Juno station had survived the attack from the pirates. The designations on the drop pods confirmed them as being a local marauder alliance in that area of space. The reason for their attack and the state-of-the-art technology that they had used were still a mystery. Aside from where the drop pods had crashed through the hull of the station, there was very little damage. The work crews had begun clearing debris and patching the ship sized holes within an hour of the battle. From beginning to end, the battle had only lasted twenty five minutes.
Achilles Team had all survived the battle, though Benjamin had not escaped unscathed. He had been hit in the head and knocked unconscious by parts of the hull of the station as the last boarding pod crashed. He was pissed when he woke up and found that the battle was finished. He had been heading down to secure the Salverton's data drive. Fortunately, the secure vault had not been breached. Venna made sure to mention Benjamin "fainting" as often as possible on their flight to the Lunar Base. His responses usually involved some rude gestures and a few choice words. This seemed to just encourage the patronizing behavior coming from Venna. Titus even asked him multiple times if he needed to lie down as a preemptive measure. These jibes were so uncharacteristic of Titus that each was met with an awkward silence that Titus seemed not to notice.
Once at Ab Aeterno's Lunar compound, the team went to the main headquarters at the center of the base. The base only took up about one of the 14.6 million square miles on the surface of the Moon. The base was a needle in a giant haystack. Titus led the way through a number of different control rooms toward the main council chamber. The team paused on the threshold. Titus reached for the door's security panel and placed his hand flat against the screen. A disembodied voice announced "Welcome Commander Titus of Achilles Team. You and those you represent may now enter the Council Chamber at this time."
The three stepped into the well-lit room. The mahogany floor reflected the light from the recessed fixtures and created a slight glare as the team slowly moved into the chamber. The Madam Council sat at the head of the table surrounded by the half dozen other council members. "We have called this council meeting to hear your team's report on the Juno Station incident in person." The Madam Council's voice was firm and authoritative layered with a hint of compassion and intrigue.
Titus straightened with his hands at ease behind his back. He proceeded to address the council and express the events of the station attack. Benjamin and Venna chimed in when necessary. Venna mentioned the new recruits and recommended that they continue their training with special attention to the possibility of turning them into Demon Stalkers down the line. There were a few moments where other council members would ask specific questions related to their area of responsibility. One councilman had direct responsibility for the physical security of all Ab Aeterno facilities. He had the most questions. He spoke with a calm level voice and meticulously sifted through every detail that was presented. After the entire report of the events was finally complete, all eyes turned to the Madam Council.
"So what do you think this unprovoked attack was all about?" The Madam Council inquired.
Titus knew this question would be raised. He had asked himself this many times in the hours it took to travel from Juno Station to Lunar Base. "It is impossible to say Ma'am. The attack was swift and they somehow knew how and where to hit us to cause initial confusion, but there was no obvious objective to their attack other than to sew chaos. It also was not supported well enough for it to be an attack to take the station. My best guess is that it was a test of our defenses or a raid to disable or take something from the station." Titus left out that he believed that they may have been after the data drive. At this point it was just pure conjecture without any evidence.
"Let us hope it was just a misguided attack, but I have a feeling that there is more to this than is obvious from the surface."
"I agree completely Madam Council." Confirmed Titus. "Their true objective may reveal itself in time."
The council nodded. One council member stroked his beard and slowly pulled on a few hairs on the very edge of his chin. He glanced up from his nod. "As to the other matter regarding Mr. Salverton… It is unfortunate that you were unable to secure him alive. We caught a break with the data drive. We now have it secured here at headquarters and will begin decryption as soon as possible. Your team should be commended for making the best of a bad situation. We shall see what intelligence holds. Because of your connection to this situation and the possible intel it may provide, we are placing your team on standby here at the Lunar compound. You will be used to take action on the information we uncover. Are there any questions?"
"Not at this time sir." Titus' voice echoed around the room.
The Madam Council set her eyes upon every council member. Each slightly dipped their heads as her stare grazed them. Finally the Madam Council's eyes locked onto Titus. "Achilles team, you are dismissed."
The team clenched their fists, extended their first two fingers, and tapped them on the center of their chests in salute. "We seek justice" Achilles team said in unison.
As one the council responded, "May the guilty fear your retribution".
The team exited the chamber and made their way out of the headquarters. Benjamin slapped Titus on the back. "I could totally lead this team better than you, but I am very fine with you leading and having to deal with the council more. I mean who really wants that headache."
Venna's head shifted toward where Benjamin and Titus were walking. Her eyes shifting between the two men. Titus' face maintained an unfazed deadpan while Benjamin maintained a mischievous grin. Venna looked back in the direction she was walking, a smile now touching the corners of her mouth.
Titus slapped Benjamin's back; producing a painful thump. "You know Benjamin… As the leader… I can always appoint someone from the team to represent me to the council… A lackey of sorts…"
Benjamin leaned in conspiratorially and spoke in a regular voice. "You know I couldn’t agree with you more. I have been thinking that the work load has been too much for you recently. You just aren't able to handle it all. Venna would make a perfect lackey."
Venna spun around and threw her duffle at Benjamin; a grin plastered to her face. Titus coughed as he tried to quell an uncharacteristic laugh as Benjamin caught the bag and in an extreme delay, preceded to collapse to the ground, taking as much time to loudly crumble to the pavement. Titus walked up and grasped the duffle and launched it into Venna's waiting arms. The two continued to walk down the road as Benjamin lay sprawled out on the ground; his eyes half open and his tongue lolling out of his open mouth.
Titus leaned over to Venna. "With any luck he will actually die."
"Hey I heard that!" Benjamin proclaimed to the sky from his supine position. Benjamin rocked to his feet and jogged to catch up to the two. "You know in another life I would have made a great actor." Titus and Venna shared a look that demonstrated their mutual thoughts on his proclamation. As the three reached an intersection they each split off and headed to their separate living quarters.
As the evening died and sunlight began to caress the bumpy horizon and usher in the morning, Titus stepped out of the shower and wrapped himself in a towel. He walked to his dresser, selected a plain black t-shirt, and donned it over his nearly shaved head. Just like every morning he walked over to the sink without a mirror and began brushing his teeth. There was always so much to think about in the morning. His mind could never find a calm center as the duties and responsibilities of the day washed over him. This tension was not good for him. As a matter of fact, his dentist had told him to take it easy in the morning because he was starting to make groves in his teeth due to the force he was using with his tooth brush.
Titus thought about the previous mission. It had gone so well up to the point where Salverton had gotten himself killed. Hopefully there would be something useful on the data drive. Venna had proven herself a valuable member of the team. She brought a different energy. Titus wondered how she would fit in with the ever petulant Benjamin. Heck, he wondered how she would fit in with his own often somber attitude. She seemed eager to please and fit in, but Titus wasn’t sure he wanted to get close. Benjamin had gotten close, but that was what happened when you worked with a guy for years. Titus liked to compare him to a fungus. If a tree stays in one place long enough the fungus will eventually grow on it. Titus bent over the sink, continuing to brush with vigor. He couldn’t help feeling apprehension about the data drive. If Salverton was so afraid of his employer that he embedded a data drive under his skin, there had to be something terrible going on. Titus wracked his brain to come up with possible options of who had employed Salverton. Only one organization really made sense. It would be bad news if it was them.
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"Aaah I'm doing it again. I can't solve all the problems of the world or even my own in the morning while brushing my teeth. Just focus on cleaning your teeth properly." Titus muttered to himself.
As he worked his way back to his bicuspids his mind slipped back into thinking about the new energy Venna brought to the team. She had even gotten him to produce a slight laugh when she threw her bag at Benjamin. Smiling and laughing were so rare. Those things shouldn’t be considered a perishable skill, but Titus had practically lost the ability. With that thought, Titus spat out the cleaning gel, rinsed his brush, and stared into the bathroom mirror.
Why had the council put him in charge of a team? Didn’t they understand where he had come from and what he had done? Before his train of thought took him further, there was a muted but powerful boom that shook his apartment. That had to be an explosion.
Beep! Booooeep! Beep! Booooeep! Yep he had guessed right. The alarms continued their blaring assault as Titus tossed the brush in the sink and sprinted toward his weapon's room. Fortunately he carried his armor with him at all times. Small round discs surgically attached at various points on his body opened and his armor quickly began expanding across his body like black lava gliding across the surface of the earth. Once it had encased all of Titus, except his face, it became rigid and began interlocking. It produced soft hisses and pops as it began to connect and lock together. Once complete, a visor clamped into place. He quickly strapped on ammunition, grabbed his weapons, and charged down the hall.
…
Venna was quietly reading one of her favorite author's books. She flipped through the pages, the rough texture of the page making a shallow rasp across her finger. The story was just starting to get good and Venna was completely engrossed. The main character had just discovered a devastating betrayal. How would he deal with the new revelation? Venna thought about what she would do if she had been unjustly locked away in prison for years thinking it had just been a mistake, but in reality it had been a combination of betrayals and conspiracies. Escape and revenge were the first thoughts to cross her mind. As she returned to the pages of the story, she discovered that the main character was of the same opinion as her. He swore vengeance and retribution even as his friend and mentor advised him to leave such things to God. Venna scoffed at the mentor's stance. Vengeance must be taken, not surrendered to some imaginary being. She hoped the main character would not follow the advice, but instead escape and exact revenge on the deserving. But how would he escape?
The book continued to suck her in, making the world around dissolve. She was so engrossed that she almost missed the rumble that shook her building. She definitely didn’t miss the alarm that began sounding.
Venna hopped off the sofa and quickly ran to her arms room in her apartment. Who knew what was happening or what the threat was, but it always paid to be prepared. She quickly threw on her light adaptive armor and ammo pouches. Snatching her long rifle she sprinted down the hallway; her door still swinging from her rapid flight from the building.
She knew she needed to get to headquarters and figure out where all the action was taking place. After about two minutes of running she had a pretty good idea. Smoke was rising from the direction of headquarters and gunfire and explosions could be heard coming at the end of the block. She clicked the comms switch. "Anyone know what is goin on?"
"Headquarters has been hit. Looks like a small strike force. I'm headed there to…." Titus' voice crackled out of existence.
Venna tried to raise him multiple times without success. The force attacking headquarters must have disable the primary comms hub. Venna quickly altered course and sprinted up the steps of a utility building that was right across from headquarters in the company's compound. Stealthily she slinked up to a window to observe the chaos below. Seeing that there was severe damage to the entry of the HQ she decided to set up her sniper perch to cover the entrance for when the enemy conducted their exfiltration from the objective. Sure enough, four soldiers in covert tactical gear began moving from the entrance. Venna opened fire and took down the first two in the time it took to blink. Before she could fire another shot though, rounds began to ricochet extremely close to her. Too close. How had the remaining two soldiers reacted that quickly and precisely? She wondered. Venna slowly raised her head to take another peak at the two soldiers. They had made it almost out of her range. That was impossible. For them to have stopped and fired on her would have taken a little bit of time, but it looked as if they had not stopped running. Then she saw it. A slight shimmer coming from a rise just past HQ. It was a sniper using technology similar to hers that allowed the person to become almost invisible. "Well the other two may be out of range but the sniper is mine" Venna thought to herself. Just as she started to settle into a position where she could easily target the sniper, bullets ricocheted just inches from her head. "There is no way that sniper fired" Venna hissed. Just then out of the corner of her eye she saw another sniper stand up from cover and begin moving. There were two snipers and they were well positioned to keep her from being very effective. She knew that if she tried to fire on the one currently moving out of range the other would fire on her. She had to let them escape and it infuriated her.
As she watched them disappear she caught sight of another figure coming out of the HQ. She instantly recognized him as her new commander, Titus. He tactically maneuvered out onto the street to engage possible hostiles but soon discovered that there were none and began moving back to the demolished entrance. Just then, there was a loud whoosh and Venna saw a trail of smoke leaving a building on the other side of the square headed straight for Titus. Venna tried to radio him of the imminent danger but the comms remained inoperable. She then jumped up and began waving her arms and yelling for him to take cover, but she could not be heard from so far away.
It all happened as if time stood still. The rocket seemed to slow down just as it hit Titus square in the back. And then time seemed to try extra hard to catch back up as if embarrassed for prolonging this deadly moment. The explosion rocked the entryway and Titus disappeared in a plume of fire and smoke. Venna had seen where the shot had come from and swore to herself there would be a reckoning on whoever had fired that shot. She strode out of the building and raced to where the assailant had fired the shot. By the time she arrived, there was no one there and no evidence beside a scorch mark further back in the room where the rocket launcher had seared the rear wall with its back blast.
Seeing there was nothing to be done she raced down to the entryway of headquarters to see if there was anything left of Titus. As she sprinted up to Titus she brushed past Benjamin who had been jogging towards Titus. No doubt saddened to see his commander and friend blow apart. Benjamin's face showed surprise as Venna ran past. As Venna approached the spot, she was surprised to see that Titus was whole. His lifeless body was still smoking but he was in one piece. She couldn’t tell if it looked charred or if that was just the usual color of his armor. All of a sudden his armored hand twitched.
"He's still alive! He's still alive," Venna shouted!