Diadem raged. Of course, it always did, with sand storms sweeping the strip of sand, stone, and mountains that hugged tight to Diadem’s center like a belt and gave the planet – and its most unique feature, the Sand Belt – its name.  It was a core of chaos – sandworms, great hairy beasts with claws that could cleave stone and a nose for flesh, and other horrors stalked the low dunes and high plateaus while the foolhardy mined for ores to be processed in one of the great mining cities of Diadem.<br/><br/>Ganymede was one such mining city, built of blocky, windowless buildings and protective domes all along the south edge of the city, looking more normal the further one got from the Sand Belt. A wall, fifteen feet high, wrapped all around the city, with protective turrets lining the edge manned by veteran gunners and the finest in heat-sensing, hostile-destroying soft and hardware.<br/><br/>It was a nice, homey place for a skewed definition of the term.<br/><br/>The Ganymede military base, a stout structure at the heart of the city was alive and ready for duty by six AM every morning, and it was fifteen ‘til just now. Soldiers were out in the training yards doing drills, while the mechanics worked on running the basic diagnostics for the base’s armored soldiers, the E-series mechs, the great scientist Emberg’s gift to humanity.<br/><br/>The clock turned 5:46.<br/><br/>An alarm was blaring, though not one of chaos and warning… but of an alarm clock.<br/><br/><a class="link link--external" href="http://digital-art-gallery.com/oid/76/640x732_13451_Emergency_2d_sci_fi_illustration_girl_woman_soldier_picture_image_digital_art.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">Aleta's</a>hand swept at the alarm, before remembering that it was a holographic display rather than the clock itself.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#6b8e23">“Aaaagh…”</span>This and other mildly inhuman sounds were muttered as Lieutenant Rook edged off the side of her bed, her hand batting at more or less everything in reach; the nightstand, her headset, her… clock! The alarm shut off, and Aleta slumped back against the bed.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#6b8e23">“Mrr…”</span>Aleta managed before a voice broke into her room.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#a9a9a9">“Lt. Rook. Your presence is requested by in the west commons room by Captain Krieger.”</span><br/><br/>There was no off button for the speaker for her room, so she dragged herself slowly out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the palms of her hands.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#6b8e23">“I’m up! I’m up,”</span>she protested, standing up in her room.<br/><br/>She was quick through the shower and out in minutes, seeing the clock turn to 5:52. She pulled on her bra, panties, white shirt and her actual uniform, being a light khaki color with the green accents that told the world she was an officer of Ganymede. She put on her boots nearly at a run, the clock turning 5:55 as she departed the room.<br/><br/>6:00<br/><br/>Aleta hit the commons room with a hefty half-second to spare. It was a fine room, designed as a lounge of sorts. It was a favorite of the captain’s, and was designed to appeal to the tastes of even the executives and dignitaries that would come to stay at Gaynmede’s EOREF HQ. It was also, at the moment, bereft of one Captain Krieger.<br/><br/>His message had gone out to more than just her, however, the message sent to other operatives within Kaiser Company to meet up with Lt. Rook in that lush commons room…