SSV Cambrai, Silean Nebula
Day 1, 2350
"Ten minutes to deadline, captain. Orders?"
"We stick to the plan. No comms by midnight, we head for the relay. Got a course planned?"
"Three."
"Good. Ten minutes to go yet, wait out."
"Aye aye, sir."
With a sigh and a rub of his brow, Captain Murphy sunk down at the comms station, cracking the knuckles in his left hand idly. Off to one side, Erika and Akito were hovering nervously at the controls, preparing to evade Reapers, or burn sky to the relay, or… something.
The captain had been on the helm with his pilots for some three hours now, anxiously watching the scope and waiting for the rest of the task force to appear. The heat on deck had risen hour by hour, less so now they were sitting still and idling but still… rising. Murphy tugged uncomfortably at his collar, feeling it pull away from his neck sodden.
"Contact."
Every hint of discomfort disappeared, as the hairs on the captain's arms rose and stood to attention. His two colleagues were jumping into action, Akito narrowing down the scanners as Erika peered out through the cockpit window, searching for a visual…
"Friendly?" Murphy called, from the back seat.
"Not sure!" Solov barked, and he couldn't help but notice she was unlocking the controls as she did - just in case.
"Warming up the engines-"
"Cool those jets, Cambrai. Friendly on your six, passing."
The cockpit shuddered, and as Murphy gripped the side of his chair tightly, a dark shape came skimming over their head, blue engine trails cutting through the black. With a growl muffled by the emptiness of space, the frigate drew to a halt, twisting left and coming around to their ten o'clock.
"SSV Agincourt, reporting in," the helmsman continued, to a sigh of relief from Akito - who quickly dialled back the engines, causing the Cambrai to fall silent once more. "Rest of the task force is behind us, ETA immediate."
"Copy that," the co-pilot replied. "Disengaging stealth systems-"
"Belay that, Cambrai."
"What?"
"CO's orders, he wants them running."
"Agincourt, we're boiling here. They've been running for half a day."
"CO's orders," the helmsman repeated, with a sigh. "Ain Jalut and Trafalgar are flying under the radar too."
Yurai glanced back at the captain, but Murphy just gave him a small, reluctant nod. There had to be some reason behind it…
"Two more ships," Erika reported. "Six o'clock, cruiser-size. Lead vessel's opening short-range comms… now."
"This is SSV Nairobi to all vessels," the voice of a comms officer announced. "Check in - everybody make it?"
"SSV Agincourt, here and intact," the frigate's now-familiar helmsman reported. "Cambrai's here and all."
"Confirm that," Murphy nodded, leaning up to the comms terminal. "SSV Cambrai, reporting in."
"SSV Pretoria, intact," another voice added, as the first of the cruisers - the Nairobi, according to the storey-high letters on its nose - came sailing silently past on their left. One of her great fin-like wings had been punctured, but she otherwise in fine condition, as was the Pretoria, which followed her in.
"Ain Jalut, reporting."
"Trafalgar, second that."
Quite to the captain's surprise - and not too surprising in hindsight - two frigates came flying in beneath them, both plain and visible, but utterly absent from the radar. Stealth systems on, just like the Agincourt had said…
"That's everyone except our fighters," the officer on the Nairobi muttered. "Guess they didn't make it. The rest are all yours, sir."
"Thank you, lieutenant."
That was Fofana's voice, Murphy noted, taking over at the cruiser's comm station. With a cough and a slight rumble, the other captain gathered his thoughts, before beginning his inevitable enquiries:
"Cambrai. Was your mission successful?"
Murphy sighed, and exchanged a look with Erika.
"Negative," he replied, after a moment's hesitation. "Reapers got to Nevos ahead of schedule. Full fucking assault, almost caught us on the way out… asari garrison got smashed before we could even distribute supplies."
He scowled, and tugged at his collar again. The day's events had left him angrier than he'd thought…
"That's unfortunate…" Fofana replied, with a sigh, but none of the disappointment Murphy expected. In hindsight, that wasn't good. "We appear to have underestimated our enemy."
"Sir?"
"Reapers were hitting Cyone right as our cruisers arrived. We deployed some of our supplies by orbital drop, but we never got close to a landing. The lunar outposts over Phoros were already scrap."
"Shit…"
"We spent five hours trawling Phoros' orbit," one of the other captains grumbled, the Ain Jalut's, according to the comms panel. "Lots of wreckage from the orbital stations, and signs of skirmishes - dead droids, engine trails. Asari might be using the gas clouds to mount hit-and-run attacks, but we couldn't for the life of us track 'em down to hand off supplies."
"I suspect that was by design," Fofana sighed. "At the very least, they're well concealed from the Reapers too. Cambrai, Ain Jalut, we'll start transferring shuttles shortly, pull your cargo back aboard the cruisers. You'll need your bays free for the next phase."
"Next phase?" Murphy frowned. "The op's continuing?"
"For now. I still have a list of targets, and some of them remain out of the Reapers' sights for now. They're hitting major colonies, large cities, infrastructure. We can still salvage something from the areas they've ignored."
"…alright. What's our target?"
"Call me paranoid, Murphy, but I don't want to say over an open channel… we've got contingencies planned, and I'll transmit your orders by a more secure channel. Your helmsmen should know what to do with the nav data."
"Understood."
"Now… this location is no longer as safe as it was. Our cruisers are two big red dots on thermal scans… we'll transfer cargo within the hour, then scatter. Cambrai, Ain Jalut, Trafalgar, keep your stealth systems engaged for now, you should still have half a day's safe running at the least."
"Copy that."
"Acknowledged."
"Yessir."
"Transmitting order, and launching shuttles…" Fofana concluded. "All vessels, radio silence from here on out."
The comms fell quiet, just like that, and only a rumble of movement in the Nairobi's hangars gave any sense of action in the wake of the captain's orders. A few moments later, however, there was a subtle chime from the Cambrai's nav console.
"Data packet," Akito muttered, curiously. "Pulling it now… enhancing."
Just a little too far away for Murphy to distinguish, an image bloomed onto the navigation screen, several other files popping out to the corners around it. He could see what appeared to be a system map, lines scrawled across it with annotations and addendums…
"Either the good captain knows his stuff, or he's got a fantastic helmsman," the Cambrai's own co-pilot chuckled, as his colleague nodded approvingly. "It's, err… nav data, captain, like he said. Manoeuvres for the whole task force, plus objectives and contingencies."
"What's the plan?" Murphy asked, a little too hot and tired to rise from his seat and take a look.
"Err… short version?"
"Please."
"I'll skip the contingencies, then. Stealth frigates are on the op, rest of the task force is running distraction. Nairobi and Pretoria make another advance on Cyone, try to draw in some of the Reapers patrolling the middle of the cluster. Agincourt makes a beeline for the relay like she's running for help - no stealth systems, so she's a distraction. Meanwhile, stealth frigates make a move on our objective, moving quietly and carefully. Ain Jalut goes direct, arrives around oh-three-hundred, lays the groundwork. Trafalgar flies with her as far as Phoros, then disappears into the gas clouds and breaks away on another bearing. Misdirection."
"And the Cambrai?"
"Fastest engines, so we've got the longest route… also the most heat, but I'm afraid Fofana's right, we've got another half a day before it's dangerous. We skirt around the other side of the system, back through Loropi. Drop out of FTL near Yasilium, check we're clear, then go to FTL again, short jump to the Phontes system and our target. We arrive… about the same time Trafalgar does, oh-six to oh-seven hundred."
"Alright then… what's our target?"
"Dekuuna, sir."