Stealth and Deception
by Alastair Cooper (Myralyst)

Part Six

The battle was half a minute old, when in the control room of the shuttle the Admiral was cursing the jamming that was preventing a distress signal from reaching the troops stationed at the evacuation point, and the active units in the air near the facility. His computer had successfully bypassed the program blocking the operation of the hangar doors, which were even now swinging open. His pre-flight was beginning, but he needed more speed – he should have been out of here two minutes ago…

Ten minutes later the battle in the hangar was over, the bodies of the Admiral’s personal guard covered the floor in every direction and the hangar bore the scars of hundreds of plasma impacts on the wall. A white dust hang in the air where the spraying water had not pushed it to the ground, the overall effect was a dismal pallor. The team stood in a circle where the remnants of Desaile lay, and quickly said words of mourning. As the team broke the circle and ran towards the shuttle, Leonard set a small charge on the remains. He had to ensure the enemy did not get even a working fragment of the body suit. Ten seconds later the largest parts of the suit were composite molecules floating with the white residue of duracrete in the air.

The team took cover as Jones set the Ion blast unit below the shuttle. The unit was designed for capture of vehicles that had active shields, and shortly after did its job brilliantly. As soon as the computer detected the shields fall, Michelle charged to the doors and hotwired the outside ramp control on the shuttle. Before the ramp had even touched the ground the team raced up into the interior of the shuttle. In less than five minutes the Admiral lay “pacified” on his couch, with his hands and feet bound in Imoblate resin. The pilot had to be killed, unfortunately, since he had refused to stop firing on the team, and was threatening to destroy the shuttle controls.

“Pre-flight is complete, sir! I am leaving the Hangar now.” Jones reported. “Excellent Jones, make your top priority to recharge the shields and get clear of the atmosphere. Michelle, have you located the Shuttle’s clearance codes yet?”

“Yes, sir! I am ready to broadcast whatever you want!”

“Wait for my signal, and let’s give these guys no reason to suspect something.” Leonard said as he smiled. The pain caused by the loss of one of his unit would soon be eased by the completion of this audacious mission.