Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  “It’s all in the file, Jun.” Everall said. “It’s a good mission, the most challenging one I have.” He got up from behind his desk and walked over to where Jun was standing. “This one is coming from the top.”

  Jun looked up. “Admiral Zalenious?”

  The commander nodded. “This has come directly from him.” The commander sat gently on the front of his desk. “Seems that some of his associates have some assets in the system that need tending to.” He pointed at the datapad. “It’s all in the file. Take it away, spend some time going over it, and be prepared to give me a mission briefing in twenty-four hours. You leave for the AB system in thirty-six.”

  Jun nodded, and led the team out of the office, past all the other Beta teams, then in a silent file, back to their team room. Once they were inside, and the door was closed, Jun quickly got things moving.

  “Activate security procedures.” He ordered.

  Standish watched as Cryne walked over to the data terminal next to the door and started the counter-surveillance systems that protected the room from any form of electronic eavesdropping. Even though they were in a heavily fortified military installation, standard security protocols had to be enforced. The Coalition weren’t the only people that had to be kept in the dark about this mission, other teams needed to be kept unaware just in case they were captured by the Coalition, or sensitive information leaked somehow.

  “We’re good.” Cryne said, walking back to the rest of the team that was standing around the operational planning table that was up against the sidewall of the room.

  “Right then.” Jun set the pad down, entered his personal security codes, and unlocked the table and the datapad that allowed them to exchange data. After a few seconds of humming, and the table and the adjoining wall started to display information on the mission.

  “Are we sure this is above board?” Systa K asked. “This sounds like a black operation to me.” She looked at the other faces around the table. “I don’t like it.”

  “Well, you don’t have to like it.” Cryne interjected. “We’ve got a job to do, and our job now is to study all the data in the mission packet, and help Jun get ready to brief the commander tomorrow, because twelve hours after that, we’re going to the Core.”

  Jun nodded, and tapped the datapad a few times and brought up a three-dimensional image of the AB system. “Right.” He placed both his hands on the table and looked intently at the graphic.

  Standish gave K a quick glance. She was unhappy, but there was nothing that could stop the mission from going forward once it had been authorised by command. Looking down to the image of the system, she tried to get her bearings.

  “We have one red dwarf, tagged M9VAB79, four planets, seventeen moons and one large asteroid belt.” Jun said. “No chance that star is putting out enough heat for life anywhere in the system.” He tapped on the four planets, and their individual information was displayed above them, and on the wall. “Zero life.” He said confidently. “Our targets are two asteroids.”

  “Where are these two asteroids?” Mils Cannarr asked.

  “In the belt.” Cryne answered, pointing at the giant asteroid field. “Smack in the damn middle of that.” He shook his head. “A field that dense, no way this is an above surface operation.”

  Jun looked over at his second. “What are you thinking?”

  Cryne pointed at the datapad. “I’m betting that thing tells us these two facilities are either inside two of the rocks out there, or at least in some kind of canyon.” He shook his head.

  “Let’s find out.” Jun replied, and scrolled through the pad until he reached the sections on the two asteroids in question. Manipulating the image of the system, he zoomed in on the two rocks that were under one hundred thousand kilometres apart. “Looks like you are correct.” The two rocks were now the only objects visible on the table and were rotating slowly. “TKM 44 has a mining facility in this canyon here.” He pointed at the asteroid which was now almost as large as the table it was floating over. He brushed aside the rock and increased the size of RBM 45. “Looks like there is tunnel cut into the rock here.”

  Standish looked at the hole as the image continued to rotate. “How large is that opening?”

  Jun looked at the datapad. “Large enough for a ship to enter.” He scrolled through the datapad until he came to the section on the actual mines, which he quickly brought up for everyone to see. “It looks like both mines are identical, except the sections that are used to transfer the ore to whatever ship comes to collect it.”

  “I’ve seen mines like this before.” Cryne added. “Can’t tell what they’re mining, but it looks like the sections that might allow for visitors is heavily protected against radiation.” He put his hands out and started to manipulate the image. “Ignoring the section of the mine on 44 that is holding in that canyon, and let's forget the shaft on 45 that goes into the asteroid, both of these mines have identical layouts. Looks like they’re each three levels with a primary collection point, and then a refinery on site. Everything is done in-house. Once the ore is processed, it’s just a question of moving it to a collection point.”

  “Any security?” Mo Ho asked.

  Cryne shook his head and looked at Jun. “Doesn’t look like it. What does the briefing say?”

  Jun picked up the datapad and scrolled through it. “No security. There should be a few droids on the facilities to handle all the labour needs, but that’s about it.”

  “So, let me get this right.” Nik Has said, crossing his arms. “We’ve got two mining facilities in this unpopulated system. And?” He looked around the room.

  Cryne looked at the datapad. “It looks like someone’s ripping off the facility.”

  “That is what it sounds like.” Jun shook his head. “What strikes me as most strange is that these facilities appear to still be running. Very odd.” He looked at Cryne.

  “And we’re going in there to figure out what’s really going on.” Cryne added.

  “This is clearly not the work of the Alliance, so that leaves two very different, but unpleasant choices: the Coalition, or an unknown third party.” Jun said.

  “So, we should expect some shooting?” Oyni Lo asked.

  “Quite possibly.” Jun looked at the orders again. “We are not to disrupt the ongoing mine operations if possible.” Jun put the datapad down. “Systa K and Nik, go up to the hangar and check out this Darjk freighter and the shuttles that we’ve been allocated.” He looked over to Mo Ho and Oyni Lo. “You two, go draw ammunition and everything that is in the standard load-out for a reconnaissance plus urban environment operation. Make sure you request the correct number of drones and have them brought up to the freighter.” He looked over to Standish and Mils Cannarr. “I need you two to go draw rations and medical supplies for this operation. Make sure you get plenty of water and combat loads of nano-bot autoinjectors.” Jun looked down at the table and paused for a few moments, then looked up at Standish. “You also need to re-colour all the armour.” He looked at Cryne. “What do you think?”

  “We always have navy.” He said. “And considering the installation we’re going to, how about gold?”

  Jun smiled and looked around the table. “Objections?”

  There were none.

  “Everyone knows their tasks. Cryne and I will be here finalising the mission planning.” He checked the time. “We have to present to the commander in roughly 23 hours, and we’re skids up twelve after that. I will schedule us in for a full pre-mission medical in the morning before we launch.” He looked at the team's faces once more. “Off you go.”

  Standish followed Mils out of the team room and onto the long corridor that had all the other team rooms coming off of it. “So, what’s the plan?” She asked.

  Mils smiled when he looked down at Standish. “Head to the supply room and draw the supplies we need.”

  “Couldn’t we just request them from the team room?” She asked, a bit surprised that they had to actually go
and get the supplies. “Surely a droid could bring them to us.”

  “That is always an option, but Jun, and most of the other team leaders, want their operators to check the product at the source, then bring it back to the team room.” He said. “Jun could have simply ordered the supplies and trusted that they would have made their way onto our transport, but droids make mistakes, so that’s why he’s sent us.”

  Standish nodded. “I trust the same goes for the water and the medical supplies.”

  “That is correct.” They reached the nearest stairwell, entered it and started to climb. “We won’t be painting the armour, though. There is a shell that is used for re-colouring on the team level. We’ll just wheel it down to our room, and then it will paint the suits for us.”

  Standish followed Mils up the stairs until they reached the correct level. They crossed over a large empty parade field, then entered another stairwell and climbed down two levels before reaching an already formed queue for the supply room. They only had to wait twenty minutes in the line that kept moving. As the line got shorter, Standish watched as members of other teams walked by pushing or pulling a large trailer of supplies. Some had droids with them to do all the work. Some of the stacks of food and water moving past were quite small, perhaps only for a few days, while other stacks looked enormous, enough for an extended mission.

  “How much does Jun want us to order?” She asked.

  “No idea.” Mils replied. “He’ll have already sent in a requisition in the time since we left the team room. He will expect us to verify everything is present.” Mils smiled. “So be ready for some counting.”

  He was right. The stack of supplies that Jun had ordered was large enough that it took Standish and Mils five minutes to count, recount, and accept. By her calculations, there were enough supplies for a forty-day mission, longer if they rationed. With their cart loaded, they thanked the droid quartermaster and started off towards the nearest lift.

  “Medical now?” Standish asked.

  Mils shook his head. “No. We should go and dump this stuff, then head to medical.”

  It took them longer to drag the cart back to the team room as the limited number of lifts were now in heavy use by the teams that were moving kit around. There was another queue to get down to the main team hall, and when Standish and Mils got back to the team room, they found Jun and Cryne huddled over a three-dimensional image of one of the mines, both talking and taking notes, formulating their plan.

  Emptying the cart, Standish and Mils activated the auto-recall system on the flatbed, and it slowly crept off back to the quartermaster under its own power. Once the rations were all neatly stacked along the wall on the opposite side of the planning table, Mils and Standish headed off towards medical.

  Again, they found that there was a queue, and like every other team that was scheduled to deploy in the not too distant future, there was a demand for nano-bot autoinjectors, but when Standish and Mils reached the counter where a medical droid was dispensing the requested supplies, they were surprised to find that they were not only given the required amount of nano-bot autoinjectors but double doses of radiation medication.

  The moment the pair walked out of the full medical facility, they both looked at each other. “What’s up with all these radiation meds?” Mils asked, a concerned look on his face.

  Standish shook her head, but something from the briefing was coming back to her. “Didn’t Jun say that the system was uninhabited?”

  Mils thought on it for a moment. “Yes. Four planets, seventeen moons, but no inhabitants.” He looked down at Standish. “I thought that was odd.”

  “And a red dwarf star.” Standish added. “Either that star is kicking out some high levels of radiation, or maybe something is going on with the mines we’re being sent in to check.”

  “What are you thinking?” Mils asked.

  Standish shook her head. “Hard to say. I don’t know much about mining or minerals, and Jun didn’t say what they were actually mining, so maybe there’s a connection there.”

  When they got back to the team room, they found Ho and Lo stacking all the energy cells, and other ammunition and combat gear they would need for the mission, along with the power units for the armour. When Standish and Mils were done double-checking the meds, they went over to the two team leaders and received their follow-on instructions.

  “Ho, Lo!” Cryne shouted over to the two operators who were checking the weapons. “Help Standish and Mils change the paint job on all the armour, and once that is done, divvy up all the ammunition, food, water, power cells, micro drones, everything, evenly into eight piles.” He instructed, then looked back to the model that he and Jun were working on.

  Standish looked at Mils, then over to Mo Ho, who was the senior of the four.

  “You heard what he said.” Ho said with a smile on his face.

  Following Ho out of the team room, Standish noticed how the activity in the hallway had gone from a low rumble of movement to a full-blown roar of operators moving about. Equipment and supplies coming in all the time, stacks of kit building up in the wide hallway, a real buzz in the air. It put a pep in Standish’s heart and step. There was a fantastic feeling in the air. Real warriors, well-trained individuals, getting ready to embark on missions far and wide. It was what she had always wanted.

  Ever since she had gone to the recruiting briefing on Nadolo Prime all that time ago, she had always kept her eyes on the prize of joining Dynamic Operations. She couldn’t recall all the injuries, blood spilt, or sacrifices she had made to get where she was now. Not to mention the comrades that had died along the way. She wasn’t the innocent farm girl anymore. She had had her first taste of combat, and now she had been trained to be a member of an elite organisation, and it was finally time for her first mission.

  Luckily for Beta One-One, the armour painting machine was not being used. Roughly ten-foot-tall, the device had slots for each part of the suits, and all that needed to happen was to put the pieces in the device, close the front hatch, then select your pattern and colours. Rolling the machine down the hallway, Standish noted the paint schemes already in use. Some were outlandish. Pinks, purples, reds, blacks, yellows, the armour done up in elaborate and exotic patterns, most without any tactical value.

  And that was perhaps one of the more odd things she discovered about the Dynamic Operations wing of the fleet when she passed out, and finally joined her team on Killious, they had a serious flare for the dramatic. Perhaps it was because this was the war to end all wars. The end of the Empire. Maybe it was a sense of imminent death that some members of the teams felt. Either way, there was a total lack of tactical value in some of the patterns and colour schemes selected.

  Then there were the weapons.

  Beta One-One was going to deploy with all necessary kit. Everything required to get the job done, but some of the teams were carrying a variety of weapons that she didn’t recognise or realised were wholly unsuited for interstellar combat. Some teams carried swords, others axes. There seemed to be a trend among the Alpha teams for wild and exotic looking weapons. Some of the teams even appeared to have altered their armour with headdress, capes, and other accoutrements.

  When she asked Mils what the reason was for the bladed weapons, he told her that some of the creatures and droids that they could encounter were impervious to energy weapons, and nothing beat a powerfully and skillfully used blade in close quarters combat. Maybe that was part of the reason all members carried a special fighting knife, close encounters.

  Reaching the team room, the operators went about setting the painting machine up for their needs, then put the suits in one at a time, and waited as they were quickly stripped of the previous colour, then give a new look. Standish’s old light tan colour scheme was replaced with a very striking navy and gold. When the hatch of the machine opened to reveal her chest piece in all its freshly painted glory, a giant smile appeared on her face. It looked absolutely badass.

  The other
seven suits went in and had the same scheme added to the armour, with slight variations in the pattern. The only difference was the helmets for Jun and Cryne, both of which had vertical green lines painted on them. Jun’s from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the chin, and Cryne’s from the top of the forehead, but only down to just below eye level. The markings designated command positions and were something that combat units in the fleet used exclusively.

  With all the suits repainted, the power packs were added and checked. Reserve power packs were added to each operators stack of ammo, food, and other kit. Once everything was adequately divided, and ready, Ho walked over to Jun and Cryne to update them. Cryne came over and looked over the stack that had been prepared for Jun.

  “Are all the other stacks like this one?” He asked Ho.

  “Yes.”

  Cryne nodded. “You four go up to the hangar and help K and Nik Has prep the ship. I’ll give these stacks a final inspection.”

  When Standish and the group reached the hangar, it was buzzing with activity. There were ships of all descriptions, most official fleet ships, while others like the Darjk freighter, were not. When they reached the freighter, they found K and Has standing at the rear main engine housing, datapads in hand.

  “How’s it going?” Ho asked.

  K looked up from her pad, then over to Has, then back down to her pad.

  “We’re going over the ground checks at the moment.” Has said, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

  Ho checked the time. “Still?”

  “It’s an old ship.” Has replied. “Hangar boss won’t certify and give us clearance to launch until it’s complete.”

  Standish hadn’t taken her eyes off the rust coloured ship since they had arrived at the hangar. It was just over seventy-five metres long and had a double-stacked primary propulsion system at the rear, and a pair of overwing engines. The ship seemed to lack any charm.

  “Where are the four shuttles?” Standish asked out loud to no one in particular.