F12Y2 (Event)

Brank

Secure the Asset, Even the Odds.

"Rumours are that a defective qunit is onboard a freighter in this unclaimed sector, I want the fleet brought to its knees and the Asset secured. Those are your orders."

The Hologram of the Fleet admiral disappears, Captain Thomas Jaco turning to the bridge and barking orders to his bridge crew.

"You heard the admiral! Bring us into combat mode and fire up the hyperdrives!"

The bridge goes alive with action as the crew scurries around, systems beeping and the hyperspace alarm going off as the drive reaches the halfway mark across the small fleet. The Platinum-class cruiser and its two Mythos escort frigates coming online. Meanwhile an Infiltrator class starts drive charge, preparing to leave after the main fleet does.

"Sir, drives at full charge!"

"Hit it."

"Yes sir!"

The alarm blares once more as Jaco grabs the bar, stumbling as the 3 ships lurch into faster than light. The bridge cameras streak with the whites and reds of the passing stars.

Estimated Time of Arrival: 30 Minutes

Time passes as the ships prepare for battle, munitions loaded and weapons systems online, shields prepared to go online soon as enemy fire arrives. The Hyperdrives screech and groan as they pass through the dimension at breakneck speeds. After 15 minutes the Infiltrator leaves for hyperspace...

ETA: 30 Seconds

"Alright Crew! Twenty eight seconds until we arrive at the rumored location of the enemy! Be prepared!"

People make last second preparations as the ships begin to decellerate, the hyperdrive giving final groans as it prepares to give out and shift the ship back into realspace

5...
4..
3..
2..
"BRACE!"
1..
The ships lurch and groan as people are shaken around, the stars returning to normal as the ships arrive in realspace at the location of the VWP fleet. Weapons scan the area as well as radar and gravimetric sensors...

Soundbust11

Brank
Meanwhile on the bridge of the Luayiv-Class Destroyer VSA Dreaded Dance...

"...so at this point, I've had enough of this clown pretending she's hot shit, right? So since we're on Mioj-fiin, I pull out my-"
"Hold that thought, hyperdrive exit signatures nearby."
"...Seriously Larxir? We're in the middle of fuck knows where, and you think some Thrawn lackeys from halfway across the galaxy are gonna pull up out of nowhere, conveniently in the same system, let alone in sensor range?"
"But it-"
"Not to mention this is a Hadalen damned legacy model. The 'scanners' this thing got 'updated' with probably have more bugs in them than the forests back on Itter'cra, this being one of them."
"...Yeah fair enough."
"Right, so as I was saying..."

The VSA fleet isn't making any effort to hide, the ships floating in open space. The cargo vessel itself has a few maintenance crew floating around the hull, attempting to get the ship capable of moving again. The warships themselves have their hulls adorned with the outdated F43 1500mm railcannon turrets, though adorned with many of such, the destroyer coming in the ballpark of 1km, the corvettes 500m.

Brank

Soundbust11

"All systems nominal sir, the Vialaeon fleet has been spotted, but they don't seem to have noticed us."

"This Is good, means we still got surprise on our side. Go for a slow burn at an angle towards the contacts, try and keep radar and thermal sigs to a minimum"

"Roger that, You heard the man, get thrusters on low burn across the fleet and go in at an angle of roughly 30*"

As told, the platinum first, and then the escorts second, begin to go towards the VWP at an angle, set to barely miss them if they kept course and nobody moved. Weapons train on the VWP but don't charge up, and shields remain at the ready but stay down. As well as this the auxiliary Ion thrusters kick on, keeping a very low burn and going at a slow speed to try and reduce sensor sig output wherever possible. The main plasma thrusters on the ships remain completely cold.

Hyperspace Imminent - IDS Unseen Legend - Infiltrator class

Aboard the internal bridge of the Infiltrator sent to hyperspace not long after the initial jump of the fleet Captain Orlan directs around the crew, preparing them for the coming events and the exit to hyperspace. Crew walk around and clack away at their devices and keyboards as the ship shoots through hyperspace, rapidly approaching the destination, set to drop out far behind the VWP fleet opposite the main ID fleet. In another room, Lieutenant Ada, Orlan's right hand and second in command of the ship is speaking to Alema, the ship's designated diplomat who handles all diplomatic efforts the ship may have to deal with.

"Wish me luck, we drop out of hyperspace in two minutes."

"Alright, good luck, I guess. Wish you wouldn't run off to do all this military stuff all the time."

"You know it's my job"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later."

Ada returns the goodbye and hugs Alema before quickly making way to the center of the ship, acting as both the cargo bay and the hangar, then comms the bridge on her small handheld comms device.

"Captain, sir, what's the ETA on hyperspace?"

"15 Seconds, Brace."

"Copy."

As she drops comms and grabs onto a nearby handrail, the intercom of the ship goes off, the shipboard AI's voice ringing as it signals the time left for drop. As the countdown reaches 3.. 2.. 1! The ship lurches and then drops out of hyperspace, instantly passive stealth systems go online and the lights across the ship are dimmed, including the upper flight bridge on the ship's surface, making it nothing but a dark grey sillouhette, the hangar bay closed for now and all guns retracted into the main body.

"Alright people!" Ada yells out to the squad of Shadow Marines she is set to lead on the infiltration mission.
"Lets get to work, get your EVA gear on and we leave the vessel in 10."

"Yes ma'am!" the squad responds, rushing to get equipment and EVA gear. Ada follows suit, going towards the armoury as well...

Soundbust11

Brank
"...spent the rest of the night getting shitfaced at a local bar. Poor girl had never had Vaiaelon booze before, barely lasted a pint, but that didn't stop-"
"Sir, another hyperdrive sig."
The atmosphere settled into something a little more tense as the bridge crew exchanged wary glances.
"You're sure those fancy Chibute optics of yours aren't short circuiting or something there Larxir?"
"Direct neural input mode sir, no doubt."
"...Sensor history, 10 minutes, main projector."

The holographic display in the center of the bridge shifted from a display of acquired taste to a graphic of local space. It remained uneventful for the majority of the playback, though eventually a group of cyan dots suddenly shifted into view, held still for several seconds, then dissipated. Two minutes (on playback) later another cyan dot appeared on the other side of the ship, doing the same.

The air carried no words for a moment, before Captain Vi'Quihap enabled his intercom.
"All hands on all vessels, level 2 battlestations. Recall active maintenance personnel to nearest vessel. Begin VP Sweep of surrounding space."

The powerful quantum scanners that usually handled Qswitch operations began kicking into overdrive. They searched the supposed empty void around them, checking for virtual particle generation. If there was a ship out there, it wouldn't be hiding for very much longer.

"...Sir! Confirmed pings! Triple verified!"
"Ident!?"
Larxir paused for a moment, before letting out a relieved sigh. "Survey vessels by the looks of it."
A collective groan echoed around the bridge.
"Don't you slackjaws relax yet, for all we know that accounts only one ping! Maintain scanning pattern. Larxir, nationality?"
"...Markings and design match Neu Gamilas, sir. A small human nation, not too much intel on them, but we don't believe them to be hostile."
"Of course it's more apes... open a line."

ZendikaroftheWest
The Neu Gamilas fleet receives a broadcast from a previously undetected group of ships. A small fleet by comparison, but notable nonetheless.

//Transmission Start//
"To the vessels of the Neu Gamilas Empire, this is Captain Vi'Quihap of the VSA Dreaded Dance. This fleet belongs to the Vaiaelon War Pact, and is transporting some very sensitive cargo. We have no intention of disrupting your exploration of this system, provided you do not approach our fleet, and do not make any detailed scans of our ships and their contents. Doing such will be seen as a breach of VWP national security, and will likely result in dire consequences. Do not be under the impression you can do either without us noticing, you can't. Please respond to this transmission at the earliest convenience."
//Transmission End//

Satisfied with his own diplomacy, Vi' relaxed into his seat slightly, though still kept a keen eye on the sensor displays.

ZendikaroftheWest

A exploration fleet drops out of warp, this being the most efficent spot to scan a large area, (As this fleet is intended to). It consists of four Spirit of Terra-class scanning vessels, a Gaiderol-class battleship, and two Kelaptia-class cruisers.

ZendikaroftheWest

Soundbust11
A transmission comes in from the battleship.
"Very well. Please note, however, that the scanning vessels cannot prevent scanning lifeforms, as that is what they are intended to search for."
The four scanning vessels prepare to scan, with backs to each other, in a cross pattern.

Brank

@Soundbust11

IDS Unseen Legend
All personel leave to the safety of airlocks outside of the hangar as the doors shift to the side across the top, slowly opening as the particle screen shudders off, allowing air out of the hangar, the anti-grav inside it cutting off as all essential equipment is bolted or held down. Meanwhile, Ada and her squad have hunkered down inside one of the fighter compartments, holding on for dear life as the air leaves the hangar.

"Alright Squad, air's out and gravs out. Shift thrusters for course to enemy position on mark."

The squad walks out into the middle of the hangar as the ship slowly angles itself to where the top is showing towards the enemy, giving Ada and the squad a direct line to them.

"3... 2... 1... Mark!"

The squads hit a burst on their thrusters, the shipboard AI remotely calculating the trajectories beforehand and adjusting the thrusters, so all they needed to do was hit the button...

Once they had made it away from the Infiltrator's bay doors, it closed its hangar and righted itself, going on a slow, wide arc around the enemy, keeping their distance. Ada's squad slowly drifted the distance, the RCS thrusters on the EVA gear occasionally making course corrections all the while increasing speed at a steady pace, trying to keep the group under the radar by emitting as little signatures as they possibly can.

Platinum Class Cruiser 'Moonlight Dancer' - Bridge

Prep the Distraction, get ready to Tango

"Alright Crew, the Extraction crew is out, prepare main guns for firing solution and open a video hail with the Vaiaelon."

A Mottled reply of 'yes sir's and 'aye-aye's go across the bridge as orders are sent through the small fleet. Point Defense weapons fully charge and the shields stand at the ready to toss up plasma barriers against oncoming projectiles. On the Platinum class, it brought its bow around to face right towards the 'Lon destroyer, it's spinal particle lance and subspinal lance alike charging as firing solutions are drawn up by the AI.

A Hail goes through to the Lon' destroyer as the captain, in his grey-red Uniform, stands hands behind his back, looking onto the camera. With a cold, demanding voice, he merely spoke one sentence.

"Surrender, or we will fire upon your vessels."

ZendikaroftheWest

Brank
The cruisers, upon the detection of the star destroyer, move to put themselves between it and the scanning vessels. The battleship moves between the sccanning vessels and the Vaiaelon vessels. The battleship opens a channel to the star destroyer, and all of the warships begin warming up their weapons, just in case.
"This is the NGSS Albatross, of the Neu Gamilas empire. May I request that you Identify your allegence and reason for being here?"

Soundbust11

Brank
The bridge chatter ceased for a moment. The crew stared bewilderedly at the holo display, before bursting out into laughter.
"Oh no, it's the ID! Careful guys, they might ram us with a tug boat!"
"If we don't stop them here they'll try to 'liberate' some primates!"
"Um, sir?"
"What is it Larxir, you find some angrily yelling mining vessel?"
"One Liaison two Leisure, confirmed on VP Sweep."
"...Cut line."
The transmission went dead as the 'Lon warships spurred to life.
"Level 1 battlestations! Fire ASM batteries and arm the guns! Evasive function 12B!"

A flurry of long range pre-emptive missiles streaked from the pyramidal hulls. The nacelles dotting the hulls of all unfolded and the triple mount turrets folded out. The ships themselves began B-lining for the ID warships, meanwhile the freighter turned the opposite way, conveniently headed towards the Legend and still unaware of its presence.

//TQM, VSA Dreaded Dance, encryption Level 7, follows//
"Darkfleet high command this is Captain Vi'Quihap. Code Chipped Blade, I repeat, code Chipped Blade. Request backup."
//Message concludes//

Brank

Soundbust11

As the line is cut, the captain chuckles.
"They arent taking us seriously. That means we have already won. But be vigilant people, you all know too well the 'Lons always have something up their sleeve. Open a line with the Unseen Legend."

"Greetings, Captain Jaco, Orland reporting in, what can I do for you?"

"Report on the status of the Infiltration squad."

"They are on vector and the freighter is heading straight towards us, yet they dont see us yet. This will increase the chances of a mission success by quite a margin. The squad's trajectory has them set to hit the freighter in a matter of minutes..."

"Copy that. I'll handle the fighting, you take care of acquiring the asset. Jaco, out."

"Understood."

The ID fleet's Engines flare up as they pick up the pace, heading towards the VWP ships. Guns flare up as shells begin to fly, railguns firing an initial volley while point defense swings around to fire at the oncoming missiles. The Radiation along the spine of the Moonlight Dancer flares to a maximum before...

WHOOM

The Spinal and Subspinal particle accelerators fire their first shot straight towards the VWP destroyer, the thin white beams going at near-relativistic speeds...

ZendikaroftheWest

Soundbust11
Due to not reciving the messges between the two ships, the captain of the Albatross views the Unseen legend as th attacked party in this "Dispute, and launches missiles to intercept the Dreaded Lance's missiles. (Detontating infront to cause a detonation of the enemy missiles)

Soundbust11

Brank
The particle beams impacted the aft of the upper panel, ablating several turrets clean off, and damaging others. The armour itself held strong, and the blast doors around the affected turrets sealed, preventing a chain reaction of ammo detonation. The railgun rounds were only able to penetrate when they hit the turrets, the highly sloped hull resisting any direct impacts.

The VSA vessels responded in turn, hundreds of guns in dozens of turrets lit up, spewing deadly ordinance through the vacuum. In what little modernisations the ships had received, included among them were APFSDS-R rounds, in which the penetrator contained a Rax'Thal alloy. Any successful penetration would corrode and toxify the area it landed, so it was a good thing they were out of effective range... for now.

A small squadron of Taroka launched from the aft of the Destroyer, 6 units. They spread out around the ship formation, closing the gap to the ID ships to make use of their more advanced ASMs.

ZendikaroftheWest
//Transmission Start//
"This is the VSA Dreaded Dance to the Neu Gamilas Empire vessels, we are not the aggressors in this situation. The Infinite Dominion is an enemy of the Vaiaelon War Pact, and has arrived here with the intention of capturing our aforementioned sensitive cargo. We ask that you do not interfere on their behalf, but will not stop you assisting us. That is all."
//Transmission End//

Brank

Soundbust11

Moonlight Dancer - Bridge

Jaco hastily turns to the comms officer and barks out an order-
"Pull up a comm link with the Gamilians."

-to which the comms officer follows through with, opening the comm link and responding
"Yes sir!"

ZendikaroftheWest
ID Comms - Hailing Neu Gamilias
"Greetings, this is captain Jaco of the IDS Moonlight Dancer, we have heard that you are an ally of the German Space Regime, and thus an ally of ours. We are here on a mission to retrieve an asset located on that cargo ship, we currently have an insertion team en route. It would be greatly appreciated if you continue to assist us in this battle. This current combat is to mount a distraction against the 'Lons. You have no obligation to stick around if you do not wish to."

@Soundbust11
Infiltration Squad

The team is seconds away from landing as the comms remain dead cold, only minimal, important chatter going through.
"Bravo, Charlie, to my left. Delta, Echo, to my right."

The squad forms up, the small rcs thrusters on the EVA suits shifting into the place as they prepare to land on the hull of the freighter
"Brace for landing."
"Copy that Alpha, bracing."

The small thrusters flare up as the squad angle their feet to the craft, quietly landing on the front underside of the ship, the mini reactors in their suits firing up as the batteries charge back up, nonvital systems powering back on for the EVA suits. The weak electromagnets in the boots of the EVA gear barely hold the marines to the ship, but getting knocked off would be easy so they still stick close to the hull, searching for some sort of opening along the belly of the cargo ship...

ZendikaroftheWest

Brank
"Of course, any ally of the German Space Regime is an ally of ours."
The Albatross sends a message to the scanning vessels, and they begin to warp out, one by one. They will return here later, with a different escort.
Soundbust11
Having received the message from the Moonlight Dancer, the fleet prepares for battle. The cruisers turn, and streak toward the frigates, using their high speed to close the distance quickly. The battleship turns its bow toward the destroyer and opens fire, its 440mm positron beams blazing from three triple mounts. It also warms up its secondary weapons, four dual 330mm positron cannons. The two cruisers then break off, firing six torpedoes each.

Soundbust11

Brank
The Taroka remain spaced out from the established firing lines, taking wide arcs around the battle. They defend against any ordinance launched against them, though remain on course to a weapons solution. Once in range, the ASMs streak through their launch racks, instantly establishing connections with each other. The missiles evade PD fire where possible, and where not, they make sure to drag the firing arcs away from other missiles, straining PD nets as much as possible.

The infiltrator squad soon finds an airlock, left unlocked by hasty repair crews. There's been no response to their presence just yet, the ship continuing on its course, and as far as the squad can tell there's no-one on the other side of the airlock.

ZendikaroftheWest
The Beams from the battleship strike the armoured hull of the destroyer. However, at this range, the heat sinking elements of the armour are able to manage the effects. The armour is damaged but not pierced.

Meanwhile at a nearby VWP outpost, a Toltasei-Class Pocket Carrier cruises out of dock, despite being in the midst of its final checks.
"Equipment stocked, launcher prepped."
"Mission is interception of enemy combat vessels, outfit accordingly."
"Roger, engagement protocols?"
"Chipped Blade, free engagement."
"...Understood."
With that, the ship Switched away.

Brank

Soundbust11
The point defense net is strained indeed, popping missiles one after one as what seems like a wide, spaced out wall of flak and plasma form between the forces, detonating and melting missiles as they come on. But the wall isnt enough. Where the APS fire lets up to allow allied fire through, a handful of ASMs are able to slip through, too close for interceptor missiles to take care of, they thud into the hulls of the Moonlight dancer, cracking outer layers of armour and taking off a couple smaller point defense turrets. One ASM that gets through crashes into a dorsal railgun turret, melting the barrel and side to where it becomes dysfunctional and has to be evacuated and sealed off from the hull as the turret itself, being unrepairable and unusable, is ejected off the hull of the Dancer, the connection to the hull being severed as it floats off.

But this doesnt stop the second volley of railgun rounds, and now that the two fleets are in MUCH closer engagement range, the new volley of fusion cannon bolts. Due to this new engagement range the VWP rounds begin to get too hard to dodge and much harder to intercept, the close range CIWS blurting off insane amounts of bullets, but still failing to catch some of the rounds...

A shell slams into the side of the IDS Follower of Sin, one of the two frigates, sending a handful of turrets careening through the void as the hulls below the turrets are automatically sealed by the AI of the ship. The Coilguns on the Follower of Sin and her sister, IDS Deed of Good, fire off HE rounds at the smaller VWP ships, the crack-crack-crack of their automatic fire rate sounding within the walls of the ships.

Infil Team

"Move in and check your corners, we have the entrance."

The team slowly moves in, checking their corners with guns drawn as they move farther into the airlock. Once all of them are in they shut the airlock and go through to other side, into the main body of the ship...

ZendikaroftheWest

Soundbust11
The battleship closes fast, and fires yet another volley from its positron cannons. The cruisers continue to close, and begin firing from their two 220mm triple positron beam turrets.

Soundbust11

Brank
The hail of HE rounds dealt a fair number on the shields of the VSA ships, fragments of hardlight splintering off and decaying amidst the vacuum. The ID railgun rounds started punching through the now fractured shields with relative ease, having small success in piercing the hull armour. However, the sheer amount of redundant systems built into the legacy models ensured that it took a large amount of saturation on an area to noticeably degrade its fighting ability. A second volley of ASMs launched from the armour seams, now much further within the defensive grids. The Taroka also launched out another volley, taking advantage of the confusion where they can, even squeezing out a few cheeky autocannon strafes at their lumbering targets.

From what little the infiltration team knew of Karrashta, they were able to make out the rough direction of the cargo hold. Getting there proved to be another matter, as they began encountering technicians and crewmembers milling about their tasks. They weren't noticed yet, but it was starting to look like only a matter of time.

ZendikaroftheWest
The armour is considerably less resistant at this range, turning white hot and even melting away some layers in places. Some of the volleys of shells and missiles are redirected towards the Gamilas ships.

If anyone was watching the outer edge of the system, if they even had sensors capable of picking it up, they might have noticed another ship Qswitching in. The ID Platinum-Class immediately detected a new radar signature approaching; the sheer speed led the computer to classify it as another missile, yet the apparent size seemed more in line with a fighter.
"This is Disband. Targets sighted. Engaging."

Brank

Soundbust11
The Wall of Flak and Point Defense fire focuses upon the incoming missiles as they still swarm in, the sustained fire straining the grid even more as increasing amounts of missiles slip through, shields being forced to fire up small walls of plasma to try and protect from the blasts while CIWS send of their bursts of fire. A small swarm of missiles slips through the grid from the numerous ASM volleys being fired out, the missiles crashing into the side of the Moonlight Dancer as the armour it hits singes and buckles, cracks forming on the outer protection layers as deep dents form, even bucking supports in some areas.

In the core of the Moonlight dancer its Spinal and Subspinal mounts begin to slowly build their charge back up, the stores of particles being loaded up as they begin to come online once again. Railguns; Coil-Autocannons; and Fusion Cannons alike across the fleet all continue their firing sequences, focusing mostly on the VSA Destroyer and trying to aim for the most damaged spots where possible. Meanwhile interceptor missiles flare up in their housings as rockets burn, sending volleys of the missiles streaking towards the Tarokas in a bid to remove them from the combat.

IDS Moonlight Dancer - Bridge
"Prepare Interdiction to come online! An FTL sig just dropped out on the edge of the system and need to stop anything else from showing up!"
Captain Jaco commands the bridge as people rush around, clicking at holographic keyboards and physical ones alike, sending out commands to their respective districts of control while the frigates receive their orders...

Escort Frigates
Having seen the signature Qswitch in quite some distance away the frigates fire up their spinal assault interdictors, one prepping to send a corridor of anti-FTL towards the direction of the yet to be identified qunit, while the other aims to block the freighter from leaving. The silent and invisible energy shoots out, manipulating spacial gravity in the area as to mess with FTL of most kinds, the slight distortion of gravity throwing off any and all calculations needed to get FTL drives to work in that small corridor of space...

But the Qunit is still on approach and needs to be identified and dealt with soon lest it tear the fleet apart...

Infil Team
"Alright Squad, move to secure the asset."
The Infil team rushes around corners and avoids sightlines to the best of their ability, almost getting caught multiple times as they finally make it to the room with the holding cell...

"Bravo, try to get a good look at the room, use your cloaking and use the sparing seconds it gives to get what info you can."

"Roger that Alpha, moving in."

With a slight shimmer the experimental device covers Bravo with a field of wavy and shaky 'invisibility', allowing them to remain unseen so long as no-one looks in that direction for too long and they stay still as possible. Bravo moves around the corner slightly and tries to take in the sights of the room...

ZendikaroftheWest

Brank
"Of course. Ghale Gamilas."

Soundbust11
As the commander spots the signature his eyes widen.
"Bashuk! No no no no no."
He then turns and shouts orders to the crew.
"We may have an Eater type craft, turn toward her, arm the missiles, and prepare for impact."
_The battleship turns and opens fire on the craft, desperately trying to shoot it down. _

ZendikaroftheWest

Brank
A transmission is sent from the battleship, in a tense voice.
"You have your asset yet? We may have a problem here, and I dont want to stick around for too long. Anything we can do?"

Soundbust11

Brank
The railgun rounds finally burst through the thick hull of the destroyer, right through the area still sizzling from the Gamilas' attack. Turrets in the area buckled for a moment, shortly before the ammo cookoff began and their burning husks shot out hurtling into the void. The armour itself blasted outwards in other places, plumes of incendiary gas forcing their way through. Despite the no doubt critical damage, the rest of the ship almost entirely ignored the proceedings, continuing its relentless barrage of railcannon fire. The only real acknowledgement was the ship turning its now damaged face away from its adversaries, still able keep two thirds of its guns within firing solutions.

Taking advantage of the split attention, the corvettes moved closer to the Dancer, unloading their own railcannons at max RPM into the shields. The Tarokas use the opportunity, flying behind the defensive areas the corvettes projected, CIWS sniping the interceptors out in no time.

ZendikaroftheWest
Whatever the craft was, it speedily zipped between the positron beams shot at it. Turns so sudden and drastic were taken that, were there a human pilot on board, they'd be little more than mush. Strangely, the radar signature seemed to start expanding, apparently ballooning out to the size of a small warship, before it abruptly disappeared altogether. All the sensor officers could do was stare at a blank screen in the deafening silence of the dozen empty seconds that followed...

It eventually re-appeared just as quickly as it had vanished, but instead of relief this only brough panic. The craft was streaking towards one of the ID escort frigates at speeds in excess of 6km/s, and was a mere 21km away. Before the CIWS and other defensive measures could even bear on target, the signal split into a dozen more, the resultant confusion lasting just a moment long enough to close the gap. Entirely unknown and anomalous projectiles cruised through the Frigate's shields in less than a heartbeat, continuing on to carve through the armour like a hot knife through butter, piercing all the way through and out the other side of the hull.

The largest of the signatures identified slammed into the hull itself, and weapons systems began blinking offline at several by the second. A brief glimpse of whatever it was got caught on an external camera, before it too went offline. Another Taroka, the design radically different to its contemporaries, and ripping off one of the primary railguns by the barrel with its claws.

F13Y1 smiled to herself from within the cockpit. The entire attack had lasted barely 8 seconds.
"Disband. Target neutralised. Proceeding."
Her custom-built Taroka leapt from the hull of the irreparably crippled frigate, and rapidly began accelerating towards the second. The anomalous projectiles curved around, apparently unphased by the impact, and followed behind.

Blissfully unaware of the chaos outside, Bravo gets eyes on target without a hitch. A large metallic box about the size of a studio apartment sits in the center of the room, accented in industrial red and fastened down to the floor. A squat but wide mechanical door is set into one side, electromagnet locking mechanisms apparent. A holographic interface is located next to the door, currently displaying what one can assume is a camera view of the box's contents; a lone Vaiaelon female sitting in the center of an otherwise white room. Bravo gets an odd impression from the video feed, as though he was seeing several clips randomly stitched together, given how the girl seems to teleport around the room and into different positions.

A pair of thoroughly disinterested guards sit just in front of the door, some sort of board game sat between them.
"Dolta wa pronehiis?"
"Te vfase, dolta wa waaroi tur biiva."
"Hmph! Te reitak."
They haven't noticed Bravo just yet.

Brank

ZendikaroftheWest

"Roger that, asset has been located and the team is preparing to engage extraction soon, we will inform you when they have made it off-ship. For now try and disable the engines on the Freighter while we keep the VSA ships distracted."