MagTech Suit Up

Red Team’s New Ship Design

  Megan and the team arrived at the home base, and Megan had them follow her to the manufacturing facility right after they stowed their gear. They were impressed with the new ship and realized they would probably be using the design for other ships as well, to augment Delta’s other missions that did not require their team and Ship to be involved. The ship had the functionality of the current ship the SF team was using plus the extra room in the cargo bay and the fire power of a Basher.

  They contacted the Red Team SF Commander and told him the good news, and said he should start packing their gear up because they were going to have the new ship rendezvous with the team in the Mars Region and take them back to swap out the ships. Their old ship would come back to base to be recycled. The Commander was happy with that news and got his team ready for the swap. The new ship with a fresh crew of new recruits set off for the Mars Region, with only a Basher in the bay area and a crew to man it relaxing in the common area along with the weapons crew. The crews were newly trained in the crew training section of the special teams training course. With the Bashers and now the new ship requiring crew members they were going to have to get more recruits.

  Meanwhile Agent Black’s team and their unknown shadows were making their way to the Mars Region as well. Their ship was pretty slow, so the new ship would make it there only a few hours after they did. The plan was the Javelin would dock with the ship and they would finish the mission before heading to the Saturn Region. The guys that were onboard the SF ship would have to wait until they got back, to see the new ship. The funny part was the way the SF Team stayed with the alliance troops none of them would see what the outside of the ship looked like until they happened to be back at the home base for some reason. So it could be a long time, but that didn’t matter they were going to be happy with the extra space and the offensive weapons to protect themselves with.

  Agent Black of course didn’t know any of this was going on, all he knew was he and the SF teams were going to checkout some mysterious fires that had occurred in the Mars Region. He had been thinking about something though, as they made the flight to the Martian moon of Phobos. He was thinking about how Delta Faction could take out so many enemy troops right under their nose and not alert them to their presence. As he thought about it he determined that they must be monitoring our communications or even more. He realized when he had first started noticing strange activity going on was when they had started sending the SF troops out to the breaching missions. That was when he started seeing ships strangely destroyed. That made him think that maybe somehow they were monitoring the SF teams as well.

  So now he had two theories that he wanted to test out. He saw his opportunity so he took it. Colonel Pertrelli you said you served with Commander Seaver right, he asked? Yes, I did, the LTC replied. Well, I have been thinking about something, do you really think the bad guys could get the drop on him, he asked? Well, I don’t know from what I remember he was very good at what he did, and they would have to be even better than him so maybe not, the LTC replied. Yeah, that was what I was thinking too. So if they didn’t then the explosion must have been to cover his escape from the people out to get him and his family right, Agent Black said. Yeah, I guess so, the LTC replied, starting to wonder where he was going with this. So if he is not dead, and a lot of the people that were killed were friends of his, do you think he would let that stand, Agent Black asked? Knowing him, no I don’t think he would, the LTC replied. No I don’t think he would either, as a matter of fact I think he might be working with the guys that are taking out these bad guys, Agent Black said. You really think so, the LTC asked. Yes I do, I just wish I could talk to him, and find out for sure, Agent Black said. Yeah, it would be nice to know that him and his family are alright, the LTC agreed.

  Just as Agent Black had hoped the Red Team Members were listening in on the conversation. They reported back to Michael. It is like he knows we are here the Team Member said. Well, I trained him pretty well so I would be surprised if he didn’t suspect something right now, Michael said, thanks for the report. No problem, the Team Member said, as he signed off. Michael had been checking in on Agent Black through the Red Team ever since he found out he was in the Saturn Region. He also got a full profile on him from the Delta Faction database, so he knew he was part of the bag and tag squad. He weighed his options, on the one hand he could ignore the whole thing and just let Red Team continue the mission and keep an eye on him. Or he could contact him and see what he wanted, he obviously had figured it out and was trying to contact him, they had been friends for years, and for guys that did what they did, that meant something.

  He decided to chance it, there was very little risk that he could find him and David even if he did know they were alive, but it might interfere with the mission. Michael reached out to Emma, do you think you could send one of your self-extracting comms-devices to Agent Black, he asked. Yes, I am sure I could but is that wise, she asked. Can you set it up so it will just be dissolved by his body if I tell you to, he asked. Yes, that is actually a feature we should use on our augmentations, she said, that way the enemy cannot find out what we have. Let’s table that for another time, he said. Ok, give me a second to create the dissolve code, she said. Ok, it is ready and I sent it to him, she said. Thanks Emma, Michael said, ending their conversation. He waited until the comms-device she had created for him told him that Agent Black was online.

  Hello Jayden, Michael said, this is a highly secure untraceable one on one communications channel so don’t react. I kinda trust you, and maybe Pertrelli there but it is still better other people do not know we are having this conversation, he continued. I knew you had eyes and ears on me, Agent Black said. Well, I am glad to see you were paying attention after all, Michael joked. Oh, yeah I learned from the best, Agent Black said. True, but what did you want to talk about, Michael said, wanting to get a feel for what the situation was. Well, first I want to say I am really glad to hear that you are alive, Agent Black said. That is all well and good, but I know you work for the bag and tag squad, so what do you really want, Michael said, putting his cards on the table. It’s true that is why I was sent to Saturn Region initially, but I have not told them I think you are alive, Agent Black said, actually I am starting to think that you and the people you are working with do the Alliance a lot more good doing what you do.

  Really, and do you think your bosses would agree, Michael asked? To tell you the truth, I really do not care what they think about it, he said. We have been friends for years and I wasn’t too excited about my mission in the first place, but then when I figured out that you were involved with taking out the Gamma Faction guys that was it, he said. It is Gamma Faction right, and you are working with Delta right, Agent Black asked? Yes, and yes, Michael said. I thought so, anyway I just wanted you to know that I will not tell anyone and I will try and cover for you as much as I can, Agent Black said. Well that is good to know, if you need to talk to me from now on just use this comms-device, Michael said. Just one more thing, how the hell are you guys doing what you are doing, I mean you guys kick ass, Agent Black asked? Let’s just say that the tactics we used on the teams don’t come anywhere close to what we can do, Michael said not wanting to give too much away. Yeah, I kinda figured that out, Agent Black said. By the way, Michael said, just so you know I always have people watching your back. Yeah, I kinda figured that out too, Agent Black said. Ok, well I better let you go, you should be getting close to the base on Phobos by now, Michael said. How the hell… base? , never mind, Agent Black said, talk to you later. With that the conversation was over, and they both had a lot to think about. For Agent Black it meant realizing they were going to a location that used to be a Gamma Faction Base. For Michael, it meant thinking about how far he was willing to bring Agent Black into their operations when they directly affected him or his people.

  Agent Black and his team and their unknown esco
rts landed on Phobos. They unloaded their gear from the ship and made their way to the remains of the base. The SF guys fanned out, and the Red Team guys positioned themselves to defend them if need be. They already had a drone above to scan for the enemy, but they weren’t taking any chances, as they entered the base one of the Red Team guys said. See this is what happens when you piss off a guy with robots, that isn’t afraid to use’em, everyone laughed. One of the other guys said, yeah, this looks as bad as what we did to them on Titan. Someday maybe they will learn not to piss the kid off, one of the other team members said, everyone laughed again.

  All right keep the chatter down and keep an eye out for enemy movement, the Squad Leader said. No problem just admiring our RT brothers handy work, one of the guys said. Yeah, Yeah, the Squad Leader said, knowing they were all doing their job, they were just taking a little pride in their brothers in arms. They had all fought next to David and his team at Titan and they admired the hell out of him for all that he had brought to the Faction and his leadership in battle. They finished scanning the area and relaxed a little bit and let the drone make a wider sweep still no movement. They really didn’t expect any they had read and watched the surveillance data from the after action report.

  That was part of the reason for the joking around, it was how they dealt with the knowledge that a lot of enemy troops died in this attack. The SF guys didn’t know any of that yet, they just saw a lot of devastation, the forensic teams would find all the DNA mixed in with the ash, but they would not know the reasons behind it all. Even the Red Team guys didn’t know all of it, they just knew the RT unit took out a base with extreme prejudice. That was all they needed to know, they understood the need for eradicating the Gamma Faction. More than most, they had seen the atrocities they were capable of.

  The SF guys did their best to secure the perimeter, the Red Team really secured it, by dropping some robots in around the building. They just wanted to make sure there were no surprises, while the forensic team did their thing. Agent black looked around to see if he could detect where the agents that were watching them were at. He couldn’t, but knowing they were there, made him feel like he could feel them watching.

  After a while they were finished, and the teams returned to their ships. The Red Team guys that were not embedded with the SF team got to take the Javelin up into the new ship’s cargo bay. They all offloaded from the Javelin and kinda gawked at the Basher that was in the bay as well. When they got into the common area one of them asked the crew members what it was. They told them it was a Basher, which was an anti-ship attack craft. Are you serious, one of the other guys asked. Oh, yeah, there is another base near here that has about fifty enemy ships in pieces around it from just a few of those ships taking them out, one of the crew members said with a bit of pride in his voice. Really, and what about this ship what is so special about this one, one team member asked. Well for starters it has all the new shields and sensors that Ship has, and it has the same weapons array, plus four more smaller weapons arrays that the Basher has, the crew member said. So you are saying that if we get attacked by a ship, this ship could take it out, a team member asked.

  Oh yeah, if all four crew members were on the interface then it could take out at least twelve ships at once, he said. That would just be with the first volley, it could take out a lot more within a few seconds, he assured them. If we had time to deploy the Basher then we could easily take out twenty to twenty five ships in a few seconds, he continued. Ok, that’s good to know the Squad Leader said. What else does this ship do, he asked. Well it has more sleeping bays and an updated galley, plus this common room. Yeah, that is nice they all agreed. How fast does it go, one team member asked. About as fast as a Javelin, but not as fast as a Basher, one of the crew said. That’s pretty fast for a ship this size, the Squad Leader said. Yeah, it’s a nice ship, we will have to come up with a name once we get the rest of the team together, one of the crew members said.

  Meanwhile, the other team members were onboard the SF ship waiting to go to the next site. The next site was on Mars an abandoned manufacturing facility. They went down and docked in the spaceport attached to the facility. The team members in the new ship did the same, since it was abandoned and the Gamma Forces had been eliminated there was no danger of being detected. However, as they started to come into the spaceport the sensors picked up a cloaked ship in one of the other docking bays. They contacted the embedded members of the team to let them know, as well as Michael. Michael contacted Agent Black, you have some enemy agents waiting for you in this facility give me a few minutes before you exit your ship, he said. Ok, let me know when it is clear, Agent Black responded.

  Agent Black, made an excuse to keep his team busy while they cleared the site. It wasn’t too hard, he had them do an equipment check, before they debarked off the ship. Michael had told him it would only be a few minutes.

  The Red Team Squad sent a drone into the facility, they found the Gamma Agents in the process of setting up an ambush for the SF Team. Using the interface they designated a shard to the head for each, then scanned the remainder of the facility, no other agents within the facility so they executed the attack. At once all the Gamma Agents took a hit to the head and were down.

  Next they sent a drone into the ship, just the shield crew onboard. They contacted Michael, do you want us to take out the ship they asked. Is it within visual range of the SF ship he asked. No, they can’t see it from where they are docked, they responded. Hold for a moment, Michael said, he contacted Ship. I know you said you can download data with your new drone, could it also port a Temporary Shield Generator like we used on the other two ships to their location, he asked. It will be able to once I make an update to the interface, Ship informed him. We, should probably make that universal for these type of missions, Michael said. My thoughts exactly creating a flash update for all the drones and starting a process to create a few of the Temporary Shield Generators with port addresses, Ship said, the drone is onboard the ship now downloading the data, have them send a team member over to the ship, once he enters I will port the Generator.

  Michael relayed the instructions and a team member went over to the ship, as soon as he entered the ship the generator appeared by the door. He proceeded to the shield room and hooked it up, then dispatched the four agents in the room hooked up to the ship. Ship secure he reported back. We are sending a pilot over to take the ship, the Squad Leader informed him. They didn’t want the Alliance finding the ship and trying to duplicate the shield technology.

  A Javelin pilot came over and they took the ship to the grave yard they had created, followed by the Basher. Once they had it in the area and they made sure there were no other ships around, the pilot and the team member boarded the Basher along with the temp generator. They pulled away from the now visible ship and once they were at a safe distance the Basher took it out.

  There was an empty seat for the team member at the interface since they didn’t bring the full crew, and the Javelin pilot took the copilot seat. Wow, you guys weren’t kidding about taking out a lot of ships, the Javelin pilot said, this thing is pretty bad ass. Yeah, we like it, the pilot said. They returned to the ship to continue the mission.

  As soon as the Agents had been eliminated from the base, Michael had contacted Agent Black to give him the all clear. They were all inside when the ship left the port. They found the freshly killed agents still smoking from what was left of their upper torso. “LTC. Pertrelli reported to Agent Black, we must have just missed the guys that took these guys out, they are still smoking, and they are just like the other bodies we have found in the Saturn Region. If we would have been a little earlier we may have walked into an ambush. Other than that this place looks a lot like the other place, complete destruction of the forces and equipment. There are a few differences, the other place was like a staging area. This place had some sort of labs setup, all destroyed of course, to the poin
t we can’t figure out what they were doing, but we will have forensics check it out anyway”, the LTC reported.

  Thanks Colonel, Agent Black said, continue to sweep the area as soon as forensics are done we will go to the next site. Agent Black contacted Michael, so I guess you really are covering my back, I assume these guys were not planning to serve us cheese and crackers when we arrived. Yeah, they would have ambushed you, had you entered the facility, Michael said. Your guys saw them before they could get setup and took them out, I am guessing, Agent Black asked? Yeah, we are really good at finding them before they find us, Michael said. Agent Black knew that both Factions used cloaking so he assumed Michael’s team, had developed a tactic that let them draw them out.

  So how do you find them, he asked. I can’t give away all my secrets, Michael said, evading the question. Yeah, I guess but it sure would help these guys out if they could find them before they find us, Agent Black said. That’s why we are here to watch your back, Michael said. Yeah, but you won’t always be around Agent Black persisted. When it comes to Gamma Faction we go where we are needed, Michael told him. Realizing he was not going to tell him, agent Black said, alright I guess I will just have to be grateful that you were here. Like I said we go where we are needed, and if you can respect that and work with me we can keep you in the loop whenever possible, Michael said. I can work with that Agent Black said.

  After the forensics team had finished up they packed up and prepared to leave for the third site, the one in the Jupiter Region. The Alliance hadn’t found the base that had become the ship grave yard yet, for the same reason that Gamma had chosen it, and the same reason David and his team had used it as an ambush spot and dumping ground for destroyed ships. It was remote and far enough away from the settlements that nobody would think to look there. At some point somebody would stumble across an area with over fifty destroyed ships and they might report it to the alliance or they may just start scrapping the ships for profit. Consumer goods still required base matter to produce the items to be made, even though nano-replicators created whatever was programmed into them, they still needed the base matter. So there was always a steady market for recycled base material, and scrappers made their living hauling in the junk that accumulated around the settlements. Humans still created an inordinate amount of waste, the only difference was that now almost 85% of it was recycled and reused. Still what used to be the entire state of New Jersey was a huge junk recycling facility for the city state of New York, which had expanded to cover most of the northeastern states of the old government.

  Larger populations were now sustainable but most of society never saw the scrapper services that took junk and turned it into base material. If they had a replicator in their home they just bought base material in a canister that was switched out by the service industry that handled it. If they used one of the public facilities they paid the extra cost associated with use of the machine, but never saw the much larger canisters they used. Shopping had become all about buying designs that would be loaded into the replicator and created on an as needed basis. Items too large for consumer replicators were still manufactured by industrial sized replicators but most items were not.

  Either way it would be some time before the ships were discovered, and for now Agent Black and his team was headed to the base on the moon in the Jupiter Region, and their Red Team counterparts were going along to cover their back. All the Red Team members were veterans of the Titan battle so babysitting the SF guys was a bit boring in comparison but they were used to it, and at least they had a little action on this trip. They would be ready if they needed to handle anymore Gamma Agents at the next site, they couldn’t let the RT guys have all the fun.

  They were a bit disappointed at the next site, any ships that might have been around were long gone, and the base was deserted. So they just kept an eye out for Gamma activity and waited for them to get done analyzing the area. This site had what might have been labs too, but they were completely destroyed and everything was burned.

  Agent Black reached out to Michael, any particular reason you guys hit this place so hard, he asked. Well, I will be honest with you, but you may want to keep it to yourself, they were setting up a cloning operation and we took it out with extreme prejudice. Cloning, who were they cloning, he asked? Some of their gifted members making more agents, Michael answered honestly. That wouldn’t have been good, if they had a chance to get them harvested, Agent Black said. No, it would not, hence why we left nothing for them to work with, Michael said. What is their end game, Agent Black asked. We think they are planning an attack on Earth, Michael said. I was afraid you were going to say that, Agent Black said, we have been hearing the same chatter.

  It is a lot more than chatter, we have taken out some really bad stuff over the past few weeks and they seem to be weakened, but we are not sure yet, Michael told him. Our operatives have been hearing rumors of a huge base and a battle platform just outside the solar system, Agent Black told him. Well, yes they used to have a battle platform that they were going to attack Earth with, let’s just say that plan has been derailed, Michael said. How the hell did you pull that off, Agent Black asked? We have our ways, as they say we got the skills that pays the bills, Michael said with a laugh. I guess you do, Agent Black said, thinking he was glad they seemed to be helping the Alliance and not attacking it.

  With the Jupiter Base finished up Agent Black and his team would be returning to the Saturn Region and the Flag Ship. The Red Team would be returning as well. The two teams flew back to the Saturn Region, the Red Team ship took it slow to keep pace with the SF ship. When they arrived at the Flag Ship the rest of Red Team was ready and the Javelin went over to the old ship to help ferry team members and equipment over to the new ship. It took a few hours but they finally got all of the equipment over and the team members got situated in their new living quarters. After everyone was settled they all came together in the common area of the new ship. The Commander asked for a few suggestions as what to call the new ship. After a bit of debate they settled on the name Queen Ann’s Revenge, after the flag ship of the legendary pirate Black Beard. They figured since they were essentially outlaws, it made sense to name their ships after pirate ships. With that settled the crew of the old ship headed back to the base with the old ship and the Red Team took up their post under the Alliance’s Flag Ship in the Saturn Region.

  The new ship fit as well as the old one did even though it was larger. The crew and team members enjoy the extra space and comfort the new ship offered. It allowed them to relax a little more when they were not on a mission on the Flag Ship or out with one of the SF teams. They also liked the idea of being able to defend themselves and the ships around them from Gamma Faction ships if they attacked.

  Agent Black reported his findings back to Command minus Michael’s involvement and his new relationship with Delta Faction. He had a whole new understanding of what they were doing and he wanted to keep the heat off them and let them continue to do what they were doing so well. He reported what forensics had found, which was a large number of DNA samples mixed in with a lot of ash. He reported they had found some fresh kills that indicated that Gamma was still active in the Mars Region, and that the unknown force had killed them.