OOC: W/ Echo

With the briefing done captain returned to the bridge, waiting for her XO to join her. It was amazing just how many people were getting swapped on board this ship when they were barely out of drydock. At least there weren’t any casualties thus far, although she had a sickening feeling the next battle won’t go over that smoothly. The best they could do is go in prepared, but if the last mission was any indicator, than even in space no plan survives first contact. Tapping the holomap, she zoomed in on the enemy ships. Unfortunately the probe was not accurate enough to tell if they had any supporting craft in the area, but she would have to assume there would be. If there were too many it’d render her fighters inert, but she had hopes not even the LA was stupid enough to have launched everything at once.

Ariadne arrived on the bridge not long after the captain, glancing quickly at the holotable to observe the situation. Three Ha’taks. The Tau’ri ship, no, [i]her[/i] Tau’ri ship, she was well and truly a part of the crew now, should be able to make short work of a force like that. Of course that would not be all they had to deal with. “[i]If I did not know better, I would think this was too easy.[/i]” She said, closing the short distance to stand opposite the captain with the holo table between them. “[i]I’m sure you already know that they will have reserves to back the obvious fleet up, but I cannot stress enough the nature of the Lucian Alliance. They began as criminal force of irregulars, and for all their dreams of empire, they have not really changed. Deviousness is their hallmark.[/i]” Ariadne tried not to sound like she was lecturing the captain but still looked to the other woman for confirmation that she understood.

With a hint of a nod, Captain acknowledged. “The hyperspace trip will also leave us oblivious to the situation for a few minutes. Then there’s the question of their small craft. I am assuming glider patrols with a few Al’Kesh spaced around the motherships, but who knows what they think.” Catherine shook her head. “I hope we can use our fighters to kill or cripple one of them, I’d rather save up missiles for those reinforcements. But their military actions is not what I am afraid of. It’s the fact they have the whole planet hostage. One badly aimed blow and it all blows to smithereens.” she confessed what was causing her sleepless nights.

“[i]I understand, but from what I have read, they may not be so careless with this world. Not for the sake of the civilians, but for the fact that they have no other worlds left with which to dial Destiny if this one is destroyed.[/i]” Ariadne fought an internal battle for a moment, part of her, influenced by Idalia, did not want to even suggest the idea in her mind, but the more ruthless aspects of both host and symbiote thought it was a good plan. After all, victory always came with the risk of great sacrifice did it not? “[i]The advantage will quickly fall to them, even with this vessels powerful weapons. If we interpose ourselves between their fleet and the planet they may be more hesitant in their fire… but if not, well, you know what happens.[/i]”

Thinking it over, Kat eventually shook her head. It did made sense, but the risk factor was just too high. “We’ll call it a ‘last resort’. I was actually thinking about luring them out of the planet’s orbit. Fake some battle damage, limp out on sublight fast enough so we say out of their weapons range but slow enough for them to keep up, and when we’re far away enough, turn around and engage. Do you think that would work?” Captain thought out loud, unsure herself if she wouldn’t see through that ruse.

“[i]I do not believe that would work unless we had thoroughly defeated the ground forces first, and even then it would only be if they wanted revenge and we were attempting to finish their fleet. Their objective is too important to them, and if we act as though we are driven off they will see that as victory enough and leave us.[/i]” There were very few tactical advantages they could leverage here, especially with only one ship. “[i]It is possible this will be a holding action until our ground forces accomplish their objective. We are but one, and that limits our options significantly. We are also fighting on their battlefield by their rules.[/i]” Ariadne was finding it hard not to sound defeatist given the likelihood that the Lucians had cloaked Al’kesh waiting for them.

Kat didn't like to hear they would be playing stalling game, but saw no alternative. They had to take out as many of them in the initial attack and then dial their weapons down to keep them occupied for long enough. "I wish we had a cloakable ship right about now. Next ship [u]we[/u] board, [u]we[/u] keep. Least we could do is paint the targets." she noted. "All right, we'll stall them and leave it to the ground team. If push comes to shove..." Kat wanted to tell the idea, but was interrupted by the gate tech: "Ma'am, incoming from Earth. They are getting busy signal from Langara." Instantly waking up, captain nodded: "We're out of time, make the jump."