Note from author: Reading A Ghost Story will give you some background on this story, but it is not critical.
CHAPTER 1
In triangle formation the three drop-ships plunged towards the brown planet, igniting in a ball of fire with a sonic boom, leaving a trail of fire as they entered the atmosphere. Inside the men and equipment shook violently, their harnesses keeping them strapped in place. It was a standard drop that the occupants had endured countess times.
"Ok gentlemen listen up" Mitchell heard Colonel Burke's voice through his earpiece.
"This is not the last time you'll find yourself pulled from a location to receive your orders in transit. In fact that's the way we do business…you're on your way to mining station Persephony in the Osiris system." A star map appeared on the display of his Goliath zooming in on the planet.
"It has stood abandoned for the last six months after a zerg attack killed all human life on the station" Burke continued. "At that stage the station was only eight months old and had not produced the mineral yields that was hoped for. After the attack it was decided not to retake the planet." A short static buzz interrupted Burke's message.
"However 18 hours ago a unique reading was picked up on the planet. It was an electromagnetic pulse associated with a very rare material. This material possesses certain…well lets say unique qualities. Since it only emits this pulse roughly once a decade, the original miners and scientists were unaware of its existence. The sample is estimated to be the size of a golf ball and the scientists have come to call it the Osiris sphere. Your primary mission is to retrieve this object.
The devices that were handed to you before takeoff are scanners that will track this material, but preliminary readings shows it to be in one of the mine tunnels." Mitchell looked at the hand held scanner.
Your secondary objective is to recover the facility's log. A complete power failure prohibited us to do that remotely. You will find a port to download the file in the facility's command centre.
You'll be dropped directly outside the mining facility. Upon the completion of your mission you will signal the drop ships that will be waiting somewhere out of harm's way and return you to your corvette that is orbiting the planet. I am downloading locality maps of the mining facility and the planet now. You'll also find supplementary information on the planet and the facility in the transmission." Mitchell relaxed a little – the mission sounded simple enough.
His screen displayed a progress bar indicating a download sequence that had commenced.
"One last thing" Burke said again, "the small military base that protected the facility was overrun by the zerg, but it is believed that the command centre was infested. Now even though we are getting no readings of life on the planet, it is possible that infested terrans are wandering the plains, so keep your eyes open."
Great, Mitchell thought to himself. He hated killing the mindless soldiers that reminded him of zombies from b-grade movies.
"Good luck gentlemen, and be careful", Burke said as he signed off.
"ETA – five minutes", the pilot said over the radio.
Mitchell scanned the information on his screen. It was difficult not to feel over confident. The last six months had been non-stop training, and it left Mitchell in charge of a finely honed weapon called Task Force 7 – the latest unit to be added to the Black Diamonds.
A typical task force would consist of six marines, three fire bats, two Vultures, six Goliaths and one Ghost specialist. A small force by anyone's standards. But if the regular army preformed the function of a broadsword, Task Force 7 was a scalpel.
Black Diamond stand-by units that could be assigned for backup included twelve Wraiths, twelve Siege tanks, six battle cruisers and two science facilities. This mission was however classified 'soft' and no backup was assigned.
Before joining the Black Diamonds, Mitchell was under the impression that he knew everything there was to know about driving his clunker and commanding his men. He had thought that the countless battles he had been in, and scores of kills he tallied on the side of his unit, had taught him all he needed to know.
That illusion was shattered on the first day of advanced combat training. And that was only the first in a number of classes that propelled his abilities to new levels.
For days on end the new recruits, that consisted of men formerly from the 2nd battalion of the 121st mechanised division that had survived a somewhat unusual ordeal on Terra-Gamma, would do training manoeuvres interspersed with lectures and tests.
The lecturers were flown in from all regions of the occupied universe and consisted of experts from all disciplines in the armed forces - from ghost instructors to generals to scientists.
Lecture materials covered every conceivable subject including strategic thinking, rapid deployment, combat armour mechanics, Goliath mechanics, escape and evasion, survival techniques, interrogation, command and control strategies, field medicine, weapon systems and a myriad more. Upon completing a topic there would be field exercises applying the relevant material.
"Download complete", the female voice of his on-board computer announced.
Planet- Vesta Prime
Solar cycle – 96 hours
Climate – Arid, no surface water
- Temperature: 30 to 40 degrees Celsius
- Wind speed: 12 to 13.5 knots constant
Vegetation: None
"A real paradise", Mitchell murmured to himself. They would be landing three hours into the night cycle, which lasted 48 hours. There were perpetual sand storms, and no plant life or water.
"All crew, stand by for drop-off" the pilot said again.
What struck Mitchell as strange was that this drop ship pilot was male.
In the cockpit, captain Jason "Cool Hand" Briggs looked at the digital terrain image on his display, expertly guiding his ship through the strong cross winds.
Having flown a Wraith for seven years, a rare opportunity came up to join the Black Diamonds two years earlier - only the position was for a drop ship pilot. Briggs grabbed the opportunity with both hands and had never regretted it.
Since then he made it his personal mission to get members of his old squadron recruited. By now 90 percent of the Black Diamond drop ship pilots were ex-fighter pilots and male. The high level of professionalism combined with the exciting missions and extra pay was too attractive to ignore.
The mining facility appeared as a red cube on his map. Leading his formation in a semi-circle over the facility's entrance, he preformed an electronic scan of the terrain below for any threats invisible to the naked eye. All clear.
As the ships dropped lower, the cargo door lowered open. A hot gush of dust blew into the cargo area.
The ship touched down and the occupants hastily evacuated. Within ten seconds all the ships were empty and lifted off, disappearing into the hot night. Faint light from the three moons over Vesta-Prime managed to penetrate the sand storm.
With the wind blowing thick sand clouds over the terrain, Mitchell was eager to get into the facility. In front of them, there was a structure that looked like a gigantic hanger, with a cylindrical construction extending out the back.
Mitchell knew the bulk of the facility was below ground, and this hangar was only for arriving or departing craft.
"Perimeter secure" Mitchell heard Sergeant Ventura's voice over his earpiece.
"Lieutenant Spengler, check out the structure and report" Mitchell said to his ghost specialist.
It was weird for Mitchell to be in charge of a ghost specialist, but he also enjoyed the flexibility and versatility it lent to Task Force 7.
Second Lieutenant Spengler was the only combatant in the group that did not have extensive combat experience. Ghost specialists seemed in short supply, and not wanting their newest detachment to go without Ghosts abilities, the Black Diamonds did the next best thing; they recruited top of the class straight-out-of-special-forces-school Spengler.
In spite of his combat record, or lack thereof, Mitchell was surprised at how cool and together the twenty-five year old specialist acted.
Spengler ran toward the hanger door, disappearing as he activated his stealth suit. Soon the only thing visible was his foot-plods in the sand.
Spengler approached the gigantic sliding doors, now completely cloaked. He was prepared to use a small explosive to knock a hole in the doors, but a number of openings were gashed in the metal. It was an obvious sign of the zerg attack that had killed the occupants.
Sliding through one of the openings, he found himself in complete darkness. With his night vision activated, the warehouse materialised in front of him. The hanger was basically a large empty box with walkways halfway up against the side-walls where technicians and mechanics could gain access to a ship from the top. In the back a wide corridor lead away from the entrance with a slight slope downwards toward the lift network some hundred yards away. The facility seemed empty, and a quick infrared scan confirmed that.
From the locality plan on his computer, he had identified an emergency generator room through a door in the back left corner of the hangar. Quickly he made his way over and found the door open. An overwhelming odour filled his nose as he entered and he soon saw the remains of the victim that had been torn apart by the zerg.
Stepping over the corpse, Spengler located the switchbox, and tried the 'POWER ON' button.
A soft wine started up, growing louder until a single light came on casting long dark shadows. The power supply was an auxiliary system, and powered only the emergency components. The lights that came on were few and far apart, and the dim light created an even more ominous atmosphere.
Outside Mitchell saw the lights come on. That's a bonus, he thought to himself.
Inside Spengler completed a quick sweep finding the ground floor clear.
"All clear boss" he reported to Mitchell, "you can come in."
Task Force 7 moved out. Mitchell was still very much impressed with his new custom made Goliath. Numerous advanced electronic and weapons systems were fitted to it. Most of the systems were reserved for black-ops teams. The simple reason standard ground forces did not have these marvels of modern technology was simply the price tag attached to it.
Rumours were that the next step would be to give the giant mechanical warriors airborne capabilities, but Mitchell doubted that.
Inside the hanger, it was obvious that the zerg had crashed the party. In the poor light the blood stains on the walls on floors were clear. One could even tell that some of the humans had been dragged out the doors by the dried blood smears on the floor. The marks sent shivers up Mitchell's spine.
"Arc Angel" Mitchell called to the corvette as he made his situation report or sit-rep. "This is Task Force 7...we have entered mining station Persephony. All is clear and we are now proceeding with a sweep for primary and secondary objectives."
"Task Force 7 this is Arc Angel, we read you loud and clear. Good luck down there" the female voice replied.
"Demon Leader, this is base – be advised a Black Diamond task force has just reached the facility. Scans show one corvette in orbit around Vesta-Prime. Approach with caution. Base out."
Commandant Seth Vritra had just entered the Osiris system and was speeding his small stealth ship, the Intruder, towards Vesta-Prime. He was considering the transmission he had just received.
The Black Diamonds were a force to be reckoned with. This was not going to be easy. Then thinking of what the Osiris Sphere could fetch on the black market, a smile played across his lips. The Black Diamonds would just have to make way, he thought to himself, 'cause the Demons were moving in, and nothing would stop them.