"Commander, Corporal Boris of the marine forces is on the line." Aziz said.
"To the speakers." I said. Ensign Aziz put the voice on bridge's speakers.
"Lodos Command, this is Corporal Boris. We have surrounded reactor number 2. There is at least one armed suspect locked inside the control room. What shall we do?" he said.
"We will give you access to bypass the lockdown on your will, Corporal. Capture the suspects alive if possible. If not, you are authorised to use deadly force." I said.
"Roger that, Commander." Boris acknowledged.
"Ensign Katyusha, provide Corporal Boris with the security key to bypass locked doors." I ordered.
"Aye, sir. Sending security keys through a safe connection." Katyusha said.
"Sir, new contact! One cruiser at 2.1 light seconds and approaching with 4 km/s." Lieutenant Karl shouted.
"Identity?" I asked.
"Unknown, sir. Our sensors readings are not clear enough at this distance. Could be hostile." he said.
"They wouldn't immediately attack Mars as the first thing, would they?" I said to myself. "Or... maybe they would."
"Sir?" said Sungho, like he has been waiting for a command.
"Ensign Aziz, report the encounter to Homeland Defense fleet." I ordered.
"Done, sir." he said, and added just afterwards. "Admiral Rose wishes to speak with you."
"On speakers." I said.
"Commander, this is Admiral Rose. Our external sensor posts are not fully operational yet. We won't get a clear reading unless they get closer. Please stay alert."
"Understood, Admiral." I said. "Commander Mei, move out of our stable orbit and intercept that cruiser."
"Aye, sir. Intercepting target." she said. The warship rotated to align with it's manuever target, and engaged it's MPD thrusters.
"Gunshots reported at reactor number 2, sir." Aziz reported.
"Anything from Corporal?" I asked.
"Not yet, sir." he said. "Sir, Homeland Defense fleet is sending three additional ships to intercept the target. But they won't be able to catch up with us before we intercept the cruiser."
"Thank you, Ensign." I said.
"Sir, Corporal Boris wishes to speak with you." Aziz said.
"On speaker, Ensign." I said.
"Lodos Command, we have made our encounter with the hostile personnel. He has been wounded during the firefight, but now he threatens us with the destruction of the reactor if we approach. What do we do?"
Dealing with two threats at the same time wasn't an easy task. Maybe if I had Tachibana with us, it would be much easier...
"Is he alone?" I asked the corporal.
"Yes, there is only one man." he said.
"What does he demand?" I asked.
"He... he wishes to speak with you, commander." Boris said. I thought about it for half a minute.
"Fine. Let him speak." I said.
"Admiral?" the voice on the other side changed. He must've thought that I was the rear admiral. I decided to play along to see what he wanted.
"This is the commanding officer of the warship Lodos." I replied.
"Admiral, I've placed remote controlled explosives to your reactor. If you do not comply with my demands, they are ready to explode." he said.
"Mute my voice, Ensign." I whispered to Aziz. He pushed a button on his console.
"Ensign Katyusha, order our personnel to move away from reactor number two." I said.
"Aye, sir." she said.
"Ensign Aziz, resume audio." I said. He pushed a button again to continue the conversation. "What do you want?" I asked to the man.
"You will provide me with a shuttle for my safe transfer to the approaching cruiser." he said.
"Ensign, mute audio." I whispered again. Aziz pushed the button once more.
"Lieutenant Karl, designate the unknown craft as a Federation cruiser." I said. The blip on the 3D map turned red.
"Ensign, resume audio." I said. The conversation continued.
"You are required to drop all your weapons if you wish to get out." I said.
"I am not a fool, Admiral." he said. "I won't trust you that much."
"We can not thrust you either." I said. "How do we know that you won't blow up the reactor after you transfer?" I said.
"Perhaps you don't need to..." he said.
"Hey!"
A loud explosion followed. The bridge was shaken a little bit. Sirens started wailing on the damage control console.
"Ensign?" I asked for a report from Katyusha.
"Sir, multiple explosions on reactor number 2. The reactor has suffered major damage and has been rendered unusable. Minor structural damage on the adjacent decks." she said.
"Sir, communications has been cut." Aziz reported.
"Sir, the sabotager has been killed, along with five of our marines. Corporal Boris is wounded." Katyusha said.
"Raise lockdown, send the medics and an engineering team down there to secure the reactor if possible." I said.
"Aye, sir." said Katyusha and hastily began working on her console.
"Sir, our sensors are picking up another cruiser! Approaching on same trajectory." Lieutenant Karl reported.
Thinking of it now, this was a very clever attack method. The Federation must've been planning this for years in secrecy... They knew the war was close.
Sabotaging the main defense fleet at the first moments of the war and sending in an attack force to the most strategic point of our Navy; this could cripple our defensive abilities for the rest of the war. Attacking the enemy's headquarters like this was a daring move that was never encountered in the history of space combat.
"This is going to be tough." I said. "We can barely defend against a single modern cruiser, let alone win the shootout. Let's see what we can do against two."
"Sir, now attempting to match velocity with target." Commander Mei said as she turned the spacecraft around once more.
"Distance?" I asked.
"About 250 000 kilometers now." Mei said.
"Radiators to combat positions! Start up reactor number 3." I said. Lodos' radiators were retracted to combat positions. In this setting, radiators were much less effective, but they were closer to the main hull. This reduced Lodos' crossection and gave the enemy a much smaller target to shoot at. The downside of this was the heat buildup at the main structure; Lodos could only stay in this setting for six hours.
"We just have to hold on until our comrades catch up." I said.
"Sir, a third warship has appeared! Identified as Federal Gunship Retaliation!" shouted Karl.
"No..." I said. "We can't hold off three... What are you still doing down on the surface, Tachibana?"