Capture

[Xing]

Isabelle hated the cockpit of a starfighter. She was scared of how small they were. She felt even a small asteroid would be able to pierce this fragile view port, killing her instantly.

She felt positively dizzy when the ship began accelerating at top speed, heading for planet Manhattan as she saw the blue sphere grow in size at alarming speed. Of course, she knew everything was in control, but how could she feel comfortable in this horror

She wondered how Jimmy does to stay so long in a fighter and even fly them
Thinking about him made her smile a bit, and she began focusing on anything to maker her distract from this terrible trip.
She thought about the Tenabras and all what she learned on it by her two visits aboard. She shook her head at the thought of commander Travis; it was very honourable of him to respect his words and let her go, but as a military officer, he should have known it was an immense mistake.
She doubted herself would be able to hold her word on such a situation, and for this, the man deserved her respect.
But for being an enemy, she had to use her knowledge to bring him and his people down.

There were only few real important differences between her own flagship and the Tenabras, she thought. The corridors seemed to follow the same blueprint, with slight modification, as on the Osiris class, they were narrower to fit in with its aerodynamic and stealthy shape. The corridor Travis refused her to go about was probably the one leading to the cloaking shield room, which was indeed placed somewhere in the front. She could only guess from outside look it must be the component just in front of the bridge.
Logically, if they took it out with a well placed torpedo run, the ship wouldnt be able to cloak anymore

To think all plans of the ship werent in their hand anymore when it was them who built it

But, she was strongly doubting the Order was her enemy at all now. From what Trinity managed to tell her before she collapsed in her arms, the only real crime Liberty could hold against them would be experimenting on alien technology. And of course, some still suspected the liberty government to be nomad infested.
It was of course an Order point of view, but Isabelle felt it had enough realism to fit in her suspicions.

--
The LSF commander nodded at Jimmy request. He didnt cared much for his precedent insulting act, disciplinary action would be dealt in time. For the moment, they needed competent soldiers, and he could easily judge one when saw one.

The Raven Avenger and Raven Rhino were readied in a dozen of minutes, and immediately catapulted outside.

But something was wrong, as Jimmy and Gerald immediately noticed. Both of them were looking at a datapad showing the tracer the LSF agent managed to stick on Isabelles uniform.

And the Raven type ships were going completely in the opposite direction.
A quick vector calculation made it clear the Tenabras was now somewhere in Texas system!

Gerald smashed his fist on his terminals metal desk, making a small bump on it.
Damn it.

--

Isabelle was quickly recovered aboard her craft by a patrol in New York system, informed by Alaska in hope to catch an Order battleship. Instead, they found the general safe and healthy, which was just as good.
Gerald and his officers sighed in relief as the captain of the LNS Yellowstone made his report. But all of them could feel the sour taste of defeat.
The young colonel contacted in his Raven crafts, obviously disappointed in himself.
Sorry boys. No action today it seems. Land on Manhattan as soon as you can, mission terminated.

--

That night, Isabelle stayed alone on Manhattan after a terribly long debriefing. It had been a very long while since she went in any bar yet, her instinct told her the Manhattan Bar&Lounge seemed like a respectable place. There werent many customers inside as she took a seat, trailing all the eyes of the male on her as she did so. Well, sounded like a girl in uniform was something rare around
It was a terrible day, but she didnt felt like getting drunk, so she ordered something relatively soft. It wasnt quite enough to up her mood
She looked around, in a hope to see Jimmy, but knew she wouldnt be that lucky (though, it would have been welcomed in that day terribly lacking luck) there were just too many bars on the planet, and hed probably be at one owned by the military. She damned herself for picking up a civilian one

She wandered her mind for a long while, listening to the ambiance music. She tried to diversify her thoughts, thinking about her past few years of service, her father, what decoration shed need to add to her home on California Minor
Yet, one thought kept coming back, so much it was nearly annoying.
Jimmy.
She was hesitant to say it was really love she felt or maybe was she simply hesitant to face the truth. Jimmy had something very different in him. She recalled their last conversation while in orbit around California Minor, and couldnt keep herself from wondering at all the similarities their life shared. As well, they understood each others pain rather well. All that could be felt in a mere glare of the eyes
And, well, Jimmy might not be Libertys male top model, but he certainly was a handsome young man
This last thought left her smiling, as she finished another cup.
Hey, she wasnt supposed to get drunk, wasnt she

--

The staff of St-Mitchell now sat in a luxurious briefing room. Colonel Gerald was surprised to see the one summoning the meeting no one else but admiral Alban himself. With all the events happening recently, everyone forgot about him
No one was looking at him with easy eyes, some were even hostile. No, no one was going to forget, nor forgive any time soon.

What did he have to say?
Black looked around, and noticed even the LSF commander (hell, he really would need to ask his name someday) looked at the admiral suspiciously.

Greetings. I will refrain from recalling to all the last events during the last few hours. Ill just go for the shortest version; we have an Order warship who escaped through the wrong side of Alaska. Meaning, its now running free in our House space. And high command doesnt like that, nor does he like to see someone who kidnapped one of its highest ranking officer go away without any form of retribution.
He nodded slowly, seemingly a small victorious smile.

Well, Black didnt need the rest of the conference to know what was going on. And he was shocked.
Sir, do you mean we are to go on a hunt after this battleship, just to get some kind of vengeance?
Alban turned around, and frowned.
Of course not. But there are various reasons. Among which, the fact soldiers who invaded St-Mitchell managed to survive, and are now aboard this ship, must be terminated. This ship also has some of the few crewmen who witnessed our Infinity Shield, which must be terminated. And lastly, its roaming we dont know where around.
He cleared his throat loudly,
I believe, these are enough reasons. Now, anyone else has interruptions to make? No? Good.
The plans are quite simple. We merely salvage colonel Black plan to this one, but its going to be a bit harder. We will add a supplementary Raven Rhino to the strike force, this one equipped with powerful nuclear signature sensors. After what, we are to invade the ship. We will add a few bomber in the assault, but I hope not to use them, we dont want anything fancy to get the attention of all. What we hope, is the invading groups to take over the engines, disable it, and then get reinforcement to make the whole crew surrender. On the same while, well be able to extract large amount of intel from the battleships database. After what, the ship will be quietly towed to Juno shipyards.
He opened up a holoscreen before continuing.
Details for the invasion forces; well replace a few of the raven avenger for another raven rhino, and add in member of the 106th marines. Id request general Kaitlynn to personally lead her men, as she is one of the best and most competent commander for such operations we have around.
No one said anything. There wasnt anything to be said, but everyone was disagreeing. How could he send the woman into a mission while she just escaped death and is physically and mentally exhausted?
Alban was insane. He wanted revenge. Behind a poetically beautiful reason made to convince high command. He wanted to beat down the Order commander who dared to stain his reputation and punish Kaitlynn for humiliating him in front of his own men.
Everybody knew that, but what could they do when politic was at work?
Soldiers, unfortunately, didnt hold a very important part in the brain of the Liberty decision taker.

--

Isabelle learned about her new assignment with resignation next morning. She presented herself to West Point Academy, where the men for the new operation were assembled along with their ship. Alban was of course presiding their briefing.

At least, she thought, if she was to fail, she was at least going to die like she always pictured herself to; in a desperate battlefield commanding her man on the steady ground.
Not alone in the dark cockpit of a fighter craft.
Even her tight combat suit and armour plating seemed to remind her the old days, and she smiled sincerely as she saw her own men of the 106th saluting her.

Good. Everyone is here I presume. Now, the final intel for your missions. Through various simulations and calculation, we have determined that the Tenabras would at this moment be somewhere in the Californian system, trying to pass toward the independent space, then probably Bretonia, to finally end up in the Border Worlds. We have actually even sent a notice to the Queen, still, nothing fancy, I dont want to see this ship blowing off, is that clear?
There was a serie of acknowledgement, in which Isabelle saw with surprise Jimmy in the ranks of the soldiers for the invading teams.
The mission is one of the most dangerous, reckless Ive ever ordered around, lets be honest about this. Your objective will be, using the rhinos cloak shields, moor over its hull using the magnetic landers, and open up the hull with heavy plasma cutters. Then, two choices; either take over the deck as fast as you can, or the engines. If it goes bad, get out of there. If you succeed, well send in more reinforcement once you deactivate the cloaking device of the ship.

Well, this sounded so simple in plan. It was going to be hell in practice, she knew.
But better to hold her tongue. Now with Alban having the support of high command at least temporarily, she better not talk at all. She knew the operations was a way to punish her for her recklessness. Well, so be it, she didnt regretted saving as many life as she could

--

Isabelle smiled once again as she looked at the list of the boarding ship, and saw Jimmy was sitting near her in the same shuttle.

---