Bo goes low in formation ready to go mid if needed.

 The  Line  of  Fighters  spread  out  and took their positions,So..Bo?..you are  7........

 3 Minutes or  so later.. a small freighter, not  much bigger then an ESN Tender  came into view...fully flagged  as a Nivarian... it showed  two  gunports on the  starboard  side, and what looked to be  two Gun ports on the bow.

 use your ehads  here... deck guns on the straboard side...figure, at elast that many on the Port.... appears to be  capped openings on the bow?..torperdeos or  Guns?  I dunno...normally..i would say there are no fighters....but lets figure   it has  2....just in case....

Now..... be ready..... he  flicked on ALL COMs  to hot the Nivarian feed.Attenion , Nivarian  Freighter...what-ever-the -9 hells- that scribble  says.... This is LC SHadow of the  351  ESN Hermes... you will stand  down.... power  down, and  follow  us under  Thruster  fire... if  I do not  see your lights  in 10 seconds...we will assume you wish to fight, or  run..and..well..that won't  turn out too good for you...

 there was a bit  of fuzz on the COMs  as  a scratchy voice  said,I am Captain Brill... I will not  stand  down to 'ghost Fighters' show yourself  and....

 ..doesn't work that way  Ace.... I'm calling the shot...literally, as well as figuratively..5 seconds....

  The Lights came on....Your  people  are becoming quite the pirates... we heard of   some  of our ships  vanishing out here...

 That's  right  Brill... now?..power  down...open your bridge  windows... we'll  drop our  cloaks so you can see us....

   Flores  hit  the COMs  that went to the flight only, for you new folks?  we don't have cloaks...but you can bet  Nivar is hearing everything  we say, on ALL COMs

   the  Frieghter  was moving slower now as  he Moved in line with Shadow.. the other  fighters  Moving   around  the   ship.how is it?  we  still cannot see you on our  screens.....

  Sounding a big disgusted,..you know  how it is.... you get some new  tech installed  and it  doesn't work right.....its  easy enough  for  us to let you see us...but  we can't  do anything  about the rest...

 Two Transport Drop ships From the Washington Carver, were  headed towards  the  small band as they led the  Nivarian towards   Everest.....  we have  some marines who will be   boarding you?.... the smart move is to open you  Hold, and   let the board  without  incident.....because....we have noting in our orders, about  bringing back prisoners...alive...

 So?..what will become of us?


 ..you'll live...if you don't  do anything  stupid....you  may even be  returned to  Nivar....unless we aren't too happy with what you are carrying.... in the end?... Its Up to the Admiral...

   Bo help steady flight. "Roger"

   Shadopw  watched his  Screens  as they  flew... he  seemed to waiting  for  something...

  as the shadows  of the Fleet began to take shape, there was a beep on Shadow's  main screen..a purple  light was  flickering, as it fell away from  the Frieghter...

 One   The Fighter COMs  SHadow said, Bo, Gao?   they  let something  drop ...whatever it is  is , small and powered.... try to catch it....take no chances...if you can't  grab it, destroy it....

 Flores says into Fighter COMs,...you'er not going to say anything to the frieghter?

 Nope..then them thing  they got away , with ...what evere they are trying to get away with..this way they don't  have a chance to warn it..or destroy it...

Gao stayed in her high formation and kept her guns ready. Last time she was caught by surprise. This time would not be the case. She kept her other hand on the throttle. She listened to the talk back and forth between Shadow and Bill.

Shadow asked her to check out what the freighter dropped. " On it." She said and pulled her stick over and increased her throttle. The Hammer spun and went upside down as she rolled and moved to try and get the object.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Sun 02 Oct 2016.

 The Object was a good  6 miles  away before it powered up..a  small engine..thruster?.. it was heading  deep into Nivarian space.

   Gao  Picked it up first... then Bo saw it on his  screens... it was  about half the size of a Dart...one person..maybe  2..could be in there?

Gao flew fast and attempted to grapple it. " Shadow it looks like some sort of escape craft."   She kept her weapons ready to disable the engines on the craft if she needed.

   Shadow came back  on the Fighter  COMs.

   Use your  Tag Cannon..... then hail them..if they do not  stand  down, try to disable  it...if you cannot, then destroy it....i have a feeling  we don't   want that getting back to Nivar... its  on yuou and Bo now...  I have to get back to the Ship, and the Marines  are already docking with the Frieghter.

" Roger." Was all she said back to Shadow then she switched com channels. " Unknown escape craft. This is ESN Fighter. Cut your engines or you will be fired upon. This is your only warning." She said in a stern voice and followed it up with a quick blast of gun fire past its bow.

She used her warning shots to help adjust her Tag cannon to lock onto the small craft.

  The Marines  clamped onto the top of the freighter , while the  second  on  slide  under  the ship  as the hold  door  opened. Then  units  of  9 troops  began to  make the jump from the transport to the  ramp  and  moved into the freighter.

 Shadow    Called Kat and  Flores  to take  over.. the  freighter  was to  be flown back,...well above... the Fleet's  formation, to an orbiting  Dock  above Everest.

 Gao and Bo...i'm going back..remember..if that thing doesn't  stop...stop it..one way or the other...

  Gao's shots   zipeed past the starboard  side, the    craft wavered a bit,  and began to slow down.

Switching back to the flight COMMS "Roger, It appears to be slowing. " She flew a bit closer her weapons ready for any sudden movements. Gao switched the COMMs once more. "Unknown Craft cut your engines fully. Any sign of restarting engines, increasing of speed, or maneuvers will be seen as hostile intent and you will be fired upon."   She said still with the stern tone in her voice.

  The   aircraft's  engines  wink out... the  craft continues  on 'coasting'..so far there has not been any  communication from the craft.

 The  MArines  come  on all COMs.LT  Haverson of the Washington Carver... wehave secured the  freighter.. 15  prisoners..The CAptain is missing..... the hold is full of  weapons Grade  Putty...something like our  C-10...


 Very Good   Lt Haverson. Take the ship in, make sure the    ...putty..is secured  and  set to be  doled out  to the   Transportbases... send  a crate of it to the Hermes...

 aye, LC... Already done.

 Shadow was  coming into the   Hanger Dec.

"Shadow the craft cut it's engines. I am going to stay on it. Bo Keep me covered from anything else that may show up. Shadow can you send something out here to pick this thing up?"

She asked as she slowed her fighter also to keep behind the craft.

  LC, sends out a  COM as he  makes his  run to the static  Field.Fleet wide... i need the  closest Tender  to 50 miles isnide  the  Triad Triangle   at 5:00 or  so from Fleet aspect..... capture    craft That ensign GAo is babysitting.....be aware...any attempts to escape or  attack should  be dealt with, a savagely as you need...

 2 Minutes  later The Ghoul COMs,..Ensign Zi?..we are on the way... hit your trackers  so we cam close in...ETA...4 Minutes.

" Roger." She says and lights up her trackers as she keeps a close eye on the craft. " Wonder who is inside..." She says absentmindedly to herself.

Sarah wasn't ready to dismiss the scuttlebutt, every good ship handler knew that the rumor mill often was steeped in at least a hint of the truth, then the broadcast came in. She listened thoughtfully to the announcement from LT Orre, looking over to LC Harrington she says, organize a leave rotation set to 15 hours or 3 blocks of 5 hours on station. I don't want us to dip below 66% incase the dogs have any tricks up their sleeves. She heads to her office to finish the last of the shore leave paperwork, and decide who to take with her for the inevitable briefing aboard the Hermes.

  The Ghoul was  approaching  The odd craft.

  The Tender was a scarey sight...  smaller then a  corvette, but almost all hold, the  top opened up  and   four   arms   that reminded  earth folks of a Spider  crab..

 above the Cockpit  was  a 'box' that  had the  controls for the arms... and a Bubble  Gun with twin heavy pulse guns.. the only weapon  they had.

 Ok .. alien craft... we are goig to lock are scavanger arms on you  and  drop you into the  hold.....be advised..should you prove to be dangerous...from out  point of view... we'll  crack your  craft open, like a fortune  cookie...

  The front  2  arms   reached     slowly for the Craft.

GAO flew in a wide circle around the ghoul and alien craft keeping an eye on both as well as looking for anything new approaching.  This mission seemed to be going well but she knew it could go bad at any moment.

 The  small ship was 'dumped ' into the Tender, the  4  arms crossing over the  top to prevent  escape.

 Ghoul, to escort... we have it  dumped in and  will proceed  to  orditing Dick , the frieghter was taken too...once  we are  with in range of the dock's  Guns you  may return to The Hermes...

 There  seemed to be  no  contact from the   craft..and the power  levels  were almost off.

" Roger that, Ghoul." she said and flew slightly behind and lower then the ghoul as she eacourted it back to the floating dock. Once it was safely in she headed back to the Hermes.

  The Ghoul  thanks them for their escort.

 both fighters return to the Hermes.

>>>> Gao, bo  Hanger Dec

Once the meeting had concluded Sarah had returned to the Ironwood. She'd sounded the recall at the four hour mark and at an hour to jump off had full accountability. During that time she'd gone from section to section speaking with her sections the ratings the officers, everyone. She'd passed along what she knew, and withheld anything she'd needed to for security. Then she'd eaten a meal with her command staff.

Now at her desk she watched the clock tick down as the different systems on the powerful corvette ran diagnostics and blinked to green as the various combat systems came up. In the background orange lights blinked silently reminding the crew of the urgency of their preparations. The weapons and defensive systems had all be check and cross checked. The life support and fire suppression verified as well. Every single nut, bolt, weld and component on the engine had been meticulously analyzed and tested by Engineering. The whole section was hoping that their hard work would finally give the Ironwood a clean run under the stresses of a full combat encounter without error or failures. There were no sims to run, just the disk sitting in front of her waiting for the right time to be opened.

   She receives the Vid  'meeting' with HAck and Nilsson, As   The Admiral lays out  his thoughts as she listens  to the orders.

Sarah nods, at the orders listening closely. "Do you want us going in dark to mask ourselves or running lights on to act as a deterrent?" She asks once the Admiral lays out his plan for the Ironwood. In the background the hum of various systems going through thorough complete power ups and  system checks for the upcoming mission.

    There is a bit of a pause before  the Admiral answers.....you are to go in, showing  as  little lights  as you are able...If the bouys are The Line  hold, they can't  see us on their  screens....if there  are no extra lights, we can hope thier Fighters will be too distracted  by  our fighter wings..once the ships  begin to  fight... , it won't matter  any longer... If..You our CApt Nilsson see approaching  fighters  or   smalle r ships... you'll have to...discourage them...