The New Holland Incident

"Sir, we are just about to enter maximum guided missile range." Haynes said, as if reading her Captains mind.

"Thank you Commander." Llewellyn replied, turning his attention from his terminal. "Do we have a solid laser lock yet?"

"Not yet sir, acquisition still has a few seconds of delay. They do seem to be sitting fairly still however." The Commander stated, queuing up a graphical display and sending it to his terminal. Haynes gave Llewellyn a moment to look over the data before speaking up again. "We could launch a salvo and have the missiles home in on large drive signatures. At full burn our missiles would reach their targets in just under twenty minutes" She suggested.

"No," Llewellyn said after a moment of mulling the decision over in his head. "There's too much risk that we could hit the transport by mistake. And even if we don't, the distance those ships are at there is a risk of debris blowing holes in the transport as well." Llewellyn paused, quickly running over some tactical ideas in his head before continuing. "No, we need a more surgical option. Draw those ships away from the transport and then engage them."

Commander Haynes gave her senior officer a curt nod and returned to her own terminal. The bridge fell quiet. The natural sounds of the ship in motion and the light tapping of keyboards from the crew were the only things to be heard. Llewellyn watched the estimated distance to the ideal laser lock timer slowly tick downwards, still dissecting and scrutinizing battle plans in his head. Getting the drop on them, a first strike attack, would be preferable. If they tipped their hand to early however, it could spell disaster for not only his ship, but the ship they were attempting to rescue. And at a full burn, they weren't exactly being stealthy. The pirates (or marauders), whoever they were, must have seen them coming by now. No doubt they would be preparing for a fight as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Llewellyn noticed Lieutenant Blevins turn in his chair. The young man appeared as though he had something to say. A moment later, the Captains intuition proved correct.

"Sir, I may have an idea." The young officer stated.

"I'm all ears Leftenant." Llewellyn replied.

"Captain, why don't we try using the recon drones? If we can get close to their perimeter, make it look threatening enough they might try moving one of their ships to intercept it." The officer suggested.

The words clicked inside Llewellyn's head. He smiled.

"And even if they shoot it down we'll still be able to get a better look at them, see what we're dealing with. Good idea Mister Blevins." The Captain stated, quickly picking up on the idea. Llewellyn brought up a quick inventory of their ships carried vehicles. They had three drones, more than enough. Llewellyn pulled his eyes back from his terminal and continued to speak. "Deploy two drones, put one on either end of them and keep a decent distance. Lets see if they take the bait."

Blevins gave an 'Aye sir' and began talking to someone on his comm headpiece. The captain hoped that the drones would at least give them something. At the very least they could use them as augments to their target acquisition.

"Captain, drones deployed. They'll be in range in ten minutes." Blevins said.

"Very good, keep me updated." The captain replied and turned back to his terminal, a new intercept time for their drones now appearing on his screen as well.

There was still one thing bugging him however. Llewellyn didn't even realize it until he had absentmindedly looked over the ships vehicle inventory. The alien pirates had boarded the transport. Their scopes hadn't picked up any of the landed boarding craft having taken off yet so there was still probably a sizable force on board the transport. If the Battleaxe and the Churchill were to engage the pirate's ships and neutralize them, then there was a very real possibility that any hostages they had on the transport might be killed in an act of defiance against them. If they hadn't been already. Llewellyn had to make sure that didn't happen. The Battleaxe carried as small complement of Royal Marines, only about twenty men. He knew the Churchill carried some as well.

The only problem was that, to his knowledge, neither ship had any dedicated boarding craft. He supposed they could do what their pirates had done and simply attach shuttles and cut their way through the hull. But they ran the risk of depressurizing the whole transport when they took back off. This wasn't a military ship they were boarding, it was civilian with who knows how many passengers. Llewellyn decided he needed a second opinion. The Churchill had now caught up and was now burning along side them. Their radar feeds and targeting solutions were now being fed back and forth for maximum combat effectiveness with no light lag. And as such, real time communication was now possible between the two ships.

"Mister Sheppard," The captain began. "Hail the Churchill, I need to speak with Captain Hilton. Give me video on my terminal."

"Aye sir." Came the response from the Sub-lieutenant.

A black video window popped up on Llewellyn's terminal and about a minute later the image of Captain Dinesh Hilton sat there to greet him. The man was slightly younger than Llewellyn and sported light brown skin with brown eyes and short cut black hair that was obscured by his duty cap. Although his mother may have been Indian his accent was the unmistakable mark of growing up in his English father's native city of Manchester.

"Captain Llewellyn, it's a pleasure to speak to you again. What can I do for you?" The man on the other side of the screen asked.

Llewellyn smiled. He hadn't known Dinesh Hilton very long but had immediately come to like the man. They had spent a considerable amount of time talking, Captain to Captain, just a few days prior. It always seemed like he was in a good mood. Just a naturally upbeat person he supposed. It made him very easy to get along with.

"Dinesh, hello. I was hoping to get your opinion on a tactical matter." Llewellyn said fairly flat out.

The captain could see he had peaked the other man's curiosity. A smile formed on his lips. During their first meeting Captain Hilton had insisted that Llewellyn use his first name when talking to him. It was that kind of shared intimacy that made him the likable person he was.

"How can I help?" Captain Hilton replied.

"I'm thinking we need to come up with a plan regarding how we are going to get those hostages off that ship." Llewellyn paused to run a hand through his short and graying brown hair. "The Battleaxe has half a dozen shuttles we can use to get marines over there and I figure they can just cut through the hull the same way those pirates did."

"I was thinking something along similar lines." Hilton responded with a slight nod.

Llewellyn returned the nod and continued. "The only issue I see is that those pirates on board the transport already might just outright execute their prisoners if we take out their ships before we send in our own marines."

The statement hung in the air for a moment. He could see that something going through Dinesh's mind.

"I can see your dilemma. I should have thought of that myself." Captain Hilton admitted, rubbing the faint black stubble on his chin. He responded after a few moments of thought. "We'll have to get the Battleaxe and Churchill to run interference then. Pull their ships away from the transport so we can drop the marines."

"I was thinking something along the same lines. Glad to see we're on the same page" Llewellyn smiled as he responded.

"The Churchill has thirty Marines we just rotated off New Holland. They've been on a winter vacation for the last six months so I'm sure their itching for something to do." Dinesh smiled back. "We have three usable shuttles as well. It will be a tight fit, but we should be able to deploy all of them."

"Send them our way then. We've got a larger profile than you do. Should be able to deploy them from here and give them enough physical and point defense cover while they head for the transport." Llewellyn said.

"Sounds solid." Dinesh replied. "I'll inform my people. Anything else?"

Llewellyn rubbed the bridge of his nose and then responded. "Only other issue I can see is the need to ferry survivors off the transport. If we have to cut into the hull, we'll depressurize it every time we leave. And I'm expecting multiple trips. We don't have a passenger count but profile recognition says that ship could be carrying up to a hundred, hundred fifty at most. Any ideas?"

Captain Hilton barely made a full rub of his chin before responding.

"We can use emergency portable airlocks. The kind the damage control teams use." The Churchill's captain said, eyes lighting up almost like he had just had a eureka moment. "Have the Marines attach them to the hull of the transport while still inside the shuttles then pressurize them. That way when they take off they're not taking the atmosphere with them."

"That's some bloody smart thinking." Llewellyn said, unable to keep himself from smiling. "I'll get my teams to start packing them in the shuttles." Llewellyn trailed off slightly as he saw a text message appear on his screen. It was from Haynes informing him that the drones were thirty seconds away from their designated positions. He cleared his throat and brought his attention back to Dinesh. "Speaking of being ready, it seems the drones are just about in position."

"I'm seeing that myself." Hilton replied. "I'm sending my crew to action stations. Marines should be on their way shortly. We'll keep in touch. Take care of yourself Hugh."

"Acknowledged, Llewellyn out." He said before letting the ship to ship tightbeam connection drop, replacing Captain Hilton once again by a black window.

Llewellyn leaned back in his chair. At least they had some kind of plan. A mass hostage extraction op was not exactly an easy undertaking. Even less so when it was going to be happening in the middle of a naval battle. They were going to have to make sure the Battleaxe and the Churchill were more tempting targets than their vulnerable shuttle craft. Or at the very least position the larger ships to be able to take the brunt of the assault while the smaller shuttles flew out from behind them. Either way it was going to be tough. A slight beeping and a flashing 00:00:00 for the timer informed the captain that the drones had now reached their destinations and the data was beginning to come in.

They were still too far off for the pirates to really do anything about, but the drones were reporting that they were getting the occasional ranging laser splashing them. It was the pirates way of saying 'We see you out there, and we're letting you know we see you'. They hadn't moved to intercept yet however. That was fine. It was all part of the plan of course. Llewellyn didn't want the drones to harass their ships until the Churchill's Marines were safely on board and ready to go. So a few more minutes at least. He informed his crew to prepare for the arrival of the Churchill's shuttles and began reviewing the steady stream of information the recon drones were beaming to them. It really didn't tell them much that they already didn't know.

Three ships and five boarding craft, the latter attached to the transport and the former in a loose defensive position around them. The best they got really were new angles from the drones telescopes. The sharp angular designs of the pirate's ship's almost reminded Llewellyn of some kind of floating spikes with a large drive at the back, with the largest ship being a combination of three spikes. The black and red paint jobs and various (what looked like useless) adornments nearly screamed custom job. Llewellyn hoped that they preformed as well as their slapped together construction seemed to imply.

The Battleaxe's tactical analysis was starting to overlay possible weapons emplacements over the images of the ships. Some looked like they could be PDC's (Point Defense Cannons) and a couple others that looked like maybe some kind of possible missile silo's or torpedo tubes. Only the large one seemed like it had some kind of mass driver, smaller than the drivers on the Battleaxe and Churchill however. They would have to try to take out that one as early as possible.

"Captain," Llewellyn's display fixed attention was broken by Sub-lieutenant Sheppard. "HMS Churchill is reporting Marines have been launched and are en route."

"Very good, open the doors and let them in." The Captain commanded and refocused his attention on the drone's data stream.

They were close, he thought. All they were waiting on now was for those troops to land and be prepped to launch again. Once they were set then the plan could begin in earnest. Llewellyn took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and then let it out slowly through his nose. Time to see what they were made of.

Trivate Charters Transport Ship Hyande Val-Askanse

British Commonwealth Claimed System of 'New Holland'

The first few steps outside of the storage room had been an exhausting effort in Vas overcoming her inherent anxiety. Parts of her mind kept screaming at her to get back inside the storage room and just hide. Curl up and try to make herself as small as possible. Basic survival instincts. Vas knew she had to push past them if she was going to get off the ship free and alive. She was just now turning into the hallway where the reptilian passenger had been shot. Seeing it slumped there was much different than seeing it through the removed view of the security camera. For one she could smell the blood. It was a slightly sickening smell that had her tasting iron. Or at least that's what her brain wanted her to think.

Slowly she moved down the hallway, stopping only when she was about an arms length away from the body. She bent down to examine it. The pool of red it was sitting in seemed to be larger than she'd seen on the camera. Gravity slowly pulling it out of the body she supposed. Even up close she still couldn't tell the species or the gender. She eventually decided that it looked like more of a him by the definition of the muscles underneath the somewhat scale-like skin. Without much thinking she reached out to touch it's arm. The scaled skin felt slightly rubbery and soft, and only a tiny bit cool. Vas hadn't expected him to still be so warm, but she supposed he was only shot a little while ago.

She squeezed the aliens arm once and then released, ready to stand back up and continue on her journey. The arm moved. Vas nearly fell backwards, being caught completely off guard. She watched as the body shifted slightly, the aliens head moving up slightly and then dropping to the opposite side that it had been. Vas scrambled closer and put her three didgited hand next to the creatures mouth. Her eyes went wide. 'Oh god', she thought, 'he's still breathing!'. A new sense of panic came over her. How long had he been laying there bleeding out? She had assumed he was dead! A new wave of anxiety washed over her. She had to do something! Anything! She couldn't just leave him there!

Her mind raced. She wasn't a medic. She knew some basic first aid but not enough to know how to fix a dying man's wounds! They had to be severe! She had to try however. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't. Vas moved forward and put one of her arms around the man's back. In attempting to lift him up Vas realized that he was much heavier than he looked. Either that or she was just weak. A split second thought that she really needed to do more resistance and weight training flashed through her mind. Tone her muscles up a little. Not willing to give up however, she tugged at the man until she could get her other arm around him as well. Sha had now managed to loop her arms under his and wrap them around his chest. Small moans emanated from him as she did.

With the man's back now facing her she began to drag him back down the hallway from which she had just come. Vas had been unable to avoid stepping in the expending pool of blood, so a pair of bloody footprints followed her until they were mostly obscured by the man's body dragging over them, leaving a crimson line instead. It was no easy feat trying to reopen the storage room's door with her arms full of dying individual. Through a combination of hitting the control with her shoulder and then ultimately having to bend over and use her face to hit the release, she was now back in the room. She gently laid the bleeding man down on the metal floor. Without wasting a beat Vas removed her scalpel and slowly began cutting the injured man's gown open. Vas mentally chastised herself when her first thought after opening up the gown was that she couldn't see genitalia, so she still wasn't sure if it was actually a him.

She knew she really shouldn't be thinking about these things at a time like this, but she figured it was more of a hardwired response that she couldn't help but sneak a peak. Satisfied with that reasoning she turned her attention to the two oozing red holes in the mans chest. He had been hit in the upper chest, around where most species usually had their major organs. Without knowing the physiology of her impromptu patient, Vas had no way to know what lay beneath. Regardless she scrambled the first aid kit out of her bag and dumped its contents on the floor. She rummaged through it looking for something that could help, stopping temporarily when she came upon an injectable painkiller that she recognized. She scooped it up and then hesitated. Vas realized that she had no idea if his species would be allergic to this type of medicine.

Stealing another glance of the reptilian laying on the floor in front of her, she twisted open the hypodermic needle and stabbed him in the leg, letting the contents flow into his body and get to work. Vas figured it didn't really matter. He was dead anyways if she didn't try. At least there hadn't been any immediate visibly adverse effects from the painkiller. The man was still pretty unconscious, so she decided to assume it was helping. Even if only a little bit. Turning back to her mess that was the first aid kit, she began looking for the next thing that could help. Among the self-sealing bandages and other items, the lone pilot found just the something she'd been looking for. A small one use container of medical gel. She allowed herself a brief smile. The medical gel was a combination coagulant and sealant. It was meant to be put on or in large (or really any) open wounds.

When combined with the activator (which always came attached on the other side of the container) the gel would foam up to stop bleeding and create an airtight seal. It wasn't a permanent solution as the foam would start to degrade after a few hours, but it was perfect for emergencies. Vas quickly grabbed the container and extended the applicator straw. She had momentarily considered trying to fish around in the man's chest for the projectiles that had caused the wounds, but Vas was pretty convinced that if she tried she would end up doing more damage than good. Best to leave it to the professionals. Without further hesitation she carefully pushed the straw into the first wound until it wouldn't go any farther in. She broke the internal seal on the separate internal activator compartment and began to fill the wound with gel. Within seconds the gel turned to foam, stained red from the man's blood.

After Vas had finished filling the first wound she moved on to the second, repeating the process. When she was convinced that both were properly filled she tossed the gel container aside and grabbed some bandages. She opened them up, activating the adhesive, and pressed each one in turn snugly over the wounds. With that she had done all she could do. She slumped back on her legs and looked over the alien in front of her. The front of his body was caked in blood, but as far as Vas could tell he wasn't bleeding anymore. A small victory she thought. She took a second to look him over for other injuries. Upon turning him over (with some difficulty) Vas noticed that neither of the projectiles had gone all the way through. The man's species appeared to have a harder kind of skin/scale on their backs which must have prevented that.