Dominion - Threat Counter (cont)

Dominion: Threat Counter

-> Unknown Serpents

1030 Hours, 3.22.5E50 / GCM Stealth Ship Andregalheit
Akagassiz System near Kyatzet V

The boxlike monstrosity slid through the inky darkness on white flames, slashes of light flickering along its flat surfaces. Starlight reflected off the silver-colored hull of the metallic craft, glinting reflections of a bluish tinted star that burned brightly at the center of the system. From afar, a different ship swam in the darkness of space, the Vadasian stealth ship, the GCS Andregalheit. There were no drive flames from this craft, its matte black outline an eerie contrast to the system it watched, looking like a pocket of pure emptiness.

Aboard the bridge of the small craft, Naether^[01] Grus Valhg-Zelov cracked his knuckles obsessively. He had been in system observing this new species for thirty-one days. Sent by a paranoid government that flagged every new species it encountered as hostile since the encounter with the volatile Hagasian, Grus Valhg-Zelov found himself passing over the blasé contact reports submitted by the initial survey craft that had been through the system a total of seventy-two days ago. It described a pre-hyperdrive capable socity that was capable of dealing massive blows with weapons that were flagged as highly dangerous after initial scans confirmed a strange ability to possibly pierce shields. It didn't help, either, that since the outbreak of the war with the Hagasian, and subsequent violent outbursts by species that the Gre'kuquen Confederation came into contact with, they felt that each new species should be observed first before any kind of first contact could commence.

So Grus Valhg-Zelov sat aboard a bridge gnawing on bruised and split knuckles with a hackneyed snarling as he listened constantly to comms traffic in a clacking, jawed tongue that was summarily translated by a stale software program put together by his boring comms officer and his tactical officer who happened to have a passing interest in computer programming. He had become nearly indifferent to the whole as a bored comms officer monitored the comms traffic and reported back in monotone every last translated word and message to his rather uninspired commander. A repetition of a few words had revealed over time the name of the species: Jyet Nyural. He was beginning to think that the monotone was just his comms officer attempting to be funny, or to annoy him. Either way, it wasn't funny, and it was really annoying. But he couldn't do disciplinary action for a Vadasian doing his job. He grunted.

Naether Grus Valhg-Zelov called up the last communique he had just gotten, looking over the new orders he had just received; reconnaissance missions on the surface. Luckily, those orders had come with twelve Intelligence Division Naval Insurgents. They were affectionately called INTDIV NAVINS. Locations were already sited into the firing computer linked into the Needler fire-control structure, ready to send the waiting twelve onto their destinations at horrifying speeds and be subjugated to severe gees upon entry into the atmosphere. He didn't envy them their job.

"Report Needler launch readiness status," Grus Valhg-Zelov asked.

"Needler tubes locked onto targets. Awaiting orders to fire," fire control officer Gustav Hakr-Visarett said.

"Fire when ready."

There was a physical vibration through the floorboards as the Needlers began to fire on their predetermined flight paths. Each shot shook the stealth craft as the two launch tubes fired several times. Grus Valhg-Zelov mentally counted the number. One... three... seven... ten... twelve. Once they were away, he barked out a series of orders to monitor the drop and the Needlers themselves as they flashed through space before plummeting into the atmosphere. He wanted to see if the Jyet Nyural noticed the incursion. He hoped not. It would mean more paperwork if they died, a lot more than if the INTDIV NAVINS succeeded. He made a silent prayer to Ankra Anris, Mother Creator, then began his brooding.

- - -

It was called a Needler by those who used it. The brass called it a Long-Range Deployment Vehicle. Call it what you will, it worked. A boarding-action and orbital drop craft, the Needler got its name because of its shape and look. It looked like a giant, over-sized needle with a large, high-powered ionic thruster slapped on the rear and enough room left over from all the gadgetry that made it work to cram a full-sized and raging Vadasian in it. It was equipped with a hyperdrive, probably one of the fastest in use, along with shield generators and an ionic frequency generator. The last item giving the Needler the ability to pierce shields, very useful since one of its primary uses was boarding-actions against enemy capital ships. The launcher for the Needler was built like an archaic projectile weapon, fed by a series of "magazines" where the Needlers were housed. Each Needler would cycle into the main launch tube and be fired from a series of gauss coils that would accelerate the craft up to speed before the main thruster kicked in.

The twelve agents lined up next to the hanging Needlers, stepping into their appropriate machine. The cockpit covers slid down.

A jarring, rumbling motion ensued as the craft was dropped into the firing chamber and locked into position. The launcher irised open, already pointed toward its target destination. There was a lurch and a bang. The Needler flew with agonizing speed, aided by its own ion engine that now flared brightly behind it. It hit the upper atmosphere, the ceramic tiling sloughing off in chunks and boiling off in a reddish haze. It looked just like a meteorite. The agent had four days.

01) Naether: Vadasian naval rank equivalent to Captain.

Planetfall / Objective Reconnaissance