[u][b]Arctic Wastelands
Ashtar Malthecian Contested Zone[/b][/u]

As soon as his third shot detonated, Kahlan was on the move. He probably should have moved after the second, but a particular Malthecian had been too tempting a target. There was no way they hadn’t triangulated his position yet. Kahlan engaged his armour’s active camo, rendering him into an indistinct blur and dampening the power armour’s emissions. Not a flawless disguise, but good enough. He set off at a sprint, his speed augmented by the armour. A slight rise, heavy with snow, presented another vantage point. Kahlan dropped into the snow drift and paused to catch his breath, pushing his mind outwards to gently brush against the Malthecians. He delicately sampled their feelings; fear, anger, then sudden relief. They were getting support, artillery fire or an air sweep perhaps. 

[i]Gunship O5-11, be advised enemy infantry will be receiving support, remain vigilant,[/i] Kahlan informed the approaching gunship . 
[i]Understood Adeptus, we will not be caught unawares. [/i]

The seconds ticked by. Kahlan checked on the gunship, it was screaming along no more than a few seconds away. He pushed out his mind again, sensing the pinpricks of light that represented his adversaries. They were strong willed and partially shielded, particularly their commander, but there was always a weak point. He gently skimmed their surface emotions. One in particular was nervous and afraid. Kahlan delicately pushed deeper into that mind, picking up thoughts and images now. The Malthecian was at his wits end, but he diligently scanned his surroundings, rifle at the ready. Kahlan probed at his anxiety, amplifying it. The soldier began tapping on his rifle nervously. Kahlan pressed deeper into his mind, examining the man's knowledge of his weapons. He wouldn't be able to exert more than a passing influence through the soldiers psionic jammers and rigorous discipline. The rifle was out, but a grenade might do the trick. The soldier drummed his fingers on his armoured thigh, increasingly agitated.

Kahlan struck. It was such a small gesture, to reach up to a grenade, activate it, and return the hand to its nervous tapping. The entire process took less than 5 seconds real time, and with any luck, his intrusion had gone unnoticed. 

The gunship arrived with hardly more than a whisper, its graviton turbines generating no more than a faint hum. The sleek atmospheric craft carried only its pilots and a dedicated psintegrat; it's personnel bay was empty. Aware of the imminent arrival of some kind of support, it held its distance from the Malthecian soldiers. There would be time enough to deal with them once the unknown threat was handled. 
“There, ” the pilot said as a blip appeared on sensors. “Looks like a Crusader, approaching at top speed. Fire missiles, boost power to shields and electronic countermeasures.”

The gunship shimmered as its shields powered up even further, and 4 AA missiles sped off towards the approaching Malthecian fighter. 

[u][b]Anuria
High Orbit[/b][/u]

“[b]Commodore[/b]! Multiple signatures arriving from FTL, C&C is flagging them as MSSC ships...they are opening fire,” the ops officer reported.
Rammael instantly altered her display to show the new arrivals. She needed no more than a few seconds to make her decision, grateful now that she had held off on using her jump drives earlier in the engagement. She certainly wasn’t going to use gates drives in this situation; the sensor readings alone from such high level technology would drastically alter the natural atmosphere of this galaxy.
“All ships, execute tactical jump gamma!” Rammael said swiftly. She’d been doubly lucky that the fleet already had a number of tactical jumps calculated and set; a scattered emergency jump in this situation would have been disastrous.

With stunning coordination, the entire Ashtar fleet pulled the same trick their missiles had, flashing out of space on one side and reemerging on the other side of the Vaegir fleet. Their weapons took a minute to adjust, then resumed their fire. The Vaegir now stood solidly between the MSSC fleet and the Ashtar fleet...except for one ship. [i]A Vision Pierces the Void[/i], an Archangel class cruiser, her shields already weakened by the Vaegir, was hit hard enough by the sudden MSSC attack to temporarily lose shielding and take damage to her jump drive. With gating strictly a non-option, [i]Pierces the Void[/i] was suddenly alone between two hostile fleets.