[color=gray]This wasn't good. The Coalition outnumbered the UEE carrier, outgunned them, they had tech previously unknown to the UEE, they fielded an ace with such tech and worst of all, their element of surprise had done the damage it was supposed to do. Alexis gritted her teeth and watched on the holo-display as not one, but three of her pilots were falling planetside. She wanted to deploy a gunship with a squad of marines to go and retrieve them, but that wasn't an option with the Coalition's space superiority, the retrieval team would get torn to pieces before even breaking atmosphere. Readouts inside of her ultra-light armor were telling her the odds which she hated to see, unfortunately for Alexis, she couldn't ignore them, not this time.

McKnight's call for a tactical withdraw was a wise move, she was glad that the chain of command didn't shatter when Trapp went down. When she heard Aston's advice, she nodded; though the battle armor she was wearing hid the gesture. [color=white][b]"Affirmative, McKnight. All units RTB. Gemini I, Gemini II, disengage and attach to the Lincoln. Deck guns one and two, target the destroyer engaging Gemini I. Deck guns three and four, target the destroyer on Gemini II's flank."[/b][/color]

Alexis had to hand it to the crew of Gemini II. The ship was taking on two destroyers by itself to save its crippled sister ship and gave the two Coalition ships hell. Despite the damage the UEE cruiser caused, it was still a losing fight, at least until the high power cannons from the Lincoln lined up their shots. The barrage started with the first destroyer taking three hits from heavy ordnance on its port side. One managed to completely pierce the armor and damage the life support systems. Another barely hit, but luckily the shot hit the communications array along the spine of the ship, it wouldn't be able to effectively coordinate. The third hit directly struck the port side heavy cannon, detonating the high explosive rounds loaded in it. The combined fire from Gemini II and the Lincoln had managed to effectively disable the destroyer, which cleared the escape for Gemini I. If they made it out of this battle, Alexis would send a marine squad to board the disabled destroyer and capture the crew who managed to get their personal life support equipment on in time; she'd get enough intel on Jehan and its installations from the captain.

The second barrage aiming for the other destroyer only succeeded in landing two shots. One was a glancing hit, causing superficial damage to the armor layer of the destroyer. The second was more to the effect Alexis wanted as the round pierced straight through the damaged armor from the first and detonated underneath the armor layer. Steel plates blasted out from the gaping wound. A quick scan of the destroyer revealed that the hit had damaged the destroyer's artificial gravity systems. It was enough to stun the crew of the destroyer but it wouldn't be long for their wits to return and start to return fire.

[color=white][b]"I want a low power WMG shot in that breach."[/b][/color] Marquis demanded.

The gunnery officer at his console looked over to her, [color=white][i]"Ma'am that's a small target to hit at this distance and Gemini II wont be clear of the firing line."[/i][/color]

He was right, while the shot was possible, it was risky. Even a shot from the WMG at low power could finish a ship if it was damaged enough, just like the destroyer and Gemini II. If the shot missed the destroy, Gemini II would be reduced to slag with nobody left to save.  She looked at the holo-display for a moment and then found a way. [color=white][b]"Echo, you're staying out there a little while longer. Land on the hull of the Lincoln near a point defense battery, we need your MAS's advanced targeting to fine tune our shot and get Gemini II out of its predicament. The PD will keep you clear of any enemies up close, the ship's shields will protect you from long range shots."[/b][/color]

The ship AI would take care of handling the firing solution. Sovereign Thunder would act as a laser designator, then the shot would go from hard to relatively easy. She would plan to retreat to the cover of the moon after clearing her battlegroup. From there, any forces that'd try to engage them would need to bring themselves into melee range. Melee, in the context of a space battle, was when two or more ships were so close together that firing solutions weren't needed. In melee, the exchange of fire is so violent that neither ship would come out without injuries. But the Lincoln was a tough ship, its armor and shields, along with its battleship-class weaponry could easily prevail in a melee against anything short of a real battleship to come around the moon. If the coalition sent Hardballers from the moon's surface, she'd have a marine firebase set up on the moon, with the remainder of the 7th stop them. With the cover of the moon, the Lincoln and its assets could lick their wounds while Alexis could orchestrate a rescue operation for her downed pilots on Jehan.

[color=white][b]"Hurry it up, Echo, that destroyer will be firing on Gemini II any minute now. We've gotta sink it before that happens."[/b][/color][/color]