[center][youtube][url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtU2kZOxIGg&list=PLC1D93A3838E26323&index=4[/url][/youtube][/center] "Grave Robbers, Form up." Sara spoke quietly into her comm. The minefield had been deployed and the remaining bomb-layers had retreated back to the Vitae- there was nothing left in space aside form the two fighter squadrons, a thin layer of makeshift mines, and a whole lot of Devastators. Even after a wave of missiles from the Vitae had struck their formation, there were still more of them on the way. It was like shooting into a swarm of bees- you'd inevitably hit some, but there were so goddamn many that it didn't mean shit. Sara's finger tapped rapidly against her controls, her mind scrambling to find a way to survive this. She almost breathed out a sigh of relief as a group of 50 or so fighters began to rapidly outpace the rest of their host. 50 was a considerably more doable number than a million. "If they get past the minefield, they're free game." crackled the voice of their CAG over the comms. "Don't stray too far from the Vitae or you're boned, there's no cover for you outside of the Vitae's weapon range. "Barracudas in position." reported Setter of the Barracudas squadron. "Get your fangs out Hawkins. Losers buy the drinks." "You better hope your first paycheck comes through Setter," Hawkins replied, in usual fighter-jock fashion. "Fifty's a lot, I wonder how long it'll take before the rest of them get here." Loch said, expressing his concerns over the squadron wide comms. "Heh, I don't know about you guys, but I'm feeling uneducated, undisciplined, and decidedly unsafe." came the confident, english-accented drawl of Thomas, his gleefull face almost visible beneath his polarized visor. Sara cracked her knuckles and neck, rolling her shoulders before settling her hands in front of the controls. Across their HUDs and Smart-Vision links, small cones lit up all around them, representing the cones of fire from the Vitae's nearest point defense turrets. The Vitae may be little more than a glorified a civilian transliner, but it sure sported the weapons package of a combat-carrier. YU-99 turrets provided overlapping cones of fire and were capable of filling local space with a murderous hail of tungsten slugs in little more than a few seconds. The Vitae's flak cannons would hold off on firing until enemy craft made it in too close- otherwise they'd risk friendly fire. The first 50 enemy craft dashed through the minefield, there were a few explosions here and there, and the minefield took down a sparse 4 while damaging another 5. The minefield was meant for the denser formation of the swarm- not as much a sizable, but relatively tiny strike force of 50. Sara breathed out and quickly targeted 10 random fighters heading towards them and loosed fully half of her serpent anti-fighter missiles. She wasn't the only one, several other members of her own squadron and the Barracudas did the same- better to lighten up the possible storm as much as possible- without draining all their munitions if they needed it. In total, some 70 missiles screamed away from the fighter formation and struck the Devastators, the numerous explosions shrouding the enemy in smoke. "That was easy!" came a triumphant cry from Thomas, whom Sara could see exitedly punching in the air in his cockpit. "Don't be too sure rook." Loch chided. Sure enough, moments later, devastator fighters began punching through the smoke cloud, several damaged but seeming no worse for wear. The devastators were more aware of their position now, but kept moving at a beeline for the Vitae. As the devastators screamed towards the Vitae, several of them released clutches of angry red crystaline spikes towards the Vitae. "Barracudas! Intercept those missiles!" barked Setter as the Barracuda squadron broke off to defend the Vitae from enemy missile attacks. "Grave Robbers, break and attack!" ordered Sara, as she pushed her fighter forward and into the fray. The T-22s juked and weaved into the enemy formation, their jerky and precise motions interfering with the Devatators more smooth and flowing ones. Sara shuddered as she finally got a closer look at the fighters. They looked like gray skulls with pulsating orange cores protected by chitinous ribcages. A second, brighter core pulsated well within the enemy ships, protected by thick layers of chitin, but glowing bright enough that it could still be seen from outside. Looked as good a place as any to shoot at. Lining up into the kill-slot of a Devastator, Sara spun up her K-80 autocannons and pulsed the trigger once, and then a second time, watching her ammo counter rapidly drop as several dozen glowing shells tore into her target and exploded on impact. Chitin shattered as the explosive shells crashed into it, shards of chitin narrowly whizzing by her cockpit. She'd need to keep a range on these guys. The enemy devastator spiraled out of the way of harm but resumed its course towards the Vitae. She cursed and lined herself up with the enemy fighter again, pushing herself a little bit faster to keep up with it. She keyed the magazine switch and shifted to armor piercing rounds. She pulsed her trigger again, trying to keep the enemy in her sights as it began juking and weaving out of the way. The armor piercing slugs struck the Devastator and embedded itself into its tough chitin, but the ship kept flying. Why wouldn't these things die? Sara growled in frustration as she wondered what weapons she would use to work when an armor piercing shell finally pierced the enemy's thick shell and embedded itself within the Devastators core. The ship's orange core dulled and the devastator ceased active movement, contenting itself to follow the momentum that her autocannon rounds had dumped into it. "Splash one bandit." Sara called into her comms. "Explosive rounds only shred their hull. Use Armor piercing rounds to punch through to their cores." They now had the attention of the Devastators. The enemy flight ceased their attack on the Vitae and began to spiral around and target the Vitae's fighters. The Vitae's point defense cannons would fire into open spaces, and the battle had began in earnest. Bright pulses of light shot out from the devastator fighters as the more nimbler T-22s juked and jived in and out of enemy formations, spraying them with cannon fire before streaking away to safety. Unfortunately for them, unlike the incredibly durable devastators, the Vitae's T-22s were no wear near as capable of resisting enemy weapons fire, and losses quickly began to mount on the Vitae's squadrons, who were unable to kill the durable fighters fast enough to avoid their own losses. "Shit! I've got 2 on my tail! Somebody help me out! Somebod-" Adams' voice was cut off with a wash of static, as a quartet of blue pulses slammed into the back of his smoking fighter, glass and metal shattering as the force of the explosion tore the fighter apart. Sara juked out of the way of another pair of energy bolts, only to be jolted in surprise as a helmet struck her cockpit. She had barely a split second to notice 'Shocker', Adams callsign scrawled onto the forehead of the helmet before it was out of her sight and she was back in the fight. [i]Keep your head in the game[/i] Sara chided herself as she twisted her fighter through a formation of devastators, using her fighter's mobility to make a 180 degree turn immediately after passing them, and opened up on the back of an enemy with a barrage of autocannon rounds. The armor piercing shells thudded into the devastator which attempted to writhe away as Sara loosed a missile at her target and immediately changed to another closer one. She hosed the next one down with autocannon fire and breathed a sigh of relief as a lucky shot got through and pierced its core, killing it. [i]That makes three.[/i] Sara breathed as she spun out of the way of enemy fire, an energy pulse scorching the edge of her wing and leaving a particularly nasty scar on the hull. [hr] With a combination of the Vitae's two squadrons, and the Vitae's considerable number of point defense guns, it was only a matter of minutes before the first of the enemy strike forces was all but dealt with. Despite the encounter only lasting 5 minutes, it sure felt close to an eternity and a half for Barracudas and Grave Robbers. Of their 14 ships, only 8 remained, 4 were shot down, and 2 were damaged so badly that the pilots had to return to the Vitae. "Now that the appetizer is done, its time for the main course." Setter remarked morbidly as the next wave of devastators approached them- this wave was much, [i]much[/i] larger than the first, numbering some thousand. Their numbers cut as the mines exploded in the midst of their dense formations, but there were still too many of them. They weren't getting any backup either. The Vitae was only minutes away from the Eye, and they didn't have time to launch more squadrons and still be able to get them all back. "Get ready for another licking Grave Robbers." Sara panted over the comms, "Not sure about you guys, but I'm not ready to die just yet." "Hoo-rah Twitch." "This next one's for Adams." [hr] "Contact!" Any other comms traffic was cut off at the sign of a jump signature in their immediate area, a large one. Any fighters near the approximated jump zone quickly fled, as a large ship warped into space, its sudden appearance displacing much of space around them, shockwaves rocking the nearby fighters as they regrouped. Sara breathed out a relief as she saw the ship- it was gray, not green, and very much made of steel and not chitin. It was the Judicator, and the battleship had plopped itself right inbetween the Vitae and the oncoming fighter formation. Now that they had both the point defense weapons of both the Vitae, and the Judicator, the fighters had a chance. Loosing the remnants of its own fighters, the pilots of the Vitae let out a cheer as reinforcements from the Judicator supplemented their numbers. "All fighters! Return to the Vitae, we are leaving!" the CAG ordered as the strike pilots began their second engagements. "Go Vitae fighters, we've got you covered!" barked the gruff voice of the Judicator's CAG, whom had taken to the field with the rest of his pilots in a strike fighter of his own. With a guilty sigh, Sara reluctantly turned her fighter around and sped back towards the Vitae. Already she could see explosions as the massive wave of devastators tore into the remnants of the Judicator's forces. Their fighters were destroyed within the minute, and already devastator fighters chased after them. "Hangar be advised, prepare for several emergency landings." Sara called as she and the rest of the Vitae's fighters soared towards the open hangar doors. Even in the distance, Sara could see engineers and techs rapidly running back and forth preparing for the emergency landing. Already, gravity inside the hangar was shut off, and the emegency recovery barricades were being stretched across the various points of the hangar entrance to catch fighters and slow their landing. With the speed that the devastators were heading at them, the Vitae pilots had almost no time to break before entering the hangar. Finding her own opening in the hangar, Sara braced herself and rapidly braked. Her haress' built in airbags activated as her fighter collided with the interlocking mesh of catch-cables, she could almost feel the tearing as several of the barricade's layers tore from her fighter skidded against the floor of the hangar. As she finally skidded to a halt, she could make out the sound of the bridge counting down to jump. Or rather, she heard the word jump before her vision suddenly went white for a moment and her stomach dropped. A moment later, they were in hyperspace. She punched off the top of her cockpit and pulled off her helmet and revealed her matted down carrot hair, the airbags deflating around her neck as she slouched back in her fighter seat and panted. She made it. She fought the first devastators anyone had seen in over a decade and she lived.