The Planet 2.3

2.3 The crew.

“John, we are there.” I heard the commander. It was a long and boring flight with the company of four other officers which included the commander named Blake. I pushed myself out of the travel seat; a body meshed cubicle which encompassed the body like a cocoon with intravenous tubes that will fill the nutrients that the body required during the flight. The cocoon material pulled away from mine like a layer of liquid and yet warmth to the feel. I stepped out while reaching for my uniform. It was actually my blue overall and once I placed it on, I felt more alive.

“John, are you with me?” Commander Duggan raised the query towards me. He was not new to me but I have hardly served with any more than once except Kingsley. I have to make an exceptional on that with Duggan then. Commander Duggan was a hardnosed mercenary in his forties. He was already striding ahead to the Briefing Room. He was followed by the others; all dressed up in their uniforms which varies to their own desire. In the mercenary line, we hold no affliction to any branding so we wear what we like and carry what we need as weapons. During that task, we were given the re-modeled PH375-2 rifles which carried an extended pack of twelve shots and higher penetration power.

The Briefing Room was actually a holographic chamber where the five of us were given a whirlwind of the briefing at Kingsley Mining Station One. The plant had been in production for five months.

“In the last turn of the day, the planet rotated on a round orbit of twenty six hours per rotation, we have recorded three damages caused at the station.” The simulated voice from the Briefing Room System spoke out to the assembled, while holographic images showed the extent of the damages.  The equipments were mangled and in some cases, it looked burnt.

“The equipments were expensive state of the art designs. It was no random damages but key pickings. The damages have placed the Mining Station on hold for the third time since it started.”

“End Briefing.” Commander Duggan snapped in with the termination command. He then turned to the assembled team. 

“Kingsley Station One had only thirty percent productivity since it went back to production since last month. We are to check and ensure it does not fall below that percentage. Any lower on the percentage we lose out as their staff too.  And they also lose the opportunity of mining here.”

“Howzit!” A voice cracked out from the assembled. It belonged to Officer Nguyen; a seven tour Marine Officer with a penchant for carrying an extra incendiary rifle. The bald headed officer dressed in a camouflage suit snapped on the chest kit that will hold his double phaser side arms PH450 and his web of pencil type explosives.

“Are they shutting down the plant for good?” It was another officer by the name of Peggy One. She was top notch sniper class officer with the single pony tail tied at the rear of her head leaned on the long barrel sniper rifle modeled PH750-2 in her camouflage suit. It chambered seven explosive projectiles and held an effective range of one mile in its range. The five footer lady stared down the long barrel that reached her neckline. She was part construct like me; her upper limbs were constructs and gave her firm grip on her sniping skills.

“If you had listened, I don’t think they do that. We are the power shifter.” Officer Malone “Machete” One was the communications and medical officer. “And right now we are to stop that power from shifting to others. Like DOD.”

Machete was past his retirement age of forty but he loved nothing more than to bandaged wounds. It’s his specialties besides the cooking up a good meal. The paunchy man stood high at six foot smiled. He was patching on the foot long energy blade with the rubberized eight inch handle he had codenamed Machete. He was also a construct with part of his brain merged to the spine and his limbs. He was a walking droid but with those constructs, he was a walking interface to any droids.

I shrugged off the stiffness in my shoulders. It was my new arm that was recently implanted. I then looked at the Commander.

“Was it sabotage by DOD?” I had to ask. Rivalries between the Mining corporations were cut throat business, and this new element was priceless. And the mention of DOD gave me a bad taste in my mouth.  “Anything else we need to know? They hated us and shared the same dislike.”

“We are not here to speculate. We are here to stop it. That’s we are hired. If DOD had a hand, we will finish the task.” Commander Duggan voiced out. It was his reckless nature. It got me in the heat of near death with the Suzuka and yet I was there with him on more tasks. “So get out there and do your pieces. Get your gears and mount up into the shuttle.”