Their leadership seemed to know this, too, as they redeployed and staged for their next big push. While they did that, their techs ripped into panels in the bulkheads and disbled the internal security sensors, including the camera feeds. Enders quickly relieved the Marines already at the entryway and waited for word from Colonel Beck when she wanted it opened up.

The plan was to start the attack on the command deck, fully disable the security feeds in that section, and then override the hatchway locks to let the main force in that would press the attack from two different approaches. Colonel Beck wanted to create maximum confusion since the enemy was already entrenched and knew they were coming. She seemed calm and completely confident that displacing the intruders was just a technical matter.

1^st Squad was just getting settled, waiting for the rest of 2^nd Platoon, when Marines hustled back down the main staircase, quietly motioning everyone to follow them. There was a muted panic to their motions that set the hairs on the back of Enders' neck on end. They'd seen something on the command deck that had spooked them, and now, they were aborting the assault.

"1^st Squad, come on back out," Lieutenant Pritchett's voice said over the command channel.

"Confirm we're to abandon the main hatchway, LT?"

"You heard me, Sergeant," she said. "There's been a development, and we're aborting the main assault."

"What's the deal, Sergeant?" a bored-looking lance corporal asked.

"We're retreating," he said. "Let's go."

Retracing their steps, it took the assault force less than ten minutes to evacuate the C&C hab and back down the main access tunnel. When 1^st Squad got back to the main staging area, and Enders got his bearings, he could see Captain Blackburn and Lieutenant Pritchett talking to a major from the Wolfpack detachment. The faces of his superiors were worried and drawn.

"LT, Captain," Enders said as he walked up.

"Sergeant," Blackburn said. "Good work pulling your people out."

"What the hell is going on, sir?"

"The Wolfpack techs were able to patch in to the feed in the main control room," Blackburn said. "They have the base CO and his entire staff up there, along with the warhead from a Shrike anti-ship missile. The detachment Marines positively identified the hardware, and it looks like whoever the hell is up there has it wired to blow, probably on a deadman switch or if the room is breached."

"Must have been from the munitions depot for the orbital defenses," Pritchett said. "They pull them from the launchers periodically for maintenance since they're sitting out in the elements most of the time. If they lit that off inside the C&C hab, they'd evaporate every part of Exeter that sits above ground."

"Colonel Beck didn't like what she saw, so we're withdrawing and will try to make contact to negotiate," Blackburn said. "But we've also heard over two dozen ESA warships have entered the system, and Admiral Wolfe only has five ships in his taskforce, so they have all the advantages when it comes to waiting us out."