Once the freighter was destroyed Sarah enters the action in the ships log and the Ironwood sets out on a slow course to pick up any pods or freight containers or even potential survivors of the battle. On the inbound leg she comms for a drop off location of the items the Ironwood had recovered.

   Rivets answers  the COMS to have  any thing   unloaded at the  floating  dock where the Saladin is berthed.

  Then says to  make sure  they reload any supplies they need.

In reply to Saladin (msg # 933):

Jesse looked up at Hack as he came in and she noticed the slight limp.

You okay Admiral? she asked him as she finished up making her rounds on the ones that she and Spartan had brought in.

She stands and heads towards him.

Need any medical attention?  she said in a soft tone.

 Waving her off as  he looked  around at the others,....I'll be  fine  , once  we get back to the Hermes, Thank You Miss Dalton.

Jesse crossed her arms and gave a nod.  While she didn't completely believe it, he was in charge.  Not always best to oppose the good guy.

Yes, Sir, she said.

Without much ado, once they had hit the Hangar Deck, she headed for her quarters to wash up and meet up with the others.

>>Hangar Deck>Quarters

Once the Ironwood had recovered the cargo and capsules that it could find the corvette turned back in for the docks. She checks in with LT Greene on the status of the engines and to the damage reports filling out the necessary requisitions for expedited parts as necessary specifically a new metaglass viewport for the bridge.


Once back at the dock she has LC Harrington sign over the recovered pods and cargo to the Everest fleet SEC office to be added to what is recovered by salvage teams and others out in the region.

   there  are   Tubes  being  Put into an  ESN Freighter. with   Everest SEC watching over the Loading.

 BArrels  and crates  are being  stacked along the dock for   other   freighters to be picked up

  An Everest Tender is  slowly  pulling  , a still burning, shuttle from the open loading ramp in the ship's belly.. there are Bodies  being tossed into The Black as well.

   The Ironwood is   unloaded rather  quickly... Sarach receives  reports  of   the engineer wanting to either  weld  some srtaps on the  engine frame footings...or and  a few extra  Bolts to the Bulk head and Dec.

Sarah quickly approves the minor repairs for the Ironwood giving LT Greene a warning that everything needs to be buttoned up and ready for action by jump off. She makes arrangements for a nice dinner to be catered to the ship for the crew out of the ships funds letting LC Harrington handle the details, as the crew settles into the cycle of repairs and re-tuning the various systems of the ship for the next mission.

<<<<<<<<<<<  from Hanger Dec 6

  Shadow  circled  above the  large metal Beast, that was The Hermes... Traffic was still heavy at the Saladin .. the  'wall of Metal'  to the starboard Stern, that was the Delta Fleet, look impressive..hundreds of  tiny lights   darte dhere and there as shuttles  headed to Everest and the  Main body of the  fleet ran patrols  around their ships

<<<<<<<< Hanger deck 6


As she cleared the Hermes and did a roll. She did it for fun but it also checked her thrusters. " All systems green." she said a bit cheerfully. She spotted and took her position off of Shadow as they circled high above the Hermes. She gazed at the other fighters which where of better design then her Hammerhead. " Don't worry your still new and great to me." she says to the fighter.

   Clear of the Station and well above Most of the   Delta Fleet, Shadow said on all COMs,Delta  Fleet..this is LC Shadow, of  351  ESN Hermes... We  are flying under the  Cap ships, but  above  main body..we will be  patroling  Inside the   Beta Triange...with a look towards Nivar Space..be advised..should we encounter a Cap ship,  we may COM for Help...

  Affirmitive  , WC... we have  scout flights out as well we'll send the nearest Destroyer..Good Hunting...

 the  fighters where mere dots  as they Flew over the  Main body..of the ...er..Main Body.  Massive  God Class  Cruisers of the Hermes style... somewhat smaller Hero Class crusiers that were a bit  sleeker and longer... Destroyers, corvettes,Tenders..

 Then they reached the Middle of the Fleet.. the Huge long   Rectangles of the Transport/bases..the  Drop-transports Cockpit lights  lit up the  sides line. looking like hundreds of  skyscraper lights. Tiny lights of, squares of  Marines could be seen as they ran  down the length of the transport/Bases doing PT in 0 atmo, in heavy boarding  suits., In the Center of it all were the MedTech ships and the   Media ships, Protected by the might of the delta Fleet..then, the scene  repeated itself as the  tiny flight of fighters came out the  other side of the  Fleet Formation.

   There it is, EnsignZi. The might of the Delta Fleet..while other fleets  have had  Skrimishes, This  fleet has fought  battles... i wager to say , despite thier years, we have fought more actions against the Empire and her allies, then the Angels have....

As they flew Gao tipped her wings a bit here and there to get a better look at the fleet. It was mighty impressive. "That is a bit weird isn't it? The Delta fleet and large and aggressive but to have had more major battles with the enemy then even the Angels... They came to us to prepare us for the war that would come. We built ships like these with their help and instruction. We should be fighting with them right? Not just impressively on our own?"

She spoke a bit more openly and her thoughts where along the lines with what the Chinese felt as well. They were fighting now but felt suspicious of the Angels still.

  There was a Bit of a Chuckle,..you want to get the straight  scoop?  Talk to Commander Si, Her FAther is Ge-Fi.....

 Sadly..the way things are.... are as much our fault, as the Angels... The Angels knew we were warlike...bred in our genes from the   countless criminals exiled  to earth.. then the  breeding with the few Angels who had  to merge with the population, when thier  ship's power died...They say that 90% of  Earthlings have a bit of  Angel in them...the other 10% have demon...but  the more  we hear about other races, i am sure  Largrans  and Creshians  and i'm damn sure the Qarl and Skith have dipped their hands in our DNA a few times...

 But? Petty earth grudges  seperated EArth... the  South Americans  and thier  drugs... Oil lords...  the EAstern Bloc for a long time, i am not sure we'll ever have them in the fold..and, of course? your  people....

 In the end? I think  The Angels would have tried to use  us as a shield, maybe even sell us out, if it bought them some demon's  good Graces.... But those Angel Cruisers  that are in the delta  Fleet, Come from  Paradise's 2 Moons, when we  broke the  Demon blockade....so...not all Angels  are afraid to fight

Gao's head tilted in thought as she listened to Shadow. "Well we are in the fight now.. I guess it would not due to have any of the other races, even the Angels, showing us up right?" She said in a bit of an unusual chipper tone.

"So we aren't so much a shield as we are a sword."

    Waggles  broke in with a bit of a laugh,sword... we're  more  like a bloody hammer....

  Kat spoke up,It is mostly true, what  the LC Shadow  says...my people are not the biggest fans, of the Angels....

  YOu and Irina  came around though.. many Eastern Bloc  folks didn't. The Good part is? Those  who didn't, make it easier to lok for EDT....I don't know if  we'll ever clean up South America... the good people are mixed too well with the bad people...the slaves  and drug trade brings in tons of  credits... Now that the EVOLs have turned coat, there are less people to fight   those  trades.....

 Flores  spoke up,..That is true...but now the ESN  has taken a harder line, the surface ships  and  forces , are now , showing no quarter to drug runners and slavers....

 it was  quiet for a Space, as they passed the picket destroyers  that circles  the edges of the fleet, and Shadow  said, a bit softly...no one takes  humans seriously, until they need us...or face us..The  Dogs are gonna feel that hammer  , pretty soon...

  over the channel Bo is heard. "Mr. Shadow, request permission to join your formation."

      Shadow answered  Bo,..Got a New Pilot, Ensign  Zi..she was jettisoned by one of the runners when the Saladin was hit.... If you can catch us..you can join up... we are bearing  in  to Nivar Space..we have  about 30 minutes or so, before  we need to be back... we broke right after flying of  The Hera...

" It is true that a lot things are a mess but that is how it usually goes. She said musing for a bit. When she heard Bo over the comms and Shadow introduce her she did a quick look around for the fighter that was joining them. She waved her wing tips dipping them on each side in a friendly greeting. " Good to be flying." She says.

  The   formation moved deeper into  the Nivar end, of the  Triad Triangle... Nivar was a distance  bright  yellow  dot, among the   whites and  reds of the stars and other planets in the back round.

 well now... we have  us a dot..... on  3 , we  swing to 10:00 High...keep your  eye out  for scout  craft and such....remember, Unless someone's lookign out a window, they won't see us... and they won't see fighters, until were  right up on them... make sure your weapons are powered up.....Ready.....1.....2.....3..break....

 Shadow's  Dart swung up and to the left, Kat and Flores , Flawlessly following..as well as  Norwood,  and waggle..leaving Bo and Gao  the last 'birds on the Vee'

The ESN Ironwood drifted in the silence of the black. The work crews had replaced the metaglass rather quickly, and now from the exterior other than the standard lights the ship showed little activity.  Inside a flurry of preparations had taken place in nearly every section of the ship.  The two fighters had been run through predeployment maintenance routines,  weapons systems checked and double checked.  The shuttle had likewise been picked over belts of ammo loaded into the bubble guns, gun cams had been checked and examined. As teams and sections finished their tasks the stood by waiting for further instructions,  or ran through battle simulations.

It hadn't taken long for the adjustments to be made to the engines and the battle damage to be repaired.  Sarah sat at her desk looking over the training schedule and the prep schedule for the next jumpoff. Only a few sections lagged behind the rest but it seemed that they'd be finishing their preparations shortly.  Contacting LC Harrington she instructs him to bring the ship to a low rotating readiness with only 25%of the crew actively on duty, 25% on awake standby,  leaving the remaining 50% to take their leisure aboard the ship.  When the countdown hits 20 hours to the dogs arrival the crew will shift to a rotating standby readiness of 1/3 at their stations,  1/3 on standby,  and 1/3 resting. At the fifteen hour mark the numbers will shift to 50% on duty and 50% off progressing to 80%on duty 20%on standby 6 hours before the protected arrival.  The plan is only temporary as Sarah is certain Adml Hack has plans of his own, and isn't going to sit and wait for the dogs to find them.

Gao looked to where Shadow called out and confirmed. She checked her weapons ready. She swung her Hammerhead around with the formation keeping her place in the V. " Looks like it may be time for fun..." She says as she looks up.

   Her ship, busy as it is, still has  time  for scuttlebutt , as every   navy ship, has  had, since the first to  logs were lashed together.

 The Dogs were coming... this  would be the first assault on a CArrier station, by the Empire....at elast...as  far as a full fledged  battle goes.

 the  Main Body of the Delta Fleet sat on the 'fuji' side of Everest...a Giant metal wall stretching up and down. left and right....waiting...

  The Fighters  began to close in on what  looked to be a Nivarian freighter..

  alright...count off  from th Left....every first fighter say on line... every second  fight  rise 500 feet..every third  fighter  drop down 500 feet..one Me.... 1....

 Flores  was   2..and rose up

  Kat was  3 and  dropped  down..

 Waggles was 4 and stayed  straight

 Norwood was 5 and  rose up

 Gao and Bo......

Gao griped her stick and throttle. She had only been in combat twice before and one of those was where she was ambushed and captured. She could already feel her heart racing and it was not the excitement of flying but it was the anticipation of what was about to come.

After Norwood counted off and rose... " Liu..ah 6" She said accidently speaking in Chinese because of everything going through her head. She then pushed down on her stick and watched the numbers as they decreased by 500 then leveled off.