Drone Commander

The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand.

He felt a chill roll down his spine, and the palms of his hand began to sweat. He had no idea where it came from, but he felt like someone or something was either watching him, or trying to call out to him. Whatever it was, it caused Leonard to pause what he was doing, and stare off to nowhere. He had no idea how long he had paused, but when he snapped out of it, he found that his player character on his game was nearing death. Thinking quickly, he pulled the joystick back so that his player character would back up, and move behind cover.

‘A New Dawn’ was the name of the game he was currently playing. Even though he was far outside the range of the DPC (Deep Space Communication) Buoy Network, his ship, along with the ships of all other Drone Commanders had a built in DPC Buoy in it, which allowed him to play this game, as it was multiplayer only. Leonard had gotten the game on launch day ten months ago, and hadn’t put it down since then.

Once Leonard’s player character had replenished her health, he leaned on the joystick so that his player character could aim out of cover. Pressing down on the fire button, the player character shot a few burst shots at the enemy, which connected and killed it. Leonard let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. At that moment, the communicator on his right wrist went off, the ringtone being the old song ‘Robot Rock’, meaning that Zack was trying to contact him.

Seeing as there were no enemies on the screen, Leonard set down the controller, and tapped his communicator, from which a holographic representation of Zack popped up. “Yes Zack?” Leonard asked.

“Hey. Just thought I’d let you know, we’ll be in within range in three hours.” Zack replied.

Leonard nodded in response. “Okay. Just give me a few minutes to finish this, and I’ll be done in the MCV shortly.” He said.

“Understood.” Zack said.

With that, the communicator shut off, and Leonard resumed playing. Still, Leonard couldn’t help but think about where that weird tingling sensation came from. Of course, at the moment, it wasn’t important, as Leonard still had a job to do. And he wasn’t going to let a strange feeling get in the way of his job.

-oOo-

Rubbing his finger along the checklist, Leonard needed to make sure that he had everything set for the drop.

The first thing on the list was to make sure that the food, drinks, and medicines were stocked up. That wasn’t a problem, as he had loaded the cabinets in the MCV with MREs (Meal Ready to Eat), along with the heating pouches that were needed to heat them up. He also stocked up on his bottled water, both for drinking, and for the heating pouches. He had also stocked up the medicines in the cabinet. While he was injected with nanomachines in order to keep his health in check, there was only so much that they could do, hence the reasoning for having medicines available. All in all, the amount of food, water, and medicines that he had should be enough to last the year.

The second thing he needed to make sure on, was that his weapons were fully stocked and loaded. Although the drones were built to battle at the front lines, every Drone Commander had a stockpile of weapons on them in the event of an extreme emergency. Along with an M1911 sidearm, he also had an FM-2000 Assault rifle packed up with it. For medium range and close quarters, he packed up a Saiga Shotgun, along with a P-90 submachine gun. He also came armed with an FGM-148 Javelin, though he was doubtful that he was ever gonna need it. Also in his arsenal was a Berrett M82 anti material rifle. Of course, out of all of the weapons he trained with, that weapon was the one in which he got the lowest score on at the academy. And finally, the last weapon he had on him was an M-60 LGM. Sure many of these weapons were old, but they were still no less deadly.

And finally, the third and last thing on his list was to make some last minute checkups on his MCV. While he did do these checkups earlier in the day, it never hurt to double check. Just like before, the checkups took only a couple of hours. He got the same results as before, no anomalies in the system and no defects in the units and turrets.

By the time everything was all set, Leonard tapped on his communicator, and a holographic image of Zach came up. “Hey man. How much longer until we’re ready for atmospheric re-entry?” Leonard asked.

“We’ll be in range in about sixty-five minutes.” Zack answered.

Leonard nodded. “Thanks. I just finished my last minute checkups, and I’ve made sure that everything is stocked and loaded.” He said.

“Good work. I’ll get back to you once we begin our descent.” Zack replied.

“Noted.” Leonard said as the hologram dissipated.

Now that, that was out of the way, Leonard had something else that needed to be done. Tapping a few buttons on the communicator, four holographic spheres with rings orbiting around them, one red, one blue, one green, and one orange, popped up in front of Leonard. These spheres pulsated, indicating that the ones receiving the signal had yet to pick up. It was basically a holographic phone ringing. Seconds later, each of the sphere morphed into a different person, three were Caucasian men, while one was Hispanic. Leonard lightly waved his hand at them. “Hey guys. How are you doing?” He asked them.

“Hey man. We’re doing great. How’s the mission going?” The center Caucasian, a blonde man named Joshua Parks asked.

Leonard let a light chuckle escape his lips. “I haven’t started the mission yet. I just got to the planet earlier today.” He replied.

“Really now?” The fat brunette man left to Joshua, Bryan Fields, asked. “You didn’t bother to tell us when you got there?”

Leonard just lifted up his shoulders. “Eh, I was still too tired to bother.” He stated. “Plus, I’m sure you guys are just as busy as I am.”

“You could say that.” The Hispanic, Mateo Compos, said. “I just about started setting up my base here, on UIP-747 (UnInhabitable Planet). There aint much here, but a bunch of ice.”

“True.” Leonard replied. “But I heard that it’s got plentiful resources.”

“Damn right it does.” Mateo said. “It’s got so many wonderful resources under the ice, that I wonder why they didn’t send someone out when they found it.”

“Well at the time it was discovered, it was still a little further out from edges of charted space.” The remaining Caucasian, Andrew Young, pointed out. “There were three solar systems in between it, and the nearest colony when it was found forty years ago.”

“Yeah. Though I heard that they’ve made an exception with IHP-19.” Mateo said, turning to face Leonard. “Heard that there’s like four solar systems in between IHP-19, and the nearest colony, right?”

Leonard pulled his lips over to the side and lightly nodded. “Yep. And of those four, only two have rock planets in them, while one has a gas giant with earth-sized moons, and the last one is nothing but a cluster of asteroids surrounding a star. The only reason why they made an exception was due to this system’s unusual circumstances.” Leonard answered.

“Yeah, I heard about that.” Bryan spoke. “Heard that the sun is orbiting the planet, and not the other way around right?”

“Exactly.” Leonard quickly answered. “Of course, I would have figured they’d send you out, since you’ve been a Drone Commander longer than I have.”

Bryan just shrugged. “Eh. I’m sure you’ll do fine. I still haven’t gotten that promotion yet.”

Joshua snorted. “Oh, you’ll get it eventually.”

Everyone else chuckled at that. When the chuckles died down, Leonard cleared his throat. “There’s something else I should mention, though.” He said.

At that, all eyes were turned to him. “Zack did a scan of the planet. And apparently, it’s inhabited.” Leonard stated.

The others blinked, and sent a few glances towards each other. “Does the brass know?” Joshua asked.

Leonard nodded. “Yeah. Zack told me that he alerted the brass as soon as he found life on the planet.” He answered. “And apparently, they want me to continue on with the mission.”

That caused everyone to raise their eyebrows. Andrew sent Leonard a scrutinizing look. “W-why would they do that?” He asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just go ahead and send the expedition team to study the planet?”

“I don’t know.” Leonard replied. “But regardless, this was not my decision to make. And I’d rather not have to deal with trying to explain to the brass why this isn’t a good idea.”

Leonard’s comment made the others sent him sympathetic looks. “Well then, I guess this means you’re gonna have your work cut out for ya.” Mateo said.

“Indeed.” Leonard agreed.

“Well, as much I like to talk to you guys, I’m afraid I still got some more training to do.” Andrew said. “Just a few more years, and I’ll be joining you guys.”

“Hope the big guy has been treating you well.” Joshua replied.

Andrew nodded. “He has. He’s tough but fair.” He answered.

A second later, Andrew turned around, looking at someone the others couldn’t see. “Right, I’ll be there in moment.” He said to the person.

At that, Andrew turned back to face the others. “I got to go guys. My next training session is in ten minutes.” He said.

The others bid him farewell, with Leonard and Joshua telling him ‘Later’, Mateo saying ‘See ya’, and Bryan told him ‘Auf Wiedersehen’, and Andrew’s hologram dissipated. The others turned their attention to Leonard. “Well I got to get back to work. These resources aren’t gonna mine themselves after all.” Mateo said.

“Yeah, I got to get back too.” Bryan said. “I’ve got a space port that I need to finish.”

“And I’ve got to set up my naval forces here.” Joshua also said.

Leonard nodded at them. “Right. And I’ve got about fifty minutes before atmospheric re-entry.” He told them. “Later guys.”

The others saluted, bid their farewells, and their holograms dissipated. There were still a few people left that Leonard needed to talk to, so he tapped on his communicator again, and this time three holographic spheres, two of them colored blue, and one colored purple, popped up in front of Leonard. Like before, the sphere pulsated for a short while before morphing. The people that the spheres morphed into were his parents, Miguel and Caryl, and his brother, Matthew. “Hey folks.” Leonard said.

“Hey son. What’s up?” his father Miguel asked.

“Just thought I’d call to let you know, that I’ve reached my destination.” Leonard answered.

“Oh hey. It’s about time.” His mother Caryl said. “How’s the mission going so far?”

“My mission hasn’t started yet.” Leonard replied. “I’ve just finished some last minute check-ups, and I’m going to begin atmospheric re-entry soon.”

“Oh, okay.” Caryl said. “So how was the trip?”

Leonard merely lifted up his shoulders. “Eh, pretty lonely.” He answered. “Had to keep myself entertained the whole way during the trip.”

“Well that’s to be expected while in FTL transit.” Matthew said. “They still have yet to find a way to communicate while in FTL.”

“I know.” Leonard nodded in agreement. “You’d think they’ve would’ve cracked it after two centuries of space travel.”

The statement got a few chuckles out of himself and his family members. Once they calmed down, Leonard spoke again. “So how’s everything?” he asked.

“Everything’s good.” Miguel answered. “Managed to sell a couple of D&D rulebooks. As well as some Warhammer 40k figurines, and several whole boxes of Magic: The Gathering.”

Leonard nodded in response. “Cool.” He then turned to his mother.

“They made me a department manager in pets and chemicals.” Caryl said. “And they’ve given me a 10% pay raise, meaning I’m now making 21.5 credits an hour.”

Leonard smiled at that. “Sweet.” And last but not least, his brother.

“The ship that I’m stationed on, is currently on route to Elysium.” Matthew started. “Once there, I’m going to transfer over to the Estellise, which will be starting its Grand Tour along with its escort across charted space.”

Leonard raised an eyebrow at that. His parents’ eyes meanwhile had widened. “The Estellise? As in ‘the Estellise’? The flagship of the Space Force?” Leonard asked.

Matthew answered with a nod. “Oh you better believe it. Me, and ten thousand lucky bastards will be boarding the Estellise first thing tomorrow morning.”

Right next to him, Caryl clapped her hands at her son’s accomplishment. “Congratulations, Matt. You’ve been given a once in a lifetime opportunity. Working on the most advanced ship in the Space Force.”

“Indeed, son. Be sure to take good care of it.” Miguel said.

“Oh don’t you worry. She’ll be in good hands once I’m there.” Matthew replied.

Leonard couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh I’m sure she will Matthew.” He said.

Matthew then turned to face his older brother. “So.” He began, crossing his arms. “Even though your mission hasn’t began, what have you found so far?” He asked.

Leonard crossed his own arms as well. “Well first off: IHP-19 is inhabited.” He said.

That got a reaction out of them. All three of his relatives looked surprised at the revelations that Leonard just said. “It’s inhabited?” Caryl asked. “By other lifeforms?”

Leonard answered with a nod. “Yeah.” He stated. “Zack told me that he alerted the brass when he found out. And rather than abort the mission, they said that I was to go ahead with the mission anyway.”

There was another pause of silence at that. Miguel was the first to respond. “They’re asking you to land on a planet with potentially hostile lifeforms on it?” He asked.

Leonard turned to face his father. “They’re actually not that advanced.” He replied. “Some of them have just started using steam power, and some even have dirigibles. So they wouldn’t be that much of a threat to me.”

“But didn’t you at least ask why they wanted you to continue on with the mission?” Matthew asked.

Leonard shook his head. “Zack said that they didn’t explain why they wanted to go on ahead with the mission.” He answered. “And ultimately there isn’t much I can do about it.”

“But at least you’re not gonna land on top of them are you?” Caryl asked.

Leonard snorted. “Nope.” He stated. “The landing zone that Zack has chosen is far away from any civilization on the planet. So hopefully, I won’t disturb them too much.”

That brought some form of relief to his relatives, but they were still uneasy about this whole thing. Leonard couldn’t blame them. There were many things that could go wrong here, and the brass was making a very big gamble with him continuing on with the mission. Still, he had a job to do, and his mission was going to begin soon. “Well, I gotta get going. I begin atmospheric re-entry in about forty minutes.” Leonard spoke up.

“Right. Be careful out there.” Miguel said.

“Be safe.” Caryl said.

“I will.” Leonard said, as their holograms dissipated.

All that was left now, was Matthew. “Godspeed out there, Leonard.” He said, saluting to his brother. “To go Far and Beyond.”

Leonard saluted back. “To go Far and Beyond.” And Matthew’s hologram dissipated.

Leonard let out a breath that he was holding. Forty minutes, and he’ll be at the mercy of whatever’s on the planet. There was one last person he needed to contact, so he pressed several buttons on his communicator, and a white sphere popped up. Like the others before it, the sphere pulsated, and then materialized into a woman. The very woman who was his mentor at the academy. When her hologram materialized, Leonard immediately straighten up, and saluted her. “General, Ma’am. It’s good to see you again.” Leonard said.

The woman, Brigadier General Lauren Faust, saluted back. “Likewise Lieutenant Commander.” She replied. “I trust your trip went well?”

Leonard nodded in response. “Other than being alone for several days, yes ma’am. It did.” Came his response.

He was about to say something else, when the general raised her hand. “I know. The brass told me everything about what Zack had found out.” Lauren stated.

Again, Leonard replied with a nod. “Okay.” He began. “Then I suppose you know how my mission has gotten more complicated?”

The general crossed her arms, and leaned onto a wall that Leonard couldn’t see. “Every mission becomes more complicated. There never really is such a thing as a ‘routine mission’.” Lauren replied, making air quotes with that last word.

“I know, ma’am. You taught me that at the academy.” Leonard said. “Did the brass explain to you why they want me to go ahead?”

Lauren shook her head. “No. They didn’t.” Came her answer.

Leonard’s eyes marginally narrowed. “But you’re one of the most respected Drone Commanders in the galaxy.” He said. “Why wouldn’t they tell you, why they want me to go ahead?”

The general sighed in response. “I tried to get some answers as to why they wanted you to continue with the mission. And I even tried to get them to abort the mission, but they wouldn’t take it. They were insistent that you carry on with the mission, so that expedition would have some form of protection when they arrive.” She angrily stated.

“But don’t they think that they’re going overboard?” Leonard asked. “I mean, it’s not like the inhabitants are a threat to us, or to me. Since they’ve barely discovered steam power.”

“That’s what I told them.” The general replied. “Their response was; ‘We’re only adhering to protocol’.” Lauren snorted at that. “Funny. I didn’t think protocol including subjugating a pre-spaceflight species.”

Leonard drummed his fingers along the holomap. “Maybe not. Maybe if I kept my distance, I won’t disturb the inhabitants. And I won’t need to bring any unnecessary loss of life.” He said.

“It’s still pretty risky.” Lauren replied. “And I’ve always told you to don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

“Because it’s a waste of resources.” Leonard quoted. “I still remember that, ma’am.”

At that moment, Zack’s hologram appeared near the holomap. “Brigadier General.” The AI spoke, immediately taking notice. “Surprised seeing you here.”

“Hey Zack.” Lauren greeted. “I trust you’re taking good care of my student?”

“Yes indeed. General.” Zack answered, floating next to Leonard. “I’d say we’ve gotten along well enough. We’re kind of like brothers.”

Leonard huffed in response. “Yeah, some brother you are. Always spraying my face with water when I need my beauty sleep.” He said.

Zack turned around and angled himself in the air to look like he was frowning. “That was just one time deal. You got rid of that spray bottle remember?” He replied.

“Yeah, but then the next day, you made another with nano assemblers, and sprayed my face the next morning.” Leonard rebutted.

Zack changed his angle to make it look like he was making an expression of defeat. “Okay, so it wasn’t a one time deal. But seriously, waking you up is not an easy thing to do.” The AI responded.

“Then maybe you should at least let me have some extra sleep?” Leonard retorted. “I work more efficiently when I’m well rested.”

“I know that.” Zack answered. “But you have a daily routine that you need to keep up with in order to stay efficient.”

“Yeah well, sticks and stones.” Leonard said.

“Okay that’s enough boys.” Lauren spoke up, her hologram getting in between Leonard and Zack. “Is there a reason why you decided to contact us Zack?” the general asked.

Zack ‘blinked’. “Yeah. I was just about to inform Leonard that we’re about thirty minutes away from atmospheric re-entry.” He answered.

Lauren nodded at Zack, and turned around to face Leonard. “Well, Lieutenant Commander. I guess this is where we cut ourselves off from each other.” She said.

“Indeed it is.” Leonard said.

“Just remember everything I taught you at the academy, and you’ll do fine.” The general said.

“I will ma’am.” Leonard said with a nod. “To go Far and Beyond.” He said with a salute.

“To go Far and Beyond.” Lauren replied, saluting back.

A second later, her hologram dissipated, leaving it just Leonard and Zack. “Whelp.” Leonard sighed. “Let’s get this over with. You know what to do Zack.”

“Right away Lieutenant Commander.” Zack replied, his own hologram dissipating a second later.

All that was left for Leonard to do, was strap into the seat right by the map, and wait for re-entry.