"This is Captain Janice Baldwin, last missiles are out. We're moving in."
As the last of the missiles were launched the three vessels began to push in to halt any escaping vessels.
Meanwhile the Excalibur continued its maneuver, its shells slamming into the now unshielded superfreighter. Its point defense turrets continued to fire and provide cover for the pilots out in the void, and its anti ship lasers lashing out at any enemy fighters foolish to enter their firing arcs, the beams of electromagnetic death all but unavoidable at the speed of light.
The gunnery team placed their first salvo directly on target, making a world of difference within the enemy ship.
Within the bowels of the super freighter Candon's GSR would accomplish less than he'd hoped. Battered and covered in pock marks he made his last stand in a narrow corridor by the entrance to the bridge, his borrowed aether rifle smoking as the barrel threatened to melt. The final straw was laid as the electronics caught fire. Tossing the flaming rifle he dropped back into cover. The situation was hopeless until his seismic sensor was pinged.
He pressed hard against the wall and layered himself in gravitational shielding just a moment before the world around him was violently crushed. In a flash the load shearing sound of carnage was replaced by silence as Candon was flung back out into the vacuum of space, a tunneling crater where he previously stood. The bridge was gone and the trajectory of the 'tunnel' made it clear who'd saved him.
"Spectre to USOS Excalibur," he called, "the bridge is gone. I owe you."
From his new vantage point he could see most of the battle only missing the missile freighters who where too far away. "Chrome Star, commence rescue of Caliburn's escape pods and Zephyr I want boots in that ship now."
"We're already inbound, sir," captain Chralphua Rookson confirmed.
Seeing the crashed broadsword now trying to force it's way out of the ice cloud Candon opened comms to the ship.
"Caliburn, this is almost over. Just stay down! Repeat, stand down! Save the ship! Why doesn't anyone listen to me?!"
The Caliburn's captain began to evacuate what was left of the crew. Fortunately, with a small crew complement, a broadsword class was easy to evacuate. The captain then began a heroic maneuver, ordering the engineering crew to manually fire and reroute the thrust of the remaining Aether plasma thruster in the engine pylon of the Caliburn to its RCS systems, steering it into the engines of the superfreighter before the captain firing its main guns point blank into its target before attempting to pull out.
However the Caliburn did not escape unscathed, the detonation caused a chain reaction that tore off most of the nose of the ship, though fortunately no crew were killed. Now it was a floating wreck, and powerless.
The attack had indeed destroyed one of three primary engines along with a cluster of maneuvering thrusters.
"Captain Tachi to Caliburn, your too far ahead. Ordnance is inbound to your position. Evacuate the area, immediately, do you copy?.. Caliburn missiles cannot be called off, please respond... Caliburn evade! They're not responding…"
Making corrections to the cource of the cheaply made EMP rockets was futile, they were simply chasing a targeting laser with no collision avoidance software to aid it in getting there.
As the wave passed Caliburn caught 3 of the 100 in the main hull, a reduced number made possible only by the quick thinking of the man operating the target designation equipment.
Streams of lethal electrical current flowed through the dead hull, through every panel and wall straight into the positron shell magazine. The shells which fed the mighty cannons of the valiant ship now spelled it's damnation
Alex was busy jinking crazily in order to avoid being hit. He activated his silhouette/mirror system. As the blood rushed to his head and his reaction time was improved by 400%, which was no mean feat given his razor sharp natural reflexes, and allowed him to do fanciful helixes and spirals to avoid all the missiles in what appeared to any onlookers to be some sort of dance of death, all the while firing his own mini missiles at the fighters that weren't an immediate threat to him.
Then he spiraled around the enemy formation that was flying towards him, transforming partway into what looked like a combination of a robot and a plane, and took potshots at them.
A lucky hit traveled through the canopy of one of the two fighters he was now chasing as the shields were already low. While the one 'lucky shot' may have seemed like a turning of luck it was only one part of a plan. The other fighter continued to run with evasive maneuvers as one of the other two fell in behind. Normally a final missile flourish would be the end but these fighters were now out of missiles. One of his pursuers broke off while the other chased with aether fire, careful not to hit the ally Alex was gunning for. As the three ships danced the fourth rejoined, 'drifting' as it were into Alex's fighter using its high mass to slam the U-1.
Errowyn kept to her tactics, realizing the gun turrets were more of a threat. Yet she still took out a missile launcher when it came across her path. She rained destruction upon the Super Freighter when she wasn't dealing with fighters from the Freighter. She flew by the open hanger that was closing its blast doors. She fired her remaining missile into the Hanger bay. Whether the missile made it or not. That set of hanger doors would be inoperable.
She whipped her Kawarime up and over the Freighter to inflict more damage. She fired at projections from the Freighter, hoping to knock out its communications array and scanners to leave it blind and crippled.
She gave a soft grunt as warning buzzer sounded after a bad hit from the enemy fighters. She glanced at her shield rating and noticed it had dropped to 79%. She growled softly as she spotted the enemy fighter that was dogging her tail. She whipped her Kawarime in a tight turn round behind the enemy fighter. Letting him feel how it was like to be hunted.
Though her attempts to destroy communication and sensory equipment were unsuccessful her destruction of the hanger doors was flawless as the missile detonated just within, blasting the doors outward, a direction they weren't intended to protect from. The explosion sheared the doors completely off allowing Arccos unrestricted access to the hanger.
Her further dogfight would be ultimately successful, though the addition of two more pursuing fighters would undoubtably complicate her situation as these two were seasoned veterans who'd worked together for years. Their missiles would fly with precision as they committed to destroying the Yamataian fighter.
Corgan stared at the display. "Damn it!" He yelled, thumping his console in frustration with an armored fist. The ship wasn't built for combat but he still thought he could save the Caliburn. Then the foolish Captain decided to ram the freighter, he thought. At least they got out. Hope that pilot is okay. He sighed and tried to focus on the mission.
The enemy was busy with the fighters and the other freighters, he noticed. Now was the perfect time to launch the boarding party. "Pilot. I forget your name, I'm just going to call you Bob. Get us close to the freighter, Bob. It's time to begin the insertion." He said. Time to motivate the men.
Corgan switched to the ship-wide channel. "Attention. We're moving into position to board the Kuvexian ship. The Caliburn is down. Looks like everyone made it out. The freighter's shields were down and the Caliburn's Captain decided to ram the super freighter, they may have damaged the engines. Right now the Skyguard are holding the enemy's attention." He paused to let it sink in. "This isn't going to be like fighting NMX remnants. These guys are giving Yamatai a hard time. You know what I say to that? WE ARE NOT YAMATAI! Get ready to give those assholes a preview of what happens when you fuck with Nepleslians! We launch in two minutes."
He changed to the fleet channel. "Arccos moving into boarding position. Keep them off our ass. Arccos out." Corgan said. He stood up and turned to the pilot. "I'm leaving you in charge, Bob. If you scratch the paint I will have you cleaning toilets for the next two weeks." He spun around and left the bridge, dashing to the elevator. After the short ride, he walked out into the cargo bay and made his way to the front of the ranks. He picked up his HPAR and turned towards the gathered Ragnarok infantry.
"No more speeches. Let's go kill the bastards and take their ship. Bring back some loot if you want." He said, then turned back to the cargo ramp. A minute later the ship reached the targeted position alongside the freighter and the ramp swung open. "You remember the plan. Get to the reactor, shut it down, then get out. Blow it up if we have to. Now move out!"
With the order given, Corgan flew into open space followed by the 49 assembled soldiers. 50 launched from the other side as well. They streamed towards one of the open PA bays, ready to kill some Kuvexians.
Upon seeing the Arccos begin its operation Candon used a massive burst from his propulsion systems to close the distance between him and the hanger.
"Corgan, it's Candon. Secure the hanger, you should be able to land the Arccos. We'll need to have supplies in there for the clearing operation. I'm on my way."
Jack sat in the pilot seat of the now dark cockpit of his U-1 02a unconscious as he had switched to fighter mode in an effort to get clear of the Caliburn as it was brought down by enemy missiles. His unit was now non-operational as it had sustained too much damage from the resulting blasts, with the only thing keeping him alive was the life support unit in his flight suit. Jack continued to drift lazily in space unaware of what was happening, or the dire situation he was in.
Deftly avoiding the incoming fire around her, Araxie noticed that during her little coffee break in the enemy ship an entire broadsword went dark. Damn kuvexians... Wait, there's a craft idle next to- "Alex, Jay, keep them busy!" Not bothering to explain the craft jetted off towards Jack's disabled U-1. Transforming her own into its more humanoid form, Serai tore off his cockpit cover and gently extracted the unconscious pilot from within. Overriding the pressure difference warning of her own craft, the Angel exposed herself to the vacuum of space, tossing Jack with one mechanical arm towards herself, wiggling out of the harness temporarily to shift him loosely behind her. Though her helmet kept the girl's face pressurized, she wasn't sure about her wings-adrenaline of the situation concealed any pain they might experience.
"Come on come on..." Securing Jack into the passenger seat behind her own seat, Arx set the canopy to re-seal before she herself buckled down again, launching towards the sinking cruiser before re-transforming, shaking violently inside as she made her way around, turning to face the front again... If she could survive.
Araxie spent a few moments breathing, trying to regain feeling in what was basically half her body. The short exposure she'd given herself to the vacuum of space had given her a crucial detail she really should have remembered earlier: these flight suits were still in development for some species. Like Elysians. Especially Elysians. She was in fact lucky she survived at all, let alone getting this pilot inside and secured.
Unfortunately, this means that not only might he wake up to a different cockpit than he last saw, just Jack Pine was going to have his view somewhat obstructed by a pair of blue wings with a bad ice-and-molting problem, and some bloated segments near the more significant joints.
In spite of her deteriorated physiology, Serai once again started to push forward closer to the fight. No rest for the weary, it seems...
"Great. Now we have two injured pilots for the price of one." Jay remarked as he evaded the enemy PA.
Nothing too notable happened to Serai's U-1 in this period of time but Jay did find 6 PA's waiting for another attack.
Debris blurred past as Yinsar's fighter careened towards the mass of enemy fighters, unloading round after round of sweet tungsten fury, adrenaline pumping through his veins. The sweet purr of 1000 RPM like music to his ears, a rhythm his fighter hummed to all who would hear.
This is what it means to live. This is why Yinsar Kine - the Mouse - decided to join the Sky Guard. He with the bigger stick wins, and Yinsar had a log.
Yinsar's glee ended abruptly as his screen lit up with a mass of flashing crimson indicators blotting out the vast majority of his screens and nearly blinding his vision with the vast array of miniature missiles. It took Yin a moment to fully comprehend the meaning of those indicators, and he relented on his continuous spray of bullets.
"Those... are those... those are.... uh.... UUHH..."
He was moving far too fast for comfort, a hasty glance expressed his speed of 0.05C, startling a rise of panic from Yinsar. He had to think fast. He had to think really fast, else his future would be reduced to naught but bloody space dust.
Slow? No. Fire? No.
Speed?
Yes.
The Mouse gritted his teeth tightly and kicked his fighter to full speed. "Let them try to hit me now! These U-G3901s better be damn good!"
His craft accelerated, it's torque pressing Yinsar tightly against his seat. It took some effort to keep control of the U-1 as it reached 0.1C. The missiles were alarmingly close, on a confident collision course with Yin.
In the short few instants it took to decipher and react to the scenario, his mop of black hair was stained with a cold sweat. He held steady, heading straight for the wall of lethal projectiles. He held steady, time nearly stopping for him as all his concentration hyper focused on timing this just right.
With a scream of exertion and tension, he slammed his controls to the side, bringing the U-1 into a barrel roll and turning sharply downwards. His wing nearly clipped one of the missiles, avoiding it with but a few inches to spare. His wing, did, however, clip a piece of debris, which in turn collided with the missile only a split instant later. The resulting chain of exploding mini missiles created enough of a shockwave to drag the controls out of Yin's hands and sent his fighter spinning awkwardly side ways towards a colorful variety of hazards.
The Mouse didn't even have time to take a breath while he wrestled with the controls to avoid a large surface of unforgiving ice, scraping the belly of his craft against it while trying to pull away.
The next while found Yinsar hastily lowering speed while haphazardly trying to avoid imminent collision with any of the hundreds of floating metal and ice chunks in his path. He was a decent distance away from the battle zone now, and took a few moments to calm himself.
"You dont... hah... you can't catch me...!"
To the surprise of most sane observers Yinsar had indeed survived the onslaught of missiles now exploding in the background. It was almost as if he'd gotten away unharmed... as he passed another chunk of debris karma once more reared it's ugly head. A mass of wires entangled the fighter as it passed through to quickly to evade.
