They detected six large space stations protecting the Kaitian home world. Based on the size and their sensor reading, the stations were heavily armed.
"I have to adjust course and limit our speed," said Aileen. "It will take two days before we reach the Kaitian home world."
***
As Aileen had said, it took two days before the Lake of Fairwater reached the Kaitian home world.
Aileen put the corvette in high orbit above the planet.
"Anything?" whispered Louis. He knew he didn't need to whisper but he did it anyway.
"Starting passive sensors," said Aileen in normal voice that sounded loud to both Nick and Louis.
"Okay," said Nick in normal voice after clearing his throat.
Louis looked at the screen as the images slowly started to come in from the sensors. The images were of exceptional quality--yet another prototype they were testing. They were three-dimensional passive imaging with such high quality that one could detect individual leaves on trees.
A payoff for the quality was speed; it would take long time before they could actually see those leaves on trees.
"Do we know the locations of the teams?" asked Nick.
"Yes," said Louis. "Our team was near the capital. The first Miccvan team was near the military headquarters and the second was located in the western mountains with orders to scout the entire planet."
"Who were on the team?" asked Nick.
"That's not included here," said Louis. "Aileen, do we have that information?"
"No," said Aileen, "that's need-to-know basis. We don't need to know."
Nick shrugged; he didn't need that information, but had asked out of curiosity.
As the sensors gathered images, they started to see that something was not right where the infiltration teams should have been.
"A ship approaching!" said Aileen after a few hours. "A cloaked frigate."
"Status?" asked Louis nervously. He looked at the screen showing their location in orbit and the approaching frigate.
"Are we on a collision course?" asked Nick as the frigate came closer.
"No," said Aileen, "but they come so close that they may detect us."
"How close?" asked Louis.
"You don't want to know," said Aileen.
Nick stood up nervously and looked at the screen. They'd know soon enough if they were detected.
Seconds crawled and the Kaitian frigate approached. Both men looked at the ceiling as expecting the collision.
"It's practically on top of us," whispered Louis and held his breath.
But nothing happened. The Kaitian frigate went right past them and descended to the military headquarters on the planet.
Louis exhaled loudly. "How close that was?"
"I'll put that in my report," said Aileen. "You can read it when we get back."
The men glanced each other.
"That must've been close then," said Nick. "When can we leave?"
"Two hours, twenty-three minutes," said Aileen, "then we have what came for."
The two hours crawled, but finally Aileen said, "We have it. I've already plotted a course out of the system."
"Excellent!" said Nick, relieved. "Take us away."
The corvette left the orbit and started a slow journey to the outer edge of the system where they could enter hyperspace and go back to friendly territory.
"Counselors," said Aileen, as they passed the cloaked space stations, "I have done preliminary analysis."
"Yes?" said Louis when Aileen paused.
"I am ninety-nine percent certain that the infiltration teams were killed by the Strangers," she said.
Nick and Louis felt a cold grip on their throats.
"Hell and damnation!" cursed Nick.
They hadn't expected that Strangers were involved. They'd known about their base in the Kaitian star, but so far they continued their own--unknown--business. But now that they had acted, it might indicate they were up to something.
Something that bode bad tidings to the Coalition.
9
"What happened here?" asked Jeffery as the Sea of Boston approached the Arash home world. It was obvious, even from a distance, that something was very wrong.
"Sir," said Tricia shocked, "I think . . . I think that the planet has been bombarded by asteroids."
"Asteroids!" exclaimed Lisa.
"No signs of enemy ships, sir," said Lance.
"Keep monitoring," said Jeffery. "I want to know if there are enemies here."
"Yes, sir," said Lance.
"Tricia," said Jeffery.
"We need to get closer," said Tricia. "I can't get any useful readings from this distance."
"Can we go faster?" asked Jeffery.
"We could," said Sandy, "but it might reveal us. Increased heat and radiation might be detected by enemies."
"Let's not risk it, then," said Jeffery.
The Sea of Boston arrived at the Arash home world and Sandy placed the frigate in high orbit. While in orbit, the engines were not needed and Jeffery could order all possible power to sensors and keeping them as stealthy as possible.
"Tricia," said Jeffery again.
"Very few readings through the dust, sir," she said. "Some heat sources, radiation as well. It's not possible to detect any life signs."
"Is it even possible that there are someone alive down there?" asked Lisa. "After that kind of devastation . . ."
"It's possible," said Tricia, "but we need to go down there and look for them."
"That's what we do, then," said Jeffery, and then, to Lisa, "Order the Marines to go down and investigate."
"Yes, sir," said Lisa and left the bridge to give the order to the Marines.
"Sir," said Tricia, "I recommend that Marines use only one shuttle to go on the surface. The shuttles' stealth capabilities are limited and I wouldn't want to take any unnecessary risks."
"Good point, Tricia," said Jeffery. "Let's do that. Get the shuttle ready."
***
"Questions?" asked Lisa, after briefing the Marines about the mission. She'd chosen the 2-Delta-3 platoon to go down to the planet and ordered the first squad to go to the main port, the second squad to the main industrial district, and the third squad to the administration district.
"Are there hostiles?" asked Ellen.
"Good question, Private," said Lisa. "We don't know. But given the fact that we've not detected any enemy ships in the system and that the planet has been bombarded by asteroids, I doubt there are enemies. But be very careful. There may be enemies. Or locals might mistake you for enemies."
"Yes, ma'am," said Ellen.
"Other questions?" asked Lisa, but no one had any further questions. She concluded the briefing and went back to the bridge.
"Ten minutes!" said Captain Ross Morton, commander of the 2-Delta-3.
They were already armed and ready, so the sergeants ordered the Marines to the shuttle.
"Listen up!" said Ross, as the shuttle took off from the frigate and started the descent to the planet. "First squad! We drop you off first. Third squad goes next, along with me, and finally second squad. The shuttle lands with the second squad and hides in the industrial district, so keep it safe."
"Yes, sir!" the Marines acknowledged.
The descent to the surface was a bumpy ride and visibility was zero. The sensors of the shuttle were almost useless because of all the dust in the atmosphere--they detected only large heat signatures, no doubt fires resulting from the bombardment.
"First squad!" commanded Ross after a signal from the pilot. "Get ready!"
The shuttle touched down near the main control tower, which was surprisingly mostly intact. The Marines hurried out from the shuttle and toward the tower entrance.
"Do you read?" shouted Caleb to the intercom. "Captain! Captain! Hell," he cursed, "No comms. We're on our own.
But it doesn't change our mission," Caleb continued as the men near him exchanged worried looks, "We go in!"
T
he squad entered the lobby of the tower. It was empty.
"Cortez," said Caleb to Private Silvio Cortez, "guard the door." Silvio nodded and took guard. The others went farther in.
The control tower was five stories tall; the operations room was at the top floor. At the center of the lobby was a reception desk and behind it, doors to offices on the ground floor. Two staircases ascended to upper floors, one on the left of the reception desk and the other far right of the lobby.
"Chapman. Daniels. Chandler," ordered Caleb, "Secure the ground floor."
Privates Raquel Chapman, Hannah Daniels, and Tommy Chandler moved to the offices behind the reception desk.
"Thornton. Girard. Smith. To the right and secure the upper floors," ordered Caleb. "Hamilton. Townsend. With me. To the left stairs."
"Ellen," said Karl, "take point."
The second floor was an open space office. Empty. The team searched the offices, but found nothing.
"Henry. Check the rooms," said Karl, and Henry hurried toward the three offices across the room.
"Clear!" said Henry after he searched the rooms.
When he exited the room, he suddenly stopped and looked around as he realized something.
"Karl," he said, after joining with Karl and Ellen who were ready to go the third floor, "Do you see anything odd here?"
"Well . . ." said Karl and looked around.
"It's empty." He shrugged.
"Exactly," said Henry. "This is the main port of the planet, and regardless of time, this should be filled with people. There must've been people during the attack. But there's no one here. And not even clothes. And no bodies here or the outside. They must've left before the bombardment," he concluded.
"Very good observation," said Ellen, "but where did they go?"
"We have to find out," said Karl. "But now to the third floor. Ellen. Take point."
They went up again. The third floor was also open space office. And it was empty. The fourth floor had lots of spacy office rooms, but they were also empty.
"The next floor," ordered Karl, and the team went up the stairs to the main control room. It was large, empty room, except for a very big table at the center and screens in the walls.
"Karl." Ellen tapped his arm. "The sergeant is there."
They saw Caleb in the door on the other side of the room. Caleb signaled them and they went to the big table and took cover beside it.
"Anything?" asked Caleb.
"Nothing," said Karl. "This building is empty. No one's here, dead or alive. Not even any clothes or anything. As if all had just left."
"Same here," said Caleb. "Good point about the clothes, by the way. Confirms that they left before the bombardment."
"This floor is also empty," said Private Kate Townsend.
"Okay," said Caleb and stood up. The others followed and they looked at the table. It was the main console of the control tower and it was turned off, showing only a black screen.
"Check if you can get it on," said Caleb to Kate.
"Any word from the other teams?" asked Karl.
"No," said Caleb. "Comms are down."
"Check if you can find anything and then let's get back downstairs," Caleb ordered. The Marines scattered and tried to find clues about where were everybody was.
"Sir," said Kate after she'd tried to access the console, "I can't get it powered. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," said Caleb. "Anything? Anyone?"
"No, sir," said Karl.
"Well, then," said Caleb, "let's get downstairs."
They were on the fourth floor, ready to get down to the third, when Kate, who was at point, suddenly raised her hand in alarm.
"Noises!" she hissed. "Someone's coming!"
The Marines scrambled to hide in the offices as the noises came toward them.
Karl tightened his grip on his rifle and almost shot the runner who came up the stairs and ran past him.
"Chandler!" shouted Caleb, relieved, as Tommy passed him.
"Sir!" said Tommy catching breath. "Someone's outside. Coming toward us."
"Hurry!" ordered Caleb and now all of them ran to downstairs.
"Cortez," said Caleb, as he crouched beside Silvio behind the reception desk and the rest went cover as best they could. "What you got?"
"Movement outside," said Silvio. "At least three contacts. Look." Silvio showed Caleb the motion detector and three contacts appeared and disappeared on its screen. "It's dust, sir. Interfering with the detector. But definitely three contacts."
"They are coming this way," said Caleb. "They're soldiers. Don't fire until ordered!"
The three contacts came closer and were soon right outside the control tower. The door opened and the first thing they saw was a barrel of a weapon.
At the end of the barrel was a uniformed arm. Caleb was relieved. He recognized the uniform of the Arash Empire Navy. He ordered his men to stand down and shouted, "Hail, Arash Empire Navy! Human Empire Marines offering assistance!"
The arm quickly withdrew from the door.
"Hail, Human Empire Marines!" shouted someone from outside, "Come outside!"
"Sergeant Caleb Simmons! Coming out unarmed!" Caleb shouted and walked slowly, hands up high, to the door and outside.
The Arash soldier, a colonel, waited; his two companions were ready to shoot Caleb if he made any threatening moves. But the colonel recognized that Caleb was not the enemy and he ordered his men to stand down.
"Sergeant Caleb Simmons of the Human Empire Marines," said the colonel. "This is quite a surprise. What brings you here?"
"Who am I addressing?" asked Caleb, although he was not in his own territory.
The colonel smiled. "I am Colonel Cameron of the Arash Empire Navy, commander of the 1st Operations Group."
"Colonel!" Caleb saluted. "We were ordered here by the Coalition Command."
"To do what?" asked Colonel, "I doubt this is a counter-attack."
"No, sir, it's not," said Caleb. "Our orders were to do recon of the system to find out what happened." He paused.
"And to search and rescue a VIP.”
"VIP? What VIP?" asked Cameron, surprised.
"Aide Rachel of the Miccvan Empire, sir," said Caleb.
"Rachel?" said Cameron, even more surprised. "Yes. She's here and alive. Come with me." Caleb signaled the Marines to follow him.
"Where are we going?" asked Caleb.
"Underground," said Cameron. "To shelters where many of our people reached safety there before the asteroids fell."
***
"They should be back in ten minutes," said Lisa.
"Still no contact?" asked Jeffery.
"No, sir, the dust from the bombardment interferes with all sensors and communication," said Lisa. "We can only hope they accomplished the mission."
"If they didn't, we send them down again," said Jeffery.
Lisa nodded and went to her console to look for any signs of the enemy. She really hoped that the Marines would accomplish their mission; she didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary.
Ten minutes passed and the shuttle should have been on their radar. But it wasn't.
All the eyes were fixed on the radar, but it showed nothing. Minutes passed and Lisa was getting nervous.
"Patience, Lisa," said Jeffery. He knew that anything might have happened on the planet. It could be just normal delay. But he knew that the Marines did all they could to be on schedule.
"Prepare the third platoon and get the shuttle ready," said Jeffery. "If
they are not back in ten minutes, send a search party."
"Sir!" shouted Lance before Lisa could respond. "Shuttle approaching from the planet!"
"It's the Marines," confirmed Tricia, and there were relieved sighs on the bridge.
"Sandy," said Jeffery, "get ready to leave. If they accomplished the mission, we must get out as quickly as possible. Lisa, let's meet the Marines."
Jeffery and Lisa went to the shuttle bay. Sandy prepare
d the ship to leave and she really hoped they could leave this system.
The shuttle docked the frigate and as soon as it was on the deck, the door opened and Captain Morton hurried to see Jeffery.
"Mission accomplished, sir," he said. "We found the VIP."
"Excellent!" said Jeffery pleased. "Lisa. Get us out of here."
"Gladly, sir." Lisa smiled and ordered Sandy to leave this system.
A woman who could only be the VIP, Aide Rachel, came toward Jeffery. To Jeffery's surprise, an unknown man was accompanying her; his uniform told Jeffery that he was a colonel of the Arash Empire Navy.
"Aide Rachel," introduced Ross, "and Colonel Cameron of the Arash Empire Navy."
"Commander Jeffery Bainbridge. Welcome to the Sea of Boston," greeted Jeffery.
"Thank you, Commander," said Cameron and Rachel.
"Let's go to my office," said Jeffery. "We have much to discuss."
10
"Commander!" shouted navigation officer Lieutenant Rickey Norman. "Something's ahead!"
"Full stop!" ordered Catherine, and the frigate stopped in the middle of hyperspace. They were en route to Coalition space.
"What is it?" asked Catherine, annoyed. She wanted to reach Coalition space as soon as possible; she needed to report what they'd found out.
"Something odd," said Rickey.
"Odd?" said Catherine. "Define odd."
"Ma'am," answered science officer Lieutenant Andrea Tyler, "a large concentration of mass. Something that shouldn't be in hyperspace. We are too far to see any specifics."
"Should we go closer?" asked Rickey.
"No," said Catherine and decided not to risk their mission. "Engage cloak. Prepare a cloaked probe and launch when ready."
"Yes, ma'am," said Rickey.
Catherine looked at the galaxy map and their course; they were going toward the Gemono Empire space. Farther away than Mopian or Ooktian space--but it should be safer, too.
"Probe ready," said Rickey. "Launching it now."
The probe accelerated toward the concentration of mass and sent images back to the frigate.
"Getting closer," said Andrea. "Receiving images."
The eyes of the bridge officers widened as the images started to show ships all sizes, from small cutters to large cruisers.
"The Kaitian fleet . . ." whispered Andrea.
"Deactivate probe immediately!" commanded Catherine and cursed. The probe might have given them away.
"We need to get out," she continued, "fast."
"Yes, ma'am!" said Rickey and turned the frigate back where they'd come from, to move away from the Kaitian fleet.