OPERATION KURGAN - Fiction #2 - "Publicity Stunt"

Draft work, subject to change. This is the fiction that introduces the first mission in Operation Kurgan, "Publicity Stunt".

‘Look, Major, we just need something we can deliver.’

Leon sighed and took another pull from his coffee mug. As he had expected, the X Team operators were coming together well. Every one of them had been recruited from the best of the X Teams and other forces from all over Mars’s rescue and containment efforts, from Petersberg to Toronto. They had needed some shakedown time to get used to their new team-mates, but he was pleased with how things were shaping up and early missions had been a qualified success.

The principal source of qualification, though, currently stood in front of him.

They were in a fixed-frame storm tent on the surface, getting their daily allowance of actual fresh air - such as the Earth was pleased to supply these days between its regular doses of stomach-turning lightning storms, horrific typhoons and endless sheets of grey snow. Or rather, it was time for Leon’s dose. The woman haranguing him just went wherever she wanted. Apparently.

‘You’ve had full access to our missions so far, Ms Wing,’ sighed Leon. ‘What is it, precisely, that you want from me?’

‘Content, Major,’ she complained, with stabbing gestures for emphasis. ‘The missions so far are dull, routine, and tedious.’

‘They advance our agenda,’ replied Leon, defensively. ‘We are gathering a great deal of intelligence on these so-called “skylords” and their movements.’

‘Which is great for the public record, Major, but it’s useless to our publishers!’ she retorted. 'Our consumers might not be permitted to know the details of your missions or of Operation KURGAN’s purpose, but they are still allowed to see footage and, right now, your work doesn’t look like a good use of Martian tax-payers’ money! They need to see something!’

‘Something?’

‘Something!’ she steepled her fingers into a prayerful gesture and gave him her best puppy eyes. ‘Look, Major, we don’t want to step on your toes or be an obstacle. Quite the opposite. We want this mission to be a historic success for Mars. But keeping the show on the road means keeping the viewers entertained. So let us see some derring-do. Show us some bad guys getting beaten. Let’s see what makes the X Teams so famous!’

‘Your talking about aggressive missions.  Do you want to see our people get killed?’

‘In all seriousness, Major, yes we do,’ she asserted, confidently pointing upwards in the universal Martian gesture for “home”. ‘They need to understand the risks you face and the odds against us if we’re to continue persuading them to put their faith in what you’re trying to achieve.’

‘So what are you proposing?’

‘There must be some soft targets,’ she pointed out. ‘Mercenaries you’d like to bring to heel, perhaps? Or a criminal group with valuable intelligence you could take instead of buying? What about that rogue Venusian X Team we keep hearing about?’

‘We have no idea where that team is or whether they even exist,’ replied Leon, sharply. Then he softened. ‘But I get what you’re asking for. And I do understand it. So I’ll cut you a deal: you and your people will get one chance each. I’ll send the X Teams on one mission to show what they can do. I’ll give them a wide latitude to interpret their objectives. It’s up to them to put on the show, but it’s up to you and your people to record it for posterity.

‘After that,’ he went on, ‘I don’t want to hear another word about this. My X Teams aren’t performing monkeys. And if the Executive Council or the Oversight Board want to shut us down because our… optics aren’t good enough, then that’s on them. Understood?’

Wing grinned with excitement.

‘Yes, Major, yes! Thank you!’

She disappeared back towards the lift shaft, leaving Leon alone with his thoughts. But just as he was relaxing a new voice broke him from his reverie.

‘You caved in a lot faster than I expected you to.’

KONDOR detached himself from the shadows in the corner of the tent where he had been quietly listening to the whole exchange.

‘You do that very well, Marc,’ replied Leon. ‘I had absolutely no idea you were there.’

‘Don’t change the subject, sir,’ said KONDOR. He was one of the X Team leaders; a sparse, balding man with an inexhaustible stamina and an almost-mystical gift for violence. ‘You caved the moment she mentioned Bal Anub.’

‘I don’t think I’m technically cleared to know who that is,’ he replied, eyebrows arched. ‘But if we’re being honest, you know as well as I do that, for all the alleged “transparency” of this mission, there are some things we don’t need on the record.’

‘And is Bal Anub one of them?’

‘Technically, no,’ he admitted. ‘But let’s just say that they are dark-adjacent and leave it at that. Now, before you push the limits of the chain of command any further, I’ve just decided that KONDOR team will be the first one on the docket for this little public awareness exercise I’ve found myself agreeing to. So I suggest you stop bothering me and go and get your team geared up and ready to go.’