Planet X: The Legion's been busy!

(Author's Note- continued from https://heroes-rising-forum.2349640.n4.nabble.com/Only-Human-or-how-the-Morphons-changed-things-td116.html )


Using a variety of methods, B.A.D.G.E. operatives have located the last world where the Legion had invaded, and where their conquest was nearly complete, with only a small resistance movement remaining.

The members of the X-caliber strike team were assigned the task of travelling to this world to determine what, if anything, might deter the coming invasion force.

Using a newly developed hyperdrive ship, the small vessel brought the team into orbit of the planet, and Krystal was able to use her ability to manipulate magnetic fields to 'cloak' them from the planet's sensor array so that they remained undetected.

Landing in an uninhabited area, the team quickly hid the vessel, then began to break up into pairs to reconnoitre the surrounding area.

Once the area was secure, Jaconis called the team together to give them individual assignments for the operation.

"Krystal," said Jaconis, "You are our best shot at covert infiltration of the village nearby.  Use your illusions to scout out the area, find a library or archive if one exists, and bring back intel on anything Legion-related."

"Will do, Jac.", replied Krystal.   "Dismissed, then."

"Now, the rest of you...," continued Jaconis, as Krystal left the briefing to gather gear and supplies.

Krystal quickly memorized the most direct path to the large village nearby and determined the best spot for covert surveillance so she could craft herself a good disguise illusion.

The denizens of this planet were human-ish in appearance, for the most part, so all Krystal required was to shift her hair color and skin tone, and to mimic some of the clothing she saw the women wearing, and she was virtually one of them in appearance.

 

Krystal quickly located a library near the village square and began scanning records.

As Krystal learned languages quite easily, and there seemed to be similarities to several Earth languages, Krystal quickly was able to read the content of the library and began searching for the information she needed.

There were not many books or periodical type materials, but these 'people' used a system quite similar to a computer to display requested data files.  Krystal determined that it should be a fairly simple matter to construct a remote interface link and connect it to the system.

She could build this within a day, and come back to install it tommorow.

Krystal returned the next afternoon to the library, dressed more like the attendants she had witnessed the day before.

She located the equipment room fairly easily and was able to bypass the security door, barely breaking stride.

Krystal attached the interface module she had created and concealed a transmitter-repeater in an out-of-the-way spot, then quickly exited the building.

On her way back to the ship, she installed self-powered repeaters in concealed locations in tree-tops along the route.

Krystal returned to the ship, fired up her equipment, and settled in for a long session.

"See... here... and again here...," Krystal pointed at the screen displaying the translated text of the files she had downloaded.

"The first mention of Morphon detection... the first mention of 'odd effects' linked to Morphons... these mentions here of developed Morphon powers...," Krystal said.

She highlighted each passage as she spoke.

"This is my theory... the Legion arrives and releases Morphons into the environment so that their own abilities do not fade, and once the concentration is high enough, they infiltrate and gather the devices and other things they need to speed up their conquest, using those affected by the Morphons where possible..."

"It takes a certain type of personality not to become corrupted by developing powers, and so most of those affected tend to commit crimes of some sort, mostly against either old rivals, or those they now consider less powerful than themselves."

Jaconis nodded as he said, "That makes sense... so most either become petty criminals or end up joining the Legion."

"Right..," replied Krystal.  "From there, they either drain the planet of resources or destroy it."

"This is what we need to know, Krys... We must get this intel back to Earth as soon as possible.," said Jaconis.

Keying the intercom, he ordered the Captain to recall all personnel and to lift off as quickly as possible.

As the ship broke orbit and was headed to the nearest safe hyper-space insertion point, a large battlecruiser dropped out of hyperspace on the far side of the planet.

The crew listened and watched with growing horror as the populace was informed that the planet no longer holds significant resources to warrant their continued existence.

The planetary bombardment began moments later and within an hour, there existed only an asteroid field where the planet had once been.

"My God...," swore Krystal under her breath.

The Legion battlecruiser set some automatic mining devices into the asteroid field to recover the nickel-iron core fragments of the former planet and began to head for its own hyper-space insertion point.

Krystal had all she could manage to keep the ship's electromagnetic signature cloaked from the larger vessel.

Two days later, the battlecruiser finally reached its insertion point and made it's jump into hyper-space.

Krystal could finally relax her cloaking and allow herself to sleep while the ship reached its own hyper-space insertion point and they could return to Earth.


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Author's Note: Link to next episode-   https://heroes-rising-forum.2349640.n4.nabble.com/Delivering-the-Intel-It-s-not-a-pretty-picture-tp393.html