STEP 1: Identify and avoid the trap

  RG Doctrine

  Do not let fear choose the response.

  Feebee’s ‘manual’

  Feebee brought them out next to a gas giant. Its massive, banded belly loomed large in the forward windows. Plasma from electromagnetic storms swirled, adding to the rampant beauty of the planet. Cherenkov radiation, bled off the Scout ship; a blue trail that dispersed quickly.

  Alpha-3 had been holding his breath as they emerged. His breathing heavy.

  Feebee turned, “Really?”

  “I'm just relieved when it’s over… and I'm still alive." Alpha-3 looked pale.

  Alpha-2 and Feebee laughed.

  “Does he say that every time?” she asked.

  “Pretty much.” Alpha-2 pointed ahead. “That’s not a rocky planet.”

  Alpha-3 paled further. “I’ll be Ok. Couldn’t we have emerged nearer.”

  Feebee didn’t say what she was thinking. Didn’t understand how someone could... anyway. She let it go, just added, “We don’t arrive unannounced on someone’s doorstep.”

  The QI supported her decision to emerge quietly and observe from a distance, ‘Safer to test the water first. Find out how hot it is.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  Alpha-2 booted up the sensors and turned to Feebee, “Passive scans only. No pings or broadcasts.”

  She confirmed, “Yes. Exactly.” Then plotted a slow spiral towards the crystal world. The approach avoided designated approach lanes and kept the gas giant’s radiation belt between them and the planet as much as possible. It’s radiation belts provided a degree of cover.

  Alpha-2 saw the plot, “Didn’t the RG say orbit was safe? This is a lot slower.”

  “Yes. But safer. I’m treating this like hostile coastline, not a welcoming port.”

  Alpha-2 smiled, he liked the analogy. “Maybe we do some fishing on the way?”

  Feebee cocked her head, he'd read her mind?

  The QI threw up a schematic of the system above the controls in front of Feebee. The Alpha's came over.

  ‘Before I get into this. Does anyone else feel like this place is…’ The QI paused, ‘Familiar?’

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  They all looked at each other and shook their heads, ‘No.’

  The QI moved on and briefed them, starting with the graphic of the system. A small version of their ship was shown next to the gas giant. And leading from that point to the third planet, their destination, was a direct lane of approach. Circling this, like a corkscrew, was the flight path they planned to follow when ready.

  ‘I have analysed the official lane they wanted us to use. The ‘safe route’ and noticed that it’s got a lot of clutter in it.’

  ‘Clutter?’ asked Feebee, ‘Define clutter.’

  ‘Clutter: An untidy collection of things.’ Scratchy QI laughter followed, Feebee shook her head. ‘The lane has pockets of debris within it.’

  The QI brought up images, one after the other. They showed random fragments of space junk. But then, the QI rotated the pieces, adjusted them and joined them up. Slowly, two ships, likely shuttles, emerged.

  The QI then showed them the official reports. She’d hacked the RG’s systems. ‘The reports say these incidents were Mechanical Failure.’

  Feebee snorted, “I call bullshit. Mechanical failures do not spread like that.”

  ‘Agreed,’ was all the QI said.

  The QI tagged a couple of debris fragments. Then increasingly tagged other identical pieces. The blue zone delineating their safe approach vector, the one they were directed to use, was filled with tagged debris.

  ‘What are they?’ asked Alpha-2.

  ‘Best guess. Micro-mines. Programmable and triggered by specific military codes or idents. Conventional craft would fly through safely. Even untargeted military craft. They are attracted by proximitry to a programmed target and when they reach critical mass. BOOM!’

  ‘How sure are you?’ asked Feebee.

  ‘95% sure. I back tracked the shuttles route.’ She showed them the path the shuttles had taken. Each went through the scatter of tags and had picked up mines.

  Alpha-3 looked at Feebee. “Our standard approach could have killed us?”

  She nodded, “Yes.”

  ‘Any way we could find out if the mines would attack us?’ asked Feebee.

  ‘Not without going into the mine field or sending a drone with our idents.’

  Alpha-2 sat down, shaken. “This enemy is dangerous, more organised and smarter than we were briefed.”

  Feebee then completed the line of thought, “Our approach vector was lodged. Only a handful of people knew we were coming and how we’d arrive. It’s possible that this wasn’t set for anyone, but for this ship. For us.”

  Alpha-3 spoke up, animated, agitated. “I hate to be the one who says this but surely, I’m not the only one thinking it. An on-going war means contracts, off-world aid, political power, weapons sales and more. It gets baked into the status quo until it is the status quo. This could be big.”

  Alpha-2 and Feebee stared at Alpha-3. He’d just spoken more sense than they’d heard him speak in months.

  “Well said.” Feebee continued, “We can’t just go outside the wire. We’ll be walking into another ambush. We must hunt the hunter. Find the one who laid the trap.”

  Feebee asks the QI to send a needle-comm to Chen, asking him…

  WHO KNEW WE WERE COMING?

  WHAT DID THEY KNOW?

  Chen’s response was immediate but not what she expected.

  WHY ARE YOU HIDING FROM THE RG?

  WHERE ARE YOU?

  The QI was confused, ‘Why would he respond like that? Our questions were explicit.’

  ‘Wait though. How did he know we were hiding?’

  Feebee then thought of all the talks and notes she’d received from Chen. There was always a second layer to each message. Things left out adding more meaning than what was included.

  ‘He knows we’re hiding but not where we are.’

  The QI made the leap before Feebee. ‘Someone has reached out to him. They know we weren’t killed by the mines; there’d be no need to reach out if we had. Also, they don’t know where we are and that worries them.’

  Feebee added, ‘Also, we can’t trust comms.’

  She looked to her Alphas. “Ideas? Thoughts? We’re in this together and a team out-performs an individual.”

  Alpha-2 spoke up first. “We have three options. Leave and go back to base.”

  Feebee shook her head at that.

  He continued, “Ok. So that’s out. We stay in system. That leaves us two options. Do we go Covert or Overt.”

  Feebee gave one of those short laughs. More than a thoughtful “Hhmm”.

  “Covert is almost impossible. We have no resources on the planet. Overt?”

  Alpha-3 shrugged then nodded.

  Alpha-2 was still thinking it through, “Overt. Yeh, can only be overt, in plain sight. But it’s high risk.”

  Feebee smiled, “Yes. But with you two in tow, I love the odds.”

  They sent another needle-comm

  CONTACT TO BE DETERMINED

  LOCATION UNKNOWN

  If Chen had indeed given them a message, then Feebee was happy with her response.

  If not… she was going to push forward anyway.