Sergeant Grays

We were making good time through the vents system, not even running into any maintenance drones as we went through the surprisingly clean air vents. No one dared to say anything for fear of breaking the streak of good luck that we seemed to be having. As we jogged along, I couldn’t help but think to myself how well this whole thing was going for us. After twenty minutes of jogging, I decided to check in on Team B.

“Team B, what’s your status?” I radioed over.

“Everything is going as planned, Sarge. Our current ETA is, uh, five minutes,” came the reply.

“Copy Team B, keep me posted,” I said as I jogged up to meet up with my team who was resting at an intersection of the vents system.

“Damn Sarge, how do you think they keep this place as clean as they do? These look nothing like the air vents on our ships. Way too clean, you know?” said one marine.

“Yeah, I know right? They must not shed dead skin or something like we do. Or maybe they have top notch cleaning drones,” said another.

I looked around. There was no sign of any dust in these cavernous vents. “It doesn’t matter what kind of methods they use to clean their vents, but if you’re so eager to find out, then why don’t you go and ask them private? Remember, we still have a job to do, and I’ll be damned if we don’t finish it.” I turned to our navigator, who was looking at the holomap he had out. “What’s our ETA to the sensor suite?”

He looked up from the map that he was poring over. “We should be there in another twenty minutes or so, Sarge.”

I nodded. “Well, if we’re done chit chatting, then I suggest we keep moving!” After some rather enthusiastic responses from my marines, we started jogging again. It wasn’t long before I got a radio message from Team B.

“We got to the early warning system and are planting the explosives now,” came the message.

“Copy that. As soon as you get to minimum safe distance, hold the detonation until we get ours up for a simultaneous detonation of both systems,” I said.

“You got it Sarge,” the marine replied.

Everything is going to plan, why do I feel like we were about to get a shit sandwich served up fresh soon? I thought. As we continued to jog, I couldn’t help but let my thoughts get wrapped up into the what if scenarios that they constantly trained us for.

I was finally shaken out of my thoughts by my radio operator, Collins. He sounded on the verge of panic. “Sarge, the Indomitable Crusade is getting its new orders from Yalayan High Command. This entire fleet group is going to hit the Strength Through Diplomacy and her escorts, and they’re prepping for the jump and are leaving in thirty minutes.”

I paused to think about our options. Either we continue with the mission and hope that we have enough time before their ship jumps for the boarding parties to arrive, or we use the explosives that were meant for the sensor systems to disable the engines so there would be one less ship in that fight. Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.

“What are we gonna do Sarge?” asked a marine who hadn’t spoken up before. “I mean, some of us have family on that ship.”

He was right. The Strength Through Diplomacy was one of the largest noncombat ships that humanity had ever constructed, with it being well over 20 kilometers long. Sure, it was staffed by security and embassy employees, but that didn’t change the fact that the ship was basically a moving city, complete with the families of those workers. If we didn’t do anything, then there would be untold civilian casualties, all in the first day of our first interstellar war.

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I pointed at Collins. “Get a message out to the Strength Through Diplomacy through the QE network, let them know what’s coming.” The Quantum Entangled communications network was only formed recently, after studying some of the tech that our galactic neighbors had given us. It had very limited use in life on Terra, but it was vital in communications with the various fleets that humanity had in the galaxy. The thing that made it so neat was the fact that it was theoretically untraceable, perfect for covert operations like this. “They can handle the possibility of that. As for us, we have a job to do, so let’s double time it marines!” After a round of acknowledgments from the team, we started forward again.

We got to another intersection when suddenly, a scraping noise came from behind us. We all trained our guns on the sound only to see the vent behind us close with a hiss. Before we could react, all the other escape routes we could have used closed around us with a hiss. I was wondering when the shit would hit the fan. I thought to myself with little mirth.

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High Commander Tussus

There had to be something on this ship. There had to be. There were no vermin on the ship, and no crew member in their right mind would cut a hole in the hull and bend back an access panel. It had to be the Terrans. There is no other explanation.

“High Commander, we have found nothing in the vent system,” came the word of my chief engineer.

“Then check again! There has to be something!” I shouted, paranoia eating away at me.

“High Commander, we have already scanned the entire vents system four times already. If there is anything in them, we would know about it by now.”

“Then scan the entire ship, or I will find someone else to be my chief engineer! They’re here somewhere!” I shouted once more.

“At your command, High Commander,” replied the engineer, swallowing audibly. He bowed his head and began the scan.

As that was happening, the communications officer ran up to my seat and bowed deferentially. “High Commander, we have received our targets for the war against the Terrans.” The officer handed me a pad with the message on it. I looked down at the pad. It showed our target was the Terran embassy ship known as the Strength Through Diplomacy and her escorts. A fine first conquest for this glorious war.

“Good.” I turned to the navigation station. “Set a course for the {Alpha Centauri} system. We will deal a crippling blow to the Terrans this day!” I then turned to the communications officer. “Send a message to the fleet. We jump in thirty minutes.”

“At your command, High Commander” came the response from both stations.

The chief engineer suddenly perked his head up and turned to me. “High Commander, we weren’t able to find anything in the vents, but we did discover a small unidentified object in the housing of the early warning system.”

I turned to the security station clicking my mandibles in a self-satisfactory way. “Send a security team down to the early warning system immediately!” I shouted to the security station. I was beside myself with vindication. I was RIGHT! How they managed to get on board without us noticing was an issue for when we captured one of those sneaky vermin. “And for you,” I turned back to the engineer, who was looking more than a bit sheepish considering the new information. “Shut down the entire vents system. If any of those vents open, I want to hear about it immediately! Start sweeping them one at a time. If there are Terrans in those vents, then I want to know about it! And try to take them alive!”

“At your command, High Commander,” came the response from the bridge crew around me.

I clicked my mandibles in vindication again. I was right, and those Terrans will rue the day that they decided to step onto MY ship.

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Sergeant Grays

We were trapped. There was no way out of the intersection that we found ourselves in.

“What are we going to do Sarge? We’re trapped!” asked one of the marines.

We couldn’t risk cutting through the doors because they would know exactly where we were. We couldn’t wait for some xenos to find us for the same reason. We could try hacking their systems, but that would certainly set off at least some alarms. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Thank God that’s where us marines excel.

“Team B, do you copy?” I asked into my radio.

“We copy Sarge,” came the reply.

“Are you at minimum safe distance yet?” I asked.

“We are Sarge,” replied the marine.

“Detonate your package and meet us at the sensor suite. They know we’re here, and I think our little gift will be more than enough of a distraction for them to not worry for us for a bit.”

“Copy, ready to detonate,” said the marine excitedly.

“Confirmed, detonate,” I said with a smile on my face.

It was only a moment later when I heard and felt an explosion rock the ship.