Task Force Mars - Kevin Dockery [32]
The blast was more seen than heard, and the SEALS already were moving even as the dust and smoke blew out of the open hatchway. This was a maneuver they had practiced for years while in the operational SEAL Teams on Earth. Shooter pairs went in the doors and split to either side. Not putting their backs against the walls in case a ricochet followed the curves and plowed into them, the SEALS swept the interior compartments with the muzzles of their weapons. One pair leapfrogged over the other, and their Teammates maintained security. Again and again, the thunderous blast of concussion grenades roared out, often followed by the stuttering thuds of a quick burst of suppressed 6.8-millimeter projectiles.
The aliens seemed to be stunned by the suddenness, the shock, and the violence of the attack, not to mention the catastrophic decompression of their dome. In the initial entryway they found half a dozen dead soldiers, unsuited, with tongues protruding and eyes bulging and bloodshot. Several of the men in the garrison, in pressure suits, snapped off hasty shots and quickly were cut down by the lethal and vengeful SEALS.
There was no way to tell any of the alien enemy forces inside the dome to surrender. Any of the human-looking aliens who survived the sudden decompression of the dome to the Martian atmosphere who tried to face the SEALS immediately were cut down by sudden gunfire. There was no way to tell what was a weapon and what could have been the alien version of a coffee cup, and the SEALS didn’t feel like taking chances.
The fire Teams worked quickly, clearing the outer ring of compartments, then meeting on the far side of the dome’s interior.
“They’ve got a secondary air lock and a pressurized compartment in the middle of this place,” Marannis reported to Jackson. The point man was holding his bloody ax when the lieutenant found him standing between two corpses.
“Right, you know the drill,” the officer said, once again gathering his Team outside a sealed lock.
The heavy door caved inward under the force of the charge, revealing a large, very dark chamber. This time when they blew the lock there was no release of pressure. The surviving enemy soldiers apparently had bled off their air in anticipation of the attack.
Not that it did them any good. Once again, grenades preceded the charging SEALS, and their small arms fire cut down the four men, all of them in pressure suits, who had tried to fort up in what was obviously the station’s control room. Suited, Marannis and Sanchez went around, making sure that none of the hostiles was feigning death. And they were really, really dead when the two point men got done with them. Unfortunately, this was the case with every hostile. The SEALS simply didn’t have the luxury to make capturing a live one a priority.
Jackson took a look at his watch. It was only nine minutes since Marannis had swung his breaching ax, and the interior of the dome was secure, cleared of all obvious alien life. There were some ten dead aliens outside and maybe a dozen of them within the dome. Not a single SEALS had so much as had his suit breached.
“Target secured,” Jackson said into his microphone. “Stand down but maintain security.”
Falco and G-Man would know to watch the area around the dome. The lieutenant went to the command console at the center of the room. It was a large control bank with many sets of identical controls. In the middle was a large vidscreen displaying a number of glowing spots. It took the LT about two seconds to