Sholan Alliance Bk4

Chapter 16 - Lycos talks to Billy

Prep for the Assault on the Stealth station

The plans for the attack on the stealth station came together pretty quickly. He and Alaric had flown up to the Fijishi. Most of the reason was to ensure they had utter secrecy for the conversation. When the shuttle arrived aboard the ship they greeted the Commander and ended up in his office, "We are going to try and take over the station. We have seventy or so assault troops which we can call on. It is going to be an ugly assault but we have to get the probe back. We aren't asking you for assistance so much as a safe place to plan the attack."

The Commander flicked his hears and gave both a good nod since he understood what was being said, "I understand since this is an issue which your world needs to deal with." He carefully chose his words for the next comment, "Knowing we need the probe to learn more about the enemy I would suggest the use of several heavy shuttles. We know our stealth tech is much better than yours. We, Sholan's, wouldn't be involved in the actual assault but using our shuttles would improve your chances. We can get closer, give your troops a better chance of making it to the station without being discovered. What sort of stealth does your armor have?"

Alaric took a sip of the pale ale he had been given. After a great deal of thinking he finally replied, "The armor has decent stealth and can be hard to identify unless it is moving at some sort of high speed. For this type of assault, we tend to move slow to keep the chance of being identified low. Granted the closer we can get before getting out of a shuttle or ship the better we'll do. We can do this and have several ships nearby to track any ship which might try and escape. Ike?"

Ike ran his fingers through his thick beard, "Doable, might be hard on the troops but doable. Dump them onto some shuttles or transports, brief them once underway and then attack. We don't have any sort of interior diagram of the station so we can't really plan for that. My troops are some of the best though it is still going to be hard on them. I'm sure Alaric's are much the same. Best armor, best weapons, best training. Still going to be hard on everyone going there. I think in this case we had best use our ships. Keep you from looking like you are trying to interfere in our internal politics." He didn't like that idea but it was the correct way to look at it.

Alaric had to agree with Ike. It didn't matter how good the training was, being dropped into an unknown situation always caused problems. He didn't have any doubts they would succeed but it was going to be painful and they would lose more troops than if they had better intelligence. He didn't like it and what it would do to his troops. They would understand but it didn't make it any easier, "I have to agree. We need to use our ships for this. If you want to have a fighter or shuttle close that is your choice. I will tell you that it doesn't matter how we do it, if we fuck up our governments will deal with us. This is going to be a case of not asking permission before we go into the fray. No matter what, we are going to be answering to our governments." He looked at Ike and received a nod. If they succeeded it wouldn't matter what punishment they might receive. They needed the information and the fucking probe.

"Same for me. We don't want to get you in trouble Commander. We don't want to cause problems with the treaty either. If you think you might have the slightest chance of getting in trouble say no. We will work around what you can't do for us." Ike gave him a very serious look when he said that.

The Commander gave them a slight smile, "If you ask as representatives of your government the assumption is that you have permission of your governments. If it comes out you didn't have governmental approval then it is up to your government. Mine won't do anything to me as long as I assumed it is in good faith."

Both nodded since they understood what he was saying and they would do what they could to ensure he wouldn't get in trouble.

~~~