'Here they come.' Taakien announced from the sensor station in the third planet's spaceport observation tower. Nervously he wet his lips with his tongue and swept a lock of blond hair from his high forehead.
Miranjee turned away from the windswept, rocky desert panorama outside, and walked over to the young Civire technician.'They have committed their whole force. That means they have swallowed the bait.' the tall Brutor woman concluded after a look at the orbital scanner's console. A fierce smile appeared on her full lips. 'Looks like they lost another few ships.'
'They will still have enough troops available to raze this whole installation to the ground.' Taakien reminded her and fretfully gestured at the factory complex beyond the spaceport which was hardly visible through curtains of storm-driven, red sand. His blue-grey eyes were overcast by a dismal look. He shook his head before he looked up at the female soldier 'I can't believe we're doing all of this just because of some Amarr jaalan.'
Miranjee glared at him angrily. War-tattoos flared up briefly on her dark skin as she raised her voice 'This is not for her, this is for us!' she reprimanded him. 'This is our home, and nobody can come here and force us to obey them.' She settled down and continued more quietly. 'Captain Roucellis and the others will come. We only need to hold this complex long enough for them to arrive.' she looked straight into the eyes of the young man. 'And we will hold.' she stated with determination.
'Yes ma'm!' Taakien saluted with brittle resolve in his voice.
Miranjee nodded curtly and activated the station-wide intercom. 'This is your combat commander speaking. Everyone prepare for battle. Remember, they will be aiming to take a live prisoner here, so they will not be able to use heavy weapons. You will hold your designated positions as long as you possibly can.' She put on her helmet and picked up her assault weapon, then she left to join the troops down in the main loading bay.
***
Commodore Sivaata looked at the desolate russet orb of the third planet from the bridge of his carrier. A tactical hologram overlay displayed an enlarged portion of the planet's surface, complete with representations of the planetary factory buildings. Flashing icons representing his landing craft and troop contingents closed in on the enemy's position.
The Janissary fleet was assembled in space, high above the target location. One of the Bhaalgorn battleships had docked with the bulky customs office that sat in a stationary orbit above the spaceport below. If it would come to a protracted siege, his forces would have a ready supply route once the landing platform below was in their hands. Since the opposition had no other way to leave the planet than via this route, they were trapped, and the objective of their mission with them.
Despite the tactically sound position, the seasoned Deteis commander pressed his lips together and frowned sceptically. He did not like it at all that he was forced into a surface raid with only light infantry. Neither did he appreciate the fact that he had to lift the station siege which had been close to completion. They had already lost a forward strike team to a trap, though. One more capsuleer and a few smaller craft had fallen during the siege. Now Kueres and his two escort ships were still unaccounted for. Splitting his force again seemed unwise. Especially with Roucellis' capsuleers and their carrier still hiding somewhere outside the Janissary scout's sensor range.
'Commodore, we are receiving a transmission from captain Saremar!' the communications officer called out to him.
Sivaata was relieved at the news that his most competent capsuleer was still with them. He turned to look over at the comm station. 'What is his status?' he inquired.
'Sir, he reports that he was lured into a trap by the spy. His escort has been destroyed and his ship was badly damaged. The transmission is breaking up, but he requests docking permission to have repairs performed and replenish losses to his crew.' the Civire woman replied.
Sivaata nodded slowly 'So it was as we expected.' he muttered. 'Clear him for docking. Send word to the hangar bay that he will need immediate repairs and new crew. I want him ready for deployment as fast as possible.' He turned his attention back to the view outside. A flashing tactical indicator appeared on the surface of the wide bridge window and tracked the path of Kueres' vessel as it appeared out of warp.
'Magnify' Sivaata commanded. The ship trailed wisps of venting plasma and there was obvious damage to it's armor. It must have been a hard fight. He was tempted to ask Kueres about it in person, but he was needed here. Something was bound to happen. His uncanny instinct as a seasoned veteran told him so. 'Is it here that Roucellis will make his stand?' he asked himself while he watched Kueres' ship vanish from view as it entered the docking bay.
'Commodore Sivaata, Sir!' the voice of the communications officer sounded urgent 'We are receiving a transmission from the surface.' she looked over at her commander with confusion on her face 'It is encrypted with the code we gave to the spy.'
'What?!' Sivaata was irritated by this turn of events. He walked over to the comm-station. 'How can that be? Didn't that same spy lay a trap for Kueres out in deep space?'
The Civire officer looked at him with a helpless expression. 'I know, sir, but the message says that we should disengage immediately. This whole thing here is supposed to be a trap.'
Before the Sivaata could respond, a massive detonation deep within the ship shook the bridge with it's force. Alarm sirens went off and instrument panels lit up with disturbing activity.
'Sir, something just exploded inside our hangar!' one officer shouted from a technical station flaring red with damage reports.
'Commodore, a Thanatos carrier and a number of other ships are in warp to our position.' came the report from the tactical officer.
Then the bridge was flooded with intense light as the orbital customs office blew apart. The enormous blast tore through the battleship docked with the large structure. Sivaata looked on with gritted teeth as the mighty vessel was broken in half and large pieces of debris were flung among the ships of his fleet
***
Taakien had immediately engaged the remote detonator once he received the signal from captain Roucellis' incoming fleet. His scans had shown him that an enemy battleship was docked to the customs office. Even a craft of that size would not survive the thermonuclear blast fueled by storage holds full of enriched uranium. He checked the scanner again and noticed an odd distortion in the readings.
Curious, the Civire technician began to run a diagnostic subroutine. Muffled gunfire and explosions could be heard from further inside the station, and outside in the unrelenting dust-storm raged, but nothing had damaged the sensor systems. He proceeded to isolate the disturbance and when he had found it's source he got up and drew his sidearm.
Madame Jaunes had isolated this very code days earlier. Back then it was hidden in a scanner wave, just like it was now. She had briefed all technical personnel about it's significance. It must have come from a spy among them. Now it came from within this station. From inside this very building even!
Taakien looked around. There was only the elevator to the main level of the small spaceport, and the stairs down to the utility chambers beneath this command centre. Slowly he approached the spiraling metal steps and quietly walked down with his weapon ready. He hit the release for the door to the service room and quickly resumed firing position.
'Jorrit?!' he shouted surprised when he saw the Sebiestor tech-crewman squatting over a portable comm-console that was patched into the main sensor trunk.
'Don't do it!' he shouted and pointed his gun at the other man when the Minmatar made a move for his own weapon.
With resignation on his narrow, ashen face Jorrit raised his hands and got up. 'I guess that's end of line for me then?' he shrugged 'Just hope my last message did any good.'
'Did any good?!' Taakien burst out. 'Our people are dying out there because of you!'
'Because of me?!' the Sebiestor shouted back at him 'No! It's because of that Amarr kuti!'
Taakien switched his gun to stunner pellets and shook his head. 'It's not for her, it's for us.' he reminded himself, then he shot.
***
The Euryale lurched to a slow stop after dropping out of warp above the assembled Janissary force. Cedrien assessed the field immediately through the senses provided to him by the capsule's neural interface. The long, cylindrical hulls of Iteron-class tansporters, were moving through the enemy formation, radiating devastating smartbomb blasts and slowing enemies down with magnetic force webs. Cedrien immediately engaged the energy transfer from his ship to sustain the unconventionally strong armor repair systems they had mounted on the cargo ships.
As usual, the electronic warfare ship of Shisei did it's disruptive work, mainly against the remaining Bhaalgorn. Sandrielle and Alira threw themselves into the fight with the strategic cruisers they were flying, picking equally advanced ships among the enemy force as their targets.
When Cedrien issued the launch command to the fighter wings he first noticed the conflagration inside the Janissary carrier's hangar. Confused he focused his senses at the enemy ship after he had engaged the re-constructive matter streams intended to keep the armor of his two main combat pilots intact.
The enemy ship was suffering from heavy internal damage. It was losing energy as if running at full capacity, but he could see none of it's support systems engaged. It's shields were fluctuating, and obviously it could not launch fighters. The vast flight deck between it's bow prongs was torn open and explosions still flared up inside. 'What happened here?' he wondered.
He had expected an almost suicidal fight against a force outnumbering theirs significantly, but with the backbone of the Janissary fleet disabled, everything had suddenly changed. Now that his stealth bomber support wing had warped in, the Bhaalgorn battleship was not only rendered unable to engage by directed electronic warfare, but also began to take serious damage. The explosions originating from the advancing Iteron transports, forced the enemy force to scatter. Alira and Sandrielle could now draw individual ships into dogfights where they had the advantage due to structure support coming from the Euryale. Already one of the enemy Proteus cruisers had been disabled by Alira, and Sandrielle was systematically devastating the Legion she had engaged with her own advanced Gallente ship.
A hailing signal came in from the Janissary capital ship.'Captain Roucellis.' it was commodore Sivaata's voice. 'I offer you a ceasefire. This engagement has become pointless. I have already ordered my force on the planet's surface to stand down and retreat. We are prepared to do so as a whole.'
The statement increased the bewilderment that had bothered Cedrien since the first moments of this battle. 'How so?' he inquired.
Now it was Sivaata who sounded confused. 'Obviously, the suicide attack of our objective subject has made our presence here superfluous.'
A cold sensation shot through Cedrien's body when the meaning of Sivaata's words sunk in. In his mind he uttered a long string of Gallente curses after the initial shock had subsided.
'I guess that leaves us with only one issue to resolve Commodore Sivaata.' he replied weakly once he had regained his composure. 'We are prepared to return the crews and capsuleers we have taken prisoner in exchange for Keram Themas.' he stopped for a moment reviewing a status report from the surface 'And you can take that spy you infiltrated into our ranks with you.' Cedrien added.
'We agree to those terms.' Sivaata responded. 'You were a worthy opponent captain Roucellis.'
'It was the sacrifice of one capsuleer that turned the tide.' Cedrien answered. Then he ordered his pilots to cease fire.
Victory was achieved. The losses of Awakened Industries were limited, despite overwhelming odds. Still, a hollow feeling remained.
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