Scout Force (36 page)

      
The captain took the Vigilant down into the atmosphere to deal with the lighters on the surface.
 
Kelly called the New Alexandria Defense HQ to get the exact location and status of the invading force.
 
The general came back on personally and said that the K’Rang forces were loading back on the lighters and attempting to escape back into space.
 
New Alexandrian fighters had made short work of two of the lighters, one had been destroyed on the ground, but one was escaping beyond the maximum altitude of their atmospheric fighters.
 
Their exoatmospheric fighters were not in range to close with the lighter.
 
The Vigilant turned to pursue.
 
As the two ships reached space, Chief B informed the bridge that the original K’Rang drone had entered the Scutum sector at power 2.

      
The drone picked up the Vigilant and turned onto a collision course at just under power 2.
 
The captain turned the Vigilant toward the lighter, with the drone closing fast.
 
At the last minute he increased speed to power 2, closely passed the lighter, and accelerated to power 3 FTL.
 
The drone lost track on the Vigilant and locked onto the lighter.
 
The long-range sensors recorded the destruction of the last K’Rang lighter.

      
The Vigilant turned back to land on New Alexandria, on the request of the New Alexandria authorities.
 
The ramp dropped, and the captain went out with the Exec, Chief Watson, Chief B, and three gunnery crew members.
 
All went armed.
 
Chief B had a sensor pack and a hand sensor.

      
A Defense Force first lieutenant came over and saluted.
 
“Sir, General Holcomb sends his complements and asked me to escort you to his headquarters.”

      
The Vigilant team followed the lieutenant to a collection of large hover vehicles arranged as a mobile command post.
 
They were led into the largest vehicle and General Holcomb came over.
 
He was a short, balding man, but with a weightlifter’s
 
physique.
 
The Vigilant team saluted and had their salute returned.

      
“Saluting is not necessary indoors, Captain.
 
Stand easy.
 
I know you Fleet guys do that, but it’s not required here.
 
I want to thank you for your timely assistance.
 
We’d have lost a lot more soldiers if you guys hadn’t come along.
 
When you attacked the lighter carrier, the K’Rang lost all interest in what they were doing.
 
They ran for their lighters and lost all discipline.
 
It was a rout at that point.
 
We didn’t take any prisoners.
 
They even shot their own wounded.”

      
LCDR Timmons made introductions and asked, “General, do you have any idea what they were trying to do?”

      
“No, Captain, they were attacking this industrial complex.
 
We are checking to see what is in here.
 
None of the companies are defense related.
 
There are a couple of electronics manufacturing firms, but they are mostly consumer electronics producers.
 
I can’t see any reason for a battalion-sized assault.”

      
On a hunch, Timmons asked, “General, does the Indigo Consortium have a facility here?”

      
The General looked over at one of his staff officers and asked for a listing.
 
The major passed a data tablet over to him.

      
“Yes, the Indigo Consortium has a shipping office here.
 
It was right in the area that took the most damage when they came in.”

      
“Sir, with your permission, I’d like to send a couple of my people to go over and have a look.”

      
“Sure, Captain, we are under martial law here at the moment and you can go look at whatever you want.
 
If you want I can arrange transport for your folks and a guide.
 
I see you are all armed, but I’ll send a security squad along just in case any stray K’Rang are still around.”

      
“Thank you, sir.
 
Exec, take Chief B and a couple of the gunners and have a look around.
 
See if you can find out what the K’Rang may have been looking for.”

      
The first lieutenant that greeted them on landing was their guide.
 
He led them out to a small hover vehicle that already had a security squad onboard.
 
They lifted off and flew over the industrial complex to a row of warehouse-sized buildings, and landed near one building that had taken several pulse cannon hits.
 
The New Alexandrian security squad dismounted first, established a perimeter and the lieutenant led them off.
 
“The Indigo Consortium offices are over here.”

      
It was obvious as they got closer what part of the building was occupied by the Indigo Consortium.
 
The door had been blasted in and the offices were in a shambles.
 
Kelly had Chief B unship her sensor pack and give him her hand sensor.
 
Kelly checked for life signs in the building while Chief B got the sensor pack on line.
 
The building was devoid of life.
 
Kelly could see several indications of bodies.
 
Chief B gave him a thumbs up signal and they proceeded inside.

      
One of the security squad led the way.
 
They passed through a lobby and reception area and came to a double security door that had been blown in.
 
A body was just inside the door.
 
The blast had thrown the door at him and crushed him against the wall, almost cutting him in half.
 
His office attire identified him as an employee.
 
They went on.

      
They came to a vault where the door had been cut through.
 
A crew-served pulse cannon sat abandoned in front of the door.
 
When they walked inside they found three more bodies, a man and two women, that had obviously attempted to take shelter in the vault.
 
The man had died a rather gruesome death.
 
His body was almost skinned.
 
Kelly supposed he had some information the K’Rang needed and they tortured it out of him.
 
The women’s throats had been slashed.
 
They stepped carefully around the blood pools.

      
Chief B put the sensor pack on full record mode and set it in the middle of the vault space.
 
Kelly went over to the man’s body and located his identity card.
 
He was James Fulks, the Indigo Consortium general manager on New Alexandria.

      
Kelly looked over at Chief B.
 
“Can you tell if anything is missing, Chief?”

      
“Nothing so far, sir.
 
I’ll know more once we run the sensor pack recording through the ship’s system.
 
My eyeballs tell me they concentrated on this locker area here.”

      
Chief B was standing next to a bank of lockers.
 
The K’Rang had been systematically burning into the lockers.
 
They had gotten through half of them before they stopped.
 
That must have been when word of the Vigilant’s attack on the lighter carrier must have reached them.

      
Kelly spoke in low tones to Chief B.
 
“Chief, I don’t think they found what they were looking for.
 
Could you open these other lockers for me?”

      
Kelly led the lieutenant and the security squad member out of the vault, telling them that the sensor pack would work best with them out of the room.
 
This would allow Chief B to do her magic.
 
Chief B had lock opening techniques that only Fleet knew, and they wanted to keep them that way.
 
Kelly left a gunner at the vault entrance to see she wouldn’t be disturbed.

      
A few minutes later, Chief B came out to talk to Kelly in low tones.
 
“Sir, the K’Rang stopped just short of their goal.
 
The last locker they were working on had what they probably were looking for.
 
It’s a data device.
 
It’s in my pocket.
 
Remember what we found on that K’Rang ship we shot up on last patrol?
 
This looks like a copy of that data.”

      
“Hmmm, keep it in your pocket.
 
What was in the other lockers?”

      
“They all just contained gold and gems, sir.
 
None of them had flame stones.”

      
“Okay, let’s keep wandering around for a bit to disguise that we found what we were looking for and then we’ll return.”

      
Kelly and his team wandered around for a bit, poking here and there.
 
He called the lieutenant over.
 
“I think we’ve seen all we can here.
 
Let’s get back so we can have this data analyzed by our ship’s computers.”

      
They boarded the hover vehicle and headed back to the command post.
 
When they landed, the General and the captain were waiting for them.
 
“Exec, what did you find?”

      
“Sir, it appears that the K’Rang raiders were after gold and jewels at the Indigo Consortium.
 
They had burned there way through half the vault’s lockers before we interrupted their party.
 
If you check the wreckage of the lighters, you might find the gold and jewels they took.”

      
LCDR Timmons turned to the General.
 
“Sir, with your permission, I’d like to get back to my ship so I can make my reports and analyze the data we’ve collected.
 
I’ll forward whatever we discover to you.”

      
“Thank you, Captain, please accept the thanks of myself, my men, and my government for your assistance today.”

      
The team exchanged salutes with the General then walked back to the Vigilant.
 
On the way back, Kelly briefed the captain on what they found.
 
LCDR Timmons was not surprised.

      
Chief B hooked the sensor pack and the handheld into the ships computer.
 
Sensors would spend the next few hours analyzing the data.
 
Kelly and the captain went to the galley for lunch, filled their trays and proceeded to LCDR Timmons’ ready room.

      
“Kelly, I’m going to recommend that the engineers take another look at the data we got off that K’Rang ship last patrol.
 
The K’Rang want it too much for it to be low-level technology.
 
Either the techies don’t know what they are talking about or don’t want to let us know what it’s about.
 
I’d like your folks to look at the data, too.”

      
Kelly prepared a full report of their combat with the K’Rang ships to send to the New Alexandrian authorities.
 
With the captain’s okay, he transmitted it.

      
The New Alexandrian Defense authorities requested the Vigilant return in a week and land at the Jefferson City Spaceport, the New Alexandria capital city.
 
The officials wanted to bestow honors on the ship and its crew.
 
The captain made Scout Force aware of the request and got their approval.

      
The Vigilant continued its Scutum sector patrol to provide warning of any further K’Rang incursion into GR space.
 
A reinforcement GR cruiser squadron moved into the area to provide a visible deterrent to any K’Rang plans for revenge.
 
A week later, the Vigilant made its way back to the New Alexandrian capital.

The captain gave orders to Chief Watson to give the ship a quick once over in case they had to entertain visitors.
 
Chief Watson set off to get the crew polishing and cleaning the ship.
 
Crew, chief, and officer quarters were inspected and brought to Chief Watson’s high standards.
 
Classified material and components were properly secured.
 
The ship was ready for company.

      
The Vigilant made a slow, deliberate approach to the Jefferson City Spaceport, making a classic textbook landing.
 
It was obvious where they expected the Vigilant to touch down.
 
There were a reviewing stand and bleachers sitting on the apron.
 
The Vigilant’s best helmsman brought them to a perfect landing within feet of the reviewing stand.
 
The gangway ramp was lowered and the captain, Kelly and Chief Watson, in their dress uniforms, disembarked.
 
A senior New Alexandrian functionary met them.