Chapter 2: The Ruler of Valhalla
Major Oliver Johnson woke to the sound of pounding at his door. Turning over in his bed he tried to ignore it. He reasoned it was just his adjutant trying to get him to sign a form that could be put off for a few hours. Trying to doze off again, he eventually gave up and sat up. The pounding at his door hadn’t stopped, in fact, it had increased in intensity and frequency. Grumbling, he pulled himself out of bed and walked to his door. Moving the steel rod he’d wedged there to produce a makeshift mechanical lock he forced open his sliding door and glared down at his adjutant, his eyes rimmed red from lack of sleep. Under his glare, Oliver’s adjutant seemed to shrink.
“Spit it out,” was all he said.
“We’re under…,” a sudden violent shudder went through the station cutting the soldier off mid-sentence.
The adjutant was sent flying as the momentum for the station was disrupted. Oliver lazily grabbed his adjutant and pulled him to the ground as he held onto the door frame. There was another shudder then the emergency functions and systems turned on restoring gravity.
“Who’s attacking us,” he said, turning back into his room and going to the foot of his bunk where his footlocker sat.
“It's the Mobile Weapons Unit,” he said as another less violent explosion shook the station.
“I see;” he said, pulling on a shirt and locking his footlocker, “Which of their cohorts?”
“They had the jolly roger on their chest, so we believe it’s the 14th cohort.”
“Fuck those guys,” said Oliver calmly an undertone of annoyance and anger in his voice.
“Pull back to the main station and let them have the stabilization rings. Get the armor and heavy weapons we have on the station set up in choke points in there. Have 1st company cover the hangars and tell them to collapse back to the choke points in the main hallways as they get pushed,” Major Johnson pulled on his environmental suit as he laid out the outline of his defensive plan.
“I understand sir, what do you want station security to do? They’ve agreed to comply with our chain of command for the duration of the assault,” asked his adjutant.
“Leave them be. The civilians wanted to play peacekeepers so let their little militia handle itself,” he said picking up his plate carrier and sliding it on over his head, and pulling the side tight.
“But sir, they’ll be massacred,’ said his adjutant.
Oliver paused then looked at his adjutant.
“My job is not civilian protection, it is the protection of this station and her secrets. The science teams demanded that they be policed and protected by themselves. This is the result. We have a mission Harwell and we’re going to prioritize it. Get me?”
Harwell gulped then nodded.
“Good, now get that shit set up, they’ll be in the center of the station in the next 15 by the sound of it,” he said picking up his black helmet.
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Harwell saluted then ran off to fulfill his orders. Oliver shook his head in annoyance.
“How the fuck did he make it through Ranger school,” he muttered.
Looking at his black helmet he smiled to himself. Excitement he couldn’t show in front of his men coursed through his veins. This was it! A fight worth his time. The 14th were modern-day legends, they’d fought against the GPA’s super-soldier Lu Bu in the ruins of Hong Sei Dow, invaded the Kingdom, and taken out manufacturing facilities no one knew about forcing the Kingdom out of the 5 years of fire. But most of all their captain, Adam Wallace Ander, the legendary Irish Scottsman.
He put his helmet on a carabiner on his side he picked up his rifle from his bed. Walking out of his room he forced his door closed and turned left down the corridor towards the command center. It was barely 50 paces away, a necessity of command, unfortunately. He’d much prefer a more secluded location. Stopping at the armored automatic door he pressed his palm to the security pad and let it scan. The doors slid open and he entered.
“Status?” he asked casually.
“Enemy forces have taken all orbiting rings. We are unsure of civilian and the peace keepers’ status,” said an officer walking up to him and offering a pad.
Oliver glanced at it then handed it back.
“Sir we’re detecting invasive programs being launched from the rings. They’re trying to shut down our air recyclers and gravitational systems.”
“Lock us down into Aegis mode. Lock down hallway sections 5, 7, and 9 before you initiate Aegis,” he turned to another officer.
“Kena, issue general orders to all our forces in the field that all environmental suits need to be sealed. Also, contact the head hunter boys and ask, I repeat ask, them to set up and guard the lab with their prisoner in it. We don’t want to lose that asset and if the 14ths reputation can be believed they’re probably here for him in addition to their objective. Also, put 4th company on securing the reactors."
"Their objective?" asked one of his officers.
"To take control of this ring or destroy it obviously. We'll be able to determine which of the two by what happens to the other rings."
With a smirk, he leaned over an officer’s shoulder and typed on his keyboard bringing up an overlay of the station’s hangars.
"It’s a knife-edge death match for both sides. Space us unforgiving and if we repel them I doubt they'll be able to get out of range of our defenses before we can get them set up," He paused.
"Where's the feed for hangar 7?" he asked.
" it's on the screen sir," said his officer confused.
"No it’s hangars 3 feed, " the command rooms doors hissed open, and in ran a helmetless lieutenant covered in blood.
"Sir, it's the MWU they fucking blindsided us my men are holding them back, but…," said the officer having a panic attack.
"Calm down Ranger," said the major.
Whispering something to the staff officer he'd been working with he then turned around and went to the panicked officer.
"What happened?" He asked putting a firm hand on the man's shoulders applying a little pressure trying to distract the man from his panic.
Inhaling deeply and collecting himself the officer collected himself then spoke, “The MWU have boarded the central station already, they’re pushing us back. Captain Sangra sent me back to tell you that they’re pushing back the company, she’s requesting permission to blow up segments 47- 53 and kill them before they become a serious threat to the station.”
“Permission denied, sections 49, and 53 have significant systems to our targeting that would require shipments from earth to replace. This asset is supposed to be demonstrated in the coming weeks in the south American theatre,” Oliver started to put on his helmet.
“Run to 4th company have them send up 2 of their platoons to help with the defense,” he said patting the Lieutenant’s shoulder.
“I’ll head to the front and develop the battlefield,” he said walking the way the lieutenant had come from a smile on his face.