"Fifty minutes, our systems were down for fifty minutes. Get in contact with our people on the ground and find out what they know. How are the repairs on the cutters? And someone please find me something useful." Admiral Lee called out as the ship systems came back online.
It was the first time this crew had to do something like that, he was honestly impressed they got it online so quickly. Fortunately the cutters were able to cover for them.
"Sir the cutter repairs are being completed quickly. While there was not a hull breach it did disable some minor systems and killed a few people. The other one is almost completely repaired." A bridge officer called out.
"Sir the ground teams all report the bases were abandoned and cleaned out. But one of the platoon leaders wants to talk. Should I patch him through?"
"Do it." A moment later there was crackling at the table he was standing by. "Lieutenant, what do you have for me?"
"Sir we are at objective Bravo. While the base is abandoned it looks like it has been abandoned for almost a month. There are also signs they were overrun and abandoned this base before firing on it from orbit. It has craters littering the sight." The Lieutenant explained.
They abandoned the base. But they would not have given up the continent. They were getting so close to exterminating the Kitinol from the planet. They probably have a new base on that continent. But why couldn't they find it?
"Continent Bravo is where our hidden base and the location of our objective is. Do a grid search of the continent using fighter craft. Have the platoons relocate to Continent Bravo and get them fresh transports."
Five minutes later and the attack craft were away while fresh transports were on their way to the platoons. It would take roughly two hours for them to search the entire continent. They would lose three hours and still need to get control of the ship wherever they were hiding it. He needed to come out of this with something. He had already lost people under his command.
"What…" Lee heard one of the bridge staff say. "Confirm again?" There was a minute of contemplation as they typed something and frowned. "Admiral, I have something."
"Show me." Admiral Lee nodded to the table.
"Yes sir. The pilots are reporting a sand storm that is covering half of the continent." He pulled up a map of the continent and put up a question mark over half of it. "While our scans are picking up a storm on another continent but it did not register the sand storm."
"Hmm… get us dirt samples and search around the areas where the sandstorm has let up. Otherwise have them continue to grid search the rest of the continent." Admiral Lee smiled as he started to grasp what was going on.
"There will be at least another hour until the sand storm dies down, sir." The bridge crew member spoke up before he focused in.
The captain walked up next to Admiral Lee, "what exactly is going on Admiral?"
"The Vexical Empire has at least had this planet for the last twenty years. But they only just now found something on the planet. It does not make sense unless…" He pulled up the continent with the sandstorm. "Something was preventing them from seeing it. Which they immediately began using to their advantage."
"Which is how they are hiding from us. But why have they not left yet with their prize?" The captain asked with a frown.
The Admiral suddenly had an idea, "ha. Because it is inaccessible, they know where it is but they are unable to get to it. It has to be underground. Hmm… we won't be able to get the ship out but we might be able to steal information and get data."
"Which we will only have just over three hours to do." The captain added on.
Steel hated waiting, especially when it was unproductive waiting. So he found himself something to do. He decided he might as well learn another language, and since they were already at war with them, he might as well learn the common language of the Crystoph Federation.
While he was waiting he checked his monitors frequently, they were glitchy because of the sand. But otherwise they were still operating. He could see his squad and the Bird's Nest moving around things. Getting ready to become dug in.
Honestly he thought they could not get more dug in. They were literally in a hollowed out plateau, using it as both their barracks, the hangar, and their line of defense. As for Steel's mecha it was right on the edge so he only had to step the mecha out of cover to fire either artillery or any of his weaponry.
"Steel, we have a plan. We are going to stay as quiet as possible. Wait until they fly close enough that their curiosity is obvious. Then we will strike, if the Admiral is as intelligent as we believe he is. He will know better than to try and destroy our base from orbit." Tani explained, outlining the parameters of when he would fire on enemy spacecraft.
"Understood, I might have been wrong about how long this sand storm lasts. How is the mining going?" He asked.
"Almost there, if we are right it should be an opening, possibly an airlock. We are not able to check without the scanner we can only guess." Tani answered.
"That is good enough for me."
"Sir, we completed our grid. We were not able to find any base on the surface. We also completed the analysis of the dirt like you ordered. It is like you suspected, it somehow is blocking our sensors and scanners." A bridge crew member reported.
"Have someone fill a barrel and send it up. If nothing else that will at least be something. Have our platoons spread out and start searching on the ground, our ships should fill up on fuel and then return and do another grid, but from another angle. They might have flown over them and not known." Admiral Lee was curious how they hid this base of theirs so well.
"Inform the pilots that the base is likely underground or underneath something. They should keep their eyes open." The Admiral clarified.
"Sir we have warp signatures ahead of schedule and the Vexical Cruiser that was orbiting the other planet is heading in our direction." A crew member called out in panic.
"Shit, call back half of the fighters. Inform the cutters we are going to have company and to get ready for space combat. Then reposition us to this location." He tapped a spot on the war table.
"Sir, that is in the open. We will not be able to use anything as cover." The captain pointed out.
"I know that and they will not have cover either. You are also forgetting that there is at least a cruiser nearby that we do not know about. I do not want to fly into their hiding spot. So it is open warfare." Admiral Lee explained his thoughts.
He looked at the planetary map. There were two moons and a cluster of asteroids nearby. The enemy cruiser was likely behind one of those moons or hidden among those asteroids. But he could not risk sending his people to check.
Several minutes passed when the ships came out of warp. The Vexical Empire's new prized warship, another cruiser and a cutter. Then there was the cruiser showing up a second after them from the other side of the system. They coordinated this.
"Sir! A cruiser appeared from our side coming out from behind one of the moons." A bridge crew member called out.
"There's our missing cruiser. Get me its name. Make sure we are not between them and their warship. I want to avoid all out combat if possible." The Admiral decided.
"Understood sir they are moving into formation-"
"Sir, we have more warp signatures inbound!" Another bridge crew member called out.
"Damn get ready to pull our people back and-" Admiral Lee was interrupted by the ship captain. Who was talking over a long-range communication until a second ago.
"It is the Union not the Vexical Empire. While they will not help us they will serve as a distraction. Central Command says to not worry about casualties and to get what you can." The captain quickly explained.
The Admiral scoffed at that. He would rather just fight them straight on then to rely on terrorists. But he could not argue with command, especially since they funded the Union prescience in the Vexical Empire. "Understood. Maintain distance. People like the Union tend to get explosive when they are about to lose a fight."
Admiral Lee nervously tapped the table. "Haa… let's hope our people find this base before we have to get into a fight." The Union dropped out of warp with five cutters. They were smaller and had less fire power than the empire but they had maneuverability. They looked like they were going to be scrapped before the Union got their hands on them and tried to refit them for combat.
Unfortunately it only reinforced how desperate the Union really was.