WCGW Chpt 79

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==Chapter 79 - What Could Go Wrong==
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23 January 3042
Joshua (Former Outworlds System)
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The Intrusive, SaRI's Intruder Class Assault Dropship, briefly docked with the captured pirate Merchant Class Jumpship and offloaded 2 platoons from Alpha Company before undocking and taking up a position a safe distance away. Commodore Franklin Noble and his wingman with their SL-26 Samurai Fighter were placed in the Merchant's shuttle bays. The recovered Lion Class Dropship was docked on the first collar while Chief Zuniga's salvaged tug docked on the second collar of the Merchant Jumpship. On the bridge was a skeleton crew of captured pirates being watched by several of Alpha Company's troops and several of SaRI's jumpship crew, transferred over.
Leftenant Colonel David Mitchell spoke to the captured pirates "You all understand that your already guilty of piracy and being slavers. If we were House troops, you would all be looking at lengthy prison sentences. But we are not House troops. Do what we tell you to the letter and you will be turned over to the Federated Commonwealth, get stupid and I will have every single one of you tossed out of the nearest airlock. Is that clear?"
While all of the captured remained silent, several nodded so hard that he thought their head might detach from their bodies. "Good. Now let's get this next order of business completed. Mister Pryor, you have the bridge."
"Jump stations. Nav, are the coordinates for a jump to the Zenith Jump Point properly entered?" Mister Pryor asked
Christian Cameroon, one of SaRI Express' bridge crew had watched as the pirate navigator entered all the information into the ship's navigation computer. While he was not a carded navigator, he was very close to taking the examination, so he knew what he was watching. "Yes, Sir, jump is set and verified. On your command, Sir."
"Very well. Initiate jump sequence. Sound the jump warning." Mister Pryor ordered
Five minutes later, the Jumpship vanished and then materialized at the Zenith Jump Point just 9,300 kilometers from the pirate Merchant Jumpship. It did not take long before the radio said "General Jaws? We thought the deal would take place on the surface where it always does?"
Leftenant Colonel Mitchell nodded to Mister Pryor who ordered "Launch the tug and boarding party. Commodore Noble, you are clear to launch."
"Merchant Jumpship, this is Leftenant Colonel Mitchell of Search and Recovery Inc. Prepare to be boarded. You have been identified as a pirate band. Any attempt to flee and you will be fired upon. To the outbound Dropships, you are ordered to surrender. We will soon have control of your Jumpship. There is no escape. By my calculations, even if you turn around right now, we will have your Jumpship charged and ready to jump to a new location before you can arrive. I have two squadrons of fighters waiting to blow you apart before you enter the planet's atmosphere. Your choices are simple, surrender or die."
Within an hour, a platoon of Alpha Company had secured the pirate Jumpship without a struggle. But nothing had been heard from the pirate Dropships which were still inbound to the planet. Leftenant Colonel Mitchell broadcast hos next message also in the clear. "Captain Hudson, the incoming Dropships refuse to communicate. You are clear to engage them when they come into range. Intrusive is under your control."
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24 January 3042
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Using the recovered Tug, most of the newly captured pirates were transferred to the Lion Dropship and put to work sealing the hole which had compromised the Dropships cargo bay. Chief Zuniga supervised the work with few words. "Do the work correctly, your very life depends on it. See those glorious cages over there? The very one's you scumbags house slaves in? Those are going to be your new home for a bit. Do shoddy work and your liable to be sucking vacuum suddenly. It will not affect your guards as they will be fully suited up at all times. Now get to work patching that hole."
The incoming Dropships had performed their deceleration flips after reaching the halfway point. Captain Hudson held her fighters back but had dispatched the Intruder Dropship, out to give the incoming Dropships a nice warm welcome. 
Aboard the pirate Union Dropship, Captain Barney Hagerdy did not really know what to do. He was trapped and knew it, but on the ground, at least he had a fighting chance. He was going to try to bull his way to the ground and fight it out as best he could.
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28 January 3042
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The unit's Intruder Assault DropShip, the Intrusive, was on an intercept course when the Union Class Mech-Carrier Dropship launched a pair of CNT-2D Centurion Light AeroSpace Fighters. While they were not a serious threat to the Intrusive, they were still a threat that could not be ignored. They managed several passes on Intrusive, peppering her armor plating before Intrusive managed a killing blow on one of the Centurion Aerospace fighters. Low on fuel, the remaining Centurion was forced to return to the Union to refuel. This allowed Intrusive to refocus on her primary mission and she targeted the Danais Cargo Dropship first, managing several strong hits on the Danais weak armor plating before the Centurion returned to pester Intrusive.
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29 January 3042
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Captain Blythe Hudson led her squadron of Rapier RPR-101 in their strike on the Union Dropship. With each firing pass, triple PPC's ripped massive chunks of armor from the Union Dropship. The Centurion made a pest of itself trying to defend the Union Dropship until it was finally destroyed. Intrusive rejoined the fight and quickly secured the surrender of the Danais Dropship, which began breaking harder to bring itself to a halt. Another hour of strikes on the Union Dropship finally brought a surrender call from the Union Dropship, so badly damaged that its Captain did not want to risk a reentry into the planet's atmosphere.
Under a close escort from Captain Hudson and her Rapier Aerospace fighters and the Intrusive. Both pirate Dropships were escorted close to the SaRI forces until boarding parties from Alpha Company could be dispatched.
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30 January 3042
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Leftenant Colonel David Mitchell was in a good mood after receiving the message that both Dropships had surrendered. Chief Zuniga decided to rain on his parade with a simple "Sir, we are stretched so thin that we are going to have to actually make use of these damned slavers to man these ships. Now once the Dropships are docked, we can put all of them in the prisoner cells, but these additional Jumpships take crews to operate. We were already pushing the limits and now we are beyond those limits. Hell, we have half of our Jumpship crew from the SaRI Express onboard these two Merchant Jumpships just keeping an eye on things. We are not asking for Murphy to kick us in the balls, we are literally shouting for it with our legs spread wide."
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