KS II/14 sped across the empty vacuum for 30 minutes. Contact Delta 01 was intermittent but remained along their bearing none the less. This confirmed in Markmann’s mind that he was onto Köhl. Their course would take them past the Gussman shortly.

“Kapitän!’ cried the sensor chief. “Reading three more like-disturbances all in line with Delta 01. Posting them now.” Markmann watched as three more amber dots appeared in the holotank. It appeared to be a formation in line. Markmann frowned.

“Her Ross, what the hell is this? Does the Mark IX allow for deception mode ECM while cloaked? I don’t remember reading or being briefed about this.”

Ross himself was confused. "No Hauptman. That is not a feature in the Mark IX. Perhaps your sensors are malfunctioning, nicht war?”

“Absolutely not,” replied the sensor chief a little too quickly. “I ran a diagnostic before I reported the new contacts.”

“New contacts have also been confirmed by the other ships,” added the communications officer.

Markmann turned to Ross. “Well Ross, what kind of scheisse this?”

“Kapitän! “ Markmann looked back at the holotank in time to see the icon for the Gussman flare up and wink out. “The Gussman has just exploded.”

“How? What caused that?”

“Oh my God!" Shouted Ross. "What have you done? Opened fire on our ship?”

“Shut the hell up.” Markmann fixed Ross with a glare.

“Negative, no ships fired”. Confirmed sensors and communications.

“Kapitän, contacts firming up. Bogies now confirmed as ships, mass equals destroyer size. Unable to determine type, however they have definitely unmasked. Bearing 015 at just over 1 light second. Speed point 6, bearing down upon us. No visual as of yet. Perhaps by the time we close to half a light second.”

“Sound action stations, no drill." Luckily they were already at Action Stations-Drill, so it only took moments to power up for combat. "Put the staffel into formation green two. And get me some data on those contacts!"

"Matching signatures with database."

"Who are they? FSE?”

"Signatures do not conform to any known human vessels." Markmann's mind was racing. No known human vessels. Hmm. Suddenly he felt a shiver of cold. That means they must be…

"Kra'Vak, Herr Kapitän. Closest match in our database is with Kra'Vak."

Markmann mulled over his options. What were they doing here? Obviously a raid against the colony. Could they have known what he was doing here? What they were testing? He made some quick decisions.

"Leutnant Braun, send an emergency message to the colony. Inform them that we've encountered what appears to be a Kra'Vak raiding party. Append all sensor log data to the message and keep the dump open. Warn the two system corvettes."

"Jawohl, Herr Kapitän."

"Herr Ross, where exactly is the Köhl?" There was no answer. He turned and looked at the civilian. The tall thin severe looking administrator had turned ashen white and was trembling, his eyes transfixed on the four red blips in the holotank. "Herr Ross! What is the position of the Köhl?"

Ross muttered something, his eyes wild with fear at the thought of impending real combat. Markmann jumped f rom his seat and landed an open handed slap to the side of Ross' head. It sent the man sprawling to the deck. The rest of the crew pretended to study their consoles and not notice. Ross let out a short yelp and held the side of his head.

"Goddammit snap out of it man! I need to know where the Köhl is NOW!"

Ross' eyes cleared and he looked at the pad. He punched something in and held it up to Markmann. It, it is somewhere inside of these coordinates Herr Kapitän. It could have moved slightly but it's here."

Markmann scooped up the datapad, looked it over and tossed it over to Braun, who barely glanced up in time to catch it. "Braun, I want you to send a narrow beam secure transmission in that direction. Tell the Köhl they are not to decloak under any circumstances unless I order it. Remind them not to acknowledge. Quickly."

"Captain?" Asked Kreps, the XO.

"They are just one destroyer. My guess is that they probably can't swing the engagement one way or the other, but if they stay cloaked we'll accomplish several things. They may be able to surprise the Kra'Vak at an opportune time in the battle. Second, we'll see if the cloaking technology works against them. And third," he looked intently to Kreps, "If something happens to the staffel they'll be able to report vital intelligence back to fleet . I just hope they get the message before Hauser decides to de-cloak."

"Message sent", reported Braun.