Edge of the Vortex

by Donald B McFarlane

  After a minute of silence, Mike let out a deep breath and checked their location in relation to their original target, the bunker. Fortunately, all other systems were working in the pod and the armour, and he was able to confirm that they were only two-hundred metres from the objective.

  “Trevor, we’re close to the bunker.”

  “Roger that, but we're facing down.”

  Mike had considered that, but he had already come up with a slightly radical option to solve that problem. “What if we use the emergency release to blast the front off? That might be enough to either roll us or prop us up.”

  There was a pause while Trevor considered the move. “Risky. I would guess that the system is designed not to injure people inside the pod.”

  “Even if it does, these heavy suits should be able to take the blast.” Mike replied.

  “And what about the recovery ship?”

  “Fuck them. Let’s finish the assignment.” Mike interjected.

  “You’re the boss.”

  Mike brought up the specifications for the drop pod and quickly found the emergency controls. There were only two options on display on Mike’s heads-up-display: emergency launch and emergency breach. Using eye movements and facial ticks, Mike highlighted the second option, and readied himself and his teammate.

  “Here we go.”

  Mike armed the emergency release and waited. His HUD was suddenly filled up with a red light and a timer that would count down from ten.

  “Seven seconds.” He said and closed his eyes.

  When the explosive emergency charges fired, there was a muffled roar before the pod was kicked off the ground five metres, exposing Mike and Trevor to the surface of Alpha India for the first time. Luckily the shield generator had stayed in place, and without giving it a second thought, Mike quickly released himself from his restraints and dropped down from the pod while keeping his arms up, grasping the pod.

  Checking Trevor, he noticed that his team-mate had done the same thing, and once the pod dropped back down to the ground, the pair gently eased the pod over to one side while keeping the shield between them and the darkness of the Alpha India environment that continued to rush by at more than the speed of sound.

  In unison, using their heavy armours enhanced strength, the duo lowered the pod to the ground and looked around the desolate piece of terrain they found themselves. Visibility was almost non-existent.

  Mike toggled his comms system. “Rescue, this is pair nineteen. We are moving to exercise objective.” He cut the channel and looked over to Trevor. “Two-hundred metres.” He walked over to the shield generator that was sitting next to the drop-pod. “We can make that in no time.”

  Trevor moved over to the generator and looked down at it. “How do you want to play this?”

  Mike inspected the two hand-holds on the bulky device, and then picked up the shield modulator. “You take the rear, I’ll take the front and shift the shielding as we need it.” Taking the control in his right hand, Mike quickly toyed with the projector, which had a simple control that was transferred to his HUD, allowing him to change the angle of the generator along with distance it was projected from the machine. Once he was satisfied that he had a grasp of it, he reached down in the bulky armour to the hand-hold and got a good grip.

  “Shall we?” He asked. “On three.”

  On the third count, the pair lifted the four-hundred-kilogram generator and started to follow the heading in their helmets that would lead them to the safety bunker. The ground under their feet was hard but covered in a constant swirl of mini-rocks that had been blown into their path from the storm. On the other side of the shield the winds were rushing by at lethal speeds, and once the pair were far enough away from the duo-drop pod, the broken insertion tube was shot out of view by the terrific winds, starting its never-ending journey racing around the planet at more than the speed of sound.

  Clear of the pod, and moving towards the bunker, Mike literally had his hands full with one hand firmly grasping the generator, while the rest of his focus was split between trying to navigate the shortest distance to the bunker possible, all the while keeping the shield pointed in the right direction.

  Luckily the larger, more heavily armoured power suits gave the humans a considerable increase in strength, even more than their regular training suits had given them, and while carrying the four hundred kilo generator wasn’t easy, it wasn’t as hard as Mike had anticipated, and after just three minutes hard jogging, the bunker came into view.

  “Eye’s on.” Mike reported. A sly smile came across his face inside his helmet. Disaster averted.

  Eight hours later, Mike slumped onto the bench on the back of the dropship’s holding chamber. He looked around the room at the fifty-eight other operators that had come on this journey with him from Earth. They were all still alive, but that last test had pushed them to levels that they hadn’t seen yet. They had travelled to a world called Alpha India 75R, where some of the worst atmospheric conditions in the galaxy could be found. Their armour was covered in burn marks, soot, dirt, and some of their interiors were splattered with blood, although none of the injuries was too much for the suits built-in nano-bot systems to handle.

  Trying to take his helmet off, Mike couldn’t find the strength in his arms. Nikita Pullinski was sitting next to him, and rose to his feet, and helped the Englishman off with his helmet. “There you are, Major.”

  Mike breathed in the foul air of the holding room and smiled. “Thank you, Major.”

  Nikita sat back down. “It looks like you are again the man in charge.” The Russian paused and took a deep breath. “It seems you’re too good for me. That or outrageous fortune smiles upon you.”

  Mike looked over at the Russian, his face covered in dry blood, and a fresh scar running across his forehead. “What happened to your head?” He asked.

  “I fell.” The Russian reached his gloved hand up and touched his forehead. “Twenty metres.” He dropped his hand back down to his lap. “I guess I am not as tough as the armour.” He picked up the helmet that was sitting in between the two men and showed it to Mike. “Nothing.” He was right, there wasn’t even a scratch on the front.

  Mike shook his head and smiled. They had all made it through the test alive. That was what mattered. But before he could bestow some words of wisdom on his team, Kol Fine walked into the holding bay, and the room fell quiet.

  “Well done today. In three days you have your final exam.” He turned to walk out of the room but stopped at the hatch. “But it won’t be this easy.”

  Mike Tattersall, British Army Major, was standing at the front of the large briefing room for the second time that day. It was the final mission rundown before the Terran Strike Group’s first live mission. This was going to be their first test in battle, and this time there wouldn’t be any room for error.

  Mike had been called to Kol Fine’s make-shift office the minute they had landed from Alpha India 75R, or what the TSG was called the ‘Planet from Hell’, where he received a full mission briefing from their senior instructor. It was a lot to absorb, but he was allowed to return four hours later with his command group to receive the briefing again. He then had several hours to plan, then brief his team leaders.

  Now it was time for the final briefing, and Mike was more than nervous. Sure, he had done his share of pre-mission briefings on Earth, but if he could only identify one aspect of this mission that made it unique to him, it was the fact that they were going to kill someone. It was an assassination mission.

  “This is the final mission brief from Command Group. All teams will have follow-on briefings to deal with mission specific assignments.” Mike took a deep breath and continued.

  Much to Mike’s surprise, the mission had been approved by Dynamic Operations Command. Somehow, they were able to bypass the operational stand-down that the Grand Marshall had put into effect by calling it a training mission, but after the full briefing, everyone knew it wasn’t. According to the reply
for authorization that he had seen from command, the target that Fine wanted to engage had been on a target of opportunity list for a very long time. Fine just decided that killing this specific target would make for a good final examination.

  The plan was as straightforward as could be expected. The Terran Strike Group would utilise a captured Coalition freighter to jump to Marxis Minor. Once there, it would proceed to the planet's surface, where it would land near the only Coalition base on the planet. The problem, in this case, was that the base was located under the huge ocean that dominated the planet’s surface. Access to the base was restricted, but Kol Fine had current Coalition access codes, so getting down to the surface was the easy part. After that, the team would have to use some skill and guile to get into the base, locate their target, eliminate said target, then extract.

  “Where is this intel coming from?” Mike asked, looking up from the data-pad he was holding in his hands.

  “It’s old information.” Fine replied. “We’ve known about the base on Marxis Minor for some time, and there is an agreement from our intelligence sources that there should be a high-priority target at the location.”

  “So, this is a straight direct-action mission with a specific target in mind?”

  “This is a target of opportunity with a good chance of doing some serious damage to Coalition command and control for the parent organisation that may be in control of Terra.” Fine replied.

  No one knew how many defenders would be located inside the base, but Fine was operating under the assumption that the Coalition would never expect a team to try and infiltrate the base, so if they could get inside the planetary defence network, they’d stand a good chance of pulling the job off. Unfortunately, no one had plans for the interior of the base, and no one knew much more than that their target used the base as his primary headquarters, and therefore should be present.

  When Mike confronted Kol Fine with the fact that their primary target was not even guaranteed to be there, Fine replied in the simplest terms that if that was the case, then they should just kill and break everything they came across.

  After Mike’s briefings, there were briefings at team level down to the small four-man teams. Once they were completed, everyone went to the armoury and got into a fresh set of armour, a gift from Kol Fine. Dug out of storage unit on Porth, the suits were top of the line Dynamic Operations capable. They would do everything their old suits would do, just better. The armour was off-white with green highlights. For this operation, a special compact energy rifle was issued. It offered the same punch as their primary weapons but had the added advantage of being silent. Something that would come in handy on a mission like this.

  After all 59 members of the team were kitted, and ready to go, they assembled inside the large courtyard and waited for the stolen freighter to arrive. When it did, it landed outside the compound, kicking up a massive dust storm in the process. Just before Mike could order his teams to start boarding, Kol Fine and Z7 walked out of the armoury, fully geared up, and armed to the teeth. It was a sight that lifted the hearts of every man on the TSG.

  Fine walked to the head of the formation where Mike was standing, and then looked over the four groups of men that were arrayed before him. “Major, introduce me to your group leaders.”

  Mike smiled. “Of course.” He knew that there was no need for introductions, but he thought it was a nice idea. Stepping off from his position, he walked towards the Blue Group. It was one of the two groups headed by an American, Master Sergeant Santini, an ex-Delta Force senior NCO. Introductions were rendered, then they moved onto Gold Group, also by an America, Senior Master Sergeant Jensen, a former Air Force Combat Controller. Next was Major Nikita Pullinski’s Red Group. Finally, it was the Support Group led by a Chinese army officer, Captain Lee.

  Returning to the front of the formation, Fine instructed Mike to put his helmet on, which the rest of TSG did also. A series of comm checks were conducted, followed by checks of individual trackers, and finally a series of weapons tests. Once Fine was happy that all systems were a go, he asked Mike, as politely as he could, to lead his team onto the freighter.

  Maybe it was out of habit, he wasn’t sure, but Mike snapped to attention, and offered the Master Grade Dynamic Operator a crisp British Army salute, then ordered his team towards the main gates of the compound that separated them from the freighter that was still kicking up a serious amount of dust and sand into the air outside the compound.

  Once all the TSG members were inside the cargo hold of the freighter, Kol Fine came on the comm channel. “You are ready.” He cut the channel as the freighter started to lift off from the planet’s surface.

  The cargo hold was twenty metres long and ten metres wide. It was coloured in hot pink with splashes of purple. Mike couldn’t help but think those were not the kind of colours he was used to seeing prior to an operation. But hell, this was space. What did he know? When Mike asked why they were targeting this particular facility and the individual in question, Fine told him that the senior officer at the base had overall jurisdiction for Earth, or at least that was what D-O intel had suggested. Cut off the head, and the body will die theory.

  When the freighter finally broke orbit, the rattle that it had been making since take-off stopped, and Mike and his operators were finally able to clear their minds and focus on the job at hand. Team leaders went over final instructions and kit checks. The trip to the target would take two jumps within Etelainen space, then a third final jump to the target. Plenty of time to fret over what may go wrong.

  By the time the freighter was about to make its final jump, Mike was ready for it. He had allowed the pre-mission jitters to work themselves out, and now he was ready.

  “Assault order.” Mike said quietly over the command network.

  Mike and Kol Fine’s plan required a few key ingredients to work. Speed, aggressive action, and lots of luck. Fine knew where the base was they were going to, he just didn’t have any information on what the base looked like or any other specifics. He was betting that the skills that he had taught the TSG were all that was required to pull this mission off. Mike wasn’t one to often question the direction that his superiors took, but in the first briefing that Fine gave, Mike did ask him if he had ever gone on a mission with so little intelligence to help in the planning stage. Fine had just smiled and continued the briefing.

  Mike moved to a position closest to the hatch that the TSG would exit through and started checking that all four teams were in the correct assault positions. The Support Team would disembark first and secure the area immediately around the freighter on the landing pad. After that, Blue, Gold and Red teams would assault through the base and secure a path for the Command Team to reach the operations centre. Worst case scenario, their target couldn’t be located, in which case they’d just destroy the command and control centre and then bug-out. Best case scenario they’d stumble into their prey and eliminate them.

  Kol Fine and Z7 were going to remain with the ship and act as a strategic reserve in case things went to shit.

  “Pohjois space in five, four, three, two, one.”

  The freighter jumped out of the Porth system and instantly reappeared over Marxis Minor.

  “Arrived.” There was a pause over the PA system before the pilot came back. “Sending landing codes and security checks.” The pilot said. Another pause followed. “We are cleared to land.”

  Mike cut onto the command channel and raised the pilot. “How crowded is the system?”

  “Not bad. A few local patrol craft. Only one combat vessel.” Came the reply.

  “What about surface conditions?” Mike asked.

  “Weather is perfect, but about twenty or so figures are moving on the surface near the landing zone.” Came the answer.

  Mike knew that the plan was to immediately jump out if their landing codes had been rejected, so he wasn’t worried about dying in the back of the flying tin-can, he just liked to know how his surroundings looked. Now
he knew that they were good to land, but the landing zone had some company on it. Not a major obstacle, but something that needed to be handled.

  Fine came onto the channel. “Major. Focus on your tasks.” He cut the channel.

  Mike nodded and looked over the 58 other members of the TSG who were all facing him as he stood next to the hatch, their weapons held at the low-ready, all of them with their combat-shields down on their helmets. This was it. The final test.

  “Major.” It was Fine again. “Pilot has conducted a sensor sweep of the LZ. The base is not on the surface, it is located off the coast, and underwater as we expected.” Fine fed a bird’s eye view that the ship’s cameras were seeing as the craft continued its descent. “This looks like the primary access point.” Fine highlighted a large opening. “The plan stays the same.” He cut the channel.

  Mike quickly used his eyes and the armours neural uplink to send the images to the team leaders. It was critical that they have as much information as they could get before the assault, even if it weren't much.

  Captain Lee came over the net. “We will set up anti-air as a precaution once we secure the landing zone.”

  “Roger.” Mike replied. The Captain was right, the fact that the landing zone was exposed on the planet’s surface meant that at any moment a ship could drop down from orbit, or a craft from somewhere else on the planet could try and intervene in their operation.

  Mike toggled the option for TSG wide broadcast. “Everyone make sure your tracking system is set to automatically populate the mission mapping data.” Mike cut the channel.