High orbit space platform. Umoja. The Umojan Protectorate.

Ever since the age of Greek city states, leaders have attempted to protect their territories as much as possible. Back then, the defenders used walls to keep the enemies out. As technology progressed, fortresses and trenches were dug. As mankind started to fight and die in space, neither walls nor fortresses could keep the enemies out. After all, enemy forces could just land behind the defenses. Even if enemies didn’t do that, smugglers and other criminals could come and go as they please. It would be difficult for Umojan patrols to identify criminals from civilians and intercept and question all the vessels that came and went.

Thankfully, human beings were resourceful, if nothing else. Gradually, terran commanders started to construct space platforms. During times of war, these platforms could act as a staging area and a source of fire support. During times of peace, civilian starships that wanted to land on Umoja had to come here first for inspection. This way, even if a group of enemies pretended to be civilians and wanted to do some sabotage, they would be halted at the space platform.

If civilian ships tried to land on Umoja from places other than the space platforms, they would be intercepted by patrolling Umojan starfighters and arrested. Only criminals would shy away from the platforms.

Even now, at one of the dozens of platforms, hundreds of starships of all types were coming and going. Squads of fighters patrolled the skies. Fully armed soldiers inspected the starships. As unlikely as it was that criminals would set their foot on a military platform, none of these men were willing to take the risk. A few civilian officers checked the IDs.

A distance away, a large corvette exited warp space. It approached and landed on one of the spots on the space platform.

Inside the bridge of the corvette, a woman in her forties stood tall. She wore a leather jacket and had a gauss pistol strapped to her side, but the most distinguishing feature on her was her right arm. Instead of a normal, human arm, it was a mechanical limb.

“Sir, the Umojans are sending men to search our ship. We are ordered to turn off our ship and show no sign of resistance.” A lieutenant on the comm with an Umojan official reported.

The lieutenant sounded worried. He knew very well the corvette, and what was on it, wouldn’t be allowed entry. After all, even the most tolerant government wouldn’t allow hundreds of fully armed mercenaries in.

The woman wasn’t worried. Instead, she simply tapped a few keys, and the Umojan searching party backed off. The officer on the other side nodded through the computer screen.

“You’re free to leave.” He informed.

As the corvette left the platform and made its way toward Umoja, the lieutenant turned to his leader.

“Sir, might I ask what you sent them?”

The woman looked at the lieutenant. Normally she wouldn’t bother telling her underlings why she did what she did, but the lieutenant was someone who she wanted to promote. He could be a helpful hand.

“It’s a military order from the Umojan High Command granting us access to Umoja without having to be searched.”

The lieutenant rose his eyebrows. “Umojan High Command...why would someone from the Umojan High Command help us infiltrate Umoja?” It didn’t make any sense. The lieutenant suddenly realized something. “What’s this mission, sir? Who are we fighting again? Who are we hired by?”

The woman went quiet for a while. When she spoke again, she dodged the question. “The employer paid us half the reward beforehand. I have set up a system. Whatever happens, that money will be delivered to your families.”

The lieutenant went quiet as well. Things must really be bad if his commander was getting ready for what would happen if the entire mercenary group was wiped out. Still, he realized he had no choice. If someone paid enough money to buy the lives of every single men in this mercenary group, then he or she would certainly have enough to hire mercenaries after them if they bailed or backed off. At this point he could only pray for the best.

The corvette landed in a relatively distant Umojan military starport on Umoja, and nearly five hundred heavily armed mercenaries walked out. They were made up of mostly marines, marauders, medics, reapers, and a few ghosts. They didn’t have any mech support, and with any luck they wouldn’t need any.

Strangely, the starport seemed to be empty. Everyone, even the basic security, were cleared. From the looks of it, they were ordered to leave rather than terminated by force, which to a degree was more terrifying.

Suddenly, the mercenary leader’s comm device vibrated. She looked down, and looked back up almost immediately. It didn’t take her long to find the building she was looking for.

It was an armory.

She waved her hand, and a squad of marines barged into the armory.

“Sir, you need to see this!” One of the men reported.

The commander walked into the armory, and she was amazed by what she saw. Five hundred sets of Umojan gadgets, including armor, weapon, and everything needed to turn a normal human being to an elite Umojan trooper.

She looked down on her transmitter again.

“Commander Madison. Order your men to put on those equipment.” A line of command popped up.

Madison frowned. She received this transmitter just yesterday after saying yes to a mercenary mission put on the black mercenary market. Someone demanded five hundred elite combatants and that someone was willing to pay great money for them. She took the job, sensing an opportunity for more cash for her and her men. After that, she received all the orders from this transmitter. Ever since she took the mission, she hasn’t even seen her employer in person. She didn’t even know what the employer’s gender was. Hell she didn’t even now if her employer was human. If that someone didn’t pay enough money to buy a battlecruiser to her mercenary squad, she might just quit.

Now she couldn’t help but think she was dragged into something beyond her control, and one misstep could lead to the demise of her and her men. Still, there was nothing she could do at this stage. She could only follow the orders.

She gave an order, and her men started changing. Before long, the five hundred mercenaries were turned to five hundred Umojans.

“Now, march your men toward these coordinates. This is what you will do...If someone demands who you are, reply this...if someone wants credentials...show them this…”

Madison glanced around, almost certain there was some sort of camera that was trained on her. She nodded and put her men on the march.

The mission was crazy, but she had no choice.

A series of compounds was located at the north of the Umojan Senate House. These compounds were built to combine comfort and security. Underneath the trees and decorations were detectors and auto turrets. With the help of top level engineers, bunkers could be assembled in just minutes. Fully armed marines and marauders patrolled the streets 24/7. These compounds were reserved for high ranking Umojan officers and officials. There was enough defense to defend the compounds against any enemy and buy enough time for the compound’s occupants to flee to safety.

Inside one of these compounds sat a high ranking Umojan officer.

Admiral Hancock was the vice commander of the Umojan Fleet. The Umojan Fleet had one commander, Admiral Thorn, and two vice commanders, Admiral Hancock and Admiral Astrich. Admiral Astrich commanded the fraction of the Umojan Fleet between the Umojan and the Dominion border. Thorn and Hancock, in turn, stayed on Umoja with the majority of the Umojan military forces.

As the second in command to the military forces of Umoja, Hancock should be satisfied with his position, except he wasn’t.

He was worried.

“You seem...frustrated.” In the computer in front of her, Jean commented.

Hancock glanced at Jean but didn’t say anything. There was a scent of fear in his eyes.

A few days ago, after Jean’s suggestion of taking the war to the Swarm was rejected, Hancock thought the girl would just forget about this. Either that, or she would continue to try to convince the members of the Ruling Council, and no doubt fail in doing so.

He didn’t expect her to do something much, much more dramatic.

Jean contacted him and suggested a terrifying plan. She would bring in a group of foreign combatants. Hancock would use his power to discreetly bring these men close to their target and give them an opportunity to launch an attack on the Senate House with the entire Ruling Council inside.

The plan was to execute everyone, including Jorgensen and Thorn. With them gone, as the highest ranking officer, Hancock would be in charge of everything on Umoja. Even if someone wondered if there was any tie between the attack and Hancock, now with the army in hand, Hancock could no doubt shut down those ideas with brute force.

Jean would be in charge of hiring the mercenaries and other technological support.

At first Hancock threatened to expose Jean and seize her for conspiracy against the Umojan Protectorate, but he changed his mind when Jean showed her the dirt she had on him. It turned out nothing was safe online. To someone like Jean, it was only a matter of finding it.

Placed between a choice of defending what was right and be arrested for corruption and doing what was really wrong and become the dictator of the Protectorate, Hancock cracked like an egg.

Even so, he constantly wondered if it was a terrible mistake.

“The mercenaries are moving toward the Senate House. Don’t worry. Their IDs were issued by the Umojan High Command. It can be anyone. No one will trace it back to you.”

Jean spoke freely. She had the entire communication channel under her control.

Hancock bit his lips. As much as he was worried about the mission, he was more frightened by Jean. She has already blackmailed him into committing treason. What’s next? He would only rise to the seat of the commander of the Umojan Fleet, just to become this girl’s puppet.

He decided he needed to fight back a little. Just to show Jean he wasn’t her slave.

“Let’s hope so, because if I am compromised, I will give you out in a heartbeat.”

Jean glanced at him. She didn’t tell him if this mission went wrong, he wouldn’t live long enough to be captured. No. The squad of Warden marines he kept in the back as constant bodyguard against any potential threat would be activated and be ordered to turn on their supposed owner. When the capturing team arrived, the admiral would be dead and the Warden marines would act as if nothing happened. The dead tell no tale.

She didn’t say anything. Sometimes being tough didn’t require loud threats or harsh words. Those who were truly deadly would never give a warning before striking.

Receiving no answer, Hancock sat back, slightly disappointed.

Meanwhile, the mercenary squad on the other side made its way toward the Umojan Senate House. There was no way to cover an army of the five hundred in an urban area, but the mercenaries’ Umojan uniforms blocked out most of the questions. Even the officers who did ask the questions were deflected by the paper order the leader of the squad showed them.

As the most important building on Umoja, the Senate House was put under heavy guard. In order to give the common Umojan people a sense of peace and democracy rather than war and military control, the Senate House seemed normal on the outside. But on a more careful glance, it could be seen that some of the grounds in front of the Senate House were uneven. This was because there were auto turrets burrowed underground. Some of the decorations were a bit stiff and out of place, which was because they weren’t only decorations but also defensive structures in disguise. In the back, there was a battalion of a thousand men, constantly armed and ready for battle. If something went wrong, they could be put into combat in just minutes.

These setups would be great and could take most of the intruders by surprise, but when the intruders were working with one of the highest ranking officers in the military, these defenses were obvious.

Jean even sent a map to Madison that contained the position of all the defenses, including where the siege tanks, bunkers, and turrets were, as well as the location of the reserve battalion.

The mercenaries made their way through the outer wall of the Senate House. They were stopped in the lobby of the Senate building.

“Soldier, you don’t have the clearance for this area. I need to check in with my CO.”

Even with the IDs from the High Command, the lieutenant at the lobby still stopped the squad.

Madison knew she couldn’t let the lieutenant report in. If that happened, then her cover would no doubt be blown, and she would be forced into launching a frontal assault.

In that case...