Black Dawn (24 page)

Marcus stood confidently, and took the minicomp that the Major handed to him. He read its contents before speaking.
“All right,” he told them all, “There are a few scenarios that
apply to this situation. But any of them would require more manpower
than just Ebony flight,” he said. “We’ll all need to work together to
pull this off. Here is what we need to do…
* * * * *

They timed the attack so that it would take place during the
night cycle on that side of the planet. Just as before, BlackFleet craft
knifed silently through space toward the mining colony. This time
however, they were not simply flying past. Two of the
Talon
squadrons and the remaining shuttle approached the planet from the hemisphere opposite their objective. They came in, skimming the surface
by staying only a few dozen meters up, and used a mountain range near
the hidden base to mask their final approach from detection. They
finally landed behind the last of the foothills, only a few kilometers
from their goal.

The Elite forces group had been hard pressed to match the split
second timing and maneuverability that the more seasoned pilots displayed in all this. Speed McKinney gave Smith a complimentary nod
once they were out of their ships. “When I grow up I want to fly like
that,” he told the pilot.

Smith took that in silence. Things had moved so quickly in the
last few hours that he hadn’t had the time to think much about the Elite
forces taking over the op. Fortunately, McKinney seemed to be too
occupied with getting on with business to expect a reply.
The murky atmosphere of Kendrick was rich in carbon dioxide, but air pressure at this level was close to normal. That meant they
hadn’t needed to use space armor, only breathers. That helped quite a
bit with their ability to move around. After suiting everyone up-Elite
Forces in their custom black gear and the others in more typical light
battle armor, Chen Marcus, took a team out on recon. Belly-crawling
practically to the back door of the base, they got more detailed scans of
the layout. They prowled all around the facility, spending two full
hours making electronic observations and noting movements and operational patterns in that time as well. After finishing up, the trio returned to the shuttle and the rest of their comrades.

“
Listen up,” Marcus said as everyone gathered around. He
projected a holographic diagram of the base into the air. “There are
two main entrances, here and here. They are guarded, but not heavily.
These people aren’t expecting company like us, yet. There’s also the
bunker entrance here, where the ships are kept. There are a few remote
sensor platforms at various places on the grounds. We’ve tagged them
on your personal scan units, so that you can use scramblers to mask
your presence as you get near them.

“
Most of the base is underground, and shielded, so even this
close, our scans of the interior are incomplete. We do know that it
seems to be a large three-level facility with several rooms. We will
assume that our people are being kept at the level furthest from the surface, until we learn differently. But the main point of entry will need
to be the hatchway on top of this hill here,” he said, pointing to a spot
on a ridge above the base.

“I’ll be leading Squad One; Sweggert, you have Squad Two;
Pierce, Squad Three, and Zola, you have Squad Four. One and Two
will be going in through the hatch we found, evidently used for receiving supplies. Squad Three will be going in at this doorway entrance,
on the other side of the compound. It’s the most minimally guarded
regular entryway. Squad Four, you’re backup, but you know what
your primary responsibility is. Operation Bedrest is on. Gear up, and
let’s go.”

Smith found himself in Pierce and McKinney’s group. They’d
had the normal BlackFleet training in hand held weapons, and in how
to move silently, but Smith thought to himself that Pierce and McKinney made it seem easy.

Each of the groups moved into position. Squad Three had
crawled to a point behind a small hill, about eighteen meters from one
of the entrances. A sealed doorway was set under a shelf of rock, and
really difficult to see through the dense atmosphere. The scanner
showed that there were two people just inside it, but one of them was
heading off back into the depths of the base.

“Shift change,” Pierce mumbled more to herself than anyone.

The rest of the team was going to take another fifteen minutes
to get into position. Squad Three waited while the night crawled on,
but suddenly Pierce noted new movement inside. A second sentry was
joining the first at the door.

“What’s this? Company on duty?”
She silent-signaled the others to remain quiet, but motioned McKinney over to watch what was
happening on her scanner. To her amazement the door actually began
to open.

The couple of ‘guards’ at this entrance appeared to be
just
that—a couple. They were holding hands as they opened the door and
came out of the base, for a moonlit walk in the smog, or something.
Of course the door sealed shut behind them, but despite that, Pierce
couldn’t have imagined a more gift-wrapped opportunity.

“
Squad Three to One,” she whispered into her com unit.
“One, go.”
“We have a pair of targets who have just opened the side door

to the base. Can’t pass up an invitation like that,” she reported.
“Roger that, Three.”

Pierce had McKinney set up with a stunner, while she crept to
the other side of the trail the couple was using to wander outside the
base. Several large boulders all over the area helped her to stay hidden
from view.

“Set.” She whispered to him as she reached position.

Speed waited until they came closer, then tapped the trigger.
The male dropped as the beam hit him. Pierce stepped behind the
woman at the same instant and put a gun to the pirate’s temple.

“Don’t try anything funny, or you won’t like the punch line,”
she said. She took her holstered weapon, then frog-marched the woman back to the doorway, and had her open it. Once the door was
opened, Pierce shot her with a stunner, and eased her to the ground.
She’d be out for a couple of hours. They had enough air in their
breathers and that would be more than enough time for their plan.

Pierce signaled for the rest of her squad to join her. They
slipped in quickly, and resealed the doors.
“Squad Three to One. We’re inside.”
“Good work,” Marcus whispered. “We’ve reached the supply
doors and are entering the base now. Keep me apprised of your progress.”
“Will do. Three out.”
Two of Cheny’s squadron members stayed to guard the doorway. Pierce made sure that they were set with their “package”. The
plan was that the Elite force group would station the pilots at the main
exits as guards, while they were to actually carry out the op. Pierce
had only Smith and one of the techs left, and she intended to station
them just a little further inside. So the rest followed as she led down
the empty corridor and into the pirate base as they began searching for
their crewmates.

Squads One and Two made their way into a corridor from the
hatch they had used to enter the base. They were as quiet as humanly
possible, and luck was with them this time. Fortunately, no one saw
their entry.

At the first corner, they stopped, and checked with their handheld units. The next room was just some sort of lounge, no further information about how to find their missing crew, here. There were two
doorways out of the room however, and both corridors went on for
quite a way. Marcus split Squad Two off at this point, indicating that
they should take the way to the left. After posting a guard at this position, the rest moved on.

All was quiet. There was no one, seemingly up doing much of
anything at this hour. All of the squads made unopposed progress for a
few more minutes. They searched rooms as they went, looking for
obvious holding cells, or even plain locked rooms with a handful of
persons inside.

So far the search was proving unsuccessful.
It was Squad
Three once again, that encountered life first.

Pierce stopped at a corner and checked with her scanner, then
turned to the rest of her team.
“One” she indicated with her finger, then, “coming this way.”
She motioned for all of them to back away, then eased her rifle onto
the floor, and took a stance at the corner.
The guard approached very casually. He was armed only with
a pistol, held loosely before him.
Pierce grabbed the guard at the wrist
before he was fully around the corner. She stepped inside the man’s
reach, made a couple of moves so fast that Smith never quite saw them
and suddenly the man was on the floor, unconscious or dead. All
without making a sound. Pierce picked up her rifle afterward. Smiling, she walked back to where Smith still stood, and gently closed his
gaping mouth with one of those lethal fingertips.
“Stay here,” she whispered to the pilot and the tech. “Guard
this junction. If it isn’t us, or any of the missing crewmembers shoot
it. But I don’t want of be a victim of friendly fire on the way back out.
So remember—
look
first, then shoot.” Then she and McKinney proceeded further into the base. And just like that, Smith’s estimation of
the Elite forces began to change.
Pierce and McKinney met only one more person in the way of
resistance, and he too, was quietly dispatched. A minute later, they
found an elevator. Slipping inside, the remnants of Squad Three went
down to the next level.
Marcus and Squad One prowled close to an obvious landmark
on their scanner info. He crept close enough to the door opening to
confirm what the data was telling him. Sure enough, the room was a
large, well-lit repair shop. Several people were working the graveyard
shift inside. “The repair bay for their ships,” he said to the rest of his
squad. “The hangar,
and our shuttle must be close by.”
This would be helpful later on, but
they certainly didn’t need it right now. The captain backed his team
away from the room.
They continued their sweep of this level, and in another moment, the scanner info revealed that the room at the far end of the corridor they were searching was a bit more key to their plan.
“Squad One to Squads Two, Three and Four, report status,” he
whispered.
“Squad Two; still proceeding from last point of contact. No
discoveries.”
“Squad Three; we’ve just made it onto second level. Proceeding cautiously.”
“Squad Four; in position.”
“We found the atmosphere processing unit,” Marcus himself
reported. “We’ll hold position and coordinate from here. Two, Three:
the rest of the operation is up to you. Watch yourselves. One out.”

Sweggert’s team halted at the end of a darkened corridor. A
security detail walked across the end of the hallway. Randy motioned
for Grace Wiggins, the other Elite Force member of his squad, to
crouch down in the darkness, trusting that their black armor would help
them to stay hidden. Had the guards simply looked down the corridor
they might have seen the intruders, but they stopped for only a second,
then went on their way around the corner to the left. Randy watched
them go, and waited for just a moment, to be sure.

To the right, there was another set of elevator doors. He
paused only a second before leading the way down to the second level.

Squad Three had met no opposition on the second level so far.
They’d stopped and scanned through various doors, but still had not
found their crewmen. Pierce tried the next door along the corridor, and
stopped cold.

“What?” McKinney whispered.

“Barracks. I count…thirty
-seven people behind this door, and
the next three doors, as well.”
“Terrific. Me and thee against 120?”
“Suggestions?”
Speed thought for only a second. “Seal the doors.”
“Right. Odds are there’s another way out of the rooms, but
this should slow them down some.”
Pierce pulled out a packet from one of the fatigue pockets, and
opened it. Inside was a gray clay-like compound, which they smeared
into the seam of each of the doors quickly and quietly. By the time
they finished the last door, the first one had hardened to the density of
steel. She checked her chrono.
“That cost us almost three minutes. We’d better move it.”
“Speed’s my middle…” he said.
Pierce cut him off with a gesture and pointed down the corridor again.

Squad Two waited anxiously at a corner as Sweggert doublechecked his scanner. Then his mouth broadened into a wide grin as he
found what he had been looking for.

“
Control center!” he thought triumphantly. He held up four
fingers, referring to the number of persons inside. Then he showed the
scanner reading to Wiggins, and pointed toward an adjoining corridor
to the left. She understood his implied order, and crept off quietly.

In less than two minutes, she reported back.
“Set,” she said
over Sweggert’s helmet com.
Randy consulted the scanner once again. There appeared to
be two persons seated against the southern end of the room and two
more standing more or less at duty stations, he supposed, on the other
side.
“You have the two against the south wall.”
“Acknowledged,” she said.
“On my mark… “ Sweggert whispered.
Wiggins had circled around to the opposite side of the control
room, and now they both slipped low and quietly up to the open doorways on either side of the control room, and paused just outside.
“
Go
,” Sweggert whispered again into his com.
At that signal, both Sweggert and Wiggins dove and slid into
the room on the floor, firing in opposite directions. One of the technicians shouted something as the stun beam hit him, but then he hit the
floor, unconscious. None of the other three made a sound at all.
They checked the pulse on each of the downed pirates quickly,
then Randy electronically plugged his scanner into the main control
panel, and began hitting buttons on the pad. He worked quickly to
hack into the system database, and checked in as he was doing so.
“Squad Two to One. We have found base control center and
are now querying the central computer.”
“Excellent, Two,” Marcus said. “Report progress. One out.”
A voice came around a corner near the control room preceding
its owner. “Hey, I thought I heard something fall in here. The Boss’ll
have your…”
The newcomer stopped the second she saw the intruders in the
room. But she had no time to do anything more. Grace had spun,
crouched and aimed before the pirate had even come around the corner. She was dropped with the stunned expression still on her face.
Wiggins dragged the unconscious woman inside the control room.
Randy nodded his approval and went back to his work. A
chime sounded and he grinned triumphantly.
“Do we do good work or what? Squad Two to Three. I have
all of the computer’s information for this base. Notes here say that the
prisoners are on the third level, Holding Rooms Eight and Nine.”
Squad Three acknowledged. “We’ll take hostage rescue,” she
said.
Sweggert planted a device under the main console, then he and
Wiggins settled in to wait.