“Hey, all unit!” Aaiane jogged toward them with an armful of dark fabric and tipped her head to the right. They ducked after her through the closest entryway back into the hangar’s larger space, so that they had more room.
Skregs and Crave were there, already wearing their cowled black dress uniform cloaks draped over their suits. Skregs had the cloth hood drawn over his hardhood, concealing his crescent moons. A sash overlapped the cloaks from shoulder to hip, hashed with rank markings over a block of honor decorations. Charis and Wheck accepted and arranged their dress uniforms, and the four waited for Thwip by the entry, chatting about the meeting in the loop. He put himself on mute so that he could ask Aaiane’s instruction on how to wear the cowl without interrupting them. His sash, which only bore the original Space Junkies seal, was plain compared to the multiple lines of accolades on the rest of the units’ sashes.
He touched the seal’s center symbol. They never talk about Serpents.
“I haven’t yet requested a design for the new seal with the current unit symbols,” Aaiane said apologetically, smoothing his sash and hurrying to get him ready.
My loyalty is everlasting, across time and beyond death. I will never be out of the fight. Novas are Novas forever, even after we put a rose on the wall.
He spoke to her locally through his hood before unmuting the loop. “When you do, consider six instead of five by way of leaving the serpent.”
“Yes, sir.” She straightened and hurried them all into the corridor. The unit pulsed their SOCs to cease logging and took the route to the meeting in warm silence.
The two generals were already seated with Leo when the unit entered the command deck briefing room. Both wore silla suits hashed with their rank, and dress uniform sashes, just as Leo did, and stood when they arrived. The eight of them took their seats simultaneously around the large oval flat arc table that dominated the room. Crave sat on Thwip’s far right, the rest of the unit between them. All of the walls of the module were constructed as arc walls, and as the entry sealed securely, they populated with the unified SJ symbol.
Crave pulsed to retract his hood’s mask. Everyone in the module followed suit, revealing their identities so that they could speak face-to-face and off the record—a mark of trust. The generals turned out to be Pixeler and Madingo, two of the outer-ring generals, and eldest among the Nativity’s seven generals. Thwip mentally ran over what he knew about them. Both Pixeler and Madingo were older than the war. Pixeler was newer to her station, having recently risen from admiral to replace General Galitea, who’d been KIA on a visit to Ridrain. Thwip idly considered what it must be like to be a general as he studied Crave’s profile. This is the first time I’ve seen his face in full light without a hardhood washing out the finer details. It’s always been dim or dark when he dehooded around me.
“Module is confirmed secure,” Leo said.
“Welcome aboard, sirs,” Crave greeted them. “It’s good to meet in person again. Confirming this meeting is unlogged.”
“Acknowledged. Too much time has passed since the last time.” General Madingo spoke with a slight drawl that tugged at the end of his words. “Unfortunately, we have a short window. Otherwise I might like to rattle your aurals over some local problems, then meet Blyku and Donner, and shoot with Charis.”
Charis inclined her head.
Madingo indicated a tall, narrow container standing against the wall at the opposite end of the briefing room. “I received your message, Crave.”
“Yes, sir.”
General Pixeler took over the meeting. “The timeline is set. There is no expected deviation.” Her voice was dry and cracked, to match her age, but her eyes were lively, a glittering dark brown that was almost black, and the skin of her face was smooth, well-treated. “General Aitith will bring you into Ridrain One himself. Until you are safely docked, he is and will remain the only person outside of P2 and this ship who knows that you are deploying to Lucyview, and of the goal of your mission. Your arrival time and sequence of events are confirmed. At date and time General Aitith will notify Admiral Sunson, who is in command of Ridrain Two and will directly supervise your landing the Vesper-Oh in secret. At that time Ridrain’s dock crew will be notified to bring you in, overseen by the general. Leo and crew will arrive three weeks prior, under cover of the Vesper being a shipping freighter.
“Leo, your approach will be handled as a lower-priority docking, just like a shipping freighter’s, to conceal what you carry. After you arrive, General Aitith will ensure that you are installed at base in such a way as not to reveal that you are a Nova handler and support crew. You’ll be living and working out of the Vesper in-dock. Crave, once your unit is on base via the Vesper-Oh and reunited with Leo and the crew, you’ll begin working directly with General Aitith to execute our mission.”
“Yes, sir,” Crave said, accepting for the unit. Leo nodded in agreement.
Madingo leaned forward. “The last thing we want is for the Lucians to know we’re sending in Novas. They’ll hunt for you immediately. It’s been quiet on the ground, almost cease-fire quiet, but in space…” He put his gloved hand to the flat arc and it filled with an image capture of a UNP humm freighter and a dozen rykers moving relatively slowly through open space. P2 redacted the descriptive hashes on the capture, but it looked like a UNP defensive scan from the Sunway. The capture tracked the freighter, then began darting around as the scan detected another new, unseen point of focal interest, though it failed to land on it until it was within weapons range.
Five streams of light flared against the black, illuminating the Lucian troyer ship that unleashed them, blazing toward the humm freighter. They fanned and spread, and the two streams of light on either end went wide and missed, traveling out of frame, but the three center hit their mark, penetrating the freighter’s exterior. It imploded in a chain-reaction of blasts. The rykers shifted to offensive maneuvering. Lucian and UNP combat ships swarmed, arriving to fill the image area, and the capture tech spun in closer to scan them all, then went wide; because there was too much crucial fighting action for it to narrow on any one ship. General Madingo withdrew his hand from the flat arc, and the Lucian’s successful space assault on the freighter disappeared. The arcs in the room showed the SJ seal.
“That glint in the upper left—was that the Sunway in the near distance in the background?” Wheck asked flatly, as though he knew the answer.
“Confirmed,” Madingo replied.
Crave leaned back. “They struck against us within visual of the Golden Gate. Charis.”
Charis traced a finger in the air over the flat arc table and the walls behind them responded under her command. She brought the capture back to arc, emphasizing different aspects of the assault, analyzing on the fly. “K506s, DamRiods, X2 dismantlers… This is an extraordinary weapons package.” She reversed the capture and the chain of blasts. The UNP freighter became whole again. She paused at the point just before the Lucian troyer ship let their weapons away, and replayed the capture at half time. “The Lucian fighters are maxed out on bang, so they’re slow inbound to support the troyer. Watch here: the troyer could unload some weapons weight on the freighter, then, at a lighter weight, continue to hit other combat targets at faster speeds. Yet here”—she stopped the capture—“they deploy the entire kit in one release, which sends two of their shots wide, leaving themselves without additional weapons recourse against the rykers. It’s an excessive offensive tactic to use against a single supply ship of that size. They could have done it with something lighter in one shot, but they sent five.”
“The formations of the Lucian fighters aren’t novel,” Wheck added. “After the first wave of ships there’s no follow-up wave, so in addition to the strangeness of the weapons package, the second combat wing’s approach is cavalier. They have no real muscle backing them. It’s as if they’re not fully engaged for battle, even before they begin a retreat cover pattern.”
“It’s inefficient and flashy. It looks more like a hi
t-and-run message than a multitiered combat mission,” Charis finished. “So the question is, why would they waste expensive armaments and other assets to over destroy a single supply ship?”
The two of them sounded bored, despite the skill required to read the situation as they did. Charis left a collage of capture stills on the wall as support visuals, along with internal military images that served as a quick index of which weapons and tech were involved in the enemy’s package.
“The troyer snuck in on the freighter after it left the gate, but before it was inside Ridrain’s ODIZ.” Madingo added a map of the Sunway to the intel on the table, and it grew smaller as he pulled out on the map’s view until Ridrain Two was visible in relation. An oblique cone edged in blue light extended toward the Golden Gate from Ridrain Two in one direction, like a spotlight, the words ODIZ: ORBITAL DEFENSE IDENTIFICATION ZONE, hovered over it on the flat arc, labeled the area of Ridrain’s defensive net. From R2 another blue cone funneled in the opposite direction, its tip ending at Ridrain One on the planet’s surface: a narrow insertion point through all levels of enemy space and atmo. All bodies shown on the arc were in motion, animated, as the planet followed its orbit, and R2 followed the planet, while the gate’s forces held the line on a wide area far enough from the planet’s path. The Lucian space presence, Sovrin Two, and its controlled area lit around the planet in pink. The troyer engaged the freighter convoy in the space between the Golden Gate’s massive defensive installations, and the orbital area that Ridrain Two or Sovrin Two controlled, which was difficult for either side to secure all of without giving up the planet, due to the volume of space involved.
Thwip watched the mathematical model of the planet’s kinematics change as it moved across the arc, now familiar: the mission depended on knowing the space theater of the war. Nativity ships are always escorted from the gate to Ridrain’s ODIZ.
Madingo emphasized the area on the map where the skirmish occurred. “It’s the closest the Lucians have been to the Sunway since we expelled them and successfully secured the infrastructure at the start of the war.”
“There are higher value targets in-range that they could have used that package on,” said Charis. “I’d say they might be testing our defenses, but they aren’t that committed here. They want that freighter, and they get it, they make a big job of it, then they’re just done. They back off. It’s a reminder that they can blow our stuff up. Makes us work harder. Raises their morale.”
Crave paced through the capture in reverse time, then slowed and watched the troyer attack the freighter from the different SOC angles that were cut together. “This sequence of the captures is more comprehensive than any I’ve received in the past.” He pulsed the arc to return to Charis’ previous presentation.
Pixeler folded her hands in front of her on the table. “Like P2, Ridrain’s media department processes proprietary intel analysis and distribution. We don’t make it known that they are the second largest military media outfit behind P2’s. Their dossiers usually include well-organized imagery, so this is what you should expect going forward. And”—she paused, sharp with effect—“their analysis agrees with yours. The freighter wasn’t carrying anything of unique value. They too say the assault was a message. And they expect more of them.”
Crave and Skregs made eye contact, and then Skregs spoke. “Is there evidence to suggest that the enemy knows we’re planning to send a Nova-crewed battlesurge carrier disguised as a freighter, and they made a mistake and targeted the incorrect freighter?”
“Negative,” Pixeler said. “This attack occurred well before you left P2. Furthermore, while you’ve been preparing, we sent a few more freighters through under varying conditions, and they did not receive extraordinary attention. The enemy had been increasingly aggressive on smaller talent and supply imports over the last year, but it’s stopped these last few months. Something about the war is shifting. It’s a concern. Leo has Ridrain’s full profile on the attack for your analysis. That data includes the uncut captures from this assault, as well as media that contextualizes the attack against the history of space combat in that area. After receiving that context, we considered suspending your mission, so take note. It’s General Aitith’s position that if the Lucians know you are coming, they will exhaust their resources to send a stronger message by intercepting and eliminating Novas.”
Thwip looked at the paused capture of the assault: three streaks of white light, frozen in place before their climactic impact with the freighter. Heavy military casualties.
Pixeler rose from her seat and they all rose with her. “I don’t need to tell you how important this mission is. You are ordered to proceed with clearance from P2 and General Aitith, and under your own authority. The entire Nativity is with you. Fight well. Win. Cosmos make it so.”
“Yes, sir!” The unit and Leo stood at attention in unison, dipping their heads in formal nods.
The briefing concluded on the generals’ return nods, accompanied by handshaking all around. The group reinstated their hardhood masks, and Madingo and Pixeler departed to the hangar deck, with Leo guiding them: even generals weren’t privy to the Vesper’s secret schematic.
Charis resealed the entry. “What’s in the box, Crave?”
The container the generals had left behind was unsophisticated, and Crave had to open it manually to show them the contents. Packed inside was a standard-issue infantry suit and hood, along with matching gear.
“Another PT project?” Wheck asked Thwip. “I suppose it would be useful to compare the construct of an SI to the trepid suit you’re analyzing. A detailed compare and contrast of the lowest and highest suit technology the military issues composed from the Nova perspective could be instructive. I’m unaware of any such report existing.”
“Probably because no one would read it,” Charis said. “Even Thwip isn’t that dry over PT. This SI has officer hashes. SI suits are not worn by officers.”
Thwip scanned the suit. “Doesn’t General Aitith wear a suit like this in news captures? It’s SI, but it’s hashed with his rank.”
Skregs indicated to the arc wall, where he brought forth a muted capture of General Aitith from his last speech. “At Ridrain, officers wear the same standard-issues as deckees. General Aitith’s position is that all ranks should be issued silla suits at minimum, because at least they have arrow-level defense tech, and that SIs should be discontinued. Until that happens, all of their terrestrial officers wear SIs as a statement of unity with the infantry.”
“And we’re arriving perfectly clad in the most advanced personal tech,” Wheck said with a sidelong glance to Crave, who nodded in return.
Charis walked around the table to look at the arc wall. “Ridrain officers wear low-tech sys by regs? They’re high-value targets for the other side. That’s a stupid standard. I assumed Aitith’s was a higher-end suit just made to appear low-end.”
“Maybe,” Skregs said. “Or it might be that Aitith and his officers only wear them for news captures. That’s really the only time the public sees him. I think he means what he says, though. I think he actually wears an SI.”
Charis gestured at the capture of Aitith. “Does he have enough authority that he can set his own gear protocols for his entire force?”
“It doesn’t matter, for our purpose,” Crave said, sealing the container. “My intention is for Ridrain crew to know that we recognize what they’ve accomplished and sacrificed, and that we respect their experience and expertise. We’re going to siderank or outrank everyone but the admirals and the general. We don’t have time for morale distractions. We need them to accept us and our unique circumstances, and protect the secrecy of our presence.” He addressed Thwip. “Your technical assessment?”
“Don’t wear it. It’s too vulnerable against your target value.”
“Agreed,” said Charis.
“Does it matter what suit you wear?” Thwip continued. “Nova reputation carries. The accomplishment of Nova automatically means that Ridrainers
will fear and respect you. I don’t think you need to downgrade to an SI to earn their respect.”
“Greatness comes from many small actions knit together. And fear isn’t generally the best way to motivate,” Crave said.
“Maybe not internally, but externally…” Charis smiled her wicked half smile.
Crave nodded decisively. “I’ll suit up in the SI just before we initiate entry and wear it through the initial formal social protocols with the Ridrain officers,” Crave said. “Then I’ll move back to trepid immediately afterward.”
Skregs cleared General Aitith from the arc wall. “Formal permission to enter Ridrain base is granted by the deputy of the deck in the rise’s War Room. So if we greet the DD first in person as Leo usually would on our behalf, with our unit’s commander in a standard-issue suit, then those social protocols should be humble enough to achieve your intention. There are two shield guards installed there, so as long as Ridrain is not in active combat and dropping shield for emergency landings, the rise is secure and well defended. Hell, it’s better defended than we are on the Vesper. A quarter of the military is out there. I’m fine with it as long as the wear is limited to that first hour. Objections?”
“Yes.” Charis turned to Crave. “Have Thwip run a final pass on the suit and the loop when you switch last-minute, before we begin the entry plan.”
“Agreed,” Crave said.
“Further objections?” Skregs prompted.
“None more than already stated,” Charis said.
“Wheck?”
“None more than already stated.”
“I have one.” Thwip addressed Crave. “I suggest using your trepid hood with the suit, not the SI’s hood. That way at least they’ll know you’re a Nova, and that aspect won’t be lost. But more importantly, the unit can remain fully looped, and the defensive scan benefits will provi—”
Astral Fall Page 17
