First Deployment (Corporate Marines Book 3) Read online

  Stevens smile was huge. “Oh, now, Eight, there is no need to groan on the inside! After all, this is an excellent chance for us to have a light AI-to-man chat about how things are going.”

  I sat back and prepared myself.

  Work-Up Training.

  We had moved out of the system after stopping and dropping some sensor and data collection systems at different points. Several of the sensor packages floating all over the system were still working and collecting data. It was likely that no ship would be through here for a month or two, and in that time the sensors would have used up their available memory.

  When they were close to full, they could carry out an automatic download and continue gathering more data. Just because most of the facilities had been destroyed didn’t mean that those sensors that were left couldn’t continue working.

  On our ship, we never interacted with the rest of the crew except once in a rare while when a crew member would come through and run a full diagnostic on the landers or shuttles. We didn’t talk to each other, either—except for Two. Two would disappear up into the ship regularly. I understood that she was talking to the captain, but about what I didn’t know.

  After several more days of moving around the system, we finally pulled out and headed out for deep space.

  Every day we followed the same routine. Work on armour, work on weapons, specialized training, sim training (always based on some sort of combat operation), working out, meals, nut doctor appointments, and debriefing. I was supposed to start working on other areas of my personal development now, taking courses on just about anything and more. Yet I found that I was still struggling to keep up with the rest of the section. I was still new, and while I was fitting in more, things were just difficult for me to accomplish faster than was standard. I never seemed to have spare time; the best I could do was fifteen minutes of reading or watching news vids from home.

  I had expected that right after Two told us we were going to be going through different sim training, it would start. It didn’t.

  Every day it was either offensive or defensive operations. The missions were always different, and if they were similar, then there were strange things thrown in, but there was nothing really new about them.

  I maintained my gear and my body. The routine was difficult to settle into, and everyone else seemed a bit on edge, but no one lost their cool.

  Far Away In A Briefing Room

  This briefing room looked very different from what humans would use, but at the same time, the highest-ranking humans—or for that matter, most aliens—would recognize the underlying current in the room if they could see it with the inhabitants in action. Words, ideas, and language may be so different that they could never be understood. But power? Power is something that is understood across all the species out there.

  This room screamed power, as well as control.

  The room was huge and poorly lit. The ceiling disappeared up high and it wasn’t possible to see the far walls because of the room’s size and lighting. But it was apparent the space could easily hold several thousand beings.

  The walls, floor, and what could be seen of the ceiling were made of metal that gleamed dully. There were no rivets or welds visible—just an endless, smooth sheet of metal around the entire room.

  The entrance was through two huge doors that swung out. For anyone that walked into the room, it would be awe-inspiring. A vast room with dim, indirect lighting that came from carefully hidden fixtures around the room. The most impressive aspect was the raised dais at the far end of the room. Rising up were ten steps leading to a large platform, at the top of which was a large metal throne.

  On either side were smaller seats, and while this detail could not be seen from the floor, those seats had thin pads for those occupying them. The entire dais was again one piece of metal. Even the seats were built-in. Nothing in the room was moveable, except for the one set of entry doors.

  The entire room gleamed as the metal was highly polished. In this society, an entire cultural group had arisen and their only job was to clean the room and polish it. Every colony of The People had a room like this. There were rules about how large a colony had to be before this room must be duplicated, and it was not that large a population base.

  The People knew that they needed to be close to their prophets to hear the word. They did not deviate from the norm very far, but any deviation would be heresy. And heresy must be stamped out. So the room was built as soon as a colony was big enough to start working on it.

  The light around the dais was brighter so that everyone in the room could see those that sat there for the many different rituals.

  There were no other seats or ornamentation aside from the dais. Every eye was meant to be focussed on those who occupied it—those in charge.

  Today’s meeting was much smaller than normal. The top representatives of The People were meeting with their first prophet. There were almost fifty representatives standing in front of the dais in groupings. Important family representatives stood around the outside, then the few important government officials closer in, and finally the military representatives, which made up the largest grouping by far.

  All the officials were lying flat, face down on the ground, waiting.

  The prophet sat on his simple seat and eyed the group in front of the dais as expressionlessly as always. The lower two seats were filled by the high priests of The People. They had come in earlier and gone through the ritual greeting. None ever saw the ritual between the priests and the prophet, but all knew that it occurred.

  The prophet’s voice was flat and monotone. “Rise, servants of The People. You wish to tell me of what has happened and how my plan succeeded. Tell me, then, the first of the failings that trouble you.”

  The crowd carefully rose, making sure that no movement was incorrect. A simple mistake in any of the ceremonies would be taken as a sign of weakness in the family.

  The military representative took a half pace forward out of the group and bowed his head. “Lord, the trials went much better this time. During the deployment into the system only three of the missiles that were used failed to destroy their target. The recovery shuttle deployment was exactly as you said. Eight of ten launchers are reusable and are already being rebuilt. The others are being sent to the factory as spare metal. As the ship advanced, the pulse weapon was deployed and performed as you predicted, destroying the thinking mechanical devices. Both shuttles were then deployed to the surface where they collected the mined material and carried out the survey that you called for. The shuttles returned to the ship, which then moved off and watched the asteroid strike. The blasphemers’ base was completely destroyed.”

  The soldier stopped here and waited. When nothing was said, he continued quickly. “The ship returned to our system two days ago and immediately carried out a data dump to the prime base. Even now it is moving into location near the docks at Kurel to deposit the raw material it collected. Then it will move to Second Home, where the missile boxes will be unloaded and tested. The crew will then be taken into custody and go through careful evaluation to make sure no taint has taken root.”

  As he finished speaking, the soldier stepped back.

  The prophet simply replied, “Excellent,” and then sat waiting.

  One of the government officials stepped forward and bowed his head next. “Lord, the record of material from the ship is such that we could finish many different projects. Yet we are not sure how to proceed. What do you command?” He waited expectantly.

  The prophet never stirred. “The material that has been taken from the blasphemers shall be used for ship building. We have enough courier boats now. The carrier ship class will be finished first. There will be three ships finished as the one has proven itself. The special carrier pods will also be finished for two of them. Then the remainder of the material will be put toward both types of missile launch
er and the missiles themselves. Then the material will be used up and the plan will continue.”

  The government official bowed and stepped back into line with the rest of his group.

  The soldiers’ group almost radiated a nervous energy.

  The prophet didn’t give them time to work up the courage to speak on their own. “General. You and your soldiers have a question. Ask it now, and be as a soldier, strong and sure.”

  The soldier, the commanding general of The People’s military, stepped forward again and bowed his head before speaking. “Lord, the soldiers are clamouring for another target so that they may train for the attack. To destroy more of the blasphemers and take their material so that we may forge more weapons to build more ships and expand out. There are so many blasphemers out there and they wish to strike against them now before the enemy is ready.”

  The prophet moved. He turned his head and looked at the general. “Hear my words and know the truth. I speak as the prophet for The People and if any question what I say, then kill them in the old ways.”

  The entire group listened in silence with heads bowed so as not to draw the attention of the prophet.

  The prophet continued. “We have two different blasphemers that would destroy the people and take what was given us by God. This shall not happen. We have struck from the darkness that they live in, and even now they will prepare to wage unholy war on one another. This will weaken them so that we may strike again later. Some will say that we must strike now and gain more resources and knock the evil ones back further. I tell you that we are not ready. That any mistake at this point will ensure that they know that we exist. We do not want the unholy ones to join together and attack us together at their strongest. We must prepare.”

  The prophet paused and looked around carefully, meeting the eyes of each member of the group. As that gaze turned upon them, every member had to look down as none could match the cold, dark eyes. Finally, the prophet stopped at the general. “General, I know that your soldiers clamour for more weapons with which to strike at the blasphemer. That they wish to don the mantle of the holy crusader and strike down those who stand against the one true god. This fire is good. We will face a mighty war that many will not survive, but in the end we will persevere. The soldiers will ask you questions and I will give you the answers now. They will look at you and ask why they do not have the new weapons that they have seen being developed. Many have tried those weapons. They know that these weapons will reap a mighty harvest of heretics’ skulls and allow pyramids to be built in The People’s name. They also know that there are other tools that would make them unstoppable. Yet we only have so many resources at any time. The demands of our war machine are tremendous. You may ask the government representatives about how many demands there are, but you already know this: We will not go to war until we can get enough of The People to the fight and win. If we took the material that we captured and built the new weapons for your soldiers, we would lose the war. So for now, we need to build the tools and weapons that we need. The soldiers must become warriors that understand that they may die in this fight, but their souls will go to the fields of their ancestors to bask forever in warmth and plenty. Tell them that they must train until they can fulfill their tasks awake, asleep, or even dead. Those are my words. Let all here know and fear them. Pass them on to your people and follow the way.”

  The general saluted, head still bowed, and then stepped back.

  It appeared that the meeting may be over until one of the family representatives hesitantly stepped forward and bowed his head.

  The prophet didn’t look over. “You have a question for me, representative of the family weavers?”

  The representative went down to a knee before speaking. Everyone else backed away from him imperceptibly. “Yes, Lord. Forgive my forwardness. The brooding mothers howl in the chambers about how many of the young are taken away every generation to become soldiers. After so many generations, the newborn are becoming weaker and smaller. The oldest mothers say that the next generation will be much worse if something is not done. They also fear for The People when so many soldiers go off to war.”

  The representative stayed where he was and the rest of the room was still.

  The prophet sat motionless, as if considering, then began talking. “Noted. The buildup of military personnel is necessary for The People’s success. Past history has been that soldiers leave the family unit and never return until the end of hostilities, at which point they return and the best and strongest mate. Answer: There is no war for now. There has been no war in two generations. Current soldiers will return to their family and fertilize females. A eugenics program must be in place for future success. A program will be out in a week laying out what criteria commanders must use when selecting soldiers to return for this duty. I have resolved your issue. For the other one, tell the brood mothers that their young are training to fight a holy war and they will have an improvement in mating material. I have spoken.”

  A deep gonging sounded throughout the room and the representative stood up quickly. Everyone bowed to the prophet and the two high priests sitting in attendance on either side. Then the crowd left the room.

  When the main group had exited, the doors closed and the two priests turned to their prophet, lowering their cowls.

  One was much older than the other and he started speaking quietly, aware of how good the prophet’s hearing was.

  “Lord, the fight ahead is a large one. Will we succeed?”

  The prophet looked over at him and nodded. “Yes. We are not sending half our soldiers to our first target. When we are ready, we will send a few thousand. They will destroy the enemy. Then we will fortify the system. No counterattack will be able to penetrate that ring of defences. Here in the home system we will have hundreds of missiles deployed throughout. Nothing will be able to get to The People here, either. The project will continue. We will have enough war materials built up that as we push the blasphemers back, they will not be able to recover. Then we will destroy them in their own solar system. That will give The People many new worlds to colonize. If things do not go according to plan, there is always the final option of God’s Guard. But that will not be needed. The plan is excellent.”

  The two priests looked at each other and smiled. God was on their side. How could they lose?

  They stood up and smoothly walked down the stairs. They then turned back toward the prophet and lowered themselves in a fluid motion until they were prostrate. After a short pause, they rose to their feet, bowed again, and left the room. The doors closed after them and the prophet, alone at last, considered the plan.

  Lab 4, European Division, Glentol Corporation

  “Excuse me, sir?”

  John stopped what he was doing and looked up from the terminal where he had been trying to finalize the quarterly reports and research markers. An important job, yes. But a damn pain in the ass, no matter how much he tried to prepare for this in advance.

  “I was running a diagnostic on the nannites and the returns are off by 8 percent.”

  John hadn’t been on the floor doing science for almost a decade, but he knew what the nannites were supposed to be able to do and that a percentage deviation that high was just wrong.

  “Sally, how are you getting a reading that far off the standard? I mean, there is no way that deviations like that could exist. We run the diagnostic every few days.”

  Sally nodded. “Yes, sir. Well, you know how we have the two older machines leaving shortly for refit or scrapping?”

  John nodded.

  Sally fidgeted. “Well, the machines are supposed to be functioning normally when they leave. That’s just SOP. So I warmed them both up and tested the nannites we have in batch right now and both said that the batch was 8.21 percent off normal operating parameters. So the first thing I did was run a diagnostic on the machine. No flaws. So I ran the same test w
ith the machines we have been using for over six months now. They report no problem. I ran their diagnostic and they seem fine. It just isn’t right, and this shouldn’t be.”

  John locked his terminal and stood up. “Come on, show me the results and let’s see if we can recreate them with the machines again. Either way, I’ll request a Level 4 AI to evaluate the nannites. This is not normal, and everything here has to be normal.”

  John stepped out onto the lab floor with Sally, who guided him to the two older machines. She immediately turned them on and started the system diagnostic. After the lights came up green she began running the current batch of nannites that were in process.

  John leaned forward and stared at the results. “This is bad. . . .”

  The Emperor’s Palace, Kah-Choo Homeworld

  The garden was beautiful. It was a carefully laid-out construct of local plants in soothing clumps with large open areas of fine rocks. Multiple paths weaved their way through the garden. Flat stones had been meticulously placed so that those enjoying the space would not disrupt the flow or energy of the garden of tranquility while they walked through, admiring the delicate work that had gone into its creation.

  Shiv waited patiently. It was a difficult thing for him to do. He, like every other member of his race, was impatient by nature. The desire to be moving and doing was strong, whether that was building a new nesting city or preparing to wage a war of destruction with another clan . . . or, perhaps one day, an alien race.

  That last option may be upon them much sooner than any of their experts had ever really expected.

  To think that aliens had attacked and completely wiped out one of their outposts! It had not been that large, but all of the structures and workers had been obliterated. The entire area was pummelled with rocks from orbit so that nothing but splinters remained of their research and mining outpost. The security element had only been a dozen strong, and there had only been eighty workers there. But it did not matter.