Turn of the tide (Part 1)
12 Feb 2021Immehi
You have cleared the exclusion zone. Fly safe, commander. Flight Control Operations out. "Whoo! Can't believe we're going to see combat again. I'm tired of seeing those crates of plant treatment day in, day out. I liked it better when you were taking gold and silver orders, I could nab- ehm, help pick up the loose ones and put them back into the cargo." Uttered Zara Wells, Z for short, my crew and a very able fighter pilot.
DId she just admit to stealing from my ship? Despite the healthy percentage I give her for each transaction? I hope not, I need her on the fighter's seat.
"I'm going to ignore bits of what you said just now, but know that we won't take anymore gold and silver orders from now on. Also, those crates of agronomic treatment is what afforded us this carrier." I said as I pointed Venus away from the fleet carrier toward the conflict zone. In matter of seconds, C.S.V. Venus Krakem, a massive lumbering T-10, undocked and entered supercruise. Farseer sure knows how to engineer the thruster.
The timer and distance on the pilot's display is rapidly decreasing. "Get ready, we're about to dr-" I haven't finished my sentence and I could see that Z is all set up and ready in the fighter's control panel. Ever since she got promoted to Dangerous, she's become more eager to go into combat. It's a win-win situation for us; she does the bombing, I collect the bonds. With a silent boom, we left supercruise and saw the party ahead.
A whirlwind of laser, plasma and bullets.
"Alright, commander, the fighter is deployed and linked." Z's voice came in amidst the mine explosions.
It didn't take long for us to find our first target, a Python, Dangerous-ranked pilot, and two friendlies nearby. "Let's get that one, usual tactic."
"Roger!" With that, I saw the white Taipan flew ahead and began circling the target.
From 4 kilometers out, I target the power plant, deploy the hardpoints, and begin to deplete the enemy's shield with the laser beam. While the enemy is focused on the easy target that is a chunky T-10, the Taipan chip away their hull from relative safety. The enemy always fly close to strafe. When they come too close, that's when I shred the rest of their hulls with barrage of multi-cannons. It's a tactic adapted from my mentor, and it's been working great for this team.
The Python is down, we're going to own this battle, I can feel it.
"Spec ops inbound!" One of the friendlies announced.
"Get ready, Z, we'll go for the Alpha unit first if we can."
Bleep. A ship showed up in the radar. Well, aren't we lucky today. That's the Alpha unit. Bleep, bleep, bleep. Whoops, he's got the whole gang with him. Time to find my own spec op team, no way I can survive this on my own. "Pull back, Z!"
After a 180, I began to boost towards the edge of the zone. The Alpha unit noticed my ship and began to open fire. Venus began to rumble. That's okay, that's why we have beefy shield generator. The rumbling gets harder, and smoke begin to rise from the panels. Turns out it's not only the Alpha unit who opened fire. Beta, Delta and Gamma joined in as well.
"Commander, my shield is down, I don't think the fighter can last much longer." There's concern in Z's voice. "Commander, I lost the signal, the fighter must've bought the big one."
Shield is down. The ship's cold, automated voice telling me. Well, we better hurry and regroup in safety then. The shield bank takes a while to fire up.
Missile incoming. Curse you T-10 and your nimbleness!
Hull integrity at 50%. Did I even activate the shield bank?!? Oh well, no shame in low waking.
FSD Module damaged. I guess this is how I die. Time for one last resort: reboot the ship in the midst of chaos. At this rate I'm on a one-way ticket to rebuy anyway.
Silence. All around me I see explosions, laser show and pieces of shrapnel, but it's all quiet, peaceful even. At this point I can't tell if the ship is about to explode, or if it will turn back on.
As I resign myself to my fate, the control panels flickered to life. The ship's rebooting! And I have shield! The enemies must've lost my heat signature during the reboot and moved on to different target.
Bleep. Ah, no such luck. One of the hostiles picked up my signature and is hot on my tail.