Hunting the Hunters

Posted on Fri Aug 25, 2017 @ 9:26pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire

Mission: Strange Matter
Location: Space Gavarian Corridor
Timeline: MD 28 || 1600 Hours

Space. Vast and silent, yet deadly. At any time a sensor could issue a warning that a ship was coming out of warp, or a asteroid was on a collision course. The highest trained pilots in the fleet are only as good as the amount of attention they are paid when routine turns to boredom from inactivity.

Fortunately, sensors did not get bored and now every sensor in the fighter that Lieutenant Cheshire flew was screaming its head off and warning of a imminent collision with a ship coming out of warp.

=^=Break 90!=^= Marisa called out over her coms.

"Subspace Disturbance!" Pixie said behind her in the same instant.

She pulled back on the stick and punched the throttle slightly before the rest of her formation did. The controls shook as though she'd been caught in an explosion and the tiny fighter was thrown across the grid. There was no collision, the rumble that she felt was from being so close to a ship returning to normal space. It took a moment for Marisa to regain control of her ship and collect her bearings.

"Pixie, get me an ID on that ship." Marisa called out probably louder and more demanding than she would have in any other situation. =^=Yellow-1, Alice, unidentified contact just dropped out right on top of us. Move to support.=^=

A Breen warship dropped out of warp where the fighters had been before they scattered and immediately opened fire on the nearest ones with volleys of torpedoes and energy dissipators. A crackling mechanically distorted voice came across every frequency a second later. "You are now in the territory of the Typhon Pact and have attacked a Pact member without provocation. You will be destroyed!"

"Breen Chel Grett sir, no name." Pixie called out.

Marisa popped her countermeasures and hightailed it away from the Breen ship =^=Flight, put some distance between you and the enemy. Weapons hold.=^=

=^=They're shooting at us!=^= Larry said over the coms =^=The ROE -=^=

=^=You have your orders.=^= Marisa cut him off before switching to an open channel =^=Breen Vessel. If you're talking about the altercation-=^= She was interrupted by a few glancing hits as the Breen zeroed in =^=Altercation!=^= She bellowed after evading, as though that would do any good =^=between the USS Triumphant and the Eraiko, I can transmit my sensor and com logs to prove we were not the aggressor.=^=

=^=Save your lies=^= came the mechanized voice again with another volley of torpedoes as the warship came about on a new heading and seemed intent on plowing through a small group of fighters that had yet to split up.

=^=Very well.=^= Marisa said, her tone being one of levity while the incoming klaxon was blaring in her face. =^=Gentlemen, diplomacy has failed. Weapons free, come about, pursue and destroy.=^=

In unison the fighters flipped their ships nose to tail while keeping their backward momentum. Marisa pulled the trigger and let loose a torrent of phaser fire at the Breen ship. On it's new vector she didn't even have to lead, though she shifted her attention to the torpedo bearing down on them.

Another klaxon blared at her, forcing Marisa to look away from her cross hairs and down at her weapon indicator while her phasers started sputtering pitifully.

"Sir, that grazing shot did a number on our energy reserves." Pixie said behind her "Shields and auxiliary capacitors are down to 70%, weapons systems depleted."

"Cyka" She uttered under her breath "Reroute auxiliary to weapons." Sensors didn't do them much good anyway she thought while the torpedoes continued on their path. The rest of her flight continued to fire and one by one the glowing orbs detonated under the torrent of phaser fire.

With the continued momentum of the fighters, the Breen ship approached them ponderously, though inevitably it got too close for comfort. =^=Maintain formation and slide to their port, maintain firing solution, but prioritise avoiding their close in weapons.=^=

With their noses still pointed at the Breen ship the formation tapped their RCS thrusters and strafed to the right. They continued to pelt the ship with fire, their small phaser bolts hitting it's protective shell caused it to ripple like rain falling on a puddle. Marisa's weapon indicator turned from red to green and she rejoined her flight in maintaining fire.

Fourteen Bleth Choas-class fighters emerged from the Breen warship and immediately engaged the closest Federation fighters, firing polaron beams and volleys of micro torpedoes before veering off in three different directions in two groups of four and one group of six.

With the new contacts the formation didn't wait for Marisa's order, and they split off into 2 directions.

The group of six headed for several Federation fighters who had been separated from the others and opened fire on them.

The pair continued on their vector, letting the Breen fighters pick up speed. Only once they had closed the distance somewhat did they change tactic. They both spun about and crossed over, firing their impulse engines to slow them down and came either side of the formation, pointing their noses at the ships and setting up a crossfire.

The other two groups of four converged in a flank attack on the Federation craft hoping to catch them in a pincer maneuver while firing their polaron beams.

Marisa and Larry turned their ships around and began firing back while tapping their RCS thrusters up, gaining some "altitude", some degrees from their attack vector while she and her wingman targeted the leads of their closest enemy flights with pin point precision, letting lose a couple of micro-torpedoes on their wingmen.

"Yeah, don't think I don't see what you're doing." Marisa muttered to herself as she continued to fire. =^=Yellow-1, Alice. Send the 2 nearest flights to come support us and have the Triumphant scramble an anti ship squadron.=^=

=^=Yes sir. We'll be in range in 10 seconds and begin electronic support.=^=

The Breen warship pulled back and spun around and brought its stochastic field emitters online to strengthen its shields before it fired another volley of torpedoes and energy dissipator cannons at the Federation fighters.

With the distance between them increasing the heavy, antiship weapons the Breen warship was bringing to bear was easier and easier for the fighters to avoid. Though every time an alert klaxon warned her she had 2 seconds to get out of the way of a bolt, Marisa's heart skipped a beat. With only the minimum possible maneuvers the Federation fighters continued their counter attack.

Three Breen fighters were destroyed and the others regrouped back around the Breen warship. Now it bore down on the fighters firing a steady barrage of polaron beams, energy dissipators and full and micro photon torpedoes at anything that was moving in space around the warship. With all the firepower coming from it, it felt that it was sure to take out some of the Federation craft before it made a run for the huge Federation ship that its sensors had picked up.

=^=Flight, form up=^= Marisa said, turning away from the warship, though at a slower speed.

A soft tone alerted Marisa that Yellow-1 was in range and had networked with her fighter. It also managed to network with the micro torpedoes bearing down on them and spoofed them, causing them to detonate mid flight.

The pair that left behind didn't have that benefit yet as they rocketed back to their formation. The micro torpedoes had to make a wide arc to follow them, but they were quickly on their tail again. They deployed countermeasures in an attempt to spoof them, a trail of white hot light exploded from their rear along with a couple of detonations. Then another, as the back on one of the fighters was struck.

=^=Shields down, engines damaged.=^= the pilot said as the fighter passed Marisa bellowing smoke and blue fire. The canopy blew off with a small inaudible puff of gas and the pair of operators ejected as the fighter continued on it's trajectory.

=^=Yellow-1, move in for S&R, we'll cover you.=^= Marisa commanded as additional, small and green contacts appeared on her scanner, dropping out of warp a short distance away.

With their torpedoes being neutralized, the warship did a short warp jump and appeared behind the Federation fighter light but left their own fighters where they were. When it came out of warp, it executed a quick turn and opened fire on the fighters from behind while the Breen fighters dropped down and fired more torpedoes from a lower plane of attack.

The Federation flight put itself between their exposed comrades and the Breen warship while the larger Talon, Yellow-1, approached. Though it would be a few more moments before it arrived, a few moments too long.

=^=Chuckles, Jo-Jo, are your inertial dampeners working okay?=^= She asked the men stranded in space.

=^=Alice, Jo-Jo, yes, why?=^=

=^=Hold on to your lungs=^= She said before she gave an order to her squadron. =^=Mobius, watch our backs, Stepchild, lock on to Chuckle's beacon with your tractor beam and drag his ass to Yellow-1.=^="Pixie -"

"Aye aye ma'am." The Andorian said behind her, fully comprehending the next order. "Be advised, I've got the Red Kings inbound, ETA 30 seconds." She said while manipulating her targeting controls.

=^=Those things are for hauling Starships.=^= One of them protested but it was ignored as he was enveloped in blue light and dragged away from the warship. Mobius continued cover the two falling back while their TSOs maintained rear point defense.

Meanwhile the 2 new flights began to move on the Breen fighters, intercepting them before they could seriously threaten Marisa's flight.

The Breen fighters broke off the attack and jumped to warp and with a final volley of torpedoes and energy dissipation beams, the warship turned and headed for a warp vector itself. =^=We will be back, Federation.=^= came over the comes in the scrambled voice. =^=Count on that.=^=

=^=The next time one of your allies starts a fight he can't finish and you're fool enough to believe it was only in self defense, I'm sure.=^= Marisa finished the Breen's sentence with a dismissive tone. =^=I look forward to our future correspondence.=^=