RP: YSS Imperator [YSS Imperator] Mission One: Star by Star

[HAMnJAM]

YSS Imperator
5月 10日 YE 39
Coreward Space

First Expeditionary Fleet's Third Division all seemed to defold at once. The three Sharie-Class Battleships, Ultimatum, Imperator, and Dominator stood in a arrowhead formation surrounded by the thirty "Super Eikan" Heavy Cruisers and the four small but far from useless Plumeria-Class Gunships. Forming up to a spherical formation, the Heavy Cruisers formed around the battleships while the gunships flew at the front, back, top, and bottom of the sphere; the leading Plumeria taking a sizable lead from the pack to act as a forward scanner. The mass moved towards the nearest planetary body and commenced their scans of the system, looking for any signs of their enemy or their cohorts.

Their mission was entirely too simple, they were on central section of the divisions of the First Expeditionary fleet, First and Second on their flanks doing an exactly similar tactic. Their goal was to perform force reconnaissance, actively hunting the enemy to gauge their strength, of the coreward systems to find the Kuvexians proper and administer firepower as needed and at the division leader's discretion.

Bridge

Taisa Sutoikku Kaede sat quietly and authoritatively on the quiet bridge, getting information fed to him from his SPINE interface and the Datapad sitting in the slot in his chair's arm. The KAMI and Communications Operator were sending all the orders silently into the veteran Taisa's head as if to keep the outside near total silence besides the hum of the engines sounds of work being done on the consoles.

"Sensors, keep you eyes out. Helm, match our fleet's vectors. Weapons, run immediate diagnostics on everything. Intelligence had found traces of a some sort of fleet moving around the immediate systems, they just didn't know exactly where and exactly who they were. They were presumed to be a vanguard of the Kuvexian's allies, which meant either the Rixxikor, L'Kor, both or even the Navies of the Kuvexians that had yet to be fully seen in an active role in the war thus far. At any rate, it was reasonable to expect anything.

Pilot's Ready Room

As they had just completed defold procedures, it was up to the CAG to establish if a CAP was to be established amongst the thirty-seven ship formation. The Captain had passed the word that the pilots should be in ready status, which generally meant for them to be present in the ready room for a briefing if one was presented of the situation though again, at the CAG's discretion. Some of Avatar Squadron's veterans were in the room shooting the latest word of mouth: who was with who, who did what last weekend, who had the highest simulation scores, all sorts of stuff pilots did to pass the off time.

All was quiet throughout the mighty warship, but for how long?

 

[Talarn]

YSS Imperator
Bridge
Tactical Station

"Aye sir."

Ayane's voice called out, responding to the Captain's orders as she brought up the weapons diagnostics program, handshaking with the KAMI via her SPINE interface as it brought up the statuses of the Imperator's weapon systems. She glossed over the details with a practiced eye, not minding the literal waterfall of information as it flooded her digital brain, sorting and sifting through it for the important bits she needed to compile a report. The Sharie-class's weapons array was a formidable mountain, herself but a pebble at it's base as she glanced over the systems update now being uploaded to her mind.

"The main weapons array is green-lit and on stand-by for potential area of effect engagement. Diagnostics are also reporting an all-green across the board for our super heavies, with point-defense turrets ready and primed for anti-fighter, missile, and power armor assault. Torpedoes have been readied and are ready to be shunted into bays one through four. Missile launchers and ordnance have pinged back a solid."

Double-checking just to make sure she didn't make a mistake, Ayane nodded and called out again, finalizing her report.

"All weapons ready, willing, and functional. Safeties engaged, Taisa-dono."

 

[Ametheliana]

Bridge

Looking over the readouts, Hoshi's eyebrows pushed towards the center of her forehead and then she set her cup down in its holder as she put her hand on the armrest. She had the chair turn 180 degrees to look at Kaede.

"Sir!" Taiyou Hoshi said telepathically. "If I may ask for such a thing, please allow me to say that Suzuki-Juni's assessment of what the sensors are picking up is fairly unusual. I have double checked her work and find no errors, though. This is an exceptional situation we are moving into."

 

[Reynolds]

Pilot's Ready Room

"Alright, girls, we've completed the big jump. Nothing to worry about yet, but...seems like we're hot on the trail of...something!" Venus stood up near the front to draw the attention of the dozens of pilots, temporarily quieting them. "So, like, not relaxing just yet! Stay put, and stay ready to deploy at a moment's notice!" She grinned, gesturing with her hands for the conversations to continue as she returned to her seat.

"So this is, like, your first real deployment, Aya-chan? You must be totally nervous!" "Like, totally nervous!" Crasher piped up in agreement, nodding from her position to one side of Ayane's head. The two Minis had handfuls of black hair tightly gripped, as the pair seemed to be attempting to coordinate some sort of braiding of her standard ponytail. Caramel cleared her throat and glared at her two friends, before speaking up more reassuringly. "There's no reason to be nervous. You wouldn't be here if you weren't ready for this. Right?" Another glare. "R-right." "Totally right!"

 

[Navian]

Bridge

ATIKA seemed to sit still at her console, leaning idly, and showing the occasional sign of boredom, such as a yawn or a stretch. Her console indicated she was 'busy' observing the fleet to ensure all ships remained in an optimal formation, without any units or turrets drifting off in unexpected directions, though it also showed she was struggling not to pay more attention to a game of Ping Pong she had playing at one side.

"Nothing to report on my end," was as much as she said, and with little inflection.

 

[Immortal Cyan]

YSS Imperator
Pilot's Ready Room

A month had gone by since Ayane had first found out that she was in a squadron with Venus and the Avatars, after having fainted in their presence. Since then, it had been an interesting experience for her to get to know them. They were an adventurous and thrill-seeking group, but perhaps those were universal traits among fighter pilots. On account of her shyness, Ayane thought that she lacked some of the traits that defined fighter pilots. However, when it came to flying, Ayane was as audacious and intrepid as many of her wingmates.

Today, as dictated by mission protocol and Star Army regulations, Ayane had attired herself in her Type 32 Aerospace Flight Suit. The two Avatars, Crasher and Caramel were floating behind her head and attempting to braid her ponytail. It still felt surreal to Ayane that she had such illustrious company doing something as mundane as braiding her hair.

As she was playing with Ayane's hair, Caramel said, "So this is, like, your first real deployment, Aya-chan? You must be totally nervous!" "Like, totally nervous", Crasher echoed.

Ayane could not help but to smile as The Avatars summarized her feelings in their rockstar-vernacular.

Caramel looked at her adopted kohai and Crasher and added some encouragement: "There's no reason to be nervous. You wouldn't be here if you weren't ready for this. Right? R-right. Totally right!"

"I just hope that I can replicate my simulation performance in the cockpit. I don't wanna have a nervous breakdown or...even worse, experience fear!" Ayane said, her body vibrating as she spoke. "I'm a Neko though, we're not supposed to experience fear. Or am I wrong? Can we feel fear?"

 

[Sparkee0213]

YSS Imperator
Galley

"Alright! We've got a little more time before these people get hungry and want to eat. Let's get that sauce on the line!" Senjo yelled, pointing to a vial of brown sauce. The fish were being finished, the sous chefs running back and forth with various spices. "You! Get the appetizers on the serving table and bring in the snacks." He said pointing to a waiter. The kitchen was full of smoke, steam, and various smells. Vegetables popped on the grill, and rice steamed on the line where assistant chefs neatened the massive plates. Being a cook was hard work, especially on a Sharie like this. At least they had top of the line equipment in the kitchen. A vial of sauce crashed to the ground, glass shattering. The liquid flowed to a nearby drain, and an assistant cleaned the mess up.

"Get those fish on the rice!" He yelled over the din of the kitchen. Chefs and assistant chefs cut the fish, laying it on top and around the rice, placing vials of sauce around it. "Preps, how are those drinks coming?" He asked, turning to look at the beverage station where various sous chefs prepared sparkling drinks, pitchers of water, and other liquids.

"They're almost done." One of them said. Senjo nodded and turned back to his fish he had just scaled. He began cutting the white meat into strips, bringing the tray to the prep line. He lay the strips on the rice and vegetables, steam rising into the above fans.

"Alright let's wrap this meal up. Get the food onto the warmers and wait for the crowd. Once more people arrive we'll take it out with the appetizers." Senjo ordered, the assistants taking the plates to a section that remained warm, where they could keep the food warm until the main crowd arrived. Until then the few people chatting at the tables beyond could munch on the appetizers and sip on the drinks, which were being carried out with buckets of ice and cups to the serving table. Plates and utensils left as well, and sous chefs began cleaning the stations while head chefs began packing leftovers into sealed containers. "Great job everyone. Now we wait until the mess begins to get more crowded and hungry. Let's clean this up though." He said, pointing to the messy floor, stoves, and counters. Sous chefs could only clean so much. Since deployment, the kitchen staff worked very well together. They had a few bumpy starts, but they had gotten everyone fed. They were serving the first meal they had served, fish with rice and vegetables. They were adding some fruits and other kinds of meat, with the sous chefs began to bring out to the clean stations. Cross contamination on a ship was not acceptable by any standards. The next round of cooking began, and Senjo sliced fruits into intricate patterns, often bite-sized, and soon the food was done, the meats going to the warming station while a waiter took the fruit to the serving table. Now it was time to wait for the hungry crew to arrive.

 

[HAMnJAM]

Space

As the massive formation approached past the closest planetary body, which upon closer inspection was a gaseous planet with large asteroid rings. On scanners, there looked to be a few large planetoids in the belt as well as a heavily damaged moon just appearing over the crest of the planet. Far off, there was another moon, larger than the other, that look relatively inhabitable. Further scans gave way to three habitable planets closer to the star, which glowed a quiet blue.

The sensor's operator looked over to Kaede to give her report, "Multiple planets, some habitable, are present in this syst-" She trailed off, looking back to her console wide-eyed and blinking, "Taisa, I have... forty-seven signatures bearing down on us, range is 650,000 kilometers and closing."

Kaede narrowed his gaze, looking to the communication operator and stating clearly, "Request orders from the Chujo, what are those signautres coming out as IFF wise?"

Akina simply stated, "L'Kor Capital Ships, Kaede-Taisa."

Asami replied with orders from the Chujo in charge of Division Three, "Taisa, we have orders to engage. Fire at targets of opportunity."

This generally meant that Kaede could choose his shots, and direct some as well. He looked forward toward the pit and far wall, observing the battlefield through his SPINE interface. He toggled the ship's PA system himself and spoke aloud, echoing throughout the passageways and rooms,

"General Quarters, General Quarters, all hands to Condition One."

Pilot's Ready Room

As the general quarters alarms began ringing, the KAMI's feminine voice filled the room, "Avatar Squadron to Scramble Stations and prepare for launch, Delta Squadron stand by on launch decks."

The Avatar veterans began running towards the hangar section, one of the flight leaders nodding to the CAG as she left the room. Delta leader burst into the room looking for stragglers, and found two to run after him towards the hangar as well. They'd have to be briefed either on the way through telepathy, or through comms on the launch deck.

Hanger

The deck crewmen had already begun moving the beautifully adorned 'Nodachi' Assault Fighter that was assigned to the CAG as well as the Hayabusa II of another Avatar pilot. Two more Hayabusa II's were standing behind the ascending backblast-deflection ramps ready to get their pilots in their seats and ready to launch.
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=stararmy:small_craft:ke-v9_nodachi_assault_fighter
Time was somewhat on their side from their point of view.

Infantry Barrack

Along with the infantry running for their armor bays from the barracks the stateroom shared by the Miniature Neko Marine officer and her designated trainee blared with the alarms and the oddly soothing voice of the KAMI,
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=stararmy:small_craft:ke-v9_nodachi_assault_fighter
"Momoya-Shoi, your presence is requested in your combat readiness sector."
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=stararmy:small_craft:ke-v9_nodachi_assault_fighter
Space

With the L'Kor fleet moving in intercept the entirety of Division Three, all shields were up and weapons were at the ready. Fighters from the other two Sharie Battleships in the fleet began to ready up and launch. The height of the pre-combat silence was suddenly broken by a warning shot into the fleet by the leading Plumeria gunship.

Every ship in the Yamataian fleet moved slightly to where every single Aether array was pointing towards the L'Kor fleet, moving from a spherical blob to more of an aggressive picket line. A second pulse from the leading Plumeria shot out towards the L'Kor fleet, contacting on the prow of a carrier and leaving a ashy-black burn scar.

The battle was on.

 

[Reynolds]

Pilot's Ready Room

"What? No, being afraid is totally normal. Even me...sometimes I still get stage fright!" Venus smiled at the other Neko. "I'm, like, totally not afraid of anything!" "You're too thick-headed to know when to be afraid, Crasher." "T-take that back!" The two Minis let go of Ayane's half-braided hair to begin wrestling around in mid-air, before the sudden blaring of the warning klaxons interrupted them, followed by that announcement.

"You heard the lady...it's showtime girls!" Tru was on her feet and dashing for the exit in no time, other pilots streaming out to head for their assigned vehicles. One squadron would be deployed at a time, depending on the resistance they encountered. The pilot was up and into her garishly painted fighter in seconds, already strapping herself in. "Alright Aya-chan, you're with me! Crasher and Mel will be right behind you. Avatar Squadron will break into three groups of four and move forward to deny any enemy fighters approach."

"Safeties disengaged, parking spots 1-4 unlocked. Clearing the launch path."

"Course clear, you are all green!"

"Thrusters are go, Avatar Squadron, launching!"

 

[Ametheliana]

Bridge

The blue eyes of Taiyou Hoshi scanned the battlefield that was only just now forming and relayed to Kaede a quick observation as she swiveled her chair around to face him.

She spoke out telepathically to him, saying, "They're well endowed from what I can see. This is a great opportunity to assess the strength of the enemy we face, sir!" She her chair back and looked over the volumetric readouts, saying aloud while looking at them, "We have fighters launching now, sir!"

 

[Immortal Cyan]

Pilot's Ready Room

The dogfight between Crasher and Caramel was interrupted by the noise of the general alarms and the subsequent voice of the KAMI:

"Avatar Squadron to Scramble Stations and prepare for launch, Delta Squadron stand by on launch decks."

The announcement prompted the pilots within the room to clear out in an orderly and efficient manner, albeit with a few stragglers. As she left the room and ran to the hanger bay with the pilots, Ayane impatiently tugged her braids apart, falling behind some of the less-distracted pilots.

Hanger Bay

The hustle and flow of military personnel around the hanger bay settled Ayane's nerves as she ran towards her Hayabusa II Starfighter. As she approached, the deck hands were finishing moving her fighter into position for launch. By the time she arrived, the crewmen had finished preparing her fighter and were running out of the way in preparation for launch procedures. Ayane hovered herself into her fighter, strapped herself in, and pressure-sealed her helmet.

"Alright Aya-chan, you're with me! Crasher and Mel will be right behind you. Avatar Squadron will break into three groups of four and move forward to deny any enemy fighters approach.", said Venus-Heisho in a serious tone. Ayane liked how quickly the playful singer was able to adopt a serious tone after she entered her fighter. With her anxiety thrown aside by the intense military atmosphere, Ayane performed last-minute equipment and systems checks on her fighter.

With the final checks and status reports resolved, Ayane initiated launch procedures for her first mission.

 

[Talarn]

Bridge
Tactical Forward

Ayane blinked as the klaxons sounded and the call to Condition One came, her SPINE interface immediately allowing her to direct twenty-four of the twenty-eight heavy turrets towards the bow, all pointed towards the L'Kor's main fleet composition. Her hands were a blur as she loaded in anti-ship torpedoes, bays one through four; the retractable anti-armor missiles ready to fire and lay waste to the enemy fleet as dozens of panels outside the Imperator opened up to reveal small missile tubes. Point-defense turrets were set to 'Intercept' mode.

Her voice called them out as each weapons systems came online, a habit Ayane had of doing despite knowing full well the Captain was most likely integrated into the Imperator and knew each and every status that prompted his attention.

"Super-heavy turrets aimed, targeted and ready. Anti-ship torpedo bays one through four loaded with Anti-Shield warheads. Anti-armor missile bays primed and ready to saturate the target area at your command. Point-defense turrets set to intercept and engage any and all enemy ordnance headed our way."

She did a double-check on all weapons systems, another habit just in case she missed one, an impossible thing considering her SPINE interface but nothing could be left to chance.

"All arms set to Condition One, Aye Captain. Ready to fire on your command."

 

[Gunsight1]

Marine Barracks - Officers Stateroom

"Ohhh boy!" Momoya said, rubbing her tiny hands together as the klaxons rang out and the Megami's voice came overt the intercom. "To the power armor bay!" she said to her second as she strapped on her gun belt and it's two mini-NSP's in unconventional cross-draw holsters. She was clad in her pale blue on dark blue jumpsuit, with her boots and the aforementioned gun belt.

She kicked off from the desktop she was standing on, floating rapidly out the door that hissed open to allow her passage. Clear of the doors, she zipped off at maximum speed, bound for the-


Power Armor Bay

The Power Armor Bay of the massive YSS Imperator was already teaming with infantry neko's, gearing up and preparing to be called upon for combat, be it in armor or not. Momoya nodded at the salutes that came her way as she entered the compartment and beelined for the the rack that held her Sylph power armor, the only model of armor ever developed for the mini nekovalkyrja. The Sylph was a small, slight frame, compared to the Mindy or Daisy cousins, but it was more than enough to level the playing field for a mini nekovalkyrja. Her Sylph was alrady rigged up with her preferred heavy assault package, flight wings and teleport pod, and as the tiny neko arrived, she was already wiggling out of her uniform and stuffing her gunbelt and guns into the PA's storage compartment.

"Shoi Ise to bridge, what's the situation?" She asked as she linked into the comm net for the bridge. "Infantry company will be ready to deploy in power armor as needed"

Momoya kicked her boots off, wiggled out out the rest of her jumpsuit and slid into the entrance port on the top of her Sylph, where the head folded out of the way to reveal the place where the small neko could slither into the armor's interior and plug into the mini-SPINE connection inside.

 

[Navian]

Bridge

After one more theatrical yawn, ATIKA managed to achieve some semblance of alertness, and a grid overlay appeared on her display. "I'm listening in to their communications. If they chatter enough, maybe we'll get a new alien language out of this. I don't suppose you could keep them talking, drag things out a little?" She wasn't sure who she was speaking to, only that she didn't have any authority to ask.

Either way, she had to break the encryption first, which might have been impossible if she didn't have a few unencrypted samples of unambiguous L'Kor vocalizations on hand, and was still hard enough with only a vague idea what their regular speech was meant to sound like. Fortunate that the Imperator's computer core was big. On her old ship, she'd have just been spinning her wheels the whole way through.

 

[HAMnJAM]

Hanger Bay

With final checks for both fighters on the strips showing green, the launch crewmen took their stations in between the two craft. One Neko, adorned in a working uniform adorned with Logistics colors looked to the CAG's fighter first. She gave a salute then made a move to the side of her facing the end of the deck and brought her hand towards the nosecone of the Kawarime II with her index and middle fingers together pointing. This was the launch signal.

After the CAG had launched, she quickly turned around and repeated the procedure with quick speed. Once the second fighter was launched, the Neko turned around and her and her companions began marshalling the next to fighters into position and launched them two by two.

Bridge

With a broad motion of his hands towards the bow of their vessel, the Taisa gave the order. "Main batteries! Open fire!"

The L'Kor had slipped under the scopes by using the planetary body and asteroid field interference. The mistake would not be made again to neglect to double check. Kaede did have other matters to attend to though. He brought his SPINE interface to bear on his reports to the communications relayed to the bridge and to him.

Power Armor Bay

Shoi Ise got her answer quite quickly from the bridge, "Power Armor teams are on standby in case of boarders. Take positions of opportunity."

The Kohosei that shared a room with the Shoi arrived shortly after. She was still cheery, though as she fumbled while getting into her Mindy II, she did look a bit worried and stressed. The others that had arrived at this station, mostly veterans, quickly donned their Mindy IIs, leaving an orderly set of clothing at each bay for the ones that did not have a bodysuit compatible with the interior.

Within two minutes, the entire team was ready to rock and roll given the L'Kor could break in.

Galley

While a significant number of crew had gotten in before the general quarters alarm, all it did was increase the volume. Food was important to morale, and most of the staff knew this while the others were too busy to remember. The lines moved like clockwork, and the galley soon was beginning to fill.

The commotion of gossip and questions on what was going on out in space was the talk of the day. As usual, a few members of Damage Control were standing by in the room in case of something going wrong as well as two marines at one end of the room. Even despite knowing that the ship was under attack, everyone still had time to eat.

Space

The darkness of space was quickly over, bright blue streaks of light extended from the gun barrels of the Star Army fleet's main battery guns. The leading Plumeria was still rapidly firing it's main aether array as it led the mighty Division Three into battle like an ancient standard bearer.

The L'Kor fleet in the opening moments suffered from their arrogance. Two carriers suffered from the barrage from the two of the three Sharie battleships. Imperator herself began whittling away at one of their battleship's armor. The heavy cruisers were firing almost in general sections. Their fire slowly whittling down armor.

Avatar Squadron was soon entirely wheels up, with the second squadron halfway behind. The other two battleships had launched two squadrons as well as were moving forward to intercept the charging L'Kor fighters and bombers.

 

[Talarn]

Bridge
Tactical Forward

Ayane felt a surge of adrenaline as she could just see the streaks of light from their fellow Sharie's and escorts laying ordnance down upon the advancing L'Kor fleet. At the Captain's command she tapped her finger against the console, outside the twenty-four super-heavy cannons adjusted and orientated themselves; adjusting for movement as each turret followed and targeted an L'Kor battleship coming into the fray. In her eyes she saw invisible cross-hairs individually resting over individual sections of the enemy warship, anywhere a good blast of Aether could do lasting damage.

Less then a second later the turrets, starting from bow to aft, opened fire, a flurry of blue laser light as a barrage was sent out from the Imperator herself into that hapless battleship. Twenty-two of the twenty-four main batteries sending out streaks of death-dealing aether as it impacted the hull of the L'Kor warship and threatened to rend and tear it apart. Bright orange marks were left criss-crossed as the lasers melted large chunks of it's front claw-shaped hull.

Re-adjusting the super-heavies, Ayane looked over the results and blinked, her SPINE interface registering sixteen direct hits, four glancing blows, and two near misses. The enemy battleship was still in play. For now.

 

[Ametheliana]

Bridge

"I want all stations operating at full capacity!" Taiyou Hoshi called out to the ship through KAMI. "That excludes nobody working on this ship!"

She rested in her chair and put a hand on her cup next to her and for a moment she paused like that, looking over the sensors data, before she brought the drink up to her mouth and sipped it idly. There was no plan, but if there had been, she would be thinking how it was all going according to it.

 

[Navian]

Bridge

"Hai!", ATIKA agreed with practiced enthusiasm, while keeping her thoughts to herself: 'Capacity' isn't the same thing as 'efficiency' or 'effectiveness'. While she was working at full capacity, she has so little to work with right now that she was accumulating millions and millions of wrong guesses. Even with so much computing power, she could have counted single digits, by hand, on an abacus, faster than she was making progress with deciphering the L'Kor communications, and there were millions to go.

She appeared to be working furiously, and she was, but nothing she did at her station was going to have a tactical outcome on this battle, no one knew how to conduct electronic warfare against L'Kor ships, yet, and it was fortunate they hadn't figured out how to do the same to Yamataians yet, either, or that would be keeping her even busier. That didn't make her work any less valuable, in principle--all the data she collected and examined brought her closer to cracking the L'Kor code. But it was going to take more than one battle. Best of all would be if they were able to spy on a fleet or a planet for weeks.

ATIKA understood there was a bit of a conflict of interest, here. It would be best for her career if this was a Pyrrhic victory, but best for most of the rest of the crew if it was a crushing one. Mostly, she recognized this was nothing unique to her role as an information technology specialist--all but the laziest damage control specialists surely hoped the ship would get hit, even though everyone else would be glad to avoid it. That didn't mean they weren't trying to defend everyone... right?

She was still going to cringe if the gunners destroyed all the ships before they could send out distress calls or change their tactics, though...

 

[Immortal Cyan]

Hanger Bay

Upon receiving the signal from launch logistics, Ayane activated the drive systems and accelerated the Hayabusa along the launch strip. In less than three seconds from the time she received the signal, Ayane was in space.

Space

Suppressing the urge to fawn over the vast emptiness of the void, Ayane set a course for Venus Heisho's Nodachi, her HUD outlining green along her wing commander's fighter. The other two Sharie battleships came into view as she went, their battery guns flashing as they fired towards the L'Kor carriers. Within her volumetric display, Ayane saw Caramel and Crasher's green-outlined Hayabusas moving swiftly into formation. The Plumeria squadron leading the fleet into battle was rapidly firing their aether arrays as they went, sending a barrage of blistering light into the enemy fleet.

By now, all of Avatar Squadron was within the void as green-outlined fighters from the other two battleships moved into formation. The L'Kor carriers had launched fighters and bombers, their red-outlines in Ayane's HUD indicating their intent. The enemy fighters and bombers moved expeditiously into formation and prepared for a charge into the Yamatai fighters.

Ayane primed her weapons systems, intent to launch her faster-than-light Aether torpedos when ordnance directives were issued from the CAG...

 

[Reynolds]

Space

The large Nodachi took the lead, with Ayane's Kawarime catching up soon enough to follow close behind. The two Minis soon slipped seamlessly into position to either side of the pair, creating a flying diamond formation. "Alright, we're on stage now girls, and here comes their opening act!' Tru's face appeared in the corner of the other pilot's HUDs, either on their helmets or inside the cockpit of their fighters. This image was followed by targeting indicators being rapidly overlaid on the approaching enemies, their computers labeling and prioritizing each one with data from sensors and targeting systems.

"Fire torpedoes at the bombers first, they're the main threat to the fleet! Our second wave will play cleanup while we engage the fighters!" Venus quickly followed her own instructions, torpedoes launched into the swarm of enemy fighters. "Follow up with your TACs!" Her wingmen were already launching their own torpedoes as Tru warmed up her cannons.