addition to the crew, as copilot. Tanner had shown bravery and clear thinking during the fracas in the Bug Queen's Palace on the second voyage, being badly wounded in the process. He, even more than others in the task force, was looking to even the score.
They were less than a hundred kilometers out when Capt. Rodriguez's voice came over the command frequency: “OK, listen up Marines. We are about to ram into this big alien bastard at about 500 kph. The science dweebs and engineers say we should penetrate the alien's hull with only minor exterior damage. Inside we are protected by the shuttles' deck gravity and shouldn't get a scratch.
“Shuttle Two will strike forward, near what we hope is the bridge area. Squads 3 & 4 under Lt. Westfield will neutralize any resistance and seize the bridge. They are designated BP-2. We are hoping to find equipment we can get some Intel from—in particular, where these assholes came from.
“Shuttle One will strike aft, just forward of what we think is the antimatter storage area. Squads 1 & 2's objective is to seize any AM present and prevent the aliens from scuttling the ship. They are designated BP-1. Once we have attained our initial objectives both forces will advance toward each other to mop up any remaining aliens. Any questions?”
“What about prisoners, Captain?” someone asked.
“If there are some of 'em left alive to question that's fine. Just don't go out of your way to capture any. We don't know what kind of reception we are going to get, so err on the side of caution—when in doubt use overwhelming force. Understood?”
“AYE AYE, SIR!” flooded the radio channel.
“Captain Rodriguez,” called Lt. Lawson from the cockpit. “We are impacting in 10, 9, 8...”
* * * * *
The shuttles used their 15mm cannon to partially blast through the alien's hull and momentum did the rest. The heavily armored shuttles penetrated the last meter of solid hull by force majeure before lodging in a surprisingly open space.
Surprising in that the ship's interior was a confusing jumble, crisscrossed with trusses and girders, supporting enclosed structures linked by tubular passageways and piping. It was like being inside of a skyscraper that was only a shell, its interior left unfinished and mostly empty. The space the Marines emerged into was under vacuum with the crew, if there was one, presumably confined to structures embedded in the web of beams and girders.
After penetrating the outer hull of the alien ship, Shuttle One immediately released a half dozen free floating surveillance drones. They fanned out in all directions, transmitting the layout of the ship's interior back to the Marines. The alien ship's outer hull was composed of both metallic and rocky material—undoubtedly extracted from asteroids—and provided significant shielding from radiation. That included radio frequencies used by the Marines to communicate with the Peggy Sue and the Marines in Shuttle Two. An exterior relay was soon rigged through the hole the shuttle had plowed on entry, re-establishing contact with the ships of Task Force Alpha.
There was a large enclosed area aft and another smaller one forward. Capt. Rodriguez took the aft compartment to be the antimatter storage and ordered her Marines to breach the structure, using minimal explosive force.
“Captain, we got a bunch of them big egg things in here,” called a corporal whose name she couldn't recall at the moment. “What should we do?”
“Cut any wires or cables leading to the egg racks. Those storage eggs have fail safes that should cause them to lock up tight if the mechanism they are attached to loses power,” said Technical Sergeant Fukushima. Fukushima had been given a crash course in alien antimatter technology by the scientists back at Farside before departure. Despite all the chaos and diversity in the galaxy, one constant factor seemed to be that all species used the same standard antimatter containers, a design that