With my Miltech suit on and my bag hung over my shoulder, I felt like it was my first day at school as I waited down in the lobby of the Transporter Salvation.
The only people down here were scattered passengers lounging about or the crew going in and out of the docking areas going about their day. It was more calm then when I first arrived and it was still breathtaking - it felt already like a lifetime aboard Salvation but it had only been a couple weeks at most.
After several minutes of lounging about myself I started to think I was being set up as a joke until a heard a shout break the silence.
“You coming or what!” Called out Jeremy from across the lobby. His arm raised in disbelief that I was just sitting about.
I quickly hopped up and made my way across to the doorway he was standing in front of, following him inside. I had assumed that this was just an entry into a Miltech station as they were the doors that they pulled the crewman into when I first boarded Salvation, however, it was just a boring old staircase on the other side - surprisingly the only direction it went was down though.
After a few flights of stairs we got to the bottom and were greeted by a small section of floor that reached over to a large cut-in portion of wall. We approached it and Jeremy punched in his code. It was a big open shaft and a rather large caged platform made its way up to us. We stepped in and I noted a small elevator control panel that had only three options.
‘Lobby
Miltech Control
Miltech Dock 001’
Jeremy slapped the Dock 001 button and we started our descent. I had also assumed that the lobby of Salvation was the very bottom of the ship. Oh boy was I wrong.
Reaching the bottom of the shaft we were met with a huge open airlock that gave a view right down the middle of a massive cargo and equipment bay. There was a mix of land vehicles, shipping containers, surveying equipment, and weaponry off to either side with Airlocks stretching down along the bay walls.
“Uhm where are we and why are we in an area I had no idea exists?”
“Welcome aboard Mortifera Private Carter” laughed Jeremy while looking out across the bay like a proud father.
“I better not keep Henderson waiting, you know what she’s like. You’ll be reporting to Sergeant Ro for this mission now she’s back off brig duties.” He ended with a formal salute in which I returned. It felt odd but It had finally clicked as I paid more attention to the surroundings. We were aboard an entirely different ship. A military one.
I wandered down the centre of the bay watching all the personnel securing down everything to anchor points, ready to undock and meet up with the Dominus. It felt like taking this ship was necessary but perhaps a little overkill to meet with a private fleet.
“There you are Carter, I was wondering when I’d see you Down here” said sergeant Ro as she popped out from behind a cargo container.
“Missed me already?”
“Only missed seeing you in that wheelchair, come with me.”
Ro led me up to the bridge and was happy to let me know she only invited me because I was ‘less of a dickhead’ than the others in her squad. A compliment in some way? I wasn’t so sure. All up the Mortifera had 5 decks plus the bridge. It was sleek but wide and aggressive.
Upon entering the bridge Jeremy and Henderson were standing in the centre, with Henderson instantly telling us to sit in the jump seats and that we were wasting time. The bridge had wrap around windows that were auto-tinted to general solar light and directional lights. In the centre there was a large command bench, with screens embedded into it. Circling from the middle out to the windows were command stations, each on manned and ready to go.
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A ship-wide announcement sounded “undocking with Salvation in three, two, one.”
There was a light jolt with momentum pushing me back the slightest as Mortifera thrusted out of dock with Salvation. Followed by a rotation and another countdown for forward thrust.
After we achieved cruising speed and gravity stabilised within Mortifera, we were allowed to freely get out of our seats. The higher commands gathered around the centre command bench, not wanting to push my luck I hung back trying my hardest to over hear their discussion.
“We’re just over one Earth day away from Dominus and we need to be prepared for hostility. We surprised him by jumping to a relatively short distance from the fleet.” Declared Henderson, leaving the floor open to strategies.
Jeremy jumped in and took the floor establishing a plan where one recon craft would advance ahead of us, relaying information back to Mortifera before we positioning fighter crafts on the flanks of Dominus as we approached.
“Solid plan as usual Major Lewis. Who’s flying the recon craft?”
“Sergeant Ro with LCPL Kai Wateki as co-pilot” Jeremy replied.
“Requesting Private Carter join me instead. Sir.” Interjected Ro.
“Granted, and only because It’s recon and should be uneventful. Prep Carter and get to a recon dock asap Ro.”
Ro turned, walked by me, and motioned me to follow. We quickly picked up the pace after we exited the bridge and she led me to the prep area in front of what I was guessing was the recon craft airlock. The suits slightly differed from the one I was currently wearing. It was thicker and felt squishy to the touch.
“What’s the go with these suits?” I asked while I locked my helmet into place.
“It has multiple layers underneath. The first layer gets cooled way way down to hide our heat signatures, the second is a kind of border insulation that separates the third layer, which heats up and keeps us from freezing”
Hoping that my suit wouldn't malfunction, we walked through the airlock but this one didn’t lead straight into the craft. Instead it led into a small bay where Ro did her own walk-around and preparation. It was pure matte black, not small but not overly large either. You could only just make out where the windows were against the streamlined hull and it was hard to tell how you even got inside.
A small staircase popped from near the tail underneath the craft as Ro linked her slate and signature to it. Though entry was cramped it opened up on this inside more than I expected. The seating arrangement was the same as Ro’s usual craft and so was the process. My suit got tighter as it locked in tight against the seat and the rapid whirl of my helmet getting linked in.
“Mortifera this is Recon craft Velox we’re ready to deploy”
“Velox you are clear to fly” responded Miltech control as they opened the bay doors.
“Velox deploying in five, four, three, two, one.”
I’m not sure if it was my suit or not but cold shivers ran through my body as the adrenaline kicked in. Compared to my last outing with Ro, the only giveaway of launch this time was her countdown. It was completely silent other than a soft hum and pulse on launch. And this time, I blacked out from the sudden acceleration.
“Woah what just happened” I slurred as I started snapping out of it, much to Ro’s delight.
“Carter that’s gotta be 4 of 4 now you have passed out or been unconscious”
She wasn’t wrong, it had become a habit of mine and maybe, just maybe, I’d hoped I’d be too unfit to continue to serve in my newly enlisted role — one could only hope.
Approach to the Dominus was one of the most anxiety ridden experiences of my life despite reassurance from Ro that they couldn’t see or hear us in any way. It’s fleet was out on full display in preparation for Mortiferas’ arrival with 10 crafts ranging from small to large in formation around it. I could see why there were concerns, Dominus was hardly just an innocent looking private fleet - it looked military as well with enough weaponry and supporting ships to give the Salvation arm of Miltech a run for its money.
We gave them a wide-berth as we looped around, relaying the data back to the Mortifera. Hooked into their comms signal we heard little to no chatter, a good sign they were oblivious to our presence around them. As we gathered the last dregs of data from them, an orange arrow appeared on the bottom of my visor and slowly started to change to a bright flashing red glow.
“Umm Ro. I have an arrow. There’s an arrow on my visor. Craft behind us!”
With a pulse of thrust Ro changed the direction of our ship and suddenly we were faced with nothing but the darkness of space even though our visors and ship systems had a large crosshair right on our nose. An indication we were facing another craft dead on.
“We better get out of here, our ship systems must be glitching” said Ro, a tremor to her voice as she adjusted our course to head back to the Mortifera.
After docking back to Salvation, Ro got some of the engineers to check over the systems on Velox who eerily reported back that all systems were fine. She reluctantly included this information in the de-brief under the assumption they wouldn’t believe it, but she was wrong.
It was the first time I saw Hendersons rage fly off the handle. She assumed that the Dominus had illegal tech for a private fleet thus breaking new treaties and laws in space, and that the encounter Ro and I had was one of provocation. She ordered Jeremy to prep the whole ship and to deploy every war craft the Mortifera had at the ready. We weren’t just meeting for a friendly chat. We were now meeting for battle.