However, as soon as the Theta shuttle was detected a group of Z-95 head hunters would line up in the direction of the shuttle. The Volusians were not going to take any chances especially since the last attack had began with the Theta shuttle arriving.

The pilot answered any queries also claiming to be Pilot Officer Higgins and providing the same fake code of the man the Politico knows. Keenly evading and moving away from any approaching Volusians or Independents.

By luck or by chance, when the Theta emerged upon the squadron, it was on their formation's right flank. Of course, this would mean there was no scanning involved in the system. Instead, it was a quick reaction. Being momentarily out of their line of fire and having, in a sense, the element of surprise, the shuttle's pilot opened fire on the closest pair of Z-95s with a dual set of quad laser cannons. At the close range, it was likely to be devastating, especially as he wrenched his craft to the left and around, aiming to circle but still firing, strafing across a good half of the formation.

The pilot had to get out of there quickly. He knew what was coming shortly behind him.

The shuttle would indeed have the element of surprise, however, the shields of the one Z-95 would absorb the few shots able to get in its vicinity before the formation broke apart in multiple different directions making its move to strafe them impossible and would make it exceedingly difficult to even get two ships in a similar firing vector.
Several fighters after having broken off from the group would loop back around, each one coming back in from a different direction aiming to knock down the shuttle's shields and then quickly it's engines.

The pilot lowered frontal shields to twenty-five percent, giving an extra fifty percent to the rear shields and putting the rest into the engines, adding on a burst of speed. The rear gunner, a capable man, was more than able to lay down a barrage of fire, accurate even as the shuttle juked and jinked, though not as accurate as it could have been. It was more of a suppressive fire than actually aiming to kill. Of course, they didn't need more time to calculate a jump to hyperspace. A handful of shots impacted on the rear shields, not enough to drop the shields though, simply lower them. The shuttle only had to survive a few moments longer.

On the other side of the system, unseen by the shuttle craft, a group of ships would drop out of hyperspace and would make towards one of the space station. A couple of the larger ones would begin to turn around to leave the system right away dropping groups of fighters out as well as a couple of larger ships almost 150 meters long. The makeshift fleet would make its way to the station where it would begin to dock and crews would begin to shift over from the delivery company to Volusian forces. Fighters would begin receiving maintenance and checks from the Volusian teams. It was almost as if they had been expecting these new ships to arrive.

Then the sucker punch came. The Red Mynock pirates dropped out almost right behind where the shuttle had originally emerged at, placing them somewhat to the flank of the Z-95s. The telemetry data gathered by the Theta was transmitted to them by the communications officer on the shuttle, giving the Mynocks the placement of the squadron of Z-95s.

The Gloom was the closest to the Headhunters and it opened fire almost immediately with its pair of dual laser cannon turrets and double turbolaser turret, turning to follow the Theta's path. Below it and to the fore was the Toad's Edge, its rotating laser cannon swiveling to bear on the Volusian fighters while the ship itself moved to follow the path of the Gloom, which in turn would bring its trio of blaster cannons to bear on the Z-95s. Above and to the rear of the Gloom, the Caliph's Sun equaled the maneuver being performed by the aforementioned pair of vessels, its ion cannon and quad laser cannon cutting out towards the squadron of fighters as well.

It stood to reason that as of this attack, the Z-95s would break their formation chasing the Theta and as such, the three ships would roll while continuing their turn and maneuver to keep the Z-95s in the sight and range of as many of their cannons as possible. From the Toad's Edge would be emitted a jamming signal, blocking communications from the Headhunters while they remained the radius. Odds were quite small that an emergency message would get out.

The party wasn't about to end there though, not by a long shot.

Nearby right off the Vjun space station the signal had been received by a pair of ships who would send a prepared coded message to the Imperial Tartans letting them know that they were departing and why, and with calculations having been long since made, would make the jump to hyperspace.

The reason why the Z-95s were retreating would become quickly obvious as several squadrons of various fighters emerged from around the planet accelerating to meet the pirates.

The fighters themselves would take some several minutes to reach the fleet but that was what the corvettes were for to buy the fighters time to reach the group so that the Volusian advantage in numbers would mean something.