tearing the docking tube to shreds and separating the two ships.

Through the window of the airlock, Fraser watched the unfortunate Kusari trooper getting sucked through the open T’Zaht’s airlock, as the gunboat began to decompress. Emergency protocols slamming bulkheads shut aboard the ship, sealing the bulk of the Kusari destroyer’s crew into the flying coffin. Trapped with their own poisonous air.

Fraser turned.

There were bodies everywhere; the Kusari, unprepared for the attack had been caught by surprise; the marines, knowing their specific targets already, worked their way through the ship to secure their objectives.

Chuck joined him a few moments later with the rest of the six-man squad, the team spreading out to begin the advance on the bridge, sweeping forward as the sound of gunfire reverberated from somewhere deep in the bowels of the warship.

Fraser took a deep breath. He jogged through the ship, marines forming up around him and Chuck as they advanced, Chuck swinging his Pulse rifle diligently, covering his men as he ordered them forward with hand gestures. A couple of shots were fired their way, as an Kusari crewmen burst from a side corridor, trying to get to the cover of the opposite hall.

Fraser’s Sonic Disruptor struck the Kusari squarely, sending him flying like a rag doll, to lie crumpled against a bulkhead.

“Cracking shot, Skipper!” Chuck exclaimed in amazement.

Fraser shrugged. “All in the wrist,” he replied as they moved forward.

“Captain!” came the desperate cry over the TAC-net, Fraser and Chuck exchanging looks, both knowing the mission was in trouble.

“Three, One, come in Three?” Chuck called into his TAC-link. “Damn!” he exclaimed.


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