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 Falls over dead... 

Well, good space battle? Do you just want John Williams to compose now?
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 Falls over dead... 
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Chibi-Czar
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Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2004 1:30 am
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Location: GALAXIUS
Post Falls over dead...
I finally... finished... it...

Flight... Of the Hastings...

Chapter... Eleven. "Hastings UNLEASHED!"
Finished it at four thirty AM central time today.
No grammer or spelling proofreads done. But let's all hear it for gigantic space battles...

ROLL FIC CHAPTER!


Flight of the Hastings

"This is just smeggin' perfect," - "As if enemy fleets weren't bad enough... You migh' as well tell me that THAT, THING, is not one of ours."
-Knighthawk Five, Lister.

Chapter ELEVEN: Hastings UNLEASHED.


"Listen up!" Hess announced. "We don't have much time, so this breifing is going to be short. Minaho here has all the details so pay close attention." Hess turned and nodded to the young woman.

"Thank you," she responded, then turned her attention to the pilots assembled in the Hastings Breifing Room. "The Galaxy Police are preparing to strike a major pirate facility in the Thallis system. They are under the assumption they can corner and arrest the pirates before they can mount any sufficient ressistance. However, the GP are walking into a TRAP."
Hess stepped forward, the holoviewer flickered to life as he started speaking.
"What we've gathered is that the pirates actually planned this to lure a significant force of GP ships into the area, and ambush them."
"What I found out," Minaho continued. "Is that a large pirate force will be in position to strike them. The pirates have gotten ahold of a significant force of military grade equipment, including large quantities of fighters. However, they aren't nearly as skilled in piloting the craft as you have shown in the past."
"We are going to launch a counter ambush," Hess stated. The holoprojector displayed an image of the Thallis System. "We will jump in here... If we move quickly enough, we can disrupt the pirate ambush before the GP vessels suffer significant losses."
Paul stepped forward and brought up new tactical info.
"Fighters from Nighthawk group will engage and destroy pirate strike craft and provide cover fire against their fighter squadrons." The screen displayed tactical data on possible skirmish developements that were expected when they attacked. "Meanwhile, Dragonstorm, our bomber group, will engage their capital ships and force them to withdraw. Priority targets will be fighters or starships closest to GP ships."
"The Hastings will be under temporary command of Minaho here," Hess stated, several pilots glanced at each other and some light muttering could be heard. "She's Lady Seto's chief intelligence officer, so her skills aren't to be questioned. The Hastings will provide heavy strike capabilities against larger capital ships, and act as a rally point so the GP can reorganize."
"We've already sent a message out to the Juraian Seventh Armada," Minaho stated. "However, The Mikagami and the Seventh aren't close enough to make it in time to stop the attack, and local interference in the sector prevents incoming long range communication from being recieved. If we can engage and hold them off long enough for the Mikagami to arrive, we might be able to take out the entire force. However, waiting is not the best option. Instead we want to rally a counter attack and then run for it. If it is possible, we can draw them into a a counter trap and snare the forces."
"Time is of the essence," Hess stated as Minaho finished. "We jump in thirty minutes, you know what to do."
The group stood up and left the briefing room. Hess turned to Minaho.
"I hope you're right about this," he stated. "If the coordinets are off, the we may be as little as a thousand kilometers off, to in the totally wrong system. Either way, it would be catastrophic." Minaho gazed at him sternly and crossed her arms.
"These coordinets will not be wrong," she stated.



"Central dispatch reports catapult status ready."
"Rodger that, last minute checks underway, standby."

The Flight engineers snapped several panels shut on the Sidewinder as the forward launch bay doors of the Hastings slid open. Hess checked his comm line one more time.
"Dispatch, give me launch status, we've got a deadline to keep," he stated.
"We've got all greens on you," the reply stated. "You will be cleared for launch as soon as possible sir."

"Central, now uploading ordinance. Live Ordinance on the Deck."
"Rodger that, advisory, live ordinance on the deck."

On the bridge, Minaho looked at Paul.
"Launch status?" she asked.
"Two minutes and counting," he replied. "We're also alligning for the hyperspace jump as we speak."

"MOVE IT!" the ordinance officer shouted. "Get those warheads loaded!" Several flight engineers rushed a cart up to one of the bombers of Dragonstorm group and began uploading several missiles and a few torpedos into the fighter. Nearby, two more engineers were busy replacing a part on one of Knightwing's fighters.

"Central this is flight control, all green on the flight deck, ready to deploy at your discretion."
"Rodger that Flight, launch authorization at commander's orders."

"Launch status ready sir," Central advised. Hess ran his eyes across the systems self check before he made his own reply.
"Rodger Central, standby, powering engines in ten seconds."

"Advisory, engines active, clear all fighter exhaust areas. Standby for catapult activation, again standby for catapult activation."

"Move it, move!" one of the engineers shouted. The rest of the flight engineers near the fighters finished up the last of their checks and closed the panels before rushing away. A moment later, four fighters were lifted off the deck into position of one of the four electromagnetic catapults. The whine of engines drowned out anything else that might have been heard.

"All units go for launch, catapults active, safety interlocks dissabled. Go for launch, go for launch."

"All green across the board," Hess stated.

"Standby for launch, Three..."

Minaho looked at Paul.

"TWO..."

Hess tightened his grip on his flight stick.

"ONE..."

"GO TIME!" Hess snapped. A second later he was slammed into his seatback as the Hastings began disgorging fighters.

"Fighters away, clear in ten seconds."

Hess pulled hard to the right a few seconds after leaving the Hastings, and circled out of the launch path.

"Flight one, clear, launch flight two."
"Locking into catapults, go for launch."
"Three... Two... One..."
"Fighters away, clear in ten seconds."
"Locking into catapult..."
"Flight two, clear, launch ready next..."
"Go for launch..."
"Three... TWO..."

"We'll have clean launching," Paul stated. "We'll be ready to depart in under two minutes."
"Alright," Minaho replied. "We'll wait for Hess' signal, prime the jump drive and ready weapons systems, be ready for anything as soon as we come out of jump."
"Yes Ma'am," Paul replied.

Like a well greased engine, the Hastings emptied its belly of its fighter compliment with amazing efficiency. In less time than it took to give the pilots their briefing, all fighters were swarming around the carrier taking up escort positions. Minaho opened a comm line to Hess after the last of the bombers cleared the launch deck.
"All fighters launched Commander Hess," she advised. "Ready for hyperspace anytime."

"Alright," Hess stated. "All fighters form up and prepare for hyperjump."
"I hope we get there in time," Minaho stated. Paul brought up the tactical hologram, showing the fighters spacing themselves aroound the hastings.
"All fighters assuming attack vectors now... prepared to jump into hyperspace on your mark." he stated.
"Let's take this to the pirates," Hess commanded, and punched the button on his consol. Sidewinder accellerated out of sight in the blink of an eye, a moment later, the other twenty fighters of the Hastings group followed suit, leaping forward into the void. When the fighter group cleared, Minaho gave her own signal and the Hastings jumped to hyperspace in a flash.


Lady Seto looked at the information in front of her. The transmission from the Hastings was from Minaho and was authentic, but she couldn't beleive what she was hearing.
"Kane," she began. "What are the chances of the GP fleet surviving this?"
"Without support, the pirates will destroy them in no time," he advised after a few seconds looking at the information. "Even with a ship like the Hastings, chances of winning an all out battle are slim. But from the looks of their outlined strategy, they won't stay longer than they have to."
"Then we better mobilize the Seventh," Seto ordered. "All ships, set a course for the Thallis system, best possible speed."

And with that, the Juraian Seventh Armada, one of the largest single Juraian fleets, jumped out of the system.


"This is BAD! This is really really bad!!!"
The Galaxy Police fleet found themselves in the middle of a large Pirate fleet. Everywhere you looked, hundreds of fighters, and many larger ships rained fire down on them. The GP captain (Who looked astonishingly like Spock.) growled as his ship took another major hit.
"I didn't survive that attack on the Soja to get blown up by god damn pirates!" His cybernetic hand clenched tightly to the controls as his eye glowed red with anger.
"It's no use, RETREAT! All units retre-ARRRGH!!!!" A missile struck the bridge and envolped it in a fireball. A moment later, the ship exploded from the barrage.

"We can't get a jump vector!" an officer shouted. The captain of the ship Perseus growled as several cruisers trapped them in and pummelled at their shields. Nearby, the 'Limitless' exploded after its bridge took a direct hit.
"We can't hold out very long under this," he muttered. "We're going to have to blast our way out of here, send an order to-"
"I've got new contacts coming out of jump at forty kilometers!" the officer shouted again.
"More bad news!" the Captain snarled. "As if the current pirates weren't bad enough now they brought in even mor-"
"It's not pirates sir!" the officer replied. "I'm reading one ship and twenty fighter class vessels, they just scanned the area. The pirates seem to be reacting and fighters are moving to intercept."
"OPEN A CHANNEL!" the Captain snapped.


The fighter group came out of jump seconds ahead of the Hastings. As soon as they confirmed their location, Hess took a headcount.
"All fighters accounted for?"
"Knighthawk group ready."
"Dragonstorm group standing by."
"Hastings on station."
"Alright," Hess stated. "Paul, give me a scan, what do we have out there?"

"I'm reading over a hundred fifty mid level capital ships about thirty kilometers ahead bearing thirty degrees to starboard," Paul began. "I've got the pirates themselves, looks like they have eighty capital ships and over two hundred fighter class vessels on an attack vector... These pirates mean business! They've got carriers supporting them, I don't know where they managed to find resources for this kind of fleet."
"Then let's show them we mean business too," Hess responded. "All units prepare to engage-"
"Incoming message from GP cruiser Perseus," Minaho interrupted. "I'm putting it on the comm system now..."

"This is Galaxy Police Strike Frigate Perseus," a voice began. "Unidentified ship! We request immediate assistance, we're under heavy assault by pirate strike craft and cannot withdraw!"
"Alright!" Hess ordered. "You heard him, accellerate to attack speed and engage those fighters head on! Try to draw their fire away from the GP cruisers. Maybe we can give them an opening to organize a counterattack."
"Head's up," Paul stated. "Fighters inbound on intercept vector, at least forty!"
"EVASIVE!" Hess ordered. The Hastings fighter group broke formation as a swarm of pirate fighters got into weapons range and began firing.
"Forty fighters eh?" Lister commented from Knighthawk Five. "Two on one, I like those odds! Let's stick it to 'em!"
"Just watch your six!" Hess commented.

"Defensive fire to sectors three nine and four underway," Paul stated. "Several capital pirate ships are engaged fifteen kilometers away against two GP light frigates. Shields are failing on one. Confirmed, it's the Perseus."
"Bring us to bear on that GP cruiser and concentrait on fighter defense for now," Minaho ordered. "As soon as we clear the first wave, cloak us and go to full throttle, have all torpedo and missile tubes standing by, and the Disruptors hot."
"Understood," Paul responded. "Once that's done we should be able to open a strike path for Dragonstorm to make bombing runs on their nearest carrier."
"About how many carriers are in the area?" Minaho asked.
"I've picked up what appear to be fifteen large capital ships that fit a carrier class description... slow, big, and ugly. A far cry from the Hastings, sleek, fast, and moderately big. But I don't doubt they carry a slightly higher number of fighters each, probably numbering near a hundred. Right now the nearest one is launching all its fighters in response to our appearance, we might have a few minutes between waves."

"Watch it Knight Three! You're a magnet for fighters! Three on your six!"
"I see them! I'll try and lose them near the hastings!"

Two pirate fighters bore down on the interceptor Knighthawk three as it banked around the Hastings at high speed. The fast moving interceptor dove between the conning tower and the rest of the ship at top speed. The two chasing fighters however, quickly became caught in the fire arcs of the of the Hastings' defensive turrets. The leading fighter managed to avoid destruction by dumping all power into its engines. His wingman was not so lucky, and was ripped to peices.

"He's still on me! Damn this guy's good!"

The chasing fighter continued to tail the interceptor, firing off several close laser shots, when suddenly, a latteral blast of blue white energy ripped through the vessel and blew the engines off.

"Thanks Knight Eight! I owe you one!"
"The Commander said watch your six. Don't make me watch it for you!"

The Interceptors formed up and turned hard onto the tails of another pair of pirate fighters that were hounding Dragons six and two.

"Dragon six, two, cut to the left, we've got them."
"Got it..."

The two bombers pulled around hard to their left, and the pirates followed, only to be caught in the fire coming from the two interceptors. Both erupted in fireballs before they could take evasive.

"Nice shooting, keep it up."

Elsewhere, Hess dove the Sidewinder between a group of five fighters as they attempted to stay on top of him. These rookies couldn't keep up with the manuever and he managed to get around on the tail of one after a series of corkscrews. It attempted to shake him by drawing him into the fire of its own wingmen, but the Commander evaded the incoming fire and put laser blasts right up the fighter's exhaust. He dove the moment the fighter shattered from his shots, narrowly avoiding the fire of the remaining chasing fighters. Knighthawk One, Two, and Three chose this point to handle the remaining four, diving in from their own finished dogfights and locking on from a distance. Two fighters got shredded by a missile while one managed to barely avoid the brunt of the blast. However the Hastings finished it with a barrage of its own.

"We've almost got this wave handled, keep up the pressure."
"Don't worry man, I can take 'em all on!"

"Sidewinder to Hastings," Hess snapped. "Give me an update- WHOA!" He dove hard as a large red bolt barely missed his fighter. "Nevermind, I think they noticed us!" A pair of Corvettes were firing their heavier weapons at him as he broke away from them at high speed.

"Yessir," Paul responded. He quickly tapped a few buttons. "We've got ten cruisers, a carrier, and four corvettes moving to engage. That screen of fighters from the carrier is ETA in two minutes."
Minaho looked around at the displays before making her own comment.
"Cloak and begin our attack run on the cruisers attacking the GP ships," she ordered.
"Those corvettes will be able to track our trajectory when we cloak," Paul warned. "If they fire on us, we'll be seen and the sneak attack will be for naught."
"Hess, can you cover our attack run untill they lose our trajectory?" Minaho asked.

Hess dove onto the tail of another of the first wave fighters, scrapping it in seconds. "Yeah! I hear you, Dragon five, Dragon six, take out those corvettes! I'll cover you."
"Rodger that," Dragon Five aknowledged. "Switching to Predator torpedos."

The two fast moving corvettes were close enough now to take potshots at the fighters, and were closing with the Hastings. But then, in a flash of lightning arcs, the Supercarrier dissappeared behind its cloaking field... leaving only the telltale blip of static on the sensors. Several interceptors dove over the top of the corvettes, firing at them to weaken their shields before shooting away to avoid fire. The two Corvettes began firing franticly at the estimated position of the Hastings, not scoring a hit. The two bombers got into the flight path of the ships, risking the higher power forward weapons to improve the accuracy of their shots.

"Launching payload!"

Two large cilyndrical torpedos dropped away from the bombers, then iginited and shot towards the corvettes. Predator Torpedos are low yield nuclear weapons designed for engaging capital ships. The corvettes attempted to turn to avoid the torpedos, but only succeded in exposing part of the side of the leading ship. Despite attempts to shoot them down, the torpedos slammed into the corvette. One impacted on its left side, near the bridge, causing a large explosion to rip across the ship, knocking out the defensive guns instantly. The second impacted across the upper hull, knocking out part of the ship's drive systems. With its drives causing off center thrust, the corvetted veered uncontrollably into its partner, slamming into it violently, tearing both ships apart in a violent collision.
"Here comes more of them!"

Highlighted by the explosions of the corvettes, more fighters came into attack range of the Hastings group, and immediately bore down on the two bombers as they attempted to break away from their successful attack. Sidewinder, and Knights three through seven beat them to it, cutting into the leading edge of the flight group before they could open fire.

"There's... TOO MANY!" Knight ten shouted over his com. "I may be good, but I can't fight twenty on one odds!"
Six fighters were persuing Knight ten, who was doing every evasive trick in the book, however, he couldn't hold off them for too long, each shot was getting closer. Getting desperate to lose them, he turned hard and dove towards the distant enemy carrier. Sidewinder dropped in on the fighters and engaged, taking out two before the others scattered.
"Move in closer to their capital ships," Hess ordered. "There's so many of them we should be able to lose them in their own crossfire.

"Got it!" Knight Ten responded. "That was what I was thinking. Just watch out for defensive fire!"

Meanwhile, two bombers, Dragonstorm nine and ten, were away from the furball charging the capital ships attacking the GP frigates. Unable to set up for an all out bombing run, the two small bombers weren't able to be a major threat against the capital starships. However, their distraction proved usefull enough for the GP frigates to start limping away. The bombers dove past the engines of the biggest pirate cruiser, letting it take friendly fire from its own escorts, and in a flash, one of the engines blew out. The two GP frigates managed to regroup a little, the shields of the damaged ship coming partially back online. Their own fire helped to aggrivate the pirate cruisers. Then suddenly, a series of Predator Torpedos and Ion Blasts exploded from an empty patch of space. The torpedos tracked the larger vessel and tore it apart while the Ion blasts tracked across the other ships, causing severe damage. With it's position revealed, the Hastings decloaked in a burst of lightning, its turrets once more lighting up as it finished the ships off.

"Hastings to Perseus," Minaho called over the communications array. "Come in please."
"This is Perseus, we see you, thank you," the captain responded.
"Captain," Paul interrupted. "I suggest you launch every fighter, or combat shuttle, or light assault craft you have available. You would do better to increase the number of small fast attack craft at your disposal."
There was a silence for several seconds before the captain replied.
"How can we expect more firepower against these pirates with our shuttles? Those don't have NEARLY the firepower needed to handle a capital ship, let alone the numbers we're up against!"
"Captain," Minaho stated. "You're facing upwards of a thousand enemy fighters and a small fleet capital ships, you need every gun at your disposal if you want to get out of this alive. You're ships would stand a much better chance if the guns of the pirates were busy shooting and missing instead of pummelling cruisers and frigates."
As if to emphisize her point, the GP Cruiser Justification exploded ten kilometers away as two pirate strike corvettes finished it off.
"Understood!" the captain responded, seeing it was a better idea to just listen. "I will instruct our forces to launch everything with a gun at once!"
"Good man!" Paul smiled.

"That's what I like to hear!" Hess snapped over his own comm unit. Sidewinder skirted the Hull of the pirate carrier Retribution with six fighters trailing him. They fired randomly, but all the shots missed and worked to aggrivate the shields of the pirate vessel. "The more the merrier! Knight Two, watch your six!" The Sidewinder shot away from the hull of the Carrier, the chasing fighters attempted to follow only to have two of them get destroyed by friendly fire. Hess locked onto the fighter chasing Knight Two. Weaving through the hailstorm of fire, he sent blue blasts ripping into the transgressor, destroying the wing and sending it out of control. It spun wildly before colliding with the enemy carrier.
"Thanks commander!"

Nearby GP forces, seeing the massive firefight and the subsiquent destruction of several pirate vessels, redoubled their efforts and began engaging in a more aggressive manner. When the instruction to launch all support craft came, it was met with a rapid desployment of mostly strike and patrol shuttles.
"Primera! Resolution! Concentrait fire on the strike cruiser, see if you can knock out the shields," Captain Hall instructed. "Let the Patrol ships handle the fighters!"
Two GP assault cruisers turned on the nearest pirate ship and started opening fire with their main weapons. The pirate cruiser, turned to direct its attention on the fighters swarming the carrier, took severe punishment for ignoring its orignal targets. The assault proved fatal for the vessel when four bombers of Dragonstorm group made assault runs on its lower aft.

"Scratch one cruiser!"
"Watch those fighters!"

Ten fighters rounded the enemy carrier and fired on the group. Two of the Dragonstorm fighters took glancing hits before two GP shuttles cut across firing on the pirate fightercraft. They broke into two groups of five and moved away, but were then caught in crossfire from Knighthawk Five and Seven, and the GP shuttles. But the shuttles weren't fighters, and were slower and larger. Being close to the carrier, they quickly found themselves under attack, and one get blown up. It's right side wing and engine unit was severed violently, sending the craft spiraling out of the battle.

"DAMMIT!" Hess snarled as he dove around the debree. "We've got to do something about this carrier, it's defensive fire is far more effective than the cruisers."

"We'd love to help," Paul responded. "However we've just been engaged by four strike cruisers, and we're still covering the Perseus."

The Hastings barreled between two of the attacking cruisers, firing continuously as it passed. It's own shields rippled from return turret fire. The Perseus and the other GP Frigate covered the Hastings' flank and deployed explosive charges set to wide even spread. The two cruisers, shields battered by the Hastings and the GP frigates, couldn't withstand the charges, and rather than be finished off, suddenly jumped to hyperspace. The remaining two strike cruisers veered around on the three ships and pelted them with heavy fire. Suddenly, the engines on one flared into a fireball, quickly engulfing the ship. The Silohets of Dragonstorm nine and ten could be seen against the bright flames of the blast.

"Someone call for an exterminator?"
"We eat cruisers for breakfast!"

"That evens the odds a little," Paul stated to Minaho, adjusting the pitch of the Hastings. "I'm going to outrun this other cruiser and commence an attack run on that Carrier... Commander, try to keep those other ships off us."

The Sidewinder dove below the defensive fire of a GP frigate now joining the firefight closest to the rally point, the chasing fighters lost a few of their numbers at that range but kept coming after it. Hess banked up through the glowing engine exhaust of the frigate, diving up and around the hull to come around behind the fighters that were chasing him. It was only a few seconds before several more fighters got slagged.
"I got you," Hess aknowledged. "See if those GP shuttles can draw the fire of the corvette near the Redemption. Knight one, knight two, form up on my wing, we're going to plow an attack path on that carrier."
Two Interceptors finished off their targets and dove around to come up on the flanks of Sidewinder. As soon as they did, they banked off towards the approaching Hastings, now moving at its signature high speed with a cruiser trailing it. Seeing the formation, several GP shuttles, the Primera, and the Resolution, turned towards Sidewinder, and moved into position as several groups of Pirate fighters, a corvette, and two cruisers gave chase.

"I said keep them off us! Not draw them to us!" Paul nearly shouted.
"Trust me on this!" Hess instructed, taking a few evasive manuevers to avoid incoming fire. "Fire everything full forward on my mark, the GP ships should do the same!"

Paul suddenly realized what Hess was planning as the number of enemy ships chasing the formation grew. Minaho stared at the moniter curiously as Paul adjusted the turrets to link to forward firing position. The Hastings was approaching several ships head on at a fightening pace.

"NOW!"

All three fighters suddenly pulled up and shot straight up out of the chase, leaving the space completely open. All at once, the GP vessels and the Hastings opened up with everything they had. Self
Seeing the devastating Ion bolts screaming in at them among the laser blasts of the Hastings' turrets, the three capital ships that were escorting the carrier attempted to break off, only to find they were caught in the middle of a pincer manuever. The corvette, being the fastest, was in the lead and took the first wave of Ion blasts, having its hull peeled away before the cloud of weapons fire ripped its superstructure apart. The fighters attempted to dodge through the fire cloud, but many got caught and were subsiquently distroyed. Those that survived were quickly hunted down by Knighthawk group. The two cruisers had turned and were attempting to clear the fire zone, but Ion blasts pelted their hulls, ripping huge gashes in them as the GP ships continued their own assault under a withering attack. In under thirty seconds, the hastily created trap was over and the cruisers died firy deaths. With the immediate area clear for a moment, Dragonstorm's bombers turned on the enemy carrier, diving into its laser fire defense and launching the imfamous Xiran missiles. Explosions rocked the Retribution as missile after missile penetraited its fire and smacked into the ship. Now at top speed, the Hastings came down upon the vessel, Ion Dissruptor Array blazing, punching through the ship's withering shields and smashing massive holes in the vessel. Several Predator Torpedos also found their mark in the behemoth vessel.
Under the intense counter assault, the Retribution's hull finally buckled, and explosions rocked the ship before it went nova. The large blast caught the attention of every ship in visual range, and a loud cheer went up throughout the embattled GP task force.

"We got one o' 'dem! YEAH!" Lister commented, pitching his fighter around a large debree chunk, only to come face to face with an enemy fighter... "HOLY!"
"FORGET ABOUT SOMEONE?!" and it exploded violently as the Sidewinder dove in from above, still being escorted by two of Nighthawk group.
"Don't let that go to your head!" Hess snarled as he broke off his dive to give chase to another fleeing set of fighters. "Remember, FIFTEEN carriers... one down makes forteen more!" Even as he said that, two more GP cruisers, a destroyer, and a light frigate exploded from their damages. The destroyer was too far away in the battle to be more effected by the counterattack, but the bombardment the cruisers had taken was easily identified. A swift turn and full power to the engines put him on the intercept for the four frigates that had done the deed.

"Knight Two... FOX THREE."
A pirate Marauder Assault Craft vaporized when a Xiran rammed itself up its engine pipes.

"Why'd he say THAT?" Minaho asked.
"Not a clue," Paul responded. "Must have been watching those bootleg earth movies again." Paul typed more data in as the Hastings took fire from nearby cruisers and fighters, the latter of which quickly got eliminated by defensive fire or the craft patroling near the Hastings. With a quick roll, the ship lined up and the Dirrsuptors tore into a light frigate of the Pirates, destroying it, and catching a fighter in the proccess.
"I don't get it," Paul suddenly stated over the comm.
"WHAT?!" Hess asked, corkscrewing like a maniac through a fighter cloud and the defensive fire of a nearby cruiser. "What don't you get?"
"The damage," Paul stated. "Given the capability of the fleets in combat right now, the pirates shouldn't have done this extensive of damage to the GP forces in the time elapsed. Their attack pattern is too far spread for it to be the 'one ship at a time' focus tactic, and even in a perfect ambush scenario, they should have the losses we've now inflicted... but they should have had them when we got here."


"Are you sure it's related Kane," Seto asked as Mikagami shot through hyperspace. "That robbery was done by the Good Luck Fleet, and Seina destroyed them in one swift strike."
"I'm sure," Kanemitsu replied. "Until now no one could figure out where it went. But then Minaho's transmission about the Pirates amassing a fleet of MILITARY ships to attack the GP, it just clicked into place. I'm sure of it."
"Get me details on it then," Seto commanded. "I want to know as soon as possible."
"I'm already working on it," he replied.


"Knight Seven! Two flights above, watch yourself!"
"I see them, High Yo-Yo Knight Five, I'll take low."
"Rodger that!"
Knighthawk seven pulled up and away, cutting his throttle back as he did so while Knighthawk five dove and punched full speed. The two flight groups that chose to chase the easier to spot Five, were unable to escape when Seven rolled upside down and ripped into them. In seconds the flight groups lost half their fighters and attempted to scatter, however ignoring Five proved costly as well when he cut his engines, reversed his nose, and finished them off. Nearby, bombers of Dragonstorm group had returned to the Hastings for a quick reload of orndinance before returning to combat. Their pounding combined with concentraited assaults by the Hastings and the growing battlegroup of GP ships had taken another six capital ships out in the melee. However the situation was still slightly grim with more than sixty percent of the GP task force still pinned down by the pirate ships. In an attempt to break the deadlock occuring away from the main furball, Hess took the Sidewinder and dove into the most pirate dense area of the battle. Hess noted between evasive turns, that nearly all the GP vessels in this area were TOTALLY destroyed. There were no GP ships active here, and the debree was smaller and more scattered.

"PAUL!" Hess snarled as he dove in on a fighter and vaporized it. "Get me a tactical annallisys. Something's not right about this!"
"I'm on it, but I can't tell you much more, but the scans show odd particle wave patterns in that area, as well as detect unusual power levels eminating, but I can't pinpoint which ship it is."

Hess and Paul both snapped their heads as a sensor alarm went off.
"POWER SPIKE! EVADE!" Paul shouted, to whatever ship was about to be the target. Hess dove at an obliek angle to his original flight plan just as a large yellow beam framed in massive electrical arcs lanced out of nowhere and shot deathly close to his fighter, continuing on to strike a GP frigate that had wandered into the unusual zone. It vaporized in an instant.
"The HELL?!" Hess cursed, snapping his eyes in the direction the blast came from. "What the hell was that?! CLASS SIX PARTICLE BEAM!?!?"
"It was too quick to trace!" Paul shouted back. "The power readings in that area spiked and then a GP vessel was destroyed by a class six beam weapon!"
Hess dove around and took another look at the firing point, or where he guessed it was. A beam weapon of that energy level could not be fired in conjunction with any vessel using a standard cloaking device, and HIS version left a telltale static blip. After fragging two more enemy fighters, Knight two and eight joined his wing. Glancing again he noticed it this time, the distortion that looked like the surface of disturbed water, bending light to hide something against the almost uniform darkness of space...
"OPTIC CAMAFLAUGE!" Hess shouted into the comm, and turned away from the distortion, even as a few laser bolts lanced out from it in his direction. "There's a ship or something here using optical stealth!" Then came another spike, and the beam lanced out again, blowing one of the nearest and largest GP vessels to atoms in an instant.

"We can't get close enough to engage," Minaho stated calmly into the comm. "There's no way even your ship can take the magnitude of firepower presented by the unidentified ship."

"Dragon five here!" came a shout over the comm. "I saw it, and me and six here are close enough to the unknown to launch our warheads on dummy fire."

"Do it," Hess ordered, zipping behind the one remaining peice of debree that had been that last ship. Two tailing fighters once again fell victim to the roll around manuever. Dragonstorm Bombers Five, and Six punched their throttle and entered the deadzone around the unidentified ship, and a hail of heavy laser fire started pelting past them as they drove in at the vessel.
"There's a whole lot of fire here!" Dragonstorm five shouted. "This is unreal, the number of laser blasts looks more like a small fleet of ships!"
When the two fighters got what they considered to be 'close enough' which most of the GP considered 'far too close to be sane', they let everything go at once. A small cluster of Xiran missiles and Predator Torpedos launched away at high speed.

"IT'S AWAY!"

Everyone held their breath at once. Both sides of the entire fleet were watching the cluster of ordinance.

Two of the slower Predator Torpedos got caught by defensive shots and destroyed, however, their blinding space detonations made it impossible for whatever gunners were shooting to hit the rest... A moment later, The leading Xiran's hit an invisable barrier just outside the optic camoflauge. The Xiran's combined hits only seemed to irritate the camofield. But the Predators caught up moments later, smacking into the shields and detonating in huge blasts. The first few didn't make it through, however, the very last two managed to squeeze through the shields when the resulting EMP waves managed to punch partially through the barrier. A pair of explosions and debree blasted out from the distortion. A play of static danced across it, flickering as something attempted to hold the field up, but part of it collapsed, revealing a green-grey hull. A little more static arced and a second later the field began to callpse, and collapse, and collapse.

"Holy..." Minaho began, covering her mouth as more ship appeared.
"SHIT," Hess finished.
"This is just smeggin' perfect," Lister commented sidelong as the battlefield was temporarily quiet. "As if enemy fleets weren't bad enough... You migh' as well tell me that THAT, THING, is not one of ours."
The optic field comepletely failed and the full hulk of the vessel appeared. Its sheer size dominated the space around them. The tremendous form looked more suited for sailing the seas then the stars. A ship who's lower half was smooth and undisturbed, while its upper half rose in tandem towers, with an engine block dominating the entire backside. The hull blended gracefully into a pair of wing like shapes just before these and then ended in large engine pods as well, seeming almost to lean forward in attack and shout 'KILL!' for all with ears to hear. Its weapons were too small in comparison to be seen, but its most noticeable feature, was the large turreted cannon sitting, no, COMMANDING it's position at the forfront of the vessel's prow, given a backdrop only by the control towers behind it. There was no mistaking the purpose of this vessel.

"HOLY GODS ALMIGHTY!" Hess snarled as the battle resumed its intensity. "PAUL WHAT IS THAT THING! IT'S HUGE!"

"I'M LOOKING!" Paul shouted as he punched databanks. Minaho stared in shock and slowely sat down, feeding some data links to the tactical officer.
"Look here," she almost whispered.
Paul punched it up and read. His eyes widened at what he saw. And then he began to read.

"An Akuma Class Super Heavy Assault Battlecruiser. Classification, fleet destroyer supercapital ship. Size, Four Kilometers. Weapons... Two hundred laser cannons, sixty torpedo bays... and one Armageddon Charged Antiparticle Cannon."

"AN A-CAC!?" Hess nearly blew his radio. "That thing's gat an A-CAC?! HOW DID PIRATES GET THEIR HANDS ON A WEAPON ONE STEP DOWN FROM THE CHOBIMARU!?!"

"There's more sir," Paul replied. "It can support up to six full squadrons of starfighters."

"So that's the ship?" Minaho stared vacantly at the vessel, the Hastings bridge crew looked at her.
"What do you mean?" Paul asked. "How did pirates get one of the most powerful vessels in the entire Galaxy. That design could take on a third generation Juraian vessel, if rumors are true."

"Three months ago," Minaho stated, staring at the huge ship as the A-CAC fired on a fleeing GP vessel, annihilating it. "The Galaxy Army reported a major pirate insurgency hit and fade strike in one of their supposedly 'safe' shipyards by the imfamous 'Good Luck Fleet' two weeks before Seina Yamada took them out. Of the ships and goods stolen, the most important one was the Battlecruiser, Diablos. The incident was kept classified, as the theft might have resulted in panic amoung GP and GA officials. THAT," she pointed at the viewscreen. "Is the Battlecruiser Diablos, the Akuma Class Super Heavy Assault Battlecruiser."

"How do you know all this?" Paul responded, having not been told everything.
"It's my job," Minaho replied.


Hyperspace shot past the Seventh Armada and the Mikagami as they raced in the direction of the battle.
"I just got a wideband transmission on all emegency channels," Kanemitsu stated. "Seems the Hastings has arrived in the battle and successfully helped out. A GP shuttle jumped clear of the area and relayed all pertinant data on the situat-" he stared at the data, falling silent for several seconds.
"And?" Seto asked. Kanemitsu frowned at his information, then his face grew livid and his jaw slacked slightly.
"I-I don't believe it, " he stuttered. "I-I was right, but how can pirates support these numbers and that ship?"
"Those pirates managed to fully man an Akuma?" she glared. "They've got so many Galaxy Army vessels with them, I can't believe they simply stole them all."
"They could beat that fleet," Kanemitsu stated. "However, against something of that size, I feel they may have already lost."
"Kane," Seto asked. "Does the GP fleet stand any chance against that vessel?"
"Even with the Hastings and its fighters backing them, they don't stand a chance against it. Its weapons can shred entire fleets. And that's not counting its primary weapon. They need something bigger and stronger to take on a brute like that. If they could mobilize the Chobimaru in time, they could annihilate it, but that won't happen with a battle like this."
"Then we just have to get there sooner," Seto stated, turning slightly to eye the tree a few meters away. The silent exchange that went across their mutual bond made Mikagami understand the urgency of all out top speed. The gracefull ship began to accellerate even more in hyperspace, leaving the rest of the Seventh behind.


"There's no chance in hell of us taking on something like that!" the captain of the Perseus stated as Diablos vaporized another vessel. "We've got to pull out, but we're still pinned in by the fleet."
"Then tell your commanders to move in closer to the enemy ships," Paul ordered. Hastings rolled and dove above two GP Frigates, opening fire with the Disruptors at a pirate cruiser. The cruiser rolled and weaved through the shots, only taking a few hits before passing the Supercarrier. Explosions ruptured its hull as Knighthawk Four and several GP shuttles made a pass on it.
"Our ships weren't made to engage at point blank range!" the Captain replied. "Are you sure the fleet can handle it?"
"We're going to get picked off one by one by that A-CAC if we don't make it hard for them to hit us," Paul instructed.
"What about fighter support? We've already lost half of our light forces to those fighters, putting us in broadside range makes us sitting ducks."

"Close ships mean less manuevering space," Hess shouted into his comm as he dropped in behind a GP shuttle, then took out the fighter chasing it. "They'll have to slow down in order to keep from smacking into anything. However I'm more worried about that A-CAC. Minaho, any weakness in the Diablos that we could capitalize on?"

Minaho turned to her consol and pressed a few buttons, bringing up sensor logs sent in from the fighters.
"If I remember correctly the Mark 53 Armageddon Charged Antiparticle Cannon is the model with less than adequate shielding around the antimatter fuel line. Destroying it would bring the antimatter into contact with the weapon and destroy it instantly."
"That sounds great," Hess replied.
"There's just one problem," Minaho stated.
"That being?"
"The fuel line is located at the back of the barrel... on the INSIDE."

Sidewinder shot in under the defensive arcs of a pirate Marauder and fired into the bridge. The shields held for a few seconds, but the concentraited assault managed to punch through and the command center of that ship decompressed violently when the bulkheads melted.
"So what your saying is this," Hess began as he climbed away from the ship when it veered out of control. "Someone has to fly straight at a nigh omipotent superweapon, with the chance that at any second a class six particle blast will scatter the remains of their atoms across the cosmos, while dodging fighters, defensive laser fire, and Kami knows what else, so we can essentially, 'put our finger in the barrel'?"
"That's about right," Minaho replied.

"Sounds like fun!" Hess grinned. "Knight Two, Knight Five! You're with me! The rest of you, don't let them notice us!"
Sidewinder lurched around towards the Diablos, Knights Two and Five joined his wing a moment later and they shot into the eye of the storm.

"All units!" Paul announced on a large transmit frequency. "GP units, Knight group, Dragon group, concentrait fire on the carrier Arclight!"
"Rodger that!"

From a distance, a large movement could be seen as a dozen ships, including the Hastings, and swarms of smaller craft turned on the carrier. It's own fighter defenses had heard the general broadcast and rushed to assist, however, the close proximity of so many larger ships began to hamper their dogfighting as room to move between closed to mere quarter kilometer ranges. At such close ranges, defensive fire crisscrossed everywhere, smacking into a fighter every few seconds. In order to prevent slamming into ships, many slowed down considerably and continued to fight in close quarters. However, moving at slower speeds brought them down to the level of the GP shuttles and within seconds the experienced officers got the upper hand. The Arclight however, got its fair share of kills as the close range had the same debilitating effect on GP craft. Despite this, the fighters of Knighthawk and Dragonstorm groups still barreled around at all out top speed, not the least bit hampered by the close range.

In the mean time, Sidewinder and Knights One and Five were joined by SIX of GP's fastest Patrol Shuttles. The Diablos loomed every bigger by the second.
"Alright," Hess began. "Stay sharp, if that thing fires with you in the LOS, you're not even going to have time to scream in fear, so keep an eye out for power spikes."
"I read ya commander," Knight Five, Lister, responded. "Just point the way and I'll feed that thing some Xirans."
"These defensive fire arcs aren't effective on our flight vector," Knight Two advised. "Seems almost too easy, or my gut's just nautious from all this dogfighting."
"They probably don't think anyone would be insane enough to fly right at the gaping maw of a class six beam weapon," Hess responded. "So I bet they-"
"INCOMING! EVADE!" Lister shouted, his fighter pulled up and away, Sidewinder and Knight Two broke off in their own directions. At that moment, several hundred red blasts ripped through their former position, three GP shuttles tried to avoid the shots but were shredded when they couldn't turn in time. The cloud of fire continued to track the remaining fighters and shuttles for several seconds before dying out after extensive evaisive manuevers.
"What was that?!" Hess shouted. "Lister! You saw it, what was it?"
"I was watchin' me sensors when I noticed they jury rigged a buncha capital ship cannon turrets around the A-CAC," Lister replied. Looks like they have limited swivel but we can't attack head on now, not without getting the living SMEG shot out of us."
"They saw the flaw and set up defenses," Knight Two stated. "This might be a problem."
"Then we'll just have to take them out from behind," Hess growled. "If we don't take that thing out NOW, it's going to take everyone out LATER."
"I don't know if you realize this sir," Knight Two stated amost casually. "But there's roughly three and a half kilometers of Diablos BEHIND that weapon. That's three and a half kilometers of heavy weapons fire and several large obstructing towers to think about."
"Just get in close, and STAY close and FAST," Hess responded as he banked around. We'll head in below and come up behind the engines, that should keep us out of its rear fire arcs better than just going around behind it."
"Smeggin 'ell," Lister snapped. "I wish I got bounty payments for this kinda' thing."

Sidewinder and the two interceptors dove below the Diablos, it's weapons fire tracking them constantly, but substantially less because more than half was engaging GP ships that were moving into closer range. The Armageddon fired again, destroying a frigate utterly. Hess and his wingmen weaved in and out of heavy fire as they moved closer and closer to the hull. Eventually, they reached the ship and shot across the underside, punching all the way to full throttle and weaving around turrets and firing randomly in places, but not punching through the shields. The GP shuttles followed the three fighters, successfully copying manuevers, but steadily losing ground to the faster interceptors. The laser fire kept up in its intensity even as they reached the ship's midpoint.
"I'm picking up an energy source," Knight two commented as they raced along the hull. He banked and fired as many shots as he could at a laser turret as he passed. He was rewarded with a small explosion as the bolts penetraited the shields and took out the turret. With that he risked a short glance at his data. "It looks like subspace carrier waves on transmit frequencies."
"It must be the comm antenna," Hess responded. "From the looks of things, the EMPs from those predator torpedos earlier weakened the ship's shield system. I bet this ship is coordinating the pirate fleet, so if we can take out that transmitter, we can confuse the pirates."
"It's coming up at point-O-six," Lister commented. "We can take it out in one pass, just put some Xirans on it and toast it!"
"Only one each," Hess stated, we might need them for those cannons, and we'll need at least one for the A-CAC."
They banked towards a blister in the hull. As they closed, they could see many smaller objects jutting out of it. A fast double check of data confirmed it as the ship antenna cluster. Without any hesitation, all fighters opened fire with cannons, the shuttles followed suit and poured their own fire into the blister. A moment later two missiles joined the inbound fire. They slammed into it and produced large fireballs as the shields buckled around the comm array. Seconds later the fighters and shuttles rocketted past and it exploded violently.

"A whole bunch of communications traffic just went off the air," Paul stated as he watched his data. "They must have taken out the comm antenna on the Diablos." Minaho looked at the Pirate fleet. Already, their cohesiveness was breaking down into smaller 'carrier group' clusters.
"They're already confused," she pointed at the screen. "Their caital ship formations are breaking up."
"Looks like the Diablos is already turning to engage us head on," Paul advised. "It's engines are powering up. Looks like they're just going to attack themselves if the pirates can't do it for effectively."

"We've got movement," Lister warned. The Diablos shifted benieth their inverted fighters. "Looks like they're going to engage directly." Ahead of them, the engine glow was more prominant than before as the Diablos' drives powered up.
"Then we better hurry the hell up," Hess stated. Even as he said that, they shot out from under the Diablos and pulled hard up behind the engines, moving into the glowing plasma of the main drives. Laser fire ceased instantly, however, all the fighters shook violently as they crossed the million degree exhaust.
"Get ready," Hess warned. A second later they came out from the engine block, and were greeted by the friendly neighborhood defensive fire. Without so much as a sidelong glance, the fighters broke formation and dove into the firestorm. The upper hull was dotted with small and large towers as well as hanger bays and other large structures that could elevate weapon turrets. The three fighters weaved around shots, getting in close to the hull and swooping between the towers and firing randomly at anything that jutted out at them. The GP shuttles attempted to do the same, but couldn't fit in the tight places the fighters were cutting through. One by one, each shuttle met a bad end as they either crashed, or were shot apart by the heavier defensive fire of the upper hull. A yellow flash alerted them to the Armageddon once again firing, this time accidently hitting their own carrier when the blast barely missed a ship performing a high speed evasive manuever.
"It's open season for GP ships if that thing manages to move into its optimal firing range," Knight two stated. The fighters quickly regrouped as they passed the second large tower, racing across less featured hull towards the primary command tower.
"Ready your missiles," Hess instructed. The moment we can fire, pour everything into the A-CAC. I want those cannons destroyed in one pass." With that, Knight Five went left, Knight Two went right, and Hess went up. As one, they cleared the tower, going either around or over it repectively, and the Armageddon could be seen, firing a shot that managed to hit the ship it missed the first time. All three fighters opened fire on the large turret, several missiles and a flurry of laser shots poured forth from three angles as the fighters drove into the jury rigged cannons built around the main barrel. As it turned out, there were ten of them set up. But within a few seconds, the attack on their blind spot punched through the shields and destroyed them, leaving the forward end of the Armageddon vulnerable, if one could call a massive energy cannon 'vulnerable'.

"Good work, let's finish what we intended to do-" Hess began to say, but was cut off as the Armageddon fired another blast, missing the Hastings by a kilometer or less. "-OH SHIT!"

"That was too close," Paul growed as he pitched the ship behind the now heavily damaged Arclight. "I think they're gunning for us now."
Minaho nodded pressed a few buttons.
"Let's cloak and wait for Hess to finish the A-CAC off," she stated. "If it's tracking us, we need to buy another minute or two, or we might be dead."
"There's no way we can hide completely in this firefight," Paul advised. "But hard to see is better than having a bullseye painted in florescent colors on your hull."

With a flash of lightning, the Hastings engaged its cloaking device. However, its shields continued to flash brightly as laser blasts collided with it.

"We've got to do this NOW," Lister commented. "If that thing's tracking Hastings, it's only a matter of time before it gets a good hit."
The fighters were now a good distance out ahead of the Diablos, lining up for their attack run. The broke away and turned around to make their attack run. Another blast flared fighteningly close to them as they charged back towards the huge weapon.
"I'm locked on," Lister commented almost instantly.
"Kill that cannon," Hess ordered. A second later, Knight Two and Five launched their missiles at the Armageddon. Two long smoke streaks could be seen dissapating as the missiles closed range with their targets. But then Lister shouted a warning.
"It's firing again!"
They broke away as another yellow blast zipped out, passing through an empty space near the flashing shields of Hastings.
"DAMN! The missiles got vaporized," Lister commented. "And now I'm out, I can't help here, I'm going to go back and take on those fighters."
"Alright," Hess stated. "I'll just have to get in closer."
Around them, laser fire started picking back up in intensity as they moved in towards the Diablos once more. Knight
"Just one missile left," Hess muttered. But he didn't fire.
Two stayed with him as Lister shot away to deal with more fighters. They flew over the upper hull and the fire started to intensify, yet still Hess didn't fire. It was only when the power levels of the Armageddon started to rise again, that Knight Two decided to comment.
"She's powering up again sir!" he warned. "This time I don't think it'll miss!" Behind them the flashing of the Hastings' shields were outlining the ship perfectly against the backdrop, making an almost perfect targeting box.
"Suck on this," Hess snarled, and a Xiran zipped away and down the barrel of the Armageddon, both fighters broke away and headed towards the fleet. Behind them, a small explosion could be seen and the Armageddon lurched, just as its beam lanced out again. The lurch threw it off, blasting one of the other carriers into atoms instantly. Then, witha blinding flash, the weapon vaporized, along with the entire weapon turret and part of the upper front hull.

"They took it out!" Paul stated. "Let's do this!"
The Hastings once again decloaked, and brought its Ion Dissruptors to bear on the Arclight, laying into the carrier with a vengence for lighting the small Supercarrier up like it had done. Within seconds, its hull failed and the ship was ripped to shreds by internal explosions before the reactor sent everything flying in a blaze of light. Seeing another carrier fall, and the Diablos' main weapon destroyed, something seemed to have wiped out the Morale of the pirate fleet. Their numbers falling fast, communications failing, and now a major weapon taken out, many captains started to fear for themselves, and quickly turned tail. In seconds, the Pirate Fleet broke and the few remaining carriers jumped to hyperspace, followed shortly by smaller ships. With large openings in the firefight opening up, the GP fleet began to jump to Hyperspace itself.

"We've got them on the run!" the Captain of the Perseus announced. "Thank you, but we don't stand a chance against the Diablos, we're getting out of here, I suggest you do the same."
"Rodger that," Paul stated. "Glad we could help."

With that, the Perseus jumped out of the sector, and the last few pirate Capital ships jumped as well. Suddenly, the Hastings and Diablos seemed very alone in the sector.

"Let's get the hell up out of here," Hess ordered. "The Diablos is launching its remaining fighters, so I don't want to get caught in a further firefight, set our pre-agreed jump coordinets and form up."

In a matter of moments, the Hastings flight group took up their escort formation around the ship, lining up for the preset jump vector. "Alright," Paul announced. "We're almost ready, let's leave these pirates in our dust."
"Ready to jump on your mark," Minaho stated.
"Okay then," Hess stated, "Get ready to-"

"HOSTILE LAUNCH!" Lister shouted. "Correction, MULTIPLE HOSTILE LAUNCHES!"
Paul turned to his console and looked at it quickly.
"Fifteen missiles closing from above, seven targetting the Hastings, and the rest on fighters!"
"EVASIVE!" Hess shouted. The entire fighterwing broke formation, activating their ECM units as several missiles bore down from above. The turrets of the Hastings flashed to life, taking out three, but the rest slammed into its hull near the engines, and the final one punched through the shields, rocking the ship violently.
"Direct hit!" Paul shouted over the comms. "Checking systems now... SHIT, FIGHTERS! ABOVE!"

"Kick some ass!" Hess ordered, "Engage and DESTROY."

Twenty-one starfighters turned to face a cloud of fighters screaming in from above. In mere seconds, the two closed distance and the shooting resumed intensity.

"Knight three, bandit on your six, watch yourself!"
"This is Dragon Five, I've got two on me, can't shake them!"

Sidewinder engaged three head on and somehow weaved between shots before reducing the enemy fighters to space debree.

"I see him! Watch that one at seven-O-clock."
"Six of them thirty degrees."

Lister dove in on a group of fighters and slagged them in rapid succession, then chanted on all channels.
"Mess with the best... DIE like the REST!"

"Paul," Hess commented as they quickly mopped up the ambushing fighters. "How bad was that last hit?"
"Not as bad as I feared, but we've still got a problem," he replied. "That last missile damaged part of the aft engine deck area, and the upper shields are offline. Looks like the Hyperdrive's down. We can't jump!"
"Options!" Hess ordered.
"I'm working on it," Paul replied. "However we don't have much time. Multiple fighter squadrons from Diablos are inbound, and the ship's gaining as well."
"Looks like they want to keep us HERE," Hess scowled. "Well, I won't dissappoint them. You keep on course, we're going to draw those fighters off. Knight group, Dragond group, engage at will, nothing is to get within a kilometer of Hastings... NOTHING."

The next few minutes astonished even the pirates onboard the Diablos. Before their fighters even got into firing range, a quarter of them were destroyed by missile fire while the Hastings' flight group avoided or jammed incoming missiles. When the two groups clashed, Knighthawk group stayed together combining their firepower into a cloud of deadly energy that ripped fighter after fighter apart. The same went for Dragonstorm group. All the while sidewinder picked off stragglers. In less than two minutes of dogfighting, the remaining pirate fighters broke off the attack, fleeing as a few more missiles chased them down.

"What have you got Paul?" Hess asked the moment it was clear.
"I can get the ship out of here," Paul replied. "But you're not gonna' like it."
"We're running out of time," Hess warned. Diablos was taking long range potshots at the Hastings, while more focused fire lanced at the fighters, who easily avoided the attack.
"Well, our current course takes us into prime for a Gravity Well Hop," Paul stated. Before he could go any further, Minaho cut him off.
"That is one of the most dangerous manuevers ever devised, one wrong calculation and you'll smack into the planet before you even realize anything went wrong!"

"I'll take it!" Hess snapped. "A chance of death is better than certain death, I always say. How long before you have your jump vector and the fighter vectors?"
"I had it ready before you even asked sir," Paul replied.
"GOOD MAN!" Hess smiled.
"We just have to outrun the Diablos long enough to get there in one piece," Paul continued. "At the rate they're gaining, we'll be space debree before we get there, and since we're diving into a gravity well, their higher mass is making it easier to gain speed."
"Then we'll have to slow them down!" Hess responded, turning his fighter back towards the Diablos. Already heavy fire was starting to track the Hastings, and occasional hits could be seen scoring on the shields. "All units follow me, fire at will, and don't get killed!"

The fighters turned on the Diablos, diving in below its fire arcs and shooting anything and everything. However, it quickly became clear that this wasn't going to slow the huge vessel down. Hess started looking for an alternative. And he found it quickly.
"All units, concentrait fire on the starboard side engine pod! If we can knock that out that ship won't fly straight, which could buy us just the time needed!"
"RODGER THAT!" came the resounding reply. Both flight groups turned and drove towards the huge engine pod attatched to the gigantic wing. Defensive fire continued to storm about them, but missed. Heavy weapons fire continued to pummel the Hastings more and more.
"Hurry it up will you!" Paul growled. "We're starting to take a beating here, I'm rerouting all available power to the aft shields just to keep us in one piece."

The fighters reached firing range, and any remaining ordinance was launched on the engine. A total of ten predator torpedos and eight Xiran missiles as well as a barrage of laser fire swarmed the pod. In a huge explosion, it was ripped completely from its wing mount. Off center thrust caused the Diablos to veer in its course, slowing its persuit down. The fighters shot clear of the vessel and raced back towards the Hastings. Ahead, the planet Thallis four loomed ever larger.
"We're good!" Hess stated. "Give us those coordinets!"
"Rodger, form up and assume your jump coordinets," Paul responded as he typed as fast as his hands could move. "We reach jump vector in one minute."
"Standby," Hess instructed.

Behind them, the Diablos had shut down the other engine and realligned itself with the retreating Hastings. At a loss for using its normal weapons, it opened all of its torpedo tubes and locked on to the Supercarrier.

"Thirty Seconds and counting..." came the ship's automated computer system.

Thallis four could be seen clearly as the ships continued to gain speed. The seconds ticked by as the automated computer continued to count down.
"Twenty-five..."

"Uh... Commander?" Lister commented as he watched his rear scopes. "I'm reading ten... no... twenty... no... FORTY torpedo class weapons closing fast..."

"TWENTY SECONDS..."

"Hold course!" Hess stated.

"If they catch us..." Paul warned.

"Fifteen..."

"We're fine!" Hess growled. "Keep going!"

Ten... nine..."

"Torpedos in firing range!" Minahi nearly shreiked, losing her composure.

"Seven..."

"Hold on!" Hess warned.

"Commander... Clear on my mark... Three... Two... One... MARK."

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-" Lister bega

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Last edited by admiraltigerclaw on Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:54 am
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Post And where it cut off...
"Commander... Clear on my mark... Three... Two... One... MARK."

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-" Lister began.

"And we're OFF!" Hess shouted, as the first torpedo reached the hastings.


A second later the Hastings exploded out of Subspace fifty lightyears away, leaving a massive gravitational shockwave in its wake. The fighters swarmed around it as they too returned to realspace with a strangly audible crack.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAW!!!" Hess howled over the comm units on general broadcast. He spun his fighter wildly, doing a couple fast rolls. "MAN! What a rush!"

Ahead of them, a planet could be seen, and the Diablos was nowhere in sight. Not a pirate could be spotted on any sensors.

"For a second I thought we wouldn't make it," Minaho sighed, slumping in her chair. She was breathing heavily, and so was the rest of the crew.
"We made it though," Paul grinned. "That was far too close for my own comfort. I nearly soiled myself there."
Minaho looked at him agahst.

"So," Hess came back over the comm. "Do twenty-one starfighters get to land sometime today, or are you just going to break out the cards now that we lost the pirates for the time being?"

"Right!" Paul replied. "Getting the cards now..."
"As long as you hit the garage door opener first," Hess responded instantly. "What's our status? Are we clear?"
"For the time being," Paul responded as he punched a few buttons to open the docking bay. "The trouble with a Gavity Well Hop is that all they need is your ship mass and your final flight vector as well as planetary mass to plot your course, easy to trace. I'm sure they'll be following us, but the Hyperdrive is down, and we need time to repair it. I suggest we make planetfall and land someplace where sensors will have a hard time locating us."

"Understood," Hess replied. "Where are we now?"
"Cantwell system, four lightyears from Juraian space," Paul informed. "Looks like the planet Cantwell two ahead. Very hospitable place, but a bit humid. It's a tropical planet, but has almost no security and is too far from normal space lanes."

"Then set a course for Cantwell II," Hess ordered. "We have to set up and fortify, the sooner the better."
"Rodger that sir," Paul replied. "I'll have your coffee ready as soon as you're aboard.
"I hate coffee," Hess stated.
"I know," Paul smiled. Minaho stared blankly. She still didn't get it. However she turned back to the main screen and observed their flight path.

Planet Cantwell II awaited.




AUTHOR's EXCUSES:

Whoah man... I didn't think writing an all out space battle would turn out so big. Current time to finish this is 4:37 AM. Dude, am I bushed. No, I didn't forget about the Mikagami. As my urge would have it, I completed this chapter before I even came close to half way with chapter five. (Which at the time of writing this, sits with writers block in my head.) Much thanks to some songs from Microsoft Deadly Tide for being listened to during the writing phase of this chapter. Another cheer for the Game X-Wing Alliance for giving me a bit of a template to test out a large-ass fleet battle, and motivating me to be as complete as I could in the details of this fight. Nothing like the feel of flying faster ships than everyone else and turning a massacre into a rout. Still, the Diablos will be back, like any good badguy, they just don't die that first time around. A short note on the differences between Hyperspace and Gravity Well Hops. Where you take time to transit through hyperspace to a destination, GWHs are instantanious. Even a partially working hyperdrive can be used to create a small Quantum Singularity which can be further used when close to massive objects to fling you lightyears in the blink of an eye. However, distance and direction relate to your travel vector and range to the massive oject when you engage the drive. Second, is the tendancy for the hop to fling your towards another massive body, be it a far away planet, or maybe a black hole? So if your course jacks up, you could be flung into a star.

"And that would end your trip real quick now wouldn't it?"
-Han Solo


Next time!: The crew of the Hastings must defend the ship on the surface of the Planet Cantwell II as pirate ground force close on the damaged vessel. And here comes the Diablos to spell out doom in nice bold letters. Remember D.O.O.M.
It's a race against the clock, if they're still on the ground when Diablos gets to them... well. I doubt some of you understand what Base Delta Zero means... but if you do... think of that, only localized. (HINT: Search 'Base Delta Zero' in relation to Star Wars)
Don't miss... Planetfall! Defend the Ship!

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http://www.samuraipenguinstudios.com


Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:56 am
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