Battleship Destroyer (86 page)

"Of course silly. You have to know i
t to play and order or understand your squad mates without wasting time talking or trying to access a stupid menu or hit a specific key. It is a lot faster to just make a sign with your hand especially when talking can give your position away."

"Ok Captain that is the basics but I don’t know if they understood them all or how well they will remember them."

"Thanks Sgt. Let's try this again." Jack stepped forward and made a couple of hand signs and to his shock ten Apes left the end of the Column and ran over to line up in front of the marine and his squad. "Ok Marine, try a maneuver."

The marine held up his hand making
a few signs and the squad of Apes divided into two ape groups and spread out. The marine turned to the squad of crewmen. "That means you bozoos." The crewmen spread out with each crewman taking a pair of Apes. The Marine signed again, the groups spread out into a wedge formation. To Jacks surprise one of the crewmen placed his team a ways out of line and one of the Apes in his team tapped him on the shoulder and signed for him to move over into the proper position.

"Well. That is a start." Jack finished giving each marine squad leader ten Apes as a cart was rushed into the compartment
by several Greenfoots. They immediately went to the squads and started painting the Ape's armor a florescent bright Red using large paint cans. Jack grabbed the cart and pushed it toward the Apes that remained in the column. Then made signs for them to paint each other. Turning to Pan as the Apes started grabbing cans of paint Jack smiled. "Tell them that this is so we can tell them from the enemy and to show the enemy who are the most honorable." Looking at the armor of the Apes as they were being painted Jack could only shake his head. "They do stand out don't they." Turning to Pan he grabbed a can of paint and gave it to her. "Paint my suit please."  When the translator looked at him and then the can and back again. "It is not honorable to let them take the risk and not share that risk." Jack said.

Pan looked from Jack over to watch the Apes painting each other and then
back at the can as she held the can up and pushed the button on top painting herself in the chest with a sudden expression Jack could only take as surprise as she dropped it. The Translator just stared as jack picked it up and handed it back to her showing her how to hold it. She looked at it as she turned the can around and finally started painting. Or to be kind. Spraying Jack's suit with more than a little ineptitude. Holding the can to close, then too far away and then not fast enough creating huge blobs that ran down the suit.  But finally Jack was somewhat covered with bright red paint streaks and blotches and runs all over his suit. Jack waving the Ensign off when she tried to take over for the Translator. "Let her. She obviously needs the experience." Turning to the Sgt. as he pulled a tactical screen out of his leg pocket and pointing to the opposite side of the ship from the boat lock they were using to evacuate the ship from. "Ok Sgt. this is where I want you to start deploying your squads. Distribute 5 Apes to each of the marine squads on that side of the ship. I will take the rest to act as a reserve force. "

"Ah, Captain.
The ah Apes have no ammunition. No power packs for their weapons."

"
What? Damn it." Glancing at the nearest Ape Jack turned to Pan. "We have pallets of energy packs for our weapons out next to the shuttle for supplying the troops. We need a couple of those pallets in here fast." 

With empty paint cans sailing across the compartment
, the small army was finally ready to go as pallets of power packs suddenly rushed into the compartment in the arms of several Greenfoots. Each of them going from squad to squad or along the column. Hitting his comm. "Commander I am sending most of my Apes to mix into your squads starting at the choke points and defensive positions on the far side of the ship from the lock. The Ape are painted bright red so don't confuse them with the enemy. Your marines can communicate with our Apes using standard combat sign language. I will have a reserve force of apes directly under you for you to send where you want us. Give me a couple minutes to get into position. I will tell you when we are ready."

"Bull shit Captain. We are pulling back now. They have just broken
through to the next deck on the fare side of the ship. We have to reestablish a new line."

Jack looked to the fare side of the ship
as he headed for the column of Apes. "No Commander. That is what reserves are for. I will clear that deck and reestablish the line. Just hold what you have on your side of the ship." Turning to Pan over his shoulder as she tried to follow. "I need you to have your people start sealing every trunk and entry into the boat deck as well as constructing defensive protected redoubts around the boat bay." Then turned and waving at the Apes still remaining in the original column he signed them to follow him and ran down the passageway to the other side of the ship. Tapping his comm. "Sgt. I need you to take a squad to the trunk of the deck below the breach and seal it off so they can't drop any father down. Out"

The Column turned as one and
easily kept up with the much smaller Jack as several Greenfoots continued to hand out power packs running alongside the column. Turning down a side passageway they started climbing a series of ramps that finally turned into an airlock several decks above the boat lock deck. The first operating like a revolving door letting the Apes pass through the long up corridor behind a moving bulkhead or hatch. A new hatch closed off the bottom of the ramp corridor when each moving hatch had moved 10 feet up the corridor. The air from that compartment bleeding into the down ramp moving compartment on its way down. Only the wisps of air in the last 20 feet needing to be pumped out.   At the top end of the ramp passageway the hatch opened into vacuum with Jack and the few Apes with him as the hatch made its turn around to seal off the down lock corridor and started moving in the opposite direction. Apes started piling out of the corridor ramp as each moving hatch made its turnaround back into the down passageway. Jack found himself wondering why they had not simply used one of the air curtains from the boat bay hatch.

Coming up off the ramp
onto the deck below the main gun deck battle, Jack turned right and signaled the column to spread out into two arms to sweep the ship for the enemy. He wanted to tell them what to do once they met the enemy he could see ahead of them but the simple hand signs did not allow that. The two arms of Apes ran down the passageways to both sides as Jack waited for the line to form. Then with a good sized squad behind him and fire teams stopped at every intersection down the passageways to both sides, Jack started moving forward down the large main passageway again at a jog.

He watched one of the fire teams
off to the side meet an advancing Black Ape patrol at an intersection and make quick work of them. The enemy not even getting off a shot thinking the Apes were on their side. As they got closer to the breach Black Apes learned they had Red Apes fighting against them and the fights increased in numbers and size  but they never seemed to have the energy and determination the Reds had.

Jack sent
a squad down a side corridor to an out numbered fire team he thought would need help but the enemy was quickly dispatched before the help Jack sent could get there and the squad quickly returned. Then Black Ape patrols started turning into hard points guarding intersections.

After taking
on a couple of small enemy units guarding intersection hatches with the Apes out running him in quick fast assaults to the next intersection Jack stopped them at a hatch at an intersection just short of the objective. The access chase compartment the Black Apes had taken as a breach.

He saw the enemy massing in the
large compartment ahead under the breach with the Sgt. below planting bombs to contain anyone trying to use that trunk to drop any farther. Being carful he signed to a couple of individual Apes, trying to tell him to go out to the teams on the  arms and have them close around the breach into a pincher movement on the compartment with the taken ladder Chase directly ahead of them. But after speaking for several seconds in their helmets without Jack hearing them let alone understanding them, they just stood there staring at him. He tried pushing one of them down the passageway but the Ape stood like a rock looking down at him. Jack tried again motioning the Ape to go out and close the arm around the compartment ahead of them by sweeping his arms around to meet and shook his head yes. Since he knew that Pan had explained to them that the up and down gesture meant yes and that a side to side motion meant no.

The Ape mimicked Jack but then tapped his ears and pointed to each side down the passageways and shook his head yes. Then
tapped his wrist with 2 fingers and stepped next to the hatch to the passageway leading to the chase comportment and waited with his weapon ready.

"Ok. Does that me
an they have radios and they are getting ready to attack in two time periods or not and what time periods?"

"Well that is how I read his jesters." Jack whipped around to see The Ensign standing a few feet away in a shiny perfectly painted
bright red suit. "I took a minute to have them do a decent job painting my suit and turned around and you were gone with the army." Smiling over at Jack. "Thought you could get away from me didn't you?"

"Damn it Ensign. This is no place for you. Someone is going to get killed in the next few minutes and I don't want it to be you."

"Well, I don't want it to be you but if it happens then I am going to be with you one way or another love."

An Ape tapped Jack on the shoulder, tapped his wrist
with one finger and pointed at the hatch and shook his head yes.

"Ok. Does that mean we have a minute or he is asking for permission to attack?"
Looking around he noticed the rest of the Apes tensing themselves ready to spring. "Ok that must mean it is time to go." 

Taking a deep breath he looked
threw the bulkheads and saw that Apes had surrounded the compartment where he had wanted them to be with their weapons ready. "Shit. Geronimo!" Jack lunged through the hatch and down the passageway at a run. Only to be passed by Ape after Ape in their dash at the distant hatch.

One of the Apes threw
something at the hatch and it exploded the hatch into the compartment just before they reached the end of the passageway to dive into the compartment that seemed serial peacefully full of black suited Apes milling around for a fraction of a second as Jack approached the hatch and then a hundred fireballs streaked across the compartment. First from the Red Apes that were quickly answered by the Black Apes.

Jack and the Ensign stopped and started shooting
through the broken hatch at the mass of none painted Apes in the center of the Compartment surrounding the stair trunk leading up as Red painted Apes spread around the outer edges. A couple of quick explosions in the middle of the compartment made short work of most of the Apes and then the Reds charged into those that where left.

Jack stopped firing in fear of hitting one of the Reds until he saw some Apes headed for one of the passageways
to the side from him trying to escape and started taking them out with the Ensign's help.

Two
Apes made it, disappearing down the passageway then turning around to fire a couple of shots back out into the backs of the Reds before a deluge of plasma balls shot back at them. Jack took off back down his passageway, through the hatch he had left only seconds before and then turned down another passageway as the two Apes burst around the corner.

Jack already had his gun ready and pulled the trigger just as the first started around the corner cutting him down
as explosive balls hit it. The other using the first Ape as cover made it into the passageway from behind his dead buddy and started firing as Jack lunged for the deck. The Ape's shots flying over Jack as he slid along the deck toward the Ape.

Bringing his gun up Jack pulled the trigger again sending the string of fireballs up the Apes crouch stitching his stomach and chest before blowing his head off.

Jack continued to slide toward the Apes as they dropped to the deck in a spreading pile of yellowish red gore. "Shit. Just like me to find the only deck on this rust bucket that was waxed." His arms and legs slipping on the deck trying to keep himself from sliding into the quickly evaporating relatively hot liquid steaming up in the vacuum.

Finally
getting some traction Jack started to slow himself down with some likely hood of stopping before he hit the yellow and red mess when he noticed something moving out of the corner of his eye. Jerking his head around he saw the faint energy outline of another Ape coming down the passageway at speed.

Trying to
whip the assault gun around to shoot the Ape as it came around the corner Jack slid into the gore as he raised his heavy weapon. Pulling the trigger in desperation he shot the corner of the bulkhead as the big Lizard Ape flashed out around it in a skidding turn. Two more shots caught vacuum and the bulkhead across the intersection before Jack could lift his finger off the trigger at the sight of Red paint.

The Big Red Ape danced
to a stop with its feet slipping on the deck but keeping his balance a few yards away from Jack, looking down at him now covered in red yellow gore. Staring at him as he tried to get up only to slip covering even more of his suit in the yellow red streaked bloodied gore between and onto the Black Ape bodies. The Red Ape threw its head back and opened its mouth showing teeth as roaring laughter came across Jacks earphones. The Ensign came running up behind him not having any trouble at all about slipping.