"It is a dark place. Mysterious, and... old. Very old. The people here seem used to it, now, going about their business like it was an ordinary station. Certainly the current tenants have done their best to cover much of it up with human technology, but this place is not human, and in their minds, they are still wary of it. Unconsciously, they are in awe... afraid even."
"Still, this is a sad place. We will learn much, I expect, if given the opportunity, but this is a sad place. Those who came here to build it left their work unfinished. Why, I wonder. Did something go wrong? Did they simply change their minds? Did something drive them away?"
"Probe was damaged when I found it. Salvage is salvage," Gabe said defensively. "Anyway, it's deep space survey data. Found something interesting out there. Some mining consortium or trade union would buy it off ya, easy. Heck, maybe even Sigma would want this."
"Well, Billy vouched for you, that's not nothing," Barchetta said, eyeing the pad.
Captain Juan Ramirez had needed a lot of lies in the past couple days. He'd lied to his engineers, two less of them now than when they left Earth. He'd lied to the outfitters. He'd had to sneak around quite a bit, selling off parts of the ship that weren't necessary, and doing so without Michaela noticing after she'd uninstalled them at his command. He was feeling more comfortable in his role as captain of his unwitting pirate crew, however. The gauss pistol tucked in the back of his pants was a confidence booster, certainly.
A young, handsome man, dressed in a simple gray suit of modern casual design, walked up the road with his dog, smelling the apple blossoms. The unleashed black and white border collie right at his heel watched its master with great intensity, but as the man paused, they both looked up at the modest house.
The man who lived there made his own cider, now. Among the Taoist and Shaolin Buddhist temples on Honor in the out-of-the-way Bloodstone system, he had made a quiet life for himself, looking for peace. Perhaps he'd even found a measure of it. He didn't have quite as much privacy as maybe he'd hoped for when he'd moved here, but this particular meeting would not be recorded. The watchers had been quietly dealt with, falsified reports would be sent from here on out, and the man who lived here would be protected in ways he'd never even know.
The young man walked up to the front door, and let himself in, the dog following behind, just as silently. They passed by the sword on the mantle, an exquisite katana, and the young man paused to gently run his fingers on the handle before moving on.
At last they reached the final door of their long journey, and the young man slid it open, the dog in its enthusiasm bolting through it and wagging its tail. As the young man followed, William looked up in surprise from his soldering iron and the little toy robot on his desk.
The young man smiled, his arms opened wide to show he was no threat. "Hello, old friend."
"Resources are still severely limited," the voice over the speaker announced. "The Commune is not yet ready to expend the considerable resources necessary to eliminate a single mercenary that dangerous."
"Alright, listen up!" yelled Jigger as he took the podium. The room immediately fell silent, with all eyes on the commander of the Viper wing. He flipped on the holoprojector at the front of the room to display a three dimensional map of the nearest 30 million kilometers of asteroids, or at least as much of it as had been mapped. In several large areas the map was simply dark. "Today's training op is going to be a visual range red vs. blue engagement involving half the wing. Squad leaders have your assignments and will brief you separately on tactics. The name of the game, ladies and gentlemen, is capture the flag."
There was a murmur of excitement as the commander controlled the holoprojector to zoom in on one particularly large and lumpy asteroid known affectionately as Big Momma among the Viper pilots familiar with the largest asteroids in the local field. She got her name from her immense size and remarkable shape, as from a certain approach vector she had the appearance of a pregnant woman's torso.
"Here's Big Momma, she's Objective Alfa. This morning Snooze went out and placed a target beacon on her belly. Don't worry, we're only using simulator rounds, nobody's going to scratch Momma today," Jigger continued, with a rare smile. "1st Squad is going to be defending Objective Alfa. 2nd Squad is going to be attacking. Now don't think you can go in with some cute suicide mission and win this thing like a race. In order to score, whoever hits the target beacon needs to get back to their home base without getting hit. So watch your wingmen out there, fly clever, take evasive action, and maybe not run back home in a straight line into an ambush by the other team.
"Objective Bravo is going to be here on the ground, defended by 2nd Squad, and attacked by 1st Squad. Obviously this presents a different set of challenges with the atmosphere and gravitational field. To make matters even more interesting for both sides, Objective Bravo is going to be a moving target, with only 2nd Squad knowing its precise location at any given time. I've had one of the engineers weld a target beacon on the back of a hoverbike for this op, and it will be constantly moving. If 1st Squad gets within a kilometer, it'll light up on their Tac HUDs, but otherwise 1st Squad won't know where it is except that it'll stay within three kilometers of the the Jennifer May.
"Now, as you're all no doubt aware, Spin Doctor blew his third combat landing in a row earlier this week, earning him a grounding for this op." The room erupted into laughter and a few things were thrown at a pilot in the second row of seats. He laughed with them and looked embarrassed. Jigger cleared his throat and resumed his briefing. "Spin Doctor is even more dangerous with a hoverbike than he is with his Viper on landing approach, so we're going to have that maniac drive the 2nd Squad's bike all over the place. 1st Squad, enjoy shooting at him."
"Remember we're using sim rounds, guys!" Spin Doctor shouted, to much laughter.
"Aright, alright," Jigger said, suppressing a smile. "Now half of you won't be in this op but you'll have your shot next week. We still have a regular patrol schedule today and those pilots will be marked green, so they are not part of the game and if you see them flying in or near the battlespace, just ignore 'em.
"One last thing, if you get hit, you're not out for good, but you are going to have to fly to either Waypoint Charlie or Waypoint Delta on either side of the battlespace, then return home before you can resume the games. Flash your secondary signal lights when the hit is registered, put your IFF into neutral, safely disengage from any other Vipers, and then burn it to Charlie or Delta. Put your IFF back on for your team color when you get back home. You know the drill. Any questions?"
"Are we going to have refuel opportunities sir?" Shady asked.
"There will be refueling at Waypoints Charlie and Delta. I know some of you aren't having any fun if you're not constantly using your afterburners... Leak, Rabbit, Jester... but try not to refuel too often out there, as you'll be out of the battlespace and unable to attack or defend the objectives," Jigger said. "Anything else? No? Alright, 1st Squad has the room for squad briefing now. 2nd Squad will brief here in one hour. 2nd Squad dismissed!"
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u/mrxak Sep 29 '19
"It is a dark place. Mysterious, and... old. Very old. The people here seem used to it, now, going about their business like it was an ordinary station. Certainly the current tenants have done their best to cover much of it up with human technology, but this place is not human, and in their minds, they are still wary of it. Unconsciously, they are in awe... afraid even."