Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  The metal tube was sitting on the small table next to Standish’s bed when she woke up. She sat up and swung her legs onto the ground. Looking at the tube, she picked it up, and popped open the top and let one of the blue pills fall out into her hand. Closing her eyes, she brought her hand up to her mouth and dropped the tablet in. The hard coating on the pill quickly melted away, and the liquid that had been in the capsule was immediately absorbed into the skin of her mouth. Running her tongue around her mouth, she tried to feel for the fluid, but it had already vanished.

  Closing the lid on the tube, she placed it back down on the table and looked at the mini-datapad that was on the desk across from the bed. Reaching out, she picked it up and looked over her schedule for the day. The routine she had fallen into since returning from AB 79 was rather lonely. Several of the more injured team members required intensive medical treatment and those who had series injuries like Cryne’s lost hand needed time to get used to any prosthetic devices that they received. That left Standish alone for long periods during the day. She used the time to focus on fitness, weapons training and extensive use of flight simulators.

  That day she had scheduled time on the fitness centre’s climbing wall. She enjoyed climbing once she had gotten good at it, something she had never learned as a child on the flat plains of Nadolo Prime, far from the mountains.

  Getting into her fitness kit, she checked her quarters were in good order, then headed out onto the long corridor that was the main thoroughfare for a large number of the Dynamic Operators on the base. Reaching the stairs, she climbed them until she reached the level she required, then made her way to the fitness centre with its large open plan training area.

  The climbing wall was along the far side of the room from where she entered, and as she crossed through the area, Standish kept a lookout for any other women that might be trying to steal her title as fittest on the base. She was pretty sure that the only female that could best her was on the Prime team, but she had considerable physical modifications, so Standish didn’t count her among her rivals.

  When she reached the wall, she found the droid that maintained and ran the wall ready with a gravity belt that would keep her from killing herself if she fell from a great height. On poor, low-tech worlds, a rope was still used. On an advanced installation like this, a simple belt was worn around the waist which would keep the user floating in the air if they started to fall, and Standish had needed the contraption on more than one occasion.

  Sitting down on a bench near the wall, Standish slipped on a pair of boots that were very similar in shape and feel to the boots she wore in her armour. While she was putting them on, she caught the attention of a male from Darjk that had just come down from the wall and was dusting the chalk off his hands.

  “Not much good, those, for climbing.” He said, pointing at Standish’s boots.

  She looked up at him and shook her head. “I don’t go into battle wearing fancy climbing shoes.” She replied.

  The stranger sat down on the same bench and took off his gravity belt and put it down next to him. “Fair point.” He turned to face Standish. “Let me guess, Rescue Tech?”

  That put a smile on Standish’s face. She looked at the male. He was handsome. “I used to be.” She said.

  He nodded, then looked off to the wall for a moment, then back to Standish. “You don’t seem like an infantry grunt, so I’ll go with Dynamic Ops.”

  Standish smiled, then looked back at her boots, checking they were on correctly, then stood up, and started walking over to the wall.

  “I didn’t get your name.” The male said.

  Standish looked over her shoulder at the figure. “I didn’t give it to you.”

  Standish climbed for almost an hour. Up and down. She always started on the most comfortable settings on the variable tilt wall, then worked her way to more challenging environments. Her upper body strength was a significant factor in her abilities. Many women couldn’t pull themselves up repeatedly, but Standish could with little effort.

  When she finished, she gave the gravity belt back to the droid that managed the wall, and walked back to her kit, and found the figure that had spoken to her earlier sitting on the bench, his arms crossed, looking at her as she walked over.

  “Impressive work.” He said, a smile on his face.

  Standish picked up a small towel and dabbed off the sweat on her forehead and cast a glance in his direction but said nothing.

  “Have you eaten yet?” The stranger asked. “Probably not. Someone like you, not likely to eat before a training session.”

  Standish went about her business, taking off the boots, and putting her training shoes back on. She slipped her light-weight top over her cooling body and tried to ignore the male who kept talking to her.

  Once she was ready to head back to her quarters, she put her bag over her right shoulder and started walking away from the wall when the figure said something to her that was enough to catch her attention.

  “I know about a big mission planned for D-O.” He said in an excited voice.

  Standish stopped, turned at looked at the male. “There is always a big mission planned.” She wasn’t impressed.

  The male stood up from the bench. “Not like this.”

  Standish nodded slowly. “And?”

  Suddenly a smile on the male’s face. “Join me for a meal.” He said.

  Standish knew that the most valuable commodity was information, and if this stranger had some, it might prove useful.

  Less than ten minutes later the pair walked into the senior ranks dining hall, a place she had never been before and sat down at a small table. Just mere seconds after they arrived a service droid appeared with a steaming cup for the male and made its introductions.

  “Senior Researcher Sinki, good to see you.”

  “Thank you, droid.” The stranger looked at Standish. “Well, I guess you know who I am now.” He looked back to the droid. “Please give my guest a view of the day's menu.”

  The machine quickly faced Standish and promptly illuminated a floating menu of twenty items ranging from fruits to more elaborate dishes. The whole environment and set up was radically different from the dining hall she had grown used to. There she was required to go and collect her food. After looking at the list for a moment, she selected a combination of locally caught fish from the planet’s oceans and a warm drink from Tricaria.

  Sinki smiled and put his elbows on the metal table. “So, now that you’ve agreed to join me for a meal, why not tell me something about yourself.”

  The expression on his face angered Standish. The male was confident to the point of an insult. He was handsome, and she knew that he probably got his way with females.

  “Why don’t you tell me what this little piece of information is, then I’ll tell you more.” She suggested, leaning on the table.

  Sinki smiled again, revealing a perfect set of teeth. He was probably born with them, Standish thought. She had to have hers fixed at her basic training installation.

  “For this kind of information, I might require more than just breakfast.”

  That surprised Standish. Someone of his rank, with his looks being this slimy, that wasn’t expected.

  “What exactly would you want?” She asked. Her face was still calm and serene, but she was readying herself to kick his ass.

  “I want to get inside you.” He said. His expression was unchanged. “You’ve got a very unique body, and I want to try it out.”

  Standish knew she couldn’t kill him.

  “What do you say?”

  Standish nodded. “If the information is good enough, you’ll get what you deserve.”

  Sinki let out a little chuckle. “Here’s what I know.” He looked around the dining facility to check there were no eves-droppers. “Dynamic Operations and fleet command are planning a strike on Qera with almost all the teams.” He sat up. “All of them.”

  Standish blinked twice. “What?”

  Sin
ki leaned back in. “Fleet command wants to send all the D-O teams to Qera to kill or capture Prince Salrugina.” He smiled yet again. “To end the war.”

  Standish sat back in her chair. Fuck. She had heard of ludicrous plans like this in the past, and they hadn’t ended well. She had even participated in something just as crazy once before.

  “When?” She asked, her palms pressed into the table, the rage in her slowly building.

  Sinki put his hands up in the air. “In two weeks.” He looked her up and down. “Plenty of time to spend with you.”

  Her right hand was under the lip of the table quickly, flinging the lightweight table to her left. The second the table was flying through the air, she was out of her seat, shifting her weight to her left foot, she quickly cocked her right foot back, before swinging her leg around, zeroed in on Sinki’s head. When her right foot made contact to the temple of his head, the expression on his face was one of confusion.

  Her kick was delivered with power and focus, something Cryne would have been proud of. And when her foot impacted with the side of Sinki’s head, she followed through, sending his body flying off to her left, crashing into a nearby table.

  In less than two minutes, Standish was in chains, which was rather impressive to consider that she was in a dining facility, but nonetheless, security droids appeared long before Sinki’s head would have come out of the concussion she probably gave him. Thirty minutes later, she had guests at the door of her detention cell door.

  “Explain.”

  Jun was standing in front of Cryne, and he looked very unhappy.

  “He was trying to besmirch my honour.” Standish said defiantly.

  “He claims you had made an arrangement. Intelligence for sex.” Jun shot back.

  Standish rolled her eyes. “And we wonder why we haven’t won the war.”

  “Now just a moment!” Jun roared. “You can’t go.” He stopped himself mid-sentence, looked down, then looked over his shoulder at Cryne. “Fuck.”

  Standish nodded, still behind several inches of thick steel. “Yeah.”

  “A round-house kick?” Everall asked, sat behind his desk, his face in his hands.

  Jun nodded. “It was powerfully struck, Sir.”

  “And Sinki will need reconstructive surgery?”

  “Very powerfully struck.” Jun added.

  Everall pulled his head up and looked at the three operators that were standing in his office, then he focused his attention on Jun. “So, he offered your girl information for sex, and once she got said information, she gave Senior Researcher Sinki a round-house kick to the head?”

  “Yes, Sir.” Jun replied.

  Everall sat back in his chair. “And how do you feel about this?”

  “Operator First Grade Standish found a source of valuable intelligence, worked it, developed it, got the information she required, then broke contact.” Jun replied. “To add Sir, I won’t let me operators be spoken to like that. Standish has my full support. Senior Research Sinki got what he deserved.”

  “And broke five bones in his face at the same time.” Everall shook his head. “5th Fleet intelligence is conducting an internal security sweep after this incident, but.” He paused and looked over at Standish. “Did you think that you were in any physical danger at any time?”

  Standish puffed her chest out. “No, Sir.”

  “So you?”

  “I wasn’t going to be insulted, Sir.” She replied.

  Everall smiled and shook his head. “I think people will be far more cautious hitting on you from now on.” He looked to Jun. “What about this supposed intel? The head of Sinki’s intelligence department denies it.”

  Standish didn’t wait for her boss to reply. “Sir, he believed what he was telling me.”

  Jun looked at his newest operator, then looked back to Everall. “Sir, I trust my operators.”

  Everall nodded. “Let’s make a call.”

  There was a flurry of fingers and a variety of gate-keepers that were met over the communications circuits that had to be placated, but after five minutes of work, Everall was finally put in contact with the head of all Dynamic Operations on Mella II, Marvis Von Unterbell.

  “Everall, it has been a long time.” Von Unterbell said, his face looming large in the viewscreen.

  “Indeed. I see you’ve gotten fat.” Everall joked.

  Maris Von Unterbell was not fat. Standish could see that much from the video screen.

  “And you’ve gotten old.” Unterbell replied. “Now, what can I do for my head of 5th Fleet operations? I see you have some friends with you. Please don’t tell me you need another relation promoted or stationed somewhere.”

  “No Marvis. I have heard a startling rumour out here, and I wanted to verify it with you.” Everall said, casting a concerned look at Jun, Cryne and Standish.

  Before Everall could pose his question, Unterbell answered. “Qera.” It was all Unterbell had to say. It confirmed everything. And while it offered clarity, it was also a delayed death sentence. The fleet had tried an attack once before on Qera with ten formations of warships. It had failed spectacularly. Now they wanted to send in the Dynamic Operations to kill or capture the Prince. Madness.

  Mils Cannarr and the other junior members of the Beta One-One were sitting around a table in the dining facility, their mid-day meal finished when Standish, Jun and Cryne walked over.

  “I hear that someone had made an indecent proposal.” Systa K said with a smile on her face.

  Jun put his hands up in protest as he approached the table.

  “And no confinement.” Nik Has added.

  Standish shook her head. “Time served.” She said, a cheeky smile on her face.

  Cryne sat down at the opposite end of the table from Jun, and crossed his arms, keeping his new robotic hand on top. “We’ve got news.”

  “We know.” Mo Ho said dryly. “The information spread like wildfire.” He tapped his personal wrist data-strip. “Once you got out of Everall’s office, it went base-wide.”

  Jun nodded. “Then you know that there is a massive Dynamic Operations strike planned against Qera.”

  “We are so fucked.” Lo chimed in, a downcast expression on his face.

  “I am confident that whoever is planning this mission knows what they’re doing.” Jun said, but those sat around him could detect the lack of confidence in his voice. “We’ve got eleven days before reporting to Mella II for pre-mission briefings.”

  “Mella II?” Mils asked.

  Jun looked at the teams largest member. “It’s where Dynamic Operations is run from, and it is the location for supreme command of the fleet.” Jun looked around the table. “There is an excellent chance that the Grand Marshall himself will be involved in planning this mission.”

  “I feel better already.” Mils interjected, a smile on his face.

  The eleven days flew by, and during that time, Jun had everyone on the assault courses, conducting weapons training and getting physically fit for the big mission. Everyone was back to full operational capabilities after AB 79. A fresh paint scheme of black and red was added to their armour, and once the word was given, the team assembled in the team room on their last morning on Killious and waited for orders to report to the hangar bay for a spot on a ship to Mella II.

  There was a nervous energy in the air that morning. It was different from the feelings and emotions that were present before the mission to AB 79. Today, there was a definite sense that they were on the verge of participating in something huge, something that could change everything that they had come to understand and know since the war had started, while at the same time there was also the realisation that they were about to undertake a mission of supreme danger and risk. They were going into the heart of the Pohjois, after the biggest prize in the galaxy.

  An hour before they were to ship out, a service droid arrived at the entrance to the team room and collected all the armour, weapons and extra equipment that Jun decided that they would d
eploy with. It was a considerable amount of kit, and while they had been given a minimum basic load-out from command, several members of the team members opted to take some extra gear. Standish decided to bring two spider charges along with her. She knew them well since her time with Rescue Tech, and she realised that on any mission, in almost any conditions, they had multiple applications. When the droids left, Standish couldn’t help but feel that the team room felt small and somewhat bare. All the critical kit and equipment was gone, and all that was left were empty lockers, and empty weapons racks.

  At times like this, it was the waiting and the unknown that was most draining on the emotions. The team could only be confident of two things, they were going to Mella II, then they were going to Qera. Ever since she had heard that name come out of Sinki’s mouth, she hadn’t stopped thinking about the planet she had once had the misfortune of visiting.

  Maps were quickly downloaded and studied. Curzon was supposed to be one of the best-designed cities in the old Empire, and Standish found that to be the case when she started looking over plans for the city centre which was fixed on a large open park, and three centres of power that formed a large triangular shape.

  When it was their time to move up to the hangar for departure, Beta One-One joined three other teams in the hallway outside their team room and headed to the lift to take them up several levels to the docks. There was a sense of excitement in the air, but there was almost no chatter. It was one thing to be summoned to Mella II, it was another to embark on the largest raid in the history of D-O, pre or post Empire.

  The transport they boarded was nothing to look it, but it was comfortable. When it broke orbit, it jumped quickly, making the trip over four-hundred light-years to the base operations for the Alliance fleets in a matter of minutes. When it reached the Mella II system, it joined dozens of other ships arriving at the massive off-world space station that acted as the command hub for Alliance operations, and was considered the best defended, and most impregnable station ever built with long-range weaponry, squadrons of warships and fighters and extremely heavy shielding and armour.