War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past by Conner Walworth Page A

happens."
    Armino gave him a nod of approval. "Exactly
what the Queen and I concluded after looking into this," He turned
off the projection. "Not much of a brief for a mission this big,
but we really don't have much to go on. This group has tried to
stay hidden from us and we're about to take them out," He looked at
his men. "This is what you signed up for guys, the dangerous stuff.
We've all gone on enough missions to know exactly what to expect
and we don't need specifics of every little thing. We're all quick
thinkers and problem solvers. We're taking this group out, even if
we know close to nothing about them because it's what we do. Now go
get some rest and meet me in the bay at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow for
departure."
    The men all exited and Armino watched them as
they left. He stayed behind in the room and pulled out his comlink
to call the Queen.
    "Yes Armino?" The Queen answered.
    "We leave tomorrow."
    There was a pause. "Be safe Armino. I know
you will succeed."
    "Thank you Adira. If anything does happen to
me, tell my family that I love them."
    "I will Armino."
    Armino hung up the comlink and made his way
to his bunker. He made quick calls to the other six men who hadn't
been at the briefing and filled them in on what was going to happen
in the morning. The men had been in the GSOU longer than him and he
knew they only needed to know what time to be in the bay, they
didn't care much about the details until the trip started.
    Armino undressed and flopped down on his bed.
He could feel all of the stress weighing him down, eighteen lives
was a lot to be responsible for on a single mission. One small
misstep could mean several of his men's lives and wasn't about to
let that happen due to fatigue. He rolled over in his bed, set his
alarm for 7:00 a.m., and shut his eyes.

    Armino woke to the sound of his alarm clock
and rubbed his eyes as he got out of bed. He walked over to his
dresser on the other side of the bunker and pulled open the top
drawer to get his gear. A solid black uniform fitted especially for
him and his weapons lay neatly folded in the top drawer. He put it
on and went to his weapons locker next, pulling out a rifle,
pistol, knife, and a few grenades to strap on his uniform.
    When he reached the bay he saw two men
already waiting patiently for him. "Morning guys! You ready?"
    "Hell yeah!" Both of them yelled back at
him.
    He walked to the rear of the ship and opened
the ramp. "You guys can wait inside the ship if you want. I have a
few things to check before we head out."
    "Sure thing Armino. They really gave us a
beauty for this mission," Moran said, admiring the ship in front of
him.
    Ferris shook his head in agreement. "Yeah,
man. They gave us one hell of a monster! This thing is huge!"
    Armino laughed at them. "How else are we
going to get eighteen men to the outer edges of the Galaxy?"
    Moran made his way in the ship. "Well, I'm
glad they were thinking about that when they assigned the ship to
us for this mission. I would've been pissed if they squeezed
eighteen of us in our usual ship."
    "What'd you have to do to get this ship
Armino?" Ferris playfully punched him in the arm.
    Armino shoved him. "Ahhh shut up and get on
the ship, you old rock."
    Ferris held his hands up as he walked up the
ramp. "I was just playing Armino, don't hurt me!"
    Armino shook his head at the two men and
walked around the ship to check for any unnoticed damage. A routine
inspection was always a part of his duty. Having ship failures was
something that he would not allow if it could be avoided. Getting
stuck on a place like Plouton would not fare well for his men, or
anywhere for that matter.
    It was definitely a different ship than what
he was used to on his other missions; it was able to hold twice the
amount of men assigned and had much more firepower than necessary
for a mission like this. The ship was a light grey and red with a
very sleek design that had rotatable wings protruding from the
sides of the ship. There were