BSBxKc Chpt 7

==Blue Squadron (Battletech x KanColle(ish) crossover) - Chapter 7 -==
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===Crippled but not alone===
System 1339, Deep Periphery
When Swift Justice and Amber Lotus pulled up next to their crippled companion, they were surprised the girl was conscious.
 
"Hey there. I could use a little help here." Brest greeted in a pained rasp, a result of having lost her main communications array.
 
Amber's expression went from unbelieving to dismay, before she visibly pulled herself together. She did not wait for an order, and dispatched a majority of her damage-control crews for Brest.
 
Swift did so as well, and took in the damage to her young charge.
 
The missile strike to her back had shattered armor plating, as well as buckled and ruptured the hull beneath it torn the girl's uniform, as well as scorched and bruised her skin. Worse was the corvettes propulsion were the girl's legs. Her drives were heavily damaged uniform's pants were torn, the skin beneath raw and discolored. Disturbingly, to Swift's human senses, Brest's legs were also bent in ways they should not be.
 
As bad as the damage was, the Aegis was glad the girl was alive, and in one piece. She floated closer and drew the surprised Brest into an embrace.
 
"I'm not complaining, but what brought this on?" The brunette looked a little embarrassed, but still seemed to enjoy the contact.
 
"You are very brave." Swift leaned back and held the girl at arm's length. Her look turned serious. "What is the damage?"
 
The Fox-class frowned. "Ah, not so good." She looked at her ruined legs, then back into Swift's eyes. "My transit drives are totaled. What is left of them, irrepairable."
 
Swift froze. That was very bad news. She swallowed, and had to expend a lot of effort to keep her voice even. "What about your jumpdrive?"
 
The corvette got a far-away look in her eyes for a moment, as she turned her attention inwards. A second later, her gaze returned to Swift. "Surprisingly, still functional. My jumpsail is trashed, but my LF-battery is undamaged. In theory, i could jump once."
 
"The ISF was not wrong when they prescribed your class with having a lot of armor. Good, it protected you from worse, nanodesu." The draconian was dismayed at her fellow's injuries, yet also visibly relieved the brunette was still alive.
 
"Good. Now we just need to get you far enough away from the planet to..." The grey-haired woman trailed off, and looked over her shoulder with a disbelieving expression.
 
A trio of emergence signatures had appeared in the planet's wider orbit behind them.
 
"For goodness' sake." Brest voiced what Swift thought.
 
"What is the status of your aerospace assets?" The Aegis asked, keeping her eyes fixed on the trio of JumpShips. They belonged to the enemy, and were busy detatching dropships.
 
"Not good, nanodesu." Amber returned to her taciturn ways in the presence of enemies.
 
"Worse." Brest ground out between clenched teeth. She, too, was watching the monochrome JumpShip deploy their assets. All black chitin, teeth and jagged appendages. A moment of silence passed, before she added with a dark expression. "Nine more dropships. Half of them carriers, the rest seem to be assault dropships."
 
"They are too close. We will not even have time to rearm our own dropships, before they are upon us." Swift eyed the enemy units, as they formed up and began burning for them. "This will be difficult, so be quick with getting your fighters ready again."
 
Brest turned to her flagship and spoke in a weary voice. "We can't take them. We have lost too much of our screen, you two are damaged, and i am lame." She exhaled in resignation. "Get out of here. Return to 135. I will stall them for as long as i can."
 
The responses were immediate and simultaneous.
 
"No." It was surprising just how much disapproval Amber could convey with a single word.
 
"Not in a hundred years." The grey-haired woman gave Brest a long look, to make the girl understand. "No man left behind. Either all of us leave, or none will."
 
"But..."
 
Brest's eyes widened, and she looked past Swift's shoulder, where a brief flash of light had appeared in the distance. When it faded, there was a spaceship there.
 
"You've got to be joking."
 
The Aegis followed the brunette's gaze, and saw the new arrival. It was close enough to tell it was a warship, yet too far away to see fine details. What made her hesitate, though, was that it had appeared without an emergence signature. And she had seen something like that before, in the Jan Mayen system. In that case, it had been Brest and Amber who had arrived. Considering the Quixote they had just defeated, though, she was apprehensive. She could not make out any markings, so had to assume it was enemy.
 
Amber Lotus remained silent, her expression stony. She merely turned towards the unknown warship, in a combat-stance, as it detatched DropShips and started moving in their direction.
 
"Are you sure you don't want to leave?" Brest's voice carried morbid amusement. She turned back and forth between the two formations that were approaching them, then looked at Swift with a wan smile, and a quirked eyebrow.
 
"You think i would miss being pincered by a superior force? It is good for the soul." The Aegis got swept up in the strange mood. She knew it well, had been in situations like this before. It always appeared when warriors were about to enter a battle they might well not survive.
 
A chuckle from Amber Lotus gave away that she, too, was in the same mindset. The girl's gaze was fixated on the approaching warship, yet her stony expression was softened by a small smile.
 
Silence reigned after that. The fleetmaidens were busy rearming their remaining fighters, and repair as much damage as they could.
 
The flagship was peering at the approaching warship intently. The distance had shrunk, almost enough to... Recognition struck her then, and she acted almost faster than she could think. "Attention, unknown warship. This is CSV Swift Justice. Identify yourself, or we will fire upon you." Tension made Swift's shoulders stiff, as she anxiously waited for a reply.
 
Both corvettes gave her questioning looks.
 
"You think it's not enemy?" Brest asked distractedly. She was directing an EVA crew, which was working feverishly at restoring one of her gun-turrets to working order, sparks flying off of its base.
 
"I do not dare hope." The cruiser replied distractedly. She was tracking the unknown ship, as it crossed the threshold for her to properly see it. It was the hull of a cruiser. More importantly, it had no things sticking out of it that should not be there. "It is a Dart-class. A light cruiser, which is not all that much lighter in terms of armor and weapons loudout than I am. And..."
 
A moment later a radio message was heard.
 
"This is TAS... actually THS 'La Plata'. What is going on here?" It was the voice of a woman, low pitched and pleasant to the ear.
 
In that moment it was the most beautiful thing the grey-haired cruiser had heard in a while.
 
"That is a long story." Dark amusement laced her words. "What matters is that the formation of aerospace power heading our way will attack you, once they are done with us." She gave several moments of pause, to let her message sink in. "I suggest you fall in with us. You can still make it before they arrive."
The Aegis kept her gaze on the approaching light cruiser, now close enough to also see her new form. The Dart was like she was. A warship, but also a person. Swift's eyes could see her as a tall woman, with dark hair and tanned skin.
 
More importantly to Swift, though, the woman was wearing the uniform of the Hegemony navy. It was a sight the Aegis thought she would never see again. It brought on a multitude of emotions, unbidden. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind when an answer came back.
 
"I suppose, since those other guys don't seem inclined to talk."
 
A burst of laughter erupted from Brest, and Swift sent the girl's words to the Dart. "Had you heard them "talk" you wouldn't be uncertain about your choice any more."
 
"Siding with us is the right choice. It's the only choice. You'll see, nanodesu." Amber chimed in. The girl had pivoted away from the Dart-class, and turned her intense gaze at the approaching enemies.
 
Swift waited for the delay in communications to pass. When nothing else came from the newly arrived fleetmaiden, she returned her attention to getting her aerospace forces into the best order she could.
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===Backs at the Wall===
Gradually, the light cruiser approached Blue Squadron, and its members could see the woman properly. Her dark hair, which had to be quite long when not bound, was done up in something that stretched regulations. It was in multiple braids, which were wrapped around the woman's head, to reduce their length. The remainder was stuffed under her beret.
 
All eyes followed her, while the newcomer joined their formation, and came to a relative halt next to Brest and Swift. She ran her brilliant green eyes up and down their frames several times, before she muttered. "Weird."
 
When the Dart turned, and gave Amber Lotus the same once-over, Swift Justice spoke up. "You will get used to it."
 
The woman looked into Swift's eyes. Green met grey, and an odd expression appeared on her tanned face. "I have never heard your name before, yet you seem familiar. Do i know you?"
 
"We have met a few times." Swift looked over La Plata's complement of dropships and fighters. They were old, centuries out of date, but would do their purpose just fine. They also gave her a bout of nostalgia she could not afford to indulge in.
 
"Reminiscing later. The enemy is at our door, nanodesu." Amber Lotus had not taken her eyes off the swarm of aerospace craft, that was bearing down on them.
 
The Dart-class grunted, and faced the approaching swarm. "You were not exaggerating with what you said about their looks." She eyed the cloud of hostility for a moment longer. "Anything i should know about them?"
 
"Not particularly. Just aim for the DropShips first." The other cruiser replied.
 
"Not like i could hit the fighters." La Plata went into a combat stance.
 
"I know what you mean." The exchange brought a crooked smile to Swift's face. She was in the same predicament.
 
Conversation was reduced to curt commands and replies after that, with the enemy closing to engagement range.
 
"Weapons free. Let them have it."
 
A dozen beams of red light crossed the dark void in a moment. Despite the long range, a number of them hit the enemy lead-ship. It fell out of formation, as it slowed.
 
La Plata grunted and turned, to present her broadside. A moment later the woman's NACs threw half a dozen heavy rounds at the swarm.
 
She was joined by all of Blue Squadron's medium-ranged weaponry.
 
"Good hits. Keep it up." Swift cheered her companions on, as another assault dropship stopped maneuvering. That left three of those.
 
The next moment things got hectic, when both sides' aerospace assets crashed into each other. A part of the enemy fighters charged straight into the fleetmaidens' screen, while a larger part circled around them evenly, intent on attacking them from all sides.
 
"Damned things. Slippery like eel, nanodesu." The girl grit her teeth when she took the first hits of the battle. One of the opposing dropships had pierced through their protective layers, and burnt a few new scorch-marks into Amber's uniform, with its laser beams. It sped past her, on its way to the center of the fleetmaidens' formation, intent on striking at Brest.
 
"They are not stupid. They are using our fixed positions to their advantage." Swift grumbled, as she had to give up her firing solution on a DropShip, which had zipped behind Amber. A moment later she smiled in grim satisfaction. One of her own fighters had blown the one, which had just struck Amber, to pieces.
 
"I noticed. Damn you!" Brest yelled, frantically turning to face a trio of fighters, which had looped around them and broken through at the relative back of their perimeter.
 
All black metal and bone-white teeth, they did not hesitate. As soon as they were in range, they fired an assortment of weapons. Autocannons, Lasers, PPCs.
 
Brest's armor was made to withstand weapons that were magnitudes more powerful than that, yet the strafing had the desired effect. The girl raised her hands, instinctively protecting her face from the hail of autocannon shells and missiles, aimed at her eye-level.
 
It was a clever ruse, intended to hide one of the fighter-trio launching two large missiles.
 
"Not this time!" Amber Lotus was turned the other way, trying to shoot at a dropship without hitting Swift Justice, though she was on top of the situation. Her Achilles came swooping in, flanked by two fighters on either side. A second later it fired, blowing away one enemy fighter, then engaged the remaining two in a dogfight that did not last long.
Brest's awed attention was glued to the lethal dance that unfolded before her. The fact that Amber was using a dropship of more than 4000 tons like a fighter boggled her mind. The draconian had to be steering it directly.
 
A moment later the battle caught up with the Fox-class, when her anti-missile systems fired on auto. Belatedly, she realized that she was about to get hit again. She crossed her arms over her face, and tucked her chin to her collarbone.
 
One of the two large missiles was intercepted. The other went home, hitting Brest in the midsection, which made the girl recoil with a deep wheeze. It felt like she had been punched in the gut. Looking down at herself, she saw that her uniform was now as threadbare and burnt on the front as it was on her back.
 
"Are you alright?" Concern was evident in Amber's voice?
 
"Yeah, I guess." The girl was holding a hand to her scorched front. "That was an Arrow."
 
The draconian grunted in displeasure, and returned all her attention to the enemy.
 
Brest's struggles were not the only thing going less than optimal.
 
"What the hell is going on? I can't hit the broadside of a shipyard!" La Plata yelled in startled frustration, while she reloaded her NACs.
 
"Keep at it. We are gaining the upper hand. Just be careful not to hit any of us." Swift Justice instructed in a voice too calm for the situation, Brest decided, while the Aegis was masterfully using her maneuvering thrusters. Putting herself into the flight-path of a number of fighters, she intended to protect La Plata from a strafing run.
 
The Fox noticed as well. She had just taken out two enemy fighters, with combined fire from her dropships, when static in her ear let Brest know that Amber had fired her PPCs. The bolts of artificial lightning struck true
 
"Take that, nanodesu!" The draconian girl yelled, twirling around her axis to engage the nearest target. One Carrier-DropShip less.
 
It was at this moment that Brest noticed a burst of electromagnetic radiation to her side. The three JumpShip, which had brought their current assailants, had left.
 
Not a moment later, the battle turned fiercer.
 
"Are these things mad? One of those jerks just tried to ram me!" La Plata exclaimed, seriously affronted. The last enemy assault DropShip got hit by one of the cruiser's Saturns for the attempt, its drives crippled.
 
The Fox-class could see it herself. The remaining enemies had stopped engaging their aerospace screen, and had all turned towards the four of them, jutting and weaving.
 
"Take out the remaining two dropships, now!" Swift's voice carried a frenzied urgency, which Brest understood a moment later. Her eyes widened in realization.
 
"That's really difficult! I might hit one us!" Amber Lotus hesitated. The dropship she was targeting was too close to Swift, and dodged too erratically, to risk shooting. She changed her mind a moment later.
 
"They are gunning for Brest's head! We have to destroy them now!"
The dark-haired girl then saw the pattern in the enemy's movements, and its intended destination. The realization loosened her trigger-discipline considerably. She let loose with all her front-facing weapons. The DropShip got hit multiple times, and took no more action. It had taken the hits less well than Swift Justice behind it.
 
"Got the last one!" The Dart exclaimed, while moving to block the path of another fighter.
 
Time seemed to slow, as the fleetmaiden's tightening defensive formation claimed many enemy fighters. It was almost enough.
 
Seeing no more targets in front of her, Brest looked over her shoulder, when a rain of shrapnel hit her back. A fighter had been blown up by one of their dropships. The girl was about to sigh in relief.
 
"Brest, look out!" La Plata's warning came a fraction of a second too late.
 
An enemy fighter, hidden by the Dart-class' bulk, came whizzing around the woman.
 
Brest whirled around, yet did not even have time to raise her hands, to protect herself. The aerospace fighter hit her in the face, and blackness took her.
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==Chapter Notes==
*; Author's Chapter Notes : That is the second part of the battle done.
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