Seizure part 7:  Bridgehead

	Will Hagen arrived at the current front lines in the battle to retake the Normandy. The
Neo-Sapiens had retreated all of their forces to the bridge to make one last stand. They had
torn wall panels off to form makeshift defensive works. It would not be easy to get to the
bridge.
	The Normandy crew had the weight of numbers on their side. Most of the available crew
were up here now. A few were dealing with a small contingent of Neos that were holed up near
where one of their boarding shuttles was still connected to the Normandy.
	Hagen surveyed his troops. He had Alain Vouriot, a med tech from Gamma squad, Jason
Morris, a midshipman who was serving with Gamma Squad, Ensign Swenson, the ships Records Officer
and Gunnery Sergeant Jessie Powers and Corporal Robert Preston, both from Sierra-Three Platoon.
There were a few more crewmembers he didn't recognize, all enlisted personnel who probably
manned the many stations on the ship. They numbered twelve in total.
	Hagen activated his radio. "Chief, we're in position. The Neos have built some
impressive fortifications here."
	"Roger that," Rick's voice crackled. "Same here and in other positions. Hold your
position until I come up with a plan to penetrate their defenses. I'm afraid if we move in they
will kill the captain and the other hostages on the bridge."
	"Have they tried to negotiate?"
	"No. They know and we know the situation. They are not going to negotiate for their
lives."
	Another voice joined the conversation. "Hiatt here. We have main power and have isolated
bridge functions. Technically we are back in control of the ship. Your orders, Chief?"
	"Check the command charts, Lieutenant. Hagen is in charge right now. He is the second
officer, after all. So you know the status of the Neos in the area?"
	"They are still in their shuttle. We're not sure why. We have a small force that came
down here from the sickbay to contain them. Ratislav is in charge.
	"Hiatt, Hagen here. Since I am in command of the ship I want you to get the weapons
online. The Neos deactivated the main batteries."
	"Yes, sir. Hiatt out."
	"Rick, you are in charge of taking the bridge. I'm not an expert in small unit tactics,
so I'm going to leave that task to the expert."
	"Roger that, and thanks for the vote of confidence." Rick added the frequency of
Ratislav's radio to the conversation. "O'Muirdagh, what is your status?"
	"The Neos seem to be content to stay holed up. I'm not willing to risk a charge right
now. I only have a handful of men down here. If you could see fit to send a few security guards
I would feel better."
	"Do you have any experienced troops?"
	"Yeah, I have one of the chefs, Jim I think. He was hurt taking back sickbay, but I am
desperate for men here. I don't want to pull anyone out of engineering."
	"Roger that. I don't like the Neos locking themselves up down there. If they
self-destruct one of those shuttles the damage could be catastrophic. I've got a half dozen men
on the way down there now."
	"Thanks. I'll launch an assault as soon as they get here."
	"Negative, O'Muirdagh. Wait until we assault the bridge. Hopefully we can create maximum
confusion."
	Amy's voice rejoined them. "We have a major problem. I just got the sensors back online
and we have another half dozen shuttles inbound. They are 7 minutes out and there is no way I
will have any guns up in less than ten."
	"Shit. Get the guns online as soon as you can. O'Muirdagh, attack as soon as you can. We
move on to the bridge in five minutes. Get ready people."
	Rick shut down the conversation and went to call sickbay. He noticed he had in incoming
message on Cookie's frequency. He activated the frequency "Status Lieutenant."
	"Rick, I am reviewing my troops here and it is not a pretty picture. I have three real
flyers, myself and a bunch of never-been-spaceborne's. Hell, I have two jumptroops here. What
the hell do you expect me to do?"
	"Whatever it takes, Cookie. We have shuttles and e-frames in bound. Not to mention that
frigate to worry about. I know about the Battle of the Belt. My cousin served in Malachite Squad
off the Vigilant. I know what you faced and what you did to get the Medal of Honor. If anyone
can do this, you can."
	There was a long pause. "Rick, you're talking out your ass, but thanks for the pep talk
anyway. I have some skilled pilots here, we'll make do."
	Rick went to say something but the sound of a gunshot stopped him. It wasn't a blaster
bolt, but an old fashioned bullet. They were not allowed on ships because of the risk of damage
to sections of the hull. He heard Cookie shout "Rick, attack now! Trust me on this, go!"
	Rick switched frequencies to get all of the position commanders. "Attack, now!"

	Moments earlier, on the bridge:

	Captain Henry looked around the bridge for the hundredth time since he regained
consciousness. There were only five Neosapiens left, the rest having gone down to the defenses.
One was the mission commander, another his adjutant. One was guarding the prisoners and the
other two manning bridge stations. 
	With him were his XO, Jonathan Xanatos and the leaders of Sierra-Three platoon and Gamma
Squadron Tom Jose and Commander Hobbes. They were tied up and huddled together in a corner. Tom
was in a strange position, curled up and leaning forward. He looked sick.
	He had heard that the crew had managed to retake all of the ship except the bridge. He
had no doubt that they were already planning a counterattack against the frigate and had
surrounded the bridge. He hoped that whoever was in charge would not delay action to try and
spare the lives of the command officers on the bridge. Hiatt might, but she would probably defer
to Rick. Rick would delay to try and come up with a plan, but in the end would do the right
thing. Asteroth was injured on Cookie's mission. He was sure Cookie was not in charge, he would
have moved in instantly and probably shot him personally if the Neos had not already done so.
	His musings were interrupted by an unusual sound, a gunshot. Someone on his ship had a
slug thrower. Normally this would have made him livid, but the fact that the slug had just
killed Homer made the situation more tolerable. 
	Seconds after Homer's head gave the bridge a spotty red paint job Tom sprung up and
attacked their keeper. His shoulder rammed the gun and his head caught the Neo's chin. The neo
stumbled back and fell.
	Hobbes kicked the gun behind a console and all four hostages scrambled behind it. As
they reached cover another gunshot rang out. More red splattered over the walls.
	Captain Henry looked around for something sharp to cut his bonds. He found nothing. "Can
anyone get a hold of that gun?"
	Tom's back was to it and he managed to get a grip on it. "I've got it, Captain, but I'm
not in a position to shoot anything."
	"Try and shoot the chair, Tom."
	It took a few tries, but Tom managed to shoot the XO's chair.
	"Guess I won't be sitting when this is over."
	Captain Henry squirmed over to the chair and began trying to cut his bonds on the jagged
edges the blast had created. "Why haven't the other Neos on the bridge come to kill us yet."
	Hobbes answered "They probably ran for cover when Tom started firing."
	His hands finally free the Captain snatched the gun and stood up firing blindly. His
shots were nowhere near any enemies, but they did cause them to scramble back under cover. They
were moving slowly and cautiously, they were clearly not trained soldiers.
	Then again, neither was Captain Adrian Henry. He had served as a bridge officer or other
non-combat position his whole career. He knew ship-to-ship combat and some ground combat
strategy. He did have a bronze marksmanship badge that he had earned on a dare once, but his
skill with a gun had surprised even him.
	He shot off Tom's bonds and then moved on to the others.
	Once free Tom mad a dash for the two other fallen Neo's guns. The run was mostly under
cover and he made it without once being shot at. He picked up one gun and slid the other over to
Hobbes.
	At Captain Henry's signal all three of them moved out of cover and began firing wildly.
By luck the Neos were both out of cover and in plain sight. They were slow to get to their guns
and cut down quickly by Hobbes and Jose.
	"Good shooting gentlemen, we should get under cover and hope the next people in here are
humans."
	Jonathan stood up. "What should we do with our prisoner" he said while lightly kicking
the Neo Tom had knocked out.
	"Die at his hands," the Neo replied as he surged up and went to grab the Commander's
throat. His instincts narrowly saved Xanatos as he twisted just enough that the Neo grabbed his
shoulder and pulled it out of its socket.
	As he tossed Jonathan aside Captain Henry shot him in the chest. While grumbling, "Get
off my bridge."
	Form the corner where he landed Jonathan managed to say, "I didn't know you had such a
sense for the dramatic, Adrian," before passing out.
	
	Rick and Will met up just outside of the entrance to the bridge. The gunfire behind them
had created confusion in the ranks of the Neosapiens. Both of their groups had suffered
casualties. Ensign Swenson was dead along with one of Rick's security personnel. Rick's security
staff had been devastated by this attack. The group had once numbered 25, with 15 of them having
addition duties on the ship. He was down to only a dozen, half of which were on the way to the
Engineering section to deal with the Neo shuttles. Alain was tending to the wounded.
	"I'm going to move in first and secure a position. When I give the signal, the rest of
you follow me. I suggest you stay behind Commander. We need you to stay alive in case the
Captain and XO are dead."
	Will nodded his head solemnly. "Good luck, Chief."
	Rick charged on to the bridge and ran for cover. "Welcome to the bridge, Chief."
	Rick looked around. "Captain? How did you take the bridge back?"
	"With a little luck and a little help from a sniper. Give me a situation report."
	"Yes, Sir. We have retaken the ship. We should have weapons soon, but it is taking
longer than we thought. Lieutenant Hiatt is seeing to that personally. The Neos have a small
holdout force near engineering in their remaining assault shuttle. They also have reinforcements
in bound. We have all available e-frames out there to try and buy us time."
	Hobbes interrupted him. "Are there any E-frames left on board and who is commanding the
E-frames?"
	The Captain answered him, "Cookie."
	Rick smiled. "Yes, sir. No frames left. Cookie volunteered, of course. Though he has
passed command onto Lieutenant O'Connor."
	Henry cocked his head. "Why?"
	This time Hagen answered, "Because he is going to attack the Frigate on his own."
	Most everyone else on the bridge turned toward him. "What?"
	Hagen sighed. "He's done it before, at the Battle of the Belt. He was injured and he
still single-handedly charged the pirate flagship. The shear audacity of the move allowed him to
succeed. He burned a hole near their engines with his lasers and then detached his escape
fighter and let the bulk of his fighter slam into the engine room."
	The Captain looked skeptical. "Will that work against a Neo-Sapien frigate?"
	"Probably not, it has much better armor and more defensive guns. Plus the Vigilant was
fighting the port side of the ship while Cookie charged the starboard. He may try and take out
their guns to give us an edge in a slug fest."
	The Captain turned from Rick and Will. "Get me communications now. I need to talk to
that madman."
	Hobbes came up next to the Captain. "He is a madman. All truly great pilots are."
	"Are you one?"
	"Me? No, sir! I'm only a little crazy. Nowhere near crazy enough to try this stunt."
	"You think he has a chance?"
	"A chance? Yes, sir. A good chance? No."