Existential Threat: Chapter 12 Part 2 of 8 (Patreon)

Tao Walker rolled out of bed, pulling on his net-suit as the alarms went off, a lifetime of dealing with sudden problems pulling him to full alert.

He palmed the lights, his apartment, spartan to his old room in the Star-King Guild hall, but filled with more life.

“Computer, status!” He winced at his throat, walking from his bedroom to the kitchen, pulling his hair back and securing it with a tie, doubling it up, using his elbow to hit the tap controls, bending over to drink from it as he secured his hair.

“Orders from Miss Tavares, you are to command the resupply fleets for the Iron Armada.”

“Iron Armada?” He grabbed a cold cup of coffee from the maker, taking two large gulps. Well, fuck.

“More information to be provided once logged in.”

Tao finished off the cup, tossing it into the cleaner with a gasp. He threw water from the tap on his face, using a towel to wipe it off, hitting the tap off as he threw the towel, the built in magnet snapping it to the fridge as he checked his appearance in the wall mirror next to the door.

Hair pulled back, wearing a top of the line net-sleeve that could double as a space suit, done in hazard orange and green/yellow. His frame had filled out with a mixture of less stress and regular exercise and stretching.

“Well I’ll say the Orion Belt Enterprises are getting really good at keeping operational security,” He  snatched a soft cover from the hallway netting and threw open the door.

Orion employees in their net suits and coveralls jogged, grim faced and focused, many on their screens or talking into microphones.

He joined the press, lights of blue and yellow lined the station’s floors, creating paths for everyone to follow.

Full mobilization.

Tao gritted his teeth, last time he had been playing guild and corpo politics as the people of the Legion fought the Adraxi threat. It had turned his guts inside out. Losing Ares was the best thing that had happened to him. It forced him to look at his life, what he was doing and he didn’t like it one bit.

He’d taken his time, his ‘retirement’ forceful firing was another way to put it giving him the space of thought to think about more than the next goal he had to achieve to keep the Star King’s at the top of the leaderboards.

He pulled up information on his screen, checking those under his command, running through the types of freighters he controlled, where they were, what they were loaded with.

The hallways passed in a blur of thought, coming to the security gates. Bots stood between the gates, allowing people to funnel through quickly.

It hit home then, there was a different sense to them. They actively scanned the crowd, instead of passively observing, their weapons held tighter, ready.

Tao tapped his screen to the security gates, they snapped open, joining the flood of people filling the net-rooms.

Most of the new recruits had looks of panic on their faces.

Tao grimaced, he’d checked his orders three times, it said commander of the Armada’s Supply fleet. By the number of ships it was an Armada all on its own, more ships than most systems controlled. He’d joined Orion Belt Enterprises, knowing that there was little chance for him to do anything ‘big’ anymore.

He accepted it, settling into his role as the most senior recruit, on the recruit station. People were trained, vetted and if they passed they were allowed to pass onto their duty station or pick out a station they wanted to live in.

You only learned which stations when you graduated. OBE didn’t tell him that there were paperwork issues, or make excuses, they’d told him from day one that he’d have to work five times harder than anyone else and their trust in him was limited.

He accepted it, enjoying taking the time training up others through a careful word here and there. He went from manning the stations on a freighter, doing the engineering work to understand the vessels, to commanding one to being a fleet manager, operating up to twenty freighters and their crews, under the careful watch that screened every OBE hopeful.

He could have tried to join the Legion, being placed on a station turned training barracks, having ex-marines and navy personnel training him in the arts of warfare.

After a lifetime of commanding admirals, generals and fighting forces Tao wanted to help build something, quietly, and be left alone.

A heavy-set woman, her hair shaved down to a thin grain waved at him, matching his pace as he ran through the corridors. He knew she’d been watching the gates, ready to jump in if anyone tried to slow him down.

Originally the ex-coalition enforcer had been skeptical but quickly became a pillar for Tao to lean on, passing over promotions to stay working with him. Like him she liked the quiet and controlled nature of their task, and the periodic craziness.

“Boss you know what’s going on?”

“I know as much as you Gin,” Tao said, looking around.

“I ain’t seen Chris, knowing him, he’ll be on already,” Gin said.

Tao clicked his tongue, half shaking and nodding his head.

“I’m off this way, see you in there boss. Catch you in there!” Gin turned down a corridor, holding a hand up in goodbye.

“Mind you don’t scrape any more of my hulls!” Tao’s call rising after her, catching the tail-end of her laugh.

He grinned to himself turned through the maze of corridors, finding a group room, he shoved his cover, boots and screen into his assigned locker, one suit already locked up and in the net, another closing around a young man, his teeth gritted as the suit rose into the sky.

A shiver ran through Tao, that look, the bracing, ready for the fight that was to come on the other side. Just how many troopers and fleet members showed that same expression.

Instead of gearing himself up, Tao let the world slip away, breathing out. He could control what he could control, the rest was up to fate or murphy, and he’d thread the needle between those demons.

Tao stepped into his net-suit as he had done countless times, the suit wrapped around him, locking to ports.

I wonder if this is how knights felt before going off into battle.

The helmet closed as he ‘rose’ on the support arm bringing him up into the local OBE net.

The Recruits version was a large hall with different signs lit up. He skipped through menus and checked messages at the same time.

[Adeline Tavares is inviting you to a private chat]

“Mrs Tavares?”

“Tao, the fleets are moving. They are going to be supported by a massive Freighter attachment. Nearly six hundred and fifty ships in total.” The skin on Tao’s back and down his forearms tightened.

“Problem is that we don’t have any good commanders for the force. So tag, you’re it.”

“Wait, I’m going to be commanding six hundred and fifty freighters?”

“Yes, sending data packet over. You should be familiar with the different leaders, you’ve given them lectures, or trained all of them. Your mission is to support Armada actions, keeping them supplied through the fighting as well as the ground forces that are heading planetward. The Iron Admiral will be your commanding officer. You know how to run multiple ships and groups all at the same time.” She paused, breathing. “Tao, this is your chance, don’t fuck it up. I know you and Dana have history, I don’t want to see it rear its head.”

“Thank you Adeline.” Tao bowed his head slightly even if she couldn’t see it.

“Don’t thank me yet, I haven’t told the Admiral that you are going to be commanding her supply train,” He heard the glee and nervousness in her voice.

“Great,” Tao said dryly, his throat tightening up once again as he grabbed the water hose with his teeth, taking a gulp.

“Good luck Tao.”

[Adeline Tavares has left private chat]

Some might have felt anger, or frustration, Tao chuckled, turning into a laugh, his eyes becoming wet. Such a challenge, such possibilities. He breathed in deeply, his mind felt like another part of it, a part largely unused opened up, his mind becoming calmer and broader than before.

“Okay, where the hell are my ships, what the hell are they.” Terminals started to appear around him studying information as he jumped into a lobby.

The hall disappeared, changing into a low-lit command center, a hexagonal room, all stations pointing towards the center, filled with a hologram.

“Sir,” Chris greeted. His chiseled jaw, and sharply geometrically shaped beard and hair were highlighted with neon colors, eyes an acqua blue, with gold sparkles, a chain hanging from his orbital to his lobe on his left ear. Hints of tattoo lines peeks under his collar. A rose down the left side of his neck, ‘sometimes we want the rose, but desire the thorns’ was written over the stem.

“Have you got the information on our new mission?” Tao’s own avatar had silver pupils while the whites were a black with motes of gold.

“Yes sir,” Chris’ tone dipping in displeasure.

“Chris?”

He pressed his fingers together infront of his chest, diplomatically trying to frame his words.

“To put it simply, we have a tenth of the freighters with the Armada, the others are,” Chris exercised his diplomacy, moving his hand to find the right statement. Tao arching an eye brow as a grin spread, something he would have never indulged in before. “They’re all over the fucking place.” Chris tilted his hand under strain.

“Well, lets see if we can’t get that sorted out. I need to know the mission that is going to take place. Where are we getting supplies from, what are the normal supply loads for a legion fleet and the ground forces.” He raised his voice to the others that were in the room. Communications specialists, appearing in their avatars and moving to the stations surrounding the main hologram.

A system appeared in the hologram, the third planet with several markers that were changing and updating. Planners making and un-making plans.

A glance read through the budding plan. A fleet in orbit, forces entering the planet’s atmosphere. A sphere world at the nearest lagrange.

He turned pointing at sections of the hexagon shaped room.

“Alpha, I want to know the position of all my ships, establish communications with all crew members,” Lela in charge of the section tilted her head in agreement, careful to not upset her carefully tangled blonde hair. “Bravo I want to know what they’re loaded with right now. What can we use, what do they need to dump.” Davin blinked his industrial black and yellow eyes, matching the lines through his bleached white curls, turning to his team, speaking without Tao and the others hearing.

“Charlie, where are we getting supplies from? Then I want to know what they have in stock. Can we request more?” Kleo blinked blue sparkled eyelids over pink irises, dropping them to her screens, tossing out tasks to those in her section.