“I’ll make sure I don’t disappoint you.” The two shared a smile, and then dropped to the floor as another barrage of bolts passed way too close over their heads. “Did you bring any grenades?”
“Of course,” Tindal yelled out. “Never leave home with them.”
“Well, how about tossing one down the corridor?” Adam ordered. “That last barrage nearly took my head off.”
For an answer, Adam heard the small, puck-sized grenade go sliding down the metal floor. In a second, the ship reverberated from the explosion and smoke billowed up from behind them.
“Move out!” Tobias ordered. “Tindal, take up a position at the next intersection and cover our six.”
“Roger that.”
The other members of the team moved up the corridor, encountering two other brief pockets of resistance from the aliens. No other Juireans were seen. Adam had been to the bridge of the Class-3 before, so he knelt down on one knee as its entrance came into view at the end of the corridor. “Let’s not take any chances. Blow it.”
Rutledge stepped forward and tossed a grenade at the door. The thunderous explosion ripped the doorway open, sending two Juireans in the bridge area to the floor, covered in their own blood. The Humans surged forward, laying down suppressing fire as they entered the room.
They were met with a force of twelve Juireans, crouching behind the consoles that dotted the large room. The SEALs — along with Sherri and Riyad — dove for cover themselves, and began to send hot metal in the direction of the Juireans. The MP7 ammunition also did a number of the control consoles themselves, shredding the boxes into pieces of sharp, flying shrapnel. The Juireans began to fall back, with some moving away toward another exit to the room.
Just then, an errant round struck the forward viewport, penetrating the thick glass. A section of port blew outward, sucking the atmosphere in the room with it. Any loose pieces of paper, metal or plastic rushed into the emptiness of space; a Juirean flew out as well, as all the others grabbed onto anything they could find to keep from following him.
Instantly, a cascade of sealing foam filled the section of the bridge near the viewport. An unfortunate Juirean was caught up in the thick, yellowish goo, and as it began to harden, his head and upper torso were crushed, blood, guts and gore squirting out of where the Guard’s head had once been — like toothpaste from a tube.
The outward flow of atmosphere was stopped and pressure quickly restored to the room. The SEALs were on the move again, sweeping through the bridge blasting any of the remaining aliens.
And then everything fell silent.
Adam moved toward the far doorway. This corridor led to the captain’s quarters and to the second long hallway that ran back down the length of the ship. He saw the door to the captain’s quarters slide shut — someone had just entered.
The rest of the team began to shoot up all the consoles on the bridge, being careful this time that none of their rounds came near what was left of the forward viewport.
Adam left them there to do their work and slipped in next to the door to the captain’s quarters. He reached up and activated the door control. The panel slid open, and as it did, three quick bolts flared out of the room, impacting the opposite wall of the corridor.
Adam covered his face to shield against the random static electricity coursing through the air. And then he jumped into the room, rolling to his left and sending out a pattern of burning metal from the muzzle of MP7. The Juireans inside the room — two of them — ducked for cover, but before they could regain their orientation, Adam was upon them. He pointed the barrel of his weapon at the first Juirean and depressed the trigger. The evil rounds tore a gaping hole in the alien’s chest; Adam spun around and leveled the compact MP7 at the other Juirean.
It was Senior Guard Jydle Ga Liplun, his green mane now in disarray, with part of it standing on end, while another crop was plastered across his sweating forehead.
The Juirean went to raise his weapon; Adam shoved the hot barrel of his weapon under the chin of the Juirean. “Don’t do it, Jydle.”
The Juirean hesitated, and then let the Xan-Fi fall to the floor. He leaned back against the side of his desk, looking up into the emotionless blue eyes of his former prisoner.
“Now what, Cain?” Jydle asked. He looked past Adam as other members of the team moved into the room, their weapons sweeping from side to side.
“I got this, Andy.”
Tobias stepped up next to him. “A friend of yours?”
“Let’s just say this guy has a real sadistic streak in him. You wouldn’t want to be a houseguest at one of his parties.”
Tobias placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Make it quick, Captain. We still have a lot of work to do.” He ordered the rest of the team out of the room.
Adam continued to stare at the green-haired Guard with undisguised venom. Jydle pursed his lips and then said to Adam, “I suppose there is no chance of taking me as your prisoner?”
“Not a chance, asshole,” Adam said. “And the funny thing is you’ll never know how the war turns out. But I believe after today, you already have a pretty good idea.”
“Then get it over-”
Adam sent a short, three-round burst into the head of the Juirean, the skull exploding in a rain of blood and flesh. Adam stared down at the now-headless the alien, feeling no remorse whatsoever. Instead, all he could see before him was the vision of the charred skeletal remains of his wife Maria and daughter Cassie superimposed over the wash of blood and grayish flesh.
There would never be enough Juireans to kill, not enough to erase that horrific image from Adam’s memory. But with each one he did kill, he whispered softly, “That’s for you, Maria. That’s for all of us.”
Adam left the captain’s quarters and met up with the team, who were presently engaged in an intense firefight at a nearby intersection of corridors. He heard Lt. Tobias on his comm. “Tindal, meet us at the second corridor. ETA, thirty seconds. We’re just cleanin’ up over here.”
“Roger that. On my way. Resistance is dropping on my side.”
Adam knew that a ship this size carried a crew of about one hundred. They had already easily killed a third of that number, and now they would begin the move back toward the auxiliary control room.
Sherri bumped into him. “Having fun yet?” she asked panting heavily, both from the exertion as well as from the thrill of battle. Her blue eyes alight with a fire from inside, a look he had seen before, back on Melfora Lum when they’d blown the communication tower. Sherri appeared to get an almost sexual thrill out of combat. He considered her for a moment. Could she be his perfect match? Maybe — if they lived through all this shit.
He smiled at her, “This is what I live for, babe. Now, let’s go run up the score!”
They moved off with the rest of the team, firing at any alien they saw. The targets became fewer and fewer as they moved further aft, either because they were killing them all, or that aliens had decided to hide rather than fight the Humans. By now, probably all of the Juireans were dead, leaving only the various alien recruits. These hapless souls had signed up for the pay, not from any great hatred for the Humans or any overt loyalty to the Juireans. Now that the assault team was returning from Juirean-Country, the recruits were now looking out for numero uno.
The Humans reached the auxiliary control room and found the room empty. The Humans quickly shredded the control consoles with bursts from their MP7’s, so that even if technicians could repair the damage, it would take them weeks to do so. The Humans would be long gone by then.
Five minutes later, the team was back in the generator room, with Kaylor waving at them from his position on the second level. The Humans sprayed more bullets about the room, being careful not to puncture any of the generators or energy modules while they were still onboard. It wouldn’t pay to be irradiated just as they were leaving the Class-.