Free The Lazarus War: Artefact by Jamie Sawyer

force.
    “It’s just another operation,” I said to my squad. “We’ve been into the Maelstrom before. Nothing new there.” The group gave non-committal nods. “And we’ve operated sims from a starship plenty of times.”
    “Then why all the secrecy?” Kaminski asked. “What is the op, Captain? Our station-leave was cancelled for this. That hasn’t happened before.”
    “Ears only, Kaminski,” I said. “It’s called Operation Keystone but I’ll give you more detail when we get out there.”
    The squad grumbled to themselves. They knew the outline of the op, knew that we would be on protracted leave from the Point , and that our destination was the Maelstrom, but nothing more. I felt bad for not sharing the rest of the mission brief with them, but I knew that when they heard it, they wouldn’t like it.
    A Navy officer approached me. He was suave-looking, with a mop of blond hair and a pristine blue smart-suit like he had just come off parade. Handsome – not as good-looking as Blake, but he had youth on his side.
    “Captain Conrad Harris, Simulant Operations? Commanding officer of Operation Keystone?” he asked. “I’m Captain James Atkins. The UAS Oregon is my ship.” He puffed out his chest with pride as he declared ownership. “My crew are just confirming the manifest.”
    While he looked terribly young for a starship captain – barely thirty years, Earth-standard – I had already looked him up on the Point ’s military database, and in truth he was closer to forty. He was also an experienced Naval captain, and had served as the Oregon ’s commanding officer for five years. Even so, sailors rarely got their hands dirty – I hoped that he could hold his own out in the Maelstrom.
    “That’s me,” I said, slinging my flight bag onto a loading pallet. “What have we got?”
    Atkins gave a dry laugh. “My ship has everything. A simulant operation bay has been installed in the medical centre – you’ll be able to navigate your sims from the ship. There are enough sim-bodies for ten missions. The armoury has everything that you boys could wish for.”
    “Less of the boys,” Jenkins said. “And I hope we won’t need that many.”
    “Never hurts to have spares,” Martinez said.
    “We’ll be safe in orbit while you boys,” Atkins winked at Jenkins, “and girls do the hard work. She has a decent Q-drive with good stealth characteristics. The ship has multiple stealth systems. High-end stuff – fresh out of Research and Development. We’ve got a complement of space-to-space particle beam accelerators, a battery of railguns and a silo of plasma torpedoes.” Atkins was enjoying this; bragging about the toys on his ship. He pointed out of the view-port, tracing a line on the spine of his ship with his finger. “She’s got sixteen laser batteries on the upper hull. Those can automatically track incoming enemy fire – the AI is one of the most advanced in the fleet.” Atkins nodded to himself in contentment. “It’s overkill, really – we’ve never had it so good.”
    “I just hope it’s going to be enough,” I said, bursting his bubble.
    “Only the best equipment has been sanctioned for Keystone,” came another voice behind me.
    I turned to see Olsen, his face sweaty with exertion. He was trailing an entourage of science officers.
    “We need this to go smoothly,” Olsen said to me.
    “We’ll do our best,” I muttered. “We always do.”
      
    The Oregon quietly simmered with activity. The Naval crew hurried with their appointed tasks, ensuring that we safely detached from the Liberty Point . Space Control gave the necessary approvals for departure, and the ship navigated her way through the flotilla surrounding the Point .
    “Safe clearance from FOB Liberty Point has been achieved,” the ship’s PA sounded.
    I found my assigned quarters; a cabin about as small as that I had back on the Point , but a room to myself nonetheless. My squad was quartered at the aft of the