The Aeon with the Integrity on its tail both fired at the wounded NMX vessel, their weapons wreaking havoc on the craft leaving it a tumbling burning hulk. The other ships of the NMX unit started firing at the Aeon in an attempt to cripple the ship, they focused on the aft of the gunship.

Trowa put the Aeon into a tight roll then looped up sharply in an attempt to avoid the NMX return fire. They seemed to be trying to take out their engines. Clever buggers. Thought Trowa as he flew.

Trowa began another pass at the enemy ships. But this time in a line where the ship he was targeting acted as a shield against the other two ships out there. They could either try to move around to get a clear field of fire or they could stay where they were and let the Aeon blast away at its target without fear of being shot at by 3 ships. Trowa got a lock and again fired the heavy weapons at the enemy ship in a beautiful display of deadly energy.

The Aeon shuddered as a couple of missiles detonated far enough away that the shields stopped them. One of the pursuing craft exploded as the other two ships of the 7th squadron caught it with their main arrays.

Damage reports and data flashed across Trowa's cybernetic eye. The shields had held back most of the damage from the NMX missiles, but were temporarily weaken. Trowa shifted power around so that the shields would recharge quicker as he put distance between himself and the remaining NMX ships. The Nepleslian looked at the massive structure in the asteroid field again as he turned the Aeon to bear on the next ship they were to attack. He frowned. Having been so focused on flying, Trowa still had no idea what the heck that thing was. He wanted to be aware of any threats to his beloved Aeon. “Eternity,” the pilot asked. “You detecting any energy readings from that structure?”

"The structure on the surface seems to be a delivery system for shooting resources from the surface of the planet to ships in orbit." Eternity replied.

"Yamamoto-Hei, break off our attack on the NMX ship, the Integrity can handle it prepare for planetary bombardment. That's an important resource for the enemy." Katae ordered.

Trowa breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t some big super weapon that was going to shoot them down. He turned around in his seat and looked at the Taisa in confusion for a moment. “Planetary Bombardment?” Then a smile crept onto his face as realization struck home. “Aye, aye ma’am!” The pilot yelled as he disengaged the Aeon and from its attack run. “Charging up weapons for Planetary Bombardment. Loading torpedoes,” said Trowa, more to himself than to anyone in particular. “Acquiring target solution… target locked.” The pilot double checked his calculations and smiled as they were right on the money. “Ma’am, I have firing solutions; we will be in range in 20 seconds.” Reported Trowa to the Taisa. “Awaiting your order to begin Planetary Bombardment.”

"Once we are in range, fire for effect." Katae replied as she monitored the status of the squadron.

Trowa did a final systems check once the Aeon was in position. At the Taisa’s command, the Nepleslian began firing. “Heavy weapons firing in bombardment pattern, launching torpedoes now.” The ship lurched slightly as the torpedoes were fired. The trajectory of the torpedoes appeared on one of the view screens with a time-to-impact counter. Space outside the ship lit up as the heavy weapons shot bright laces of destructive light towards the structure. Trowa kept an eye on the missiles counter. “Torpedoes will strike in 3… 2… 1.” A huge explosion suddenly blossomed at the base of the structure like a giant flower. Trowa couldn’t see what kind of damage was done so he loaded another set of torpedoes incase more were needed. “Continuing heavy bombardment, scanning for initial damage done to structure…” Trowa glanced at the overall battle screen. He needed to stay on his guard since there were still enemy ships about.

From their position in orbit there was a bit of a delay from the firing of the weapons to seeing the results. After the third volley, the massive structure on the ground started to topple over, it broke into several pieces as its structure failed crushing vehicles and personnel working around it.

Above the Aeon, the remaining ships in the squadron were finishing off a pair of NMX warships.

The Nepleslian smiled as he watched the tower begin to break apart as secondary explosions blew chunks out of the tower to rain down on the infantry and vehicles below it. He did a quick scan of the ship to make sure that there had been no misfires and that they were still combat ready before making his report to the Taisa. “Structure destroyed, ma’am. No damage to us.” He paused to read a message that had just received. “Integrity reports the other two NMX ships have taken massive damage and are venting atmosphere. Integrity says that they should have two confirmed kills in another five minutes, ma’am.” Trowa turned in his seat to face the Taisa. “Orders ma’am?”