Hundeerde Space: Sector 1-Quadrant Delta-3
(S1-QD3)
Routine Patrol
Greenwatch Squadron were on patrol in one of the furthest quadrants of Hundeerde space. They were travelling in a fairly loose formation, and the patrol so far had been completely unremarkable.
This was about to change.
Klaus: Greenwatch—report fuel and catalytic lattice status.
The X-wings were fuelled by ionic plasma injected under high pressure into the main engine drive; a magnetic field then contained, compressed, and shaped the plasma, forcing it through a catalytic lattice, triggering a massive energy release, which was then expelled as thrust.
The squadron called off their fuel status one by one.
Hans: Keel-One—Plasma—7-3-per-cent. Mag-field green. Lattice-nominal.
Seb: Plasma—7-2-per-cent. Mag and Latt are all green and nominal.
Raven: Plasma—7-6. Mag-field-green. Lattice-nominal.
Timo: Sev-ven-tee-three—and-all-is-green!
Fuel is feeding. Mag is containing. Lattice is kicking and my exhaust – is – thrusting!
Toby: Plasma is feeding at 7-5. My mag-field is containing, compressing and shaping, the lattice is…
A pause.
Standby-one…
Back on Chasetail, in the control room, Lewis turned sharply to Anika.
Lewis: Uh-oh… He’s not gonna…
On the open communications loop, there was an ominous and distinctive rumbling sound followed by another loud out-gassing sound… and then…
An ominous pause on the comms loop.
Toby: …Uh.
Keel-One—I have a problem.
Klaus: Tick—Define problem.
Toby: Keel-One—I’ve made a tactical error.
There was a distinct pause before…
Environmental. Immediate. External.
Timo: O-M-G—Tick… you… didn’t…?!
The sound of assorted laughter bounced around the open communications loop.
Toby: I… I thought I could contain it.
Half a second more, and then—
Timo: Tick—You absolute—
Nope.
Comms loop off. I’m not breathing that in through the audio!
Hans: Control—we have a containment breach—uh, correction, Control—we have a breach in the…uh, breech.
Anika: Greenwatch—Control, flagging environmental bio-hazard breach.
Lewis: Klar—Echo, Breech, breach; noted and logged.
HSS Chasetail: Control Room
Lieutenant Commander Hazel Mackenzie leaned over the plot table showing the S1-QD3 quadrant where Greenwatch were currently patrolling. Lieutenant Anika Weiss stood with her arms folded lightly across her chest, ears forward and confident.
Anika: The contact was only fleeting before it disappeared from the display. We were unable to confirm its identity.
Hazel: We’ll need a clean profile lock to feed into the library for positive ident.
Keep scanning.
Anika returned to her console beside Lewis and continued scanning the S1-QD3 quadrant.
Lewis continued to scan his screens, his eyes taking in a multitude of bits of data every second with every sweep. He was acutely attuned to any small changes in the patterns scrolling before him.
Lewis raised his hand, his eyes now glued to one particular empty place on the plot display.
Lewis: Standby… it’s coming back…
Hazel: Negative—there is nothing showing…
Lewis still had his hand in the air, his forefinger raised and ready to pounce on the spot he was looking at.
Lewis: Wait…
A few moments later, a contact appeared on the display exactly in the spot where Lewis had been watching. He immediately tapped the display with his finger, marking the new contact. It now started leaving a clear trace across the display.
Lewis: New contact. Quadrant S1-QD3. Designate contact, P-1.
Hazel: Resolve identity.
Lewis: Resolving…
Initial designation of contact P-1 is probe; likely Marauder origin.
Anika: Something’s different.
The signature is not reading like the usual Marauder type probes we’ve seen before.
Lewis leaned in, adjusting the feed. The contact slowly resolved. It was faint at first, then it sharpened.
Lewis: I concur. This one is different.
Hazel: Define different.
Lewis: Spikes.
This one is not like the others. It has several.
And it’s bigger, it’s a lot bigger.
Hazel: Alert Greenwatch—condition orange. Active seek and destroy.
Lewis: Greenwatch—Control, this is Echo—condition orange.
New contact identified—quadrant S1-QD3.
Bearing—1-6-3, Mark—Negative—3-2.
Be advised contact is new type — repeat — new type probe. Multiple spikes.
Recommend approach with caution. Authorised—active seek and destroy.
Hundeerde Space: Sector 1-Quadrant Delta-3
(S1-QD3)
Klaus: Control—Greenwatch—condition orange acknowledged.
Marauder probe. New type, multiple spikes.
Bearing—1-6-3, Mark—Negative—3-2.
Authorised, active seek and destroy.
Klaus clicked over to the squadron communications loop.
Klaus: Greenwatch—Keel-One—my lead, condition orange, tighten formation, active seek and destroy.
With Klaus on point, the squadron immediately tightened their formation, made a tight right-hand turn and lowered their noses 32 degrees.
Timo wiggled his butt back into his seat. This is what he lived for, the thrill of the hunt.
Klaus: Greenwatch—active scanning, advise acquisition.
HSS Chasetail: Control Room
Lewis pushed up his glasses, still watching the trace of the probe intently.
Lewis: Something’s wrong.
Hazel: Wrong is not a classification, Lieutenant.
Lewis kept up his tense vigil watching the trace.
Anika: The signal profile is diverging… it’s ghosting.
Hazel: Resolve.
Lewis raised his hand.
Lewis: Wait…! The spikes…
Anika: There! Double return!
I’m getting two clear return signals.
Lewis: It’s split.
It’s not one probe anymore. Now there’s two of them!
Designate contacts as P-1 and P-2.
Hazel: Condition red.
Hundeerde Space: Sector 1-Quadrant Delta-3
(S1-QD3)
Klaus: Greenwatch—split formation!
Fang, Tick—with me—my lead. Break left.
Glow, Rook, Drift—Glow lead. Break right.
Klaus, Timo, and Toby peeled off to the left, taking up the chase after probe-1.
Seb, Raven, and Hans took the right, streaking after probe-2.
S1-QD3: Freighter Chase (Klaus / Timo / Toby)
Klaus: Control—Keel-One, advise vectors and tracking for P-1.
Lewis: Keel-One—this is Echo, P-1 tracking vector:
Bearing—2-9-4, Mark—2-4.
Be advised, P-1 is on direct collision course for Freighter HSF Patch.
Relaying you through to Patch now.
Klaus: Control—Keel-One, acknowledged.
Patch—this is X-W-Keel-One—are you receiving, over.
There was a burst of static as the return transmission from Patch came through.
English: X-W-Keel-One—this is Freighter Patch, receiving you at low strength and quality, currently resolving.
Lewis: Patch—this is Control, recommend reset high-gain to:
Bearing—1-1-4, Mark—Negative—2-4.
English: Control—Patch, resetting high-gain.
A few seconds later:
Keel-One—this is Patch—how are you reading, over?
Klaus: Patch—Keel-One, I have you loud and clear.
Be advised, hostile contact inbound on direct collision vector.
Be prepared to take evasive action.
We will be with you smartly.
English: Keel-One—understood
Klaus: Fang, Tick—open it up, boys we’re going in.
Hardly needing to be told twice, Timo and Toby opened their throttles full and followed their leader.
Klaus: Patch—hostile is closing fast, recommend port-stern thruster!
Patch activated its port-stern thruster, and the ship began a slow-motion hand-brake turn to the right.
The probe was closing in fast.
The three fighters arrived on scene just as Patch was making its turn. The mass of the ship was large, and it took time for the inertia to build sufficiently to initiate the turn.
There was no time for lock; it was outback ringer time.
Toby saw half an opportunity and he took it. It was time to teach this jackaroo a lesson.
Toby: Fox shot!
It may have been a slightly messy shot, and most certainly not textbook timing, but it found its mark.
Patch kicked like a wild brumby as the explosive shock wave hit its rear, but other than a couple of new scorch marks to add to its already battered exterior, the old freighter would live to see another day.
S1-QD3: Relay Node Chase (Seb / Raven / Hans)
Meanwhile, in another part of the quadrant, Seb, Raven, and Hans were also giving chase. This time, the half of the probe they were chasing was heading straight for the S1-QD3 relay node. While not quite as critical as the Sen-Comms, it was still an important piece of equipment, providing deep space communications and sensor relays back to Hundeerde.
The P-2 half of the probe was now making a straight line towards the S1-QD3 node.
Again, Seb found the time available to make decisions closing in fast. The probe’s proximity to the node required a split-second decision.
Seb fired.
It was a straight-out drag race between the shot and the probe.
The probe won.
The node was destroyed on impact, and Seb’s shot was engulfed in the resulting explosion.
Seb, Raven, and Hans pulled up and turned hard to avoid the debris cloud that was the relay node.
Seb: Rook, Drift—my lead—re-group with Keel-One.
Control—this is Glow—seek and destroy—P-2, negative.
S1-QD3 node is gone.
Seb, Raven, and Hans headed back to the rendezvous point to re-group with Klaus, Timo, and Toby.
Raven: Hey—Glow Stick.
Seb: Copy—Rook.
Raven: You all good, mate?
Seb: Yeah—Rook. I’m good.
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