You are filling in for another girl. Minerva had to think about that. It was strange that someone would have had food poisoning from her rations. It was possible but still a little strange. Do you know how long ago that occurred.

The redhead spoke up, The slaver Blue said that he was planning to collect four or five girls from Shokushu around this time. Apparently they are specific girls he is trying to capture before they can 'graduate'.

I want to prevent that from happening.

“I'm told she got sick real bad a few days ago but had the stamina to tough it out until yesterday. One of the captain's had been making surprise inspections and shoring up holes in the perimeter when she discovered how ill the girl was so they had me cover for her after they relieved her from duty, not that they expected anything but if something were to happen they wanted someone on hand that could do something, but really I'm not too cut out for this ship stuff yet so that's a testament to how thin we agents are. I don't know what offensive they have the other girls doing but apparently I'm too green for it, even if I'm green to ships too I guess I have a bit more experience with them.”

She shakes her head briefly though shakes her head briefly. “That's terrible, someone wants to break the blockade. Four or five girls? When, where?” She wasn't ready for this even though she had read the manual three times already.

“No one has past through thus far, Lieutenant. Is Blue suppose to come here specifically or elsewhere. I don't think Moni – the Corporal would be in one it. Still, tell me how I can help and I'll do so.” She saluted her superior officer, odd as before she hit the demotion when she wanted field work she actually had rank on the red head.

The captain, had her replaced after a surprise inspection? Minerva had heard that surprise inspections from time to time. However to do it while, Blue was planning on raiding Shokushu seemed like to be an incredible coincidence. The timing of all of this is really strange. I mean its better to have you on the frontlines than a sick agent, but it means that we are a bit understaffed should Blue come through this area. That means we are going to have to be very careful.

It suppose to be soon, and I believe through here. I guess you and eye are the only ones who can stop it.

It was then that Luna saluted her. Minerva returned the salute. Sorry about that. Due to my time with Blue I found myself being forced to be out of uniform. Hopefully I can find a spare to wear until I can get my ship back.

“Yeah, it was a surprise inspection. I was surprised that they wanted me out here. If I were better at ship to ship stuff and not so green ...” she blew out a puff of air. “Two things, your not going to tell me if you are though I'm not insulted, it's a natural thought. Either I'm some kind of go between and that there might be a plant higher up in the organization if Blue is coming through here that tells me that either I'm a plant working for him, that the agent before me was some kind of mole or double agent turning a blind eye to things or that they wanted someone out here that would be easy to deal with and this food poisoning thing is BS and an excuse to get me out here. Joy. Looks like either I won't have your complete trust or the bosses are out to get me.”

It would be a little funny if the situation wasn't so damn serious. So it was just the two of them, right. Well, this was going to be fun.

“Shall we abandon this ship for yours? In a dog fight I don't trust myself not to shoot your ship by mistake. And no apologies are necessary Lieutenant. I have some things, they might be a bit tight looking at you quickly. You're a hair taller and bust a bit bigger but it looks that were just about right in other areas so the jump suit should work though it may be a bit tight up top.”

“Do you know the specks of your ship or would this one be more familiar to you?”

Minerva took a moment to try to build up the new agent training. It's okay. You trained for this. They would not have sent you out here if you could not handle it. The red headed agent put her hand to the brunette's shoulder. I am pretty sure your not the mole. You would have already taken me prisoner otherwise. I didn't have any weapons prepared and you had me dead to rights as soon as the door opened. It was not exactly true as Minerva did have that pistol, but Luna did not need to know that. Now we just have to figure out who the real mole is.

My ship. It not going to be much use anyways it can't turn so well due to some problems it had before I stole it. We are better off just using your ship and leaving the other ship as a diversion. In fact we can probably hide your ship in its shadow.

And if you don't mind I think I can take that jump suit to wear for now. Anything had to be better than outfit she is currently wearing.

Luna gained in confidence. With the belief that her idol though she could do this she grew more confident in what she could do. She gave a sharp nod determined that she, that they would do this. This was so cool working with Minerva! Of course she had hoped that it would have been under better circumstances but she'd take them.

To be off the suspect list as far as the moles went had been a relief in itself for the former researcher. She knew that she wasn't the mole though that still left two possibilities. Either the girl she replaced ha been or someone in command. There were both equally likely and she needed a bit more information before she could determine who though if they caught this Blue character they could get that information out of him.

“That's a great idea. We can move the ship so that the other serves as a blind. And that jumpsuit is all yours.”

She moves the ship as Minerva dresses though the material is a bit tight in places, mostly the chest it does a better job of concealing her figure.

When she comes to the cock pit Luna moves into the co-pilot seat surrendering the other. With the ship between them though they are unable to get any good sensor readings as a ship jumps in. The ship is powered down but the former researcher seems to have hacked into the sensors of the unhindered vessel using them.


“Oh dear … this is not good.” Pale faced she turns to Minerva. “It's a battle ship and given the data their hailing your old ship.”

Minerva was more than happy to change out of the ridiculous outfit she was forced to wear to escape Blue's hideout. Finally she could be a proper agent wearing jumpsuit that at least look the part. Though it was a little tight for her around her chest making her breasts seem to stick out more than she liked. But it was better than nothing.

Soon the pair moved the ship into position behind Minerva's captured ship. For the moment Luna's craft should be completely invisible from anyone coming towards to Shokushu via this route. Only if a ship came from Shokushu would they notice Luna's craft and even then it wouldn't be until the ship got close.

Luna quickly got to work and began doing stuff on the computer. With her hands flying and furiously over the keyboard, it was hard for the redheaded agent to see what exactly the woman was doing. But it was clear that she was doing with a renewed sense of purpose like a proper agent should. Minerva could only smile as she took her position as a pilot.

They did not have time to wait until a ship had jumped in. Luna face said it all as she explained what it was.

We are going to have to make a run for it, since we can take on a battleship. Minerva thought for a second. They are going to try to capture my old ship. We'll drift slowly away and as soon as they begin to capture the other ship we will make a break for it.

Computers were here thing. Tapping into the sensors of the other ship had been easy for her to do. She nodded, knowing full well that Minerva was right. A battleship was a bit too much. The configuration was something she was not familiar with though she did tap into the communications system. Of course there would be no return message unless they wanted to do something foolish or cute but at least they could hear the transmitted message while they waited.

“YOUR EARLY. WE HAVE NOT YET REQUIRED THE TARGETS.”

Then there was a delay. “PHOENIX, THIS IS THE GALAXY, RESPOND. OVER.”

When there still was no response the comm burst again, Luna busy tapping keys as the agent was well practiced with the technical side of things if not the combat side. She was using the sensors of the other ship again to get a unique signature of the engines of the Galaxy One. Being able to track it after it's been in an area shouldn't be so hard for the first hour or two. It might be handy to have, especially if this ship was the one that was going to Shokushu.

The Phoenix began to move, albeit slowly as tractor beams locked onto it when it did not respond, the smaller ship being dragged to the larger one. Following for a moment they peeled away to take off catching their opponents off guard at least long enough for them to get out of range of the tractor beams. Fighters were launched after them, four dart shaped craft that were still a little ways out. They were gaining fast though.

The battleship did not move much to slow to give chase anyway. Could they handle the four ships? Luna was already getting the shields powered up and the weapons online in preparation.

Minerva could only look over Luna's shoulder as she typed fast and furiously. From their angle behind Blue's shuttle, Minerva could not see the massive warship so she would have to rely on the sensors to display what the warship looked like. And for the moment it looked like nothing she had seen.

It was then that the ship reported that it had not captured targets. Why would someone use such firepower to capture just four or five girls? They could capture the entire school with that much firepower. How important were these four and five girls that they needed to go through that.

Minerva could only look on as Luna tried to gather as much information as she could on the massive battleship, the redhead hoped that she could gather any potential weaknesses though it appeared that the brunette was doing the smart thing and making sure she could track the battleship should it move from this position and head to Shokushu.

The battleship slowly began to move and locked on Blue's shuttle. Slowly a tractor began to pull the smaller shuttle towards the massive Battleship. At once Minerva punched the throttle as she took off as fast as she could to get Luna's craft as far away from the Battleship. Almost at once she sent a distress signal to get the other ADD ships that might be in the area to respond. Rapidly it appeared that the small ADD craft was able to get out of the range of the battleship's guns.

Unfortunately Luna detected four smaller craft, probably fighters giving pursuit and rapidly gaining. Hang on this is going to get rough. We need to lose them in an asteroid field if possible.

There were many unknowns that neither agent knew at this stage though the might have been able to speculate on matters they did not have that luxury. Now was that important as thy peeled away. Confirming communications came in and Luna relaid the proper authorization codes to confirm that the last message was legit.

Hopefully the warship would leave if face with multiple threats. Luna showed her way about tech. Tapping remotely into sensors had been no challenge for her, same thing in looking for something they could use to assist them such certain radiation emissions pit out by ion drives that could assist in tracing them.

“Right.”

Her fingers fly over controls. It's a total contrast from when she was sitting in the pilot's seat. She's more at ease with the secondary systems. Sensors, communications even operating the shields.

“Heading 21903.13, there on long range sensors . We should make it before the fighters..”

The battleship did not pursue them not only would the quickly loose ground but they were busy seeing to the other ship. They would reach the asteroid field first, however, Did they try to hide
or did they fight she wondered ….

There were many unknowns that neither agent knew at this stage though the might have been able to speculate on matters they did not have that luxury. Now was that important as thy peeled away. Confirming communications came in and Luna relaid the proper authorization codes to confirm that the last message was legit.

Minerva could barely see Luna's hands move across the keyboard as the redhead attempted to lose the fighters chasing them. It looked the brunette was in her comfort as the redhead seemed to be in hers. For the moment at least, the pair worked like a veteran team that had been operating together for years.

Almost instantly Luna began to scan the area for asteroid field that the ship could take advantage of. It did not take long for the brunette to find exactly what Minerva needed.

Okay, hang on this going to get tricky. The agent turned the ship towards the asteroid field. Those fighters are much faster and more maneuverable than we are, but if they are forced to take it slow in the asteroids we should negate most of their advantages. From there it will come down to who is the better tactician...

Luna nodded, she understood as they made a brake to the asteroid field the fighters pursuing and taking shots, the ship being struck a few time, rocking but the ships managed to hold as Luna diverted power away from systems.

She did not return fire though, using the extra power for the shields. At these ranges she wasn't even likely and she'd open up in the asteroid field when the ranges were far shorter. The fighters were quick closing up the gap.

Luna fired now that the ships were closer though still not close enough for her to target effectively. She returned fire only to keep the fighters from focusing in on them too much having to weave a little at least.

The asteroid belt was a help allowing them to juke and weave from cover to cover, the fighters pursing having to get closer now due to the objects in the way. This allowed for Luna to return fire better though most of her shots were still atrocious.

Getting lucky once the lead fire exploded, his wing man, blinded by the debris emitting from the destroyed fighter slammed into an asteroid destroying it.

Four fighters left braking into two separate groups coming from the rear and either side.

Then two more fighters appeared on sensors coming up fast. They kept appearing and disappearing for the interference of the asteroids but it was clear that these pilots had been well trained, especially the lead ship which slipped between narrow openings or flew through holes in asteroids.

“We got rid of two but we got two more … no, those are ours …”

In short order two of the fighters were taken out before the remaining two scattered. The comm coming to life and Luna patch them through.

“This is Lieutenant Winters of Division Six of the ADD protection of Shokushu. Can we be of further assistance?”

The ship took a few hits being a fairly easy target for the nimble fighters despite Minerva piloting skills, still the shields managed to hold, absorbing the shots that had managed to connect.

Luna for her part, maintained excellent fire discipline. By not firing, the newly minted agent had managed to keep the shields full charged and able to withstand the fire from fighters who rapidly closing on the ship.

It was only in the close environment that the asteroid field, that the brunette finally fired. At first she fired only to keep the enemy from maintaining their target on the ship.

Minerva was able to dodge from one asteroid to another, using the rocks to protect her own ship from enemy fighter. It also had the side affect of forcing the fighters get closer and into Luna's effective range.

One of the burst from the brunette's guns hit causing a fighter to explode, the fighter following him lost control and crashed into another asteroid nearby.

The enemy fighters scattered in attempt to confuse Luna and surround the ship.

Despite Minerva's best efforts, the enemy fighters played cat and mouse with the less nimble ship. Furthermore they were only there for a second before disappearing behind another asteroid preventing Luna from even drawing a bead on them. It appeared there luck had run out as two more fighters to entered the fray.

It was then that Luna announced they are friendly fighters. As if to confirm their status, they engaged and took out two of the fighters and forced the others to retreat.

Lieutentant Winters, this is Lieutenant Rocha. There is a battleship on the otherside of the asteroid. I believe they are taking part on a raid on Shokushu.

“Shit ...” then silence. A battle ship … most of the craft out here were smaller one or two crew ships though there was a battle ship in a nearby sector. If they swarmed the vessel, knock out the engines perhaps they could us hit and run maneuvers until the larger ship got here.

“Alright. I'm on it. Do you have any injured on you vessel?” It would be necessary to get out of the asteroid field first to send an unimpeded message to the other ships in the blockade to shift them and get a few fighters here rather than pulling everything away from the planet encase that this was a trick of some sort.

Since she was short handed on ships due to having to protect the planet too she addressed Minerva again as her wing-man showed up, slowly picking through the asteroid field unlike the reckless Lt. Winters, or was she just that good of a pilot?

“I'm going to need your help to disable that ship. We have a battle ship in the area encase something like this ever happened but all I have out there right now are a bunch of picket ships and I can only pull so many away from the planet.

“If we target the engines, fly in and out of their range we should manage. They'll probably scramble fighters but that's a good thing since they'd stop targeting us with the big guns if they do.”