Infiltrate

The plan had been finalized over the two-day flight to the system containing the lab. Once in system, Sola would land on the far side of the larger of the planet’s three moons - conveniently, also the one orbiting the furthest away from the surface. From there, a shuttle would launch in as low-power a mode as possible, hopefully skirting any detection as they dropped to the planet below.

On arrival on the surface, they’d hide the shuttle some way away from the lab much like they’d landed on the far side of the mountains when making contact with the agents embedded in the botanical research team. Unfortunately, this particular world lacked any convenient jungle, mountains or other terrain near to the lab that’d let them fully hide their craft; they’d be relying on a camouflage net and hope to keep the shuttle hidden for the duration of the time they were breaking in.

Entry into the largely underground lab would come via one of several ventilation ducts. Macch was sure that his “little presents” would be able to gain access to one of the raised metal installations, and from there they could get into the facility proper. Aricia would be coming with them this time - the chance to take images of what the Durathisians were up to was just too good to pass up.

On breach, if the layout hadn’t changed from the blueprints they’d been given, they’d arrive in a disused storeroom close to the living quarters for the facility’s staff. From the hopefully empty space they could try signalling for their contact as an initial play. If she was still free and responded then they’d evacuate her back out the way they’d come in, before swiftly sweeping the lab for anything worth photographing or taking. After that, all that would be left would be to exfiltrate back to the shuttle, and then hit the site from orbit to remove both lab and any evidence of their snooping from existence.

As a plan, it relied on the agent still being free of course; if she wasn’t then things could rapidly get complicated. “If she’s been caught, she’ll be being held in the security lockup here.” Macch tapped the plans as Sola skimmed through the final jump, the small team reviewing every last detail of their mission ahead of their arrival. “If we get no response to the signal, Linth and I will sweep through to try and locate her. We’ve got a better shot at it if you’re causing chaos so… go loud.”

Defia nodded. “Statement. Agreed. In the event we need to move to this option, Dustin and I will provide a distraction. Yril’k will protect Aricia, and we will attempt to snatch what information and resources we can before evacuating. Addendum. You will have limited time before we will need to leave if we are all to make it to the shuttle safely. Once pandemonium starts, they are likely to increase external security.”

At the mention of her name, Aricia sat forward. “Rye fabricated a few custom tablets for me. I should be able to take a lot more pictures a lot faster with those, plus we’ll have headset cameras as well right? Make sure to look at anything interesting as you go regardless of which plan we’re running with - I can clear up most details in post, but I can’t do anything if you don’t look at it, the helmet cameras aren’t omni-directional.”

“Alright then. So, equipment. Aricia’s got cameras and a handful of smoke grenades in case we need cover, Macch and Linth have their own toys, Yril’k, you’ll have the same weapon loadout as usual, the same for me. Defia… do you want any weapons?” Dustin ran his finger down the list of equipment, frowning as he reached the last name and the absence of any data from the rogue Fractal.

“Statement. Negative. I do not need weaponry, and it might get in my way. In close quarters I am confident in my abilities to fight, and I will have you to back me up should we require longer range.” The Fractal’s red eyes flickered slightly, and one of her hands momentarily shifted into a narrow spike to reinforce her point about fighting hand-to-hand in the tight corridors they believed to be present in the lab.

As Defia returned her hand to normal, the chime of the communicator interrupted them. “Husband? We’re about to drop back in; fifteen more minutes until the weave disconnect countdown starts. You should make your way to the cargo bay with your equipment to make sure you’re ready to go as soon as the moon reaches the correct orbit.” Meli’s voice was soft but edged with concern; she’d been unhappy about Dustin insisting on going on the mission, even if she had ultimately bowed to his decision to go.

With his wife’s words bringing the meeting to a close, Dustin rose then nodded to the other members of the small team. “Alright everyone, you heard the lady. Let’s grab our things and assemble by the shuttle as soon as we can.”

The instant Sola dropped out of the weave, everyone aboard felt it. Despite the grav-plating and inertial dampening, the harsh roll Sammie threw them into to avoid moving out from the shadow of the moon was noticeable, a dull lurch under the flooring as the craft slid sideways.

Down in the cargo bay, where the grav-plating wasn’t as finely tuned as the rest of the ship, the sudden shift had Dustin watch where he put his feet and Aricia flap her wings for balance. Yril’k frowned as she loaded a crate of supplies into the shuttle. “Perhaps’k we should have’k gotten our equipment’k loaded before we arrived in system’k.” The Vex’ess woman’s tone was only mildly sarcastic as she finished her task and glanced around. “Now we wait’k, correct?”

Stepping past her and into the shuttle before turning and offering both the Vex’ess and Lieviran women a hand past the crates that were now almost totally blocking the cargo hatch, Dustin nodded. “Yup. As soon as we’re in a good place to launch, Meli and Sammie will call down to let us know. For now, time to get comfortable - it’s going to be an even bumpier ride to get down through the atmosphere without them picking us up.”

Leaving the two of them to finish moving the crates and get settled, Dustin made his way forward. Defia and Linth were both seated, the Fractal looking almost statue-like as she went over the plans of the base with the spy. Ahead of them, the pilot’s seat remained empty, although Macch was already going through the pre-flight checks in the copilot’s spot. “All ready to launch?” Dustin asked as he reached his destination, settling in and taking the time to attach the pilot’s harness for once.

“Yup. Everyone’s got their harnesses on so we can dial down the inertia dampening, we won’t be flying long enough to run out of oxygen if we disable life support… basically as soon as we launch I’ll disable anything that’s not needed to get us safely to the ground while you focus on following the course we set to avoid getting clipped by their sensors. It’s a narrow window even so, you’re gonna have to punch it as soon as we get the green light or we’ll miss our chance.” Macch’s eyes never left the controls as he spoke, and Dustin got the distinct impression of a spring being wound tight from the man.

The wait was dire. Seconds ticked by like hours - and then, abruptly, the cargobay around them rumbled as the doors opened. Meli’s voice came through the communicator loud and clear. “Ten seconds to launch, husband. Good luck and make sure you all come back safe.”

As soon as they had the go-ahead, Dustin and Macch lunged for the controls. Fingers flew across the shuttle’s inputs, the engines spooling up and nonessential systems disengaging before they shot out of the makeshift hangar like a bullet from a gun. On the screen, tiny blue dots provided Dustin a projection of the course they’d spent hours fine-tuning, and he stuck to it with every ounce of control he had despite the way the shuttle was rattling so hard that it felt like it’d fall apart.

With no inertia dampening, no stability compensation - in short, none of the normal functionality that made shuttle rides a smooth affair, and with the engines pushed to their limits they seared away from Sola in a vibrating, juddering streak of silver and red. Ahead of them, the atmosphere of the planet loomed… and then they hit it, the heat plating on the front of the craft rapidly glowing white hot with the speed of their arrival. Dustin threw the engines into reverse, killing their velocity as rapidly as he could lest their sharp angle of entry slam them into the ground. The groaning noises from the hull intensified as he pulled back hard on the controls, bleeding yet more of their momentum away as the shuttle skidded down towards their landing site.