One day later. November 21st, 2266. 06:00 Apus Minor Research Facility 2Z01-A
The trip down to the planet was a frustrating one. The transport had skipped off the atmosphere not once, but three times. Each time they needed to head back into orbit because of atmospheric storms that could cause issues with the landing craft. After the third attempt, the pilots opted for an entirely different set of vectors toward their destination.
But that required a multi-hour change in orbital angles. The scientists were most put off by the frequent delays. John leaned back in his seat and simply took a nap. Something he’d later find out the Marines did as well. When they eventually did land, about six hours ago, the scientists had lost their zeal and energy to go to the ruins immediately.
While the scientists had accommodations set up for them, none was provided for the Marines. Excuses were made, that varied from the unbelievable to the stupid. That mattered little for the Marines though, they were already not fans of their one-time guests so impressions of them couldn’t be made any worse.
John awoke earlier than expected this morning. The nap on the flight down had been more than enough rest for him. He made himself busy by inspecting his suit when he noticed several curious runtimes in the operating system.
“Eve, what are these?”
Eve then replied in his earpiece over a highly encrypted audio signal, “The scientists tried to load malware. It’s not meant to do any damage to you directly. They presumed you were running a stock VI that would ignore this,” her tone, which rarely changed, shifted to righteous indignation, “Their presumptions were incorrect, but I allowed the runtimes to be installed as I believe it would be useful to you in the future.”
John nodded, “Standard updates then. Alright, weird that they didn’t run them before we left on a mission. Not that that has stopped those eggheads from doing something before a potential combat situation.”
Captain Bart Taylor then walked into the Marine transport, “Captain, you are up early.”
“I slept most of the trip down. Mind is too active right now,” John gestured for Bart to come over, “Look at this.”
John pointed at a read on the tiny screen.
“Can you believe those dumbasses installed a software update before we left for another mission?”
Bart quickly skimmed the screen, but he knew exactly what John was referring to, “I’ll make sure to have the teams get their gear in order.”
“Good man, any news on the eggheads?”
“They are getting their shit together. I believe you’ll be ready to go in an hour,” Bart winked, “As will we.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a communication from the ship.
“Captain Lief, before I transfer you to Chief OIson,” Emily said, “We heard back from command, reinforcements are eight days out. Slip space is especially turbulent, which means that is a very healthy estimate.”
“Wonderful,” John said sarcastically, “What’s the Icarus doing?”
“She’s still orbiting the planet but doing a great job of obscuring her actions.”
“Understood, patch Marty over to me please.”
“Captain, do you want some bad news before you head out to your assured oblivion?”
John sighed loudly. Captain Taylor and one of his sergeants burst into laughter at the sarcastic response. The chief engineer had a way with words, and no matter the circumstances of the situation there was a sarcastic comment somewhere within.
“Sure, why not chief? What else could go wrong today?”
“I can imagine a lot,” Marty said, “I’m sure you were aware that the listening devices that the base installed in the temporary barracks weren’t working.”
“I presume in your teardown you uncovered why that was the case.”
“Yeah, the engineers at St. Mary’s station didn’t connect the auxiliary power couplings correctly. The devices were installed exactly where they needed to be and were fully functional. But because two cables weren’t connected at all, they had no power to do their jobs.”
“Wonderful. Our best-laid plans sabotaged by malaise and incompetence,” John said as he looked down at the ground and leaned against his reliquary, “Why don’t you do me a favor and send your findings to our NI contact? I’m sure they will be delighted that our intelligence-gathering plan was thwarted by station personnel.”
“Will do, sir.”
John then began pressing some buttons on the reliquary, “Chief, keep her safe.”
“Check your six, this situation stinks to high heaven.”
John ended the conversation and stood patiently as the exoskeleton was installed around him. Piece by piece the hulking suit of armor was put back together. Ten minutes later the final armor plate, the rear main backplate, was locked into place.
The twin fusion power cores roared to life. Once they were in optimal operation range the sound died back down to a noticeable, but not overly loud. The main arms from the reliquary began to let go of John starting with his right arm. A quick test for arm motion was made, with the left arm repeating the same.
“Now that is a damn good look,” Bart said, “We’ll do you proud, sir.”
“I know that you will,” John said as he picked up his battle rifle, “I hope fortune favors us all today.”
08:30 Apus Minor Predecessor Sight Alpha
John walked down the transport ramp. Ahead of him were Dr. Hamelin and a member, presumably the leader, of the second contingent of scientists. A man John knew absolutely to be an Alliance citizen. He still didn’t know exactly how he was going to handle the scientists.
Of the twenty newcomers, they were able to identify eight as being Alliance citizens. Four were Confederate citizens living in Alliance territory. The remaining eight’s citizenship hadn’t been confirmed as of yet.
Six of the newcomers had come with them to the smaller Predecessor site. Four were alliance citizens. That they were here with them rubbed John the wrong way. Killing them would be the most expeditious way, but starting a diplomatic row wasn’t high on John’s list. Engineering an accident was a possibility, though doing so in an alien structure raised major concerns.
“Lieutenant Lief, wearing that armor is really not necessary,” Dr. Hamelin said.
“There’s no life in them, the guns are just wholly unnecessary,” the newcomer said.
“It’s a good thing the military believes otherwise. Hopes, dreams, and kind words aren’t going to protect you from a hostile force.”
“What hostility would be in these ruins?” the newcomer asked incredulously.
John walked over to the stopped scientists and leered down at the man, “We haven’t met, you name please.”
“Dr. Gavin Lynch.”
“Thank you,” John responded tersely, “I am First Lieutenant John Lief, captain of the CNS Waukesha. It seems that I’m the key to this whole shitshow. Nothing happens without my say-so. Remember that.”
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John sidestepped and continued walking to the temporary enclosure. His pace was much quicker than the scientists that had accompanied him to this site. He reached the primary doors first, but they didn’t open.
He pressed the button on the terminal, as gently as he could in his power armor, but still no reaction. It wasn’t until he banged on the door with his armored fist that the doors opened. John strode inside, narrowly avoiding a slack-jawed scientist inside the temporary enclosure.
A black object resembling a large door was fifty paces away from John. He stared at the object closely. He had never seen anything that jets black. Offsetting the general darkness of the structure were clear cuts inlayed with something gold and green. The green stuff seemed like it gave off a dim light.
When John got ten paces away, he heard a voice yell out to him from behind, “Lieutenant, we aren’t ready for you yet. We need at least two hours to get ready…”
“You have five minutes,” John said as he turned slightly to face him, “Your team on the surface had all night and morning to prepare. I am not wasting my time if you find yourselves ill-prepared for such a stupendous undertaking.”
The sharp rebuke left the senior scientist speechless. John wasn’t exactly wrong, if what Dr. Hamelin believed was true then their lack of preparations had reached felonious levels. Thankfully the team wasn’t behind schedule, if anything they were ahead of schedule. Caution more than anything else drove Dr. Hamlin’s schedule.
From John’s perspective, two hours wasn’t worth wasting if the scanning device of the Predecessor’s ruins didn’t work or didn’t recognize him as one of them. If this failed, then he’d much rather round up those that had unlawfully entered Confederate territory and get sent out on a proper military mission.
John then spoke to his suit’s VI, “Eve, are you detecting anything coming from those ruins?”
“I am, more power is flowing to this door now that you are near. It’s a minor change but something clearly is happening. The scanner, which is the oval-shaped object centrally located above the door, is drawing much more power than it was before. It’s passively scanning this room dozens of times per second.”
“Do you have theories on how to activate it?”
“I suspect touching the door or walking closer to it may activate it. You may need to engage with the scientists present in this building to learn more.”
Dr. Hamelin walked up to John holding an oversized data slate, “We believe that all you will need to do is touch the door. We are ready when you are.”
John smirked as he pulled off his helmet, “Looks like you didn’t even need five minutes. Well, here goes nothing.”
He hung the helmet to his hip before stepping forward. When he got three paces from the door the scanner activated. A loud, and rather annoying, screeching sound could be heard. Multiple notes and inflections could be heard in the sound. Then as suddenly as it started the scan ended.
John put his helmet back on and was prepared to jump back and avoid whatever blast or molecular atomization event. But to his great surprise, the door in front of him simply opened. He took another step forward and knelt down at the base of the door.
“Eve, activate scanners and command a drone to investigate this facility,” John said as he peered into the darkness.
“Amazing,” Gavin said stepping forward.
“Take one step into that structure before I’m done scanning for hostiles and you’re going to end up with a bullet to your skull,” John boomed through his external speakers.
“Look here you militaristic thug, we need…”
John drew his pistol and pointed it in Gavin’s face, “Fourteen point six pounds of pressure is all I need to exert on this trigger. I can assure you that the action has been polished and it's exceptionally crisp and responsive.”
Gavin could hardly believe what was happening. Multiple scenarios ran through his head. Was this officer really willing to follow through on his threat? Why was he armed and armored for combat? Had he rooted out their deception? Dr. Hamelin snapped him out of his incriminating self-doubt.
“Gentlemen, violence is not the answer here. We can…”
“Listen to the commanding military officer on site,” John growled in response, “Only if and when my scans give you the green light will you do anything inside. Not a moment sooner.”
Eve then chimed in, “The facility is empty. It leads down eight feet. A room that is approximately twenty feet by forty feet is present. No other doors are found. The dimensions remain consistent with ground radar scans.”
John holstered his gun as suddenly, and smoothly, as he had drawn the gun. He looked forward as he stepped into the building. He descended to the landing platform before turning and stepping into the room. Nothing, not even dust, was present in the room.
He shook his head and walked out of the facility, “Congratulations, you’ve found fuck all.”
“What do you mean?” Gavin said.
John gestured behind him and spoke, “Fuck all. The absence of stuff. There is literally nothing in that.”
“That may be so Lieutenant,” Dr. Hamelin said, “But we learned a great deal just now.”
Dr. Jennings added from behind, “The scan worked as we suspected. It accepted you as one of the Predecessor’s own.”
John nodded and then radioed back to Bart, “Captain, it seems like the eggheads’ assumptions were correct. We’re heading on to the next location.”
“Understood, keep me in touch.”
Dr. Hamelin then stepped forward, “We will leave a skeleton team behind to investigate this site. Lieutenant, we need to return to our base to pick up additional gear and personnel. The flight time to the other sight is roughly sixty minutes.”
“What time do you expect to begin phase two of your investigation?” John asked.
“Between three and four this afternoon.”
John nodded, “Understood. Let’s head back then.”
He strode out of the building with a commanding pace. Behind him trailed several excited scientists. The worst-case scenario had occurred, and John was helpless to prevent the next steps. The conflict was bound to happen, but when would that occur?
13:10 Apus Minor Research Facility 2Z01-A
Bart was looking at John in the Naval drop ship. The two officers didn’t trust the scientists and had retreated to the one place where they knew they could speak freely without fear of someone overhearing anything. The Marines still roamed about the grounds, scouting every nook and cranny to aid them in the coming assault on the base.
“Lieutenant, once again I must implore you to listen to reason. You need backup,” Bart said with more emotion than usual.
“The addition of these new guests, otherwise known as guards from the Folly, doesn’t change the calculus any,” John said with a sigh, “Their addition doesn’t change the risk to me in an appreciable way. If anything, it makes your jobs a bit harder, you can’t spring the trap without ensuring they are locked down first.”
“I’ve got that accounted for. The pirates have split up into two groups. We are monitoring their movements at all times by three teams.”
“Good work,” John stood up and began wrenching on his suit of armor, “Things are still going to plan.”
“You expected this?”
“The pirates, no, that the scanner worked?” John shrugged, “My blood pressure seems to be more normal when the expected worst-case scenario actually occurs. I’m surprised Rene sent his people down here. They either aren’t leaving the research facility or will likely end up killed in the other ruin.”
“On that note, how are you going to handle the Alliance scientists?”
“If all goes well, I won’t have to lift a finger to do that,” John finished attaching a plate to his suit and turned to face Bart, “That’s a leap of faith I’m taking. I saw the looks on their faces.”
“What kind of look?” Bart sat down on a crate.
“The frenzied kind. The one we get when we are so invested in something that logic and reason are yeeted out of the window,” John said calmly, “They aren’t going in this other ruin to find a discovery of a lifetime. They will stumble into their doom while there. They lack the ability to ask the simplest of questions.”
“Dare I ask what that is?”
John looked straight at the Marine captain, “Should I be here?”
“I’d prefer to be a man of action rather than hope my enemies succumb to their base desires,” Bart’s face bore a look of concern.
“That makes two of us, but this is the hand we’ve been dealt. Going to have to run with it until we know if we have the stronger hand or if we can bluff our way to victory.”
“We’re changing our communication ciphers at random intervals. We’ve also secured our suit’s VIs to prevent electronic attacks towards them. Do you think they’ve noticed ours?”
John shook his head, “Eve’s been scanning the results. The only suit they are testing for weaknesses is mine. It appears that they have not planned for this eventuality.”
“You got this cleared from high up, right?”
John nodded, “I presented this to Admiral Dufresne and Senior Agent Valdez of Naval Intelligence. NI was the one that insisted that Dufresne and First Fleet approve of our operation. Sixth Fleet reinforcements are going to be here in nine days. NI’s will be here a day later. Assuming the turbulence isn’t all messed up.”
“We’re on our lonesome for a while then,” Bart flashed a devilish smile.
“That we are, but we aren’t helpless. Thankfully,” John grinned, “And on that note, I need to get the Waukesha on the line.”
“We’ll be ready,” Bart walked over and offered John a handshake, “Are you sure you want to be doing this.”
John shook Bart’s hand, “I’m not saying yes just to make you feel better. You need your men here, more so because of the added security. I trust you and your people to handle the situation here. Trust in me to get my portion of the mission achieved.”
Bart nodded and then opened the rear hatch. He walked down the ramp and onto the landing platform. John nodded when he looked back up at the dropship. The doors were then closed, and John walked over to the communication terminal.
“Computer, connect me to the Waukesha securely, please. Use whatever the latest and greatest rotating encryption that’s available.”
The ship’s VI accepted the command and began connecting to the Waukesha. She was on the other side of the planet so connecting to it took a bit longer than expected. John always chuckled at the delays in intersystem communications.
A video message could connect near instantaneously halfway across the galaxy. At great distances, their quantum messaging system was used. When contacting someone within the same system the lag that occurs remains due to unresolved bugs two centuries after release. Faster-than-light communication was designed, and it did work, but there was a noticeable lag in it depending on how far apart the individuals were. And ironically the lag was more noticeable the closer the individuals were. John’s thoughts on the silliness of human interactions across the galaxy subsided as quickly as they popped into his mind. The screen then flashed on, and Brian appeared in it.
“Captain, what can I do for you?”
“Brian, how goes the preparation?”
“We’ll be finished in an hour. Are you sure this is necessary?”
John shrugged, “I dunno. But I’d rather have all this in place and not need it, than not have it and need it.”