BSBxKc Chpt 21

==Blue Squadron (Battletech x KanColle(ish) crossover) - Chapter 21 -==
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===Old Ships in far off Place===
System 3196, Deep Periphery
Reality established itself again around the members of Blue Squadron.
 
Swift Justice cast a hurried glance around while she was launching her aerospace assets. Sensing no immediate threats she took more time to make sure they were clear to move. The rest of her unit were doing the same.
 
"Translation successful. No enemy and no boobie traps in sight." La Plata was squinting in the direction of the system's star, hand raised to shield her eyes from its stream of deep red light.
 
"I can't see anything unusual either." Brest added, gazing down and past her feet at the roiling masses of gas below them. "Aside from the planet's pretty color."
 
The flagship found herself agreeing with Brest. Having appeared in the ice-giant's orbit they had quite the view on its cloud-cover, which showed an unusual green tint despite being bathed in the red dwarf's rays.
 
"If nothing else comes from this trip we at least have something to add to our star charts." La Plata muttered distractedly, gaze still searching the rest of the system. "I see no other planets. Bunch of small irregular moons though." She glanced upwards where several medium-sized rocks on a higher orbit loomed.
 
An exhale that sounded like a hmpf let everyone know what Silver Merlin thought of that notion.
 
Despite La Plata's remark obviously not being meant serious Swift found herself agreeing with Silver 's unspoken opinion. "We will. After we find and achieve what we came here for." Pausing for a moment to concentrate on hearing and seeing the more distant parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, Swift stated evenly. "I do not hear anything on radio. No neutrinos either."
 
"Hope we're not too late." Concern was plain to hear in Brest's voice, head tilted while she, too, was listening for any signals.
 
"Whoever might be around could be hiding." La Plata seemed confident in her guess and turned into their orbit around the planet.
 
"Or the message which brought us here was meant to misdirect us, possibly into a trap." Silver spoke up properly for the first time, cautioning of her suspicions again.
 
"Only one way to find out." La Plata looked over her shoulder at Swift, expression expectant. "I go this way and you the other?"
 
"Do it." Swift agreed to start with the planet itself and addressed the Peregrine in their formation. "Silver , accompany her."
 
The green-haired girl complied with a nod and sidled up to La Plata.
 
"If you encounter the enemy do not engage them on your own. Come and link up with us instead." Swift added when the dour of cruiser and corvettes were about to set off.
 
"Will do. Not like we'll be farther apart than half an orbit, though." La Plata threw a smile over her shoulder again and started burning along her orbit, Silver at her side.
 
Swift was, of course, aware she would not be separated from those two by more than the giant's diameter, at most, yet she could not help but worry. She was in command, and as such responsible for the other fleetmaidens.
 
Her worry must have shown because Brest piped up next to her, a confident look in her blue eyes. "I wouldn't worry. Those two know how to take care of themselves. And we're still very close."
 
Appreciating the brunette's mindfulness, Swift matched Brest 's turn with an exhale. "I know that logically, but i cannot help it. You will understand once you are in command of a unit yourself."
 
A look of surprise crossed the Fox's features, which caused an unbidden smile to appear on Swift's face. "Ready?"
 
Blinking a few times, Brest 's expression turned resolute again. She nodded.
 
With their sterns pointing counter to their direction of movement the two fleetmaidens ignited their transit-drives to reduce their velocity. Anything that was on the same orbit, including La Plata and Silver, would catch up with them rather quickly.
 
The two warships gradually slowed, their eyes alternating between the patterns of the gas-masses below and the small and medium-sized moons above them all the while. It did not take long for them to notice something.
 
"Contact!" Brest exclaimed excitedly.
 
Swift noticed it the moment Brest 's report voice reached her. There was a large sensor-return coming around the planet's curvature. "I see it."
 
Tense moments followed, which saw both fleetmaidens squinting to identify it.
 
"It's got its sail raised. That's why the return is so large." Brest 's surprise was evident, questioning eyes turning to her flagship. "Why wouldn't they use the standard jump-points instead of charging in a planet's low orbit? Its sail is in the ice-giant's shadow half of the time. It takes forever that way."
"That is an Aquilla-class jumpship." Swift identified it, astonished. "I have never heard of any of them having a Jump Sail. It must be hiding. Its fusion power-plant is turned off to mask its presence." The unpleasant implication was clear to Swift, and it showed in her voice when she added. "It likely suspects someone is trying to find it."
 
"It looks ordinary and mundane, so at least it's not an abyssal." Brest squinted again as they drew closer to the jumpship, the girl apparently trying to find any markings on it. "Who are they hiding from, though?"
 
"That depends on who they are." She was going to find out.
 
"This is CSV Swift Justice to unknown jumpship. Identify yourself." Swift once more sent the, by now, familiar challenge.
 
There was no reply.
 
Moments filled with tension went by. "Why aren't they answering?" Brest muttered under her breath, gaze fixated on the jumpship while they approached. "Please not another Willemstad."
 
The Aquilla appeared to be undamaged to Swift's cursory appeasement. She repeated her challenge over the radio.
 
Again nothing but silence.
 
"Keep your weapons ready. We will take a closer look." Swift ordered and performed a burn to mostly match the unknown ship's velocity.
 
"Huh?" Brest gave voice to what Swift was thinking while they were on final approach.
 
"I see no damage on it. Comm-antennas are fine and there is light in most of its portholes. No reason why they could not answer."
 
"Its systems are running. I can hear them." Brest 's blue eyes lost focus, a sign that she was listening to the jumpship's electromagnetic noise.
 
Swift was stumped, yet the tension of the situation did not let her hesitate. She drew breath to order her escort to send boarders onto the unknown jumpship when the girl spoke up again.
 
"Maybe they're just hypnotized by our presence?" It came out as a careful guess at first, but the brunette's tone grew firmer as she carried on. "I can see people behind some portholes. They're looking at us, i think." The brunette swerved her gaze to Swift, a question in her blue eyes.
 
Resisting the urge to facepalm, the grey-haired woman agreed with her young charge's assessment. "That just might be the case." When the Aegis looked closely she thought she could see silhouettes at several portholes as well, including the bridge. How had such an oversight happened to her?
 
"Might be because they have line of sight to us? Do we leave again?" Brest queried uncertainly.
 
"More or less." Swift swung herself around and started her transit-drives to accelerate on their orbit once more. "We might need to get out of sight again before we can radio them and expect an answer."
 
Brest seemed to concur and wordlessly followed her flagship's lead.
 
They were at some distance to the unknown jumpship again when Swift instructed. "Leave one of your dropships and a contingent of fighters here." The cruiser was in the process of doing just that herself, choosing her Leopard for the task. "They can relay communications in case we have to get out of that jumpship's line of sight entirely."
Initial look of confusion turning to understanding, Brest obeyed the order. "Makes sense." Pausing in thought for a moment, she hedged. "Maybe we need to think up some kind of protocol for situations like these? When we need to interact with unknown human vessels?" The Fox visibly felt odd using the word "human" in that capacity.
 
"That is worth thinking about." Swift readily agreed. Keen eyes never leaving the unknown jumpship as it grew steadily smaller with increasing distance, she repeated her hail. Still no answer.
 
"Aha. Maybe agree on what words to use for the effect our influence has on people. Using hypnotized for it feels wrong."
 
Swift regarded the brunette girl thoughtfully. It would be an awkward word to use in reports, considering the term's connotations. "Remind me to discuss this with the others once we are back home."
 
"Will do." Brest chirped back.
 
About to hail the Aquilla-class again, Swift's gaze was drawn forwards when she sensed something.
 
"Oh oh." Brest did as well.
 
There were several emergence signatures forming quite a distance ahead of them, almost behind the planet's curvature.
 
Before either could mutter another word four contacts had materialized in the ice-giant's orbit.
 
"Abyssal jumpship, times four!" Brest reported the contacts over radio.
 
----
===Deep Space Engagement with the Abyssal===
"So the cryptic message we received was authentic, again." Swift muttered, pale eyes now turned forwards at the JumpShips' dark forms. There were all sorts of growths and appendages sticking out of them, none of which belonged on any spaceship, most telling of which were what looked like giant human teeth. The newly arrived JumpShips were undoubtedly abyssals, which was confirmed a moment later by frantic screaming over the radio. The Aquilla's crew was obviously alive and well, in a manner of speaking, their radio working too.
 
"Do we attack?" Brest cast a glance over her shoulder at the unknown jumpship with a panicking crew the abyssals were apparently after, then forwards again. She swore under her breath. "That's a lot of fighters."
 
"Yes it is." The flagship tuned out the screaming over the radio while she was in the process of taking stock of the enemy's strength. She did not like what she was seeing. "Recall your dropship and fighters from the Aquilla. We will need them."
 
The abyssals did not waste any time. Twelve dropships had detached from the dark and monstrous forms that were their interstellar transports and launched their fighters, insectoid to the fleetmaidens' new sight, heading for the two members of Blue Squadron at their presumably highest cruising-speed.
 
"We will try to lure them in." Swift replied to Brest 's earlier question, voice hard as it usually got when she was in combat. She ordered her own Leopard and its fighters onto a new course and set off. "Follow me." The two fleetmaidens swerved from their equatorial orbit in what, to the abyssals, had to look like an attempt to escape.
 
"I don't think they'll need much encouragement to come after us." Brest 's voice was shaky when she glanced back at the swarm of dark carapace. "That's almost a hundred and fifty fighters."
 
The Aegis could not blame her young escort for being intimidated by the enemy's strength, considering the experience the girl had made in a previous battle. The increasing volume of screams coming from the Aquilla probably did not help either.
 
More scrutiny revealed eight or nine of the dozen enemy dropships to be fighter-carriers.
 
"We will not face them alone."
 
"They'll be all over us by the time La Plata and Silver will get here." Brest followed another of Swift's course-changes, now wearing a concerned frown.
 
"I would bet a considerable sum on La Plata being at full burn already." Swift gave her young escort a reassuring sideways-glance. "Her sensors being old, she might not have noticed the abyssals' arrival. But Silver can certainly sense the neutrinos from their fusion-engines. Those two will be here soon."
 
"Roger." Brest visibly steeled herself and followed Swift in formation with their combined screen.
 
Turning them back onto a vector which would take them approximately where they would be on their original orbit without outside interference, the flagship prepared herself for battle. Massive shells were loaded into naval autocannons, powerful naval lasers were prepared to fire and capital missiles slid into their launchers.
 
Swift looked over her shoulder at the rapidly approaching swarm of aerospace power. For once her limited acceleration worked in her favor. Judging by the way the abyssals were closing in on them they were confident of their advantage and thought she was trying to flee.
 
"Anytime now." Muttering under her breath the grey-haired woman looked forwards again, gauging the distance between the abyssal swarm and the unknown jumpship.
 
Brest followed her flagship's gaze with her worried eyes. "At least they are coming after us and not the jumpship." The panicked screaming over the radio was getting louder.
 
"Once they see La Plata and Silver they might try to hit it as a target of opportunity regardless. To deny it to us, or out of pure spite." The distances involved were shrinking and Swift was starting to get worried, deep frown settling on her face. "So we need to keep any abyssals from getting by us to prevent just that."
 
Brest opened her mouth to ask the obvious question of How when a radio-message reached them.
 
"Sorry to keep you waiting, ladies." La Plata's low-pitched voice was music to Swift's ears. The Dart, accompanied by Silver , came blazing around the planet's curvature, the exhaust-streams from the two fleetmaidens' drives contrasting with the darker colouration of the planet below them.
 
"Nice of you to join us." Swift played along with her fellow cruiser's banter, bringing herself around and accelerating so she would have similar velocity to them when the much faster La Plata and Silver would catch up.
 
"So our mysterious informant steered us true again. What have we here?" La Plata glanced at the unknown jumpship as she passed it, then squinted at the swarm of dark carapace in the distance while she was approaching Blue's other half.
 
"Whole bunch of fighters." Apprehension was plain to hear in Brest 's terse answer.
 
La Plata regarded the approaching ball of oversized black insects. "We can take them." The tanned woman reassured, green eyes on Brest . The Dart had noticed that the brunette girl's nerves were a bit fluttery and aimed to project reassurance.
 
Swift did the same while she was taking her position in their now combined formation, the four fleetmaidens' speed and trajectory matching.
 
"It's not just us I'm worried about." Brest glanced at the Aquilla again, panicked yelling over the radio growing steadily louder still. "They have such an advantage in numbers, they can afford to send a wing past us to destroy the Jumpship. How do we stop that?"
 
"We may not need to." Silver reported.
 
True enough, Swift could see it for herself when she looked.
 
"They're retreating? That's a first." La Plata had her head tilted while she observed the abyssal-swarm flip around and burn in the other direction.
 
Quickly Swift ran the numbers in her head and made a decision. "Follow me!" Going to full burn herself she elaborated. "They have built up a lot of velocity. It will take them into our missile-range well before they can get away."
 
La Plata kept up with the flagship in hull body and mind. "Might be bait to lure us in?"
 
"Unlikely. They realized they would suffer defeat and chose to retreat." Silver stated her own opinion with confidence while adjusting her place in the formation.
 
"Would they lose?" Brest's voice was tentatively hopeful.
 
"Yes." Agreeing with the Peregrine, Swift gave orders. "We cannot keep them from escaping, but we can make this attempt of an attack cost them something. Prepare your missiles."
 
A brief assessment later the flagship carried on. "We will fire them in waves." She glanced at the rest of the squadron next to her. "Brest , aim your Barracudas at the fighters. La Plata, target the dropships with your Killer Whales."
 
Swift picked a dozen abyssal-fighters which would soon have the pleasure with her own guided weapons. Targeting-data transferred to the smart ordnance in her launchers, she queried. "Ready?"
 
"Yup." "Ready." The affirmatives from Brest and La Plata came right away.
 
"Fire."
 
Launch-plumes rose from the three warships as two dozen capital missiles were sent on their way. Mere seconds after launch they started tracking their abyssal-targets and all swerved into the same direction.
 
Reloading her launchers as quickly as she could, Swift made to coordinate the squadron's salvos. "Let me know the moment you have reloaded."
 
Both acknowledged non-verbally and it was not long until the fleetmaidens were ready again.
 
"Fire."
 
Again twenty-four missiles were sent on their way towards their targets.
 
Swift followed the most recent salvo with her eyes for a moment, then glanced to the green-haired girl at her side.
 
Silver 's gaze was fixated on the ball of enemy aerospace-power. Lacking capital missiles herself the girl was forced to merely observe the battle against the dark swarm which, by this point, had reduced its speed relative to Blue Squadron to zero and was gaining distance again. The abyssals would still be in the fleetmaidens' range for a good while.
 
"Fire."
 
Conversation between the kanmusu was reduced to coordinating their ordnance while the process of launching missile-salvos repeated several more times. The panicked screaming from the Aquila-class jumpship was blessedly starting to lessen with increasing distance to the enemy.
 
 "How much longer will we do this?" Brest queried uncertainly, blue eyes squinting at the fleeing enemy formation.
 
 La Plata threw a questioning glance at her fellow cruiser.
 
 "How many missiles do you have left?" The question was for both Brest and La Plata.
 
"Enough for a handful of salvos." Brest was the first to answer.
 
"Cease fire." Swift ordered, intent on not depleting the corvette's relatively limited ammunition any further. "Keep those in case there is more trouble."
 
"They're almost out of range anyway." La Plata stood down herself.
 
"Do we keep pursuing?" Silver 's gaze was riveted to the abyssals.
 
"Yes."
 
In response the green-haired Falcon looked just about ready to take flight and swoop down on the retreating abyssals with bared talons.
 
Considering just how fast the Peregrine was she might actually catch up to the enemy before they reached their JumpShips.
 
Hurriedly the Aegis added. "All of us will pursue." She sent a pointed glance at the corvette.
 
Tension drained out of the Peregrine's frame and she returned the grey-haired woman's gaze evenly. Once again Swift was surprised by how easily the headstrong clan-warrior accepted orders which ran counter to her impulses and opinions.
 
"No sense in engaging them directly. We just need to force them back to their JumpShips and make them leave." La Plata's gaze was on the distant enemy formation. "First missile-salvo about to hit."
 
All eyes went to the abyssals. The way they scrambled and repositioned in response to the guided weapons reminded Swift even more of a dark swarm of insects than their looks already did.
The abyssals' sheer numbers would give them good chances of intercepting the fleetmaidens' ordnance. Yet the missiles had spent considerable time accelerating and were very fast at this point.
 
A moment later the two dozen missiles entered the abyssals' engagement-range. Multi-colored beams of light, particle bursts and muzzle-flashes lit up the dark insectoid forms of fighters and dropships. There were many small flashes of light in the distance, each indicating a capital missile being hit.
 
Mere moments after that the surviving missiles had covered the remaining distance and found their targets, claiming a handful of chitinous fighters.
 
"Rats. They shot down most of them." Brest was not enthused, prominent frown on her face.
 
"Was to be expected. It's fine though. Any of them we can bag is a bonus." La Plata assured.
 
Swift was keeping her unit on course for the enemy dropships while she watched the second salvo of missiles go home. Again the abyssals defended well, again half a dozen of their fighters were hit and subsequently blown to pieces.
 
"How'd you do that? Your Barracuda missed its target, but hit another fighter afterwards." Silver regarded Brest with open curiosity.
 
"Oh that. My missiles are teleoperated." The brunette responded nonchalantly. "No fancy tracking-systems on them, but on the up-side a miss does not mean the missile is wasted. I can just guide it onto another target."
 
"Hm." Despite the tilt of Silver 's head being a subtle gesture it spoke of how interesting she found the revelation.
 
The flagship was following the conversation with only one ear since another missile-salvo was about to hit. Again the pattern of maneuvering and defensive fire on the abyssals' part repeated, followed by several fighters being claimed by what they could not intercept. Every fighter lost weakened their screen and reduced their ability to intercept the very fast missiles the fleetmaidens had thrown their way. Swift smiled a tight smile when a large explosion flared up on one of the enemy dropships' dark carapace. It seemed one of La Plata's Killer Whales had gone through. The dropship fell out of formation, its propulsion disabled.
 
"Nice!" The Killer Whales sender cheered, fist balled. "Eleven more to go." La Plata announced with a confident smile, unrealistic as the notion may have been.
 
The process repeated several more times, the abyssals gradually losing more fighters to each successive salvo of missiles while Blue Squadron remained on course for the enemy JumpShips.
 
"That salvo was seven at once. Just about a hundred fighters left now." The second to last of their missile-salvos having hit, Brest was reporting the effects when she noticed something. "Oh?"
 
It was not just her. All other fleetmaidens had tensed up as well.
 
"There's an emergence-signature forming at the abyssal JumpShips' position!" La Plata yelled.
 
"Would have been too easy." Silver muttered darkly and cracked her neck.
 
Swift found herself agreeing with the Peregrine while she gauged the remaining distance and started thinking of ways to engage what was likely an enemy warship about to arrive, along with the still large ball of aerospace-power which was sure to come after them again in the ice-giant's low orbit. Fighting battles in a planet's orbit was much more complicated than in open space, the giant's atmosphere below them restricting their movement in that direction considerably.
 
Yes, Swift thought. Battles were complex things, even straight-forward ones, and unforeseen events were never favorable.
 
Or maybe they were, the Aegis corrected herself mentally.
 
Unexpectedly quickly a flash of light, which usually accompanied a hyperjump, appeared behind the abyssal JumpShips. The next moment Amber Lotus was there.
 
And the Inazuma did not waste any time. Living up to her class' name, faster than the abyssals could react, she brought to bear her considerable arsenal of weapons on the large and monstrous JumpShips. At the distance between them and Amber she could not miss.
 
Mere moments after muzzle-flashes had announced the firing of the Draconian's NACs two of the abyssal JumpShips were hit by them. Unarmoured as they were the massive shells punched right through them with enough force to nearly snap the needle-shaped monstrous JumpShips in half, shattering both of their K-F cores in the process.
 
A third jumpship got hit by several bolts of artificial lightning, courtesy of the Inazuma's NPPCs. The resulting electrical faults all over the ship, along with the more direct damage to its hull, caused the dark shape to light up from the inside in mere seconds. Fires were raging out of control all over it, the damage fatal.
 
Detaching her dropships and flipping herself around Amber was quick to take aim at the remaining jumpship.
 
Not quick enough. A telltale electromagnetic sound heralded an impending jump, and the next instant the abyssal was gone.
 
Before anyone could do or say anything, large and blindingly bright fireballs bloomed out of the destroyed abyssal JumpShips. Vaporizing most of the ships and shattering the remains they lasted for several seconds and obscured the draconian from sight.
 
"Amber!" Brest exclaimed, fear in her voice.
 
The girl's yell kicked Swift's mind back into gear. "Everyone! On me!" Going to full burn the Aegis drew up a new battle-plan.
 
"You jerks." La Plata was not pleased either while Silver remained silent, glaring at the enemy with her customary scowl in place.
 
Seconds passed and the fireballs dissipated, granting line of sight to Amber Lotus again. The girl was hunched over, arms raised to protect her face. Her hull was blackened, paint having been burnt off hair, eyebrows and uniform were singed while there were small fragments of wreckage embedded in her entire front. She had been pelted by the abyssal JumpShips' vaporised and shattered remains, and also sported what looked like an uncomfortable sunburn. Her dropships were in a similar state. Luckily there had not been enough time to launch any of her fighters, so at least Amber's screen of interceptors was unharmed.
 
"Amber Lotus! Report!" While Swift's order was demanding, anyone could hear the concern in the grey-haired woman's voice.
 
Seemingly startled back to the present by the flagship's yell, Amber lowered her arms and blinked a few times. <<"Reporting...">> She patted herself down experimentally, frown of concentration on her face. <<"...no serious damage, nanodesu.">>
 
An explosive exhale drew Swift's attention to Brest for a moment. "Thank goodness."
 
"Dezgra." Silver muttered darkly, giving voice to what she thought of the abyssals this day.
 
"Now we know for certain they have nuclear weapons." The corners of La Plata's lips were drawn downwards in distinctive unhappiness.
 
Swift got stuck on trying to see if Amber was actually fine, her concern overwhelming. The distance to the girl was still too large to be certain. She barely registered the last missile-salvo hitting the abyssal formation and claiming eight fighters as well as another dropship.
 
"Amber, look alive! There's a large swarm of abyssal aerospace power heading your way. Get moving!" La Plata was not so impaired and gave vital orders, since the abyssals were closing in on their vector to Amber's position, now going full tilt.
 
When the girl in question merely looked around dazedly La Plata tried another angle. "Amber, does your L-F battery have charge?" 
 
Blinking owlishly in the enemy's general direction for a moment Amber shook her head in response. "No."
 
"Damnation. Have to do it the hard way then." The tanned woman muttered under her breath and repeated her earlier command for Amber to get underway, followed by coordinates.
 
Blessedly the Inazuma got going.
 
Seeing her young charge in such a sorry state hurt Swift in ways she could not describe with words, similar to when Brest had been badly damaged. She pulled herself together and got thinking.
 
"I do not think Amber can outrun the abyssals, but their dropships are probably no faster than she is either." Thinking loudly the flagship cast a questioning gaze at her old friend.
 
La Plata took the unspoken prompt. "I'd send her around in an arch to rendezvous with us. That way the abyssals can't suicide into her as easily as with a head-on pass." There was concern in the tanned woman's green eyes, but also confidence.
 
"Agreed." Swerving her gaze to Amber again, Swift radioed. "Amber, once you reach your waypoint head for the coordinates i just sent you."
 
"Copy, nanodesu." Amber still sounded somewhat dazed, but definitely more alert now.
 
"You think the abyssals will resort to kamikaze-attacks again?" Brest did not sound thrilled at the prospect, questioning blue eyes locked onto La Plata's green ones.
 
"I fully expect them to." Swift answered in her old comrade's stead. "They have proven that willingness before, when they had no means of escape any more. And we also know there is method to their madness."
 
"Great. Can't wait to play that game again." Brest 's whiny tone, along with an eyeroll, made the girl seem exactly the age she looked. Swift would have giggled were she not so concerned for Amber.
 
"We will be victorious." Unexpectely Silver reassured the other corvette, expression and voice resolute.
 
"Oh, that's a lot of them, nanodesu." Amber's voice drew everyone's attention.
 
"You notice that now!?" It was actually possible to hear Brest 's raised eyebrows while she yelled back at her friend in the distance.
 
"Yes. I can see again." The Inazuma's reply was remarkably nonchalant, despite its severity.
 
"You what?!"
 
Swift had never heard the Fox' voice go this high-pitched, so she went on to explain briefly. "The heat-pulse and EMP from the nuclear devices have probably knocked out Amber's sensors. It seems she has repaired them partially now."
 
Brest stared at Swift unbelievingly while Silver seemed intrigued.
 
"Speaking from personal experience?" An eyebrow was raised high on La Plata's forehead.
 
"Unfortunately, yes." Returning her attention to the tactical situation, the Aegis sent Amber updated directions of movement which would let the girl link up with the rest of them.
 
When the questioning gazes around her did not relent the grey-haired woman elaborated. "The Taurians were not shy when it came to the use of nuclear weapons during the Reunification War."
 
Brief murmuring was all the other fleetmaidens had to say to that. Swift belatedly realised that, out of them all, she was the only one who had experienced that particular conflict. She was glad for that fact.
 
A tense silence fell while the pieces were moving on the chessboard, whith the abyssal swarm closing in on Amber and the latter picking up speed, still on her wide turn to make it more difficult to be hit.
 
Eventually the trajectories of abyssals and Amber Lotus crossed.
 
"Amber, talk to me. What is the status of your sensors?" Swift queried, eyes on the distant corvette and a concerned frown on her face.
 
"Better, nanodesu."
 
"Good. I need you to listen now. You are about to pass that ball of abyssal fighters and dropships."
 
"I see them." The dark-haired girl's eyes narrowed.
 
"You destroyed their transportation, so the abyssals have nowhere to go." That was something Swift was going to discuss with the girl. But first things first. "They might try to hit you with kamikaze attacks. Your task is to do whatever is necessary to make it by. Survive that high-speed pass of the enemy and rendevouz with us."
 
"Will do, nanodesu."
 
"Godspeed."
 
"Let's hope those dropships don't have nuclear weapons too." La Plata gave voice to what Swift was afraid of. They would find out soon. There was no way around it.
 
A tense silence fell among the rest of Blue while they watched events unfold, concerned yet too far away to do anything.
----
===Comrade in Arms===
Amber did not let herself be intimidated by the numerical disadvantage she was facing, dark eyes narrowed and determination in them.
 
As expected, when she made a tight turn the abyssals did so as well. They were trying to reach her, burning for all they were worth.
 
Resigning herself to the inevitable Amber huffed and prepared herself, readying her guns and drawing her screen of dropships and fighters closer to herself. The abyssals were almost in weapons-range.
 
A moment later they were and Amber did not waste any time. Her capital weaponry gave her an advantage in range, which she used.
 
Turning to present her broadside she fired a salvo of NAC-rounds and artificial lightning at the monstrous dropships in her sights. Rolling quickly she repeated the maneuver for her other broadside, then flipped herself around to use her powerful front-facing weapons while her broadside-guns were reloading.
Amber did all of this while at full burn, which put considerable strain on her structure. Yet it was seemingly worth it, considering the exhaust-trails from approaching abyssal fighters she could see were not uniform any more but jagged and crossing over each other. They spoke of how well the enemy formation was ordered while its individual elements tried to stay on an intercept-vector towards her.
The Inazuma's gunnery was on point. Two of the dropships she had targeted got hit and fell out of formation, while a third stopped manouvering altogether. Yet she had no time to celebrate.
 
Barely managing to flip herself back around after firing a salvo from her rear at the enemy, Amber faced the charging swarm head-on. She would trust her frontal armor, strained from brief extreme heat and rapid cooling as it was.
 
It was tested mere moments later when the first abyssal fighters reached their own weapons-range. The dozen of them were apparently medium fighters, considering they fired an assortement of lasers, PPCs and missiles at her. Hits rained down on her hull and weakened her armour further scorched and holed her uniform. Mere seconds behind those fighters were more, and more behind those.
 
Responding in kind with her own point-defense weapons, Amber gave the weapons free to her gunners and concentrated on evading as much of the torrent of fire as she could. To good effect, half of the first wave of fighters were blown to pieces. At this point Amber's three dropships entered the fray, one-sidedly crispy as they were. Led by her Achilles they were spearheading her own fighters to cut across the abyssals' approach and let them have it, their weapons claiming a number of chitinous monstrosities. Yet the enemy kept coming.
 
The Inazuma realized that the majority of abyssal fighters were coming for her directly. Curiously they were not striking at her own dropships and fighters as much as she would have expected. A quick glance told her that just around two dozen enemy fighters remained with their dropships, which were apparently not quite fast enough to reach her. Small blessings.
 
When the main contingent of abyssal fighters reached her Amber raised an arm to protect her face and flipped herself around again started ducking and weaving to throw off enemy targeting as best as she could.
 
Gritting her teeth as a torrent of what was effectively small arms fire to her painful pinpricks rained down on her, Amber yelped in pained surprise when she took a more substantial hit to one of her drives' casing the leg. The grave realisation that it would be the end of her should she be crippled made the Inazuma act faster than she could think. She flipped herself around again to face the oncoming abyssals.
 
Raising her other arm to better protect her face from all the weapons-fire, she dove right at the enemy fighers which had yet to pass her. Apparently, her earlier attempt to throw off the enemy's approach had worked. Having abandoned intricate evasive maneuvers in favour of breaking through quickly her hull rang with heavy impacts she was shaken by two heavy hits. Abyssal fighters had impacted her hull in kamikaze-dives. She would worry about the damage later. Gritting her teeth she pushed on.
 
Unable to hear anything over the continuous downpour of enemy fire on her hull, the roar of her own guns and the chattering of her anti-missile systems, she ignored the needle-like pain from the many small hits and the jolts from larger ones as best as she could. More keenly she felt the loss of her fighters. Each time one of them was destroyed registered as a painful pinprick to the dark-haired girl. A moment later she gasped, a bolt of pain hitting her like a stab to the heart. Her Union had been lost.
 
What was truly just short moments stretched and seemed like they would never end, the torrent of weapons-fire unceasing. As such she was surprised when it suddenly stopped.
 
Glancing up over her arms carefully all Amber saw was clear space and the planet's unusual green tint ahead of her.
 
Craning her neck around she glanced back at the abyssal swarm. Their momentum had carried them far past her. They had turned and were burning in the other direction to catch up with her again, but as fast as they were it would take them a while to even reach a neutral velocity relative to her.
 
She had made it through. Straightening in relief she was hit by a multitude of aches all over her frame, and one more significant twinge on her leg.
 
Amber was looking herself over when a call on the radio reached her.
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===Urgent Messaging===
"Amber Lotus. Status?" Swift demanded. To her eyes the girl looked mostly fine, but it seemed she was actually unable to help her worry when it came to Amber and Brest .
 
"No serious damage, nanodesu." The fact that the girl's voice was as soft as it usually was contrasted harshly with the martial prowess the draconian had just displayed.
 
Exhaling in relief Brest cheered. "Great! Now get over here!"
 
"That was good stuff. How many of them did she take out?" La Plata sounded rightfully impressed.
 
"Quite a few." Silver drew Swift's attention. The green-haired girl was nodding, seemingly to herself, an unreadable expression in her violet eyes.
 
"Damn. I want weapons to properly engage fighters too." Murmured under her breath as they were, the tanned cruiser's words could still be heard.
 
"Amber, come and link up with us. It is about time we bring this to an end." Swift's eyes were on the diminished ball of abyssals as they were struggling against their own inertia.
 
"Copy, nanodesu."
 
With no more obstacles between the Inazuma and the rest of Blue Squadron the girl quickly linked up with them.
 
"Welcome back." Brest greeted her friend while Amber was still burning the other way to match her velocity to the rest of the fleetmaidens.
 
"Thank you. I feel a lot safer facing that many enemies in a formation, nanodesu." Glancing from kanmusu to kanmusu Amber was visibly relieved.
 
"Not so many now. How did you even survive that?" La Plata once more asked the obvious question while running her eyes over the girl's sunburnt and shrapnel-marred front.
 
Merely smiling, Amber shrugged. "I dodged?"
 
When the draconian corvette took her position in their formation next to Brest the brunette did not hesitate and pulled her friend into a hug. "I'm glad you're okay. You had me worried."
 
Surprised for a brief moment Amber returned the gesture. "Sorry."
 
The girl would be sorry alright, but for the moment Swift allowed herself to be glad Amber made it to them in one piece. She watched the two friends a moment longer before she turned her mind towards serious matters again.
 
"Heads in the game. Enemy approaching extreme range." The Aegis' voice drew the two corvettes next to her apart. When she had their attention she continued. "La Plata, Brest . Prepare your capital missiles. We will not stop shooting this time. Use them all."
 
"Got it." Brest chirped back while the other cruiser merely nodded her head of dark hair.
 
"Ready? Fire!"
 
Volley-launching of Barracudas, White Sharks and Killer whales capital missiles resumed for five salvos in total.
 
Their flight-time was shorter, yet their effect still greater.
 
"Was a dozen this time. And another dropship." Brest remarked with surprise.
 
"There's fewer of them now, and their ammo for AMS might be running low." La Plata hedged.
 
"Good." Swift noted with satisfaction. "Silver , take point. Amber, stay behind us."
 
Both corvettes complied wordlessly, limited to throwing dirty glares at the enemy as they were.
 
The remaining four salvos of missiles achieved similar results as the first and reduced the number of abyssals drastically.
 
When the diminshed swarm of dark chitinous monstrosities reached the fleetmaidens they were predictable.
 
"Reliably dishonorable." Silver was muttering under her breath while she brought her massive forward-facing main guns to bear. As the formation's spearhead she was the first to be in ideal engagement-range. The abyssal dropships in her sights were zig-zaging, yet coming obviously directly for Blue Squadron. The massive shells missed over the still long range, yet the green-haired girl's follow-up with her NLs visibly scored a dropship's hide she hit.
 
The next moment it came apart in a burst of flames, hit by shells from one of the cruisers' NACs. There was no time to celebrate, for moments later all remaining abyssal units came into contact with Blue's combined screen. Space lit up with multi-coloured beams of light and many other kinds of weapons-fire.
 
"Not this time." La Plata hissed through clenched teeth. Having just destryoed the last remaining enemy dropship, her gaze became distant. Lacking weaponry to effectively combat fighters she went on to steer her half a dozen dropships personally, Swift realised, splitting her attention between them in a remarkable display of multitasking.
 
 "Not this time." Brest readily agreed. No more apprehensive about facing a large number of fighters the brunette threw herself into the fray. Having moved up to support Silver she blazed away at an abyssal fighter which had made it past their screen and was tumbling towards them. A moment later her Pulse Lasers knocked it out.
 
Distracted with battle as she was, Swift still noticed Brest had overcome the bad experience the girl had made with enemy fighters, which had crippled her back then. It boded well for the future. Giving herself a mental shake she yelled over the din of battle. "Stand firm! Almost done!"
 
With all enemy dropships destroyed before they could properly join the battle the tide had turned decisively in Blue Squadron's favor, and their combined screen held strong.
 
"Let this be the end of you." Hard expression on her face, La Plata watched on as the last abyssal fighters her units were engaged with took mortal hits from one of her dropships' LRMs.
"Done and dusted." Brest cheered after finishing off her last remaining targets, a pair of fighters her Claymore had turned into balls of fire.
 
"No more enemies." Silver reported impassively.
 
"Finally." Swift was leery of enemy reinforcements arriving and wanted to get going as quickly as possible. She glanced over her shoulder at the mysterious Aquilla-class jumpship as it was hovering above the greenish masses of gas below, the screaming of its terrified crew audible again now that the clamour of battle had ebbed.
 
"Time to help our new friends, nanodesu?"
 
"Pick them up and leave, yes." Swift agreed with her young charge, then gave her a long look. "How are you looking in terms of combat-readiness?"
 
"Damage is limited to minor hits, lost fighters and dropships, nanodesu."
 
Wordlessly the grey-haired woman prompted her young charge, eyebrow raised. By now Swift knew that the girl had a habbit of understating punishment she had taken.
 
Alright, i admit that the nukes didn't help. And i took an Arrow to the knee, i mean drives, nanodesu."
 
When La Plata opened her mouth Amber quickly added. "I can keep up."
 
"Good. We have civilians to rescue."
 
As one the squadron of five turned and headed for the mysterious jumpship.
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==Chapter Notes==
*; Chapter Note from the Author : Once more a chapter balooned in size. The original chapter 21, intended to be about half the size of this, grew into something that had to be broken into three parts.But that is how things go, i suppose. For example, Amber's part was not planned at all but she demanded the spotlight.
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