“4 ^ th Squad, can you bring down the wall?” he asked.
The lead marine in the heavy armour turned briefly to see Spartan and his squad emerge from the debris and fan out around the engineers.
“Nice to see you!” he said with a genuine sound of happiness in his voice. “If you can keep their heads down we’ll do the rest,” he said.
The arrival of the extra manpower gave them the cover they needed and with one final push the engineer unit surged ahead, leaping over the ruined perimeter wall and up to the thick masonry of the Command Centre. The defenders tried to hold them back but concentrated fire from Spartan’s squad kept their heads down.
The first marine slammed his armoured fist into the stone around the secondary doorway and ripped a metre long section from it. The second moved in and after several strikes tore a hole large enough to crawl inside. The two then grabbed the sides of the breach and tore them back, making a large hole in the wall to expose the dozen or so defenders to the wrath of the marines. As soon as the hole appeared, Jesus and Teresa tossed grenades inside. They rushed ahead, taking cover each side of hole. From inside they could hear panic as the unarmoured defenders tried desperately to avoid the weapons.
With a crump the hole filled with dust and bright flames rushed out. Spartan entered first and found only three dazed men still standing. He slashed the first across the throat as he struck the second with his fist. The heavy impact sent the man stumbling backwards and into a chair before he collapsed to the ground. Spartan pushed on inside as Teresa leapt in and dealt with the final man. Seeing the woman approach the fanatic gave her a wicked snigger and took a step forward to strike. Teresa simply blasted his leg, sending him crashing to the floor. Before he could try to respond she dropped down and embedded her bayoneted L48 rifle into his heart.
The two moved inside and the rest of the commandos followed. Several of them dealt with the wounded in their own particular style before the area was fully cleared. As Spartan stood in the room, he could see a long hallway decked with computer systems. However, none appeared to be connected to the high security weapons system. From his blueprints it said the weapon system was placed right here in its protected environment. He moved along, checking each as he went while the rest of the commandos spread out to secure the centre. Reaching the end he found a large iron-coloured blast door with a red light flashing next to it. A glowing sign above it simply read ‘Weapons Control’.
“Shit!” swore Spartan, as he realised there was no way he could get through such a massive structure, certainly not in hurry.
“Come on, we need a way in, this is what we’re here for!” he shouted.
Teresa took a step forward before looking up to Spartan.
“How about the engineers?”
She moved closer as she looked around the perimeter of the door, trying to find a weakness. The door was extremely well made and there were no discernable gaps between the wall and the metal of the door itself.
A hissing sound came from the door and to their astonishment it lifted up to reveal the control room with all of its systems undamaged and fully operation. They both turned back to see Jesus sat at one of the desks and working on the computer terminal.
“Jesus?” asked Spartan.
“Hey, man, like I told you, I’ve got skills!” he said laughing.
Spartan smiled and then stepped inside the room, their primary objective. He sat down in front of the main computer system and scanned the options available to him. From there he could access the landing grid, point defence weapons and orbital guns. He tapped on the orbital guns and a menu appeared offering him a variety of options from powering up, testing and firing sequences. He selected the off-line mode and a message popped up along with a series of images showing each of the guns disarming and reverting to safe mode. Satisfied that it was working he called back the Santa Maria.
“Spartan here, we’ve accessed the Weapons Control Centre, the system should be fully off-line in less than one minute,” he said with satisfaction.
“Excellent work. Private, the cavalry are on the way. Get your people back to the loading bays, we will have shuttles there for you shortly.”
Teresa turned to Spartan and gave him a thumbs up, things were starting to go their way.
CHAPTER NINE
Since the founding of the new colonies the status of Old Earth and its solar system became less important. The colonies at Alpha Centauri quickly matched and then surpassed the old world. As further colonies spread through the Centauri Constellation the balance of power shifted leaving Earth as a distant backwater. Though it was still the centre of old culture and knowledge it transformed over generations into just one of many backwater systems inhabited by those unable or unwilling to leave. Following the Great War, the Centauri Confederation was founded with each colony world being made an equal of the next. In one swift move, Old Earth became just another colony in an alliance that no longer even shared its name.
The Decline of Earth
The guns were silent and like a swarm of locusts the assault transports and shuttles from the Santa Maria and the Santa Cruz filled the gulf between the ships and the Titan Naval Station. A total of sixteen hundred heavily equipped marines were spread in over thirty craft. The transports were the largest, each one carrying a full company of marines and their heavy weapons. The shuttles brought in small, more specialist squads as well as equipment and medical supplies. Another hundred marines were waiting onboard the Santa Cruz as a quick response team in case of emergencies. As they approached the Station they split into small groups, each one targeting key parts of the complex where survivors were likely to be. As the craft reached a kilometre from the Station a small amount of defensive fire erupted, primarily from small arms and a handful of larger calibre weapons. No craft were lost and within seconds the first wave crashed down on the surface and released the eager troops.
At the Command Centre, Spartan and the surviving commandos had done sterling work though they had no time to enjoy it. So far, they had brought the guns down and the Station’s computer systems were being used to pinpoint the surviving population. They had already transmitted the life sign scans of the habitation and naval facilities, but there was no way to determine whether they were friendly or hostile. That was something the advancing marines would have to discover for themselves.
There was still sporadic gunfire outside the Command Centre but with the late arrival of the third commando squad they had been able to establish a strong perimeter to protect the site. The engineers were also still moving chunks of masonry to reinforce their position until they were able to leave. With the arrival of the missing squad was also Lieutenant Daniels, a young but aggressive officer whom Spartan had never seen before. He had immediately taken charge of the situation and had shown a degree of deference to Spartan and the work of his group.
“Captain Mathews here, we have evacuated Colonel West and most of your wounded by shuttlecraft,” came a transmission to the Lieutenant.
“Thank you, Sir, we are well entrenched but are still under sporadic attack,” he explained.
“I have four companies of marines making their way to you. You can’t leave yet though, I have orders from General Rivers. From the data sent over by Private Spartan it would appear the closest habitation section to you is housing approximately two hundred people. Can you put him on, Lieutenant?” he asked.
“Sir, I have the data right here,” replied the officer as he lowered his voice, obviously trying to keep the conversation to himself.