Chapter 11: The Battle In Ekuru
24 Jun 2023Nick Euphrasia
Mere 30Ly lightyears away from the star, the worst had happened, it was an Eagle in a wing of two, I didn’t have time to check the other ship. As I was maneuvering the best I could to escape the vector. “Relax, Nick, you’ve done this before,” I told myself, but something felt different this time, something bad, really…. Really… bad… i noticed the icon on the nav panel, this is no ordinary Pilot.. This was… another commander. The escape vector was getting narrow and further away, I was losing control of the ship, before I knew it, I was pulled out of supercruise. “No…” I said to myself, frantically taking over manual controls and boosted. I quickly opened the comms panel, in hopes that we’re willing to negotiate…”Anything interesting you’d like from my cargo?” I sent it, it's okay, I can make up the difference. He can't fit that much cargo in an Eagle can he? I thought to myself.
There was no reply, the events panel notified me that CMDR Berserker deployed hardpoints. I boosted away, and attempted to charge up my FSD, but it was still 50% through cooldown.
[Warning: Under Attack] my covas announced, I panicked as I saw my shields rapidly depleting 20%, this is not good, I kept boosting away, but the Eagle was faster, more nimble and agile. Something else came over me..
[FSD malfunction] it looks like my Drives are damaged by whatever missile he launched at me.
I grabbed a hold of my ship and attempted evasive maneuvers, I launched a chaff to evade his lasers to buy time.
[Shields offline, Warning: Hull integrity compromised] he cut through my shields.. I moved all powers to systems, and the remaining powers to Thrusters.
But it was no use…
The Commander closed in on me, I did what I dreaded to do my entire life.
[Hardpoints Deployed] it has come to this, it was either him or me, and if I’m going to go down like this, I'm not going to care for anything else In this galaxy.
[Flight Assist: OFF]
The fight… is ON…
[Warning; Hull Breach Attack] That’s right, I switched off the lasers back home in Ngaledi, as much as I fire, the lasers do nothing, without a second thought, I head to the Modules tab on the right panel, scroll to my Pulse Lasers and frantically switched them on.
Hulls at 50%... I need to do this quickly… as soon as my Pulse Lasers were online, I launched a heatsink to cool down my temps and a chaff to blind his gimballed lasers.
The very moment, I locked on to his ship right in the middle of my sights. I opened fire. Beams of lasers pulsing out of my ship, dropping his shields quickly, I ran through my contacts tab, and aimed for his Power Plant. I’ve got to bring it down… and fast…
Hull at 30%, the chaff wore off and I launched another heatsink, keeping my aim dead on my target. And just when my temperature hits zero, and my lasers depleted..
[Target Shields: Offline] the words I have been waiting to hear, my shields are still charging, 98%... almost there… The Bi Weave C class shields are known to have better regeneration speed compared to other classes, it compensates for the weak shield’s Milijoules.
[Shields Online]
50% shields, it will have to do, frantically divert powers to engines and weapons and attempt to face my target, but he was too fast, his shields were regenerating quickly, i took the opportunity to turn tail and run-
But I couldn't, even without his shields on he boost towards me, is he crazy? Does he not value his own life?
I quickly open the comms panel
“Hey that’s enough, lets just turn around and forget this ever happened”
-he opened fire..
[Warning: Under attack] my covas announced.
I returned fire and this time I managed to bring his shields down quickly, it looks like he may have just a 1C bi weave. I cut through it like it was nothing, and kept my fire on his hull. I watched as his Power Plant ever so slightly decreased.
He launched another missile at me and I wasted no time deploying my heatsinks and chaff to throw his lasers off balance and lose the heat away from the missile.
My line of sight was on his plant, dropping to 20%
He boosted away in attempt to charge his shields, but I wasted no time, and boost after him,
I was losing him gradually, the Eagle is too fast for me, but I kept my laser planted on his ship,
His hulls dropped to 5%. And his plant at 10%...
[Target Shields: Online] Too late… his shields are up, he turned to face me and returned fire, I diverted all pips to systems in hopes that my shield could withstand the blow from his lasers.
But it was useless. As I launched another chaff…
[Canopy integrity at 20%] It took me a moment to realize that the glass canopy in front of me started to crack. I felt my seat move a little, as the canopy started to lose compression. I was slowly losing air through the cracks.
[Shields Offline] this is it, this is where my journey ends, if I move my pips away from systems, I would never regain my shields in time, I moved 4 pips to weapons, 2 pips to engines…
I don’t have any other choice.. My life flashed before my eyes…
Hulls at 3%...
[Warning: Canopy Compromised] I watched before me shards of glass explode in front of my face, a piece slides over my face just as my emergency helmet engaged..
Oxygen countdown begins.. 7 minutes, 10 seconds and counting… my body is still controlling the ship, my mind… elsewhere… This is how I’m going to die… what an uninteresting life I’ve lived up until now..
It’s not all that bad I guess, I escaped interdiction in an anarchy system.. Got some A rated modules on a ship.. Smuggled illegal cargo.. Had a date with the most beautiful girl in the galaxy.. Deployed hardpoints for the first time outside the Pilots Federation training systems..
“Sheira… “ I couldn't tell if those words came out of my mouth.. Or it came from my mind… everything was a blur…
Sorry mum, I couldn't keep my promise.. I know how much you hate guns and violence.. I did it to protect myself.. If I can't protect myself, how could I protect you? Sorry dad, I let you down, couldn't keep my promise to come home, wish I could tell you about this girl I met, she’s one hell of a lady I tell you… Sorry bro.. I couldn't come back to show you around the galaxy by the time you get your commander’s pilot license… you’re gonna be on your own… I’m sorry Sheira, I couldn't keep my promise… I was really looking forward to tomorrow.. I miss looking into your beautiful green eyes…
[Warning: Hulls at 1%]
[Oxygen levels 3 minutes 41 seconds..]
I couldn’t see in front of me.. The canopy breached.. The panel in front of me is nothing but space.. Blood covered my face.. Not that I could take off the helmet to wipe it off to see whatever it is that’s going on…
I could barely make out the outline of the Eagle in front of me.. I noticed my ship slowly coming to a stop… looks like my Thrusters burnt out… I held the trigger firm.. Not letting go… even though it sounds like the weapons charge is empty..
Out of nowhere.. [Target ship destroyed] followed by a notification sound…
My ship came to a stop..
[oxygen levels at 1 minute 45 seconds…]
I.. I did it.. I killed him..
For a moment I felt a sense of relief.. Not the kind where I thought I was safe or anything, rather a sense that I achieved something… outside the Pilot’s federation..
For whatever reason I started laughing..
“Took me that long .. to grow some balls…” again I couldn't tell if those words escaped my mouth or my head.. I looked around to find any signs of messages from System Security Vessels.. Nothing..
I was trying to move my ship.. But it looks like the Thrusters are gone..
With one eye opened I focused hard, through the blurry vision.. To the contacts tab… anything, to try and reach out to someone…
Then a shadow of a ship hovered over me and came to face my ship…Thank the universe.. I thought to myself.. Someone is here to save me…
The shape of the ship is something of a Krait.. But it was not a phantom…
Though it had the shape of a phantom…
A message appeared on the comms tab.. I focused hard to see what it said…
I couldn't make out the words, but I could have sworn it says:
“Good fight kid, now you die”
By the time I was done reading that, bright flashes of lights followed by a thick cloud of smoke escaped from all of his hardpoints… 30.. No .. maybe 60? Maybe even more… hundreds even… bright flashing lights and thick clouds … engulfed my vision…
What sounded like hundreds of rockets..
Bright lights.. And then shadows.. And then darkness…
[Eject - Eject - Eject]
-comms chatter was the last thing I heard as my mind shut down completely-