Whilst the Faraday was en route to the coordinates Ali and Olkant had calculated based on the data they had, Ali was taking the opportunity to review the scarce data they. She looked up when the chime to her ready room went and called for them to enter. Etsile stepped through the door once it opened. "You wanted to see me?"

Ali nodded and offered him a seat. "I want to know if Pixie is fit for duty?"

Etsile chuckled. "You don't believe she'll give you the truth if you ask her directly?"

Ali considered denying it, but she knew Etsile knew them all better than they'd like to admit. She nodded. "We're heading for a fire-fight, possibly on the ground. No-one will want to admit they're not fit enough to join in when their friends are going into the thick of it. Especially when their job is security."

"I would prefer to keep her out of the field for another few days, but she is recovering well," Etsile said, though his tone was unusually guarded. "However, if she wants to go, I have no medical reason to stop her."

Ali nodded and sighed. "Then it's her choice, though I know what she'll say… I'll make it clear to her that she needs to be one hundred percent otherwise I have to ground her for everyone else's safety, and that includes mentally."

"You think her brother's going to affect her ability?"

"If I were in her shoes I'd be royally pissed off," Ali admitted, "and I can admit that means I don't always think clearly."

"I don't recall you ever thinking clearly," Etsile said with a laugh and it made Ali chuckle despite the situation. A silence fell over them as the weight of what they were taking on dawned on them. Ali stood and went to one of the cupboards in her ready room and pulled out an old bottle of liquor and some glasses. "I think that's just the prescription this requires," Etsile raised the glass she poured for him.

Ali nodded and joined him in the toast and they had just lowered their glasses when the chime went off again. This time it was Rila who stepped into the small room on invitation and quickly took in the mood in the room. "It's the wrong time for regrets," Rila warned.

"I'm allowed to worry about what I'm leading my crew into," Ali said as she poured another glass and pushed it across the table to Rila. "We're not soldiers, a full on assault isn't what we're trained to do."

"You doubt your crew?"

"No," Ali corrected, "I trust them, but I worry I'm leading them to the slaughter."

Everyone in the room was experienced enough to know there was a very high chance that not all of them would come out of the other side of this. Ali knew that when she made the decision to do it, but even with that knowledge it always became more real once committed to the action. "There is one option," Etsile said, causing both women to turn to him. "S-Core."

"Oh no," Rila objected instantly, turning to Ali for support but only finding a contemplative look on her captain's face. "No! We can't trust them."

"This is one of the things they were formed to do," Ali stated calmly.

Rila cast her gaze between the doctor and captain as if they had both gone mad, her tentacles taut behind her head in surprise and confusion. "But this entire time they've only got in our way… and there's the question of Petra…"

"I know," Ali admitted with a sigh, pouring another round of shots for the three of them. "But I'd feel better about having some backup."

Rila couldn't deny that. "Do we have any favours to cash in?"

Ali sagged back into her chair as she shook her head, loosely waving a hand in resignation as if to show she had nothing. Etsile looked as if he was considering something. "At this point, we're probably better off sticking with variables we know inside out," Ali said tiredly.

"Rather than inviting someone to stab us in the back?" Rila asked before taking another sip of the strong liquor.

"Exactly," Ali said before doing exactly the same.

"You two ladies have a very pessimistic outlook for life, you know that, right?" Etsile asked, causing Ali and Rila to share a knowing look and all three of them raised their glasses in toast to the experiences that had brought them to that moment.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

~-x-~

It was times like this that Ali really missed her old ship, the Hotpot. A small ship she had acquired during her stint away from USEP. She had grown to love that ship, and it's stealth capabilities had saved her life more than once. Now they had arrived in the Celph star system - with only three planets and about as many moons - the Hotpot would have given them a chance to hide in a solar system without many options.

Unfortunately the Hotpot had been destroyed during their efforts to take down Barker last year, so Ali now found herself at the helm of a cruiser with limited options. Ed had taken them into position adjacent to one of Celph III's moons to minimise the risk of them being detected as they tried to scan and survey Cosmos' Champions' base on Celph II. If their calculations were correct, anyway.

Finally Olkant had finished his analysis. "Do you want the bad news or the bad news?"

"Sometimes I question the timing of your sense of humour…" Rila muttered.

"Ignore her, Olkant, what've you got?" Ali asked as she made a point of rolling her eyes at Rila.

"Celph II is habitable, just about. It's covered in snow with temperatures barely reaching single digits. Though there is also significant plant life with many areas of sprawling forests," Olkant explained as he summarised the telemetry from the Faraday's sensors and scanners. "I believe I have located their base."

"It'll be too much to hope they've grown complacent and we can just beam Touchard out and run?" Pixie asked with pessimistic optimism. When Ali had asked her if she was truly fit to resume duties Pixie had gone quiet for a full five minutes as she actually considered the question, before deciding she was. Ali trusted her crew's judgement, but she was especially reassured that Pixie had taken the time to think it over.

"The only part that's above ground is the hangar bays they've built into a cliff face," Olkant continued, "from there they've tunnelled to form a complex for their activities. It looks like a fairly logical and simple layout, but the minerals are interfering with the scanners so the information isn't complete. I think they're using geothermal power generators but it's well defended with anti-aircraft towers and some electronic shielding."

"We could steal a ship," Ed half suggested.

"We'd need their protocols, and if they're smart then they'll notice the downtime as we took control," Rila corrected with relative consideration. It hadn't been a totally stupid idea, one that she herself had been running through to see if she could make it work. The logistics didn't work in their favour, however.

"Okay, Olkant, send everyone the data you have. Everyone take an hour, then we'll convene to discuss plans. I want to know what options we have or we can give ourselves," Ali ordered, receiving a chorus of agreement as she surveyed her bridge staff.

~-x-~

On reflection an hour might not have been long enough, though Ali had been reluctant to grant even that due to their likelihood of being caught at any moment. Though, despite the obstacles in their way, her crew did a valiant effort of solving the problem. They had a number of half solutions that she was sure they could turn into the plan they needed.

"We don't have the cover to get inside the base on foot and their defences would take us out before we got near them in a shuttle. The beamer isn't an option due to their shields," Rila summarised after they'd all presented their ideas and suggestions.

"Then we're left with one option," Ali said, "we take control of their anti-air defences."

Olkant was currently manning the holographic topological display of the compound. "The closest we can beam in undetected is this patch of woodland," he explained as he manipulated the display to show them.

"The gap between the trees and tower isn't too large, if we have the right kind of camouflage and time ourselves well, we should be able to make our approach unseen," Rila agreed.

"But then what? The towers don't connect to the main base," Ed asked, glancing at Pixie as if to ask if she'd spotted where they were going with this.

"If we control the towers, we control the skies," Ali explained with the echo of a knowing smirk, "that means we can bring you in with the shuttle. As the turrets keep the skies clear for you, you can drive them out of the hangar bay."

"Pushing them into the complex and forcing close quarters combat," Pixie realised as she took their control of the skies to its natural conclusion. "The limited space should mitigate their advantage with numbers."

"We'll have to get a more complete picture of the layout as we go. As Pixie said, the choke points will work to disadvantage both sides, however, they have the advantage of knowing the layout. Regardless, it evens the playing field," Ali said, adding more detail for those senior staff members who weren't as used to thinking up tactical plans as she and Rila were.

"What's to stop them just launching grenades at us until we're all dead?" Waarlm asked.

"Misdirection," Rila decided after they all thought on that for a moment. "The towers should be connected to the base's main electronic systems. We'll need to confirm it, but if so then once we have control of the towers we can hack into their base."

"We could also try to snag some of their armour, they might be more hesitant to shoot if they think we're one of them," Pixie suggested.

"Then it sounds like we have the basics of a plan," Ali decided. "Olkant, can you work on getting the data we're missing? Pixie, I need you to give me a list of your best suited people for each role." Ali already had a loose list forming in her head of people she'd expect to include in each group, but Pixie knew the security teams better than she did, so she would rather have her head of security's input on the choices she'd make. They confirmed their orders and Ali dismissed them from the meeting.