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Hidden: Chapter 4

Into the Breach

I found myself standing in the conference room where the mission briefing would take place at about 15:45. In the room there was a large rectangular table in the center with just enough room on the sides to walk by the twenty office chairs that went around it. The walls were blaringly white and were decorated with landscape portraits of various locations on Earth and a large potted plant stood in each corner. Eight other people were in the room already, I recognized all of them immediately as Spec Enforcers due to their gray fatigues. I only personally knew one of them, a lieutenant by the name of Ivan Samarin, an ex-KGB agent who defected to NATO a few years ago.

Ivan, as he preferred to be called rather than Samrin or lieutenant, had a lot of interesting stories from the new Soviet Union and got along well with everyone. He stood at 6'5 had jet black hair and despite the stereotypes about Russians, he was not some burly mountain man who drank nothing but vodka. No, he was muscular, but lean like a swimmer and preferred not to drink, only taking a sip on holidays. I had worked with him many times and had a knack for computers which made him invaluable on any infiltration mission.

The thing with Spec Enforcers is that you are stuck with specific people when going on a mission. Soldiers could be moved around to different squads in the company if need be without much hassle, this created a very diversified group that was capable of working with different people since it wasn't uncommon to work with someone one mission and never see him in your squad again. This was also for another reason, despite being the best, Spec Enforcers had very high mortality rate for the first five missions, it sat at about 45%, and I'm not talking about being wounded. Being the best meant that we got the most dangerous missions.

Spec Enforcer unit sizes were smaller than most militaries. Squads usually consisted of four men, rather than nine or ten. Platoons consisted of four squads and a company consisted of four platoons and that was it for Spec Enforcers. Due to the elite nature of us, squads were run by captains, platoons by majors or colonels who were pretty much just stuck at a desk and the company was run by the politicians in charge on NATO. This set up led to some interesting politics at times, but it worked. Our services were always in constant need due to our small numbers. There was never enough men to even make an entire or a partial battalion. The Spec Enforcers were based in a camp just outside of Berlin due to Berlin's large spaceport which allowed the soldiers to be sent to wherever they needed to go in a relatively short amount of time. Now it seemed like we were going to be sent out again.

A tap on my shoulder jolted me, making me quickly do a 180 to face whoever was behind me.

"Whoa!" Sergeant Crane took a step back with his hands raised up. 'Take it easy cap. Did I interrupt some kind of prayer ritual or something?" He had a smile on his face again.

"Prayer ritual?" I bunched up my eye brows and then quickly remembered who I was talking to. "No, your fine, I was just thinking is all."

The sergeant lowered his hands and looked around the room and I did to. It was starting to fill up with a few more soldiers. Most of the company was usually away on some sort of mission and there was only 2ndplatoon on base at the moment.

"Let's grab a seat before all of the best places are taken." Despite saying this he just moseyed over to the closest seat and ungracefully sat himself into it which caused the chair to hiss and sink under the sudden onset of weight. "Shiiiiiit." The sergeant then began to fumble with the various levers on the chair, none of which raised it back up.

"First my room and now this," I said rolling my eyes.

"Well don't just stand there, help a brother out." He looked at me with his best set up puppy dog eyes. It wasn't a very pretty sight since all it did accomplish was making his face look like a disfigured pug. That managed to get a snort out of me.

"Fine." I walked over and looked at the chair for a second. "The problem is, this isn't some high tech chair with motors. Stand up for a second." The sergeant gave a loud groan that got a few others in the room to look at us.

"How did you become a Spec Enforcer again?" I stood back and put my hands on my hips. "You're so lazy you won't get out of a chair for a few second."

The sergeant raised an eye brow and look at me in an inquisitive way. "Well, I'll have you know that I was one of the best damn US Marine on Earth and the finest looking man on Earth as well." He added the last part loudly which got a few laughs from the room.

"Sure, whatever." I sighed and sat down in the chair that was next to him. "Fix your own chair."

"I'll have you know that I like it this way." The sergeant swiveled the chair to face the front of the room. Seeing the heavily muscled man move around in the small chair nearly made me laugh.

By now the room had 16 of the deadliest soldiers in the solar system all packed seated at a conference table as if we were about to talk about a quarterly report. It would have made a great painting in my opinion, but that was just me.

"Good evening gentlemen." Colonel Mathews walked in and began to sidestep behind soldiers as he made his way to the front of the room. He looked well groomed and showed no indication that he was distressed at all about the attack.

"Good evening sir," we all said in sync.

Once the colonel was at the front of the room he set up a holographic projector and a computer. "At 0300 hours this morning, a distress signal was sent out from the passenger cruiser the HMS Eurasia." He clicked a button on his lap top and a hologram of a ship appeared. It was pretty much a large box with engines with an uneven surface.

The colonel allowed a few moment so everyone could see the image. Sergeant Crane had to strain a bit to look past the man in front of him to see. When he lifted himself a bit out of the chair, I used my foot to hit one of the pedals that jutted from the side and the chair shot up much to the surprise of the sergeant who managed to suppress a yelp. Only a slight "meep" escaped him. He peaked over his shoulder and glared at me, but did nothing else when the colonel continued.

"The Eurasia headed out from the Jovian Spaceport on January 23rd, its destination was Mars. Two days after leaving port, the ship sent out this message." The colonel connected a small driver into the computer and stood back. The audio message from the Eurasia began to play.

"Mayday. Mayday. This is Captain Charles New... Newman of the HMS Eurasia sending out an emergency *static*. "The captain was breathing heavily and many of his words were panicked. "We are su... suffering engine mal- *static* and we are dead in... in... in space. An unknown bio-agent has been released into the *static* the area has been sealed. Casualties *static* -ated to be high, but... but are currently un-*static* -own. Afflicted show signs of *static* and rapid degeneration in others, both mentally and physically." The captain stopped for a second, and the sound of someone talking to him from across the room could be heard, but it was too quiet to hear. "Oh fu*static*." The message stopped there.

The room was absolutely silent when the static of the recording stopped. Everyone was frowning and no one moved. The colonel was the first to break the silence. "The rest of the message was too corrupted to get anything in such a short notice but, a team is currently working of salvaging the rest. The USS Jefferson, a light destroyer is already at the scene, but doesn't have the necessary equipment to launch an operation." The image of the Eurasia was accompanied by a smaller ship. "It is currently keeping any pirates or salvagers that might be in the area from interfering. NATO has received a request from the Commonwealth for assistance and has agreed to send in a team of Spec Enforcers. Since you are the only platoon here, you will be performing the operation." This got a few murmurs from various parts of the room.

Ignoring the talking, the colonel spoke up. "Due to the large amount of unknown variables that exist, you will be conducting the mission in fully sealable combat suits. What we do know is that the reason to why so much of the message was corrupted is that a jammer had been placed somewhere in the ship. All four squads will be sent into the ship, each one with its own set of objectives. Captain Anderson." The colonel looked around and immediately zeroed in on the ship. "You'll be leading squad one." He went off to name the leaders of the other three squads. "Squad one will make its way to the bridge and will attempt to access the security cameras and the ship log to figure out the extent of the attack. Squad two will make its way to the engine room to gather information about how the engines failed. Squad three will head to the housing sector to ascertain the fates of the passengers and crew. Squad four will disable the jammer. It is vital that the jammer is gone or we will be unable to communicate with anyone inside. Does each squad leader understand their objectives?"

The captain of squad four spoke up. "What of the attackers? Are they still on the ship?" It was a good question and got a few nods.

The colonel crossed his arms. "It is unknown if there are hostiles on board, but you are to assume that there are is a significant number of enemy hostiles aboard. This is a covert operation, we don't need to alert any possible threats to your presence, though you are cleared to use lethal force if it is necessary to complete your objectives. Any other questions?"

This time I spoke up. "What of any civilians that we come across?"

His answer was flat. "Civilians are considered a secondary objective. If you do come across any, ensure that they are safe, but continue with your mission. We can't help them before the situation on the ship is fully realized. Once the ship is considered secure, then the rescue operation will begin. Anything more?" Everyone seemed satisfied enough.

"Good. I want you to remember one very important detail, the nature of the bio-weapon is unknown." The colonel set both hands on the table and leaned forward. "Do not allow your suit to be compromised. It is vital that you are not exposed to the atmosphere on the ship." He let that sink in. "The frigate, NTS Rising Glory, has been assigned to transport us to the ship. We'll be leaving today in two hours and are expected to arrive early on the 29th. Make your way to the spaceport and meet on the ship. Each team will receive more specifics on route. Dismissed." With that, the colonel packed his things, causing the hologram to disappear and left as everyone else got up and began to talk.

Sergeant Crane turned his chair around to face me and did a long slow whistle. "Man, that's some heavy shit going on. They're sending the entire platoon."

"Yeah," I said softly.

The Sergeant grinned and clapped his hands together, catching me by surprise. 'Well, then. That just means that ship is as good as secure, especially with me onboard." With that, we both got up with smiles on our faces and headed off to the spaceport.

---

It was time. The trip across space was uneventful. Sergeant Crane, Ivan and a Sergeant Millard, whom I've never met before were assigned to my squad. We were also given another objective that needed to be completed once the bridge was secure: find the captain and get him off the ship. The colonel wanted him alive as an official witness to the incident. We were also to extract any other members of the command staff if we ran into them.

Each squad was going to infiltrate the ship from different airlocks to ensure that the entire mission wasn't lost if one of the shuttles that would be transporting us blew up. My squad was going through the air lock closest to the bow of the ship since it was relatively close to the bridge.

We were suited in our suits which were a carbon fiber mesh with armored plates that protected us from small arms fire and small explosions. Our helmets was pretty much an elongated done that sat on our heads with a rebreather connected to the front and most of our face was protected by a high density, bullet proof glass that had a built in hud that could tell us just about anything from squad vitals, radar to ammo count since out suits linked up with our weapons, it even had crosshairs in the center of the hud.

The weapon that was assigned was the experimental X-A301, a small compact projectile weapon that shot slivers of metal shavings from a block magazine. It had a small reactor, believe it or not that superheated the shavings to a point where they were partially covered in plasma. It was impressive especially when considering that each 1 in block of metal that acted as a magazine was good for 1000 shots. Since it didn't rely on gun powder, it sounded just like a zipper which was a bit off putting, but quite. Its rate of fire was a bit slow, 300 rpm, but it was reliably accurate with no kick. I had no doubt that it would get the job done.

Along with the rifle, we were given a side arm that used the same concept, but was less powerful. We were told it was about as strong as a 9mm handgun. We were not allowed to bring any explosives of fear of explosive decompression. Each member was given a basic med kit, but everyone knew that it might not do anything if the bio-weapon proved to be lethal.

After checking our gear, each squad got on board a different shuttle which quickly made their way to their designated airlocks.

We all crowded into an air lock that would open up into the Eurasia. I was in front, Sergeant Crane was behind me to the left, Ivan was next with Millard taking the rear. The shuttle shook and the pilot indicated that we were now connected to the ship. A timer appeared on our huds.

5

I got into a readied position. My legs partially bent, leaning a bit forward into my rifle which was raised and ready.

4

I double checked my seal and noticed that my radio, which was tuned to our specific squads frequency, was turned off.

3

I turned on the radio by pushing a button on my wrist.

2

"I have to take a piss." Even here, mere seconds before the mission started, Sergeant Crane managed to crack a joke.

1

"Shut it sergeant," I said casually and the door opened.