sir.” She wore a concerned look on her face and
continued to check her suit.
“Everything’s fine with your suit, Mendoza. Relax.”
“I‘m okay, Commander. I just thought my first combat experience
would be in heavy assault armor—but you don’t have worry about me.”
I grabbed her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes to
reinforce the message, “I’m not worried, Ensign, you’ll do fine.”
“Just keep your head down and follow the plan; remember your
training,” Stinson added. “It may be a cliché, but it’s true.”
“What’s it like, sirs? Actual combat I mean.” Her eyes darted back
and forth between the two of us, looking for answers I wasn’t sure we could
provide.
“It’s been awhile, Mendoza,” I offered. “Except for a few inter-Sector
missions that went very wrong, ones I’m certain Sector Security would
rather I keep to myself; I haven’t seen a true combat situation since the
Diaspora War.”
I paused to reflect on how many times I’d been in violent situations
while working as an SI. Gunfights sure, fistfights…far too many, but actual
enemy combat…it had been ages.
“From what I’ve read, sir, nothing could be worse than the war,”
she said glumly.
“Probably not,” I agreed, doing my level best to push those
memories back down into the deep, black hole where I’d buried them. “That means
that this little drop should be a walk in the park. Right?”
She smiled. “I didn’t think about it like that, sir.”
I returned her smile. “Positive attitude, Mendoza…and a full
weapons load-out never hurts either.”
“No it doesn’t sir,” she said, looking more resolute and confident
as she snapped grenades onto her bandolier.
I walked back to the bridge, where a very disgusted Del informed
me that the Sentients had left the ship again to grab another body—this gave me
a workable idea about how to get ourselves into that ship.
Well it might work, I thought, if everything
goes according to plan.
First, I needed some answers from Del. “They can’t detect this
vessel right? You said it was new technology.”
“Recently developed and restricted technology,” Del
emphasized.
“So we could land the ship nearby and they wouldn’t be able to
detect it?”
“The stealth technology is designed for use in space, not
atmosphere. The ship wouldn’t be visible, but they could still detect air
turbulence caused by our descent; they would certainly hear our approach.”
“But we could still land in the general vicinity, then walk the
rest of the way to avoid detection?”
“Yes. If we entered the atmosphere at a distant point, then slowly
approached the city at a low altitude; we would almost be invisible to
scanners. Residual energy signatures from the city itself might mask any lingering
heat traces.”
Perfect.
“Locate a suitable landing area, as close to their ship as you
dare without compromising our arrival,” I directed.
Del zoomed the active video feed out, exposing a larger view of
the city, then started analyzing the surrounding area for a good place to land.
I could see that the majority of the urban area was covered by large buildings;
there were very few open places where a ship could be set down.
“Will it be day or night when we arrive?” I asked
Del looked away from the video and down at its monitor. “Night.”
“Good, every little bit helps.” We needed to get Evans back to
human controlled space as quickly as possible, and I preferred to launch our
assault as soon as we landed—day or night—but the darkness would certainly work
to our advantage.
“I’ve found a landing site,” Del announced, then a beep from one
of the monitors caught its attention. The Sentients body stiffened as it read the
information scrolling across the screen.
“Problem?” I asked, walking over to its side.
“I extended the ship’s sensor capabilities by tying it into the
planet’s systems. There is a fleet of ships headed to
continued to check her suit.
“Everything’s fine with your suit, Mendoza. Relax.”
“I‘m okay, Commander. I just thought my first combat experience
would be in heavy assault armor—but you don’t have worry about me.”
I grabbed her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes to
reinforce the message, “I’m not worried, Ensign, you’ll do fine.”
“Just keep your head down and follow the plan; remember your
training,” Stinson added. “It may be a cliché, but it’s true.”
“What’s it like, sirs? Actual combat I mean.” Her eyes darted back
and forth between the two of us, looking for answers I wasn’t sure we could
provide.
“It’s been awhile, Mendoza,” I offered. “Except for a few inter-Sector
missions that went very wrong, ones I’m certain Sector Security would
rather I keep to myself; I haven’t seen a true combat situation since the
Diaspora War.”
I paused to reflect on how many times I’d been in violent situations
while working as an SI. Gunfights sure, fistfights…far too many, but actual
enemy combat…it had been ages.
“From what I’ve read, sir, nothing could be worse than the war,”
she said glumly.
“Probably not,” I agreed, doing my level best to push those
memories back down into the deep, black hole where I’d buried them. “That means
that this little drop should be a walk in the park. Right?”
She smiled. “I didn’t think about it like that, sir.”
I returned her smile. “Positive attitude, Mendoza…and a full
weapons load-out never hurts either.”
“No it doesn’t sir,” she said, looking more resolute and confident
as she snapped grenades onto her bandolier.
I walked back to the bridge, where a very disgusted Del informed
me that the Sentients had left the ship again to grab another body—this gave me
a workable idea about how to get ourselves into that ship.
Well it might work, I thought, if everything
goes according to plan.
First, I needed some answers from Del. “They can’t detect this
vessel right? You said it was new technology.”
“Recently developed and restricted technology,” Del
emphasized.
“So we could land the ship nearby and they wouldn’t be able to
detect it?”
“The stealth technology is designed for use in space, not
atmosphere. The ship wouldn’t be visible, but they could still detect air
turbulence caused by our descent; they would certainly hear our approach.”
“But we could still land in the general vicinity, then walk the
rest of the way to avoid detection?”
“Yes. If we entered the atmosphere at a distant point, then slowly
approached the city at a low altitude; we would almost be invisible to
scanners. Residual energy signatures from the city itself might mask any lingering
heat traces.”
Perfect.
“Locate a suitable landing area, as close to their ship as you
dare without compromising our arrival,” I directed.
Del zoomed the active video feed out, exposing a larger view of
the city, then started analyzing the surrounding area for a good place to land.
I could see that the majority of the urban area was covered by large buildings;
there were very few open places where a ship could be set down.
“Will it be day or night when we arrive?” I asked
Del looked away from the video and down at its monitor. “Night.”
“Good, every little bit helps.” We needed to get Evans back to
human controlled space as quickly as possible, and I preferred to launch our
assault as soon as we landed—day or night—but the darkness would certainly work
to our advantage.
“I’ve found a landing site,” Del announced, then a beep from one
of the monitors caught its attention. The Sentients body stiffened as it read the
information scrolling across the screen.
“Problem?” I asked, walking over to its side.
“I extended the ship’s sensor capabilities by tying it into the
planet’s systems. There is a fleet of ships headed to
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