The Skirmish at Maridun was a small confrontation of the Cruentusian War. It occurred when The Flyboys mercenary squadron were hired by an unknown group to probe the defences of the Necasian Military at Maridun.
Prelude[]
Having successfully established themselves a reputation among the underworld and mercenary community of the galaxy, The Flyboys were contacted by an unknown benefactor, offering them a sum of money to probe and preferably eliminate Necasian defences at the planet of Maridun. The two former Necasian pilots of the team, leader Prete Maverik and Jakson Hgess, were initially reluctant to do so, but pilot Butch Horsin managed to convince them otherwise, stating that they needed the profit. With that, the squadron set out for Maridun.
The battle[]
Missile massacre[]
Squadron! Execute attack pattern MM-alpha!"
"Which is...?"
"Blow the hell out of anything unfriendly with ungodly amounts of missiles!"
"Copy.
—Prete Maverik and Jason Small
Approaching the outer boundaries of the defence perimeter, the Flyboys overcame Necasian fighter patrols. However, this alerted local Necasian commander Locen Shraud to their presence, and he readied further squadrons and defence satellites.
Realising that the satellites formed a laser network that would intercept incoming projectiles around the planet, Maverik ordered the squadron to let off a massive volley of missiles. Each fighter in the squadron let off a portion of it's cluster missiles, which all in turn split into independent warheads, overwhelming the network and taking down virtually all the satellites covering the planet's western hemisphere. Remaining missiles targeted incoming fighters. Nevertheless, the Flyboys had burned a large portion of their munitions, and Locen saught to exploit this.
Flying High[]
Locen dispatched more waves of DarkBirds and high-altitude surface-air missiles as the Flyboys entered the upper areas of the atmosphere, owing to the difficult performance of fighters in space. Owing to their dwindling arsenal of homing weapons, the Flyboys were forced to put up heavy ECM countermeasures to defend themselves against enemy missile volleys, severing their communications in the process.
Engaging the DarkBirds with their rapid-firing weaponry, the Flyboys managed to deal moderate damage to the enemy, although damage sustained to Butch Horsin's NV-665 Token forced him to pull out of the battle. Managing to evade the enemy fighters, the squadron headed further down into the atmosphere, where they began attacking Necasian military sites and weapons emplacements with varying levels of success.
In response, Locen ordered massive amounts of flak to be deployed, as the Flyboys possessed no countermeasures against these. Finding the amount of enemies and firepower to be overwhelming, the Flyboys pulled out, meeting up with a friendly ship in planetary orbit and leaving the system shortly thereafter.
Aftermath[]
Following the battle, the Flyboys presented their unknown client with recordings of their performance in the battle and the intelligence they had gathered. Pleased, the client awarded them with a due some of money, a part of which they spent on repairing their craft and purchasing new munitions. Maverik decided to pool a portion of the funds to purchase their own ship which they could use as a mobile base. Meanwhile, Locen was confused as to the nature and reasons of the attack, and voice his concerns to Necasian Intelligence, who dismissed the attackers as minor raiders seeking thrills. Nevertheless, Locen continued investigating.