The Gate Falls
Posted on Sun Feb 28th, 2016 @ 12:35pm by Lieutenant Lynsi Mason & Colonel S'er'in'e & Lieutenant JG Jason Rawles & 2nd Lieutenant Scooter Porkinsky
Edited on on Wed Mar 2nd, 2016 @ 12:05am
Mission: By Dawn's Early Light
The battle was in full swing now as the station engaged the starships of the enemy fleet, the station was well shielded but even against a fleet these would only last so long. Enemy fighters were easy to pick out from the Starfleet ones but even so, they were outnumbered. The station was providing help but fighters were harder to hit than starships so only tallied for a few kills at best. A few close calls evident by his cockpit being lit up by the light emanated from weapons fire snapped him to the now, his now at least.
The enemy fleet was determined, he'd give them that much as the barrage of weapons fire both phaser and torpedo based continually danced between them and the station. The attack had been going for a while now and losses were mounting on both sides. Then a new development arose, more enemy craft were being deployed and they were not hiding the matter as they began to stream towards the station. S'er'in'e was curious about this development but it soon became apparent, focus fire had made a hole.
"Shadow to all wings, they have dropped the stations dorsal shields, engage enemy fighters, stop them from taking out weapons platforms and shield generators. We have to buy the station time."
Somewhere in the furball, the worst thing that could happen to fighter pilots did happen. Wingmen became separated and lost. Radios were being jammed. There were two options, one being to regroup at pre-agreed locations and two, go it alone. Scooter Porkinsky made genuine efforts to pair up again, with anyone. That would take time, however, and the enemy was surging toward the starbase. In most battle chaos, vehicle and trooper alike often abandoned procedure and savagely hurled himself against the enemy. Even if his weapons bounced off of deflectors, his reckless charge through formations would serve to baffle tactical computers and put organized attackers on the defensive.
Time was a luxury they didnt have, with the shields down an entire arc of the station was unprotected by shields leaving it down to the stations armour to endure the assault. As S'er'in'e destroyed another fighter he noticed a pattern, some enemy ships were firing on the doors, at least that what it appeared to be. He knew the doors were incredibly well armoured as solid slabs of armour being an obvious entry point but then a new pattern emerged. The enemy were targeting beside the doors with torpedoes, why he could not be sure but the stations armour was not as thick as the doors in that location especially in light of the sides housing the door sliding spaces.
"Shadow to Ops, enemy is targeting beside the space doors, they may be attempting to breach, requesting orders." With communications spotty at best he hoped the message went through clearly.
"Copy that," came Von's voice over the radio comms. It was clear from her tone that she had a lot to worry about, and was not thrilled by the development. "See if you can draw their fire."
"Shadow, this is Razor. Let me regroup with my wing and we can get in there and distract them if you can get us some cover fire," Jason Rawles said over the comm. "I'm plenty in the mood to burn off some red paint."
The message from Ops outlined his direction, all he had to do now was action it. "All pilots new orders from Command. Claymores and Exocets, engage and distract enemy cruiser formations, Pythons we need to stem the flow of incoming weapons fire attempt to engage enemy torpedoes if practical, otherwise continue fighter suppression. The rest of us will continue engaging fighters as targets present themselves." Splitting up the wing held it's risks but it had to be done, there was no way they could stop all the weapons fire so it was a time buying move at most, with the other sections of the wing engaging fighters it was for now, the best they could do until additional forces arrived.
Jason's lips quirked to the side. He wanted to engage the targets assaulting the spacedoors directly, but he had his orders. He double-clicked his affirmative over the line, "Chaos, Razor. I'm on your six. Let's burn some crimsons," He said, falling in behind his wing leader.
The Sojourner assault on the station doors were two fold. With the upper shields failing, the cruisers concentrated torpedo fire on the side of the hull near the doors, right where the armor was weakest. Waves of bombers, at least those that made it through the fighter screen, launched their own payload at the weakened area. Even as the Starfleet fighters tried to draw fire from the cruisers, the bombers were getting through the lines.
From inside the station, repair crews fought desperately to control the fires raging near the outer hull. The onslaught had already ruptured the outermost layer of the station's shell, but the Sojourners knew where to target. The station hull was mostly hollow in the vicinity of the massive space doors, merely a cavity to accept the heavy steel when the doors were open. Without the interior structure of decks and bulkheads, there was little to resist the bombardment from the attacking ships. Once the stronger outer layer had collapsed, there was little to stop the inner layer from losing structural integrity.
Up in main operations, a tired Liarra Von wiped a layer of sweat from her brow. The first boarding party had been fought off, but it probably wouldn't be long before another raiding party was sent in. She needed to use what time they had to regroup. "Status report!"
Nvaiden pulled himself back over to the strategic operations console. "We've suffered heavy damage near Door 2, Captain," he reported. "Hull breaches on multiple decks, structural integrity in that section at 15% and dropping."
"Can we hold it?" Von asked. She already knew the answer, but she still had to ask.
Nvaiden shook his head. "Negative, Captain. Structural integrity at 9% and still falling. We can only take a couple more hits."
Von gripped the situation table and watched the holographic display. While shooting at Sojourner raiders, she hadn't been able to watch the battle progress. The dock was going to be breached, just like Steiner had warned. Liarra started to consider the implications of that, but was interrupted by a huge jolt as the structure of the inner hull gave away.
The display was even more spectacular from the outside of the station. The last several torpedoes convened one location, resulting in a large fireball. As the fire dissipated in the vacuum of space, a hole had been shot through to the inner space dock. The breach was not clean; girders and collapsed bulkheads lined the opening. It was too small and too treacherous for a starship, but it was plenty large enough for fighters. On cue, the Sojourners launched their fighter reserves towards the hull breach.
Inside the stardock harbor, frustrations and worries about missing the battle quickly faded as Tac fed the pending shell breach location to their consoles. The reserve Razors positioned themselves to fire at the failing shell area. These were the most inexperienced pilots defending Starbase 332. A cadet was even numbered among them. The flight leader ordered, "All birds, we don't all overkill the first Soujy through the gap. Fire in turn as your Tac computer coordinates. Begin your pursuit curve on intruders as Tac targets."
S'er'in'e had engaged two fighters attempting to attack weapons systems on the surface of the umbrella section. The first went down easily enough as it skimmed the surface of the station limiting its escape avenues from incoming fire. The second tried to avoid S'er'in'e's attack but like the first his low approach to his target limited his evasion routes and S'er'in'e exploited it. His sensor readouts played a cringe worthy scene as red icons filed into the dock section, a breach had obviously been made but it was only small enough for fighters, for now.
"Shadow to Pythons and Exoset wings, persue enemy craft entering the space dock and engage we have to limit internal station damage. Claymores and Express wings, fighter screen the breach point, we have to stem the flow of enemy entry."
This meant that the squads he detailed to cruiser engagement were no longer doing such. "Shadow to Ops, my fighters are entering the dock area to engage enemy craft, enemy cruisers are no longer being harassed however."
S'er'in'e worried, civilian ships that were ferried into the dock before the enemy arrived were defenceless, any ship exploding inside the dock would do substantial damage to the station and worst case outright destroy it if a chain reaction of other ships stored within also went up. He didn't need to tell his pilots to watch where they fired, they knew the stakes at hand.
Major S'er'in'e
Commander, Air Group
Lieutenant Lynsi Mason [P: Von]
Squadron Leader, V/F-37 "Claymores"
Lieutenant JG Jason Rawles [P: Le]
Pilot, V/F-26 "Pythons"
2nd Lieutenant Scooter Porkinsky [P: St. Louis]
Pilot, VMA-193 "Exocets"
