Duty, 30: What Needs to Be Done
11 Mar 2023Meowers
So now we're friggin' blind like bats and that's official. And what's the most unsettling here: looks like the stuff outside is even worse, we're receiving instructions, orders, all those sorts of advice stuff from AXDF command; anything but a relief force. Can't tell you exactly, but everything points at it, situation here is becoming more and more ugly each week, but if they can't send at least a bunch of ships, then those ships are needed elsewhere. Or aren't needed here, to prevent turning the system into a big bloody battlefield. And, legally speaking, AXDF can't command us to evacuate, the final word is left for the local authorities, and they're stubborn as heck. Seems like they've got their share of adventures already and reluctant to leave the planet, hoping that the aliens won't thin our lines too much before the incursion ends. Uh... Can't say it's really reassuring.
Anyway. Yesterday, I spent some time with Matthew and officers double-checking our flight logs: he returned shortly after that battle over the town and brought some interesting stuff to think about. The Thargoids didn't engage his group openly that day, they were rather keeping them bogged down, busy with chasing and manoeuvring, and finally retreated... Just a couple of minutes after our pack appeared near the town. Like, making sure that Matthew's wing is too far away to help us. And the suicidal attack on our comm tower... What kind of a weird strategy game is that? Matthew saw a Hydra, was it the same Hydra that ambushed him a couple of months ago? Hell. The only thing I find positive here: if they're sticking to that strategy... It means they don't have the sheer numbers to overrun us right away.
And the group that attacked the settlement? It has been detected only in the direct vicinity, almost in the visual range. We have a gap in our satellite array, and seems like it appeared recently enough. How did that happen? Oh, if you still like humans, I'm going to give you a reason to stop doing so.
In my earlier, anti-corporate rebel days, and before, I've seen so many acts of deceit and treason that it could be enough for several lifetimes. And that... Reinforced my general distrust of people. But, behind each one of those acts, you could trace a logic, sometimes twisted, sometimes inaccurate, sometimes rather foul, but a logic nonetheless. People always crave for more and sometimes they do things like that in an attempt to have more. But I struggle to comprehend what kind of messed up thinking can make people do that if the enemy is so alien.
What exactly? Oh. Officers sent a technical team to check on the satellites, the group that passed over the settlement yesterday during the attack, and my wing was ordered to provide cover. I've had a bit of a chatter with the techs on our way there, like, the satellites should be okay, physically, on their places and operational, otherwise their absence would've been noticed, so, much likely they're feeding us false data. And, as far as I know, there are no hackers amongst the Thargoids: the satellite core coding is completely isolated and couldn't be altered remotely, so, if that's the case, it was done by humans. Timing issues and suspicious take-offs? The hack might've been applied hell knows how long ago, and then activated remotely later, when the Thargoids came closer, by those who actually had the correct data from the satellites. Crap. This stuff is complicated.
We reached the first one. Much as anticipated, the thing was completely okay visually, but it didn't register our approach. I commanded my wing to form a defensive perimeter and requested a live video feed from the techs: they placed their ship a few metres from the satellite, preparing to go EVA after the initial scan that was absolutely clean.
"Nothing suspicious on the outside... This sat is fine. Power source is good, antennaes are good, drives are good... Yeah, the seal is broken on the data port cover. Somebody has been here and..."
And then the feed went down. And a loud scream which quickly turned into a gurgling, choking groan, filled the open comms. Instantly, the video from the techs' ship kicked in, showing several human bodies in spacesuits, and parts of human bodies, torn apart by an explosion, pierced with shrapnel and debris, tumbling in zero gravity, enveloped in a dark red cloud of evaporating blood, thrown away from the epicentre. One of the techs survived the blast, his safety cord was cut, he screamed as the inertia forces dragged him away into space, farther and farther from the crippled satellite. His right leg was severed off completely, left was deeply lacerated just above the knee, dangling on the remaining tissues and a piece of ripped suit fabric, and several metal shards were sticking from his suit all over the remaining body. Poor fellow. We were kilometres away, and their pilot... He tried to help, but the screams receded to faint groans and finally stopped even before he finished rotating the bulky T-10 to face the same direction. Honestly... Even if we had more than first aid training, there was nothing we could do.
Silence is an absence of sound. But the silence itself can be different. The silence of space can be different each time.
We had to collect the bodies... What's left of them.
Told my pilots to tighten the perimeter and went to help the transport crew, setting Marshmallow adrift near the the T-10. And after we were done, I copied the recordings from their suits, the ones that were still recoverable, and asked the pilot for a copy of his onboard camera videos. Of course these files are going to be attached to the accident log for our officers, but I wanted to have my own copies. For some personal reasons.
I was about to leave the bridge of the T-10, when an idea appeared. So, I stopped, telling the co-pilot to run the scanners on the satellite debris... Yeah. Traces of meta-alloys. Apparently, not enough to show up on the initial scans, when they were shielded by the intact hull, but now all that stuff was spreaded all over the debris field. That goes to the log as well. So, damned fanatics not only hacked our equipment and tripwired a data port lid, but also lured the Thargoids into the area with gagged satellites. That's why they disappeared from our screens upon entering the low orbit, where they couldn't be tracked by properly working ones from afar. And, one more thing... The pilot reached me when I was looking at the scanner output. He told me that a group of local techs tried to convince him to let them onboard, when his crew received the flight plan and began preparations.
I bet they weren't so 'techs' after all.
Finally. Looks like it's enough of our blood to make the locals re-evaluate their views on alien-loving scumbags. Shit. It seems like we've lost more people to them than to the Thargoids. I can't know exactly what words were said on the meeting shortly after our debriefing, it was above my rank to attend it, but I hope they were indisputable enough. From now on, traitors are to be shot on sight, AXDF flight and ground crews are now authorised to do so, as well as the local security service, and the actions of that one particular... 'unidentified woman in a heavy armour' which led to 'property damage and civilian casualties in the warehouse area' were deemed justified, and 'her' case closed.
Yep, indeed, receiving that new announcement, I immediately sent a message to the officers, with a confession. No reasons to hide it anymore. Hah.
And another one message. Thought a bit before letting it out, however... Yeah, she asked me if I'm alright. And my reply was a little longer than usual "yes, I am".
"This is what they do to people," I wrote. And attached the recording from Marshmallow's onboard cam, one with the destroyed passenger liner, a few weeks ago. "And this," adding today's files with the satellite explosion and AXDF tech crew casualties. "Can you see the difference? Because I can't."
"And I do what needs to be done."
* * *
The previous part of the story, about the battle over the town, was over-posted by my Women's Day Special entry, so it quickly disappeared from the main page. You can find it here in case you missed it and want to read: #29: Blindfolded.