Act1/Part1- Calm Before the Storm

Arjun Fiaz goes through his ordinary routine for the most extraordinary of assignments.

[Milky Way Galaxy/ Valor Controlled Territory/ Sepress Cluster/ Orion Star Base/ Residential District/ Year 3,528]

 

“Good morning Orion station! It’s a beautiful day! Today our home team, the amazing ‘Rough Riders’ play against Olympus Station’s ‘Arctic Wolves! It was a close game last season, but hopefully our boys have improved their midfield defense!  But before we can have Oliver give us his take we go to Connor for the weather!”

Arjun Fiaz woke to his alarm radio. He let out a long yawn as he sat up, before letting on a groan as his back and knees was still aching from yesterday.

“I just had to piss off the major didn’t I…?” Arjun complained to himself. “Radio, increase volume,” he added shortly after. Empty beer bottles shuffled against his feet. The bottles were all situated around his bed, which consisted of a single worn out mattress on the ground. His entire apartment smelled like a mix of vomit and old pizza. It was a smell that only Arjun could stand as he had grown accustom to it for so long.

Arjun was by no means a large man. He was short for a human, standing roughly at the shoulders of other people from his race. He was fairly well-built; but he had to be to keep up with all the patrols and mandatory fitness tests required by the Valor Marine Corps. Luckily he was always able to pass just under the bar every time. 

The news began to play louder inside the one bedroom apartment as Arjun made his way to the small washroom which was just big enough to fit the bare essentials. He cupped both his hands and splashed cold water onto his face. The brown skinned human at his reflection in the mirror, tired and worn out was the best description he could give himself as he could not remember the last time he had gotten a full night’s rest. Arjun looked back at the radio as some of the news had caught his attention.

 “…Valor forces have increased after a decline in sudden pirate activity in the Sepress Cluster. Both the outer colony worlds and the highway between Star Base Atlanta and Orion have seen a similar decrease and fleet patrols have been put on high alert. Officials have given the statement to remain calm and to minimize star travel and that these are only precautions and not to worry but a few citizens have this to say…”

Arjun let out a small chuckle. For once the military had been deployed to the Outer Colonies. Instead of sitting their collective asses down on the more important Core Worlds, as they had always done, perhaps now the majority of the Valor military would finally join in keeping the Outer Colonies safe from pirates. He liked the idea of having a break and letting some other platoon deal with locals who had trouble maintaining their translating ear pieces.  It had been almost a full year since Arjun was stationed on Orion Star Base. The base’s singular purpose was to ward off any pirate or slaver attacks on nearby colonies. In the rare case that a pirate warlord was bold enough to attack a Valor colony directly, Arjun and several squads of fully armed marines would be deployed and normally eliminate them in usually under a couple hours.

Arjun walked back to his unmade bed and found his military uniform on his night stand. It was crisp and folded with not a single mark, smudge or stain. The state of his entire apartment completely contrasted his clean uniform. Picking his uniform up carefully with both hands and he walked into the living room.

“Radio off, television on…news,” Arjun ordered without much thought as he sat back onto his couch and pulled his pants over his green boxers.

The wall in front of his couch displayed a holographic picture which now visually showed the anchor-man head and his partner sitting behind their desk. The anchorman who was reporting on the lack of pirate attacks was an older man who could have been just over fifty years old, and his co-host was an alien of the macrial race. The alien wore the same blue and white uniform as all Valor staff employees, much like Arjun’s own military version. However, the uniforms worn by the news anchors did not display a rank insignia on the right shoulder, nor was a military designation number on the back. 

The female macrial co-anchor had well-groomed, bright orange fur. Her long, floppy ears had been tied back in a style worn by most macrials at the workplace. Humans have often compared the macrial race to the kangaroos of Earth. Macrials did resemble kangaroos with their long feet, ears, and tails.

 Arjun stood up, his hands pulling the shirt over his torso, and proceeded to head out the door knowing it was going to be another boring patrol shift. 

“Television  off.” He ordered as the door closed shut behind him.

 

[Milky Way Galaxy/ Valor Controlled Territory/ Sepress Cluster/ Orion Star Base/ Armory Station IV/, Year 3,528]

 

Arjun gave an accepting nod to the lone, fully-armed Valor marine that guarded the door to one of Orion’s many armories.  The marine wore the traditional mass-produced Standard Power Battle Armor or SPBA for short. Under their power armor, all marines wore a light blue nanobyte undergarment which covered their entire body except the face. The SPBA itself was equipped with several armor plating, covering most of the body to protect the user from almost all forms of damage.

“Are you ready for the long road ahead?” The marine asked in a monotone voice, which was filtered through his helmet thus removing any form of accent or emotion. The marine was a giant of a man, standing several feet above most races in Valor, second in height only to the gryphon-like humanoids known as the vulphus. Arjun knew of Marco, the giant marine, when he finished basic training just over a year ago. Macro excelled in close combat " hell, he won the wrestling championship for his squad for four years straight. 

“Yeah, although this time I would prefer not the a*****e end of the galaxy for once.” Arjun griped.

“Well you just might get your wish today.” Marco answered. Arjun was not a fan of the fact every single marine in uniform sounded the same way due to voice filtering. Yet he knew it was for the better, as not only did the SPBA helmet offer protection, but the voice filter could also translate the unique language of any species serving in Valor.

“Why’s that?” Arjun asked with his interest peaked.

The marine took a step closer before answering, “Apparently several key pirate fleets that have been a problem in this sector for years have either started being reported as destroyed or…vanished.”

“Vanished? You’re kidding right? That’s what the news was going on about? I thought they just retreated.”

Arjun chuckled at his squadmate who spoke as if he was telling a ghost story “Pirates don’t start disappearing all of a sudden. Maybe they started shooting themselves over whatever.”

“I don’t know man…” The marine was now only a few inches away as so he could whisper, “HQ is pretty damn quiet all of a sudden. Normally with something like this we would have a major broadcast over the huge decline in pirate activities… medal ceremonies for victories and all that, not just release a vague public statement. Something big is definitely going down when intelligence gets quiet like this; it’s the calm before the storm I tell you. “

“You’re crazy Marco, you know that right? I also think whatever drugs you’re taking to come up with these scares, you should pass some to me next time alright?” Arjun laughed as he moved around Macro and walked into the armory.

In the armory, Arjun passed several marines. Some were already in full gear, while others were still only wearing their military clothing. Arjun spotted a fully-geared marine and quartermaster who were on the other side of a reinforced glass wall. The quartermaster was giving the armored marine several ammo magazines for the standard M63 combat rifle. The quartermaster was of the vulphus race. Vulphus, large humanoid gryphon-like aliens, would have considered Macro to be of their race’s average size. The alien had a long scar across his face that passed through his beak, no doubt caused from a perilous pirate attack.

After passing several more marines who were being given their assigned weapons which included, combat rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles, with the odd plasma rifle. Arjun had always wanted to use a plasma based weapon, but he didn’t have the training or experience to even think about operating such a dangerous weapon of destruction.

 Arjun came to the end of the armory where the walls were lined with unmanned power armor. The room was extremely well clean to the point where Arjun could still smell the sanitation products used.

“Private Fiaz?” A macrial officer asked as she waddled up to Arjun.

“Reporting for duty, Ma’am.” Arjun saluted the small macrial.

“You’re late.” The grey furred major spoke with her arms crossed. Arjun scratched his left arm and as he was about explain himself, but he abruptly was cut off, “This is the third time this week you have been late Fiaz, so give me one good damn reason why I shouldn’t ship you off station and kick you out of the marines.”

“Well…I...uh…” Arjun tried to defend himself but could not form a tangible response.

“You’re lazy, immature and if Valor didn’t need as many boots as we can get in the outer colonies you would have been kicked out a long time ago.” The officer spoke with her words cold as ice.

 “Hey I passed boot camp just fine thank you very much.”

“Well congratulations! You completed what a half brain dead moron can do! Although in your case I would be insulting the moron as even a moron wouldn’t dare to tarnish the marine name by being late!”

Arjun moved passed the superior officer who had her fill of chewing his a*s out. He then walked over to his set of SPBA which was hooked up to a generator. Arjun’s own power armor, along with several other suits, which were in the process of being charged. He grabbed hold of the light blue nanobyte undergarment and slipped it over his clothing. The garment felt like putting on a second skin as it molded to the shape of his body. Next Arjun reached to unplug the heavy boots from the power generator. It took all his strength just to move one boot at a time. He stepped into the left boot first; the many different locks beeped as he secured the boot in place. Finally, a series of flashing green lights told Arjun that his boot was operating correctly.

Securing his other boot in place, Arjun could still feel the glare of the macrial officer on the back of his neck. Ignoring her, he reached for the left SPBA glove, which once again took his entire strength to lift. Yet, as soon as the left glove locked in place, he could easily lift the right glove. Valor SPBA operates by connecting to the blue nanobyte undergarment; it then increases the marine’s reflexes and strength in each area of the body that is armored. One by one Arjun was soon clad in all parts of the blue and white standard power battle armor. The symbol of Valor was embodied on his left shoulder pad and right breast plate.

Arjun held the final piece of his battle power armor, the helmet, and looked directly into its visor. He could see his own reflection in the single view port that ran horizontally across the face of the helmet. His face was dirty as hell and he could make out the stubble of a new beard that had started to take shape. He then flipped the helmet around and placed it over his head. His Heads Up Display flickered to life. It began displaying green check marks for each of his limbs, confirming that everything was locked correctly and there would be no danger in its operation. Once the check list was completed the rest of the systems began to take effect. Towards the bottom of his HUD it displayed that he had no authorized weapons linked to his suit’s basic artificial intelligence. Adjacent from his weapon’s load out section was his own life signs displayed by a digital heart monitor.

“Welcome…Private Fiaz. It is Seven forty a.m. Earth Standard Time….you have zero new messages ” reported his suit’s artificial intelligence in a toneless male voice.

Arjun was then directed by the macrial officer to move onto the armory to grab his authorized weaponry. Arjun was always happy to do so, as always finding an excuse to blow stuff up on his patrol was a favorite pastime of his, even if it did get him into all worlds of trouble as he could not afford now anymore. He met with the scarred vulphus quartermaster who he had seen a few minutes earlier. The quartermaster, slumped in his chair, seemed more interested in listening to the radio than he did issuing weapons.

 “Serial number...”The quartermaster asked with a dull tone, implying that he had asked the same question and followed the same procedures a million times before. He spoke to Arjun but his attention was directed at his holo-pad.

“Five, eight, two, two, three, seven, one” Arjun answered as he looked at the stored weaponry on the walls behind the vulphus.

“Arjun Fiaz?” The quartermaster asked, pulling up Arjun’s information on the holo-terminal which was opposite of the radio.

Arjun nodded, half distracted by the amount of firepower contained in the small armory. The quartermaster stood up from his chair and walked towards the large wall. He quickly turned his head to double-check the serial number on his holo-pad. Satisfied, the vulphus began removing weapons and supplies from the wall in what took a few trips back and forth.

“There we go. One M64 combat rifle with…” the quartermaster spoke as he entered his report into a data pad, “…seven magazines each with sixty rounds, and one F-76 sidearm with four magazines at fifteen rounds a piece…” Arjun took the weapons one by one.He placed them on his power armor’s built-in generator, which was magnetically held in place on his back. “…and two medi-gel canisters.” The quarter master finished.

Arjun stored the last of his items away, and headed out of the armory. At the armory’s exit stood a high-ranking marine, shaking his head with disapproval. The marine’s armor was a lot more decorative than Arjun’s standard blue and white gear. The marine had a gold trim around his armor which illuminated brightly whenever he moved. In addition to Arjun’s own weaponry, the higher-ranked marine had a long sword attached at his waist in a decorative scabbard.

“You know she’s going to keep treating you like s**t if you keep f*****g up in the field right?” The marine said with disappointment

“Hey that farmer had it coming! You were there; Jonathan, you can back me on that.” Arjun argued

“You broke his legs…in front of his wife.”

“We got the pirate cache didn’t we?”

Once again, Jonathan shook his head “Then there was that other time you destroyed that ‘slaver head quarters’”

“Okay, that was a bad call on my part, but how was I supposed to know what a water treatment plant looked like?” Arjun defended himself.

“Look, you really need to start shaping up in the next couple missions. Now, let’s head to the briefing for our assignme-” Jonathan stopped himself in mid-sentence as the hard-a*s macrial officer stepped out from the armory. Both Arjun and John saluted her immediately,

“You see, private,” the macrial spoke to Arjun, “ John here is an exceptional soldier; the youngest marine ever to be awarded with the Cross of Earth, took down the entire Blood Horizon pirate war band with only a couple squads and no support, and personally saved the command staff  of a planetary defence force during the night storm campaign.” 

“Ma’am, you cannot give me all the credit. I had some really good men and women with me those days. Even Arjun helped during night storm.” John answered.

“I do not even know why you even bother with that failure.” She said coldly as if Arjun was not even in the same room, “You have a perfect military record and I want you to live long enough to join the Black Stars before Arjun here decides to pull some stupid s**t again and causes you to earn a demotion, or worse.”

“Ma’am, Arjun is a fine soldier…he just needs some…work, that’s all, and he is not completely useless.”

“Yea I’m not completely use- wait.” Arjun said at the ‘compliment’.

“Alright, John. it’s a shame seeing such a good soldier being held back like this but it’s your call.” The officer said before taking her own leave.

Arjun waited for the kangaroo-esque alien to be out of ear shot before muttering under his breath. “B***h.” John shook his head in disappointment in him soon after.

“Look we have an easy patrol schedule today I imagine, so just try not to break anything today alright?” Jonathan asked of his fellow marine.

“I guess I better start getting my music playlist from the extranet ready so I won’t die from complete boredom.” Arjun replied back as he pressed several buttons on his computer which was built into every marine’s wrist guard.

“That’s the spirit.” John smiled under his helmet before pointing down a corridor to the left, “Now the sooner we get to the briefing the sooner we can be out of these tin cans and get a beer afterwards. 

Arjun nodded in agreement and the two Valor marines walked down the halls of Orion Station.

 

 

[Milky Way Galaxy/ Valor Controlled Territory/ Sepress Prime Cluster/ Orion Star Base/ Administration District/ New Arrivals Sector/ Star Cycle 534, Year 3,528]

 

Orion Star Base was not by any means the busiest of all places; there were a number of vendors from the Outer Colonies who would peddle their wares to other colonists or station workers, but for the most part, Orion served as a glorified truck-stop for supply ships to and from the Core Worlds and the Outer Colonies. Arjun did not mind the slow-paced environment on-board the star base, even though it was at the a*s end of space. In fact, he liked the atmosphere as it made it easier to fulfill the minimum two-year service requirement in the Marine Corps. 

Arjun trailed a few feet behind Jonathan as the two marines walked towards the briefing room. Jonathan and Arjun towered over the other staff members and civilians thanks to their power armor. Arjun noticed the usual suspect and familiar faces who would drop by the Star Base on a weekly basis. He noticed a set of vendors who sold vulphus culinary delicacies from their home world.

With the vendors stood four grizzled pilots in their greasy uniforms, they were a mixed species crew, which was normal for the most part. The one macrial of the crew was busy flirting with the female vulphus merchant by complimenting her more prominent features (which were not just her beak and white wings).

The rest of the crew consisted of two other vulphus aliens, both of whom were male, and one female human. Arjun would have walked right over to and ask her out if he did not have a patrol in less than an hour.

“Pig!” The vendor shouted, causing both Jonathan and Arjun to stop in their tracks. The three pilots were laughing at their macrial crew member, who now had the largest imprint from a backhand that they had ever seen.

Turning his attention elsewhere, Arjun tapped Jonathan on the shoulder and pointed to another marine who was in full power armor, only this marine had his helmet resting under his right arm. The male macrial had bright, red fur and his long ears were tied back to help fit them in his helmet. As Arjun looked at the marine, his HUD recognized another on-duty marine and displayed the macrial’s name, rank and status of health.

“There’s Will the ol’ bugger.” John stated almost surprised to see the macrial not already in the briefing room, as he was always the first one to show up.

Private Williodison stood in front of a smaller, more petite macrial who held his armored hands in her open palms. “Just one more week and then we’ll be golden, alright?” Williodison said with the largest smile on his face.

Just before the smaller, brown-furred macrial could respond, both Jonathan and Arjun came up to them where Will saluted the gold trimmed sergeant out of shear, automatic reflex.

“Sir!” Williodison announced.

“It’s alright now, Will. “John said, as he casually returned the salute, “We’re not on duty just yet.” The sergeant then turned his focus towards the sweet looking girl, “And this must be the lovely woman who has been sending you so many care packages.”

“Yes, that would be me!” She smiled back in an upbeat mood.

Williodison carefully grasped her hand in his own before adding on, “Just told Elena that after my post here on Orion is done, were going on the Sera cruise around the moons of Prometheus Nine.

“A cruise!?” Arjun said before letting out an impressed whistle, “How long did you take to save up for that?”

“About two months, and I had to eat instant ramen for every meal but…it was worth it!” Williodison spoke with glee.

“And I love him very much for it!” Elena spoke right after, before planting a kiss on Williodison’s forehead.

Williodison took his helmet from under his arm, attaching it to his armor so that he could be fully suited for the briefing. “I’ll be back in a day, honey, administration can show you where my apartment is and you can crash there for the time being.”

“I’ll see you when you get back.” She said before wrapping herself against herself around the armored solider. He accepted her affection, by returning with a hug and placing his chin on top of her warm head.

“I love you.” Williodison said softly into her ear in which Elena replied, “Just be safe, please.”

The armored macrial let go of his girlfriend, and joined his two human squad members on the way to the briefing. Jonathan, as always, walked ahead of the team, while both Arjun and Will walked adjacent to one another a few steps behind. Almost every guard they passed saluted Jonathan, but not only because he held the rank of sergeant. Even higher officials would salute him as well out of sheer respect for his military career. Jonathan was becoming a rising war-hero against the pirates who seemed to have a never ending grudge in raiding supply ships or ransacking colonies in the outer worlds.

“So you’re going to become a Black Star, eh?” Arjun said to Jonathan, “When were you going to tell us?”

Jonathan continued to walk at a steady pace as he answered, “Command has already authorized my training for the Special Forces, but I wanted to go on this last patrol with you guys before I’m off.”

Williodison gave a light punch to his sergeant’s shoulder, “When were you going to tell us!?” The macrial asked in excitement for his friend before turning to Arjun,” How did you find out?”

“After the Major chewed my a*s out, she then spilled the beans on John’s new promotion.”  Arjun answered.

“Holy crap, John’s going to become a goddamn Black Star.” 

Finally, the group reached the doors which led to the military-only section of the Star Base. Jonathan placed his hand to the security panel for the door’s locking mechanism for it to register his suit’s identification level. The door’s panel then displayed a green light, showing that it had been unlocked. The trio proceeded to enter the restricted area for non-military personal.

“I still have to go through training, and then there is the surgery to along with it. “ Jonathan answered as they passed by a handful of vulphus and human marines who were eating their lunch in a relatively small cafeteria.  “I’m going to miss you guys once my papers go through after this patrol.”

Soon the three came up to the open doors which led to the briefing hall. This was normally where Valor military platoons would be briefed, before being shipped to the outer colony worlds for the standard weekly assignments.

 

Milky Way Galaxy/ Valor Controlled Territory/ Sepress Cluster/ Orion Star Base/ Briefing Room A-2/ Star Cycle 534, Year 3,528

Private Arjun Fiaz sat in one of the many rows of the platoon’s large briefing room. He recognized his fellow soldiers, engineers, and medics who he had been working with for the past two years. There was a good mix of human, macrial, and vulphus with the odd ornithor alien. Arjun himself rarely saw the ornithors, as when they joined Valor they had still no real form of space flight. The ornithor aliens were best described as humanoid platypuses. They stood only a couple feet taller than the average human, and had much brighter color fur than that of the macrials. 

The captain of the platoon walked to the end of the briefing room where the rows of chairs were facing, and stood at the podium. Just like the marines, the captain was in full combat gear, causing everyone in the room to look exactly the same, save for different species and body types.

“Let’s settle down boys and girls.” The high ranked official said as the noise in the large auditorium slowly began to dissolve. “I have some good news for you all today; we will not be patrolling some dust bowl that the pirates won’t be going near with a ten foot pole, knowing that we the fifty third Hell Razors will be there.”

 The captain’s announcement was met with a hearty laughter and cheer, and he knew his men would rather watch a crippled turtle race than to go out on another uneventful assignment. The vulphus captain pressed a button on his podium, causing the entire auditorium to grow dark. The holo projectors located around the great hall began to project a three-dimensional image of the numerous solar systems which the platoon was all too familiar with.

 “…As you know, pirate activity in the outer colonies has dropped significantly in only a few days…to the point where command thinks this is more than a string of good luck on our behalf. Now while It is normal for pirate warlords to attack one another to gain more territory, this is a somewhat of an odd case as not only do we have reports of destroyed pirate war bands, but none of the major pirate gangs have increased in number. Instead, all of them are losing ground… and fast.”

One of the marines shuffled in his seat to sit himself more comfortably before speaking, “Or maybe the pirates finally couldn't stand the smell of one another and went into a civil war! It was only a matter of time before their ‘alliance’ would end. Hell gorilla spiders going loose on their ships and killing everyone make better sense than some boogieman or lone Rambo taking out the pirates.”

“Even so, corporal…this is what command suspects; that a third, unknown party has been hitting the pirates hard from all flanks.” Captain Winter Feather cleared his throat and continued speaking, “High Command has chosen not to risk the threat of this third party growing in power and attacking Valor colonies so command has brought out battle groups Rising Star and Hammer of Earth into active duty.”

“Two…two friggen battle groups, that’s like six armadas! Crap, just how big of a threat are we talking here?”  One macrial medic asked out loud.

“I’m sure it’s only a precaution.” The captain said to reassure the nervous alien who had taken her helmet off. “Now, for our task at hand…” he continued.

The vulphus captain pressed a few more buttons on the podium to bring out the holo-projectors on either side which then displayed a damaged pirate cruiser. The cruiser looked as though it went through hell and then some.

“Command received a distress call from this pirate ship called the Crimson containing this message.” The captain said, as pressed a button on his handheld holo pad.

“This…this is the r-rebel ship… Crimson… requesting h-h-help!” The distress call was filled with static. “Under attack, require assistance! Enemies are not-not-“Suddenly the call was cut off; as that was all was recorded. The auditorium became silent as everyone took a moment to process what they had just heard. The voice over the distress call was truly panicked and horrified; no pirate they faced ever expressed such dread and that caused a troubling sinking feel in most of the hardened marines.

Captain Winter Feather added, “Several probes have confirmed that the ship is alone and not one of the pirate’s traps they have been so keen on using in the past. So, command wants us to take control of the cruiser and interrogate the pirates for information, regarding what has been happening to them in the recent days.” He added.

Arjun spoke aloud with his arms crossed, “So you’re telling me that the boogieman…or gorilla spiders as the corporal beside me mentioned, have suddenly gotten sloppy and let a ship slip passed them without being destroyed?”

“Exactly, it looks like we’ve got our lucky break now. Move out marines, we’ve got some pirates to save.” The captain ordered before turning off the holo-emitters.

 

 

Reviews

[SweetNutmeg]

Wow, this was an exciting installment. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is shaping up to be a good space military thriller. I liked your description of the suit's tech, I could feel the heaviness and power. Arjun is turning out to be one of those archetypal slovenly good guys. I can't wait to hear how their mission will go.

[Wintro]

Thanks! I have a lot of chapters already written but I just have to finish editing them. I can't comment on the next chapter (obvious spoilers) but it was one of my favorite parts to write so far.