Engagement

[Derkylos]

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Anthony stood on the bridge of the Tartar. Several years and many engagements had passed since his return to Bretonia and his "employment" with Mr Aldwyn. The ship had undergone many repairs and rebuilds. Now she stood on the brink of destruction.

Anthony ducked instincively as another barrage of inferno fire flew past overhead. How his pilots could ever dodge those things he would not know, the Bretonian Destroyers were not famed for their agility. The ship shook as another volley was unleashed towards the Kusari Destroyer, dropping it's shields and leaving the hull open to the relentless pounding of Splitters. "Captain!", one of the crew manning the sensors called, "Four new contacts, reading hostile, incoming to port!"
"Lock on, get me an identification," he snapped back,
"Catamarans, sir!" was the response.
Anthony's heart sank. Catamarans, the deadly Kusari bomber. Almost as maneuverable as a fighter, yet packing the punch of a full bomber. "Alright, send a transmission to the fighters, vector in on the bombers. Power up the missile turrets, prepare to engage."

The Kusari ships were visible, now, streaking in towards the destroyer, an almost unmissable target for their deadly payload. Out of the corner of his eyes, Anthony could see the Templars break off from blowing lumps out of the Kusari Destroyer and vector in on the new threat. He could also see that they would never get there in time to prevent the bombers from making their run. "All hands, brace for impact, fire missiles at those bombers on my mark, maybe we can..." He trailed off as two of the bombers exploded in massive fireballs, wreckage flinging itself through space. The two remaining Kusarians broke apart in panic, as three sleek ships sped through their formation, headed towards the Bretonian capital ship. "Steady with those missiles, retrain on the new contacts. Scanners, give me a full reading on those things, what have we got?"
"Scimitars, sir, Outcasts."
"Outcasts, eh?" Anthony had heard of Outcasts assisting Bretonian forces in engagements with Kusari before, however, he had also heard of them attacking Bretonian vessels, "Well, I guess that as long as they are willing to shoot our enemies and not us, we could use the assist, open a comm channel, would you?"

The gruff voice of the Outcast flight lead came through on the comms "Hola, Bretonians, see you decided to start the party without us. Can't be having that, can we?"
Anthony looked out to where the Scimitars had regrouped, their numbers now increased to six. "Umm, good day, sirs...do you think you could take on those Kusari bombers? They seem pretty adept at outmaneuvering our Templars."
"We shall see what we can do, amigo." The Scimitars split into two groups and sped after the rapidly retreating Catamarans.

Meanwhile, Anthony directed the remainder of the Bretonian fleet to concentrate fire onto the Kusari Destroyer. In short order, the newly-recharged shields collapsed under the sustained bombardment of infernos, debilitators and mortars. Once again, Tachyon beams began to chew through the armour plated hull.

Soon the Destroyer was venting atmosphere from multiple breaches, and had been reduced to spinning in circles, feebly firing the odd shot in a wild direction. Anthony switched to system comms, "No surrender for murderous dogs, rip it apart lads!" More gunfire slammed into the already weakened hull, tearing the destroyer in two. Slowly, the two halves drifted apart, spilling atmosphere, bodies and assorted wreckage into the space between them. On board the Tartar, cheering could be heard as explosions ripped through the once-proud vessel. Eventually, it succumbed to the internal stresses, becoming another debris cloud, lost in the Taus.

"Alright, nav, set us a course to the Leeds gate. Recall all fighter wings. Let's head home," he paused and looked out at the ice fields, "Oh, and did anyone see where those Outcasts got to? We owe them some thanks, I believe."
"No sign of them, sir. Long range scanners are showing no Outcast vessels, and it would seem that the Kusari bombers have vanished, too. None of our patrols report any unknown contacts, either."
"Ah, well, let's hope they gave the dog-eaters a good what-for, eh? Now, power up the cruise engines and lets get a move on!"

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