Allaine raised the energy blade, smoothly slicing into the tree branch and sending a branch laden with fresh fruit crashing to the ground. The taller brown haired woman picked the bunch up and turned to her busy team of food gatherers. "All right, we've got the rest of the fruit," she asked them briskly, "how about the meat?" "Mission accomplished," the voice lead about half of the security team towards them. Lynn carried the carcass of one of the beasts over her shoulder, the lanky brown haired pilot handling the weight easily. "Is the med squad back yet?" A few moments later Toki arrived, the younger woman looking nervous as she packed a sample case under her arm. The red haired medic smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, ma'am, but I think the CMO will be right along." "What's Meris looking into?" Allaine asked , keeping any criticism out of her voice. "The Chief found larger quantities of unrefined medicinal botanicals," Toki explained, "they could be extremely valuable, considering our limited supplies." "Makes sense," Lynn conceded. Max trotted up the trail carrying another case, the little pink haired tactical officer puffing softly with exertion, then Meris followed. The tall, aristocratic blonde nodded slightly, "My apology for the delay." "No problem, the other team should be heading back for the shuttles too," Allaine said to her casually. As a group they moved out, cutting through lush forests and over overgrown paths towards the flat plain they had landed on. The planet itself echoed with animal calls, the air heavy with moisture, bursting with life so different from the last world they had been to. "I still wish we knew what happened to the people of this world," Meris murmured as they walked to the waiting shuttles. Allaine raised a eyebrow, "I thought it obvious. The paranoid attacked, the colonists died or fled, and the planet was overrun by nature." "I'm no expert, but from what I've seen there's no damage here... no signs of orbital or ground based assault," Meris said. A pause as they reached the shuttles and began loading, "It's almost as if they... just left." Allaine looked thoughtful, "Remind me to ask Davies about the abandoned instillation, if it might have been intentionally mothballed." "Right," Meris flashed a smiled, carefully securing the medical supplies in a section of the rapidly filling cargo bay. "And don't mention the idea to the enlisted crew," Allaine added softly, "we don't want to raise false hopes." Lynn appeared a few moment's later, saluting crisply. "All secure, ma'am, and the engineering team has reported back as well," she reported. "Davies?" Allaine looked around curiously. "Yo!" Davies popped up from behind her. Meris jumped in surprise, "Do you have to do that?!" "Yup," Davies smiled impishly, the sand haired young woman's uniform and face smudged with dirt and grime. Allaine looked at Davies curiously as she asked, "What did you get into this time?" "Digging into the facilities buried here," Davies took a cloth and tried to wipe off her hands, then attending to her face. "Find anything interesting?" Meris asked curiously. "Sort of," Davies folded the cleaning cloth up and pitched it right into the shuttle's recycler. "The place wasn't abandoned due to an attack, but it wasn't shut down and mothballed either," she explained, "it's almost as if they just... left one day." The Commander and Meris exchanged a long look then Allaine thoughtfully said, "Well, isn't that interesting." Before they could continue their discussion the annoying sound of an emergency call came through on Allaine's communication link. "All shuttles," Catty's crisp voice rang in the shuttle's cargo bay, "return to ship immediately. Possible Paranoid warp signatures have been detected, estimated time of arrival unknown." "You heard the lady," Allaine said sternly, "section chiefs, check to see all your people are here. Let's button up the shuttles and go!" A few minutes later and both of the shuttles were smoothly cutting out of the edge of the planet's atmosphere, a fighter escort forming around them as they hurried back to the waiting Lady Grace. After a few moments the fighters peeled off into patrol positions once again and the shuttles entered into their bay. Essential crew members bolted for their positions while the rest of the gathering team remained to store the supplies into the waiting refrigerated containers. "Welcome back," Captain Gail said calmly, the redhead sitting calmly in the center seat. She looked cool and composed, studying the view screen, only the most observant could see any tension in the set of her shoulders. Lieutenant-Commander Sara quickly vacated the second in command's seat, giving Allaine a text-book salute. "Ship status normal," she reported before the golden haired woman requested permission to leave the bridge. "Thank you," Allaine nodded to her gravely as Sara left. Settling into her seat she smiled at the Captain, "Situation?" "Drive signatures inbound," Gail answered calmly, "initial scans read them as our three Paranoid friends. There's also another complication." "Hmm?" Allaine looked curious. Danielle spoke up from her tactical station, "I'm getting a odd ghost image on our sensor arrays, but I can't lock on it or firm it up." The black haired young woman sighed in frustration, "It could be a technical problem but it could also be a cloaked ship, but if so it's substantially better than our tech or the Paranoid." "I'm writing it off as a sensor blip, but Danielle's going to be keeping an close eye on it," Gail said seriously. "Makes sense," Allaine admitted, thoughts racing. Davies had followed her in on the bridge along with Meris, both taking up positions in stations behind the command chairs. "You want me to head down to Astronomy?" she offered. "I could rig up a high power scan on the blip." "Paranoid ships confirmed, moving into attack range," Lauren said from the helm, her navigation sensors having picked up the motion. "Confirmed," Danielle barked, "your orders, ma'am?" "We're moving out," Gail said quickly, "pull our fighters back till the enemy launches theirs, deploy main guns." Davies surprised them by heading to Danielle's side. "The new Star Destroyer power core we installed will have a substantial effect on our firepower," she informed her, "your first few shots are going to be a lot nastier than they're expecting." "I'm going to enjoy this," Danielle purred. Allaine leaned forward in her seat, "Can you throw one full burst of our fire into each of the ships in series? That way we'll take full advantage of the surprise...." she grinned. "Will do," Danielle nodded. The three Paranoid ships swept forward, unaware of their danger even as the outer skin of the Lady Grace shifted aside, revealing their main batteries. The fighters cleared the way, soaring aside, then in a blaze of red the beams surged forward. One by one the organic looking Paranoid were stabbed by the streams of fire, explosions lighting up the vessels then they listed aside. Suddenly the third ship, which had been lagging behind, lit up from within by secondary explosions. It's skin bulged, the vessel rocking, then in a burst of light it was gone. "Yes!" Lauren burst out happily. "There's still two ships," Gail reminded them all forcefully. "Ma'am, the Paranoid are launching a massive wave of fighters," Danielle shouted. On the screen a cloud of fighters raced out of the two damaged vessels, well over two hundred fighters total spreading out to sweep towards them. "Retreat?" Allaine asked her softly. "Not with that many fighters, they'd just cut us off," Gail answered quietly. A wry smile, "Looks like they saved them up for an assault like this." Major Tanya's voice came on, "Recommend we launch all fighters, we'll screen your retreat." "You're outnumbered more than two to one," Danielle protested. "Launch all fighters," Gail said calmly, "but we're following you in. Prepare all weapons and activate emergency systems." "Ma'am?" Lauren squeaked. "Even with the fighter situation we're facing better odds than we've had so far," Gail said calmly, "it's time to gamble." "The sensor ghost," Danielle cut off conversation, "it's a ship! Decloaking on port side!" "Identify!" Allaine barked. "I don't know," Danielle barked, "it's not listed in Paranoid or Solenoid ship databases!" "They're firing!"
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