Chapter 34 - What Followed Through the Black

"Captain Nuvair, I'm seeing an... anomaly?" You wonder if its the right word, and see that Alisa's smile falter. "It looks like sensor static, in the wake of our ships." You feel aprehension from your connection with Zoraida, and the playful attitude Captain Nuvair's professional posture returns and she quickly, but calmly, makes a query through her console. 

"Ensign Tova, what's the sensor image in our wake look like?"

A voice replies in the odd echo that comes with a microphone picking up something from another device's speakers. The voice is male, and has the same sort of accent that Captain Nuvair's has.

"I was about to call you about that, Ma'am... something is following us." That didn't sound good. "It's big. Not as big as us, but bigger than Golden Dancer," That didn't sound good at all.

"Mister Tova, tell the XO to set the ship to Combat Readiness. I'll be there in a moment." She nods to you and you nod back as she ends the call.

"Zoraida, Action Stations." You say off the cuff. Though you realize there's only the two of you, so there's no one else to call to Action Stations. "Ready the Ship for a Fight." You don't let it faze you. 

"By your command!" Zoraida replies with vigor. 

Across the gap, you see that the running lights of the massive vessel have shifted and now turrets that had been idle come alive as their crews power up for combat, and swivel them to scan the rear. 

"What's behind us, Zora?" You ask as you pull on your helmet and you feel it seal to your armor and pressurize. The Helmet links with the ship and you see images from the rear facing turret. There's a dark mass that seems to be plotting out the stars behind you.

"I'm not quite sure," She says with a frown. "It's a mess of angles, and it looks like its diffusing any sensor or targeting beams. Whoa!" She calls out as several shapes break apart into several metallic saucers. A dozen in all, and they moved like a flock of birds. Their dark metal reflected the light coming from the local star as they accelerated toward Golden Dancer and Bruzador. 

You push the throttles forward to accelerate. Intent on swinging wide above the front of Bruzador before coming up on the pursuers. As you do, your sensors light up as more than twenty signals surge forward from rear of the massive capital ship. The Golden Dancer's sensors tell you they're missiles, fast moving and full of explosive fury, no doubt.

"Bruzador's Flight Contorl just sent us IFF's so we don't shoot up any of their fighters." Zoraida remarks as you pull back on the controls to bring your ship arcing up and over. You turn your head left, port, and see the missiles trails as they surge through the silent void. From each of the flight pods on either side of Bruzador's main hull, half a dozen smaller objects launched. The sensors showed them as space fighters. Small and fast one seaters; barely armored, but armed to hit hard. Still, looking at the things you were facing, each one was nearly the size of Golden Dancer.

You see that Bruzador is banking in a slow turn opposite your own, rolling so that the many turrets and weapons coming to life across its back can come to bear as the unknown assailants close in.

"Any signals or declarations?" You ask. You can almost feel Zoraida shaking her head.

"Negative, I'm not picking up anything but power signatures and weapon's tracking." She pauses. "Um." 

"What?"

"The attackers all seem to be targeting us!" She declares. You look ahead and see the missiles closing the distance with the attackers, the fighters clearing Bruzador's close space, and the ship continuing its slow plodding banking turn. 

Your ship is in the end of your turn, at this point you could probably break away from the fight, if you felt like it. What do you do? How do you do it? Keep in mind what your ship does and doesn't have.