Board Thread:The Company/@comment-24930445-20140615054833/@comment-24930445-20140621204613

The Plan

“Her fighter force is made up mostly of Porter Mark XI’s. Think you can get your hands on.. say four? More would be better, but if we could get four to mingle with their attack force as it takes on ours, we can slip under their line and land without anyone being wiser. We’ll probably need Gypsy. Can she handle seventy-six or so people??”

“It’ll be tight, but as long as we have a short distance to go, it should be alright. She’s a hardy girl.” Jack smiled with pride.

“We can launch off Krita while she’s cloaked, slip around behind the battle and ‘escort’ you in.”

Joke had stayed in the background, keeping an eye on the newcomers in case of trouble. At the mention of Dylan’s plan, he tossed a gauze roll at his son. “I don’t suppose ten security uniforms from some unidentified bodies would be of any help? Heard word they were found in one of Nash’s shuttle bays and since they can’t place them, our security is assuming they were with the unfriendlies. Dylan should be able to clear that up for us. Admittedly, you’ll probably only be able to use six. I don’t think you’ll be able to explain blaster holes in the chests too easily.”

Dylan glanced at Joke “Probably not credentials on them, huh?” His father shook his head. “Yeah, typical elitists. But that gives me an idea. Those four bodies… the ones with the blaster holes? Leave them in their uniforms and stack ‘em on Gypsy. We can gain credit if we bring back some of their own. As long as Lantis isn’t there to claim them, which is highly unlikely, I think we might be ok.”

The group was interrupted in their planning by the arrival of LaeAnne, Mishrean, and Korbin. Korbin immediately began dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief, not a fan of the excessively hot temperature Dante maintained, although it was a bit cooler in here than out in the main medical bay. Mishrean glanced around at the group. He knew he was expected but suddenly felt as though he was interrupting.

“Damage control report,” he said, stepping forward with a tablet containing his report and handing it to Ryax. “We’re making progress on the computer repairs. The main core is still offline, but subsystems are beginning to function. We have full sensor control back. Force fields should be available in about two hours.”

“Twenty-six hours for full operation?” Ryax asked.

“Yes, sir, but I should have engine control sooner. We can be underway ahead of schedule and be fully operational by the time we get to the target.”

“Krita’s doing a little bit better in that regard,” Travers interjected. “Deno expects our computers will be fully restored in about six hours. We can get a head start if we can get everything we need lined up.”

“Six hours.” Jack glanced at Travers. “Find me later. I need to call in several markers for those fighters. Its gonna cost to get them in six hours, but by the gods, you’ll have them.” With a nod to Ryax, Jack strode out the door.

Ry hadn’t noticed. He was paging through Mishrean’s report when LeaAnne spoke up. “Our first sensor scan shows no hostile ships still in the area. No sign of the life pods the attackers escaped in either. We found the bodies of four of our deck crew drifting away from us. I sent a shuttle to bring them home.”

“Tell me about what they hit us with,” Ry told them.

Korbin stepped forward. “It was definitely the same field signature as the devices Mr. Lenits and Dr. Dramnal have constructed. Our adversaries appear to be able to manipulate it in ways that our guests have not fully explored. We think we have some ideas on how to counteract the effect, but we need some time to test.”

“Krita leaves in six hours,” Ryax told him. “Time enough?”

Korbin hemmed. “That seems difficult. We could make a standard device large enough to encompass the Krita before they depart but we yet don’t know enough about how the fields interact to say for sure that it will protect the ship.”

“No guarantees, we get it,” Travers answered. “We’re not planning to take her into combat until you show up. We’ll stay cloaked until then. If you discover between now and our rendezvous that the device you make won’t protect us we’ll deal with it then.”

The door opened again and Dante entered the room, nodding to Dylan and putting a hand on his shoulder. “She’s doing okay. She’s still unconscious, but you can go in to see her if you want. She’s in recovery room C.”

Dylan didn’t say a word but bolted through the door. Joke watched his son go, then nodded at the doctor. “Thanks for that.”

Dante smiled in return before he stepped forward and set a device in a plastic bag on the table next to Ryax. “This is what I pulled out of her.” There were still traces of blood clinging to the device, but it was free of any other gore. “Who ever implanted this in the poor girl’s brain was a monster. Skilled, but it was never intended to be removed. These tendrils were coiled around her brain stem. Untangling them was… difficult.”

Korbin stepped forward eager to examine the device. “It’s definitely similar to the devices our guests have been building. Much smaller, of course. More precise. Am I correct the girl and the attackers we killed were not carrying any external equipment?”

LaeAnne nodded.

“Then this device may be important to allowing us to determine how to block the enemy’s weaponized fields. We determined the field we had been testing extended into Dylan’s room and when the girl stepped into its outer boundaries, she deactivated. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get this to the lab right away.” He turned and exited, the device in hand, not waiting for permission. LaeAnne barely jumped out of his way in time.

“Will the girl be okay?” LaeAnne asked Dante.

“I did my best,” Dante told her. “I’m not sure what affect the device had on her though. We’ll know more once she wakes up. Now I’m going to kick all of you out of here,” he announced. “My patients need their rest. You can keep the captain informed by text.”