Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11), стр. 67
Kage went silent and let Jason work. Very rarely had he seen his captain panicked to the point that he wasn't sure what to do, but it seemed like Jason was feeling the net close in around him and all he could think to do was run. The Phoenix was a powerful ship after all her modifications, but she wasn't invincible and nine Stellovar fighters were certainly reason for serious concern. While Jason concentrated on fleeing their pursuers, however, Kage was more worried about them getting too close to one of the big boys and having it get a lucky shot. The main guns on the dreadnaught the ConFed had brought to the party would vaporize the Phoenix, shields up or not.
"Have the fighters reached the Eshquarian fleet yet?" Jason asked.
"Not yet, but they're on their way," Kage said. "The ConFed fleet isn't moving to intercept them just yet for some reason…that's odd."
"They just took a full volley in the face from a fleet they assumed had no teeth," Jason said. "They'll hold these ships back in a defensive pattern to control the flow of traffic around the planet and make sure they don't come any further down. The fighters are being sent out to try and pick off the attack boats, so I assume they've figured out that someone has boarded and is trying to take control."
"So…where does that leave us?"
"Out of options," Jason said. "Are there any other ConFed targets of value in this region of the system? They have to be military targets."
"Nothing but the ships that just meshed-in on top of us."
"Guess that'll have to do. Let's get some distance and give them a little surprise…bring all of our XTX-4's online."
Jason allowed himself to run one more circuit ahead of his pursuers before turning out away from the engagement area, appearing to be running for a mesh-out point that was being covered by two heavy cruisers. By now, his little ship had likely come to the attention of the ConFed fleet commanders as his erratic flying and unusually high-power output would make her stand out on their sensors. In hindsight, it might have been better if he'd just tried to flee to the outer system and blend in without all the outbound traffic.
"What's the plan?" Kage asked.
"Do any of the ConFed ships have their shields up?"
"They've powered weapons, but no shields up right now," Doc said. "No need with the Eshquarian fleet still being so far out."
"Target the dreadnaught with all four of the XTXs," Jason said. There was a pause while Kage seemed to choke on something, and even Crusher looked back as if he'd lost his mind.
"I'd like to point out that if we shoot them all off, we won't have any left, and they don't make them anymore," Kage said. "Also, if you damage a ship that expensive, the ConFed will hunt us down for the rest of our days."
"I feel like we're past all that already," Jason said. "Target the ship, standby to fire."
"Holy shit, this is going to be bad," Crusher muttered.
"Everybody wanted to be a rebel and poke the ConFed in the eye with a stick," Jason said. “So, what's the matter? You wuss out when the stick is too big?"
"Your managerial skills leave a lot—"
"Shut up and target that ship. We'll stay on this course another fifteen minutes, and then swing back around," Jason said. "Once we fire, we're heading for the planet."
"Do I even want to know why?" Kage asked.
"Because we need to find some way to improve our odds, and flying in circles out here isn't doing it. We need to get closer to the surface and work to her strengths."
The fighters they were up against were designed solely with void conflict in mind. They were blocky and had odd protuberances that made them unstable and difficult to control within an atmosphere. The Phoenix, built for a different purpose, was sleek and excelled when she was in air. He just hoped that the Miressan ground based military was just as lax and outdated as their HDF fleet had been.
23
Kellea watched the tactical hologram intently as the Phoenix tried to flee the area. Jason had been running wildly around within the ConFed's tightening picket lines, unable to break away thanks to the overlapping ranges of the 405th's ships. She was still trying to figure out what his role had been in what seemed to be a complete debacle for the ConFed as the gunship came about again, apparently turning away from where a heavy cruiser was moving to cut them off.
Once the ship had swung about on her wide turn, the Defiant's computer put up a new icon letting her know that the Phoenix had just brought up her targeting scanners. Who was he going to shoot at? All the missiles the gunship carried were ill-suited to take an individual fighter out.
"ConFed ships are raising shields," Essel said. "Apparently, they're not taking any chances once the targeting scans hit them. We might want to—" he was cut off by a warbling alarm. The computer automatically highlighted and zoomed a portion of the hologram to the ConFed dreadnaught…which was burning in space and listing badly, being pulled down towards Taus.
"I don't understand," Essel said as the bridge exploded into action. "They never fired."
"Computer detected four missile launches from the DL7, but it was only a few seconds afterwards that the dreadnaught took hits," the sensor operator said. "The first two hit the shields and buckled them, the second two ripped in pretty deep. She's still under power but floundering."
"Captain, please raise our own combat shields," Kellea said. "I think things are about to get a bit more…exciting."
The reaction from the ConFed fleet was impressive. There were no panicked shouts over the open channels, no uncoordinated or knee-jerk responses