Scene #4027: The Cost of War

Owner	Pose
Morrigan	Even in an area as big as a solar system, it's not too hard to find out where things are going wrong. It's quite simple, really - you just need to look for sources of heat. And between Mars and the asteroid belt, there's a whole lot of heat at the moment. The source appears to be a running battle. On one side, it seems like there's a civilian convoy of five vessels - three small boxy transports, a larger freighter and a ship with the white and red color scheme that screams 'don't shoot us'. At the front and rear of the convoy are two wedge-shaped stub-nosed vessels bristling with guns and sensor arrays, obviously warships of some sort, and they're throwing up walls of flak explosions to drive off their attackers. Within that zone, like the eye of some kind of hellish storm, there's three smaller craft throwing down with approximately half a dozen others. It's a dogfight, and a vicious one at that. Is it safe to run in, with all that firepower being flung around, and come to the aid of the convoy? Or might it be better to announce their intentions from a distance?
Alexis Maaka	Holy /shit/ that is a lot of fire being traded. It's a hell of a thing seeing spaceships doing battle when you're from a world that's barely mastered space travel from one end of the solar system to the other, and even then terraforming's been very much a pipe dream. That said, Maaka's a decent enough pilot to hold her own, as she comes out from a Warpgate, approaching the engagement. She and Kaz can both pick up energy traces countless lightyears away before they're in scanning range, and they eye the view screen warily. "Are you SURE we're going in this? The Spectre's not a combat ship you know." Kaz says, dutiful regardless of his boss's decision on this matter. "I'm feeling charitable tonight, let's see how much the UEF will pay us if we help the convoy out of a jam." Maaka replies, before she begins to hail any frequencies the UEF may be using.
Zephyr Windstar	Zephyr heard about Civilians in danger... so as soon as she got a chance, she fitted out with some Void Gear, a breather helmet with a clear faceplate, and a bit more structural stuff along her legs and arms, over top of her Barrier Jacket. It's not a full Space Suit, since the Void is largely traversable if you have good enough breather gear. She comes screaming out of a nearby smaller warpgate, much like a Strike Craft jump portal, and banks in on the convoy. "Dee, open a comm channel to the convoy, tell them our intentions to assist them." she says, gripping her Device firmly in her left hand. <YES MASTER. COMMLINE OPEN!> chimes Divine Wind. She then transmits a burst-coded message to the lead escort, doing just that, while the Mage approaches the dogfight. "Scan targets, pick out the UEF Signals and mark them Friendly. Lock target on the closest GTVA craft and spin up." <TARGETS LOCKED ON. IFF TRACKERS SET. SPIN ON, CYCLONE DRIVER!> replies Divine Wind, as she angles in on the tail of one of the GTVA fighters. Her Device blades crack open at the outer side, and begin to spin, as an energy ball builds up at the gemstone. Once she's in position, she opens fire with a stream of high speed, unguided projectiles. The Pilot would liken them to a machinegun or pulse laser cannon... but from something FAR SMALLER than the star fighters they'd be used to.
Yulia Koslova	It -had- been a fairly quiet few months, so maybe things were due for a little bit of excitement out this way? Not that the people on the receiving end of that excitement are enjoying it... The borders of Neo Zeon are a fair long distance from here, and so technically they have no reason to get involved in this. But there's this certain mobile suit pilot who takes exception to civilian anythings being attacked, and just enough clout to tell the ship's crew that yes, they're going to stick their noses where they may or may not be welcome. And so, a small-ish transport sporting the colors of Neo Zeon edges into local space. >> This is first Lady Yulia Koslova, Soverign States of Neo Zeon, to unknown convoy. We are offering assistance. << She's not exactly going to wait for a response before she launches, and so no sooner does she finish off that radio missive before a giant purple-ish mobile suit is launched from the flight deck toward the convoy.
Rory White	Space ripples and tears some thousands of kilometers away from the fight - a stone's throw, in space terms. What appears is a fairly small frigate that's only lightly armed and armored, but thoroughly covered in sensors and communications equipment. And it takes very little time for the PING of an active sensor sweep from it to encompass the battlefield. No human helms this ship. Were anyone watching the bridge... well, it's empty. Of the true pilot, anyways. Yet the ship makes a broadcast. A tightly aimed broadcast to one of the warships on several standard frequencies. "Unknown convoy, this is the research vessel Cognizant Odyssey. We've come to help! Please transmit your coordination information and frequencies in use, we'll begin jamming operations on whatever your attackers are using!" Because sometimes the best solutions don't involve blowing things up... directly.
Corona Arclite	There are also questions? Like why are they fighting in the first place? Which side has what purpose to their efforts? War never starts without some reason, whatever petty or cruel reasons they may be, so what are the causes in this region? Fortunately there are other people to consider such questions as that, because they're not really part of Corona's typical repritoir. She's just a problem solver ... Typically by shooting, smashing, or blowing up said problem. And other members of the group are already handling the matter of letting said convoy know they're coming to help. You see that other spacecraft coming out of the warp gates? Yeah, that one, pulling into formation with the Crimson Spectre. The one with the exterior that looks like a wheel-less steam engine.... No, I'm not kidding, that's what it looks like. That one is Corona's ship. Trust me, the strange athestic will make sense eventually. Right now it just matters that there's a space-locomotive moving into position to assist, and it isn't exactly unarmed.
Kotone Yamakawa	A second after Rory's ship arrives? Another vessel arrives in the same manner it's a far different style of vessel but here it is of a far diffent designa nd wouldn't give exactly any human readings there might be two people alive on board but it would be hard to tell. A human voice speking english comes over the comm. "Unknown Convoy this is The support vessel Bluenose, we heard the call for help but we need to know how to help!"
Ixqor Nathrach	The rift between realspace and the terrible vista of the warp would open up from the black maw of the void, where an artifically created portal would allow a single fighter vessel to slip in through into the realm. It's colours blended toxic vibrant greens and deep ocean blues which faded away into each other, with the mark of a hydra symbolizing it's allegiance. The twin dagger shaped vessel would loom in space for a biref moment, witnessing the arrival of a variety of colourful and strange vessels. THe multiverse was proving ever more interesting. Vox connections were then established to any ship that appeared to be that of a potential ally. "You have my attention, and I have arrived. Give me a status on the situation." The pilots deep and learned accent came in gruff through the rebreather he was likely wearing.
Morrigan	Battle is joined. Caught off-guard by these unknown reinforcements, the remaining Myrmidon fighters of GTVA's attack wing are promptly blindsided. Zephyr's hail of projectiles catches at least one of them, detonating missile racks and reactor core. With the Cognizant Oddyssey throwing up jamming, they have no hope of even transmitting a report to their superiors. One by one, the Elites pick off each remaining attacker. Just like that, it's over. "This is Lieutenant Brie, Alpha 1. Thanks for the assist. Stay alert, we're not out of the woods and the Tevs will send heavier forces to finish off this convoy. Laporte, Kassim, you two holding up alright?" Reports begin filtering in - the convoy is scratched up but still functional. More work like that, and they'll all make it out. "Ironhide here. We'll appreciate whatever assistance we can get, our goal's to get this convoy to one of the local intrasystem gates which will take them to Mars. With any luck, this new firepower will have them reprioritise - they won't keep sending waves of strikecraft if we're too well defended." The captain of the cruiser bringing up the rear - the UEC Suffron - sighs. "What a damned bloody mess Europa turned out to be. We couldn't keep it two days after the Tevs stormed the place. How the hell did First Fleet expect us to hold Jupiter without reinforcements?"
Alexis Maaka	The Spectre isn't a combat vessel by any measure, but it's got enough armament to hold its own against a small wing of fighters. The ship fires upon one of the attacking vessels, before the fighters are blown away by Elite intervention. Maaka's had some practice using cannon fire while in space, usually taking out random asteroids for target practice. It's not like the real thing, but it can't hurt learning how the ins and outs of space combat usually work. Flying close to the convoy itself, Maaka begins running perimeter scans, searching for hostiles coming to reinforce the initial attacking squadron.
Zephyr Windstar	Shields or no shields, a sustained barrage is more than enough to punch a hole and catch something important. She shields her face, and her body with a Barrier, from the detonating reactor core, the radiation washing over her defenses and causing the purple bubble to 'flicker' and 'fizzle' oddly in reaction. "Ironhide, request permission to borrow your top deck. Mana-reserves are running a bit low and I need to disengage my flight spell to assist in recharge." she radios out, but thumbs up to one of the fighters she just helped pull out of the fire. A teenage girl, wearing far too bright of an outfit, which looks partly medieval in design, wielding a battleaxe which is venting steam! That's not a sight one would see every day. If she's given permission, she approaches the ship and alights on its upper decking, disengaging her flight spell which makes the four purple 'pixie wings' on her back disappear.
Corona Arclite	"Let's get these folks off somewhere safe and then worry 'bout answerin' questions." Corona looks up and over her shoulder, even though she's technically the only living being on the ship. It just felt more natural to look as if she was talking to someone when she commented to the ship's AI. "Keep the shields and weapons hot, SAIL. Ain't outta this neck of the woods yet." "Affirmative," the computer blipped back. "All systems still at proper functionality." The Steamhammer Express (that's the one resembling a locomotive as we covered before) aligns itself in escort position with the convoy. Keep the civilian supply crafts at the center so they have the most cover.
Yulia Koslova	Yulia may be just the slightest bit rusty - contrary to her flippant answer over the radio, she has been spending more time than she'd like behind her desk than behind her 'suit's controls. Still, it's like riding a bicycle, right? A really big, armed and dangerous bicycle. rat a tat tat "I don't recognize any of these ships..." she says half to herself, half to the pink haro nestled in its cradle behind her. "Make sure the footage gets saved. Intel will want a look later, I'm sure." The enemy ships are downed thanks to everyone's collective efforts! Whew. The purple mobile suit draws in closer to the convoy and the others (or at least those others also joining the convoy) to take up an escort position, while its support ship keeps a distance at the rear.
Ixqor Nathrach	The Hellblade class fighter would begin speeding towards the convoy, circling it in patrol like patterns as it's arsenal began to spin up. Twin linked autocannons mounted below each blade like extension of the vessel came to life and were ready to fire. SInce the fighting died down the pilot moved his ship to weave through the packs of allied fighters, glancing at their pilots respectively, giving them curt nods and signs of agreement. A vox message went out then, specifically to the fighters that would be joining him the thick of the combat. "I should hope each of you can hold your own out here. What kind of resistance should we be expecting?"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa gets they have stumbled into a war and honestly taken a side, it's too late now however. Wither wya there are people who need to help here an she's in for it. "Understood we'll run escort for you then here." She looks to be human japanese but something might be off to the local creew as she speaks to them ove the comm. "Ironhide we can provide info warfare here hopefully make it harder for them to make anotehr go on you. How far do you got left to go?" <<Rory requesting full uplink. Maaka? Corona you giuys got any thoughts on this?"
Rory White	"Jupiter? .. We're in an alternate Solar System!" Well... this was already more than obvious according to her sensor readings. The planetary arrangements, the Sun's spectroscopic readings... some of the Odyssey's sensors are already working to get visual locks on all of the planets but that will take some time - even for the AIs doing the job. "Mission confirmed. The Odyssey will provide info war and sensory assistance if any more waves show up. We're not heavily armed or armored and may be forced to bail if anything too heavy comes our way." Rory's voice comes across the come, pleasant but concerned. <<Of course! You always have it, Kotone. I think we've stumbled upon a war, but if those are indeed medical supplies there's only one ethical thing to do. If they're disguising something under it... that just can't be helped.>>
Morrigan	"Permission granted," reports the Ironhide's captain to Zephyr's request. The deck of the ship is battered and scarred - she was in some heavy fighting at some point, by the looks of things. The Spectre doesn't pick up any reinforcements yet, although she might be picking up signs of combat from elsewhere in the system. This isn't an isolated event. The Spectre and Steamhammer Express find slots near the middle of the convoy, near the medical ship. The Chaos fighter and purple armored suit seem to be able to flit wherever they want to - with the Navajas or with either cruiser. The UEF doesn't seem to be picky. Everything the Odysey picks up definitely points to an alternate Solar System - all the planets are there and the visual images she can pick up would point to a heavy degree of orbital infrastructure. "Resistance?" Brie asks, "Hmm. I don't think the Tevs'll sortie anything bigger than a wing of bombers. If they come in though, I trust you've been given training. If not: bombers before fighters, bombs before bombers." "About ten minutes, Bluenose," Ironhide reports. "Yeah, Jupiter, what a mess." That's the Suffron's Captain again. "It was a suicide mission. We covered the Nelson as Captain Mence ordered a ram into that damned Atreus. The plasma beams gutted his ship like a roast before he could get within a klick. The Suffron was the only ship that survived the battle." Evidently, it's weighing a bit heavily on him. A new voice crackles over the net then, "Navaja Alpha wing, be advised, the Rhineland came under GTVA attack before she could make it to Mars. We lost all contact with the frigate and Gamma wing. Recon has vectored the strike force's approach to your area. Stay alert." "Copy that, Solaris control," Brie replies, "Okay everyone, Looks like we're about to hit some heavy turbulence. If the Tevs can take out a frigate, they'll roll all over this convoy. Prepare to move as soon as they arrive. You got any questions, new people, now's the time."
Zephyr Windstar	"Bombs>Bombers>Fighters. Got any info on what to look for with a Bomber? I'm not familiar with Mass-based weaponry on this scale." chimes in Zephyr as she walks slowly along the length of the corvette. She's not aiming to get anywhere, but moving is something she just /does/. "I guess if they can take something that big out they'll have a big ship? If so, transmit info specs and I'll go do some surgery if it shows up." she adds, grinning a bit behind her faceplate. "It's been a long time since I got into a good fight, this should be fun." Divine Wind remains largely silent, processing data and formulating an engagement plan and Auto-Cast priorities. She does ask though. <Query: What do these 'Tevs' want?>
Yulia Koslova	Right, right, alternate universe. Still, her momentary brain-warping is understandable, considering she was on Mars two days ago. Well, -her- Mars, anyway. Darn multiverse and its love of the Sol system. Yulia lapses into silence as the people they've all come to protect gives them the capsule summary of what's going on. Some of it is lacking context, but hopefully that will all come later, when they're in safer territory. The mobile suit taps a button on its large rifle to eject its energy clip, which it grabs with its other hand and stores away, then replaces it with a fresh one. >> Just two. One, what kind of bombs, two, what do these Tev ships look like? <<
Corona Arclite	Save a comment here or there over the radio Corona is putting most of her attention on what she's doing. She's not quite as familiar with spaceships as other members of the Flotilla, but she's come quite a ways in the time she's spent working with the group. And she's got the SAIL AI to keep tabs on subsystems and stuff for her. Probably why the Steamhammer Express just chugs along (pun intended) and shoots whatever gets close instead of trying any elaborate maneuvering though. Good for holding an escort position though, since moving away would leave vulnerable spots for the attackers. It's kind of like shotgunnin' on a wagon train. Just with spaceships. Goofy comparison, but it does help in her head.
Alexis Maaka	As the Spectre draws close towards the Convoy ship, Maaka nods. "Roger that. This isn't the first ship sortie I've gone into before." She replies calmly. Bombs before bombers, bombers before fighters, simple enough to remember. Alternate universes are simple enough as well to get, and after synching up with Kotone and Rory, as well as others whose equipment provides a tactical readout, Maaka begins to speed up just a bit. "Already prepped to move and shoot, sir. Awaiting further commands from here."
Kotone Yamakawa	<<I figure the same way, we're comitted now so there's no stopping it right?>> he ship falls in and she gets on to well? Escort mode she's watching for iffs and other reading a shew just fully hooks up to her ship at this point. She listens as he talks about it, it sounds like it's damn horrible she grimaces thinking back to World War III on her own world. She'll stay on alert for now as she pauses as the report comes in there's going to be questions to ask. "We get the idea of your conoy but what is up with the other side hitting a medical convoy from the looks of things....?>>
Rory White	The Cognizant Odyssey falls in with the convoy. Rory has figured it is perhaps wiser to stay within the protective screen of Elite defenses and risk taking a few hits than to be completely alone and be swarmed as easy pickings. Its thrusters shift a few times to adjust its speed until it's matching velocities. Once a match is managed the thrusters SHUT OFF, because inertia is all it needs to continue... right? Unless space works WEIRDLY around here. If it somehow works one way for HER and another way for THEm she's going to be further disgusted and surprised with the Multiverse. Not to mention confused. "And they're so desperate to win that they'll attack ships carrying medical resources?"
Morrigan	It doesn't take long for the GTVA to send in the heavy-hitters. The Odyssey might get a few seconds warning as the GTVA strike force jumps into the area. Above the convoy and to the starboard side, sixteen holes open in realspace, like blue-white vortices. From them, come streaming sixteen craft. Eight of them are fighters but the other eight are bigger with matching energy signatures - bombers. The fighters are like the ones they found before - Myrmidon-class - but the bombers are mix, small agile Artemis-class and larger Boanerges. They're already moving on attack vectors. "Incoming jump signature!" Brie announces, "Two wings of bombers and two escorting fighter wings. Kassim, Laporte - hold for now and wait for my call." "Federation ships and unidentified vessels..." The voice of the GTVA flight leader obviously doesn't expect his opponents to listen, so flat is his affect: "By traveling with armed escort, you have forfeited your protections under the Beta Aquilae Convention and will be presumed military targets. Cut your engines, or we will fire on you." The Ironhide hauls to starboard - hopefully Zephyr has secure footing! "Helm, take us away from the convoy and move towards the fighters. I want us in the middle of their formations, try to scatter them with our bulk. Everyone else, follow us out!" It looks like no one's backing down. The Tev wings descend en masse, half heading for the Ironhide, and the other half moving to descend upon the convoy! The fighters break off to tangle with the smaller escorters - Alpha wing, Ixqor, Yulia - while the bombers move straight for the kill, already firing off torpedeoes. But those warheads aren't just aimed at the Ironhide and the rest of the convoy - they're incoming for the larger Elite vessels as well! Even with the wall of flak going up from the UEF cruisers, some of them are going to get through - unless they get help.
Ixqor Nathrach	THe once calm and fluid accent of the Hellblade pilot quickly turned gruff and began to bark orders. "I read you, leave some of the blaggards to me! Detach fighters to deal with the bombers, the rest will simply have to deal with these wretches for now. We need a screen for the frigates, now!" The Hellblade begins to spin up it's engines once more, darting out into the fray quickly. As the hail of incoming fire begins to reach his vessel Ixqor begins bobbing and weaving through whatever fire he can as his void shields begin to take quite the pounding. The move looks suicidal, however the fighter suddenly breaks it's straight path and veers off right, almost randomly. As he makes the turn he sends off a single vox message to the enemy fighters, hoping to goad them into chasing him. "That's it! See if you can kill me scum!"
Zephyr Windstar	Zephyr hmms... "Ironhide, hold your vector steady, I'm borrowing your deck for a secure footing." she transmits, planting her feet as the ship hauls hard over and starts moving. She shifts her grip on her Device, and speaks firmly. "Drive Ignition. Gear Second." Divine Wind chimes in response. <DRIVE IGNITION! DEVICE SET! MISTRAL FORM! GEAR SECOND! MISTRAL STORM BOMBARDMENT MODE!> the device shifts, shortening and spalling off into three additional 'Bits' along with the shorter axe-like core frame. <SHIFT TO BOMBARDMENT MODE! ALL MANA CHANNELS CONNECTED!> Zephyr takes aim at the approaching bombers, leveling the gemstone head at their flight vector. <ANCHOR POINTS AND RECOIL DAMPENERS. LOCKED!> four magic circles appear on the deck of the corvette and lash out mana lines to circle around Zephyr's waist, torso and thighs, locking her in place, while a pair of green 'wings' sprout from her back, shedding 'feathers' of mana that dissipate quickly. <LINKER CORE PRESSURE. RISING NORMALLY.> Energy begins to gather at the gemstone, as the blade splits into three 'vanes' that begin to rapidly rotate around the central core. The Bits form up and begin to rotate counter to the 'vanes'. <STORM RING HAS STARTED REVOLVING. READY TO FIRE.> "Targets locked on. Coordinates are specific. Maelstrom Breaker, Hurricane Shift!" <LOCKED ON FOR MULTI TARGET FIRE. HURRICANE SHIFT. FIRING!> The 'recoil' of this massive beam cannon might just knock the Corvette around a little, but the sheer volume of mana expelled from the human-sized 'turret' would match a BG Green, in output if not duration. It's more of a pulse of energy, which splits out into multiple 'tracking lasers' that seek the bombers, aiming to cripple, if not outright vaporize them. Afterward, the Mage collapses to her knees, panting in her breather mask and clutching her chest as the mana lines and 'wings' vanish... "I, won't be able to do that again..."
Corona Arclite	Starships were still a moderate aquired skill, but shooting things? Corona was great at shooting things. She's been dealing with guns, turrets and pretty much every other type of gun under the sun for much of her life. "Hold our position with the convoy, SAIL." Corona pushes a boot against the console to slide her chair back over to the defense terminal instead. Hands on aiming controls, fingers on triggers, eyes on the targetting screens. Rory's early warning certainly helps out. She's done this enough times from the turrets atop Loadstar's fort walls to not be bothered by essentially picking out small targets with a very big set of guns. Corona doesn't even wait for the emerging force to finish it's whatever comments about military targets and what not. As soon as she sees the bombers on the move she takes aim and open fires. She's aiming to shoot down the bombs before they get too close, as Zephyr and others have the actual bombers covered with their massive magic/laser spam.
Rory White	As signatures show up, Rory's tacnet software immediately flags the area on HUDS with flashing red for danger! The 8 fighters are immediately classified as Fighters... and with quick collaboration over the radio the other 8 are tagged as Bombers. All of the SAIL-equipped ships receive a plethora of support from the Odyssey. Trajectories, targeting solutions. The situational map is presented as a 3 dimensional sphere encompassing all of the ships, faint blue showing estimated sensor coverage, enemy fighters as small redcircles, bombers as larger red triangles, and bombs as flashing red asterisk-like marks. And a strange cone-shaped purple PULSE sweeps around the odyssey towards the bombers, encompassing any that cluster up. It's a broadcast of thick RADIO JAMMING and baffling lasers to foul up sensors much like a flashbang would blind eyes. The itnent? Screw up their coordination, screw up their ability to get target locks! As for the bombs themselves... the Cognizant Odyssey responds with LASERS. Lasers that are completely invisible of course, save for where the colorful purplish flares spark and sizzle against the bombs. A handful of the bombs DO get through the point defense attempt though... and slam into Starbound Flotilla-make shields about ten meters from the hull. Explosions pierce through and ROCK the Odyssey, tearing large gouges into the hull... but the armor's absorbing most of what gets through the shields. It is uh. It's leaking atmosphere rather obviously. One sections' worth of atmosphere, anyways. Bulkheads slam shut internally to seal off other sections. "Alright, now for the next stage of this plan..."
Yulia Koslova	They didn't have to wait long, did they? "Rose! Handing off defensive maneuvers to you," Yulia calls without glancing back at her robo-copilot, her eyes fixed on the screens as the non-friendly spacecraft enter real space. "Patterns Velya One and Velya Two." 'I have control, haro!' Rose warbles. 'Defensive programs online.' It's obvious to her what those fighters are here to do: get them separated from the ships they're escorting so that the bombers can close in. Yet if they don't move out for more room, any stray fire may hit the very ships they're trying to protect. "I hate this," she grumbles under her breath. While it may not be as fast as a 'standard' fighter, the mobile suit is surprisingly mobile. It zips away from incoming fighters that's chasing after it with a burst of verniers, moving to lead them up to relative above the convoy. Yulia twists in her seat to check the screen behind to make sure they're both following, while her haro controls the jinking back and forth to try and deny a full weapons lock, and to keep from being scored too badly by any other incoming fire. Then Yulia hits the left forward verneiers in a full reverse and down, inertia slamming her against her restraint harness as the mecha turns to face her attackers and dropping to fire at them from beneath with its plasma rifle. rat tat tat tat!
Alexis Maaka	Kaz begins to provide both himself and Maaka a convenient glimpse at Rory's souped up navigation system as their ship's nav-comp begins to dock with Rory's signal. It definitely helps having her around for just about any purpose, which is pretty much why Maaka's so fond of the pacifistic AI despite their differences. It definitely makes targeting bogies a hell of a lot easier when you got a boost to your own targeting sensors, as Maaka demonstrates with a hail of cannon fire. She's juggling a lot right now, handling both flying the ship and engaging enemies with pinpoint cannon blasts, letting the Odyssey handle the bombs that come hurdling towards their quarry. The Spectre, like mentioned before, isn't a ship build for a straight up fight. She's nimble when she has to be, and can dish out enough pain to drive off the enemy, but it's clear from how often the Spectre has to evade and re-acquire targets that the few hits it does sustain are going to hurt, rocking the vessel with every impact. Shields keep the damage minimal, but Maaka tenses up and begins taking this more seriously after getting a first-hand feel of TEV firepower.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa gets the wnring in incoming ships for a moment as sh hears for a moment she listens for a moment and she listens. <<Ya says the more or less pirates hitting a medical convoy.>> That's all she's got to say as she brings her weapons online. She's going to attempt to get some electonic warfare. <<ROry I got an diea maybe we can seze control of an anemy warship an shut it's weapons down.>> She doens't have much at all alese now tosay as she launches chaff and gets her ship to go on the defences. She fully hooks into her ship now a she brings wht pases for it's electonic warfare systems online she's got a plan but she'snot sure she cna do it without Rory.
Morrigan	Even with just a relatively small fight, one can quickly become overwhelmed. A set of GTVA fighters break off to chase down Ixqor, evidently succumbing to the taunt. Morrigan falls in behind them, opens up with the guns of her fighter, and takes down one of them - leaving the other two to the Chaos pilot. Atop the Ironhide, Zephyr can feel the Federation cruiser suffering with every hit, shaking with every missile that slips through. Zephyr's pulse utterly annihilates the bombers that had been intent on killing the cruiser, but there's still another set of torpedoes coming in! "Ironhide, Brie, you're taking a pounding! Retreat to Mars, we'll cover you!" Closer to the convoy, Corona picks off a multitude of inbound warheads. One of them slips through and nails the freighter Demeter - but she holds together. It probably helps that the Odyssey and the Bluenose are throwing out jamming and ECM support - at least one volley of missiles slips right past their targets, detonating well past them. "Command, Beta wing here," one of the bomber pilots report, intecepted by the Odyssey's tactical package, "Situation fluid and degrading. Massive jamming in place. Mission outcome doubtful." They're probably not getting through, so, there's no worry for reinforcements. Yulia and her suit dance with the GTVA fighters. She's right - seperating them from the convoy is the goal and they are set on drawing them away once engaged. That far above, she might be in danger of the Suffron's flak screen - but she turns and blasts away, taking out two more of the GTVA's attackers and leaving her in a good place to pounce on the remaining bombers before they can fire again. The Spectre appears to have attracted the attention of one or two Artemis bombers - light and agile things, not the hulking Boanerges - but Maaka's shields hold and the GTVA bombers end up holed by cannon fire. "Odyssey, Bluenose, Suffron, thanks for the tacnet and the ECM support. Batteries are covering you." The intrasystem gate is a huge thing, like a short cylinder, and the convoy is beginning to reach the threshold. The medical ship jumps first and, one by one, the others follow. Still, the remaining GTVA attackers might be able to nail one of them. It's the final moments where things can go bad, after all.
Corona Arclite	As they reach the gate perimeter and the convoy civilian ships start to jump, the Steamhammer starts to slow a bit and lag behind. Why becomes evident a few moments afterward, as the ships pass it. Corona has slid herself back to the pilot controls, and as the last civilian ship passes the Steamhammer starts to turn, bringing itself to a position lengthwise in front of the retreating convoy. The starcraft's resemblence to a locomotive becomes even more evident in this position, to the point that it's length actually has visible sectioning to resemble a couple of cargo railcars behind the engine. Corona is putting the fact that the Novakid design is more length than other ships to use and effectivelly 'circling the wagons' to shield the fleeing convoy. "SAIL, transfer the majority of shield frequency to the side facin' the attackers. We're just gonna make one big ol' blockage fer em to deal with." A huge obstacle to have to shoot past, while guns hold fire for anything that gets past the other defenders.
Zephyr Windstar	"D-Damn it... Overdrive!" says Zephyr, as she kicks up off the deck of the Ironhide, and interposes herself between the cruiser and the torpedoes. "Ragios, the southern breeze, Razgriz the northern gale, Lethim, the warm western mistral." intones the Mage as she creates dozens of light motes about her, spreading out in a great wave as the torpedoes approach. "Gralith, the eastern zephyr, Parigium the chill of winter, and Lethim, the spring thaw. I summon thee hence, the six winds." The motes grow, to about the size of tennis balls, "Impulse Cascade. Desolation Shift." As the words are spoken, those motes blast forwards, a fusillade of energy bolts to pepper and blast the torpedoes before they can strike the Ironhide. Unfortunately, that used up the last of her mana reserve, and she ends up just, floating there, motionless in deep space. Divine Wind /does/ ping a distress beacon though.
Ixqor Nathrach	As one of the enemy fighters on his tail disintegrates into a spew of wreckage and debris being hurled into space, Ixqor smiles coyly under his rebreather. "Your assistance is most appeciated. Leave these two to me for now, it sounds like the rest of the fleet is taking a beating." With that he turns his atytention back to his pursuers. Attacks hit him from the rear and his Hellblade bucks and shakes as his shields are reduced to critical levels. "That's it..." He goads them again before releasing a series of flares from hatches and compartments on the rear of his fighter. The blinding red green and blue lights spew from their holdings in an attempt to dizzy and confound the TEV pilots. Immediately Ixqor then cuts his engines and turns his hellblade vertically in comparrison to the TEv fighters, hoping they'd slip right past him and into his firing lines. He sends out a transmission to his allies then, updating them on his status. "Shields critical, but I think I have them now..."
Yulia Koslova	Yulia forces air back into her lungs after that manuver, then tries to get herself reoiren--yikes! The mobile suitblasts its front verniers again as she realizes she inadvertantly dipped into friendly fire territory, and she gets herself backed out from it. One of her main rear thrusters is sparking rather than flaring, leaving the mecha a bit lopsided in flight, and there are some nice plasma burns across the back and skirt. No slouches those pilots, she'll give them that. The bombers are turning for their next run, and she finds herself in a good psition to catch them. And while she doesn't have mind-controllable funnels, she does have... Yulia flicks the ptotective cover away from a button on her console, jabs it with a gloved thumb, setting the lights representing the missiles on the 'suit's left pauldron to twinkling. "Safety locks released," she says herself in drill, as she tries to line up her shot....there! And she jabs the firing button. "Fire!" And three stubby missiles detach and launch, streaking toward the bombers.
Alexis Maaka	The Spectre opts to cover the convoy while firing at the remaining fighter craft still engaging before suddenly picking up a distress signal. Zephyr's out there, her device on a critical low with energy reserves and vulnerable to the harshness of space. This is not good, and despite Maaka's mercenary nature, she takes care of her friends when the time comes. The ship whirls before hurdling towards Zephyr's location, only stopping to open up the hangar bay doors to reveal Maaka suited up. As she connects up with a line, she uses her suit's thrusters to propel herself towards Zephyr, using short bursts to keep herself moving until the grabs the TSAB mage. "Hang in there, I got you..." She whispers, cradling both Zephyr and Divine Wind as she returns to the ship.
Rory White	The signals she's picking up reminds Rory that there are PEOPLE in these ships. People that will probably die out here. Unappreciated. Forgotten - at best, remembered as a name on a wall or in some obscure database. "That so many worlds price the value of life so cheaply... it's disgusting..." And yet she's helping wipe them out. If she had a body she'd be frowning. Her sensors are now on the lookout for any pilots ejecting or surrendering! If any do, she'll deploy a drone with vectored thrust to go retrieve them and pull them aboard the Odyssey! She DOES also deploy drones from another port. They skoot along on RCS thrusters until they clank against some of the damaged convoy ships. Then they use magnetic treads and wheels to manuever to the breaches. The drones are slow, but they'll pump the large breaches full of sealing foam?! ... Yeah it's some kind of foamy material that hardens almost instantly when exposed to vacuum and forms a strong molecular bond to most metals. It sure ain't armor, but it WILL seal in any atmosphere and keep a ship together until it can receive proper repairs...
Morrigan	One by one, protected by the bulk of Corona's Steamhammer, the convoy hits the gate and jumps. The only ship that doesn't jump immediately is the Suffron. The remaining GTVA fighters do what they can, but with their missiles jammed, their bombers nothing more than wreckage, they're outnumbered and outgunned. One by one, they're picked off. Ixqor's colorful maneuver seems to work wonders. He has them now and they die under his guns. The last few bombers are picked off by Yulia and they drop from Odyssey's threat-plot, giving Maaka and her Spectre the space to retrieve Zephyr. Zephyr's sacrifice saved the Ironhide, however. That's one more cruiser for the UEF war effort, even if this one is stuck in an uncontrolled longitudinal roll and will need to spend a fair amount of time in drydock. "Good work, everyone," reports the Ironhide's Captain, "The civilians all made it through. We'll be jumping for Mars once we've got our maneuvering thrusters back on-line. Thanks for those drones, we should be under control again momentarily." Rory has the unsettling realisation that there's people in those ships. Morrigan, in her craft, is having the same one - those GTVA pilots were someone's brother, sister, mother, father. But by sheer simple, ruthless calculus, they saved more people aboard the convoy than were lost attacking it. It doesn't seem like any of them ejected, and none of them surrendered. "Brie here, thanks for the help. I don't know who you are or where you came from but it was appreciated. I need to get these kids back to the Solaris. Listen, Noemi, how about you set up something with them, see what we can learn. Fortune knows that we'll need more help before this war's done."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa maybe had the wrong idea but still she's now attemping to hack some of the attacking ships she's also keeping an eye out for those who might surrender or bail out. She doesn't like this but her own ships pack missiels which have the same time of foam that Rory's does she'll fire off a few shots but it doesn't seem to matter they pick off the bombers she radios back to the ships as they clean up. <<Not a problem I'm glad we were able to help you out. Good luck to you all>> She doens't seem to like one thing why were those people hitting civilian loaded transports? What in God's name was wrong with them?
Corona Arclite	They may of been actual people, but they went after otherwise harmless civilians just because of what side of an imaginary line in the sand they were on, and that's enough reason for her. Frontier justice applied. Military or not, they had stooped to the tactics of outlaws and corrupt. It's a good way to get yourself shot fulla holes, in person or in space. <<Sounds they wanna talk to ya folks that know the diplomatic type thin'.>> The only diplomacy Corona really knows is that of a gun and the occasional fist. Talkin', not so much her thing.
Yulia Koslova	Now that the fighting is over and the battle appears to be done, and the adrenaline begins wearing off....Yulia feels her hands bagin to shake. She clamps down on her controls tightly in a vain effort to stop the trembling, resisting the urge to squinch her eyes shut and to tuck her hands under her arms. She is never, -ever- going to get used to killing people. Rose makes some comforting warbling noises at her as she mostly holds herself together for the rest of the flight.
Ixqor Nathrach	Ixqor lets out a heavy breathe as the fighting draws to nothing but radio chatter and clean up detail. "Ah, it's been a while since I've taken part in a good dance in the void. 'Twas a short endeavor though, sadly. Nevertheless, your peoples are safe for now, and none of the enemy remains. I think everyone was rather interested in clearing up the many questions I'm sure we all have though, no?" His demeanor returned to a calm, collected, and now amused tone as his Hellblade sifted through the debris filled void over to the rest of the formation. His shields crackled and sputtered out, and his fighter appears to have taken some hull damage from the strain put on it from his manouvers, but it would still serve him well. He sent out another radio broadcast to his allies. "IS everyone holding up well? Reporting minor hull damage and shield failure. Picking up no hostile life signs, if any escaped they didn't make it far."
Ixqor Nathrach	Ixqor chortles. "Had we met before I'd be intruiged, though pleasently surprised I imagine. You may all call me Alpharius though. I should assume I'll be seeing you aboard The Solaris." His hellblade begins easily gliding past any ruined ships and makes it's way for the Solari's hanger bay, waiting patiently outside it's gaping doors for clearance to land.