Eight days later. November 20th, 2266. 07:41 CNS Waukesha – Bridge
The bridge had been relatively quiet. But in the last fifteen minutes, it began to be anything but. The final preparations for transitioning back to real space were well underway. Their target was the Apus system. Apus Minor was an Earth-sized and like-moon orbiting the fourth planet, a diminutive gas giant.
Apus Prime, the third planet of the system, was the primary hub of commerce and human activity. Nearly a billion souls called her home. Apus Minor in comparison, was not as maturely settled and barely had a hundred thousand people living there. The moon’s primary focus was agricultural production, all industry in the world was centered on that.
Though that was fairly typical of Confederate-held systems with multiple habitable worlds. The nicest one typically was turned into the central hub of the solar system. Any additional habitable worlds beyond the first would be turned into industrial worlds, primarily agricultural but several mineral-rich worlds were turned into vast ore production sites. Those additional settlements were created to provide sufficient food and other agricultural products for the solar system and any nearby systems.
In this way, each solar system became self-reliant for producing its own food. And when the colonies were large enough other industries with a focus on metals, semiconductors, superconductors, and more. Self-sufficiency was a benchmark all Confederate colonies graded themselves on. It was a matter of great pride to be capable of producing everything one could want or need at home.
John had taken note of how slip space was unnaturally calm this morning. Not that that was a complaint, calm slip space was always a welcome occurrence. It didn’t calm his frayed nerves any though. His gut continued to tell him something was wrong with this mission.
“Sixty seconds to real space transition. We’re jumping well outside the gravity well of the planet,” Willy said from his station above and behind the captain’s seat.
“No traffic reported within five hundred thousand clicks,” Monique said.
“Increase speed to nominal transition speed,” John said as he scanned the small screen off to the right of his armrest, “When we’re done transitioning broadcast our location. Notate any ships that make immediate course deviations.”
Rex then spoke, “Increasing speed.”
“Noted,” Monique said, “How long do we have to get into orbit of Apus Minor?”
“Two hours to the gas giant, then another thirty minutes based on where the planet is,” Rex rolled his eyes, “Naturally it’s on the wrong side of the planet.”
“Ooh, that means I lost the pool,” Willy said under his breath.
“You lot should be glad your degeneracy hasn’t impacted your duties,” John spoke without emotion, “I really can’t understand the lure of gambling on whether or not the moon would be near us or blocked by the planet.”
“Helps pass the time, sir,” Monique said meekly.
“Transitioning in ten seconds,” Rex said.
John pressed an alarm button on his chair. A familiar chime rang out within the ship. It alerted the crew that they were jumping back to reality. He always thought that distinction was an odd one, but it was the literal truth.
The slip space portal generators were active once more. A large rift opened in front of the ship. At the center of the rift, a bright white light shone. That quickly gave way to a familiar black starry background. The void was once again in front of them.
“Rex, she’s all yours,” John said.
“Crossing the event horizon now,” Rex said as the ship's primary thrusters roared up and gave them just enough momentum to complete its transit.
“Brian, what do you see?”
“A whole lot of nothing,” Brian said sardonically, “We likely won’t see much until we get around the planet. Seems to be more active, but we haven’t been able to connect with any of the naval facilities yet.”
“Rex, set a course to the moon, all ahead full.”
“Heading to course three-three-two, maximum thrust,” Rex said as he entered the commands.
Ninety-five minutes later the Waukesha was in orbit of the small gas giant. Its primary color was a beautifully vibrant orange crossed with white and blue clouds dotted here and there. The moon had two sets of thin rings. John swore he blinked at the wrong time and almost missed the faint rings as they closed in nearer to the planet.
Apus Minor was almost in front of them. It was rare for the moon to actually spin on its axis. Even more so when the moon orbited perpendicular to its host planet’s orbit around the star. A day on the world would last roughly thirty-two hours. It finished an orbit around its host planet every two days, but because of its orbital angle an eclipse covered only part of the southern hemisphere for a couple of hours every other day.
“Sir, we’re getting a direct message request for you Captain,” Emily sounded confused.
John raised an eyebrow, “Why do you sound confused?”
“It’s got a military cipher, an old one but on that checks out,” Emily said as she continued to look at the message request on her terminal, “But it’s coming through on a civilian channel.”
“You are not going to believe this, sir,” Will hardly believed his eyes.
“You are going to tell me that the Folly of Icarus is there,” John began rubbing his eyes, “And then through my amazing powers of deduction I will correctly presume that message is coming from Captain Dubious,” John sighed as he stood up, “And then I’ll tell Emily to transfer that communication request to my office.”
“Just another Tuesday,” Monique said sarcastically.
Will leaned over his console, “It is amazing. Seriously.”
John shook his head as he stood up, “Keep the scanners focused on the Folly but do not engage her.”
He then silently walked into his office. His terminal was blinking a communication request. He wasn’t in any particular rush as he grabbed a glass and dug out a bottom-shelf bottle of bourbon. The amber liquid quickly filled up the glass before it was nearly three-quarters full. John then slammed the button and accepted the call.
“I don’t make it a habit to drink on the job, but your presence here has forced me to do just that.”
“My young fellow captain, drinking on the job does have its perks.”
“Rene, why are you here and why are you requesting a parlay?” John took a large drink.
“Well, I am speaking honestly here, but I do not want to fight you. I’ve seen you pull off the impossible,” Rene grinned, “In truth, I’m a bit troubled by the task we were hired for.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll enlighten me on your displeasure?”
Rene leaned forward, “We were tasked with transporting some scientists. We picked them up near the Miura system.”
John sighed loudly as he looked up at his drab ceiling, “Which borders the Alliance, fucking hell. I don’t suppose you’ve checked your guests’ records?”
“Unlike you, we do not have access to detailed registration information,” Rene smiled, “But I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out such things when you see them.”
“Does your cargo run involve security services on the moon?”
“A request has been made, but I am now most uncomfortable with the terms,” Rene attempted to sound sincere, “I’ll send you their passports that we reviewed.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“And why would that be?” John heard the words but wasn’t listening to them.
“You seem a sort that would sus out the truth. I’d prefer to not send my men to their certain deaths,” Rene sighed, “Though it is for a substantial amount of money, which my crew is more inclined to accept than I. We do have some additional business to conduct here in this system as well. I doubt our presence here will be of continued concern to you.
“If you don’t give me a reason to shoot you then I can assure you we won’t be the first one to pull the trigger,” John shrugged, “Avoid the scientists and Confederate forces on the surface, you will not like our, no, my response.”
“The point has been. We will give your ship a wide berth in the great expanse,” Rene gave a lazy salute before ending the call.
John finished his drink and stared at the terminal for a couple of minutes. He was deep in thought. Not only did he have to worry about the scientists betraying him, but there were likely members from the Alliance as part of them. And to add another piece to the table are the pirates.
Then suddenly he stood up and strode out of his office. He walked onto the bridge and looked across the bridge. Emily recoiled a bit because her captain was staring right at her.
“Emily, contact Naval Intelligence and transfer this information to them,” John walked over and handed a data slate to her, “Backgrounds on so-called citizens that they need to run. Willy, I want you to transfer the schematics and everything we know about this bullshit research facility to the Marine conference room. Additionally, I want you to contact Captain Taylor and have him and all his senior leadership meet with me there in ten minutes. I want that ship monitored at all times. Emily, I also need you to contact Fleet Command and get back up here, though I suspect they are too far away to do anything.”
“I can do that, sir, but as you are well aware he’s going to want to know why.”
John nodded as he walked towards the bridge’s rear exit, “I have a mission for his Marines.”
The doors opened and John strode out and walked with a determined gait. The bridge crew didn’t waste any time. They followed their captain’s orders promptly and accurately. This wasn’t the first time John had given them odd orders, but the crew trusted their captain so much that no matter how strange it sounded, there was a damn good reason for issuing such a command.
09:45 Marine Conference Room
John always had a plan in mind for everything he did. While he was extremely confident in his plans he knew from a young age to involve others to fine-tune the plans he came up with. His experience was as wide as it was varied. Different perspectives were important to have.
He always enjoyed working with Marines. They always wanted to get into the thick of any scrum. There were numerous new, and often times hilarious, suggestions. Some were admittedly quite dumb, but the battle plan was better for the collaboration. John was smiling as he looked over the plan.
“I must once again insist that the captain take…” Bart was quickly interrupted by John.
“Captain Taylor, I will have no guards. You can spare none and I’m not risking any of your lives to go into whatever hellhole awaits me and the eggheads,” John then looked up at the Marines and gestured to them to keep quiet, “I am humbled by your request to stand by my side, honored too. But my answer remains a firm no. You are needed here. Because if I do die, the military needs this facility and I trust you and yours are more than capable of achieving that goal.”
John then walked over to the terminal and began the animation of the plan they had worked out. The Marines spread out and investigate the facility and surrounding grounds. Two teams enter the base behind the primary escort team, headed by Captain Taylor. John, all by his lonesome, heads to the point of interest with the scientist.
“Ok, so this is where we kinda go into two plans. With any luck, we go with Operation Thank Christ. When the brains and I arrive back at the station then we detain all of the scientists at the facility. Teams one and two will disable communications and disable the base’s security systems. That’s the queue for the reserve teams to move into action.”
Bart then stepped up, “R-One and Two will cover the ground outside. Three through six will span throughout the base. Leave no stone unturned. Every last soul needs to be accounted for and brought to the central atrium here where we will detain everyone.”
“Now, if the extra teams are what I think they are you will arrest them and detain them apart from our wayward compatriots here,” John paused, “I strongly suspect we will have our confirmation before we depart the Waukesha.”
Corporal Nixon then spoke up, “Lieutenant Lief, why are you going down to the planet with the brains?”
“Let’s call it an insurance policy and leave it at that,” John grinned, “There’s a method to my madness, son. Ok, after you have the base locked down, contact the Waukesha and at that point, we should have some reinforcements coming to help out from the security team on our ship.”
“Easy peasy,” Bart smirked, “Operation Shitshow is when whatever it is our Captain is asked to do succeeds. It is presumed, but we are not certain that our communication devices won’t work in them. The inspection of the first area will prove or disprove that.”
“If the scanning thingy works as assumed at the alpha site we will hold until we enter the beta site. We must presume that our communications will be cut once we enter the ruin, then the aforementioned plan occurs when the scientific team and myself enter the second, and larger, ruin,” John paused and looked up at the Marines, “In either case, it is imperative that the base is locked down. We have more than sufficient cause to act the way we are.”
Bart placed his hands on the terminal and leaned forward, “Now the wildcard in all this is the pirates.”
“Odds are y’all won’t see them. I’d be downright shocked if they don’t have a team shadowing the scientists and me,” John sighed, “Which is what I wish I could say with confidence. The money these assholes are offering is going to be too good for portions of that crew to pass up.”
“Are you sure they don’t have power armor or something that could damage you?” Sergeant Homa asked.
“If they are bringing gear that can punk a broadsword suit, then I deserve to die. They’ve eschewed heavy armor in every boarding action that we have records on. Literally, at no time have they ever worn heavy armor. Light power suits are the most they’ve worn. The worry I have with them is triggering or tripping something that causes that alien shit to go all fucking crazy.”
John took a deep breath and stepped back from the terminal. He grabbed his mug and took a drink from it. He then looked over the Marines.
“We are due in orbit in about three hours. We’re five out from dropping. Let’s do this right.”
“You can count on us, sir,” Bart said, “Hoorah.”
The Marines grunted in kind back. Then they stood in near unison and saluted John. He saluted and began walking out of the room. Bart held him up and offered one more time.
“I can make one of these teams…”
“Captain, it is appreciated but we have a plan, and they are needed there. I’ll manage it somehow. I always do.”
“Very well. Are you sure about dropping down with them? It’d be safer if you go with us.”
“It’s a necessary play. Give ‘em hell down there,” John smiled as the two officers fist-bumped.
“You can count on us,” Bart wore a grim look on his face.
15:20 CNS Waukesha – Starboard Hangar
John was thankful the first deck was taller than the other decks. The designers of this ship knew it’d be used as a troop transport at some point. Specifically, they’d have Marines and their power armor. Walking crouched over was never fun in power armor, double so in an emergency.
His Broadsword power armor hummed as he strode forward towards the hangar doors. His armored boots loudly rang off the deck with each step. John’s helmet clanked off a hip armor plate. The crew quickly stepped well away from him, getting stepped on would not feel good in the slightest.
The doors to the hangar then sprang open and John strode forward. Hannibal-1, a new and much larger drop vessel to the Waukesha for this mission, was angled in slightly. The cockpit was twenty feet above John’s head. He paused to take in the oversized shuttle.
“They must’ve parked her in the other hangar,” John said to no one in particular.
“That they did,” Brian said from the gangway to John’s right.
“They still loading up?”
“Well, it didn’t help that you were running late. On the plus side though, you weren’t waiting for the last thirty minutes,” Brian shrugged, “If this is accurate, then they should be loading up the last bit of their gear.”
“Send some spare teams to tear this shit down and stow it.”
Brian smiled, “Already on that, sir. Are you feeling good today? Any homicidal feelings?”
John shrugged as he waved off his executive officer, “No more than normal. I know I know; I’ll keep things in check.”
Brian was left in a state of confused shock. John smiled as he then walked towards several scientists. Either they didn’t hear the loud clomping behind them or had never seen a suit of heavy power armor up close. In either case, they didn’t move. They continued to work on whatever was flashing on their data slates.
“Make way or get run over,” John said gruffly.
One of the scientists turned to look at John. He almost fell over backward trying to get out of way. The second scientist responded much in the same way. Except he did fall over and caused a third scientist to fall over him.
“Dr. Hamelin, you have five minutes to get your people on that shuttle. Anyone left behind is spending time in the brig,” John shouted as he strode forward.
“Lieutenant Lief, we have…”
“Have had all day getting loaded up. The clock’s ticking, I suggest finding your seats. At 15:30 we better be hitting the atmosphere,” John said as he loudly walked past the head scientist.
Mateo turned after walking down the loading ramp. He stood still staring at John. Suddenly all of the thoughts he had of how deadly John was seemed grossly inadequate. An oversized battle rifle was attached to his back. Two attachments, their exact function Mateo couldn’t make out, jutted out from behind both pauldrons. A ‘small’ knife, roughly the size of his torso, was being held in its sheath attached to the breastplate.
“Fucking hell,” Mateo said to himself, “A machine pistol, pistol, submachine gun, and a battle rifle. He’s loaded for bear.”
“What did you say?” Lina said as she was walking down the ramp.
“The Waukesha’s captain is in that Broadside power armor. He’s inside a walking fucking tank,” Mateo’s mind continued to race.
“Perfect, we can immobilize him in it,” Lina gently elbowed Mateo, “His arrogance will be his own undoing. The VIs they have running them are easy to counteract. We can slave and make it do what want.”
Dr. Jennings joined the pair as he walked up the ramp, “What are you two looking at? And did you finish loading your gear?”
“The captain,” Mateo pointed to John.
“Brilliant, we can trap him in that coffin.”
Lina slapped Dr. Jennings’ arm, “That’s exactly what I said.”
“You’d better be careful. He could kill this whole expedition multiple times over,” Mateo couldn’t help but feel a bit sick to his stomach.
Dr. Jennings grabbed and shook Mateo’s shoulder, “It’s doubtful he could rage around much in that. You should be excited, we are just hours away from being able to explore these ruins. It’ll be fascinating.”