Ivan Kal - Sanctuary

“Sir.” Adrian said. He noticed in the corner of the vid a small number, 2.4 sec, which meant that was the lag between the Leviathan and Sanctuary. Two seconds later, Tomas Klein responded with a salute of his own.

“Fleet Commander. I am calling to tell you that the war games are canceled. I know that there was a lot more planned for the future, but we have run out of time.” He sighed then, to Adrian he looked as if he was carrying the weight of a world on his shoulders. “Twenty two Sowir Dominion ships have been detected in Nuva system. And we, I, have decided that we will provide aid. Your fleet is to go to Nuva and engage Sowir. Defending the Nel.” Tomas Klein said.

Adrian looked at the image on his holo, he kept his calm face on, but underneath he was shocked. Looking into the eyes of Tomas Klein, he realized something.

“If they have been detected in system, there is no way for us to get there in time to be of any use.” Adrian said, and immediately continued. “But you already know that, which means you plan on us getting there after… No, you wouldn’t do that, there is no point. You plan on us getting there in enough time to be of use. But I don’t see how…” Adrian said. And a second later he saw a side of Tomas’s lips twitch upwards.

“Yes, you will get there on time. Seo-yun and the research department have found a way to travel much faster than with hyperspace.” He said.

Adrian nodded, he had no idea what it could be. “What about the Second Fleet?” Adrian asked.

Tomas looked saddened for a split second, and then spoke, “The Second Fleet will stay here. I can’t leave Sanctuary unprotected, no matter how small of a chance there is for someone to find us.”

Again Adrian nodded, he understood the reasoning. “But why the First Fleet, and not the Second? Not that I’m trying to find a way out of this. I would just like to know.” Adrian asked.

Tomas Klein studied him for a moment before answering, his gaze looked at Adrian knowingly, “Because you are the best we got. I know that you are very young, but Olympus never put much stock into age. We have always valued skill above all else. And you are our most skilled commander.” Tomas Klein said. “I know that I can entrust this to you, and that you will do everything in your power to succeed. This will take some outside thinking, something new.”

Startled, Adrian responded, “Thank you sir. I will not let you down.”

“I know. That is why we chose you.” He said with a small smile.

“I won’t take much more of your time. The Fleet will be sending you any data that you might need, as well as the coordinates of the trans-station, the army will be joining you as well. We will be sending ten companies. Around fifteen hundred soldiers, to defend the planet in case that Sowir manage to get some troops on the ground. As well as additional loads of ammunition, missiles, and some raw materials for the fabricators. Laura will contact you soon with the details of the mission, wait to brief your commanders until after you speak with her.”

“Yes, sir.” Adrian said.

“Good luck, Fleet Commander.” Tomas Klein said, and closed the link.

Adrian leaned back into his chair. His mind was firing into overdrive, thinking about hundreds of possibilities, and things he had to do. Fear slowly crept in, it seemed to him that things were happening insanely fast ever since he left the orphanage. Then a voice broke through in his head.

“Oh My God! Adrian! I am finally going to get to play for real!” Iris said. Her comment as idiotic as it was sent him into a bout of laughter. He felt fear slip away, and he relaxed.

“Iris, you do know that we could die?” He asked out loud.

“So?” She asked. Again Adrian couldn’t help but laugh. His Ai best friend had a very different view on life.

“Nothing Iris, you are right.”

“Of course I am right. I am always right, you should know that by now.” Iris said cheerfully. Adrian shook his head and called Paul. Tomas Klein said to wait for Laura’s call before telling the other commanders in his fleet, he said nothing about his second in command.

February 2170 – Sanctuary

Platoon Leader Sahib Adin was kneeling behind a rock cover on a small hill, overlooking the terrain. His Platoon, Platoon Wolf, was waiting for his instructions. Looking over the forest spreading before him, he came to a decision and sent the instructions to his Squad Leaders over his imp. A moment later the three of the four squads started moving, their movements showed on Sahib’s faceplate HUD. His helmet was entirely see-through from the inside. The outside of his helmet was armored, and had millions of nano cameras that captured the images from all around the helmet and transferred them to the inside. The rest of his suit was armored as well. It was a completely closed battle suit. The nanites carbon mesh gave the wearer a great deal of movement while also giving him protection. It was an upgraded version of the suit developed on Earth, before Olympus left Sol. The suit was dark gray in color, there were no emblems or rank insignia anywhere. There was no need for them, the HUD of each suit would show the rank and name of anyone the wearer looked at. Each suit had its own small range beacon. Though it could be turned off. Finally, as the three squads moved sufficiently away Sahib ordered his squad forward. They were involved in a live exercise against another Platoon. There were four squads in Sahib’s Platoon, with each squad having 7 people, that put each Platoon at 28. All their weapons were loaded with stun discharges, a hit from these charges would freeze the area hit on the suit, while the soldiers imp simulated pain in the affected area. Fifteen minutes later, he got a contact signal from Claw squad, one of their scouts had spotted an enemy scout, without the enemy spotting him. Immediately Sahib formulated a plan, he instructed the scout to reveal his position to the enemy scout, without revealing that he is aware of the enemy scout’s position. He quickly sent instructions to the Claw squad to fall back to a small clearing some 200 meters behind their current position. Then he instructed the other two squads, Fang and Paw to get into positions around Claw squad. He then brought his own squad, Alpha, into position behind Claw squad, they hid in the undergrowth around trees, and Sahib instructed two of his platoon’s snipers to move up into the trees. The trees on Sanctuary were taller on average than those on Earth, the lowest branch was at least 7 meters from the ground. Both snipers moved towards their chosen trees, some 10 meters apart from where they can easily look over the clearing and started climbing, short “claws” extended from their armors fingertips which they used to grab onto the bark and climb. Once they were in position Sahib opened a comm link to the other squads.

“Fang, Paw are you in positions?” Sahib asked.

“Fang is in position Alpha.” Squad Leader Tucker ‘Cheat’ Meyers responded, using Sahibs call sign, which was the same as the designation of his squad.

“Paw is in position Alpha.” Squad Leader Lola ‘NGD’ Petrov said.

Sahib could see where they were on the small map on his HUD, but he needed to verify that they were in fact in position.

He then commed Claw squad. “Alright cub, did the enemy spot you?” Sahib asked the Claw’s scout, every new member of the Platoon got the nickname Cub, until they proved themselves, or did something stupid, and earned a call sign.

“Think so, if whoever it is isn’t blind. I stood up from my cover two times already.” ST2 Marko ‘Cub’ Tijic answered.

“Good, lead them back to Claw squad position. Try not to make it too obvious. You are new, not incompetent.” Sahib said. The opposing Platoon, the Orphans was led by Platoon Leader Eric ‘Jacks’ Regis, and Sahib knew him well. They went through training together, and while he was a good commander, he had his faults. One being a tendency to jump at any opportunity to get an upper hand or capitalize on the mistakes of others. Sometimes that was a good thing, but when faced with someone who knew him well, it could be used against him.