"What Comes Around-"
12 Feb 2022Isabella Levine
(Continued from Connections)
Date: [ January 14th, 3308]
System: [Trumuye System]
Body: [ Trumuye 2]
She felt the shift in her body as her Asp Scout "Dragonfly" exited the hyperspace tunnel. What was reality forming before but no other than a large orange-yellow star. In Supercruise, she directed her ship away from the parent star and checked her sensors for nearby contacts. Looking, she found several average system goers doing their daily travels but it only took half a minute for her to find the signature signal she was looking for to pop up. Prison Transport PT-8T and its two accompanying escorts. Two Eagles. Seconds after dropping in, they adjusted their heading and began for deep space. She knew this was her target and that her plan was already set to go. With Stell's blessings of not, Isabella had her goal and that was to take Corbett from that transport. The discussion with Stella was to hopefully get his location the easy way and to her benefit, she did.
The plan was simple in her mind. She'd tail the ship in, glide behind her and the escorts, deploy hardpoints after glide and use the several experimental Ion Disruptor mines to disable the engines forcing a reboot. While she jammed the engines, she'd fire at the two escorts scaring them off all while the transport recalibrates their main thrusters but at the same time, fails, having the Type 9 Heavy slam into the surface of wherever they were headed. She knew they were headed for a planet as the direction they travelled had only one khaki-coloured dust world with a thin atmosphere and surprisingly Earth-like temperature. Unfortunately, helmets were required for this operation as the air was untreatable. High concentration of Carbon Dioxide. Of course, Isabella knew all this information by looking at the system map of the planet they headed for and now approach. Her plan would have to go on the fly, time wasn't on her side and this had to work.
She studied the gravity of the planet and realized the dusty world had half that of Earth's. She cursed knowing it complicated matters as she would have to use multiple Ion Disruption blasts until the ship hit the ground. Gravity wasn't her friend here. Isabella's greatest concern though was her ammunition. The Ion Disruption mines had to be used sparingly as she only had four. Four to make it all count and cause the T-9 to crash in one piece. To deal with the Eagles, she had Pulse Lasers. She had to make this work, the planet neared as the khaki brown dustball of a world drew closer. Her plan in the air was sound but once it was the ground game, there was no plan. All improvisation. She knew the drop was close to the Penal Colony they were to take him to, but she didn't know how close and if there would be a response from the place. The system security was mediocre and she knew this from the lack of system security in her drop and travel. Regardless, if one is attacked here, there will be enforcement. So she knew she'd have to move fast. And she would. But first thing was first. Knock a bird out of the sky.
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The Type 9 gracefully dropped out from Supercruise and began its smooth descent through the tenuous blue atmosphere of Trumuye. The ship headed for Takamizawa's Progress that looked like any other port or base but was really a prison colony. The pilot of the ship leaned back in his seat, smug and confident as the T-9 was the first ship to drop and glide its way towards its destination. There wasn't much to concern himself with. He knew a few moments after the glide, the escort would be back, but even then he didn't see a point in the escort. There never usually was an escort and considering the fact that the base was now only 30km out, what was the point, he thought. Maybe someone important in the cabin? Some psychopath or even just some nasty terrorist? He sighed and reached for his PDA in his breast pocket attempting to pull on it to get it out. The device snagged and he tugged harder cursing while he did.
"Bloody pockets!"
He tried to keep one hand on the stick while the other worked at getting the device out of his pocket. He tugged and tugged until it came loose but he lost his grip and the PDA shot above his head to which he tried to snag it. The action caused a reaction and he pushed forward on the flight stick, sending the nose of the craft into a steep dive much earlier than needed. Half the bridge crew looked at him, one of the co-pilots angrily shooting a glare at him as the ship aborted the dive.
"Cooper, for fuck sakes! That's twice you've screwed up an approach because you're distracted or you're too busy screwing around. Now we're over fifty klicks off our target when we should be less than ten. This ship's slow and it wastes everyone's time!"
Cooper put up his hand as he corrected the nose and once again aligning the ship to its destination. Now, 48 kilometres to go roughly, the base was a small blip in the backdrop of only sand colour rocks. A steep creator in front spanning most of the distance they had to cover.
"Relax. Why don't you take a walk or something? This is going to be a several-minute journey to Takamizawa's Progress."
"You need to start taking this job seriously and stop playing around on that device. You'll get us all killed one day."
The co-pilots shook his head and walked off the bridge exiting the door that led in. His magnetic contacts made an audible clanking until the door closed behind him cutting him off from the rest.
"Big guy is always so worried, huh?"
He glanced around at the bridge crew, his eyes stopping on the systems operator. No reply came so he sighed and reached for his PDA that landed on the ground to the right of his chair. He bent over and picked it up, taking it into his hands. Once he turned it on, he noticed several messages from his legal attorney. He read the message and cursed out loud.
"That...bitch. Ughh. She's taking everything from me."
He spoke out loud, forgetting his mannerisms and professionalism on the job. He closed his screen and placed the PDA back into his vest pocket before one of the bridge crew spoke up.
"Cooper, check your sensors and contacts. You see what I'm seeing. I'm catching a sig but can't see it in the contacts yet. Might be something my end so I want to double-check."
Cooper sighed and looked down at the sensors assuming it was the escort they lost.
"Escorts, we're fine. They caught up."
"Negative, sir. The ship just came into range now. Our escorts are two Eagles and they just pinged us a message wondering what happened. Escorts isn't an Asp Scout. Ships closing in fast. Thirty seconds till intercept."
"It's a stranger then. There are civies in the skyline. It's nothing. Weapons, deploy hardpoints. Bring the guns around to our six and paint our target. I'll send a message. Hold fire until I say so."
"Copy that."
"Twenty seconds, Cooper."
He waved a dismissive hand looking at the contacts panel. The ship's ID and pilot came up. A Commander.
//"Commander, howdy. Gotta ask you to deviate your heading. A course correction to heading 140 or in the opposite direction preferably. This craft is transporting valuable cargo and will open fire if you do not comply. This will be my one warning."//
He waited for a potential response but none came as he patiently waited for a few seconds.
"Zero trajectory change. Still headed for us. Intercept...ten seconds."
"Screw it, fire. Shoot them."
Without hesitation, the weapons specialist began his assault and fired as he watched his screen. A targeting reticule lined up on a small blip as golden lasers lit up the screen. Cooper shook his head as he watched the first ring of the Asp's shields turn red. He sighed knowing it would be quick but the ship pulled its nose upwards and seemed to try and evade.
"Come on, that won't save you. It's gimbaled assisted."
"Cooper, their hardpoints deployed. They're…"
"They're what? What the hell is it?"
His eyes locked on his sensor and system specialist.
"Lost the signature. They went cold. Heatsink deployment most likely."
The weapons specialist spoke up next.
"Lost tracking. Can't shoot. Retargeting..."
Cooper looked at his heads-up display and noticed the hostile ship wasn't there...until it was. He cursed and yelled at his weapons specialist to fire but the midnight black Asp Scout soared over the Type 9's cockpit. A slight vibration reverberated through the bridge as the crafts before them engines shook the bridge.
"They-”
"Cooper! Evasive, now! Mines!"
His hands jolted to the right on the stick and the whole ship banked to the right but painfully slow. It was too close and the mines were already there. He cursed before a blinding flash followed by a fireball erupting in front of the ship's cockpit. The ship was forced down as the shock of the explosion pushing the ship off trajectory. The shock of the forceful shockwave caused his head to ache as a voice from his bridge crew called out to him in desperation.
"Cooper, we just lost engines! Not sure what-"
Another explosion violently rocked the ship sending it into an uncontrolled free fall downwards. Instinctually Cooper attempted to pull out of it but a warning came up implying that thrusters were offline.
"What the hell! I lost all control. We're in an uncontrolled dive!"
"The engines are rebooting. It's...shit the mines did something to the thrusters. It's forcing them to reboot! I can't counter it!"
"Well get the thrusters working somehow! Weapons, fire at that goddamn ship, now!"
He felt helpless as he watched the ground get closer and closer. The craft rapidly dropping towards the crater in front of them. He couldn't help but think that the crater placed here was from some asteroid or comet that impacted the surface of this world long ago. Hundreds possibly millions of years ago. And now here he was following the same fate. An out-of-control rock falling to the surface of a planet. The altimeter showed him at a height of 5km and dropping. The pitch ladder was in the red as the ship was in complete free fall. The rim of the crater now passed below eye level as they dropped, losing sight of the base that was ahead. The thrusters still didn't respond and he knew now that if they did come back, they'd still impact but with a lesser velocity. This means it was surviving a crash and trying to mitigate a devastating impact. But just the luck he needed, the system specialist shouted the words he wanted to hear.
"Engines back online! Power distributor directed to engines, boost us out now!"
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Isabella banked her craft around and watched as the helpless craft plummeted towards the earth. A barrage of laser fire struck her shields again and she deployed another Heatsink to go cold as a countermeasure. The idea only worked for a few moments as she banked around to the falling T9's rear and began trading fire on it with her own Pulse Lasers. As a few bursts hit the shields, the rear of the craft suddenly shone a brilliant pale blue as the engines engaged and the craft pulled its nose up whilst the entirety of the craft still plummeted. At first, Isabella panicked thinking she'd not done enough. The craft began to slow down and she figured it was possible they'd pull out...until they didn't.
The craft slammed devastatingly hard into the group kicking up a monumentous storm of dust and rocks that flew in every direction. She followed the impact with her eyes turning her head as she flew over the crash-landed Type 9. Thrusters in reverse, she slowed her ship down to bank properly and faced the crashed ship she just swatted out of the sky. The dust began to settle slightly and she could start to make out the silhouette of the craft but her attention was snapped away as a burst of laser fire hit her shields dropping them down past 50%. She hadn't even noticed the Escorts return protect their mother bird.
"Seriously!? Now!?"
Like the past two times, she engaged a coolant purge to drop her signature and confuse the sensors and tracking systems of her pursuers allowing her to thrust her craft out of the way. Locking her targets, she found them to be the transport escorts. Two Imperial Eagles. With a frustrated sigh, Isabella targeted the first that flew past her after a strafe and began firing on its rear. The Eagle's shields flashed as her laser fire made their obvious impacts but her chase left Isa open for a rear attack from the second Imperial Eagle. She fired a few more shots at her adversary before pulling on her stick and bringing the nose of her Asp Scout skyward, the alien sun beaming in her eyes as she adjusted her direction. Putting her energy in the engine capacitor, she engaged a boost that send her craft up in the direction her nose was. The Eagle on her six following close behind.
"It's not worth this guys...just...give...up."
Remembering her move from previous engagements in the past, she sent her ship upwards into the sky before disengaging her flight assist and rotating her ship 180° to target the craft on her tail. Releasing four sets of concussive Ion Disruptor mines, her pursuer was clever and evaded to her left out of the path of the mines she just dropped. She cursed the situation and re-engaged her Flight Assist. Isabella tried to get her nose towards her target and fire on him, but as she did her shields died from the consistent pressure from both craft and the Eagle in front began burning marks across the Asp Scouts black hull. COVAS announced the obvious like always and she tried to correct her angle to the first moving Eagle that just finished its second strafe. Filled with near rage at how she was getting outmanoeuvred, Isabella switched off her Flight Assist once more and used the remaining energy in her engine capacitor to give the engines one more injection of power and boost her ship at breakneck speeds towards her adversary that still tried to keep their guns on her and fire while relatively stationary. The Eagle came at her in a blur as she released the last set of mines, both her and the explosive munition hurtling at their target at high speeds.
A violent shock rippled through Isabella's body as she felt every bone shudder and shake from the concussive blast. Her vision blurred and it was hard to think for what seemed like a long few seconds. Her mind felt as if she was in shock and spaced out before reality snapped back and she recalled where she was. Her hand gripped the stick tightly once more and she tried to correct her uncontrolled spin. 'Shit, I hit my own mine’, she thought as no response came from her throttle. She helplessly waited for her engines to reboot and as she did, Isabella leaned forward and caught a glimpse of the Eagle she hit. A split-second view of its fate like hers.
"Come on! Piece of garbage!"
She spewed profanity at her ship hoping to get it to come back online and to her utter shock it worked and she had engine control. With no hesitation, she engaged her Flight Assist and placed the hostile Eagle in her sight. She glanced at her hull percentage and found it at 87%, running into her mines wasn't the brightest move but it seemed to disrupt the two Eagles attack pattern. She managed to get on the rear of the one she'd just hit with her mines, its shieldless small frame looking vulnerable as if a hunting shark swimming to its bleeding prey after smelling blood. She closed in fast and began firing a barrage of laser fire. The small hull of the Eagle was unable to sustain as much punishment as her Asp could with its reinforced hull plating. The Eagle tried to evade and just as she went for the finishing blow, it banked out of her line of fire and evaded her wrath. She tried to tail it, but the second Eagle managed to line up a shot with his multi-cannons and pepper her ship. She cursed again knowing every second, every minute wasted up here gave more time for the T9 below to send a distress call and have reinforcements arrive. The penal colony was 43 only kilometres away now, it wouldn't take long. She'd have maybe 3 minutes if they were coming with a rescue now.
Attempting to bank left, she avoided Eagle behind her for a moment. At this moment she attempted to break distance as fast as she could but the Eagle stuck to her tail continuing its sustained fire. She tried the same trick with disabling FA and rotating her ship around to face her target but after a few laser blasts, the Eagle pulled out from her line of fire and she couldn't direct her craft's nose enough to follow.
COVAS: "Frame Shift Drive charge detected."
She targeted the one farthest ship away that had activated their FSD and watched as they rocketed up into the hazy dark blue sky. The ship that she just engaged took a few rear pop shots and followed suit on their retreat. The sudden withdrawal was both a relief and a worry as she knew they'd be back for more shortly. Her time was short and she needed her prize target, Corbett.
Wasting no time, Isabella dropped her ship down a few hundred meters away from her downed bird and prepared to exit the ship. She removed herself from her seat and moved her way to the rear pilot's cabin to which she grabbed her helmet and a Laser Rifle. Grabbing the rifle she paused a beat and recalled the conversations hours ago with Stella. About obtaining non-lethal weapons to take out her opposition that stood in her way. She lied. The fact was she'd be dealing with armoured security and non-lethal wouldn't leave a dent. She was going full lethal.
Taking her rifle followed by her thrust pack, she exited the pilot's cabin and made her way to the rear ramp where she hit the side bulkhead button to lower it. She waited for the depressurization to finish and once it did, the ramp lowered, letting bright daylight flood the rear bay. She took a step forward off the ramp and her boots crunched on the rocky surface of the dusty brown world beneath her feet. Half of her suicide plan was complete, the next half was obtaining her target and getting out. So she bared her gun and moved into the field of boulders.
