Aunt Helen
Aunt Helen
Arc: None
Summary: The team is set to escort a civilian transport caught behind enemy lines… yeah nothing so simple.
Date: 2659.265
Related Logs: None
Participants: Silence Singh Cyric Kanani Phillip Ona Clearoff

Karen is in a full flight suit, prepped and ready. She enters her stiletto.

Ona arrives on the flight deck with Clearoff, looking for the Colonel.

Kanani doesn't take long to get herself ready once she's on the flight deck.

"OK Jules, you don't know what this is… you're getting into something, and be honest, this will end in conflict… the team needs you… do it." Karen repeats to herself.

«Flight Sigma, you're cleared for takeoff» radios the Majestic.

Iceblade continues to check off his Rapier.

Cyric sits in his Rapier II, the familiar checklist humming like a Gregorian chant as he straps in and readies himself to greet an old friend… the thrill of battle.

Ona isn't going to get into her Sabre without some idea of what she is doing.

Ona’s sabre is equipped for interception.

Jamie lets one of his gloved hands roam along the side of one of his ship's laser cannons as he approaches from the left side, then climbs up the ladder to seat himself inside the Rapier. He keeps an eye out for any incoming messages, but otherwise, if his flight's ordered to launch, he's launching.

Ona still looks for the Colonel and waits for some order.

«Copy that, Control. Sigma, everyone ready?» Tsunami asks her flight before giving the launch order.

His Rapier's systems checked off, Phillip radios the green light to the launch officer.

«Affirmative.» Karen radios.

«Rho wing, you are cleared for takeoff.» the dispatcher messages.

Cyric does likewise, «Launching, Central.» Cyric's Rapier leaps forward like a predatory eagle diving into the black ocean of space.

«Roger LO» Phillip is ready for the jolt as the fighter clears the tubes.

« Copy that. Launching now, Majestic. » Silence's Rapier fires out the portside of the Majestic, and he brings it around to fall into formation with the other superiority fighters, as usual.

Ona and Clearoff then board their fighter, waiting for launch instructions. They're clearly needed for something, but Ona wishes Schmidt would be less Secret Squirrel about the whole thing.

«Please stand by for mission briefing.» The Majestic radios.

Cyric falls into formation by habit and experience as he waits for his orders.

The colonel’s face appears on the screen: «Attention Pilots, we have a civilian transport at <NAV 1> that needs assistance. We have informed command of this and will continue to the jump point, rendez vous with them and assist them before meeting us at the Palan jump point. We have exactly two hours. We'll still try to save as many lives in the sector, in any way we can. Schmitd out.»

«Rho flight form up.» Iceblade radios as he maneuvers away from the ship. Phillip then notes the briefing comm.

Cyric's attention is tuned to the heavily pixelated image of the Col. falling into his familiar "briefing" poker face.

«squaddies, 6 fighters to protect a transport, this is… unusual.» Karen radios.

Ona wonders what sort of escort duty needs a fighter bomber.

Turning his eyes down toward the image of Taylor on the screen, Silence flicks his radio on. « Are they currently under attack, Colonel? » he asks.

«Intell is spotty on it, so we're sending a group large enough to handle itself» Bury answers.

«Rho flight, let's get moving.» Phillip radios. «Prepare for fast travel.» he adds.

«Unusual yes, but let's not waste time.» Tsunami remarks to Karen's comment, «We don't want the Mage to leave us behind here.»

«Roger, Lead. Lead the way!» Cyric hands moved with practiced professional movements to activate the craft's fast travel.

« Mm. Copy that. Ready to go. » Silence radios.

FWOOOSH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRUFICPDGf0&feature=youtu.be

This is aunt Helen,
confed patrol
sorry for the ruse,
we ain't in trouble.
I've been told to inform you
that there is an accumulation
of retro talons
at the following coordinates
NAV 2

I've also been informed
that you need to git
there and take out as many
as you can within 30 minutes
before returning to your base via
NAV 3

We'll be out of the way
in this here asteroid belt
until the ships are gone,

also tell that cutie Taylor
'Hi' for me.
Meow!

Clearoff hits the mike. «Thanks, but fake distress calls are a criminal offence!»

Silence flicks on his receiver. He listens attentively, a frown on his face under the helmet as he listens to what's coming through the comms. It sounds kind of off the books and official at the same time.

"Retro killing? My kind of party." «Roger Helen, keep the turkey warm for us.» Phillip radios as he aligns his craft to the next nav point.

Cyric coldly assesses the communique with some suspicion but the transport doesn't register as belonging to any of the pirate or retro transponders in the Confederation database. «What are your orders, Wing Commander?»

«It’s like a Gauntlet sim mission. Don't get killed, keep the Sabre's alive - they are only way home if anybody ejects.» Phillip radios the group.

«Indeed, keep me alive», Clearoff says.

«Acknowledged, Wing Commander. Ready for auto-pilot to Nav 2 coordinates on your order.» Cyric says.

"OkJules,yousignedupforgratuitouskilling… No I am protecting my friends." Karen starts breathing rhythmically.

«Alright people, conserve your missiles. Use 'em to thin thickening herds only.» Iceblade radios on short wave.

«Roger, Iceblade» Ona replies.

«Sigma lead, forming up, we're… we're going after them, right?» Karen calculates…

«Acknowledged. Sensors negative on contacts so far. Active sweep?» Cyric asks.

Iceblade counts… hoping he doesn't need more than 10 fingers.

«Yes, we are. Can't leave the others to do the job on their own.» Tsunami says in response to the question.

Silence radios. « We've got a nav location. No reason to give our position away. Hell, we put our ECM to good use, maybe we could even sneak up on 'em, given the nebula gasses…. »

«Guys, I don't think there will be time for us to resupply on the base if we arrive to land and need to escort the ship on the last leg. Let's be careful.» Karen radios.

«An edge is always good, what do you think Epsilon lead?» Phillip radios.

«I like a spot of sneaking up here. Catch them with their girdles down.» Ona responds.

Silence glances down at his emissions readouts. « We might take a nondirect course through the gasses and shut down all nonessential systems. Let our inertia bring us most of the way. Kick on the engines when we get near 'em and see if we can catch them with their pants down. »

«I think these lady retros find pants sinful.» Clearoff replies.

«Should we just try to take them as prisoners, as hopeful as I am, I don't think that'd work.» Karen radios.

«No warnings, otherwise no point in sneaking.» Iceblade radios.

«Let's use this nebula to sneak up on the nav point and then we see what lies beyond it and take them out one way or another as we see it once we know their numbers and disposition. » Cyric says.

« These traitors? Hell no. They stopped bein' human in my book the second they decided to sabotage our race during a war for survival. »

«Yeah, I thought so…» Karen sighs «Well, let's make sure to keep the Majestic safe then.»

«I doubt many of them will be alive by the time we're done with them…» Ona radios.

«Negotiating against Confed with the Kilrathi empire is a non-starter in terms of warnings. Might as be another Kilrathi fighter.» Phillip radios.

Cyric pauses and then adds. «Then we kill them and whoever ejects gets picked up by Ona and her Sabre. The Col. and Captain can decide what to do with the anarchist traitors at that point.»

Silence radios, « Yup. If they survive? Lucky them. »

ECM Technical 10:
Iceblade: Fails
Karen: Great Success
Ona: Success
Silence: Success
Talon: Success
Tsunami: Great Success

The group fly skirting the nebula all the way to nav 2.

They spot many retro fighters… Who seem to be guarding cargo pods.

Ona realises that this is going to be a bit of a challenge. Especially if they all attack at once.

«Let's kill the fighters and leave the pods for capture. Agreed?» Cyric asks on tight-beam.

«I'm OK with that… Maybe scan it?» Karen radios back.

«We probably won't have time to capture the pods, we're on a time limit here.» Kanani radios.

«We can at least scan them to know what's inside them at least. It might be useful intel.» Talon radios.

Silence adds, « It's worth makin' the attempt, if the opportunity presents itself. »

«One Stiletto Scans - Karen - rest of us keep up the kills.» Iceblade radios tight-beam.

One of the fighters veers off to investigate something.

«Take one each» Ona says.

«I'm on the leader!» Cyric says enthusiastically on his squadron wing tight-beam comm.

The groups spies a wing of talons flying in a slow curved patrol. They pass your position and continue.

Everybody save Karen line up on a target waiting for a mark to fire.

Karen skinks off to scan the container

Silence curls his gloved hand around his cockpit joystick, closing his fingers carefully over the firing controls as he gets lined up.

Iceblade unleashes a salvo or 4 at a passing Talon.

Cyric curls the corners of his mouth into a grin as his gloved hand rests on his gun's firing controls and he prepares his shot from extreme range. “May the Best Talon Win!”

Ona herself gets ready to give a Talon a trim.

GM: Desperta ferro!

 COMBAT BOT: Talon scored several hits on Tybald with Full Guns.
Tybald lost their aft shields and their aft armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence scored multiple weapon hits on r4 with Full Guns.
r4 lost their aft shields and took crippling damage to their craft's left wing.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami scored several hits on r5 with Mass Drivers.
r5 lost their aft shields and had their craft's left wing torn off.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade scored several hits on r3 with Full Guns.
r3 lost their front shields and their front armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona only scored glancing hits on r1 with Full Guns.
r1 lost their front shields and their left armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: r1 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy almost hit r2 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: r2 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff almost hit r1 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Container1 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Tybald passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: r4 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: r5 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Karen has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer almost hit r2 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: r3 passes this round.

The talons spin up and swoop to action.

Grinning darkly with satisfaction, Silence pours neutron and laser fire into one of the Talons as he comes diving out of a thicker patch of nebula gasses, watching as sparks, fire, and debris pour off of the fighter's left wing. « Solid hit, flight lead. That definitely got their attention. »

Several of Talon's shots failed to connect but most hit their target as the enemy's rear armor plating absorbed the hit with moderate damage! Cyric unleashed another salvo on the enemy from behind. «We definitely are in for a fight now!»

«Surf's up!» Kanani remarks as her shots rip through her target's wing. She twists her fighter around to try and line up another shot in the wounded region of the Talon, for her next pass.

«Infidels, you dare sully our hallowed grounds? We shall offer you mercy! Our fire may burn your body, but is shall purify your souls!» Brother Tybald bombastically proclaims.

«Well, I'm hot enough already without being set on fire.» Clearoff replies.

Iceblade watches as his target tries to dodge, its armor blunting the rounds that hit. Iceblade's Rapier punches in full throttle after the Talons, head on a swivel for targets and he sets off after the leader with salvos in hand. «Watch yourselves and pair up, Silence help Tsunami, Talon bring her toward me.» Ice radios on the flight group channel.

«Ours is the duty to protect humanity from the dangers that lie beyond.» Another retro adds.

Ona decides that it is time to keep firing at this Talon.

«Guys… the scans look like ship parts… each container has enough spares to make maybe 10-15 talons…» Karen radios.

«Well, we need to contain the situation then,» Clearoff replies.

Karen sees that there are no lifesigns in the container.

The enemy ace in front of him seemed eager to get him back so the fight became an actual dogfight. Only problem came from the fact that one of the other Talons decided to protect its leader making this fight a bit trickier than Cyric would have liked.

«Kill the containers K!» Iceblade radios as he tries to avoid R2's attacks.

«Taking out some trash.» Karen says trying to sound badass, her giggly inflections don't help though.

Iceblade's eye rolls. Frustratingly, these Talons are proving harder to hit… seconds between shots. Minutes are passing in a flash.

 COMBAT BOT: Tybald only scored glancing hits on Talon with Full Guns.
Talon lost their front shields and took minor damage to their craft's cockpit.

 COMBAT BOT: r3's Dumbfire Missile hit Tsunami dead-on.
Tsunami lost their front shields and took severe damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: r2 barely hit Iceblade with Full Guns.
Iceblade had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy scored several hits on r2 with Full Guns.
r2 lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's left wing.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 almost hit Karen several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami almost hit r5 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon scored several hits on Tybald with Full Guns.
Tybald lost their aft shields and took severe damage to their craft's power core.

Tybald's ship fell apart due to accumlated serious damage in addition to instability in the power core.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence only scored glancing hits on r4 with Full Guns.
r4 lost their aft shields and had their craft's left wing torn off.

 COMBAT BOT: r1 barely hit Talon with Full Guns.
Talon had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer only scored glancing hits on r2 with Aft Neutron Turret.
r2 lost their aft shields and took crippling damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade is unable to complete their attack as Tybald has been taken out.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona scored several hits on r1 with Full Guns.
r1 lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's tail.

 COMBAT BOT: Container1 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r4 almost hit Silence several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff scored several hits on r1 with Aft Neutron Turret.
r1 lost their aft shields and had their craft's tail sheared off.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen scored several hits on Container1 with Mass Drivers.
Container1 lost their aft shields and had their craft's left wing torn off.
Kanani: Stiletto221FS-8 | Body: 81.0%
Shields: Front 6.0 cm / Aft 6.0 cm
Armor: Front 8.0 cm , Aft 7.5 cm, Left 0.0 cm, Right 6.5 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 100.0%/ Man.Jets 53.1%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 100.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 100.0%
Weapons: Guns: 100.0%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-2 / Missile(3): HS

«They have taken brother Tybald from us! He shall be avenged!» R2 shouts panicked.

«Hail the Victorious Dead! You are now Cleansed of all your Sins, Tybold! Old Buddy, old pal! You have become another mighty success for the Confederation!» Cyric says as the enemy ace exploded in a fiery blaze of glory!

« Tsunami, you all right? » Silence calls out, after he watches the Stiletto take a nasty hit.

And Tybald is dusted, cored by Talon before Iceblade can get many hits in himself. Time to switch targets. «R2, Dead 2!» Iceblade taunts the second Talon on his tail as Iceblade fires after R3 who is catching Kanani's number. «On my way, Tsu»

«Bloody hell!» Kanani calls out as her fighter gets slammed into by a missile, and her maneuvering seems to go to hell. «Oh, just dandy.» she snarks to Silence's question, «Other than the maneuvering thrusters being torn up.»

Ona remembers comments about how many hits it takes to destroy any given fighter. She could switch to a missile, but looking at her scanner…

"Come on Jules, just take out the stupid box!" Karen frustratedly mutters to herself.

Ona could probably finish R1 off with another burst of gun fire.

«You know when someone has failed as spectacularly as you R1, they usually want to fall on their swords. Do you want to or shall I help you with that?» Cyric taunts R1 as he angles around for any shot he can fire at it.

«Heathen! Your death is the will of god!» R1 replies.

«Your death is the will of stupidity» Iceblade replies and he takes a second to line up a dumbfire

«If it is the will of God, then so be it» Ona said, «But he's not struck me down yet.»

«Ours is the hand of God that shall dispense his righteous will!» A retro radios.

«Guys, watch your six. We've got company.» Swordbuddy alerts.

«Tybald said the same thing and look where he is. Perhaps it’s God's Will that you shall die at the hands of the Confederation today, traitor!» Cyric adds as he fires again!

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy scored several hits on r2 with Full Guns.
r2 lost their front shields and their front armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: r3's Dumbfire Missile hit Tsunami dead-on.
r3's missile launcher clicks empty for Dumbfire Missiles.
Tsunami lost their aft shields and had their craft's right wing blasted to pieces.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence scored multiple weapon hits on r4 with Full Guns.
r4 lost their aft shields and took crippling damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon only scored glancing hits on r1 with Full Guns.
r1 lost their aft shields and their right armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona almost hit r1 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade's Dumbfire Missile almost hit r1.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 almost hit Karen several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff's shots missed r1 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: r6 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r1's shots missed Talon completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Container1 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami's shots missed r5 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: r4 barely hit Silence with Full Guns.
Silence had their front shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer barely hit r2 with Aft Neutron Turret.
r2 lost their front shields and had their craft's nose chewed off.

 COMBAT BOT: r2's shots missed Iceblade completely.

 COMBAT BOT: r7 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen scored several hits on Container1 with Mass Drivers.
Container1 lost their front shields and has their hull ripped into.
Kanani: Stiletto221FS-8 | Body: 65.0%
Shields: Front 6.0 cm / Aft 6.0 cm
Armor: Front 8.0 cm , Aft 7.5 cm, Left 0.0 cm, Right 0.0 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 100.0%/ Man.Jets 53.1%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 100.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 0.0%/ Tail 100.0%
Weapons: Guns: 100.0%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-2 / Missile(3): HS

Talon parts start pouring out of the container that has been torn open.

«AAHHHH, Missed.» Iceblade loses a bit of cool, as his dumbfire missed and his target's own attack hit. Iceblade tries to open with as much laser fire as he can at R1's tail. «Watch yourselves, these guys aren't pushovers.» Iceblade radios the group.

Of course, Ona realises, you have to hit the target. Time to switch to one missile.

« It's okay! We'll take 'em down, » Silence calls out, trying to sound as composed as he can. He doesn't take down targets as quickly as some of his wingmates, that's for sure, but he's focused on dismantling what's left of his target with his guns.

«Status report?» Karen asks scanning her screen that just lit up.

«Not all that good. Gonna need a new wing and paint job at this rate…» Tsunami remarks over the radio in a distracted tone, as she's too busy flying to chat much.

«Cap, you want a hand on the bogey?» Karen offers?

The flow of targets is switching. Iceblade spies R1 veer off while another Talon (R3) focuses on Kanani. «Watch yourself Talon, dodge dodge, I've got to help Tsunami»

«Hard to dodge without maneuvering thrusters!» Kanani manages to snark back.

«Roger, Ice. I'll blast this parasite into oblivion!» Cyric radios and he jukes out of the way of the newcomer coming in hot on his tail.

«Tsunami, bug out, we'll cover you!» Karen radios.

COMBAT BOT: Iceblade scored multiple weapon hits on r3 with Full Guns.
r3 lost their aft shields and took severe damage to their craft's tail.

COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy's Spiculum IR Missile scored a critical hit on r2.
r2 lost their aft shields and had their craft's left wing torn off.

r2's ship exploded due to a critical failure of ship's integrity in addition to the loss of structural elements.

COMBAT BOT: r3 scored several hits on Tsunami with Mass Drivers.
Tsunami lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's engines.

COMBAT BOT: Silence only scored glancing hits on r4 with Full Guns.
r4 lost their front shields and has their hull ripped into.

COMBAT BOT: Talon only scored glancing hits on r1 with Full Guns.
r1 lost their aft shields and took severe damage to their craft's engines.

r1's ship exploded due to a critical failure of ship's integrity in addition to the loss of structural elements.

COMBAT BOT: Rimmer is unable to complete their attack as r2 has been taken out.
COMBAT BOT: Clearoff is unable to complete their attack as r1 has been taken out.

COMBAT BOT: r5 barely hit Karen with Mass Drivers.
Karen had their aft shields weakened.

COMBAT BOT: r7's shots missed Talon completely.

COMBAT BOT: r6 almost hit Ona several times.

COMBAT BOT: Container1 passes this round.

COMBAT BOT: Ona is unable to complete their attack as r1 has been taken out.

COMBAT BOT: r4's shots missed Silence completely.

COMBAT BOT: Karen scored several hits on r3 with Mass Drivers.
r3 lost their front shields and took crippling damage to their craft's guns.

COMBAT BOT: Tsunami's Javelin HS Missile scored a critical hit on r3.
r3 lost their aft shields and had their craft's engines shot up.
[[/code]]

Kanani: Stiletto221FS-8 | Body: 62.0%
Shields: Front 6.0 cm / Aft 6.0 cm
Armor: Front 8.0 cm , Aft 0.0 cm, Left 0.0 cm, Right 0.0 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 86.5%/ Man.Jets 53.1%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 100.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 0.0%/ Tail 100.0%
Weapons: Guns: 100.0%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-2 / Missile(2): HS 

R3: Talon-R-321-788 | Body: 14.000000000000002%
Shields: Front 7.0 cm / Aft 7.0 cm
Armor: Front 1.6 cm , Aft 0.0 cm, Left 7.0 cm, Right 0.0 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 0.0%/ Man.Jets 100.0%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 100.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 41.2%
Weapons: Guns: 48.5%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-1 / Gun: L-2 / Gun: FG-TAR / Missile(0): DF

« Attention Retro R3. Punch out immediately, or I will kill you. This is your only warning. » Silence radios.

R3 d20: 3

«Victory! Glory is Mine! All of you Traitors should Surrender or Die!» Cyric yells as his guns grind another Talon into ashes and dust!

And the trio of fighters (KKI) manage to rip into R3… bad day for it. «Great shot! K-T, Hang on Ona, I'm coming for ya.» Iceblade switches to R6 and punches full throttle to focus fire on its tail.

«You may kill me, but my soul shall live on!» R3 taunts.

«And there's the engines starting to act up. Alright, I'm gonna try and get back to the Mage in one piece. Remember the time limit guys.» Tsunami calls out as she starts to break away with the satisfaction that her missile took out the retro's engines.

Seeing her target go down before she has a chance to fire again, Ona switches to one of the newcomers.

«I'll take out the container, then you need an escort back?» Karen replies.

« That's your choice, then, » Silence replies, grimly squeezing down on the firing trigger once again.

Karen's shields flared up from r5's attacks. She tries to roll out while taking on a vicious empty box.

«Should be fine if they're all distracted. My engines aren't that bad at least.» Kanani assures Karen.

«Got that one off your back, Ice. Let's give R6 a bad day.» Swordbuddy radios his Sabre lines up on R6.

«Your divine death shall come at my hand! But I shall offer you clemency if you leave now.» A new pilot with an ornate helm declares.

Cyric’s face lights up at the thought of another Ace to kill today. That's one more enemy Ace to add to his kill-board collection!

«Forgot about surrendering, we aren't interested in taking prisoners today. Maybe the Kats will be different.» Iceblade taunts back.

«Your last words are those of hubris!» A retro radios.

«And your last words are about to come in 10 seconds!» Iceblade continues, lasers firing.

Tsunami leaves all the trash talk to the other pilots as she gets her Stiletto going as fast as it can, pulling away from the fight.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade only scored glancing hits on r6 with Full Guns.
r6 lost their aft shields and their right armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence barely hit r4 with Full Guns.
r4 had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy's Spiculum IR Missile scored a critical hit on r6.
r6 lost their aft shields and took crippling damage to their craft's engines.

 COMBAT BOT: Container1 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen scored multiple weapon hits on Container1 with Mass Drivers.
Container1 lost their aft shields and had their craft's tail sheared off.

Container1 is shredded to pieces and explodes as its ship's core detonates from shrapnel.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer only scored glancing hits on r6 with Aft Neutron Turret.
r6 lost their front shields and took crippling damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon's Dumbfire Missile scored a critical hit on r7.
r7 lost their aft shields and had their craft's engines shot up.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 barely hit Karen with Mass Drivers.
Karen had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: Kristov passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona scored multiple weapon hits on r6 with Full Guns.
r6 lost their front shields and had their craft's right wing blasted to pieces.

r6's ship exploded due to a critical failure of ship's integrity in addition to the loss of structural elements.

 COMBAT BOT: r7's shots missed Talon completely.

 COMBAT BOT: r8 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff is unable to complete their attack as r6 has been taken out.
 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r4 almost hit Silence several times.

 COMBAT BOT: r3's shots missed Tsunami completely.

Karen sees the container explode and smirks at the trails of fireworks that were formerly talon parts.

Iceblade's salvos burn through armor, Rimmer's neutrons rip up thrusters, and the lack of dodgability opens the way for Ona's explosive finisher… all in the SAME SPOT. OUCH! Iceblade smiles. «I love it when a plan come together!»

«Poor little fly. I guess it’s just your time to DIE!» Cyric taunts as the newcomer's engines melt under the blast radius of a crippling hit from his dumb-fire missile!

"C'mon you bastard," Silence mutters, frustrated as he struggles to line up a killing shot on the badly damaged talon.

«Boom shakla-laka boom!» Ona cries.

«Talon, with me, Let's give this … Kristopher fellow a screaming headache.» Iceblade radios his wingman.

Cyric is distracted by the crippled enemy directly in front of him. «Roger, be right there after I finish this one off, Wing Commander!»

Ona switches to the other new arrival.

«We've got time.» Iceblade retorts as he checks his own six.

«Guys, I'm picking up more of these boxes» Karen warns.

«BLASPHEMER, Keep away from our holy relics!» Kristov warns.

«What holy relics?» Ona asks.

«Swordbuddy pick a dummy and shoot it!» Iceblade says. «There is a wealth of targets.»

«Join us and find out!» Another retro pilot answers.

«HAHAHHHAHHAHHAHHHHH» Iceblade laughs uproariously.

«The high tech ship parts they hate?» Swordbuddy suggests, adding to Ice's comment, «Don't worry, I'm on it.»

«You could just tell me.» Ona replies.

«I'd rather avoid being blasted into powder for junk parts or shoved out an airlock for Treason, thanks.» Cyric says sardonically.

«Anyone want to kill another Ace today? I'm not greedy, I've already got mine.» Cyric adds calmly.

«I need to deter R5, I can help after.» Karen replies.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence scored multiple weapon hits on r4 with Full Guns.
r4 lost their front shields and took crippling damage to their craft's right wing.

r4's ship was destroyed by severe damage across the ship in addition to the loss of structural elements.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona only scored glancing hits on r8 with Full Guns.
r8 lost their front shields and their front armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy's shots missed r5 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen's shots missed r5 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade's Dumbfire Missile scored a critical hit on Kristov.
Iceblade's missile launcher clicks empty for Dumbfire Missiles.
Kristov lost their front shields and had their craft's nose chewed off.

 COMBAT BOT: Kristov's Dumbfire Missile was easily evaded by Talon.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon scored multiple weapon hits on r7 with Full Guns.
r7 lost their aft shields and has their aft hull ripped into.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer almost hit r8 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 only scored glancing hits on Karen with Mass Drivers.
Karen lost their aft shields and their right armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: r8 scored several hits on Swordbuddy with Laser Cannons.
Swordbuddy lost their aft shields and their left armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff almost hit r8 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Container4 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container2 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container3 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r7's shots missed Talon completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r3's shots missed Ona completely.

Iceblade's dumbfire lands right on target - taking out the Ace's nose. «Enjoy the Nose Job, Kristov!» Iceblade taunts as Iceblade switches to lasers. "Time to burn out this guy’s cockpit." Iceblade goes high for a deflection shot as the Ace targets his wingman Talon.

«Great Shot, Ice! Solid Kill, Silence! We are knocking them dead now!» Cyric says.

Hitting the afterburners hard after his target finally disintegrates, Silence swings around to track the more talkative target in the area. « Target down. I'm with you, Iceblade. »

«Hmm, this guy's feisty.» Swordbuddy decides, as he switches to missiles, and takes a shot at the Talon that just hit his Sabre

Ona switches to fire another missile.

«Brother Kristov here, these infidels shall not last long under the combined might of the church of man, bring in all wings to defend the reliquaries.» Kristov radios

«How are you doing out there? Status? » Karen asks.

«No damage.» Ona says.

Cyric jukes as a dumb-fire flies past on its way from the second enemy Ace on the field today. Cyric still gets his guns to tear massive holes in the crippled enemy starfighter stubbornly clinging to life.

Iceblade smiles as Silence joins in the attack on Kristov. «Two against one, hardly seems fair. - then again this is war»

« Yeah. Besides. We know that ISS pilots only count as half, » Silence replies.

«You won't be just another ISS pilot when we get back to Perry… you really aren't even now, actually.» Iceblade encourages the rookie.

Two more targets appeared on Ona’s scope. Hopefully they could take the ones they were already engaging down quickly.

«Stand down you stupid retro, we need to protect mankind from the kilrathi, not you!» Karen screams out frustrated.

«We are mankind!» R5 replies calmly.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade scored several hits on Kristov with Laser Cannons.
Kristov lost their aft shields and their right armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Kristov's Dumbfire Missile hit Talon dead-on.
Kristov's missile launcher clicks empty for Dumbfire Missiles.
Talon lost their front shields and took crippling damage to their craft's nose.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon scored multiple weapon hits on r7 with Full Guns.
r7 lost their aft shields and had their craft's tail sheared off.

r7 is shredded to pieces and explodes as its ship's core detonates from shrapnel.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence's Dumbfire Missile hit Kristov dead-on.
Kristov lost their front shields and has their forward hull ripped into.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy's Pilum FF Missile scored a critical hit on r8.
r8 lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's right wing.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona's Spiculum IR Missile scored a critical hit on r8.
r8 lost their aft shields and had their craft's left wing torn off.

 COMBAT BOT: r8 only scored glancing hits on Swordbuddy with Laser Cannons.
Swordbuddy had their front shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 almost hit Karen several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer barely hit r8 with Aft Neutron Turret.
r8 lost their front shields and took severe damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

r8's ship fell apart due to accumlated serious damage in addition to the loss of structural elements.

 COMBAT BOT: r10 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff is unable to complete their attack as r8 has been taken out.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen barely hit r5 with Mass Drivers.
r5 lost their aft shields and their right armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: r9 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Container3 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container2 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container4 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r3 barely hit Ona with Mass Drivers.
Ona had their front shields weakened.

And RIMMER goes in for the Kill… and the talon goes wild - explosively so.

« That's it. Almost got 'im, » Silence calls calmly over to Iceblade over the tight beam.

Twin explosions erupt in front of Cyric's eyes. One from a dumb-fire exploding in front of his face and the other from the r7 traitor that betrayed his race!

Kristov dodges the lasers, losing right armor and runs into Silence's dumbfire. «Nice shot, Silence. Let's finish this waste of space.» Iceblade radios.

"Nice shootin." Swordbuddy calls back to his gunner as the Talon is destroyed with turret fire.

Switching to guns, the young pilot Jamie moves in closer and squeezes down on the trigger, attempting to pour enough fire into the ace to finish him off.

Karen dodges and sees that her target's aim is off, exceptionally, she adopts a very aggressive pose.

Ona switches to one of the new targets. This was turning into a turkey shoot.

«And the Three Musketeers go in for the kill.» Iceblade radios in reference to the ancient French swordsmen who are best known for using Rapiers - not muskets.

«Now you die, Traitor!» Cyric fires all of his guns at Kristov.

Talon: Rapier1087FS-7 | Body: 89.0%
Shields: Front 8.5 cm / Aft 8.5 cm
Armor: Front 0.0 cm , Aft 6.0 cm, Left 5.5 cm, Right 5.5 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 100.0%/ Man.Jets 100.0%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 98.3%/ Nose 29.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 100.0%
Weapons: Guns: 100.0%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: L-2 / Gun: FG-RP / Gun: N-2 / Missile(2): IR / Missile(1): DF / Missile(2): FF 

Kristov: Talon-R-321-335 | Body: 26.0%
Shields: Front 7.0 cm / Aft 7.0 cm
Armor: Front 0.0 cm , Aft 8.0 cm, Left 7.0 cm, Right 3.2 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 100.0%/ Man.Jets 100.0%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 0.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 100.0%
Weapons: Guns: 100.0%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-1 / Gun: L-2 / Gun: FG-TAR / Missile(0): DF

Iceblade switches to R9 to aid his wingman.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade scored several hits on r9 with Full Guns.
r9 lost their aft shields and their aft armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Kristov scored multiple weapon hits on Talon with Laser Cannons.
Talon lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona's shots missed r10 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence barely hit Kristov with Full Guns.
Kristov had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen almost hit r5 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: r10's shots missed Silence completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon only scored glancing hits on Kristov with Full Guns.
Kristov lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's right wing.

Kristov's ship exploded due to a critical failure of ship's integrity in addition to the loss of structural elements.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff almost hit r10 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy barely hit r3 with Full Guns.
r3 had their front shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: r9 only scored glancing hits on Talon with Full Guns.
Talon lost their front shields and their right armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 scored several hits on Karen with Mass Drivers.
Karen lost their front shields and took minor damage to their craft's controls.

 COMBAT BOT: Container4 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container3 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container2 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r3's shots missed Ona completely.
R3: Talon-R-321-788 | Body: 14.000000000000002%
Shields: Front 7.0 cm / Aft 7.0 cm
Armor: Front 1.6 cm , Aft 0.0 cm, Left 7.0 cm, Right 0.0 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 0.0%/ Man.Jets 100.0%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 100.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 41.2%
Weapons: Guns: 48.5%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-1 / Gun: L-2 / Gun: FG-TAR / Missile(0): DF

While there is a massive furball going on between the confederate wing (the Majestic crew) and retros defending their stockpile of fighters.

Kanani unluckily received 12 (I lost count) missiles from a silent ace. She was forced to return to base at full speed.

Her engine is sputtering and leaking fumes as she goes, her fuel is running low, but she knows she can make it. Unless something goes wrong…

She applies a direct course, and closes her ramscoops.

Kanani picks up something on your sensors. It's a faint blip… barely registering, but it's moving FAST in pursuit.

Normally she would zip by it, she is barely faster though just not as fast as if your engines were pristine.

Kanani frowns and looks a bit closer at the sensor readings, trying to determine what it might be. Noting that it's after her, she keeps up the speed, then tries to tightbeam a transmission in front of her, towards the Majestic, hoping that it'll get through, and sending out, «Majestic, this is Tsunami, I've taken a bit of damage and seem to have some pursuit, if you can send some backup my way. The rest of the gang are too far back at the moment to help out.»

«This is the ..est.. we.. j..p sending.. » … «A wing .. f..ight..s design.tion kappa. ..turn … pa… .u.. .oi..»

«Patrol Kappa here. Acknowledging coordinates, Majestic.» Foster radios. «Ozone, you take point.»

Kappa wing intercepts the lone stiletto, being ghosted by a blip.

«Aloha, nice of you guys to drop in.» Tsunami radios to the newly arriving escort party, «Still not sure what's following, but considering there's not much in the way of civilized folk out here, it's probably not anyone friendly.»

«Do you need help!?! We are here to rescue you! TAAALLLYYY-HOOOOOOO!!!» Kobold crows on the radio!

«Agreed. Good to see you are still flying in that… you look awful.» Foster radios, being a bit deadpain at the end of that.

«Yip! Yip!» Kobold agrees with great zest.

«Pray to whatever god you choose that I never become the XO or CO of the squad if you keep yelling over the comms like that Kobold.» Tsunami snarks a bit, before adding, to Foster's comment, «It's like I'd imagine trying to fly a whale would be like, only worse.»

Alertness Technical 15:
Gambit: Success
Kobold: Great Success
Tsunami: Fails
Ozone: Great Success

«Gambit here, anybody catch the license of that big guy?» Foster radios having detected a big, fast blip race to the Jump point.

«Roger! Roger! I have detected two stinky Ralatha on scopes! What do we do now, boss?» Kobold responds.

Foster doesn't waste any time before tight-beaming to the Majestic «TCS Majestic… be advised, four lesser capitals heading to the jump - scoops closed.»

«Acknowledged… we are in proximity of the point, and were in final preparations to jump, return to base immediately» the Majestic responds.

«Well. maybe it wasn't me they were after, after all.» Tsunami remarks at the comments from Gambit and Kobold about Kilrathi cap ships, «Must not have heard about my bounty yet I guess.»

«You got bounty hunters hunting the price on your head, sweet darling!? Weelll, say no more, little lady! We make sure you get back home in one piece; or my name isn't Kobold! Yip! Yip!» Kobold opines like he's drunk or he took one of his very special happy pills.

«Time to head home, then. We need to get back to base before the base leaves… we don't have jump drives on these fighters afterall.» Gambit radios.

Walsh, for once in a lifetime is keeping relatively quiet. First ride back in the hotseat for anything other than routine escort duty after a not undeserved spell on the bench and that little part of his brain that manages self-preservation seems to be working for once. Being pushed out the chute at a group of caps probably doesn't help either. «Ozone copies.»

«Keep your eyes open though.» Kanani adds to Gambit's comment, «They probably have some fighters out escorting them and no telling when they could stumble on us.»

«Oh right, don't leave your goal open - always keep at least a goal keeper in place.» Gambit responds. «Eyes on your scanners.»

«Roger wilco, boss! Eyes peeled for a furball!» Kobold switches off his comm for a moment before chuckling to himself in his cockpit. He's feeling really buzzed for some reason, but he follows orders docilly enough staring at his scanners with an old salt's languid skill.

«Speaking of which, I think the rest of the gang's had too much time for fun. Better warn them that the waves are getting unruly out here.» then she switches her transmission focus back towards the fight with the Talons on a tight beam encrypted comm, «Guy's, Tsunami here… If you're still playing patty cake with the Retro's you might want to head for home now. Looks like we've got a few Cat Cap ships pass us heading towards the jump point. »

«Tsunami, this is Ona. Thanks, but we're in no position to engage them. No torpedoes, see.» Ona responds.

«Just warning you that you'll need to hurry cause I'm betting the Mage'll be pressed for time waiting for us to get back.» Tsunami radios.

Cyric is burning his callsigns craft designation and namesake like there is no Round 16 left to live for…a candle burning Traitors at both ends as multiple Talon Aces and Mooks crumble into dark flames before him and no-one but him can hear their silent vacuum filled screams in the eternal night of space-borne starfighter combat. He is lost in his own metaphorical world and blazing hot death right now in other words…eh, can you please call back later? Thanks!

The team of stilettos form up in a diamond formation with Tsunami in the back. They proceed to return to base at full speed.

They arrive at the Palan Jump point, shrouded by the nebula so they are fairly certain your presence was not detected.

«Hopefully we don't run into any nasty surprises already here.» Kanani remarks on a short range comm just to the three other Stilettos with her, as they get close to where the Majestic should be.

The majestic has a full wing of Rapiers and Raptors buzzing around it, you can see torpedo barrages shot from the corvettes being blasted out of the sky, Grikath and Gothri are getting dangerously close and their Dralthi escort are taking positions behind a few of the raptors.

«This is the Majestic» a familiar voice radios «We are deploying flak screens, rapiers take out the escorts… raptors, focus on the bombers, we need to make it to the jump point»

The other escorts are positioned closer to the jump point to fend off anything that might decide to jump in.

Kappa sees the Ralatha Mikori is not turned to the Majestic but rather the jump point, it is a race.

«Well, not much of a surprise, but definitely nasty.» Tsunami remarks as she sees the already started fight.

«Kobold, keep with me. Ozone stay close to Tsunami» Foster radios as he begins to angle for targets.

Kappa has exited the nebula and will be in engaging distance in about a minute.

«I'm with you, Gambit! Let's blaze a trail!» Kobold says, excited to be fighting again as he punches his throttle to full and stays in formation with his wing commander.

The Kilrathi are between Kappa and the Majestic.

«Copy, Gambit. On your wing, Tsunami.» Walsh calls. It'd be nice not to lose any friends today, and a wounded bird is a juicy target.

«Got it. Let's try not to draw any undue attention.» Tsunami says to Gambit, adding, "I'd say we should just fly casual… but I dunno what the cats think of as 'casual'"

«You got a retro flag or Kilrathi IFF?… otherwise there is no casual - enemy is enemy.» Foster replies. «Anybody got a good Kilrathi Taunt handy to draw them off?» Gambit asks.

«It’s a good day for a Furball! Here, let me cram this one down your throats!» Kobold helps, he always helps… and that is half the battle!

«Let's focus on that Dralthi first. Clean up that Dralthi first.» Gambit radios.

«I'm on him, Gambit! Let's crush 'em!» Kobold cheers.

Kappa flies straight past the destroyer and its corvette escort. Their shields deflect all the AAA.

Kappa then intercepts the last wing of kilrathi bombers enroute to the majestic.

«Glory to Sivar! we shall collect more trophies in her honor!» The sartha radios loud and clear.

COMBAT BOT: Gambit barely hit escort1 with Mass Drivers.
escort1 lost their aft shields and their aft armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: escort1 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: escort5 barely hit Kobold with Neutron Guns.
Kobold had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: escort2 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: escort3 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: bomber2 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Kobold only scored glancing hits on escort1 with Mass Drivers.
escort1 lost their aft shields and took crippling damage to their craft's engines.

 COMBAT BOT: Ozone only scored glancing hits on escort4 with Mass Drivers.
escort4 lost their aft shields and took crippling damage to their craft's missile launchers.

 COMBAT BOT: escort4's shots missed Tsunami completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami almost hit escort4 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Siraj has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber1 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: bomber3 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Argal has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: Majestic has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Jarkarta has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Mikori has no target selected and does not act this turn.

The first pass was quite lethal the kilrathi forces were surprised by an organized strike focusing on their lead's engines…

Gambit and Kobold's mass drivers put a lot of mass in the ass of that Dralthi.

«Yip! Yip! Boss! I got 'em in the engines!» Kobold cries out in tears of joy as his shots rip the cat's engines into kitty litter.

«Dang, looks like I got their attention. Going Evasive, cover me.» Gambit radios as he dives away from the Dralthi - making a few parting shots as he twists and weaves.

The Kilrathi quickly go evasive and regroup for a counterattack.

«Looks like we've stirred up the hornet's nest a bit. Careful guys.» Tsunami remarks as she twists her fighter around as much as she can to avoid incoming shots.

«Choke on this up your tail-pipe and smoke it, Furball!» Kobold launches his heat-seeker jamming it right up the tail-pipe of the now sputtering and oh so less maneuverable than it was just a few seconds ago lead Dralthi starfighter.

<Meanwhile on the flight deck>
"Ey bossman, you sure 'boot dis? I mean, angry pixies can be pretty skookum if excitated enough, but you tink' it'dd pack enough cheech for their choch?" A large technician asks his senior.
His counterpart slowly blinks, inhales and replies. "Ve did ze math togezer, and ze numbers, zey cannot lie." He smiles. "I give it a 16 out of 20 chance of verking."
<And now back to space>

Kappa sees the majestic is closing in on the jump point, but not nearly as quickly as the Ralatha.

Walsh plays the wingman role and slips around the flank of the Sartha that's oncoming and lands a few hits along the ventral side of the kitty while it squirms around aiming for the slippery Tsunami.

 COMBAT BOT: escort2's Dumbfire Missile was easily evaded by Gambit.

 COMBAT BOT: escort3 only scored glancing hits on Tsunami with Laser Cannons.
Tsunami lost their aft shields and their aft armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber1 almost hit Gambit several times.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber3's shots missed Gambit completely.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber2's shots missed Tsunami completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Ozone almost hit escort4 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami's Javelin HS Missile scored a critical hit on escort4.
escort4 lost their aft shields and had their craft's engines shot up.

 COMBAT BOT: Kobold's Javelin HS Missile scored a critical hit on escort1.
escort1 lost their aft shields and had their craft's engines shot up.

 COMBAT BOT: escort5 almost hit Kobold several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Majestic has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Siraj has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Argal has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Mikori has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: Gambit barely hit escort1 with Mass Drivers.
escort1 lost their aft shields and took severe damage to their craft's tail.

 COMBAT BOT: escort4's shots missed Tsunami completely.

 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Jarkarta has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: escort1's Stalker HS Missile failed to lock onto Gambit and is flying off into the distance.

With the Dralthi a straight flying bullet, Gambit lays in some extra pain for good measure… still not dead. «Well that one is mostly done, let's clean out the Drakhri next, Kobold.» Gambit radios.

«No problem, Gambit. Argha! Stupid missile! I don't know why they don't just fit us all with dumb-fires all day long! Switching back to guns!» Kobold smiles darkly «Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Grandpapi Kobold wants you off his lawn!» The mass drivers out with *extreme* hostile intent to finish off Dralthi 1 once and for all!

Kanani spins her fighter around taking a few hits to the shields, as her missiles knock out the engines of one of the Kilrathi fighter craft. With escort4 mostly dead in space for now she picks another target to shoot at.

The capship missiles explode harmlessly, the rapiers have taken them out. Taylor goes on the comms «All fighters land immediately, Kappa wing, we're sorry, we are going to ram the jump point and meet up soon. Epsilon, Rho and Sigma are to follow suite. We are transmitting the coordinates of the Baden Powell, you shall dock with the Lancelot, which will be relayed by the BP to refuel and rest up. Godspeed Gentlemen.» The raptors hug the Majestic for a closer escort.

The Mikori is still closing faster than the Majestic on the node.

Much faster…

«Roger, Majestic. Landing on the Lance. Good luck!» Gambit radios as he locks a heatseeker on the tail of one of the Drakhri

 COMBAT BOT: escort2's Dumbfire Missile hit Gambit dead-on.
Gambit lost their aft shields and took crippling damage to their craft's tail.

 COMBAT BOT: escort3 barely hit Tsunami with Laser Cannons.
Tsunami had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber1 almost hit Gambit several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Ozone scored multiple weapon hits on escort3 with Mass Drivers.
escort3 lost their front shields and had their craft's missile launchers blown up.

escort3's ship exploded due to a critical failure of ship's integrity.

 COMBAT BOT: Kobold scored several hits on escort1 with Mass Drivers.
escort1 lost their aft shields and had their craft's tail sheared off.

escort1 is shredded to pieces and explodes as its ship's core detonates from shrapnel.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber2 almost hit Tsunami several times.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber3 almost hit Gambit several times.

 COMBAT BOT: escort5 scored multiple weapon hits on Kobold with Neutron Guns.
Kobold lost their front shields and took severe damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami is unable to complete their attack as escort3 has been taken out.

 COMBAT BOT: Gambit's Javelin HS Missile scored a critical hit on escort2.
escort2 lost their aft shields and had their craft's engines shot up.

 COMBAT BOT: Majestic has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Argal has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Mikori has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Jarkarta has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Siraj has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: escort4's shots missed Tsunami completely.

Kappa wing takes out two of the seven opponents, destroying a dralthi and a drakhri, they also scored major damage on the other escorts, however, a single sneaky sartha surprisingly slashed stiletto shields sintering some thrusters on Kobold's ship.

Kanani's shields take a few more hits but she otherwise manages to get her fighter through without anymore extra damage, though her current target gets blasted to pieces by Ozone. «Nice shooting.» she says, before adding to the Majestic, «Copy that Majestic.»

"AAACHHH" Gambit says as a dumbfire explodes on his flank seconds. Gambit cuts his thrusters and the Drakhri flies past…. locking LOCKED FIRE «Fox two!» Gambit's missiles sails into its engines detonating them. Gambit then switches targets to another of his pursuers - a Gartha. Gambit is careful to avoid the Gartha's returning fire, though.

«I GOT YA! I GOT YA! I GOT-*rumble*» Kobold swears in several languages «You couldn't wait to do that could you, you mall store pet reject!»> Kobold spins around much more slowly as his sputtering maneuvering jets suffer from a one in a million hit in their keisters from a stray neutron bolt. «Come here, punk! I'll teach ya you should treat ya elders!»

The rapiers have all landed on the Majestic, the raptors are filing in.

Walsh, playing bodyguard to Tsunami's pre-battered bird, lands good hits on one of the cats shooting in her direction. «Bye, kitty! How you holdin' up, Tsunami?»

«Ozone, you might need to help Kanani out, she's low on fuel and missiles.» Foster orders.

«Running low on fuel, probably shouldn't stick around too long, if I'm gonna make it to the Powell» Tsunami answers her wingman.

<Meanwhile on the flight deck> "C'mon! git in your place, you need to clear de area fer de next wing!" <Back to space>

The kilrathi, seeing that they effectively lost half the flight in under 4 seconds regroup and form a new strategy.

«Your life shall be my trophy!» The pilot growls.

The bomber swings around and attacks a stiletto barely out of range of his mass drivers
.
«I'll feed ya to my dogs, Cat! Right after I grind you into kibbles and bits!» Kobold is getting angry. Oh, you don't want to see Kobold when he's angry!

 COMBAT BOT: bomber3 almost hit Gambit several times.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber1 scored several hits on Ozone with Laser Cannons.
Ozone lost their front shields and their front armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami scored multiple weapon hits on bomber1 with Mass Drivers.
bomber1 lost their aft shields and had their craft's tail sheared off.

 COMBAT BOT: escort5 barely hit Kobold with Neutron Guns.
Kobold had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber2 almost hit Tsunami several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Gambit's Javelin HS Missile was unable to maintain lock and hit bomber3.

 COMBAT BOT: Ozone barely hit bomber1 with Mass Drivers.
bomber1 had their front shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Argal has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: escort2's Dumbfire Missile almost hit Gambit.

 COMBAT BOT: Kobold's shots missed escort5 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Mikori has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: Majestic has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Siraj has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Jarkarta has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: escort4's shots missed Tsunami completely.

Taylor comes on the screen again. «Attention Kappa wing, you may want to avert your eyes from the Ralatha going to the jump point» He says as a single capship missile exits the port tube of the Majestic.

Kobold respects the older man too much and averts his eyes which throws off his aim so badly that all of his shots go wide off target. This results in an outpouring of particularly incisive cursing as only an old crusty space navy pilot sailor man can in the comfort of his own cockpit (with the comms off).

«You heard him kids. This isn't likely to be pretty for your young eyes.» Kanani remarks in the midst of ripping the tail off of the Bomber she's shooting at.

A noble looking and elegantly dressed kilrathi warrior opens the comms: «A single missile? how pathetic. You have underestimated us, but this hubris shall be your demise. More power to the engines!»

The last raptors docked with the Bengal. It is now running on full engines to the jump point.

Gambit notices a dumbfire heading right at him and weaves out of the way - just seconds after firing a heatseeker, which gets dodged. Foster curses. Gambit switches to mass driver the Drakhri out of the picture. «Gambit Guns guns guns.»

«This prey is not worthy of my paws!» The kilrathi snarls.

«I've had to look at your ugly backside long enough, you overgrown feline! Say Hello to your Maker for a Refund!» Kobold switches to his last remaining heat-seeker seeking to end this dogfight quickly so he can look after his wing a bit better without this kit nipping at his heels the whole way like some junkyard dog back in his home-town.

«Oh how cute, the kitty only has little paws and not claws» Gambit taunts back.

Ozone does his little dance with the oh-so-clever Gratha, though taking enough oncoming fire to deplete his fore shield arc. Well, at least if puddy wants to dogfight, puddy is not exploding the big crate we all call home.

 COMBAT BOT: Ozone only scored glancing hits on bomber1 with Mass Drivers.
bomber1 lost their front shields and their right armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Gambit scored multiple weapon hits on escort2 with Mass Drivers.
escort2 lost their aft shields and had their craft's tail sheared off.

escort2 is shredded to pieces and explodes as its ship's core detonates from shrapnel.

 COMBAT BOT: escort5 scored several hits on Kobold with Neutron Guns.
Kobold lost their front shields and their front armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber3's Stalker HS Missile hit Gambit.
Gambit lost their aft shields and had their craft's tail sheared off.

 COMBAT BOT: Tsunami scored several hits on bomber1 with Mass Drivers.
bomber1 lost their aft shields and has their aft hull ripped into.

 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Siraj has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber1 only scored glancing hits on Kobold with Laser Cannons.
Kobold lost their front shields and took severe damage to their craft's left wing.

 COMBAT BOT: Kobold's Javelin HS Missile hit escort5.
escort5 lost their aft shields and had their craft's left wing torn off.

 COMBAT BOT: bomber2 only scored glancing hits on Tsunami with Mass Drivers.
Tsunami lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Argal has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Mikori has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: Majestic has no target selected and does not act this turn.
 COMBAT BOT: KIS-Jarkarta has no target selected and does not act this turn.

 COMBAT BOT: escort4's shots missed Tsunami completely.

The kilrathi regroup and start inflicting damage on the plucky band of pilots, not noticing the loss of their colleague.

Gambit's mass drivers hit and hit and hit the slowly moving Drakhri and blasts it too smithereens… and WAM as a heat seeker smash's Gambit's tail clean off. Gambit goes full evasive. «Got one on my tail, need assistance.» Gambit radios for help.

<Meanwhile on the flight deck> "Five creds says it won't work", "you're on!", the second pilot watching hands the first a small chit.

«Dang it! Too many, too many of these Cats running around and causing trouble! Missile did nothing so nothing changed there.» Kobold enters a much more Cautious stance now that he's got two kitties out for his blood. «How are you doing, Gambit?»

«Like a monkey without a tail.» Foster replies between weaves.

Another blow lands on the bomber she's shooting at, but Gambit's call has her switching to target the bomber that's shooting at him, now. She mutters to herself, "Careful, careful." as a few shots bounce off of her ship and make it even less maneuverable.

The capship missile flies towards the Ralatha. The sharply dressed captain returns to the comms «Monkeys, this pathetic insult is both dishonorable and insulting. Now watch this.» He presses a button, and a single turret fires a single shot.

Tarsus d20: 2

He missed the shot, and the full screen goes up.

The missile is destroyed 2000 meters away from the Ralatha and a giant cloud of blue light flashes over your eyes.

Gambit is singing Don't Fear the Reaper in his cockpit as his dodging gets even more erratic…. definitely need some more cowbell.

Tsunami Alertness Technical 12: Success

Tsunami sees that the Ralatha has electrical arcs across its hull. She also notices that its engines have gone dark and it's drifting off course.

<Meanwhile on the flight deck> the pilot hands two chits back to his peer. Another - less rotund - mechanic scratches his head and makes a few notes.

Kanani watches that display, on a mostly dimmed screen as opposed to looking at the Ralatha directly, then saying «Oh, that was a nice trick there, Majestic!»

«We can make their engines go dead just like that, eh? That's what I call curb service!» Kobold radios.

On the appearance of sparkly blue lightning stuff, Walsh quips «Hah! But I'm the only Ozone around here!»

«Well with that guys, it might be a good time to get the heck out of here, don't you think? And meet up with the Powell?» Tsunami suggests, given there's still a few enemy capships and fighters, and the Mage is planning on leaving.

«Go on ahead, I'll be right behind ya! I've got to get this Cat dead or he just follow us around instead, right Fred?» Kobold is on active taunt mode and can't switch it off just yet.

«Sounds good to me» Gambit radios as he comes about and pulls several sharps turns and full burns to evasively pull out of the engagement.

«Yikes! Now all of 'em all ganging up on me! Bugging out!» Kobold radios.

The Majestic jumps off into the point and you can see the Mikori's engines beginning to flicker, they were probably out for three seconds tops, but it was enough to give the edge to the Bengal.

The pilots fly towards the nebula masking their signature as they progress to the Baden-Powell.

«Welcome pilots. Anyone out there thirsty?» The Baden-Powell radios.

«Roger that, Baden-Powell. I'm almost on empty, right now.» Tsunami radios ahead as the group close in on their destination.

USER: Rear_Admiral_Tarsus : <Majestic>
- Ey Bossman, can't believe it worked… what should we call that thing?
- How about like a bloodsucking animal, it removes ze life blood of ze target
- Oh, yeah, we can call it a lamprey?
- Ja vol!

Back at the killing field:

Iceblade rips into the talon's posterior, sending armor flakes into space. Several rounds however miss, allowing the robust little dogfighter to hold together at it tries to dodge Iceblade and keep chewing into Cyric's armor. «Talon dodge dodge dodge.» Iceblade radios as he pauses for his guns to recharge and sending even more rounds into R9's backside.

«I'm on it, Wing Commander! Let's teach this traitor a lesson he won't soon forget!» Talon spins his fighter in a corkscrew arc as he cuts his throttle to nothing allowing the enemy fighter blow right past him as raking it with gunfire as the enemy darts past where he was only a few moments ago.

«Not that he's going to have much use for the lesson», Clearoff adds, «Because he'll be dead!»

Silence briefly glances back over one shoulder and through his cockpit's rear viewport once he notices that he's picked one up. « One's trailing me. Got it under control, » he radios.

Karen dutifully engages the talon endangering her wingleader, giving her a better chance to escape. "Come on Kanani, just burn a bit more… " «Hey retro… you're nowhere nowhere near as good as the sacrosanct prisoners we took. Here's how it's going to go down. You surrender, we take you prisoner, you get re-educated, you learn about showers and vaccination.»

Meanwhile the crates continue to go unmolested… the Retros pilots are in fact dying for something - keeping the containers undamaged.

Clearoff thought showers were overrated. Baths were more fun.

Cyric's heart and soul remain pure and wholly unaware of the unchaste thoughts of his compatriots whose thoughts in the middle of combat were he to know them would seem very strange. His Will however is strong and focused on the battle in front of him. Victory or Death!

«I am engaging r3 up close, they shouldn't last long.» Swordbuddy says matter of factly.

Clearoff sees one of the Talons lining up on their rear and switches to fire at it.

Rimmer starts to take potshots at the containers nearby.

«One of us needs to kill those crates while the rest of us keep these traitors busy! Once they are dead, the enemy should withdraw and flee the combat zone!» Cyric growls tightly as he jukes sharply upward to keep the enemy that is firing at him right in front of him.

«I would normally volunteer, but I'm handling Tsunami's retreat.» Karen responds.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon scored several hits on r9 with Full Guns.
r9 lost their front shields and their front armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade only scored glancing hits on r9 with Laser Cannons.
r9 lost their front shields and took minor damage to their craft's nose.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 almost hit Karen several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy barely hit r3 with Mass Drivers.
r3 lost their aft shields and their left armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona barely hit r10 with Full Guns.
r10 had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: r9 almost hit Talon several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff's shots missed r3 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen barely hit r5 with Mass Drivers.
r5 lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence's Pilum FF Missile scored a critical hit on r10.
r10 lost their front shields and took minor damage to their craft's missile launchers.

 COMBAT BOT: Container2 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r10's shots missed Silence completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer only scored glancing hits on Container2 with Aft Neutron Turret.
Container2 lost their front shields and had their craft's right wing blasted to pieces.

 COMBAT BOT: Container3 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container4 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r3's shots missed Ona completely.

"Keepitcooljules… justgottakeephimbusy!" Karen says.

Several hits score deep fissures in the enemy as it blazes past Cyric but aside from some armor damage, nothing critical was hit and the enemy is still at the height of its fighting potential.

«Talon you got this?» Iceblade radios.

R3 calls out: «Deliver us oh lord, for we are in need!»

«I've got this one, Ice! Go! Kill those crates!» Cyric says as the enemy craft twists around to face him for another run and Cyric pushes his afterburners to close the distance quickly from a dead stop to a sudden charge.

«The Lord's deliverance will come if you surrender!» Ona calls out, «He doesn't approve of suicide!»

«Swordbuddy, stop playing with R3 and use those particles on these containers.» Iceblade radios as he switches to target the third Container in the line.

Ona and Clearoff continue to engage their respective targets.

«Engaging at a distance, sir» Swordbuddy responds.

"Hey buddy, let's hit Container2's right side. I've got it softened up." Rimmer says to Swordbuddy.

Silence flicks a thumb switch to fire off a friend or foe. The missile streaks off behind him, nailing r10 on the left side. Silence pulls back on the stick, grunting as he attempts to line up a good shot on the retro while they're distracted.

«If you pray like you shoot, you're probably sending your thoughts and prayers to a datacenter!» Karen taunts. "Gottakeephimmad." She soothes herself.

«Nice one!» Iceblade broadcasts on the flight group's channel immediately after Karen's taunt.

Ona switches to a missile to end this guy's day.

Iceblade Alertness Technical 13 [Scanning Crate]: Success

Container 3 contains Manufacturing equipment and CO2 scrubbers.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade scored multiple weapon hits on Container3 with Full Guns.
Container3 lost their front shields and had their craft's nose chewed off.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon scored several hits on r9 with Full Guns.
r9 lost their aft shields and took minor damage to their craft's left wing.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 barely hit Karen with Full Guns.
Karen had their aft shields weakened.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence only scored glancing hits on r10 with Full Guns.
r10 lost their front shields and their front armor absorbed the hit.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy scored multiple weapon hits on r3 with Particle Cannons.
r3 lost their front shields and took severe damage to their craft's maneuvering thrusters.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona scored a glancing hit on r10 with a Dumbfire Missile.
r10 lost their front shields and had their craft's left wing torn off.

 COMBAT BOT: r10 almost hit Silence several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Container2 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container4 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer scored multiple weapon hits on Container2 with Aft Neutron Turret.
Container2 lost their front shields and had their craft's missile launchers blown up.

Container2 is shredded to pieces and explodes as its ship's core detonates from shrapnel.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff's shots missed r3 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Container3 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r9 almost hit Talon several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen's shots missed r5 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: r3 almost hit Ona several times.

Another container detonates, and more retros arrive within 20 000k.

Ona notices the new arrivals and decides they need to focus on the current targets first.

"A bit stronger this one!" Cyric spins his craft around and around getting a few shots to connect as the enemy shots and misses him even as it delays its destruction by some clever retro trick. With more enemies inbound, Cyric arms his last remaining dumb-fire missile and fires it at point-blank range at the enemy.

«Uh oh, I think this congregation is getting a little thick. Ona, suggest we try to disengage?» Iceblade radios, as he continues with tear about the present target.

«Guys… I see some sartha in there!» Karen shouts.

« Goddamned traitors, » Silence grumbles into the comms.

«Agree. Destroy your current targets, then bug out.» Ona orders.

«Affirmative! Ice you OK?» Karen replies.

«Never better. Just not liking the odds.» Iceblade responds.

«Clearoff, you got a clear shot on R3, take it!» Karen advises.

Ona decides that she might as well use a missile to finish this guy off. Then they are going to have to run as dying is likely unpleasant.

«Rho converse your FF's for the final pull out» Iceblade advises.

«I'm already engaging them!» Clearoff says.

"Wait no, don't… I don't know what to do." Karen mutters to herself.

«Go, Ice! Whatever is in those containers is obviously worth these lemmings dying for it! Let's scrag 'em and tag 'em before we go home!» Cyric finally lines up a good shot and fires his last dumb-fire missile. Don't fail me now! Cyric thinks.

«Sartha pilots, you are surrounded by humans, stand down.» Karen tries to spook the kilrathi.

R3: Talon-R-321-788 | Body: 3.0%
Shields: Front 7.0 cm / Aft 7.0 cm
Armor: Front 1.6 cm , Aft 0.0 cm, Left 0.0 cm, Right 0.0 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 0.0%/ Man.Jets 73.1%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 100.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 41.2%
Weapons: Guns: 48.5%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-1 / Gun: L-2 / Gun: FG-TAR / Missile(0): DF

«Traitor to humanity, feel our wrath!» The sartha pilot responds… She sounds not a day older than 15

R3, using faith (what else keep a craft together at 3% integrity) and puttering thrusters, tries to keep up with the much faster Sabres… not having much luck.

Clearoff prepares to turn it into scrap.

 COMBAT BOT: Swordbuddy scored multiple weapon hits on r9 with Full Guns.
r9 lost their aft shields and took crippling damage to their craft's guns.

 COMBAT BOT: Iceblade scored multiple weapon hits on Container3 with Full Guns.
Container3 lost their aft shields and had their craft's tail sheared off.

Container3's ship fell apart due to accumlated serious damage in addition to the loss of structural elements.

 COMBAT BOT: Talon's Dumbfire Missile scored a critical hit on r9.
Talon's missile launcher clicks empty for Dumbfire Missiles.
r9 lost their front shields and had their craft's maneuvering thrusters caved in.

 COMBAT BOT: r5 almost hit Karen several times.

 COMBAT BOT: Silence only scored glancing hits on r10 with Full Guns.
r10 lost their front shields and has their hull ripped into.

r10's ship fell apart due to accumlated serious damage in addition to the loss of structural elements.

 COMBAT BOT: Ona is unable to complete their attack as r10 has been taken out.

 COMBAT BOT: r13 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: r15 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: r14 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: Container4 passes this round.
 COMBAT BOT: r11 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: r9's shots missed Talon completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Rimmer is unable to complete their attack as r10 has been taken out.

 COMBAT BOT: r12 passes this round.

 COMBAT BOT: Clearoff's shots missed r3 completely.

 COMBAT BOT: Karen almost hit r5 several times.

 COMBAT BOT: r3's shots missed Ona completely.

« Scratch one traitor to humanity, » Silence radios, after the Talon under his guns breaks apart.

Ona sees her target go down and asks Clearoff for an update.

"Still up, but pretty much in a wrecked state", Clearoff replies, "We can bug out unless needed."

«Ona here. Ready to bug out if you are» Ona radios the group.

«Rho flight, time to bug out. Take rear positions to cover the Sabres and launch FFs at anything trying to trail us.» Iceblade orders as he pulls away from the wreck that was the third container and moves to a position between the Sabres and the new Retros.

Cyric grins as his missile blows apart the enemy's m. jets in a massive explosion. «You might want to run back home to Momma, kid! It’s getting a bit too rough out here for children! I would hate to have to kill you for betraying humanity and the Confederation by aiding and abetting our alien enemies!» Cyric addresses the 15-year-old pipsqueak with disdain at her brainwashed charges of Treason when she was running around with this pack of Traitors. «Let this traitor's death be a lesson for you not to betray Humanity again!» Cyric fires his guns to finish off r9 with a bang to punctuate his point!

«Iceblade, turning to bug out now. Clearoff, engage the least damaged fighter.» Ona radios.

Silence radios, « Copy that, Iceblade. Let's see if I can convince them otherwise. » He switches frequencies, calling out to the approaching retros. « Attention Retro forces. Back off now and live another day. There's nothing left in this area of space worth fighting for. »

A crackling transmission comes over the comms through the nebula, «Guy's, Tsunami here… If you're still playing patty cake with the Retro's you might want to head for home now. Looks like we've got a few Cat Cap ships pass us heading towards the jump point. »

«Tsunami, this is Ona. Thanks, but we're in no position to engage them. No torpedoes, see.» Ona responds.

«Just warning you that you'll need to hurry cause I'm betting the Mage'll be pressed for time waiting for us to get back.» Tsunami radios.

«Hey retros, you might want to protect your junk…. we are just the first group.» Iceblade radios the retros, trying to convince them that more Confed ships on the way.

English Social 16:
Silence: Great Success
Iceblade: Success
Talon: Great Success
Karen: Success

«We shall grant you clemency this time. Know that the god of man shall exact his vengence on you for insulting his holy name!» the other sartha radios

The retros form a wall between you and the last container.

Iceblade hangs in the rear of the formation, switching targets repeatedly to check the distance metric as the group pulls out.

«Withdraw! I have personally killed four of you without breaking a sweat already! There are countless more like me even if I should fall! If you continue to fight today, then you shall die here! Leave now or die!» Cyric rolls his intimidate skill with a cold fury that chills the blood of all who hear it!

«Epsilon 1, please give us a return vector.» Karen asks.

«Alright settle down Rho flight, we've got a bit of a trek back to base.» Iceblade radios his wingmates.

R3: Talon-R-321-788 | Body: 3.0%
Shields: Front 7.0 cm / Aft 7.0 cm
Armor: Front 1.6 cm , Aft 0.0 cm, Left 0.0 cm, Right 0.0 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 0.0%/ Man.Jets 73.1%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 100.0%/ Left Wing 100.0%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 41.2%
Weapons: Guns: 48.5%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-1 / Gun: L-2 / Gun: FG-TAR / Missile(0): DF 

R5: Talon-R-321-239 | Body: 75.0%
Shields: Front 7.0 cm / Aft 7.0 cm
Armor: Front 9.0 cm , Aft 8.0 cm, Left 0.0 cm, Right 5.9 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 100.0%/ Man.Jets 93.1%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 100.0%/ Left Wing 0.0%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 100.0%
Weapons: Guns: 100.0%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-1 / Gun: L-2 / Gun: FG-TAR / Missile(2): DF 

R9: Talon-R-321-745 | Body: 9.0%
Shields: Front 7.0 cm / Aft 7.0 cm
Armor: Front 0.0 cm , Aft 0.6 cm, Left 0.0 cm, Right 0.0 cm
Components: Power 100.0%/ Engines 100.0%/ Man.Jets 0.0%/ Controls 100.0%
Body: Cockpit 100.0%/ Nose 90.2%/ Left Wing 94.4%/ Right Wing 100.0%/ Tail 100.0%
Weapons: Guns: 38.0%/ Missiles: 100.0%
Weapons: Gun: MD-1 / Gun: L-2 / Gun: FG-TAR / Missile(2): DF

Ona gives them a curved path. «Let's not lead these guys back to the carrier. We've got enough problems to deal with already.»

« Copy that, Iceblade. In formation, » Silence radios back, breathing slowly to try to bring himself down more quickly from the combat high.

And r9 and r3 lightly bump into each other and detonate.

The group arrives back at the Palan jump point. They are nestled in the nebula, out of sensor range. you see a lot of red on your screen.

Switching to laser link for added stealth, Silence broadcasts to the other fighters in the wing. « Uh oh. Looks like somethin' big. »

«I'm picking up 3, no maybe 4 capital ships… » Karen radios in a hushed voice, not that it matters.

Silence ECM Technical 15: Fails

«Oh, great and I'm not dressed for it» Clearoff replies.

«I am reading the KIS Mikori, KIS Jarkarta, KIS Siraj and KIS Argal… They appear to just be waiting… lots of encrypted chatter.» Karen radios.

Talon ECM Technical 15: Great Success

«Epsilon 1 here. Do not engage. Repeat do not engage. We sneak out and report this back» Ona radios.

«Confirmed, heavy enemy contact ahead! Orders?» Cyric says before Ona says her stuff.

«Roger that… wait where are going?» Iceblade radios.

Alertness Technical 14:
Karen: Fails
Silence: Success [detects a debris field and an ion trail]
Talon: Great Success [detect an ion trail looks like a damaged Stiletto’s engines thorium emissions heading towards a safe location in the nebula
Iceblade: Success
Ona: Fails

Silence radios, « You guys pickin' that up? »

«Not on my end.» Ona responds.

Tsunami ECM Technical 20: Success

«Damaged Stiletto engine emissions detected on vector R7.174 dash 18. Do we investigate? It’s going right into the nebula.» Cyric says as he shares the information.

«Ion trail confirmed. Probably Tsunami given her damage. Ona, shall we follow given at what's waiting toward the jump point?» Iceblade radios after a successful scan.

«Epsilon, Rho, Sigma, anyone read this?» Tsunami's voice comes over the radio after awhile, she's probably been searching for a little while.

Ona considers this. No woman left behind, but they don't have the capacity…

«Tsunami, this is Epsilon 1! You're heading towards four enemy cap ships!» Ona responds.

«Away, I was trying to get ahold of you guys, so you didn't fly into them.» comes the wry response from Tsunami. «There's been a change of plans. Those cats are a bit leery of making the jump now, since the Mage got there first.»

«Glad to hear it.» Ona responds.

Obviously other than that bit of info, Kanani's not too keen on giving coordinates at the moment, since the cat's might pick up where the Baden Powell is before everything's ready.

Karen tightbeams to Rho «I bet Cadillac is sitting in a sabre with all torpedoes pointed at the jump point.»

«We weren't planning on getting near the cap ships. You want to return back to the Mage.» Ona radios.

«We can't, Mage is in the next system… we need to trail Tsunami. The ions she left should be… ough» Iceblade responds via short-range radio.

« Wait… she's jumped already? » Silence radios.

«She couldn't communicate from a different system… She's here somewhere. Maybe we can rendezvous where the civvy transports were. Make it harder for others to trail us.» Karen quips.

«Well, that was rude» Clearoff says.

«We are not done yet. Anyone detecting any friendly capital ship from our fleet still in this system?» Cyric asks as he scans the system map for any contacts.

«That's what Tsunami says, and I'm not keen to think this is some fake transmission to trick us away from the jump point. Sounds like we may be tethering to a corvette for a bit.» Iceblade radios.

«Well, we need to find somewhere to land» Ona radios.

"Wait… could this be a trap? was Tsunami a retro agent all along." Karen jokes to herself.

«Detecting one corvette class, looks like the Powell. They can direct us to one of the other ships they left behind to pick us up. Probably our Gilgamesh with my luck.» Talon radios.

« Well, this'll be new. Last time I landed on a destroyer, I was flyin' a Scimitar with training wheels on. » Silence says.

«Well, provided we have somewhere to land, I'm not too bothered» Ona responds.

«Last time I saw a Gilgamesh, I remember Foster was unlucky in an asteroid belt. She does have some pretty lines to her, very art-deco. I wonder if the insides are as stylish, anyone been on one?» Karen muses.

«Not me» Ona says.

«Ice, Silence, Talon, SB?» Karen radios.

« Nope. Just know she's green, » Silence radios back.

-=== FWOOSH ===-

The group arrives at the Baden Powell, it is located in the nebula, skirting the pulsar and near the much thinner minefield.

There are four battle worn stilettos: Tsunami, Gambit, Kobold and Ozone

The Baden Powell establishes a local secure connection and transmits the coordinates of the Lancelot.

«Tsunami, permission to form up? Sigma was kinda lonely… not that rho and epsilon weren't good hosts.» Karen radios.

Rousing himself, then switching his Rapier's instruments back to normal mode rather than audio alert so he could catch a short nap, Silence acknowledges receipt of the coordinates, then calls out, « Thanks, Powell. Good to see all of you. »

«Affirmative, now keep a low profile, without the Majestic here we are outnumbered by the kilrathi. And the retros.» The comm officer replies.

«Indeed. It appears that our carrier left without telling us. I hope they've got good bunks.» Ona radios.

«Sure, so long as it won't offend Rho and Epsilon. Though you'll have to switch to Kappa now.» Tsunami jokes at Karen's request. «Good to see you all in one piece though.»

«The bunks in a Gilgamesh are very nice, typically, not as much privacy as a carrier, but the beds are comfortable.» Swordbuddy answers.

«I'm familiar.» Cyric replies with some distaste at the not-too-distant memory of his time aboard the Alexander, a member of his father's destroyer flotilla.

«I'm not. You saw those cap ships, I assume?» Ona says.

«I guess we have a tour guide!» Karen says excitedly!

Cyric's stomach turns in knots at the thought.

Iceblade just nods at the situation. «Rho flight, anybody need a refill?» Iceblade checks his gauges and begins to calculate the distance and fuel needs.

«Saw them? Gambit, Ozone, Kobold and I ran into the fight as it was going on.» Kanani remarks to Ona's question, «We shot up a few bombers that were close to us, and then the Mage EMP'd one of the cat destroyers to make the jump first. Pretty wild stuff.»

«Well, it looks like we might need to take them before we can jump ourselves. Will have to ask Lancelot how they are for Sabre torpedoes» Ona responds.

«EMP'd sounds fun.» Iceblade decides he better refuel… time to use that awkward situation training.

Ona looks at her fuel to see if she has enough.

Cyric says «I'll go next. I've used afterburners too much on this run already.» Cyric falls into line behind Iceblade and gets ready for refueling docking procedures.

«The Sabres are fine for fuel» Ona radios.

Iceblade's ties up to the Corvette effortlessly. This clearly isn't his first time doing this.

Clearoff plays solitaire.

Silence pulls in soon enough to refuel. Combat's hell on fuel reserves.

«Ready to fly to our new base. » Karen says excitedly, knowing Cyric will know this ship like the back of his hand.

«Let's just call it home away from home.» Iceblade adds.

«Our temporary base» Clearoff replies, «All my party stuff is on the Mage»

«Very temporary. Ready to engage refueling procedures when you are topped off, Ice. Let's get this over with ASAP and get back to the Majestic as soon as possible.» Cyric says dryly.

«And there are way worse situations to be in, out in space when you have no carrier to land on.» Iceblade radios.

«Like dressed as Little Bo Peep» Ona radios.

«It'll be great guys, we'll have hot cocoa with marshmellows, we'll be able to see their O-Deck and compare… you think their mess hall is like the Mage's?» Karen continues.

«Like the only friendly air left in the system is in your cockpit.» Iceblade says sardonically.

«Aye.» Swordbuddy agrees.

«Thanks for the fuel and the coffee, Powell.» Kanani remarks while waiting for the rest of the group to get ready to head towards the Lancelot. «And for letting me use your comms too.» she adds, not mentioning being annoyed at the officer trying to tell her not to give out coords, when she already knew not to.

«Ear» Clearoff adds.

Karen snorts.

«Its going to be a lot smaller and you better hope you like synthetic vodka instead of the real thing. The stuff they give you there burns hotter than a thousand grains of sand melting away your eye sockets.» Talon radios.

Iceblade's tanks are reasonably filled up. «Form up troops, we've a date with the Lancelot.»

«Well, he's paying» Clearoff adds.

-=== FWOOSH ===-

They fly towards the pulsar …

They see the distinct shape of the Gilgamesh destroyer, and it's landing lights turn green, you all land and are greeted by the officer of the week who gives you each a bedroll and a bunk. welcome to the Lancelot.

Jamie lands veeeery carefully on the Gilgamesh's tiny deck and ends up frowning some minutes later as his Rapier's wedged into a too small flight bay. Hopefully, they'd all be able to launch quickly if the need arose.

Julianna slides down the ladder excited to see the new changes of scenery.

Cyric lands next with cheerfully forgotten ease shattered by his sheer sanity swallowing familiarity with that cramped little flight deck of his nightmares and parked in the narrow parking spot for his Rapier that nearly spilled over the next slot as these parking slots are so very tiny.