Ensign Nicole "Sparkles" Cirelli under attack!
17 Aug 2020MsValkyrie
The story of the Roger Young continues through the eyes of young pilot, Nicole Cirelli. Cirelli is a new recruit aboard the ship and one of LT Myers' prodigies. We're about to jump to our next location en route to Barnard's Loop. It's a system known to house some criminal factions but we should be far enough out to avoid any confrontations. I feel the rumble of the ship as it exits hyperspace. You never get used to that. I run into Polaris as I make my way to the hangar deck for drills. Just as we meet up, the alarm goes off. The lights begin flashing red as "Emergency battlestations. Set condition 1! All pilots to your ships. We're under attack!" "Holy shit, Sparkles. This is really happening! Let's go!"
We arrive at the hangar with Capt Moore directing us all to our ships. "All birds up and out. We're under attack from Federal pirates. All fighters NOW!" I climb into my Condor and strap myself in. All systems check. Weapon systems ready to go. (Flight Control) "Lift off and good hunting Condor-74." As I leave the hangar, the sight of an enormous Farragut Battlecruiser fills my canopy. (Lt Myers) "Razor squad with me. Polaris, Ryback, Toll Road, Blaze, Sparkles line up for attack runs on the cap ship's heat arrays. We wreck those and she'll be forced to retreat. Leave the fighters to the rest of our guys." (All at once) "ROGER LT!"
Lining up for missile bombardment of heat arrays! We fly by and launch a volley of rockets towards the targets. "Successful impact, Sparkles! Good hit." Thanks sir. It's about this time that the CO of the battlecruiser caught what we were up to and recalled their fighters to intercept us. I hear Switchback over the comms to Capt Moore, "Sir they're on to us. We're not going to be able to defend ourselves and attack the arrays." The commander comes over the radio, "Kasey, you continue your attack and destroy those final arrays. We'll take the heat off you." I turn my head to see the Roger Young pull into the fray and begin drawing fire from the cap ship.
The commander got them off us! Let's blow these federal dogs out of here! BOMBS AWAY! We launch our final volley into the heat arrays and watch them explode. We turn our attention to the fighters now. (Toll Road) "Look! She's bucking out! We did it!" All enemy fighters attempt to retreat back to the cap ship, but she has already spooled up her FSD and initiated hyperspace jump. And in a flash....she's gone! One enemy fighter has been left stranded. We are ordered to scoop the escape pod up and return with the prisoner to the Roger Young.
Upon landing, the five of us are greeted by the commander and the XO. (SALUTE). "Great job pilots. You pulled off some fine ass flying out there." (XO) "Let's be honest....they had the best flight instructor. Congrats LT. You picked a fine squad." I seriously thought the LT was going to cry, but they saluted and shook hands. (XO) "Sparkles...kindly escort our guest to the brig for questioning." Sir yes sir!
The Story of the Roger Young will continue through multiple points of view from several pilots. Stay Tuned for the next installment.