Turell let her mind wander as she listened to the feed. It had been over a month since her encounter with the Refuge task force at Zah. Now here she was half bored out of her skull, while the infiltration team got to have all the fun. Thanks to a subdermal feed she was able to monitor them live, but it still felt empty.

It wasn’t like there was much else to do but wait. Sadly that was her mission, get in. Insert the team, wait for them to complete their task and get out. Not everything in this job could be exciting. There was honestly a lot of waiting at times. Still it was often better to bored, since when things got exciting was also when something went wrong.

A moment later something peaked her interest on the feed. Thankfully it wasn’t a sign of things going wrong, but just something interesting to listen too. Since it seemed to answer a few questions she had.

“...and this here is a Concussion Pulse Cannon. Its still largely prototype so be careful with it.”

“Oh? I haven’t really heard of those before. What is it?”

“Ah, well you are new here, but you should read up on the specs. In short its a relatively new weapon. Pulse cannons are wonderfully efficient with excellent range, a rapid fire-rate and a fairly low power draw. They perform decently against most shields and will burn through any armor in short order. Sadly they don’t perform as well against more modern defense systems as they did in the past. That is where this weapon comes in. We took the Cathamari concussion cannon for its excellent firepower and modified it. The old Cathamari plasma generator was swapped out for a more efficient one of our own design.

“Superheated plasma is produced in the core and then stripped of the lighter ions to create a heavy ionic plasma bolt. The plasma is then focused through a compression chamber where it is compressed into a dense plasma bolt before being forced into the acceleration chamber. Upon exit of the acceleration chamber its wrapped with a Sega-Omicron flux barrier and then projected into space with a high energy concussion pulse. The resulting plasma round is extremely energetic.”

“Fascinating, what kind of power does it have? Range?”

“It has a range comparable to current generation heavy pulse guns, 150,000 Metras. As for yield low Isoterras. This one got 15 on its last test. It practically shattered class I shields in a single shot and the test hull we fired it at was obliterated on the second. It was something else watching a starframe rupture like that. The bolt tore right through the plating and hull. While its concussive properties magnified the structural damage. Tearing large sections of the hull apart with shockwaves alone.”

“Impressive, but what about stronger shields? Class one are rather weak.”

“Class II and three defense shields struggled against it. Both failing rather quickly under fire, but top-of-the-line shields held up decently. They still ultimately failed under a concentrated bombardment. The weapon is effective against even starbase-level defenses and we have some heavier versions in the works for that new dreadnought you saw on the way in.”

“Yes that was massive,” there was a pause, “Heavier versions? With this kind of power? What in the galaxy for?”

“I don’t make the calls, but someone felt we were going to need them. If I had to guess, they are meant as orbital bombardment cannons for breaching planetary shields. I’m not sure why though. I mean I understand the need for a new ship, especially in light of the events at Cantra. Its just we aren’t going to war are we?”

She listened for a bit more. Yet the interesting bit had already passed. Her mind drifted back to Zah. The Valorians were sadly underestimating the armor penetrating potential of their new weapon. Of course, they largely dismissed armor. Thought of it as primitive and ineffective. As a result they tended to underestimate the refuge, even when shown that they were powerful combatants. Now she was wondering how those bolts would perform against their armor. The Refuge armor was already clearly able to resist high-energy plasma rounds. They had footage of them fighting at Cantra. However they had little info on how that armor actually worked. It clearly wasn’t like traditional armor.

Perhaps more in line with the recent Cathamari armors, but obviously more advanced. It was incredibly strong. Highly resiliant and able to take a pounding. Nothing seemed able to penetrate it either, but with the way they previously avoided being hit by Cathamari torpedoes? She suspected some Cathamari weapons could pierce it. With that in mind, she had to wonder how effective a Cathamari-inspired weapon like this one would do against it. Sadly she could theorize on it all she wanted, but she would likely never know for sure. As the only way to know, was to actually use one against the Refuge, but that was very risky. She felt lucky having escaped with her life once. Turell wasn’t willing to take that risk a second time. Especially not on a maybe.

In any case, these cannons certainly sounded potent. She had known that the admiralty wanted them, but if they were that powerful it would make sense to add them to the fleet’s arsenal. Weapons like that would be very useful. Most raiders and stealth cruisers in the fleet mounted high-yield fixed particle cannons. Perhaps not as impressive as the Refuge guns, but certainly effective. They were often used against weaker targets that managed to get their shields up but they were also used as a primary weapon in slugging matches. Even if most ships outmatched a raider in such a fight, a small pack could overwhelm a superior foe. Cannons like that one would be a very welcome addition. It was little wonder that the admiralty wanted samples of these weapons.

A moment later, she received a report from the very infiltrator she had been listening to moments before, “I have scanned the prototypes, uploading data now. Proceeding to continue to the next objective.”

There was nothing more than that, but she wasn’t surprised. Turell was familiar with the objectives. Scans were all well and good, but the team was going to try for more. Blueprints and actual prototypes were wanted as well. If the opportunity was there, they would even kidnap a few scientists for their insights. Nothing unusual and it wasn’t the first time they had done an op like this. She had even participated in a couple, but never as a leader before. So this was a little different.

She turned to a different screen, checking in on someone else. They were tasked with infiltrating the local security division. They were crucial to a later part of the mission. Namely the exfil, but they might help with the current phase as well. Nothing she saw seemed urgent, so she leaned back. Just as she heard footsteps.

Turrel looked up to see her first officer entering her office. The younger man stepped before her desk a pad in his hand. She frowned, “Did something happen on the ship?”

He sighed, “Not really. I’m afraid the most excitement we had was that one broken light, which is honestly the problem. The crew is utterly bored.”

She let out a breath, “I know, there isn’t much to do while just sitting here.” she paused glancing at the ceiling, “I guess we could organize another tournament or something.”

He chuckled, “and what would be the prize this time?”

She smiled, “Hmm, how about me?”

The man blinked, “Huh? What, don’t you belong to the admirals?”

She giggled, “I’m not talking about my contract idiot. I can’t sell or trade that.”

His eyes widened, “Oh, right. I guess that might work.”

“It should and hopefully it will solve my other problem.”

“Other problem?”

She didn’t elaborate, but it was a common one for female slave captains, or female slaves in general. Not even a big deal most of the time.

The Councilwoman shifted in her seat and let out a breath. She was alone for the moment, which was giving her time to vent. The events at Cantra were terrible, her faction had lost key seats after that. Now the Minara clan was on the rise in the council. Worse they had just passed a bill to triple the size of the fleet. Why they would ever need it, she couldn’t comprehend. It was the trading fleet that was most important. Not the useless military who was always needlessly wasting funds on things like counter-pirate operations.

Before she could think more on the way things had gone wrong lately. There was a knock on her office door. She sighed, straightened up and allowed the door to open. Sadly it wasn’t her aide, but rather one of those damn Minaras. The other woman smiled, “Good Evening Counciler, may I have a moment of your time?”

She blinked, that greeting was friendlier than she expected, “Um I guess. Is there something I can do for you...”

Crap she blundered that!

The other woman giggled as she took a seat, “How familiar are you with the Lantaro sector?”

She composed her face, “Its a region of space not far from the Cantra system. Politically unstable with numerous resource-rich worlds. High instability has made previous forays into the sector unprofitable. Although a few mercenary companies have had some success.”

“Yes, speaking of mercenaries, I understand you hired a few in the area to look into these newcomers the Sol Refuge?”

The woman blinked, that was a confidential arrangement, “I want to buy those contracts and any information you might have.”

Her mind raced as she consider things. The Refuge were certainly a bit of a thorn in her side. While she had no proof, she was starting to suspect they might have been responsible for the Cathamari civil war. More recently they had directly interfered with her attempt to stabilize the Cathamari civil war and she knew the Minara had taken advantage of that to increase their own power. They also had backers in the military and right now she lacked the political backing to change anything. She also had issues with the Krall, but it would be hard to retaliate against them. The Refuge on the other hand was rather weak and primitive. They were skilled combatants to be sure, but they lacked advanced shielding. As for their weapons? Outside of their torpedoes, she saw nothing special. In fact, she felt acquiring those torpedoes would be profitable.

“Hmm? We might be able to work something out. Depends on what you are offering and what you are after?”

The woman smiled, “Clan Minara wants to expand into the Lantaro and Brathra sectors. In addition to those contracts, we would like your backing on that. In exchange we offer nine billion credits and the hand of one of our sons as a gesture of good faith.”

She blinked. The hand of a son? A marriage? That might prove useful. Their clans were among the most powerful in the core worlds. A union would do much to solidify an alliance. She didn’t know why they wanted Lantaro or Brathra. Brathra especially. Brathra had a few worlds, but lacked trading partners. Without established powers in the region, any endeavor there would be expensive. Lantaro was far more developed but politically unstable. It was also near Voskar space.

“Yes, I think we could work things out. We have a few interests we would like to expand on ourselves. Your backing in those endeavors would be useful as well.