Project: Sentinel

[Lennox]

As the Armored Transport, prepared for the operation in Liberty, arrived in the hangar bay, it could be seen, some marines were already entering it. In addition to that, hover platforms with for the operation needed equipment were moved into the ship as well. Everything the Order would need would be the best and quickest marines. To do the job properly, quiet and, most important, quite quick. The plan was to board a transport of Ageira by mooring the Armored Transport on it. Neutralizing the crew by using nerve gas, then moving in, getting everything, that's valuable. Primary objective would be the needed medical equipment, as well as the additional tools, soft- and hardware.

Lennox already knew which people he would take with him on that mission. He glanced at Angelus, Duke, Bolevara and another one, who seemed to be up to join them, Jack Stonebridge. Before Lennox was told Stonebridge were sent by Amduat and that he would be a valuable addition to the team. Also looking at some other marines who were listening as well, he finally nodded to himself.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. We will start the operation in less than an hour. Get everything you need and be ready. Angelus, Duke, Bolevara, Stonebridge and you over there will come with me. The pilots are already in the transport...therefore we don't need more. We have to be quick and quiet. We will get on one of those transports of Ageira. We will get the required equipment and head back as quick as possible. We will have to delete the ship computer's files in that time as well...letting it look like a piracy attempt. Grab what you need and meet me in the AT. We will start immediately when everyone is there."

After that, Lennox already headed to the AT, checking if everything is there and alright. In the middle of an operation there shouldn't be something they might had missed. Already equipped with his gear, he also took additional equipment, he would possibly need for the operation to stay in the shadows, and was now configurating them.

After half an hour passed, the marines arrived, some a bit later, some a bit earlier. As all of them were standing infront of the AT, Lennox walked outside the ship and nodded at them.

"Good...everyone is there now. No time to loose. Let's start already..."

He didn't hesitate and headed back into the ship, the others following him. As everyone of the marines were in the ship, Lennox checked everything again. The personal for inserting the gas, the ones who would fly the ship, the marines and as well the hip by itself again. Checking his mobile computer around his arm as well, he then closed the hatch, walking into the small 'bridge'. The transport slowly got off the landing pad and flew out of the hangar base of the Immortal with some escorts, heading to the Omicron-92 jumphole. By taking the rather unvisited part of space, the flight was rather quiet until they reached the jumphole to Omicron Minor. Lennox knew, that the time was close for their operation, and that they could had been spotted already, after entering in Minor. Not really up for a failure of the mission by taking the fast, but dangerous, way through Alaska, he ordered to set a route to the Omicron Zeta jumphole.

Lennox was aware of the possible danger when jumping through the Zeta jumphole in Omicron Mu. Sneaking around the the far more dangerous source, the nemesis of the Order, the AT made it's way to the Zeta jumphole in Minor, a route, that is less dangerous than taking the direct way. After jumping through, the next order was to fly to the Delta jumphole in a straight line, not loosing any time. With the escorts at the transport's sides, the 'convoy' reached the Delta jumphole, immediately jumping through after arriving. Except for the conversation between the people in the AT, there weren't much of interest. The planned route would had been to move to Omicron Minor by getting through 92. The shortest route would had lead via Zeta, Delta, Kappa, 74, Theta, Omega-41, Omega-5, Cambridge, Leeds and then Magellan, where they would lurk until a transport of Ageira would appear. The calculated time to reach the destination would be around five days of flight.

The mood of the 'crew' was rather tense than relaxed. Everyone knew the dangers of the Omicrons, also those of the Omegas. During the travel, there wasn't really that high amount of conversations, except for the briefing in which Lennox explained the plan again. Since they had no possibility to dock somewhere before, including Mactan, they would have to move to the closest base they could dock at. Montezuma was the destination.

"Alright...so here is the plan again. We catch a transport of Ageira near the lanes and...'pull' it away from other curious eyes. Then we board it, knock out the crew, get the equipment we need, delete all files about our arrival and leave again. We have an agent at the Freeport in Magella who is providing us with information about the actual traffic around the station. After the operation was sucessful, the other agent will join us. We then head back to Omicron Mu to the Immortal. Failure is inacceptable. But I think you all know that."

He then nodded at the team, and left, heading to the rather small quarters. Until now, everything went as expected. It was possible to avoid most of the other ships and soon the AT with it's escorts would be in Leeds, close to the Magellan jumphole already. It was the beginning of the fifth day. The AT entered the jump tube to Magellan with the escorts. A few seconds later jumping out of the tube, they were in Magellan. Immediately setting a northern course to the Cortez jumphole, they already received the latest reports of the agent on the freeport. It was midday after Manhattan central time when they reached Montezuma and docked the AT and the Nephthys' there. Refueling the ships with the, there available, fuel, Lennox and his team received green light from the agent, who was able to get those informations from the latest station logs about the arrival of ships and special encounters. A single Ageira transport was on it's way to Magellan, coming from California. The route of it would lead to Bretonia space. Everything had to happen quick now. Everyone was ready. The transport plus the escorts undocked from Montezuma and headed to the Magellan hole with highest speed. The time window was small. But if they would get there at the right time, the surprising effect would be on their side. After a short flight to the close jumphole, they soon entered Magellan, immediately heading to the lanes but staying inside the nebula.

Inside the ship, Lennox prepared the signal jamming devices for making their movement invisible for others, at least for those ships without military scan equipment. The Ageira ship was passing the Freeport, the AT arrived at the lanes but without it's escorts. In the end nobody should have had visual contact with Order ships. Using the installed electronic devices of the AT to get acess to the tradelane nearby, the Ageira ship jumped through the first lane, speeding up to light speed. In that moment, Lennox cut off the energy of the close lane. The Ageira transport lost the light speed and exited the lane, it was a Transport of the class Titanic. The jamming devices were working. The AT hasn't been detected yet. Avoiding visual contact by using a bigger asteroid nearby, the team, responsible for the electronic work to make the boarding possible, hacked the ship controls of the Ageira ship with the high valuable computer systems on the AT. Not much time later, the engines of the Titanic began to malfunction. While all that was happening, the captain of the Ageira ship sent several messages around, asking for any identification. But as the engines were then already shut down, the comms went silent, disrupted by the hacking team on the AT of the Order to prevent them sending emergency calls. As almost the whole ship was dark after some minutes, the AT began to move slowly, using it's improved tractor beam to pull the Titanic away from the lanes.

After a bit, the tractor beam lost it's energy. Now it was time to hurry. The AT turned around and slowly got closer to the bottom of the Titanic. Using the installed boarding clams to moor on the Ageira ship, the team, responsible for inserting the nerve gas into the Ageira transport, were already in position to the next airlock, outside in space with some kind of canister. The very effective measure against the consciousness would not require much of it to knock out the crew for the needed time. Not very much later, the airlock then opened up for them. That was the time for the marines to move. Lennox and all the other marines were already in their space suits, ready to do their job.

"Remember our primary objective. We take as much as we can...but the required stuff got priority A, got it? Good...let's go..."

The marines exited the AT via the airlock, getting to the position of the other team there in space. The complete ship was under the control of the hacking team aboard the Order AT. After the airlock opened up for the 'gas team', they quickly entered and searched for a hard point to insert the gas. Not much time later, they got acess to the life support systems. Then inserting the nerve gas into the ventilation system of the Titanic, it didn't take very long until it worked. After all marines entered the airlock as well, it was closed. The pressure equalization was in progress and not much time later, the hatch to the inside of the ship opened up. It was to see, that the crew had already been knocked out by the gas.

Lennox was communicating with his team of marines via a secure channel, also connected to the AT. Lennox, Duke, Angelus, Bolevara, Stonebridge and the other marines moved. Making up two teams, one responsible for keeping their identities secret, deleting every data about the incident, the other responsible for 'throwing' the cargo off the transport by dropping it in space. Lennox headed to the bridge with three more marines, including Stonebridge. The other ones were moving into the cargo hold of the Titanic. Arrived on the bridge, Lennox took a look into the logs of the ship, acessing it by using his mobile computer. After some time the 'suspicious files' about the latest happenings were deleted. Meanwhile, the other team reached the cargo bay and was searching for the required equipment in the ship databank.

After the required cargo had been identified, one of the marines in the cargo bay were sending the ID's of the single cargo pods to the other team. By taking those ID's, the team on the bridge was able to choose the cargo pods and dropped them in space. Outside, the AT would already tractor the dropped cargo. The mission was almost complete. Some of the additional, as secondary marked, cargo pods were dropped as well, then tractored by the Armored Transport. While the team on the bridge made sure nothing of all that was recorded or something similar, the team in the cargo hold was already ordered to remove all traces and leave the ship. After everything had been done on the bridge, Lennox gave the same orders to his own team, rushing to the exit, where the others already waited. Getting back through the hatch into the airlock, the hatch then closed. The 'gas team' removed the canister from the valve and another pressure equalization was in progress. The airlock then opened up once more and the three teams headed back into the ship. Retracting the boarding clams, the AT began to move again. The systems of the Titanic wouldn't need too long to be reactivated again, so the AT activated it's cruise engines and headed back to the Leeds jumphole.

Inside the ship, Lennox was satisfied with the results. Everything worked without any mistakes.

"You all did a great job...now let's bring all that here back home. Really...great job."

The escorts of the AT were already at the Leeds jumphole, as well as another ship, the Nephthys of Aline, the agent on the freeport. With a brief order, they all jumped back to Leeds, where their travel back home began.

By taking the same route back without many incidents, the small convoy reached Omicron Mu after five days of flight. Heading directly back to the Immortal, the AT requested docking clearence, which was soon granted. The escorts docked as well and the AT slided into the hangar bay, landing on a landing pad. The hatch of the Armored Transport opened up and the same people, Lennox took with himself, were exiting the big ship, mostly looking relieved to be back. Lennox got out of the transport as well with a slight smile on his face. The hangar personal already arrived and was taking care of the AT and the ships of the escorts. As expected the people, Lennox saw before he left for Magellan with 'his crew', were there, just waiting for the results and the equipment. With a bit of a grin, Lennox said with a louder voice.

"We got everything we needed. Mission was a success..."