Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  Sandura 26G

  A week later, the Emperor was dead. His deteriorating health hadn’t been mentioned by official media sources, but it was assumed that his lack of recent public appearances was a sign of his worsening health. His oldest son, Prince Oltranic had started making more public appearances, even the weekly Fleet broadcast, something that was entirely unheard of.

  News of the Emperor’s death spread through the fleet quickly. Whether or not regular folks in the Empire noticed, or even cared, was another matter. There were roughly forty-thousand populated worlds under the control of the Empire, which meant that there was an excellent chance that some societies would be oblivious to the issue for weeks, months, or even years. Many planets without access to the Imperial news network or one of the private media channels would probably only hear of the death through word of mouth from a merchant passing through.

  The accession process was not a quick one. Prince Oltranic, the Emperor’s eldest son, required a coronation. Then needed someone was needed to take over the running of the Core. With the middle child, a daughter named Via, ensconced in the Etelainen on Mechcharga, while the youngest son, Salrugina, focused on the Pohjois from his capital on Qera, there was no direct heir to the throne of the Core, only cousins, bastard children, and other figures with dubious claims to the Core could be found on Jarosis.

  After the initial shock of the death of the Emperor, things went back to their regular routine, and on the station above Sandura 26G, that process started to involve the shutting down of the Rescue Technician unit there. The permanent population of the station had continued to drop dramatically since the infection of the planet. Some of the systems other installations would carry on with whatever they had been doing, mining, or something similar, but it had been decided at Fleet to withdraw the Rescue Tech unit. A ship from Fleet eventually removed all the Swift Boats and the tug, stranding the team on the station.

  Vaz was sat at her control station, while Standish was monitoring the usual Fleet channels, and keeping an eye on all the ships in the system, which were very limited of late, when a transmission came in over the Fleet communications, on an unsecured line.

  “This is Fleet command on Jarosis. Castle Delta. All forces go to Case Red.” The transmission ended.

  Vaz let out a sigh. “Contact closest First Fleet installation.” She instructed.

  “D-Tron IV.” Standish said, picked up the microphone and attempted to call the nearest Fleet base at D-Tron IV which was just under ten light-years away. After a few attempts, she turned around and looked at Vaz. “Nothing.” It wasn’t unusual to have communications disruptions through sub-space transmissions.

  Vaz nodded. “Bring up all code-phrases on the main screen.”

  Standish did as she was told, and a long alphabetised list was shown on the giant monitor.

  “Start scrolling down.” Vaz instructed and got out of her chair and walked forward until she was standing next to where Standish was seated. “There.” She pointed at the screen. “Selection Castle.”

  Castle was highlighted, then selected, bringing up a sub-menu with additional options.

  “Scroll down four times.”

  Standish did until Delta was highlighted.

  “Select.”

  The screen quickly shifted again to reveal a single word: Insurrection.

  Below the large font were three options, all colour-coordinated. White, Green, and Red.

  Standish put the cursor over the word red and looked up at Vaz.

  “Go ahead.” She said in a low voice, before looking around to see who else was standing nearby, but they were alone.

  When her head got back to the front, the facts were laid bare for her to see.

  ‘Castle Delta: Case Red indicates an insurrection or rebellion by Pohjois military forces against the Crown. Commanders are to isolate and detain all members of their units from the Pohjois and consider any ship or force they encounter with Pohjois markings to be hostile.’

  Vaz looked down at Standish. “We don’t have anyone from the Pohjois, do we?” A concerned look on her face.

  Standish shook her head. “No.”

  “Thank goodness.” Vaz said, letting out a deep breath. She looked down at her forearm device and hit the call button that would summon the entire team to her position. She didn’t know what she was going to tell them other than the truth, which offered more questions than answers.

  Five minutes later, there was nothing but stunned faces among the Rescue Tech’s, and five minutes after that, chaos started to break out on the station.

  “Senior Tech Vaz.” It was the station administer, a clerk working for the mighty Valalis Corporation.

  “Go.”

  “We have reports of violence on the station. I request you deploy your forces to assist the station's security.” The line was cut.

  “Listen.” Vaz raised her voice. “I want everyone armoured up and kitted at once. We’re going to secure the Hive and wait for Fleet.”

  “We’re not going out there like the administrator asked?” Gue queried.

  Vaz shook her head. “I don’t know what’s happening, but what we need to do is hunker down, and get ready for whatever comes. We don’t know who is out there or where their loyalty lies. We need to wait until Fleet arrives and extracts or reinforces our position.” Vaz shook her head. “And we’re not trained for riot control. Now, go!” She pointed at the weapons cages.

  Everyone but Standish made a run for the cages. “Shall I kit up, or stay at my post?”

  Vaz turned and looked at Standish, perhaps her best Tech. “Continue to monitor the situation from your station. Try and get someone from a higher command on-line.”

  Standish returned to her station, but before she could attempt to make any communications out of the system, the scanners detected a jump.

  “Jump detected.” She reported and quickly tried to gather more information about the ship, but before she could, it made its intentions known. “The ship has just destroyed a Margarian freighter.” Standish looked over to Vaz. “Must be hostile.” She paused while she checked the data on display, “And this station has no defences against,” she leaned forward until she could see the information that was on display about the newly arrived warship. “something in that class.” Standish sat back in her chair. A flashing light on her panel caught her eye. “Incoming transmission.”

  “This is the Pohjois warship K755. You will have all Imperial Fleet personnel in the primary docking area in ten minutes.” The transmission ended.

  Standish looked up at Vaz. “What does he want?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s not good.” Vaz brought up her hands and ran them down her face, deep in thought.

  “Multiple jumps detected!” Standish shouted. “Unknown signatures. Wait!” She looked up at the giant monitor. “They have destroyed the Pohjois warship and are en-route to the station.”

  “Sandura Station, this is the Imperial Vessel Snatch Five.”

  “Vaz, all the ships but one just jumped out of the system.” Standish reported.

  “I am trying to reach the Rescue Tech unit. Please respond.” A voice asked over the open channel.

  “Snatch Five, this is the Rescue Tech unit.” Standish replied.

  “Rescue Tech, you are ordered to assist in the evacuation of a medical facility on Vistor III, the orders are being transmitted now. Please verify.”

  Standish waited for the incoming transmission, and once it was verified, she put it on the primary monitor. “Looks authentic.” She said. “It has the First Fleet clearances.”

  Vaz nodded her head. “It is.”

  “Snatch Five. This is Rescue Tech actual, do you have mission details?”

  “Actual, this is Snatch Five actual, Senior Tech, I need you to gather your team, and any kit you need for a planet-side mission, and any critical personal items and be ready to transport in fifteen minutes. There is a good chance you will not be returning to this station, so bring wha
t you’ll need for a long journey. As of this moment, we are at war.”

  Vaz had her team move quickly. They grabbed all the weapons and kit they could carry, along with a few personal items each, and promptly walked down to the docks where a large shuttle from the Snatch Five was already waiting. The shuttle was fully automated, fresh off the assembly line of some factory somewhere in the Empire.

  The Snatch Five itself was just months old and was almost entirely automated, making it both incredibly deadly, and at the same time, unsuited to many mundane tasks, such as surface missions. Once the Rescue Techs were onboard, Vaz left the rest of her team and reported to the Ship Master on the bridge, a hyper-modern and sleek looking nerve centre that made the old station to look like a relic.

  “Senior Tech.” The Ship Master was sat in an elevated position in the centre of the bridge and looked down at Vaz when she walked in. “Are you and your team ready for a mission.”

  Vaz looked up at the Ship Master. “We are, sir.”

  “Excellent.” The Ship Master got up, and stepped down from his perch, and led Vaz over to a large digital view-screen with an image of the surrounding one hundred light-years. “We are positioned here in the Sanduran System. We will jump to the Vistor System and take up an orbit over Vistor III. There is a high priority medical facility on the surface that your team will evacuate. This ship has no ground forces to carry out that task.”

  Vaz watched as the image zoomed into the planet, then showed multiple views of the medical facility that was in the middle of a lush green forest. “How many patients?”

  “Unknown. There is a shuttle at the facility that I have been informed can transport all the patients in an emergency, but it doesn't jump. You will be transported down to the surface in our shuttle, once you have secured the facility, you will load the patients and staff onto the medical transport, and break orbit. Once clear of the planet, we will transfer all the patients to this ship, then jump to a designated safe zone.”

  “Are enemy forces expected in the sector?” Vaz asked as she continued to examine the images of the structure and the surrounding area.

  “Not at this time. We’ve just been ordered to secure the patients and staff.” The Ship Master took a step back from the screen. “How quickly can your team be ready to deploy?”

  Vaz looked at the Ship Master, then back at the screen. “Full mission brief and weapons and equipment checks, sixty minutes. Ten in a rush.”

  The Ship Master mumbled something to himself that Vaz couldn’t understand and turned around and started walking back to his command chair. “Let’s call it thirty. We’re jumping in five. I expect you to be skids-up in the hangar bay in thirty.”

  “We’ll be ready, Sir.”

  “Excellent.” The Ship Master replied, before directing his attention towards the navigation station. “Prepare to jump the ship!”

  “Give me two rows, in your pairs. Final kit checks.” Vaz ordered and watched the pairs of her detachment line up from one another and conduct final equipment checks, while she and Davi checked each other’s gear. It was a drill they had performed countless times before, only this time, they were at war, and there was always the chance of enemy contact, regardless of how remote the Ship Master thought the threat was.

  The Assistant Ship Master had come down to the hangar bay to check that the team was ready for insertion on time, keeping the Ship Master on the bridge on an open communicator so that he was up to date with every detail of the operation.

  Once Vaz was satisfied that everyone was ready, they loaded into the same shuttle that had picked them up from the station over Sandura 26G, and when given the all-clear, departed the Snatch Five and started their drop down to the planet’s surface.

  “Like we discussed, we are going to set down in front of the medical facility. From what we’ve been told, it is a three-story building with a primary ramp entrance on the front that leads to the first level, and a secondary access point on the ground floor that leads out to the landing zone at the rear of the building.

  “When we land, Davi and I will enter the building and assess the situation on the first floor. Lovia and Standish will accompany us and move to the roof of the building and assume top-cover. Jae and Fix will move around the right side of the structure and secure the landing zone, while Steed and Drog move around the left side to join them at the rear of the building. The primary objective at the back is to get the medical transport operational as fast as possible.

  “Aoki and Shrill, you are also heading up the primary entrance. Once inside go down to secure the ground level. Gue and Avi, you are following Lovia and Standish up to the second floor where you will secure and assess the situation.” Vaz paused her final briefing when the pilot came over the intercom.

  “Down in sixty seconds.” The voice was cold.

  “We’re dropping down to extract medical staff and their patients, so be careful at what you shoot at. Weapons hot. Stay with your partner and keep the comms channel open at all times.” Vaz looked around the holding area of the shuttle, looking into the eyes of her operators one last time. “Blast shields down.” She ordered, and almost instantly, all twelve members of the team flipped down their blue and orange blast shields.

  As the shuttle dropped below the one hundred metre mark, the side hatches of the large passenger compartment slid back and open, to reveal blue skies in all directions, and a flat, green, wood covered terrain below the ship.

  Stepping to the edge of the compartment, Standish looked down at the ground they were rushing towards and was quickly able to make out the three-story building that was stark white in colour, and appeared to have no windows, with no activity insight. The rear landing pad was also in view, and with data being supplied to all members of the strike team, it didn’t take long until the armour’s smart-tech identified the ship as an older Mark IV Imperial Standard Medical Transport parked on the landing pad. Once the mainstay of the Imperial Medical Service, this model had probably been retired from the fleet decades ago.

  Standish opened up a private chat with Lovia. “I hope that thing still flies.”

  “Yeah.” Came the stark reply.

  “Twenty metres.” Came the last announcement before the ship touched down, but once the operators knew they were at a safe height, they jumped clear of the shuttle and floated down to the ground. Some making firm landings, others dropping to one knee, some performing combat rolls. Each operator had their own technique.

  Vaz didn’t have to say anything to have her five other teams move to their designated assignments. Eight members of the group immediately made their way to the long ramp that ran to the first floor of the structure, while the two remaining pairs pealed around the side of the building to the landing field.

  Standish and Lovia were racing up the ramp, with Vaz and Davi right ahead of them. As they approached the building, Standish took a moment to notice how bleak the structure was. The exterior walls were white, but dirty from a lack of cleaning, and there were no windows or vents visible as they moved towards a set of large doors on the front of the building.

  When the group was ten metres away from the doors, Standish tried to open them using her electronic warfare suite, but she was unable to access the buildings control systems or to get an internal map of the structure. Reaching the doors, Standish noticed they were manually operated, and grabbed the right-side handle, and started to back up, while Lovia grabbed the opposite handle. The doors were tall and armoured, which explained their weight. When the doors were wide enough to move through, Aoki and Skrill ran inside, followed by Gue and Avi, then Vaz and Davi, and finally Standish and Lovia.

  Inside the operators found a sterile environment that had been originally white but was now in need of a good scrub. A single, out of operation, data-terminal was located just inside the doors. To the left was a flight of stairs leading to the ground floor and to the right another flight of stairs leading up to the second floor.

  Without waiting for additional
instructions, Aoki and Skrill pealed to the left and started moving down the stairs to the lowest level of the structure, while Standish, Lovia, Gue and Avi took the flight of stairs to the right, leaving Vaz and Davi on the first floor.

  “Remember this is a medical facility, try not to shoot any of the staff or patients.” Vaz said calmly over the comms channel. “Status on transport?” She asked, the communications line still open.

  “Snatch Five shuttle returning to orbit.” The pilot replied before Drog came over the net.

  “The medical transport is operational. Just need to power it on.” There was a brief pause. “I need twenty minutes.”

  “Understood.” Vaz replied. “Lovia, are you at the roof yet?”

  “Negative.”

  Standish and Lovia were stopped on the second floor of the facility and were looking for a roof access point but had not seen one.

  “We need to check every room on this level for an access point.” Lovia said.

  Gue and Avi were already moving about the top floor, populating the team map with data, and with only eight rooms to check, it didn’t leave much searching for Standish and Lovia.

  “Has anyone seen anyone?” Avi asked over the net.

  “Ground floor is clear.” Skrill reported. “Several medical and service droids, but they are all powered down. Nothing down here besides some kind of storage pods.”

  “What have you found on the second level?” Vaz asked.

  “Nothing but some empty offices. A single data terminal. That’s it.” Gue reported.

  “Something’s not right here.” Vaz said. “Lovia and Standish, get direct access to the roof now, blast through the ceiling if necessary.”

  Standish looked at Lovia, who was already looking up and scanning the ceiling for the weakest point to put breaching charges.

  “Gue, power up that data terminal and get everything off of it.” Vaz ordered.

  One level below Standish, Vaz was starting to realise that this was a medical facility like she had never seen before. Walking over to a data terminal, Vaz used her armours power to bring the unit on-line. After a moments wait, the terminal came to life, and Vaz brought up the pertinent information on the facility, which listed as having eighty-two current patients. She looked at Davi. “How many storage containers were on this level?”