Two Weeks of Patrol since leaving Antares Base

Nallia had been in the briefing room all of two minutes ago. She had been going over possible Midrozi Clan targets, trying to guess where they would be deployed, and for what reason. As compact as human colonies in space were there was still too many for her to accuratly guess which one the would be heading towards. That planning session had changed at a single announcement from the brige.

Alert. Distress call from Buladi IV indicating Midrozi ship. This is not a drill. ETA till our arrival at Buladi IV ... 15 minutes.

On the way to the Hanger bay Nallia had reviewed what she knew about Buladi IV. It was a world with a similar atmosphere and enviroment to earth, although it only had a single supercontinent still. It also had no fauna larger than insects. The reason was simple. Spores filled the air of that world, making the air itself always appear a slight green. It had been discovered that filters could not stop the spores in question, but they only had an affect on someone if they had a Y chromosone. The ADD had funded a research lab on the world to try and identify and replicate the spores, such a weapon given to agent's in the field would be devastating to most aliens who tried to rape them. Unless the Midrozi were actually worried about such a bio weapon such an attack made little sense. The colony was isolated, but it's population was low, and with a high proportion of security forces and equipment.

Not that the reason behind launching an attack there mattered just yet. Nallia would have maybe 10 minutes to provide a briefing to the ground teams. Each agent had the option of taking a squad of marines with them or going in solo. At the alert they were supposed to form up in the hanger bay. If they wanted a squad that squad was to join them. Nallia's speed ensured she was the first to arrive at the hanger bay. But she expected the others would get here soon enough.

As the alarm continued to go off, Minerva was busy suiting up. She had just gotten her suit on and was putting on her gloves. She took a deep breath, these aliens had dared to plan to take her sister...they were going to pay. Minerva turned to pick up her helmet, she would lead a squad of marines. The red headed agent fought harder with allies around her to fight for. And they might provide the edge she needed. Minerva headed out the room to join the briefing.

Iria was sinking her fist into a punching bag when the alarms went off. The bag was already covered in sewn patches in make shift repairs. Already dressed in her full body latex suit, the amazon woman punched the bag one last time adding yet another hole to the bag. Ignoring the sand pouring onto the floor, the ADD agent went to the weapons storage and checked out her standard gear along with her large warhammer. Sliding the belt around her hips and letting the heavy hammer rest on her shoulder, she proceeded to the hangar.

She arrived alone. She had no need for agents that were too green to be any use for battle. Iria had no time to babysit a bunch of other soldiers during a mission. The busty amazon ignored the formation of marines and the agent leading them as she took her place alone to the side of the formation. As she waited, she tied strings of microbombs to her hair and did last minute checks on the rest of her gear and weapons. It was about time she got some action.

Nallia waited patiently in the hanger as Minerva arrived, plus her squad of marines, and was soon followed by Iria, who was alone. Even now Nallia had to admit that Iria's ability to heft such a large and unwieldy weapon as her war hammer was impressive, and against the Midrozi as long as she could keep up with their speed such a weapon would be very effective. Nallia remained silent as the two agents plus squad of marines did their last minute checks, while the drop ship behind her did it's own checks. When that was done and the women all turns to look at her Nallia drew in a deep breath, her yellow eyes scanning the formation and following the slightest movement.

The Midrozi have finally decided to strike. We received the distress call ten minutes ago, and have another five before we reach the planet itself. If the Midrozi are following standard procedure that means they will have dropped off their ground team and their ship will have jumped away to wait for the signal that it is clear to come in and grab the newly captured slaves. The moment we arrive the Desmond will jam all long range comms frequencies, and hopefully the team on the ground will not have the technology to bypass that jamming. A more sizable force is being amassed and is en route, but unless we neutralise the ground team we could spend years trying to chase them down.

The world your going to is Buladi IV. It is an environment similar to earth, only it is still at super continent stage. There is only a single research outpost planet side, and you will be dropped near there. The outpost is located in a region that resembles the Amazon rainforest in South America on Earth, only without any animal life larger than insects. The planet's atmosphere is filled with spores that give the air a faint red tinge, and although air filters are incapable of blocking the spores they are harmless to you and breathing them in will have no ill effect. Unless one of you is a very good actor and is hiding the fact they are actually male of course. I'm not sure if the Midrozi have launched a all female team, or have some other countermeasure to protect anyone with a Y chromosome from the spores killing them off. But if you see a male Midrozi on the planet try and recover their body so we can work out exactly how.

Enemy force ... Anywhere between twenty to fifty hunter caste, and maybe a few warrior caste who are along just in case. The research facility has it's own security team, so they may have reduced the Midrozi numbers by the time we arrive. Watch your blind spots, and watch each others back. Make sure your mind is certain of what you are seeing, the Midrozi hunters are psychics who specialise in making you see things that don't actually exist. As long as your mind is focused you should be fine. Make sure you use sonic dampeners, light sensitive visors and have taken your immune system booster shot. You should have all of those attached to your body armour, if not grab them from the wall over there Nallia pointed to a wall of the hanger that bordered the armoury that was currently laden with all sorts of gear before you leave. The Midrozi will not fight fair, and they will use sonic grenades and flash bangs, as well as poison tipped weapons and gas attacks without hesitation.

Is there any questions?

Minerva was the first ask a question as she thought about the situation, Do we know how many friendlies are down there? Minerva wanted to exactly sure how many people they had to rescue. With the hunters, the ADD would have to make sure that none of the Midrozi had not disguised themselves as members of the staff. Is there any easy way to identify them individually?

The busty agent said nothing once Nallia had finished with the briefing. Knowing she would probably not be allowed to go without the gear mentioned, Iria moved to the armoury and grabbed a visor and dampeners. She returned shortly after to see that agents had questions. She could care less though. The amazon woman would just deal with any problems as she encountered them. It was not an agents place to ask too many questions anyway. Eager to have a chance to pound something to a pulp, Iria was already growing impatient. All this briefing was annoying. Things were much easier when she was just given the information then thrown into the depths of space on her own.

Exact number of friendlies is currently unknown. I have Lieutenant Galina working on getting that number from ADD command, but the operator on the other side seems to be one who has gotten her position through political means. She seems determined to stick by protocol, and no-one aboard this ship has the clearance to access that information. So we are at an impasse until she decides to bounce the request to someone else, or Galina manages to contact someone with authority and get the clearance. As for identifying, there is no easy way. A hunter's illusion could mimic anything, and I have never actually encoutered a psychic before. All I can suggest is that you get more than one person looking at any 'friendly' at once. Plus a Midrozi cannot change their apperance, only what your mind thinks it sees. Jarri are usually taller than a human, and almost always thinner. Physical contact should also prove it, but be careful about getting within arms reach.

Nallia answered Minerva's question as Iria wandered over to the wall and grabbed the required equipment for deployment. It wasn't surprising that Iria simply wanted the chance to go in and stop talking. Such impatience was dangerous, but it could also be useful. Human's were not like her, not hunters, not predators. Sometimes too much information would create fear, and that was just as dangerous as any gun.

As soon as the two Agents, plus the squad of marines led by Minerva, had their gear they moved into the dropship. A few tense minutes of waiting followed before the dropship launched, taking the small ADD force down into a lush vibrant world. And hopefully into a victory against the Midrozi Clan slavers.

Minerva double checked her equipment on the flight down. She wanted to be absolute positive that her equipment was working before she got to the ground. She had her marines check their equipment as well. If they work up here, they will work down there as well despite any tricks. Minerva could rely on her memory if nothing else. As a side benefit it kept the marines minds occupied so they wouldn't worry too much as threats ahead. As long as they worked as a team, things should workout for the best.

Iria was on the ship soon as she got her gear. She did not care about the so called friendlies. She was here to deal with foes and that was exactly what she was going to do. Psychic powers did not concern her. A hammer to the head would stop any thought from forming in their alien minds. Everything else was just minor details to an otherwise simple mission of seek and destroy. The amazon took her seat and waited for the others. Soon enough they were descending from space towards the planet and their first battle as a squad. With all the fluff constantly checking gear and showing signs of being nervous, Iria kept to herself intending on letting them filter out first before taking her first steps on the planet.

Hunter Kaeli smiled to herself as she stood in the main dining hall of the human base. On the floor, scattered around the room, was the staff, or at least what was left of the ADD scientists who had manned this outpost. The twelve strong security team was either dead, or would be soon. She had lost two of her hunters to them, and such an affront of mere animals killing a Jarri, let alone a member of the Midrozi Clan, could not be allowed to stand unpunished. Nearly thirty females, their bodies nubile, young and strong. A fairly good haul, and despite the loss of two hunters well worth it. The humans were cuffed, their hands behind their back and their bodies numb from a sedative that left their mind working, but the body immobile. A very useful, and powerful drug ... when you applied it properly.

She reached up and tapped her uplink to the long range communicator her hunting party had brought down with them. It activated, however she tapped it again almost instantly as she heard static return from it. Something was jamming them. Her smile faded as she crouched down, a holographic display being projected from a eyepiece. It took all of a few seconds for her to locate the source of the jamming ... orbit. Something was in space, hovering just overhead, and was blocking all long range comms. The fact that her uplink had worked implied they were only blocking the FTL frequencies, which meant they would probably be coming down here. She scowled as a single drop ship moved into her scanner range. The powerful scanner sent a pulse of radar at it, and when the return echoed back she knew it had a single squad, plus two individuals. The humans were outnumbered 2 to 1, and while her hunters were not warriors they should be a match for ADD marines. If anything proved particularly challenging ... well that was what Garii and Kealish were for. The only two males on this force, both were warrior caste, and both had gotten around the spore issue by simply creating a psychic projection around their skin that blocked the spores from entering their body.

She snapped the display off and twisted her finger in a circle over her uplink. It instantly shifted modes, all she would have to do was repel these human attackers long enough for her own ship to realise they were taking too long and come and investigate. A single Margul class ship would easily be able to either chase the orbiting ship away, or simply extract the hunters and their slaves from the planet if that was easiest. A string of commands in Jarri, a language that would sound almost like a choir in tone to any human listening, and her hunters would finish off the remnants of the security team and move into some defensive positions. She had fourteen hunters, including herself, and two warriors, going up against eight humans.

The hunters, not knowing where you would land, moved a security team body to each of the possible eight landing zones. Each of the bodies showed very little signs of injury, but the face was twisted into an expression of pure agony ... and death had locked that expression in place. These humans would learn what fate would await them the moment they fell, the fear would make them jumpy and make them make mistakes. It worked for every other species, it would work for this one.

As soon as shuttle landed, Minerva's squad jumped out and took up a defensive perimeter. Minerva joined her squad as they made sure the landing zone was secure. For the moment everything was calm, however if the Midzori were anything like the reports that wouldn't last long. In fact even though they weren't here they still had left some of evidence.

One of the marines, found a security guard or what was left of her. The fallen guard had few injuries, but her death expression was just simply shocking. It was clear she died a horrific death...somewhere else. It was a bit clear to Minerva that the body had been dragged here to be left as a threat. However it was meant caused fear in the red headed agent, it did the exact opposite. It only made Minerva angrier, How dare they do this! They think they can do whatever they please to anyone! Let's go kick their asses!

Once the agents have finished filing out of the ship, Iria casually stepped out and took in her surroundings. Seeing the body, she frowns and looks around again. The other agents were already mumbling amongst themselves while Minerva expresses her rage about the Midrozi. Being quiet would be a wiser course of action but the guard's body here only proved one thing, the Midrozi know that they were coming. More than likely their sensors picked up their vessel as it came to land.

"They are probably watching us right now, reading our reactions," Iria said finally, "Or they are just going to wait for us back at the camp." She shrugged and simply began walking down the path. The red haze of spores did not seem to bother her as expected and it did not even cause any problems in her eyes. In any case, it was a high chance that majority of the forces were either female or had a way to get around the spores effects. But that did not matter ot the amazon. Male or female, an enemy is an enemy.

"So we going or what?" she looked back at the others.

Minerva looked over at well endowed agent. Right now she was everything Minerva was suppose to be. Cool, calm, collected. She was scanning for clues and was making educated guess about the enemy's movement. Minerva took a deep breath and exhaled.

As she got her breath back, Minerva nodded in agreement to Iria's question. Right, we have to take the fight to them. We can't let them seize the initiative. Minerva began to concentrate mission at hand as she moved to back the other agent.

Only three of the hunters were in any sort of position to offer resistance against the ADD, and most military forces would have fallen back at 3 to 8 odds, especially when they had reinforcements rapidly approaching. But the Midrozi hunters were arrogent, they were only dealing with humans after all. Two of them held positions in cover near the entryway into the camp the ADD would use, while the third waited in plain sight on the path leading to it.

Of course each one had a psychic illusion concealing them, the two hunters in cover were invisible to sight, while the one hunter in the open resembled a member of the security team that was alive, if sobbing to herself as she curled up in a ball. The hunter's were not warriors, and they may not be able to match an Agent in hand to hand in a one on one fight. But if they managed to ambush that situation would be very different. Poison sacs that lined the fingernails of the hunter ensured that even a scratch would leave a human writhing in agony.

The hunter's didn't know about the immune system booster Nallia had ordered the Marines and Agents to take. Didn't know that it would reduce the effectivness of their poison to a burning sensation throughout the affected human's body for several seconds before fading away.

Iria's hips swayed gently as she walked almost casually down the path that would lead towards the human camp. Her large breasts were compressed and held in check by her latex suit so they would not hinder her movements too much should combat happen. She knew the Midrozi were no doubt watching them. Putting just a dead body nearby by itself would not do much to deter a group of ADD agents.

Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the female sobbing in the middle of the path. She did not know her mind was being manipulated but she knew this was an obvious trap. No sane person would just sit out in the open and sob, giving away her position to her potential pursuers. And with the dead body before, it was obvious the aliens would have found this woman in the first place. The amazon looked around but could not see anyone else nearby. Sighing softly, she knew that there was only one way to get these aliens to show themselves.

The ADD agent moved closer to the woman. She knew setting off the trap would get these things to show themselves. "Hey!" she called out, "Hey you there! What are you doing sitting out in the open like this? Stupid girl, you have to keep moving." Coming upon the woman, she reached out to grab the potential victim.