INCOMING TRANSMISSION
This message is for use only by Gravitic Solutions and Gravitic Solutions authorized sub-contractors. If you are receiving this message in error, you are required to report your receipt of this message to Gravitic Solutions Customer Support in person, and destroy this message, all copies of this message, and all hardware that was associated with this message. Failure to report receipt of this message as prescribed above will result in swift and decisive action IAW GS-SOP-IA-FMR-34-997 Paragraph 4.A.(5).(k).
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The Edidna system contains 4 planets and a degraded Oort Cloud. Edidna III is suspected to be the current base location of Operation Blacklight target code-named Grasshopper. It is suspected that Grasshopper is actively working to violate intra-galactic IP law by reverse engineering Gravitic Solutions proprietary information with stolen information and/or technology. Operation Blacklight is authorized to deny all corporate espionage and disallowed reverse engineering efforts with prejudice. Full planetary briefing to follow.
Pursuant to Operation Blacklight mandate, Team J1724TZTN is instructed to deny Target Grasshopper from continuing reverse engineering of any GS IP, or disseminating any partial or completed research thereof. Use of force in any necessary local measure is authorized on a team command level. Use of force at or exceeding a system wide effect is authorizable by third order local arm quadrant subdivision supervision or higher.
Expected hostilities in transit are negligible. Orbital defenses were not spotted, but may have been developed further since last check. Anti-air capabilities were present but under-developed; general stealth procedures should suffice for personnel delivery. Anti-personnel capabilities are unknown at this time. Orbital scans should provide sufficient intelligence to ensure fireteam safety. Target has previously been apprehended by Blacklight operatives, and should be expected to violently resist capture.
The above information is for use only by Gravitic Solutions and Gravitic Solutions authorized sub-contractors. If you have received this message in error, you are required to report your receipt of this message to Gravitic Solutions Customer Support in person, and destroy this message, all copies of this message, and all hardware that was associated with this message. Failure to report receipt of this message will result in swift and decisive action IAW GS-SOP-IA-FMR-34-997 Paragraph 4.A.(5).(k).
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My HUD flickered as my vision returned, once again showing instead the small table myself and the three armored operatives were sitting around.
“Well good. Looks easy this time.” Dean nodded, then looked at me. “Theridion, get Tug spun up on atmo evasives, munitions use, and sub-orbital insertions. He should be good to go on everything else he needs.”
broadcasting
Understood. Generating course material.
terminate broadcast
“Tug, any questions? We’ll have a tactical brief in orbit when we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”
I sat silent, stunned. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around what I had just heard.
“What, uh… what’s ‘system wide’ force entail?”
“Oh.” Dean chuckled. “Normally that classified, but usually it means one of two things. Either we get direct support from a GS battle group, or we dump a sun probe and set off a supernova. Whichever nerd designed it must have enjoyed classical lit, because he named is a ‘novaspark’ after some book he read. What a nerd.”
“You kill systems? What the fuck!”
“Get over it Tug. You get paid to ignore whatever moral code you may have, just like us. You get paid more, in fact, so go get your refit scheduled or I’ll strap you to the front of a novaspark and dump it in deep space. Theridion probably isn’t done building those training modules, so you have a little bit of time.” Dean turned to the other two, still seated at the table. “Either of you have any questions? Looks pretty straight forward to me.”
Dysdera made a noncommittal noise, while the other one… Recluse?… shook his head without making a sound. Without even looking at me, Dean said “Tugger. Go. Theres other pilots on this station I could use.”
Flustered and speechless, I left the briefing room, the door closing behind me. Without any prying eyes, I leaned against the wall next to the door. I needed to take a moment.
—-—————————————————————————————————————
“You, brother of mine, are an idiot.” I felt bad for the new pilot. He was clearly a life-long spacer, sticking close to possible handholds in case of a gravity loss of explosive decompression, and his scalp had a patch of hair missing where he had clearly had some kind of traumatic injury. Either a heavy dose of radiation when his shielding failed, or he’d been through a pirate attack or two. I would have bet on the pirate attack, given how little he had reacted to our guns and how quickly he had jumped to violence when he realized we were in his rooms. I, and Dean and Recluse, had found out the hard way just how little pirates fucked around on this frontier.
“Excuse me?” Dean rejoined. “The kid doesn’t want to work with us, but he’s the best option we have. Recluse is too quiet to be the asshole, and you don’t like doing it. I don’t want to kill him, but if that’s what it takes, its my job. Theres a reason you refused this command, Dera.”
I sighed. “I know that Dean, but come on. You couldn’t think of a single better way to motivate him then to threaten to kill him twice, and once after telling him that sparks exist? Those are terrifying, and we don’t even have any on board! At best, it wasn’t necessary, but come on. It was just wrong.”
“Then what the fuck do you want me to do, Dera?” I’d gotten Dean’s ire up, just like I wanted to. He was an unusual guy, but I knew my twin well enough to know he thought better when he got angry. Being on the edge of losing control made him step back. It normally did, at least. Tugger and his treatment would be no different, I was sure. “It’s been surprise after surprise for him since he docked yesterday, and the only way I have to keep him going the direction we want is to keep him off balance.”
“He is outside this room. You both ought to watch your words.” Recluse ground out. I hadn’t heard him say more than a sentence at a time since our last mission started to go sideways, which shocked me into not responding to Dean. He was, it seemed similarly shocked into silence.
“Is he trying to listen in?”
I thought Dean’s question was a little ridiculous, given that briefing rooms were hermetically sealed, but he was the boss for a reason.
“No.”
That was much more like Recluse.
“Good.” Dean was silent for a moment, then looked at me. “I’ll be a little nicer to him, but he’s new, and we just don’t have the levers to push him into working with us right now. I’ll lighten up once he’s more compliant
“That’s all well and good Dean, but he’s no use to us if he’s dead. Besides, I thought you don’t make empty threats? You know damn well we don’t have a novaspark.”
“Eh, we can get one. Recluse, is he gone yet? We can’t stay in here and chat forever.”
“Yes.”
“Ok. Get to work. All of us need to run a few SUPER HERO sims. Who knows how good of a pilot Tug will be if we’re taking fire.”
—-—————————————————————————————————————
The elevator was just closing as I watched the three armored figures file out of the briefing room. I didn’t care, since none of them seemed to head my way.
“Theridion, are you able to provide that list of refit requirements while you’re making whatever training material? I don’t know what your multitasking capabilities are.
ABSOLUTELY TUGGER. I’VE TAKEN THE LIBERTY OF REQUESTING A TRAM TO SPEED YOU ALONG. THESE SIMULATIONS WILL MAKE YOU PROFICIENT WITH THE WANDERER 6 AND ITS ASSOCIATED MUNITIONS, BUT IT WILL TAKE A FAIR AMOUNT OF TIME FOR YOU TO BE COMBAT READY. I WOULD PREFER YOU HAVE THE MOST TIME POSSIBLE. DYING SEEMS LIKE QUITE A NEGATIVE FOR US BOTH.
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“What’s the time frame for this tram then?”
NINETY SECONDS. THEY WILL WAIT FOR YOU IF NEED BE.
“They can wait then.” I looked down at the vac suit I was wearing. I had had Theridion strip all the armor that it had given me during its initialization. “Uparmor me. Whatever the highest level is, but no helmet.”
There was no response, but armor began to silently unfold from my back, each piece melding seamlessly with my vac suit and its neighboring pieces, until I was covered from my chin down in matte-black plating that looked to absorb every photon that hit it.
“This is it?” I was a little disappointed, honestly. I was hoping for something like the plate armor those mythical knights from Earth, like King Arthur or Knight General Puller had worn.
SHORT OF BEING DUMPED IN A SUN, THERE IS NO KNOWN ENVIRONMENT YOU CANNOT WITHSTAND WITH THIS SUIT. YOUR ARMOR WILL STOP BALLISTICS OF ANY SIZE BELONG SHIPBORNE AUTOCANNONS, AND ENSURES YOU ARE UNABLE TO INJURE YOURSELF DURING, LETS CALL IT, STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES. EXPLOSIVES AND SPEED ARE YOUR LARGEST ISSUES, BUT THE EXTRA CONNECTIVE TISSUES AND INTERNAL ORGAN SUPPORT YOU ARE GROWING WILL HELP TO SOLVE THOSE ISSUES. I DO NOT HAVE THE BANDWIDTH TO REFORMAT THE PLATING AESTHETICS NOW, BUT I FORSEE SUFFICIENT DOWNTIME EITHER AFTER THIS MISSION, OR DURING THE MISSION WHILE WE WAIT IN ORBIT.
”Guess I can’t be too upset then.“ The elevator doors slid open. I took a breath, then strode across the cargo bay and into the armory. A placard next to the door read RESTRICTED ACCESS. AUTHORIZED COMBAT PERSONNEL ONLY. I figured since I had been cut loose on the ship and the door was open, I could at least go take a look. Given that I was apparently the pilot and the mechanic, I’d have to come in here to fix things anyway. As I crossed the threshold, I saw the walls lined with grey lockers which were highlighted either green, yellow, or red in my vision.
YOU CAN TAKE WEAPONS FROM THE GREEN LOCKERS TUGGER. THE YELLOW ONES ARE EMPTY, BUT NOT OFF LIMITS ONCE RETURNED. RED NEEDS PERMISSION FROM DEINOPIDAE, UNLESS YOU USE YOUR TECHNICIAN OVERRIDE. I WOULD SUGGEST AGAINST USING YOUR OVERRIDE TO RETRIEVE WEAPONRY.
“Ok then.” I looked in the first locker and found it was full of what were clearly zero-g focused weapons. They looked like regular rifles, but seemed to have exhaust ports with closed irises scattered over the weapon. I started at them for a second, and then the particular weapon I was inspecting became highlighted blue. A description popped up as well.
SPACESHOT
SBR
10.8x45MM CASELESS
20RD STACKABLE MAG
THE SPACESHOT IS A PROPRIETARY WEAPON DEVELOPED BY GRAVITIC ARMS. WHEN USED WITH THE PROPER LINKAGE TO AN AUTHORIZED OPERATOR, THE SPACESHOT WILL NOT ONLY VARIATE GAS RELEASE ANGLES TO MAINTAIN TARGET ACQUISITION, BUT WILL INFORM PERSONNEL MOVEMENT SYSTEMS ON APPROPRIATE VECTOR MATCHING TO ENSURE ACCURACY AND INCREASE LETHALITY. EXTENSIVE USE WITHIN ANY FORM OF GRAVITY WELL WILL RESULT IN WEAPON SYSTEM DEGRADATION. INTELLIGENT MAGAZINES ALLOW FOR MAGAZINES TO BE STACKED TO FEED EACH OTHER, UP TO A STACK OF 10 MAGAZINES, OR UP TO 200 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION.
I elected to not take a Spaceshot, given that I would be in the station’s gravity and I didn’t want to break anything. Even if I wasn’t participating, station movements like what was starting was when pirates that had spilled through the cracks usually tried to take over. I had dealt with it unarmed beofre, but having a weapon always made me feel better.
I closed the Spaceshot locker, and moved to the next one down. Even though it was highlighted red, I was still curious. Unfortunately, it was locked. I took my hand away, and heard a click. I looked around and didn’t see anyone, so I slowly moved my hand closer to the locker again. Click. Whatever security was in the Armory must know what I did and didn’t have access to and was actively locking doors. Oh well.
The next green highlighted locker had the same chunky handguns that Dean and Dysdera were carrying. The weapons were split into two groups. One group had two empty slots, presumably what the siblings were carrying, while the other group was full. The only difference I could see was that one half used the classic magazine loaded into the grip, while the other half had some kind of feeding belt that led to what appeared to be a hip pouch. Focusing on one of the handguns brought up a description the same way to the other gun.
FANG
HANDGUN
9x25MM HYBRID CASE
25RD DOUBLESTACK MAG, LINKAGE FED
THE FANG IS A PROPRIETARY WEAPON DEVELOPED BY GRAVITIC ARMS. IT UTILIZES A PROPRIETARY 9x25MM ROUND MADE OF A COPPER JACKETED STEEL PENETRATOR CONTAINED WITHIN A HYBRID CASE UTILIZING BRASS AND TUNGSTANIUM. THE TUNGSTANIUM SERVES AS BOTH THE PROPELLANT AND THE PRESSURE VESSEL. PULLING THE TRIGGER USES PIEZOELECTRICITY TO ENERGIZE THE TUNGSTANIUM BACKING CUP OF THE ROUND, CREATING AN ANTI-GRAVITY FIELD WHICH APPLIES THE EQUIVALENT OF APPROXIMATELY 150,000 PSI OF CHAMBER PRESSURE. THE BARREL OF THE FANG IS DESIGNED SUCH THAT IT ALLOWS THAT FIELD TO PROPAGATE, ENSURING EACH ROUND LEAVES THE WEAPON AT NO LESS THAN 10,000 FPS, OR MACH 8.8. WHEN ATTACHED TO A LINKAGE FEEDING SYSTEM, THE SPENT CARTRIDGES THAT ARE CAPTURED MAY BE REUSED NEARLY ENDLESSLY. THIS WEAPON IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR SHIPBOARD USE.
I snagged one of the linkage fed pistols, the hip pouch attaching itself to a newly formed divot in the lower back of my armor. The linkage snaked up along my back, around my shoulder and arm to my palm, where the weapon itself had a rectangular slot, while a second linkage went from the weapon’s slide into the thigh plate the Fang held on to and ran back to the pouch. I wasn’t a fan, so I pulled the pouch off, waited for the linkages to retract back where they had rested in the pouch and swapped it for one of the regular, mag fed pistols. Under the pistol sat 7 magazines and a spare round. I was a little startled to see such a large amount of ammunition set aside for each weapon, but the extra round to chamber told me exactly why. This ship, this crew, were ready for war. Carrying the novaspark thing that Dean had talked about was insane, but it was clearly a last resort kind of weapons. 176 rounds for a sidearm, probably more if it has an external ammo pouch? These people went to war every day. The next locker I could open, which was yellow, proved my thoughts correct.
SHOWDOWN
CANNON
VARIABLE
VARIABLE
THE SHOWDOWN IS A PROPRIETARY WEAPON DEVELOPED BY GRAVITIC ARMS. AN 8 GAUGE FOREARM MOUNTED CANNON, THE SHOWDOWN MAKES USE OF ITS OPEN CHAMBER DESIGN BY ACCEPTING MAGAZINES, LINKAGE FEEDS, AND HAND-FED ROUNDS. DESIGNED TO BE MISSION-FLEXIBLE, THE SHOWDOWN HAS HAD MUNITIONS DESIGNED FOR IT TO MEET ANY AND ALL MISSION CRITERIA. BIRDSHOT, SLUGS, GYRO-JET MUNITIONS, PROGRAMMABLE GRENADES, FLARES, AND LESS-THAN-LETHAL ROUNDS ARE ALL EASILY PROCURED FOR USE. SPECIAL MANUFACTURE ROUNDS FOR ANY USE CAN ALSO BE UTILIZED. THE SHOWDOWN IS MEANT TO BE THE ULTIMATE NOD TO PERFECT ADAPTABILITY.
The locker has space for six of the weapons, taking up the upper portion of the locker, while drawers that were so deep they must have extended into the superstructure behind the Armory filled the bottom half of the locker. The cannons were shaped like the armor coating my forearm, if bulkier, and one had already been taken. The drawers each had a label with a string of letters what they contained. Only two drawers, one labeled with ‘F’ and another labeled with ‘I-F’ were empty. A chart on the locker door explained the labels, so I knew that ‘F’ meant ‘Frangible’ and ‘I-F’ meant ‘Incendiary Frangible’.
TUGGER, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND NON-FRANGIBLE ROUNDS IN A SHIPBOARD OR STATION SETTING, ESPECIALLY WITH THIS WEAPON. IT WILL GO POORLY FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED.
“Got it.” There was nothing else labeled as frangible, so I left the forearm mounted weapon where it was at and looked into the next locker. I was greeted with just two rifles, each longer than I was tall. The scope on each rifle was similarly massive, each at least 3 feet long and clearly integrated with the rifle. There was no ammunition or magazines in the locker, so I brought up the description for the rifle.
HUBBLE
DESIGNATED MARKSMAN RIFLE
12.9x60MM VARIABLE PAYLOAD
5RD MAGAZINE
THE HUBBLE IS A PROPRIETARY WEAPON DEVELOPED BY GRAVITIC ARMS. THE HUBBLE UTILIZES IT’S OPERATORS TACTICAL INFORMATION DOWNLINK TO REACH OUT A SURGICALLY REMOVE TARGETS WITH VARIABLE PAYLOAD, OPTIONALLY ROCKET PROPELLED 12.9MM AMMUNITION. STANDARD BALLISTIC AMMUNITION IS GUIDED BY AUTOMATIC TARGETING SOLUTIONS AND AIM ADJUSTMENTS MADE WITH INTEGRATED SERVO SYSTEMS CONTROLLED BY A COMPUTER BUILT INTO THE HUBBLE’S SCOPE. WHEN ROCKET PROPELLED AMMUNITION IS CHOSEN, HUBBLE OPERATORS CAN RETAIN BALLISTIC LETHALITY UP TO FIVE MILES IN ATMOSPHERE AT A STANDARD GRAVITY. PAYLOADS RANGE FROM STANDARD BALL AMMUNITION TO SGRPNEIAP ROUNDS. IF IT FITS IN THE BULLET, THE HUBBLE WILL PUT IT THROUGH SOMEONE’S FOREHEAD.
The next locker was not a new weapon, but ammunition drawers for the Hubble in a similar layout to the Showdown, sans anything frangible. Not a surprise to me, since the station CQC I’d been subjected to would absolutely not be the place for this rifle to shine. The chart that outlined the meaning of each ammunition type label also showed how to disengage the barrel on the Hubble, allowing the rifle to collapse; the locking lugs retracted to let the barrel move just below the bolt carrier and be pushed all the way to the end of the stock, cutting the rifle’s length in half.
Only one locker was left that was green for me, but the locker next to the Hubble ammunition was orange, unlike any other locker. “Theridion?”
YOU CAN LOOK, BUT YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO REMOVE THE WEAPON. I WOULD SUSPECT IT IS BECAUSE IT IS A HAZARD YOU NEED TO KNOW OF AS A TECHNICIAN, BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS IN THE LOCKER UNTIL YOU OPEN IT. OR NOT.
Naturally, I opened the locker.
GOD RAY
HEAVY MUNITION
FUSION CONTAINMENT CELL
5RD WHEEL
THE GOD RAY IS A PROPRIETARY WEAPON DEVELOPED BY GRAVITIC ARMS. EACH PULL OF THE TRIGGER RELEASES A BLAST OF STARFIRE IN THE DIRECTION OF AIM. PROLONGED OPERATOR EXPOSURE HAS RESULTED IN SEVERE SIDE EFFECTS. OPERATORS SHOULD LIMIT USAGE TO ONE WHEEL OF FUSION CELLS PER STANDARD WEEK. USAGE IN EXCESS OF RECOMMENDED LEVELS MAY RESULT IN HAIR LOSS, SKIN GROWTHS, ACCELERATED CANCER GROWTH, MEMORY LOSS, AND DEATH. REAL WORLD APPLICATION OF THE GOD RAY SHOULD ONLY BE CONDUCTED DURING LIVE FIRE EVENTS, NEVER TRAINING. TRAINING WITH THIS WEAPON SHALL BE CONDUCTED ONLY WITHIN A VIRTUAL TRAINING SIMULATION. THIS WEAPON IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR SHIPBOARD USE.
The shoulder mounted mess of wires, capacitors and lenses was terrifying. In no world would I ever be comfortable firing one of those, much less using a whole five cell wheel. The wheels were stacked on top of each other from the bottom to the top of the locker, nominally secured by five rods which stuck through voids in the wheel. It didn’t look like sufficient support for fusion cells to me; I’d be flying a little more carefully in the future as long as those were on my ship. Gingerly, I closed the locker and double checked it was latched. Terrifying.
Trying and failing to put the literal nuclear bomb in the armory out of my mind, I opened the last locker and saw it was arranged in four columns of cubbyholes. The far left column had five spiked balls opened on an internal hinge, with space for a core to be inserted. The other columns each had colored cubbyholes filled with a massive assortment of these cores. The locker door, just like previous weapons, had a chart that outlined the color coding. With nothing else in the locker standing out, I looked at the inspection details.
CHESTNUT
VARIABLE
GRENADE
SINGLE USE
THE CHESTNUT IS A PROPRIETARY WEAPON DEVELOPED BY GRAVITIC ARMS. THE CHESTNUT IS A PROGRAMMABLE, VARIABLE USE, MULTI-ROLE GRENADE HOUSING. BY SWAPPING MUNITION LOADS WITHIN THE HOUSING OF THE CHESTNUT, EITHER DURING MISSION PREP OR UNDER LIVE FIRE CONDITIONS, THE CHESTNUT MAY SERVE AS EM COVER, VARIABLE LENGTH FLASHBANG, FRAGMENTATION, INCENDIARY, OR AS A CBRN DELIVERY DEVICE. OPERATORS USING THE CHESTNUT MUST BE AWARE OF THE INHERENT RISKS TO THEIR PERSON AND THEIR TEAM IF UTILIZING ANY CBRN LOADS.
CBRN loads. Huh.
Obviously, the God Ray and the options baked into the DMR… uh…
THE HUBBLE.
Right. The Hubble and its variable payloads, and the God Ray should have clued me in that conventional warfare wasn’t the bread and butter for this crew. Dirty grenades were so outside of my wheelhouse, I couldn’t even form an opinion.
YOU ALSO DON’T HAVE TIME TO FORM ONE. YOUR RIDE IS HERE, AND THE DOCKMASTER HAS BEEN INFORMED THAT YOU ARE INBOUND FOR A COMPLETE REWORK. YOUR FANG IS MORE THAN ENOUGH SECURITY FOR YOU ON THIS STATION. YOU HAVE BUILT-IN OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES IN YOUR ARMOR. I CAN TELL YOU ABOUT THEM ON THE TRAM.
“Fine. But you need to stop reading my fucking thoughts.”
I QUITE LITERALLY CANNOT. YOU’LL NEED TO LIVE WITH IT.
I didn’t bother responding. This spider in my head knew how I felt about that response as I walked to the cargo lift and exited the ship. Besides, I was looking forward to ordering this refit too much to argue about something I couldn’t fix yet.