Exon 10 mining colony , alpha region .

Shift 2 had just started the plasma drills and the crew were settling into the varies shift duties when an alert came through the suit coms of each miner .

Shutdown immediately .

All staff to the assembly point

Prepare for immediate evacuation

What the frag ! Said jimmy the shift foremen This better not be another false alarm .

Security had been very sensitive of late running evac exercises and insisting that all staff have their coms on at all times including on down time . Something had the companies knickers in a knot .

Whatever that was , only a few people seemed to know , but they were nervous .

Jimmy was the last one of the crew to jump into the mag lift from the mine shaft to the surface and was the first one to die as the door opened to the carnage happening on the surface .

Ch1 A New Skin

I awoke as the last remnants of embryonic gel was rinsed from my new skin . The transfer pod slowly lighting as a warm air rinse began to dry and heat my new meat suit .

How many times?  I’ve lost count.

Between sudden deaths and interstellar transfers my consciousness has shifted skins more time than I can remember, some better than others.

Ideally the new suit is embryonically printed to your own particular prescription, but sometimes extras are included to suit the job or environment which is required.

For example, my last transfer had been into an aquatic world so basically, I was a merman as that was the nature of the world, not much point transferring into a terrestrial body which can’t function in the environment. 

So, I have experienced a lot of weirdness in this job of mine, Once I was transferred into an old blind man ‘s body which was psychically advanced so that I could operate completely under the radar. 

Who suspects an old blind man of being an interstellar cop .

It took a while to get used to that skin, especially seeing with the mind’s eye rather than physical eyes. 

That was weird, although the experience has altered my consciousness completely, so now no matter the transfer these abilities have stuck with me. 

 I have kept that quiet, skills are never supposed to remain after completion of skin use, each transfer is meant to wipe to basic consciousness with task extras selected. 

So, I wonder where and what this job has in store for me, how long I have been on storage for I am yet to find out. It’s always strange to awaken and find that no one you knew in previous experiences may even be alive or in the same solar system.

The lid of the pod slid back as it reoriented to a vertical position. I looked down. Ok I’m a male Human with quite a fit and muscular body.

 I tentatively stepped forward onto a rubberized floor. Opposite me a door slid open to reveal a wardrobe of what I recognized to be space fatigues. 

I’m in uniform once more. 

What sort of a shit storm was I about to experience this time? 

Now dressed it was time to find out where I actually was. 

A door slid open, and I stepped into what was obviously the control room of a ship. The front screen showing flashes of light as the ship was flying at warp speed to God knows where. 

I dropped into a chair which slid up out of the floor obviously inviting me to sit and a screen Came alive. 

Mission brief. 

Ship is on its way to investigate a loss of communications with an exon mining colony expected arrival 2 hrs.

Investigate and report . 

Possibility of hostile presence take necessary precautions. 

Great, no rest for the wicked 2 hrs to get used to this body and ready for action. 

I stood up and started stretching exploring the imprinted muscle memory and switching on programmed skills. 

Cool. I soon realized this unit was fully integrated and battle ready. 

Not the first time in this type of suit. So, I felt comfortable, this might be fun after all. Time to find the food dispenser suddenly I was starving.

An Ai voice announced that eta was 15 minutes time to suit up, as a compartment opened up to reveal a black carbon fiber light weight space suit and assorted weaponry.

A field generator which is capable of absorbing and deflecting any velocity projectile including blades and blunt force . A very handy little gadget .

To complement a brand shiny new Q9 side arm which uses a laser targeting beam down which a 9mm wormhole travels to obliterate surgically the targeted spot . Originally developed to be used in a different type of surgery to target tumours and other nasties but the military had soon seen another use.

Another door opened and surprise . Out stepped something I didn’t expect , a four legged animal ? 

It has to be robotic, but it looked just as real as I did. An earth animal, a wolf I believe! A white coat of fur and the coldest blue eyes, a truly beautiful creature.

Extra cool this is fun. Been a while since I had a partner on a mission and never a wolf of all things. 

I wonder if it needs a suit too, I looked around and found a harness equipped with a camera and com gear, no suit or helmet so I guess not. Definitely a robot. 

Name on the harness Ragna. 

Ok Ragna let’s see what we are up against. The head turned and looked at me with those bright blues eyes, the tail wagged, and the dam thing let fly a howl which would have woken the dead. 

The ship dropped out of warp above an asteroid and proceeded to circumnavigate scanning the surface for structures and life forms. 

According to the information on screen the colony had a crew of 50 miners and auxiliary staff, so far, no life forms had been detected. The ship Ai asked for permission to land at what looked like the shipping port, time to see what this was all about. 

The ramp opened and Ragna darted out heading straight for the entrance to what looked like the main facility, vision streaming straight to my left side helmet display. I could see what ever Ragna could see, and it seemed he had both night vision and thermal scan availability as well. 

I was already loving this new hairy partner.

So far nothing to see, I joined Ragna in the entrance lobby, no life support switched on. Generator must be offline. Ok mate go hunt find me a body, hopefully warm. 

I swear he grinned at me before taking off at a run across the compound to check out the other buildings. 

I detected a Wi-Fi signal and activated a data intrusion worm which soon gave me access to the main Ai which should be running everything here. I quickly found security camera files and asked for recent alarms.

1800 hrs 24th nov y2063 .

Two weeks prier

Unannounced warp signature entering quadrant .

1845 same day

Distress call sent. 

Arrival of ship no identification alert activated to all personal immediate muster to security safe point. 

1850 same day

Power lost to all surface buildings mine backup generators still operational. 

No further entries.

I checked camera recordings up until blackout nothing to see. Ok. Not much help there.

So far nothing coming in from Ragna either, place seems deserted.

What the hell has gone on here. 

No sign of damage or any type of fight.

I again accessed the Ai requesting reboot of life support systems. No response. Seems only basic backup systems are available.

Requested confirmation of event which caused technical issues. Some sort of emp attack took out all systems accept this backup which was shielded. 

Ok where are you my new furry friend. A map of the mining colony came up on my helmet display with a dot at the mine maglift terminal .

I wonder if any one is still down there . I thought as a vision from Ragna switched back on. .

Here there seemed some signs of damage . Charred doors. Ok . On my way boy.

I drew my Q9 from my leg holster ran across the compound and was soon standing next to an alert Ragna at the maglift shaft . No bodies but quite a lot of dried blood .

What had gone on here . These guys would have to have been all in suits , where did all the blood come from. .

Now that’s another mystery .

Obviously a crew responding to the alert had returned to the surface and been  surprised by some thing .

 But what .

Looks like the lift is no longer functional as well no display lights .Where was everybody . No bodies either .

Had the mine been attacked by slavers and a fight ensued with all taken, including bodies . It was starting to look like it . With the security cameras out I need a witness .

I better get back to the ship and send a report to the boss and get a trace on any activity in the region before the trail gets any colder .

Ragnar was already headed back before I even told him . Dam furball seems to know what I’m thinking before I do, I shook my head.

Back on board , I no sooner plopped back into the control when the com screen flickered to life and general Bravos flickered to life . With his great walrus moustache and penetrating grey eyes he spoke straight away.

Hi mike please report . 

Never one for chit chat Bravos . 

So I filled him in and requested the signature scan for the region . 

I informed him I would do another full scan of the asteroid while awaiting results a two week old search for a warp signature even using the quantum computers at our disposal could take time .

If it was slavers they would be long gone if it was a robbery or corporate job the perps wouldn’t have gone far they will be back to claim the mine . 

Keep me posted Bravos responded and signed off .

Ok I thought, first I am dam starving again. It is always the same when you jump into a new suit. The first few days I am always ravenous, and this looks like it will get interesting very quickly.