Chapter 100: Sea of Gold.
Vessa and her pride found themselves amazed by how quickly the Clan Mason Saviour engineering teams constructed and bolted together a working, fully defensible FOB right in the centre of their clear landing corridor.
Over a couple of hours, they had been on guard duty watching for more bugs to come crawling out of the dune sea that stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction, landers had been running an almost constant cycle to and from the surface.
They were landing everything from prefab pop-up buildings to slot-in wall sections.
It seemed the Clan had learned from the Scalathor and Draconis on this front as the base they rapidly assembled in the middle of the desert was highly similar to the design of the bases they had used when attacking Raptoria.
Large metal panels that made up the floor of the base had been slotted together using massive AG lifters that manoeuvred them around like they were building a giant slide puzzle on the desert floor.
Once these panels were all connected together they would not only provide a stable foundation on which to build upon but would help with the power consumption of the base as the upper level of the metal was coated in some kind of compound which worked very similar to a solar panel.
The only real difference there was the panels were white and not black which thankfully cut down on rebounded heat.
Once the foundations were locked together and the ground anchors had been sunk which kinda worked like stilts that burrowed down to bedrock before taking the structure's load and bracing it, they then began to drop buildings in.
Watching these structures being first delivered by landing craft before being lifted by the Saviours AG lifters which were essentially just massive cranes sitting atop of a Titan tank body was truly something to behold.
Though Vessa really couldn't help but giggle at the Xeno engineers who despite being encased in their blue Saviour armour still had yellow hard hats stuck on top of their domed heads.
This kinda made them easy to pick out as they scurried over each and every surface screeching and hissing at one another, though when it came down to it nobody built structures as quickly or as efficiently as they did.
Soon enough the base was fully constructed, it had everything from a massive master control tower where the Grand Patriarch would command the ground troops sat right at the centre.
Right down to a unisex multi-species shower block attached to the large barracks which could house over ten thousand troops of all shapes, sizes and species.
The bilet blocks for the barracks were stacked one atop one another like massive shoe boxes with each large rectangular module able to house two thousand troops each.
It really did seem like Clan Mason had taken this whole fighting on other worlds thing to heart in their planning.
Once the base was fully operational and running, all of the sentry teams were pulled back in behind its defensive walls, with the job of inbound enemy detection now left to a mixture of drones, sensor pods that had been set out in the desert and satalite imagery as well as real-time imagery being beamed down from the orbiting ships which were still battling for control of the gravity well.
As Vessa and her pride walked in through one of the personnel gates and past the checkpoints that were now manned by Saviour guards a single Saviour came up to them.
By his shape and size, he was blatantly a male human though thanks to his armour and mask they couldn't see his face or features.
"Please scan your IDs here and we'll get you guys assigned to a billet," he said in a rather friendly and soft-sounding voice.
Each of Vessa's pride scanned in their tag which was located on the wrist of their suit for ease of access and no sooner had they done so than the pad issued a pleasant reassuring beep sound.
"Ahh Star Stalker pride Alpha, you girls were one of the teams that brought down the relays that allowed us to punch through the shields up there, nice work," he said nodding his helmeted head in approval as he read over the tablet.
"Just doing our part," the whole pride said as one.
"Well from what I can see where you guys are in billet one, that's the ground floor unit right there, I've updated your tags to allow you in, your beds will have your names above them so don't worry, there are also a few more of your Star Stalker prides in there now who came down with the second wave but I'm pretty sure the Grand Patriarch won't have you girls cooling your tails in billet for long," the Saviour said as he tapped some buttons on the tablet.
"Oh? What makes you say that?" the pride asked.
"The Grand Patriarch knows talent when he sees it and if there is one thing that man doesn't do its waste talent, you might not have thought it but the facts that you took out that relay and were among the first down here on the ground will not have escaped his notice, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you are among the first battle groups sent out to really get this war off the ground, infact word has it he drawing them up right now so you might wanna grab some rack time and something to eat while you can," he said gesturing to another of the large buildings which was obviously the mess hall.
"Thanks for the feather flash, we'll do that," the pride said and with that they quickly headed towards the mess hall with the intent of grabbing some food.
The mess hall itself looked like a riot had broken out but somehow still managed to have an air of complete control over it.
There were people everywhere and of all shapes sizes and species as well.
From the looks of things all of the species of the alliance had provided not only food to feed their people but people to cook and serve it as well.
It looked like one of the massive indoor carnival buffets you'd see in every Raptorian city during the Summer Growth Celebrations.
This was a time that all Raptorians gave thanks to the Great Tree for the bounty of food that she had provided them after the planting season of New Shoot which came right after Winter Seed.
During this time Raptorians would come from all different cities all over Raptoria and set up these amazing indoor buffets in specially erected halls in every city, in these halls there would be stalls and counters lining the outer walls serving dishes from all over Raptoria.
It was a time when all Raptorians sat and ate together, while just enjoying the pride life together with family and new friends.
As they looked around a Serpentinus Royal Sword pack slithered up to them having just finished their meals and were now obviously heading towards the billet for a well-earned rest.
"You girlssss look a little lossst," one of them said in that rounded S way of speaking that some of them did.
"Does it matter what queue we join or is it certain species in certain places?" the pride asked and the Serpentinus nodded knowingly.
"We wondered the ssssame thing when we got in here, but the Clan ssssay unity issss our sssstrength, sssso pick which one you fancy, they will not turn you away," she said.
"Thanks," Vessa said and the pride gave their Serpentinus sisters a polite wave of thanks before joining the nearest queue which turned out to be the Clan Mason queue.
As they collected their trays and slowly waited their turn they noticed what appeared to be a Xeno dressed in all white with a rather strange floppy white hat stuck to his head, by the size of him he was blatantly a Pretorian and looked far too large to be in a kitchen let alone head chef.
But as he screeched and hissed at all of his subordinates to which cries of "Yes Chef!!" echoed almost constantly the pride could see why he was in charge, well that and his seeming obsession with things not being raw.
As they reached the ordering station they were met by a smiling Beledon woman who rather amusingly had a hair net wrapped around her entire head with the tips of her rather large horns poking out of it.
"Greetings little sisters, what can we get you, only the finest dishes of the Clan Mason home world are served here, all are personally crafted, designed and sculpted by Chef Xanatha and his team, they can keep the largest Xeno, to the most ferocious Raptorian on their feet and ready to fight!!" she said proudly while earning nods of approval from the Xeno chef behind her before he turned to continue screeching at his team.
"It all looks amazing but we have little experience with Clan food, what would you recommend?" the pride asked and the big Beledon gave them a toothy grin.
"The lasagne, trust me girls one bite and I'm probably gonna have to watch you lot like a Swooper Eagle to make sure we get our plates back with their patterns intact," she said.
"Sounds great, what's in it?" the pride asked and the big Beledon tapped the side of her large nose.
"Now that's a Clan secret, but trust me you won't be disappointed," she said so they simply shrugged and ordered six lasagne.
"Six bricks coming right up!!" the big beledon girl cried and immediately Xanatha was on his team while personally pulling a massive tray out of one of the ovens and slicing it with such precision that the girls would have been worried to see him on the battlefield with or without armour on, though they were slightly worried by the big Beledon girl calling their meal,' bricks.'
Though they swiftly found out why as the massive Xeno chef loaded up six plates with a rectangular cut of a very meaty smelling food that indeed did resemble a house brick in its shape, but by the way what was cheese of some kind bubbled on the top of it that's where the similarity ended thankfully.
However, when the girls went to lift their plates they wondered if it was the shape or the weight that gave the meal its nickname, as it weighed as much as a house brick as well as looked like one.
As they looked for a table they saw some more Raptorians sat among the throng of tables, so they decided to go and greet their kinswomen.
"Are these seats taken?" they asked gesturing to the seats opposite the pride at the long bench.
"No, please be our guests," the pride said with a welcoming ruffle of feathers as they gestured to the seats.
"Much appreciated, this place is chaos isn't it?" Vessa said as they sat down.
"We know, it's great isn't it?" the pride of Star Stalkers said as they tucked into their own meals which by the looks of them were blatantly of Raptorian origin.
"There are just so many different flavours of boys here we don't know where to look first," the pride said making Vessa and some of her sisters snort a laugh while shooting a meaningful glance at Cemmil who simply sighed heavily.
"Hey you're pride Alpha aren't you? You're the pride that took out the shield relay, awesome job out there, you really showed everyone what us Star Stalkers can do, we're pride Yankee by the way," the pride said.
"Thanks, it was pretty gruelling given that we think that was the first time that a Raptorian has done a combat space walk before, but we're just glad that we could prove to everyone that we Raptorians are gonna be an asset in this thing," they said and pride Yankee nodded approvingly.
"Hey looks like you decided to try out the Clan food, is it any good, also looks like they don't exactly do Raptorian portion control?" one of the pride a smaller female and by her orange and blue scales one from the planet's polar region cities asked, gesturing to the pride's laden plates.
"No idea we are about to find out though," Vessa said and with that the entire pride began to try and figure out how to tackle their meals.
Though to their absolute delight the meal was incredible, a tasty meat mince flavoured with spices in a thick sauce that was layered and sandwiched in-between what tasted like some kind of milled grain, all while being coated in a thick layer of cheese.
"Oh wow, the Clan really know how to feed their troops!" Jex exclaimed after her first mouthful of the incredible meal.
"I suppose they have to what with so many different-sized bellies to fill, I mean look at some of those Yautja girls, I wouldn't want to mess with one of them on a good day let alone when they are hungry and grumpy," another of pride Yankee said grinning as she gestured to a truly gargantuan specimen of the Yautja race who to all of their surprises seemed to be walking side by side with a male Raptorian of all things.
After their meal and some further gossiping with Pride Yankee, Vessa and her pride headed to their assigned billet where once they'd scanned their wrist tags they were granted entry.
The place was already bustling with activity as soldiers from all the regiments and species were milling about and finding their way.
Her pride's bunks were down the far end towards the connecting corridor that led to the shower blocks, so once they'd stowed their gear that they'd grabbed from the Quarter Master on the way over they decided to grab a hot shower before they got some much-needed rest.
But before they even had a chance to pull out their new toiletry bags from their lockers their communicators began to bleep.
"Corporal Vessa Redfeather here," Vessa said answering for the whole pride who simply opened the lines so they could hear what was being said.
"This is OP's command, please bring your pride and report to OPS immediately, over," a smooth female and blatantly human voice said through their earpieces.
"Together that control we're on our way over and out," Vessa said before turning to her pride who were all looking at her.
"Looks like toggling the pretty interspecies boys in the showers will have to wait," she said and Cemmil gave her a scowl.
"Will you take this seriously for once? We need to make a good impression here!" she said sounding exasperated as Vessa clapped her on the shoulder and the pride began steering their grumpy and obviously anxious sister towards the doors.
"Unwind your feathers Cemmil, we are taking this seriously or we wouldn't be here remember, plus look the other Star Stalker prides already know who we are, we're the pride that helped take down the shield and we were in the first wave to hit the ground, we've obviously turned the right heads already," Jex said clapping her arm around her sister's other shoulder as they exited into the courtyard.
"Yeah I know that but we have to maintain this image, all of Raptoria and beyond is gonna be looking at us and when they do I want them to see a professional army filled with highly motivated and skilled females, not a bunch of male oggeling tail lifters!" Cemmil said as her sisters steered her towards the command centre doors.
"Oh come on sister that's unfair and you know it, we all trained and fought damn hard to get where we are, but we need to remember that we are as flesh and blood as the next Raptorian, we aren't robots but then again I hear the Clan has some of those, synths I think they are called and they look just like humans, but the point I'm trying to make is there is no shame in embracing what makes us either Raptorian or female as we would ever mistreat any boy that caught our eye and accepted our offer hell if anything he would make us fight even harder because then we really would have something we couldn't afford to lose, not that any of you is expendable to me, but you know what I mean," Yeppie said giving her sister a stern look.
Cemmil sighed heavily and then nodded her feathered head in reluctant agreement.
"I'm sorry for being such a pain in the tail sisters, but I just want us to be seen in the same light as the famous prides that came before us, those like the lucky pride of Vippy who tamed and claimed the heart of the Guardian of Males, I mean look at them now, their faces are known all over Raptoria and you see children in the streets playing pretend as them, its like they see their future right there in their faces and I want our pride to be seen in the same light, I know it sounds a little stupid and maybe narrsarsistic but one day I want to look out of the window and see the future of Raptoria to be arguing over who gets to be Vessa or who gets to be Jex as they play fight for the good of all species," she said and that positively melted every single one of her sister's hearts.
All of them stopped her dead and stepped in to hug her tightly in the centre of the pride.
"And one day they will Cemmil and when they do we will be sat right there with our pride male chuckling at that wonderful sight but until then let's show the universe who we are and what we can do!" they said together.
After their little team pep-talk, they headed up to the command deck where they knew the Grand Patriarch himself and the other commanders would be gathered to plan this operation.
As they walked off the elevator they were surprised to see the truly incredible set-up that the Clan had created in such a short period of time.
There were desks loaded with glowing holographic displays in every direction, all staffed by Saviours as they worked in real-time to establish an intel network that the alliance could use to direct its forces.
The noise was incredible, to the point where it felt like a vice made of pure sound crushing in on them from every direction at once, it was like being in a stadium full of people all talking at once as the Saviours communicated with ships and ground teams alike.
"You lot Star Stalker pride Alpha?" a deep resonating voice called seeming to cut through the wall of noise like a cleaver and as one the pride turned to see a rather large Yautja hunter dressed in gold armour striding towards them.
"Yes that's us," the pride said as one and he nodded before gesturing towards a large room off to the right side of the main floor.
"Conference hall is through that door, better hurry up as the Grand Patriarch is getting ready to start the briefing," he said looking at them sternly but still smiling.
"Thanks!" they all chirped before rushing towards the doorway.
Inside the large open plan room, there were no seats, it was standing room only and instantly the pride could see a mixture of faces from all walks of the alliance, Clan Mason, Serpentinus and now with them there Raptorian Star Stalkers.
"Ahh pride Alpha, good for you to join us," a deep but surprisingly soft voice that seemed to permeate their very souls said from somewhere at the centre of the throng.
Like the branches of the Great Tree's own jungle parting before them, the group parted to allow them to see the Grand Patriarch himself standing next to a large holographic projector at the centre of the room.
"Sorry if we are late we had only just got into the barracks when we got the call," the pride said and the Grand Patriarch nodded making his blonde-white hair bob and swish in time with his head.
"Not late infact right on time, you are the last ones in so we can get this briefing started, please join me here, it might be tricky for you to see from back there," he said gesturing to a line in the floor that ringed the projector obviously indicating where the viewers should stand.
Vessa led the way as her pride walked single file through the gathered group and took their positions at the front before the wall of people closed behind them, sealing them in.
"Alright people listen up and listen up good, you are here because you are the best of the best of all gathered nations, this is the first time anything like this has ever been attempted and we do not have the luxury of failing, an entire world and its people are relying on us but it is much more than that," the Grand Patriarch said striding along the yellow line in the floor with his hands clasped behind his back as he walked.
This only seemed to highlight his rather broad chest and large shoulders which despite him being smaller than any of the Yautja males or females in the room gave him a presence that dwarfed all of them combined.
He clicked a button on his wrist comp and an image of Velon's home world sprang into existence before their eyes with a large red dot showing their current location on the surface.
"If we lose this planet we lose this entire region of space and more than that we give the Dark Seed and its Nightmare Assassins both a stronghold and a jumping-off point into many other regions of surrounding space, which given that we don't even know how many they already have under their sway we cannot allow," he said clicking the button again which panned the image out to show the planet's position in the galactic cluster.
It did indeed appear that the Velon homeworld sat right at the centre of what appeared to be a bit of a galactic hub for this region of space, the system provided a hyperspace jump-off point that gave direct access to a lot of neighbouring systems.
This made it both a strategic, social and even economic strong point for the region because whoever controlled it would have far easier access to the neighboring systems allowing them to move people and cargo through the sector allowing for far faster movement, it also would have a far greater impact should any of these regions contain sentient species as they would have far more access to them.
In short, it meant that if the Dark Seed and its legion of Darkness held this region they would be able to spread out and conquer the neighbouring systems, especially if they had the military might of their Insect army at their backs.
"So as you can see we cannot permit, not just for the good people of Velona but for any and all peoples in this region, the Dark Seed is a fucking cancer and like a cancer it needs to be cut out wherever it starts to plant a tumor, we my friends and allies are the scalpel," he said causing a cheer and a roar of approval to spring up in the room which Vessa and her pride heartily joined in on.
"Each species here has experienced and seen first-hand what the Dark Seed is capable of, it is trying desperately to shroud the entire galaxy and hell even the universe at large under its shadowy cloak, we will not permit it, we will not simply sit back and watch as it rolls over innocent peoples, enslaving them as it goes, we will fight and we will die if need be to ensure that these people remain free as intended, so with that in mind here is the plan," Jack Mason said clicking a button on his wrist.
The hologram once again changed to an image of the planet and zoomed in on their location.
"While my most beloved one and our combined fleets fight to clear the sky of the locust swarm up there we will do our part down here on the ground, once we are able to land more troops we will have a much bigger hammer to hit these fuckers with but for now we will make do with what we have and we will show the insects that despite inferior numbers we are more than a force to be reckoned with, just like my own Seekers of Truth we will show that small does not in any way mean weak," he said shooting a very loaded glance that Vessa and her pride who all growled and ruffled their feathers in passionate agreement.
"I am organising the troops we have into strike waves, each of these strike waves will be given a series of objectives to achieve in order to free this region and once it is fully under alliance control we will begin launching offensive measures into other regions but there is a pressing task that needs to be accomplished before we can do that, we need tangibly actionable, on the ground intelligence, for that we need to restore the being that the Velons refer to as the All Mother or Mycelia," he said clicking a button which changed the image to show a path that ran from their current location to another a couple of hundred kilometers away.
"This is the region the Velons call the Blood plains, it gets its name because its grounds are covered in a blood-red growth network of tendrils, these make up a very dense network that supposedly spans planet-wide before culminating here, according to our friendly Velon contacts within Spectre One this is where the heart of Mycelia is located, so with that in mind it is going to be your job to push outwards and to drive across the mighty desert of Sand Home until you reach the Blood Plains and from there you will locate and restore the All Mother whom I am informed that once restored will use her network of agents known as the Hands of Mycelia to aid us," Jack said clicking a button to show a topographical scan of the region.
"Your strike group is being code-named Viper and your team leader will issue you your call signs in due time, the group will be made up of four Titan tanks, eight Gipka fast strike vehicles and four Serpentinus Sand Crawlers, the infantry compliment will be four Hunter Squads, a mixed Battle Angel and Raptorian medical corps medical group, a Saviour engineering team, two Raptorian Star Stalker teams, four Serpentinus Royal Sword packs and a single Seeker team, so you will have a decent on the ground fire support, we are also working on getting our super long range arteliery units up and running to provide fire support plus you will have access to two orbital strike ships capable of dropping fire from orbit and once the shield is further disabled this will increase, you will not have CAS until any anti air along the route is disabled and to this effect we have already sent Spectre One on ahead of you to locate and identify any targets along your route," he said pacing around the image and pointing to the various units.
"So your mission is simple, search and destroy the reason that the All Mother is out of communication and restore her to her people, secondary obejectives are as follows, destroy or disable any enemy infastructure that is marked by Spectre one along your route or that you encounter, this include any armoured coloums, infatry groups or strongholds, high priority targets are things like hydrogen fuel depots or production facilities, capture if you can but destory if you can't risk the numbers, also be on the look out for any way to help out the local resistance in the area, they have been apprised of your presence but have not been informed of your numbers or make up or your route for obvious security, its not that we don't trust them but Nightmare Assassins have the same skill set as Seekers of Truth and are very good at what they do, also with them in mind if you shoulld encounter any of them leave them to the Seekers, do not attempt to be a hero and fight them yourselves as I'm pretty sure you've seen what my Seekers can do by now," Jack Mason said glancing across the group and reciving knowing nods in reply.
"Alright with that in mind your overall commander will be Seeker First Class Misty Williams of my own personal regiment the Soul Knights, who carries the military rank of Luitenant, she will designate her own field commanders for the group as I trust her judgement, so that's it people you have two hours to brief and draw gear and then its boots to the sand time, good luck and may the Eternal Huntress or the Great Tree watch over you," Jack said and wit that he walked over to a tall and lithe looking black woman and patted her on the shoulder.
"All yours kiddo, do me proud out there," he said and she snapped into a crisp salute.
"You can count on me Grand Patriarch," she said and he grinned at her.
"I know I can that's why I'm putting you in charge kid," he said and with that, the ever-mysterious figure vanished leaving them all looking at the young female human Seeker.
"Alright people listen up you all heard the Grand Patriarch, both the alliance and the Velons are counting on us to make it through the lines to reach this all mother, this is exactly what we are going to do and nothing I repeat nothing is going to stop us, I've already had chance to review your names and service records so when I call your name step forwards and join me up here, Liska Saphhirescale, Vessa Redfeather, Thomas Silkweather, Nissa Hookclaw, Vetra Fanhood, Verix Broadclaw," Misty said and one at a time those called joined her at the front.
"Alright these are my team leaders and are responsible for their respective units, that's Royal Swords, Star Stalkers, Saviour Mechanised, Raptorian Mechanised, Serpentinus Mechanised and Hunters, the engineers and medics have their own hierarchy and answer direct to me or whoever they are assigned to at the time, so head down to the quartermaster's stores and draw gear, all Hunter infantry you are gonna be riding in the APC's one squad per vehicle, Star Stalkers you are gonna be on Surface Skimmers acting as fast scouts, Royal Swords you are in your Sand Crawlers, so gear up people and meet up in the yard in one hour for final prep, dismissed," Misty said.
Vessa returned to her pride and they all hugged her while the other pride of Star Stalkers walked up from the other side of the room where they had been pretty much hidden among the throng.
They saluted which Vessa's pride returned, "We're Beta pride and looks like we'll be riding shotgun for you guys on this op," they said together and Vessa nodded.
"Alright guys let's head down to the store and get geared up, I want everyone to put their full game faces on here, the alliance is trusting us with an incredibly important mission and we are gonna prove to them that they can trust us with it, we are gonna be their eyes and ears on the road and we are not gonna let them down understood?" Vessa said putting on her best authoritative voice.
"Yes ma'am," both her pride and Beta pride said in unison.
Vessa nodded approvingly and then gestured to the doors, "Well then let's get our tails in gear ladies these stars are not gonna stalk themselves," she said and the two Raptorian prides fell in with the others filing out of the room.
Down at the stores the two teams drew ammunition, weapons and food for an extended stay in the field as well as a couple of the newest MK 5 Assault Surface Skimmers.
The MK 5 unlike previous models was not only outfitted with speed in mind but also with firepower, each unit was a two-seater fitted with a standing mounted gun at its rear that had 360 degrees fire coverage and used a Raptoorian prototype weapon that was based on one of the Clan's coilgun designs.
It was a triple-barreled rotary system that fired high-speed and ultra-compressed plasma shots that were designed to work on both infantry and armour alike.
The new MK 5's also had eight paddles and larger ionic propulsion thrusters to account for not only the extra weight but to ensure that they maintained the speed and manoeuvrability which gave them their edge in the field.
These new units had also been outfitted with small magnetic shielding generators as while both the gunner and rider's area did have minimal armour they were not exactly designed to get into a sustained firefight.
Vessa assigned the Skimmers up to pairs and given that both prides were six strong apiece they drew six Mk 5's and geared them up for the long haul with extra food and canisters of plasma gas.
The convoy was pretty easy to spot in the centre of the yard thanks to the four massive Titan tanks that were arranged into a column with Gipka's down each side of them.
Running behind them were the Clan's APC which would be using the heavy armour of the tanks to add to their own armour to protect their troops.
Running alongside the column was the two massive Serpentinus Sand Crawlers which if shit were to hit the fan would dive under the surface of the sand to allow them to flank the enemy from cover.
Meanwhile, Vessa and her Star Stalkers would be the outriders running ahead of the column to act as an early warning system as not only would they be riding far ahead of the column they would also have a series of scout drones up to detect any potential hostiles in their path.
As Vessa and her people pulled up alongside the column she saw Misty and the other Seekers sitting atop of the lead Titan tank.
The group seemed to be made up of three humans and a Yautja female, it was two males and two females by the looks of things.
Suddenly their comms sparked up, "Alright people your call signs have been assigned and are being transmitted to you now, our tame Star Stalkers are gonna lead the charge and the route is being transmitted along with your callsign, so let's get this wagon train moving people!" Misty said and as she did two data packets appeared in Vessa's HUD.
She was Viper Five which now thanks to the IFF system pinging the Seekers and showing their ID tags as Vipers one through four meant that her people had been trusted as the next in line, a minor honour to be sure but one that meant a lot to her all the same.
Vessa had chosen Cemmil as her gunner while she was driving the MK 5 so now that the order was given she switched to the private channel that she had set up for the Star Stalkers so they didn't swamp the comms.
"Alright ladies you heard her, tails in gear and I want a nice wide formation once we're out there, do not bunch up and keep your eyes open, this is hostile territory and those bugs could be dug in anywhere, so on me and let's haul tail!!" Vessa called to a cheer from both her pride and pride Beta.
With that Vessa fired up the engine of the MK 5 and it hummed to life lifting them off the ground into a controlled hover, once the large metal gates of the FOB opened fully she hit the throttle and in a high-speed single file the Star Stalkers shot out into the desert with their little drones chasing them, it was time to turn this war up to eleven.