he

of the operation.
Something that activated his combat reflexes, instead of the demand to surrender.
* * *
Kaczmarczyk's head whipped up as the hissing, supersonic "Crack-crack-crack!" of a firing pulser came from the direction of the ridgeline. His armor's sensors instantly identified it as the product of a M32a5 pulse rifle on full auto, and he swallowed a mental curse. So much for giving the other side a chance to surrender first!
"Hawk-Mike-Alpha!" a voice his armor's HUD tagged as one of First Squad's riflemen came up on his com. "Hawk-Mike-One, Pandora. Pandora!"
Kaczmarczyk's concern about timing and surrender demands disappeared abruptly.
"All Hawks, Hawk-Mike-Alpha!" he snapped. "Pandora! I say again, Pandora! Case Zulu! I say again, Case Zulu is now in force!"
* * *
Taluqdar heard the Skipper, but as far as he was concerned, Case Zulu had applied from the instant his conscious thoughts caught up with his reflexes and recognized the weapon mounted on the platform railing as a plasma rifle.
It shouldn't have been