In Defense Of Humanity (PsionicCuttlefish & Rosina)

[PsionicCuttlefish]

One hundred and seventy-five years ago, mankind made contact with an extraterrestrial species for the first time. By this point, humanity had been interstellar for several decades, expanding and colonizing empty worlds in the sector around Sol. First Contact with an alien race was momentous on its own, but as communication was established, humanity soon learned that they were but a small part of a much "larger" galaxy awash in alien life. Hundreds of intelligent spacefaring species filled the stars, but with no galactic unified political body mankind soon understood that they were just one fish in a pond of many, particularly when the borders of human-controlled space started rubbing up against other nearby star-nations. Still, humans would have been nothing more than a footnote, just one more addition to galactic society...if not for an incredible, horrible discovery.

Nearly every star-nation had to deal with bandits and slavers, and once humans began making tentative steps into galactic society, the human worlds were no different. What was different was the usefulness of human slaves, specifically females. No one knows who made the discovery or how, but within a few years, the knowledge began spreading like wildfire: Due to a quirk of xenogenetics, human females were the most omni-fertile creatures in the galaxy. The DNA of virtually any non-Earth life found human wombs to be universally compatible. Even some alien plantlife found the gardens of human females to have soil fertile enough to plant their seeds.

Suddenly it wasn't just independent criminal bandits who were interested in humans--now nearly every alien nation was interested in humans, and not in a benign way. Even though the limits of FTL drives meant that only the relatively nearby alien nations could directly act, humanity was suddenly beset on all sides by aliens seeking to possess human females of their own. One hundred and fifty-five years ago, The War began. Humans had rapidly caught up with galactic technology, but the aliens were numerous, and the war raged on multiple fronts. The war did not go well for the first few years, and the human government of the time began relocating civilians from the border worlds to the core worlds for protection, but even so, military losses were heavy, and the confederate government reformed into the unified Human Alliance to better manage the war. But shortly after the formation of the Human Alliance, infamously three years into the war, the human core world Osiris was completely exterminated by nuclear bombardment from an alien fleet.

But humans were tenacious, and fighting for their very survival. Enraged by the complete destruction of their world, humans rallied around the cry of "Remember Osiris", and fought harder than ever before! Humans at home were able to later see footage of battles that the Human Alliance fleets began to win, boosting morale as the Human Alliance pushed back the barbaric aliens. One hundred and fifty years ago to the day, five years after it started, The War came to an end with the alien nations backing down by all of them signing The Armistice, and the Human Alliance establishing secured borders as the day became a regular holiday known as Alien Expulsion Day.

Since then, the Human Alliance has been aggressively isolationist. No alien is allowed within human territory, and no civilian is allowed to leave the core worlds for their own protection--not that any civilian wants to. While no non-kidnapped civilian has seen an alien in person since Alien Expulsion Day, everyone remembers the history of The War, knows how a true treaty of peace was never made, and knows to never trust an alien. For the wicked aliens couldn't truly give up even with The Armistice, and small stealthy raids by "independent bandits" continued.

And so, the Human Alliance formed a special branch of the military to combat the raids, the Corps of Elite Space Agents. Only the best of the best are selected to be an Elite Space Agent, but it was necessary to be even more effective. Using technology developed during The War, all Elite Space Agents are expensively genetically modified and cybernetically implanted to enhance their speed, strength, and stamina, unlocking their full physical potential to become master spies and assassins. However, a strange flaw in the genetic modification process made it incompatible with males, horribly mutating them if attempted, thus, the ESA Corps is an all-female branch of the military, and proudly so.

To this day, the ESA has vigilantly and proactively counterattacked all threats to human society, and upheld their motto:

"In Defense Of Humanity"

*****

Head Supervisor Wolfgang smiled warmly as he and the rest of the panel of supervisors looked at the ESA before them. "Well, Agent Mercer, I'm sure you'll be happy to hear this." He said in a praising voice. "Your unbroken record, and particularly the reports of your last mission, made it all the way to the top. The Chancellor himself has commended you for your amazing success, and sends his regrets that he was unable to tell you this in person, but looks forward to doing so in the future. He also said that he finds it serendipitous that he read your report today, on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Alien Expulsion Day. He says it's a good omen for you."

There was a pause for Scarlett's reaction before Wolfgang spoke up again, gesturing off to the side. "And, if you are ready now, your Handler has another mission lined up for you, though you can wait for up to thirty hours if there is any personal business you want to complete first." The Head Supervisor said, while the man he gestured at on the end of the panel nodded at Scarlett, with a proudly beaming expression. Handler Josef Archer was a fairly handsome man, with cleanly-cut blonde hair, emerald eyes, and a healthy build. Josef was more than Scarlett's handler; he was her mentor, the man who helped Scarlett train for her dream of qualifying to become an ESA, and now Scarlett was turning out to be one of the best ESAs he had ever trained.

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett stood before the supervisor, she had not yet even had the time to change out of her uniform after her most recent mission before being called in for her commendations. Her skin tight ESA uniform showed off the luscious curves of her womanly figure and she was even more sexy in person than in the lewd stories traded by most men of the HA; her long, brilliant, red hair flowed all the way down to her ass, her bold blue eyes gleamed with a commanding presence and the soft fair skin and dainty countenance of her youth were both apparent the moment the anyone laid eyes on her. In fact her custom suit fit so finely, more so than the average ESA, and showed the contours of her body so well, that it wouldn't be hard to imagine that if she were bent over her cameltoe would be as clear as day. The only areas on her body that strayed from this seemingly naked visage were where weapons or equipment hung and just above her breasts where the click of a button would present a mask that she could use if conditions required such. Anyone that had met Scarlett knew that despite her near unparalleled beauty and high rank withing the HA she had never been in a relationship before. The otherwise confident and commanding ESA would easily become shy and timid when confronted about sex or romance and was susceptible to flirtatious teasing, a tool that Archer may have already learned. It wouldn't be unlikely that the majority of men in the HA, and perhaps some of the women as well, fantasized about being the one to take the her virginity. Scarlett was not only notorious for her beauty but also for her seemingly reckless nature: how she adamantly refused to wear a helmet, how she allowed her hair to grow out many feet past the safety regulations, and how on stealth missions she would rather work alone than with a partner but seeing as she had only ever preformed with perfection none had any right to complain about her quirks.

Although in this moment she wasn't being praised for her appearance, or noticed by her quirks, today all of the honor shone towards her came from the years of hard work she had put into being the one of the most legendary ESAs in history. The words of her Supervisor on behalf of the Chancellor himself forced a bright smile to beam across Scarlett's cheerful face as she looked up into the eyes of the man before her. Although when she heard that another mission was lined up for her so soon after the last her smile half-faded and she looked curiously towards her handler. This wasn't the first time she had been given back to back mission but it was customary for her to get a good break between most missions.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

When Scarlett glanced over at Archer and he saw her slightly faltering smile, he offered a sheepish shrug. "I know you usually get more R&R time, but this mission is somewhat time-sensitive. As Supervisor Wolfgang said, however, you do have thirty hours before you absolutely have to leave, so you can enjoy the rest of Alien Expulsion Day celebrations if you want. We will make sure you get a good break after this next mission, though. It's gonna be a tough one, but we wouldn't give it to you if we didn't think you were up to the challenge." Her Handler explained to her. Archer was indeed proud of Scarlett, because as skilled as she was, she was even more dedicated.

He, and the Supervisors, considered dedication to the cause to be the singularly most important trait in an Elite Space Agent, and Scarlett had more than the ESA average. On top of that, Archer was aware that despite being a hardcore ESA, she became timid around a...certain subject...and that, to him, was also a positive trait. Though he would never say that to her, of course.

Head Supervisor Wolfgang spoke up again. "When you are ready to receive your mission, report to Handler Archer's office for briefing. For now, that is all we had to discuss. Thank you for your time, Agent Mercer. You are dismissed; In Defense Of Humanity." Wolfgang said, ending the meeting with the motto of the ESA Corps as a farewell.

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett nodded as Archer spoke, although she had hoped that he hadn't noticed her drop in enthusiasm at all. When he finished his statements she quickly affirmed his belief that she was dedicated by saying confidently,
"If there is more work to be done you can count on me!" In Scarlett's eyes Alien Expulsion Day, although she agreed with the sentiment, was just an excuse for the majority of the HA to slack off, get drunk, and party. As far as she was concerned she could do any of those things on some other random day, not that she was particularly interested, so she didn't mind skipping out on the celebration.

She turned back to her supervisor as he spoke and looked him in the eye.
"In Defense of Humanity." She repeated respectfully before turning and making her way out of his office. 'I'll just take a shower and swap into a spare uniform before I head out for the next mission' She thought to herself before making her way towards her personal quarters.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

Scarlett's trip back to her quarters to freshen up went without real incident, but there were plenty of off-duty drunk HA soldiers wandering about the living areas, and several of them gave Scarlett whistles and 'compliments' on her figure or skintight outfit. Once insider her own quarters, Scarlett was able to shower in peace and change into a clean ESA bodysuit. On her way to Archer's personal office, she was again greeted by catcalling HA grunts, but little more than that--no one made any real advances on her.

Once at Handler Archer's office, a beep on the door-comm panel got a quick "Enter!", and Scarlett found herself in Archer's now-familiar office. It was at that half-way point between a field-officer's workspace and a desk jockey's. Archer didn't do fieldwork anymore, but he did continue to train new ESAs, so his office still had some of the spartan simplicity of a field officer, but some personal touches had begun creeping in; pictures of family, trinkets he liked, medals he had earned from his early career on display.

"Ah, Scarlett! Wasn't quite expecting to see you so soon, but I am glad for it! Have a seat, I will call up the briefing." Archer said as he activated a holographic display, then settled into his formal attitude. "Agent Mercer, you have been tasked with a data-retrieval mission." He said as he brought up the view of a planet. "This is the second planet in a previously uninhabited system, Star GS25-A. We have learned that there is an alien pirate outpost on the surface. We haven't wiped it out because since we've known about it, we've been able to get some useful intel on the pirate group through some early and distant reconnaissance missions." The display zoomed in on some orbital images of the surface compound as Archer spoke. "We know that a very important ship in this pirate's fleet will be docking at the outpost soon. This mission is time-sensitive because it will only be there for a limited time after it arrives--the thirty-hour limit the Head Supervisor mentioned is that you have to be in your Spec-Ops ship and in FTL transit no later than that--it will get you to GS25-A just before the pirate ship is scheduled to arrive, but the sooner you arrive before it, the better. One the ship is there, you should have three local days before it departs--the local solar interval is twenty-one-and-a-half hours." The display switched from the view of the planet to a rotating view of Scarlett's target.

"Your mission, Agent Mercer, is to land on the second planet of System GS25-A before the pirate ship does. You are then to recon and find a way to infiltrate the compound. While docked, the pirate ship will be linked up with the outpost's network as it undergoes maintenance and exchanges updates. You are to reach the outpost's hypercommunications module before the pirate ship leaves and disconnects from the network. You are then to hack the hypercomm module and make it transmit the entire contents of the pirate ship's databanks to these coordinates--" A set of interstellar coordinates in deep space were shown, and Archer also passed a small datachip over his desk to Scarlett. "--where one of our listening-ships is currently holding position. Once you've done that, exfiltrate and return home."

Archer then switched off the display, steepled his hands over his desk, and looked at the young ESA. "I won't lie, this is probably going to be one of your most challenging missions yet, Scarlett. We don't have any close-up intel of the outpost's layout, so you'll have to figure things out as you go. There also aren't any other HA assets in the area, so you'll be on your own. You've handled both of these things before, but not both at once." Handler Archer said seriously, but then his mouth quirked slightly. "But you are turning out to be one of the best ESAs I've ever trained, you were selected for this mission because your flawless 100% success rate thus far speaks for itself, and I am proud of that."

Archer then leaned back in his chair slightly. "Any questions, Agent Mercer?"

 

[Rosina]

Usually HA soldiers wouldn't dare to voice their sexual attraction to Scarlett--although she often imagined it was what they were thinking when they stared at her so intently--due to her rank or her astounding reputation: if they did she would be too shy to punish them if they tried, although those incidents were very rare but today was a different day. She new that most-all of the soldiers were drunk due to the celebration and so she chose not to fault them for their lack of judgement; regardless of the situation she couldn't help but let a soft pink blush grow on her face every time one of the men, or women, had the audacity to 'compliment' her.

Scarlett's room was near featureless, the bland grey of a standard issue room, proof of her dedication to her work or at least her lack of a life without it, the only things aside from spare guns and armor that could be found were trinkets from some of her harder missions and the handful of medals she earned during her short career but even those were few and far between, often hid behind the prior. It was almost sad that a young woman such as herself had nothing to cling to but her work but even so she was the pride of ESAs, a prime example of dedication and prowess.

During her shower the memories of being cat-called were still on her mind and she found herself focusing on her privates. Thinking about how she was still a virgin and how most women lost their virginity years before her. Especially the women that were as influential and evidently as attractive as she was. In the back of her mind she new it was ultimately herself that prevented her from ever being in a relationship, but there were just more important things for her to be doing, studying, training, or working. After Scarlett's shower she lazily slid a tight pair of cute pink panties back on, dirty from her last mission. They were her favorite and she saw them as a good luck charm, her one treasure from her life before the HA. Although if anyone new her revere for them she would certainly be called childish, one of humanities greatest warriors clinging to her adolescent panties.

The trip to Archer's office was handled identically to her trip to her room. When asked for her to enter she did so swiftly and looked up into his eyes boldly, listening to him with full dedication as she took the seat before him. Her previous thoughts now replaced with more important ones, the mission at hand. Scarlett studied both the view of the planet and the ship closely, looking for any details that could aid her later on. At first she thought the mission sounded standard, stealthily recon and infiltrate, her specialty but as she learned more the difficulty became apparent. When she heard of her hacking duties she was a little surprised that they didn't make her babysit a specialist, but she was glad and imagined the majority of the work would be done by the chip she gently picked up and slid into her suit.

Scarlett smiled confidently at Archer's compliments before swiftly responding half way through his final statement.
"Will I have contact with you, or another handler or operator over comms while on the ground or is there a designated evac point when the ship leaves?"

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

At Scarlett's question, Archer shook his head. "We won't be in monitoring-communications range, and once your mission is complete, all you have to do is exfiltrate in your ship back to Alliance space. This mission will be your first one run completely solo, and if successful, will mark your true 'graduation' to the next tier of Elite Space Agent, and there will be more solo missions to come. Not exclusively of course, but there will be more." Archer explained.

His chair then creaked slightly as he leaned back in it again. "Anyway, your personal Spec-Ops ship is fueled and prepped in Hangar Bay 8. It is ready to go whenever you are. Any other questions?" Archer asked.

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett eyes widened a little in shock when she heard Archer say that there would be no form of comms or monitoring at all, in her eyes the question was more of a formality than a real question, their was always some form of comms--maybe not her own personal monitor but one assigned to the her squad or the mission as a whole--to confirm objectives or mark operatives that were KIA, or at the very least to make sure that ESA weren't just fucking around. It seems that on this mission not only would she not have any backup but she would have the ability to do whatever she saw fit, mission priority or otherwise.

After a moment of silence she returned her attention to her handler and said confidently,
"Understood!" before standing back up and making her way out of Archer's office without saying another word, although it was unlikely that he would hold her to formality. Her mind was flooded with excitement and anticipation at the mission ahead. Scarlett wouldn't just be an ESA, the highest official rank of field agent, she would be a veteran ESA, one of the people who complete the most difficult and impactfull missions humanity has to offer.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

Handler Archer noted how the reveal that Scarlett would be handling the mission entirely on her own surprised her, but that surprise was quickly replaced by unbounded eagerness. Archer smiled in amusement as Scarlett quickly stood up to leave his office with a quick affirmative, no other questions forthcoming. She really wanted to get to her mission, it seemed. "In Defense of Humanity!" Archer spoke up with the formal ESA farewell, though Scarlett was rushing out so enthusiastically that he didn't expect nor halt her to return the farewell. The sooner she got to her mission, all the better.

Archer slowly turned in his desk chair to face the largest piece in his office; a hanging tapestry of the insignia of the Human Alliance, and beneath it, the ESA Corps. Scarlett Mercer really was about the most dedicated ESA he had ever trained. As the most important virtue, that made the youngest ESA on record also the best ESA he had ever trained.

"In Defense Of Humanity." Archer whispered to himself as he stared at the symbols, and the symbols stared back.

*****

That night, Josef Archer would drink himself into a tranquil stupor in his home before sleeping.

*****

When Scarlett arrived in Hangar Bay 8, there were some flight-techs scurrying around her personal Spec-Ops ship as they continued the final checks and reported all systems green to Scarlett. It was a sleek ship, created to be stealthy and fast, to slip in and out of danger with graceful ease rather than to stand and fight. Like ESAs themselves, their ships weren't designed to fight, they were designed to succeed.

The ship itself was large enough to have space for living quarters (albeit rather cramped and spartan), an armory containing spares of all of Scarlett's equipment and custom-fit suits, and a small training/recreation space, among other things necessary for ESA work. The ship didn't have exceptional endurance, but it did carry everything an ESA could ever need for support on their surgical missions. A ship this size might normally be crewed by three to eight people, but Spec-Ops ships were designed to be operated by only one.

After Scarlett did whatever preflight rituals she desired with her ship and settled into the cockpit, the ship's onboard automated smart-systems synced with her equipment and handled the startup minutia, while the military traffic-controllers cleared her for departure. This major Human Alliance military hub was not on Earth, but it was still on one of the coreworlds of the Alliance and therefore highly developed, one of the several primary ports and nerve-centers for the entire HA fleet. The datachip that Archer had given to Scarlett had all the coordinates and interstellar flight-paths pre-plotted out to get Scarlett to her mission zone in the shortest amount of time, as well as containing a specially-crafted one-time-use hacking program to be used with her mission objective.

"Elite Space Agent Mercer, you are now cleared for launch. Good luck out there. In Defense of Humanity." The voice of the launch authority spoke through her comms.

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett took a deep breath as she entered the Hangar Bay: aside from the training center this was one of her favorite places to be while on site. Little matched the rush of setting off on a mission, or the relief of returning home after a particularly hazardous outing, well aside from kicking someone's ass while sparring or out on a mission which lends itself to why her true favorite place was the training center. Regardless of her preference there was always something calming to her about taking in the scent of the gasses and the oils permeating the hangar. She was a kinda surprised to see all the flight-techs, or ants the nickname that she had granted them in her head, still hard at work despite it being a holiday. Although this only confirmed her moniker, just like a bunch of ants the flight-techs were always scurrying about, set to their work and not much else, regardless of circumstance.

She found herself placing a warm loving hand on the side of her ship before entering. None lived up to the ships design more than her, it was a parallel to her abilities, sleek fast stealthy, dedicated only to success for humanity and designed to accomplish any goal as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Despite Scarlett having her own private room within the barracks her ship was her true home and there was no place she felt more comfortable than within it's grasp.

Even so Scarlett had no time to reconnect with her ship, nor any need seeing as she was back on it unusually early, so she settled into the cockpit, inserted the chip, lifted off out of the hangar, and set her ride on the fastest course towards her objective. Scarlett was a big fan of autopilot. Perhaps the one partner she didn't dread slowing her down was a human pilot; not only did she much prefer to be on her feet where she was the closest thing to a goddess the human race had to offer, but she also wasn't very good at flying. Obviously Scarlett was an amazing pilot as she would have to be in order to maintain her rank and performance, but she was nowhere near as proficient as some of the other ESA let alone a dedicated elite pilot.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

Once the autopilot was locked in, Scarlett's ship spun up its main drives and jumped the ship to FTL. it was fortunate that Scarlett considered her somewhat-cramped ship to be homely, as the journey was going to take several days. Scarlett would have to do whatever she could think of to occupy herself while en-route, but given her personality, it was likely the small practice-space in the ship would be seeing use.

*****

A soft chime sounded through Scarlett's ship, reaching her wherever she was; the imminent arrival alert. She had a few minutes to get to the cockpit and take the helm before the ship dropped out of FTL.

The ship had a special stealth-system that made it very difficult to detect by sensors, one that functioned in the FTL pipe and in realspace. Once the ship did revert to realspace, Scarlett would find herself right on-target. The navigational array confirmed she was in the correct star-system, and she wasn't far from the second planet. At this distance, her own sensors picked up some signals and energy signatures from a single spot on the planet's surface. Faint, but unmistakable. The pirate base.

Entering atmo and landing nearby happened without issue, while the ship's stealth-suite held steady. The planet itself seemed harsh and somewhat barren; craggy terrain with minimal vegetation, but a breathable atmosphere to her with her implants and genetic modifications. At the pirate base's location at the time of her landing, dusk was approaching. She had approximately thirty hours before the pirate flagship was due to arrive. Plenty of time to recon the pirate base quietly, in preparation for the main objective...

 

[Rosina]

And Scarlett did in fact use the small practice area judiciously throughout the long and boring journey, but at least there would never be a moment when her skills were rusty. Sometimes Scarlett wished that she enjoyed flying because at least then she could jump into the cockpit and enjoy herself whilst blasting through the depths of space. One thing of note she did do during the flight was prepare her standard equipment: a heavy scoped rifle with a silencer that was pretty standard issue for anyone of any status, generally even the lowest ranks of marine could carry one of these rifles if they tended towards long range combat. The rifle did have the ability to fire automatically so it wasn't solely a sniper but it's recoil was pretty brutal when doing so, the real strength of this rifle was it's cheapness and undefeated reliability, you could drop this gun into quicksand, the deepest depths of the ocean, or into a pit of magma and it would still be functional. But her real weapon of choice was a brutish pistol often referred to as The Cannon, also silenced. It was renowned for being the most destructive, high-caliber, armor piercing hunk of metal that a stealth agent could wear on their hip, and this gun was only available to ESA because it had to be crafted and maintained with extreme care or it could malfunction and explode.

When the chime sounded through the ship Scarlett was passed out on the floor of the training room as even her favored entertainment, fighting, swiftly got boring without another person to spar against. Even so she swiftly launched to her feet the moment the sound rung through and darted to the helm, ready to finally get this mission under way. As much as she hated having partners to slow her down at least they kept her less bored and even on a solo mission she normally had a handler to chat to.

When she 'popped' into realspace she found the Pirate base's signal and immediately set a course down towards a destination near it. After the ship landed safely she rushed to grab her rifle, slung it over her shoulder, then placed The Cannon at it's spot on her curvaceous hip. Eagerly she hopped out of the ship and took a deep breath before letting out a sigh of relief.
"I am so happy to finally be here!" She shouted under her breath, she then swiftly ran through the mission objective in her head, realized that she left the chip in the ship, retrieved the chip and hid it in a pocket on her inner thigh, and started on her way towards the Pirate base.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

Once Scarlett had geared up with everything she needed and wanted, it didn't take too long to get a visual on the pirate base. After a brisk hike, Scarlett found herself in an excellent vantage point to observe the pirate base, from behind several tall rocky crags.

The sun was setting fast, but the base was still quite visible. It was made up of a series of prefabricated structures; four small metal domes, one large dome that was topped by a sensors & communications array, and one huge central dome, all connected by metal tube-corridors to each other, sprawled around the central dome. There were two landing pads as well, a small one and a large one. The large pad had a medium freighter docked and room for more, the small pad was occupied by several light freighters. It was a far cry from being as active as even the smallest H.A. spaceports.

Once Scarlett used her scope to get a closer look, she discovered her opposition, milling around the base and going about their own business. Zelkers, mostly. Zelkers were a somewhat-humanoid-in-shape but very reptilian species, easily identified by the signature frills and crests on their heads and backs of their necks. Their scales were usually shades of green, and their frills were shades of yellow or orange. Their bodies were usually muscular, but in a sleek and streamlined manner, and they all had long heavy tails which Scarlett knew could be used as a nasty club in a pinch. Their vision wasn't great, but they had decently acute senses of smell.

There just seemed to be a few guards posted on small towers around the base, but Scarlett could tell that they were bored and lazy, none looked like they were expecting any trouble. Other Zelkers were moving between the landing pads and the entrances to the domes, hauling cargo on grav-lifts. Here and there, Scarlett caught a glimpse of a non-Zelker alien, but they were uncommon. With how lax the guard posts looked, especially with the bloody sun sinking below the horizon, it looked like this wouldn't be too difficult of a reconnaissance and infiltration. There were several avenues of approach Scarlett could choose, for when she decided to move in.

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett let out a sigh that was a mix of relief and disappointment when she peered through the scope of her rifle down onto the base. Lax defenses, lazy guards, a base small enough that her and an accompanying squad of snipers could simply siege it from her position and have no issue murdering everyone, and Zelker. To some Zelker may be a nightmare, giant reptilian humanoids who were brutal in close combat and could smell a soldier from a distance under most-all circumstance. Even so to Scarlett Zelker were nothing but grunts, she would never get in a close range fight with them unless she began it by slitting their throat, she was stealthy enough that even a race with keen eyes would have major problems spotting her but she could practically trot past Zelker with her silent footsteps, and with her skintight ESA suit there was nothing for the Zelker to catch a whiff of; after all she had no intentions of pissing herself or rolling around in the dirt like a pig so if she wasn't going in blind and without support she could probably have done this mission in her sleep. Sadly, she was going in without support, so she would just have to do it with her eyes open.

Despite Scarlett's wants to simply get this mission over with she had over an earth day left of time before the Pirate ship was scheduled to dock so unless she did plan on taking the base by storm and camping out in it until the ship arrived any further probing of the base was either a risk, or just a waste of time. Instead she decided to start on making a concealed campsite at her vantage point where she could rest and perhaps start up a fire while she waited for the arrival of her mission objective. The Elite Space Agent wasn't too worried about wildlife or floral threats on this world seeing as how barren and rocky it was, from her experience the more wet and dense with forests a world was the more dangerous the creatures and environment that inhabited it.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

Setting up her camp encountered no difficulties, as Scarlett settled in to wait for her objective to arrive. The base remained entirely unaware of her, and when she slept for only two hours during the night thanks to her genetic augments, nothing had gone wrong or seemed to change. The greatest threat to Scarlett at this point was boredom. Her objectives-tracker counted down the Estimated-Time-of-Arrival of the pirate flagship, and Scarlett had to wait for the entire night, and the majority of the next day, doing nothing but observe from her secure vantage point.

Finally, when her ETA showed about fifteen minutes left...Scarlett heard a distinctive sonicboom, the kind a ship made during atmospheric reentry. Away and above the base, a dot appeared in the sky, which quickly grew into a needle-nosed, thick-bodied, frigate-class vessel. While the ship seemed rough and junky, with an ugly rust-orange paint job, it moved with deceptive grace as it swung in on antigrav thrusters for a landing on the large pad of the base. The base crew were scurrying around, and even from such a distance, Scarlett could hear the clattering and hissing sounds of the ship alighting on its landing struts. From there, refueling tubes were hooked up to the ship, cargo was transferred on and off, and crew disembarked.

This was it. The ship's central computer was now connected to the base's mainframe. Scarlett now had three local days to get into the base, access the hypercommunications array, and transmit the entire contents of the flagship's database to the preset coordinates in space she had been given. But with how easy this base's defenses looked? It would be surprising if this took more than a few hours, most likely.

Rather simple mission to mark Scarlett's "full ESA graduation", really.

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett let out a cheerful chirp when she saw the pirate flagship boom into view before her. Despite being the best stealth agent HA had to offer the ESA was not known for her patience. The type of stealth that Scarlett excelled in was speedily and efficiently eliminating any threat that could potentially notice her from the protective cloak of silence and concealment. She wasn't the kind of girl that was willing to just sit in a corner and wait for the coast to clear, unless she truly had no other options, even so her lack of discipline had worked in her favor quite well thus-far.

In mere moments the girl had anything useful recovered from her camp and she was already set towards the base, she wanted to arrive there as swiftly as possible with the hopes to catch the aliens off guard while they were still in-taking the pirate ship. Seeing as it would take three whole days simply to refuel it she imagined there would be quite a large window where the bases defenses were crippled whilst they prepped the ship.

'This will be my quickest mission yet!' Scarlett boasted to herself as she rushed towards the base and yet maintained a near-perfect practiced stealth.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

The approach to the base went off without a hitch. Scarlett was able to move through the rocky crags, until she reached the flatter area where the perimeter of the base began. With the observations she had made last evening, Scarlett knew where there were blindspots in the guard towers that she could use to approach over the open ground. Soon, she found herself ducking behind outdoor crates an machinery, close to several of the domes of the base.

It looked like there were several ways Scarlett could effect entry into the base. Several of the domes had automatic-door entryways that the Zelkers were using to walk in and out of, and it looked like the doors themselves were unsecured. If Scarlett waited long enough, she could probably just waltz in when no one was looking, though she would have to be quick about finding a hiding spot inside before anyone noticed her. Alternatively, there were large air-exchange modules on the sides of the domes that had to be conditioning the air inside the base. It looked like, if she snuck over to one, she might be able to take off one of the grilles, disable the fan inside, and crawl in through the air duct; it looked like it should be big enough for her small frame.

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett had no doubt in her mind that she could simply rush through the front door and be able to take a place hidden among the nearsighted Zelkers without any issue. Despite her pride pushing her towards that option she was so proficient in crawling through vents and sneaking through tight places it would likely be just as fast, and much safer. So as a matter of protocol she decided that her entrance would be through the vents, and if for whatever reason they were compromised she could just slip through the front door like the stealthy badass she believed herself to be.

With that thought she did a swift check of her gear while waiting for the right moment then darted out from behind her cover toward the nearest safe vent like a shadow with a radiant red cape of flowing hair. As she ran she naturally defaulted to an impressively low crouched position, as if she were almost crawling, that forced her already skin tight uniform to cling tightly to her backside and reveal an obvious cameltoe at her crotch.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

Scarlett made it to the air-exchange unit on the side of the dome without incident; no shouting, no raised alarms, and she was able to slip into the vent itself in no time. As she moved through the vent, her very tight and form-fitting outfit stretching over her rump and cameltoe would have made her quite the mouthwatering treat to oogle, had anyone been there to oogle her. But of course that was not the case, no one had seen her and no one was with her.

Scarlett had to slow down quite a bit, as the duct walls were thin and liable to make noise with anything but the lightest motions. She soon passed a vent showing a room inside the base. In the distance, not close, she could hear faint voices. She was now in the section of ducts that were actually within the walls of the dome-buildings. Through the vent, she could see what looked like a stockroom, with many boxes haphazardly piled everywhere--plenty of places to hide. The duct she was in, however, was already its own place to hide extended forward to bends, probably also branches ahead. The system almost certainly webbed through the whole base, it was likely she could get anywhere she wanted using the ducts.

The ESA could open the vent and drop down into the stockroom to hide; she would be able to actually detect and evade potential threats, and would be able to easily find her way around. On the downside: she couldn't see anything other than what was directly below the vent--if she opened it and dropped down, it was a risk that she could be spotted. Alternatively, Scarlett could proceed forward in the duct. She would be almost sure to be hidden from anyone until she reached her objective, and "death from above" always made the element of surprise even more effective, if it became necessary. On the downside: if she wasn't careful, she could get lost, and either way progress would be very painfully slow in order to not make any noise in the very echo-y, reverberating duct. It would amplify even a single slip-up of noise and give her away for sure, and it could be hours of inching forward to avoid that.

She once again had to make a choice about how to proceed...

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett grinned as she found herself to and in the vent without the slightest sign that anyone had seen her. Crawling through vents was always her favorite method of entering a compound stealthily, she could crawl nearly as fast as she could walk and just as quite. No doubt crawling was also the favorite method of any partner she might bring behind her on a mission, the view was perfect and the famous ESA was completely clueless to just how well her custom suit fit around her pussy. In a situation like this even her tight little asshole would appear against the fabric. Luckily Scarlett never minded her allies pressuring her to crawl around.

When Scarlett found herself at a vent cover she swiftly peered down into it and saw the stockroom located below. Usually the stockroom was just about the very best place to drop when trying to penetrate a compound, it would likely be empty, and even if it wasn't the people inside would be workers that she could dispatch immediately, not guards. Even so she refrained from dropping down, 'Right now they are loading up the ship with everything it needs to refuel and travel, there are likely people in most stockrooms right now and I don't intend to get into an all out gunfight.' She thought keenly. The other downside to dropping into the stockroom was that she may end up across the compound from her destination, she much preferred to at the very least confirm she was near the ship before taking any undue risks.

So without another thought she confidently decided to continue her way down the vents. Although after traveling for not too long she would swiftly come to the conclusion that crawling through a vent was significantly less entertaining without a handler to chat with her over comms or a partner to dote over her ass and compliment her on her flexibility.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

Progress through the duct was very slow, and very, very boring. Scarlett had to move miniscule distances at a time to avoid making noise in the sound-amplifying thin sheetmetal duct. However, after travelling through two room's worth of duct on her way to the comm center, things suddenly got significantly less boring.

How was she supposed to know this section of the duct had been shoddily installed and improperly sealed?

After another inch forward, Scarlett suddenly heard a metallic crrreeeeak. But freezing in place, going absolutely still, did not stop the creaking sound from continuing. Then there was a heart-stopping downward lurch, as the section-to-section seal of the duct ahead of her began to give way even under her light weight.

In the next moment, the joining failed entirely, and with a cacophonic shrieking of ripping metal and a CRASH, the duct Scarlett was in fell downward, separating from the section ahead of her and bending at the section behind her, unceremoniously tumbling her right out of the duct and onto the floor of an open room like a chute! Once Scarlett blinked the daze from her eyes, she found that she was in what looked like a mess hall, and surrounded by stunned-silent Zelkers staring at her.

Then all hell broke loose.

 

[Rosina]

Scarlett let out one annoyed,
"Dammit..." As she heard the sound of the metal creak and shudder above her, the weight of the petite heroine was too much for the vents to handle. The ESA was trained to react well under emergencies like this so she kept herself calm and composed, taking the time to yank The Cannon off of her hip and ready it for the impending chaos that would ensue the moment the vent fully broke from it's hinges. Even so she couldn't help but think angrily, 'Zelkers can't even manage to build their vents right!'
After that she felt herself plummet forward and down through the vent.

Falling was just another thing on the list that this legendary ESA had mastered, she was a genius when it came to manipulating her body and she was flexible enough to handle any maneuver she wanted to pull off (or any scenario that might be forced on her,) so almost the instant she left the vent, with one push from her left hand upon exiting, she was diving feet first to the ground. As she fell her eyes scoured the room-crack-the gun in her hand slid mechanically as it fired and if it had not been silenced it no doubt would've sounded like the clasp of thunder. The recoil of The Cannon sent her spinning in mid air since she didn't have anything to brace herself with, a frenzy of brilliant red hair dancing around her like a whirlwind of roses-crack-another torrent of sparks burst from her gun as she twirled and the kick halted her spinning leaving her to land perfectly on her feet like some sort of ballerina. Scarlett's hair continued to whirl around her for a long moment even after she landed, and the two huge caliber armor-piercing rounds she fired found their mark square in the face of two unsuspecting Zelkers.

Her entrance was like a scene out of a sci-fi action flick and the two she had fired upon were no doubt dead or brutalized after taking a bullet from The Cannon, but sadly for the legendary ESA the two aliens she had dropped were only a fraction of the Zelkers inhabiting the mess hall.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

The two Zelkers that Scarlett shot dropped with howls of agony, but that only galvanized the rest of the Zelkers, more than a dozen of them, into action. They all drew weapons of their own--giving Scarlett just enough time to shoot another--before they started pointing guns at her and moving in, forcing her to abandon offense and focus on escape. Scarlett was a brilliant and well-trained ESA...but even she was not untouchable. She ducked, dodged, weaved, avoided the Zelkers trying to point firearms at her...but others had drawn melee batons and cut her off. Scarlett was in the one place she didn't want to be; close-quarters with the Zelkers. Try as she might, there was just too many of them. As they swung and attacked her and she tried to evade, one of the Zelker's heavy tails managed to bash one of her legs, sending her down to a knee...which gave just enough of an opening for another Zelker to attempt to strike her across her back with his energized stun-baton!

 

[Rosina]

Despite her unceremonious entrance Scarlett didn't miss a beat. By the time both her feet hit the ground she was already lunging toward the nearest exit, the Cannon extended in front of her, and with each step forward a crack burst through the room and a torrent of sparks exploded from her gun chasing, pointlessly, a massive bullet aimed at any Zelker in her way. Her offense was literally blinding as she rushed forward at impressive speeds and sparks of light flashed all around the nearsighted reptiles. Many more of the alien brethren would find themselves on the wrong end of the ESA's Cannon before they had the time to even drop their food tray.

However no matter how fast she was there was so many of them, and some just happened to be in position to pursue he before the vent even failed: wandering to wherever they acquired food with their arms still equipped. During one of her lounges, right before firing another shot, one of the Zelkers caught her knee with a blow so powerful that it sent the petite, beautiful girl into a 360 degree spin in mid air before falling onto her hands and knees roughly. At some time during that recoil she accidentally fired her weapon and, unable to prepare for it's massive force, it went flying out of her grasp and crashing to the floor nearly on the opposite end of the room from her. Luckily the ESA was almost used to running on all fours, just as before she bounded forward in an impressively low crouched position, as if she were almost crawling, that forced her already skin tight uniform to cling tightly to her backside and reveal an obvious cameltoe at her crotch. Allowing her to just dodge the electrified strike that would have sent her paralyzed to the ground.

Now with her most powerful weapon lost she was forced to retreat toward the nearest door and hope that she cleared a large enough hole in the Zelker's force to escape. Perhaps the amazing view of her cameltoe would stall the incoming aliens, or the shock of having nearly half their forces murdered in a 30 second window would slow them with fear; Scarlett would need something to even make it out of the room. Yet even if she did manage there was no telling what she might find on the other end that could doom her just as much as the Zelker's tail almost had.

 

[PsionicCuttlefish]

The shouting of the reptilian aliens, clattering of trays and tables, and the barking of Scarlett's oversized pistol mixed together in a chaotic cacophony in the mess hall. The Zelkers may not have been very quick on the draw at first, but they quickly realized how much trouble that pistol was causing and started to do what they could to avoid it...at least until a lucky tail-slap to Scarlett's knee threw her off and another shot with an improper grip caused the weapon to fly out of her hand. However, Scarlett also landed in an all-fours position with her rear facing the majority of the Zelkers, who got a good if brief view of how her skintight bodysuit hugged her ass and groin. However, once she dodged out of the way of the stun baton, they were on the move and chasing her as she headed towards the nearest door. They no longer needed to be cautious about her weapon, but she had a head start.

Scarlett was able to reach the door and wrench it open with a few seconds to spare before the Zelkers behind her caught up...but the moment the door was open for her to dash forward, there was something directly in the way for her to run into and bounce back off if she didn't stop quickly enough--a massive wall of an armored chest! There was already another several Zelkers on the other side, the lead lizard surprised with his hand reached out to open the door himself just before Scarlett did! Of course the Zelkers in the mess hall couldn't have been anywhere near all of them, and it seemed these ones were just about to enter themselves.

But now Scarlett's escape routes were being cut off. The crowd of Zelkers behind her had closed in, and whether she had knocked herself to the floor or was still on her feet, they were reaching out to grab her with their scaled hands...