With the position of the Kilrathi base pinpointed, we could finally go in for the kill. Even though the mood on The Claw was deadly serious, Hunter and I still found time for a few free drinks for that mission. Then it was back to reality the next morning.
Our Rapiers and Raptors didn’t have the range to hit the target from our current position, which meant that The Claw had to get closer. Of course, the Cats weren’t going to allow that to happen in their own backyard without putting up a pretty serious fight.
We’d already gotten word that the system was mined pretty heavily. The Claw had to pick a pretty careful route, which made her slow and predictable. To compensate, the Colonel sent out flights to lock down a big space corridor. It was almost enough. Hunter and I would cover the starboard flank.
All things considered, the opposition that Hunter and I encountered was pretty light. Just a pair of Jalthi, then two more Dralthi and a Ralari-class a nav point later. We made quick work of them, and headed back to The Claw’s new position feeling pretty good about ourselves.
At least until we realized that a wing of Gratha had slipped through the fighter screens and were busy chewing up our ride.
We found out later that they’d launched the Alert 5 bird the moment the Gratha had shown up on scopes, but that the cats had been smart and targeted the launch tubes first. Poor Voodoo never had a chance. Hunter and I split up and tried to draw fire away. That drew a pair off, but we still had to work fast. I was grateful that I’d hung on to most of my missiles throughout the earlier engagements. We needed them now!
Fortunately, The Claw is a tough ship. Other than the launch tubes, the Gratha weren’t able to do much other damage before we took them out.