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filming as he looked around. Miss Stuart went next followed by Anderson,
Boone, Kitch and Ramirez who quickly crossed through the docking area. Kyle
turned as Kiskaliski, Jennings and Greene came into the small room.
    A quick
calculation told Kyle that he had his Marines in three groups of four and he
was a little nervous dividing his forces like that.
    His radio
crackled to life.
    “Colonel,
Richards just told me that they need to seal the hatchway for about thirty
minutes in order for the seal to be secure. Is that going to be ok for you?”
    “Roger
Commander, go ahead. The tour of the vessel just started, so we have some time.
Over.”
    The hatch
on the Fletcher closed, and a slight hiss signaled that the seal had
reestablished proper pressure.
    K-man
walked over to the doorway and looked down the hall.
    “Just
under twenty meters, sir. Two meters wide. Four points of cover.”
    K-man was
always the first looking to see how to defend his position. He sat back on his
heels and cradled his rifle. Kyle shook his head. While the rest of the Marines
had brought their sidearms, and Kitch. Greene and Ramirez had their M-31
rifles, K-man had brought his assigned sidearm, his grandfather’s 1911, his
M-31, and his favorite weapon, a Barrett 407 .50 caliber rifle. 
    He hand
loaded his rounds for his baby, as he called it. He had a true gift, and with
that rifle it seemed almost like a magic gift.
    Kyle had
seen K-man drop fifty rounds from it in eighty-seven seconds. Since it only had
a ten round magazine, that included four swaps. When he asked the Range Master
what K-man’s score was after he left the area, he was informed that the young
Marine had scored thirty-seven “10”s, nine “9”s, and three “8”s over five
different lanes. It was generally agreed that the missing round had likely
channeled through an earlier shot too quick for the laser to catch.
    That had
been ten years ago when Kyle had been placed as XO of Team Bravo, a loose
collection of operational commands that included Delta and Omega. Then Private
Zbigniew Kiskaliski became one of the top recruited individuals for many
missions that then Major Kyle Martin had oversight duties for.
    Alex
might be my lucky charm, thought Kyle, but K-man is my block of C-4.
    “Colonel,
we have a problem I think. Dandelion.” Cowboy’s voice was stressed and tight.
    Kyle froze
as he heard the code word. He quickly switched his com unit to the private
channel he and Cowboy had agreed to at the beginning of the mission. Placing
the earpiece in his right ear, he brought his left hand up to cover his mouth
and switched his com to private.
    “What is
it?”
    “A second
vessel has entered the area and there is…”
    “Yeah,
what?” Kyle was more shaken that Cowboy was so out of his normally controlled
manner than anything else.
    “The
second ship was firing on the vessel that you are on right now. At least I
think so. There was a blue… wave, that washed over a part of the ship you are
on and it… dissolved.”
    “What?
Are you sure? We didn’t feel a thing.”
    “Yeah,
neither did we, but, Colonel…”
    “Yeah? 
What?”
    “There
was no explosion or ripping away of anything, the ship just… melted wherever
the blue touched.”
    Kyle was
stunned. He knew that Cowboy wouldn’t be joking about something like this, but
it seemed unreal.
    “Crap!
Colonel, the second ship has flown into the now open structure of the vessel we
are docked to. I have ordered Richards to get that hatch repaired now. I think
your vessel is being boarded Martin, get the Ambassador out of there!”
    Kyle
immediately turned his com back to the standard channel.
    “Marines!”
He shouted “Boarding action in process, get the Ambassador out of there.”
    “Colonel,
moving now,” came the calm voice of Ramirez at the same time that the
Ambassador cut in.
    “Colonel,
what is going on?”
    “Ambassador,
we have confirmation of a vessel attacking and landing on the Hedali