“Diamond on me!” Reyn was shouting over the silent operators almost as soon as Banch had given the word.
Standish looked over to Blaz’s team and watched his team leader stand up. “All Bronze team leaders on me!”
Jun popped to his feet and looked at Cryne. “Take the team back to the billets.” He ordered and started walking over to the Bronze leader.
Standish got to her feet and looked at Cannarr. “That was fast.” She said as the thousand-odd operators started to file out of shooting range.
“Agreed.” Mils said.
Standish looked up at her big friend. Yeah, she thought to herself. More to come later. Thinking back to the assignments, she knew that while her team might not have had the most important mission on the surface, they were tasked with two other teams to secure a subterranean transport complex that happened to be near three military barracks with unknown forces. There were a lot of unknowns with this mission.
Standish might have been new to Dynamic Operations, but one thing she knew was that no plan survives first contact. It also meant no matter how much planning went into the operation here, in the warm confines of the facilities they were in, nothing could change an unanticipated problem from developing when the mission launched, and perhaps what concerned her most of all was the scale. This thing was big, and there was a lot of eyes on it from higher up the food chain.
Results were expected. The prize was considerable. The question remained if it could be achieved. In perfect conditions, sure, the D-O teams would smoke any opposition they came across but rarely did ideal conditions exist on the battlefield.
When Standish and the rest of the team returned to the cavernous room that had been converted into their temporary living quarters, the armour had been removed and sent back to the long corridor where they had worked on it earlier, along with all their weapons and gear. The room was quiet, even though it was housing several hundred operators, a large percentage of the entire strike package.
“Fitness kit on.” Cryne ordered. “Light run.”
In no time, the seven operators from Beta One-One were jogging lightly down one of the long hallways on the station. There was an outer most corridor which looped around the entire base on levels 47, 48, 49, and 50, and were often used for running competitions, and training purposes. Cryne took them straight to level 47, which offered the shortest loop, but it was still over twenty kilometres long.
They had left the sleeping sector in a respectful formation, with Cryne in front of two columns. That was how they usually were formed up for jogs with Jun, especially in front of the establishment, but once they got to 47 Deck, Cryne released them, and the two columns turned into a loose gaggle.
The pace wasn’t slow, but it wasn’t fast either. Cryne set the pace with Mils upfront. Being taller than everyone else on the team, he had the longest stride, and could casually make the pace that was set. It was always more challenging for the shorter members of the group, who happened to be the two females, and while Standish was taller than Systa K, she was still shorter than the males on the team.
As they made their way around the ring of the station, their soft-soled fitness shoes made no noise on the clean white tiles that covered the floors of almost every deck. This far out to the perimeter of the station, they rarely came across anyone else who wasn’t running. The ring was not used as a cut-through to another part of the base, and there were far easier ways to get around each level than to come out to the ring.
As they ran counter clock-wise, Standish hung to the rear of the group, along with Nik Has who generally hated longer runs, but was the fastest sprinter on the team, and let her mind wander. Every two hundred metres there was a long window off to her right offering her a glimpse of some of the other sections of the station, planets in the system, ships passing by, and stars that stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction.
When the team made its way back to the billets, they took a twenty-minute cool-down walk after the run and spent another twenty minutes stretching. Cryne told them to carry-on and popped in to look for Jun. When he returned, he informed them that they had a mission briefing for Area of Operations Bronze in an hour. All eighty teams assigned to it were rotating through the briefing room, and One-One’s slot was coming up.
A quick wash and change into their navy-blue jumpsuits allowed them more than enough time to go to the dining facility and get a light meal. No one was interested in having a heavy meal after the run. Standish had a few pieces of fresh fruit from a world she didn’t recognise and a large glass of juice and water. Finished, the team made their way to the large conference room where teams were being briefed by the team leader of Beta Six-Three, Dynamic Operator Grade One Ankjari, Num Blaz’s boss.
When One-One filed into the room, they found seats assigned to them and sat down in silence. Ankjari was already standing at the front of the room in front of several data-screens. Each operator found a built-in data-screen at each seat, along with a small data-pad. Standish picked up the pad and turned it on.
The screen flickered to life, and a large symbol of Dynamic Operations came up, followed by emblems for the Etelainen, and the Alliance fleet. Once she had flipped through the introductions, she reached the first page of substance, but before she could start reading it, Ankjari addressed the room.
“Everyone here? Good.” Ankjari said in a commanding voice. “This is briefing four for the Bronze element of the Throne Assault of Operation Voit.” He picked up a small remote from the table in front of him and activated the table-mounted data-screens. “We are going to discuss the overall mission plan, and then break down each team’s primary, secondary, and tertiary areas of responsibility for this mission.” He clicked the remote once to bring up an image of Qera as seen from space. “This is where we are heading.” He turned and looked at the picture that was on one of the screens behind him. “I’m sure some of you are familiar with the raid that fleet sent against Qera a few years ago.” He turned around and faced the sat operators. “That was a disaster.” He put his hands down on the table to his front. “This will be different.”
“Before we get much deeper into the briefing,” Ankjari looked at Jun. “I’ll need you to plan the assault on the underground station that is in our area of responsibility.”
That put a small smile on Jun’s face. “I will.”
The slide changed to show an individual drop capsule that Standish hadn’t seen before. “This is the new Mark 18 insertion pod.” He tapped the control again, and several images of the pod appeared on the table. “This pod was in the works during the final days of the Empire, but never put into production. Since then, our people on Mechcharga have been putting the final touches on the pod, and now it is ready for deployment.”
“What makes it different from the Mark 12?” Asked one of the other team leaders.
Ankjari smiled. “It’s stealth.” He replied.
Standish looked at Jun, he was shaking his head. “Must have cost a fortune.” He said dryly.
Ankjari nodded. “Each unit is costly, more than a fighter ship, but the mission parameters make the cost negligible.”
“Have they been combat tested?” Another one of the team leaders asked.
“Negative. Only in simulated use against D-O and Sentinel teams on Guhr 8-Nine.”
“And?” Jun blurted out.
“And they work.” Ankjari replied. “The plan is to send you through to Qera through a trans-dimensional sub-space gateway.”
The mention of the new, mysterious transportation system drew a lot of blank stares in the room. It was a term that no one had ever heard before.
Ankjari changed to an image of a circular-shaped object that was hollow in the middle. “This is the Trans-Dimensional Sub-Space Gateway.”
“This does not look good.” Cryne said under his breath.
“The TDSSG can transport personnel, material, whatever can fit inside the ring, to any destination given the proper star-plot.” The imag
e started to rotate slowly, floating in the air over the table.
“Fuck me.” Cryne blurted out.
Jun snapped his head around and gave his second a stern look, but Cryne locked eyes with his boss and shook his head, then slowly brought up his arm, and extended a finger to point at the TDSSG.
“That fucking thing is an abomination.” He dropped his arm. “You’re planning to send us to Qera in the drop pods?”
Standish looked from Cryne to Ankjari. It was a valid question.
“The system can send anything we choose to any destination in the galaxy.” Ankjari Replied with a cool calmness. “Now, if you don’t mind, may I continue with the briefing?” Ankjari waited, then continued. “The plan is to fire you in the Mark 18 pods through the gateway towards Qera. When you arrive there, you will be stealth, and will make a covert descent to the planets surface, and land at your designated strike points.”
“I hate to interrupt again, but how are we getting extracted if you’re sending us in pods. Does this fantabulous gateway have a recall system?” Cryne asked.
“Worried about being stuck on Qera?” Ankjari asked.
Cryne nodded. “I don’t like dropping into anywhere I don’t know how to get out of.” He replied.
“Once your mission is a success, a sub-space transmission will be sent here, and an extraction force will be dispatched to take you off Qera. This force will also land administrative teams to take control of their government.” Ankjari replied.
“Are you reinforcing the raid with additional troops, once we’ve made initial entry?” A team leader asked.
Ankjari shook his head. “Negative. Once you are on the surface, you are on your own until you have captured the Prince, and forced him to surrender his forces. Then a small fleet will be sent to take over control of the system, and the administrative members will join you on the surface to take over the government.”
“Your plan sucks.” Cryne blurted out. “There’s no guarantee that the Coalition government will agree to a cease-fire even if we capture the Prince. You’re operating under the assumption that the Prince is the all mighty power in the Pohjois, and that no one will fight on after he’s killed or deposed.” Cryne shook his head. “And what about the local civilians? Are they just going to embrace their new conquerors after we’ve killed or put their Prince in chains?” Cryne leaned forward. “And what if we run into more resistance than expected on the surface?”
Ankjari shook his head and threw his arms in the air. “Yes?”
“What’s the extraction plan if we have to abort.” Cryne asked, slamming his robotic hand on the table.
“There isn’t one.” The Beta Six-Three leader replied.
“Fuck me.” Jun blurted out.
“I need a drink.” Cryne said.
It didn’t take long for the briefing room to turn into a three-way shouting match between the operators. One group thought they were headed on a suicide mission, and others thought the mission was going to be a leisurely walk in the park. Standish had very mixed feelings about everything. She knew that Cryne was right. He liked playing against the odds, but he also wanted a fighting chance. That was what he taught her since she had joined the team. She knew that he wasn’t a coward, or doubted his skill or that of the other members of D-O that would be going on the raid, he just had severe reservations about being sent into the heart of the Coalition without a way back home if things went sideways.
Mils had been sitting near Standish for the bulk of the briefing and leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I don’t like the sound of this.”
Standish looked up at her towering friend. “And you just realised that?”
Mils rocked his head from side to side. “Hard to say. Don’t want to question the top-brass.”
Standish nodded. She could understand that.
“Why don’t we just send through some high-yield missiles and wipe the city out?” Cryne asked Ankjair before being led out of the room by Jun. “Nuke the city from orbit!”
It turned out that every other team that had received their initial brief had reacted the same way. No surprises. No one liked the idea of getting shot into Coalition space without a guarantee of extraction. It was an unwritten rule that the Fleet would always try and rescue its downed crews and forces, that was how they were able to keep sending them into harm's way. Take the rescue portion out of the equation, it made the whole thing less equitable.
Just before the briefing restarted, Cryne took the team to one side, and let them know his more candid thoughts on what this meant for the mission. “This,” he waved his arm towards the briefing table. “Is going to force us to fight like wild animals.” He dropped his arm and nodded. “Get your minds right.”
When the briefing finally restarted, Ankjari tried to swiftly move on to the more critical components of the operation once the teams hit the ground.
“The stealth pods will easily pass by Qera defences. They do not have the tech, according to latest intelligence reports, to detect the pods, nor does Qera have any kind of shielding installed according to reconnaissance reports gathered by Dynamic Operations.” Ankjari said with confidence.
“How old is the intel?” One of the other team leaders asked.
“Accurate as of this morning.” Ankjari replied.
“Once you have cleared the outer ring of space stations, and gun-satellites, your pods will take the necessary trajectory to reach your target insertion point. All our test runs have put the stealth pods within fifty metres of the assigned impact point, and the pods have a ninety-nine-point nine safe landing rate.”
Standish knew that the real challenge would be once they hit the planet’s surface.
Ankjari changed the display to show the capital, Curzon. Standish looked at the image that she had been staring at in her spare time since she learned it was their destination, she knew it well. The capital was built around a massive park that was shaped like a triangle. Each side of the park was ten kilometres in length, and at each point, a critical piece of infrastructure. He quickly gave the highlights of the city, repeating what Standish had already heard.
Once Ankjari was finished with laying the scene, he delved into more detail about the capital. “There is a high-speed rail line that runs above ground in a loop around the exterior of the park.”
Standish allowed herself a moment to watch the simulated three-dimensional trains run their course.
“In addition to this train, there is an underground network that runs from all ten primary structures on the surface to a hub located underneath the middle of the park. This network is accessible from the surface and allows for rapid movement within the city.” The image was changed so the sub-surface transportation network became visible. “Securing these transport points will be critical during this operation. They could be used to move the Prince to safety or to reinforce troops from one sector to another.”
The image pulled out, then moved over to the Royal Palace. “We are going to focus on the Royal Palace, Objective Throne.” Ankjari said dryly. “As you know, four strike packages are heading to Throne in the form of eighty teams. That’s six-hundred-forty operators dropping onto this location. As I said earlier, there should only be up to three-hundred enemy ground forces in the vicinity.”
Ankjari shifted the image from a bird’s eye view to a side on picture of the towering palace. It was almost entirely black, covered in scale-like tiles; looking menacing, it was like nothing Standish had ever seen before.
“AO Throne has been broken down into four objectives. Diamond, Gold, Silver, Bronze.” The image shifted back to a bird's eye view, and the map was suddenly colour coded to each teams area of responsibility. “I know this is a Bronze briefing, but we will go over all four aspects of the mission in the event that adaptation is required.” Ankjari looked around at the assembled team members. “AO Silver is the area that is in between the Palace and the park. This sector’s primary concerns are to secure the links to the high-speed rail lines
and the east lawn landing pad. This effort has twenty-six teams assigned to it. AO Silver’s primary objective is to prevent any key targets from escaping the capture zone. Its secondary objective is to prevent reinforcements arriving in AO Throne.” Ankjari allowed a few moments as the image cycled through the different areas inside AO Silver for the operators to see.
“Now, the Palace itself is broken down into two sectors, Gold at the bottom, and running up to the fourth floor, and Diamond, which is the assault on the top two levels. Gold has sixteen teams assigned to it, Diamond has six. These teams have only one mission, assault the Palace and secure all high-value targets within. If things go sideways, Diamond and Gold will back up Silver or Bronze if needed.” Ankjari looked up and slowly looked around the room. “I don’t expect that our sector will require back-up.”
The image zoomed out momentarily, then into the area to the rear of the Palace where the three barracks and the entrance to the underground network were located. “This is our playground.” There was suddenly a smile on his face. “We will have thirty-two teams dropping onto AO Bronze, where we will expect to find the most resistance.” Ankjari pointed down to the image that was being displayed of the three four-story barracks. “This is our challenge. We have two-hundred-fifty-six operators dropping into this large area to contend with an estimated three-hundred infantry. I expect that this challenge will not be an issue.” Ankjari locked eyes with Jun. “Beta One-One, Beta Five-Zero, and Beta Four-Three will be responsible for securing the sub-surface entrance to the underground network here. This is critical, as it may be used as both an escape route and a way to reinforce the Palace.”
Jun nodded. “We won’t let anyone in or out.”
Ankjari leaned back and nodded twice. “And that will be a challenge of considerable consequence.” He pulled the image back out. “In addition to the nine-hundred troops stationed in Curzon, there is a considerable population of non-combatants. These might be government workers, members of the guilds, and even tradesmen or just your average civilian off the street. There will be masses of chaos once the shooting starts. Our objective, in AO Bronze, is to allow the teams assigned to Gold and Diamond to do their thing, and secure the Palace. We need to hold off the infantry forces and make sure that no one of value escapes via the underground network.
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