Terri watched the Eutharan marines spread out into defensive positions. This wasn't their brightest idea, momentarily she wondered if all Eutharans were so stupid. She decided it was confined to the military branch of their government.
'Captain Hunter are you ok?' Brin'tores' voice said into her ear.
"For now yeah," Terri replied as she cycled her rifle from the cover of the fighter.
When the marines had spread out Brin'tores and her team had pulled back to the cover of the trees. It would do them no good to be caught in the open. Terri was relatively safe behind the fighter.
'What's the status of your fighter?' Brin'tores asked.
"Broke," Terri quipped.
'Haven't the bots been able to get it repaired?' Brin'tores asked.
"Hell if I know, I don't speak botenese. They keep chattering about something. But without Ghost or Atlantis here I have no idea what they're saying," Terri said as she poked her head around the edge of the fighter. "I can't see them any more," she said as she scanned the area.
'They're holding their position right now, probably calling in reinforcements. We're trying to work our way around behind their location. Have your fighter block their transmissions and switch to alpha channel, ' Brin'tores said.
"Copy that, alpha channel," Terri said before she changed her comm unit to the fighter's frequency. "Death's Hand One, Command code authorization, one-three-zulu-baker-one-one-zero."
'Authorization accepted Captain Hunter, waiting for orders, ' the female voice said.
"Scramble all transmissions in the immediate area, except alpha priority channel, raptor oh-oh-one-zero," Terri said.
'All transmission scrambled, but one specified, ' the female voice reported.
"Bring distress deacon online and transmit coordinates to the ADF Marudas secure channel bravo," Terri said.
'Distress beacon is currently inoperable as is long range transmission array, ' the female voice said.
Terri muttered under her breath, "Estimated time for completion of repairs?"
'Unknown, ' the female voice said.
"Unknown? I'll give you unknown," Terri growled.
'I have insufficient data from repair bots to estimate a time for completion of repairs, ' the female voice said.
Terri sighed, this just wasn't her day, "I can't get an estimation on the status of the repairs. My fighter's AI is having problems communicating with the repair bots."
Just as Terri finished her report to Brin'tores a shot for a laser rifle ricocheted off the fighter close to her position. Terri brought her suit's shields online and huddled in close to make herself a smaller target. These marines were actually shooting at her!
'Captain Hunter you ok?' Brin'tores' worried voice said.
"Yes I'm fine, they missed, but only by a few feet," Terri said. She switched her visor read out to infrared, hoping she would be able to track them. "I think something is blocking our outgoing transmissions. I can't raise the Marudas on my suit's comm unit either."
Terri raised her rifle and targeted a marine she could see and pulled the trigger. His head exploded when the pellet from her rail gun connected. He flew back ten feet from the impact, a red haze covering the area where he was. Another marine jumped up to move out of the way and just as fast another shot from the edge of the forest turned him into ground meat.
Terri flipped her suit's external comms on, "Captain of the Eutharan marines, I'm demanding you immediate surrender. You will not survive this engagement unless you surrender now."
The response was immediate; a dozen rifle shots hit the fighter around her. No damage was done to the fighter but with no way for the ship to discharge the excess energy its internal defense fired up.
'Internal defenses online... Gravity plating online... Weapon systems activated... Tracking sixteen hostile entities in the immediate area... Pilot preservation routines online... Initiating engagement protocols... ' the fighters AI said through Terri's comm.
The fighter shuttered a bit as it raised a foot from the ground and began to turn. The marines thinking Terri had gotten the fighter running stood up out of their cover and began to shoot the fighter in an attempt to bring it down. Terri rolled over into a laying position and began to take shots at the uncovered marines. Brin'tores' raptor team began to start picking them off from the tree line.
The fighter's guns spun up and rained death down on the marines. The noise and vibration caused some of the marines to drop their weapons and cover their ears. The raptor armor dampened the effects as the fighter ripped up the ground.
When the fighter stopped firing and settled back down on the ground, Terri stood up and looked at the devastation. The ground looked freshly plowed and there was no sign of the marines left. Brin'tores and her team broke cover and made their way to Terri.
"Are you ok Captain?" Brin'tores asked.
"Wow, uh, yes I'm fine. I didn't know the fighters had a safety built in like that," Terri said as she stepped up next to the cockpit.
"I didn't either, must be something they installed for your team, since you don't use a conventional raptor shuttle," Brin'tores said.
Brin'tores' team spread out, taking up positions around the clearing. Two of the team went to scout out the area to make sure nothing else was sneaking up on them. Angel had stepped past Terri and was looking inside of the fighter. As Angel searched for the problem one the bots sat watching her, clicking and beeping as she poked around. Angel reached up and poked the small bot, "Hush you, all that noise is distracting."
Terri laughed as she said, "Thank You! Finally someone else can stand all the chirping those things make."
"Actually, it looks like the fighter's translation routine is offline, along with several other systems. The ship should translate what the bots are saying," Angel said as she reached in and flipped a switch.
Systems on the fighter came to life as the main engines began to warm up. Terri stared at the fighter and Angel, "What did you do?" she asked.
Angel turned around, dusting her hands, "The main power conduit to the engines tripped when you took that hit. It's a built in safety so the ship doesn't blow up."
The bot that was watching her smacked its small head with a leg as it said, "DOH! Stupid human engineers..." It walked back to it's storage bay muttering.
They all laughed as it disappeared.
On board the Marudas Prasuh sat listening to the reports flow. On the main screen was Eutharan rotating slow in the distance. Soon the officers would be going to the surface for the upcoming wedding. But, that wouldn't happen until Terri was found and returned to the palace.
"Captain, I have an incoming transmission from the surface," Ops reported.
Prasuh stood up, "Put it through."
'Marudas, Death's Hand One, ' Terri's voice said.
"Marudas Actual, go Death's Hand," Prasuh said.
'I'm inbound to palace landing zone with Raptor Je'laques flying cover, ' Terri's voice said.
Prasuh let a brief smile cross his face as he activated Jon's personal comm unit with his lower right arm, "Admiral Hunter I'm patching Captain Terri through to you."
'She's alive? They found her?' Jon's excited voice said.
'Yes, I'm alive and yes they found me just before Brin'tores' team. There's more to it than that and I'll explain when I get my fighter landed and secured, ' Terri's voice said.
'Ok, have Brin'tores and her team escort you here. Don't go anywhere alone, ' Jon's voice said.
'Uh... Ok, but I think I can take care of... , ' Terri's voice started.
'Please sis, don't argue with me, ' Jon's voice pleaded.
'I look forward to the escort Admiral, ' Terri's voice replied. She knew the only time he called her sis was when it was something important. For Jon to do it over an open comm channel spoke volumes. Something was wrong and it involved her.
'Thanks, see you when you get here. I'm glad you're safe, ' Jon's voice said. There was a brief pause before he continued, 'Oh, can you and Brin'tores meet the shuttle Artimus and pick up the girls and command staff? I'm sending a marine squad for escort, but I would like for you to take command.'
'Roger that, ' Terri's voice replied.
'Thanks, Admiral Hunter out, ' Jon's voice said.
A large vessel blinked into existence on the edge of the Eutharan home system. It took a second as it turn slowly towards the Eutharan home world and slowly started moving towards its destination. The outside of the vessel was pitch black, which made it almost undetectable in space. Soft red glows dotted its hull and if you watched closely it could have been mistaken for a star in space. If you had been able to look through a window, all you would have seen were the corridors emitting just enough of the red glow for the vessels crew to move about.
Lieutenant Commander Olissua stood on the bridge of the large vessel as she watch it move slowly towards Eutharan. Admiral Hunter had briefed her on what she was supposed to do. Her mission was to get as close to the Marudas with out the Atlantis detecting them while in route. The ship had been coated in a new scattering plating that was supposed to make it hard to detect.
The Atlantis turned to make the final jump before restarting their patrol route. The last of the scouts were headed in and preparing to dock when Atlantis spoke.
"Commander Wilson," Atlantis said as she turned to face him.
"Yes Atlantis?" Mark said as his attention was pulled from the various scouting readouts.
"I have detected a strange anomaly about point seven eight light years from our current location," Atlantis replied as she pointed at a sector on the holo of the system map.
"What type?" Mark asked.
"Unknown, I would have to get close and do a more intensive scan of the area," Atlantis said.
"Well, we have to check out everything. Helm set a course for that grid and have all scout stand by for deployment. Atlantis, Condition Red if you would," Mark said as started watching read outs scrolling across the screen.
"Folding in five seconds Sir," Helm reported.
'All hands Condition Yellow... This is not a drill... All hands Condition yellow... ' Atlantis' voice echoed. The light dimmed slightly as the status of the ship changed.
As the last vessel docked Atlantis swung around and disappeared in a flash of light.
Back on board the strange vessel one of the people at a station turned to Commander Olissua, "Commander we have a fold event ten thousand meters off the port bow."
Olissua took a step forward and leaned on the railing that surrounded upper and lower command sections. Hovering in the center of the room was a large holo display, which immediately switched views to the area where the event was detect.
"Reading?" Olissua asked, though she knew who it was. She was certain they were detect when the folded in. The brief spike would have been detectable, versus the use of their hyper drive, which would have created a massive spike.
"I'm not getting any reading from that area Commander," another person replied.
Olissua stood up straight, "Engines to one eighth speed, Condition Black."
'Set Condition Black... This is not a drill... Set Condition Black... ' a males voice echoed.
"Engines to one eighth speed," Helm reported.
People stopped moving around the inside the ship as the hall light dimmed even more. Security and Medical personnel donned special glasses that allowed them to see in the lowlight settings. Outside the ship all beacons flicked off as the ship slowed down.
"Boosted perimeter motion detectors to eight thousand meters and prepare to take evasive maneuvers," Olissua ordered as she took her seat and strapped in.
Thanks to my editor BoB_McC