The Second Sphere
Chapter 34

The next morning, as I sat in my office, I drank coffee enhancement, waiting to be called down to address Len Overman’s troops. A knock at the door broke my scattered thoughts. Bryant came in the room. I stared at him for a moment. Flurries of nervous energy wound their way through me.

“They’re ready to go,” he said.

“I’ll be down there in a minute,” I said to him. Bryant paced to the door and left the room without looking back. My heart throbbed in my chest.

With visions of Cody Beans, I made my way downstairs. When I got into the octagonal briefing room, I felt the tension that fills troops who are about to put their lives on the line. Forty men and women, dressed in black and green battle armor sat in silver-backed chairs, their black pulse rifles at their sides. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Malinda lean casually against the back wall with her arms folded.

Len paced back and forth on the small stage, as he always did during a briefing. There was a lectern set up for him to speak, but he seemed to hate its formality. A map of the distant cavern was enlarged on the wall behind him.

“Orion Cox just came in, so I’ll just let him have the floor for a moment,” he said when I caught his eye. He stepped to the side and stood rigidly, his eyes on me as I hopped up on to the podium.

I cleared my throat and gazed out at the faces. I’d seen many of them before on other missions, though I knew surprisingly few of their names. I surveyed them for a moment, feeling nervous sparkles. I hated these talks. They seemed so forced, so unnecessary. But there were protocols and standard procedures and things that inspired the troops to perform better, or so I was told. I wasn’t much for public speaking, nor was I particularly good at it. Standing on stage, trying to muster a plan of attack for this brief speech, ripples of nervousness cascaded over me.

“People, it’s nice to see you again.” I heard some muttered hellos. “I’m sure that Len has done a good job prepping you for this morning. As you know, we’re headed into a GR stronghold. We’ll have at least two perps and a lot of contraband. You’ve seen the tight spot that you’re headed to, and know that you’re possibly facing a security system. We want to be prepared for anything. We have to be on our toes.

“Remember, we want to take whoever is there alive. This is critical to an important investigation we’re conducting at the moment. If we don’t get anyone alive out of this mission, we’ll have no evidence to move forward on the investigation. Of course, our first priority is ensuring that you all make it back safely. There won’t be a prohibition against necessary force. But what I want to emphasize, again, is that these are high value targets that could provide important intel on events of the past few days. We thank you again for your service and we’ll see you on the other side.”

Len’s large head moved back and forth in what I could only assume was a gesture of thanks for my insipid words. In the next moment, the troops stood at attention. There were various grunts and slaps, and their guns were in their arms, and the whole thing appeared menacing. Watching them like that, I thought about my own service and how little I envied the danger they put themselves in. Len barked something at the troops, and they responded with a blistering guttural noise that I couldn’t understand.

They faced right in one fluid motion and began to move toward the exit. Their steps were unified thumps. As the troops left the room, a woman wearing green medical scrubs dosed them with what the troops called Surge, an enhancement intended to provide them with laser-like focus and energy for the mission.

Once they got the dose, the troops went single file toward the elevators, which would lead them to the roof of the Laslow Building, where a transport copter waited for them.

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