The image zoomed in further on the area surrounding the crater, showing uneven terrain filled with sharp edges and spikes, some natural, most clearly artificial creations.
“As you can see, landing for a ground attack will not be possible,” Wrath continued. “Anyway, judging by the intelligence we have been able to gather, the base is too far down inside the crater to enter it on foot from the surface. Any lift they may have in there would be a death trap.”
The holographic display made a close-up flyby of the spikes on the terrain revealing a series of holes and caves.
“According to the Kryptids,” Wrath said, “the holes you’re seeing here, scattered all over the place, are Bombardier Beetle lairs. You have all fought them during the simulations, so you know what to expect. You must take them out first before making your approach with larger ships. Note that the material used to create the artificial terrain that the bugs are enclosed in will resist most types of standard blasts you could use against them. We cannot simply nuke them either, or it might cause a collapse that would block access to the crater. But that does not mean there isn’t another secret exit that Khutu could escape through. This mission will not be over until we see his corpse.”
A series of yellow dots appeared on the top down view of the crater. The bigger red ones marked the edges of the crater, each dot separated by about a hundred meters on the ground. Four rings made of more red dots appeared around the crater, each one with nearly a one-kilometer radius.
“Based on the scans from our drones, these red dots mark the locations of the Bombardier Beetles that we believe will create a series of EMP blasts similar to the ones that nearly caused our mission on Kryptor to fail,” Wrath explained. “The yellow dots are the regular Beetles.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the simultaneous gasp that rose from the people in attendance and the bulging eyes of the pilots I could recognize. This was a massive EMP area. Without our firsthand experience on Kryptor, had we approached Khutu’s place with all our vessels the way we would have normally proceeded, he could have wiped out two-thirds of our fleet in one fell swoop.
“I don’t need to tell you these will be your priorities, on top of dealing with the other scattered Beetles,” Wrath concluded. “For this reason, small fighters will be going in first with your best marksman to take them out. Sabra has worked on a special series of seeker missiles that will specifically target the Beetles. But don’t get overly complacent with that as the large number of disruptors on the surface will likely mess with that technology.”
This time, the camera moved into the crater itself. Wide at the top, it quickly narrowed into a funnel type of shape. Despite that, while the battlecruiser wouldn’t be able to go in, some other big ships such as frigates could but only to a certain point. As on Kryptor, a series of connecting bridges made it impossible for anything bigger than a chaser—and even then—to go deeper into the bowels of the base.
“I will let Linette walk you through this section of the map,” Wrath said, gesturing for me to approach.
Varnog, who had been holding my hand, caressed it with his thumb before releasing me. I gave him a psychic caress and walked to the center of the small stage in front of the room. I nodded at my Warrior as I walked past him. He winked at me with an encouraging smile.
I had feared the curious looks and stares would make me uncomfortable. After all, only my inner circle of psychic sisters, Warriors, Dragons, and Scelks had really seen me since my transformation. The rest of the Vanguard and the Coalition had only heard of it and, of course, speculations, rumors, exaggerations, and flat out fabrications had spread like wildfire. But I didn’t feel self-conscious; quite the opposite. I loved the ‘new’ me and actually had to fight the urge to spread my wings and strut. There would be plenty of time for that later.
“Hello everyone,” I said, projecting loudly. “As Wrath has mentioned, any surface bombing will have to be kept to a minimum to avoid a collapse. The biggest challenge as you can see will be reaching the base itself because of all this crap preventing larger vessels from passing through. In all the ways that matter, these structures are similar to the ones you have experienced during your simulations with the Scelks. The main difference now being that instead of a known landscape like we had on Kryptor, this one is new. But that is an illusion. What I’m about to show you are setups that you are actually familiar with. Pay attention.”
Flipping through different images of the inner layout of the bridges and connecting passages of the crater, I started naming each subsection of the Royal Palace District they emulated. The stunned whispers in the crowd made me further smile.
“Unlike the bridges in the Royal Palace District,” I continued, “we do not believe these are used to actually go from point A to point B. They simply serve as obstacles to prevent intruders from reaching the core of their base. Our probes have detected that these structures rotate following a completely random schedule. It is possible that the shift occurs if something triggers some sensors, but we cannot know for sure. We only know that you are familiar with these layouts. Therefore, when you begin your approach, make sure to identify them.”
We then displayed the series of vessel types I had deemed suitable to attempt navigating through the maze.
“Choose your ship carefully among these, as they will determine your role once we begin the descent. There is no question in my mind there will be a number of turrets or other defense mechanisms that will await us,” I said. “Beyond that point, we have no idea what we will encounter. Our probes were not able to go further. We will require volunteers for the first wave to go down. As that first wave into the crater will certainly be a suicide mission, at this point we will only accept Warriors and Dragons.”
I then turned to look at my mate and gestured for him to approach. A hush fell over the room as he came forward, their gazes burning holes through us. I had never been much of the exhibitionist before, some might have almost labeled me a wallflower, but something had changed. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to flaunt my relationship with my mate, I just refused to hide it. I wanted others to finally see it for what it was: the beautiful and natural coming together of two people in love. I caressed his cheek as he stopped next to me, and he kissed the inside of my palm.
“Varnog will go over the last part of this briefing,” I said before leaving the stage to him.
“I will get straight to the point, hopefully with some improved diplomatic skills,” Varnog said, earning himself some amused chuckles from the crowd and some surprised stares from others. “Simulations are available on the holodeck libraries so that you can see what the Bombardier Beetles EMP blast looks like. Those creatures are advanced enough beings that they can be mind controlled. For this reason, we request volunteer pilots that will fly in tandem with one of us in cloaked Fireflies. Your Scelk’s main role will be preventing the bugs from setting off their EMPs. So, to all the fighters and chasers taking out the other Beetles, you will see us on your radars. Please try not to shoot us, no matter how tempting it might be.”
More snorts and chuckle rose in the room while I affectionately shook my head at him. My man simply couldn’t help provoking in one form or another.
“Remember well your training from the simulations,” he continued, sobering. “Once we get inside the crater, all bets are off. They will throw more enemies at us, some of them unexpected. But our ultimate goal is to get past the maze and find the mechanism that will allow us to disable it so that our bigger ships can go in with our troops. If you manage to break through, avoid going all the way down unless you have at least one Scelk with you. Khutu has a Queen with him who has been laying eggs for more many months now. On top of whatever troops he had before fleeing, there will be tens of thousands of young Soldiers ready to ambush you.”