Seizure Part 8: Reliving Past Glories

	Cookie looked at his pilots. "O'Connor, McLean, and Montgomery are to take out their own
frames. I'll take the fighter I came back from Outpost 14 in. Divin is in Hobbes' frame and
Coldworth is in O'Muirdagh's. Sparkin is in Tedronai's frame."
	Commander Tomlinson interrupted him. "I would like to fly Commander Graves' Command
E-frame. I've practiced in it."
	Normally Cookie would be upset about having been interrupted, but in this case he was
racking his brains trying to remember the names of the other people in the room. By the time
Tomlinson was done making his request Cookie realized they were not from the Normandy. "Agreed."
He turned to the other people in the room. "Are any of you pilots?"
	Colonel Richter answered him, "No, Lieutenant. We're the base personnel from Outpost 12.
We only had two pilots, and they were both injured in the initial attack and in no condition to
fly."
	"Do any of you have any experience, Colonel?"
	"No, sorry. But we will do our best." She glanced around the room to make sure she was
still the highest-ranking officer present. "For the record, I am officially deferring command to
you." Commander Tomlinson immediately seconded her sentiments.
	"Thank you, but I am turning over command of this ragtag squadron to Lieutenant
O'Connor."
	Kristin was suited up and getting into her frame when Cookie said that. "Me?" Kristin's
voice added the question mark. "Yes, sir," she added more confidently.
	"We need to be spaceborne ten minutes ago people. Move!"

	After they had taken off Cookie radioed the situation to Rick, who was too busy fighting
to respond, but Cookie filled him in on the situation nonetheless. After that he signaled
Kristin. "You all right in there Kristin?" He hoped he sounded comforting. He was good at gruff
and intimidating. He could be jovial and sarcastic. He had once even been carefree and
happy-go-lucky. Comforting had never before been in his repertoire. 
	"Yeah." Her weak reply did not fill him with confidence that he had succeeded. "Sir,
putting me in charge, are you sure that's wise? I have absolutely no experience in command."
	"I hope you have this on a private channel. That kind of talk will kill your charges
faster than any Neo can."
	"Sorry, sir."
	"The Fleet spent a lot of money training you and its time for you to give them a return
on their investment. We are ninety seconds from contact with the enemy and you have sixty of
them to find your nerve and convince these people they have a chance of survival. You are a good
pilot and its time to be a good commander. Now say something to your troops."
	Kristin flipped to speak to all the Exoframes. "We are . . ." her voice was barely a
whisper so she paused to clear her throat. "We are sixty-five seconds from contact with the
enemy. I want the inexperienced pilots to fly in pairs. Pair yourselves off, fly with someone
you know well. Marcy is with you Kathy. Nikki and I will pair up and so will Unholy and Demon.
The rest of you pair up with someone you trust." 
	She paused while they paired up, usually with whoever was near them. "Target the
shuttles first. We cannot let them get to the Normandy. The fore section of each shuttle is
heavily armored, try and get to the sides. Your best bet is to hit the engines, but they are
armored too.
	"Keep it simple, fly by instinct. Remember to think your moves through and do what seems
natural. The e-frame will do most of the work for you.
	"There are fifteen enemy frames out there, ten Stealth frames, four Y-wings and one
command frame. There are twelve of us and they have no targets other than us. Keep your head and
we can come through this alright." She realized she was rambling and paused to take a deep
breath. "Good luck and stay with your partner."
	She switched frequencies so she was talking to Nikki and Cookie only. "Nikki, you and I
are not going to pair up, we are going to fly free and try and protect the others. Cookie, can
you handle that command frame on your pass? It will make my life easier."
	"Yes, ma'am. Good job, Lieutenant."
	"Five seconds to contact; break formation and attack!" Kristin was surprised at how
confident she sounded.

	Sometimes a squad breaking formation is a thing of beauty as the pilots expertly
maneuver their craft away from each other while keeping their objective in sight. This was as
far from that as you can get. Unholy and Demon nearly crashed into each other, and both would
have hit Nikki if she hadn't been slowing down to trail the others. Tomlinson's practice was
evident as he did a textbook break, but nearly lost his partner, Colonel Richter, who lacked any
skill.
	This lack of finesse actually saved lives. The Neos fired at the fringes of the breaking
formation, but the formation broke in a never before seen way. It contracted before expanding.
The missile barrage the Neos fired were confused by the target rich environment and the few that
managed to get past the counter fire Cookie, Nikki, Kristin, McLean and Tomlinson put up failed
to hit anything as they kept jumping from one target to another, unable to identify any one as a
greater threat than the others.
	After their inexpert break they turned back on the Neosapiens still in formation. Their
fire was mostly random and sporadic. The Neos broke formation themselves, half moving directly
to engage and the other half going wide to outmaneuver the incoming ExoFleet frames. Only two
fell to fire, one being the command frame, which Cookie dutifully destroyed. One frame, flown by
a survivor from Outpost 12, was destroyed. 
	The frames moving to engage stopped, keeping themselves between the shuttles and the
approaching squadron. The Normandy's frames kept firing, the Neos easily evading the fire and
scoring a second kill. Their fire hit one shuttle suffering minor damage, but it was not
stopped.
	Finally they managed to pass the defending frames, but by this time they had picked up
the frames that had outflanked them. The experienced pilots spun and let their momentum carry
them forward. They fired wildly and unleashed some of their missiles. The chasing frames had to
hold their fire while their comrades cleared the firing lanes. This gave Cookie, Kristin and
McLean a chance to fire at them without facing incoming fire. They made the most of this chance,
scoring five kills without using their missiles.
	While they engaged the frames the rest of the pilots finally managed to destroy one of
the five shuttles. A cheer went up from the pilots. Kristin had to order them to calm down and
move on to the next target. Tomlinson chose to fire a barrage of missiles, inspiring the rest of
the new pilots to try firing missiles. Their massive barrage, far more than was needed,
destroyed a second shuttle. "Don't waste your missiles! Control your fire." Kristin was
beginning to realize the exact scale of the mission she was given.
	"I'm breaking off, Lieutenant. Good luck." Cookie began a hard burn away from the
shuttles and directly toward the frigate. After getting a good speed up he turned and fired a
long barrage at one of the shuttles. As he pulled out of his lasers effective range he fired a
barrage of missiles, hoping to take one out for Kristin and the rookies.
	While he was maneuvering the Normandy frames finally pulled past the shuttles, but the
pursuing Neos had cost them another frame. Kristin did some math and realized the numbers had
moved nicely in her direction. Seven enemies had been downed for three of her own; four if she
counted Cookie leaving them.
	The shuttles were now between her squad and the enemy. "Re group and turn around. They
are going to come into sight again soon. Control your fire and keep an eye on each other."
	Tomlinson broke in 'Lieutenant, I see two frames pursuing Cookie, they are beginning to
gain on him, permission to pursue?"
	Kristin sighed. She hated to lose two pilots but she knew Cookie was in no position to
protect himself. She doubted that he needed protection, but it would make his life easier. "Go.
Rejoin us as soon as you can."
	As she watched them break away the Neos broke out of the cover of their shuttles.
"Engage the shuttles, ignore the frames."
	She let the squad pull in front of her before pursuing them. She aimed towards a cluster
of three Y-wings she thought had a chance of flanking them and coming in from the side. Her
long-range fire broke them up, but she failed to hit any of them. If she could keep the three of
them occupied during this pass she would consider it a success.
	One of the three she was engaging opened fire on the formation. She saw his shots hit a
frame in the legs. It was then she heard Marcy scream. "Bail out, Marcy!" Incensed Kristin began
firing wildly at the offending Y-wing, destroying it in a thick volley of fire. She saw Marcy's
body eject from her burning frame, which than crashed into a shuttle, but it was on the front
section and only burned away some armor.	
	There was nothing she could do for Marcy as she drifted away. All she could do is wait
and hope a stray shot didn't come too close to her. 
	Turning her attention back to the other two frames she saw they were preparing to make a
pass at the formation. She did some quick calculations and fired her cluster missile without
locking it on to her target. Without the lock on the Y-wing would not give its pilot a warning
that a missile was on its way until it was too late.
	She flew on a course to get behind the Y-wing but knew she could not get in close before
they were in optimal range of her squad. If she fired her chances of hitting were slim and she
would warn them that they were targets and they would evade her, making her cluster missiles
useless. Biting her lip she let them fly untouched. 
	She watched as they opened fire on Sergeant McLean. McLean kicked in her thrusters hard,
before suddenly cutting them and turning toward her attackers. Much to the Sergeant's surprise a
cluster missile impacted one of the Y-wings. The other was caught off guard and became an easy
target for McLean.

	Meanwhile Cookie was flying fast and straight when his radar showed two pursuers. He
began a series of evasive maneuvers before they got in firing range.
	After thirty seconds of trying to decide how to destroy them he noticed the volume of
fire around him increasing. "Who is pursuing my pursuers?"
	Tomlinson's voice answered him, "It's me, Death. We got your back."
	"You'll shoot my back if you don't alter your firing lines so I'm not in them!"	
	"Uh, tha. . . Er, sorry."
	Tomlinson and Richter spread out to alter their angles to their targets, which were
ignoring them. And not without reason since they had come closer to hitting Cookie than the Neos
had. "Colonel, we should use our missiles."
	"Roger, Commander."
	"When you fire, expect your targets to both climb. The Y-wing has a much better climb
rate than drop rate in space because of the thruster design. Start firing above them after
launch."
	"Check. Fire on my mark, Colonel . . . Mark,"
	Their missiles streaked out of their tubes, flying straight toward their targets. True
to Cookie's word both Y-wings pulled up. Tomlinson managed to hit his target right in the
cockpit, killing the pilot. Richter only winged her target, causing it to spin out of control.
The missiles impacted both targets, destroying them.
	"Thank you for the help, but I was hoping the frigate wouldn't target me with them on my
tail."
	"Sorry, didn't think of that."
	"Never mind, they probably would have anyway. I'm better off without them. Now get out
of here before we enter into the range of the frigate's defensive guns."
	"Good luck, Death. See you back on the Normandy."
	"Stay safe, Commander."

	Meanwhile the Neos were down to one shuttle and only three frames, one stealth and two
Y-wings. They had managed to score a direct hit on Unholy, but the frames armor had saved him.
She had sent him back to the Normandy and told McLean to pair up with Demon. All that was left
now were the two of them Nikki and Kristin herself, other than Cookie, Tomlinson and Richter who
were all too far away to be of any use. They were still two minutes away from the Normandy so
Kristin had no doubt that they could stop the shuttle. "Lets finish off the frames now before we
go after the shuttle."
	"Yes, ma'am." 
	They turned toward the Neos, who were still staying close to the unarmed shuttles.
"Nikki, take point and break up their formation. McLean and Coldworth, you follow her up. I'll
come in last."
	Nikki throttled up, drawing the attention of the Neosapiens. She rolled her fighter
while applying her maneuvering thrusters sending her into high-speed loops while keeping her
going in the general direction of the Neos. The g-forces she was experiencing were tremendous,
but the ExoFighter and the pilots' flight suit had been designed to minimize their effects on
the pilot. Finally she broke out of her loop and began firing. The Neos broke their formation
and failed to return fire.
	McLean and Demon followed her closely. As the Neos began to recover they came under
heavy fire. Demon was beginning to get comfortable in O'Muirdagh's modified Field Sergeant
E-frame. He managed to hit the stealth frame dead center with his main gun. Meanwhile McLean,
who preferred a Reconnaissance E-frame despite being a field sergeant, downed a Y-wing. 
	As Kristin began her run two of Nikki's missiles impacted the last frame. "Sorry, ma'am.
Didn't mean to steal your kill."
	Kristin couldn't help but smile. "No problem, Nikki. I'll just have to get myself
another one.
	She pulled level with the shuttle and began firing. The shuttle pilot knew he was doomed
and did not try to evade. Kristin fired her remaining missiles into the shuttle destroying it
and ending her part of the battle.
	"O'Connor to Normandy, is communication up yet?"
	Lieutenant Commander Hagen answered her. "Yes, Lieutenant, we have control of the ship
and communications restored. Our scanners show you just finished off the Neo assault squad.
Excellent work."
	"Thank you, sir. Did Unholy return?"
	This time her squadron commander responded. "He's back safe. You're going to be staying
up late fixing my frame though."
	"Sorry, sir. Nothing could be done about that. I need a rescue shuttle for Petty Officer
Sparkin."
	Hagen came back on. "We can't launch one with the frigate still out there. Cookie has
engaged it and we are still without our main guns. We still have one Neo shuttle attached to us
too. I suggest you send Private Coldworth after her. He can use his frame's hand to recover her
and bring her aboard. The rest of you hold position in case we need you to deal with the
remaining shuttle."
	"Yes, sir, Commander." She cut the transmission. "You think you can handle that
Coldworth?"
	"Yes, ma'am. I'll get her back on the deck and get out of this thing."
	"You did good, Private."
	"Thank you, Lieutenant."