The training was enough to make Serpent sick. He felt like he was in an antiquated pinball machine, bouncing from bulkhead to bulkhead and trying not to smack his head into the walls. After a large number of bumps and bruises, though, Zail slowly got the hang of it.
And then Indigo Eight led him to the mess hall. At first Serpent thought little of it, until he saw the room in all its obstacle-strewn glory. To teach him the lesson of what can happen in zero-g, the room had been set for dinner just before the
Abismiliard’s artificial gravity had been switched off. As a result, the air was a minefield of floating plates, cutlery and food.
One shove, and Zail was hurtling through the centre of the mess. In a few seconds he accumulated more bruises and cuts than he had in the last hour.
“You have to twist and turn as you move,” Said Indigo Eight distinctly un-helpfully. “Control your speed better so you have a change to avoid all the obstacles.”
“Control my speed,” Mumbled Serpent under his breath. “If I go slowly I can’t reach the next wall, but if I go too fast I get hit by...” And suddenly a greasy nerf-burger smacked straight into his face. It slid awkwardly across his nose and right cheek, leaving a trail of viscous liquid in its wake. “Oh this had better be worth it,” He growled.
And the training continued.
-----
Finally, after accumulating so many aches and pains, and twisting his body in more ways than he knew was physically possible for a human to do, Zail was finished.
Or rather, the warm-up was finished. It was time for the test.
“This course is about zero-g
combat,” Indigo Eight reminded him. They were currently back in the airlock, and the gravity here had been turned back on. “You can move, but can you fight and shoot at the same time?” He asked rhetorically.
Doubtful. I can barely shoot straight in gravity, mused Serpent, but did not actually say it out loud.
The doors opened and four people entered. Three men, one woman, covering a variety of heights and builds, they were a motley collection indeed. Zail knew them at once for VENI-trained marines. They did not offer their names, nor did he require them. Numbers on their armoured uniforms were all the ID the soldiers required.
Serpent shook their hands, exchanged hellos, and then got down to equipping themselves. Zail donned lightweight armour to match that of the marines, and was granted a blaster rifle set to stun. He found himself feeling the weight of the weapon before remembering that it being heavy would have little bearing on a zero-g engagement.
“To repeat,” Said Indigo Eight once they were ready. “Your team is to reach the bridge and secure it as fast as possible. A competing team of five others will try to beat you. Do not let them. Are there any questions?”
There were none. It was simple enough, and Zail was eager just to get on with it.
The VENI trainer lifted his comlink, and spoke to the other team. “Go,” He said simply, and gestured to Serpent for his team to do the same.
They threw themselves through the doorway and began the op.
-----
The marines were well-trained and moved in practiced formation, keeping close to each other and yet somehow managing not to smack into each other as they moved through the corridor in zero-g. Serpent managed to fall into their pattern of movement, and though it was a struggle to keep pace with their smooth advance, Zail somehow managed.
They swiftly reached the end of the short corridor and a large door. Landing on the ceiling and grabbing a light fitting to hold him there, Serpent gestured for his people to halt. He pointed to two of them, and then at the door. One of them, a small human with mousy features, led the way, rifle ready. He and another marine plunged through into the corvette’s central hallway beyond, and instantly came under enemy fire.
“Go!” Barked Zail to the rest of his team, as they pushed off and launched themselves through the doorway into the burgeoning fight beyond. The rival marine team were ensconced further down the corridor, already well towards the bridge. Four of them were firing back towards Serpent’s people, while the fifth was making a break for the command deck and victory.
“Forward!” Ordered Serpent, heedless of the hail of fire directed at his men. “Target the marines on the left!” He added, gesturing.
The enemy were split two on the left side of the corridor and two on the right. However, there was a T-junction in that part of the
Abismiliard’s main hallway, leaving the marines on the left a little more exposed. Zail took the lead in exploiting that tactical error, lifting his rifle and firing a hail of stun bolts towards the duo of hostiles crouched there.
His own squad reacted quickly to his commands and, having found niches to take cover in themselves, fired on the enemy position. Serpent saw one of their targets go down under the hail of blue energy (and, though he could not tell who had made the hit, Zail knew better than to believe that it was him), and the second foe fell soon afterwards.
The other two enemy marines were not complacent though. They saw the damage and fell back, zigzagging through the weightless corridor and taking up a fall-back position closer to the bridge. Beyond them, the fifth and final member of their team had reached the command deck entrance, and was busy trying to hotwire the doors to gain access. Serpent could not permit that!
“Advance,” Zail ordered. “We have to reach the bridge!”
“Sir, there isn’t much cover in that section,” Said one of his people as they pushed off the walls and moved forward. As if in confirmation, the fire from the two enemies caught one of Serpent’s people, stunning him and taking them out of the fight.
Zail cursed at the loss, but knew that they had to press on. He now knew the real risk of zero-g combat. By travelling by bouncing off walls, one spent a lot of time out of cover. With the gravity on one could at least hug the walls as they advanced. In zero-g the danger lay in greater exposure to enemy fire.
Serpent knew that they needed a way to advance safely, some sort of make-shift cover or...
And then it hit him!
-----
Two of his marines led the charge, pushing before them the weightless bodies of the two stunned enemy soldiers. Despite being weightless, the improvised human shields were awkward and unwieldy, so Zail had given the task to the bigger of his remaining people. They pushed the unconscious forms before them, neatly soaking up enemy fire as Serpent and the last member of the squad followed.
With a kick, Zail threw himself off a nearby wall and drove towards the enemy, peeking around his two lead shield men and firing again and again. This time he definitely connected and another foe went down. He smiled in triumph.
Meanwhile his front men had reached the enemy, using the unconscious marines as battering rams and careening into the last of the two hostiles holding their position. A quick few shots at point blank range finished it, and that just left the enemy trying to hotwire the entrance to the bridge.
Serpent went straight for him, ricocheting his body off the ceiling and landing on the door beside the man. Casually, Zail laid the barrel of his rifle against the man’s temple.
“Good game,” Said the Lieutenant Commander, “But the day is mine.”
The enemy marine nodded, dropping his slicing tools and raising his hands in submission. A few seconds later and Indigo Eight emerged and began to survey the carnage.
“So,” Asked Serpent of the VENI trainer, “How did I do?”
THE END
- OOC:
- 1341 words. And my submission for zero-g combat is complete! Hope it was okay!
After Action Report: Serpent completes the basic introduction to moving in zero-g, and then participates in a mock squad on squad engagement to test his ability to fight in weightlessness. He leads his team of marines effectively, and takes advantage of the environment by using fallen foes as convenient light weight shields. His team prevail, and he hopes that he has impressed the VENI trainer, Agent Indigo Eight.
