buzzed with tension. Every seat was occupied, and a quiet anticipation filled the air. The remaining crew, many still nursing wounds from the recent attack, listened intently. At the front of the room, standing on the podium, were Matthews and Captain Valdez. Matthews had returned from his recon mission just an hour earlier, and despite the exhaustion visible in his eyes, he was ready. After a quick shower, a hastily eaten meal, and enough coffee to keep him alert, he was prepared to outline his plan to rescue the captured crew and strike back at the Red Brotherhood.
The room’s lighting was dim, with the only significant illumination coming from the large holographic display hovering above the podium. The hologram, flickering slightly, showed the Sol system in intricate detail, every planet and asteroid rendered in vivid colour. Matthews glanced around the room, his jaw clenched in determination. The crew looked back at him, a mixture of hope and anxiety in their eyes. They all knew the Camelot was still far from combat-ready—while the engineers had patched the last remaining damage, the ship wasn’t in peak condition. But they had no choice. Time was against them.
With a swipe of his finger across his data pad, the hologram shifted, zooming in on the outer edges of the system, where the Red Brotherhood base on Eris was located. The base was represented by a red marker that pulsed ominously on the screen.
"This is how we’re going to take the fight back to the Red Brotherhood," Matthews began, his voice firm and clear. "From my recon mission, I’ve found a chink in their armour, and it gives us a way to get a strike team into the base without being detected."
The crew shifted in their seats, their attention sharpening.
Matthews tapped his data pad, and the hologram zoomed in on Eris and the surrounding asteroid field. "The Red Brotherhood has a fleet of ships patrolling this sector," he continued, gesturing toward the floating debris and asteroid belts that surrounded the dwarf planet. "They’re using the asteroid field as cover, which makes it nearly impossible to detect their exact movements or launch a direct assault. But what they don’t know is that there’s a weak point— a transport ship ferries supplies to the base every six hours. Like us it needs to jump via the sites we traversed. Albeit it can do so a lot faster and safer being a Red Brotherhood asset.”
A hand went up. It was Goode.
“Where is this ship getting supplies from? Another Red Brotherhood base?”
Matthews exchanged a glance with Valdez. He’d told her of what he’d discovered. Like he, she knew the implications.
“That is our assessment. Possibly a base somewhere hidden in the Neptunian region,” Valdez lied.
“Our mission is to intercept this ship at one of the sites and capture it without alerting the Red Brotherhood. Analysis suggests that the best site to attempt a capture is back at site Beta.”
The map zoomed out to display the surrounding region. The asteroid field, which had nearly destroyed the Camelot during their last mission, was now fully mapped by ELON and clearly visible. A large red circle highlighted the coordinates of the supply ship’s expected jump point.
“As you can see, the jump site is close to the asteroid field,” Matthews said, his voice steady and confident. “This time, we’ll use it to our advantage and get the drop on them. To reduce the chance of detection, we’ll be deploying a small strike force—just a handful of Talon fighters and an assault shuttle for this operation. Once we capture the supply ship, we’ll eliminate the crew and replace them with our own people. The marines we have, along with the combat-experienced crew, will hide in the cargo holds. We’ll then jump back to the Eris base, infiltrate it, and extract our people.”
The plan was bold, bordering on reckless, but Matthews knew it was their best shot. He glanced at the holographic display of Eris and its icy, hostile surface. An orbital bombardment on the base, built deep beneath the planet’s crust, would be futile. Infiltration and demolition from within were their only options.
“Once we’ve secured the hostages,” he continued, “we’ll plant fusion charges to destroy the base from the inside.”
Yumi raised her hand, her brow furrowed with concern. “What about the Camelot?”
Valdez stepped forward, pacing as she spoke. “Our ground team will need a distraction. The Camelot will jump to the edge of the system and engage the enemy fleet, drawing them away from the base. The timing is critical—we’ll need to coordinate this with the reinforcements promised by command. Ideally, we’ll neutralise both the base and the fleet in one decisive strike. You all have your orders. Dismissed.”
The crew rose and began to file out of the briefing room. Matthews was about to join them when Valdez caught his arm, pulling him aside. She waited until the last of the crew had exited before speaking, her voice low and serious.
“I want you leading the ground team,” she said, her eyes locking with his. “Carbin will be your second. Take Goode, Kaito, and Yumi as well. You’re going to need their expertise inside that base.”
“Sure thing, Captain,” Matthews replied, his brow furrowing slightly, sensing there was more to this than she was letting on.
Valdez hesitated for a moment, her expression darkening. She took a step closer, lowering her voice even further. “There’s something else—something for your ears only. You need to keep this to yourself. Understood?”
Matthews frowned, a knot of tension tightening in his gut, but he nodded. “Understood.”
Valdez glanced around, ensuring they were truly alone before continuing. “This mission isn’t just about eliminating a Red Brotherhood base. General Ajax is aboard that base.”
Matthews stared at her in disbelief, his mind struggling to process her words. “Ajax? The dead general? What are you talking about?”
Valdez sighed, her face grim. “During the Deimos sieges, the EF stormed Ajax’s flagship. A strike team captured him. Officially, they declared he was killed, but the truth is, he was taken prisoner and sent to a black site. They kept him alive all these years.”
She quickly filled him in on the Red Brotherhood’s theft of the Spectre, their daring rescue of Ajax, and the covert nature of the entire operation. By the time she finished, Matthews’ head was spinning, disbelief etched across his face.
“They kept him alive?” he repeated, incredulity thick in his voice. “Are they insane? If this gets out, it could spark the Martian rebellions all over again. The system would tear itself apart.”
Valdez nodded grimly. “That’s why this mission is so critical. We can’t let Ajax escape. Your orders are to eliminate him.”
Matthews looked away, his jaw tightening. So that was it. That was why she’d picked him to lead the strike team.
“My days of assassination and murdering are behind me, Captain,” he said, his voice edged with bitterness. “I did a lot of shitty stuff after the war, things I’m not proud of. But this?”
“I hate asking this of you,” Valdez admitted, her voice soft but unwavering. “But you’re the only one I can trust with this. Your skill set, your past—”
Matthews shot her a hard stare, cutting her off. “So, that’s why I’m here? Because I’ve got blood on my hands?”
“There’s more,” she continued, unfazed by his reaction. “The Red Brothers also stole data from the black site. Data so classified that even I wasn’t told what it contains. Command wants it back—or destroyed, if necessary.”
Matthews shook his head, a grim smile playing on his lips. “Let me guess, more dirty secrets of the EF?”
“All I know,” Valdez said, ignoring his sarcasm, “is that if Ajax decrypts that data, the consequences will be catastrophic—not just for the EF, but for the entire system. Command made that abundantly clear. They know they screwed up, but now it’s up to us to clean up their mess.”
“Do the other star nations know about any of this?”
“No,” Valdez replied, her expression darkening. “If they did, it would be war all over again.”
Matthews leaned back, the weight of the mission settling heavily on his shoulders. He knew firsthand the horrors of war—he couldn’t allow another one to break out, not when it was in his power to stop it. After a long moment of silence, he finally spoke.
“I’ll do it.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Valdez said, relief flickering in her eyes.
Matthews nodded once, already feeling the familiar coldness creeping in—the same cold resolve that had carried him through countless bloody missions in the past. This time, though, the stakes were even higher.
***