A Deep Sleep (Valhalla Book 1)

by Tyler Totten

  As she spun to face the ground she opened her eyes, trying to get her bearings. She realized with a start that they were over the arctic. She smiled to herself, seeing the large sheet of ice fill more and more of her view. There was little in the arctic, certainly very few orbiting satellites watched here with any great detail. Once they dropped below the horizon of the nearest station, the suit would be able to pop a chute and slow her down safely. Clever. She also noticed that the shuttle pieces were falling away from them now, the suits carefully angling away from the debris. The effort began in earnest as the ice pack covered the entire visible surface.

  Minutes later, a parachute erupted from her back. Her suit stabilized, ceasing it rolls. The parachute jerked her as it filled with air and began to rapidly slow her descent. A few minutes later, she touched the snowy surface. The other two landed on either side and made their way to her quickly. The Petty Officer disconnected her and piled it with his own, the pilot followed suit. The pilot dumped a dry powder all over the chutes and they began to chemically dissolve. After three minutes, there was little left and the pilot kicked snow over what there was.

  “Time to go sir.” The Petty Officer informed her.

  “Go where?” Athena turned and answered her own question. From the ice, a sail had risen. She smiled again, Aegis still operated submarines. She shook her head, these people seemed to have just about everything. She followed the shuttle crew to the submarine, climbing the sail. At the top they entered the submarine down a hatch that had clearly been designed to allow for an armored individual to climb down. Even before she reached the bottom, the submarine began to slip down beneath the ice.

  Sol System: Ceres

  Virtual Training Facility Seven

  Captain Kim emerged from the simulator, dripping in sweat and shaking slightly. She’d just been through a grueling twelve hour combat simulator. She’d been in virtual training programs before, but never like this. The system did a remarkable job of simulating the full combat environment. Of course, being in a suit of armor helped immensely, she suspected. They could control everything she interfaced with. There was very little for her to react to that wasn’t there as part of the simulation. She stumbled her way into the waiting showers, conveniently located a few steps away from the simulator exit. She wasn’t the only one, as ten naked men and women all stumbled the same direction. They were too tired to even banter with each other, another thing Ava wasn’t used to with normal simulators. As she showered off the sweat and dead skin cells of the last day she did notice, with some degree of satisfaction, that the Agema seemed to be just as tired as she was.

  Of course, they aren’t the veteran Agema. Those are the bastards running this whole tortuous op. Ava thought. She had been training here for three months with the Agema, alternating her time between working in the simulators with other newer Agema and running training ops with the veteran formations. Some of those took place in Ceres, others in orbit or among the other rocky objects scattered around Ceres that Aegis owned to one degree or another. She had been amazed at the size and scope of the facilities available to these people. She knew from her own training days that the American Special Forces units didn’t have any better facilities. American facilities tended to be somewhat larger in scale, but only because they serviced more numbers. The quality of the training wasn’t any better. She was actually starting to think the training she had received was somewhat lacking by comparison to the Agema.

  “Captain Kim.” Called a voice, one she recognized immediately.

  “Here, sir.” She moved past several others who were finishing their own showers and stepped out into the area just outside of the shower. She pulled a towel from the rack, wrapped it around herself, and snapped to attention in a smooth series of motions.

  “You are ordered to report to briefing room six in ten minutes.” Major Brett Simms informed her.

  “Aye, aye, sir.” She responded automatically, keeping her face impassive. Inside she was wondering why she was being pulled from training to go to a briefing room. It didn’t make any sense.

  Nine minutes later she approached the door to the indicated room and proceeded inside. As soon as she stepped in, she saw that the only other individual in the room and snapped to attention as the door slid closed behind her.

  “Colonel Martin, sir.” She said formally.

  “At ease, Captain.” Colonel Zoe Martin responded. “Good to see you again.”

  “And you as well sir.” Ava had

  “I’ve been reviewing your performance in the training operations.” She said. Ava tensed. “I must say, you’re everything we hoped you’d be. A little rough on some skills, but then again, they aren’t really the type of skills that your RASAT training would have emphasized.”

  Ava wasn’t quite sur how to respond, so she went with what stood out the most. “Everything you’d hoped, sir?”

  “Yes. You see, Captain Kim, we are putting together something of an insurance policy. We call it the Valhalla Project.”

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  Ava’s head was spinning. Colonel Martin had just explained the entire Valhalla Project to her and it was a lot to take in all at once.

  Heck, it’s a lot to take in at all! She thought. She still had her reservations, particularly about the Agema process that she would have to undergo. Even with all that, however, she knew that she had already decided. She wanted to do this, she was going to do this. The hell of it was, she wasn’t completely certain of why.

  LHS 465: Kuiper Belt

  Object 45-16A-01

  The object did not belong, but it was no accident that it was there. Carefully maneuvered over many months, the inner asteroid belt object had been coaxed out past the sixth planet and into the Kuiper belt. There had been a few small collisions, but otherwise the orbit was stable. The asteroid was largely composed of nickel-iron, with a dark surface that made it seem as if it was trying to be stealthy.

  Within the asteroid, activity was everywhere. Tunnel boring machines worked on, workers installed electrical and piping, and systems were brought online and tested. The Valhalla Project was nearly ready to accept its first long-term inhabitants.

  A small stealthy shuttle approached, exchanging a terse series of laser pulse transmissions with the asteroid’s own communication system. After receiving the correct codes a door opened deep inside one of the ravines on the surface. The shuttle dove into the ravine, corkscrewing downward and coming to a halt just outside to opening tunnel. Once it was fully open, the shuttle flew into the maw and disappeared.

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  “So this is it then?” Athena couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice. It had been nearly a year since she had ‘died’, but she’d been quite busy in that time. She had been whisked away from Sol and transported out to the Chi Draconis system. Aegis had a collection of facilities there, including a medical clinic that was equipped to perform the Agema operations. After some familiarization training and other lessons on just what had been done to her and how to use it, she’d mostly been idle. There was endless training but her body, even newly enhanced, could only take so much in a day. Now, finally, she was here.

  “Yes. Welcome to your new home, sir.”

  Athena glanced around the cavernous shuttle bay, trying to get an idea of the scale. As she thought it, dimensioning leapt into her field of vision and numbers pulsed along them. Other readings and calculations flashed by making her dizzy. She blinked rapidly and willed them away. The modifications to her body were still taking some getting used to. She constantly called up answers to questions she had in her head. She had been told that control took time, but it was starting to get on her nerves, the amount of focus it seemed to take to control her implants.

  “So what’s the plan?” Athena turned to face her new aide of sorts.

  “Well sir, I’m sure we can find your quarters and then s
ome chow. After that I imagine you’ll want to meet with the other members of the program that have been recruited?” Lieutenant Bill Rhodes suggested. The young Agema lieutenant had certainly moved up in the world from a lowly private, but then a war could do that. Even the vaunted Agema, with lower casualty rates than most Special Forces contingents hadn’t been immune to high body counts on some of their more risky operations. Even still, Athena figured his promotion was done such that it would facilitate a strong officer base to go along with the sizeable contingent of noncoms that were being recruited. Athena was no expert in the workings of ground pounders, but if their noncoms worked like they did in the Navy, she’d be glad for every single one of them.

  “Excellent. Let’s do just that.” Athena said, gesturing for him to lead the way.

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  An hour later, Athena had eaten and, more importantly, she had received a download of Valhalla. She now had the entire computer generated map of the facility in her head. She could even connect to the network and ‘see’ activity all across the massive base. Of course, she kept inadvertently triggering the overlays and had already stumbled twice from the sudden influx. She had also managed to give herself a headache. Just as she was thinking she should take something, the pain began to dissipate and a soothing sensation replaced the pounding headache.

  Oh yeah, I have control over that function now. She thought, smiling happily to herself.

  One of the modifications had given her the ability to control many of her body’s chemical production centers. While she didn’t directly control it, per se, she told the computer in her chest what to do and it complied, so the effect was nearly indistinguishable. Of course there were limiters to prevent her from incurring a host of unfortunate side-effects, but she had reasonable control. If she switched to combat mode most of the limiters would even go away.

  “Here we are sir.” Rhodes brought Athena out of her own thoughts.

  “Admiral on deck!” Athena didn’t see who announced her presence.

  “Thank you Lieutenant.” Athena nodded to the man as she entered the compartment.

  As she did so she immediately noticed several things, first the compartment was a decent sized conference room that could hold at least twenty people and it was very nearly full. Second, the array of shoulder patches on the duty-coveralls present represented a half-dozen nations, at least. While they were predominately American, she saw British, Japanese, Brazilian, and at least one Australian flag present.

  That makes things more interesting…

  “As you were.” Athena set herself into command mode and moved to the front of the room. There were several chairs empty at the back, but she moved towards the woman at the head of the table. She was the only woman to have not snapped to immediate attention when Athena entered the room. Athena noted that she was Aegis and wore a colonel’s eagles on her shoulder. Athena nodded to herself, this was the woman in charge, she simply exuded command and was seemingly totally in control of her surroundings.

  “Rear Admiral Grace Harper, better known as Athena.” The woman stood and extended her hand.

  “Colonel, I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure.” Athena took the seat beside her that was offered, indicating to the others present to sit as well.

  “Of course, I was so wrapped up in the moment, I apologize.” The woman’s exterior faltered for the barest fraction of a second and Athena was certain nobody else noticed. “I am Colonel Zoe Martin, commander of Agema Special Operations Command.”

  “I can’t say that is surprising.” Athena laughed softly. “An enterprise such as this, I would expect to find a Martin personally directing things.”

  “Colonel Martin laughed in return. “That is true enough, though now that you are here it will be your command soon enough.”

  Athena only nodded, her smile remaining on her face but fleeing from her mind. The weight of her future command was heavier than ever, sitting here in this massive facility and meeting those she would actually command. They were all heading into the unknown and she, more lost than they, was leading. It had a certain poetry to it, the most lost leading the lost into the deep unknown of the future.

  “I think we can get started now.” Colonel Martin nodded to Lieutenant Rhodes and he entered a few commands onto a wall-mounted interface, sealing the room. The assembled officers and noncoms quieted instantly.

  “Thank you all for joining this enterprise. The reasons and the risks have been explained to each of you, yet here you are. I am deeply humbled by this. While I am not staying here with you, I will continue to support your efforts until my last day.” Colonel Martin activated the display behind her. Athena was about to turn until she noted that she and the Colonel had a smaller display in front of them that precluded the need to awkwardly turn in their seats.

  “While I know that some of you are aware of at least some of the contents of today’s briefing, I will give a complete accounting to bring everyone up to speed.” Colonel Martin nodded in Athena’s direction as she spoke. “I would also like to introduce your new commanding officer, Admiral Grace “Athena” Harper. You all know her accomplishments; she’s been through the ringer as bad as anyone. She’s also dealt out more than enough hurt. I think you’ll all agree her record speaks for itself.” She indicated for Athena to speak.

  “I am honored to be given this command, to lead the team that will safeguard all we have fought for. We are in a new role, no settling into the peacekeeping roles of our comrades who remain, safeguarding the peace we have lost so many to achieve. Instead, we stand to end any future war as swiftly and favorably as we can, so that others can safeguard the peace once again. We do not do this for our children, but for all future generations.” Athena nodded back at Martin who got back to her briefing.

  “Now then, you should all become intimately familiar with this image; this is your new home. Officially, it is Object 45-16A-01, but we’ve come to call it Valhalla, for obvious reasons.” Martin smiled wolfishly. “And in it we have begun stockpiling the most bleeding edge technologies ever assembled in a single location. The specifics will be dealt with in individual briefings and the notes will be available for you to peruse at your leisure. I suggest you do so. There is a lot of information and I can assure you, even augmented as you all are, it will be a long and boring process to assimilate it all.” She manipulated the controls and the conference table in front of them activated with Valhalla floating and revolving slowly.

  “You’ll notice that there are a number of hidden weapons installations all across the surface. Some are in ravines and crevasses, but most are housed behind rock hatches and abutments. The primary defense of this facility, however, is stealth and anonymity. This asteroid belt is considered devoid of anything useful to mining, though in the case of this particular asteroid, that is not true. A large vein of platinum existed and has been mined. It is stored on the station and will be of great use in the future. Intel and SpecOps, we have some plans and ideas drawn up for you in that regard. Obviously,” She turned towards where the sole engineer sat, Athena recognized the unit patch. “there are manufacturing applications as well, but the stockpile is substantial. Between what was recovered here and some other asteroids out of system, there is in excess of twenty thousand tons of platinum in storage.” Several people choked at that. That much platinum wasn’t a small fortune, it was a large one. “Yes, well, that is not even close to the most valuable stores in this facility, but that is for a little later.”

  Colonel Martin continued for the better part of three hours, roughly summarizing the state of the facilities and their capabilities. Athena watched as she detailed the numerous landing bays, storage facilities full of every conceivable raw material, and the physical training facilities for anytime when they were not in stasis. She also discussed, in somewhat greater detail, the advanced robotic factory complex at their disposal. The facility was the equivalent of some small industrial sys
tems entire production capacity. It was capable of producing anything they could design and had been the first thing constructed. Colonel Martin explained that it had created almost everything they used here, including the very pieces of the briefing room they sat in. This had limited the heavy cargo shipments required to get the facility up and running. Raw material was much more carelessly tracked by intelligence services, since the major industrial nodes were well watched.

  The other major items shipped in had been the six colossal boring machines and their numerous smaller counterparts. With their attending support facilities, they ate rock and dumped processed raw material in their wake. While much of the material wasn’t of great value, engineers had long ago figured out how to incorporate the materials with various resins to form a concrete-like substance. Most mining bases throughout human space were constructed of such materials. The remaining fractions of useful material were used to supplement the raw materials being shipped in for the fabrication of additional equipment. Athena had been surprised to hear that these machines were remaining on the base, indeed they were already ensconced in their own cave.

  “They’re simply too big to risk shipping back out and we already listed them as destroyed or cannibalized for parts back at the shell company Aegis had set-up for their purchase.” Colonel Martin had explained when she’d inquired.

  Athena had been a bit overwhelmed by the information overload, fully intending to do as Colonel Martin had suggested and read up once she got some downtime. Her attention had become completely focused when the briefing had moved to the thing everyone was interested the most in; the stasis systems.