Orbital by bill zhao copyright 2017 Bill Zhao Table of Contents act one (earth)

The corridors were confusing. Even if Derek had time to wander
around, he would have no idea of how to get out. “So why are you guys
hiding down here?” Amanda replied “We had many outposts long ago
but ever since the USOC took the Icarus, we were hunted. One by one,
our bases, field operators and eventually our headquarters were raided
by the USOC and taken down.”
“
The USOC? I didn’t think they had jurisdic on on Earth. The police would
have done all that. Oh and ‘bases’, ‘headquarters’? How ‘big’ were you?
“
Oh I’m afraid we had arrived. Mr Samp will answer all your ques ons” The
two stood in front of a wooden door with a rough slab of translucent glass
stuck in the middle with T. Samp stamped on it. Amanda opened the door
and gestured for Derek to go in. He did as instructed. The place looked like
an old wai ng room for a health clinic. It smelled like one too. In the
middle of it stood a bald man in a neat suit and trousers. His glasses made
him look like some kind of psychiatrist. “Derek… we have waited long for
this day. Why… you must be parched. Water?”
“
Yes, please but I need to ask-”
“
Ques ons. I know. Take a seat” Derek sat down on the closest wooden
chair while Dr Samp sat in one opposite. “I am Tom Samp. It’s a pleasure to
meet you. Now, I heard you were asking about us. This corpora on. You
see, we used to be a Private Military Company named Orbi-Sec. We
operated on Earth and Space within our solar system. Now your father… he
was a higher ranking official within our corpora on before he le . And

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a er the Icarus incident, we… Orbi-Sec were… how do you put it…
blacklisted by the government. With a bit of convincing from the USOC. I
know that they knew the truth but they were in it for the money. What
does money buy? Power. Now the USOC is the sole government company
patrolling space and they have expanded their opera on across the solar
system. They planned to take down any compe ng company and it worked.
They now have control over the four solar sectors. The Sun to Venus, Earth,
Mars to Saturn and Uranus to Neptune. They can do their dirty work while
they themselves turn a blind eye. They’re their own bosses. Do you know
what they plan to do next? They plan to take down the remaining
government on Earth and shape the world to their liking. They just need a
bit more control. A bit more power and they’ll do it. Do you see their
propaganda? Those posters of them saving a cat with a space helmet out
of a tree on Mars? This BULLSHIT is what’s winning the public over. Now…
you… you need to go back to the Icarus, unlock that security door with
your DNA, retrieve the evidence and save the solar system from a
dictatorship.”
“
Finally. This is making sense.”
“
Now me… me and Carter… we started this group here. Us, a couple of
scien sts, operators and low level employees are here. We are what’s le .
Those neat white office uniforms… Ditched. Long ago. Do you see what it’s
come down to? We have to make runs into the city for food and water. At
least we have contacts there. But do you see what we have sacrificed to
prevent Earth from being taken over? Lives, families… gone! Now you… you
are here and soon this will all be over. We have a ship wai ng for you in an
outpost not far from here. But you’re not ready. Not yet. The USOC will
most definitely be guarding the Icarus, well what’s le of it. The never
destroyed it. It would have been too costly. All the debris and bodies… …
but I digress. You need to know how to defend yourself. Just like all of us
here. You will be our highest priority but in the worst case scenario, you
need to be prepared. This is the en re solar system we’re talking about. Go
to Marcus. The armoury manager. He’ll teach you to shoot. To fight. To
survive. Now go. I’ll talk to you later. Amanda!” Amanda opened the office
door. “Take him to Marcus.”
“
Will do.”

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7
The Range