The Voyages of the Penelope and the Yydryl , page 26

Badger sat in his fighter waiting for word from the bridge.
The entire wing was prepped for launch. In each launch bay the outer doors were magnetically loaded and armed. All launch skids were hot and the launch master had linked them for a full wing launch.

He commed Badger from the launch center. “Sir, six bays linked and ready to launch. Turning control over to your interlock signal.”

Badger called back” Ready.”

The launch master keyed in a code on his console and his bay screen dimmed. He had turned launch control over to Badger. “Doors active sir.”

Badger replied, “Roger that Chief. I have the interlock.”

Inside of each isolated launch area the interior lights went dark and the red launch lights extinguished, dim blue LCD bay door markers were visible from the bay interiors.
Badger checked the command screen one last time.

“Ok kids, watch each others backs out there.” he said on the wing dedicated channel.

He heard Wally reply “Don’t forget to hold hands when you cross the street.”

Badger couldn’t help but grin. He heard a few chuckles on the air but most of them stayed quiet. There was a bit of cross chatter in the dash tens between the pilots and the weapons officers. Their voices were muffled and tinny in their pressure helmets. The newer fighters had no need for pressure suits as they were too confined and cramped for proper operation in a bulky pressure suit.
The dash tens were larger and armored. They went into combat with the interiors under intentional vacuum. They could take multiple hits and massive damage and the crew could still survive as long as their pressure suits held.
The 337s were not as sturdy. They were high performance and flew the edge of available technology. Their flight suits were advanced and helmets were designed for breathing but they could not be relied on in the vacuum of space for more than 15 minutes in optimum conditions.
When they failed it was spectacular. There was rarely a survivor if a 337 was severely damaged or destroyed.

Badger tried not to think about that now. He knew his younger newer pilots stood a greater chance of being casualties. He knew they were good pilots but he was still worried. He wished he’d had more time to evaluate and train them.

He glanced up at the outer bay door to the front of his fighter. He wondered what was happening. He didn’t have to wait long.

”Badger, launch all fighters!” sounded on Badgers comms.

Badger broadcast to all fighters. “Wing launch is a go. Full launch.”

He flipped up a switch cover on the left of the command display and toggled the master interlock. A half second later each outer bay door slammed opened simultaneously. Badger settled his helmet against the headrest on the back of his seat, braced himself and took a deep breath. He released half of it and locked his eyes on the heads up image in his cockpit canopy. He pushed his throttle to full and punched the launch button with his thumb. Badger was pushed back into his seat by high g forces as the launch skids maglev system launched the fighter through the bay door. As the fighter cleared the bay the fighters’ full throttled engines burst into life with a roar.
All 48 of the 337 fighters were launched within a few seconds. They flew at high speed away from the Penelope and accelerated to attack speed immediately. They maneuvered smoothly into combat formations.

The 24 dash ten attack fighters were not on launch skids and left the bays under their own power. They took longer to clear the Penelope due to their size and mass. They formed up and accelerated away from the Penelope and away from the three battleships as well. Once they were all in flight and configured Stilts contacted her 18 bird team.
“Heavy one, inertial link.”
She heard the affirmative responses from her team and charged her inertial generator. Her ship lurched sideways as the inertial generator came online and the 18 inertial fields connected to each other like rubber bands.
Sticks was the team leader even though she was not the pilot. The dash ten hierarchy was different from most fighters. The weapons officers had more responsibilities than the pilots who did not need to be as quick as the 337 pilots. The dash tens were slower and usually less maneuverable. They were designed to carry heavy loads and take punishment. The weapons officers were responsible for the massive rail guns, multiple weapons systems and intricate targeting systems. They also had to control the huge inertial dampening generators that prevented the ships from being torn apart when they fired the rail guns. These fields were strong enough that when flying in formation the dash tens could link fields and use their combined inertial energy to maneuver more tightly and change direction more quickly than many of the latest high tech fighters. The rail guns fired at speeds beyond any atmospheric weapons. The small one gram projectiles were harder than diamonds and denser than depleted uranium. They were loaded in 100 kilogram bricks and each D10 carried ten bricks minimum. The weapon fired at rates up to one thousand rounds a second and at velocities in excess of 10,000 meters per second. At full speed a one gram slug could tear holes in armor feet deep. The combined number of slugs in this 18 fighter team exceeded 24million. A good dash ten team could work as one, link targeting, and use their combined firepower to deadly effect. Even on armored ships.

Sticks team linked fields and then performed a high gee turn linking to the mass of the Penelope behind them. They pulled around the Penelope as they turned using centripetal force and inertial manipulation to slingshot them at high speed towards Badgers group of 337s that were already heading for the enemy.
A few seconds later Stilts heard Wally holler out a woo-hoo as his six ship team of D10s made their high-g slingshot maneuver from around Penelope and roll in onto the attack vector with the rest of the team.

Badger addressed the group. “OK boys and girls, bad guys to the front. Designate from nearest ship as targets x-ray, yankee and zulu. Our goal is to destroy the forward heavy weapons array on target zulu. The 337s will cover as heavies take targets. Stay away from x-ray and yankee for now Penelope will handle them.”
“Petra, you’ve got any birds that they throw our way. High speed runs only on the main targets. Don’t give them a shot at you. Keep an eye on the big picture and let the flight leaders handle the details.”

Petra replied,”Rodger that sir. Alpha squadron rolling in.”

As the battleships loomed closer in the canopy Badger watched the bright lights and explosions that were taking place in the battle that had already been joined by the Penelope and the black ships. Shock waves buffeted his ship. His visor brightened and darkened instantly in reaction to the blinding flashes and plasma discharges.

He keyed his mike. “Bravo squadron, open fire.”