Rough Writing

Halibach’s small fleet sat on the edge of the gravity well of one of the lifeless planetoids in this system and waited for Sarah to do her job. Tall with broad shoulders he wore a plain utilitarian grey uniform. His head was shaven and his face cragged and severe. He stood in front of his command chair on the bridge of a small carrier he’d purchased and refit after he had been discharged from his final tour in the Scipio Regional Space Force. He had some age to his face but in these days appearances were almost as easy to change as the clothes he was wearing. Still most people chose to stay at least close to their natural form. A homage to the human core most likely.

An audible ping rang through the low humming filling the bridge as displays lit up with the deceleration of an object on the edge of scanners. A grin tugged the corner of Halibach’s mouth as Second Lieutenant Covier announced “Commander, we’ve got the data burst from Lightwing’s squad, we have the final drop point and she reports all is well”. “Confirm the coordinates then have the fleet move to the target” Halibach said with his deep baritone voice. As sensor reports and synchronization maneuvers between the fleets ships began flooding in the ship’s AI voiced “Commander, all ships report flight synchronized, FTL break speed in 42 seconds” in a soft sexless voice.

“Sarah was one of my best hires” Halibach thought as he stepped back on the grey plating of the bridges deck and sat down into his chair. The normal drone of prepping for FTL faded to the back of his mind as he reviewed the the plans for the encounter ahead. He silently messaged First Lieutenant Richmond “I have every confidence in you, good luck”. If all went well he would have two reasonably large freighters with valuable cargo under his control in a short amount of time. The ships entered FTL and Halibach sat back to patiently wait as his plan was executed.

—-

Sergeant Sheh blinked four eyes in tandem and tasted the air. Cold and tinged with oil, sweat, and human tension and fear. He arched his elongated neck back at his squad and had his suit’s AI translate to them “Do not worry hatchlings, we have trained hard and we will find victory”. It looked each of his six squad members in what it had learned was an assuring manner to humans and then turned back towards the bulkhead of the small boarding ship they were waiting in. The FTL had yet to cut out and Sheh’s optical displays showed they had at least another 15 minutes before their small ship would jettison away from the light cruiser they were attached to and burst forward towards their target.

Sheh settled into his drop seat and engaged its protective shield. His squad followed suit. Their ship was little more than a plasma drill mounted on top of a fusion rocket so their harnesses would keep them together during the massive acceleration towards the other ship. Once thier ship reached the target it would begin drilling through the outer hull. Once breached the soldiers would push through and take control of one of the cargo areas. Halibach wanted Sheh to evaluate the newest recruits in combat. Some of them had had military training but most nothing more than militia grade.

The squads corneal displays all lit up their field of vision as the countdown to their ships launch approached zero. Sheh was pleased as he caught tinges of anticipation and a lessening of fear. Most of these recruits were responding well to the pre-combat stress and Halibach would be pleased to know. Halibach trusted Sheh despite other people’s misgivings and Sheh trusted Halibach despite the constant conflict between Halibach’s home system and Sheh’s. It was an odd but strong relationship that people outside of Halibach and Sheh would never understand. “Sweet battle is coming” Sheh thought as the engine began to whine during its ramp up power phase in preparation for launch.