The comms station of the Venture was a hive of activity, with the air boss directing strike squadrons to the position of the Audacious and additional Marines being prepped to extract the boarding team if necessary, but Lieutenant Kraashnir’s ears perked up at that. “Isolate that signal! Flag, Comms, priority communique from the station!”"This is the NRS Venture, Nashtari Fourth Fleet. Unidentified signaller, identify yourself or we will jam this transmission."
In a flash, he knew what was going on. This was like Live Softly, where the guy taunted the bad guy over the comms! Before he could dash forward to give the invaders a piece of his mind, however, the leader Yrch put one hand on his shoulder. "I am Lieutenant Xczar of the 101st Starbourne. I apologise for any confusion our thawing may have caused. You have our station surrounded and outgunned, and it seems we were awoken to commit perfidy. Having no anti-starship weapons at our disposal, I am forced instead to offer you my surrender."
Admiral Greeley looked up from the tactical plot and acknowledged. The Yrch surrender was quickly accepted.
109th Tangoes Recon Squadron, Sword Base airspace
“Tango 2-3, we’re hit! Mayday, mayday, mayday!”
“Punch out, 2-3, your whole wing is gone!”
“Good chute, good chute.”
“Tango 3-1, visual on target. Rifle, rifle.”
The call of “rifle” was echoed by the rest of the squadron’s Charlie flight, and a fusillade of air to surface missiles streaked out towards the shield projector. A fireball blossomed into the sky as the hostile warship continued to gain altitude.
Belatedly, Lt. Sloan realized they were likely just saving the Amazo vessel the trouble of deactivating or destroying the generator itself, but any more time spent under here just increased the risk of more shootdowns; they needed room to maneuver. Blessedly, the indicator on her HUD warning her of the navigation hazard blinked green. “Tangoes, shield is down, let’s open it up!” She keyed over to the airgroup channel. “Venture Control, Tango Actual. SAR, SAR, we have pilots down.” Even as she spoke, she broke to the right and threw her fighter into a steep climb, a column of flame propelling her ascent. One of the Endeavour fighters zipped by going the other way, spraying fire from an almost cartoonishly wide array of guns as it shot down a pursuing bandit.
Bridge, NRS Audacious, Isenvajedo orbit
“Conn, Sensors, the shield is down. There’s a small warship angling for orbit, burning fast, sir.”
“Gunnery, do we have a firing solution on the main battery?”
“Negative, Conn, she’s still too low. We’d open up the planetary crust. We have a solution for the portside beams and Archers.”
“Open fire, weapons free.”
Great gouts of plasma leaped forth from the projectors on the port forward of the ship while anti-ship missiles streaked out toward their target. Hits were scored, but it kept going. “Conn, the target has left the atmosphere. I read an FTL drive cranking up.”
“Tactical, options!”
“If we bring the nose around 30 degrees port relative, I estimate we should have a railcannon shot before she can make the jump.”
“Helm, do it!”
The cruiser began to fire maneuvering thrusters to reorient itself. The smaller vessel was nimbler in open space, but even the mightiest of warships were still subject to orbital mechanics. They knew exactly where their target would have to go. “Conn, Gunnery, solution achieved. Opening fire.”
“Conn, Sensors, energy levels are spiking fast! I think she’s going to jump!”
The deck shuddered as the spinal railcannon spoke, flinging a tungsten shell into the void. It slammed into the target, rocking it and ripping open several compartments, but before a second solution could be achieved, a subspace vortex appeared in front of the vessel and she disappeared through.
Below, a full wing of A-310 attack aircraft arrived escorting several drop ships to begin search and rescue. Time was against them, as the Yrch encampment continued to come to life.
Statistics: Posted by Rogue 9 — 2024-12-22 11:51am