Free Freedom Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 3) by T. Jackson King Page B

less than three minutes! Get the hell out of here and back into your tunnel. The reactor will keep you warm until rescue comes from McMurdo Station!”
    Alarm showed on the faces that Jack saw just before he ran out into the white snow blast of the blizzard. “Lander! Close external hatch and come to ground at my signal GPS!”
    “Complying,” said the mech voice of the lander NavTrack computer.
    “It’s so cooold!” cried Cassie.
    To either side Max and Ignacio surrounded Jack and his sister, doing their best to shelter her from the subzero winds. Maureen stood between his group and the factory, her laser rifle lifted in one hand while her other hand held a revolver pointed toward the jagged edges of the bay exit.
    Black-suited Mars marines poured out of the blasted hole and ran toward Jack and his people.
    “Landed,” called the computer. “Access ramp lowered.”
    In the thick white snow of the blizzard Jack could hardly see anything. But the red heat glow of the lander’s midbody airlock guided him.
    “The ramp is ten meters this way!” he yelled over the comlink to his crewmates. “Follow me to warmth!”
    The clang of his metal boots hitting the ramp echoed in his ears, surprising him until he recalled the amplification ability of the enviro-suit. It took less than five seconds for him to reach the open airlock hatch. He plunged inside, followed by Maureen, Max, Ignacio, Mabry and seven marines. They filled the airlock. Jack reached out and slapped the touch panel to close the outer lock hatch. “Hang on!” he yelled to the face masked marines who could not fit into the lock. “It will recycle in a ten seconds! Then you can all make it inside.”
    “They damn well better be inside,” Mabry muttered as the man pulled his face mask off and glared around the yellow-lighted space. “Give me empty space any day!”
    In his arms Cassie looked up at him, giving him a smile of wonder. “You did it! I thought for sure I was going to die there. I’m so sorry . . . sorry I caused all this trouble,” she said, tears filling her lovely eyes.
    Jack shifted her weight, pulled off his own face mask, grabbed her bleeding legs, and bent down to kiss her on her black-smudged forehead. “We all did it. Lieutenant Mabry and his brave marines. Max and Ignacio here. And grandma Maureen. We’ll lift off from this fucking ice box as soon as the last marines come aboard!”
    Cassie blinked, wiped tears from her eyes, looked around at the black-suited crowd, then winced. She looked down at her shoeless feet. “That bastard guard cut me with laser. Don’t look bad tho.”
    The inner hatch opened with a slight hiss. Jack stumbled out into the cargo hold of the lander, then turned and ran for the Pilot Cabin, still holding Cassie. “We can fix it. There’s medkits by the airlock. And Elaine wants to hug you sooner than yesterday!”
    “Give her to me,” said a woman marine as Jack reached the pilot hatch. “I’ll get her strapped in and then medoc her.”
    Jack handed his sister, her long black hair, hazel eyes and stubbornness still intact, over to the woman whose name stencil read R. Munoz. “Thank you Corporal Munoz,” he said, reading her rank tab. “And thank you for volunteering for her rescue. I will not forget the efforts of you, your buddies and Lieutenant Mabry.”
    “Get the hell in here,” yelled Maureen from the co-pilot seat of the lander. “The Sensor panel says there are two inbound helitack copters from McMurdo. They show weapons hot! I need you to fly this thing while I work the lasers.”
    Jack sat at his Pilot seat, tapping active the NavTrack panel. “Mabry!” he called over his suit’s comlink. “Everybody inside?”
    “Inside!” yelled the marine leader.
    “Lifting off,” Jack called over the lander’s announcer system. “Lock your straps and be ready for sharp jolts! We’re under attack and the jet stream over the South Pole is a bitch!”
    His butt felt the pressure of the