Stealthy Approach
"Captain's log, February 8th, 3044. Well, this is it. The Valkyrie could very well be heading to what might be her last battlefield. The whole plan is finally set in motion. If we fail, this log will be erased from history together with the rest of this ship and its crew."
Computer pause. Joseph Korso took a sip of his black coffee. All of this Starfleet technology was great but the replicated stuff couldn't cope up with the real thing. Of course they carried a supply of fresh food but it was limited and because no one would agree with field rations, they had to agree with the occasional replicated meal if they didn't want to drop by outposts and space docks too often to replenish their supply. Not that the taste was bad, it just wasn't the same as the real thing.
"Computer resume log" Korso said after he had summarized the most relevant things that needed to be said in his mind.
"We've set course for Aridanis were we will take over the team from Captain Kero's ship for the last part of the trip. I've heard about what happened at Xirosa. So far things are not looking good. The attack failed, the Machines are still at large and there's no telling what they're up against down there. It seems we've only managed to temporarily hold back the advance by delaying their actions in the Xirosa system. Suicide seems to be a new tactic because the reports say that all ships including the newly launched flagship RSS Arcadia took heavy damage from the impacts of enemy attack fighters. The Dominators however did a good job, both during and after the fight when Republican forces were in full retreat. In this way they managed to contain the losses."
He sighed and checked their current ETA on the status monitor on his desk. Their taskforce would reach the system in less than one hour at current warp velocity. He emptied his cup of coffee before he continued.
"The cloak has been installed successfully and so far it's working fine. I only wonder if it will hold against the detection nets and high-powered sensor sweeps they enemy will throw against us once we enter that system. It's heavily guarded and it will probably be like navigating a minefield with eyes only but I have complete faith in the skills of my pilot. She's unparalleled and I wouldn't even want to command a ship like the Arcadia without Akima at the helm."
Computer safe log. The computer beeped in affirmation and Korso stood up from the comfortable chair behind his deck. A Captain had to be on the bridge on such a critical mission.
In the mean time Rilas was commanding the bridge of the Son of the Empire to the best of his abilities. Rilas was an experienced officer and he was pretty confident that he could handle almost any situation that might arise. Now that Naea was his First Officer he needed someone else behind the helm to replace her. Naea was a capable officer but being First Officer and piloting the ship simultaneously would prove even too much for her.
"What's our ETA Syran?" Rilas asked his replacement helmsman.
"Approximately twenty minutes if we hold our current speed of warp eight point five sir" the Soneg replied looking at his Captain.
Indeed he had most of the characteristics of Kero but instead of the slate-colored skin and bright blue eyes of Gouregs, Syran's skin was of a darker brown shade and his eyes were almost pitch-black. Two deep pools of darkness that still managed to twinkle in a friendly manor. He was of average size and slightly overweight judging by the size of his belly but very muscular like most Mantrins.
"Better inform Captain Korso that he needs to stand by to transfer the team" Rilas decided.
Just when he wanted to contact the Valkyrie the ship trembled when weaponsfire struck the energy barrier that made up the aft shields. Luckily he had kept the ship on yellow alert because he had the feeling that the Machines might try to stop them.
"Report!" Rilas yelled when the ship trembled again.
"Direct hit to the aft shields! Enemy interceptors closing fast!" Kiké informed.
She changed the camera view to the aft section of the ship showing long sleek vessels capable of reaching much higher warp speeds than most of the other ships used by the Machines closing in from behind and firing their weapons into the aft section of the ship.
"Rilas to all ships we've got a situation."
The bridge of the Highlander appeared on the screen on red alert because the flickering consoles and status displays indicated that they had received a couple of hits too.
"Captain shall we increase our speed?" Rilas asked as another conduit blew out on the bridge that was now under his command.
"Our scans show that their ships are easily capable of matching our speed. We have to drop out of warp and face them at impulse."
Another direct hit followed, causing secondary explosions all over the ship as power systems couldn't handle the sudden spikes in the grid.
"Direct hit to the port nacelle!" Kiké yelled over the noise of the small explosions being caused by overloading power relais.
"They're targeting our engines!"
"Sir it might be best if we drop out of warp and do as Captain Pierce says" Naea suggested.
"All right. Red Alert! All hands man your battlestations and keep those turrets firing."
"Rilas to Captain Kero."
"We shouldn't focus on what we don't know but on what we do know" Kero said for the third time in the last couple of minutes.
Otrin still wasn't happy about the fact that they were going down in that hell hole. The fact that they needed to walk at least fifty kilometers through dense forests because of the dampening field surrounding the entire complex that inhibited the use of transporter technology in that area annoyed him even more.
"The odds are very much against us down there that's for sure" Otrin retorted staring in front of him with the same cranky expression as before.
The eleven elite warriors shared the mission briefing room aboard Kero's ship around a large wooden table. It was a large room designed by Mantrin standards and also this time a small version of the Aridanis IV simulation made by Cale projected by a holo-emitter hovered above this table. Except for Stith and Kero they were wearing their EAF uniforms but no special equipment yet. All warriors would grab their gear before transferring to the Valkyrie at the edge of the system.
"With the use of the cloaked Valkyrie we should be able to land safely on the planet" Kero said feeling a bit uneasy sitting around the same table as the Commander.
"That depends on your definition of 'safe'. For all we know the place is crawling with those toasters that will vaporize our molecules before we are fully materialized."
Otrin snorted.
"By the way, since we are using the human ship we can't beam in any heavy equipment."
"I thought you were a warrior" Stith objected.
"Wanna die an honorable death on the battlefield."
Otrin looked at her, a sneer cutting across his face.
"There's nothing honorable about suicide" he bit back.
The ship trembled causing all the warriors to look at each other in confusion. Kero quickly took a look outside. They were still travelling at warp and the blast didn't sound like it was coming from within the ship. It was an attack. He stood up when more hits struck the shields and caused the ship to tremble even more, this time causing structural damage.
"Crap! They're trying to stop us before we reach the planet!" Rajah cursed.
It didn't take long before Rilas' voice sounded over the com. system.
"Red Alert! All hands man your battle…"
The rest was more or less lost in a lot of background noise.
"What do you think you're doing?" Otrin asked Kero who was planning on leaving.
This was a battle and he was going to be on the place where a Captain should be if a battle had to be fought: The bridge.
"Find a place to make yourselves useful. We'll meet up here after this is over and transfer to the Valkyrie, till then, I'm on the bridge."
Kero did as he promised with Stith on his tail leaving Otrin and the rest of his team behind in confusion. After a slight hesitation the EAF soldiers including Kero's own brother pretended like they were a part of the crew and reported themselves where they would most likely need any aid.
"Rilas to Captain Kero."
"Kero here" the Prince replied bringing his wristcom. to his muzzle.
"Sir we're under attack. I thought you might like to take command for the time being."
"Feeling a bit unnerved Rilas?" Kero asked a bit amused.
"Not at all Captain, I just thought that you would like it to command your ship in battle for one last time."
"You make it sound like I'm already as good as dead" Kero said suppressing the upcoming laugh.
He knew Rilas didn't mean it that way but it still had a funny touch to it.
"Sir I didn't want to…"
"I'm coming Commander" Kero interrupted.
"But I'll leave her in your hands. Kero out."
"Do they know that we're on to them?" Stith asked as she and Kero evaded hasted crewmembers on their way to their stations.
"I'm not sure. This could very well be just a patrol" Kero replied trying to keep himself on his feet when the ship's shields took another hit.
In the middle of deep space, less than a lightyear away from Aridanis the three ships of the taskforce dropped out of warp, enemy interceptors in pursuit. The three Captains were commanding the bridge in person with Korso the first one to come up with a strategy. The enemy ships were fast interceptors that didn't have a lot in the way of firepower but were very well capable of performing precision strikes and then rapidly move out of weaponsrange before their opponents could react. Maneuverability was needed to face an opponent like this in a direct engagement and that was something his ship wasn't short of.
"Okay Akima, let's show us what you can do" he called to the lower deck where his pilot was currently playing the controls.
"You've got it Captain" Akima replied forcing the ship into a tight turn to break the enemy's weaponslock.
Since the Valkyrie was faster, maneuverable and better able at avoiding hits, Korso decided to let her function as a bate so that the two larger ships could get away. This worked only partially because only two out of eight of the elongated ships followed her in a wild dance of firing and evading shots.
"Watch your six Valkyrie" Rilas who was trying to find out if Korso had a plan or not warned them.
"I know Rilas, thanks for the warning though" Korso replied over the com..
Akima was making the wildest turns but so far the Valkyrie´s gunner Lieutenant Reese had only managed to damage one ship. They constantly managed to slip through his fingers. Korso heard him curse but he knew that the man was trying the best he could. The targeting scanners just couldn't lock on in time.
"Maybe we can confuse them and use the cloak to sneak up from behind" Brian suggested.
"That wasn't such a bad idea" Korso thought.
Apparently his pilot agreed.
"It's worth a try!" an agitated Akima yelled from the lower deck.
"See if I can break their weaponslock long enough for you to safely drop the shields and engage the cloak."
The Highlander and Son of the Empire were off worse. Being essentially battleships, these large and slow vessels weren't able to maneuver quickly enough and took quite a beating. The precisions strikes were really mean and managed to penetrate weakened shields, taking out systems all over the ship one by one.
"Another direct hit! Minor damage to the starboard nacelle!"
Pierce's tactical officer just kept reporting damage to their own ship while the status of the enemy ships hadn't changed a bit. They were just moving too fast.
"If they keep hitting us like that the damage won't be so minor anymore."
"I'm sorry Captain, the computer is having trouble locking on. To make things worse, the enemy ships seem to be having some kind of low level dampening field over their hull which makes it even harder to get a lock."
"Then fire manually" Jason replied agitated as he was that these ships just continued damaging his ship.
"Aye sir" the man replied taking manual control over the Highlander's phaserbanks.
The Son of the Empire was taking fire as well. The enemy ships were taking out her weapon systems so that she had no means to fight with. Poor Kiké was having a lot of trouble holding them off. She was fighting with the controls until the point that her frustration caused her to give up.
"I'm sorry sir I just can't keep them off our back!" she said throwing her arms in the air.
She added a frustrated growl and grinded her teeth in annoyance. Stith who had been watching her during the battle took over from her. She laid a clawed hand on the young girl's shoulder in a friendly manor when she relieved her quickly.
"Don't worry Kiké, we're not asking you to be a permanent replacement" she said feeling right at home behind the ship's weapon systems.
From what she had seen from Kiké's trying, the enemy was too fast for the targeting scanners to follow so she switched the controls to manual instead.
"But I'm letting you guys down!" the Fjetahna retorted, ashamed of what her sister might think of her at the moment.
Naea however felt a bit sorry for her. This would have been the big moment for her younger sister to prove herself on the bridge in a battle situation and eased her with a few comforting words. Kiké brushed with her smaller hands through her long brown-reddish mane, angry at herself that she couldn't do what Stith was doing now. But Stith had the training and the experience that she still lacked at the moment. She knew it would come over time however she still hated the fact that she couldn't do it right now. But she still had to replace Stith while she was carrying out her mission so instead she carefully watched the more experienced officer as she did her thing.
"Engage the cloak, now!" Akima yelled forcing the ship into another tight turn in an attempt to evade the pulse cannons fired at her.
With the touch of a button on his console, Cale channeled the power currently used by the shields and weapons and fed it directly into the Starfleet cloaking device. For a moment the Valkyrie was completely defenseless until, in the blink of an eye, the ship faded against the darkness of space with a rippling effect leaving the enemy ships without a target to aim their weapons at. They began circling the Valkyrie's last know location and started to actively scan the area. However their sensors weren't powerful enough to break through the ship's cloakingfield. Akima let out a sigh of relief during the moment of pause but was already performing the finishing maneuver of getting behind the enemy ships in their blind spot.
"Looks like we've fooled them" Brian whispered like if the sound of his voice would be enough to give away their position.
"Sir, the Son of the Empire is taking damage. They need our help" Yani said softly following his example.
"Thanks Ensign" Korso replied.
"Easy Akima" he said as he watched how Akima maneuvered the ship behind the enemy vessels to allow Derek to line up for a perfect shot.
A couple of shots would be enough to break through their weaker aft shields and finish them.
"Let's finish of these little pests" Akima muttered under her breath.
"Now!"
As soon as she gave the signal, Cale dropped the cloak, raised shields and brought weapons back online with all of these functions hooked to a single button. Shortly after that, Lieutenant Reese fired the Valkyrie's upgraded laser cannons at full power with thundering discharges of the capacitors. The enemy ships were caught completely off guard, scanning in the wrong direction and not expecting the danger to sneak up from behind. The destructive energy forced its way through the aft shields and ripped through the ship like a can opener. The engines exploded and the reactor breached, the resulting antimatter explosion lighting up space like a miniature star.
"Good job!" Korso praised.
"Now let's see if we can perform the same trick on the other ones."
The Republican ship activated the cloak again and sped away to aid the other two ships. Under normal conditions, these ships wouldn't be a match for the either one of them but they were so maneuverable and following such erratic flight paths that it was almost impossible to get a good shot.
"I can't hold them off!" Stith yelled having trouble, even when firing manually.
She had only taken out one enemy ship and damaged a second one but they just kept coming. The turning speed of the turrets was just too slow. Sparks and small explosions lighted up the bridge as the ship took more and more damage. It was extremely frustrating and the casualties were on the rise. Small explosions and rupturing conduits caused sickbay to flood and as Captain, Rilas was unable to do much. He looked at Kero who was standing in the back of the bridge with an almost pleading look in his copper-colored eyes. It was Kero's ship that was falling apart around him while he was in command and he felt miserable about it.
"Sir please" he almost begged.
Kero looked back but didn't make any attempt to help Rilas out.
"I'm sorry Rilas, but if something goes wrong while I'm down on that planet you've gotta be able to do things on your own too. Have a little faith in yourself, I know you can do it."
Rilas gave him a slight nod and continued.
"Bridge this is engineering! We're taking a lot of damage down here! They're targeting our engines! If you can't hold them off we might be forced to evacuate!"
Majih's yelling was heard above all the noise of explosions, fire-extinguishers and all the crewmen trying to hold things together. The small Lesser Arcanna Mantrin was standing in a complete mess of an engine room. Everyone yelled above the deafening sound of explosions, wounded got carried away with plasma burns and debris was flying all around the place.
"Majih, I need more power to the shields!" Rilas yelled back.
"I've given you all I've got!" his voice yelled back.
"Sir the Valkyrie is gone" Stith reported from behind her console.
"The other two ships?" Rilas asked fearing that their mission was over before it began.
"I'm detecting nothing but debris."
"No, it can't be" Rilas thought not willing to except that it could be over.
If the Valkyrie was lost there was no way of getting anyone down on that planet.
"The cloak!" it flashed through his mind.
"Scan the debris" he ordered.
But just at that moment, debris of two destroyed enemy ships struck the shields causing the ship to tremble heavily for one last time before only silence remained. The interceptors were so busy attacking the Mantrin warship and Federation vessel that they hadn't expected a third vessel to show up out of nowhere. Rilas now only watched how the Valkyrie flew past the bridge tower via the viewscreen and disappeared again preparing for her next attack to relieve the Highlander. The Earth vessel had taken out the second enemy ship and damaged the already battered one further so that Stith was able to finish it quickly. The Highlander had already taken a lot of damage but had so far still managed to destroy two out of three ships harassing her. Black spots marked her shiny saucer section and one of the nacelles had a small plasma leak but nothing they couldn't contain. The last of the enemy interceptors calculated that it was pointless to keep up the fight and broke off its attack before the Valkyrie could get within weaponsrange. The ship engaged warp engines and left off in the direction of Aridanis after which the Valkyrie decloaked again and all ships deactivated their weapons and shields. Damage control teams were dispatched aboard the two larger vessels and Korso assisted them aid in the form of any compatible spare parts to help contain the damage.
"How can such small ships cause so much damage?" one of Pierce's bridge officers exclaimed looking at the damage reports and casualties coming in.
The Highlander had taken quite a beating but the damage could be repaired. The only thing they could do while Otrin and his team were on the planet was waiting so that extra time wasn't going to pass by unused.
"Don't underestimate them because of their size Lieutenant. Even those small attack ships pack a punch in numbers" Pierce answered his officer's question with a punishing look.
"Looks like we've bloodied their noses a bit. Now let's contact the Son of the Empire. It looks like they can use some help."
"Gladly Captain" Rilas accepted Pierce's aid.
A few minutes later a couple of Starfleet repair teams boarded the Mantrin warship and with the extra spare parts Korso had beamed over they would be able to repair most of the damage relatively quickly. When Kero noticed that the ship was in Rilas' capable hands he left.
"I'm leaving her to you Rilas. I have all the confidence that she's still here when I come back" he said stepping into the turbolift.
"Thank you sir. I'll have her shine like a star again when you come back" Rilas replied standing up and saluting for the last time when his Captain left together with Stith.
After the Captain and his tactical officer left, Kiké took her place behind the tactical console again. She had carefully observed Stith and her advice would sure come in handy.
"Don't trust blindly on the computer" she had said.
"If you enemy is faster than you are, shoot manually. Trust your instincts. Feel and don't think. May Kirliya help you to achieve victory."
The young Fjetahna girl admired Stith. She liked her and the beginning of a friendship was formed during their mission on the derelict colony. Viewing he sister as second in command she promised herself, her House and the crew of this entire ship that she wouldn't fail next time.
Kero could already hear Otrin cursing violently when he approached the briefing room where they would meet again after the battle was over.
"That ain't good" he said out loud to Stith who confirmed.
"Something tells me that the mission is over" she said staring at the door like if it was gonna explode if they stepped through it.
Luckily that didn't happen but hearing Otrin rant and rave about the situation when they entered the briefing room predicted something maybe even worse. He shot a devilish glace when they walked in both Kero and Stith noticing that they were one man short.
"It's over! The mission is over before it even started!" he roared.
"I've lost one of my men! He was my best gunner! And now he's recovering in sickbay because the freakin' conduit blew out!"
Otrin stamped through the room his tail beating against the bulkhead. He was more furious then ever and there was nothing they could do to fix it. They were one man short and with no one to replace him directly they had to go back. There was no other option. Kero however came up with an idea that certainly wouldn't satisfy the Commander but would still give them a reasonable chance of completing the mission.
"We have to go back!" Otrin yelled.
"We have to wait until he's back on his feet again!"
"There's no time!" Rajah retorted.
He was the first one to finally say something and provided Otrin with other options.
"True" Kero supported his brother.
"A single ship left and headed back to Aridanis. If we leave now the place will be completely impenetrable once we get back."
"And what do you suppose we do next?!" Otrin barked.
"How about using one of my men?" Kero suggested already having someone in mind.
He had performed well during the rescue mission on the colony and his incredible strength would certainly come in handy. Otrin let out a laugh at his remark and pointed with a finger at him and Stith.
"You two shouldn't even be on this mission and now you are asking me to let another regular join this team? Why don't we shoot ourselves right now instead of going down to a planet to have someone else do it for us?"
His laughing afterwards was purely exaggerated and it was actually a mask to hide his anger.
"Watch your words" Stith snarled warning him about the possible consequences.
"We can make this work" Kero continued.
Otrin suddenly went very serious.
"Look, without you two, the mission is a no go but I'm in command of this operation. And if you continue to undermine my authority I'll have no other choice but to abort. Is that clear?!"
"Aye sir!" Kero replied firmly.
"With all due respect sir, I'm not trying to undermine your authority, I'm just offering you another solution for the same problem."
After a long hesitation Otrin snorted and eventually agreed.
"All right, bring in you man, I'll judge if he's fit for the job!" he roared.
A smile appeared on Kero's lips. He activated his wristcom. and lifted the device to his muzzle.
"Kero to Lieutenant Nunchaku."
A few seconds passed after which the Ryrjhii's huge posture was projected by the holo-emitter of the communication device.
"I'm here sir, where do you need me?" he muttered with his very low voice.
"I want you to come over here. I've got a job for ya" Kero said.
"Right away sir" Nun replied.
A couple of moments later the huge Ryrjhii stepped into the room assessing the situation. Of course he knew all about the mission and he immediately prepared himself to be a part of it. Otrin carefully observed the huge Mantrin that was far bigger in comparison. Admitted he wasn't a bad replacement. If only size was a measure for shooting skills… When Azkun watched the male member of her race enter the room she had an instinctive somewhat primitive reaction. In the tribes, fighting for a mate was a common ritual and even among the socialized Mantrins that functioned in normal society it was still present as a certain instinct. She couldn't resist baring her teeth at him and growling softly like she was challenging him. He answered her challenge by flattening his ears and letting out a low growl coming from deep within his throat.
"That's enough, both of you" Kero said with a calm voice but still looking slightly amused.
Azkun resumed her normal cool look but kept staring at the other Ryrjhii with one yellow eye.
"So that's him eh?" Otrin said stepping up to the far larger Mantrin.
The briefing room suddenly looked a lot smaller and Nunchaku's ears were almost touching the relatively high ceiling.
"Now tell me big guy, how are your fighting skills?"
Nunchaku flattened a large ear when he heard the smaller Sogowan talking to him. He glared down his muzzle with his trunk-sized arms crossed and looked serious.
"Good enough" he grumbled.
"If you were wearing our uniform I would believe ya" Otrin continued.
"Stop pushing him" Stith already thought.
She knew that Otrin, annoying as he could be, could easily get the huge Ryrjhii angry. Apparently he wasn't thinking about the consequences since Nunchaku's fist was more than half the size of Otrin's head.
"You might be big but that's no guarantee that you can fight well."
"Please don't anger me" Nunchaku muttered.
"I don't wanna hurt anyone."
Stith knew he was very gentle for his size and race and didn't wish to see him get angry. That was however exactly what Otrin was trying to do. He really liked to push people to their limits so that they could show them what they could. He had already tried this with Stith and suffered the consequences but this time it could very well be his undoing. After all the team needed a squad leader.
"Oh c'mon don't be so soft. I can't have a softy in my assault squad. Or is that all fat?"
He added a laugh that finally sparked the fire of anger inside the Ryrjhii. Nunchaku took a deep breath and grabbed the Sogowan by his uniform. Using his incredible strength he literally lifted the Sogowan off the ground and held him in front of his face. It was extremely uncomfortable for a Mantrin to stretch its legs for periods longer than a few seconds so Otrin's three-toed feet touched the ground for few seconds after which he dangled hopelessly in Nunchaku's massive arms. Anger sparked in the two deep-green triangular eyes and the hot plume coming out of his nostrils hit him in the face when he snorted. Complete silence fell over the attendants when they held their breath. Neither of them wanted to be in their superior's position right now. Otrin held on to both of Nunchaku's arms with both of his afraid that the Ryrjhii would crush him if he didn't.
"Don't anger me" Nunchaku repeated.
"I don't wanna hurt you."
"Okay, I'm sorry. Would you please put me down?" Otrin said with a very small voice.
This was a little too close for comfort and he knew that Nunchaku could easily kill him if he wanted. Fortunately he didn't seem to like unnecessary bloodshed because very slowly he lowered his arms putting the smaller Sogowan back on his original spot. Otrin was glad that both of his feet touched the deckplating again. He smoothed the wrinkles out of his uniform and let out a sigh of relief in his mind but didn't show any of this to his subordinates. This little demonstration of his strength had just gotten him his place in the team and was more or less convinced that this chunk of muscle could handle the task.
"Okay, you are with us" Otrin admitted although he would rather have his own gunner back.
Nunchaku curved the edges of his hooked beak into something that resembled a smile and patted him on the shoulder with such force that Otrin swore he could hear the deckplating screech under his feet. But what was most important was the fact that the team was complete. And not a moment too soon. A few seconds later Rilas' voice sounded over the intercom..
"Commander Otrin, Captain Korso asks you and your men to standby for transport, we are approaching the edge of the system. Good luck to all of you. Rilas out."
Otrin looked proudly to all of his men.
"All right this is it! We only get one shot at this! Remember that you're not fighting for yourself or for me but for the entire Galaxy and the continued existence of our species! And be warned! Fear is like poison! It kills you when you least expect it! Now grab your gear and get ready to move out! Let's go!"
Approximately five minutes later all three vessels dropped out of warp at the edge of the Aridanis system, just outside detection range of any vessels and relay stations. The system was literally crawling with Machines. Countless patrols moved along waypoints to make sure no one would set foot in their territory without notice. The activity in the Aridanis system closely resembled an always expanding colony of ants, with thousands of workers trying to protect their queen. It was this image the Captain's of all three vessels got when operations officers relayed their findings picked up by the long-range scanners.
"They certainly didn't skip on the defenses" Brian remarked reviewing all the data coming in.
A few moments later the Valkyrie received both Pierce and Rilas on the viewscreen.
"I recommend you shut down all non-essential systems to avoid detection. We don't wanna draw unwanted attention" Pierce suggested.
"Cale?" Korso said with a nod towards his chief engineer.
"Already on it sir. Shields and weapons powered down. Short range scanners only. All secondary systems offline."
As Cale entered the commands into his console Korso watched how the lighting on the bridge darkened to a dim glare and several status monitors turned black. All but essential systems were shut down and together with the cloak it should be sufficient to keep the Machine's from detecting the ship.
"Captain the team is ready for transport."
With a slight nod Korso ordered Cale to the new and rather modest transporter room aboard the ship.
"So what do you think Akima, can you do it?" Korso asked his pilot on the lower level.
"It's not impossible" Akima replied studying the tactical overlay on her console projecting her ever-changing flight path.
She needed to get to the fourth of seven planets and try to stay out of detection range of the always patrolling enemy ships and relay stations. Once they got there Gune had to temporarily disable one of the moon installations to create a gap in the detection field around the planet through which they could enter and all of that with raising as less suspicion as possible. Triggering an alarm might mean instant death for the team down on the planet because until the AI was destroyed there was no way of getting them off planet.
"But it might take a while."
"Well, once the AI is out of the equation it should be relatively easy to finish off all those harmless drones" Korso remarked.
"No AI, no signal. No signal, no threat" Brian added.
"I do certainly hope that it's as easy as you make it sound" Ensign Cho said not quite certain if that was going to happen.
"C'mon have a little faith" Lieutenant Reese replied looking at the brighter side.
"I'm sure those guys are up to the task."
"Energizing" Cale informed the members of the team.
Only three Mantrins could be transported simultaneously so he had to do it in four times to bring them all over. Commander Otrin snorted at the small corridors and low ceilings when he stepped off the transporter pad. He and his team members were wearing their full combat gear, massive guns and eyepieces. Sweatbands were bond around their heads and wrists and their clawed hands were covered by fingerless gloves to provide extra grip on their guns. A belt with some extra equipment and a collection of different types of grenades was bond around their waists.
"Welcome aboard the Valkyrie Commander. I hope that you'll enjoy your short staying here."
"Skip the formalities human" the Sogowan snarled.
"I don't like it anymore then you do."
"So much for being polite" Cale grumbled bringing over the rest of the team.
At least Kero, Stith and Rajah greeted him friendly when they materialized but Otrin was just as cranky as always.
"If you all wanna follow me" Cale announced leading the way to the somewhat larger and higher mess hall.
The Mantrins had to crouch low in the small corridors designed for humans and the heavy backpacks and other equipment weren't exactly an advantage. Nunchaku was off the worst. With his sheer size the Ryrjhii had to bow his head in order not to hit the ceiling. Cale provided the members of the team with some last refreshments before he returned to the bridge. The new replicator system came in handy in these kinds of situations and he left them alone to allow them to prepare themselves with whatever rituals these creatures performed before going into battle.
"It's done" Cale said when he returned to the dimly lit bridge and took his station again.
"Prepare to engage cloak. Akima, set a course" Korso ordered repositioning himself in the Captain's chair on the main steering deck.
"Aye sir" Akima replied taking a deep breath before she firmly grabbed the controls.
"Gune will assist you with course corrections" the small green-skinned alien squawked pressing buttons faster than Akima was able to follow.
"Thanks Gune" Akima replied displaying a friendly smile.
"Good luck Valkyrie" Jason wished.
"We will stay on the edge of the system making repairs."
"Good luck to you too Captain" Korso replied.
"If we haven't been detected after dropping off the team we might try to take a look deeper into the system. We can't scan past the fourth planet so we have to assume they are hiding something."
"As long as you don't take unnecessary risks. You have been more or less the Federation's connection to the people of New Earth. I don't wanna lose you guys."
"I'm not making any promises" Korso said with a laugh.
"Valkyrie out."
"May Kirliya assist you in your quest for victory" Rilas said firmly.
"Thanks Rilas. Better prepare a warm welcome for your guys when they come back."
Rilas merely smirked and ended the transmission.
"Engaging the cloak" Cale reported while he tapped a button.
The Valkyrie disappeared against the blackness of space never to appear again while inside the system. Akima engaged the ships engines at half impulse while Gune helped her with the first course correction as the ship moved through the flight path of the first patrol.
"Course changed, heading 025 mark 068. Missing the enemy ships' short-range scanning circle by five million kilometers" she informed her Captain.
"Steady as she goes" Korso mumbled.
He had never been this dependent on her flying skills than ever before. But no matter if she was navigating an asteroid field, dodging the lasers from Drej stingers or infiltrating hostile territory the female pilot was always in her element. The merging between pilot and ship was something that came over the years and at a certain moment you didn't wanna trade this ship for another. Korso knew the feeling first hand from those times when he had flown the Valkyrie much more often just by himself. She hadn't been his first pilot but she was certainly the best.
"Here comes another one" Akima said between clenched teeth as she scraped the detection circle of another patrol.
The long-range and normal scanners weren't able to penetrate their little invisibility bubble but a high-powered scan or tachyon burst would be enough to at least temporarily disrupt the cloak, allowing enemy weapon systems to get a lock.
"Gune is on to it" the Grepoan whispered like the enemy ships could pick up the sound of his voice if he talked to loud.
"Changing course to 002 mark 134. Got it Gune."
With pilot and co-pilot working closely together they fairly quickly managed to get past the first few lines of defense until they came within range of the sixth planet. The seventh planet didn't pose a threat because their current course didn't take them anywhere near it but the sixth one had some nasty defenses and relay stations on both its surface and in orbit hunting for suspicious signatures that didn't belong here. Their range was displayed by circles on Akima's tactical display but that was only an estimate. To be absolutely certain she let the ship make a wide surrounding movement, missing the outer line by approximately twenty million kilometers to avoid them from throwing a tachyon burst against their cloaking field. The dense patrolling didn't make this easy and she had to force the ship in some pretty erratic maneuvers to avoid their short-range detection circles as well.
"How are you holding up Akima?" Korso asked softly.
"Pretty good sir, but I'm glad when we're outta here. These patrols aren't planning on granting me a moment of rest."
Passing the sixth planet at a steady speed and with Aridanis V one quarter orbit further, Aridanis IV came within sights. The beautiful green-bluish marble would be a flourishing world for all species to live on but unfortunately the Machines had other plans with it. The airspace around the planet was obstructed on almost all sides by shipyards, space stations, defensive platforms and patrolling ships. Busier then the spaceports in the whole quadrant bunched together they would certainly have to be quick about it.
"Detecting an awful lot of activity around that planet" Brian remarked using only the short-range scanners at half power.
"Better keep us close to the moon once Gune is performing his hacking otherwise we risk detection by patrols."
Their route towards the nearest moon wasn't a straight one. Akima just had to keep evading patrols and it took them nearly half an hour to cover a distance of only a couple of million kilometers. The small moon with the closest distance to the beamdown area near the complex was nothing more than a barren rock without any signs of life. A monitoring facility was built on its surface allowing it to keep track of activity within a large radius between the planet and this particular moon. Working in conjugation with the stations on the other moons they were able to create a fully covering detection grid, capable of alerting any ships in the region to respond to any intrusions. However Akima was going to make use of a small flaw it's design. The stations were only monitoring the area between Aridanis IV and the moon so using the far side of the planet as cover she was going to make an extremely low altitude approach over the atmosphere of the moon to stay under the detection grid until Gune had found a way to disable it.
"Coming up on the fourth moon" she said keeping the ship into a straight dive until she hit the brakes hard and pulled back on the controls to level the Valkyrie just above the moon's surface sending waves of dust, sand and small rocks in all directions in the ship's wake.
This would have worked pretty well if the moon didn't have so much scars in the form of craters, mountains, ridges and other irregularities in its surface.
"Akima" Korso whispered between clenched teeth when he saw the mountain ridge closing in upon them through the large window.
"I can't climb! There's a patrol up there! I'm already inside their detection range. If they pulse scan now we'll light up like a candle."
"We're going to light up like a candle too if you don't pull up" Brian replied.
"Hang on, this is going to be a rough one!" she announced biting her teeth with the mountain ridge only five thousand kilometers in front of them.
The ship wasn't flying fast but the scraping sounds of rock over metal and the loud bump indicated that her move wasn't fully successful. Korso crossed his arms.
"You gonna have to pay for that one" he mumbled checking the ship's hull integrity.
"Cloak is holding" Cale informed.
"Sir, the three ships above us have initiated scans. I think they can see us" Ensign Cho reported nervously.
"How is that possible? Are we still consuming too much power?" Derek asked.
"The wake!" Cale suddenly exclaimed.
"Akima we're flying so low over the surface that we are creating a wake! They can't see us but they do see the distortions on the moon surface."
"Crap!" Akima exclaimed slowing the ship down to a hover using thrusters only.
Fortunately due to their high speed they were close enough to the station for Gune to establish a link.
"We're almost there Akima" Gune whispered.
"First things first" Korso ordered.
"Akima put the ship down. Cale cut all power including life-support but leave the cloak online. Maybe they'll ignore us."
Everyone responded as quickly as possible. Akima landed the ship inside a small crater that hopefully masked any visible signature with a soft bump after which Cale killed all systems except the cloak. In the darkness of the bridge everyone on the upper deck tensely awaited the next few moments. The three moving dots between the stars and the bluish-green of the planet quickly grew bigger and took the shapes of three small attack ships, the same ones carried aboard the Machine Dominion's carriers. With a little luck these ships didn't carry any high-powered sensors or a tachyon emitter so they just sat tight until they passed over using their sensors to detect anything that didn't belong here. But the three vessels passed over without any indication that they had detected them. After waiting a few more minutes just to be safe, Cale brought sensors back online to see if there were any threats still in the area. However the three detection circles were moving away from their enclosed position. The consoles powered up again and life-support was brought back online too. It was surprising how fast the temperature dropped inside a ship with life-support offline.
"Now is your best chance I think" Brian mumbled assessing the situation.
"Okay Gune here you go" Akima encouraged the small alien scientist.
"It might take a little bit longer because of crater walls but Gune will try."
Akima had never seen someone tap commands into a computer at such with so much speed. The way Gune's fingers found their way on the console's buttons was just as amazing as it was funny to watch and she was actually beginning to wonder of the computer was able to follow all of Gune's commands. However the computer kept confirming and beeping positively so whatever Gune was doing it worked. The tip of the alien's tongue was hanging out of his mouth and his eyes kept track of all the lights and small screens blinking on and off in front of him.
"Almost in" Gune squawked.
"Amazing" Brian exclaimed with an open mouth watching Gune at work.
The part of the planet surface facing them was currently the night side. That meant for the members of the team that they were facing their opponents in the middle of the Aridanis night. This was complicating things for the team but it also offered the advantage that they could see the Machines approaching because of their searchlights.
"The detection grid is still up" Cale said a bit bored.
"Quiet! Gune is concentrating!" the alien squawked in annoyance.
Finally after a total of ten minutes Gune touched the last button and showed the crew a pleased smile.
"Detection grid is offline. I can only send one fake 'all clear' signal" he informed.
"Go Akima, now!" Korso yelled feeling precious time slipping away.
The moon held a steady orbit of about four hundred and twenty thousand kilometers from the planet's surface and they had to go up and down before the time had passed.
"After four minutes they'll figure out something's wrong. Then I'll give them one minute to reinitialize the system and a half one to fully power the grid" Cale said out load while studying Gune's hack transferred to his console.
Akima didn't listen to Cale. She was busy firing up the ship and she was already covering the distance between the moon and the planet when Cale hastily exited the bridge.
"I'll have Otrin and his team standby for transport" he called running towards the mess hall.
"C'mon, c'mon!" she said as if she could encourage the ship to fly faster.
Evading patrols and transports hovering in between shipyards and the surface she eventually entered transporter range.
"Gune I need an estimate" she asked the alien sitting next to her who was keeping track of the limited time available.
"Three minutes, forty five seconds" he reported.
"Cale it's now or never. You have one minute!" she said to her wristcom. while fighting against gravity to keep the ship from plummeting into the atmosphere.
"Aye Akima!" Cale replied from within the transporter room.
He wished the warriors in their full combat gear good luck before he send them down, saying a few extra words to Stith, Kero and Rajah who were the last group to beam down.
"We'll pick you up as fast as we can after the AI is terminated and the field drops. In the mean time sit tight. Maybe Captain Pierce or Rilas are able to get some reinforcements here."
"I wouldn't count on it" Stith replied.
"Big organizations have the tendency of being slow. But just send Akima my regards."
"Twenty seconds Cale!" Akima yelled through his wristcom..
"I know!" he yelled back in the direction of the device.
"I will Stith. Hope to see all of you back soon."
The three Mantrins disappeared into a whirlwind of blue sparkles when he initiated transport, leaving nothing but empty space and a gloomy aura behind. Eleven warriors, one chance.