Free Escape 2: Fight the Aliens by T. Jackson King Page B

bad terrain. His buddies stood to his right. Behind them, filling half the chamber, was a three-tier rack that supported the 24 collector pods carried by the Blue Sky . The rack stretched from one end of the chamber to the far end. Each tier held eight pods.
    He focused on the new arrivals from MacDill, who formed a line to his left. He counted four Army Green Berets wearing their distinctive headgear, two Air Force pararescue folks wearing the maroon beret that went with being a PJ, and three SEALs, who wore the standard floppy green all-weather hat favored by their instructors at Coronado. One Green Beret was a stocky Hindu woman with tied back hair, but he was startled to see a woman among the SEALs. While it had been a few years since all combat posts had been opened to females, still, he was amazed to see a woman in his old unit. While the movie years ago about a woman SEAL had been partly accurate in its depiction of their training regime, still, being a SEAL graduate was commonly viewed as signaling an alpha male. Or so his saloon buddies had remarked whenever he or Stefano had visited a new bar. The swarming of sheilas around them offering to buy drinks had been a mild source of jealousy among his buddies. No matter. What was important was that these nine were combat-blooded, they understood the mission was all important and they were all volunteers.
    “People, the mission is simple. Capture the Collector starships,” Bill continued. “To do that, three person teams enter the pods behind you, travel to a Collector starship, arrive at a chamber identical to this one, you taser zap the Alien crewman sent to gather your supposedly unconscious body, grab the red cube from the Alien, use it to enter the main hallway and then laser-seal the access door to the Weapons Chamber of the Collector ship,” he said, scanning each volunteer and noting the names of the MacDill nine as shown on their chest tabs. “That chamber is directly across from the exit door for this chamber. You will be luckier than Jane and I were when we first began our ship takeover. We had to run from the opposite side of the ship to this side, in order to arrive before the three Alien crew got to this ship’s Weapons Chamber.” He paused, wondering if any of them would yield to curiosity and ask stupid questions. No one did. “You’re all trained for hostile boarding, strong point takeovers and working in scuba suits. But taking over a Collector ship will not be easy.” He nodded at the Asian-looking SEAL woman, who had leaned forward, her manner showing a wish to ask a question. “Yes Janice?” he said, reading her name tag.
    “Sir,” she said in a melodious soprano. “What is your order of training for this operation?”
    A reasonable question. “To begin with, we go by first names. And fuck rank. Second, in a few moments you will view a holo of mine and Jane’s takeover run of this ship, how we learned its layout, how we got the aid of its ship mind, and how we eventually accessed the Command Bridge and captured the SOB cockroach who was its captain.” He ignored the curious looks of most of them. “In that holo you will see five Alien bioforms, how they fought, how we defeated them, and how we later stored them in cells in the Containment Cell Chamber of this ship. Third, I’ll show you the innards of one of the pods. Think of tight quarters aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk copter. Fourth, each of you dons a vacsuit and keeps it on until you get a sleep break 12 hours from now.” Bob the cynical Marine grinned and gave him a wink. “Fifth, we’ll cross over to this ship’s Weapons Chamber, get laser and taser tube weapons and explosive balls, then return here for target practice. Sixth, we will break into three person teams and spend 30 hours doing Op Force combat runs up and down the hallways of this ship. One team will imitate the Aliens trying to zap or kill you, while a second team will be the boarders trying to get past them.” He