((White is STC, Purple is whatever the hell Lefty is bringing in. Reds are hostiles, lime greens are civilians... that brown/purple dot is the RHO Base and I'll get to the pink things in a moment.))
Ultranova
The situation for the fighters seems really grim. The defenses are not calibrated to handle whatever this weaponry is effectively, and these Mechanicals are just far too fast to keep up with. Already the butterflies have been picked off and destroyed - but not without forcing some of the Mechs' ships to withdraw due to damage. It took a little longer to disable the shields on a Medium Interceptor than it did to disable the shields on a Fighter...
One of the Hawks manages to shoot a volley of rockets up the engines of a Fighter whose shields were down, and... when it detonated, it REALLY detonated. The remaining Pilots note not to get too close to the enemies when delivering a killing blow and adjust their tactics accordingly.
At this point, the Scouts have made it back to Group two and give their report - they seem to want to help the other fighters out of this dire situation they're in, though withdrawing the fighters is also an option...
COMBAT ANALYSIS - CYCLE 1:
1 Confirmed Kills
Enemy Light Fighter
2 Enemies fled
Enemy Light Fighter
Enemy Medium Interceptor
3 Confirmed Losses
Butterfly Fighter
Butterfly Fighter
Hawk Fighter
3 Damaged Ships
Hawk Fighter - Fled to Group 2
Hawk Fighter
Hawk Fighter
RedAndCosmoteer
++"13...14...15. Yeah... I mean, yeah that might just give us enough firepower to survive another onslaught like last time. Hey, hang on a tick..."++
Commander Pauling directs the communications officer, a Teal-skinned female, to give a report. He audibly exhales after the report was given in a manner hard to hear from the receiving end of the comms call.
++"...We're getting... other signatures. They might be friendly, they might not. It's likely they are from outside the system like you, so they're likely coming here. We should be on our guard."++
LeftHandofGod
The trek is long, but not too long. Unknown contacts are already being picked up on sensors and... some strange phenomenon are happening... tears in reality, but in a surgical manner, and having enough energy behind it to transfer between dimensions... Rift Signatures? It looks like whatever power here has been spooked by the arrival of the task force, and they're either summoning reinforcements or retreating. Rift signatures are more powerful than the Pulsar's distortion, no doubt, but it is because of that distortion that the Navigations systems cannot detect if there are more or less ships with the arrival of these supposed portals.