Ghost Ops

**Ghost Ops** is a group of conspirators in 2003 as part of a plot to ensure that asteroid 2003LC is captured into Martian orbit in order to facilitate a Martian colony. Helios founder and CEO, Dev Ayesa, organizes a team of conspirators made up of disgruntled Helios workers to steal the asteroid during the Goldilocks capturing mission, without the knowledge of the Mars-7 Alliance or the rest of Helios.

## History

### Background

In 2003, the Thomas Paine Space Telescope picked up images of an unknown object in the vicinity of Jupiter, which was believed to be an asteroid decayed from a Jovian trojan orbit. The object got the designation **2003LC** and further studies revealed it was redirected to the inner Solar System, coming in on a Mars crossing orbit. It was believed to have an estimated 70,000 metric tons of IridiumW, valued at $20 trillion. Because of this, 2003LC was nicknamed the "Goldilocks" asteroid. While economists believed it could lead to an economic boom, others were skeptical as the breakthrough in Helium-3 led to the loss of many jobs.Soviet President Korzhenko also questioned the legitimacy of the discovery, believing the Soviet Union the only reliable source of Iridium.

The value of the asteroid leads to plans to capture it and bring it into Martian orbit, as had been planned with the ill fated XF Kronos capture. After President Gore makes a faux pas and takes responsibility for discovering the asteroid, Roscosmos director Irina Morozova organises a summit between the Mars-7 Alliance members and Helios Aerospace in Leningrad, to organise the capture and divide the estimated profits. After Helios engineer Aleida Rosales reveals that the costs will reach $2 trillion, and the profits will likely not be seen for 30-40 years, NASA administrator Eli Hobson instead proposes for the asteroid to be redirected to Earth orbit, where the costs will be much lower and the wait time will be 5 years instead.

### Organising the team and initial planning

After the change in plans, Helios Workers on Mars who would have benefited financially from the asteroid mining in Martian orbit, go on strike in order to fight for increased pay, increased safety and for Goldilocks to be mined in Martian orbit. After ESA astronaut Nick Jennings is killed when attempting to restart the fuel refining generators at Happy Valley by bypassing a safety regulator, the strike is ended, after Helios CEO Dev Ayesa offers a deal worth over $1 million to each worker and increased safety standards, although Golidlocks will still be mined in Earth orbit. Only 5 Helios workers, Ed Baldwin, Samantha Massey, Gerardo Ortiz-Niño, Veronica Hunt and Rich Waters hold out on the deal.

These workers become the initial members of the team. Dev Ayesa reveals that M-7 and Helios plan to use *Ranger* to push the asteroid around past Mars as part of a gravity assist. The M-7 plan requires *Ranger* to burn for 20 minutes, and the orders for the burn to come from Happy Valley's Ops-Comm room to a discriminator box on board the ship.

Dev plans to burn for 25 minutes instead to push the asteroid into a permanent Martian orbit. This plan requires a fake Ops-Comm to be built, as well as the discriminator box swapped out for one of their own. Massey who is already on *Ranger's* crew, is given the task of swapping out the box, while the rest of the team plan to build the fake Ops-Comm. Miles Dale, Faiza Khatib and Holly Edmondson are brought onto the team, as Miles and Faiza are necessary to help smuggle the hardware from *Phoenix* and Edmondson's electrical skills are needed to help hardwire the Ops-Comm room, which is later nicknamed "Ghost Ops". Ed Baldwin's grandson Alex Poletov is also recruited to steal a spare discriminator box from the loading bay, although he is not considered a full member of the team.

### Asteroid Theft

Due to the need to monitor the base, Miles and Ed recruit Lee Jung-Gil to relay the secret North Korean video feed of the base. This allows them to remotely view the real Ops-Comm and discover that Massey was successful in swapping out the discriminator box. She was able to do this by discretely sabotaging it on *Ranger's* homeward leg. Unfortunately for the team, the device Lee plants is discovered by North Korean Commander Cho Byung Ho, who believing it to be an American device complains to Happy Valley Commander Danielle Poole. While she is bemused at Cho complaining about espionage on his own espionage, she is worried about his mention of Miles Dale. Investigating the device, the rest of the stolen equipment is discovered missing, leading to a wide scale search throughout the base. While after a meeting between Morozova and Hobson on Earth, KGB and CIA agents Timur Avilov and Mike Bishop are mobilised to investigate further, starting with Miles.

Commander Cho who was disappointed with Danielle's handling of the issue, also investigates, after noticing Miles gets on an elevator, but does not get out. He correctly deducts that he must be getting off on the lower restricted levels. He is able to discover Ghost Ops, but is hit from behind by Lee, a short fight ensues, ending in Cho being choked unconscious by Lee.

Avilov and Bishop trap Miles through a false maintenance report, interrogating him about the theft. Miles holds out on them, simply claiming that he smuggles common goods. He is then beaten by the two agents.

With 2 hours to go until the final burn, Dev is in Ops-Com communicating the Ghost Ops via morse code. Shortly afterwards, Lee discovers that Cho will need to go to the medical bay or he could die. Gerardo is hesitant due to Cho being able to recognise him, but Holly and Ed agree he needs attention. Lee volunteers to take him, planning to pass it off as an accident.

Miles continues to be interrogated, this time though the agents use torture to get their answers. They increase the carbon dioxide levels in the room, causing Miles to vomit, but he still doesn't tell them the location. Instead he mentions wanting to see his family again. The agents change their tactic, obtaining photos that prove his wife is an accessory to his crimes. He finally breaks, revealing the location, only 54 minutes before the burn. Dev notices Bishop speaking to Danielle and manages to send a message to the team, who manage to evacuate to the North Korean sector, with the exception of Gerardo.

Gerardo is captured and is taken to the same interrogation room as Miles. In the North Korean sector, Lee takes control, dismissing his compatriots after they complain about foreigners being in their territory. They begin to brainstorm an idea when Ed realizes that there is a S-Band transmitter in the room. The M-7 charter ensures that all North Korean ujunauts on joint missions, must be allowed to speak privately to their superiors. Dev mentions that there is a override of the engines on board *Ranger* and if Samantha can get to it, she can keep the burn running. Holly though argues that it is outside the ship, but Lee ensures that Park Chui Moo, the science officer on *Ranger* helps her.

After the burn has commenced, Park gives her a communication device to speak to Dev. He guides her through the process. She will need to undertake a EVA and then hold the override until the burn is complete. She will also need to plug in a transceiver to the override so that Dev can control it from base. Taking a North Korean suit, she undertakes the EVA, but is quickly noticed by the crew who soon realize what she is doing. Palmer is sent out to stop her, and manages to push her away, but she manages to find a handhold before being incinerated by the engines. As he is cutting through a tether she used to hold the handle up, she pulls on his own tether, throwing him behind the ship, although he survives. As she does the burn continues past the official time, ensuring that Goldilocks will be placed into Mars orbit.

### Help from Earth

Unbeknownst to the conspirators, they received help from an unlikely source on Earth. Margo Madison and Aleida in an attempt to take revenge for the death of former Roscosmos director and defector to the US Sergei Nikulov. They ensure that the burn continued after the officially planned time. Sergei had proposed to Margo that if the asteroid was brought to Earth, investment in Mars would end, due to the money involved from mining it in Earth orbit. Shortly after he is killed by an assassin, who Margo believes had been sent by Irina. Margo and Aleida then write a piece of code to counteract a plan from engineer Seth Razack to shutdown the nuclear reactors on board, in order to starve the engines of fuel. Despite Irina's suspicions that Aleida was behind it, Margo takes the blame. Without their help, the plan would not have succeeded.

### Aftermath

The plot succeeds, leading to Goldilocks being mined in Martian orbit. Kuznetsov Station being a major mining post on the asteroid in 2012. Lee manages to finally be reunited with his wife at Happy Valley. While the use of torture on Miles and Gerardo is leaked to the press, causing a major incident for NASA. Margo is stripped of her diplomatic immunity due to her role in the plot, and is arrested by the FBI on previous treason charges. Irina returns to Star City, but discovers agents searching her office upon her return.

#### Riot

*See also: 2003 Happy Valley riot*

Despite the asteroid now being in orbit, the base security team begin to breach the North Korean sector. Lee orders his compatriots to defend their territory, as the sector is technically North Korean soil. As this is occuring, Ilya Breshov, Petros Khorenatsi and other workers break into the interrogation room, freeing Miles and Gerardo. They also savagely beat the KGB agent Avilov. Miles then leads the now furious Helios workers to attack the security team. Before security can break into North Korea, Miles beats Bishop over the head with a pipe, before the rest of the workers engage in a brawl with security. Security member Nate Lowry who had found a smuggled pistol, accidentally shoots Danielle ending the brawl.

## Personnel

### Core group

* Dev Ayesa
* Edward Baldwin
* Samantha Massey
* Gerardo Ortiz-Niño
* Veronica Hunt

### Other helpers

* Miles Dale
* Rich Waters
* Faiza Khatib
* Holly Edmondson
* Lee Jung-Gil
* Alex Poletov (unofficially)
* Margo Madison (unofficially)
* Aleida Rosales (unofficially)

## See also

* Helios Aerospace
* Mars-7 Alliance
* Happy Valley
* Goldilocks capturing mission

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 5: "Goldilocks"
2. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 6: "Leningrad"
3. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 7: "Crossing The Line"
4. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 8: "Legacy"
5. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 9: "Brazil"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 10: "Perestroika"