Interstellar Age

Having very narrowly avoided being turned into scrap. Erich and his team successfully jumped into the next system. Which was their destination. Luckily for them, this time around, they did not encounter a patrol. And thus, Erich activated the stealth field generator at full power, before cautiously piloting the ship towards the world's surface.

The planet was an icy wasteland, but there were still cities on its surface. The tall white skyscrapers stood proudly, despite the world's inhospitable environment. The Svartalfheim Federation was a major galactic power who had existed for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years. It is difficult to tell, because the exact moment when they diverged from the Light Elven race and the Alfheim Dominion was lost to history.

But one thing was certain, and that is the fact that the Dark Elves had the technology to live easily on even the most barren worlds if they so desired. The world that Erich and his team were landing on was called Kavor, and it was a rather insignificant planet, with little in terms of natural resources or strategic important.

Why were the Alfheim Dominion and their Svartalfheim rivals fighting over such a petty system? Exactly because both factions were incredibly petty and vindictive. The Svartalfheim Federation had invaded Alfheim territory and annexed four star systems during a time of crisis. And because of this, the Alfheim Dominion would do everything in their power to get those systems back, even if they were virtually meaningless.

As Erich pulled the corvette into the world's atmosphere, he noticed that the world was heavily fortified. No doubt this was done only recently, after Lunaria made her intent to wage war clear to Kadron. However, as fortified as the world was, it failed to detect the Germanic Corvette, which covertly made its way towards the world's surface.

The exact landing zone where Erich and his fellow WRAITHs were landing was actually outside the primary city. After all, their objective was to perform reconnaissance and to sabotage critical defensive structures. They were not the only WRAITHs who had been dispatched to this world, and because of that, Erich and his team were assigned a certain sector to operate within.

Once the ship had landed, and Tia confirmed that they were not being tracked, Erich sighed in relief, before standing up from his seat. The remainder of his unit was already grabbing hold of their weapons and preparing for combat. Which Erich was quick to do himself.

It was only after the team had their full loadouts in place that Ghost gave the order to depart from the ship, along with his plan of action.

"Alright, here's the deal. We are going to survey the city from afar. We have been given a list of things to sabotage, but first we need to locate them and identify what level of security we will be going up against. So follow my lead, and whatever you do, don't reveal and evidence that we are here. That means no footprints in the snow! Understood?"

Erich and the other members of his unit threw up a salute before responding to Ghost's orders.

"Yes, Sir!"

With this said, Ghost smiled and nodded his head before giving out his next command.

"Alright, move out!"

Although the Corvette was equipped with vehicles that could be used to traverse any kind of terrain, which existed in its cargo bay. Erich and his team set out on foot. It was the only way to truly leave no evidence of their landing behind. And thus the moment they stepped out of the vehicle, they activated their anti-gravity technology, and walked just above the snow.

While at the same time, the WRAITHs activated their stealth field generators, which not only made them invisible, but masked their thermal signatures. After climbing through the icy tundra for god knows how long, Erich and his team found themselves outside of the primary city, where they zoomed in with their helmet's built in binocular function, while recording the city.

It would appear that all the Svartalfheim Forces had been withdrawn from the planet, and were replaced with those of their vassals. Knowing full well that at any given moment, Empress Lunaria asterion could declare war on them, President Kadron had done everything in his power to prevent a major galactic war. And thus he had left no Svartalfheim forces behind within the disputed territories.

Ghost was quick to examine the area, and with the assistance of his own tactical intelligence assistant, he was able to quickly locate things such as weapon stores, planetary shield generators, power plants, et cetera.

As for Erich, he was currently having Tia scan the entire city for any and all technology that might potentially be able to see through their cloaking.

"Tia, tell me, can any of those scanners detect our presence if we were to infiltrate the city?"

Tia quickly did her best to scan the area. Where she spoke with a rather anxious tone in her voice.

"From my understanding of the city's defenses and sensors, it will be quite easy to detect your movements if you were to step foot in their immediate vicinity. In fact, I am confused about why they have not already spotted your ship landing. With the level of technology present, they should have been able to detect us the moment we jumped into the system."

Upon hearing this, Erich suddenly felt a chill down his spine, as if it were a sixth sense warning him about impending danger, and thus he immediately rolled to the floor. Where he witnessed an energy blade appear out of nowhere.

If he had not moved, then Erich would have for sure been impaled. And thus he immediately fired blindly at the spot where he had just been. By doing this, Erich had nailed the would be assassin in the chest with a burst of plasma bolts. Killing the man on the spot and deactivating his stealth field generator in the process. Erich then shouted to the rest of his unit so they were aware of what was happening.

"It's a trap!"

But it was too late. The moment Erich looked around, he saw that Heavy's head had been severed, while Ghost was impaled through the back. As for Echo and JT, they were currently moving about, and firing randomly, hoping to hit the attackers.

It was at this moment that an explosion occurred in the distance, which Erich immediately knew that it was his ship that had been destroyed. Realizing that he was in deep shit, Erich quickly activated his foresight and was able to accurately pinpoint the locations of the hostile forces. Which he immediately opened fire upon.

Erich's accuracy and ability to detect the enemy surprised his attackers, who were forced to back off from their position. Unfortunately, they underestimated Erich's abilities, who were conveying the exact positions of the enemies to his comrades with his telepathy.

Thus coordinating a proper counter strike, which swiftly saw the concealed forces slaughtered. Once they had determined that they were now safe, albeit temporarily. Erich lifted off the helmets of one of the slain hostiles, which revealed the signature dark skin and pointy ears of the Dark Elven race. Erich could not help but curse under his breath as he voiced his thoughts aloud.

"Shit, we were deceived. The Dark Elves knew we were coming in advance and deployed their special forces to hunt us down. Somebody has betrayed us!"

JT and Echo were still coming to terms with the loss of their demolitions specialist and their squad leader. Which JT was quick to voice aloud.

"What the hell are we going to do now? Heavy's fucking dead, and so is Ghost. Even if they are brought back, who knows how old the backup file is for them, and how many memories they will be missing!"

Echo silently grabbed hold of JT's shoulder from behind and shook his head. Erich knew exactly what the man was trying to convey, and thus, he was quick to speak of both of their thoughts.

"We have bigger problems than that to worry about! Our ship is destroyed, and the enemy knows of our location. It won't be long before they realize we killed their assassins. So, our first order of business is to withdraw, hopefully some place away from the city, where its censors will have a hard time detecting us."

Echo nodded his head in agreement with Erich's plan, while JT looked around at the corpses before asking a single question.

"Are we just going to leave them here?"

Erich looked at JT with a questioning gaze, which was concealed behind the red skull visor of his helmet. Where he then shrugged his shoulders before responding with a cold tone in their voice.

"They're already dead. The most we can do is scavenge their med pens and rations. The Dark Elves already know we are here. Disposing of their bodies would only waste valuable time. Time which we don't have."

Luckily for Erich, Echo was already well ahead of him, and while Erich was explaining their situation to JT, Echo had begun to scavenge the corpses of his fallen comrades, as well as the slain hostiles. Once the three men had scavenged everything of value, Erich and his two surviving comrades began to flee from the scene of their crime.

Which turned out to be a wise decision, because no more than a minute after they had sprinted away, an artillery strike landed on the location, which utterly obliterated the corpses that were left behind.