Ad Astra - The Alagore War

AA V0 Prolog, Chapter 2

The airlock slowly opened, and inside, he saw the large glass wall that said Operation Center with the USSF logo stained into it.

Walking through, he saw four massive screens at the center of the room, with additional smaller screens surrounding them. There were other smaller screens scattered throughout the room at different terminals. Two primary terminals were next to the command, which was for the office, almost shaped like a starship bridge.

While the room could host a complete detachment, it only operated at twenty-five percent. The intention behind Alpha Base was to be handled by a skeleton crew because it was remote. No one expected the next war to occur on Mars, so the brass saw no need to waste stationing military personnel there. Still, with the growing space economy, they needed a military presence. In case someone wanted to mess with trillions of dollars of investment.

As Miles headed to his station, he had to admit that seeing all the empty terminals made the sight feel slightly depressing. Reminding them how few they were showed how alone they were.

With four additional personnel in the room, Miles focused on the women sitting at one of two main terminals. Technical Sergeant Kyomi Hata of the Japanese Air Defense Force. "Evening Hata."

"According to Zulu time, it is the morning, sir," Hata replied sweetly, not looking away from her screen.

"To hell with Zulu; we are on Mars," Miles mumbled, reviewing his checklist tablet.

"That is what you said yesterday, sir, last week, and the week before."

While this was an American colony, the brass allowed fellow NATO and Artemis Accord members to station troops here for rotations. Publicly, it was to show how space is an international effort and that the US was not exploiting its advantage with this ever-growing frontier. In private, everyone knew it would be a global public relations nightmare if the US were stationing military assistance everywhere, easily able to strike every other country's assets. For Miles, he figured that it was about the budget. Allowing other friendly nations also meant The Pentagon could push some operating costs onto other countries.

"Roger that, Technical Sergeant." Miles glanced down at his checklist; he couldn't help but feel bored from seeing the usual daily issues. It had only been three months of his two-year tour, and he had already discovered how little there was to do for military personnel. The miners, explorers, scientists, engineers, and even their families had roles within the settlement, so there was something to keep them occupied. Even the housewives had a role within this colony, keeping the children in line and their education.

Outside of the civilian convoy needing rescue after breaking down in the middle of the desert or dealing with a ship malfunction in orbit, there was very activity. "Please tell me you are hiding something?"

"Within the town, no sir," Hata said as she checked through her computer terminal. "Astro Engineers did state that Mavorte Orbital Station was seventy-seven-point three percent complete. They stated that civilian ships will be permitted to dock in two months."

Placing the checklist on the table, Miles looked at the two main screens. "Seventy-seven-."

"Point three." Hata corrected boldly, never looking away from her terminal screen.

"Okay. Seventy-seven..., point three percent," Miles took a frustrated breath.

"Only an engineer would make an exact statement like that and be useless."

Captain Taylor Miles walked around the operations room as he tried to occupy himself. He was making sure that everything was operational. Noticing nothing, he stopped by Technical Sergeant Kyomi Hata's terminal, looking at her screen. "All right, so what does the highway look like? Any pirate reports?"