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Morrigan      Eris Station is in the middle of nowhere, a spot deemed 'suitably obscure' by both the Elders and Admiral Recamai. Once one of the largest stations in the system, it had been abandoned ever since Calder's Third Fleet had been pushed past Jupiter. It's the furthest expression of UEF civilisation. With the lack of light out here, with the Sol star so far away, everything is dark. Eris Station is only visible because of what the great hulk blocks behind it - other stars.

     The UET Reshadiye is a fairly unremarkable civilian transport, special only because of who it is carrying. Elder Lin Taudigani, one of the beloved Elders of the Federation. Flying escort are two members of the White Brotherhood, the so-called Knights.

     But one thing is immediately obvious.

     The Vasudans aren't here.
Alexis Maaka     There's no Vasudans out here alright. That puts Maaka on edge as she flies in with the escort. "Spectre here, making another long range scan before we dock." She says calmly, activating long range detection software just in case. For a negotiation, there's an awful lack of the other party here today.
Zephyr Windstar     Blitz is on edge too. She D-Jumped in and found no welcome wagon. "Blitz to all points, area is sanitized. I'm taking a long-range sweep to scout for any hostiles waiting at the edge of the AO." she calls in, turning to wing over and take another sweep around the far edge of 'engagement' zone for a capital ship. Her sensors aren't as good as most others in the responders, built for targetting what can be seen, not discovering what cannot be seen, but she's sweeping with everything she's got.
Morrigan      No Vasudans. It's ominous, especially so because of the sheer darkness of it all. It brings to mind old legends of things lurking in one's peripheral vision but never there when you turn to look at them.

     Perhaps fittingly, Zephyr's sweep picks up... something. It's hard to tell what. It's a faint contact and one can't help but think - whoever it is, doesn't want to be found. It's likely that the UEF fighters can't even see that faint reading.

     And, just like that, four things go wrong in quick succession.

     1. The local intrasystem gate powers down, going dark and silent.

     2. A wide curtain of jamming settles over the combat space.

     3. A multi-kiloton explosion rocks the rear of the Reshadiye.

     And, 4. A wing of Gef fighters spring up out of nowhere, carrying nukes and bearing down on the crippled Reshadiye.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka swears, jumping in her seat just as she sees GEF inbound. Popping her neck, the cyborg gets into combat mode before she breaks formation and takes off after one of the GEF fighters. "Goddammit. Targeting systems are giving me nothing but static, I can't get a lock!" She says, using afterburners to get within vulcan range.

    "Spinning up, guns guns guns." She lets off a burst of vulcan fire to the nearest GEF fighter, trying to whittle down its armor before she can use a dumb-fire missile.
Zephyr Windstar     "Divine Wind... recalibrate the sweep... see if you can't lock that signal trace down... whatever that is, /doesn't/ want to be found." says Zephyr to her Device, as she hangs motionless in the vast dark of space near the hulk of the station.

    <YES. AREA SEARCH! Focusing parameters from trace signal. Refining algorithm.> The Device's head twists and begins to spin, feather thin tracers of purple energy lashing out in all directions around the Mage as she attempts to localize and lock down the signal she found... all the while, backdropped by the growing melee of UEF and GEF fighters entering dogfight range. "I hope this isn't a wild goose chase..." says the mage to herself, sparing a glance at the stricken transport as it silently rolls.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is on edge her self something doesn't seem to be right here the Vasudans are late and not here, she has to wonder about just what's going to happen, could it be a trap? Could it bean ambush? However Kotone is going to try to rmotly get into any local networks she can do so, to get into local networks but then comes the nukes and she panics a little bit. Nuclear weapons just grabbed a very bad place for her.

She's not going to be deploying in thefighter she's going to find the nearest terminal she can, pull several cables out of the back of her neck and jack in to see what she can do for the ship's systems. Information assaults Kotone as she sorts through it seeking out the shiopes status reports but she's going to also put a portion of her procesisng power to work on the ship's gunnery systems. They need all the help they can get...
Morrigan      The outer edge of the Sol system lights up with violence.

     Maaka, the Knights and Wargods fall upon the Gef fighters. Radical transhuman eco-terrorists, the Gaian Effort hate the Federation and the Tevs and the Vasudans. The motive is clear, but it doesn't explain how they knew where and when.

     Zephyr will have an answer in a few seconds. One by one, though, the Gef fighters are taken out of action. Some of them get missiles off.

     Aboard the Reshadiye, Kotone has patched herself into the transport's systems. The ship's meagre defense grid responds like an extension of her own body. When a nuke gets through the defensive escort, it's as simple as turning attention to it and the Reshadiye blasts it to pieces. Information does assault her - they've found the one responsible for the detonation, an Ensign Zulkifri, and they were killed in the attempt to apprehend. The Elder is safe and under the protection of someone or something called Widow Eight-Two.

     Away from the battle, Zephyr pings the signal and locks it down. It isn't a wild goose chase, although Zephyr might start thinking it'd be better if it was.

     It's a Tev AWACS vessel. Aware that it's been made, it is already preparing to jump.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka calls for support from the Wargods, and as she gets some support on her back she presses her assault. Trying to unjam her lock-on targeting systems, she hovers her finger over the trigger to her missiles, letting one fly when she thinks she has a clear shot at the fighter she's chasing, then moving on to the next, vulcan guns blazing away.
Zephyr Windstar     Zephyr sighs. It's a mix of relief and angry frustration. The GTVA /led/ the Gaians here. And now this smells like a trap more and more. Zephyr locks onto the signal, turns her eyes towards the distant speck of the Charybdis-class ship... and shakes her head. "You're not getting away. I WANT ANSWERS!"

    Magic FLARES around her, making her glow like her own miniature star against the mostly black area. A giant target for anything that could potentially hit her... though she's not worried about that.

    No.

    All that magic begins to condense down into a point of light in front of her brandished Device head. The blades whirling rapidly. <TARGET LOCKED. COORDINATES ARE SPECIFIC. ENGINE SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY. MAELSTROM BREAKER. TEMPTEST SHIFT.> speaks the Device, coldly analytical. "Fire."

    A beam of irridescent purple lances out silently from the Mage, streaking towards the AWACS craft like a giant hammer falling onto an ant... but it splits just before impact into two smaller beams. Then eight, thirty two. one hundred twenty eight... two thousand tiny beams, each seeking out vital components in the engines, jump drive and communications array. Drilling microscopic holes and attempting to brute-force disable the ship.

    That fine control makes the Mage wince after she lets the energy go, clutching her chest with gritted teeth.
Morrigan      The Gef fighters vanish, leaving nothing but wreckage. The Reshidaye is out of danger - present danger, at least.

     Zephyr strikes the Charybdis-class AWACS, blasting it full of holes. The jump vortex fails and the ship goes silent. The engines die. The communications jamming drops. It drifts, out of control and without power.

     The jamming lifts, and the communications channel comes alive.

     But as Sir Leatt says, it's unlikely that the attack will be abandoned so easily.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa knows there's notmuch go go on but yes she'lldo what she can, she'll blast any nukes that might slip by or attempt to. The enemy might notice the boost in performace boost though. she's however filing away the information on the one who did it. the elder is safe which is good, but Widow, Eight-Two? She's got no idea there. For now she's going to end up just focusing on doing her best to keep the ship alive and intact. shedoes not ant to go for a space walk, even if she might live through it? Most of the crew will not and she knows it. She'll also check sensor sto see howmany and where the enemy is comingfrom.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka's alert and ready, trying to get her comms back to where she likes it. "About time. Nice and clear." She isn't convinced this is the end at all, no way Jose. She flies close to the Reshidaye, a mighty guard for the wounded ship and her crew.
Zephyr Windstar     Zephyr floats over after collecting herself, and letting her Linker Core settle down again after that massive outlay of power. She lands against the stricken hull of the Charybdis, jams her Device into the side and intones. "Restrict Lock." Divine Wind chimes in response. <SEALING.> Lashes of purple energy wind out around the ship, encircling it so she can tow it closer to the striken transport, and into Kotone's range. "All points, Blitz towing GTVA AWACS into range. Bearing 019 point 283 mark 327. Closing at 200m/s." she calls in, pulsing her flight spell to counter rolling, and maintain an even flight path, before beginning to slow as she gets closer.
Morrigan      In a matter of moments, a second Federation transport as arrived - and this one is military-spec, it's clear that they're not taking chances at this point. Alongside it are another set of White Guard Knights in their gleaming advanced fighters.

     The Elder is hurried into one of the Reshadiye's shuttlecraft under the guard of Widow Eight-Two. The Knights and Wargods fall into escort while Zephyr brings the broken AWACS into range. That's dramatic proof that something has gone terribly wrong here.

     Kotone's sensors are empty. Still, the situation is tense. Seconds pass by like hours.
Morrigan Somewhere far away, Admiral Steele has prepared for this scenario.

    Not this exact one, of course, but enough similar ones. Steele is maddeningly precise, able to calculate certain victory from sheer improbability, but he is not prescient. But there are many scenarios where his political connections, his psychological tactics, and the manufactured loss of half a dozen Pegasus stealth fighters can be just the right trick to stymie his enemies.

    Steele doesn't need to give the order himself. No, he trusts his people to act like machines, to conduct themselves to his timetable. It doesn't always work, people don't trust a commander with such a frighteningly positive record. But when you handpick the right pilots, the pilots you used to serve with?

    It works.

    Elder Taudigani doesn't get another word out. Black shapes with no sensor profile - stealth fighters, half a dozen in number - blast the Elder's shuttle to pieces, mere inches from the second transport.

    And then they descend on everyone else, a murder of invisible crows.

    Somewhere distant, Admiral Steele glances at the clock - and permits himself a small, rare smile.
Zephyr Windstar     A death blossom. Beautiful as it is final... the Shuttle, the Elder. Gone.

    Zephyr is silent for several moments... "The shuttle's been vaporized..."

    That realization triggers something deep inside of her. A boiling, burning feeling that's nipped at her heart for years. A burning sensation she could never describe... and now. It's consuming her whole.

    She releases a roar of pain, anger, frustration and rage, a hopeless, heartless shreik like a banshee, fortunately saving her allies the full weight of that emotional outburst by Divine Wind who cuts audio output. <READY SET.> she states firmly. She will stand by her Master, even now.

    Zephyr launches from the hulk of the AWACS, not even bothering with trying to target the ships. She's fast. Faster than they are, so the first one she gets even a hint of a sight on, earns itself a first-hand introduction to Divine Wind's magic-augmented blade. <MISTRAL CUTTER!> aiming to cut the thing, if not in two, then at least cut deep into its hull, before moving on to another target.

    Purple orbs of light flash out from her, aiming at anything that remotely looks like an enemy, though Divine Wind is careful not to accidentally target an allied ship in the furball.
Alexis Maaka     "NO!" Maaka only manages to get off a few shots before the shuttle is blown to bits, distracted by all the discussion over comms. Her rage fuels, her, and she does her best to track the stealth fighters as they come to attack everything else in sight.

    This is a bad idea, as Maaka aggressively begins to fire off missile after missile, swarmers unleashing their packed payload when she gets a lock or two. There's no cursing into the mic, there's no roaring of fury, just cold efficiency as she ups her game.

    "It's hunting time, you fuckers...you're not the hunter anymore, not while I'm here."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is going to take the data that is thrtown her way by Zephyr and she'll tap into the the craft trying to crack any safeguards it has and trying to get into it's data, it's fornate she's able to do seveal things at once. Then something else comes stealth units that's th eonly way it could be in her mind. She brings up the defences system trying to target them, looking for any ripples or other disrotions in space anything she'll also take what she can do with the Sensor maybe she can find these thing if she get creative with the specturm use?
Morrigan It's clear that the stealth fighters are here to clean up. While they tangle with the escorts, two of them slip off to nail the wreck of the AWACS. They hit it cleanly, precisely, and the wreck begins to come apart.

     But not before Kotone manages to yank a copy of the AWACS' computer core. It is encrypted, for now, but if they blast the AWACS then Steele won't know the Elites have a copy.

     Even if he covers 99% of outcomes, that 1% might be enough.

     The Pegasus fighters are fragile things. They die uneasily when they are caught under gun or missile. They end up bifurcated from Zephyr's blade, blasted by Maaka's missiles, and wrecked by the guns of the Knights and Wargods.

     Just as they fall, there's a large energy signature. Something is jumping in.

     It's Admiral Recamai.

     But something is wrong. The agreement asked for a transport and wing of fighters - not a Hatshepsut-class destroyer.

     Something becomes abundantly clear. Steele hasn't just played the Federation, he's played the Vasudans, too.
Alexis Maaka     There's no point in sticking around, Divine Wind is right about that. Maaka takes the time to make a jump, her ship preparing the FTL systems. "Goddammit...we all got played." She growls, before taking off.

    Knight One is right; The gun cam records are what are necessary here, and if she sticks around she runs a risk of wasting any evidence she has to present later in dying to a hopeless fight.
Zephyr Windstar     "Haaah... haaah... haaah." Cold. Empty. Alone... Even as Divine Wind tries to talk the Destroyer commander down, Zephyr is inert, floating along on the last heading when the final Pegasus went down. Luckily that is /away/ from the Vasudan battlegroup. <Master. We have to go... there is nothing left for us to do here.> chimes Divine Wind, trying to break the Mage out of her torpor.

    "Y-you're right... Dee. Initiate Dimensional Jump... coordinates Mars orbit... lets get to safe harbour... then we can figure out what the fuck happened."

    <Yes. Beginning Dimensional jump. Coordinates are specific.> A spell circle forms under Zephyr's feet, and again above her head. A cylinder of purple light fills the gap between, then the two seals collapse together, taking the Mage out of the combat zone.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa knows it's time to go, but first she'll pull the copy of the data, then the AWACS is blowin up. Good that covers her tracks if this was a set up to prevent talks? Should they get proof they could make a mess locally and in the multiverse as well. Information is a more powerful weapon than a gun on her world after all. She'll give a notice to suriving crew that she's leaving nd if they can't get the ship to move. She'll make fo a shuttle and get anyone she can help along the way to itand leave with her cargo of information.
Morrigan      The Elites retreat, followed by the Wargods. Kotone is the last one out, in a Reshadiye shuttlecraft.

     The last thing she sees is a horde of fighters descending upon the Knights and the immoble Reshadiye, with the bulk of Recamai's destroyer looming behind them.

     Laporte it right - someone sold them out.

     And the list of suspects is frighteningly short.