Callisto L3 Taurus Type Colony: Anatolia [Debris Field]
Date: December 4, 2172 0950 Hours
Operative: Chained "Shadow" Snake
"Snake!" the blonde woman shouted as she floated "above" him suspended in Zero-G. "Are you okay? Snake, talk to me!"
He opened his left eye, the only eye he had left now; the right was covered by a makeshift bandage, still soaked in blood. He turned his head to gather his bearings, the feeling of weightlessness throwing him off for a moment. "Did we make it?"
She smiled, feeling a sense of relief. "Yeah. The escape shuttle ejected just in time. We were clear of the blast. Though, just barely."
He nodded. "The civilians? Did any other shuttles break free?"
"I...I don't know."
Grabbing a nearby handhold, he "righted" himself upright to meet her green eyes. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I said I don't know," she repeated. "It all happened so fast. I don't know if anyone else managed to escape the colony."
Drifting to nearby porthole, Snake looked out into the blackness of space. The Red Giant, Jupiter, rested peacefully in the distance, the rocky moon Callisto orbited gently below, and directly in front of his view he knew he should have seen the Stanford Taurus colony, Anatolia. What he saw instead was a jumble of floating debris of varying sizes; all that was left of the neutral colony. Angrily he slammed his fist into the titanium plate of the shuttle's hull. "Son of a bitch!" Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his communications device. "Major, are you alright? Do you read me? Major Anderson!"
A spat of static answered him briefly before a cold, calm, and disinterested voice responded. "I'm afraid the Major's vessel didn't break from the port, Snake."
Snake's eye narrowed. "Nohman. Nohman, you son of a bitch! This colony was neutral!"
"It was the perfect staging ground for our assault. But, you already knew that, didn't you?" He chuckled softly to himself. "I'm sure you already know this, but those escape shuttles aren't equipped with enough fuel to leave the Jupiter system. You can't even make it to Antilia. That colony is ours, Snake. We owned it. You Enders took it from us, and in doing so you stole what is rightfully ours. Don't think too hard about what's coming to the colony, Snake. We're just going to retrieve what we built with our own hands."
"The UNSF took it from you to stop you from completing your weapons, Nohman. Weapons of mass destruction!"
"That's where you're wrong. The Orbital Frames aren't weapons. They're tools of liberty, and we intend to use them as intended. We'll reclaim the Orbital Frames, take Mars back from the UNSF, and then...well, I suppose Earth." Again, he chuckled softly.
"Sir!" a female voice shouted over the speaker. "Let me destroy him. He's interfered far too much."
"Negative. We have our mission to consider, Viola. Besides, he's not going anywhere." The shuttle seemed to tilt around the two floating occupants.
"Snake!" the other occupant shouted from another porthole. "He's outside in his Orbital Frame!" Snake shoved off of the wall to float over and see for himself.
Selkis, the mecha Orbital Frame controlled by Nohman, had a hand on the shuttle. The sound of the hull warping reached their ears, and then silence. Selkis' hand swung away from the shuttle, and Snake saw the only booster engine equipped to the shuttle begin its plummet towards the gas giant "below".
"I doubt the UNSF will find you adrift in the debris of Anatolia, Snake. It'll take them several weeks to get the nearest vessel out this far to even consider search and rescue. Assuming you ever get rescued, our mission will already be complete." The Orbital Frame drifted away before turning and activating its thrusters, flying off to board a nearby BAHRAM vessel no doubt. "Goodbye, Shadow Snake. And good luck."
Snake growled in anger before punching the hull. "This is Shadow Snake, UNSF Special Forces Operative #00342. Mayday! Mayday!"
"Snake," the woman said with a whisper. "We're out of range."
"Requesting immediate search and rescue! Respond!"
"Snake," she said again. "No one can hear us."