"Boarding team in position!"
A team of 20 marines were now waiting in front of the docking port at the side of the warship. At that time, Lodos had already arrived at it's destination and was making course corrections to align itself with the Phobos asteroid base's docking port. Just then, with a sudden manuever, the ship cancelled it's approach. Sergeant Lucas and I looked at each other in confusion.
"Lieutenant Commander, you are expected on the bridge." the Real Admiral ordered.
"I'm on my way, sir." I said and turned to Sergeant Lucas. "Sergeant, please remain here and wait for further orders. The admiral is calling me back."
"Yes, sir." he said. I left the airlock segment and got onto an elevator to go back to the bridge. When I arrived, Tachibana held my arm and softly pulled me closer to a console screen.
"The station did not grant us docking permission, and they are stowing away their docking ports." he explained. "They know very well that something is going on."
"I would also get suspicious if I had a kilometer-long warship in my face." I commented.
"That's not the point." he said. "They know that they can't escape, and that they won't get away with what they do. I think... I think they are merely trying to gain some time, but for what?"
"Purging some dangerous data in their hand, maybe?" I said.
"Possible, but I think they are up to something else..." Tachibana said.
"What do you have in mind?" I asked him.
"I'm thinking of preparing a shuttlecraft to get our troops in. What do you think?" he said.
"Sound plan, but how will we get in?" I asked.
"That... That is the thing I still couldn't figure out." he said.
"Lieutenant Karl, can we get a full scan output of the Phobos base? Preferably a 3D map?" I said.
"Working on, sir; but don't expect a full map. The asteroid is rather big, so our detailed readings will probably not penetrate into the inner sections." he reported.
"Understood." I said.
"Sir, the station is broadcasting!" Aziz suddenly got excited.
"Let us see." Rear Admiral said. One of the multi-purpose screens in the middle of the bridge was replaced with the data flow from the station. It was a livestream of an international, multi-planetary news agency. In the view, there were MIM members, and the MIM spokesperson was standing behind a rostrum. Occasionally, some press members from other agencies were coming into the view as well. Around the station's interior, there were MIM banners everywhere.
"This is not going to go well." I said.
Then, a man in black clothes ran into the view and made it's way to the spokesperson between the crowd. He leaned towards his ear, said something and left. Then, the speech began.
"My friends, I apologise for the disturbance... But I've just got news that a Navy warship was waiting just outside this station." the spokesperson said. As soon as he finished the sentence, a loud booing and whistling began from the listening crowd.
"Today, we have all gathered here to point out some of the recently revealed mistakes and undoings our government has made; and, may I say coincidentally, we didn't even need to prove anything - the warship they had sent to suppress our freedom of speech..." the speech continued, with a lot of improvisation.
"This is not okay." Tachibana said. "Jam their communications!"
"Aye, sir." Ensign Aziz said and started working on his console. After a while, Lieutenant Karl spoke.
"Our electronic warfare kit is not working properly, and we are unable to jam the station's communications, sir." he reported.
"Damn it, I'm surprised that this thing even flies." Tachibana said under his breath. "Set ALCON 2."
A weak single-tone alarm sounded a few times. Lodos' interior lighting dimmed slightly, and the consoles got brighter.
ALCON was the abbreviation of 'Alarm Condition' in Martian Navy warships. There were a total of five alarm conditions:
ALCON 4 was used when the ship was docked to a starport, and the main rectors have been stopped.
ALCON 3 was used during peacetime cruising, with the main reactors running. The ship would automatically switch between ALCON 4 and 3 without requiring the commander's order.
ALCON 2 was used for increased crew awareness, minor threats and war preparations.
ALCON 1 was used for major threats and space combat; usually accompanied by the 'Action Stations!' command. It served as a ship-wide 'call for duty'.
ALCON 0 was only reserved for extreme cases like a ship-wide life support failure, the 'Abandon ship!' command, as well as the unlikely case of the Sun going supernova.
"What are we doing?" I asked the Rear Admiral. "If you wish, I can get to the-"
"If we allow this broadcast to continue any longer, the HQ will not be satisfied." he said. "Mr. Sungho, aim at their antenna array with our railguns."
"Roger that." said Sungho.
"Sir, are you sure you want to open fire on a civilian station?" I asked Tachibana.
"I hate being in this situation, but we have no choice." he said. "First of all, they resisted against the Navy and that makes a lot of difference in the court... And second; we are not going to shoot civilians after all, we are aiming at the equipment."
"Ready to fire on your command, sir." Sungho reported.
"Think again." I said to Tachibana. "The people inside would willingly injure themlseves to accuse the Navy of harming civilians. Besides, even if that wasn't the case, we are still suppressing the freedom of speech."
"It's the problem of politicians, not the military." said Tachibana. "We are only doing what we were told to do."
"I understand." I said. He was right after all... Our job was to do what we were told to do.
"Fire." Tachibana gave the command. A short railgun burst took out the station's antenna array. The broadcast suddenly stopped.
"On target, sir. Their comms subsytem is disabled." Sungho reported.
"Lieutenant Commander, prepare to board the station via a shuttlecraft." Rear Admiral ordered. "And if they have backup communication systems, that will also be your target."
"Aye, sir." I said, and called Sergeant Lucas. "Sergeant, get your team and meet me at the main hangar." There began my first real mission.
"Acknowledged."