A stealth shuttle quietly approached a seemingly random asteroid floating in a field of asteroids.
It elicited no disturbance in its voyage. With hardly any strong light sources in the periphery of Xiphard Base, no hardly any light or other radiation shone in the shuttle's direction.
Even if someone shone a spotlight at the shuttle, there was no way it would become visible!
Through a combination of highly sophisticated stealth technologies, light and other energy seemed to pass straight through the shuttle's structure without revealing anything.
Even other forms of detection such as gravitic sensors and more esoteric hardware were also hoodwinked!
Perhaps the only major threat that could shred the stealth shuttle's facade was if something physical flung straight into its chassis.
However, even there the shuttle readied a response. The vehicle expertly manipulated the ubiquitous space dust and particles released from asteroid collisions.
If someone thought that a low-tech solution such as throwing huge volumes of sand in space would successfully reveal the passage of invisible objects, then they were sorely mistaken!
Second-class stealth technology already incorporated hundreds of different solutions to common means of detection!
The Crona Lords completely missed the fact that a stealth shuttle and a certain commando cat had entered the depths of their sanctum.
Now, Lucky would be making another trip. Inside the interior of the shuttle, racks and racks of gadgets occupied much of the space, leaving little room for the mechanical cat and the pair of Black Cats assigned to manage the equipment.
A black-clad woman studied the projection that provided her with a wireframe map of Xiphard Base and its security perimeter.
With one huge asteroid at the center, several smaller asteroids chained around it and a decent amount of pirate mechs patrolling beyond, it seemed daunting to approach this formidable fortification.
Lucky flicked his tail nervously. "Meow."
"It will be fine, Agent Lucky. While we are on a tight schedule, don't hesitate to skip certain tasks if the risk of discovery is too great."
"Meow!"
"We are nearing our first objective. Your first task is to disable the twenty-seven Alpha Mines that are spread in the outer perimeter of the pirate base. We have already uploaded the schematics of the Alpha Mine and which components and subcomponents you need to disable."
"Meow."
Hardly any of the mechs on patrols paid much attention to their surroundings. The stealth shuttle halted right next to the asteroid that hid a devastatingly powerful nuclear payload.
Lucky phased right through the shuttle hull and quickly dove straight through the asteroid as if all of the rock was nothing but air.
The brief exposure in space did not trip up any sensors. Neither the Alpha Mine nor the mech patrolling a few kilometers away noticed anything due to the Misfortune Harness that Lucky currently wore!
ChapterMid();
Once inside, the commando cat instantly recalled the schematics of the Alpha Mine and quickly phased to the center of the big rock. Eventually, he came very close to the explosive warhead and the components built to regulate its activation.
Lucky flitted around and swiped his claws several times. With each attack, his claw only phased back into existence long enough to cut through certain wires, demolish tiny subcomponents or ruin critically important processors!
Normally, an Alpha Mine frequently checked the condition and operation of all of its systems and components. As soon as one of them malfunctioned or became irresponsible, the mine was supposed to transmit a discrete signal back to Xiphard Base.
It just so happened that Lucky destroyed one of the transmission mechanisms first! Shortly after that, he destroyed the various redundant systems that were supposed to check the integrity of the Alpha Mines.
Once Lucky tore apart all of these safety systems, he was free to destroy some of the more essential mechanisms!
Though he only spent two minutes of time to tear apart all of the key components, the Alpha Mine no longer posed a threat!
Even if some pirates accessed its interior and replaced the broken components, it would take too much time to repair them all. There was no way the Crona Lords could finish the task in the middle of a battle!
Lucky phased out of the inert asteroid and dove straight back into the stealth shuttle, which had already shifted to a different position out of caution.
Though the Crona Lords didn't possess any sensors that could pick up the stealth shuttle, Lucky was different.
After eating some CFA gadgets and an entire CFA shuttle a few years ago, his detection ability was on par with first-class technology!
Even if the tech he assimilated was outdated, the Big Two's equipment at the time was still significantly more advanced than anything a second-rate state was capable of developing.
Therefore, to Lucky's sophisticated, multidimensional miniaturized sensor suite, the shuttle stood out like a sore thumb in space!
When Lucky phased back inside the shuttle, the vehicle quietly flew to another Alpha Mine.
In the meantime, Lucky draped himself over the lap of the Back Cat officer in order to offer himself to gentle caresses.
"Meow."
"Good job, but this is just the beginning."
It took many hours to sabotage all twenty-seven Alpha Mines. While Lucky only needed minutes to covertly disarm each of them, the mines were spread around many kilometers apart from each other.
Though it was easy to traverse this distance in the open, the stealth shuttle had to rely on very unobtrusive means of propulsion in order to avoid whipping up any disturbances. Just because the Crona Lords were unlikely to detect the intruder did not mean that the shuttle pilot could act careless!
In the end, sabotaging the Alpha Mines turned into a chore more than anything. The Crona Lords placed them a fair distance from Xiphard Base as the pirates did not wish for their explosive packages to impact their mechs and assets!
Lucky and the Black Cats considered this step to be a warm-up phase. Now that Lucky was tasked with sabotaging the Beta Ships and the various carrier vessels of the Crona Lords, the stealth shuttle had to fly much closer into Xiphard Base's security perimeter.
At this point, if the pirates ever detected the stealth shuttle, it was unlikely for the craft and its crew to escape death or capture!
"You need to act with much more care from now on. Just a single mistake can spell the premature end of this operation."
"Meow.."
The stealth shuttle approached one of the several derelict-looking ships parked just outside the defensive asteroids.
If anyone looked at one of the disguised Beta Ships, they would have instantly dismissed it as a threat. Its corroded, pockmarked exterior made it seem as if the Crona Lords had retrieved them from a battlefield but didn't bother to fix them up!
Due to all of the other space junk dumped in and around Xiphard Base, the Beta Ships blended in well.
It was only when Lucky phased through the solid Kavenit alloys that made up much of the structure that the scenery changed.
Lucky entered a clean compartment that hummed quietly. Various ship components lit up around him, signifying that the Beta Ship was constantly active but put on standby.