Catherine De Wynters shuffled papers around her desk. The lights flickered - a sign that the power cell was in need of being changed. Sighing, she continued checking off everything needed for the materials request that would be sent to Tobias in the morning. Rubbing her temples, she finished the last form and put it in the right basket before pushing away from her desk and standing. Twisting her waist, snaps and pops trailed up her back, alleviating the tension in her back. She began to move away, sliding on her light coat. Catherine stepped into the hallway and moved on towards the communications room to see if Mia had made it to Bretonia. She stopped as a door opened, revealing a familiar figure.
"Captain Williams."
The man turned to her.
"Doctor De Wynters, nice to see you again. Need something?"
"Yes, has Tobias checked in yet for the requisition forms?"
"Not while I was at the Hub. I just left, but he might have just sent it. I'm actually on my way to the mess, so..."
"Of course, carry on Captain. Thanks."
"Thank you ma'am."
The man continued on his way, leaving Catherine to move forward, heading for the Hub. The Hub was slang for the nerve center of Sub Solitudo, the command center. Right now, she had to see if Tobias could get the stuff to the drop point, and soon. The Songstress wanted Sub Solitudo to be ready for something, and so far, she never failed to disappoint. Hell, the lady had sent a braniac duo over to help. Whatever the Songstress had found, she meant business.
"Ah, Lieutenant Fornell. How's the waves?"
"Still waiting for Storm. He takes his sweet time. I'm down to my last cigar." the man said, adjusting his glasses as he ground out his cigar and lit another. "Damn shame, these are my best cigars."
"You always say you run low." Catherine said, smiling. "I'll make sure he hurries. Call me if he checks in."
"Will do ma'am."
_______________
The Raven's Talon settled into it's birth in Sub Solitudo's hanger bay, cradled next to the Eagles and Roc bombers. A single Chimaera sat at the other end, the innards strewn about as the techs did their best to cope with the power problem. Two figures slid from the sleek Raven's Talon; one, with short black hair, another with a flame of blonde that was fire down her back. While they drew eyes, neither bothered to look back as they exited the hanger and headed for the River, as was the slang name for the meeting chamber that was concealed in the deepest recesses of the hidden base. Upon arrival, they went through every check imaginable before proceeding inside to where Catherine and the head techie, Hitomi Shizuka, sat. The two women took a seat and waited for the last three to arrive. First of them was Declan Smithers, the head engineer for Sub Solitudo. He took his seat by Catherine, his face smudged with grease. he folded his arms and waitied. Next came Zion Broekhart, a Molly who was the head doctor. he was accompanied by the last of those to come, which was Captain Travis Williams, head of Security. The seven took their seats and simultaneously pressed a plain blue button in front of them. A few minutes passed, and then the lights shut off, and the glowing of the overhead holo-crystals invaded the room, followed by the bright reds and pinks that accompanied any hologram of the Songstress.
"Hello my friends. I know it is so sudden I have contacted you, but we have discovered something. While searching through records of strange anomalies for Doctor Chandra, Daniel McDuncan dug up a strange sensor anomaly that was captured by low-level scanners a few hundred years ago that was broken and filled with static by an observation station on Leeds. Passed off as a ghost wind that messed with the signal, it was left in the back note of a file, but something about the wave pattern piked McDuncan's interest. He decided to dig deeper, even going as far as to listen to transmission from the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army as the broadcast propaganda in New York one day. The type of wave matched in a few places. McDuncan forwarded the signal pattern to Hitomi, who managed to clean it up enough to get a 78% match."
"Wait." Declan stood. "Are you saying we found a signal from a Coalition vessel? So?"
"Do note how far back this was." the Songstress continued. "Hundreds of years have passed. The Resurgent Coalition's signal is slightly different, hence the matching at 78%." The Songstress paused. "I want De Wynters to take a team and figure out what the hell this was. We are unsure of where the signal came from, but if you can dig into the files of the Observation Station on Leeds, maybe we can figure out what this is."
"Why should we commit resources on what could be a wild goose chase?" Williams said, frowning. "For all we know, it could just be a lost escape pod from the Hispania carrying a dead saboteur."
"We won't know until we try." Catherine said. "The Songstress has not been wrong often, actually, she's wrong very rarely. I say we trust her on this."
"And Sun Solitudo?"
"That's why I invited Isabella and Ellie here today. They will handle the security and alot of other functions while you and Smithers stay behind. Zion and Declan will be a part of this, as well Hitomi's team. If it turns ut to be a wild goose chase, you get to say you told us so."
"And if it isn't?" Travis asked, sighing.
"Then we might find some valuable information we can use to better prepare ourselves. The Nomads are down, but I doubt they are out. Rheinland and Liberty are trading blows, and Bretonia and Kusari are close behind. We can just imagine what lies beyond that minefield. We have the Phantoms terrorizing everywhere. We don't know what is going to happen. Having a trump card is exactly what Dark Halo needs."
The tension in the room was thick. Zion wiped his glasses.
"I say we vote." The Molly said. "We won't get anywhere wi' all this tens'n and stuff. Might as well vote and see where everyone stands, aye?"
Isabella and Ellie shrugged as Smithers nodded. Travis rubbed his forehead.
"Fine. I vote No."
"Same here." Said Smithers.
Isabella and Ellie glanced at each other, then voted Yes. Catherine threw in her yes, which left the voting to Hitmoi and Zion.
"I'm with Catherine all the way guys." Zion said. "Yes."
The entire table looked to Hitomi. The Songstress sighed. "What is your voice Hitomi?"
The woman took a moment to respond. "Yes."
The No's shook their heads, and left the room. Catherine stood. "Songstress, when do we leave?"
"Two days. Please get all you need ready before then; Tobias also says he is almost to the Taus, so expect his shipment to arrive tomorrow."
_________________
Catherine sighed, putting a heavy coat in with her things. So far, she had packed the essentials: Computer, PDA, underwear, socks, she could get a toothbrush and toothpaste from any planet, shirts, pants, a suit for when she had to be presentable, and a dress in case they needed to go to a ball and break into an office. Again. She then began to pack more clothing, filling two suitcases before calling it quits. Deciding she was done, she went to make her rounds. It was the day before, and Tobias was due any moment with the shipment.
Isabella had packed two heavy duffel bags and had a computer case slung on her back, while Ellie had three suitcases, a duffel, and two computers. Those two were completely different, but that's what made them such a team. Zion had packed the most, as he was bringing most of his medical supplies: Medicines, antibiotics, and the cure-all, Whisky. She then headed for Hitomi's room to check and see if her and her team were packed.
_________________
The Ace of Spaces slipped into Orkney to be joined by two cloaked fighters of the Marauder Class. The Bumblebee was escorted to the far side of Rousay, where it entered the thin atmosphere and skimmed the ground at twenty feet before entering the natural EM shield of the planet's northern pole. It hovered for a moment before the blast doors began to retract, admitting the vessel into the bowels of the base, where it settled into the cargo area, the only place large enough to hold it. The ramp lowered, and the familiar form of Tobias Arran Storm sauntered off the vessel with his arm around Kira, his gunner and girlfriend. They were met by Travis, who welcomed them back and led them to the River, where the Songstress filled them in on their role.
They were to drag Catherine and her team to Leeds and drop them off on the planet. The rest would be up to the team. Of which only Isabella, Ellie, and one or two others from Hitomi's team would infiltrate the station, leaving the rest to play mission control in the cargo hold of the Bison.
"Any questions?" The pink-haired woman asked.
"Yes. Why pink?" Tobias always asked this of the eccentric head of the Terminal Cell of Morgenroete.
"Because. I can."
With that, the crystals snapped off, plunging the two into darkness for a few second before the lights snapped on. The two then headed back to the Bison to prepare for the mission.
"This'll be good." Kira said, smirking.
"Hey, it's Izzy and Ellie going into the fire. Not us."
"Better them then me. Who else will shoot their pursuers off their pretty asses?"
"Not going to try and get Izzy in bed again, are you?"
"You can't take a joke."
"Oh, I can. it's just so fun to harass you over it."
The two bickered all the way to the Bumblebee as Catherine started to bang on the door of Hitomi's squad room. God they can be annoying to get ahold of the woman thought, rubbing her hand. Can't they come at the first knock like everyone else?
Hitomi was in her room studying a book about ancient frequencies. She wasn't trying to think about the upcoming mission, but she had to occasionally look over to a decryption computer that would utter the occasional beep. Just as Hitomi started to lose interest in the book, Catherine walked into the door and asked, "You ready?". Hitomi shook her head and walked over to her dresser. She threw a fresh change of clothes into a bag, tied it off, and threw it over her shoulder. She walked over to the computer, picked it up, then plugged it into a rolling suitcase which was obviously modified to manage multiple processors and supercomputers. Hitomi drifted to the door, suitcase in tow, and gave a brief look to Catherine before going down the hallway. "Let's go"
Catherine nodded.
"Head to the Loading Hanger. We'll be boarding Tobias' Bumblebee. He'll drop us off on Leeds as he picks up his new vessel." She rubbed her arms absentmindedly. "Make sure your team is ready, we probably will need to break into something."
Catherine left Hitomi and headed for the Hub, where she looked at the forecast for today: Outcasts, Outcasts, and oh look, more Outcasts. Catherine hoped that Izzy and Ellie would be able to cover the Ace Of Spades until they got to Leeds; Tau 31 wasn't looking very safe, not by any stretch of imagination.
______________
Isabella Archer slid under her Raven's Talon with a blowtorch and wrench, and snapped down her visor. Triggering the torch, she began to weld the replacement panels that fell off during the small skirmish with a pair of Stilettos in Tau 31. At her feet was Ellie, who was passing the panels over as needed. Ellie was a fine specimen of a woman, and if she wasn't the twin sister of her boyfriend, then she totally would hit on her.
But alas, it would feel....awkward.
"El? Mind passing me some water?"
A few seconds later, a bottle was rolled underneath. Splashing the underside to cool it down, Izzy then took a swig before pushing out.
"All good. Tell Catherine the Roar is ready while I go clean up."
_______________
The team was ready. Catherine stood on the ramp, looking at the men and women who would accompany her to Leeds. Zion straightened his glasses as Izzy sauntered up, stretching. Catherine frowned at her tardiness, but she couldn't complain; Dark Halo had made her come all the way out here, and was going to make her go all over Sirius pretty soon.
"OK people, this is the easy part. Get to Leeds, steal the file, head back here for cigars and all. We get this, and then let Hitomi do her computer magic and we can then see if there is anything to this. Mount up, we leave in ten minutes."
Catherine turned and stepped onboard to find half the cargo bay had been converted into a high-tech Command and Control for the mission. It was easily concealed behind some boxes. Just had to hope the scanners didn't find anything strange. Taking her seat, she slid on a headset. Might as well get ready now.
Hitomi approached the Bumblebee. During the time between her room and the landing pad, Hitomi clipped a scanner over her eye. Following behind her was Katsuo, Hitomi's younger brother. The two of them stood at the base of the ramp until Catherine was done with her speech. Katsuo didn't waste a second boarding the ship with Hitomi's computer-suitcase in tow. Hitomi took one look at Izzy and started searching anything she could find on her. Hitomi practically knew every minute detail about Izzy's life before she arrived behind Catherine.
"Catherine." Hitomi tapped her on the shoulder. "Katsuo and I discussed it, and the most efficient tactic is to breach the firewalls on the station's security systems so we can walk in unheeded. The problem is, it's pretty secure. The system does a self-scan for anomalies every 3 minutes. My plan was to shut down the system until a minute after the scan, for the second minute I bring the system back online, and before the second scan, I cause a distraction to minimize the guards we meet." Before waiting for a response, Hitomi whisked herself onto the ship.
Catherine was about to respond when Hitomi whisked herself into the Bumblebee.
"Ok then. Looks like we're going with that plan."
_________________________________
The Bumblebee coasted past Holmann and entered the lane to the Leeds gate. The Midnight Roar kept pace well, the two girls inside silent. So far, so good.
The ships made it to Leeds and headed past the Kusari forces and headed off and away. The plan was to rendezvous with a Percheron, that then Tobias would have his crew fly them down to the planet. It was easy until they had to break into the Listening Station...but of course, everything would go wrong.
The Percheron was waiting at the designated spot. Morgenroete was never late when it came to such a delicate operation.
One does not simple hack into a Bretonian Intelligence station and steal data they obtained, and do it without causing anyone permanent harm.
_____________________________________
Queen of the North. That was what the Percheron was called, and now, it was Tobias' new ship. It handled well, but was still bigger then the Bumblebee.
"Why did we have to set up the Bee if were were just going to transfer?" Kira asked.
"Because. The 'bee has a similar job to do out in Rheinland."
"Lovely."
Tobias sighed. So far, the trip to Planet Leeds was going smoothly. The Midnight Roar was keeping pace, and no pirates had appeared. He sighed.
Calm before the storm.
The Percheron settled down on Leeds beside the Raven's Talon. The members of The Terminal came out in a mosh pit of talking, laughing, and yelling. Catherine was in the middle, quiet. She was soon joined by Izzy and Ellie, who also remained quiet. The group merged with the crowd of dockworkers heading for lunch.
It was perfectly timed so that the Morgenroete personnel managed to slip out and towards the designated safe house.
Catherine closed the door to the safe house as Izzy and Ellie took over the bathroom to change. Catherine looked to Hitomi.
"Suit up. This won't be easy."
Hitomi shook Catherine awake. "We have to go now." The clock read 3:28 am. "everybody is ready, if we don't go now we wont have another chance in awhile." Before waiting for a reply, Hitomi walked out to meet Katsuo. Everybody was standing around talking when Catherine arrived, anxious to start the mission.
The team was dropped off in the dark of night south of the base. Hitomi brought up the schematics of the base. She signaled for them to advance. They soon found themselves at the outer-wall. Hitomi signaled for everybody to stay down. A few seconds passed before a nearby access door opened. "We have one minute to reach the main building. Don't go into the open, I deactivated the cameras but the guards can still see us." As soon as she finished she took off. Hugging the wall, she sprinted passed smaller buildings before reaching the main office. As soon as the last team member entered the doors, Hitomi's eyepiece glowed green, showing the outside security system was back online. Katsuo turned to Catherine as Hitomi created the distraction. "Catherine, you'll be taking the lead from here. This pad shows the route we will take. There will be guards, but not many, maybe only three or four. As we go, Hitomi will deactivate whatever's in our way as soon as we get there. We have 10 seconds before we need to leave again". As Katsuo finished, he handed Catherine a datapad with a map, a marker showing their location, and the route highlighted in green.
Catherine nodded at Hitomi. She beckoned Izzy and Ellie over, along with Cameron James and Seiryu Kururugi. The six moved at once, not breaking pace. Seiryu took point, and, when a guard came around, he launched into his flying spin-kick, knocking him out. As he dragged the man into the shadows, Izzy took point. The next guard they encountered was a woman. Grinning to herself, Izzy swept the woman's leg's out from under her and rendered a blow to her head that would knock her out but not cause her any lasting harm...besides a nasty headache.
They met no more guards
Hitomi had deactivated five obstacles before the team had even made it to the archive room. Immediately, Catherine had Katsuo begin to download everything pertaining to the signal from the hard drive while Izzy and Ellie hacked into anyhting else, and methodically began to erase anything and everything that had to do with what they were after.
"Ok, files here are gone." Ellie said.
"Same here." Izzy reported.
Catherine and Seiryu were almost done looking through the hard copies. Luckily, the Intelligence Agents were very meticulous and OCD about things. The hard copies, safely tucked into Catherine's pack, and the dowloaded data, safely with Katsuo, were the onyl copies at this station. Morgenroete would have to trace the rest soon.
"Hitomi, we're ready to get out. What's the extraction plan?" Catherine asked.
Hitomi looked up, she was looking through some files unrelated to the signals. "That depends. By now the guards would have returned to their posts, and probably discovered the ones we knocked out. Do you want to retrace our steps and face more guards, or make our own exit with their own weapons?" Knowing that Catherine would make her own exit, Hitomi pulled a token out of her pocket that she took from the room's locker. She hooked it up with her scanner, then placed it at the bottom of the wall opposite the door. "Everybody turn around". She didn't waste a second before she set off the device. Following a blinding light was a large hole that looked like the aftermath of an explosion. The hole led to an escape tunnel the builder's made in case of an invasion. Hitomi leapt into the tunnel. Using her scanner as a light, the team followed the tunnel for some time. Eventually, they reached the exit that lead to the ruins of an old manufacturing district. Hitomi looked around before running for an intact hanger. Inside was a Clydesdale the base owners had for an escape. After everybody boarded, Hitomi rummaged through the cockpit before ripping out instruments. She melted them with a handheld laser before tossing them outside. "Tracking devices, remote shut-off, remote self destruct, and other things that would make us dead if they found out our escape." Hitomi turned to Catherine and placed multiple tokens like the one she used earlier in her hand. "Silent explosives, they keep their weapon blueprints out in the open, I can easily make more."
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