Mission Origin View (Final Days Trilogy) (6 page)

“
Thanks, Gunny. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Xia left
, and Gideon dressed, feeling silly that he thought that Xia had come to confront him about his file. Anyway, it was common for the executive officer to review his men’s records.

Gideon arrived at the
enlisted men’s quarters just before Captain
Neubauer arrived. Neubauer had a marine staff sergeant and a private, who were stationed at Viking Station, in tow. Both were dressed in full battle armor and carried weapons.

“
Are we ready, Gunny? Captain Neubauer asked.

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Staff Sergeant Norniskie and Private Homer will be escorting us to our shuttle,” Captain Neubauer said.

Norniskie led the way while Homer brought up the rear. The
marines in the middle felt and looked like prisoners as they walked to the shuttle bay wearing white jumpsuits and being escorted by an armed detail. Their escort took them through several corridors and eventually arrived at an air lock guarded by two more marines.

Gideon and his fellow marines
entered the air lock and saw the other members of the crew. They were standing beside a new marine assault orbital VTOL.

“
Wow! Would ya take a look at that?” Tidwell said as he carefully looked at the assault VTOL from end to end. “Wish I could take that out for a spin.”

“
You will, but not today,” Captain Neubauer said. “It’s ours, and we’re taking it to Phobos.”

“
Why can’t I pilot
her to
Phobos?” Tidwell asked.

“
Captain Bowser has the honors but did say she wants you to take the copilot seat,” Neubauer said, paused, and continued. “Don’t just stand there, Tidwell. Report to the captain!”

Tidwell, like a kid about to play with a new toy, took off to find
Mary. The rest of the marines started walking toward the VTOL as they laughed at Tidwell.

“
Sergeant Kindle, you’ll be acting crew chief,”
Captain Neubauer said when they had joined the other members of the crew.

“
Yes, sir,” Kindle said and headed to the VTOL cargo bay.

Gideon noted t
he new assault VTOL definitely used stealth technology. It had the traditional, sharp triangular and rectangular corners; the fuselage was flat, shaped like a stingray, and painted with black radio frequency and laser-absorption paint. Standard electronic warfare antennae protruded from the top of the fuselage, and an engine was embedded in each “stingray” wing.

There were also changes no one had seen before. Overall it was bigger and had one triangle
-shaped vertical stabilizer, which replaced the traditional two vertical stabilizers on the tail. A pyramid-shaped module was mounted under the nose that looked like a black hole projector (BHP), though only starships had those devices.

“
Load up!”
Sergeant Kindle yelled at the crew standing around the assault VTOL.

The crew lined up and boarded. Gideon again boarded last per Captain
Neubauer’s instructions to make sure everyone got aboard. After he stowed his duffel bag, he sat by Petty Officer
Joseph Sipes.

“
Sir, I didn’t think an orbital VTOL could travel as far as Phobos,” Joseph said.

“
I didn’t either, Sipes. I don’t know how we’ll get there using this ship,” Gideon said to the big man.

A second later
Mary came on the ship’s intercom. “Our VTOL call sign is officially designated as Marine Assault One, but I allowed Sergeant Tidwell to name the ship since he’ll be the marine pilot. He named the ship
Bernice
after his fiancée.” Mary paused as the crew laughed. “We’re cleared to depart, and we’ll arrive at Phobos in approximately two hours and twenty-three minutes.”

The crew muttered among themselves
, showing their skepticism about how they could get there so quickly in a standard, orbital VTOL.

“
And, by the way,
Bernice
has a BHP which uses the new Harper Power System!” Mary continued with a hint of excitement.

“
Now we know,” Joseph said with a smile.

Gideon returned the smile and wished he was on the flight deck to see the projected black hole
. According to the briefings at Mount Mitchell, it was supposed to be spectacular. Hopefully he’d be able to see it when the
Stephen Hawking
departed on their mission.

Ten minutes later
Bernice
had engaged the BHP and was cruising in the time-speed dimension toward Phobos.

“
Where you from, Sipes?” Gideon asked to pass the time.

“
Mississippi, sir,”
Joseph said
.

“
Where in Mississippi?

“
Moss Point, sir. It’s a few miles from the Gulf.”

“
Wife or girlfriend?”

“
No, sir.”

“
Does your mom and dad still live there?”

“
No, sir. My mom, dad, brothers and sisters were killed in a boating accident when I was five. My great-grandma raised me, and she died a few months before I joined the navy,”
Joseph
said and then asked, “How about you, sir?”

Gideon didn
’t want to answer but felt obligated since he’d started the conversation.

“
Not much to tell, Sipes. I’m from Norfolk, Virginia, and went through about eight foster homes when I was a kid. I got tired of being moved around, and when I was sixteen I ran away. I never knew my biological parents.” Gideon paused to think about his past for a second and continued. “I lived on the streets for a year, did odd jobs here and there, trying to survive. Eventually I started running with the wrong crowd. The week after I turned seventeen, I was arrested for burglary. I went before a judge and, like most kids my age, was given a choice: jail time or military enlistment. So I joined the marines.”

“If you enlisted at seventeen, sir, how did you become an officer?” Joseph asked puzzled.

“
A few weeks into boot camp, my platoon took an IQ test, and I scored a one seventy-five. My commander called me into his office and asked if I’d like to go to Annapolis and become an officer. I was so sick of Parris Island I jumped at the chance to leave,” Gideon said with a laugh.

“
So I guess that means you’re really smart, sir.”

“
The corps keeps telling me that, but I don’t think I’m any smarter than any other grunt. I still think they mixed my score up with someone else’s,” Gideon smiled.

Joseph looked ahead
, deep in thought for a few seconds, and said, “Sir, I think I figured out why me and you got assigned this mission.”

“
How’s that, Sipes?”

“
Well, sir, you’re smart and can probably do about anything that needs doing. Instead of me being smart, I’m really big and strong and can pick up a lot of weight if I have to.”

Gideon smiled at Joseph
’s conclusion.

“
And there’s one more thing, sir—we both don’t have any family,” Joseph said and looked straight ahead again.

“Sipes, I think you’re right. And they call me a genius!” Gideon said and slapped the big man on the back.

Phobos, Mars

0823
—February 15, 2372

Bernice
arrived at Phobos, and Mary placed her in low orbit around the moon, as instructed before they left Mars. She had also been given a communications-encryption key code to enter into the communications system when orbit was established. She entered the sixteen-digit number and then selected hyperchannel secure communications mode to use the key.

“
Phobos Control…Phobos Control, this is Marine Assault One,” Mary transmitted using her flight helmet microphone.

“
Marine Assault One, this is Phobos Control. Welcome to Phobos,” a woman’s voice responded. “You’re cleared to land. We’re transmitting an approach and landing vector to your ship’s computer. Enjoy the ride down.”

“
Thank you, Phobos Control…Marine Assault One out,” Mary responded, then switched to the ship’s intercom system. “We’ve been given landing clearance. Sergeant Kindle, make sure everything is secure for landing.”

***

Kindle did a quick walk through the cargo bay, checking hatches and warning indicators. He finally had everyone check his or her safety harness, then sat back down and strapped himself in.

A few seconds later
Bernice
began its landing procedure.
Bernice’s
computer was not only given the approach and landing vectors to Phobos but also instructed to perform a combat-assault landing.

Bernice
’s
engines fired to increase speed, and orbital, directional retro rockets fired to push her
down to the moon’s surface. After a few seconds Gideon felt uneasy, like riding in a ship that was falling out of control as its speed and the gravitational pull from Phobos increased. It felt like being strapped to a rock and being thrown off a cliff as his stomach worked its way into his throat.

S
eat harnesses held the crew in place as
Bernice
started to vibrate violently. Gideon and the marines knew immediately what was happening because they’d trained for assault landings before. Most of the sailors and scientists, however, didn’t have a clue.

“
Sir, are we going to crash?” Joseph yelled to Gideon with eyes as big as saucers.

“
No, Sipes. For some reason we’re performing a combat-assault landing,” Gideon yelled back. “Look straight ahead and don’t move your head from side to side. It also helps if you close your eyes.”

Gideon had been trained in several orbital
-assault landings. They were fast and dangerous—and made people feel sicker than they could ever imagine. The landings were also the safest way to land in a combat environment. As far as Gideon knew, they weren’t going into combat, and he didn’t know why they were landing this way.

As the ship continued to fall, the enlisted
marines began to yell and laugh out loud. It was tradition to do this, especially when there were other passengers on board who had never experienced a combat-assault landing. The reaction served three purposes: first, it helped them deal with the sick feeling; second, it calmed the fear of hurtling into a planet or moon at five times the speed of sound; and third, it scared the first timers so much that it actually helped prevent some from throwing up.

“
The ship’s computer is making the landing,” Mary said over the intercom. “Not sure why we’re on an assault landing, but the ship is under control,” Mary said, trying to calm the passengers who were concerned.

***

Mary watched the surface of Phobos coming closer and closer. She looked out of the canopy and could see a large crater below. The altitude indicator was quickly decreasing.

“
Sir, shouldn’t we have begun our deceleration by now?” Tidwell said, using the communications link between pilot and copilot helmets. His voice sounded worried.

Mary
looked again at the fast-approaching surface and then at the altimeter. The altimeter said they had plenty of distance before starting their deceleration, but the surface looked a lot closer.

“
Looks like we might have a problem, Tidwell. I’m going to take control!”

Mary
tried to take manual control, but the flight system rejected her request. She tried several more times, but all requests were rejected.

“
Tidwell, I can’t get manual control. You try…and make it quick!” Mary said, almost in a yell.

Tidwell tried and was also rejected.

“I’m being rejected too, Captain. What’re we going to do, sir?” This time Tidwell was almost yelling.

“
Nothing we can do!” Mary said as she prepared for impact.

Bernice
continued her combat-assault landing and looked to be only a few thousand meters above the surface. Mary was convinced they were going to crash.

A second later
Bernice
struck what looked like the surface but continued down. A few seconds later the ship began its deceleration using landing thrusters. Surprised, Mary looked out the canopy as the ship passed through the surface and was suddenly engulfed in darkness.

“
Sir, I think we just flew through a hologram of some kind!” Tidwell said, voice confused.

Suddenly
Bernice
fired her thrusters again at full force, and the crew felt themselves being pushed down into their seats. As blood rushed from their heads, they were on the verge of blacking out when a second later
Bernice
cut thruster power
,
leveled off, deployed landing gear and slowly descended. The ship landed, making a loud metal-to-metal clank with its landing gear.