The fleets rolled in one by one as they pushed down the marker set by Astrid. "All groups. Switch to short range targeting and communications. I will be repeating orders and counter and it's up to you to execute."
"Astrid. Left zone fourteen hundred. Shall the Red Merle fire?" Shiro circled the ships with a red highlighter as James was watching closely.
"Yes send a counter fleet immediately." Astrid responded as they had one to one numbers.
"No, don't, use a magnet mine right here and draw the ships into one, those are separate from the main fleet because they are loaded with explosives enough to destroy half of the fleet!" James spotted it.
"Red fleet, fire all magnetic spheres into quadrant thirteen seventy and back away!" Astrid wanted to see if he was right. Red fleet opened the barrage of their specialty as the ships were pulled back all into one. A giant explosion went off as all the ships were hit by a shockwave that shook all of them.
"Good eye James." Astrid tapped her side. "Sit up here and watch for any oddities." Astrid realized that their combat experience meant if something didn't look right, they could diagnose it and counter appropriately.
"Adam, Ambassador, full steam ahead." The Viper leader commanded as the empire came in hard with hundreds of ships. "All wings, scatter and engage!" Astrid saw the action as she gave full priority to sending defense fleets to handle the pathing as the Ambassador was able to cover the hard hitting as the Everlast took the lumps with ease.
"All wings, you see that middle capital ship, it's charging something." Viper seventeen commented as a small glow was seen from it. "We need to hit that now."
"Take the Ambassador and use it as a ram." Astral turned off all the sensors as he looked behind him. "Hold on tight ladies." Valkira and Jaimie strapped themselves down as Astral flicks one lever, ramming the empire's capital ship into the nearby moon, luckily both ships didn't explode into a ball of fire.
"Everlast is offline, but so is their leader." Astrid saw panic as the fleets started breaking off. "All viper wings. Hit the charging weapon!"
"Calling all viper, ace and smashmouth wings." Adam pinged their location as he hovered above the Ambassador as it was opening fire on the nearby cruisers. "We need to break through and stop it before it hits critical!"
"Roger that Artist!" The wings formed up behind the Ambassador as they closed the gap and started opening fire on the ship.
"Sir, your private legion is ready to launch onto the ship and stop it from the inside." A marine spoke through the comms of the Ambassador.
"Do it, we are going to disable this thing first then we can study it." Adam broke off left as he cut his way through a fighter defense line.
"All ships, push past theirs and engage point blank!" Astrid gave the command as the ships went into broadside engagement. The fire engaged between the two was immense. The sky was filled with many rounds from both sides.
Astrid was watching the breakdowns of the ships. She was winning but the Independents were starting to activate emp devices. Hitting her ships caused a small amount of panic as she looked back over. "How can we take them down without getting close?"
"All available fighters are not busy with the other capital ship. Swoop in and attack the independents. Their weapons are slowing your support so full throttle and unload while you can." James shouted out the command as he looked over. "I'm sorry for blurting out my answer."
"All ships currently engaging with the Independants reroute to engage the empire's fleet." Astrid sent the communication. "I have as much to learn as you do. Good call and thank you for saving me from the freeze up."
"He has that wonder where he can solve issues and diagnose them easily. Adam showed him how to on their journey." Angel pointed out as Adam's fighter squad finally disabled the empire's capital ship.
"All crasher ships, dent their hulls and we will prioritize the rest!" Adam banked left, firing a barrage into a ship's bridge destroying it. The rest of the ships from the Astral Alliance moved in and opened fire as the Empire was outnumbered. Adam led the other fighters to take on the Independent's.
"All fighter squadrons, focus on evasion and distance first, only swoop in and attack if you are clear. Buy the others some time." Adam looked at the capital ship.
"Roger that Artist." All the fighters echoed into his ears as he was the first one to dive in, spinning as the shells went all around him. Opening fire with all that he had and downing one of the larger ships as the others cheered!
"That is Adam. I am certain. Lock on the homing missiles." Kaenester looked out as the other fighters started to chip away at his ships. "They are tenacious and never ending, and that giant orb back there hasn't done anything yet."
"It's reading large amounts of radiation from that core, solar radiation." An officer on the bridge read out to him. "It's starting to spike, what is it targeting?"
The fighters scattered in front of the fleet as a red beam shot through space and destroyed a solid chunk of ships as they flew back in and started attacking again. "That is your one Astrid." Red Merle spoke to her.
"More than enough to scare them." Astrid looked out as Adam and the fighters were now moving circles around the Independent fleet's. They had the better numbers but were frozen in fear.
"Kaenester, what do we do?" The officer spoke out in fear.
"Wait and detonate if they dare board the ship, or go down fighting for a galaxy that doesn't exist anymore." Kaenester announced as the ships came back online. The attack had a built-in EMP. How unique.
"Alright, all fighter squadrons, keep hitting the smaller ones. I'm going for their big fish." Adam banked upward way above the rest as everyone had their eyes on him. The Independents opened fire at him trying to destroy the ship with no chance on even hitting him as he swooped in and opened a hole in the hull next to the bridge and slammed his shuttle into it.
The empire was struggling harder versus the shielding of the heavier ships Astrid had to offer as the crasher ships were burrowing into the final capital ship. The rest of the escort fleet was being dismantled with ease as it was being shot down faster than before. Astrid diagnosed the weak points and the new prototype ships became fully active and powered as they chewed through the armor and shields.