Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  Stepping down from the umbilical into the gigantic station that was in orbit over Mechcharga, Standish could see that she was standing in a chamber that was at least a kilometre long, and half that wide. Huge signs had been strung up from the rafters indicating where each Area of Operations holding area was. Throne was on the far left, and with Mils at her side, she made her way towards that section of the hangar. A metre-high glass wall ran down the length of the entire hangar separating each AO with breaks every twenty metres. Reaching the closest break, a droid stopped her, checked her bio-scan, then instructed her and Mils to follow signs towards the AO Bronze holding area which was at the far end of the Throne holding section.

  Making her way past rows of operators, she could see that final weapons and kit checks were being performed. The time was drawing near. Of course, she’d have to wait for all her gear to get off-loaded from the transport before she and her team could get to work finalising their kit and weapons before the mission launched.

  When she finally made it to the Bronze area, she spotted Num Blaz attending to his armour, and she quickly walked up to him and gave him a slap on the back.

  “Ready to kick some Coalition rear?” She asked, a broad smile on her face.

  Num turned around from his task and beamed a smile back at Standish. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” He rested his right hand on his large suit of armour. “You like the paint scheme?” He asked, gazing at the rather garish colour combination of pink and yellow.

  Standish gave the armour a more thorough look. She did not like the colour combinations. They weren’t very aggressive and clashed in her mind. “Where did those two colours come from?” She asked, putting her hands on her hips.

  “Rax, the team leader, is from Ranch 44. These are the colours that make up the banner of that world.” Num replied, still smiling.

  “Well, then.” Standish looked at the armour again, then at her friend. “I suppose that makes sense.” She shifted her weight to her rear foot and tilted her head back. “You ready for AO Bronze?”

  Num nodded. “Of course.” The smile was back. “We’ll keep you safe, down in that underground station you’re securing.”

  Standish nodded. “So, you don’t think we’ve been given a difficult task?”

  Num shook his head. “The real fight will be the surface, holding off the reinforcements from the three barracks.”

  “That’s a big facility we have to clear.” Standish shot back. “It won’t be as easy as you think.”

  “And how many troops are you expecting to encounter?” He asked cheekily.

  Standish conceded defeat and looked down at the ground for a moment, then back up to Baz. “None.”

  Blaz reached out his hand and put it on Standish’s shoulder. “We all can’t get the glory.” He said.

  Standish nodded, but before she could reply, Mils Cannarr walked over. Their armour and weapons had arrived.

  “Gotta run Baz, I’ll see you before we launch.” Standish said.

  Num nodded and turned back to his suit.

  When Standish reached her armour, a big smile came onto her face, it looked marvellous. When Jun had told the team that they were going to be deploying with a black, red colour scheme, she had been unsure of the look, but now she was happy with the result. It looked strong and intimidating at the same time.

  Putting her right hand on the chest plate, she ran her hand down the front of the smooth armour, her eyes closed, feeling for the various attachment points for all the weapons, ammunition, explosives and other kit that she was going to strap on before launch. The armour had a very slick and streamlined appearance when naked, but once it was geared-up for combat, it looked much bulkier.

  First things first, she went about a full systems diagnostics and functions test. It didn’t matter that the entire team had run multiple checks on Mella II before loading the suits up for transport, they all knew that it was critical to check that nothing had gone wrong in transit. The process took an hour. No longer. Once that step was complete, Standish put on her helmet and ran through all the systems checks: Optics, tracking and mapping, communications, life support. Once the checks were complete, it was on to weapons.

  Weapons selection had been conducted in an open discussion format before the team's departure from Mella II. Jun wanted everyone's input on what systems should be carried on the mission, and he wanted to ensure that there was enough redundancy to account for any variables. Twenty-four operators were going into the underground complex in AO Throne, eight per team. The decision had been made that there would be four different load-outs per unit.

  All the operators would use some of the same basic kit such as the combat knife, pistol, and rifle, but after that, it was speciality weapons. The four load-outs were point-operator, heavy armaments, anti-armour, and demolitions. Standish was going to deploy with a demo load-out. Looking down at her weapons, she went through a mental check-list of what she saw.

  Her Dynamic Operations fighting knife was on her hip, as always. Her pistol was on the top row of weapons, along with an extra magazine of ballistic projectiles, and a spare energy clip. Next to that was her rifle with two additional energy clips. At the end of the first row were her favourite pieces of destruction, spider charges, she had four. On the next row was a large cratering charge, to be used to collapse the in-bound rail tunnel. Next to that was a mini-missile system that she would attach to her left forearm, which came with four mini rockets. Next were two anti-droid grenades, then two high explosive grenades. The last piece of kit was zip-cuffs to be used to subdue any rowdy civilians if the need arose.

  Moving to the top row of weapons, Standish picked up the duo-capability pistol and ejected the two clips that went along with the weapon. Setting the clips down, Standish went through the functions tests of the pistol making sure that both the ballistic and energy firing capabilities were in good working order. When she was satisfied the weapon was ready, she reloaded the clips, checked that the weapon was in a safe mode, then set it down.

  Scooting over to the rifle, she picked it up and repeated the same steps as she had done with the pistol. Unlike the pistol that fired on a limited energy setting, the rifle could shoot at various settings, including one that could punch through Sentinel armour, if a full energy charge was used at once, and assuming that she hit the target. A challenging proposition when facing advanced combat robots.

  Next up were the spider charges. The four charges that she’d be carrying with her were still packed in their wrappings from the factory. Standish quickly peeled them out, and checked that the devices were fully functional, and then set the security functions on the charges, and synched them with her armour’s AI. She had heard rumours that any smart explosive could be hacked and detonated remotely, so all operators now made sure their demolitions was encrypted before missions.

  The cratering charge was next. Housed in a nondescript olive casing, the charge packed twenty kilograms of high explosives and required syncing with her armour. The charge was somewhat bulky and would be carried on an attachment point on Standish’s left hip when on the surface.

  The mini-missile launch system had already been attached to the left forearm of her armour, and the four missiles were laid out neatly next to the rest of her weapons. The rockets had a short range of one kilometre and packed either a high explosive or armour piercing round. Standish’s load-out consisted of two of each. The rockets were smart, and once a target was selected by the armour’s operator, the missiles would pursue their targets, even if the targets moved. Perfect for Sentinels, if she could get a lock on them.

  Last but not least were four hand grenades. Two high-explosive, and two anti-droid; capable of shorting the electronics in combat machines, and powered armour. Very useful when confronted by an opponent with more speed and firepower and armour than she could deal with. The only trouble was that against an advanced Sentinel, there were no guarantees the grenades would work, fleet intelligence knew that some advanced combat bots
were impervious to the weapons.

  Once her inspection of all the kit was complete, Standish got to her feet and looked around the rest of the massive chamber. Armour, weapons, equipment, and operators were everywhere. It was filled, and there was a hum of activity as everyone went about their business. After a quick glance over at the rest of her team, Standish looked back down at her assortment of gear and thought about what she needed to do next, and then she got to it.

  As the room continued to hum along with operators from dozens of different worlds on dozens of different teams went about their pre-mission kit checks, Standish tried to switch her mind off, and focus on the task of fitting her mini-missile system to her armour. It was now just a case of keeping her nerves at bay and making sure that everything she did was done correctly, and without error.

  Once the first accoutrement was attached to the armour, she went over to a kit bin filled with various pieces of gear and pulled out four grenade attachments, and then secured her grenades to the chest of her armour. Next up was securing extra ammunition on attachment points below the grenades, on the armours stomach. Once the additional clips and magazines were firmly in place, she attached the spider charges to the outside of her armour’s small of the back.

  Picking up the pistol, she grabbed an attachment piece, and secured the weapon under her right armpit, just above her extra ammunition. It was a natural place to retrieve the weapon from, and it kept it out of the way when she was using her primary rifle.

  Happy with her kit, Standish did what every other operator in the room was probably doing once their equipment was finished being prepped, she sat down on the ground with a datapad and reviewed the mission. The timetable, the plans of Curzon, the schematics on the underground station, the details on the Royal Palace. Every piece of information that was available, she went through. There was an absolute focus on the areas that she considered to be the most relevant to her mission, but Standish knew that on any operation, something could go wrong, and she needed to be prepared for any eventuality.

  “Meals are being brought out by droids.” Mils said, sitting down next to Standish. “They don’t want us leaving this area. Security.” He shrugged.

  Standish looked at her friend. The big fella was sitting crossed legged, sipping from a bottle. She didn’t know if Mils was skittish about the upcoming mission, but she knew that something of this scale, and of this level of importance, changed everything. It wasn’t a typical raid against some Coalition outpost. This might be the last best chance Alliance command had to end the war in one fell swoop. Cut the head off the beast and bring peace back to the Empire before it disappeared for good.

  Looking down the row of the Beta One-One team, Standish noted that the eight-member team had naturally splintered into pairs. Jun and Cryne were sat together. Ho and Lo were sitting, speaking in their native tongue, and Nik Has and Systa K were both sharpening their fighting knives together. It was one big happy team.

  When the droids finally arrived with the food, it was plentiful, and of a wide variety. Everyone ate well. Standish had chosen light foods, and she didn’t overeat. She never gorged before operations. Some operators like Mils could eat until they were stuffed and then go about their business as if nothing was amiss. She wasn’t one of those.

  An hour after the meal had been cleared away, a team of medical droids swarmed into the chamber and issued a series of tablets and pills. Instructions were to take them before entering the pods, and after the droids performed a final check of the armour’s integrated med-systems, they disappeared.

  Once the droids were out of the room, Standish got up and checked her armour, and when she tried to access the suits medical systems, she found it was blocked. When she asked Cryne the meaning of this, he replied that the droids had probably done something to the override system, giving more control to the suits AI. That didn’t settle well with Standish, but there was nothing she could do about it.

  Standish knew that waiting was the worst part of any mission, so when the warning came that it was time to kit up in their TX-8 armour, load weapons and supplies, a sense of relief came over her. When the second notice came, everyone was ready for it.

  Thirty minutes to launch.

  Standish always followed the same steps before launch. Once the first alarm went, she took her final trip to relieve herself, before putting on her armour. Droid assisted, she was able to get the armour on in less than fifteen minutes, so when the thirty-minute warning went, she was all kitted up except her gloves and helmet.

  The stealth pods were all positioned in neat rows and columns at the far end of the massive chamber. Each team had their eight pods in a row, and once Standish was armoured up, she informed Mils that she was heading over to the pods, and bid their prep area farewell.

  The four and a half metre tall pods looked ominous in their long rows and columns. Various droids, drones and techs were moving about the neatly placed pods making final checks, and as Standish weaved her way to her pod, she couldn’t help but take in the increasing buzzy vibe in the air. The trepidation was now gone, replaced by excitement and the sense that they were on the verge of something historic and monumental. The various colour schemes that had been painted on the armour of the other teams ranged from very urban-tactical to outlandish. As Standish strode through the rows in her black and red armour, her heart raced as she listened to all the chatter that was going on around her. Accents from dozens of worlds filled the area.

  When Standish finally reached her pod, she set down her cratering charge in front of the open pod, and set her rifle down in the footwell of the pod. Systa K and Nik Has were already at their pods, probably doing what Standish was about to do, final systems check and synching the pods AI with her armour’s.

  Another chime went off, this time in a different tone. It was a ten-minute warning. Securing the cratering charge inside the stealth pod, Standish put her rifle into the proper carrying position, and then put her gloves on, and ran a full systems check on her armour, again. Everything was in the green.

  Picking up her helmet from the ground, Standish cradled it under her arm and walked over to Mils whose pod was next to hers.

  “You ready?” She asked, a smile on her face.

  Her big friend returned the smile. “I am.”

  Standish nodded and turned to look at the other six members of the team that were all gearing up. Standish and Mils were at the end of the line of Beta One-One pods, and she could already see that Jun and Cryne at the far end were having a final conversation. The two leaders of the team turned and walked towards the middle two pods, waving Standish and Mils over.

  When they were gathered, Jun looked everyone in the eye, then offered his final words of advice. “When you hit the ground, remember what we have drilled as a team. The rally point is the entrance to the underground station.” He gave everyone a final glance, then brought his helmet up. “Button up.” He ordered, and in nearly perfect synchronisation, the eight members of the team put their helmets on.

  Standish’s heads-up-display came online quickly. She had already run several tests on the systems earlier in the day, so when the system came back, it was fully synced with the rest of the team, air was flowing, and communications were fully functional.

  “Test.” Jun said, calmly, over the net.

  “Cryne.”

  “Ho.”

  “Lo.”

  “K.”

  “Has.”

  “Mils.”

  “Standish.”

  “Good. Into your pods. Prepare for launch.” Jun ordered.

  Standish lingered for a moment, watching Jun and Cryne move off before returning to her pod. As she moved back to her position, she activated the suit’s power, and quickly threw a few air-punches, then performed a quick standing vertical jump. The suit performed flawlessly, and felt light and nimble, responding well to her commands. She was as ready as she could ever be.

  Reaching her pod, she checked her items were stored correctly, t
hen stepped up, and back into the matte black pod. When her back hit the rear of the shallow capsule, she rested her head against the back wall, her gaze focused on the black capsule that was stationary just five metres to her front.

  Switching communications channels, Standish found the command net and listened to the chatter. From what she could tell, the TDSSG was primed, and ready to shoot the stealth pods all the way to Qera, also known as the Big Q. Local security forces were making sure that the Mechcharga system was clear of surveillance devices or other reconnaissance ships, and once the all-clear was given, the pods would have their micro-fusion engines activated, the gravity in the room would be cut, and the massive doors at the end of the chamber that led into space would open.

  When the sixty seconds warning was broadcast, the hatch to her pod gave off a hissing noise as it released compressed air, closing quickly, then synching down, locking into place. Once it was shut, a large red button was illuminated to the right of Standish’s head showing the emergency blast release. Her helmet’s HUD also showed an activation mechanism for an emergency release, something Standish hoped she wouldn’t have to use.

  Activating the external imagery devices, Standish was able to find an image of the massive wave of pods as they lifted up from the floor of the large hangar, and started to drift towards the slowly opening outer hatch in a synchronised movement. The pods all maintained a set distance from each other as they moved out of the station and started to form up into more distinct sections. Those going to Area of Operations Throne were at the front of the large group of pods that were slowly moving towards the TDSSG, followed by those going to AO Sky and AO Law.

  The course the pods took once exiting the station had been programmed into them well before any of the operators had arrived in the system. The black stealth pods moved in a delicate ballet away from the station as single units, in groups of eight, and then in three larger groups for each target area.