Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  The long ramp that ran from the once pristine green grass to the first-floor entry had been cleared of dead bodies, which were now laid out on either side of the ramp. One side for the enemy dead, the other for the dead Rescue Techs and a handful of friendly infantry that had died during the battle saving the Techs.

  Walking over to the corpses, Standish couldn’t believe that they had suffered seventy-five percent casualties, including their leader. Standish had asked one of the newly arrived infantry to check Vaz’s armours memory banks to confirm the cause of death. Part of her concern was that it may have been friendly fire, but she was reassured that their leader had been in fact killed by a volley of fire from the enemy infantry seconds into the battle. The infantry soldier also assured her that Vaz must have known that she was super vulnerable given her position when the action commenced. She never really had a chance.

  Shaking her head, Standish walked over to an undisturbed patch of grass where Avi and Jae were sitting. They had taken off their armour, and they were slowly consuming a ration meal in silence. Reaching the pair, Standish followed suit, and removed her armour, placing each component down carefully on the ground before sitting down in her skin-suit.

  Looking over at Avi and Jae, she was amazed that they didn’t have a scratch on them, and neither did Standish. They had all been in the thick of the fighting, along with all the other members of the team, but somehow, they had emerged physically unscathed. The mental shock of the battle was only now taking hold as the adrenaline started to wear off.

  After a few minutes of reflection, she got back up and walked back over to the line of the dead, and found Lovia’s body. Pulling back the cloth that had been laid on top of her, she looked down at her partner and ran her hands through her hair.

  “If you like, we can help you dig a grave in the woods.” The infantry leader whispered into her ear.

  Standish looked at the soldier, then over to the rich forest that surrounded the medical complex. “They’re not coming with us?” She asked.

  The officer just shook his head.

  Standish fought back the tears and rose to her feet. “I can bury her myself.” She said.

  Standish took the shovel he offered and slung it over her shoulder, then carefully slipped her arms under Lovia’s body, then rose to her feet. Looking down at the still face of her comrade triggered a rush of emotions, and tears started raining down her cheeks as she turned away from the medical centre and walked towards the tranquil woods to bury her friend.

  31

  The Present

  Porth

  “You traded with him?”

  “Yes.” The fat alien replied. “And I gave him some credits.”

  Standish had sized the alien up once she had met him. She could take him without even trying, even at her age, if she needed to.

  “Did the ship have Etelainen registration and trackers?”

  He nodded. “It did, but he removed them.” The alien looked Standish up and down. “Who are you anyway? You’re not dressed like the law.”

  Standish put her hands on her hips. “I’m just a private citizen, like yourself.” She reached forward and put her hand on the alien’s shoulder. “Did he say anything else?”

  The male looked at the hand on his shoulder, then locked eyes with Standish. “He didn’t say where he was going, but he took on a passenger.”

  “And?”

  “This wasn’t just any passenger.”

  “Oh?”

  “She was a member of the Melcore Combine. A senior harem member.”

  “And you know this how?” Standish pulled her hand back.

  “She was in the biggest bar on the station last night with the fellow who traded me his ship.”

  Standish took a step backwards. If the information were correct, then it would mean that Liboa was headed into the Core.

  Fuck.

  32

  The Past

  Tro Vaco IX

  Everything changed for Val Standish after Vistor III. Most of her team was dead, and the Empire was in flames. After hitching a ride on the Orion, Standish, Jae and Avi were transported to Tro Vaco IX where they were eventually assigned to a medical frigate, the Laakari, a week after Vistor III. Once they had reunited with their gear and personal items, it was a quick transfer to the medical ship, assigned to cramped quarters, then finally given a rundown of what was happening by the Ship Master.

  “It all started with an attack on Jarosis and several other key military installations in the Core. That was how it all kicked off.” The Ship Master took a sip from the cocktail that he had brought with him for his new crew members. “It was chaos. The Imperial forces in the Core weren’t on alert, neither were Core forces. It was a shambles. Pohjois ships would jump into a sector and claim it was now under their banner. Some Core systems fought back, most Imperial forces just ran, unsure of what was happening. There was complete chaos from the chain of command. The enemy had knocked out key relay stations in the initial wave, the Imperial fleet was completely caught off guard.”

  “No one saw this coming?” Avi asked.

  The Ship Master shook his head. “I don’t think anyone ever bothered to even consider the possibility of a coup, especially from the Crown Prince’s brother.”

  “What happened to the Prince?” Jae asked.

  “No one knows, but we suspect he died in the attack on Jarosis.”

  “So where do things stand now?” Standish asked.

  “It’s been a series of rear-guard actions for almost all forces loyal to Prince Oltranic for the past week. They’ve been falling back towards the Etelainen while a counter-attack is planned.” He took another sip of his drink. “And that’s why we’re here at Tro Vaco IX.”

  “For the counter-attack?” Jae asked.

  “Not sure, but it must be the case. We’re all jumping to Killious in two days, and Killious is within jump range of Qera.” He replied.

  “What’s Qera?” Avi inquired.

  “Qera is the capital of the Pohjois.” The Ship Master replied.

  Standish took another sip of her drink and considered what the Ship Master had been telling them, and then suddenly wondered if something may have happened to her homeworld.

  “Sir, has the fighting been contained to the Core?” She asked.

  “It has, mostly. Where are you from?”

  “Near the Reach.” She answered.

  The Ship Master put his hand on Standish’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I doubt this war will ever affect those living near the Reach. Too far from the centre of the Empire.” The Ship Master stood up inside the cramped quarters. “I want you to spend the next two days getting to know this ship better. When we jump into combat, your job is going to be the retrieval of injured personnel, wherever they may be, and their safe transport to this ship’s medical centres. Get familiar with the drones that we have to assist you, whatever command is planning, this is going to be a big show.” He looked at the three new faces, then turned, and left them alone in their quarters.

  After the Ship Master was gone, Standish downed the rest of her drink, and lay back on her bunk, and looked around the room. It was tight but comfortable. There were two bunk beds, a washroom, and storage for their weapons, armour and other kit. Since they had arrived, the three had focused on armour and kit checks, it wasn’t exciting, but it was vital.

  Things had changed for her since Vistor III. Most of the team was dead. They were at war, and any plans she had for the future were on hold. The next two days were spent continually walking around the ship, getting to know the Laakari. Jae was given command of the remainder of the team, something neither Avi or Standish minded. She was the most senior Tech remaining on the team.

  “Once we jump to Killious, we’ll join up with the rest of the force that is going to jump to Qera.” She looked down at her datapad and consulted her notes. “There will be six units leading a direct assault on Qera, with four units in support. The assaulting units are the First Reach
Guard, Alpha Star Guards, 2nd Etelainen Guards, 4th Etelainen Guards, 71st Shock Command, and the 173rd Assault Brigade. The supporting units consist of the 800 Core Fleet, the 1071st Core Fleet, Black Fleet Five, and Core Heavy.” Jae lowered the datapad.

  Standish shook her head. “That’s got to be a lot of ships. Where are we?”

  Jae looked back at the datapad. “The Laakari is assigned to the Alpha Star Guards.” She said, putting the datapad down on her bed. “We’ll be close to the planet, and as such, we will need to stay frosty, make sure any ships or pilots that need our assistance are tended to rapidly. Depending on how close we jump in, some ships could be at risk of being dragged down to the planet’s surface, and we need to be careful that we’re not caught on them should that happen.”

  “Shouldn’t all the ships be deploying have their own RT’s?” Avi asked, looking at Jae then Standish.

  “Most of the combat ships will have at least one or two RT’s, but they’ll have their hands full once the action kicks off.” Jae replied. “We all qualified recently back at Sandura on the thruster packs, and on drone control, so once the party starts, we’ll need to be on the look-out for anyone and anything that is in distress. We will be responsible for assisting the Alpha Star Guards as much as possible.”

  Standish pursed her lips, then lay back down on her bed. Closing her eyes, she was trying to envision what the next operation would actually be like. She had never actually done any off-ship rescue work since her training on Tekori. On Sandura it had been about the Swift Boats, but those days were over.

  The morning of the assault, the entire crew of the Laakari was greeted by a ship-wide broadcast from their commander reminding them of their duties. They were jumping in with the main assault force, and it was their job to save lives. The ship couldn’t do much else since it was unarmed, something that always struck Standish as odd.

  She and the rest of the RT’s had deposited their armour, plus thruster packs at the ships top-side Rescue Technician hatch, which would be used as the primary gateway on and off the ship once they jumped. Their thruster packs had been given a complete functions check, and now it was a waiting game. Once the Laakari reached Qera space, the three Tech’s would exit the ship, and handle rescue operations using either their thruster packs or the vessel’s many medical drones.

  After everyone was fully geared up in their orange and blue armour, each operator stood still while the other two completed final inspections of their gear. When it was Standish’s turn, Jae had to remind her that since they were assigned to a medical ship, they were not authorised to carry weapons.

  Standish looked down at the blaster attached to her armour and begrudgingly took it off. Once she had removed her weapon, she shook her head and was then helped into her thruster pack which would typically have been too heavy for even Jae and Avi to pick up together, but with their armour on, it was easy.

  “This is the Ship Master.” The broadcast even came over Standish’s helmets comms unit, which she quickly turned down. She was going to have several channels open once they jumped, bridge comms, team comms, and a comms channel direct to the three medical bays that were spread out along the length of the ship.

  “We are jumping in five minutes. All personnel, rig the ship for combat operations.” The line went silent.

  Looking over to Jae and Avi, she opened up the team comms channel. “Want to kill the gravity now?”

  Jae nodded. “Stand-by.”

  Standish gave the lock-out chamber a final sweep. It was grey in colour and five metres square. A single hatch in the middle of the ceiling was the team's exit to the outside hull. Checking that everything in the room had been secured, she lowered her blast shield and cycled through the visual spectrums until she arrived at the thermal option. She knew that out in space, it’d be almost impossible to see individual ships or pilots in the darkness, and thermal was the easiest to use.

  After she had checked that her thruster pack was synched with her suit, she quickly went through a functions test on the helmets medical sensors by scanning Avi. The system was functioning correctly. Avi’s bio-med scan came in speedily and reported he was in full health, at least for his species. Satisfied that all her gear checked out, Standish readied herself for the gravity to be cut, which would typically allow the trio to drift off the decking if they hadn’t activated their mag-clamps on their boots.

  “Gravity off.” Jae reported.

  Standish checked her air supply, which was almost limitless with the rebreather system activated, and finally confirmed that her armour had a full charge of power. All system were on-line and functioning correctly.

  The remainder of the five minutes before the jump raced by. When the Ship Master came back over the comms, Standish was ready for action.

  “Prepare for jump.”

  It was just like any other jump Standish had done since she had joined the fleet, only this time it was into the Pohjois, a region she had never been to, and this time it was into a fight.

  “Jumping.”

  The instant the jump was complete, a notification from the bridge let the team know they had arrived. “On station.”

  “Let’s go.” Jae shouted, lifting off the deck after releasing her mag-lock.

  Standish looked up and checked that the compartments hatch was open, and released her mag-lock, allowing herself to float up, and once Jae and Avi were through the hatch, she powered up her thruster pack, gave it a little squirt of power, then followed them out and onto the hull of the Laakari.

  Once outside the ship, Standish set down next to Avi and began scanning her surroundings. Qera, a giant blue and green ball, floated in space just above the vessel. It was a lush looking world from Standish’s perspective, but before she got lost in its wonder, she looked around and marvelled at the number of ships that had made the jump. There were hundreds of them, of all shapes, sizes and descriptions.

  Cycling through her helmets systems, she pulled up a top-down, system-wide image of the deployed forces, and noticed that there didn’t appear to be a single Pohjois ship on the image. Clearing the image away, she looked over at Avi and toggled her comms system.

  “Where are the locals?” She asked.

  Avi turned around. “No idea.” He said. “Maybe they’re busy in the Core.”

  “I would expect them to return shortly, in any case.” Jae said. “Let’s fan out. I’ll take the bow, Standish, the stern, Avi, stay here.”

  Standish acknowledged the instructions, and released the mag-lock on her boots, then quickly activated her thruster back, shooting to the rear of the ship. Due to the nature of space combat and extra-vehicle operations, the Laakari bridge officers were kept apprised at all times where the Rescue Techs were, so in the event that they needed to move the ship, they’d at least have the chance to warn their Tech’s before moving the vessel; potentially leaving their operators stranded in the middle of space.

  Reaching the back of the ship, Standish scanned the area to the rear of the Laakari. There was a mishmash of different vessels in her field of view, all deployed in a combat formation with some ships facing the planet, with others were facing out towards the stars. Using her optical suite, Standish could just make out some of the vessels that had formed an outer cordon far away from Qera itself, and from her perch, on the tail of the Laakari, everything looked calm and serene.

  Accessing the telemetry data from the Laakari, Standish confirmed that there wasn’t a single Pohjois ship in the entire sector, which immediately gave her the impression that something was wrong.

  “All crew, surface fire coming up from Qera.” It was the Ship Master from the bridge.

  Standish turned to look at the giant orb that was hovering above the ship and could see flashes on the surface which was probably some kind of defensive battery getting in action. Standish didn’t know much about space combat apart what she had learned in training, but she was starting to feel somewhat vulnerable on the rear of the defenceless ship. Taking a deep b
reath, Standish tried to calm her nerves before she was inevitably thrust into action.

  Standing at the rear of the four-hundred-metre-long ship, Standish looked up as the steady stream of fire from the planet set into a rhythm which was now being answered by the ships in orbit. Missiles, energy weapons, and other ordinance were now being targeted at the planet. Standish hoped it wasn’t an indiscriminate response to the surface fire, but those decisions were made well above her pay-grade. Something in the back of her mind that hoped that innocents on the planet weren’t caught in the cross-fire.

  “Drones coming off-world.” Another report from the bridge.

  Here we go. Standish said to herself, clenching her fists. Focus and get the job done. Honour your team-mates you lost on Vistor III. Her mind was right, and she was ready for the show.

  Switching her optics, she scanned for anything without a friendly designator, using data sent from the Laakari to help track the drones that were coming up to meet the invasion fleet. When she was finally able to spot them, she was shocked at how many units were coming up to greet the attacking force. She asked her tracking software to estimate the number of incoming drones, but the system could only track ten-thousand objects at a time, and Standish estimated that number only represented a fraction of the oncoming force.

  “Oh, fuck.” She said quietly over the net.

  “Standish, your mic is live.” Jae admonished her quickly.

  As the drones got closer to the ships, the shorter-range weapons batteries on the friendly ships opened fired in a furious frenzy to receive them. The shots at the planet’s surface had been calculated and done with a precise application of violence, but this torrent of fire at the drones was maniacal, and at a ferocious pace, and in turn, the fire coming up from the surface doubled its efforts.