That is nice idea.
She flew over the damaged Q-ship as the flames were beginning to die off. She was shocked by what she saw as she flew over the ship's communication tower. A particularly large Q-ship was accelerating toward a C.F Heavy Cruiser. The Q-ship was being pounded by the cruiser's massdriver and missile fire as it dove toward the surface in a desperate attempt to avoid collision. Entire sections of the Q-ship were already missing, but it retained enough mass to cleave the cruiser's bow. The fragments drifted away from the fiery mess and trailing their own smoke. The fiery remains of the Q-ship maintained their momentum and broke apart further as it plowed the rest of the way through and would eventually fall into the atmosphere. The Cruiser's thrust reversers were already deployed and channeling the fusion drive plasma around the cruiser and forward.
"What now?" Sandra asked herself as she received a communication signal.
"Our orders are to dock with the Hammerstrike." Red leader said.
"Understood."
The battle's intensity was receding rapidly. Only six Q-ship's remained and were breaking orbit. Debris and fragments drifted everywhere. The sectors that this battle took place in would be a navigational hazard for a long time. The morning sun was beginning to shine over Oasis and Sandra could now make out the smoke plumes where debris had hit the surface. She saw that the damaged cruiser had managed to level out and maintain orbit after all. Salvage ships were already docked with it and probably offloading wounded crew and preparing to tow it to a higher and safer orbit.
Maneuvering thrusters flared from various parts of the various ships as Sandra and the rest of the group weaved their way through fragmented ships, debris and the faint cloud made barely visible by the ionization of the billions of cubic meters of depressurized atmosphere from the various ships. The DVG-1967 Hammersrtike was one of the two heavy cruisers that participated in the battle and the only one to remain undamaged. At 921 meters long, its size was only exceeded by the Tziyon class carriers. She looked down and saw some pieces of debris burning up in the atmosphere. She looked at the damage at the planet's surface. Although Oasis itself was relatively undamaged, many of its sub-cities along the coast were belching smoke, which was clearly visible from such a close orbit.
The Hammerstrike's signature sharp, angular sword-like shape took on more detail. Despite the "D" code that was usually allocated to true destroyers and cruisers, the Etana-class ships were actually hybrids of cruiser and carrier. They were the precursor to the Tziyon class, which is relieving them of the strategic naval deployment task and freeing more Etana's up for greater rapid response and tactical use.
Sandra circled the massive ship as a pair of dropships landed in the large bays that made up the bulk of its diamond-shaped "wings."
"Scythian, you are clear to land in bay two." The air-boss said over the comm channel.
"Roger." She replied.
Sandra lowered her landing gear and guided the ship in. The ship looked ever more like a floating city as greater detail came into view. Maneuvering thrusters 'puffed' as she guided the ship into the right angle. The windows on the ship's various observation levels became clearer and brighter. Within ten seconds she was close enough to the starboard flank of the ship that she could see people behind those meter-thick windows. She kicked in her bow thrusters about five hundred meters away from the bay. She stabbed through the wall of hyper-tensive liquid that made up the "force field" holding back the atmosphere. The dropship stopped after it got about two hundred meters into the cavernous bay which was about three hundred meters long by two hundred meters wide. She set down and taxied to a parking slot that a signaling woman guided her into. Once she stopped, she turned everything off, grabbed her carbine and put its strap around her neck and then walked down.
"Welcome aboard the Hammer, Scythian." An older man said.
"I wish it were under better circumstances." Sandra replied.
"We all do."
They saluted each other and then went their separate ways. Sandra was headed for the debriefing room which was on this level and located just down the central transfer corridor that connected both the port and starboard hangar bays with the various cargo and vehicle storage bays. The hangar bay was alive with activity. Ships, people, weapons, all moving somewhere. Sparks flew as maintenance and support crew welded, cut, repaired, installed things. The aroma of fuel, oils, scorched metal and smoke that hung in places like this was in a way relaxing for Sandra, since she was so used to it. As was the light smoky haze from all of that activity which gave the dozens of bright xenon lights a faint ray effect.