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The [i]Jinx[/i] was plugged directly into Impart Station's communications network, allowing the station control to communicate with each docked ship without interference. When JD had been given the green light to bring the ship's systems back online by both Kieron and the Panzaarian Chief Engineer, his inbox was immediately flooded with all the usual adverts, news clips and trash. He purged the lot, leaving only the important things; three messages from the Shadow Stalkers' HQ on Nuam, two terabytes of notes and updates on the [i]Jinx[/i] and a ream of tactical and sensors updates from Impart Station. Ignoring the messages from Nuam, he proceeded to read through the messages from Impart, the most recent being from five minutes ago.

Things were slowly getting worse.

It had all started four hours ago with a ping from an Ishinn freighter requesting assistance for a drive failure. The nearest Impart corvette had dutifully attended only to drop off the scanners, its ID beacon having been silenced moments after the ship had gotten within inspection range of the Ishinn vessel. Five minutes after that, the destruction of the corvette had been picked up by the station's floundering sensors. Just before the station's far-scan was scrambled, the freighter dropped its disguise to reveal a Lishni warship of similiar tonnage.

The next set of updates all read to be pretty much the same as each other; all hails to the Lishni ship had been ignored and eventually the railguns had been brought online once two of Impart's heavy fighters were destroyed and another corvette was badly damaged. Targets were fired at, but no confirmed kills or sightings were listed. Reports from the Jes'wan ship, the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] suggested a strong indicator of there being more ships in the area. It was mostly down to logic, as no ship with the tonnage of a frigate or corvette would launch a solo attack against anything - or even a group - packing more guns than themselves. And unless any of the interlopers would drift into near-scan range, then everyone would remain blind to what was actually going on. The next message on the list was the one that Locane had showed him; a call to arms for all combat capable ships in protection of the station.

He moved on to the status of the ship itself, opening the latest status reports to come through. A huge amount of repairs had been done in the last two days. It stunned JD just how much had been done in such a short amount of time. The tear in the hull had been sealed up with fresh armour plating and shield generators, and low-grade light bending nodes had been intergrated with the ship's existing stealth systems. The most damaged of the weapons had been removed and scrapped, their emplacements sealed up with the replacement triple-hull plating having been welded and riveted expertly into place over the gaps. The power systems from those had been re-routed elsewhere, either to serve the surviving weapons or had been slaved to the shield generators. All in all, the [i]Jinx[/i] had been brought up from the original operational estimation of 67% to 82% after repairs. JD checked his weapons and countermeasures. The forward beam weapon was re-installed, its mounts straightened and tightened. The aft beam weapon was a no-go. Five of the eight railguns had been tested and they had only lost one missile battery. The [i]Reaper[/i] had parted with a considerable amount of her remaining missiles to bolster the [i]Jinx[/i]'s total missile count. Their point-defences were cut to half, but the repair crews had made sure to up-root the working units and rearranged the ship's point-defence grid to cover as many angles as possible in lieu of the loss of half of the cannons.

Two of their six chaff canisters remained, the launch mechanism for them fully functioning. Their electronic countermeasures were still negligable, as were their sensors, but someone had seen fit to recognise the unsalvagable and instead concentrated on getting the stealth systems back online. The remaining twelve Vortex starfighters were in their liftlocks, fully repaired and rearmed, their pilots ready to launch into action. Both Banshee-1 and Banshee-2 were ready to go, their hardpoints loaded and rotary laser cannons in full working order.

Green and amber tell tales littered the ship's status board, pock-marked by the handful of red tell tales, denoting a failed or under-performing system. He searched for the life support's lights. They were all in the green.

'At least we're not going to be smeared across the bulkheads.' Spirit mused as she sat down next to him and brought her station online.

'Thank the gods.' JD muttered as he brought up the communication's station on his primary monitor.

'Actually, thank Kieron and Impart's unruly mob of geniuses.' Spirit said absently.

'Turn of phrase, Spirit, just a turn of phrase.' He murmered as he fed the contact details into the ship's computer. He waited with baited breath as the [i]Jinx[/i]'s comms systems were fed through Impart's to communicate with the [i]Ra'thinas[/i].

Finally, the signal went through and a slim, dark skinned Jes'wan appeared on the screen. He was dressed in their equivalent of battle armour and his head was bald save for a top knot of silvered hair. He blinked his large, green eyes slowly and nodded in greeting. He looked exhausted and a little strung-out, but was otherwise ready for a fight.

'Greetings, Captain D'armeus. I have been awaiting your call.' He said in a gruff voice.

'I apologise for the lateness, Captain-' He glanced at the bottom corner of the screen to where the station was feeding him basic data on the Jes'wan ship. 'Vic'karnas. I trust you're joining in the hunt?'

Vic'karnas grinned. 'As I am the only sensors dedicated ship currently docked, it would be rude of me not to join in.'

JD glanced at the small stream of data again. The [i]Ra'thinas[/i] was a corvette; a dedicated sensors and communications platform, its sole purpose to be a part of a larger force as either a go-between for the larger ships or a scout and recon vessel, it's duty even extending to that of a mobile ECM platform. Even as JD wondered why Vic'karnas was out here alone, realisation hit JD hard and he grinned, wide and feral, his curiosity shoved aside. Vic'karnas chuckled.

'As you've no doubt figured, I will need an escort with much bigger guns to help me shut down the enemy's jamming signal. Until then, if you can get me within range of one of their ships, I can render them blind and without a voice, leaving them open to attack.'

'That would be a much bigger help to us than you realise.' JD replied, snatching a glance of a frustrated Ocelot bent over her sensors station, working furiously and occasionally swearing to herself in her native tongue. 'Do you have an idea of where the jamming signal is coming from?'

'Preliminary scans suggest the signal originates from just within the debris field. I have sent a copy of my findings to Impart, but whether they have managed to inform their remaining patrol ships, I don't know.'

JD looked down at one of his smaller screens. Commander Locane had secured clearance from Impart Station Control to break from the dock. Locane also added that if they were successful, then their docking permission would remain in place and any further repairs that needed doing would be seen to to the best of their ability. On his main screen, Captain Vic'karnas glanced to one side before looking back. Apparently, he too had been given the same message, if the grim half-smile on his face was anything to go by.

'What happened to Impart's second squadron of heavy fighters?' Spirit asked, scrolling through a wall of text, a frown creasing her brow.

'I believe they were sent home for a full refit.' JD answered. 'The squadron out there is currently of old stock. The two were meant to switch places when the newly refurbed fighters came back.'

'That is correct. They left three standard days ago and won't be reappearing for another month. The relief squadron sent to take its place will be arriving in three days.' Vic'karnas said grimly.

'Then we need to get out there. We'll have our drives back online and ready to fire up in five minutes.' He looked to Spirit. 'What's the status of the Reaper? Is the Eclipse still joining us?' He asked hopefully.

'Captain Umber has freed up ten of her Vortexes and Banshee-Four. The Eclipse has powered up her drives and is now being escorted from her slip by a tug. Captain Blacktip has requested all ships to form up on him and assume a standard attack formation. He also says that our task force's letter of marque is still active for the next twenty-two hours. He wants the broadcasting ship intact and able to break FTL if at all possible.'

'Send the message on to Bonnie and Tristan, and tell them to prepare for boarding and vessel seizure operations.' JD said. 'Captain Vic'karnas, it looks like you'll be running at the spear tip. Assuming you can call it that.' JD said, a frown forming on his face as he looked over Blacktip's proposed formation.

'It looks like I will. I have just recieved a message from the Tanoovi captains. They are willing to fight as a task force, so long as they get to keep a trophy.'

'Trophy?' JD already knew what that meant, but he wanted it clarified for the record.

'A Lishni ship. They don't seem to care what size, so long as they have something to take home to show off. Have you had much experience with the Tanoovi?' Vic'karnas asked curiously. When JD shook his head, he elaborated. 'The Tanoovi are still new to the whole space faring business. They also like fighting. Think the Tenglaar, but without all the overwhelming hostility towards everything that breathes and everything that doesn't. My people have been in a friendly trade relationship since they first launched to the stars on their questionable FTL drives a few years ago. Anyone who is a friend of Jes'wa, and can prove it, is a friend to them as far as they're concerned.'

'Excellent.' The Demon looked over what the Shadow Stalkers were to contribute and compiled them into a list so he knew who was what and who was supposed to be where when everyone started moving out of near-scan range. 'What ships are they flying?'

'A destroyer and a corvette, both dedicated to guns. Lots and lots of guns. Their corvette has a crew of twenty to make way for all the armour, weapons and drives. The same with the destroyer. A crew of sixty. The rest is guns, armour and drive. They have no shields like we do, so they rely entirely on the toughness of their reflective plating. Once we have left Impart, we will tie all our comms systems into the Ra'thinas and feed you the data we are picking up, so Commodore Blacktip can do his job as efficiently as possible.'

A tell tale blinked on his status board and soon after there was a rumble, deep in the heart of the ship that made the lights flicker. His engineering display lit up with the details of the sublights. Three of them were working and they still had the slipdrive. That would give them the ability to micro-jump should they need to. JD relayed this information to Vic'karnas, adding to it what his War Witches were going to be doing.

'An interesting idea.' He replied thoughtfully. 'I trust you will share any important data collected through this method.'

'Naturally.' JD smiled.

Beside him, Spirit was speaking softly into her comms unit. One of the station's tugs latched onto the [i]Jinx[/i] and interfaced with the helm systems, and started backing them out from the slip, the various umbilicals they were connected to popping and hissing as they were torn from the ship.

'See you in the black.' JD said, a small knot of anxiety forming in his gut at the prospect of taking the [i]Jinx[/i] back into an un-even theatre.

The screen went dark and JD looked up at the wrap-around viewscreens at the head of the bridge to watch the repair slip slowly receed. With the repair slip left behind, the tug coaxed a few more cee from the sublights, guiding the [i]Jinx[/i] from the cover of the docking arm. A squadron of black Vortex starfighters spilled out of the maw of the docking arm in the [i]Jinx[/i]'s wake, flowing around the destroyer to form a protective screen far behind it. The ten fighters were immediately pinged by the [i]Jinx[/i], their IDs being tagged as friendly and being displayed on his primary tac monitor as VX-RPR/1, VX-RPR/2 and so on, numbering all the little ships so as to keep better track of who was who. The tug broke away, leaving the helm controls of the ship to Ari once again.

The Synthenoid settled deep into the cockpit with a satisfied sigh and brought the ship around, pointing her in the direction of the [i]Eclipse[/i] and the small, silver arrow of [i]Ra'thinas[/i], the fighter screen now at the fore. JD called down to the flight deck and gave Toya the go-ahead to launch. Two minutes later, Ghost Cat Squadron spilled forth from the [i]Jinx[/i]'s open maw to form up with remains of Iceclaw Squadron from the [i]Reaper[/i]. With a fighter screen of twenty-two heavily armed Vortex starfighters piloted by some of the most vindictive pilots in the known galaxies at his fore, with three heavily armed Banshee shuttles in reserve, he was sure that the mish-mash Lishni forces were in for a bit of a shock once more, regardless of the current state of the ships going in to greet them.

'How're our impromtu sensors doing?' JD asked.

Both Wylees and Rojam looked up with slightly glazed expressions.

'Doing well. Anusi just told me how many starfighters are out there and that the Jes'wan ship is seven minutes out and making for the Eclipse at full cee.' Wylees looked down at his screens. 'That's what my nav gear is saying Captain. And the sensors station agrees, too.'

'It's beautiful, Sir... Just... The most beautiful song I've ever heard...' Rojam whispered hoarsely. She looked as if she was about to cry over the sheer joy of hearing one of Kiriana's infamous Siren Songs.

'Just think, she's torn down entire sky towers and blown up the head of every man in a platoon with that voice of hers.'. Wylees reminded the Ocelot darkly.

'I've seen her turn someone inside out with a single shriek.' Consal put in grimly. He obviously wasn't fond of the memory.

'Minds on the task, people. We can gossip about our War Witches later.' JD admonished lightly.

Whilst he had seen both Lemur and Kiriana do horrifying things with their magic too, he would rather not be ambushed by a roving Lishni ship, especially since they were all still unaware of what was lurking beyond their current scanning range, and firing their guns so close to the station was a very bad idea. Consal was bent to his task, keeping in constant communication with the Vortex squadron and the [i]Ra'thinas[/i]. Ten minutes later, the [i]Ra'thinas[/i]'s powerful sensor and communications suites were in range of the other ships, the Jes'wan captain bringing the [i]Eclipse[/i] and the Tanoovi ships into the network. There was a clamour of chatter that cleared up the moment the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] adjusted the frequencies, purging the lines of all excess noise from the Lishni blocker, starfighters and any Impart ships within range, including the station itself.

'All ships, fall into a standard attack formation about the Eclipse.' A voice commanded.

JD recognised it immediately. The gruff voice belonged to Lieutenant Commander Warren Tartian, comms officer for the [i]Eclipse[/i]. He watched on his secondary tac-monitor as the other ships fell into position around the [i]Eclipse[/i], with the Jes'wan corvette one thousand kilometres ahead of the big ship, the fighter squadrons fanning out further ahead to form a wide defensive screen, bristling with some of the nastiest weapons available for starfighters. The [i]Jinx[/i] and the Tanoovi destroyer, [i]Admonn Deciari[/i] settled in at the dreadnought's flanks whilst the gun corvette, [i]Perturbator Des[/i] settled high at the rear. JD loaded every feed he could onto every screen he could afford to free up at his station. He had both his tac monitors flooded with data and the holotac map had been activated and updated with the ships' positions thanks, in part, to the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] and his War Witch's continuous data feeds.

'Enemy movement an estimated hundred-thousand kilos ahead, just above the ecliptic.' Rojam announced.

'Query the Ra'thinas for confirmation.' JD ordered.

'Estimation confirmed by Ra'thinas. Enemy vessel is a destroyer of unknown class under stealth. Minimal drive output. ECMs running at lowest setting. One-hundred thousand kilos and closing.' Consal said, reading off the data pouring into his comms station. He flicked the data packet across to the other consoles on the bridge.

'That was damned accurate.' Spirit murmered, reading over the data.

'If we get out of this alive, we owe those girls some serious alcohol.' JD replied.

'Don't forget about Anusi. It's not every day you get roped into being someone's dowsing rod.' The sabre toothed cat replied.

'Ra'thinas has picked up two more ships under stealth.' Consal said. 'Two Shorvan-class frigates, Otaras origin, in a standard attack formation. Not much more than that.'

'Damn, I want their toys.' Wylees murmered.

'Anusi confirms two more ships trailing the first. Exact same positioning and size that the Ra'thinas is telling us.' Consal added.

'The scout class corvettes are about the only thing I miss about serving in the Jes'wan Black Navy.' K'narlas said. 'High end gear, every last ounce of it. If the Ra'thinas tells you it's found a pimple on the ass of a fair maiden living on a backwater planet from three systems away, then don't question it. The Jes'wan sensor arrays are designed and built to hear a drop in the ocean and tell you exactly where it happened and what time it happened.'

'They that good, huh?' Consal muttered as he squinted at his displays.

'It's barely a boast.'

'Enough.' JD grunted, shifting in his seat. He looked at his comms monitor. He had just received permission to intercept the cloaked frigate on the rimward flank of the Lishni destroyer, whilst the [i]Admonn Deciari[/i] was to take the other. The estimated position of the Lishni vessels had been marked on the tactical maps, showing them to be quite close as the Jes'wan corvette had suggested.

The [i]Perturbator Des[/i] was to assist the [i]Eclipse[/i] in bringing down the enemy destroyer by watching its back whilst six of the Vortex squadron were to protect the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] as it searched for the location of the jamming. The rest of the Vortexes were to take up a picket around the immediate area and to act as an early warning in conjuction with the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] to any more incoming Lishni forces as well as to dispel any Lishni starfighters lurking in the vicinity.

The [i]Jinx[/i] slipped from the formation, it's near-scan pushed to its limits as it received telemetry data on the cloaked enemy formation from VX-JNX/1 and VX-JNX/4 as well as the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] and JD's trio of spell casters who had ensconced themselves inside the observation blister that was embedded within the spine of the ship. With all that information to work from, the [i]Jinx[/i] was guided steadily towards the targeted frigate, her shields up and weapons hot.

'Enemy frigate has de-cloaked and acquired target lock, Captain.' K'narlas stated.

'Incoming missiles. PDCs are tracking. Missiles have been eliminated.' Rojam added. 'We got another pack of four missiles inbound, Sir. PDCs are tracking. Three of the four missiles have been eliminated. Fourth missile detonated against our mid shields, coreward-positive. Lishni frigate is now firing its rail guns. Our shields are holding.'

'Return fire with our own rail guns.' JD ordered as he eyed his tac monitors. With the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] so close, their targeting systems were doing their job without Lishni interference, using the near-scan data acquired to pick up on any potential soft spots in the enemy vessel's armour.

'Rail guns free.' The bird-like Ishinn said, her slender fingers dancing across her console interface.

More missiles popped up on the tac monitor, a full wave of twenty being fired from the frigate behind the last salvo of rail gun shots. The [i]Jinx[/i]'s point-defence cannons took out the majority, but a few got through to hammer against the shields. JD frowned at the shield status. Rather than focussing the bulk of the missiles fired at the [i]Jinx[/i] to one area, the Lishni were just churning them out indiscriminately, apparently not bothered at all about breaking through their opposition's shields by whittling away at a particular spot in a bid to break through to the hull beneath. Even larger ships that packed more of a punch than a frigate and carried far more ammunition in reserve picked whatever 'sweet spot' they could and laid into it, breaking the shield down and hammering at the hull plating beneath regardless of the size of their target.

JD looked up and around as the [i]Jinx[/i] cruised past the Lishni frigate, the two ships exchanging broadsides with one another. The frigate was surprisingly tough, its shields absorbing more punishment than anticipated before their integrity started dropping at a faster rate.

[i]Something's not right...[/i] He thought as a second Lishni missile went wide.

He studied the tactical information that was being harvested by the [i]Jinx[/i]'s systems, watching the paths taken by the Lishni missiles and rail gun shot. The Lishni frigate, whilst using target lock for its missiles, didn't seem to be doing the same with its rail guns. Instead of leading the [i]Jinx[/i], the enemy rail guns were trailing more and more, leaving the hard rounds to cut through the void at the Stalker ship's aft.

'Sensors, scan for any life signs aboard that ship!' He ordered, nails digging into his palms as a terrible idea settled into the back of his mind.

'Aye Captain, scanning now.' A few seconds passed and Rojam looked up, her ears back, teeth bared. 'Near-scan and Witches confirm no life signs, Sir! That Lishni ship's automated.'

JD swore under his breath, a long ream of epithets aimed solely at the Lishni.

'Frigate has been destroyed, Captain. Damn it took a beating for such a little ship.' K'narlas said.

'Probably used the lack of a crew as an excuse to pack much more shielding into the ship.' Spirit mused darkly as she studied her own tac monitor.

'Our autoloaders are telling me that we have enough rail gun rounds left for at least two repeat performances, Boss. More, if we pick our targets carefully. Gun crews confirm, too.' Goldfeather said from the weapons station.

'Excellent.' He said with a grim smile. 'Bring us about. The Commodore wants us to regroup.' He added as he checked his messages. He was pleased to see that the other ships had figured out the Lishni automatons, too. 'The Ra'thinas has detected some heavy movement approaching the station from the far side that doesn't look automated.'

'Bringing us about and regrouping.' Ari announced from her nest of wires in the cockpit.

The [i]Jinx[/i] turned, banking and curving away from the debris of the broken Lishni frigate, keeping within the [i]Ra'thinas[/i]'s sphere of influence. They moved at half sublight through the expanding debris field, shields flickering as chunks of metal and fused silicates and ceramics bounced off the protective energy field.

'Incoming message from the Eclipse, Captain.' Consal announced.

JD looked up from his study of the still images of the aged ex-Otaras frigate on his secondary tac-monitor. He was hoping that the Lishni were mostly flying their own home-brewed ships today, as some of the bigger ships they had taken for themselves over the years were varied and nasty: A Shovan-class frigate from Otaras was about the size of one of the Shadow Stalkers' frigates, but packed more guns. A Tenretian dedicated destroyer was just as big as the [i]Jinx[/i], a multi-role destroyer, and the Tenretian's multi-role destroyers were as big as the Shadow Stalkers's cruisers. A Lishni cruiser would merrily take on a standard config dreadnought, as they only weighed a thousand tonnes below the 'smallest' dreadnought on the market.

JD sent out a quiet prayer to whomever was listening, praying for a mixed bag of the smaller, weaker ships in the Lishni fleet. 'Let's hear it.'

The central viewscreen flickered, displaying the crossed swords over a red giant star sigil of the Jes'wan Black Navy as the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] worked on connecting all ships in the rag-tag task force through the Lishni interference. It took a minute to connect them all, until finally, acting Commodore Blacktip appeared on-screen. Three more windows popped up, showing the captains of the other ships. JD studied the faces of the Tanoovi captains. Or the lack thereof. Their ship suits were chunky, dual-purpose things, tailored from a thick, silvery canvas type material. Metal sockets studded the chests of their suits, thick loops of rubber coated pipes plugged into some. Their heads were encased within large, silvered oval helmets, lending them a deep air of mystery that bordered on the sinister. All in all, they reminded JD very much like an old fashioned spacer, minus the gaspak that most of them used to use during space walks.

'You probably figured out pretty quickly that those last three ships were automated.' Blacktip said, anger lining his tone. 'We have come across such tactics many times before, so I have no doubt that those ships were being used in the same way: to deplete our ammunition reserves and waste our time. That's not going to happen again. Before our next engagement, you will all scan the Lishni ships for life signs. If the readings come back negative, we will disable those ships in passing and continue on for the main target: the Broadcaster. I want that bastard silenced and in posession of the Shadow Stalkers. Is that understood?'

There was a tight murmer of assent from the Tanoovi captains and a nod of understanding from Vic'karnas. This was a joint operation, pulled together out of necessity. The Jes'wan ship was not equipped to launch boarding manoeuvres and the Tanoovi were as yet un-proven, regardless of what Captain Vic'karnas said about them being of an honourable warrior stock. And no one knew what kind of ship was broadcasting the jamming signal yet, or even its exact location. Or even if it was a ship at all and not just an ansible platform or the like.

'Impart Station Control and all remaining patrolling Impart vessels have been notified of the automated ships. Their corvettes and heavy fighters have shifted closer to the station where they will help the station deal with any Lishni ship that gets through.' Vic'karnas said.

Blacktip looked to someone off-screen and exchanged a few words with them.

'Notify Impart that they have a squadron of Vortexes on the way to aid with their picket.' The Shark said.

Vic'karnas nodded. 'It is done. We have just detected four more ships up ahead. Do we engage?'

JD checked his main tac-monitor. Rojam and K'narlas had compiled their data and uploaded it to the map, using faint red circles to highlight the area in which the ships had been detected. The circles shrank as he watched. He cast a quick glance at the two officers. They were chatting between themselves whilst listening intently to their headsets. Rojam still had that vaguely glazed expression which told JD that Lemur, Kiriana and Anusi were still hard at work, and were busily refining any finds that the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] told them about, and vice-versa.

'As I said: Check for life signs first. If the scan is positive, we engage. If it's negative, the Eclipse and the Purturbator Des will take out the largest of the four. I want the Jinx and the Admonn Deciari to cripple at least two. Conserve your munitions, guys. We're half-blind out here and I don't want any of us to get caught with our pants down, is that understood?' Blacktip said.

Another round of assent and the task force moved deeper into Impart's territory, heading straight for the location of the four ships, which turned out to be a fully-manned Lishni dreadnought under armed escort from three automated destroyers and a squadron of starfighters. The [i]Eclipse[/i] and the [i]Purturbator Des[/i] engaged the dreadnought, the [i]Eclipse[/i] -slightly larger than the ex-Rameca built ship - intercepting it and cutting it off, forcing the big ship off course whilst the [i]Purturbator Des[/i] fired a salvo of missiles into the ship's aft. It wasn't enough to do much damage, but it did split the big ship's defences down the middle. Whilst the [i]Eclipse[/i] had superiority over the small Tanoovi ship, the Tanoovi captain made damn sure that the Lishni knew they were a serious threat too, forcing the Lishni into defending both fore and aft at the same time from two very different sets of tactics and technologies. Lasers lanced through the void, doing surprisingly little to chip away at the Lishni's aft shielding as the [i]Eclipse[/i] beat the forward shield into submission with a hail of railgun and PDC fire.

A pack of Lishni starfighters broke away from harrassing the [i]Jinx[/i] to go to their dreadnought's aid only to be picked off one by one by the lurking Vortex squadron that had remained with the rag-tag task force and the [i]Eclipse[/i]'s point-defence cannons. There was an explosion from the rear of the Lishni dreadnought; four of Ghost Cat Squadron had joined the [i]Purturbator Des[/i] in chipping away at the aft shields. The Lishni quickly found that chaff and their ECMs had little to no effect; the Tanoovi heavily relied on manual target acquisition via viewing slits positioned next to each gun and missile tube, instead of letting a computer do it for them. All the Vortexes had to do was to disengage their own missiles' targeting computers, switching them to manual and firing in the same direction that the Tanoovi were firing in to avoid the Lishni ECMs interfering with missile guidance.

One of the dreadnought's sublight drives exploded in a bright flash, setting off a chain reaction in the other sublights that left the big ship drifting forward off course without control, their aft section warped and scarred from internal explosions. Their job done, the four Vortexes peeled away from the [i]Purturbator Des[/i] to return to the [i]Jinx[/i]'s side as the multi-role destroyer sailed through an expanding cloud of starfighter debris, coolant trailing in a glittering stream from a crack in the hull where one of the automated ships had got lucky. The [i]Admonn Deciari[/i] was a short distance away, putting a final missile to another automated ship, crippling it. With one crippled dreadnought, half a squadron of starfighters and an automated frigate left of the Lishni group, the Impart task force regrouped, reassuming their standard formation and broadcasting to one another their statuses and reserves. So far, there was only minor damage, the starfighters were clean and un-tarnished, and all of them had used less ammunition than they had expected to.

'That went far too well.' JD said aloud as he looked over the ship's status. Suspicion warred with his desire to do his duty and he found himself toying with the idea of suggesting a series of micro-jumps to exit the theatre and send out a distress signal. No doubt someone - most likey Commodore Blacktip himself - had already thought of that or even set one his people to go do that very thing from the outset. Maybe Impart Station had already launched their distress drones into the void and back-up was already on the way.

'I still don't understand what the Lishni want with Impart Station.' Spirit said as she went through the latest battle report. 'What the hell could the Panzaarians have on that station that the Lishni would want?'

'It might not be Panzaarian. It might be someone docked there. Maybe something someone's hauling, or even a person. Could even be the data core. And don't forget that the station's a tactically sound spot, so it may be the station itself they want; Impart's anchored within a thick debris field for a start. It's also situated along a prime shipping route that connects to some very important places in this quadrant. This system is one of the major routes from Valcini Primaris to the Engarro Nexus. From there, you got a direct jump point to Mid-Space, another tactically sound space station with a huge income and connections to other important places.' JD said, his mind working through as many possibilities that he could think of.

There were so many tactically sound junctions in the quadrant that any nation seeking to expand through force - which inevitably happened to everyone - would expend a considerable amount of energy and resources just to secure the one. Even a species such as the Lishni who were advancing technologically thanks to piracy and some hardcore reverse engineering from their ill-gotten gains had willingly expended half their fleet to seize Sun Spot Junction, fighting back the Panzaarian picket there and establishing an outpost. With such a boost to their ego, it had put places like Impart and Mid-Space on the Lishni's wish list and firmly in their crosshairs.

Mid-Space was a nexus in its own right; the station owner had ownership of three of the four jump points, meaning he earned a fortune on a daily basis from the various shipping companies, military outfits and other, less desirables that passed through, which allowed the station owner to lower the cost of docking fees, making Mid-Space the most favoured space station in the quadrant by everyone. On top of that, all of the jump points were continuously busy and each one lead to an equally busy shipping nexus or junction that connected to yet more shipping routes. It was a choice cut of meat for anyone looking to seize a front-line staging post, and having Impart Station as part of a resupply route or listening outpost, even, would give anyone a major advantage in any war. Which is why Mid-Space operated on the same basic defense laws that Impart did; if the station were to come under attack, then any combat capable ships would be called to its defense.

'They could get to Mid-Space from here within two weeks. Damn. It'd make a perfect staging area to launch an attack on neighbouring systems.' Spirit breathed softly, the scope of the horrifying thought unfolding in the saber toothed cat's mind.

'And with Sun Spot Junction tucked firmly under their belts, the Lishni could launch a full-scale assault on Mid-Space Station from two fronts if they can secure Impart. Mid-Space can operate without resupply for two years at the most. It's also largely constructed from old freighters that have been lashed together, so it can be easily moved or rearranged if necessary, but it wouldn't be quick enough to avoid some serious casualties if an all-out assault were to be launched against it.'

Another horrible thought creeped into Spirit's mind as he said that. 'It'd be a blood bath...' She mumbled. 'The Lishni wouldn't dare to try and take Mid-Space. The last time someone tried seizing Mid-Space as a staging post, the resulting fight turned into a near genocide.' JD cast a glance at Spirit, tearing his eyes away from the fresh data being passed across from the [i]Ra'thinas[/i]. He remembered that all too well, having been there in the thick of it himself. Spirit continued, regardless of his desire for her not to. 'Even the Synths got involved with the defence of the station. No, I don't think the Lishni are stupid enough - or desperate enough - to take things that far. Even trying for Impart is a risk that's barely worth taking.'

'And yet here they are.' He replied blandly, gesturing at the holotac map that glowed in the centre of the bridge, displaying an area map of Impart Station's anchorage surrounded by dots and triangles of various colours, each one carefully annotated.

'Captain, the Ra'thinas has just picked up something big on the other side of the station!' Consal called. 'They say it's got a six strong escort of what looks to be three frigates and three corvettes.'

'No signs of starfighters or bombers, Boss.' Rojam stated, interrogating her computer. She titled her head slightly to one side, her ears perked. 'Anusi says the Broadcaster is somewhere behind the new group. They estimate it to be a corvette under guard.'

'Pass the information on and ask for clarification.' JD ordered, pulling himself fully upright in his chair. He hadn't realised he had been slouching until then.

Several tense minutes passed in silence as the task force slowly closed the distance between them and the newly appeared Lishni group that was en route for the space station. He wanted to press for an answer, but knew he wouldn't get one until the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] had the information he wanted.

'Ra'thinas confirms two corvettes. One is the broadcaster, the other is overwatch. Both look to be Lishni built.' Consal announced. Relief and worry mixed together in his voice, but he was trying his best to project a look of calm. 'New orders from the Eclipse. They want us to proceed to the broadcaster with the Ra'thinas. Ghost Cat Squadron is to come with us, the rest are to stick with the Eclipse. They will be taking on the Lishni dreadnought and her escort with the help of the Impart corvettes. The Commodore wants us to destroy the overwatch corvette and take the broadcaster.' Consal paused, staring at his screen. 'He requests no Lishni survivors, Sir.'

JD glanced at his comms screen. Consal had passed on the message to his computer and JD opened it, looking it over with his own eyes. He sent a copy down to his Legionares and Chief Lyten, the ship's 'Banshee Queen', with an attached message telling them to get ready for boarding manoeuvres. He then composed a quick message, telling Captain Vic'karnas what he was intending to do: he wanted to get the exact location of both ships as soon as possible, launch the Banshee and engage the overwatch corvette with intent to destroy it as fast as possible with as little expenditure on resources as they could. Whichever squad Chief Coltan decided to send across for boarding, would end up sweeping the broadcasting corvette clean of any Lishni life and then take it deeper into the debris field. To achieve this, the [i]Jinx[/i] would have to have the Jes'wan corvette hugging its flank in order to get them close enough to try and electronically shut down the jamming signal. This would hopefully be achieved by having the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] positioned belly to flank against the destroyer in a blind spot created by the loss of some of the [i]Jinx[/i]'s weaponry, effectively making the corvette appear to be apart of the [i]Jinx[/i]'s overall configuration upon first appearances. Having the Jes'wan ship so close would also have the advantage of giving the small corvette an extra layer of shields to help protect it.

Another few minutes passed by in tense silence before the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] replied. Vic'karnas seemed amused by JD's idea and the captain broadcast one last burst of high-density data to the other ships in the task force before falling back to join the [i]Jinx[/i]. The corvette came into view of the external feeds, the sleek, silvered arrow shape rotating slowly to show the Shadow Stalkers destroyer her belly. Some careful manoeuvring by Ari and the [i]Ra'thinas[/i]'s pilot saw the two ships bump gently together, a resounding thud of metals and ceramics hammering against each other echoing throughout both ships. Proximity alarms wailed belatedly and then were forcibly silenced. The [i]Jinx[/i]'s shields flickered, reforming around the sleek corvette as it clamped itself into place with docking grapples, shutting down its impeller ring, the slipdrive nacelles coming together and locking into a storage position, forming a long spar of silver at the corvette's aft.

The near-scan was going frantic, trying to communicate with the proximity sensors until they too, were silenced. Both proximity and near-scans went dark, but instead of looking worried, a slow, wide grin formed on Rojam's face as she listened to her headset. The Ocelot worked feverishly at her station and clapped her hands with a whoop of excitement. The [i]Jinx[/i]'s cobbled-together sensors array came online in its entirety; the near-scan went through its rebooting process, with the far-scan hot on its heels.

'What just happened, Rojam?' JD asked as a thick ream of data nearly disconnected his link with the sensors and tactical stations.

'The Ra'thinas just mated its systems with ours. We have full sensors until they de-couple from us.' She looked ecstatic. 'For the time being, we're no longer blind. We have the best eyes in the system, Boss!'

'This is fantastic.' K'narlas muttered, a grin on her face as she studied her tactical readouts with a near laser-like intensity.

'Incoming call from the Ra'thinas, Captain.' Consal announced.

'On-screen.'

'I hope you don't mind our interference, Captain D'armeus.' Vic'karnas said the moment he appeared on the central viewscreen. 'But while we're here and hitching a ride, I thought it would be prudent to link you directly to our sensors. That way, you have full use of what's left of your own sensor suite as well as being able to see what we're seeing.'

'Is this in any way hindering your ship's performance?' The Demon asked, stunned at the sudden flood of sensors data.

Vic'karnas chuckled, a rich, throaty sound. 'No, my friend. This little ship was built for this kind of thing. We may be tapped into each other's systems, but we're still able to broadcast to the other ships in our little task force.' A concerned frown then furrowed his dark brow. 'However, the further out we go, the less we can communicate efficiently with the other ships. Whatever tech this Lishni broadcaster is packing, it's certainly giving us a run for our money.'

'Then we'll make sure we silence that Lishni ship as quickly as possible.'

'I have one request about that, Captain. When you have control of that vessel, I would like to know what kind of tech they are using, because unless they've had a sudden leap forward in technology or a major windfall during one of their raids, then I must admit, this turn of events has me worried. Not to blow my own horn, but the Lishni should not be able give a Jes'wan sensors ship so much trouble. And that's exactly what they've given us: trouble. It's been an endless fight on our end. The randomness of their distortion patterns are almost organic in nature, like their A.I can think for itself without any external input.' Vic'karnas looked decidedly uncomfortable, which in turn, made JD feel even more uncomfortable with the situation. If what Vic'karnas was saying about the nature of the jamming signal was right, then they were all in a great deal of trouble.

'The moment we have control, you'll have access. If your theory proves correct, then we'll all need to know what's going on.' JD said.

'I really hope I'm wrong, Captain. I really do.' Vic'karnas said darkly.

The Jes'wan captain signed off, leaving the [i]Jinx[/i] to cut silently through the void towards the location of the signal. He had recieved a message from Bonnie saying that Tristan was taking Tyrant Squad onto the corvette, as Corporal Oscar 'Oz' Mallan was the most suited for breaking into the ship's systems and forcing it to unlock its security so the [i]Ra'thinas[/i] could help shut down its broadcasts. JD confirmed it, sending a message back warning them of the potential nature of the broadcasts and giving Tyrant Squad the green light to go ahead with boarding. Soon after that, he received a message from Chief Lyten stating that a horde of Saurians was making her launch bay look scruffy: her way of saying that Tyrant Squad was spoiling for a fight.

On the holotac map, the rest of their rag-tag task force moved steadily towards the seven strong group, Iceclaw Squadron and the [i]Eclipse[/i]'s own starfighter wing containing Thresher Squadron and Steel Squadron forming a tight defensive shield ahead of the [i]Eclipse[/i] and the two flanking Tanoovi vessels. Whilst JD was glad to have his sensors array working at optimum efficiency once again, he wasn't sure about leaving the Stalker dreadnought and two unknowns to take on the Lishni forces. It was going to turn into Hadras-6 all over again, except without the Candarans making things worse.

[i]Small mercies, I guess.[/i] He thought bitterly as he rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension. He studied his tactical read-outs, comparing the data to the map displayed, working out how long it would take to reach the broadcasting Lishni ship and its companion at the speed they were currently travelling at. He grunted in annoyance. Even with all three remaining sublights working at full capacity, it would still take thirty minutes to reach their designated point of combat. He toyed with the idea of utilising the ship's micro-jump capability to cut out the middle man, and the idea made his stomach churn.

Whilst long distance travel in the slipstream was not nauseating, using the slipdrive to perform a micro-jump was. It was more akin to the older models of jump drives and transition drives before someone worked out how to stabalize the inertial feedback that a ship-wide teleportation caused. Not only had the older jump and transition drives caused severe nausea in most people aboard a ship, four or more successive jumps in a row could have detrimental impacts on the health of a crew. Long term exposure to such drives had resulted in genetic defects and even death, the latter mostly resulting in the body either reconfiguring wrong at the other end, or not reconfiguring at all.

In a very close way, a micro-jump was an instantaneous transition, teleporting the ship from point A to point B, without the teleportation mechanic, which often left people feeling sick regardless of the ship's FTL stabalizers. A micro-jump essentially bit off a chunk of the slipdrive's stored energy as opposed to gradually filtering it off in a controlled state, which would force the slipdrive to immediately tap the deepest layers of the slipstream and use those deep layers to push the reletavistic envelope, fooling the universe into thinking that the slipdrive was a jump or a transition drive. Doing such a thing not only had a negative effect on the crew - apart from those who actually enjoyed being thrown around a quantum realm in what was essentially a giant missile - but also harshly reduced the life-span of the slipdrive itself. Too many micro-jumps could burn the slipdrive out, requiring a full refit of the system.

'Could we micro-jump with the Ra'thinas attached to our hull?' JD asked aloud, finally caving in to his own protests against micro-jumps.

A thick, cloying silence blanketed the bridge crew in reply to his question and he could almost hear their thoughts pleading with him, [i]Please, no...[/i]

'We could...' Ari said carefully. 'I've done it once before, a very long time ago. And since we're on a slipdrive, not jump or transition, we could achieve it with someone attached. We just need to make sure the Ra'thinas is properly secured to us first. We don't need any FTL turbulence ripping her off our side mid-transit.'

'Mister Consal, query the Ra'thinas with the idea.' JD said.

'Are you sure this is something you want to try? We're not exactly in top condition.' Spirit asked quietly so that no one else overheard her concern. She looked ill already, 'It could kill us all.'

'I don't want to try it, but I also don't want Kane blindly taking on seven Lishni warships with what he has.' JD replied. 'If we can do this, we can save a hell of a lot of time, and right now, time is not on our side.'

'When is it ever on our side?'

'The Ra'thinas is ready for the micro-jump, Sir.' Consal announced, his grey skin going even paler.

'Prepare to micro-jump in ten seconds.' The Demon said, hoping no one noticed his grip tightening on the arms of his chair even as he projected an air of calm.

The signal went out across the ship and he swore he could hear his crew cursing his name.

'Micro-jump in ten seconds, aye.' Ari replied, setting up a counter in the bottom left of her main screen.

'Kieron's going to kill me.' JD muttered as the counter reached zero. He sucked in a deep breath, exhaling sharply as the inevitable happened.

The lights flickered, the viewscreens blacking out as the slipdrive drank deep from its power reserves, taking a big gulp of its gathered energy and kicking them through the deepest depths of the slipstream in an instant, to be spat back into realspace a second later. JD's stomach twisted and he tried not to double over and groan as his gag reflex tormented him without mercy. Beside him, Spirit was hunched forward in her seat, her elbows on her knees as she sucked down steadying breaths. Everyone on the bridge was in a similar state of despair, except for Ari, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself as she regained full control over the startled helm systems.

'Ra'thinas is still with us and in one piece. Vic'karnas's crew are not happy, though.' Consal drawled thickly as he leaned over his station, clutching the edges of his console in a death grip.

'All systems back online.' Spirit announced as blandly as she could, pulling herself back into a sitting position.

'We're one minute away from the engagement zone, Captain. Looks like we landed right on top of them.' Rojam said, tapping away at her interface. Like Ari, she had always had the ability to recover the quickest after a micro-jump. It irked JD how perky she was, but he couldn't fault her for something that came naturally to her.

'Launch Banshee-Two. Bring us about and get a lock on that bastard's overwatch! I want them in pieces.' JD snarled through his nausea.

'Banshee-Two has been launched.' K'narlas announced.

'Ra'thinas is having difficulty with the signals, Sir.' Consal stated, fully regaining his composure. 'They need to put all they have into blocking the Lishni signal, so they say expect to be sensor-blind within the next five minutes.'

'Hell.' He muttered to himself.

'Incoming missiles! Three salvos of two - PDCs have eliminated them. Another three salvos of two inbound. PDCs are operating as designed.' Rojam said. Her eyes went wide in shock. 'I can see the enemy ship that's firing on us, Boss! She ain't a corvette. She's a Lishni-built destroyer. Looks like they were playing us and trying to lull us into a false sense of security. Damn. We're now within stabbing range.'

Rojam sounded horrified and JD's gut twisted even more, an icy fist clamping down on him. The [i]Ra'thinas[/i] had been wrong. So had his War Witches.

[i]Fuck! What the actual fuck?![/i] 'Where's our fighter screen?' He snapped.

'Engaged with enemy starfighters, Boss. Looks like we're on our own.'

'Rail guns free!' JD ordered.

'Aye, Sir, rail guns free.' Goldfeather replied evenly. 'I've got positive hits on the enemy destroyer's shields. Looks like their time in the debris field has taxed them.'

'Si'ronn, how many antimatter warheads do we have?' He asked, his mind racing through what options he had left.

The Ishinn's angelic, bird-like features darkened. 'We have twenty antimatter warheads left, Captain.'

'Have the missile crews pull anything that's loaded into the tubes and have all thermo warheads switched out for the antimatter warheads, then reload.' He said in a tone that brooked no argument. He then turned to Ari as Goldfeather got to work. 'Ari, try to coax that destroyer away from the broadcasting corvette and the debris field. I want to end this as swiftly and with as little damage as possible.'

'Aye Sir, starting harrassment.' The Synthenoid replied.

The [i]Jinx[/i] cruised closer to the Lishni destroyer, continuing to exchange blows with it. The proximity alarms started shrieking again, but Ari pressed forward, nudging the scarred [i]Jinx[/i] closer and closer until the Lishni destroyer had no choice but to pull away or be rammed. With a positive reaction from the Lishni, Ari grinned cruelly and pressed on with her harrassment, nudging into the other destroyer's wake, forcing the Lishni out of their holding pattern and into the open minute by minute. They were so close to the other destroyer, the Lishni missiles had to go wide and come back on themselves for them to have any chance of landing their blows on the [i]Jinx[/i]. The wide arc, however, allowed the [i]Jinx[/i] to track the missiles and put an end to them with their point-defense cannons. Ari's grin spread a little wider as K'narlas counted off the destroyed enemy missiles.

'We are now sensor-blind, Captain!' Rojam said, looking a little lost.

'How are our War Witches holding up?'

'Still at it, Boss.' She replied.

'We now have to rely on them to keep track of what's going on.' JD said. 'Make the best use of what we have, and make sure that the Ra'thinas is kept safe.'

'Understood, Captain.' Rojam said and she went back to listening to her headset.

The ship groaned and the lights flickered.

A pair of Lishni missiles had made it past the struggling point-defence cannons.