Wolf's Daughter - Ch. VII

[Pakkrat [N7LA]]

Wolf's Daughter - Ch. VII
by Pakkrat

VII. Wolfsdottir emerged from the sector gate first. A loud *THUMP* was heard as a hexagonal ring of the InfinitGate clipped her vessel. The girl immediately checked her diagnostics for damage. She sighed when the console merely noted that the shields had absorbed the collision and that no damage to her actual ship had occurred. She scanned the immediate vicinity just as the Grandmaster Vitaes appeared.

A gate harmonic screamed and resonated through the Explorer's ship as two of the hexagonal rings rubbed together with screeching effect to its field harmonics. Over the group communications, Dot could see Vitaes cover his ears with his hands and fall out of his pilot's chair.

"Vitaes!" she exclaimed with worry. Had he been hit too? She wheeled her Defender craft and focused her ship sensors on the *Rocinante*. The Explorer-class vessel was unharmed, yet something had thrown the Grandmaster about his chair.

The viewscreen soon showed Vitaes climbing back into his seat. "I'll be okay. No worries."

"What happened? I think this InfinitiGate is glitching somehow."

"Since when has InfinitiCorp made anything that lasts?" asked Vitaes who was still rubbing his temples and waving away something before him that only he could see.

Just then the white sails of the Sentinel ship appeared. There were crackling bolts of energy playing over the main hull of the Pakkratius' ship, *Culler*.

"What the-?" said the surprised Sentinel. His comm image showed the Sabine getting up from his cockpit chair to move to someplace aft. "Crap. All my Devices have come un-hitched and offline. Give me a moment." The bolts of electricity soon dissipated and were gone.

"I think this stargate has seen better days, Progen," said Vitaes.

As the Pakkratius worked on his ship and Vitaes recovered from his seemingly headache, Wolfsdottir used her Telescopium device to scan deeper into Kitara's Veil. It was a sector of Capella's asteroid belt that rumor held was home to independent belter miners, freelancers, and worse. There were sightings and reports that had come down the ranks that Kitara's Veil was one of the paths that the Followers of Mordane had taken when they began their exile from Jenquai space. It was also a mining source for the illegal asteroid substance called *mordanite*.

The Followers of Mordane had discovered the green, pyroclastic and porous mineral and learned how it had upon settling from melt to absorb and hold psionic energies that were volatile, unstable and otherwise dangerous in the presence of the psionic-talented. Yet the Mordane made use of the substance as a booster to their mental powers against the warning of the Jenquai Hierate. The Sha'ha'dem had decried that the substance was not fully tested and declared it a crutch to those who could not naturally approach their ideal 'ascendance'. Thus, with the shunning verdict from the Hierate, the Mordana immediately suspected the Jenquai of covering up the truth and immediately started using the mineral to tremendous effect.

Though by the time the Mordana were calling mordanite the Way, they had already been excommunicated and exiled to the deep reaches. Reports from deep probes had returned to show mining operations of the green mineral. The Mordana were continuing to use the psi-enhancing properties of the exotic substance. Dot, just for a moment, wondered what mordanite would do to her if she had been one of the Mordana. But then she discarded the notion. She was never one to put strange and untested things in her body. Likewise, she was put off by the invasion of machine nanobots or cybernetics that infested the Progen. They were little different in Wolfsdottir's eyes. How the Pakkratius kept his humanity, she could only guess. Who knew exactly what the Republic put its clone society through?

"There. Got 'em all in place again."

"I am ready as well," answered Vitaes to the Pakkratius' announcement.

"I don't think those were glitches any longer," said Wolfsdottir who was still scanning the sector. She had locked onto one target with her extended scanners.

"Sabotage?" asked Vitaes. He began to extend his scanners as well in the same direction as the Defender's attention.

"Not directly," said the Pakkratius who had scanned the sector stargate. "There are no blasts or energy scoring on the rings and the InfinitiCorp gate turret is still active."

In answer to both, Wolfsdottir covered her ship with her systems-enhanced Psionic shield. "Mordana."

* * *

Now that she knew that the renegade trio had taken the one-way path into Capella system, Ken'shao Joo Li knew that there was only one way back towards civilized space. They were headed for the frontier with only the depths of space before them. She had them trapped against the unknown or to surrender to her.

With this knowledge, Julie recalled her arrayed wing from all the other solar systems of human space to converge upon Capella. Defender ships had spent all 'night' returning to Sirius and its quadrifons of gates. Then with a small garrison of ships rear-guarding the system gate to Capella, she lead her wing into Capella, the home system of the Jenquai. She was the vanguard of the Defenders. She meant to be the first to lock sensors on the girl's ship, the *Warchild*.

The Defenders left behind to cut off escape of the renegades were stationed and arrayed around the stargate to Capella. Facing inward to the InfinitGate's closed, hexagonal rings, the guardians were caught by surprise an hour later when the entire fleet of Sabine Order Sentinels arrived in Swooping Eagle sector en masse. Like a red plague of sharp, armored sails the fleet shouldered their way past the protesting Jenquai. Their calls were met with static as the Progen explorers muscled their way past the few Shinwa. Without orders to prevent entry, the Jenquai were forced to step aside as the Sabine Order entered Capella by force of sheer numbers, heavy shielding, and their brutal and active Repulsor Fields.

* * *

Magister Caius Hellstorm had had enough of chasing and being merciful. He would *reclaim* the Wolfsdottir, derelict that accomplice Explorer, and personally destroy the gene-map of the traitorous Magister Magna Pakkratius, the meddling Net-7 News Reporter. He dared the stationed Shinwa Defenders at the quadrifons to Capella to deny his taskforce entry to Yokan.

Once fully through the gate into Capella, Hellstrom ordered his fleet to make use of anything they had to boost the warp speed of their ships as they raced across Yokan sector. Something was telling him that he was not the only one chasing this girl he intended to deliver to Magna Vinda. And that thought enraged the Reclaimer.

"All Sabine," announced the Magister across his fleet of Sentinels. "You see the renegades, you take the shot. Don't wait for them to surrender. We're after stolen genes, not people. This is the sacred duty and First Charge of the Sabine Order! The Progen are superior humans and mean to stay that way. Gene-thieves will not get away with this."

As one, his fleet of ships answered, "For the Republic!"

* * *

"I see them, I see them," called Pakkratius. He had just finished switching his load-out of devices in the *Culler*.

"Then hunt well, Progen!" wished Vitaes verbally as his Explorer vanished under its own cloaking. Wolfsdottir had already entered a deadly space combat with the first Mordana to advance upon the trio as they made way along the sector's navs.

The dark and sleek Mordana ships had spotted their hated enemy, the Shinwa, in the form of Wolfsdottir's Defender. The jihad was still aflame in their hearts. Without warning or call, the exiles engaged while Pakkratius, who to the Followers was just a wandering Progen, hated yes, but not nearly so much as the Shinwa girl. They obviously did not care if she was an AWOL, renegade ex-Shinwa.

It was a dance of appearances and disappearances. Cloakings and appearances made up the Jenquai combat. Jenquai in race, the Mordana used their own psionics to do unleash terrible beams upon Wolfsdottir and the assisting Vitaes.

Pakkratius fell upon the Mordana from behind as the Followers focused on their hated targets. His Repulsor Field came online as he opened up with his alien weaponry gleaned from his far-reaching travels. Though he was no Centuriata Warrior, lacking their many weapon mounts, the Sentinel unleashed the terrors of his career's collection of devices and shields. The Skirmish Omega shield revealed the entire battle to the otherwise Sentinel while boosting the impact kinetic energy of his mass-driving projectile weapons. Impact cartridges spat stream after stream of slugs at the Mordana. On the starboard wing of his craft, ammunition laden with deadly corrosive chemical packs fell like a waterfall upon his targets. Device after device tore into the defenses of the enemies, even as alien technologies boosted his own Sabine deflections and offensive focus. He paralyzed craft after craft with his Gravity Link beam to keep their attentions. He would protect the girl from their onslaught if he could.

Though he was the only continually visible target, Pakkratius was the most stalwart of the ships, given the strange, alien, prototype, and Ancient devices he brought to bear. Inside his white vessel, the Doctor smiled in the darkness of his cockpit-bridge. With the occasional light show from streaking beams to point out his next target, Pakkratius ripped into ship after ship.

Grandmaster Vitaes, the most pragmatic of the three, to Pakkratius' thinking at least, finished off each of the Sabine Doctor's targets. The Sentinel was trying to attract the attentions of the Mordana, in hopes of pulling them off their hated Shinwa target. The Explorer, with deadly precision and seemingly never-ending energy reserves, darted about laying finishing blows to the Mordana. He never gave the enemies a second to begin to wheel upon the *Rocinante*.

Appearing and disappearing was Wolfsdottir. She was not without her tricks. Coming out of cloaking, her beam weapons also fed the fires of combat. Any Mordana that was able to wheel about to bring its terrible beams to bear on her found themselves instantly out of range to use them. The girl had used her psionics, focused through her ship, to Fold Space about the enemy and shunt them safely away from her. Then she would disappear again like an assassin.

The trio were not immune to punishment. And Pakkratius was no stranger to taking his lumps. The Doctor had, as he traversed this side of the sector's battle, managed to make fast exchanges between his reactor to his shields and then later from his shields to his reactor. It was a balancing act that was cheered on by his ship's hungry and arcane devices. The spray of his weaponry was continuous as he made changes in his load-out throughout the battle. This was an internal dance of his own for which the Sentinel was familiar. While other classes of ships chose their systems and then entered battle, the Sentinel-class vessel was a dynamic salad bar of what would sup on his reactors available power at any given moment. Despite that, Pakkratius remained efficient, even as his shield warned him.

"Shield matrix at twenty-five percent."

"This is pointless," called Vitaes. "Make for the Vishao's Cove gate!"

"No argument there," answered Pakkratius.

"They must be destroyed," declared Wolfsdottir as she appeared before an exploding Mordana craft.

"We don't have time," called Vitaes. "The Shinwa will arrive soon behind us. Let them settle the score. We are not here for glory!"

"Gate now, girl!" ordered Pakkratius. "Victory another day. There is no ego in this battle. Move!"

The ex-Defender frowned and then reached the gate to transmit the 'singing' signal to the next stargate's answer by opening its wormhole.

Pakkratius took a hit to his ship's hull just as he too gave the enable to enter the gate to Vishao's Cove. Despite the best efforts of his advanced shielding, the shot penetrated and slammed into the *Culler's* armor. His ship skated sideways into the wormhole of the gate.

The two were followed silently by Vitaes a second later. He alone was unscathed in the battle with the Mordana.

* * *

The Shinwa Defender wing encountered the swarming Mordana hours later. Though the excitement had died down, the arrival of even more Shinwa to engage brought new fireworks to Kitara's Veil sector. The Mordana were blockading the sector gate to Vishao's Cove, which was unacceptable to Ken'shao Joo Li upon arrival.

The renewed rivalry and hatred took little to spark. The Followers were already dosing their bodies full of refined mordanite. The Shinwa were itching for action in hopes of a complete mission. Though this encounter was not on mission, all got more than they wished for.

Battle language erupted from both sides as the largest engagement between the Shinwa Defenders of the Jenquai Hierate and the exiled Followers of Mordane Kathrada, the Mordana began. There was no love lost as the two sides engaged to the death.

While the exiles had nothing better to do than try to slay as many Defenders as they could, Julie reminded herself to stay on mission to capture the renegade Wolfsdottir. But the costs were mounting. While engaging the Mordana, the Ken'shao kept funnelling as many of her wing through the sector gate to Vishao's Cove as the portal would allow.

The renewed battle was almost a hidden one. Cloaking and un-cloaking ships fired on the visible. Ships were shunted through Fold Space usage repeatedly. To the untrained or non-Jenquai eye, the battle looked little better than chaos. Psi-Shielded ships were globes of mental energy trying to engage the heavier warships of the Mordana.

Though the Defenders were sleek and faster, built on individual pilot needs and preference, the Mordana were using ships a decade older and built for war. One was unpredictable in load-outs and the other was more heavily armed as if the Gate War had never ended. The battle continued as each side tried to make use of its strengths and take advantage of what they knew of the opposing force.

Just when the Defenders thought they might have he upper hand and the majority of their craft through the gate into Vishao's Cove, the Followers brought a capital ship to bear. This was Julie's sign to slip by the swarming and angry Mordana.

"Let InfinitiCorp repair their gates," called Ken'shao Joo Li. "All in! All in! Leave the Mordana angry. This is not our mission! Stop fighting them!" Some of the Shinwa of her wing were prolonging the engagement, reluctant to make a tactical retreat to the next sector of space. The opportunity for glory in battle was threatening her mission.

There were casualties, derelict vessels, shattered ships, and dead pilots on both sides.

* * *

It was a deserted battlefield by the time the Sabine Order taskforce entered Kitara's Veil hours later. Though the Mordana took notice of the hated Progen of the Gate War, they had no heart to engage the sailed, red vessels. Caius Hellstrom plowed through the hulks, derelicts and wreckage as his fleet crossed Kitara's Veil on its way to Vishao's Cove.

He had learned through his own channels. Magister Hellstrom knew that there was infighting in the Jenquai Hierate, but this theatre of conflict confirmed it. As they crossed the battlefield spread across several nav-bouys, he scanned for the traitor Pakkratius' ship, the meddling Explorer's craft, and the hunted red vehicle of the Wolfsdottir. When the scans came up negative, the Sabine Order pushed onward to Vishao's Cove.

*He knew from his own experience they would try this. The ex-assassin crouched in the rafters above the studio where technicians, Reporters, interviewees, and producers gathered in one fashion or another. The Jenquai man watched as they went about their tasks or being directed to sets where the media station could get each visitor's take on galactic events.*
*One Terran woman caught his attention and he focused all his psionics upon her to passively listen in on her.*
*"All I am saying is that we've had him on the Anchor team for months with not much to show for it and now he's listed as a renegade of his own Sabine Order and a traitor to the Progen Republic. How can we as an objective newscorp shelter and employ such a wanted individual?"*
*The dark-clad assassin frowned. This Zona Mason was trying to pull the plug on the Pakkratius and while he was away and had no say in his defense.*

*"What?!" asked a fervent Magna Vinda to her subordinate.*

*"Yes, ma'am," confirmed Sabine Sentinel Zyrith. "Magister Magna Pakkratius was not made aware of the secret mission that was transmitted in your name."*

*"I gave no such order!" yelled Vinda. "Call Arx Spartoi. Tell them to ready my frigate and prepare for departure and get me a shuttle to orbit. Now!"*

**She's partially lying,** came the inner voice that rode just behind her left shoulder. **She knows about all of this and is passively playing the table against each other before showing her hand.**

*Zyrith, ran to Porvenir Mons sat-comm and put forth Magna Vinda's orders. She kept quiet in her inner revelation. What she alone knew could get her, a Reclaimer, reclaimed.*