by John Walker
Siva hit play.
“Dream Site: I’m on my way to a gathering of arms in the Nolavat system. Orbital station holds records of value protected by security protocols located on the surface. Infiltration of both simultaneously will be required. I’m on the ground detail and will likely have to kill in order to complete the task. Originator of work is the Orion’s Light. This is the chance I’ve been waiting for. Out.”
“How did this not get discovered?” Gray asked. “I mean, he’s pretty direct with what he’s doing out there.”
“Our coded messages have yet to be broken by the criminal element. He sends them via buoy which rides other coms leaving the system. We intercept both, strip our code and allow the original message to complete its transit a few hours late.” Siva smirked. “Pretty elegant process really. We run hundreds of agents like that.”
“So how did you lose him?” Clea paused. “If he found a way to get in with the Orion’s Light, these kind of messages won’t be easy to send. From what we’ve seen, these guys give up ties to any previous life they had. They won’t be reaching out to their parents or families any time soon. Not while they’re trying to take over the galaxy.”
“True,” Siva replied. “And I’m hoping that’s what we discover: that he’s made his objective. The problem is if he has not then he’ll need help. Unless of course he died on that planet. Which is a possibility. Either way, we need to confirm his status and determine if we have to activate another agent to work on our objective.”
“Sounds a little cold,” Gray said. “The way you put it.”
“I assure you, I don’t mean it to be.” Siva sighed. “I’m sure you understand my position. As a leader on a large starship, there must be many decisions which might lead to a death…the kind of thing you have to simply put up with and shoulder, right? We do the same thing here only we have to work hard not to get attached. In many cases, we are the only civilized contact our people have.”
“How are we going to discover the identity of your agent in that system?” Clea asked. “If they’re in a state of war, we’ll be walking into a battle more than likely.”
“Indeed.” Siva tapped the console and a star map appeared. She pointed at a point of light. “This is where you’ll jump in under the guise of the alliance sending aid to the proper government. Your cover is you’re there to put down the rebellion and bring order to the area. I want you to send ground troops to the surface to see what you can find out about Trellan in the meantime.”
“Sounds pretty risky.” Gray rubbed his chin. “One ship…what sort of forces are we looking at? What’s the opposition?”
“Stolen civilian craft outfitted for war,” Siva said. “I’ve sent you all the details of the people you’ll be facing. I expect you’ll have no trouble handling yourselves out there. I understand you have Durant Vi’Puren aboard your ship. He’ll be able to help give you any edge you need, right?”
Gray turned to Clea. “He did say he was updating the inertial dampeners on the fighters. If that gets done before we leave, we’ll have a pretty big advantage.”
“The Orion’s Light might be there,” Clea said. “If they’re causing the trouble anyway.”
“We believe they might be,” Siva added. “They may have helped cause an even bigger distraction to steal the data.”
“Did the pirates get what they were after?” Gray asked.
“Yes, I’m afraid they did. Schematics for a weapon which supposedly can disable a ship’s crew once the shields have been dropped. It electrifies the hull and incapacitates the people onboard, granting an enemy easy access to simply waltz in and take it. Pretty much, a pirate’s dream come true…providing they can penetrate their target’s defenses.”
“And we didn’t even know about them researching it?” Clea shook her head. “What’s going on with this?”
“They planned to share it with us, as it turns out.” Siva shrugged. “Our allies often operate independently of oversight and if the pirates hadn’t gotten wind of this, we definitely would’ve used it. Of course, they haven’t proved out that it works…no prototype exists. It’s all theory right now.”
“Orion’s Light seems good with relying on hope.” Gray sighed. “Okay, so to sum up, you want us to go into this fight, side with our allies and put down a rebellion while running a secondary, secret op to discover the fate of your operative. Correct?”
“Yes,” Siva said. “And…as a little bonus, I’d like you to get your hands on the storage units from the space station. The pirates were supposed to wipe them and may well have but a skilled tech officer may be able to recover the data. That would be good. We can at least try to find a defense to this thing if they’re ever able to build it.”
Clea checked her tablet and nodded to Gray. “We have all the pertinent details, including clearance for departure. We could leave right now if we wanted to. All the rest of my meetings have been cancelled.”
Siva grinned. “I can’t have you stuck here playing bureaucracy when you’ve got things to do.”
“Fair enough.” Gray scowled. “I’m not sure I’m happy with how this is playing out, Siva. Playing for intelligence tends to get a little messy.”
“Believe me, this is the most straightforward op I’ve run in a long time. Honestly, the action you’re being sent into is necessary anyway. Nolavat has a lot of warships they can dedicate to the battle and if you help them, you won’t just be finding out what happened to Trellan but practically doubling the force we can send against the Devarans. Win win.”
Gray looked at his own tablet and smirked. He had a message from high command giving him the assignment Siva just described. He looked her in the eyes. “You have a long reach.”
“Only when I have to,” Siva replied. “And I need to know what’s going on out there. A lot of lives depend on us pulling this operation off and I need the help of people who have a proven track record to pull this off. I know it won’t be easy but you guys haven’t really had anything simple yet. Even the milk run turned into a whole lot of chaos.”
“We’ll leave at the beginning of first shift,” Gray said. “There’re some things we have to take care of…resupply topping the list. If you come up with anything else for us before we’re ready, please send it along. I want as much detail as you can pull up. Also, have someone prepare a full write up of all ships we might encounter at the site. It’ll make the planning easier.”
“Whatever you need,” Siva said. “My staff is at your disposal. Just…use Clea here as your liaison with us. To keep anyone else from figuring out where we are…and who is specifically behind this mission of course. It wouldn’t do to tip our hand at this moment. After all, we’ve got a lot of bad guys to bring to justice before we can all be considered safe, right?”
Gray nodded, tapping Clea on the arm. “Let’s go. It sounds like we’ve got our work cut out for us and plenty to do. It was good to meet you, Siva…even if you did offer a rough job to go along with the acquaintance.”
“Stick with us and we’ll give you all the best missions,” Siva said. “The pivotal ones that don’t come with any glory but make all the difference. We’ll talk soon, Captain. Thank you for your service.”
***
Back on the Behemoth, Gray organized a briefing to explain the mission. He went through the files, noting that the rebels seemed to be poorly outfitted for the most part. If the Orion’s Light truly was behind it, they didn’t necessarily want their coup to win. In fact, it appeared they were merely trying to cause some chaos.
Are we going to find this operative dead? So many things could go wrong on a sanctioned mission with professionals. Gray figured working with criminals made it all the more dangerous. How could an intelligence officer trust these guys? Sure, they might’ve come from military ranks as well but those who drift toward such work tend to not be the best at what they do.
Still, necessity might drive efficiency. Those who survive for any length of time, even with their hangups, mig
ht be quite capable. Part of the danger didn’t come from inconsistent team mates but also the threat of betrayal. Because they weren’t going for anything resembling actual money, it might’ve made Trellan safer.
The rebel fleet seemed to be stationed at a base on one of the natural satellites, an industrialized moon with several bases, all occupied by those who rose up. However, they also had a pretty reasonable military presence on the home world as well, insurrectionists who turned to open warfare.
In short, the system was a total mess.
When they arrived, they’d have their work cut out for them. Gray needed to determine a way to get the rebels to lay down their arms and turn their attention to the real threat. The Devarans. The alliance needed every able bodied soldier for the fight to come, especially considering where the action would take place.
Nolavat’s people were clever, industrious and almost as advanced as the kielans. When they met one another, they initiated more trading than educating. Though ultimately the kielans got them out of their system with faster than light travel, several smaller systems aboard the alliance ships came from Nolavat ingenuity.
They seemed to have a lot in common with Earth in that they experienced a number of wars prior to pressing into the stars. Only recently did they find conflict again within their own ranks and that came from outside sources. Had the Orion’s Light bastards not shown up, they never would’ve turned on each other again.
Their history showed the futility of it. Most of these advanced cultures discovered how ridiculous war could be and, in most cases, did everything in their power to find ways around it. Earth still had skirmishes, anyone with feelings could still be pushed but the intent to annihilate faded from an acceptable tactic.
The devarans never lost it and considering how they lived on their planet, Gray wasn’t surprised. Without advancing their own internal ideals, there’d be no way to rise above the sort of mayhem that dominated their lives on a daily basis. If people on the surface genuinely had to worry about being eaten, then Gray understood why they felt conflict was essential.
If they won, they’d ultimately be made stronger. But what did they intend to do with what they considered inferior races? Those people who did not live under the threat of being killed every time they walked outside by a chaotic, unpredictable force may not even be within the devaran’s concept of contempt. They might simply commit genocide.
All the more reason we need our allies by our side to finish this fight.
Gray put together a plan of attack and prepared to present it to the others. It would involve everyone from fighters to marines to the Behemoth taking an active role in the action. Fortunately, the ships they were facing were inferior technologically. The military vessels would be on their side.
At least there was one silver lining to this particular mission. Gray needed to hold on to anything positive. Civil wars were never pretty and this one sounded like a particularly nasty sort. What ideology did Orion’s Light use to push the rebels? He hoped they might be able to dismantle it with the novalat people. All things considered, they didn’t need bad blood in the ranks on the final push against the devarans.
***
Adam read the briefing notes as the other senior officers left the room. He’d questioned some of the missions they’d already accomplished but those came from Earth high command. The last few assignments straight from the alliance felt somewhat afield from what he expected to be involved with.
However, the Earth representative gave them the order. It didn’t make it easier for him to stomach but it wasn’t like he had a choice. The orders came and they had to follow them. Whether this was for the best or not he didn’t necessarily know. After all, taking the mining facility back, basically alone, felt like suicide.
How much harder could it be to stop a civil war?
He saved his protest for a private audience with the captain. While they went through the briefing he saw the other officers calculating how they’d accomplish their goals. If any of them questioned the sanity of going into a war zone, they didn’t say anything and certainly didn’t indicate it by body language or expression.
Maybe he thought too much. He’d been worrying about the bigger picture; getting into a brawl with the devarans, the new name they had for their enemies. He wanted to put boot to ass against them for sure but this other situation felt like a distraction. He half wondered if they might be sending them away to buy some time, to allow their own people the glory of the kill.
That doesn’t make any sense. They need all the help they can get.
It didn’t make Adam feel particularly better but he really did wonder if they were doing everything. After all, the kielans only swept in to cause trouble for the pirates on their last assignment, despite being warned off. He was glad that the captain logged a formal complaint. Their stubborn action nearly screwed up the entire mission.
And they didn’t care one bit when we told them what was going on either.
Privately, he agreed with some of the feelings of people on Earth about getting involved with the alliance. He felt used and didn’t like it. However, one of the reasons he kept his opinions quiet came from the fact that they had cooperated so unconditionally with humans to rebuild the Behemoth.
Combining their technological know-how, the two cultures built quite the vessel. He understood their desire to get something back for all they’d done. They did essentially come in and save the Earth. Their ships truly were the cavalry back then. He wasn’t in the fight to see it personally, but the captain gave him a full account.
No, despite his feelings, Adam intended to do his duty to the best of his ability and make sure this mission was as successful as the others. He did worry about their people, equipment and the ship as a whole. The civil war may be a red herring for a much bigger problem and if Orion’s Light was behind it, he knew they’d encounter something unpredictable.
One thing the marines asked at the briefing involved the rules of engagement. Would they be allowed to fire on the cultures fighting one another? The idea of putting down a rebellion did involve violence but at the same time, they needed to do their best to bring them back into the fold. Those were soldiers, or at least able bodies. They would be needed for the fight to come.
They couldn’t go in and murder the people who were in defiance of their home world or they’d alienate them completely, potentially driving a wedge between the two factions that would take generations to fix. No one had time for such an event and certainly, the families caught in the middle would be dramatically impacted.
Not that they necessarily had to worry about such things in order to get the job done but the captain seemed intent on finding the right way to do the job, not necessarily the most expeditious. That meant they needed to find a balance between firing and killing. Gray hoped they’d be able to find a diplomatic way to fix the situation.
No one at the table felt confident.
Then there was the secondary assignments involving a marine drop on the primary world. They needed to find evidence of an intelligence officer. Alliance high command supposedly gave them the assignment but Gray and Clea acted fairly suspicion when asked about it. This led Adam to believe someone else in the military might be pulling the strings.
Perhaps the intelligence agency itself but there was a good chance the captain didn’t even know who told them what to do. After all, the spies could just as easily have the generals or politicians deliver the message to them. That’s how the human organizations worked. They used the overt faces of those they served to get their points across.
Adam looked over the proposed number of ships involved in the conflict and shook his head. The argument behind their involvement in this assignment was the size and potential fire the Behemoth represented. When they arrived, the rebels would see what force was brought to bear against them and they’d give up.
The hope didn’t match reality in his mind. They should all know how zeal worked by then. Orion’s Light and t
he devarans gave them plenty of examples. If these rebels maintained half that intensity then even a ship as potent as the Behemoth wouldn’t exactly do much. In fact, it might only intensify the feelings of defiance.
Of course, they might be far more realistic than those I’m comparing them to. If so, then we’ve got a real chance to convince them to settle down.
Adam went back to the work of organizing the different departments and preparing for the action ahead. They’d be leaving in less than ten hours. That gave him plenty of time to finish his plan, grab a meal and a full night’s sleep before they’d be involved in what promised to be an incredibly long set of shifts, all of which he’d be up and available for.
Let’s hope everyone’s up to the task and that Durant will be able to finish his work on the fighters before we head out. Considering the resources brought on board to speed it up, I’d be shocked if he didn’t. But regardless, we’re about to be hip deep in some of the messiest fighting we’ve seen yet. Here’s to hoping it turns out better than my fears are leading me to believe.
***
Chapter 3
In and out they said, Trellan considered the words, cursing the briefing and the captain who so arrogantly thought taking the data from the space station would be simple. Everything has gone wrong and we’re still alive. I suppose we’ve got one failure left but there’s still time to get ourselves killed.
They jumped into the middle of a massive battle between the rebels and legit military, using the cover of explosions and weapons fire to sneak toward the station. Once within range, Trellan and three other men took to drop pods to get into position on the planet’s surface. This would allow them to do their part in taking down the security.
Only when they landed, they found the planet in a vastly more dangerous state than they were led to believe. The rebel forced established a serious beachhead and were making a very real play to take several regions of the planet. The coordinates of the facility they needed to infiltrate also caused problems when they landed nearly five kilometers off course.
