---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We will arrive at waypoint one in thirty seconds, Captain." Helmsman and Acting Sub-Lieutenant Srettia Esithn Graeme stated, making sure to double-check that she would indeed bring the ship out at the first of four points the ship would be stopping at. "Understood." Captain Michael Graeme replied, keying his com open. " Ensign Ankiah to the bridge, please." He ordered, watching as his ship exited it's fold jump to arrive into empty space. "What do you have for us, Ops?" Lieutenant-Commander Steven Deilays was silent for moments, making it feel as if time was stretching, morphing to be more than it was. However, in reality, it was more of seconds passing as he scanned the surrounding space. "Nothing, Captain. No sensor pylons or grav spikes, we're clear for next jump." "Helm, take us there." Michael replied as his ops officer finished his report. "Aye, Captain." Was the crisp reply as the ship jumped once again towards the next point. "I don't think we'll run into any pylons. They don't strike me as the type to prepare. They're more of an attacking species." Tactical Officer Commander James Soto stated, from his position. "I'll have to agree with his statement. All evidence points to an offensive species. They're not one to assume someone will attack them." Science Officer Lieutenant Viscia added. "Arriving at point two in ten seconds, Captain." Srettia stated, breaking up the conversation. Michael nodded as he listened to the chattering bridge officers, looking over to his second in command and E-war specialist Jack. " You're sure they can't detect us even if we do run into one?" Jack nodded and reclined in his crash couch. " We are completely silent, and I have masked all our signatures. Even if they somehow detected us, I have changed our identification to that of the captured command ship. The worst that will happen upon detection is the enemy attempting to reconnect with a lost ship. If they care, that is." "We have arrived at point two." Srettia stated, turning to the door as Ankiah walked through. "You called Captain?" Ensign Ankiah asked, Looking rather crisp in her new uniform. "We are about to enter your home system. I wanted you to be here and give us your opinion on what we see as we approach." Michael replied, waving a hand to an empty crash couch. "I'll be relying on you to tell us what we don't know when we get to your planet." "Aye, Captain." Ankiah replied, seating herself in the couch and buckling the restraints. "Thank you for allowing me to be here." Michael nodded in return, watching as his ops officer continued his scan. "Still nothing, Captain. Not even a warp trail. They haven't been out this way in weeks." Steven replied, eyes still glued to his screen. "They aren't taking this whole galactic domination thing very seriously," Chief Engineer Tanda replied, studying the ship's energy output. " But I guess when you've crushed everything you've met, it's a given you stop caring." Viscia shot a look of quiet anger to Tanda, flaring her hood in some sort of signal as she did so and causing the engineer to quick bow his head in apology. "That was insensitive of me. I apologize." Viscia nodded in return and quietly continued her task, making sure to keep a side-eye on Tanda, ensuring he was aware she was still angry. "Helm bring us to point three." Michael ordered, ignoring the feeling of dread behind him. As the ship made its way to the third waypoint. The crew of the vessel busied themselves with preparing for a possible battle. Boarding marines opened their stations. Pilots enter their fighters. And engineers were on standby to fix any potential damage that would occur from the result of a penetrating hit. Though rushed out of dock, the ship was crewed with some of the best the Terran navy and Aasteran people had available, and it showed as the experienced crew quickly took to their stations. "Arriving at point three in ten seconds, Captain." Srettia announced once again, happy to have hit both jump points accurately and aiming for the third. "Point reached." She happily stated, hitting exactly where she wanted to. Michael watched as his ops officer Steven once again began running intensive scans of the area, trying his best to find anything that would tip their enemy's hand or cause any future problems. "Nothing... These guys have nothing out here. I can almost scan into the system from here." "Any thoughts, Soto?" Michael asked, looking at his tactical officer. "None. They seem ill-prepared for an attack. Or... They might not be in the system." He returned with a shrug, not used to such tactical oversights. "Helm... Take us to the Voktlix system. Point four." Michael ordered, nodding at Ankiah as she fidgeted with her tail nervously. "It'll be fine. We'll help your people." Ankiah nodded in return, though keeping silent as Srettia announced the entrance of their next jump. Once again, the ship sped towards its next point. This time, however, it would put them at the edge of the Voktlix system, giving the crew and specifically Steven Deilays the opportunity to scan deep into the core. "Arrival in ten seconds." Srettia announced, this time looking at the ops station, hoping the system wasn't as bad as many believed it was. "Arrival mark." She exclaimed. Steven quickly began his scans, Keeping quiet as he swept every corner of the system for enemies, at times opening his mouth as if to speak, only to close it and continue his scans in silence as if he couldn't believe what he was witnessing. " Reporting. One large station detected. Low-warp capable. Two hundred sixty-two thousand. Two six two thousand Briolb bio signs. Three thousand. Three zero zero zero unknown alien bio signs detected. Twenty-seven thousand. Two seven thousand Voktlix detected aboard the station. One hundred. One zero zero Carrier-class troop transports detected in low orbit. Four hundred ninety variable warships detected. Four nine zero warships. One hundred twelve heavily damaged ships detected. One One Two damaged ship. All sporting Terran energy emissions. No sensor scramblers or pylons detected. No gravity spikes detected. They don't even have orbital defence batteries." He stated, staring at his reading in disbelief. Michael slammed his hand on his chair and cursed at the readouts as ops threw the data on the main display. "Can't put a damn pylon or spike out but can fucking invade, can't they..... Options?" He nearly shouted. "Put us in orbit. I need to see what the surface looks like." Soto exclaimed, bring up every weapon he had on the ship and sending off some new orders to his team. "Will it cause problems to get that close to them, Jack?" Michael asked, watching as Jack held his hands flat against his console. "None. Their scanners are weak. Unless they get a visual feed on us, they will not be able to detect our ship." He responded. "Helm. Put us in orbit." Michael ordered, clenching his jaw soon after. "Captain. What can we do with just this ship?" Ankiah asked quietly, watching the display as the ship slowly closed in on her home. "I will do everything in my power to ease suffering wherever I can. But I cannot fight this battle. We don't even know if this is a temporary fleet or the remnants of a larger one. But... Judging by the fact they have damaged ships docking at that station... I think this is some kind of hub. It would explain why that fleet of nearly one thousand got to where it did so quickly and why you were aboard it." Michael answered, not wanting to lie about his thoughts. "The captains right." Soto continued. "This looks like a muster point, a station next to a planet... Not to mention..... They could be using your people as slaves to gather materials for repairs." "Entering Orbit in one minute." Srettia reported, breaking up the dour conversation. As the ship closed in on the planet and the crew whispered amongst themselves, Ankiah continued her careful gaze of the display. Though the numbers fluctuated slightly as they closed in, the addition of the captive's life signs didn't help to alleviate her distress. So Ankiah continued her vigilance, determined to do what it took to help her people, despite her fear. "We have reached orbit, Captain." Srettia announced, taking her hands off her controls and exhaling a deep breath. "Status of the surface?!" Michael declared. Once again, Steven went silent, intent on not missing a single spec of data before issuing his report. "It's... Bad. A few hundred cities bombed from orbit. Most of the population has fled into the forests, which make up over eighty percent of the landmass. One Hundred Thirty-eight. One Three eight large cities are holding out. It seems the Briolb can't get past their walls. Very tall walls." Steven exclaimed, putting up a live feed of a siege. A large portion of the unaffected cities had gone into full weapons manufacturing, but they don't have the infrastructure to communicate with their neighbours, so resistance is currently sporadic. Lots of... A lot of the people they captured are being held in enclosures. Most are starving with minimal life signs." Soto watched as the display lit up with multiple scenes from the surface. The camps, the burnt down cities, the villages and the homeless hiding in the dense forest. It took everything he had to hold himself back from yelling in frustration. "Any idea why a wall is stopping them?" He ground out, considering his options carefully. "I do not see any air support on the surface. Perhaps they do not know how to utilize air travel?" Jack stated, going over the incoming data. "You gotta be shitting me?!" Tanda exclaimed in frustration. "Ankiah. Can you tell me why most of your cities have high walls?" Michael asked gently, not wanting to alarm the female. "It's to keep the bugs out. The bugs can't climb high walls." Ankiah replied dryly, watching the display. Soto scrunched his face in confusion at the answer. "What bugs? Why do the walls need to be so high to keep a bug out?" "They eat our young and old. The ones who can't harden their fur properly." Was the reply Ankiah gave without even glancing at Soto's direction. "Shit... That means our first priority is to find a way to protect the ones hiding in the forest." He exclaimed, beginning to draft a plan. "The forest covers the entire planet commander. Look." Viscia stated, pointing at the globe. "Three large super contents connected by long trails of land and islands. It's all forest! You'd have to cut down a tree to make room for a shed." "There!" Ankiah shouted as a new screen popped up. "That's West Yanabsen! That's where president Lunouri should be. He's one of the more influential leaders of our people." "Hold that picture." Michael ordered. "Can you zoom in on the surrounding area? What's going on?" "A siege, Captain." Soto exclaimed. "Jack was right. The idiots don't have any vehicles that can fly in atmo from what I can see. Check out that area." He stated, panning the camera off to the Briolb camp and zooming in on a specific area. "That's a grounded ship. One meant for space. I bet the idiots land their ships, pile out, then burn all their fuel to get back into orbit. They seem to have tanks, though, unfortunately. Even if they're just big guns on wheels..... I don't like the look of this one, Captain." "I give the city another four to eleven days before the wall is breached." Jack interrupted, sending a picture of a nearly destroyed wall onto the display. "If you can save Lunouri. Most of the other leaders will side with you." Ankiah replied, feeling the sting of hope wash over her. "That's what the Fleet Admiral wants, right!? Allies?" "Options!" Michael demanded, watching as the odd-looking tank fired its laser into the wall again, only to be shot at by primitive Voktlix artillery. "What's preventing that laser from shooting right through that wall?" "The mineral composite, sir." Steven suddenly answered, shocking some of the crew. "I've been trying to make heads or tails of it, but the system can't seem to get a good read on it. It seems native to this planet and is super durable. It would make for some good armour. It's ahh... It's also the same stuff found naturally in Voktlix." "I see it too." Viscia added. "The planet is full of the stuff. Even the trees have trace amounts in it.... in fact, the trees might be producing the stuff with their roots." "Metal producing trees... Sir!" Soto exclaimed. "This planet had just become a major strategic asset. Request permission to come up with an extraction plan for President Lunouri." "Denied. It was an asset before with its citizens. Just because it has a new metal does not change things. Come up with a plan to secure the city without revealing our position or presence." Michael replied sternly. "That's going to be hard, sir. We can bombard the Briolb from orbit. But... If they are smart enough, they would understand what just happened and considering they bombed half the planet. I'm not too sure that's a good idea." Soto replied, rubbing his chin in thought. "We could drop a Team of commandos and a tank, but that would also let them know we're here. And considering the damaged fleet in orbit, it would be easy for them to figure out who's behind it." "I want that city intact! They don't have air support, only numbers and tanks. We have eighty soldiers, two mechs, two tanks, two fighters and eight drop pods. I want an answer." Michael stated, wracking his brain. "Drop pods." Jack stated. "They have not encountered Terran drop pods before. Modify our combat armour to look like Voktlix and drop them onto the Briolb. The impact will shatter their lines and confuse them. It will seem as if the natives have built a new weapon. It will also look as if friendly troops have arrived to the cities army." Soto stroked his chin and hummed to himself in thought as if seeing both a problem and solution. "It could work. But I thought we weren't looking to drop stuff from orbit. That sounds pretty orbital to me. We could just insert the soldiers from space. They could jump from the hangar runway and grav chute down. That would achieve the same result of inserting our troops without the look from orbitals. We'll still need heavy support if we're going in outnumbered, though." "Drop me in my Mech. Add a tail to it, and it can pass the test! Right!?" Ankiah demanded, standing from her spot. "After the battle, they'll want to talk to a Voktlix. I can help to smooth things out... That's why I'm here, right?" Michael shook his head and looked to Soto. "Get your team ready. You have two days." "He ordered firmly, watching as the commander left the bridge before turning to the eager Ensign. "And you. Take me to Lieutenant-Commander Caithen. I need to have words with her before I even consider sending you down." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------