Dark Hunter's resolution.
Chapter 3: Risk assessment, reunions, dark thoughts.
28th July 2901
Solaris system, New Earth, Island base
Time had been kind, and without any unforeseen campaigns or operations or raids that needed any attention, the selected NKI members had returned to the Solaris island base.
Currently, final plans were being held in a hologram conference room, around an oval shaped table. Projected above the table was a 3D shape of the prison station Tartarus, in orbit around Garonth VII. In the room, Ja'hail, Norstith, Morthas, Azula, Xale, Lexa, Raxler, Alex, Se'rie, Shockwave's holoform and a visual uplink to Aru'san in her hanger, ensured all physically on the base were aware of the plans. In holographic form, Commander Kirth, lieutenant La'kias and Princess Sha'krii studied the hologram. Shockwave was studying the map, saying aloud possible hazards inside upon infiltration:
"The facility is armed with magnetic flooring, walls and ceilings, used to hold the prisoners in place with specially worn ankle restraints in the least. Disabling this magnetic system will be crucial in helping the prisoners successfully cause havoc, and allow us to liberate them on the ships we will send in."
Kirth then pointed to the structures on the station's upper hull towers: "Tartarus station won't have long range scanners, but the communications relay and any nearby FTL communications satellites will need to be disabled or destroyed. We can't afford the UIP to send in reinforcements, otherwise too many lives will be lost unnecessarily."
"Our insider agents, thanks to our contacts in the Underworld Guild, will fulfil their part in sabotaging what they can. They're hiding as prisoners, but have been useful in providing inside information. It will need a covert, quick strike to disable communications, and bringing in a ship with strong jamming equipment to block any communications from guarding vessels nearby." Added La'kias.
"The priority will be on prisoners with useful tactical knowledge, and perhaps some of them have insider information on the dreadnought programme." Said Azula. Morthas narrowed his eyes in amusement, saying: "One thing at a time Azula, it's a concept that works out well. You should try it."
"All transport and assault ships from the Underworld Guild and defected Alliance military are ready to go, stationed in the Zegreis system 8 light years away. They have more than the sufficient collective space to house all the prisoners, and the guards on the ships are trained and ordered appropriately to interrogate prisoners to isolate ones with usable tactical expertise or knowledge." Replied Shockwave.
Nodding, Shak'rii then summed up: "All that remains now is to choose which of you will help lead this operation directly. You can't all do it, for the risks involved, and we have to ensure we have some of ourselves left for helping with an additional assignment alongside this one."
Kirth then explained, bringing up a projection of the Xathana shipyards, showing the massive dreadnoughts under construction there still. 2 were still a few months from completion, the third was in the final construction stages:
"One of our sources confirms that the dreadnought construction is still underway. They report 2 dreadnoughts still months from completion, but the third being ready soon. We want to ensure these warships never make it out in time, or out at all."
"Attacking ships that size seems suicidal to me. From what I've read and heard, the Emancipator was bad enough." Se'rie commented. Lexa looked at the ship holograms, asking: "The weapons are offline. So they want us to sabotage these ships?"
"Yes. The more developed ship will be tricky, but the other 2 dreadnoughts will be easier. The recommended strategy is to target the main reactor of the shipyards, causing a chain reaction of a power overload. Otherwise, destroy the key systems of the dreadnoughts. Engines, the bridge, hangers, the primary weapon-the antimatter shell mass accelerator. Anything to delay the dreadnoughts by a few months, 5 or so, at least, would be beneficial. So amek the damage count when its done." Replied Kirth.
"In the meantime the three of us shall continue leading the home front of the NKI. You just focus on the Garonth prison station raid, and then the dreadnought facility raid." La'kias said.
"This prison raid could be a key point, and help us turn the tides more in our favour. Good luck, and thank you." With Sha'krii's last good will tiding, the holo conference ended, but they left the holograms of the prison station Tartarus and the Xathana shipyards still up.
Later on, after a brief respite, the decision time was upon them.
Meeting just inside the underground fighter hanger, Xale, Azula, Lexa, Alex, Se'rie, Ja'hail, Norstith, Morthas, Raxler, Shockwave [in his full mode] and Aru'san's complete draconian form had congregated. The decision: to see who would at least go on the prison ship raid. And already, excuses, albeit justified ones, began to fly.
"I can't go because I am more useful tactically if I remain here." Replied Raxler. Norstith then said: "The magnetic defences, if active for even a bit, would compromise my ability with my still currently metallic body. I would assume then that neither Alex, Shockwave or Aru'san shall be going either, seeing as they are a large percentage of metal in their form?"
At Norstith's point, Alex scowled in annoyance. It wasn't that he wanted to go, but he didn't like being unable to go. Shockwave was impassive, and Aru'san merely also said: "My from is more suited to open areas anyway, particularly with an atmosphere. Attacking a station is not my strong point."
"I might be learning fast, but I don't think I'm quite ready for a mission this risky just yet." Admitted Se'rie. No one seemed to argue there, for the reason that there were still 5 skilled people left. Xale, Azula, Lexa, Ja'hail and Morthas had no reason not to go, as they carried much less metal than some of the others, much of their combat and armour hardware being framed in composite or fibrous material.
However, there was still untapped potential for a raid on the dreadnought facility, as Shockwave began:
"The dreadnought shipyards are guarded by a standard Alliance squadron, and station emplaced defences. Provided that sufficient ships are mobilized in time, the three dreadnoughts can be attacked and disabled before their weapon systems or AI software become fully operational. In this instance, personnel skilled in space tactics and specialize with infiltration and hacking are useful."
Immediately, Shockwave looked at Raxler: "Myself and Raxler shall be useful here. Additionally, Alex and Norstith will prove useful, given their past work experience with the old KI."
"Sneaking aboard an enemy stronghold and destroying it outright? Just like old times, except I'd normally be with you Morthas." Said Alex. Not amused, Morthas retorted: "You were the one who destroyed when I told you to preserve. I always insisted that humans have the feature of being overzealous in combat too often. I viewed it as a weakness, and still do, despite what others may say."
"Well maybe that bombastic flair I so often implemented will be what this shipyard sabotage mission needs." Finished Alex. He then had a thought, and said to Aru'san: "Hey, the prison ship Tartarus is sealed, but the dreadnoughts under construction aren't. You could come as well, infiltrate directly into the superstructure of the ships where it's open."
"Yes, I see. I can also provide transport for 2 sealed organic, or synthetic personnel. My small size and stealth field projectors can help me infiltrate. I see a measurable probability of success being added to the mission statistics if I accompany." Replied the draconic AI.
Alex thought for a moment, and said to Se'rie: "This would be a space battle, not quite what we've been training you for. But, you could be useful as a battle overseer, give us directions to specific points in the shipyards, and relay any orders we give to the fleet while you're aboard, along with any of us here who aren't, well, preoccupied."
"I'm no engineer, but I can handle navigation and battle directing. Sure." She replied, her exposed feathers fluffing briefly in a shrug like motion.
With that, everyone had their assigned roles. For the chance that a rescued member of the prisoners from the Tartarus facility yielded intel useful to the shipyard raid, the non prison mission members [Alex, Se'rie, Norstith, Shockwave, Raxler and Aru'san] would depart and meet up with an NKI fleet near the shipyards, but safe. The shipyard strike would move in, only after confirming whether there was usable intel from any prisoners. They would be ready regardless, but any information would help greatly.
Later that evening, Azula found herself staring out at the horizon, seeing the red sun just having dipped below the ocean line. Instinctively, she inhaled and exhaled deeply, relishing the air of her home planet once more, after being away for over half a year. Her hands warmed, as the breathing stimulated small blue jets from her open palms down to the floor.
Footsteps behind her, and Azula felt a pair of muscular, pale arms snake around her waist, as Xale leant over and rested his chin on her shoulder: "Its good to be back home huh?"
"I'll admit seeing the galaxy, albeit the human disliking Alliance, was inspiring and insightful. But, there is a sense of assurance and satisfaction of being on one's own world once more."
A parade of footsteps sounded behind them, as it seemed the balcony of the organic quarters was becoming a quite popular place for sightseeing. Alex stared out at the horizon, ignoring the embracing fire princess and his clone nearby, even ignoring Se'rie for a brief moment as he spoke to himself, but also aloud:
"So peaceful. Makes me remember why I thought it was a blessing that I found this world. So much happens out beyond this sky, and yet here, life goes on with much less change." Light, clicking footsteps, as Se'rie drew alongside him, her metal talon covers making the iconic sound. Lexa drew nearby also, saying aloud:
"I think a lot may have changed. In case you haven't remembered, there were two of the people who helped at Varya on this planet who were expecting when we left. Mai and Katara ring any bells?"
It then dawned on Alex. They had just arrived back, and had probably up to two weeks before they had to leave. Preparations were underway, and they could afford to visit some old friends.
Se'rie was curious, and asked: "They'll have had the kids already. How old would they be now?" Thinking, Lexa did the arithmetic: "Let's see. Both were roughly halfway through when we left, so probably 3 months old each for the kids at least."
Se'rie then grabbed Alex's hand, asking: "I've never seen a human baby before, and I really liked your friends when I met them. Please, can we visit some of them?"
"It wasn't a question, we are going. We're here, so we may as well visit them. But be warned, human babies are known to be vicious, messy creatures." Alex said the last part with mixed honesty and humour.
Xale saw an opportunity, and said: "Hey, apparently I was never like that as a baby."
Lexa rolled her eyes, and said: "Xale, you and I were never really babies. When you were technically three months old, you were cutting down training robots with weapons you'd been taught how to use in a cloning tank."
"I guess he's right then. You two were messy as babies, and vicious." Retorted Se'rie.
Xale shrugged, and ruffled Azula's black hair a bit, but recoiled slightly as she whacked his hand away in mock anger. At his expense, the others laughed at his fear of his own girlfriend.
29th July 2901
Southern Air temple
Having received a very quick letter, Aang and Katara were expecting visitors from the island. They knew it was Alex, Se'rie and Shockwave again at least, but that some others may be coming, ones who could not easily appear in much more public locations.
Katara was inside the temple, but Aang waited patiently on a plaza balcony of the temple, with Momo flying around, chasing butterflies in the plants. As per his daily routine, Appa was snoring in a corner of the temple nearby, his six legs slumped over as he lay on his side.
Sure enough, 2 shapes appeared from the cloud banks below. One was recognizable, as Shockwave had already visited, and Aang presumed that there were others inside him. The other shape was a surprise, and quite a shock.
Appa groaned as he heard the mild roar of a fusion rocket, and cracked open his eyes to see a familiar purple craft landing near the plaza. What the bison saw next startled him, and made him defensive.
Flying up, a four legged being with a long, winged tail, 2 very large, foldable wings on its back, and a reptilian lizard head on an extendable neck, landed on the ground with the mild scrape of its claws. Over its body was grey scales, almost metallic in colour, and its eyes shined an unnatural red colour, like embers in a fire pit.
As the creature landed, the flying bison roared aloud, the air blast from his mouth sending Aru'san back a few feet on her metallic claws. Then, impossibly, the creature's back opened like a set of doors, the hatch blending perfectly with the grey armoured skin. Inside, a familiar armoured human leapt out, landing quickly on the plaza floor. At that point, Aang leapt between Appa and the visitors:
"Appa, WOAH! Calm down!" At his friend's words, Appa calmed, still growling defensively, but stepping backwards slightly. In front, Alex's helmet unfolded, while Shockwave had already landed, and having let Se'rie disembark, transformed into his giant bipedal form.
Rushing up to Aang, Alex quickly summarized Aru'san, of her being a animalistic shaped AI, usable as transport and as a gestalt individual, much like Raxler, except her hardware differences and less logical, more emotionally attuned processing power.
By the time Alex was finished, Appa had padded up to Aru'san, carefully sniffing the draconic AI, before groaning aloud and giving her a massive lick. Although Appa was shorter in body length, he was bulkier than Aru'san, and heavier. Aru'san stumbled from the lick, noting: "Many mammalian instincts are normally to taste objects for identification. I do not wish to experience that more than necessary, there is too much negative feedback from my sensors."
"That is the price I must pay myself for investigating the air temple ruins again." Rumbled Shockwave, as Appa licked his frame, albeit less fiercely than with Aru'san. He then gestured: "Follow me Aru'san. Your files could use some archaeological reference material to fill the empty space."
The draconian AI padded off after Shockwave, leaving Alex and Se'rie with Aang. Momo was perched on the Avatar's shoulders still, while Appa had elected to sleep once more.
Then, from inside a doorway, Katara stepped out, carrying a small bundle in her arms. She greeted the two in a pleasant, albeit tired tone: "Alex. Se'rie. It's so nice to see you two again after so long. I saw Shockwave take that other one, Aru'san I think, off with him."
"Who's this cute little baby?" Se'rie's vice was curious and mildly gushing as she walked up to Katara, gazing at her daughter. Behind her, Alex groaned at her 'sensitivity', but wanted to meet the spawn himself.
Smiling, Katara said: "My daughter, Kya. We named her after my mother, who Alex helped rescue from a war prison. We thought she was dead for over a decade, but she was alive." Looking at Alex, Se'rie asked: "You saved her mother?"
"Truthfully, I had no idea she was there. The name rang a bell when I heard it though, plus she was the only long term prisoner who could still walk."
Reaching out a talon slowly, Se'rie looked at Kya's round face, as Katara held her steady in her arms. Kya stared up at her with a blank expression, and lightly grabbed her talon in a single hand, her face splitting into a babyish grin, and giggling slightly at the strange bird creature's contact. Smiling, Se'rie commented: "She is cute, I'll give her that."
"Thanks. She had a good mother to get her looks from." Aang said. Katara blushed slightly.
Fire nation royal palace
"Say hello to your niece Azula." Said Zuko, cautiously pleasant as he led his sister and her companions into the living room area. He still harboured a sense of caution around his sister, despite the trust she had built. Old habits died hard.
Ursa walked beside Azula, while Xale and Lexa trailed behind somewhat. Zuko went on ahead, bending over at the couch to gently Mai, who had fallen asleep on the couch with their daughter.
"Mai. Mai, wake up, Azula and her allies are here." At Zuko's voice, Mai's eyes opened, rousing her from her nap. Miyuko slept on peacefully, comfortable in her mother's arms. Looking up, Mai smiled only very slightly at Azula approaching, and also at Xale and Lexa behind her.
"Azula. It's nice to see you after so long. You had us concerned." Mai said, earning a look of surprise and a playful retort from Azula: "Concerned? You think I don't know how to hold my own? You don't know me as well as I thought Mai."
Talk turned to affairs between Azula's departure to the NKI and now, both on this world, and in vague, relatively understandable terms the events outside this world. It came as quite a surprise the sort of actions that Azula's faction were getting up to. Normally the Fire Princess had specialized in suppression of rebels, so the fact that she now fought as one was ironic. However, she admitted that her tactical mind was being tested to its fullest potential out there.
"I must admire the Alliance races for their military prowess, despite the ultimately unsustainable spending they do on war. They fight like nothing on this planet." Admitted Azula.
Lexa grumbled a bit, saying: "Benders and normal humans can't bite chunks off you or cut you to ribbons with their claws, or fly. I know that all to well, at least the first comment." Sure enough, she pulled up her jacket sleeve slightly, revealing a scar and healed flesh. On a skirmish into an Alliance bunker, a tactical and annoyance raid, her left arm armour had been damaged, and had to be scrapped. With her left arm exposed, when she was ambushed by a sneaky Kro'nogri trooper, he managed to bit a half wallet sized chunk from her arm, luckily only tearing flesh and muscle, only scratching bone as he withdrew. She had been saved by a loyal NKI recruit, and after a week's treatment on growth stimulants and cell regenerative procedures, she was out again. Of course, the divot of missing flesh was still there, and likely always would be. However, she wore it as reminder, and as a trophy, one better earned than any tattoo ever could be.
Talk soon turned to their return, to which Xale merely said: "Well, we've got a bunch of missions, too complicated to say here and now, coming up. Luckily this planet was nearer to the locations we need to get to than the Alliance space. So we decided to come back, make our next plans, and maybe kick back a bit and visit the sights while we're here."
"In any event, its nice to have you here Azula, and to see you happy." Ursa said, reaching out a hand to cup her daughter's shoulder. Smiling, Azula muttered her thanks.
29th July 2901
Xathana system, Xathana shipyards, construction complex habitation area.
Sitting behind his desk, Kal'sik poured over the schematics of the dreadnought designs, and of the bills and schedules he had to oversee not only as the facility's and defending fleet's second in command, but as a scientist as well. His contributions from experience with the Varya station research division had proven valuable to some alterations to half of the Dreadnought force. His proudest feature he designed was the final stage of any mark II Dreadnought construction, which was associated with the integration of the ship's AI systems.
Of the 6 Dreadnoughts currently out there, 3 were Mark Is, which worked like a much larger battleship, but with a higher than average AI network assisting with operation. The mark II dreadnoughts were more autonomous, but not entirely, and had a higher focus on internal automated force manufacturing, effectively becoming part mobile weapons factory now, at the cost of the speed of the ship in FTL transit.
However, Kal'sik's thoughts were on his commander, and his higher command who approved the Dreadnought project.
Admiral Kha'ralan was an aging fossil, stuck in his old ways, who would simply use the dreadnoughts as a way of making the UIP surrender on masse preferably, avoiding deaths with the threat of death itself. This was also what Kro'nogri King Lo'rath and councillor Velaran wanted: victory through fear of force. As their opinions were dominant, Kal'sik was stuck serving a subservient Admiral directly, one who would not exploit the dreadnoughts to their fullest potential,
As a true Kro'nogri, as Kal'sik thought to himself, he felt that a weapon that was not used was useless. These dreadnoughts were designed to be the ultimate engines of destruction, and if Kal'sik had his way, more worlds than were current would be burning and quaking under the fire of the dreadnought attacks. Only Leg'hrul councillor Dae'karya shared the sentiment to utilize the Dreadnoughts much more thoroughly, at least to scare the UIP definitely to surrender on first sight of a dreadnought. But even she was limited, she still believed to a lesser degree of using the fear of force to make systems fall in line.
Kal'sik knew from experience the bravado of the UIP races, having seen them fight back in the Varya operation, despite their surprise. He could have pushed them back, and held them back, had the old KI remnant not interfered. If the UIP was to be truly subjugated, if the unjustified violence on Konurich station sprouted by those UIP early ambassadors 16 years earlier that claimed Kal'sik's mother and brother in a mass riot, and hospitalized his father for 2 months until his death, there was only one solution.
With the dreadnoughts, every world important to the UIP, military, economic, civilian, was to be attacked, burned to ashes. Every strong section of the UIP must be broken, every stronghold of heart or courage must be shattered.
The destruction of the UIP would require ruthless brutality, which Kal'sik would be happy to carry out. If the UIP were to ever be defeated, they needed to be broken. With these Dreadnoughts, in Kal'sik's mind, the lives of those Alliance members that would be killed in conventional battlefields would be saved, and the deaths of the UIP members would merely be changed in how it occurred. For every death the Dreadnought's killed, another one or more was saved from the conventional battlefields.
The UIP would burn under the fires of destruction, and Kal'sik was among those willing to do what was required to fulfil such an ambitious goal.
Hey guys, as per usual, please can you leave reviews to give me usable feedback? I could use suggestions for improvements.