The LNS Lietinna proceeded at max speed towards the conflict zone captured in their scans. Archer sat on his captain's chair as he watched two count downs tick down on his console with the bridge caught in a heavy and suffocating silence. Everyone one knew what was waiting for them and what was behind them and there was no time for talking.
When the timers were on 1 and 5, the helmsman spoke up with a loud voice as if trying to drown out the silence in the bridge:
"ETA less than 60 seconds Sir. Preparing for a HLT drop."
Archer straightened his sitting posture as he stared ahead and spoke up:
"Thank you helm. Drop us within firing range, prepare for rapid maneuvers. Ops, run high resolution scans as soon as we drop, we need to know who we're dealing with."
""Yes sir.""
Archer's plan was simple, drop in on the conflict and figure out who the engaged parties are and render aid as needed before extraditing themselves before whoever is following them joins the fray. In fact, considering that there were 3 ships on an intercept course to them right now, no one would blame Archer if he immediately withdrew and didn't provide aid in the skirmish.
But Archer was concerned about leaving the Romme stranded if that was them fighting. If he left them, then he would be with one less friendly in the area and might find himself in the same situation as the Romme. He needed to at the very least ascertain what was happening so that he wasn't operating from a lack of intelligence, hence this time sensitive operation.
"We're in range Sir. Dropping in 10 seconds."
" Comms announce all hands brace please. Battle stations everyone."
"Yes Sir, HLT drop in 10 seconds."
Archer braced himself using his armrest as the helm counted down from 10 preparing for the HLT drop. Soon enough, Archer felt the tug of a HLT drop accompanied by the characteristic humming but there was no time to look around as he immediately turned his attention to the forward viewing screen.
Displayed there was the sight of 5 ships engaged in a very heavy exchange of proton fire. There were three ships seemingly encircling the other two, with one already incapacitated and the other attempting to break contact but to no avail due to their opponents using their positions and weapons to cut off any clear path for them to enter HLT.
Within a few seconds of dropping in, Klimt immediately spoke with urgency:
"Sir, LNS Romme and LNS Matril confirmed. The Matril is dead in space but surrounded by a large array of mines. The Romme seems unable to extradite. Three unidentified enemy ships, all type 2."
Archer hastily inputted a curved path on his console to one of the enemy ships and marked it as he spoke:
Alright. Helm, approach sent to you. Tactical, engage marked enemy, fire all weapons. Comms, we're close enough to talk to the Romme and Matril, patch them to me immediately on a secure line."
Before archer could finish his series of commands, he felt the Lietinna fly in at high velocity in a curve path towards the marked enemy. Soon after, minute jolts coursed through the ship as the two main proton cannons and 4 small rail guns fired towards the enemy.
Archer glanced at the remaining countdown which was nearing the 4-minute mark meaning that they were running out of time. He turned back to viewing screen to see one of the enemy ships get hit by the Lietinna's weapons, but their anti-proton shields minimized the proton damage, although the constant magnetic rail gun fire was doing some damage causing the glow of the shields to flicker weakly.
"Sir. We have comms to the Romme. Nothing from the Matril."
"Patch them in. Tactical, fire for effect. Set up motion mines behind us, pattern T-11."
Archer's left console immediately had a dark screen pop which then turned to the image of a blonde-haired man with dark blue eyes and a small mustache. His blue uniform and two blue stars were barely visible in the image. His face was scrunched in a frown, and he seemed a bit disheveled and sweating profusely. Archer who did not have time to look immediately spoke:
"Sir. I am Lieutenant Chase in command of the Lietinna. We will provide cover, please find a way to extradite yourself and we'll follow. We have three potential enemies coming within 4 minutes so we must rush. How is the Matril?"
The Lt. Commander on the screen had a look of relief and appreciation wash over his face as Archer spoke quickly, he immediately responded:
"You're a lifesaver Lieutenant, we were running out of options., we'll follow your instructions and retreat. We had just found the Matril dead in space when they fell on us, we have been trying to outmaneuver them for half an hour now to no avail, no chance to run rescue operations. They have deployed mines, but that won't help them much."
Archer frowned as he realized that this was indeed a layered ambush, but he didn't say anything as he spoke:
"We'll soak up some of their attention and open a path for you. The Tame is an hour away, let's try rendezvousing with them."
"Sounds good Lieutenant. Let's get out of here, but let's see if we can take one or two of these bastards out before we must go. Esmer out."
Archer frowned at Lt. Commander Esmer's words. He really didn't think there was any time to be playing around trying to take down enemies. Retreat was the priority, and they were running low on time as it is, but he didn't have much time to contemplate as he felt the ship shake heavily.
He immediately turned his attention to the front as the enemy ship they fired upon continued forward while another turned their broad side to them in and fired on them. Archer immediately spoke:
"Report!"
The engineering officer immediately spoke:
"Reporting sir, proton cannon hit on starboard-bow, maximum deflection, no damage."
"Should we switch targeting to them sir."
The tactical officer spoke up immediately. Archer however was not too concerned as he spoke up:
"Negative, maintain fire on our initial target, they are only using half of their weapons. Helm, keep us on their starboard side."
""Yes Sir.""
Archer was aware that their initial target was trying to use their ally's cover to have them disengage, but the Lietinna has the advantage if they can keep the ship engaging them from being able to use all its main weapons, they can minimize damage.
Additionally, Archer was aware that the Romme, which was initially engaged in evasive maneuvers now had the breathing room to fight back which was the case as he saw the Romme target the same ship he was targeting.
"Keep firing, let's see if we can take one out."
He then turned his head to his console again only to see the timer reach 3 minutes.
He was starting to feel the beads of sweat pooling on his forehead, but he didn't have time to dawdle as he continued watching the screen. The enemy weapons were occasionally hitting the starboard-bow or port bow as the Lietinna maintained its orientation away from the main weapons.
Archer turned his attention to the third enemy ship which seemed to be doing exactly what he was doing and trying to maintain fire on the Romme. This left the enemy with one ship taking the brunt of their and the Romme's fire power, one caught mid turn and unable to fully engage the Lietinna and one pursuing the Romme. This wasn't a bad tactical situation, but archer was aware that they didn't have time to capitalize.
Within 30 seconds, the ship they were targeting seemed to have some proton shots penetrate its shields after the constant bombardment of two ships causing it to stop moving. Archer immediately knew that its engine had been hit and it was dead in space.
He immediately looked at his times with less than two and half minutes left as he spoke:
"Tactical, switch targets to the enemy ship engaging the Romme, let's give them room to run. Helm, prepare for HLT jump."
"Yes sir"
The Lietinna immediately started heavy proton cannon bombardment on the ship pursuing the Romme causing it to pause its pursue and attempt evasive maneuvers as the Lietinna was directly firing on its broadside. While the Lietinna itself maneuvering away from the enemy ships.
Half a minute later, the Romme, which received some respite from the enemy bombardment, started accelerating significantly and then disappeared as she entered HLT. On the other hand, the Lietinna was now engaging the two remaining enemy ships. As soon as the Romme jumped away, Archer felt a sigh of relief escape his chest.
The enemy was initially focused on the Romme and the Lietinna that dropped in from behind didn't have as much of it's escape routes blocked and were not able to focus their full fire power on the Lietinna giving her a clear path to of retreat.
"Helm, take us out of here, immediately jump to HLT."
"Yes sir."
The Lietinna then proceeded to drastically accelerate before reaching its maximum HLT speed. The sudden jump to HLT was more jarring that the normal gradual process as the ship felt like it was being hurled through space causing one to feel almost suffocated, but this was temporary, and the feeling of suffocation soon disappears as HLT speed is achieved.
This was Archer's first time experiencing this, so he felt his chest tighten for a second and he couldn't help but hyperventilate for a few seconds before composing himself as he felt the eyes of the bridge crew on him.
He put on a reassuring smile but didn't address the situation as he spoke:
"Excellent job everyone. All stations report, Helm!"
"Helm reporting. Setting course back to the Aurora system. Max speed. Matching the route of the LNS Romme."
"Ops reporting, the incoming ships are still in pursuit, we're maintaining slight separation, the enemy we just disengaged does not seem to be pursuing us with them."
"Comms Reporting. All comms open, sending report to fleet command."
"Tactical Reporting. All weapons cool down. Low ammunition on railguns and one of the main is showing fatigue cracks in a few places."
"Engineering Reporting. No major damage to main and sub systems. Slight hull damage on starboard bow, contained for now."
Archer listened to all the reports and felt that they really managed to get out of this relatively unharmed which is genuinely something to be thankful for. Nonetheless, he was still vigilant as felt that they were still not fully out of the water.
"Acknowledged. Thank you everyone, but we're not out yet, let's keep going and get us some reinforcement. Maintain course. Let's wait for Fleet contact."