They'll Regret That Too

Posted on Thu Feb 27th, 2020 @ 12:33pm by Lieutenant Colonel Kell "Cyclops" Tainer & Chief Warrant Officer Ryi "Taffy" Amlari & Staff Warrant Officer Hana "8-Ball" Nakamura
Edited on on Thu Feb 27th, 2020 @ 12:34pm

Mission: Mission 18: Aces High
Location: Various Locations - USS Roanoke
Timeline: 0800Hrs - December 23rd, 2390

Lynx looked at Eight Ball and Taffy. "Remember to stay with your wingman." She told them. "We'll keep the formations simple like echelon right, echelon left, wedge, arrow, and diamond. Understand?" Lynx asked and the other two and they nodded. "Good, we'll get through this. Don't worry."

"Those formations are very easy to defeat." Typhoon told Lynx. "I think this simplicity is a mistake."

"These two pilots don't have enough experience yet." Lynx told Typhoon. "Right now we're just trying to keep our flight status."

"Here they come." Taffy told the rest of the flight.

Boomer looked at the assembled pilots. "the mission is a simple one.. pay attention to your fight leader... and to your Squadron Commander." he commented.

Cyclops nodded. "Alright... we'll practice simple flying... and then we'll try simple gunnery skills."

Typhoon looked at Lynx "Taffy will be your wingman. Eight Ball will be mine." the Vulcan ordered her flight. "Get into your simulators and wait for orders."

The pilots moved to their fighters and did the preliminary checks. Everything checked out and they gave Typhoon the thumbs up. Typhoon looked at Cyclops. "Already Sir."

"Very well. Go ahead and start....

"Alright.." Boomer looked at Cyclops. "I'll leave you to.. handle these four. I need to do the Chapter Paperwork on Houges." and with that boomer turned and walked off.

Cyclops went over to his simulator and he climbed into it.

The simulation started. Typhoon opened her comm. "Flight: we will assume an arrowhead formation." And with that Typhoon took the point. Eight Ball was behind Typhoon and to her left, covering her blind side and the left flank of the flight. Lynx was behind Typhoon and to her right. Taffy was behind Lynx and to her right, covering the right flank of the flight.

"Flight." Typhoon opened up again. "Our route should appear on your Heads Up Display. Please look it over." Typhoon ordered. "We will go through the asteroid belt and through the gas giants atmosphere. There are Tamora fighters on the other side of the planet."

"Eight Ball, your too close to Typhoon." Taffy told her over the comm.

"Why don't you mind your own business bubble head!" Eight Ball shot back.

"Hey! Your the one who flew through another squadron's air space!" Taffy shot back.

"The Squadron was in the wrong spot!" Eight Ball protested and started to veer into Typhoon's fighter.

"Eight Ball back off!" Lynx shouted. "Your too close." She told her. Eight Ball pulled back a little farther away from Typhoon. "Taffy, let your senior officers adjust the formation. That's my job and not yours." Lynx chided Taffy.

Cyclops's voice came over the com. "Actually, handling formation and the like... is my job.. but so far. Typhoon, you're doing a good job of it... I'm going to let you continue..." one could almost hear the smile on Cyclop's face.

The flight headed towards the asteroid belt. Each fighter changed their course slightly to avoid a collision with the mass of rock but they stayed in formation as they zoomed through. The flight was in the belt for about an hour before banking to the right and into the yellowish ocher colored gas giant.

The flight retained it's formation as it entered the planet's atmosphere. The heavy gravity and powerful storms slowly pulled the formation apart. The four pilots stayed steady and adjusted their flying to keep the formation in tact. After ninety minutes the ocher gave way to the blackness of space and the formation exited the gas giant.

"I have three Tamora fighter ahead." Eight Ball declared.

"Permission to engage?" Typhoon asked Cyclops.

"Negative." he responded. "Do we know their intentions?" he inquired, he knew exactly what was going to happen but h wanted to remind the other pilots abut having ambiguous rules of engagement.

"The Tamoras are powering weapons!" Eight Ball urgently told them.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Typhoon shouted. The Tamora fighters started shooting their micros at Typhoon but she banked off with Eight Ball following. Lynx and Taffy broke in another direction. The three C'Hakilian fighters chased Typhoon.

Typhoon zigged and zagged as she evaded the Tamoras' shooting. Lynx quickly doubled back and drew a beat on one of the fighters. She let off a long burst with her micros. Most of the shots hit and the fighter's shields gave out before it exploded. The two fighters broke off pursuit of Typhoon to go after Lynx.

As the fighters turned around Taffy let loose a photon torpedo and destroyed another. Eight Ball let off a quick burst from her micros and damaged the last one. The fighter shot its micros at Lynx but she evaded. Typhoon finally brought her fighter around and knocked out the damaged Tamora.

"Flight regroup and report in." Typhoon ordered. The flight reassembled into a arrowhead formation. One by one the pilots reported in and assessed their damages, which were none.

"Cyclops, the Flight is ready for more orders." Typhoon informed him.

"Nice flying guys." Cyclops commented with a smile. "Consider me impressed.." he commented. "Alright... lets try and find their base... and evaluate what they have in terms of strength.."

"Roger that." Typhoon responded. "Flight, we are going to take a heading of 87 degrees X and 4 degrees Y." Typhoon informed them. "Move at half impulse." The flight veered in the new direction which was across the curvature of the yellowish ocher gas giant. A small moon was in the distance.

"Typhoon." Eight Ball spoke up, "There is a small facility on the moon. Maybe a small hanger base. I'm reading two Type 10 Phaser batteries." Eight Ball informed the flight.

"Confirmed. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a torpedo launcher nearby. We can't read it now because it isn't powered up." Lynx added. "I also got six Tamora fighter in two patrols of three each."

"Is it commands intention that we engage?" Typhoon asked.

Cyclops nodded. "If it looks at you funny... kill it."

"Roger Cyclops." Typhoon responded. "Lynx, you and Taffy will disable the hanger and launch pad." She told the flight. "Eight Ball and I will pull off the fighter patrols. We will engage the patrols on the other side of the moon as too allow Lynx and Taffy a straight run at the launch pad." Typhoon instructed. "Confirm you you understand." One by one the pilots confirmed Typhoons orders.

"Eight Ball, increase your impulse drives to ninety percent and follow me." Typhoon told Eight Ball and the two fighters broke formation and sped off. They moved some distance out and approached the moon's far side.

"Three Tamora fighters ahead!" Eight Ball alerted Typhoon.

"Engage." Typhoon ordered. With that both fighters let off two torpedoes each. Typhoons first torpedo missed the lead fighter but the second found its mark. Each of Eight Ball's torpedoes hit the unaware fighters.

"The other patrol has changed course to intercept us!" Eight Ball shouted over the comm.

"Taffy, full impulse ahead!" Lynx shouted at Taffy. Taffy acknowledged the order and followed Lynx. "Taffy, the C'Hakilian batteries are automated." Lynx told the Andorian. "That means while they are very accurate, they are predictable. Change are evasion pattern frequently, understand?" she asked and Taffy acknowledged. "Good, don't engage the batteries and when you get within torpedo range of the launch pad unload your payload. We may only get one chance at this run. Got it?" Taffy confirmed and the two fighters shot off towards the moon.

Meanwhile, the three Tamora fighters were coming at the two Valkyries. Typhoon let off a long burst and damaged the lead fighter. The Tamoras returned fire but the Valkyries evaded them. As the fighters maneuvered around each other Typhoon drew a beat on the damaged fighter and destroyed it with a sharp micro burst. A Tamora got behind her and fired its micros and wore down her shields. Eight Ball fired a torpedo and destroyed it. Typhoon finally spun around on the last fighter and destroyed it with a torpedo.

Lynx was dancing back and forth in her Valkyrie as she evaded the phaser fire. Taffy was behind and could barley follow Lynx. Lynx suddenly changed to a corkscrew pattern as phaser fire barely missed. her. An iris shaped door opened on the surface of the moon and three more fighters exited and set course for Typhoon and Eight Ball.

"Fighters on their way to Typhoon and Eight Ball!" Taffy shouted.

"Ignore them!" Lynx ordered. "Destroy the iris."

Lynx let loos her entire payload on the iris as it was closing. She pulled up sharply as the torpedoes hit. All near misses but no direct hit. The iris was stuck opened though. Taffy fired off her torpedoes and one went in through the small opening in the iris. A long pillar of flame shot out of the iris.

"Yeah!" Taffy shouted.

"Four torpedoes launched from the surface!" Lynx warned Taffy. "Jink! Jink!"

Lynx jink and two torpedoes missed. Taffy jinked as two torpedoes came at her. One missed and the other exploded close to her fighter. Taffy screamed as the right side of her Valkyrie was burnt black and the wing blown off. The force of the explosion sent the wounded fighter out of control. Lynx chased it down and stopped it with her tractor beam.

As Typhoon and Eight Ball were reorganizing the last three Tamoras fired off their torpedoes at long range. The two Valkyries dodged the torpedoes. Eight Ball and a Tamora went straight at each other. The Tamora shot its micros that bounced off the Valkyries shields and Eight Ball shot a torpedo. As the two fighters passed the Tamora exploded.

Typhoon chased down a Tamora and started to destroy it with short bursts from her micros. The final Tamora got behind Typhoon and started to hit her with short bursts. Eight Ball maneuvered behind the fighter and attempted to shoot it.

"Damn it!" Eight Ball screamed in disbelief. "My weapons are locked!"

Knowing she had no weapons, Eight Ball pulled her fighter in between the Tamora and Valkyrie. The Tamora switched targets and began to wear down Eight Ball's shields. Typhoon pulled back fast and fired off the rest of her torpedoes into the final Tamora.

"Attention Flight, regroup!" Typhoon shouted as she watched the last Tamora burn into pieces. The Eight ball pulled into her place and Lynx into her's. Taffy was getting a tow from Lynx.

"Report in flight." Typhoon ordered. "My shields are down to thirty percent and my payload is empty." Typhoon told the flight.

"My shields are up but my payload is empty." Lynx responded.

"My shields are down to ten percent and my weapons systems are locked and probably damaged." Eight Ball replied.

"My shields are down, my drives are down, my engines are operating at five percent, I'm on emergency life support, and the hull integrity of my fighter has been compromised." Taffy reported.

"Roger that flight." Typhoon acknowledged. "Cyclops, my flight is no longer combat capable and needs to return. Permission to do so." Typhoon asked.

"Copy that. Proceed." Cyclops responded evenly. "Taffy, how bad is your damage?" he inquired.

"All my klaxons are going off." Taffy replied. "Almost all my systems are down and the fighter has several hull fractures."

"Okay..." he commented. "Can you make it back to the Roanoke?"

"Yes Sir." Taffy answered.