"This just came in, Admiral," an automated voice said.
Admiral Usyk reached across his desk and hit a button on his console. He eyed the message scrawled on the transparent crystal display: "Get a ship. Rendezvous with me at the following coordinates. Come alone and waste no time. No fireworks.
For a moment, Usyk got the feeling that he was reading a message from his former student and surrogate son Herman Wrath.
"Computer, what is at these coordinates?"
"Unknown," the automated voice replied.
A request to meet at an unknown location with no details to go on. Usyk hadn't commanded a ship in a very long time.
"Log a request with Commander Zhang," Usyk said. "A request for command of a ship."
Usyk was sure that his request would get shunted around to three different desks before getting rejected.
"Your request has been approved," the automated voice said. "The UNS Béluga and her crew will be waiting for you at dock J19-SA4."
"Who approved it?" Usyk said in shock.
"General Zhang."
"He reviewer and approved my request personally?"
"That seems to be the case," the automated voice said. "The response came from his personal console."
Usyk leaned back in his chair and considered the chain of events including the last time he was sent a mysterious request like the one he just received from Taisen.
"Computer, send a message to the weapons crew on the Beluga to do a full-service scan on their equipment."
"Are you expecting trouble, Admiral?"
"Yes."
***
The UNS Arctic was waiting exactly where Taisen said it would be. A quick shuttle ride across and within an hour of arriving in the system, Admiral Usyk and Colonel Lyn were sitting in the briefing room with Taisen and Alita reading through Taisen's proposal.
Usyk stared at the plan in complete disbelief. He read it for a fourth time to make sure it said what he thought that it said the third time.
By the time he lifted his eyes from his tablet, he and Lyn stared at each other in surprise, disbelief and apprehension. The gaze shifted to the end of the table where Taisen was waiting patiently doing an exquisite job of hiding any anxiety. An eyepatch covered his right eye.
"Well it's inventive, I'll give you that," Usyk finally said with the hint of a smile.
"It's never been done before," Lyn said sternly with her arms folded.
"If there's anyone that could pull it off, my credits are on Commander Taisen," Alita said.
"With proper care and execution, I think it can be done quite easily," Taisen said confidently.
"Are you sure that you're in the right place?" Lyn asked. "From what I just read, the location came from a computer of unknown design built by an alien whose species I'm unfamiliar with."
"All the indications are there," Taisen said. "I can't know for certain until I enter the Chaos region and perhaps examine the Falmeri homeworld."
Colonel Lyn pursed her lips and picked up her tablet again. It certainly wasn't going to be easy. The system at the entrance of the Chaos region where Taisen planned to begin his infiltration was known as a cell system because it offered more resistance to all forms of space travel, up to and including hyperspace. This was possible because it had a storm of electromagnetic energy and solar winds that made travel nearly impossible. Taking the navigational hazards into account, the chances of successfully charting a course into the system was less than a tenth of a percentage point.
"How do you plan top navigate through this shit storm?" Lyn asked.
Taisen merely smiled and tapped on his eyepatch. "Let me worry about that."
Even more intimidating was the fact that all entry routes to the system were being patrolled by heavy warships and star destroyers of a completely unknown design.
Unreliable navigation, heavy protection, isolated system and unconfirmed intelligence. This mission seemed impossible.
"I'm going with you," Lyn said.
"That was a given," Taisen said.
"And what is my role?" Usyk said.
"I need you to divert the attention of the blockade while we hide in your shadow," Taisen said.
"A decoy."
"Bingo," Taisen replied.
"Will it work?" Usyk asked.
"From the information I got off the computer, this is more of an interdiction than a blockade," Taisen said. "The configuration of the ships will be set up to control access and egress from the system."
"Let's begin then."
For a few moments, the conference room was silent, Usyk pretended to study his tablet. Lyn had doubts about everything but couldn't come up with a better plan. Alita had complete faith in Taisen to pull it off.
Charting a path to the planet at the centre of the system may have been impossible due to navigational difficulties and fortifications but the abandoned mining stations made for perfect cover so that the UNS Arctic could enter the system and move beyond it into the Chaos region. But this was no cakewalk. It was a gamble but then again, so was all warfare.