Chapter Summary: Sneaking aboard Bug ships and pilfering things.
Chapter Word Count: 5,537
Author's Note:
There are a lot of references to Terawatt in this and future chapters. Do I need to remind people of who that is? I know I've mentioned her before. Knowing who Terawatt is isn't necessary to understanding the story but if you're wondering...
Terawatt is a fictional superhero character in this series that some of the characters in this story are fans of, borrowed from DianeCastle. If you're interested in actual Terawatt fan fiction the easiest place to find it is on the Teraverse series page over at Twisting the Hellmouth:
A Brane of Extraordinary Women by DianeCastle.
Just be aware that the word count for stories set in the Teraverse is in the millions of words at this point. And that's just the stories written by DianeCastle herself.
"That's a lot of automated ships," Joy said, watching the gathering fleet of Bug mining ships in their long range monitors on her tablet. "Think it's new behavior?"
"Possibly," Janice said. "But they could have done it the same way during the last incursion but no one noticed."
"You know the Galactics are good at sticking their heads in the sand. That's why they need us," Joy said. "We don't do that."
"Well, Serpent Clan and a couple others don't do the ostrich thing," Janice said. "Blue Clan seems to have perfected the idea that if they close their eyes no one can see them."
"We need to be watching Blue," Joy said. "At some point they'll get their asses in gear, and start asking what we're doing in their territory."
"Lady Q has several different plans," Janice said, looking through her tablet. "Looks like she's working on several different ideas for handling the mining ships."
"Should we tell her we have a mini bar and snacks?" Joy asked. "The Shadow was clear about us keeping an eye on her."
"At least we didn't get a lecture from the Memory," Janice said. "Or Lady Sylvester."
"Lady Sylvester doesn't care about things like that," Janet said. "She's a tough old bird and expects them to be tough too."
"They must have been something," Joy said. "Can you imagine Lady Q or Lady Air as cheerleaders?"
"Yes," Janice said. "The Boss has some old vids of them in competition."
"And you didn't share?" Joy said, pouting.
"Maybe if you're good," Janice said, grinning.
"I'm always good," Joy said.
"You keep believing that," Janice said, winking at her.
"Incoming," Elle, the night shift Tach said. "Looks like the prediction was right. They're all converging here."
"Wake everyone up," the XO said. "They'll want to see this."
The alert signal rang through all five ships in the small force. Everyone rushed to their battle stations, and the troopers all climbed into their hard suits.
"And a good morning to you too," Jolie told her XO, stepping onto the bridge, followed by Quinn, who'd come over from the troop ship, where she'd moved her command.
"Thought you'd want to see this," her XO said. "Looks like all sorts of Bug ships are congregating in this void on the edge of our sector."
"And none of them are from the main Bug fleet we're tracking?" Jolie asked.
"No ma'am," her XO said. "These are all unknown Bug vessels."
"Let's see how close we can get to scan them," Jolie said. "If they're like the main Bug fleet they won't notice us unless we attack them."
"What types are they?" Quinn asked. "Anything that we haven't see before?"
"Troop carriers?" Jolie asked. "Or anything that isn't a mining ship?"
"Mining ships. Looks like each group has one of those command and control ships," Elle said. "But no life signs, like that mining fleet."
"I'm starting to wonder if there are any real live Bugs in any of their ships," Quinn said.
"Just robots and automated ships?" Jolie said. "Not sure if that makes them more dangerous."
"It means we might have no way of stopping them except one control ship at a time," Quinn said. "Unless there's an overall command and control ship out there that we haven't seen yet with the real Bugs in it."
"What about comm traffic?" Jolie said. "That mining fleet at Chandar wasn't silent. They had comms wide open on their subspace channels."
"Searching now," Comms said. "They aren't using the same subspace frequencies they used at Chandar."
"Sound practice," Quinn said. "Those ships didn't make it here so they must have decided to switch to an alternate comm channel."
"That's more intelligence than we've seen from them until now," Jolie said.
"Unless Blue Clan fleet was the worst in the combined clans, there had to be some intelligence behind the Bug fleet that clobbered them," Quinn said.
"What's that?" Jolie asked, seeing something small moving towards the nearest Bug C&C ship on the view screen.
"Looks like an unmanned Shadow probe," Quinn said.
"We aren't carrying anything like that," Jolie said. "And they aren't authorized to engage."
"It came from somewhere," Quinn said. "Most likely the Alepsos."
"Get me whomever is driving that thing on the comm," Jolie said to her Comm.
"It's not registering on any of our comm channels," Comm said.
"Someone is driving it, and they aren't outside doing it," Jolie said. "Get them up here before they cause an incident."
"I don't know who it is," Comms protested.
"Find them," Jolie said, growling.
Quinn shook her head. Holding up a hand, she interrupted Jolie's rant. "I'm sure there's a simple explanation." She clicked through to the private Shadow channel. "Janice? Joy? Would you mind joining us in the captain's mess on the Hotep?"
"We're busy right now, Lady Q," Janice said. "Can it wait?"
"If your busy is a Mark VII Shadow probe currently trying to sneak into the Bug corral, then no, it can't wait," Quinn said.
"We'll be right there," Joy said.
Quinn closed the channel and turned back to Jolie and her XO. "They'll be here in a few minutes," Quinn said.
"How'd you know who it was?" Jolie asked.
"Who else would it be?" Quinn said. "They tend to be a bit independent."
"Well, not when I'm in charge," Jolie said, glaring.
"Your task force, your rules," Quinn said, nodding. "But don't be surprised that certain elements will still do things their own way."
"I'm aware of them, yes," Jolie said, grimacing. On the screen the Shadow probe started to retreat.
The door to the bridge slid open. Two Shadow's stepped onto the bridge, wearing their shadow suits with the helmet down.
"Joy. Janice," Jolie said. "Would you mind telling me what you were doing?"
"Testing a theory," Joy said.
"An excellent theory," Janice said. "Even if she thought of it."
"There are rules of engagement in a situation such as this," Jolie said. "You can't do your own thing, no matter how 'excellent' you think your theory is."
"We were following the engagement rules," Janice said. "We should know, we wrote them."
"By wrote them, she means we're on the team that drafted all rules for contact with the Bugs, so we know exactly what they say," Joy said, sighing.
"I don't care if you personally typed them out," Jolie said. "Your action could have endangered existing plans."
"Could have? So we didn't actually?" Joy said. "We would never interfere in battle plans."
"Never, ever," Janice said. "We're trained to work with all sorts of mission profiles."
"Ladies, just don't," Quinn said. "If Lady Shadow needs some special data collected the order should come through the task force planners, not some idea you had in the middle of a Terawatt marathon."
"All the best ideas come from watching Terawatt," Joy said.
"No, no, no!" Jolie said. "You are not putting this entire task force at risk just to test some idea you got from watching a video show."
"It's an excellent idea," Joy said. "It's from the episode with the giant spiders."
"Not my favorite episode," Janice said, "but some awesome special effects, even if spiders would never get that large."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but what was your idea," Jolie asked, sighing. "How did you go from giant spiders to Bugs?"
"Well, if you remember the episode," Janice said. "There's a part where Terawatt went into the spider cave."
"I've never seen the show, so no I don't remember it," Jolie said. "Just tell me your idea."
"Well, I was wondering if maybe the Bugs came here, and do all that mining, to reproduce? Maybe they're laying eggs. Maybe the only time they get violent is when someone gets too close to their eggs."
"Eggs? Bug eggs?" Jolie said, staring at them in disbelief. "How did you plan on looking for these eggs?"
"No, Bug ship eggs," Joy said. "What if the Bugs are their ships? What if those mining ships are nesting? If we find out where they keep their eggs, maybe we can capture one."
"Yeah, that is a crazy idea," Jolie said. "Assuming you were correct what would you do with a Bug ship egg once you found it?"
"Hadn't quite gotten that far," Joy said. "Needed to see if there were eggs first."
"Ah, so the idea was only half baked," Jolie's XO said.
"Yeah, it could have used more time in the oven," Joy said.
"Hey!" Janice said. "We don't have half-baked ideas."
"It doesn't matter how baked it is," Quinn said. "It's an interesting idea and might explain some of the odd behavior this Bug fleet is exhibiting that previous incursions didn't."
"What about those pictures of Bugs?" Jolie said.
"That is a good question," Quinn said. "There is enough information on what the Bugs are supposed to look like, and they don't look like robots or ships."
"But when was the last time someone saw an actual Bug?" Joy asked. "I bet those were just decoys or the Bugs have died off since they created these ships."
"And if the Bugs are ships, then tactics need to be different," Janice said.
"How so?" Quinn asked.
"Because their goals would be different," Joy said. "If they're looking for systems to lay their eggs in or to get material to build new ships, and not to conquer us, then it's more like dealing with migratory birds,"
"Or lemmings," Janice said.
"Or lemmings," Joy repeated. "The only way to handle a migratory species is to either kill them all off or turn them in a different direction."
"Our plan is already to kill as many as possible," Jolie said.
"But that's by taking out their command and control structure. If they have turned themselves into a migratory nuisance, instead of a conquering fleet, the response should be different," Janice said.
"So, spank them and send them home?" Jolie said. "Where's home?"
"Well, that's an important question," Joy said, "that we don't have an answer for."
"Or time for right now," Quinn said. "We need to deal with what we have now. The Bugs must be dealt with. Now, instead of letting them come back in another thousand or two cycles."
"So, what do we do?" Jolie asked. "Let these two stumble around taunting the Bugs?"
"We weren't stumbling around," Joy said, groaning. "We know exactly what we're doing."
"And we weren't planning to taunt them," Janice said, frowning. "Maybe a couple of hand gestures."
"Enough," Quinn said. "Can we adjust the plan to include our illustrious Shadows? I'd rather make use of their expertise than stick them in a cell for a timeout until they get bailed out."
"The brig is a bad look on us," Joy said, vigorously nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, I look bad in stripes," Janice said. "And gruel is really nasty."
"We can always make room for the two of you," Jolie said. "Security could use the practice."
"We're fine like this," Joy said.
"No need," Janice added. "We're completely at your disposal."
"That was a given," Quinn said. "You and your team are here for a purpose, not to get more frequent spacer credits."
"We aren't?" Joy said. "I want a recount!"
"We'll need to do some serious revision of the plan," Jolie said. "We've obviously made some assumptions about the Bugs."
"Let's clear them up," Quinn said.
"I think our original plan was the best," Joy said, watching the probe through the main bridge monitor as it approached the gathering of Bug mining ships. "It had a certain flair to it."
"And lots of potential for explosions," Janice added.
"We might still get some explosions," Joy said.
"Maybe," Janice said.
"Begin mapping," Jolie said. "Let's see what we have."
"Behind door number one," Joy said, "it looks like we have eight of those large freighter ships. And, according to our deep sensors, they are all full of some rare metal. But none of them have gallium."
"So they've strip mined nine different systems including Chandar," Janice said.
"We'll need to backtrack their flight path," Quinn said. "What are the chances that the systems they mined were unpopulated at the time?"
"Very unlikely, Lady Q," Janice said. "They've cut across a dozen different sectors since they entered the Confederation territories. Those systems could be anywhere."
"We'll have to check with the Confederation to see if they know," Quinn said.
"And do what?" Jolie asked.
"If we capture them, we'll want to make sure their cargos are returned to the sectors they came from," Quinn said.
"We can't keep it?" Janice said. "What if we pay for it?"
"Finder's fee?" Jolie's XO said. "Wouldn't it be considered salvage?"
"I like how you think," Janice said, grinning.
"Other ships?" Jolie asked, ignoring the chatter.
"The command and control ships, of course," Joy said. "Some of them look a bit beat up." She pointed at several of them on the screen.
"So, some of the systems were occupied and they fought back," Jolie said. "What else?"
"These are gunboats," Janice said, pointing at several smaller ships circling the others. "Or some kind of armed ship."
"They didn't attack us and are ignoring the probe," Joy said. "They must not see us as a threat."
"There could be multiple reasons for that," Jolie said. "They haven't encountered any Serpent Clan ships yet, so they may not have a good idea of our strengths."
"Or they expect us to be as incompetent or ineffectual as Blue Clan." Comms said. "They've never seen what a properly motivated ship's crew can do."
"The Clans were a disorganized mess the last time the Bugs paid us a visit," Quinn said. "We've looked at their tech and policies. They had some unique bits of tech that would be nice to have but they were just as likely to start fighting among themselves as fight the Bugs. All the Bugs had to do was to wait them out and barrel through the sectors."
"They likely did the same this time around but haven't noticed they are aren't fighting the same kind of battle," Joy said. "They're losing ships but haven't stopped."
"They need to keep losing ships," Jolie said, "for us to come out ahead."
"It looks like they are starting to come together," Quinn said. "Do we know the side effects of continued exposure to those minerals? Is there a reason for all of these automated ships?"
"Keep them under surveillance, Number One", Jolie said to her XO. "There must be more going on than we're seeing. No proper space-faring civilization would completely turn over things to robot ships."
"Are they, though?" Quinn asked. "We know the Bugs travel in a pack, possibly more as we're seeing here with the mining ships. At one point, several thousand cycles ago they were a true space faring race, but how long have they been using these robot ships?"
"So, we have the command and control ships, we have the freighters, and we have those gunboats," Jolie said. "That gives us quite a few ships to keep track of. Are there more we haven't seen?"
"Robot ships need mechanics, especially if they are going to be operating out in deep space. But those can be robots," Joy said.
"They'll need dry dock ships but that shouldn't be needed for all of the sub-fleets," Jolie said.
"What does a dry-dock ship look like?" Janice asked. "I've never seen one."
"Basically a big bottle with repair space," Jolie said, "and huge engines."
"Okay, we have one ship like that here," Joy said. "Sensors indicate an echo so it's currently empty."
"And then there's this thing. Whatever it is," Joy said, pointing at a ship bristling with antennae.
"That's a radio control ship," Elle said. "With all of the important work being done with automated ships, they are probably using it to coordinate all comm traffic through a central point."
"I wonder where they found it," Jolie said. "When I tried to requisition a simple coffee urn, I ended up with a mess. This thing looks like a specialist built it."
"They probably built it in that dry dock. They could churn out a ship a week, if they wanted to." Joy said.
"Is that it?" Jolie asked the two Shadows. "Anything else to add?"
"They don't seem to have any hospital ships," Janice said.
"Do we even know what one should look like?" Jolie asked. "Do they even treat their wounded?"
"Unknown," Joy said. "But either they have medical facilities or it's in one of the other ships."
"So, they have ships here that might be useful for mining," Quinn said. "Any ships that don't fit? That don't belong?"
Janice started humming a familiar song. "If I were a miner, what kind of ship would get in my way?"
"A troop ship," Joy said, "but they don't seem to have one of those here."
"No cruisers or other combat capable ships, other than those small gunboats," Janice said. "How do they protect themselves from real threats? Security through obscurity? Never a good idea."
"But no extras," Joy said.
"There are now almost a hundred Bug ships in this area," Jolie said. "Why aren't they meeting up with their fleet? Why here?"
"Maybe they aren't part of the fleet?" Joy said. "Or they didn't want these ships and their cargo getting caught in battle."
"I think that's it," Quinn said. "These are all auxiliary vessels. Nothing you'd take into combat. If they were part of the Bug fleet wouldn't there be an armed escort?"
"That's how we'd do it," Jolie said, "but these are Bugs. They don't think like us."
"Maybe the Bug fleet is actually just a decoy?" Joy said. "And this is the real incursion? What if the Bugs are using their fleet as a distraction while they strip systems of the resources they really need?"
"That's... a different way to look at it," Quinn said. "But wouldn't there be some protection, some armed escort here?"
"Not if no one ever noticed," Joy said. "If they do this every thousand or two thousand cycles and no one ever noticed their mining fleet, except after the Bugs are gone and the Confederation finds all those stripped worlds, they'd just assume the Bug fleet did it."
"So, not a force of nature. Not migrating. Not just a random excursion through the Confederation," Janice said. "They're more like pirates or thieves."
"And we know how to deal with pirates,"Joy said. "Blow them out of the sky."
"We'll need to run this by Lady Shadow," Quinn said. "Calling the Bugs pirates may not matter."
"What about all these ships?" Janice said. "They must be in contact with the Bug fleet. What happens if we capture them?"
"How do you expect to capture this many ships?" Jolie asked. "We captured the Bug Chandar fleet by taking over the control ship, but here? After the first one they'll react defensively. Either by running or calling in their armed ships. If the whole purpose is the collection of resources, they won't want to lose more than they have already."
"If we can contain this mining fleet while we deal with the other fleet, then we can deal with them later," Jolie said. "How hard would it be to take control of all eight command ships at once?"
"Eight separate teams attacking at the same time," Quinn said. "We have the containment shield we used at Chandra. We just need a power source."
"A large power source," Janice said. "You used a sun for Chandar, but we're out in the void. No suns."
"Black hole?" Jolie's XO suggested. "I saw a presentation at last year's All Hands conference where one of the Sci-Techs talked about harnessing the power of a black hole. It was mostly theoretical but they'd found a way to capture a black hole to study it."
"I remember that," Janice said. "But that's a giant leap, from capturing to exploitation."
"Won't hurts to ask," Quinn said. "We can't just move a sun or three here for this."
"Fleet has completed the comm relays along the sector border," Jolie said. "Still not instant comms like we have in our home systems, but a lot faster than vids."
"Good," Quinn said.
"No, that isn't viable tech yet," Brittany said. "Black holes can be contained for a brief moment but it overpowers the containment unit in a couple hours. They've been developing theories that say using a black hole as a high capacity power source is possible. But that's all they are, theories. It'll be decades before they have anything workable."
"So, no buckets of power we can use to contain this mining fleet?" Quinn said.
"If we had that much power just lying around, we'd contain the main Bug fleet and deal with them at our leisure," Brittany said. "If Joy's theory that the Bug fleet we're facing is a decoy, it's possible there's another fleet shadowing the mining ships. Which could mean we might have three different fleets to fight."
Quinn nodded. "Even if the main fleet is a decoy, it still outfought Blue Clan's main fleet, so it isn't a pushover. And if there's another fleet out there, I can't see it being any less dangerous than the other one."
"So finding this mining fleet hasn't made things better," Brittany said. "It's complicated things. We may be facing a larger Bug force than we expected."
"And if there are more Bug ships, a second battle fleet, we aren't ready," Santana said. "We were barely ready for the Bug fleet we knew about."
"We can't tell them to come back later," Quinn said.
"No, but we need to find that other fleet, if it exists," Brittany said. "It hasn't registered on any of our sensors. So, if it is out there it's using better shields than we've seen the Bugs using so far."
"And we're really screwed," Santana said.
"What about the Galactics?" Quinn asked. "What do they think of this idea?"
"They're thinking about it," Brittany said.
"They have no idea," Santana added. "They were surprised at the mining fleet you found. Another battle fleet? They don't believe us."
"We don't want it to be true," Quinn said. "Not surprising they're skeptical."
"We need to know where it is," Brittany said. "Or not is. I have a Tach team going over all of our data looking for any signs of another fleet. It's clear that the Bugs have other techniques we haven't seen for hiding their ships."
"Would samples of the different elements the mining ships contain be useful?" Quinn said. "We already know gallium can be used to enhance our scanners. It's possible the other elements have similar uses."
"The Bugs want the elements for some reason," Brittany said. "Get me samples and we'll find out what for."
"Okay," Quinn said.
"And try to do it without the Bugs finding out," Brittany said.
"Of course," Quinn said. "We can't just capture all of the ships, for the same reasons as before."
"So, Lady Shadow wants us to sneak onto each of these ships, grab a sample, and get away, all without the Bugs finding out," Joy said. "Easy peasy,"
"You've lost your mind," Janice said, glaring at her. "How are we going to do that?"
"The Bugs can't find out," Quinn said. "So nothing flashy. No explosions. No fake attacks elsewhere."
"So, more of a challenge," Joy said. "Why don't we launch an attack on the mining fleet? Won't that draw out the shadow Bug Fleet if it exists?"
"If it does, we don't have the ships to contain them," Quinn said.
"Oh," Janice said. "That might be a small problem."
"Definitely," Joy said. "What we need is a bigger bug swatter."
"If we can't use a flash and bang maneuver, we need some other way to get in, grab a sample and get out. And since we don't look like a Bug and our ships don't look like Bug ships, it's going to be an issue," Janice said.
"What do we know about their control systems?" Jolie's XO said. "Didn't you say that this entire fleet is automated? Some sort of minimal AI?"
"Well, when you captured the Chandar mining fleet, it was all run by Bug robots," Joy said. "No intelligence, that could be determined."
"Which makes no sense," Janice said. "They must use some form of AI, just not self-aware like ours."
"Yeah," Joy said. "You can program a system so that it almost appears to be able to think, but not have any self-awareness, but the reports from that operation don't dig deep into it."
"There hasn't been time to answer those kinds of questions," Quinn said. "We stopped the mining ships, and that's been it so far. They're sitting out there at Chandar waiting for someone to dig into them. Basically in mothballs."
"You weren't concerned that the Bugs would come looking for their ships back?" Koli asked.
"Not then," Jolie said. "But now that someone has suggested there might be a Bug shadow fleet out there, we'll need to take stronger measures."
"The Juun and one of our scout ships is all that's there to fight off a Bug fleet," Quinn said. "That's not enough."
"We can't leave here," Jolie said. "We need to resolve this problem first."
"Samples first, then back to Chandar with more firepower," Quinn said. "And we'll try to get another ship from Fleet."
"A spare cruiser would be nice," Jolie said. "But we don't have the spare crew."
"Lady Air has spare ships of all sorts, waiting for crews," Quinn said. "But training a crew takes longer than building a ship."
"We can get the samples, without a fuss," Joy said, after several more minutes of discussion. "It'll just take some co-ordination and a couple teams outfitted in stealth suits."
"We don't have enough troopers trained in wearing the stealth suits," Quinn said.
"We have two squads of Shadows," Joy said. "So we don't need them for all of them. If we pair up a trooper with a shadow, we should be successful."
"Just need to pick the troopers," Janice said, "from the ones with stealth suit experience."
"Got the list right here," Hancock, the Shadow who'd been to Chandar said, "As long as you don't try to pair any of them with the JJs it should be fine."
"Why not us?" Joy asked.
"Because you've annoyed all of the troopers on this list," Hancock said. "And Janice beat them all at cards last night. Again."
"They should know better than to play against her," Joy said. "She won the All Shadow poker tournament four cycles in a row."
"Joy has the innate talent to annoy everyone she meets," Janice said.
"Yeah!" Joy said, before frowning. "Wait! I'm very lovable."
"You're an acquired taste," Janice said, "Right, Lady Q?"
"That's between the two of you," Quinn said. "My troopers aren't exactly shy. If they don't like something they'll tell you."
"Enough," Jolie said. "Time to be serious. You two, and you," she said pointing at the three Shadows, "pair your Shadows with their potential troopers. And by then we'll have the plan details worked out."
"Yes, ma'am," Janice said. "Come along," she said grabbing Joy and Hancock.
"They can be amusing," Quinn said, watching them leave, "and they tend to get good results. But Lady Shadow only allows them so much freedom to act out."
"I don't see how the Shadows ever get anything done, if those are their best," Yola said. "It's like watching a pirate circus."
"Pirates have circuses?" Jolie's XO said.
"Not important," Jolie said. "We don't need a complicated plan."
"A simple plan," Quinn said. "Block out the Bug sensors, board the freighters, grab a large enough sample. Do we have any shielded containers that can be easy carried?"
"Sample bags," Yola said. "We use them in the lab and for getting samples in the field. Very tough, and protected against poisons and radiation."
"So, two for each member of a team," Quinn said. "Just in case."
"Size of the teams?" Jolie asked. "How many of the troopers do you have who can wear the stealth suits?"
"We have five three squad teams," Quinn said. "Half a squad in each team is certified for the stealth suits."
"And brought their suits, I'm assuming," Jolie said.
"Yes," Quinn said. "Plenty of troopers to team up with the Shadows."
"We need eight teams," Jolie said. "That'll give us just enough."
"Gold and Blue team's hard suits are configurable," Quinn said. "They can go stealth also. They can fill two alternate teams, with some to spare."
"So, you're going with them?" Jolie asked.
"As a backup team with my XO from Gold and the JJ's," Quinn said.
"That solves that problem," Jolie said, grimacing.
"I'm sure they can make room for you, Boss," Jolie's XO said, "if you want to go along."
"Pass," Jolie said. "Someone needs to stay here in case that shadow battle fleet shows up."
"You've all been briefed," Quinn said, looking at all of the stealth teams lined up in the launch bay. "Let's review the plan. The Bug command and control ships will all be jammed for exactly thirty ticks. Each team will have thirty ticks to board their assigned freighter, get to the hold, and get samples, and get out.
Each team member will take two samples. You'll then exit the freighter and return here, using the planned route. Each team has an alternate route if they determine that they are being followed. The goal is to be as stealthy as possible. The Bugs should not know if you are there. If there is any interference on the ship, you are authorized to use deadly force. Gold and Black will provide support. Any questions?"
There was silence. They'd spent over two days working out and practicing the plans and Quinn hadn't expected any questions.
"To your transports," Quinn said.
"Status report," Quinn said. From her position above the Bug meeting place with Gold Team, she'd been keeping track of the boarding teams as they prepared to board.
"Alpha Team, ready."
"Ceta Team, ready."
"Zed Team, ready."
"East Team, ready."
"Bee Team, ready."
"Sea Team, ready."
"Four Team, ready."
"South Team, ready."
"Jamming now," Yola said over the comm.
"Go," Quinn said to her teams.
The hatch opened with a faint puff of atmosphere. The four members of Bee team slipped through the small gap, into the air lock.
"All clear," Ghunda, Bee Team lead said. "Let's find the hold."
The team sent small probes down the passageways.
"That looks like it," Han said, as a probe stopped in front of a large closed hatch.
The team carefully snuck through the ship, reaching the chamber without meeting any ship occupants.
"Is there anything here?" Ghunda asked her Shadow pair.
"I'm not reading any signs of anything living anywhere in the ship," Loo said. "Just a lot of electrical signals."
"Robots?" Han asked, as she examined the door.
"Like that?" Jeffers said, pointing at a small flat object approaching them from down the passageway.
"It's something that shouldn't be seeing us," Loo said. Aiming carefully, she shot a disabling charge at the small robot. There was a large shower of sparks, and it stopped. "Hopefully that won't set off any alarms."
"We're in," Jeffers said, as the door slid up out of their way, revealing a large room containing eight covered bins of something in the center.
"That must be what we're here for," Ghunda said, cautiously approaching one of the bins. "Han, can you unlock this?"
"Check to see what's inside first," Loo said.
Han pointed her suit probe at the nearest bin. "It's radioactive," she said. "Nothing fatal, the sample bags will contain it, but who knows about long term affects." She probed the other bins. "Looks like the same element in each one."
"A system was destroyed for this small amount of material?" Loo said. "I'm liking the Bugs even less than before, which I didn't think was possible."
"So, safe for transport," Ghunda said. "Let's get our samples and get out of here. Get a sample from each bin just in case."
Jeffers opened the first bin with her lock pick. "It's a green crystal," she said looking down into the bin. Taking a small scoop out of a suit pocket, she carefully put two scoops into a sample bag. She then opened the other bins for the others to get their samples.
"Close the bins and lock them back up. We're running out of time," Ghunda said. "We have five ticks to get out before the jamming is turned off."
Just as they reached the outside hatch, a message blared across the local comms.
"We have incoming," Pip announced. "Looks like someone noticed. All retrieval teams take alternate routes to the rendezvous point. Gold and Black teams will provide a distraction."
"Well, that's not good," Ghunda said. "Come on ladies, time for some evasion practice. Set your suits to low energy stealth mode."