Chapter 2

Inside the Broder Prime Operations Center, General Beckett was reviewing the information regarding the Algearian race.

"Captain Biehn? Is this all we have on these people?" he asked to the younger officer standing by the desk.

"Yes sir. That's it. Pretty thin intel. The Thelsians gathered this. They aren't known for their thoroughness." The senior officer looked at the thin file on his desk.

"I'll say. There's only four pages in here. We practically know nothing about them. First contact with an unknown race, ' humanoid', no kidding." He said gruffly as he shuffled the papers back into the file.

"Take this worthless trash back where you found it." He said as he handed the folder back to Biehn. He sat back as the captain left the office. He ran his hand through his short hair before reaching for the telecom unit. He rapidly punched in the code and waited as a secure connection was made.

"Fleet Operations, Major Johnson speaking." The man said as the connection was made.

"This is General Beckett, Operations Duty Officer. Get me Admiral Kirby and Lieutenant General Lee straight away." He ordered the major.

"Aye, aye sir." The major replied. Beckett sat in silence thinking over his next move. An expeditionary force, diplomatic envoy, little to no intelligence, unknown hostiles. What to do? He pondered as the connection was made.

His telecom unit beeped and displayed a split screen showing both officers.

"Bill, Andy, we have a situation. The expeditionary force has a first contact. We have little usable intel on them. They reported to one of our frigates that they were attacked by unknown forces." He paused to let the information sink in. "I'm moving the react force to just outside the field and sending the cruisers to the other side. Andy, I need your special ops boys to be ready to deploy. Bill, I need your input here at Ops- Comm." Both men nodded and acknowledged before signing off. Admiral Kirby's staff was informed of his movement and a hover shuttle was dispatched to his location. On the far side of Broder Prime, Lieutenant General Lee's compound was abuzz with activity. The Special Operations units were made up of all branches of the Broderian Forces. Naval units, aviation units, ground troops, and specialized medical and stealth units. These were the true elite of all the Broderian forces.

"Get me a secure line to Major Hunter on Haley." Lee ordered his commo officer. Lee, a tall man, with chiseled features, ice blue eyes and short raven hair, paced the floor as he waited for the connection to be made. His boots, highly polished black, made no noise as he moved. His uniform was starched and creased per regulations. Everything about him resounded with authority, discipline and integrity.

"Sir, secure line established." The commo officer stated. Lee walked over to the console, sat and put on a headset.

"Major, General Lee. How's the training coming?" he asked. At the other end, Major James Hunter was on guard immediately. No general officer would ever call to ask how the training was going. Something was happening.

"Fine sir." Was all he replied. Best to keep your answers short when talking to a general.

"Major, we have a situation that's right up your alley." Lee paused. "Our expeditionary force has made a first contact that we have no solid intel on. I'm downloading all we have to date to your commo officer now. There's a dropship coming to pick you up. Should be there in a few hours. There will be some 'specialists' on board to brief you and your men. The dropship will take you to the field where you will follow the instructions I'm including. Any questions?" Lee asked. The other man was silent for a few minutes.

"No sir." Hunter responded.

"Very well. Lee out." Lee cut the connection and removed his headset.

Hunter stared at the telecom screen for a few seconds thinking about the upcoming mission. Strange. He turned and went back outside to brief his men.

The react force left Broder Prime and moved at flank speed to a position just a few klicks behind the expeditionary force. Once communications was established, they formed a wedge and took control of the troop ships as the cruisers and remaining frigates entered the asteroid field. Once through, the cruisers launched drones and spread out with one cruiser, the Hackworth, and two frigates, Questor, and Griffin, to secure the entrance to the field.

Archangel moved to within two klicks of the McAfee and launched a wide spread of drones deeper into the system.

"Sir, we have confirmation of a planetary system consisting of twelve planets." The Archangel sensor officer reported. The OOD walked over to the sensor console and watched as the drones charted the perimeter of the new system.

"Very well. Report and chart anything that could be a potential hazard, or inhabited." The OOD ordered before he walked away.

Captain Winslow was in his ready room with Admiral Greerson discussing the newest reports when the desk telecom unit buzzed. "Yes." Winslow said. The face on the unit belonged to the leader of the diplomatic envoy, senior senator Carson.

"Captain, I understand that we have made contact with a new race. Why wasn't I informed earlier?" Carson demanded. Winslow shook his head.

"Senator, this is an unknown race. We were ascertaining the potential danger and proceeding cautiously." Winslow explained. Greerson chuckled quietly from across the desk as he fished out a cigar.

"Captain, I find that a miserable excuse. These people asked for help from the beginning and you purposely left me in the dark." The senator vented.

Winslow was about to reply when the General Quarters siren began wailing throughout the ship. Winslow gratefully cut the transmission and entered the bridge followed by Greerson. The bridge lighting had gone to combat red automatically when GQ was sounded.

"Mr. Powell. What is the situation?" he barked as he settled into his command chair and viewed the screen display.

"Talon 83 and Talon 85 have an unknown contact on an intercept course with us. Sensors read it as a large ship, approximately the size of one of our destroyers. They are attempting a covert intercept as we speak." Powell reported.

"Where did it come from? Why didn't we detect it before." Winslow asked.

"Unknown sir. Could be it was using one of the planets or moons to shield itself or it was cloaked until now." Powell explained. Winslow made a fist as he viewed the report on his screen. Damn.

"All ships. Defense Condition One." He ordered. Turning to Greerson, "Open a channel to the unknown Mr. Powell." He turned back to the OOD.

"Channel open sir. We are broadcasting on all frequencies. No response." Powell observed.

"Have the Clancy move into a blocking position and Decoursey to our starboard flank. Weapons tight unless fired upon." Winslow ordered.

Talon 83 and 85 were moving to a position just behind and to the right of the unknown when a power surge coursed through Talon 83's computer systems.