Mila's Loss - The officers 4

Epilogue

~~~ The scout shuttle

As they were heading back one of their sensors on the shuttle picked up a signal they couldn't believe, "Lt, encrypted communications being broadcast. It's one of our encryptions. Decoding." It took a few minutes, "Sir it's from Lt. Cmdr. Wild. Some of them survived. I'm guessing the explosion was them doing damage."

The Lt. turned and stared at him for a stunned moment, "Verify encryption and decode again." He wasn't going to take it at face value. When it was verified a second time, he rattled his fingers on his knee. When we're close enough send a message to the ship. The Admiral is going to need to know and make the decision."

They kept their speed down to keep the energy signature down. As ordered, they sent the message when close enough to the ship. All the ships were quickly ordered to return. Almost before the shuttles and fighters were secured, they were ordered out and to the S2 office with all the information they had. The Admiral was in there, "Report and Cmdr. start the raw data once done."

The shuttle pilot reported what they'd heard and seen. Once that was done the footage was started and she was frowning, "Play as best side by side with the fighter footage." Once it was done, she was noticing differences. The ship was missing a shuttle hatch from an explosion while the shuttle was examining the ship. There was additional damage though it was harder to detect. The shuttles were moving very slowly so they were getting a different view.

The Admiral was used to making snap decisions, "S2 keep examining the footage. Contact the Marines to prepare for a forced boarding. Ensure the fighters are ready. Keep taking us in slowly. I'll be on the bridge to handle any questions. Task a different scout to go and see if they can verify it's a valid communication. Send two fighters with for support. Bring the ship to general quarters and ensured weapons are ready and shields are ready. Remain in stealth until I order otherwise."

The alarm for GQ went off, "This is not a drill, this is not a drill, General Quarters, General Quarters. Report as soon as set." It was reported several times as the Admiral ran to her quarters for her light armor. Once on she ran to the bridge, "I have the conn. What's our status XO?"

She glanced at a side screen, "Last department just reported secured. Cmdr. Wilcox added a comment, let them know and they'll go and get our people." The Marines were going to have blood in their eyes and weren't going to take prisoners.

"Understood. When we launch it's going to be the full complement of shuttles and fighters. Ensure medical is standing by and is ready for some potentially injured supernatural and humans. Any reports from S2 and Intelligence yet?" She wanted to know what differences they could find from the original footage and this one. Injured supernatural

"Preliminary report is additional damage but it's going to take time. What might have caused the additional damage we simply can't tell. It could be secondary damage from the strafing run or our Marines had a chance to do additional damage before they could be captured." When the scout ship gets closer, we can hopefully get additional details." They were also checking the message and it appeared to be valid, but they simply couldn't tell short of replying which wouldn't happen.

She didn't even bother telling them to keep her updated. She was contemplating the options and she wished she could go straight in shooting but if they had troops and bodies she couldn't. If they went in shooting it might kill or destroy who was left.

~~~ Queen's ship

When Danal reacted, it was like a hornet's nest had been kicked. Every Marine able to, hit their armor and grabbed a full load of weapons and ammunitions. They were going to try and be ready for anything.