Beyond the Shroud of the Universe (40 page)

The following is an

Excerpt from Book 1 of The Saiph Series
:

Discovery of the Saiph

___________________

PP Corcoran

Available now from PP Corcoran Ltd

eBook, Paperback and Audio

Excerpt from “Discovery of the Saiph:”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Boarding Action

Deep in the hull Alec Murray and Team Four were closing on their objective. The suspected computer core. During a natural pause between tactical bounds Alec took a minute to check on the progress of the teams in the forty minutes since the initial breaching action.

What appeared to be the main missile magazine had been secured with the minimum amount of casualties by Teams Two and Three. The Lieutenants in charge of each team had gotten their heads together and came up with the idea, quickly adopted by all Team Leaders, of using a small charge on every bulkhead door they came across. The ones on either side of their route of advance got a charge large enough to buckle the frame making the doors inoperable. The ones on the actual route of advance were blown open and left that way. The net effect was that the entire line of advance was left in hard vacuum trapping the ship’s crew in the areas which still retained atmosphere. On reaching the missile bay the marines had simply blown the bulkheads and allowed the atmosphere to escape before entering to minimal opposition. It may seem cruel to some but it kept marine casualties and collateral damage to a minimum. A good thing too as Team Two reported that the crew had been in the process of rigging some of the nuclear missiles with dead man switches which would have allowed them to be detonated by hand rather than electronically. The detonation of a few nukes would have destroyed the ship, the crew and the marines.

Captain Brandon had managed to circumvent his immediate opposition by blasting his way through the deck plates but Brandon reported stiffening opposition from armored soldiers as he approached the bridge area but he was confident that with the imminent arrival of reinforcements he could take the bridge in short order.

Sergeant Semple held the engineering spaces with the arrival of fresh marines he was in the process of evacuating his wounded, although he refused to leave himself. Memories of 70 Ophiuchi came to mind and Alec wondered if he was going to have no choice but to send Gunny Wanderman to engineering to remind Semple of the consequences of refusing to obey orders.

“Moving.”

The call on Team Four’s net brought Alec back to his current position. By the schematics reckoning Team Four was less than twenty meters from the area which showed the heaviest shielding. The lead marine made his way to the corner of the corridor and went to one knee as he extended his rifle in front of him giving it, and by extension, his suit which passed the image to the other suits of the team a clear look along the marines’ line of advance. Alec had the fleetest of moments to identify a barricaded position as the entire corner where the lead marine was kneeling exploded outward flinging the marine clear across the corridor where he bounced off the far wall and lay still. The red blinking name Morales appeared then disappeared in Alec’s display.

The marines around him hugged the corridor walls for cover as two small, round, black objects rebounded off the corridors wall and fell by Morales’ still form.

“Grenade!” screamed Alec as he fell to the deck. The world around him rocked and his suit filters blackened as the first wave of superheated plasma passed over him. Alec sensed rather than felt being violently beaten onto the deck. The beating seemed to last forever. Alec prayed for his suit to maintain its integrity and spare his life.

The detached, rational part of Alec’s mind knew that only a few seconds had passed, not a lifetime, but a few seconds in combat was the difference between living and dying. He knew if he was in command of the enemy soldiers he would order a follow up charge on the heels of the explosion. 

Alec struggled to his knees as the first armor clad enemy soldier came around the corner. A lethal looking rifle in his hands was swinging in Alec’s direction. Alec tried to raise his own weapon but his brain was finding it difficult to coordinate. Alec realized he wasn’t going to make it and resigned himself to his fate… What the hell? Alec shook his head to clear the fog… he saw the hand of God pluck the soldier off the corridor floor, throw him high in the air before returning him as a million shredded pieces. Something tapped Alec’s shoulder, he turned towards it. All external sound practically muted by the ringing in his ears, Alec concentrated on the moving lips he saw, and the muffled noises coming from them

“Sir! Can you hear me? Sir! Are you all right?” Alec strained to hear the marine.

“Captain” Alec struggled to get the word out as he re-orientated himself.

Muqimi repeated “Sir! Are you Okay?”

Alec shook his head to clear it as his suit systems began injecting pain numbing medication, enough to keep him mobile. He nodded in assent and Muqimi helped him to his feet, urgently grabbing at his arm and pulling with great strength while maintaining possession of his own weapon. Now on his unsteady feet Alec looked around him and snorted at his own stupidity, it hadn’t been the hand of God to the rescue; it was his reinforcements.

He sobered immediately on the realization that Team Four had ceased to exist. Twelve fellow marines gone in an instant. The survivors had sustained severe injuries. 

“Muqimi, it must have been the plasma grenades,” Alec gestured towards the destruction.  “Semple came up against them in the engineering spaces,” Muqimi nodded his understanding, “around that corner are the enemy that have just wiped out your fellow marines I want them to understand that killing a marine is a bad idea.” Alec was almost running on a full tank of gas now, “Do you understand me?”

Muqimi, a marine for the guts of fifteen years, understood his commander perfectly. “Message received and understood Sir!” He switched to his team channel. “Marines covering fire on my command. Breaching charges forward. Standby. Standby. Fire!”

The wrath of God rained fire that engulfed the enemy position as Team Fourteen poured plasma fire onto the killers of their fellow marines. Under this cover two breaching charges were launched, their magnetic hooks held them fast against the enemy barricade. A heart beat later their shaped charge heads exploded, reverberating throughout the ship. The barricade and its defenders ceased to exist. The marines charged through the cloud of debris. A still shaky Alec with them. No quarter was asked for nor given. The marines cleared the position leaving only death and destruction in their wake.

* * * * *

Thank you for reading an excerpt from Discovery of the Saiph, Book 1 of
The Saiph Series.

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