Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Boarding Action (2)
Once Lt. Lincoln landed on the Clar, he heard the sounds of buzz saws and plasma welders coming from the southern corridor. Sgt. Rotterdam and her squad were busy sealing the passage with various metal plates and welding, making sure that the rest of the ship would be slow to respond once they got their act together and sent a reaction force.
Lincoln turned toward a cargo elevator, which he planned to use to transfer between levels once each was clear. He was aware that this being a merchant vessel, there were quite literally hundreds of levels. Level 1 was just the closest and most efficient entry point. The sergeants and himself had discussed breaching on Level 4 or Level 2, but they had ended up deciding that they would probably secure the whole ship anyway, so it was prudent to just start at the top.
Their primary objective was to clear down to Level 3, secure the cargo there, then shift forward to take the bridge.
The commander had briefed the Marines a few days earlier about what to expect on board a merchant vessel. Lincoln had been surprised that nearly 100% of the merchants interior functions like inventory, monitoring, and loading were automated. He'd mentioned that with the addition of an Imperial Escort, they could expect some compliment of Imperial marines on board, but all in all, there would be barely 200 people on board a nearly 90 million ton ship.
Lt. Marcus had mentioned that merchant vessels in the United Systems were nearly twice as big as the ones he's seen on the Galactic Network. He'd mentioned that there were different kinds in the US. There were external trade classes and internal trade classes. The externals were always escorted by at least three cruisers of various sizes, while the internals were much larger and much more lightly armored.
The commander had looked very interested in that particular distinction, but Lincoln couldn't yet fathom why the Commander would be interested in Merchant Ships. When asked, the Commander had just smiled and said, "there's more to me than you think, Lieutenant."
Lincoln banished those errant thoughts, focusing instead on moving toward Sgt. Gutierrez, Sgt. Burr, and Sgt. Marcus who were waiting by the elevator that would take them to Level 2. He passed the surrendered guards and workers, all of who looked at him with various faces of fear and curiosity.
He looked away, not bothering to calm them down or promise anything. As he approached the elevator, Lincoln considered why the Commander hadn't proceeded with getting a new platoon of Marines. The Commander had made it clear that he would be able to add a second platoon after the Venator became a Light Cruiser, but he had yet to select one.
It had been mildly misleading when the Commander had talked about why he'd chosen Lt. Lincoln and his Sergeants when he'd first been able to pick Marines. According to SAI, the descriptions had been meant to convey what that Marine would do once they were downloaded into their ENTT.
For Instance, Lt. Lincoln apparently had been accompanied by a Armor increase to all of his Marines, but in reality he had just spent time manufacturing armor plates with a fabricator, then proceeding to attach those plates to the ENTT blueprint so that they would be applied by default.
As his thoughts turned toward that curiosity, Lincoln wondered why SAI had structured the Commander's lessons to be similar to a video game in the beginning, but was now obviously rolling back that format for a more direct approach as the Commander progressed.
Honestly, they couldn't reach Battle Cruiser size soon enough, because Lincoln was dying for answers.
The sounds of powertools and plasma welders went quiet, and Lincoln turned to see Rotterdam gesturing for her team to store away their tools, turing and giving him a thumbs up rto indicate that they had finished. He nodded back, facing once more toward Burr and Gutierrez.
"Allright. The boarding sequence was a snoozefest, but we all now that resistance will only get heavier as we progress.
Burr, you and your squad will be the Vanguard. I want any anti-boarding systems they have in place to be neutralized before the rest of the Platoon joins you.
Gutierrez, your squad will follow Burr's. Cover his six, make sure he doesn't get flanked."
He got nods from both Sergeants. Lincoln turned to Marcus.
"Sgt. Marcus, you and your team will focus on finding me the live schematics of this ship. I want to know where everything is."
"Yes, Sir."
Once the assent was given, Lincoln gave the order.
With a shout, the Marines departed, with Gutierrez and Burr boarding the lift to begin the assault of the lower levels, and Marcus heading for a corridor that would lead his team to one of the information nodes that scattered the ship.
Once they had left, Lincoln turned to Rotterdam, who had walked up behind him.
"Rotterdam, you and I will remain here to quarterback each squad, as well as field any repairs that arise."
"Yes Sir."
Inwardly, as he watched her leave, Lincoln lamented his underestimation of the ENTT's capabilities. In five boarding actions, there had been only one significant injury to one of the hulking titans, and Rotterdam had fixed it in less than a minute. Even though she was showing her use as an engineer in the basic sense, he had originally picked her as more of a medic than an engineer.
Lt. Lincoln sighed, pushing that line of thought away for the moment. No sense in whining over spilled milk. He focused instead on watching the progress of the other squads as they delved deeper into the ship.
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