O B J E C T I V E A - Reaping the Reapers
Location: In the thick of the furball
"On our six!" Bal warned her. Kark! She hadn't noticed. Before she had time to react, their stalker got hit by a powerful quad burst straight to the engine bay. "Thanks, Red. Owe you one" One of the X-Wings had come to their rescue. From that moment on Aveline wished that she would always be so fortunate as to have an X-Wing watching over her.
Speed wasn't everything, and Kayla was glad she was a bit slower than the A-wings, enough to cover their backside. As the thanks came over the com from Green Nine, Kayla grinned for a moment. The other female's voice was tight from stress.
Still sounds cute though she thought. Waggling the stick from left to right and back a couple quick times made the ship waggle wings. "
Pay me back with a drink later, Green," she quipped, a smile in her voice as her cluster of X-wings followed behind the lighter interceptors.
Moments later they were all in the furball, fighters wheeling and dealing death, each trying to out turn the other, out jink, outmaneuver. Blasts struck Kayla's forward shields creating a dazzling slash of light for a few moments and then she was past the ones shooting at her. Shields were down by fifty percent but would climb with a little nudge in power to them. The A-wings had split by pairs and were all around, and she'd lost track of Green Nine.
Didn't matter. Time to do the job. Worry about your wingmates.
"
Break right," she said grimly, trusting her wingmate to follow. Ahead an Ugly swung into view. It had a TIE ball cockpit, and three tines set at one hundred twenty degrees apart, making it look like claws wrapped around the spherical body. The clutch wobbled a little as it's pilot seemed unsure, coming into a rolling turn.
"
We've got one on our tail," Vido chirped and warbled from behind in warning. Immediately green blasts of laser fire flashed around her fighter from behind, so close she could almost feel the ionization.
"
Get him off me," Kayla commanded.
"
Sorry boss, I got my own troubles," her wingmate reported with a grunt.
Scanning around she saw her fellow's X-wing swinging out three o-clock high. "
Alright, when I tell you, loop the left and I'll sweep them off you," she said. There was no immediate response, but she saw the fighter wobble to avoid a shot. Turning her attention back to her own problems she triggered a quad blast just as the Clutch began a climb. Two blasts punched holes in the solar panels. The second two slammed into the ion engines on each side, and uncontrolled exhaust blossomed through the holes sending the fighter careening completely out of control. The engines flared out, and then the whole thing simply went ballistic, flying across the battle, a chunk of debris, it's pilot trapped inside.
Behind her angry laser fire flashed all around as she pressed her left rudder, kicking her nose to the right while rolling her fighter lazily, turning it into a large, wobbly corkscrew that was hard to predict. "
Break left," she commanded and hauled back on the flight stick. An invisible hand crushed her down into the seat as she began pulling several gees. The bladders in her flight suit inflated suddenly and she tightened her abs as much as she could, breathing in grunting gasps, forcing the blood to keep flowing. She knew she didn't have to deal with the strain this way, but flying was as much about feeling it as much as it was intellect.
Coming about, her wingmate was only a speck of light against the void with another larger blip chasing it, another Ugly. Switching payloads she switched back to missiles. Putting her reticle over the enemy fighter the indicator went yellow, and she got a sputtering tone from Vido before it indicated a lock. Pressing the thumb stud she let loose with a pair of concussion missiles. They raced away, heading toward her wingmate's pursuer.
"
Two on our tail, boss," Vido squealed, trying not to panic. One was bad enough, but two dance partners up their tailpipe was really bad.
The decision was made. About as fast as she dared go, her A-Wing raced head-on against
Kayla Luspark
. It wasn't ideal that they were level and on a collision path. For the first time, Aveline took to their shared comms. "
You! Red! Dive!" Or sway. Anything. There was little time, but... The X-Wing clearly understood who was being referred to. As soon as it cleared its path Aveline's line of fire was open. She had begun firing almost in the very instant that the X-Wing pilot had decided to move.
Hearing Green Nine's voice came blasting through her headset, she twisted and climbed, more laser fire flashing past. It put her in a relative dive as requested but allowed Kayla to look "up" and see her pursuers. But she didn't even glance back as she performed the roll. Still climbing, she snapped another half roll making it an S-curve. It dipped her below the A-wing's flight path then back up. Thumbing weapons back to canons. Behind the A-wing was another fighter closing in. She fired a hasty snapshot. Only one scarlet bolt hit, taking a wing pylon and melting it. The erratic fighter snapped off its own wing. With its mass-to-thrust distribution off-kilter, it immediately went into a crazy flat spin. Before they could get control it careened into the
Reliant's good side, detonating from the impact. It was just a bug on a windshield to the
Reliant's shields.
Kayla flew on as her wingmate formed up with her. "
Good shootin' boss," he said, gratitude thick in his voice. He sounded rattled to her ears. "Any time," she replied, trying to keep her voice as cool as a cucumber while rolling left and climbing into an arc taking her back toward Aveline and her fighter.
It felt like her A-Wing got hit by a freighter. Up became down. There was smoke, blinking lights, and every alarm in her cockpit were screaming into her ear. The voices on her comms were fading further and further away. It took all her energy to pull out of her spin, steady the ship. Her engine wasn't responding. It had taken critical damage, she knew that. There was little she could do but decide where to crash. She aimed for the pirate capital ship. Perhaps if she could hit the bridge...
Consciousness threatened to slip from her. If only she could just take a quick nap... Whether it was a final burst of survival instinct or the guiding hand of the Force, she altered course, steering away from the path to the bridge, instead turning towards the hangar bay. Maybe... If only she could... Just a little bit longer... I'm sorry...
Kayla spotted the increasingly familiar A-wing as it went to save one of the others. Shot after shot lanced out, hitting, and then finally the detonation came.
Too close, too close! Ice filled Kayla's gut as she watched the interceptor disappear into a ball of expanding gas and debris, full tilt. It came out the other side pinwheeling. One of the Event Horizon engines had a hard burn still, but the left one was flaming out, pulsing intermittently. Kayla hauled back on the stick, climbing to tuck into the stricken ship's aft cone. Its momentum was already carrying it toward the edge of the fight, and even still it was pulling ahead of the X-wing.
Smelling blood in the water, a pair of Uglies peeled off, heading for Green Nine. "
Oh no, you don't. Two, take the right, I got the lead," she barked. Hitting her rudder she swung the nose just a bit, dropping her reticle while switching to missiles again.
"
As ordered, Boss." There was no argument, not now. It was clear she was trying to give the fighter cover, as it got it's collective crap together, evening out into an unsteady wobbling flight. Whoever was inside had enough talent to ride that rancor and make it fly decent.
Cute-sounding and talented?
What good pilot wasn't? Come on... come on... hurry up!
Finally, the A.I. gave tone, which Vido confirmed. Pressing the firing stud once more, she let go of her last two missiles, then flipped to cannons and fire-linked. Pairs of bolts stabbed out. ...
But fast enough?
Both fighters exploded into golden blasts nearly at the same time. She couldn't tell whether from missiles or good hits, but both predators were gone, leaving the stricken A-wings path clear.
"
Good luck, Nine," Kayla said over the comms. She wanted to go with the fellow pilot, ride shotgun and at least allow her as safe a crash she could get. But that wasn't the job. They still had a job to do. She could only hope the boarding party could take care of Nine down there. Her last sight was of the fighter actually making it into the landing bay at a decent speed even as the other side of the ship jettison debris.
"
Red group, form up," she called, her voice tight and choked. Clearing her throat, she received a cluster of acknowledgments. All of them were still there. She turned back into the furball, just in time to see one X-wing get hit with an ion cannon shot from another Clutch. The blast hit the shields, skittering with electricity before the remainder danced over the hull. The engines went out and it went into a high-speed drift.
No!.. Go for restart, she silently urged her flight mate.
Yula Perl
Caltin Vanagor
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Subject 648 Slipknot
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Desbre Gensan
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Aveline Cuiléin
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Jax Thio
