Battleship Destroyer (82 page)

Trying to think of what kind of weapon could be inside, he opened
the hatch slowly, carefully. Jack peeked into the compartment through the crack he made down the open side of the hatch. Ready to run if something tried to get him. He stared for several seconds through the crack not believing or understanding what he was looking at.

Throwing the hatch wide open he stepped into the compartment
with his new gun ready after making sure the safety was off. Both sides were lined with upright canisters leaned back about 30 degrees with clear lids hanging up in front of the open empty canisters. Canisters just big enough to house an Armored Ape. Jack examined a couple of the canisters closely then walked out and to the next hatch with nothing but darkness on the other side.  Opening the hatch he stepped inside. The cold registered slightly above absolute Zero. A faint glow of electrical lines running to the rows of canisters left the details vague. Tapping his arm brought a flood of light showing a hundred closed canisters filled with Lizard Apes through the clear lids.

Swallowing hard Jack had to remind himself to breath as he made sure he was recording what he sa
w. Again he examined the canisters and the controls around him being careful not to disturb anything. Finally realizing he had been there a good half hour when he sealed the hatch behind him and returned to the elevator. Dropping back down to the magazine deck he grabbed a crate of power packs and placed it in the elevator's door. Then ran around to the other elevator and did the same to it. Tapping his comm pad. "Commander, how long until the shuttle is full?"

"We are on our 4th pair of boats
now and we only have gotten through half the compartment though I think we have a good assortment of the weapons. Why? Do you want me to send up another squad to go up ship with you?"

"Been up ship Commander." Jack looked up at th
e hot energy radiating compartment some 20 decks above them. Now he knew exactly what was up there and he did not like it at all. "There are about a thousand Lizard Apes and growing in that hot compartment above us and maybe 10,000 in hibernation on the decks between there and here.” Jack watched another compartment below the hot decks start to heat up. "We only have a few minutes before they decide to come visiting us. Start wrapping it up." Jack looked down at the deck for an instant. "Ok. I want you to cut the elevator shafts two decks above us. I also want to see if we can get a couple of the canisters with the Lizard Apes still hibernating in them."

"Very well Captain, sending up a squad now. There are too many pipe and energy chasses to cut them all
anytime soon but…"

Blaster fire suddenly erupted down the passageways from a
single and then a dozen directions around the magazines. "Damn Commander! Too late. They are already here. Start evacuating the men on this landing deck to the shuttle. We will delay them as long as possible. Out."

Jack had his weapon off his shoulder and stood there not having a clear direction to go as his sight told him that marines were fighting in every direction.  "Pull back now everybody. Pull back to the core now!"
he said over his command comm.

Looking around he realized that one
team was having a hard time as several became wounded and took off toward them to lend a hand. Flicking off the weapon’s safety, he made the distance in only a few seconds getting there just in time to help fight off a charge of knife and sword wielding Lizard Apes. As the last Lizard Ape dropped to the deck dead, a 4 foot long saber came tumbling down the passageway missing Jack by inches sticking itself into the bulkhead next to him. Several plasma balls zipped down toward the swords origination point.

With the passageway quiet for a moment
, two marines started dragging the three wounded marines down toward Jack.  Several more Lizard Apes appeared again charging down the passageway and Jack started firing over the heads of the crouching marines dragging their wounded mates. One of the wounded with a leg hanging at a strange angle kept shooting as he was being dragged backwards. They finally reached the corner as the last Lizard Ape dropped dead as a train of palates passed them from the magazine the team had just opened up.

Jack turned and grabbed a hold of one of the wounded from the marine dragging two and started running. The other two dragging their wounded behind them passed Jack at a run. The two marines reached the core and turned the corner then appeared again with their weapons raised and started shooting to each side of Jack
down the Corridor.

Jack reached the core
and looked around. It was full of marines shooting down the corridors radiating out as trains of power packs continued to disappear down the conveyor lift. "Stop the trains to use as barricades inside each corridor." Jack said as one of the marine stopped one of the trains.

As they worked making barricades and shooting Apes, Jack looked around for anyone that had been left behind in one of the corridors. After a few minutes he was glad to find none. "Sgt. How many have we lost?"

"My count says 3 sir. But they just may have dropped down one of the chasses or garbage shoots, or blast holes from the gun fire that had hit the ship."

"God how could I forget." Jack slapped his wrist comm again. Number one I need you to target the decks
above especially the hot deck we were headed for above us. We are undergoing a massive assault. Luckily they only have swards and knives at the moment. But we need time to drop down the elevator and taking out their command and control deck just may slow things down."

The ship started shaking under them as
the hot deck above them started taking 16inch gun and torpedo hits blasting chunks out of the hull. "Ok men to the elevators now. Pack them in. I want everyone in them now." Jack watched the hot compartment some 20 decks above him take several direct gun hits and then seconds later another dozen torpedo hits. The decks above start to cool but then within seconds, instead of just one deck at a time heating up, every deck between them and what must be some kind of command deck started warming up.

The
marines started an orderly withdraw into the elevator as Jack watched. He backed up to the bulkhead next to the elevator hatch. Pallet trains continued to go around the barricades to disappear down the shafts.  The ones they had stopped started up again.

Then with three marines left standing next to Jack,
they started to back in when the hatch closed pushing him and the three marines’ butts back out so the hatch would close. Jack watched the energy trace of the elevator drop down. "Shit. Come on guys around to the other. They moved as one firing down each corridor as they passed in their flight around the core past the conveyor half way around to the other side having to jump over the train of pallets. The rear marine throwing grenades down each passageway as he passed.

Just as they reached the elevator hatch it closed pushing the gloves trying to keep it from closing, back inside leaving an additional marine out in the cold.

Turning as Lizard Apes started pouring out of the corridors Jack fired as he was run down by a pallet train headed for the conveyor next to the elevator when the Apes stopped the train coming out another passageway trying to follow the train ahead of it already in the conveyor.

Getting back up and shooting over the pallets as they disappeared down the conveyor
one at a time he suddenly stopped firing as he studied the pallet going into the conveyor and disappearing down it.

"Shit. That’s it
!" Turning to the marine next to him as the marine started to change power packs Jack grabbed him by the rescue loop on his back and jerked him around and onto the top of the next pallet headed into the conveyor.

As it disappeared down with the marine on top of it Jack smiled. "Everyone down the conveyor on top of the pallets. Now!"

Jack grabbed the next marine in line as he turned around to head for the conveyor and helped him on with one arm as he continued to fire at the Lizard Apes.

Two more times he help the next marine in line onto a pallet until the Sgt. stood next to him. "Go Sgt. I will follow you."

"Sorry Captain you first." The train ended as another closely followed it.

"You go now Sgt. that is an order."

"Sorry Sir but I out rank you here." The Sgt. took a couple of grenades off Jacks chest harness and throw them across the compartment and then took something bigger from his thighs as explosions lit up the passageways around the corner sending bodies out across to hit the elevator doors. As two more of Jack's grenades followed them.

As the
grenades started exploding followed by two much bigger explosions the Sgt. grabbed Jack by the rescue loop on his back and an arm and leveraged him over onto the next pallet train as it passed.  As Jack came to rest on top, he pulled the last grenades off Jacks power pack vest and stepped back as Jack dropped away from the fight.

"Damn it Sgt." He knew that there was no way the Sgt. could make it onto a pallet without being overrun first.

Jack was dumped onto the gun deck joining the pallet that had gone down ahead of him to form a train with the other marines a train ahead of him as another train came around the core and headed for the shuttle sitting in a new landing hole in the open hull between the empty holes in the hull of two turret mounts.  Then another pallet dropped out of the conveyor and onto the long row of pallets as the train headed for the shuttle a good (or bad) 500 feet away.  The Sgt. was facing back at the conveyor with his weapon ready as the inside of the conveyor lit up with a huge explosion that continued for several minutes as the train rushed toward one of the two remaining boats. The other boat took off with the stern ramp packed, not giving the hatch room to close.

Jack looked around to see how many troops were left on the gun deck and
got a surprise as the boat's stern guns started hammering away at the core and utility chasses running from the deck to the overhead spaced around the huge compartment.

The pallet train
finally reached the last boat. Running up onto the ramp as the shuttle pulled out of the ship.  The rear ramp started closing as the guns from the ship dropped its fire from the decks above to the gun deck obliterating the Apes coming out of the chases along with the weapons. Then magazines above started blowing in mass ripping the two decks apart knocking several of the remaining gun towers into strange angles from the hull.

Jack
slid off the pallet and turned around on the ramp to a packed shuttle with most of the troops and crewmen laying on top of pallets already stacked up head high, bulkhead to bulkhead.  "Ok, whoever is in command of this shuttle, drop me and the marines off at the other platoon's landing zone before you head for the ship."  Turning to the Sgt. "Damn Sgt. I thought I had lost you back there.  I didn't now marines carried explosives that big."

"W
e don’t' Captain but the Lizard Apes do.  We were able to grab quite an assortment of ordnance along with the power packs. I think we even have something that will take out a tank. If you will excuse me I need to restock my men before we head back aboard that ship sir."

"Yes Sgt. Oh and sorry for the men you lost
.  I wish it…"

"Did not
lose anyone Captain.  They dropped down through one of the Trunks when they got cut off.  They even managed to plant a bunch of explosives before they dropped down.  They did well Captain."  The Sgt. said as he climbed up onto the layer of pallets and started hunting around for specific ordnance.

The shuttle curved around and backed its
stern up against a hole sitting between the tower arms of another of the enemy ship's smaller caliber turret gun deck's just after another shuttle left for the ship.  Jack and the platoon got off taking a bunch of the power pack grav pallets with them.  As work crews started off the ramp Jack turned around to the lieutenant that seemed to be in charge of them.  "Hold on there.  We are pulling out and I need you to unload this shuttle on the other end so we can get everyone off this ship as fast as possible.  Can you do that Lieutenant?"

The lieutenant looked longingly into the enemy ship but turned to Jack and saluted
.  "Yes Captain, we will have this and the other boats unloaded in record time sir.

"Good Lieutenant
.  Get it done."  Jack returned the solute then turned around trying to see what was going on around him.  A mass of equipment and pallets started piling up for the next shuttle with a mass of work crews and marines scattered across that side of the enemy ship.  He found The Ensign in only a few seconds several decks below him.

Turning to look
for the easiest way to get to the Ensign Jack noticed a work crew at the base of one of the gun towers trying to disconnect the tower from the ship. Stepping up to one of the holes in the hull Jack looked up at the gun mount.  Shaking his head he made a beeline to the work crew.  "Ok gentlemen.  Stop what you are doing."  It looks like some kind of point defense turret on the end of the tower. Half of you go out to the end of the tower and knock the mount off. The rest can start loading boats. "We already have 4 main guns and a good sampling of most of the other weapons. We need to get the hell out of here."  As the crew gathered and just stood looking at him.  "Come on guys get going.  We don't have much time."