Salvation Part 2
19 Oct 2021Cicadia
Long shadows cast themselves over Isabella's face. The last light of the system's star blocked by an opaque, humanoid shape. It was growing larger. Coming closer. The shadow's darkening until the two collided. "Coming in hot!" Thallia's long thrusted arc bringing her crashing into her. A dull thud resonating through their helms as they fall to the cold metal of the boarding ramp. A high pitched whine punctured the moment as red, flashing lights emanated from the collar around Thallia's neck. The explosive charge priming. "Oh f***, I'm really sorry if this doesn't work!~" Thallia's tone rose in pitch with each syllable until both the device and her spoke in a discordant F sharp harmony. She closed her eyes, flinching from the inevitable surely to come.It never did. Opening her eyes in shock, she saw Isabella holding up a device to her neck. Similar to Genomics genetic sampler, handheld with a screen on it's top facing side, protruding on diagonals were the arms of an analyser. Clearly, this chimeric device was built custom by some scrap merchant or genius McGuiver. It's cylinder's span as the sparks at these analyser arms betrayed the electrical arc that had been thrown from them. The beeping had ceased.
"I'm... not dead... I'm alive! HA! Haa haa!" Rolling off her saviour, Thal fell limp and gazed up at the stars with a beaming, jubilant smile. "It WORKED! You are a bl**** miracle Isabella! Sorry for landing on you, by the way."
"Ah, no sweat. At least you landed relatively softly. We should get out of here, though. I'll feel better once we get out of range and take that thing off your neck. What a horrible device to put on someone."
"Ain't it just!" Letting out a pained groan, Thallia picks herself up alongside Isabella. "Apparently, the whole things legal... which leaves too many questions about those running the show. Ur... any idea how long we have until it switches back on?"
With a shrug, Isabella offers her the neutraliser whilst grabbing her arm and helping her in limping up into the Asp Scout. Evaluating her suit and seeing the splintered armour and emergency sealant pressed into the cracks in haste, she made a mental note to find some medical aid once they were safe. "We should have a little bit of time. If we leave system, it shouldn't activate again, right? I'll grab you a medic kit once we get that thing off you... hop into the lower co-pilot seat and take control of weapons. I have proxy shock mines... just in case we need them on our way out."
The mechanical hiss of pressurisation erupted as the boarding ramp closes behind them. Sealed from the vacuum of space and the star's lethal radiation, the two removed their helmets with a twist and pull. Thallia could now see the face of her saviour. Chestnut red hair tied back behind her head. Dark purple lipstick on tanned skin. no longer hidden behind tinted glass. Helping to support her weight, she guides the two through the HAB unit of the vessel. Empty soda cans and plastic nutrient bar wrappers drifting in Zero-g.
"I ~think~ if we're out the system it shouldn't matter if it turns on. As long as Merryweather cannot get a signal to it. I'm betting he won't bother to follow once we're out... the gits got plenty more and I'm hardly prime soldiering material. This is just point and click, right?" Gesturing to the neutraliser as she sets it down on the navigation console of the co-pilots panels. Lowering herself down into the seat, she looked over it's frame back up at Isabella. "We likely to have much trouble?"
"Uhhh. It was alright until dropping in. Once I entered the airspace I hit someone. Had to tell him off. I'll try to avoid the fighting, but... yeah." The thunderous sound of the Asp Scout's engines roaring into life vibrated through it's hull, spurts of air firing as thrusters lifted the craft into levitation several feet off the ground. Dust spiralled as if they were the eye of a Jovian storm.
"Got a destination in mind, or are we able t-" Two Federal Eagles sped passed them, narrowly missing the outer limits of their shielding, as their engines roared with the effects of boosted output. The Asp rocks violently, as flight-assist fights to keep control of the craft, as detonations erupts from Gough Nutrition Nursery. Pressing her face up against the cockpit glass to crane a look behind them. Reflections in her fearful eyes betrayed the scene. "Well... we best hurry. A wing of Fed's, with a corvette, is starting to tear up the Nursery to cover their ground forces. Got a destination in m-" The ship veers sharply to the right as further detonations send impulse waves across it. "S***! Blind jump?!"
--
The Dragonfly fiercely fought the impulse, bringing it's nose to the starry skies. "Typical Fed types! Yeah, we're doing a blind jump! Hold on!" Isabella called out as she pulled back on the yoke. Throttling to max and adding reserved power from her capacitors to the boost, the pair rocketed into the sky at high speeds. Levelling her craft to a 40 degree angle, looking to avoid the aerial conflict above the Nursery, an Eagle swoops into the emissions trails of the Asp Scout. A trio of orange-red burning lasers pulse, streaking past and hitting shields.
'Under Attack' CORVAS claimed. The curses uttered from Isabella came loud and fast as she frantically flicks through her navigation panel. Lacaille 9352. 13LY and above them. That'll do. 'FSD Engaged. Mass disruption detected.' The torrent of curses fell thick and heavy as the armrest of her flight seat took a clenched fist. Deactivating FSD, deploying hardpoints and turning off flight assist, Isabella deftly brought the Asp Scout into a spin to face the aggressing Eagle. "I'll pass control of the shock mines. They're more a deterrent than lethal but hopefully this dummy gets the message once he gets the shock of a life. I'll pepper him with my own pulse lasers." Four golden lasers flashed into life, searing at the Eagle's shields as two seared past it's wings and into the dusty surface below. 'Shield at 50%'.
Thallia groaned in pain, the rapid movements pulling at her body and adding pressure to her wounds. "I'll try talking them out of it...." Patching through on short range comms, her flurry of urgent tones assails their opponents ears. "This is the ur... Asp Scout you're firing on. We're non-combatants leaving the zone! I repeat, non-combatants! Cease fire, please! Let us part ways!" The laser fire paused in brief respite, the moment only a second long, before their thermal torrent was unleashed once more. The only reply a gravely grumble.
"You shouldn't have run, deserter."
"S***... that's Geoffrey. Insufferable sod." Thal mumbled in weary tones, before her fingers moved in a flurry of taps and a single trigger pull. Pffftaaah. Pffftaaah. Pffftaaah. A trio of mines tumbled into Miterrand's atmosphere and began a slow, drifting descent down towards the flight-path of their pursuer. "His choice. Do these mines have a remote deton- nevermind!" With little change in course, the Eagle through into the swarm of mines. Waves of force, rippling from the detonating explosives, buffet the eagle and send it careening away towards the surface. Spinning wildly out of control. Thallia cries out "Smoooooth moves! Two more eagles inbound!" as she looks towards the strike group.
"I think we really pissed them off." Isabella comments with concern as she pulls the Scout in a graceful arc to point back towards the stars that promised salvation. Another boost to the engines capacitors brought a throaty roar as they made for safety. "We don't have enough mines for these a**h**** and they've probably learnt not to fly directly behind us! Ugh! Good news is we should be beyond the air conflict zone so we shouldn't have mass disruption."
'Incoming Missile'.
Eyes widening in shock, Isabella pulls the craft into a hard roll. The two spiralling to sanctuary as Thal lets out a pained cry. In vain. The missile tracks their heat signature and strikes them, sending the Asp into a violent shake. 'Hull Integrity, 83%'. "S***, are you kidding me?! Hold on Thallia!" Attempting to boost once more, the capacitor whines about a lack of sufficient power. Another rocket slams into their hull, integrity eaten away by it's destructive power, as Isabella hurriedly reroutes power to the engines. Realisation brings a gasp from her lips.
'Coolant purge'. The temperature drops several dozens of degrees as a disk-like object eats up the thermal energy of the ship and ejects from the rear of the Asp. Tumbling towards the planet, it relishes it's new existence. Finally free of it's casing, able to take in the world around them. The way the light reflects from the dust. How bizarre these flying iron creatures were. How beautiful the cosmos must be. How pretty the world truly was. The puck resolved to see it all. To relish in reality and experience everything life has to offer...as a missile collides with it's surface and the two objects shatter in the consuming fires of it's warhead. How fleeting existence is.
"Holy s***!" Exclaimed Isabella as she realises how heatsinks could trick a missiles guidance systems. "Charging the FSD now. I'll align the ship, you do another coolant purge if you can. They haven't given up, the b*******." Another boost to engines sends the craft speeding in a trail of exhaust.
"Urgh... staars... sure you're... not an ace?" Groans Thallia, the toll of her wounds laced into her tone. "Another two locks... coolant purge.. coolant purge..." Her fingers danced on the console as she searches for the controls. Warnings flash red and orange against their faces. 'Incoming Missiles'. Laser fire streaked passed the cockpit as the two eagles closed in, though at this range the tracking was minimal. For now.
"Where in the blazes is... AHAH!" With urgent force she presses her finger down onto the console, before tapping on it rapidly. "Come on!" Hiss of coolant seepage filled their ears. Ice forms on the cockpit glass. Condensation from their panicked breath plumes into the air. With a shiver, Thallia turns in her seat. Wide, fearful eyes begging Isabella. "Tell me you can jump, please!" The detonations of two missiles detonating close to the hull buffeting their course.
"Yeah! Half char-" Isabella, interrupted by the buffet, looks at her flight HUD. A grin and twinkle in her eyes. "YES! We're gone!" '3...2...1...' Thal looks forward, her eyes reflecting the pull and tear of spacetime as their FSD warps it's fabric around them.
With a curt burst of light and the crack of velocity barriers breaking, the Asp Scout blinks out of existence. Two missiles flying past where their engine exhaust abruptly ends. The two eagles reluctantly turning away back towards the Nursery.