Admiral Harker strode from the viewport, and over to the sensors station. They showed the vast majority of the fleet breaking orbit, and heading out to meet his fleet, while another fair number headed away from the Farfalen armada, and torwards one of the hyperlane exits. He pointed to the entry/exit vector, and sent a message that fleet two was to exit here, and cut off their escape. Barely five minutes had passed since his order was issued, and another fleet came out of hyperspace. This one consisted of six Shoto cruisers and ten pickets escorting a force of four Interdictor cruisers of the Farfalen brand.
This force immediatly activated the gravity well projectors, with the Shotos moving to engage the enemy vessels. Most of them were freighters, some of them old large ore haulers, used to transport captured goods, or smuggle spice stolen from the factories. Either way they were in deep shit. Most of them scattered, doing their very best to try to flee the oncoming Shotos. Smiling at this, Harker turned back to the battle display. He ordered all Dragon Claws to be launched, and for shields and combat systems to be brought fully online. He would let his enemy make the first move, and then he would utterly crush them like the insects they were.
The enemy fleet, consisting of six of the old Nebula type destroyers, four of the even more ancient Victory class, and perhaps twenty old carrack cruisers, a potent force in any one's mind, came on strong, with a second fleet of old ragtag vessels forming behind them, preparing for a second wave, or perhaps a set of reinforcements to fill holes as need be? It almost didn't matter, for the BDE forces had enough to deal with as it was. That's when new contacts dotted the boards. The enemy fleet was launching starfighters, and dozens of them at that. Most of the contacts were somewhat modern E-wings, although there were a few A-9s, and Howlrunners in the mix. Well, he thought, this was a powerful and modern fleet. Too bad it had to be crushed, he thought.
He ordered his own Tion Deathgliders to issue forth, and to engage the enemy starfighter fleets. He watched as forty eight such starfighters went forth. Designated Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue squadrons for ease of identification, these units would deliver the first blow against the enemy fleets. All Harker could do was to watch and wait, and send in more ships, if need be. Hopefully they could handle all of the enemy, Harker glanced at his display board, one hundred twenty or so enemy fighters. Like he thought, he would just wait, watch, and see.
Aboard Red Leader, Leader of the forty eight Tion Deathgliders.....
"Red two, Red three, form on me. Break the rest of the squadron into shield trios. Concentrate firepower on one enemy starfighter on the first pass. After that, break into individual units. No wingman, nothing. We need to defeat the enemy through sheer brute strength, nothing more. He have the capability to do this, so let it be done. And to all squadrons, good hunting." said Red one as he signed off the air, and prepared to meet the enemy squadrons head on. He would still issue orders, but they would be snap decisions, not short motivational speeches, and overall engagement orders.
The enemy force kept on coming strong, and as they got closer, the enemy squadrons broke into enemy wingpairs, something that was done quite often and was a very overused tatic. Time to teach the enemy of their mistakes. Too bad they would not live to learn of them. Breaking into wingpairs forced one pilot to stay with another, and prevented him from going off into the void to seek his own targets, and reduce the enemy. Well, his pilots would not be denied this chance, and each had the training to make good on their own. He would prove it.
As the range scrolled down, they were finally within firing range. He and his pilots opened fire with laser cannons, shooting at precise targets. The enemy starfighters, on the other hand, preferred to launch volleys of proton torpedoes, and then follow up with massed laser fire, most of which missed. He heard three cries over his comm board, and a quick glance at his displays told him that one of the shield trios had been hit hard, with three pilots, in particular Red ten, eleven, and twelve, vanishing into fireballs.
All glory to you, warriors. He thought as he completed his run. His target had been destroyed. All around him, some twelve enemy starfighters had vanished under the concentrated assaults. Now it was time for every pilot to fend for himself.
On his own, Red one was a merciless, cruel, and awesome starfighter pilot. Within moments of detaching, he vaped an E-wing trying to get onto the tail of Red two, and then went after a pair of E-wings going through the formation, intent on attacking the capital ships, his home. He fired a proximimty proton torpedo at them, which exploded between them, and disabled both vehicles. Laser fire finished off both of them. An alert sounded in his ear. He pulled up just as a proton torpedo streaked under him. He nosed down and fired, destroying the torpedo that had been aimed at him. He then quickly came about, and fired his own torpedo, and saw satisfaction as the E-wing that had been aiming at him detonated in a bright ball of fire.
Another warning tone startled him. He executed a corksrew manuever that let the two proton torpedoes aimed at him slip by without hitting him. The two E-wings, a wingpair, came straight at him, and emptied more proton torpedoes onto his tail, which through brilliant flying, managed to evade. He thought he may have met his match when the starboard of the two enemy E-wings vanished under sudden fire from an Deathglider. He sent his thanks to Red two, always looking out for him, he thought, and then quickly turned on his attacker. The E-wing detonated into a spectacular fireball as his laser fire penetrated it.
He was left out of the main engagement zone for a few minutes, and he used this time to take a quick overview of the total engagement. So far, including the three initial losses, he had lost seven pilots, of which five were killed, and the other two were too badly damaged to participate further in the battle. In return every single one of his pilots had scored at least one kill, half of them scoring at least two kills. That totalled some ninety enemy pilots, and the total enemy pilots killed taking into account other kills totalled an even one hundred. There were only twenty enemy pilots left, and most of them were fighting a retreat, and were the most skilled of the enemy pilots.
Red one smiled as he and three other pilots that had been left behind zoomed up to rejoined the fight. He managed to make quick torpedo kill on someone trying to get behind one of Yellow's pilots, and had also managed to get an assisted kill with Red two against two more enemy pilots, making one more for him, and his total kills made five, making him an instant ace. Although, in the Black Dragon Empire, twenty five kills officially stood for an ace. For his career, Red One still had another five kills to go though, since he had only twenty, thus far counting the ones he had killed so far. The engagement was over in a very short manner, the enemy elite pilots managing to kill three more of his pilots before they were overwhelmed. That made their losses a total of ten deathgliders, a cheap price to pay in exchange for the destruction of one hundred twenty of the best pilots the enemy had to offer.
He formed up with his remainining squadron mates. Red Nine had fallen, one of the last ones to be destroyed, as a matter of fact, leaving him with eight pilots. So flight three, containing the youngest and greenest of his pilots, although all of them were veterans by any means, had all been killed. In the other squadrons, two pilots from Yellow squadron, and four pilots from Blue squadron, which with him had seen some of the toughest fighting. That left Green squadron with the least worst squadron of all, with no losses.
He talked with his home ship concerning further orders. He was ordered to attack the enemy capital ship formation along with his following pilots. They were ordered to gauge the strength, cunning, and worthiness of the enemy capital ships. From this data Admiral Harker would draw up the plan needed to soundly defeat these worthless scum. He ordered Green Squadron to take lead, followed by Yellow squadron, and Red Squadron, with Blue Squadron protecting their flanks. As they approached the enemy ships more new contacts lit up the boards, more new enemy starfighter launches. These contacts surronded the capital ships, suggesting a screen, and in some numbers too.
As they approached to within visual range, Red one allowed himself a smile. The enemy starfighters were of the oldest types, and consisted of the original TIE Fighters, and X-wing snubfighters, along with some types of Uglies, most noticeably Die-wings. These were probably craft the pirates had first flown before they caught their share of the new found fortunes. This was nothing more than cannon fodder to the BDE pilots, and the enemy commanders probably knew it. There had to be some kind of trap, this was probably most likely a decoy of some kind, but for what? Red One signaled back to his commanders his thoughts, and asked for scans of the surronding areas.
The answers came a moment later. According to the second fleet, which had an excellent view of the rear of the enemy main force, two pairs of Lancer class Frigates had snuck up behind the Star Destroyers, and were ready to pounce on the Deathgliders. A concerned Admiral Harker had issued orders for two new squadrons of Deathgliders, Gold and Gray squadrons, to be sent in as reinforcements. They would arrive within thirty seconds. So with this in mind, Red one sent two comm clicks across the squadron's channel, a signal for the attack to commence. He selected his first pair of targets, and dove in, eargerly firing his laser cannons as he did so.
Meanwhile, the Lancer Frigates, upon hearing the engagement had begun, now began to arc up and over the Star Destroyers, and headed in torwards the starfigther engagement. Their laser cannons opened up on the starfighter formations, chewing apart Deathgliders, and destroying some ten of them in short fashion. Admiral Harker grimaced at this. He did not want to lose good pilots this way. Fortunatley, a counter attack was being planned at the moment. He leanded down to the gunner's station. "Are the PIM's ready yet?" he asked. "Yes sir, we are merely awaiting for your premission to fire sir." said the gunner. "Then commence firing." ordered Harker.
He watched as the four missiles leapt out of their speical tubes, and streaked across the blackness of space. The enemy had turned the rules on them, engaging the starfighters with special captial ships instead of with other starfighters. Well in one move Admiral Harker was telling the enemy that he would not let them do this. They would play by his rules, or be mercissley slaughtered. As it was Harker did not want to slaughter them outright, but rather wanted to play with them first, and let his pilot's, ground troops, and ship's crew get some valuable combat experience.
Thirty seconds had passed since the missiles had been launched. Admiral Harker watched the display screens. The reinforcing squadrons of Deathgliders had reached the engagement zone, and were helping the standing deathgliders polish off the cannon fodder. Five more deathgliders had perished under the guns of the lancer frigates. And then, with a bright static display on the sensor board, the PIM's arrived on their targets, blasting through the shields, and detonating against the hulls of the lancer frigates. In one moment the four two hundred fifty meter long vessels were completley disabled. With that distraction gone, the remaining Deathglider pilots easily mopped up the remaining cannon fodder, and turned their attention to the nearest of the Nebula Star Destroyers.
Red one lead his starfighters through the debris fields of the last of the enemy pilots, and headed straight torwards the nearest enemy star destroyer. His squadrons had sustained heavy losses in the last round, twenty of his pilots having fallen to the combined guns of the lancer frigates, and to the swarms of the enemy green pilots. But in return, thanks to intervention by Admiral Harker, four lancer frigates lay disabled, and some two hundred additional enemy pilots were dead. That accounted for all the starfighter capability of the advance squadron of enemy warships. In his squadron he had lost all of two flight, leaving one flight. He had merged his squadron with the remaining four pilots of Yellow squadron, and the three remaining pilots of Blue squadron. That left eleven starfighters in Red Squadron, and ten starfighters in Green squadron, which once again had suffered the least amount of losses.
They approached the enemy Star Destroyer, which targeted the cloud of starfighters with it's turbolaser cannons, firing in massed volleys at the enemy starfighters approaching it. Red One let loose with his remaining torpedoes, his fellow pilots doing likewise. He pulled away then, and headed back for home. Behind him, exlosions flared across the length of the
Unruly, decimating her shields, and damaging her hull. Their mission accomplished, the Black Dragon Empire starfighters turned for home, as ordered. The rest of the engagement was left to the capital ships.
Farfalen Admiral
[color=blue]Very.....Tacticious
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