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134 - Use Of Weapons (pt.2)
It's not all bad news for the Blues tho as I've decided to send Green wing along to help out some and I've also got 30 odd fighter drones on hand to send in slightly ahead to give the Tyr something to distract it for a few seconds whilst Blue wing gets into firing position. And it turns out a few seconds window is all they get as the Tyr opens up on the incoming drones and starts picking them off a lot more speedily than I'd originally anticipated. Terran flak seems to be quite effective! The drones tho have served their purpose and allowed the fighters to make it to launch position alive and with that achieved they can put into effect their part of the mission. Operation: 'Hailstorm'
32 ships of Blue wing, augmented by another 10 or so from Green wing, all armed with Wasp missiles, all instructed to fire at will results in a blanket saturation of the Tyr in a cloud of microwarheads..
http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/steve/134-1.jpg
.. completely overloading it's targetting systems. The Tyr does it's best but with that many Wasps swarming all over the flak cannons can hardly discern one threat from another and what was initially effective focused fire splashing drones left and right turns into disjointed, disorganised, random spraying. Still dangerous for anyone unlucky enough to get hit of course, but it's drastically reduced the chances of the Tyr being able to pick out any individual fighter in the confusion.
Swamping the Tyr with microwarheads will work for a while, but each fighter only has a limited number on board so no time for complacency here, time to bring the next element of the plan into play and that's 'Bitter Wind' with its complement of marines. Given the importance of this operation I've elected to break out the old carbine and join the inbound team to personally lead the boarding operation. Some might question how wise it is for the commanding officer to lead a boarding operation, but given the events that took place the last time I stood onboard the flightdeck of a Terran capital ship this is one of those things that has to be done. It's a Karma thing. Pods away!..
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.. All 24 of them! The Tyr may be swamped in Wasp missiles, fighter drones and the combined might of Blue and Green wings, but that doesn't mean I'm taking any chances here. The more pods winging their way to target the less chance of the target picking a valuable one out the air with a well placed shot.
Passing thru the cloud of Wasp missiles, slipping under the Tyrs point defense in the confusion and with the boarding pods safely embedded into the side of the Tyr with no losses we're good to go. Just a quick hull cutting required and we can slip inside while Blue wing get the break order and make a bolt for the safety of 'Hellbound Handbasket'. We've got a ship to capture so I haven't got time for a detailed casualty report..
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.. but there seems quite a few of the Blues left there so it's looking good. Even a few drones have survived!
I'd anticipated the possibility of losing a pod or two on the way in so had ordered no less than a full team for the boarding so it was a pleasant suprise to have all get in safely and taking a ship with twenty hardened maniacs is always going to be substantially easier than with ten. It's even easier when the target ship in question is complacent in it's own superiority. No internal security measures, no onboard complement of Terran marines. I don't think the crew of the Tyr really knew what hit them to be honest, so it hardly seemed anytime at all before squad A had secured the ships computer core while squad B had secured the bridge. Settling into the commanders chair let's see what we've got here then. Engineering report Mr Scott!
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.. Mm, not bad at all.
Burst message the rest of the fleet, let's get a jumpdrive on this boat and get the hell out of here!
Time: 11-08:02
Credits: 138,907,768
Teladianium: 32,714
Ore: 450,000
Steve does it again!
