Convoy II

“Inbound vessels, this is first lieutenant Jason Feltson of the Federated Lyconian Navy—please identify yourself,” jason transmitted in a bored sounding singsong tone, “you are threatening our fly-zone and are in direct violation of article 3556-B of the universal travel conduct charter. Please respond or we will be forced to view your actions as hostile and respond as such. Over.”

as if in response to the hailing, another five signatures split into two separate marks, bringing the count to twenty-one. “Command, this is bravo one…five additional signatures, repeat, two one total. please advise on…we have a contact, command, i repeat, we are being fired on!” another much smaller signature jumped from one of the other vessels at about ten times the speed of the other force. jason’s sensors flashed and there was a “heads-up” tone in his helmet. his ats kicked in immediately and the contact turned blue.

“Bravo one, this is Command. Neutralize incoming fire and engage at will. You are cleared for engagement. Go get ‘em, boys!” finally thought jason, as he switched to general push.

“Alright you trained monkeys,” he said over the general frequency, “let’s show these bastards what happens when you threaten us and ours! Three pronged front, pair off and pick them off. Good hunting boys!” with that, he triggered the pulse laser slaved to his ats and watched the blue mark on his hud flash once quickly.

the signatures for the inbound bogeys disappeared in a wave.

the airwaves were filled with the curses and startled exclamations of the entire escort force. the incoming ships had all disappeared…every last one of them.

“Maintain formation! Alpha five and seven, form up! Settle down, boys, settle down. There must have been something in that rocket.” the garbled and frantic chatter died down almost immediately. it was a good thing to be flying with snakes. “If there is something jamming our scanners, it should be doing the same to theirs. the interference will be about mid point, so we can expect visual before any sensor contact. also, remember whatever is jamming our sensors my have an effect on your ats and missile tracking, so we may be looking at a good old fashioned dog fight. Echo wing, on my mark, break to flanking position ref point 205, 120, 320…and, mark. Bravo wing, tighten splits to 150 klicks and prepare to engage.”