The Planet 1.3

1.3

That morning, I had myself to blame for taking the steps into the Earth Office of the Mineral Rights. My name is John Smith; well that’s the name I chose to. I could not remember my real name but who cares. I had assumed many identities before; some in name of survival and most times given by others to me. It became so common that the name meant nothing to me unlike the ranks I once held. I was once in the unnamed division of the Marines, slowly climbing up from the Special Officer to the Special Commander before I ended it all. They meant nothing to me at all except to make me take notice of it when I am called.

Rankings placed you in the containment.

And I disliked containment.

I also disliked being called. I do make exceptions when the call was from friends.

‘The Earth Office of Mining Rights.’ That was the message.

There I was standing there. I came straight from work. I was working on my new battle suit that will greatly improve the soldier in the field. It was a prototype of Kingsley.  

“Hello, John.” I turned and saw the man I was to meet. “Can I walk with you?”

“Sure, Mark. After all you are my boss.” I nodded. Mark Kingsley, Junior was the senior executive officer of Kingsley Defense and Mining Corporation. He was also one of my ex-Commander from the Marines. He was dressed in the Chinese Mao design with buttoned collar but the material the suit was not eastern but more to the opposite. The executive was in his forties but his look was older. He was accompanied by his troop of six bodyguards; all burly and ex-soldiers. They were similarly dressed but the suit did not do much to cover the outlines of their weapons tucked beneath their armpits.

“I would have given you a suit if I knew you were coming in that … working overall.” Mark commented on my dressing. I looked at it and smiled. I did have on what he described; it was my working clothes and it was one of the six sets I had with me. It was blue overall with six zippered deep pockets. I brushed my left hand over the fewer and shorter hair there; I was self conscious of it decay there, although it was not hampering my facial hairs. My week old stubble was helping me recover some pride in replacing the above.

We stood there on the steps among the assembled; the news hounds and the corporate. They were all there; their reps to listen and await instructions but there were also the curious ones. Those were the unpredictable ones. They could be innocent bystander or at worst, the trouble rabble.

“Hey, there is Kingsley Mining.” It was one of the trouble rabbles. The guy was dressed in a silvery suit with a clean shaven head. His whole facial expression was devoid of any facial hair, but that was not all that was hideous. It was the sneer on the expression. The trouble rabble shout drew the attention of the gathered and among them the curious ones.

“They are mercenary constructs.” It was the key word for the curious ones to drop their pretense and reveal themselves to instigators of troubles. To them, all mercenary constructs’ were killers of the innocents. It triggered the required response. They rushed forth with murderous intents. They were not few but grew to hundreds when the hidden ones by the corners rushed in. The assigned guards to handle the crowd went into action and formed a cordon around us. They carried shields and powered batons. That did not deter the trouble rabble which came with their hidden weapons. They had their own batons hidden under their coats which they used to batter the guards.

The line of guards fell back on the impact but the Mining Office have prepared for such eventualities.

The skyline was soon filled with dark orbs that swamped down among the trouble rabbles.

“The dark ones! They launched the dark ones.” The trouble rabbles withdrew from the line of guards. The dark ones were armed droid in the shape of a two feet radius floating dark orb that hovered over the trouble rabbles. The orbs then launched its sonar weapon on the trouble rabbles; the sonar vibrations were so intense that it may ruptured the brain cells when in contact for over ten seconds within its track of twenty feet wide. That was if you are protected by the head gear, but most of the trouble rabbles were unprotected.

They could only bear it for five seconds maximum.

They screamed out in pain when the orbs hovered over their heads. For those who were stubborn to move or had fallen on the ground during the withdrawal, they will have blood pouring out of their ears and nose, and then the pain was so unbearable that the affected will reach with their fingers to pull at their pain through the eyes.

We were saved. I was soon meshed in with Kingsley and herded to the side. It was a clear area from the orbs but I saw the punch and moved my head. It was not by a trouble rabble but one of the personal guards of Kinsley. The punch missed me but I had my defense up. I lashed out with the right finger jab at the guard. He did not see it but the force of my jab ruptured his liver. The man keeled over but by then, we had moved on with Kingsley calling the move.

“Ignore him.” Kingsley called out to his head guard. “He tried to strike at John.”

We were forced marched into the doorway by the side of the building. There were three other groups there and we were protected by more guards.

“Sir, its Stane. He was part of your guards.” Michael the Head Guard questioned his employer.

“Michael, you are fired.” Kingsley glared at him. “Get out of my sight.”

With that Kingsley other guards pushed their ex-leader out. Kingsley ignored the pleading and joined the other groups.

“John, look like we are in the pick.” Kingsley motioned to me to the others. I scanned the group. They were all the same like Kingsley; mining corporations.  I saw Suzuka there. There was the eastern group; the Phoenix Foundations.  Heck, even the DOD was there. They aren’t the Defense Department but the Dart Ordinance of Defense. They were the top notch in the military supplies.

Then the final countdown came.

“Kingsley Defense and Mining.”

We were the selected. That threw a hue and cry among the others. I saw Michael speaking to the DOD while glaring at me. I wondered what I did to deserve the attention. I was only a mercenary after all.

“Kingsley Defense and Mining to move to the Chairman office.”

We were soon greeted by the large lobby area with long reception counter. The flooring was immaculate white and besides the reception counter, there was nothing there. I forget there were others there; they were so still in the background. There were four twelve feet high droids which designed to look like menacing quarterbacks with then bend forward stance but instead of menacing biceps, these droid held a twin set of six barrels roller cannons. We walked towards the reception counter which was staged sixty feet inside past those droids.

“Welcome, Mr. Kingsley.” The lady appeared from behind the counter. She must had been hidden behind it or I was getting blind. “The Chairman had finalized the successful bidders. Your organization was the one. Please acknowledge here.”

She handed over the tablet for him to approve

“Thank you.” Kingsley replied. He then turned to walk out. I was curious then and had to ask.

“Why did you made me come?” I looked sheepishly at the man. “And why me?”

“John, the final endorsement was to confirm our participation.” Kingsley smiled at me. “And as for you, I needed you for the task as my mercenary. Element L 391 is a very competitive mineral and it so rare that everyone will kill for that. If my plant hits an issue, I want you there as my recorder.”

I stared at Kingsley. One of my abilities was my eidetic memory; it was the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects with high precision.

“I trust you. You are special. I worked with you before. I need your special touch.” Kingsley replied to me. “I will your left arm updated with more sensors.”

My left arm did felt cranky on some days.

“I have expected trouble and more to it, Michael was under my scrutiny for some time. He works for the DOD and spied for them. I tolerated him because it’s better to keep my enemy close to me. If there were any of them trying to stop me, it would be DOD.”

“Okay, I am in.” I replied. After all security was my favorite task. “But tell me, what is L 391? Is that the installation?””

Kingsley did not reply until we were out of the building. He stood at the same spot where we met earlier. He waved his hands at the assembled. He then turned to look at me. His bodyguards made a ring around him and me again. He then began telling me what L 391 was.

“In simpler terms, Element L 391 is newly discovered composition which was ten times more durable than titanium and its military grade. It’s so rare that the only nearest alternative was at Tauzin Seven and that was in limited supplies. We are one of the few corporations that were authorized to mine it. You are on the Armed Response Team for any response. You will also work with Commander Duggan.”

Every mining corporation maintained an armed response team for resolving conflicts. It was the fall back when something went wrong like in the case of Tauzin Seven.

“Tauzin Seven? Wasn’t that where the DOD Suzuka Incident of four years that triggered the...” I was no expert on minerals but when it comes to conflicts, I was one. I was there. I recalled those battles’.