by J E Loddon
“Blunder,” Liberty retorted dryly. “We blunder.”
“Death from the Shadows is kind of Scout-like,” Antonia said, ignoring Liberty. Liberty threw her hands up in exasperation.
“Explore. Patrol. Probe. Reconnoitre. Spy. Seek,” Liberty called out. “Snoop. Peep. Report. Record. Sneak.”
“OK,” Casper said after a pause. “Team Seek Sneak Snoop Peep.” Liberty shot him a glare, but then her lip quivered, and she broke out into a smile, trying desperately to disguise it.
“All right, all right,” she said, finally relenting. “If we’re gonna do it, Milo is right, we need a fitting name. Something like, I dunno, Stealth Patrol,” she suggested. Casper shrugged.
“OK, something like that,” Casper replied. Before anyone else could come up with any more suggestions, Hung came into the room.
“Good morning everybody,” he said, sitting down at the table with us. “How are you all doing?” he asked. We all shrugged and nodded. “Any word on a squad name yet?” he asked, and Casper shot Liberty an ‘I told you so’ look.
“Not ye-” Casper started.
“Stealth Patrol!” Liberty called out, interrupting Casper. “We’re the The Stealth Patrol.” Casper held his hands out and looked across at her accusingly.
“O-Kay,” Hung replied, frowning down at his personal screen. He tapped it a few times, then paused for a few seconds. “Nope, taken,” he announced. “Any more?”
“Taken?” Liberty asked, unfolding her arms. “What do you mean, taken?”
“There’s a squad that already have that name,” Hung informed her, shrugging. “Galactic Division has a lot of squads.” Liberty sighed.
“No, nothing else,” she said, sounding disappointed. “So are you here to hear about yesterday’s exercise in the Arena?” she asked him, changing the subject.
“The Arena? No, no. As I said, that’s up to you guys now, you’re in charge,” he told her.
“Oh. So what’s this meeting?” she asked him. Hung looked back at her, with a look of surprise.
“It’s the briefing for your next mission,” he said. Her eyes widened. We all stared at him in shock.
“Next mission?” I asked incredulously. “But we just got back!” Hung gave me a bemused look.
“That was nearly a week ago,” he pointed out calmly. “You’re Scouts now. This is the job.” He looked around at everyone, looking confused at our shock.
So that was how it was. That first mission, that had been how it started. I felt a bit silly. Of course. We’d been through our training, and had done the Evaluation. We were part of the Division now. Why I had assumed we’d get a few weeks off to recover, I didn’t know. If we hadn’t made so many blunders, would I have been less shocked? We had survived that first assignment, and it had gone back to not feeling completely real after that. In my subconscious, I’d thought we’d earned a long break. That wasn’t how it worked, though. We were soldiers, like it or not. We were in the system, to be deployed wherever and whenever the powers-that-be decided. I felt sick. That first mission had felt like such a big step, but it really wasn’t. I was going to have to fear for my life every week for the rest of my life. Like a dead-end, full-time career. Working for the weekends. Except here, who knew when the weekends even were?
“What’s the mission?” Liberty asked him, a troubled look on her face. Hung turned away for a second, and a screen built into the wall came to life.
“Not such an easy one this time, I don’t think,” he informed us, an almost grave look on his face. “The same probe, picked up something on another planet, not far from the one you went to last time.” The screen showed the map of space, with our relative positions. “The probe picked up energy readings, coming from a solitary position on the planet’s surface.”
“So it could just be a large crystalline structure, like last time?” Tasia asked. “They give off low-level energy readings?” Hung shook his head.
“From the distance the probe passed the planet from, for it to pick up energy readings means it must be something using more than a small amount of energy,” he said. “The archives have been searched. As far as we know, our species has never set foot on that planet, so it’s probably not something of ours.” He looked at us, waiting for this to sink in.
“So you think there might be hostiles there?” Liberty asked him, caution in her voice.
“We have no way of knowing,” Hung replied. “But I would assume that. It’s considered a mid-level risk mission.” We all sat in silence for a minute.
“So this is it?” Casper asked. “This is our first real mission?” Hung shook his head.
“The last mission was real. You could have run into the enemy on the last one. This time, it’s just more likely.”
I felt my stomach lurch. It couldn’t be happening. I should have felt prepared for it. I had been convinced I’d meet an early death from the very beginning. I’d somehow lulled myself into a false sense of security, though. I couldn’t understand why Hung looked so calm. He was sending us to our possible deaths, and he was acting like it was just another day. And it was. I knew that now. Understood that now. As the Administrator had said, we were resources.
“We get grenades this time,” Antonia said. It wasn’t a question. Hung shot her a look, then regained his passive composure.
“Yes. For this mission, explosives are authorised.”
My head started to swim. I felt for a moment I might pass out. We were going into combat. My chest felt tight. I began to breathe heavily. It couldn’t be happening. I wanted to shout at him. I wanted to shout at all of them. To say how ridiculous it all was. That I was just a manual labourer from a planet of rock. Everyone else, though, had looks of acceptance. They still looked nervous, but none of them seemed likely to rebel against it. I looked up at the screen again.
“Tell us about the planet,” I said, trying to keep my voice even, and retain some visage of calm. Hung told us about the planet. It was fairly rocky, like the last one. It would have some vegetation, though, as there was water on the planet.
“It has a breathable atmosphere,” he told us, “The gravity strength is within our norms. Another reason why we suspect the presence of hostiles,” he told us.
Hung went through the rest of the mission details. This time, I made sure I was listening to every word. I didn’t find it at all boring. Any word he said could be the thing that preserved my life, so I wanted to memorize everything. Our mission was to observe and report, like the last one. Enemy engagement wasn’t encouraged, and he didn’t expect us to attempt to sabotage whatever we found. We were to get in, find out what we could, then get out. Unlike last time, though, we’d be on a full transport, with other teams headed out on their own missions, so extraction wouldn’t be anywhere near as rapid as last time. He asked if we had any questions. I felt like I probably had a hundred of them, but I couldn’t think of any. He wrapped up, and got up to leave.
“This is ridiculous,” Liberty shouted out suddenly. She was echoing my own thoughts, but I was shocked nonetheless. Hung froze, and stared at her, as did the rest of us.
“What?” Hung asked, a little bewildered.
“This mission,” she blurted out. “We can’t go on this mission.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“What’s going on, Liberty?” Hung asked. He used his normal, patient voice, but was clearly rattled by the outburst.
“You’re going to send us all out to die?” she asked, voice loud. “After what happened on the last mission? Are you crazy?” Hung stared at her, open-mouthed. “We screwed up, well and truly, last time,” she continued. “This squad is not ready to face an enemy force. It’s a suicide mission!” Hung sat back down, and paused for a few moments.
“Look, Liberty,” he began. “This is how it works. You know that more than anyone. We train you, and we send you out to fight for the survival of our species.” Liberty said nothing for a moment.
“I get that,” she replied finally. “I do.
But how is our species going to survive if we send people out to do this kind of job before they’re ready?” This time it was Hung’s turn to pause.
“OK. I know. The problem is, we don’t have a choice. There’s a threat. We have to evaluate it,” He told her.
“But why us?” she said, shaking her head. “Surely it makes sense to send a better, more experienced team?” Hung smiled sadly.
“At this point, you are one of our most experienced teams,” he informed her. A look of shock crossed her face, and the rest of us looked at each other in confusion.
“How is that possible?” she asked him. “There are thousands of squads on this ship, and however many hundreds of thousands out there on other ships.”
“None of the squads on this ship are ready,” he admitted. “You have some self doubts, but there are other Scout squads on this ship that aren’t even able to communicate with each other without getting into a fist-fight. Every squad on this ship has had roughly the same amount of time in training as you. The truth is, I saw potential in your squad. So I sent you out on a practice run. This will be your second mission, and you’ve had plenty of time to recover from your first. You are one of only a few Scout squads on this ship in that position.”
“I knew that first mission was an evaluation,” Casper muttered.
“No,” Hung said firmly, looking him in the eye. “The first mission was real. The probe picked up an anomaly, and it had to be checked out. We were reasonably confident there was no enemy presence there, but we had no way to know for sure. We sent you out on a genuine assignment, and you were successful.”
“Except we weren’t successful!” Liberty shouted at Hung. “We failed. All of us, in some way, put the mission in jeopardy.”
“Now hang on, that’s a bit harsh,” Casper interjected. “Me, you, and Milo screwed up. Tasia and Toni did a great job.”
“Really? Are you sure, Casper?” Liberty retorted. “I seem to remember Tasia struggling to make strategic decisions. I had to pressure her into making some. And Toni? She forgot her ration packs.” Everyone looked across from Liberty to Antonia in amazement, and her face went red. I was shocked. I really hadn’t thought that anyone else had noticed.
“Well, that really only affected me,” Antonia protested. “I didn’t complain, I was just getting on with it.”
“And what if we’d been stuck there for a few days?” Liberty asked her. “You think Milo could have stretched his rations out between the two of you for that long?” Liberty turned to address all of us. “Everything we do on a mission, before, during and after, affects all of us.” She turned back to Hung. “The catalogue of errors we made on that mission prove that we are not ready.”
“I disagree,” Hung said, and Liberty stared at him in disbelief. “The mistakes you made on the last mission are exactly why you are ready. Everybody makes mistakes their first time out. Some, their second and third times out too. The significant thing is, you have now made your mistakes. Milo, are you going to leave a firing pin out ever again?”
“No way,” I replied, shaking my head vigorously.
“Are you ready to make some decisions Tasia?” he asked her.
“Ready and willing, sir,” she replied.
“Casper, have you learnt from your mistakes?” Casper nodded. “Antonia?” She nodded too. Hung turned back to Liberty, awaiting a response.
“We can just as easily make other mistakes,” Liberty said quietly.
“You’re not going to, though, are you?” Hung asked. “You’ve felt the shame and humiliation of the mistakes you have made, and you’ve learnt the importance of focus and sound decision-making. You’re ready,” he said. Liberty looked at him. She didn’t say anything for a full minute. Then, she sighed. A long, deep sigh.
“Yes sir,” she said, trying to put as much authority into it as she could muster.
“Do you really mean that?” he asked her. She sat up straight, and looked him right in the eye.
“Yes, sir,” she said again, with a much more convincing tone.
“There’s something I don’t get,” Tasia said.
“What is it Tasia?” Hung asked, some of the tension gone from his face.
“If this power anomaly measured on this planet is really such a concern, why isn’t a more experienced team from another ship being sent to check it out?” she asked him. The tenseness returned to his face, and he looked at us one by one, as if sizing us up.
“OK, look. I’m going to tell you something. It’s just for your ears, and I’m only telling you because I have judged it as necessary to the mission,” Hung told us.
“OK…,” Liberty said to him, apprehension in her voice.
“This area of space,” he began. “It’s right on the edge of our species’ reach in the galaxy. We’re on a fringe, which is, or was, far away from the border that separates us from the enemy.”
“I think we probably could have guessed that,” Liberty suggested. Hung set his jaw.
“Well, it isn’t so far away from the enemies reach of influence any more,” Hung informed us ominously.
“Er… what exactly does that mean?” Casper asked, concern in his voice.
“What it means, in practical terms, is that this is our area of space to protect,” he replied. “And by our, I mean the population of this ship.” We all gasped.
“What about last year’s recruits?” Liberty asked. “And the year before that? Our planets have been supplying cadets for years, and we haven’t moved that far away from home?”
“They were trained, and then they were sent to where they were needed,” Hung replied. “It was never thought that we needed a significant force in this sector, so we didn’t build one.”
“Can’t they just send some troops back?” Tasia asked.
“The conflict at the front has… well, it’s been intense,” he said. “Those squads are still needed there far more than they are here.”
“Wait. So essentially what you’re telling us, is that the inexperienced, squabbling squads on this ship that haven’t even completed a mission yet are the only things defending our homes from the enemy?” she asked, panic in her voice. “We’re the last and only line of defence?!” Hung held his hands up to calm her.
“Not exactly,” he said. “The enemy is not in this vicinity in any degree of force. We can’t even be sure they are here. If a significant force were to appear, then we could rely on more experienced squads in nearby regions. Like this planet you’re going to survey. If it turns out there is a hostile presence there, if they are trying to establish a base, we can call in demolition teams from other ships, other branches. Squads who know what they are doing, and are good at doing it.” Liberty relaxed a little, but still seemed very concerned. Everyone looked anxious.
This was, basically, my nightmares being realised. When I’d been called up, I’d been convinced that I was going to die quickly. In reality, what I’d really believed was that I’d do numerous missions of little or no significance, and would die at some point in the first year. I hadn’t genuinely believed that I’d be killed on my second mission. Not until we got sent out on the first mission, and had been told there was a possibility of combat. My home planet was pretty remote, and not very technologically advanced, but I had been well aware that the enemy was considered to be a long way away. From my perspective, they’d always just seemed like a myth or a legend. We’d never had any fear of invasion. Now, though, it sounded like that lack of fear might have been ill-advised. If the enemy did decide to enter our sector in full force, there was no way the cadets on the Anastasia would be in any position to stop them. We’d be overstretched, and quickly eradicated. Then, our home planets would be systematically overrun. Mine first, probably, owing to our complete lack of planetary defence or domestic military presence.
We all sat and let this sink in for a few minutes. If morale had been down before the conversation, it had hit rock bottom. Despite what Hung had said, I didn’t think any of us felt read
y for the mission. And now, having been told how dire the situation was, and the importance of the mission, we had a whole heap of pressure to deal with too. If we never made it back to the ship, they’d have to send another, even less experienced squad to check the planet out. If we discovered an enemy base in the making, we would need to get as much information as possible on it before calling for extraction. It was a mission that promised to be fraught with peril, and our squad leader had little faith or trust in us.
“Don’t worry,” Liberty suddenly said, breaking the silence. “We’ll get in, see what the situation is, and report immediately.” Her firm, professional tone had returned, and she looked like she meant exactly what she was saying. I exchanged puzzled glances with Casper.
“Good,” Hung replied, rising from his seat. “I know you won’t let me down. Get ready. Get rested. I’ll see you tomorrow in the hanger.” Hung left. Nobody said anything until he was out of earshot.
