The sleek black display in front of me slid around behind my chair with a wave of my hand. I stood up and paced around the small control room of Messai, nodding to the three other people as I passed. The four seats we sat in were arrayed around a projector bank, which displayed ship statistics and operational data, the proverbial window by which we saw the outside world. The display screens encompassing the control room showing a full three-dimensional compass point projection of the surrounding space.

The Imperial light cruiser named Messai was one hundred and fifty meters of matt grey painted reinforced steel, outfitted with two light point defense rail guns and three missile pods, all lying flush with the surface of the ship. Shaped like an elongated diamond, the cruiser was designed to present no perpendicular facets to a forward target with the intention to deflect oncoming fire and fast traveling debris from space combat. Cruisers like ours made up the majority of the defense force of the imperial space armed forces, we dealt with space pirates and tracked down and either located and subjugated or destroyed unsanctioned operations. We were the proverbial shark in the ocean of space.

I was on routine patrol over the water mining stations on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter when, Six weeks into our patrolling orbit over the small grey moon, I picked up a repeating coordinate broadcast. the sensor arrays on the nose of the cruiser picked up the remnants of an emergency record beacon on the long range scanners. The beacon was drifting in a large orbit around central Jupiter, it was just far enough away from the planet that the orbital paths of the moons did not drag it into a decaying orbit.

Making our way past the debris fields that encompass most pre-restoration planets, we the bodies of people that had been killed then dumped out of an airlock. The recovery of the bodies revealed them to be from a civilian mercantile contractor which shuttles liquid hydrogen skimmed from the atmosphere to be resold wholesale to various distributors. There had been no reported disappearances of space vessels in this area for three months now so the people must have been killed sometime recently.

The recording that we managed to piece together showed a small freight cruiser that seemed to be relatively new being hijacked and flown in towards the belt of asteroids that ring the middle solar system between Mars and Jupiter. Home base told us to act as we see fit when we reported this and assigned my cruiser a platoon of thirty-six soldiers with two specialist teams included. One was centered around demolition and the other infiltration.

Since I received the data, I had made sure to place several sensor paths from the surveillance satellites around the site of the hijacking and we have been monitoring the freight lanes for further pirate activity. Three weeks later we noticed small ten man vessels skirting the laneways without manifests and movement broadcasts being sent to the control hubs orbiting Jupiter. Three days later one split off the main group and headed back the way it came, so we followed.

We had been tailing the pirate vessel for days through the main belt, slowly picking up residual heat readings in the surrounding asteroids as to avoid passive scanning from our quarry. It was imperative that we remained undetected as we approach their center of operations. The main base of the pirates was reported to be situated on a large asteroid cluster that had been forced together to form a solid structure that would be very difficult to destroy from a distance.

Photographic scanners of the base show a large structure that has a hanger with the capacity to hold seven medium-size freight ships, however, there were only three small shuttles within the hanger. There also appeared to be an observation bay that covered the approaching orbital pathways that lead up to the base for large moving objects, and five main entry and exit points for EVA. The observation bay poses a problem with direct confrontation, excluding the large probability that they will have rail cannons to defend themselves, and their position between the clumping asteroids gets rid of the possibility of short exposure strafe runs. This leaves me with the decision for infantry infiltration of the surface from the other side of the cluster in their relative blindspot.

The cruiser shuddered beneath my feet as we entered the artificial gravity field of the asteroid, the abrupt change in vector acceleration upsetting the balance of the ship. Alarms blared in the background, repeating the landfall evacuation protocol’s signature whine on all decks of the ship. Once again the ship rocked, but this time more gently as the inertial dampeners and the hydraulic limbs beneath the bulkhead of the cruiser worked together in concert to maintain structural integrity in the landing carriage as we landed.

The orbital photographs were used by the techs to locate key areas by which they can begin to map the internals of the base with more detailed close-range scanning systems. For more in-depth imaging, the engineering specialist and the comms officer decided to map the base using sonics at the start of the assault. Microdrones flew up into the air and began to use their stealth units to get up close to the base to await further commands. A light on the console in front of me lit up green to indicate the forward party was now greenlit for operations. They would leave the ship and split into two groups, one covering our infiltration point, the other would loop around to the pirate hanger bay.

The communications officer looked my way and gave me a nod to indicate his readiness to begin the detailed mapping of the interior of the base using seismic shock sensors to give readouts for the layout. With a glance at the progress beacons of the two forward parties, to confirm their location at their respective positionings, I gave my consent to begin mapping.

Loud thuds echo throughout the asteroid from each drone as they set off blast charges in the holes drilled to shape the shock of the explosions. Seconds later three things happened, firstly the first readings were added as red line constructions to the screen display in front of me, secondly strobe lights began to issue out from the various sensor arrays and alarms around the base, and thirdly I gave the all clear for the specialist teams to advance towards their primary targets.

The first group will breach and clear the lower ventilation sections of the base after mapping and divert the security measures placed there. We packed modern stealth kits as I expect there to be old school video feed surveillance combined with motion tracking turrets. If we are especially unlucky they will have microgravity shift sensors, however, those are expensive to build, set up and maintain... and probably only used in the armory and safes.

The second group would rappel up the pylons holding up the entrance bay and sever the docking pylons of the vessels attached to the pirate hanger and dump a largely unreactive thermosetting polymer into their coolant lines. The polymers would expand into a porous insulator material similar to cotton balls almost as soon as large amounts of heat were applied. The plan was that any escapees would find themselves suffering critical overheating of their liquid fuel atmospheric boosters and their gravitonic drive.

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We need the all clear before sending in the main bulk of our forces, the two teams need to be the knife in the back of the enemy. My plan for the task was that once the teams were in position and had completed my tasks we could send in the main squads to knock on the door. The hostiles would fight at first, then retreat once they began to realize the odds were against them, at which point they would surrender themselves into custody once they realized they could not escape.

The first group to respond to the inquiry of task completion was the infiltration force. They had cut their way into the locking mechanism of the door, unlocked it, and drilled all the way through it to release possible pressure differentials for ease of surveillance, and data gathering. All clear. They then reported that the lower ventilation ducting appeared to be standard prefabricated construction with partitioning in only connections to other sections.

The second group responded next with mixed results, they had managed to secure the hanger and place anti-personnel mines in the leading corridors to delay retreating targets, however, the shuttles in the hanger appeared to be modified with anti-sabotage internal cooling feeds, and contaminant sensors which would use liquid propanol solvent flushing measures.

This represents a problem as additional personnel would need to be assigned to the hanger to prevent escapees. I would have to adjust.

For now, I proceed with the original plan and begin to issue orders for the remaining troops to begin sallying out of the ship in five fireteams of five with the intention of having them converge in on the outer exits of the base and blockade or breach as required if or when opposition began to advance from them. Almost immediately the red symbols for contact on three of the fireteams lit up, hopefully, they would give the sign for all clear soon and indicate their ability to continue the mission. The other two teams placed breaching charges on the doors in front of them, ran for cover, then set off the initiator charges. Thud… Thud… all clear.

The contact lights blink out and two green clear signs blink on, the remaining is yellow. Yellow indicates casualties without fatalities. I tap on my interface to bring up the vitals signatures of the yellow fireteam and simultaneously ask my lieutenant for a report on the mobility of the team. Three of the signatures indicate peak physical fitness, one indicates artificial adrenaline and the last shows clean chemtrails but rapid heartbeat and declining blood pressure. The first four seem fine, however, the last is clearly critical, his readout is highlighted in deep orange.

I have the one on artificial adrenaline seal the suit of the critical soldier and trigger the emergency external compression valve, then I have them retreat back to the ship for medical attention.

All the remaining main fireteams proceed on standard breach protocol, two pointmen with single-use arc shields roll smoke grenades into the breach spaces and follow on into the rooms beyond. They clear for the entry of the remaining members, a single hacker, demolitions officer and a heavy weapons specialist equipped with a large high output coil gun, auxiliary rifle and battery packs.

The teams split up and proceed in a clockwise motion to secure the peripheral sections of the pirate base until suddenly, two red lights blink on in team one, then another goes red. The remaining two members are both yellow to signify slight injuries and appear to be still active and headed for cover. “Shit shit shit shit!” the comms pause.

“There is a combat super hanging around in there. Fucker electrified the entire hallway! the comms are fine but our coil is out and we now only have a hacker and a heavy for damage dealing.” The sound of gunfire cuts into the feed.

“We are pinned and need immediate backup, we can’t retreat without entering the line of fire of the super!”

I sit forward in my seat, supers are rare. People with superpowers are game changers in tactical combat, they have strange and often physics-defying powers that can cause lethal damage to almost anything that is not specifically designed to resist that particular power. Supers make up a tiny percentage of the population, at most zero point one percent of people manifest supernatural powers however barely a quarter of them have powers that are in any way relatable to combat.

Combat supers that can damage military tech are not so special, however, they need to have an aspect to their power that breaks laws of physics like grounding, refraction, and momentum, furthermore supers that can kill soldiers outright are very very rare and extremely expensive to employ. The chances of coming across these people are so rare that the imperial military rarely equips a standard platoon of fifty with anti-super weaponry. We will have to improvise.

I stand up and walk to the comms system and open a line to the pinned soldiers,

“I need you to lay down interference. Play dirty and put down smoke grenades and break into the knockout gas.” I urge the soldier.

I take a look at the positions of the other squads throughout the base, looking for ideas, none were within a minute of travel as the crow flies. Brute force was out.

“T-the demolitions expert had the gas grenades, he was the first to be taken out. He touched the door and boom… sizzled. Then the entire wall folded open and we were pelted with bullets and bolts of lightning.” The hacker responded, stuttering.

That sounds like an electrokinetic with the ability to electrify objects from a distance. Possibly also with the ability to form coherent targeted arks, like lightning.

“Stay put for now if you can, keep up with the cover fire, intervals three seconds with three shot bursts every couple intervals. We will be there in six minutes if you can hold on for that long.”

There was a pause.

“We can’t! We are already low on ammo and our cover is eroding by the second. We may be able to extend for four minutes if we somehow manage to make it to the next room.”

Thinking for a second, I probe for more information, “...See if you can lay down a big enough screen of fire to make a break for the exit. Tell me what types of grenades you have left, if you have some sonics, you can make a break for your demolitions officer and get some incendiary bombs.”

I turn away from the comms for a second and look at the locations of the units within the base for some way to seal off the super until we can properly prepare for contact. I tap on the closest units icons for more information. All of them are mid-combat but don’t report any particular problems, two have minor wounds, the three-man team is making more progress into the base than the others, so they should be able to secure the area around them quickly. Maybe they can loop back around and provide extra cover fire so that I can get them all to retreat?

“Team four, I need you to finish up and retreat back around the main section towards team two. They are down three and there is a super with electric powers. Be careful, it appears to be able to target around conductors.”

“On our way.” They respond after a few seconds.

I pause, then ask the four command staff around me.

“the infiltration team has access to manual ventilation operations don’t they?”

The ship security officer just shrugs… It wasn’t in his job description to do anything other than monitoring the security cams. Cunt. The engineering officer and the platoon leader assigned with the troops nod in affirmation The comms officer opens up the channel to the team for more input from the team.

I hail them “Team two are pinned team four is on route to them but I need other options. Do you have access to the manual systems?”

“Yes sir, but they only seem to be manual cutoffs for the direct external vent systems. There is no air outside so we could seal off the area and depressurize them. But sir, that would kill everyone inside, including our own!” The team leader exclaims, understandably upset by the idea of the collateral damage.

I need a contingency just in case we cannot contain the super.

“Calm down Officer, I'm just asking for ideas. I do need you on standby as the backup, that is an order.”

“Okay, but if we do this the system will lock us out, and I can only do this to a single section because it is hardwired, presumably to prevent malicious intentions like our own.”

The command staff looks disturbed by the circumstances, however, they understand it is my imperative to eliminate the base without getting everyone in my command killed unnecessarily. And I'll be damned if I send all of my forces in to kill a superpowered space bandit when I could just kill them by remote.

Team two lost another member just as team four arrived on the scene. The three members of team four laying down suppressive fire with the coil gun while the remaining member of the other team scrambled from his cover underneath a hydroponics basin and ran towards the other team.