"Un trône pour le roi" (An Enclave story)

[Wolfs Ghost]

Aquitaine System, deep space
Aboard the Derelict Trading Hub
0816 hrs.

The shuttle landed gently on the pads, and the hangar bay doors closed shortly after the shuttle had touched down. The light from the Royale DeFrance vanished leaving the marine crew and it's shuttle in complete darkness. A couple of minutes passed and a hiss of the cargo door opening could be heard echoing off the hollow and empty walls of the hangar bay. Twelve marines quickly spilled out from the transport craft and they fanned out in multiple sweeping formations each squad tasked with securing a section of the hangar before reporting back to the Commandant.

It didn't take long before the pings of clear began popping onto the Commandant's HUD. Once the last clear popped up, the soldiers made their way back towards where the Commandant was observing their initial landing site. The night-vision lit the place up light a candle and she could see every little detail of this old station. It hasn't been lived in for what looked like centuries. She slowly shook her head, this is what they wanted? This piece of junk tin can floating aimlessly in the vacuum of space? She wanted to laugh and tell her marines that they were packing up and leaving right then and there.

But she had a job to do, and she was dead set on doing it, despite her inclinations to leave. "Alpha team, begin pushing towards your objectives. Bravo team and I will begin heading up to the command deck. Charlie team hold here until Bravo and Alpha reached their objectives. Once our portions of the station are secured we'll begin sweeping the rest of the station in its entirety."

No replies came as a response, they didn't need to say anything. Each member of the team knew what they were here for, and despite it seeming like an easy enough mission, they were going to take it slowly to ensure that each objective was completed to the best of their ability. After all, the Prince had commanded them to do it. Failure would result in certain death. But at least the station would go with them should that become a reality.

The Commandant slowly released a breath as a voice began speaking into her ear on a secured line, "Commandant. This is the Royale DeFrance. Squad's A through C have checked in, and the operation is a go. The station's blue prints are relatively old compared to what we were initially scanning. I'd keep your helmets on as there's probably some open hull spaces. The last thing we want is everyone to suffocate. We've completed another bio-signature scan, and there..." The line cut off short, and it caused her some slight distress that she let out an annoyed sigh. What the hell is going on? Damn it Luc. Talk to me. - These were the thoughts running through her head as she waited for a response from the CIC. She knelt down hugging the frame of an open door way and holstered her rifle to her shoulder. Her troops began moving past her, each soldier taking slow and cautious steps forwards, scanning the environment high and low through their sweeps. Nothing was out of sight from their night vision optics on their visor as they approached a T-intersection. Squad Charlie would come to a complete stop and hold the corridor leading to the hangar and shuttle they came had come in on, while Squad's Alpha and Bravo would each take opposite directions of the intersection and began moving down, checking the various maintenance rooms along the way. Nothing. Completely empty.

"Sorry about that Commandant. We're showing a single life sign aboard, at the moment. We think it might be a sensor malfunction aboard the Royale DeFrance. Either way, proceed with caution."

She broke her silence as she took up the rear of Alpha Squads formation, weapon resting a low-ready position as she did. Her frost blue eyes scanning the green filtered surroundings. "Oui. Jacques, you better keep a god damn eye on that signature. If it moves towards any of my men, your ass will be mine. The Prince said this was suppose to be a straightforward mission. No ones suppose to be on board, except us. Marines. Stay frosty, check all of your damn corners and keep rifles at the ready. Anything that doesn't show up on IFF is dead."

"The Prince said that if anyone was on board, except us, to kill them. You have your orders Commandant. You do your job, and I'll do mine. Oui?" Shortly after he finished his sentence the comm-link muted itself. While she couldn't hear anything that he was saying aboard the destroyer, he would certainly hear everything that she was saying from this point forwards, including "I swear on behalf of the Roi. If we don't get out of this alive, Luc. I will personally haunt you for eternity. You had one simple job, and you're failing at it. Tsch... tell me to do my job. I am."

Alpha squad continued moving "north" after clearing out a couple more empty storage rooms. The fact that this station was ancient and entirely off of the scopes from heavy traffic even after the war with Bretonia ended was a feat to be desired surely. It made her wonder how many more stations were lingering around that the previous owners simply abandoned. How many could be hiddened away in Gallia proper? If they succeeded her, she would seek permission from the Prince to take a team and transport shuttle to go scour for more of these installations that they could use as refueling and strike locations for further transgressions into the Confederacy, the very thought made her giddy.


Nine Years Earlier (817 AS / 733 AGS) -- Languedoc System

Under the cover of full blown civil war, a four man strike team landed on the hull of a ME-UH "Vache" Gallic Train. The thuds of their gravity boots were muffled by the loud sirens screaming on the inside of the transport itself. A Republique de Gaul symbol was emblazoned upon the outside of the hull, though attempts were made to remove it in order to disguise the freighter as a mere transport shuttle. That was the problem with certain cells within the Council. Some of the members within their ranks tried hiding amongst the civilian population to avoid destruction from Royal Navy patrols. But that failed today. No, today several high profile targets of The Council's Republique de Gaul movement were aboard this transport trying to flee into the core systems as the Royal Navy and all of her might pushed through the Languedoc blockade.

The Office of Royal Naval Intelligence, or ONI, had been tracking this command's movement for quite sometime, and in this particular moment when they were at their most vulnerable, ONI decided to strike. The four man team moved quickly along the outer hull, making it's way towards a mooring hatch located on the top of the Vache itself. Rather than blasting open the door with explosive charges, one member of the team knelt down and quickly typed out security codes, within moments the airlock opened and the four soldiers slipped inside. The last one in was Sous-Lieutenant Catherine Leonne. She took a brief moment to marvel at the chaos of war in the distance as Council vessels of all types clashed with Royal Navy ships. It was nothing more than a glorious slaughter by the Royal Navy. "Sous-Lieutenant, stop spectating. We've got an assignment to carry out." A voice came over her comm-link, "Oui, Capitaine. It looks like our fleets are breaking through into Orkney." She replied, climbing down into the air lock, once inside she dropped down from the ladder and readied her rifle. "Tres bien. We'll join them soon enough. These terrorists are our primary objectives today. We can't let them escape - no matter the cost. Viva le Roi."

"Viva le Roi." She replied, now shouldering her rifle as she took point.

The team made their way through the ship effectively cutting down any and all resistance they encountered as they double timed it towards the bridge. They had one mission, and they were getting closer to achieving it. In a few short minutes from when they breached they had arrived outside of the bridge, and with a couple of quick bursts of her laser rifle, Catherine brought down yet another Council soldier - this one looked to have been setting up for a prolonged firefight, the poor man was caught off guard and unfortunately cut down with ease. He only managed to get a stray shot off before he keeled over onto the crates he had been moving, his body slumped - lifeless. The bullet, unfortunately, found its way to a wall and penetrated it. She and the rest of her team pressed forwards, unphased by the sudden and violent explosion that took place behind them. Had they looked back, they could see the blackness of space and in the far distance, shimmers of blue tachyon streaks. The cargo creates and fresh corpse were violently ripped from the places they once occupied and tossed into the vacuum.

The Marines had their gravity boots activated - just for a situation like this. The emergency door began closing as the Marines entered the bridge proper. The Capitaine took the butt of his rifle and slammed it into the keypad - halting the door from full closing behind them, (because somehow bashing the keypad violently disables the door.) The air continued to be sucked out from the cracked open bulkhead door. "Arthur Levesque, Amiral of the Republic de Gaul." Catherine shouted, having her weapon raised and pointed at the members of the Republique high command, "The King sends his regards."

Of course... sound doesn't travel well in a vacuum. So the final moments that Arthur and the rest of his men saw were four Gallic marines armed to the teeth, shouting... shouthing something just before the bridge filled with laser fire. Fortunately for Arthur, none of the shots had hit him. Though he saw the bodies of his comrades jolt and convulse from the shots before their bodies floated lifelessly. Unfortunately... he had the absolute pleasure of experiencing a sudden depressurization. His skin began frosting over from the now freezing bridge that was exposed to the vacuum... and any oxygen he had left in his lungs was violently ripped out. The man who had been a slight thorn in the side of the Royal Navy in the months leading up to this moment, slowly succumbed to his oxygen deprived final moments as the four Marines stood around... watching.

RES Royal DeFrance II (Current Year) -- Aquitaine System

Luc paced slowly back and forth behind the tactical map that was displayed on a middle console. He watched as the marines aboard the station began making their ways towards their objectives. Occasionally he would glance over at the anomaly that was another bio-signature. It wasn't moving towards the marines, yet, though it seemed to be making its way around the station, and rather quickly. The luxury of operating alone. He rubbed his stubble on his chin as he continued observing the map. The last time he felt this nervous was in boot camp. Boot camp. That was ages ago for a man of his... age. Still something about all of this knotted and twisted his stomach, and nagged at the back of his mind. He personally felt like he was being watched. His eyes darted from the console before him towards the viewport, staring out into empty space. Maybe it was just the fact that this station was ancient and it had it's own stories to tell. Or maybe there was something out there... watching and waiting. The operation was under his charge, and so were the lives of the marines and everyone aboard the Royale DeFrance itself. The Prince had ordered that the ship go completely silent, other than operational communications between the marines and the bridge, and he wasn't about to violate those orders to radio for support. No. He would remain here. "Give me a ship wide comms." He barked the order, and his comms-officer nodded in response, after a moment the man turned around and gave him a thumbs up.

"Attention all Royal Navy personnel, this is Capitaine Luc Jacques Belot. All hands are to report to Battle-stations Sigma. I repeat, all hands are to report to battle-stations sigma. Standby for further orders." As soon as he finished the interior lights of the destroyer dimmed to a faint red glow. Though activity throughout the ship suddenly picked up as personnel moved quickly through the corridors, many beginning to man the turrets of the Destroyer itself.

Luc didn't know what he was expecting to happen next. All he knew was that he had to ensure the safety of the lives aboard this vessel, and the lives of the boarding party. He swallowed hard and clasped his hands behind his back as he walked around the center console in the CIC. He made his way with ease towards the forward viewing port and came to a full stop just in front of the thick see-through armor plating. They were definitely being watched. But by who?

That question would hopefully be answered soon, and before unnecessary bloodshed.