Forsaken

[Misha_Gottlich]

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[GREEN]... Receiving Core|channel broadcast transmissions... On-Display: ...

"Copy that, Centurion Dwanian. Keep your men ready. As soon as we weakened its outer hull, I want them in there. The Guildmaster needs the backup. Make sure to await the right opportunity. The combat zone will be hot, so do not move in unprepared"

[GREEN]: Additional direct transmission incoming... On-Display:

"Guardian Harrs, you lead the wings who spearheads the attack on the enemy wings. Sentinel McPhersons, you lead the defenders. We expect the to counterattack as soon as they recover from the initial strike".

Transmission: Clear... ... Comms: Clear... ... Chanel: Closed...

"Rodger that, weapons at the ready."

Taden tightened his harness and adjusted his targeting systems. He held tight formation with the Perditrix. As the flight group left the debris field the capital ship engaged its cloaking field. As the ship faded from view, Taden registered its signal with his shipboard AI. With the signal registered, his CPU implant built a wire-frame representation of the invisible cap ship on his internal visual display. In his eyes, the Perditrix was as clear as day, if only as a digital skeleton of its former self. He kept his bomber as close to the capital ships hull as he could safely, hoping to hide his signature within the warped field of the cloaking device.

As the attack group speed toward the waypoint coordinates, the Overlord came into his enhanced, cyborg augmented, view. His CPU augment immediately tagged the vessel [RED] on his IFF and seconds later had marked the 2 destroyers and twelve escort fighters as well. A mere moment later, his extended scan capabilities also picked up the Ambriamus tailing the enemy vessel. The Ambriamus was tagged [GREEN] on the IFF and Taden mentally added it into his battle calculations.

The attack group accelerated toward their target. It was two minutes till intercept and the Perditrix was steady in her course. The battle group was approaching their target at maximum velocity. Was the Perditrix really planning to-

[GREEN]... Receiving Core|encrypted emergency broadcast transmission... decrypting... On-Display:

"Brace for impact."

The message displayed in Taden's view mere seconds before the Perditrix slammed into the forward hull of the Overlord! The impact caused the cloaking field to be immediately disrupted and the enemy defenders reacted as their scopes pinged hot with hostile contacts. Taden peeled off the formation as the Perditrix continued to push the opposing capital ship until it collided with the Destroyer on its flank. This put the Overlord directly into the firing line of the Ambriamus. Taden was sure it would be a short matter of time before the friendly cap ship punched a hole big enough to get a boarding vessel through to the defending ships hangar. He was going to have to work fast.

The hostile fighter wings were already reacting through the chaos of the initial ramming impact. They were attempting to converge on the Perditrix. If they were allowed to concentrate on the capital ship, it wouldn't be long before its shields were down and taking hull damage. Taden pulled his snub craft around and set his targeting sights on the nearest contact to the Perditrix He was well within firing range, but hesitated just slightly, allowing just enough time for the capital ship to land a lucky shot with one of its turret lasers. At that exact moment, while the enemy crafts shields were overloaded dealing with the heavy turret fire of the capital ship, Taden unleashed the full loadout of his powerful strike craft into the little snub fighter. It was evaporated instantly into a mist of metal and plasma residue. He then turned his train of fire on the closest target and laid into it with all he had. The enemy pilot was slow to react, too slow, and was subsequently turned to a mass of hot slag.

The pilot that was his obvious wing-man, was also obviously a rookie and also slow on the sticks. As his partners ship folded into itself beginning to implode, the amateur tried to pull out of formation far to late and slammed straight into the molten explosion his companion was quickly becoming.

At this point, Tadens CPU AI registered the gunship Tigris departing from the hangar of the Perditrix. It shoved off and quickly made way for the compromised side of the Overlord where the hull was beginning to weaken from the assault of the Ambriamus. Wings of fighters and bombers had entered the skirmish from the Perditrix and the Voidmourn and were keeping the fighter escorts from the Overlord quite busy. Taden's ship scanners also picked up the signature of a troop transport boarding vessel departing the hangar of the Voidmourn. Taden was sure that Centurion Dwanian was on that boarding ship, and a scanner sweep confirmed his suspicions. As the marine transport moved toward the gaping wound in the hull of the capital ship we are assaulting, the remaining Destroyer began to move to intercept. Apparently they were catching on to what was happening. Taden was certain that the captain at the helm of that vessel was almost definitely another Infected scum. His vengeance rage seethed up! It was time to get his hands dirty!

Taden mentally keyed his comms. He prepared to send a message to Centurion Dwanian. His ride might get a little rough, but he had the marines backs. He had a plan that should actively disable the fast approaching Destroyer.

"Attention Centurion Dwanian, your boarding vessel is about to be waylayed by a Destroyer. Hold fast, I've got my finger on that for you. You won't be taking its fire for long."

With the message sent, Taden ramped up his forward shields and pushed the throttle to the limit. He faced right at the charging Archer Class and began concentrating heavy laser fire on the viewport of the bridge. The small cap ship was concentrating all of its attention on the transport boarding vessel and didn't register the one small bomber blasting a hullbusting torpedo straight at its now unshielded bridge.

Taden followed his torpedo directly behind the blast radius, his augmented AI keeping a distance marker prompt on his vision display. He spit a ring of laser fire around the torpedoes trajectory weakening the hull shielding before impact, and when the torp smashed into the ship the explosion sent the exterior hull shielding hurtling out like shrapnel. Hot on the heels of the explosion, quite literally, Taden pushed on streaming laser-fire at the inner hull structure of the bridge. He didn't let up on the throttle even a single bit as he smashed straight through the ships skin, plunging his Blacktip into the nerve center of the Destroyer like a spear-tip. He could hear the metal scraping and tearing as his ship nestled itself into the soft tissue of its prey.

As soon as momentum halted, Taden triggered the eject sequence and was propelled out of his cockpit into the mangled chaos that remained of the bridge. Crew men scrambled to maintain their ship after the impact. Taden registered the bridge crew that were left alive and scanned the ship systems checking the roster to identify them. He located the captain of the struggling vessel, in the heightened state of confusion and chaos, the Infected's eyes had taken on the tell-tail blue glow of Nomads. The hate for the Infected rose up in him. With the crew in shambles, he focused on the commanding officer. He was going to enjoy getting the squirmy alien slime in his powerful hands. It was flesh rending time!

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... The Flames Of Combat Rage On...

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