Taken

Taisen was taller than Ensign Swan had expected. He carried himself with a certain air of confidence and he was courteous to the crew; both officers and grunts alike. He also seemed to know his way around the UNS Arctic like he'd lived there for years.

"Commander Taisen, we're approaching the target system," Ensign Swan said. "Dropping out of hyperspace in sixty seconds."

As far as Ensign Swan could tell, this whole mission was a waste of time. Commander Taisen and Lieutenant Alita managed to convince the Naval command to sanction a liberation mission on Avaros but he was sure that the natives of that planet would not appreciate their efforts. Ensign Swan wouldn't put it past them to file an article of condemnation against the UNE at the galactic federation for the high crime of saving them from whatever threat they were facing. The Arctic was a flagship and a star destroyer and was better off being used for something more important. The rest of the current force also included five other cruisers. With that much firepower, they weren't likely to face any effective resistance.

"Stand ready," Taisen said.

"Enemy fighters!" Alita exclaimed. "It's a swarm! They're bearing down on us from all angles!"

Swan hissed a curse under his breath but Taisen remained calm and composed. The fleet was surrounded by at least two dozen small fighters. Their pale green lasers hit the hull of the UNS Arctic like drops of rain.

"Acknowledged," Taisen said in a steady voice.

Compared to the red lasers used by the first UN starships, green lasers had a shorter wavelength and as a result, were more powerful but the electromagnetic shield of the Arctic was designed to handle punishment from blue lasers which were a hundred times more powerful than red lasers and fifty times more powerful than green ones but a massage barrage of any type could take down the Arctic's shields and eat away at its hull. Taisen surmised that the assailants were reasonably advanced but still a ways off from human technology.

"Fire at the nearest attackers on vector three," Taisen instructed.

The guns on the hull of the Arctic came to life blazing blue laser fire but missing their target completely. The attackers were fast, agile and flew close enough to the Arctic's blindside. They took advantage of their movement and number to confuse the targeting computers.

"Weapons! Retune and fire again!" Alita exclaimed.

"Belay that order," Taisen said. "Yaw ninety degrees to port and fire with the starboard guns."

"No, wait!" Alita snapped.

It was too late. The ship was already turning. The Arctic angled itself to the left, exposing its right side which also meant that it turned away from the rest of the fleet. The attackers repositioned to take advantage of the fatal mistake.

"Commander, we need to get back into formation!" Alita screamed.

Taisen ignored her.

"Hold course. Fire on my command."

The Arctic continued to turn as the enemy fighters continued to pelt its starboard side with a torrent of green laser fire.

"Commander, we're getting torn apart. if we don't get back in formation, this could mean trouble. We may not last much longer," Alita warned quietly.

"Fire."

This time the blue lasers hit their target. Breaking through their shields, hull and even scrambling their electronics. The number of enemy ships dropped precipitously as the fleet continued to blast them into dust.

Alita watched as the attackers were whittled down to just a single fleeing ship, pursued by some of their own fighters.

"So your strategy was to draw them into a tight cluster away from the rest of the fleet so that our targeting computers would have less trouble with their movements."

"Exactly," Taisen said. He sounded pleased that Alita was able to piece together his underlying strategy.

"You knew that they would try and take us out first before going after the rest of the fleet. One by one."

"Precisely."

"Well done, Commander," Swan said. "Please endeavour to share your strategy with the rest of us before executing. Saves us a heart attack and soiled underwear."

"I'll keep that in mind," Taisen said. "But only if there's time."

"Commander, what are your orders?" Alita asked.

"Lieutenant Alita, please initiate a full status check," Taisen said.

"Yes, sir," Alita said, feeling a sigh of relief. "All personnel: Full examination of the ship. Section chiefs report status when completed."

There was a chorus of acknowledgements, and the bridge descended into silence as the crew began their scans.

"Commander, we have a problem," Swan said. "As you know Avaros is still a neutral nation. We need express permission from their government to land a warship on the surface."

"Even if they could give their permission, they're currently under hostile occupation," Alita said. "We need to do what is best for them. The end will justify the means."

"That's the other thing. I did a full scan of the planet. There are no signs of higher lifeforms anywhere."

"Are you implying that they were killed?" Taisen asked.

"No sir. I'm saying that they've been taken."