Space recoils around the Cortez as you examine the status of your agent. The ship scans the system, finding only the Valen activity as construction of the local hypergate continues. The ship begins to accelerate into the system through the thick debris fields as a leisurely pace. Commander Grey clicks the intercom at the side of her chair.
"Overwrite the safeties and begin pressurizing cargo bays twelve and thirteen." She says. There is an abrupt response from Calhoun.
"You do remember those are the ones with the breaches, commander?"
"Yes, exactly. I want the damage to this ship to look as severe as possible. Get us venting atmosphere as we approach the planet. We're an unscheduled arrival in a very sensitive system. We can claim we require air and water to top off our reserves, and a dock to perform repairs."
"Aye, I can heat up the thermal ducts in the cap too, get the water tanks bleeding a bit."
"Anything to make us look worse than we are." Grey says. "What is the status of that pod?"
"Loaded and ready to drop, although if I may ask.... why?" Calhoun says cautiously.
"You may not ask." Grey replies, and cuts off the channel. She turns to agent Devon sitting strapped in a seat by a terminal on the far way. "You may observe from here, but we will be leaving the dirty work to the ground team. Once we get close we can orbit around and perform a long range drop and let Mauser drift in from orbit while we coast through high orbit to the docks and launch a shuttle from the far side of the planet. We should easily be able to pose as a ship losing power, have Mauser land planetside to do his job while Calhoun keeps a holding pattern in the shuttle."
"A foolproof plan captain. You are oh so very cunning. I'm sure you will easily outsmart our foes."
Parker Butler
PREPARE THE FLY!
Jackson Roberts
Oh boy, it's almost time for the dropsuitbowl. Get hype!
Isaiah Perry
Which begs the question, how was she supposed to approach Tannhauser without arousing attention in the first place?
Cameron Torres
"So what exactly is this extra cargo you're dropping in?" Devon asks. Grey looks back at the navigation display briefly.
"Insurance. The Council offered discretionary privileges, and if Lyle is out in the empty desert it is quit likely we will be able to engage him openly without risk of detection or collateral damage. If that's the case, I would recommend we pull out all of the assets we have available. We will continue scanning for any hint at his location on the surface as we approach, but if he's not within sensor range of the valen settlement we should deploy everything we have."
"You didn't answer my question."
"I would think you would know the answer." Grey says. "I was given access to Lyle's files just as you were. Lyle has experience fighting the best the Union has to offer, but last time he fought one on one and nearly died. This time, Mauser will be there for backup."
"You need council approval to do that." Devon says. Grey smirks as she clicks through various system diagnostics.
"I already have it. The only council members to vote no did so conditionally. Besides, we're broadcasting everything we're seeing directly to BFIHQ, relayed directly to the secretaries' terminals. If any of them wish to rescind their clearance they are free to do so at any point." She looks back at Devon from her console. "We won't be in orbit for several hours. Please, feel free to get some rest. I'll be sure to alert you if anything happens." She says, and Devon begrudgingly makes his way out of the bridge, having nothing to do there but sit quietly anyways, at least until they deployed.
Cont.
Joseph Miller
There are five flies on the Cortez. They should be hatched about now...
Is Decker keeping Coco contained?
Time for Michael to have tech support issues.
Ian Gray
Would be a shame if that Q-COM broadcast was interrupted by someone.
John Foster
I uh, I think they brought some fully modded soldiers.
Shit
Lincoln James
Why doesn't Lyle just demand trial by combat for his crimes?
