CIC transcript[CDR A'Holia] Commodore, military head of the squadron.
[LT Hol] Lieutenant, Head of Detection.
[LT Gomez] Lieutenant, head of the Sckoll inspection team.
[CPT Athos] Captain of the HNS Vigor, Dominator class cruiser.
[CMD Nillian] Commander, Tactical officer and second to CPT Athos.
207.211.06.50[CDR A'Holia]: Okay everyone, I'm still not liking it but LT Gomez and CPT Athos made very good arguments in favor of a tactical retreat. So lets do this right: The Atlas is the prize, I don't want even a micro-meteorite to scratch it's hull.
Tactical, I want two Hounds in front to clear the path and makes sure there isn't any nasty surprises ahead. The rest of the fleet in bubble formation around the civies. The Vigor take the tip, with the Dominion as support. The Argos takes the rear. The rest of the frigates cover all four sides. We don't have any fighter screen but they have some so everyone keep your PD weapons ready. These bastards are sneaky and you can bet they won't let us leave with their tech without a fight.
Navigation, I want a nice trajectory that go way above the rings. I insist: stay clear of the asteroid field. It will leave them time to adapt to our vector, but I want to force them out of their cover if they want to engage us.
Detection, send a pair of probes to the area were we lost the signal of the enemy force, with a bit of luck we might be able to catch their emissions when they fire up their engines again. We are not seeking a fight, but if these Skolls come get one I'll be more than happy to oblige.
207.211.07.25[CMD Nillian]: Commodore, Detection report two unknown contacts on our nine per eleven. They are coming extremely fast. Their orbit is very elliptical and there is no way they can slow down enough to maintain contact. I think they intend to fly though our formation and deal as much damage as they can. with their speed we won't be able to maneuver quickly enough to maintain our shields between our ships and them. I suggest to tighten the formation and try to form a single protection wall with all ships' shields.
[LT Gomez]: Ma'am, we can't rule out the possibility of a suicide attack. In that case such tight formation could lead to catastrophic chain reaction if they collide with one of our ships.
[CDR A'Holia]: Mmh, indeed, we can't take that risk. Then the obvious parade would be to disperse a bit the formation, and maintain at least one ship between them and the civilian ships on their approach and escape vectors. How much time do we have?
[LT Hol]: 13 minutes.
[CDR A'Holia]: Good, transmit the new formation to all ships then. And assign the Vigor to protect the Atlas.
[CMD Nillian]: Yes ma'am.
207.211.07.29[CMD Nillian]: New bogey, four per ten and leaving the asteroid field. Given the low acceleration it's probably the carrier!
[CDR A'Holia]: On the other side? Damn they are stealthy! Could the first contacts be a decoy?
[CMD Nillian]: I doubt it: we are getting a better signal from those, their energy signatures are close to those of a Vigilance class and a Hound class frigates but we know they aren't. It might be another ship, but it's highly improbable that they are anything else than two frigates.
[CDR A'Holia]: Then they moved to late: it's way too far to provide support fire for the frigates when they reach us.
[CPT Athos]: I don't know, we didn't saw their fighters yet.
[LT Gomez]: Also, assuming they have roughly twice the acceleration of a Lasher, where will they be once cancelling their relative velocity to us?
[LT Hol]: One second... Less than ten thousands Standard Units from the carrier if they decelerate at once point seven time the acceleration of a Lasher after their fly-by.
[CMD Nillian]: That's some nice maneuver!
[CDR A'Holia]: Indeed, though that's assuming they survive this fly-by... I don't like it! Their commander must be good, and as you said Athos we didn't saw their fighters yet. Maintain the formation for now, but I want to be informed immediately if Detection report even the shadiest probable contact.
207.211.7.33[CDR A'Holia]: Okay, I want all guns on full continuous fire on these two frigates as soon as they are in range. Launch one volley from our Pillums pods but keep the other ships torpedoes, they probably won't help much against such fast targets. The targets will enter and leave effective range in less than seven seconds so I want all firing solutions locked only ten seconds before they reach it. They will also penetrate our formation so beware of any friendly fire! All ships acknowledge reception of these orders.
207.211.7.37[CDR A'Holia]: Here they come, let's do this right, I don't want them to survive this fly-by under...
[LT Hol]: Incoming missile! Multiple missiles hits on the Argos and the Smooth-bore, they are coming from our four!
[CDR A'Holia]: Don't break the formation! On our four? Are we in range of the Carrier?
[CMD Nillian]: I don't know but if they are, their missiles have an incredible endurance. We didn't saw them coming, it's like they fired up their engines only when... The frigates are entering range!
[CPT Athos]: Launching missiles, guns armed.
[CMD Nillian]: They aren't firing at our shields, they may try to hit our rear!
[CPT Athos]: Two hits on target alpha, it's engine's malfunctioning.
[CMD Nillian]: What the Hell? The other one just flew through the whole missiles volley and don't seems fazed at all! It's shield just expanded for a second and soaked up the damaged like it was nothing...
[LT Hol]: Incoming fire from the targets, four hits on our shield, three miss.
[CMD Nillian]: New missile hits on the Argos, the Smooth-bore is sinking.
[CDR A'Holia]: Move the Pollen to support the Argos and turn us around. I want to hit those bastard hard as they try to escape!
[CPT Athos]: Concentrate fire on target Beta, we must prevent it from getting back to support the carrier.
[CMD Nillian]: One more hit on target alpha, this one won't get home without help. Beta is getting away but lost some feathers...
[LT Hol]: FIGHTERS! FIGHTERS! There were fighters following the frigates! OUR ENGINES ARE EXPOSED!
[LT Gomez]: They must have hidden themselves in their shadows.
[CDR A'Holia]: It wasn't a suicide attack, bring all ships closer to each other, our PD are too spread out against a fighter attack!
[CPT Athos]: We are taking hits! Engines malfunctions, we are out of control!
[LT Hol]: New volley of missiles from the carrier! Wait, there are also missiles in ballistic mode between the fighters!
[CMD Nillian]: The Jason is hit, the Cassandra is sinking.
[CPT Athos]: There is another group of fighters approaching behind.
[LT Hol]: New contact, nine per eight! Looks like a destroyer and... OH SH**T Torpedoes incoming, I repeat four incoming torpedoes, they are targeting the Atlas!
[CDR A'Holia]: All ships, all PD, destroy those torpedoes!
[CPT Athos]: Acknowledged. Comm, tell the Dominion to move there and support the Atlas!
[CMD Nillian]: What the? Laser heads! These are laser head torpedoes, the Atlas is hit
[LT Hol]: The destroyer is firing again. Four more torpedoes incoming!
[CMD Nillian]: Already? What kind of ship is that?
[CPT Athos]: Our engines are still non operational, we can't help them.
[CMD Nillian]: Multiple hits on the Atlas, it's sinking...
[LT Hol]: Launch detected. Four torpedoes again... Still targeting the Atlas? They are trying to vaporize it.
[CDR A'Holia]: DAMMIT!
[CPT Athos]: The remaining fighters are leaving our engagement range. They suffered heavy losses.
[CMD Nillian]: The Dominion is getting in a forward defense position... Firing PD... Three hits, only one torpedo got in attack position.
[LT Hol]: The carrier is interrupting the chase. And... Yes, the destroyer is disengaging too, it's going to rejoin with the carrier.
207.211.8.02[CDR A'Holia]: Civies Status!
[CMD Nillian]: The Valkyrie hasn't been targeted, the tarsus took one missed shot on it's armor but is alright. The Atlas however is a complete loss. The recovered object is destroyed and we probably won't even be able to get it out of the cargo-hold after such pounding.
[LT Gomez]: The Valkyrie being intact don't surprise me, it's obviously an hospital ship, I don't think they would attack that.
[CDR A'Holia]: LT, I know your opinion of these Skoll has changed recently, but until proven otherwise they are bloodthirsty pirates in my book! If the Valkyrie has been ignored it's certainly for the same reason than the Tarsus: it's not a menace and can be intercepted at will if they defeat us. Now what about the rest of the fleet?
[CMD Nillian]: Our Vigor took some hit in the engines section, our acceleration is roughly limited by 40% and we will have trouble turning to the right. Other than that she is at full combat capacity. Between the Enforcers, the Argos is very damaged. It first took several hits from those long range missiles and then one of the fighters crashed at high speed in it's rear left, we don't have enough equipment to bring it back to combat ready. The Dominion however didn't even got hit once. For the frigates, we lost the Smooth-bore Lasher and the Cassandra Hound frigates. The Jason is beyond our repair capacity, and the Dallas took a nasty volley of fighter rockets to the side but can still fight. Other that these, the rest of the fleet only took armor scratches and very minor damages. Medical report 32 dead, 27 seriously wounded, 132 lightly wounded and still able to work. 22 are still missing.
[CDR A'Holia]: And the enemy?
[CMD Nillian]: Target Alpha is certainly out of combat. We lost it's sight shortly after it's engines shut, but that's probably a bad sign for them. The last images we got showed a cloud of debris and no atmosphere escaping the holes. Beta however escaped after taking only one major hit. It clearly suffered during the engagement, but it might still be able to support the carrier. On their twelve fighters, we took out five for sure. The confusion prevent confirming the destruction of four others, and they were all damaged to some extend.
[CDR A'Holia]: That's not very good... Not for a fully prepared force expecting an attack.
[CPT Athos]: You mean they completely outsmarted us and we got beaten for it?
[CDR A'Holia]: Not really, even knowing their capacities, I don't think we would have done anything differently. They just used their equipment and forces to the best of their potential, and maximized their chances to achieve a very specific objective. One thing is certain, I'll NEVER underestimate them.
[CMD Nillian]: I have to admit LT, when I first read your briefings about the Skolls, I thought they were greatly exaggerated.
[LT Gomez]: I've been surprised by them too. But we can see their hardware isn't really better than our. Very different yes, and maybe we don't have the right tools to defend ourselves against their tech, but not better. On the other hand if all their officers are as good as this one, they are far, far above your average pirate!
[CDR A'Holia]: Indeed. Okay, while they are leaving us a bit of time to catch our breath, I want all search and rescue operations finished within two hours. In the meantime, try to restore the maximum of the Vigor's propulsion and...
[Communication incoming][CDR A'Holia]: Yes?
[LT Hol]: Commodore, Detection here, the Skolls are moving toward us, and the carrier just launched two new wings. They are bigger, probably bombers.