TBSO17

==Chapter 17 - The Silent Black Ocean==
The Cutter, KCGS Morgan Icazz
Idrmach Star System
Chainelane Isles, Deep Periphery
September, 3165
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"You know, Kerenskyists don't have a sense of humor, right?"
Christine asked quietly.
"I would take offense, but your observations are...on the mark, Bondholder." Gary said, "This armor is terrible."
"Lowest bidder gear, sad to say." she told him, as she adjusting the hip actuators on his revised EVA armor.  She looked up at him, "You've been in the Guard less than two months, are you up for what's coming?"
He laughed.  "Your humor is remarkably dry and droll, Chief." he told her, "I studied and passed the qualification for coms. I have studied your 'playbooks' and I have confidence in my own abilities.  I am as ready as anyone in this infantry squad."
She stood up, "eh, check your anchors." she told him, and lofted his helmet to his waiting hand before dogging her own.  "Now, check mine."
He helped her run her own armor's checklist, then they went over the armaments.
"We will be launching a boarding attack, quiaff?" he asked.
"That's what they tell me. These Cobras brought civilians on a battlecruiser, which means we have to do things the hard way." she said, "We're in luck though, they're looking at the distraction.  Let's go over the plan again.  We're the sapper team, that means what?"
"We attempt a dive-boarding of the hull of the warship and eva along the hull to the main engine packs." he recited, "Horizontal drop method, off the hull of a smallcraft.  We plant the charges, de-lock, and let inertia take us away from the ship, then trigger the munitions."
"Bingo, right, and what happens if I lose the detonator?" she asked.
"My suit has the backup trigger." he stated, "Your suit has a backup to mine."
"Correct.  What happens if we run into resistance on the hull?"
"That is why we have guns." he said.
"And if anything unforeseen happens?" she asks Gary
"Also why we have guns." he asserted.
"Have you ever surfed a jump before, Gary?" Christine asked
"I am unfamiliar with the term."
"When the ship goes into jump into hyperspace, we hug the hull. The EMP knocks out most systems, you don't want to be eyes-open during a KF transition as a normie." she told him, "Let's get up topside with the rest of the team now."
"How many times have you done this?" he asked as they left the airlock and climbed onto the hull of their cutter.
"Twenty or thirty times." she said, "Don't get distracted by what you see and hear in the transition. I've seen a guy let go of the handles and get lost in hyperspace before, and after the shit I went through capturing you, I am not keen to see you drift off in the colorless void or get ripped in half because you drifted into the interphase between the KF field and reality during the jump."
Over their suit comms, the CO's voice began counting down the timing for their KF transition. The target was a nine second zone near the port-side of the Clan Cameron class warship.
"Hug the hull, this is the awesomest." she enthused, as the count reached zero  "You'll never see anyth-"
[dIsCoNTiNuItY.............]
The colorless void extended forever, and he could see eternity. The hours passed, he looked to his left. He could perceive her through her suit, the expression on his bondholder's face exultant, ecstasy written on every molecule of her. To his left, he could see PO3 Grau and PO1 Wheeler, both looked a little ill and stunned at how very long this was taking.
Her voice wasn't filtered through the speakers, he could hear Christine's delighted laughter...could feel the innocent joy from her.  He wanted it to last forever...
[dIsCoNTiNuItY.............]
Then Space returned, the bulk of a Cameron-class Warship filling the space above him.
"-ing like it! WHOOOO!  Alright guys, ranging Twenty Kliks, we're almost right on them! Stand to and prep for assault!"
The solid rocket booster came out, and they dogged lines to it.
Three..two...one...
demagnetize...
The booster fired, and he felt  his kidneys try to migrate to his feet.
"Yeeehawwww!!" came over the channel, as the squads were hauled away.
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