Part 9
The Cornerian ship entered the Lylat system with the Silver Fox team surrounding them, the jump portal shut right behind Falco's ship, nearly catching it inside.
"Cutting it a little close aren't you?" Falco yelled into the com, Jack didn't respond.
"Easy Falco, we've got a long way to go." Fox said.
"Well it's not off to a good start." Falco replied. As the two argued, the Cornerian freighter began to move into Lylat, leaving the group behind. The ship was designed to travel from planet to planet and didn't move particularly fast, it would take them nearly eighteen hours to reach Corneria at top speed. The group took positions around the ship, with Fox in the lead, Krystal and Katt on either side and Falco watching the rear. Fox tried to reach Jack to let him know their progress but the com system was dead, it was nearly two hours before Jack responded.
"Good to hear it's going well," He said, "Sorry I had to close the portal in a hurry, I have hostiles. They swarmed the portal and came after me once it had closed."
"Are you in trouble?" Fox asked.
"I'm ok for now, I haven't seen these guys before. They don't look like any ship I know of and worse they're armed with railguns. The Prospect's defenses are keeping them at bay but the ship is taking a pounding, shields are at 55%. There were 28 contacts on radar, there's 19 now, I'm hoping they will take enough losses and turn away, I can't undock under fire like this."
"Do you need us to get back there and help?" Fox asked.
"Negative, keep doing what you're doing, HSF system security knows I'm out here, they should be on their way soon. As long as the shields don't go below 20%, their shots can't get through. Wait a second... two more down, looks like they're turning back. Something's wrong, they attacked as soon as you entered the portal. I think the next attack is coming on your end, stay alert. I'm prepping my fighter and I'll be in Lylat as soon as I can, I'll tail you through the system just out of sensor range if you need to talk to me, do so from the secure HSF channel on your ship's com, the CDF can't pick it up. With some luck the CDF won't spot me."
"What if they come back?" Krystal asked.
"The ship will be fine, I didn't get the chance to cloak it before these guys showed up. Miri is going to run the coms while I'm in Lylat with you, she's seen how it's done and I'm confident she can handle it, just keep talking to her so she can get used to running the system. I'm handing over control now."
"Hi Miri!" Katt said cheerfully.
"Hi Katt." Miri responded after a brief pause. "Jack says he'll be along shortly, he says maybe 20 minutes. He wants you to keep me informed if anything happens so I can relay a message to him."
"Fox!" Krystal yelled, "Right side!" A small group of ships appeared out of the darkness, flying in a wobbly formation before scattering and attacking the Cornerian freighter. The freighter's shields were rapidly depleting and the captain pleaded for help. None of the attacking ships responded to the group's communications.
"Those are Cornerian fighters!" Falco said, "What's going on, we're the good guys. Fox? What are we going to do?" Fox turned his ship and headed right for one of the attacking Cornerian fighters, trying to identify the pilot. The ship ignored him and continued it's attack on the freighter. He knew something wasn't right about this attack, the Cornerians needed these supplies. As he closed in over the fighter and rolled his ship, placing his canopy above the Cornerian fighter's. Inside, the cockpit was empty, the ship was being piloted remotely or was running as a drone.
"There's no one inside," He told the group. "Take them out as quickly as you can." The Silver Fox team was able to quickly destroy the attacking ships, they didn't try to fight back and continued to shoot at the freighter. Krystal had noticed a ship right on the edge of her radar, pacing the freighter, after the last of the attackers was destroyed, it vanished. The Cornerian freighter had taken several hits but still had shields and never dropped speed during the attack. MIri had let the group know when Jack jumped into the system, he was able to catch the group quickly and remained just out of sensor range, shadowing the freighter.
"Jack, there was a ship on my scanner that disappeared as soon as we destroyed the last ship." Krystal said.
"I picked it up on the long range as I approached," Jack told her. "It went straight for Corneria after the last ship was destroyed. It wasn't a Cornerian fighter, the signature was wrong."
"Any idea what it was?" Fox asked.
"None," Jack said. "I'm having Miri run a trace on the wing markings of those fighters that attacked you, the CDF doesn't use good ships like those for drones." The escort continued through the system for hours without incident, the group was exhausted and fatigue began setting in.
"I'm so tired," Katt whined into the com. "Can't we stop for just a little while?"
"We can't stop Katt," Fox said. "It won't be much longer."
"We're at 80% of the distance to Corneria, you can see it just ahead, the bright blue spot there." Jack said. Another hour passed before Miri broke the silence.
"Jack, I think I found something on the fighters that attacked you. HSF intel says the markings are from the 3rd Scout Squadron which was sent out on a mission into Sector X about a week ago. Only two of the eight ships returned, the others were reported lost. The two pilots that came back didn't have any idea what happened to the rest of the squadron and almost no memory of the trip to Sector X."
"Good job Miri. You get all that Fox?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, it doesn't make any sense though."
"Someone wanted you to shoot those ships down. I think they were recording the attack from a distance." Just then another voice interrupted the conversation.
"Cornerian freighter, you and your escort are to stop immediately." The voice said. "This is Lieutenant Soren of the Cornerian Defense Force." Ahead of the group a fleet of Cornerian ships blocked their path, dozens of fighters swarmed the convoy and positioned themselves to attack.
"Wow, overkill much?" Katt said.
"Fox, you better talk some sense into these guys." Jack said. "They haven't seen me, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"This is Fox McCloud of the mercenary group Silver Fox. We're escorting this freighter loaded with supplies for rebuilding Corneria. We don't need to go any further, you can take over from here."
"I'm afraid I can't let any of you proceed." The Lieutenant said. "You attacked and destroyed one of our scout squadrons, I have orders to stop your advance and destroy your convoy."
"Those ships that attacked our freighter and had no pilots. They were drones." Fox pleaded with the Lieutenant.
"I've seen the footage of the attack." He responded. "The evidence shows me something different. Squad, into formation! On my command, open fire."
"Lieutenant, I'm sorry." Jack's voice came over the general com channel. He had been listening in on the conversation between Fox and the Lieutenant from his position outside the ship's sensor range. "I can't let you destroy this ship."
"Identify yourself, unknown." The Lieutenant's voice was nervous.
"I'm CSU Orion of the Human Systems Federation. This freighter is carrying supplies from our territory outside Lylat. We've been attacked by ships from the 3rd Scout Squadron flying unmanned. Part of this squadron vanished a week ago with only two ships returning, you do know that right?"
"I'm not at liberty to discuss that with an enemy pilot. I'm not familiar with the Human Systems Federation, you have no place here." The Lieutenant responded, "I know what I saw, and that was your squadron attacking and destroying Cornerian fighters. I have my orders, we're to shoot you all down."
"Lieutenant, as soon as you power up your weapons my ship will open fire destroying the first ship it has targeted, that's you. I'm sitting just outside your sensor range, you won't get the chance to fire."
"Jack," Fox said over the HSF com. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I'm not going to fire on them, just sit tight and we'll all get out of this. If they do attack, turn and run. Your ship's shields can take the beating long enough for you to get out of range." Jack responded, then continued talking to the Lieutenant.
"I do not want to do that. I ask that the freighter be allowed to clear the area, you are welcome to inspect it and send it on it's way. It had no part in the attack you witnessed." The group sat in space for almost an hour, waiting for the Lieutenant's response. Suddenly the Cornerian fleet began moving to surround the freighter and its escort.
"The freighter can go." Lieutenant Soren said. The Cornerian freighter fired it's engines and slowly moved below the group and toward the Cornerian fleet, a group of fighters had surrounded it and guided it off toward Corneria. The Lieutenant spoke again.
"I've been told one of our high ranking officers has information about the incident involving your squadron. He tells me the ships you shot down were from our missing scout squad and were in fact unmanned. I've also been told the pilots have been found unharmed and they are on their way back aboard one of our carriers that was operating out of the system. I have orders from my superiors to let you turn around, it's against my judgement, but you're free to go."
"What just happened?" Katt asked.
"Let's get out of here, the freighter is safe this close to Corneria." Jack said. "We'll talk about this when we get back to the Prospect." The group slowly turned around and started to head out of the system. The Cornerian Lieutenant spoke over the com as they pulled away.
"I should have shot every one of you. This isn't over."
"I would have done the same Lieutenant." Jack told him, "I'm thankful it didn't come to that."
"I don't think that was necessary Jack." Fox said. "Should we really be prodding that guy?"
"I know, but we're guilty in his eyes regardless of what really happened. It will be interesting to see the fallout from this."
"Interesting?" Falco yelled. "We were two seconds from an all out assault from the CDF. You're a complete idiot!"
"Falco!" Fox said.
"It's ok, this was a bad mission all the way around. It's just a fraction of the difficulties the CDF has caused us by not allowing the HSF into into this system. We're clear of the CDF Miri, jumping back now." A jump portal opened infront of the group and they returned to the Prospect. Jack had docked with the ship and went to the bridge with the others following. Miri was waiting for them, still sitting in the chair infront of the communications console, she stood up as Jack entered the room.
"I'm glad you made it back, I was worried when the CDF showed up."
"They decided not to attack." Jack said looking at her with a smile. "Someone sent them the footage of the drone attack."
"I told the communications officer on the Ardennes I had something the Cornerians needed to see, she told me to send it to her so she could forward it to the Cornerian ambassador."
"You did good Miri, you got us out of shootout with the CDF." Jack stepped forward and hugged her tightly. "I'm very proud of you."
"Thank you." Miri said, looking toward Krystal before staring at the floor. "The Admiral wanted to talk to you when you got back, I think she's upset."
"Upset is one way to put it." The admiral's voice boomed from the communications console.
"I think I left the channel open, sorry I'm still learning." Miri said nervously, as the Admiral continued to talk.
"After the first outing, I had high hopes that this idea of yours would work, Orion. This time around I'm not so sure, I've got reports from the Cornerians that a human ship was in with the escorted freighter and threatened to attack the CDF. This was followed by another report from the Interstellar Iridium Corporation that one of their mercenary squadrons was nearly wiped out by the asteroid defense cannons on a rogue mining vessel identified as the Fortune's Prospect, care to explain?"
"Did the freighter make it to Corneria?"
"Yes it did, and it will be sent out again as soon as it returns."
"Good news for the Cornerians. What's Interstellar Iridium doing out here, I thought this region was locked down?" Jack asked.
"They've been operating in Gamma and Delta for a couple of years now." The Admiral responded. "We felt Alpha was secure enough to allow them limited access. Their security patrols started sweeping Alpha system a few days ago."
"Good thing someone told me about it. They attacked my ship without any kind of warning or identification, I had to defend myself and my crew."
"Interstellar Iridium's representative told us their mercenary pilots tried to raise your ship several times and were responded with weapons fire. Had you actually been on the ship at the time of the attack, instead of out pissing off the Cornerians, we might have been able to avoid this incident. You still owe me an explanation."
"I was on the ship Admiral, there were no communications sent, they just popped up and started shooting. I left because I thought our mission had been compromised, and I did so only after the Prospect was secure."
"He's telling the truth Admiral." Fox spoke up. "We were attacked in Lylat by unmanned Cornerian fighters at the same time the Prospect was hit, we did everything we could to protect the freighter."
"Orion, I thought we were talking on a secure channel. Who was that?"
"The squadron is standing on the bridge with me. There are no secret conversations here and I intend to keep it that way. They're doing us a favor by working for the HSF and they need to know what's going on, as do I. We need to know how the missing pilots got back to Lylat, the CDF officer said they were returned on a carrier."
"I don't approve, Orion." The Admiral said.
"This is the way it is, I won't operate any other way."
"If you think that is in the best interest of your team, then so be it. The Cornerian pilots were found held captive on a cargo ship drifting in Alpha during our recent joint fleet operation with the CDF, it was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities and earn some goodwill. The Cornerian Ambassador was on the carrier they sent to us and spoke highly of our work. I do need to mention that Interstellar Iridium is upset about the loss of their pilots, they think we're running a rogue mining operation and trying to lock them out of the resources in this region. In order to quell their complaints, we've permitted a small field team to board and inspect the ship. I want them to know it's been converted to a covert carrier."
"With all due respect Admiral, the reason it's a covert carrier is no one knows about it."
"Unless you want their patrols attacking your ship every chance they get, let them look around. That's a direct order."
"So when can we expect them?"
"Three days from now, you will go back to Io station to pick them up." The admiral explained, "The team is being led by one Sandra Dinan and her entourage of half a dozen people or so. Take them out on a mission and demonstrate some of the ship's abilities, then drop them off back at the station when they're satisfied and don't let them get a look at the cloaking equipment."
"I don't have the facilities to take on that many people, we've had to remove some of the crew quarters to make room for the cloaking hardware."
"Improvise Orion, it's what you're trained to do. Interstellar Iridium has a tremendous amount of pull within the HSF, they can shut your operation down if they feel the need to. I'd hate to see your talents wasted doing recon work in the Perseus Transit."
"I've got Cornerians in my crew, will they be bringing a Kelden with them?" Jack asked.
"They almost always do, if for no other reason than to rub our noses in it." The Admiral responded. "You might want to let the Cornerians know what to expect."
"Will do. What's our next job?"
"I don't have one for you right now, we're still trying to cover your last disaster. I'm sure we'll have something by the time the Interstellar Iridium people board the ship, maybe clear out a nest or two in one of the nearby systems. Admiral Miller out."
"Thank for sticking up for me Fox. I appreciate it."
"No problem."
Jack turned around and faced the group with a sigh. He walked over to one of the consoles on the side of the bridge and sat down, putting his head in his hand as he brought up an overview of the species within the HSF.
"I'm not supposed to be showing you this because Lylat isn't in the HSF, but since you're about to have your first encounter with one of the resident species in the HSF, I think you should see it. There are about a dozen species within the HSF, all of which we encountered during our exploration of the galaxy. Some, like the Greys and the Acera are as advanced as we are, if not more so. Most are peaceful and came into our organization willingly, others were conquered when they stepped outside their territory and tried to fight us off. The Kelden are neither, they are a class 3 civilization that was discovered by Interstellar Iridium about fifty years ago. You can ask the obvious question anytime now."
"What's a Kelden?" Krystal asked
"What's a class 3 civilization?" Fox asked right after.
"The progress of a civilization is ranked by five classes, class 1 being intelligent, sapient life that makes use of tools, had limited verbal skills and no structure. Class 2 civilizations have adopted a written language of some kind and have formed organized tribes and communities. Class 3 have built structures using basic engineering principles and have a developed culture. There's a large jump to class 4 where a species has mastered powered flight and started to consider or attempt space exploration, this could be to a nearby moon or just putting objects into orbit. Finally class 5 are species that have mastered interplanetary travel and begun to explore outside their own star system." Jack continued, "Interstellar Iridium lost a small mining ship in Kelden's atmosphere and sent a team down to the surface to recover the crew, the HSF had not completely scouted that region of space due to a conflict with another species being fought nearby and we had no idea there was life on that planet. If we had known, Interstellar Iridium would have never been allowed near the planet. Instead, the bastards claimed it and have been using the population as personal servants and laborers."
"They take slaves?" Krystal said shaking her head. "How awful."
"Not exactly, the Kelden think we're divine beings and will leave the planet willingly, they consider it an honor to be chosen to serve. Interstellar Iridium plays on this to get them to mine minerals from their homeworld since they can't put a colony on the planet. The males are taken to work in the mines on the planet, they're too aggressive to be taken on a ship and don't do well in close quarters. The females are very docile and are used as personal servants, maids, or assistants and are toted all over HSF territory. They are returned to their homeworld when their term of service is up, typically it's about 5 years. Any longer in space and they start to develop physical problems, skin peeling and respiratory problems to name a couple. A civilazation that had been allowed to advance on it's own would have found a way to cope with these issues, we have not as of yet. The operation hasn't been as profitable as Interstellar Iridium would like since they're using manual labor, but they keep at it. They've completely screwed up the Kelden civilization's natural development."
"So what do they look like?" Katt asked.
"They're just a bit taller than me, kind of a reptile/bird hybrid in appearance, and have big red, yellow, or black eyes and razor sharp claws on three fingered hands. They're pretty docile but can be dangerous when upset or threatened, don't approach the humans they travel with in an aggressive manner or they may attack. That means no yelling or putting fingers in their faces either, keep your cool. Next couple of days just relax and take it easy on the ship. I'm going to cruise for a bit so the drones and clean the ship and jettison the rubbish. Then we'll head to Io so we can be docked and ready for these people."