"Entrée vers l'inconnu" A Gallic Royal Enclave Story
Sister story: "Un trône pour le roi"
Battlecruiser Alsace
Aquitaine system
Emeline Coste was staying up late again: sitting in her quarters behind the desk, typing a report on one of her numerous research projects. She had gotten used to extreme schedule: an overachiever even by the standards of the Gallic Royal Intelligence, she now strived to achieve the same and more, but with the limited resources. That usually meant working long hours, a trusted cup of coffee by the side of Emeline's keyboard. Coffee was almost a luxury by the Enclave standards, but being the Enclave's Director of Science had its perks.
The loud hiss of the opening door interrupted the redhead's train of thoughts. A tall blonde woman stood by the entrance, wearing a black marine uniform with Lieutenant Principal insignia. She addressed her superior quietly, with a professional tone: "Permission to come in, Director?" Only a shade of a smile on her regular and otherwise emotionless face showed that she was glad to be here. Distracted momentarily, Emeline briefly turned to the sudden visitor, with a nod and a faint smile of her own. However, she started typing again, while replying: "Come in, Leila. No need for formalities. We've known each other for many years. You should know by now that I'm more of a civilian than an military officer."
The lieutenant stepped into the room and walked towards a seat in front of the Director's desk. However, she didn't sit down just yet. "Sorry, Emeline. It's more than just a formality for me; that's the way they trained me. I was told you have an assignment for me." A friend standing by her table like that made Emeline put her work aside for a moment. She stood up and headed towards a large screen at the side wall, showing an object in space, akin to a station. Definitely not of Gallic design. The lieutenant followed, now standing next to Emeline and examining the video-feed of the construct.
"We found this base in our system," Emeline started her briefing, sounding even more professional than her guest at this point. "The Alsace is approaching it as we speak. Preliminary scanning revealed no biological activity." Turning away from the screen, Emeline took off her glasses glasses and put them in her lab coat's chest pocket. "Your job is to infiltrate this base and check it, before we can secure it. The mission is secret, even for the majority of the officers. That's why you are here."
Leila nodded, now facing Emeline. After a few moments of hesitation, she reached out and hugged the Director, her tone now a bit warmer: "It's been a long time since New Paris University." A few moments later, after some hesitation, Emeline returned the hug briefly, before letting go: "Once the mission is over, we should probably meet up at some bar on Bordeaux and catch up. I'm buying." After that, Emeline made way for Director Coste yet again: "That would be all. Go to the armory; you will receive the necessary equipment." With a nod, Leila took a sharp turn and headed outside, the door closing behind her.
Emeline watched the closed door absent-mindedly, as if she had forgotten something. Realizing what it was, she sat behind her desk again. After a quick sip of coffee — which was getting colder by the minute, but it didn't matter — Emeline put on her glasses and carried on with the typing. Research wouldn't carry out by itself, after all.
As Leila was carried down from the command deck towards the hangar deck, the insignia on her collar vibrated and emitted a quiet soft beep. Being alone, she tapped it to activate the miniature comlink. There were only three people who could call her. All of them her superiors, and she had just met one of them. That's why she knew what to expect: orders and instructions. Of course, she was proven right.
"Agent Celice. I assume you've been briefed on the situation. Director Coste had found that station a couple of months ago and reported its existence to me. Ever since then, we have been biding our time so as not to get noticed by our... rivals. I need this station for les Révélateurs as a research and manufacturing facility. But most importantly, I need its existence kept a secret.
There are reports of a few unsanctioned Enclave patrols heading in different directions. One of them might discover the station. I presume that Amiral Clement caught wind of this abandoned installation and sent his men to find it. That outcome is unacceptable. Here is how we prevent it:
Director Coste will engage sub-space jammers after this comm. This will allow you to coordinate with the Alsace around the station, but any long-range signals from this area towards Bordeaux and other facilities will be rendered inefficient. It will protect our secret, but it also means I won't be able to contact you. You'll report to Director Coste for now.
The Alsace is to ensure that anyone who might find out about the station is captured or eliminated. Since I can't command the operation due to the jammer, I'll leave the choice at the discretion of Director Coste. Just make sure you're well armed and ready for anything. Even if it means shooting Enclave personnel.
Do what must be done, Leila. Now, get aboard that station and secure it. The King commands it."
The voice on the comlink belonged to Leila's superior. He didn't ask, he didn't expect any questions — he just gave instructions. And there was only one thing that he needed to hear from Leila in reply: "His word is law."
— So, what do you think about the "Manticore"? — Well... It makes me look a bit fuller.
Leila turned around, looking down at her body and getting a feel of her new equipment. Despite her comment, the EVA suit she received was a rather close fit. The moment she had put it on, the grey smart fabric adapted to Leila's body, making the suit akin to a second skin. The external armor layers at the chest, back, legs, arms, and joints didn't adapt to the wearer, but they felt light enough thanks to the suit's in-built exoskeleton between the armor and the fabric. There were more systems that Leila wasn't aware of yet, as her helmet was off.
All in all, the "Manticore" almost didn't hamper Leila's movement, which she had just demonstrated by taking a brief run around the armory, even incorporating a couple of combat rolls into her exercise. She also tried shooting jets of air through special vents on her arms and legs. Although it didn't have much effect now, that could give her a way to quickly navigate the station, should there be no artificial gravity.
Having returned to the quartermaster, a bald man in his early fifties, Leila was ready to see what else the storage rooms of the Alsace had to offer. "I've been told to give you a couple of EMP explosives to counter any automatic defenses," the man put a couple of long cylinders on the counter. If Leila hadn't known better, she would've taken those for flashbangs. "You detonate them remotely or use as grenades," he continued sugar-coating the obvious things with the tone that some would find slightly condescending. The quartermaster then reached under his counter again and took out another couple of small devices. Each of them seemed like the head of a small jelly-fish, but was solid, man-made, and had a few buttons on top. "Breach charges, in case you can't get past some door. Can also work as mines if need be. Careful though, they pack a punch."
The right corner of Leila's lips turned up into a smirk as she heard that. "I know how to play with my toys. Trust me, we'll get along nicely," she replied with a trace of sarcasm in her tone, while strapping the devices to her utility belt. One of the slots on the belt was already occupied by a silenced kinetic pistol. The quartermaster cast a distrustful glance at it. "That ratchet on your hip might pack a punch, but you'd be better off with a plasma rifle in case you need to shoot through a door or a robot." With these words, he put a heavy rifle on the counter.
Reluctant at first, Leila approached and took it. To her surprise, the rifle felt lighter than it seemed. With a nod, Leila put the weapon behind her back, attaching it to a special slot. Carrying a plasma rifle turned out to be easier than she remembered from boot camp; probably courtesy of the Manticore's exoskeleton. "You've solved the weight problem of the plasma rifle alright. Now, if only you could replace the plasma containment field with something more secure. Oh, and while at it, make it a shoulder-mounted turret with AI targeting," Leila smirked, entertaining the thought of having a combat suit like that eventually. That sure would've made a lot of her assignments easier, to the point of being a cakewalk.
The quartermaster's reply was interrupted by a siren and a ship-wide announcement by Emeline Coste: "Potentially hostile vessel detected at long range. We're on yellow alert now. Preparing to engage cloaking device. Abort shuttle launch to avoid detection." Leila looked at the loudspeaker with the same distrust as the quartermaster had at her silenced pistol: "Here I was, hoping for a ride to the base. But no, ..." Before Leila could continue with her sarcasm, the insignia on her collar vibrated and emitted a quiet soft beep again...
Quartermaster Dubois took a deep breath, his eyes closed, and a forced smile of serenity on his face. The troublesome guest with the commandeered state-of-the-art Manticore suit had buggered off to talk to someone over comms. No more running, jumping, and combat rolls in his armory. Only the all-encompassing and constant low hum of various systems that powered and propelled the huge vessel. A negligible factor, the quartermaster thought. Left to himself, he returned to what he had been doing before the noisy officer arrived.
The quartermaster walked slowly towards his target. His hand reached for it with itching anticipation. After a moment of hesitation that felt like eternity, Dubois finally seized it. He then picked up the elecric kettle and poured some hot water into his metallic cup. As the smell of coffee spread across the room, the smile of serenity on the quartermaster's face became wider and far more genuine. He carefully picked up the cup and moved it to his face, waving the smell towards his nose: nutty, fruity, almost spicy. A true bliss. For rank-and-file Enclave personnel, coffee has become as rare as a fruit of heaven. However, serving as a quartermaster aboard the personal vessel of the Enclave's Director of Research had its perks.
Dubois was about to take a sip, when the rustle of a space suit nearby had him jumped. He opened his eyes, to suddenly find the annoying woman standing by the counter yet again. The sudden re-appearance of Leila made him jolt, and he barely held his prized cup of coffee in his hand. However, the guest appeared to have little interest in his own persona, or the abuse of his position. All-business, she picked up the Manticore helmet and secured it on her head with a loud hiss. The helmet's visor was almost opaque, to the point of seeming like another armor plate. As the Manticore switched to close-cycle, Leila's voice became distorted: "Brace for a brief emergency venting in 2 minutes."
Caught completely off-guard, Dubois didn't know what to think about this. This was against any playbook he had gotten used to during his long years of service. That's why he said the first thing he thought, as he put the hot cup on the counter: "But if you vent the comparment... whatever or whoever isn't secured will just fly out, into space, at high speed.""Correct, that is what emergency venting is," Leila replied; despite the distortion, the quartermaster caught a slight undertone of sarcasm.
The loudspeaker came to life again, and the voice of Emeline Coste from the bridge reached the entirety of the room: "Secure all movable things in lower deck armory and the hangar. Brief emergency venting in 1 minute.""You'd better brace yourself," Leila added, before turning on her heels and heading through the hangar towards the large blast doors that separated the interior of the ship from open space. She walked slowly, almost casually, amidst the stirred-up hive of the hangar crew who were frantically running around to carry out their orders.
Still confused, the quartermaster was an experienced officer nonetheless. As he saw his guest in a Manticore suit casually walking past the shuttle she was meant to take, Dubois finally realized what the plan was. The Alsace was nigh-undetectable while cloaked. A shuttle's heat signature appearning out of nowhere would alert the approaching vessel. However, a single human in a spacesuit was too small a target to be detected like that. Especially while they were still at long range. The new-found knowledge didn't make the quartermaster feel any better, but he did hurry to close the weapon lockers and secure what little wasn't secured in his domain.
Meanwhile, Leila approached the middle of the blast door and turned her back to it. Her arms crossed, she was observing the stirred-up hangar. Emeline Coste continued commanding through the loudspeaker: "Emergency venting in ten, nine, eight..." Quartermaster Dubois grabbed onto his counter. "Seven, six, five, four..." The crewmen in the hangar grabbed to the bulkheads. "Three... Two... One..." The quartermaster could barely see Leila from this distance, and he wouldn't have seen her face through the visor. But it appeared as if she was staring directly at him, and Dubois could've sworn that she was smiling under the helmet.
"Vent it!" The blast doors opened for a few moments, wide enough for three people to walk through them side by side. For a moment, everyone in the hangar could see the station they were orbiting. But none would bother looking, as the strong currents of air made them cling desperately to whatever thing they could reach, and hold their breath. Leila disabled the Manticore's gravity boots and let the current carry her into space, towards her destination.
---
The storm in the hangar was over just as soon as it started: in an instant. Still clinging to the counter and gasping for air, Dubois finally lifted himself up to assess the damage. Although most of the cargo had been secured, the armory and the hangar were now a mess of crates, tools and cargo. A fine outcome, considering that the crew had been given one minute instead of ten. Commending himself for such outstanding performance, the quartermaster looked around his own domain. Something was off; he noticed his kettle on the floor and caught a faint scent of coffee. Alarmed, Dubois darted towards its direction... It didn't take him too long to find the precious hot liquid spilled on the hangar floor, an empty metallic cup lying next to it.
Leila watched as the station was getting larger by the minute. Without air resistance, in the vacuum of space, it seemed as if the station was approaching her, and not the other way around. To get some semblance of direction, she bolted upright: her arms by her sides, and her body straight like an arrow. For a brief moment, she even turned the arm vents on: jets of air came out of her suit's wrists, propelling Leila further towards the station. All of this occurred in total silence of space. The only sound Leila heard was her own breathing, coupled with the vibration of the suit as the jets of pressured air left the vents.
There was no radio contact with the Alsace — this could've revealed their presence to the approaching ship — but Emeline Coste had found a way to mitigate that. Instead of passing voice over radio, she passed short encrypted texts, disguising them as residual space radiation. An outside observer attempting to make anything of it would only get gibberish. But if you knew where to look, what to look for, and how to decypher it, you'd get a message. The systems of Leila's Manticore suit could do just that, but only to a point. That's why communications were textual, and only one-way.
Visor Wrote:Right, 2°... Up, 7°...
As the first comands appeared on the screen, Leila stopped caring about anything else. The station could approach as fast as it wanted; all that mattered were the strings of text from Emeline that appeared on the HUD. Leila extended her arms, and the bursts of air directed her towards the hull breach that had been selected as her target. But what she saw instead was a giant piece of the station's outer hull, floating in space and approaching rapidly. Leila focused on the HUD again.
Visor Wrote:Maintain course... Maintain course...
Damn in, Emeline! Can't you see that s%!& from the bridge?! Leila was now breathing faster, and could even hear her own heart pounding at an increased pace. The debris was approaching rapidly, to the point that Leila could almost distinguish what was written on the hull. She extended her arms and legs and prepared to perform an evasive maneuver of her own. In a couple of seconds, the mission would be over if she didn't do something. That's when the HUD's command line finally flickered to life again.
Visor Wrote:Right, 45°, debris... Left, 30°...
Her forehead sweating, Leila turned away from the debris as per instructions, leaving a white jet behind and narrowly escaping the collision. Another curved jet followed Leila as she returned on course. The station was close enough to see the insertion point: a hull breach at the lower decks, near the offline gravity generator. The lieutenant cursed quietly, but it was a curse of relief.
All air vents gave another burst, and Leila darted forward yet again. She was so close! With no obstacles in the way to her destination, she could finally focus on the joy and adrenaline of this unlikely ride. Even Emeline cracked a joke over comms, so the rest of the ride was safe. It had to be. Besides, Emeline needed to be put in her place for leaving Leila hanging for so long in the face of almost certain death by collision.
Visor Wrote:Decelerate... Decelerate!!!
Getting nervous yet, Emeline? Bien! A mischievous smirk crossed Leila's lips as she balled her legs. An air burst from the wrists to start spinning, then a well-timed burst from the legs to stop the rotation, and Leila was now flying with her legs forward. The bursts from the vents turned into an endless stream, as the Manticore decelerated on the final approach to the breach. A couple of seconds away, she engaged her gravity boots and touched down, landing in a position of a sprinter ready for a start.
She looked around the place that appeared to be a depressurized corridor circling around the lower decks of the station. Now, to find a hatch and the gravity system. As if in reply to her thoughts, the HUD flickered to life again:
Visor Wrote:Airlock to the right... Ladder, go 4 decks lower.
Well merci beaucoup, Emeline! Leila stood up and moved on to business. With a handler like that, what could go wrong?
Emeline walked into the bridge like an unstoppable force, disregarding everyone and anyone on her way. The XO stood up from the captain's seat and stepped aside mere moments before Emeline occupied it. Once certain that the keypad in the armchair was at the ready, she focused on the screen, not even looking at the man she was about to address. The discussion that followed was rather matter-of-factly, as if they weren't about to engage their own men.
— Give me a status report, Capitaine.
— A Triumph-class destroyer has approached the station. It doesn't belong to Escadron XXII. They dispatched a shuttle towards the station, and appear to be on standby. We have intercepted some transmissions, but can't decypher them just yet. The Alsace should have the upper hand. We can engage them on your order.
— Do they know about us? Are they a liability yet?
— Non. Our cloaking device is engaged, so they can't see us. Whatever emissions the Alsace still makes can be easily mistaken for those coming from the station. Sub-space jammer prevents them from contacting any nearby facility or patrol and asking for reinforcements.
— Status of Lieutenant-Principal Celice?
— She has restarted gravity systems per your instructions. It should kick in in a few minutes, after warm-up. Apparently, the station's power systems are still on, and the systems were simply shut down.
— Tres bien. The Alsace shall engage as the last resort. The fates of those soldiers can't be traced back to us.
Disregarding the XO, Emeline started typing on her keypad...
Leila was making her way through the dark corridors of the derelict, her silenced kinetic pistol at the ready. The time for bravado was over. Ever since the HUD had given her a textual warning about a shuttle full of potential hostiles, Leila was paying close attention to Manticore's passive scans for bio-signs and power sources. Nothing her far. Still, she had prepared for the worst and was already one breach charge short. A failsafe, as she deemed it.
Visor Wrote:Activate station defenses... First internal, then external... Dispatch them to the power core.
Left, empty elevator shaft... Up to command center.
That comment made Leila chuckle nervously. She knew what that order implied. The intruders had two ways to disable defenses: the command center or the power core. And Leila couldn't defend two positions at once. The power core was a priority: without it, the station's guns wouldn't fire. The command center was secondary, but that's where Leila needed to be to start the defenses in the first place. She couldn't help but feel doubtful. Was Emeline sacrificing her for the mission? With a deep breath, she cast her doubts aside, realizing that it was the only way for the mission to succeed.
These thoughts didn't impede Leila in any way: while calculating the game multiple steps in advance, she pushed he half-open doors and stepped into the shaft, on the roof of the stuck elevator. That was a long way up, Luckily, the gravity generator hasn't kicked in yet, so Leila had time. She disengaged the gravity boots, straightened up like an arrow and allowed the jets of air from the arm and leg vents to propel her upwards...
Some time later...
Derelict Trading Hub
Command Center
s%#&. s%#&! s%#&!!! Leila was clinging desperately at the edge of the elevator shaft, trying hard to reach it with her other other hand. The Manticore exoskeleton made holding onto the edge easy, but reaching it with the other hand difficult. The weight of the plasma rifle behind Leila's shoulder didn't help either... At least psychologically; the exoskeleton did help to carry that weight.
The gravity had kicked in at the worst possible moment: just as Leila was about to float into the command center from the elevator shaft. She barely managed to shoot her wrist-mounted grapple hook. If it hadn't been for Emeline's ingenuity when designing the suit, Leila would've been a mashed filler in a Manticore pie lying at the bottom of the shaft. Stretchig with all her effort, she finally managed to grab the edge and lift herself up.
After lying on the side and regaining her breath, she stood up and walked inside the command center. A circular room at the very apex of the station, filled with various computers and stations for personnel, and surrounded by duraglass windows. To Leila's surprise, there oxygen levels in the room were good. Probably a leftover, since the life support systems had been offline. Bien, just what I need. She then looked through the window and noticed a ship in the distance: the long Triumph-class destroyer seemed like a rather large toy from where Leila was standing. Now, how do I bring you down?
Leila noticed the central control terminal in the middle of the room: a rather large facility meant to be operated by at least 1 administrator and 4 assistants. If Leila were to reactivate the station's shields, weapons, and defenses, that's where she'd need to go. She fully intended to comply with Emeline's order: dispatch any defense droids or drones to the power core, and sic whatever internal turrets at the intruders. If it meant marking everyone aboard as hostile, herself included, then so be it. She would then activate the station's defenses and target them at the Triumph. However, the moment she'd do that, the command center would become a honey pot for whomever else aboard.
That's why instead of going to the central controls right away, Leila took out the last remaining breach charge and one of the two EMP devices. "There'll be too many guests for me alone to greet," she mumbled, somewhat nervously. "You'll help me organize a proper welcome."
![[Image: cxXiBKX.png]](https://i.imgur.com/cxXiBKX.png)
