After leaving that storage room I proceeded to follow Jenkins to our room and pretty much passed out. You would think sleeping for over a thousand years would leave me pretty rejuvenated but you would be wrong. Nothing beats an actual bed.
I hear rustling from Jenkins rack and realize he is getting dressed in his uniform, must be time to get up. I look for the nearest time display and see 0430. Fuck me I hate getting up so early, I always feel like I got cheated out of some sleep. Whatever. I set up and try to shake off the drowsiness.
“Dude you’ve been asleep for more than 12 hours. Get your lazy ass up. The Commander wants to see us at the bridge this morning, but we’ll eat breakfast first.”
Well maybe I didn’t get cheated.
“Ok,” I reply as I start getting dressed in the uniform I got yesterday. It’s a standard grey jumpsuit with my name over one of the chest pockets on the left side and some black combat boots. Supposedly when you attach their combat armor it fuses to the cloth without adding weight. Guess this is the future.
A minute after waking I’m fully dressed, synced to my music on low volume and heading to the chow hall. Jenkins and I talk about various assignments of our careers as we chow down on a pretty standard breakfast. Eggs, biscuits, gravy, various fruits and the most delicious thing man has ever created. Bacon. I’m glad this is still a thing. Though I wonder where they keep all the pigs.
While we were there we met up with LCpl Adams and we three started heading towards the bridge after eating. After 30 minutes of walking, saluting and elevators, we finally arrived at the bridge. It’s a pretty decent sized bridge but a pretty shitty view of space as there are no windows.
They apparently forgo windows for better structural security and use video displays connected to numerous cameras outside the ship. When you enter faster-than-light travel they just turn off the view because it can be very disorientating. It’s a pretty good improvement over accidentally looking outside a window and vomiting from the dizziness.
Standing in the middle of the bridge was the Commander, below him were officers of various genders who controlled navigation, communications, life support and various other systems.
With his back towards me the Commander began our talk. “Colonel, I finally see that you are awake. I wanted to talk to you yesterday but you were pretty much incapacitated and unresponsive.”
“I see that news of my former rank has spread through the chain of command,” I reply while glaring at Jenkins who just smiles and shrugs his shoulders. “Just know I no longer go by that rank as the Empire doesn’t exist and I was never too fond of it anyway.”
“Yes I have heard that, but you will be recognized by the U.S.C. as such by order of the Admiralty board on Amasis.”
Not even trying to disguise my anger and discomfort, I reply fairly quickly, “So now I’m being ordered by people not even in my non-existent chain of command?”
He sighs deeply and turns to look at me while crossing his arms. “Yes well if it gives you any solace you are the senior officer on this ship.”
“I command troops not ships.”
“And I command ships not troops.” He pauses and I’m starting to see what he is putting down. “The Admiralty has commissioned you to your former rank and plan to have you serve aboard this vessel after we drop off your pod and other findings at Amasis in 5 days.”
“Well I guess I have to go to the PX and pick up some birds then,” I say with a smile. “What’s the mission of this ship anyway? Must be something important if you’re drafting random snowmen huh?”
Jenkins answers from behind me, “Basically we are assigned with looking for suitable planets to colonize to expand the U.S.C. territory. It’s how we stumbled upon your icy carcass and that station.”
“That’s correct, Colonel. Now I respectfully suggest you head down to Supply Officer Walker at the armory to get your weapon and armor issued,” he says while giving me a salute.
I return his salute, “Very well, Commander.” I about face and follow Adams and Jenkins to the armory.
“So he is the one you guys unfroze yesterday?” Lieutenant Shawkwa asked. She parts her hair as she watches Alex leave, “He’s kind of hot for being so old.”
“Why would you want that fossil when you have me LT?” Ensign Rogers quickly quips while turning from his screen. “He must be pretty rusty on picking up girls and his lines are going to be cheesy for being so ancient.”
Commander Glenn can only chuckle at the display unfolding on the bridge. “Careful what you say. I was saying the truth that he is the senior officer aboard this ship.”
Hearing that Rogers just laughs, “True Sir, but you’re the CO of the Marathon not just the Marines onboard.”
“Quit the chatter you two. Ensign, send word to Walker and tell her who is coming.”
“Aye Aye, Sir.”
After having his order followed, silence returned to the bridge and the Commander proceeded to his chair. Once seated he started reviewing old messages from the Admiralty and from his family. Being on this mission, he has missed most of his son’s life and was looking forward to returning home to Amasis.
While the Commander was lost in the thought Lt. Shawkwa spotted two blips show up on her navigation display. Quickly multiplying she turned her chair to see the Commander’s reaction. “Sir, something is showing on radar.”
He closed his station and with a stern face, “Put it on display.”
With swift fingers the center holo-display mirrored the Lieutenants display showing the initial two blips quickly beginning to multiply.
“Sir, I’m picking up a warp-buoy!” Ensign Rogers exclaims.
“They must have picked up our communications with Amasis and are wanting what treasures we found,” Commander Glenn quietly mumbled to himself. “Prepare for forced warp exit and signal the crew to get to battle stations. Things are about to get exciting.”
As we arrive at our destination we enter the door next to the one I found my MP3 player at yesterday. I look towards Jenkins, “Let me guess, the supply officer is…”
“Oh, you’re back again.” I turn around to see the blonde haired women I met yesterday. Now that I get a good look at her she is pretty cute. How come every female I’ve met so far eye catching? Maybe all women are attractive in the future?
“Commander ordered for the Colonel to be outfitted with weapons and armor. He will be joining us on our mission,” LCpl Adams informs her.
Her eyes brighten at this aspect and gives a salute. “Good I have many more questions about this Beethoven and other music I heard from the player. Oh and I’m Supply Officer Lt. Sarah Walker.”
“Colonel Alexander. Let’s just get my gear first shall we,” I answer her salute, “We’ll have plenty of time for that afterwards.”
“Yes of course, Sir.”
After I got my basic gear issued and transferred to my own personal locker we head to the armor and weapon racks. The armor fusion idea was pretty cool, but you had to have each individual piece configured to your body size. Without it you could have gaps in the armor if it was too small or be unable to do certain movements if it was too big. Helmet has a HUD that I need to get used to but isn’t too different from the past.
Putting away my armor in my locker, Lt. Walker walks up with two guns. One is a small pistol while the other is a rifle with a short scope and a foldable forearm grip. “These are yours from now on, Sir. Take good care of them,” she says while giving me a wink. “The pistol is the standard officer issue, and the rifle is the M24 Astral Matter Rifle or the AMR for short and is fully automatic. It’s got a standard x4 scope but can be upgraded to a higher magnification for sniping purposes.”
I take them from her and begin inspecting them. First thing I notice is that there are no magazine wells anywhere on either weapon. “How do these work if I can’t reload?” I ask while looking to her quizzically.
“Sir, these mass accelerator weapons. The ammo is a slag of metal freely floating inside. The gun's internal computer calculates the mass needed to reach the target based on distance, gravity, and atmospheric pressure, then shears off an appropriately sized slug from the block.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“So there is no recoil and accuracy is 100%?”
“That’s right, as long as your aim is true you will hit your target, and after every mission I take the slags from used weapons and replace them for new ones. So you don’t have to worry about reloading as every block can be converted into thousands of rounds.”
Man the future is pretty kick ass. We were still using primitive powder-based projectiles for guns and only our ships had the technology for rail guns. With that said I now have to get used to not cleaning my weapons.
“So about Beethoven, how did he ev-,” before she could finish the ship is jostled and sirens start going off.
“What’s happening!” I shout to Jenkins and Adams.
““We are being attacked, Sir.”” They say while running to their lockers to get their armor and rifles. I follow suit and get my previously stowed armor and start attaching it to my jumpsuit.
‘Crew stand by for enemy boarding!’ came through the ship speakers. Guess I get to test these future guns faster than I anticipated.
“Sir, our orders during boarding are to head to the hanger and link up with our LT.” Adams says to me.
“Very well, Adams. Lieutenant, will you be safe?”
“Yes Sir, I may not look it but I’m a hell of a shot.” She says confidently will pumping her rifle in her hand.
We run out the armory fully loaded and geared up to do some damage with Adams and Jenkins up front showing me the way to the hangar. We head towards the elevator while other crew members used the stairs to get to either there battle posts or safe rooms. Elevators were reserved for the Quick Reaction Force in cases of emergencies to get around the ship faster.
We get to the hanger floor start bee lining it to the hanger entrance to establish contact with the Marine Lieutenant. I can already see him issuing out orders to various squads as they leave to carry them out.
“Sir, LCpl Adams reporting with PFC Jenkins and Colonel Alexander!” Adams exclaims upon reaching the Lieutenant and saluting.
The LT swings around returning his salute, “Sir, it’s good to finally meet my new CO. My name is Lieutenant James Wilson.”
I return his salute, “Colonel Alexander.”
“I have already dispatched most of our company to various hard points the enemy might focus on. If you want to relocate them into different positions you are welcome to.”
“No need Lieutenant, you are the one with most experience on this vessel. I request to only be viewed as another pawn under your command.”
“Sir, I couldn’t poss-“ I cut him off before he could finish.
“No lip. If I try to lead in this position it would lead to a lot of meaningless death before I could coordinate to this ship.” A look of understanding and acceptance appears on his face.
“Very well, Sir. I am attaching you to Sergeant Sterling’s squad. Sterling take your men and the Colonel to the second deck once there cut access to the elevator. You are assigned with keeping the enemy from the bridge at any cost by guarding that stairwell.”
“Yes, Sir.” A husky reply comes from a tall, robust looking man. He turns towards me and smiles. “So you are what we found in that tomb.”
I nod and he points towards the men of his squad, “Adams, Jenkins, Parker, and Campbell! You get off your asses and come on.”
Nothing happened towards are assigned defense position but my heart was pumping at the prospect of a battle. I haven’t seen action it over a millennium and I was excited! The constant updates from the bridge, the sounds of explosions from outside the ship’s hull, the cries of victory and death over the radio.
Marines on the lower decks have reported boardings and have repelled multiple attempts to break their lines, but there has been no such combat seen here.
“Adams, Jenkins, you two proceed to the bow and hold a defensive perimeter on that staircase just in case. They would still need to head to this one to get to the bridge but I would rather have them being cut down trying to get up here than waiting for them to build up a sizeable force.”
“Aye, Sergeant.” The two gave an understanding reply and got up to get to their new positions.
“Sergeant, I am going with them,” I say and before he could deny me, “It would even out the teams and having both of our team leaders in the same position is asking for trouble.”
He remains silent while Adams and Jenkins pause to wait on his permission. “Very well, Sir, I can see the benefits of it but be sure to fall back if things get to hairy.”
“We will, Sgt.” I say as I get up and run with Adams and Jenkins.
After about 3 minutes of running through multiple containment doors we get to the other stairwell and notice that there are already people climbing up. Pirates from the look of them. They have old looking black body armor that looks like a cybernetic exo-suit. They don’t seem to have noticed us while they continue to climb up the stairs.
Better get my killing music on. I’m looking through my playlist for a song called ‘Kokomo’ when I notice Adams pull out what I think is a grenade and I am about to question him when he tosses it 3 meters from the entrance to the stairs. Here I am about to dive away when all it does is deploy a waist high transparent shield which he proceeds to take shelter behind.
Seeing my questioning glare and prone body he laughs, “It’s a deployable cover capsule. We can see through on our side but looks like there is nothing here on the other side.” I nod understandingly and take cover with him while Jenkins deploys another for himself while giggling. It wasn’t that funny.
By the time we are well covered there are 6 pirates coming out of the entrance and I can here fire coming from behind us. Sterling must be holding them off on that side but must be containable if he hasn’t called for us. I look to my team and give a nod and we pop up opening fire on them.
Our surprise attack did its job and we proceeded to rip them apart without even taking fire and it was glorious as the chorus was just starting. Though I can hear shouts coming from below and know there will be reinforcements soon and kind of killed my mood. Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya.
Using this lull in combat I radio Sterling for a status update and he informs me he initiated combat on a group of pirates as well. Once the call is done I’m about to inform the team when the ship takes a hit that shakes it like an earthquake.
“What the hell was that?” Jenkins asks. ‘Enemy craft has boarded deck three’ “Oh.”
“We better head back before both teams get overwhelmed,” I say while radioing Sterling who confirms my request.
We start our run back but take more time to send the containment doors to lock down. That way they have to waste time cutting through the doors to get through. We get through the last door and are within eyesight of Sterling’s position. I send Adams and Jenkins ahead while I send the hatch to lock down.
I’m turning around, my music already switching songs during the lock down process, and see Adams and Jenkins shooting down the stairwell. Better get over there. Singing with the music ‘We called, we chained our hearts’. Hmm. I don’t remember if I like this song, I’ll wait for the chorus.
50 meters to go and the chorus is about to begin when the wall to my right explodes colliding with me severing off my right leg. Throwing me against the opposite wall my left arm and 3 ribs are broken. I’m starting to lose consciousness from blood loss when I notice it’s a boarding craft and the music is saying I’m getting wrecked.
Yep, I don’t like this song anymore.
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This chapter was fun as fuck to write if you couldn't tell.