The rainy scene outside the modernist villa poured on down, revealing little of the landscape.
"Rose. We have a thin window of time. And you think it will work?" The voice was Spectre's, clearly the Dane's reservations still holding. In a white woolen pullover sweater and a pair of tights, the doppelganger to Skye seemed as pointed as her own sister, or genetic copy would be, brushing her red hair aside as she leaned up in the chair.
"We do. They know I'm alive. And, they know I have you. Sooner we move, the better."
"Does it change anything?"
"Not like that stopped them before." The redhead turned, sighing, Christian's thoughts pointed on the events of the last 72 hours. The events that had unfolded not quite the way anyone imagined. This should have been the end. They'd been prepared, geared for it, and yet right now, here they were, everyone alive, everyone hunting them, the dream of a future moulded by Artemis, unfulfilled. It felt cartoonish evil, but then again, to them, it was a world that they believed in like the sun rising to achieve, given how far they'd gone so far. And to Rose, it was more than a little bit personal.
"So, I never got to ask. This is the part of the film where you didn't get your way, so you suggest some insane shit....even for what I know we want. You kidnapped me and let them torture me so you would have your way inside Artemis. Screwed everything we worked for, all my friends for twenty years, because I let you inside something forbidden. Then you rescue me, as if to prove your point and letting Raven dismantle the remains of Artemis? And you had a perfect moment to kill all of them after that, and you squandered it on your own pride. So, if you're going to rip me apart, I'd like to die knowing why I held out. Either we disappear into the shadows, or look like we're going to be arrested, or killed." Christian sat up in the reclined chair he was in, looking out at the night sky beyond, and the redhead he wanted to take to task. The original plan was one thing, but now what was next, it had to live up to that.
Rose exhaled hard, looking back, coughing a little, a gentle splutter as she walked across, sitting down.
"My father was a great, great man. Even if he never disclosed it, in me, I suppose they came true. He must have had a vision, a design of utopia that just can't be understood when you see it from the lens you see society normally. Bigger than you, or Pavel, or anyone. No. He had an idea that doesn't die, in me. Once you taste a bit of immortality, even the pain, the screams, agony, all of it, makes you realise just how it all interconnects. When you've got an AI that parses bits of you back together, you start to see the trends in the numbers, in nature, in humanity. And look at it. Every piece of the problem we made, all of this ruins itself worse than anything we can control. If not by a design, this will all fade into bits. You all believe that in Artemis. Except for you, because you invited me along, seeing something greater, even if you didn't know. You are a believer in what needs to be actually done, Christian. That's why you stay." Rose remarked, sitting at the end of the sofa. She continued, knowing this was a reminder to him. But a pointed one.
"You believe that this consumption, this continuous use cannot continue. Yet how many billionaires backed Artemis quietly? Pavel is just the highest profile. All of them bought estates in Argentina, Yukon, Norway, just waiting for the end. Waiting for it, because they have to tell themselves their doomsday bunkers were more than tax-write offs. But that is part of the problem. You know that deep down too. Billionaires use, contribute, make more emissions than thousands would even do so themselves, and feudalise the world as they see fit, perpetuating the very system that leads them to destroy it worse, like the waves eroding the bedrocks of the castle they chose to build at the shore. It contributed to me, made me even, and now you look at what you have got." She paused for breath, as if addressing Christian's own origins, Artemis in whole, and perhaps, the wider world beyond the window.
"You're the worst hypocrisy there is, and money can't even really fix that. So no, the entire thing needs a clean slate. We nearly had it. And we still can. Just means there's no version of me to carry things on. We now have to spin the roulette wheel that society might restart a little better....without my guidance. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. But unlike some of you, I'd die to see it still happen. Better than the alternative at least." Rose's vision was a terrifying one, to say the least. For anyone else, this was outright insanity. But for Christian, he was bought into the ideal.
"Artemis planned on 90% effectiveness. What you and me are.....and were proposing, was to take humanity down to thousands. Without you, I don't see a point now. That was what it was based on. Guiding what came next. Rather than a repeat. Even I agree with you there. But this? This is....this is nothing." Christian replied, as if to almost rebuff, yet check her there. She did not take it kindly.
"And maybe it's what we deserve. Nothing. But then again, Artemis got its power from politicians, ministers, chief executives, terrorists with nothing to lose, and those greedy enough to hoover the money up." Rose mused, sitting up, continuing.
"And you previously, seriously thought you could just eradicate most of civilization, just like that, sweep in, and take everything? Set up some order? Rule the ashes? Please. You don't understand people. You don't understand hurt. You don't understand that the moment you treat human beings like sacks of clay, they start to lose everything that made them what they were. And what they did to me was....well, worse than that. Like an object. Radiation was agony, but then to experience fire, that was the worst. I suppose it's perhaps, like a fable, that I had to be the one to correct all of it. And now, we can't even try and nudge it in the right way. What happens now, is random. Lucky for them that Sol Hestia is relatively painless." Rose's voice pitched, as she continued.
"All great civilizations begin, and end. Perhaps we are now one big civilization that needs something to stop it. We let this go unchecked, and you get a nuclear hellhole when people start running out of water. Oil. Gas. Aluminium. Soil. Lithium. You know the numbers."
"I know the metrics."
"Anything short of a true reset makes this exercise pointless, whether I live or die. None of it works if you keep the population numbers higher to what you wanted before at your 10%, because you'll just keep the thing going and not really effect anything meaningful. You won't be Kings and Queens from your bunkers, or as people fail to bear children as your previous model to sterilise half of the population had in mind. For something like that, you'll be hated. Despised for merely existing on top of them. So no. None of it can exist really. Not our version of life under people like you, and Pavel fucking Andros. So don't sit there pretending you can put your head in the sand. There's nobody to fucking serve you in your doomsday bunker anyway. But we can't bear the alternative either. The status quo buries us deeper." Rose started, a certain shimmer still holding in her voice. As if she was repeating the creed, one more time.
"So we go back to basics. Starting again, anew. It's as if, the person that brewed the thing in my veins knew what they wanted, because the compound doesn't touch the rest of life on earth. As if by fate. It corrects us and starts us anew, able to at least pick some other trajectory, and perhaps a better future comes out of that. Shame I can't live to see it, but, I suppose I know my morals better than some of Artemis did. That I can at least die happy knowing it's still going to happen. It's why you'll be one of few to live in it to see out your remaining days in what happens. In a morbid curiosity, I suppose. Doing what you know is necessary. And because for humanity's sake, we deserve a full reset."
"And you think Zhao is the last key to saving this." Christian replied, with a nod back from Rose confirming that.
"He is. He's the only thing we have left. And, he knows me. Fucking made me. He's the one that....he'll die first once we're through."
"And how exactly, do you plan on turning that key then for someone you intend to kill?"
"That is where you come in. I need some fire to cover the setup to this. He is clever, but not clever enough to understand how this works."
"Rose....we have no assets left. Nothing. Your....sister, copy, if I can call her that, has wiped us out. We lost almost everything in Greenland and Ferrovia Two. Most of our leadership is dead, arrested, or wanting to slink away back into wherever they came from after what you did. Truth bleeds out, and there is nowhere for us to run. Even if your idea works, I don't see us making it long enough to see that dawn of a pest removed."
"A pest that refuses to die. I'm done. Or will you be? He is loyal to Artemis and as far as he knows, just got very high up." Rose asked, threatening in her aura, despite the fact that Christian knew far worse, he had to admit, she could do damage to him.
"I don't have a choice, you make that clear."
"People like you lack what is required, Christian. You may not see that dawn. But that's okay. Artemis was born to die. So be ready to do so, same thing I've been doing all this time. I'll send co-ordinates. Short, sharp, attacks buy us time. We dump the entire Raven file out to the last moles we have in the intelligence communities. They'll be so interested it'll be like sand falling through a sieve." Rose was clear about her method, Christian still having one last comment to make.
"And was she born to die, Rose? You didn't answer my question from earlier. You hesitated. I know what's needed to happen, but tell me you're not going to push things the wrong way. If she exists in it, none of this functions.." Christian asked that, as Rose turned and looked away from the rainy window.
"Skye is incapable of understanding what she is. And she'll never understand just how much worse than me she is. I hoped to reason with her, hoped she'd come through without us breaching the subject....but I suppose that was my final mistake. Never realises she needs to lose it all to become free. I realised she's too far gone....too broken. They made her into what she is. And left me to what I am. And then, there's the matter of...well, there's still a bit of an elephant in the room. She'll get sorted out soon enough." Rose commented, Christian nodding, seeing the text back.
"Zhao will be ready to take the launch site when you are ready." Christian's response gave Rose a certain moment to absorb it, as she sighed deeply, in her own thoughts about what had been said. Doing what she was doing beforehand, that would have been simple, and it all had come together so perfectly. But she'd underestimated Skye and her team. Now, this was the last ditch that Rose had, and that meant she was if anything, even more dangerous. After all, she was on Skye's level now...
Raven's Rock, Camp Hannula, Pöyrisjärvi National Park, Finland
Ebrima's presence back gave Skye a chuckle, as she responded to him first.
"No, she doesn't. But, doesn't stop me from trying to annoy her." Skye smirked back, watching them all chat, then turning back to Sophie.
"Sophie is good. Shame she can't be here, she's got some other work to do. But, I have a lot of time for her. Just sometimes...you know, I kinda treat it as in one ear, out another. I am lucky to have a good metabolism. And be far too stubborn to die." Skye smirked, looking to Sam, smiling back at her.
"Hell of a set of scars you got there, Sam. But glad to have you in one piece. Seriously happy you're back to things. And while this isn't over....we will make sure it will be soon." She commented, Purna nodding, wrapped up in his warm puffy jacket.
"This whole mess isn't over. I keep sitting here, thinking, the job isn't done. Rose is unpredictable. And have we got any idea of what next?" Purna asked, Adam shaking his head, shrugging.
"Agreed. But all we can do is wait. We all did a good job. Now we just need to hope this plays in the favour we wanted, and either she slips up, or we get to her first." He stoically added, Athena not so keen on even that idea.
"And I'll be smashing her head in when I see her. Fucking bint. Sorry Skye." Athena cursed, Skye giggling.
"I like it when you talk dirty, Athena. Your sister might not." Skye smirked back, as Athena shrugged, knowing Chuck had a glaring look at her, so she responded.
"Look, you could probably guess how these things go...word gets around. Family and all. But words are small things when you have you know, the capability like mine." Athena quite literally flexed on that note, Antti poking the fire a little more and looking across.
"You can't even fit your ego inside of a Volvo, perkele." Antti added, as with it, Skye, Adam and Purna chuckled, Athena shrugging and taking the loss there and then.
On the other hand, Tahlia looked up to Chuck, smiling.
"Pleasure was mine, Chuck. Duke's a cute thing. He is a very good boy." She commented, ruffling his ears, getting a tongue out, huffing from the latent energy Duke still seemed to have, and the affection for being back with his owner again.
Adam pushed through the hollow room as Skye followed, clattering a couple more targets, Skye using her exo's enhanced potency to leap forwards in the woodland out of the shack, as Adam clattered a couple of AR-enabled targets with the MSBS, firing blanks as Skye clattered her two. Tahlia followed on Skye's lead raising her L129A1 DMR, clattering a couple more down range, as the Scot moved around the tree, blasting a few ore more rounds down. Skye and Adam's exos had been modified- the former for agility and with an open-face arrangement giving her now almost a ludicrously quick movement and jump ability, the latter having their field generator augmented and bulked up with armour and a grenade-launcher like device on his shoulder, copied but dissimilar to Luisa's. Adam's exo took on a satin black colour, whilst Skye's seemed to have a gentle grey gradient to it, worn in tandem with her MTP fatigues that were now a bit better adapted to the exo's plates and use.
Sharpness was important. And a bit of tactical training to demonstrate all of their new gear, as Athena had her own opportunity to stomp like a rampaging ram through the forest, nearly taking out a tree as she used her jump jet to blast into spot, saving the Tesla coil on her VR targets because she'd already have them out. Purna was joining in and sticking with Tahlia, this exercise a quick demonstration of everything the team had. It was like they were fighting ghosts, because to anyone else, there was nobody in the forest they were firing blanks at, but to the team, the simulated environment was quite vivid in the Finnish forest.
This would be the moment everyone in the team had a chance to play with what they had now that was new, and everyone was in one spot, on the rampage, going after it.
They kept going past the next emplacement of virtually projected enemies, well, it all was continuing until the sim suddenly stopped, the AR link ceasing to broadcast for a moment.
Because someone was getting a phone call.
The buzzer vibrated against Skye's side, as she looked to the other team.
"Sorry, just for me. Keep going without me. Sorry, I know, immersion...." Skye commented, with it, running back, and out of the vast, endless green pine forest back towards the base, the call urgent.
Running into the briefing room, Oracle stood at the head of the table inside the wooden structure. The look on Skye's face, still wearing her exo, rifle slung on her back, helmet off and in her hand presented the look of a Scot that wasn't casual here, but far more tactical, mean and vicious. Skye in that look seemed to have that aura of inducing fear to the people she met, tall, and seemingly like she just had the confidence to keep going even if inside, it was melting away.
"We have a situation. A lot of them. Look."
"Shit." Skye's response was clean, as she picked up the tablet on the table that displayed it. And every worst nightmare that due to Raven's focus away on Rose, had dropped the ball on a series of unconnected, yet all so pointed events.
The Thames Barrier in London had been hit by a tugboat during a storm surge and disrupted the city, flooding half of it and doing untold amounts of damage.
A major car-bombing in Paris.
Another in New Delhi.
A Chinese naval ship had been hit in the South China Sea.
A major bank had been bombed on Wall Street in New York.
And nobody knew who was behind any of it. A co-ordinated attack on everyone, at the same time. This wasn't a terrorist attack like any other kind. This was a message, a point proven that with Raven hunting Rose so hard, as well as many others wanting a slice of her now, they'd lost sight of the unconnected, yet oh so linked, connections back to her redhead form.
"Yeah. She's thrown all of most major intelligence agencies into confusion, given this all connects, yet none of the culprits make sense. Sown chaos...."
"It's her last play. Reason she didn't use the nerve agent is because the game would be up then, but this is enough to force a response in the next week. This serves her perfectly. And for what?"
"Because now, a lot of them have intel leaks that relate to our old file, from what she stole from us. And it details all of you, and Rose's presence. Look at how many calls I have had. We are very fucked. They took their eye off the ball for you, and she punched." Oracle added, looking to his phone. The phone that nearly never rang, was off the hook. How the base hadn't been levelled by a B52 yet was a miracle. It was perhaps speaking to Oracle's respect in the community he would do the right thing. Yet he knew better than that. Thankfully. Because Skye knew what that had meant. What had followed when that file went out.
"Oh...oh fuck."
"Right now, I should be putting a bullet through your brain if I followed any logic. Again. It all leaks to a redhead that they want to rip apart to figure out how to make you again. Cat's out of the bag now if it wasn't before, and it pushed the ball of wool over the edge, and across the floor. The person they connected to this looks a lot like Skye Rosalind Lyons, who now they know was the product of a NATO-sponsored genetic engineering programme, and our supposed allies are going to be turning knives on each other for what it is worth to them to get out of this, given they believe that's how they get to Rose....and everything else that could mean for their own programmes." He took a break, breathing out a hard exhale for a moment, thinking back on earlier. "We are so fucking lucky Sam deleted that data, or else we'd all be dead already, because it hasn't got an equivalent monetary worth. Immortality is priceless. And they have everything about your history, shit, it may as well be broadcast on TV now for what it's worth in the intelligence community. Rose realised she doesn't have to hide behind your mask anymore given what happened. But...."
"You know I'm needed. And you know that Rose is hoping you follow protocol. Because if you do..."
"Then there'll be no reaction to what she's doing. I think she's waiting on us to still strike anyway, because she knows she set us a dilemma. It takes the venom out of us, for sure. I'm not fucking stupid. Rose is realising if she can't have her lives to skulk among us, she'll take you with her. Also, because honestly, it proves her point. They'd treat you like a plaything. I thought better by protecting you, but no, the way they reacted....none of them can be trusted. Even at this point, Blue Sword is one NDA away from being wiped. The people we save are the ones that want to swallow us."
"So tell me where, when, what needs to be done. Tell me we have an edge of some kind. Because time is running out."
"We know where she has to be, and where Zhao, and the remainder of Artemis are holed up if she's played her cards like this, because intel points to only one thing she can do. It's a bit rushed, but we think her last option is a private Vulpine Space launchpad, located on a small volcanic island off the coast of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean. Amidst the smoke she's put up, a contingent of Zhao's PLA forces and Artemis mercs took it last night and are settling in."
"And what do you want me and my team to do?"
"Do what you do best. Wipe the slate. Find her, and Zhao, and take them both out. And then some. But there is one element on top of it. Take a look at this." Oracle's tone seemed confident in Skye as she looked on, and went over the plans.
"That's a mechanised People's Liberation Army company, just sitting there, a PLAN corvette, plus a shit-ton of Artemis mercs, and from satellite imagery, good ones too from the vehicles and tools they have laying around."
"Zhao's remit means the men under his command are not in the know.....but, Zhao has his free rein where he'd like with Artemis, and he has a significant faction within China and the North Korean government that bows to him. If we do this backed by anybody else, it's war....even if he's taken a bit of Reunion in the process. Rose knows if we hit with any support from anyone even willing to work with us, it'll get framed as the Americans going after Chinese-backed interests."
"Very smart. But she knows if we go alone, she'll have enough blunt force to stop us as we are right now. Unless we hit them with everything we have. And something a little more." Skye narrated, as Oracle pointed out something else.
"And kook at this. They have an Arianne 7 rocket on the pad. One they were looking to launch. If that's loaded with Sol Hestia...." Oracle's observation was good, but Skye had something of her own.
"Wait. That isn't a cargo rocket. That launcher has a crew module on it. Look. The nosecone is slightly different." Skye pointed out, zooming in.
"Does it matter? Fill it with canisters of Hestia and you load it up, and it's potentially billions still dead if you have a primer. It becomes an ICBM at that point."
"A bad one. Or, Rose is waiting to get off Earth quickly."
"Well, there is one aspect to it....if your theory is right...maybe it gets worse than that. That rocket on the pad is the kind that Pavel Andros used to launch a telecoms network and saved on costs with, and now, a private space hotel for access. Ark Angel. One that if you are right, is the only place Rose can go to now, because that rocket with Sol Hestia wouldn't be enough to achieve what she wants, it's just enough to kill a few countries worth, at most."
"And that station is the kind that we can't just zap out of the sky now without creating a massive diplomatic incident given the fallout. Or worse, if there's any store of Sol Hestia there, who knows what happens next."
"Exactly. Even if she hasn't got a body she can link into anymore, but she had copies left there.....she's basically got a biolab she can fling tungsten-reinforced canisters of Sol Hestia back at us with, at will over populated areas with little recourse for us, and over a few weeks with a few canister drops..."
"Game over."
"Exactly."
"Not her first choice and why she turns to it now, considering it's a one way journey and puts all her eggs in one basket, but it's the only way she gets what she wants. If she's down to one of her older bodies, she'll last maybe a few months before she breaks down altogether. Especially if she's peeling blood out of her severed bodies, and it isn't a process she can't complete without inducting it herself through her own one, given what's in our blood. There is a window coming up in four days and it's the only time it would intercept the station's orbit, and, if we're lucky, we're able to stop her. If not, we are chasing her to a dead end. Up there. And that means...."
"Well......"
"Oh fuck, Oracle, I rode on Freya's inflated arse and thought that was bonkers enough! Holy shit.....right. So, let me get this straight. Every intelligence agency wants a piece of me, no matter what we do, despite saving billions. You want us to go off grid, go into an incredibly risky area of military build up with no support, raid a launch site, take out a rogue Chinese general, then steal a fucking Arianne without getting shot at, go into space, take out a space station to stop a plan we don't even know about that Rose might, and I mean, *might* have, then come home and not die? Please tell me you understand me, when I think you need to check whatever pain medication you're taking." Skye seemed even lost for words, as she shook her head.
"And I don't know any other operatives that could do it. We call this in, and the by the time the PLA, the CIA and anyone else has authority to act, we are out of time. Right now, I'm the only one keeping anyone from closing the jaws on us. Do you know how close Blue Sword is to getting investigated? So I suppose yes, we are out of choices."
"So this is it then. No more help. No more support, to take on a world-ending fucking threat. Within the space of a month. You have to be kidding me. At least the first time you wanted my guts for garters, at least everyone agreed."
"And it's why you're the only person who can run this op, alongside your team. I believe in you. And I know you have a certain experience to all of this." Oracle said, leaning across the table as Skye sighed, looking back.
"That crash course with the ESA when we were thinking this sort of incident might happen...and someone in the community might need to react. But doing it live, actually out there, is another thing. Guess I'll need to teach a few of the team too. If it comes to it, I'd rather not go alone. For the love of all that's holy, I hope not." Skye added, as Oracle shrugged.
"I thought a few ICBMs back in my day was a threat. I remember we fought our way through Idaho and Kerala like there was no tomorrow to stop a threat that felt like this. But Rose is different. So if she is counting on us ripping you apart, she has another thing coming. I was a stickler for the rules, but this time, maybe we're so fucked that I think we do what needs doing." Oracle said, a grin forming on Skye's face.
"The only person that can kill Skye Lyons, is Skye Lyons. Your words." Skye replied, as she shut the tablet down.
"No honeymoon in Reunion then."
Skye had called everyone to the briefing room, the air sombre given the events of the past few months. It had come to this. The last time felt final, yet this felt as if it wasn't an epilogue, but like the culmination. The crescendo.
"Right, we have a situation. You've probably seen the news, and we're not deploying to any active event, but the one that's been smoked out of the coverage. We've got a privately-run orbital launch site in Reunion to hit, and while I am aware I put you against it sometimes....this one, this is more difficult than most. The world is teetering on an edge, and whilst I appreciate your efforts before, this one might be a bit more difficult due to current circumstances. I know it feels like we won. It's not quite over, I'm afraid. But, you are all rather unbreakable. So let's get down to it." Skye said, the elephant in the room clear. There was a certain silence, and a look at Skye. The news had leaked from Oracle.
It was best the team had known, given the circumstances. Most of them would now understand that whilst the events of a couple of weeks ago had nearly killed some of the team, being rewarded with bread and a pile of shit and being asked to make sandwiches was about to mean the team were no doubt weary, but aware of the stakes.
"There is a chance that Rose has undertaken these attacks to cover up a launch taking place in three days, using the chaos to get away and deploy Sol Hestia either via a rocket, or potentially worse, from an orbital platform with her going up on it. It's an option that certainly kills her, so we need to pin her down before she can execute it, and with it, the majority of humanity. The irony isn't lost on me anymore we were here two weeks ago." Skye started, knowing the looks she would likely get.
"We will be outnumbered, and there is a significant Artemis, and PLA presence on the island. They are trained, cohesive and have the backing of a structure rather than an assortment of bodies. We've got one clean shot at the facility, but we are up against a significant resistance, aerial, naval and infantry-based series of threats." Skye added, looking the team over, bringing the map in tighter.
Île de la Tempête, or Tempest Island was one of the smallest of the islands off the eastern coast of Reunion, closer towards Mauritius than the main island itself, and was an anomaly on most maps- given it was a former French Navy installation that had now been taken over by Vulpine Space as a remote, suitable site for military and civilian rocket launches. It must have been about 20km2 in size, with an active, occasionally spewing volcano at the dead centre of it, that almost made the site feel more . Outside of that, the entire island was blanketed in a thick, dense rainforest that broke into pines in the higher elevations of the volcano, albeit at the coast where it broke up with green, grassy plains and clearings. It was a perfect tropical volcanic island, albeit the section that had been razed and now had a spaceport on it with a small harbour adjacent large enough to bring rocket stages in, cinematically backed by the orange plume of the volcano. The former European Space Agency site, built as a contingency for Kourou in French Guiana and modelled upon it, had two launch pads and sat on the eastern coast, now owned by private money with a command bunker, a large warehouse-like hangar for rockets and assembly, as well as a warehouse and supporting fuel and supplies. A hell of a site, flanked out by newly assembled barracks and defences that made the place feel less like a tropical paradise and more like a fortified position. A system of tracks and trails dotted around the island, providing access to an otherwise inaccessible world.
"There's a number of things we can do to swing the odds in our favour. A couple of mechs here, brought in by Artemis based on the model series found in Marrakesh, can be flipped if we are clever about it. And here, there is a frigate that needs to be rigged to blow, so it can't interfere with our operation. There's a lot of aviation that needs suppressing, but we can likely flip a set of SAM system to do that for us. And lastly, a significant portion of enemies and armour are concentrated around this part of the lower base, who are likely to be aware of how we attacked in Greenland, so could probably take on a force ten times our size. All of this needs clearing out first, so we can take back a control centre where the staff on site have been taken hostage, and we need to secure. Lastly, we have one, potentially two HVTs to eliminate. Only then, are we done." Skye flicked up the picture next, a little tremble in her hands. Zhao and Rose came into view.
"General George Zhao commands a serious asset in the People's Liberation Army, and is one of the last Artemis bigdogs left. Do not expect him to back down. Capture him or kill him, but whatever you do, if you see Rose, don't hesitate to shoot. She gave up willingly on that airship because she knew there was one final roll of the dice we didn't know of. She will gnaw through you if it's what it takes because this is a desperate act. Do not expect her to give up lightly."
Skye stopped, looking about the room.
"There is something else. If Rose isn't there, or the situation evolves, then there's another job we need to do. If it comes to it.... there is an orbital space station, Ark Angel, we need to clean house at, and neutralise all Sol Hestia compounds, as well as all remaining bodies that could produce the toxin. And given there is an Arianne rocket on the launchpad, and that a launch could be configured within an hour to go, means we're first responders that can cut it off before any other method. And I can't go alone. Ebrima, Sam, Athena, Freya, I want you four with me. There's probably a degree's worth of content I got taught in a week. I have to teach you that in about four hours. The latter two, I'll expect your suits can manage EVA, given the CBRN sealing. The former two, they have suits at the site from their last inventory that you'll need to switch to once we secure the compound. Plus, Sam is the most likely to know how to actually manage the avionics of a rocket, outside of the centre's staff. You two are the most likely to adapt to it given you've used jump jets and that sort of tech before." Skye added, looking around.
There were probably a million and one questions.
"The situation is evolving. And it's likely that all of us are out on this one. Purna, you are are on the ship to take that out, whilst Sam, you and Adam are on the mechs and seeing if we can turn the tables on them by eliminating their guard crews, and hijacking them. Chuck, Freya, you two are on clearing duty, securing the main barrack and security areas. Me and Ebrima will secure any vehicle pools, and anything we can use as a force multiplier. Our job is to turn their arm into them. Athena, Tahlia, you two I'll deploy where I need you, as a rapid response. So if you have any creative ideas on how we can force multiply, I'm eager to hear it. The techs have the latest upgrades for your gear, so now I imagine you're all at your most lethal, or as far as you can be. We are going to need every last bit of it." Skye said, sighing a little, knowing no easy options were left right here, right now.
"Given the size of the island, and the concentration of the forces, getting ashore is easy enough, but our fighting will need to be guerrilla like. We'll need to disable all of those elements at the same time, before hitting the main target itself in a combined push, hitting them hard enough to destroy their capability to hit back. We can't leave anyone standing, or at least, leave them in a state so that Blue Sword reinforcements can manage anyone captured." Skye finished, looking across the room, taking in the look of everyone.
"Any additions? Anything you want to set yourself up with on this island?" Skye's comment felt like it didn't really fill out the rest of how bonkers this was. A lot of different strands needed hitting, then it needed to be brought together in one, larger, massive final assault.
Words came slow.
"You are joking about space, aren't you?" Adam asked, as well, Skye may as well have just turned around and told the team the moon was blue and made of cheese.
"I wish I was."
"Holy shit...."
"Well. While you lot think of that, I can perch up and run recon through the forest." Tahlia added, looking up the map. "I can get you fire support. A couple of remote drone snipers, and a hook-in, and I can set that up." Tahlia crossed her arms, a confident nod back, as Raph gave the same response.
"Enri and I can kill and jam their comms, if you can get into their systems. Perform some electronic warfare. The PLA aren't stupid, they have their own countermeasures, but we can do some damage."
"My new blimp, that big ol' flying butt has got a lot of missiles. It's anti-radar coated, so we have a fire support tool, but it'll need to go dark after it unloads. We can use it as a mobile base once we're closer, instead of the VTOL, and it can sling-load the hovercraft and carry reinforcements for later. Should reach there in time, three days including fuel. Might even be a better staging area for us if we can meet it at a fuelling stop in Tsavo." Athena pointed out, as Tahlia nodded, Skye holding back her giggle for Athena's new nickname for it.
"This is an incredible amount of force we need to take on. And ready like ever for infiltrators like me. If we need to launch, what happens to the rest of us?" Purna commented, looking across to Skye.
"Sit tight, and hold off anyone that wants to counterattack. By then, we're on a countdown." Skye's response was clean, as Oracle sat at the end of the room, looking in to Skye, who seemed to be calm in her instruction, yet beneath the surface, clearly had plenty to worry about.
