Chapter II - On board the SS Phalanx II
First Lieutenant Corosa set his whiskey cup down after taking a good hard drink and leaned back in his chair as he scratched his grayed stubbles. Just as he found a comfortable position, the blue light above his office door flashed and the piercing sound that he’d grown to hate began chirping through the Communication system.
Then a voice spoke over the COM, “All officers on level 3, report to the briefing room immediately.”
There were four different colored lights placed above the doors of all PS marines, all with different situational severity, and Corosa had only ever seen the first two: Yellow and Green. The third: Blue, was for extreme situations, and the occasional suicide mission. The final color was red, and the First Lieutenant had only heard of a single instance in which it was used. Back in 2393, the SS Phalanx I flashed the red-light for six minutes before disappearing entirely from the Aether military.
Corosa slammed back the rest of his whiskey as he grabbed his pistol, and ran through the pressurized doorway and down the hall with the rest of his low-ranking comrades.
He sprinted down the bright-white hallways, catching some of his fellow soldiers off-guard as he passed them by, still attempting to button-up his black and green commissioned officer’s jacket. Though he wasn’t the first one into the briefing room, he still arrived before most of the others. He noticed the beautiful Chief Warrant Officer, Mannings, standing next to her personal hip attachment - Ensign Roberts. Aboard the SS Phalanx II, the women were the truly frightening marines.
Corosa ran over and stood attention next to some new recruit he had never seen before. The young new recruit looked terrified, his eyes fixated on the ominous, flashing, blue light.
“Hey private,” Corosa whispered, “relax. Captain Meyer ain’t so bad,” trying to relax the recruits anxiety.
A brisk and wrinkle-faced man with deep green eyes walked in, “Something funny, Lieutenant?”
“No sir, Captain Meyer, sir,” Corosa replied as he stood up straighter.
“Anyone else have something to smile about?” No one spoke as he continued, “Good, then onto the briefing.“
Pulling out a small manila file, he said, “Oedipus, call up information on file number KA-2442 rebel members, code name- Naelan, and code name Kalia.”
A life-sized holographic image of a young man and a young woman flashed and then focused on a circular platform in front of the PS marines. Information scrolled down beside the figures as an monotone, Roman-accented, voice answered, “Captain Meyer, information on file number KA-2442 of rebel member Naelan, and rebel member Kalia. Anything else Captain?”
“No Oedipus, that is all.”
Under his breath the computer AI responded, “well, that was a great use of my information processing abilities.”
Ignoring the troublesome AI, the Captain spoke, “A ship, aptly name the Kleftas, which is Greek for thief, joined the Phalanx docking bay last night at approximately 2200 hours. Oddly enough, we have no Advent/Departure Information on who exactly arrived on that vessel. From time to time, the A/DI gets lost among the tons of other information within our system. However, I don’t believe this information just slipped through the cracks. Now, as you all well know, Naelan and Kalia,” he said, pointing at the hologram, “are deserters and Aether specialists. Two suspects were seen on the displays through the AI security feeds just twenty minutes ago, heading for the Central Intelligence Database with their description. Oedipus, please brief the marines on the two rebels. And Oedipus, I do mean brief”, he said strictly.
The Roman-voice responded, “Ay sir”, as the holographic Roman soldier appeared near the two rebel figures.
“Christa M. Wells - code name, Kalia is a well-trained pilot and martial combat specialist known for her expertise in the Advanced Encryption Standard for computer free software movement and classified data-theft. She is a mastermind of all computerized theft and encryption, and she understands the CPU systems of the Theocracy better than most Aether members. Garret P. Wesval - code name, Naelan, is an experimental arms expert and a recognized navigations engineer as well as an informed EBC ship technician. He understands the mechanics of the Einstein-Bose Condensate propulsion systems, and was a chief advisor among the engineers who mastered the technologies from the Kayeel…”
Interrupting the extraneous brief from Oedipus, Captain Meyer raised his hand, “In English, Oedipus, and I thought I said brief. We don’t have time to hear the enemy’s logistics, just give ‘em the brief.”
“Apologies Captain”, the AI said callously, “These two rebels are some of the most advanced infiltration specialists this side of the galaxy, and they are headed for our Central Intelligence Database. I don’t need to tell you all the cataclysmic possibilities of them obtaining or destroying that level of information. The Phalanx II is the newest in ship design and the innovative center for the Ni-Aether experimentation. Captain.”
“Thank you, Oedipus. Now, I need a dozen men to prevent them from gaining access to the Kleftas, as well as others to track them down. This is a volunteer mission, and those who stay behind will not be admonished”, he said this, but meant none of it. Just as he expected, all fifty marines stepped forward, ready to get in the action. Not a single one of them had heard of any rebels in months, and their training was rarely put to the test.
“Alright Second Lieutenant Gates, and First Lieutenant Corosa, you two will choose your teams and head out. The rest of you will be supporting me in the housing district. We can’t have these rebels disturbing the peace.”
The two lieutenants stepped forward and began choosing from the elite marines. Corosa chose his team along with Chief Warrant Officer Mannings and her lost puppy, Ensign Roberts. Lieutenant Gates picked through the group of enthusiastic marines and tactical operations technicians, and the tracking experts.
“Very well”, Captain Meyers said as the groups were picked, “Gates will take his company up to the CID level and attempt to stop the Constellation rebels before they can get back to the Kleftas. First Lieutenant Corosa, you and your company will stop them if Gates should fail. Gates, you will not fail. If I find the First Lieutenant or any of his company at work, I’ll be putting you to work in the Environmental Control System for a month on security detail.”
Gates straightened up and answered, “Sir yes sir!”, as did the rest of his squad.
“Gear up and move out marines!”
“Ay sir!”, they all answered as they ran out of the briefing room and into the armament unit.
Corosa ordered his team to equip light C-type armor which was more suited for hand-to-hand combat situations, as well as stun-gauntlets: equipped to the hands and forearms, which emit a strong electrical current when touched. They were also ordered to change the rounds in their regulation M-34 rifles to a nonlethal sedative. Their squad sniper-Minguez, grabbed his PSG-4 sniper rifle and one clip of lethal rounds, knowing full-well how these situations can escalate.
Gates’ team wore no armor and packed light, deadly weapons. Only the two front PS marines were to wield electrical-ion emitter rifles to temporarily paralyze their victims, and if those two were apprehended, deadly force was the only viable option left for his squad.
Now that they were geared up, the Lieutenants informed their squad of the intended plan, and what to do if it goes awry. Gates’ plan was simple, he would track down the rebels, and if they were met with hostile intentions, they would return the hostility. Corosa’s wasn’t much more difficult. He would wait at the Kleftas and cut off the rebels, should Gates’ company fail. Gates’ squad was Blue 1, and Corosa’s squad was Blue 2.
Blue 2 moved out first and headed to the docking bay, just three miles down the south corridor through the military branches and navigational engineers. Then right on down the last hundred yard stretch into the docking port.
Blue 1 was granted access into the restricted CID level 4 near the center of the space station. They first had to travel through the barter districts and then up through a keycard-encryption sealed door.
As Blue 1 neared the barter district, one marine spoke into his COM and alerted his comrades to conceal themselves. They hid and looked to the marine. He signed with two fingers and pointed to his eyes, then forward toward the fruit market. One marine pointed a fiber-optic display cable around the corner of the building, and a video-feed showed up on his forearm display. A young man, perfectly fitting the description of Naelan handled a peach papaya, and the girl standing next to him matched Kalia.
It was clear. The electrical-ion emitter troops charged the pulse on their rifles, electricity cracking, and waited for the command from Second Lieutenant Gates.
He nodded and the troops burst from their location only to find the couple had disappeared. Customers and traders yelled and screamed at the sight of the alien-looking marines and commotion broke out among them.
Then a voice was heard over the commotion, “Hey! That man stole my peach papaya!”, the fruit salesman said pointing to two figures running toward the ECS.
The PS marines quickly followed the couple, roughly pushing people out of their way and moved in on their targets. Two miles through the barter district, they pursued the rebels, and couldn’t gain ground on them. They could barely see them as they entered ECS corridors.
By the time they had reached the Environment Systems, the Constellation rebels had already broken through two more access hatches and were well on their way down the corridor. After a couple more hatches, the couple disappeared, and the PS marines continued on past the ECS Conservatory and into the housing cells beyond.
“Corosa…we’ve…we’ve lost the contacts,” Gates huffed through the COM.
After a few moments Captain Meyer came over the COM, “Blue 2, expect hostile resistance, and plan for contact. Oedipus has informed me that they have already acquired the information the were seeking. They’re good at what they do. Be better, marines.”
Acknowledgments were heard through the COM system, and Blue 2 awaited their contacts. Corosa’s team switched to lethal rounds. They still relied heavily on Minguez, their sniper. If he could get off one shot, they could do the rest. He wasn’t the best, but he didn’t need to be, at that range.
