Kyushu system, some remote sector near the Ohka Dust Field.
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At the edge of the field, a medium sized regiment of military ships awaited in silence. One He-class field command gunboat was accompanied by 10 fighters in two groups, and two Big Dragon transports specially fitted for the mission. The fighters were of KNF build, but the Black stripes on the squadron markings identified the whole group as belonging to the Kempeitai field units.
They had arrived at the meeting point one hour before the planned arrival of their objective. The escort pilots had been selected among the most active field agents the GID could dispense at this turbulent times. They had been briefed that this was a critical mission for their House. Although it had been reported to the partners of the KNF and KSP as an operation to lure a vicious Farmers Alliance terrorist cell into a battle, the real goal was much more ambitious, so they heard.
On board of the command ship, the Kempei Captain leading the operation checked his watch, and considering that it was about time for the arrival of their objective, signaled his comms officer to open the channel to the group.
"Kempei, our escort objective is about to arrive in five minutes. Ginshou- 1 and 2, get those signature generators ready. Kyosha leader , Keima leader, status report."
Ginshou 1 - "Ryoukai, generators warming up, eta 2 minutes."
On the side of the fighters, the wings traded chatter within themselves, the wingmen reporting to their leader they were ready for whatever it was needed.
"This is Keima leader, our wing is ready to take positions."
On the Kyosha wing, a figure was still checking disinterestedly his ship meters and telemetry, everything predictably in optimal condition.
Kyosha 1 - "Wing, hurry up with the status report." - came out of the comms of the ship in a slightly nervous manner. The pilot produced a face of displeasure, fortunately hidden inside his helmet with the depiction of a silhouette of a kusarian crow. Finally his Raijin completed the diagnostics on his missile payload.
"This is Kyosha 2, all systems ready." - the Agent Karasu no Kage replied, expecting to hear from the other three pilots in his wing as well.
"This is Kyosha-3, some delay is possible here, it seems like navigation systems on this ship doesn't work correctly, but I will try to fix it as soon as it possible. Over."
Agent Halcyon with well-concealed excitement trying to resolve the problem, his hands quickly and accurately moving around the cockpit controls. This was a new ship and some systems still were not established.
"Kyosha-3, Kyosha-3, this is Kyosha-1 status report, we can't waste much time."
At last Halcyon guessed the cause of the problem, his hands staring to move again and after 6 seconds navigation systems were fixed. He sighs and turning on the transmitter.
"This is Kyosha-3, sorry for delay, all systems are online, ready to move to the intended coordinates. Over."
Agent Airi Kurokawa responds to the call in a professional tone after Kyosha-3 gives a status report. The Chimaera the agent was flying was outfitted with electronical warfare equipment, something unusual for a mission to supposedly lure Farmer's Alliance ships.
The pilot found the entire operation puzzling, not having a clue of what is inside of the transports that required that many escorts. She braced herself for unexpected things to happen, and sat waiting for the wing to finish their sitrep.
"Kyosha-5 is ready." Came out of the speakers of the helmets of the pilots. The group was ready to act.
"Good, just in time. I have picked up the signal from our contact, they will be arriving soon." Said the captain as it received the confirmation.
The Kempeitai group at the edge of the asteroid field was to far away to have direct sight of the passage to the Taus hidden within, but in a few moments a small group of lights could be seen heading their way. As they got closer, the targeting systems flashed red, as a gunboat bearing the battered markings of the Exiles and accompanied by fighters and a few transports revealed themselves.
Almost immediately some of the KPT pilots began arming their systems, but the Captain immediately ordered to stand down.
"Stand down, these are not targets for us today. And hopefully we will never have to make that consideration again.
Set your friend or foe definitions of their signals to friend status."
The order came unexpectedly to some on the group, but it was in line with the latest directives of the agency. Pilots of the Keima wing were quick to act on it.
"Yokozo, Kaigun-Chusa. We have been expecting your arrival. Our unit is ready to act whenever you are."
The Commander of the Exile group replied "It is good to see a cooperative face back home, even if not of the most trustworthy source."
"I assure you that I will see personally that this operation is a success. Ginshou 1 and 2, assume positions and get ready to deploy the signature generators."
"Ryoukai, setting positions around the gunboat." Communicated the captain of the KPT transports, as they moved to make a large perimeter with the gunboat at the center, in an area free of the interference of the wandering asteroids from which they had come from.
On the Kyosha wing, as they were setting their friend of foe systems and waiting at a safe distance, Kyosha-2 looked at the scene. One thing was the orders to not take the exiles as a hostile force, another thing that seemed to be developing here was some sort of collaboration, one that he was not sure yet if it was good for their duties.
Opening a channel to the other pilots he knew of the Kyosha, with the exception of their flight leader, he asked.
You guys, have any idea what is this deal with the Exile forces is about? This whole setup is getting fishy..."
"I don't like this... They're keeping us completely in the dark and then start pulling -this- out of the blue."Kyosha-4 responded to the new channel.
"Is this what they meant by saying the mission will have a much bigger objective? Starting to openly collaborate with the imperials?"
Airi was particularly not fond of imperials wanting to remove the progress and freedom that were given to the people, making her a bit reluctant to change the ship's IF/F to be allied with them, and viewing their ships with disdain.
"Is this a double turncoat mission?"Kurokawa asked the other agents in the wing, hoping to hear a positive response.
Knowing which people the Kempeitai transports are supposed to be received by, their contents became far more interesting than just simple curiosity for the pilot.
"Turncoat you say? I believe so, I'm wonder if our command is still sane."
Clearly nervous, the young agent corrected helmet on his head.
"You know I never did not mind against this "pragmatic" doctrine with the relations with Exiles, but this is going way too far."
He coughed a little but immediately proceeded to speak.
"I have a bad-bad feeling about this, something tell me they are not coming in peace... and I went to this mission voluntarily... and there is no way back. Shame on my head."
Halcyon turned off the transmitter and began to perform breathing exercises to calm and return composure.
"Not sure what are they to do here, but hopefully is not to cause unneeded trouble, so far..." - answered Karasu on the Kyosha-2. He felt that now was not the time to complain. At least, not yet...
"Generators at stage 2 output, we are ready." - reported the Ginshou transport. The transports had deployed some sort of buoys that they were towing, and both the transports and the buoys energy readings were increasing.
At the same time, on the center of that group, the Exile gunboat deployed a buoy of it's own, that seemed to be ready to emit some sort of signal.
"We are ready as well, initiating homing beacon transmission." Informed the imperial commander. The Captain of the KPT nodded in consent, and transmitted orders to the others to clear the area for the arrival.
"The time is right. The operation has started a few minutes ago, bring them in." - declared the KPT Captain
"Finally, they return back home. Their arrival has been as predicted." - Kyosha-1 uttered in expectation.
"Arrival?, what arr-..."- Kyosha-2 began, but was interrupted by the sensor alarms when a spatial distortion began forming near the gunboat in the center of the group.
In less than a minute from the start of the imperial transmission, the signal had been picked up by the imperial battleship Yamaguchi and its attendant fleet that was waiting in the Tau-29 system. The battleship performed a fleet jump with only the most vulnerable transports, and suddenly had managed to cross the natural barriers of the Tau-29 gate and the strong fortress that was the Battleship Nagumo.
At the moment the group arrived, the Ginshou transports began their part of the work. "Signature Generator, deployed!"
The transports and their buoys readings suddenly flared, then became stabler than they originally were. The pilots of KPT finally understood for what purpose those ships had been brought at that moment.
The Signature Generators were powerful electronic warfare devices, designed to mask the signatures of close by ships and groups into completely different signals. While the effects were close to zero for any ship within a range of 10 to 15km, those beyond that range were now being presented with a readout of a large group of merchant trains and fighter escorts.
"Woah, its one of our old Fleet Battleships, it's the Yamaguchi!" - Kyosha-5 exclaimed in amazement.
"Quiet the chatter, agents.
It's time to bring our loyal troops to a safe location within our borders. The Kempeitai will fan out our route and deal with any unintended witness to the passage of our comrades." - declared the KPT Captain
"You want us to take them into Kus..."- Kyosha-2 protested, but the sight of the KPT gunboat guns turning to aim at him gave a clear indication that there was no room for discussion.
After a few moments of tense silence, the KPT Captain spoke
"I will make it explicitly clear here to all of you. The Kempeitai Command has given a high priority to the success of this mission, and there will be no more room for this demonstrations of doubt." - he threatened.
"The next coordinates have been sent to your navigation. Kyosha wing will take the front and stop any contacts from approaching the convoy. Keima wing will cover the main force and keep an eye on the rear."
With the threat of almost immediate destruction Karasu.no.Kage answered to the orders of the Kempeitai Captain and to the insistent exclamations of the Kyosha-1 to return to formation. Eventually, the other reluctant pilots followed his example.
Kyosha 1 began moving to the assigned coordinates, and his wing follwed, making the front of the now enlarged KPT/Exile group. The menacing Yamaguchi remained almost at the back, flanked by the Ginshou transports. Almost out of natural visual range, the Keima wing guarded the rear alongside the Exile gunboat.
Karasu.no.Kage analyzed both their current route and the proximity radar. Whatever was the plan of the Captain, it would at some point soon put them in range of the Tsushima - Planet Kyushu tradelane range. He didn't knew what sort of divine luck or sorcery the leaders were relying on, but he was sure that the large Exile group would not pass unnoticed any KNF patrols and hounded upon immediately.
The instructions kept coming in small segments. It showed that they would cross the tradelane lines to the other side, with no intention of stopping there. Karasu tuned his radio receiver to the mid range band, expecting to hear the closest KNF patrol chatter, or some KSP inspection team on the lanes...
For a long moment, there was an ominous silence. The transmission band was unexpectedly silent. No Naval Forces in exercises, no State Police reporting on cargo inspections... nothing.
Unknown to him and his field colleagues, the KPT had diverted attentions of the KNF and KSP by letting them know of the convoy as a KPT only mission to bait the Farmer Alliance rebels into an attack. It seemed that their ruse was perfect. Almost perfect.
A small chatter from a Police patrol chimed on the radio. Suddenly A KSP wing decelerated from the Tradelane now a few dozens of kilometers in front of them. It seemed that this patrol had not received the instructions to clear the mission space, and had performed his regular inspection patrol.
The KSP patrol began moving towards the large group.
"This is Kusari State Police patrol Kiku-15. We have you in range, transmit your identification and destination, Naval patrol." - came out the orders of the KSP patrol leader
"Seems someone did not get the memo. Kyosha wing, eliminate them." - said the Kempei Captain on the internal communications.
Karasu froze upon hearing those words. He had expected them, considering the situation so far, and it was the reason why he had become unsettled by the Exile presence. He was sure that if the KPT was turning their backs on the Republic, they would do it in a ruthless way, as they always were against their opposition. That would put them against the current Naval Forces, against the Police that would defend the State, against any civilians that would reject the exiles and moved to protect the Republic.
Kyosha-1 was barking orders to the wing to attack, but most of them were just moving forward as they were before, their hesitation as obvious as his was to the ones behind them.
"Naval Patrol, transmit your identification and destination. Do you copy?" - The KSP requested again. They were already within combat range, and would be able to see through the electronic cover. If he didn't warn them soon enough, they would be exterminated.
Karasu cut out the internal comms where his wingleader was still barking orders and switched to local communications.
"KSP Patrol, get away from here this moment!" - Karasu plead was deafened out but a beam of light that appeared from behind and struck one of the KSP vessels, crippling it instantly. Karasu glanced behind to see one of the Yamaguchi guns cooling off after the shot, its bay doors opening up to reveal a wing of golden imperial fighters ready to launch.
"Kempei, I am so far disappointed by your lack of diligence in securing the obedience of your troops. We have no use for disobedient dogs." - A new voice of the wing leader of the Exile fighters uttered out a menacing warning to the Kempei captain. "Fuji wing, eliminate the KPT and KSP ships that do not fall under our command."
"KSP Patrol, evade now! Get out of here now!
Wing, this a code Black-1. All those loyal to the Republic, deploy countermeasures and break formation!!" Karasu.no.Kage shouted out to the local communications, hoping to get some positive reactions among his fellow comrades. He activated the coutnermeasures, leaving a small cloud of deflecting units.
"You bastards. Treasonous pawns will be disposed of alongside those who oppose the true ruler." - declared the KPT Captain has the He-Class gunboat launched missiles and tried to track the ships in front of it. The missiles failed their targets, and flew harmlessly through the Kyosha and the KPS patrol, that had begun evasive maneuvers.
All seemed unnaturally calm for Kyosha-3, though being kept in the dark, on a tight leash by the Kempei captain and working alongside the Exiles made the entire situation extremely uncomfortable. Must be the calm before the storm, a thought entered her mind at random. Airi felt confident in the captain's plans and didn't expect much danger to appear, aside from a chance of encountering a few pirates on the way.
The radio silence of the surrounding area and traversing through a lot of ground unencountered only proved her line of thinking, the Kempeitai always made sure operations were undisturbed by the ones that needn't disturb it. That is, until the KSP patrol exited from the trade lane.
"This.. isn't going to be an easy situation to get out of. I hope the captain has something good in mind by doing this..." Kurokawa spoke to the internal Kyosha channel, and waited to witness the situation unfold.
Then the order came to assassinate the Police patrol. Unlike Karasu, Airi stayed silent and hoped for others to voice their disapproval, all while ignoring Kyosha-1 and the captain's orders to attack the innocent Police patrol. Attacking the innocent people who work and ensure safety within the Republic alongside the Exiles was something she wouldn't have dreamt of doing before sitting inside her fighter at the start of the operation. Her doubts and internal moral conflict with the situation were rendered silent by a large light flying right past her ship from behind and hitting one of the KSP, witnessing the ship absolutely crippled in a large fireball. The sight sent shivers down the agent's spine and froze due to fear and surprise.
Kurokawa's actions were delayed to the sudden betrayal, dropping countermeasures and breaking a hard right a second before a gunboat missile would've decimated the fighter. The "Incoming Missile" message was clouded by various comm chatter from both the wing, the Exiles and the police patrol, yelling and shock from Yamaguchi's fire on the police ship, along with the vision-shattering scenario that was taking place right before her. If not for Karasu's timely warning, Kurokawa's ship would be lost and her life extinguished.
The missile directly hit the countermeasure and exploded less than a hundred meters away from the ship, causing shockwaves that the shield could barely withstand and causing the ship to recoil, disorienting the pilot.
Getting her wits back together and seeing Karasu being targetted as well, she quickly reverted the changes to her IF/F back to transmitting Kempeitai signatures.
"This is unbelievable! Everyone who doesn't want to get massacred for this nonsense, revert your IF/F so we can distinguish ourselves from those backstabbers!" she reluctantly yelled into the internal Kyosha wing and local communications, hoping to see other green lights starting to ping in her ship's entity list.
With a glance on the list, however, things suddenly gotten so much worse with many Exile ships she hadn't noticed on the way suddenly appearing in the list. Airi wasn't aware that the Yamaguchi housed an entire wing of fighters.
Following Karasu's suite, she started doing evasive maneuvers, waiting to see how many would follow her suggestion and for someone to take the first step. Would the other Kempeitai wings react or still follow their orders, considering they still have a choice on their allegiance?