G-Pol Ch. 12

In short order, the assault was over and all the pirates captured. He'd been a little worried about them being equipped with the proper release agents, but the dual formula tactic proved itself effective and none of his men were lost. There was some damage to three suits, but they saved their operators' lives and the damage was all reparable.

Natasha was nervous for Karl, even though she knew that as Commander of that Marine unit he was too smart to be leading from the front. It got worse once he was inside the hull, because he would be out of line of sight for their normal laser communications, and he wouldn't transmit over standard com for fear of being listened in on. Even encryption wasn't a guarantee of security, so he wouldn't risk it.

She'd helped recover several of the crippled suits and the one killed. Or so they'd thought, but when Vixi opened the suit to make sure, the man grinned up at her through his visor and made a comment about being rescued by a sexy Angel that made her blush. His suit had been breached, but his body armor had been enough to save his life. He was completely uninjured! They knew Karl would be happy to hear that when he got the news. Natasha had felt his pain at the perceived loss of a good man, even through the heat of battle.

She was immensely pleased when laser communications was restored several minutes before the assault on the pirates forted up inside the ship. Apparently, the Marines had been equipped with portable trans-hull relays allowing those men stationed on the ship's exterior to relay communications from the interior. As soon as the assault was successfully completed and all the pirates captured, Natasha relayed the good news to Karl and could hear the relief in his voice. She also heard the cheers from dozens of others as they heard too.

The rest of the return trip to the station was mostly uneventful. One of the Shrikes reported an apparent stealth enabled ship, but it was fleeing the area and they didn't have the resources to go hunting it. It was enough that the pirates would know they'd lost a pair of valuable assets and a large number of their own, most captured alive. Worse as far as they were concerned, G-Pol had no problem with using psychic interrogation techniques and would gain quite a bit of useful intelligence which would also cost them a great deal in assets. All in all, this would be a very expensive day for this piratic organization.