"Silence!" a voice roared from near the armored hatchway. Captain Blackburn climbed up on a chair so everyone could see the big boss was talking. "Everyone, calm down and focus! We need to get Marines to their post now! 1^st Platoon is responsible for holding the chokepoints between D-Hab and Engineering Complex Echo. That's our first priority. Kit up and get the hell to your posts."

Marines from 1^st Platoon formed up in an orderly line and quickly rotated through and drew their equipment, including their self-contained com systems that didn't run on the base network. The platoon hustled out the armored hatch, putting their gear on as they ran down the corridor towards their posts just as they'd drilled a hundred times.

With 1^st Platoon covering the few narrow accesses there were between the base sections, 2^nd Platoon would be free to move out and recon while 3^rd Platoon sat back in reserve. 4^th Platoon was a specialized powered armor unit that would be directed into a fight once contact was made. The suits consumed power at a high rate when moving so the usual tactic was to let them sit idle until it was known where they'd be needed.

"2^nd Platoon, you're up!" Blackburn barked. "Lieutenant Pritchett, I want your Marines ranging out as far as Hab Complex Charlie. You'll be the eyes and ears for Battalion in this section. Major Austin wants updates ASAP."

Enders knew the amount of station they had to cover with the number of Marines they had available meant they probably wouldn't even be sending full fire teams out. Lieutenant Pritchett would pair them off and dangle them out there like bait so Captain Blackburn could report on the general area of enemy contact. If the fighting was in their section of the base, 2^nd Platoon's survivability factor just went down a few notches.

He grabbed his gear and jogged out of the main hatch into the open promenade area so his squad could form up on him. As he secured his harness and checked his weapons, the LT came up to him with the orders he expected.

"Pair your team off, Sergeant," she said. "Your squad will be taking the north ring of Hab Charlie. No heroes, we just need to know numbers and objectives so the rest of the battalion can move in."

"No arguments from me, ma'am," Enders said. "We'll get it done."

"Damn right you will," she said before walking to the next NCO and repeating her orders.

7

"Still no response from Exeter Base, Admiral."

"Even if they took our transponder codes at face value, standard procedure dictates they should have issued a challenge by now and asked to speak to the fleet commander," Jackson said. "Something seems off about all this."

"You don't think it could just be a lax attitude in the control room, sir?" Captain Ellsworth asked.

"Not on this base," Jackson said. "Captain, prepare the Saber for an intra-system warp hop. I want to split the distance between us and the base to cut the lag time. The rest of the taskforce will remain here in their orbit, column formation, standard interval."