Free Loralynn Kennakris 3: Asylum by Owen R. O'Neill, Jordan Leah Hunter Page B

Talbot’s people can catch them in a crossfire.”
    “That plasma could disrupt us, sir,” Lewis cautioned. “Might wanna wait a minute more for Lieutenant Martin to get those control lines cut.”
    “No, Captain.” The colonel spoke adamantly. “Speed is the essence of attack.”
    Good Christ . “Schorr! Mininger! Warblers, now!” Corporal Schorr and PFC Mininger side-armed two of the Ping-Pong ball-sized warblers down the passageway, triggering the plasma. As the flames dissipated, Lewis called, “Cover teams, go! Techs, go!”
    They might have only thirty seconds before the plasma generators rearmed, but she guessed it’d be more like a minute—thirty seconds would only allow for a reduced blast that their armor could survive. It would be a race to see if either her techs or Lieutenant Martin could silence the plasma before they fried.
    Eye on the op-timer at the lower-left corner of her HUD, Lewis watched the seconds count down from sixty. At seven, Tech Sergeant MacDonald signaled “Plasma down!” just as the overheads died and the emergency reds came on. Lieutenant Martin’s voice came over the link a moment later. “Control lines cut, sir. Plasma deactivated portside. All their internal hatches have gone into emergency lockdown.”
    “Well done, Martin,” Kerr acknowledged. “Can you run a bypass to break the seals on hatches—” He paused to check the ship schematic on his HUD. “Hatches O6, O4, and O1?”
    “I’m on it, sir. Looks like we can override the hatch controls from here, as long as they don’t manually isolate them.”
    “Understood, Lieutenant. Wait for my signal.”
    “Roger that, sir.”
    Kerr tapped Lewis on the shoulder. “Turn ‘em loose, Captain.”
    Allowing herself a brief eye-roll, Lewis clicked over to her platoon commanders. “Tallmadge, move on the O6 hatch—standard clearing procedure. Drake, secure that junction up ahead. Set your nets left. Get rolling.” The monofilament nets would block antipersonnel charges, grenades, and other nasty surprises that might come from that direction. Drake’s heavy weapons detail could deal with the rest.
    “Yes, ma’am!” Drake called back. “Roll tide!”
    Yeah, Drake—we all know where you’re from.
    Tallmadge, much more laconic, contented himself with a simple “A-firm, Captain.”
    Lewis gave Kerr a tap. “See you back here, Colonel.”
    Kerr turned and regarded her reproachfully. “Certainly not, Captain. I’m leading this assault.”
    Lewis sighed inwardly. “Then after you, sir.”
    *     *     *
    “Cover teams up! Hatch breakers, ready!” Lewis ordered as they approached the junction leading to the O6 hatch. “Tallmadge, are you hearing anything up there?”
    “Negative, Captain.”
    Nothing showed on Lewis’s HUD either. The passageway beyond the hatch showed quiet. “Anders, report status. Anything new on your sensors?”
    “Negative, Captain,” Lieutenant Anders reported from the hanger deck. “Situation unchanged.”
    Lewis blink switched to their wholly unofficial private circuit. “Troy, watch your back.”
    “Gonna break bad, ma’am?”
    “You’ll know in a minute, but I think we gotta case of Hoppin’ John here. Alert Drake.” She switched off and raised the colonel. “In position, sir. Shall we break the hatch?”
    “Negative, Captain. Martin says he has the override rigged. Faster if we have him pop it.”
    “But sir—”
    “Pop her, Martin,” Kerr called out over the command link. The hatch lights cycled from red to green and seals cracked. “Go!” he rapped out. The cover teams vaulted through the opening hatch. “Move up! On the double now!” The colonel was among them, really entering into the spirit of the thing. Lewis and the rest of the marines followed. The lead section moved swiftly to secure the junction up ahead—to the left was the O4 hatch, with the defenders massed beyond.
    Swearing exploded over the all-hands circuit. “It’s wired, sir!”