Capture

[Xing]

Very nice intel work, admiral. Sir. Isabelle said coldly to her comm. unit in the wolf head like helm she wore, as she sat down wearily on the Tenabras command chair. Her men were still busy around, cutting down the last wires to the explosives.
The man response was angered, and crackled through her comm. as thousand of thunders.
And you, general, may stay shut up, because none of this would ever have happened without you in this whole story!
If eyes could kill Isabelle cyan eyes were like two icy sun, completely devoid of humanity.
And you sir, have failed pathetically in another operation. In less than one week, two defeats. I am surprised you were given the control of St-Mitchell at all. Sir.
She always added the sir after a long pause, intentionally insulting him. For the moment, she didnt had any other weapon she could throw against him. And openly cursing toward a high command officer (as she felt like doing right now) might cost her more than her immediate emotional satisfaction.
The link was cut, as the admiral dropped the line, obviously frustrated. She made a quick, cold smile, before fading it.
Was that a victory, or a waste of time?
She thought, the question was applicable to both the admiral and her skirmish on Tenabras

--

Isabelle asked for Jimmy to come with her through a little inspection tour of the ship, while her men still worked around it, checking for booby traps and possible hints as to where the original Tenabras crew was now. As such, she was restricted in her walk to only a few decks that were considered clean.
Now that all life form aboard were her own men, she took off her heavy weighing helm and set it aside, as she walked with Jimmy down the corridor, looking rather grim.

I never used to be defeated, you know. She said, a little trace of pride in her voice.
Under my command, weve raided a whole list of enemy bases, and accomplished a good number of anti-terrorism missions on land, as well as in space stations or starships.
She frowned slightly, shaking her head slowly to free her hair from her body plate,
Thatd be the first time Ive been captured which I count as a defeat and got fooled, which Id consider as another one
Isabelle looked to the side, through the viewport, refusing to look in Jimmy eyes.
You might think of me as arrogant to speak of such things, but I cant help to be hurt about all this its all the realisation about you are not the invincible soldier-girl you always thought you were, you can be defeated, and victory isnt easy thing that just slapped me, Id say. Quite literally.
She sighed slowly, ashamed of herself as they continued their walk

--

Group Kappa, charged with the interception of Order craft trying to run through the hangar, was instead checking every ships aboard or, the ships left. There were a certain number of older generation Anubis but most of the fighter crafts were missing.
And then of course, there was this very new armoured transport. Its goal was, couldnt be clearer; get the demolition team off the battleship as soon as they can.
With professionalism, the 106th soldiers went in one by one, checking around the large hold of the ship for possible traps or hidden enemy troopers. They came out clean, letting the technical team get in.
Alright men, lets begin with the electronic components. Lieutenant, start up that thing.
Yes sir.
The little group of 3 began their work, deploying all kind of strange and complex machines that were plugged to the armoured transport interface. They listened through headset, tapped a few buttons on either their machine or the ships console from time to time
Sir, I think the general will like this
What is it lieutenant?
The lieutenant showed the screen of the ships holoprojector to the other two techs, who gasped in surprise.
It was a hardcoded, security path for the auto pilot to follow in case the pilot was killed or incapacitated, the ship would still be able to find its way to the home
They had a complete map of how to get to their enemy, as well as their final destination
And, what the enemy was.

--

All the boarding soldiers met with general Kaitlynn at the stripped control room. Most of them looked rather demoralised, and she had to admit, she was part of that number. Well, maybe not anymore. Maybe theyll change once they hear the good news.
She did so, and their mood obviously went up.

Earlier, she contacted admiral Alban, and surprisingly, they agreed (they agreed on something!) to continue the chase with the Eagle Prime, sporting the powerful hyperdrive most ship didnt have nowadays. In a matter of hours maybe, theyve be able to catch up with their enemy. After what, Alban would attach his ship to the corsair vessel, and the 106th would basically repeat their manoeuvre, this time on a corsair ship and from a dreadnaught. Theyll have plenty of firepower, that was for sure.

Tonight, we hunt down these bastards once and for all, or we die. We have accepted defeat, now we will get victory! She said to her man, who waved their weapons, cheering.
Yeah, that felt like the good old time, she thought, smiling as she put her helm back on her head.

--

Gerald Black calculated the course of the corsair warship, and couldnt help but think of a possible trap. He looked up at Alban, who gained back his happy-face once he heard the supplementary report from general Kaitlynn.
Of course, he had nothing to prove his theory. But the way the path was set
It was obvious it couldnt be the simplest path for the pirate. And not many things made such warships divert from their course unless it is because a trap was set just waiting for them.
It wouldnt be surprising. The commander of the Tenabras had many surprises in his pockets obviously.
But admiral Alban wouldnt hear from him, he didnt even needed to try his luck. The man was a fool. Once they get back to Liberty
If they ever made it alive

--

Isabelle felt the ship enter hyperspace, as they went in the pursuit of their enemy. The young general lied down heavily on her bed, finally rid of her heavy set of armour for the moment anyway. She looked at the pile of black plates on the corner of her quarter, and shook her head. It was a real torture to wear these things
At least they offered extremely efficient protection. Most blaster shots for instance, couldnt penetrate at all through it. Explosive couldnt pierce or even damage the armour with ease.
If only they were made lighter

A beep was heard from her door. She frowned, she thought she had changed her status on the board to busy? For a long minute Isabelle hesitated if she should open up or not.
It wasnt her ship, so she better showed some respect to the crew anyway she sighed and opened up.

Gerald saluted her, and offered a little smile.
General, glad to see you alive and unhurt. I believe youd recall me, colonel Gerald Black from St Mitchell station.
Isabelle returned the salute, smiling.
Colonel, thank you. How may I help you? Oh, uh sorry for the room I err, just came back from debriefing its a bit messy
Oh, its not a problem.
He frowned, as he entered the quarter, disapproving in himself the highly disordered room. It was rather surprising the general allowed herself to be so lax on herself
I came here, because I believe you have better judgement than admiral Alban. I also know at this moment he is supposed to be your superior despite you holding equivalent ranks.
He stopped, looking through the door as if making sure no one was listening. Isabelle sat slowly on her bed, looking curious. Well, for one thing, if Albans own staff were distrusting the man, it meant she wasnt alone in believing in the guys incompetence, was she
The path your men discovered, is most probably a trap. I can already think of them outnumbering us at the exact moment we catch up on them, or anything of the like
He continued,
The path is definitively not following a logical way. And no way this is a fake one, we dont joke with hardcoded material aboard such a ship. And the demolition team aboard proves they were taken by surprise, this bit of material, wasnt supposed to land in our hands. This thing is authentic. And shows us a big trap.
Isabelle shook her head, but remained silent.
Theres only a few ways they would turn around the way for a trap. A first possibility includes a trap set up by many capital vessels in a very discreet, uncharted system. No need for all the bounty hunters to know we need their help, all nice to them then, they might be trying to trap us in a naturally hazardous area only they would know the way out. For instance, radioactive nebulas, which are very common in the edge worlds. A high concentration one would be deadly to the crew, while they navigate out through pockets we do not know about.
He took another peek, making sure.
There are other possibilities of course, but why wasting time thinking more complicated. I just wanted you, and your men if you decide to share this intel, to know. And be ready.
He came closer,
If it does go wrong however, Im afraid I can do nothing.
I hope, you could, general. But I fail to see how, possibly. Still, good luck.
Isabelle smiled, a resigned one.
Thank you, colonel. We will all need it.

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