NOVEL NEXT Mercenaries And Military
It was close to midnight in Standard Hours as Amber, Samson and I were gathered in some kind of meeting hall where there were other mercenaries gathered around us.
Around the edges of the room were military personnel so all of us knew exactly what we were here for.
We have been waiting here for at least half an hour now and we’re all just wondering where the person who had gathered us here was.
Amber was tapping her foot impatiently, “Typical of military types to rush us here only to make us wait like this...”
Sounds like she’s speaking from experience.
Samson also made a face, “Well… That’s just normal for them I suppose. Oh look, that must be the commander.”
A gruff looking middle aged man with short, greying hair and a robotic left arm stepped up onto the stage. The fact that he was being saluted by the soldiers told me that he must be someone important.
He stood on the podium and took a moment to look at the room before starting to speak.
“Good evening everyone. I am Captain Raymond, commander of the UTSN Watcher that most of you might know is the battleship stationed in this system to protect this place from being overrun by pirates. I have issued an emergency request to all of you today because we are now facing a very real threat targeted at this station.”
He then tapped his finger on the podium and the wall behind him lit up to display a screen that showed a map of the system with the station being in the centre.
“This morning, we have received news that there may be a pirate fleet forming up to attack this station in force under the command of a Pirate Lord. I had sent several scouts to check on this news and found this to be true.”
He tapped on the podium again and several red icons appeared at the edge of the map.
“Our scouts have confirmed that the pirate fleet consists of one D Class battlecruiser, four D Class Destroyers, twenty C Class Corvettes and at least a hundred or so supporting B Class and A Class ships. All of them are targeting this station and will arrive as early as tomorrow morning.”
The Mercenaries around us started murmuring amongst themselves, a few of them wondering why they would even attack this station while others were questioning if we could even stand against such odds.
The number of Mercenaries in this room barely reached seventy and we only have one military battleship as our main firepower.
A battlecruiser would be able to outrun the battleship and though it might have trouble taking out the battleship in a one on one fight, it wouldn’t be a problem if it had backup. And the pirates have a ton of that.
The Captain continued, “We know that the pirates are definitely aware that we know about their presence, especially since the brave Mercenaries who risked their lives to warn us about this threat had to fight through their fleet and are seated in this very room right now.”
The fact that he looked in our direction when he said that meant that he knew that it was us that brought back the news.
Amber did not react to his gaze while Samson inclined his head slightly.
As for me, I just raised an eyebrow, wondering if there was any reason for him to bring it up here?
Perhaps he wanted to show that he supports us Mercenaries or something? I know from Amber that there’s probably some animosity between the two groups for some reason.
He continued, “Even if we were to request for aid outside of the system, they will not reach us in time to deal with the pirates. Unfortunately, we are on our own in this fight.”
Now the murmurs amongst the Mercenaries got even louder.
He raised his hand to calm everyone down, “We are not without a plan of course.”
The screen then changed to show the battleship on the map as well as an arrow pointing from the battleship towards the pirates.
“As I said, the pirates know that we are aware of their presence and instead of calling off the attack, they are going ahead with it. That means they are quite confident that their attack will succeed despite us being prepared. Because of that, we will not be sitting around and waiting here for them to come to us!”
The picture of the battleship then moved in a flanking manoeuvre to appear beside the pirate fleet.
“Instead, we will be giving them a preemptive strike and hitting them before they even get to the station. With surprise on our side, we would at least be able to deliver a big blow to them before falling back to the station in case we cannot wipe them out with that single battle. That would at least buy us some time for reinforcements to arrive while they take the time to reorganise.”
One of the Mercs raised his hand and the Captain nodded at him, “Yes, go ahead.”
The Merc made a face at him, “You say to attack them first but they would see us coming from a mile away, won’t they? They are equipped to ambush ships in the nebulae while most of us are only just here for a stopover, our ships aren’t built to fight in this system effectively.”
“That will not be a problem, we will be sending drones that will scramble their sensors before we engage them. We will also be engaging them from below their fleet so those fitted with the implants to see through the nebula will not see our approach.”
A few of the Mercs nodded, probably satisfied by his assurance.
Amber raised her hand and the Captain turned to her to nod at her to go ahead.
“And what if your plan doesn’t go like you said it would? Are you going to use us as meatshields while you run away?”
The place became silent as everyone stared at Amber, probably wondering why she would say something so controversial yet so brave.
The Captain gave her a look and the silence stretched for at least a half a minute before he opened his mouth, “You have my word that that will definitely not happen. Right now we are all in the same metaphorical boat where the pirates are targeting us and if we don’t work together, all of us will perish.”
Another Mercenary raised his hand, “Actually… We aren’t. The only one obligated to defend this station are you guys, we don’t need to defend this place and we could in fact, just leave.”
Several Mercs near him also nodded their heads in agreement and, emboldened by their words, also stood up to voice out against the Captain.
“Yeah! You military people always treat us like crap anyway! Why should we help you now?!”
“Now you guys are in trouble, you're all buddy with us? What hypocrites!”
“If we choose to leave now, are you guys going to force us to stay, huh?!”
One of the soldiers standing nearest to us muttered under his breath, “That’s why you guys are just guns for hire… No honour at all…”
The Captain raised his hand again, “I am well aware of the animosity between my men and the Mercenaries in this station and I share the blame for allowing things to get to this stage. If any of you feels that it is better for you to leave, I will not stop you and you are free to leave. For those who will fight alongside us, I can promise you that you will be paid your rates fairly.”
“Yeah, what’s the use of all that money if we’re going to die in a fight like that? We’re literally your meatshields in this battle!”
One of the soldiers standing at the side seemed to have lost his patience and shouted back, “Is money all you ever care about?! If the pirates paid you enough Credits you would turn on us just as quickly wouldn’t you?!”
“Better than you idiots with sticks stuck up their butts thinking you’re so much better when you just shoot whoever your superiors tell you to shoot without question! At least I do it for myself!”
“Honourless cowards!”
“Brainless idiots!”
I tuned out the shouting happening in the room and leaned over to my companions, “So what do you guys think?”
Amber was quick to answer, “I don’t trust the military types. I’m betting he’s going to use us as some kind of bait to draw the pirates’ attention while he approaches from below. Who knows how long we have to keep their attention before he fires the first shot?”
Samson sighed, “Although I agree with them about the fact that we don’t have to stay and help… Reese isn’t going to be able to get off this station before the pirates arrive and I don’t exactly want to leave her behind at the mercy of those pirates either…”
I looked around the room again and it had already dissolved into a shouting match between the mercenaries and the soldiers.
The Captain already looked like he had given up.
Well… I definitely didn’t think something like this would happen… Maybe that’s why the pirates are still attacking the station despite the early warning?