NOVEL WEB Chapter 21: Just Within Reach
A knock from the side sent me flying through the hallway. When I recovered, I quickly looked around, Luna was no longer by my side. My earpiece was also gone and since the intercoms were just crackling in this hallway, Ellie wouldn’t be able to help me either.
Before I could go and start looking, another figure came running up to me. I couldn’t possibly raise my rifle back up in time, so I charged back and delivered an uppercut with my bionic arm. I heard something crack, and it definitely wasn’t my arm. Three more figures then charged from the smoke towards me, but this time my rifle was prepared. I fired full-auto into them, spraying from the hip. They all went down. If my count was correct, that meant there were only two enemies left, and one of them was probably struggling with Luna right now. I could zone out the sizzling of the fire suppression system’s wreckage just long enough so I could hear the faint sounds of a struggle coming from behind me.
I quickly ran over and found Luna with an enemy soldier on top of her. This one’s helmet had been knocked off, the red scales looking quite lobster-like. They were both trying to get the upper hand of Luna’s pistol, but she was holding it in a death grip. I kicked the fucker off my XO and with a short blast sent him back to whatever hellhole he had come crawling out off.
Luna was still gasping for air but I could tell just by giving it a quick look over that Luna’s oxygen mask wouldn’t be providing much oxygen any longer, so I decided to take a couple of deep breaths before handing my mask to her.
“T-t-thanks.” She coughed before her eyes went open wide. She raised her gun past my waist and shot a couple of times. I heard a thud behind me. The last enemy soldier had apparently tried to sneak up on me, but luckily Luna had recovered her wits fast enough to notice.
I gave her a thankful nod and helped her to her feet.
“Ellie says the coast is clear. The soldiers are providing suppressive fire.”
I nodded once more and raced her out of the hallway and into the next. Luckily, this time with more breathable air. Fire suppressant really wasn’t made to be inhaled. We ran as fast as we could towards the sound of gunfire.
A marine guided us into one of the holes in the wall. It had been blasted open by some kind of energy weapon. A couple of wounded soldiers had been set against one of the walls in the back, but their injuries didn’t look to be life-threatening. In the meantime, five marines just kept unloading down the hallways from their firing positions.
“Glad you are here, ma’am.” The marine gave me a short salute as I sat down on one of the benches. My outfit was slightly covered in the white fire suppressant, so was Luna’s.
“I’m happy everything appears to be going well here. All things considered.” I replied.
The marine offered me a flask of water, which I gladly accepted. I took a swig and then handed it over to Luna.
“We are holding. We have tried to sally out a couple of times. But every time, we get pushed back on the defensive by an attack from the other side. While we could’ve possibly repelled those at the same time. We really didn’t want to lose the armory.”
“That’s definitely understandable. But you’ve done a good job.” I looked around even more. None of the big exoskeleton suits had been used. “And you’ve not been using heavy ordinance to spare most of the ship, I presume?”
“Aye aye, Commander.” The marine nodded. “We’ve been using grenades but when they see them coming they just manage to negate their damage.”
“Mhmm, mhmm.” I thought back upon Sparks, she probably hid them ‘till the last moment for devastating effect. “Have you tried flares?”
The marine looked a bit surprised at my suggestion.
“What do you mean, Commander?”
“Well, we used the fire suppressant to hide our approach to one of their barricades. Since we are here to tell the tale, that means they don’t have thermal vision. I don’t know how they adapt to light conditions, but since they’ve not been turning off our lights, it might not be unreasonable to think that they require similar light conditions to us.”
“Hmm.” The marine walked over to one of the armory closets, which housed our heavy-duty flares. “So, if I get it right, you are suggesting we might be able to blind them with our flares after which we launch an attack with grenades and possibly assault their positions as well?”
“Yes, that’s indeed what I’m suggesting.”
“That might work.” Luna said, handing the flask of water back to me.
“Might I suggest something as well, Commander?” Ellie asked, she lowered the volume so only people in this room could hear what she was going to say.
“Go ahead, Ellie.” I replied.
“I could shut off the lighting in this sector to make the contrast between light and dark higher so we can overload their visual receptors better with the flares.”
“Sounds good, Ellie. Thanks.”
“No problem, Commander.”
“Okay, now the only thing that will be an issue is that this plan will probably only work once. If we don’t manage to capitalize on this, they will probably not fall for the same trick twice.”
“That’s true.” The marine looked a bit defeated. “So we will have to charge them in the hope that it works?”
“We can try throwing the grenades first after the flares.” I replied. “If they react to it, we don’t even have to bother charging in. But if they don’t and they sustain casualties, then we can charge in and do as much damage in as short a time as possible. They’ve already lost a sizable portion of defenders by losing the people at that one barricade. If their losses are too high it’ll be unsustainable to keep us corralled in.”
The marine cheered up again. “Alright, I’ll spread the word, Commander.” She then saluted me and hastily went on to the others to tell them about our plan.
We then started to prepare for our assault. I got myself into my combat armor and helped Luna to get into one of our spares. While Luna didn’t have any experience with these suits of armor, at least she would be more protected from enemy fire. These armors were also light enough so that it didn’t really prove much of a hindrance, even to people who hadn’t trained in them. We then rotated firing positions for a bit so everyone had enough time to get their final preparations ready as well. I then upgraded my weapon to my trusted P-900R I slung Sparks’s rifle over my shoulder and attached it to my back’s weapon clasp. I didn’t really need it but I didn’t feel like discarding it either…
“Okay, Luna, you stay behind with private Walters to protect our rear.” I didn’t want to expose her to the danger of an assault, and we needed someone to protect the wounded.
“Yes… Commander.” She clearly was a bit hesitant. “But… make sure to stay safe, o-okay?”
“I will.” I gave her a sincere nod, after which I took one of the grenade launchers out of the armory closet. I armed it with heavy-duty flares.
“Tell me when you are ready, Commander.” Ellie spoke to me through the suit’s intercom.
I walked up to the assault team. We were terribly out-numbered, but they had been practically since the start of the incursion. “Marines. Now we will take the first step to reclaiming our ship and taking revenge for our fallen comrades. Aim true and be resolved in your attacks. Our fire will overwhelm the enemy and send them fleeing. For this is our home in this dark corner of space, and no one will be taking this from us. Our hope will not falter, let’s crush theirs instead!” I saluted my team, which they immediately repaid in kind. “Ellie, we are ready to go.”
“Yes, Commander. Shutting off the lights in ten seconds.” Ellie then proceeded to count down until the moment of truth. Once she reached zero, all lights shut off.
We’d agreed upon waiting fourty-five seconds after the lights went out before commencing the first phase of the attack.
With Ellie performing yet another countdown, so our actions were in-synch. At the sound of zero, we used our grenade launchers to shoot off our flares in the enemy directions. Our visors had been set to correct to the brightness of the flares.
After the flares went out, we all started to start tossing our handheld grenades into our designated areas. The next couple of seconds would be decisive if our plan would succeed or not. As our grenades started to explode, Ellie gave us a status report. “Attack is effective. Severe enemy casualties are being sustained.”
This was the signal to launch the final phase of the plan. We all stormed out of our protection into the chaos ahead of us, all guns blazing.