Jupiter's Halo Book One: The Lies

Chapter Six "The Start Of A Bad Day"

Lieutenant Lelo Timonny waited impatiently in the officers briefing room. He had responded to Lanad’s summons with ill grace, taking an unnecessarily circuitous route to ensure they would have to wait on him.

He’d arrived to find only Lieutenant Mentrim waiting. The third Lieutenant was an unimaginative, uncourageous man; a natural follower and a poor choice for any level of command in Lelo’s opinion.

That was Lanad’s way though. She surrounded herself with weak fools she could mother. The admiral was no different. He wanted nothing but sycophants in his inner circle. That was the reason Lanad had been promoted above him.

As he’d entered, Mentrim had given him a bright smile and greeted him warmly. Lelo had replied with only a mute nod, wondering how often he would have to blank the young Lieutenant before the man finally understood they weren’t friends. This was the marines, not some Academy social club.

Annoyed at Lanad and Cassini’s failure to appear on time Lelo had been left with no alternative than to shun Mentrim’s attempts at small talk until they arrived.

He knew where they would be. Off together making a mockery of the professionalism required of their ranks. It disgusted him. Cassini he could understand; an older, experienced and attractive senior officer was a tempting target, but why Lanad should be attracted to him in return Lelo couldn’t fathom.

The man was too cautious, too immature for the responsibilities and not strong enough to be part of First Company, let alone within its command structure.

Lelo lamented the fall in standards at the Academy and within his own beloved Company. In his day dregs like Cassini and Mentrim would have been drummed out of the marine training program within the first week. Now it seemed they were so desperate anybody could pass out and be shipped off to pollute his Company with their deficiencies.

And worse, he was forced to interact with them.

The briefing room door opened and Cassini came in. A moment later Captain Lanad followed behind him. They were both in fatigues; the light grey cloth creased and crumpled where they’d obviously dressed in a hurry.

Lelo’s lip curled with the distaste he felt, making no attempt to hide it.

Mentrim snapped a smart salute and Lelo grudgingly followed suit, raising his fingers to eye level while staring at Cassini. The Second Lieutenant gave a parade-ground performance, despite clearly having walked the ship’s corridors beside his Captain.

More likely one step behind, still sniffing after her where all could see. Lelo marvelled at their belief they were fooling anyone with the charade of innocence, but for all that he seemed to be the only one taking any notice.

Lanad returned their salutes with a flick of her hand as the door closed behind her. She stepped forward to lay her hands on the circular table that filled the centre of the room and it lit up at her touch.

Above the polished surface holographic pictures appeared in the air. There was a space station; some old, outdated design that looked more derelict than functional. It turned gently above the table as around it he saw the faces of personnel files flicker into place. There were dozens of them, but only eight were highlighted with clarity, their brightness pushing the rest into dim obscurity.

“Gentlemen, we have a mission,” Lanad stated. “This is GS-114, it was an old re-supply station, but it’s currently being used for classified projects.”

“What kind of projects?”

Lelo looked sidelong at Mentrim, unbelieving that he had to share rank with such a cretin. To her credit, Lanad gave him a similar look.

“Classified, Lieutenant.” She said simply.

To her left, Lelo could see Cassini fighting to hold back a childish smirk and again he wondered at their Captain’s poor personal taste.

“Puggers, sir?” He asked with a grin. “Or have the Jotes finally picked a side and made the wrong choice as usual?”

He saw the flicker in her eyes at his casual use of the slurs. Lanad would call them Martians and Jovians; she seemed to believe there was some kind of honour in using the names they'd given themselves. Lelo preferred the other options; Reds, Pond Sitters, Puddle Huggers or the abbreviated Puggers. The Martians had their own water and how they celebrated the fact and rubbed it in the faces of the other races. ‘Puddle Huggers' always seemed appropriate to him. It showed the desperate way they clung to their one and only resource.

The Jovians were just cowards. They got called Yellows or Ringers for the way their ridiculous station encircled the giant planet of Jupiter. Lelo had always liked Jutes. It was a nice blend between Jovians and a four-letter curse that had fallen out of favour among the Deorum people, but that he’d always felt satisfying when it rolled off the tongue.

Lanad simply gave him a blank stare.

“As yet no enemy force has been identified. There may not even be one. Now…” She turned her attention back to the briefing details.

"The objective of the station and it's complement of scientists is not our mission." She said through the semi-transparent images. "Retrieving them is."

Lanad stood straight as she stepped back from the table and the holograms winked out. She pulled her command tablet from a pocket in her fatigues and as her finger pressed against the screen Lelo felt the cold injection of data hit his brain.

Through the comm-link he saw the images anew. This time the focus was his to decide and he ran the personnel files in carousel while his Captain continued.

"Something has happened on GS-114. As yet Command hasn't been able to determine what, but the automated distress signal has been sounded and they need us to get eyes on."

Lelo’s heartbeat quickened as the vague familiarity of the station’s designation suddenly became clear in his mind. He’d known what Lanad was going to say the moment the image had appeared in holographic form. Well, he hadn’t known exactly, but he’d suspected strongly.

He glanced at her now, imagining any moment she would pin him with her stare and demand he explain himself. That grinning fool Cassini would have a weapon trained on him before he could move. For all his childish antics, the man was a proficient killer when the need arose. Every marine in the Six Companies was. But she didn’t look up. Cassini didn’t move.

They knew nothing.

Lelo tried to slow his heart, afraid for a moment the thundering rhythm in his chest would draw their suspicion. He was being paranoid, he knew. They knew nothing.

He swallowed carefully, attempting to effect a calm demeanour while inside his heart continued to race. There was a thrill to their ignorance. They were already stumbling around blind, all of them.

Lanad was talking about the station, the classified nature of the projects carried out there and the demand for answers coupled with the absolute need for discretion.

Lelo wanted to laugh.

She was parading it like she knew everything. As if she was privy to secrets so far above her rank and was choosing to withhold the information from them to demonstrate what a good little clockwork soldier she was.

He watched the others as she talked. She was pacing, doing small circuits of the central table as she laid out the mission objectives and wittering on about maintaining discipline amongst the marines upon contact with any member of the science teams.

What a fool!

They were fixated on her. Mentrim following every word with the fixed concentration of one to whom learning came slowly and Cassini almost panting in heat at the sight of her in command. Lelo wanted so very much to step forward and deliver a well-placed kick to snap the horny Lieutenant’s mind back into the room.

He wanted it, but he restrained himself. Cassini would get his due. When Lelo was leading the First Company things would be very different for him.

Lanad stopped and said something and after a moment he realised she had directed a question at him.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Are you asking me or telling me, Lieutenant?" She demanded and Lelo knew he had no idea what her question had been.

She glared at him, clearly expecting a strong affirmative, so he gave it to her.

"Yes, Captain!"

She let the look linger until she seemed content he had been suitably cowed and then returned her attention to the briefing. Lelo made sure to keep the whipped look on his features until all eyes were elsewhere.

He had no idea what he’d agreed to, but it didn’t matter. He knew what had happened on GS-114. At least, he suspected he knew. They’d been very specific about the kind of target they wanted and he’d passed on the few details he could find about the station, when, six or eight months ago maybe? Well, they had seemed interested enough at the time, but as the days and weeks passed without him hearing of anything, he’d assumed they’d decided it was unimportant.

To find out now the station had been attacked or boarded in some way couldn't be a coincidence. It had seemed to him a strange place to conduct classified experiments; unguarded, difficult to reach or secure. That was Command for you though. They couldn't do anything sensible when the opportunity to make it dramatic was available.

Now that choice had come back to bite them and he felt a measure of satisfaction in the knowledge. The station had been attacked, no matter what Lanad said about unknowns and Lelo had a pretty good idea of who was responsible. His bargain, the one he had agonised over and feared for so long they had reneged on, was finally coming together.

So he would follow her mission plan. He would accept her orders like the good little Lieutenant she wanted and when it all went wrong, he would be ready.

She thought she could bully him like these weak-minded idiots. She was wrong. So very wrong, but now wasn’t the time for her to find that out.

Would she know? Would she understand when everything fell apart that he had been the architect? He doubted it. Better for him if she couldn’t put it together. It would be too late for her to change what happened, but still, it wouldn’t do to have his shiny new command besmirched with wild, unprovable accusations.

That was if she was still even alive to consider how her downfall had been orchestrated.

Lelo watched her pull up schematic diagrams of the station and point to sections as she spoke to her Lieutenants. He was vaguely aware of her splitting the mission area between them. It was all just dust in space to him. None of her plans mattered. None of them would make any difference now.

It was a shame to think she might be lost. Probably would be lost if he were honest. It was a shame for her, for the marine he could have moulded her into if only the admiral had made the right decision and promoted him to be her mentor.

It was too late for that now though. She wouldn’t go back and even if she did any hope of constructing the proper relationship between them would always be tainted by her brief stint in command. No matter what, a part of her would always be looking down on him and that just wouldn’t work.

No. He could never bring the First back to everything it should be, everything it had been and had ceased to be. He couldn’t make it everything it was meant to be with her still in place.

Better all-round that she was gone. He wondered if he could get a message out, ensure the right outcome was known by all at the start. Probably not. Lanad was talking about the lock-down protocols of GS-114 now. An old design it might have been, but the security had been enhanced when the station was re-tasked and by now nothing was getting in or out without a great deal of scrutiny.

He’d simply have to manage the situation when they were on board. It was messier; less satisfactory as a means, but necessity was forcing his hand-

Something snapped his attention back to her words.

“What?”

He realised he’d spoken without meaning to. All three other occupants of the room looked at him.

"I said we really are on the clock this time, as the lock-down protocols force a destruct sequence if they’re not lifted within six hours of initiation. Are you alright, Lieutenant?” Lanad added, looking at him with concern.

Lelo knew his face had paled. He tried to cover with a forced fit of coughing as his mind raced.

“Just… misheard you… Captain.” He spluttered.

That wasn’t part of the plan. That had never been part of the plan. Damn Command and their endlessly terminal attitude! If their secrets weren’t safe they’d rather see everything destroyed than risk losing.

It was a complication. Nothing more. He could manage it. He breathed slowly, settling himself internally while outwardly portraying a struggle to catch his breath to his comrades.

“That’s command level intel only. I want my marines concentrating on the job in hand, not watching the countdown timer. That’s our job.” She looked at Lelo again and he felt her scrutiny of his regained composure. “Understood?”

He nodded.

‘My marines' she'd said, as if the whole Company was hers by right. She hadn't earned them, not like Lelo. She hadn't toiled her way through the ranks for years, fighting every foe the Deorum had and even some of its so-called friends. She'd been lucky; right place, right time and suddenly she's Captain and they were all ‘her' marines.

Lelo wanted to spit the rank taste from his mouth at her feet.

“There’s an LSS unit onboard,” Lanad continued, “Although with no comms there’s no way to tell their status right now either. Best case scenario they have the scientists squared away safely somewhere waiting for evac. Worst case…”

She let the unfinished thought hang in the air. Lelo knew the effect she was going for. If there was something on the station that could take out an LSS team then they should all be worried. He loved the irony of it.

The LSS weren't a problem, not if everything had gone as it was supposed to. In fact, it was their very presence that allowed the situation to work at all. He savoured their ignorance, trying not to let his superior knowledge of what they faced show through. It was difficult.

“Either way we’re going in with the mark three gear.” Lanad started up again. “We don’t know if the station is breached, what the gravity is like or what we could be facing, so it’s full void protection and full tactical spread. I want us ready for any eventuality when we get in there.”

Lelo nodded again. She could make all the preparations she wanted. She still wouldn’t be ready.

“Squad disposition has been loaded into your comm-links and you all have your routes into the station. Main briefing in five minutes. Any questions?”

She looked at each of them in turn and Lelo caught the barest lingering pause as her eyes met with Cassini’s. It was definitely best that she went.

"No, sir." He repeated the words of the other Lieutenants.

“Good. For Luna.” Lanad slapped her hands on the table and turned to march from the room.

“For Luna.” Lelo echoed along with the others.

Cassini and Mentrim followed her out leaving him alone. He took a moment to review the material she’d dropped into his comm-link. Whether the orders mattered or not, he should at least know what she was expecting of him.

He smiled as a detail caught his attention. She'd given Mentrim the responsibility over their mission reserve force. She had been told how important this target was and she was leaving one of her Lieutenants aboard the Pride.

What a fool.

The parameters of the action were perfect; he would be on site with Lanad and her oily little follower Cassini. With luck and a little creative interpretation of his orders, he might be able to remove them both in one fell swoop.

Lelo smiled to himself as he exited the officers briefing room. Some very deserving people were about to have a very bad day. He smiled, knowing with certainty he wasn't one of them.