Concealed within Saturn's 'B' Ring and situated to the left of the UES Macross a small task force consisting of the Oberth class missile destroyer UES Shen Kuo, 12 SFA-3A Lancer Space fighters, 12 QF-3000C Ghost Drones, and 9 VF-1 Veritechs.

The veritechs were mostly composed of fighters from the 4th Naval Fighter Regiment of the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force. But this once 24 Veritech strong fighter regiment had been reduced to only 7 veritechs, and politics was the only thing keeping the unit from being disbanded after the Battle of Pluto.

Thus, a pair of veritech's belonging to the 611th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Russian Airforce were attached. One veritech was piloted by Lieutenant Aleksandr Bogdanov of the Russian Airforce. The other veritech was piloted by Yakob Dimitrievitch, an Anti-Unification League pilot who had been captured, interned on Macross Island and has been pressed into service as a penal pilot.

---

The Shen Kuo Task Force maintains radio silence, waiting to see if any of the alien space vessel attempt to attack the UES Macross from the left flank. The idea was sound enough, provided the task force isn't detected....

Situated several kilometers to the front of the UES Shen Kuo was one-third of its fighter escort consisting of 4 SFA-3A Lancer Space fighters, 4 QF-3000C Ghost Drones, and 3 VF-1 Veritechs.

Of the three veritech, two are Russian built NoP-1 Val’kiriya's and the third is a VF-1A that has apparently been rebuilt from the parts of several veritechs. This third veritech is being flown by a female Chinese pilot who, like Yakob is an AUL Penal pilot.

With radio silence in effect the pilot can only think to themselves as they watch the UES Macross fire its main guns at the alien capital ship as the de-fold within the Saturn system.

The latest development though is that three very large alien vessel have de-folded behind three of Saturn's moons, using them as cover as they disgorge hundreds of space fighters and mecha.

With the distances involved it would be several hours before the alien space fighters and mecha would factor into the battle....

OOC: Being the only 'non-convict', Alex is the flight lead for the formation of three veritechs.

Aleksandr sat in the cockpit of his veritech looking out at the vastness of space around him still in awe of it all. If he had told himself three years ago he would end up in the rings of saturn he would swear his younger self would laugh at him. His instruments were on minimal power as to not give off any signatures that would be notices above the background and due to the radio silence all he could hear was his own breathing and the wheeze and whine of the oxygen system that was his lifeline.

Xinyi being a AUL member is not pleased flying a veritech along side the dogs of the government but even she can see the need for more pilots, even if those are former terroist.
'Bah, freedom fighters is more correct' but deep down now she have began to wonder if the UEF had made the right choice to build these weapons against freaking aliens!

But the best feeling was being in ship again and not in chains, it was more free and yet not.

Surrounded only by the sound of hum of electronics, whine of engines, and the periodic crackle of the silent radio, the only other sounds Yacob can hear at the periodic ting and tick of micrometers colliding with the fuselage or the canopy of his veritech.
In his head, he is reliving every decision that has led him to this point, including some that were not his.  Being evacuated from the new family home in Pripyat because of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.  His apprenticeship in electronics.  His joining of the fledgling air force when the Ukraine's War for Independence is declared.  The declaration of peace between Russian and the fledgling independent Ukraine when the alien spacecraft crashlands.  The sudden idea of a United Earth Government, and the belief it would subsume all national and cultural identity.  And, the, the attack upon the Earth by aliens.
Realizing how quickly they were likely to go through pilots in battle, he was one of the first AUL pilots to volunteer.  Training new pilots would take some time, why not use the ones you have available now?  Now that both sides have a common enemy.
He focusses more on the here and now, waiting for the proper moment to act.  Waiting for the radio silence to break and the order to attack the aliens they know are coming for them.  He says a silent prayer as he touches the Star of David hanging against his chest under his flightsuit.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:13, Sat 28 May 2022.

OOC: Waiting for the other group to make some choices, as the decision will affect this group of characters.

The UES Macross continues to blast away with its main gun destroying alien capital ships. The sheer number of alien capital ships means that many are able to launch long range missiles or launch mecha. Near the UES Macross itself there are periodic episodes of anti-missile fire as these missiles and groups of alien mecha are in range of the vessel.

Then the UES Macross' main gun stops firing....over the course of the next several minutes a few alien battle groups materialize to flank the vessel that had crashed on Earth.

One of these groups, composed of a large 1850 meter long vessel, flanked by a pair of smaller 500 meter long vessels are maneuvering on a trajectory to pass over the UES Shen Kuo Task Force.

If this was open space, tight beam laser communications could have been used to notify the supporting craft when the UES Shen Kuo would launch her missiles at the incoming alien vessels. Instead, the pilot will have to just wait.....but they do not have to wait long.

---

The UES Shen Kuo launches half of her anti-ship ballistic missiles. The nine missiles streak out towards the alien vessels. Five of the ICBM sized missiles vectors towards the bigger 1850 meter long vessel, with the remaining four split between the two 500 meter long vessels.

One of the missile going for the small ships hits something as it exits the ice field of Saturn’s B-ring and veers off course.

The large alien vessel fire their large energy cannons at the missiles with some blasts firing into Saturn’s B-Ring at the missiles launch point. This is followed by a total of 37 anti-ship missiles fired from the three vessels.

The UES Shen Kuo is hit badly by a large energy blast which destroys one of the side mounted engine pontoons. Although hit and listing, the human-built missile destroyer fires off six of her remining 9 anti-ship ballistic missiles. This time they are split evenly between the three alien vessels.

The alien ships continue to fire their large energy cannons at the UES Shen Kuo. With a better idea where the Oberth class vessel is, the UES Shen Kuo is hit twice and begins to break apart before getting hit two more times causing the vessel to explode. The death screams of the UES Shen Kuo’s command crew can be heard over the communication channel before becoming static...

The three C-4A Rabbit Transport Shuttle’s, and the one RC-4B Rabbit Rescue Shuttle search for survivors of the UES Shen Kuo’s crew. Three of the QF-3000C Ghost UCAV’s join the Rabbits as does the SKC-27A refueler.

---

Despite the UES Shen Kuo being destroyed her missiles are still enroute to their targets. The anti-ship ballistic missiles each launch five Angel of Death nuclear tipped missiles. A fair number of these missiles make it past the anti-missile fire of the alien capital ships.

Each alien vessel is destroyed by several nuclear missiles, leaving only the human space craft deployed near the UES Shen Kuo and whatever craft the alien ships managed to launch to remain.

The big anti-ship missiles fired off by the alien capital ships vector towards the location of what remains of the UES Shen Kuo, and are a non-issue for the 33 space fighters/veritech and 7 support craft.

With the alien capital ships gone, the six remaining anti-ballistic missiles fired by the UES Shen Kuo are redirected by the ES-11B Cat's Eye, and EC-4C Rabbit Light Recon Shuttle to target the 3 alien support craft (each is about the size of a wet navy frigate),the 4 small building sized meha transports and the 163 mecha/fighters that launched from the alien vessel before their destruction.

The Angel of Death nuclear missiles destroy one of the three alien support craft, and 25% of the mecha/fighters. The remaining craft split into two groups.

One group composed of the four mecha transports, a single support craft, the Tri-Thruster fighters, and command fighters breaks off and vector towards the UES Macross.

The remaining 82 alien mecha vector towards the fighters and support craft of the UES Shen Kuo task force. From radar it appears they ‘drift’ down into Saturn’s B-ring, where it becomes hard to pick them up both visually and on sensors.

Although outnumbered roughly 2.5 to 1, the space fighters and veritech of the UES Shen Kuo task force really have no choice but to engage.

The twelve SFA-2 Lancer's split into two groups of six and maneuver relative above and below Saturn’s B-Ring, and drift backwards. Here they use the range of their particle beam cannons to fire at targets either exiting the ring, or those they can detect with radar or LIDAR. The ES-11B Cat's Eye joins the ‘above’ group, while the ES-11B Cat's Eye joins the ‘below’ group.

The nine veritech’s and remaining nine QF-3000C Ghost UCAV’s split into three groups composed of three veritechs and three UCAV’s. A UCAV links up with each veritech to provide support.

OOC: Yes, this is a lot in one post. So, take your time reading, and responding. The PC group of three VT’s have three Ghost Drone UCAV’s supporting you. Basically, each of you have an AI wingman. You can’t really give it direction, but it will cover your six in a dogfight.

Xinyi could only stare in horror at the destruction off UES Shen Kuo and wince even more from the desperate screams before it finally goes quite.

Aliens have killed humans in front of her. People who believed in a cause that she might not wholly agree with but it was still her kin.

Still she keeps her silence that has been ordered to her, and if there is one thing she is good at it's following orders and easily follow the formation towards the enemy.

Aleksandr sat in silence his eyes closed tight to the screams till they cut out. He had been told that things would be rough, that they were fighting an fairly unknown enemy and death was almost a guarantee, but to have it so close and so quick threatened to overwhelm him. He shook his head forcing his eyes open to witness the fighter wing responses to the enemy as he began the process of bringing everything to full power.

"This is Aleksandr Bogdanov to all remaining veritech pilots, the enemy mechs have gone into the belt for cover against the Lancers superior range. They will probably try to use the debris of the ring to push in on the fighters, which we cannot allow. Transform to battleoid mode and push into the ring, our goal is to stop the enemy advance and force them into the Lancers fire."

He said as he waited for responses from the other pilots, though he was put in charge he would listen to any decent to his plan if any of the other pilots had better stratagy.

"Copy flight lead" Xinyi reply as she pull the lever for Battleoid mode and follow the rest of what remains of human fighters.

The veritechs supplemented with Ghost Drones push into the ice ring. It isn’t long before they make contact with the advance elements of the enemy force. Four of the alien mecha identified Aerospace Battliod Type I are visually seen and are about 1000 meters (1 kilometer) away.

"Contacts One Kilometer out, find cover behind the ice debris and engage. Remember you don't have to be accurate just force them out of the ring."

Aleksandr said as he brought his battliod up behind a large chunk of ice and took aim using one hand of his battloid to hold himself to the ice as he aimed with the other as he tried to link the shots of his head cannon and gunpod before firing.


Action 1: Move behind Ice Chunk
Action 2: Attempt to link gunpod with head cannon- 20:54, Today: Aleksandr Bogdanov rolled 59 using 1d100 with rolls of 59.  Weapon System.
Action 3: 20:58, Today: Aleksandr Bogdanov rolled 24 using 1d20+12 with rolls of 12.  Gunpod Strike Burst 1.
16:31, Today: Aleksandr Bogdanov rolled 14 using 2d8 with rolls of 8,6. For 140 damage if I have done my math right  Gunpod damage.
Action 4:20:58, Today: Aleksandr Bogdanov rolled 30 using 1d20+12 with rolls of 18.  Gunpod Strike Burst 2.
16:31, Today: Aleksandr Bogdanov rolled 14 using 2d8 with rolls of 6,8.  Gunpod damage 2. Same damge both 10 round bursts 180 rounds remain
This message was last edited by the player at 20:33, Tue 26 July 2022.

"Copy, engaging now" Xinyi reply as she follow the flight lead towards the aliens, trying to follow his lead she tries to link the gun and head laser to increase the firepower but most likely due to her little experience with the craft it fails.
'No matter, this should be enough for now' she thinks to herself and instead open fire with her GU-11 towards and enemy she sees.

Action 1: Link headlaser to GU-11. 75/91 fail
Action 2: Fire GU-11 short burst. Unnat 15 DMG: 100 MDC
Action 3: Fire GU-11 short burst. Unnat 19 MDC: 130 MDC
Action 4: Fire GU-11 short burst. Unnat 12 MDC: 40 MDC
Action 5: Fire GU-11 short burst. Unnat 24 MDC: 130 MDC


[Private to Darkside Trooper: 19:32, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 91 using 1d100 with rolls of 91.  Weapon Systems.
21:25, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 15 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 5.  Fire gu11.
21:25, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 19 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 9.  Fire gu11.
21:36, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 12 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 2.  Fire gu11.
21:36, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 24 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 14.  Fire gu11.

21:37, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 4 using 2d8 with rolls of 1,3.  Gu11 dmg.
21:37, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 13 using 2d8 with rolls of 5,8.  Gu11 dmg.
21:37, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 10 using 2d8 with rolls of 6,4.  Gu11 dmg.
21:37, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 13 using 2d8 with rolls of 6,7.  Gu11 dmg.
21:37, Today: Xinyi Yazhu Chou rolled 6 using 2d8 with rolls of 1,5.  Gu11 dmg.]

The Ghost UCAV's follow their basic programing. Shoot the same target as its human wingman, and once destroyed sire on the next available target. If an enemy craft gets on the tail of said human wingman to engage it.

20:57, Today: Darkside Trooper rolled 83 using 6d20 with rolls of 20,19,14,11,15,4.  Xinyi ghost shoot target +4 w/guns.
NAT 20 (scratch one Aerospace Battliod Type I)
unat 23
unat 18
unat 15
unat 18
MISS

20:56, Today: Darkside Trooper rolled 51 using 6d20 with rolls of 3,10,17,6,14,1.  Xinyi Ghost dodge +5.
FAIL
unat 15
unat 23
unat 11
unat 19
FAIL

20:56, Today: Darkside Trooper rolled 66 using 6d20 with rolls of 19,9,13,12,2,11.  Alek Ghost dodge +5.
unat 24
unat 14
unat 18
unat 17
FAIL

20:55, Today: Darkside Trooper rolled 81 using 6d20+4 with rolls of 9,15,11,16,7,19.  Ghost shoot Alek target with guns.
unat 13
unat 19
unat 15
unat 20
MISS
unat 23


21:03, Today: Darkside Trooper rolled 83 using 6d20 with rolls of 20,19,9,14,12,9.  Yakob ghost dodge +5.
UNAT 20
unat 24
unat 14
unat 19
unat 17
unat 14

21:03, Today: Darkside Trooper rolled 44 using 6d20 with rolls of 3,11,15,4,8,3.  Yakob Ghost shoot target w/ guns =4.
MISS
unat 15
unat 19
MISS
unat 12
MISS

The space battle between the surviving craft from the destroyed vessels goes on as for nearly a half hour before ending rather suddenly.

The alien mecha are either all destroyed or disabled, but of the 33 UN SPACY fighter craft only 12 remain.

• Of the 12 Lancer space fighters, only 2 remain.
• Of the VF-1’s only three remain, Bort 46, Bort 35, and Shā Yú 47
• The three Russian built/designed SuP-52 Val’kiriya’s have also survived.
• Two manned Ghost fighter remain out of the original eight.
• Two of the four Ghost Drones remain.
• Both of the EWAR platforms, the EC-4C Rabbit, and the ES-11B Cat’s Eye were destroyed.

Possessing hands, the six surviving veritechs are each able to grab and transport a single occupied lifeboat (i.e. escape pods) from the UES Shen Kuo. Three more occupied lifeboats are also recovered, which the remaining three Rabbit shuttles mag lock to.

As the surviving craft begin to approach the UES Macross the pilots can see that it is being swarmed by alien mecha, and a large alien warship is approaching.

OOC: I do not know who here is still around, but figured I’d make some posts to get this thread caught up with in game events.

Smiling to herself for the dogs that have died Xinyi briefly thought of adding more casualties to the list but remember if she manage to survive she can get valuable information back to the resistance.