(75.1) Side Chapter 5 – What’s this?

30 minutes before the start of the day’s last duel, 7.511Km away from the station set a large gunship floating in the abyss. Her lights were off and her engines deactivated, coupled with the deep black paint job; it was almost invisible out of indirect light.

Still, the ambient inside couldn’t be more dissimilar; Tall red men covered head to toe in thick ballistic armor dashed across the cramped corridors, illuminated in crimson red light—which made any other colors imperceivable—Their faces were covered by helmets; six red lights were all that distinguished the front from back of their heads; The complete suit of armor was sealed and pressurised from inside.

Concurrently, an alarm sounded in the halls; The probable source of all the movement. Red figures crowded into the large meeting room, where three officers stood on a raised platform.

The men didn’t need words to get in order; they formed neat lines on their own. By the time the last person entered, four rows of about 20 men each formed in what was obviously a briefing room.

The three officers formed up, saluting and announcing. “““Attention!”””

*STOMP*,*STOMP* The sound of 120 boots stomping on the metallic floor echoed around the sparse chamber.

One of the three officers took a step forward, a large scar running up his otherwise perfectly sculpted face. After clearing his throat, he spoke in a regular volume; just enough so everyone could hear him if there was no other noise in the room. “Good afternoon, everyone; As much as I would love to say you’ve been called here for a disciplinary hearing or general announcement, the truth is the time has come for us to complete our mission.” His expression turned solemn. “I trust your squad leaders have briefed you on your individual missions and objectives. Now that we’re close to the starting point, we will still disclose a censored high-level view of the global operation as well.” He stepped back, calling. “Lieutenant.”

Yet another one of the officers stepped up, a woman with strangely long black hair for a soldier—It ran down to her back—With sharp brown eyes, and a small piercing up on her eyebrow. She nodded, starting. “Exactly thirty days ago, we were tasked by space command to observe MDS Station, but that mission changed two days ago. It is not our job to theorize why such a mundane observation of a civilian station turned to our current mission, but as it stands; We are to charge in by the end of the hour.”

A blueprint of the station’s internals got projected behind her. “We will split into two teams. Team alpha will dock at arrivals and overwhelm any security staff they might find. Their job is to cause a big enough distraction for Team Beta to complete their mission; this team will be composed of twenty of you.” she turns to the other side of the room. “The remaining sixty will form up into six person squads and board our ten breaching pods; Your mission is simple: plant timed explosives near the spine of the floor you breach and reach Alpha team within the extraction deadline of 20 minutes.” Her eyes squint. “Don’t screw around. If you can’t find the spine within 5 minutes, plant the charge where you determine it will cause the most damage and retreat.”

She stepped back, letting the last one of the officers speak.

He was an unremarkable man at first glance, bald with blue eyes, but everyone one in the room clenched up, including the other officers. “This will be an extremely dangerous mission; Bordering on suicidal. A dueling tournament is taking place at the station, meaning any casual-looking group of teenagers may have more firepower than everyone here combined."

He raised a hand, taking a deep breath before continuing. “We have three duelists of our own. They will support the Alpha team, as they won’t have the option to retreat once the operation starts. Let this serve as a reminder: Do NOT engage duelists. Most of them are civilians who aren’t used to fighting, and will run away if you give them the option; Don’t corner duelist civilians, always give them an escape route; Don’t try to disarm them. Would you let just anyone take away your weapon in a tense situation? No, so don’t try to; Duelists have the privilege of ignoring your bullets. The best option you have if facing a duelist is to run away to the Alpha team.” He eyes over the men and women standing straight. “But you already knew that.” He looked at the Lieutenant, also frozen in place. “Please continue.”

She carefully stepped in front of the officer. “Our main objective is the destruction of the stations dueling arenas, but, if we’re lucky and time allowing, we might accomplish some secondary objectives.”

Behind her, the screen changed to five individuals shown in a pyramid. The top layer comprised one person with long purple hair, lilac eyes, and a fair complexion.

“These five individuals currently reside on the station. They’re all powerful duelists, but if caught off guard, they’re just regular teenage girls, meaning capturing them would be trivial. Still, do not engage them unless a duelist of our own is ready to face them; They will not comply with your commands and may even actively hunt you down. Beta Team, don’t compromise your primary objective with hunting these VIPs down. Let them be the worry of Alpha Team.”

The holographic screen powered down with the Lieutenant continuing. “Lastly, the rules of engagement for this operation are simple: do not engage unharmed civilians; Try to get them out of the way and secure them if you can. Be extremely careful about duelists; Don’t forget what you heard. Station security guards are to be considered ‘shot on sight’ unless they surrender. With that, I will leave you prepare for the operation; we still don’t know the exact starting time, but it won’t be longer than an hour from now. Alarm signifies the start.”

She steps back again, the first officer taking her place.

“You’ve heard her! Don’t disappoint and be ready! Dismissed!”

*STOMP*,*STOMP*

The rows of soldiers stomp the ground again, before turning to the exit and filling back out in an orderly fashion.

As the soldiers filed out of the room, the long-haired officer let out a deep sigh and mumbled to herself. “This is going to be a massacre.”

The bald one stepped forward, requesting. “What did you say, Lieutenant?”

She stammered. “Ahh! Apologies, Sir! Just some thoughts of my own, not relevant, Sir!”

But the man simply shook his head. “Now I’m curious. What are your personal thoughts about this operation, lieutenant?”

The Lieutenant shook, beads of cold sweat forming on her forehead; Yet she still gathered her courage and requested in a neutral volume. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“Granted.” The bald man accepted without missing a beat.

Her brown eyes darted around the room, but after a sigh, she said. “Sir, this operation doesn’t show a shred of strategical sense. The facility we’re breaching may be civilian, but it’s still heavily fortified. Asteroid point defense turrets dot the exterior of the station. Even if they hesitate to use them to attack our breaching pods, it is incredible optimistic to assume they won’t destroy most of them. Sure, with the number we’re sending, some will make it through, but if the mission is to make the station inoperable, will two or three large explosions in the upper decks really do the job?” Her voice grew more erratical as she went on. “Also, why are we only supplied with two duelists!? The station is crawling with them! Even if they’re civilians, there’s little doubt in my mind that the station staff will corral them to at least disable our own duelists. And the time limit… If the turrets were not enough, the time limit makes it almost impossible for anyone on Beta team to escape! Augh!” She covered her own mouth with both of her hands, the realization of what she just spat to her superior hitting her all at once.

The other officer gave her a nasty side eye, but remained silent otherwise.

Her superior raised an eyebrow at her outburst, eventually drawing a deep breath and saying. “Lieutenant… Those are all valid points and normally any single one of them could lead to an operation being called off. But are you not missing another fallacy? Something so basic a petty officer in bootcamp would question.”

The lieutenant scrambled to her attack plans on her data terminal, her head spinning with options. Date? 25th of September, yes, that’s right. Time of attack? 1700 to 1800, also correct. Position? LP12 Ap:1.612414…. fuck! also correct, what am I missing? Target? MDS Promotional Space Station Arena, owned by MDS corporation… Dragoon City?… Finding something bizarre, she opened another list, finding the city’s name on it.

Looking up from her tablet, she faced the bald officer with her eyebrows inching up. “Sir, why are we attacking an allied civilian station?”

The officer closed his eyes, voicing. “Now that, Lieutenant, is the right question…” He looked back up. “Unfortunately, questioning direct orders from Union High Command is way above our authority.” He turned to the other officer in the room. “Prepare the ship for high-speed docking. I have one last broadcast to make.”