Project - Prometheus Ch. 44

"Shit, that was close!" Daved yelped over the comms.

"Talon, what is their attack vector?" Priya questioned as the ships flew out to meet the oncoming fighter wings.

"Wait one!" the Fel'caan woman replied. "Heading two-three-zero, thirty-seven degree descent angle, forty kilometers out!"

"Copy that! Tanith wing moving to intercept!" Tanith leader replied.

"Belay that! Let the Darkstrider take lead on this! They'll soak up the brunt of the attack, while the other wings fly in our wake! Once they've broken through the first wing and scattered them, peel out from behind and pounce!" Inari called out, laying the strategy out.

"Understood! Course correcting, now!" Tanith leader replied, as he and his entire wing moved to fly behind the Darkstrider.

The defense force put as much power as they could into their engines, doing what they could to avoid the incoming fire from the battlefleet. Many of the shots sailed wide of the fighter group, but a few got close and some even hit the fighters. Many of the shots that hit were glancing blows, in which the shields of each fighter held. The incoming fire stopped as they neared the incoming fighter wings.

Small laser bolts sailed in, hammering into the Darkstrider, but their shields held. Just as they dropped to seventy percent, the Darkstrider opened fire, with Taal'ani and Stanley taking control of the ship's guns. Several fighters were blasted into scrap as they neared the dagger-like ships, but they still held formation. It wasn't until they were nearly on top of the fighter wing that they broke formation and scattered.

As the first wing flew away from the Darkstrider, Tanith wing flew out from behind the frigate and pounced on them. The fleeing fighters made for easy targets and the comms were filled with ecstatic whoops as more Confed fighters were destroyed. The second wing was coming at them, but then corrected their course. They flew below the first engagement, avoiding the firefight entirely, which left Priya scratching her head.

"What the fuck are they doing?" Priya wondered.

"Providing cover for the bombers to sneak past us!! The bastards are matching speed with the bombers, flying right below them!" Inari called out, having faced the tactic before.

"I don't see the bombers on the scanner!" Taal'ani replied.

"That's because they're using the fighters as a hat! Look!" Inari cried out. Taal'ani got up and looked out the viewport as Priya turned the ship around in pursuit of the second wing. As they sighted the group in, there was an odd trail of ionized gas as they flew into the atmosphere. The gas trails weren't side by side, but one on top of the other, which made Inari's observation make sense.

"Clever little fuckers! That won't save them though!!" Priya laughed as she pushed the Darkstrider to maximum velocity, hoping to catch the hidden bombers.

"Already on it! Strider wing on me!! Let's get those bastards!" Inari called out.

"Right behind you, love!" Priya called out.

"Negative! Hang back and reinforce Tanith wing! Scanners show another wing just launched from the carrier they have out there!" Inari replied. Seconds later, Taal'ani confirmed this, as she picked up another set of hostile signals closing in on their position fast.

"Understood! Go get 'em!!" Priya responded as she turned the ship back to help support Tanith wing. They'd broken the backs of the first wing and they were limping off back to the carrier, while the third fighter wing came at them. Two of Tanith wing had turned back to town, suffering too many hits to be of use in the fight. Priya had Taal'ani load all their torpedo tubes, readying them for a serious firefight.

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"How much closer?" Alex called out as his drone followed Inari down, screaming in on their targets.

"Almost... there!" Inari replied as she waited for her target reticle to light up green. Seconds later, it did, and she squeezed the trigger, letting her lascannons smash into the bomber she had targeted. The shields on the bomber held, but it shifted and bucked, trying to evade the incoming fire. Since the jig was up, the fighters covering the bombers broke off and turned to defend their friends.

Just as the fighter wing came about, the bomber Inari was shooting finally took some damage. Its shields dropped and several bolts of energy punched through the weak points in its armor. One such bolt lanced through the ship and hit the magazine, turning the ship into a massive fireball. The resulting explosion buffeted the fighter wing, throwing them off, and dropped the shields of the other adjacent bombers.

"Full power to thrusters! Push through and take down those bombers!! We can't let a single bomber hit that shield!!" Inari ordered, and the drones followed her lead.

Though the shockwave from the explosion threw the group off a bit, they kept going, staying on target to down those bombers. Several shots struck the drones, but they were lucky hits that didn't even drop their shields. Inari and the Strider wing flew past the fighters, targeting each bomber with their cannons. Several more erupted as their cores or engines went up, further buffeting the remaining bombers.

"Lock in torpedoes and hit those furthest away from us!" Inari bellowed as she loaded up both her torpedo tubes.

In a few moments, she had locked on to one bomber and fired, the torpedo catching the fleeing ship in a matter of seconds, turning it into a flaming mess. Inari was already turning and looking for another target, but it had turned tail, heading back to the carrier. As other bombers went down, the remaining wing knew their attack was lost, so they all turned and pushed hard to reach the carrier before they were shot down.

"They're running!" Kasumi whooped as they continued to chase the bombers.

"Let them go! Focus on taking down those fighters! They outnumber us, and we need to deprive them of as many pilots as possible!" Inari commanded.

"Something we most definitely agree on, dear captain Sunara!" came the familiar voice of Dagan Min.

Another small grouping of ships then rushed past the Banshee, their weapons blazing as they engaged the fighters closing in on them. The ships in question were a couple of heavily modified freighters, festooned with weapons ports. Each gun was firing constantly, seeking to bring down each Confed ship.

The ship in the lead looked to be an older Federation frigate, but almost of a size parity as a destroyer. Several salvos of fire lanced into the fighters, who saw the incoming ships and knew they were outgunned. They turned tail and quickly raced back to the carrier, sitting up in orbit. Shouts and cries of triumph sounded over the comms as the Confeds retreated to the safety of the fleet.

"Well done all, but let's not linger! Get back to town and the safety of the shield!" Inari called out and everyone acknowledged this, heading back to Tanith's Gully with all possible speed.

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"Wing Commander Gaul, explain your retreat and why you failed to put down such a ragtag group of ships!!" Captain Walczak demanded.

"With all due respect, sir, this group isn't a ragtag bunch with no flight experience!! They know what the fuck they are doing! Many of them are mediocre fliers, but they are skilled enough in tactics to counter our maneuvers, making us look like chumps and greenhorns!! On top of that, there are several of them that are bona fide aces!! You want to fight them yourself, sir, be my guest, but I know when I'm out of my depth!!" the wing commander snapped before killing the line.

Walczak growled in distaste as he was cut off in such a fashion, but he knew Gaul for a while now. The man wouldn't have been so curt with him if he hadn't been out there, facing adversaries of equal or greater skill. Sighing in frustration, he then had communications open a channel to Sawyer, as he needed answers now!

"Captain Walczak! I see that our attack has failed! Care to explain why this is the case??" Sawyer questioned.

"Watch yourself, boy! You may be the son of one of the ruling council, but I am your superior officer!" Walczak barked.

"My... apologies, captain. I misspoke. I am simply frustrated that these ragtag backwater mongrels were able to repel our attack!" Sawyer fumed.

"The skill level of their pilots also suggests that they aren't as untrained as our intel previously stated," Walczak agreed. "Is there anything else that we have on these people who have managed to foil our attack?"

"Just one moment please," Sawyer said as he walked over to where a tech sat, and he started asking the man some questions. The tech nodded, then handed Sawyer a datapad, which the man looked over as he walked back to the holographic console.

"You have something?" Walczak questioned.

"I do. Though it took a while to crack the information here," Robert replied.

"Why is that?" Walczak asked.

"Because the files of intel I have were encrypted, and I had to give the techs several hours to crack the code to get in. Sargol wasn't playing around with the knowledge he wanted kept safe," Sawyer replied.

"Sargol had intel files that he encrypted? Why did the bastard never tell us?" Walczak fumed.

"It's how it is in the spy game. Every member is always trying to reach for the top. Been trying to get some new transparency initiatives passed, but you know how things are with the old guard that run things," Sawyer told Daruisz and the captain nodded, knowing full well how cutthroat the spy game could be.

"So, what news do you have on these people?"

"Let's see... this crew of the Darkstrider... oh... damn! They are quite... impressive!" Robert said with a note of admiration in his voice.

"What? What do you know about them?" Daruisz questioned.

"Inari Sunara, a retired Federation pilot and the former wing commander of the 307^th Banshee fighter wing, is the captain of that ship. Her XO, Priya Patel, a former gunnery sergeant from the Federation and sharpshooter who could have gone full careers with her marksmanship," Robert started.

"Jesus!" Daruisz breathed, knowing that a former wing commander of the 307^th would be a formidable adversary. It was no wonder that their initial tactic failed, as this woman had likely countered such moves before! Priya was of less concern, but even a sharpshooter would know how to put cannons on a ship to their optimal use.

"There's also this woman, Natalya Vostrikov, a former engineer for the Federation, who specialized in munitions and demolitions. Probably have her to thank for the potency of their ordinance that blasted our bombers and fighters into scrap! A Khontaran woman, called Doctor Korsa, an accomplished physician, also a skilled combatant. Can't find much else on her," Robert went on.

"I'm surprised that Sargol was able to learn even that much! Khontarans are notoriously tight-lipped about who they are and what they're about," Walczak commented.

"Agreed! This Fel'caan woman, Taal'ani, seems to know her way around weapons and is a capable fighter, going by these vids pulled from the town," Sawyer continued.

"Anything else on her?" Daruisz questioned.

"Sadly, no. There is very little on her, or the others. Which I find odd. Especially those other three humans, Alexander Dragic, Kasumi Tanaka, and Shazza Thatcher. There is some information on them, but it is sparse. Same with those aliens that are traveling with them," Sawyer replied.

"Hmm. People to be mindful of and to keep an eye on, certainly. Same with this man who flew in to aid the fighter group that blew apart our bomber wing, Dagan Min. Quite the bounty on his head from what I'm reading," Walczak stated as he looked over the file that popped up on his screen after he had his ship scan the other frigate that entered the fray.

"From what I'm reading in Sargol's reports, they are the ones who are responsible for the town getting its act together and finding the balls to resist us. Especially Inari, who has quite the number of sorties to her name," Sawyer replied.

"Oh? Like where?"

"She was part of the resistance fleet that foiled our attempt to take New Babel," Sawyer told his superior.

A slight rage dropped on Dariusz, as he was part of the fleet that had tried to take New Babel. It was a colony world that the Federation had found and annexed from free space into their territory. The space was disputed territory, and the Confederacy tried to petition the UCW to give them the world instead. But, since the zone was closer to the Federation, and since it also gave the UCW a lucrative port at which to trade, the world and the surrounding system went to the Federation.

Naturally, the Confederacy was pissed and launched a fleet to take New Babel for their own. They had the element of surprise, along with the numbers needed to take the planet, but they were beaten back! The thing that surprised the fleet most was how resourceful the Federation Fleet of the time was. Not to mention they were led by Elizabeth Corriea, who was the Federation's golden girl.

Ms. Corriea had only been a Lieutenant Commander back then, having only taken command when every other officer was KIA. Most had died when their ships went up, while others were among the casualties of those who died via lucky shots that crippled their ships. No one had expected such a genius tactician to be among the middling officers in the fleet that was defending New Babel.

The tactics Lt. Cmdr. Corriea used were innovative, taking the Confederate fleet by surprise and capitalizing on their hubris. For three days, the Confeds trying outflanking and out-thinking the woman, but it was as though she knew what moves they would make and how they would make them! Such insight is what doomed the attack on New Babel, especially when on the fourth day, another Federation fleet showed up to help reinforce them.

There was nothing else to do but retreat, as losing more than half the fleet to Corriea's tactics was more than humiliating. Since then, whenever Elizabeth Corriea got involved in a firefight, they all knew to be doubly cautious. Many of the surviving officers on the Federation side all opted to learn from her, especially Inari Sunara! If one of Corriea's disciples was there, arrayed against them, then they needed to be at the top of their game, if they were to win!

"There's also something else about Inari and her crew, if this is to be believed," Sawyer stated, breaking Dariusz out of his memories.

"Oh? And what might that be?"

"Apparently, the ship had some cargo that came from the Veldhern system. Rumors on the web are that the crew of the Darkstrider was involved in their defense," Sawyer told him.

"Indeed? I've also heard that Veldhern suffered another attack. From the Collective," Walczak stated.

"Wait, the Collective attacked Veldhern? How is it that the UCW still holds it??" Sawyer breathed.

"Rumors have abounded about a group of people that assisted the UCW forces stationed there, which broke the Collective's chances. If this crew was there during that time, then it stands to reason they might be the group in question," Walczak stated.

"Oi! It appears this will not be the easy operation either of us intended it to be! I think we break off any attacks for the time being, as we reevaluate our next moves," Sawyer recommended.

"Excellent idea! That shield is going to be a problem, but hopefully, we'll find a way around it in due time," Walczak agreed. "Contact me if you have any stratagems that you think could be of use."

"Of course, Captain! Base camp, out," Sawyer replied with a salute as the transmission ended.

His smile faded moments later, as it was a chore to keep a pleasant demeanor around this man. Robert had wanted to chew Walczak's ass out for slaughtering his soldiers with his bombardment, but kept things quiet for the moment. He knew fleet commanders didn't give a shit about those who went to work on the ground. It didn't matter if they were on the same side. If you were in the line of fire, you died.

Sawyer knew that he'd have to work with the arrogant captain, and it wasn't something he wanted. He would have preferred that the ruling council send someone else equally brilliant in tactics to oversee the conquest of the Prodosia. Sadly, he wound up drawing the short straw, as Captain Walczak was the only commander that was available.

While the man was a solid commander and tactician, he was often pompous, arrogant and thought too much of himself. Seemed to think of himself as... indispensable. Hopefully, if all went according to plan, then he wouldn't need to deal with bloodthirsty brutes like him anymore. Some of his best men had been killed by his callous attack on the town of Tanith's Gully. None of them had a chance to get clear of the blast zone before the ships opened fire.

Robert Sawyer shook off the dark thoughts permeating his mind and brought them back to other things. He focused instead on the people he was arrayed against and thought about the things he knew about them. While he had been honest with Walczak about what he'd found, that wasn't all of it. He'd read the reports and even seen the stills that Sargol had managed to capture of the man known as Matthias Renauld.

The man was not only an impressive specimen, but the... abilities he had were beyond astonishing! There was even a video clip of these powers of his in action and Sawyer knew it wasn't some sort of holographic wizardry at play. What he'd seen was the real deal! His mind whirled at the possibilities of what could be accomplished if he had soldiers who could do these things at his disposal!!

Sawyer's mind even went so far as to dream what he could do, if he had access to such abilities!! The things he would do, the rights he would wrong, would not only see the galaxy remade as he wished, it would also cement his legacy! While dreaming of such things was all well and good, he kept his mind grounded, as there was much still to be accomplished before that happened. Still, it was a hell of a thing to see and imagine!

The man then retired to his quarters for the next few hours, taking the time to study the things he knew. As far as he was concerned, the better you knew your enemy, the easier time you'd have in taking them out, or bringing them to heel. If acquiring this power proved to be more difficult than he thought, then would most certainly bring Matthias to heel!!

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The Darkstrider finally settled on its landing pad, the engines powering down as the people cheered the ship and its crew for defending them. The fighters of Tanith's Gully were also getting a grateful welcome, as their part in dropping the enemy fighters was instrumental in the town's defense. A few of the fighters had been taken out of the fight, but only two of them had been shot down.

Thankfully, the upgrades to the ships held to where the pilots were able to bail out. One of the rovers from town had gone out to pick them up and was just getting back now. While the local pilots were going back to see their families, the crew of the Darkstrider was heading towards the newly rebuilt Sherriff Station, which the Sentries had finished rebuilding.

Twilight had come and gone and dusk was starting to settle in over the town as the crew marched along the winding streets. They did stop by a few street meat vendors, picking up some of the local fare as their dinner. The crew walked as they ate, finishing up by the time they came up to the Sherriff Station. The personnel who worked there were just settling back into their offices, happy to have their workspace back.

"I swear, this place is like new! Hell, it's better than new!" one of the civilian clerks remarked.