It was stupid, I knew that. I was the field commander, the first time I'd been in charge of an overall operation, and going out and getting myself killed in the middle of the fight was an idiotic thing to do. I was about to ignore everything I learned at the Academy too, but I just couldn't order anyone else down that corridor. Not after Achilles and Columbia. I'd sent too many men and women who trusted me to their deaths, and now it was my turn.
I laid out my plan and got the expected chorus of protests, but I told them it was decided. I'm sure they all still disagreed vehemently, but they also knew when to stop arguing with their commanding officer. Hector, on the other hand, had no such limitations, and after I'd finished with the briefing he added his commentary. "You do understand that this is a foolish decision based on your misplaced feelings of survivor's guilt, do you not? You are jeopardizing this mission by actions that have no basis in regulation or tactical expediency."
I wondered what it had been like in an age when computers just did math and kept their mouth shut. "Not another word, Hector. We're done discussing this." I half expected yet another argument, but for once he shut the hell up.
I waited until all the units were organized, and I told the squads that would be following me to advance as soon as the power was restored, and after 75 seconds in any event. Then I had Hector connect me with Lieutenant Frost. "Status report?"
"Enemy is still attempting to retake the power center. We have a low-intensity firefight in two of the approach corridors, but no serious threat at this time. I have two wounded in recent exchanges. Best estimate is approximately 20 enemy casualties."
"Very well. Are you ready to execute the power cutoff?"
There was the slightest hesitation, then his answered, slowly and deliberately. "Yes sir. everything is ready." He was worried about what unexpected effects the power shutoff might have, but he didn't say anything about it.
"Have you briefed your troops in the corridors?" I didn't want any of our people getting surprised in the middle of a fight.
"Yes sir. My entire command is ready."
I moved to the doorway, and activated my mag-rifle. The rest of the troops had only blasters, but the officers and sergeants had mag-rifles as well, just in case they were needed. The velocity of the mag-rifle projectiles would wreak havoc on the station interior. But I needed to clear that hallway, so whatever collateral damage was done to the station was unavoidable. Plus, we weren't near the exterior, so at least I wouldn't blow a hole in the hull and decompress the entire area. I peered out cautiously into the corridor, and then I ordered Frost to cut the power. There was a delay of 3 or 4 seconds and then the lights went out, and then the entire place shook fiercely.
I held on to the open doorway, but I could hear everyone else slipping and sliding around. The station-quake was brief - I supposed that the station-keeping drives that maintain the rotation and orbit were affected by the power outage, which I later learned was exactly what had happened. If the power stayed out for too long the rotation of the station would slow and we'd lose the artificial gravity.
But now I had something to do, and I swung myself around the doorframe and bolted down the corridor. The sooner I got down there the better. Running in a confined space isn't easy in armor. Your legs are so strong that unless you're really careful you tend to start jumping. Staying low and moving with speed took a lot of practice, another reason why I was doing this. I don't think anyone in the company had the hours in a suit I did. I had my infrared scanning suite on full, so I could see there were enemy troops ahead. I must have surprised the hell out of them, because I was halfway down the corridor before they started firing. Most of the shots missed me, but a couple hit my armor, with no significant effect. I opened up with the mag-rifle at the max rate of fire and sprayed the entire area. I could hear screaming and scuffling around, and their fire stopped completely.
I made it almost up to the gun, which I could make out by its residual heat signature, but I was slowed up because there were four or five bodies on the ground in front of it - victims of my fire. There were crackling and hissing sounds all around, but no live enemies.
"Light, Hector," I snapped, and my sometimes surly, but more or less obedient AI turned on my helmet light. The gun was a semi-portable particle accelerator, just as I thought. There was a heavy insulated conduit at least 12cm in diameter connecting it to some sort of power hookup in the wall.
"Ten seconds to power restoration." Frost's voice on the link.
I grabbed the conduit and ripped it out before the power came back. I knocked the gun over and sprayed it with fire from my mag-rifle. At this range the projectiles ripped through the gun and the floor below. When I stopped firing, the thing was a pile of useless junk. It wouldn't kill any more of my troops now.
Just then the double doors behind opened up and security personnel streamed through. The lights came back on, and the system shook again, though not as hard as before. I managed to stay standing in my suit, but the station troops were all knocked off their feet.
"Hector, blade."
My molecular blade snapped out of the sheath in my arm and I started slashing at the enemy, trying to take out as many as I could before they overwhelmed me. With the strength of my suit behind it, my blade sliced effortlessly through their armor and bodies alike.
But they kept coming through the doorway, and I was pushed back against the wall. eventually one of them would get a blaster shoved into a weak spot in my armor. I knew my lead squad was on the way down the corridor, but that few seconds seemed to go on forever. I was just about to go down under the attackers when I saw my troops wading into the enemy from behind, blades slashing all around.
It was nasty business, and it went on for a while, because the narrow confines kept the frontage small. Finally, we finished them off in the corridor and pushed our way into the room. The data center was a huge open area, with a ceiling several levels high with catwalks around the edges.
Once we pushed into the center the remaining enemy troops lost heart and broke. Some tried to run, but most of them were gunned down before they made it out. A couple got away, and it wasn't important enough to detach a squad to chase them down. The rest surrendered, and since we were finally in a place where we could get a little more organized, I told the troops to take prisoners.
First things first. I detached a platoon to check the room thoroughly and find every way in and out, posting a team at each entrance. Then I ordered Lieutenant Sanchez to figure out how to operate station communications from here.
After I'd taken care of business, I commed Frost to see how things were going down there. Everything seemed under control. The enemy was still posted around his position, but they seemed to have given up on assaulting it. They were exchanging light fire, but the situation was stable. I checked with the SEALs at the entry point too, and everything was quiet there. They would have advised me if anything had happened, of course, but I wanted to make sure.
"Hector, send the signal for the support company to prepare for launch."
"Acknowledged."
I walked over to where Sanchez' was sitting at a workstation. He looked up and said, "I think I can access the communications system and make a station-wide announcement. But it's going to take a team of specialists to actually get control of this system if you want to affect life support or other systems.
I didn't expect anything different. Fortunately, we had just such a team waiting with the support company. Plan B was to send a force to seize a landing bay and get the reserves and tech support crew onboard. But first I was going to try Plan A.