Chapter 6: The Mission is Revealed

I entered the mess hall to find the room only just starting to fill. I could not see Yvette or any other sponsor I recognized so I quietly claimed my usual table and sat down waiting to see what was going to occur.

There was no rush of sponsors, but I could see a trickle of bodies entering as we came closer to the announced starting time. I contented myself with guessing if those entering were part of the sadist majority that Ensign Bates had warned me about. As I did, I noticed a subtle pattern in where people were sitting. Most of those in the tables around me were ones I mentally labeled as misfits, nice people who just would not succeed in battle. Most of the more aggressive individuals were congregating on the far side of the chamber, and I noticed that the lady, Ruth, who had repudiated her male concubine that first night was holding court at a table over there.

I was pondering just how bad the news might be when Yvette dropped into a chair next to me. "God, this is turning into a disaster," she moaned.

"You heard about the continuing problems on board?" I asked.

"Yes, but so far they are clustered in the black and white rings, on the far side of the ship. At least the jerks aren't showing any initiative in searching out their targets yet," she replied.

"There was a problem in the Red Ring last night," an older man said as he took one of the open seats, his hair was graying and thin, but he still showed energy in his eyes as he looked around and continued. "One of my concubines, Diana, was returning from medbay when one of the other sponsors forced her up against the wall and started pawing at her breasts. Fortunately Sergeant Powell walked by and prevented it from becoming worse."

"Prevented what from becoming worse," a dark haired lady in her late twenties said as she also dropped into one of the chairs. I looked around to see that the mess hall had mostly filled up and watched as the last few sponsors rushed into the room to find seats. I was more surprised as I watched teenaged twin girls run in and drop into the free seats at my table. They had very light blond hair and could easily have played Alice from Alice in Wonderland without any makeup.

"We aren't"

"Late are"

"We?"

They sang out, each saying two words before the other took over. I could see the twenty-something lady cover her mouth to hide a laugh as Captain Nelson walked into the room and stood at just about in the center of chamber. "If you are all willing to be quiet, we can begin," she said.

The room became quiet and I could see that most of the people on my side of the room paying a polite attention to Captain Nelson. The sponsors on the other side were quiet but pointedly ignored the captain. She looked over the room and I could see a bitter smile cross her lips.

"Very well, I'll start with one announcement first. Usually we allow any sponsor to check out a stinger in order to assist in controlling their concubines. Due to a number of incidents since you all embarked, stingers will not be available without prior authorization by Sergeant Powell or myself," she declared.

"But you aren't here for such announcements," she continued. "Today you are here to learn about where you are going to be stationed. I will say that all these briefings from now on are voluntary, although you are expected to make progress in training and preparation. The AI has a detailed plan for basic training and your rooms are equipped to allow sleep training as well as limited simulation training."

There was a bit of a murmur at this announcement mostly from the table where Ruth was still holding court. It was clear that training was not on their minds. Captain Nelson seemed to sense this as she turned ever so slightly to face my side of the room before continuing.

"Now, on to the particulars. As you heard in the earlier briefings, we are taking all of you to a planet that the military has dubbed Ishtar." Over each table a hologram appears showing a planet that was covered in yellow and green clouds. Captain Nelson waited for the few murmurs to die down and then continued. "Ishtar orbits a K1 class star and is just barely smaller than the earth. The gravity is effectively earth normal, so you will be comfortable living on the planet's surface."

"Now, I'm sure most of you have seen the clouds. The bad news is that Ishtar is going to be a major undertaking as far as terraforming goes. The atmosphere is filled with acidic vapors, and the seas and oceans are not much less hostile to life. In truth the planet has no naturally occurring compounds that we would consider life-bearing. This is a benefit to us as we believe that the Sa'arm have passed by the planet and did not land as currently the planet has nothing that they are known to gather. This should mean that the colony will remain unnoticed for some time. The terraforming itself is expected to take at least three years, with the atmosphere remaining a danger to all life for the first twenty months. The pods will burrow underground and the initial connecting tubes will also be underground until the terraforming process is far enough along to allow the units to surface in safety. The good news is that once the terraforming is complete, Ishtar will be very earthlike as far as the water and air composition, although there will be a lack of plants and animals."

I could sense a bit of disappointment from that, especially from my new tablemates who apparently did not realize that we had a pod full of rabbits riding to Ishtar with us. Captain Nelson ignored the mutters of complaint and continued. "Now, your mission is going to be maintaining and if necessary, defending a resupply and repair depot for the long ranging corvettes and carriers which we hope to have raiding throughout that sector of the Sa'arm incursion zone."

Suddenly a voice rang out from near Ruth, who was smiling smugly. "But who will help defend us if the Sa'arm visits? It's not like we can call for help and expect it quickly."

Captain Nelson turned to look over at the speaker. There was a long silence as she stared into the crowd before she finally nodded. "The hope is that the Sa'arm won't visit. Ishtar is the only planet in a system that is not either an atmosphere-lacking rock, or a gas giant that has pressures that would crush any confederacy ship. We have not figured out how the Sa'arm think, but so far they have been rather straightforward in their actions, and if that holds true, it should take years before they realize that we have created a base on a world that they ignored. You will be receiving an armory and the standard marine military equipment. The battle armor will not fare well in the acidic atmosphere, but our analysis suggests that the Sa'arm have even less protection."

I raised my hand and waited until Captain Nelson noticed me and nodded. "Captain," I began. "You have reported that the atmosphere is highly corrosive. What will protect the pods and other buildings of the colony from that corrosion?"

I could see the Captain smile at my question. "Good question. The pods you are using benefit from a confederacy technology that makes them resistant to the corrosion, and the pods will burrow under the soil to add an additional layer of protection. The soil analysis reveals that it is mostly neutral and can easily protect the pods from what minor damage that the pod's natural skin can't prevent."

I nodded and Captain Nelson smiled. "Very well, as I've said, you will be receiving marine military equipment and the AI will have training schedules for you all. If you want more information on the planet or the plans for the supply depot, both can also be accessed through the AI from the terminal in your pods. We have an eight-week journey to the planet, so please use your time wisely. For now, that is all."

Captain Nelson stalked out of the hall, and most of the sponsors also jumped to their feet and dashed from the chamber. I sat patiently while everyone thundered out to find that the rest of my table had also remained, leaving myself, Yvette, and four strangers sitting around a table in a suddenly empty mess hall.

Yvette was first to speak. "This is going to be a disaster."

I found myself nodding in agreement. "If anything, I think you just understated how bad it will be," I replied.

The man looked puzzled and asked. "How do you figure that?"

I looked at him for a moment and then at the three ladies who sat quietly listening to the conversation. I found myself shaking my head. "How about we conduct introductions and then I'll try to explain. I can begin; I'm James Rabb and currently residing in pod Green Six."

Yvette threw me a wink and joined in. "And I'm Yvette Mimeux, I'm in Green five, right next to James."

Surprisingly the twin girls chimed in next, once again switching back and forth between themselves as to who the speaker was.

"Tiffany Jenkins"

"Tamara Jenkins"

"We are"

"In Green"

"Pods three"

"And four."

The twenty-something lady at the table groaned and covered her eyes for a moment. She sat back up and looked at the twins. "I'm never going to get used to that," she said with a smile. "Donna Daniels, I'm in Blue two."

We all kind of looked over at the other man at the table and he shrugged. "Okay, I'm Terrence Truit, I'm in Red six. But why don't you explain your earlier statement about how Yvette understated the problem."

I looked and found everyone but Yvette staring at me intently. Yvette was nodding and smiling, finally giving me a little mocking wave just as I was about to speak. "Very well, I can explain," I said. "The problem is that the military is using Ishtar as an experiment in more ways than one. Every sponsor here is someone that the military feels won't fit into its line units. I don't know how the confed military works, but they appear to be short of places to put misfits and decided to just throw a hundred of us together and see how we do. Many of the sponsors here are not people I want to live near."