The final NMX Scout decided it was prudent to fire every weapon it had, as fast as it could, simultaneously. It targeted the SS Cashew and the damaged SS Raider specifically, knowing it had the highest chance of destroying those two particular ships. The Cashew's concentrated fire on the engines, however, was successful, though not in removing the engines. it blew down the Scout's shields, leaving it open to attack, but the NMX ship's pilot, in a stroke of luck or genius, had maneuvered the ship so the Raider and Hope could not fire back at it. As the slow bull began to make its way toward the stricken Ake, another problem presented itself. The 15 remaining battlepods had succeeded and stripping the Crimshaw of its defensive weaponry, as well as heavily damaging most of the frames. They decided the Crimshaw was no longer worth it, and began Harrying the SS Hope, while the Raider took potshots at the pods, they expertly took out any HLT's that appeared on the hull of the bewildered Hope.
"Re-orientate the ship and present the port side to the Scout. Continue bombardment on the Scout, but put priority on enemy battlepods and power armor within HLT range." Nanashi gave a quick glance at her tactical display. The Hope was having its turrets picked off, like being neutered. Though she was a woman down to her very last cell, the idea of helplessness made Nanashi shiver, "Roberto, bring us about and continue pursuit! Don't let them use the Ake as a shield!" She started to think; "I hate surprises, and just as I hope that none of that comes up, look what happens! Goddamn cornered little shits always put up a fight. By now I just want my Twinkies!"
The Ake continued to drift powerless, though now its impulse shuttle was pressed against it, it's thrusters at max as it tried to push the escort towards the Bull. Captain Hamish Rejak sighed as his powerless ship was pushed towards the massive ship, positively bored with his current position. "They just had to take out our main reactor, didn't they?"
The Cashew took the hits to its port armor, poking holes in that side of the ship and venting more rooms to space. The large amount of holes in the Hull meant the Cashew was limited to its placement of turrets, and the amount of turrets it could deploy at once. In fact, the HLT bay had been ripped open, and the Cashew's inactivated HLT's in storage began spilling out, heading off into space The Raider and hope kept moving, trying to bring themselves closer to the Cashew as well as shake the battlepods, all the while attempting to fire on that last pesky scout.
The Bull still lumbered through space, coming from its far back position and finally entering the main battlefield, prepping its construction area for the Ake, which had suddenly changed directions due to the Onset shuttle pushing it along.
"HLT bay damaged! Turrets thirty six through fifty have been lost!" Tsuya called out. "Port side barracks is depressurizing." For some reason she seemed at ease. Most likely because she wasn't the only one who lost her possessions.
"Roberto, more thrust, more speed! Circle around the Scout and re-orientate the ship; present the belly to them." Nanashi quickly glanced at the armor status at the hull and nodded; the belly was still good as new. "Have the ship advance towards the Raider and Hope. Hideki, next move the remaining turrets to the bow and target enemy battlepods and power armor units that are harassing our friends." As the ship shuddered, a new sound came to her ears as her precious Cashew groaned from the force of the engines pushing against the damaged body. Enemy fire raked the belly and Nanashi watched as the status lights turned darker. Across the bridge, a smaller screen showed a lone Kylie rush back to the Raider. She groaned with her ship in displeasure as it was hammered.
XO Von Rabenstrange sat back in the shuttle, entwining his fingers in front of his face. "Pilot, begin using this shuttle to transfer HLTs to the Cashew, and open a Comm screen with the captain of the Cashew!" The onset's pilot quickly did as ordered, a communication channel being created directly to the Cashew's bridge. "Captain Sumie, we're going to lend you some of the Ake's HLTs. Please accept them."
The Cashew's HLT's did short work on the battlepods, which had been expecting the ship to be preoccupied with the Scout. However, this left the Cashew's bottom open to the Scout's Main cannon, which it fired, barely missing and blowing the pointed tip off the front of the ship. Cashew's HLT's kept the hurt on the ship however, keeping its head down long enough to let the Raider and Hope rise to a proper orientation to begin pounding the Scout with their turrets, the debris field making it hard to get clean hits, however.
The ship shook; it was different from the other ones. From her position, Nanashi could see Tsuya's chest jiggle in off the screen's reflection. She blushed, jealous. "Ma'am, we've lost the prow of the ship! But we're receiving HLTs from the Ake along with a communication channel. Opening and bringing it onscreen!" Tsuya spoke in a panicky voice. Nanashi kept sitting there with an impassive face as Von Rabenstrange said his part. She stood.
"I humbly accept." Nanashi said the traditional phrase before a meal, bowing, a slight smile on her face. "Hideki, I want all turrets on the upper hull now! Roberto, commence a counter clockwise roll of one hundred and eighty degrees!" The Geshrin captain was still standing, and raised an arm to the ceiling, index finger pointing up. "All turrets, open fire!"
Ironically, since the ship was 'upside down', Nanashi was pointing somewhat towards the final Scout.
The pilot of the small shuttle pushed the craft to its limits, straining to transfer the five HLTs grabbed from the Ake to the Cashew
And that was the final blow on the final NMX scout, the sustained HLT fire finally bursting through the debris field to properly F**k up the final NMX scout, reducing it to mostly slag and scrap metal, as well as a few frozen Mishhu. The Bull finally made contact with the Ake, and pulled it in to begin repairs. The remaining Origin ships could now focus their efforts on cleaning up the rest of the Ripper powered armors, who were in utter disarray.
Nanashi snorted and suddenly awoke. "What the hell? I fell asleep?!"
"Yeah, sorry we didn't wake you ma'am, but it was only a good three seconds."
"Damn you Roberto. Status Tsuya."
"Last NMX scout destroyed, friendly Powered Armor Units mopping up the last of them."
"Alright, let’s lend them a hand, but make sure they have their fill too. Fire at will." Nanashi spoke with a wave of her hand. Again, she was blushing a little, but shrugged off the embarrassment. "You know, I still don't know why you guys won't at least try a deep fried Twinkie with me."
Captain Rejak gingerly sipped from his mug of coffee, quietly sitting in the captain’s chair as his remaining crew oversaw the repairs to the Ake. Picking up the phone line to the onset shuttle being used as an impromptu communications station, he smiled. "Ah, Von Rabenstrange. Could you relay my thanks to the captains of the Cashew, Raider, Crimshaw, Hope, and Bull? The Ake would be space dust now if it weren’t for their help."
Aerin smiled as she got the message relayed from the Ake. It was good to know the ship was still alive, if down. "Good work everyone." Aerin sent to the entire task force, beaming with pride. "You all fought well, and all took a beating, but we made it through. Now, let's kick it and get our asses in gear and into the KMS. The Interdiction field is gone and we can now get to light speed. The Ake will be carried along with the Bull. Cashew gets second treatment after the Ake is finished, with the Crimshaw following and finally the Raider.” Aerin input the coordinates for the jump, and sent them to all the ships. "Ready to go?" she asked.
"No thanks, that's disgusting, deep frying a perfectly good cream filled pastry!" Tsuya spoke up.
"Yeah, and if I were religious, I'd say it blasphemy." Roberto added on.
"I'm religious, and I say it's blasphemy!" Hideki cried out.
"Screw you guys! Prepare for space-fold! And as soon as we're under way, I ORDER you guys to take a bite each and swallow!" The three crew members gulped.
Some time later, Hideki spoke again. "You know, this isn't so bad."
"Yeah, I second that." Roberto seconded.
"This is too weird. I know it shouldn't be good....but..." Tsuya could only give a horribly confused grin. Nanashi sat, lord of the kitchen, and was satisfied as a fat, fed cat.
The Bridge crew of the Ake was on standby alert, with the captain in his quarters. The day had been saved, the ship was still alive, and it'd be ready for action within a week. And, even better, all of the tea onboard had managed to survive, and the captain had decided that everyone got a celebratory drink in honor of the day's victory
