Operation Orion - Kevin Dockery [106]
“We’re secure against the docking air lock,” Parvik reported from the shuttle’s bridge, using the little ship’s secure communicator. “So far as they know, we’re just a humble supply ship bringing them another shipment of food or whatever else they’re taking aboard.”
“Let’s delay their understanding as long as possible,” Sanders replied to his men over the same medium. “Once we’re out of the hatch, observe radio silence—and move fast.”
Marannis and Sanchez were waiting beside the air lock. Sanders and Schroeder moved up behind them while the rest of the Team formed up in pairs to follow: Rodale and Dobson, then Robinson and Keast, followed by LaRue and Falco. Chief Harris would bring up the rear. The light above the hatch flashed green, signaling that all ports were secure, so Sanders unplugged the secure communicator and waved “Go!” to the two scouts.
The wheel of the air lock hatch spun easily as it was manipulated from the outside. As soon as it came free, the scouts, bracing themselves by gripping handles inside the shuttle, kicked it hard, smashing it open and knocking the cargo handlers on the other side of the hatch away from the portal. The two SEALS propelled themselves through the suddenly opened hatch and into the large docking bay; Sanders wasted no time pulling himself after them.
The compartment held some dozen men, but a quick glance showed that all but two of them were unarmed workers waiting to unload the cargo of the stolen shuttle. None of the Eluoi wore pressure suits, though the pair who were armed also wore helmets and body armor. Marannis and Sanchez went after those two immediately, Sanchez with a knife and Marannis with his heavy, sharp, breaching tool. The soldiers, taken by surprise, tried to raise their weapons, but the scouts were on them before they could shoot or get off an alarm. Sanchez plunged his knife into the first soldier’s throat just above his body armor, and Marannis brought the axlike breaching tool down hard, splitting the man’s helmet and the skull underneath it.
By then all eleven SEALS had shot out of the air lock. Waving a menacing display of firepower in the faces of the terrified cargo handlers, they shepherded the group into the shuttle. There Lieutenant Wesling took charge of them, locking them in the small after hold of the supply ship. His navy troops spilled out of the air lock to secure the docking bay and hold it against counterattack while the SEALS used their maneuver jets to propel themselves to the forward end of the large compartment.
Rodale manipulated the hatch into the ship’s interior as Dobson floated beside him, his G15 at the ready. The porthole popped open and proved to be unguarded, so the Team, in shooter pairs, started along the passageway toward the bridge. Sanders cast one glance back to see that the navy personnel already were spreading through the docking bay, with Grafton’s small detachment moving to cover the large cargo hatch at the rear of the compartment. Lieutenant Wesling gave the SEALS officer a thumbs-up, which Sanders returned, before following his men through the hatch. Two U.S. Navy sailors already were approaching, and he knew they would close and secure it behind the Team.
Speed and surprise were crucial, so the SEALS used the full power of their maneuver jets, each man streaking straight along the tubelike passage toward the bow of the ship. Four ladders ran along the walls of this corridor, which would be a vertical shaft whenever the ship was under acceleration- or deceleration-induced gravity. Hatches interrupted the interior wall periodically, and Sanders knew they led to many of the most luxurious passenger decks in the big spaceship. As with the Pegasus, those decks were aligned at right angles to the length of the hull, so as the SEALS flew along, they essentially were passing ascending decks, as if they were flying up an elevator shaft. Each man kept an eye on those hatches, but they all remained closed as the Team raced for the ship’s bow. Each hatch had an external mechanical lock, and one of the SEALS