M'tak Ka'fek (The T'aafhal Inheritance) by Doug Hoffman Read Free Book Online

opponent.” The enemy's defenses had proven weak and ineffective, quickly withering before the task force's attack.
    “Aye aye, Ma'am,” the laconic helmsman drawled in his best cowboy accent. With the results of the attack undeniably successful the atmosphere on the bridge had shifted from tense to confident. Next to him, Nigel Lewis, Billy Ray's co-pilot, checked his instruments.
    “The torpedo strikes from the corvettes have severed the bow section and our initial railgun fire blew the engines off straight away.”
    On the main forward display was a view of the enemy ship, its swollen head half filled with replacement asteroids. As the bridge crew watched the bulbous bow moved perceptibly away from the main body of the ship, slowly rotating as it disengaged. It moved with the stately grace that large objects do when viewed from a great distance.
    “What we have left is about three kilometers of hull that is dead in space, though we seem to be taking occasional hits from coherent EM radiation,” the Englishman continued. “Frequency is in the infrared, not really a problem since we are jinking about quite a bit. They don't seem to be able to stay on us.”
    “It looks like the laser fire is coming from a number of locations on the alien's hull,” added Jo Jo Medina, “We should probably neutralize it before sending in the Marines.”
    “Sounds like a good suggestion, Mr. Medina. Task Force Alpha, Peggy Sue, please direct your attention to the IR laser positions along the alien's hull. As soon as they are suppressed we will commence boarding operations.”
     
    Marine Landing Shuttles, Approaching Alien Ship
    The Peggy Sue's two large shuttles were packed full of Marines in space armor. Each craft carried two squads, twelve humans and two bears per squad. All were encased in power augmented, refractory armor designed to turn away projectiles up to 15mm and absorb hits by plasma and laser weapons.
    The human Marines' standard weapon was a multi-barreled railgun in an over-under configuration. The upper barrel fired high-density 5mm flechettes at up to 6,000 fps, with a selectable cyclic rate of up to 1,200 rounds per minute. The lower barrel was a general purpose, 20mm launcher that fired high explosive shells filled with nano-engineered enhanced explosive. The shells could be fired time-on-target, exploding at a range preset by the built-in laser range finder, or set to detonate on contact. By altering the detonation timing within the warhead a shell could act as normal HE or an armor piercing shaped charge. And if things really got up close and personal, the 20mm could also fire canister rounds—basically bundles of flechettes that acted as mega shotgun shells.
    As formidably armed as the human Marines were, the polar bears carried even more firepower. Each carried either a 15mm, triple barreled railgun cannon, which fired high velocity explosive rounds at 1200 rounds per minute, or a five barreled railgun firing 5mm flechettes at a sustained 6,000 per minute. The bears' large size allowed for ample ammunition loads and, if all else failed, they could extend the metal claws built into their suits' forearms and deal with their foes the old fashioned way.
    The shuttles themselves were also much different from the original ones the Peggy Sue came with. Those were decked out for hauling passengers or freight and were similar in their appointments to civilian airliners. These shuttles were designed from the start as assault craft, intended to deliver 28 Marines to a battle-zone under hostile fire. They were heavily armored and also mounted port and starboard 15mm railgun cannons and a top mounted X-ray laser close support system for dealing with incoming enemy fire.
    Shuttle One, containing Capt. Rodriguez and 1 st & 2 nd squads, was piloted by Nigel Lewis with Pauline Palmer as copilot. Both had been on board during the second voyage of the Peggy Sue. Shuttle Two had Skip Tanner as pilot and Jake Sontag, a brand new