Operation Orion - Kevin Dockery [22]
“That’s the target,” Carstairs said, taking pity on his fellow officer and pointing out their destination on the screen. Even in the blurry image, Jackson could discern the large oblong shape of the asteroid. It was far bigger than any of the other celestial bodies tumbling around them.
“We picked up some emissions here”—Carstairs indicated a depression on the far side of the asteroid—“including both light and heat. There’s something there for certain. And that looks to be where the pirate ship ended up. So you can do the math as well as I can. Those are the raiders that hit the Lotus, and that’s their base of operations.”
Jackson nodded. “Nice work, sir. I think you’ve tracked the Jolly Roger to her lair.”
The picture was less detailed than they were used to because many of the frigate’s detection systems, most significantly the long-range radar, were turned off to avoid sending a definite signal of their presence in the asteroid belt. Floating just above the deck in zero G, the two officers held their positions by grasping railings; the seated crew members, of course, were strapped into their chairs.
The engines pulsed infrequently, but they couldn’t be shut down entirely. The captain hoped that the IR shielding on the powerful rockets would mask the signal from any kind of heat detection systems that the pirates might possess, but there was no way to mask the signature when the rockets had to fire forward to provide steering. Still, they were approaching the asteroid from the opposite side of the spot where Carstairs had identified the emissions, so they could hope that the pirates were not sufficiently organized to have global detection systems. If they were not scrutinizing approaches to their asteroid from a full 360-degree arc, there was at least the prospect of making a surprise attack.
“We’re an hour out now,” the captain declared a short time later.
Jackson nodded and pulled himself to the transport shaft to ride the lift in a quick descent to H Deck. There he was not surprised to see that the Team was ready to go. All the men had seen the damage done to the Lotus, and there was an unambiguous sense of purpose: They were going after some real bad guys. LaRue was giving the electrical connections on the capacitors of his rail gun a final polish while Teal considered an assortment of breaching charges in addition to the six or eight he already had attached to the torso of his suit. All the SEALS were bulky with spare ammunition magazines stuck to the fasteners on hips, belly, and thighs.
“We’re going to drop on the far side of the asteroid from the enemy base,” Jackson explained tersely. “We’ll come in low and touch down about fifteen klicks out. The approach will be overland. We’ll have about point one G—enough to hold us to the ground, but it shouldn’t slow us down much.”
The men already had been briefed about the latter point.
Once again the SEALS took up positions in the drop boats, filing through the entry hatches with quiet determination. Fully armed and loaded, they waited silently while Jackson and Sanders followed the frigate’s progress on their viewscreens. The asteroid now filled more than half the screen, and the tension in Jackson’s body was building to a nearly unbearable level.
Finally they got the word: “Time to go. Good luck, SEALS,” Carstairs’s voice crackled tautly in the earphones.
Immediately Jackson’s tension dissipated. He could almost picture it flowing to the captain, who now could do little more than wait. The drop boats, propelled by the release of pressurized air, blasted outward from the frigate’s hold. Immediately the rockets fired, and the little shuttles flew toward the looming rock of the asteroid.
From there, the