Fallen Grace

[Mercarryn]

"So that's how you fight, hmm? It won't matter anyway" she whispered. Seconds later the Lynx in the crosshair exploded, shrapnell of his remains floating around.
One more down. Many more left.
Sefegiru turned her Nephtys around and tried to get an overview over the fight between One Four One's mixed fighter and bomber wing against the Gallic Navy.
"Sefegiru here, status report", she yelled into her microfone.
"Hemuset-3 here, status yellow. #4, #5 and #9 still active and fighting. #2 has been shot down. Unknow status of #6 and #8. #7 pulled out the Sekhmet after the engines of the Chant du Cygne were destroyed."
"Damn, not working as planned". She looked at her own controls. The fighter was still operational, though one of her weapons had a malfunction.
No matter what, they would continue the fight. None of them could loose now.
"Allright, #7, stay away from the main combat area and find #6 and #8. Assist the colonial cruisers afterwards.
"All others, take out those fighters. At all costs!"
She somehow had the feeling it would cost them dearly. The gallics were giving them a fierce fighting. But so did the Order, too.

**..-we-...demand..~total extermination~..of 'weak-lights'**

An infested human! And he contacted her? Sefegiru looked around if she could see any fighter going for her, but could not discover anyone.
Suddenly, she heard a voice over the Order frequency: "Sefegiru, behind you!"
A moment later, heavy laser fire spit over the Nephtys, obliterating her shields and burning the armor plates on the starboard wing. Before the infested gallic pilot was able to do more damage or even destroying the Nephtys, Sefegiru pushed the thrusters to maximum, turned around while still drifting.
When the crosshair was on the enemy, a dark smile was on her face.
"Payback time". She pulled the trigger, spitting tachyon fire against the Lynx.
Most of it reached the target, weakening the shield, but not enough to break through and touch the hull. The fighter evaded too well for this.
"Oh, no, you won't get away with this", the agent mumbled.
"Sefegiru here, I have an infested pilot right in front of me, chasing him."
"#3 here, more incomin...AHHHHHHHHHH". The scream of Hemuset-2 ended with an explosion just before the connection was terminated.
"#7 here, they got #3 here, more incoming fighters. We need serious backup now!"
Sefegiru cursed. How did the Gallic navy get those fighters so fast now? She had hoped to take out the defense wing around the enemy cruisers to ease the attacks of her colonial allies and to open up another safe entry window for D'Autoine and his boarding squad. She switched to another frequency.
"Sefegiru here, d'Autoine, looks like we are running out of time, get onto the Chant du Cygne and get as much information as you can. Status yellow, I repeat, status yellow! We will clear the space for you."
Before d'Autoine could answer her, she had switched to the general order frequency again.
"Allright, ladies and gentlemen. Clear the path to the Chant du Cygne. Our boarding vessel is on its way!"
And with this she looked out for the next enemy fighter near the crippled battleship.