Cyanos Geosynchronous Orbit Bravo: CSA TET-2 Control Room
Friday — morning
Rönd: FLIGHT — TACTICAL: Detecting large-scale deployment from the Bugaarian ship, DELTA-1.
Along with Commander Tova’s series of rapid-fire orders, the background working hum of the control room ratcheted up several notches.
Rönd: FLIGHT: Condition RED set — shields up — fighters to Foxtrot-Oscar-Bravo. Acknowledged.
Wolfgang: TET-1, TET-3; TETNO-2: Be advised — set Condition RED. Raise shields. Confirm large-scale — repeat large-scale swarm, DELTA-1. All fighters reform — position Foxtrot-Oscar-Bravo.
Lionel: FLIGHT — GENO: Lemon squeezer alignment tight — remains nominal — we are in the lane.
Hanne: FLIGHT — COMMS: Communications secure. Fighters continue seek-and-destroy bug scouts. Advise bug core capture stands at four-three-eight.
Calico: FLIGHT — ECHO: Electrical systems secure. Priority optimal — essential systems. Environment and additional systems nominal.
Blaze: FLIGHT — CORE: Reactor at eight-zero percent — all parameters nominal.
Lambertus: FLIGHT — SECO: Control room secure — remaining personnel accounted for and at assigned Condition RED stations.
Blaze, the CORE officer, leaned over to Dieter and extended his paw to give him a fist bump.
Blaze: Hi, I’m Blaze. I hear you’ve brought a bunch of rocks that might help us all out.
Dieter: Yup, that’s the idea — I sure hope we can pull this thing off. Those bugs do seem to be getting a bit antsy-pants. Do we know whether my friends have arrived at their TETs yet?
Blaze: Dunno, but we can find out.
Blaze thumbed his mike and called up Hanne on the dais loop.
COMMS — CORE: AUX here was wondering if Lode-1 and Lode-3 have arrived on station yet?
Hanne swivelled in her chair, looked across to Blaze and Dieter with a silly grin on her face, and then thumbed her mike.
Hanne: CORE / AUX, this is COMMS: I confirm that Lode-1 has arrived on station at TET-1 and Lode-3 will arrive at TET-3 in nine minutes. I also confirm, CORE, that the scruffy mutt sitting next to you is Lode-2.
Hey there, Diets! I knew ya missed me, but this is one hell of a way to wangle a visit!
Blaze motioned to the thumb switch on the armrest of Dieter’s chair. Dieter got the hint and thumbed the switch.
Dieter: H… I… er, I mean — COMMS, this is, um… AUX: Hey, Hache! I really did make it up here — un-be-liev-able! Looks like there is a bit of a thing going on up here, eh.
Hanne: You could certainly say that, Diets. You stick with Blaze over there, little brother — he will tell you everything you need to know.
With that, Hanne clicked off to a different loop.
Blaze: OK, Dieter — it’s time to earn your kibble.
I’m gonna set you up with some key core reactor indicators on your holo-screen — you’ll see there are upper and lower parameter limits, but what we really want is for them all to stay right down the middle.
You let me know if there are any stray dogs, right?
The control room was still busy, but Blaze recognised that Dieter needed just a few more words to know what to do.
Dieter, pleased to be given something to do, responded enthusiastically, his tail waving through the gap in the chair back.
Dieter: Awroof! You got it, Blaze! I’ll keep those core-puppies on the leash!
Space: Forward Defensive Position, Foxtrot-Oscar-Bravo
Halfway to the Cerulean Meridian
Friday — morning
Three TET fighter wings, one hundred fighters in each, rapidly converged in three triangular-shaped formations on the forward defensive position, Foxtrot-Oscar-Bravo.
It was a point located around halfway between Cyanos and the Cerulean Meridian.
The Cerulean Meridian, in turn, was located halfway between Cyanos and the edge of Cyanos Space.
Just as rapidly, the swarm of bug fighters that had disgorged from the belly of the Bugaarian mothership was converging towards them.
The swarm was exactly that; in complete contrast to the disciplined formations of the Cyanos fighters, the bugs were a random, chaotic mess.
There were no discernible flight patterns — they swooped, looped, and dived with seemingly no clear purpose.
What they lacked in the ability to fly with any precision was made up for in one aspect.
Numbers.
There were thousands of them.
They easily outnumbered the Cyanos fighters by at least ten to one.
Squadron Leader Top Cat: All wings, report in.
Gold Wing Leader: OK, Top Cat — Gold Wing standing by.
Red Wing Leader: Red Wing standing by.
White Wing Leader: White Wing standing by.
Gold Leader: Look at the size of that swarm!
Red Leader: Myerow goodness! It’s big, isn’t it — can we really swat all that?
White Leader: We’re going to cut across their axis and try to draw their fire.
Top Cat: I’ll run straight through the swarm as you make your run and try to draw the flak off you.
White Leader: OK — thanks, Top Cat.
Gold Leader: This is Gold Leader — we are starting our attack run.
Gold Two: I’m right with you, Gold Leader — I’m going into attack.
Red Leader: How many bugs do you think, Top Cat?
Top Cat: Say three thousand. Estimate they outnumber us ten to one.
As Gold Wing began its attack run directly through the centre of the seething mass of bugs, White Wing rounded on the left flank and cut across the main axis of the swarm.
Top Cat ran interference, attempting to distract the bugs and draw their fire away from the attacking fighter wings.
Red Wing rounded on the opposite flank and came in from the right.
The firefight had begun.
The TET fighters had the advantage of firing all four of their apex proton lasers simultaneously, taking out four bugs at once.
When hit, the bugs imploded into a sticky green globular mess.
Avoiding the expanding debris field became more and more difficult as the number of destroyed bugs increased.
The outer tetrahedron fuselage of the TET fighter rotated independently around the central spherical cockpit, allowing the apex lasers to aim rapidly and accurately.
As the battle wore on and more sticky bug debris struck the fighters, visibility began to degrade. More seriously, the debris also reduced the ability of the outer fuselage to rotate freely around the cockpit.
Gold Two: My rotation gimbal’s gummed up!
Gold Three: Stay there — I’ll be right with you!
Gold Two: I can’t see!
Gold Three: Gold Two! Pull up!
Gold Two: It’s too late — I can’t hold it!
Gold Two, blinded by bug goop smeared across his inner sphere and unable to control his gummed-up fighter, drifted directly into the sights of a diving bug fighter.
The bug fired its spitting venom weapon.
Direct hit.
Gold Two exploded into an orange-and-red fireball.
Gold Leader: Gold Two’s gone!
Top Cat: Copy.
The battle raged on. Bugs dived and swooped, and the three fighter wings continued to regroup and fire on the swarm as best they could.
However, they were still hopelessly outnumbered. For every bug they hit, another incoming horde of bugs swooped in to take its place.
Gold Leader: Top Cat — are you hit?
Top Cat: I just lost my starboard apex — but I’m alright!
Red Leader: How long ’til the Hundes arrive?
Top Cat: Stand by, Red Leader — I will call Cheetah again for an update.
CHEETAH, this is TOP CAT: Request status of Hunde Squadron arrival. Over.
Hanne: TOP CAT — TET-2 COMMS: Patching you through to CHEETAH now.
Commander Tova: TOP CAT, this is CHEETAH: I have the Hundes making the jump from hyperspace in one-four minutes. Can you hold out just a little longer?
Top Cat: Each wing’s lost a few fighters. We’re getting gummed up and smeary — but we can hold out a bit longer.
Commander Tova: Hang in there, TOP CAT — help is on the way.
Adapted movie dialogue: The Dam Busters (1955) / Star Wars (1977)
Battle images courtesy: Colourbrand
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Screw Pile Developments 
Big shout out to Colourbrand for the bonus extra images of the firefight.
Thanks!
My utter pleasure sir – and must admit, I was moved by this battle – heroes going in etc…
Excellent work sir 🙂 glad to have helped 🙂
More to come – the battle aint done yet!
Color-coded squadrons. That works well. Easy to follow. 🙂 Do the colors relate to importance? And the fighters are triangles too. They do like their triangles. 🙂
Dieter is handling himself pretty well so far. I would reckon someone might need to be near to calm him down if their ship starts taking fire. I know I would.
Colours – picked similar ones from the Starwars sequence. Dieter is doing just fine, he’s a good boy.