Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  Standish swallowed hard. No one was experienced in operations of this scale. Even during the first days of the war when all chaos was breaking loose inside the Core, nothing on this scale had been attempted apart from the fleet raid on Qera. Large-scale ship engagements had stopped occurring after that first catastrophic raid. Everything now was on a dramatically smaller scale. The front lines of the war had solidified, with only a few worlds still seriously contested.

  After years of fighting, the Core had been reduced to a shadow of its former self, with almost all the populated worlds destroyed and left in ruin. But this, this raid, was going to change all of that, or so Craz was leading the operators to believe.

  Standish looked at the images that were displayed on the screen and focused on the picture of the Royal Palace. It was an oddly shaped building, a vast base, and a sharp spire stretching towards the sky. It was almost entirely black in colour and was covered in large tiles that almost made the building look like it had scales.

  “Now, Curzon.” Craz changed the image to a top-down image of the capital of the Pohjois. “Curzon was a purpose-built city during the height of imperial expansion, and as you can tell from this image, laid out with purpose. At the heart of the city is this large park here, it is shaped like a triangle with each side ten kilometres long. At the top of the park is the Royal Palace. The bottom left the spaceport, and the bottom right the Halls of Governance. These three areas are connected by over-ground high-speed rail.

  “The two top sides of the triangle have two massive residential and commercial blocks that stretch roughly fifteen kilometres away from the park. These are some of the largest structures anywhere. The bottom of the triangle has three structures; the only difference is that the central structure has light manufacturing capabilities.” Craz paused and turned to face his audience and looked at the rows of operators for a moment, then turned back to the image on the screen.

  “The only other structures of note are nine small barracks, located in a cluster of three at the far point from the end of each point of the triangle. Now, there are no roads in Curzon, so all movement happens via the rail network, or the subterranean underground system that connects every building in the capital to this central hub here,” Craz manipulated the image until a multi-layered structure was visible in the middle of the park. “Several levels under the middle of the park. The only way in and out of Curzon is via the spaceport. The Royal Palace and the Halls of Governance do not have landing pads large enough to take anything other than small shuttles, although in an emergency it is assumed that jump capable shuttles could land on the grounds nearby.” Craz paused again and zoomed the image out until the entire city was back in view.

  “In broad strokes, each team will drop onto their objectives and secure them, then conduct a cordon and search for the Prince. Once he has been detained, the fleet will jump into orbit and extract all the teams from their respective sites.” Craz rubbed his jaw. “We believe that each objective can be secured rapidly, with little threat to the assaulting force. Latest intelligence suggests that there are no more than one hundred troops located at each of the barracks complex’s, giving them a total number of 900, which will give you numerical superiority and no doubt a superiority in capability.”

  Craz continued with his briefing while Standish ran over everything he was saying again in her head. There was an endless list of questions that she wanted to ask but now was clearly not the time. She didn’t have the rank or experience to raise any queries.

  After a few more points, Craz informed the operators that they were to divide off into their three strike packages and conduct all the necessary pre-mission work that was required. They had seven days to prepare for the most significant raid in the short history of the Alliance.

  Almost as soon as Craz had finished his briefing, the chatter in the room increased rapidly with nearly two thousand voices representing dozens of different species all chatting among themselves. Standish wasn’t so eager, and slumped back into her seat, as the rest of her teammates jumped to their feet.

  Standish wasn’t sure what bugged her so much about this mission, but something about it stunk of desperation, and perhaps recklessness. This mission was about to commit a significant percentage of all of the Dynamic Operations command. Craz had put up a slide at the end of the presentation confirming which teams were assigned to which part of the raid, and Standish could tell from the list that almost all of the commands top tier units had been allocated. They were committing their best teams to this mission.

  Looking to her right, she could see that Cryne and Jun were starting to slowly make their way into the crowded stairs that ran along the side of the seats. Looking down at her trousers, Standish brushed a small piece of lint off, then rose to her feet, adjusting the fighting knife on his right thigh.

  Turning to her right, she started to file out while looking back towards the front of the auditorium where she could see Bender talking to Craz, the Grand Marshall and Reyn. Reaching the end of the row of seats, Standish stepped out onto the crowded steps and tried to spot Mils, but he out of view. Not seeing anyone from her team, she walked straight to the exit and stepped out of the bright briefing room into a hallway that was dimmer, with wood panelling covering the walls, and a series of circular-shaped lights hanging down from the high ceiling.

  A few other operators were congregating in the vicinity of the doors, but no one she recognised. Checking her wrist comms, she tried to raise Cryne, but she only got static. Looking down the hallway she was in, she knew that she was in the wrong place. The operators that were standing nearby were all from an Alpha team, and all of them looked at her like she didn’t belong.

  Looking down to the ground in an almost bashful manner, Standish turned and started walking back towards the auditorium, but stopped when she saw Bender walking towards her through the doors. Moving out of the way, she allowed the team leader to walk past her, and as her eyes followed him as he walked by, she started to turn to walk towards the door but bumped into someone that had moved into her path.

  “Easy.”

  Standish whipped her head around and came face to face with Reyn.

  “You’re a pretty one.” Reyn said slowly. Both his hands resting on his pistol grips.

  “Excuse me, Sir.” Standish said automatically and stepped to the side before striding quickly back towards the doors, and away from Reyn.

  “Wait.” Reyn said in a hushed, but stern voice. “I know you.”

  Standish stopped and turned. “Sandura 26G.” She said matter-of-factly.

  “That’s right. You flew Bender’s wing down to the surface.” Reyn nodded. “You’re a good pilot.” He took a step towards her. “What team are you on?”

  “Beta One-One.” She replied.

  “We’re in the same strike package.” He said. “Better run off, don’t want to miss the briefing.” He gave her a wink, turned, and moved away, but before he took more than two steps, he stopped. “Kid.” He smiled. “Probably see you again before this dance is over.” He turned again and walked off.

  Walking back into the auditorium, Standish turned left and walked back towards the doors that she had entered through earlier and found Mils Cannarr waiting for her.

  “Took the wrong door.” She said.

  Mils started walking away for the auditorium slow enough for Standish to catch-up.

  “Where is everyone?” She asked. The hallway had cleared out quickly.

  “The rest of the team has gone back to the billets. Jun wants another full kit and weapons inspection. He said that the initial planning briefing will be in two hours.” Mils said.

  Standish shook her head. “We already did a full kit inspection.” She said dryly.

  Mils nodded.

  When the pair reached the temporary billets, the other six members of the team were already getting to work inspecting their armour which had been kept on rolling palates since they had arrived on the station, and only just moved into the sle
eping quarters by droids. Each suit was stood upright, and they all looked identical, except the green line that was painted on the front of Jun and Cryne’s helmets, denoting their leadership positions.

  Walking over to her armour, she came face to face with the piece of warfighting kit that she had been given as a replacement for the equipment she had worn on the mission to the AB 79 system.

  Standish preferred to fight light, with as few additions to the minimal combat load of ammunition and kit that was carried on missions. Some of the other members of the team took extra weapons and pieces of equipment based on their position in the unit. Every team member also carried a simple backpack with additional energy cells, air, ammunition, emergency shelters and food and water.

  It didn’t take long for someone on the team to put on some kind of music, either something popular at the moment or something from their home-world. Standish started her checks with her helmet and then proceeded to work her way down to her boots.

  Standish, like the rest of her team, carried a dual-energy/ballistic round-based rifle as their primary weapon which could be used against any target they could encounter. For large droids, and other shielded targets, the weapon fired hyper lethal iron rounds. The weapon was very compact, at only 500 mm in length, and was ideal for a mission in a built-up area. The energy version of the system had several power settings, from stun to standard to heavy. The armour that the team wore would survive a hit from a standard blast, but not a heavy and was primarily used against organic targets.

  After the rifle was an energy pistol that had a limited power-cell and range but was effective in close quarters against unarmoured foes. The last line of defence was the knife that every member of the Dynamic Operations units received upon passing out of their training course. They were worn at all times and had one of the sharpest blades on all the known worlds.

  In the time she had left, Standish was able to give her rifle a proper strip and clean before it was time for the team to pack their gear back into their lockers and head to the venue that had been selected to host the first briefing for the attack on Qera.

  “Really?” Standish asked when her team walked into one of the stations sizeable indoor shooting range.

  Mils Cannarr was standing right next to her as they entered the space. “Probably one of the few places on the station big enough for eighty teams.” He said with a smile on his face. “And it looks like we’re all sitting on the ground.”

  Mils was correct. There were no chairs set up in the giant space, and all the teams that had arrived before Beta One-One were sat on the ground, all pushed as far forward towards the end of the firing range where the teams had spent time honing their marksmanship.

  As the team scooted further forward, Standish could see five individuals standing at the front of the space. She only recognised Bender because of his green beard, but other than him, she didn’t recognise anyone. When Jun got as far forward as he could, he promptly took a seat on the hard flooring along with the rest of the team.

  Standish looked around the space for familiar faces and spotted Num Blaz sitting with his team fifteen metres away. His back was to her, but she was sure it was him. His bright orange hair had been recently cut, leaving a single strip down the centre of his head, a look he had sported since Standish had met him in training on Tekori.

  Looking to the front of the room, Standish spotted a lone figure leaning against the wall of the shooting range, hands on his hips, a look of boredom on his face. It was Reyn.

  “Attention, attention.” One of the figures at the front that Standish didn’t recognise finally brought the room to order. A hovering microphone was in front of his face. “Are all the teams present?” He was looking over the room towards the door they had all entered.

  After a brief pause, he continued. “Excellent.”

  Standish listened as the male introduced himself and laid out the order of events for the rest of the day. While he did so, Bender moved over to where Reyn was standing and took a seat on the ground, while two other officers she didn’t recognize walked to the other wall and sat down on chairs that had been provided, leaving the individual addressing them accompanied by only one other person, who was finally introduced as Dynamic Operator Senior Grade Banch.

  After the introduction and administrative notes were finished, Banch took control of the floating microphone and moved forward to where the front rank of operators was sat. “Objective Throne.” He paused. “The critical part of Operation Voit.” He turned and started to walk back to his starting point. “Pull out your data-pads.”

  There was a collective rustle of noise as almost one-thousand operators dug into their pockets and pulled out data-pads of various sizes and readied to take notes.

  Banch pulled a small control stick from his pocket and pointed it towards two massive screens that were strung across the shooting range’s floor. A top-down view of Curzon came onto the screens. The imaged shifted through various formats, from satellite, to thermal, to a simplified map view before cycling back to the satellite image of the triangle-shaped city.

  “This is where we are going in seven days. And this mission is critical to ending this war once and for all.” Banch turned back to face the operators. “The enemy will thank you for not giving your best, and I expect you to let them down.” He smiled. “Now.”

  Banch flipped through a few slides. “This attack will be broken down into a few pieces. It’s like a cake. The bottom, the icing and the core.” He changed the slide to show a side view of the Royal Palace. “Once we’ve dropped onto the objective, certain teams will lock down the perimeter. Nothing in, nothing out.” Banch cycled through a few images of the palace. “Once the stage is set, teams will secure the palace itself, clearing it floor by floor, with rapid assaults. There is a landing pad within the complex, on the east lawn, which will be the responsibility of the perimeter teams.

  “Now, for the team assignments.” Banch paused and looked over the operators that were sat in front of him. “I understand that some of these jobs will seem beneath you, but this mission is different from everything else ever attempted, and we need your best in every aspect of this operation. Now, teams.”

  It took a while for Banch to get through all the teams. There were one-hundred-twenty-five teams to announce assignments for. Standish and the rest of Beta One-One were waiting to hear their team called for their role in the raid. The first team numbers called were to back up the initial assault on the palace’s core offices and rooms. The next numbers were to help secure the perimeter of the palace, many of which would get inside the palace. The final team numbers that were called were to secure the possible exit opportunities for those fleeing the palace, hardly a place to win glory and honour.

  When the Beta One-One was finally called, everyone one on the team was deflated. They were a part of the security perimeter. It was an insult. Bog standard infantry was typically assigned to such a remedial task. This was hard to take. Everyone from Jun down to Standish knew that they had been given the scraps. Secure access to the underground transport link with two other teams.

  Standish listened to the rest of the team assignments. After Banch had finished, he looked around the room. “As I’m sure you’ve noted, the perimeter security force accounts for roughly seventy-five percent of the teams for this mission.” He brought up a bird’s eye view of the Royal Palace compound, pulled out far enough to see the tip of the large central park, and nearby structures. “The reason for that is three-fold. First, are the three barracks that are just north of the Palace, and we do not have accurate numbers on how many troops will be in camp at the time. Next, are the two high-speed rail stations. They can be used for escape, or to bring in reinforcements, either way, another point of interest, and finally the underground station, located just north of the palace.

  “I’d expect all civilians and administrators to flee the area once we drop, and I’d also expect our target to attempt to flee as well. Now, I’ve decided to break d
own this operation into four major components. Each component will have a team leader, while I will maintain overall command and control, and approve all component plans.” Banch used his controller to draw a line south of the palace, and around the east lawn and including the two high-speed rail stations. “This is Area of Operations Silver.” He moved the maker until the area north of the palace was circled. “This is AO Bronze.”

  Standish shook her head. Bronze was her team's target area and also included the three barracks.

  “The palace perimeter and ground floor where prisoner holding and processing will be conducted is AO Gold and the upper floors of the palace are AO Diamond.” He paused and looked at the operators sat in front of him. “I am sending you your assignments now.” Banch changed the image that was being shown and displayed four-team designations. “And the honour of the command goes to, Diamond: Prime One.” Banch paused and looked at Bender. “You have overall planning command, but as discussed previously, you will also be the primary assault team.”

  Standish couldn’t see Bender, but she saw Reyn rock his head a few times.

  “Gold, Beta Sever-Six. Silver, Beta One-Nine. Bronze, Beta Six-Three.”

  The last team called out was Num Blaz’s team, and Standish watched as he patted his other teammates on the back. It was going to be an honour to be on the team that was responsible for planning and then coordinating the actual assault on such an important target.

  “Now, each AO leader can break down the responsibilities within your area as you see fit. All plans will need to be approved by myself before assault minus 2.” Banch killed the holographic image and looked at the teams that had their eyes locked on him. “Between now and then I want you doing what you need to do to be mentally and physically ready for this operation. Team leaders take whatever steps are necessary to make sure you’re ready to go on A-Day.” Banch paused. “AO Leaders, I’ll hand over to you. Make a note of your assigned teams and proceed as you seem fit.”