The holographic images of two men stood atop the conference table, arms crossed, waiting silently as the group of the Fenris poured into the briefing room. They were off similar build and dress, built stocky, short, and garbed in slightly baggy gray jump suits. Black plate carries stood prominent on their chests, projecting a thin shimmering shield, meant to protect their bodies from rail rifle fire, as industrial looking breathing apparatuses dug into their cheeks, cutting off half of their faces from the chin up.
“I’m digging the masks. Really selling the whole ‘terrifying spec-ops’ outfit,” Cameron said, drawing the men’s attention, motioning to the devices as he sat down, flanked on either side by Logan and Aurora.
“‘Preciate ya,” One of the men said, his accent heavy and metropolitan, “I wanted to go with pink tube tops and assless chaps, but I ran out of lace at the last minute. This was the all we could find last minute.”
“Oooooh, I like these guys,” Cameron said through a chuckling smirk, “They’re funny.”
His amused grin quickly dropped into a more serious and neutral tone as the clicking of Sybil’s heels echoed from the hallway. She entered the room, eyes cast down and pointedly avoiding Cameron’s gaze. Approaching the head of the table, she sat down and unstacked a few files, shuffling them around, making it very clear she had no interest in looking up as she motioned with her hand towards the holograms.
“Gentlemen, if you please,” She said flatly.
“Very well, Ms. Moore,” one man said before taking a step forward and looking around the conference room from his perch at the center of the table.
“Good day, crew of the Fenris, I am Arthur Kremmel, Sergeant and leader of Team Osiris of the EarthGov Ground Forces Command, special weapons and tactics division. I’m joined here today by Sergeant Sam Mendoza, the leader of Team Anubis, and together we will be briefing you as to the ROE and frag order for the upcoming raid on The Manna Groups research laboratory.”
Sergeant Kremmel started making a series of flailing gestures before a holographic wireframe model comprising a topographic map overlay on a three-dimensional blueprint model of a series of buildings.
“There’s a total of five structures at this outpost, situated in a large crater deep inside of an asteroid field. This includes two research laboratories, one parts warehouse, one housing unit, and one manufacturing plant.”
Each building was highlighted as Kremmel spoke about them. Once finished with listing the different structures, he circled his finger around on of the two research labs, situated towards the back of the compound, and as he did a circle of light wrapped its way around it, highlight the building as an area of interest as he continued to speak.
“We have actionable intelligence that tells us the A.E.I.A. module is located in this lab, behind a reinforced vault. The crux of this operation hinges on the objective that we breach this vault and secure the module, or destroy it.”
“Alright,” Logan said, “That explains, the overview, now what about things that actually matter to us? What’s the kill order?”
Sergeant Mendoza stepped forward at that moment, using another series of gestures to cause a number of blue arrows to appear on the sides of the compound, with a large purple arrow pointing towards the front of the facility and series of red X’s inside the compound itself.
“In approximately four hours,” Menendez began, “Osiris and Anubis will position ourselves on the outer perimeter to the left and right lateral limit of the facility exterior. Fenris forces, I.E. you two,” He said, pointing towards Logan and Cameron, “Will begin the assault by punching through the front entry point, causing a ruckus, and drawing the attention of the Squire and A.R.M.S. units stationed there. Once that’s done, we’ll breach through the wall and get started on some… wetwork.”
“Wetwork?” Cameron asked.
“I think a better word is War-Crime,” Logan said leaning over to whisper into Cameron’s ear, “No one working there is going to be leaving after today.”
“Oh…” Cameron said softly, eyes wide with understanding as he looked between the Sergeants and Sybil, who was pointedly avoiding his gaze, “Well… that’s kinda fucked.”but
Mendoza shrugged nonchalantly, “Orders are orders. They shouldn’t have been fucking around with this stuff in EarthGov space.”
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Cameron wanted to argue, wanted to try and haggle for the lives of these non-combatants, but it seemed like he was the only one concerned about them, as even Logan was ambivalent to their execution, choosing instead to simply push forward with the briefing instead of dwelling on the grim revelation.
“Alright,” Logan said, motioning with his fingers to hurry up, “We’ve taken out the enemy armor, and the employees have gone from present to past tense, what’s next?”
Mendoza pointed towards the same facility as Kremmel, the one containing the vault and A.E.I.A. module, “Once that’s finished, we’ll sync up and surround the research lab. One of you will need to disembark and rendezvous with us in order to raid the vault. Your A.R.M.S. units are outfitted with a secondary intelligence slot that can be used to transport the AI back to the Fenris, where Ms. Moore will then take ownership of it, you guys can get paid out, and we can go our separate ways. Quick, easy, to the point. Any questions?
***
There was a few more minutes spent in the conference room wrapping up mundane administrative tasks such, but eventually, everyone filed out of the room generally satisfied and prepared for the mission. All except one however, as Cameron had a task to tend to before the start of the raid. He lagged behind the others, sticking around to wait for Sybil as she packed and cleaned up the room, her head down, and quiet.
“Hey,” He said, sounding sheepish and nervous, “Um… Can we talk?”
His question was met with a wall of silence, left hanging uncomfortably in the air as she continued to pack up her belongings.
“Sybil? I was wondering -”
“I heard you, Mr. Ket.”
“Oh I… Wait… Mr. Ket?”
“That’s your name isn’t it?” She said, meeting his gaze finally, her tone cold and dismissive, “After all, It’s sure as hell isn’t Cameron. Right?”
“Okay… I deserve that,” He said slowly as he nodded, “That’s actually what I came to talk to you about Sybil.”
“We don’t need to talk about anything,” She replied in a tone laced with false honey.
“I mean… I feel like we do. Like… I didn’t mean to treat you like-”
“Oh I feel like you did Mr. Ket,” She said, turning her eyes downcast once again, “I just think now that you’ve calmed down, you regret what you said and are looking for acceptance or understanding now that you have a seemingly decent excuse for your actions.”
The words stabbed into him like an invisible blade crafted from vitriol and frustration. He cringed, but still gave another attempt.
“Look Sybil, can we just -”
Her hands slammed into the table with an audible echo, causing him to flinch in surprise. She slowly looked up her eyes squinted in an attempt to hide how bloodshot they’d been from crying.
“Cam,” She said slowly, enunciating each word, “You made your point very clear. And you’re right. You’re not the man I met back on Ketris. You’re not a prince, you’re a mercenary. I get that, and I know that I’m responsible for helping to make you that way. Excuse me for trying to make you forget that plight for even the shortest time.”
Cameron’s eyes started to widen, as his chin tried to work itself to form a response, yet all he managed was a series of shocked mumbling. Sybil, on the other hand, had no such qualms or hurdles in getting her point across.
“So do me a favor Cam, play the role you want to play. You want to be nothing more than a pilot? Fine by me. If that’s the case, I suggest you stop talking to me, and head to the bay to do your drop checklist.”
“Sybil… Please just let me-”
“Cameron… Mr. Ket. Let me put this in a way you can understand,” She said, walking up to him, her nose inches from his own as she whispered, “Leave me alone, and do the job I’m fucking paying you to do.”
With that, she turned and stormed out, her heels slowly clicking off into the distance, as she left Cameron alone with nothing but his thoughts.
“Oh…” He exclaimed with a heavy sigh after a minute, “Oh, I fucked up.”
“Yeah, you did!” Her voice rang out from down the hall.
He sucked his teeth, feeling his eyes roll as he walked out and making his way to the mech bay as he mumbled softly to himself, “They need to go ahead and start this mission. It’s probably safer there.”