Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 44: out

Refreshed from the needed time off the Sheridan crew was back in business and as they did last time, all the generals had gathered to discuss they plan. In the meeting room Idra was showing a galactic map with nearby solar systems marked, to be precise 3 system marked, 2 green one and a red one.

“I have selected a few targets that potentially will be useful and will improve the team coordination. We will start with the green that is further away. It should be a Valurk small ruin. If all goes to plan there will be little resistance so I hope your Lean team can secure the ruin. I will be there in case… metti caso che va tutto a puttane (in case all goes to prostitutes / the shit hit the fan). Then we will move to the second dot closer to your home. That is a Morfian minor ruin. Resistance will be higher and I will directly assist…” said Idra, hoping to conclude what had been a fairly long meeting.

“what about the red dot?” asked Casto, the only male on the ship.

“I’m still deciding about it. Something is off so we will see eventually”

“what is off?” asked Scilla.

“it doesn’t match with my predictions. There should be no ruin on Lilithoria IV. On the other hand the data comes directly from our previous mission. So I suppose that I’m missing some pieces. Having no prediction of the resistance is not good for us so we will probably avoid it.”

“we could pass by and see if we can scan something, can’t we?” said Morea.

“I suppose so. We will see when the time comes” conclude Idra ending the meeting.

Something is off. I feel like Idra is not telling me all. Does the data comes from the AI core that she took? What is she worried about.

Hours later when Idra and Scilla were preparing to sleep, Scilla asked.

“what is wrong with Lilithoria IV?”

Idra slowly turned to face her and sit dramatically on her bed. Her tone was serious and grim.

“everything. It doesn’t pop up on any computation. Lilithoria IV is a habitable planet so it’s believable that it was once conquered by someone. The problem is that I got that position marked from the AI core that was Morfian. The planet should have belonged to Valurk. It doesn’t make sense also because it’s far from any of the possible Valurk- Morfian old borders. So I have no idea what it could be.”

“did the AI just marked as something or as part of the AI network? I remember you telling something about said AI networks but I frankly forgot”

“it… it was defined as one of them. So it would be a second AI core of Morfian origin. But on a Valurk planet? It doesn’t make sense. They were enemies”

“do you know that for sure? Maybe it’s a travelling ship that survived their extinction.”

“I don’t know. I doubt any ship could have survived so long. But who knows. After all it could just be that my computation are wrong because I lake data. Maybe it was a secret outpost to carry on with their war before disappearing”

Their thought were not particularly optimistic but several ideas and suppositions later they placate their minds. For now it was best to focus on the upcoming expeditions.

The first expedition was a success. Not a perfect outcome as a couple of Lean soldiers almost met their end falling down a platform. With their reinvigorated enthusiasms they immediately embarked for the second expedition that succeeded as well. From an Idra prospective they were assaulting small targets but for Leans those missions were huge. They brought back tons of tech and unknown elements built by their predecessors. Their high spirit pushed them toward the unknown, toward Lilithoria IV. It was calling them, asking to be explored on a peaceful planet and so they went to take a look.

“we are in range Commander”

“Blast the planet with scans. Locate metallic deposits. Then execute a high resolution scan on them. One should be our alien ruin” said Scilla from her command position.

“at your orders Commander Lis” replied the solider.

While waiting for the scanning results Idra walked beside Scilla.

“hi”

“hi, Idra, what’s up?”

“nothing important. I’m done with the reparation… just one thing”

“what is it?”

“you must sit out of this operation”

Idra’s words were no suggestion. She was imposing.

“why? This could be…”

“you know why. It’s too risky. You will stay here. If you disobey my orders then I will force it. Do you understand?”

“yes, I understand”

In her heart Scilla knew why Idra force her to stay out. She deemed the operation to dangerous to expose her to something that she could possibly be unable to fight. A risk that she had no intention to take.

“commander we have spotted a geometrical structure underground. Nothing around. Do we proceed?”

Images of a small yet metal rich and geometrical structure appeared on Scilla’s computer. After some eye examination alongside Idra it was confirmed, that was a ruin.

“target confirmed. Keep scanning in case something appears and let’s proceed toward it. Crew prepare for disembark and combat”

then Scilla turned to Idra that was waiting and she grabbed her left arm.

“be careful, and promise me to came back”

“They say to not make promises to girls if you can’t keep them. This is not the case. I’ll be back no matter what.”

With those words Idra left toward her ship and few minutes later the NDU detached from the Sheridan. In the hangar troops were embarking on both carries and smaller spacecraft for close range and atmospherical fighting. The Sheridan started to enter the atmosphere. It was coming with them but it was going to keep it’s distance form the hot zone and provide high calibre support. The dense oxygen atmosphere immediately lit on fire as the colossal ship was falling from the sky. They were not using their thrusters as they were going to let the air slow them down initially to then stabilise. The burning mass fall came to an end about 6 km above the ground. And 800 km away from the ruin location. A safe position to then slowly approach the hot zone.

4 close range fighter and 2 troop carrier left the hangar to get in an arrow formation with the carried protected behind. The fighter were among the newest scout small-craft the Lean could deploy and were commonly called Gashri. Similar to an old fighting jet a Gashri has a main back propeller, a wing like structure that contains smaller propeller that can be rotated around and a couple of manoeuvrer small engines. It was mostly capable to launch small anti-air missiles, a couple of AI guided bombs and shot back with rapid small auto-cannons. The troop carriers were similar in design and could be seen as fat space VTOLs. The Ostorna were bigger and powered by 2 back thrusters, 2 rotation thrusters and 2 afterburners on top. It had better armour as it was used to deploy troops in battles and just 4 turrets with kinetics bullets. It was not meant for space combat but there was no use for it. The Sheridan was following slowly behind them while the NDU was above them flying in stealth mode. The ruin position was approaching fast, no movement in sight.

“Gash 1 to all units, initiate descending. Eyes on the radar, be ready to react”

The arrow formation slowed and pointed slightly downwards. Closing in on their target. Altitude 3000m..., 2000m…, 1000m. The hill were the ruin was built is in sight with sparse tree casting strangely deformed shadows.

A flash instantaneously followed by an explosion. The left Ostorna was on fire, it’s right wing was flying away.

“AMBUSH!!”—”Ost 2, we are hit! We are going down”

The fuel flowing out of the severed wing was burning in blue flames while the Ostorna was trying to regain stability. The self sealing systems cut away the fuel supply to the lost wing. The pilot with lightning reflexes and ball’s of steel pushed the right afterburner to full power and turned off the left wing engine.

“enemy AA kinetic cannons on the hill !. Gash1 to 4 shoot a quarter of your missiles toward the hill but stay the fuck away, you don’t have enough armour. I’ll bomb those bastards!” said Idra while her position appeared. She was no longer in stealth, but neither was the enemy. The “ruin” was active and a storm of small interceptors pupped out of the ground.

//enemy spaceship detected.//

//hostile 66 small ships//

//weapon systems ready//

“fuck! Scilla there are more enemies. Your troops needs backups”

“Fuck. Pilot, full onward. At 50km turn the ship side way. Rail-guns, fire at will. Anti-air I want all of you ready. Missile bay load in the cluster missiles. First salvo on the interceptors”.

Idra with her NDU pointed right toward the hill. Destroying the AA cannons was the priority. To do so she was going to fly right in the enemy fleet.

Gash 1 to 4 shoot their missiles and immediately changed route. Ost 2 was falling but it was getting stable and Ost 1 was turning.

//on target. Fire at will//

the NDU went in “full combat mode” and with the 4 rail-guns along the 10 Hypera Idra started shooting.

//proximity changes loaded//

//fire//

The massive rail-guns roared as the immense amount of electricity flowing in them burned anything on their way. The immense amount of energy launched the 4 changes that were few meters wide. Exactly as their enemy hit in instant Idra’s weapons did the same.

//target hit. 6 ships destroyed. 4 heavily damaged.//

The Hypera systems, a series of extremely high ratio small cannons started shooting as well. But the enemy was not going to stay still.

Leaving the safety of their cloaking devices the ground anti-air started shooting back and while the smaller gun were pointed at Idra, the 2 bigger one were not. One was toward Ost1 and the other toward the Sheridan. The bullet stroke with immense power, this time they didn’t miss. It pierced right through Ost1 engine and exploded inside the ship. The fuel reached immediately and in the blink of an eye the Ost1 became a massive and expensive firework. The other bullet hit the Sheridan. It didn’t bounce but it didn’t price past the armour which was enough.

“fuck! Ost1 is gone, it’s fucking gone!”

“gash focus! Enemy incoming” screamed Idra at them while she pushed in the enemy formation. Bullet hit and bounced on the NDU hull while Idra’s weapons tried to take down as may fighter as she could.

The Sheridan first salvo of bullets from the rail-guns arrived but missed almost all the targets. It was not easy to shoot such small enemy from more than 50km away.

“fuck, Commander they are on our tails, we are coming in for support”

“pass us on the right side! Pilot, change route, turn the ship left. Swap missiles salvo. Prepare tracking missiles, shoot as soon as they get in range.”

meanwhile Ost2 crash-landed safely among the threes of the planet, not too far from the hill target. They could see the NDU getting in position for bombing the enemy that surely saw them getting on the ground.

//stabilising ship//

//bombs away//

//impact in 2.1.0 detonation confirmed. Heavy AA cannons destroyed.//

A series of strange explosions enveloped the hill summit as blue light blinded the local fauna and dreadful sounds echoed around. All metallic object were felt a pull toward the explosion. The land troops however had little to wait before machines coming from the hill started shooting at them.