Angel Flight

Eclipse

Jack scanned the displays, studying them to see what had survived the final charge into the Shang force. Three British starships, with perhaps twenty Harriers swarming around them, brought up the task force's rear. The destroyers Eclipse and Assault were the only true warships remaining of their squadron. Recovery was a medical frigate, only mounting a point defense network because the Shang had long since proven that the Red Cross meant nothing to them. Jack frowned at the three ships. There was something not right there, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He shook his head, and scanned over to look at the American ships. The destroyers Adams, Hernandez, and Garcia held position just behind Los Angeles, their gravitic wedges merging with the cruiser's wake to strengthen it. Hammond, Vega, Perez, and Mendoza held position between the destroyers and the British, their smaller gravity generators unable to significantly impact the wake around them. But those frigates were optimized for point defense against both missiles and fighters, making them a very important part of the task force. Jack frowned. This wasn't a task force any more. At most, it was a reinforced squadron, and he wasn't certain he'd be even that optimistic if he were the station commander seeing them show up.

At least some fighters had managed to get out with them. Before The War, that would have been impossible he knew. His thirty-two surviving Avengers were the first hypercapable fighter ever designed. But the Peloran had gone all-in when it came to helping the Western Alliance upgrade their existing technologies in the last two years. Third Fleet had benefited the most from those upgrades, and every single one of their fighters were hypercapable now. Around forty Hellcats and ten Mexican Azcarates held position around the starships. Five times that number of fighters had started the battle. It was a horrendous loss ratio, though a quick glance at the displays showed that two-thirds of the pilots still lived. He'd lost Snake too, but his other pilots began to report in via the displays and he nodded slowly in approval. They'd lost far more Avengers than he wanted, but they'd managed to get Los Angeles out. Jack was impressed. She took a lot of killing to make it stick.

Gabrielle smiled as if following his train of thought. "Jack, I'm giving you a landing beam to Los Angeles. Please follow it."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Captain Wyatt has ordered a full briefing and she wants the fighter commanders to report in person."

Jack shook his head. "I don't even know where to land! Avengers won't fit in your bays."

Gabrielle laughed. "You're right. Multiple Avengers won't, but I can squeeze one of you in."

Jack cleared his throat. "I have five piloted Avengers here, and another twenty-seven cybernetic Avengers that are going to need a place to refuel and rearm. We can't hoof it all the way to Serenity on our own power."

"I know," Gabrielle growled. "We're going to have to do some tricky maneuvers to keep all the fighters working. Now will you please come to the briefing?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Jack returned, feeling a bit harassed. Gabrielle looked triumphant and Jack turned to Betty who just smiled at him. "Betty?"

"On it, Jack," Betty answered, interlaced her fingers, and cracked her virtual knuckles. Then she wiggled her fingers, bringing thrusters to life and moving their fighter towards Los Angeles. It was smooth sailing in the cruiser's wake, the normal chaos of hyperspace suppressed by the generators of the squadron carving their way towards the large gravitic wave linking the massive Epsilon Reticuli system to the much smaller Serenity.

Betty slowed their fighter as they came up behind Los Angeles, and then moved them towards the hangar bay on the end of her hull. It was truly small, only designed to support six Hellcats, and Jack winced as the size of the hangar bay registered. It truly was far too small for his comfort. Betty slowed to a crawl and poked her long nose through the energy field holding the atmosphere in. It distorted around the Avenger, and he saw it ripple as his cockpit moved inside. The rest of the Avenger followed, making the single Hellcat in the bay look truly miniscule by comparison.