VC2 Chapter 6-Base Camp

Sector 2300

Planet 2305

October 20, 2052

Tarbuck's Revelation cruiser took point as it flew in front of the fleet of ships. The ship passed a green planet which appeared to be very peaceful compared to the other distant planets. A lone Nighthawk frigate flew out of the planet and flew in a circular motion hailing the communications.

“Follow me to the outpost.” a young Caucasian male with dark hair spoke in the hologram transmission.

“Miss me Wicker?” Tarbuck replied back as he followed the frigate towards the atmosphere.

“Not really, no.” Wicker replied cooly.

“All units, we are going to be landing at the forward operating base.” Tarbuck broadcasted.

“Solid copy Tarbuck.” Johnson acknowledged as he left his fleet of Destiny corvettes into formation to begin the descent.

The ships slowly began to land at a grassy field and turn off their engines. Stein's fleet of Exodus cruisers remained in the sky flying around the docked ships on high alert for intruders.

“We're all set Stein, you're good to land.” Du Preez parked his fleets.

“Roger that Captain.” Stein began his descent.

The officers left their ships and assembled into a small portable room with some charts and maps on the walls. Wicker watched as the men took the seats and began passing on the intelligence.

“Ok, here's the intel you need to know.” Wicker pulled down a map from the wall.

A big grid map was labelled in large sections with circles and arrows all over. Wicker took a pen out of his chest pocket and pointed at the top right corner marked with an “A”.

“Insertion point Alpha is located 100 kilometres from the rebel blockade. Du Preez and Tarbuck will draw fire to location Sandcastle southwest of the blockade where Stein will be waiting to ambush the enemy.” Wicker pointed at the map drawing invisible lines.

“What's the enemy fleet composition?” Johnson inquired.

“This is a blockade fleet so the majority of ships are battleships with some cruiser for support.” Wicker replied.

“Please continue.” Johnson jotted down notes.

“Insertion point Bravo is directly on the opposite side of the planet. Once enemy's attention has been lured to Sandcastle, Johnson and Papagiannis are to fight off the weak rear defensive line and head into location Gibraltar to find the blueprints. Remember, once you get the enemy's attention, you will only have one hour max...” Wicker drew some circles on the map.

“Wait, one hour? I thought this outpost was designed to jam communications outwards.” Du Preez interrupted.

“That's correct, but that doesn't stop them from sending supply ships every hour from the planet. If the supply ship does not arrive on their planet 2321, they will be on alert that something is wrong.” Wicker pointed at the large satellite dish outside the portable room.

“So much for cake walk...” Johnson joked to himself.

“If you do not find anything on that planet within the hour, get out and we'll all extract at LZ Kilo. I'll be waiting with my fleets to make sure you guys get home safe.” Wicker drew a big circle around the word “LZ K” beside planet 2303.

“What about us? We're not in the planet.” Tarbuck voiced his concern.

“Once I meet up with the crew at LZK, we will rendezvous here. LZ Mike.” Wicker pointed at a spot in deep space away from 2304.

“Outstanding.” Stein clapped with a big smile on his face.

“Any contingency plans Captain Wicker?” Papagiannis raised his hand.

“We are running on a tight schedule and there will be no room for error. This won't be like Tachyon Industries. In fact, it will be like the invasion fleets back in 1601 once TFD reinforcements arrive.” Wicker went to his desk and grabbed a folder full of photos.

“Shit son.” Tarbuck coughed.

“Take a look yourselves.” Wicker tossed the open folder onto the table and watched as photos of hundreds of ships scatter in front of the men.

“They got Apocrypha cruisers?” Stein picked a photo up and examined the ship hulls.

“These are hijacked vessels. I recognize the hull markings from Commander Thompson's fleet.” Johnson looked at the custom grey stripes on the Apocrypha cruisers.

“What happened to Thompson?” Papagiannis turned his head to look at Johnson.

“Two months ago, Commander Thompson was doing her routine supply escorts when she got ambushed. Twenty ships were captured and her crew were all executed on live transmission to the VEGA corporation.” Johnson told the story with a serious face.

“Public execution? No negotiations?” Stein's jaw dropped.

“These guys don't care about the money or the ships. They want to make a point to VEGA that they are unstoppable.” Johnson clenched his fist.

“Is it me or do I feel like we need more ships?” Tarbuck interrupted.

 “Too much ships will attract too much attention to get the job done. Good luck everyone, get some rest before the big day tomorrow.” Wicker put his pen back into his pocket and went to the table and began to collect the loose photos.