Hey all, its another chapter. I think its chapter 6..or 7, hell, I dont know. Dont worry about grammer, just let me know if its interesting. Its my first 'combat' chapter, so Im a bit insecure =)
ADULT LANGUAGE!!!!
Jacob opened his eyes. He could not hear anything yet, but his vision was almost normal. The Captain was already up and about, directing the minor course adjustments necessary to remain in formation with the cruisers.
“CSF Grace, come to heading 140, maintain current speed.”
“Roger Gabriel, coming to one-four-zero, maintaining at 500 meters per second.”
“How long have we been out?” Jacob was on his feet.
“About 2 minutes, we are just now commencing scans.”
“How far out from the station are we?”
“Just about 10,000 kilometers, would you like to take the bridge Seneschal?” Captain Mendes’s tone made Jacob think he wanted him to take the bridge. “No Captain, she is your ship, I will head up to the command sphere and dial in.” “Roger that sir.”
Jacob headed up the mag lift to the command sphere. The sphere was exactly that, a large, self contained sphere whose walls were one big holo screen. Jacob stepped in and synced his neural transmitter to the ships AI. The walls became space; in the center was the CSF Gabriel with the two cruisers flanking her on each side. He could not see the Alliance fleet or station yet because the ships scans were not yet complete. He initiated the command sequence, dialing him directly into all three ships AI’s. Immediately the room began to spin, then the gravity dropped. Jacob was literally in space, with the Crucible ships floating around him like little models.
“Scans in sir, uploading to AI now.” The station came into view, or at least the very southern tip of it. Four enemy ships began to come into view, two of them destroyers, Mako class, another was a heavy cruiser. The last one took Jacob’s breath; it was an Invincible class fleet carrier. “What the hell is that carrier doing here!?”
“ Looks like D’Arno’s boys are getting a little rusty Seneschal, what are your orders?”
“Have they detected us yet?”
“Negative Seneschal, I doubt they are on any kind of alert out here.”
“Your right, the AI says that she is the Majestic. Didn’t she take some pretty heavy damage in the Battle of Acre?”
“That’s right. Senschal Cooper nearly tore of the aft quarter of that ship, she is probably here for recharge, then on to Earth for repair.”
“Roger that, increase impact drives to full, begin charging all batteries and raise shields.” Jacob knew what had to be done. The Majestic may be wounded, but she still carried all her guns and fighters. His flotilla could hold the attention of the Alliance ships long enough for the Seraphim’s to shoot and scoot, but if any fighters were in the area, the Seraphim’s were as good as dead. Each of those four Seraphim were worth more than the Gabriel, as was the destruction of the station. If God ordained that he should sacrifice himself and these three ships to thwart the continued Alliance invasion, so be it.
“Sir,” It was Captain Moss of the CSF Grace “The Alliance ships will detect us in a heartbeat if we charge up the FAP batteries!”
“Yes they will Captain, and if I know Alliance carrier Captains, they will race straight for us.” Jacob expected a little questioning from the Captains, he was the youngest Seneschal in the history of the Guardians after all.
“Increasing speed to full, batteries charging, shields raised.” Captain Mendes had a pretty good idea of what Jacob was thinking. “They have detected us sir, scanning us now. Request permission to have fleet fire pulse probes.”
Jacob was glad to have the seasoned Captain with him, he hadn’t even thought of launching the probes. Pulse probes were actually clusters of small EM Pulse bombs. A fired probe would spread its bomblets out in a net around a desired position. Any sub-space communications attempting to penetrate this net would set of one of the bomblets, effectively destroying the signal. “Permission granted Captain. All batteries, fire on my command. The Alliance ships will be in range in approximately 3 mikes.” The Alliance had indeed spotted them and was set on a collision course at maximum speed.
Red klaxons wailed throughout the combat information center (CiC), and Lieutenant Commander Maximillian Price found herself the center of attention. With Captain Dight and his XO still onboard the station, she was in command of the Majestic. “ Majestic, this is the Tactical Action Officer (TAO), Crucible ships have entered the Dartmouth system and are charging batteries, all hands to battle stations, prepare to scramble fighters, wings one, three and five, this is not a drill.” How she wished it was a drill. The Majestic had not completely recovered from the Battle of Acre and only fielded 4 fighter wings. “ Ensign Kelly, charge batteries and raise shields, weaps, get out an emergency broadcast to fleet HQ as follows: ‘we are under attack, Dartmouth, 1 crucible battle cruiser probably Gabriel, two heavy cruisers, Luther class’- shoot it out on all sub space frequencies.” “Yes Ma’am, message sent.”
“Batteries charged ma’am, shields are at 50% and climbing, we will be within torpedo range in 3 minutes, plasma range in 4. What are your orders Captain?”
She flinched at the word ‘Captain’, and for a second she was expecting Captain Dight to appear. This was the first time she was actually in command outside a few drills. “Their FAP cannons outrange our plasma weapons, we should close range as fast as possible to bring our full armament against them. Have the Thresher and Black Tip tie into our AI directly, bring the England to flank speed and set heading 030 degrees, have her fire torpedoes as soon as she is within range.”
Fear and nervousness turned to excitement and anticipation as Commander Price reminded herself that the Alliance out gunned the Crucible ships almost 2-1, not to mention complete fighter superiority. Oh, the Crucible ships would launch a handful of the superb Crusader space superiority fighters, but their numbers would pale in comparison to the three full wings of Raptors the Majestic would be belching from her three flight decks. The Alliance fleet would take some damage for sure, the Crucible FAP cannons significantly out ranged their own plasma batteries, but when the full brunt of the Alliance’s firepower came to bear, it would only be a matter of time. The thought of the accolades she would receive for commanding the fleet that saved Dartmouth made her smile.
“Torpedoes charged ma’am. Request permission to engage.” “Permission granted, target the Gabriel’s forward FAP batteries and bridge.” Her heart was racing as she watched 12 torpedoes, blue-white balls of swirling neutrons, fly from the Alliance ships on the tactical hollowed screen. The England would be releasing three more as soon as she came in range. “They have launched torpedoes as well ma’am, permission to engage with plasma batteries?” “Granted, but only one charge, I want full power when we reach range.” “Roger ma’am.”
She could now see the Crusader space fighters vectoring in from the Gabriel. Unlike the Raptors, the Crusader was designed specifically to engage other space fighters. The Raptor was capable of dog-fighting, but the micro neutron torpedo launchers that made them the bane of capital ships reduced their fighter on fighter capabilities. Price was a little concerned in this regard, the carrier’s fighter wings were already depleted, and whether the Raptors succeeded or not they would suffer heavy casualties.
Onboard CSF Gabriel:
Sub-Commander Asher Cook, known as Rev’ by most of the crew, hurriedly dressed into his pressure suit, his mind still spinning from the jump. The order had not yet come down, but Asher knew the ‘Lions of Judah’ would soon be called into action. Finally dressed, Asher made his way below decks to the hangar bay. Most of the Lions were already there, reviewing the mission briefing and awaiting the results of the first system scan. “Rev, over here buddy, scan is coming in now!” Tan Archer waved his
wingman over.
Asher flinched at the name ‘Rev’, he always did. His father had been a reverend on Acre before the planter was destroyed, along with Asher’s entire family. He had thought himself a ‘Revealing Pounder’, as his evangelistic father had been, he had never even felt like he truly belonged to the Jesuit Order from which his family hailed. As far as Asher was concerned the only thing he inherited from his father, may he walk with the Lord, was a nervous eye twitch and a rather unseemly drinking problem.
“Holy ****, it’s a damned carrier!” Some anonymous pilot yelled. Asher’s heart skipped a beat. In truth, it was excitement, the prospect of flying against a few Alliance cruisers had not appealed to him, the Crusader space fighter was not designed to fight against capital ships, it had no missiles or torpedoes that could penetrate a capital ships shields. With a carrier in system though, Asher knew the Lions would play a big role in the up coming fight.
The squadron gathered around a large ‘net screen. The mission had obviously changed, but in truth, this was what the Lions did best; frag Alliance fighters. Instead of providing a fighter screen against the meager fighter wings possibly dispatched from the station, the Lion’s would be fighting for space superiority, this was their game.
“What do you think Rev, we gonna make it outta this one?” Tan had been Asher’s only friend since they met at the Academy. Tan was outgoing, funny and a wonder with the ladies, Asher was none of these things. A childhood of feeling out of place had made Asher a rather solemn, pessimistic fellow. Eventually his years with Tan had brought out a little personality. They had flown together in the Battle of Ling Mai, where many of their most seasoned veterans had given their lives for the Crucible, evidenced by the presence of so many rookie pilots aboard the Gabriel. “When its your time, its your time, why worry about the details? I promise you won’t be late to your funeral buddy.” Asher was only half joking.
“Wow, as comforting as always Rev, you wanna read me my last rites now or wait until they suck whats left of me outta vacuum?” Tan shot back. Asher grinned, pulled his duranium crucifix out of his jacket. “Brother, confess your sins, free your soul fro…”
“Shaddup already, get in your damned fighter before I frag you myself!”
Tan was laughing.
Asher climbed into the cockpit of his SSF-13 Crusader. The craft was a major improvement over the older Avenger class fighter. The fuselage was rather short by fighter standards, 15 meters from nose to tail. The four wings were triangular, intersecting at 90 degree angles, and covered three quarters of the fuselage. Each wing was in reality a large Impact drive, creating kinetic energy against one another to allow the small craft to perform some pretty impressive maneuvers. The ‘nose’ of the fighter was short, squat and came to a gently rounded point. Positioned in the nose were two EM-50 cannons, excellent against small craft and fighters, but worthless for anything else. The engines where brand new AkaraTek HydroFlex reactors, and were capable of propelling the small vessels to over 5000 meters per second, thought combat speed was less than a quarter of that. Every detail in the design was oriented to out maneuver, out run and out wit enemy fighters.
Unlike the Alliance’s multi-role Raptor, the Crusaders sole mission in life was to sweep space clear of enemy fighters and maintain space superiority. The craft was painted a radioactive green, with a black lion’s head on either side of the cockpit . The ‘wings’ were adorned with the Crest of Zion, an ornate crucifix over crossed swords with a banner draped over the top reading ‘Semper Fidelis’, and tail/squadron numbers.
“Lion zero one, this is Gabriel control, prepare for launch.” Tan hated the monotone voice of Ensign Sanchez. “Gabriel control, this is Lion zero one, roger.”
“Alright people, you heard ‘em, light your reactors!” Tan linked to the fighters AI, suddenly his vision was filled with various control readouts and the familiar heads up display (HUD).
“Lion zero one, this is Gabriel control, you are clear to launch, God be with you.”
Asher was the first to clear the flight deck, a familiar sensation of comfort filling him as zero gravity took over. The Lions were assuming their formations, three separate wings of nine fighters each. Asher centered the enemy carrier in his HUD and zoomed in. The enemy fighters had already launched. He counted 75 total.
“Alright boys and girls, time to earn our pay.” Tan took great pleasure in reminding the newly arrived pilots of his senority. “Remember your training, stick with your wingman and some of you might just make it out of this alive. Got anything for us Rev’?”
Asher cleared his throat. “We are all probably gonna die, and considering I don’t like most of you, I plan to take with me as many of these Alliance bastards as I can, give me someone to hangout with in purgatory.”
“Jovial as always rev’, Ill make sure to pick you out a few friends.” Tan signaled his wingman to break away with him, and the whole formation broke into pairs. Asher and Tan took the lead with the rest of the fighters forming a net behind them. The Alliance Raptors used plasma weapons, easy to avoid, but when they outnumbered you three to one, the last thing you wanted was to get surrounded.
Tan switched to channel 15, all squadron “Alright Lions, fox ten!” 27 Babel missiles rocketed out from the Crucible formation, lancing towards the cloud of Alliance fighters. The Babel missile was derived from the Pulse Probe, but instead of EM bomblets, the Babel released clouds of tiny ‘Babel driods’. These tiny robots would adhere to any fighter not transmitting the correct IFF codes and migrate towards any transmitter it detected. Once it found the transmitter it would scramble that fighters IFF codes, the effect was that the Alliance fleet would see its own fighters as enemies.
“Alright rev, break 90 degrees vert and wait for me to pick up a tail.” Tan shouted.
“Amen brother, time to make some friends!” Asher slammed his fighter into a controlled spin 90 degrees away from Tan, his impact drives humming with energy, while Tan dove straight through the Alliance lines, his nimble fighter easily avoiding the hail of plasma. The Alliance formation flashed by them and Asher spun his fighter 180 degrees to come directly behind Tan. Predictably, a few Alliance fighters were tailing him, trying to line up a shot. Tan was doing great work maneuvering through the plasma pouring his way from his pursuers, but he had already taken a few hits. “Damnit Rev, anytime now!” Asher locked onto the lead Raptor and unleashed a deluge of duranium bolts. The lead fighter flamed and the second fighter in line banked right to come around Asher’s flank. Asher couldn’t break the AIs lock on what was left of the lead fighter fast enough, so he manually targeted the last fighter by banking hard 20 degrees right and slamming the impact drives to overload for a second. The stream of duranium slugs deviated from the AI’s auto-track position just long enough to shear a wing off the last pursuer, sending him spinning into vacuum.
ADULT LANGUAGE!!!!
Jacob opened his eyes. He could not hear anything yet, but his vision was almost normal. The Captain was already up and about, directing the minor course adjustments necessary to remain in formation with the cruisers.
“CSF Grace, come to heading 140, maintain current speed.”
“Roger Gabriel, coming to one-four-zero, maintaining at 500 meters per second.”
“How long have we been out?” Jacob was on his feet.
“About 2 minutes, we are just now commencing scans.”
“How far out from the station are we?”
“Just about 10,000 kilometers, would you like to take the bridge Seneschal?” Captain Mendes’s tone made Jacob think he wanted him to take the bridge. “No Captain, she is your ship, I will head up to the command sphere and dial in.” “Roger that sir.”
Jacob headed up the mag lift to the command sphere. The sphere was exactly that, a large, self contained sphere whose walls were one big holo screen. Jacob stepped in and synced his neural transmitter to the ships AI. The walls became space; in the center was the CSF Gabriel with the two cruisers flanking her on each side. He could not see the Alliance fleet or station yet because the ships scans were not yet complete. He initiated the command sequence, dialing him directly into all three ships AI’s. Immediately the room began to spin, then the gravity dropped. Jacob was literally in space, with the Crucible ships floating around him like little models.
“Scans in sir, uploading to AI now.” The station came into view, or at least the very southern tip of it. Four enemy ships began to come into view, two of them destroyers, Mako class, another was a heavy cruiser. The last one took Jacob’s breath; it was an Invincible class fleet carrier. “What the hell is that carrier doing here!?”
“ Looks like D’Arno’s boys are getting a little rusty Seneschal, what are your orders?”
“Have they detected us yet?”
“Negative Seneschal, I doubt they are on any kind of alert out here.”
“Your right, the AI says that she is the Majestic. Didn’t she take some pretty heavy damage in the Battle of Acre?”
“That’s right. Senschal Cooper nearly tore of the aft quarter of that ship, she is probably here for recharge, then on to Earth for repair.”
“Roger that, increase impact drives to full, begin charging all batteries and raise shields.” Jacob knew what had to be done. The Majestic may be wounded, but she still carried all her guns and fighters. His flotilla could hold the attention of the Alliance ships long enough for the Seraphim’s to shoot and scoot, but if any fighters were in the area, the Seraphim’s were as good as dead. Each of those four Seraphim were worth more than the Gabriel, as was the destruction of the station. If God ordained that he should sacrifice himself and these three ships to thwart the continued Alliance invasion, so be it.
“Sir,” It was Captain Moss of the CSF Grace “The Alliance ships will detect us in a heartbeat if we charge up the FAP batteries!”
“Yes they will Captain, and if I know Alliance carrier Captains, they will race straight for us.” Jacob expected a little questioning from the Captains, he was the youngest Seneschal in the history of the Guardians after all.
“Increasing speed to full, batteries charging, shields raised.” Captain Mendes had a pretty good idea of what Jacob was thinking. “They have detected us sir, scanning us now. Request permission to have fleet fire pulse probes.”
Jacob was glad to have the seasoned Captain with him, he hadn’t even thought of launching the probes. Pulse probes were actually clusters of small EM Pulse bombs. A fired probe would spread its bomblets out in a net around a desired position. Any sub-space communications attempting to penetrate this net would set of one of the bomblets, effectively destroying the signal. “Permission granted Captain. All batteries, fire on my command. The Alliance ships will be in range in approximately 3 mikes.” The Alliance had indeed spotted them and was set on a collision course at maximum speed.
Onboard Alliance Space Fleet vessel ‘Majestic’
Red klaxons wailed throughout the combat information center (CiC), and Lieutenant Commander Maximillian Price found herself the center of attention. With Captain Dight and his XO still onboard the station, she was in command of the Majestic. “ Majestic, this is the Tactical Action Officer (TAO), Crucible ships have entered the Dartmouth system and are charging batteries, all hands to battle stations, prepare to scramble fighters, wings one, three and five, this is not a drill.” How she wished it was a drill. The Majestic had not completely recovered from the Battle of Acre and only fielded 4 fighter wings. “ Ensign Kelly, charge batteries and raise shields, weaps, get out an emergency broadcast to fleet HQ as follows: ‘we are under attack, Dartmouth, 1 crucible battle cruiser probably Gabriel, two heavy cruisers, Luther class’- shoot it out on all sub space frequencies.” “Yes Ma’am, message sent.”
“Batteries charged ma’am, shields are at 50% and climbing, we will be within torpedo range in 3 minutes, plasma range in 4. What are your orders Captain?”
She flinched at the word ‘Captain’, and for a second she was expecting Captain Dight to appear. This was the first time she was actually in command outside a few drills. “Their FAP cannons outrange our plasma weapons, we should close range as fast as possible to bring our full armament against them. Have the Thresher and Black Tip tie into our AI directly, bring the England to flank speed and set heading 030 degrees, have her fire torpedoes as soon as she is within range.”
Fear and nervousness turned to excitement and anticipation as Commander Price reminded herself that the Alliance out gunned the Crucible ships almost 2-1, not to mention complete fighter superiority. Oh, the Crucible ships would launch a handful of the superb Crusader space superiority fighters, but their numbers would pale in comparison to the three full wings of Raptors the Majestic would be belching from her three flight decks. The Alliance fleet would take some damage for sure, the Crucible FAP cannons significantly out ranged their own plasma batteries, but when the full brunt of the Alliance’s firepower came to bear, it would only be a matter of time. The thought of the accolades she would receive for commanding the fleet that saved Dartmouth made her smile.
“Torpedoes charged ma’am. Request permission to engage.” “Permission granted, target the Gabriel’s forward FAP batteries and bridge.” Her heart was racing as she watched 12 torpedoes, blue-white balls of swirling neutrons, fly from the Alliance ships on the tactical hollowed screen. The England would be releasing three more as soon as she came in range. “They have launched torpedoes as well ma’am, permission to engage with plasma batteries?” “Granted, but only one charge, I want full power when we reach range.” “Roger ma’am.”
She could now see the Crusader space fighters vectoring in from the Gabriel. Unlike the Raptors, the Crusader was designed specifically to engage other space fighters. The Raptor was capable of dog-fighting, but the micro neutron torpedo launchers that made them the bane of capital ships reduced their fighter on fighter capabilities. Price was a little concerned in this regard, the carrier’s fighter wings were already depleted, and whether the Raptors succeeded or not they would suffer heavy casualties.
Onboard CSF Gabriel:
Sub-Commander Asher Cook, known as Rev’ by most of the crew, hurriedly dressed into his pressure suit, his mind still spinning from the jump. The order had not yet come down, but Asher knew the ‘Lions of Judah’ would soon be called into action. Finally dressed, Asher made his way below decks to the hangar bay. Most of the Lions were already there, reviewing the mission briefing and awaiting the results of the first system scan. “Rev, over here buddy, scan is coming in now!” Tan Archer waved his
wingman over.
Asher flinched at the name ‘Rev’, he always did. His father had been a reverend on Acre before the planter was destroyed, along with Asher’s entire family. He had thought himself a ‘Revealing Pounder’, as his evangelistic father had been, he had never even felt like he truly belonged to the Jesuit Order from which his family hailed. As far as Asher was concerned the only thing he inherited from his father, may he walk with the Lord, was a nervous eye twitch and a rather unseemly drinking problem.
“Holy ****, it’s a damned carrier!” Some anonymous pilot yelled. Asher’s heart skipped a beat. In truth, it was excitement, the prospect of flying against a few Alliance cruisers had not appealed to him, the Crusader space fighter was not designed to fight against capital ships, it had no missiles or torpedoes that could penetrate a capital ships shields. With a carrier in system though, Asher knew the Lions would play a big role in the up coming fight.
The squadron gathered around a large ‘net screen. The mission had obviously changed, but in truth, this was what the Lions did best; frag Alliance fighters. Instead of providing a fighter screen against the meager fighter wings possibly dispatched from the station, the Lion’s would be fighting for space superiority, this was their game.
“What do you think Rev, we gonna make it outta this one?” Tan had been Asher’s only friend since they met at the Academy. Tan was outgoing, funny and a wonder with the ladies, Asher was none of these things. A childhood of feeling out of place had made Asher a rather solemn, pessimistic fellow. Eventually his years with Tan had brought out a little personality. They had flown together in the Battle of Ling Mai, where many of their most seasoned veterans had given their lives for the Crucible, evidenced by the presence of so many rookie pilots aboard the Gabriel. “When its your time, its your time, why worry about the details? I promise you won’t be late to your funeral buddy.” Asher was only half joking.
“Wow, as comforting as always Rev, you wanna read me my last rites now or wait until they suck whats left of me outta vacuum?” Tan shot back. Asher grinned, pulled his duranium crucifix out of his jacket. “Brother, confess your sins, free your soul fro…”
“Shaddup already, get in your damned fighter before I frag you myself!”
Tan was laughing.
Asher climbed into the cockpit of his SSF-13 Crusader. The craft was a major improvement over the older Avenger class fighter. The fuselage was rather short by fighter standards, 15 meters from nose to tail. The four wings were triangular, intersecting at 90 degree angles, and covered three quarters of the fuselage. Each wing was in reality a large Impact drive, creating kinetic energy against one another to allow the small craft to perform some pretty impressive maneuvers. The ‘nose’ of the fighter was short, squat and came to a gently rounded point. Positioned in the nose were two EM-50 cannons, excellent against small craft and fighters, but worthless for anything else. The engines where brand new AkaraTek HydroFlex reactors, and were capable of propelling the small vessels to over 5000 meters per second, thought combat speed was less than a quarter of that. Every detail in the design was oriented to out maneuver, out run and out wit enemy fighters.
Unlike the Alliance’s multi-role Raptor, the Crusaders sole mission in life was to sweep space clear of enemy fighters and maintain space superiority. The craft was painted a radioactive green, with a black lion’s head on either side of the cockpit . The ‘wings’ were adorned with the Crest of Zion, an ornate crucifix over crossed swords with a banner draped over the top reading ‘Semper Fidelis’, and tail/squadron numbers.
“Lion zero one, this is Gabriel control, prepare for launch.” Tan hated the monotone voice of Ensign Sanchez. “Gabriel control, this is Lion zero one, roger.”
“Alright people, you heard ‘em, light your reactors!” Tan linked to the fighters AI, suddenly his vision was filled with various control readouts and the familiar heads up display (HUD).
“Lion zero one, this is Gabriel control, you are clear to launch, God be with you.”
Asher was the first to clear the flight deck, a familiar sensation of comfort filling him as zero gravity took over. The Lions were assuming their formations, three separate wings of nine fighters each. Asher centered the enemy carrier in his HUD and zoomed in. The enemy fighters had already launched. He counted 75 total.
“Alright boys and girls, time to earn our pay.” Tan took great pleasure in reminding the newly arrived pilots of his senority. “Remember your training, stick with your wingman and some of you might just make it out of this alive. Got anything for us Rev’?”
Asher cleared his throat. “We are all probably gonna die, and considering I don’t like most of you, I plan to take with me as many of these Alliance bastards as I can, give me someone to hangout with in purgatory.”
“Jovial as always rev’, Ill make sure to pick you out a few friends.” Tan signaled his wingman to break away with him, and the whole formation broke into pairs. Asher and Tan took the lead with the rest of the fighters forming a net behind them. The Alliance Raptors used plasma weapons, easy to avoid, but when they outnumbered you three to one, the last thing you wanted was to get surrounded.
Tan switched to channel 15, all squadron “Alright Lions, fox ten!” 27 Babel missiles rocketed out from the Crucible formation, lancing towards the cloud of Alliance fighters. The Babel missile was derived from the Pulse Probe, but instead of EM bomblets, the Babel released clouds of tiny ‘Babel driods’. These tiny robots would adhere to any fighter not transmitting the correct IFF codes and migrate towards any transmitter it detected. Once it found the transmitter it would scramble that fighters IFF codes, the effect was that the Alliance fleet would see its own fighters as enemies.
“Alright rev, break 90 degrees vert and wait for me to pick up a tail.” Tan shouted.
“Amen brother, time to make some friends!” Asher slammed his fighter into a controlled spin 90 degrees away from Tan, his impact drives humming with energy, while Tan dove straight through the Alliance lines, his nimble fighter easily avoiding the hail of plasma. The Alliance formation flashed by them and Asher spun his fighter 180 degrees to come directly behind Tan. Predictably, a few Alliance fighters were tailing him, trying to line up a shot. Tan was doing great work maneuvering through the plasma pouring his way from his pursuers, but he had already taken a few hits. “Damnit Rev, anytime now!” Asher locked onto the lead Raptor and unleashed a deluge of duranium bolts. The lead fighter flamed and the second fighter in line banked right to come around Asher’s flank. Asher couldn’t break the AIs lock on what was left of the lead fighter fast enough, so he manually targeted the last fighter by banking hard 20 degrees right and slamming the impact drives to overload for a second. The stream of duranium slugs deviated from the AI’s auto-track position just long enough to shear a wing off the last pursuer, sending him spinning into vacuum.
