The Greenhouse
We had just made it to the Mayflower when the alarms went off. Goonie troopers had boarded the Mayflower. Stubborn bastards. It would be so much easier to let us go. But that would be a challenge to their absolute authority. A challenge that could not go unpunished less others took heart from it.
We split into eight groups of five colonists and split for different areas of the ship to repel the assault. I took a quick look at the 3D map of the Greenhouse area. There was a short, 30 meter corridor that opened up to the green house. If they wanted to proceed to the main cabin they would have to traverse that section. We only had handguns, so shots above 50 meters were out. Plus I am sure that they would not make the same mistake that the provincials made and would bring AP k-weapons this time. The only option was to trap them in the corridor.
Dave took 2 other colonists and set up a linear ambush at the near end of the corridor behind some short structural walls. I grabbed a colonist that seem to be able to handle her side of business and set up on the far side. This was a crappy position. If the goonies didn’t enter the corridor, we would be cut off from the rest of the cabin. If they saw us in the green house before the shooting started we were on our own. Not you brightest Jack. Oh well, adapt, improvise and overcome.
My companion seemed to detect the same problems I did and pointed to a second story superstructure on the far side of the hall. A difficult 40 to 50 yard shot to the hall, but the high ground. Hell, I’m too old to be climbing like a monkey so I let her get up there on her own and quickly took cover behind some raised beds off to one side.
We could hear them approaching. I just hoped that these people were seasoned enough to let them enter the corridor before springing the ambush. No such luck. One of the colonists on the end of the corridor opened fire as soon as he saw the six uniformed goonies walk in the green house. I couldn’t fire from here and hope to get the upper hand. Luckily my companion on the upper deck kept her cool and waited. The goonies, initially disoriented by the gunfire tried to take cover behind some planters. They were not as green as the provincials of earlier, but were not exactly colonial marine material.
The leader of the goonies began demanding that we surrender and submit to UNWG arrest. His demand was met with a hail of fire. I could tell by his face that he did not fully understand his precarious position. Been in charge for a long time without any resistance from your sheeple has that effect. He motioned his men to move closer to the corridor and use the walls as cover. Dumb move. They where now completely devoid from cover from my side.
I looked up to my companion and saw her taking aim at the Lieutenant in charge. He gave the order for his men to fire and my companion hit him with 3 rounds from behind. He was dead before he hit the ground. In the confusion, his men got tunnel vision and completely missed that the fire was coming from behind them. Three goonies had fallen by the time that one of them realized that we were behind him. He tried to back into the corridor for protection and walked right into the fire from the far side of the corridor. There were only two goonies left. They were not firing at all and although I could partially see them from my position they were out of range. I looked up and my companion just shrugged her shoulders perplexed at what they were doing.
I decide to take a chance. I yelled out: “You are surrounded and out gunned” “You can not possibly win this” “If you want to survive, drop your guns where you are and lay on your bellies” “There is no need to die”
They seemed to be talking to each other, arguing about what to do next. Then they did the dumbest thing they could have done. They stood up and started to charge the sound of my voice. Damn. I was really hoping they would do the smart thing. I didn’t get a chance to open fire. My companion opened fire from her perch as soon as they started to charge and downed one, while the other fell to fire from the corridor, now at his back. There was no need for them to commit suicide like that. I guess that once you have been programmed for blind obedience, you can’t do anything else.
I called out to Dave and told him to join me in the green house. He was unhurt, but one of the others had taken a shoulder blast. He was still behind cover. I told him to secure the injured man while my companion and I cleared the rest of the approach. We proceeded down the corridor where we ran into one of the colonist groups. They had cleared to that point. I left that group securing the green house and sent Dave to the infirmary with the injuries from both groups. The speakers blared asking for SITREPS. I grabbed my communicator and informed the captain of the injuries and the goonie casualties. By his count that covered every goonie either dead or captured.
We proceeded to the main hall to join the rest of the colonists and prepare for departure. Blood had been spilled, we had to run now, no choice. Small boarding parties had been so far easy to repel. A UNWG war craft would not.