Project - Prometheus Ch. 30

"What? Can you blame me?" Inari protested, giving her girlfriend big Bambi eyes. Priya just giggled and went back to checking the scope.

"Looks like any survivors are breaking off the attack and trying to get back to the formation around the Stalwart," Priya replied.

"Let's deter them, shall we?" Inari smiled as she saw their shields were restored.

"Let's!"

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"Docking seal is engaged and clamps are locked in!" the pilot told the soldiers as they waited by the airlock.

"Commander Callista, is the docking bay secure?" Fitch called over the comms.

"It is. We're waiting outside for you," the commander told him.

"All right, kids! Let's roll!" Karl barked as the airlock doors hissed open.

The soldiers filed out, weapons ready and eager to get to work. The Collective had infiltrated the place they had called home for the last few years. It was time for some payback on these bastards. Karl and D'zalah were out first, directing traffic and ensuring that no one got hurt. Karl noticed something seemed out of place, or rather a particular someone.

"Soldier, front and center!" Karl called out, singling out the one who wasn't in full body armor. The man looked around and realized that he was being called out and stepped up, saluting Karl.

"Yes, sir?" Rasner asked, hoping this was a random inspection.

"Name, rank and serial number, now!" the captain demanded.

"Rasner, Ronald T., Corporal; E2 (Elite Level 2 proficiency), 79035672," Rasner replied, stating who he was in truth. He hoped the gambit would work and that the captain would let him off the hook.

"Didn't have time to get armored up?" D'zalah questioned.

"It was a bit of a scrum down there, sir. Just grabbed what I could and rushed to the transport," Ron lied.

"You ready to kill some Collective?" Karl asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Hoo-aah, sir!" Rasner replied and cocked his rifle, showing he was ready to get down to business.

"Fall in with Sergeant Deak's squad," Fitch ordered, directing the man.

"Yes, sir!" Ron saluted before he jumped in with the squad.

"You do know he's not one of ours?" Lieutenant Kantori questioned once the squad had left.

"Oh, I know. My guess is that he might be a civilian playing hero, or... something else," Karl surmised.

"You think he might be..." D'zalah asked, not finishing the question.

"Possibly. The way he was looking around suggested he's looking for an avenue of escape, but not just for him. I've already relayed orders to Deak to keep an eye on him. If he makes even the slightest move of aggression towards our men, he's instructed to gun him down," Karl stated.

"Why take the risk?" D'zalah asked, seeing this as highly unusual.

"Call it a gut instinct. Something tells me that this guy isn't all bad. I'm giving him a chance to prove it," Karl replied.

"All right then Captain. On your head, be it," D'zalah Kantori replied, hoping that Karl wasn't making a colossal mistake.

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Rasner stepped into line with Deak's squad and followed the sergeant's orders. He knew he did the right thing by ordering the women he'd taken from Dorian to stay on the transport. There was a firefight going on and if they stepped off, they'd likely wind up dead. Soldiers were battling each other, and they didn't know who was who.

"Any idea on who we're supposed to shoot?" Rasner called out.

"Here! The HUD's been updated! Gun down anyone outlined in red!" Deak told him as he handed the merc a pair of glasses. Rasner took them and put them on, looking around.

He saw the outlines on the soldiers that surrounded him and nodded, seeing the blue coronas that surrounded them. He cocked his weapon and kept his eyes forward, searching out any potential targets. The squad approached a burning restaurant and stared at it, but Rasner had a gut feeling that nagged at him. The fire was burning way too brightly for it to have been a casualty of standard gunfire.

"Shit! Get down!" the man called out, knocking several soldiers in front of him to their faces. They were about to get up when a squad of attackers popped up from behind a floral display, guns blazing. Several of the men in the squad were hit, but their shields held. They quickly got out of the way and dove for cover, while Rasner and the trio he knocked to the ground brought their weapons to bear.

The shots they fired hit their assailants and most of them hit the ground, injured or dead. Rasner then scrambled forward and scooped up one of the rifles that had hit the ground and turned back to the burning restaurant. By the outer walls of the restaurant, additional turncoats popped up, hiding behind the burning furniture. They took aim at the soldiers on the ground but didn't get a single shot off.

Rasner brought both rifles in his hands to bear and opened up on the enemies in the burning restaurant. Half the rounds he fired were stopped due to the shield generators they wore, but the other half overloaded their shields. The Collective infiltrators turned their attention to the man shooting at them briefly, but that was their last mistake. Seconds later, they were gunned down by the men of Sergeant Deak's platoon.

"Everyone out there, OK?" Deak called out.

"Can confirm that, sir!" one of the soldiers called out, getting up from the ground.

"Damn, Rasner! That was some quick thinking!" another man commented, clapping the merc on the shoulder.

"How did you know they'd use that tactic?" Deak queried as he ambled up to assess the situation.

"Part of the training I received in the Federation military. An ambush tactic that is a favorite of spec ops teams there," Rasner told them.

"How do you know that?" Deak questioned, suspicious of the man.

"I was an E2 corporal for a while," the merc told the sergeant. Deak quirked an eyebrow, then smirked.

"Glad you're on our side! Take point with Rahkort and Dominguez. Squad, let's keep moving! We still have a station to clear!" Deak called out, rallying them.

"Hoo-aah!"

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"Keep pushing ladies! Last holdout is just ahead in docking bay ninety-four!" Alex called out, as he holstered Wolf's Fangs and brought Stormbreaker out, cocking the weapon.

"Yes, sir!" all three of them replied.

They followed him towards the last known zone that held Collective infiltrators. They charged in, with the Sentries and Commander Callista backing them. Lieutenant Hardick had since been relegated to Command security, keeping them safe as the battle for the station raged on. They quickly breached the doors to the docking bay and flooded in, eager to end this conflict.

"All right, you little bastards! The way I see it, you have two choices!" Alex called out as he hefted his machine gun in front of him. "You can fight for the Collective, refusing to surrender and wind up corpses in a matter of minutes."

"You said there were two options! What's option two?" came a reply from the crates that were stacked as temporary barricades.

"Option two is that you lot surrender and walk out of here alive. It's clear that there's no way out and as it is, the fleet that is defending the station is far greater than those under Saubath's command," Alex told them.

"Fuck!" came a distressed reply.

"You're lying! Operation Warlord has succeeded, and the station is surrounded by a fleet loyal to the Collective!" came an arrogant, yet desperate reply.

"Commander?" Alex asked the Lebanese woman who stood next to him. She pulled up her suit computer and tapped in several sequences. The bay doors opened, but the containment field remained active. Outside, in space, a battle could be seen raging. The battle fleet, lead by the Dauntless, was pounding the picket ships that guarded the Stalwart.

"There you go. Witness with your own two eyes, the failure of Operation Warlord. Those are your options; fight and die, or surrender and live," Alex told them.

"We surrender!" came a reply, which was accompanied by an auto rifle popping out behind a stack of crates. It clattered to the ground and out stepped a human man with his arms raised. Many others also threw down their weapons and came out with their hands in plain sight. All but one infiltrator had come forward, throwing themselves at the mercy of the UCW.

"COWARDS!" the lone human woman screamed as she launched herself at the soldiers of the UCW, her weapon spitting fire and thunder.

Several soldiers scattered, looking for cover, while others hit the deck, avoiding her shots. Alex stayed calm, spun and dropped to one knee, while he drew his hand cannon, took aim and fired. The bullet bypassed what meager shields she had and hit the weapon in her hands. The auto rifle spun out of her grip and hit the ground in front of her. The woman stared at the weapon she just held, then at Alex, who kept his weapon trained on her.

"Next shot goes right through your head. Feel like tempting fate, missy?" Alex asked as he cocked the hammer on the hand cannon. The woman reluctantly put her hands up and growled at Alex as they put her in cuffs.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Commander Callista wondered, rarely having seen such marksmanship.

"Self taught, mostly," Alex replied.

"Feel like giving some lessons?" the commander asked, flirting with large Croat.

"He's busy," Natalya said, walking right in front of the woman. Commander Callista stared at Natalya, then hopefully back at Alex.

"You heard the lady. My schedule is full," Alex smirked as he followed Natalya, before putting his arm around her waist. Tanya seethed with envy, but found that she couldn't begrudge Natalya for protecting what was hers. She smiled wistfully as she saw how Alex looked at the Trini-Rus woman, wishing for something like that.

She watched the other two civilians join Alex and Natalya as they stepped away, their aid no longer required. Shaking her head, the Commander went back to directing her soldiers, making sure that each prisoner was secure. Now that they had taken back the station, they could get things back to normal. First thing was the mountain of paperwork, which Tanya wasn't looking forward to.

"Commander Callista?" came an automated voice, and she turned to regard the Sentry-bot that stood a few feet from her.

"Yes?"

"The threat to Veldhern station is contained?" the Sentry asked, following its programming.

"It is. Thank you for your assistance!" she replied to the machine.

"Happy to be of assistance. Temporary command structure is at an end. Returning to the Darkstrider," the Sentry informed her, and the remaining machines followed the lead bot, falling in behind it.

Tanya was amazed at what these Sentries were capable of and was curious if they had tech like that at their disposal. If so, she'd have to see command about getting them built and operational. Though she kept her mind primarily on the cleanup job ahead, as there was a lot to do before any sense of normalcy could resume.

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"Seems that no matter where you go, you attract attention," Natalya huffed in irritation.

"What can I say? I'm a likable guy," Alex teased, to which Natalya humphed. "You know, you're cute when you get jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" Natalya snapped. Alex gave her a look, and she softened her stance. "OK, maybe a little. Can you blame me when hussies like the Commander are throwing themselves at you?" she queried.

"Not at all. Though to be fair, Commander Callista doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell," Alex told his lady and she preened under the attention.

"All right, save it for when you're alone, you two," Taal'ani laughed. "I'm curious though about how you worked so well with us during the firefight there, Jaesa."

"I'd like to know that too! It was like you were reading our minds and responding to our instructions on where to be and what to do!" Natalya agreed.

"That is down to my combat programming. When I was crafting it, I made it so I would read and analyze the combat styles of my companions and adapt accordingly. It was a little jittery when I started it up, but towards the end of it was when things were really coming together," the AI admitted.

"That final push against the group in the military zone really had my head swimming!" Alex admitted. "It was literally like you were twinning with Nats back there!"

"I know! I just hope that the fleet pulls off something similar out there!" Taal'ani said as she stared out a nearby viewport, wondering what would happen next.

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Saubath's face was impassive as he watched yet another ship from his fleet explode. He was beyond pissed at the turn of events, as the Takharian man hoped that his plan would have been more successful. He wondered what happened to those two engineers he had transferred to the Dauntless. If they had done their jobs and at least sabotaged that ship, the battle could have gone differently.

"How long before we have the co-ordinates to make the jump to hyperspace?" Saubath demanded as his fleet tried to get away.

"Two minutes, sir! The navi-computer is working as fast as it can!" the navigator told him fearfully. The man knew that Saubath was in a foul mood and hoped that he wouldn't be the subject of his ire.

"That's another ship down, sir!" his tactical officer stated.

"Which one was it?" Saubath ground out.

"The Grah'kess, sir," the tactical officer replied and Saubath cursed. That was one of the destroyers that was armed with the new pulsar tech. They only had several ships with it left, and Saubath only hoped that they could get the calculations before they were destroyed.

"Sir, we have an incoming transmission! It's from Dexter Malkaran!" his communications officer told him.

"Put him through!" Saubath ordered. The hologram of Dexter materialized and Saubath smiled, glad to see his compatriot alive. "You got off the station?"

"Barely! I'm in a shuttle headed right for you, but it's tough keeping all these ships off my back!" Dexter stated, as it could be seen that he was piloting the ship through the firefight.

"Where are you?" Saubath questioned, looking for his signal among the tactical map.

"I just cleared the second fleet's picket line and am trying to get to you! These fighters aren't making it easy for me!" Dexter replied, sounding harried.

"If you want to get out of here, hurry! The fleet is taking far too many losses and we're severely outgunned!" the Takharian man urged.

"Send a fighter escort to help me out!" the former administrator demanded.

"All my fighters are tied up trying to ensure our escape! I can't spare any!" Arcann snapped.

"Sir! Our shields are down to seventeen percent! We can't hold together any longer! We need to leave now!" the tactical officer told him.

Saubath looked over the holographic representation of the battle and growled at what he was seeing. Much as he hated to admit it, the man was right, they'd taken too many losses. The second fleet was bearing down on them, along with the support of the other half of the third fleet. Then, there was that nuisance of a ship, the Darkstrider.

"Comms, get the message out to the loyalists. Full retreat. Any that can't make it will have to be left behind," Saubath ordered.

"Arcann, what are you doing?!?" Dexter screamed into the commlink.

"What I have to, to keep what we have from being taken. I'm sorry," the commodore replied with a smirk as he made to kill the line.

"No, you're not!" Dexter accused, before the comms were shut down.

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Ana Williams watched in disbelief as Saubath's ships turned tail and entered hyperspace. She growled quietly to herself in frustration, angered that Saubath had escaped with nearly half the third fleet! The commodore's face was etched in pure anger, something which the bridge crew could see plain as day.

"Comms, open a line to broadcast to the fleets on the military and security channels only," Williams commanded.

"Channel is open, ma'am. Go ahead," her communication officer told her a few moments later.

"Soldiers of the UCW, this is Commodore Ana Williams. I know many of you have questions about what's been going on, considering this most recent attack on Veldhern. We have all suffered a great betrayal today, with those among us whom we called friend, showing their true colors as traitors. Your officers may or may not have told you, but what we suffered today was an attack by Tosh'Kanthi Collective," Williams stated.

"I know many of you have heard the rumors about us being at odds with them. Many of the business practices and actions they have taken caught the ire of many a citizen in the UCW. Many other races and organizations have also run afoul of them and their shady and reckless dealings. Today, marks a more important point in the history of this conflict," Williams went on.

"They tried to outright take that which was not theirs or in dubious claim. They sought to undermine everything we had established here and take it for themselves. But, as today has proven, that is something they are going to have to work for. What they tried to pull off today failed and it will continue to fail, because we have something that they don't. Heart."

"Hitting us from behind won't stop us, it'll just piss us off. As of this moment, I will begin making my report to high command and forward the petition to invoke war against the Tosh'Kanthi Collective. For too long, we have stood by on the sidelines, watching as this organization of terrorists, wantonly steps on and enslaves all who stand up to them. It's past time that this pacifistic attitude end," Williams told them.

"No longer will stand by and stand down in the face of such evil. We will take the fight to them and just as they displayed today, we will show them no mercy! No more waiting, no more hoping, but actually doing something to end this threat, once and for all! They hit us where we live and I say we hit them back," Williams stated passionately.

The bridge crew had turned to regard their commander as she made her speech. They all nodded and agreed with every word she had said, eager to get into the fight. For years, the Collective had operated on the fringe of Galactic Law, always staying just within the boundaries. Because of the inaction of the powers that be, they continued to do what they wished and never be held accountable. Today, that would change.

"I know that we've already lost good people this past week. Going to war like this will see us lose many more, and it is not something I advocate for lightly. The Collective must be dealt with, or soon, the rest of the galaxy will see them become too powerful to stop. Continue with your duties and await further orders from your superiors about what's to come," Ana finished before she killed the line.

Applause erupted around her and she smiled at her crew, glad to see they stood with her. Ana then stood and saluted her crew and they all saluted back, elated to serve with such a woman.

"In light of recent events, every member of the military and security service will be granted a thirty-six-hour furlough. Rotate it so that there are only thirty-three percent of said personnel are on furlough, while the other sixty-six are on duty. Start up with the lists, including yourselves, and pass the order on throughout the fleet, the station, and the ground teams. We all need a break after this cluster fuck," Ana stated tiredly.

Another cheer came from the bridge crew and everyone snapped off to work, more than eager to get the lists drawn up. Though the crews usually did get shore leave now and then, the longest they got was twelve hours at a time. A whole thirty-six hours?!? Many would jump at that, eager to do things they couldn't do in twelve hours.