Eridani, Qir system, FDA territories

  September 7th, 2506

  Eridani. A lush paradise of beauty that ranged in different biomes from the bright outdoors of green rivers, twisted mountains, deserts showered in teal, to the urban cities, small towns, and villages. After the Long Voyage, this planet served as a the closest analogue to Old Earth.

  And It was the crown jewel of the Frontier Regions. But, that was a long time ago. Eridani was now in the front of war. A war between the FDA and the UHD As it was settled in the Qir system of the Ard cluster, close to the border of Dominion’s sectors, it was now in a battle of control. If the Dominion took Eridani, it’s game over.

  But the people of Eridani refused to let that happen. Formed as the Defense Force, they’ve fought valiantly for decades against the yoke of the Dominion. But in recent years, they’ve only fought the occasional bandits and pirates. But now? They were no match for the Private Military Corporation, Crimson Iron, for a small fleet was sent there in late July, and threw volleys at them without any armaments to punch through the mercs and their ships.

  Luckily for Eridani and its soldiers, the Special Tactics Recon have arrived. They came with a strike team of six: Raptor, Hawk, Grim, Bullet, Lid, and Iris, to assist the defense force against Crimson Iron. Though, truth be told, they were investigating the missing 12th warhead that somehow wormed its way to Eridani during the STR’s investigation of Crimson Iron’s and their false flag operation. An operation that culminated in failure for the enemy thanks to valiant efforts of Frontier Defense-Special Operations Group and STR over the last year in defusing and dismantling the 11 warheads in joint-operation dubbed Operation: Pierce.

  Still, they were shook by the mercs’ fanatical devotion to their mission, when they kidnapped civilians for torture. Instigated shootings. Even screamed as they charged with intent to kill.

  Crimson Iron has been dealt with a heavy blow, but their devotion only showed how deranged they are.

  Up on the observation post, Ranger Hawk and Ranger Iris stood over the roof of an observation post. It was built like a wide circle with an elevator at the far end, used for soldiers who kept watch on different sides of the post.

  “Negative contact.” One Eridani soldier murmured.

  Hawk scoffed, and was met with a glare from Iris who was beside her. “Hawk, be nice. We’re supposed to help them.”

  “I don’t see the point, Iris. We shouldn’t be out here keeping watch for flanks. We should be out there destroying CI’s small fleet.”

  Iris stood silent for a moment, and then asked “Can’t stop thinking about what those mercs did in Yuma, huh?”

  Hawk nodded slowly “How couldn’t I? When the people who are we supposed to protect are also the ones who helped Crimson Iron cause mayhem. It’s like they don’t even care for FDA and our cause!”

  Hawk then slammed her cybernetic fist at the railing in front. Luckily, she didn’t feel the pain. If it was her right arm, it would’ve been a different story.

  Iris brought her hand on Hawk’s shoulder, but Hawk shook her off “Not now, Elsie.”

  Iris took her hand off, and nodded. It was clear that she needed to be alone.

  One of Eridani’s soldiers approached the Rangers. He was wearing battle armor that was colored in Pine, and with a brick-colored battle dress shirt underneath. His helmet was open-faced, so Iris immediately saw right through his brown skin toned in peanut butter truffle. “How can I help you, soldier?” She questioned.

  “Sergeant Omar Beseem of the 4th Division, ma’am. Couldn’t help but hear your buddy was frustrated. She okay?” He questioned.

  “I’ll be fine. Sergeant. I just need to be left alone.” Hawk gestured her hand at him.

  “Alrigh. Sorry to bother you, ma’am.” He bowed and made his leave.

  Hawk narrowed her eyes, her forehead was furrowed. On one hand, she wasn’t supposed to tell any EDF soldier about the turmoil over Operation Pierce. On the other hand, what’s the harm? the news of Crimson Iron’s depraved actions were well-known by now. FDA’s policy when it comes to news about their colonies, is to be transparent and honest. No use in lying to their people over the news, no matter how harrowing and horrific they’d be.

  “Sergeant, wait!” Hawk called out. Sergeant Beseem shifted himself and approached her again. “Is something urgent, ma’am? I’m on a break.”

  Perfect timing, Hawk thought, then gazed at Iris who nodded in approval. “How much do you know about Yuma, Sergeant?” Hawk inquired.

  “Only from what I’ve read on Frontier News Network. There was a shooting in a train station, nine, maybe thirteen people dead. Why?”

  Iris put her arm on the Sergeant’s shoulder. “Let’s find ourselves a place to sit down, Sarge. Preferably by the table chair, nearby. It’s not a pretty story.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Java Station, Kinna City, Yuma, Frontier Defense Alliance’s territories

  September 29th, 2505

  “4-1 to Overlord, we got multiple wounded civilians. We need medics!’

  “3-3 to Overlord, dozens of foot mobiles took a train with multiple hostages….”

  “Overlord, we need reinforcements! They’re killing people…”

  The comms chatter was a mess. Java Station was under attack by Crimson Iron mercs and the associates who helped them in infiltrating and smuggled the 12 ORUS warheads, minus the one that went missing in Eridani’s star system, Qir. But that was not a mission that Rangers Hawk and Iris concerned themselves with; their mission was to neutralize the mercs and their allies, find the warhead and disable it. Yuma’s enforcement agency cordoned off the station to prevent any escape and waited for the place to be secure. Meanwhile, Frontier Defense-SOG and STR units from different parts were focused on the 9 warheads from Elysium, Skylis, Marv, Ram, Polit, Gava, Odis, Jaspar, Kialo, and Esra. Eridani was a non-factor due to the warhead’s transponder being inactive a few weeks ago.

  This operation was a quick and an efficient strike. Had they done it one colony at a time, CI and their allies would’ve found out, and detonate the warheads ahead of time.

  Hawk and Iris were in the ticketing office, when their comm crackled from a call.

  [Raptor to Hawk, come in. Over.]

  “Go for Hawk, over.” Hawk replied.

  [We’ve got three hostages held in the platforms. Three more in the waiting area.]

  “Demands?” Hawk inquired. [Only that we let them continue deploying the warhead, and threatened to execute the hostages if we refuse to comply.]

  “Element of surprise, then.” Hawk deduced. “How many mercs and the associates?”

  [Four mercs, and three associates in the platforms with the warhead and four hostages in the waiting area. Three mercs and two associates with three hostages in the concessions area. You’re free to kill the mercs, but we need their associates captured alive. Be very careful, Hawk.]

  “I always am, Wolf.” Hawk huffed.

  [I know, but I wanted to make sure. Raptor out.]

  The call ended, then Hawk felt Iris’s hand on her shoulder. “I have your six.”

  Hawk nodded, then both Rangers moved in sync, jumped over the turnstile. They moved ahead, and checked their angles. A public announcement alarm blared [Attention! All tickets for Java Station are now canceled due to a hostage situation. Authorities are underway. We hope you have a pleasant day at Java Station.]

  The architectural design of the station felt reminiscent of ancient imperial China of Old Earth. No doubt, the Yuman people took inspiration from the data archives from the Supercarriers of the Long Voyage.

  Which only made it more saddening to see this beauty riddled in ruins with, blood, and the civilians who were among the dead. Rangers stumbled upon a few dead when they moved ahead to the concessions area, then heard sobbing. They took cover by one of the wall sections, and observed.

  A Vernusen civilian was with two human hostages, all of them held in energy-chains. The Vernusen’s skin color was purple, his face battered from beatings by the mercs and their allies.

  “Please… let us go… we didn’t do anything to do you..” He begged, and his face met with another hit from one of the CI’s mercs.

  “Then shut the fuck up, before I blow your fucking brains out!” One merc shouted at him.

  “Why are you doing this?” One human hostage asked.

  “Why? Why?!” One of CI’s associates came towards her. “You Frontier bastards are whiny fucks. Can’t take no for an answer. Playing freedom fighters, while the good people of the Dominion threw away their lives for your safety. Well, guess what, you ungrateful shits?! Today, you will see why y’all need the UHD!” He punched the hostage in the stomach, and she fell down, groaned and hissing.

  “Fuckers!” Iris hissed, while Hawk took a look at CI’s associates. Human. They were wearing jacketed clothes, but was unsurprised when she saw the patch on their ; the head of a hawk overlooking the Frontier Regions, the insignia of FDA’s Intelligence Community. Those associates were turncoats.

  Iris sighted on the patch of those turncoats, not surprised either when she figured they were former FDA intelligence. It did explain a few things.

  “Intelligence analysts?” She asked, and Hawk nodded. “Yeah.”

  Both Rangers brought a smoke and a flash grenade.. Hawk was first, and her grenade dispensed smoke right in the hostiles line of sight.

  “Fuck, smoke screen! Get ready!” The mercs and their allies readied their weapons. Meanwhile, Iris threw the flash grenade right towards the smoke. In a second, a loud bang blinded and disoriented the enemy.

  In cue, Hawk and Iris moved ahead. The hostiles didn’t have time to react, as three CI mercs where shot dead by Hawk’s DA-85 AR and Iris’s Iroquois Tactical M7 SMG. The two turncoats were both knocked to the ground, and arrested.

  Iris moved in and removed the energy-chains that held the hostages. The hostages stood up, wounded but still standing. “You… you’re STR.”

  “Can you three move?” Iris asked.

  “I think so…” One of the civilians answered. Iris gestured them to a public restroom. “Hide there and wait for authorities.”

  “Thank you…” The civilians thanked her and moved to safety.

  “Hawk to Raptor. Mercs in the concessions area are dead and the turncoats are knocked down. Civilians in the concessions secured.” Hawk called up.

  [Turncoats?] Raptor’s question was asked in concern. Hawk sighed, and answered “Yeah. Ex-FDA Intelligence.”

  [Fucking hell, that does explain a lot of things.] Silence hanged for a few seconds. [Kill the mercs and capture the traitors in the departure, so we can call today a win.]

  After the call ended, Hawk breathed lightly. Nothing is ever that easy, and it was true. Typically, those warheads takes 1 minute and a half to detonate after its ignition sequence is set up. For all they knew, the mercs could’ve modified those bombs to detonate instantly.

  Hawk gestured to Iris to wait up, while she called up via her STR-COMM “Technical support, I need help.”

  [How can we help you, Ranger?] One of them asked.

  “Can a modified Orus-class warhead be defused remotely?” Hawk inquired.

  [Let’s review the schematics first. We’ll get back to you….]

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Seconds passed. And then. [Well, you’re in luck. The warhead can be accessed remotely via your helmet’s enhanced interface vision. Aquila will take care of the rest.]

  The call ended, and Hawk breathed in relief.

  “Talk about a bit of luck, huh?” Iris chuckled.

  “Yeah. Can’t wait to see the mercs and those turncoats throw a tantrum.” Hawk chuckled and moved ahead to the waiting area with Iris on her side. When they arrived the big area filled with tracks and waiting chairs in their sight, they observed the mercs and the turncoats with the warhead in addition to four hostages who were beaten and sobbing on the far right section, held in energy chains. Two Vernusen and two humans. Both Rangers took cover by the public seating chairs close by, with the warhead right in front of them.

  “Please….” A human hostage begged. “Let us go… we don’t wanna die.”

  A Crimson Iron merc walked to the hostage and put a finger on her mouth. “Shh… don’t fear death, young woman. It’s inevitable. And know that your sacrifice will make a new age for humanity…”

  “Oh, give it a rest!” One of the turncoats interrupted As soon as this thing goes off..” He pointed at the warhead “They’ll go to ashes, so is thousands of people, and a fuckton of kilometers of this shithole will be filled with radiation.”

  “You just know how to say, don’t you?” The merc’s tone betrayed her sarcasm.

  While both argued, Iris brought up her EIV and focused her vision on the warhead while Hawk kept an eye on the hostiles. Few seconds later, she gained access to the bomb’s interface, then pinged to the AI “Aquila, are you in?”

  [Interfacing…]

  Seconds passed by, with the outcome decided by the very warhead itself. Defused, the hostages and the Yuman people can sleep easy. If not, then it’s tragedy on a tremendous scale.

  [Warhead defused.]

  Iris sighed in relief, then with Hawk, focused to the only obstacle left in the equation. In sync, she and Hawk threw a flash and smoke. The flash disoriented the hostiles while the smoke made cover. In the rush, Iris shot the turncoats in the legs, who were keeled over to the ground, and soon chained for capture. On the end, Hawk peppered the mercs with her AR, though one of them narrowly dodged them and held one of the bound hostages. A young man, early 20s, panicked. Both the Ranger and the merc were in a standoff.

  “Drop your weapon, now! I won’t ask again.” Hawk shouted at the merc, and she complied. After she threw her weapon, however, she threw the hostage on the ground and pressed her thumbs on his eyes. The hostage screamed in agony, and Hawk instinctively shot the merc who was harming the civilian.

  A few shots hit her, but she continued pressing while the hostage kept screaming. “You’re all blind! Embrace your salvation!” The merc shouted, while the other three hostages screamed in panic and whimpered over her depraved lunancy.

  Hawk kicked the Crimson Iron merc in the stomach, and was thrown on the ground. And then, she heavily punched her face over and over, until all it was left was mangled gore and viscera.

  Hawk breathed heavily as she stood, then kicked the merc’s dead body.

  “Piece of shit!” She yelled. Iris came over to the hostage who got his eyes gouged out, who was still wailing in pain while the other three whimpered and sobbed. Her body tensed when she saw the fear in their eyes.

  “Holy hell…” Iris whispered, then called up. “Raptor, the mercs and those turncoats are dealt with, but we need immediate medical attention.”

  [What about the warhead?] She inquired, though.. “Warhead’s fucking disabled, Raptor. Get medical, right fucking now!” Hawk called up and shouted.

  [Okay, I’ll inform them right away. Out.]

  The call ended. While Iris secured the hostages and helped their blinded friend to safety, Hawk punched one of the advertisement stands near the tracks in frustration. She winced, then hissed.

  Iris came over to Hawk, “I’ll leave you be.” She whispered to her friend. Though, Hawk put her hand on her fellow’s shoulder. “I let my guard down, Iris. I should’ve shot her right in her fucking head.”

  Iris sighed, “It’s not your fault.” She looked closely to Hawk. Their facial expressions were obscured from their helmets. Still, Iris could tell from Hawk’’ body language was one of barely constrained rage.

  “Is it?” Hawk scoffed. “Now we know how fanatical those Crimson Iron fucks are. They’ll kill thousands, even millions, for the Dominion, Elsie.” She sighed and looked to the skylights “Things are going to get worse.”

  Iris shifted herself away from Hawk for a bit. She could’ve made a pep talk, assured Hawk that it’ll get better. But truth be told, they’ve been fighting the giant for years now and it doesn’t look like liberation was going to happen in their lifetime.

  She sighed, then shifted back to Hawk. “Then let’s hope our guys in the other 9 colonies manage to fare off better.”

  Hawk sighed slightly, then sniffed “Yeah… let’s hope…”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “Fucking hell.” Sergeant Beseem was all he said after he listened to the story. When he sat along with them in the table chair, he expected a simple story of heroism.

  “Fucking hell indeed, Sarge.” Ranger Iris replied.

  “Was it as bad with the other colonies?” Beseem inquired. Hawk shrugged “It wasn’t easy, trust me on that. But we managed to disable the warheads, all the same. Small victories…”

  “Small victories, my ass!” Beseem called out. “You guys prevented tragedies that would’ve allowed the Dominion bastards to invade and easily take over the Frontier!”

  “Maybe so, Sarge. But the civvies who were caught in the cross-fire and were under Crimson Iron’s mercy in the op? I don’t even wanna delve any more further, but they were nasty.” Iris chimed in.

  “Yeah, I see your point.” Beseem agreed, then looked at Hawk who was sitting on his left. She was looking up in the grey sky.

  “Hawk shifted her face to Beseem. “Anything else, Sergeant?”

  Beseem chuckled. “Take it you two have been up for a while.”

  Hawk nodded slightly. “Me and Iris have been up for over 8 hours.” Iris nodded as well, which made Beseem chuckle agaim. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve been up for over 10 hours…”

  [Hawk! Iris!] Their comms buzzed through teh call. “Yeah?” Hawk and Iris answered, aware of the masculine voice.

  [Boss wants you two to the command center.] Bullet commented.

  “Is it urgent?” Iris inquired.

  [I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t. Better head there fast, you two. Raptor isn’t the patient type.]

  The call ended, then both Rangers got up. “Guess you have work to do, yeah?” Sergeant Beseem asked as he got up with his watch alarmed, which meant his break was over.

  Hawk and Iris nodded, and Beseem extended his hand. Both shook it “I wish you the best of luck.”

  The Rangers nodded, and took the elevator. As they headed down, Iris shifted her head to Hawk

  “You don’t think Raptor is that impatient, do you?” She asked. Hawk shrugged “Probably just the usual Bullet teasing shit. Don’t worry about it.”

  The elevator door opened, and both left. They took on the busy sight of the perimeter of the base they’ve settled in; Outpost Defiance. Observation towers. Foxholes. Dozens of Eridani’s soldiers walking around, doing their duties, or having a chat with their friends.

  Luckily for Hawk and Iris, the Command Center was at the center. A 3 minute walk, more or less.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Eridani’s Defense Force Command Center, Eridani, Frontier Defense Alliance’s territories

  The Command Center was bustling with activity. Intelligence and Logistics rummaged through as several officers got busy on their work, while other officers chatted with each other. And of course, the Combat Information Computer in the middle amongst the chaos.

  Captain Emilia Wolf, callsign Raptor, was there alongside Colonel Hakim Ayani and his aide, Staff Sergeant Kali Agrinya. Raptor’s helmet was on her hand while she rubbed through her face, soaked in sweat.

  “Are you sure this is the best option, Colonel?” Raptor inquired.

  “We’ve looked into every possible scenario we had, Captain. This is the best possible solution for us and I haven’t gone through this lightly.” Colonel Ayani answered. “My people didn’t agree to this without a good reason.”

  Agrinya stood by, and carefully assessed the conversation.

  “We’re talking about nuking the capital, Colonel. If not the enormous loss of life, then think about the ecosystem that will be damaged if you follow this through. It’ll take years, maybe decades to fix it.”

  Agrinya sighed, then interjected “Ranger, we all trained ourselves over the last year for this scenario. Given our home’s proximity, it’s only a matter of time before the Dominion decides to take over. They do that, the FDA will be in a bad position. We might as well lose the war! This is our only shot to prevent the bastards from taking over.”

  Raptor sighed, and rubbed her nose, eyes clinched. Both the Colonel and the Staff Sergeant made pretty good points.

  “I understand if you’re worried about this, Captain.” Ayani chimed in.

  Raptor shook her head “No, I’m more worried what will my guys think about this.”

  Ayani stood silent for a moment, then rubbed the back of his head in contemplation. “Then… we come to them clean about the warhead and our intentions with it.”

  “Even the whole deal you’ve made with the Rogue Prince and his group?” Raptor asked.

  “Especially that, Captain.” Ayani nodded, so did his aide.

  A hiss from a door, then came in the trio; Rangers Hawk, Iris, and Bullet.

  “Speak of the devil…” Raptor murmured.

  “Where’s the other two?” Sergeant Agrinya asked, then felt Raptor’s hand on her shoulder. “Grim and Lid are in a recon mission. They’ll be listening in too.”

  She then called up both her comrades via the STR-COMM in her helmet, “Grim, Lid, are you listening?”

  [Loud and clear.] Lid replied.

  [Yes.] Grim replied as well.

  Raptor gave a light chuckle. She always admired how blunt Grim can be at times.

  “So what’s going on? Are we cleared to hit Crimson Iron’s fleet?” Hawk came in first.

  “Tomorrow. But for now, there’s something we should discuss first; The warhead.” Raptor replied.

  Hawk, Iris, and Bullet stood still, arms folded. Raptor gestured to Colonel Ayani.

  “The warhead you guys were looking does exist, ladies and gentlemen. It’s in the middle of our capitol city, Fury.” Ayani chimed in.

  “Who gave it to you?” Bullet inquired.

  “DOC. Defectors of Corruption.”

  The Ranger trio looked at each other. They were confused. “Ex-UHD Defectors?” Hawk was first to ask, and Ayani nodded..

  “What’s their angle? They couldn’t have given the warhead without asking for anything in return.” As soon Iris commented. Ayani shifted his face to Raptor, whom she gestured him. “That may be so. But the fact is, they gave us the warhead as insurance policy.”

  “You think the UHD will invade Eridani?” Bullet asked, which Ayani nodded.

  “Yes. We have every reason to believe they’ll attack as soon Crimson Iron are off the board. And knowing the Dominion, they’ll go scorched earth.”

  Hawk was thinking. The warhead set up in the middle of the capitol city? The Eridani people will not do something like that, unless…

  “You want us to help you nuke your capitol to prevent the Dominion from taking over your homeland.” Hawk deduced.

  “…What.” Grim did a double take..

  “What.” Likewise with Bullet.

  “What?” Lid questioned.

  “What?!” Same with Iris.

  Colonel Ayani and his aide looked at each other. Girl’s smart, they thought. Then looked back to Hawk. “That is correct, Lieutenant.” Staff Sergeant Agrinya folded her arms.

  “This insurance policy is our ace in the hole and our best hope against the Dominion’s takeover.”