Everything was dark and quiet. I was focusing on following Echo’s movements. His Hawk fighter was leading the wing flying recon near the mother-ship.
Nobody has seen something of that sheer size. It took position between the Sirius suns, but somehow it wasn’t dwarfed by the red giant. It looked like an enormous jet black spider which was spreading its web between some sort of energy pylons that were fed by what looked the gravitational pull of both stars. Around it were thousands of fighter class ships zooming around in a very clear pattern. They seemed to ignore the patrol for some reason, which was exactly the reason for this mission. Somebody up in Intel took a bet that paid off.
“Pylon scan complete” was heard from Lizardman. “Hope the boys in R&D know what to do with this. I sure have no clue on what I’m looking at”
“Good job, Red 2. Form back on my wing. We’re done here” said Echo as he set his waypoint for the wormhole entrance.
Lizardman’s Hawk was fit with an external sensor array, designed specifically for this type of missions. It’s the data that this thing pulled out of anything that was insane. You could pinpoint any component of your target down to microscopic level and shoot it off if you wanted. It made the ship a bit heavier, but it was a sniper’s wet dream. R&D guys loved it too.I watched as Lizardman approached and formed on Echo’s wing .
“Right here, Red leader” he reported.
“Red 3 ready as well” reported Talon.
“Let’s head out, then” ordered Echo. “Stay close, we still don’t know what those things are going to do to us”
“They seem to ignore us, but that’s exactly what gives me the creeps” said Lizardman.
As they approached their destination a wormhole opened right in front of them. 3 High Guard fighters emerged from it, escorting a large armored transport of a strangely familiar design. I couldn’t recall on the spot what that specific ship was, until I heard the voice in the speakers.
“Red wing, this is commander Boyd, you are ordered to upload the data that you have collected to the HF-01!”. HF-01! I’ve heard about it, but never seen it that close. I remember only seeing it in newsreels and never without a huge escort. So this is why general Norris gave us the prep speech.
“Upload complete!” said Lizardman.
“Understood. Prepare to receive new mission coordinates, Red Wing.” Was heard from the High Guard leader.
“Roger that. Red wing out!” said Echo.
I could see the laser link indicator flare up on Echo’s HUD. It was the only means of direct communication that we had that could not be jammed or intercepted. You had to maintain line of sight with your target in order for it to work.
“Man, HF 01 here, High Guard escort, I don’t like this one bit” said Lizardman over secure link.
“You never like things, L-man!” said Echo “You should cheer up a bit. Let’s finish this mission and hope they manage to get something out of that data”
“I haven’t deleted it yet. We’re dropping it on the Atlas to R&D” said Lizardman laughing.
“They will hang you to dry for this, you know?”
“Our orders came from the Atlas, not from the High Guard. Hopefully the general will not burn us at the stake”
The conversation was cut short as the wormhole opened in front of them. “We have our destination, let’s go” . Red Wing went through, and in a few seconds they were out in an asteroid field. My jaw dropped to the floor. They just exited the wormhole in front of the HF 01, which was technically impossible since they just left it in the other system.