[SAINT] Khorsova investigation

Outskirts of the Khorsova system
43 light years away from Yamatai

A squadron of SAINT Plumeria-class gunships slid into the perimeter of the Khorsova system, proceeding to a stealthy approach with Combined Field System functioning only (in contrast to the more noticeable fold drive). The five black-hulled ships moved in-system, loath to call any attention to themselves - this was a stealth reconnaissance mission and if everything went right, the inhabitants of the star system would never know anything about their passage.

Passive observation of the system showed increased activity inside the asteroid belt, and so the Plumerias made their ways in that directions, keeping unseen with their systems in silent running mode. Doing so meant it would take a few hours to get to the belt at low FTL speeds, but then, that would only allow them more time to effect passive observation of Khorsova IV, the planet with the most activity in the system, and time to collect in-system chatter and come up with a translation matrix with their MEGAMI computers.

Spacy infantry pilots went on stand by, readying their power armored suits for possible insertion, changing the usual durandium armor plating of the Mindy IIs for weaker but stealthier xanarium plating. Their wing leader proceeded to give them a briefing sometimes later on what they had learned from Khorsova, as well as brainstorming over pictures of the planet as they tried to ascertain where assets such as industry, spaceports and population centers were on the world.

As the Plumerias would approach the asteroid belt, a group of contacts appeared on their monitors. Too far away to be detected by these ships, it would give them an opportunity to observe that two of the craft fit the profile of the Hurricane class used by the Nepleslian Red faction and that the other two were of an unknown design and configuration.

They were broadcasting in the clear, speaking in a peculiar dialect but in a language that the Plumeria crews would be able to understand. It seemed that there had been fast-attack ships of an unknown type spotted near one of the mining facilities in the asteroid, and mention of the Trading Commission wanting to investigate for possible threat to Khorsoi infantry.

The two Hurricane class ships were identified by transponder codes as Blue-1 and Blue-2; tagging within their IFF codes suggested they had been assigned by the capital city to this task.

As the group neared the asteroid belt, they got clearance, the sender again broadcasting in the clear, to proceed at half speed into the mines, following drift chart 17 to pick up sensing gear from Cairo Shipyard. Apparently to save time and money at least one shipyard had been built in the asteroid belt.

Warning beacons set to send out an untargeted signal were transmitting map data; if the signal were listened to, data would be downloaded showing three refineries and a shipyard within a yellow hazard field, away from twelve more elsewhere inside the belt (and also separate from two more shipyards). Every facility within the hazard field was surrounded by at least twelve red dots that indicated weapons placements; scrolling text described the area inside the yellow zone as a navy shipyard.

As the investigative convoy approached another ship, this one a robotic barge with only a pair of operators monitoring it, would head directly at the sun, building up speed. All activity along its plotted course stopped, with the exception of more chatter, miners and pilots alike cheering on the "sacrifice to Paracrux." While the Plumerias watched a large container made of unrecyclable scrap and filled with useless garbage that had no value to anyone would detach from the barge and head for the green star. The pair of operators on the barge would then inform their audience that they were returning to Khorsovarolor to await the next slug.

The SAINT squadron spread about, two deciding that the planet held more interest while the three others continued to close in on the asteroid belt.

However, their stealth aspect ratio was evaluated by their MEGAMI as insufficient to effectively hide without traces to the eyes of the vessels and installations using active sensor scans. One Plumeria actually had a mishap as it underestimated the effective detection range of an Osiris and narrowly escaped detection.

After that blunder, the black yamataian vessels retreated to a safer distance and contended themselves in soaking in-system chatter and using some of their astronomical equipment to make long-distance visual observation. The one commanding the operation judged that, seeing she had no desire to entertain a first contact scenario (those weren't part of her orders) that assimilating the maximum amount of information on the culture was the most important part of their reconnaissance mission.

The space infantry pilot were put down from being on stand by. Even though they were smaller and harder to detect, teleportations and atmospheric entry could be detected and that was another risk the operation manager felt was not really worth it.

Knowing about the planet's name, the traffic within the star system, the standing of the world's government - all gleaned while tapping in their newsnet - would have to suffice.

After one day of such surveillance, the squadron would withdraw back to Yamataian space. Their mission had been hastily launched and there was little more they would be able to do without taking risks which would compromise their presence.

None too soon; the small group assigned to check out the reports from the asteroid field soon came back into open space, banging away with their active scans--though they missed the Plumerias by twelve hours and succeeded in doing little other than shorting out a navigational relay beacon and scaring a shuttle pilot.

It was obvious that the crews on the four ships were rookies, judging by the way they employed their gear. The visual observation would show that the ships were painted red and gold, with the letters KHSF painted on the hull. The odd thing about this decoration was that only the lettering on the starboard side was displayed properly; the counterpart manuscript on the port side was a mirror image, upside down and backwards in someone's misguided attempts to maintain symmetry on the vessels.

The ships didn't stay scanning for long, though. After only two hours of searching they turned and made a beeline for the planet, disappearing onto the night side in short order.

In-system chatter revealed quite a bit about the way the space traffic was regulated. Large transports and warships had right of way, apparently, with smaller transports, shuttles and personal vessels either being assigned longer transit paths or none at all, left to fend for themselves as they bounced around in-system. Everyone seemed to be operating on the same time, however, and so fifteen hours into the observation every ship that wasn't already doing something suddenly turned and headed for one of several orbital platforms, space elevators in constant operation ferrying people to the surface.

There would be plenty of opportunity to get in close, it seemed; apparently the Plumerias had arrived in-system at the start of a weekend and all work that wasn't conducted planetside would be halted until the weekend was over. Comm chatter seemed to suggest as much, what with talk of visiting families and bars.