Project Prometheus

Commander Lothara scrunched up her face in confusion. She was in command of this operation and in charge of strike team one, so no one should have disobeyed her orders. Yet, someone had broken radio silence ahead of her explicit command by tapping into the comms channel. Grunting in frustration, she picked up the call, wondering who she would have to verbally flay to pieces this time.

"Who in the name of the ancestors is breaking radio silence?" she growled over the line.

'In the sea of stars that we call our home, the jeweled dust that others disdain is our most precious of treasures,'spoke the voice of a woman.

Lothara then froze instantly, as she knew that code phrase well, having been ordered to memorize it before leaving Khontara. The woman never expected to hear it used, as few knew of this particular phrase. Fewer still were authorized to even use it! The commander had a good idea of who it was on the other end of the line, but replied in High Khontaran to be sure.

'Sparkplug?'

'The Doctor.'

Now Lothara's jaw hit the ground, and she immediately called for a halt of all movement. She quickly sat down on the ground, not wanting to faint from shock at who she was speaking to! The woman spluttered, trying to form a response, but found herself speechless! She heard a slight giggle on the other end of the line before more words were spoken in her native tongue.

'To whom am I speaking?'the voice questioned.

'Commander Lothara Vahl'Loske, y-'she started before she was cut off.

'No need to stand on formalities. We are in the same industrial area that you are, and if I were to hazard a guess, we are hunting the same quarry,'Korsa said to the woman over the line.

'Why do you say that?'Lothara responded, getting over her shock.

'Four of my friends were taken by a group of slavers. Their trail leads back here, and we were formulating a plan to spring them. Seeing two Khontaran Strike teams taking up flanking positions around here tells me you are expecting a firefight. Those Reavers, are they with you?'came another question over the line.

'They are... Doctor. We hired them as we lacked the numbers to pull off this operation. If I may ask, how is it you can see us?'Lothara wondered.

'We are currently occupying an overwatch position at your one o'clock. Elevation about thirty-five degrees,'Korsa informed her.

Lothara looked at the spot Korsa told her about and didn't see anything. She kept her eyes trained on the spot and quickly saw several small flashes. They repeated in the same sequence three times, letting the Commander know Korsa was legit. She sighed to herself and smiled, glad to see that the Doctor hadn't lost her edge.

'What is your team composition and loadout?'the commander questioned.

'We are a team of ten, all armed for infiltration and subterfuge. The idea was to blend in with the populace, sneak into the slaver's hold, and liberate our friends. We weren't expecting something that would take several fully armed strike teams just to get through,'Korsa responded.

'This is an operation we have been planning and gathering data on for months. While your team is an unexpected addition, it is not an unwelcome one. Is your team amenable to taking our direction?'Lothara queried.

'Just tell us where you need us,'Korsa told her.

'Very good! Patching in the team leaders now, so go to galactic basic,'Lothara advised. Moments later, other voices could be heard, both of which were griping.

"What in the name of the ancestors is going on?? I thought we were going to murder some scum!" Vumnar grunted.

"We will be doing just that, but I have some news that must be shared. We have some unexpected reinforcements that have joined the party," Lothara stated over the encrypted comms channel.

"Unexpected reinforcements, eh? What are they? Some ragtag bunch of civvies who think they can take on slavers?" the clan leader grumbled.

"How about the strike team that aided in the defense of Veldhern against a pirate attack?" came a feminine voice over the line.

"Who is this? Identify yourself!" came the voice of Lieutenant Zorassa, leader of team two.

"Inari Sunara, former commander of the 307thBanshee fighter wing of the Human Federation," Inari informed them.

"What are you doing here?" Vumnar questioned, his snark gone from his tone.

"Several of my friends were nabbed and I aim to get them out. I'm here with my crew to help in making that happen. We may be a ragtag bunch, but we are more than capable of holding our own," Inari replied.

"Very well. I won't say no to seasoned fighters who know what they're doing. What is your current position?" Zorassa wondered.

"I already have those coordinates. They should be uploaded to your objective maps," Lothara stated. A sharp ping sounded, and both team leaders looked at their holo-readers and saw that the data had been updated.

"Hunh! Your team seems to be in a fortuitous position! Do you think you can get down to the ground level and circle to the rear of the ship?" the clan leader asked.

"It shouldn't be that hard. We have a clear path and plenty of cover where we won't be spotted. What did you have in mind?" Inari questioned.

"If you and your team can get to the rear of the ship and set some charges on the engines, that would help us keep these bastards from running!" Lothara told them.

"Well, that was the plan we had! Or at least, the start of it! Are you and yours sure you can handle whatever these bastards can throw at you?" Inari queried, hoping they brought enough firepower for the op.

"We have enough guns and charges on hand to start a small war, if we need to! No one is getting away from us if it can be helped," Lothara stated smugly.

"What about the exits out of the area? Ventilation points and such? Are those covered?" a male voice questioned.

"Identify yourself," Lothara said to the man over the comms.

"Alexander Dragic, tactical officer aboard theDarkstrider.Slavers spook real easy, and if any of them see a chance or an opening to bolt, they'll take it. Don't want any of these assholes getting away if it can be helped," the man told her.

"We have small drones monitoring any egress points in the area, along with several clan members from the Reavers. If anyone bolts, we'll see who it is and pick them up before they have time to leave the station," the commander informed Alex.

"Very good," Alex replied simply, happy with the answer.

"Moving now. Stand by," Inari told the commander.

"Very good. Teams two and three, move to preset positions and hold once you reach them. Team one, let's move!" Lothara whispered as she got to her feet.

The strike teams moved as quickly and quietly as they dared, not wanting to alert any of the slavers to their presence. They stayed out of sight, keeping their heads down and their weapons' safeties on. Using the cover of the massive crates and structures around them, they moved unseen by their enemies. Despite wanting to pop up and lay waste to the slavers as they stood there, laughing and chattering without a care in the world, the teams kept their heads.

They understood that there would be a time to mow down such scum and that it was coming soon. All that needed to be done was to get into position and wait for the attack command. Lothara reached their preset position and waited for the other teams to report in. She didn't have to wait long, as she heard the comms come to life again.

"Team two, in position," came Zorassa's voice.

"Team three, in position," said Vumnar, his voice grating as he whispered.

"Darkstridercrew, in position. Do you have the schematics for this clunker? Want to place the charges so we can inflict maximum damage," Inari whispered over the comms.

"Sending schematics," Lothara whispered back as she tapped her holo reader, sending Inari the relevant file. Moments later, Inari received the file and displayed it to the rest of the crew.

"Hmm. Looks like a standard plant and blow. We should keep an eye out for any hidden surprises. Slavers love their little surprise traps," Natalya stated as she looked over the schematic.

"When do you want us to make our move?" Korsa questioned.

"Standby. Watch for any patrolling sentries and take them down quietly. Can't risk an alarm going off," Lothara told them.

"Understood," Inari whispered over the line.

"Hold up a moment!" Jaesa said over the line.

"Why? What is it?" Inari queried.

"Just picked up several highly encrypted transmissions that are being sent to the ship. I should be able to crack them and give you all the interior layout!" the AI informed them.

"Please do! Any information you can feed to us will give us the edge we need!" Lothara replied.

"Copy!" Jaesa responded.

The AI then got to work, her mind stepping into the digital realm of cyberspace while her physical body was left behind. She did what she could to cloak her presence and comms signal in the immediate systems and went about looking for the transmissions. Jaesa found them and knew that while the transmission could be cracked, odds were they were booby trapped against anyone trying to tamper with the encryption.

Jaesa then smirked as an idea came to her and she approached the streams, easily hitching a ride on one heading into the ship's systems. She rode the data streams and came to the digital gateway that filtered them. Thinking quickly, Jaesa employed a Chameleon program of her own design, which would make her appear to be part of the transmission. She booted up a few defensive and attack programs and put them on standby, just in case.

She went with the data stream and slid through the gateway without a single alarm being set off. Jaesa grinned to herself as she stayed with the code until it came to the internal node it headed for. Carefully, the AI detached herself from the code, but she kept the Chameleon program running, blending in with the other programs in the system.

Jaesa then employed a few sniffer/tracker programs and sent them out, hoping no one would take notice. Since she was inside the system already, the odds were they wouldn't. Such systems were often looking at anyone trying to gain access from the outside, rather than watching those who were already inside. She allowed herself a small giggle as she got to work, picking up whatever feeds she could find, and sent the data out.

"Got anything for us?" Inari questioned over the line.

"Standby," Jaesa replied as she sent them small data caches, to avoid tripping any system alarms.

"Looks like these bastards have been here for a while! The interior of that ship looks like it's been lived in for some time!" Lothara commented offhandedly.

"They also have some sort of surveillance system in place outside, monitoring the area around the ship!" Jaesa informed them.

"Have they spotted us?" Inari questioned, knowing that slavers were careful like this.

"Negative. They appear to be focused on the immediate area surrounding the ship and all main walking and entry points. I don't see anything further afield," the AI told them.

"Well, that's a relief. What of the location of the slave pens?" Lothara queried.

"From what I can see, they appear to be situated in the cargo hold. Hold up... the callous bastards! They have a jettison program setup that is rigged to the slave pens!! Seems like they don't want to be caught red-handed if they're discovered!" Jaesa growled over the line.

"Can you disable it?" Lothara questioned, hoping and praying that this was possible.

"Wait one," Jaesa told the woman, as the line went quiet.

Everyone there couldn't help but sigh or growl in anger. That people like this existed was one thing, but that they were willing to just space living beings? That was a whole other level of evil and reinforced the strike teams' desire to end these pieces of scum. A reply sounded on the comms a few minutes later.

"I couldn't do anything about the program itself without tripping any alarms. But I managed to seize the release mechanism, so it jams the moment they try to use it."

"That will do. What of sentries inside the ship?" Lothara pressed.

"Already have their locations, loadouts and even who some of them are! Should be uploading to your holo-readers!" Jaesa responded.

Moments later, everyone received a ping on their holo-readers, with the details that Jaesa had forwarded. Lothara and the other team leaders smiled at this, as this took the guesswork out of the firefight ahead. Now that they knew what to expect, they could execute their attack and not worry about any potential rats escaping.

"All right. We have everything we need. Come on back and we'll get things started," Lothara told Jaesa.

"Not yet. I have a little surprise that's being executed right... now!" Jaesa said with a slight giggle.

"Jaesa, what did you do?" Inari questioned, hoping she didn't do anything to compromise the mission.

"Set a loop video of all action outside of the ship. I took care to ensure that every movement is as natural as possible with the sentries. One thing I couldn't take down was their comms, as that would have tipped them off," Jaesa told the team leaders.

"That is more than we expected! Thank you!" Lothara said over the comms, keeping her voice low. "Remember everyone; keep it quiet. Mark your targets and take them out."

The crew looked about and marked at least five sentries watching the rear area where the engines were located. They moved into position, each member of the crew marking a target before readying themselves. Korsa and Alex singled out such a sentry, as he was a massive Takharian man that would require the both of them to bring him down. Once they were in the perfect ambush position, they awaited the signal, which came a few seconds later.

"Go."

As a single unit, the entire crew sprung out of their hidey-holes and took down each man in seconds. Even the Takharian was brought down with relative ease, as Korsa and Alex got the drop on him. They all went down without a sound, which made their part of the operation much smoother.

"Engine housing, clear. Setting charges now," Inari informed the strike teams.

"Copy that. Stay frosty," Lothara replied as her teams finished up with their sentries.

The commander snapped the neck of one man who tried to fight back, not wishing for him to try informing his bosses. Once he was dead and his body moved, the strike teams moved in, closing in on the entryway to the ship. A few Khontaran hackers got into position and started working the door, trying to break in. It didn't take them too long, with the hackers gaining entry after ninety seconds.

"Door is unlocked. Have a program going that makes it appear like it's still locked, but it won't hold for long. We have forty seconds to get in and start taking the ship before they know we're here!" the hacker told the commander.

"That will do, Saryna. All teams, move in!" Lothara ordered.

As one, the teams converged on the doorway and flooded the entrance, pushing through the doors. There were sentries on the inside, but the shock of the strike teams overwhelming them caught them by surprise. Not a single sentry managed to get a shot or even a shout off, as they were quickly cut down. The Khontaran Strike teams and the Reavers flooded into the ship as theDarkstridercrew set the charges.

"Damn it! We don't have enough charges!" Natalya growled as they set the charges on the structural weak points.

"What do you mean, we don't have enough charges?" Alex questioned.

"These engine housings are a reinforced crystalline titanium matrix! They were designed to take a beating from heavy capital-class weaponry while in flight! The charges we have will make a dent, but not enough to stop the ship!" Natalya explained.

"Shit! What do we do?" Inari questioned as they finished setting the last charge.

"TAKE COVER!!" shouted a voice over the comms. Everyone's head snapped as they saw small hidey-holes open up in the ship's hull. Shots rang out and the crew dove for cover, each of them trying to avoid the deadly barrage of bullets.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! I thought no alarms were tripped!!" Inari shouted out.

"As did--THERE!!" Kasumi shouted.

She pointed at a blood trail and a sentry that was still alive. The man was dragging himself away from the ambush site, distancing himself from the crew and the group that was trying to kill them. Everyone stayed in cover and tried firing back, but they saw that there was no way they had a shot at those men in the hidey-holes.

Priya took aim and fired at the slaver that was crawling away from them, putting a bullet straight through his forehead. She then turned her attention to the ship and fired a couple of shots, timing each one so that she had a clean line of sight. She dropped a few of the men in the holes, but they were soon replaced with more shooters. The woman kept firing, doing what she could to get her friends clear of the spots they were stuck in.

"Pree, can we move!?" Inari called out over the comms.

"Not yet! Too many shooters here and not enough good angles! I need a distraction!" Priya replied.

"I have an idea. When I say, everyone shut your eyes!" Alex told them as he pulled a trio of canisters from under his jacket.

"On your go, Alex!" Korsa told him.

"One, two, three!!"

At that moment, Alex tripped the canisters, which were flashbangs, and threw them toward the ship's hidey-holes. A few shots rang out, hitting the flashbangs, but that just set them off early. The sound of them was deafening, and the bright flash caused every shooter to cry out or wince at the bright light.

"Go, go, go!" Alex shouted.

He sprang to his feet and got the ladies on their feet and away from the engine housing. They all bolted from their makeshift cover and hurried to the spot where Priya, Matthias, and Gloria were situated. The crew got within a few feet of the cover Priya and her group were using before shots rang out again. Alex shouted as he stumbled forward, hitting the ground and causing Natalya and Kasumi to fall with him.

"ALEX!!" Natalya cried out as she reached for him. She yelled out as she was hit too, a bullet grazing her upper arm.

"Eyes!" Inari shouted.

She lobbed another trio of flashbangs, setting them off in front of the engine housing again. The defenders of the ship averted their eyes, but this also distracted them from shooting at their targets, which was what Inari wanted. As quickly as they could, the rest of the crew scurried forward, grabbed Alex and Natalya, and dragged them to safety. Korsa went straight to work on treating their wounds, hoping the damage wasn't too severe.

"Talk to me, Korsa! How bad is it?" Inari asked, making sure everyone stayed out of the line of fire.

"Alex's hits are high on his chest and shoulder, circumventing his armor! They just missed his lungs, so he'll be OK!! Nats' looks like it nicked an artery in her arm," the Khontaran woman replied. She busied herself with patching the pair up, happy that they were no worse for wear.

"Damned slavers!" Priya growled. The Indian woman continued to shift her position as she returned fire, not giving their assailants the chance to lock in on her.

"Why don't we just open a gate into the place and tear those bastards apart?!" Matthias questioned.

"Like I said, we need to keep our abilities under wraps for as long as possible! Can't let slavers know about what we can do! Even if one of those bastards sees it and escapes, we will be hunted down! That is something we cannot allow!" Gloria said beratingly to her son.

"Not to... mention... need tactical... insight to... strike at these bastards... effectively!" Alex ground out as Korsa patched the man up.