Milky Way Galaxy
Approximately 28 lightyears inside Sector 1b
Redion Star System
Redion II
Bug 1
M.W.A.S.S. Embercrest
Corporal Fumiko Sato – 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Batt., 2nd Marine Regiment
Corporal Sato felt the Embercrest exit quantum subspace. If all was going according to plan, they were currently in high orbit above Redion II. The plan was for the Embercrest to enter the atmosphere and loiter while Bug 1 and 2 made landfall towards Objective Alpha. Several kilometers away the Shroudmoor would be doing the same with her sister’s unit, heading to Objective Charlie. If one unit finished up before the other, that unit would head towards Objective Bravo, nestled in a low canyon roughly equidistant from the two.
The light above the exit ramp switched to a slow, dull amber flashing pattern. This let the Marines know that Bug 1 was exiting the Embercrest and heading for their drop off point. Objective Alpha had the distinction of being the only one of their goals with space to land a bug. Only one, mind you, but Bug 2 didn’t need to land to drop off the HoeDog. Bug 2 would hover at the edge of the perimeter and unload the H-03 MULES in the air, at which point it would lower to the ground and Fumiko’s awaiting team.
Two minutes after disembarking the Embercrest, the ramp light started flashing green. Fumiko and her squad were pushed into a standing position by their jumpseats, and the arm holding their rucks on the ceiling lowered to attach each ruck to their respective owner’s backplate. Every marine donned their buckets and retrieved their now extended Bravo rifles, holding them in a low-ready position.
When the ramp light turned green, the ramp started to lower and the maglocks released the Marines. Bug 1’s pilot came over her squad net, “Alpha 1 Actual, Bug 1. Good hunting.” Fumiko didn’t hesitate, turning towards the ramp. She brought her rifle up and started scanning for movement as she and Novak moved down their respective sides. The rest of her squad followed, and they fanned out from the ramp in a 180-degree arc with overlapping sightlines. Romanov and al-Faraj mixed in so as not to give them away as command elements.
Lieutenant Romanov called out over the radio, “Bug 1, Alpha 1 Actual. We’re clear.” Bug 1 lifted off trailing behind Bug 2, with the HoeDog already hovering half a meter off the ground and moving to fill the gap the dropship left.
“Team 1 check the freight elevator status,” Romanov said, as a green marker highlighted on everyone’s HUD to indicate the location, “Team 2 clear secondary surface buildings,” a series of blue markers flashed on the half-dozen dilapidated constructs, “Team 3 perimeter sweep. Sato, al-Faraj, with me.” Each team shifted focus to their tasks, moving with purpose, while Fumiko and her Sergeant followed Romanov to the HoeDog.
Romanov flipped a ten inch by ten inch panel down on the side of the hover bot and hit the activator switch. The holographic display came to life showing one cubic kilometer of area centered on the bot. Romanov manipulated the hologram with hand gestures until the top ten percent showed surface level and the remaining lower section displayed sub-surface levels of the facility.
A series of red dots appeared in various mid-sized rooms in the hologram and Romanov gestured, “This is the last reported location of our objective.”
“Which is?” Fumiko asked, “My Marines still have zero intel on our objective, sir.”
Romanov nodded, “That changes now, Corporal. OpSec was really tight for this intel.” Romanov shook her head, “That damned cult might be small and focused in the civilian stations, but no one wanted to take any chances on this one.”
The cult that her LT referred to was a small group of deranged individuals who got it in their heads that the Enemy didn’t invade and murder humans, but rather uplifted them in some fashion. So far, they were limited to the civilians, but every unit that rotated off active and back to the stations had to sit through a fresh briefing reminding everyone of what happened over a thousand years ago. The brass…hell, humanity couldn’t afford those idiots making it into military ranks. The damage could spell the end of what little remained of our species.
Romanov turned to Fumiko, emitting a presence even with her helmet, “A lot of people have been fighting for a long time to get the sign-off to make this mission happen. Zero chances were taken.” She gestured at the hologram, “Held inside this facility is something that might give us a fighting chance at survival.”
“What is it sir? A weapon, a tool, some new technology for our ships?” Fumiko asked, unable to keep a tinge of excitement from her voice.
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“We don’t actually know,” Romanav shook her head, “We were receiving a lot of reports at the end from various sources. High on generics, low on specifics. All we know is that they called it Project Lucid, and it’s one of several projects that held promise.”
“God damned geeks and their stupid names.” al-Faraj let out with a shake of his own head.
Fumiko’s posture tightened up as she set her jaw, “If it’s there, we’ll find it sir.”
Before the conversation could continue, Lance Corporals Pham and Hassan, from Teams 1 and 2 respectively, jogged up to the HoeDog.
Romanov acknowledged Hassan first, “Anything in the buildings?”
“No sir,” Hassan said, “Everything is heavily degraded from time, but beyond that nothing out of the ordinary.”
“And the door, Pham?”
“Mechanically functional,” Pham tossed a thumb over her shoulder toward the lift, “But we’ll need a fuel cell from the HoeDog to power it.”
“Understood Lance Corporal, we have lots of those.” Romanov waved an upturned palm toward the HoeDog, “Take three fuel cells. Hook one up and leave a spare. Team 3 will be remaining up here. Prep a third for down below, we’re taking no chances.”
“Copy all LT.”
Al-Faraj turned to Fumiko, “Take Team 2 and start setting up defensive positions for Three. When they get back from their sweep, they can help.”
Fumiko nodded, “Yes, Sergeant.” Then flagged down Second Team, “Wool gathering is over, grab d-plates off the HoeDog. I want layered defenses, leave room for any loot we find.” Fumiko could almost hear the groans from the Marines of Fire Team 2, even with their mics muted, but they would get the job done. Fumiko grabbed the first plate off the HoeDog and headed for the elevator perimeter.
Pulling out her trenching tool, Fumiko grimaced inwardly. This primitive piece of tech was an anachronism when compared against the rest of their equipment, yet it never went out of style. She used the tool to mark the locations they would set up the defensive plates. Once marked, she worked with Team 2, digging the narrow furrow to drop the plates into.
As the first furrow was completed, PFC Andersen and Lance Corporal Novak dropped two plates into the hole so the edges overlapped six inches. Fumiko took a moment to call Team 3 for an update while she observed Novak activate the plates with his suit’s forearm computer. “Alpha 1-1-3, Alpha 1-1, report,” Fumiko said, as a muted thump sounded from the plates firing stabilizer poles underground, “What’s taking so long?”
Lance Corporal Lina Nguyen came over the headset, “Alpha 1-1, Alpha 1-1-3, we found defensive positions around the perimeter. We’re investigating.”
Squinting her eyes in consternation, she asked, “How old? Are they from The Fall?” Fumiko nodded in approval as the plates Novak activated telescoped up out of the ground into their final state of a heavy armour barrier.
“No way, Alpha 1-1, these positions have been used recently. As in sometime in the last month.”
That immediately redirected Fumiko’s focus. She jogged back to Romanov and al-Faraj as while issuing orders. “Collapse back to the HoeDog double-time and have Kim transmit your suit data back to Firebird, then report to the LT.” Finishing the transmission as she approached the HoeDog, Fumiko called out to Romanov, “Sir, you’re going to want to hear this.”
“Go ahead Corporal.”
“Team 3 found signs of defensive emplacements, recently used.”
Fumiko shook her head, “Not much, yet. They’re on the way back now. Once they transmit their data to the Embercrest, they’ll report to you.”
Romanov switched to First Squad’s channel, “Alpha 1-1-1, Alpha 1 Actual, have Kim report to the HoeDog.”
Fumiko watched as PFC Jin Kim stepped away from the elevator control system and jogged over, “Yes sir?”
“Get on the radio with the Firebird. I want to know if they’re picking up anything abnormal.”
Kim nodded, “Yes sir.” She didn’t step away as she undoubtedly started manipulating her HUD to switch her radio over to the RTO kit and select the correct cartridge unit for the quantum entangled particles paired with the Embercrest. Her head nodded a few times before she looked at Romanov, “Sir, Firebird Actual responded directly. Nothing abnormal on the scope, but Bravo 1 went out of pocket when they entered OBJ Bravo, Blackbird said they’re not responding to radio calls.”
Fumiko’s heart sank for a beat before she regained her composure. Aiko was smart, and damned fast. If something bad went down, she had to trust her sister to do the job and get out. Instead of dwelling on the matter, she refocused on their task.
“Understood,” Romanov turned her attention to Fumiko and al-Faraj, “Change of plans. I want Team 1 on the surface with their RTO unit maintaining comms with Firebird. Team 3 will be entering the facility alongside Team 2.” Romanov turned to al-Faraj, “One of us needs to stay up top with Team 1. Rochambeau, I go first?”
“As Lieutenant, you should remain up here where you can maintain comms with the ship, sir.” Al-Faraj said.
You could hear the smirk in Romanov’s voice, “When you’re Lieutenant, you can choose how you lead the platoon. Until then, I lead from the front.” They both knew al-Faraj would never accept promotion out of the platoon. The man was nothing, if not crafty at keeping himself out of the promotion pool.
Al-Faraj nodded in acquiescence, “Yes, sir.”
Fumiko looked over at the defensive position she previously worked on and saw that the overlapping defenses were in position. Team 1 was adding some additional tools and supplies, including a motion scanning antenna and a small container of power packs and exotic matter magazines for their Bravos. Team 1 had a single support gunner, PFC Amina Hassan, who carried the B-36, an LMG modified version of the Bravo platform. Team 3’s Lance Corporal Mateo Lee swapped his B-36 LMG module with PFC Jin Kim’s B-33 AR module from Team 1.
With preparations finalized, Teams 2 and 3 piled into the elevator. Fumiko got a look at the controls before Romanov activated the elevator. Two arrows. One up, one down.