Eve Berg

Location: CWS Agincourt, Uncharted System, Eastern Block

“Situation!” GYSGT Cunningham stood at the front of the gathered men and women next to a portable holo-tank.

All across the Agincourt’s expansive flight deck dozens of other voices were ringing out. All of their voices were raised over the mechanical churnings of a Fleet about to go into battle. Cargo sleds were moving back and forth behind the GYSGT to and from the small fleet of Spyders not far away. They mostly carried a variety of small missiles and explosive 40mm rounds for the nose cannons, but every once and a while the sled carried consumables, spare parts, or extra M3s from the Spyder’s internal armories. All of it was a bit distracting for Eve as she tried to listen in on the specifics of Alpha Company 2511th Infantry Battalion’s upcoming mission.

“As you ladies and gentlemen know, we are about to embark on one of the largest military operations in memory. The Blockies walked into our house and sucker punched us. I know, myself and others were there.”

Eve knew the GYSGT was referring to her. The two of them were the only people in Alpha

Company and its accompanying Ranger contingent who’d been on Rogue Island and in the doomed task force that came to their rescue. Eve blocked those memories out before they could surface. Scavenger bots racing toward her, and her not being able to escape was one of her most frequent nightmares.

“Now, it is our turn to kick them in the nuts, and we’ve brought half a million of our friends with us.” A war grunt rose from the Company before they settled back down.

“Mission!” The holo-tank activated and showed the giant Y of an Alcubierre Launcher. “Second Corps, Fifth Division, First Brigade is tasked with boarding, capturing, and disabling the three Alcubierre Launchers in the Yangon system identified as: Launcher Alpha, Launcher Bravo, and Launcher Charlie. First Battalion, Alpha Company’s objective is Launcher Alpha.” With a swipe of her fingers, the GYSGT dismissed the two other Launchers and enlarged Alpha.

Eve was surprised at the amount of detail available on the Launcher. The Commonwealth and Blockies designs were different based on preference, but the same underlying architecture was the same. The Launchers were giant Y shapes with tens of kilometers between the two upward prongs. That allowed incoming and outgoing traffic to arrive and depart through the beacons. When arriving they honed in on the beacon. When they were departing, they tapped into the system network, located their destination’s beacon, and plotted a course through the network. It was the fastest form of space travel devised. The Launchers, and their network, were the circulatory system of a major starfaring nation.

Eve suppressed a grin. This was a hell of a lot better than fighting little murderous robots.

“Concept of the operation will be broken down into three phases: boarding, neutralizing the garrison, and lastly disabling the quantum tech. It is of paramount importance that the quantum entanglement technology be disabled as quickly as possible. I will say that again for anyone who was not paying attention the first time.”

Eve was sure everyone was paying attention and the GYSGT was just rubbing in how important their mission was.

“It is of paramount importance that we disable the quantum entanglement tech ASAP. If we do not, the Blockies are going to drop their own Fleet on our ass and we’ll be playing defense instead of offense. When we’re this far from home that might as well be game, set, and match.”

Everyone felt the truth of those words. They were pretty deep in Blockie space, and if they had to run they weren’t going to get too far with the exotic matter reserves, and even then, they’d have to stop and refuel while all the Blockie forces in the sector hunted for them.

“Phase One, Boarding.” The GYSGT didn’t let her soldiers think about that possibility for too long. “We’re taking a two-pronged approach.” The holo-tank shifted out to show a large space around the objective. “Launchers Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie have two fortresses in a stable orbit around them. The brass’ plan is to engage the fortresses and then have Aggie run the gauntlet and dump us on the targets.”

Eve had the pleasure of meeting Third Fleet’s commander several times over the last several years. He was good friends with her mother, so whenever they were in the same system he usually came over to eat or vice versa. As the youngest child, and only one still in the house at the time, Eve had been forced to tag along. She liked Admiral Ward, but she hoped his aggressive tactics didn’t get her killed.

“We will be using a combination of Parasites and Spyders.” The GYSGT could barely hide her grimace. Eve shared the sentiment.

Parasite pods were specially designed pods for ship-to-ship boarding operations, and the ride in them was about as fun as a combat drop into a hostile atmosphere. It was also dangerous enough that doing a single run in a Parasite was enough to earn the occupants the Master Combat Drop Badge.

Each Parasite could hold anywhere from one to five soldiers depending on the pod’s design and soldier’s classification, and if Eve’s suspicions were correct, if she made it through this then she’d have that shiny gold badge on her CMU’s for the rest of her career. That was guaranteed to label her as a bad ass for life, but the cost of that honor was great.

“Our Ranger attachments and select soldiers from the Company will be inbound to the target on the Parasites, while the rest of the Company loads on our two Spyders.” The holo-tank zoomed back in on Launcher Alpha. “The cannon cockers are going to aim for this section of the target.” The screen highlighted a section of the Launcher midway between where the prongs separated and the butt of the structure. “Hopefully they don’t miss.”

Eve took a couple deep breaths and didn’t let the other soldiers see she was in sudden need of finding a restroom.

Parasite craft were specifically designed to breech hardened targets. They were built to be stealthy, maneuverable, and hard to hit, but that all became relative when you were getting closer and closer to the target. The front of the Parasites was what gave them their name. Multiple nanite and diamond-tipped drills glistened at the head giving it a carnivorous, insectoid look. It was those drills’ job to defeat anything from laminate plating to the ES nanite armor of a warship.

The good news was that once it got to the hull the Parasites were relatively safe from shipboard weaponry, but that didn’t mean the ship’s internal contingent of marines couldn’t come out and try to blow the Parasite off the ship. It had happened before and would happen again.

Eve said a quick prayer to whoever’s guiding hand decided her fate.

“Our Spyders: Bulldog-One and Bulldog-Two are going to land here.” The GYSGT continued with the briefing. “The plan is for the Rangers to secure the LZ so we don’t take casualties boarding. If they are not able to hold the LZ then we will fight are way onboard, because, as I said before, it is absolutely paramount that we disable that quantum tech.” She searched the Company for anyone who looked like they didn’t get that pivotal point yet.

Eve did the same, and was happy to conclude she didn’t see someone with their head so far up their ass they’d survive in vacuum by breathing their own farts.

“The layout for Launcher Alpha is unknown.” That brought a round of groans, which the GYSGT silenced with a look. “But we have taken the external features and matched them up as closely with known enemy Launcher as possible, so we have a good idea of the path we’ll need to take. Enemy force strength is unknown, but estimate is at least a battalion.”

Eve was ok with that. She knew the entire brigade was hitting the three targets, which meant three or four Commonwealth battalions per Launcher. Three or four to one odds was a good decision in her book.

“Our primary objective, Alpha Company, is to move to the main generator, which is believed to be in the engineering section at the bottom of the Launcher.” The holo-tank zoomed again and highlighted the very tip where a large chamber, surrounded by smaller chambers, was supposed to be.

“Our blueprint from similar Launchers shows that there is a sizeable space outside this section that is likely some type of garrison berthing. Intelligence assumed that at least part of the garrison will be defending those reactors. But,” she continued over some mumbles, “if we can take that reactor and shut down the power, then we might be able to take the quantum tech offline. Once we complete that, we will hold the position against counterattack until reinforcements arrive or the station is cleared.”

Eve mused as she replayed the plan in her mind. It was wishful thinking.

“We’re going to have some friendly forces, so don’t think we’re going this alone.” That brought some relieved looks to some very worried faces. “Bravo Company’s breech point is on the opposite side of the structure, so once we make it onto the Launcher we’ll rendezvous with them and proceed to the objective. Also, Juliet Company of the 2512th is landing just above us.” The GYSGT circled a section of the Launcher. “Their mission is to clear and set up a blocking position so no one can sneak up and fuck us in the ass.”

That got a few chuckles, including Eve. That would not be the good type of buttfucking.

“Squad and team leaders have the assignments for who is going in the Parasites and Spyders so hold those questions until the end. Moving on to service and support.”

Eve kept half her mind on the brief and the other half on her PAD. The OPORD the GYSGT was going over had been disseminated to everyone. Eve didn’t care much about a lot of the supply classification for the 2511th. She cared about what she was going to be taking into battle.

Due to the delicate nature of where they were going to be operating, the brass, in all their infinite wisdom, was not giving them any 125mm or hypervelocity missiles. Eve understood why, but it still pissed her off having her main weapon taken away from her. The V3 LACS were still formidable with their railguns and her Buss. They were being given some low-yield demo to help blow open doors and secure their position against counterattack, but they were pathetic quantities against the destructive potential of what the Rangers were being denied.

“Can you believe this bullshit?” She highlighted the section and showed it to SGT Sullivan, her squad leader.

“Typical,” the season Ranger barely glanced at it. “Don’t worry, Berg, you’ll get your boom boom back when we hit the PDC’s on the surface.

Unlike Alpha Company, the Rangers would be too valuable to sit on the Launcher for too long. The GYSGT and her soldiers would get some downtime after they took the objective. Eve wouldn’t be so lucky.

The last two sections of the OPORD went pretty quick. They’d been training in VR with all the command and signal protocols already in place, so that was nothing new, and it was a given that service and support was going to be slim. The GYSGT went through them in under ten minutes, and after ten more minutes of questions the Company broke up to get back to prepping for the assault.

“Sullivan, Berg,” the GYSGT waved them over before they could make their escape back to SPECOPS country to square away their LACS for the hundredth time.

“Gunney,” Sullivan took the lead since he was the squad leader.

“I wanted to give you two your assignments before you get out of here. You already know you’re going to be in Parasites. Sergeant, I’m leaving it up to you how you want to divide your team. Here is the breakdown of the pods we’ve been assigned. My only request is that you give me Corporal Berg to help liaise between our two units.”

Eve raised an eyebrow in surprise, but the SGT didn’t even bat an eyelash. “Sure thing, Gunney. Berg, coordinate with her and then report back.” With his job done the SGT headed out, and left Eve alone with her old Basic instructor.

“Gunney, why am I shot gunning this in a Spyder with you when the rest of my squad is riding in on Parasites?” She couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice.

“Who said anything about riding a Spyder in?” The GYSGT gave her a firm look. “You and I are going in on a Parasite just like the rest of your team. It’ll be us and one of our HQ commo guys, and a couple riflemen to keep the commo guy company. The LT is going to bring the rest of the Company in on the Spyders.”

“Oh.” Eve’s anger faltered. “Then why me?”

“Because I trained you Berg, and I’ve seen you in action. If we’re going to get in a firefight with just a few of us, I want you watching my six.”

“Oh.” Eve repeated. “Thanks.” Her voice rose with uncertainty at the end of the word.

“Don’t mention it…really…don’t mention it. My LT is a bit of a ballbuster, and if he knew I was playing favorites he’d write me up.” The GYSGT flashed a grin.

“I’ve got your six, Gunney. I’ll liaise the shit out of this.” Eve grinned back, and then went to square away her gear so she could do just that.