Incoming Press Report, Zero Light Years Away (Escuardo System Network Relay, Union Controlled).

Trapped colonists were rescued fifty-two light years away in the Outer Sector. Commodore Leah Adelaide and her seven ships' outer sector expeditionary flotilla surveyed multiple Federation-era settlement systems, finding the old colony of Hesperia still inhabited by the descendants of the colonists who were isolated back during the end of the First Revolutionary War. Official reports of what happened are still shrouded by secrecy, but approximately six thousand colonists were rescued and are now in the process of resettlement.

- Trianta Today

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

Escuardo System

Sagittarius Union Space

ISS Jukebox

EMCON (Emissions Control)

All transmissions between us went dark the moment we jumped in. The burn drives powered themselves down, all in order to reduce our sensor profiles and prevent detection. We’ve already modified the plans greatly, and stealth indeed would be a great element for it. Stealth both against the Union authorities prowling the Escuardo System, and stealth against Lord Preussen’s pirate fleet.

“All nonessential subsystems powered down.” Said SYS over the intercom, as we pushed out of the jump point, doing our best to sneak through it, as a nearby patrol was most likely around here. “Reactor powering down to fifty percent. Heat profile significantly reduced.”

“Good, SYS. Open up fleetwide comms. Limit the range of transmissions.”

“Short-range comms initialized. The line is open.”

“Right. This is the Jukebox. Are you picking me up?”

“We are picking you up, Captain.” Their comms officer said. While I didn’t really consider myself that way, they were already referring to me as “Captain Jones”, not that I really had a crew to distinguish myself with a rank though. “Captain Percival is on the line.”

I sighed. Now, of course, while we did bite the deal that Lord Preussen gave us, that didn’t mean we would be following it down to the finest detail. That wouldn’t be something me and Harold would be too naive to do. In other words, we accepted his crap…and we wouldn’t follow it.

Suffice it to say, that Juliett became elated with that idea. She really didn’t want to honor any stupid deal with the bastards. And me and Harold were in agreement. The goal was to ensure the safety of the hostages by acting like we were following the deal, all while trying our best to trick them in order to take the hostages ourselves.

Then, after that, we would get rid of the bastard. Of course, this would mean that we would essentially be creating enemies in the pirates’ ranks, and that wasn’t something we would really stomach. Having the reputation of shitting on pirates after all was most likely why Harold and the Roll-McHover Group found themselves in the crosshairs of these guys…but we were still not stupid.

If they were to act slimy, we would act slimy. Underhanded deals would never be trustable. Already, we were assuming that they would not honor it either. Return us the hostages in exchange? Pfft, most likely, they’d take their prisoners, then splat us off the orbit with their railguns and missiles.

They can screw themselves.

“Alright, Harold. The plan is on.” I said. “We’re going to start preps for planetfall. They have a nearby probe that would be monitoring us, so we really need to make it all look legitimate.”

“We’d still have to raid that prison regardless.” He said. “Their probes should pick that up clearly. I already talked to Lieutenant Steidel. If it’s a diversionary show that we want, he’ll give it to us.”

I grinned. “And we prepare for the boarding event. Juliett?”

A commlink from the VSS Radiant appeared on the screens. “I have it all ready.” She said. “I have mustered three Exalt-Class Drone Frigates from the Void Fleet. They already sneaked in close to this system. I already gave them the orders to perform a slipjump once the Radiant sends out the coordinates.”

“Good. And with the Shine, that places us into four frigates total.” This was shaping up to be a good campaign. A dirty one, sure, but it sure would be a small fleetwide campaign. “The Rearguard will be sneaking toward Luneta, drop Lieutenant Steidel and his men for planetfall, while we in the Jukebox will hunt for the ships holding the hostages.”

“I can control the Radiant remotely. And I’ll assign two of my drone frigates to hunt their main group.” Juliett said. “...The Radiant will be with us while searching for the hostages. Just don’t get too surprised when I do the thing.”

The thing. She told both of us that she had a way to “sneak” stealthily straight to the face of enemy ships if we found them. How that would work, we both didn’t know, but considering her properties, I wouldn’t be surprised if she had some bullshit techno-magic hidden in her sleeve.

“I still don’t understand how you can do all those things, Ms. Juliett,” Harold said, and I frowned.

“For now, take things at face value. Tell your men the same. These are desperate times, and we can wonder about her nature once this clown show is over,” I said. “That’s how things are, for now, old friend.”

“Sure, so long as she’s helpful, we’re all grateful. I’d let my curiosity slide for now.”

“In any case…” I stopped, giving one final thought to the plans that we had. It was shite, all of it. This entire situation was. But…something already tugged me inside. I had to do this. I had to. Even when it could be detrimental to my continued being. There would be no backing out again. “Operation…is a go.”

+++

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

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Sagittarius Union Space

VSS Radiant

EMCON (Emissions Control)

“Just don’t get too cocky, SYS. If things get dicey, you retreat.”

“Acknowledged.” I sighed, looking back at the rest of us inside of her hangars. There were two dozen of us, Harold’s men, all preparing our combat suits for the boarding action. I already donned System Dynamic’s grey-tinted S-WAR Tactical Suit, with only the helmet left out (I was holding it instead). Harold and Juliett were in the same suit, even though Juliett probably didn’t need it.

Still, she had to keep appearances for now. “So, you sure you’re all prepared for this crap? Honestly, I have no experience with boarding actions.”

I know how to conduct a successful bank raid planetside, but I sure as hell don’t know how to board a spaceship.

“Yes. We once did this already,” Harold said. “Pretty hard, but we only suffered a few injuries. Hell, we even got boarded back then. It happens.”

“Good, as we’ll still going in hot once we’re in. Some experience with these kinds of crap is nice,” I said, preparing my combat SMG. Surprisingly, it all appeared on my Fed-System notifications.

SD Z-44 Equipped!

Not that it had any point. I heard some people could use the Fed-System for land-based activities, but the guy who told me that back then said I better keep that hush. Still, I never saw its effects personally anyway, so I didn’t bring it up.

“My assault crafts should ensure that it will be a smooth ride,” Juliett said. “Once we sneak in, and I launch all of us straight to their faces, they wouldn’t be able to react.”

“I think their cargo freighters have PDS though,” their weapons officer chimed in. “Can we go through that?”

Juliett nodded. “Yes. My assault crafts are fast and well-fortified. And again, we’re sneaking closely. Point-blank range.”

“How would that even be possible?” I asked, and she gave me a tiny smirk.

“Remember my ship’s designation?” I looked back, a Void-Class Phase Cruiser. I always wondered what it meant. Phase? Perhaps? Was that what she was hinting at? “You asked me to explain it, I think it would be better for you to just see me demonstrating it.”

“Alert. Contacts found.” Eerily, the voice of the automatic intercom system inside of the Radiant was essentially just Juliett’s voice. She explained that she actually had two ‘independent shards’ inside the Radiant and her own Avatar Model, which made everything weirder because damn it…was Juliett three entities then (including her AI Core)? “Initiating stealth maneuvers.”

She laughed it off, but she never answered it.

“Seem’s like we’re close to finding them,” Juliett said, and I nodded.

“At this point, Lieutenant Steidel is probably already in Luneta,” Harold said. “Either fighting planetside, or the Rearguard is sneaking through the patrols.”

“You said your second in command is good at sneaking, right?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Yes, he’ll do it well enough. Some Union pickets wouldn’t be able to stop him.” Harold replied. “We’re already timing this well considering we’re on the trail to find them. Give or take another thirty minutes if we find them in that timeframe and we get the hostages quick…”

“We’ll get a smooth getaway.”

“Exactly.” Harold crossed his arms. “Still, I want you two, especially you, Ms. Juliett, to be prepared for whatever that may happen. We don’t know if they are guarding that ship tightly. Even if I don’t expect that considering that pirates usually have a crew manpower problem, we should still be ready for that.”

I stayed silent, and so did Juliett. We would like to deny it, but this was reality. They held these people hostage in their own ships. Even if we were fast enough in our raid, and things went on splendidly on the boarding part…we were still outmatched at that important question. The question of who would get on the objectives first once things get going.

Would we rescue the hostages first, or would they be able to execute them all first? I wasn’t hoping for a massacre. That would be the last of the things on my list.

“I…I will not forgive them if they do anything to those people…” Juliett muttered in rage. “I’ll hunt that Lord Preussen down to the ends of the Sector if he does. I will. I absolutely will.”

“We won’t let it reach that point,” I said. “We’ll get the hostages out, blast half of their flotilla, pick up Lieutenant Steidel and his men, then piss off away from Escuardo once and for all.”

All of them were tensely silent after my declaration. “If Lord Preussen tries to chase us, then we’ll teach him how stupid it is to search for revenge.”

“Heh, still as cocky as ever,” Harold managed out a small laugh. “I was wrong. You didn’t change.”

“We’ll make him pay,” quite frankly, that would be my only logical response to this. Harold was still a part of the Von Wicht Gang. And so were his men. The hostages were just an extra. Perhaps, this was really just my motive. If they harmed a part of our gang, they would pay. “We’ll teach him not to mess with us. And we’ll pummel that lesson straight to his cranium.”

“Now you’re really sounding like it,” Harold said, and I shook my head.

“Shut up.”

Juliett looked down, and suddenly, the lights in the room turned red. All the hangars for the assault crafts opened up. Grey in color, and not too dissimilar from other fighters of this age, there were three of them, and their ramps lowered for all of us. It seemed that Juliett could really just mentally control the entire ship.

“We’re going to sneak now,” Juliett declared. “If any of you feel nausea, discomfort, or vomiting, that’s normal. We’re moving into Phase Space.”

“The what now?”

And suddenly, I felt the urge to throw up, as my mind went to wack. Strange wailing voices from the void filled my ears, and everything almost slowed down. It was almost as if I was hearing the ghosts of all those I…I…

Time…reality, everything. It seemed as if it stopped, bent, and distorted. My vision turned almost into a hallucination, as everything turned distorted.

But not Juliett. Not her.

“This…is what the Radiant can do, Jonathan,” She declared. “Phase technology. We’re not in real space or hyperspace…we’re in a different dimension altogether. And in here…they won’t see us, nor sense us, nor find us. The perfect way to sneak straight to their faces.”

What must have taken ages suddenly stopped, and I fell to the floor, and so did most of us. We certainly weren’t used to whatever she did. But Juliett stood alone, impassively. As if nothing happened. But already, the alarm lights blared out, and we could hear the hissing sounds of compartments shutting down one after another in the ship.

That…what happened? What did she just do? What did you do, Juliett?

I couldn’t say anything to her yet, the urge to vomit was still there as everything returned back to normal. Just then, her eyes suddenly glowed a menacing light blue.

“Get into the assault crafts. We are going in.”

+++

Engagement Commenced:

Your Ships:

ISS Jukebox (Reaper Class Corvette)—Autonomous Control

Allied Ships:

VSS Shine (Exalt-Class Drone Frigate)

VSS Radiant (Void-Class Phase Cruiser)

Hostile Ships:

ISS Der Halter (Tog-Class Heavy Freighter)

ISS Der Linde (Puncher-Class Destroyer)

ISS Der Hesse (Puncher-Class Destroyer)

ISS Der Vaug (Puncher-Class Destroyer)

Difficulty experience bonus: -75% Base Rate!